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256 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
lishment 360,000. This is 90,000 more than are now
provided for in the Estimates and on the India estab-
lishment; but can it be said that the proposed num-
bers are at any point excessive? Recollecting what
happened in the United States for want of an army,
and what happened to ourselves in South Africa two
years ago, we can all see how much cheaper it is to
maintain a proper force than to run any risks such as
we are now doing. Whatever nice calculations we
make, we should conform in this matter to the practice
of engineers in estimating for works, and add a large
percentage for under-estimates and the unforeseen.

We come then to the second question as regards the
Army, viz., the numbers on a war footing. Here we
have in view the last three objects above mentioned as
those for which an English army is maintained, viz.,
the provision against invasion at home on a large scale,
or against a great war abroad on a land frontier, or in
support of a European ally. Those who deny the
possibility of an invasion of the mother country will at
least admit the chance of more serious war elsewhere,
so that the practical conclusion is very much the same.
No doubt if we retain command of the sea we shall
have some time after the outbreak of war to prepare
forces for such eventualities, but we shall save much
by having a good organization meanwhile, and trained
forces in reserve whiCh can be called out in a short
time-the quicker the better.
What I should like to see would be first of all a re-
serve of Regular trained soldiers equal in quality to the
270,000 trained soldiers, exclusive of recruits, who are
to constitute, according to the above sketch, the peace
army. The numbers of this reserve should also be con-
siderable, at least equal, I should say, to the home field
army plus half the force we maintain abroad-that is,
to about 160,000 men in all. One half of these reserves
would replace the field army at home when it was
called away for foreign service, and the remainder