The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-22 00:00:00

THE HARVEY BIRCH.

" On Tuesday morning, at 9 a.m., about 40 miles
off Cape Clear, the steamer Nashville came along-
side the Harvey Birch, Captain Nelson, from Havre
in ballast, bound to New York; he ordered us to
haul our flag down, the United States colour, and
the captain to come on board. The captain went on
board, and remained about 15 minutes ; he then re-
turned to his ship and gave James Stewart, second
officer of the ship, orders to tell the crew to pack.
their things up and bring them to the gangway
(bags only) with the exception of the officers who
were allowed to bring their chests.
4; 11 A I‘l.—The crew left their ship and went on
board the Nashville. The lieutenant of the Nash-
ville, with his crew, went on board the Harvey
Birch, and set her on fire.
" 6.30 r.M.—I saw the masts go over the side.
The Nashville then proceeded to Southampton to
land the crew of the Harvey Birch.
(Signed)
"JAMES STEWART, Second Officer."

THE SOLDIERS' INSTITUTE AT

CHATHAM.

Fortunately for the British soldier, the popular
estimate of the military profession has been very
much changed since the time when Alderman
Smuggler proposed to celebrate the disbanding of
a regiment by " a bonfire as high as the Monu-
ment." Standing armies have long since ceased to
be a theme for patriotic declaimers, and the soldier
is no longer regarded as a necessary nuisance to be
retained with as little cost as possible, and to be
thrown aside without mercy when the emergency
has passed. Of late years, particularly since the
Crimean war, the public have shown a keen inte-
rest in all military subjects, and no War Minister
has had to complain of opposition or lukewarmness
when he has had a project to submit to further the
efficiency of the service or the well-being of the sol-
dier. Army reform has taken a first place among
the questions of the day, and under the judicious
guidance of men like the late Lord Herbert im-
provements have been effected in the condition of
the soldier which the prejudices of a past genera-
tion would have made impossible, and at which, it
is said, officers of the old school of stocks and pipe-
clay still shake their heads incredulously. But,
though much has been done, very much more still
remains to be done, not only to make the army
popular and to bring into it a better class of re-
cruits, but also by increasing the comforts and ad-
vantages of the soldier's life to raise its morale and
to make its government easier. The establishment
of schools and libraries was undoubtedly a step in
the right direction, but they have not been com-
pletely successful in dealing with the evils which
they were meant to meet. The great vice of the
British army—that which is the fruitful parent of
all other shortcomings and offences—is undoubtedly
drunkenness. The canteen and the public-house
lead to the vast majority of breaches of discipline,
and consequent punishments, and how many men
are ruined by them morally and physically com-
manding officers and medical officers alone could

tell. Yet those who have :put their heads into a
barrack-room will hardly be so surprised at the
prevalence of the vice. A long, low, whitewashed,
bare-looking barn, with a scanty fire at one end,
lighted by one solitary gas burner, the sides lined
with turned-up bedsteads and a table running
down the middle, on which is huddled together a
confused heap of blacking brushes, bread, pipeclay,
tobacco, tea, potatoes, salt, &c., is not the pleasant-
est place to spend a leisure hour in. It is about the
last spot where anything like comfort is to be
found, and it is scarcely to be wondered at if the
soldier yields at times to the superior attractions of
the well-lighted, well-warmed taproom which the
neighbouring publican is very careful to provide
for him. As in other walks of life, a cheerless
home is the publican's best friend. Again, when
ho has got well through his drills, the soldier has.
much spare time on his hands, and the want of
suitable mental or physical employment naturally
brings on a sort of ennui which he has no means of
dissipating but at the same place. It is scarcely
possible to increase his monotonous military duties
without wearying and disgusting him, and, though
some army reformers propose to set him to work at
various industrial occupations, there does not seem
much prospect of that project being seriously taken
up at present. Everything combines to lead him
or drive him to dissipation, and the real wonder is,
not that so many yield to it, but that so many resist
the temptation. The necessity of providing the
soldier with some means of amusing or employing
himself when off duty has long been urged by those
who take an interest in his welfare, and who best
know his habits. The Barrack Committee of 1854
strongly recommended some reform in this respect,
and, though Lord Herbert's Sanitary Commission
did not formally consider the subject, the witnesses
examined before it were pretty nearly unanimous
as to the evils of the present state of things. After
standing the usual ten years' siege, the War-office
is beginning to apprehend that there miy bo some-

thing in the idea, after all. Facilities have been
given for opening reading rooms in various barracks,
which, though na great things, are still an improve-
ment on the ordinary barrack-room ; hero and

there skittle-alleys and fives-cou its have been
built, and the departmental mind, though it still
hesitates to commit itself to anything like a general
change, clearly perceives that it is not altogether
creditable to the various parties concerned that the
British soldier should be cared for something worse
than a convict, and a great deal worse than a pauper.
The energy and liberality, however, of a few private
persons is just about to be put into practice at Chat-
ham an experiment which it is hoped will prove a
stronger riyttl to the taycnis Hnd ether uumentiou-

able temptations to debauchery in which a garrison
town abounds than any influence which has yet
been tried. In the north-west corner of the Chat-
ham barracks fronting to the road leading from the
Engineer barracks, and overlooking the dockyard,
there is rapidly approaching completion a hand-
some building which, under the name cf the Soldiers'
Institute, is intended to afford the soldier the means
of harmless recreation, which at present are almost
entirely wanting in the station. It is, in fact, to be
the Soldiers' Clubhouse where he will meet his
comrades, smoke his pipe, drink Lis cup of coffee,
and take his ease generally, without restraint or
interference, just as his officers do at the United
Service or the Army and Navy. It consists of two
stories, and will afford accommodation for pretty
nearly 1,000 men. The ground floor is divided into
two spacious coffer-rooms, divided by a bar, at which
tea, coffee, cold meats, bread and butter, and eggs,
may be obtained at cost price. They will be well
furnished with comfortable chairs and settees, and
a plentiful supply of little marble-topped tables,
such as we see in French cafes or eseaminets. In
one room there will be a supply of newspapers and
popular periodicals, and in the other there will be
chess, backgammon, and solitaire boards, bagatelle
and German billiard tables, with other games ; and
the men will be well warmed, ventilated, and

lighted. A portion of the upper floor will be occu-
pied by the barrack library, consisting of 4,000
volumes, which is to be moved into it from its present
quarters; and on the other side is the lecture theatre
—a very handsome room, some 26 feet high, and
brilliantly lighted with star pendants, after the
fashion of St. James's-hall. Some 600 men may be
accommodated in it. This is to be used principally for
evening classes, for instruction in singing, draw-
ing, Hindustani, &c., but occasionally lectures will
be delivered by the officers and men, or by lecturers
specially engaged if the funds are forthcoming; and
by an ingenious arrangement the tables are so con-
trived that they back together, and form a conve-
nient platform for the lecturer, or a stage for private
theatricals when there may be a sufficient supply
of dramatic talent in the garrison. The room is not
yet finished, but it is to be very handsomely deco-
rated. On panels round the walls will be inscribed
the names of the principal victories in the Penin-
sular, Indian, and Crimean Wars, and under each in
their proper order will be ranged the busts of the
victorious generals. Quarters for the librarian are
provided on the ground floor. Some objection has
been taken to the building as being too highly
ornamented ; but here we think the Building Com-
mittee have shown their knowledge of the soldiers'
ways of thinking. It is always the most splendid
and the best fitted gin palace which attracts him the
readiest, and he will take all the more pride in his
club-house for its not being a mere long, low, cor-
rugated iron excrescence, little differing in outward
appearance from the shed in which the Armstrongs
are housed in the neighbouring barracks. Next to

the Convicts' Prison it is about the handsomest
building of which Chatham can boast. Close by, a
large American bowling alley is pretty nearly
finished; two fives-courts are already in use, and
there is room in the corner for a spacious skittle-
alley, which appears to be the game most affected
by the men. All these will be covered in and
lighted with gas, so as to be available for all times
and weathers. Plans have been made for a large
gymnasium, which it is hoped the War Depart-
ment will take in hand; and certainly everything
which tends to increase the muscular strength and
activity of their men is a matter of which the Go-
vernment alone ought to bear the cost. To this
building, with all its advantages, every man in the
garrison will be admitted on the payment of a sub-
scription of a penny per week, of which a penny per
month will be payable to Government for the use of
the library. There are about 8,000 men in garrison,
including the Marines, and it is hoped that this small
subscription will be sufficient to make the institu-
tion self-supporting. It is placed in such a position
that no man can get from any of the barracks into
the town of Chatham without passing by its doors.
It will be open at 7 o'clock in the morning, so that
a man may get his cup of coffee the first thing on
turning out, instead of the dram of spirits with
which too many old soldiers have the habit of stay-
ing themselves till breakfast time. As to the time
of closing, that at present is not settled, but it is
hoped that permission will be obtained to keep it
open till half-past 10 o'clock. The men feel that
they are treated like children when they are sent
to bed at. half-past 8 in winter and 9 o'clock in sum-
mer, and if they are spending their evenings at the
club, instead of at the public-house or low dancing
saloon, there is no reason why the present severe
rule should be retained. The government of the in-
stitute will be vested in a sub-committee of non-
commissioned officers and privates, controlled and
superintended by a committee of officers. It has
been wisely determined not to attempt anything in
the way of religious instruction. The first object is
to provide harmless recreation, and in all proba-
bility if the men felt that they were being entrapped
into anything beyond that, the doors would stand
open in vain. The less interference on the part of
the officers the better, for the experiment can hardly
hope to be successful unless the men feel themselves
perfectly at their ease and free from all surveillance.
This idea of soldiers' clubs was one in which the

late Lord Herbert took a great interest, and one of
almost his latest acts was to appoint a committee of
officers to inquire into the whole subject of the
means of recreation provided for the soldier. Their
report has just been made, and is highly favourable
to these institutions provided they be accompanied
with due precautions for the maintenance of dis-
cipline. The committee circulated queries to 144
commanding officers and others, and the proposal
appears to have met with very general approval
from those primarily responsible for the discipline
and good conduct of the men. At a few stations
they have already been tried on a small scale, and
the reports from them are most encouraging. Without
exception, they appear to have improved the sol-
dier's habits and diminished crime ; and in every
case the men have shown themselves eager to profit
by the comforts and advantages held out to them.
At Gibraltar the effect of opening three small homes
in different parts of the garrison is reported to have
been the closing of several of the largest and most
objectionable publichouses in the town, and at every
station where even the smallest attempt has been
made to keep the men out of mischief it has to a
great extent succeeded. It was but the other day
that the depot of the 83d Regiment, 100 strong,
marched into Chatham Barracks, and when they
were told that they could have a spare barrackroom
for a readingroom if they choose, every man of them,
except three, put down his 3d. a week, and they
have for it a little room, where a score of them at a
time may read their papers, smoke their pipes, play
at draughts, or write their letters at comparative
ease and freedom. The committee, with characte-
ristic caution, though the evidence is unani-
mously in their favour, decline to recommend to the
War Department anything like a general and official
sanction of this scheme for soldiers' clubs until they
have been fairly tried at Chatham and at Aldershot,
where they propose the Government shall establish
one at once at their own cost. Certainly no better
place could be chosen for the experiment than
Chatham. The greater part of the garrison consists
of young recruits, who are sent there to learn their
drill before being draughted off to join regiments in
all parts of the world. They are peculiarly liable
to temptation, and they are just the class of men
whom it is of the most importance to save before
they become confirmed mauvais sujets. Not to be
more explicit, a walk through Chatham streets, and
a reference to the medical statistics
of the garrison,
will indicate the magnitude of the evil to be dealt
with, and the crying necessity for some counter
attraction to these debasing influences. It is very
pos§ible that the Soldieis' Institute may not be able
to cope with complete success against the panderers
who dog his steps in every street ; indeed the com-

liberal subscription is looked for from the Admiralty.
With these exceptions, the remainder of the cost
will be raised by private subscription. Miss
Nightingale, always the zealous and enlightened
friend of the soldier, has contributed .£75; The
officers of the 2d Depot Battalion and the medical
officers at Fort Pitt have subscribed about £lOO
between them. Speaking generally, the greatest
liberality has been shown by all connected with the
garrison. Still there remains at least £l,OOO to be
provided, and the building committee are appealing
now to the public to make up the deficiency. No
plan has been submitted for the improvement of the
soldier's condition which more deserves public sup-
port. The evils to be remedied are patent to any-
body who will be at the trouble to look for them;
and the men have in every case shown a remark-
able readiness to avail themselves of every means of
escaping from them. In an economical point of
view, they have everything to recommend them.
Military prisons and hospitals aro costly affairs,
and the evils which lead to crime and disease may
clearly be traced, in a great degree, to the want of
suitable physical and mental employment of the
men when off duty. Every year since the introduc-
tion of the 10-year service system, a large body of
men is being draughted into civil life, and it is of
the greatest importance that these men, when they
leave the military profession, should have acquired
those qualities which will fit them to make
useful members of civil society. Such institu-
tions, by making men comfortable and con-

vented, improved in morals, and increasing

their tastes for rational and harmless amuse-
ments, must prevent desertion, and in time facilitate
recruiting, and attract that higher class of rectftits
whom we have long been endeavouring, but in vain,
to bring under our standards. Of the ultim4e.
success of the Chatham Institute we entertain not
the slightest doubt, and we hope before long to see
one on its model at full work at every station of
the British army.