The feature of the Guards, besides their specially striking discipline
and dexterity in drill, is their short service
with the colours and the consequent immense strength of their reserves. This renders the Guardsman, strange as it may seem, a specially cheap form of soldier. In our opinion Lord Haldane made a very great mistake when he abolished the third battalion of the Scots Guards. We should like to see that third battalion put back and two battalions added to the Irish Guards. If that were done we should then have four regiments of Guards with three battalions each, and a reserve which would on mobilization give us nearly thirty thousand infantry men of the highest quality. We do not believe that the effect on recruiting for the Line would be bad, because it is undoubted that there are a great many men who, though they will serve in the Guards, do not, owing to foreign service, care to enter the Line.
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