The principle of duty applies of course to the navy as well as to the army, and any man going to the navy will be exempt from army training. But it is doubtful whether the navy can be effectively manned on a system of very short service such as is inevitable for a national army. The present personnel of the navy is maintained by so small a yearly contingent of recruits that it will be covered by the excess of the annual class over the figure here assumed of 200,000. The actual number of men reaching the age of twenty is more than 400,000, and the probable number out of 400,000 who will be physically fit for service is at least 213,000. I assume that for the infantry and field artillery a year's training would, with good instruction, be sufficient, and that even better and more lasting results would be produced if the last two months of the year were replaced by a fortnight of field manoeuvres in each of the four summers following the first year. For the cavalry and horse artillery I believe that the training should be prolonged for a second year. The liability to rejoin the colours, in case of a national war, should continue to the end of the 27th year, and be followed by a period of liability in the second line, Landwehr or Territorial Army. The first thing to be observed is the numerical strength of the army thus raised and trained. If we assume that any body of men loses each year, from death, disablement, and emigration, five per cent. of its number, the annual classes would be as follows:-- 1st year, age 20-21 200,000 (At the end of the 2nd " " 21-22 170,000 first year 20,000 3rd " " 23-24 161,300 are to go abroad 4th " " 24-25 153,425 as explained below) 5th " " 25-26 145,754 6th " " 26-27 138,467 -------- Total on mobilisation 968,946 ======== This gives an army of close upon a million men in first line in addition to the British forces in India, Egypt, and the colonial stations. If from the age of 27 to that of 31 the men were in the Landwehr, that force would be composed of four annual classes as follows:-- 7th year, age 27-28 131,544 8th " " 28-29 124,967 9th " " 29-30 118,719 10th " " 30-31 112,784 -------- Total of Landwehr 488,014 ======== There is no need to consider the further strength that would be available if the liability were prolonged to the age of 39, as it is in Germany.