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WELCOME TITTTiT' g^, A -vrn-r, T , ^ K
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school will be the favourite opinions of the trading class , and instead of seeing danger from the muskets of our enemies we shall be told that our own armaments act as ignorant , people used to fancy lightning-conductors operated , and attract Btorms that would otherwise keep away . On Tuesday evening the venerable Lyndhurst indulged the House of Lords with a powerful speech , commencing with the Dutch in the Medway , and ending with vce victis I as the final chorus in the grand opera of a French invasion . Lord Stratford de Redcliffe followed and resembled the Pekin dainty of " roasted ice 5 " he was hot and cold
at the same time . His thoughts seemed arranged in parallel layers . Danger and safety , alarm , and confidence , improbability of invasion , and-need of instant preparation against assault , formed the sentiments of alternate passages in a hysterical harangue , which terminated with a nielo-dramatic confusion of the " front of Mars ! " and the swearing book at the Old Bailey . " So help me , God ! " his lordship exclaimed , "if ever . that danger should arise , it would be the brightest day for the glory of England that ever happened , and ever shone upon her escutcheon . " Lord Granville attempted to pour a little mildness over the scene , hut Lord Ellenborough blazed forth with all the valiant energy that distinguished peter the Headstrong in his . memorable campaign for the honour and
position without anything like the expense incurred under existing arrangements , which every few years collapse or . break down . In the first place , no money Ought to be spent upon ships , fortifications , or weapons , which there is good reason to suppose will be old-fashioned and valueless by the time they are finished . Secondly , money should not be spent in ^ accumulating great quantities of articles which the mechanical power of the country can at any time produce quickly .
If these rules -were acted upon , so large a saving would be effected that we should not be subject to those fits of retrenchment which every now and then knock down our defences below the safety level . There can be no doubt that earthworks rapidly thrown up , according to the last principles of engineering , are more formidable than the most costly brick and stone fortifications adapted to the methods of attack of a previous , date .
Success in war is after all very much like success m manufactures , and depends upon the application of the required quantity of capital and skilled labour . The capital we have , and our defence problem really resolves itself into good provision for the supply Of skilled labour . The failure of the Government bounty-plan . shoTVB that it is not yet solved , with reference to the navy ; and a set of- just regulations that would make that branch of the service
¦—as it ought to be—very preferable to the mercantile marine , would add more to our power than the possession of a large number of doubtful ships . In their desire to train coast volunteers to the use of artillery , the Government evinee a wise discretion , becausej whatever may be the ultimate form of the gun , the method of using it will be pretty much the same ; but the possession at iiH points of a large number of good artillerymen will diminish
the value of fixed batteries , and ought to lead to a cessation of expenditure in constructions not adapted to the future methods of war . Oldfashioned officers who defended " Brown Bess , " in obstinate ignorance of rifle science , and who still , like Colonel Dickson , think that venerable weapon good enough for a popular force , will , of course * depreciate rifle clubs or any other arrangement wiser than their own notions ; but anj one who brin < rs the mind of a statesman to the
consideration of military affairs , will see that no regular army could be so great a safeguard against invasion as a ration possessing and knowing how to use scientific arms . Mr . Selwyn was quite right , on Tuesday , in calling the attention of the House of Commons to the difficulty of obtaining practice ground , and if the Government is really anxious to make a cheap and reasonable provision for national defence , they will take up this question without delay . Every
town in the country and every large parish in London should have one or more places in which rifle targets could be set up , find where simple evolutions might be taught . This would be a return to the old system which enabled English archers to be the foremost in the world ; and if the red tape-worms of the Horse Guards attempt to depreciate the plan , we will tell them that they have never seen a battle in which the average skill of the combatants as marksmen with the rifle is at all equal to what the average skill of Englishmen used to b <) with , the bow . Let us , as a people , acquire this skill in our leisure hours , and we then need not , at a time when wo , havo not the slightest international disagreement , talk as fiercely and pugnaciously as though the enemy 'wore at our gates .
f lory of New Amsterdam . Surely we ought to e able to make powder , bore cannon , arid cast shot , shoulder rifles , and build ships , without this undignified pother ; ¦ .. We do not want the " potent , grave , and reverend signors " of our Upper Chamber to masquerade , like More , of More Hall , when he sallied forth , armed at all points , to slay the dragon of Wantley . It would be well if our French neighbours were certain to enjoy the fun of these exhibitions , and not take in sober earnest the constant assertions that they are children of destiny , fated to hurl themselves upon our peaceful shores . If John Bull could really be persuaded to assume the attitude which these valiant lords desire , the words of the old song would be applicable : — - ' " Had you but seen him in this dress , How fierce he looked and big-, You would have thought him for to be Some Egyptian Porcupigr . " Such a national caricature is not necessary , and all the preparations which prudence demands may be made without swaggering like a swash-buckler or ranting like a . transpontine , tragedy-queen . Lord Ellenborough will not persuade the people that " the present war has not the slightest justification , " nor will" they agree with him . in deprecating the mere fact of " changing the existing
distribution of power in Europe . " History is one prolonged tale of the change of the distribution of power among States . Such changes are the inevitable results of the fundamental laws of human society , which is a thing of vitality and gr owth , incapable of beingr crystallised into a permanent unyielding form . VVe recognise these rnoveinents as nart of a system ^ yb . ich is working -well , and we desire , without fuss or frenzy , to be in possession of the physical and moral forces that "will enable us to play the part of a great nation , upon whose word and deed no small portion of tke safety of civilisation rests .
The misfortune of our present system of military and naval expenditure is , that it rests upon no principles , but is a , bundle of expedients that all parties know to bo doubtful or unsound . Wo wave spent , and are spending , an immense deal of -money on big shins , whose value in a naval war is exceedingly problematical . Authorities on naval gunnery tell us that these big vessels cannot approach land batteries without great probability of being destroyed . They also tell us that owing to the increased weight of their Artillery , and the practice of firing percussion shells horizon tally , no sea-fights of the old kind between ships blazing
away at close quarters could last many minutes , or oven seconds . These oircumstanccs ought to diminish tho rage for expending millions upon ¦ vessels that may prove of little use . With reference to land -works wo may bo said , truthfully , as well as Hibornically , to he equally at sea 5 ana General . reel frankly told the House of Commons that it yfas difficult to say -whether the fortifications now mx progress , and "which are to cost 4 , 000 , 000 / ., will Sfi' 60 ° « for anything when completed . If the Jiouse of Commona could bo persuaded to enjoy a lucid jntervoL and lay down a few simple rules for war expenditure , wo might occupy a strong
Welcome Titttit' G^, A -Vrn-R, T , ^ K
sophic mind speculates with . \ TOnder , e with sympathy . w . If , however , the little event does not come off , if any reference to children becomes a forbidden subject ; if an allusion to christenings or baptismal ceremonies is sure to be followed by an hysterical explosion ; if the baby ' s clothes are given to the poor "; if the savour of gin departs from the house in company with the hope of childbirth , and the pins are pulled pettishly from the bosom of the toosanguine pincushion , then—well then—we are ashamed to confess , that the un-sympathetic , unmaternal , and tin-paternal world is apt to sneer . For the cackling of a hen before ste lays her egg there is some excuse , but a hen that cackles , and never lays an egg after all , is beyond the pale of pity or of pardon .
We regret to state that her Majesty ' s ministers are somewhat in the position of a too-confident and disappointed mother . The circumstances of the ministerial marriage are too fresh in men ' s memories to need recapitulation . The Capulets and Montagues had made an end of their quarrels . Both prince and people were weary of the feud , and unless a reconciliation had taken place , there would soon have been an end of both Capulet and Montague , Common danger makes common friends . So the high contracting parties took coxvrisel together , and the end of their deliberations was , that " Juliet" Palmerston should
be espoused to " Romeo " Russell . The sacrifice was great ; but the necessity was great also ; There were hitches , it is true , about the settlementquestions about the dowry . The Montagues remonstratedagainst the old nurse Cranworth being kept on the establishment ; and the Capulets demanded a satisfactory compensation for the outraged memory of " Mercutio " Smith . The negotiations nearly went off upon the grave question—whether the name of Capulet or Montague should appear first upon the contract . It was , indeed , a " mariage de convenance" if not , as unfriendly critics said , a marriage " a la mode , " af ter
the style of Hogarth . Matrimony , however , is said to thrive better without love ; and the number of one ' s progeny is not measured by the depth of one ' s conjugal afiection . The hopes of the rival relatives were all based upon the prospect of an heir . The fruit of this ill-assorted union between the Montagues of Woburn and the Capulets of Cambridge House , was to be a genuine and illustrious Radieal . It is true that both the parents were advanced in years . But what of that ? _ If Isaac was born from Abraham and Sarah , might not the union of Palmerston and Russell beget a Cobden ? The betrothal was followed by the
nuptials , with perhaps indecent haste ; and the marriage ceremony was scarcely announced ere the birth of the coming offspring ; was , trum p eted forth with a suspicious celerity . Evil tongues , however , who asserted that the rapidity of the matrimonial proceedings was necessitated by tho honour oi their parents and the legitimacy of their progeny , was silenced V > y the fact that tho promised child was a long time a coming . Every preparation had , indeed , been made . The swaddling clothes , destined to control the too impetuous movements oi tho infant prodigy , were laid out and exhibited to the anxious friends , who trembled for the issue oi
WELCOME , LITTLE STRANGER . A Yownvvx , wife and expectant mother , panting for the honours of maternity , is an object familiar to us all . The premonitory symptoms of tho happy event are . matters of common knowledge . We all have heard the delicate inuendoes by which tho coming birth is heralded , tho gentle allusions to on addition to the family , tho half-expressed half-implied desires as to the sex of the interesting offspring ; the perpetual discussions as to the name
of the hoped-for infant , " M or N , ob tho case may be . " The baby ' s clothes huddled beneath tho sofa at the approach of visitors , the mysterious visits of tho bespoken nurse , redolent of gin and smallclothes ; the fond anticipation of coming paternity , apparent on the face of tho expeotant lather $ the classic pincushion , adorned with tho classic formula ; aro not these all things of daily notoriety P Things , too , on which tho unmarried and
pliilothe hot blood of the male and the eternal youth of tho female parent . Tho cradle was prepared in which the child was to be lulled to sleep . The pap-boat was ready loaded with milk , fit for a > Wlug suckling , instead of the storng meat ' of Manchester . The office of teaching the young idea to , sprout had been entrusted to the congenial care of Gladstone . The congratulatory articles were readywritten to announce the ministerial birth . Alas for human hopes 1 Neither ministers nor mothers aro exempt from the universal liitv , that nil mortal things two but vanity ; and at last the fatal tx-uth oozed out
that there was to bo no birth at all . All was over . Confirmed and hopeless sterility is to be the fate oi the ministerial matrimony . It is an unfortunate circumstance that reciprocity is a feature of these political acts of procreation . A child can repudiate his parents , as well as a parent repudiate his child . Mr . Cobden has repudiated the parentage of the Montague and Capulet connexion , lie does not even wish for any parent , and , like Topsy , he " ' spects he growed so . " In default of legal issue , tho Ministry have been obliged , to follow tho Roman system of adoption . The cradle and the pap-boat , the swaddling clothes and the pincushion are transferred to tho adopted
Untitled Article
not unmixd 818 THE LEADM Cffp- 485 : July % 1 BSQ .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 9, 1859, page 818, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2302/page/14/
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