29 MARCH 1856, Page 13

SCHOOL FOR GROWN CHILDREN.

TILE Daily News suggests the establishment or rather the con- tinuance of a public school. Peace being concluded, the Militia are no longer wanted. It is absurd to suppose that they will be disembodied at once, ipso facto, by the proclamation of peace ; but the disembodiment will take place gradually, and fifty thousand men will be released from military service for recruiting the forces of industry. They have, as our utilitarian contemporary remarks, acquired under drill the habit of subordination and regularity, quickness of thought as well as mechanical aptitude, a knowledge of cleanliness, attention to dress—in short, a practical education, which renders them "more intelligent and efficient citizens as well as more productive labourers." They are not at all to be feared as recruits for the industrial classes.

Mr. Gladstone remarks, that another war must not find us un- prepared to meet it : we have already shown that simple reduction of our forces will not satisfy his requirements, and a reorgani- zation is wanted. We must keep up a machinery for supplying trained soldiers on demand, although we did not require to main- tain a large standing army. The Militia is such a training-force. Our morning contemporary says that it is a training-school for working men. To maintain the Militia, therefore, would be to maintain a school of practical education for intelligent and efficient citizens.