NEWS OF THE WEEK.
A/R. CARDWELL brought forward his measures for the Reor- rd. ganization of the Army on Thursday night, and they are wnexpectedly satisfactory. Purchase is finally abolished, the nation providing £8,000,000 to buy all commissions as they fall in, at their regulation and over-regulation value. The nation, in fact, will purchase as the junior officer would have done, subject only to this 'check, that the annual number of retirements must not exceed the average of the last few years. For the future, commissions will be granted only to three classes of persons—those who have won them by competitive examination, those who have served as subalterns in the Militia for two years, and deserving non-commissioned offi- cers. Promotion will up to the rank of Captain be regulated by seniority, above that grade by selection, administered under strict regulations by the Commander-in-Chief, who will still be a permanent official, but responsible to the Secretary at War, and working under the same roof with him. He also will, we imagine, grant all commissions in the Militia, the power of appointment being taken away from the Lords-Lieutenant of counties and .entrusted to the Queen. Means are also devised by which officers .of the Regular Army may hold commands in the Militia of the district in which their regiments recruit ; and finally, the two services are bound together by the appointment of a Staff Colonel to each sub-district, who will control all auxiliary forces, but obey the district General in command. The Regulars and Militia form, in fact, two branches of the same organization, and are supported by the Volunteers, who are to be placed under the same Staff Colonel, and to be tempted to make themselves more efficient, and to be brigaded occasionally with Regulars.
