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I ? Herat lias been sacrificed , are we asking for a new war to redeem it ? Such a wax is riot , and never Las been , accessary . It is not the policy of Great Britain to march her armies into the depths of Central Asia , or to expend the strength of her squadrons in the Persian waters . The question must be considered from a purely defensive point of view . . What we have to effect is a combination which will-take " from Russia , Persia , and the Affghau chiefs , the power of constantly irritating , and of ultimately breaking " open our frontier . The character of their ambition cannot for a moment be doubted . The Persians , . whether through the blanders of our diplomacy or from whatever other cause , have been completely alienated ; many of the Affghans would gladly follow the llohillas into the valleys of India ; and , as for Russia , what to her arc the arid tracts that intervene between hot empire and the British , unless as stages of approximation to the boundaries of out richer possessions ! What to her arc the plains '" , to the south of the Heavenly Mountains , where so many battalions of her army have perished amid glaciers , bare- plateaus , and valleys , adorned only with sand , reeds , garlic , and yellow jujubeflowers , unless as sections of a long -vista opening upon China ! It is this principle that , in the sight of Russian statesmen , would confer a value upon a thousand miles of rock and shifting sand , it' they would conduct her to the borders of our Indian Empire . We have theu , upon bur westward frontier , an important line of territory to defend , and what should our attitude be ? That of a , general encamped with aii active and dangerous enemy in his front . We must strengthen our frontier force ; we must take care that it shall be one always prepared . for action . By stationing an / outpost at Ghetta , by placing discreet officers with honorary tank at Kandahar and Herat , we may fortify our line of defences . The details of a similar-scheme ; liave been thoroughly explained by Brigadier Jacobs in one of his masterly Memoirs on the north-western frontier . With Grhetta garrisoned by the Sinde Irregular Horse , by Belopeh Irregular "' Cavalry and Infantry , by Jacob ' s Rifles , with competent artillery , the entire resources of Beloochistan would be at British disposal , and the frontier would be impregnable .
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SANITARY CONDITION OP THE ARMY . ' - : . ¦ ¦ ni . ' , ' . . " . . ;¦ ¦ . ' . "Tke low rate of mortality iri the navy , in which service the men , though necessarily berthed in a very confined space , undergo an immense amount of exercise , calling the greatest variety of muscle into play , and pass a large proportion both of clay and night in the open air , appears to favour the opinion we have here expressed . We recommend that inquiry should be made into the French system of gymnastic exercises with a view to the adoption of some similar practice in the British army , that facilities and encouragement be given for all athletic games , and that the men be employed on different kinds of labour when possible . "
It has often surprised us that officers of the army , who arc probably , as a rule , a class of men Avho more than any other cultivate athletic exercises and sports , who are soine of our best steeple-chasers ancPcross-country riders , our fastest nnd most-lasting foot-racers and lcapers , —that they do not , as a matter of custom , take more interest in promoting similar exercises among the men . We may have a partiality for such pastimes , perhaps , and must confess the pleasuro with which wo always read accounts of these manly contests of strength , and endurance
ana activity between oinccrs and men , that occasionally come off . The feeling for these games is thoroughly English , and whether it bo that the metis scam prefers the corpus sanitm , or not , certain it is that we generally lind the victors are the best of officers or men—fine , manly , generous , opcii-licartcd fellows , ready and equal to anything . Our conviction is , that the moral and physical health of her Majesty ' s ' subjects everywhere would be immensely improved by the systematic cultivation of manly sports and noble arts .
As regards " suitable employment , " tho want of which , in the army , is repeatedly testified , Colonel Lindsay , who has given much attention to the requirements of I he soldier ' s life , especially in quarters , tluis graphically describes his daily course—" Perhaps no living individual sull ' ers more than he from ennui . He nus no employment save his drill and his duties ; those arc of a most monotonous nnd uninteresting description , so much so , that you cannot increase the amount without wearying him ,
and disgusting him . All he has to do is under restraint ; he is not like a working man , or an artisan ; a working man digs , and his mind is his own ; an artisan is interested in the work on which he is engaged ; but a soldier has to give you all his attention , and he lias ¦ nothing to show for the work done . 5 J In "the Eoot Guards "he gets up at six . There is no drill "before breakfast ; he makes up his bed and cleans his things ; he gets his breakfast at seven . He turns out for drill at half-past seven or eight ; his drill may last an hour and a half . If it be guard day . there is no drill , except for defaulters The incii for duty are paraded at ten o ' clock ; that
finishes his day's drill altogether . There is evening parade , which takes half an hour ;' and then his time is his own till tattoo , which is at nine in winter and at ten In summer . " Colonel Lindsay goes still further into the subject of recreation for the soldier . He thinks we should , give him pursuits inside the barracks instead of driving him outside ; that where there arc opportunities taken of employing the men you decrease dissipation , and if yoxi give them amusement they take an interest in it / There is always less crime , and ' -their health is improved , for , as the Colonel significantly remarks , " the . illness in London and that we get in the country , where we are able to give them some amusement , arc so very different . " It happens that , at the Wellington Bar-. racks , the experiment was watched of . allowing , the to
men use a large room , just finished , for a schoolroom , fifty feet by thirty feet ill dimensions ; the men flocked to it till . it became crammed ; they took their " books and newspapers there ; they brought their games at draughts and chess , &c , and altogether thoroughly enjoyed the recreation so evidently beneficial and every way desirable . General Lawrence says , in answer to a question from the President , that the means of recreation in the army are miserably defective ; at Aldershot , for 15 , 000 men , only four ball-courts , and one racket-court , for 600 officers , are to be constructed . In Canada , the General says he reported the want of ball-courts for the men at Quebec , Kingston , and Montreal but never succeeded in obtaining one . The Government provides a school master in all barracks , and all recruits must attend school until
dismissed drill ; lately , too , it "lias been ordered that all men shall , until dismissed , fit to read and write . This- is good so far , but it is not quite the sort of thing a soldier enjoys , and of course none go . who can escape it . There are also libraries in barracks in all garrison towns , and some regiments have one of tlieir own .. purchased by subscription , as in the Coldstreams , which has S 50 subscribers out of a strength of 750 , and the Rifles ( 2 nd batt . ) 256 out of 700 ; but most regiments , being often moved , are glad to avoid the expense of having to move a library . It would-be no great expense or derangement of routine , surely , if libraries were provided
mail stations , under the management of the schoolmaster . The subscribers to regimental librarids at Aldershot arc estimated at 20 per cent ., which is a very fair number . But it is disheartening to sec the miserable indifference shown by "the authorities " to these libraries . In the first place , " newspapers are not recognized by the regulations of the service , " so that , as a natural result , the soldier , who relishes his paper just as much as any body , is driven to the public-house , where he finds the double attraction of the "beer and the news provided by persons who certainly cannot be said to have his welfare at heart . Then if tho regiment should be so fortunate us to
have a library , which is not , like most of them , a mci'e closet for hooks ; tolerably effectual measures are taken to prevent its being of too much use , by limiting the light to " two dip candles , so that practically the soldiers do not use it as a reading-room , " unless , as at Aldershot , they purchase an . addition to the " two dips . " At Aldershot the library huts are winked at , allowed on sufferance , just as if they were gambling-booths . The barrack-master trembles lest it should bo known ho had done such a thing as give over a hut for a library , ho docs it as a grout
iavour , and it must ho kept quiet ; or if the commanding ofliccr disdains asking , but still \ riahos to give his men the library , he is forced to tho alternative of taking a hut ' from the men and " packing liis regiment a little closer in order to spare that hut . " A question from Mr . Sidney Herlmrt suggests that , tliis is a disadvantage , to which the witness , Gcnoral Lawrence , replies , that ho docs " not think tho men sailer from it , but it is certainly taken out of the quartcra allowed . The soldier jmy . s for this luxury 3 d . a month , hut tho Government food for the mind is much cheaper ( Id . ) , only \ m can't sec to cat it . Wo arc glatl to learn that lectures were delivered
during the winter at Aldershot upon scientific ^ 7 i natural history subjects as well as military scicaw A very moderate dose of the ologics we din ? ii i think would be advisable for soldiers . SoTdiet S by no means deficient in the power- of anmsi ™ themselves ; his little joke he relishes immense lr and even this tendency has its practical utility & hard service ; your laughing Irishman is well worth his salt in the trenches , and with sulky men vhoso " pipes have been put out , " we all know vou cm do nothing . We remember more than once to liavc seen , a crowded and enthusiastic audience , in ^ barrack-room turned into an arena by mukiii" \ stage of the table-tops , listening with thorbun-li '' enjoyment to one of their comrades reciting speec hes from Shakspcarc or . long-pieces from Scott .
Our conviction is that the " moral " . clement in the soldier is not fairly turned to account . lie is treated and allowed to consider himself as begotten of the scum of society : ' he feels , and that jeeeuly too sometimes , that he is valued too much as food for powder . But those who know him best , who have witnessed his endurance , his resources and his pluck , when drawn out By . ' ' the real - necessities ' of a campaign , will agree with Us in claiming" for him some of the best qualities of the national
cha-. The question arises in the evidence whether soldiers could not be profitably employed in doing the repairs of the barraelcs , and even of following those trades to which they have been educated "" . The answers arc somewhat undecided , and no doubt the subject involves considerable diluculHcs of arrangement . A good deal of tailoring goes on now in barracks , not very conducive , it . is true , to the health of the men employed at it , but this might be rectified ; and we see no reason why tlic boots should not be made , or at least mended , hv . tlic samemanner . Those men who were disposed to be industrious might , if they-had the proper tools and workshops ' , be . employed usefully to the corns and profitabl y ; to themselves . The barrack damages for broken windows alone is often a serious loss to the
men , and much of this kind of repair might "be done . But , besides tins , n fund mi ght be raised from the profits of any work done , which , after giving , a fair share to the immediate workers , would enable ( he corps to mark their esteem for a comrade leaving them , or to relieve some of the cases of charity to which not unfrcqucntly the men arc called upon to contribute . 3 n leaving this part of the general subjocl , we have now only to express cmrhonc that an improve- '
me nt , so obviously calculated to raise the slat us of the soldier , conveyed in the recommendation of the Commission , " that every barrack , should contain workshops ; that day-rooms be constructed in some of the principal barracks , and , if found advantageous , extended to all barracks ; that all barrackrooms , day-Tooms , and guard-rooms be suilicirnlly warmed and lighted , whatever may be the number of men occupying them , ami that gas be used for lighting whenever it is obtainable , " will be speedily adopted .
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fnrc Crystal Pat . acf . Flower-show . —The first flower-show of the season at the Crystal 1 ' nlaee ( cole place last Saturday ; The display of the bright children of the season , " reigning * in the pride of Mny , " <> i' the dai'lc-leaved green-house plants , and of the rich-ldoodcd , blushing , and odorous fruit , built up in banks .-i » d terraces of gorgeous yet tender beauty round the stutues in tho central transept and far down the naves , under the gleam of the pellucid walls and roof , produced ail effect of unsurpassed splendour and magnificence . Tmly , " Solomon in all his glory" could not surpass thu nuVi . ince of the sight . The weather wns fine , tlie luiiMinjJ crowded , and the delight of the spectators at its utmost . The least good part of tlic show "was that devoid ! to the fruit . Tiik Bkitisic Mijsisum , —The British Museum has recently become possosHed of some not , unimportant manuscripts , known for tho last few months us tho " Bentinek l ' apors . " Thoy fill three or four liir ^ i clni sts , and the pmo for which they have been purchased i ?* under 200 / . They havo been obtained from tlic family residence of eomo mtMnljera of tlio Bontindc family at Vurel , near Oldenburg , and may bo said to extend over a period not far abort of a century , commencing vtxih the opening of tho reign of William III ., wIhmi l'u' | ' iri 3 t Enrl of Portland enmo into this country , and -win raided to tlio peerage . It scoim that tho portion of the . I ' muily rumaining in Germany l « ipt up a constant « : on < ' ^ 1 " itaiico with iierHoiiH about tho Court of London , nnd Hie many letters are full of curious news and minut e particular * . Ono of tho oldoHt documents ia King William fl patent to llio first Marl of Portland , duted Clio 'Jth ov April lo ' 81 > . "—Atktsiwuiu .
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518 THE LEADER , __ [ No . 4 , 27 , Mat 29 , 1885 . I
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1858, page 518, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2244/page/14/
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