The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-02 00:00:00

satisfactory conclusion the history of the Dal-
rymples, and the present number of Bentley.

United Service. —The usual amount of sensible
matter, connected with the important topics of our
land and sea forces, is given in this number.
"The Reminiscences of China and the Chinese "
are continued, iu which the opium subject is treated
with dispassionate reasoning, together with a plea-
sant page or two of general information respecting
the customs and state of the people. " Our
Schemes Hof Military Education and Reform " con-
tains some just and apposite observations on the
practical training of soldiers, but we must dissent
from one opinion expressed in it, and honestly
aver that we shall ever believe The victory of Inker-
man to have been essentially a " soldiers' battle,"
and that incompetency of judgment, or some defal-
cations in the administration of our military ruler-i,
equally questionable, were too obvious in the whole
of the Crimean campaign, for any prejudiced par-
tisan to successfully defend, or effectually disgui-e.
An excellent paper on " The Army Sanitary Com-
mission" deserves careful attention. After the
author has given an impartial description of the
average state of our barracks and the condition of
the men, he says—
If we look into the long rolls of our best regiments we shall
find that they are not composed of the same materials as
during the Peninsular war. Our national Highland and
Irish regiments aro no longer of pure descent, and though the
majority may be so, still a large proporti n of heterogenous
elements enters into their composition. Our Highland glens
no lon.;er abound iu brave lads and bonny lasses ; the garb of
old Gaul is seldom seen on the heath-covered mountains, un-
less on the " hurdies" of Sassenach menials ; the sound of
the bagpipe is no longer heard on the gale, the chatter of the
grouse and the black cock, the scream of the curlew, and the
whistle of the gamekeeper, are the only liltings now heard on
the hill ; even the ancient eagle is banished from his heredi-
tary eyrie, and dares not descend from the clouds without
risk of life from an Ely's cartridge or a riflebullet ; thousands
of hearths round which happy families once gathered, are
now as cold as the grave ; the bat and the owl, the thistle
and the nettle, aro their only tenants now, the more favoured
rod deer crop the currant bushes in their " kail-yard," and
many a " strath" that once sent forth a thousand mon at the
summons of tie Fiery Cross would not now muster a ser-
geant's party. Most noble despotism has depopulat d the
ancient nurseries of our best soldiers to provide for themselves
a month's shooting in autumn !
" The flowers of the forest that fought aye the foremost,
The flowers of the forest are a' woode away !"
And Britannia in her utmost need now mourns their loss
when no longer forthcoming.
Nor is the state of Ireland more favourable for recruiting.
The bigotry of priests, the exaction of tithes,.the oppression
of landlords, and the difficulty of procuring bread, have
driven tens of thousands of its stalwart sous out of the coun-•
try to seek their more happy fortune in foreign lands. The
consequence is that the army is now chiefly racruited from
the workshops, the factories, the stable, and ihe counter ;
from the do-nothings and the do-no-goods, and the devilma-
cares ; from the runaways, the spendthrifts, and the drunk-
ards; from half made ministers, doctors, and lawyers, im-
practicable younger sons of old families, improvident charac-
ters in dread of the parish beadle or the constable, whilst the.
best men of their class remain at their avoc •tions at home,
and find more profitable employment as navvies, railway at-
tendants, or policemen.
But there must be some causes for all the sickness and
mortali y of soldiers, not apparent to the ordinary observer ;
and if we enter into the orderly-room, the dry-room, the
hospital, and peruse the defaulters' book, and the sick re-
ports, we shall probably find sufficient explanation. In them
we shall find that about one-half of the cases under investiga-
tion, under punishment, or uuder treatment, an the conse-
quences of their own intemperance or indiscretion ; all of
them undermining the constitution, and settling on tho
weakest organ of the body—the lungs, ending in consump-
tion and premature death, 'and as the deaths are accounted for
under the head of consumption, the original causes that in-
duced consumption do not appear in the sick reports.

The concluding remarks in this admirable paper
contain an amount of truth which we should re
joice to see acted on by those in authority :

Having established the fact that intemperance and indis-
cretion are the soldiers' greatest enemies, we must look for
some explanation even of their prevalence, and this we shall
find in the idle, indolent, objectless, in-door, half•employed-
dog sort of life that they generally lead,—a prey to ennui,
and the blue devils,—anti the blue bottle and the brothel are
their succedaned.
Now that we have arrived at what seems to be the real
cause of all the soldiers' failings and ailings, and of their in-
crease 1 rate of mortality, the great objec to be. k pt in view
is to divert their attention into more salutary chancels. Men
even the most illiterate and the least intellectual, cannot with
impunity be treated as animals by drilling, feeling, clothing,
housing, and locking up like cattle, so that their sleeping
rooms when let out in the morning are found to be " in a
very thick and nasty state."
The circulation of the mental faculties is as necessary as
the circulation of the blood through our veins, or the electric
current through our nerves ; much has been dune for the
soldiers on this head, but all that hasbeen done is insufficient,
and much more must be done if we would improve their
health and reduce their mortality to the level of their free
brethren at the spade, the plough, or the shuttle, the ham-
mer, the trowel, or the batton. Moro exercise is essential
both for body and mind, more hope of bettering their position
by promotion to commissions, more prospect of being able to
exist after discharge on the bounty of the State, without
haying recourse to begging or ballad-singing, or being a bur-
den to their surviving relatives. A discharged soldier is
generally tho most helpless individual possible ; most of
them never excelled in any profession before enlisting, and
after discharge feel themselves cast upon the world unfitted
to resume their juvenile omp eyrue,.t. But there are very
numerous berths in public departments to fill which no better
and no more deserving men could be found than our pen-
sioned soldiers ; and when we have seen the doors of public
galleries and museums, the gates of public parks and gardens,
and the ranges of royal palaces filled by stolid masses of fat
contented ign irance, who never did a day's military duty in
their lives, we have thought what prizes such offices would
have been to our discharged deserving soldiers.

The Mechanic's. —This valuable serial is replete
with intelligence on various objects connected with
inventidons and improvemsists. An "Apparatus
for .onornising " A New Hydraulic
Engine," and " Improved Fttruaces," are among a
long list of fresh appliances of science. The papers
elucidating the working and intentions of the rela-
tive patents are clearly and concisely written ; ren-
dering the magazine exceedingly useful to those
interested in its subjects. The editing and arrange-
ment of this work are carefully carried out.