New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-12-15
Golden ON THE WAR.

off one or two Of these affairs in the course of
tgelvemontb, and he has only to declare that the
world is at peace ard will continue so, when
along the lightning path of the telegraph comes
fash of war He has only to announce SIS re-
Gently, that SevastOpol is impreguable, and the
next mail carries the long prespoken sentence
"SevastoDol est prise" Even KOssuth and
Urquhart are respectable prophets compared with
| Richard Golden Around the -speskings
there s, however usually gathered at hick cluster
of those stout tough figures and facts which, though
they do not always justify his conclusions, are
| full and interesting data Ia a recently published
letter Of his to The LEEDS Mercury, journal of
considerable influence in England, DIR. Golden
brings to the support of his peace views some sta
tistics of much value as bearing on the condition
and character of England as military power
They certainly place her in position even infe
rior to that which, since the commencement Of
the war we have accorded to her.
II appears from the official returns which Mr..
| Golden quotes that the number Of troops, includ
ing officers and men Of all arms who landed in the
| Crimes before the battle Of the Alma was 26 SOC
| During the terrible Winter months Of October
November, December and January, on which
blood red cloud Of horror hung over the Crmes,
the monthly reports Of the sick and wounded pre-
sent the CHASTITY result of: October 1898; No
vember, IL $40 December, 10 40; January,
%, O7G; and at one period the army reduced to
less than IL, 900 effective men But the most start
lrg fact is that while the sick and wounded, exclu.
sive of the killed, averaged Is 900 month, the
crutipg went on at a rate of only 5l00 Since
then, by the more diIigent and attentive care of
the soldiers ply sique, these disempered stati,tcs
have been considerably diminished, bat so Likewise
| AID correspondingy has been the number of re-
cruts.
This has arisen from the desolatiOn of the great
sodier.producng regions The modern Highlands
| of Scotland and the west of Ireland are but q
shadow cf the past. England goes now for her
armies TO Manchester, to Birmingham, to the
streets and lanes to the dens of vice and inebriety
not to the hearty, hardy air of her hills The
homes and tribes whence once came her soldiers
are no more. Valleys have been cleared, villages
efsced fields gardens and hamlets swept away,
that nature might resume her desolatiOn and afford
pastures for sheep and game. We can hardly,
then wonder in the face of these and many other
gloomy facts that seVerA OF Wlsest hnu mOst
thoughtful Of British statesmen look with appre-
henstn to the continuance of the wsr, and see a
dark shadow hanging in the distance The minds
of English statesmen as of E0gishInen, are indeed
siDgularly constructed
The AngloSaxoLs are doors rather than think
ers Principles are forcs1 on them by the pressure
of facts, not, as with the French and Germans by
the force of thought. They are not thinking
race-Or at best thought with them is evolved Incl;
dentally or accidentally This is perhaps the most
striking characteristic Of the English mind We
are never more powerfully reminded of i! than on
reading the thin thoughted speeches Of their lead
ing ministers Some huge fact like Nicholas or
Napoleon, with the other well substantiated facts
Of national debt and individual suferings, seen
actually required to preserve the mental life Of
England from petrifactOn. With the strong taste
of the English people, high and low, for strong
drink, strong talk, buncombe and beer swagger
and pickles, Heaven knows what might become Of
the British mind, if it did not receive some such
timely refresher. In no other country has the
stomach so much the mind so little to do with
politics If the question which has Won for Mr..
Golden so much of notOriety had Affected the
brain in,tead Of the stOmach-if the question had
been to free the mind from the shackles of Gov.
vernmental church, or to lift up the mind BY the
organization Of system of national education,
Mr Golden would never have become known to
fame. But in the midst Of the nineteenth cen
fury came q famine Of the thirteenth The
stomach was appealed to. AT once Great
Britain dressed her ears. All WAS attention.
and not only was all the foreign corn de-
youred, but with il was swallowed all
manner of false things. The same ignorance
which then prevailed about the Free-trade ques
ton seems now to prevail about the war. We
verify believe that the united opinions of all the
English statesmen, journalists, and philosophers,
would leave sny impartial inquirer in a perfect
chaotic bewilderment as to the principle on which
the war i. based. All that We can discern is that
victim and dupe of Louis Napoleon, England,
has rushed into war against Russia in order to
maintain friendship with France. Beyond this, i!
is difficult TO see any real principle or design
looming forth from the Anglo French alliance.
Si1ce blows have been dealt in the East, all sorts
and manner Of principles have been dragged upon
| the stage BY British statesmen but they are not
worthy of notice. They are something like must
tsrd after dinner-it may be very strong aud
GOOD, but has the disadvantage of coming too late.
Without attaching any undue importance to either
the opinion of the Freetrader, Mr.. Golden, or
the aristocrat Lord Palmerston, it is interesting
to note the difference in character between this
letter to The Leeds Mercury and a recent speech
| If the Premier AT the Lord MAYORS Dinner, both