Mr. Gladstone spoke for three hours by the
great clock, and never turned a hair. His voice
was as clear and distinct at the end as it was at
the beginning. His notes consisted of about
twenty loose slips of paper, but he only referred
to them when dealing with figures: and
occasionally it appeared that his memory was more
accurate than his written memorandum, for he
took up a pen now and then to alter a figure.
I was curious to see if one of the sacred old
lady's oranges would be resorted to for refreshment
during the long and trying statement; but
no; the Chancellor had provided himself with a
flask—a very little flask—at which he took a
very little pull now and then, when the cheers
of his audience gave him time to pause. At
the end, he gathered up his few slips of
memorandum, put on his hat, and sat down as calmly
and modestly as if he had been doing nothing
but giving notice of a motion. I don't know at
which I was the more astonished—the marvellous
intellectual power exhibited by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, or the hardihood of the
big, burly, inaudible, but honourable gentleman,
who rose to speak after him.

             FOOD FOR POWDER.

AT last it has occurred to our English
authorities that men need not necessarily be brutal
or ignorant to make good soldiers—on the
contrary, that the chances are, that the better the
man the better the soldier, and the more educated
his brain the more intelligent his work. But his
has been about the last soul thought needful to
save. The blind, the deaf and dumb, the idiots
and criminals, have all had their patrons and
friends; but, until quite lately, the army was
left to chance and the hard old-world regulations.
Almost, the only idea which civilians had
concerning it was, that vice and intoxication
were its sole amusements, and the goose-step
and parade drill its legitimate occupations, in
times of peace. When respect, for learning
became general, and the belief that a man's mind
had something to do with his morals crept in as
a make-weight against the exaggeration of both
materialists and spiritualists, then the education
of the army began to be spoken of as a thing
possible and desirable; and a Council of Military
Education was appointed. The second report—
only the second, so the experiment has not been
very Iong in hand—lies on the table before us;
and for those who care to read them, we extract
certain of the results obtained.

In 1860, the per-centage of those who
could neither read nor write was 18.95; of those
who could read but not write, 19.72; of
those who could read and write, 53.89; of
those possessed of a superior education 7.44.
In 1864 the numbers stood, for class (1), 13.44;
for class (2), 17.30; for class (3), 64.05; for
class (4), 5.18; which last is a diminution, that
tells nothing against the scheme of military
schools. Another curious little fact is in the
apportionment of ignorance. Thus, of the two
uneducated classes (1 and 2) the tabulation
stands:

showing a decided decrease of ignorance in
every branch—or, more properly, arm—of the
service, while still keeping the relative proportions.
Major Gleig's report gives fifty per cent
as reading fluently such books as the Fourth
Reading Book of the Irish National Society;
but only about ten per cent as able to write
without error, fifty words of dictation from the
Sequel to the Second Reading Book. In arithmetic
the results are rather doubtful, Major
Gleig saying that "he has found comparatively
few men able to work sums in the compound
rules except as applied to money, and that many
men are unacquainted with the tables of weights
and measures in common use." That inability
to work certain sums, except as applied to money,
has a rich touch of nature in it; for how often
has the soldier to work the most complicated
sums in his head!—the debt for tobacco owing
to Molly Brown; that cane he bought of Jemmy
Rice; the brooch he promised to give Nancy
as a fairing, and doesn't know where to get the
money for; those goes of gin and pints of stout
scored up against him at the Blue Boar; and
all that his miserable little pocket-money can
and cannot afford! Yes, complicated indeed,
and of most involved and original working are
the soldier's accounts; no wonder he can do
the compound rules when applied to money
which he understands so fatally well, but boggles
over them when transferred to other matters of
a purely imaginative or intellectual character.
The History of England and Geography are
almost the only subjects of higher study relished;
but even these are not well reported on, save in
the school of the Depôt Brigade of the Artillery
at Woolwich, and that of the 78th Highlanders.
In 1861 the compulsory attendance at school,
which had been commanded in the beginning of
this experiment, was discontinued, as were the
weekly payments; in consequence of which more
men enrolled themselves as scholars, and fewer
attended the schools. But, indeed, the attendance
at school is strangely irregular—strangely
for a service all drill and word of command and
uniformity and non-individuality—varying
according to the humour of the men and the temper
of the commanding officer; varying also, we may
be sure, according to the mind and manners and
teaching of the schoolmaster, "one day a large,
number attending, and for the next few days
none." Which must try both men and master,
irregularity being one of the greatest enemies
to proficiency. Not much school-work is done
at any time, though, indeed, some wonderful
results are given out of the scanty hours
afforded. The average amount for a soldier is
about three hours and a half per week, while