The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858. we fear that the mode in which it has hitherto been carried out has rendered it worse than useless. Before showing how it has been pos sible for the ingenuity even of the Minister for War and his satellites to turn what was in tended for a blessing into a positive curse for the soldier, it will be necessary to explain in a few words the nature of the system thus superseded. The kit, which was paid for, as we stated above, by the recruit himself, was supplied from the Quartermaster's stores. These stores were obtained by the command ing officer from whatever tradesmen he chose to employ for the purpose of supplying not only new kits to recruits, but also replacing such portions of those already issued as from time to time became unserviceable. No articles were placed in store without having been inspected by a regimental board com• posed of captains, and as it was a point of honour with each commander of a company to keep his men out of debt, and therefore to prevent as much as possible a demand for new issues, there was every safeguard that the supplies should be of the best description. When the change in the system was an nounced it was generally supposed that the "free kit' would be issued as before from the Quartermaster's stores, the only difference being that the 31. which it coat would bo paid by the public, while the recruit would receive the remaining 21. as his bounty. But unfor tunately at this time the authorities of the War Department had just undertaken to supply the whole army with clothing, and they could not rest satisfied without completing the equipment of the soldier. It was represented to them that the undertaking which they had already in hand would fully occupy the energies of a young department crudely and hastily formed in the midst of a gigantic war— that even in time of peace 12,000 kits would be required every year, each containing thirty-six different articles—that the in spection of tht.se 432,000 articles, if pro perly performed, would bring to a dead lock a department already over-taxed, or if merely nominal, would render the soldier liable to injury ; and that, as it was intended to replace unserviceable necessaries as here tofore from the Quartermaster's stores at the soldier's expense, there did not seem any valid reason for altering the old system further than in the mode of payment. These arguments might have prevailed had not an ill-starred economical genius sprung up, with one of those "penny wise and pound foolish" schemes which are so rife in Government departments. " If," said he, " the lieutenant-colonel of a regiment " can buy 120 kits at a retail price "of W. a piece, surely the Government can con " tract for 12,000 at a wholesale'price of 21. 14s. " each. In this manner the War-office would " not only enjoy the credit of having repealed " an obnoxious regulation, but also would save, " even in time of peace, between 3,0001. and " 4,000/. ayear." This representation waslexactly suited to the taste of the higher authorities of the department—all counter arguments were at once overborne—all reasoning a scouted, _ and it was finally determined that Lord PAN was should not only have the honour of promising, but also of supplying " free kits" to all future defenders of our country. This de cision having been arrived at, no time was lost in calling for tenders for their supply, and great was the rejoicing among tho economists of the War Department when a contractor was found who offered to supply them, not at 2/. 14s , as had been expected, but at 2/. 11s. a piece. True it was that the firm of which this gentleman is the representative had supplied infamous material to the Land Trans port corps in the Crimea, and had been mer cilessly exposed by Colonel 111'11fuano before the select committee on contracts. True it was that in a large garrison, unless rumour greatly belied him, he had been excluded from the barracks by a peremptory order of the commandant, for certa►n sufficient reasons. But what of that? His work-people might be ground down by insufficient pay ; things might be "made pleasant" to the inspectors at Weedon ; the soldier might be defrauded by having bad articles palmed off upon him, • - - ..._ but the great principle of always accepting the lowest tender would be maintained, and, above all, Os. instead of Os. would be saved on every set. The contract was accordingly concluded for the whole number of kits required with an engagement that they should be deli vered at Weedon in the course of September last, and 5,000 were sent in about that time. But they could neither be inspected nor passed, for the contractor had neglected to forward a sample pattern of his supply to the War Department, there to be sealed, if found equal to the original pattern, and sent to Weedon as the guide for the inspector. At length this necessary step was taken, but the thirty six articles composing the set were pro nounced utterly inferior to the pattern; a second supply was sent in with the same re sult ; a third has been partially passed ; and, although pattern articles have a fourth time been submitted to inspection in London, we shall be surprised to learn that even now, three and a half months after the whole supply should have been delivered, it has been found possible to approve of one complete kit. Meantime, recruits have enlisted in con siderable numbers. It was requisite that they should be supplied with ne cessaries in some way or other. What, then, waa to be done ? Some lieutenant-colonels of regiments were persuaded to try the kits already sent to Weedon, but the supplies were no sooner received than returned with a state ment that in the whole course of their expe rience articles of such bad quality had never been issued. In other cases the War Depart ment was compelled to return to the old sys tem, and desired commanding officers to procure necessaries as they could. But, unfor tunately, the measures of Lord PANMURIC had already ruined that system. For, in conse quence of the whole of the contract having been given to one firm, instead of having been distributed among two or three, the general manufacture of these articles was stopped, and the persons who were commissioned by the colonels to purchase kits found they could be obtained only from one house. These supplies were in general surprisingly bad, but the need was so great that in many instances the Regimental Boards, feeling it was better for their men to have anything rather than nothing, passed the goods, certi fied the bills, and forwarded them to the War office for payment. We should like to have been by when the originator of the scheme received these ac counts ; his face grew long as he saw that each kit was charged at 3/., but it grew longer still when he perceived that the name of the firm at the head of the bill was identical with that of the contractors for the Government supply at 21. lls. But so it was; and the War-office has been compelled to pay that sum for sets of regimental necessaries which were too bad even to be submitted for inspection, and the contractor has found his new trade so pro fitable that he has at length deliberately broken his contract, laughing after his great gains at any paltry fine to which he may be liable. These facts are startling, but they are capable of proof, and we would recommend our statement as a fit subject for the investi gation of the select committee on contracts during the next session, for it must be re membered that this is a question of vital im portance to the soldier, inasmuch as he has to replace every unserviceable article at his own expense, and therefore if all are not of the best description at first, he suffers a grievous injustice. EDUCATIONAL FRANCHISE. COULD there possibly be a severer satire upon Liberal opinions than the argument recently adduced by a Liberal journal in opposition to the Educational Franchise ? We are not to give the right of voting to an educated class because liberal p►inciples do not as a rule recommend themselves to educated minds! Magna est veritas et prevalebit. Spirits of ELDON and SIBTKOSPE ! If newspapers pene trate to the abodes of the blessed—if ghosts talk politics, and conduct shadowy debates, in ~'=~=..~ the shrill, weak accents of 27 sensation must that leader have created in your unsubstantial society ! We are not alto gether supporters of that measure of Reform to which so many able and eminent public men have declared their adhesion ; but we certainly cannot bring ourselves to believe that an educated claws is more likely to miss political truth than an un educated one—that a man who has had the most opportunities of acquiring facts, and the most leisure to reflect upon them, will arrive at more erroneous con clusions than ho whose sole notion of poli tics is drawn from the tap-room of his native village, or the journal of his market town. A more barefaced support of the worst evils of democracy we have never met with in modern literature than the argument now under consideration. " The people " possess certain crude notions on various subjects com monly dignified with the title of popular prin ciples. And the study of history and philoso phy is to be discouraged in the governing classes for fear the results should clash. Liberalism, then, will not bear the light of historical inquiry, and shrinks from the appli cation of a logical test. But, out of deference to popular prejudice, the truth is either to be silenced, or at best represented as the crotchet of a few mistaken enthusiasts. What more could Popery itself have desired in the pleni tude of its power than a similar suppression of free thought and inquiry? The Church for bade the study of classical literature lest a knowledge of antiquity should expose certain profitable delusions. The Times would debar our scholars from the exercise of political power for a reason, as it seems to us, of a pre cisely similar kind. Against this popular Popery, as it may well be termed, we cannot protest too strongly. It has often been proved that the spirit of intolerance is as strong in a mob as in one man—that the tyranny of the people is just as oppressive in another shape as the tyranny of the prince. In England we have hitherto avoided either. We sincerely hope the time will never come when we shall have to choose between them. But a Stuart is better than a Cleon, and a despotism of knowledge than a despotism of ignorance. We have said that we ere not unqualified supporters of the educational franchise. There is, we must admit, another side to the ques tion. We are not afraid that educated men should be bigots to any set of opinions; but we do fear ono thing, and that is, lest they should be bigots to education itself—that is to say, refuse to recognise the force of any arguments not draw.' from books, and not harmonising with rigid theory. There is, to be sure, a strong practical element in the Eng lish character which might go far to counter act this danger ; but undoubtedly the danger exists, and is to some extent aggravated by certain circumstances peculiar to the present - - time. The patronage o f art, science, and lite rature is nut exactly in the hands where we could wish to see it The doctrinaire is daily insinuating himself into the management of affairs. It has been seriously proposed to give painters and pebble-hunters a seat in our hereditary Legislature. Novell views of his tory, whether past or present, are becoming rife, and the "enlightened despot" is held up to admiration for his own sake, and not merely as a refuge from something worse. All these are bad signs, and at the same time equally good reasons why we should be cau tious about giving power to a class who, how. ever just their views, may possibly lack dis cretion. We must remember, too, that the class in question has more compensatory powers than belong to any other class which conceives it self unjustly excluded from the suffrage. Through literature and journalism an immense amount of private and sectional opinion is brought to bear upon the nation. The scholar is enfranchised by his pen. The vote thus given may be secret, and the voter himself is free from the visits of the canvasser. When we add to this that it is, after all, but a fraction of the educated classes who do not also pos sess a property qualification, we shall see that the hardship is not so great as repre sented. On the other hand, the property qualifica tion has a vast deal to be said in its favour. 1