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standard was lowered , of physical strength , of constitutional health , as well as of height . The result has been so bad , that in some regiments it has been impossible to muster much more than 50 per cent , of the wiole force in the barracks , the remainder being absorbed either in picket duty or in the hospital . The reduction will be so conducted as to relieve the army of the permanent hospital which that vicious system of recruitment imposed upon it . That is the first object , and it constitutes the main reason "why we say that under the name of the reduction there
revival of the treaty of April 15 as against Russia . It is not compatible with the latest concession to Austria—the suppression , of the subscription set on foot by Manin towards the artillery for the fortress of Alessandria . All the recent movements in Italy , no doubt , corroborate the opinion that the most influential classes would xeadilv
com "bine for a constitutional movement reducing the ^ Neapolitan idiot to reason , and reducing Austria to her non-Italian possessions ; but is it probable that the English Government will separate from the [ French alliance , or that IiOuis ] STapoleon would be prepared to take that original and vigorous course in the Peninsula ?
Where , then , is the fourth enemy against which the English army may be intended to act in combination with our allies ? Is it against the people of Italy , and the natural allies of the people of Italy ? # These are questions to which a real English House of Commons would require an answer before it voted the ways and means .
will be a virtual increase ; since the body will be relieved of a burden , better brought together , and rendered more efficient . Nevertheless , the proposed depots will not be sufficient in proportion to the service companies . When it is considered that the gross strength of the dep 6 t must be qualified by the effect of the drafts to keep up the service companies , by the proportion of raw recruits , by the invalids , and by other effects of home life , it will be perceived that the theoretical number
of 200 is scarcely sufficient to allow margin enough for a reserve justly proportioned to the 800 in the field . This must be so obvious fco military men , that the reserve must have been narrowed solely in deference to the presumed discontent of the House of Commons at ; voting large supplies . But the military Ministers cannot expect to escape from being called to account in the House of Commons , especially at the present day . It is a slavish adhesion to old ideas which makes
our Ministers assume that the House of Commons is to be propitiated by blindly cutting down the estimates . On the contrary , in the present temper of / the public , the House will be prepared to provide any forces which the Government may declare to be necessary for the position of the country ; but in giving whatever means may be demanded , the House will require satisfactory proof that the proposed organization is suitable for its purpose . " We have shown , how weak the Ministerial case will be in one particular ; but there are other points in which the same line of reasoning could be carried out .
The great net fact is , that we shall possess an army considerably larger than that -which we possessed before the war , its strength increased in a far greater proportion by its organization , equipment , and exercises . 3 STow the country would be prepared to make any sacrifice for the maintenance of an efficient army ; but undoubtedly it will ask , "What is that army to be established for ? In what service is it to be used ? This ia the most
important question of all . We do not expect to receive an answer from the Duke of "Oambbid g e ; even Ministers are not to give us an answer until the meeting of Parliament , if then ; but the plan for * the reduction of the army' constitutes an avowal that we do return to the peace of 1851 , and that we may require to be armed at all points . For we hear of no reduction of the naval force . Now who is our anticipated enemy ? We might conjecturally anticipate danger from three quarters . We should have said from jfbur ; but , from the fact that , notwithstanding the boasted readiness to meet America on the ocean , satisfaction has been given to the United States in the Central American
quest ion , wo presume that our present Ministers do not anticipate any danger from the West . b Ia Russia to be the enemy P This might be ; only that we find Russia yielding whenever the Allied Powers press their interpretation of tho Treaty of Paris . Is it to be Austria ? This is not compatible with the report that Austria and the Western Powers have been contemplating a
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THE LAST K . a . Ib Edwabd III . were now to visit London , we can well imagine the embarrassment which he would feel in finding his way from Charing to St . Paul ' s ; how difficult it wotild be to make him understand how he could gc to Dover between breakfast and luncheon : could receive a message from York in an instant ; and that , being once more King oi England , ho could raise any requisite sum o inoney without gwrunoning his barons o )
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the grossest love of material magnificence . The honours paid to the . new Czar were all but divine . Myriads of people went on their kne&s to offer him reverence . _ His name was coupled with names that are sacred , and the plumage of his escort seems to have smitten , not Kurds and Bashkirs only , but citizeris , French-polished in the West , with almost ghostly awe . Eor him . rang the bells of the cathedral , for him chanted the clergy , for him the altars were decorated , to him necks were bent and faces bowed to the earth , through him , the clergy said , the will of Heaven would be known to the Russian
people . If they could have stolen the thunders of the firmament , undetected by the correspondents , they would have pealed them ovec Moscow , to complete the apotheosis of Alexander , who is lord of millions , as BraoN was club-footed , because he was born so . Even one Western citizen , who had escaped the contagion of the De ISiouKT rituals ^ and of the c high-as-the-sky' heraldry of the palace , doted so on tlie sight of a real Emperor and Empress , and a stage larger than AsxiiET ' s , all bright with crimson plumes
and . eagles , and the man standing in the genuine boots of Nicholas , that he wrote more madly than if he had seen Diaita , aud hex hundred lovely virgins , ; lily-white , or passed a day with Comus . It was not tinsel , but pure gold- —not a vision , tut Moscow—not an actress , but an . Imperial lady , shining from a cloud of gauze , with a tiara , of brilliants , sitting in a red-and-gilt carriage , with a crown on the top , and eight horses , harnessed with gold , and palefreniers leading them , and little auburn-curled pages
THE MOSCOW CORONATION . This week , our divinities have been Velvet and . Gold— - ' the purple testament' of Mbscowv JSTot Russia alone , not only the serfs whose prostration we affect to pity have gazed at the second Axuxandeb , until their eyes have grown dim with theatrical delight . We have all sighed to be in the capital of crysolith , gasping at the red-shafted spears and rainbow pennons of the Cossacks , the blue vest of "the dainty Prince of Grouriel , the crested casques of the Imperial Guard , the golden
coai ; s of the nobles , the gxeen-and-orange livery of / the CzAit , the Cinderella carriage of the Empress , and the trembling brilliance of the diamonds on . her hea . d . Our hearts have yearned to see Vashti herself , and , for a day , we have wished we were Babylonians . " How Heaven loves colour ! '' So does Earth . We" joy in red and g reen , and a thousand flashing hues made solely to be seen , " as though we were all Alhambra artists , and we perfectly understand "why the North American Indians , not content with being
red-skins , paint themselves , and why Quakers are unpopular . The whole tendency of our civilization , for a hundred years it may be said , has been to abolish the use of tinted garments , and to clothe men in black , or invisible green , or , grey , or other lustreless manufactures . It is true . We dress dully ; hut how we try to get back a little of the variegation , when we can ! We go to the sea-side , as an excuse for wearing gaieties that would be ridiculous in . town ; and if , by rising to parochial , or county , or knightly dignities , ve may but privilege ourselves to
touch our dark monotony with a scarlet edge or an enamel spot , that is a compensation for many years of suffering . How else can we account for the expenditure of a million sterling to paint the lily of Imperialism at Moscow ? Xou will say , perhaps , it was the policy of Alexander , II . to * iinpress the Bashkirs and Circassians with an . admiring avre , and to show the proud-hearted Karapapalcs that , however they may sport gold coins in their hair , or stud their sheepskins with jewellery , tho splendour of their plains and mountains is mere barbarism at Moscow .
This sorb of philosophic interpretation is suited to the dramatic theory of a great monarch , cavalcading in glory , and concealing in his breast a noble disdain of all frippery whatever . Careless eyes and curling lips , of course , belong to Czars , and uneasy is tlie head that wears a crown ; but , without any sophistry , the spectacle just exhibited in Russia was an attempt at the deification of a man in the sight of men . and it appealed to
perched up aloft , to screen the uncourbly coachman ' back , and a galaxy of fairylike chariots following , and . chivalry , Amazonian and other , all around , as though Charisma < jne and his Empress were coming along , with , a cavalcade of maidens in violet cloaks , riding on cream-coloured palfreys . We ought to be dazzled , and are—by the strange contradictions of history . We have been learning , for eighteen hundred years , that lilies of the valley are arrayed more gloriously than Soeomok , yet it is Soiowox still that bewilders us . We have an intense
admiration of power , for men who have abundance of money and soldiers , and can do as they like , especially if doing as they like extends so far as to be able to put people to death when they please . But Imperialism alone does not suffice to secure devotees . Even Attixa , though he used wooden knives and cups himself , gave golden cups and knives to his courtiers . If vfe confer authority , we insist upon . show . Oar aldermen must turn
upon us the scarlet lining of their cloaks . And if the Emperor of Russia enters Moscow to be crowned , in the plain blue coat and red trousers of a general officer , with only a plumed and burnished helmet on his head , and a zodiac of decorations on his breast , there must be glowing crests , and mail , silver , gold , purple , velvet , diamonds , an Assyria of pomp and brilliance around him ; otherwise how could we venerate his Majesty ? In such a procession GhsoiiGE Washington would have looked like a memento mQri . O Washington ! O Belshazzak !
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Sepdembeb 13 , 1856 . ] T HE LE AD E B . 877
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 13, 1856, page 877, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2158/page/13/
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