The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-17 00:00:00

SAIJS i)P OLD STORLS.

(From, the Times.)
As it seems decided by the judgment of every
man who combines sense with spirit that England
must remain at all times well armed and equipped
for war, we ought certainly to carry into the

examina,tion of military and naval accounts some
of that discernment and painstaking which are
commonly applied to civil matters. If our habitual
state is that of armed preparation, we ought cer-
tainly to examine the proceedinga of the War
Department and the Admiralty with the same
discrimination of detail that we watch the

working of the Poor Law or any other domestic
institution. Hitherto the financial part, of the
military system has been sheltered by the very
violence by which the whole system has been
attacked. The economists were still more peace-
men, and, in their ardour for general disarma-
ment, they disdained to descend to details of
expenditure. If the Horse Guards and the Ad-
miralty, Woolwich and Portsmouth, ought not to
exist at all, is was merely superfluous to inveigh
against any shortcomings of those establishments.
When the millennium should arrive of disbanded

regiments, and frigates turned into emigrant
vessels, all minor evils of waste and in-

capacity would have passed away, and it was use-
less to have thought of these when the great day
of deliverance from the whole system was at hand.
So seems to have thought the Peace Party,
which has furnished .as yet our only military

economists. But this enthusiastic policy is a thing
of the past, and we want now something more mo-
derate, clear-headed, and professional. It is now
decided that the country is to have all that it had
before of warlike organisation, with much in addi-
tion that is new. Permanent camps and concentrated
armies, military schools, frigates as large as line-of-
__

battle ships, cannon of inordinate size, rules which are
the perfection of science and skill, are among the
new requirements of our defensive system ; and all
these will have to be paid for. The question is
whether they shall be paid for economically or
with an utter disregard of expense. There is
therefore, it will be seen, a field for the disciples
of the economical school, but its scope is limited,
and to make effective use of it will require more

attention to technical details than has hitherto beon
thought necessary. It is of no use for a member
of Parliament to rise in the next session and de-
nounce military expenditure in the gross, nor will
it avail to point out that a seemingly cargo sum
has been spent on what to the public appears
a matter of small importance. The country would,
however, be greatly indebted to any independent
man who would study the subject, speak boldly
and yet temperately on it, and show how
those defences which the nation thinks necessary
' can be made effective for a less sum than is called
for by the respective departments.
The conclusion of a gteat war is necessarily
time of waste. The world is glad to escape from
the drain caused by hostilities ; it looks on the
money raised for the war as lost, and hardly cares
to ask what has become of the immense material of
sustenance or desti uction that was laid up for the
campaign which never came. The public thinks
little of the screw line -of - battle ships ; it
never asks where are the floating bat, eries,
the wonders of which a year ago were in every
body's mouth ; the fleet of gunboats, with their
fanciful names, has almost passed away from
memory. The army, with its foreign Legions and
its Turkish Contingent, is dispersed, and only the
profession knows much what has become of it. if,
this be the case with such tangible nationsl
entities as regiments and fleets, we cannot wonder
that horses and mules, carts and waggons, beef and
pork, wine, preserved vegetables, cocoa, hay,
i
straw, and all the materiel of a campaign, shout'
be utterly forgotten by the public, which has 110
immediate use for them. Yet how large a
part of the 52,000,0001. sterling, at which the
war expenditure of the year ending March, 1856,
was rated, must have been spent on these common;
place objects ! What has become, then, of all this
mighty stock, which was to carry us across Pere-
kop or into Georgia, to Nicolaiefl' or Tiflis ? Some
of it is, of course, irremediably lost. Our huts still
stand upon the bare plateau of Sebastopol; horses
and mules wander by thousands along the valley
of Baidar. But much has been brought home
again ; and what has been done with it ? Le
the Government advertisements for the last thrr
months answer. Under the headin r
of Stores" dealers are invited to bid -or
ch
those articles which were sent out in ; war.su
haste and at such an expense to the seat O' ,ar_
Meat, coffee, biscuit, rice, clothing, bedding', Li fel,
ness, saddles, waggons, carts, fur coats and caP
buffalo robes, waterproof covering, Pick-axe:
spades and shovels, nails, preserved meat!, rt)ore
served vegetables—in short, every kind of _s
for the use of troops in a campaign is now being_s
sold off at merely nominal prices to the dealers
cannot be denied that we, the taxpayi
who surround our arsenals and dockyards.ngNpouwbuic
havewant
wanton
wasteight t.o
ls of mteh
e t detailshin g ob fe
what
capable senonif se
mostx l a s
snhaotiwont
price it
tt bise ebxepttlearinetdo.
sell If
ttihteeseautthhionrgistiaets
any
hat
are
,
than to keep theemgiviienn, satnorde every tohneey
wanted let the proof b
will
be satisfied. But it certainly seems that many of
the
wanted
articles lastarts, untilw atghoenys,were likelysacdtiory
obe,
again. would C
tools, tin and copper utensils, tents, boots, and
waterproof fabrics are not liable to immediate de-
struction, and, if we are to keep ourselves ready
for war, naturally seem the kind of articles which
we should have by us. It was the want of such
"
things which rendered the army so "entirely'
immoveable at the beginning
of the war
ctiainitnieost
abgeacilne utbhtee dii
rtslteaotalilf
willwe beb it
ances of a campaign. There isethefennrrgac'ued i
efsorec'ilallaP hand
ilP:i':
parent inipolicy
is not all. Unless in
ne
bineamkiunc°ll:iwsianyforwini
tobe explained. these
things which requires tlel3ld,elanathuiy.sci
of these articles are even now in constant use, „ ;t
e an
be correct that while the War-office
have to be purchased by other departments. I-
was selling
preserved vegetables for any trifle they ri°l2.„,
fetch the Admiralty was buying the very es_;rp,
articles at the full price, the fact is certainlY a ;la
gular instance of administrative incapaeith
will bring conviction to those most incredulous
official shortcomings.
palrlrlieuntreunstt,tthheedreisfporoes,althoaf that in
vastthe nmexilittsaer;isotno,.rlece:
collected for the campaign of 1856 will for hinge
subject of inquiry. The first cost of these T:,
must he represented by millions. Let us beach
remains, and what sums have been recei_ve
„rib()
formed what has been done with them, how- rod 0;
stheaelearotficmlesodewrhnich
•
dens too heavy for the country to allow millt
warfareilavn is been
no
dgirsepantseadn and fi
ts. _ bur.s.There should be some public audit o
Who 113/e
expenditure to be looked at only
.in
fthtehosgeroimsn.
mense accounts. Let the economists
been accustomed to wage war against Grand .r&la
more worthy of their prowess. Let
with
el.
millions instead of hundreds of pdtunes
lalmost crusheS
toner and Gold Stick turn their attenthtieomn
deal
with
s seri.
the nation instead of trifles w.
ains, subject study,
ously about. It will
drequibr
initp the is well
penditure which weighs dowh
a little specific knowleTge,
worthy of all these.
like preparations with prospe-
are we to unite warlike nichanno care
rity and
unhaPP--Ya
nedeeshe will be a great benefactor who
ful fleet ;
n ho to alleviate the burdens which
the arts of peace ? Our positionihow
shall teach us agrnaueystain°da a power-
nstangdrainngd
defencesaprogress
esawta
i::
a_
these

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—The system acted upon by the Government
from time immemorial, I believe, is this. Tofraree
the estimates for each article for theses ar, get the
amounts voted by the Commons, contracts
to absorb the amounts voted, and at the end of the
year to sell by auction, perhaps for a tenth of the
cost, whatever may remain unused of each article!,
to clear the way for fresh estimates, votes, an'
purchases of articles precisely similar to those
sold.
I lately learnt from a contractor that he had
made purchases at a Government sale, and
after
wards taken contracts and delivered to the Govern'
went the articles so bought at five times til°
price paid at the auction.
These sales are matters which I have obserVecl
for many years, and have always been astonisheth
that nO public notice should be taken of the° i
and notice, unless by influential people, would 0
course be waste of words. mot'
congratulate the country upon finding the Ina...
ter noticed by the Times, feeling satisfied that 110"
the refor?
a very great saving will be effected by
of a most absurd system.—l am, sir, your
obed.teu
s
servant, Coro.
London, Dec. 16.
g00mm.......a..•••••••••••
-----_
FATAL SPORT.—An inquest was held last eveningtt,
before Mr. S. F. Langbain, deputy-coroner for WOOL.,
rainster, at the King's College Hospital, on the body.
_.:
Christopher Collar, aged eleven years and three ont%
On the afternoon of the 26th ult. tbe deceased was 'ND •
his sisters, in a room at the back of his father's sh.°_lll
the tea having been sent down as usual from the kitcbiet,g
on the second floor, in a squ4re box, fitted OPe,w__,
pulley, chain, and weight. The deceased persuad el,eurPt„
of his sisters to get into the box that be might giv'el. io
ride, but the little girl pulping out suddenly, 6
fright, the box ascended with such velocity to :cari,"os.
beam that the chain snapped, and fell upon the brericut......
the deceased, tearing off a part of the scalp. Are a
" Acoidental death."