The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-22 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The question of how to reform our army has again
been under the consideration of a meeting at the
Society of Arts. The discussion, taken part in• by
Mr. Edwin Chadwick, Sir W. Denison, and Sir • C.
Trevelyan, was very interesting. Mr. Chadwick
advocated early drill at school, and argued that
without a better recruiting system it was hopeless to
expect any improvement in the morality of the army.
lle thought both men and officers should he
encouraged to do private as well as public
work, and that they should be allowed
IN
long furloughs for that purpose. 'Sir il h
iam
Denison seems to have the most perfect faith n
the present system. Army morality, he thought,
was not especially bad, and things altogether were
about as well as one could expect them to be. Ile
characterised the policy of withdrawing troops from
the colonies as " dirty miserable economy." Dr.
Stallard took a totally different view from Sir Wil-
liam as to army morality, and erred in the other
extreme. Ile put down every soldier who entered
the army as (in the consideration of society) " a
blackguard, who was sure to go wrong." Sir Charles
Trevelyan advocates his plan as being a cure for the
present immorality. Short service would make
celibacy to be regarded as no great evil.

THE CHARGES AGAINST ADMIRALTY CLERKS.
According to the Broad Arrow, the charges against
Messrs. Rumble and Gambier, for corruptly obtaining
a Government contract, reveal a state of things which
will require a thorough investigation into the manner
in which Admiralty contracts have hitherto been
arried on. Our contemporary speaks highly of Mr.
Gambier, but has evidently no exalted opinion of
Mr. Rumble. It seems that he is, as we snspected,
the Mr. Rumble who was concerned in the very
shady " Rappahannock " business. It will beremem-
beredthat our Government sold an old ship, the Victor,
to a private person, and that this afterwards became
converted into the Confederate ship Rappahannock,
a proceeding which involved a prosecution of Mr.
Rumble for a breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act.
It is remarkable that a person who had thus laid
himself open to a Government prosecution should
still be in Government employ, especially as, accord-
ing to the Broad Arrow, the same person, having
first acted as the agent of the Confederate Govern-
ment, afterwards rendered very considerable assis-
tance to the United States Government by affording
them information regarding the position and
extent of the property of his former patrons in this
country.

TYE VOLUNTEERS AND THE CAPITATION GRANT.
The supporters of the Volunteers are carrying on a
powerful agitation for an increased capitation grant.
The. celebrated Tea-room of the House of Commons
has just been used for a meeting of peers and members
of the House of Commons, in which the subject was
considered. The Duke of Manchester was in the
chair, and noSerjeant-at-Arms putting in an appear-
ance to end the meeting, a memorial was agreed to,
on the motion of Lord Elcho, seconded by the Duke
of Abercorn. It sets forth that the " under-
signed," being members of the Volunteer
force, were entitled to speak on its behalf, and
lays down as the almost unanimous opinion of the
force that the voluntary army is a valuable one to
the State, and that those who join it ought not to be
called upon personally to spend money in providing
for the necessary expenses. As a difference of opinion,
however, exists on the matter, the memorialists
" respectfully urge such an inquiry as will defini-
tively and satisfactorily determine this disputed
point, as thus only can Government and Parliament
rightly judge whether the present capitation grant
ought or ought not to be increased." It is also sug-
gested that the organisation of the Volunteers might
be improved.
Mr. Cardwell received an influential deputation of
Volunteers and M.P.'s. on Saturday, who waited
upon him in the hope of moving his resolution with
regard to the capitation grant. But he was
immovable. His reply intimated that the Volunteers
%nine voanseytnuipultifvuTennvi
isLe.greerneoxtpiennsauacthirae
.sotaitetnoef
than is now authorised.