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

• 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

    802 THE LEADER . [ Saturday

    Untitled Article

    anything at Balaclava -would be impossible unless we itad first secured it "by operations cm . the land . There remains only Kaffa j perhaps , on the whole , the best point of demarcation . But the officers who have recently surveyed the coast may have discovered suitable places of landing nearer Sevastopol . Once at the place itself , it is conceived that there would be little difficulty in carrying it , after beating the 3 tussiaai ariny , and mastering the weak defences

    on the land side ; as Sevastopol , like Boinarsund , is commanded by heights and poorly defended in the rear . Let us wait patiently , then , while the combined , expedition does its work . It is no child's play ; and those wno tbink it might hav « been undertaken sooner stow an unfortunate ignorance of the enormous preparation required , and the unerring foresight which should forget nothiiig ; . Befell the atmy moved , the Austrian occupaiaon of "W ^ allachia niust have become a

    certainty : arid every conceivable hazard ? must ha ^ e beea well weighed '/ by itae commanders . ^ 6 t ^ folrttuiate hasi been . the careerof the Turks in Asia . JPiereiihe army , stationed iaEt the winter at Kara , haying been brought fineorder by the eiertions of General Cruyon , li ^ ts been rendered useless by the timidity , ignorance , and weakness of the compianjier , Zarif Pasta . At the opening of the camj ^ ai gn the Turks occupied an . extended position . One corps was stationed at 3 ayazeed ,

    on the extreme right , covering the roads and passes leiding to JSyria . The centre stood at Kars ; theleftat . Ardahan . jSelim I ? asha ,: who coniTiaandai at Ba ^ u ^ , way be considered as heading an iiictependent army . A glance at a good map vrill show that the fortune of the catafiaign dep ^ endfed on . tlie conduct of the armyat Ka ^^ town % aa indeed commanded by the works at Ghimri on the left bank of the Arpachai ,

    which , even as Sevastopol dominates over the Black y Sea , commands the plain of Kars . Early In July , the Turkish general drew in his left from , Ardahan , and marched the army to 3 SCadji-veli-Khoi , where there is a good position . The Russians , under Bebutoff , marched from Ghunri to meet them . Here for at least twelve days the two armies stood face to face ; and now the telegraph tells us that the expected battle has been fought , and that the Turks have been defeated . At

    Bayazeed there seems no reason to doubt their defeat ; and thus the Rtvssians have gained incontestable advantages in Asia , compensating somewhat for their losses on the t ) anube , Eor they have gained the pass at Bayazeed ; and they have overthrown the sole _ _ livjng obstruction , the army of Kara , that - lay between them and Erzeroum . Should the telegraph prove correct , the Turks have lost the campaign , in Asia , at one blow . But we also have our advantages . We have taken itoraareund ; and have learnt a good lesson in the art of dealing with the casemates of the Czar . Bomarsutid was

    a granite fortress , looking out grimly , with upwards of a lmndred guns , upon a . ideep indentation of tho shore of the largest of the Aland islands . Above it the ground gradually rose to a considerable height 3 and on these lulls the Czar had , raised tlvree forts , constructed of granite , solid-looking enough to tho eyo , What was the course of the Allies f On the 8 th of August they landed

    JOjQOO men in three hours and a half . By the 131 / h the French liad constructed a battery of eight guns , four jmortars , and four 82-potmderfl , bearing against tho western fort , the ' ftoy of the whole position . Opening , their fire , on that day ,, they Thought their pieces to be ^ rtipon th e round tower , and fired with little ititerfniBaion all that day and tho following night ; the Trench riflemen , moanwliilo , sheltered under the rocke , keeping up such a

    patter of bullets on the embrasures as made it difficult for the Russians to load . In the morning the fort ceased to fire ; its face was dreadfully battered ; the riflemen , walked in , and the fort was won . On the 15 th the English , who had landed upon the north of the island , opened fire upon the eastern fort from a six-gun battery , and in about eight hours they had knocked away one side ; the fort

    surrendered to the marines and bluejackets . All that day , at intervals , the ships had thrown shells upon the main fort ; and Captain Pelham , who had landed a 10-inch gun , forked it gallantly in an exposed position against the west face of the great fort . On the 16 tb , after a few hours' firing , the fort surrendered , and 2000 men becaane prisoners of war . The whole operations had occupied only eight days !

    jSSTow , when we look at the small number of guns used to batter the towers , when ire find that they knocked out the granite blocks in masses ; : and the mbble at their back- in heaps when we : see how the en ^ rasuxes were almost rendered untenable by the fire of the sharpshooters , We are disposed to agtee withthei remark of an eye-witness * that this

    siege has ; diispelled the illusion of lmpregnable granite fprtSi In this brilliant exploit , after all onlythepreliminaryskirmishj the preface to greater enterprises , we see what can fee done by ships and soldiers ; "We see courage , and strength , and gaiety , and invention , side by side , and we believe that the union of STich forces can nowhere be resisted . The merest tyro must tnake this reflection—are all the fortsl of the Czar as weakly built , and

    as badly placed , as BoniarsundL has proved to be ? Is Sveaborg impregnable to a land and naval attack , conducted by the same rnen ? Is Gronstadt ? Then take the B-us sian target practice . "When the Penelope was aground the great "fort ^ fired 123 shots at her . How many hit the mark ? twenty-three . The conclusion is irresistible that if Bornarsund is a specimen of Russian , building ; if the fire on the Penelope , and on Captain Pelham ' s one-gun battery , he a specimen of Russian target-firing 1 , neither Sveaborg nor Cronstadt can fail / bo share the fate of Aland .

    Untitled Article

    find a real live Cardinal , an ultramontane Cardinal in purple and red , hot from the College of the Propaganda , and the Congregation of the Index , lecturing in the guise of a sober English clergyman of liberal-conservative tendencies on the advantages of education . Even Mephistopheles is a perfect gentleman nowo ' -days . "We protest against any ultra-Protestant howl at the disguised Jesuitry of the Council of the Society of Arts , for having invited the

    most distinguished representative of " Anti-Christ' * in this kingdom to * ' distil the slow poison of his ideas , drop by drop , " into the minds of an unsuspecting audience . We leave to the Jtecord the congenial office of vituperation . For our own part , we offer his Eminence a cordial and respectful welcome in the role lie has assumed , not ; without a certain success . Let it not be forgotten that the Cardinal is the highest expression in this 1

    countryof a party , which , throughout the Continent of Europe , is identified with reaction , oppression ^ and ntisgovernment , ia their most cruel and forbidding ; aspects : of a party whicht an ^ theinatises the very nariieof libertyv the very idea of progress ; treatsscience as an enemyj the printing press as an inventiqn of the Evil'One , ^ ^^ and perseeution of heretical opinions as a sacred obligation . It is the party that , to quote Mr . Grladstone

    has " systematised the philosbphy of perjury for ¦ nipnarehs , " and elaborated the oppressioti arid degradation- of peoples ; the party that in JPrance applauds the ^^ ^ vocation of the Edict of Nantes , and prays for the return of the good old times of Huguenot massacres and dragonnadqs . It is the party that -glorifies the Inquisition , arid thinks the sport of burning heretics alive far niore edifying tjbian bullfights , and equally amusing . It is the party that with pens ever steeped in venom , and lips ever tremulous with insult , libels arid defames all the glories and conquests of civilisation for the last three hundred years .

    It is the party that falsifies history today and invents a miracle to-morrow . It is the party of bleeding pictures , and nodding images , and winking wax-works , adept in all the chemistry and in all tho pathology of " ecstatics . " It is the party of organised ignorance , reaction , servitude , corruption . May we not be pardoned for congratulating one who so worthily represents his party —by contrast ! "What will not change of air do—even for a Cardinal ! Whatever he may be at Rome , in England he is a champion aud advocate of popular education . Cardinal Wiseman has on more than one

    THE CARDINAL AT HOME AND ABftOAP . *' AtL things to all men" is no doubt a perfectly apostolical maxim , and one singularly befitting a Prince of theChurch , inpdrtibusinji&eliuni . 1 ) he Church of the Sword whose hilt is at Home , and whose point is over all the world , fights under fclie shield of an inflexible dogma , but with weapons polished and supple as the steel of Damascus . Universal in her

    claims and operations , the Church is Protean in her disguises and cosmopolitan in manners . To the severity of extreme old age she unites all the pliancy of eternal youth . Run your eye through the lives of the Popes , and in those mysterious impersonations you will find epitomised all the vices and almost all the virtues that can dignify or degrade that human nature which they half al ) jured . Examine the traditions of that Power whose sovereignty demands all intellect , all art , all science for its accomplices , all human laws , institutions , and authorities for its

    instruments or vassals , you will find every form and p hase of human strength and weakness forged into an armoury of sacerdotal despotism . Democratic , absolutist , reactionary , progressive , flatterer and betrayer of all tyrannies and all liberties in turns , foatermother of the arts , preserver of letters , refuge of the sciences , Pagan , Atheist , ascetic , debauched , sanguinary , obscurantist , according to tho age , the climate , and the nation—the Church that boasts of her majestic unity has flourished by the vigour of her infinite variety . It is nothing new ( in principle at loast ) to

    occasion , and in many ways less public , shown himself a . man of the nineteenth century , and not personally hostile to civilisation . The authorities of tho Crystal Palace have reason to acknowledge his frank and zealous co-operation . That he is a man of deep and discursive learning , of refined taste , andean eloquence ^ at once copious and , graceful , a subtle thinker and a powerful writer , is known to all the world oi intelligence . Tlio

    Council of the Society of Arts acted at ouce in a truly Catholic spirit , and with a judicious appreciation , when they solicited so important a personage to deliver a lecture in connexion with their Educational Institute . And his Eminence with equal sense and courtesy accepted the invitation . H there is on © popular error more than another ho is doubtless anxious to explode , it is tho Protestant idea of a Cardinal . In no other

    country but England , we may suppose , could such a phenomenon aa a Cardinal lecturing to a Protostanfc audience on the advantages of popular education bo witnessed . Lob us mako tho most of our opportunities . 10 i » not often we get a Prince of tho Church in our grip . It i » worth while to examine with

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 26, 1854, page 802, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2053/page/10/