we have here pointed to the events and character of our time only because we wish you, gentle reader, to judge fairly of us; and it is only by trying us according to the times in which we live and act, that we can be justly estimated. An United Service Journal published at Rome, under the dictatorship of Cæsar, would, no doubt, have been as different from a martial magazine to which Tilly, Wallenstein, and Torstenson should contribute, as the latter would be unlike this our incomparable Miscellany.

It is known to most of our readers that, owing to circumstances which began to operate after the peace of 1762, military feeling and knowledge were allowed to fall to so low an ebb in this country, as actually to give rise to the opinion that the men of Britain, the masters of the sea, and conquerors of every fair field in which they had fought, were totally unfit for military duty. Under this most exalted and patriotic belief we actually submitted, during the first American war, to the lasting disgrace of hiring foreign soldiers to fight our battles; and as the French Revolution found us still incapable of taking the field, we were forced to subsidize Continental armies, that were struck to the ground even faster than our gold could bolster them up. It was not till we were thrown back upon our own resources, that we thought of calling forth the martial spirit of our people; and though we did not call in vain, we had yet to pay dearly, both in blood and treasure, for the recovery of that military station from which we had so gratuitously descended. Yet, with the dearly-purchased experience of the past before our eyes, and whilst still smarting under the effects of that taxation, which the neglect of the United Services heaped upon the country, are the same causes that led to so much loss and suffering again at work, undermining the proud structure of our military strength and fame, and threatening to leave us, at no distant period, exactly where the revolution-war found us forty years ago. It is the object of this Journal not only to arrest so baneful a consummation, but to aid the military sciences in keeping pace with the general progress of knowledge, and to help in obtaining for the United Services such naval and tactical institutions as may be best suited for the genius and spirit of the sailors and soldiers of Britain. Feeble as our humble means may appear for so mighty an undertaking, we trust to the nobleness of our cause for rallying round us such support as shall give it the necessary strength and firmness.

But easily as our object is stated, it is not so easily acted up to; for, independently of the difficulties which every periodical is heir to, we labour under many from which our more fortunate contemporaries are entirely free; and some of these we must here, in justice to ourselves, bring under the notice of our readers.

The very low state to which the military feeling of the country had, as above stated, been allowed to fall, naturally acted as a bar to all military study, and placed all interchange of thoughts on professional subjects entirely out of the question. We became during the war as good practical soldiers as our views and our books of regulations, simple translations from the regulations intended for men of a different country and of a totally different stamp, would permit; but of the just theory of war we knew little; we never even attempted to call forth the best energies of our soldiers, or to raise the science to the standard

of those qualities of which they might justly boast. As to military literature, it was, under such circumstances, of course, entirely out of the question, and the country that surpassed all the rest of Europe in every other department of literature could not produce three military works of ordinary merit. Many of our military friends too were already in the field at an age when what may be properly termed the academic studies of young men, bred to more peaceful pursuits, were only commencing; others, again, were for years together buried in quarters where the sight of a book of any kind is altogether a rarity.

A taste for military reading was, therefore, to be created, before we had any works capable of serving as an inducement to study, or as an example for imitation, to those who might be willing to enter the field as writers. Early habits of indispensable professional study, naturally gave naval men a great advantage in this respect, but this could not altogether lighten our labours, for except when they dealt in spiritstirring adventures, their account of chain-pumps and soundingmachines, were just as uninteresting to the military reader as descriptions of knapsacks, and discussion about the formation of threes and fours, were to the sailor. Such subjects, though of the highest importance to the profession, are, of course, totally condemned by the ordinary reader, who wants nothing but adventures and battles-"Recollections" and "Reminiscences," &c. &c. ;-a very natural, though, perhaps, not very rational wish, for unless we mean to forsake the interest of the professions, and to relinquish all hopes of being useful by occasionally discussing the various branches of naval and military science, and the endless matters of detail, the vast importance of which professional men alone can judge of, we must of necessity deal moderately in merely popular articles. Though we know that we can trust implicitly to the liberality of the profession and the public in this matter, yet they can form no idea of the difficulty we find in justly balancing such different interests.

Of the mechanical difficulties that would naturally beset naval or military men in their first outset as commanders of a periodical, or of the fiery spirits whom we have occasionally to deal with and control, who think that in letters, as in war, every thing may be carried sabre à la main, we say nothing, because it is our duty to overcome, as we trust we have successfully done, the first; and because, in the second, the good feelings and confidence of our comrades invariably in the end come to our aid. But then we are by the didactic nature of our undertaking, prevented from indulging in that egotistical extravagance and piquant system of personality, occasionally carried a little too far, perhaps, that render some of our more lively contemporaries so popular and amusing. But though our contributors generally appear in mask, they still appear in uniform, and the motley garb of folly is hardly consistent with the even dignity of our profession. We must affect a wisdom, even when we have it not.

Nor do our troubles end here, for at a time when party politics constitute the very breath of the nation's nostrils, we must naturally fight at disadvantage, from having excluded so interesting a topic from our pages. As we have constantly upheld the doctrine, that naval and military men can, in their professional character, be of no party but that of their country, it would but ill become us, who look upon our

object as closely connected with the interest and honour of the country, and who, consequently, hope for the upright support of all parties, to make our Journal the mere organ of a faction. That we were forced into the arena when the existence of our order was at stake, and when the very principles upon which it can alone rest, with national advantage, were openly attacked, is most true; and similar circumstances may, no doubt, call us to the field, but it can be in the cause of the professions only. Our fate is linked to that of the United Services. We lift no pen in party feuds, and disclaim all interference in domestic politics beyond what is indispensably necessary in discussing those professional regulations and principles that emanate from, and are, to a certain extent, inseparably connected with our happy political institutions.

How indispensable such interference must be at times, is rendered amply evident at the very moment we are writing, by the singular fact, that Mr. Drummond, distinguished above his contemporaries as much for worth, piety, and virtue, as Cobbett is for high and abused talents, both call for the total and unconditional reduction of the army, though agreeing in no other point whatever! They would, it seems, replace us by a sort of permanent district militia, to be raised by counties. themselves, without exactly explaining how the well-conditioned militiamen from Cheapside or Piccadilly, are to be persuaded to perform long marches on the banks of the Ganges, or to mount guard under the burning sun of Jamaica. That such an arrangement would be nothing better than handing over the government of every separate district in the kingdom to the most influential agitator in the ranks of the district bands, must be sufficiently evident; nor need we mention who, under such circumstances, would now be Captain General of Ireland. The lately-destroyed Janissaries had, by degrees, become district troops, that took all control over their respective districts out of the hands of the supreme government, openly sold towns and provinces to the bestpaying pasha, and constantly foiled the good intentions of the many able and well-disposed predecessors of the great man, whose iron grasp now holds the reins of Mussulman Government.

. Having briefly stated what is the leading object of our undertaking, we must here explain as briefly some of those views and opinions, on the strength of which we solicit public aid towards its ultimate attain

ment.

To unite the two services in the bonds of cordiality, was an honour no longer reserved for us; for though much injurious and ill-placed rivalry existed between the Navy and Army during the early part of the revolution war, nothing could exceed the harmony and good understanding by which they were afterwards combined. We can only help, therefore, to cement this happy union, and aid in bringing the exertions of both professions to the support of those objects that all must have in view. For this purpose, we think there should be a tribunal of professional opinion, capable of freeing us, as far as regards professional merit, from the mere public opinion too often formed, in utter ignorance of professional affairs. It is all very well to bid us go forth and fight bravely, in order that the rest of the community may sit quietly by their firesides; but let not those who neither share in our toils or dangers, attempt to judge of them, or take upon themselves to

determine what aids and auxiliaries are required by the soldier and sailor in the performance of his arduous duties. We also hold that the merit of individuals should be amenable to this public military opinion, and deem it not sufficient that reputations should be raised by our undervaluing of subordinates, or by keeping in the background those whose powers of observation might tend to change or check the mere babble of public applause.

It must also be evident to every unbiassed person, that the pay and rewards of naval and military men are, when contrasted with the duties they have to perform, and with the emoluments of all other public functionaries, so wretchedly small and insufficient, as to be not only a discredit, but an ultimate injury to the country. To hold up this grievance, and to bring this subject as often and as strongly as possible, though always respectfully, to the notice of Government, has been, and always will be, one of our leading objects, as well as to defend our interest against that strange class of men known only in England, who think, or pretend to think, that hostility to the army and navy is a mighty proof of enlightened patriotism. What incalculable mischief has been done by those petty statesmen who only take into account the expense occasioned by the naval and military establishments, without balancing the outlay by the advantages derived from it, is, unfortunately, but too well known to all professional men who served during the war. To illustrate the value of the miserable huckster doctrine, now so fashionable in politics, that a penny saved is a penny got, we may just instance the case of Fort Erie, in Upper Canada. Had fifty pounds been expended on that wretched frontier defence, which was nothing but a mere block-house before it was attacked, and had the garrison, small as it was, been placed under the command of a fieldofficer of ordinary experience, it might very easily have held out till relieved. But the fifty pounds were saved, though Fort Erie was lost; and those whose patriotic wisdom curtailed the estimates of so mighty a sum, were, no doubt, easily consoled for the torrents of gallant blood expended, and for the national humiliation that was incurred in the vain attempt to recover a post that, in the hands of the more active and less penurious Americans, was soon rendered formidable. Among those who with their life's blood paid for the great saving above specified, was the brave, clever, and high-minded Lieut.-Colonel John Gordon, of the Royals, an officer not always very popular with his superiors, but looked up to by his inferiors as the beau idéal of an officer and a gentleman. In the field, his appearance was "worth a thousand men," owing to the confidence reposed in him by the soldiers, and his death well proved how justly he had been appreciated; for, incapable of resting while his subordinates were suffering, he died, in fact, from over-exertion and anxiety, more than from the effects of a wound not in itself very dangerous.

But we must not permit professional recollections and feelings to run away with us, whilst merely engaged in the recital of editorial hopes, toils, and troubles, and return, therefore, to the more direct thread of our exposé.

If we have, as above stated, occasionally to lecture the elders of the land, so are we at times also called upon to admonish the junior members of the professions, the "young gentlemen" of the navy, and the gen

tlemen ensigns of the army, the hopes, no doubt, of their country, and the pride of their lady mothers, but the most difficult and impatient class of readers that can well be met with. That they may sometimes require a little advice, must be well enough known to all old officers who recollect how many promising young men have been ruined at the very outset of their career, merely for the want of kind and judicious counsel.

"At that green age when error most beguiles,
And vice puts on her most seductive smiles;
When, too, the martial dress forbade reproof,
And kept each friendly monitor aloof."

And though we have never written and never intend to write long essays on pretty behaviour for those who like long essays as little as long parades, we may safely appeal to the advice we have constantly given to our youthful friends, whenever it could be administered with due brevity, and in a palatable manner,

"

"Così all' egro fanciul porgiamo aspersi
Di soave licor gli orli del vaso:

Succhi amari ingannato intanto ei beve,

E dall' inganno suo vita riceve."-Tasso, Canto 1-3.

We have always advocated those chivalrous principles of honour, and those lofty professional feelings, that, however contrary to modern notions, must be held inseparable from the character of a British officer. Without them rank, stars, decorations are worse than dross, and more dishonourable to the wearer than discreditable to the giver, for the latter may at times be deceived by the generosity of his nature as well as by circumstances. It is in the power of the humblest soldier of fortune to live as Sidney, Bayard, and Moore lived, and should fate in its kindness even grant them a death as glorious, fame and posterity will exalt their names long after the contemporary crowd of ordinary kings, princes, and generals, shall have been forgotten.

There yet remains one object to be mentioned, the attainment of which we could be content to purchase by the very little that fortune has given or that time has left us; an object that is entwined round our heart, as the roots of the mountain pine are entwined round the fragment of rock that their force has detached from the cliff, and which is upheld from falling into the gulf below only as long as the fibres of the tree retain their grasp and vigour. We mean the enfranchisement of the martial spirit of our countrymen from the unworthy trammels that cant, avarice, and the cowardly spirit of commerce have imposed upon it. We are essentially a martial people; our congenial homes are not pestiferous manufactories, but tented fields, and the armed decks of our ships; the active and athletic forms of our people suit the toils of war far more than the deforming and enervating labours of the loom. The frank hilarity of Britons also, which for merly obtained for their country the name of "Merry England," is now to be found only among soldiers and sailors, and is totally unknown to the rest of the world, who, estimating us from the effects produced by commercial and manufacturing pursuits, consider us a grave and melancholy people, though the most extravagantly jovial of all God's creatures whenever released from the pressure of want or from slavish