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    Ma* 10, 186O.J The Leader and Saturday A...

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    FLEETS AND NAVIES.* THE extreme sensitiv...

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    * \ Fleets and Navies, By Ciujtnin Cjiak...

• Transcript

  • 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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    The Pope's New Irtsh Brigade. Rphe Spiri...

    occupy the state with n 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 Avorst kind . The Poles , always ready to light , Avon ' t fight , good Catholics as they are , against the cause of freedom . So the Pope turns to faithful Ireland , where Catholicism , because it has not been allowed to grow too rampant , is better rooted , and where he himself i 3 most Avorshipped , because his government is least known . The Pope is raising an Irish brigade .

    We knoAV something in this country about Irish Brigades in the'Pope ' s service , and we have unanimously come to consider those corps unqualified nuisances . The same specialities , however , which proved so troublesome at St . Stephens , may sen-e the Pope in good stead in the Campagna . When we remember how the vanguard , which - won the proud title of the " Pope's Brass Band , " spoke , screeched , and protested against the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill , Ave may charitably assume that the same natural obsti-¦ nacv in the new brigade will ' develop itself in manful resistance to

    Gaiubaldian volunteers . And the one weak-point in these Irish champions will be quite secure in the patrimony of St . Petjsk . The Papal brigade in St . Stephens Avere always open to purchase , the whole lot of them might have been bought by any Government if the Government had found it necessary , and the patriots had not put too hig h 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 , lias done well to summon his faithful Irishmen to his standard , and it is very probable that he may get some four or live thousand of them ,-even " if .. ' . the-tyrannical and heretical Saxon oppressors should interfere , as Mr . Caji ' dwell promises for them , Avith the recruiting . But-the Holy Father ought to be fairly dealt with by his agents . A bad lot those ' worthies must be , " when they venture to cheat an employer , who , by two cr three words , can * prepare a very hot place for them in purgatory , by sending him ' - a parcel of unsound recruits only fit for the hospital . ~

    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 lias no option "but to punish those who commit the far clearer and graver offence of enlisting men for a foreign service . But avc 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 ITieiT ^ mo-st-TTi ^ talks about liberty Avh ' ilst it' preaches tyranny , and amongst whom are found the members of secret societies , drawn off upon a forei » n service . The Italian cause would sustain very the service

    little damage . Such of the men as might survive 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 a t rade in their absence , that most of its practitioners would , in sheer despair , ' turn , pigdealers , or betake themselves to the United States to sing the prnisos of Slavery and " Rowdyism . " The opportunity is too great to be lost . ' It would be a sail pity that any too nice scruples about the law , or any consideration for the Italians who arc quite capable of protecting themselves , should induce ! us to prevent this blessed exodus . Nothing could serve the Italian cause better than to have the Pope entirely

    dependent upon an army of mercenaries , and attempting to regain his lost provinces with a horde of French , Spanish , German , and Irish adventurers . The whole hind would rise in indignation against the outrage , and sweep the mongrel army into the sea . There is another incidental advantage England will derive- from this recruiting " , which is not without its importance . We don't eare much about Continental opinion , it i * Always defective from ignorance and distorted by prejudice . We hear Avithout much concern that Ireland is peopled by a race

    which has a . fervent love for liberty , and that we most tyrannioaily deprive it of . tho . blessing so fondly sought lor . When , however , our French and German critics imd tins same people ' . rushing to aid in the maintenance nnd . restoration of n tyranny they have of late sufliciently denounced , they may ppsaibly be shamed 'into a little clearer understanding of tho relations betAvecu England" and Ireland . By , nil means , then , let tho Irishmen who want to fight for the Popjii , go mid do so ., Instead of putting difficulties -in their ¦ way , lot us give : them every facility . The subscription for the Sicilians is . a , very good work . Fur bo it from us to throw cold TfAter uppn such a movement , but charity begins nt home , nnd

    if any liberal Englishmen have money AA'hich they Avould Avish to profitably invest in the cause of freedom , let them employ it in . aiding- the efforts of the Pope to raise an Irish brigade .

    Ma* 10, 186o.J The Leader And Saturday A...

    Ma * , 186 O . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 467

    Fleets And Navies.* The Extreme Sensitiv...

    FLEETS AND NAVIES . * 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 Ave 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 Avar vessels , and the doubt is enlarged when Ave remember that the Auiistroxg and Wiiitivoktii guns will require for their best performance vessels differing- from those constructed for totally different arms . If we turn our attention fi-om 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 , ayc should be thrown into serious confusion , and probably taught improvement at the expense of defeat . " We entered upon the ' last Trench Avar , as Captain IIamley shows , upon nearly equal terms Avitli our great opponent in point of ostensible strength ; but on our side there-was a great superiority in seamanship , and on that of our enemies a

    remarkable advantage in the construction of their ships . Alter a long contest , Ave retired triumphant with 687 ships-, ^ while Prance could only muster sixty-nine . '; and Ave Avere ibr ^ 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 Jaave no doubt" made many improvements , but ; our neighbours / starting- from a lower level , have made a-more striking advance . Our great . ' fault has been that we have not made the service what it oiurlit to be—better liked than that of the

    mercantile marine , and we have constantly turned ail rift our best ami most " practised men . If a new ; war should arise , we could not expect to have so long a time given us as on former 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 load to the most calamitous results . There is , however , one thing- in which the French do not conic near -us , and that is in spending enormous sums of money without any corresponding result .

    From the statistics furnished in the work before its , we learn that Avliilc France spent tllirty-hmc nifflKTn ^^ i-5 cr < -n ^ eiir 5-- # f great activity in all her dockyards and arsenals , we got 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 Fruncc , but our ample possession of iron mid coal ought to bo nearly , if not quite , a compensation for any advantages our neighbours possess . which have

    If peace can be maintained a . little longer— we every reason to hope—many inducements to quarrel may be happily replaced by greater commercial intercourse , and we shall have a great advantage over all the world in the matter of rilled cannon . But we agree " with (\ iptmn Uami-hy in the opinion that first class seamanship will be as nectary as ever—perhaps more so —and in the belief he expresses that clumsy , iron-clothed ships will not be . found , impregnable , but will prove unnianngvablc , and incapable of those steady but quick movements tliat the new

    artillery will require . During the Uussian war , Sir . Tamus ( iit . viiAM despatched our Hod to the Baltic with much pufling and a wretched crew ; so that when by degms the truth came out , no one could regret that the JHu-siiuis hud not the courage to attnek us before ihe men hud been trained to , their wurk . There can be little doubt thai , at that , lime our Bnllie Jlcet would have been very inferior to an equal number of Freneh ships . Happily for the general interests of our soniely , we eannot resort to anything ljk <> . the conscription of the French , and we must look to rational inducements , ¦ -1111 . ( 1 not to force , for our supply of buys ami men . That we ,- iht making progress , i .- , certain ; bid recent del a tes . Jjrn ye that it is slow , and much more pressure from the public- is

    indispensable to further improvement . Cnptniii Ha . ailkv justly aflinns that " n rogue or scamp costs twice or thrice us inuoh " as a good innn , " « ml we enn only get good men by ensuring- them good and just treatment to « u

    * \ Fleets And Navies, By Ciujtnin Cjiak...

    * \ Fleets and Navies , By Ciujtnin Cjiakwss Hamlky , II . M . Dlackwood .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19051860/page/7/