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Leader (1850-1860), 24th March 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 10, THE ^EWCONSTITFENCIES—CHELSEA AND KENSIN...

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      : The Army And The Aristocracy. Never Wa...

      the French Revolution . The arrogance of birth had been the pest of the French services . Sceibe , in his Priardela Vie , spv * ks of the "inconceivable good fortune that had raised Fabert ti > the rank of "Marshal of Fiance—a nobody , hqmme de rien , the son of a printer , the only example <> f such str ; uige success ; so extraordinary did such an elevation appear that FabEkt was accused of having practised the occult . sciences . Amongst the various provocations to the Revolution in France few people are ivware of the state of the two services . In the navy the very few qffliciers bleus , . men who had raised themselves to the lower grades of official rank by their own merits , were the victims

      Of the insults of . the officers of high birth . Emile Souvestee m Lis Gkrohiques de la Mer , mentions the case of Charles Cobjiic ; he had greatly distinguished himself against the English by his remarkable bravery . In consequence of the insults of the aristocrats he was obliged to fight duels with seven or eight of them on the same day , and had ' at last a body guard allowed , to protect him from their vengeance and jealousy . Because he was not noble he could never obtain anything above the lieutenancy of a frigate . . At last he retired in disgust . At the time of the floods of the Garonne with four sailors he saved in as many days the lives of six hundred people . He again made an application at the commencement of the war for a naval command and was refused , and finally broke his AUthese nonsensical airs were thoroughly dispersed before the end of the wars of the French Revolution , at least in France itself ; and one cannot help rejoicing : at finding the sons of innkeepers et Jioc genus amne sit the head of victorious French armies , scattering to the wind the nobles of France , Austria , and Prussia . It was a tremendous lesson , enough , one would imagine , to have annihilated for ever the conceit of necessarily superior valour of the g-entleman horn , but it has not . Laing-, in speaking of the Prussian army , savs : — " It is difficult for any one without rank or property to he ' come an officer , . . / . about one in twenty' of the citizen class are officers ; . . , bnt ^ these are generally rich men ; almost all the cavalry

      officers are nobles , .. : the citizen class officers are looked down-Upon ; scarcely any of the lower classes are ever raised to the rank ofofficers . The-re ^ ular officers insulted theLand wehr by their mode of address , so much so as to call for state interference . " This aristocratic spirit is one of the pests of Prussia , and we fancy it is not altogether unknown in sorne portions of the English army . However , this is a question of pure power , not of right , nor even of expediency . £ In spite of our purchase and of our aristocratic influences we have had , it is true , plenty of noble blood , still further ennobled by noble conduct ; but many , very many of our battles have been eminently soldiers' battles . How much aristocratic and wealthy rubbish did Wellington send back as good for nothing , men aptly described by

      the Roman Taqitus :- — -Satis constat fitisse in eo exercitu veteranos qui non stationem non vigilias inissent ; vallwn jhssamyue quas nova et tnira viserent nitidi et qucestuosi militia per oppida expletd . Give us , by all means , men with all the lofty associations ofhi"h birth , Kit let them be competent soldiers , no court colonelcies Fmpudently foisted on a -nation that can judge , in spite of waste and expense , and experience . What said Wellington in his despatch of the 18 tli of July , after the battle of Vittoria : — "It is ah unrivalled army for fighting , if the soldiers can only he kept in their ranks during the battle . " Cause of defects , * ' want of obedience , and attention to orders by the inferior officers , and , indeed , I might add by all . They never attend to an order with an intention to obey it when obedience becomes troublesome or difficult

      or important . " " We carry the principle of the gentleman , and the absence of intercourse with those under his command , so far , that , iii my opinion , the duty of a subaltern officer , as done in a foreign army , in not done at all in the cavalry or the British infantry of the Line . It is done in the Guards by the sergeants .. Then our gentleman officer , however admirable his conduct in a field of buttle , however honourable to himself , however glorious and advantageous to his country , is l > ut a poor creuture in disciplininghis company in « atnp , quarters , or cantonments ; " It was something oven worse than this thut led Dr . Johnson in his letters—no radical , by the b—to speak of the adage" A French officer will always lead it

      ye , Ms soldiers will follow , and English soldiers will always follow if their officers willlead . " This does not much look as if , ut , any rate in England , the inore eminent degrees of valour were , the perquiflitea of birth or wealth , though we do not wish to confound the two . The child of wealth , who trusts mainly to purchase' ; and who chooses the army merely as a gentlemanlike profession , and who seeks to regenerate himself by his . uniform alone , is of all officers the very worst . Examinations , which ought to be no trifles , will probably cure a good many of our dofeots , af the examinations are not turned intp a mere farce , which there was an attempt to do lately . Wo know what has been the effect of requirements in the Swedish army .

      Scott , in his " Danes and Swedes , snys ot tlie bwodwu nomnty , " ihey seek for the easier offices in the state and army , of aides-decamp , staff oiftcois , guard officers :, the proportion of noblos to non-noWes is ft hundred and sixty-seven to twenty } but in the corps requiring science , as artillery and ongineors , it is the reverse . " Here we have fci » 0 men of consequence in « country , out of sheer indolence , deliberately resigning the highest and most honourable posts : wo shiill sec what the effect ; of a qoursaof examination and competition , Mrly carried out , will have on ours . Mixed with the canfe which we have animadverted upon above , there is the nntioauoatlon-of-olRoors' cant , the crampu ^ nnd debilitating- effect of learning : that generalship Is a mattqr of gonius . and not of studythftt presence of mind in nation i » not to bo learnt by rules—that Wlmtis gained in the knowledge of the sohpolu is loat in the knowledge

      of the world ; with a quantity of such decaying clap-trap , with jtist such limited ^ amount of truth in it as gives it plausibility . We fancy it would amuse exceedingly a company of French staff officers who do not find themselves rendered particuiarly unmilitary by a severe and earnest course of study at Saumwr , ' ^ t . Cyr , & c . Against such men , mere blood and spirit will not . avail ; we must have working" and scientific men , or both ; we must have such men for an European as we have had for an Indian war , fur they would be even more necessary for the former than the latter . Let the flood come , and we shall be glad to have men of merit in high places , whether with the blood of a Wellesles : or a Natieb , or a birth as mediocre as Nelson ' s , or as humble as Clyde's . Haud aliter Stilicho fremuit cum Thracia belli Tempestus ; cuiictis pariter cedentibus , unus Eligitiir ductor ; suffragia quippe peregit Judex vera Timor ; victua ratione salutis Ambitus , et pulsus taeuit formidine li . vor . -

      278 The Leader And'saturdayi Analyst. [M...

      278 The Leader and ' Saturdayi Analyst . [ March 24 , 1800 .

      The ^Ewconstitfencies—Chelsea And Kensin...

      THE ^ EWCONSTITFENCIES—CHELSEA AND KENSINGTON . rpHE united parishes of Kensington and Chelsea will form the -L most populous and wealthy of the new boroughs . Its estimated rental is already £ " 657 , 823 , and its population cannot be taken at less thari 120 , 000 . To what extent these numbers will be increased within the next ten years , as the area still vacant becomes occupied with dwellings , it were difficult to say . ^ The limits of the new borough are perhaps wider than could be wished . They comprise the whole stretch of suburbs from Lowndes Square to Fuiham Biidge , and frQni Chelsea Hospital to Kensal Qreen j and the communities now for . the ' first time about to be politically associated together embrace almost , every variety of condition , from the man of hard-toiling industry to the luxurious patrician , arid from the secluded man of letters to the busy idler of fortune . Churchmen who interpret variously their common creed , and . dissenters who agree in the liberty of differing on all points of faith and discipline ; mercantile men of various branches of trade , and professional men and artists with talents and occupations sufficiently diversified , are there to be found . To represent efficiently such a society will be no e ^ asy task , and those who may be chosen foi ; the purpose will certainly have no sinecure . . A requisition is in course of signature to Tokrens McCullagh , Esq ., late M . P . for Yarmouth , calling on him to undertake the duties of representing Cnelsea and Kensington in the next Parliament ; there being a strong sense of the services he has rendered in obtaining" for tlie inhabitants , the privileges which they so long " fruitlessly sought , and his experience of many years in the House of Commons naturally creates confidence in his fitness for the trust which is likely to devolve upon him . We do not know a man better calculated to represent the middle and intelligent classes . He is a singularly clear-headed man , as shown by his style of oratory ; and that he is a sound politician we believe from the various contributions he has made to political literature . That he ^ is also single-minded and hones ^ s we believe from his career ; and if all the new constituencies can , get such men , moderated by a great experience of practical politics , and who , whilst they have gained by a knowledge of the world , have not lost the freshness of ! their political consciences , we shall not think the new ltefonni Bill quite the useless projection some of our- contemporaries affect to do . Choice of competent representatives is , after ail > the whole end and aim of all our reform schemes j and what are wanted are middle class men of ability , not concerned in any speculative pursuits , who have a sound knowledge of public affairs and the necessities of the time . We sincerely hope that Kensington will join Ghelsea in seeking out a fitcornpanion to Mr . McCuLLAQipc , and will set a good example to the other metropolitan boroughs , by neither being led away by brawling" partisans , self-seeking capitalists , nor aristocratic noodles . .

      The National De Fences.* Bully Maks, An ...

      THE NATIONAL DE FENCES . * BULLY MAKS , an immortal muoh in the thoughts of patriotic Britons last Autumn , has been . completely driven out of them these three months past by jolly Bacchus . As the year died out , the invasion-panic died out too ; the volunteers b ^ gan to drill , and by their martial presence reaasuredl the more alarmed old ladies ; the naval reserve wan inaugurated by an enormous advertising- expenditure which satisfied somewhat stouter hearts , and knowing politicians were perfectly comforted by the accord which appeared to exist between onr Government nnd thab of our . Imperial ally upon

      continental questions . There was , in fact , a reaction from the exaggerated ulavm which prevailed for a lew weeks , and , like most reactionSj it ? went a little too far . At first , nothing 1 but a most cosfcly system of fortifications could defend us , and out of the depression no system of defence at nil was thought requisite . Then Mr . Gladstone came and sang" his siren song about perpetual peace and goodwill between France and England , discoursed most eloquent music about the intense fraternal affection which John Bull and jean Cmpaud would henceforth entertaju for each other , and seduced a gooul many weak-minded pious people into the awiul heresy of supposing- clarets , edgnacs , » ud " Articles do . 1 ™*' . ?' , efficient agents in precipitating' the millennium . Of course , wlulsc

      * Groat Jtrltafo'fl Dtfanoe Of Her Boat?...

      * Groat Jtrltafo ' fl Dtfanoe of her Boat ?* «» m < *«'"'' YI " m ^ ° r ™& Motrwolte , and Dockyards : In ft Letter to th « Zttght W .,.,. Hyon « y Horbwli . By Mujor-Oenerftl Wilmams , Woyal Bngmeers . London * W . Clowes and Sons ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 24, 1860, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24031860/page/10/