The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-18 00:00:00

THEATRES AND AMUSEMENTS.

DRURY LANE—RuIe Britannia. Dragon of Wantley.
COVENT GARDEN—Lottery Ticket. Sleeping Beauty.
ADELPHI—That Rascal Jack. Deadman's Point. Our
Female American Cousin.
PRINCESS'S—The Happy Man. King o' Scots. He's a
Lunatic.
HAYMARKET—The Poor Soldier. The Palace of Truth.
Uncle's Will. Family Jars.
VAUDEVILLE -Chiselling. Two Roses. Elizabeth, or the
Invisible Armada.
OPERA COMIQUE—The Welsh Girl.
The Comical Countess.
ST. JAMES'S—TO Oblige Benson. Naval Engagements,
Vesta. An Unhappy Pair.
OLYMPlC—Poppleton's Predicament. Nell and (Bur
lesque) Paul and Virginia.
ROYALTY—Dora's Device. Whittington Junior and his
Sensation Cat. Diamond Cut Diamond.
GAIETY—A Christmas Story. Alladin 11.
QUEEN'S—A Day After the Wedding. 'Twilit Axe and
Crown.
ROYAL COURT THEATRE—Turn Him Out. llandaWs
Thumb. Q.E.D.
HoLEoEN—Jezabel. Ticket-of-Leave Mn.
STRAND—Who Speaks First ? Up in the World.
Cceur-de-Lion.
PRINCE or WALES'S—Ours. Locked In.
ASTLEY'S—Englishmen in Paris. Little Tom Tittlemouse.
SURREY—Farce. My Son Jack. •
NATIONAL STANDARD—Farce. Ride a Cock Horse to
Banbury Cross.
SADLER'S WELLS—Jeannie Deans.
AMPHITHEARE AND CIRCUS (Holborn)—Lulu. Scenes
in the Arena.
ST. JAMES'S HALL— Christy Ministreb. Every evening.
ALHAAIBRA— Grand Concerts.
POLYTECHNIC—Professor Pepper's War Lecture.
noon and evening.
MADAME TUSSAUD'S (Baker-street)—From 10 a.m. 61110
p. in. ls. ; extra rooms, 6d.

Found Drowned

After•

jvijj
iv,

LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1871.

THE Army Organization Bill, which the Govern-
ment offer to the country, is a satisfactory one.

It is not a model of legislative skill, like the Irish
Land and the Irish Church Bills ; but, like them, it
introduces great reforms, and its provisions are all
such as ought to be fully realised in practice.
There were two species of reform which lay within
the power of the Ministry. They might improve
the present system so that the heterogeneous and
ill-trained troops, who now form our defensive
strength, should be brought into working order, or
they might, besides this administrative reform, aug-•
meat the numerical strength of the army. Mr.
CARDWELL'S Bill is a compromise between these two
courses. The numbers of our defensive forces are to
be increased in some degree ; but the chief
aim of the measure is to make the army
we now possess really available for the
work it is intended to do. At present we have a
Regular force of about 130,000 men, a Militia of in-
definite strength, and a large Volunteer army, cer-
tainly not under 150,000 strong. The total of these
three branches is considerable. But only a fraction
of the number are fit for war. The
Militia is ill-trained, commanded by officers
of small professional skill, and unprovided
with the military train so indispensable to the move-
ments of troops in the field. The Volunteers are in
much the same case. The exertions of the distin-
guished personage who has just announced himself
to be an earnest military reformer, appear to have
been directed hitherto to keeping from the Volunteers
everything required for the success of their efforts.
Their officers, too, are mostly unskilled ; they have
no opportunities of practising manoeuvres on a
large scale with regular troops. This is
th• state of affairs. These men are numerous
enough to make a large army. They at present
form three small armies, one tolerably good, and
the others very bad. The Government Bill welds
the three into one.
One of the most important means to this end is
the removal of the Horse Guards to the War Office.
The dual system of a responsible War Minister and
a practically irresponsible Commander-in-Chlef, has
long been condemned as utterly inconsistent with
either economy or efficiency ; the only ques-
tion is, will the establishment of the two per-
sonages under one roof effect this end ? Hitherto
Mr. CARD WELL has shewn no great disposition or
ability to prefer the wishes of the nation to those of
the Duke of CAMBRIDGE; and it is not at
all clear that living together will change the
relations between the two. The completeness of
this reform, the head and front of all possible
army improvement in England, is less clear, there-
fore, than that of other changes which the bill
proposes to make. If the FIELD MARSHAL COM-
MANDING-IN-CHIEF Will carry out the views of the
country expressed through the WAR MINISTER,
instead of carrying out his own, all will be well.
If he does not, the removal of the Horse
Guards will be a mere delusion. The changes of
next importance are excellent. The three branches
of the army are all to be directly under the lead of
the COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. At present the Militia
are officered by the Lords Lieutenant of counties,
whilst the Volunteers officer themselves the
result being . that neither branch is in reality
officered at all. The total of the three
forces will be raised, chiefly by an increase
of the Militia, to half a million men. As
this nnmbar can be kept up by N oluntary enlistments,
compulsory service is properly rejected. Another
reform of the first importance is the localisation
of the various corps. The country will be divided