of this volume. The liability of the employer for injuries sustained by the workman in the course of his service was not settled till 1897, and then only in certain specific trades and industries. WHEN the successive waves of excitement caused by the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, and the threatened French invasion had subsided, thinking men began to realise that the want of elasticity in our military system was a serious danger to the State. Before the Mutiny, only 30,000 of the queen's troops had been stationed in India, but after the outbreak in the native army it was decided to maintain a garrison of nearly 70,000 Britons in that country. Thus a large proportion of the British army was permanently withdrawn from the defence of the United Kingdom and the colonies. To replace them adequately in time of war it was essential that the Government should command a large reserve of well-trained men, fit at once to take the field; but though the War Office endeavoured to organise such a body of old soldiers, its efforts were so unsuccessful that the militia practically remained the only reserve of troops upon whom the country could count in case of need. In 1866 the "Seven Weeks' War" between Prussia and Austria proved that it was possible for an army, small in time of peace, to be capable of immense expansion in case of war; for as soon as the Prussian army was mobilised tens of thousands of well-trained reservists rejoined its ranks, and brought up its numbers to full war strength. reserve, G. LE M. GRETTON. The Army. Mr. Cardwell's Anxiety at our own failure to form a reliable astonishment at the brilliant success of the Prussian arms, Reforms. and embarrassment at our ever-increasing deficiency of recruits, paved the way for the introduction of the short-service system, by which Mr. Cardwell, then Secretary of State for War, revolutionised the army. Had England, like Germany, adopted the system of compulsory and universal service, and had she, like Germany, possessed no important colonies, no coaling stations, no Indian empire, Mr. Cardwell's task would simply have been that of the copyist. But he had to devise a system 1 Cf. pp. 298, 300, 312, 528. [1865 based on that of Prussia, yet suitable to an army recruited by voluntary enlistment, and of which half the strength is ever serving beyond the borders of the United Kingdom. He had to provide that the army in India should always be kept up to its full war strength, and the colonies and the coaling stations adequately garrisoned. He had further to arrange that the army at home should be prepared, not only to supply the troops for small expeditions abroad, but also to make good the annual waste in the strength of the forces in India and the colonies, whether caused by death, invaliding, or transfer to the reserve. Finally, he had tc create in England a strong reserve of thoroughly trained soldiers, ready to rejoin the ranks at a moment's notice. To provide such a reserve short service was essential; and this system, which has now obtained in the British army for a quarter of a century, was definitely adopted by the Govern 1885] Territorial System. ment in 1870. Young men of ages varying from eighteen to twenty-four are enlisted for twelve years, of which six years or more are spent "with the colours" (as service in the army is termed), and the remainder are passed in the reserve, where the soldier is free to carry on his civilian avocations, though liable to be recalled to the colours in time of need. It is obvious that under this system far more recruits are required The than in the days of long service, and to obtain them the territorial system was devised, by which infantry regiments, linked together in pairs, were assigned to the counties with which they were connected by sentimental or historic ties. Pitt's system (Vol. V., p. 715) of associating the militia with the regular army was revived and amplified; the militia and the volunteers were attached to the line regiments which are “localised” in (i.e. assigned to) their county; and this combination of regular and auxiliary forces was termed a territorial regiment. In each county were built large barracks, depôts, which serve as recruiting offices and training schools for the newly-enlisted regulars and militia-men, who side by side there receive their first lessons in discipline and drill. Not only did this association with the line greatly improve the militia from a military point of view, it also so familiarised them with the service that out of the 34,000 men who, about 1895, annually enlisted into the regular army about 14,000 were volunteers from the Constitutional force. In 1885 the strength of the army was about 180,000; but in the next Strength ten years there was a considerable increase in its numbers, which in 1895, exclusive of the reserve, was about 213,000 men of all arms. To these must be added 80,000 men in the firstclass reserve and 30,000 of the militia who, for a small annual bounty, had taken upon themselves the same liabilities as the first-class reserve. The plan of closely connecting each battalion with a particular part of the country proved successful; local esprit de corps was stimulated, and the interest of the civilian population in the army sensibly increased. In 1893 it was ascertained that of the infantry nearly 56,000 had been born and bred in the districts to which their battalions were localised. To insure a regular supply of men for the Indian and of the Army. Competi tion for Commissions. Abolition of Purchase. [1865 colonial garrisons it was decided that one or other of the battalions of each regular regiment shall always be on foreign service, drawing its reinforcements from the battalion at home. From the depôt the recruits are transferred to the English battalion, where their education is carried on until they are drafted into the battalion abroad, where their military training is continued until their time comes to return to England and pass into the reserve, in which there were in 1895 about 80,000 soldiers, young men in their prime, forming the backbone of the first fighting line of the army at home. On the two occasions in our period that the reserve was called out, 95 per cent. of the men responded to the summons, and showed, by the perfect ease with which they resumed their military duties, that they had forgotten nothing since their return to civil life. The short-service system is not the only improvement which the nation owes to Mr. Cardwell. When he took office in 1868, though a certain number of appointments to cavalry and infantry regiments were offered for competition, the large majority of commissions were obtained, not by merit but by favour. Except in the scientific corps (the engineers and the artillery), professional education was at the lowest ebb. Owing to the vicious system by which all responsibility was centred in two or three of the officers of each regiment, the remainder had so little to do that to hold a commission in the cavalry or infantry was not considered to involve serious work, but rather to be a light and agreeable occupation for rich men, to whom the purchase system gave many advantages over their less wealthy comrades. Before 1874, when Mr. Cardwell retired from office, all this had been changed. Thanks to the abolition of purchase (p. 524), officers no longer found themselves compelled to pay large sums of money for almost every step of promotion, under the penalty of seeing their wealthy juniors "purchase over their heads." The complete adoption of the principle of open competition for all commissions rendered it possible for young men with brains, but without interest or money, to force their way into the charmed circle of the British army. The career of arms became a profession in which talent and industry were allowed fair play. These innovations naturally raised a storm of indignation, and 1885] it was loudly asserted that the social status of the officers would completely change. But time proved that the successful candidates were still drawn from the same rank of life as of old. THE ABOLITION OF PURCHASE, 1871-AJAX DEFYING THE LIGHTNING. (Reproduced by special permission of the Proprietors of "Punch.") Officers, moreover, were compelled to study their profession Military -to pass qualifying examinations in fortification, tactics, Education. military law, and topography, before they obtain promotion to a higher rank. These tests were originally instituted in 1871 for subalterns, and were afterwards extended upwards. Schools of gunnery, of musketry, of engineering were also established, as well as classes on every conceivable military subject, even to shoeing a horse and recognising whether the meat issued for |