I have heard many noble tributes paid to Lord Roberts, but I remember
none which touched him more than that of Sir William Robertson
Nicoll at the Whitefriars’ Club. Lord Roberts was the club guest,
that brilliant author and journalist Mr. John Foster Fraser being
Chairman. I had the honour of being in the Vice-Chair.
The toast of Lord Roberts’ health was seconded by Sir William
Robertson Nicoll, who was meeting the Field-Marshal for the first
time. The Whitefriars’ dinner to Lord Roberts was merely a compliment
to a great soldier. Not all of those present would have shared the
views he entertained upon the question of National Service, and
controversial issues were carefully excluded. Speaking, therefore,
of Lord Roberts as a soldier, as a writer, and as a man, Sir William
Robertson Nicoll, in one of the most graceful and generous tributes
to which I have ever listened, assured him that by no class was our
guest held in greater honour and affection than by the Nonconformists
of this country and of every denomination. Lord Roberts knew that
many Nonconformists differed from him in politics and upon the
question of National Service, of which he was the acknowledged
champion, and Sir William’s tribute so gracefully phrased, so
obviously sincere in its expression of personal reverence and
affection, touched and gratified him deeply.
That he felt a little sore, in regard to the misunderstanding of his
views by some Nonconformists, is clear, I think, from a letter to me
which lies before me as I write.
I happen to be a Churchman myself, but for the last eight or nine
years before the war I devoted no inconsiderable portion of my time
in trying to put the case for National Defence, as advocated by the
Field-Marshal, before my many friends in the Nonconformist Churches,
and I am glad and grateful to remember that, while not sharing my
views, the editors of the great Nonconformist and Free Church organs
gave me for the most part--there were exceptions--full opportunity
to “state a case.” In April, 1913, a prominent Free Churchman of
Hastings asked me to speak at the Brotherhood meeting in that town.
I told him frankly that I dislike public speaking, but would do so
if I were permitted to speak upon the subject of National Defence.
My friend demurred, but it was finally arranged that I should first
give a reading from a tiny booklet of my own, and after that I should
speak for twenty minutes on the subject that lay so near my heart.
As this was the first occasion upon which an address upon National
Defence was to be given at a Brotherhood meeting, Lord Roberts took
deep interest in the matter. He was, indeed, so anxious to remove any
misunderstanding which existed that he sent me a special message to
deliver in his name to my audience. The message was in the form of a
letter to myself, and as it puts his views very plainly, I print it
here in full.
ENGLEMERE, ASCOT,
BERKS, 12.4.13.