The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-13 00:00:00

UNITED STATES ARMY.

The American papers publish the report of the Seers.
tary of War, which gives a full and elaborate account
of the military establishment of the United States, and
at the same time recommends some important changes
and reforms.

The standing army of the United States (says the
Evening Post in its summary of the document), if com-
plete, should consist of 13,821 men and officers ; but
its actual number, according to the latest returns, is
but 10,417. Of these we have 8,378 employed in the pro-
tection of our frontiers, or on their march to that desti-
nation, where they have already been successful in pre-
venting Indian depredations. Except in California and
Oregon, these depredations have not been very consider-
able. It is intended to make a better disposition of our
troops to the west of the Mississippi, establishing new
posts, and dispensing with the less important ones, and
employing a larger force to protect the emigrants. On
the Rio Grande, Major-General Smith is now occupied
in selecting sites for permanent fortifications, one of
which will be opposite to El Paso, and the other at the
Comanche crossing, to protect the frontier against
Indian incursions from Mexico.
The removal of the Indians from Florida has ren-
dered it necessary, says the Secretary, to employ in that
country nine companies of artillery, and if it should be
necessary coercion will be used. Two regiments of
artillery will be placed on the Canada frontier and on
the coast of the Atlantic and on the Gulf, one on the
Rio Grande boundary, and a fourth on the Pacific
coast, where it is intended, as soon as possible, to sta-
tion a considerable force under the command of one
of the brigadier-generals. One cavalry regiment will
be employed in Texas, one in New Mexico, the
third on our western frontier; and the Secretary asks
authority to raise a fourth. Of the infantry three regi-
ments are needed at Texas, two in the country west of
the Mississippi, one in New Mexico, and one in the
Indian country on the Pacific.
The Secretary finds it difficult to keep the ranks of
the army filled. He proposes that the pay of the com-
afnor
additional
yonfiavl einycerarseasas
com-
mon soldier be increased, that
soldier may remain in the army,
of pay shall be allowed, that non-commissioned officers
of merit shall be promoted, and receive commissions of
the lowest rank, and that soldiers honourably dis-
charged, who may re-enlist within a month afterwards,
shall be entitled to an advance of pay.
The question of adding to the numbers of the army
he argues at considerable length, and from various con-
siderations.
lie recommends that the minimum or-
ganisation of all companies be fixed as in the
mounted riflemen, at sixty-four privates, and that there
be added to the present military establishment one
regiment of dragoons, and two regiments of rifle-
men. They, he observes, will give a minimum organisa-
tion of 15.528 officers and men ; but may be expanded
if the limit fixed by the law of June 7, 1850, be con-
tinued, to 17,414 ; and on a war establishment of 123
privates per company, to 27,818—giving for a state of
war an effective increase of from 10,000 to 12,000 men,
without the creation of new regiments.
The report also recommends that there be added to the
engineer corps another company of sappers and miners.
There are other recommendations in this report, one
of the most important of which is, that establishments
for the manufacture of arms should be under the control
of the war department, and superintended by experienced
officers of the army, instead of procuring from contractors
arms made at private establishments.

THE MORGUE.—During 1853, there were deposited at
the Morgue of Paris 395 dead bodies, being 30 less than
in 1852. That number consisted of 254 men, 51 women,
and 90 newly-born children. Out of the 305 adults,
277 were recognised, and 97 of that number claimed by
their families to give them burial. The different kinds
of death may be thus classified :-141 suicides, 94 acci-
dental deaths, 37 sudden deaths, 26 deaths by submer-
sion, the cause of which is not known, and 7 by murder.
In addition, out of the newly-born children, 22 cases of
infanticide were ascertained, and 10 persons guilty of
that crime were tried and condemned. Suicides, sud-
den deaths, and murders have undergone a diminution
as compared with the preceding year, but the cases of
aceidental death and of deposits of newly-born children
have increased. The increase in the item of accidental
deaths may be attributed to the immense works of con-
struction which are being executed on so many points.
—Qa/ignani.