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Leader (1850-1860), 11th February 1860, Edition 1 of 2, Page 134, Untitled Article

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    • BRITANNIA'S SHAME.*
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      Untitled Article

      W E hear so often and so much of Britannia ' s glory and her greatness , that we might suppose ourselves , in onr corporate capacity , immaculate and immortal , did we never hear of her littleness and her shame . It is needful sometimes to be told of her misdeeds . In Mr . Bubke ' s time the rotten boroughs were tho " shameful parts of the constitution . " We have got rid of the worst of them , but they hnvo bequeathed to us a scatidal far groat or than themselves . Under their influence the corrupt government of the navy was begun , continued , and established ; and when thoy were destroyed no hand purified it .. Dover and its like still maintain in authority the old scourge of the soamen , and the dishonour of the nation . , In 1858 , the number of persons embarked m the Royal Navy stillto the degrading system of corporeal punishment

      subject , instituted by £ he boroughmongers , was 47 , 646 . ¦ Tho warrant and commissioned officers are not liable to this punishment . Till a comparatively recent period young gentlemen wove ; but it was considered so degrading , that by a special order they were to beexompfc from it . The aristocratic chiefs relieved their youthful and genteel connections from the barbarous infliction , but they pertinaciously continued it for the actual working' and vulgar sailors . Thus , of the total number of persons serving Her Majesty afloat—about 52 , 000— -only 47 , 646 are liable to be flogged . Of those , nine hundred and ninety-seven , or one in forty-seven nearly , were floggod in 1858 . Flogging is , indeed , only one of the tortures by which naval discipline , aa that brutal Bystom is called , is preserved , and bosides all tho grog-stopping , shot-carrying , extra work , confinement , < fcc , fee ., Xnfliotod on these 47 , 646 gallant dofondors of tho country ,

      * FLpaaiNa m nun Navy . — 'Return to » n Order of tho Honourable House of Oommona , dated 14 th July , 1859 , for—A return of tho number of persons floKgoa In th

      Untitled Article

      134 The Leader aTid Saturday Analy st , [ Feb . 11 , 1860 .

      Untitled Article

      and social importance of the diffusion of enlightened scientific views . Among living philosophers , no one has ^ done more towards elucidating . and popularising the uniform and continuous method of natural operation than Sir Ghables Lyem ., who rescued one of the most comprehensive sciences —geology— -from the convulsionary theories of less gifted men . The past year has added to the proofs of the . soundness of his views . The discussion concerning the flint implements found in France , at Abbeville and Amiens , in association with fossils far- older than chronology usually fixes the date of man ' s appearance upon the earth , has confirmed the belief in the antiquity of the human race , while investigations in American coal-fields have demonstrated the existence of abundance of air-breathing reptiles during the carboniferous period , and other discoveries have added to the conviction that the changes in the organic life of our globe have been brought about in a very gradual and orderly manner , by the operations of continuous causes Jfehrough prodigious periods of time , and without any breaks or interruptions in the enormous and far-reaching plan . Tending towards precisely the same philosophy are : the opinions of Fabaday on the " Conservation of Force . " By force , Fab ad at means "the cause of a physical action- " and he maintains that whether the causes of electrical , chemical , and other actions be distinct and separate , or only modified manifestations of one and the same powei " , the total amount of force " existing in an individual atom or in the universe is unchangeable and indestructible . The practical difficulty consists in our imperfect means of tracing ; the action of forces under all circumstances ; thus , if one body is removed from another , so that the ¦ ' attraction of gravitationis lessened inversely as the squai ' e of the distancei what becomes of the " force" thus ceasing to produce a gravitating effect ? That it produces some effect cannot he doubted by any one who admits the principle of the Conservation of Force ;' " ' but it remains for future discovery to unfold the precise nature find consequence of its operation . Bearing very irinch on this question of continuous as contrasted with spasmodic action , are the theories propounded by Mr . Darwin to account . for the appearance of different species of creatures . Mr . Daewin ' s scheme , which is , as yet , a long way from completeness or proof , appears to have for its object td show that the imtnense variety of organic forms exhibited during- geological eras , or now extant upon earth , are the result of natural forces acting upon a . typical forms which they have gradually changed and modified , so as to produce what naturalists have taken for individual and persistent species . We shall probably be able shortly to return to this subject , but now mention it as exhibiting one of the many tendencies to recognise the continuous operation of uniform causes , and the powerful effects produced by a constant succession of comparatively small impulses . The growth of this idea is the culminating -point of modern philosophy , anxl none was ever calculated to be more fertile in important practical results . In . science , notwithstanding the constant addition of fresh materials , we are manifestly tending towards simplicity . Tims , Fabaday following Becqueeel shows fluorescence and phosphoresceiice to be similar luminous conditions ; differing only in " the time during ' which the slate , excited by exposure to light , continues . SciloNBEiN recognises oxygen in three conditions : ozone , antozorie , aiadits ordinary state ; and . under each condition he supposes oxygen to be able to combine , producing different chemical results . _ Following the same line , M . Caitoutis , in recent researches into the nature of " organo-metaUic radicals , " has added to the evidence in favour of considering the metals as compound bodies , perhaps all of them modifications or different states of one and the same substance ; and M . Peligot , by detecting cellulose , the basis of vegetable tissues , as a component oicMtlne , ov the substance which gives firmness to the shells of lobsters , and othetf crustaceans , and to the skins of insects , has rend efedapparent lidditional points of connexion between the two great divisions of the organic world . According to this philosopher , " tho external envelope ' , more or less insisting , of animals or plants is composed of only two substances , cellulose and protein—cellulose , which exists ^ in plants and inferior animals ; cellulose and protein ,. which are united in animals higher in the scale ; and protein alone , which forma the tissues of the vortebrata . " ( Annales do Chimio . ) Thus , gradually , does tho grent doctrine of unity of design in Nature unfold itself to our view ; and we look forward with confidence to the future discovery of a few simple and comprehensive laws , competent to the production of the'TOOst diversified effects . In electrical science , an important step towards unity and simplicity has been made by some recent discoveries of Mr , Gassiot , to which wo shall take an early opportunity of returning , merely alluding now , to ono which attracted great attention in a recent lecture of Professor Tyndalii , nt t ] ie Royal Institution , who illustrated it by exhibiting the stratified discharge , in vaouo by means of a powerful Gbovk * 8 battery , precisoly the same ns that . which ; has hitherto / been obtained only by moans of RunMjrcoKFir ' s coil . In light we- seem on tho verge of important discoveries , aa M . Nieipoe has succeeded , so to speak , in bottling up its actinic power j and Mr . Smith : exhibited to the British Association nn apparatus for producing 1 colours by means of alternate impressions of light and darkness , obtained by whirling ft white card over a black ground—an experiment which appears in harmony with Goethe ' s views . ' ' If wo turn from the philosophy of science to . its practical achievements and applications , the prospect is satisfactory nnd encouraging . In works of construction wo can point to tho Groat Eastern ; nnd to tne Victoria Bridge , spanning the river St . Lawrence , and overcoming tho engineering difficulties occasioned by tho power of the winter

      ice . Some progress has been made in steam ploughing , which together with other scientific means of carrying on agriculture , promises to elevate the condition of the agricultural labourer , as the discovery has happily been made that an ignorant ,: badly housed , illtreated peasantry , are no longer likely to be - profitable to their employers , or the owners of the soil . Machinery is also making its way into the baking trade , and will ho doubt solve the question of what is to be done with the thousands Of miserable beings who now toil for unheard-of hours , in the noisome cellars in which the bread of great towns is usually made . In military and naval art the past year will be famous , if hot for fresh discovery , for the success in constructing Armstrong guns , which will give the range and precision of the rifle to the largest ordnance , and for the progress made in building steam rams and impenetrable iron-cased ships . There can be ho doubt that our chances of peace have been immensely increased by the practical proof that we could beat all the . world combined in the rapid production of costly and efficient implements of war . In the matter of lighting streets and houses great energy has been displayed by competitors with the Gas Companies , who seem foolishly dead to the necessity for improvement . We have a new effort to utilize the lime light . Major Fitzmaubice in England arid M . IsoAED in France have new plans for making a cheap and highly illuminating gas , and the South Foreland Light-house has been illuminated by an electric light ; speaking of which brings to mind another curious application of electric force : —the Electric Loom of Chevalier Bonelli , which was originally exhibited in Paris in 1855 , and is now working successfully under M . Feement . Its principle is the substitution of thin sheets of tin partly covex-ecl with varnish , . which interrupts the electrical contact , for the Jacquard cards . ; ; In France , several new machines for making artificial ice by tho evaporation of ether have been introduced , "and are well spoken of . They resemble one which was exhibited in London a few years ago , and is now said to be at work in Australia . Efforts continue to be made to substitute machinery for manual labour in type-compos in . 2 :, arid an invention of ' Mr . Hattebsi / ey has received considerable praise ; and machinery seems destined to supersede the stitching- of the tailor and the drudgery of the needle in family life . Mr . Timbs tells ' tis- Mr . Peter Ta-it , of Limerick , informed the Army ¦ Contracts . Commission that the whole of his clothing is cut arid sewn by machinery drive n by steam , and capable of making four thousand suits a week .: It is pleasant to read of these triumphs of inventive skill ; but our social system is sadly defective . hi equalising- their , benefits , winch top often go chiefly to the capitalist , and leave the workman scarcely better off than he was before—^ even after he has recovered the immediate injury which the change has produced . Of new fabrics the most remarkable seems to be the " vegetable leather" of Messrs . Spill and Co ., of Stepney , which can be made of any size and thickness , and is applicable to bookbinding , upholstery , sadcllei'y , and other purposes for which the ordinary leather is used , while it ' is only one-third its price . India-rubber enters into its manufacture . The constant occurrence of fatal accidents by the ignition of ladies ' dresses has given rise to elaborate , experiments to render fabricsfireproof , and a considerable success has been achieved by Messrs . Vebsaiann and Oppenheim , who employ sulphate of ammonia to dress the article in the process of manufacture , and tungstate of soda to renew its non-inflammability each time it is washed .

      Britannia's Shame.*

      BRITANNIA'S SHAME . *

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 11, 1860, page 134, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2333/page/10/