The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 14, 1857. 100 education offered as " useful knowledge " was too flashy, and was really of no practical use to the parties concerned. " The foundation, as Lord STANLEY said, 6 ' was left without a " superstructure," because the kind of know ledge imparted at the preliminary schools could not be possibly kept up by hardworking labourers. Advanced mathematics are of little advantage practically to mere agricultu rists, and pure metaphysics cannot be advan tageous to engineers and blacksmiths. We believe that the working men of Eng land, their customs, their likings, their antipathies, and their instincts, were not sufficiertly consulted by the excellent per sonages who sonic forty years since inau• gurated the movement for mechanics' insti tutes. That movement was originally set on foot by Dr. BIRKBECK—an admirable man, but rather too much of a theorist and projector. He was reared in Edinburgh, and he partook of the educational enthusiasm which existed in the Scotch capital in the days when the Stewarts, Playfairs, and Browns were attracting students from all parts of Europe. Some of the ex ploded theories of the French Encyclopedists, and a tendency to overrate the inherent moral power of humanity, unassisted by religion, still lingered in the Scotch school ; and we think that it was a misfortune that the original movement for Education was set going by so many Scotchmen, inasmuch as the peculiar English character of our working classes should have been more studied. Mere show off knowledge, or the teaching which looks like display, are not valued by our English working men. They like something that will expedite them in their passage through the world, and facilitate them in their gradual ascent front one class into another. We have ourselves seen something of the practical working of mechanics' institutes, and we concur with Lord STANLEY in thinking that mechanics' institutes have not answered the anticipations of their first founders, though undoubtedly they have done much good. As the Noble Lord observed, "too much " was aimed at in the first instance, and educational work wholly disproportionate to the resources was under taken. Yet such is the case in nearly all onward movements. Man, as he advances to his goal, finds that he has often as much to unlearn as to acquire. With the best intentions he goes about his work in the wrong way ; but it is no reason because he has used his tools wrongly that he is to throw them down in despair. The movement on Education is a mighty one, acted on by powerful social impulses; and let us be assured that if it is not made to flow in a right channel, it will take a wrong one. It requires the correcting and stimulating power of a wholesome public opinion; and we are glad that Lord STANLEY has applied him self with such energy to this most interesting subject. The cause of Popular Education wants judi cious leaders to wield the rising opinion of the growing classes of the present generation. It is not in nature that Lord BROUGHAM'S great powers can be preserved to us as long as we could desire, and in some points that great man's views are not in unison with the feel. ings and tastes of the prc sent time. Lord JoliN RUSSELL is almost exclusively a politician, but Lord STANLEY has repeatedly shown a striking aptitude for the furtherance of social questions not entirely dependent on " party." Connected with Lancashire, and by property and associations identified with the north of England, the Noble Lord has many qualifica tions for guiding this educational movement. He has special talent for statistics, and he has an understanding peculiarly adapted for comprehending principles, while his mind is too masculine to yield to the mere sentimen t disms of a popular question. The platform, the tribune, and journalism have all done enough for " Education ;" but the movement wants practical and persevering managers, whose sustained energy will atone for the desultory and fluctuating enthusiasm which alternately swells and ebbs. Every cause re quires leaders and active chiefs, and we sin cerely trust that Lord STANLEY and Sir JOHN PAKINUTON will not slacken in their exertions. Although Lord BROUGHAM is enthusiastically received at provincial assemblies, we must not forget that the popular tribute is given to his celebrity, and to sympathy with an aged statesman who SOMA to defy time. But the practical cause of Education requires fresh leaders, not to supplant the old chiefs, but to supplement their labours; and in this point of view we hail with much interest the recent addresses of Lord STANLEY. jortign Qatxesp►afttftt. PARIS, Nov. 12. THE Emperor Napoleon has often been accused of sacrificing principle to popularity, and courting the favour of the commercial and moneyed classes. Should such an opinion still exist, the letter* ad dressed to M. Magne, the Minister of Finance, on the present financial crisis in France, must remove it from all unbiassed minds. In this letter the Emperor has shown his determination to act on broad principles of political economy, studying not the interests of certain privileged classes , nor being swayed by the promoters of undigested and im practicable schemes. The letter of the Emperor has created a great sensation throughout France, and had complete)7 restored confidence. Political economy has long been the favourite study of Louis Napoleon. In Switzerland, and in the fortress of Ham, many nights were passed in reading the ablest authors on this intricate science. In England he sought the acquaintance of ycur most celebrated economists, and after maturely examining the opinions of all the most competent authorities, he published certain works which such men as Bastiat were proud to quote. The convocation of the Legislative Assembly is officially fixed for the 28th, but the meeting for the despatch of business will not take place before the middle of January. The present session is merely preparatory—such as receiving of new members, &c. The Emperor is greatly afflicted at the death of M. Abbatucci, late Minister of Justice. This states man was most sincerely attached to his Imperial master, and administered his important functions to the satisfaction of the great body of the magistracy. From respect to the decesed, the Emperor has ordered the Court theatre at Compeigne to be closed this evening. The body of M. Abbatucci has been embalmed, and he will be buried on Saturday the 14th. It is rather late in the day to speak of the late lamented General Cavaignac, but his death took me by surprise. Cavaignac was a truly honest man, possessing that rare virtue, true patriotism, and though legitimately ambitious, always acting from the purest motives. He was, in short, a conscien tious politician and a brilliant military officer. By the moderate republicans he was considered the representative of the principles of 'BO ; by the violent demagogues a drapeau suited to the moment, but to be changed when no longer required. The Emperor admired the general, whose career had been most honourably brought to a close ; but in so little was the influence of his natl. e feared over the mass of the people, that on the day of his funeral no extra precautions were taken to preserve the tranquillity of the capital. It is not true, as stated by a Belgian paper, that amongst the 480 felon.; lately shipped for Cayenne, there were sixteen political prisoners. Not a single political prisoner was amongst those felons. It is probable that the mistake arose from sixteen to eighteen thieves, who had returned to Paris, contrary to their sentence, forming part of those lately trans ported. Giant de Hatzfeldt, the Prussian Ambassador, now in Berlin, has been invited to pass a few days at Compeigne. The count is expected to reach Paris on Monday or Tuesday next. If I am rightly informed, Lord Palmerston refuses to accept the Prussian proposition to give the Roumans an elective hospodar, instead of an here ditary sovereign. His lordship, acting under the counsels of Austria, seems determined to attempt to carry out an anti.liberal policy. The French Emperor is as determined to see justice done to the enslaved populations of Moldavia and Wallachia. Credit not for an instant the report of France bein g on this question in an isolated position. I now repeat what I stated in my last, that the Emperors of France and Russia have agreed in the policy to be adopted at the approaching meeting of the I'aris Congress. That policy, in all probability, will not be supported by your Prime Minister. *Priuted elsewhere. Letters received at Havre from St. Petersburg state that commerce was most flourishing in Russia ; that the weather had become very mild, and that it is supposed the navigation would remain free from ice until the end of November—an unusually late period. The Duke of Modena has followed the example of the Duchess of Parma, and retired from the Austro- I t alien Zolverein. _ _ _ The Duchess of Parma has published the new Customs duties to be collected. By this tariff the duties on French goods will be less than they were under the Austro-Italian Customs treaty. THE GREAT MORTAR. TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS." Sir,—lu your impressions of the 24th and 31st ult. you do me great injustice with reference to the ve►y largs (36. inch) mortars tried at Woolwich on the 19th October last ; and I would hope that you will, with that love of justice which yon profess in your article under the latter date, permit me to correct the false information which you ha - we con veyed. In TIIE PRESS of October 21, p. 1,011, you state that" The monster cannon, the patented inven tion, we believe, of Major Blakely, of the Royal Artillery," &e. ; and you then proceed to quote the very incorrect account given in the Times of the trials made on the 19th ult. with the 36• inch mortars, at Woolwich. In your paper of the 31st ult., p. 1,001, you convey to your readers the impression that these mortars were not indeed the sole invention of Cap tain Blakely, for that Dr. Harte, of Trinity College, Dublin, had simultaneously with that gentleman discovered their principle; while as to myself, " having obtained my information from Dr. Harte, and brought the matter before Lord Palmerston," Ltc., 1 had succeeded in "obtaining " 10,0001. from Government, and constructed mortars upon designs, thus it seems, filched from others.* A few dates (those awkward things to those who would strut in borrowed plumes) will set these matters right. First la me say the design of the two 30-inch mortars now at Woolwich is mine and mine alone. Captain Blakely has had no more to do with them than he had with the design of St. Paul's; neither had Dr. Harte.+ My design for these mortars, and a long and carefully prepared memoir respecting them and the use of 36,inch shells, all fully matured, were before the Ordnance authorities in Dezember, 1851, were placed before Lord Palmerston very early in 1855, and the mortars were under con• tract of execution from my designs and specifications early in June, 1855. I never saw Captain Blakely until about three months ago, and I am not aware that he ever saw those mortars until the day the first of them was tried at Woolwich. To my friend Dr. Harte I have been indebted for his valuable investigation of the nature of the strains on cylinders exposed to pressure from within, published in the notes to my work " On the Phy-ical Conditions involved in the Construction of Artillery," and these were of great value to me in corroborating my own views as to the correctness of the proportions of those mortars which I had previously, arrived at, but nothing more. I was fully in posses sion of the principles of construction of guns, d:c., by concentric lamina, before I had ever spoken to Dr. Harte on the subject, and my earliest communica tion with him or from him on the subject is dated oth July, 1855 (more than six months after my designs for those mortars had been in the hands of Government, and nearly a month after my paper had been read, on the 25th June, 1855, before the Royal Irish Academy, in which this principle of con ' struction is fully described, although the aczurate mathematical investigation of it was not known to me until communicated by Dr. Harte subsequently). * Nothing in our remarks could convey such an impression. + In the later article to which Mr. Mallet alludes above, we distinctly mention Dr. Ilarte and Mr. Maflet as the designers, having received from Major Blakely himself a note correcting our former impression of hie being the patentee. We may have given Dr. II arte more prominence than is his due, but the broad fact remains that the Government neglected to use tho weapons recommended to them by several scientific men, for we are greatly misinformed if many others did not urge the use of inonster guns, and point out how they could be manu factured. As to priority of invention, we beg to recommend to all concerned the advice contained in aletter on this subject from M +Jur Blakely to t he editor of the Mechanic's Magasine (Nov. 7), in which he says:—" As I did my befit to keep my discovery secret, of course they cannot have borrowed from me. Indeed, even if I am the first proposer of the plan, that can in no manner detract from the merits of Dr. Harts or Mr. Mallet, cted for, as an artillery officer. my thoughts should have been dire to the subject. I tr ust, therefore, that the question of priority will not be raised, being totally unituporUint."