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FLEETS AND NAVIES.*
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occupy the state with a foreign army . Where is that army to ¦ come " from ? The native troops cannot be relied upon ; as men ¦ usually undervalue the blessings always before them , they have but a poor sense of the- worth of an Ecclesiastical Government . The Swiss are at present kept at home . Some few Germans may be obtained , but those of the very worst kind . The Poles , always ready to fight , won't fight , good Catholics as they are , against the cause of freedom . So the Poi-E turns to faithful Ireland , where Catholicism , because it has not been allowed to grow too rampant , is better rooted , and where he himself 13 most worshipped , because his government is least known . The Pope is raising an Irish brigade . . We know something in this country about Irish Brigades in the Pope ' s service , and we have unanimously come to consider
if any liberal Englishmen have money which they would wish to profitably invest in the cause of freedom , let them employ it in . aidins : the efforts of the Pope to raise an Irish brigade .
those corps unqualified nuisances . The same specialities , however , which proved so troublesome at St . Stephens , may serve the Pope in good stead in the Campagna . When we remember how the vanguard , which won the proud title oj the " Pope ' s Brass Band /' ^ spoke , screeched , and protested against the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill , we may charitably asstune that the same natural obstinacy in tho new brigade will ' dcvclop itself in manful resistance to Oa ' mbaliviax volunteers . Ami the one weak point in these
Irish champions will be quite secure in the patrimony of St . Peter . The Papal brigade in St . Stephens were always open to purchase , the whole lot of them might have been bought by any Government if the ' Government had found it necessarv , and the patriots had not put too high a price upon themselves . The new brigade wilL be exposed to no such temptations ; neither Sardinia nor the revolutionary committees have the money wherewith to buy them , and they will , therefore , doubtless remain faithful to their master , for the best of all possible
reasons—that if they do not they must starve . The Pope , then , has done well to summon his fiu ' thful Irishmen to his standard , and it is very probable that he may get some four or . five thousandof them , eveiT iT the tyrannical and heretical Saxon oppressors should interfere , as Mr . Cakdwkll promises-for thorn , with the recruiting . - But the Holy Father ought to be fairly dealt withrby his agents . A bad lot those worthies . ' must be , when they venture to cheat an employer , who , by -two or three words , can prepare-a very hot place "for them in purgatory , by sending fit for the ital
talks about liberty whilst it preaches tyranny , and amongst whom are found the members ot secret societies , drawn oft" upon a foreign service . . The Italian cause would sustain very little dimiauc . Such of the men as might survive the service would return to their native land with very different notions of the paternal rule of the Holy -Father from those with which they left it ; and sedition would be so bad n trade in their absence , that most of its practitioners would , in sheer despair , turn pigdealers , or betake themselves to the United States to sing the praises of Slavery and " Rowdyism . " The opportunity is too
great to be lost . It would bo a siul pity that any too nice scruples about the law , or any consideration for the Italians who are quite capable of protecting themselves , should induce us to prevent this blessed exodus . Nothing could serve the Italian cause bettor than to have the Poi-k entirely dependent upon , an army of mercenaries , and attempting to regain his lost province ' s with ft horde of 'French , Spanish , German , and Irish adventurers . Tho whole land would rise in indignation against the outrage , and sweep the mongrel army into the sea . There is another incidental advantage England
will derivo from this recruiting , which is not without its importance . Wo don ' t care much about Continental opinion , it is always defective from ignorance and distorted by prejudice . We hear without much concern that Ireland is peopled by a race which has a fervent love for liberty , and Hint we most tyrannically deprive it of the blessing so fondly sought , for . When , however , our French " mid ( iermnn critics iind this same people rushing to aid in tho mnintonnnce and
restoration of a tyranny they have of Into sufficiently denounced , they may possibly * l > c shamed into « i little dourer understanding of the ' relations botweeii . England mid Ireland . By nil menns , then , let tho Irishmen who want to fight for the Pope , go and do so . Tustaul of putting difficulties in their way , let us ' give them every facility . The subscription for the Sicilians is a very good work . Far bo it from us to throw cold water upon such a movement , but charity begins at home , and
him a parcel of unsound recruits only hosp . Perhaps the Government . must , interfere . ; and , indeed , if the Papal Attorney-General , Mr , Hennessey , be right in describing subscriptions for military purposes as illegal , it has no option but to punish those who commit the far clearer and graver offence of enlisting men for a foreign service . But we hope it will discharge the duty in a careless and perfunctory manner . It would be a great blessing to Ireland to have that particular class of young ¦ luiip—i . nnst-iiifl . uenccd . by the ravings , of a mongrel press , which
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THE -extreme sensitiveness of our stock market to the faintest Continental rumour indicative of disturbance , supplies ample proof of the necessity for an abundant supply of naval defence , but at the same time the enormous cost of our marine establishments forces upon us the conviction that a strong fiscal reaction must shortly take place . What we have got'for our money is extremely doubtful , and our anxiety on this point is not -diminished ' by the statements of the Admiralty respecting the condition of the gun-boats built in private yards . It is doubtful whether , after all deductions for bungling patterns , fraudulent workmanship , and decayed vessels , we possess an effective supply of war vessels , and the doubt is enlarged when we remember that the Armstron g and WniTWOimi guns will require for their best performance vessels differing from those constructed for totally different arms . If we turn our attention from our material elements , such as wood and iron , and look to
our supply of human power , we cannot avoid the fear that if a struggle came upon us suddenly , we should be thrown into serious confusion , and probably taught improvement at the expense of defeat . We entered upon the last French war , as Captain Hamley shows , upon nearly equal terms with our great , opponent in point of ostensible strength ; but on our sidy there was a great superiority in seamanship , and on that of our enemies a remarkable advantage in the construction of their ships . After a long contest , we retired triumphant Avitrh 687 ships , . while France could only muster sixty-nine ; and we were for- many
years undisputed sovereign of the seas . At the present time we appear to have a predominance-in-serviceable . ships , but the-relative quality of the man power of the two navies has been changed . We have no doubt made , many improvements , but our neighbours , starting from a lower level , have made a niore striking advance . Our great fault has been that " we have no ± made the service what it ought to be—bettor liked than that of the mcrcajiiileonarine ; and we have constantly turned adrift our best
TlfiTt ~ wlrflzrift 7 rn : ccr ^ groat activity-in all her dockyards and arsenals , we . go ! rid of fifty-seven millions , without any proportionate increase of naval power . There are . many particulars in which our proceedings must be more expensive than those of Franco , but our ample- possession of iron and coal ought to bo nearly , if'not ( mite , a compensation for any advantages our neighbours possess . If peace can be maintained a ' little longer—which we hjjve every reason to hope—many inducements to quarrel may be happily roplaeed by greater ¦ commercial intercourse , and wo shall have a groat advantage over all the . world in the matter of rilled oannon . But we nuTee ' with Captain IIami . kv in- the opinion that first class seamanship will bo as ricovseary ns ever—perhaps more so — and in the belief he expresses that clumsy , iron-clothed ships will not be ¦ found impregnable , but will prove unmanageable , and incapable of lho . se steady but quick movements thai tho new
arlillerv will require . . During the Russian war , Sir . Tanks ( Juaiiam despatched our licet to the , Baltic with much puffing and a wretched crew ; so that when by degms the truth eaine out , no one could regret that the Russians had not the courage to attack us before the men had been trained to their work . There can be little doubt that at ( lint time our Bailie lloet would have been very inferior to an equal number of French ships . Ilappily for the general interests of our society , we cannot resort to anything like the conscription of the "French , and wo must look to rational indueo ,-ment . s , and not to force , far our . supply of boys and men . I hat we are making progress , is certain ; buMveoiit debalos prove that it is slow , nml much more pressure from the public is
indispensable to further improvement . Captain IIa . mlky justly nfiinns that " a rogue or scamp costs twico or thrice as much ns n good man , " and wo can only get good men by ensuring , them good and jitst treatment- to an
and most practised men . If a new war should arise , we could not expect to have so long a time given us as on ioniser occasions for blundering and repairing our blunders . The work of destruction proceeds so much more rapidly than of old , that being behindhand for a few days , or even hours , might lead to the most calamitous results . There is , however , one thing in which the French do not come near us , and that is in spending enormous sums of money without any corresponding result . From tho statistics furnished in the work before us , we learn
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* Fleets and Navies . By Captain Cjiam . ks Hami . ky , It . M . Black wood . „
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May 19 , I 860 J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 467
Fleets And Navies.*
FLEETS AND NAVIES . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 467, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2348/page/7/
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