The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-26 00:00:00

:F PRINCE DE JOINVILLE AND AL GAMBETTA

The Prince of Joinville writes to the Times to
correct some misstatements respecting his arrest at
Maus. The facts of the case were as follows :—The
Prince has been in France since October, having
gone there to offer his services afresh to the Repub "
lican Government, and to explain to them in what
manner he thought he could best assist in the de-
fence of the country. He was told in reply that he
could only "produce embarrassment, and accordingly
he resolved that v hat he could do for France must
be done anonymously. Ile went to General
D'Aurelles to ask permission to serve under an
assumed name in the ranks of the Army of the
Loire, but the General did not feel justified in per-
mitting this, so that it was only as a spectator the
the Prince partic'pated in the disaster at Orleans.
Subsequently ho made the same proposal to General
Chanzy, who agreed to it, but thought it right to ask
M. Gambetta's consent. In reply to the intimation
of Prince de Joinville's presence with the army, M.
Gambetta ordered his arrest on January 13th by a
Commissary of Police, who conducted him to the
Prefecture at Mans, where he was detained for five
days, and was afterwards embarked at St. Malo for
England. Whatever might have been his feelings in
being violently removed from a French army on the
eve of a battle, the Prince asserts that it is an error
to attribute to him any diatribes against M.
Gambetta, whom he has never seen. His letter is a
simple recital of iacts, giving no expression of feeling
whatever.

MILITARY ORGANISATION.

Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan, M.P., enters into further de-
tails respecting his plan of army reform. In a letter
to a contemporary he hints that there is rather too
much danger at the present moment of attaching
more importance to drill than to organisation. What
is requisite for the defence'of this country is to main-
tain a force which shall be able to garrison our
arsenals, to hold Ireland, and to crush an invading
army of 80,000 men. In order to obtain enough
soldiers of the right quality, the Line and the
Militia must be amalgamated, and the regiments
should be attached to special localities. The whole
1 island would therefore have to be divided into mili-
tary districts. In the case of recruits for the home
service, their period of enlistment should be from six
to twelve months continuous service, Each regiment
should consist of three battalions and each battalion
of four companies of 180 or 200 men each, officered
by five officers; the regiment to be commanded by a
working colonel, and each battalion by a lieutenant-
colo'nel. The first battalion of each corps would be%
liable to foreign service, and would consist of men
enlisted for seven years. The ranks of the home
battalions would be filled by young men enlisted in
the 'neighbourhood in which the regiment is
permanently stationed, who after their first years
drill should be liable to a fortnight's annual service
at the time of the yearly manoeuvres, which should
henceforth become a national institution. At the
I rate of 23 officers to a foreign battalion, and 13 to a
home battalion, our present number of officers would
suffice to command 10 regiments, or 330 battalions,
containing about 240,000 men. Deducting the
number of men required for our Indian and colonial
service, there would remain more than enough to sup-
ply a home army of 200,000. Each regiment should
be brigaded, and each brigade in its turn be attached
to a division. Encouragement should be given to the
formation of Volunteer Corps, but they should be
organised on the same footing as the regular bat-
talions. By adopting some such scheme as this Mr.
Trevelyan thinks that when we have learned what
efficiency is, we shall cease to be for ever spending in
wrong directions under the influence of periodic
panic and chronic jobbery.