10 ENGLAND'S HORSES, 



establishment. These animals are trained at head-quarters, and 

 are let out to farmers on the condition that they are to be avail- 

 able if required. Colonel Goodenough adds, ' I have myself 

 seen these horses when called out for manoeuvres, and I believe 

 that the system has worked well up to the present time.' 



" We have placed the Austrian system of providing horses for 

 their army in considerable detail before our readers, as we con- 

 sider that the newest solution by one of the most military 

 powers in Europe of a problem which has puzzled, and still 

 continiTCS to puzzle, our most able soldiers is deserving of a 

 very full examination. At the same time it is impossible to 

 avoid detecting many flaws and weaknesses in any system which 

 is so complicated, and apparently would require far more than 

 the calculated time to be carried out. We all know the con- 

 fusion which, in nine cases out of ten, arises on a declaration 

 of war throughout all the departments of any government, 

 however well organised. If all goes well, within four days after 

 the order for mobilisation has been issued, the horses destined 

 for service of the state will have been selected, but it must be 

 remarked that even under the most favourable circumstances 

 they will only have been selected — they will not have been told 

 off to their duties, still less will they have been organized or 

 forwarded to the various points where they are required. As 

 an army without transport cannot move, and without artillery 

 cannot fight, unless some great alteration is introduced into the 

 system just explained we should have much solicitude for the 

 safety of an Austrian army during the first few weeks of a 

 campaign, if it was opposed to an active and energetic enemy 

 like Germany. In a country where distances are great, railways 

 few and ill-organized, the four days wasted in selecting horses 

 might make the difference between safety and ruin. Of course, 

 any such system of forced conscription is wholly impracticable 

 in England, and unless in case of invasion would be quite un- 

 necessary. The practice, however, of letting out surplus 

 cavalry horses to farmers has often been suggested, and is, 

 we think, deserving of consideration, more especially if the 

 principle of localization is ever to be extended to the cavalry," 



