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    October 14, 1854.] THE LEADER. 973

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    THE PATRIOTIC FUND. It must not be said—...

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    THE AVAR AMONG TUB JOURNALS, Sir James G...

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    War As A Moral Exercise. This War Is A G...

    the Emperor Nicholas . The Sturge expedition to St . Petersburg was the last and finest specimen of the moral force belief that the world has witnessed . Nicholas has cured us of tie delusion ; hut if we profit by the war , we owe its results to different authors . We have both bad and good ; we owe to Nicholas the waking from our dream , and a grand confession of what high Imperial autocracy consists . The awakening is a real service to us , sufficient to make us stay our hand if

    we lad caught the crowned rascal , and were about to inflict upon him his condign hanging . For if any murderer deserved hanging it is Nicholas ; and the punishment ought to be inflicted as much for Ms crimes against Russians as against Englishmen or Poles . On the field of Alma alone there were probably 10 , 000 human beings more or less mutilated . The incidents are sickening enough ; we would turn even from the reading of them , though we ought to read , for it is our duty t Least to

    a Icnotv vliat our soldiers endure . To ride from the field . with a foot hanging by a shred , to lave a leg shattered into manypieces , to have the front of the abdomen carried away , one ' s own hand driven with a caimon-ball through the body , the brains protruding from a hole in the forehead , wlxile the spasmodic hand vainly strives to wipe away the oozing headache—are forma of human suffering from the very names of which the eye turns . Yet they are forms which have been inflicted upon hundreds and thousands

    of our fellow-creatures , who could not " turn from the perusal of the details , " for they underwent the details bodily . They suffered because Nicholas is ignorant , unjust , capricious , arrogant , false , obstinate , and reckless . These are but a few of the vices in which he is mow indulging before the world ; and of such clay are made the men whom Congresses of European statesmen set up upo-n high thrones to rule the world . "We ascertain in . war what a curse to mankind is a despot : —Tvar thus leads to a demolition of various " Grace of God" fictions .

    yv ithout the lesson inflicted upon us bv Nicholas , we should indeed havp been unable to learn that which our nature is capable of confronting and achieving . To satiate his criminal ambition a Nicholas cannot inflict horrors which our countrymen will not confront to sustain the national honour , the rights of an ally , and the justice of the world . No , there is not a form of torture that the battle-field can comprise sti'aight towards which Englishmen will not anarch to uphold iece of

    a p bunting which represents a principle ; there is not a hardship that they will not endure cheerfully ; there is , in short , no pressure that can Ibo put upon their vitality which that vitality - is not strong enough to conquer . The life of vice is never equal to the life of virtue ; and on the field of Alma wo learn not only that England can live clown the > Czar , but wo discover the lite that is within us , and that has , perhaps , daring the peace , been too dormant , too much forgotten by those who thought that trade was life and money right .

    On that field also we have learned another lesson never to ho lost Bight of . " Wit may rule the world , and cunning may enable diplomatists to get the weather-gage of their lollow-suhjects in every climo , whether tho institutions bo Absolutist , Constitutional , or Bopublican ; but the keenest wit cannot sustain its mlo with any aufbty or stability , ¦ unless some degree of nflbction also lends a sanction to tho power ; und basic ! oa thoso things , wit and nftection , there ia also sheer physical compulsion . Bodily force ia tho Material instrument for acquiring or maintaining political power . Disguiao lam how you may , the soldier ia tho ultimato arbiter

    of contending factions . This is why men with soldierly qualities are prized . A St . Arnaud , who can sit his saddle and dictate a victory while his very intestines are giving way under agony and mortal disease , is a species of animal which will always be priz-ed when states are defending or regaining military power . If the Government cannot stand without him , the state which does not possess

    animals of that spirit and bone , cannot hold its place in the world . If we cannot overmatch Russia in sheer physical " pluck" and strength , we must , for all our books and moralities , be content to let the Czar rule England . It is because we can produce something which Peace Societies ignore , that Nicholas is not triumphant on the Thames , and is driven back , baffled and defeated , from the Danube .

    October 14, 1854.] The Leader. 973

    October 14 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 973

    The Patriotic Fund. It Must Not Be Said—...

    THE PATRIOTIC FUND . It must not be said—and it will not— -that England neglects to provide for the helpless dependents of those who fall in the service of their country . If the State at present makes rio adequate provision for wives , families , widows , and orphans , of soldiers on active service , we are inclined to think that the provision is better left to the voluntary principle . 3 S " o _ one can he insensible to the claim ; a knowledge that it exists must call forth a proper , substantial , response ; and if it were

    met in no other way , the State must provide by compulsory taxation . Taxation , however , can never be rendered perfectly just . Its influence does not dictate a certain degree of tenderness for those who possess high incomes ; the common feeling creates a repugnance to the idea of levying very large taxes upon any individual however great his property . There is a point , at which , even proportioned taxation begins to look like

    confiscation ; and the Income Tax is not unpopular merely with those of large incomes . At a time of difficulty it is vexatious to increase the burden upon the poorest ; but the voluntary principle calls most powerfully upon those who have the least amount of material or moral difficulty in meeting the claim ; and the experience already realised by the Central Association induces us to believe that the voluntary principle will suffice . The cases which demand assistance are

    numerous and various . It must be remombered that a soldier ' s earnings are never great , and when he is out on active service , his expenses are often increased . He cannot take his choice of going or staying , but is compelled , iu a certain sense , to abandon liis family . Be they provided for or not , he mast leave them . Indeed , it is almost worao when they accompany him . No situation can bo more shocking than , that of a woinan cast about in the rear of tho regiment on active duty like that in the East ; and tho wretchedness boconics truly horrible when it ia aggravated by sickness . It is so when the soldier

    marries with leave ; but many marriages are contracted by soldiers , aud are justified on every moral consideratioii , which do not secure military leave ; and in theso cases tho wives and children arc destitute of a claim excopt upon tho pariah . Tho father may be alive- —tho mother even may bo so"but bo prevented from protecting aa well aa providing for thoir dependents . Those hardships nru incurred because tho men arc serving their country - Many such cases tho Association have already roliovod . It has fod tho hungry , sheltered the homeless , solaced tho unfriended , protected thoso who might otherwise have gone to perdition .

    low events in our day havo been more satisfactory than tho response which this claim has already mot with . Tho day of humiliation was seized by many as an

    opportunity m which the sacrifice made to religion might bring a present and a substantial blessing upon the unfortunate . There are some curious distinctions , however . The largest contributions came from the Established Church . The Roman Catholics appear to have stood absolutely aloof , and , perhaps , might justify a separate action . The " Wesleyans contributed " largely , " the Jews " munificently . " But unless the Dissenters are in a minority , they should not be behind , and those who do not identify themselves

    with any place of public worship should select proper channels for sending their own tribute . The more so , since the recipients of aid " are not even asked to what creed they belong . " Amongst the contributions which have been conspicuous , are those from the Local Association of Yorkshire—the London Journal , vA \\ c \\ has devoted the proceeds of certain supplements—the penny subscriptions of the Chelsea pensioners—of Price ' s patent candle manufactorv—of the Crewe

    looomntive department- —and the proceeds of " A Poem , by a child . " Some of the great railway companies contributed the gratuitous carriage of widows and children , or their luggage . In short , there has been an interesting and an increasing- inclination to assist a proper national effort , by those various methods which the voluntary principle can so easily strike out . The Association has already spent 9172 J . ; it has raised more than 80 , 0007 . ; but more must yet be done to show that the voluntary principle is sufficient to do the work of the nation .

    " We may anticipate that further service from the Royal Commission which is daily expected , and which will undertake the duties of raising a voluntary tax from the people , and of seeing to its proper disposal . It must do well to outdo the self-elected association ; but evidently it will be able to appeal to numbers whom the association can only reach in a partial manner , and the public must render to it a confidence which they cannot render to any previous body .

    While careful for the dependents of tho dead and wounded , however , why forget tho dead and wounded themselves , asks the public ; and Sir Robert Peel promptly , noble , and generous , answers , the question by sending 200 Z . as the . first subscription towards a fund which ho proposes of 10 , 0 O 0 Z . The blot on the Government arrangements for the war has been in inefficient medical arrangements , and tho wounded are necrlected as well aa

    roughly handled in the ships and hospitals , for want of hands and time . "Why England should lack surgeons wo cannot understand ; but we suppose it is because our aristocratic oflicers look down upon middle class professional men , and our State , which can givo so much for a sinecure , pays real labour ill . Could not tho Voluntary principle do something hero ? and . if Sisters of Charity cannot bo sent out by a Protestant people , why not Brothers of Surgery P Part of a fund , suck as that suggested by the Times and Sir Bobert Pool , might bu employed in organising a handsome eflbctivo corps of surgeons , to go out and aasist in tho labours after tho biitlio .

    The Avar Among Tub Journals, Sir James G...

    THE AVAR AMONG TUB JOURNALS , Sir James Graham is notoriously a managing man , and ih consequently nhvuys getting into scrapes . The Times ia , ' or i « aaauiiurd to be , a very powerful journal ; Sir . James Graham , thuruforo , propitintca Hie Times by Bonding to tiuit jonninl Admiralty war-dosnatclu's , anil witli and * obvious disregard oi tho other j \> urna ] . i tlmfc tho Times gota out ila afternoon editions with Mat . Tho result is , thnt Sir Jawos Graham is abused by nil tho other journals , and that tho Times haa to de ~

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 14, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14101854/page/13/