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But greater than all' these , England has called upon herself a difficulty to conquer , by the exercise of great exertion , great selfreliance , and the " old English" spirit . There is no example in history of any nation which has ceased to be a conquering nation , -without at the same time declining in strength , independence , and real national life . Conquests for the purpose of overcoming harmless neighbours and swelling vain glory in the
extension of territory , are the worst objects for military action ; bat Russia has supplied us with a legitimate field on which the soldierly , qualities of the nation can be exercised . ; W © have to conquer Russia and all her allies , unless we are content to take a lower place in the scale of nations ; and there is every sign that the English people is not prepared to accept the latter alternative . The cost of the war therefore is an admission
2 , 150 , 000 fighting men . It is of course impossible to overawe or surprise a state thus guarded against the external enemy or the internal traitor . Our own movement in the way of militia is good as far as it goes ; but it goes scarcely a single step towards restoring the true English militia . About 70 , 000 . young men have been raised and enrolled in county regiments ;
some few of these regiments are to 1 ae embodied for permanent service , and are to be employed as troops in the line are for home garrison duty . That is to say , we are . to raise an additional army of young men volunteering to join the regular forces , except that they cannot be taken put of the country ; but
in other respects they do not differ from the ordinary paid standing army . In the last war the militia , was a good nursery for the regular army , and it has again become so ; "but neither the public , nor the Government appear yet to have advanced beyond the notions on the subject which prevailed at the outburst of the late European contest , when England was arrayed against Napoleon and freedom .
fee , letting us into that great field in which we mayVedeem a large part , of the life of this country , too long paled by the . sloth of peace and the debasing influences of trade . YTe Haveo / nly made , a feegi 2 ming ; with bh& militia , and it is . well that the public should frankly linder ^ tand wliat is- really jdone . The quiet of now more than one generation has concealed from us the practical danger which resides in the institution of aj standing army . It is no mere dogma of our own republicanfeeling which makes us thus repeat that word of jealousy : ;¦ the . danger has" been felt Wy the leading Englishmen , who have ; kept in view the encroachment of the Grown and of the
servants of the Crown . The sole , the last re ^ liance of James the Second , —a power which might have turned England into an absolute G (> vernnient ,- ^ - was his paid army ; and , the fact that a standing army could determine the succession , of the throne and the possession of the Government , was one , but not the only
reason , why a provision against that unconstitutional prerogative of the Crown was included in the Bill of Rights . By that toomuch-forgotten charter of our liberties it is deelared contrary , to law to keep a standing army in the kingdom in time bfpeace , without the consent of Parliament . That consent
is annually signified in the Mutiny Act . It ia a test of the low point to which vigilance over English riglts has sunk , that to pass the Mutiny Act has become a matter of course , and that the public forgets what the act contains ; although nothing but the strictest and most conscious * public vigilance can prevent a great force like our standing army ,
whose command is ex-qflfic % o reposed in the Sovereign , from becoming a tool of the Government against the great body of the people . The standing army has become such ; and it needed a more vigorous action of the body politic to recover the ground lost to English liberty by that retrograde movement .
According to the usual sense of the word , a militia sliould mean the wliole body of the people capable of bearing arms . in that sense , while the French atid Prussians fall short of us in the possession of political knowledge amongst the body of the people , they have a more complete guard of national independence ; for infinitely larger numbers of the population are trained to sustain any conflict against the armed servants of the crown . The TTnited States still preserve the true English
sense of tlie militia . In America , as we showed in a recent review of Mr . Tremeuheere ' s book , it ia declared , by the state constitutions as well aB by the constitutions of the federal republic , that every citizen has a right to possess and to bear arms . Kay , citizens are compelled to serve in the militia , unless they are enrolled in some recognised and authorised volunteer corps ; and thus the United States possess a great army oi patriots , numbering , if wo remember rightly ,
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aojght W repealed , the whole constitution , of Church and State might be subjected : to fui # damental alterations , without having gone through the process of a previous inYej 9 $ igation by a committee of the whole Housed The proposal ydta reference to the adjournment of the Friday sittings is intended to restrict the licence now afforded to members
of interposing : factious delay , or of raising useless ^ scussions ; Xiittle need he said by way of comment Every session , a ^ r ^ innumerable- instances of the waste of tiine occasioned \> y . discussion on the motion for adjournment , . and- on other points ; of , no pressing urgency . Cases may ' ,. sQmetim . es occur in ; which . , it is a matter of sonae , convenience -fca the 'Government ; to be a ^ jLertostop the ordinary business of' fches TTofiaa ; nxr a
motion of : adjournment but tlae . .-MB ^ f $ *¦ $ ¦ this ohjection was forcibly pufc ; j ) y Sir . . ^ puyerie « . r— , JL haye seenrit stated .. i |^ lr- | |^^ % . fl saying of some great ; Speaker [ i ^^^ sC ^ aj of the principal functions bf his o ^ efo ^ il ^ p how judiciously to relax the . rulea . 9 |^/| fiei House , and they are Jiy ^' tW . ^ a ^ mi ^ Jl ^' Speaker would feel tiislt iW . WB 6 rc ^ Jjfe . House was in fayour of a ^ od ^ cati € | iij 3 |^ p rule ,-anj .. he , woald not insist upon its staaicil enforcement . "
HOW THE CQapiQKS DOES ITS ; . . , . ¦ . BUSINESS . .. ";; . " Earl y in the present session a select committee waa appointed to consider , whether , by any alterations in the forms and proceedings of tne Houae of Commons , it , would beTjpossible to expedite the despatch of public business . The subject is one , of great practical importance , and it is to be regretted that , in spite of the strong arguments used , by wi&f nesses so competent as the Speaker , Mr . Bouverie , and Mr . Erskino May ; iih . e , e <* na *
mittee have confined' their recommendations to nine . ;; The report concludes thu 3 i-H " 'On some important points , the committee have abstained , from recommending an alteration in the rules of the House , not from any doubt of the inconvenience to which the existing rules and < practice . have led , but from an , apprehension that the suggested remedy , ap ? plied in _ the form of a new and stringent rule , would fail to prove effectual for \ its purpose . ' * They admit the evil , but rely for their remedy upon the good sense and right feellttg of the House .
It is proposed , however , to discontinue the preliminary committees of the whole House on questions relating to trade and religion , and to consider the Friday , sittings as adjourned till Monday , without any formal motion . In offering these suggestions , the committee have been obviously guided by the desire to restrict , as much as possible , the opportunities for useless debate , and to confine discussion to the narrowest limits
compatible with an adequate consideration of measures before the House . No objection will be raised , on the score of stringency 3 against the . changes now recommended . Tthe Speaker clearly pointed out the inconsistent character of the standing orders with regard to questions of trade and religion , and the difficulties which have arisen in applying them . It has happened , not unfrequently , that a bill haa been thrown hack several
stages in consequence of an after discovery that it ought to have commenced in a committee of the whole House . The practice appears to have arisen out of the grand committees , long ago abolished , and to have been regarded as an additional safeguard in respect to bills of special importance . But if the
safeguard is of any value it ought to be extended . While we oner opportunities for a double discussion on bills coming under either of the abovementioned heads , wo allow bills of at least equal importance to be introduced without anj such conditions . The haboaB corpus might be suspended , the act of succession
It ^ oujd ^ pe impossible to enter mto much detail upon the suggestions to be ^ foujkd r in . ttie evidence , as we should fo ^^ u ^ eggg ^ t gf prefaceVqftjr remarks by an e ^ auajbwttv ^ of ' , ' Mfc rules of , the House ... jjut the e ^ cwntvOf . ctae eyn ; ^ whicji it , ip sought to remefl ^^ aj ;^ learnt from tne simple isiet ^ \ i ^ t ^ f ^ m . € ^ Q : ^ m ! still fourteen questions necessarily put : , '' < m every bill , exclasiv © of tlie Tjroceeditig ? iii committee and of amendK
s ^ eiitaj' * v ^^ j ^ gf i proportion of the forms wfeh interfere "iyitli ! teAiplP 11 ° ^ i ^? 8 ^^ W ^ Mif 9 fW « ^ 3 viVfechi ;? ^ ay [ e / ^> ng . gMgffafa exist . ^ 3-hieyi ^ e » e necessary , as precautipna ux ^ aj £ * LYilised .- ^ gea ,., w ^ i . Jb | H 9 , 1 Vf ^^ Sm jmnwil , \ rhen petitions were unsown , jsvjben , J ?^ aii ? entary ^ e ^ ojAi ^ rere no ' i ^ r ^ M | ) j when strangers were ¦ excluded , and debatea unpublished , i Freedom o ^ diacuaaipn . ttea required protection ; but the most mtoleraplo
evil now is the garrulous vanity _ ot memlger ^ , who occupy the time of the HouaeXwimQut proportLona , te benefit . There , w . ^^ ouipj ^ that great changes miglrl ; 1 a ^ ¦^ %$ ^^ H ^ great adyaiitage to the public , "but the tendency of all tHese , which relate to , the proceeicbjajga within the House should be to i ^^^ js ^ 4 economise the time spent in legislatipn . ' Ifcj was proposed , for instance , by H » . Er j Skinljdj May , that unopposed bills should be liL ^ j b ^ duced at an early hour ; that no afcnen ^ nimt , as regards time sliould be al ^ p ^ edv ^ . ^ tbie second reading ; that when a biiljaas passed
a select committee it should proceed , linleas an express , motion was madeto ^ he contrary , to the feUird reading , —the one olrjeci being , to discourage debates on form and time , Tne , Speaker , again , suggested ., that a grand committee of the whole House , bIiouIojoo ^ menceto sit at an early period in the sessiojQ , for one or two mornings in the week , as a plan by which many nights winch are » oiwr ; devoted to business might be saved . But the , general , impression derived from tlie perusal of the report is one of wonder that , with sucjb high authorities in favour of more extended alterations , the committee should have
proposed ao lew . It is clear , indeed , that the committee have scarcely advanced beyond the threshold q ) E the inquiry . Is it possible that , at this day , when so much publicity ia given to the proceedings of Parliament , it should be necessary to fence logialation round witTi obstructive forms ? The marvel its , how ai bill gets through the House at all . A member must ask for leave to introduce it—this involves a speech , it may be a long debate . Then
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Mav 20 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 20, 1854, page 469, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2039/page/13/
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