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1370 THE L. E AD E K, [No. 508. Dec. 17,...
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fessors in the sublime science of " how ...
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STATESMEN'S FOLLIES. No Englishman will ...
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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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Cannot Doubt That If France Had Possesse...
political action to an impossibili ty ¦ : it says either redress all wrongs , or none , either restrain all evil doers , or let all alone . Such , a system may help a journalistic Ishmael to raise his band against everybody , and create a disorder -which he may turn to his own profit , but it can establish nothing of practical utility , either in the regions of speculation or of fact . . According to M . Girardin , England has a foreign policy—to distribute her productions . Austria has a policy—to bind together and enlarge her bundle of states . Prussia has a policy—to counterbalance Austria . Russia has a policy—to execute
the will of Peter the Great ; but France has no foreign policy at all , and has had none since she gave ° up that of conquest . Napoleon I . is dismissed as having made conquests without a policy , and 2 > Tapoleon III ., is praised for good intentions , but still declared destitute of this indispensable attribute of sovereignty . Then comes the instigation to a policy which would—until he deserted itsatisfy M . Girardin ; and that is , to establish what he calls , a " maritime equilibrium . A mere embarcation on our coasts , would , he thinks , lead to nothing but a re-embarcation ; and he deprecates serving London as England served Copenhagen , " because one act of barbarity does not justify
another . " Still the reign of peace and commerce cannot commence until England has been forced to give up Gibraltar and the Ionian Islands , evacuate Aden and restore Perim ; and he asserts that a coalition of all the nations of Europe , with the United States of America , would bring this about without war , for England would be afraid of opposing the world in arms ; and the same combination might declare the Dardanelles permanently free . Louis Napoleon was wrong in joining England in the Crimean war , because attacking any naval power , helps to maintain our " feudal supremacy" over the sea . Guizot was wrong in protesting against the absorpr tion of Cracow— -he should have directed the
French Ambassador at Vienna to illuminate in honour of the atrocity , because it was a violation of the settlement of 1815 by one of the parties to that affair . It did not concern France to stop the aggression of Itussia in Turkey , because it would have reopened the era of conquests , —and has not France a large army with nothing particular to do ? The Isthmus of Suez is the weak point in England ' s cuirass : let France pierce it ; for if France and Russia are agreed , they Avili hold the Dardanelles , and " certain of being f 611 owed by America , " they can say to England— " Strait against strait . Gibraltar against the Dardanelles . " IF this should not bring England to x-eason , let France say to Spain " Never mind—count on me . Take and keep Tangiers . " Mr . Bright will be astonished to find that all this incentive to violence
and crime is merely to shut up custom houses , and promote the exchange of goods—things which are , of course , impossible while England commands the sea . As some of the Girardin schemes would comproniise the rights of nations , we are told that " nationality is a deceitful word ; " that if they had immunity from oppressive taxation and conscription , it could not matter to the Lombards whether ( hey belonged to Austria or to Sardinia . " What can national independence matter if
there is individual liberty ? " " Between conquest , which in the right of the strong , and liberty , which is the right of the weak , there is no room fornationality , which id a fact , but is wanting in right . " But enough of this tricky charlatan , whoso appeals aro to low motives nn # base passions ; find whoso principles—if they can bo dignified with the" name , would make rapacity and chicanery the moving springs of international action . It is not by such advisers thnt Franco can profit , and if wo thought M . Girnrdin susceptible of improvement , wo should vecummend him , in the words of Tennyson , to " Lot tho apo and tiger die . "
1370 The L. E Ad E K, [No. 508. Dec. 17,...
1370 THE L . E AD E K , [ No . 508 . Dec . 17 , 185 $ .
Fessors In The Sublime Science Of " How ...
fessors in the sublime science of " how not to do it ? "' The war of to-day is distinguished from the wars of yesterday by its crowding into the shortest space of time the results of the labour of previous years . We go from London to Edinburgh in a few hours , because millions of capital and a prodigious amount of work Was previously directed to render such an . achievement possible , and it would be as easy for us to travel on an unprepared road at the rate of forty miles an hour , as to fight a modern battle without a previous accumulation of the immense machinery required . Scientific weapons and tactics have made skilled
labour , when applied to military affairs , of more importance than they used to be ; but they are far from having diminished the demand for numbers , and recent campaigns have been remarkable for the quantity of men engaged . It is , moreover , tolerably certain that , if we were attacked at all , it would be by an assemblage of military and naval forces such as have never before been brought iuto'combined action . This feeling has prompted to the formation of volunteer corpsf If quality only had been wanting , a little hammering of official stupidity in Parliament and out of it , would have sufficed to enable the British
army to leave all competitors behind ; but there has been a just conviction that the regular forces ( whose cost has reached about six and twenty millions a-year ) would not suffice , unless largely aided by gre , at numbers of the civilian class . Considering the extent of coast to be defended , and the number of roads and railways that would have to be secured against the successful march of any force that managed to effect a landing , it would be a low computation to say that we ought to have half a million of men accustomed to handle a rifle , and at least moderately trained in military evolutions and drill . If we look at the
efforts made in former times , when our population was much smaller , this ought to be an easy task , and it would . be soon accomplished , if ofHcialpervcrsity and public apathy did not stand in the way . In case of invasion , men beyond forty would , no doubt , contribute their quota to the national forces ; but that portion of our population best adapted for training ; , and upon whom our chief reliance should be placed , arc those who belong to what is called the soldiers' age , from twenty to
forty . Of these , we had in Great Britain alone 3 , 193 , 496 at the time of the census of 1851 ; showing , as the report observed , that in thirty years this portion of our people had increased by a vast army of more than twelve hundred thousand men . Allowing for the increase of population since 1851 , and adding men of forty and upwards , who would take part in a good system of training , wo may assume that we have , after all deductions , about three millions , well adapted to learn something of the soldier ' s art . It should not ,
therefore , be a difficult task to get one-sixth of this mass decently taught . If wo rely on the richer classes alone , we shall proceed a very little way in gutting the desired numbers , for fho rich , or even the well-to-do , constitute a small minority . Mr . Newmarch tells us , that in England and Wales 75 per cent , of the dwelling-houses are under . £ 10 annual rent , and if we remember that no small proportion of the remaining " per cent , of better class houses are let out in lodgings , we shall see that more than three-quarters of the adult males must bo excluded from any volunteer system that
country , but all future Charles I . ' s , against all fu ture Oliver Cromwells , and all future James II ' s " against ail futxire Princes of Orange . In St ' Pancras it was stated that the outfit of their proposed , corps should not exceed . £ 4 a head . £ ut even this and the annual subscription , hot only excludes the working man , but also the sons of small tradesmen , who could not afford anything of the kind . , ° It is quite possible to teach a man military drill without putting him into an uniform ; and considering the object in view , it is : very silly to exclude all who cannot undergo the expense of purchasing the productions of military tailorcraft
Whenever the state was likely to require the services of the Volunteers , and wearing some uniform became a necessity , it ought to undertake the duty of supplying it , excepting only where persons were rich enough and willing to provide for themselves . In old times , when the Government really did want the people to know the use of arms , archery grounds were maintained at public local expense . Now , that the Government is only playing with the question , and half afraid of it , the arduous task of providing riile grounds . and the outlay attached thereto is entirely thrown upon private individuals aud adds immensely to
the difficulties of success . Nor do the obstacles end here , for quarrels and dissensions about the choice of officers— -all arising out of needless Government meddling , are of continual occurrence in the new formed corps . Then the uniform has been a bone of contention ; some Lords Lieutenant seeming to be of opinion , that its main object was to make the rifleman a good mark to be-shot at , and to be of as little use as possible , in protecting its inhabitant against the inclemency of the weather . With all these discouragements , it is plain that only a sharp panic can keep the tiling going , and tlmt twelve months of renewed confidence would
dissipate nine-tenths of the rille corps' into thin air . The machinery for doing what is necessary might be simple enough , Let localities , parishes , or municipal corporations , provide ¦ practising grounds , and keep them in repair ; let the Government supply -teachers , who will drill any respectable man who offers to undergo a course oi lessons at convenient hours ; . anil let these who choose form regiments or battalions , selecting their own olficers , except the colonel—wilhapror viso that no one -should reociw ; i commission without proving his capacity , by undergoing an
. We know the middle class were at one time alarmed at the prospect of working men po .-sossing arms and knowing how to handle tlurin , but this is passing away , being merely ii variety of the timid spinster objection to anything that would ll ^ o off " . " Wo liave got beyond the s-tugo "t which a " servile war " is possible ; and m <> ur working men , even under the irritation uf strikes , seldom use the weapons they do possess in the shape ot fists and sticks , there is no reason to expect that 4 . 1 ,- *«¦¦* -.. >« 1 . I « H . fc * -fc m ¦ >« mBh *^* BI *^* % * 1 « r I llf k ? ll 4 ~ tti ! tli ' t |*|) l || ' ! l ( ' 1111 they would sanguinary bshouldering a gun .
* _ . . * grow y So for from military gaining weakening the bowl : * of society , it would have the opposite Hied ; aind men who were accustomed to respect and obey then officers would be the last to desire to gi'Uip h / 10 ' or a civil war . The untrustworthy portion ot the population would not voluntarily put themselves underdiscipline at till ; and if tiny millowner should gtill indulge in idle torrors , there are plenty ol country gentlemen who would restore bis peuco ol mind , by showing him thiit thogivnl house wus not besieged because Hodgo know how to imuvh mid win the shooting prize presented by tlie squire ut a village feast .
involves considerable oxpense . The Government proposition , upon . which the upper uml middle class are acting , practically excludes all these valuable people , and will only havo the . country defended by persons respectable enough to keep ti gig . Tho State plan , " now not to do it , " sticks to the Gastlereagh Act against drilling , and only relaxes its stringency in favour of those who can buy such an uniform as tho Lord-Lieutennnt would like to see at his dinner table , and subscribe one or two guineas a year , besides entrance feea and various contingent expenses . Wo have omitted the cost of a rifle because the Government has oiTorred to
THE MJXE VOLUNTEERS . If every column in the daily papers relating to the volunteer riflemen could be matched by a column of efficient defenders , we should soon bo in a condition to laugh at assault ; but it is worth inquiring , whether the people nro acting wisely in simply following tho Government lead ? or whether tho authorities in this , as in other instances , havo xnade good their claims as distinguished
prolend a certain proportion . The possession of one by each individual ia , however , indispensable to a good system . The Cabinet has no objection to rich men subscribing to pay the expenses of , a few poor men , but the " Charitable Hides " are not likely to bo a numerous olass . Ah a ruIo ^ lO down , and £ 2 2 b . a year , besides tho expense of getting to remote practising grounds ; and other minor outgoings , are the penalties for shouldering a musket And swearing to defend not only the
Statesmen's Follies. No Englishman Will ...
STATESMEN'S FOLLIES . No Englishman will controvert ; the assertion recently nmdo by a Frenchman , 1 I 111 L I lie etfolwjw pursuit of war by Nupoloou 1 . was n g > ' " '"' v It inflicted wounds on Franco Unit remum open oven now , mid destroyed hiinself . TlmL Iliu policy of Napoleon III . is equally foolish , as « ™ ° assorted , cannot bo known till Us consequences have oomo into oxistonco . At pri . 'sunt , it I '" involved him and Franco in grout dimcultuw , which avo perhaps not insuperable His suocesnj and tho very existence of his Government , ( uu substantial proofc of the folly of his imtmjiimtiprodooossors and their advisers . Their shUe *""" " ship won not beneficial either to thomHolvos m their country . Wo havo no oooasion , however , 10
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17121859/page/14/
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