The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 5,1857.

new neer has done enough for his party to
entitle him to a seat in the Upper House.
He has represented Leeds and Edinburgh;
he has consistently supported the measures of
his connection, and for some years he sat in
the Cabinet. His name has been of consider-
able use to the Liberals, and a peerage to such
a man is, therefore, a natural reward. He is
unmarried, and of course the title will not
descend ; and a large fortune will not, as in
other cases, be required to give it social
vogue.
As to looking for deep or practical
views of Indian policy from the new literary
peer, we confess that we do not anticipate any
sound advice from Lord MACAULAY. His mind
has for many years been turned in another
direction, and Anglo-India has changed much
since he was at Calcutta. Such views as have
been previously stated on India by this distin-
guished man have not been remarkable for ori-
ginality or loftiness of aitn. Even the favourable
observer in the Daily News has remarked, " Of
" the five years spent by him in India, as
" Member of the Legislative Council, the less
" that is said the better. The Macaulay code
" remains, and will ever remain, an unattractive
" fragment in the museum of British blunders
" in India."
Possibly on the new Reform Bill of the
Whigs the opinions of the new peer will be of
more weight and importance ; and although a
strong partisan of the Whigs, there are large
elements of Conservatism in the views of Mr.
MAC.►CLAY. " Demagogues " have always been
the particular objects of his aversion, and we
do not think that he is likely to lend his repu-
tation to further changes of an extreme cha-
racter.

PROSPECTS OF THE MILITIA.
GOVERNMENT has now been compelled to ac-
knowledge what experienced military men
have long foreseen, that either the Militia
must be called out, or the regular army in-
creased to an unprecedented extent. When
we first took up the subject in this journal,
Lord PALMERSTON was repeating night after
night in the House of Commons that he saw
no necessity for the first measure. A large
portion, however, of the Militia is now to
be embodied ; and as that alone is a
clear recognition of their ability and efficiency,
it may not be premature to call our readers'
attention to the general prospects of the force.

We think it advisable that, for the sake
of efficiency, her Majesty's Government
should for the future have the power of
calling out the Militia, say fur a certain
limited time, without the necessity of

- .
an appeal to Parliament; and we think a
certain number of militia regiments should
always be maintained in such a condition as
to be ready for service on a much shorter
notice than is now the case. The fact is, we
cannot reckon upon having our Temple of Janus
closed for many years together. With our enor-
mous colonial empire, and the peculiar position
of the Continent, the chances in favour of war
are too great to admit of our calculating upon a
tong period of peace. U nder thesecircumstances,
we think the entire disembodiment of the Militia
et the close of the Russian war was a very
great mistake. In little more than a year it is
again required And if the Indian mutiny
were quelled to-morrow, the chances are some
fresh disturbance would arise in little more
than the same space of time. This perpetual
embodiment and disembodiment of the Militia
is mischievous in the extreme. It impairs the
efficiency of the men, and seriously affects the
prospects of the officers, who scarcely know
whether to resign their commissions, and turn
to something else or not. Now that we know
to a certainty to what extent the Militia can
assist us, it is time some decisive steps were
taken in the matter, and that young men
should be aware how far service in the Militia
can be looked upon as a profession or other-
wise.

Various schemes have been proposed for the
employment and utilisation of this force. It
has even been suggested that whenever we