The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-05-15
= EkdL1Np AND TIE CONTINENTAL Til REAr-
ENINus.-Much apprehension hns been

Il = EkdL4Np AND TIE CONTINENTAL TH REAr-
lENINds.v Much apprehension has been
laxpyessed By some English ciyilians MS
- - fe II aety:of their little island, in view
Inf athe ffhreatening aspect of affairs on
the .cen Anent. The principal relinnce Of
l9agland against foreign invasion, has al
ysays been her navy, but the question is
now started, what might happen if, in
consequence of some untoward event, the
navy should fail to dispersc hostile
fleet OF transports and the enemy obtain
q foothold? We have not vet seen the
'untowurd event" definitely described,
so rs to understand what it wnS likely to
be- II the British fleets were to be dis
persed by grent storm, it would seem
probable That the enemy would suffer
correspondingly from the same cause
Or If they were able to make landing
before the British squadron could be got
together, and could then effect the Oft
times threatened sack of London" is it
| reasonable to suppose TINT tho British
fleets could not be concentrated soon
enough to prevent them ever getting ont
again? However, it appears that the ap-
prchenslons on this subject nrc not COM
fined to civilians, but even military men
profess 10 he disturbed on the subject
prize has been offered by the Royal
United Service Institute for the best
essay on Recruitment of the Army"
The successfulcompetitor for this reward
Is Captain Himc, II. A.. whose treatment
OF the subject attracts some attention in
recent English journals. This writer
considers what means England has at
hand to prevent march into the into
rlor, provided IN enemy could land upon,
the coast. He finds that the defence
must rest upon the two arms of the land
seryice-the regular army and the volun-
teers. As to the volunteers, Capt. Himc
makes no effort to conceal his contempt
for them. "All we gain by supporting
| them, he cxclaims, lis qualification of
our national vanity" He is inclined to
agree with an Austrian military critic,
that they are "a harmless Joke"
Such was the opinion that many rog,,-
lar officers of the United States enter
| tanned of American volunteers before the
late civil war. We have not heard of one
of them who held on to that Sclt-com-
placent notion after the first battle that
| occurred. From Manassas to Apo
mnttox the long and fierce struggle was
mainly fought by volunteers. acquiring
from practice the discipline of veterans,
as volunteers of any other country would
do under like circumstance. Not sntis-
tied with giving utternnccs to his pro-
fessional prejudices against amateur
| fighters, Captain Hime seems to be nj
most equally dissatisfied with the rcgu-
lar army. Numerous medical muthori-
ties nre cited to prove this, and lie gives
rs reason for it that recruits are now
drawn from the unemployed hands of
the lnrger towns, not from the hardy
peasant class. Capt. Hime reviews the
various devices rcsorted to by the Govern
tn "a Il
notwithstanding the offer Of better pny
and food, bounties and pensions, the
result has not been what is desired.
But, unsatisfactory rs il is, the author
reaches the ''stern fact" TINT the safety
of the British Isles Mt this time is stnked
upon this standing army Of less thun
CO. 900 men,
How, then, is England to be saved:
10 this momentous question, the critic
answers, "by universal conscription. "
The method of warfare hns been changed.
The struggle has been transferred from
standing armies to armed populations
Germany is n camp. England must be,
IN modified sense, perhaps, Il camp
The author quotes from Professor Cairns
the remark, that until we recognize this
fnct, our position cannot be otherwise
than precarous. Voluntary cnlistments
49, A%hSihia navy iCNeI DccU cllCctuul,
and nre now breaking down. Whenever
the country has been engaged in war
of any magnitude, compulsion under
one form or another has been resortcd to,
''eked out" adds Captain Hime, .'by
pot-house frauds, to which the wilv
rustic is now proof, and by bountics
which to-day would be imprncticable.
If resort to the Prussinn military.
system of forced service is the ONLY hone
OF England for defence against foreign
invasion, it is poor dependence. 1t is
contrary to the genius and spirit of n
free people. and would justly be re-
gardcd by them as Mt best choice of
evils by putting domestic masters over
them To save them from foreign ones
The navy of England is organized on =
scale which Is expressly intended to
mike 1t adequate to encounter for de-
fensivc purposes, not the naval power of
one country only, but of the combined
world 1t has always been it is in the
days of Bismarck as it was in the davs
of the Spanish Armada and of the irst
Napoleon. and rs it always will the
main dependence Of the empire. Even
rs to the army. when Captain Hime
makes the startling assertion that 1.-The
physical stamina of the British soldier is
no longer whnt it was." he must expect
the world to forget what was accom-
plished by British soldiers in the Indian
mutiny, in Abyssinin, and the wonder
ful spectacle of self-devotion which was
exhibited by mere recruits on the British
ekn i'll ,1.~