The Press.
London, England, 1854-10-28 00:00:00

1010

doubt. Every week shows us that the proba-
bility of greatly-extended hostilities is likely
to be realised. To gain soldiers for our army
we must increase the inducements for
recruits, and we cannot do so unless we make
up our minds to raise the status of the sold*
by increasing his cosnfortd and bettering-his
condition. Too many amongst us, carried
away by the prejudice*, of commerce, look
upon the soldier as a mere serf in a red coat.
He is regarded by mall of the "'mall vulgar"
as a hireling, slaying his fellow-men according
to contract. The grovelling persons who
make a god of pecuniary gain affect to look
upon military life as a menial kind of existence.
Nothing but gold emits rays of glory in their
eyes. The state of the Three per Cents. can
alone excite their feelings. If there had not
been many such folk the delusion of the Peace
Society would never have existed.
Even in other classes where the soldier is
looked upon with more sympathy we doubt
whether he receives his just measure of re-
spect. He is the defender of our national
honour, the protector of our commerce, and
the representative of our physical prowess.
The British soldier is ever ready to authenti-
cate his descent from those who in former
days raised the name of this country through-
out the world, and made it terrible to its foes.
Courage, unshrinking fortitude, the arm that
smites superior strength, and the heart that
quails before neither pestilence nor barbarian
hordes, these are the heroic qualities that
make and keep nations great, and in these
manly endowments five centuries of fame
prove that the soldiery of this unconquered
island are splendidly endowed. When we
honour them, we respect our country and its
mission amongst the nations ; when we give
them but flimsy rewards, and feeble cheers,
we degenerate from our sires, and disparage
the chivalry of Old England.
Give our soldiers, therefore, the honour that
is due to them, and bestow upon them the
privileges which they deserve. Let them
practically feel, down to the smallest drum-
mer-boy, that we look upon them as the ser-
vants of the State, and the champions of the
national flag. These eleemosynary aids, these
charitable donations and pecuniarycollections
by individuals, are not the best means of de-
monstrating our care for the heroes who do
battle for us. We are convinced that a large
grant from Parliament would be in all respects
a more proper way of aiding the wives and
orphans of those who have bled for England
than a voluntary collection in which several
of the narrow-minded will not assess them-
selves justly. A grant so given would be more
honourable to our army, and more befitting
the dignity of this great empire. It is all very
well to leave our decayed tradesmen and re-
duced labourers to the voluntary system, as
they have worked directly only for themselves
and their immediate employers ; but our
soldiers and sailors ought to be treated as the
servants of the State, which they unquestion-
ably are, and their wives and children should
not be left to platform appeals and casual
philanthropy. Not only would a generous
grant from the public treasury, proposed by
Government and ratified by Parliament, be
more dignified, but its expense would be more
equitably shared amongst all classes. On this
latter consideration, however, we do not place
such stress as on the absolute necessity of
raising the condition of the soldier, and show-
ing to every idle rustic, or drudging denizen
of the factory, that if they join in military
ranks their personal interests will be cared
for, and their condition will be raised.
Nothing, indeed, can be more damping to
the ardour of any aspiring spirits amongst our
working classes than the very sound of sub-
scriptions for the families of the fallen. We
are sure that they will generously give their
mites, and in doing so they will bless their
lot in not being exposed to the double hard-
ships of the soldier—his life of trial, and his
death-bed, far away from his family. In re-
flecting upon his condition, we are afraid
that the lower classes (from whom our rank
and file must be recruited) will exaggerate
some of the evils of military life. That there
are great trials to be borne is obvious, and
the gains of industrial life in this wealthy
nations offer temptations to make the humbler

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