Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/634

572 enlistment for 10 or 12 years, with power to re-engage to complete 21, was substituted for the life enlistments hitherto in force. The army went to sleep on the laurels and recollections of the Peninsula. The Duke of Wellington, for many years Commander-in-Chief, was too anxious to hide it away in the colonies, and to save it from further reductions or utter extinction, to attempt any great adminis trative reforms. The force which was sent to Turkey in 1854 was an agglomeration of battalions, individually perhaps the finest the world had ever seen, but unused to work together, without trained staff, administrative depart ments, or army organisation of any kind. They fought with distinguished gallantry at the Alma and at Inkerman, but succumbed under the hardships, the privations, and the sickness of the winter before Sebastopol a sacrifice to maladministration. The lesson was dearly bought, but was not thrown away. From that time successive War [Ministers and Commanders-in-Chief have laboured perseveringly at the difficult task of army organisation and administration. Foremost in the work was Lord Herbert, the soldiers friend, who fell a sacrifice to his labours, but not before he had done much for the army. The whole system of administra tion was revised. In 1854 it was inconceivably compli cated and cumbersome. The &quot; Secretary of State for War and Colonies,&quot; sitting at the Colonial Office, had a general but vague control, practically limited to times of war. The &quot;Secretary at War&quot; was the parliamentary representative of the army, and exercised a certain financial control, not extending, however, to the ordnance corps. The Com mander-in-Chief was responsible to the sovereign alone in all matters connected with the discipline, command, or patronage of the army, but to the Secretary at War in financial matters. The Master-General and Board of Ordnance were responsible for the supply of material on requisition, but were otherwise independent, and had the artillery and engineers under them. The Commissariat Department had its headquarters at the Treasury; and the militia until 1852 were under the Home Secretary. A number of minor subdepartments, more or less independent, also existed, causing endless confusion, correspondence, and frequent collision. In 1854 the business of the colonies was separated from that of war, and the then Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle, assumed control over all the other administrative officers. In the following year the Secretary of State was appointed Secretary at War also, and the duties of the two offices amalgamated. The same year the Commissariat Office was transferred to the War Department, and the Board of Ordnance abolished, its functions being divided between the Commander-in-Chief and the Secretary of State. The minor departments were gradually absorbed, and the whole administration divided under two great chiefs, sitting at the War Office and Horse Guards respectively. Finally, in 1870 these two were welded into one, and the War Office as now existing was constituted. Corresponding improvements were effected in every branch. The system of clothing the soldiers was altered, the contracts being taken from the colonels of regiments, who received a money allowance instead, and the clothing supplied from Government manufactories. The pay, food, and general condition of the soldier were improved ; reading and recreation rooms, libraries, gymnasiums, and facilities for games of all kinds being provided. Special attention was directed to sanitary matters ; large barracks were built on improved principles ; more space allotted to the men ; ventilation and drainage improved, and the rate of mortality greatly reduced. A large permanent camp was formed at Aldershott, where considerable forces were collected and manoeuvred together. Various educational establishments were opened, a staff college established for the instruction of officers wishing to qualify for the staff, and regimental schools improved. The Indian mutiny of 1857, followed by the transference of the government of India from the hands of the East India Company to those of the Queen s ministers, led to important changes. The East India Company s white troops were amalgamated with the Queen s army, and reorganised a difficult task, and one which cannot yet be said to be completed. Among recent alterations may be mentioned the localisa tion of the army, commenced in 1872, but whieh.cannot produce its full effects for many years to come ; the trans ference of certain powers over the militia from the lords- lieutenant to the Crown, in 1871, and the placing the militia and volunteer forces directly under the generals commanding districts; the abolition of purchase, in 1871 ; the introduction of short service (6 years in the ranks) by the Army Enlistment Act of 1870; the institution of annual autumnal manoeuvres, at which considerable forces are collected and manoeuvred against one another over extensive tracts of country ; the formation of the Control Department, &c. ; but these will be dealt with at length in the following pages.

  The supreme command of all the military forces of the Admi nation is vested in the Crown, but can only be exercised t ratio through an intermediate and responsible agent. The entire M administration, therefore, of the regular army and reserve or auxiliary forces is under the control and responsibility of the Secretary of State for War, who is assisted by two under-secretaries, the Parliamentary and Permanent Under secretaries of State. The actual army administration is divided among three great officers, the Officer Com manding in Chief, the Surveyor-General of Ordnance, and the Financial Secretary. These officers are at the head respectively of the three great departments of the War Office, viz., the Military Department, the Control Depart ment, and the Financial Department ; their duties are defined by orders of Council of the 4th and 23d June 1870. The Officer Commanding in Chief is charged with &quot; the discipline and distribution of the army, and of the reserve forces of the United Kingdom when embodied or called out for actual military service ; the military education and training of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the army, and of the reserve forces when assembled for training, exercise, inspection, or voluntary military duty ; enlisting men for and discharging&quot; men from the army and army reserves ; the collection and record of strategical information, including topography, in relation to the military circumstances of this and other countries ; the selection of fit and proper persons to be recommended to Her Majesty for appointment to commissions in the army, for promotion for staff and other military appointments, and for military honours and rewards.&quot; The Surveyor-General of the Ord nance is charged with &quot; providing, holding, and issuing to all branches of the army and reserve forces, food, forage, fuel, light, clothing, arms, accoutrements, munitions of war, and all other stores necessary for the efficient performance of their duties by such forces, of proper quality and pattern, and in proper quantities, according to the regulations governing the provision, custody, and issue of such supplies ; exercising a strict control over the expenditure of such supplies, and seeing that they are properly accounted for by the several officers and others who may be charged with their custody, issue, and use ;. the custody of all buildings in which troops are quartered, and allotting quarters ; pro viding transport for troops, and directing land and inland water transport ; preparing the estimates for the abov-