816 eepokt — 1884. 



Inasmuch as the payer feels the payment whether the money be applied to 

 general or to local purposes, it is but just to add together the two great heads of 

 imperial and local revenue. Thus the total of 203 and 61 millions amounts to 

 264 millions sterling annually, truly an amazing amount at first sight, the like of 

 which has never yet been imagined. Still the sum is not apparently high for the 

 total population, amounting to 1/. 5s. 4rf. per head per annum. 1 But the average 

 incidence varies greatly, being 4/. 7s. 5d. per head in the United Kingdom, 

 21. 14s. If?, per head in the Colonies and Dependencies, and only 7s. lid. in 



India. 



Another test of power relates to the provision for external defence and 

 internal protection — in other words, to armies, auxiliary forces, and organised 

 police, to navies and marine. 



Now the men trained to arms in the British Empire may be stated at 850,000, 

 including the regular British forces at home and abroad, the militia, and volunteers 

 in the United Kingdom, and in the Colonies, the British Native forces in India, 

 and other countries. This includes 10,000 Egyptian troops under a British 

 general, but excludes the forces of the Native States of India, and of the other 

 countries politically connected with the empire. If, however, the forces of the 

 Native States of India were to be added (and they are generally available for 

 imperial purposes), then the total of 850,000 would be raised to nearly a 

 million. 



Thus the men under arms, or effectively trained to arms, are in number more 

 than three-quarters of a million, and under the last-named computation would amount 

 to nearly a million. This number represents those who are really serving, or who 

 are in receipt of allowances, or are actually called out from time to time — and not 

 those who are liable to be summoned in event of emergency. This actual total 

 ■will bear comparison numerically with the standing armies of the martial empires 

 now in the world, though there may be an important difference in respect to 

 military organisation. But the total is very small in comparison with the size of 

 the British Empire, representing only one soldier to every 10 square miles, and to 

 every 376 of the population. Thus the military forces of the British Empire, 

 taken at the outside figure, are much smaller relatively to the territory and the 

 people than those of any other great State, excepting only the United States of 

 America. There remains, too, the cardinal fact that the British military forces 

 are raised entirely by voluntary enlistment, a circumstance almost unique in the 

 military arrangements of the present age. 



Of "the total strength 850,000, about 150,000 are soldiers of the dark or 

 coloured races, and the remainder, or 700,000, are of the fair or dominant race. 

 But if the total of a million be taken, then it may be said that 300,000 are of the 

 dark races, and 700,000 of the fair or dominant race. These proportions are 

 satisfactory in respect to the safety of the empire. 



The defensive armaments of the empire by sea and land cost 41 millions 

 Sterling annually, or 20 per cent, of the total of' revenue and receipts, which pro- 

 portion is less than that shown by any great State in the world, except the 

 United States. If the expenditure be compared with the whole population of the 

 empire, then it amounts to less than four shillings a head, which (always with 

 the exception of the United States) is the cheapest rate to be found in any great 

 State of the world. 



Subsidiary to external defence is that internal protection which a police force 

 secures. Now the police force of the British Empire, metropolitan, municipal, 

 and rural together, is in numbers about 210,000. Of this total, 51,000 are in the 

 United Kinfdom, and 147,000 in India, the remainder being in the Colonies and 

 Dependencies. It may be a question whether there should be added to this total 

 the number of village police in India, who are paid not by the State, but by 

 village cesses, and who are legally recognised. Their number is not exactly known, 

 but is not less than 350,000, and this addition would bring the grand total of the 

 police for the empire up to 560,000. 



1 This ratio includes the British subjects only, and not the Native States under 

 British control. 



