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Leader (1850-1860), 16th February 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 157, Untitled Article

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      were regular . Its dealings must , at the veryleast , be perfectly harmless . Is there a necessity for removing the restriction upon the association of men for the purposes of trade ? The necessity is selfevident . We need scarcely repeat the instance we have so often cited , that by the construction of the previous law the Leeds Flour Mill , which has had such excellent effects for the working classes , could not have "been established , nor could it have been established , under the Limited Liability Act of last year , since the shares are £ 1 shares , and not £ 10 . It is even the rule in the Leeds mill

      that no man shall hold more than one sharea rule designed to secure a more democratic kind of government , and operating in many respects well . The rule was adopted , after consideration , by prudent and clever men ; but the act of last year would have forbidden them to adopt such a rule . Now why should there

      of the existing house would furnish the data for that purpose . There is plenty of room for another firm ; and here , as soon as we have limited liability , the second firm comes into existence . It is only surprising that we should have been without more than one machinery of the kind so long , especially when we remember that since 1832 the foreign trade of the country has trebled in amount , and that the home trade has received a proportionate extension , with a still greater impulse , in the rapidity with which exchanges are effected at home as well as abroad . And this instance

      which we give is , we are convinced , only one out of many proving that amongst the commercial body , as well as amongst the working class , Mr . Lowe ought to receive an active and combined support .

      be this restriction upon the enterprise and judgment of the humbler classes ? There is in realit y no reason whatever except routine and arbitrary will ; but the prevention does Dperate as a cause of continued , though sometimes ; smothered discontent , amongst classes who believe their interests to be very little in the care of those above them . From this

      common aspersion Mr . Lowe at all events must stand exonerated . He has done his best to free the humbler classes from the restriction , and he ought to have their energetic support . Has free trade in this particular been unnecessary for other classes ? We believe it is most desirable . Certainly some enterprises have hitherto been denied existence by the law of unlimited liability . Let us take a case in point , " . not' amongst the humbler and noncommercial class . Amongst the conveniences whicli are rendered desirable by an extensive and active state of commerce is that which will

      facilitate the transfer of capital from hand to hand , so that those who require it upon proper security shall be able to get it ; that those who have it , and have it lying idle , can put it to profitable account ; and that the exchange should be effected for short times as well as long . Amongst the innumerable transactions < lTnil CT f \ TTk 111 f" . Vl fk tf" * S f tr + Vfc ^ ki » A -o t »/ % * v * *> * - » « r ^ wn 4-A-n ** . » . /* going on m the Citthere are instances

      . y , many where men require £ 10 , 000 or £ 20 , 000 more than they counted upon , and where if they have it they can either save themselves a loss or make a considerable gain . On the other hand , it frequently happens that £ 10 , 000 or . £ 20 , 000 may drift into a man's coffers for a limited period ; he cannot get much for it in the bank ; he knows that he shall have it three

      or four months hence , and yet he grieves to think that it should remain idle . But he cotild make his five per cent ., and somebody else get even larger profit . There wants , then , an agency to facilitate this distribution and transfer of capital for temporary purposes . It exists ; there has long been a house in the City noted for performing this very necessary function ; but how surprised will our non-commercial reader be to learn that there is only one such house . Why ? Probably there are various reasons ; but amongst them most certainly is the xestriotion enforced by unlimited liability . l

      It is on y the law of limited liability which has called into existence " The National Discount Company , " registered within the last , few days . Wo have no interest whatever in the enterprise , direct or indirect ; but the names of the directors are before the public , and can be estimated . There is , perhaps , an infusion of enthusiastio enterprise ; thero is also an infusion of experience and prudence . The raising of one or two millions capital for auch a purpose as that whioh we have pointed out is nkoly to be oasy ; the returns aro to be ascertained as a matter of fact | the known practices

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      HOW TO WIN SABBATH OBSERVANCE . Those who seek to extend religious feeling among thq working classes will do well for

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      without having recourse to the Prussian sys tern , which Scharnhobst invented for an emergency , which routine has made permanent , and which makes every man a soldier ; we have the best and cheapest of all plans for raising an army—by voluntary enlistment , based on oxir national principle of leaving every one free to choose his own occupation , and only requiring due development to give us , in proportion to its numbers , the finest army in the world . Mr . Leslie ' s proposals embrace one which we have

      neretofore put forward—the necessity of obtaining recruits from a higher class of society than that by which they axe now furnished . That might be done , not by bounty—bounty is a barbaric incentive , —» ut by higher pay ; more consideration for the private soldier ; every fair chance of promotion from the ranks , as in France , on just principles ; and then the middle classes woiild send a contingent of young men into the army . In point of fact , Mr . Leslie ' s plan goes upon the sound principle of

      maintaining our national habits and customs in the raising of an army , as alone suitable to the genius of a free people ; but these he would improve . In that course we concur . We believe that , costly as it would be , taking the figures absolutely , it would not be so costly to the nation as either of the continental systems . For the regular army—voluntary enlistment , good pay ; chance of promotion for all ;

      ad-ARMY REFORM : NO FLHSTCHINGL That England may never again be found so unprovided as she was in 1854- —that it may never again be said by her troops , in the face of an enemy , " We are a band of brave men , but we are not an army , " is the fervent prayer of every one who has not misread the lesson of this war . They , at least , will not forget that every soldier who died from preventible causes , whether in the trenches , the battle-field , or the hospital , was a sacrifice to the selfish policy ,

      fostered by a long peace , devoted to material progress , and the extinction of all belief that went much above the heaven of pecuniary success , nor much below the hell of bankruptcy . They will remember that armies cannot be grown in a year , or it may be ten years , now ^ - a-days , although a well-grown army can easily be made to expand to twice its ordinary size ; that officers cannot be properly educated except by a long and painful process ; that fit men cannot be obtained haphazard ; still less that a

      good organisation can be improvised at the sound of the trumpet . And it will be for them , remembering these things , to do their utmost , every man in his place , to effect such changes in our military system as will , humanly speaking , secure efficiency for the future . We are told there is to be a peace ; but if peace be near , how much more incumbent is it upon all who desire that England ' s army should be second to none to bestir themselves ? iotv , in Parliament and out of Parliament , to see that the thing is done .

      Should the war continue , there can be little doubt that every year will add something to the numbers , equipment , skill , and discipline of the British army—their courage cannot be increased . As a nation we do not rapidly rise and rapidly fall in our undertakings . The incessant play of criticism on our public men sharpens their perceptions and goads on their energies ; the mettle of the nation , too , rises

      with the demand upon it ; and , up to a certain point , in military as well as civil affairs , our tendency is to improve with practice . So that , while the war lasts , England will always have an army progressing towards perfection . What we have to fear is , that when peace comes the Manchester trilogy — " peace , retrenchment , and reform . "—will mean the pulling to j ) ieces of the military machine built at so much cost during tho war .

      We are , therefore , glad to see that able mon , not connected with military matters , are giving attention to the subject . As a striking instance we seloct a pamphlet now before us on tho " Military Systems of Europe , " economically considered , by Mr . Clhwje Leslie , one of the Professors of Queen ' s College , Belfast . The main object of Mr . Leslie is to show that , without adopting Mr . Cobden ' s treacherous advice , and raising an army by conscription ; without relying , as the Americans do , upon volunteers from their militia and ¦ volunteer companies ;

      mission to the rank of officer , and promotion in that rank of none but fitly educated men ; promotion from the ranks for good conduct , high character , and practical military skill in the handling , management , and disciplining of troops . Here would "be what Mr . Senior would call a u well-constructed lottery , " so attractive to all men , and especially attractive to the kind , of men who are Wanted in an army . Such a change in our military system is imperative .

      But there is something else not less so—an improvement in the habits of the whole body of the people . You will not get the best soldiers , whether you take them from the lower or the middle classes , unless you , encourage or enforce military habits among all classes . Voluntary enlistment for the regular army ; compulsory training of some kind for everybody ; elementary for the youth of all classes ; more definite and strict for those who form the

      militia . We do not agree with Mr . Leslie that nobody should be taught soldiering but soldiers . It is not good for the national health that the present system , should continue ; nay , be perfected into a system more rigidly separate than it is now . The political economists may find it cheaper to employ a separate military class for military purposes ; but the politician , the statesman , will understand that it is only cheaper in a , commercial estimate , and not cheaper in that higher estimate which regards national defence as a duty that every man should hold himself in readiness to fulfil , and

      public freedom a right which every man should be prepared to assert . To us , therefore , it seenxs necessary that , if only as a nursery for the regular army , we should adopt some modification either of the compulsory drill of the Prussian , or the free company drill of the American . We do not want a large regular army in time of poace ; but we want a perfect one . In order , however , to have an adequate army in time of war , and to have it at the moment wo require it , thero should be a rast reserve both in tho ranks of the militia and in

      all ranks of society . Wo shall never grow an army of tho best kind until we pay more attention to what may bo callod the antecedents of the recruit , and give inoro rights and chances to men in the ranks .

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      Februar y 16 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER . 157

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2128/page/13/