Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 31st January 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 107, Untitled Article

Page 107
Page 15
15 of 24

On this page

  • Text (2)

      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.

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

    • Untitled Article

      Untitled Article

  • 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.

      Untitled Article

      meaning of their cry is , ^ protection for vested Xises . Protection , not of the weak against the « tronff but of the strong against the weak—protection for the rich , taxation for the poor . + Protection , in its general sense , denotes that fcpnefit or safety which every citizen , hath specially secured to him by the laws y but , under an aristorratic regime , the rich and powerful only are proori

      tected Thus , the law secures me privileges - ginally acquired by the sword ; and the inheritance , even of the insolvent noble * The law maintains the right of the landlord to his broad acres , * and of the cotton-lord to his mills . The law defends the rights and privileges of corporate bodies which are ever hostile to individual freedom , and to which the public interests are constantly sacrificed . But does the law afford any protection to the children of adversity ? Their rights and privileges may be summed up in one word—the Workhouse . The workhouse school , the workhouse diet , the workhouse without work , the workhouse peopled with sluggards and idlers ; such are the protecting

      influences that soften the harsh and cruel fate of the pauper . The workhouse or the gaol is the alternative . Not only do the workhouses supply a large portion of the criminal population of towns , to the enormous cost and detriment of society , but they are occupied by totally unproductive consumers , who thus exhaust resources which might otherwise be devoted to the profitable and productive employment of labour . I affirm , that the right to labour is the first , the most sacred , and inalienable right of every man ; and that the right of the poor to support—that is , to proper nourishment , convenient clothing , and an occupatioi * not

      incompatible with health—and the right of the rich to engross , are reciprocal privileges ; the former being the only condition upon which the latter is enjoyed . Blackstone has defined the allegiance which binds the subject to the king , as a return for that protection which the king affords to the subject . For all men , " immediately upon their birth , are under the king ' s protection ; at a time , 1 ; oo , when they are ineapable of protecting themselves . Natural allegiance is , therefore , a debt of gratitude . " Gratitude—for what ? For the protection—of the workhouse ? The Times newspaper of the 14 th November , 1851 , shall supply me with a few items of this " debt of gratitude " : —

      " The list of deaths in the Kilrush Union-houses alone , for the year ending March 25 , 1851 , fills more than twenty-four folio pages ; those of the Ennistymon about the same number . The sum total for the former union is 1642 , for Ennistymon 1386 ( total 3028 ) . Out of the 1642 at Kilrush , the number that did not die of the dysentery , diarrhoea , or debility , ¦ which marl ? s the death of the famished , is 417 , leaving 1225 who did die of hunger . "

      Talk of gratitude 1 why , the very bonds of allegiance are broken asunder . If the right to protection be violated , the claim to gratitude must be forfeited ; and if men are to be tried for their lives and hung for shooting one landlord , what punishment shall be inflicted on those who have starved 1225 peasants to death ? Lords of the soil , I tell you that the safety of your title-deeds depends upon your acknowledgment of the rights of labour ; upon the establishment of a system of national rating , and the abolition pf the law of settlement or serfdom . The waste lands are lying uncultivated ; the unemployed labourers , who determine the rate of wages , are standing idle ; the credit of the nation is well established ; the cellars of the Bank of

      England ifcre filled with gold ; but the Peoplk ( who , like bees , would supply you with honey , but may sting you to death ) are starving in the midst of abundance : yet the most ample means are at your control to create a superfluity of wealth , a superior character , and a good government for all . Remember that you , " the Happy Family , " who pretend to have a prescriptive right to rule the destinies of England , you are responsible for the errors of those whom you profess to govern , who are miserable only because they are ignorant . You , who are the real criminals , have no right to punish jnisguided wretches in a state of moral idiotcy , who nave been nurtured in ignorance , and habituated to crime .

      1 he right of labour , or the right of the unemployed to productive , rielf-supporting , and consequently profitable employment , is the real Charta of the operative classes . The workhouse , therefore , must bo transformed into the cooperative and agricultural association , in which every associate shall receive a lair share of the produce of his own labour ; and in which '' he that would not work , neither should he eat . " The fertilizing social conglomerate of large towns might thus be spread over the land : and the

      work , not the workhoiise test > be applied to all * The gaol might then fairly be made the receptacle for idlers and sluggards , who would be compelled either to work or to starve , for they should be allowed neither to beg nor to steal . Man , who is destined by nature to be the redeemer of the earth , whether consciously or unconsciously to himself , is ever in search of happiness ; but while ignorance , pauperism , and crime prevail , he must ever be unhappy ; and by his natural

      constitution he can never rest nor cease from labour until he have subdued the earth , and reduced to harmony and order the moral and social anarchy amidst which he lives . The laws of the moral , like those of the physical , world may be shaken for a time by storms and convulsions , but the great elements of order remain for ever untouched ; and , after the clearing of the atmosphere , they are seen in all their original symmetry and beauty . William Coningham .

      Untitled Article

      NOTES ON WAR . BY A SOLDIER . No . IV . — Shooting not Fighting . The ruling influence of gunpowder in the organization of modern armies has tended to equalize the value ^ the men who compose them , to neutralize bodily strength , activity , energy , and daring , and . to reduce all to the same level of unintelligent shooting machines ; and , as we have already observed , very bad shooting machines . Brave they may be ; they may keep together , endure a heavy fire , and die in their ranks j but they cannot fight—touch them , and their power of cohesion and resistance is over . But no

      national force , hastily organized , either for resistance to tyranny or to an invasion , can compete with regular troops in shooting , or in steady and compact manoeuvring . But we shall not attempt such competition in our proposed system . Missiles , in our proposed system , will be confined to their legitimate use—to that of protecting and masking an energetic and immediaie attack . If the assailants are well covereoV-during their advance by the fire of adroit and active marksmen , so much , the better ; they will not be less cool and collected under the screen of a friendly fire , which will enable them to advance without the necessity of accelerating their pace , will render the

      hostile fire less accurate , and draw it off m some measure from the principal lines to the scattered line of skirmishers ; so much the better , also , if there be some force of artillery to reply to that of the enemy ; but however weak the artillery , however inferior in numbers and skill their skirmishers may be , there is but one single indispensable condition for the complete success of an adequate force armed with weapons adapted for close combat , and opposed to a modern army , and that is a steady and persevering advance . They must not open out from the fire , fall into confusion , or recoil when it begins to produce some effect in their ranks , but go

      on and stop it effectually . As long as they move on without disorganization , all will go well ; their turn will come , their victory is certain . No amount of missiles that can be brought to bear upon such a force during the time that it marches over a thousand yards of ground , which would be about ten or twelve minutes , could possibly reduce its numbers so as materially to impair its fighting power . For accurate rifle fire must be slow , deliberate , and confined to a selected body of very expert men ; and , therefore , however galling , can never be numerically destructive enough to disorganize determined assailants ; and rapid , close , concentrated , regular musketry fire , directioneither for

      is incompatible with aim or just , long or short distances . Marvellous tales of accurate practice with rifles at 1000 yards , and even at longer ranges , will not alarm any one who knows the delicate accuracy of elevation that would be necessary in order to hit a three-story house at that distance . With special advantages of ground and knowledge of distance , and by very adroit hands , ranks of men , or even conspicuous individuals , may occasionally be hit designedly at extraordinary long distances ; and , as the improved firearms will undoubtedly carry the ball with , full force more than 1200 yards , chance shots will sometimes kill and wound at that extreme xange . But the results of

      chance and of rare skill , under peculiar and tempo « rory circumstances of position , will be so trifling that they do not ! deserve to bo taken into consideration . Artillery'is chiefly destructive when it swoops the level surface of o plain ; but it makes much more noiso , and is much more likely to cause confusion and panio among inexperienced troops , on broken and irregular ground , where its fatal effects must , bo comparatively small from the increased difficulty of taking aim and of computing distances ; while thoso very ricochets , or grazes and bounds of the shot , which cause wide deflections from the mtendod flight , are liable to create great consternation until their cause and consequences are understood . * V itnm 1200 yards the artillery can beg in to make play with round shot , howitzer shells , and spherical case ( the most formidable of all when skilfully used ) , but it

      will astonish much more thair its value warrants . The fire will increase in destructiveness as the distance shorten ^; but at 500 yards the range wil l bo too short for shells ( noisy humbugs ) and spherical case ; and too long for canister shot , the extreme range of which is 350 yards . ^ And 400 yards may be considered as the utmost limit for a really telling " fire of Sharpshooters , with the best weapons . And , in passing over this space , in the last four or five minutes of an advance and charge to the very muzzles of the cannons and muskets , without doubt an attacking force would suffer severe loss ; without doubt round shot and canister would < crush and

      mangle , and even some well-directed volleys of musketry make havoc here and there ; but what then ? Would not such things occur in an orthodox battle of eight hours of missiles and manoeuvring ? If the records of modern warfare prove that at least a hundred musket bullets and twenty cannon balls are required to knock over one enemy in many hours of firing , and when a great part of the troops are stationary for a long time , how many shots will it take to kill or wound an enemy in ten minutes , and when the distances are constantly varying in consequence of a rapid advance ? And surely no one can expect to win decisive victories without loss . Our

      arguments for as speedy a close combat as possible may be shortly summed up thus . If you don't like the enemy ' s missiles , go and stop them : there is only one way to do it . If your own missile machinery is bad , the more necessity is there for adopting that mode of fighting which renders all the enemy ' s missile machinery powerless . The best marksmen among the enemy will prove the worst fighters . If a man knows that he possesses great skill , and has

      exerted himself to the utmost , and done his best to kill and wound his opponents , to check their advance and keep them off , and finds that he has failed , and that , in spite of all his efforts and those of his comrades , they are rapidly advancing , he will be very unfit and disinclined to join in a hand-to-hand conflict , not to mention that his weapon is unsuited for such work , and that an excessive expenditure of gunpowder has a bad effect on both mind and body .

      The regular soldier , of course , possesses no more than an ordinary share of animal courage , pugnacity , and pride ; but from experience of a sternly enforced system of subordination , he is impressed with the absolute necessity of implicit obedience , and being answerable for nothing beyond his own personal good conduct , he comes to rely cheerfully and undoubtingly on the skill and military science of his appointed * leaders , and on the constant support of all his comrades ; and in this obedience and this mutual trust lies the strength of a modern army ; but the soldier has no confidence in his individual power ,

      and looks to the movements of the mass for a successful result—an instinctive feeling entirely in accordance with the theory and practice of the modern tactician , who , by neglecting to furnish the soldier with weapons for close fighting , by not training him for individual exertion , and by exclusive attention to a mathematical precision of battalion manoeuvre and battalion firing , has manifested a total oblivion of a very simple fact , that a body of men has strength and value only in proportion to the strength of the individuals of which it is composed . Now , the individuals of our modern infantry have very little

      strength or value as real fighting men , and , consequently , but little spirit or inclination for close combat ; they are capable only of manoeuvring in masses , making a tremendous noise and smoke , and projecting bullets at random . " Carrying a position with the bayonet , " ? ' driving back the enemy with the bayonet , " are terms frequently used by writers of despatches and histories ; but no living soldier has ever seen two lines of infantry approach so close as to push , and thrust , and fence with bayonets . Modern warfare is a system of demonstration and imposition ; and the fear of striking home , or rather the impossibility of striking home with such things . as cartrid has led to

      bayonets , and pouches full of ges , long , sanguinary , and fruitless engagements , and to protracted campaigns , that have occasioned ultimately more bloodshed and misery than the most decisive and slaughterous victory could possibly have done . And it has come in fact to this , that in a modern war the final advantage must inevitably rest with that side which possesses the longest purse , and the largest population from which to draw its recruitB . Must it for ever be so ? Shall standing armies , trained and disciplined soldiers , skilled gunners , and costly contrivances and stores , for ever feive a preponderance to the power of Despotism over that of a People ? i $ a

      good and glorious cause nothing ? Are faith , and a purpose nothing ? Is courage nothing P Is intelligence nothing ? Is devotion even to death nothing ? Is projectile mechanism everything ? I will not believe it . I see the weak point of modern military art strained further still b y all the Governments of Europe , and there may Patriotism break in and not only conquer , but utterly subdue , standing armies . Wherever and whenever there is a just cause torouBo the spirit and nerve the arm of the people , a national force is invinciblo under intelligent leaders , and with the simplest armament and organization . jj # y

      Untitled Article

      jAN . 3 i , less . ] Cfrg arairrr . 'ivi

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1852, page 107, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1920/page/15/