GREAT BRITAIN. 



379 



charges) amounted to 1,780,133 

 1. = $8,650,066 ; the supply services (in- 

 cluding tlio army, the navy, the Abyssinian 

 ; it ii >n, miscellaneous civil services, sal;iri<--, 

 Mtperannuations, etc., of customs and inland 

 revenue, and of the post-office, telegraph ser- 

 vice, and packet service) required 40,221,058 

 10s. Id. = $201,105,294; and there was an ex- 

 penditure of 200,000 = $1,000,000 on fortifi- 

 cation?. The estimated expenditure for the 

 year ending March 81, 1871, was 67,113,000 

 = $335,565,000, and included for the interest 

 and management of the national debt, 28,- 

 650,000 = $133,250,000 ; for the Consolidated 

 Fund charges, 1,820,000 = $9,100,000, and 

 the supply service, 88,643,000 = $193,215,- 

 000. The surplus thus created, the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer proposed to consume by a 

 reduction of sugar-duties, and a further de- 

 crease of the income-tax. The national debt 

 on the 31st of March, 18TO, amounted to 747,- 

 551,048, to which is to be added the capital of 

 the terminable annuities, a constantly-varying 

 amount, which was computed to be, at that 

 date, 53,180,880, making the total of national 

 debt and liabilities, 300,081,428 = $4,003,- 

 407,140. 



II. AKMY AND NAVY. 1. Army. The total 

 army force (i. e., regulars) for the year 1870- 

 '71 was 115,037 men. It was composed of the 

 following officers, regiments, depots, and train- 

 ing-establishments : Officers on the general 

 and departmental staff, 1,239 ; total regiments 

 of different arms of the service : 5,037 officers ; 

 11,197 non-commissioned officers, etc., and 

 90,593 rank and file; depots of Indian regi- 

 ments, 227 officers, 454 non-commissioned of- 

 ficers, and 5,513 rank and file ; recruiting and 

 teaching-establishments, 23 officers, 85 non- 

 commissioned officers, and 62 rank and file ; 

 training-schools and factories, 59 officers, 331 

 non-commissioned officers, and 17 rank and 

 file, making an aggregate of 6,585 officers, 

 non-commissioned officers, etc., 12,207 ; rank 

 and file, 96,185, or a total force, officers and 

 men, of 115,037. Provision was made by Par- 

 liament, August 2, 1870, for raising an addi- 

 tional number of land forces, not exceeding 

 20,000, during the continuance of the war in 

 Europe. What proportion of this force was 

 actually raised is unknown. 



To this regular array intended for homo 

 service, must be added 1. The British Army 

 in India, consisting of 2,941 officers, 4,734 non- 

 commissioned officers, and 62,963 men of all 

 arms. 2. The disembodied militia, the num- 

 ber of whom is stated at 128,971, and a grant 

 of 720,034 = $3,600,170 was voted in 1870- 

 '71 for pay for twenty-seven days' training 

 during the year. 8. The yeomanry cavalry, 

 15,435 in number, to whom was voted 1,- 

 874 = $409,370. 4. The volunteer force, com- 

 prising 201,196 enrolled men, of whom 170,094 

 were efficient, and 31,102 non-efficient. The 

 vote to them was 412,399 = $2,061,995. 5. 

 The army reserve, including enrolled pension- 



era, number not stated, but of no great effi- 

 ciency. The money voted to* them was 68,- 

 020 = $840,100. The present Premier has in- 

 troduced a bill into Parliament for preventing 

 the sale of army commissions, capital izing the 

 value of his commission to a retiring officer, 

 and thus preventing what has been the greatest 

 source of demoralization and inefficiency in 

 the army. The officers of the British Army 

 have hitherto been almost exclusively the sons 

 of the nobility or of the wealthy class, and no 

 commission could bo obtained in the urmy 

 from lieutenant to lieutenant-colonel except 

 by purchase the money going in part to the 

 officer who relinquished his commission, and 

 a small part to the regiment. An established 

 price had been put on each grade ; that of lieu- 

 tenant-colonel was worth $52,500, and the 

 purchaser might bo far inferior in military 

 knowledge or ability even to some privates in 

 his command ; if he could pay for the commis- 

 sion, he received it. The terrible demoraliza- 

 tion of the French Army in the war of 1870, 

 owing to the inefficiency and woi thlossness of 

 its officers, opened the eyes of thoughtful men 

 in the British Parliament to the necessity of a 

 thorough reform in their own army. 



2. Navy. The British Navy has always been 

 the pride and boast of the British Govern- 

 ment. The government and control of it is 

 vested in the Five Lords of the Admiralty and 

 the Financial Secretary, and its management 

 under these, who change with each adminis- 

 tration, is confided to a permanent secretary 

 and seven heads of departments, the account- 

 ant-general, the controller of victualling, the 

 superintendent of stores, the superintendent 

 of contracts, the medical-director-general, the 

 director of engineering and architectural 

 works, and the director of transports. The 

 appropriation for the navy for the year ending 

 March 31, 1871, was 9,250,530= $46,252,- 

 650, a decrease of $3,700,000 from the previous 

 year. The number of seamen and marines 

 provided for the naval service for the year 

 1 8 70-' 71 w as as foil ows : For the fleet seamen, 

 34,430; boys, 7,000; aggregate, 41,430. Ma- 

 rines afloat, 8,000 ; ashore, 6,000 = 14,000. 

 Total, 55,430. For the coast-guard, 4,300; 

 for Indian service, 1,270. Grand total, 61,000. 



The British Navy consisted in February, 

 1870, of 408 vessels of all descriptions, of 

 which 875 were steamers, with 15 more steam- 

 ers building, and 18 sailing-vessels. Of these 

 52 were iron-clads, 27 of them wholly of iron, 

 15 of wood plated with iron, nine iron armored 

 vessels building, and one armored sailing-ves- 

 sel of the floating-battery class. There were 

 47 ships-of-the-line, all but two screw-steamers, 

 and two of these building ; 29 screw-frigates ; 

 and 8 paddle-frigates ; 24 corvettes, 84 sloops, 

 both classes screw-steamers, 50 gun-vessels, 58 

 gunboats, all screw or double-screw, and the 

 remainder iron mortar-ships, storeships, tend- 

 ers, tugs, transports, etc., etc. 



At the end of August, 1870, there were in 



