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October 8, 1853.] TEE LEADEB. >3
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CHANGES AT THE SPANISH COURT. Of all cap...
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THE DEVIL'S DRILL IN MERIONETHSHIRE. Not...
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THE FINAL SOLUTION OF THE RUSSIAN QUESTI...
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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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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Secret Diplomacy. Tub Folly Of Secret Di...
the national feeling . America may be dragged into war Avith . Austria or Spain ; but she will not be d ragged by secret diplomacy into any position which she dislikes ; and her diplomatists must conform to the feelings of their own nation . It is said that one main use of diplomacy is to protect individuals on then- travels : the American citizen passes through the Austrian dominions
with every outward mark of respect : the Englishman , even under the immediate jurisdiction , of Lord Westmoreland , is stopped on his way , examined like a vagrant , arrested , imprisoned , rem anded , and perhaps driven out . If he is an officer -he . 'is ' subjected to an access of indignity . But then American diplomacy , being open , is accountable to the American nation . The English Ambassador at Vienna is—a chef d ' orc / iestre in
scarlet uniform . To defend her citizens England would sacrifice much ; but here again secret diplomacy frustrates her good intentions ; and , by establishing a show of defence without the reality , actually serves as a trap for the unwary citizen . There are some things for which England would make a regular stand-up fight ; but those things
are important and few . While diplomacy , however , blunts the action of England in defence of principle and light , it is continually hazarding war for trivialities in which England feels no real interest . Tims , besides conducing to the safety of the citizen , the welfare of the country , and the honour of the State , a national , instead of a dynastic and bureaucratic diplomacy would be the real kev to a strong and honourable peace .
October 8, 1853.] Tee Leadeb. >3
October 8 , 1853 . ] TEE LEADEB . > 3
Changes At The Spanish Court. Of All Cap...
CHANGES AT THE SPANISH COURT . Of all caprices in history , perhaps the acts of the Spanish Q , ueen in obeying the proverb , "to welcome the coming , speed the parting guest , " are the most amusing . The court scandal-mongers say , that in order to secure the genuine substitution of one Ministry for another , it is necessary to make a change at Court ; as Sir Robert Peel insisted upon being permitted to substitute ladies of his own party in the bedchamber of the Queen
for the Whig attendance in that department . If it is dangerous to leave a Whig lady " the oar of Eve , * ' it is still more dangerous when the seductive spirit assumes the engaging form of a young man ; ami royal caprice , it is siverred , assists the policy of the incoming Ministry . The father of " the Favourite '* is to receive a foreign embassy , [ and the Favourite himself 35 , 000 / ,, for travelling expenses;—premiums to create a vacancy for the new Ministry , and a new pat von of that Ministry at the ear of Eve .
At the same time that the departure of the Favourite on foreign service is negotiated , the Gazette contains the order for the return of General JNarvaez , on grounds highly characteristic of the dignified country to which he belongs . The first reason of his return is , that his health is in a bad state ; but as it was indifferent when he set out , tho same reason might have rendered his journey necessary . Other reasons are , that he lias explained the ills that affected him in January last , that he has been prevented from going to Vienna to
stud y the archives , and that a more temperate climate is necessary for his health ; in consideration of which her Majesty " has deigned to relieve him of the commission which she conferred upon him in December last " : in other words , being exactly in tho same position as to health and grievances in which ho Avas when he started for Vienna , having disobeyed the royal order , and ¦ wanting to return to Spain , he is' allowed to do » s he pleases , and her Majesty deigns to let him have lus Avay .
This treatment of General Narvaez might be a lesson to our Government . If tho Spanish Government be resolutely defied , it deigns to discover the grounds on , which it ought to give way Should a Minister obey the Queen , m Eupmtoro did , a rival may start up , seize the state by a coup < h main , and exile- tho royal Minister , If the conqueror is exiled in hi « turn , and is . sufficiently contumacious
, tlio gracious sovereignty of Spain Avill recognise , his merits . Our bondholders might apply this principle in reference to a good Htonfc frigate and reprisals ; our Government , defrauded in ( stipulations for tho suppression of tho slave trade , mid insulted in tho persons of its officers , might discover in tho caso of General Nurvaex the principle upo / nj MAvhich conviction can . > o carried home ,. $ 0 ^ $ royal heart of Spain . Escorted on similar . principles , an EngUah dead body might bo permitted to go to tho grave , aa
Narvaez is to Madrid . We can now understand the sagacity of American politicians in dealing with tliat proud and dignified state : like the sublime Laputan , its intelligence is awakened by slaps in the face .
The Devil's Drill In Merionethshire. Not...
THE DEVIL'S DRILL IN MERIONETHSHIRE . Nothing has afforded us greater pleasure during the current year than the frequent opportunity which Ave have had of noticing the excellent effect of discipline upon the young men enrolled in the militia corps . We mentioned not long since , a brilliant example in the artillery corps of East Suffolk ; we have now another instance taken out of the heart of Wales , in the rifie corps of Merionethshire . This corps was assembled on the 20 th of September last , for twenty-eight days training . in itself
The mere fact of its assembling Ayas a success , since considerable difficulties had attended the mere enrolment of the corps . Amongst the coadjutors of the blind peace party , are benefit clubs , -which , - alarmed at the risk incurred by handling deadly weapons , have threatened their members withexpulsion if they were enrolled in the militia , and have indeed , in some instances , carried out their threats . The subject has been referred to Government , and the law officers have pronounced , that the managers of benefit clubs have no power to expel a member for joining the militia ; a declaration Avhieh Avill probably check this species of persecution . We are not aAvare of
any official declaration which would check the other kind of difficulty , felt Avitli peculiar force in Wales . There is in the county of Merionethshire some peculiar sect , whose ' tenets , as we do not understand theological Welsh ,. Ave are not able to define , but amongst whose dogmas appears to be the startling doctrine , that the Colonel of a militia regiment must be Satan in person ; and these chapel saints , therefore , have been warning the young men eligible for militia service , that if they take the bounty they are selling their souls to the cloven-footed Colonel . It liappened , however , that the adjutant of the regiment , Captain Ward , was a man of experience , ability , and tact , and Avith those resources he collected about 150
men . This shows what may be done by zeal . The men Avere assembled under the command of Lieu tenant-Colonel Morgan ; and all that has been said of the capability , the attention to drill , and good conduct of . the militia corps elsewhere , may be applied to this one . The conduct of the men might have edified the intemperate preachers avIjo pursued them with Welsh excommunication . The handling of the arms ; the discovery that the Colonel had both feet of the usual form ; and the thanks Avith Avhich the conduct of the men Avas rewarded , have probably done much , not only to strengthen the patriot-soldierly feeling amongst the young men , but to correct the ignorant bigotry Avliieh chokes the many chapels of that remote district .
The Final Solution Of The Russian Questi...
THE FINAL SOLUTION OF THE RUSSIAN QUESTION . { To Hit . Editor of the Leader . ) Sin , —Tho Turkish question has been so often " elucidated" that the public must be pretty Avell informed upon the merit of the question : indeed , from the very commencement of the negotiations , tho general voice of the country , setting aside particular coteries and particular classes , gave its adhesion to the policy which the peacoful prints now choose to designate the " warlike . " This term , however , although particularly significant 011 ordinary occasions egregiously fails of veracity on this . No party in the nation Avorthy of consideration , over for one moment thought of upholding a war-cry , or of plunging tho country into all the horrors of Avhieh war is tho natural herald . All parties nought peace , only they chose different and widely dissimilar patlw ; The warlike majority , if warlike they niM-ds must be termed , imagined that , if the Western Powers assumed a determined and dignified attitude , the Emperor Nicholas Avould never commit himself ao far as to assert a position from which he could
neither withdraAV Avith honour nor Avith credit . This ferocious party deemed also tluit the threats of an immediate invasion of Turkey on tho part of Russia , called for an energetic protest on tho partof tho Governments , and merited adeclnration , that any such unwarrantable infringement of existing Treaties would bo deemed a caswt belli , and Avould be followed hy immediate measures of retaliation . This blood-thirsty party « lso imagined that in tho f « co of such an invincible and
immovable opposition . Russia would never be insane enough to provoke a blockade of the Baltic , and an irruption into the Caspian Sea , resulting in the-overthrow of her oAVn costly blockade of the Caucasus , arid promising to ' be succeeded by events whose magnitude might appal the stoutesthearted despot that ever breathed . But this bold and manly , and from all that Ave now knoAv , sensible conduct , was . overruled by mild commercial
men , and the doctrinaire incompetency of the Aberdeen administration . We heard of nothing but polished courtesies and of notes calculated to avoid w ounding the feelings of the tender-hearted gentleman whose dignity is now sending thousands to the grave , paralyzing trade , creating a commercial crisis in the country , and threatening to light up a devastating Avar . We ' were counselled to confide in the skill of our secret
diplomacy . But ' while these gentlemen-were displaying their efficiency at Vienna , the Csar Avas quietly invading and securing Moldavia and Wallachia as a material guarantee , fortifying his troops , obtaining a magnificent supply of simpleminded people ' s corn , by obstructing the Sulina mouth of the Danube , and generally acting in a most discourteous manner , with evidently a most irreverent feeling . towards the polite but somewhat impolitic blunderers at Vienna . The conclusion , sir , of what ' people are pleased to term the diplomatic part of the question , has been a little ignominious to everybody concerned , but the palm belongs of right to the veteran minstrel who scrapes and sings away his country ' s reputation at the Austrian capital .
After all , this Psote question and phrase disputation beg the question . The simpie fact is , that Russia desires influence in Christian Turkey , and that she is determined to acquire it . Whether she declares that she raids a . Note two ways , which t is absolutely stated she desires-to do , whether the Western Poweis read it another Avay , or Avhether the Porte refuse Jier assent to such absurd effrontery altogether , is not the real point now at issue . The main question is , shall Russia affirm the right of" convuking Kurope at any time she pleases , by retiring unpunished or perhaps
re-Avarded from an unparalleled aggression upon a peaceful State , which refused assent to inadmissible demands ? This is the entire question . If Russia be not made to suffer severely for this outrage , we shall have continued repetitions of it , for the Czar Avill only have to declare his co-religionists illtreated , to demand impossible concessions from . Turkey , and then quietly , and as a matter of course , to take his " moral ' ' guarantee , referring to the invasion of 185-3 as a precedent . This is the difficulty our European diplomatists have to solve . The peaceful policy , however , has been tried fully and fnirly—nay , even tickeniugly , and it has
proved an utter failure . It has collected enormous armies in Russia and Turkey , or rather tAVo nations in Turkey , and Cossack hordes in Russia ; it has caused appeals from Moslems and Christiana to the most fanatic , brutal , and ignorant of their race ; and should Avar iollow , « s it appears almost certain it will , the peace policy Avill have prepared so bloody a page for tlie history of tho nineteenth century , that our descendants will be appalled to contemplate the folly that led to such a termination , and the blindness that , pursued the policy Avhcn its consequences had become so evident .
But the very fanaticism Avhieh avc arc compelled , to deplore , constitutes the sap and vigour of both armies . With the degraded and barbarous hordes of Russia it is all powerful , and it is tho most inspiriting thought of tho Mussulman that he is combating for is faith . The Mussulman knows , too , that he his defending the conquest of his fathers from spoliation , and avenging tho dignity of hia Sovereign from tho grossest insult . The mere robber iiiHpiration of tho Russian serf ,
sanctified though it be by his ftiriou . s idolatry , does not possess the . support Avhich now upholds tho soldiers of Turkey ; the one is the nmd instrument of an unprincipled aggression ; the other defends not only his religion but hi- ) Sovereign and liis country ; mid , by a niu ~ gular inversion , tho Mussulman also asserts the rights of Kurope , and tho public hiw of tho world . Turkey is at present in a more favourable position for war than hIio will be oomo time henc . o
Heroic exertions , and undaunted perseverance have created a patriotic Holdiery , animated by tho strongest and most patriotic feeling . She hiw repaired old for treason and established freak camps j ah 6 has exhausted'the pence' policy to its
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 8, 1853, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08101853/page/13/
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