The Daily Chronicle of Monday raises publicly a very important
and difficult question which has been for along time exercising the minds of soldiers and of civilians who care for the welfare of the Army. It is—what shall be done with the Mounted 'Infantry, of which there are now some thirty battalions ? That these battalions, composed of the heroes of a hundred fights, constitute the very flower of the British Army cannot be doubted. They were picked men originally, officers and privates, and now that they have worked together and fought together, many of them for two years and more, they are out- soldiered by no corps in the world. The problem is,—shall they be kept together, or at any rate a large number of them. as a separate force inspired by a splendid tradition, or shall they be sent back to leaven their respective regiments P It is a most difficult question. The advantages of either decision are so obvious, and also so nearly matched, that it is well nigh impossible to say to which side the balance inclines. We feel that it is primarily a soldier's question,—i.e., one which must be answered on military grounds alone, and not by any senti- mental considerations, however moving. The efficiency of the Army, and nothing else, must be the deciding motive.
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