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Leader (1850-1860), 11th October 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 18, 974 $Et) * & *£&£*? [Saturday ,

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      The Musician In The Crystal Palace. Of A...

      Specimens of that elegant instrument , the Concertina are exhibited by Messrs . Wheatstone , the original inventors . The concertina possesses an extraordinary combination of qualities . For the most expressive performance and the utmost rapidity of execution it is equally adapted . As a solo instrument , accompanied by the pianoforte , it is singularly dulcet in tone , while in two , three , or four part harmony it has the richness of a fine

      swell on the organ . The exquisite reedy quality renders it a beautiful accompaniment for the voice , particularly in glees and quartettes . The latest instrument produced by Messrs . Wheatstone , possesses a complete chromatic scale and additional notes for making the chords in different keys perfect and harmonious . Some elegant Concertinas--one in ivory , with gold stops—are exhibited by Mr . Rock Chidlev and a Concertina of three octaves and a half compass , by Mr . Case of New Bond-street .

      Mr Ward has proved that a " solo on the drum " is no ionger chimerical . The Drums exhibited by him are not only beautiful-looking instruments , but their quality ol tone is unapproachable . The tone of these drums may also be set to any note or pitch within the range of a full octave , with such celerity and precision as to admit the performance of a melody . Before the Philharmonic Society *« God save the Queen" was performed on a single drum , one of those , we believe , now exhibited . Nothing can possibly show more than this the facilitv of tuning ; indeed the adjusting of the pitch

      as instantaneous . A very fine collection of brass musical instruments is exhibited by Messrs . Koenig and Pask . A singular invention , by Signor Anelli , is a centripetal peg and pin , which cannot draw nor give way . By this invention all kinds of stringed instruments can be tuned and regulated gradually in all their divisions , in less than half the time usually required , and without the slightest

      " give , " whatever the strain may be . The importance of this invention , if it effect all it proposes , is incalculable , overcoming , as it does , one of the greatest difficulties in pianoforte manufacture . Signor Anelli also exhibits a spring " Capo Tasto , " which , attached to . the head of the guitar , changes at once the diapason of the strings , so that the performer may play in all keys without alterin ? the position of the hand or fingers .

      Turning into the foreign department , we have from France a Piano Organ , by H . Herz , and a singular application of the barrel organ to the pianoforte , by M . Debain . The latter produces pieces of any calibre , by mechanical execution . The precision and expression thrown into this automaton are really wonderful . The most * interesting instrument , however , is the new organ exhibited by MM . A . and M . Ducci , of Florence . It is the most powerful instrument in a small compass we have yet seen . The stops are : —Principal , octave , quinzieme ,

      dix-neuvietne , vingt-deuxieme , Trompette de hull pieds . The quality of this combination is surprisingly full and piercing , and such as astonishes all who hear it . The instrument is prettily ornamented , and stands iibout eight feet in height , five feet long , and three feet deep . But the most remarkable feature of this instrument is its twelve pedals , the notes of which are all obtained from one pipe contained in the seat of the performer . From this pipe is obtained a Kixteen-feet sound , and all the gradations of twelve semitones . The manner in which every note

      refiponds is truly surprising . MM . Ducci have lately made another" seat " containing a pipe which gives a thirty-two feet sound . The saving of this invention , in room and expense , is enormous . The whole range of the wood pipes of a pedal organ may be thus reduced to one pipe- We apprehend the ' principle is that of the flute , the holes being It-ft open down the pipe , and the pedals acting upon and stopping them . The manual is composed of fifty-four keys . This invention exhibits not only a perfect knowledge of mechanics , but : i practical acquaintance with the laws of acoustics , results

      which may lead to even greater . Among the greatest advantages of this organ is its portability , and this . extends to the . internal mechanism , which is ho constructed that the in-Klrumcnt will bear transmission from place to place without any chance of becoming out of order . We never saw a more satisfactory instrument , and we trust our manufacturers will not Hiifl ' er it to depart from this country , without making themselves thoroughly acquainted with the principle upon which the |> edal tone is produced , and that , having given it a fair trial , no unworthy prejudice will prevent its adoption .

      974 $Et) * & *£&£*? [Saturday ,

      974 $ Et ) * & * £ & £ *? [ Saturday ,

      (Kttrnpmit Mtmnxui].

      ( KttrnpMit Mtmnxui ] .

      This Page Is Accorded To An Authentic Ex...

      This page is accorded to an authentic Exposition of the Opinions and Acts of the Democracy of Europe : as such we do not impose any restraint on the utterance of opinion , and , therefore , limit our own responsibility to the authenticity of the statement .

      We Have Already, In This Part Of Our Pap...

      We have already , in this part of our paper , spoken of Italy , Germany , and Poland ; let us now advert to a country which is as much separated from the rest of Europe , as if by a Chinese wall ; for though neither stone , bricks , nor other such materials are used in its construction , but in lieu thereof hordes of Cossacks , custom-officers , and myriads of spies , it ia not less impenetrable . Owing to the just mentioned myrmidons , we know less of that country than we do of China , especially of the political and social condition of its People , nor of the aspirations and tendencies of that People to another state of things . We , of course , allude to

      RUSSIA . Whilst some people believe that the mere name of Russia is sufficient to frighten away every thought of Democracy out of the notion of that vast empire , believing , as in the Gospel , in the strength of the Russian army , and in the inexhaustibility of its treasures , others have fished up the phrase that Russia " is but a colossus standing upon legs of clay , " hence thinking themselves entitled to ridicule her *• pretended " power . But we , thinking both those parties in error , and that this enemy ought neither to be despised nor feared , will endeavour to furnish our readers with a true view of the condition of that empire .

      In the first instance , we think no army in the world easier to be demoralized than the Russian one . The principal cause is the frightful mode of levying recruits , the evil of which mode extends itself even to the veterans . As soon as the ukase for the levying of so many thousands from this or that government ( province ) is issued , a series of violences and treacheries , of fraud and bribery , connected with the recruitment , begins . The arbitrarily selected victims are overtaken at night ; the wife is suddenly deprived of her husband , the blind mother of her children ; the son is wrested from the arms of his helpless decrepit father , frequently only because this son has a

      handsome wife , or may have offended the steward of the manor . The front part of his hair is shaven , and a heavy block of wood , called deeby , encumbers one of his feet ; and from that moment he becomes the property of the Autocrat . But the community of the village from which he was taken call him the property of the death , and accompany him to a certain distance with bitter groanings and funeral lamentations , taking leave of him fur ever ; and thf y are right in so doing , for the mortality of the recruits is fearful , averaging about ten per cent . ; and , indeed , how can it be otherwise when the poor crefiture , his limbs scarcely covered , his hair shaven , obliged to drag a burden at

      his foot , half starved , for thousands of miles ere he can reach the garrison of his regiment , where he is to receive a aalaiy amounting to 12 s . 2 d . per annum , only payable every four months ; and where his food will consist of half a pound of meat per week , with which he is regaled on a Sunday , whilst on the other days nothing but thin sour krout , with potatoes , and some coarse bread resembling peat , is given to him . But he is even robbed out ; of that pittance by his superiors , more especially by the colonel , who is always the greatest rogue and thief of the regiment , but who sets his conscience nt rest by remembering the Russian proverb— " There is no thief where

      everybody steals . Add to his misery that of every day ' s drilling and exercise , and you will acquire a faint idea of his position . This state of things compels him , if he does not wish to die from starvation , to stealnay , he is even commanded by his captain to commit theft , the booty to be given to the latter , out of which the poor fellow gets a trifle not worth mentioning ; but woe unto him if he be caught in the act ; for though ordered by the captain to do so , he is flogged mat unmercifully . If a soldier is taken ill , and enters a military hospital , it is only to his fltrong constitution that he is indebted to his ever leaving it alive , certainly not to the curative means administered , for the imnitary ofHcrrs derive enormous riches from , the defraudation of the funds assigned for the purcha . se of medicines and dietetics . Let us quote an

      illiiBtration . The regulations of the military hospitals prescribe for the patients of tho fever wurd Icmonado for their usual beverage ; but it is never given to them ; only when the director of the hospital expects a visit from tins inspector , and that is extremely rare , lie then ( the director ) taken the half of a lemon , enters tho wnrd , and orders every one of the sick soldiers to lick it . Tho inspector upon entering the ward asks every one individually : — " Cooshdll tee lemon ? " ( Hast thou partaken of lemon or of lemonade ?)—and as the very geniun ol their tongue conspires , nn if it wens , against tho poor wren hes ( for the UuHhiau language has but out ) nuino lor both ; and eooahdll iiil'uiih either ate , drunk , or licked ) ; they , of course , each and all answer affirmativel y *

      It will not be irrelevant here to inform our xeadT that in Russia a lemon costs about sixpence anrfVT thus the director of the hospital pockets ' a socdt ^ number of that small coin . 8 « ocuy Thus having passed through his noviciate th « Russian soldier comes for three years to Poland- ami despite the strictest surveillance , despite the ' most frightful punishment , he leaves that pountrv "in fected " with democratic ideas . As to the rejnmenta of the guard , the Tsar himself undertakes their oV mocratic education by inflicting maddening torment « upon them . Hence , the Tsar on the one side with his dreadful system of torture , and Poland on the other , form , so to say , democratical universities both

      for officers and private soldiers ; and the Poles well knew what they were about , when in 1831 they in scribed on their flags : — "For our andyour Liberty " ~ We shall not speak here of the first fraternization between the two nations , by the conjoint conspiracy of 1823 , in consequence of which , in the year 1826 besides the five Russian Republicans , members of the first families , Pestel , Bestuzeff , Reeleieff , Kakhofskoi and Mooravieff ( who died on the scaffold for the idea ' of constituting Russia , Poland , Hungary , Bohemia DaltnatiaCroatia

      Moravia , , , and Serbia , into a Great Sclavonic Federative Republic ) , several hundreds , both . Russians and Poles , were sent to Siberia ; but we will advert to the years 1838 and 1839 , when several Russian commissioned officers at Vilna conspired to rescue Simon Konarski , the Democratic emissary of young Poland . The plot of the conspiracy was betrayed , and the just-named martyr was shot ; but the name of Captain J ^ pravaieff , who was executed as the head 6 f the conspiracy , is still pronounced - with the utmost veneration amongst his countrymen .

      All the commissioned officers up to the captains in regiments of the Line and in the Artillery , are animated by liberal ideas ; but those in the regiments of the Life Guard and of Cavalry , have been degraded to mere materialists and machines , by the corruptive system introduced into the colleges of the cadets . The dreadful misery in which the Russian soldier is plunged , and which we have but faintly portrayed , is the cause he so ardently longs for his parental hearths—why he so reluctantly goes to war—and why he in time of war goes so readily over to kindred nations , and in that of peace deserts when he can . At the insurrection of 1846 in Cracow , the Russians were inclined to join the insurgents , and in 1848 , numbers of deserters came to Cracow , took part in

      the struggle , and even at Breslau a strong battalion of them could have been organized . But , alas ! the insurrection did not extend itself sufficiently to bring about the demoralisation , or rather the moralization , of the Russian army . And how many of them , fled to Prussia during the few months the cartel for the exchange of deserters was withdrawn ! An anecdote of that period will best illustrate that fact . A Russian sergeant-major was sent to a Prussian place near

      the frontier , there to claim the delivery of twenty deserters . The Prussian functionary , of course , refused ; the sergeant-major endeavoured to intimidate him with the wrath of the Tsar ; but when even such a threat proved ineffective , and the Russian noncommissioned officer thus acquired the certainty that there was no hope , or rather no fear of their bomg given up , he said : — " If that is the case , I shall likewise remain here . "

      But to return . After twenty-two years * the utmost misery the dismissed soldier returns to his commune , without , however , becoming a ireemnn , he is merely " furloughed for an unlimited tune , ana can again be called upon in case of emergency . - »""< in the meantime the position of such a man » an entirely exceptional one ; he belongs to the isar , without the latter contributing a farthing towards his subsistence ; but he is neither subject to his landowner nor liable to his jurisdiction . He avails himinfluent

      self of this exceptional position to gain some over his brethren , the peasants ; he is the preacliei «* discontent and spreads the revolutionary seed on uio fertile soil of Russian serfdom . Those furlough a men are the most active ringleaders of the conuima rebellions of the peasants , of which we shall sp «' hereafter ; for whilst these " rebels " formerly fou «» j without order or tactit-H , burning and killing around them , it was noticed during the rebellions * the governments of Simbirsk , Saratoff , I . enun , * " - •» that tho peasants bad a centre , a van , and rear gu . » and that they , generally speaking , iought »

      milituiily . From the soldier lot us noAV pass to the . ltufl 8 ' | " * people in general , of whom the othor nation * ., «» - Poles excepted , havo either no idea at all , oi ^ a ^ v - ^ " ? According ' to ' ihe ' collectionof Military /^« ' « < j * vol . vi . { 291 , the military service i » refill itc follows :- " For individual ., enlint ^ d in the Ou « " 1 h ^ years ; for those who are incorporated in tho J . im ., i yearn In Um « - of peace , howevr , then p « r «« na m . I Hliortcnrd- -For the Holdiitrn of tho ( iuunl Ut u > , s »« „; s ; c w ., « t « ^ y ™™ ; o « t <<> . t »« ™™™« j £ thev only obtain an unlimited furlong , and ui < > u » B . oijoi / their regiments at the « r"t not . c « '»* A ii X Ko through once a year during their furloug h inw / Jteroi »«» . "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1851, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11101851/page/18/