The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-09 00:00:00

[BRITISH PRESS.]

The Times of yesterday attempts, not merely
to vindicate, but to praise itself for the inflam-
matory endeavours it has made to aggravate the
embarrassments which, at this moment, afflict the
commercial world, and for the extent to which it
has contributed to excite that public alarm
which has been so injurious to private credit,
and so destructive to commercial confidence.
But its mancouvre on this subject is worth re-
marking. The public are gravely told, in its
leading article on the state of the Money Market,
that " with respect to the measures taking in the
City to support commercial credit, the present
conduct of the Bank Directors is lauded, al-
though they, it is said, have to bear the blame
of having brought on the crisis by their own
previous deviations from sound principles of
banking." It is said ! and who has said it ? Is
it not the Times itself that has, day after day,
accused the Bank of having " brought on the
crisis" by 44 having lent its aid to stimulate and
encourage the rage for speculation ?" Has this
Journalist not, day after day, endeavoured to de-
preciate the credit of the Bank by undervaluing
its resources, and by enumerating dangers which
have no existence ? But after attempting indi-
rectly to retract its malignant insinuations,
and to shift aside the indignation it has
so justly incurred from every quarter, this
journalist manifestly feels humiliated by even this
slight recantation, ai d he accordingly endeavours
to recover from it by introducing a second leader ;
by way of apology for which, we are told that
64 the state of the money-market requires a few
additional remarks," and he then returns to his
attack on the bankers, and renews his endea•
yours to cry down their credit and to destroy the
public confidence in their stability. It is asked
-64 Are not these bankers well aware that the
state to which they have brought things,
by their over issues and their too ready
supplies from scanty capitals, was a state
most grievously oppressive and injurious to
the nation, as well as destructive of its cha-
racter 'and morals ? Why ask, thus -artfully,
if the Bankers are not well aware of having
caused those dreadful effects on the credit, pro-
sperity, character, and morals of the nation ? The
accusation is as false as it is mischievous ; and it
is only an additional insult to ask the bankers if
they are not conscious of its truth. The public are
moreover told that, 44 such is the thoughtlessness
of mankind, that If the difficulties now existing
were smothered up, and the accommodation
paper men suffered to huddle up their affairs
as well as they could,without being obliged to put
their real funds to the test, their escape, and
not their danger, would be pleaded as a prece-
dent to regulate their future conduct." The
manifest object of all this is, to induce all who
may have any sums of money at a banker's " to
put their real funds to the test ;" and by this
means, to occasion a run upon them, which, tak-
ing them suddenly, they may be unprepared to
meet. The Times has omitted no effort which
could tend to produce this effect. But we would
entreat all whom its misrepresentations may have
misled, to whom its assertions may have inspired
with alarm, to pause, and consider, whether by their
groundless want of confidence they may not them-
selves occasion the very danger they apprehend ?
No banker, frogs the very nature of his establish-
ment, can be supposed to keep unemployed and
unproductive in his chest the whole of the money
deposited with him by his customers, and if such
alarmists as the Times and Cobbett—for the for-
mer is, on this subject, but an mho of the, latter,
and does but repeat and revive, at second hand,
all his stale and worn-out invectives against small
notes, and credit, and paper currency—we say,
if such malignant alarmists as these shall succeed
in exciting the whole mercantile world, as with
one accord, to call in every shilling of their mo-
ney at any particular moment, it is obvious that
no bank, however solvent, could be prepared

with resources to meet such a demand. A banker
may have the means of doubly satisfying any
calls that may be made upon him, but he still
cannot, from the very nature of his business,
have a sum adequate to this exigency forthcom-
ing on the instant. We all know that an indivi-
dual with 10,0001. of property out on mortgage,
and ten thousand pounds more in the funds, may
be unable to satisfy upon the spot an unexpected
demand of one thousand pounds : yet would any
tnan of common sense have any fear for the safety
of his claim because the means of discharging
were not immediately available ? What man—
except from malicious or interested motives—
would endeavour to depreciate the credit of such
an individual ? What but such motives then could
induce any one to endeavour to occasion a run
upon public bankers, for the purpose of " put-
ting their real funds to the test ?" What can
justify any Journal which has the power of work-
ing insidiously upon the public mind, and operat-
ing on its fears to a fatal extent ;—what, we ask,
can justify it in misleading its readers as to the true
principles upon which public business is conduct-
ed, and the true basis upon which all credit rests,
and influencing them to act, from causeless appre-
hension, in a manner fatal both to the public inte-
rest and their own ? But as the Times has chosen
to fight under Mr. Cobbett's banners, its proceed-
ing is quite in character. We had intended to
investigate the causes which have led to the pre-
sent state of commercial credit, but the length of
our present article obliges us to postpone this
inquiry till our next.

REMARKS ON TACTICS,

AND MILITARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND,

The wars in which Great Britain has been
often involved with continental enemies, in the
course of the last century, afford abundant proof
that a standing Army is necessary to her security
during peace ; and that it furnishes the only
means by which she can cope with Standing
Armies in a foreign soil, during war. This fact
being admitted, for in truth no other kind of
Army can be depended upon, it is of primary im-
portance that such a system of Military discipline,
comprehending an accurate knowledge of the
art of war, both in theory and practice, should
be introduced and constantly kept up in the
Army, as shall insure the good order of all its
constituent parts, and give efficiency to its opera-
tions. Secured by her insular situation, and pro-
tected by her naval bulwarks, from those inva-
sions to which contiguous nations, only separated
by a nominal boundary, are more readily exposed;
and from the same cause, not so likely to be em-
broiled in continental wars. Great Britain, on
this. account, was contented with an Army, which
in point of numerical force, was small in com-
parison with those of the Continent, and con-
sequently only held in proportionate estima-
tion as a Military Power. On the breaking
out of .a war, therefore, it always became
necessary 'to augment her armies from the
militia, and by new leviel; which, when brought
into actual service, were generally found
more or less ineffective, undisciplined, or they
soon were rendered unfit for the campaign, by
diseases to which raw troops are more particu-
larly liable. As a great proportion of the officers
also, would be found inexperienced for service,
and deficient in the necessary qualifications for
millitary operations, it would not excite surprise
if the result of a campaign, whose operations
were dependant upon such an Army, were mark-
ed with disapointment and discomfiture. The d is-
' advantages under which the Army suffered in
this respect, are in some degree attributable to
the want of facilities for obtaining military edu-
cation. in this country ; and it is not a little re-
markable, that no uniform system of tactics was
introduced, nor generally enforced by authority
till the year 1791, when it was done through the
exe'ti9ns of the late General Sir David Dundas.
That excellent officer, who had, by personal
observation, and unwearied attention, made hint'.
self thoroughly acquainted with the most im-
Troved tactics of Prussia, was the first, %vho,
under„ the sanction of the Commander-in-Chief,
"rendered this signal service to the British Army,
and he lived long enough to see it universally
adopted. Some amendments, it is true, have
been made at various times in his system ;
in points calculated to facilitate and give
increased celerity to some of the movements and
formations, especially in the judicious alteration
lately introduced by the present Adjutant-Ge-
neral. In respect to the means of attaining a ge-
neral Military Education, however, that is to say,
a seminary to teach the duties of the Army Offi-
cer, and to instruct him in. the art of war, there
was nothing provided in England until the in-
stitution of the Royal Military College in 1799
or 1800. The first object in view at that period
was the establishment of a Royal School for the
instruction of Army Officers in every branch of
military science, and in the French and German
languages. In 1802, a separate branch, or Col-
lege, was also opened for the reception and edu-
cation of young Gentlemen for the Army in ge-
neral, founded upon a plan similar to that of the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich ; and
placed under the governance and direction of
able and indefatigable officers and masters in
every branch of instruction, subservient to mili-
tary education. Since the foundation of that In-
stitution-, a new wra may be said to have com-
menced in the ranze of scientific acquire-
ments of the Army Officer. The masterly tactics
of Wellington, during the Peninsular war,
owe no small portion of their excellence
to the science of some Officers of his Lordship's
Staff, who studied at that College. There is
now, in fact, scarcely a regiment in the army,
which does not possess some officers from this
Military school, who, to previous military habits
and association, add more or less knowledge of
tactics, fortification, mathematics, military and
landscape drawing, surveying, and languages.
The office of the Quartermaster-General teems
with able and accurate plans, and military sur •
vet's of countries, and stations, sent from. almost
every part of the country, and of the known
world, executed by some of those Officers, and
furnishing the undoubted evidences of their zeal
and proficiency in those respects. This was not

the case in the army before. Such acquirements
are not ideal, they are solid and useful • dung
war, they are inestimable. Nor are these the
sole advantages which education at these
confer upon the Army. The youth who are.edii:
rated there, being inured to the
early practice of
arms and athletic exercises and deriving likewise,
the advantages of regular and salutary habas•ot.
life, become fortified in health, strength, and
constitution, and acquire a tone and robustnes9
better suited to encounter the vicissitudes and
hardships of military service, than young ow"
who enter the army under circumstances less
favourable in these respects. From all the abi3"
considerations we are warranted in our .conclu-
sion, that• our army is more efficient, that science
is more ardently sought after, and generally di
fused amongst the great body of 'our Officers;
while the discipline and good order of the sOl
diers are better preserved,. and preserved pi
schools
milder and more judicious modes of punishmeu!'
than was the case in our army formerly; that.;
to say,,at the commencement of the last vlar
short, that a British Army, under the auspice
of the present Commander-in-Chief, never Per•
i,-
haps' attained so high a pitch of knowledge' ex`
perience, and discipline, as exists at the Pre'"
tune.—(From the Cork Advertiser.)