sixth superintend the commissariat. A seventh take charge of the medical department, including the ambulance corps. An eighth look after the waggon trains, pontoons, and bridge equipments generally. A ninth be answerable that ammunition is forthcoming when required. A tenth provide and keep in efficacy the means of naval transport; and an eleventh superintend the religious and educational affairs of the army. All these departments, presided over each by its own chief, ought to report directly to the Minister of War and receive from him their instructions. There would thus be required in Parliament but one Under Secretary, on whom would devolve the duty of bringing forward and defending the estimate of the probable costs of the army, and of all the establishments connected with it, for the current year. Such arrangements would greatly facilitate the progress of business both in Parliament and out of it. In Parliament the charges to be voted would come before Members in their simplest form, while elsewhere there would be no delays, no needless reference of papers from one room to another, but prompt decisions, so long as the ordinary course of detail was observed, and the power of immediate intercourse with the Minister, as often as exigencies arose, or new combinations appeared to be necessary. Administrative Boards, such as Lord Grey seems to prefer, are fatal to the prompt transaction of business. And next to Boards the most effective obstruction is the practice which now prevails; viz., that of sending every paper, no matter how trivial, through a succession of rooms to be reported on, before it can reach the authority which is to decide upon the proper line of action. VI. And now we come to the last, though certainly not the least, serious of the obstacles which interpose between this country and its maintenance during peace of an army worthy of the name. We allude to the excessive jealousy which has sometimes been entertained in Parliament of the growth of military power, and the disposition manifested in peace to cut down military establishments to the lowest possible figure. This was never more painfully acted upon than during the interval between the close of the wars of the French Revolution and our recent rupture with Russia. After many disasters and a profuse expenditure of treasure, the Duke of Wellington succeeded, despite of the obstacles of the system, in putting his army upon a respectable footing, and achieved with it such triumphs as a British army had never achieved before. But no sooner was the contest ended than a succession of reductions began, which left us in a more crippled state than VOL. CI. NO. CCVI. PP when the Duke of York undertook his expedition to the Low Countries in 1794. Establishment after establishment went by the board, while the entire energies of official men were directed to invent so many checks in the manner of keeping public accounts, as should render peculation impossible. Their scheme was eminently successful, but it operated more extensively than its authors could have intended; for such are now the obstacles opposed to the achievement of every purpose, good or bad, out of the commonest routine, that the boldest shrink from the responsibility which would attach to an informal measure, no matter how urgent the demand for it. Consider how this machinery has worked at Balaklava and elsewhere! Lord Raglan took the field hampered by regulations such as ought never to have been imposed on an officer in his situation. He seems to have had no authority to direct or to control his own commissariat, while the commissary-general, paralysed by visions of reckonings to come, did not venture, even when the lives of men and horses were in the balance, to overstep by a hair's breadth the limits of routine. But it is unnecessary to appeal to results so distressing as these. The fact stands beyond dispute, that by degrees the whole of that machine which the Duke of Wellington got together with such vast pains, fell to pieces under the pressure of a mistaken economy; and that the army, within a few years after attaining to a perfect organisation, returned to the condition of a mere aggregate of battalions, from which he had with difficulty raised it. Thanks to the perilous nature of our present position, a different spirit pervades the House of Commons, and enormous estimates have been voted without objection or a division. But true economy requires that we should keep what we have got in a state of efficiency. We do not want, we do not require, a large standing army in time of peace. A hundred and thirty or forty thousand men, inclusive of those employed in India, will meet all the demands of our Home and Colonial service. But let the force be complete in its equipments, in its organisation, in its discipline; and then with a good militia to fall back upon, we shall be ready to affront any danger, let it come in what shape and from what quarter it may. Perhaps it will be objected, that changes so extensive,not easy of accomplishment even in a time of profound peace,are quite impracticable in the midst of a great European war. Where, for example, are you to find, unemployed, officers qualified to become district or divisional instructors? And, supposing you do find these, whence are the subalterns to come who shall attend their lectures? And with regard to the organisation of the army into brigades, divisions, and corps d'armée, how can such a scheme be proposed when the whole of your disposable force is in the field before the enemy? There is some show of reason in these objections, but very little substance. Granting that it would be impossible just at this moment to find competent officers to put at the head of our. proposed divisional schools; granting also that the subalterns of the regular army are too busy to attend to theoretical instruction, however ably communicated, it will surely not be urged that the present is an inappropriate season either for setting aside three indifferent military seminaries in order to establish one which shall be really effective, or for reforming the system of instruction at the senior department in Sandhurst, with a view to provide a school wherein an educated staff corps may be reared. And in regard to the reorganisation of the army,-seeing that the measure is proposed as much for the purpose of training generals for command and staff officers for the performance of their duties, as in the hope of improving the discipline of the men,-surely this end can be achieved as effectually by concentrating the militia force into brigades and divisions as if we had regiments of the line wherewith to work. Besides, do we not look to the militia as the great feeder of the regular army; and will not the regular army be fed to far better purpose than now if men, trained as soldiers should be, for war and not for show, pass out of the ranks of our militia corps into the line? Be this, however, as it may, the suggestions here submitted for the consideration of the public are not so closely united in their several parts, as that the whole must fail to accomplish good if only one part prove to be impracticable. If you cannot establish military schools to-day or to-morrow, at all events give us an improved drill; if you cannot give us an improved drill, entice young men of intelligence and respectable connexions into the ranks, by insuring to them at least a fair chance of promotion. And finally, what is there to prevent the immediate recasting of all the public offices which have to deal with the army or its concerns, and the attempt, at least, to put them in really working condition? But we need not pursue the subject farther. We contend, and we deceive ourselves if the people of England are not of our way of thinking, that such changes as are here proposed, not only come within the reach of accomplishment, but must be accomplished; and the present Administration ought to consider itself fortunate, that the opportunity of effecting these great reforms in the army has fallen to it. The Parliamentary Committee, moved for by Mr. Roebuck, has from day to day let in fresh light upon facts, which, to the masses at least, must have heretofore been mysterious. Our quarrel, however, is not with individuals, but with a system, of which the imperfections have been demonstrated at a terrible cost to the nation, both in men and in treasure. Let us hope that it is on the eve of giving place to a better; nor, indeed, can this be doubted. A strong feeling has been roused throughout the country. The Legislature has been forward to meet the wishes of the people. The construction of one standing camp at Aldershot, and of another on the Curragh of Kildare, prove that the Government knows what is wanting, and is determined to supply it. There needs now but the appointment of a committee of practical men, to inquire into the feasibility of further changes, and to recommend their adoption when approved of. Permanent good may thus be brought out of temporary evil, and the sufferings of last winter in the camp before Sebastopol become the means of ensuring to us for ever a well-instructed army, and an effective machinery for the administration of its affairs. No. CCVII. will be published in July. INDEX. A Army Reform, review of Mr. Thompson's work on, 537-hopeful Austria. See Crimea. Autocracy of the Czars. See Czars, the. B Brougham, Lord. See Criminal Procedure. C Caoursin, William. See Rhodes, Siege of. Cardinal Mezzofanti. See Mezzofanti, Cardinal. Carlisle's, Lord, Diary, review of, 215-its general freedom from a |