as certainly as a leader of the ballet, on the reproduction of that attitude by the entire corps. It is possible also that, in England, too much importance may be attached to the solidarity of the Executive Council on the same question. For the Council has, like the Civil Service, though from a different reason, an adherent tendency to support the Viceroy, just as the minor members of an administration have a tendency to support the Premier, or the under masters of a school, the head. If a seat in the Council were subsequent instead of anterior to a LieutenantGovernorship, the deliberations of that body would probably gain in value, though they might lose something in unanimity.

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CHAPTER XXXVI

THE SILLADAR CAVALRY

OF the many features which make the Indian Army so much more interesting than the British the chief is unquestionably the system by which the bulk of its Cavalry is recruited and sustained. At home it is a toss up when Thomas Atkins takes the shilling to what arm of the Service he may give the preference, even if, which does not always happen, the preference is his to give. But in India the trooper is a quite different person from the private of the Line, indeed, he may very often be his employer. The man most nearly the sowar's equivalent that we have in England is the small farmer, who takes out his horse and does his training with the local Yeomanry. He is, in effect, a yeoman owning and cultivating the bit of land that his father owned and cultivated before him, and taking service with the British Raj as a natural consequence of his ancestry and traditions.

One is writing now of the Silladar Cavalry, and the Silladar system accounts for thirty-seven of the forty regiments of Indian Cavalry, including the Guides, and its methods may therefore be

considered representative. Now, when a man enlists in a Silladar regiment he does not take a shilling or its eastern equivalent and sign on for probably the shortest possible term of service. Instead it is he who brings the offering, which takes the form of a horse, and he comes to make the regiment his home for life, and to contribute all the good years of his manhood to the King's service. In practice he does not, as in the old days, bring a horse, but he pays its value instead into the regimental treasury, which suits better its economies, since all the Silladar regiments either breed or buy their own chargers. Two hundred and fifty rupees, about sixteen guineas, is the price fixed, for which he obtains a far more valuable animal than he could buy with the money, and in addition he becomes the possessor, at a price, of the equipment he requires, uniform, lance, sword, saddlery, tent, hut, pony pack-saddlery, and so forth; that is, of everything he needs except his rifle. He does not pay down for these, but they are valued, having belonged as a rule to the man whose place he takes, and the value is written off gradually against his pay. The Government contributes nothing but a rifle, ammunition, and thirty-one rupees a month, which is his pay, and from which, before it reaches him, considerable regimental stoppages have to be made; so considerable that occasionally there may be nothing left for him to

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handle. The regiment thus takes the burden of life from his shoulders, but it does not, as in the Regular Cavalry, take the interest of responsibility from him too. His horse is his own, his equipment is his own; any avoidable damage to these must be made good out of his own pocket. He has thus an interest in economies very essential to the well-being of the regiment; he has a personal stake in the fitness of his horse and in the condition of his equipment; a stake which must inevitably press both ways, since he will for his own sake not only look after both in the interests of the Sirkar, but will resent the Sirkar's asking work of either that will lessen their value to him.

It is just here that at present the pressure is beginning to be felt. A good deal more work is being now asked of the native soldier than he has hitherto expected or been expected to perform; work designed not only to increase his own efficiency, towards which he might be sympathetic, but to test the efficiency of others with whom probably he has no concern. It is inevitable that the improvement of the officer should entail more work on the man, and not on his man only but on some one else's; and the excess, where it only means a little more exercise and a little less leisure, may generally be liquidated by a little extra grumbling. To the Silladar it means more.

It means not only that the horse, which is his, gets knocked about and suffers in value, and that his clothing and equipment become damaged and require repair, but perhaps that all the arrangements of the regiment for his sustenance may be upset, that the advantageous contracts it has made may be wasted, and that instead of buying his food and fodder in the cheap market it may have at short notice to purchase them in one that has been spoiled. In the ordinary Cavalry regiment this would only mean that the Government would be out of pocket, but with the Silladar the loss falls on the regimental funds and the pocket of the sowar, and a frequent repetition of such losses tends to make the Service unpopular, especially in a regiment without a large reserve. For in the matter of funds the regiments are very differently situated. Some have land and breeding establishments and much invested money; while others, with very little to fall back on, depend for their appearance and efficiency on the business capacity of their commanding officer; and, being able to make a good show thanks to skilful management, any unforeseen extravagance which is forced upon them makes just the difference which decides whether they shall or shall not be able to take a pride in themselves, which means the difference of being fit for anything or fit for nothing.