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3!)eoembeb 16, 1854.] T^E' LEAllEBr. il^...
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THE PURCHASE SYSTEM. Oitt,Y r one libel ...
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t»N THIS DSPAKTMBN-T , AS ALL-OPINIONS, ...
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There-is no learned- mam but will ccmfes...
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LORD CERBY'S HISTORICAL K&CXWLEDGB
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LOUIS NAPOLEON AND THE COURT* O# AUSTHIA...
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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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Extend- The Melit1a-! Theki* Is No • Que...
tire guard of its own liberties , it can hold them only on sufferance . The English people is a disarmed people ,, but the extension of the rmlitia , is a step towards restoring to it its arms and its honour . As the want of the people is felt , the people will rise in value , not only in the . wages martketj but in the nation . They will gradually regain a consciousness that their consent is a matter of importance to the Government . We descry in various quarters the elements of' a
national party ; that party , however , seems at present struggling and incompetent' to shape out- for itself or set up , distinctly , a positive object for which to unite . We have before named . the truly , national object which ought to animate all Englishmen as Englishmen : it is the restoration in fall of those rights which were secured ^ to us . hy the . Bill of Rights —& standard round , which no Englishman could scruple to rally , and the restoration of which would be sufficient for every object that the most extreme . Liberals could , desire . Such a
party-will wate & : the development x > f a militia as * ftjrnishing a * powerful key to that restoration .
3!)Eoembeb 16, 1854.] T^E' Leallebr. Il^...
3 !) eoembeb 16 , 1854 . ] T ^ E' LEAllEBr . il ^ l
The Purchase System. Oitt,Y R One Libel ...
THE PURCHASE SYSTEM . Oitt , Y one libel can b & worse than that which declares our officers in the East to be recreant ; It is < said that many of them are dandies , Sybarites , who are sick of the hardships of warfare , who tremble at the perils they may have to undergo again , and are returning home .. This is untrue . The British officer is
one of the most daring and enduring animals in existence * The captain ' s post is , properly , at a certain distance in front of his regiment ; but , we believe , there is scarcely an exception to the rule that the captain is always found in advance of his right place . The attempt to enforce obedience , and to restrain him within bounds where he becomes a less obvious mark
for the enemy , has been given up as hopeless . The only libel . which ; is worse than that now levelled at our officers 4 , is the wicked statement that ' some other class , the middle class or the working class , is tainted with cowardice . Every action in the Crimea has answered for the . working classy to whom , the bulk of our soldiers belong . The middle class is also represented ; but' if there were any ground to give consistency to the libels upon our officers , it must be . laid at the door of the system of purchase .
That system has had many ill effects , which hel |> each other . By stamping the position of an officer as . a mark to a certain extent of wealth ., it : makes that position coveted by those who aroanxious to be thought grand and wealthy ; the consequence is that men are picked to be officers in the British army , not on the score of their qualities , but on the score of their desire to be thought grand and wealthy , and of their having the means for indulging that desire . You want men to . fight at places like Inkernian and Alma , and you run about in English
society to pick out men who can pay 7007 . 1000 ? ., or more for wearing a red coat . What is the practical effect ? You pick men who are capable of paying 7001 ., 1000 / ., or more , strongly impressed with the desire to wear a red ' coat ; and it so happens that th ' o majority of men thus selected are bold , daring follows , who , being put to the pinch , " como out strong" with officor-liko qualities . The reason
is . that the ruder part of these qualities is common to the great bulk of the English people , but by such a plan of selection you run a chance of getting idlers , dandies , Sybaritoa , and oven cowards . They have been found --yea , at Alma . But do not say that it ia our aristocracy that , as a class , produces those cowards ; it is notiirom the families of Itussolla , Stanleys , or Sowwsets , that tlie cowards como .
Some person has said : that it is the sons of hatters and grocers who creep into the ranks , and yieldthe supply of cowards and renegades ; but the gallant : officer who mutinied against an order to advance in pure terror , or the other gallant officers who resign actiA'e service to come home—Lord George Paget—these are
not sons of hatters or grocers . And we will ask Lord Raglan whether , the working classes as . "a . class have shown themselves cowards on the , fields of the Crimea .. The class which . isstigmatised is thatof the paying dandie 3«—mea wfeose ambition : is for show , and who can pay , and who , therefore ; alone get "into the ranks of officers .
• If . the' system ^ . commission one that selects without reference to officer-lilse qualities , so the system' of appointments in the higher grades is one that operates , apparently , without reference to the qualities for those grades . We have more-tha » owe- General of Division corning home ; we have anotBer General likel y enough to succeed to the first command , whose past occasions a positive , alarm at the idea of his taking' that post ; and we have others whose ¦ very remaining in the Crimea is an occasion of
mistrust . We cannot conceive what qualities directed tKe choice of liord Cardigan , of Lord Lucan , or ofth & . Duke of Cambridge . Of Sir de Laey Evans ' we say nothing . that is not full of admiring respect ; he Had , ' b y hard work in the field , earned . his right to remain there , as long as possible ; and agfrwas-not a Sufficient groundfor refusing him-the appointment . But rnbre flagrant even thran the Cambridge case is that of England-The Times has ripped it all up . In the
beginning of 1842 , Sir Richard England was charged with the duty of leading reinforcements from Seihde , where he _ was . ia command , to General No . tt , at Candabar . To do that , he had to traverse the Xojuck pass in the inter-• vening mountain range . He attempted it on the 28 th of March , was repulsed by a paltry band of natives , retreated , entrenched himself in alarm-, and . sent a letter to General '' Nott ,
offering to co-operate with the latter if he also should retreat ! He received ^ an angry letter , intimating that Nott had no-intention of retreating , and demanding his advance ; be again approached the Kojuck pass , and sat down , literally in his own chair , debating whether he should proceed or not , and silently denying the importunities of his officers to go forward-. At last he resumed" march with , his
forces when other regiments from' the opposite side had manned the pass , and thug showed that it did not include the " dangers" that he had apprehended . That is the gentleman to whom the fortune of death and of succession might hand the command of the armies that had to plough their bloody way to victory at Alma and Inkerrnan- ! And who was the general at . Candahar , whose duty it was to expose England's conduct to himself ? It was William Nott , the son , we believe , of a country inn-keeper ; one ot those middle class men who have " crept into commissions . " There , are more of such
remaining , and . they arc to bo found , not by the score but by the hundred , in England , ov in the Crimea . But the * system of purchase excludes the class from the rank of officers when they do got into the army , and excludes still larger numbers from entering th & army at all . The twenty sergeants who have lately received commissions are a grand confession that the
system is bad . The now rule , for giving commissions to two sergeants in each battalion is a further stop , breaking iu upon tho system , and so far good ; but it ia another confession that the system is absolutely bad , and needs not tinkering or nibbling , but reforming altogether . Those who maintain , it have boon obliged to break it . Yot they venture to
continue to . exclude , as a class , the Sullivans and Plunketts , who may be found strewn among the ranks- in-the Crimea , while they continue to admit home-sick , paying dandies who have been permitted to buy in and are lenientl y permitted to sell out . And so it will be while the posts of officers in the British army are subjected to the rules of " stoclcjpbbing :
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( JDjmr Camtrit
T»N This Dspaktmbn-T , As All-Opinions, ...
t » N THIS DSPAKTMBN-T , AS ALL-OPINIONS , HOWEVIlt EXTKBUB , ' ARll ALLOWED AIT KXrKESSION , THE EDITOB NECESSARILY HOLPS'HIUSELF BBSPONSiBXE FOU'NONB . 3
There-Is No Learned- Mam But Will Ccmfes...
There-is no learned- mam but will ccmfess > he-h ' abb much , profited by reading controversies , his senses awaten-ed , ana his judgment' sharpened . If , ' thetc , , it be profitable -ibr him to read .:, why ' shoisia it n * sfe , ^ J * least ,. "betolerablefor his adversary to .-write . —MuroM " *
Lord Cerby's Historical K&Cxwledgb
LORD CERBY'S HISTORICAL K & CXWLEDGB
( To the Editor ofiha Leader . XDeo .-14 ,. 1864 b , SiR ^ -Ia the Times ^ report : of Tuesday ' s -debate , Ikod Derby is represented as thu & - quoting an epjgsca-m , well-known , he suggested , to many ; of- "their lordshipsi . " Lord Chatham with . Ms sword dPawaj Stood waiting-.. for Sir Richard StrachaHy , Sir Richard longing to be -atfuih ,. Stood waiting for the ETarl irf ¦ Ctatham . " He considered it a propps to . the relative- attitude
of Sir Charles Napier and the Russian Admiral " in ; the Baltic . Was his lordship born in the pre-bistorie no less itian in the pre-scientiflc period ? ' The' lme £ refertd ; the Walcheren expeditibnr ; Chatham' ami Sferachaa were coadjutors * the- one coranrandlag > : by land , ' the other by sea ; they wafted , ' according 1 ft > the epigrammatist * each forthe other ' s helps * to * attack the-Breach ; The much injuredpoet ' . wrote thns ^ .: " Iiord -Chatham -mfh-hia'sword ttairemm , Stood waiting for Sir Richard Straehaaj .. Sir Richard , longing to .-fee at ' , Stood . waiting for the Earl of Chatham *' . ' F . H . H * ,.
Louis Napoleon And The Court* O# Austhia...
LOUIS NAPOLEON AND THE COURT * O # AUSTHIA . . ( To the Editot'ofihe Leader . ) Kemptown , 12 th December ; Sir , ' —The Times stated in a leading article ttt & morning , that " the conclusion of an alEancefbetween the Courts' of Austria and France" ' ( eaid bjir it * Berlin correspondent to be . the result of IJord Palmerston ' s visit to Paris ) " is . an event , of incal * . culable importance to the politics of . continental Europe , " , that " it is . toe mosb conservativecombination iu Europe / ' The . same , leading , axticla also contains an allusion to the vain attempts . of Louis Napoleon to ally himself to some of the principal continental courts , but " lieye # 'back on the 1 alliance with England , " At' that time Napoleon ' s sehemea-of . aggrandisement were adverse to England but favourable . ' to Russia ,- and M . de Porsigny > was . commissioned ' : tbmake the following proposals for a " reviaion ofithe map of Europe" to two of tho principal German courts . For his share of tho spoiL , Napoleon demanded Belgium , tho llliine , - and Egypt ; to . Prussia ., lia offered Hanover ; Moldavia , Wallacliia , and j the La * gat ion 9 to Austria ; Constantinople to Russia ^ and Piedmont , to tlie- late Duke dc Lcucktouberg , his > " alliance dafdmiile" with the Czarj Napoleon , as far bnck as . November , 1849 , who was tlien planning a caupd ? diatiQ \ Q . turned o « t : thO : OdilonJBarrot Ministry for that purpose ) , sent . Mi do Persigny to Yicnna to make proposals noarly similar to these to Prince Bchwarzenberg-: SoliWiorz ^ enberg sent for M . de Boauxnont , then Minister for France sit tho Austrian court , and showed tho proposals to him , stating that they wore matters which , ought mot to bo concealed from him ; Tho JBonopartist coup d'Mat , however , was adjourned , and-astho Assembly would pot have entertained any sucbj proposals , M . de Porsigny ' s mission failed . Your readers should compare this precious schdmewith Napoleon ' s moro recent and nntl-Russian plant for "tho revision of tho map of Europe , " reprinted by Mr . . Toffti , of tho Burlington Arciido , and they may nroiitably meditate upon the contrast afforded by Napoleon in 184 !) nnd in 1854 . An alliance , hbwovor , with Austria led to tho downfall of Na * poleon Bonaparte , and may prove fatal to J ^ ouia Napoleou . Lot him and hifl UngliaU allies , therefore , beware of alhnncos , defonaivc or offensive , Vfith a State whoso maxim Iiub beou t " WaTs lot others wugu ; but thou ^ lwcky Austria , marry !" 1 am , Sir , your obodieat eorvanty , WlLl . IA . BI CoNIMiOirA . W * .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 16, 1854, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16121854/page/15/
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