The Express.
London, England, 1848-04-05 00:00:00

astronomer royal, and the principal librarian at the
British Museum, have each of them only 8001. per
own. We
may be told that the well-paid
parliamentary janitor does not in reality take his''
PLas porter, that he is in fact a person
m:superior station of life, who would disdain t sit
in "marble halls" like an ordinary member of the
fraternity, and that his duties are performed by some
subordinate receiving a comparatively moderate sti-
pend. This suggestion is to a certain extent authorised
by the list of ealaries, which presents us to a second
door-keeper of the House of Commons at f:ur hundred
a year, and a lower door-keeper in addition at two
hundred a year more— so that the door of the lower
legislative chamber is not kept under fourteen hun-
dred per annum. The presumption that the duties are
probably per formed by deputy, in the case of the chief
at least oi these three functionaries, brings us naturally
to the qui.stion, whether an individual whose dignity
will not permit him to do his work, ought not to have
the honesty to decline the receipt of his salary
on the other hand, this gentleman of eight hundred a
Tear goes literally on d'uty at the door of the house, it
becomes a consideration whether he is not most extra-
vagantly overpaid for a service that some eighty
guineas by way of annual wages would handsomely
compensate. We confess that our disgust at the
exorbitant salaries attached to the places of porters
and messengers is most materially increased
by perceiving the niggardly treatment that
/Climes) and learning experience when they are
engaged on behalf of the public. The first
assistant astronomer royal bas, for instance, pre-
cisely the same pay as the assistant deliverer of the
notes of tile House of Commons, while the deliverer-
in-chief has nearly three times the sum, and is pecu-
niarily on a footing with the astronomer-royal and
the principal librarian of the British Museum. This
note delivery costs no less than eleven hundred a year
in mere salaries aline, to Fay nothing of the expenses
no doubt entailed by the actual doing of the work,
which we may be assured is not reformed in person
by the two individuals who receive respectively eight
hundred and thrt e hundred a year for its execution.
It is not in the interest of science that we direct
attention to the insignificance of its rewards as com-
pared with the proti:s derivable from a nominal keep-
ing of doors and delivery of notes or messages, but it
is on behalf of the public that we protest against an
expenditure for the latter purposes as unjust as it is
extravagant. This is not the time perhaps to ask for
a more liberal outlay on the study of theaters, by in-
sisting on an increase to the salaries of the official
astronomers ; but this is peculiarly the time to de-
nounce the shameful waste of money that is
caused by a livish endowment of door keepers or hall-
porters' chairs, aud the situations of note deliverers
or messengers. It is a fact, that the chair in the ball
of the Admiralty is worth to its occupant nearly two-
thirds of the sum enjoyed by the gentlemai who fills
the chair of profesaor of fortifications at the Royal
Military Academy. The former receives one
hundred and sixty pounds a year,while the teacher
of a most important science, in an institution where
young men arc prepared for the service of their coun-
try, is in the receipt of only two hundred and fifty
pounds per annum. These discrepancies may be
rendered useful in the cause of retrenchment, by the
striking proof they afford that a system of unfair
remuneration has prevailed ; and that an equitable
adjustment, giving industry and intellect their due
but taking from pampered indolence its unmerited
gains, is urgently ri quired.
We perceive with pleasure that Lord JOIN Rus-
set'. has assented to Mr. Ht ME'S suggestion for the
reduction of the salary of the Serjeaet-at-Arms.

THE new number of the Quarterly contains a very
remarkable article on military expenditure. It is in-
deed so liberal and rational, that the direction of the
Quarterly have deemed it necessary to append by way
of postscript an apology for publishing so reasonable
a paper at this revolutionary period, when its sup-
porters would necessarily look f, r it to be preaching
up a war panic and eufo,6ing profuse expenditure
on armies. It is lucky for the public that the article
in question was accepted and printed before the re-
cent events in Paris set the editor's wits a wool-

gathering.
With the entire tenor of the article we will tot
pretend to concur. The materials have obviously
been 15,1130, d, and unless we are much mistaken put
into the shape in which the qt.irterly presents them,
by a soldier— by a clear headed and experienced sol•
dia. When this is said, the reader will be prepared
to expect in it an able exposure of what is defective
in the application of the public funds devoted to the
maintenance of the army and ordnance, but: at the
same time somewhat of that propensity which JEREMY
BENTHAM imagined to be exclusively characteristic
of lawyers—a disposition to believe that the country
cannot easily have too much of the services of the pro-
fesion, or pay to liberally for them. We demur to the
writer's estimates of the necessary cost of a peace
establishment, though we admit them to be remark-
ably moderate for one of his cloth. But we concur
entirely in his merciless exposure of the injudicious
combination of the various arms which compose our
national force, and the aimless extravagant expendi-
ture with which all military departments are charge-

able.
The subject matter of the article is discussed under
three main heads—the Itoyal Artillery and Engineers
or our corps (le genie; the infantry and cavalry; and the
general administration of the army. We propose to
devote three ar ides to these important topics, turn-
ing to account the able statements of the /?eviewer
when we coincide with him, and assigning
our reasons when we differ. And we begin
where he finishes, because we agree with him
that in the British army the spirit of abuse grows
more inveterate and powerful as we mount upwards.
The country is army-ridden more by the higher ranks
than by the privates. Our army labours under a ple-
thora of officers ; and it is in the administrative de-
partments at head-quarters that we find abuse in its
most concentrated and virulent form.
The Commander-in-Chief has not the entire com-
mand of the army. Not only is he checked and con-
trolled in everything by the crown's civil ministers ;
his authority in matters of detail is not recognised
by a large and important branch of the military
service itself. At every point be finds himself in-
terfered with, and his efficacy paralysed by the
Board of Ordnance. This divided sway, objection-
able were it only as tending to weaken discipline and
impair the efficiency of the army, is ten times more
noxious on account of the jobbing and irresponsible
wasteful expenditure to which it affords opportuni-
ties. The Board of Ordnance is, indeed, to use the
pithy words of the writer who has suggested
these remelts, " an incubus on the energies of the
country." This will not be deemed an exaggerated
figure after the following exposure has been atten-
tively read :
Its [the Board of Ordnance's] existence as a separate de-
nartment, implying as it does the severance of two important
military corps from the management of the Commander-in-
Chief, and the removal of all right from the Secretary-at-
War to control an enormous expenditure on what are
generally called the civil branches of the army, is an ano-
maly fur which we have never heard a rational excuse
offered. Undoubtedly the Ordnance in its present palmy
state has an immense amount of public property entrusted to
its management. AU the cannon, email arms, ammunition,
and other implements of war, which are or are likely to be
required both by the army and the navy, abide in its keep-
ing. So do military stores of every description. So do all
barracks, fortifications, garrisons, chapels, school-rooms, and
canteens. Though it does not supply the troops of the line
with their jackets, dialects, or trowsers, the care of providing
them with great-coats is claimed. It issues or withholds at
pleasure blanket., palliasses, straw, fuel, lights, every article
necessary to render barrack-rooms habitable. All contracts
for the supply of forage for the horses of the army—el ar-
rangements for equipping the cavalry with saddles, bridles,
surcingles, and rugs, are made at the office in Pall-mall. The
Board of Ordnance appoints all storekeepers and barrack.
masters, with their clerks and assistants—and we need only
write down the words " barrack damages," in order to sicken
every military reader with the memory of abuses innumer-
able. In a word, the Board of Ordnance stands between the
Secretary-st• War on the one hand, and the Commander-in-
Chief on the other, and the military force of this country ;
having the power, and not unfrequently using it too, to
fetter them in the arrangement of their plans, and so damage
the efficiency of the army.
The Board of Ordnance is at once the most costly and the
clumsiest working of our establishments. The charge for its
two offices in Pall-mall and the Tower of London alone
amounts to 91,1361. by estimate ; but will generally be
found to have exceeded this. Its manner of working is by
departments; and these being perfecgy independent one of
stingier, appear at times to enter into a competition as to
which shall do the greatest amount of business, and therefore
tort the country the largest amount of money. To give one
specimen of the regatta of this rivalry—whenever the neces-
sity of providing a site for a new barrack has been decided
on, it is the province of the SurveyovG eneral of the Ordnance
to look out tor such site, and to bargain for the purchase
thereof, when found, after which the board gives its sanction
to the arrangement. The Furveyor-General, a few years ego,
set about this necessary operation for Glasgow ; Rut without
sidling open any competent person to examine The locality,

or even to estimate the real value of the land, he completed
his bargain, and prevailed, as a matter of course, ups's the
board to confirm it. It was to no purpose that the general
commanding in Scotland now interfered. Both his report
and that of the chief engineer arrived too late, and the con-
sequence is that the country bra been saddled with a propri-
etary right is • parcel of land which, because of its prox-
imity to a huge vitriel.work, can never we bear, be used
as a rate even for a pigsty. But marvels similar to this
might be exposed by the. dozen, were we so inclined ; for
there is hardly a single new barrack is the empire of which
the regimental commandants do not complain on some
ground or another—and as to the old barracks, with their
beastly canteens, and nuisances of every sort choking them
up, they are a sheer disgrace.
Again, it is an inevitable result of working by departments
and boards, that the Ordnance-office shall invariably be be-
hindhand with all that it undertakes. The Rome Secretary
informs the Commander in-Chief that troops will be puma
nently needed in an inereaatog manufacturing district ; the
Commander-in-Chief or the Secretary of State makes a like
announcement to the War-office ; and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer agrees, on good cause shown, to provide a certain
sum of money for the erection of barracks. Now comes the
Board of Ordnance into play. Orders arc given to piepare
plans and estimates. These are examined and reexamined
—not by military men, not by the Commander-in-Chief,
his military secretary, the quartermaster-general, the
adjutant-general, or anybody else who really knows
what troops need and what they may do without
—but by certain gentlemen in Pall-mall, who cut led
carve at their own pleasure, and seem to pique themselves oa
going as much as possible counter to the wishes and the re-
quirements of the military authorities. We have reason to
believe that the new barracks now in progress at Sheerness
have suffered much from this process; and we have no hope
that the evil will ever be remedied either there or elsewhere
so long as the Pali-mall establishment shall be permitted to
exist. Buildings of the first importance to the wide is
moral and phesieal comfort—ablution rooms, cleaning rooms,
school rooms, di is sheds, are celled for and grunted. A
whole year will probably elapse before the Board of Ord-
nance shall see fit to act on the Treasury minute ; andwhen
it does act, the chances are at least equal that the whole
affair is spoiled. Mereover, they consider it necessary to
build, not for a couple of centuries, but for eternity; and
employing officers of the Royal Engineers to plate rued exe-
cute whatever they undertake, the t apense is on all occasions
huge in proportion to the sndlcas faults that may be dis-
cerned. We have great respect for the officers of the R iyal
Engineers, considered as members of a scientific milit cry
corps. We want no better men to plan redoubts, or fortify
arsenals, or to attack those of our enemies : but not having
been initiated into the mysteries of civil architecture, the
make but indifferent house-builders. We are tell, though
we will not vouch for the truth of the story, that a hand-
some garrison-chspel, just completed in the Royal Barracks.
at Dublin, is so ingeniously arranged that, except the band
(in a gallery opposite to the pulpit), not a soul can hear
one word of the sermon.
The expenditure upon storekeepers, their deputies, and
clerics, and here and there even upon barrack-masters, seems
to be out of all proportion with the pay and allowances
granted to officers of rank end standing in the army. Take
the case of Chatham, where there seem to be employed
one storekeeper, one deputy, and four clerks. The salaries
of these gentlemen, with payments on account of rates aril
taxes, aad sums to cover travelling expenses, printing, ad-
vertisements, stamps, arid other small disbursements,
come to 2,0491. per annum. Surely this is more than
the nature of their duties and position would seem to
require. You have in Chatham, a colonel commanding the
garrison, a lieutenant-colonel of the provisional battalion,
two chief officers of engineers, a lieutenant-colonel com-
manding artillery, a brigade-major, and the clerks and pee
plc who work for them, and the combined pay of the whole
does not exceed the expense of these six civilians by more
than a trills. But we are quite contented with the one
simple fact, that out of the whole sum required by the heard
fur the ensuing year, namely 3,115,2181 e only ;10,2511. are
to be laid out upon the pay, allowances, and contingencies
of the military ordnance corps.
Whatever benefits may arise from • division of labour in
the prosecution of mechanical operations—however adverte
to public liberty may be the system of centralisation when
applied to the administration of justice on • small scale, and
to the management of a national police—it is very certain
that the executive government of a great country becomes
both feeble and costly, in proportion as it distributes its func-
tions over a larger number of separate departments than are
absolutely required to carry on the public service. What is
to prevent the military part of the business of the Ordnance
Office being transferred to the florae Guards, and it, civil
functions to the War Office ?e In neither cue can it be ne-
cessary to do more than add some clerks and accountants to
the pen-and-ink staff of our chiefs of department+, and thee.
you have in abundance at Pall-mall aid in the Tower. So
also with regard to deputy adjutant-generals, surveyors-
genera' off etifications, majors of brigade, and so forth ;
these should remain ezactly as they are, only that they ought
to report to the Commander-in-Chief instead of reporting to
the Master-General; while over our barrack masters, store-
keepers, and the host of civil functionaries doing duty under
them, the Secretary-at-War would exercise the tame vigilant
control which he now does over the governors, wardens, die.
of the military prisons. In like manner, we would hand
over to the Admiralty the undivided charge of every article
of armament, equipment, and ammunition, likely to be re-
quired fur her 'Majesty's fleet. Why should there not be an
adequate mearaine at every dockyard in the United King-
dom, of which a naval storekeeper should have the charge,
and from which he might issue guns, shot, shell, powder,
tee., ad libaunt, We cannot see the smallest necessity for
a series of storekeepers beyond the naval storekeepers. Ale'
as to the Leading department, our conviction is that—deal-
ing separately, of course, with the erection and repair of fur-
tifications—the work would be better done, and done at one
I half the cost, were a respectable builder, such as Mr. Cubits,
employed to perform it, subject to the superintendence of a
really skilful engineer. Only think of the charge for the
ensuing year under the head of works, buildings, and re-
pairs, exceeding the sum that is required for the pay and
subsistence of the ordnance corps by very neerly 22,e001.
As intimated above, we will return to this theme.
At present, we have only to add, that the writer,from
whom we have so freely quoted, is no alarmist.
We want(he says) no more permanent fortresses, either in-
land or on the sea-board • • We desire to see no en-
trenched camp formed round London or near it. • • As
matters at present stand, give us what we ask, thirty thou-
sand good infantry sad cavalry, with fifty guns, ant. we shall
have no sort of fear for the safety of London, in case of any
attempt in the line of invasion. Give us our artillery in line
order, and, in half a year's time no fear but we should be
in heart for repaying any 'dale of the sort

GERMANY.

TILE NEW LAW OF ELECTIONS IN PRUSSIA.
THE ASSEMBLY AT FRANKFORT.
PRUSSIA.—Our correspondent writes as follows
from Berlin on the Ist of April :
The two great topics of discussion just now are the open-
ing of the Diet (which ceremony will take place to-morrow)
and the question of the duchies of Slesaig and Holstein.
With respect to the former, it is now agreed on nearly all
sides that the Diet is no longer a legally constituted body ;
that it is not competent to discuss, much less decide upon,
any projects of law ; and that the sooner it is dissolved the
better for king, people, and country. The members of the
Diet appear to be fully aware of the delicate tenure of their
position,and the governeue nt would gladly dispense, if possible,
with the convocation of an assembly which, not on account
of its mem'ers, but on account of the manner in which they
were first brought together, is a highly unpopular one. The
government, however, have already made a great popular
gonce,sion which, pro forme, will be voted by the Diet, and
then the real business of the nation will commence. Late
last night ministers came to • resolution to submit to the
Diet • law of elections, which in fact indirectly guarantees
universal suffrage.
The plan is the following: The country will be divided
into electoral districts. There will be two categories of elec-
tors ; the first will include all persons—in a word, th •Te
will be universal suffrage; the second will comprise electors
chosen by the former body, and who. in turn will definitively
choose the members of the Diet. There will be one elector
of the second category for every 600 inhabitants, and one
member of the Diet for every 10,0010. There will be but one
chamber. All persons 21 years of age will be doctors and
eligible.
A preparatory meeting ;,f members of the Diet was held
last night in the Hotel de Rusaie, in order to discuss the
measures to be taken to-morrow, after the opening of the
Diet. It was resolved to vote an eddies& to the King, setting
forth the necessity of establishing a thoroughly constitutional
onarchy, and of ntinuing to govern on the principles
lately est forth by his majesty. It is not expected that the
Diet will sit more than a few days.
No slight excitement was caused this day by the appear-
ance of a proclamation, urging the people to a reconciliation
with the King's life guards, who took the leading part
against the people during the late insurrection. The pro-
clamations were torn down by the people, amidst suppressed
demonstrations of indignation. All is not yet over in Berlin
if one may judge by the determined aspect of the working
classes, who almost alone produced the last revolution here.
A numerod, meeting of that class was held yesterday in this
city, and a declaration was drawn up to the effect that the
meeting did not approve of the recall of e mili—not
that the persons composing the meeting either hate y
or fear
the soldiery—not that they fear any armed reaction—but be-
cause they dread a reaction through weak-heartedness.
German confidence had long been shamefully abused,
and the meeting would not give • place to it
in their breasts BO long as the contest remains
undecide.d (so hinge der kamf nod+ unentsehieders
Another public meeting is announced for to-morrow after-
noon.
I regret to state that business on the exchange of this
capital has all but come to a perfect stand still. There are
melancholy accounts of failures in Cologne, Breslau, and in
this city.
A deputation from the German inhabitants of the Grand
Duchy of Posen had an interview this day with the Minister
of the Interior, in order to induce government to protect
their nationality. The deputation, after they have presented
to the Diet a petition to the same effect, will proceed to
Frankfort, in order to obtain further sympathy in that
quarter. Just after writing the foregoing lines, I received a
copy of the Berlirasehe Noehriehters of this day, in which
the petition to the Prussian Diet is given in extent°. It is
but justice to state that it is both an able and a convincing
document. It sets forth that in the province of West
Prussia, and in various parts of the duchy of Posen, the
German race greatly preponderates ; that whilst it is, and
whilst it would be, highly unjust to incorporate Poland
with Germany, and to attempt to make the Germans Poles,
it would be tally wrong to denationalise the former. It is
stated that thatol lay claim to the two entire provinces, upon
the ground they amerly formed part of Poland.