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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd October 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 949, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      There is no learned man but will confess he bath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it ¦ fa . e profitable for him . to read , why should it not , at least . betolerableforhisadversarytowritet— Mll / TON

      Untitled Article

      A VOLUNTEER ARMY . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —It is an admitted fact that soldiers are not to be had so easily as they once were . Manufactures and commerce have grown to need more hands ; the land finds more employment for labour than it did a few years since ; there are more ships of our own , and more American ships and better pay , to tempt men to sea ; and there are lands of gold and of cheap freeholds to which flock the most enterprising and the strongest and bravest of our people . It is , therefoTe , no wonder the recruiting sergeant should hare but small success . The fife and drum call men from well-paid pursuits , from comfortable homes , from savings , from schemes of settlement and independence , from chances of rising and of wealth , to adopt the condition , of a private soldier , and be content fbr life with that condition ; and so the fife and drum find few recruits . Perhaps , too , the remembrance of the Crimean blunderings has some effect . The ordinary class from which recruits are drawn have learned from friends and neighbours not alone the glories but the horrors of the Crimea ; and it may be the recruiting sergeant fares badly , because the men who would otherwise be ready enough to enlist feel doubts whether they will be properly clothed for India , or properly cared for when sick or wounded . Painful it may be , but the authorities at the ' Waroffice and the Horse Guards may as well once for all reconcile themselves to the fact that the mine and forge , and furnace and loom , and emigration and the very plough , are too profitable and hopeful to be abandoned for the musket , with long enlistment and without hope of promotion , and under the ruleone might say the terrific rule—of stupiditv and

      routine . What wonder is it men of the established standard don ' t enlist , when in this time of peril they find the authorities sticking to inches and to age ? Is not that evidence sufficient to any man , with a head on liis shoulders , that the army makers are not safe to l > e trusted with living men—that the double blindness of precedent and routine is upon them ? They want an army , want men of sictivity and endurance , men in their strength and prime , men who can carry an Enfield rifle and make good practice with it ; they want them now , at once , without the delay of a day , and yet they won't have those who offer . The grass is green over thousands of picked men red tape strangled under the walls of Sebastopol . We have not so many men of inches for the army left , but there must be the inches or there must be no

      aimy ; the War-office would go to destruction unless it stuck to the inches and to the years . Boys may be enlisted—overgrown boy 3 , weakly from the very fact , and liable to disease and easily done up—but not men capable of endurance , and whose very will is strength . "What is there about ' a man , even be he but five feet in height , to prevent his being a soldier ? Would it more distress a horse to carry him than a man of five feet eight , or six feet ? How tall was the First Napoleon ? , What inches had the marvellous Murat ? What miracle is there about five feet five that it is the last stage of tivllucss that can pull a trigger or set a match to a cannon ; or is it , after all , that there is some settled size and weight for the musket , and that as the musket is impossible to be deviated from , there must either be men found of the fixed musket

      , or we must be content with an army of muskets Wthout the men ? It is just conceivable that for Indja , where there is not only the foe but the sun to be withstood , it might be well to make the weapon lighter than ordinary , and to pay a little more attention to the point so important to truth of aim — of the balance between stock and barrel ; but that would be $ qq " . much to expect from any qepartment . It is conceivable , too , that for cavalry and artillery the liuhtcr the men in so hot a

      country the better— surely there is no man too small to maunge a Colt ' s revolver ; and a charge of cavalry would bo nono the less rapid , a pursuit , none the less euective from the . advantage to the horses by light weights . But , perhaps , it is too bud at such a time , wiMjn they have so much , upon their hands and are ' £ ;? Mneh \ w » t » ' coda Jfor , mQn , to ding into the ears w the Hprqe Guards ,. or , tji * e > V » r-oulco , or the War !> 4 ^ ej ? artmQn . t , rt » r whenever , the , responsibility is , that jfe way Qut , pf tiife , di $ i ; u 1 ty of , a dearth of flvofeet , Rye , s , jand of eovpntecri , tq twepty-Oye , ia to let « U "mio offer bo tak ^ i . fpjc ^ qidtera ., They can be sifted

      afterwards according to size and age—the tallest and heaviest , for the good of the horses , sent to the cavalry and artillery , and the shortest and lightest to the infantry . Think you there are no men below five feet five , 'and none of all heights between twentyfive and forty , who feel their blood boil at these Indian atrocities ? Think you but many a smith , loth to enlist under regulations that take him for as good as life , sets his brawny arm firmer and makes the anvil ring louder at thought of what he would do if it were possible for him in this struggle ? Would he not leave his work then—leave his iron to grow cold—and go forth with his warm English heart in the name of those slaughtered women 'and children to the rescue of India ? What does the man

      want to make him go ? What do ten thousand such men want to make them go ? Simply that they shall be taken out to fight for this turn , and that over , shall be brought home again . Let them be enlisted , not for a term of years , but for a service to end with the crushing out of this mutiny . They will brave the seas , the climate , the enemy , tlie endurances of the drill and camp , but they will not be soldiers for life . They will go put as Englishmen to purge themselves of their sense of duty in this matter , and that done , they want the assurance that they will be permitted to return to their peaceful pursuits and leave soldiering to the regular soldiers . On this condition the drapers' and other shops would furnish a fair contingent , and the women would cheerfully lend their aid by taking for the time the places of the men , to be restored on their return .

      Then , as to officering these volunteers , leaving them to choose their own officers would simply be absurd . No one would expect them , without experience , to decide upon the most fitting men -to lead them , but they would make no objection to be led by men decorated with the Bronze Gross . Let these selfenlisted troops be termed the Victoria Volunteers ; let their chiefB be the . wearers of that little badge that marks the most enduring , the most fearless , the bravest of the brave . Let the standard bear the Bronze Cross and it will be flocked to by thousands —by thousands with the Cawnpore massacre deep in their hearts—thousands burning at the thoughts of the insults and butcheries of women and the tearing

      of children limb from limb—thousands haunted by Nena Sahib ' s tank and well , and who can never forget the blood-stained floors , the clotted walls , the mangled heaps , the" glorious brave defences , the last farewells , the deaths from worse than death , and the dark fiends raging as though hell had vomited them on earth : let but this standard of volunteers be raised , and there will be no want of men to reconquer India . The spirit is there , the conditions are simple ; here they are—No restriction as to height or age . Enrolment for this one work , this one war .

      Light dress , light equipment . Officering with the heroes of the Bronze Cross . The war ended , prompt passage home . What more is wanted ? Surely nothing but that preference shall be given to the best marksmen . A thousand men whose aim is unerring are worth ten thousand who can do little better than fire at random . The few do not , it is true , make much display , neither do they need so much camp and baggage , nor do they so soon devour up the country , nor sutler so much from disease , nor are they so broad a mark for the enemy . They are but a regiment in numbers , but in efficiency of fire they are an army .

      It is a force , if one may use the phrase of such skilled workmen , that is needed for India ; and if the authorities either don't know how to find them , or stand in tlie way of their being found , then it will remain for John Bull to take the matter in hand himself of finding volunteers , and to begin by subscribing a volunteer fund for the equipment and passage out and home of say three or four thousand men who can handle a rifle ; there may , to begin with , be gamekeepers and sportsmen , and retired soldiers who would go , and in all directions men of all ages and sizes would practise with rifles , and spare no eifort to qualify themselveB for the Bronze CilOSS VOLCNTEKKS . Yours obediently , A BlSLIKVEU IN THE SPIRIT OF ENGLISHMEN .

      Untitled Article

      MXCHING MALLECHO . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ' ) Sib , —In reference to ' Miching Mallecho , ' of which there waa a notice in your last paper , with our name as its publishers in London , allow us to say that , though we had given permission for that use of our mime , we did not really publish the book . Those who read your notice of it will not wonder that when we looked into the book , we much regretted having given the permission , and that we abstained from noting as its publishers . ' We hnv « not sold or distributed a' single copy , and luivo withdrawn our name from the title-page of the book . Wo are yours , obcdUerttly , , - , \ J , and C . fctosMtr .

      Untitled Article

      THE NIGHT POLICE . ( To the Editor of the Leader . } Sir—In your excellent article the week before last you described a scene of which I was a witness , but you somewhat understated the facts . My letter to the Chief Commissioner of Police was as follows : " Sir , —I was walking along Oxford-street late last night when my attention was attracted by a group collected round two men quarrelling . One of them said several times , 'I don't want to fight , ' upon which the other struck him . in the face . At that moment two policemen came striding round the corner , and , without saying a word , poshed through the crowd , and seizing the man who had b een struck , shoved him along . A woman made some remark

      which I did not catch . They at once took hold of her ; she slipped into a public-house ; they pursued her ; and both these tall , strong men rolled with her upon the floor , struggling in a desperate manner . I am persuaded there was not any necessity for this violence , and believe the men must have been drunk . When they brought her out one of them actually fell on his back . The woman , who appeared excited by this treatment more than by drink , if she was drunk at all , threw herself down . I spoke to her , and said she had better not resist , upon which she got up and walked along quietly enough . A good deal of indignation was expressed , by the bystanders ; and several persons followed in order to

      see whether the inspector could be spoken to , and the woman saved from an unjust imprisonment for the night . Her whole crime consisted in some words of indignation , as I understood , against the police for attacking the wrong man . Throughout , the conduct of these men was wanton , brutal , and insolent . Some one made the remark that they were acting against law . They replied , ' We have nothing to do with the law , we do what we like . ' On the way to the station-house one of them , -without a . ny provocation , violently caught hold of the prisoner .

      They were annoyed , evidently , at the sympathy expressed , and would willingly have picked a quarrel with the bystanders . At the station-house in Vinestreet , the woman was taken in , and one of the policemen came up rather violently and insisted that I should not be allowed to follow . I did not know whether I had a right to insist on seeing the inspector , and having once or twice asked formally to be admitted , and having been refused , thought it best to retire , and to persuade the others to do so too . Xndeed , we were threatened if we did not do so .

      " I think it my duty to lay these facts , in the first place , 'Before you . The woman was probably discharged in the morning , but some record of the fact and of the charge made against her should exist . Her companions , musicians , said she had been 4 working * with them , singing glees all day . The policemen , in a most insulting manner , called her a ' prostitute , ' just before they reached the stationhouse , which in itself seemed to me exceeding their duty . I took their numbers , C 115 and C 53 ; and cannot refrain from adding that if such be a sample of the men entrusted with the task of beeping order in our streets , there is nothing surprising in the heartburning said to exist against the police , and the constant fights in which they are engaged . " " I am , Sir , your obedient servant , " B . "

      Untitled Article

      DANIEL MANIN . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ~ ) September 27 , 1857 . Sir , —The death of the Italian patriot , Dame * Manin , announced in your last week ' s impression ) will be regretted by all your readers . He was , indeed , a large-hearted and worthy man , whose love of his unfortunate country was dearer to him than life ; and the manner in which ho so zealously laboured to re-establish the independence of Italy was such as to gain for him the respect of those who differed with his opinions , and the gratitude and high esteem of all who coincided with him . Your remarks upon the course which the Leader has pursued in reference to liberty and progress in general , are but just , and I for one , among many , am thankful that your columns have ever been open to the claims of the oppressed , be they those of individuals or of nations , as in the cause of Italy now brought again before us by the saddening news of Manin ' s death . But though everything that power and influence cam do is < k » nc to keep things as they are , and although no voice may be uttered over the grave ( for fear of consequences that might ensue ) , yet tlie dead will speak , and Manin ' s life will not bo lost upon those whose hopes und aspirations « ro that Italy may be free . The B . imo may be said , but it is needless , ^ of other persons and places . » ¦ Yours faithfully , 1 ' John Yakkoid-4 , l ^ onsant-roir , Kentiah Tbirn .

      /A«A» /^A****^! Wuzk Ciboutinl ^

      dDpett CmttmL

      Untitled Article

      IWririS DKM . KTMKNT , AS AIA OPINIONS , HOWETBE BXTRKMK , A . RB . ALLOWKD AN KXI'KKSSION , THE EDITOE MECKSSARILY HOLDS UIMSEM RESPONSIBLE FOlt NOlfE . l

      Untitled Article

      No . 39 % October 3 , ISfffc } THE IitE A D E R , 949

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 3, 1857, page 949, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2212/page/13/