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qotober go, 1855.j tftoet jl m jl hit __...
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THE ORDNANCE EXAMINATIONS. 3?o bestow ap...
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POLITICAL ENGLAND. A. veby small part of...
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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 Crimea As A Penal Settle-. . . . /::...
* o that , although theyr accompany him in the j ^ t 0 eae '"pT 0 mdbioh ^ they do not in the pecufriary promotion . "We want some principle , therefore , to tell ra how it is that these feuperi & r promotions are arranged . K ^ erhaps-the nature of the principle may fje guessed from certain other arrangements . $ fot Ipng ^ ifflnce Windsor Theatre was disttirbed by fiilfow" between the manager and a ttegimentai ^ nScer , who had been among the ijatrons of a " bespeak . ' This officer was I / ord Ebitest Vaite , who allowed his name , with- those of other officers of the regiment
stationed -in Windsor , to appear in the playbills , and thus felt himself endowed so far with the character of the father of the family that he insisted upon visiting the ladies in their dressing-rooms . Resisted in this paiernal anxiety , the young patron collared the remonstrating manager , held him over a stairbase , and , notwithstanding his piteous reinonstrances , threw him down . Being noble , the young officer was let off with a nominal
fine ; but the Horse Guards , of course , were bound to take some cognisance of the matter , ftnd they did so . Lord Ebnest Vane was not compelled to leave his regiment as being incapable of adapting himself to the society of gentlemen , he was not compelled to sell out , but he was permitted to take active service in the Crimea ; " exchanging" from his own regiment into one that is there employed . We may infer from this circumstance-that service in the East is to a certain
extent placed uponalevel with transportation' as we used to understand it before the enactment ' of penal servitude . Xord Ebistest Vane ' s is only an individual case :- our readers will remember an instance Of discipline still more curious . The Fortysixth Regiment was disturbed by a constant practice of roasting officers . The commanding officer was conscious of irregularities , but did not interfere . One young officer , € rkEEB , took the lead in outrages upon discipline ; another young officer , Pebry ,
was the victim of the outrage . The victim wks dismissed , his persecutor was allowed to ? f sell out , } " the commanding officer who governed the regiment with these results was sent to the Crimea in command , has since succeeded to be Brigadier-General , and is now in command of a division ! It was proved in'favour of Colonel Gabbett , indeed , that 'h e-played-at whist with much assiduity , and with a really concentrated attention quite sufficient to account for his not being disturbed by the Pebby-Gbbeb riots . He has shuffled his cards to some purpose ^ and is a
rising man . We infer , therefore , that the Crimea is regarded as a place of penal servitude ; a sort of travatuv forces , to which refractory or negligent officers may be sent . It is , however , a prison agreeable to the incarcerated ; for if the men behave respectfully to their superiors , as Brigadier Gabbett must have done , they are sometimes , it would seem , promoted from being prisoners in the penal settlement to being gaolors over the other prisoners .
Qotober Go, 1855.J Tftoet Jl M Jl Hit __...
qotober go , 1855 . j tftoet jl m jl hit __ | 6 §| S _
The Ordnance Examinations. 3?O Bestow Ap...
THE ORDNANCE EXAMINATIONS . 3 ? o bestow appointments in the artillery by literary competition aeoma the last affront to ithe advocates of physical and practical qualifications . " What you want , " it will be said , < Min . < an officer , at any rate , is not knowledge ! of booka , bnt'S trength , and courage , and good -gom mon < sense . " r-v i h > -cAtre officer ^ ch osen under tho present tystqin for their strength , or courage , or icomxnon sense ? ; Are they chosen for any ^ otheifireason ;! than , that their parents have fi » pliWvifbr ' 'ai < oomihns 9 ion ? ' And do their , parents , ? hi the majority of cases , apply for a
commission for any better reason than that their :: sons are too stupid aa ± d idle for anything but the army ? In the" artillery , a course of cramming of the very wcJrst kind and a pass examination supervenes after the nomination ; but the nomination itself , takes place irrespective of any merit or ¦ aptitude whatsoever . By the system of literary competition , then , you lose nothing . You supersede no better criterion . And you gain ( what you . would gain by drawing lots ) the abolition of patronage and solicitation .
A moment ' s reflection ^ however , will show those who tell us that we want not knowledge of boohs , hut physical strength and common sense , that they are the dupes of a transparent verbal fallacy . If they will substitute tvithout for hut , their fallacy will immediately appear . They will then see they are tacitly assuming that no man who is clever . and well educated possesses common sense .
Common sense is not a special faculty by itself ; much less is it a faculty the possession of which is incompatible with the possession of other faculties . It is merely abilit y ^ with a certain basis of character , applied to practical affairs . That same ability is applicable to , and is tested by , a successful preparation for a literary competition . Power of attention , retentiveness , clearness of head , selfpossession in a moment of excitement , power of reproducing and applying knowledge , judg
ment in avoiding blunders and nonsense , are the qualities which give a candidate the victory in a well-managed examination , Even the more imaginative parts of a classical examination , such as verse composition ( which may have startled the readers of the Ordnance Report ) , are tests of that , inventive faculty which , turned to professional objects , may produce a new projectile , or a new ~ plan of
fortification . All kinds of capacity are more nearly allied to each other than any capacity is to ignorance . The abstraction vand purblindness which we connect with the notion of a student , and which , of course w are fatal to action , are not native to intellect , but incrustations gathered by long devotion to study . They are seldom , we might say never , incurable in a youth of nineteen .
As to physical qualities , we said before , when commenting on the Indian examination , that muscular strength must not be confounded with practical vigour . Wii ^ IiIamIII . struggled heroically and successfully against Louis Qpatobze , though he probably could not have wrestled with a boy . A prize-fighter would thrash a Cjssab , a MABiiBOBOUGH , a Napoxeoit , and a IFbedebIok all put together . A . youth cannot beat his rivals in examinations without cerebral energy ^ ambition , and the strength of will which is necessary in order to limit the appetite for amuse-It
ments , and fix the attention on dry work . very frequently happens , however — much more frequently than is commonly supposed —that the same man is distinguished in mental aud bodily exercises . A constitution sound eaough to endure the fatigues of a campaiga should , of course , be required as a sine gud non in all who are admitted to competition for military appointments . Nothing more seems necessary in an age when Thebsites might kill Aohjxi-es . a mile oft ' , and the huge frame of Ajax would only afford a larger mark for the Mini 6 rifle .
But there is another point of view in wh ^ L this matter ought to be regarded . , We ought not to be contented with the , mere protoai sional efficiency of our officers , regardless of their minda and characters . . We , hove no business to mtvkp Minio , and , Lauucastor men . The separation between the . soldiejj . and tho citizen , which standing armies involve , is bad enough at best , ' but it becomes intolerable if our soldiers are to be mere cast-iron' machines
of , war , and , perhaps , of despotism / without the ideas and feelings of cultivated humanity ^ Mere courage in the field does not comperi ^ sate to us for the social nuisance and scandal of barrack life , and the detestable example it sets to the soldiers , who , of course , take [ their notions of morality from the gentlemen . The abominations revealed in the Pebby affair , are the natural consequences of total vacancy of mind and the total absence of any refined tastes in a soldier unengaged in active duty *
Such men cannot , even when engaged , feel the chivalry or appreciate the romance of a soldier ' s life . Brave they are on tb . q battlefield , though they do no ; i , i < 6 ein to . have that high sense of honour wBich would prevent them from leaving their regiments in the middle of a campaign in great numbers and on all sorts of pretences—coming home to wait upon sick generals , as well aa coining home when they are sick themselves . Brave , we say , they are ; but we may boast that Englishmen in general , educated as well as uneducatedare-constitutionally brave .
^ At all events , in selecting a more educated class of men for military command , especially in the artillery , we are making no rash or premature innovation . WTiat is commonly called common sense-T-th at is , ignorance and stupidity ^—has been tried to the utmost . The bones , of a splendid army commanded by Common Sense rest in the ground where Common Sense allowed them to perish , not only unaided and unguided , but almost upcared for . Victorious in battles , -which were
won by the uncommanded courage of the common soldiers , like a game at football , Common Sense has been foiled in every operation in which commanding qualities were required , while a leader chosen on a different principle in the person of Pelissieb lias gained the victory at his side . A resort to skill and intelligence , if it is not jbhe resource of reasonable hope , has become the last refuge of despair .
Political England. A. Veby Small Part Of...
POLITICAL ENGLAND . A . veby small part of the nation , at present , is seriously ! political . Almost every fceiipound householder , notwithstanding , credits himself with a rare amount of public s pirit . The morning papers disgust him unless they contain , in emphatic type , reports of , at least one victory and one projected alliance . He cherishes an ardent hope that his Majesty Napoi-eon the Thibp may long be spared , and he believes Gladstone a traitor , BBiGiiqp a bigot , the King or j ^ apjces a tyrant , and the King or Pbussia a sot . Sometimes he thinks that Palmbbston is a patriot , ^ at others that he corresponds in secret with the Bmx'ebob of Russia , and that a little local journal is " manna from Heaven" for saying so . But , at best , the English ten-pound householder has , since the war commenced , passed through fits of intoxication , succeeded by spoils of lethargy . When the army . was sacrificed , his sense of justice and bis kindly sympathies roused hjm . He would have glory abroad , not disgrace or disaster . No other impulse could move him . He read the
newspapers ^ and trusted that , if matters went wrong , Punch and tho Times would bring tho Government to reason . While this mighty and much-courted ardor dozed nnd exploded by turns , what wore Uxo others doing ? Tho working clnseos , certainly , preserve , to a limited extent , tho . forma or agitation . But they have , m w ^ f Nstances , been led into tho " «» J " ^ 3 extravagance , corrupted by fl "X ^ eaten ^ v by monomania ^ P ^ }^ ' ^ Their oyin nnisv voices and violent tirades . ****** own ? he temoriV of fmH-educatod men ; other
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 20, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20101855/page/13/
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