The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times, commenting on the debate raised by Lord
Echo on our reserve forces, remarks that the case of a
man with a large establishment from which he gets but
little service is no unusual phenomenon in private life,
and ordinary readers will be apt to think from parlia-
mentary debates that something of the kind is experienced
by the nation in its military organisation. Yet things
are not really so bad as they seem, and if we investigate
closely the complaints made of the costliness and insuffi-
ciency of our land forces, we shall find that the remon-
strants desire not only to see our actual pretensions
realised, but also to realise something to which we do not
pretend. Lord Elcho, expressing opinions very commonly
entertained, proposed on Tuesday evening that a royal
commission should be appointed to inquire into the con-
dition and efficiency of our reserve forces, especially as
regarded the expansibility of these forces for the purposes
of home defence. In his argument he urged that, whereas
we voted 215,000,000 annall y for the maintenance of our
military establishments, we had very little to show for the
money. If we could put -10,000 regular troops in line at
home, that would be the outside of our capacity ; while as
to our reserve forces, they were in no condition to tyke
the field at such notice as an em-my might give us. All this
is perfectly true, and yet, as Lord Elcho acknowledged,
we not only vote large sums of money for the army,
buy obtain very large numbers of men in return.
The 215,000,000 is a nominal charge, liable, as Sir
John Takington once more showed, to a deduction of one-
third ; but for our outlay, whatever it may be, we actually
get upwards of half a million of men in the proportion of
200,000 regulars to 300,000 reserves. Now, considering
our insular position and our maritime power, is not that
force, if it were properly organised, sufficient for all pur-
poses, even when measured by a continental standard?
Allowing that the demands of foreign and colonial service
would leave us only 50,000 regular troops at home, would
not 120,000 militia and 100,000 volunteers bring the
whole force up to a satisfactory mark? Are not
300,000 reserves sufficient for the support of t')0,000 men
in the first line?

In an article on the same subject, the Pose observes
that although Lord Elcho failed to obtain a royal com-
mission, Le did good service by provoking the very in-
teresting discussion which ensued upon his motion, but
which, like all similar discussions on army subjects, was
of rather a discursive character. With regard to the
general question of the desirableness of commissions
and committees, there is some truth in the com-
plaint made by General Peel that there is rather
an undue tendency to throw upon such bodies
the responsibilities and functions properly apper-
taining to statesmen ; but at the same time it must
he confessed that this course becomes in a great measure
necessary from the system under which statesmen are ap-
pointed to the control of vast and complicated depart-
ments, with the working or details of which, or the naturo
and requirements of the services connected with them,
they may be profoundly ignorant ; and also from the pecu-
liarity of the present age of transition, in which it is
hardly possible for the head of a department to transact
his ordinary and routine business and also devote time to
the investigation of proposed changes in and modifications
of the existing arrangements.

The Standard says that it is perfectly true that our mili-
tary organisation is unsatisfactory, and our army of
reserve, as it is called, partakes very little of the character-
istics which are generally supposed to denote an army, as
distinct from a mere armed assemblage of men. Lord
Elcho has done good service in calling attention to this
matter, and although he has been unsuccessful in his
attempt to obtain a royal commission, be has elicited an
expression of opinion on the subject from many men of
note in Parliament. Indeed, we doubt if a royal com-
mission could do much good in such a question as this. It
is so large as to be beyond the cognisance of any body of
men short of her Majesty's Cabinet Ministers. Under a
new Parliament, and when vexatious questions of bounda-
ries, and personal rating, and Irish Church abolition have
been laid to rest, the Standard hopes to see the House of
Commons take up seriously a question second in import-
ance to none that has ever been brought to its notice.
The Herald notes that the curious who busy themselves
with diplomatic speculations have made much of the fact
that the Wurtemberg Minister is to accompany the King
to Ems, deducing from this circumstance some deep-laid
political scheme. But the most that can happen is the
ratifittit n on the part of this little kingdom of the south
of that closer alliance with Prussia which has already been
concluded by Hesse and Baden. It is so obviously to the
advantage of Germany to remain at peace with those who
have made up their minds that there must soon be another
great war in Europe are driven to search across the Rhine
for the needful assurance of such a deplorable catastrophe.
France is increasing her army and adding to its efficiency
in every way that earnestness and determination can suggest.
But, after all, what does this amount to? The army of
France will be a match for the army of North Germany.
The conscription and the expenses of the new armament
entail sacrifices on the people. But when they complain,
their Government tells them in plain words, " You must
either maintain your position as a leading nation in
Europe, or you must be content to subside into a Power
of the second rank, neither respected nor feared, but tole-
rated, like Spain or Belgium." This is the interpretation
put upon the Army Bill by the French Government,
French statesmen, and the organs of the Government in
the press.

The Daily News declares it can have no objection what-
ever to the mutual felicitations of Mr. Eyre and his
friends. The address presented to him in Walbrook was
a simple expression of the continued confidence of those
with and for whom he acted in the disastrous events which
have made his name notorious. That they and he shared
the panic which led to the massacres of that lamentable
time we have never for a moment doubted, and it is
quite natural that they should felicitate one another
on his escape from the legal penalties of their mutual
madness. But Mr. Eyre has up to the present
moment been wiser than his friends. During
the proceedings which have been taken against him, with
what he admits to have been pure and patriotic motives
on the part of some of his antagonists, Mr. Eyre has
imposed upon himself a proper reticence. This address
was prepared by his West Indian friends two years ago,
and is only now presented because he feels that as his
danger is past he is at liberty to speak. But we hope, for
his own sake, that Mr. Eyre will decline the persistent
attempts of foolish friends to make him a hero. In a
supreme crisis of his life he lost his presence of mind, and it
best becomes him to let the veil, of a kind oblivion fall over
his failings and himself.
The Telegraph, in an article on the abandonment of Mr
Bruce's Education Bill, laments that legislation on perhaps
the greatest question of the day is thus postponed for
another year ; but the time that has been devoted to the
discussion of the subject during the present session has
not been lost, and from the Reformed Parliament we shall
get a much larger measure for the education of the people
than we could have exacted from the present House.
Thanks, in great part, to the exertions of Mr. Bruce and
Mr. Forster, the country is now familiar with the
principles on which an adequate scheme for the elemen-
tary instruction of the people must be based. First,
we must continue the present system of State grants.
Secondly, wherever voluntary efforts fail to provide a
sufficient number of good schools, the parishioners must
have power to levy a rate for the purpose of supplying the
deficiency. In other words, the bill of the future must
perfect rather than supersede the existing system. One
of the great questions for the new Parliament will be,
whether the principle of the Factory Acts should be
extended, and every employer be prohibited from having
in his service any child who has not attended school for a
certain time, or who cannot pass an examination in the
rudiments of knowledge. Meanwhile, the education
societies throughout the country will see the necessity of
continuing their efforts to ascertain the facts of the case,
and to stir up the country on behalf of the benighted
poor. Lord Robert Montagu, no doubt, has sneered at
their efforts ; but Lord Robert will not be the Education
Minister of the future.

A magnificent sturgeon was caught in South-
ampton Water on Wednesday. It weighed about 1 cwt.
It was taken in a net, and was brought alive to a fish-
monger in the High-street.
An inquest has been held at Guy's Hospital
respecting the death of Joseph Richard Daniels, aged 16
years. The deceased was the son of a barge builder, living
at Rotherhithe. On Saturday he was in a small boat pro-
ceeding down the river, and when off Horselydown was
run into by a sailing barge, and the boat was capsized, and
whilst the deceased was in the water another barge came
into collision with the latter one, and deceased was caught
between the two. He was soon extricated, but expired
before he could be got ashore, his head having been crusheo.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

A in:RIC—At Manchester, on Tucsday, Mahomed
Denana, a Turk, was summoned for threatening the life
of Mr. Israel Leon, in the Market-street. The plaintiff
sAid he Lad recently visited the Continent fur the purpose
of ascertaining some particulars relating to the commercial
position of the defendant, and when 'be got back the de-
fendant sought every possible opportunity of abusing him
in Arabic and Spanish, in return for thenlleged injurious
report he had made of his mission. In rsply to the
stipendiary magistrate the plaintiff now swore he went in
fear of his life. Mr. Fowler, by the aid of an interpreter,
explained to the defendant that Turkish gentlemen are
net permitted in Manchester to terrify other gentlemen by
swearing at them, and made an order for the clefuldaut to
150,1nd oYer to keep the peacc