TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE DISCONTENT WITH THE RULING CASTE. THERE is a rock ahead of our present rulers, and, indeed, of the entire governing caste—and by this expression we do not mean only the aristocracy—which they do not perceive, but which may greatly affect the future development of affairs. A few among them may remember, though doubtless they have done their best to forget, a surge of opinion which swept through the country during and after the last months of the Crimean War. So disappointed anddisenchantedwere the people by the history of that war, by the wretched muddle made by all the supply Departments, by some instances of ineptitude in the selection of generals—we abstain from instances in fear of being drowned in letters, but one or two appoint- ments were positively astounding—and by what was con- sidered the poor result of the campaign, that a strong opinion grew up in favour of breaking with the " aristo- =tic " system, and of giving to the Executive much more of a Republican tone. The movement was not aimed against the throne, but against the directing section of society, and so powerful was it that men of great experi- ence, like, for instance, Mr. Delane, believed that serious changes were at hand. The idea was that the ruling caste had shown itself to be effete, that it had lost the mental force required for directing a great war, and that if the country were to be safe it must be governed by plainer men. The ruling passion of those who ruled, men said, was contained in Lord Panmure's famous telegram, "Take care of Dowb." The responsible rna.nagers were so inefficient, so timid, and so ignorant of business that corruption went on unchecked, and while millions were wasted the soldiers were nearly starved. There was nothing, it was widely believed, to be done except to boycott "the caste "—a word never quite defined—and try whether plain men would not display more energy, less of the spirit of nepotism, and greater audacity in punishing the inefficient, the indifferent, and the selfish. Thanks to the energy of Lord Palmerston, to a. new burst of prosperity, and to the extraordinary difficulty, a difficulty which still subsists, of interesting strong Liberals in military reform, the movement passed, and affairs went on pretty much in the old way; but it was much more serious than men of this generation will believe. It might have become as difficult to elect a man of the "old set," or to promote a man with a handle to his name, as it is in America to elect any one who is sus- pected of standoffishness. A renewal of that movement is not impossible. The body of the people, and especially the middle class, are much more bitter than the party leaders imagine. Their discontent is hidden, first, by their absolute determination that South Africa shall be conquered, and the consequent fear that if they trust reformers the undertaking may be compromised • and secondly, by a want—accidental, as we believe—of vehicles to convey the national feeling of the day. The men, whether Members or journalists, who should give it expres- sion are so embittered that they scream or swear instead of arguing, and the audience turns _away with the feeling with which pious men of education turn from revivalist harangues. There is no illumination, they feel, in them. Of the reality of the discontent, however, there can be no doubt. It is not only the man in the street, or the man in the tram, who is muttering "swear words," but the man in the club, and even the man in office ; and but for the breakdown of our party system, and the un- accustomedness of our people to " Reconstruction " within the same party as a remedy for failure, the truth would be told to the governing caste in meetings — serious meetings, we mean, not assemblages of fanatics—held all over the country. A mighty battleship is afloat, full to repletion of all munitions, and manned with brave men, and it can neither catch nor defeat half- a-dozen steam launches, never, a mile off. Something must be wrong on board, that is clear. The people, as Matthew Arnold once wrote, "are, hungering for a little success " • the excuses offered in reams begin to strike them as idle ; they note with suppressed temper the reluct- ance to punish those who fail ; and ask, with a contempt which is growing acrid, whether if a racing man saw his jockeys carrying heavy concertinas in a race hewould content himself with a satirical epigram . The result undoubtedly win. be, if the situation lasts, a withdrawal of confidence from the caste, not because it is unpatriotic, or because it has in any way failed to do its best, but .because it is believed to lack the qualities which in time of emergency command success. The English people is a people of business after all, though it can both dream and sing, and business men are never content with well-intentioned clerks. They want the work done first of all, and in the end, however indis- posed they may be to harsh measures, or reluctant to dis. pense with those who have once been useful, they wifl dismiss, and dismiss, and keep on dismissing till they find the men who can do it. What is the use of an angel in war if under his leading the enemy always escape de. struction ? How long does a merchant keep an agent under whose management the balance is always against him?
What is the remedy? Surely that, if they once recognise the evil, is for the responsible managers to suggest. The people cannot do it, for they are not suffi- ciently instructed. The Members cannot do it, for they are bemused with the fancy that if they censure their own managers they cannot find new men except among the managers of the competing house. The journalists caa- not do it, because they have no opportunity of finding the new men who can secure the success which is the one object to be sought. That is the business of the Govern- ment, not of outsiders. For ourselves, we believe it might be done if two conditions were observed. First; there should be such a reconstruction at home that the Govern- ing Committee or Cabinet would have in it a man who really governed, as, for example, Lord Palmerston did; who would bring all Departments into harmony, and' who dare rebuke, or, if necessary, dismiss, on any evidence of slack- ness or want of mental capacity for the particular work in hand. And secondly, there should be such a reconstruc- tion of " columns " on the spot as should enable them not merely to catch but to destroy the Boer commandos, who now escape us as if they possessed the secret of the fern. seedand could make themselves invisible. To that end three things are necessary. First, that the columns should be made as swift as the commandos by more liberty to waste horses, less baggage, and better—which means better-paid—scouts and spies. Secondly, that the officers commanding the columns should be picked, irrespective of rank, and with definite promises that if they succeed the road to rapid promotion should be open to them, even if it involved the resignation of superiors. And thirdly, that a harder temper should be introduced among all classes actually in the field. We are not asking for the guillotine for all who fail, but for the introduction into a grave and emergent piece of business of the great business principle that "failure means the sack." If an officer suffers himself to be surprised, we would not shoot him, as most Armies do a sentry who sleeps on duty, but would at once gazette him out of his Majesty's service. If an officer misconceives orders, let him be court- martialled like a Post-Captain who has misread his charts. And if he has failed to succeed, without obviously good reasons for failure, let him be superseded at once, to be pardoned or judged when the fullest information as to the causes of his failure is at hand. It is all very well to talk of "lenity," and "claims," and "the. ruin of careers " ; but if it is right to expend officers in battle in order to defeat an enemy, it is right to expend them in another way because, having adequate means, they have not defeated him. To our thinking, that General Order about har- mimiums and kitchen ranges, the necessity of which was last week confirmed by a casual letter in our own columns, re- flected no credit on the General-in-Chief, who the moment he heard of such an incident should in each case have superseded the officer responsible for so grose a misapprehension of his duty. All these, however, are irresponsible criticisms, and may safely be disregarded. It is for the Government to decide what ought to be done, our. duty being limited to pointing out that the, country is discontented, that it wants the success it pays for so. heavily, in lives and treasure, and that it is rapidly rising to the temper in which Englishmen usually placable to weakness, ask an account. "Had we not better," it will say by and by, if its disappointment continues, " try Plainer men ? ' •
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