A RESERVOIR OF CAVALRY OFFICERS.
[To THE EDITOR OP TEE "SPECTATOR.") Sru,—I heard an officer returned from South Africa say that he thought the Cape Mounted Riflemen were the finest cavalry soldiers in the world. This, of course, is but a dis- interested opinion, but what little has been heard of them in official despatches has been of unqualified praise. If the country is in need of cavalry officers at the present time, here seems to be the corps to draw upon. Offer these men com- missions and they would jump at the idea ; they love their profession and have learnt the business. Considering that these men joined their corps long before there was any idea of war—many of them, I believe, because they could not get into the British Army through the ordinary channels— they must certainly, one would think, love soldiering fo its own sake, especially when they knew the corps was treated with scant consideration by their masters, the Cape Government, chiefly, I suspect, because they were. English- men. These must be the kind of men we want. They have been abnost passed over in the distribution of rewards and promotions, whether because they do not belong to the Imperial Army proper, or because they have been so split up into small companies to be attached to different columns on account of their special knowledge of scouting and of. Boer methods, and so have had no chance of forcing public atten- tion by acting in the mass, we cannot say. It must be remembered, too, that they are the right stamp of men to draw upon for officers, being educated chiefly at the publio schOols, and have made soldiering their life's work, being .a permanent foree.—I am, Sir, 8r.e., 04p.on.
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