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Leader (1850-1860), 13th August 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 939, Untitled Article

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      ing , all things went well while the firm was Russell S palmerston ; but now that V ^ S The and Russell , all things were going to _ the bad . I he Premier would have sneered at the notaon oi Reform and the GhanceUor of the Exchequer woSd ^ ave ch uckled at the . idea of the repeal of the Ineome-tax . Milner Gibson must have got maudlin over his radical reminiscences , and bir Charles Wood would have cried over ^ fi gures of the Indian budget , Cornewall Lewis would have stigmatfsed himself as a bore , and Low £ denounced himself as a humbug . Can it be true as _ our Ulyssean waiter whispers , almost maudibly , that the evening terminated by Lord John Russell insisting 011 comic songs , and a-visxt to the Cyder Cellars ! while Mr . Gladstone proposed a trip to C remorne , in order to study the great problem of our social ex istence .

      Untitled Article

      PAYING OFF . —NAVAL , RESERVES . In former times , after the State had ceased to need the services of the seamen it had seduced by bounties , or had impressed , it relentlessly turned them adrift . It paid them off ; and , at the end of every naval war , the country was suddenly inundated with unemployed starving , begging , and sometimes stealing , seamen ^ According to the old song" Says Jsick Tar , I'll go on the highway ; Better'do that than dd worse ; And the first jolly farmer I meet . Bid him hand out the slack of his purse .

      saw them . He would acquire such a familiarity with the whole business of a ship that he would practise it with comparative ease when required . Thus free and voluntary service—the men going as well as coming at their option—is better even than a conscription or a militia for diffusing through the whole population the knowledg e of the ways of a man-of-war . To discharge trained men at their own desire—not in the brutal manner they were formerly thrust on shore after being forced on board—would begin the education of youth for the service of the State . The paying-off was wrono- when done by a board which , in spite of experience , relies on arbitrary regulations , and prefers its own devices to the wise maximsof civil polity .

      At the commencement of a war many seamen are wanted speedily ; and the problem which has engaged the attention of the Manning Commissioners , the Admiralty , and the Legislature , is how to get them ; and these several bodies have come to the conclusion to form in the coast-guard in a body of seamen attached to the coasting trade , &c , at the expense of 600 , 000 ? . per annuma naval reserve . The palpable fault of the scheme is that it does not add one man to the actual resources of the navy , but throws it for help on some other services , impeding them when war breaks out . Sir Charles Napier ' s plan—which is

      also a very old plan of increasing the number 01 seamen embarked on board our ships in peace , and of embarking in them sailors exclusively—has the merit of costing much less than the Commissioners ' scheme , and of adding , during peace , to the number of seamen in existence . It would tend to equalise the number of seamen required in peace and in war ; and the chief reserve being in the marine barracks , or the whole body of marines , a war would not—as with the system of reserves now adopted—necessarily impede any business or trade . Our real reserve ; beside the extra seamen and marines , would be found in all

      the youthful maritime population of the empire , who would be eager to serve in the navy , wereit not degraded by the stinking-fish cry of its frightened chiefs , whenever the country was really threatened . Nothing is necessary to secure the national supremacy at sea , so far as Che supply of men is concerned , but to make service in the navy entirely voluntary , and employ only seamen in our men-of-war during peace . Such a plan , however , supposes that the Admiralty should have confidence in the maritime population ; and the Admiralty , unfortunately , thinks that it must do everything , and provide for everythingor nothing will be done , nor provided

      , for . In fact , to think otherwise would be derogating from its authority , abdicating its functions , admitting its partial inutility ; and to hide its weakness , to make a show of usefulness , and retain its power , it inflicts incredible mischief on the community . If the general Government believed that the people would not feed themselves , unless it made regulations for the purpose , jit could not act more absurdly than the Admiralty , which from believing that they will not defend the country , bribes or forces them to do it . At this moment , according to Mr . Cardwell , there are 60 , 000 British seamen in the United States : and those

      who know these men believe that they , as well as the whole maritime" population of the Empire , are proud of England ' s naval greatness , and would , wore it wot For the terrible mistrust of the Admiralty and its -consequences , rush to her aid , were she in danger . They might , in fact , bo counted on as port of her great naval reserve . In comparison with the immense force which perfectly free service would place at her command , the old pensioners , the coast-guards , and the hired volunteers , about which the Manning Commissioners and the Admiralty say an immense deal , are more driblets not worthv of one moment ' s consideration . The

      reserve ot the nation is the whole maritime population , and to secure its services in time of need it is only necessary that the Admiralty should have confidence , do justice , and fear nothing ? or otherwise should stand out of the way . "Wo do not , at the same time , suppose the seamen to be insensible to the chnrms of a good money payment . Why should they bo F Their bettors arc not Admirals and captains , and Lords of the Admiralty , and our very greatest patriots anxiously contvaotfor a large remuneration . Why should the sailor give his time for nothing P Pay him well . The unpor members of the profession arc much belied

      —at least were—including some very great men ennobled for their services—if they dp riot know the meaning of the word capabar , as the tailor knows the meaning of the word cabbage . And how can gentlemen , who are solemnly intent-on filling then * own purses , not always honestly , expect ° hat the sailor shall serve for little or nothing ? To seek wealth is the grand pursuit of the whole nation , and the sailor runs with the rest . At the same time , there is not another class in the community in which the noble , sentiments predominate , as in the seamen ,, above sordid selfishness .

      And very often the disbanded sailor did go on the highway , and so revenged on society some of the injuries which , through the instrumentality of those who administered its affairs , sOciety _ had inflicted on him . In those times the Admiralty forced men oni board ship when they Wanted them , and when they wanted them no longer forced them onshore , the whole service being coercion from first to last . The service has since become partly voluntary . Not that the Admiralty ever had the good sense to obtain for the State the credit of renouncing impressment , which it was disgraceinclina

      fully compelled to give up , in spite of its - tion to retain and use it . Habituated , hbwever , to coercion , and blinded , like other despots and like slave-owners , to all rationaFmeans of accomplishing its objects , it continued the old p lan % vhen a totally different measure was required-Owing to the use of steam , improved artillery , and various other circumstances , the business of a man-of-war ' s seaman has become very different from the business of a merchant seaman . He has especially to be taught , and learns to handle artillery . Nevertheless , at the close of the Russian war , the Admiralty turned adrift a number of drilled and trained men , whose services it now needs , and is not able to procure . The folly of

      this has become p lain to the veriest land lubber that ever spoke in Parliament , and has of late called down on the Admiralty much deserved censure . In defiance of freedom and national sentiment , this discredited board has made our naval pre-eminence depend exclusively on regulations , and it gets scared out of its wits by finding that it has neither the skill to frame , nor the power to carry out , regulations equal to the French Government . For it , therefore—after it has made the navy entirely distinct from the mercantile marine—to disband its own trained men , was putting the nation to expense , and exposing it to danger . At the same time , under other circumstanooe , wo are inclined to think that paying off the seamen , or getting the trained men to mix

      with the rest of the population , would bo an excellent means of instructing our youth in the first elements of naval warfare . Our old and still execrable system of flogging , &a , induces the authorities , as the rule , to lceep all the gulls they can oatch , and prevent a knowledge of what they do being diffused through the land . Wore tho service wholly voluntary , with no other restriction as to time than that imposed by circumstances—such as that of , a ship going to the East Indies— -a muoh greater number of the people than now would try their luck on board a inanof-war . At all times much useful knowledge is transmitted from man to map , without the intervention of tho schoolmaster , tho book , or the newspaper ; and from thoso who wore returning from their sorvioo or voyage , an aspiring youngster might loam much about reefing a topsail , sponging a gun , and heaving tho lead , before ho

      Untitled Article

      ITALIAN STATESMEN . URBAN © BATTJLZZI . Signob Rattazzi , the present Minister of Victor Emmanuel , and virtual head of the Piedmontese Cabinet , is one of the best known and most energetic of Italian statesmen . By accepting _ the resignation of Count Cavour , after the prelunmaries of the Peace of Villafranca , and by nominating Rattazzi to the Ministry , the King of Piedmont has unmistakably proved to Italy and to Europe that he accepted JFreneh succour in the late Italian War simplirom the consciousness o ± Jus

      y own inability to overcome the Austrian arms . ± te knew but too well the umiertsunty , if not tne impossibility , of employing Italian force for the attainment of Italian nationality . The choice of Rattazzi as Minister is an additional proo £ if sucn were needed , of the positive and unwavering tendencies of the King towards maintaining an independent line of poHcy , though recently compelled by circumstances to accept fbreiga aid . __ Signor Rattazzi was born at Casale . He was "brought up to the law , and practised in his native advocate i

      town as an —* proieaoiu" «^ " T-u V as in France , is considered one of the most liberal , and looked upon as affording an opening for the most noble and independent public career , in consequence of his profound legal knowledge and his intimate acquaintance with the Piedmontese laws , as comprised in the code promulgated by the present Savoy dynasty , Rattazzi practised with the most decided and flattering success until 1848 . In that year he sat in the Chamber of Deputies for the city of Alessandria , and notlong afterwards formed part of the Casati Cabinet in the department of Public Instruction . He resigned this office after the npafift of Milan , and subsequently held office under

      the Minister Gioberti as Keeper of the Seals . ihiB Cabinet being dissolved on the question of restoring the Pope and Grand Duke of Tuscany , prior to the unfortunate battle of Novara , he returned to Casale and resumed the practice of his profession , in 1850 he was re-elected deputy , and the Liberal party numbered him among its most energetic adherents . He is a man of ready mental resources , a clever reasoner , and good orator ; his acute , decided , telling speeches are emineatly adapted to settle disputed questions and to detect and expose 1 jhe distorted and fallacious views of his opponents . Rattazzi , like Cavour , represents Italy truly free and in this character

      and an independent nation , he was admitted to the Cabinet in 1851 with the portfolio ofthe interior and of Justice . It was at this period that his political character first became fully developed . He proposed two projects of law—one with reference to the convents , the other to mortmain , —and by means of these laws he shook tho priestly edifice to its very foundation . Saoerdotal and monastic tyranny , encroachment , privilege , and abuse , exercised for the aacffrandisemenfc of the hierarchy and oppression of the people , Were by them restrained and annulled . By these two laws Rattazzi succeeded m establishing the principle of religious toteragoo , 1 a principle winch forms the basis of 8 ° oinl J * SJ » without which political freedom can never exist .

      His liberalism was not yet satisfied , but wont stiU further . He introduced . and corned a bill through the Chamber of Deputies in favour oi civil mor-SSseVBat the Piedmontcso aristocracy , which is Sole exclusive than the Austrian , f "*™™™ > £ Z the English , caused the rejection ofthe law }> y « e Senate , and Rattazzi in consequence retired from the ministry . The Chamber of Deputies then nommatod him president , ^ post which he filled with 81 H xklShthVw » estion was raised in tho Chamber ofthe transference ofthe maritime arsenal from Genoa to Nioo . On th , is occasion Battazzi straggled ajrainst tho municipal spirit exhibited by Genoa , and groatly forwarded the wise and just project of the Minister of War . Ho has over boon opposed

      Untitled Article

      No . 490 . *™ ttt-iaM . 1 THE DEADER . ^ g ^ '

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1859, page 939, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2307/page/15/