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    September 13,1856,] THE LEADER. 877

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    THE MOSCOW CORONATION. This week, our di...

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    THE LAST K.G. If Edwaub . III. were now ...

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    The Reduction Of The Forces. Tjndbe The ...

    standard -was lowered , of physical strength , of constitutional health , as well as of height . The result has been , so bad , that in some regiments it has been impossible to muster much more than 50 per cent , of the whole force in tie barracks , the remainder being absorbed either in picket duty or in the hospital . The reduction will be so conducted as to relieve the army of the permanent hospital which that vicious system of recruitment imposed upon it . That is the first object , and it constitutes the main reason why we say that under the name of the reduction there

    will be a virtual increase ; since the body will be relieved of a burden , better brought together , and rendered more efficient , INevertheless , the proposed depots will not be sufficient in proportion to the service companies . " When it is considered that the gross strength of the depot must be qualified by the effect of the drafts to keep up the service companies , by the proportion of raw recruits , by the invaHds , and hy other effects of home life , it will be perceived that the theoretical number of 200 is scarcely sufficient to allow margin enough for a reserve justly proportioned to the 800 in the field . This must be so obvious

    to military men , that the reserve must have been narrowed solely in deference to the presumed discontent of the House of Commons at voting large supplies . But the military Ministers cannot expect to escape from being called to account in the House of Commons , especially at the present day . It is a slavish adhesion to old ideas which makes our Ministers assume that the House of

    Commons is to / be propitiated by blindly cutting down the estimates . On the contrary , in the present temper of the public , the House will be prepared to provide any forces which the G-overnment may declare to be necessary for the position of the country ; but in giving whatever means may be demanded , the House will require satisfactory proof that the proposed organization is suitable for its purpose . " We have shown how weak the Ministerial case will be in one particular ; but there are other points in which the same line of reasoning could be carried out .

    The great net fact is , that we shall possess an army considerably larger , than that which we possessed before the war , its strength increased in . a far greater proportion by its organization , equipment , and exercises . Now the country would be prepared to make any sacrifice for the maintenance of an efficient army ; but undoubtedly it will ask , What is that army to be established for ? In what

    service is it to be used ? This is the most important question of all . We do not expect to receive an answer from the Duke of Cambeidge ; even Ministers are not to give us an answer until the meeting of Parliament , if then ; but the plan for ' the reduction of the army' constitutes an avowal that we do return to the peace of 1851 , and that we may require to be armed at all points . For we hear of no reduction of the naval force .

    Now who is our anticipated enemy ? "We might conjecturally anticipate danger from three quarters . We should have said from four ; but , from the fact tliat , notwithstanding the " boasted readiness to meet America on the ocean , satisfaction has been given to the "United States in the Central American question , we presume that our present Ministers do not anticipate a . ny danger from the W ^ est . Is Russia to be the enemy ? This might be ; only that we find Russia yielding whenever the Allied Powers press their interpretation of the Treaty of Paris .

    Is it to be Austria ? This is not compatible with the report that Austria and the Western Powers have been contemplating a .

    revival of the treaty of April 15 as against Russia . It is not compatible with the latest concession to Austria—the suppression of the subscription set on foot by Ma kin towards the artillery for the fortress of Alessandria . All the recent movements in Italy , no doubt , corroborate the opinion that the most influential classes would readily combine for a constitutional movement reducing the Neapolitan idiot to reason , and reducing Austria to her non-Italian possessions ; but is it probable that the English Government will separate from the IFrench alliance , or that Xoiris Napoleon would be prepared to take that original and vigorous course in the Peninsula ? Where , then , is the fourth enemy against which the English army may be intended to act in combination with our allies ? Is it against the people of Italy , and the natural allies of ihe people of Italy ? s These are questions to which a real English House of Commons would require an answer before it voted the ways and means .

    September 13,1856,] The Leader. 877

    September 13 , 1856 , ] THE LEADER . 877

    The Moscow Coronation. This Week, Our Di...

    THE MOSCOW CORONATION . This week , our divinities have been . Velvet and Gold—' the purple testament' of Moscow . Not Russia alone , not only the serfs whtfse prostration , we affect to pity have gazed at the second A & EXAiTDEit until their eyes have grown dim with theatrical delight . We have all sighed to be in the capital of cry solithj gasping at the red-shafted spears and rainbow pennons of the Cossacks , the blue vest of the dainty Prince of GS-ouriel , the crested casques of the Imperial Guard , the golden coats of the nobles , the green-and-orange livery of the Czab , the Cinderella carriage of the

    Empress , and the trembling brilliance of the diamonds on hex head . Our hearts have yearned to see Yashti herself , and , for a day , we have wished we were Babylonians . " How Heaven loves colour ! " So does Earth . "We " joy in red and green , and a thousand flashing hues made Solely to be seen , " though we were all Alhambra artists , and we perfectly understand why the North American Indians , not content with , being red-skins , paint themselves , and why Quakers are unpopular . The whole tendency of our civilization , for a hundred years it may be said , has been to abolish the use of tinted

    garments , and to clothe men in black , or invisible green , or grey , or other lustreless manufactures . It is true . We dress dully ; but how we try to get " back a little of the variegation when we can ! We go to the sea-side , as an excuse for wearing gaieties that would be ridiculous in town ; and if , by rising to parochial , or county , or knightly dignities , we may but privilege ourselves to touch our dark monotony with a scarlet edge or an enamel spot , that is a compensation for many years of suffering . How else can we

    account for the expenditure of a million sterling to paint the lily of Imperialism at Moscow ? You will say ~ j > erhaps , it was the policy of Alexander II . to impress the Bashkirs and Circassians with an admiring awe , and to show the proud-hearted ICarapapaks that , however they may sport gold coins in their hair , or stud their sheepskins with jewellery , the splendour of their plains and mountains is mere barbarism at Moscow .

    This sort of philosophic interpretation is suited to the dramatic theory of a great monarch , cavalcading in glory , and concealing in his breast a noble disdain of all frippery whatever . Careless eyes and curling lips , of course , belong to Czars , and uneasy is the head that wears a crown ; but , without any sophistry , the spectacle just exhibited in Russia was an attempt at the deification of a man in tb , e sight of men , and it appealed to

    the grossest love of material magnificence . The honours paid to the new Czar were all but divine . Myriads of people went on . their knees to offer him reverence . His name waB coupled with names that are sacred , and the plumage of his escort seems to have smitten , not Kurds and Bashkirs only , but citizens , Prench-polished in the West , with almost ghostly awe . For him rang the bells of the cathedral , for him chanted the clergy , for him the altars were decorated , to him necks

    were bent and faces bowed to the earth , through him , the clergy said , the will of Heaven would be known to the Eussian people . If they could have stolen the thunders of the firmament , undetected by the correspondents , they would have pealed them over Moscow , to complete the apotheosis of Alexander , who is lord of millions , as Bybon was club-footed , because he was born so . Even one Western citizen , who had escaped the contagion of the De Morcsrr rituals , and of the ' high-as-the-sky' heraldry of the

    palace , doted so on the sight of . a real Emperor and Empress , and a stage larger than Astley ' s , all bright with crimson plumes and eagles , and the man standing in the genuine boots of Niohoias , that he wrote more madly than if he had seen Diajta , and her hundred lovely virgins , lily-white , or passed a day with Comus . It was nob tinsel , but pure gold—not a vision , but Moscow— -not an actress , Imt an { Imperial lady , shining from a cloud of gauze , with a

    tiara of brilliants , sitting in a red-and-gilt carriage , with a crown on the top , and eight horses , harnessed with gold / and palefreniers leading them , and little auburn-curled pages perched up aloft , to screen the uncourtly coachman ' s back , and a galaxy of fairylike chariots following , and chivalry , Amazonian and other , all aroxmd , as though OhabXiEmaone and his Empress were coming along , with a cavalcade of maidens in violet cloaks , riding on cream-coloured palfreys .

    We ought to be dazzled , and are—by the strange contradictions of history . We have been learning , for eighteen hundred years , that lilies of the valley are arrayed more gloriously than Soiomon , yet it is Solomon " still that bewilders us . " We have an intense admiration of power , for men who have abundance of money and soldiers , and can do as they like , especially if "doing as they like extends so far as to be able to put people to death when they please . But Imperialism , alone does not suffice to secure devotees .

    Even A ' -CTiLA , though he used wooden knives and cups himself , gave golden cups and knives to his courtiers . If we confer authority , we insist upon show . Our aldermen must turn upon us the scarlet lining of their cloaks . And if the Emperor of Russia enters Moscow to be crowned , in the plain blue coat and red trousers of a general officer , "with only a plumed and burnished helmet on his head , and a zodiac

    of decorations on his breast , there must be glowing crests , and mail , silver , gold , purple , velvet , diamonds , an Assyria of pomp and brilliance around liim ; otherwise how could we venerate his Majesty ? In such a procession Geobge Washington would have looked like a memento mori . O WASHftfCH ton ! O Belshazzah !

    The Last K.G. If Edwaub . Iii. Were Now ...

    THE LAST K . G . If Edwaub . III . were now to visit Xiondon , we can well imagine the embarrassment which he would feel in finding hiB way from Charing to St . Paul ' s ; how difficult it would be to malce him understand how he could go to Dover between breakfast and luncheon ; could receive a message from York in an iastant ; and that , being once more King of England , he could raise any requisite sum of money without summoning lug borons or

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 13, 1856, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13091856/page/13/