The Express.
London, England, 1862-05-02 00:00:00

lance. Wars to arrest the progress of a despotic
Power or to set • noble nation free,
are not substantially at variance with the signs
of peace that gather and multiply on industrious
horizons of the world. The same is, of course,
true with regard to the marked advance in the
range and power of destructive weapons. By all
means let art and science do their utmost to
perfect these implements of violence and destruc-
tion. If the power that is to use them, if the nations
of the world but advance in mutual intelligence,
in habits of friendly intercourse, in connected
interests, and in the consciousness of their common
relationship, we need not fear any new outbreak
of violence, or despair of the future of the
race. The era of peace on earth and good will
amongst men which has inspired alike the poet
I and the prophet, and is still the sovereign hope
lof all noble minds, may be a dream, but it
is a dream destined to be realised. And
we may be certain that such days u yes-
terday, and such months as are before us,
hasten its approach, and will continue to do so
till, in the noble words of the LAORRATE that yester-
day pealed sublimely through the great Temple of
Industry, stirring every heart not only with the
inspiring music, but with the glorious vision,

statements then given and Captain JACK-
soles Report is very striking. Meantime,
Lord HKABKIIT was preparing for the issue of other
Regulations and Reports, all of great value, which
were acted upon in 1860 and 1861, and among
them the Report on Libraries, Reading-rooms, and
Day-rooms for the soldiery, which has recently
appeared. Only three weeks before his death he
caused the Barrack and Hospital Inquiry to be
extended to our stations in the Mediterranean,
and issued instructions for providing, without
delay, a " Soldiers' Home " at Aldershott, with
branches. He was aware of the facts disclosed to
us by Captain JACKSON'S Report in regard to the
character of the places of retort at Aldershott, and
the intolerable effects on the health and character
of the soldier ; and it cannot be too clearly under-
stood that he repudiated, with all possible earnest-
ness, the suggestion of diminishing the immediate
mortality from the diseases of debauchery by means
of a police superintendence and license of vice which
must directly contravene his great aim of elevating
the character of the soldiery. It will be a fatal
hour for the army and the nation, according to his
view, when the War-office authorities propose such
a licensing system as the only way of preserving
ithe life of the British army. Thus far it certainly
appears that other methods answer beyond ex-
pectation wherever they have been tried. Our
readers have seen what remarkable success at-
tended Captain JACKSON'S experiment at Gibraltar.
All Lord HERBERT'S experience went to convince
him that the soldiers a, prefer innocent to licen-
tious pleasures, that any sort of club which affords
a refuge from ennui in newspapers, harmless
games and refreshments, and means of sociability,
is immediately thronged, to the ruin of bad public-
houses. But the opening of such institutions re-
quires a strong expression of the public will and
pleasure, whenever the convenience of the "gun-
" tlemen " comes into collision with the welfare of
the "brutes" of the army. It is not likely to be
forgotten how one of Lord HERBERT'S last wishes
about Aldershott was baffled. An officers' club-
house was standing empty there from the
failure of a speculation. A tenant offered
in the person of a friend of the
soldiery, who would have opened the house
as a " home" for the men of the camp ;
but the scheme was baffled by the needs of the
COMMAND/S-IN-CHIEF, who must have the house
for "distinguished guests" visiting Aldershott
For one " distinguished" visitor, thus accommo-
dated, how many private soldiers have been made
" brutes" in some of the hundred public-houses
within reach!

. -
Till each mw end his own in all men's good,
And all men work in noble brotherhood.
Breaking their mailed fiesta and armed towers,
And ruling by obeying nature's powers,
And gathering all the fruits of peace and crown'd with
all her flowers.

The fate of another wish of the soldiers'
" distinguished" friend and benefactor further
warns us to keep a vigilant eye on our army ad-
ministration. Our readers may remember how
Lord HERBERT and many others desired to see
but hospitals opened for the soldiers' wives—a
measure of high importance. With a world of
difficulty Lord HERBERT obtained from the Trea-
sury an annual grant of from 6,0001. to 8,0001.
for this object ; and after his death the first appli-
cation was made for one. The application was
made in the terms prescribed, but the Con-
marinsa-nr-Criutr interfered. The general
officers must be handsomely accommo-
dated before he would permit a single hut
to be erected for the sick soldiers' wives-
An attempt to overthrow the scheme of the new
Woolwich Hospital, in the teeth of a decision of
Parliament, happily failed, through a virtuous
steadiness in the right place. It will bear down
Lord HERBERT'S name to future generations, as is
fitting. But we must receive the warning of such
incidents, and ourselves look to the fulfilment of
the just claims of our soldiery. No one will
imagine that where Lord HERBERT scarcely main-
tained his ground, in regard to his own reforms,
the present SECRETARY AT WAR will be of any use
in resisting the encroachment,tyranny, and uncon-
stitutional wilfulness of the Horse-Guards. We
must take care that no reforms are reversed or
hindered. The thing must be done. We cannot
see our soldiery rot before our eyes, in the midst
of reforms willed and paid for by the nation.
In order to have a clear view of what we must
demand and obtain, we have atill to review what
has been achieved, in proportion to what is needed,
• for the right use of the soldiers' hours of leisure.
• We will some day present the leading facts, as
supplied by the recent Report on Reading and
• Day Rooms.

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 2, 1862.