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PARLIAMENT , THE PUBLIC , AND THE ARMY . A number of Englishmen are engaged in inscribing their names upon the muster-roll of an imaginary legion , to be formed for service in India should the Government grant satisfactory conditions to the volunteers . If Lord Palmeiiston looks upon tlie project with a favourable eye , the thin end of the wedge -will have been introduced . Something like the old spirit of military adventure will be revived . But battalions are also needed for home defence . Even with xespeet to these enlistment proceeds slowly . We will give an example . There is a corps of volunteer cavalry in one of the divisions of Kent . lEighty men are required , each finding his own horse , but being supplied by the Grovernment with arms , uniforms , and equipments . The troop has been organized several months , and numbers scarcely forty . Infantry volunteers , of course , are more easily procurable ; but even an artillery militia might be raised on a much larger scale than at present , if the managers knew how to set about their work . In 1852 certain farm labourers and mechanics of Suffolk worked out a plan by which they proved how much might be eifected in . this way if adequate facilities were afforded . Eive hundred of them enlisted , being originally destined for the light infantry branch of the militia . Ultimately , it was determined to make artillerymen of them . They assembled for a month ' s exercise in a camp on the estuary of the Orwell , and after three weeks' training went through the service admirably , performed manual and platoon exercise and the ordinary evolutions , were capable of manning 1 the battery guns on Iiauguard Fort , could keep their tents and themselves hi readiness and order , could furnish two detachments for field guns , could cook well , and submit under canvas , hardily and cheerfully , to rainy and windy weather . Ib would be an excellent thing were- all the maritime counties provided with similar organizations : but we do not hear
tbat the experiment has been repeated in more than two or three localities . We may suggest , however , a remedy a gainst the evil of which Sir Kobe it t GrAitDiNurt very properly complains —that of being compelled , in times of danger , to raise hastily a raw force , and precipitate it into the thick of a difficult campaign . It is clear that , in times of peace , England will never support ; a large standing army . Whatever may be resolved when Crimean campaigns or Indian mutinies arc in actual progress , returning peace will invariably bring with it a popular desire for reduced armaments , and the House of Commons will inevitably yield to the economical impulse , liegimenta will be weeded ; the estimates will be cut down ; the next war will infallibly reduce us jigain to the necessity of holding our ground with a comparatively i ' cw men , while we levy and perfect an army for extraordinary service . Wo must imitate Perl , and select one of three courses . We must abandon tho future to chance ; wo must maintain a ] -wyerful force , ready at all times to take the field ; or wo must give the peoplo military instruction . They would gladly receive it , ivc think . Tenants would willingly bo trainod by the younger sons of their landlords ; fjirm-lubourors might take the word of command from tenants . Townsmen would readily combine and study the practice of arms . But if a majority of ' Enghehnien arc to bo militiamen ' , it must be under an am olio rated systom . The dirty-red Bhell-jadu . 't ; and trouBors of prison fustian are too much for tho Holf-reapcd , of u decent mechanic or a small farmer . Not that tho public money Bhould bo wasted oa bullion and
embroidery for volunteers ; but that it should cease to be the rule tliat when a man joins the militia he is to wear something only less degrading than the red-and-yellow uniform of the convicts in Bermuda , This , we have grounds for saying , is a point of sore complaint . Young men are deterred from
volunteering for the militia by the ridiculous contrast between a defender of his country , of that caste , and an ordinary fireman . Military service , of any kind , is not attractive at present . Yet thousands are only waiting for a practical reform to assist in relieving the Grovernment of a difficulty . Which is preferable—the difficulty , or the reform ?
Militai-y men of high xank accuse the House of Commons , and go so far as to demand that the Horse Gruards shall in future determine , without any check or control whatever , what establishment shall be maintained , and at what cost . Such a proposal has actually emanated from a G-eneral in the Royal Artillery and Knight Commander of the Bath . This gentleman has obviously omitted to inform himself on the position of the House of Commons in Grreat Britain . The question is one of money . Let Lord Paistmum : or the Duke of Cambuldgke resolve to
keep on foot a hundred thousand soldiers ready for immediate service , and what then ? Is there even a General in the Artillery who asks us to abolish the supply-granting privileges of the Commons ? Let there be ' exclusive guidance' in the hands of the ' authorities , ' the authorities must come to Parliament for their expenses ; and Parliament will insist upon auditing the accounts . Upon disallowing a largo item here and there , also , if it thinks fit . The suggestion that the House of Commons should cease to meddle
in matters concerning the army is simply not to the purpose . It is by Parliament that the change must be initiated . The public makes two claims—to be protected , and to be protected at the smallest possible cost . It makes , in the next 2 ) lace , an offer—to assist iu protecting itself . The work for the Legislature is to reconcile those propositions , and to establish upon that basis an improved system of military economics .
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THE WINTER CAMPAIGN IN INDIA . EiQ-uxY-rrria regular Sepo } r regiments , fortynine irregular regiments and local corps , a brigade of horse artillery , and three battalions of foot artilleiT—constituting the disorganized Bengal army—were scattered or held in cheek by a few thousands of Englishmen , aided by a small number of native allies , up to the end of September . Four months of constant lighting and desperate endeavours , so far from improving ; the position of the rebels , had hopelessty deteriorated it . . 11 ' they could « ain no advantages during the hot season , tho cool season would infallibly enfeeble their position . If they could not expel the English while , their country was changed into a swamp , little could they hope for after tho European columns were marching on dry ground . They have not even deprived tho Government of its power to levy fresh native forces . The old Punjab army h ; ia gone in groat part , but a new one , thirty thousand strong , is on foot . These must , of course , bo watched ; but tho head of the grout column oL' relief from Eiitfljuul would probably have reached . Bengal iu tho first days of October . The Ai'cta , tho . Homeward Mail informs us , was duo at Calcutta on the 20 th of September During October , 01 . 97 men would arrive either at Ceylon—whero they would call for "final orders—or in Calcutta itself . Tho Uolden Fleece * , tho Champion of the Seas , tho James Baines , and the Lady Jocelyn
were expected to enter the Hoogbly on . the saitie day , each bringing upwards of nine hundred men . Thus , before the beginning of November , an English force would be landed increasing Sir Colin Campbell ' s army by almost as many English troops as fought the battle of the Alma . During November , the arrivals in all parts of India would number upwards of sixteen thousand . Nearly seven thousand would disembark in
December , and in January about a thousand , while several detachments of artillery and engineers , sent overland , would fill up the intervals . About seventeen hundred additional troops are now under orders for embarkation in four vessels which have been taken up as transports by the Government . Without for a moment supposing that it is now time for slackening the efforts of the naval , military , or political departments , we believe that these concentrations , in the hands of an able commander , will prove irresistible . The Sepoys ,
unless officered by Englishmen , do not exhibit the highest warlike qualities . As we have already shown , the Ghoorkas beat them . " Their cavalry , I knew , could not do much , " says an officer , writing from before Delhi , " and their infantry I did not care for . " That they exhibit courage is not to be denied , since they have frequently thrown handgrenades into the English batteries ; but their strategy appears bad , and in the open fieldj unless with overwhelming odds in their favour , they are contemptible .
Captain Elthikstone ' s official computation shows that there are now 29 , 384 Queen ' s troops in India , besides 29 , 611 on their passage out . Of the former number 21 , S 84 are iu the Bengal Presidency ; of the latter , 18 , 390 are directed thither . Bengal , moreover , still contains 1 < 6 , 88 O Sepoys on duty , besides 6800 Company's troops . These are Sir Cor , i 27 Campbell's materials .
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WORKMEN'S ASSOCIATIONS . Me . Holmes introduced to the attention of the Birmingham Institution for the Promotion of Social Science the subject of associated enterprise among the working classes . Prom his statement it is evident that the Leeds experiments have been conspicuously successful . isTot only have the co-operative stores cheapened most articles of daily use to the poorer families of the town ; they have brought about a general amelioration by which the entire population wi benefit . The tradesmen of Leeds , Mr . olm : s informs us , now that the associations compete with them , refrain , to a great extent , from adulterating their goods . We hope this report will not be lost upon public opinion . In other parts of the country—Lincoln , Galashiels , and elsewhere — co-operative stores were established some years ago ; we shall be glad to receive accounts of their transactions . Moreover , many of the working-class associations for productive ) purposes have achieved remarkable successs . It would be of public advantage it * Mr . Holmes , or some one as competent" , would prepare lor tho next meeting of Lord Bhouqium's League a detailed account of the progress made- by the associative principle throughout England .
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IiOAi ) Iyiu'okm in Scotland . —The question of turnpike abolition mid maintenance of roads by assessment , "which has bueu for ten yours in agitation in lladdingtanshirc , as well as in the counties of Fifo , Forlar , Lanark , and others , wa . s brought to a crisis in the lir . stntimed county at a meeting of tho general turnpike triirtteeM , hold at lladriiugtoii on Thursday week . A keen and animated debate took place , in which the proposed reform was advocated by Lord Elcho , M . 1 ' . for the county , and reaistod by the liiglit Hon . K . A . Christopher Niabet Hamilton , M . l \ for South Lincolnshire . The result was tbat the numbers worn equal for and ) ngsinst reform , when ' lie chairman ( tho M ' nrquin ' . of Tweuddali' ) gavo his casting vote against the propose * change . ' ' ¦ ' ' •" ' '''• • •
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Ko . 396 , October 24 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER . 1023
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 24, 1857, page 1023, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2215/page/15/
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