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Tommy A. Yes, sir, I do; I'm Captain Binks's servant.

"Colonel. Ah, yes; but Captain Binks is with his regiment, and the circular says the servants of officers serving at the depot can re-engage; I'm sorry I can't take you;" and the man retires wondering much what is the distinction between the servants of officers in a regiment who may happen to be serving now at the depot, now at headquarters. Is it not uncertainties, we almost called them "after-dinner niceties," such as these, which perplex the intending recruit, and drive him to grind at another mill?

We come next to the "linked battalion" of Mr Cardwell, now transformed into the "double battalion" of Mr Childers, by which the recruit, on joining one regiment, is, when posted in its ways and acquainted with its of ficers, arbitrarily transferred to another, with the possibility of some more "battledore and shuttlecock' work, as far as he is concerned, throughout his whole army service. Granting that it was a useful reform to double existing regi

ments, and not convenient to double the army at the same time, we cannot but be struck with the common-sense arguments against such a resolution. We know that before this was arrived at, the pros and cons had been thoroughly thought out; and that the scheme, as it stands, was the result of much study. But it was the War Office, with a lawyer at its head, and a gathering of specialists at his heels, that did the study. No wonder that this legal and scientific gathering did not see the lion in the way. For standing ever before the best meant reforms of these men was esprit de corps, the very breath of the military body, a factor in a soldier's life so important as to have been eulogised in several pages of glowing letterpress by "our only general." The scientific part of the army may think somewhat lightly of its influence, but with the fighting part, be assured, as Lord Wolseley said, it is all-powerful. Once put men into a regiment, and whatever belief they have in themselves is transferred to it. It is their home; it feeds and clothes them; it provides warm beds in winter; and a shilling a-day to rattle in their pockets. Better still, it brings them nearer to that brighter land of gentlefolks, where money jingles ceaselessly; and the glimpse they catch of its ways is pleasant, and sometimes tangible. There is no Englishman alive who has the interests of the soldier and of the nation more at heart than the Duke of Cambridge; and he said lately, when commenting on the failure of the new system,"People have an idea that a soldier is a sort of man who does not care where he goes or what he does. He perhaps does not care where he goes, but he likes to be with the men he has made friends

with. Men are not drafted about in the cavalry, and so men can always be got for the cavalry. Men, when enlisted, do not so much care where they go; but, once in a regiment, they count to stay in it and remain with their comrades."

We know that courtiers who are constantly under the personal influence of dukes or kings, stick pretty close to those dignitaries believing very much indeed in them knowing that it is from them that much advancement can proceed. And it is just the same with poor Tommy Atkins and his own immediate officers. Esprit de corps is a feeling having deep root in the English peasants' hearts. There has been the squire of the village with his bounties at Christmas-tide, or his word of advice or assistance in time of misfortune; or there is the millowner who lives in a fine house away from the "works," but not too far to listen to the complaints of his deserving workpeople. Radicalism and agitators are fast "scotching the feeling, and will one day reap the whirlwind when the classes let loose look back in vain for its restraining power. But the feeling is still alive amongst us, and is hard to break down altogether. Its existence dates back behind history, and should be held sacred; an ascertained fact which no theories should meddle with.

Many of us have read in Scottish history of the men of a Highland regiment, who, more than one hundred years ago, when ordered to be transferred to another which hailed from Glasgow, received the order with indignation, and to a man refused to "put on the breeches," declaring they would rather die than be compelled to do so— a threat they carried out but too faithfully. As an eyewitness de

scribes: "The Highlanders were posted with their backs to a row of houses, with a stone wall on their right hand. The Fencibles demanded a surrender; but the Highlanders bid them defiance, and bade them do their worst. The Fencibles then presented, and in a moment the firing began, which lasted about a minute; but in that fatal minute the whole rank was laid flat on the ground."

We have spoken only of the material advantages from which may spring the feeling we call esprit de corps- -those which present themselves first of all to the young soldier. But it must not be thought that we limit the existence of so subtle a thing to so gross a cause. There is that within a man which good meals, rattling shillings, and warm beds do not affect. These are accessories, as the richly manured mould is to the rose which springs from it.

No one will accuse us of hinting that these poor Highland lads were willing to die rather than join the "Long-coats," because Scotch dinners were better than English ones. They did object to join another regiment because they believed that "1000 such men as themselves could drive 10,000 men to hell, in a just cause!"

Better far let "linked battalions" or "double battalions " fall through, even if we have to pay a little more money, than sacrifice the feeling which prompted such noble words as these.

A recognised and essential part of the English army is the "regimental officers,"- -a class which has been getting most of the kicks and very few halfpence for some time past; indeed at one moment it seemed probable that it would have to be reformed away altogether. But luckily for the regimental officer, Tel-el-Kebir came off, and

with it came also a change of tune.

Not so very long before, Lord Wolseley had told them in the 'Nineteenth Century' some very plain-spoken words about themselves, and an unwholesome flavour had been left in their mouths. Why the article which pointed out the shortcomings of the regimental officers ever saw the light, it is not worth our while to inquire it did appear, and, like the previous reforms which we have glanced at, proved itself to be so red-hot as to require plunging into very cold water. For Lord Wolseley is credited with having said that, "had he not known of what stuff the regimental officers were made, he would not have attempted to attack Tel-el-Kebir as he did; and it would be interesting to know at what particular period this complete change of front in his sentiments occurred. Are we to believe, then, that the bitter words of the 'Nineteenth Century' article stung the culprits into the immediate mending of their ways; or is it that the new lines upon which our army has been reconstructed have had such a speedy and happy result?

It is a question which we need not discuss further. We are content that the course of events has blotted out the objectionable letterpress, while the fact will remain for all ages, that no finer trait in a nation's character ever shone out more brightly than did the conduct of our English regimental officers, who, on that early morning in September, by their acknowledged skill and bravery, won for their bitterest calumniator his greatest victory.

In advocating "short service," the bait invariably dangled before the public has been the formation of a large reserve; and the bait

was so far successful that the shiest fish rose at it reluctantly. But the stern rhetoric of figures now proves the reserve to be delusive, for less than a third of the men promised by Mr Cardwell's algebra as a product of his system, has become available; while Lord Hartington in his speech on the Army estimates is reported to have said, in explanation of the marked falling off in recruiting, that "the calling out of the reserve men had a tendency to check recruiting, because the withdrawal of 10,000 men from industrial occupations, of course provided additional opportunities of employment for that class of men who would come forward to enlist in the army." As the Duke of Cambridge says, "Reserves are capital things; but if we have no army, where are reserves to come from?" We seem to remember a phrase which was applied to the reserve on its first formation, that it was only to be available in case of " "grave national danger;" but if small wars, such as that lately waged in Egypt, are to represent "grave national danger" to our island, then the sooner we knock under and pay tribute to a protecting Power the better.

Seriously speaking, the reserves were called out in order that the regiments ordered on service, after three or four hundred boy-soldiers apiece had been left behind, might land with sufficient men in their ranks capable of marching half-adozen miles, and not absolutely ready to bolt at the report of their own rifles.

The territorial system, the creation of warrant officers, the publication of the advantages of serving her Majesty, and the other red-hot reforms which we have glanced at, were to deluge our ranks with recruits; so many were to flock to the colours that we were to be

dainty in choosing our food for powder. Yet the Army Recruiting Report for last year shows a falling off of some 2500 men, or nearly six regiments on the lowest establishment.

The Inspector-General admits that Mr Childers managed to obtain the necessary number of recruits by enlisting some 4000 or 5000 youths of eighteen; and he complacently assures us that the system was a correct one, and that a large number of promising young men, likely to make effective soldiers, are rejected at a time of life when their inclinations lead them to follow the army,"-a suggestion echoed by Lord Hartington in the speech already quoted, when he told us that "recruiting and medical officers will be allowed greater discretion, and will not be compelled to refuse recruits." There is nothing so elastic in a boy's mind as the matter of his own age. We remember, shortly after the regiments left for Egypt, going through the ranks of the boy-soldiers left behind by one of them, and asking a lad who appeared younger than the rest what his age was. "Fourteen years, sir," was the answer at once. It was no doubt an exaggeration, but it was nearer the mark than nineteen, the then legal age of enlistment. How far a like elasticity can go with recruiting and medical officers after Lord Hartington's words, remains to be seen. Enlist boys by all means, but enlist them as boys and not as soldiers. As the Duke says, "They should correspond to boys in the navy, and the army should train boys to be soldiers as the navy trains boys to be sailors." "Ah! but the expense!" screams the War Office. But it is better to add another million to the estimates and secure efficiency, than to sit down in silence under the semi-comic motion of Sir Wilfrid

Lawson which we heard not long ago, "That the total charge for the army be omitted, as it is no longer of any use."

Yet when Lord Hartington made his statement he must have seen an article by Sir Lintorn Simmons in the previous number of a monthly periodical, in which was clearly stated the awful "waste" consequent on the enlistment of young boys, and that the proportional cost of a soldier enlisted at eighteen is nearly double that of one enlisted at twenty. Surely the words and figures of so tried an officer should be weighed and respected, even though it be at the expense of the civilian's "fool's paradise," to the inheritance of which the noble statesman has succeeded.

The deficiencies in our regular army, and the constant changes which have become necessary to reform "red-hot reform," have put the militia very much in the background of late; yet our "constitutional bulwark," as War Ministers delight to call it, has not escaped the general meddling, and is suffering from the same symptoms as its bigger brother. We have seldom heard a sadder admission than that made by Lord Morley, in answer to the question about the auxiliary forces : "The militia is 20,000 men below its strength, and the militia reserve 20 per cent under its establishment."

The attempt to make a militiaman into a regular soldier has failed, as any one who knows the former could have predicted. As was said in the House of Lords lately, "It has become a species of official watchword to insist on the amalgamation of the regular and the auxiliary forces;" and in the attempt to amalgamate, the line has lost most of its best non-commissioned officers and many of its most efficient officers, who have gone to educate "phantom battal

ions," at the expense of making the parent battalions "phantoms" also. Recruits are now to be drilled at depot centres into the third and "phantom" fourth battalions of their territorial regiment, instead of in their own county town and under their own officers-the result being a very great falling off in the number of recruits.

Yet Lord Morley, in the blandest tones, assures us that the change just alluded to is made on philanthropic grounds, "to enable the recruit to drill when it is most convenient to himself; to enable him to suit his preliminary drills to the requirements of his civil employers; leaving the recruit with the absolute option of doing as he likes -a programme objected to most wisely as affecting discipline at the very onset. If some recruits prefer to drill at one time, and some at another, how can any system be properly carried out?".

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Lord Morley further remarked that the diminution in the number of recruits had equally taken place in battalions that were trained under the old system as in those who came under the new one, and deduced from this fact that the falling off is not a consequence of the change. But the noble lord can have but slight acquaintance with the working classes if he means such an answer as anything but an official platitude.

Those classes do not read books, but every one amongst them takes his newspaper, which he spells through in the evening or on Sundays, from the advertisements on the first page to the printer's address at the bottom of the last one; and country newspapers know the classes by which they are read, and appeal to their interests accordingly. A vast amount of talking goes on in English cottage homes; news circulates freely; strangers

from the next county are frequent, and are always welcome for the news they bring; and the man who imagines such people ignorant of everything but the affairs of their own village, is very far out indeed. With them the annual training was an institution as old as the hills. It meant a month's absence from work, a pleasant outing under canvas on a breezy hillside, or in the tumbledown barracks in the county town, where there were crowds of smartly dressed girls to admire their red coats, and where they could get nightly glimpses through the messroom windows of their officers, living like gentlemen, in a paradise of full glasses and piled-up dishes. But now the pleasant picture is changed; for the scheme of Mr Childers to assimilate the militia with the line regiment territorially attached to its county, is perfectly well known to every one of them. It may happen that their own regiment still goes through its annual training under the old rules; but in the next county "them new dodges" have come in, and Johnny Chawbacon and Ralph Roughstick have been at "them new-fangled barracks, and been drilled that rough alongside the sodgers till they might just as well have been a lot of mummies!" If this happens to the next militia regiment, it will be their turn soon; and so the lads won't enroll, while those already enrolled begin to think it time to get out of it, and so swell the "waste" by absence or desertion.

There is nothing more distasteful to human nature than uncertainty; and it is stronger among the working classes than amongst those whose education has fitted them to seek for and understand its cause; and Lord Cranbrook, during the debate alluded to, has expressed, as fully as words are