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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.
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PALMERSTON IN PANOPLY . When Lord Palmerston quits office he will leave behind him some permanent traces of his administrative reign . The war establishments of the country have "been organized upon a scale which would have astonished our foreign visitors in 1851 . At several points of the coast new fortifications have been constructed ; the barrack accommodation , throughout the United Kingdom has been enlarged ; and , more especially , the capacities of the great central arsenal at Woolwich have been doubled . The works in
progress at this single spot demonstrate the resolution of the Government never to allow us to be surprised again , in the midst of peace , without the machinery essential for the conduct of war . To indicate the improvements at "Woolwich alone ;— -to the old enclosure , containing about a hundred and thirty acres of ground , a hundre d , and fourteen acres have been added from the marshes , the circuit of the newwall being nearly two
miles . A new shell-factory , a new gunfoundry , and a new boring-mill , of vast proportions , have been erected , together with fresh depots for military stores and clothing , gasworks for the supply- of the arsenal , magazines , and a rocket-factory , in which the rockets are to be filled , in future , by hydraulic pressure . The old practice , by which the composition was hammered in with mallets , was at once costly and dangerous to human life .
IN o one can visit Woolwich Arsenal -without perceiving lord Paxmerston ' s administration has been , actively engaged in organizing a machinery by which , at anytime , an adequate supply of the materials of warfare may be obtained from our home establishments . The deficiency of sueli supplies , at the commencement of the Russian war , was undeniable . What , indeed , could be expected fcom a country in which , as Lord Hardinge declared , there "were , five years ago , not more than fifty pieces of field artillery , and those
mostly of the date of Waterloo . The new ordnance of heavy calibre at Woolwich may be now counted by . hundreds upon hundreds . GL'he greatesb work undertaken by the Government , however , in connexion with our military establishments , is the Victoria Military Hospital at Ne-tley , on Southampton Wilier . This vast pile , the designs of which were prepared by Mr . Menhie , the able surveyor of the ^ Engineers' Department , Pallmall , is intended to contain a thousand inmates—live hundred sursrical and five
hundred medical cases . It has been planned with a view to meet every possible want of the sick . or wounded soldier , the disabled patients being oven lifted from floor to floor by steam machinery . There will be accommodation for military men of all classes , as it is very properly anticipated that officers may from time to time arrive at Southampton so disabled by their wounds , or by the effects of unhealthy climates , that they must be placed ab once under tho most , scientific and assiduous
treatment . Those who recollect the reproach we incurred through the deficiency of hospital accommodation during the Russian war will appreciate the importance of the great edifice at JSTetley . Tho various works authorized by Lord PaIiMERSToit for the improvement of our material military organization , are creditable to his energy . There is , undoubtedly , a great deal of English vigour and sagacity in his constitution .
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black piercing eyes and a pretty foot . But she is a little too exigeante on behalf" of " George . " Why insist on Erank : continuing to pay G-eorgke his salary ? The most submissive lover would scarcely like that subsidy of a brother , however convenient he might be in facilitating interviews , acting as third party , or borrowing cigars . Then ., why should Susan throw " oil , wax , and
well , doubtless to please " Susy ; " perhaps bestowed in those moments of affection for the brothers of their sweethearts , which come to all young men of twenty-fire . Old Farebbother at first liked the match , and was glad to see Susy Ceippen- visiting at his house as his son ' s betrothed . He also talked liberally of setting up his son in business . Some hitch occurred , however , in his " wax , oil , and sperm works , " and Geoege , the brother of the young lady , Vas turned out of his situation . JN " ow little Sue was a pet and a
beauty and seventeen ; perhaps poor George was her favourite brother ; and so she wrote a sharp letter to her lover , upbraiding him for allowing George to be dismissed ; she says , she holds him ( her lover !) ansAverable for George ' s salary ; she also alludes to the " regular split" in the Farebrother family and nrm intimated by her lover , and takes him to task rather sharply for his ridiculous and thoughtless " proceedings , in thinking of dissolving the partnership with his father . " The Globe says , naturally enough : —
This is altogether a new- view of crosses in , love . We can well imagine that Romeo would have made a very indifferent man of business , especially if ho had been placed by the paternal Mostague at the head of wax , oil , and sperm works in Verona ; but how astonished would Romeo have been if Juliet had pointed out to him the thoughtless character of his commercial proceedings ;—if she had represented the peculiar injury done to Tybalt and had told her lover that he would be answerable for Tybalt ' s income until lie , could get a situation .. ; . '¦¦ ¦ ¦¦ ' ¦ • ¦ .. ¦¦ . ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦ . '¦ ¦ . ¦ : '' : ¦
Some more an gry letters succeed . Susan writes finally to know -whether the correspondence is to cease , but the tone of the letter betrays the little girl not quite unwilling to " kiss and befriends . " She says that a clear understanding is not only her own Wish , ' " which is considered nothing by you , " but mamma's particular desire , and , still familiar ,
writes , " -KHODA . " ( her sister ) " will call for your answer in the afternoon — which is considered nothing by you ! " Has not Susan in ** drawers piles of letters dated" Wax , Sperm , and Oil Works , Stockwell , " commencing " My own darling pet , " and ending " Believe me ever , my own darling pet , your truly , loving , attached , and affectionate Fbaitk . " And now was "her wish"
nothinoto him ? Did she not hope for a refuting reply ? But the answer came : t ; Mr . Frank B . FaredrtOTiiEit agrees with Miss Crippen in thinking that alt further correspondence had better cease , ' agreeably to her note of yesterday . " This looks rather crafty and insincere , for it is easy to sec what Susan meant by asking for an explanation . Then follows another rather ungenerous act on the
part of Frank , the ardent lover who did " protest too much . " He sends a cart—the " oil and . sperm" cart , we suppose—to bear to his " precious pet" all the souvenirs she had given him ( what an array of lockets , portraits , slippers , -watchguarda , books , and bookmarkers !) , but with a coolness that must have come home to his business and bosom , he directs the carrier not to surrender Susy's love-gifts until his own manifold presentsj
of which an inventory is forwardecl—are delivered up . So the carrier stands inexorable in the Crippen family hall ; the cart is waiting , and Susan is sobbing her little heart out on . the bed in her own room , the letters to be returned lying scattered on the counterpane . So ends act tho fourth , and let us not call Ariadne before the curtain . Act the fifth enda with tho terrible retribution on ¦ Frawk —four hundred pounds damages aud costs !
4 ; he only defect in this story is that noitliDT the hero nor the heroine are faultless enough . We wish wo could make out "UfiAN a complete little treasure . We have & liking for her ; she is spirited and clever , and we should not be surprised if she had
without proportionately rewarding the \ ro ^ man , who may have , by one open way , as we see in this case , or by a hundred secret means , only known to her lover , given him good cause to break off the match ?
sperm" allusions on the troubled -waters , instead of keeping her nice breath free from such associations ? Also , why , after " all " her lover ' s letters are returned , are " twenty *' retained , " accidentally overlooked ? " And , above all , why did she consult an attorney ? But we have not the heart to find more fault : we only think of the young pretty one sobbing on the bed as she sees her lover ' s letters going away .
On . the side of the young lover there are also many faults besides the intensity of nonsense : iii' the letters . It'he had any sense of kindness left for his darling little Sue , " why did he send a " list" of the presents he required back ? and why did he confide such a mission to a common carrier ? Forgetting this , however , there are some excuses for liim which we must emphasise , not for the sake of this young gentleman , but for worthier men in the same position . He becomes embarrassed : some " row" arises about
" George ; " there is besides a talk of dissolution of partnership . He writes a most loving letter to Susan , telling her " alL about it , " and showing in no one point an anxiety to make the embarrassment an excuse for breaking off his engagement . In reply , Susan writes the letter we have already referred to , reproaching him for allowing Gteorcie to be dismissed , and sneering at his father , adding , "I think you must be as mad as he is , " following up , however , with true womanly taet , " it has quite upset me and made me wretched . " Frank sends no
answer ; and then Susan indignantly asks " Mr . Fariebrother" whether the correspondence is to cease . Frank ends it c agreeably to her letter . " Now , Mr . Frank is evidently not a chevalier sa ? is reproc 7 t . e } but we must candidly say that many an honourable man might ( up to that unfortunate reclaiming of the gifts ) have
behaved exactly as he was obliged to do . He found himself suddenly embarrassed , and instead of sympathy he meets with sharpness from the Susan of his heart . Perhaps it made him sour and ill-mannered ; but some justification for his hesitancy as to wedlock lies in the fact that he is now dependent cm his father , and owes him over 2000 ? .
We have no sympathy with young men who make a sport of ' engaging' young women , and then leaving them with all the unpleasant social associations of desertion . We should like to see such men punished . But we do not like to see a young lady paid for her sobs ; we do not like to see n doctor come into tlie witness-box to describe physical depression , that the jury may rate the solatium higher . \ V " e consider it demoralizing to the whole community to see lovers'
letters—( glowing enough , perhaps , with nil their trash , to be pressed to red lips reading them over , though very dead in public type)—published far and wide , to be laughed at by those who laugh at everything said or done in earnest or in hot truth . Punish tho man if you will , but do not ' reward' young ladies for having
succeeded in alienating a lover . No one can tell the hundred ways in winch lovers may legitimately quarrel and find out their mutual unfitness . A man , perhaps , should bo made to pay for the privilege of changing his intention—but in cases , and they are many , where there are faults on both sides , why is it that wo cannot punish the man appropriately
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December 6 , 1856 . ] THE LEADEB , 1165
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 6, 1856, page 1165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2170/page/13/
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