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ANOTHER GALE . The eastern coas ^ Wf England , between Harwich and Cromer , was on Saturday visited by a storm of a most disastrous character , from which a large number of ships and their crews have been lost . From the accounts in the daily papers , we learn that the south-west gales of the early part of the previous week having- moderated , a large fleet of coasters , bound , northward , . which had sought shelter in the various ports , took advantage of the favourable weather and proceeded to their destination ' s . They were mostly colliers , in ballast , bound , to the Tyne , Hartlepool , Sunderland , &c , and altogether formed a fleet of between three and four hundred sail . The gale which told with such fearful consequences
upon them commenced early on Saturday morning , The wind , which had been blowing rather squally from the north-west , suddenly chopped round to the east south-east , from which quarter it blew a tetrific gale right on the coast , accompanied with hajl , snow , and rain . A most exciting scene immediately followed the outburst of the gale among the fleet , in bearing up and making for the nearest place of shelter . A large num . ber endeavoured to weather it out by dropping their anchors , but these suffered the most . The fury of the gale drove them from their moorings . They camo in contact with each other in indescribable confusion , carrying away rigging , bowsprits , bulwarks , and causing other serious damage .
It was on that prominent point of the coast , the most easternmost between Orfordness and Aldborough , that the gveatest mischief was occasioned . As in the vicinity of the lower part of the Swiii , a number of vessels * had brought up , in the hope of riding out the gale . Here , however , the storm appeared to be more fierce ; the vessels were dashed from their anchorage , and were carried with overwhelming force ashore . Among them were the following : —the Swedish brig Vesta , bound for London from Norway , with a cargo of timber . She speedily went to pieces , and the supercargo , G . A . W , Cluscn , the cook , and a coastguardsman named Thomas Cable , who nobly went out to save the captain ' s life , were drowned . The Charlotte Mary , Mr . Stanhope master , bound for London
from Norwich , with grain , is totally lost , and tho cap- | tain , his wife and three children , and the mate , J perished . The bnrk Corregio , Mr . Iiaincs master , ( bound for Hartlepool from Poolo , a wreck ; crew saved . The Wttterhouse , Carter , belonging to Newcastle , from ' London , ashore , and a total loss ; crew saved . The , Union hrig , froin London , for Sundcrland , totul wreck ; I crew saved . Tho brig John Barker , belonging to Whitby , a wreck ; crew saved . Tho Silvunus , Anderson , from London , for thoTyue , a loss ; crew ro * cued . The Albion , Buyley , from Kye , for Sunderluml , total < wreck ; all lmuds preserved . The French ship Fre- , derica Heloise , from Nantes , bound northward , a wreck ; crew saved . The Funcy , Phillips , bound for Shields , from Dordt ; crew auved . The Jane Wrake , from Dover , for Seaham , reported to bo a totul wreck ; , ciew rescued , In Ilollosley Buy , the Alexandrina , Swallow , and William and Mary , all of Soutb Shields ,
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MR . COBDEN ON THE WAR . Mr . Coboen has addressed a very long letter to Mr . Edward Baines , Editor of the Leeds Mercury , on the subject of the war . The chi « f argument against the continuance of hostilities contained in this document is derived from the great difficulty experienced by Government in obtaining a sufficient number of recruits , those who are obtained being for the most part raw lads unable to bear the fatigues incidental to a long campaign . The history of the siege of Sebastopol is briefly traced by Mr . Cobden , who asserts that , owing to our having at its commencement a force
equal to , if not larger than , the French , and to Lord Raglan , after the death of St . Arnaud , being the senior commander , we injudiciously took upon ourselves the same estent of field work as that allotted to our ally . But our army soon dwindled , from the effects of sickness and slaughter , until at one time it was as low as 12 , 000 ; while the French forces were largely augmented . As a necessary consequence , we were fearfully overworked , and were at length obliged to give up part of our position to the French— "that part which has been the site of the final triumph' '" , from that time to the present , our force has been gradually assuming the character of a contingent to the French army . "
Having quoted some statistics showing the number of sick and wounded during October , November , and December , 1854 , and January , 1855 ; Mr . Cobden compares the total with the number of recruits obtained during the same period , and in the additional months of February and March of the present year , the latest period up to which they have been published . He observes : — - "It will be seen by a comparison that while our sick and wounded , exclusive of killed , averaged for the four months , October , November , December , and January , nearly 18 , 000 a month , the recruiting was going on at the rate of only 5 , 100 a month . It was admitted by
Lord John Eussell in the House , last December , that the recruits fell short by 20 , 000 of the number voted by Parliament : and in the session of the present year an independent member of Parliament asserted in the presence of Ministers , without contradiction , that the deficiency amounted to 4 = 0 , 000 . And during all this time , when our army was wasting away from want of that succour which the Government could not send , ' owing' — to quote the evidence of the Duke of Newcastle— ' to the unwillingness of men to enlist to the extent to which the House of Commons had increased the English army , ' — during all this time ( I say it only as a warning for the future ) our war journals and orators were assuring us that the people were far more eager for the -war than the Government of Parliament . "
Mr . Cobden quotes , from the evidence of Lord Hardinge before the Sebustopol committee , an assertion that " the thoughtless boy enlists ; the grown-up man of twenty-five will not , or seldom . " The writer also cites , as proof conclusive that a large standing army is not needed , the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief that" a good stout man , " with sixty days' training , will be " as good a soldier as you can have . " Coming to the
consideration of the moans of raising recruits , Mr . Cobden alludes totheplan of increasing the bounty , and adds : — " It is liable to the objection that in these days of cheap locomotion you would not be sure of keeping your recruit after he had pocketed the bribe . ' We find , ' says Lord Hardinge , « that the more you raise the bounty , tho greater the number of desertions ; they make a trade of it . ' " On these data , Mr . Cobdon ects his theory that the war is not in reality popular among the
masses . " There ia nothing for it but an appeal to the manhood of England . To thia end , tho press and tho oratora and loaders of tho party opposed to pence , who toll us they have all England nt their back , must now address themselves . If , as wo have been told , this war , in defuncoof tlio 'liberty and civilization of a continent which does not think it necessary to dofund itself , is tho people ' s war , there will be a response to tho nppoul ; if , on tho contrary , it bo a war of diplomatists and newspapers , it will fail . "
The example of the United ( States nt the time of the Mexican war , when members of all classes rushed into tho ranks of tho army aa simple privates , ia referred to . "NV ' o are reminded ill at , by invading the territory of Russia , we have become " now the aggressive party ; " that " no forms of peace are possible which do not involve tho -withdrawal of our armies from hor territory , " that neither Turkey , nor tho absolute governments of Europo , nor democracy , can profit by tho continuance of tho war , which is described
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as being , for the visionary nature of its objects , unparalleled since the Crusades ; that most of the Governments of the Continent are opposed to our quarrel ; that the chiefs of the Republican party have denounced it as " an aimless waste of human blood , in which they have no-interest ; " and that even the French Government , according to report , "is now again disposed for peace . " Mr . Cobden concludes by alluding to the war doctrines preached by the Laureate and some other writers of the day :
" We have been told that war , which the -world had regarded as but at best an inevitable evil , is in itself a beneficent antidote to the selfishness of a mercantile age . and that the manly virtues would become extinct , unless invigorated by the siege and battle-field . There are minds so wanting in moral continence that they abandon themselves to every popular emotion or frenzy of the hour , —who , when all hearts exulted at the signs of international peace , declaimed of the horrors of war , —who now that the demon of carnage has sway for a season sing of the ' canker of peace , ' and who would be ready to mop and mow with , madmen to-morrow if Bedlam could be but one day in the ascendant . Such are they who now ask us to believe that the spectacle of
human passion and suffering which has been enacted during the last year in the Crimea , and which has converted that fair scene into an earthly pandemonium , is necessary for the social regeneration of mankind ;—that the purer feelings and affections of our nature find a healthy development in an atmosphere so foul and unnatural that domestic life cannot breathe it ;—that an employment where men bring every faculty to the task of destroying others , and preserving themselves from destruction—that there is the school to unlearn selfishness and to traia us to the disinterested love of our species ! We are asked to believe these things . Yes , when we are prepared to pronounce the New Testament a fable , and Christ ' s teachings an untruth , we will believe them , and not till then . "
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1072 „______ THE LEAD ER , [ No . 294 , Saturday , I
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in * and the autumn nights , occasionally very dark . Almost all ot them were stopped , and the number of our mizes on all the points of the coast amounted to sixty , forming a collective total of 900 tons . Not one of these vessels could have made the passage tq France , and they were all destroyed . .... Since the beginning of October every day brought a remarkable increase in the intensity of cold ; for a long time j > aai the ground has been plentifully covered with snow , and as the thermometer fell on the 9 th to seven degrees below zero , at the same time that masses of ice floated continually past the ships , we considered that the season when navigation was on the point of being completely interrupted had arrived . We therefore decided on taking our final departure , which -we did altogether on that very day . Thr English Army in tub Crimea . —The Globe furnishes some statistics of the present condition of prospects of our army in the Crimea . We append the principle points , with the proper caution that £ he source is a Government journal , disposed , of course , to put the highest possible shine upon matters : — "On the 16 th of October , the strength of the whole British army in the Crimea was , in round numbers , 5 b ' , 000 men of all ranks , of whom the number of ineffectives , from wounds and sickness , was ohout 4 , 500 . It was composed of 14 regiments of cavalry , numbering nearly 5 , 000 ; of 52 battalions of infantry , of various numerical strength , but a pretty accurate average of which would be 640 each , or something over 33 , 000 in the aggregate ; 14 batteries , and some troops of artillery , and nine companies of Sappers , net far short of 9 , 000 men in all . The remaining 10 , 000 are made up of Commissariat , Land Transport , Army Works , Medical Staff , and other ancillary corps . Calculating the mortality among these men as 100 aweek foKix months , and the sick list to be as numerous as at present , there would be of the soldiers at present in Crimea 49 , 000 effective on the 15 th of April ; adding as reinforcements , 2 , 800 cavalry and 20 , 000 infantry , we should have at the commencement of the campaigning season , say about 70 , 000 Brittish troops in fair condition , to maintain tie honour and interests confided to their keeping . Other important English forces , although containing but a small numerical proportion of Englishmen , will henceforward be available . Of the Turkish Contingent we hear reost encouraging accounts . They will number 20 , 000 , and this force will be further materially increased . We shall put down the different Foreign Legions at the more than moderate estimate < f £ 5 , 000 men , and , omitting the Sardinian army , tve calculate the total strength thus : —British troops , 70 , 000 ; Turkish Contingent , 20 , 000 ; and British German and British Swiss Legions , 5 , 000 ; making altogether 95 , 000 men . Thanks to our two years' experience and our transport service , we may reasonably hope to keep this army in health and efficiency ; in fact , worthy , in point of condition as well as numbers , to take their place beside those of our great ally . ' American Sympathy with Russia . —The Boston correspondent of the Neto Yorh Herald , says that saltpetre , gunpowder , and firearms , have been sent out from America to Russia in vast quantities . Nicholaiefjf possesses twelve dockyards , six for ships of the line and six for smaller vessels ; also immense arsenals , and almost exhaustless materials for shipbuilding . It employs 600 workmen in ordinary times , and 12 , 000 on occasions of emergency . At present , the number , according to German accounts , is not less than 21 , 000 . — Journal tie Constantinople . The New Russian Levy —Tho manifesto of the Czar relative to the new levy produced hero the most painful impression . Since 1886 no levy of 10 men in every 1 , 000 inhabitants had taken place throughout tho empire , for you must have remarked that seven governments only l ) uve been exempted from the measure . I do not exaggerate by estimating at 200 , 000 men the numbers recruited in virtue of the new decree . That maximum , however , will scarcely suffice to complete the effective fovce of the different corps and fill up the vacancies occasioned by the war . Kvery man is worth about 5 , 000 roubles , so that a landed proprietor who owns 1 , 000 serfs puys to the Stute 50 , 000 roubles . You may consequently judgo of the enormity of tho sacrifice imposed upon liim . —Letter from St . Petersburg in the Constitutionnel , Admiuai . JBo xjru . —The following testimony to tho services of the late Admiral Boxer , is from an * able and interesting paper in tho current number of tho United Service Maffczhie : —" Admiral Boxer ' s situation at Constantinople might bo likened to that of one in a net — his duty lying before , and resolution in hid heart to struggle through , or die . Onco freo of tho cobwebinfluence that stayed him , he showed at Bolnklava what he would have done elsewhere , hail tho moral support of a fleei ' a presence given its prestige , or tho help allowed him which Admiral Grey has since found to bo indispensable . Will did ho accomplish the Iierculian task of clearing that Augean stable , the said Balaklava ; and , by the activity ho displayed , the lifo ho infused into others , and the order he brought out of a chaos of ships and vessels indescribable , proved what might have been effected last winter , had the right man then been in the tight place—that is tho head of tho transport scrvico -with the annv . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1855, page 1072, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2114/page/4/
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