The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-15 00:00:00

CAPTAIN BURNABY ON THE ENGLISH

SPIRIT.
In London, on Tuesday evening, the annual dinner
of the Merchant Taylors' Company took place.
Amongst the guests were the Duke of Teck, Lord
Hampton' the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, Mr.
W. T. Charley, M.P., Captain Fred Burnaby, Mr,
W. Gordon, M.P., the Master Cutler of Sheffield,
Captain Sir G. Nares, and Lieutenant-General
111`Murdo, C.B.
Captain Burnaby (who was loudly cheered), in replying to
the toast of "The Army," said he had to thank them very
much for the honour which they had done him in asso-
ciating his name with this toast. It gave him great
pleasure to meet so many members of the Merchant
Taylors' Company; for, though a soldier, he was well
aware that this country owed her greatness in a vast degree
to the commercial enterprise and patriotism of her mer-
chant princes. (Cheers.) It was lately remarked by a
foreign journalist that Great Britain was like a sick old
woman, and a few months, since, when on the continent,
he often heard his country alluded to in terms more forcible
than complimentary It was said that Russia could do what
she liked with Turkey and that England would not dare to I
interfere: that all we cared for was money-making, and as
to our ideas of honour or respect to treaties, they were
limited by our avarice and our thirst for gold (hear, hear) ;
these expressions being generally terminated by the hack-
ney ed remark that we were a nation of shopkeepers. (A
laugh.) Well, all he could say as to this last observation
was that he, for one, entirely concurred in it, and was glad
It was true (cheers), for mainly owing to our being a nation
of shopkeepers we could now, if we wished, dictate terms of
peace to Russia. (Cheers.) Napoleon the Great on being
asked what was required in order to carry on war success-
fully, said "Money." When the question was repeated, he
again replied, "Money, and more money." (A laugh) At the
present moment, and in a great degree owing to the mer-
chant princes of this country, we were one of the richest
countries in the world (cheers), while it had been
truly said by one of the most illustrious staies-
men of modern times that it would not be one, two, or even
three campaigns which could exhaust the resources of our
empire. (Cheers) Foreign critics sometimes remarked con-
temptuously that there was no martial spirit in this country.
Now, he had travelled a good deal, and had been in almost
every country in Europe—indeed, in every one where con-
scription, or forced military service, existed, and what
had he seen there? Half-grown lads weeping at being torn
from their homes, men doing their best to hide their
tears at being separated from their wives and fami-
lies, while throughout the length and breadth of those
lands the labouring class and middle class looked upon
the profession of arms as an odious and detestable
profession. On the other hand, if they looked at free
England, and first of all that mighty city—the empress
of cities, a source of wonder coupled with envy to every
foreigner who landefl on our shores (cheers)—there, in
the time of peace, they had their citizens by thousands
learning to bear arms, and at the first rumour of war
there were so many of these gentlemen coming forward
and volunteering for active service that it was sometimes
a little embarrassing for the Secretary at War to know how
to decline their offers of assistance. (Cheers.) And this
martial spirit of our country, coupled with the vast
resources at our disposal, was what made Great Britain
so formidable a Power. (Cheers.) The spirit of our an-
cestors, the spirit of the men who fought at Cressy, Agin-
court, Poictiers, Blenheim, Waterloo, and Balaelava, was
an heirloom of the Anglo-Saxon race (cheers) ; and should
the Congress prove a failure and war be the result, the
foreign Journalist who lately described our country as a sick
old woman *ould find that she had as many sound teeth in
her head as the Hydra of old, and that our riflemen of the
day were worthy successors of the archers at Agincourt or
of the Six Hundred at Balaklava. (Cheers.) If the Congress
proved a success, and peace with honour was the result, so
much the better ; but in any case they must never forget the
old saying that a nation which desired peace must always be
prepared for war. (Hear.) Some few of onr legislators
complained of our Indian troops being sent to Malta, and
said that if they could be spared from Hindostan, that was
a reason for reducing our Indian military establishment. But
those who argued thus forgot that our army at home and abroad
was merely an insurance company for the nation, and that the
richer the insurance company, or, in other words, the more
numerically strong our army, the greater our chance of
being able to bear one or two disasters, and of our having
time to call upon the backbone of our forces, our Militia
and Volunteers. (Cheers.) It would never do for us to
reduce the capital in our Indian bank of soldiers. (Hear.)
If peace followed the Congress, it would be owing more to
the statesmanlike policy of our Premier (cheers) in calling
upon our brotters in Hindostan than to that hatred of war
which was said by Count Schouvaloff to be an innate
quality of the Czar. (Cheers.) Peace was a great boon to every
civilised natioa, but it was sometimes too dearly purchased.
The chiefs of the peace at any price party in this country
would cause a robber to be imprisoned who broke into a
neighbour's house with intent to steal; let them advocate
the same policy with respect to Russia, and Christianity as
well as civilization would be the gainers in the end.
(Cheers.)

Several other touts followed, including the health
of the Rev. Dr. Baker, Head Master of Merchant
Taylors' School, who returned thanks in an eloquent
speech.