The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-26 00:00:00

THE JIPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1853.

rants were first issued by Lord Howick, and after-
wards increased by himself (Mr. Sidney Herbert)
in 1845, the sergeants were not participators.
Now be confessed he did not think that the sergeants had
any right to share, inasmuch as those warrants were given
as compensation for additional pay, which they had never
received. When, however, the second change took place
in the good conduct pay, the advantage had so ineressed
to the men that he thought the sergeants had some claim.
There was no body of men to whom the army was more
indebted, both in the formation of regiments and in the
maintenaace of discipline ; and he believed no army had a
aces efficient body of them than that of this country.
It bad, therefore, been agreed that 2,0001. should be
annually set apart for the non-commissioned officers ; and
to that sum he proposed that they should add this year
2501. In the half-pay of general officers, and the reduced
half pay to the widows of foreign officers, there war, he was
happy to ray, as there bad always been, a very considerable
diminution ; but it was not so large this year as usual.
There was an increase, too, of 8,997/. for out-pensioners
at Chelsea, for which it was very difficult to account. These
were the principal heads of difference between the estimates
of this and last year. Ilia right hon. friend the First Lord
of the Admiralty pointed out the other night in moving the
navy estimates, how great bad been the diminution of
charge for which they were able to maintain a much
larger and efficient force; but he (Mr. S. Herbert) was
happy to say that that was nut peculiar to the navy. Indeed
he believed that the same thing had taken place in the
army to an even greater extent. It must bo recollected
that the War-office bad been occupied for a long series of
years by some most sagacious administrators. Sir H. Par-
nell, Lord llowicic, Sir John llobhouse, Lord Hardinge,
and Lord Panmure, had followed each other with great
success in increasing the comforts of the soldier, and
at the same time reducing his cost. Now, the year
1835 had been taken as the pattern year; arid in
that year the whole estimates amounted to 5,907,782?.
This year the% were 6,02.1,016'., being an apparent
increase of 1160001. odd. But from the latter sum
they ought to deduct all those items which since 1835 had
been added to the estimates. He found there had been ad-
ditional items since then amounting to something like
2.10,000/., and therefore if that were taken off they would
really have a reduction of 137,266/. upon 1835. (Cheers.)
Well, but with this sum they were maintaining 21,000 nun
more than in 1835. (Cheers.) The increase had been
principally upon the non-effective portion of the estimates.
They had first 35,0001. postage, then for additions to the
black pensioners 12,0001.; and, thirdly, for the organ-
isation of pensioners, 4.1,0001. They had also given
up the poundage to Chelsea pensioners, 60,0001.;
and if they took off all those items for schools,
the new prison system, and regimental libraries,
they would come to the same result, namely that they were
maintaining 21,000 more men for a less awn than they
spent in 1835. Now, this had not Seen caused by reduction
of half-pay ; hut while the cost per bayonet in 1835, the cost
of emit man fed, clothed, armed, equipped, and commanded,
was-121. 15s. lid., the cost last year was 40/. 3s. 6.1. ; the cost
for meu, exclusive of the officer; being very little more than
361. a year. (Cheers) At the same time he (Mr. S. Herbert)
did not believe that there had ever been a period when the
soldier had been so well off as at the present moment. (Hear,
hear.) His noble friend had said that the service was
popular, and, indeed, swing either to the short service, the
increased comforts, or the diminution of punishments,
though the recruiting had been carried on in the face of the
enlistment of a militia force of 50,003 men, recruiting had
never been more easy, or from a better class. (Renewed
cheen.) The stoppages for rations had been lowered. It bad
been a source of complaint that these had been too high in
stations where provisions were notoriously cheap, and though
the principle was right that the stoppages should be high, yet
that had been too much the case, and they had been
lowered, to the great satisfaction of the men. The good
conduct pay had been increased 6-1,000/. a year ; and hay-
rack libraries hail been established. This last was, he be-
lieved, a most useful measure. (Hear, hear.) Thu first had
been opened in 1840 ; and there were now 150 such libraries,
with 16,040 subscribers and 117,000 volumes. (Cheers.)
By a late arrangement the officers had been allowed to use
these libraries, but care had been taken that they should
not interfere with the privileges of the men. The subscrip-
tion of the latter was one penny per month, lend the officers
gave up one day's pay per quarter. Like the men, they were
permitted to take books to their quarters, but they were
not allowed to keep them for any longer time. (Hear.)
The schools were established by himself in 1846 ; but
be owed a great deal to Lord Panmure, for it was a very
much easier matter to write down a plan on paper than to
carry it into effect. (Hear, hear.) When the sys•em of
training schools was established, it met with great opposi-
tion ; but, by steady perseverance all those objections had
been removed, and there was now the greatest anxiety to
secure trained schoolmasters. (Cheers.) There had been
a large school at Chelsea for the orphans of soldiers, and it
had formerly been conducted entirely by non-commissioned
officers ; but it was extremely behind the standard which
ought to prevail at such an establishment. The first step
was to put the boys' school entirely upon a new founda-
tion ; and a training school was founded, in order to raise
a number of good regimental masters. The non-commis-
sioned officers who came to be instructed were practised
upon the boys in the Chelsea School, and they had now a
very large number of masters who had passed through that
probation, and were now engaged in teaching. They had
53 masters and 16 assistant-masters engaged in teaching
the children, as well as non-commissioned officers and
privates. He would now read a short statement upon the
result of that system: " There are now employed with dif-
ferent corps 38 masters, and two on sick leave, and 16
assistant-masters. They teach both the children and the
nun-commissioned officers and privates; and all the reports,
as well from commanding officers as from the Inspector-
General, describe their labours as very beneficial. Indeed,
wherever the commanding officer gives his countenance to
the arrangement, the men attend school in such numbers
as test the physical as well as the intellectual powers of the
masters severely. la the 77th regiment, for example, now
quartered at Weedon, the school roll shows au attendance
of not fewer than 538 adults. The 35th regiment send 371
to school, the 82nd regiment 270. Indeed, the lowest at-
tendance in the infantry, that of the 69th depot, does not
fall short of 61. It is worthy of remark that, except in the
ease of recruits, all this attendance is voluntary. And it is
all paid for. The recruits are required by regulation
to attend till dismissed drill. For a time they not un-
freqnently lay aside school with drill; but in almost
every instance those who have made even moderato progress
come back after an interval of a few months. (Cheers.)
He had the greatest confidence that the new system would
contribute to that increase of good conduct which had been
so remarkable throughout all rank*. He had in his hand
a return of the depositors to the savings banks.
These banks were established in 1844, to which
year there were 890 depositors, and the amount was
14,8091. ; in 1852 there were 9,447 depositors, and the
amount was 111,9201. (Cheers.) Some years ago great
fears were entertained lest the care which was taken of the
soldier, maths facilities given him, would lead to a relaxa-
tion in the state of discipline. Now they had had a great
diminution of punishment. The number of corporal punish-
ments—he did not speak of the number of lashes, which
were limited now to 60 so that those dreadful punish-
ments that used to take place could not now occur—in
1838, was 879. He would read a few of the subsequent
returns: 1843, 620; 1846, 461 ; 1849, 311; 1850, 247 ; and
1861, 206. Last year they bad only returns from the forces
at home and part of the troops abroad; in fact, from about
three-fourths of the whole force ; and the number of punish-
ments had only been 96. (Cheers.) Of course there had been
an increase in the other military punishments, such, for
example, as confinement in military prisons ; but he would
read to them a return of the number of sentences to
impri-
sonment. In 1838 they were one in and in 1852 they
In
had diminished to one l6. But he would give them the
actual numbers. In 1850 there were 3,665 prisoners ; in
18.51, 3,266; and in 1862, 3,313. This last seemed a slight
increase, but it woe covered by the increase in the number
of men. He believed that the military prison system an-
swered exceedingly well. It was conducted upon a plan
very different from the civil prisons, for it must be recol-
lected that every day the punishment of a soldier was pro-
' traeted they were in fact punishing his well-
behaved comrades. (Hear, hear.) The diet was there-
, fore lower than that of the civil prisons, but the health
of the prisoners had not been found to safer. Indeed
I the drunkards, who formed a great proportion of the of-
fenders, usually came out of prison in a much better state
of health than they went in. The discipline, he should
think, must be almost heartbreaking, for it consisted in
'piling shot at the word of command, a labour that did not
Wad to any earthly result. There was one other point to
which he wished to call the attention of the committee—
the health, namely, of the army. He believed that at no
former period had the army ever been so healthy. In
Melts, Gibraltar, the lonian Islands, and the Mediterra-
' noon, the mortality had been 17 and 7-10ths in the 1,000 for
the average of 30 years previous to 1846, but last year it
was 12 and 7-10ths. In the American colonies the mor-
tality in Bermuda had been 14 in the 1000, the average of
the previous years being 16 in the 1,000 • and 14 being ea
high a state of health es in Gieat Britain. In
the Cape of Good Hope the mortality had been, exclusive of
the war, 24 in the thousand—a mush lower rate than that
of
the French army in Algeria. In New Zealand the rate
bed been 12, Vast Diemen 's Land 9, and New South Wales
6in the thousand. In the West India Islands (exclusive of
Jamaica) it was 22. In Jamaica it was 44. The yellow
fever had broken out at Barba/loft and made great
ravages, but contrary to every precedent it had raged
niers amongst the civilians than the army, and mon
=4 the office than the privates. The whole
officers than
however, had not reached 6 per cent.
At Hong Hoag, the most unhealthful of all the stations,
there was also a dimiaution. The mounts from India, re-
solved that day, showed that the troops at Rangoon were
not suffering in health, for the mortality there had been
under 4 per cent. This was in part the result of improved
medical treatment, but also in a great measure of improved
habits of the men, and a decrease in the habit of drinking.
We had now to look to increase the efficiency of our arty
la the field. Hitherto they had been too much used es a
police force, and scattered about in single regiments. The
same had been the case in the colonies, and this was fatale*
their efficiency in field se:vice. When the regiments cams
beam that were expected, they must be more concentrated.
(Hear, hear.) It was proposed in these estimates to
take a small sum for a station fur ball practice
with Minis rifles, where the men might be in-
structed by officers who had acquired the practice. In the
summer it was proposed to have an encampment in some part
of the country, where the troops might assemble for in-
struction. This would occasion little more expense than
the ordinary change of quarters. Lord Hardinge had
taken the greatest pains to secure for his troops the best
descriptions of arms; he had sent to America to procure
the best pieces, and experiments were making with a view
to improve them, so as to produce a piece lighter than the
Minix rifle and more effective. (Hear.) It was hoped that
our army wouls‘thas become as effective at possible. no