1814.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 24, 26 March 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

1814.

SOME CONTRASTS OF THE AVAR.

With the eager eyes of a watching world turned on the giant issues of today, it seems inevitable that comparisons should be drawn with the events of a century back, at the time of England's last great peril. In nothing is the contrast more striking than as regards the means by which the patiently expectant masses were then informed of the progress of the struggle. News —there was none. Unless the tidings of tho week before last could justly be reckoned as such. There were then no huge agencies, organised at enormous expense, no great papers with hourly editions eagerly competing witli a wealth of description for the longest length of battle line, the fiercest holocaust of slaughter.

Where now the unseen air bears instant word of urgent import from the furthest outpost of the Empire, theu e\en the most pressing of official messages travelled slowly indeed. From Whitehall to the coasts stretched a system of semaphores. They were then known as telegraphs, but to us the term is misleading. Each consisted of a tad upright post, to which was attached two or more great "arms,'' the positions of which were changed to signal slowly a clumsy code. NEWS BY ROAD.

So cumbersome was the contrivance that along the shorter sections, such as from Chatham to London, their news could often be forestalled by the sweating, steaming couriers spurring along the muddy roads beneath.

And after the couriers came the private hired post horses, the postillions flogging on from change to change at the gallop. And last of all came the great mail coach, trundling in stately progress through the land, the laurel loaves denoting the frequent victories of British arms. To many its merry tootling guard was their only herald. For papers were few and costly, and their formal phrasing of scant significance. A large proportion, indeed, of the population had no news at all, and relied for warning of the coming invasion upon the huge heaeons, which, piled on every height throughout the land, formed one great chain. Fortunate it was that the straining eyes were not to see its lurid light of menace. But for many a long month the threat hung over us, more grimly sinister than we see it to-day. Detailed instructions were drawn up and issued to the farmers of the coastland counties. Their horses, their wagons, down to the humblest cart, were scheduled, and, upon sight of the flaming beacon fires, so many were instantly to convey to safer parts the women and children — always our first care —while so many were to cart away all available stores of food and fodder into the interior, where they could not be seized by the enemy. Such and such horses were to he taken to" the actual coast for the use of our forces.

the Martello Towers, well known to every Metropolitan holiday-maker, were built in imitation of a Continental model along our southern shores, while the "Gaps" of the Kentish chalk cliffs were hurriedly stopped up.

THE COURT READY TO MOVE. With the many changes in seats of Government occasioned by the present war, it is interesting to know that preparations were made to remove our English Court to Weedom in Northamptonshire, and that the Crown Jewels were actually taken there from the Tower of London. The selection of Weedom was due to its geographical position of almost equidistance from the coastlines of the kingdom. It was also easily accessible on the various lines of canals which then served the purpose of railways for heavy transport, barge loads of troops and ordnance being often conveyed down the Grand Junction. With the same object was constructed the Military Canal near Hythe, now nearly derelict, but then used for the convenience of the forces in charge of the defence of the coastline.

The Army Service Corps was not yet in being, and even its predecessor, the Military Train, as it was called, was hardly yet organised. Nor was there anything answering to the Ambulance Service- of to-day.

Our prisoners of war were confined under conditions that were rigorous indeed, the principal places of intern incut being at Princetown —named after the Regent—in Devonshire, and Norman Cross in Huntingdonshire. There was in this country practically no resident alien enemy problem to be consideied, and the number of French Royalists refugees who had escaped to England from the Napoleonic regime were allowed their full liberty. In the absence of speedy communications, the spy was scarcely regarded as sufficiently dangerous to be of much account, though, even so, the conductor of tho Margate Theatre orchestra was arrestee' on suspicion. Exactly as obtains today, the enemy pursued in this respect a far more vigorous policy, and Napoleon, with a stroke of the pen, had confined at a moment's notice every British subject found in France. Those of position and wealth were allowed a fair amount of freedom on parole, chiefly at the fortress of Verdun, where there was in consequence for some time a considerable English colony. Many unfortunates, however, who found themselves without funds, or who were suspected of being dangerous, endured a less agreeable captivity in the underground dungeons of the prisons of France.

li ver pool thh EATEN ED

In England itself internal conditions were none- too pleasant. Our fleet was almost fully occupied with the actual defence of "the country, and the trade routes were none too safe. Hostile privateers swarmed oven at the mouth of the Mersey, and the Liverpool merchants found it necessary to forbid the publication of the intended sailings of their ships. Such cargoes as did reach England arrived in convoys of boats protected by men-of-war. Under such circumstances, it is little wonder that the price of provisions rapidly mounted sky-high. Printed instructions were issued to the people enjoining the strictest frugality, and the Court itself sot the example of economy. As in (ierniany to-day, substitutes had to be found for broadstuffs. Kioting was frequent, and had often n lie suppressed by the Yeomanry and 'olunteers that had been formed for (•fence purposes. Xor did the working lasses as a whole show the patriotism f to-day: secret -;)<iotios were every•hero, and added to the troubles of the lovernment. Tli" studied official reticence of the resent crisis i< in vivid contrast to tin:'e!iiu; openly demonstrated against Nao'eon in that coarser age. Every shop •inflow displayed the Emperor's caric-i----nre in brutal indecency, and even the i:'lier classes did no! scorn to unite heniselves in the popular clamour. Liter the erii-liitm Rattle of Loipsie, m;e of the most fashionable of Bond si toot Art flatteries publicly advertised, is an ittraotion, a life-sized fijiurc of Napoleon, charger ami all-hung up:i<lc down from the roof. And 10-dav finds 11s fmhting in glorious fraferniiv with the children of arms of 'he grand army of this onco so hated Nanoleon the Great.—Sheffield ''Week ly Telegraph."'