CO885(1-2) — Page 78

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Muscellaneous Av III

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CONEIDENTIAL,

THE ARMY.

IN consequence of the great and not un- natural anxiety which is at present felt by the public as to our means of repelling a foreign invasion, I think it right again to call the attention of the Cabinet to a paper on the con- stitution of the Army, which I sent to my col- leagues soon after the formation of the present Administration, and which I have now had reprinted.

I am persuaded that the public will not be satisfied (and I am bound to say that I think they ought not to be satisfied) by the adoption of measures of which the object is merely to increase the number of the Army, or to provide a reserve force of Militia or Volunteers. There exists a general impression, which I believe to be well founded, that sufficient pains have not been taken to adopt in this country the same means which have been taken in foreign coun- tries to increase the real strength of the Army in proportion to its numbers, by the careful training of officers and men in a general know- ledge of all that relates to their profession, and especially in the use of the improved arms which modern science has rendered available. A very unfavourable contrast is drawn between the practice in France, where such extreme care is taken to instruct the officers in the science as well as the practice of war, and to render the soldiers expert in the use of the formidable arms entrusted to them, and the practice in this country, where the scientific knowledge of the art of war is so little culti- vated by the great majority of our officers, and

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference

TC.O. 885

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