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850 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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A. SKINNED RUSSIA.N—A TARTAR. The greate...
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[IM THIS DICTAnTJlENT, A8 A I.I. OPINION...
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There ia no learned man but will confess...
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THE WAJB AND THE ENGLISH JPEOPXE. By an ...
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Transcript
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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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European Commission De Regje Inquirendo....
and report , with full powers to call for persons and papers . Hovsr deep the interest of that blue-book ! Think of a roving eommissien .. d & rege inquwendo , to examine into the menial , moral , and professional state of the royal elass throughout Europe ; to call before ifc , not only Frederick William and make him account for his conduct , —not only Ferdinand of Naples , Isabella of Spain , Nicholas of Russia , and all the great criminals or idiots that now sign away the liberties , property , the chosen
and welfare of States , tut companions of those idiots—the young gentlemen of Isabella ' s palace , the priests that h ^ ng ; about the Neapolitan zany , the mystical statesmen who translate Frederick William ' s ' maudlin into diplomatic language , the spies that ' are the accomplices oS Nicholas ,, and : would be willing , ta turn Icing ' s evidence !' Talk of " secret memoirs , "' . / pi exciting . ro- > manees by Eugene Sue , of scandalous disclosures in 0 ilbert-street ,. Denbigli-street ,. or STewman-rstreet ! Such a blue-book as this
would put all those exciting and infamous records to the l ^ sh ; -svould && W that ihe extremes of society nieet ; arid that . the thrones rival the slum 8 iatheu *; cHaxacteriaticsi It wpuid ibrce moderate statesmen practical men tvh p stand upon faet ^ and realities , toa & mfc , at leash * as ^ a dbufe ^ the a ^ estion whether 3 Elarbpe is benefited by h & viag hereditary cretins , idiots , and criminals kept upon thrones Tvhicli are ^ laMdg schools of gjgaritic ^ vice .
"W " e could not expect from such a commission that the report wduld terminate in re * commendatibns . Sufficient , if it analysed and exposed the actual state of royal Enrope . The Recommendations might come from that loiowledge . Practical riien , / who abound in England of all other countries ^ might hit upon some safer mode of appointing hereditaipy inonarchs , since hereditary monarchs we nxust have , even when they are elected in the Month of December . The modes of
inheritance are different , and are made , as we have discovered lately , by universal suffrage —a strange anomaly , tjiit one that suggests to us the possibility of introducing changes ^ if not improvements . There is also an Indian mode of inheritance—that of adopting a child . However , it is not for tis to suggest . "Wiser heads may , perhaps , discover the principles of improvement for appointing the royal officers of Europe , after they have satisfied themselves as to the actual state of that unhappy and misery-creating class .
850 The Leader. [Saturday,
850 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
A. Skinned Russia.N—A Tartar. The Greate...
A . SKINNED RUSSIA . N—A TARTAR . The greatest Frenchman of the age made the truest speech about Russia when he originated the famous phrase , that if you skinned a Russian you would find a Tartar . In the same spirit Charles Vogel has described St . Petersburg as not the capital , but the baywindow of the Russian Empire , where the Konaanoffs ana the Court go to breathe the air of European civilisation . The grand courtesy and gallant show of Bussian society is in like manner ' all histrionic ; it is put on and worn while the actor struts before the foot-lights , it is thrown aside when ho gets
into the coulisse ; and even while he ia on the stage , if you could only sqo behind him , you would find that the mask but hides what should be the nobler features . At tho back of what you see is what you would shudder to look upon , and the scowl of the wild boast is covered by the simulated smile of tho gentleman . Behind all that is rich , strong-looking , and grand in appearance , is poverty , weakness , cruolty—in short , close under tho varnished hide of the Busaian lies tho flesh , Wood , bones , and passions of the aboriginal Tarfcw . TlVo real heart and soul of Russia is in
Moscow and the country around that semideserted capital . There lies the pith of the Russian race ; there is to be found the germ of what is vital in Bussian civilisation ; thence , if at all , must come the healthful impetus which shall change semblance into reality , and weakness into power . The whole surface of Russian society is a sham , thinly concealing the corruption and degradation engendered by the forcing system of Peter I . The heart of the Russian nation , let us hope , is sound , but it behoves us to do our best to demolish the gross imposition which has so Jong , presented itself to the world in its
name ., EheBe have always-been those who believed ' the power and progress of Russia to foe as bugftear- ; and they have rightly judged , but only in part . Russian power ; in Qemmny , and Turkey , and Persia ! , for instance ^ was not ; a bugbear , ; because it inspired c / onfidenee . There Russian power was , and , perhaps , is , really believed in with almost religious zeal . Hehee it has elfect ^ Mly arrfested the steps og progress , pit various occasions ; ia a
eonspicupusj always- in aCseerafc Jmaiiner . To all mtentov ^ dpurposes Russian power did exwt ;; Russia was looked upon , and was : really the gjreat polieemaii , constantly arresting ; reyoluv tion and politieaV impr ^ the Hessao becaiise she n ^ e- kings ait dpeiOple belieye in her omiiipoteiaee . The question yraswho should bell the cat ; and the ¦ work has remainedundone until taken Tig by the Maritime Foyers . It has even yet to be proved that ^ Russia is a bugbear .
Nevertheless , some symptoms of the Tartar peep through the peeled spots on the skin of the Russian ^ In finance he has been ; found tal ^ deplorably weak ; unable to move into Hungary in 1849 without a , loan ; unable to construct a i * ailroad without a loan ; and UH & ble to carry on this war not only without
again making lieayy demands upon the JeWSj but without raising a forced loan from all classes of the happy subjects of Nicholas . The whole financial system is fictitious ; and the paper of the G-oyernnaent will , no doubt , be depreciated in this as much as it was in the previous war . There is nothing in the finances of Russia to be compared in soundness with the finances of England .
But so many nations have failed in finance , from so many causes , that we need not lay too much stress upon that . "What we may fairly trust to find perfect is the military system . That , of course , is the one real thing in a nation of barbarians . If they can do nothing else they can fortify and fight with the best . So it would appear . Yet it is not so . The Tartar comes through most plainly here . It now seems a settled fact that the
dreaded granite batteries—those seeming solid realities in Russia—that the gloomy , but terrible casemates , are like all the rest a show only of power . In the late attack on Bomarsund sixteen guns reduced two towers , and compelled a third and fourth to surrender . The French and British batteries smashed the granite faces of the forts , and crumbled away the embrasures ; and as the blocks fell out , the rubble behind , uncemeixted nnd loose , rolled
after tjhem in showers . The firm and solid appearance proved to bo only an appearancea Russian hide , which evon 32-pound shot and shell could tear away , revealing the Tartar skin . Nor arc the soldiers of Russia more substantial . Strip off the military integuments , and lo , you behold anything but tho j Otwe , soldierly fellow who stood before you imstripped . Ho is altogether aw inferior machine to what , on paimdo , ho appeared . At St . Petersburg ho m splendidly attired ; but s © o him on the distant frontier and ho is ragged , dirty , badly fed , dejected , miserable . Ono -thing about him , however , ia real- —hia
bravery ; that no emperor can take away , except by surrendering him to the tender mercies of one of the most corrupt commissariats in the world . And as it is with the army , so it is with the navy—it bullied Turkey when she had no fleet , it fell with blood y effect upon the inferior Turkish force at Sinope ; but it remains under the batteries of Sebastopol , Cronstadt , and Helsingfors , when it ia challenged by an equal , nay , an inferior force . The ships , we are told , are built with green wood , and utterly unable to keep the rough sea .
Xet we know that Russia will not yield without a struggle the prestige she has gained by the efforts of her able diplomacy , the building of casemates and fleets , the maintenance of an enormous , and ; weU-drilled . army , and the conquest of / vast tracts of land . Besides the great strength she ? draws from the lively sense of her power which she has impressed upon ! many nations , Russia has two real sources of steengtk- ^ -the idontdtable bravery of jbterpeopie , and the unfaltering character of hier will . Herim ^
fraiid has , of course , served ; lier for :, ¦ $ , time , but coupled with her ambition it has brought hier to thefiery- ordeal ofv the present irar-It wnl be good for the whole ^ fforlcl if' she be driven back into her native territory ; if * her ambition and pretemioii receive a terrible repulse ; if her ' fungus-like prosperity be trampled to dust ; and lief oppressipns by force and influence be swept away . It ^ her and for us all if we strip off from her the unhealthy- outer garment wihich she callsand to
Russia ^ reduce lier again , the barbarism of Tartary , so that she inay start afresh in honest guise . Let her , as the head of the Slavonic race , have her due weight in the world ; but let not that weight be increased , by a reputation for power not ; ^ deserved , and not only stained with the blood of the oppressed , but furthered by craft the most foul ,,
and amjbitioh all-devouring . It is full time to tes , t to the utmost all the pretensions Of Russia ; and as they aim at universal ' . empire ,, the sooner their folly is perfectly shown , the better for all parties , it is time to test the strength and honesty of Bussia , and the sooner both are reduced to their right proportions the better , alike for Europe ^ and the imperial boaster who is a Tartar in disguise .
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[Im This Dictantjlent, A8 A I.I. Opinion...
[ IM THIS DICTAnTJlENT , A 8 A I . I . OPINIONS , ltaWISYKR EXTHEHIt , ARV AM . OWRI > AN liKl'ItESSIOK , THE ISDITOIt JdSOKaSAHILY HOLDS JUIMattutr itKBi'onaiBLU kor homu . 3
There Ia No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There ia no learned man but will confess he hath , much profited by reading controversies , hia aonsea awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profltable for him to read , why ahould it n . ot , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Milton .
The Wajb And The English Jpeopxe. By An ...
THE WAJB AND THE ENGLISH JPEOPXE . By an Ol 3 o Rei-okmcisk . ( To the Editor of the Leader . " ) Sir , —In however outspoken and upspoken , or , as prudent and calculating natures would call it , impracticable and rash language , tho several oriitoi' 3 at tho great meeting at Newcastle -upon- Tyne delivered their sentiments touching tho -war in tho East , there can be no doubt that they declared tho sentiments of nine-tenths of her Majesty ' s subjoots Wo have a large muster of varieties in our circle of acquaintance . It includes some of nil classes , from tho peer to tho peasant . It takes in men of all parties , Tories ^ Whigs , Liberals , Radicals , Neutrals . But from all these , if we were put upon our onth , wo do not think that wo could piclc out a einglo individual who does not look suspiciously at tho manner in \ vliich this war with Russia is conducted . They may not all coincide exactly with tho I ^ owcaatle speakers . They may use geiutler langunga in expressing their opinions . They may draw lines between the possible and impossible . But all aro ot ono heart and mind with regard to the mismuinngoment whi « h has so far marked tho -wretched proceedings of t-ord Aberdeen and hia colleagues ia this matter . Xofc us eeo how things stnnd . Of the pcoplo
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 9, 1854, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09091854/page/10/
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