On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
Untitled Article
service . Is it possible that Providence has in store victories for such men as these ? ATft these the instruments by which England collects her glory ? Incredible ! The FortysixfcKUegiment must , by its condition , be doomed to destraction : it is in the state of torius dementat—the demented state which precedes fatal doom . And yet , again , it occurs to us that there hate Been adventures not wholly unlike those in which Mr . Perry was the principal
actor . - ; Ve see , indeed , this week , that Greer and Perry are not the only officers under arrest . A court-martial assembled on Tuesday last to try Lieutenant Frederick G . Jjeigh , on a charge of dtuulcenness 5 Leigh vfas sentenced to be dismissed the service . ISFot long since the Colonel of another regi--nient was tried' by a court-martial in India and dismissed , his offence consisting in the Hailferahce of scenes very like those described in' tne court-martial in the 46 th , only not ; dtrate sb 5 badl And we remember that stories in
E ^ fe ibeexjL cuxreiit Boei « ty about another gedsttetnaii- # ho had ; like Mr . ¦ * . Perry , been insifi ^ the victim of br other officers , and who nidtmdergbne indignities yet more vile . ^ Bc&s-ifhe reader know whilt schoolboys call ihalcing a freemason ? In their ceremonies , it 19 said , officers ' sometimes emulate school hbys—and excel them . Nor can we wonder at these stories : we have , at times , " assisted" at the embarkation and debarkation of regiments j and verily the spectacle is not always Mevatrag . Thes officers of the British army are not always rrieit who bear upon their countenance , the stamp of high
character . ; ? - . p " , . ; ¦ ; ' ' ' ' ' ¦ ¦ , i- ¦ ¦ . " TEese are astonishing results / considering ¦ the pauis ; taien to keep the British army High in ptaracter' by various restrictions . 1 T ? he . custom of purchase , of course , lteeps out poor men ; the exclusive character of ¦ Court tavpur , the difficulty of getting into the (^ ommanderrin-ChiePs list , and then off that list into the army list , contribute to increase the , aristocratic character ; and pains are . taken to preserve it . The army is cut off fixwn , society , the officers from the men . It ia only by a monstrous exception that a private passes to the rank of a commissioned officer .
Every , individual who wears a sword is liable to-be ' tried * for any departure from regulation conduct— -for " conduct unbecoming an © ffiicer : ap , d a gentleman" T ? o keep its more exclusive , the military body must not meddle ¦ vsfiijh politips , , as Colonel Thompson knew , . promotion , maybe arrested . The Duke of " Wellington has contrasted our army with the 3 T , r , enoh . army in these respects ; has men-Mtfpned how scandalised he felt at seeing ojmcers , actually nlaying M billiards with the > ^ qn . and ' jjoftversmg with them . The Amerii . capLS , . yhoise army isi biit , , a ' nucleus , and
^ . iy . hofje ^ eail . p ^ lifcary force , is a lhiljftia , are ; of , ^ u £ se $ p $ J 3 , po all kinds of vulgar admissions . Our oVhlnayv is more free rtrid" easvi '" Bkrt oxir , . mihtjiry pffice > r 3 are pic ked men , -ynth . picked ]_ , kjfpjfyk ' , fyig h punctilios ) knit preservative re-J ^ ramtor , , , : ; . ' . ' < ,. . ' v ,, . " ' , ; , Jjmd ^ enlv ^ however ,, ' a . suspicioh comes over ¦ lia thai ) Were , must , bo some ' niysbfe intorpre-( ftation given to that phrase " conduct beto ^ faiYjS ^ ftLty * . ^ Kt oi dang 6 r , to break
and the character of certain officers , —the character tolerated by the commanding authority , —is that of cowardice , ruffianism , cruelty , vulgarity , and indecency . It violates the commonest rules of gentlemanly feeling , and violates them in the grossest degree . The bestial indecency is only exceeded by the cruelty , and the cruelty by the cowardice of many setting upon one . Yet , these are our models of chivalry , —the men who are sent abroad to sustain the British flag ! This is
the army as it ia preserved aristocratic by excluding ignoble , low-born persons . The exposure ought to be followed by a cry for reform , especially at the commencement of a war . We may naturally feel anxieties at trusting our national standard to such keeping . Luckily we know that the exclusive rules of the army do not shut but brave men , or-men of real chivalry , since they are to be
found in all classes , even amongst the class that produce these same ballet-masters of the bed-room ; and as to the reform , we may expect it from the necessity . Not because the Horse Guards have shown any excessive anxiety to weed the army , but because , we suspect , those who take delight in combats like those of the "Windsor barracks , cannot share the higher ambition of the real battlefield . When we are at -war creatures of this
stamp will not press so much into the army , and on the field they will yield the victory to wen , making room in the . ranks for their betters . Thus we may expect that the war which would render an altered system necessary will be itself the sanitary measure .
/• -MlA . ^ ( iJTl -i l / iMJ , ; , ' ¦ > 'I 4 ' 1 * 7 ' irs ' i a 1 i < . f TMiv ; .. Pl 1 PlYftW Soldiers—fcTiese are Drenches of fASfffth M ^ M ? - Bufc to take pare m fording » t jMf ^ ing * im ^ 6 rfoK | n the &tftir& ~ 6 XcJTC ' me nait ' ed . •' , ¦¦ ¦ }^ s ») w ^?» m ^ 5 ,, condu ; cfc uix ^ ecomibg' im officer ^^^ m ^ m «^ 11 :, Ill ^ i ^ Wxte v ^ f # y jSCsir ^ , ( M " . ' il ^ . ' . ' % ¦ . r ' ¦ ¦ . ¦ ' ^^ V ' . ' iVlv i ; , , ' . ' . ¦ : ¦ ' ¦ . , ¦• ¦ .
Untitled Article
THE NEW PUBLIC ^ HOUSE LAW . The plan for dealing -with public-houses , taverns , exhibitions , tea-gardens , and other places of entertainment and recreation , is a good measure marred by a bad spirit that is increasing . The whole method of treating these subjects is a compromise between sound sense and nonsense , between liberalism and cant . After having abandoned the pursuit of the Englishman in trade with restrictions and prohibitions , there is still a disposition to
pursue him in his amusement . The old guilds have been largely given up in the City , but we still have some of their worst part—of their prohibitory lumber , such as the prohibition upon carrying goods by hand against all except by ticket-porters . In the main , however , we have got rid of those ancient restrictions upon the free choice of a trading pursuit . They have fallen by degrees within our own shores ; Sir Robert Peel blew up the principle of restricted trade in our foreign relations ; but while the ticket-porters
^ are doomed , and while some of the worst restrictions upon the amusements of the people are to be abolished , ifc appears that there is still trust in the principle of prohibition , and that we sure to have new examples of it . "We admit that the change is for the better , but we object to restoring at this day , in conjunction with a reform , any kind of restrictions upon classes , any meddling tutelage over free men , or anything but' a police control over the positive misconduct of individuals . ' ¦ The gonoral character of the measure' pro' p'ds'dd''by ' tho ' select committee consists in closing all public ^ housea Whatsoever during the Sabbath , except for fotir 'hours an the day—namely , from * one till two ; and from six till nine , 'and " ' thbtl only for the sale of Bpirituoua liquors ' tmd in opening- places of rational recreation after two o ' clock on StindkVa , ' We' nppltfKi ( t the ptorittteBtvo pnrfc " of thi& rh ' eaaurd ; hut we < require to' see tho Beeorta ^ aiJ 'letfst a' ^ Oinpanied by some socuritfreii'that t \ ito 'dotnforftto' of the great number 'brm ty&b ^ mfiH AbfriK * arbitrarily and ! Twi-^ l y'dithimflta : ' - ' - i ¦ ' ¦¦ . ; -. .. :
The English people , Heaven knows , have not too much holiday . Some of them , in a certain precarious fashion , observe St . Monday , when they can do so without paying too heavjr a fine ; that is , when the state of wages permits them to earn enough for the week on the other five days . In many kinds of employment , however , such as most factory
labour , the holiday is quite impracticable . From an early hour on Monday morning till Saturday afternoon or evening , there is nothing for it hut Uninterrupted hard work ; very little margin is left for the workinfg man , woman , or child , —very little margin either of time or of physical strength , stfill less of intellectual activity . ¦• ¦ '•• '
With very numerous classes , the one idea , from early dawn on Monday morning till a late hour at evening , is a set duty in . some part of a manufacture . Scanty room , therefore , during those working days for gathering ideas to expatiate upon during the Sunday , and we must not wonder if crowds of people , wearied with toil , exasperated by restriction , reach that day of rest with the one idea ' -of . breaking through that restriction , and finding some simple contrast for the toil . The con--trast for continued restriction and
concentrated labour , is unrestrained enjoyment without labour of any kind , either intellectual or moral— -mere physical excitement not necessarily connected with ideas ; The 6 iily recreation for such an existence , , &s abstract reasoning might determine , is a simple outburst , an orgy ; and the -practical instinct confirms the abstract conclusion 'by the facts as they exist . ! - ^ The moralist , however , is scandalised at this extensive resort to one evil as a set off
against another . Men living in a totally different state of life have pre-determined-io themselves what it would be desirable fbi * the working classes to do on . Sundays . Still there is so much disagreement on this point , that a compromise is necessary . Some persons consider that , however a depraved town-sick&ried appetite may rush to the public-house ~ i *) r relief , a more wholesome enjoyment wouldbe to wander forth into the fresh air , to seek ideas . in Picture Galleries , Museums ,
Zoological Gardens , Crystal Palaces , and other places where the picked ideas of civilisation are collected , classified and s 6 arranged that he who runs" may read . Others , however , c&nsider that Museums are only a worse abomination than public-houses ; that they have more of the devil in them because they have more of the " tree of knowledge ; a ' nd with these xmoralisers the object id to create such circumstances as will drive the working
class into church or chapel ; the latter having the preference . A third class do Hot care much about-museums or chapels ; but they do care' about well-regulated streets , 'rtnd they object decidedly to crowds of drunken persons at public housfea . But what 6 ay-tihe working classes themselves ? Are th-ey •• consulted at all ? In truth , these laws loathe good of the working people are against their will ; they are middle elasa edicts , leaving no choice in tho persons subjected 1 . ' ' -
Now wo do not believe in this species ^ of control . The working class show no indisposition for rational recreation ; they * frequent places where it is to be found , wnen they have time or money , or when they are not forced there . Open tho Crystal Palace on Sunday at a reasonable price , and 4 he working classes will go there in thousands ;
aa they do to tho Zoological Gardens at Dublin , or to Hampton Court , or * to tho British Museum , during tbo 33 aster < holidays . "Xot churohoB bo froo fr-ojm social distinctions , ] as churches need to bo , and arb $ tiU in other countries ;~* 46 t there bot . no pows , no barricading botweeu "Ctoas and closa , —^ Jot tho preadhewi bo capable of apeaking hewno to tho
Untitled Article
6 S 4 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), July 22, 1854, page 684, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2048/page/12/
-