The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-01-14 00:00:00

rtnrfforrtilllTlVlß onstrrrite

attained. With rigarea the actual state-if-the country,
there are, no 41,,t0t, extensive districts which are wasted awl
depopulated, and between the Invasi,ot and toe defence there
are probably • million sod a half of consumers who produce
r °thing. It would be easy to exacgorate the Importance of
these two elements in the case. 7 here are east &enamel,-
lions of wealth in Franca, and the 11..verontent has no Pick
of money. (titre lately an American VCP,i brought • large
car. o of arn.s and ammunition, and, on the demand of her
rep atm the whaleprioeof her freight wae paid down In gold
before the hatches were opened. War curtails lean y and
expe dtture and to do thus in N ranee will go
tar levier& paying Its cost, People tare ,ound that they
min wear out their old cl, this, sod can drank cider instead
of wine without losing either their eelf.reap.ct or the reapa,t
of their neighbours. At Le Maus I saw Madame de 'focque
villa take her place at the crowded table Who te of the third-
rate inn to which alone I could gain admlsslon, and after-
wards carry round • salver to collect contributions for the
wounded.

Ipsit.ter, who residei here, is servirg In the National (*wird ;
Marshal Valliant, the late Moister of the Imperial House-
hold and of the Fine Arta lout a house at Nogent.eur
Marne, tilled with picture., (d.j..' of art, C 011.,. sod Jo-
pouter warm, and esquisb e furniture of all kinds, which he
abandoned without ran-eying anything. The whole has
been utterly sacked, rot by the et.emy, but by that army of
de,truetive k ousts, the marauders."

the public. (firer, hear) But there Is no doubt—that--
military organisation will be the inflect of thesis', and the
arrangements which rOll.lll the Volunteer at my will he
ovtrhauled as well as others. (Hear, bear ) lam quite sure
that whatever may he required of them in the wan of
stricter 1115,4.011 e and Increased efficiency th,t demand on
their time mid energy they will meet with hearty so ,r 1 will;
hut I sincerely hove, whatever may be, dune or left undone,
that the Volunteers will he allowed to remain as ttley are in
two respects: first, in regard to the absence of any Com-
, pul•lon, direct or indirect, to enter their ranks; and tat%
as ti the pm:tic:illy gratullus character of the service
which they OM I say practical), gratuitous ; the mere
' retuntriug of xpen,sa Incurred is, in the face of it some-
ththg quite dill df 61,1, from payment for services rendered
- - - • • • ••• • ••

- ee
As to the more general subject ivbi:ll will shortly he
occupying the attention of Terheinent—the question of mill-
tery defence-1 will not abuse your pattern* by entering
upen It. Mar.) All f hope is—and It seems • modeat Pl-
pectailOu—thisi, heturo we, the Legial•tere, go into that ale-
emelt., our masters, the nubhc, may know their own mind.
hear), A dietirdruLhea irtend of mine said in the
!louse of commons yeers aeo, that armaments depend upon
policy; and I will erasure to exile.' his word., and to add
that, haters you can reasonably make up your mit.de as to
what sort of navy nod army you ere to have, you must drat
have formed some definite idea as to what you wish or ex-
pect them to do. I emeaute ) lam not going Into any
disputed imeation ; I nay 'haven*, own Ideas on the! m otter,
but, this is not the piece to entree them. What I do
urge UjOh you and upon the public Is that we shenli
k•,ow clearly what we a-e about. Every, oily is
agreed that national defence ought to be made
thoroughly effective. Cheers There Is no question
abort that ; but if no Menu only defence, let its say eo, 5,4
stick to that ; if we neon something more, as some out us eo,
let those who do so nelmoeledge tire fact to themselves and
to all whom it may curcern The one aura way of corning to
grief Is eOl to be agreed or certain at tc whet we mean, Mit
to be looking one way and pul Hog another. 'Applause.) One
thing more, and I think It is en oluetvation that will not
hurt ailyteMy's sensibilities. We are going, no donne ttito
an bier...teed expenclimte; the puttee expects it ant wishes
it, incluoing, to the wee* of tl,el patriotism. that port of
the medic which pay. hicornetax, mei on when, enaree,
the tax wilt 101 l ; but let 1101 revoileet that Monett is this
country, itlih Its hlghly p we cermet have Effi-
ciency without expense, still, the eonveree of shot rule does
not hold good, arid SS our unfortunate French friends have
, seen dueling the last six months, tale possible to have a great
deal of exp. fie with very liPle rtllclraey. {Hear, hear, ) And
I nay It rot Ran Mete C)Iripi;111014 to you, the remoter witich,
of all Oleic), for military plop eon, the rational and tide ki iig
port. f the public lead grudg v s that which Is requited to
bring up to the Melee t standard the scientific branches of
the service, (heat, hear. !
" The one redeeming Jeanie ahont war, assn./ carried on,
when crimp ired with the wore 01 earlier ages, la the greet malt
which meeletuical and scientific applianees ploy In it. Never
has that fact cotne oi.t Mere clearly than in the last six
months. Noel., I believe, has artillery been niore largely
employol, Citother in the sloe, or un the fell, or tiiih retry
effect. Ami in that state of t Innen, as applied tom aerie war
se meetly, we have the beet security for the Unmet+ of
civiliztatten ever mere barbaric fora, I do not undervalue
moral meenctes, or think that civilization conelets in the per-
fecting of mechanism ; hot the fact remaine that cower
physical courage—belongeto luelit uorthcro races, mile i-dir-
poyenl lu all stages et society ; while mecimuleal Ant Is the
slow growth of sueoeselve generations, arid scene file re-
seamen are thp exclusive postession of au educated com-
munity. (Apelauee.)

. _
" I have raid lambing to you on any question of military
detail, because I am thoroughly aware h sw liable CIVIIIRI,II
are to make theniatlvet absurd when they talk of what they
have not prif.salcually studied. lint there can he tio loom
In putting one or two euggestions into the form of queries—
not as propositions, but In be answered by those who are
lmtter able tej udge ft an I am. i would ask whether any.
body hal coesidered how far thig new arm, which has not
yet got an E :elicit name—the mitrailleur—la suitable to
Voluiiteer pr.ctice. It Is light to h.ndle, simple in con-
atruction, and peculiarly suited r defence. Another qnestlin.
In the Navy there is. system of ming field guns for service
on shore, which is excellently described by Admiral Pointer,
a very disttnanlshed naval officer, in words which twill read.
He says, ''Hose gut., which are Armetrong six and nine
poundere, weightu r from S too cwt., are worked on a light
itely.carrifig, carrying about twenty rounds nf ammunition,
and are drawn and worksd with great facility liy the men
themnelves, no hones being ever need, and can be carried, if
necessary, across hedger aiid ditches, auit than be placed In
pi salons which it would be impossible, from the toe.tiral
obstacles of the grouud, for artillery roved by horses to
approach.' And he goes on, lin an soy-written paper. to
reoommond the adoption of a similar 'system for Volunteer
artillery—not intended to supersede, but to supplement the
Volunteer artillety now existing. N sw, I don't venture to
give an opinion ou this scheme limner than to soy that, on
the face of it, it appears to be ample, cheap, and likely to
he efficient. There mac, of course. by a little objection to
it which I dott't see. I would only ask whether is is not
worth the attehtlon of our military authorities and of the
public.
"And, lastly, we have beard a great deal, and chill hear
a great deal more, about streuethening the Militia, and
opinion& are divided as to making nervice in that force com-
pulsory. Now the difficulty of the question het in this r If
you mike art vice obligatory upon every one, yomhaveati enor-
mous waste of power ; if you take only a few, and admit
sidotitotes, the hardship falls exc usively on the poor. If,
again, you take only a limited number. say, by lot, cud
adroit no autetitutes, the burden is distributed in the most
arbitrary and capricious manner. (Hear, hear) Every
way the difficnny ou have to deal with is a yerions one.
Now, I would just ask whether it has occurred to anybody
that a scheme of the following kind might work :
Assess every district In the country take it by
parishes if you pleette—calling on each, according to Its
means, to contribute to many men to the Militia or Volun-
teer. or, In default of making up the number, to pay a cer-
tain sum in money for each noun deficient. In that way you
avoni the hardship of drivit g any individual into the ranks
while you put upon every It community a Weser pressure
to 1311COUrt go recruiting for the defetiaive eery:cs of the
country. nrobehly, any man willing to rerve *You'd have a
purse made rip for him by his neighbour.. I don't throw
out thrst hint as supposing it to be better than five hundred
et er similar schemes that niight be devised, but it sYrikei
me that, hv adoptiag soma rudh prlncipie, you might get
over a thttleuity which will be more arid mote felt the
snore this stabject is considered with • view to action.' (Hear,
hear.

In remarklng upon Lord Derby's speech, the Daily News
saps:—

"Lord Derby has been speaking at Preston with his
usual good in uoe on what is, for Eneland, the great
topic of the day—the luestion of our Armaments. By
a COIN:r0118 or unconscious felicity. we are in the habit
of speaking of the Army and the Navy as the National
Defences. D, we know and accept all that this tilarasii,
or rather this limitation of tire phrase, impure! The
limn.it whine. may b 3 stiffiiiient to guard our shores and
our poetessiors not only from attack, but from the
threat and apprehension of ie, will fall far shot
of what is necessary if we are to embark in
crusades of sy inpathy or trihc inceived interest on
the Coniineut. If, as Lind Derby 13. ye, defence
only is meant, the opinion Inuit be clearly di fined
and adhered to. Do some of the earniist and, stimable
persons who are calling ont for war against G.-ruarly
know what an offensive war with defensive forces
mans? or what is the tram-14'mi, in terms ef taxbti in,
of Inman-lents for aggreseiive purposes? It is to Lord
Derby's credit that on this gm sti in he has Sc vered
himself from the noisier aid more nrscrupulone p r
thin of his party. After a short and rather painful
episode of thorough-going par isar ship, he is redeeming
once more the better pr mice of his early public 1 fe.
It is his function to be the arbiter and molerat Sr of
political disputes, rather than a participant in them;
and he is a Imirably disc'arging this high office at a
moot momentous and critical season of the national
life."