The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-03-30 00:00:00

itrmg ant Nabg.

THE MILITIA.—There are now, wording to a new
return, 37 regiments of militia in the united kingdom
whose quotas are complete, and 127 whose quotas are
incomplete. The number of men required to oomplete
the quotas is 15,851, and there are 10,323 men whose
service expires within six months; 9,829 men are
required in England, 1,941 in Scotland, And 4,281 in
Ireland.

A notioe issued from the War Office reports the de-
sertion, within • few days, of 380 men, who have de-
serted from the Guards and regiments of the Line, 80
from the embodied Militia, and 10 from the Royal
Marines. Government has resolved to increase the
reward for the apprehension of deserters to 20e.
Tug INDIAN Anur.—Nearly our whole Indian army
sat present actually on field service. The Commander.
In-Chief has nearly 20,000 immediately under him, with
at least 15,000 more in his rest and flanks. The Co.
lumnsof Roberta Rom, and Whitlock, with their reserves
will muster 20,000 at least. Chamberlain must have
10,000 at his disposal—giving a grand total of 65,000,
mostly Europeans, in almost constant conflict with the
enemy ; white there are probably half as many more in
lesser deWliments on motive duty. 18,000 Europeans
are mustering in the Punjab, and we have probably
00,000 in all -the native armies of Bombay and, Madras
included, stationary on garrigon duty.
AMERICAN IRREGULAR TROOPII.—The statistics of the
Mexican war, published by Congress (Doe. 24, H. of R.,
31st Congress, Ist sers,), furnish the following startling
feats —me old regular establishment of the army, with
an aggregate of 15,730 seen, in 28 months' serviso during
that war lost by discharges for disability, 1,782 men ; by
ordinary deaths, 2,623 men; and by deaths from wounds
in battle, 792. The additional regular fora raised for
the war, with an aggregate of 1.1,186 men, during 15
month.' service lost by discharges for disability, 767
men; by ordinary deaths, 2,091 men; and by deaths
from wounds in battle, 143 men. The volunteers, with
an aggregate of 73,523 men, during an weave of 10
months' terries, lost by discharge, for disability, 7,200
men; by ordinary deaths, 6,256 men; and by deaths
from wounds in battle, 613 men. The number of men
wounded in battle were respectively—in the old estab-
liniment, 1,803; in the additional regular form, 272;
and in the volunteers, 1,318 men. The nnmber of de-
serter, were in the whole regular force, 2,849 men, and
in the volunteers, 3,876 men. The foregoing statistics
require no commentary to show the waste of life and
money from employing volunteers, and the question
may well be asked whether Congress possesses the
moral right to raise such a military force, as all expe-
rience shows needlessly wastes the livm of our people,
even if that body gees fit to disregard the economical
oonsideration that, whenever the law provides for vo-
lunteers as • substitute for regulars, four or five times
more of the irregular form is always called forth.
SANITARY STATE OF THZ ARMY.—AD extra lecture
on this important subject, WU given in the theatre of
the United Service Institution on Tuesday last. The
chair was taken by Mr. Sidney Herbert, M.P., who in-
troduoed the lecturer, Dr. Guy, of King's College, in •
few commendatory words. The lecturer began his ad-
dress by stating that he bad sought that opportunity of
discharging some part of his own personal debt of
gratitude tothe brave men who fight our bsttles by sea
and land that his debt to the navy must remain undis-
charged, 'because, as Was well known, for more than
three-quarters of • century, since the memorable voyages
of Captain Cook, the condition of the sailor in all that
related to the care of his health or the increase of his
comforts had been in eaves-el progeessive improvement,
so that now very little remained for a civilian to suggest.
It Was not so, however, with our soldiers, for there was
no one, however ignorant he might be of the causes
which tended to preserve health or destroy it, no one,
however moderate his notions as to comfort, who could
not point out many things in the barracks and duties of
the soldier admitting of great improvement, and which,
if we would not forfeit our old reputation for huminity,
justice, common sense, and reasonable regard to eco-
nomy, ought to be carried into effect without e moment's
unnecessary delay. Dr. Guy directed attention to the
broad salient facts brought out by Mr. Herbert's com-
mission, illustrating them by several tables of his own
1 arrangement, which displayed in • very striking manner
the great mortality of the soldier, and especially of the
infantry, when compared with other elegies of the com-
munity of the same ages. At the same time he stated
that these facts were not new. They had been known
20 years since. Among the contrasts shown by the
tables the most striking was that between the men of
the London Fire Brigade, among whom there prevailed
a mortality of only 70 in 10,000, while the Foot Guards
sustained a loss of no less than 204 in 10,000, or newly
three times as great. The cavalry suffered much lam
than the infantry,—a circumstance attributed partly to
the greater size of their barrack rooms, and partly to
the additional wholesome exercise required by their
function as grooms. Other comparisons were made,
showing that it was quite possible for bodies of men to
be exposed to many of the disadvantages under which
the soldier labours, and yet to be long-lived men. This
was the case especially with the agricultural labourer.
The lecturer attributed the mortality of the soldier
mainly to the want of spate in barracks and the want
of proper and adequate exercise. To the want of space
he attributed the prevalence of fever, choler., and con-
gumption. As men oppressed with private grief sought
out a solitude in which to weep, so he (Dr. Guy), op-
pressed with a great public sorrow, had chosen that
place time and to give vent to his own feelings of sur-
prise, shame, and indignation that in the middle of the
19th century such a disgraceful state of facts mild be
allowed to exist. He would take up the language of
entreaty, and conjure them by all that English soldiers
had done and suffered in past time, all that they were
doing and suffering now in India, by recollections of
Alma and Inkerman, Balaklava and Sebastopol, by the
siege of Delhi, the defence and relief of Luoknow, by
the scene on the deck of the burning Sarah Sands, and
still more by that unrivalled scene on board the sinking
Birkenhead, not to leave that room with hearts un-
touched, or with half-formed resolutions of action. He
in this matter at least had done what his conscience dic-
tated. He had paid the first instalment of his personal
debt of gratitude to the bravest and noblest soldiery
that ever rallied round the standards of a careless, in-
different, and too often ungrateful people.