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950 THE LBABEl. [No. 341, Saturday,
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The English Hakvkst is now nearly comple...
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Thetre is' no learned maa but will confe...
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CHAUTISM AND SOCIALISM. (To the Editor o...
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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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The New Point O]? Honour. Some New Point...
even rich . JSTot long since , a dinner was given to Colonel Morris , who , as senior caytain commanded the Seventeenth Lancers in the ' charge of the Light Cavalry Brigade at Balaklava . There were speeches , and they were reported ; and in the report of Colonel Buck ' s speech was this passage : — " Their gallant guest-was not placed in . the same position as Lord Cardigan , who , it -was said , bad paid 40 , 000 ? . for tie present position he held in the army , and who , when he met his friends at Leeds the other day , ¦ was obliged to ' try back , ' and first explain his conduct in the charge of BalaWava . There had been nothing in the conduct of their gallant guest so equivocal as to require such an explanation about the duties of cavalry officers as that made by the Earl of Cardigan at Leeds . "
Xiord Ca-hdigan" calls upon Colonel G-EoaaE Stanley Buck : to explain . " Did you , " he asfcs , ¦ " give utterance to such an uncalled-for allusion to nie , expressed in such unwarrantable terms , and conveying such an offensive insinuation with regard , to my conduct ?" Colonel Buck replies that the report of his speech is very incorrect : —• " I referred to your Lordship ' s public speech , at Leeds , which I simply stated as unsatisfactory to me . I gave no reason for my opinion ; nor did I mention anything about ' trying "back , ' or ' Balaklava , ' or ' equivocal conduct . ' I alluded to what 1 understood to have been the case—that your Lordship ' s commission had cost you between 30 , 0007 . and 40 , 000 ? . "
Colonel Mobbis had no necessity to explain his conduct at Balaklava , says Lord CAjttDieAH , "because he had never been attacked by anonymous libellers . " Colonel Mobbis bad been promoted since the charge p i" the light Cavalry at Balaklava ; " which is certainly a much more agreeable way of obtaining- promotion than by paying 40 , 000 /! ., supposing that statement to be true . " And his promotion ; Lord Cahdigait naively remarks , " proves that officers in our service do
not obtain promotion by money alone . " " nothing , " he affirms , " can be more unsatisfactory , xinstraightforward , or evasive than your reply . " Now , evidently Lord Cibdigan thanks that ifc is more honourable to obtain promotion by merit than money ; the 40 , 000 Z . is the sting of the " insinuation ;" yet he does not say that he did not pay the money ! Again he explains the charge at Balaklava , but he does not explain his own part in the retreat , unless he does so in this
very vague expression : — " For myself , having led this brigade into the batterj ' , I pursued my direct course as leader , a course which one horse could take , but in which a line of troops could not well follow from the number of guns , limber carriages , aud other impediments-which stood in the way . " It perplexes \ is to discover what is the point of honour to which Lord Cabdiga-W
adhereB . He accuses others of insinuations , " but we do not find that his own language is more direct . He is full and explicit about the charge , when the question is concerning the retreat . He is angry at being said to have spent 40 , 0002 ., yet he does not deny the 'imputation . ' Is ifc thought honourable in the army to purchase your commission , but dishonourable to talk about it P
Another great Britiah officer increases our perplexity . Lord Luoan threatens to bring an action of libel against the X > aily News , for a general criticism on , Crimeaii affairs in which the Earl figured . " Through , our means , " says the Daily News , " Lord Lucan seeks to obtain the opinion of a Jury of Englishmen on the pnrfc he played in the Russian war , and in the controversies which
arose out ot his removal by the Queen , on the reco mmendation of Lord Hakdinqe , from the command of the Cavalry Division in the Crimea : we feel that wo have a great public duty to perform ; and , however indisposed generally to appear defendants in courts ot law we wi ] l enable him to take that evT °£ " + 1 ^^^ y ^ Preference , however , is , that Lord Ltjcan distinctly refuses to state tho particular point which
constitutes the libel , and for which he demands either an apology or damages . He demands an apology , "without saying what for ! Is the complaint too absurd to be stated ? Lord Lxjcan published a little book —¦ English Cavalry in the JLrmy in the Mast—containing correspondence of his own ; in the course of this look , it appears that upon one or two occasions he Kad been compelled to perform duties ¦ vrhieh he would have left to others . Some light is tlirdwn on his pretension to be exempt from duty by his sub-, sequent complaint to Lord John" Russell .
" With many officers in this army , a sense of duty and an ambition , of professional distinction are the sole inducement to hold commands of great responsibility under no ordinary difficulties . How mortifying and how great must ^ le the disappointment of any such officer , " & c . & c . ! NTowy what was the point of honour here ? Lord Lucan evidently thought he had a right not to take the foremost post in the hardships of the Crimea , because he was a person of " distinction . " " When a drink of water was brought to Sir Philip Sidsei as lie lay dying , he pointed to a common soldier who needed it more , and should have * it first . According to the modern and therefore educated view , Sir Pktlip should have said , " Bring it to me first , or to me only , for I am a person of distinction . "
A contemporary journal is lather severe upon Lieutenant Massy , because the public has dubbed him ' Redan Massy , ' the share which lie took in the attack upon the Redan . There ivere other men quite as heroically doing their daily duty in the trenches ; but if we understand some passages which , we have quoted above , those trenchmen had their motive ; they were paid
for ifc . The English public , like all great publics , will always feel a powerful impulse to applaud a man who voluntarily seeks a very conspicuous post of danger ; a gallant young officer who dashes forward to confront death where numbers are falling aroun < l him is naturally admired by the English public . " We now understand , however , that this conduct was nob so very admirable on the part of Hassy : he had no natural claim to be in
the rear , since he was not a person of distinction . These facts explain tho distribution of honours . Officers of rank get the rewards for the sacrifices they make ; but what sacrifices are made by non-commissioned officers and privates ? One of the most chivalrous men ¦ who won renown in the war was Sir " Wii / ltamT
Wilxiams oir Katis , and certainly we should have looked to a . man so gallant for the very perfection of chivalry . Yet again we are perplexed . Civilization has made such progress that our calculations are at fault . In ail his speeches , amid the glow of welcome and applause , Sir William op Kars has never so much as mentioned his patriotic , chivalrous , but less fortunate companion , in arms , Kmety ! Pei'haps some of our gallant correspondents may "be able to inform us what really is the point of honour at the present day amongst ' officers and gentlemen . ' If jnot , perhaps we may iasuo a commission to inquire into and report what is tho point of honour , if any , among the recognized modern British chivalry .
950 The Lbabel. [No. 341, Saturday,
950 THE LBABEl . [ No . 341 , Saturday ,
The English Hakvkst Is Now Nearly Comple...
The English Hakvkst is now nearly completed—in some districts , quite ao . Upon the whole , the result , as regards . wheat , seems to bo about an average . Barloy will probiibly fall a little below . Beans ha-vc yielded well ; so has mangold wurzel ; oats are plentiful and almndant ; tjmCL tho root crops are in admirable condition , with tho exception of potatoes , which aro Again diseased . Thrashing is now being actively conducted ia tlio midland and southern districts ; but in tho north , tho harvest lias been delayed , nnd in some < legreo injured , by tlio heavy equinoctial gales and torrents of rain . Prices in general have been well maintained .
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Thetre Is' No Learned Maa But Will Confe...
Thetre is' no learned maa but will confess he hath . much , proated by reading controversies , bis senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not ' least , be tolexablefor his adversary to write ?— Milton
Chautism And Socialism. (To The Editor O...
CHAUTISM AND SOCIALISM . ( To the Editor of tke Leader . ') Sir , —I confess myself one of those inclined to favour the Charter as a measure of reform , and -wish , now to > draw the attention of its advocates to the -two evils that menace their cause — a leadership without virtue , and a smattering of communism in the ranks . So universal is the denunciation of the late moclctriutnph , that it is evident political bias has had little weight iri the public judgment . The mere moral sense of the people , a sense as true and trustworthy as is their political instinct , prompted them to hold aloof from a demonstration that outraged common propriety and good feeling . -The lesson conveyed in this truth suTely cannot be lost on the select knot of gentlemen -who in a carriage-and-four paraded out dingy thoroughfares on that occasion . If not dazzled by their temporary elevation , tliey must hare seen that the crowds of artizans that stood gaping at the doors they passed neither took the trouble to remove pipes fronv their mouths nor doff their capB in the presence of the majesty of the people , made manifest in the persons of Mr . Frost and the persons who followed at his heels . They must have felt they were star « d at not as leaders of the people , but as tlie delegates of some fraction apart , some sect bound , perhaps , by community of opinion to the democracy they dishonoured , but certainly by no community of principle . Should Mr . Jones , or Mr . Finley , or their companions have the laudable ambition to keep well
in front of the masses they attempt to move , let them remernber this unmistakable proof they hare received , that an English crowd at least has healthful moral instincts to consult as well as political sentiments to guide . Assuredly if they forget this , at the first rush in advance they will find their pretensions most unceremoniously dashed aside . It is some comfort to think , in spite of this breach of good manners and good feeling on the part of the lowest ; of its advocates , that the Charter is still an open question . People may dispute the wisdom of paying our representatives , or we may not be of one mind as to the degree we should extend the suffrage , but do one will deny the probability that the points of tlie Charter , with some modifications , ivill be embraced in any comprehensive scheme of reform ; and we may depend upon it , that when reform is insisted
upon , the day of mere concessions is past , and it will be comprehensive . In the ridicule Avhioh the public press has heaped upon the tawdry paraphernalia of a congress of ' roughs' on an . idle Monday , some people will doubtless see the salvation of abuses , conservative organs will make merry on the strength of it , and timid pioneers of reform will hustle back into the crowd . But if honest Chartists will learn wisdom from this folly of their pseudo champions they will be the real gainers . They will mot be easily turned aside from the conviction that tho power of a phalanx of honestly-elected representatives of the people is the only legal , as it is the only practicable , engine to break up that concrete mass of prejudice that exists amongst our respectable classes , in which lays the mere vis inertias of our body politic . It is tho selfish and ungenerous remark of people well to do in the world , that when tho lower classes keep quiet
there is no grievance to redress . There is no more dangerous consolation for respectability than this . There are not wanting signs and portents abroad that a periodic flow of tho tide of democracy is about due . It i « just in these days of Black water tliat tho email fry among political reformers wax fat oa tho refuse of the last ebb . It is such gentry who give ciirrency to the socialistic jargon we nov hear mixed with the once specific language of tho Charter . An evil sign . ' Solidarity' and ' individualism' inay be terms suggesting great truths to the political philosopher , but in the mouths of spouteis they serve only to frighten the unreflecting nnd disgust men ot sense . Any mind of perhaps small calibre , but )
imaginative . and quick instincts , can Appreciat ean abstract truth , and faithfully point out tlie spot whore the root of a political evil exists . But it ia ft hard head only that can get at it and show us how patiently to remove one by one the difficulties in our way . Tlie tool with which we arc to work is direct popular agency . Tho Charter , and less tlian the Charter , will give us this . In tho nnn . ii > , then , of all that is judicious , let us for tho present confine our aims to such specific ends ; and should thcru bo a latent truth in socialist principles when wiser heads than are in tho « International Association' have proved their practicability , we shall have tho means at least in our hands of carrying them out .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1856, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101856/page/14/
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