The Life of Spencer Compton, Eighth Duke of Devonshire (Volume 1 )

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1911 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVIII THE WAR OFFICE, 1883-1885 Lord Hartington left the War Office in the summer of 1866, and returned to it at the close of 1882, sixteen years later. Mr. Cardwell had carried through the army reform, involving shorter term of service, establishment of the reserve, and the system of linked battalions in each line regiment, one serving abroad, and the other acting as a nursery at home. The system of purchase of promotion had also been abolished. There was little change in the method of central administration. The Duke of Cambridge was still commander-in-chief, as he had been in 1866, and his naturally close relation to the Queen, and his dislike for all innovations, sometimes made difficulties for the Secretary of State. Lord Wolseley, the victor of Tel-el-Kebir, was now at the War Office as adjutant-general. Sir Ralph Thompson was permanent Under-Secretary. No war was, for the moment, in progress; the chief question was whether the troops still in Egypt should be reduced, and, if so, to what extent, or wholly withdrawn, and, if so, when? Sir Evelyn Wood was engaged in reorganising a portion of the shattered army of the Khedive; Valentine Baker, who had once been in the British service, and had afterwards won distinction against the Russians in the Turkish army, was at the head of a force of Egyptian gendarmerie. General Sir Frederick Stephenson commanded the British force of occupation. Nothing was more sincere than the intention of the British Government in 1883 to retire from the military occupation of Egypt, in pursuance of the pledges given to the world, and in conformity with their general principles of policy. Lord Hartington, in June 1883, told Lord Granville that both Lord Dufferin, recently returned from his Egyptian mission, and Lord Wol...