The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 23, 1870.

Arttee say that " Although the different offices
which once were concerned with the administratin
of the army are now placed under one re
sponsible Minister (the system and want of
trust) remains, and both within the walls of
the War Office itself, and more especially between
the War Office and the Horse Guards, the habit is
still to prefer a system of unnecessary check, double
labour, and divided responsibility, to one of well de-
fined responsibility, simplicity, and reasonable confi-
dence." It is satisfactory to be told on the same
authority, that "as soon as the necessary arrange
ments can be made the administration of the army
will be conducted under one roof." It is on this
supposition that they have based their recommenda-
tions. - ' t

These recommendations refer to the three princi-
pal departments of the army business—the Military,
the Control (or Supply), and the Financial. The
first of these concerns the discipline of the forces,
appointments, promotions, and the military command
in Great Britain. These duties are entrusted to the
officer who is usually called the Commander-in-
Chief, though that office is really held by the Queen,
and the proper style and title of her representative is
the Officer Commanding-in-Chief. It is strongly
recommended that this officer shouldnot be connected
with the political parties of the day, a rule which
has been common for many years past, and which
has its advantages. At the same time these are not
without some counterbalancing disadvantages. If
the distributors of patronage are politicians
they are responsible for its) distribution to Par-
liament. The Board of Admiralty, for instance,
is a political body, and -whatever may have been the
case in former times, it cannot now be said that corn-
misions in the navy are given as the reward of past
or prospective political support. In fact the country
would not submit to such an abuse of patronage. On
the other hand, where patronage is in the bestowal
of an irresponsible officer, he is apt to bestow it upon
personal friends, or, at all events, to be unduly influ-
enced by social and aristocratic considerations. Tho
military department of the army would be entrusted
with the discipline and the organization of the reserve
forces. At present though these are three times as
numerous as the regular army, there is no connec-
tion between them. A consolidation will make
them all available for united action. The second
department owes its origin to Lord Strathnairn's
committee. It is that which has to deal with the
control of the finances and stores. One important
question which Lord Northbrook's committee had
to decide was, if this Control Department should take
charge of the munitions of war, as well as
of other stores. There was some strong
evidence in favour of constituting a separate ordnance
department, but the balance of evidence was in
favour of unification ; and the committee were espe-
cially moved to recommend only one department by
the consideration, urged with much force by several
witnesses, that a division of responsibility would be
embarrassing, and might be disastrous in the
field. Lastly, there is the Finance Department;
and in o rder to render this more efficient the com-
mittee strongly advise the appointment of additional
Parliamentary advisers to the Secretary of State.
They point out how inadequately the army is repre-
sented in Parliament as compared with the navy. All
the Lords of the Admiralty may have seats in Par-
liament and also the Secretary. The Committee
recommend that as the Secretary of. State cannot
possibly attend to all financial questions, he should
have a subordinate officer to assist him, and that this
officer should be in Parliament. Further, the chief
of the Control Department should be eligible for
Parliament. But inasmuch as his duties require
special training and knowledge it would be unfortu-
nate if that quaification were sacrificed to any poli-
tical necessities, and it would suffice therefore if, like
the naval members of the Board of Admiralty, he
were eligible for Parliament without requiring him
to be a. member of that body. Altogether these
recommendations ream well timed and to the purpose.
It is to be hoped that thou may efiect a very substan-
tial reform in the administration of the army. There
is abundorif. need of it.