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as we stand at present , invaluable ; but it is because they do that which Mr . Maurice underrates : they bring- together many , to afford the opportunity of study for the comparatively few who can accom plish the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties-Cardinal Wiseman seems to us to come nearer to the truth . His Eminence has sent us a copy of his lectures , in order to prove that he did not , as several papers represented , reeomniend a licensed colportage or pedlar system , with a stamped literature specially
authorised for the poor , as in France : he commends that French plan for having weeded and improved the literature of the poor ; tut for England he recommends something different—an active , not a repressive movement , to produce an instructive and attractive literature for the poor , such as may compete with the bad literature , and counteract it ; and he specially holds up the healthier works of fiction like Robinson Crusoe ; or popular poems , like the Song of the Shirt in England , or the Song of the Rhine in Germany , as examples of a good , and powerful moral effect .
He rather recommends special efforts to circulate " good" books among the poor , by giving prizes in that form , and he desiderates a parliamentary enquiry into the literature at the service of the poor ; but he is not for compulsory or repressive , measures . The Cardinal is not less liberal than , the Christian Socialist Principal of the "Working Mens ' College , nor than the Lord President of the Privy Council wlio relies on opinion to correct opinion , but he goes further in distinctly recognising' the discipline of reading not didactic .
iBut undidactic literature must spring out of the natural tendencies of the people : it can scarcely be made for them . Defoe was charmed with Alexander Selkirk ' s adventure , and amplified it in Hobmson Crusoe—he did not seek to invent a moral tale on self-reliance ; and no moral tale would be equally read . The Arabian Niyhtsis so full of moral illustrations , that it might almost train a mind to the - discipline of life ; but the illustrations arise out of the action ; as every true training of a people , in mind , body , or heart , rises best out of the natural action of either
or all of those three things . But what exercise is possible in the workshop , with brow bent over the work ? None . What " short time" can be effectually and sufficiently enforced ? None . To leave men leisuro to exercise their faculties , which is better than school learning , they unist have power and independence to choose the limit of their own hours . To that end they must not be so cheap . "W hatever makes labour more valuable turns tho windlass that raises labour
from the mine to tho full HHit . tho i ' ren nip . from the mine to the full light , the irco air , the broad earth to which man was born ; anil when once ho is there , he can talk profitably and independently with Reverend Principal , Cardinal Legate , or Lord President .
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muster , will stand like a man , answer a question smartly , and will be prepared to figure in uniform as one of " the gentlemen" of the Carbiniers , —the admiration of the surrounding fair , and the terror , perhaps , of the opposing Russian . Put those twenty men to an adult school , and the keenest of pedagogues could not pull up one in the score to a decent show of intellectual promptitude . Put the whole through military drill , and scarcely
one perhaps will be sent back to the awkward squad . If one in the score becomes food for powder , which is possible , the other nineteen will be put into a condition to serve their country , to enter into the soldierly feelings of their profession , to behave with spirit on the field of battle , probably with magnanimity in the moment of triumph , and in short to be men with a real sense of life , its enjoyment and its duties .
This growing of men , however , at a rapid rate presents a population question of a peculiar kind . If Ministers are determined not to hold an autumnal or a winter session , it follows that they will have the heaTier account to lay before Parliament at the usual period of meeting . There is no present prospect that the war will be brought even to a provisional conclusion ; the end of the beginning is not in sight . Prussia temporises , not apparently as a preliminary to pacification , but as a new treachery to prolong as much as possible the profitable period before actual hostilities . The Crimea looks like a
mouthful that will take some time in the mastication . The enormous consignments of the French on hospital account—^ sufficient for 200 , 000 cases ; their consignment of wooden shoes for 200 , 000 meii , and all their other preparations , indicate the calculation of a long endurance for the war . It is reckoned that 100 , 000 inen will be in the Crimea before all is finished ; yet we are far from having reached that number yet . The reinforcements going out from this country are counted at 4000 , which will malce the effective number 30 , 000 infantry , besides the usual
complement of cavalry , artillery , eommi s ^ sa , riat , &c . Tho French reinforcements are on a larger scale , but there is evidently some difficulty in mustering the numbers . In the meanwhile , there is tho great camp near Boulogne—a store of men so considerable as to provoke the question , why drafts are not inside from that body ? The answer is evident : tho Emperor Napoleon feels that ho must bo prepared , should a supply of men be wanted in the North to protect the i-iiteresta of Franco . We believe that stops arc going on in Prance to increase tho effective forces
at homo without exciting too much remark . The samo process is going on with us . It is stated in a ueini-oflicial paper that within the next three months tho whole of tho Line regiments will be brought up to the increased number authorised last session — namely , 1 U 00 men for each battalion on foreign ( service , with 400 in dcpAt . To that end , tho bounty for each soldier lias been raisod to (\ l , for tho cavalry , and 11 . 15 s . for tho infantrya riso of 21 . while tho ( standard of height : hns beou reduced by an inch nil round . It
wns expected that some considerable drafts will bo inndo from tho militia ; but should any great numbers bo required for foreign service , tho militia itsolf will have to bo extended ; mid already the recruitin ^ -olUcer , both for tho Lino and for tho mililin , iw ontaring into competition with the emigration agent ; and tho farmer . The inroads nwuUi upon our population and upon our forces by tho war during tho year now concluding havo been but nibbling , in comparison with tho demands which uro likely to bo made- in tho ensuing year .
Do we say this in disparagement of the war ? On the contrary ; we still hold to our opinion that if the English people knows what it is about , it will procure from the war that which will be worth sill the trouble and expense . But then the English people must know what it is about . The peace had lasted too long . All classes ha-d almost forgotten the value of men as men . Cattle were treated
better . Labour was the cheapest thing in the country . Unless a man were annexed to property , he did but represent so many shillings a week , a flea-bite in the expenditure of the capitalist ; and he had no " rights . " The war has shaken us out of this nightmare mistake ; and great capitalists , as well as Legislature , now know the man for the man ' s worth . The recruiting-sergeant can tell Parliament and the manufacturer that the bounty for the man ranges from GZ . to 71 . 15 ; his quotation has risen in the market . Her
Majesty ' s Ministers will want the assent of Parliament to increase estimates ; but if the army is to be a more expensive one than it has yet been , surely the English people have a right to obtain concessions in return . Why should the ranks of officers be only open to those who can pay large sums for the purchase of commissions ? Are there no poor gentlemen— -are there no honourable men . born amongst the trading classes—no working men of high courage and faculty— -who have as fair a right to serve their country as the sons of the rich or the noble ? Of course
there are ; and the exclusion is an injury to the country as well as to the individual . Why should militia officers be exclusively persons endowed with a property qualification , and connected with the land ? Is the militia a private force for the defence of private property ; or is it not professedly an embodiment of Englishmen , as such , for the defence of their country and families ? II
Englishmen concede new powers to G-overnment for increasing the army and navy , and the militia , —if they give up new sums oi money for such purposes , —we m \ y that they are more astonishing fools than we ever took the Anglo-Saxons to bo , unless they demand that the army and tho militia be no longer the monopolies of tho moneyed and favoured classes .
We warn the English people that there will be something worse than tlio mere loss of an opportunity if they lot this occasion pass . Tho standing army is in itself the fit instrument of an arbitrary Government ; wo have tolerated it too long already ; but if its exclusive characteristic is to bo maintained whilo its numbers aro increased , wo aro forging our own fetters . If , on tho other hand , wo obtain an opening of the commissions to all clauses , wo po isir diminish tho anti-national chara < : tor of tho army , aud
reconnect ; it with tho people ; mid if wo also placo tho militia on a inuro national footing , wo provide for tho safety of tho country , and savo tho proportioned increase to the standing army . A . new cuinp in to bo formed at Aldersbot , near ( Jhobhniu , to do tho work of drilling tho soldiers to camp lil ' o , and ol" familiarising tho public with tho night of her Mujesty ' a Horvunts in livery . No objection ; only wo nay , that ; whilo the English' neoplo tolerate un
exclusive army of paid p rivities ami privilo ^ d ollicors , it ia creating an idol I'm-ii * o \ v \ i onalavumuut . AVo should Iniw . illiiw i : uii » pn to balance ) that-camps formed ol" tho really national force , tho . Mililin ; and Aldemhot itself should be » pcr | ielnnl memorandum to tho public that , n iioii-nal . ioii ; d army Iuih to Ixi converted into a national fon-c , in order that it may b" »• ' f ' oniiidnblo in possible to our enemies abroad , as si d ' ci as possible to our liberties at homo .
INCREASE OF THE ARMY . " 3 ? ood for powder , " exclaimed a l ) y-stamlor as a party of recruits passed him in tho streets . A recruiting sergeant of Carbiniers was stsilking along in the rnidat of a party of some twenty niou or more , perfect contrasts with himaolf ; slouch iug louts with rounded shoulders , rolling gait , stupid countenance ; country
bumpkins who would take a day before they could bring their inimla round to answer a question , would buinn upon a hor . se liko a half-strapped Hii < Ullo-bi » £ , and would , in short , bo incompetent to uso tho compact wellgrown limbs with which nature hud endowed them . A few weeks will puss , and every one of thoBO men will ' sit his horse so as to lmsa
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November 4 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 1043
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 4, 1854, page 1043, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2063/page/11/
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