On this page
-
Text (2)
-
November 4, 1854] THE LEADER. W4& ¦ ¦—¦ ...
-
- ^ a . ^-r> rpTTp > INCllkAbfc Ol< 1 wu AixMX
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Working Man And His Tliachliks, Thkh...
as we stand at present , invaluable ; but it is because they do that which . Mr . Maurice underrates : they bring together many , to afford the opportunity of study for the comparatively few who can . accomplish the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties . Cardinal " Wiseman seems to us to come nearer to the truth . His Eminence has sent us a copy of his lectures , in order to prove that he did not , as several papers represented , recommend a licensed colportage or pedlar
system , with a stamped literature specially authorised for the poor , as in IPrance : he commends that French plan for having weeded and improved the literature of the poor ; but for England he recommends something different—an active , not a repressive movement , to produce an instructive and attractive literature for the poor , such as may compete with the bad literature , and counteract it ; and he specially holds up the healthier works of fiction like Robinson Crusoe ; or popular poems , like the Song of the Shirt in England , or the Song qfi the Mhine in Germany , as
examples of a good and powerful moral effect . He rather recommends special efforts to circulate " good" books among the poor , by giving prizes in that form , and he desiderates a parliamentary enquiry into the literature at the service of the poor ; but he is not for compulsory or repressive measures . The Cardinal is not less liberal than the Christian Socialist Principal of the " Working Mens ' College , nor than the Lord President of the Privy Council who relies on opinion to correct opinion , but he goes further in distinctly recognising the discipline of reading not didactic .
But undidactie literature must spring out of the natural tendencies of the people : it can scarcely be made for them . Defoe was charmed with Alexander Selkirk ' s adventure , and amplified it in Mobinson Crusoe—ho did not seek to invent a moral tale on self-reliance ; and no moral tale would be equally read . The Arabian Nights is so full of moral illustrations , that it might almost train a mind to the discipline pf life ; but the illustrations arise out of the action ; as every true training of a people , in mind , body , or heart , rises best out of the natural action of either
or ail of those three things- But what exercise is possible in the workshop , with brow bent over the work ? HSTone . What " short time" can be effectually and sufficiently enforced ? None . To leave men leisure to exercise their faculties , which is better than school learning , they must have power and independence to choose the limit of their own
hours . To that end they must not bo so cheap . Whatever makes labour moro valuable turns the windlass that raises labour from the mine to the full light , tho free air , the broad earth to which man was born ¦ „ and when once he is there , he can talk profitably and independently with Reverend Principal , Cardinal Legate , or Lord President .
November 4, 1854] The Leader. W4& ¦ ¦—¦ ...
November 4 , 1854 ] THE LEADER . W 4 & ¦ ¦—¦ — — ¦ - - ^^^^ TT ^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^
- ^ A . ^-R≫ Rpttp ≫ Incllkabfc Ol≪ 1 Wu Aixmx
INCREASE OF THE ARMY . " Food for powder , " exclaimed a by-stander us a piirt ; y of recruits passed him in the stroots . A recruiting sergeant of Carbiniers was tstulIcing along in tho inidst of a party of houk > ¦ twenty men or moro , perfect contrasts wifcli liimsulf ; BJouclung louts with rounded ( shoulders , rolling gait , stupid countenance !; country bumpkins who > would talus a day bol ' oro tliey could bring their minds round to answer n question , would bump upon a hoivse liko u hnlf-Mt-mppedsnddle-biig 1 , and would , in whorl ; , bo incompetent to u « o the compact wellgrown limbs with which nature- had endowed them . A fow weeks will pass , and every one of those won will Bit hia home ho aa to pass
muster , will stand like a man , answer a question smartly , and will be prepared to figure in uniform as one of " the gentlemen" of the Carbiniers ,- —the admiration of the surrounding fair , and the terror , perhaps , of the opposing Russian . . Put those twenty men to an adult sehool , and the keenest of pedagogues could not pull up one in the score to a decent show of intellectual promptitude . Put the whole through military drill , and scarcely
one perhaps will be sent back to the awkward squad . If one in the score becomes food for powder , which is possible , the other nineteen will be put iuto a condition to serve their country , to enter into the soldierly feelings of their profession , to behave with spirit on the field of battle , probably with magnanimity in the moment of triumph , and in short to be men with a real sense of life , its enjoyment and its duties .
This growing of men , however , at a rapid rate presents a population question of a peculiar kind . If Ministers are determined not to hold an autumnal or a winter session , it follows that they will have the heavier account to lay before Parliament at the usual period of ' meeting . There is -no ' . present prospect that the war will be brought even to a provisional conclusion ; the end of the beginning is not in sight . Prussia temporises , not apparently as a preliminary to pacification , but as a new treachery to prolong as much as possible the profitable period before actual hostilities . The Crimea looks like a
mouthful that will take some time in the mastication . The enormous consiguments of the French on hospital account— -sufficient for 200 , 000 cases ; their consignment of wooden shoes for 200 , 000 men , and all their other preparations , indicate the calculavti . on-. pf a long endurance for the war . It is reckoned that 100 , 000 men will be in the Crimea before all is finished ; yet we are far from having reached that number yet . The reinforcements going out from this country are counted at 4000 , which will make the effective number 30 , 000 infantry , besides the usual
c omplement of cavalry ., artillery , commissariat , & o . The French reinforcements are on a larger scale , but there is evidently some difficulty in mustering the numbers . In the meanwhile , there is the great camp near Boulogne—a store of men so considerable as to provoke the question , why drafts are not made from that body ? The answer is evident : the Emperor JSTapoleon feels that he must bo prepared , should a supply of men be wanted in the North to protect the interests of France . We believe that steps arc going on in France to increase the effective forces
at home without exciting too much remark . The same process is going on with us . It is stated in a semi-official paper that within the next three months tho whole of tho Lino regiments will be brought up to the increased number authorised last Bossion — namely , 1 U 00 men for each butlalion on foreign hoVvicc , with 400 in depot . To that end , tho bounty for each soldier has been raised to'dl . for tho cavalry , and 11 . 15 a . for the infantrya rise of 21 . ; while the Htiindurd of heigh !; has boon reduced by an inch all round . It
was expected that ; some considerable drafts will bo made from tho militia ; but should any grcai ; numbers l ) o required for foreign MOi'vico , tho militia itself will have to be extended ; and already tho reeruitiutr-onk'or , both for tho Lino and for tho militia , ia cdroring into competition with the emigration agent and tho iiirmcr . Tho inroniLs rniulo upon our population and upon our forcoti by tho war during tho your now concluding Imvu boon but nibbling , in comparison with tlio denmndrt which are likely to bo made in tbu ensuing your .
Do we say this in disparagement of the war ? On the contrary ; we still hold to our opinion that if the English people knows what it is about , it will procure from the war that which will be worth all the trouble and expense . But then the English people must know what it is about . The peace had lasted too long . All classes had al most forgotten the value of men as men . Cattle were treated
better . Labour was the cheapest thing m the country . Unless a man were annexed to property , he did but represent so many shillings a week , a flea-bite in the expenditure of the capitalist ; and he had no " rights . " The war has shaken us out of this nightmare mistake ; and great capitalists , as well as legislature ,- now know the mam for the man ' s worth . The recruiting-sergeaub can tell Parliament and the manufacturer-that the bounty
tor the man ranges from 6 £ . to 71 . 15 ; his quotation has risen in the market . Her Majesty ' s Ministers will want the assent of Parliament to increase estimates ; but if the army is to be a more expensive one than ifc has yet been , surely the English people have a right to obtain concessions in return . Why should the ranks of officers "be only open to those who can pay large sums for the purchase of commissions ? Are there no poor sren . tle . men r—are there no honourable men
born amongst the trading classes—no working men of high courage and faculty— -who have as fair a right to serve their country as the sous of the rich or the noble ? Of course there are ; and the exclusion is an injury to the country as well as to the individual . Why should militia officers' be exclusively persons endowed with a property qualification , and connected with the land ? . Is the militia a pi-ivate force for the defence of private property ; or is it not professedly an
embodiment of Englishmen , a . s such , for the defence of their country aud families ? If Englishmen concede new powers to Government for increasing the army and navy , and the militia , —if they give up new sums of money for such purposes , —we say that they are more astonishing fools tlisin we ever took the Anglo-Saxons to be , unless they demand that the army and the milibia be no longer the monopolies of the moneyed aud favoured classes .
We warn the English people that there will be something worse than the mere loss of an opportunity if they lot this occasion pass . The standing army is in itself tho fit instrument of an arbitrary Crovommcnt ; we have tolerated it too long already ; but it * its exclusive characteristic is to bo maintained while its numbers arc increased , we are forging our own fetters . It ] on tho other
hand , we obtain an opening of the commissions to all classes , wo so i ' ar ( liiriiuiyh the anti-national character of the army , arid reconnoct it with the people ; and if we also place tho militia on a inoro national footing , wo provide lot * tho safety of the country , and save tho proportioned increase to the ( standing army .
A . now camp it ) to bo i or mod at Aldcrshot , near Chobham , to do the work of drilling tho soldiers to cmnp life , and of familiarising tho public with tho sight of Him Mnjesty ' t ) Bervanta in liveiy . No objection ; only wo Bay , that while tho English people toloraten an exclusive army of paid private and privileged olUeern , it is creating an itlol for h » own on-Hlaivument . Wo nhouhl have other camps tobalance that—camps formed of tho really national force , the I \ lililii «; and Aldershot itself Hlioukl be n perpetual memorandum to tho public that u non-national army lm » to be converted into a natiomil lorcf , in order that it inny bo n » formidable ua poawiblo to our eiM-mioH abroad , us tmfo u » [ xmwiblo to our liberties at homo .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 4, 1854, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04111854/page/11/
-