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'' M L toarinshardened I ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦ • ...
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THE BASIS OF AN" ARMY. Much has been wri...
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HOW' TO MAKE BREAD CHEAP The price of br...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Schemes In Italy.. An Intrigue That May ...
the tone of the press , of Piedmont js really alarmwSSe « H ^ d be »; to hope that the experiment of . constitutional go-vernment was being tried with success in that country . The winters should learn , or be made to learn , that liberty is never protected by laws and regulations . It must rely chiefly for safety on public spirit , on the diffusion of wholesome ideas—on love , generally spread , of whatis good , and hatred of what is evil . to form the doctrines of
If those who undertake a country throw over at the first opportunity the wholesome maxims of justice , and go trooping after immediate advantage ; if they are ready to flatter tyranny because it is strong and rampant in a neighbouring country , and connive at its immoral schemes of aggrandizement , we may expect soon to see them deprived even of the license to do this wrong , and fall deservedly back to the intellectual thraldom of Lonibardy
or France . What is Connt Cavour doing ? Does he read the papers which occasionally receive subsidies from the treasury ? Is he aware that they re ceive , probably , subsidies from a different quarter ? Is he too weak , too indolent , too confident , or too corrupt to check these misdeeds ? Why is the task of explaining their policy left to an opposition paper ? and why is that paper prosecuted ? Is that really true , which some of our letters tell us , that the omnipotent minister has succeeded in persuading the invalid King that the offer of Lombardy—though . strangled between France
and Southern Italy—is worth thinking of ? This seems rather the representation of . a political enemy ; and we are inclined almost to accept the version of an unprejudiced observer , who teils us that as far as he can make out , the faction of Lucien Mueat is only partially triumphant ; that it is besieging the doors of the palace , but has not yet got a firm footing inside ; that the press is allowed to speak in order to see which way the wind blows , but that honesty and prudence have yefc sufficient sway to render it probable , at least , that before the meeting of the Sardinian Parliament , something will be done to prove that the offers which have been weighed have not been
accepted . However this may be , one thing is certain , — if Piedmont assists in spreading the Bonapartist Plague through Europe , it will not itself remain uncontaminated ; or , to speak without figures , if Victor Emmanuel is an accomplice , directly or indirectly , in placing Lucien Murat on the throne of Naples , he will most certainly be the last King of his race ; and the provinces ho governsalready with so much difficulty held togetherwill definitively separate , and , according to their various affections , go to join more powerful states ! ' Has not Piedmont a nobler object than to bo the cat ' s paw of fraud and violence .
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The Basis Of An" Army. Much Has Been Wri...
THE BASIS OF AN" ARMY . Much has been written in these latter days respecting our military institutions . They have been tried and judged by a high standard , and found wanting . The old British courage has rung as truly on the fields of the Crimea , aR evor it rung on the plains of France , or Spain , or Belgium . There has not been oven the shade of cowardice ; no , not even at the Redan . Nevertheless , in the higher branches of military business , there
has been great deficiency , much lack of solfhopofulness among the men , much lack of toughness and hardness in the ranks , and , with all duo respect to bravo men , deplorable deficiencies among the officers . The great Avar has wakenod us all up to a sense of these things ; ha . s set mon looking for the causes thereof ; and somo good must come both to the army and the nation from the inquiry and tho stir it , brings along with it . Porhaps tho causes Ho deeper than men oan see , or like to acknowledge , when tlioy do
see them . Perhaps it is not only in the forms of onv military institutions that vfe should look for the evils we deplore . Perhaps the reason why we do not get good officers is not only becattse commissions are bought , sold , and seldom freely given to any but men bearing the repute of born gentlemen . Perhaps our supply of good soldiers does not fall short solely because the pay is not high enough , because the bounty is not high enough , because the military career of most privates ends with the sergeant ' s golden stripes . Perhaps the want of both officers and men may be traceable to other causes , as well as these , causes that lie be forms dow n in the roots of reality .
War is an evil , but not an evil unmixed with good ; for nothing that is inevitable , and clearly written , in the tablets of man ' s destiny , no work , however sanguinary and horrible , that is there set down for him to do can bo wholly bad . Ifs o , shou ld not a nation be always prepared for war ? We do not" mean that a nation should be always in an offensive attitude , armed from head to foot , and ready to take the field . Such a state of things would be far more intolerable
than any state in which the British nation has yet found itself . But we mean that a nation should be always prepared , by previous habits , enstoms , and institutions , either to hold its own against invaders , or to bear its part in any military work necessary for the world ' s true peace , and the upholding of public law . " The page of history , " wrote Sir Charles Pasliy , fifty years ago , " exhibits to nations , if they would attend to it , without being led by vanity and pride , the instructive lesson of one state constantly
overpowering another , not by superior freedom , virtue , and patriotism , for the free , the corrupted , and the enslaved , have equally flourished and equally fallen by turns ; but by having more numerous , braver , better organized and better commanded armies , with a more vigorous system of martial policy , and a better mode of repairing disasters in war . " If this be so , how did we stand at the outset of this war ? We may say , almost unprepared . We had gone on doing very necessary work , truly ; amending the Constitution , clearing away obsolete and noxious laws ,
spreading our commerce far and wide , setting commerce free , educating , by little and little , our masses . But we had forgotten our army ; we had almost forgotten our navy ; and Avhat is worse , we squandered immense sums upon these machines , not for true military purposes , but to provide posts for younger sons , and playthings for our so-called aristocracy . Nor was this all . Wo not only weakened and neglected our military institutions — we divorced them of the
from tho nation . Tho character soldier , which assuredly should stand high , was contemned and depreciated on nil sides , what wonder then that it was in many cases not an admirable—nay , a despicable thing . True , in tbeso latter years , public opinion has changed , and much has been done to elevate tho soldier ; but we have not gone to the root of the matter , we have not rightly attempted to elevate tho character of the youlli before ho becomes a soldier . It is there that wo shall find
the key to the weakness of our military institutions . " Tho secret , " says Sir William Nal'Ikh , " of making perfect soldiers is only to bo found in national customs and institution /; ; men should conic to the ranks fitted by previous habits for military service , instead of being Htrctched , as it were , upon tho bed of Procrustes , by a discipline which Iuih no resource but fear . " Docs not thiH truth point to the fact that it is in tho renovation of our national habits that wo must scale tho
renovation of our army ? Docs it not point to something more than increased pay and increased bounty ? Does It not warn us Unit if wo would have au army at command at any time , wo
must havea » people accusjfcpmed . toarinsjhardened by athletic exercises , b ^ tfie free tise of thtii limbs and senses from an « ariy age , at comiaaijt ] also ? British manhood , as we haye said , ; w ndt degenerate ; it only needs ' -that free . education of the body which so many are striving to give to the miud , to make it go as far , and last as long in war , as British manhood ever went in times gone by , and with a far higher character . is
The primary remedy , therefore , we propose , liberty of drilling for all young Englishmen whp choose to belong to independent companies , duly and publicly formed for that purpose ; compulsory drill for ail young Englishmen who do not so choose . Let every youth in the United Kingdom be taught to handle the Minie rifle , and learn the simpler tactics . Let them , also , be taught the duties of their position as Englishmen , and be imbued with the spirit of honour . Let them be inured to hardships , and taught the virtues of patience , fortitude , and obedience . Let them be instructed in the mysteries of helping
themselves , and disciplined into self-possession . This training could be instituted in every village , in every town throughout the country ; and the good that would follow to society is incalculable . Could there be imagined a more perfect sanitary training for the youth of England than military drill and all that it implies 1 Would not the adoption of measures like these not only fill the ranks of the army with noble soldiers , but the ranks of society with true and helpful men ?
The basis of our army , as we conceive it , is the nation , and the perfection of that army will be , in nearly every case , in proportion to the health , strength , and general soundness of the natinn from which it is derived .
How' To Make Bread Cheap The Price Of Br...
HOW' TO MAKE BREAD CHEAP The price of bread suggests two questions which are pressed upon us for a practical answer . 1 . Why is bread dear ? 2 . How can it be made cheap ? We will answer the first question first , sinde the reply will enable us more easily to understand the answer to the second question . If England were separated from all the rest of the world , and if the people knew exactly what they were about , it is probable that at this moment bread ought to bo just one-tenth dearer than it is in ordinary
years , because tho crop of corn is probably onetenth less in quantity than it usually is . If England were separated from all the rest of the world , no arrangement by Government , or by Provision Leagues , or by any other machinery , could prevent bread from being one-tenth dearer to the purchaser . In other words , by no exertion could the people of this country obtain ten-tenths where there is only nine-tenths to be had . England , however , is not separated from the rest of the world . Frcc-trado has permitted the incoming and tho outgoing of all kinds of
grain . Now it happens that in the adjacent country of Franco thoro is a deficiency in the crop , the exact amount , of which is not known . Tho wheat crop is sometimes guessed to be onetenth deficient , but its quality is good . The French people are not so exclusively devoted to the use of wheat as we are ; they also use , especially towards tho south , rye , buckwheat , maize , potatoes , and even chcstnutH . Whoat will bo dearer in Franco , but it ia probablo that one effect of the dealings will be to make a larger number of people use other kind-i of food , especially those , which wo have named , llanvo , possibly , the prico of wheat will not Ij <> [ tauticd upwnrdB exactly so much higher na U ><> proportion of the deficiency ; aw ] , consequently , "hi demand on behalf of Franco will >«><¦ »'" « ° fc"J ° an it would otherwise have boon . h < -ro «« ' * ° > though it i . s at present very doubtful «> amount , a deficiency in some part , of tl «> n . rtl . und m the east of Kurono ; ami tliwo dchoenao * w
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 3, 1855, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03111855/page/11/
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