The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULYIB, 1857. ports. That may or may not be ; but if the hired transports are to be steam transports we venture to call attention to a letter, printed else where, from an occasional correspondent at Trincomalee, in which is stated a not unimportant fact bearing upon the employment of steam ships—viz., that the Government supply of coal at Trincomalee is "utterly unfit for fuel." Now, it is just possible that any steam troop ship, en route to Calcutta, may, by stress of weather or other circum stances, be compelled to put in at Trincomalee for a supply of coal ; and what awaits them at a time when moments are precious, when every British soldier landed in India within tha next few months is doubly worth his weight in gold, we can see by the fate that befel the Fire Queen on the Ist of June. She was en route to Galle, to embark troops fir Calcutta, and she put in at Trincomalee short of coal. Every one can appreciate the urgency of the case. The first terrible intelligence of the outbreak in India had reached Ceylon, backed by the pressing appeal of Lord CANNING for troops : not a moment was to be lost. She could be coaled in four hours and have been off. %Val it be believed that she was detained upwards of sixty hours, and then sent away with a stock of firewood ! The Government supply of coal upon inspection by the engineer of the F ire Queen was pronounced worthless. Nov, as efficiency in every department of the public service is acknowledged to be desirable, and in all its Indian branches at the present emergency is vitally requisite, we should be glad to know why these coeds were kept by the Government authorities at Trinco malee so long, that they partly became, as is usual with coal in tropical climates, self consumed; and further, whether, since the discovery of their worthlessness, they have been condemned and a fresh supply ob obtained, or whether that coat, which the engineer of the lire Queen rejected as utterly worthless, and compared to " gravel," is still kept on hand for the use of such steamships now leaving England, or such of her Majesty's vessels now in the Indian seas, as may perchance run short of coal in the Bay of Bengal and bear up for a fresh supply to Trincomalee ? The value of intellectual culture in itself, no man we presume will question. Its relative value, compared with other qualifications with which it does not usually co-exist, is the great point which the advo cates of liberal education find it so difficult to uphold. Classical study has of late years been especially singled out for attack by lovers of materialism, nor can we agree with the leading journal in be lieving that the number of such persons has now very much decreased. Plenty of merchants and tradesmen, more wealthy than wise, are still to be found who withdraw their boys from school at fifteen, on the ground that a longer period of devotion to polite letters unfits them for the pursuits of business. They forget that business in turn may unfit them for the pursuits proper to humanity. We must remember also that another class of enemies with which Greek and Latin have to contend are those whose dislike of them proceeds purely from jealousy. They cannot get over the feeling that a tssics have hitherto been made a sort of touchstone of gentility, and they are uneasy under the weight of that pregnant phrase, •"lhe Horatian scholarship of a gentleman." There is yet a third class of objectors who advocate education in modern literature arid science as superior in kind to HOMER, VIRGIL, and ARISTOTLE. We believe, indeed, that, with the highest and most refined class of minds, a reaction against the thoughtless materialism of twenty years ago has really commenced. We do not believe, for instance, that SYDNEY SMITH would have written his famous article on classical education now. But, for all that, we think the lovers of classical literature have reason to be thankful to Mr. GLADSTONE for his late manly and eloquent eulogy. It is right that the public should occasionally be reminded that in moral and political philosophy, especially the latter, we cannot get beyond ARISTOTLE and PLATO; that in oratory we have, at all events, not surpassed the two classic models ; and that in purity and beauty of composition, it is still found that he succeeds best who has studied from his boyhood the poets, statesmen, and historians of Greece and Rome. These are facts, and every now and then it is right to clear amiy the lumber that smothers them, and permit them to shine before the world. The debate of Friday next promises to be one of the most inte resting of the present session. The subject is the compulsory clause of the Divorce Bill, on which we have already expressed a tolerably strong opinion. We believe it is a long while since the leaders of the Liberal party have so deeply offended numbers of their own sup porters, and so violently outraged the national sentiment of justice, as on this occasion. Among the clergy themselves indignation is rife. Not only are those opposed to the Bill who abhor the act which it enjoins ; but many who have no objection to celebrate the marriage between adulterers are justly incensed and alarmed at the attitude assumed by Government. Will the Church at length awaken from her dream of Liberal protection, and acknowledge the truth of our own predictions, that it is only by a steady support of the Conser vative party that she can hope for security of either property, privilege, or conscience ? The importance of the famous CLARENDON capitulation, and the unimportance of the MARCY letter, are by degrees being perceived by practical men. Mr. LINDSAY and Lord JOHN RUSSELL this week have noticed both, after fifteen months' consideration. Humanity condemns the privateering system. By all means let the issue of letteis of marque be for ever suppressed. But unfortunately our transatlantic connections have a characteristic predilection for that species of warfare. There is something free, manly, and independent in that mode of accomplishing the destruction 701. of one's fellow-creatures or gaining possessing of their effects. Before they can be expected to surrender a favourite occupation, we must consent to the abandonment of some counterbalancing advan tage. There must he a quid pro quo. We maintain a large naval armament in time of peace, in the hope, not indeed always realised, of bringing wars when they occur to a speedy conclusion. With the goods of an enemy while within the territory of a neutral State, we cannot meddle; but on the sea, the common highway of nations, our preponderance in naval force has hitherto enabled us to make tolerably short work of the commerce of must of our opponents. This superiority is precisely the advantage most grudged us by our rivals on the deep. The shipowners of New York perceive a manifest advantage in their appointment to the office of carrier for the goods of belligerent nations. The interest of Great Britain is as manifest to suppress the marine traffic of an adversary. The former, while th.3ir country holds aloof from the contest, would not fail to benefit by the hostilities of others ; while a naval war could scarcely occur of any magnitude to which this country could avoid becoming a party, and being such, her interest must be identical with the exercise of her maritime power to the fullest extent. The approaching election for the city of Oxford, for the repre sentation of which Mr. THACKERAY is a candidate, naturally leads the admirers of that gentleman to canvass his fi`ness for a Parliamentary career. On his keen but kindly humour, his penetrative sagacity, his knowledge of life, and his extraordinary literary ability, this is not the time to enlarge. Those qualities will be taken fur granted by the majority of our readers. But it may be permitted us to inquire what evidence they afford of his competence for the business of legislation. Mr THACKERAY, we must recollect, will not enter Parliament, if elected, as an ordinary man—all that he says will be widely quoted. and all that be does eagerly imitated. If, then, his previous pursuits have been such as in any degree to impair his breadth of view, or his fair ness of judgment. such circumstances should be allowed even more than their usual weight. Mr. THACKERAY is a social satirist—that is to say, his special subject of study has been the weaknesses of mankind when collected together in societies. This species of observation alone is calculated to lead a man into some kind of contempt for all forms and regulations—a way of thinking which an isolated literary life, unconnected with any of those great institutions which teach the excellence and the necessity of organisation, precedent, and authority, has no tendency to correct. There is no proof in any of Mr. THACKERAY'S writings that he has given much consideration to political questions, and it is probable he will approach them in some what the same spirit as be has done social ones—that is, whatever strikes him as foolish or unreasonable at first sight, he will attack with sweeping invective. Now, there are two reasons why this mode of pro ceeding is far more objectionable in political than in social questions. Firstly, the former are so complicated that it is very seldom that a first view is a right one; secondly, the satirist can impose no law upon society as the legislator can If he is wrong, society will not attend to him, and he may go on his way howling. Mr. THACKERAY . S " Snob Papers," fur instance, with all their wonderful merit, contained a great leaven of injustice. Suppose the dicta therein laid down could have been made binding on every man, woman, or child in the United Kingdom! That, we trust, is an impossible case. But we wish to remind the electors of Oxford that just such an uncompromising and indiscriminating spirit will Mr. THACKERAY bring to the consideration of the gravest questions in Church and State ; and that the celebrity and popularity of his writings must not be unreflectingly assumed to prove capacity for the more practical business of politics, which are, as BERKE tells us, " the " science of compromise." "S. G. 0." writes very sensibly sometimes. With the pith of his observations on the subject of industrial schools, as expressed in Thursday's Times, we fully concur. People will sooner or later find out that we cannot nourish mind and body on the same system. The latter will thrive very well on regular rations meted out at stated hours. But the mind will not digest knowledge administered in a similar fashion. We may pour so much " fact " into a boy's brains every morning and afternoon; but, unless we exercise discrimination, there the facts remain, crude and useless. The majority of all classes in the community are doomed to remain where they were born ; and, as we have often urged in dealing with University education, it is the second and third rate minds we are principally bound to take care of. INDIA. The hot heart beats again, whose fitful thr)o Plassy's fierce thunders frightened into rest ; The dark eye gleams, o'er whose indignant woe Clive's forceful arm the unwilling eyelid pressed. Like a wronged beauty, all her black hair flying Its jewelled fillets in the spoiler's hands, With no joy left but vengeance before dying, Fierce, frenzied, frightened, this our India stands. Look ! she who crouched, as in the cane-brake green Her own sleek tigresses, can leap as high, And they who hunt the savage jungle-queen Must set their choice to take` her or to die. Oh, Vernon Smith ! loud speeches will not shame her, Nor dainty gloves on delicate fingers tame her !