ARMY REFORM.
A SENSE of delicacy may have prevented public men, while the trial by his Peers was banging over Lord CARDIGAN'S head, from . pushing the inquiries into the system of management pursued by the Horse Guards, which were suggested by the squabbles in the regiment under his Lordship's command. All hesitation on that score is now removed by the termination of the proceedings in the House of Lords. It will be a miserably lame and impotent con- clusion to the virtuous indignation stimulated to such a pitch by the Moselle bottle adventure, the Court-martial on Captain (Snooks) REYNOLDS, the conduct of the Horse Guards in con- nexion with those fracas, and lastly the duel with Captain HARVEY TUCKETT, if no attempt be made to secure more considerate and gentlemanly treatment of the officers of the Army by their supe- riors in command. The dignified disputes between the CARDIGANS and REYNOLDSES, about which such a racket has been made, are matters of wondrous little importance ; but the system of coterie influence and favouritism at head-quarters, accidentally revealed in the course of the discussions arising out of them, is mischievous in its tendency, and ought to be exposed and amended. One of the arguments, too, which were adduced in favour of Lord KEANE'S "pauper Peerage," shows the ne- cessity of reform in the Army. Sir ROBERT PEEL drew a pathetic picture of the poverty-stricken condition of high- grade officers since they have been prevented from enriching them- selves with plunder, and urged their inadequate pay as a reason for pensioning the about-to-be Lord KEANE'S son and grandson. Sir ROBERT further asserted, that an officer's pay ought to be regarded not so much in the light of remuneration for services, as of an annuity paid for in hard cash, inasmuch as officers purchase their commissions. Holding this opinion, perhaps Sir ROBERT may move in the House, that the purchase-money paid by Ex- Captain REYNOLDS for his commission be refunded to him, on the ground that the sentence of the Court-martial was only that he should be dismissed the service, not that he should be amerced in his property. But, seriously speaking, although Sir Ro- BERT PEEL'S suggestions in nowise palliate the unprincipled en- tailing of the support of two titled beggars upon our posterity, they furnish additional indications of the rotten system that pervades our Army. Parliament can serve the Army more effectu- ally than by quartering babies on the Treasury. If the services of our soldiers are inadequately remunerated, let a fair allowance be made to all, instead of showering wealth on the descendants of a favoured few : give commissions to men who are qualified to hold them, instead of selling them to any vain hankerer after a laced coat and epaulettes ; and enact such regulations as will enable gen- tlemen to bold a commission without serious risk of being subjected to insolence that no man worthy of the name could put up with.
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