FOR PEACE AND WAR. 79 



regiments, the 9tb Lancers, has been mounted from England, 

 whereas before that time five or six were so supplied. The 

 horses for the Artillery are, indeed, of English breed, but the 

 Cavalry, with the exception named, are mounted from Ireland. 

 The causes of this are, in Mr. Phillips' opinion, and in that of 

 his partner, Mr. East, the change in the regulation age from 

 three to four years old. "The mischief," says Mr. East, "is 

 this :— 



" We left off buying three-year-olds for the Army after the Crimean War. 

 We bought three-year-olds for 25 guineas before the Crimean War, then we 

 certainly had not many ; their numbers were few, but the quality of them was 

 very good indeed. The Crimean War came, and it was no use attempting to 

 buy young ones; we had to buy older horses about London, and wherever we 

 could, for £40 a piece ; and wlien the war was over they would not go back to 

 the three-year-olds, but would insist upon having four-year-olds, and they 

 gave £30 for them. If I am obliged to pay £15 for keeping my colt for a year, 

 I think it was a hard case for the Government to ask of a farmer to sell them 

 a four-year-old horse for about £S 10s. more than they gave before ; because 

 they gave 25 guineas for a three-year-old, and then they asked to have a four- 

 year-old at £.20 ; and when you wanted him kept till he was four years old, 

 you were placed somewhere in the same position as I should be with my colt. 

 You could not have the four-year-old when he was a four-year-old, the foreigner 

 would buy him ; the foreigner steps into the market, and then the farmers 

 can get £40 for him ; but if you had bought the horse at three years old, he 

 would not have got into the foreigner's hands." 



This statement Mr. Phillips, who " mounts the whole of the 

 Artillery in England," corroborates, and further gives us the 

 .following piece of by no means satisfactory information : — 



" 2G3. Supposing that there was any sudden call for horses within two or 

 ihree months, how soon could you get 2,000 or 3,000 together? — I should be 

 put to my wits' end to do it. 



" 264. Will it or will it not be an affair of price ? — No, it is not a question 

 of money ; it is a question of not having the animals. 



" 265. You actually think that there are not the animals on sale in England 

 to provide 2,000 or 3,000 horses for the Artillery at a sudden emergency? — 

 Certainly not, in England. I firmly believe that at the present time every 

 farmer in England who farms over 200 acres of land is short-handed with his 

 horses." 



Nor is Sir Henry Storks much more confident on the 



subject : — 



" 1,599. Is it your experience that you could not find 2,000 horses in Great 

 Britain ? — I think I could find them if I went with any quantity of money in 

 my pocket, but I could not find them at the regulation price, nor could I find 

 them in a very short period. 



"1,600. Should j-ou find any difiiculty in procuring the proper niimber of 

 Cavalry horses to put our Army on a war footing ? — I should think that they 

 could not be procured easily, but there are officers here who will give a better 

 opinion upon that subject than I can do." 



One of those officers, Major-General Eobort Wardlaw, is of 

 opinion that perhaps the number could be found at first, " but 



