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SUNDAY'SINNERS AND MONDAY DINNERS.
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jBat- ^ e ^ made ^ aHoesb important ooaiss « Ma . tfc - -was « aacted'thatihe ^ regunentS ' should , onl y * be : embo 4 ied . tin >«« se of-tactual invasion or daogfer -thereof ;» r « aakteg . no-provision for the ^ embodi-» na « nferof ? tfae > a » env-m- «« se of war ! This is'the l ^ ot -fo f'the ^« nl » - * Mr . Waipoib showed too much"wit-Trhfen * he proposed a militia franchise . clause * "and he * showed too little- when he forgot ' 44 int JiltuUatiJ . mai ^ kf - nnrtn W 9 K ' Tf CfV ; A » ll . Ollf : that iEtirgiand miht gonto warIt so fell out
- g . . that itvjtbe-vcry next year we found ^ ourselves 4 < drifting" kito war- ^^ with no power to embody the militia . What could be done ? Lord Paj > -mebs * on made an appeal to some of theTegiinents , i < and < to ^ their honour , no fewer than sixteen volunteered for embodiment , and were embodied . Bufrnow the Aberdeen Government fell < 8 feort . They , too , forgot the " militia . ' Throaghffttt 1 & 53 no efforts were made' to correct the nfoistake ^ made by Lord DEttBY , although the'Stfan ' TespoHsiblefor its prompt correction was Xord PaemerstonIt ¦ was not sLw ¦ w fc ¦ ™ ™ ^ ¦
. ^ L ^^^^ m ^^^^^ TV vVI ^ iP t t r . ^* m ^ k ^^ r ^ T 1 A ^ 1 ^/ ¦» ^^ * * ** » * m » ^ r iantil ^ war 'had . been declared , it was » 6 t until ^ May , 18 S 4 , ' thatf tfee ' recent act empowering the ' Queen to embody ttie militia in time of war l < was passed . / '' Far this neglect , as for so many r others , precediifg -Governments are greatly to blame ; 'because ' the militia-had been so ' long "tmused , eve * fttiiiig relating to it had to be re"arranged , the great experiment or voluntary enlistment , forming not the least element in the difficulty ; while the want of barracks placed " really serious obstacles in the Tray . But we cannot entirely absolve the Aberdeen
Government , nor the present * Prime Minister . : Had they chmg less to peace , or , clinging to peace , 'made the ^ utmost preparation for war , how differeritly < would England stand before Europe . 'Energy arid contempt for routine woufd ' have found means of facilitating the " raisingarid quartering of the militia in 1853 , so that in 1854 , not only would every available soldier have stood ready to embark for the Black Sea or the Baltic , but we should have had a reserve of trained soldiers at home whence
recruits would surely have come forward to exchange passive for active soldiering . It is now clear , either that the Aberdeen Government in this matter did not look before , or , that looking before , they were overawed by the clamours of the" peace ; party , " feared for the effect of a- large militia upon the wages market . The result is now before us . By the act of 1854 , militiamen who had enlisted for continuous service only , " in case of invasion or the danger thereof , " found themselves called upon et
to serve permanently in time of war . " Charges of breach of faith were raised in the House of Lords , not without foundation . The new Minister : of War , looking into the matter , found that , strictly interpreted , the case of the recalcitrant militiaman had right on its side ; and determined , at all hazards , to be just , Lord Panmtjke issued a circular , offering the men , enlisted before the 12 th May , 1854 , who had served more than the time prescribed-by law , full discharge , or 11 . bounty on re-enlistment under the new Act . The effect is
magical . One regiment loses 600 out of 800 j another , 200 out 6 £ 392 ; a third , 300 out of 400 ; ' a fourth almost disappears , and so on in every variety , with the same result—a'targe diminution of the available force . It ' is difficult to estimate what will be the < aotual effects , of this state of things . At the present moment the militia is a name , and ¦
little more . The whole service , b y official ' blundering , is disorganised . On the other hand , seeing that the bounty on enlistment " into the infantry is 7 / ., and into-the cavalry 10 / ., ' and further / considering that most of the Jxnen willifind their old places filled up during •^ Absence , it is ' not improbable that tho recruit-> Jin ^ se * gwtnt » 'VWll'p iok * up- 'what the militia * Mas * thieowu' ^ PwaY . i ftot' t&is is very uufl&tisftctory .
t ft ig ^ m >| 4 gly . 6 §^ i > tha ^ militiamen -so * l * fctle iheanstitfefcnof patriotismf-asrtc ~* Jy « way fr < xm theiJ ^ « ol ®« rs < -at the- first ^ opportunity . Popular ^ as-the war is ,-here are Englishmen eager to evade the light share of it they had undertake *! ¦ But we must'not be too hard upon these , young men . They are poor , unlettered , uncultivated , uninstructed'in-the duties which a citizen owes to the commonwealth . They had an example ' to the commonweaitn . xney nau » u cAamyic
before - them , set by their " betters . " How many officers have " bolted" from the Crimea ? How many lisping dandies , who in the heat of - battle fear nothing , but- who * are- not sufficiently in « ar » estto go patiently through the rough hard work of campaigning , are > now loitering aboat the clubs and the- pleasant places of the country ? If we censure Hodge or John for 1 deserting his flag , because * he iwas entitled to deso by Act of Parliament , what shall we say 'to FiTZ-FtJx , KE , or Montague Snooks , who ' ¦ not ' only deserts his flag , but'deserts it in the
hour 'o f * peril , when honour bids > every man Stand by until he ^ can literally stand no ' longer ? Thefact is botharray promotion and'militia Organisation are based on false principles . Purchase and favour give us a strong sprinkling of officers ^ or the aiwy who care nothing' for "the service-except its gay clothes and- free-andeasy lffe—trien who " bolt" when discomforts come upotitlrem . : ' A . , plan of levying a partial , instead of a national militia , leaves the country at a critical moment without support from its
home attny . What is the object of a militia ? The first object'is the formation of an army of citizen soldiers for the defence of-the country ; the second object is to provide a machinery by means of T ^ hich a warlike people may be trained to arms , and a certain proportion , accustomed to the ¦ handling of weapons and combined movements , : furnished to the ~ regular army . With Our present militia system these objects are not adequately attained . The remedy will
be found in making the militia truly national and truly effective ; in training the whole population to the use of arms and military movements ; and in giving every facility for the raising of volunteer regiments . The latter step alone would , compensate . ± fpx _ m « c ]|]!_ tb 9 * .. il . 4 ®" fective in existing arrangements . But there is one obstacle— -Castlereagh ' s Drilling Act ; and we should like , to know very muchJiow it is that our self-styled liberal Governments -have
not repealed this act , which is a violation of the Bill of Rights , and a standing disgrace to the rulers and the people of this country . It needed not a Russian war to teach us that every nation to be truly independent must be trained to use arms with effect ; but Turkey furnishes a new illustration ; for had she possessed an army , she would not have needed help from'the West ; and had the ' British military force been really effective , the Allies would not now' be : encamped before Sebastopol .
Sunday'sinners And Monday Dinners.
SUNDAY SINNERS AND MONDAY DINNERS . Some months ago , we visited one of the great manufacturing capitals of the north of England , and wishing to inspect certain curious processes for which the place was famous , we made application at a mill for permission to inspect the works . The owner received us courteously , but told us that he had one inflexible rule from . which ho never departed , and that was , to , permit no one to enter that was not either a lady or a clergyman ; " because , " said ho ( by way of explanation ) , " neither clergymen nor ladies understand anything about business , and they can ' t carry any new ideas away with them . " This curious truth receives constant confirmation . Without disparagement to their intelKg-ence ^ goutletnen of the cloth mre proverbially green in all matters relating" to * sublunary
affairs . . TJiey * are ike ripest victims-to-billdiscounters , tnemostinnocent'preyvto designing horse-dealers , and if Goldsmith had made the -Vicar of Wakefield himself the . faexo of -the " gross of green-spectacles" adveufcure , ' instead of ¦ his son Moses , he would not have outsteppe d the modesty-of nature . We-have-been led into these'reflection s by a very euriouscontroversy betweenthe » BisHOlPof London and Mr . Ghabues Pbabson ,
Solicitor to the City of London . The subject is the future market-day for the new-Islington Cattle Market ; Mr . Pearson says that it should be Monday , as at the old market , and the Bishop as stoutly maintains that Tuesday is > the better day . The Bishop says that the change of day will prevent the desecration of the Sabbath , and Mr . Pearson declares thajfc if it be changed , the business of the market will ' be destroyed , and that the Bishop ' s plan is calculated' to increase rather than diminish the actual desecration of the Sabbath . Both ¦
the disputants appear to be in earnest , both may be assumed to be without any arriere pensee va . Urging the dispute , and the question resolves itself simply into a balance of evidence . These then are "the facts . When the doom of Smithfield was decreed by Act of Parliament , power was conferred upon the Corporation to build a new cattle market in Islington , provided that the by-laws for the regulation of the place should be approved of by the Home Secretary . The Corporation has expended
400 , 000 / . in building the market , " whrch is admitted- to be the most perfect cattle market in the world ; and private individuals have invested large sums of money in building around its precincts . The by-laws have been prepared by the City solicitor , and are now before the ^ Secretary ^ of State , for his approval . At this juncture of affairs comes the Bishop of London , with a memorial signed by sixteen thousand inhabitants of the Islington district , and demands that the market-Hay shall be Tuesday instead of Monday , in order to prevent the desecration of the Sabbath . As we
have already stated , Mr . Pearson objects to this upon two grounds , either of which ought to be as sufficient as the excuse given by the Hano' veHan ^ M '^ 6 fT 6 T " no'r " firin ] g '" U " salutej ~ iOTjoriOTa ^ that he had no cannon . By way of getting in medias res , we may state it as a fact that most meat-buying people in London eat a hot joint for dinner on Sundays , and content themselves with the cold edition of the same on Monday . Ergo Monday is a very idle day with the retail butchers , so far as selling is concerned ; ergo Tuesday is a very busy day with them ; ergo Monday i * 3
the best day in the week for buying beasts , slaughtering them , and cutting them up for consumption . It is apparent , therefore , that both the customs of society , and of the retail meat trade , are so arranged , that butchers must have their live stock on Monday , either from Islington or elsewhere ; and that if they are forbidden to obtain them from thence , the consequence will be that Croydon and other neighbouring markets will be held on Monday , and thus the trade will bo driven away from this splendid new market at Islington , which the Corporation has erected at such vast
expense . , It should be remembered that tlio whole mechanism of tho trade in live stock throughout the kingdom—farmers , drovers , markets ,,-taiis , banks , and a hundred other wheels which . go to make up the system—are arrauged with oxpress reference to this great Monday market , any derangement , therefore , cannot but prove highly detrimental , if not fatal , to a va se number of thoee-abstnaotions for winch Oh « ronmen generally entertain a profound reaped ¦—existing' interests .
Untitled Article
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1855, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2085/page/14/
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