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    790

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    , OUR MILITARY RESOURCES. The last words...

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    The Policy Of Suspicion. A Cebt^In Set O...

    ¦ ,, + Q l ^ mself who distrusts all Por no man trusts bim ^ u w ^ ^• S sSStfffiSffSn ^ Srj a ^ ^ & £ 3 r « re ^^ r * S ^ Ana this , iu reality , is the ware » which many a demagogue deals . It is m politics what mystery is in «> manco 5 i * g ^« fcope to the imagination , and » » % ^ " ^ l to ^ half-taug ht adult as a dark cellai is to a child . But is it a manly process : ' is u

    truthful , or pure , or brave i -i- « seB Sane thinkers among the working-classes should examine closely the g ™ fces ^ f * f : bears so freely fabricated with respect to th ^ g Hsh Cabinet and the Russian war Only one person , among the many who daily « implore" some veiled prophet or incog *** Ph * to " save the nation , has specifically stated the mystery ot iniquity S which the popular allusions point . The story would be too ludicrous for repetition , were it not the currency of thousands of politicians , in London and the provinces . It is affirmed , then that in the cra * y Foreign Office is contained a certain sealed box . " In that box is deposited " the agreement of Russia and England with regard to the partition of the Ottoman Empire . " With this precious memorandum lie others relating to the treaty with Denmark , " dictated by the Czar at AY arsaw . An anecdote , it appears , is connected with the sealed box . When Lord Debby succeeded Lord John Russell as Premier , he objected to the terms of the Danish treaty , but * he was not allowed to take office except on condition of adopting measures 5 * i documents kept in the sealed box . JNow , there were some ex-M . P . ' s , some retired officers of rank , many aldermen and towncouncillors , besides a muster of trading agitators , in the room in which this statement was made . We shall not , therefore , insult the understanding of every man in the empire by reasoning a little with ourworking-class friends upon this T reternaturally preposterous fable . . P Imagine Mr . Disbaeli in Dowmng-street , drawing into official twilight the proois of a treasonable compact between the Whigs and Russia . Conceive him possessed of a paper reciting the terms of a plot to divide , alter a due interval of fighting , the spoils of the prostrate Ottoman Empire . Is there a man who can write his own name who believes that between hostile parties , inveterate factions , unscrupulous adventurers , bitter antagonists , and really honest , English-minded men , who successively fill the Treasury , such a conspiracy could lie , dark as Phlegethon , darker than the drains of Downing-street ? And yet it is a serious fact that declarations of this kind are not only made , but received ¦ with riotous applause , printed , repeated , and almost affirmed upon oath . Extravagances of such a nature are invented by men haunted by a monomania , who have the dexterity to perceive that suspicion is welcome to a part of the working-classes . At the unreported meetings continually held in . the metropolis , and in the provinces , nothing produces so much effect as a dismal hint , or a reckless accusation . A sense of mystery hovers over the speaker ' s face , and his audience are astonished at the turpitude of human ( Ministerial ) nature . J ? or instance the late Polish meeting was not intended as a demonstration of enthusiastic sympathy ; it , was a perfidious farce , got up between the Marquis of Bbeadalbane and the . barl 01 Habbiwgton , with the prince of machinations , Lord Palmbbston , consulting ma

    sealed box in the background . One Wednesday no chairman arrived , and the blackest insinuations were muttered along iDrury-lane . The next Wednesday the chairman and . the speakers were ready , and Sir Robebt Peel came , with a sardonic mimicry of enthusiasm , to broach the scheme of a Christian empire ( under a Russian prince ) on the Bosphorus . A blue light flickers over the story Even if Poland were to be restored , the working-classes are warned to give no credit . Poland must then , in its turn , be suspected , for it will be " a bulwark of Russia against Europe . " No clear intellect can perceive the connexion between the beginning and the end of this epic of treason ; but it is the staple , not of Chartist bluster alone , but of a sickly Conservative scepticism , which deplores the honest prerogative of our ancient

    English royalty . The suspicion -which is aimed at the Cabinet , whether Whig , Tory , or Coalition , is directed against the middle classes also . Alderman Allday , supporting the virulent exaggerations of Mr . Attwood , bargains tor a cheer , from " the body of the hall , " as follows . " The working men are looking into blue-books ; now find me a middle-class man who is doing the same ? " As if there were a middle-class man in England , if Alderman Alld ay be not one . . \ , . n a But this deplorable asperity , this gall and wormwood of politics , has its moral , not for the working-classes alone . Their agitators are only suited to the temper of an ill-taught , ill-represented people . Their querulous discontent takes refuge in suspicion . Mortified by exclusion , they believe—ob a small exciteable section of them believe—that Government is only an agency of delusion , that the Whigs feel a personal * delight in the agonies

    of mankind . We must keep to our course . Upon this point we cannot flatter " the people , " or approve their " friends . " Time , we trust , which does justice between man and man , will do iustice between class and class . We have fulfilled our duty , when we have asked help from those whose teachings teach the people in warning them against the effects of this suspicious humour . It is a hateful spectacle to see a thousand Englishmen concurring m the belief that England is , and always has been , governed by a race of political malefactors . But it becomes still more incomprehensible when pacific sympathies are united with this policy of pertinacious distrust . Is it more difficult to believe that our governing class , united by sentiment and by tradition with the governing classes of the Continent , are unwilling to aid in bringing them to ruin , than to suppose that the belligerent governments of Europe have agreed to wage a mortal and desolating war for years before they give effect to a preconcerted plan of impossible treachery ?

    790

    790

    THE IEABEE , . ' [ No * 282 , Saturday ,

    , Our Military Resources. The Last Words...

    , OUR MILITARY RESOURCES . The last words of General Evans in the session which has just come to an end are undoubtedly worthy of that full consideration to which , as Lord Palmerston admitted , they are justly entitled , not only as comjng from a man having in every way a right to express his opinion on the conduct of the ' war , but as containing intrinsic worth . It is indeed a lamentable fact that the British 1 force in the East is inadequate to the requirements of the war ; and the only excuse i that can be offered for the Government is , ; that soldiers cannot be manufactured in a i few months , nor , when they ore striplings at t the time of enlistment , under a few years . I But admitting that we are enlisting at double i ! the rate of any previous year ; admitting that

    we have done all that could be done to raise recruits , still there comes the question , so properly raised by General Eva 2 * s , are there no British troops , except those in the Crimea , seasoned and fit for the hardships of a campaign ? There are such troops . Casting a soldier ' s glance over the globe , Sir Du Lacy sees that we have 40 , 000 European troops in India—10 , 000 of these he would spare . There are seven battalions at the Cape , and British troops scattered in Ceylon , the Mauritius , Hong-Kong , Australia , doing police duty , nearly all of whom might easily be spared , and their places filled by the irregular cavalry and the sepoys of India ; and thus in three months , ho calculates , there would be 20 , 000 men ready for the Crimea or elsewhere . To these he would add three battalions doing garrison duty in the Mediterranean , to be replaced by militia regiments ; and an " Irish Brigade" composed of 5000 men , selected from the Irish police , " one of the finest corps in the world . " And again he would raise much higher the Foreign [ Legions now 111 course of organisation ; and he would supply the

    them all with Dess possiDie anus . Now there is , as Lord Palmerston was confessing , when the proximate Black Rod cut short his last speech bo inopportunely , much force in what is said with regard to India . " It is possible that in some stations portions of native troops might be available to replace E uropean regiments . " No doubt whatever . India is tranquil ; and the deticiency of Europeans could be easily made up with natives . Certainly the troops in -Aflstralia could be dispensed with if a light infantry corps of New Zealanders were raised , as it might be , for service in that country ; the irregular horse at the Cape , with the Burgher force about to be raised , would be strong enough to control the Caflres ; aucl the native Indian army might , of course , be augmented to almost any extent . We are , therefore , of G eneral Evans ' s opinion , that 20 , 000 stout warriors , all of British build , and bone , and spirit , might 111 a few months augment our Crimean army . If there are difficulties in obtaining an Irish Brigade from the constabulary , are there any in raising a Canadian Brigade P it is the duty of a British Government , desirous of carrying o n the war " with the utmost possible vigour , " to use Mr . Cowfeh ' s words , in order that we may frustrate the designs of Russia for " universal domination , to use Mr . Lowe ' s phrase , to develop all the resources of our great empire . Far larger is the population at our disposal than that or Russia , and animated by at least an equal spirit of loyalty and devotion to the cause . We should appeal to the slumbering national passions of all the subjects of the British Crown , and show our enemy , by making war to the death , that no one shall provoke Great Britain with impunity to leave the paths or peace for the bloody field of war . But we have other and more formidable resources than those of men : wo have science . Putting on one side the dazzling but mysterious schemes of a Dtjnponalp , and even the projects of a Nasmyth , lot us see what has actually been done in tho way ot arms Major John Jacob has recently published a pamphlet on " Rifle Practice , m which ho describes some astounding results obtained by him that promise to make n revolution in tho art of war . Major Jacoh is the well-known commandant ot tho hcinao Irregular Horso . Ho haB for years studied tho capabilities of tho riflo , and has act up ft most elaborate practising-ground 111 tro ™ the " lines" of his cavalry station . Witn what results ? Ho has not only ascertained , and fixed by actual practice the best iorm toi the rifle and tho ball , working with deadly

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 18, 1855, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18081855/page/10/