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    BJSGRACEFUL ECONOMY.

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    Untitled Article

    N O one accustomed to watch the state expenditure or country * can -imagine what a penurious , money-loving , economical natioii we really are . We never vote " array ,- through our representatives , even so sin all a sum as a thousand pounds , without along ah . l deadly parliamentary struggle ; and we are always on the elart to see that this money is * made to go as far"as possible , that proper records are kept of ' its consumption and application , and that these records . ' are carefully audited to the smallest shilling and the minutest penny , by a well-appointed finance committee of the House . We never listen , to the voice , of any particular " interests" in Parliament ( the military , naval , and aristocratieal

    interests , for example , which number nearly two-thirds of the House ) , and allow them to direct an expenditure which enriches them out of th

    which go with them , would disgrace a third-rate mrmsion in a faded square ; and nothing can show so strongly our lamentable state of poverty ns the " volunteer movement , " wherein the country is trying to do its own military work , because it cannot ' afford to pny fighting-men at the rate of fifteonponec a day . We arc poor , but Wo nie honest ; and we have enough- —at least , we think so—to pay everybody , if we can only get a little , time . We have run up several bills that maybe brought against us , but our books will show everything , as they have been remarkably well kept . Wo mn ' yhave decorated tho royal yacht , have whitewashed Cnrisbrooko Castle , and we may lmvo adorned a

    musty , unused pnlaco with stained windows and gothio pigstyes . Wo may hnvo proposed and carriedout an inquiry to investigate tho ' cause of tooth-deeny in tho natives of Monte Video ; have begun a Grecian portico to the chief Consulate building at New Grnnndn , which wo have never boon able to complete ; and we may have sunk a good deal of monoy in paying duties uponslaves . Wo mny have exhibited im undue preference in the oubo of tho . Keociver-ttcnerul of the duchy ot Cornwall , in grouting him compensation for the loss of duties on tho coinage of tin . - All these things , wo admit , » ro unwise , dut if wo can obtain a common oortilio « to ( with protection ) they slut " not occur again . Repenting , ns wo do , of thoso follies , there is one creator thnt wo .

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    public , be got on so far ,- that . the British army shall be the healthiest in the world , and from its superior efficiency equal to a much larger liumber of any other force . Under the old system , to -which the official mind adhered , with the devoted attachment of the limpet for the rock , no soldier was shot without the enemy on the average blazing away his weight in powder and lead ; and if " every bullet had its billet , " the vast majority were predestined to an innocent lodging in the earth . At fifty ' yards the volley from " Brown Bess " was a tremendous affair—at a hundred it might do more mischief ; but at three or four hundred the heavy weapon , with its ounce of lead , was scarcely more alarming than the tin tube and the . schoolboy's pea . Popular fancy supposed that a . " soldier ' s musket carried a mile , " a belief well matched by a cognate delusion on the power of artillery , and the capacity of the long light gun on the sward of Dover Castle to lodge its ball on Calais Green . By degrees these idle notions were dissipated > and tlie unpleasant fact was recognised , that the common fire-arm was only a slight improvement upon the lonjrbow , and the official mind was oppressed , with what , to it , were ~ nightmare dreams , of-science contemptuously laughing at its folly , and ruthlessly ordering it to move oil . It would be a sad history to tell of tlie rebuffs , the indifference , and the chicanery experienced for more than twenty years by the hapless class of inventors who besieged the anti-chambers of the Jacks in office ; but at last the latter were got to admit , what Sir Isaac Newton' had told them a hundred and fifty years before , that a long projectile was better than a round one—and were driven to consider the kind of weapon that would send it forth . The new ideas have been slowly , and sometimes feebly and foolishly carried out ; but thev . are working a complete change in the character of the British " army , and must at last alter its whole constitution . The introduction of- ' a- ' scientific weapon required the provision of askilled artisan to use it . An- army of ignorant men , ruled by terror , and brutalized so as to become the appropriate victims of intemperance and fever , could . not become clever judges of distance , arid practically well up to angles of elevation , lines of aim , and trajectories of projectiles . Only a small portion of the old school of officers knew anything of the kind , but it was now found that an accurate but popular mathematics of musketry . had to be taught , somehow , to the rough pupils whom the recruiting sergeant ' s ribbons and trickery had . collected together with fife and drum . From the •'¦ moment that the soldier had to learn something that exercised his intelligence the relation between him and his officers was improved : It was no longer enough that the latter should be of an aristocratic family and a good swearer ; he had to teach , or at least take his share in the responsibility as to whether his men were taught or not , and from that hour those worthy companions , the cat and the purchase system , were doomed abominations , although likely to linger with nine-life pertinacity as long as they could . The commanding officer of an exercise camp told us , no great while ago , that the effect of the musketry teaching was very remarkable in stimulating the men to desire further knowledge ; their wits were awakened , and they wanted to . think—a result eminently dreadful to the red-tape mind . As an illustration of the necessity for intellect in soldier craft , we may cite a passage from the Musketry Deport just issued After telling us that " accurate shooting at any given distance , from 100 to GOO yards , can be acquired by aim drill by all men whose vision is not impaired , " the document goes on to say : " A good shot , however , at a given distance on the practice-ground , will bo almost useless , unless he possesses sufficient intelligence to apply this purely mechanical shooting under all circumstances in the field . This he cannot do if he does not clearly understand all tho * rules which regulate tho flight of his bullet , together with the curve of the trajectory at the several distances he may fire at , and is a fair judge of distances . It mny bo urged that we ennnot command so high an order of intelligence in the ranks of tlie army ; I am of opinion , ¦ however , that if the conditions contained in tho prize regulations arc fully acted on , and the spirit of thoso regulations clearly understood by commanding officers , n iivr higher standard of intelligence than at present exists will ere long bo created . " So says Chnrlos Hay , Inspector-general of Musketry , and we fully agree with him ? but will tho intelligent men he requires for his musketry teaching put up with tho army system P Will it long answer for tho Horse Guards and Wnr-ollice to invite skilled artisans to serve in the army for a pay whioh , after niggling deductions , amounts to about sixpence a day ; to wear clothes made of devil ' s dust or other rubbish , and of an inconvenient pattern ; to wear boots that leave their soles in the mud , mid bo dependent on a commissariat which sends the food to thra wrong place ; to bo under officers appointed for anything , but merit , or who have bought thoir positions without likewise purchasing tho skill they demand ; to bq iiYiwlured at Aldershott , or some such place , whore they can learn no campaigning , ns that sort of work is nil done to thoir hand j

    must suffer considerably . " " We further learn that , for the com ^ fort of officers , who do " not like the bother of improvements , no supervision has been arranged in India ., ami until that is provided the Inspector-general tells us the rifle training is not likely to be . conducted- with success . ' - This little episode gives us a nice notion of army management in India . The officers conducting the store departments are not " instructed" to attend to their duties , and nobody looks after them because they are faraway from England aiid its Argus-eyed press , and because it is a bore to work in a hot climate ; and great folks can always get the thanks of Parliament without reference to the value Of their . work .

    appended to the Report , we arc struck by the number of cases in which delay has been suffered to take place . On colonial stations " not exercised" is a common notification ; and in India , where the greatest exertions should be made , and where the much be-praised Lord Clyde is supposed to enjoy plenary power , very little has been done " " for want of targets , musketry drill articles , and ranges , which have been applied for over and over again without success . " The . -. Inspector-general adds ,: —" Unless the officers controlling the departments for the supply of stores , &c . in India are instructed to give effect to the regulations on this subject , the efficiency- of the service as regards musketry training

    but where they can be kept far away from civil life , and lose their character of citizens to gratify mischievous officials who do not want a national army ; and , finally , to be subject to the torture and ; disgrace of the lash for faults that may be more their officers ' than their own ? It is plain that if science goes : iri at one end of the military system , folly and barbarism must go out at the Other ; and hence there is a ' : moral as well as a material value in the new School of Musketry , and those who desire army reform will watch its teaching with the greatest interest . As might be expected from the peculiar constitution of our official mind , the process does not go on : as fast as it-ought ; and on looking over the tables

    Untitled Article

    Jan . 14 j I 860 . ] The ' Leader andSaturdayAnalyst . 35

    Bjsgraceful Economy.

    disgraceful economy .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 35, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2329/page/7/