the field in that great and exposed county; Sussex has only 1600, while the Hampshire force would only serve to man a few of the works of Portsmouth. I would therefore point out the expediency of increasing the Volunteers of Essex, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, and Surrey (most of the Surrey corps are in London), till each should make up its quota of the field army to at least 5000; that is to say, that the total additional numbers contributed by those five counties should be, say, 22,000. These, with the regular active force, the regular reserve, the militia and its reserve, and the Yeomanry, supported by the numbers already computed as available from Scotland and the Midland counties, would at once enable us to confront an invader, in the field and in fortresses, with a most sufficient army, while guarding London with its separate force. And it is easy to imagine circumstances in which a large proportion of the rest of the Volunteers would be free to reinforce those in the field. I am assured that nothing is needed but the feeling that they are a reality to induce the Volunteers generally largely to extend their term of service, so that the recruits, who come in plenty, would be in augmentation, not in replacement; while the passed men might be induced extensively to re-enrol themselves.

I will here endeavour to give an approximate estimate of the expense which the proposed measures would entail. The field equipmentvalise, water-bottle, haversack, mess-tin, greatcoat, infantry leggings, and a pair of boots-of each Volunteer would cost £2, 1s. 6d. per man at regulation prices. If summoned to the field each would bring his own blanket, for which an allowance might be made to him. This rate, for the existing force, would amount to £442,000. The 52,000 additional Volunteers would cause an addition of £107,000.

The strategically placed magazine and store centres might be thus assigned: north of the Thames at Willesden, Highgate Junction, and Stratford in Essex; south of the Thames at Wimbleton, Croydon, Woolwich, and Chatham. Plenty of accommodation exists at the two lastnamed places; there would thus be five centres to provide for. Each of these should have a magazine to hold 300 rounds for sixty guns, with a shell-store, and a store for field equipment, as tents, &c. To lease the site, and construct these buildings, may be estimated at £25,000 a centre-£125,000 in all. Small magazines, gun-sheds, and drill-sheds at such headquarters of corps as do not already possess them, say £100,000. Still better, perhaps, might it be

to rent existing buildings for the purpose. A year's work on the general plan of defence (and a year might go far to finish it), with a staff of thirty to forty officers and a sufficiency of draughtsmen, might cost £25,000. Total, in round numbers, £800,000. Thus a grant of a million would leave a large margin with which to indulge any liberality towards the force that might seem most expedient.

The force cost the country last year £570,000, about £2, 13s. a man. The projected augmentation of numbers would cause, at that rate, an increase of £138,000 in the annual expense.

It is desirable that the nation should awake to a sense of the force it possesses, and which might be such a power for defence. I am confident that most readers will be astonished to find what a weapon we hold, and what we might achieve with it. I can only regard it as a piece of good fortune that would have been incredible if not real. Self-formed, and springing from the ranks and the will of the people, it is more than commonly secure from the operation of crotchets and mal-administration. In endeavouring to complete its efficiency I have suggested nothing which would not make us a large return for a small outlay. We might make a beginning at once, and so give the

world a much-needed assurance that we are a practical people capable of opposing the evils which threaten us. It is the fashion to call our navy our first line of defence; but this refers only to material means. Our first line of defence should be the respect of Europe.

The foregoing paper was published in the Nineteenth Century in March 1885. On the following 17th April it was read at the United Service Institution, and discussed; and the number of officers who desired to take part in the discussion was so great that it was continued on the 22nd and the 28th of April, eliciting a large amount of information and opinion, which is recorded in the journal of the Institution.

II.

THE VOLUNTEER FORCE.

(HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 22, 1886.)

In the House of Commons on the 22nd March 1886, Colonel Howard Vincent, a well-known officer of Volunteers, on the motion for going into Committee of Supply, moved as an amendment, "That for the thorough efficiency, maintenance, and development of the Volunteer force, an immediate increase in the present capitation grant is absolutely and urgently necessary."

The following reports of speeches delivered on that day appeared in the Birkenhead Advertiser.

GENERAL SIR EDWARD HAMLEY, in supporting the amendment, said :-Sir,-I beg permission to make a few remarks on the present question, from the point of view of an officer who is no otherwise connected with the Volunteers than in having carefully examined into the conditions of the force, and having thereby acquired a strong interest in it, and a profound conviction of its inestimable value to the country. And I propose to make only the shortest demand on