The Press. — London, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

THE WEEK. Tuts week has seen the commencement of the labours of the Election Petition Committees, and they do not promise to be light. It would be premature to speak at this moment :upon the evidence already adduced, either in the Mayo or Rochdale cases, but it is instructive to observe how in the Mayo case, in the midst of the most terrible picture of solemn curses and terrible intimidation, a plain question by Sir Jous HANMER calms this tropical hurricane of, brickbats, and elicits the fact that to the best of one witness's belief no voter was intimidated from voting by any of these violent measures. In the Rochdale, Pontefract, Cambridge, and Marlborough cases, the proceed ings have been of more or less interest, and to which we may refer at some future period. In Parliament the leading events have been the first instalment of the Consolidation of the Statute Law, the passing of the Oaths and Divorce Bills in the Commons and Lords respectively, and the defeat of the Government, in the face of their most strenuous efforts, upon the question of voting 50,000/. towards the formation of a park at Finsbury. One principal objection to such portions of the Divorce Bill as have this week been discussed in the House of Lords is the compul sion exercised on the clergy. It is very bard that they should be com pelled to marry those whom the Church expressly forbids them to marry, and such enactments smack rather of petty party spite than broad statesmanlike wisdom. To " snub " the clergy has always been a favourite system with a certain school of politicians, and gave rise to that Erastianism and servility on the part of the Church which was all but universal some forty or fifty years ago. But the pith of the grievance is that the Church is now shorn at both ends. Our forefathers, if they compelled submission to the State, at least took care to protect the Church in the possession of her property and privileges. But in the present day we narrow her freedom of action still further, and enforce the obser vation of obnoxious statutes, while at the same time we deprive her of the poor compensation for such treatment which existed in the security of her pecuniary dues. The Oaths Bill having at length passed through the Commons, we are inclined to believe that it will meet with resistance in the Lords, and that even the members of the Cabinet in the Upper House are not quite agreed upon the benefit of the measure. The question of India is slowly but surely attracting the attention of reflective men. Lord STANLEY, in his admirable speech in the debate on Tuesday, with in tuitive sagacity seized upon the position the East India Company bears in relation to the land, and declared that as landlords of the soil they were bound to take upon themselves the responsibilities of the individual landlord in other countries. This is the whole of the case against the Company ; and until they do accept those responsibili ties and perform the duties attached to their position, European capital will be hazarded in India. The debate was so damaging to the Government that it was adjourned, and has since been postponed till late in the session. The third reading of the Ministers' Money Bill was carried last night in the Lords. The speech of his Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE on Monday last, on the subject of Military Education, is a fitting prelimi nary to the motion of Sir DE LACY EVANS on Tuesday next. We have never swerved from the ground originally taken up by us upon this question, and have always endeavoured to keep the minds of our readers in a straight course, and fixed directly upon the true object to be attained. That object we consider to be the infusion of as much scientific knowledge into the officers of the British army as the mate rial of which the best officers are composed is capable of receiving. The observations of his Royal Highness, and the comments of the leading journal upon them, are, in a general sense, admirable. There is in the English character excellent raw material for the production of military men. Let this raw material receive the benefits of better cul tivation, and a proportionably superior result will be obtained. Now, this general statement is extremely plausible and fascina ting from its very simplicity. Yet it is, after all, impossible to doubt that the very general impression against a pedantic school of officers must contain its element of truth. Men are puzzled by the argument we have quoted, but not convinced. Nor is it right that they should be. The fallacy of it lies in treating the English character as one indivisible whole, instead of a genus containing many species. Probably every Englishman would make a reasonably good soldier ; but some varieties of the race are better adapted than others for this particular service. Now, it is this division of Englishmen alone to whom all theories on military education ought to he con fined. And if it be found that the capacity of imbibing " book learning," and the qualities of hardihood, chivalry, and élan do not exist in equa►l degrees in the same individuals, then our position is that the latter qualities must be allowed to take precedence. Let these he the staple of the soldiers' character, and add as much science as they will carry ; but do not let science be the foundation and moral qualities the superstructure. That would be to invert the pyramid. Without discussing the propriety of the decision arrived at by the House of Commons on Tuesday last upon the subject of Metropolitan Parks, the importance of providing such places of recreation for our imen and artisans is generally recognised. The subject toil-worn trades: THE PRESS. SATURDAY, is one peculiarly appropriate to the present hot season ; and we won der whether the loungers at the bow windows of the Trafalgar, or the boats' crews of Londoners pulling lazily along between Teddington and Richmond one mellow Sunday evening at Midsummer, ever reflect upon the misery of passing such hours in a steaming garret or a reeking gin shop in Whitechapel. There is, doubtless, a wide difference between claret-cup and cream of the valley; but it scarcely represents a tithe of the difference between the sensations of one breathing the atmo sphere of St. Giles's and another who is fanned by the breezes of Richmond-hill, and lulled by the ripple of a river, that would not know his own waters twenty miles further down. It is, then, for the benefit of all our poorer fellow-citizens that we most earnestly entreat the Board of Works not to be negligent about the good work before them. Hampstead-heath already exists as a most accessible and refreshing outlet for the population of North London. Let it be the business of those who have the power to watch most carefully over its preservation. Fins bury-park would provide such another. We are told that these are charitable times ; but no greater charity could be extended to the poor of London than the formation of localities in which their children might often be removed from the corruption and contagion of courts and alleys, and they themselves find a resouroe that would. wean them from the ordinary temptations of a London Sunday evening. It is then that numbers of the youth of this metropolis make their first acquaintance with vice; and it is then that the con versation of vitiated companions, and the example of older offenders, leads them to the first familiarity with crime. The next Tndian mail is anticipated at least eagerly if not with apprehension by the Government, for there is no concealing the fact that if the state of India, with dissension among the Europeans and dissatisfaction among the natives, is felt to be critical, the Government at Calcutta, it must be acknowledged, is known to be irresolute. It is in a state of suspended animation. Difficulties arc thickening round Lord CANNING. The crisis demands a firm and manly course of con duct—a course to which all love of ease, all desire for retirement, weariness of office, or dislike of responsibility, must be sacrificed ; and we trust that the Government of Calcutta will by their conduct inspire confidence in their power to check and suppress the disaffection in the native army, and by wise, temperate, and 4.onsistent measures restore British India to her usual tranquillity. With regard to the grievances of the Sepoys, they should be inquired into and redressed, and at the same time the British forces in India should be largely augmented. A point ranch discussed in connection with these Sepoy mutinies is the peculiar system the East India Company adopt of filling up their diplomatic and civil appoint ments by regimental officers, and, in consequence, keeping for duty at the head-quarters of their regiments a number of officers wholly inade quate to the regimental duties. The system is fraught with serious evils, and these mutinies may to some extent be accepted as one result of such mistaken economy. In THE PRESS of June 7th, 1856, we ob served :—" It would appear from the latest accounts that the Indian " army is rapidly approaching a point in respect of under-officering " beyond which it will be in the highest degree unsafe to go ;" and, discussing the effect of the system upon the army, we remarked : Now, without officers, regiments are at the best but imperfect machines ; discipline is neglected, orders are unheeded, and all soldierly feelings and habits are forgotten. That is the best state of things that can happen under such a want, if so long continued as to be an habitually prevailing one. The worst state it is fearful to contemplate, and will be unnecessary to describe. Those, however, can easily imagine it who know that our native soldiery in India is composed of men who are not our countrymen, and who bear towards us no feelings of natural allegiance ; men who are kept well affected to us solely by the habit of being commanded by us, by the readiness with which we listen to and redress their grievances, by liberal pensions well secured to them, and by regularly issued and most excellent pay. I • The soundness and suggestiveness of these remarks every'one must admit. Twelve months have scarcely passed before we see certain Sepoy grievances, real or imaginary, not redressed, and in a moment the unofficered native army is quivering upon the verge of open revolt. We repeat now what we suggested then to the Indian Government. Establish a staff corps—that is to say, place all officers employed upon permanent duties apart from the regiments upon full-pay unattached, filling up their vacancies in the regimental lists by the promotion in succession of the officers below them—and the difficulty and danger of the position will cease at once. General ANSON'S Sel l lollB atten tion was drawn to the existing evil last year, but his strong represen tations were neglected by the East India Company The time has come when some effective step must be taken. The regimental duties of each corps must be no longer neglected, while the . position and influence of the British officer attached to the, Company's regiments should be more accurately defined. The day of the civilian is passed in India. It is to the soldier that in future the great diplomatic and civil prizes will be awarded. They have proved them selves incomparably the most able administrators British India has ever possessed ; and it is to the army entirely that we shall in future look for fit men to fill the most valuable administrative appointments in India. It is clear that the regimental duties of officers so withdrawn from their men can only be performed by a substitute in full. The formation of a staff corps is the simplest and best plan, and one re commended by the highest authorities upon the subject. Her Majesty the Queen enjoyed her usual good fortune in weather at the great ceremony of yesterday. It was a most brilliant June day ; but it was intensely hot. At the moment that the royal. cortege came upon the ground the scene was most animated and effective. Aud the event was a great and noble one. The inauguration 628