The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

sT ER REVIEW W. l.xxxvin
Cou.idering our precarious, or, perhaps, we should
our doubtful position at the present moment, as far
:its the continuation of peace is concerned—looking, at
the
obelligerent attitude aisumul by a certain class of
and beholding Cr‘e strife now raging in the
Seikh territories—a more telivitoua ju.'tore could
risieely have been selected for the publicai :on of those
11:luiries into the " social, moral, and intellectual con-
wen e
in pr the army," which constitute the opening paper
this number of the Westminster Review. Nothing is
of
.such vital and supreme importance to a great nation_
7 the inculcation of a healthy tone into the system of its
trotective force, and, consequently, nothing is so incum-
ut urlen the Legislature as to suppress .anythtng con-
rue've to the demoralisation of its standing armies. In
emote ages this truth was acknowledged, and upon it
Evenrected the stern bulk of the Npartan commonwealth.
ir when the ancestral barbariens were exposed to the
morale
of other predatory hordes, a certain rugged
e, le was deemed requisite for the perpetuation, and
11." fir preservation of their power ; a nwrale founded
upon activity, upon a development of muscular energy—
tt)ll,ls oneness of feeling—upon a continuous subjection
o—and upon that peculiar valour which
kts6ains a man under the most severe privations.
, as civilisation advanced, more refinement and
1..Y.133,1133t-try were instilled into the military as well 1!s
"t the intellectual and political codes.. And, as civili-
sation
ever strivss to extract an increase of advantage
it,--111 whatever is submitted to its influence, the hitherto
sad
cohorts, which were maintained by consular
ll
imperial Rome as the safeguards of its authority,
"ere rendered subservient to the interests of its ern.
p 1
lers• In this manner, during the intervals of
recce,tt, the sword was thrown aside fos the mattock ; and
toveterans, whose courage in battle had incited them
double
spolia:ion of their enemies, rendered themselves of
em;itille benefit to their country by strewing it with the
7,Qllishments of their industry—a policy which that
wat nor, the Emperor Napoleon, did not regard
uoe °ally of i nitation. With reference to these par-
111ars, our own tro pi are utterly beneath comparison;
lide the legions of France and Italy they are as gaudy
ones.
Instead of their peaceful exertions being de.
e:.`"4 to the adornment or improvement of our cities, or
s'itw rural dtstricts, they are restricted to pipeclay and
"'Paper. Upon this miserable fact we cannot do
uter than transcribe a few sentences from our re-
live,:
"surely the British soldier has ne claim to take a higher
Itt than the eR )man 1 and yet look at the Roman works
the roads which 'Tullio to this day the Thames em •
4kt:l:lents than which Britain cannot even now boast a
use imporant work—these, and other works equally great
-re performed, too, let it be recollected, by men under
Zs, and constantly liable to emprise—almost con-
,u,tlY in fact, engaged in actual warfare. What works
laid such soldiers as these have performed in thirty years
unbroken peace? Or, to come to times and to a people
prer to us, look at that magnificent Gallic work, the
ine:te du Simplon, executed during a fiercer war, and sub-
-` to all the rigours of an Alpine climate. But it is use-
to multiply instances which are familiar to every well-
-71:terson. Why, also, should not the British soldier be
'P'°.Yed in useful public works—roads, canals, and bridges,
ittstance?"
inculcating by the manner of their jurisdiction a
's=everance in their idle and useless habits, the military
t
tliorities of Great Britain have been most culpable ;
'ila, by abandoning the soldiery to inaction, they
ve Placed incitements to viciousness, and opportunities
r„,.Sile cultivation of debauchery in the way of an igno-
-74 and na urally dissolute class of men. It is agains
ts ignorance, and against this dissoluteness of the
;Rltsh army that the present strictures in the
tstminster Review are especially directed. Yet, agree-
tg "
we undoubtedly do in the generality of the
tee'sfri•
, views upon the subject, we must take leave to
't°test against the acerbity and almost rancourous ill -
L,lure which pervades the article. Conscious of the
'thence of very great abuses, the writer directs atten
na to them in tones of passionate indignation, insomuch
4114 at he occasionally descends to a viruleece of scorn, quite
./N°alpatible with the office of a Public Censor.
us while inveighing against the gross and murky
45
irlut'ance of the " privates," and sometimes indeed of
officers themselves, he attaches this stigma of in-
torn
aPetency to the mass of brevet majors and colonels,
4-Ihu even higher tip in the scale of promotion: and again,
trdi" taunting the army for its immorality, he gene-
See the imputation of licentiousness ; he brands
all
one sweeping accusation the whole military este-
dl Ment. Granted that a vast number of our so-
tti defenders—granted even that a huge majority
tied ern—are worthy of reprobation as a most vicious
fro unprincipled class—(and we are compelled, alaslllo7l all rational experience to acquiesce in the justice of
beyoadeduction)—still, it is beyond all precedent—it is
4.4114 all human candour to implicate, as equally, vile,
4)en uf undoubted honour, men of undoubted purity,
ite of undoubted acquirements, men, in fine, of un-
Peachable and elevated character, and men there are
this description in the British army. Of soldiers
the
ranks what does the reviewer remark ? Why,
Is:—

"No no rot
eition 1.1;, ected woman can pass them, of whatever con-
gress audible that is not rudely stared in the face, with some
e remark to create a blush; and the embarass-
tigiome_ntlnto which' she is thrown mostly gives rise to a repeti-
,,..nett some standing joke of the barracks' and its conse-
quent chorus of a horse-laugh.' We have seen it often, and
with deep indignation."
We would undertake to vouch that this latter assertion
: Merely a very wide stretch of that very elastic article,
1e imagination; or if the writer really has "seen it
L'itell," it has been simply like Hamlet, "in my mind's
fustian
Horatio!" Altogethcr, we cannot but regard the
foregoing paragraph as little better than cant—as a very
'ustian effort after effect—as a mere straining after a
host in .rbid species of humanity. It is nothing tint irrate
~4°'sip—balderdash, in short; and, but that other por-
tcms of the disquisition are really of a high order of
'4retit, would tend to deteriorate the contributor as one
1
:!erlY unworthy of joining in the corps of the West-
minster
_Review. We have said that the paper has pot.-
rug of high merit, and this we could undertake to de-
tOnatrate did our columns permit ; a reference, however,
to the article itself, will be an ample corro-
Jittion of the remark, while at the present momentous
i'is4l6 its perusal cannot but prove interesting even to
ir most phlegmatic. Some of the recommendations
.rorporated in the review demand the deepest con.
;aeration, as likely to produce, by trial, a very
decided improvement in the organisation of our
military. Among these we would particularise.
the about the most feasible and the most judicious,
r4lProposal that our raw recruits—drawn gene-
-011"Y from the lowest dregs of the population—
th°,l2hl be submitted to a system of rational tuition, that
,‘eitr faculties for observation and reflection should
0-muergo a wholesome culture, whereby they would be-
-B:nie more opened to an appreciation of their position as
acme
beings; while their bodies should be drilled by
succession of more bracing and invigorating ma-
444,,usres than are witnessed now-a-days in the
lith'ggish discipline of the barrack-yards. For
° officers, nothing can be more requisite than a
of°toligh course of instruction in the mysteries
01 military tactics—a nitessity which is now
est entirely overlooked. Fredericks, and Cromwells,
..`tb
Diarlboroughs, and Masseuse were not fostered in the
;trietis of such scenes as Arthur's, or in the atmosphere
0 fribbles and sentimental young ladies. A great re-
,:ganisation is demanded among our sold.ery, from the
''tff officer downwards to the sutlerithat reorganisation
4161 be arranged with all decorum if the authorities will
e „s
d ;-'oot upon the matter ; otherwise, public opinion will
t;se the change to its accomplishment, as it ultimately
tss all other neglected abuses. Before relinquishing
i:
e subject of this first article, we must utter our fullest
sndetonation of the subjoined paragraph
h:very We see France armed to the teeth, and increasing
h; armaments with unparalleled rapidity and energy—half
C: Population are frantic for an English war, to avenge her
O'er defeats. • * * We see, again, America,
prospect
by a reckless President, intoxicated with the
any
of irritating England on the Oregon or
other question which should give him a
O tetext for the annexation' of the Canadas to the republic.
ez the other side we see the dark and insidious barbarian.
ar, whose hatred of all liberal principles and of the gene-
ral
diffusion of intelligence renders England peculiarly odious
him, crouching like a wolf to seize the first favourable
chance
for blotting out England, as he has done Poland,
thrs43l the map of Europe. We see, moreover, the Pope,
si vassal and semi-vassal—Austria and Prussia—and his
spiritual serfs in the Peninsula, in Belgium, in Germany, and
indeed throughout Christendom, gloating with all the ani-
t,,°,itY of theological hate to renew their autos upon the he-
1e and the infidel in Smithfield. We even see Ireland, itself
itP.illtegral portion of the British empire, in a state of general
Knirection, under the dictation of one who inspires, till it
hatred
almost instinctive, an unrelenting and interminable
of the " Saxon race.' And, in addition to all this,
v
e 8% the unexampled fruits of our national industry, menu.
tt•cturing ingenuity, and commercial enterprise, exposed to
big, cupidity of the world, and holding out the most ravish-
, to, Prospects of plunder that can lure the foreign bandit on
„superhuman heroism I' "
b,,lhi'aQ are most vicious sentiments most viciously ex-
les3c6 ; they are to us a strange anomaly in the
"t nin,ter Review —they are vicious, as searching
afterthe i• ci,ernent of a feeling of panic. Besides
ate rch they form an accumulation of very novel historical
asceveries. For example, it is something really bold to
r "151), that Nicholas the First " blotted Poland from the
ti.
of Europe!" and as to the announcement that
or'ulsia with its " orthodox" monarch is the semi-vassal
the sovereign Pontiff ; it is one for which we confess
dllselves totally unprepared. The insinuation about
otinell and the stirring up of Irish bile against-the
tin".lzo rat" is surely too obsolete, so long subsequent
ti„"ae "Liberator's" exit from the Richmond Peniten-
tn• Far is it from our intention to lull one single
a-g'ish mind into a delusive confidence ; nevertheless,
lie must reprobate such unchallenged and gratuitous
sbei
s upon a peaceful authority like that of the Papal
eit'as, with a revival of the old bugbear cry of
shge7ging with all the animo ity of theological hate to renew
r ' autos' upon tie heretic and the infidel in Smith-
tit "h!!"-a sentence whicii contains the very quintessence
°h all and illiberality. With this observation we
to
~4,L1 conclude our notice of the " Social, Mural, and In-
a." etuel Condition of the Army." Mr. Thornton
t'-'utit, as the author of the Foster-Brother," is die-
-47
0 with much spirit in a paper on historical romance;
fewthe writer of Whitehall come off eithout some
Philosophic
stripes. The " Lire of Dalton" is a pa,sage
estitil"sophic biography, most instructiv as an example.
Unitedg'llt analysis of " The Medical Police of the
str Kingdom" is striking the iron while it is hot, and
rr,sinX some heavy sbelge-hammer blows to boot.
A ge gistration of La: dod Property" will command
T° the
general
they"perusal and will amply repay curiosity.
mall e survey of
a Possibly take an opportunity of referring shortly,
slat
arid terse series of thoughts. And with a
Z 'et encyclopaedia respecting the "Affairs of New
4018.1ftnd" the catalogue of' contents is completed. The
tiawrr la all essential particulars is valuable and well-