THE SOLDIER AND HIS OFFICIAL STEPFATHERS. SOME few months since
we had a series of papers on the condition of the soldier. We proceeded mainly, though by no means ex- clusively, on the Report of the Royal Commission ; and we then took occasion to show that the Army is costly in money and in men from causes that might easily be prevented. We main- tain a men, force with a small amount of result, collecting im- mense sums of money and enlisting large numbers of men, with- out securing the men and therefore wasting the money. We enlist the men in such a manner that they take the bounty to desert ; we store them up in such way that their health is im- paired, and they become damaged instruments of warfare ; and we studiously keep them in a state of unpreparedness for active service. More recent inquiries illustrate afresh the causes which lead to these results, and we find with great regret that the prin- cipal causes remain unaltered ; the proper reform not initiated, probably not contemplated.
In that series of papers we showed by various tests that the mortality of the Army in England and Wales greatly exceeds the ratio which ought to prevail for the adult male population. Mr.
Neison, the eminent ac. tuary, has prepared a very elaborate sta. Ustical paper establishing the same results by figures which are
unerring in their tests. The military are free from the noxio i us nfluences peculiar to many trades and occupations. There is no
necessity for them to suffer through such injurious elements as those taken in by the people in lead and vitriol works. They do not suffer from destitution. There is not amongst them the al- most insane determination to intemperance which prevails ia some trades, while there is the opportunity of counteracting that tendency. They ought to be better fed, better clothed, better lodged, -better defended against casualties of every kind than the or labour in the rural districts. The rate of mortality in the London Fire Brigade, in the Metropolitan Police Force, and among railway servants, who are all exposed to severe night work, is rather less than the corresponding average for the whole country. Night duty, therefore, is not the essential cause of the high rate of mortality in the army, which is nearly three times greater than the average amongst rural labourers, and much more than twice the average amongst out-door °occupations generally. Mr. Nelson controverts, and it would appear for the time suc- cessfully controverts, the conclusion of the Commissioners that the enormous mortality from consumption, which is the great scourge of the Army, is ascribable to overcrowding in barracks. In other eases of overcrowding, the deaths are brought about by came other than consumption. The tendency of Mr. Nelson's whale paper is to show that our soldiers die of a decline of life partly brought on through exposure to great changes, but mainly through the severe exposure to temptation in various forms, coupled with the absence of any proper counteracting influence in the shape of healthy excitement, varied occupation, or disciplined conduct.
We turn to ask how it is that the business of collecting an Army and of keeping it in an efficient state, for which the country pays such enormous sums of money, lapses into inefficiency se lamentable ? Although the Weedon inquiry turns only upon a part of the business, it explains our own interpretation of the great over- ruling cause. The disclosures are very curious. We and a gen- tleman appointed to be Chief Military Storekeeper at the depot, and Mr. Elliott so manages his duties that boots are missed;
stores that are condemned and sent away are brought back again; and Weedon becomes an example of a house without a master. The Government takes security for Mr. Elliott to the amount of 2000/., and when he goes away he is a defaulter to the amount of 23001. Mr. Dalhousie Ramsay is promoted to a high post in the same department, and assists in bringing about the results we have described. As many as 20,000 pairs of boots which had been sent from the Tower having been bought for 88. a pair, are condemned as unfit for issue to the troops, are sold to Mr. Levy at 58. 5d., by him sold to Militia Colonels, and issued for the Militia. Cloth tendered by Mr. Levi is rejected, sold by him to Mr. Gilpin, made up into trousers, and the trousers are passed. From the results we might almost describe Weedon as a place for securing the supply of unfit clothing to the troops : de- fective skins are furnished for the saddles, improper shoes are furnished for the soldiers, shoddy cloth is made up into clothing for the men ; and at every turn in the transaction the public pays some money which goes into the hands of defaulting clerks or of sharp contractors. Now, each one of these failures is awn. bable to a grand cause : it is, that the persons engaged are not thinking of the main, ultimate, and practical object in view. If, for ex- ample, the purpose is to place a good. coat, trousers, and shoes, upon the soldier's body, in order to preserve his comfort and health, that object is entirely lost in some purely collateral and strictly speaking impertinent object. The Inspecting Officer at Weedon, who is in some cases left without instructions, has .for his object simply to draw his own salary and perform the routine of duty in a manner to justify that operation. A contractor has not to clothe the soldier in a substantial way, so as to justify the conscience of an Englishman, but to " pass " a given number of trousers or boots at Weedon,—a perfectly different object. In every case the object is the mechanical compliance with some set rule, which has no reference to the conscientious service demand- ed by the country. An official department appears to be nothing more than a perfunctory phantom, in the place of a real depart- ment to do substantial duty; and the result is, that when we pay 20,000,0001., to purchse an Army properly equipped, clothed, drilled, and officered, we realize a crowd of men somewhat short of the number, eaten up with consumption, coloured with a given amount of shoddy cloth, and officered by gentlemen who have purchased their commissions, and would think it vulgar to know so much of their business as professional men are bound to do.
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