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    xnnch as possible any native of the rank of a nobleman or gentleman from serving in the Irregular Cavaliy as an officer . Notwithstanding all these discouragements many native gentlemen do serve in this branch of the service ; and the men of the Irregular Cavalry Corps have always been remarkable as the most willing and contented , and without having the servile manners of the Hindoo , the most respectful native soldiers in the army . Five hundred men of this sort in a district would be far more useful to the civil power in the case of petty local disturbances than two battalions of the line , far more useful for escort purposes , and requiring " but a small share of the expensive machinery of staff , commissariat , and inspecting and supervising authorities , which swells the bulk of the military budget . "

    If legislation for India is to be immediate , as the House of Commons has declared ; if the Company is to be abolished , as seems also to have been decided , the two points above indicated constitute the grand objects of reform . We have to establish a new military and a new political system in India ; and , unless this be accomplished , we may suppress the mutiny of 1857 , but we shall never guarantee the existence of our Asiatic empire .

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    HERE AND THERE . In cases of emergency morality is always in danger . Anger and fear are apt to calumniate or flatter an enemy , and either way the cause of truth must suffer . There can be no doubt that during the Russian war Nicholas was painted in England much too black—we did not do justice to the gradations of his complexion ; and it is quite certain that at present in very high places there is a disposition to console Napoleon III . for resistance to his will by exaggerated compliments to his genius and character .

    It is scarcely considered fashionable to mention our ally without calling him ' that great man . ' Lord Derby , in his speech last Monday , did not fail to comply with the usual routine ; and we may be sure that the expression falling from such eloquent lips was balm to wounded vanity at the Tuileries . No one who knows the true state of France at the present moment can fail to perceive that the real question , under discussion , or rather under consideration there—for people are obliged to ruminate their thoughts in silence—is precisely this one which our polite statesmen decide without reflection in the affirmative . France resembles a huge Trappist debating society . Question proposed : "Is

    Lqtjis NapoIjEON a great man ? The debate is purely internal . Every one turns his eyes inwards and considers the facts in his possession . At a later date there may be a division . Perhaps the French , who are interested parties , may cojne to a different conclusion from Lord Derpy . That nobleman probably takes a . very superficial view of the case . He casts his eyes over Europe and sees it governed by sovereigns who sit on the throne for the most part by hereditary right , and are more or less supported by the superstitious veneration or the active consent _ of their subjects , or at any rate bv some old and inveterate habit—something which enables them to dispense at times with the use of force . Yet he has never thought of calling the Emperor

    Amixandeb , or the Emperor Francis Joseph , or King Ferdinand , ' great or remarkable men , ' Still less would he condescend to apply such a title to King Leopold , or King Viotor Emmanuel , " who are superintending two of the most remarkable political experiments m modern history ; and Queen Isabella must at present dispense with being called a remarkable woman . In all these instances there are wanting oircumstances which make the peculiarity of Napoleon the Third ' s position . He reigns without right , by force and fraud , and thinks his distinctive characteristic tobegenuis . Moreover , he used to be utterly despised when out of power by the very men . who are now most eager to praise him . But—he is irritable , and has the command of

    . There is a great deal of philosophy in the opigram , ' Treason never prospers / and so on . My Lord MouwT-MARiNB-was ^ also—wiso , ~ wlien , _ he _ a 9 ke . d , *• How many Dukes have you known mad f" Success is a mighty thing . Louis Napoleon has been dubbed great or remarkable since he has won the throne he now occupies . No one saw any wonderful qualities in him before . His works , by genoral consent , were considered windbags of conceit : his aotlojia those of a man below the average of intellect . When Jules Favrb ' s prediction is accomplished , and the ' inevitable catastrophe' takes place , Jipw many flatterers -will remain P Libels will then ciroulate , in which he will be called not the

    Coraican Ogre but the Dutch Foundling . No epithets will be contemptuous enough to apply to a . man who won his Empire more by perjury than force , and who shed blood in order to daub over the brand of falsehood on his forehead . It is better to form an estimate of him at once . If we calmly consider his career , we shall find nothing admirable in it but success , and success , alas ! is not the lot of the greatest or best of men . In all the adventurous career that led to 1848 , is there one moment at which an honest man would say that

    he envied the position of Louis Napoleon ? He was often miserable , but without dignity ; often on the right side , but without the confidence of the men with whom he was connected . His perils brought him no glory , for at times he escaped from them with the suppleness of a spy , at other times they left him in positions too ludicrous to be consistent with respect . We may try to deceive ourselves , but , up to December , 1848 , not one of us spoke of this remarkable man without a tone and gesture of contempt .

    Since then , if we analyze his story , we shall find him borne aloft , by the flood of circumstances , higher and higher , sometimes with the impassiveness of despair , sometimes attitudinizing like a man who knows that fate has tied a bladder under his arm and that he cannot sink until it bursts . The bladder is the fame of the Great Bonaparte , which every oppositionist for the last forty years has lent a breath to fill . But we defy any one to select any topic of praise which is not negative rather than positive . He has not until recently committed any remarkable blunders ; he has not absolutely laboured to overthrow" himself . This is all—except that he

    is not yet overthrown . But he lias done no part of the work he proposed to himself . The edifice of the Empire , hurriedl y raised in the night , is still a temporary construction , predestined to demolition in order to make way for improvements , just like half the Theatres of Paris . He has converted no class , he has conciliated no party , lie has pacified no enemy . All intellect , all character , receded from him in a wide circle , as soon as he sat upon his throne , as jealous virtue recedes from some equivocal lady who makes a sudden entrance into a drawingroom . And no cajoleries have had the force to bring them back . The substitutes he has found mention

    are not even tolerable . It is not possible to their names without a libel . In the country at large we hear of no adhesions ; bat of secessions many . Cowards clung to him when they feared a greater and more immediate danger : now they hang off , as if they foresaw his ruin . They may be right : they have noticed certain premonitory symptoms . Rats are keen-sighted animals . For our part , we foresee nothing : we would as soon be the Organ of the Millennial Saints as undertake the trade of prophet in politics . It is safer and more agreeable to look backwards . By doing so we learn that , if we have not foretold facts , we have instinctively adhered to right principles . We have never varied in our estimate of this fortunate gentleman , who has become Emperor iust as the Marquis of

    Clanrioarde beoame Minister . Alone at one time , we have now comrades who somewhat surprise us . No matter , we persist in our opinion . Napoleon III . is a mau of average abilities , and not of average character . He has done so many things of a reprehensible nature that we think he can be criticized without sacrilege . Even if insane diatribes arc directed against him , as the lady ' s maid said the other day , " Bless you , he is strong enough to defend his own self . '' He need not fear eccentricities , even criminal , on this side of the water . At any rate , we should reflect before allowing the system of press-prosecutions to be successfully revived after so many years . If the reaction from absolute liberty once begins , there ia no knowing where it may end .

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    placed an annuitant upon the books of the Fund ; they have destroyed the unjust and irrational restriction of relief to writers of books , excluding contri butors to periodicals , and so far they have earned the thanks of the literary classes generally . But even more is due to them for their unsuccessful than for their successful efforts . They have hit a number of blots which they are determined to re < - move , and we think they will assuredly prevail in the end over the committee , the secretary , and their following of respectable outsiders . In the statement issued last week by Mr . C . W . Dilke , Mr . Charles Dickens , and Mr . John Forsier ,

    the whole case is summed up very forcibly and conclusively , without any reference to the Artists Fund . If the point is not to be settled by compa risons , it is at least within the range of commonsense , and it is scarcely possible to believe that the public will continue its support to the Literary Fund while the affairs . of the Society arc so flagrantly misconducted . Indeed , the subscribers are rapidly dropping away . In 1802 they numbered three hundred and ninety-four ; last year , scarcely more than a hundred . The secret has been that the founder ' s views and intentions have been sacrificed to the crotchets of an irresponsible committee . Firstly , the cost of management is inordinate .

    According to the last accounts , 532 / . had been lavished on the expense of distributing 1225 / ., in the relief of claimants—forty per cent ., four pounds sterling out of ten , seven shillings in the pound . Five thousand pounds have been drained out of the fund in ten years in alleviating the embarrassments of four hundred individuals—being upwards of twelve pounds for every cheque drawn upon the society ' s bankers . When this extravagance is analyzed we find that a large house is rented , in order that a committee may hold nine meetings in a year for two or three hours at a time . A secretary receives a handsome salary for attending at these nine meetings , and investigating the details of some fifty or sixty cases annually . Thus , the income of

    the society is exhausted , but not in the relict ot necessitous literary men . Tiiere is a council and there is a committee of the Literary Fund Society . But the committee has arbitrarily set aside the council , and appeals in its own justification to a verbal flaw in the charter , as if the founder stipulated for a council upon the condition that it should exercise no check and perform no functions . The committee , secret and irresponsible , controls the fund , and its management has occasionally been signalized by gross abuses of trust . One member made out from the society ' s secret books a list of persons who had been relieved , and gave this list to a publisher , to guide him , of course , in driving his bargains : —

    "At a time when the Committee were doling out relief in such single donations as five , ten , and twenty—in no instance ( it is believed ) exceeding forty—pounds , they voted one hundred pounds each to the widows of two of their own members ; and , as one of the deceased was a man of fortune , who bequeathed two legacies of a hundred guineas each to friends , and as no application for relief had been made by his widow , it is' fair to assume that , but for troublesome inquiry and comment , such self-apportionments of the funds would have become by no means uncommon . "

    If the subscribers to the Fund will carefully consider the statement issued from the printing-office of Messrs . Bradbury and Evans , they will , we think , be satisfied that the time has come for reforming the management of the society . With 30 , 000 / . invested and 200 / . a year from landed property , surely the institution in Great Russcllstreet might be made available for the purposes originally proposed by its founder : — "There , in this very Charter , stands still the unmistakable reference to the hope he cherished beyond every other , that there would at some time be established a ' H » H or College' In connexion with this charity . So would ho ilnally have connected it with some building in this groat city , to which the young author , coming Up ^ unfHendQd-to-London ^ inight-betako ^ jmpeliniE 0 * in hand , secure of at least a few friends ready to meet him -with sympathy and counsel ; and eo , at th e same timo and by the same moans , would ho have called uuo existence a source of atoady supply to the subscription list of the Fund itself , and an honourable basis for us continued prosperity . ' The case , as now stated , is irrefragable . Either the publio will withdraw its support from tlio Literary Fund Sooioty , or its members must adopt new principles of administration .

    THE LITERARY FUND . Three years ago , Mr . Dimke , Mr . Dickens , Mr . FQR 8 XBR ,, a « d > ather ~ gentlcmen ^ w ^ against the management of the Literary Fund . They showed that the expenditure was excessive , and that the operations of the Society were improperly limited . They proposed a variety of improvements ; but in the main they wore resisted by the committee and general body of subscribers . Still some very salutary changes have been effected by their influence . They have obtained the admission of reporters to the annual meetings ; they have

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    232 THE LEAJEE . [ No . 415 , March 6 , 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1858, page 232, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2233/page/16/