got over under twelve months, nor be prolonged under any circumstances beyond two years. They, like the officers of cavalry and infantry, should join their corps with rank confirmed and dated back one year from their passing out of the practical school; individuals to be placed according to their reputation in the school of instruction.

In the scientific corps, further examinations for promotion will scarcely be required, because only men of studious habits and inquiring minds will make choice of these corps. Still, as an additional inducement to professional study, the staff school, hereafter to be described, ought to be open to officers of engineers and of artillery as well as to officers of the line, provided they prove their ability to profit by it before competent examiners.

Meanwhile, in order that officers of infantry and cavalry may be enabled to study the theory of their profession, there should be established at some convenient spot in each general's command throughout the empire a school of instruction, at the head of which should be an accomplished and scientific officer, having a teacher or teachers of modern languages under him.

The course at all these schools should be the same, embracing the whole Art of War, Military History, Military Geography, Strategy, Tactics, Surveying, Fortification in all its branches, Outpost and Patrol Duty, Gunnery, Pyrotechnics, the Construction of Arms, Road-making, Bridge-making, Mechanics, Farriery, &c. &c., and the French and German languages.

No officer should be allowed to attend one of these schools till he had acquired a thorough knowledge of his drill and regimental duties. When such knowledge has been acquired, one-third of the subalterns from every corps within the command may have the option of attending in rotation, the seniors of course going first. A Board of Commissioners should sit in London, by whom examination papers should be prepared, and sent, under sealed cover, at the end of every half-year to the general of each district. Having received these, the general should give notice to the officer of instruction, who on an appointed day should collect such officers as are willing to compete for certificates of competency, and supplying them only with pens, ink, and paper, should cause them in his presence, and in the presence of another field officer, appointed by the general, to answer the Commissioner's questions. The answers should be signed in cypher only, and sent back thus to the Commissioners, while the keys to the cyphers are transmitted

to the Minister of War. The Commissioners should examine the papers so sent in, affixing marks to each, and then transmit them in entire ignorance of their authorship to the War Minister. The latter would thus be able with the utmost impartiality to say who had qualified for promotion, and who had not.

There should be two examinations, one for a lieutenancy, the other for a captaincy; and to such as had passed both in the first and second classes-giving, of course, the preference to those of the first class-the staff school should be open.

In the staff school planted where the senior department of Sandhurst now is, the course ought to be chiefly practical. All the means of applying to use the theoretical knowledge which had been acquired in the district schools of instruction should be there in abundance, with the best masters which Europe or the world can furnish; and there should be added masters of Oriental languages, with facilities for studying the sciences, as well natural history, &c., as those which are specially applicable to purposes of war.

There should be a severe examination on every military subject previously to admission to this school; to which, if so disposed, officers of engineers and artillery might in due proportion submit, and certificates of merit, marking the special excellences of each officer, should be awarded when the course came to a close.

The staff of the army in all its branches, from the quartermaster-general's appointment down to the post of aide-de-camp, ought to be open only to officers certificated from this school. But in order to keep up the excitement of study throughout the army, as well as to hinder these scientific officers from losing the habit of command, none should be allowed, except in the field before the enemy, to hold a staff appointment for more than five consecutive years.†

Each officer should return also to his regiment on promotion;

It is no valid objection to the district school system to say that the plan could not be worked out in the Colonies and in India. Postal communication is now so rapid and so direct with all parts of the world, that to ensure the arrival of a set of questions at Umballah in April, no more would be required than that the packet should be posted in London on the 1st of January.

†The arrangements here proposed apply, of course, only to times of peace. The schools will thus provide, at least, educated officers for staff employment, both at home and on the commencement of a war. But in the field native talent will always command attention, and the thoroughly good practical soldier be placed in the situations. which he has shown himself best qualified to hold.

and though eligible to reappointment at some future time, should serve at least three years in his new rank, or with his original rank in his corps, ere again placed on the staff. The advantages of this scheme are its exceeding simplicity, so far as the preparations for a first commission are concerned, and the small cost which would be incurred in its adoption by the public. Its disadvantages are, that you must accept the evidences of a previous education on almost any subjects which the candidates for commissions may take up; and though you will, of course, require a certificate of good character from the minister on whom the youth has attended, your knowledge of his specialties will of necessity be less perfect than if he came to you from a seminary well regulated and under your own official control.

2. Reserving in every event the constitution of the staff and district schools as here described, the second course open to her Majesty's Government is to amalgamate the three schools of Carshalton, the Woolwich Academy, and the Royal Military College, junior department, at Sandhurst; and to establish in their room a common school through which all young gentlemen intended for the military service of the country, must pass.

There will be no difficulty in striking a sufficiently accurate average of the number of second-lieutenants, cornets, and ensigns that are likely to be required year by year in time of peace. In time of war, that is, of course, impossible. But if you fix your establishment upon the former model, and make your building capable of enlargement, it will be easy enough to expand your school as exigencies from time to time arise.

The boys to be received into this school should not be less than thirteen, nor more than fourteen, years of age; they should be required to pass a fair general examination previously_to admission, and the course should comprise three years. For the first year, or perhaps eighteen months, the education should be quite general; at the end of which period, the peculiar bent of each lad's genius would begin to develop itself. Such as exhibited a talent for mathematics, including mechanics, with drawing, might then be transferred to a special school of preparation for the engineers. Such as united mathematics, including mechanics, with chemistry, should be transferred to a special school for artillery. The residue should go on acquiring more desultory knowledge, though all bearing upon professional subjects, and fitting themselves thereby for cavalry and infantry. All ought to learn French and German, to be taught riding, gymnastics, shooting, fencing, &c., and all be passed ere gazetted to their commissions. The candidates for the artillery and engineer services must be removed from this school with tem

porary rank, and remain for one, and not more than two years, in the practical classes at Woolwich and Chatham referred to above; the whole being allowed to study for promotion and admission into the staff, according to the plan already laid down.

The advantages of this arrangement are, that it would enable the Government to put its future officers from an early age under the best masters, and that the character and temper of each would be known ere he joined his corps. Its disadvantage is, that it will bring a large number of boys together, and expose them to the temptations, which both at Woolwich and the existing Sandhurst school have made shipwreck of too many. It will, moreover, be expensive either to the country or to individuals, according to the scale of payment laid down for each youth.

3. A third course, differing but little from the second, might lead to the establishment of a military university, into which admissions should take place between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. The best professors to be found at home and abroad should be provided, and the course should embrace two years. A severe examination at entrance would show into which class each student ought to pass, so that such as came best prepared would probably soonest obtain their commissions. It is not necessary to enter into detail respecting arrangements, of which the principle and the purposes have already been laid down. But this advantage would attend it, that the lads coming at a more mature age, would not only come better prepared for study, but be able, in a shorter space of time, to compass all that might be proposed to them. And they would go away, desiring, in exact proportion as they had acquitted themselves well in college, to take advantage of the further instruction to be received at the district schools, and to win their way to the staff. Observe, too, that every one of these schemes is compatible with the continuance of the purchase system, if it is to be continued. For he who, being able to purchase, cannot through stupidity win the right, only gives place to some one else, who is both able and qualified; and he who, though qualified, is too poor to purchase, has his chance of passing over a duller, though richer man, if a death vacancy occur;-and he has all the prizes of staff employment open to him.

V. Of the many evils which attend such a system of general management as has existed in our army for well-nigh forty years, enough has been said elsewhere. The system itself, indeed, is condemned by statesmen of all parties; and if, as yet, some of the lets and hindrances that appertain to it remain, who

can be surprised at the circumstance? It is no easy matter to clear out such an Augean stable. For even after the Treasury shall have surrendered its power of control over the Commissariat, after the Board of Ordnance shall have renounced its privilege of obstruction,-when the Commander-in-Chief shall have become but the Queen's administrator of military discipline, and the functions of the Secretary-at-War be merged in those of an Under Secretary of State, even then there will remain for the War Minister a task which it will require more than ordinary firmness, as well as ability, to accomplish. And not the least obnoxious measure, as it is perhaps the most urgently required, will be the thorough sifting of all the public offices in this country which have the army and its wants under their care; for these, with some brilliant exceptions are encumbered at this moment with incompetent men, who could no more be led out of the track over which all their lives long they have travelled, than they could be made efficient instruments in the construction of a steam-engine. The War Minister who has the courage to institute such a reform as this, will confer a substantial benefit on the country; besides preparing the way for still further changes, the nature and object of which a few words will suffice to indicate.

The War Department, if it is ever to be effective, must become one and indivisible. By-and-by, after the education of officers has been properly attended to, the Crown may be able to select its Minister from among the more intelligent of its generals; for without all doubt, a general of experience, who is also a statesman, would make a more efficient War Minister than a civilian, however able, to whom military affairs are strange. The art of military administration is, however, distinct from that of military command. And, in the meanwhile, as we should be at a loss to find such a general, the Minister for the time being will do well to distribute the business of his office through as many separate departments as possible.* One department may keep the accounts of the army, issuing warrants for pay, and drafts to cover all current expenses. Another may control and balance these accounts. A third provide for the arming and equipment of the troops. A fourth attend to their clothing. A fifth take charge of buildings connected with the army. A

* The intendance générale of the French army in the East is divided into six departments under one head, charged with the following branches:- 1. Subsistence; 2. Hospitals and ambulances; 3. Transports; 4. Pay; 5. Camp equipage; 6. Service of troops at head-quarters.