HOW TO GROW AN ENGLISH ARMY.
IF "Jacob Omnium " wants to complete the good service that he has rendered to the country by compelling public and therefore official attention to practical improvements in the Army, he will let some popular constituency place him in Parliament, as the F.nglishman who has proved his capacity to speak best on military subjects for the civil part of the community. It is a bad conse- quence of a system which renders soldiering an exclusively profes- tional business that it makes a trade and mystery of military affairs, and weakens public opinion by depriving it of sound in- formation. Most military authorities are mixed up with the trade : most • civilians who meddle with military matters expose their ignorance, and are at the mercy of their inferiors possessing a technical terminology. Jacob Omnium has contrived to acquire -and to evince a real knowledge of military matters, with a power- ful good sense ; and he has avoided professional cant. He has constantly spoken in "multi "—for the public, and not for the profession. It would be one result of a better system both of organization and of edilcating our soldiers, that a sounder information would come to the public ; and a more extended knowledge of military matters in the public would necessarily compel a corresponding elevation of intelligence and training in the soldiers. The whole matter is fairly before the public, and Parliament will hear of it in the session. The very experience of Militia business has multiplied the number of free-born English- men' that now have a personal interest and an acquired knowledge on the subject, and who bow how to connect objects with political objects. The relation of mili industrial labours has not been overlooked ; and the able pamph- let by Mr. Cliff° Leslie, the Professor of Political Economy at Belfast, would alone prove that civilians are actively engaged. Mr. Leslie's object is to show how an army which would be ade- quate to the dignity and requirements of the nation could be ob- tained as readily as our old Kings obtained armies to fight at Crecy and Poietiers. There are three ways of raising armies,— by conscription, as in France, dragging into the ranks all who cannot pay heavily to be exempted ; by enforcing a temporary service for all citizens whatsoever, as in Prussia, leaving the retired soldiers to form the reserve • or by volun- tary enlistment, tia in this country. Mr. Leslie argues vigorously against both the Continental plans, as interfe- ring with the free choice of a vocation, and interrupting,the industrial business of the country. It was, he believes, some
like voluntary enlistment which got us our victorious armies. Edward the Third and his successors in their long contentions with France, says Hallam, resorted to the plan of recruiting by
contract with men of high rank or military estimation. The pay of soldiers specified in those contracts was extremely high ; it pur- chased the service of a brave and vigorous yeomanry—a picked 'force, -which was able to encounter in the-field far more than its numbers when the larger numbers were indiscriminately collected and driven to the attack. There is probably some force in this ; although alto we cannot but suppose that the local interest of the lord, the dependence of the yeoman, and a certain superstitious obedience, operated as well as pay in calling men to the rtuiks. But pay unquestionably is the grand attraction of the present day ; and we have so far anticipated one principle 'of Mr. Leslie's propo- sition that it commands our complete acquiescence. "Nothing sells so dearly," says Senior in his treatise on Political Economy, "as what is disposed of in a well-constructed lottery." Thou- sands enter the Church, for all its poor pay, dazaled by the at- tractions of English bishoprics, whose aggregate revenues are but 150,000t. a year-151. a piece if divided amongst all the livings. Divide the bishoprics, and how many would enter the Church? Divide the aggregate earnings of all leading men at the bar, and how many would seek to be called " ? Place high pay, emolu- ments, honours, within reach of the private soldier, by a path which he can clearly see before him, open to competition, and numbers will voluntarily supply the adventurous energetic men who will make the best soldiers and the cheapest, because they can do the largest amount of work at a given cost. Still this would recruit principally the standing army—" the King's Guard " ; leaving a militia to be provided for, and not sup- plying that link with military business which the manhood of a nation ought to have. We agree with Mr. Leslie in thinking it undesirable that the whole population of the country should be forced to drill, as in Prussia. In America they avoid the difficulty very much, by forbearing, to enforce the enrolment, and by per- mitting volunteer companies to be substituted for the ordinary militia, so that .persons in business can accommodate their drill to their habits of life. Something of the same forbearance might be systematized here, if all men were liable to the militia, but were exempt on payment of a very moderate fine, simply as a check upon wanton avoidance. The proceeds of the fine would be a means of improving the organization of the militia itself, or of sup- plying education. For a large proportion of the manhood to have some ac- quaintance with military training, is certainly an advantage, which might be extended in a very simple and convenient form. There is a school in Brentwood for children of a humble class belonging to the parish of Shorediteh, in which the discipline, movements, and much of the training, are military; as in the case of Mettray. Neither at Mettray nor at Brentwood does this degree of military discipline impede the business of the school. Positively the reverse : the discipline of the school is more exact and smooth in consequence. We are establishing Reformatories ; it is tolerably certain that a system of Na- tional Schools will sooner or later extend from Ireland to England ; many private schools are inclined to copy the official model ; and there is no reason why a certain preliminary military training, and in higher schools even an education in military science, should not lay the basis, both for efficient service in those who might select the military profession, and for• a more practical turn of public opinion on the subject. Raise the level of military knowledge in the general-body of schools, and the military schools may be raised to a still higher level ; raise the level of information and technical knowledge in the adult population, and public opinion would be able to exercise a dear criticism, a more powerful influence, on the army ; which, to maintain its position, must necessarily elevate its own knowledge, training, and conduct, to a still higher level. Already the public is decidedly improving in this direction. There is a wholesome sense that the arrogance of Russia, and the backwardness of some of our so-called allies on the Continent, have been encouraged by the supposed disappearance of military intelligence and feeling in Great Britain., The feeling has been revived, and the demand for education in military affairs has set in. The correspondence of all the journals shows that the stir which has been going forward for some time is not on the decline ; and Parliament will hear of the question. But it would be very desirable if a specific and practical direction were given to the debates. We cannot imagine a shorter cut to that desirable' direction, than the entrance of a man like "Jacob Omnium" into the louse of Commons.
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