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Leader (1850-1860), 12th November 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 10

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      Turkish Degenebacy ! Aghast? At The Slig...

      Emperor Leopold , the timid policy of Pitt , and the strange support which the " Whigs of tliat day , with Fox at their head , gave to the Messalina of the North . Pitt failed to support the King of Sweden , who was recon quering Finland , while his brother was hunting the Uussian fleet , again officered by Englishmen , from port to port , and while the Turks were contending against fire or six armies , operating on the whole line of their frontier from Servia to Ismail . It is true that

      Leopold abandoned the Russian Empress before the close of the campaign , but by that time Turkey had been crippled ; nevertheless , the Crimea was finally won only by the assistance of the Crim Tartars . All tiiis time the Russian armies had the advantage of European discipline , and they were under officers like Potemkin and Suwarrow , who cared not a straw for human life . Turkey has been weakened by the repeated attacks of Europe , and Hussia has reaped the fruits . In 1828 , when the Russians penetrated to

      Adrianople , the Turks were in the lowest stats 01 national abasement : Europe had just destroyed their fleet ; and the Sultan had just slaughtered the Janissaries . Even then , Turkey kept Russia at bay with raw troops for two campaigns . Now , according to Sir Charles Shaw , Captain Nolan , Sir Charles O'Donnell , and several other British officers , Turkey has a strong and regularly disciplined , army . For the first time these four hundred years Europe is with Turkey , not against her ; and we may fairly expect proportionate results .

      As to the power of the Russian armies forty years ago , before we admit that 'they were powerful we must be " shown' some of their exploits . Tacked on to the continental armies they Went to Paris and elsewhere ; in their own country , it is true , they stood to be shot down and sabred by Napoleon ' s soldiers , and they harassed very gallantly the retreat from Moscow . Put of all the arguments used to show the weakness of the Turks , commend us to the stifled rebellion of Mehemet Ali . Was England proved to be a weak kingdom . because Cromwell

      conquered and beheaded Charles I . ? Is 1 < ranee a powerless nation because the mob of Paris has driven out two kings within twenty years ? Ear from Turkey being weak , this is the first time , since Peter the Great accepted the terms dictated by Baltaji Mahomet , on the Pruth , that the Turks have had a fair chance against Russian troops and European tactics . Without laying too much stress upon the

      reported successes of the Turks in Wallachia , as proofs of the efficiency of their army , let us note how the news from Asia supports those proofs . Sclim Pasha has actually defeated a Russian army under the south of the Caucasus ; and if reinforcements do not speedily reach Prince WoronzofT , Avhose head-quarters were at Teilis , the Russians in those parts will be assuredly cut off ; for Schamyl is behind , and Selim Pasha before the Russians . And as reinforcements and

      ammunition can arrive by sea alone , a few ships oi war could not be better employed than at Batoum . They would break the blockade of Cireassia , and intercept tho reinforcements sent from Sobaatopol to WoronzofT .

      1090 The Leader, [Saturday,

      1090 THE LEADER , [ Saturday ,

      Touching The Russian Commissariat. Accou...

      TOUCHING THE RUSSIAN COMMISSARIAT . Accounts are conflicting and contradictory as to the relative military value of the Turkish and ^ Russian forces on the . Danube , but all accounts agree in representing the Russian army as disaffected , disorganized , diseased ; decimated by sickness , the result of " short comrnonH" anil miserable equipments . The fact is , thatwith tho exception of the Imperial Guard and tho troops stationed in Poland—tho flower of ( he RuHtfiiui army—tho soldiers of thoOznr are nothing hotter than herds of soulless and mindless brutes , trained

      to « ta , nd fire , and dogged in daring death as human animals may well be who have no homo , no country , and no . God—HaveNicholas . Hut tlieHe wretches are the vicl-iniH of that corruption which is the gangrene of the Russian systemsocial , political , and administrative . The Conimi . NHariat in farmed by contractors who arc public robbers , to a man . Every now and then somo groMseroasoof peculation 1 Jian usual is unkennelled ; down swoops the Czar upon the delinquents who havo had the clumsiness U > get found out , and a baU'h of unpronounceablo notabilities are parked oh" I . o Hiberia , pour encourage ) ' Irs attires . Bui ; the warning is never taken , and tho example in uev < r felt . To extirpate iJio tliHcawe you must

      kill the patient , and in this case the patient is the whole empire . In the highest Russian society cheating at cards is the correct thing , not the exception . If a whist-player is so clumsy as to be found out he is not kicked as a scoundrel ; he is only stigmatised as maladroit . Corruption , we repeat , pervades all Russian society , all Russian administration . As to the Commissariat , ask that distinguished gentleman who has so long represented the Czar at the Court of St . James ' s with so much astuteness and efficiency that we felt disposed to put his name at the head of our series of the " Governing Classes . " Ask

      Baron Brunow ! A better authority could scarcely be found on the probity of Russian statesmen , ambassadors , and army contractors . We invite journals falsely accused of Russian predilections to apply to Ashburnham House for an authentic statement on this interesting subject . M . de Brunow ( we wall not call him Baron , a title only worn by Jews and bankers in Russia ) will , doubtless , be able to inform the eager British public how a certain army contractor , by name ' Brunau

      ( a more Russian and less diplomatic termination than now ) , was at Odessa in 1828 , blessed with a beautiful wife , and caressed by the favours of the Grovernor-General of the province . Alas ! it is a delicate task to write Russian biographies . So many reticences , such a careful adjustment of light and shade , are required . How can M . de Brunow speak , without offence , of jVT . Brunaw , who , in 1828 , was imprisoned by superior orders for the frauds he had committed on the

      commissariat department in the campaign against'the ' Turks . Implacable history compels us to state that M . Brunau was in a sorry plight indeed when Count Orlof arrived to sign the Treaty of Peace . How fortunate that Count Orlof was dissatis - fled with the incapacity of all his secretaries ! How lucky that one man of capacity was to be found I True , he was in gaol ; but a certificate of morality was not desired . No hand so adroit and ready to pen deftly and rapidly a glozing report as that of Brunau , the army-contractor , in gaol for fraud . After all , his offence was not strictly political ,

      and the . Russian Government wants men of conviction . The rest of the story of Brunau is soon told . He was whisked off in the carriage of Count Orlof to St . Petersburg , and there pardoned by the Emperor , and , in virtue of his capabilities , appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . Many years passed : he received the cordon of St . Anne ; and to one of the employe ' s who congratulated him on this new distinction , Brunaw replied : " My happiness consists in having received a greater honour than all—the JSmperor has spoken to me for the first time these twelve yearn . " Soon after , Baron de Brunow appeared at the Court of one of the Great Powers , to sign tho

      treaty of July 15 , 1840 ; and ever since , he has represented at that Court tho policy of Count Nesselrode , with an influence and authority which Lord Aberdeen -will not bo tho first to dispute . Now , we believe this story of Brunow might bo told , with change of names , of half tho distinguished officers in the civil or military service of tho Czar . A capacity for fraud , a genius for robbery , is the best passport to political , especially diplomatic , eminence And hero a reflection occurs : how shall our honest . English gentlemen , born to diplomacy like lap-dogs to blue strings and milk , —how shall our indifferent aristocratic fiddlers

      compete with Russian convicts in tho trickeries which are the soul of the system by which Europe is mystified and bullied P Compare tho education and tho morality of a Stratford Jfcodelifle or a Westmoreland with that of a Bncnaw . But this digression would lead us too far at present ; mo shall return to the whole subject of diplomacy . Perhaps the . Emperor of Russia , autocrat as lie is , is often the blind instrument of his own Rubordinates . There is tho weak point of that tremendous politieal and administrative unity

      • which , from a , distance , looms like the perfection of despotic , will . Xn tho campaign of 1828 , against Turkey , the Emperor thought , to crush fhe revolutionary spirit in his army which had burst around tlu » steps of his throne ' ' 25 , and inaugurated Iuh accession in blood . What it' ho was only the tool of bureaucrats who neither could nor would hand in their accounts , and for whom war conveniently embarrassed with fresh complications tho difficulty of doted / ion , and was , in furl ; , a delay of settlement V So dioriuoMH was tho robbery of tho

      State by the army contractors in that campaign of ' 28-29 , that entire cargoes of corn were thrown into the Danube , utterly unfit for use . The army almost perished for want of provisions ! Sixty thousand cavalry horses a fortnight without forage is one of the reminiscences of that campaign . The chief malefactor is now at the head of one of the most important embassies in Europe Ask Baron Brunow , we repeat , how the Russian commissariat is managed . If we mistake not

      that distinguished diplomatist will be disposed to whisper confidentially into your ear , that if the English Government offered to purchase the officers of the commissariat department of the army of the Danube , Nicholas , who knows the morale of those gentlemen , woiild instantly sue for peace , and lay down his arms . A " pacific solution" we have the honour to recommend to tie indefatigable impotence of "Western diplomacy .

      Progress Of Opinion" Respecting Strikes....

      PROGRESS OF OPINION" RESPECTING STRIKES . The facts connected with the strike in the North establish some important truths . It appears that neither side can permanently coerce the other , however a present victory may appear to crown coercion . " A child may take a horse to the water , but a thousand men cannot make him drink ; " and a hundred thousand men cannot make a master continue to pay in wages more than he receives in prices ; but they may make him close his .. mill . On the other hand , masters

      may combine to put down the combination of the men , and they may make them give up some particular union if they starve them long enough ; but it appears that in point of fact they cannot prevent unions . Attempt has been made ever since the black Combination Acts , which were repealed , and which have been succeeded by the present equivocal law . There have been verdicts and judgments declaring combinations illegal , as in the case of the Wolverhampton tin-plate workers . By greater length of purse , masters may disperse an union , as in the case of the

      Amalgamated Engineers . And they may resolve , as in the case of the iron-masters , not to admit workmen to their shops save upon condition that they belong to no union . Nevertheless , unions have again sprung up ; and masters in pursuit of their own interest drop off from tho combination against combination . The masters in the iron trade have done so ; and there is no reason to suppose that after conquering in the present struggle of the cotton districts , the masters will succeed in their object of permanently putting down the combination of workpeople .

      The men will not suspect us of flattering their predilections ; they will bo more ready to fed anger at our not having supported their movement through thick and thm ; hut in the end , the more thoughtful among them will recognise the sincerity , and perhaps the soundness , of our advice . Briefly expressed that advice is , first , not again to commit themselves to so extensive and momentous a movement as a general strike , without a more minute and comprehensive knowledge of tho facts upon which their demand is based , especiall y the facts relating to tho means of complying with their demands ; and secondly , not to abandon their union . Let them read tho fable of the Lion and tho Four Bulls ; but lot thorn learn to unite well , and to direct their

      union well . Two important steps havo been marked in tho progress of opinion on this subject . Several ot tho morning papers havo been sending their own reporters to give accounts of tho strike ; for riots are always good food for newspaper readers . Now it is remarkable that those reporters generally a # reo in admitting faults on the side of tho masters—in allowing that union cannot ho permanently Put down amongst tho incn , and in

      insisting that tho tiling wanted is , not coercion <>" either side , but more complete information . . Notwithstanding tho fact that , the strilco of tho meters appears to bo making progrc-Hfl , the correspondent of the Times puts some points w > i " great , distinctness and force . He shows flmi , there are combinations on both sidos . A nmsld h association has virtually remained in action hh »< " < WW . Ho admits that the masters preserve a Htern and unbending demeanour towards U » o u operatives , which lays tho groundwork for tnoir suspicion , and occasional violent ruptures . In the complicated details of factory hfo , however , tho relations between masters and intu

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111853/page/10/