The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-03-18 00:00:00

Cht g,tourhribge Opserber.

SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 1871.

THE NATION ITS OWN DEFENDER.

Army reform, incluumg the abolition of the
purchase system, may be in some respects the
most important topic of the time, but onr na-
tional defences constitute a permanently import-
ant subject of consideration. it rosy ILive been
fur some littie awe passed an eagerly discussed
gut stiou worst wount be the fate of tne
proposais, but such views as those wine,' Mr.
J. Stuart Mill has just enunciated are of more
lasting moment. A very large public meeting
having assembled in Loudon, uuuer the auspices
of the Working Men's Peace Association, Mr.
Stuart Mill expounded his views on military tax-
ation and our national defences: and as we be.
ve that nut only are these views those of a
very large section of the community, but that

. _
they are desth.mt to become more and more
popular, we rob, r to the main pointa of his

argument end endeavour to enforce them. Ile
maiutaina that our army t. Yilstly too large when

it is uot wanted, und vastly too small wtien it
We e:iiitiot tiut regard this as %ery tuipleasuut.

though it may be very wholesome irutg. As to
the number of our army we will take the state-
ment of The GlQbe. ••
in 1868.9.- it says," wh n
the present Government came into (Ace, they
found an army of 138,691 men, costing
£15,455,400. The bill now before the House of
Commons proposes to place the army perman-
eatly on a footing which, in point of strength, is
3,644 less than the army of 1863, but will cost
£396,300 more.- Now, even supposing that un-
fair periods may have been chosen for compari-
son, the fact remains that we have ii very large
and costly standing army when not wanted, and .
too small an artily when it is wanted; and we
fear there is too much truth in Mr. Mill's state-
ment, that should our army be needed for the
defence of these islands, the force we can mus-
ter will be totally inadequate. He complains
that " we pay fourteen millions a year for being
without an army," that is, an adequate army,
while the Prussians for half that money, can
bring 500,000 trained men into the field at a
fortnight's notice ; and that we are asked to pay
three millions more a year for an increase in the
artillery, but for otherwise a scarcely perceptible
addition to our means of defending ourselves
from au enemy, besides " the other millions- we
are to pay I.- the abolition of the purchase sys-
tem. With mgard to the latter system, we will
may say that it has long been generally felt that
it must, sooner, or later be abolished; that it is

iojur,...nd to the serviec, (Accra and men, and
gro,siy unf iir to the public. A more important

qu,stion is, woetu,r we are to continue to keep
up a monster standing army which, monster
tloagii it. be, is inadequate to inert emergencies
t ,at may occur ; or whether we shall resort to
tee princip;e of a D'ltiOlial ir,av j and We nelleVe
lopildoll iti anti more teuding
. .

to sat

abolish ow

ai.nly is '.vieit country i never likely
to consent to in our time, let Peace A-isociations
say what they may ; but it in quite within the
range of reason and sound national policy to
coil ae,,, this army, and rely more
t an ever im tau nation itself, so that in point
of f iet the ii ii in allay become its own defender.
Witnout iii doning Prussia, there is no doubt
that Mr. Mail referred to that Power when he
said, " A nation in arms requires a nation in
arms to withstand it. No country can afford to
keep a standing army great enough for the pur-
pose—we least of all, whose military system
costs us Xliria a year for. every soldier it gives
its. And yet, even in the modern history of the
world, how falsely have tuitions striven tore
against time other in fostering this ruinously ex-
pen-ice system of large standing armies. A few
words dropped by a ,ioverei-in or an ambassador
have Bathe,: to mate this er that Government
increase its standing army, thus adding heavier
hardens on rine,: one nation increases its
army, and another and yat ;mother does the
same ; and thus the people—the hewers of wood
and drawers of water—are inure and more taxed
for possible war; Lima when one nation finds its
standing army more large surf powerful, or pre-
sumably 90, Wan that an another, the former is
tempted to no to war uith the latter on the
slightest prOext. It, may be urged that the sys-
tem of a national army, as contradistinguished
from that or a standing army, did not prevent

Prussia from desiring to go to war. But that is
still a moot question, on which we will not enter;
while it is certain that the fact of a large stand-
ing many and its presumably good organisation
exercised a powerful influence towards France
being so eager to rush into the field. But Eng-
land is different in this respect to either Power, ,
and indeed to most Powers in the world. Her
bitterest enemies never accuse her of any ag-
gressive designs. It may be almost said that at
this moment she has more colonies than she
knows what to do with, while her own insular
position precludes any thought of encroachment.
We only seek means of defence, and the ques-
tion is whether we have been und are going the
r4,Lt way to obtain these weans. We think not?
We do not wholly spice with Mr. Mill when he
says, Henceforth rue army should be our whirls
pe °plc, trained and niscipl:red ;"' but we believe
that our best policy would be to decrease our
I standing army and rely mere OD the nation her-
self. We have the foundation of this national
defence in the Volunteers, and we feel assured
that it would be for the Lest interests of the
counti y to develope this arm of our military ser-
vice and to supplement it by training the man-
hood at the nation to form an army of defence.

.uffi.,>••l•l•*-,
LATEST NEWS.

PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEgRAMS.

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FOREIGN NEWS

FRANCE.

PARIS, Thursday

The LA( y says a private letter from Zurich mentions
that gross provocation was offered to the Frence by those
present in the Town Hall. The German students lied
organised a mastrerade, and a woman was dressed in
clothes of the Irench National Colours. Behind this
insulting allegorical representation came another person,
dragging the Freneli Tricolour in the niffl.
'rho t',.•oow;s say. that Government hat decblisl I
SIII• alo .to of tfi milliard francs in [testes, benring 3 per
cent. interest.

LILLE, Friday.

Gene,: Faidherb's plait for the complete re.organisa.
tiou of the army is about to be published.

BELGIUM,

BRI:SNEI R, Thu 1 sally,

The Echo da Pachment hears that the Belgian Gov-
ernment has been asked by England for an exit...nue,
rospecting the delays in the expedition of merchandise
discharged in bona.