The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-02 00:00:00

garrisons at home and abroad are of a paucity
amounting to the ridiculous. We know of an officer
who had seven men in a fort with fift4y guns, seven
guns to one man! In this respect Colonel ANSON
ought to speak out the truth, which is, that one-third
of our fortresses must be given up, or else the num-
ber of artillery soldiers mind be increased.
Take Corfu for example, the capital of that Wined
Land which Sir HENRY WARD rules over. Corfu
bee nominally three companies of artillery, but, in
truth, there is numerically but one, so that not a sin-
gle front of these mighty fortifications, which have
met so much money, could be manned by gunners.
Better far to give up the islands, than spend money
en fortifications, which we do not pretend to be able
to man, and which in ease of a war we should be a
twelvemonth in training artillerymen to man. There
is the Cape, and all its forts, Mauritius, Ceylon, to-
gether with our colonies in the west. Consider all
these, and let the truth be known, that we have nut
half enough artillerymen to form even the nucleus of
a scientific corps for their defence.
Let this fact be admitted; and let it at the same
time be admitted that England is unable and unwil-
ling to pay the enormous expenses requisite for the
military defence of the colonies. And let the ques-
tion be put to the colonies themselves of training
men and acquiring discipline, requisite, at least, to
have in the colony the knowledge requisite for ex-
pansion preliminary to defence. That would be a
fairer way of meeting the difficulty than slurring it
over.
That there might be a great reduction in the
central administration of the ordnance there can
be little doubt. Hut whether this would be
best obtained by amalgamating the Board with
the Iffirse Guards may be questioned. The
Ordnance-office is an amphibious establishment;
with a mixture of civil and military duties. The
Muster-General not only rules fourteen thousand
men, but the laying out of some millions of pounds
in bricks and mortar. Economists grumble at four
hundred barracks, taking for example those at
Woolwich, instead of some of the miserable holes in
which men on detachment arc thrust. But why
cannot a civil department be created, =obtruded upon
by either naval or military men? Let the
soldiers of the ordnance corps be put under the
Commander-in-Chief, but let civilians have the
direction of building barracks and ships, the buying
of guns, and fabrication of powder. Let them supply
what they think necessary, and once it is handed
over, let those who have charge of it be alone respon-
sible. At present the confusion is complete and the
responsibility null. A company of artillery is wuntedto
go on service, the Horse Guards apply to the Ordnance.
A company has to be relieved from abroad, the Ord-
nance applies to the Admiralty, and with all their
vaunted regularity. the business is wally bungled.
The officers, not allowed on going on hoard so much
us a pot or pan to cook with, are told to buy what
they want; to lay in their stock perhaps for three
months: it is understood that when they reach the
journey's end they are to be indemnified. But the in-
demnity never comes ; and discontent and derange-1
meat of an officer's whole economy is the COOSNUCIIM
In luopitals there is a reduction of EDO/. ; but we
are not told whether it is from the reduction of the
office of Director-General of the Ordnance Medical
Department, or from a better state of health among
the men.
Concerning the schools for the men, there is a
satisfactory report, but the libraries are particularly
to be com 11l ended. It is nut usual fur the soldiers of
the Ordnance corps to belong to libraries which have
lately been set up under the direction of the Secretary
at War and Mr.UiffiG, hut the men subscribing anion 4
themselves are allowed to choose their own works,
submitted, however, to their commanding officer's
approval. The consequence is, they obtain a set of
useful and amusing works, suited to their own capa-
bilities. We do not know who is the caterer for
literary works in the army, but it is most absurd
sending to ffireign garrisons " British Encyclo-
pedia," &c.; and instead of the soldier being able to
get some small hook to put away in ltis knapsack, he
is furnished with huge compilations of SUAKSPEARE
or Wilcox in one volume.
By way of greater accommodation to married
soldiers, Colloid AN SON protases giving non-com-
missioned officers 2d. a-day extra; but it is not the
nomeo 11111 l issioned officer who is in want of such a
boon, but the private, not the man who earns two
or three shillings a day, but the unfortunate man who
gets but one
We e; t conclude without protesting against
Mr. Wtiimms's attack on the Home Artillery. Ile
describes the idle es us men who have never seen
foreign service, whereas there is not a single officer
in the brigade who has not been abroad once or
oftener. It is a source of regret to see so useful a
corps spoiled by tawdry lace and gingerbread facings,
hut not more is, than to se his brother officer in the
loot with a dower-pot on his head and a shaving brush
on the top of it. But so fur from bringing the Horse
Artillery to the level of foot, the very first war will
occasion the necessity of raising the foot to that of
the horse, for, in this age of steam engines and electric
telegraphs, retrograde motions will nut be found to

THE SCOTCH BENCIt AND 11.11 t.—It is with deep
regret that we receive the intelligence of the death
of Lord .Moncreilt. lk was almost the last of the
distinguished eotemporaries ofJetirey, Cranstouu, and
Clerk, iu the parliament house. For extensive and
sound legal knowledge; fur acuteness, combined with
an ever healthy and reliable judgment ; and for in-
defatigable luau-4re, he was, perhaps, superior to
them all. Indepeinkntly of these high qualities, he
had a strung hold OH the esteem and :fffienon of Scot-
land as one of its very few undeviatingly honest and
independent politicians, at the time when servility
and corruption were rife in that country to an extent
which had for generations been unknown in Eng-
lund. As the son of Sir Henry Moncreiff ono of
the finest specimens at once of Scotch aristocracy and
of the old orthodox party in the church of Scot-
land, Lord Nlouercill added a hereditary title to his
personal hold on the minds of his countrymen.
Another Lord of Session—Lord Mackenzie—is also
understood to be in a state of ill health all but hope-
less. Who are to fill the vacancies is matter of much
speculation. There are at present a number of highly
respectable practitioners at the Scotch bar, but with
the exception of the Lord Advocate none who has
established a character at all approaching to that of
the group to which Lord Moue:vitt* belonged. We
believe that the Lord Advocate is generally under-
stood iu Scotland to have a claim to the Presidency
when vacant. and that those who till the office arc
reluctant to accept of any inferior judicial appoint-
ment. Possibly the delicate state of the Lord Advo-
cate's health may induce him to postpone etiquette,
• and accept of the vacant seat on the bench left by
the death of Lord Monerieff. In that case it will
not be easy to select a successor fur his lordship
in the ranks of his party. All things considered, the
Solicitor-General—Mr..J'ames Monereiff, second son
of the deceased judge—would probably be the most
eligible successor. Ito is still young, indeed, and
comparatively untried; but he inherits many of the
best qualities of his father and grandfather: he is
painstaking, with rare powers of close reasoning and
clear perception, and with a mind not easily shaken
in trying circumstances. We believe, too. that he
was educated at an English university, and thereby
emancipated from a kind of provincial narrowness of
view that clings to not a few of his brethren. If
any chance should again play into Lord Stanley's
hand.s an opp.rtunity of taking office, he would find
his Scotch official appointments a matter of greater
difficulty than even the English. The last conserva-
tive Lead Advocate, Mr. *Neil, though not, like
Mr. Itutherfurd, a man of genius and general accom-
plishments. as well as a sound and able lawyer, is a
man of strong good sense and good feeling, and an
excellent hard-headed practical lawyer; but in the
great schism among the conservatives Mr. M•Still
adhered to Sir Robert Peel. It is not altogether
alien to these considerations to notice that we learn

from Scotland that Lord Cockburn is preparing
for the press a life of Lord Jeffrey. lie will execute
his task as a labour of love, and with an intimate
knowledge of the subject; and however sceptical
those who know the learned lord mac he. we are
assured that he is working indefatigably at it. There
was a talk some time ago of Sir W. G. Graig's being
possibly appointed Lord Advocate in the event of
Mr. ltutherfurd's resignation. Sir William is an
amiable and intelligent gentleman, and a general
favourite; but he has shrunk from taking such a
share in the debates of the House of Commons as
would be required in an officer who is in fact Secre-
tary of State for Scotland; and besides. we believe
he has for many years ceased to practise at the bar.