f cases, find the regiments in which they had formerly
served, on foreign service. It would then be necessary to draft them
into regiments to which they were strangers, in which they would take no
interest, and where they would be unknown to their officers. On the
other hand, should it be necessary to despatch suddenly six or seven
battalions to India or the Cape, they have to be made up to a war
strength from other corps, for they have been reduced to a skeleton
establishment in order that men may be provided for the Reserve.

Localisation, to be effectual, must be thorough; but it and the demands
of foreign service are so incompatible that they cannot be efficiently
combined. At the present time, neither is said to be in a satisfactory
condition, and the Reserve, which was expected to have risen to a total
of 80,000 men, consists of 32,000 only.

Military reformers have long since arrived at the conclusion that if the
British Army is to be maintained at such a footing as to give weight to
the voice of Great Britain in the councils of Europe, we must have two
distinct armies; namely, one for home service, ready for a European
imbroglio, and a second to which the defence of the colonies can be
entrusted. The objection to this has been, hitherto, the great expense,
for it has always been taken for granted that this Colonial Army would
consist of white soldiers; and the question of increased pay, supply of
recruits, and periodical removal of men to the United Kingdom, over and
above the cost of the Territorial Army, had to be considered. With negro
troops, however, for the Colonial Army, this objection, if it does not
entirely disappear, is reduced at least by three-quarters. Should it be
tried on a small scale and found successful, there need be no reason why
in time almost the whole of the Territorial battalions should not be
withdrawn from foreign service. In this way localisation could be made a
reality; and with such vast untouched recruiting grounds as our colonies
offer, there can be no doubt as to the practicability of raising the
negro regiments required. Such regiments might also partly compose the
garrisons of Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Aden, and Ceylon. There is,
indeed, no reason, except the hatred of the Hindoo for the negro, why
such regiments might not serve in India. As the negro would never
coalesce with the natives of India, a new and entirely reliable force,
indifferent to tropical heat, and not requiri