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THE ELACK-GUARDS. " I kevek heard of suc...
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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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First Attempts At Morality. Tiik Great B...
low character . Now it is impossible that the moralist in question can " be ignorant , that to associate with women of such character is a habit not unknown to officers in the . army . Let a . thousand such officers be assembled on the parade in the Horse Gaiards—let every man who is without sin step out from the ranks , and see how maay would , remain at their posts . We ask the stern moralist . But that is not the point ; it is impossible that , lie cannot tnow as much of this matter
as we do , or as any man of the world must know ; and we ask him further , " What can be the moral state of that man ' s mind who can announce a rule of conduct , as if it were an admitted truth , a matter of course , knowing that it is totally the reverse of fact ? The officer in question pretends that the peculiar association is sufficient , feo disqualify a man for the company of gentlemen ,, and he must know , as a matter of plainj ( fo £ , that it is no disqualification aft all , that ifc . is not considered so By gentlemen ^ and that really to enforce such rule would cause a ; man to be treated
like an obtrusive evangelical missionary or a blackguard . 3 fet this treatment of morals on the' part , of Captain ^ amp bell does but represent the general niethojd of handling moral subjects . Men pretend , that facts are exactly the reTerse of what they are , and they pretend that-their own rules of conduct conforni to the fiction . The imaginative moralist escapes a shout of derision or contempt only because society is = itself . in the habit of acting 1 ; in the same mann . er—affecting to obey pretended rules based upon imaginary
facts-The great daily journal has hit upon the other anomaly , but has missed , the point of the moral . ! Richard Garden attempts to run away with Miss Eleanor Arbuthuot ; John Atkinson runs awaywith Miss Annie Ward . Both are convicted , ancl -both are sentenced to imprisonment- — -Garden to twenty .-four , "Ward to nine months ; lout the circumstances of the cases wholly differ . It is true that Annie Ward vras very young—only twelve
years of age says her mother's almanac ; but much oldex % at least in mind and constitution , says the internal evidence of her letters . 3 ? or they prove not only a precocity of that " utteranoy" which a philosopher has declared love to be , but a clearness of understanding , a strength of purpose , and a presence of mi ad which typify maturit ^ y , if it bo tlie maturity of youth . Annio evidently knew her own . mind when sho had " at last
got John's heart a little her way , " She evidently kneAv " what it was ' o ' clock , " for she had sot her watch to the right time . And in short she arranged the evasion as much as John did . Very diuoront was tho other case . So little did Garden count upon the willingness of the young lady , that ho had prepared a carriage and four horsos , two horse-pistols , a revolver , skull-crackerB ,- cord , and drugs . He would have committed murder ; ho wrestled with women ; ho attempted to tear the young lady awny from her protectors , nnd he narrowly escaped conviction upon a capital charge of tho grossest cruelty that
man can . commit upon woman . Tho two cases , the Times observes , uyo totally disproportioned iu a 1 ; rooity ; nml yet tho judges * iullict punishment bo greatly similar . But tho critic himself appears to miss the true- point of tho moral . Volant * not jit injnria . Tho real distinction iu tho two cases V z } ofc ' ^ pistols , skull-cmokers , ropos , and
drugs , on tho one aide , and tho absence ot thorn on tho other , hut iu tho simplo circunistanoo that in tho otto c-aso tho lady was a consenting party , ami iu the other not . J . l » o cord , ropca , weapons , and drugs , are but tho gross and material expression of tho true wrong -which is in . tho compulsion . That compulsion is oftonor o . wtod without any
such grossly evident instruments , yet it is as foul , as wicked ^ and as criminal . If the Law be avoided rather than outraged ; in the case of a quiet compulsion , if justice be not openly defied , the wrong is- as great ; perhaps worse to the sufferer ; : because there i 3 not , as there was in the case of . Eleanor Arbuthnofc , a rescue . But the first step towards ^ improvement is a knowledge , of the e \ il \ ftoeiety , we believe , lias consented to tyrannise over itself , to long , "because if ? has consented ta hush up these crimes . The- exposures , that scandalise quiet people , that render the panel's " unfit for
perusal , " are a rescue for . the sufferers . It shocks people to read how Mr . Perry is accused of keeping : improper company ; how Mr . Greet openly indulges in it ; how officers are more than suspected ; how certain houses exist" at Grrove End Eoad- Denbigh Street , or Newman Street , All this was very tolerable , so long as no Jessie Boss nia . de a noise about her wages , no iReg £ ribal attempted to introduce , aiielenient of justice into the treatment of outcasts , no Alic ^ . Xeroy made her escape . So long as such eases could keep quiet— -so long as officers could be what the are andaot tallc about it before a court martiat-- —so Ions :
was society content ., and , England passed herself off as a / moral country , strict : in her conjugal , relations , precise in . Her treatment , of the innocent and defencelessv There is , ^ however , not onev of those establishments-that cannot boast , at least , of its single '' nobleman , " not one which " carriage company '' does not frequent . ' Officers intheir quarrels accuse eaeh other of the company they keep ; and at lasb Society stands eoBtfessed . Even yet , however , so far gone is England , that the public does not understand vvliere is the moral : not knovrinir how much has-been
confessed , Captain Campbell affects to think that gentlemen cannot keep disreputable female society ; and the great daily censor imagines that Garden ' s offence lay in the instruments , and not in the purpose of compulsion .
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The Elack-Guards. " I Kevek Heard Of Suc...
THE ELACK-GUARDS . " I kevek heard of such practices in other regiments , " was the reply of an oifieer of official rank and experience , in allusion to the disclosures of , the Forty-sixth . 3 $ o \ x ive have hoard of sueh practices , in other regiments . The fact is , that the civil world is not more varied than its opposite—the . military . There are , no doubt , regiments iu which practices like those of tho IWty-sixth arc totally unknown ; where such conduct
would , bo at once put down ; and whoro a report to any senior officer would , in nearly every instance , meet with tho attention it deserves . In . many reginnents , no doubt , ' < drawing" is practised on young men who nowly join ; but not in the manner which has been encouraged in tho Forty-sixth . If tho youngster boars , being roused out of his bed with good temper , and is not a disngrooablo man , the joko is seldom , repeated . Such irregularities may be harmless ; but of course their harmle-ssnoss depends ontiroly upon tho manner of their execution ; and it * ia evident
that they ought t \ t onoo to bo put down , by a commanding officer to whoso knowledge they may come . It ia 310 business of tho colonol ' a to oueourngo or discourage tell-tales : thoro arc proper checks for every spocios of moanness in society of every kind , military as well as civil 5 officers must of course- havo an unlimilod right of inUioting- nearly tho wort-it punishment that can be inflicted upon a man bound to remain iu a certain society—that of Bonding him to Coventry . Ifc is for tho companions of a man to put a check upon his disposition of tolling talos ; but for a commanding officer , tlio knowlodgo of an
irregularity ought to suffice . Those wKq indul ge su & h licences at the same timejm ^ ef tli & paselves responsible for Tseeping ^ fchafc : neenGa from the knowledge of the colbneji / It is not only the extension of . the gs & etice throughout a , given number of" regj > ments upon which we insist , but also wa insist that coarse and objectionable practices are pushed to an extremity of which the ruling authorities of the army have no conception . We will take the particular
instance of a regiment , speaking from actual knowledge ,, but not holding ourselves bound to specify the ' regiment . " We give this instance , not as a proof of the extension of the practices , but of the extremity , to which they are driven . Tn the regiment it so happened that some of the men came from the same parts of the country ; others " , who were higherj in rank , had that pipeelayr spirit which gives a show of discipline on parade , while it leaves responsible officers
able to wink at irregularities in barracks . In this regiment instances have- occurred not only of . drawing young officers , but of knocking ; about the room to siich an extent as to render the ' employment of men necessary to re-arrange it . Now there is no great calamity in having table ' s .-an ^ -cha ^ s ^ an'd ^ -h . ^ ayier- 'furni- ' ture . ' - . displaced ; but when the furniture is displaced in a riototis arid blackguardly intrusion , the fact indicates the extent of the : violence .
In this regiment it was systematically the eustom to bully the younger officers j but something worse than bullying or drawing was resorted to . Officers vyould conspire with women ,: in order ' to get money out o ; f other officers upon false pretences . CXn one ' occasion . theofficera contrived td dress two women , whose characters may be presumed , in the regimentals of a subaltern , and in that guise the women were . taken into fcheV mess-room ! Another officer was forced into
a shower-bath . One object of these rough jokes appears to have been to compel the younger officers , who were rich , to furnish the means of enjoyment for the rest . T 6 / stick to a man for champagne was a eomrnon . dodge . We have already seen that the joking partook of the character of swindling ; we now find it verging upon extortion . There "Wits , however ,, a sense of honour in , this regiment . The corps appears to have had some ambition to be thought hospitable ;
at all events the Colonel was a jolly old ] fellow , who , although ho could compel a strict parade with all the vigour of popiilar imprecations , could give a capital dinner ,, could kcop tho bottle going , and oix guest nights could sing a song more suited to military than female ears . Report to that veteran that a young officer had been . " drawn , " bullied , or ill treated , and ho would bo indignant at the " tolling tales . " H * ay , an . officer who ventured to describe tho treatment which he had received us " blackguard treatment , " was put under arrest . The men of that regiment may ho blackguards ; but to call them so is a military offonoo .
"Wo now begin to understand how in , the recent alKiirs of tho I ? orfcy-sixth Mr . Perry ¦ was brought to a court-martial for " con duel ; unbecoming tin officer and a gentleman , " while tho conduct of his persecutors was not thought to requiro judicial investigation on , those grounds . No ' doubt this condition of things must bo traced in a great du ^ roo to tho system of purchase , which operates in many ways to , to
degrade an officer . ^ inducoa men coma into tho service an u imagine , not a profes * . sion . Indolent , lioodlosa of thoir duty , tUoy look out foe new zosta , suitiug thoir idloi ways . TUoy aro , by tho manner in \ rlrieto the fctystom ]) icka its officers amongst tlitx purohaaijig class , for tho most part rich , thejri
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 19, 1854, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19081854/page/11/
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