attempted. Even in the largest armories, there is not sufficient room to exercise an entire battalion of four companies of about one hundred each. The proper distances and intervals cannot be preserved, and officers and men become accustomed to make errors, which they are required and ordered to make in armories to conform to circumstances.

In good weather there should be a "march out" at least once a month, companies first marching out one by one, and subsequently battalions and the regiment. In spring and summer, when ordinarily there is little work in armories, organizations in cities and towns should take turns in performing the ceremony of evening parade on Saturday afternoons in some suitable place, thus providing a spectacle which would please and interest both the public and the men, and make a "demonstration" of strength and efficiency. A parade in a park or boulevard at sunset on Saturday could be witnessed by nearly all workingmen, and would be considered by them a concession to the demand, perhaps a just one, that the State or Government should do something to make life pleasant for the poorer class.

Battle exercises and manœuvres on a large scale should be attempted more frequently, troops marching to and from the ground, and remaining out of the armory at least two days, subsisting themselves in the same manner as when on the march in the field. It is on these occasions that battalion drills and regimental drills should occur, varied ground being used, and full campaign equipment being carried.

"To have men walk once or twice a year over a range and fire one shot at each halt, consumes time and ammunition without teaching them anything," General Wingate remarks. The same is true of taking men to a range once or twice a year and ordering them to fire ten shots at targets at known distances. And it is absurd to say that any distance is "unknown" on a range where those who shoot are familiar with every stake, tree and landmark. But as Guardsmen or Reservists must of necessity practice on ranges, the conditions of shooting in battle should be simulated as far as possible. If, as General Wingate suggests, a canvas target simulating men advancing were mounted on wheels and drawn toward the firing point, on a railway, by a wire rope, those firing would really fire "at unknown distances," as in war, and would learn to adjust sights quickly and aim properly.

VI, Inspections should be made quarterly, without more than forty-eight hours' notice, by a disinterested officer of the 'Army.

Inspection in the National Guard has hitherto, in a majority of the States, been made by an officer of the State or Brigade staff, who has given timely notice of his intention to inspect. At once, every officer, however apathetic at any other time, has bestirred himself; ascertained the whereabouts of missing men, and urged them to be present; inspected uniforms and equipments and had them put in order; replaced missing articles, and put in order company books and papers. The inspector comes and finds the organization in a better state than it has been in at any time during the year, or is likely to be at any time until his next appearance. He musters the men and counts them, makes a rapid and perfunctory examination of uniforms, arms and equipments, glances at books and papers, verifies the property accounts and is satisfied.

Such an inspection necessarily fails entirely to reveal the actual state of an organization as it is for twelve months in the year. Nor do the inspections frequently made in camp by Army officers enable them to ascertain all they desire to know regarding an organization. Both at camp and at annual inspection an organization is "on its good behavior." It has been warned it will be watched and inspected, and acts accordingly.

Not more than forty-eight hours' notice of intention to inspect should be given; and, upon service of notice by a proper officer, commanding officers should be required to deliver immediately to such officer the books and papers of the organization, in order that no changes may be made therein previous to inspection.

The work of inspection should be divided up in the following manner: In winter, at the armory, there should be inspection of quarters, property, books, papers and accounts, examination of officers sent up for examination, and medical examination of recruits; in spring, at a rifle range, inspection of small-arms practice, of drills in school of the soldier and company, and of campaign uniform and equipment; in summer, in the field, inspection of drills in school of battalion, of evolutions of regiment and extended order on varied ground, of guard and outpost duty, and proficiency in cooking, pitching and striking camp, sanitary precautions, etc.; in autumn, in the field, inspection of marching

in a march of five hours, with formation as in an enemy's country, of proficiency in entrenching, and provisioning of troops in the field.

A regiment should be graded not according to its ability to produce one hundred per cent. of its men at inspection, or to present those men clean and well-disciplined, but according to (1.) the condition of books, papers, quarters and uniforms; (2.) drill of officers and men; (3.) proficiency in small-arms practice, and (4.) proficiency in cooking and duties of the soldier in the field.

VII. The Light Artillery of the Guard should be reorganized as machine-gun Artillery and regiments of the infantry should be reorganized as Garrison or Heavy Artillery.

Now that it has been conclusively shown by Lieutenant John H. Parker, U. S. A., that machine guns may successfully participate in a charge on a well-fortified position held by a superior force of veteran troops armed with modern rifles, in the words of Lieutenant Parker, "a new arm of the service is created." While this statement is true, as far as the Army is concerned, it is not quite correct. For the National Guard has for many years evinced a decided preference for machine guns, and many batteries have been wholly or partially armed with these weapons. The "new arm of the service" has already been created in the Guard, and should be maintained.

While, in order to render a National Guard battery effective, large sums must necessarily be expended for guns, equipment and horse-hire, it is a question whether the results obtained would justify the expenditure. On the other hand, "machine-gun sections" of "Gatling batteries" have become remarkably proficient.

If the Volunteer Army is to become an Army for national defense, its first and most important duty will be to man seacoast fortifications, where at present the entire United States force of artillery is not sufficiently large to furnish one relief of the three which would be required for the batteries in time of war, nor even large enough to keep the guns and other property in good order and repair. The duties of the Army Heavy Artillery will in war devolve almost immediately upon the Volunteer 'Artillery. But gunnery is a science, and the care and use of modern high-power, large-calibre guns require a skill which cannot be acquired in a week or a month. Volunteer artillerists should therefore be secured, organized and trained without delay. The

lead of Massachusetts and New York in this respect should be followed.

VIII. The Military Staffs of Civil Governors should be abolished and their duties should be performed by staffs of Military District Commanders of the Volunteer Reserve.

Much of the inefficiency of the Guard has been charged to the fact that the responsible duties of Staff Departments have been committed to men appointed from civil life for political rather than military reasons, and whose term of office was that of the appointing Governor, and who consequently could never acquire a thorough knowledge of their duties.

Remedies for other defects have been suggested, and it remains only to urge the need for immediate action. The Secretary of War has already called attention in his annual report to the fact that the law requires the reduction of the Army to its former strength during the next year. If such reduction is made the nation will be facing a most serious problem: that of defending home territory, pacifying and holding outlying possessions, and upholding the national prestige of the United States as "a great Power," with a handful of soldiery-with one Army Corps.

A demand for organization of an effective Volunteer Reserve will then unquestionably be made. Is it not well to anticipate that demand, and at the same time to guard against the natural and justifiable objections of the National Guard to being superseded or disbanded, by beginning at once the work of transforming the Guard, the material at hand, into an effective Reserve? No question before the people deserves more earnest consideration, and more energetic action by the Congress, than this. CHARLES SYDNEY CLARK.

THE BRITISH VOLUNTEER SYSTEM.

BY THE RT. HON. EARL BROWNLOW, FORMERLY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR.

THE early years of this century found England in the possession of a large body of volunteers. They were not a part of the permanent military organization of the country, but were raised in a hurry, and for a special purpose, and were only intended to meet a sudden emergency. At that period, Napoleon I. had massed a great army at Boulogne in sight of the British coast; but the British cruisers held the Channel, and day after day and month after month passed, until the naval battle of Trafalgar put an end forever to his ambitious dream of the conquest of England. It was to meet this contingency that the Volunteers of 1803 were raised, and the danger having been averted, they were disbanded and never brought together again.

With the organization and efficiency of this force, this article is in no way concerned, and it is only mentioned here to explain that volunteering for defense of the country is no new idea, but that the volunteers of 1803 have no relation to those of 1858. They served their purpose; they came together to the number of 463,000 men, and when the emergency ceased, they died out and disappeared.

They seem to have incurred at that time a certain amount of "chaff" on account of their somewhat crude ideas of military duties, and it is said that one regiment having repeatedly pointed out to Mr. Pitt that they only volunteered to repel invasion, and were on no account to be sent out of the country, he replied that he would promise not to send them away "except in the case of invasion."

There is, however, one volunteer corps-the Honorable Artillery Company of the City of London-which is quite excep