The Express.
London, England, 1855-02-27 00:00:00

THE VICTUALLING AND THE PAY OF THE

ARMY.

- 40 -

THE explanation officially given of the " green
coffee sent to the Crimea " is this :—" Coffee forms no
part of the rations of a soldier, to be supplied by the
Oovernmest. But when the army was sent to the
East, a year ago, it occurred to the officers of the
Commissariat at home that it might prove a great
advantage to the troops if they were enabled to pur-
chase many articles of comfort and delicacy, not in-
cluded in the ordinary rations, at a low pries; and
accordingly supplies of (raw) coffee, to be sold at did.
the pound, of sugar at 2d. the pound, of rico at 3d.
the pound, of tea at Is. the pound, of porter at 3d.
the quart, and a variety of other articles at prime
cost, without any daty, were forwarded to the East,
and placed at Ms disposal of the troops." Thus, in-
stead of the green coffee, on which so much vehe-
means has been wasted, being a sign of negligence
on the part of the Commissariat, it was, as is
officially declared, a sign of great foresight, thought-
fulness, and care for the soldier. The sending it at
all was entirely a work of supererogation. It was done
with great promptness at the very commencement of

the expedition a year ago. Nor was it coffee alone
that was sent, but many articles of comfort and
delicacy not allowed by **Government to the soldiers,
which the Commissariat obtained out of the docks free
of all duty and sent as commissariat stores by her
MAJESTY'S ships to be placed at the disposal of the
troops, officers as well as men, in exchange for their
pay. " It cannot be doubted," says the official
account, " that this was an arrangement extremely
advantageous to the troops," though the coffee was
not roasted ; nor can it be doubted, unofficial people
think, that it was intended to be extremely advan-
tageous to the Commissariat. Whether the foreseeing
members of that body at home did their duty towards
the troops in providing them rations has been very
much questioned ; but after this official statement
there can be no doubt whatever that they were
extremely careful to supply articles of comfort and
delicacy, which the Government does not think neces-
sary for the health and strength of the soldier, but
which the Commissariat thought he would like to buy,
and which were placed at his disposal accordingly.
The official account, however, tells as that on the
28th of June, Lord RAGLAN took a similar view of
what was necessary for the soldier to that taken by
the Commissariat at home, and "issued a general
order, by which coffee and sugar were to be made a
part of the soldier's daily rations." We have a recol-
lection, too, that about the same time an allowance
of porter was ordered, and we have had in our hands
letters from soldiers, complaining bitterly, more than
a month after the order was given, that they could
not obtain rations either of coffee or porter. Oars
had certainly been taken to provide articles for sale,

bat that equal care had Wen taken to provide them
for distribution, the whole history of our neglected,
suffering, and starved troops disproves. If coffee,
sugar, tea, and porter form no put of the ordinary
rations of a soldier in the field, when they can be
procured, what do they receive? This is an interest-
ing question, and the len the Government gives
them, the more culpable seems to us the Commissariat,
which has not fully and carefully supplied it; and
has, with much forethought, supplied articles for mle.
The majority of the public will learn with some'
astonishment, we believe, that the nutriment ordered
by the regulations for the men who fight the national,
battles abroad—who are keeping guard in wet trenches
by night, and who are expected to march or fight
with heavy packs twelve or sixteen hours—is nothing
but bread and meat—l lb. of bread, or tlb. of biscuit,
and llb. of meat. The Commander of the Army has
it in his power to increase the allowance of bread,
but it is
the army is actually in the field, order besides
rations of wine or spirits, and of coffee or
sugar ; but, as a rule, the allowance is re-
stricted to bread and meat. Either or both
articles may be of the worst description, mouldy
biscuit or rancid salt pork ; but as a rule,
these two substances are all that the Government
supplies, and everything else the soldier may need or
desire, u food or drink, he must buy. What is his
pay ? The bulk of the soldiers, all the rank and file
of the infantry, exo lading officers of all descriptions,
have Is. a day, out of which they have to buy a great
number of necessaries, which martinet officers are far
more careful to see in their knapsacks than they are to
see that their rations are duly supplied. The cavalry
have something more than the infantry, and all the
officers, from lance-corporals upwards, have large pay,
but the total emoluments of the soldier may be con-
sidered, on the field—for in barracks he has no ra-
tions--u much less than Is. a day, Ilb. of bread and
Ilb.of meat. It was out of his Is.,—reduced, we believe,
to about 4d. on the average, after all his necessaries
are paid for—that the Commissariat expected him to
purchase the articles of comfort and luxury it
provided.

There has been much written in our time about the
cheap defence of nations; and about the purchase of
the services of the bulk of an army for one shilling a
day and one pound of coarse bread and salt pork, by
the wealthiest nation of the world, is a cheap defence.
Siuce the disasters in the Crimes, propositions have
been made to establish a conscription; and if carried
out it might, for the first time perhaps, make our opu-
lent yeomanry, our princely merchants and manufac-
turers, and our nobility—for the conscription must
be universal and equal—sensible of the national
scampishness of paying their sons, when in the ranks,
one shilling a day, and one pound of bread, and one
pound of meat. The art of war, though degraded to
be the game of Kings, is yet, as it has been at all
times, from the beginning of society, a neces-
sary art. It is still ranked with the highest
and the noblest arts. It leads successful generals to
the highest honours and rewards; but England
carries it on by selecting only the lowest of its
population for the work, and pays them so that
only such a clue will become soldiers. That the
noblest and still the, most necessary of all arts
—the art which calls into exercise the most heroic
qualities of our nature—should by England be carried
on in this unworthy manner, is oontrary to the good
sense to which we make a national claim. 11l fed
and ill paid, plundered, as he has been until
lately, even of his small nominal pay to enrich
tailoring colonels and peddling commissaries, the
British soldier, though he sometimes imitates the
filching example to which he is continually a
victim, and becomes a predatory animal, is a
perfect marvel of courage, perseverance, and heroic
fortitude. But we must earnestly caution the public
that it is not wise to rely for the national safety on
the perpetual continuance of a miracle. This wealthy
nation must pay its defenders better ; this civilised
nation must have for its defenders the better classes
of its people. If England is to be hereafter successful
in war, it must embody its intelligence into the army,
and must encourage exertion by the ordinary mo-
tives that ensure success in civilised society. It
must take the soldier out of the heads of cabbaging
colonels ; and it must take the supply of his wants, of
his comforts and delicacies, out of the hands of profit-
making commissaries.
The pay of the sailor has been increased, his vic-
tualling has been improved, and the old scandal of
impressment, in consequence, got rid of. Now the turn
of the soldier has arrived. His pay must be increased,
thaegii more than half or nine-tenths of the officers
Amid be discarded ; his rations must be enlarged,
snip made mere varied, and supplied with greater rep-
levity ; or the art on which the nation must still
depend for its safety will die out, and our descendants
may become serfs of Russia. Idle gossips and mew
ben of peace societies, whose ideas of war are formai
from the luxuries enjoyed by the Household Brigade,
and from seeing how poor a plaything princes make
al as army, may think our soldiers well enough *II;
bud we tell them that war is a necessary et;
die, to be successful, it must be carried ma
by the mat intelligent part of a I.
Meld community ; that it mast embrace all
dm arts of civilised life ; and that the =anise
men id the rank of the army must be better paid
flag as agricultural labourer. Benevolemee bes
lodised cm behalf of needlewomen and rigged ail.
deer. Justice should be done to the soldier. He
amid set be worse paid than the lowest Mower,
without even the workhouse as a refuge. The peor
and feed of our troops, still regulated on the eldest
Find* of muter and slave, are altogether instill-
Meat for the civilised man. Onr soldiers—giants is
stature and courage—are treated by the old feeble
nurses of the Horse Guards and the Treasury m
babies, and are made almost as helpless by their re-
seriatim§ as themselves. They are prevented by
martinets and red-tapists from using their own Intel-
Biotic* ; they are sent into the Held as parts of a
system, forbidden to use their own native power by
its authors, and are left by them,onfed and unclothed,
to perish. A total change is obviously necessary to
make our army accord with our society ; and the
war, which in so many ways is teaching us to know
ourselves, cannot be without great utility, even in the
eyes of Mr. BBIGHL—DIIaiI News.

OUR TURKISH ALLIES.