The Express.
London, England, 1860-02-10 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, FRB. 10.

WHIN Count CAVOUI was summoned by his
Sovereign to resume the office he relinquished last
summer, we undertook to affirm that the forms of
constitutional government would soon be restored in
Piedmont. We can now state that, in the &bassos
of any unexpected canoe of delay, the elections will
take place about the bth of Marsh, and the Cham-
bers will assemble not later than the middle of the
same month. Expectation in Italy is strained t.
wards this meeting, which is likely to bring
forth great events. Judging from the tenor of
lettere from Turin, Milan, Florence, and Bologna, the
reported refusal of Austria to acknowledge the right
of Central Italy to dispose of itself will cause there
as little regret as surprise.

Mike is a very general expectation that consider
able changes is the British Army are imminent
According to some accounts, steps will be taken by
Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT to put an end to the system
of purchase; according to all accounts, the recom-
mendation of the Royal Commission for appointing
colonels by selection will certainly be carried into
effect. Whatever may be the fact, it is certain that
many officers in the Army are possessed with the
notion that something will be done by the present
MINIITIR or WAIL Indeed, the prediction of the
Duke 01 CAMERIIXIE will probably be verified, that
if the Purchase System is touched at all it must be
abolished. A few days will test the truth of these
conjectures. In the meantime it may be well to
point attention to the Staff, and to the mode in which
Staff Officers are now appointed.
In 1837 a code of regulations was published with
reference to the Staff College, then just established.
On the 23rd of last moo th a revised code was published,
sod it contains some things well worthy of sotr
Of course the great object of this Staff College,
with its new buildings, its new professor., and in-
creased grant—it coats 34,0001. a year—was to pro-
vide the British Army with a number of young
officers thoroughly instructed in the Art of War. The
duties of a Staff officer are not only important but
difficult. So difficult and important are they, that,
Rs Sir RICHARD AIRET himself confessed, amidst all
the horrors of the winter of 1864, he was obliged to
examine young officers before appointing them
to the Staff of Lord ItaoLait's Army. In
order, therefore, to obtain the ablest young
officers the House of Commons insisted that
antrum to the Staff College should be obtained
by competition smog all the officers of the Army,
and that no one should hold a place upon the Staff
unities he passed through this College, or showed a
knowledge equal to those who had passed it. No
man who knows anything of the corrupt spirit pre.
railing amongst the military caste will pretend to
think that anything except an open competition can
secure for mere merit its doe reward. This is the
only practical means of enabling every single ofilosir
to fore* his way into the Staff. It was to be
expeced, therefore, that in any regulation this
principle would be preserved intact. What-
ever exceptions the transition from the old to the
new system of appointment required—and for this
purpose those who became lieutenant-colonels before
the Ist of January, 1860, were perhaps fitly declared
eligible without any examination—still it Nelms
clear that no other exceptions ought to have been
admitted. Nevertheless what do we find ?

For fifteen paragraphs the ADJIITANT.GINEJLAL
proceeds through an elaborate series of regulations,
which seem to be dictated by the very spirit of
Spartan virtue. Bo far it seems utterly impossible
to conceive any officer getting upon the Staff anima
be has at all events proved his seal and capacity.
The sixtesath paragraph then declares that after a
metal& time "no officer will be appointed to the
" Staff who shall not have passed the final examine-
" (ion of the College, with the exception as to the
" Colonels already mentioaeid, and "—here peeps oat
the sloven foot—" is every case excepting officers of
primed ability in the field." These are the very
words of the new code. There is no mistake about
it. Let every officer in the Army mark these word&
LA any sensible man consider their effect. What is
the me of an alien working at a college—getting up