The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-10 00:00:00

gpiAND.

THlq P:VNNITIO, —.liter which will be produced
• timid Burlesque, GUT FAWE I:S.—Arid BOUTS AT THE
SWAN.

HOLBORN.

Tnis EVENIIIO, MY TI'RN NEXT. Mr. Bellmore: Muses
Foote and Lennox.—And FLY'S() SCUD. !lemma. Neville, Bel-
lmore, Blake, Voltaire, ac. kleadanies V. Josephs, C. Saunders,
Bessie Foote, Fatties, Lennox, Raymund, &c.

BRITANNIA.

TM,: EVENING. TIIE THE PEARL ISLAND:
(IC, Tut: PUREE, KINGDOMS OF PEARL. CULL?. ANI)
SILVER. Nit, Lille awl Mi 44 P:Littolnimist.s.
—Awl THE SILELKION CREW.

MGR WATKII AT LONDON BRIDGE.

?HUI 41A
TO-Iloanoir—Morning, 14m Afternoon, Mt. 34m.

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10.

ERE the year we hay e entered on is out, if the
rulers of the leading States of Europe have their
way. everyablebodied man within their borders will
be trained to arnis and liable to military service.
That such a burden is more than the subject can
or will long support is indeed already apparent
by many a sign. That also when all is done it will
only leave each Power with exactly the same relative
strength against its equally armed and disci-
plined neighbours as if both were wholly unarmed,
is obvious to common sense. Yet neither com-
mon sense nor the resistance of the people will
probably avail to prevent at least a large exten-
sion of the liability to enrolment. For, unhappily,
we can find no spot in Europe, save Switzerland
only, where there is not a royalty or an aristo-
cracy that demands an army for its domestic secu-
rity, and that is not too open to the suspicion of
a desire to use the weapon for foreign aggression.
So each seeks to augment its military power ;
and then the rivalry of neighbours is made a new
excuse for increasing a force already far in excess
of the legitimate purposes of the conservation of
order. And almost the worst consequence of this
miserable contest of personal jealousy is, that the
huge offensive power so kept on foot, and the un-
scrupulous character of those who wield it, threaten
even States which are essentially pacific, and thus
the overgrown armaments of France and Prussia,
Austria and Italy, are not only a menace to each
other, but impose on their weaker neighbours a
necessity of also standing in preparation, lest un-
awares they should be overrun and absorbed, less
from hostility than from a desire to secure fresh
rec . g grounds or new positions of strength.
By what mews can so destructive a madness be
arrested ? In time, doubtless, the intelligent na-
tions themselves will enforce their rulers to stay
their hand, and a people armed by their kings may
compel their own kings to return to reason. But
what infinite mischief may be wrought, and what
rivers of blood may flow, ere thus stability is
secured, and a universal disarmament is prepared.
And how, meantime, can such nations as desire to
be safe without being defiant, and such as, like
ourselves, trust to the voluntary spirit of their
1141118 to form their defence, be enabled to cope
with those which are restrained by no scruple of
friendship, and are able to compel a whole popu-
lation to stand in line of battle ?

This question, pressing so heavily just now upon
all the smaller States of Europe, and not less upon
us, whose policy concurs rather with theirs than
with that of their overshadowing neighbours, is in
a great degree solved by a suggestion made (not
for the first time) by Mr. E. CnA ',wick, in a
pamphlet which lies before us. His proposal,
especially adapted to England, is to meet the com-
pulsory disciplining of men in foreign States by a
compulsory drilling of boys with us. Such a re-
sponse seems, indeed, when first put forth, almost
ludicrously inadequate. But a little reflection
shows it to be at once all that can be done with-
out approaching the principle of a conscription,
and to be in itself a very material enhancement
of our present resources ; for it means that
though no one shall when grown up be bound to
enter any of our military services, yet the whole
population shall be competent to do so at short
notice. The schoolboy drill will never be so far
forgotten but that in a few days it may be reco-
vered. Though, therefore, we may keep neither
a large army on foot, nor largo reserves under
liability to be called out—though we shall not be
able to count like our neighbours our million of
men enrolled—yet we shall know that we have
live millions who in time of need, and supplied
with proper arms and officers, could in a week be
fit to meet a foe. It would not be necessary to
keep names registered in military books when we
should be certain that every man who as a boy
had spent a few years at school had been there
taught to march and wheel, to shoot and skirmish.

Nor certainly can the most rigid advocate of
the system of voluntary recruitment object
to so much of compulsion as is implied in
requiring every school to employ a pensioner for
a drill sergeant, and every boy to pass under his
hands. No "conscience clause" could be neces-
sary to make such an arrangement consistent with
individual liberty. It is only a demand that the
child who is to receive protection from the State
shall acquire the elementary knowledge necessary
to enable him to bear his share in the defence of
the State. The expense would be wholly insignifi-
cant, since an hour or two a week would be suffi-
cient, and in every village a pensioner is to be
found who would be ready to attend for a very
moderate pay. Mr. CHADWICK computes that
50 boys could be thus thoroughly trained at the
present cost of drilling one grown-up recruit. The
boys themselves would delight in such an exercise,
so that no objection could come from them. And
though, doubtless, only a small percentage of them
would ultimately enter the army or militia, the
youthful training would not be thrown away on
the rest even in time of peace. The habit of moving
simultaneously, of recognising the advantage of com-
bined effort, the development of the muscles and
lungs, makes the boy who has been drilled a far
better workman than he would have been without
it. The subordination, attention, patience, pre-