e affect to regard as an undeserved
reward bestowed by Providence on improvidence. But is the law of cause
and effect really made void on our behalf? The people of the island, it
is true, are slow to make up their minds; their respect for experience
and their care for justice make them distrust quick action if it is not
instinctive action. They are unimaginative in this sense, that they are
not very readily excited by the theatrical exhortations which are
addressed to them from day to day. In a much deeper sense they are
imaginative; they have a sure instinct for the realities of life. When
they are presented with a doubtful novelty, they prefer to wait; and
they can afford to wait, for they know that their young will be eager to
show the way, and, in the meantime, they are not afraid.

CHAPTER V

THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS

In November 1911 the Prime Minister requested the standing sub-committee
of the Committee of Imperial Defence, under the chairmanship of Lord
Haldane, to consider the future development of aerial navigation for
naval and military purposes, and the measures which might be taken to
secure to this country an efficient aerial service. Things had moved
fast since 1908, when a distinguished general had expounded to a similar
committee the futility of observation from the air. This time the
committee came to a quick decision, and recommended immediate action.
The chief of their recommendations were as follows:

The creation of a British Aeronautical Service, to be regarded as
one, and to be designated 'The Flying Corps'.

The Corps to consist of a Naval Wing, a Military Wing, and a
Central Flying School for the training of pilots.

The Flying Corps to be kept in the closest possible collaboration
with the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and with the Aircraft
Factory, so that the work of experiment and research should have
its due influence on practice.

A permanent consultative committee, named 'The Air Committee', to
be appointed, to deal with all aeronautical questions affecting
both the Admiralty and the War Office.

The preparation of a detailed scheme was delegated to a technical
sub-committee consisting of Colonel the Right Hon. J. E. B. Seely, as
chairman, Brigadier-General G. K. Scott-Moncrieff, Brigadier-General
David Henderson, Commander C. R. Samson, R.N., Lieutenant R. Gregory,
R.N., and Mr. Mervyn O'Gorman, with Rear-Admira