The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-14 00:00:00

inactivity, the fact that a Conservative Administra-
tion should be unwilling to adopt a method so aptly
fitted to maintain the stability and energy of Parli-
amentary Government, and should .idly persist in
hoping to preserve the equilibrium of parties by de-
vices as transparent as they are petty, is a pheno-
menon inexplicable except by a suggestion of infat-
uation.

PosT.—The projet de loi for the reorganisation of
the French army, as finally decided upon by the
Commission and the Conseil d'Etat, has now been
made public, and it appears to be so nearly the
scheme as was originally proposed, that, judging
from what has alroady happened, it may be ex-
pected that its introduction will not fail to give rise
to an animated discussion both in the Chamber and
throughout the country. The projet sets out by
stating the number of men the army shall contain,
and this it fixes at 800,000, comprising the armee
active, and the reserve, and then goes on to state
the means by which it is to be recruited. If these
matters are regulated in the manner proposed, there
will be very little margin left to the Corps Legis-
latif for the exerese of its power of voting the
annual contingent, since the contingent requisite to
comply with the conditions laid down must be
pretty nearly invariable. It is clear that if an
army of 800,000 is to be formed and maintained
by a system which imposes, as this does, an average
term of service of seven years upon each man form-
ing part of it, there will be required each
year a body of recruits equal to one-seventh
of the whole army, or, in other words, a con-
tingent of above 114,000 men must be voted
every year in order to fill up the places of those who
annually retire. This really involves a vote of 160,000,
since allowances have to be made for the exonerated,
the exempted, and the incapable; and when it is re-
membered that there are but 325,000 Frenchmen
who yearly attain the age for military service, it will
be seen that the burden imposed is no light one,
being a direct call for actual military service upon
no less than one-half of the whole able-bodied po-
pulation. The tax of blood, however, will not fall
with the same weight upon all those who form part
of the year's contingent, for this is to be divided
into the armee active for five years and then into
the reserve for four, while the second and luckier
portion escapes (so far as the actual army is con-
cerned) with only five years in the reserve as the
whole of its burden. The difference is great, and
will be seen to be still greater when the nature of
the two kinds of service is considered. The armee
active is the standing army, as it has always been
understood, eating up the whole time of the soldier,
and imposing upon him every obligation and every
disability of military life. The service of the reserve
on the. contrary, is much lighter—it can only be
called into active service by a special decree of the
Emperor ; and the power of marriage—always an
important consideration—is accorded more ,freely
than in the armee active, so that a man whom the
conscription has placed in the first part of the con-
tingent, and subjected to immediate entry into the
army,will be able to marry at 27, or during his reserve
service,while if he is in the second part of the contin-
gent he will be able to marry at 25, on the expiration
of his term. Thus it will be seen that the army will
be constantly maintained by a flow into it from the
population of young conscripts, added to all those
old soldiers who can be induced to re-engage by the
very high bounty which, conscious of their value,
the French Government has always offered to their
time-expired men. The resei ve, on the other hand,
will be maintained by the flow into it of trained men
from the armee active, and from the second part of
each year's contingent, by which means, having the
conscription as its sure basis, the whole army and
reserve will be easily maintained at the effective of
800,000 men, fixed by the projet de loi. Thus far
as regards the actual military force which will
always be at the disposal of the Executive for any
purpose whatever. It has been seen that, in order
to keep this up to the point fixed, it will be xeces-
sary to take for military service half the young
men who every year attain the age of twenty. But
It must not be imagined that the other half
is allowed to go scot free, for there still re-
mains the Garde Nationale Mobile, into which
are to be immediately drafted all those who, by
drawing a lucky number in the conscription, have
escaped the contingent, as well as a large propor-
tion of those who, for various reasons, have been
exempted from service. This will give per year
some 120,000 men, who will serve five years, and,
in addition to these, there will be those who, form-
ing part of the second portion of the contingent,
have gone into the reserve, whence, at the end of
their term, they will come into the Garde Nationale
for four years more. This will give another 60,000
per year, and the whole National Guard will thus
amount, as soon as the system has got into full
play, to 840,000 men. The duties of this second
army will, however, be exceedingly light. The
members of it will be liable to a few company drills
in their own canton, and to brigade drills in their

their own canton,tand to brigade drills in their own
neighbourhood, the whole of which must not ex-
ceed two months and a half in five years, or 25
days in any single year, and these are to ba so
arranged as to interfere as little as possible with
industry, and will be dispensed with altogether in
the case of those who can show that they possess
" connaissance suffisante du maniement
des already
armaes et de l'ecole du soldat." The Garde
Nationale is to be regarded as an auxiliary to the
regular army, and to be used for the defence of
fortified towns and frontiers, and the maintenance
of internal order; but it is only to be called out by
a special law to be passed by the Chambers. There
is, however, a clause which provides that the battal-
ions composing it may be " reunis au chef-lieu ou
sur un point quelconque le leer ddpartement, par
un decret de l'Empereur," without any law at all,
but on condition that a law should be subsequently
presented, and this in effect hands the force over
to the Executive as completely as the active army
or the reserves. France, then, if this is carried
out, will possess for all practical purposes an army
1,640,000 strong, and that without calling upon any
one single man in it to give more than nine years of
his life to it, or indeed give more than five, because
the time spent in the reserve or in the Garde
Nationale is not given at all in the sense in which
the English soldier has to give his time, since the
men forming part of these bodies can employ
themselves in ordinary times in industrial pur-
suits without let or hindrance, and actually with
less liability to drill than our own militia. Of course
the question of the army is relieved from much of
its difficulty in France by the existence of the con-
scription, and the consequent unfailing supply of
men ;_ but it must not be forgotten that it is possible
to induce men here for a consideration to give that
which in France they give in obedience to the law ;
and if it is possible, as it is shown by actual expe-
rience to be, to take a large number of young men
away from civil life for a short period, it is as pos-
sible in England as in France ;
the only difference
is, that in England we should not want so large a
proportion of the whole population, and that those
we do want would suit us more in proportion.

MURDER ON TILE HIGH SEAS.—The Board of
Trade have received a despatch from the British Consul at
New York, relative to the murder of the chief mate, Mr.
Singley, of the English schooner Ottawa, by the master of •
that vessel, Capt. William Pye. The chief mate lived
several days after the ship's arrival at New York. He was
taken to the hospital, where he made the following state-
ment to Mr. Washburn, the acting surgeon :—" I was first
mate on board the schooner Ottawa. Capt. William Pye
was master. We sailed from Para (South America) on
3d of March, for Now York. On Tuesday, 19th of March,
about 7 p.m., I was standing by the mainmast taking the
altitude of the Polar Star. The captain came along and
asked me what these men were doing in the cabin, whom
I supposed to be the second mate and the steward. I
told him I did not know, when he fired at me. The shot
took effect in the fleshy part of my thigh, causing a
wound, which was not serious. I then ran round under
the main boom, when he ran after me and fired again, the
ball taking effect in my left side, just above the hip. I hal-
lood out, and the steward. who was in tho cabin came up,
when the captain fired at him. I ran to the forecastle, to
get out the crew, and called to them to secure the captain,
which they did, as I supposed. I crawled into a berth in
the forecastle. I had done my duty faithfully and I gave
no cause or provocation to the captain to shoot me. The
captain was excited by jealousy. I had no difficulty with
the captain on the homeward passage, and on the outward
passage there was a difference between us as to' the posi-
tion in which I was shipped, but that was settled at Para."
The mate died two days after Capt. Pye was in custody of
the police, but there being no law to take cognisance of the
charge, the consul succeeded in getting the accused re-
moved into New Brunswick (Britisn colony), where he
underwent an examination. The evidence of several of
the crew confirmed the dying testimony of the mate. Oae
of them added that when he secured the captain he made
an effort to jump overboard, but was prevented. The wit •
nesses spoke of the deceased as a good seaman, and never
gave any cause for complaint. All the defence the priso-
ner made when called upon by the court was that he shot
the mato without intending to kill him. He was fully
committed for wilful murder. _ _

CATTLE PLAGUE INQUlRY.—Theweekly return of
the reported cases of cattle plague in Great Britain, pub-
lished by authority of the Lords of the Privy Council for
the week ending Saturday, June 8, states that during the
period to which it refers no fresh outbreaks have been re-
ported from any part of England, Wales, or Scotland. In
the metropolis during the week two cases of cattle plague
have occurred, being a decrease of nine on last week's re-
turn. Both the diseased animals were killed. There were
3d healthy cattle slaughtered to prevent the spread of the
disease. The total number of cattle reported to have been
attacked in Great Britain since the coramencar2,ent of the
plague is 278,01, and 5G,833 healthy cattle have been
Alaughtered to prevent the spread of the disease.