The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-26 00:00:00

• LONDON, MONDAY, JANUARY 26.

TIRE suggestion—first given iu this journal—that
the Tag-as fleet, and such other ships as may be
needful, should be brought home at once to make our
coasts more secure, has found an echo all over Eng-
land. Not only has the press of the metropolis
hastened to support our demand, but journalists
in the previnces have at once responded to the
justice and common sense of the suggestion by
repeating from county to county the cry of—" Bring
home the fleet."
When this important sebject first found piece
in our columns, it was accompanied by the decla-
ration that before the ministers asked fur arms
extension they ought to 1w prepared to submit a pail
fur army reform. .littl now. lest they should endeavour
to evade thew terms, let us point out one or twe plain ,
and broad abuses which require no military skill to
detect, and which no military bluster can hide.
The people of England have ever been, and ever
will be, ready to pay liberally for real aerviee—
witness, for instance, the rewards to the Duke of
WELLINVININ—Iet the people, then, not be called
niggards, if they demand that military abuses be
reformed. before more taxes are spent on the
increase Of an army already too cumbrous and too
costly without lx:ing at all too efficient.
11 e hail' often thr...eted public attention to the anti-
Judy of having two branches for currying on the
civil portion of the army expenditure, but
Coloael t'ttessr.r. in his observations on fire-
arms, brings this forward in so serious a light, that
Use sooner the matter is thoroughly investigated and
put to rights the better. Nothing can be clearer
than that in an army there should be but two
branches the working ar.d the paying. This com-
mon-sense plan is adopted in agricultural, in coin-
meicial. in manufacturing affairs. But in our army
there are some half dozen divisions of the subject.
and, therefore, half-a dozen sources of patronage and
expense. Them are, for instance, the Horse
thsiziL,. the Commissariat. the Ordnance military
corps, and the Ordnance storekeepers. Let us glance
at one of these. The Ordmince.office in London is
represented at all foreign stations by a Board, termed
that of Respective Officer". This consists of the
senior storekeeper, the senior officer of Artillery
and the senior officer of Eng:ewers. If at the
Mauritius, Hong Kong, or any other out of
the way. station, some serious emergence arises,
either sickness or war for instance, and that
extra buildings are required, or extra stores have to
be purchased, the general commanding, although
enppesed to represent our government, has no civil
officer to warrant him in undertaking these necessary
expense 11,—he must rek'r his wants to the board of
Respective Officers, two of whom aro officers under
his immediate command. These officers. after con-
sulting together, and taking into consideration the
propt4or otherwise of their commanding officer's
refer the subject to the Ordnance-office at
dome, and on obtaining its answer, give their con-
sent or refusal for the works requested. The
consequence of all this may be—as was the caw
at Hong Kong,—the loss of much lmman
life, because no one would at once sanction :he
hiring of a transport far the sick. By this system
we tray for more servants than we want --lavish
public maney, and have no one responsible for doing
:what ought to be done. The general is not respon-
sible, for he is in the hands of his subordinates ; the
" Respective Officers" arc not, for they must commu-
nicate with the Board of Ordnance in London ; and
by the parliamentary report of Ordnance expendi-
ture, we find that that board is not responsible, either
eollt Lively or individually.
Now that some one should be responsible, and
that that responsible person should he the chief man,
is a maxim which has been adopted in every
other public department. In all our colonies the
governor should have a certain discretion allowed
him, and if tkat governor is a general officer lie
should certainly not be controlled by officers subor-
dinate to himself. What do we want with more
than one civil branch? When a French army is in
the field the senior officer of artillery is responsible
for all the ammunition and guns, and the engineer
fur all the stores of his department. It is both an
econ onical and a safe plan, for. in ease of deficiencies
and blunders, it is easy to find out who to cali to an
account. Why should our plan not be the same ?
Wo want but one civil department, represent-
in; our treasury. The Commissariat have the
provisioning of the troops, the supply of transports,
the furnishing of hospitals; and were the Ordnance
corps transferred to the horse Guards,—as desired by
Mr. Ilene, and by every artillery or engineer officer
who has the welfare of his corps at heart,—the Com-
missariat could also be entrusted with powers of con-
trading for great coats, mending of tin kettles, and I
other little varieties which at present constitute the I
week of Ordnance storekeepers. If the artillery
officer had charge of his artillery stores, we should .
have one man responsible instead of a "board," and
it would be easy for the senior commissariat officer I
representing the civil branch, to make a half-yearly or I
quarterly inspection of these stores. But, then, this
effichmey and economy would lessen the amount of
patronage.
Colonel CITEANEY, writing for the information of i
the public, and overlooking personal considerations,
brings forward his own case as an example of the I
evils arising from the present system.
General D'AnctLaa, commanding at Hong Kong,
baying ordered certain stores to be removed from
one part of the town to another : the order had to I
be obeyed ; but the Respective Officers reported the a
circurnatance home to the Ordnance-office. The
general, angry at being reported, suspended the I
officers of the board. These officers referred I
this matter also to head-quarters. and at
the end of six months an ambiguous answer I
was returned, to the effect that General
IYAOUTLAR should be reminded of an order in the
Qereses regulations, that he had no right to inter- j
iltze with the respective officers; yet, it was so glar-
hag a CAW that. junior officers should not openly op-
=their seniors, that Colonel CIMINET was or-
home to England, and the Ordnance store-
keeper was transferred to Ceylon. Now, had say
damage been done to these stores, and the board of
Ayers had not reported home the circumstance,
they would have been held acconutable. !laving
done so, they were punished for doing their duty. '
Of course, there was no redress.
Let us look to another case which at present oceu-
pies much public attention. Oar soldiers are badly
armed with muskets similar to these used fifty years
Ago. 'Hie Commander-in-Chief is blamed, but un-
reasonably. It is true that the men arc under his com-
mand, and that ho is responsible for their efficiency,
—but he has nothing to do with their arms. That
belongs to the Ordnance, and not onl to the Ord-
nance, but to the (-Ira branch n it! A Mr.
Laravaxte who has never worn a red coat in his
life, or marched ten miles with a knapsack and the
present regulation musket to carry, is controller
of the small arms department. The London and
Birmingham gunmakerst can make lighter and much
better pfeces than those in use. Thu best sportsmen
in the land look to the judgment of cumnakers—
It men as a WESITLEY RICH %EDS, oral, V.'il*V4T ER—
but the board will allow no one to introduce im-
provements objectionable to Mr. Lover. t., who, having
found that the men of forty years ago did very well
with the present muskets, dots not sec why they
should not do so now. Why should not those whom
the government have placed st the bead of our in.
fantry be allowed to arm that infantry as it should
be armed P Why should nut commanding °Seen
—soldiers in fact--arrange the soldiers weapon P
At present the Ordnance civil servants do this, mad
as they want money to keep up the ()Mimes
establielimente, they cannot afford new muskets,
It is said that, if properly armed, one man out of tea
will make a good mink-mum. Would it not be more
wise and economical, then, for us to have an infantry
composed of espert, well armed men, for on that
principle ;pylon good marksmen would be worth more
than fOO,OOO indifferent ones?
Ordnance reform requires that Ordnance patronage
Amid be given up, and that will net be done with-

out a hard struggle. But there are men willing tie
attempt this reform, and all who clean may ...
ciency and financial economy win with thlen
success. No one probably will give them Lsa
Lion than the NIASTEII•CENYJIAL, for no elle
better than he does how little weight he hes at the
hoard, where, when the object is to cut down expen-
diture, the stint is made to take effect in the wrung
place. It is not by giving infantry bad muskets and
artillerymen tatteml great coats that the public will
thank the Ordnance board for shortening the esti-
mates, but by being less fond of sinking thousands
sterling on ordnance works in our thousand and one
remote •-"-...—where they may he. lost in

another war, or hive to be givia up to future co-
louist4.

On our foreign stations we should have in each
place but one responsible chief; ono who could be
held accountable to the nation for any foolish ex-
penditure, and who should not be hampered by
subordinates who, unable to restrain him if bent on
his pm pose, have yet to bear the blame of that which
they had not the power to remedy. if this and
other reforms were effected, patronage might be
lessened, but economy would be increats d.
Nothing is really cheap that is practically ineffi-
cient; and whilst we wont a thoroughly complete
defcnsi force—both afloat and ashore--we require,
in the name of the country, that the money now
spent on armaments should. be well spent before we
are asked to pay more.

AT last the inquisition into the stuto of mind and
ealueity to take ears of her property, of poor Mrs.
CATHERINE (1:11SIING, IA over.

What might have been cheaply and satisfactorily
done, in a day or two, under a rational and
simple system of inquiry, it has takt. a a commis-
sioner of lunacy-, nineteen jurors, four learned
counsel, and a bevy of attorneys. no less than sixteen
days to get through, at a cost. it is stated, of 3501. a
day, or of 3,600 f. in all ! This, we submit, is a much
greater scandal on the law and its administration, on
the country and its legislation, even than the petti-
fogging plunder by the low lawyers who prowl about
Newgate ; and one which the many honourable
members of a highly honourable profession should sea
amend, il.

And for the scandal we cannot help thinking that
the counsel retained are very much to blame. The
machinery provided by the law in such cases is, no
doubt, bad, and cumbrous, and lumbrous, and
costly enough. First, you have to convince the
LoRD CHANCELLOR by reams of affidavits,
.piles
of briefs, and hours of argument that it is
proper to ininire; and then you have to carry
on the enquiry itself before a very imperfect
autl insufficient tribunal, presided over by a judge
or commissioner possessing no great weight or
authority, and quite unable to restrain or check the
tediousness of barristers refreshed every morning
with substantial fees and anxious to see their names '
in the newspapers.
This, we repent, is bad enough ; but, in Mrs.
CCUMING's case, a bad machinery was badly worked
by the counsel. Scores of witnesses were called to prove
the same facts. To the opinions of everybody worth
having were added the opinions of everybody not
worth bating. Not a soul who had known or seen,
spoken or visited, served or sold to the unhappy lady
but was called on one side or other. Learned doctors
were followed by gositipping charwomen. Her up-
getting. and her downlyings were exposed iu most
offensive detail. Frye wituess, important or unit--
portant, was examined and cross-examined at a
length devoid of all discretion or compunction. And
fa diousness rose on tediousness until the robust
" Brother WILKINs" complained of being sick, and
the well-refreshed Sir Fitenfatex THESIGER boasted
how much he was wanted elsewhere. To suppose
that all this expenditure of money and of time was
indispensable to arrive at Mrs. Ceemstc's real state
of mind is a far grosser delusion than any she la-
boured under : it was 11 very wanton waste of both
by the legal persons engaged in the case.
This unfortunate old lady seems, in point of fact,
to base been the victim of law and lawyers. In
1816 they squabbled, and quarrelled, and ditputed,
and contested whethn she was sane or insane, over
a former commission, at an expense of between
2,000/. and 3,000 L, without settling the question;
and ever since she has been in legal hot water.
First she had an action of trover to recover her title
deeds. Then she had an indictment for perjury hanging
over her head. Next came the preliminary struggle fora
new corn m issaion before t he Chancellor. Lastly followed
the commission itself. less than five years she has
had no fewer than seven attorneys-at-law teasing,
and tormenting, and plaguing her; assisted, pro-
bably, by twice as many barristers, whom she never
saw. And all this fuss. and contention, and litiga-
tion, ill blood, bad feeling, irritation, and animosity,
is about a lady. 73 years of age, paralysed in both
limbs, and troubled with disease in the bladder. In-
humanity can hardly go further than is displayed in
the case of Mrs. CATHERINE CUMMING, who, like
TnumSON'S
Lovely young Lavinia, once had friends,
But fortune smiled, deceitful, at her birth.

Had she been a pauper, a burthen on her family,
or a mere life renter of some „miserable annuity,
living in a petty lodging, and riding about in omni-
buses, small would have been the care of these gentry
for Mrs. Cl:lemma. She might have kept ten instead
of five cats in peace, been either as "dressy" or as
dirty as she appeared to different witnesses, and have
believed that in every pennyworth of milk she
bought there was an ounce of prussic acid, without
securingeither the regard or the sympathyof the people
who stem to have infested, and invested, her person.
But, unhappy old lady! she had 4001. or 500/. ayear
in fee simple. And the real question the commission
raised was whether it should descend to her heirs at
law, who were her own daughters, or be divided
amongst her attorney and his particular friends;—a
point on which society cannot have much doubt.
The attorney who conceived so strong a regard for
her, affected, of coarse, to believe her sane. Under
such circumstances his duty was plain and clear ;
morality imposed it, and professional etiquette could
not avert it. It was to break down even well-
founded prejudices against her own children, to miti-
gate even her just wrath, to assuage her indignation,
to promote domestic peace, to reconcile mother and
daughters; and not to separate, exasperate, alienate,
and keep apart those whom Quo and Nature had
joined. Against such arts and practices and influ-
ences as were brought to bear against Mrs. Cue-
every family in England is interested.

HCARICANE IN TIM efivetzt.—On Satunlat
night it blew one of the most fearful gales in the Eaglet
Channel ever known. The new West India steamer Ori-
noco, on its passage from London to Southampton, experi-
enced its full fury. The gale came on just as the Orinoco
gamed Dover. The sea washed Over her funnels, and for
three hours, although her engines were going at full speed,
she was, ensbled to make but little way ahead. She took
eight hours in running the twenty miles from the Por,land
to Dungeness. Nut a penes on board ventured to retire to rest
dating the whole, night. She proved a lilendid sea boat , or she
could not have lived out the gale. She tame up South amigtom
water y...terday aft:rnoon after her fierce encour,ter with
the hurricane of the preceding night iu splendid style, It
is feared that there mast have been a great lees of *Lipping 1
and lif, in the English Channel. At Satathamt too it blew
with tremendous fury the whole of Saturday ni..tht, so much
so that the French nail boat from that port •ereo anablip to
put to sea until yesterday morning.
Tne rltr.Nett ARMY. —The United SerViee
Gra:elle has the following : "It ii rumoured in well-in-
Peened quarters that in the budget to be presented to the
French legislature upon its assembling, • proposal will
be made eliminating from the highest autbonty in the /e-
-goistic fir Ike reduction of the French army. This, takes
in coma eau with the pacific tone of the circular to the
Europium powers, ought to disarm apprehension."

AMMUNITION TOR THE CAPY..—Threo waggons
loaded with ball cartridges, with 1 mounted sergeant, 1
trumpeter, 6 gunners and drivers with 12 hones, and 1 non.
(*mini...Mined dicer and 10 dismounted gunners an escort,
left the Royal Arsenal on Saturday last, at 10 o'clock am.,
under the command of Lieut. Bury, of the 11 field battery,
for the Ilricklsyere Arms railway terminus, for isonveyance
by special train to Portsmouth, where they will b, shipped
em board the Hydra steam-sloop, Commander Release, for
the Cape of Good Hope.
DE.trit Or JOUN READ, FSQ., LITZ OP THE ORD-
-26 tarn D . Mr. Read, who formerly and for
many yeus was connected with the Ordnance Department,
died on the 22nd inst., at the advanced age of 98 years. In
1801 this gentleman acted as secretary to the military mis-
sion la the Tubs, when the French were driven from
Egypt, and for his services received a gold medal from the
Grand VisTer. Ile elan served in a similar capacity untie r
Sir W. Congreve at the siege and capture of Copenhagen
in 1807, and proceeded in 1809 with the oapedition to AVal-
cheren. Mr. Read had recently received the weer wag
medal fur the campaign in Agypt la 1801.