The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-01-17 00:00:00

ROII4NTIC SUICIDE.

An i quest was held at Witham on Friday touching
the death of Sarah Wen, aged 17, Lim daughter of •
tradesman in that town. Mrs. Sarah Allen, wife of •
grocer, said the deceased wan her daughter. Witness
64 saw her alive on Wednesday evening. She had
had a quarrel with her father on the previous evening,
and be had threatened to send her away to London in
cinsequence of her having formed the acquaintance of
• young man. Next day her body was found in a
pond, widths following letter was found in the pocket:
--" Wednesday four p.m.-1/ear Mother and Father,
—Nu doubt this will be a severe shock to you when
you tel this, but I caul help it; you have caused me
to part from my own dear Fred, and 1 feel heartbroken.
He told me he should never see me again, and without
his cumpsoy I d not wish to live. I know you had
&named to send me away to aunt's. There I never
should be happy, so I prefer to die. God bless you
Am.eg." The jury found • verdict of
" Temporary insanity."

THE FUTURE OF THE ROYAL MARINES.
The Royal Marines constitute at the present moment
so important 44 e aroma of the armed strength of Rog.
last that the country at huge cannot but be intrusted in
the maintenance of the efficleacy of the corp.. The
history of the Marines is • long reco-d of useful and I &Rio-
tul IMWIIO4. Aid yet the gannet, despite their glorious
htstory, have now losistee. it may be artily asserted, the
most anposeider among the cornbthant services of the
Crown- so napowolar, indeed, that their unpopularity
seems likely to damage their sfiltiency. The Marines
must be inoorporated either with the Army or with the
Na,,, and Amu it is the latter which most urgently
requires that: services it is to the latter that they should go
formerly the Krises formed a part of the Army.
Comm'sdons in them were purchased, and exehanges
between ofil-er• in them and in other regimente were
frequent. Wart • detachment was required for service
on board a ntaier-wm, the required number of officers
sod man were seat by the War Office, and were pull by
the Admiralty, until they returned to their
imad-qoorters, when they were again paid by
the War °thee. At that time men were not
paid so punctually and regularly as they are now
either in the Army or Navy. In the latter
especially the pay doe was hold beck of ten for
years, and it wee the militant difficulty which arose in
settling the claims of men thus trend erred backwards and
forwerds from the War Office to the Admiralty which led
to the madam tieing plated entirely ander the latter.
With the present smite= of prompt and
periodical payment., the complication of accounnirchtl
i
was the ortginal cause of the transference of the nutrias*
to the Admiralty could be easily avoided, and their re-
Manilas's,* to lie War Offir "mull undoubtedly render
the marines earn se popular • corps aa it ever was. As
an Integral part of the army they would besefit by the
regulations in force for the latter, and the prises open to
the allows of the rosy would be equally open to the
officers of the armee Bet iii. not to be for a moment
expected that the Admiralty will ever consent to transfer
to the War Ofice so useful a faros as the &mai Marines.
If such • traesterence were made the War Ofilm authorl
Liss would have a right and would feel bound to inquire
into the position and treatment of their othcers and men
when serving afloat, and such interference the Admiralty
oould not brook. The marine., therefore, must remote •
naval free, maid by and ninthly under the control of the
Admiralty, and it is lush time that the latter recognised
not only this fact, but also the responsibility which it in-
volves. The pretest position of the Merino Corps Is •
most striking illustration of thi truth of the proverb
about felling to the ground between two stools. A tarps
which has to ammo as lie Aker • the failures In the era-
minslions for Wooleich sod /I uelhur.t., and which can
barely even (educe • suffident number of these to enter
It. oornmissioesed reeks, cartel well fall loser, sod
thistly should be picked tip and plated met for all maturely
on the Admiralty stool. The matinee should become part
and parcel of the navy. Time was shim the promote of
a detachmeat of soldiers, to be kept as much apart as
Possible from the remainder of the crew, was necessary
on board British men-of-war to preserve order among the
turbulent and unruly spume with which it VI/4 crowded.
That time has 1101111_ gone by. Our ship' are no longer
manned by mews picked up by the pfelko-Kllleg Of by men
entered for the this's commission only, an I iii charged
than when the motel Paid off The RusOish sailor is now
• disciplined men, a nose who entered*, a boy, and -ho
Is swaged for gontiiiiloas service, who when his ehlp
pays off goes into herracks or to • guard ship end is
there Mooned, and drilled, and &weird wail nay,
drafted into a sea-going man-of-war. Neither the soldiery
any longer required to be carried on board ship "to make
thrills upon an enemy's shores.- The Zardith sailor is
now drilled sea soldier, and is able to do • soldier's work
on shore. Is every we. in which England has been en-
erred of late years • naval brigade the taken Dart. In
the Crime.. in New Zealand, in India, in China, in
Aohontes, in Zululand, and in the Trthavaal, newel bri-
gades have marched and fought with our troops—nay, in
some cases, even the marines have been left on baud ship
while the blue-jacketa hays marched to the front.
Soldiers, therefore, are no longer required on hoard
ship either to enforce order or to carry out operations
on More. Tite ditties which the Morino' were originally
embarked to perform can now he equally well performed
he sailors themselves. It might, therefore, at first
sight appear that the time be. come when the Madam
shZI .abollthadtpt to Jump to such a conclusion
& & grave & Thtugh no longer required for
the duties ihich were end creel perforni. the
Marine. do • vast amount of useful d neteireary Work
on board ship which If they were abolished'Would have to
he done by bluejackets, and man for man the Marius
coots far Ws than the seller. The Marines clean woo*
and roes work, do all manner of deck week. and fall in as
gun numbers, and IS they were abolished an equal
number of blue-jackete would have to be added to the •
establishment of the Navy, to the great increase of the
Naval &timers. The Mariam are, in a word, a cheap
force, which it would be difficult to rimier, bat at the
same time it would be well that It should be distinctly re-
' °awnless! that they are now required, and are consequently
mairomined. NT Purely naval, and not military porpoise.
If this feet were elderly recognised, and the recognition
acted epoch very radiant reform 4 in the cortitution and
Position M the owl., end in the system of olcorring
wood necessarily follow, and the present notorious un-
popularity of the service would seem to indicate that a
fitting mourat for initiates tame refoeme kr arrived.
The Order in Council meetly Weed for the reorganisa-
tion of the Marine Porte contains a few regulations which
will benefit slightly • few officers here and there in the
corr, but no attempt is male in MA) introduce those
embed reforms in it. constitatloa and position which
have become urgently necessary. When the position of a
servise has bemuse such that few will enter its coutinle-
dosed reeks ism* as • hid resource, It I. certainly
Oahe that tble polities should be Investigated sad Jai.
prayed.