§ THE EARL OF FEVERSHAMrose to ask the Under Secretary of State for War, When it was intended to issue breech-loaders to the Militia and Volunteers? There were 51 regiments of the former force, and all the latter, who were without them. In this country it was never desired to maintain a large standing army; but in recent times it had been thought necessary to have as Reserve Forces the Militia and Volunteers, and he believed it must be the wish of the country to see them placed in such a position that they could adequately meet any emergency that might arise. Those branches of the services, he submitted, were not in such an efficient position as they ought to be; while the Secretary for War's statement at the Mansion House that the Army in its present condition would challenge comparison with any former time was not just, because it did not look to a proper standard of efficiency. The standard by which we should test the efficiency of our military service was not the standard of former times, but that which existed in the great military nations on the Continent. He rejoiced to hear that 1269 the Army was to be placed in an efficient state, and he desired that the Militia and Volunteers should be put on the same footing. When the forces of this country were enumerated, the Militia and Volunteers were always included in the estimate of the total strength; but he submitted that as long as there were 51 regiments of Militia and the whole body of Volunteers who were not armed with the best possible weapons, they might be struck off the list of available forces, because they could not contend on anything like equal terms if any emergency arose to call them out. He was told that there were only 30,000 breech-loaders now in store, but he did not credit that statement; and if the Government had, as he supposed, a much larger number in hand, why did they not at once supply those weapons to the Reserve Forces? Whether war or peace prevailed, it was only common sense that these forces should be supplied with the best arms, and should be enabled to become efficient in the use of them.
§ LORD NORTHBROOKsaid, the noble Earl (the Earl of Feversham) was quite right in supposing that the statement as to there being only 30,000 Snider rifles in store was inaccurate, and, without going into the particulars of the matter, he might add that that blunder was a ridiculous one. The noble Earl had truly remarked that it was not proper to compare the condition of the Army now with what it was in former times; yet the present condition, he maintained, with regard to the weapon of the infantry, was a perfectly satisfactory one. The Snider rifle was superior to the weapon in the hands of any army in Europe, and its supply to the Reserve Forces had engaged the attention of the Wax Office ever since Mr. Cardwell accepted Office. 75,000 breech-loaders had been issued to the Reserve Forces, Sniders to the Militia and Pensioners, and the Westley Richards carbine to the Yeomanry. The arming of the Militia with Sniders would proceed until that force was completely armed with them; and the next force to be armed with them would be the Volunteers. The same course would be pursued with them as with the Militia, and they would be gradually armed with Sniders as means could be adopted for insuring that the arms should be properly taken care of. It must be remembered that the Snider 1270 was a much more delicate weapon than the Enfield musket, and it was essential that Government should be satisfied that proper care would be taken of the arms placed in the hands of the Reserve Forces. As regarded the time it would take for men who had been trained to the use of muzzle-loaders to acquire efficiency in the handling of breechloaders, he did not profess to be able to give an opinion; but he had been assured that upon this point no apprehensions need be entertained, and that the shortest possible training would enable men who had been trained with muzzle-loading arms to use the Snider, which was one of the easiest and simplest weapons ever placed in the hands of a soldier.
§ EARL COWPERinferred from the speech of the noble Lord (Lord Northbrook) that it would be some time before the Reserve Forces would be armed with breech-loading rifles, and he therefore wished to ask whether there would be any objection on the part of the Government to those regiments, who were ready to bear the expense of conversion, having their muzzle-loaders converted into breech-loaders—an operation which he was told could be effected at a cost of about 10s. a weapon.
§ LORD NORTHBROOKsaid, that if any offer of that nature were made by any regiment, the proposal would be considered by the Government.
VISCOUNT MELVILLEsaid, he did not know what the noble Lord opposite meant by efficiency, but he had never known the Army reduced to such a state as it was at present. He was informed there was not a single infantry regiment the rank and file of which exceeded 300 in number; that the cavalry regiments did not muster more than three squadrons; that the artillery was deficient in horsemen and gun-carriages; and he was told that the artillery flying column at Aldershot had been obliged to borrow waggons. What the noble Lord's idea of efficiency was he did not know; but in former times the establishment strength of infantry regiments had seldom been reduced below 800 men: although he recollected one instance in which the strength of a regiment fell to 750.
§ LORD NORTHBROOKsaid, the noble Viscount was altogether misinformed with respect to the strength of infantry 1271 regiments; and he could positively contradict the statement that there was any regiment which could not muster more than 300 men.