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Leader (1850-1860), 9th February 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 132, Untitled Article

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      vould require lime-juice ; but , until February , r&i lime-juice was left untouched in store . ^ Another fatal " regulation" is that which prescribes that a soldier is entitled " to fuel when trC barrack , but that in the field he must supply himself . On the bleak and treeless plateau before Sebastopol he was left to cut woo > d for his own use ; and , there being no wood to cut , he had none to burn . Lord Raglan disdained the miserable technicalities of the

      Commissariat , and ordered it to prepare a sufficiency of iuel , which it did—and issued the firsfc supply in less than a month . Sir John McEfeiLii points out , as the capital defect of the " system , " that no one functionary is specially responsible for the adaptation of the resources to the wants of the army . . It would be to little purpose to multiply , from this report , illustrations of defective organisation or of administrative imbecility . The evils , so far as they were fortuitous , have been

      renxedied ; some of the defects in the machinery of de partments have been supplied . But the point of the highest importance is , whether , in jbhe event of a peace , Great Britaini caxi defend on her army and navy . Brave soldiers atid-s ^ lbrs she has always had ; but , B ; anylutoe ;! war imist we pass through two years of danger anct suffering—must we sacrifice an arnay , and incur the loss of prestige , before we can . be said to be really in a state of preparation ? The probable settlement with Ku ^ sia will not , let us be assured , relieve us from the necessity of preserving- the most perfect of and

      e ^ iaipment military naval pow « r . The -desusBof all intelligent men is , that we may r | M § 4 n on terms of the most cordial amity with = 0 j | 5 ; . ^ Ilies ; the basis of a real alliance is equal-»^* vQ » j co r cial an d ustrial prosperity ' ^ tjj excitethe admiration of the world ; they ^

      J ^^ fertj , us Crimean army , in spite of ; : Beglect , privation , and misery , " never ^ tS ^ S / M'O ??? ^ ? - in itself , and never descended , from its acknowledged military preeminence . " But the army knows , ancT the world %° F . ? tka * d « ring forty years of peace , Great J ^ Titam neglected her military and naval affairs , ^ ikay ^ een ' the results . We have been exposed to the contempt of our enemies and

      allies ; we may not yet comprehend all the evil effects of our Crimean failures . We have yet to , learn how they may influence our position in Europe , and our political alliances . And , we ask , what will be the result ? what nation will fear our enmity , or value our alliance , if , at the Peace ,- * w-e relapse into routine , and allow the governing classes to do as they have done by us for nearly half a century ?

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      TRAILING FOR SOLDIERS . Suppose peace comes of the Paris negotiations , what then ? Does it follow that we are to care no more for matters connected with the army ? We should rather think that the reverse would follow . The lesson—the one great lesson taught to England by the Avar is : do not neglect your power by land and sea . Maintain an efficient army , an efficient fleet ; and having this in view , we do not propose to abruptly cease the limited attention our space permits us to devote to subjects vitally touching the great question of the reorganisation of the army .

      We have , in previous articles , attempted to show that the term soldier need not be the synonym of sot or brigand , and we have endeavoured to inculcate the doctrine that the foundations of our armies should be deeply laid in the institutions of our country , so that the manhood of the nation may be always ready to resist a foreign foe , and ready likewise to defend society against any ihction . We have sho > wn what a noble educational field is open to the ruling powers by the embodiment of the Militia , and how the camp may be made a school far more efficacious than the

      prison , the adult reformatory , or the Mechanics' Institute . But our last remarks applied only to the Militia ; what we are about to say applies to the privates and non-commissioned officers of the regular army . Why should not the regular army be regarded as the finest educational institution in

      the country ? Why should not the discipline be calculated , not only to make man export shots , able fighters , steady and prompt in evolution , firm as a rock in the tempest of battle , superb , unconquerable in physical strife , what , in fact , our best regiments now are , but equally firm in the moral tempests of civil life and battle ; adroit , self-holping , the elite of their

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      trusted . That race which has excelled all others in fidelity to its leaders , is studiously kept out of political power as long and as much as possible . It is commonly said that the Great Charter and the Bill of Rights conferred certain liberties on the English people : not at all . Those statutes were only treaties of peace , in which the" contending parties did but agree not to fight any more about liberties which had been denied , but which the people had taken . The justice of a further Reform Bill ,

      betical distinction depreciated by its indiscriminate distribution to a tribe of pushing middle-class projectors . Order of Chivalry there is literall y none now existing . Such an institution might have been revive d . Its very soul consists of the chivalrous virtues courage , loyalty , and generous devotion . But its body consists in the fellowship . The Sovereign is about to confer a badge for one of the chivalrous virtues , courage ; but the other virtues are unbadged , and the new chivalry

      has no body , for it is , unincorporated . The General will vie with the common soldier in seeking the cross for the most brave ; but when both have obtained , and they are marked out as equals , there is no brotherhood . The General will still stalk by the humble Johnny who salutes his superior ; the man of rank not daring to grasp his fellow-badgeman

      by the hand . Is it that the " private" hero would be presuming on the fellowship ? We all know better : we see well that the very summons to sit in chapter of the order with his chief would fill the humble soldier with a sense of humility , of his own deficiencies , and of the inequality in other things , as powerful as his pride in the common badge for a common virtue . We know too that the conflict of

      humility and pride would engender the strongest motives to win a hi gher status by acquiring the qualifications ; arid that the brother of the order would stand pledged to be a gentleman —an example to his own rank of obedience , loyalty , and high feeling . But what of that ? Admirable as such a lesson might be , the General dares not be the instructor . We know not why he dares not , unless it be from the consciousness that vulgar pride has taken the place of genuine knightly devotion . And the statesman who might "beour leader" here , is not at his post .

      giving a large extension of the suffrage , has been recognised by Lord Palmerston's own colleagues , measures to concede the people ' s right have been introduced with his sanction ; but now he and his colleagues are sedulously feeding public attention with " practical" measuresthat is , unpolitical measures—in order to divert popular attention from the political rights which have been so conspicuously acknowledged , and deferred . The practical improvements are very good ; but why treat political justice as incompatible with social justice ? Why must limited liability in

      partnership precede the partnership of the people in the franchise , which mocks them with representation ? Why must the abolition of passing tolls on shipping exclude from sight the abolition of unjust and unconstitutional exclusions from the franchise ? Why must policemen be prohibited from voting at elections before the freemen of this country regain the right inherent in every British freeman ? Is it that pur rulers desire to enforce the lesson , that Englishmen shall have no freedoms , save those acquired in one way—save those which the people take ?

      The war and the foreign alliances have afforded some opportunities for casting off anti-popular restrictions ; but our ruling class will not cast off anything until it is compelled . Many English subjects have attained considerable honours as exhibitors at the great Paris Exposition , and the decoration of the Legion

      of Honour is conferred upon them . But they are told that they must not wear it without the leave of the Sovereign , and that leave will not be given to civilians ! Why ? " Oh , because it is the rule 1 " Is this stupidity—that the most powerful statesmen of our day cannot trample under foot the rules created by their predecessors ? Or is it that " civilians'' below

      a certain grade are despised ? It looks like pride and stupidity both . But where is our " leader ? " He , at least , ought to know how grossly impolitic is this slight upon the Emperor , our ally—how galling to the picked men of our " civilian" classes . Perhaps it may teach our people that there is among the governing classes no real res pect for any order of men that do not wear the sword .

      A new " order of merit" was to be founded , and we have the "Victoria Cross , " given " for valour . " It is good , so far as it goes—and it rather severely rebukes those sages who thought valour an obsolete virtue . But what an opportunity was there for doing something more than invent a new decoration ! It was just the time to invent a new order of chivalry . The old

      JSTO " ORDER !"~ N"Q " MERIT !" •*¦ £ $ ae } nai \ tnis moment most powerful in % S' ?? ffi !? X . knew" his own power , what influe ft ? e k . 9 , wight exercise—what a name he might leave , on his tomb \ If £ ord Palmi ^ rston could W 7 . the ** PPy impulse which made him 1 ieaaer

      rfprFr * ** MO your , now ne mignt !| M ?® ' , !*© , scoffers , and be the idol of the ~ S |? & , P P - - AJaa J toe impulse died away . ^ &fi * 0 Palmerston has other views . Or JP ?^»; P * # ves interpose . Or the power of ' 'IS&M : ¥ s ft fip than the man . Whatever ^ j ^ M ^ e ^ rtain it is that our responsible ^^ Wvnioro anxious about their own re-SKW' ^^ ft ¦ W * ficUn « « n the people ; and S 7 ^ ^ ' B $ M « ot » people , which never fails to answer $ o a generoua appeal , is but half

      "knighthood" has been destroyed by those who knighted a Sir William for biscuit baking , a Sir George for fiddling decently , a Sir John for encouraging missions and tract soiling , a Sir Lucius O'Shauohnessy for vending good usquebaugh , ~ -knights created for any virtue but those of chivalry . Those who claim to bo connected with the last knight banneret—knight created on the field of

      battle—must go back many generations . The Order of the G-arter has become a " vacant ribbon , " conferred on nobles who are pliant to the court ; " the Bath" ia reserved , for the upper ranks , while the C . B ., which ' is the badge of companionship , is but an alpha-

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      132 THE LEA 3 ) ; E ^ [ No . 307 , Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 9, 1856, page 132, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2127/page/12/