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THE REDUCTION Otf THE FORCES
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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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Nowhere is it believed that the crisis lias passed in Spain . The O'Donitei . 1 . usurpation seems at present but an equivocal success . There is an ominous pause in the conflict . It would be more satisfactory to the new Goyernmentnotto bereceiyedvrith solitfcle opposition , ^ e must believe , then , in the probability of Estate of confusion arising in that peninsula , the only question being whether it would be left to exhaust itself , or whether an external influence would be brought to bear in favour
of one party , and against the other . In that case it would not be safe to calculate upon the continuance of a good understanding between Great Britain and France . Up to this time England has bad a Spanish policy , ¦ worthless , no doubt , lmt always opposed to that of France , and it does not seem that the official alliance of the imperial and constitutional Governments has gone so far as to remove every landmark of diplomacy and opinion . To mart the difference , Ijotjts
in the kingdom of . Naples , and has its influential advocates in France , to ¦ whom unhappily the most injudicious replies are made in Italy . "When "Loiris Napoieoh ' s relative is proposed for the throne of the Two Sicilies —as if Naples were a royal living , in the gift of certain great Chancellors of Empire— -a counter-proposition is made , and Naples , independently of the Neapolitans , is offered to
Victor Emmanuel by his friends . The Italians , however , have learned to estimate the good-will of France . They have heard of their exiles—Italian subjects—dragged through the territories of the French Empire , with iron collars on their necks , suffering outrage in French prisons , and transported , like convicts , to Dover . And they are invited to crown Mubat King of Naples .
Neither the Austrian nor the Prussian . Governments have been induced ^ by the transition of Europe from a state of peace to a state of war , to effect any reduction of their military forces . Of course we . are aware that greab reductions were announced in the official Gazette of "Vienna . But we know what that means . Two or three myriads of armed men are taken to the rear , and not paid for a time . But they do not the less constitute an . army . They only enjoy a vacation , but
are not relieved from their responsibility to martial law , and are liable to be sumnioned , at any hour , to the service of the State . Even in Prussia there has been some political restlessness of late , which has broken out in Neufchatel , where the recent insurrection may turn out to have been the premature fruit of a conspiracy not hatched at Berlin alone . ISreufchatel abuts unpleasantly into the drowsy land of Germany , and has been warmed into obnoxious life since ita union
with the Confederated Cantons . Whatever schemes of philanthropy were attributed , upon the conclusion of peace , to the Court of IRussia , seem in no danger of being realized . Russia remains -Russia without Nichoxas , and it would be premature to say that all doubtful points , in that direction , have been settled . A constitution has irot yet been found for the Danubian Principalities .
But , after all , whatever may be the general inclination of mankind to peace , and whatever the ingenuity of governments in evading a settlement of disputed questions , the great probability of ^ the future is that pointed at by Mr . Roebuck . The principles upon which the mass of Europe is governed , and by which the diplomacy of Europe is regulated , are totally incompatible with the interests of the several nations ; and when the nations understand their interests the day of reckoning will have arrived .
INajoIiEON has sent O'Donnkli . the Cross of the Legion , called of Honour . Spain , however , is less a source of anxiety than Italy . In . that country there is a prohability of war . "We may be told that all the military preparations going forward are defensive j but when contiguous States set double guards upon their frontier , when border cities are fortified , and camps established , virtually hostile , almost within signal distance , the expectation of a struggle is
implied . The Austrian , and Sardinian Governments , moreover , are positively at issue , upon serious matters of international law , with so much rancour , that no calculable chance seems to exist of a sincere or permanent accommodation . But supposing Austria and Sardinia to be diplomatically reconciled , the result does not depend solely on them . Ltjthee said : " When monarchs agree to parcel out the world , perhaps the ILord God will arise and make a different distribution . There
is the nation of Italy to be consulted : now , we take it to be demonstrable that the statesmen of Austria and Sardinia cannot effect a satisfactory settlement of the Italian question , even as it concerns their territories alone . When two claims are inconsistent one must be modified . Now , either Vienna or Turin must give way . Has Vienna ever given . way . to [ Turin ? Has Turin ever given way to " Vienna without mortifying and exasperating the Italian people ? This Italian people , let us
remember , has become an important party to the discussion . The Republicans alone are powerful enough to discompose the plans of the several Cabinets and their self-inspired supporters . It is very easy to say , as we "hear it said with suspicious pertinacity , that Mazzini . is a dead politician . If he be dead , -why is he stamped on ? "Why are a hundred pens engaged in proving that he is of no consequence whatever ? This may be said in reply , ——that it is not known at what moment a large and well-equipped army may start up in the peninsula , receiving its commands from the untiring Genoese . The subscription for "Victor Emmanuel's artillery has a
formidable rival in the subscription for Mazzini ' s muskets . It is well that tma truth should be recognized , in order that the Government at Turin may understand that the capitulation of Piedmont would not be the capitulation of Italy . Meanwhile , the Sardinian fortresses ate , prepared for defence ; the argument in fayoui :: of reprisals of confiscation becomes OTrohger daily ; aud it is hoped that the riedmoiit ©! , © campa of exercise will not be iormed far from the frontier . Again the sinister shadow of Bonapartism is visible . M-ANifc at Paris ia forbidden to aid in the fortification of Alessandria * i j ? ^ ^ uart , » ^ y ie diaturbed by the Bigua of coming trouble . . KCuratism creeps on
The Reduction Otf The Forces
themselves to the whole , so that the soldiers constantly practise in combinedVaction with a large force . During the war in the Crimea our regiments were expanded by recruiting to an unusual size ; new corps were formedand many of our officers for the first time became acquainted with combined duties in brigade or division . In reducing the army Government does not simply return to . the former organization of the ' peace establishment . ' The division into regiments ia of course still maintained ; but the permanent organization will be in many respects new
-bach , regiment will maintain eight companies of about 100 men each , for active seiviceand will have about 200 men , divided into four companies , at its depot ; the regiments thus consisting of about 1000 men . The Land Transport Corps will be reorganized as the Military Train . The Artillery will not be reduced , "but will "be maintained in the full strength which it had acquired during the war . The forces at home will be coiistantly trained in the camp and field duty . In . ahortj abandoning the old position of keeping up certain regiments at home , distributed with
more or less symmetry in divers topographical districts , we shall be keeping up a real army . It is true that the gross number of men will be reduced : at present the total is reckoned at about 153 , 000 men ; the reduced forces will probably consist of ahout 125 , 000 . But even this slight reduction is greater in appearance than in . fact . " What will the new army cost ? Out last
peace establishment barely reckoned 100 , 000 men , and could in no respect compare with the army now proposed , either in organization or equipment—there were no camp exercises to be carried out . The expense , therefore , of the 125 , 000 anen will be far greater in comparison to the expense of our last " peace establishment than the simple increase of 25 per cent . ¦ . It is evident that those who have laid
down the new plan for the British army contemplated something more ,- —that the plan has been clipped here and there in order to diminish the expense . One point alone will establish this fact . Each regiment of eight service companies of 100 men each will have tour reserve companies of 50 men each , more or less in dep 6 t . Now , any man iu the slightest degree acquainted with military subjects is well aware that this
proportion is not at all sufficient . " We quite admit that the army , under its intended improvement , will not require so lai * ge a reserve as it did during the war , not only because the draughts of men will be less , but because there is evidently an intention to abandon the vicious style of recruiting which was thought necessary or expedient during the contest . We need not say that we do not believe in the necessity or the expediency of bad recruiting .
THE REDUCTION Otf THE FORCES . TTndeii the name of e reduction , ' the British army is about to receive a permanent increase . There is something ; so little methodical in our system , that it is not easy to place the proposed arrangement before the reader in a perfectly natural and distinct form . Our old plan has been to divide the army into regiments , each under its colonel or colonels ; permitting those regiments to find themselves separated , or aggregated according to the
necessities or accidents of the day . " When they were brought together under an army , they were arranged into divisions or brigades according to the nature of the particular movement to he carried on . The one permanent classification of the army is into different kinds of forces—cavalry , infantry , artillery , and bo forth ; but within those several kinds only into regiments . The [ French system is to form ' armies , ' and to accustom the constituent parts of the- army to adapt
The purchase system , excluding from commission all but the wealthy , or the . f onnexiona of men already in commission , and coupled with the restriction of promotion from the ranks , tends also to exclude from the ranks all but those who are alien alike to the trading aud the ' gentle' classes . The consequence is that the field of recruitment is narrowed ine xactly the same ratio . It is very undesirable for the soldier to begin his business too livto in
life , although recent experience has ascertained tliat it is undesirable at least to send the soldier abroad too early in life . A particular ra . nge of age , therefore , is designated by tho two conditions , of choosing tlie recruit not too young nor too old . In couiplianco with these conditions , the appeal is made to a mere fraction of the wholo population ; and at the commencement of the war , in order to obtain a sufficient number of recruits , the
Untitled Article
876 THE LEADER . Jjj ^ ij ^ Saturday
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 13, 1856, page 876, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2158/page/12/
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