Note 70 — Chapter XIX · THE CONSERVATIVE REACTION.

“We find,” said Mr. Hardy, “the stores so full and efficient that we can dispense with the payment of £100,000 on this head.” As to arms, he remarked that “in a few weeks the whole of the infantry will, I hope, have the Martini-Henry rifle. By to-morrow there will be 140,000 Martini-Henry rifles in store, and during the year there will be a further number of 40,000 provided.” After dilating on the abundance of ammunition in stock and the sufficiency of the Reserves, Mr. Hardy said of the Volunteers that the original number of them was 199,000, “far, however, from efficient men,” whereas the number in 1874, though only 153,000, consisted of thoroughly efficient men, who were “far more worth having than what formerly existed.” The fortifications, he said, were of “the most efficient character.” He even praised the Intelligence Department, the formation of which had been a favourite subject of denunciation by the Tory “Colonels.”