Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

I AM told that the people cannot bear to hear that our population is excessive; they say, that before any are turned out for the general good, the resources of the country should first be more equally divided; that it is only because some have too much that others have too little. Why, sir, no one talks of turning out anybody: I never heard any man dream of forcing people to emigrate, which would be in plain English to transport them; neither is it doubtful that if all persons fared alike, and we could persuade one-half of the community peaceably to share their property with the other, that there is food enough in the island to maintain us all till next summer.

But it is one thing to encourage the poor to emigrate, and another to force them to do it-it is one thing not to be overpeopled if any utterly impossible change in society were to take place, and another not to be overpeopled as society now exists. No doubt human beings might be packed much closer in Great Britain than they are now; but the real question is, whether such a crowding is practicable under actual circumstances, and whether also it is desirable; whether, in short, England could make itself like Judea in the time of Solomon; and whether, if it could, this would be the best means of mending our actual condition.

I am at a loss to understand how it can be unjust or inhuman to say to a man who is here barely able to keep himself from starving, that we will assist him to go to another country, where he may live in comfort, and provide sufficiently for himself and his family. I know that such a proposal made to persons in the richer classes is not thought a hardship or an insult, but a great favour; that fathers are glad to get situations for their sons in India, even though they part with them for such a number of years, that they cannot expect to live till they return. No doubt a parent would rather be able to provide for his son comfortably at home than to send him to India; but he would much rather send him to India than see him live in beggary at home; and it does not occur to him to ask his neighbour to give him a piece of his estate, rather than he should have to bear the pain of parting.

Or if any particular trade be overstocked in any town, the man who finds himself best able to support himself by capital previously acquired, does not think himself injured if he be

advised to go and look for an opening in his trade elsewhere. It is, indeed, a shocking thing that poor men should be persuaded to emigrate without knowing anything of the country to which they are going, and without having any one to advise them when they get there. And this ignorance, I am inclined to think, is one of the greatest obstacles to emigration. No man likes to take a leap in the dark; and emigration is nothing better than a leap in the dark, when a man has never before been ten miles from his own village, when he has no notion of distances, and knows not a single particular about the climate, productions, customs, and manner of living in foreign countries. A mere elementary knowledge of geography would instantly dispel the vague fears which many of the poor now feel unreasonably emigration would thus lose its terrors, and their knowledge would not only make them cease to fear it, but would teach them how to derive the full benefit of it.-ARNOLD'S " Miscellaneous Works.'

[ocr errors]

THE SCOTTISH EXILE'S FAREWELL.
OUR native land, our native vale,
A long and last adieu!

Farewell to bonny Teviotdale,

And Cheviot's mountains blue.
The battle mound, the border tower,
That Scotia's annals tell,

The martyr's grave, the lover's bower,
To each to all-farewell!

Home of our hearts! our fathers' home!
Land of the brave and free!

The sail is flapping on the foam
That bears us far from thee.
We seek a wild and distant shore
Beyond the Atlantic main;
We leave thee to return no more,
Or view thy cliffs again.

But may dishonour blight our fame,
And quench our household fires,
When we, or ours, forget thy name,
Green island of our sires!
Our native land, our native vale,
A long, a last adieu!
Farewell to bonny Teviotdale,

And Scotland's mountains blue.

THOMAS PRINGLE.

N

[blocks in formation]

ONE of the most certain of all lessons of military history, although some writers have neglected it, and some have even disputed it, is the superiority of discipline to enthusiasm. Much serious mischief has been done by an ignorance or disbelief of this truth ; and if ever the French had landed in this country in the early part of the late war, we might have been taught it by bitter experience. The defeat of Cope's army by the Highlanders at Preston Pans1 is no exception to this rule, for it was not the enthusiasm of the Highlanders which won the day, but their novel manner of fighting which perplexed their enemies; and the Highlanders had besides a discipline of their own which made them to a certain degree efficient soldiers. But as soon as the surprise was over, and an officer of even moderate ability was placed at the head of the Royal army, the effect of the higher discipline and superior tactic of one of the regular armies of Europe became instantly visible, and the victory at Culloden was won with no difficulty.

Even in France, where the natural genius of the people for war is greater than in any other country, and although the enthusiasm of the Vendeans was directed by officers of great ability, yet the arrival of the old soldiers of the garrison of Mentz immediately decided the contest, and gave them a defeat from which they could never recover. On the other hand, while not even the most military nations can become good soldiers without discipline, yet with discipline even the most unmilitary can be made efficient; of which no more striking instance can be given than the high military character of our Sepoy2 army in India. The first thing, then, to be done in all warfare, whether foreign or domestic, is to discipline our men, and till they are thoroughly disciplined, to avoid above all things the exposing them to any general actions with the enemy. History is full indeed of instances of great victories gained by a very small force over a very large one; but not by undisciplined men, however brave and enthusiastic, over those who were well disciplined, except under peculiar circumstances of surprise or local advantages, such as cannot effect the truth of the general rule.

It is a question of some interest, whether history justifies the belief of an inherent superiority in some races of men over

others, or whether all such differences are only accidental and temporary; and we are to acquiesce in the judgment of King Archidamus that one man naturally differs little from another, but that culture and training makes the distinction. There are some very satisfactory examples to show that a nation must not at any rate assume lightly that it is superior to another, because it may have gained great victories over it. Judging by the experience of the period from 1796 to 1809, we might say that the French were decidedly superior to the Austrians and so the campaign of 1806 might seem to show an equal superiority over the Prussians. Yet in the long struggle between the Austrian and French monarchies, the military success of each are wonderfully balanced; in 1796, whilst Napoleon was defeating army after army in Italy, the Archduke Charles was driving Jourdan and Moreau before him out of Germany; and Frederick the Great defeated the French at Rosback as completely and easily as Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Jena.

The military character of the Italians is now low; yet, without going back to the Roman times, we find that, in the sixteenth century, the inhabitants of the Roman states were reputed to possess, in an eminent degree, the qualities of soldiers; and some of the ablest generals of Europe, Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, Spinola, and Montecuculi, were natives of Italy. In our own contests with France, our superiority has not always been what our national vanity would imagine it: Philip Augustus and Louis the Ninth were uniformly successful against John and Henry the Third; the conquests of Edward the Third and Henry the Fifth were followed by periods of equally unvaried disasters; and, descending to later times, if Marlborough was uniformly victorious, yet King William, when opposed to Luxembourg, and the Duke of Cumberland when opposed to Marshal Saxe, were no less uniformly beaten. Such examples are, I think, satisfactory; for, judging calmly, we would not surely wish that one nation should be uniformly and inevitably superior to another; I do not know what national virtue could safely be subjected to so severe a temptation.

If there be, as perhaps there are, some physical and moral qualities enjoyed by some nations in a higher degree than by others and this, so far as we see, constitutionally-yet the superiority is not so great but that a little over-presumption and carelessness on one side, or a little increased activity and more careful discipline on the other, and still more any remarkable individual genius in the generals or in the Government, may easily restore the balance, or even turn it the other way. It is

quite a different thing, and very legitimate, to feel that we have such qualities as will save us from ever being despicable enemies, or from being easily defeated by others; but it is much better that we should not feel so confident, as to think that others must always be defeated by us.-ARNOLD'S 'Modern History.'

[blocks in formation]

IN estimating the effect of a popular system of education upon the growth of science, it is necessary to bear in mind a circumstance, in which the present age and that which preceded it are strongly discriminated from former periods; and that is, the vastly greater extent to which science exists among men, who do not appear before the world as authors. Since the dawn of civilization on Egypt and Asia Minor, there never have been wanting individuals, sometimes many, flourishing at the same time, who have made the most distinguished attainments in knowledge. Such, however, has been the condition of the world, that they formed a class by themselves. Their know-ledge was transmitted in schools, often under strict injunctions of secrecy; or if recorded in books, for want of the press, and owing to the constitution of society, it made but little impression on the mass of the community and the business of life. As far as there is any striking exception to this remark, it is in the free states of antiquity, in which, through the medium of the popular organization of the governments, and the necessity of constant appeals to the people, the cultivated intellect was brought into close association with the understandings of the majority of men. This fact may perhaps go far to explain the astonishing energy and enduring power of the Grecian civilization, which remains, to this day, after all that has been said to explain it, one of the

« ÎnapoiContinuă »