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VtiBKUAX* 17, 1855.] THE LEA DEB, 14fr
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THE REAL SOLUTION OF THE ARMY DILEMMA. S...
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CONTINENTAL NOTES. Paris has worn a Crim...
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THE GOVERNING CLASSES. (From the Times."...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Earl Of Cardigan At Northampton. Imm...
nteasoie I may derive from it , I must say that , had . it notbeea for circumstances , arising partly from ill-health , «^ e ^ which I had no control , I should not have deemed It mv duty to leave the seat of war at this time , although , rwrhaps , my remaining there would have been useless , for I had nothing left to command . I still think that , nnless some such reasons as I am about to assign can be areed-incapacity arising from ill-health amongst the number—every general officer is bound to remain with the army as long as there is an army to command—( cheers )—aad . I am prepared to say further , that if my services are again required , they shall be perfectly available . ( Loud cheering . " ) In the mean time I have been promoted to a situation—Inspector-General of Cavalry to be able to render considerable
—in which I hope service to the army by repairing the losses and restoring the dilapidated condition of the cavalry—being , in short , entrusted with the preparation of all cavalry recruits for the army . " ( Cheers ) Respecting the fatal " order " he remarked , " Though I do not pretend to more sentimentality than other men , it seemed to me at the time , and still seema , that the loss was so certain and serious , and the advantage to be gained by the attack so slight , as to make it a matter of deep regret that the order was given . I received the order , however , to attack , and although I should not have thought of making such an attack without orders , and although I differed in opinion as to the propriety of the order , I promptly obeyed it . " ( Loud cheering . " )
Vtibkuax* 17, 1855.] The Lea Deb, 14fr
VtiBKUAX * 17 , 1855 . ] THE LEA DEB , 14 fr
The Real Solution Of The Army Dilemma. S...
THE REAL SOLUTION OF THE ARMY DILEMMA . Sir Francis Head has written a letter to the Times which professes to explain the real cause of the nonefficiency of the English army . It seems , that in 1834 , Sir Francis was much impressed with the thorough capacity of the Prussian military system , which includes education for officers and men . In a patriotic spirit he called on Lord Raglan ( then Lord Fitzroy Somerset ) to explain the matter , and suggest that similar care in our owncase must lead to similar results : — " For some seconds , " says Sir Francis , "he appeared either : unwilling or unable to answer my plain question ; at last , calmly shrugging up his left shoulder and the stump of his right arm , he replied , with a look of dutiful submission , ;— ' Joseph Hume . ' "
Sir Francis expresses his astonishment that the Times should have recently regretted the severe illness of so palpable a culprit as Mr . Hume . He says Lord Raglan may be destitute of forethought and contrivance , but the real blame should be cast on Mr . Hume , whose well-intentioned measures of economy , enforced by the House of Commons , have gradually dismembered our army of all its " field-departments , " and for want of a well-educated staff has reduced 54 , 000 effective troops , by hunger and cold , to 12 , 000 effective bayonets .
Continental Notes. Paris Has Worn A Crim...
CONTINENTAL NOTES . Paris has worn a Crimean aspect all the week , so far as deep snow , " bitter -cold ^ -and high winds , may-be said to constitute a resemblance . The Moniteur promulgates the law by which pensions of 20 , 000 fr . a year are conferred on the widows of Marshals Bugeaud and St . Arnaud . Recruiting for the French army is going on very rapidly . The Minister of War has just directed an office to be opened at Gex for enrolling men for the new Foreign Legion . Such recruits as may be obtained are to be forwarded to Besancon . And the Metz journals state that orders have been given to the officers of engineers to prepare a piece of ground in the neighbourhood for a camp of 100 , 000 men . Preparations , it is said , are being made at the Palace Stanislaus , at Nancy , for the reception of the Emperor .
The King of Hanover is hastening on military preparations ; and letters from Vienna state that he has empowered Baron de Stockhausen to conclude a separate treaty with Austria . Brunswick and Nassau have also sent declarations on that point of a very satisfactory character for the Austrian Cabinet . The adhesion of Naples to the alliance of the Western Powers is considered a fait accompli , but , as Piedmont concluded hers with France and England , the King of the Two Sicilies will only have to do with Austria . The amount of her expected contingent is not mentioned . The Russian Minister has gone to Casorta . Count Abel Hugo , brother of Victor Hugo , and Count Melchior de Polignac , last surviving brother of the Minister of Charles X ., died lost week .
The second grand ball for the season was given at the Tuileries on Thursday night . The Moniteur has published an article recommending discretion to the press in regard to operations of the war . The article is a derision in France . Imagine the French Government talking in the following strain to the journals it can suppress even without a warning . " We are no longer in that state of war abroad that it should necessarily lead to dictatorship at home . Tho Governments which have accepted tho honour and responsibility of a great struggle , entered into for tho purpose of insuring the Independence and balance of
power in Europe , have not found it necessary to decree laws of public safety . They have relied on the intelligence of public opinion , as well as on the heroism , the patience , and the abnegation of their armies and their fleets ; they have not been deceived on any point , neither will they be . disappointed when they request from the press o £ , all countries the patriotism of discretion . " The inconsistency of the Moniteur appears in publishing in its fourth page extracts from the correspondence of the Times and other papers relative to the army , and the presumed plans of its operations , after having denounced in its first page the practice of such publications .
A French company has proposed to raise in France a legion for the service of the English Government . The Company engages to supply from 10 , 000 to 25 , 000 men within the shortest possible time , half the number that may be agreed upon to be ready in fifteen days at the utmost . In order to effect that undertaking , it requires that it shall be permitted to recruit in France , or in neutral countries , men who have been liberated from military service , and on whom otherwise their Governments have no special- claim . It is stated that the English Government is disposed to entertain the propositions of the company , and only awaits , to enter on its execution , the assent of the French Government . The company offers , moreover , to equip the men if desired .
With regard to the mission of the Prussian General Wedel to Paris , it has been stated that Prussia still demands that her neutrality shall be recognised , and insists that , even without signing any treaty , separate or collective , pledging her to an active co-operation in the war against Russia , she shall have her place in the Vienna conferences . Religious liberty is not yet appreciated in Spain . On the 8 th , the discussion of those passages of the constitution which recognise Roman Catholicism as the religion
of the state was proceeded with in the Cortes . M . Ruis Pons moved , as an amendment , that liberty of conscience and of worship should be allowed to the same extent as in Rome . The amendment was opposed by M . de los Heros , in the name of the committee on the constitution , as unsuitable to the present situation of the country . The amendment was summarily rejected . Another resolution , placing religious liberty-under the guarantee of the constitution , was at once rejected , the votes beingfor , 139 ; against , 73 . -
The royal house of Sardinia is , indeed , sorely afflicted . On Saturday night-lost the Duke of Genoa died-of consumption after a lingering illness , Ferdinand , Duke of Genoa ^ was the second son of the late King Charles Albert , -and only brother of the present Sovereign of Piedmont . He was born Nov . 15 , 1822 , and married , four years ago , to the . daughter of Prince John , now King , of Saxony . The present situation of King Victor Immanuel is one to call for universal sympathy . Within a few weeks , and almost in the act of giving an example of active magnanimity to the kings of the Continent , by taking part in the European war , he has seen his mother , his wife , and now his brother fall at his side . The Moniteur says : —
" The auxiliary corps which Sardinia is about to send to the East will be composed of four brigades of infantry of the line , two battalions of riflemen , two regiments of cavalry , four " batteries of aftUlery ; and ~ a ~ rcompany of carabiniers . The four brigades of infantry will be that of the Grenadiers of Sardinia , regarded as a picked corps , and those of Piedmont , Pignerol , and Aosta . The riflemen , which are organised on the same plan as the Chasseurs de Vincennes , are well armed , and- excellent marksmen . The regiments of cavalry which are being
prepared for the expedition are admirable ; their horses , bred in the mountains , and principally on the island of Sardinia , are very hardy , can bear great fatigue , and are easily feJ . About one-half of the men are armed with lances . The artillery are well mounted , and the baggage-train perfectly organised . The greatest enthusiasm prevails among the troops destined to form part of the expedition , and this honour is sought for with the greatest eagerness by tho officers of all branches of the service . "
It is said at Vienna that not simple conferences , but a regular Congress , will be held there . France sends a Special Minister . The American , Phillips , who was mistaken by tho police at Basle for Signor Mazzini , and kept five days under arrest , has obtained from the Federal Government two thousand francs , as compensation for tho deprivation of his liberty . Tho chief police officer at Basle has been admonished to use more discretion . An inhabitant of Berne is under prosecution by the Federal Government for circulating an appeal inviting his countrymen to join the French foreign legion under General Ochsenbein . Spain will not permit recruiting for service in the
Crimea-The case of the newspaper lately started at Dantzig , and called tho West Prussian News , displays Russian influence in Germany . In consequence of the liberal sentiments contained in tho leading article of its third number , on the question , " Is Russia to bo . ponaidercd as a state of Eu » opoV in which the question was answered in the negative , and proofs brought forward to show that in its nature and institutions it is . more . Asiatic than European , the Russian consul denounced it by the telegraph to the
Czar's Envoy at Berlin , who complained to the Minister of the Interior , and effected the total suppression of the paper . The Czar has issued a manifesto , under date of St . Petersburg , the 12 th of February , in which he calls the entire male population under arms . The treaty of alliance with the Western Powers has been carried by a large majority in the Piedmontese Chamber of Deputies , after an energetic debate , in " which the speech of Signor Bo , affirming that the commerce of Genoa was traditionally concerned in the destruction of Russian preponderance in the Black Sea , was the most remarkable . In reply to an interpellation , Count Cavour said that the cession of Savoy had never been mentioned in any diplomatic conference . A small squadron of Sardinian war-steamers is to accompany the operations of the contingent in the Crimea . The Chevalier de Toggenburg , Civil Governor of Vienna , is the new Austrian Minister of Commerce .
The Governing Classes. (From The Times."...
THE GOVERNING CLASSES . ( From the Times . ") In the life of every man there are certain periods when , overcome by some bodily weakness , led aside by some strong passion , or engrossed by some favourite pursuit , he seems to lose his grasp over his destiny , to relax his efforts after the end at which he is straining , and to sink back into ease , indolence , and self-complacency . Much such a period has this country passed through since the establishment of Free Trade in 1846 . Immersed in the pursuit of material wealth , proud of the extension which our noble principle gave to our commerce , and happy in the relief from pauperism and the increased facility of finding employment , we have been only too
well content with things as they were , and too little disposed to inquire what they should be . The revolutions of 1848 , and the crimes , miseries , and absurdities to which they gave'rise , had produced a reaction against liberal sympathies and opinions , and a tendency to submit without inquiry to whatever authorities might be placed over us . The election of 1852 was a struggle for a principle virtually condemned already , and practically obsolete , and the nation only sought to strengthen the hands of those uvwhose adhesion to Free Trade they felt entire confidence . T From different circumstances it came to pass that at no period since the Reform ^ Bill had the aristocratic families obtained so firm a hold on office , place , and patronage as in the commencement of
the year 1854 . They had conducted our business for many years without any extraordinary miscarriage or misfortune , and -we were content to leave them the field of politics as their peculiar vocation and monopoly . But war has always been noted as an unsparing innovator , the destroyer of conventional respectabilities , and the overthrower of all manner of snug and comfortable cliques and coteries . The experience of the last few months has awakened the people of England from their dreams of wealth and prosperity , from their traditional self-gratulations over the naval and military exploits of the late war , and from the supposition that men invested with high rank and clothed with great office are possessed of faculties equal to the direction of our affairs whenever
there is-more than an -ordinary .. strain ., on theJyessel of the State . Our eyes are open , and we behold that we are naked . We ask for talent sufficient to conduct great affairs to successful conclusions , and instead of talent we are offered titles and pedigrees . We ask for merit , and we are offered in exchange high connexions , or , at best , seniority . The cold shade of aristocracy is over us all , and nothing can grow beneath it except the offshoots of the tree itself . Up to the middle of November this country believed itself to have armies , generals , statesmen , departments , all equal to their several duties , all of the very best the world could afford , and now , in the middle of February , in three short months , all [ is changed , or rather all is reversed .
Wo have awoke from our dream of hope , prosperity , and success , to disaster and dismay . Our generals have turned out worse than useless , our Minister ' s something more than incapable , every public department has been crushed into hopeless imbecility by the weight of unbending routine and worthless formalities , and on no one occasion that we are aware of , has the right man been selected to fill the right place . Everything has been mismanaged to a dcgreo . which , if predicted , would have been deemed incredible ; yet , so far as tho public are aware , no single official has yet been recalled , and after a week ' s interregnum , Government has been reconstituted and strengthened only by the omission of three of its leading members , and the promotion of one who ib at least as guilty as of those omitted .
any Tho people of England have remained quiet under all these things . They have felt—as how should they not feel ? tho mortality which has brought mourning to every hearth . They have noted-us how should they not note?—the incredible and Inexplicable confusion and stupidity which have presided over every department , giving reality to absurdities suoh as the moBt extravagant imagination could never have painted , and occasioning miseries such as tho gloomiest prophet could never have foreboded . Why the people have been so long silent has been to most reflecting men , a matter of wonder and astonishment . They feel moat acutely ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 17, 1855, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17021855/page/5/
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