and that force must at least have a backbone of regular troops. It was therefore intended to raise twelve new line battalions of infantry, beside the three voted in the preceding year and now being raised. These would be linked to existing line regiments, and would be formed of surplus men of the first and second battalions left behind, of Reservists, of ex-soldiers desiring to reenlist, and ordinary recruits. Artillery enough for two more army corps was to be provided-namely, thirty-six batteries of field artillery and seven of horse artillery, making forty-three new batteries in all. They would be armed with 15-pounder quick-firing guns of the latest and most modern type. When this increase had been effected we should at any time be able to send two army corps out of the country with a full complement of artillery, and at the same time have the full force of field artillery for three other army corps at home. Of cavalry, four fresh regiments were to be formed out of reserve squadrons left by regiments that had gone abroad, and what else was necessary would be furnished by a brigade of specially trained Yeomanry. Generally, the Yeomanry would be brought up to its full establishment or beyond it, if the men were forthcoming and converted into mounted infantry. There would also be an increase in the Engineers and a considerable increase in the Army Service Corps, the numbers of which were certainly insufficient for their work. Seventy-three battalions of Militia had been embodied already, and the remainder would be embodied as soon as the weather allowed them to be put under canvas, when they would undergo a course of training, and special attention would be paid to musketry. The Militia was about 30,000 men below its establishment, but it was hoped that by making the service more attractive they would be able to fill up the void. The Volunteers had a nominal establishment of 265,000 men, but their actual strength was only 221,000. All battalions would be encouraged to recruit up to their full strength, and even to form second battalions. Special rates would be paid to battalions provided with a mounted company. The Volunteer artillery would be rearmed with the most modern guns. Volunteer batteries would be encouraged to go into camp for three months in the year. It was intended to limit the numbers of Volunteers in each battalion to 1,000 rank and file. If more could be recruited, a second battalion, of lesser numbers would be formed. It was the wish of the Government, moreover, that wherever possible a company of mounted infantry should be attached to each battalion. During the year, Volunteers would be invited to undergo a special training under canvas; and for this purpose hired transport would be given, and every facility to improve shooting and military efficiency. Moreover the Government proposed to give a higher capitation grant to the Volunteers, but in return a higher standard of efficiency would be exacted. One of the most serious questions the War Office had to face was that of finding the large number of officers who

would be required; and commissions would be offered to the Militia and Volunteers, to the universities, and to a few public schools, as well as to the colonies. Altogether they might look to 100,000 more men as being the gross outcome of the present changes, but he added that organic changes in our military system could not be made in the middle of a war. The Earl of Kimberley, while fully recognising the necessity for temporary arrangements to increase the military strength of the country, hoped they would be such as to facilitate and not stand in the way of well-considered changes of a more permanent character. In the House of Commons, the Under-Secretary for War, Mr. Wyndham (Dover), made a similar statement on bringing forward the supplementary Army Estimates, 1899-1900, for 13,000,000l. to cover the expenses of an additional force of 120,000 men of all ranks up to the close of the financial year. Although there was a general desire on all sides of the House to refrain from embarrassing the Government, the proposals were received with coldness by the general public and but scant favour both by the "service" members and by civilian experts. It was pointed out on the one hand that the country was in danger of getting an armed mob instead of an organised army; and on the other that as long as the War Office was conducted on existing lines a mere increase of numbers in any branch of the service could only produce a very limited effect for good. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman (Stirling Burghs) regretted the absence of any allusion to the cost of the Government scheme. He believed that nine-tenths of the committee were ready to give the Government anything and everything it wanted to reinforce the Army in South Africa, and to make good the gaps in our home defence; but they were entitled to regard with the extremest caution proposals which went into the future, and to ask full time for their consideration. He was greatly relieved to know that the Government programme did not include conscription, which he believed to be impossible in this country. In this wish, it was clear that the leader of the Opposition differed from his quondam leader, Lord Rosebery, who a few days previously had taken the opposite view. Sir Charles Dilke (Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire) thought the ministerial plans dealt too exclusively with home defence, whereas the defence of outlying possessions-apart from those now threatened-had also to be considered, Mr. Wyndham having said nothing about. India, whence troops had been withdrawn for service at the Cape. Captain Norton (Newington W.), speaking as a Radical, expressed great satisfaction with the Government proposals; but Sir A. Acland-Hood (Wellington, Somerset), a strong Conservative, said the country wanted an Army and seemed likely to get nothing better than an armed mob; Sir John Colomb (Yarmouth) complained that the War Department was merely tinkering with details instead of grappling with principles; and Mr. Arnold-Forster (Belfast W.) contended that "as a military

expression" the 110,000 Regulars supposed to remain in this country "had no existence at all," being a wholly "unorganised and incoherent body." Replying, Mr. Wyndham called the Government scheme one of invitation as opposed to compulsion; and, summing its effect, said that whereas in the past a maximum of three army corps was aimed at, the maximum now would be five. The troops withdrawn from India would be replaced as soon as possible.

On the resumption of the debate (Feb. 15) Colonel Brookfield (Rye, Sussex), whilst holding the contemplated changes to be in the right direction, doubted whether their practical effect would be as great as was hoped. Mr. Edmund Robertson (Dundee) did not think proposals for a permanent increase of the Army ought to be introduced by way of supplementary estimates. He advocated an increase in the pay of private soldiers and a reduction of officers' expenses, which prevented poor men, however capable, from thinking of commissions. Mr. Wyndham, who again intervened in the discussion, said it was nothing less than a scandal and a danger to the empire that we could not get young men into the cavalry unless their fathers or their friends were prepared to give them private incomes of 500l. a year. An important committee, over which General French presided, had recently dealt in detail with this subject but the outcome of their deliberations the Under-Secretary for War did not explain. He went on to say that the armaments and ammunition of the forts in this country were to be overhauled, and measures regarding them would be submitted to Parliament later in the session. The guns which had been ordered for the forty-three new batteries would fire eight aimed rounds a minute. If it should appear that they could be replaced by better ones, they would be superseded and transferred to the auxiliary forces, but the authorities wished to profit by the reports they would receive from South Africa before plunging into a rearming programme. It was not intended to raise Volunteers in Ireland. As to the question of cost, the addition of fifteen line battalions to the Army would involve a permanent charge of 785,000l. a year, besides an initial outlay of 1,500,000l. for barracks. The increase in the artillery would mean a fresh annual charge of 537,000l. a year. A good deal of desultory criticism followed from various speakers, who alternately praised and blamed the War Office administration. General Russell (Cheltenham) hoped that when the reorganisation of the Army took place the Council of National Defence, at that time without a single expert, would be reorganised too.

On the third night (Feb. 16) Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman repeated that the Opposition were ready to grant whatever was necessary for the energetic prosecution of the campaign and the defence of the country, but they would not be parties to any alteration in the character of our military forces that might be designed hereafter to assist in an aggressive or ambitious policy.

He could not help regarding Lord Salisbury's speech of the previous evening as a lament that it was impossible to adopt the "wise and beneficial" system of compulsory service on account of the "stubborn infatuation and prejudice of the British people." He agreed as to the stubbornness of the prejudice, but that was not the whole case. Having stated a number of stock arguments against the expediency of the conscription for this country, he said in effect that we could do with fewer soldiers if it were not for the policy of constantly extending the empire. Mr. Balfour did not see how the meaning which Sir Henry sought to put on the Prime Minister's words could, by any process of interpretation or exegesis, be read into them. As to the number of troops permanently required for home defence, there had been an interchange of ideas on that subject between the War Office and the Admiralty as far back, he thought, as 1888, when it was agreed that, in order to make ourselves absolutely secure against any contingency reasonable men could contemplate, three army corps were needed, as well as a sufficient force to garrison our principal arsenals and military stations. With respect to our recent foreign and colonial policy, he was not one of those who watched imperial expansion without a sense of anxiety. He thought the expansion necessary, but certainly it was not to be undertaken with a light heart. So far, however, from thinking that our present difficulties, or any difficulties that might be anticipated for us in the future, were due to that expansion, he believed that an impartial and critical survey of what was going on in all parts of the world would lead to precisely opposite conclusions. Mr. Wyndham, replying to the general criticism, expressed confidence in the patriotism of employers of labour who would not, he believed, put difficulties in the way of Volunteers. He then showed, in answer to some critics of the scheme, that it was impossible to separate the permanent portion of it from the emergency portion, and supported the demand for more infantry battalions by saying that for want of them the Army had been racked and strained. The speeches of Nationalist members in that House and elsewhere he described as gallery displays indulged in for the edification of foreign countries, and he contrasted them with the glorious deeds of Irish soldiers. Defining the proposals of the Government with regard to the auxiliary forces, he stated that they were enabling, and not mandatory, and in the main emergency proposals. If a Volunteer corps could not train for a month, it could do so for a shorter period. What the Government promised the Volunteers was that for the future they would treat them better, and they undertook that this year the expenses of training would be defrayed by the taxpayers. Volunteers would be given the most favourable opportunities for shooting practice. Having touched upon the question of uniform, he stated that special instructions. had been sent to Lord Roberts to select capable non-commis

sioned officers for promotion. The plan of modified compulsion for military service the Government refused to countenance, because it must lead to great abuses. He believed that the scheme which had been submitted to Parliament would improve on acquaintance. The debate was being continued by one or two irreconcilables, when Mr. Balfour moved that the question should be put. The Chairman accepting the motion, several Nationalist members raised points of order, complaining that they had not had a chance of moving amendments. The closure was nevertheless carried by 185 to 47, and the vote passed by 213 to 32. A resolution authorising the Exchequer to issue the money was then moved in Committee of Ways and Means, when Mr. John Redmond (Waterford City) at once moved to report progress. Mr. Balfour, however, insisted that the resolution was urgent, the War Office having heavy payments to make, and being unable to make them till it was passed. Mr. Redmond's motion having been defeated, the closure was once more applied, and the resolution carried by 224 to 32.

In the meanwhile the House of Lords had been similarly engaged in discussing the military proposals of the Government, and had taken an even more far-reaching view of the situation than had been raised in the House of Commons. The Earl of Dunraven in opening the discussion (Feb. 15) said that the proposals of the Government did not seem to him to be conceived with a view to possible eventualities which, although remote, ought not to have been disregarded in determining what steps should be taken in order to put the nation into a fit condition both for defence and offence. He doubted whether those proposals would even be sufficient for the requirements of the war in which we were at present engaged, and certainly he did not perceive in them any indication that steps of a permanent nature would be taken to adapt the Army to the now proved requirements of modern warfare, and to improve the machinery of the War Office.

After a few remarks by Lords Wenlock, Newton and Blythswood (the last named thinking that compulsion might be resorted to to prevent the ruin of the country), Lord Rosebery adopted a course which in a former stage of parliamentary procedure would have been known as "calling attention to the state of the nation"-a course often resorted to by the minority in the days of Pitt's ascendency. At considerable length, and in speech of much oratorical power, Lord Rosebery referred to the gravity of the crisis in which we stood, and to the total inadequacy of the proposals of the Government to meet that crisis. They had the authority of the First Lord of the Admiralty for the statement that the country was denuded of its regular troops and of its Militia. Surely that was a very grave statement. The Secretary of State for War had brought forward a force on paper of 409,000 armed men within these