The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Officers of militia say this :—" If fresh bat-
talions are required for actual service, they
" can be formed from our ranks more rapidly
" than they can be recruited in German States.
" IVe have abundance of officers, still in the
" Mime of life, who have seen service in the
" line. We have, also, plenty of young MA
" enterprising spirits, who have learnt their
" duty, and will be only too glad to have the
" opportunity of distinguishing themselves.
" We should not object to eny intermixture et
"line officers, or any regulations calculated to
" promote our efficiency, but we do object to
"the post of honour being snatched from us
",by foreign interlopers, men who have not
" our nationality, and have not performed our
" services. We are ready to enter any service
" where we may win honour, but we do not
" think it just that we should be condemned
"to a service ,of inaction, without adequate
" provision for our future life, and without a
" chance of achieving distinction."

HOW DO WARS BECOME POPULAR ?
WE have been much interested in observ-
ing the gradual affect produced by the pro-
gress of the war upon the moral tone of our
commercial classes. Previously to the com-
mencement of hostilities there was no passion
for "glory" amongst our middle orders, who
spend their lives in warehouses or behind the
desk. That we were merely "a nation of
" shopkeepers" might have been, two years
ago, the safe conclusion of an observer con-
tent to base his. opinion upon the style of our
newspapers and the talk of our private socie-
ties. But, probably, no national character is
more curiously complex that that of our Eng-
lish race, for no other species of human being
exhibits such opposite contrasts in one person
as are to be seen in an Englishman when
cool, and in the same man when his passions
are aroused. Other nations inherit a physical
temperament which is always, more or less,
under the influence of emotion. French,
Spaniards, and Italians, are prone to an eager
demonstrativeness, to which our phlegmatic
dispositions are repugnant. But when once
the English passions swell, their vehemence
has a sustained fierceness, formidable to all
opponents, but sometimes in its excess
attended with no small evils to its possessors.
This strongly-marked phase of our national
character may be seen at the present time.
Competition and comparison with our foes
and our allies have drawn forth a sudden
martial aspiration from classes which some
months since would have cheered invectives
against the promoters of war sentiments.
Passion has begun to play upon our national
temper, and a burning desire to inflict humi-
liating discomfiture upon the enemy animates
bosoms that but recently abhorred the slaugh-
ters, the crimes, and ruinous consequences of
war. As it is now, so it often has been before,
with our people. So far from acting as a
drawback upon their excitement, it would
even appear that commercial life has some
tendencies to quicken a popular admiration for
war. The routine of the desk is diversified
for a time, and the formal iteration of a life
passed in petty details is broken by the wel-
come intrusion of romantic sentiments. The
sphere of common and every day existence
seems enlarged. Visions of splendid events
d4zzle and allure the imagination. Send-
zifents of " hero-worship " unconsciously are
generated amongst the least chivalrous of
society, and the vocation of the soldier be-
comes ennobled all at once to minds that dis-
paraged it not many months ago. An in-
creased sense of personal importance, and a
confidence in his own powers, takes posses-
sion of many a mediocre spirit, intoxicated
with the pride that results from reading of
the splendid exploits of his countrymen in the
battle-field. Such is the manner in which
a passion for " glory," and a popular lust for
war, are generated amongst nations.
If in this process of national aspiration, this
appreciation of martial life, there be some-
thing to admire, there is, also, not a little to
make us cautious how such passionate senti-

SATURDAY,

ments are fostered. For unhappily it is
easier to stir than to slake the flames of dis-
cord; and mankind can be more readily preci-
pitated into war than urged into steady social
progress. Nor should it be forgotten that
semi-barbarous nations which recoil from the
efforts necessary for civilisation can be easily
induced to keep up arms to the very last.
The feverish longing for war as a source of
mental and physical excitement is one of the
most karful marks of human corruption. In
nothing do we more approximate to the fe-
rocity of the lower animals than in this
rabid destructiveness which gloats over havoc
and horrors, and revels in fancy over descrip-
tion of the dreadful deeds of the battle-
field. _ _

Unless, therefore, there he a truly great
object in view, the war sentiment per es is
positively demoralising, and is the source of
numerous evils. Without lofty moral ends,
capable of being practically realised, a popular
war becomes perniciously prolific of unwhole-
some influences. Those who undertake to
cherish and arouse war passions are bound to
show that they advocate a war of reality, and
not one which merely excites passions, but
can possibly produce no profound moral ad-
vantages. In the present iustance many
amongst our people fondly believe that this
war, as it progresses, must necessarily even-
tuate in the liberation of certain nationalities.
They do not care to inquire whether such can
really he the case, and they are foolishly credu-
lous on the subject, forgetting that the Coali-
tion Ministers did not communicate to the
country on what policy they have inaugurated
the war. When inquiry was made from the
Opposition benches as to whether there was a
distinct understanding between the great
Powers that the subject of the nationalities
should not be stirred, there was no clear or
satisfactory answer.
In such a state of things, vague, objectless,
and uncertain, the war sentiment becomes
unwholesome. It is not hallowed by lofty
purposes, nor justified by distinct aims. It
degenerates into a love of excitement, gross
in its origin, and silly in its manifestations.
If we are to have the evil of war, it
must be for something better than to im-
part variety to the current of our domestic
life, and to give us " something to talk about."

THE POPE AND HIS POLICY.

WHILE all Europe has been occupied with the
momentous struggle in the East, it is an

extraordinary fact that the Church of Rome,
true to its old policy, has made a great effort
to reorganise its formidable influences, and
concentrate them more closely against the spi-
ritual liberties of Christendom. Following
her ancient practices, she has again shown
singular craft in the propagation of her power.
She has entered into the polemical arena
simply, forsooth, for the purpose of dogma-
tically pronouncing upon a metaphysical doc-
trine of the schoolmen. It is merely for the
stricter definition of a subtle point that she
has called together two hundred and fifty
prelates from various countries, from the
shores of distant oceans, from lands of tropical
luxuriance, and regions of eternal snow. Ah 1
they who would believe in her insidious smiles
and learned words, as to the simplicity of her
intentions in defining the " Immaculate Con-
eeption," must be even more credulous than
the simplest of the votaries whom, from their
birth, she has reckoned within her pale.
The doctrine of the " Immaculate Conception"
itself we shall not now discuss. Such theolo-
gical subjects can scarcely receive adequate
treatment in journalism, and considerable
space is required for their appropriate eluci-
dation. But we are justified in calling atten-
tion to the logical dilemma in which the
Church of Rome has placed itself. Either
the dogma is true, doubtful, or false. If it be
positively true, and worthy of being matter of
faith, as the Pope has now declared, how
conics it that such a question was left un-
noticed by the self-styled Infallible Church
Why has not the piety of devout worshippers
been previously edified by the promulgation