Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 30th July 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, similar positions, and the utmost person...

Page 15
Page 15
15 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)
  • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Really Don't Know If We . May Not Even C...

      small Sfcperlence Of life we have found , as a general rule , that all money that is spent comes out of somebody s pocket , and that if one's ^* g ^ g any money on one ' s account , they are not diM ° iy iii informing one of the fact . How contested , elect ons come to be an exception tc . thisgeneral xulewedo not pretend to divine Meanwhile ^ we will conclude with one p ; ece of advice to om friend Mr . Bright : _ Aecidents as we all kiow will occur in the best regulated families still , after such an accident , in your own happy family , it might he as well if you were not sovehement about aristocratic corruption . If you don ' t live in a glass house yourself , you have o-ot too close an interest in a neighbouring tenement of glass to afford the luxury of stone throwing . ,

      No, 488. .W 30. 1859-1 ' ™ Leader . 891

      No , 488 . . W 30 . 1859-1 ' ™ LEADER . 891

      Similar Positions, And The Utmost Person...

      similar positions , and the utmost personal vanity cannot force the conclusion on them that they are as much superior to their opponents individually as the nation is in strength superior to other nations . They may even be awe-struck at their own inferiority to a Napoleon or Francis Joseph , who has neither a . ' parliament nor a . public to consult , and who wields undivided that national power which they share with many ; and they may suppose the nation to be correspondingly weak . Public writers , sensible how little good they really effect , place them even lower by comparison than they place themselves . From a traditionary respect for the nation of last century or of some centuries ago ,

      instead of a respect for the living community , our statesmen seldom agree with it—they very generally disagree with in—and very generally try to thwart , oppose , and curb it as is supposed to be their duty ; but when they do agree with it , when they can throw themselves unreservedly on the people , and all the resources of the nation are willingly placed at their disjwsal , then they become Sensible that no despot is so strong a _ s they are . In general , however , the nation requires to be much on its guard against being imposed on by a comparison being substituted between our statemen personally and the monarchs of the Continent for the true measure of the national power .

      ject ; but whatever species of ships be employed , three .- deckers , gun-boats , steam-frigates , or steamrams ^—men , bold , skilful , ready , undaunted men , must , be had to work them , and to this , or the moral means of our defence , we exclusively direct our remarks . If it be true that nations are powerful in proportion to the knowledge and skill of their people , this is equally true of every specialportion of every nation . The navy , for example , will be _ effective and powerful as the individuals composing it are skilful and intelligent . They must cease to be sots ,

      and they must no longer be treated as overgrown babies . That they may be skilful , they must be liberated from old and new restrictions . It is natural enough for Lords of the Admiralty , admirals , and captains , to think very much of themselves and their principles of discipline and government ; but even they find , when they are sent on a sudden emergency to the Baltic , that the materials oi which their crews are composed is a matter of oreat importance . Clever , cheerful , active men will readily fall into their plaees , but they will demand clever officers . The great national object , then , to which the claims of the aristocracy must now be postponed , is to have a skilful , intrepid , maritime population , willing to serve their country . is not

      All experience shows that such a population to be formed by regulations . No discip line will ever make slaves and sots into energetic men . At present the testimony is abundant that the sea-faring population stands much lower in the social scale than is warranted by their stirrhr * avocations , the 'dangers they have to encounter , and the work they have to perform . This is the consequence of regulations—of civil Lords supposing seagoing to be an unpleasant life , and condemning men to it as a punishment . Regulations , of which admiralties are proud , have maae the Royal Navy disgusting to the seamen , have dispai-aged seagoing , and both prevent the most active of our people crowding into ^ shipping , and deo-vade all the classes connected with it .

      This must now be altered . The national safety demands it . The time is come when " the laws and customs used at sea , " which under the name of discipline are cherished by martinetism , must be made to conform in principle to the practices of civil life . Flogging , which has occupied the attention of the House of Commons in the week , must at once be given up—scouted with disdain as a scandal with which we should " hold no parley . " It is such an outrage on decency and feeling that the " Fogies" who defend it should not be listened to . The service should , as much as possible , be one of perfect freedom , and every man should be at liberty to enter for any time he

      pleased , and depart at the end of his voluntary engagement . In civil life men are only too anxious to ° emain in an employment , and they would be equally anxious to remain in the navy were tho service perfectly free . If , in addition , too , by remaining and serving diligently , the path were opened to the superior situations , which have long been exclusively bestowed , with unbounded profusion , on the scions of the upper classes—svrelljng the navy list with an army of useless pensioned officers—the men , instead of deserting in slionls , would remain as long ns their services were required . Distrust and dread , tho inevitable consequoxices of tyranny , are ut the bottom of all the regulations for binding every mail wlio it be

      outers flio service for half a generation . Let ns fred for men to go and stay as any private service , and then , like every private service , it wouiaoo over done by men seeking to enter it and stickmg not ffot an abundance of men of a " £ <»« £ description , then-defence by sea is , for this country , so all-importunt-it may bo necossa " y to inquire what compulsion or what extra SwniSa Siuld bo employed to attain tins imi If compulsion bo tho rule , the whole qntl . _ Jl C 0 " tV" ,-i « «« ,, n 11 « linliWtrv t . lin

      nhfiSSbn of doftndlng tiio country by sea . If there bo n < m any pressing danger , and we cannot wait for improvement in the character of our seamen , compulsion should l > e extended to all classes . This is common justice ; and-whenever a law shall be pftssod to subject ovory man to sovviqe In the

      NATION AL STRENGTH AND NATIONAL DEFENCE . We want a measure of national strength . It . is not to be found in the number of people , or Russia would he twice as powerful as England . It is not to be found in organisatio n and the conc entration of power in one hand , or Spain would be stronger than the United States . Extent of territory iloes not supply such a measure , Or Russia would be stronger than Germany , France , and England combined . Mere -wealth , does not give it , for it

      imparts no strength , and only tempts the ^ oiler . Man is a compound ; and the individual is strong as his body is vigorous and his mind informed . Ho it is with nations . Asa nation has a large number of people , it is strong bodily ; as it is rich in knowledge , it is strong mentally . The measure of national strength , therefore , is the number of people multiplied by their skill . Thus . measure dj England appears to be the strongest nation now on the face of the earth . . There is no other which

      contains so many people possessing so much useful knowledge , and using so much skilful industry . In the United States the number of people—21 , 767 , 673 in 1850—is not only some millions , now about three , probably , less than in our own empire , but of that number 3 , 204 , 213 are slaves , who not only must necessarily be deficient in the useful knowledge -which free men acquire , but they make it necessary for those who keep them obedient to employ a power to this end , which impedes their growth in useful knowledge , and lessens their adaptability to assist one another . Remembering these facts , the Americans , who are neither slaves nor slave owners , may possibly have

      more useful knowledge and skill , man for man , than an . equal numbei of our people . In America , every man , as the rule , is perfectly free to cultivate his faculties so as to produce the greatest advantage to himself \ and consequently ensure the greatest power to the community . As men are pex'fectly free , they adapt their labour , their skill , and their knowledge to one another , developing in each the greatest amount of ability , and xnalcing the whole community , of which they are parts , powerful in

      proportion . It is , therefore , because our people are more at liberty to develope their faculties than any other people , except the American , that the laboui' ^ of one is adapted to that of another ; that the knowledge and skill of all are increased , and that tho community is now , on tho whole , the most powerful in existence . Its vast military means being widely scattered , it could hot send an army equal to that of Franco into Italy , but when we compare the improved cultivation of our soil , and our means of communication , at home , our

      colonization nnd our acquisitions abroad , our vast fleets of merchant ships , greater than thoso of all tho rest of tho world , excluding the Americans ; our largo navy and our immense masses of machinery , giving us many millions of manual , or , as it is called , horso power ; when wo multiply our numbers by the intelligence that informs the minds of our people , or is incorporated in their hands , wo cannot doubt that on tho whole wo are more powerful than our great neighbour , or than any other nation .

      Why ia ifc , then , that wo aro so continually alarmed for the national safety ? Beside the wide dillueion and misapplication of tho national moans , thoro is another oauso for this , which is somewhat metaphysical , but worthy of consideration . Individuals , including statesmen , arc apt to measure tho national strength , not by the rule now stated , but by themselves . Tho heroes of tho Horso Guards , of tho Admiralty , and of tho Cabinet , compare or contrast thomsolvoH with tho herooH'oi ' ihu Continent in

      Putting them , therefore , and their idle fears , and their party motives , their personal interests , and their peculiar habits aside for one moment , let us consider what the position and the strength of the country really requires for defence . The public , which believes in them , imagines that the number of our merchant ships , exposed at the breaking out of war to capture , is an element of weakness ; but wherever there is a merchant ship there are sailors , and wherever there are sailors there are means of defence . We have more than once pointed out , in common with others , that the character of our seamen is , unfortunately , much deteriorated ; and we see our statements echoed by certain shipowners who are almost exclusively to blame for the fact ; and the fact , now recognised ,

      creates a necessity for the sailors to be improved and ennobled in order that they may , as in the olden times , defend their own ships , and be the means of defending the country . In every sea we have great steam packets , more numerous , better appointed , aiid in all respects superior to any marauders , short of a great national force , which which could be fitted out to prey on our trade . Far therefore from looking , as our personally feeble , rulers are apt to look , on our many merchant ships as ail element of weakness , we regard it as the main element of our safety . On the sea exclusively must our shores be defended . Britannia needs no bulwark , No tower along the stoop . ner inarch ia o ' er the mountain wave , Her home is on the doep . We nmst cither consign the poet to oblivion , or we . must pi'ovc his poetry to be true . To put a wftll round our isle is impossible . To defend every town or point in its wide circuinfex-cncc by a fort is a thoroughly vain attempt ; but we can obtain , and to this end our exertions for defence should be chiefly if not exclusively directed , a thorough command over the surrounding ocean . Whatever auxiliary means wo may employ for our safety , this is essential . We must not imitate the foreigner with a narrow frontier betwixt him and another which ho carefully fortifies . Our frontier

      is fax * too largo ' for such a work , and wo . know that many millions of money have been wasted on fortifications at Chatham , Portsmouth , Plymouth , Sheornoss , Dover , & c , & c , which have never by any chance been of more l'eal service to tho country than to fire salutes from . Our navy has , on almost ovory occasion , kept tho enemy at a voiy respectable distance . Tho great problem , then , which wo have to solve , in order to secure our own safety , is , ' how to keep that complete command of tho neighbouring sea , which makes fortifications generally a more usoless imitation of nations diffox'ontly placed from ourselves .

      Thoro are two branches of tho means for attaining this great end—tho mechanical and the moral , The former must vary with mechanical inventions . The great three-docker , built twenty years- ugo , as tho ark of safety , is now a more mark to bo knocked to pieces'by the swift-moving small steamer . Tho groat stoana rams now preparing may , in their turn , givo way to some still more powerful instrument of destruction . Wo do not mean , therefore , to say another word on the mechanical part of tho buu-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30071859/page/15/