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STAMBOLIISKI—STANMORE
571

of the staff. And he also is usually called chief of the staff, the heads of different branches of the administrative staff being absolutely subjected to him. The "chief of the staff" plan was moreover adopted in the case of several British campaigns of modern date, e.g. that of 1882 in Egypt and Lord Wolseley's and Lord Kitchener's expeditions up the Nile in 1884-5 and 1898. A chief of the staff was appointed to Sir R. Buller at t^e outset of the S. African War (although owing to unforeseen events he never took up the post), and at a later date Lord Kitchener went out as chief of the staff to Lord Roberts.

If the existing British staff organization comes to be compared with those where the chief of the general staff is also chief of the staff, it will be found that there is something to be said on both sides. That part of the British system under which a command or a district is in peace-time supplied with a superior officer in charge of administration, to whom wide responsibilities are allowed and who is generally in practice senior to the principal general staff officer, permits the general in command to devote nearly the whole of his attention to preparing his troops for war. But that arrangement would be unworkable in the field. There the progress of operations is so dependent on the work of the administrative staff that the commander cannot transfer his authority in connexion with the latter to somebody else as is recognized in the British staff organization in time of war by the heads >f the adjutant-general and the quartermaster-general staffs, as well as the inspector of communications, then dealing direct with the commander. Still, the fact that a peace arrange- ment does not fit in with the requirements of war is not a con- clusive argument against that arrangement's holding good in peace-time, which after all represents the normal condition of things; and the British plan of a chief of administration is only a special feature in a larger question. Objections do undoubtedly exist in peace-time to the supremacy of the chief of the general staff. That automatically makes him responsible for the work of the administrative staff, and as all manner of administrative problems unimportant problems, perhaps, but problems which have to be solved are constantly arising in peace-time, most of the chief of the general staff's time may come to be occupied with matters that are not general staff matters at all, and mili- tary policy, manoeuvres, training of troops, higher instruction, defence schemes, and so forth, may suffer. But, if peace repre- sents the normal state of affairs, armies none the less exist for purposes of war, and in time of war the case for the British system is not so strong.

In face of the enemy, operations planning them, deciding whether the plan is feasible, and taking the necessary steps for their execution are of paramount importance, but cannot be said actually to govern administration, for unless the army's establishments are maintained and unless it has its food, its ammunition, etc., it cannot carry out the operations. The success of the plan may in the main depend on strategical and tactical factors; but in framing the plan the duties which the administrative staff will have to perform in connexion with its execution must have been considered with meticulous care. It is for the administrative staff to say whether the plan is feasible from the point of view of supply, transport, depots, hospital service, and so forth. There may be great administrative diffi- culties in the way, which will as a matter of course be represented. It is, however, for the general staff to weigh the administrative as against the strategical aspects of the case and then lay the whole subject before the commander for a final decision. The British Field Service Regulations clearly admit by implication that the chief of the general staff is the superior of the adjutant-general, the quartermaster-general and the chief of communications, without their being actually under him. That, under conditions such as develop on active service, is apt to prove a somewhat clumsy arrangement and to give rise to friction. It is neither one thing nor the other. Granted that the " chief of the staff " system means centralization, granted that it demands from the chief of the general staff a somewhat closer acquaintance with purely administrative questions than would be necessary if the heads of the chief branches of the administrative staff were virtually his equals, even granted that under it less of his time will be available for the consideration of the strategical and tactical situation than would otherwise be the case, the system does seem a more satisfactory arrangement for purposes of operations in the field than that which found favour in the British army after the setting up of the Army Council. Nor would it seem to follow as a matter of course that the " chief of the staff" system must not be adopted in war-time, simply because it does not obtain during peace. (C. E. C.)


STAMBOLIISKI, ALEXANDER (1879- ), Bulgarian states- man, was born at Slavovitsa in Bulgaria Sept. i 1879. He was of peasant origin, but obtained a good education at Sofia and then at Halle in Germany. In 1902 he became editor of the newspaper of the Agrarian League and later entered the Sobranje. He soon acquired great influence among the peasants, and from the first took up an attitude of fearless opposition to King Ferdinand's policy. In 1908 Stamboliiski headed the Agrarian protest against the Declaration of Independence, as being in the interest of the dynasty rather than of the people. In 1911 he made a violent speech in the Grand Sobranje, opposing the amendment to the constitution by which the King was given the right to make secret treaties, and in 1913 he openly accused the King of hav- ing brought about the calamitous war with Serbia. On Sept. 17 1915 Stamboliiski accompanied the other leaders of the Opposition to the palace, and, in a forcible speech and later in personal conversation, he warned the King with characteristic brusquerie that if he again plunged the country into war it would end in disaster and that he would lose his throne, if not his head. Stamboliiski was then condemned to imprisonment for life, and was kept in strict and painful confinement from Sept. 30 1915 for three years; he was, however, allowed access to books and spent much of his time in study and writing. On Sept. 25 1918, when imminent catastrophe compelled Bulgaria to seek an armis- tice, he was released, and, after a stormy interview with the King, went to the front, where a revolutionary movement among the troops was developing. He returned with the insurrectionary troops to Sofia, and order was restored only after much loss of life; Stamboliiski was obliged to go into hiding, even after the King's abdication. The Government, however, soon realized that his help was essential in the critical state of the country, and he became Minister of Public Works in Todorov's Cabinet. Although the Agrarians had not an actual majority after the election of Aug. 1919, Stamboliiski became President of the Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs; on Nov. 27 he had the courage to sign the Treaty of Neuilly on behalf of his country. In April 1920 the Cabinet was reconstructed, Stamboliiski re- maining as Premier, Minister for War and of Foreign Affairs in a Cabinet composed entirely of his own followers.


STANFORD, SIR CHARLES VILLIERS (1852- ), Irish musical composer (see 25.773), published in 1911 Musical Compositions; three years later appeared Pages from an Unwritten Diary and in 1916 A History of Music, written in conjunction with his former pupil, Cecil Forsyth. In later years his music included the operatic piece The Critic (op. 144), produced by Beecham in 1916, and The Travelling Companion (op. 146), which won a Carnegie award in 1917, but had not yet been produced in 1921. In 1919 his symphony L' Allegro ed II Pen- sieroso also won a Carnegie award, and in 1921 his setting of a poem by Mr. Justice Darling entitled At the Abbey Gate the point being the burial of the Unknown Warrior in the Abbey was produced by the Royal Choral Society in the Albert Hall. Stanford's Songs of the Fleet, originally produced in 1910, gained great popularity, and he also composed much chamber music.


STANMORE, ARTHUR HAMILTON HAMILTON-GORDON, 1ST BARON (1820-1912), British administrator, was born Nov. 26 1829, the youngest son of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen. He was ducated at Cambridge and afterwards entered politics, becoming private secretary to the Prime Minister, Lord Derby, from 1852 to 1855, and sitting as member for Beverley from 1854 to 1857. He was successively governor of Trinidad (1866-70), Mauritius (1871-4), Fiji (1875-80), New Zealand (1880-2) and Ceylon (1883-90). He was raised to the peerage in 1895, and