THE POLITICIAN'S PRIMER. 9 



bably more than one-third below the number we have stated it to be 

 in the table. But when the Cadres of the army are preserved, 

 possessing, as she does, such an admirable system of military organi- 

 zation and recruitment, she would find no difficulty in filling up her 

 regiments on a war footing. But to mobilize this force lies the great 

 difficulty. In the event of a war not one of the three northern powers 

 could put their numerous military machines in motion without subsi- 

 dies from some foreign ally, or unless they carried their operations 

 into the enemy's territories, and made the war feed itself, or levied 

 extraordinary requisitions on their own subjects, otherwise the slender 

 resources at the disposition of their governments would be soon ex- 

 hausted. Thus then it would appear that the aggressive means of 

 these powers have been so studiously magnified that the rest of Eu- 

 rope has, in reality, cowered beneath their imaginary power ; but like 

 the optical delusions of the phantasmagoria, a near inspection reduces 

 their colossal proportions to proper dimensions. 



While thus glancing at the military resources of the great conti- 

 nental powers, and at their " materiel" means in the event of a war, 

 we are led to the consideration of what would be the position of our 

 own country should any adequate cause oblige her once again to 

 unsheath the sword. The question is one of the deepest importance. 



Were this country again involved in war, government must have re- 

 course to loans. Our great superiority over the nations of the continent 

 is founded on our enormous capitalists, our admirable system of public 

 credit, and superior financial organization. But splendid as are these 

 sources of national greatness, we may be allowed to question the possi- 

 bility of rendering them subservient to the prosecution of a war. 

 War would bring in its traces increased taxation, and burthens which 

 the people of this country, paralyzed as are their energies by those 

 already in full operation, have neither the capability or the will to 

 endure. In our populous towns we behold the majority of our species 

 struggling with suffering and misery, heaped together in miserable 

 habitations that barely shelter them from the inclemency of the sea- 

 sons, living on the most unwholesome food, and exposed every moment 

 to the loss of even this, from some of those numerous causes that, in 

 this country, oftentimes throw large bodies of men out of employ- 

 ment. At the sight of so many evils that we cannot redress, then it 

 is that we may be permitted to regret a savage life, where man dis- 

 putes his existence with the elements with the wild denizens of the 

 forest, but is, at least, the master of his own destiny, and where the 

 fruits of the earth, and the productions of the air and waters are the 

 property of all. But how different the fate of the poor man in our 

 boasted civilized society. He beholds around him riches and luxury 

 every thing appears constituted to charm and embellish existence 

 but is he hungry is he naked ? Every fruit of the earth, every gar- 

 ment has a proprietor. There are laws, it is true, but what boots it 

 to him that the scales of justice are held with an equal balance, and 

 that her sword punishes with undiscriminating severity ? Politically 

 he may be may be free, but socially he is a slave. That broad line 

 of demarcation that formerly existed between the noble and the citi- 

 zen the liberal and the monarchist the whiff and the tory have 



M. M. No. 91. C 



