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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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the Imperor 3 | £ jholas . The Sturge expedition to St . Petlisburg was the last ani finest speeinen of the ? moral force belief that the world has ¦ witnessed . Nicholas has cared us of the delusion ; but if we profit by the war , we owe its results to different authors . We have bj > th , bad and good ; we owe to Nicholas the ; gating from our dream , and a grand confes ^ onVof \ rhat high Imperial autocracy consist ^ J ^ eqwakening is a real service to us , sufficieB ^ ig , ^ Sb Q us stay our hand if we had cauglifeijbe erqssaied rascal , and were
about to inflict , V 0 p ,. « i m his condign , hanging . For if any murderer deserved hanging it is Nichol as ;• aid ? -the punishment ought to be inflietedt ^ afKiiiic ^ ^ for his crimes against Russians as aganst Englishmen or Poles . On the field of-Alinar- alone there were probably lO ^ ftihptfaai feeings more or less mutilated . pEhiarj ^ denta are sickening enough ; we would $ iirn / e ?< ai fr < 6 ni the reading of them , though wteI ©» g % tJtd ' ftead , for it ; is our duty at least toSfofofewMiii our soldiers endure . To ride fcomifche ifeld with a foot hanging by
a shTedy-tp oavei a ^ 'leg shattered into many pieces ^ to-Jtvd tWtfront of the abdoinen carried awa ^ -, e&e * &- o \ ra hand driven -with a cannon-fehiistlir ^ fgh the body , the brains protrudingfrtfifiM ^ hdle in the forehead , -while the spasmodic ^ h ^ itf ^ vainly strives to wipe away the dozing' Sea ' flache—are forms of human suiFerin ^^ mi -rfie very names of w hich the eye turn % PJfS ?| b they ' are forms which have been mftictM ^^ dn hundreds and thousands of aur fellovv-ereatures , who could not " turn
from the perusal of the details , " for they underwent the details bodily . They suffered because Nicholas is ignorant , unjust , capricious , arrogant , false , obstinate , and reckless . These are but a few of the vices in which he is now indulging before the -world ; and of such clay are made the meu whom Congresses of European statesmen set up upon high thrones to rule the world . "We asceifcain in war what a curse to manlrind is a despot ;—war thus leads to a demolition of various " Grace of G-od" fictions .
Without the lesson inflicted upon us by Nicholas , we should indeed have been unable to learn that which our nature is capable of confronting and achieving . To satiate his criminal ambition a Nicholas cannot inflict hoi'rors which our countrymen will not confront to sustain the national honour , ' the rights of an ally , and the justice of the world . No , there is not a form of torture that the battle-field can comprise straight towards which Englishmen will not march to uphold a piece of bunting which represents , a
principle ; there is not a hardship that they will not endure cheerfully ; there is , in short , no pressure that can be put upon their vitality which that vitality is not strong enough to conquer . The life of vice is never equal to the life of virtue ; and on the field of Alma we learn , not only that England can live down the Czar , but we discover the lifo that is within us , and that has , perhaps , during the peace , been too dormant , too much forgotton by those who thought that trade was lifo and money right .
On . that Held also we havo learned another lesson never to bo lost sight of . Wit may rule the world , and cunning may onablo diplomatists to get the woather-gago of their fellow-subjects in every clime , whether the institutions bo Absolutist , Constitutional , or Republican ; hut the keenest wit cannot sustain its rule with any safety or stability , unless some degreo of affection also lends a sanction to the power ; and besides those things , wit and affection , there is also sheer physical compulsion . Bodily force is the material instrument for acquiring or maint&hung political power . Disguise him how you may , tho soldior is tho ultimate arbiter
of contending factions . This is why men with soldierly qualities are prized . A St . Arnaud , who can sit his saddle and dictate a victory while his very intestines are giving way under agony and mortal disease , is a species of animal which will always be prized when states are defending or regaining military power . If the Government cannot stand without him , the state which does not possess
animals of that spirit and bone , cannot hold its place in the world . If we cannot overmatch Russia in sheer physical '' pluck" and strength , we must , for all our books and moralities , be content to let the Czar rule England . It is because we can produce something which Peace Societies ignore , that INicholas is not triumphant on the Th ames , and is driven back , baffled and defeated , from the Danube .
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THE PATRIOTIC FUHD . It must not be said—and it will not—that England neglects to provide for the helpless dependents of those who fall in the service of their country . If the State at present makes no adequate provision for wives , families , ¦ w idows 3 and orphans , of soldi eTs on active service , we are inclined to think that the ¦ provision is better left to the voluntary principle . JSTo one can be insensible to the claim ; - a knowledge that it exists inust call forth a proper , substantial , response j and if it were met in no other way , the State must provide
by compulsory taxation . Taxation , however , can never be rendered perfectly just . Its influence does not dictate a certain degree of tenderness for those who possess high incomes ; the common feeling creates a repugnance to the . idea of levying very large taxes upon any individual however great his property . There is a point , at which even proportioned taxation begins to look like confiscation ; and the . Income Tax is not
unpopular merely with those of large incomes . At a time of difficulty it is vexatious to increase the burden upon the poorest ; but the voluntary principle calls moat powerfully upon those who have the least amount of material or moral difficulty in meeting the claim ; and the experience already realised by the Central Association induces us to believe that the voluutary principle will suffice . Tho cases which demand assistance are
numerous and various . It must be remembered that a soldier ' s earnings are never great , and when he is out on active service , his expenses are often increased . He cannot take his choice of going or stnying , but is compelled , in a certain sense , to abandon his family . Be they provided for or not , he must leave them . Indeed , it is almost worse when they accompany him . No situation can be more shocking than that of a woman cast about in the roar of tho regiment on active duty like that in the East ; and the wretchedness becomes truly horrible when it is aggravated by sickness . It is so when the soldier
marries with leave ; but many marriages are contracted by soldiers , and are justified on every moral consideration , which do not secure military leave ; and in these cases the wivos and children are destitute of a claim except upon tho pariah . Tho father may be alive—tho mother oven may bo sobut he prevented from protecting as well as providing for their dependents . Those hardships su-o incurred because tho men are serving thoir country . M ' any such casea tho Association havo already relieved . It has fed tho hungry , sheltered the homeless , solaced tho unfriended , protected those who might otherwise havo gone to perdition .
Ifovr events in our day have beon more satisfactory than tho response which this claitu has already met with . The day oi humiliation was seized by many as an
opportunity m which the sacrifice made ' to religion might bring a present and a substantial blessing upon the unfortunate . There are some curious distinctions , however . The largest contributions came from the Established Church . The Roman Catholics appear to have stood absolutely aloof , and , perhaps , might justify a separate action . The " Wesleyans contributed " largely , " the Jews " munificently . " But unless the Dissenters
are in a minority , they should not be behind , and those who do not identify themselves with any place of public worship should select proper channels for sending their own tribute . The more so , since the recipients of aid are not even asked to what creed they belong . " Amongst the contributions which have been conspicuous , are those from , the Local Association of Yorkshire—the London
Journal , which has devoted the proceeds of certain supplements—the penny subscriptions of the Chelsea pensioners—of Price ' s patent candle manufactory—of the Crewe locomotive department—and the proceeds of " A Poem , by a child . " Some of the great railway companies contributed the gratuitous carriage of widows and children , or their luggage . In short , there has been an interesting and an increasing inclination to assist a proper national effort , by those various methods which the voluntary principle can so easily strike put . The Association has already spent 91722 . ; it has raised more than 80 , OOGZ . ; but more must yet be done to show that the voluntary principle is sufficient to do the work of the nation . " We may anticipate that further service from , the Eoyal Commission which is daily expected , and winch will undertake the duties of raising a voluntary tax from the people , and of seeing to its proper disposal . It must do well to outdo the self-elected association ; but evidently it will be able to appeal to numbers whom the association can only reach in a partial manner , and the public must render to it a , confidence which they cannot render to any previous body . While careful for tho dependents of the dead and wounded , however , why forget the dead and wounded themselves , asks the public j and Sir ^ Robert Peel promptly , noble , and generous ,, answers the question by sending 2 Q 01 . as the first subscription towards a fund which he proposes of 10 , O 00 Z . The blot on the Government arrangements for tho war has been in inefficient medical arrangements , and tho wounded are neglected as well as roughly handled in the ships and hospitals , for want of hands and time . "Why England should lack surgeons we cannot understand ; but wo suppose it is because our aristocratic O 0 icers look down upon middle class professional men , and our State , which can give so much for a sinecure , pays real labour ill . Could not tho Voluntary principle do something hero ? and if Sisters of Charity cannot bo sent out by a Protestant people , why not Brothers of Surgery ? Part of a fund , such as that suggested by the Times aoad Sir Robert Peel , might bo employed in organising a handsome effective corps of surgeons , to go out and assist in tho labours after tho butfclo .
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THE WAR AMONG THE JOUKNALS . Sat Ja : o : 3 Guauam is notoriously a managing man , and is consequently always gutting into scrnpus . Tho Times is , or id assum e bo , a yovy powerful journal ; Sir . Jainoa Graham , therefore , propitiates the Times by Bonding to thai ; journal Admiralty wm-dospiitohus , mid vitli Hiich obvious disregard of the other journals that tho Timos got » out its afternoon oditiona with dclat . Tho rotsulti is , thnfc Sir Jan job Graham ia abused by all tho othor journals , and that tho Times Ima to de-
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October 14 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 973
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 14, 1854, page 973, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2060/page/13/
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