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Queen ' s Government . " Not content with that , the Coalition aimed at a greater role , and , because it had got a large majority secured on the understanding that nothing was to be done , insisted , to the astonishment of an apathetic people , on a variety of reforms and a host of measures—undemanded or postponable . The result was , that the Coalition first split up among themselves , and that the House , following the example , and different sections siding with the understood' tendencies of different ministers , beat it indiscriminately .
Lord John Russell has no doubt been the disturbing element . Lord John felt that he Was equivocally placed in the Cabinet ; and to justify his leading the House of Commons he made arrangements to get beaten once a week ;—vindicating his share in forming the Coalition by rendering its tenure of power all but impossible ^ Lord John considered that it was his duty to give to a colourless Coalition- —popular for its paleness—his liue . And from the day he took office , he—member ' of
a confederation based upon political compromise—which , meant political suspensiontalked incessant Ifceform . This sustained , he thought , his own dignity and importance ; his colleagues , overruling his importance , consented to endure it in the mistaken notion that the clap-traps would bring the whole Cabinet popularity . At best a Conservative Premier , acting in the spirit of a cautious ,
however liberal . Court , could not assent to large Reforms . Lord John had , therefore , to give way , tailing advantage of Radical Minis . terialism to conciliate the Court ; and it turned out in these instances , as in all instances of " safe medium measures , " compromises begot no affection and died the deaths of languid hybrids . The democracy was already apathetic—these stimulants could not arouse it . There was no
cry , —except Lord John ' s , whose baffled vanity rendered him conspicuously silly . Lord Aberdeen justified the Coalition on the ground that all parties were concentreing to one set of opinions . A more philosophical definition of the Parliainentai'y condition would have been that it was a period in which
310 one had any opinion , and when , therefore , there was no reason why Whigs and Tories should not share together in the plunder of a people intent upon watching a war which it was hoped would lead to the continental adoption of repi'esontntive institutionswhich , on no account , would we give up except from August to
February-Next session the Ministry may more clearly comprehend its chances and its functions . But next session it is possible thut it will no longer bo permitted a negative policy . Already a positive policy is being demanded in foreign affairs ; and under the pressure of taxation a people who coxild not bo roused by Lord John ' s ) speeches may be suggesting that " popular members" do not got into that profession for the purpose of getting places for their sona and nephews . "What are tho results of the session on the
Opposition ? A Conservative Opposition which doos not know what to conserve and has nothing real to oppose is inovitably feeble ; and tho mass of heavy country fionllo-inci ) , who aro so excellent and ho slightly interesting , have not been active—and , incleod , have not boon amused . Tho best of fcliom would long ago linvo gbno over to Lord
Aberdeen' —tho Poors among them appear to have done ho since tho J . tol ' orm Bill wiib withdrawn —if any guarantee were given blink Lord John KuBsell could be kept down' and forbidden those uncarnest snatohos at popularity which * J 1- !\? " h hia squiiTol-mhuled stntoainanshii ) . Mr . Disraeli , who moro and more developed his incapacity for everything but smart criticism , has made clover Hpooehos , rendering Ministers
uncomfortable , —by correcting their cant ,. — and producing no-historical impression what ^ ever . Lord Derby has sulked at home ; his own Peers having deserted the chivalrous champion who got his chance and was not equal to it . Those two men are the Opposition ; and that singular fact is connected with the formation of the Coalition . The English aristocracy is so thoroughly worn out ( intellectually ) that no one aristocratic-party-can stand by itself ; and combined , they do not strike the nation with awe or reverence .
What wonld the House of Commons * be without Mr . Disraeli and Mr . Gladstonetwo- importations from literature and commerce ? Why something like what the House of Lords is . The results of the session on the Radical party ar " e , we believe , satisfactory . This party , greatly enriched by new blood and young men at the last general election , is
beginning at last to realise that the "Whigs , who have to lean upon the Tories , cannot , in turn , support the Radicals . The "Whig party is destroyed by Lord John Russell' —in other words , the Whig party has produced no firstrate man ; and , the " Whigs gone , the Radicals necessarily begin to think of self-respect and self-dependence . Mr . Bright considers the war a misfortune : "but it is in such a war ¦
that the Radicals can best make ¦ effective application of their large principles of human government , It is in ¦ such a war that as guardians of the rights of European nationalities they may present themselves as an organised party ; ana their reward would be—Power . We would wish to see the Radical party , which is full of intellect and purpose , and
possesses all the elements of popularity , aim- , ing at government for themselves and by themselves- —in the name of the people , and of that nationality of which the CroWn , wearied , probably , of oligarchies , is part . But a more timid policy will , for some time , prevail ; and if they must have allies in the aristocracy , we would venture to refer them to the energetic section of the Peelites—who stand between
Whigs and Tories , scarcely recognised by either , and yet more powerful than both , because , by necessity , seeking to " approach " the middle class . Mr . Gladstone , the expelled of the Carlton , the author of the Budget of —53 , is the natural leader of a popular party .
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THE SPIRIT OF THE ARMY . Whateveii may l ) o tho isssue of the courts martial now sitting at Windsor , enough and more thau enough has been elicited , in suite of a conspiracy of short memories and prevaricating tongues , to deter any father from aspiring to place his son in her Majesty ' s Korty-sixth Regiment of Foot . If that undistinguished and unfortunate corps wore the only culprit in tho case wo should be disposed to abandon tho equitable and truly paternal
chief , Colonel Q avrett , with his congenial and complaisant staff , and his polished and ingenuous subalterns , to whatever sense of tho honourable , tho becoming , and tho brave , still lurks in tho bosom of an , unmilitnry public . No words , wo are persuaded , can indict a deeper stigma on the performers in that disgraceful pnrody of justice than' their own leagued hesitations and blundering confessions . Tho ' Court , ' as that strange tribunal
is called by courtesy , may a fled ; to trout , with tho disdain of the barracks , the voice of public opinion and tho indignation of civilians . But wo take leave to express our belief that public op inion will yet prove too strong for Hwogfjonng corruption in or out ; of barracks . Wo have never joined , in tho vulgar abuse of tho army . ' Hewiflting the principle of n standing army , deprecating tho sysloni oi purchase , which destroys all soldierly emulation , nud reduces tho organised strength ol
the nation to an appanage of raSik , or wealth , we have ever dared to feel , and never hesitated to express , a frank and cordial ayia » - pathy for the service . We have not waited for the war to feel and to express this sympathy . In a time of war we hold it to > be , more than ever , a sacred duty of public , writers to deal tenderly and respectfully witk the reputations of gallant men exposed to hardships and to perils from , which civil life i * free . It is because we believe and know that .
the very life of the army is vitiated and- enfeebled , its prestige compromised , and its fair fame sacrificed by proceedings such a * those which have signalised the Forty-sixth at Dublin and Windsor , and scarcely less bj the attitude and constitution of the Court which pretends to be trying a prisoner wbile it is hoTinding on the persecution of a victim , that we denounce the system , and its evil fruits . That system was described witli minute precision iu a letter to the Times , by one signing himself " Civilian , " as a system in which
" Until lately , the half-educated 'member a ' of otit aristocracy and ploutoeracy , who , on leaving our public schools , have felt themselves unequal to rn&eu the educational tests requisite to qualify them for entering at our tiniversities , have been in the habit of taking refuge in certain fashionable corps , in which they coxild dress gorgeously and play at soldiering with very slight chance of ever being called upon to perform any real service , and where they could agreeably divide their time between horse-racing" , betting ,.. fornicating , and prize-fighting .
*> " It has long been the habit of the officers of these corps to consider them merely ; as pleasant" clubs , kept up as " asylums for the private ' accommodation of young men ' in society / and to resent the appointment of any young man not included , in their opinion , within that pale as an unwarrantable intrusion , to be resented by all means within their power , whether fair or foul . " To this letter another writer , " an officer of fourteen years' service , " , signing himself
" W . B ., attempts to reply . Civilian s sneer , he says , " at the sons of the aristocracy em « - bracing the army because they are unable to stand the test required in one of the learned professions , may in some respects be true . " . . . . " Should Civilian ' s lad of sixteen or seventeen years of age ' sftoio any signs of mental or hodih / ioea 7 cne $ s , he ought not to T ) e < in the ann } r , where such deficiencies will but lead to rain . One of the learned professions wonld he his sphere . "
Observe that while this officer is willing to ' allow that sons unfit for learned professions are sent iuto the army , he suggests with characteristic effrontery , that youths affected with mental or bodily deficiency should l ) e consigned to a " learned profession" as unfit for that service of which the gallant witnesses of the I'ovty-sixth are conspicuous ornaments . He does not dispute , much loss disprove , the charge that the army is in effect an aristocratic club . On tho contrary , he assures fond fathers that regiments are " pleasant clubs when joined by boya who will not endeavour to dictate to their seniors , or disturb the reaime Avhich lias existed for years . "
Wo arc nob disposed to cavil at the reservation . AVe all know that discipline * and duo subordination ai * o indispensable- to any well-organised society ; that prigs and pedants aro insuflerablo . Theso arc moro common-places , vague and stale enough ; but what we did not know was , that tho habits and practices of tho Porty-sixth , and wo hnvo good reason to four of nuvny other regiments in her Majesty ' s service , aro tho liabitd » ml praetioon of any ordinary society of giMitli'iiuMi . W thoy arc , w caii only Bay commend us to tho society ot costonnongora !
Tho Forlv-Mixlh may ho ono oi many gxcoptionH , mid no doubt is , at lonat—in boing found out . But tho morale of tho Vorty--sixth in , wo HiiHpeot , —we apeak of the youngem officer , * —tho morale- of two-thirda of tUoi
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August 1 . 2 , 1854 . ] TH E LEADER , 755
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 12, 1854, page 755, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2051/page/11/
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