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No. S96 L Q0TOB^ii'24i 9 1S67.] THE LEAP...
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PARLIAMENT, THE PUBLIC, AND THE ARMY. A ...
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THE WINTER CAMPAIGN IN INDIA. Eighty-fiv...
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WORKMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS. Mit. Holmes intr...
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Road Reform in Scotland.—The question of...
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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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No. S96 L Q0tob^Ii'24i 9 1s67.] The Leap...
No . S 96 Q 0 TOB ^ ii ' 24 i 9 1 S 67 . ] THE LEAPEB . 1023
Parliament, The Public, And The Army. A ...
PARLIAMENT , THE PUBLIC , AND THE ARMY . A NTJMBEit of Englishmen are engaged in inscribing their uaines upon the . muster-roll of an imaginary legion , to be formed for service in India should the Grovernmenfc grant satisfactory conditions to the volunteers . If Xord ' Palmerston looks upon the project with a favourable eye , the thin end of the wedge will have been introduced . Something like the old spirit of military adventure will be revived . But battalions are also
needed for home defence . Even with respect to these enlistment proceeds slowly . We "will give an example . There is a corps of volunteer cavalry in one of the divisions of Kent . Eighty men are required , each finding his own horse , but being supplied by the Government with
arms , uniforms , and equipments . The troop has been organized several months , andrunnbers scarcely forty . Infantry volunteers , of course , are more easily procurable ; but even an artillery militia might be raised on a much larger scale than at present , if the managers knew how to set about their work . In 1852 certain farm
labourers and mechanics of Suffolk worked out a . plan , by which they proved how much might be effected in this way if adequate facilities were afforded . Five hundred of them enlisted , being originally destined for the light infantry branch of the militia ' . Ultimately , it was determined to make artillerymen of . them . They assembled for a month ' s exercise in a camp on the estuary of the Orwell , and after three weeks' training went through tlie service admirably ,
performed manual and platoon exercise and the ordinary evolutions , were capable of manning the battery guns on Languard Port , could keep their tents and themselves in readiness and order , could furnisli two detachments for field guns , could cook well , and submit under canvas , hardily and ' cheerfully , to rainy and windy weather . It would be an excellent thing were all the maritime counties provided with similar organizations ; but we do not hear
that the experiment has been repeated iu more than two or three localities . " We may suggest , however , a remedy against the evil of which Sir Robert Gardiner very properly complains —that of being compelled , in times of danger , to raise hastily a raw force , and precipitate it into the thick of a difficult campaign . It is clear that , in times of peace , England will never support a large standing army . Whatever may be resolved when Crimean
campaigns or Indian mutinies are in actual , progress , returning peace will invariably bring with it a popular desiro for reduced armaments , and the House of Commons will inevitably yield to the economical impulse . Regiments will ho weeded ; the estimates will be c \ . it down ; the next war will infallibly reduce us again to the necessity of holding our ground with a comparatively few men , while we levy and perfect an army for
extraordinary service . We must imitate Pjeel , and select one of three courses . We must abandon the future to chance ; wo must maintain a powerful force , ready sit all times to take the field ; or we must give the peoplo military instruction . They would gladly rcceivo " it , we think . Tenants would ¦ wil lingly be trained by the younger sons of their landlords ; farm-labourers might take the word of command from tenants .
Townsmen would readily combino and stuclv tho practice of arms . ' But if a majority of ' Englishmen are to bo militiamen ' , it must bo under an ameliorated system . The dirty-red shell-judcol ; and trousers of prison fustian arc too much for tho Kelf-respect of n < lecent mechanic or a small farmer . Not that tho public mouov should bo wasted on bullion and
embroidery for volunteers ; but that it should cease to be the rule that when a man joins the militia he is to wear something only less degrading than the red-and-yellow uniform of the convicts in Bermuda . This , we have grounds for saying , is a point of sore complaint . Young men are deterred from
volunteering for the militia by the ridiculous contrast between a defender of his country , of that caste , and an ordinary fireman . Militaryservice , of any kind , is not attractive at present . Yet thousands are only waiting for a practical reform to assist in relieving the Government of a difficulty . Which is preferable—the difficulty , or the reform ?
Military men of high rank accuse the House of Commons , and go so far as to demand that the Horse Gruards shall in ' future determine , without any check or control whatever , what establishment shall be maintained , and at what cost . Such a proposal has actually emanated from a G-eneral in the Royal Artillery and Knight Commander of the Bath . This gentleman has obviously omitted to inform himself on the position of the House of Commons in Great Britain . The question is one of money . Xet JJord Pastmtjbe or the Duke of Cambridge resolve to
keep on foot a hundred thousand soldiers ready for immediate service , and what then ? Is there even a General in the Artillery who aslcs us to abolish the supply-granting privileges of the Commons ? Let there be ' exclusive guidance' in the hands of the ' authorities , ' the authorities must come to > Parliament for their expenses ; and Parliament will insist npon auditing the accounts . Upon disallowing a large item here arid there , also , if it thinks fit . The suggestion that the
House of Commons . should cease to meddle in matters concerning the army is simply not to the purpose . It is by Parliament that the change must be initiated . The public makes two claims—to be protected , and to be protected at the smallest possible cost . It makes , in the next place , an offer—to assist in protecting itself . The work for the Legislature is to reconcile those propositions , and to establish upon that basis an improved system of military ecouomics .
The Winter Campaign In India. Eighty-Fiv...
THE WINTER CAMPAIGN IN INDIA . Eighty-five regular Sepoy regiments , fortynine irregular regiments and local corps , a brigade of horse artillery , and three battalions of foot artillery—constituting the disorganized Bengal army—were scattered or held in check by a few thousands of Englishmen , aided by a small number of native allies , up to the end of September . Pour months of constant fighting and desperate endeavours , so far from improving the
position ot the rebels , had hopelessly deteriorated it . If they could gain no advantages during the hot season , the cool season would infallibly enfeeble their position . If they could not expel the English while their country was changed into a swamp , little could they hope for after the European columns were inarching on dry ground . They have not even deprived the Government of its power to levy fresh native forces .
The old Punjab army has gone in great part , l ) ut a new one , thirty thousand strong , is on foot . Theso must , of course , bo watched ; bub tho head of the great column oi" relief from England would probably havo reached Bengal in the iirsfc days of October . The JLrcta , tho . llomcioard Mail informs us , was duo at Calcutta on the . 20 th of September . During October , f ) li ) 7 in on would arrive either at Ceylon—where , they would call for final orders—or in Calcutta itself . The G olden Fleece , tho Champion of tho Sous , tho Jjimos Bninea , and the Lady Jocclyn
were expected to enter the Hooghly on the same day , each bringing upwards of nine hundred men . Thus , before the beginning of November , an English force would be landed increasing Sir Coxik Campbell's army by almost as many ^ English troops as fought the battle of the Alma . During November , the arrivals in all parts of India would number upwards of sixteen thousand . Nearly seven thousand would disembark in
December , and in January about a thousand , while several detachments of artillery and engineers , sent overland , would fill up the intervals . About seventeen hundred additional troops are now under orders for embarkation in four vessels which have been taken up as transports by the Government . "Without for a moment supposing that it is now time for slackening the efforts of the naval , military , or political departments , "we believe that these concentrations , in the hands of an able commander , will prove irresistible . The Sepoys ,
unless officered by Englishmen , do not exhibit the highest warlike qualities . As we have already shown , the Grlioorkas beat them . " Their cavalry , I knew , could not do much , " says an officer , writing from before Delhi , " and their infantry I did not care for . " That they exhibit courage is not to be denied , since they have frequently thrown handgrenades into the English batteries ; but their strategy appears bad , and in the open field , unless with overwhelming odds in their favour , they are contemptible .
Captain Elphin"stone ' s official computation shows that there are now 29 , 384 Queen ' s troops in India , besides 29 , 611 on their passage out . Of the former number 21 , 884 are in the Bengal Presidency ; of the latter , 18 , 390 are directed thither . Bengal , moreover , still contains 46 , 880 Sepoys on duty , besides 6 S 0 O Company ' s troops . These are Sir Coxijt Campbell ' s materials .
Workmen's Associations. Mit. Holmes Intr...
WORKMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS . Mit . Holmes introduced to the attention of the Birmingham Institution for the Promotion of Social Science the subject of associated enterprise , among the working classes . From his statement it is evident that the Leeds experiments have been conspicuously successful . Not only have the co-operative stores cheapened most articles of daily use to the poorer families of the town ; they have
brought about a general amelioration by whicli the entire population wi ^ , benefit . The tradesmen of Xieeds , Mr . olm s informs us , now that the associations compete with them , refrain , to a great extent , from adulterating their goods . We hope this report will not be lost upon public opinion . In other parts of the country—Lincoln , Galashiels , and elsewhere — co-operative stores were established some years ago ; we shall be glad to receive accounts of their transactions .
Moreover , many of the working-class associations for productive purposes have achieved remarkable successs . It would be of public advantage if Mr . Holmes , or some one as competent , would prepare for tho next meeting of Lord Brougham ' s League a dotailed account of the progress mado by the associative principle throughout England .
Road Reform In Scotland.—The Question Of...
Road Reform in Scotland . —The question of turnpike abolition and nuiintonanee of roads by assessment , which has been for ten years in agitation in Iladdiugtonshiro , sis ¦ well a . s in the counties of Fife , Forfar , Lanark , and others , was brought to a crisis in the iir . stntimed county at a meeting of tho general turnpike trustees , held at lliuldingtoii on Thursday week . A keeu and animated debute took place , iu which tho proposed reform was advoeatod by Lord lttcho , M . P . for the county , and resisted by the Right U <>» - H- A . Christopher Nisbet Hamilton , M . l \ for South Lincolnshire . The result , was that the numbers -were equal for and agsinst reform , -when the chairman ( the Marquis of Tweeddale ) gave bin casting vote against tho proposed -change .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 24, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24101857/page/15/
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