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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd July 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 795, Untitled Article

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      purchase . The appointment -was gazetted , and the price agreed on was divided amongst the confederates and the parties whom they had influenced : Unfortunately , in all human affairs there is a possibility of miscarriage . If Napoleon had his . Waterloo , why should not Hi ' . Marshall have hi . s run of ill-luck also ? There was a dispute about the division of the booty , and one of the happy party turned traitor . The matter was taken up by the Government , and Mr . Marshall has just been convicted of a criminal misdemeanour . In spite of this slight accident , our belief in our . discovery remains unshaken . Take our advice , and when in doubt or difficulty go to your tailor .

      The matter , however , ought not to rest here . IfvTo one suspects men of position and fortune , to say nothing of character , to be liahle . , to any temptation from a bribe of a couple of hundred pounds or so . This much , however , we do say , without fear of contradiction : —It is a known fact that a vast number of the fashionable and aristocratic world , who form our governing classe . " , are heavily in debt to their tailors . It is known , also , that tailors have constantly in their hands over-due bills and I . O . U ' s of their customers to large amounts . 2 STow , if you have any knowledge of human nature , and consider how impossible it is for any cmbaraseotl man , however honourable by character to treat with indifterence any not too unreasonable . request of a man wlio lias it in his power to sell him up at once-r-why , then , if you think of this , you vfill still take our opinion , and consult your tailor when you want . a friend at court .

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      Tho Patrie announces that the 4 th division of the army of Paris , commanded by General JTrlon , is under orders for Italy .

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      it inflicts , designedly or imdesignedly , are powerful reasons for not waging war . In the language of economists and statesmen , however , they are not included in the cost of war . They are mighty evils , at which the heart shudders , and which the hand , unless driven by dire necessity , refuses to inflict over and above the labour required to inflict them , which . 'is . the measure of the cost of war to humanity . The cost of war to a country , to which we next turn our attention , and about which there is most controversy , is , in like manner , all the labour , skill , and knowledge which the country requires and uses to carry on any particular Avar . In this estimate is included all the services of

      foreignerssuch as those of the Russian peasant , in growing hemp to make cables and ropes for ships—for which the war-making country must pay by its own labour , as well as all the labour of" its own people , including that of miners and shipwrights , as well as soldiers and sailors , directly or indirectly employed to cai'iy on the war . The labour which produces the provisions , ¦ ¦ implements . and weapons necessary to War is so enwoven with the other labour and skill' of the community that it is quite impossible to estimate the real quantity of labour required . In our country , where all the preliminary work is cheaply and well performed , the cost is comparatively less than in other countries ; still it is of a large amount , and must always be included in our estimate of the cost of a war .

      such as building a series of gunboats after the war was at an end , which cost , like many ships built only to be destroyed or to rot , a vast sum to preserve them ' . There must be included , too , the higher wages which the country is obliged to pay for the services of both seamen and soldiers by the regulations in favour of the aristocracy , which limits to members of that body all the honours oi both professions . The reader will see , therefore , that tke disbursements for the army and navy are not the measure of the cost of war tP the country , but of many matters that have as little to do with war as the expense of the coast-guard included in the cost of the navy , and only used to collect the revenue .

      Deducting these matters it must also l ) e remembered that all the admirals , and captains , and seamen of the navy—all the general subaltern officers and men of the army—all the shipwrights and officers of the dockyards—all the contractors for clothing and provisions—are members of the community ; and their wages , salaries , and payments are all made out of the 21 , 655 , 4801 . ; and , though paid by the rest of the community , are not cost to these individuals , but rewards , far which they have given their labour or skill , and sources . of wealth

      to them . Admiral Lyons , for example , received increased pay and a peerage for his services and his pay formed a part of the general property . What is true of him is true of all other officers , and all the men employed ; and though their labour is a cost to the community , their . rewards , . included in the 21 , 655 , 480 L , are wealth to them . It is not such an easy matter , therefore ,, as these and other writers hastily suppose and dogmatically assert , to determine the cost of war to the country .

      The cost of zvar to the taxpayers is another thine , and is represented pretty correctly by the ¦ 21 . 655 , 4807 . per annum , while the larger sum of 3 C- 655 , 480 / . is the total cost of our military establish- ^ ments . The former is something like the actual cost of war to the taxpayers ; the latter is something like a measure of the annual burdens Avhich oar Government imposes on the people , under the name of war . It is one of the many false pretexts on which it lives . At least , this sum measures the burden imposed on industry in 1854-1856 , ibr pretended war purposes . A very slight acquaintance with naval and military matters is sufficient toconvinoe every person that a large jttoportion- of this sum is always wasted by mismanagement , or by

      the freaks of naval and military authorities . For a long period these magnates assumed that their peculiar technical knowledge placed , them above all ordinary criticism , and then- follies were unchecked by public admonition . What is set down under these heads of army , navy , and ordnance , does not include the cost of much civil service , employed at the -Treasury , and in-collecting taxes , which this great expenditure makes necessary . It does include all the money wasted under these-heads by the Government on jobs or caprice , which have as little claim to be called the cost of war as the cost of a brace of hunters to be called household expenditure . Tho sum is , thereforenot a fair estimate of the cost of war .

      , Though so much of it as pays the wages ot workmen and soldiers , rewards officers , and remunerates manufacturers , is not lost to the nation , it is nil taken from the taxpayers by the Government , and by it so much ot it as is not blown away is transferred to these other classes . When we . notice that war interrupts trade , that ) all the nations of the earth have ijow a great interest in trade , and would probably not have war but for their Governments , we are entitled to affirm that all this oxpcnsc--ana not merely tho expense of building ships , only to be pulled to pieces , &c—is rather the cost to us ol Government thau of war . It w ono of tho items nV thn minvmoufl and increasing expense ot tins

      ill-contrived institution . It is all paid b y tho productive industry of the people . War , costly to carry on , ruinous and revolting to humanity m » te effects , is undoubtedly tho greatest curse wluch man wilfully hurls on mun but even the cost o wax- js not so black as it is painted , by tho millions ot money sot down to its charge by those who seek to throw on it all the blame of the oxoosswq and wasteful expenditure of the Government .

      Of this cost io our country we have various estimates in money . Thus , the cost of war between 1801 and 1 SI 6 was stated by the Economist , a fortnight ago , to have been 369 , 114 , 0007 ., over and above ari additional annual amount of taxation , which would make the cost to have been , besides the additional taxation , 23 , 000 , 0007 . per annum through the whole period . But this annual expense for all military and many civil purposes includes the cost of the troops employed in Ireland ,

      THE COST OF AVAR . - - - The cost of war now naturally occupies men ' s thoughts , and many dilie-rent opinions are ' expressed concerning it . ~\ Ye propose , therefore , discarding all . sentimentality , which can be poured out without stint , to endeavour to make a reasonable estimate of the cost of war . Let us break the great subject into parts , and laying aside victories , countries , soldiers , and others who derive advantage from war , and taxpayers on whom fall its total expense . Let us refer , first , to war in the abstract ,

      or—21 ie cost of iritr to liumanity . Putting out of view the conseauciH'Cfi of war , which , like that waged by the present United States against our fathers and grandfathers , was rich in blessings to that country , ' and ultimately to ourselves and the whole of Europe , we confine our remarks to its avowed evil * . In its nature , it is one body of men , striving to subdue another ; such strife has existed from tho beginning of history ; and they now use , to attain their end * , the most murderous weapons and the most subtle means which art can invent .

      In war , strength and skill are directed to devastate and destroy what it may effect is always uncertain ; its cost is definite . The cost of war is the total amount of skill , strength , and knowledge applied to effect the work oi" destruction and devastation . In economical language , and according to economical science , which refers all cost to labour , the parent of all produce , the total amount of labour informed by knowledge employed is the cost of Avar . This includes all the labour required , from the first blow of the pick of the miner to the firing of tho gun—necessary to complete all the cannon and ships , nnd ail the other wertpons , and

      instruments , and implements , and supply the provisions required to carry on the war . The labour pf tho miner , the smelter , the manufacturer , the shipwright , the mevcliant who imports the materials for gunpowder or sailcloth , " and of tho schoolmaster who teaches sonic necessary arts , must all bo included in the estimate . To ascertain exactly tho total quantity of labour now required to eilbot all tho destruction of such a battle as that of Magenta , or carry on such a war ti » that of Italy , is beyond our power . Much of it is wo mingled vitli tho

      ovcryuay . labour of every community that we can only state the broad iiict . The cost of war to humanity is , then , wo repeat , tho total amount of tho labour applied to oilbot tho work of destruction . But this work may be lftce t ) io war labour of tho Americans , of prodigious advantage to humanity ; and wo must be careful not to ooufound , as wo very oilon do , the consequences of war—many , of which we instinctively abhor—with its cost . Trampled-down harvests , dilapidated towns , slaughtered hosts , ravished women , and deserted uhUurou , are some of tho horrible consequences of war . The sufferings

      and in certain colonies , to keep discontented and conquered people , or negro slaves , in subjection . It includes , too , much civil service , and the cost of collecting the revenue through the whole period ,, and can by no means be assumed as a just measure of the cost of war . Our contemporary obviously confounds—as has been shown by the Daily J \ eivs—all the disbursements of the Government , for police and . many other purposes— -with the cost of war , while the latter is only a part of the former .

      Another estimate has been placed before the public by the Monetary Times and Bankers' Circular , which is , for some of the reasons above stated , equally erroneous . " The total cost of the army , ordnance , and navy , in 1810 , amounted , it is said , to 26 , 593 , 128 ^ . A lar ge part of that expenditure was employed for purposes different from war , both at home and in the colonies , and it would be as reasonable to include the cost of building forts about Paris , to prevent insurrection there , which helped to banish Louis Philippe from France , or the cost to Austria of keeping the Lombards in

      subjection , in the war expenses of those nations , as to include , in the cost of our war against France , the expense of the troops required to keep tho Starving Luddites and the outraged Catholics _ of Ireland in subjection . We have no means of distinguishing the ordinary police expense , and sometimed wanton military extravagance of the Government , from the reul cost of war ; but we arc sure that the total disbursements of any Government for military purposes cannot be fairly assumed as the cost , to any country , of war .

      The same -authority last quoted tells us that , " during tho three years the Crimean war lasted , this country spent on its army and navy no less than 109 , 9 G'G , 44 G / ., or an average sum of 36 , 655 , 4801 . per annum , exclusive of tho cost of tho civil departments . " But in that period an ' army was maintained in Canada , at the Capo of Good Hope , at the Mauritius , at Gibraltar , &c , &c , the cost of whioh was not occasioned by war . It would be fairer statement of the cost of war to

      subtract from tho average the 15 , 000 , 000 / . p er annum that was oxponded on military sorvicos before the commencement of the war , and oall tho annual cost of tho throo years ' war 21 , G 55 , 48 OJ ., rather than 3 G , G 55 , 48 O £ But wo nxusi remombey there was included in tlie 21 , 055 , 480 / . the extra prioo paid for timber , for sugar , wine , and provisions , in consequence of duties levied on thoso articles . There must bo included , also , the oost of sundry follies of tho Horso Guards and the Admiralty , —

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      > T » . ^ f >— jvimj » yj- T ij . iir ^« - aa ) wi ¦ ¦¦¦ . it mjjm - * i mi ¦¦¦¦ nw-ww ^ i Pii iw m^——^— . ^—i No . 484 . July 2 , 1859 Q THE LEADEB , 795

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 2, 1859, page 795, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2301/page/15/