THE BRITISH ARMY OF TO-DAY.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 9812, 23 August 1897, Page 5

THE BRITISH ARMY OF TO-DAY.

I/** - the Hok. Sir Gborok Stoddatm Whitmork, K.C.M.G.]

The British Army may be regarded under any one of three heads : The Army as most colonists formerly knew it; the Army as the needs of the nation require it to be } tnd the Army actually existing as it ib. As the first the Army we sent out to the Crimea, as far aa physique and esprit went, was probably the finest for its numbers at that time in Europe, especially an regarded its infantry. Alas ! the balk of that splendid infantry perished in the snows of the Crimea, and this generation will not look upon its like again. Enough remained, in part recruited from regiments at Home whioh, in their tarn, were supplemented from the militia, to form that brave force which reconquered India. The artillery and cavalry have sinco then been largely increased, their equipment is mucL improved, and as far as they go (and that is perhaps not far enough), are bad to beat, and are probably equal to, or better than any on the Continent. Perhaps it is enough to say that if in all respects perfect, we do not want, at present, a larger army. Bnt an army must, to be of use, be officient iv all its branches, while ours is Btill very far from perfection in some of them. The cavalry is splendid, but far too small. The artillery also might with advantage be largely increased, but its equipment and men two perf ec tion. Much attention has been paid to the transport and hospital branches, as well as to the improvement of the engiueer departments, ballooning, pontooning and submarine mining. At least these are more atten.ed to than formerly, and their _<_*__.- ment is very complete, if hardly on the scale that in war -would be required. But the British Infantry, once our special pride, is not altogether what is desirable. 1 must make some exceptions; the Guards, Highlanders, Rifles, and a few special corps are still excellent, but the ordinary Tommy Atkins has fallen off considerably. The truth is the araay no longer draws its supplies of men from a hardy agricultural population, and recruits itself very lar-pely from the Whitec'aapel and large oityolaes of immature undersized lads, without the stamina necessary to undergo the hardships

of war.

An article in the Ss. James's Gazette of the 2nd of July, while refraining -irom making invidious comparisons, aud advocating perhaps too large an extension of our army, nevertheless points out clearly that to make a reliable army we must make up our minds to pay it properly. Great efforts have been made to ameliorate' th e soldier's lot of late years, but with a purely mercenary army ib is indispensable, if we are to have the flower of our ysuth with the colours, that something like proportionate pecuniary roward ahouldbeheld out to the class whom we employ in the ranks. At prosent there ia no semblance of proportion between civilian and military emolument. The soldier still gets his wretched la » day, aad surreiadwa his liberty for seven years, say from 18. to 25. There is certainly the privilege of reenlistment, little taken advantage of, aad a modicum is obtained for the Raiierve. But pensions have been swept away, afcd the soldier no longer can depend on a grateful country, when hia service is over» to maintain him sufficiently, if nob e_> travagantly, thereafter. Pensions are abhorrent to true liberals, and though it took Borne years to,, abolish the system il* has now aln--Bt' entirely disappeared. Bofe before the new and rather compli« cated Reserve system slowly creates a reliable forca let us hope a courageous Go« vernment will boldly propose _a material addition to the pay of tbe rank and file. As I am informedj to doable the pay merely of the men would not exceed a million or a million and a half a year. Tho pension list is fading away. Only seventy-four Balaclava survivors could be discovered for the Jubilee, a«d this must la_gely benefit the finance of tbe Array vote. For the present plenty of athletic, educated, courteous officers corae forward, though so slightly paid, aad therefore at present it would not be indispensable to increase their emoluments. Nor need the ' • dead weight" ol ,de« partments be increased. They we all excellent and effioient now. It is only the ehnr t\ canon that we must consider, or be content with an inefficient Army.

Sir E. Havelock, in the Fortnightly _&• view this month, has published an article, which may repay perusal. He advocates a considerable addition to our effective land forces, and shows how lex from effective is what we have got. Every military man is shocked by the appearance of that. Our line regiments are practically the schools and feeders tif our Indian array, which we admit to be fairly good. But of really efficient troops with all the paraphernalia of cavalry, artillery, transport, hospital staff, tentage and supplies, we have bat about 20,000, if that, ready to take the fiel4 if required, dir Henry pointe out how luoky we have been te escape the meceasity of employing troops abroad, aud shows how in Egypt, America, the Cape and India, we might find ovufselvea compelled at any moment to employ and rely upon well equipped and reliable troops, whioh to-day ace not to be found. Theoretically the Indian and colonial regular array consume 106,000 of th* 206,000 we are supposed to have always available. The balance is in the United Kingdom, and supposed to be available, both for making up deficiencies in the remaining 106,000, and for service abroad if required. He thinks two Corpa d'armee of 40,000 each, of all arms, ia essential to our maintenance of the Empire, and this, he urges, we have not got. Our little Cavalry force is far tot emalL It has practically not got h»K th« horses it even row requires; and our Artillery is so small that actually at the Alder•hot review some of the few batteries consisted of only four guns. In fae* we need a national movement in favour of a better paid, larger, and more efficient Array. At Aldershot only 28,000, of all arms, were present; deducting the thousand colonials, the Cavalry and Artillery, there remained but 20,000 men, • including the Guards, the Highlanders and special regiments, in all. Sir Henry points out that the resurrection and improvement of our navy was due to pojpular pressure, not to any Government action, and urges that the not less serious duty devolves on publio men still of bringing pressure to bear to render our army really effective. At present our effectives for this great empire are nob beyond the resources of trumpery countries like Roumania and Belgium, ana would luudly lw natioed,iU wn.were tu_fe_«

.unately obliged to face any one of the military monarchies of Europe or even the Frer«h Republic in the field. Our reserve is said to be a trustworthy force; but its duty would be to feed the Army abroad and to su port our Militia and Volunteers at Home. These latter forces might also, to some extent, assist in supporting on Army abroad. But great effort and organisation would be required to make them available. All authorities are agreed that we must cow, having " resurrected" our Navy, turn onr attention to the Army. There is plenty of bone and sinew in England, and every effort should be made now to secure a properly selected type of men and adequate numbers. If we throw away our present opportunity of providing for bad times, we may see the necessity of Englaud to compel that conscription bo abhorrent to the nation became a compulsory necessity; and the wealthiest, roost enterprising nation in the world shonld be too intelligent and too liberal to hesitate to take the only step that is required, and to raise the soldier's miserable pay as a blood insurance against ills which happily we have hitherto escaped. A word more as regards the Colonial contingents, and onr own in particular. These have been criticised so frequently over here, aud have come out of it so well, that no commendation more than they have received is necessary. Our men, though the only force neither paid nor partially paid, stationed at Chelsea, are as efficient, well behaved and self-re-specting as any, and have done the colony the utmost credit. All admit the magnificent physique of the colonials, aiid especially our own, and I have found it hard to persuade people that our men were not socially selected on that account. The appearance of the colonials has pleased everyone, as the cheers of the people have very frequently shown, and, perhaps, more than anything, has impressed the foreigners who were present, and even the reporters of the Jubilee day sent by foreign journals did not refrain from testifying their •special admiration of those contingents. If the ■ day ever arrives for the colonies to assist the Mother Country in war, great confidjartce will be felt in the ability of Younger Britain to bring effective support to the aid of the flag. These few points strike mc as the most salient ones in relation to the Army. But the immense advance in every way in the armament and material of the' Army is the one thing that made the most impression upon mc. London, July Bth, 1897.