COLBURN'S UNITED SERVICE MAGAZINE. THE ARMY ESTIMATES FOR 1858 AND 59, WITH The annual estimates for the army, as printed by the House of Commons, though containing a very considerable mass of information likely to prove interesting to most military men, and although the most cursory perusal of the items which compose them would give no small insight into the constitution and organization of the army, they do not form a document which is usually very extensively read by, or known to, the profession. Many officers reach the highest rank who have never seen them at all, or who even know of their existence in a printed form. The only knowledge they possess of them has most probably been obtained through occasional extracts in the newspapers. The ideas of the great majority, with regard to them, are generally extremely vague. The impression usually prevailing is, that the Government is very stingy and mean; and that the estimates for the military defences are always cut down to the lowest possible figure, and that the most parsimonious and pinching economy is their most prominent characteristic. If the soldier dies twice as fast as the class he comes from in civil life—if his barracks, his clothing, his food, or anything else connected with him, are bad or deficient, it is always stated, and generally understood, to be caused by the lowness of the estimates and the starved scale on which the public are alone inclined to tolerate them. The Secretary for War, afraid to ask for sufficient money, or the House of Commons declining to give it, are the causes of all our defects; and, when anything is proved to be radically wrong, it is to one or the other of these that the error is sure to be attributed. In order to give a better knowledge of this subject, we propose laying before our readers a detail of the estimates for 1858-9, and by publishing some of the principal facts connected with them (without offering an opinion ourselves) to leave others to correct or abide by theirs. There is nothing so essential to useful reform, in matters connected with the army, as to arrive at just conclusions with regard to its finance; and certainly one of the best means of doing so, is to know what the country does vote before we condemn the amount as insufficient. As every officer has a personal interest in the efficiency of the service, he has an additional motive beyond tax-payers in general for informing himself upon all that relates to it; and we purpose helping, as far as lies in our power, to his obtaining this information. The aggregate votes on the estimates for this year are 23 in number, and these are divided into 9 parts. Part 1, consisting of 5 votes, applies exclusively to the military branches of the service, such as the U. S. MAG., No. 354, May, 1858. B |