524 THE KASHMIR IMPERIAL SERVICH ARTILLERY. 
associated with Indian troops in the field. All details connected with 
their equipment and organization are arranged by the Inspector- 
General with the durbars on one hand and the Government on the 
other. 
The force is very strong in cavalry, and affords an honourable career 
to many men of family in the various States, to whom a military career 
is traditional, but who find little vent in the peaceful India of to-day. 
Some of the material from which the Imperial Service Corps are 
recruited is equal to the best in India, and it is very distinctly laid 
down that only subjects of a ruler shall serve in any of his corps; no 
aliens, with a few exceptions, being allowed to enlist. The reason of 
this is that it is important that in the event of trouble the armies of 
native States shall follow the lead of their chief. During the mutiny 
many of the native State contingents revolted when their rulers 
remained staunch, and in almost every case these contingents were 
recruited from races not subject to the State they served, and were for 
the most part of similar constitution to the Bengal Army with whom 
they threw in their lot. For this reason great stress is laid on the 
Imperial Service Corps enlisting men from their own State only. 
The movement when first started met with much opposition, chiefly 
from men who knew India when the native States and their armies were 
a source of considerable anxiety. There are, of course, many good 
arguments both for and against the movement, which however was 
approved by Lord Roberts, and the present organization was gradually 
developed, entailing in many States the very satisfactory result of the 
reduction of many of the undisciplined irregular corps, into which the 
armies of De Boigne and his contemporaries had degenerated. 
The ‘Imperial Service” system is undoubtedly the policy of a 
strong Government, confident in the loyalty of the native chiefs and in 
its own power to preserve that loyalty. 
The Kashmir army, to describe the artillery of which is the object 
of this article, is now the remnant of a very large force maintained .by 
the Maharajah Gulab Singh to defend his Punjab frontier and hold the 
various distant districts of Ladakh, Skardu and Gilgit, which he pro- 
ceeded to overrun. 
In 1888, when the present Maharajah Pratab Singh made his offer 
of troops for Imperial defence, most of the old cadres remained and 
these with many corps of militia amounted to a very considerable 
number, far above that which the resources and military needs of his 
State could warrant. 
So, shortly after his offer of troops was made, the Kashmir army 
generally was gradually reduced to a strength of 8 squadrons of 
cavalry, 4 batteries of artillery, 9 battalions of infantry and some 
sappers and miners. Of these, 6 battalions of infantry, 2 Mountain 
batteries and 2 squadrons of cavalry were organized as Imperial Service 
Troops and armed by the Indian Government. The remainder forming 
what is called their regular army with obsolete armament and little 
training is only maintained for the purposes of guards, ceremonial and 
the garrisoning of unimportant frontier stations in Skardu and Ladakh. 
Perhaps its most efficient corps is a battery of Horse Artillery, who 
