On this page
-
Text (2)
-
oA . THE LEADER. [No, 466, February 26, ...
-
. THE ARMIES OF THE GREAT POWERS. The Ar...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Memoirs Of The Court Of George Iv, Memoi...
. f ^^^ zig ^^^ x ^ amm m ^ mMBasaaimmMxm ^ aBmx ^ BaKrt ^ ma ^^ Baa ^ mMmK ^ inw a sovereign than Sir "Walter and other persons had thought liim ; that even " Lady — " appears to have occasionally deserted hini : — ¦ . "The King ( says Fremantle ) still in his bed , sulky , out of humour , and therefore venting his spleen when and where he can . It all , however , originates in the domestic concerns . , OLady - — -. is not gone back , and Cannot be prevailed upon to embark again so soon as an exile to the royal cottage ; until this is brought to bear he will be restless and angry , and therefore I think it worth while for his Ministers to lay a petition before her . " By and bye the King ' s state grew so bad that he be ™ ed to be excused from the irksome duty of si < mui" - documents ; after which p olitical persons of all parties discovered qualities , no whit less admirable and amiable , in his brother and next successor , the Duke of Clarence . " Your account ( writes Lord Grenville to the Duke ) of the visits to Bushy is amusing enough ; but I have seen too many instances ot sucJi barefaced and undisguised meanness to be at all surprised at it . If our future Queen , really is , as she is said to be , a woman of sense , what an opinion she must form of her visitors . " . The Kind's physicians gathered round the royal bed and shook ; their heads . Sir William Knighton ventured "to call his Majesty ' s attention to religious subjects , and placed , unordered , a quarto Bible of large type upon the dressing-table , ; . and his Majesty expired on the , 26 th of Julie , 1830 , ami in the sixty-eighth ' year-ofhis age . _ < Thus calmly ( says the present Duke , of Buckingham ) passed from the world a monarch , whom those who enjoyed the best opportunity ot knowing intimately , pronounced the kindest of friends and the most affectionate of masters . _ bir . Walter Scott , shortly after . the event expressed the following opinion : — ' I trouble you with this intrusion to express my deep sorrow for the loss of a Sovereign whose gentle and generous disposition , and singular [ kind ] manner and captivating conversation , rendered him as much the darling of private society , as his heartfelt "interest in the general weliare of the Country , and the constant and steady course of wise measures by which he raised his reign to such a state of triumphal prosperity ^ made- him justly delighted in by his subjects . '" . " Estimates of his Majesty ' s character have been formed , by persons who never received favprs at his hands , or could have been influenced J > y the sunshine of the royal countenance ; and they , as might be anticipated ,, are of a totally different complexion . But there can be no use now in dwelling on his failings . " . Kinirs arc happy in their apologists . There is a deficiency in these volumes which cannot fail to strike the reader . Scarcely a letter will be found from the Marquis ( afterwards Duke ) of Buckingham himself ; the chief of the coterie . Nevertheless , the letters and other documentsreveal much of the secret history of parties , and they cannot be dispensed with by future historians of the reign of our last King George ; and they certainly abound in entertaining matter .
Oa . The Leader. [No, 466, February 26, ...
oA THE LEADER . [ No , 466 , February 26 , 1859 . ¦ ¦ . aOO . . - ¦ ¦ ¦ .. ¦ . ' - ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ... •'¦ < ^ - ^ . t , ^^ ^ Sm—¦ ! ae—m * mm ^ g ^—« n = i im n i ¦
. The Armies Of The Great Powers. The Ar...
. THE ARMIES OF THE GREAT POWERS . The Armies of the Great Powers . By Lascellcs Wraxall . W . H , Allen and Co . This author of this book has seen some service as a member of the Turkish . Contingent during the lute Crimean war , and ho was for some time the editor of the Naval and Military Herald , where many of the papers appeared which are now collected in the volume before us . The information ho is able to lay before his reader comes rather opportunely at the present hour , when Continental ambassadors are summoned from Paris to attend our-Cabinet Councils , and ovciy day wo hear loudor rumours of a general European war . Whatever may be the opinion about the folly of those nations who waste their capital , which is their strength , in keeping up enormous bodies of idle , consuming , unproductive men , those armies exist as great qnd melancholy facts , and it is not wise to turn a deaf , ear to any intelligence that can bo givon us about them . Though our author is a blind adherent of a Tory Government — though ho firmly believes in everything they hove ever dono , or rather have promised to try and do—though he boils over with indignation at the very mention of the Peace Society , and grows rabid at the statements of that Manchester school of politicians who only wish to check the senseless , reokless , unfruitful expenditure whioh continually drains the resources of the country , without giving hardly an effective ship , cannon , soldier , or sailor in return—though our
author stands up a little too obstinately for his own particular " leather , " still he is , to some extent , a reliable and a welcome giiide . Those who donpt sympathise with his political opinions can ^ separate the com " from the chaff , ' and take Ins facts and figures for what they are worth . First in the list of armies comes the Austrian , because of its historical position as the oldest in Europe . It is a strange compound of nationalities , and , in this , respect , is probably only surpassed by the Eussian . . . " Under the Emperor ' s banner are now collected : 1 . Germans , from Upper and Lower Austria , . the Tyrol , Styria , Carnia , Carinthia , and the Germanspeaking districts of Bohemia , Moravia , Transylvania , Hnngary , and the coast . It may be assumed that one-fifth of the recruits , on entering the army , can speak German , although employing very diffe ^ rent dialects . 2 . Sclavons , who are again subdivided into numerous races , who can scarcely understand each other . The more important of these Sclavonic races , from which the Austrian army : is recruited , are the Poles of Gallicia and the Bukovma , the Czechs of Bohemia , the Selavon-speaking Moravians , Silesians , Stvrians and Carnians , Seloyaks ^ from Hungary and Transylvania , Dalmatians , Croats , and other races on the nulitary border , with , the exception of the Wallachs . At least two-fifths of all the recruits conseribed are drawn from these districts and join the army without understanding a single word of'German . The first business , then , is to teach these recruits ¦ sufficient German so as to understand the words of command , but all the bclavons evince an aptitude for learning language ? . 3 . Hungarians ; -or Magyars , from Hungary , Transylvania , , and some portions of the military border , who are again subdivided into Cumans , Jacygis , and Czekler . About one-fifth of the Austrian army is drawn from the purely Hungarian race , and the men join the regiments without understanding' a single word of German , . which . ' the Magyar learns with difficulty and repugnance . 4 , Italians , consisting of Lombards , Venetians , Italian-speaking Dalmatians , and Southern Tyrolose . These also find a difficulty in learning German , although they possess great mental qualifications . 5 . Wai lac ] is , from Hungary , Transylvania , and the military border , who speak Wallachian or Komani , a corruption of Latin . With , the exception of a few border battalions , there are no special Wallaeh regiments and companies in the Austrian army , but these men are generally dispersed through the-Hungarian ' and Transylvanian regiments . In these regiments may also be found Gypsies , who are more useful through their cunning as sharpshooters- than inclined to display their courage in close columns of attack . " The army is now exclusively made up by conscription through all the provinces of the empire , to which all classes , with some slight exceptions , are liable ; and the period of service is universally established at eight years , with the engagement to serve two further years in the reserve , if events render this necessary . During peace the soldiers rarely remain longer than six years under arms , and substitution by money is permitted . The pay , food , and clothing ary highly satisfactory—inferior to none in Europe , except the English ; and under the barraok arrangements every attention is paid to regularity , cleanliness , and the health of the men . Tjhc disci p line is very severe , and the . punishment of the stick is still . kept" up . Gold and silver ¦ medals are sparingly given ns rewards for distinguished services in the fielVl— the gold nipdals being accompanied by double pay , atul the silver medals by half additional pay . A decent pension is provided for non-commissioned officers , in the shape of secured situations in the excise , customs , or other Government offices , niter a seven years service , in addition to the original oight yeura . A feudal taint clings to the Austrian army , in the system of appointing possessors of regiments . As oa < jh regiment is exclusively known by the name of its possessor ( " Count Nugent , " for example ) , and as these names , with some few permanent exceptions , are continually changing , there is ho possibility of those traditions being kept up which have such influence in other armies . The possessors , if general ofucera , have groat weight in the appointment of subalterns ; and the promotion and transference of officers under the rank of fieldomcors come also within their patronage . In the Polish regiments' there are generally several . Tows , who , if possessing courago , are the most valuable troops-to bo found in the whole Atistrian army . The cavalry is very numerous and well equipped ; and at the present day no European power can vie with this , arm of . the Austrian forces ' . ^ B *^^^^^
The militia is now entirely abolished , and a reserve system introduced under the two years * extra service ^ by which an available body of 1 00 , 000 * experienced troops is always kept to fall back upon . . Making every allowance for the requirements of home defence * the Emperor of Austria , at the present moment , has a perfectly equipp ed army of 400 , 000 men whom he can spare for foreign service , east or west . Next in order comes the Prussian ' army , ¦ which is remarkable for its high educational standard , and the universality of its recruiting system . " As universal service is the rule in Prussia , and every healthy man , without distinction of rank , must personally perform his military duty , the period a soldier remains in the standing army is short . The majority only serve three years—from twenty-one ¦ to twenty-four ; after which they are . enrolled for two further years in the reserve , and then pass to the landwehrof the first levy . Those persons who have asserted that the period of service is too short are , in our opinion , wrong . It must be borne in mind that the Prussian is aware , from his earliest years , that he . Avill have to enter the army , and hence even his childish amusements bear a military stamp . This is more especially the case in the old Prussian provinces , where the lads are regularly divided into squads , and rendered conversant with their duties , long prior to being called on-to serve . The national . schools , so excellently managed in Prussia , and the fact of so many men of the higher classes entering the ranks , materially facilitate the task of giving the recruit his military education ; and hence three years are amply sufficient for the ordinary duties of the soldier . The only case in which the period of service appears to us too short is in that of the light cavalry" Owing to the short period of service in the Prussian " line , the military education is extremely strict . In no European army is there so nuich exercising ; and soldiers are from morning to night on duty , or in the school-brooms where theoretic instruction-is-impnrted . But the great defect of the Prussian system , we humliiy conceive , is that these young recruits , if engaged in the field , would hardly endure fatigue , and ¦ heavy marching order . "Whenever a Prussian corps d ' armee sets put through any difficult terrain— and of this we obtained experience in the Badois revolution of . 1849—during the first weeks the soldiers fall put in hundreds , and the ambulance carts are crowded . This is a defect which time , of course , will cure ; nor must wo forget that Prussia has a large reserve at her back , of men from twenty-four to twenty-six years of age , who are called out directly the army is placed on a waivestablishnient . These men could be employed to till up deficiencies ; but , for all that , we apprehend that the Prussian system is very liable to entail the loss ot n first campaign . What the result of a sc-cpnd would be , wo have hud no opportunity of deciding , as thy only time we ever saw the Prussians in action was m Baden , where they had everything in their'favour . The Prussian army , in time of pence amounts-to little more than one-fifth of it ' s war establishment —a difference far greater than what is exhibited ' by any other country . " A necessary consequence of this is , that mobilisation entails enormous sacrifices on the nation . Great care and consideration have certainly ueen displayed in carrying out the necessary . arrangements for mobilisation in the minutest details , uur , when ¦ carried into effect , much would be found defective in the system . The burden , which would "e entailed by a sudden levee en mas . se of the nation would be excessive . There is no doubt that A" *"" pr France , owing to the system of ccntruhsat on which-they have carried out , would be able to mmu much larger armies into the field , and in a lnuui shorter time than Prussia , even if she reckoned oni m-r second levy for assistance , which is ot a highly Problematical nature . Still , wo must not deny that wnae we buv effected by a nation of 17 , 000 , 000 V llmblt """ in 18130 , was very remarkable ; in spite of numcro s , defects , wo could not refrain fVom lulnnr "K j » J rapidity and regularity with which tho mob lis . it o can bo cflbctod , so soon as tho nucleus of tholiuss »»" nation entertains a conviction that tho sacriiuoa u « nmndod from it aro necessary for tho proacrvution oi tho national honour . . f <• A furthor proof that this universal nouonaity oi bearing arms onu produce great rosults in P > ' ° P " " , " to tho population will bost bo seen from tlio oonsus of 1847 . At that period , in addition to K ™™ , line , war rosorvo men , and Innclwohr , tlioro were 84 O . oou so far exorcised in arms that they could Jwivo ww employed in war so that thoro wore at tlmt tinio 7 ( 50 , 000 inon In . tho Prussian State , ready to detenu their flttliorland . " rtfl Tho French army at tho present time pow ° jgj a strength of about 580 , 000 men , with ¦ M , ww cavalry horses , and 1 , 182 guns intended to U \ w
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 26, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26021859/page/12/
-