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June 30, I860.] The Leader and Saturday ...
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ENGLAND'S NAUGHTY EO1. QUITE young, scar...
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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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Rifles And "Red Tape. I T Would Be A Cur...
as well as'to the body , and the amusements of the rising generation will consist in preparing themselves to defend the rights and liberties of their native land . But this glorious muster is not intended for forei'm conquest ; it threatens the liberties , of no neighbouring nation ; !* itsupports no alien domination ; it props up no effete super r stition it is purely defensive ; and- as sueh it stands alone in . the ¦ history ' of the world . This is the second time the display has been made , and there seems rejison to believe that this time the spirit will not be allowed to die out . ¦ ' ' ^ ; And now comes the question , how are our rulers welcoming the
¦ exhibition of a national spirit so magnificent ? We are bound to say that we cannot give to this question sin answer altogether satisfactory . In the beginning of the movement military men generally -discouraireel it ;—they did not like putting arms into the hands of civiliansr They knew how long it took to make a soldier out of a bumpkin , and they foresaw a u'ieat deal of careless and useless drill * and an amazing- waste of cloth , leather , trouble , and time ; but they forgot that the Volunteer force would be composed of men who never Were bumpkins , and who could in a few weeks be made soldiers of the verv highest character . Gradually the truth dawned on the Horse Guards . An armv of well-disciplined gentlemen rose
before the official eye , and the apparition was not a welcome one . The nation will see . ' it bat it can do without us . ' —such was the conviction produced . England will want no home army , and the colonies will soon raise their own ; we must not allow it to be imagined that tradesmen , and clerks , lawyers , doctors , farmers , and private gentlemen can handle arms like those to the mariner educated . Our trait is in danger . They must not be permitted to make shrines for our iroddess- ! Great is JDiaxa of the Ephesians ! So spoke the town-clerk of our day , opposite Whitehall . The brave and patriotic Duke of Cambridge took fright , and again and again declared that Volunteers were all very woll as long ns they did not usurp the place of the regular army ; but if once they did this , they would be " prodio-ious , ominous , and viewed with fear . " The Pkixce Coksort reminded- his regiment of Guards— Ins regiment—which had once been Wellington's ! that a soldier ' s duty might lie to take
arms against his countryineii , and to defend a dynasty against a nation ! Nor was this all , Volunteer officers , were not perniittedto lass hands ; it the levee , they were merejy to pass before Her ; Majestt and bow—their rank was ignored , and they were formally told that it would be so . Hints were given them from high places , that it would bewell for them to wear their uniforms , hi ¦ public as little as possible . The Honourable Artillery Company declined to co-operate with the London -Rifle' Brigade , or to permit the Volunteers the-use of- their gtomid for drill and parade ; and even Her Majesty was recommended , in reviewing thein , not to do so in her military costume , with the ribbon of the Garter across her breast , but iii plain attire , making a difference to the disadvantage of-those ¦ who served her without pay , and found their own uniforms into the bargain .. ' - . '• • " ... ... „ ' .., , , . ¦ * . „ it ? All
We ask , is this right ? Is it creditable ? Is patriotic the Princes of the House of Hanover have been fond . of military pomp and parade . All have taken a great interest in their troops . Her present Majesty is no exception to the rule . Soldiers always « njov a'large'amount of court favour ; and all the nation expects is , AhVtl ^ m ^ -t ^ p ^ . 1 :... lift . ' shown to our voluntary defenders . We can easilv understand that the Queen's military councillors look on the whole movement as a thing to be tolerated simply because it is irresistible , rnther than to be encouraged because it is beneficial . It they-could put down the whole rifle corps , they would gladly ex-¦ chan" -e it for two or three extra regiments of regular troops ; but as this cannot be done , the next best thing is to throw it as much as possible out of the sunshine of rojal favour , and to disparage it whenever an opportunity occurs . '¦'¦ ' i
,., Thewo things will only induce the country to think more seriously of the whole plan . Our ' present ¦ enormous military expenditure is unnecessary , and the public will soon find thia out . A few . years at our present rate of payment would , if the funds willingly supplied were properly employed , fortify London and all our outposts , furnish us with till that would be required in the way of rilled cannon , ammunition , arms of all kinds , and everything necessary for our national defences , and after that we should require a very nmull army indeed . We should make no aggressive wars , we should be
secure against any invasion , we should be internally the most powerful and externally the most pacific of nation * , and all the corrupt system of patronage and preferment now exhibited in our military service would die a natural death . Of course the authorities ' at the Horse Guards can see this * as well as we can ; - they know that it would mightily relieve the burdens of the country ; that our position would be stronger than ever ; that public works at homo would make at once an astonishing progress ; that the whole spirit of the nation would be raised and ennobled ; but then—what would
be--comeofDowHi Practical men , who don't belong to " the family" would sctllo the matter in a most unsatisfactory way : they would reply , let Dowb become V ^ of tailoring ,, or hair-cutting j or , if he be too jproud for this , tluve is the law and there is medicine . He will do no hnvm there ; no one will give him a brief because his great uncle was Lord Fitz-Boodlic , or employ him medically because the back stairs of the palace were fanriliur with , his father ' s stops . But this solution would not suit the Horse Guards : we must have a perpetual provision for a
porpotuul progeny of Dowds , und therefore rod tape must tie up our rifles , and those who shoulder them be recommended to , sneak under a hedge to do it . But wo will gladly leave ft disagreeable topic } lot us again turn to our noblo Volunteers , and point out what they can
do . By our system of railways they can be thrown in any numbers on any part of our coast ; and as this mode of conveyance renders artillery of any calibre as portable as rifles or revolvers , we ought , in one month's time , to be prepared for any invasion that could be attempted . The very fact of such preparation would prevent the attempt , for itJs a good and a true saying , the best Peace Society is a well-appointed army and navy . One point we would especially notice at present : the movement is pre-eminently a middle-class movement . We have seen the way in which it is regarded from the summit of the social pyramid ; it is , unfortunately , not popular with the working-class—or , father , to speak more correctly , the class
of artisans . We regret this , not because we would have many of that class incorporated , but we would have the spirit spread throughout all classes , and we should like to have a few brigades of artisans , were it only to represent the rest . A small subscription would supply them with uniforms—the simpler the better , and they would feel that they were not left out . We would conclude these remarks by pointing out that the Militia and the Yeomanry Cavalry are not to be forgotten ; they must , the latter especially , be encouraged by every means in cur power ; and the truth must be present to the minds of the whole nation , that our present position is too serious to allow of anv hinderance to our effective and permanent defence .
June 30, I860.] The Leader And Saturday ...
June 30 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 607
England's Naughty Eo1. Quite Young, Scar...
ENGLAND ' S NAUGHTY EO 1 . QUITE young , scarcely in what BuitKU called " the bone and gristle of manhood * , " only about seventy years old or so , a real bov in Methuselah ' s reckoning , an odd hundred or two vounger than his big brother Joxatjiax , who fought , and kicked , and sVugg-led with his old mother till he broke her ' . apron-string , with a most un-Chinese defect of reverence for the ancestors , and wentaway with few affectionate ' remembrances , and sot up shop a long way offand now has got a good deal of conceit . and a black
, footman , and sends to the old lady , bxit only for a consideration , materials , for her calico night-gowns and cotton stockings . The youngest lad was the wickedest of the two , and was kicked out of the house , whether he liked it or no , and sent to a distant school of very hard discipline , not very much better than a workhouse . But the prodigal , graceless , hopeless reprobate , has Ion * been showing signs of amendment , and his old mother's bowels yearn over him more than over Jonathan ' , and she fondly wishes hint well , and sends friends to see him , and writes him letters and ¦
gives-. him her bliessing . _ . _ ¦ — . ¦ This is something like a sketch of the ; two main branches ot England ' s offspring . , ¦' ' . , i -r . v -u There is about Australia so much good , hearty , loyal Jjiighsh feeling that we naturally likelier , and perhaps all the better for her wicked early days , and the obloquy and disadvantages against which she has had " to struggle—worst and chiefest , a bad name . It is not very long since she celebrated a grand anniversary , and her chief spokesman made pointed allusions to her evil and earlydays , which we should have expected to have been suppressed ; but there was no disposition to blink the story of her origin , and an Australian candidly avowed all , whereto an Englishman would have ' doemed it ungracious to venture upon allusion , at least upon such an occasion . There is no denying . that a large portion of ircr ^ opleHTaveH ^ eii ^ ci'iminal ^ -Gi ^ to these , many who have left . England , for her shores with broken fortunes and " tainted charactersunable to get on in the mother
, country , and a far smaller portion who have carried thither hope , energy , ' capital , and a good name . Either a little . leaven has leavened the whole mass , or Australia is a standing contradiction to the ' -hecesBiiry fatality of bad blood , . 1 noiion against which we have always ourselves been inclined to rebel , in * p ite of many proverbs , many prejudices , and some argument . We have not ninny opportunities of philosophising on regions mainly stocked , and societies mainly formed bv those who have " left their country tor their country ' s good ;" ' but it was only the other day we were reading that Siberia , the population ' . of which is fed not merely ty political criminals , but by others who are fur from being the choicest products of Russia , is by no means below the average Kussnm population in its conduct and morals ; but we -cuniiot afford space now for the discussion of this subject ; instead of . deuateiible theories ,
wo have ¦ pleasnnt facts before us . ,...., A o i The thirty-first of Mnrch last wns a driy of just pride to Sydney , and of reasonable interest to England . We give our Australian kindred our hearty congratulations on the commemoration which took place on that day . We left Lord BnovoiiAM s and Mr . Gladstone ' s University addresses to bo noticed by others , though they afforded abundant matters for reflection , and were fully worthy of the Kccnes , tho associations , and the- orators ; orators who nevertheless could do little to strengthen , to glorify , and still tho
less to modify , tho ancient institutions of which they are temporary pntrons . We view the . address of Sir CjiamlbsNicholson at the Sydney University Commemoration with , fur mort ) interest This latter Institution is still in its trials , and on its trial , and from'it the future of the colony willri" n ffl'CUt measure ; take its tone . Had it been established in a mere spirit <» J ¦» " > » tlo » of tho mother country , wo ought , as ¦ . Knghshinen , « till to have considered it a good friendly lo . w » l sign ; . but its foiin « lew and encounters have evidently not taken up their tusk in any dilotfcnnto fashion ^ They have thought over the . nutter 1 . 1 » b ™» j * J ko and earnest spirit , and men to mnlco it 11 ffo . nl worl ing himitution . How Hfrongely thing * turn out ! Hud any 0110 been n * k « d 01 ty years ago wl ? at wan likely to bo tho Ini ^ t aud it , a > t , k \ l msivc Kildiug in Sydnov , he would have immured without l , i ,... iition
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30061860/page/7/
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