The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF

TlMES.—Another of the Napoleonic ideas is likely
to be developed and improved by the present
Emperor of the French. It was the First Napoleon
who, after reorganising the Hotel des Invalides,
founded branch establishments in the country,
where the veteran might live on the produce of a
small allotment, in a cottage of his own. It is now
proposed to carry this principle further by a sub-
stitution of out-pensions for in-pensions, very similar
to that which has lately been effected at Greenwich
Hospital. This time we have taken the initiative
in administrative reform, for it is impossible to
doubt that the French scheme owes its immediate
origin to the marked success of our own experiment.
The Main reasons which are said to have influenced
the Imperial Government are precisely the same as
those which induced the Admiralty to go beyond
the more cautious recommendations of the Royal
Commissioners. They, too, have discovered that
most old soldiers and sailors, unless actually bed-
ridden, prefer liberty and privacy in the bosom of
their families and within their native communes to
the monotonous society and dreary routine of an
asylum. They, too, seem at last to have recognised
the fact that " a moral improvement for the parties
interested" may be combined with " a saving to the
State" by encouraging able-bodied veterans to earn
something for themselves towards their own live-
lihood. Accordingly, they contemplate a change of
system no less radical than we have already
adopted, whereby the great majority of pensioners
will hereafter fixed allowances in lieu of board and
lodging ; and the greater part of that historical
building which now towers over the Seine with its
noble dome will be converted to new purposes.
The infirmary department will still be retained,
and in time of war may, perhaps, again engross the
whole available accommodation. For the present,
however, it is stated that the vacant wards are to
be occupied by the Polytechnic School and that of
St. Cyr, to whom it would be a great advantage
to have the Champ de Mars so close at hand.
One of the motives assigned for this important
deviation from the intentions of the Royal founder
of the Invalides is highly characteristic of French
sentiment. We are gravely informed that, while the
inmates find their life wearisome, " their forced idle-
ness, their jealousies, and mutual regrets impart to
them a grumbling and discontented temper. Many
recall to mind that they were present at the battles
of the First Empire, and think that the Young
Guard is in the enjoyment of privileges and medals
not accorded to them, their seniors." All this we
can easily understand ; indeed, we are so used to
associate grumbling with pensioners that we can
hardly imagine the latter in a state of placid con-
tentment. No doubt grumbling has been cultivated
at Chelsea and Greenwich ever since those national
hospitals have existed, but no one ever thought of
attaching much importance to it. We take such
things as matters of course, and the notion that any
harm could be done to the service by a querulous-
ness incident to old age in a state of retirement has
probably never been entertained at the Horse Guards
or the Admiralty. In France it is quite otherwise.
It is there a maxim of policy to keep all classes, and
especially the army, in a good humour. If pen-
sioners grumble over their rations or tobacco-money,
it is time to think of dispersing them, lest the spirit
of discontent should spread to the ranks and grow
into disaffection. The revolution thus effected, or
about to be effected, in the administration of two
institutions so ancient and so magnificent as Green-
wich Hospital and the Hotel des Invalides is an in-
structive sign of the times. Both were founded to-
wards the end of the 17th century, when alms-
houses of the monastic type represented the highest
practical ideal of charity. In those days the most
enlightened and pious of benefactors seldom looked
beyond the present relief of success, and no method
of relief was so obvious as to collect all the objects
of it under a single roof. There are still cases in
which this is the most economical and efficient way
of ministeringto want andsuffering. The workhouse
and the hospital for disease and accident have still
a proper sphere of their own, and it is possible that
some colleges more nearly resembling Chelsea and
Greenwich may fill a useful place in our complicated
social system. But experience warns thet such in-
stances are the exception, and not the rule. Grown-
up men and women cannot be subjected to regula-
tions and discipline like children. Moral and reli-
gious superintendence is apt to become little more
than nominal, and, after all, is but an imperfect
substitute for active duties. There are few people
so utterly homeless and friendless as to have no
domesticities, and at the same time so helpless as to.
be incapable of work. For these few, it is well that
decent renges should be provided, but for others it
is far better to remain at large, and to depend, in
part, on their own exertions. The pleasure which
a stranger experiences in visiting such an establish-
ment as the Hotel des Invalides is chiefly of a sen-
timental nature. He is -told that it was projected
by Henry 111., that its prototype, the Maison Royale,
was erected by Henry TV., that it assumed its pre-
sent grand proportions at the bidding of LouisXlV.,
that it witnessed the first scenes of the Revolution,
and that it has since participated in the glories of the
Empire. He sees there flags and guns taken iu battle
from almost every European nation ; he admires the
tombs of celebrated French generals; he is conducted
from the high altar of St. Louis to the splendid
mausoleum of the Great Napoleon, and comes away
with a vague impression that so imposing a monu-
ment of French grandeur must needs be an enviable
retreat for shattered veterans of the French army,
especially as they are or were tended in sickness by
Sisters of St. Vincent de' Paul: He perhaps forgets
that none of these sentimental associations can be
enjoyed in an equal degree by the veterans who
have long since been satiated with them, and that,
after all, sentimental gratification goes but a very
little way to make every-day life happy or virtuous.
It was not only the enormous jobbery and misma-
nagement disclosed by the Royal Commission that
brought about the transmutation of Greenwich
Hospital, but a conviction that greater comfort in
their declining years could be secured at a smaller
cost to the disabled seamen of our navy, if they
would cease to reside there. Our neighbours keep
their counsel too well to let us know whether ana-
logous abuses had impaired the utility of the Hotel
des Invalides. We may be sure, however, that no
French Minister of War would venture to meddle
with so popular a foundation without consulting the
wishes, as well as the interests, of the French army.
POST.—By intelligence just received from the
Cape we learn that the war between the Boers and
the Basutos still continued, and was likely to be
prolonged indefinitely owing to the confirmed cowar-
dice of both belligerents. We further learn, how-
ever, that the Basutos either contemplated or had
actually perpetrated a second raid on British terri-
tory. This was to be expected from the fact that
in the early period of the war a portion of the fol-
lowers of Moshesh were allowed to invade Natal and
carry off a large portion of booty with impunity.
The High Commissioner made a demand for re-
paration, but it does not appear that the Basuto
chief has yet seen proper to comply with his re-
quest. It is to be feared that the war in the ad-
joining countries will yet produce serious conse-
quences in regard to Natal. 'fhe fact of the marau-
ders having been allowed to get off with their booty,
and escape punishment, is likely to have a bad effect
on the native tribes in the colony. It is even pos-
sible that the Jamaica tragedy may be re-enacted
in Natal. The greatly preponderating population
consists of Kaffirs, who are not aborigines, but
refugees from the surrounding territories. They
are estimated at 200,000, but their numbers are
constantly being recruited from the Zulu country.
The white population, according to the census of
1864, was 15,486. In view of the immense dis-
proportion between the number of the whites and
blacks in the colony, and the possibility of a revolt
of the latter, it is manifestly of importance that
the Governor should be vested with discretionary
powers. At present, however, as we pointed out
upwards of two months ago, the High Com-
missioner, the Governor of the Cape, who resides
1,000 miles away from Natal, possesses supreme
power in regard to all dealings between the colony
and the native tribes of the interior. When Natal
was first constituted a colony such an appointment
was perhaps necessary ; but it is obvious that in
the altered state of questions since the office of
High Commissioner was made some changes ought
to be carried out. In fact there can be no reason
why the Governor of Natal should not be allowed
to act at the present time on his own responsibility.
The Legislative Council of the colony have recently
petitioned the Queen to grant the Government
more freedom of action in their own affairs, and ex-
plaining the inconvenience of their having to refer
matters to the High Commissioner. Recent events
in Natal, it seems to us, sufficiently indicate the
policy of complying with so reasonable a request.
A band of marauding Basutos, it is well known,
bent perhaps rather upon plunder than excited by
any hostile feeling against the people of the colony,
burst like a torrent through), we believe, the one
solitary pass in the Drakensberg Mountains, which
form almost everywhere a gigantic barrier on the
north-western frontier, and for a time held undis-
puted sway over one of the most populous and
flourishing counties in Natal. The Dutch farmers,
by whom this section of the country is almost ex-
clusively settled, were completely at the mercy of
the savages ; cattle and sheep in large numbers
were carried off, and in some instances great atro-
cities were committed upon the peaceable inhabi-
tants. The raiders were enabled to get away with
their booty without molestation, retiring beyond the
mountains, and leaving the whole district in a state
of perturbation, in expectation of further incursions.
The people of Natal, however, were not slow in con-