The War in Egypt (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The War in Egypt

The condition of the English army was exactly the reverse of that which we have just described. The fruits of short service, even though the system had not been worked out in its full integrity, had produced an infantry reserve as great as the whole of the army first sent to the Crimean war, and the regiments which were approaching their turn for foreign service had been raised nearly to the strength as part of the ordinary military system of the country. The arrange ment was not quite complete, and a few months more would have seen the army still better prepared. But it was sufficient for its purpose. The Government had also the good for tune to have as advisers men who had not been opponents of the new organization. The Minister who holds the seals of the War Office has had the good sense and the courage to act on the best military opinion, and the Treasury has been wise enough to perceive that there is no means more calculated to make a war expensive than endeavouring to do it more cheaply than the necessities of the case demand. The idea was preva lent in some quarters that England's duty would be fulfilled if, in conjunc mm, sums. Tion with France, she sent a force to occupy the principal points of the Suez Canal; but from such efforts as these no good results could ever have come, and the Government determined that if a force had to be sent at all the business should be thoroughly done. We have on several occasions laid before our readers the various measures which were taken by the War Office. They have proved to be ample to ensure success except in one particular namely, that of transport. And even there the failure was not due to the arrange ments of the present Government, but to a Constitutional, though exaggerated, safe guard which prevents all English Governments from spending money on military preparations until Parliament has declared in favour of a war bv granting supplies.

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