28 MARCH 1874, Page 3

Colonel George Chesney proposed at the United Service Insti- tute

yesterday that as we can't have a great army we should have one of the most unequalled efficiency,—his idea being that we might get so highly-finished a development of the American mounted cavalry, that, each man being able to take care of his horse, cross country, and fight equally well on horseback or on foot, and to entrench himself at need, 30,000 efficient soldiers of this type might possibly push across Europe, and by acting on the communications, paralyse 300,000 of the present type. To realise his idea, the soldiers to whom he referred must be of a very high and highly-paid type, but then the penalty of dismissal for such a class of men would be adequate for all purposes. This was the only direction in which Col. Chesney thought we could minimise our relative military inferiority to the great Continental nations without incurring intolerable expense. The present writer is not soldier enough to estimate the value of the concep- tion ; but it is certainly common-sense that if we are to have few soldiers, the fighting efficiency of those few should be raised to a maximum.