The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-18 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 18, 1864.

The debate in the Upper House on Friday even-
ing concerning the Limited Enlistment Act and
Reserve Force was not without interest. The Earl
of LUCAN, who from his position might naturally
be supposed to know something of the wants and
wishes of the soldier, took the opportunity, while
moving for a return of the strength of the Reserve
Force, to pass some severe strictures upon the prin-
ciples which at present regulate our system of en-
listment. To most readers, however, unbiassed by
military etiquette or professional prejudice, the
authorities of the War-office will appear to have
the best of the argument, and the existing regula-
tions will be admitted to be far more reasonable
and more conducive to the benefit of the service
than those which Lord LUCAN regrets. Formerly,
as is well known, men were enlisted for life. When
they embarked on the strange and often perilous
career of a soldier, they were bound, whether they
liked it or no, to abide by it. It might prove very
different from what their boyish enthusiasm
painted ; in the hour of trial they might find them-
selves made of different stuff from what they had
fancied ; the roar of artillery, the groans of the
dying, the wounded, the disabled, the ghastly
wounds, the disabled horses, might be more than
their nerves could wall bear. Bat once pledged
they were pledged for ever. There was no with-
drawing from the fatal circle, unless they wished
to have the brand of a deserter on their shoulders.
It was felt by most men that this was an unwar-
rantable hardship, that there was no reason why a
man should bind himself to be always a lawyer
any more than a barrister should swear never
to forsake the law courts. Those best ac-
quainted with the profession, among them
no less an authority than the late Duke
of WELLINGTON, were of opinion that a
wise relaxation in the terms of the Enlistment Act
would greatly increase the popularity of the army,
and probably add to the number of recruits. It
must be remembered by those who still censure the
Act of 1847 that matters have changed very much
during the last twenty or thirty years. A hundred
new courses are open to industry and enterprise.
The development of our railway system alone has
opened oat numberless channels to intelligent in-
dustry, while the rapid advance made by our
colonies—the Australasian ones more especially,
since the gold discoveries—has drawn off great
numbers of those classes who would of old have
enlisted from the love of adventure and a daring
spirit. Such qualities now find the field for action
which they need without entering the ranks or
relinquishing their independence, and consequently
Earl DE GREY and RIPON is very wise when, in-
stead of increasing the obstacles to obtaining
recruits, he endeavours to give the men every en-
couragement. The War Secretary reassured Lord
LUCAN as to the number of men who were entitled
to take their discharge this year and. the years fol-
lowing. Owing to the extensive enlistments at the
time of the Crimean war, the ntimbers will be
' unusually large, but Earl DE GREY reminded the
House that, according to former experience, not
more than 4,000 of the 10,000 whose term of sere
vice will be out this year may be expected to leave
the army. It is of course a great advantage to the
army to retain the o;c1 and experienced soldiers,
and therefore Earl LIICAN'S objections to the ad-
vantages offered to those who re-enlist are not well
founded. As Lord DE GREY pointed out, the free
kit and the bounty money would have to be given
to the raw recruit; and surely it is better to get
a trained man who knows his business
than one who has all to learn. But an
additional reason for the reduced term
of enlistment is found in the statistics furnished by
the Army Medical Department. It appears from
the report that the death-rata of soldiers between
the ages of 20 and 24 is about two per 1,000 less
than the corresponding rate among civilians, but
that from that age it gradually increases until at
40 and upwards the military death-rate has reached
the predominance of 23.61 per 1,000 to 13.5 of the
civil population. Earl DE GREY therefore, re-
marked that at the ages to which the Limited En-
listment Act applied the death-rate was at its lowest
point. The Earl of DALHOUSIE, who was the
original introducer of the bill, naturally supported
it, observing that the effect of allowing the soldier
a certain time before re-enlistment would be advane
tageous to the service, since he could compare his
own life with the many agricultural and manufac-
turing labourers, and the noble lord made a good
suggestion that a bounty should be applied to such
a soldier for all the recruits he might bring. His
old friends and neighbours would be more likely
to be influenced by his pictures of barrack life
than by the highly-coloured representations of the
recruiting sergeant. A much greater amount
of attention is now being given to the soldier's
health and comfort; various reforms have been
organised, and we may hope that others of equal
importance will shortly be set on foot. The crying
evil of almost compulsory idleness in barracks is
being remedied by gymnasiums, reading rooms,
lecture halls, and other resources—and officers are
beginning to see that it is useless to issue codes of
regulations unless they themselves pay heed to
those great moral and physical laws which nature
has laid down, and whom breach is certain to pro-
duce the most evil and disastrous results. We have,
therefore, good reason to hope that many of the
objections which steady and industrious men en-
tertain to a military life will shortly cl. isappear,
and that consequently the difficulty of obtaining
recruits in time of peace will become as much a
thing of the past as the formidable life enlistments.

The destruction of dwellings occupied by the
working classes is a subject that especially calls for
attention, and nothing can excuse the negligence
with which it has been treated in some quarters.
In the hurry of events, and the eagerness for im-
proved communication and means of transit, the
claims of the humbler classes are very apt to be
overlooked. It is, then, highly requisite that due
care and caution be exercised, lest a great and
grievous injury be inflicted on the labouring popu-
lation of this vast metropolis. The evils that have
long existed are now found to be greatly augmented
by the immense increase of railways. The greatest
credit is due to those noblemen and gentlemen of
high position who have endeavou-ed strenuous:y to
procure advantages for the poor who are suffering
so much from the want of fresh air and proper ac-
commodation, and to bestow upon them the benefits
of country air, and this with the o:way of only a
moderate sum, The petition which the Earl of
DEBBY presented to the souse of Lords, from the
inhabitants of sty George's, Snthwark, contained

much solid sense and sterling truth in its contents,
and its prayer was one which deserved instant
attention and earnest co-operation. It set forth
that the parish was greatly overcrowded, and that
it was very important that some relief should be
afforded. It also stated that the many railways
that had been made in the district had considerably
contributed to the evil effects produced. This fact
was proved by one railway having taken down one
hundred houses, which were the residences of no
less than three hundred families. The compensa-
tion that is given for this removal does not
benefit the poor tenants, who are thrust out,
and they are compelled to remain in the vicinity of
their employments. It is impossible to over-
estimate the fearful state to which these unfortu-
nate families are reduced, forced into miserable
localities where there is no real space for health,
comfort, or decency. It is not a philanthropic
scheme, it is not a mere utopian demand that calls
for a remedy, but the question has now become a
national grievance, and shou!d be dealt with
accordingly by the Legislature. If the session
passes away without anything being done to
readjust this difficulty and remedy this deficiency,
it will be a great scandal and disgrace, and heavy
will be the responsibility incurred by those who
neglect to do their duty in this emergency. A
proposal has been made which promises well, and
may in due time, with the aid of the requisite
aprliances, go far to rectify some of the most
palpable evils that we now deplore. It is that
the railway companies should be compelled to run
two trains a day for the benefit of the labouring
classes at a very moderate coat. By this means
the families of the poor would be provided with
ample accommodation and enjoy the benefit of
fresh air, while no additional outlay would be
incurred. It is really lamentable to think that for
the wretched places in which they reside the poor
often pay as much in proportion, and even more
occasionally, than do their richer brethren for
their stately abodes in the West End. Such a
state of things should not be allowed to continue,
and all that has been said and written
on the subject point to an end that now is
the time for a remedy to be effected. Side
by side with the accelerations for the speedy
communications of business, the facilities af-
forded for the machinations of trade, and the
general advantages conferred upon the public
generally by the many railways that are to tra-
verse and intersect the metropolis, let the com-
fort and convenience of the poor be striven after.
Let it not be said that all else was considered ;
the gain and the loss, the traffic and the transit
all noted down, and the one thing needful totally
neglected. This will not be the way to prosper,
and those who wilfully or unthinkingly neglect
the claims now urged upon them will one day
deeply rue, and bitterly bewail their unwise and
cruel conduct. If the present system be continued,
there is no saying to what dreadful evils it may
not give rise, and should the ensuing season be a
damp or an unhealthy one, all kinds of fever and
sickness would undoubtedly occur. It is a social
crime thus to compel people to be huddled toge-
ther, and no excuses can be valid that would
justify the course that leads to such a calamitous
result. It seems a wise and proper thing to make
use of the railways that have occasioned so much
annoyance and suffering to the working classes,
and to convert them into the means of trans-
porting the toil-worn artisan and the weary
mechanic to a spot where they can enjoy
freedom and fresh air. In the families of the poor
it will also be an inestimable advantage to be re-
moved from the scene of so muceconfusion and tur-
moil to a spot where they can bring up their chil-
dren in comparative comfort, end pay due regard to
the cultivation of those habits and feelings which,
if not implanted in early life, can never flourish or
take root. What was true for the last generation is
equally so for the present, and the learned and wise
who imitate the go-a-head energy of the race across
t Is Atlantic had better take heed lest in attempting
too much, they may not do a great deal of harm. It
will be of no use to gird the metropolis with rail-
ways, if by so doing they add to the burdens that
now oppress the labouring classes, and render the
homes of labour poisonous and pestilential. Too
much care cannot be given to the subject, and there
is no excuse for those who are qualified to act for
not setting to work to remedy the deficiencies, and
reconcile so far as is compatible the uses and abuses
of the present railway mania,

We drew attention some three months since to
an excellent article which appeared in the Memo
rial _Diplomatique last December on the decision
of the American Priz© Courts, Since that time
an elaborate test of the judgments in the cases
of the Stephen Hart and the Springbok
has been published, and the editor of the Menzo-
rial Diplomatique has reopened the question of
the legality of the condemnations, and has taken
Judge BETTS pretty severely to account for the
validity of his law, and the truth of his allega-
gations. It is something new for it to be neces-
sary for a French journalist to take up arms in
the defence of the rights of British subjects, while
their own Government meekly acquiesces in the
decisions of foreign powers whenever they invade
the rights of Englishmen, but is ever ready to
set law and justice at defiance when the interests
of an arrogant, restless, and presumptuous belli-
gerent are supposed to be endangered by the
legitimate trade of neutrals. The French editor,
of course, has taken up the question in the cause
of neutrals generally, and France in particular.
While we cannot but feel humiliated that the task
of maintaining the maritime rights of neutrals
should devolve upon France, we must acknowledge
that at the present moment these rights are in far
safer keeping in the hands of the ever watchful
Emperor of the FRENCH, who, if he cannot inter-
fere in the outrages upon British subjects and Bri-
tish property perpetrated by the American Courts
of Law, while Earl RUSSELL meekly acquiesces,
will at least look pretty sharply after the interests
of Frenchmen. Anybody who takes the trouble
to peruse Judge BETTS'S extraordinary expositions
of the laws affecting neutrals and belligerents, must
not only concur heartily with the conclusions drawn
therefrom by the able writer of the article referred
to, but will likewise consider that he is justified in
calling upon his own Government to protest against
the establishment of precedents so injurious to the
interests of all maritime nations. Until the out-
break of the American Civil War, certain laws
affecting neutrals were generally accepted by all
civilised nations, and although it was impossible in
dealing with such a delicate subject as the property
of neutrals that disputes and misconceptions should
not occasionally arise, these were generally satis-
factorily arranged. Without entering into details
we may state that in a recent remodelling of these
laws it was generally accepted as a rule, that free
ships made free cargoes, and that the property of
neutrals was not seizable even in enemies' vessels,
contraband of war excepted. These rules applied
to ail ports not blockaded, but even a blockade
could not be acknowledged unless it was effective ;
in other words, that a sufficient force must be
stationed off the port to prevent a general ingress
or egress. Judge BETTS has cast aside the old law
completely, and established a special code of his