The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-30 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The annexed circular has been directed to com-
manding officers of Militia regiments and barrack-
raasters by the Earl of Ripon, the Under Secretary
of State for War : .

" War-office, Sept. 14.
" Circular No. 361, containing regulations for
hiring property for the use of the War Department
generally, being inapplicable for the provision of
hospital accommodation for militia regiments at the
annual training periods, Mr. Secretary Herbert has
been pleased to approve of the following regula-
tions of hiring for the object named, which are to
be strictly followed in all future cases.
" When a regiment is about to be assembled for
training, the officer commanding will report to the
Secretary of State for War, as early as convenient,
the necessity for providing hospital accommodation,
stating whether there is any infirmary or public
building available for the purpose ; if not, he will
state the lowest rate at which a suitable house or
rooms, approved by the surgeon of the regiment,
can be obtained for the training. period.
" The report is to be sent in the latter case
through the barrack-master of the district, who, in
forwarding it, will state from his experience and
knowledge, whether he considers the rent demanded
to be reasonable, but he is not to proceed to the
station to make inquiries without directions from
this office. On the hire being approved, it will be
communicated to the officer commanding and to the
barrack-master, and the latter will supply such hos-
pital furniture and bedding as the officer command-
mg may deem necessary, reporting the expense of
carriage for sanction.
"The bedding, &c., is to be duly removed at the
expiration of the training period.
" When it is proposed to accommodate the sick
of a regiment .in a hospital attached to barracks,
barrack-masters will, in Great Britain, forward the
application of the officer commanding to the Inspec-
tor-General of Fortifications ; but in Ireland this
application should be sent to the Deputy Quarter-
master-General in Dublin, agreeably to the Circular
Memorandum of the 2d of August, 1859."
A board of officers assembled in London yester-
day, by order of the authorities connected with the
War Department, for the purposes connected with
the re-organisation of'the Medical Staff Corps. Al-
though it was announced some time since that the
present Medical Staff Corps was about to be dis-
banded and a new branch of the service estab-
lished, to be named the Army Hospital Corps, for
which the orderlies belonging to the late corps
might volunteer, yet up to the present time it has
been found impossible to carry the proposed change
into effect, owing to the exceedingly small number
of the present Medical Staff Corps who have ex-
pressed their willingness to rg-enlist into the new
corps. The total number of men belonging to the
Medical Staff Corps is rather more than 600, and
these are distributed about every part of the globe
wherever military hospitals have been established,
only about 100 being attached to head-quarters,
Chatham. Of this number only about one-
third have expressed their intention to volunteer
for the Army Hospital Corps, and it is probable
that altogether there will be not more than 100 vß-
lunteers from the remainder of the Medical Staff
Corps. The reasons given for the refusal of the pre-
sent members of the corps to volunteer for the Army
Hospital Corps are various, but the chief appear to
be that the scale of pay is only about half that given
in the Medical Staff Corps, while a large number.
and that perhaps the majority, are only too glad to
avail themselves of the opportunity of escaping
from military service. The new corps is to consist
of 1,000 men of all degrees, but as there appears to
be no probability of obtaining volunteers to any-
thing like that number, the board of officers ordered
to assemble will take into consideration the course
it would be advisable to adopt, though it would
seem to be no more than probable that the forma-
tion of the new corps will, for the present at least,
be abandoned, and the Medical Staff Corps be con-
tinued on its present footing. A considerable num-
ber of the Army Hospital Corps, it was thought,
would be obtained from regiments of the line ; but
as the qualifications required are that the volun-
teers shall have been some time in the service, of
good character, and able to read and write, com-
manding officers are indisposed to recommend such
men from their regiments, as soldiers of that class
are sure to become non-commissioned officers and
obtaining other advantages by remaining in their
own corps.
A number of the wounded and invalid troops who
arrived at Chatham from India on Wednesday last
are suffering from ophthalmia, some having entirely
lost the sight of one eye. The worst cases are under
treatment in Fort Pitt Hospital.
The first portion of the depot of the 29th regimen t
will vacate the Spur Battery, at Chatham, where
they have been encamped, to-morrow morning, and
proceed to Weedon for the purpose of joining the
head-quarters of their regiment, just returned from
India. The officers and men of the detachment were
inspected yesterday, in order to allow them to leave
the garrison at an early hour this morning. The fol-
lowing are the officers named to proceed with the first
detachment of the depot:—Ensign E. P. Everard,
Ensign R. Berkeley, and Ensign J. H. H. Croft.
The 29th depot has been quartered at Chatham a
great number of years.
The Gipsy Bride troopship was towed into Ports-
mouth harbour from Spithead yesterday, and berthed
alongside the north jetty. The 29th Regiment,(2d
division), which arrayed in the ship at Spithead
from Calcutta the day previous, as stated in The
Bun of yesterday, disembarked in the afternoon, and
left Portsmouth by special train at 5 p.m. for Pres-
ton. The 29th embarked for India in the early part
of 1842, and shared the glories and hard fiighting
of the Sutlej Campaign 1845-6, including the bat-
tles of Ferozeshah and. Sobraon. It also went
through the Punjab Campaign of 1848-9, including
the passage of the Chenab at Wuzzeerabad, the
battles of Chillianwallah and Goojerat. The Ist
division of the 29th arrived at Spithead from India
in the troopship Clasmerden on the 18th inst., and
are at present quartered at Preston, where te 2d
division, from the Gipsy Bride, joins them.
By orders received by telegram from the Horse
Guards yesterday by the military authorities at
Portsmouth, the detachment of the 9th Queen's
Royal Light Dragoons (Lancers), and that of the
10th (North Lincoln) Foot, will dilembark from
the troopship Liverpool at Portsmouth this morn-
ing. A detachment of the 9th, consisting of 110
men with the proportion of officers, will proceed to
Trowbridge, the remainder to proceed to Exeter.
Referring to an article which appeared in our
columns on the 21st inst., on Brown-down Camp,
we are informed that from the small number of
troops encamped on the ground, it was only neces-
sary to erect pumps over five of the wells in front
of the camp, the covers of which are lost from hav-
ing become rotten, but are about to be renewed.
The difference observable in the outfit of the troops
of the line and the Royal Marines, and the appear-
ance of their camps, arises, we are also informed,
from the fact of the latter occupying their ground
permanently, while the tents of the former are oc-
cupied by changing detachments from various regi-
ments.,

Col. Tulloch, superintendent of the royal carriage

department of Woolwich Arsenal, having recovered
from a severe and dangerous illness, yesterday re-
sumed the duties of his department.
A draught of 250 non-commissioned officers and
men belonging to the depot brigade of Royal Artil-
lery was yesterday ordered to be held in readiness
for service in China. The draught is to be composed
of the most experienced and select men, versed in
the duties of scientific andpractical siege operations,
and, if practicable, to be formed exclusively of men
who have passed seven years' service. Officers of
the corps are required to volunteer to command and
accompany the draught. The despatch of these
troops will take place with as little delay as pos-
sible—probably during the ensuing week.
The Yorkshire Hussars will to-day complete their
annual period of training at York. The regiment is
reported to be in a very efficient state, and has
given great satisfaction to the Earl of Harewood,
who has accepted the colonelcy in the room of Earl
de Grey, resigned.
The battalion of the Royal Wiltshire Regiment of
Militia in command of Capt. Kyd Skeete, recently
arrived at Woolwich, was yesterday paraded in front
of the artillery barracks for the inspection of Major-
Gen. Sir R. Dacres. From the remarks which were
occasionally made by the General during his inspec-
tion, it appears that the appearance and discipline
of the battalion were highly satisfactory.

MANNING THE NAVY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Thereciin—l3elittle doubt, after the expe-
rience acquired during the Russian war and in the
last few months, that not only are we without any
system for recruiting the defensive forces of this
empire, but also that all the expedients adopted have
proved signal and costly failures. Formerly we had
the ballot and the pressgang, and, what was far
more influential in filling up ships and regiments,
the allurements of actual war. To-day we are for-
bidden to force men to serve, and must rely entirely
upon volunteers, induced to come forward by large
bounties, while the prospect of continued peace pre-
sents few inducements to adventurous spirits to bind
themselves to serve the Queen for 10 years. Most
assuredly were war to be declared to-morrow, and
tho want of defenders to be made apparent, there
would be no lack of volunteers. In a month we could
have a million of men under arms—as reference to
what was done 56 years ago will show—so great is
the public spirit in England ; but they would not
be competent to engage in action. Meanwhile, until
they had learnt the drill, the enemy would find no
serious impediment in advancing towards the attain-
ment of his object. It is precisely this state of things
which it is deemed prudent and desirable to avoid.
We want our lines of defences to be sufficiently
strong, without being made excessively costly, so
as to guard against surprise, and, if not able to de-
feat an attack, at least to resist it long enough to
permit the organisation and advance of our reserves .
The first line of defence is the sea, and therefore
manning the navy becomes the first and most im-
portant consideration.
People are very generally agreed that the intro-
duction of steam and the improvements of the age
have materially impaired our first line of defence,
and considerably altered the system of naval war-
fare ; but they do not appear to be conscious that
the greatest change which our progress has effected
has been in rendering unavailable the sources from
which the navy was formerly manned. The mer-
ehant service, the coasting.trade, and fisheries were
nurseries for British sailors when everything de-
pended on seamanship, and ships of the line could
lie alongside, discharging, broadsides into one
another for hours with very little damage to either,
Now matters are entirely changed; the mercantile
marine and other seafaring employments are not
nurseries for men of war. Their sailors have a.
prejudice which, however unfounded it may be, is
strong 'enough to prevent them from entering gene-
rally on board the Queen's ships. Even those who
enter, although good seamen, require long drill and
practice to become efficient man-of-war's men.
They have, on leaving the merchant service, no
, knowledge or practice of gunnery—at the present
day a most essential qualification ; and they are not
accustomed to act together, 'which constitutes the
difference between disciplined and undisciplined
crews. Supposing, therefore, that on the declara-
tion of war, we could enrol 50,000 able-bodied sea-
men from the merchant service, they could not be
sent to sea, under fair chances of success, until after
they had had at least six months' naval discipline
and gunnery drill.
To obviate the disadvantages of our position se-
veral schemes have been proposed, which have been
put aside Is impracticable or inadequate, with the
exception of two—the first of which is the establish-
' ent, by Sir James Graham, of the Royal Naval
Coast Volunteers; and the second, the proposal by
the Secretary to the Admiralty to subsidise 20,000
men in the merchant service on condition of their
undergoing a month's naval drill once in three
years, and undertaking to enter the navy in case of
war.

Taking first Sir James Graham's scheme, let us
see how far it has answered. The Coastguard and
Naval Volunteers are estimated at 9,000 officers and
men, but their total number is 8,752. The total
charge for them is £726,958, which makes the aver-
age cost of each man to the country £BO 6s.—cer-
tainly a most extravagant price to pay. This is, of
course, exclusive of the cost of fuel and wear and
tear of ships in which they are embarked. To form
an idea of the excessive cost of naval volunteers we
have only to compare it with that of the men in the
regular navy. According to the estimates printed
in February the charge for 40,000 officers, seamen,
and boys employed in her Majesty's fleet was
£1,678,474, and their proportion of the charge for
victuals was £586,462, making a total of £2,264,936,
or an average cost for each of £56 12s, against £BO
65. for the naval volunteer. Consequently, for the
same expenditure, we could have had three men in
the fleet for every two in the coast volunteers.
Lord Clarence Paget's scheme provided for paying
£5 a-head to 20,000 merchant sailors engaged in
the American, Baltic, Mediterranean, and coastinc,
trades, on condition of their promising to enter the
navy when required, and undergoing a month's
drill on board ship once in three years, for which
they are to receive additional pay. The plan would
be all very well if we were sure the men would be-
come thorough men-of-war's men by the triennial
monthly drill, and that they would be always avail-
able when wanted. But what captain would deem
himself fairly matched with an enemy's ship of
equal force if half the crew were composed of these
men ? And hOw far would they be superior to
the men we' can always get from the merchant
service by a £lO bounty ? Further, if we required
the services of these men, it would be suddenly,
and they would then be absent engaged in their
ordinary occupations beyond the seas.
In the presence of these failures, and of the noto-
rious difficulty experienced in manning the navy,
it is time to ask whether we have not all along pro-
ceeded in a wrong direction. We have started from
a wrong point—that of looking to the mercantile
marine as the nursery for the navy, which it was
50 years back, but which it is no longer in reality
since the introduction of steam, our progress in the
practice of scientific gunnery, and other improve-
ments. Under these altered circumstances it would
be well to discard the traditions of the past, and to
ascertain whether it would not be practicable and
more profitable to start from a new basis with a
view to recruit the navy from other and more abun-
dant sources than the merchant service—to provide
the navy with a nursery of its own, and to create
our great naval reserve by making the Royal Navy
a nursery for the mercantile marine.
In order to ascertain the practicability and cost
of the scheme, let us suppose that it in determined
to maintain a fleet manned by 40,000 officers and
seamen. It now consists of 34,410 officers and men
and 5,590 boys, leaving the Coastguard and Royal
Navy Coast Volunteers out of consideration. The
annual mortality of these 40,000 sailors, taking the
maximum death rate of 25 in 1,000, would be 1,000.

If they were all continuous service men rnd retired
from the navy at the expiration of the decimal term
for which they had entered, there would be re-
quired to fill up the vscancies caused by deaths and
retirements about 5,000 fresh hands. In order to
admit of a greater number of men being trained and
of the formation of a naval reserve it is suggested
that a portion of these fresh hands should be com-
posed of men who have served their 10 years on
board men-of-war, and have subsequently joined the
merchant service for a certain period, but have been
induced to enter for a second term in the Royal Navy
in consideration of a pension, and perhaps of increased
pay. The remainder of the fresh hands is to consist
of lads who have undergone two years' Preparatory
training in seamanship and ,gunnery on board
school ships. and three years' training on board
ships in commission. It is notorious that there is
noo lack of boys, and that for every vacancy there
are 20 applicants.
Supposing these two principles adoptedfor man-
ning the navy and for forming the reserve in lieu
of the inscription maritime, ballot, bounties, and
subsidies, let us see what proceedings would have
to be adopted to carry them out practically.
It would be necessary to establish in the prin-
cipal sea ports school ships capable of receiving ON
board the necessary number of naval apprentices
to undergo preparatory instruction during. two
years, and who should bind themselves to serve for
10 years in the navy after the expiration of their
apprenticeship. The number of boys proposed to be
entered annually at the age of 16 is 3,881, in order
to allow for mortality at the usual rate during that
period of life. It Cannot be considered that this
number would be an inconvenient abstraction from
the rising generation when it is remembered that
upwards of 335,000 male children, of whom more

than 21,000 are illegitimate, are born yearly in
England and Wales, without reference to Scotland
.9,nd Ireland. The entries of two years would
amennt to 7,762, who could be accommodated in 20
black ships of the Ajax class-388 boys to each,
and a craw of efficient seamen, officers, instructors;
and others, of 112, to make up the complement of
500 allowed by i,-I'e Admiralty regulations. There
are plenty of ships
ich had much better be ap-
plied to this purpose than to be left rotting in our
dockyards. While in the school-ships the boys
would be instructed .in the elements of ordinary
education, in addition to being taught to row, heave
the lead, box the compass, go aloft, reef, steer, and
work the guns. It is not expected they would be
proficient in these matters, but they would acquire
a certain amount of knowledge and practice in each
would render them far superior to the present class
of boys, and make them almost on a par, except in
regard to physical force, with the present run of
ordinary seamen. With due economy, and in the
absence of reformatory or prison luxuries, the boys
ought not to cost more than £l5 a-head. The total
cost of 7,762 naval apprentices would therefore be
£116,430.
After undergoing these two years' training the
boys would be draughted into her Majesty's ships,
under the title, perhaps, of first-class naval appren-
tices, and while there should be thoroughly taught
their duties as able-bodied seamen and gunners.
Here they would remain for three years, and at
the expiration of that period it may be'confidently
exported they would be thorough and efficient men-
of-war's men, if the officers did their duty. They
would not have that experience which can only be
obtained by long. acquaintance with the sea, but
that would come in good time. At 21 years of age,
then, the first-class naval apprentice takes rank as
an able-bodied seaman and seaman-gunner, in which
capacity he serves for ten years. The number of
first-class naval apprentices in the fleet would be
11,643, and their cost, at £2O a-head, would amount
to £232,860. The number that would annually go
out of this class and pass into that of able-bodied
seamen wonld be 3,7 so—the 3,000 serving to keep
up the full complement of 30,000 men who might
be ranked as passed, or second-class able-bodied
seamen, and the 750 would serve to fill up the death
vacancies caused in this body, always calculating
the rase of mortality at its maxiumum. There would
remain 10,000 more seamen to be obtained.
It is suggested that arrangements should be made
to induce passed seamen, at the end of their ten
years' service, to enter into the merchant service for
a certain definite period. That the men would be
eagerly sought after by shipowners, and be paid at
a higher rate of wages than ordinary merchant sea-
men, will be evident to any one who has perused
the evidence taken before the Royal Commission on
Harbours of Refuge. Mr. A. Gilmour, member of a
large shipping firm in Glasgow, and whose evi-
dence may be consulted with advantage on this
point, said (page,ll) that the fact of being able to
prove a seaman's identity would be of great advan-
tage to seamen and shipowners who were prepared
to pay an increased rate of wages to get well qualified
crews. Now, the men who temporarily left the
Royal navy would be provided with certificates
establishing their identity, and after 15 years' train-
ing they must be qualified. They would therefore
receive higher wages than merchant seamen gene-
rally. It may be taken that the number who, un-
der this system, would annually leave the Royal
navy for the merchant service would be nearly 3,000.
If they remained in the mercantile marine for 15
years, until they were 46 years of age, they would
accumulate into a force of at least 37,000 well
trained, seasoned, and experienced ablebodied sea-
men and seamen gunners, and constitute a reserve
without costing the State a penny. At the end of
15 years, it is suggested that the men should be in-
vited back again into the Royal navy, on condition
of their receiving an adequate pension at the ex-
piration of their new term of service for 10 years.
We may presume that the 3,000 passed seamen
who left the navy will have been reduced in the
merchant service by deatk, and having entered into
other occupations, to 1,700 men, who will be added
to the navy every year. By the end of the period
of teu years they will have accumulated to 17,000
men, of whom the younger portion to the number
of 10,000 would be draughted into the fleet, and the
remaining 7,00010 the Coastguard and Royal Naval
Coast Volunteers. By this means there would be
obtained on board her Majesty's fleet :
Veteran able-bodied seamen and seamen gunners,
from 46 to 56 years of age
First class or passed ablebodied seamen and seamen
gunners, from 21 to 31 years of age
First class naval apprentices, from 18 to 21 years of
age 11,643

30,000

Total effective naval force afloat 51,643
The reserve would consist of :
Veteran ablebodied seamen and seamen gunners,

from 46 to 56 years of age, in the Coastguard d and
Royal Naval Coast Volunteers
Ablebodied seamen and seamen gunners in the
merchant service, from 31 to 46 years of age 37,000

7,000

Total of. reserve ....

44,000

With 51,643 well trained bluejackets afloat, sup-
ported by 15,000 marines, or 66,000 men in all, the
" wooden walls of old England" would be better
manned than they have been hitherto, and our first
line of defence would not only be secure from sur-
prise but also from aggression, while the know-
ledge that England could, when necessary, send
forth 95,000 sailors besides her marines, or 110,000
sea warriors, better trained and no less brave than
those who fought under Nelson, to uphold the
honour of her flag on every sea, would give greater
weight to her voice of peace in the councils of Eu-
rope, and convince continental Powers of the folly
of attempting to compete with her upon the ocean.
Assuredly, with such an organisation, no one
would fear invasion, and it only remains to be
seen whether it can be accomplished without mate-
rially increasing the estimates. The present num-
ber of officers and men, without counting boys,
arid exclusive of the Coastguard and Naval Volun-
teers, is 34,542. The increase therefore to 40,000
men would, in reality, be no more than aji addition
of 5,542 men, who, at the average expense of
£56 12s. a-head, would cost the country £313,677.
The cost of the two classes of naval apprentices
would be £349,308, making the total cost to the
country of the suggested scheme £662,975. But
from this must be deducted the savings that would
accrue from adopting the proposed system. There
is the cost of 5,542 boys at present in the fleet, and
who, from being mixed up with the men, cost £2O
a-head.

The saving under this head would be..
Reduction of Coastguard, &c., from 9,000 to 7,000 161,769
Suppression of bounty money to volunteers 22,000
Abandonment of Lord C. Paget's scheme, esti-
mated to cost

200,000

Raising men, as by last year's estimate

4,374

Total economy by adopting the scheme 498,983
Total cast of carrying out the scheme

Net cost of the scheme

..£163,992

It is, therefore, for taxpayers to determine whe-
ther it is worth while to increase the estimates by
less than £170,000, in order to secure a regular sys-
tem for manning the navy in future, and to leaven
the mercantile marine with men-of-war's men, who
will in due time break down the prejudices of mer-
chant seamen against the Queen's service, and also
to have the power of manningthe fleets of England
with nearly 100,000 well-trained seamen and naval
artillerists whenever it may be necessary to do so.
It may be objected that the scheme could not
come into complete operation for the next 30 years,
but any regular organised system must necessarily
be of slow growth. The maritime inscription, al-
though dating more than half a century, has only
begun to show its utility within the last few years.
The entry of naval apprentices might begin at once,
and men who took their discharge without pensions
to go into the merchant service might be induced
to form the reserve by prospect of a Government
pension after a shorter term of service, at some
future time, so that by the end of the next 10 years
the plan might be got into working order and have
shown good fruits.—l am, sir, your obedient ser-
vant, AN ENGLISHMAN.