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    Untitled Article

    is a perpetual meddling with the dress of the soldier , while his most substantial grievances remain untouched . The military milliner is at it again ; quoth the Times .- — " Great alterations will shortly take place in the drees of the army . It is in contemplation to supersede the scarlet shell jacket of the infantry by a frock coat of the same colour , and the ' bobtailed' coats of the heavy cavalry by a full skirted one . The improvement will be too , apparent to the greatest novice to require further comment . An order has been received to supersede the red stripes of the undress of the dragoon guards and heavy dragoons by yellow ones ; except ia the case of the Carabiniers , -who are to wear white . "

    So far as we can understand this announcement , tlie new meddling will not tend to improve the appearance of the soldiery . The long skirts discarded generations ago are to be restored , again , we suppose , to he pinned back , again to be imitated in mere turnings-up , then to die out altogether , and once more be followed by shell jackets . These perpetual alterations are worse than mere trifling—they cause needless expense to the public on behalf of the

    private soldier , and to the officer , who must follow the capricious " regulations . " There is , indeed , one change that we should welcome—that which should strip military uniform of its gewgaws and superfluous finery , We admit the instinct which , in all countries , makes the dress of the soldier picturesque ; but sound taste , as well as sound finance , is outraged by the abundance of stripes , fringes , flying lace , and other effeminate finery , which converts the soldier into a mountebank or running footman .

    We do not forget the improvements which have taken place in the condition of the soldier ; but in the main they are only niggling abatements of discomfort or injustice , scarcely touching the main body of his grievances : the private soldier is still liable to the lash ; he is still imprisoned in barracks , shut away from society , and forbidden to declare his wants ; he is still enslaved for a weary length of years ; he is still denied just promotion—forbidden to win a name and commission in the field , excepting in the few picked instances which admit the injustice without curing it ; nay , as we saw recently in the ease of the Sergeants , promotion may be to him an injury and a loss .

    It is not only the soldier that suffers by these grievances : they entail injury also on the Army and on the country ; occasion much of the expense which attends a Standing Army , and at the same time weaken the efficiency of that force . To take the case of promotion . Our system is defended mainly to keep up , on as large a scale as possible , the practice of patronage , which is hedged in by the plan of purchase , " the

    Commanderin-Chief ' s list , " favouritism , and other abuses that obstruct the career even of the working officer . Yet a more liberal promotion from the ranks is proved to raise the character of the soldiery and the efficiency of the forces , not only in foreign armies , but even in our own . Take on this point the unexceptionable testimony of a military writer in active service . We extract the following passage from the Narrative of the Second Seikh War , by E . T . Thackwell , Aide-de-camp to General

    Thackwell : — " What a pleasing contrast the discipline , dress , and bearing of the sepoys of the Bombay Regiments presented to those of the Bengal army . The former bore a much stronger resemblance to the English troops . They were well set up , moved with rapidity , and their clothes seemed to lit them . The native officers had the recommendation of youth and activity , whilst those attached to the Bengal regiments were incapacitated by age . It has been customary at Bombay to select the w » OHt energetic and intelligent men of a regiment for promotion . As a necessary consequence , the troops have been better drilled . The young native officers take a pride in their ponition , and employ all their energy to recommend themselves for further advancement . I he . vounir ticpoy bestows attention to hi * duties , in the hope of soon gaining increased rule of pay and the rank of

    " Iii Bengal promotion goes by seniority . Non-commissioned officers , just as they become fitting subjects f * vr a pension , receive a oonnnisinon . Just m their ener-Kii ' H are evaporated , and their pride extingmalie . l , they ar- expected to infuse life and activity into others . It seldom l-appi-nH that the troops of the two IWUchcii-8 are . thus conjoined in action . I wan an eye-w , tneHH of tl . « c , » oIi » -n « i with which the Bombay sepoys mmirouvred under fire . "

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    THE WHIGS SAVED . Cold water is thrown upon the explosives of Captain Warner ; Babbage is pensioned , but the arithmetic of the United Kingdom is not worked by the calculating machine ; Lord Ashley has shown a candle to the House of Commons , but tallow still keeps the place of peat ; sunflowers do not yet supply us with everything , from bread and oil to the rope wherewith we han # the unredeemed savages of our native land ; discoverers mostly have to contend with indifference and neglect : but one , we imagine , is sure of success as soon as his discovery is made known : the daily papers have described a novel application of machinery : —

    " Mr . Alfred Smee has contrived a piece of mechanism , by which he can show the relation of any number of facts , or principles , inductively and deductively , and thus perform mechanically what has hitherto been thought to be the province of the mind alone . For the action of the machine , he so arranges the words that every word forms a half of the meaning of the word above it , and comprises ( he meaning of two words below it . By these means he obtains an arrangement of words , having the properties of a geometrical series . When the words are expressed in their proper relations upon the machine , which is constructed upon the same geometrical plan with the logical readings of all , some , none , the bearings of any number of actions is indicated , and the conclusion can be read off

    by inspection . The discovery will not be patented . " Much demand will be excited at this oiler of a supply of wisdom by machinery . The very poet might seek to purchase the inspiration of Much a deus ex rnachinA ; only few poets can afford factory apparatus . Bennies , poetry , like Htockings , has snfl ' ered considerably in the adaptation of mechanical " improvements , " as they arc called . Both the hose and the inline of our ancestors were of closer and more lasting tissue than those which are turned out of the machine in our day . It is evident that Mr . Sniee ' s invention would be

    invaluable to persons who are now biudunetl wuh . the composition of nermonn ; to writers on evidence , legal nod theological ; to novel-writers , multitudinous race ! There must be considerable chance , however , that the patent will be officially bought up . To the Commons it would bo of the utmost use in the composition of blue books ? honourable committee-men might go and take their ease at their inn , and leave a boy to feed the Smee machine with witnesses . Probably thet irweutor will not lotus tho examp le

    of Captain Warner : the Captain has not given his long-range to mankind , but he offers a preemption to some Sne of the contending parties . Mr . fcmee should offer his engine to the Protectionists or treetraders , for the forthcoming election . It would be especially applicable to either of those parties , should the free-trade struggle have to be renewed since the arguments on either side are so perfectly well known , that victory now will almost depend on the breadth , speed , and good aim of the ejaculator : the big loaf , the triangular trade , the smuggler ' s premiumand such arguments , —or tne

    , competition of the over-taxed British farmer , the special burdens , the independence of foreign corn , and so forth , —will all fail of effect , on a new campaign , unless some plan were devised for shooting them out broadcast , like grapeshot , so as to hit an opponent with a score of arguments at once—twenty to his one , as soldiers shoot into crowds . The Smee ; comprehensiverange would secure the victory to the purchasing side as surely as the Warner long-range . Decidedly the Free-traders should secure a monopoly

    of the machine . The party , however , at once most in need of the machine , and most able to command funds to outbid every competitor , since it holds the public pursestrings , is the party in power . By a bold purchase of the Smee , the Russell Cabinet might retrieve itself on the very edge of its favourite precipice . Yes , we commend to them the Smee-at-any ^ price policy ; and the first use of the instrument might be the justification of its own purchase . This would be a beautiful application of machinery . The Protectionists are very bold now ; but how different their aspect would be if they were

    effectually Smee'd ! Think also of the totally new force given to all the terrible , if true , denunciations and prophecies on the " Papal aggression ! " Imagine the totally novel force imparted to Lord John's series of Durham-letter speeches by " logical readings of all , some , none ! " It would be convincing , overwhelming . Just fancy Lord John using to the Pope a machine by which " the bearing of any number of actions is indicated , and the conclusion can be read off by inspection ! " Which falls in admirably with the Whig plan of appointing inspectors for every purpose . We shall have a staff of Conclusion Inspectors .

    As to the statement that "the discovery will not be patented , " who can tell the effect of a Peerage and pension ? Mr . Smee will perceive at once how dangerous it would be to place such a machine in the hands of the common people . National education would not be half so alarming as tins kind of universal suffrage of the tree of knowledge . Think of the millions wielding , with the " destructive " hand and " blind passions" of the mob , " logical readings of all , some , none . " What institutions could stand in such a state of things ? Is it

    possible that the Essex paupers , who have at present only the logical readings of " none , " would submit to Helotry if they also commanded logical readings of " some , " to say nothing of " all" ? And who would place the machine in the hands of Socialists and Chartists ? We should have the Charter established , and Socialism proved to-morrow , and the conclusions positively read of by inspection . It is clear that if a stamp lax must be retained on papers , to prevent a popular currency of news and politics , a prohibition tax must be put upon tho Smee . But Lord John antl Sir Charles Wood are

    not men to overlook so obvious a necessity . A greater danger for them lies in the probability that Mr . Hume or Mr . Cobden might oeconomically propose to discontinue the use of live Cabinet Ministers , and to establish a proportionate number of steam Smees on the Treasury bench . The human machine cannot compete with the Iron Man of the Factory ; and even ' ' abinct Ministers may learn to sympathize with the weaver who is sent home " to play , " while a woman can tout four power looms . We shall see Lord John attending Chartist ineet-\ uirH with Sir Charles and tho Greys , and

    complaining , with demagogue loudneaH , that Lady John is employed to tent four steam Sineen . lie will agitato for an act to forbid the employment of women in mines ,, factories , and Mouses of '' arliarnent . Yea ,, even Cabinet Ministers inu- d , 8 tc tho common woo ; for " pain can rear'' . iO Hops of Heaven . " 1 « it not written— " Bafuer ' s head to death is given , " and a balder logician than Lord John ia there not in tho world of logic . Let lri « rival be owe that can pour forth logical rcnrliugH of all , some , none , and hi ? ia destroyed . He must hasten to secure the Since .

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    JOHN STUART MILL AND TUB WATER QUKS'lTON . The anomaly of our commercial * &d trading system , biintf in some things monopolist , occasionally cobueraLivtj . aiul generally competitive , w admirably illustrated by the present state of the question aa to the best , and cheapest mode of supplying London with good water . Certain , Free Traders * object to tho abolition of tho existing competition of trading

    companies , affrighted by the vision of a vast central Government control . The members of the Metropolitan Sanitary Association earnestly ask for a commission appointed and paid by Government . And there are not wanting those , who advocate the local system , and assert that the only legitimate way of providing good water is by local management . To quash the free-trade people , Mr . John Stuart Mill has been appealed to , and his authority has been brought to Dear upon the Economist . But in so doing , the Sanitary Association , who consulted the oracle of free trade , have received an

    unlooked-for check . Upon the speculative question , Mr . Mill declares in favour of local management and Government supervision . " Were there , " he writes , " a General Council , or Board of Administration for all London , invested with power over every branch of its local affairs , a place in the council or board would , like a place in the Municipal Commission of Paris , be sought and diligently filled by persons of high character and standing , as men not only of business capacity , but of general instruction and cultivation . " To such a body he would unhesitatingly entrust , and not to Parliament , or the general government , the charge

    of the operations for the water supply of the capital . We presume that such a body would be , to all intents and purposes , a cooperative and not a competitive association . Mr . Mill limits , not only the province of Government , but the province of competition . In the water supply he says , there is virtually no competition ; if there were , he would , doubtless , prefer that mode of supply . We think he is wrong in saying that the water supply is a question , not of political economy , but of public policy . It is both . Only to this special case the fundamental dogma of orthodox political economy will not apply .

    We are glad to see a rising agitation in favour of arepresentative Government for all London . In their memorial to Lord John Russell , the Sanitary Association rather gratuitously think the London public does not want local government ; but the questions of water supply , drainage , roads , and rates , seem likely to result in some important movements for the less imperfect management of metropolitan affairs .

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    April . 19 , 1851 . 1 STf )? Utaitt . ^ f ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 19, 1851, page 367, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1879/page/11/