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3 ? or no man trusts himself who . distmsts all others , losing confidence an his fellawbeings , he preserves none ™ *™» F ** " ™ -,,. Among the speakers at St . Martins Hall on W ednesday last was one , a philanthropist by sentiment and by profession . His encomium on an agitator who did not address the meeting was , " He can excite their suspicions . " And this , in reality , is the ware in which many a demagogue deals . It is m politics what mystery is in romance ; it gives scope to the imagination , and is as fascinating to a half-taught adult as a dark cellar is to a child . But is it a manly process ? Is it
truthful , or pure , or brave r Sane thinkers among the working-classes should examine closely the grotesque bugbeara so freely fabricated with respect to the English Cabinet and the Bussian war . Only one person , among the many who daily " implore" some veiled prophet or incognito Pitt to " save the nation , " of
specifically , stated the mystery iniquity to which the popular allusions point . Tie story would be too ludicrous for repetition , were it not the currency of thousands of politicians , in London and the provinces . It is affirmed , then , that in the crazy Foreign Office is contained " a certain sealed box . " In that box is
deposited " the agreement of Russia and England with regard to the partition of the Ottoman Empire . " " With this precious memorandum lie others relating to the treaty with Denmark , "dictated by the Czar at Warsaw . " An anecdote , it appears , is connected with the sealed box . " When ! Lord Derby succeeded IiOrd John Eusseii as Premier , he objected to the terms of the Danish treaty , but " he was not allowed to take office except on condition of adopting measures contained in documents kept in the sealed box . " Now , there were some ex-M . P . ' s , some retired
officers of rank , many aldermen and towncouncillors , besides a muster of trading agitators , in the room in which this statement was made . We shall not , therefore , insult the understanding of every man in the empire by reasoning a little with otir working-class friends upon this preternaturally preposterous fable . Imagine Mr . Pisbajeli in Downing-street , drawing into official twilight the proofs of a treasonable compact between the Whigs and Russia . Conceive him possessed of a paper reciting the terms of a plot to divide , after a
due interval of fighting , the spoils of the prostrate Ottoman Empire . Is there a man who can write his own name who believes that between hostile parties , inveterate factions , unscrupulous adventurers , bitter antagonists , and really honest , English-minded men , who successively fill the Treasury , such a conspiracy could lie , dark as Phlegethon , darker than the drains of Downing-street ? And yet it is a serious fact that declarations of this kind are not only made , but received with riotous applause , printed , repeated , and almost affirmed upon oath .
Extravagances of such a nature are invented by men haunted by a monomania , who have the dexterity to perceive that suspicion is welcome to a part of the working-classes . At the unreported meetings continually held in the metropolis , and in the provinces , nothing produces so much effect as a dismal hint , or a reckless accusation . A sense of mystery hovers over the speaker ' s face , and
his audience are astonished at the turpitude of human ( Ministerial ) nature . For instance , the late Polish meeting was not intended as a demonstration of enthusiastic sympathy ; it was a perfidious farce , got up between the Harquis of Bbbadalbanb and the Earl ot Harrington , with the prince of machinations , Lord Palmebston , consulting his
sealed box in the background . One Wednesday no chairman arrived / and the blackest insinuations were muttered along Drury-lane . The next Wednesday the chairman and the speakers were ready , and Sir Robebt Peei came , with a sardonic mimicry of enthusiasm , to broach the scheme of a Christian empire ( under a Russian prince ) on the Bosphorus . A blue light flickers over the story . Even if Poland were to be restored ,
the working-classes are warned to give no credit . Poland must then , in its turn , be suspected , for it will be " a bulwark of Russia against Europe . " No clear intellect can perceive the connexion between the beginning and the end of this epic of treason ; but it is the staple , not of Chartist bluster alone , but of a sickly Conservative scepticism , which deplores the honest prerogative of our ancient English royalty .
The suspicion which is aimed at the Cabinet , whether " Whig , Tory , or Coalition , is directed against the middle classes also . Alderman Aulday , supporting the virulent exaggerations of Mr . Attwood , bargains for a cheer , from " the body of the hall , " as follows : — " The working men are looking into blue-books ; now find me a middle-class man who is doing the same ? " As if there were a middle-class man in England , if Alderman Ali / day be not one .
But this deplorable asperity , this gall and wormwood of politics , has its moral , not for the working-classes alone . Their agitators are only suited to the temper of an ill-taught , ill-represented people . Their querulous discontent takes refuge in suspicion . Mortified by exclusion , they believe—or a small exciteable section of them believe—that Government is only an agency of delusion , that the Whigs feel a personal delight in the agonies of mankind . "We must keep to our course . Upon this
point w e cannot natter " the people , " or approve their " friends . " Time , we trust , which does justice between man and man , will do justice between class and class . We have fulfilled our duty , when we have asked help from those whose teachings teach the people in warning them against the effects of this suspicious humour . It ia a hateful spectacle to Bee a thousand Englishmen concurring in the belief that England is , and always has been , governed by a race of political malefactors . But it becomes still more
incomprehensible when pacific sympathies arc united with this policy of pertinacious distrust . Is it more difficult to believe that our governing class , united by sentiment and by tradition with the governing classes of tho Continent , are unwilling to aid in bringing them to ruin , than to suppose that the belligerent governments of Europe have agreed to wage a mortal and desolating war for years before they give effect to a preconcerted plan of impossible treachery ?
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OUR MILITARY RESOURCES . The last words of General Evans in the session which has just como to an end are undoubtedly worthy of that full consideration to which , aa Lord Pax-mehston admitted , they are justly entitled , not only as coming from a man haying in every way a right to express hie opinion on tho conduct of tho war , but as containing intrinsic worth . It ia indeed a lamentable fact that tho British
force in the East is inadequate to tho requirements of tho war ; and tho only excuse that can bo offered for the Government in , that soldiers cannot be manufactured in a few monthB , nor , when they nro striplings at tho time of enlistment , under a few years . But admitting that we are enlisting at double the rate of any previous year j admitting that
we have done , all that could be done to raiE reeruits , atill there comes the ; question , e properly raised by General Evans * are thei no British troops , except those in the Crimei seasoned and fit for the hardships of a can paign ? There are such troops . Casting soldier ' s glance over the globe , Sir De LiAC sees that we have 40 , 000 European troops i India—10 , 000 of these he would spare . Thej
are seven battalions at the Cape , and Britia troops scattered in Ceylon , the Mauritiu Hong-Kong , Australia , doing police dut ; nearly all of whom might easily be spare * and their places filled by the irregular cavalt and the sepoys of India ; and thus in thrc months , ho calculates , there would be 2 O , 0 C men ready for the Crimea or elsewhere . 1 these he would add three battalions doir
garrison duty in the Mediterranean , to replaced by militia regiments ; and an " Iris Brigade" composed of 5000 men , seloctt from the Irish police , " one of the finest corj in the world . " And again he would rai ; much higher the Foreign Legions now j course of organisation ; and he would suppi them all with the best possible arms . Now there is , as Lord Palmebston \ v : confessing , when the proximate Black Eo cut short his last speech so inopportunely much force in what is said with regard t
India . " It is possible that in some statior portions of native troops might be availabJ to replace European regiments . " No doul whatever . India is tranquil ; and the di-i ciency of Europeans could be easily made u with natives . Certainly the troops in A us tralia could be dispensed with if a lig . 1 infantry corps of New Zealanders were raisec as it might be , for service in that country tho irregular horse at the Cape , with th Burgher force about to be raised , would b
strong enough to control the Caftres ; an the native Indian array might , of course be augmented to almost any extent . \ V are , therefore , of General Evans ' s opinioi that 20 , 000 stout warriors , all of Hrilis build , and bone , and spirit , might in few months augment our Crimean annj If there are difficulties in obtaining a Irish Brigade from tho constabulary , at there any in raising a Canadian Brigade ? 1 is the duty of a British Government , desirou of carrying on tho war " with tho utmos possible vigour , " to use Mr . Cowpeh ' tli
words , in order that we may frustrate designs of Russia for " universal domination to use Mr . Lowe ' s phrase , to develop all tli resources of our great empire . Far larger tho population at our disposal than that < liussia , and animated by at least an eqiu spirit of loyalty and devotion to tho caust We should appeal to tho slumbering nationt passions of all tho subjects of the Britia Crown , and show our enemy , by making wu to tho death , that no one shall provoke Ores Britain with impunity to leavo tho paths c peaco for tho bloody field of war . But wo have other and more formidabl
resources than those of men : wo hav science . Putting on ono side tho dazzling bu mysterious schemes of a Dundonald , n . n < oven the projects of a NaSmyth , let us se < what has actually been done in tho way o arms . Major John Jacob has recently pub lishcd a pamphlet on " Biflo Practice , " ii which lie describes some astounding result ; obtainod by him that promise to make a re volution in tho art of war . Major Jacou if tho well-known commandant o £ tho ( Soiiuli
Irregular Horse . Ho lias for years atudnx the capabilities of tho rifle , and has sot up s moat elaborate practising-ground in front o tho lines" of his cavalry station . W itl what results ? Ho has not only ascertained and fixed by actual practice tho boat form ibi tho riflo and the ball , working with doiull )
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? J ^ T HE Ii E ADEB , [ No . 282 , Sattopay ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 18, 1855, page 790, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2102/page/10/
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