The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 16, 1858. those materials there fell the fatal spark, which lighted up the terrific conflagration. 13y an extraordinary coincidence, the " greased cartridges" offered the opportunity for corn bluing in the same resistance the hostile races of Mussulnian and llindoo. Swine's fat was alike an abomination to the followers of MO HAMMED and the votaries of BRAMAII ; the one had been alienated by our absorption of the territories of their Nabobs, the other by our denial of the rights of adoption to their ltajahs and the dreaded confiscation in Oudc. Would that we could blot out from memory the horrors that succeeded ! But let us not be so scared by those horrors as to draw from them unwarrant able conclusions. Let us not be frightened out of our Christianity into heathen indifference, by placing on these atrocities a mistaken interpretation. No, it was not our Christian zeal but our un-Christian acts which brought down this calamity upon us. had the British Government adhered to the principles of the Gospel, had it even obeyed the eternal laws of justice, the sons and daughters of England would have escaped this awful visitation. If we read that visitation aright, we shall, whilst doing our utmost to give confidence to the natives of India that no official pressure shall be put upon them to convert them from their Faith to ours, not hesitate fearlessly to pro claim that we believe our Faith, not their Faith, to be the best, because it is the true one. But it will be worse than useless to make any such proclamation if we are not prepared faithfully to adhere to the precepts of that Faith which we thus ought fearlessly and openly to profess. It is worse than folly to avow ourselves Christians, and to act as Heathens. We must seek to make converts to our Faith by showing its superiority by its working. Professions of neutrality will avail nothing —no, nor even deeds of neutrality; both will be alike suspected ; for an llindoo, to whom his religion is dear, is utterly unable to comprehend the motive which can induce a Christian to be neutral with regard to his. What ! neutral in a matter involving the most important interests in this life, and everlasting destiny in the next ! We may do what we please, we may say what we will, to prove our " religious neutrality; " but, so far from the Government thereby gaining the confidence of the natives, it will only serve to excite their suspicion and distrust. The past avowal of " religious neutrality," we affirm, was one of the causes of the mutiny. It excited distrust—it was quite incompre hensible—it was not even desired ; all that was wished for was security for their own Faith against official powers and against official wiles. Gene rally speaking, neither the ministers of the Church of England nor the missionaries were distrusted. We may therefore rest assured that in order to preserve our Indi an d om i n i ons , it is quite unnecessary for this nation to ignore its Chris tianity. On the contrary, we believe that the best means of preserving our sway is to avow our Christian Faith fearlessly before the natives ; but, then, woe betide us if we go on, as hitherto, pro fessing that we are Christians but acting as if we were ileathens. We may safely avow our Faith, if we will only act up to its precepts. In the good olden times of Barons, broadcloth, and beef, there was a custom which was of real utility under the form of apparent absurdity. The custom we allude to was that of every great man keeping a Fool, whose privilege it was, on all occasions, to tell him the truth without the fear of taken offence. There would be no small advantage, who can doubt, in having this sort of cunt privilegio personage in many a house, and by many a great man's side, now. But customs, and habits, and modes of life have strangely altered. Now, save in ruins, we seldom see the castellated baronial residence where, in its huge hall, hung round with axe and halberd, at yule-time, some two or three hundred retainers, clad in broadcloth, brown or grey, sat down, with their Lord at the head of them, to a roasted ox, and ended the day in feast and song, Nor do we ever meet now, in any great man's house, ' with the individual who used to supply amusement in these scenes—the individual kept to play the part of Fool. Surely it has not yet become less true than it was in the days of King Lear, that recognised Fools cannot arrogate this title exclusively to them selves ! When Kent made the remark to Lear, " This is not altogether fool, my Lord," it will be remembered the Fool answered :—" No, faith, lords and great men will " not let me ; if I had a monopoly out they " would have part on't : and ladies, too, they will " not let me have all fool to myself; they'll be " snatching." Truth, when witty, is the wittiest of all things, of which this is an instance, as also when the Fool told King Lear, " Thou hast " pared thy wit o' both sides, and left nothing "in the middle." How aptly might this be applied to many a so-called " prudent man " now, who shuts himself up in his own opinion, and never listens to what others say of him, or think ! In fine, the conclusion we have long come to ourselves, is, that they are the real fools who never listen to fools ; for none but a thorough fool is always right, and his right is usually the most ridiculous wrong. What are the habits of men now ? What is their mode of life ? " Every Englishman," NOVALIB once remarked, "is an island." Too many men live a purely subjective life—segregated in their inmost hearts altogether from their kind. Hence it often happens that they make ruinous mistakes for the want of some one at their elbow rash enough to tell them the real truth. What a useful fellow a licensed Fool would be in such cases ! Excellent for statesmen would be the harmless aid of this most useful instructor of the olden times. Bishops require their playful help even more than Ministers of State. For, as SYDNEY SMITH says, " Bishops live in high " places, with high people, or with little people, " who depend upon them. They hear only one " sort of conversation, and avoid bold reckless " men"—(he might have added, very clever men too)—" as a lady veils herself from rough " breezes." Living under such conditions, a new-made Evangelical bishop, of the straitest sect, may appoint as his examining chaplain, without at all being aware of it, an out-and-out Puseyite, because he has no one about him who dares tell him that he is being misled ; or he may appoint to a living of his own a man, whom he thinks to be sound, who, as soon as he gets secure possession of his living, will proclaim himself a Broad Churchman of the most thoroughly Ger manized type. These are instances in which the advantage of a man to be called " the Bishop's Fool" is most obvious. Most persons, in deed, in high office, are far more anxious to have right on their side, than to be on the side of right; and in order to have the satisfaction of feeling that they have right on their side, they take very good care that no one shall show them to be in the wrong. Oh, that all men knew the usefulness of a Fool I For the reasons above assigned, and others might be added, we are strongly in favour of reviving the old practice of every great man's keeping his own Fool. To sundry other cha racters they would be most useful : to many an M.P., for instance, who imagines himself an eloquent orator, just to hint to him that men cannot live upon smoke • to many a new-made knight, just to let him imow by sonic playful innuendo that his sword should not flesh its maiden edge among ladies in the drawing-room; to many a Mr. Justice Shallow upon the bench, 995 just to instruct him that his look of wisdom had not in it the weight of law ; to many a handsome lady even, just to acquaint her with the fact that " there was never yet fair woman, but she made mouths in a glass." If it were desired, indeed, that wisdom should enter into it, and folly be driven out of it, there would be a Fool kept in every house. " Fools grow without watering," the proverb says. It is commonly assumed, indeed, that fools are as plentiful as blackberries ; but he must be a fool who thinks so ; for the term " fool " has become the synonym for an honest man. The fact is that fools of the kind we have in view are most scarce, because now-a-days they never get fed. Even if an advertisement for one were inserted in the Times, offering high wages, we doubt if the right sort of one could be found. In the olden time they appear to have been bred, fed, and fattened as we fatten bullocks. They had the honour of sitting at their master's table, or at all events came in to the dessert to help by merry quip, the jest and playful allusions, the process of digestion. En passant, they would be of no despicable utility in this respect. They would help to dissipate the ill humours that arise from inaction of the liver. Many a wrong judg ment is owing to a dormant liver. Laughter is the best friend to sense. Our own dull sense, in short, is often not half so good, because not half so much to the purpose, as a fool's nonsense. Let every Minister of State, then, let every Bishop, let every man in any dignity or high position, have his own Fool. Let his office be twofold,—first, to go about and hear what other men say of his master—what mistakes he is accused of making—what mistakes he is in danger of making—what course it will be wisest, safest, best for him to adopt ; secondly, to assist the very necessary process of digestion at dinner, that he may have an even temper, physical energy, and a clear judgment. It has become too much the fashion with a certain class of public men " to feel by rule and think by precedeflt"; and so long as they can support what they do by some wise saw, they are well satisfied. But this is not wisdom, never theless, though it is the course adopted by reputed wise men. For these men a Fool would be invaluable. There is often more wisdom in a fool's finger than in such men's head. To all kinds of begging in this independent age men are averse except begging the ques tion. They will beg pardon fast enough, except when there is any serious ground for doing so, and then they will only beg to tell you that you are an impertinent fellow. Those who are always gazing at their own shadows must walk in the shadows of one fool at least. Ad vice is a very excellent thing were not people so modest sow-a-days that none will presume to give it, and so vain that, if given, none will follow it, or they would not question for one moment the utility of Fools. THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEES IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. THERE are few of our readers but must, at inter vals, have observed in the newspapers corre spondences between the bodies which have assumed to themselves the above designation, and the different members of the past and present Administration. But we rather think that, nevertheless, the majority of our readers have no distinct idea of the history of these Committees, or of their organization, their composition, and their objects. Notwithstanding, they are by no means unworthy of attention, for the extent of their organization forms a rather remarkable fea ture in our present social position. When we tell our readers that in some seventy of the prin cipal manufacturing towns in this country these Committees meet weekly, to consider the state of our foreign relations—that many of them have obtained an extensive knowledge of all the proceedings of our Foreign-office for the last fifty years, and that they discuss the merits of those proceedings with a judgment and ability which would do credit to many a member of the Legis- THE UTILITY OF FOOLS. Cui bono—" What is the use of it ?"—is the question most frequently put in this utilitarian age• Everything now, indeed, has to he sub jected to the test of utility ; if it will not bear this test, it is at once voted worthless. Even the nose in a man's face has to answer for making itself so prominent, and to account for its taking up a position in the middle of the face, and not modestly standing on one side—a question this, which the Fool in King Lear answers admirably well " Why, to keep his eyes on either side of " his nose, that what a man cannot smell out he " may spy out." A hint like this, though coming from a Fool, might supply the scent, to any man disposed to make a right use of his nose, whereby to track out some important fact. There are many things, indeed, of great use whose use does not at first sight appear, of which, we think, the following will be found to be one proof.