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garrison; but only a twelfth part of the Bengal Army was available for foreign service. The rest could refuse to cross the sea. The land journey to Burma was practically impossible. The problem pressed for solution. Of the six regiments available for general service, three were in Pegu, and would have shortly to be relieved : the other three had but recently returned, and could not be again called upon for such unwelcome employment. Lord Canning appealed for help to the Madras Government, whose army did not, by the terms of enlistment, enjoy the exemption from service across the sea. But the Madras Government objected that the general employment of its troops as a garrison for Burma would render the army unpopular, check enlistment, and impair the morale and discipline of the force. Thus foiled. Lord Canning resolved that the only course was to act in the direction which had, several years before, been indicated by the Directors — to assimilate the terms of enlistment for the whole Bengal Army to those in force in the Bombay and Madras Armies and in the six 'General Service' regiments of Bengal. It was decreed, accordingly, that, for the future, the terms of recruitment for the whole of the Bengal army would involve the obligation of service beyond the sea. The announcement produced no manifestation of disapproval, and Lord Canning wrote home in the autumn of 1856 that there was no symptom that the change was unpopular, or that the Sepoys, enlisted on the old terms, regarded it as a first step towards