The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-20 00:00:00

acceptable either to Parliament or the nation, and
where so much is open to debate we look forward
with much anxiety to the result.

THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE ON " THE MILITARY
REORGANISATION IN ENGLAMD AND IN FRANCE."-

Since our last publication General Peel's propo-
sals for the Army reform have been laid before
Parliament, and the scheme for the reorganiza7
tion of the French Army has likewise been

published. The two plans form a great contrast.
Our own is limited to a moderate increase of the

soldier's pay and to the recruiting of the Militia
by voluntary enlistment to its full strength of
120,000 men, coupled with a proposition to make
it partially available as an army reserve. The
French Government, on the other hand, propose

.
to double their Army, adopting, with sonic-ma&
cations, the Prussian system of a general conscrip-
tion. General Peel's plan, -as far as it goes, is a

good and useful one ; but is not a bold orcompre-

pensive scheme. Ile seems to have an inordin-
ate fear of increasing the estimates and to view
the question in rather a narrow way. The same
want of boldness or comprehensiveness struck
. .

us in his answer to Major Anson's motion
on the Indian Army, and to Mr. O'Reilly's able
and excellent speech on the employment of
Sikh troops in certain of our Colonies. The
general is considered a very able administrator,
and no doubt knows well the feeling of the
House as to army expenditure. But judging
from the almost unanimous expression of
opinion in the periodical press on this sub-
ject, the general public opinion seems strongly,
in favour of a thorough reorganization of our mili-
tary system, and it seems to us a great pity this
feeling is not taken advantage of to a greater ex-
tent. The e soldier's pay is to be raised twopence a

day, and another penny- on re-enlisting after twelve
years' service, making their pay is. 2d. and is. 3d.
respectively. This will appear to the general
public to be a fair rate of remuneration to un-
skilled labourers, who form the bulk of our re-
cruits. The increase will, no doubt, be a great

help to our soldiers ; we must nevertheless not
forget that their pay is subject to heavy stop-
pages. To take the old rate of pay, speaking of
the line, the account would stand thus :--Pay 13d.
a day, from which would be deducted for rations,
viz., Vb. of meat and 11b. of bread, 4id. ; then 3d.
for tea, &c., and id. for washing, making Bd. ; this
will leave sd. But a further deduction is made of

2d. a day to supply the men with new under-cloth-
ing, and for repairs, &c., so that he has but 3d. a
a day on an average—if so much—to find himself
in beer and to meet his other requirements. The

additional 2d. and 3d a day will alas be very wel-
come to our gallant soldiers, though in our opinion
their pay is still inadequate. The better plan
would be for the Government to supply; them with
three good and substantial meals, finding them in
all articles of dress and necessaries, with a fine for
careless or wilful damages, and then to fix the pay
at 6d. a day, with an additional 2d., or, at all
events, Id. every five years, in addition to any
good-conduct pay they may earn. This would be
a rate of pay which we believe would be an in-
ducement to young men of the labouring class to
enter the Army in sufficient numbers, and we could
then dispense with the system of giving bounties
and rewards to enlisters. The pension is not to be
altered, and remains at Bd. a day, or at most Is., if
the men have earned all the good-conduct marks
after twenty-one years' service. It ought not, in
any case, be less than ls., and a permanent pension
ought to be given to those men whose health has
broken down from diseases contracted in the field
or in unhealthy climates. What can be more dis-
graceful than to see soldiers who have served in
the Crimea, or who saved our Indian Empire
during the mutiny war, and whose constitutions
are ruined by diseases—the direct consequences of
the hardships they underwent—dismissed (if not
totally disabled) with a pension of 6cl. a day for a
couple of years, and then left to beg or eke out a
miserable existence as best they may. Are not
such men to be found in all our towns and vil-
lages ? And could we set up a better rival to
the recruiting sergeant if we tried to do it? No
other Army in the world is called upon to per-
form the duties ours has to do, to face unhealthy,
and sometimes deadly climates for years, and often
engaged in warfare with brave but savage tribes.
The mortality is very great. On an average in the
whole Ark-, out of 1,000 men it is reckoned that
not more than 450 are in the ranks after ten
years, the remainder being lost by death, or
desertion, or discharge ; so that long service pay
or pension is not enjoyed by many. Ours is,
we must recollect, a professional Army. Our
soldiers ought to be well paid, their comforts
more attended to, and, above all, the decencies of
life better maintained in our barracks. Of our
soldiers it ought to be said, as well as in Wallen-
stein's Lager, " Dem Soldaten muss sein Solde
werden, da'rnach heisst er." The sympathies of
the writer of the present article are with profes-
sional soldiers, so long, at all events, as they are
national men who have dedicated their lives- to
the upholding of the national honour and follow
the flag, as it is emblazoned on so many of our
regimental standards, übique quo fas et gloria ducunt.
Whatever shortcomings there may be in soldiers,
at all events even the humblest is ready at a mo-
ment's notice to face death and lose his life
in his country's quarrel. General Peel's propo-
sal to raise an additional 30,000 men for the
Militia is a very good one, if he can succeed in
raising the men. He seems* very confident of
doing so, however. He further proposes to allow
30,000 Militia to volunteer to join the Army Re-
serve, and to give £6 bounty to induce them.
They are to remain in the Militia, and are only
liable to be drafted into the Line in case of war.
If this plan succeeds it ought to be extended to
the whole Militia, and for the future the Militia
ought to be recruited on the condition of serving
abroad either regimentally or in drafts to the'
Line, and it ought to be embodied two months
annually ; it would then, however, be necessary to
pay more attention to the drill. We shouldthushave
a valuableßeserve of 120,000 men. But it would
likewise be essential for home defence to reorgan-
ize the local Militia, which must be raised by the
ballot and organized in the manner we recom-
mended in a former article, and not be less than
200,000 men. The privilege which the new scheme
gives to men of the Line who have not completed
their time of service to commute each remain-
ing year in the Line for two in the Reserve,
with the option of reverting to active service,
strikes us as likely to give satisfaction to many
soldiers, but this privilege would not operate to
any great extent, indeed the number of those
who would have the option is not estimated
higher than 2,000. A large reserve in this
way could only be formed by making it com-
pulsory for men to serve in the Reserve after
seven or eight years in the Line. It is very
doubtful if we could raise recruits in sufficient
numbers to carry out this plan, and on these con-
ditions we think it would be necessary to raise
still higher the rate of pay if we do not offer our
recruits a provision for life, or give them perman-
ent pay while they are in the Reserve, which
would be very expensive. We think the plan we
have recommended of the whole Militia being
made the Reserve preferable in many respects.
Some such reorganization of our military. system
is, in our opinion, indispensable ; and, in view
of the gigantic armies raised, or about to be
raised, on the Continent, it is folly or madness not
to do now what most certainly would have to
be done at the breaking out of war—to put our
land forces on a footing more in proportion to the
armies of foreign States. The French Army is to
be reorganized in this way. The annual contin-
gent is to be fixed at 160,000, which is the number
of able-bodied men. Out of 325,000 males of 20
years of age, one-half of this number, or 80,000,
are to serve for five years, instead of seven as
hitherto, and are then sent to the reserve for four
years. The other half of the contingent is to
serve only in the reserve for four years, and to
be embodied for three months, and then to
join the national Garde Mobile for five years ;
all persons who may now procure substitutes, or
who have formerly done so, will have to serve in
this Garde Mobile for five years; the duty for
this latter force is to be easy, not more than a
fortnight's drill is to be required, and they are
destined for the defence of fortresses and the cus-
tody of the coasts. Old soldiers are allowed to re-
enlist on the present advantageous conditions.
Indeed, this feature in the French service of so
many conscripts who have served their time, re-
enlisting for a second or third engagement has
been much favoured and developed by the pre-
sent Emperor—they form about 25 per cent., we
believe, of a French regiment. -The result of the
new organization, roughly stated, is, that France
will have an active army of 400,000, and a re-
serve force of 430,000, making together 830,000 ;
and, in addition, the Garde Mobile of 408,000 men,
making a total of 1,238,000 men. The Army
hitherto was fixed at 400,000, and the Reserve
220,000 men, making together 620,000 men. This
is a great increase to the military power of
France, and every Frenchman fit to bear arms of
_the requisite age will have to serve in the way
we have explained. It is certainly not so oner-
ous as the Prussian system ; and the service in
the Line is reduced from seven to five years—
this will be advantageous to the conscripts,
although the universal obligation to serve will be
more generally felt by the nation at large. The
scheme does not seem to be popular in France,
notwithstanding the jealousy of Prussia, which
is very prevalent. It cannot surprise us that, as
Prussia keeps up and develops her military system
in the new Confederation, France should also