The Irish standard., 1897-02-06

the latter mostly due ta Incompetence
and pedantry in tho conimand and ad
ministration, fell tar behind the ole
standard. Notwithstanding the appeals
to their patriotism and lerge bounties
the population did not RESPOND, and the
Government OF the. day, with Benjamin
Disraeli as Chancellor of the Exche.
quer, was reduced to the humiliation o1
coming before Parliament with bill tt
provide for the enlistment of foreigners
/ to send against the Russians.
The history of the German, Swiss and
Italian legions raised under that act has
never been whitten for the good reason
that they did nothing worth recording
From the time of their organization ta
the day Of their disbandment they were
source of continual trouble. Whether
| it was the Swiss at Shorncliffe, the Ital-
ians at Malta, or the Germans at Scutarl
on the Bosphoros, the nearest point tc
; the enemy any Of them ever reached
there were intermittent scenes Of insub-
ordination verging frequently on down
right mutiny; and at Malta and Scutari
on more than one occasion, lines of battle
ships were moored close in to their
camps, with guns shotted and run out
ready to open fire on hngland's leyles.
Composed for the most part of the riff
raft of Europe, more likely to face it,
and having contributed neither morally
ior materially to England's prestige
these legions, whose formation had been
advocated with all the aorid pomposity
of language in which Disraeli was wont
to indulge in, which disappeared from
history. The Emperor Napolean III hav-
ing attained his immediate obpect in
joining in the war against Russia, made
peace over the head of this ally, and
England, unable single handed to carry
the war into Caucasus, as was meditated
acquiesced, and peace was made. The al
lied army evacuated Russian territory,
the last English soldier being brought off
by Russian patrol that had found him
drunk in one of the nrraerpus traktirs,
or drink shops, that sprang, up in every
direction Immediately after the declar-
alton Of peace.
1t was fortunate for England that the
troops in India at the soutbreak of the
nnutiny in 1867 were of better metal than
those that failed to follow the lead OF
their officers at the final attack on the
Redan before sebastanopl in 1855. They
were the last of the cid army Of trained
and disciplined men who made up, by
their valos for the defects OF their lead
|ers. Subsequent wars have only demon
strated the steady decline in the quality
of the material Of which the English az
my is composed. The tragedy of 1sandu-
Ia in Zululand ana on the Helmund in
|Afghanistan, where two entire regiments
were slaughtered like sheep; the affairs
of the Ingogo and Majuba with the Beers
of the Transvaal, and the unsteadiness
Of more than one of the regiments In
tche Egyptian campaign lin 1882, prove
that the English army has seen it's best
days. The causes lie deep in the Eng
lish social system, and in the displace-
ment of the population, the emptying of
the country, and the filling of the cities
and towns in England, the evictions of
Ireland, and the clearance of the High
lands of Scotland.
The undue exercise Of the rights of
the landlord and the Development of
machinery in agricultural and manu-
featuring have contributed to the dete-
rioration of the material on which the
wealthy classes of England have to de-
pend for the protection Of their wealth
and for the defense of the empire. The
slum-born and gutter-raised youths who
now form the bulk of the recruits for
the British army have neither the moral
nor the physical qualities that go to
make hardy, patient and trustworthy
soldier. Newspaper writer's Of a certain
type may extol the English army as they
like, but the men who would have to lead
the men in battle have not the confidence
in the coldiers of today that those who
led at Albuera, Barrosa, and other his
toric fields had in the rank and file Of
these days. The blame IS not to be laid
on the private soldier, Tor he cannot be
other than what he is. 1t is on the shoul-
ers of the class that has made him res
possibility lies In thesiYain confidence
that mere wealth is strength. the aristo-
cracy of England and: the commercial
gourgeoisie have destrnyeds the funda-
mental basis of a nation'aspower, pros
porous, contented, seift7sfpspecting, and
independant landownlnE .ss| Seonanry.
I The English Parliam4nt may vote
money by the tens OF millions, but the
money cannot make srpen., while the
amassed wealth centered in, the square
mile of England's soil, op the banks of
the Thames called the city. of London
is perpetual danger in the temptation
it offers to attack by IAN indemnity
seeking enemy. What IS more notable
is that the great btlk bf the money