The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-29 00:00:00

those highly connected. (Hear.) It was necessary that
our men and officers should be picked from the whole
of the British nation. (Hear, hear.) What he
would suggest was that in place of resolutions which,
alter all, meant but little and carried but little weight
with them, the hon. and gallant general (Sir De Lacy
Evans), and •thers who i ce him hai raased a 1 irg life
the service of their country, should bring forward some
plan by which men who adopted the profession of arms
might be assured that talent, industry, and perseverance
would reap for them that reward which seemed at pre-
sent only to be obtained by patronage. (Rear.) He bad
been favoured with a pamphlet which denied the state-
ment often made that the army of this country had he3n
ruined by the parsimony of the House of Commons. In
this pamphlet the cost of the Austrian and the English
armies were cortrasted, by which it appeared that "for
the outlay of 9,713,9741. we kept on foot an effective
force of 120,000 men, whereas this sum would have suf-
ficed in A uAria to pay and maintain 540,009 men on the
peace establishment." He could not, therefore, quite
give hi" adherence to the statement that the parsimony
of the House of Commons had destroyed or injured the
army. (Hear.) It had been the long mismanagement
which had injured the army ; and he thought that if the
matter could be investigated it would be found that our
system, as compared with that of foreign countries, was
more expensive and by no means so efficient. (Hear.)
What he contended was that if they were going to change
their system of promotion in the army they ought not to
proceed by resolution, but to lay down some practical
plan, and come to Parliament for the means to carry it
out, for he did not think that small palliatives for evils,
if they were evils, were worthy of this kouse or of the
country.

Sir J. RAMSDEN believed it was universally ad-
mitted that it was of the utmost importance to encourage
military education. The Government were engaged
in preparing a comprehensive scheme on that subjeet,
which he believed would meet all the exigencies of the
case. The first of the reports of the commission which
had been appointed to inquire into the education of can-
didates for the military service had been received by the
Government, and copies of it would be furnished to the
house on the following day. It proposed that these can-
didates should be examined at head-quarters in London,
under the direction of the Council of Education, and
that the examination should be conducted by military
and civilian examiners, to be recommended annually by
that council to the Commander-in-Chief, and to be ap-
pointed by him after receiving the concurrence of the
Secretary of State. The candidate would have to pro-
duce a certificate from a clergyman to prove that he had
been duly instructed in the principles of religion. If he
were a member of the Charch of England be would be
required to produce a certificate of confirmation. The
candidate would also have to produce a certificate from
the schoolmaster by whom he had been educated, testi-
fying to his general good conduct. The subjects on
which he would be examined would be divided into com-
pulsory and optional. He would be required to pass an
f ximination in mathematics, algebra, simple equations,
the first four books of Euclid, and, in addition, he would
be compelled to show that he had a considerable know-
ledge of French and English composition and of the his-
tory of England and its dependencies, and also of geogra-
phy. These subjects did not embrace by any means the
whole of the education that would be required, because
the candidates would be required to pass an examination
in certain subjects which, to some extent, it would be
left to himself to select. He might select any branch of
the higher mathematics or some modern language in ad-
' dition to French, or a more t x,ended knowledge of
Li tory and geography, physical science, or a know-
ledge of drawing. At first sight it might appear that
sufficient importance was not attached in that scheme
to military education, but be thought it would be
foun I that that was not so. Though they did not say
that a classical education was an indefensible qualifica-
tion fw. an officer, yet they believed that it was very
desirable that that literature should be encouraged in
every possible way. The scheme of education was of a
general character.. It did not require any purely mili-
tary knowledge. He civil refer to some of the highest
authorities in this country, to France, and every other
continental military nation as witnesses in favour of that
part of the scheme. Another reason why the Govern-
ment were desirous of not requiring from the candidates
anything beyond a general liberal education as a founda-
tion on which to raise a professional knowledge after-
wards was their anxiety to draw to the army as much as
possible such as had been educated in the great public
schools of the country. (Hear. hear.) They were of
opinion that in an intelleclu.el point of view no education
imparted in this country was superior to that imparted
in those schools. Moreovor, the general habits of dis-
cipline and subordination, the healthy and manly tone
which obtained in them, was deemed to be the bet pre-
paration for a military career. (Hear, bear.) And
there was a further reason why a professional know-
ledge was not exacted from the candidate, because it
was felt that, if he should fail in passing his examination
and might wish upon that failure to enter into some
other profession, the time which might have been occu-
pied in acquiring a military knowledge might be regarded
as wa ted. The Government then did not altogether
agree with the hon. and gallant member for Westminster
as to the examination to be' required on entrance into
the service. With regard to the staff, he agreed with
much that bad fallen from the hon. and gallant memi,er
for Westminster. He could not state in detail the plan
of the Government, but it hal been decided that en-
trance to the staff should be by competition, that at the
close of the course of study there should be an examlna-
twn, that the examination should be competitive, and
that certificates should be given which should constitute
the qualification of employment upon the staff. The
hen' and gallant officer wished to preserve the present
system of cadets for the Ordnance Corps. The
Government were aware of the advantages of this
system, which was established by the present
Mini-ter for War. No scheme of operations had been ac-
' tual'y arranged, but a plan was under the consideration
of the Government for amalgamating the military educa-
tion of Woolwich and Sandhurst in one military college,
in which all the preliminary military educatioe of the
country might be given. After preliminary examinations
and after being educated in this college for a certain
time, it was proposed that there should be a complete
examination of the pupils, and that admission should be
given to the Ordnance C irps in the order of that exami-
nation, those who passed it with success being allowed
to select an admission hit° the line if they preferred it to
entering either of the Ordnance Corps. This would be a
great advantage. He believed that in some of the mili-
tary schools of the continent all the pupils best qualified
by ability and instruction entered the Ordnance Corps,
leaving only those pupils for the line who could notcom-
pete with the Ordnance Corps. The Goverornentthought
that by throwing open certain commissions, and by giv-
log gratuitous commissions in the line as well as the
Ordnance Corps they might induce some of the most
successful candidates at the Sandhurst examinations to
elect the line in preference to the Ordnance Corp, so
that the best men might thus be spread more evenly over
the service, The Government most fully concurred with
the hon. and gallant member for Westminster in his re-
commendations of "assured encouragements" being given
" for proficiency and general fitness for advancement,"
and this recommendation would be entirely carried out
as soon as the system of competitive examination could
be applied to entrance to the staff. The hon. and gal-
lant officer's fifth recommendation, that a council of
military education should be established, bad already
been adopted. After mature consideration, however, it
had been determined that it should be composed exclu
sively of military members, and not of " military and
civilian members," as recommended by the hon. and
gallant officer. It was thought better to 1 ,ok for the
counterpoise to the exclusively military character of the
council in the appointraeut of civilians by whom the ex-
aminations for commissions should be conducted. It was
not the intention of the Commander-in-Chief teetake part
in the deliberations of the council, but the military edu-
cation of officers of the army would be under his control,
and the council would report to him, so that everything
relating to the council would pass through his hands and
through the office of the Minister for War. He could
not say that the plan of the Government entirely agreed
with that of the hen, and gallant officer ; but, although
there might be a difference upon minor points, yet the
Government and his hon, and gallant friend would be
acting in the same spirit. He trusted that his hon. and
gallant friend, seeing what had already been done and
was being done, would not press his resolution,'whicle, if
carried, would prevent the Government from carrying
out their views with perfect freedom. Next session the
house would be in a condition to consider the whole plan
in all its details. (Hear.)
Col. NO [tTH was glad to hear that the examinations
for the Ordnance Corps would be removed to London.
Many of the boys now examined failed from fright. The
examination lasted from 10 to 6, and it would be a great
advantage if it were spread over two days, and he hoped
that the examiners would be men who would encourage
the boys to answer, and not frighten them. He was glad
to see the system of examination adopted, but he feared
that it would deprive the service of many young fellows
who could not get through their Euclid, but who made
excellent officers whenever the men were to be led in any
service of peril. There would be some danger he thought
in making the examination too high. He felt it to be
his duty before he sat down to impress upon the Govern-
ment the fact that they allowed the militia to disappear
almost altogether, and reduced that branch of the ser-
vice, in fact, to the position of being little more than a
militia in name. (Hear.)

Lord STANLEY said that the hon. and gallant gen-
tleman the member for Westninster had drawn a very
wise and proper distinction between the qualifications
which it was desirable that a person should possess for
admission into the army and those which should entitle
[inn to be placed upon the staff. He quite concurred in
the opinion that there were many men who possessed
but very little book-learning or very little capacity for
acquiring it who, although they might not in cense-
(pence be fitted to hold high commands, yet would be
found in a subordinate position admirably adapted to
head a forlorn hope or to lead a charge in the field. But
although he, upon that account, deemed it inexpedient
that competition should be made the only means of oh-
taking admission into the army, he was prepared to
maintain that it was highly desirable that a certain pro-
portion of thnie commt.reioes which happened to be at
the disposal of the Gov ernmeLt should be open to com-
petition upon the part of the community at large. He
was also of opinion that as at the universities scholar.
ships and exhibitMa;s were granted partly as marks of
merit, partly as isitteliantial incentives to industry, so
would be pc:Hsieh nt a very small cost to the country to
devise a system of military prizes which should be dis-
pensed to the youths at our miiitary colleges. There teas
another point_ to which, &though it did not come within
the terms of the resolution of the hon. 14 "lielafic; mem-
berto
for Wea
tminster, he might be allowed
ad-
vert. 'DA? hones was aware that in the navy it a9the