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

however subtle or however plausible may be the arguments urged. I frankly admit that I rejoice at the study of the ancient classics, because T believe that in no small degree is due to them that love of liberty which is the characteristic of Englishmen, and which is never associated with those wild theories of government which have marked the nine teenth century, and which, I think, show the necessity of such teachers. For, after all, liberty must not be mis taken for licence ; and it often happens that in countries with democratic constitutions the freedom of the body and of the mind is worst understood. If we cross the Atlantic to that wonderful republic America, we shall find that their constitution is far more democratic than ours, but that there is far less true liberty. And I will not shrink from expressing the opinion that, although this country has been the happy home of well regulated liberty from a very early period, yet that the love of that liberty and the comprehension of that liberty have been in no small degree fostered and fortified in ua by the great masters of antiquity and the lessons which they have afforded us. Mr. Gladstone then insisted that in the cultivation of a sound taste, as well as in the fitting man for the severe and practical duties of life, no writers of any age were comparable to those of Greece and Rome, and concluded : I do not hesitate to say that the old studies are the best studies; and that if you want to find the man—l am not speaking of individual cases, but as a general rule—if you want to find the man who has the greatest aptitude, the greatest facility in acquiring what is new, the most thorough mind for the acquisition of new forms of thought and new pursuits, and the greatest facility in the descrip tion of them to another—for the solution of this practical problem and enigma in public life give me the men who has had a thorough classical training, who has drunk the writings of the 01l masters into his bones and his marrow, who has stood in the race of competition with schoolboys and with collegians, and who has proved his powers under the course of study there placed before him. 1 1 HE PRESS, Jut 18, 1857. The Archbishop of Canterbury then offered up a prayer, and the first stone of this great national institution was laid amid the thunders of artillery. Her Majesty soon after retired, loudly cheered by the spectators. THE ROYAL VICTORIA PATRIUDIC ASYLUM. THE FOUNDATION STONE of a new asylum, des tined for the reception of 300 orphan daughters of soldiers, sailors, and marines, was laid by her Majesty on Saturday. The cost of the erection and endowment of the asylum will be defrayed out of the surplus funds still remaining in the hands of the Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund—a sufficient surplus from which fund still remains to admit of 38,000/. being given for the erection of the building, and of 140,0001. to provide an endowment for this institution, intended for the " perpetual conso lation and encouragement of those who hereafter may die for their country." The asylum is to be constructed to accommodate 300 girls, and, so far as we were enabled to ascertain, it is to be built after the design of the famous Heriot's Hospital of Edinburgh, omitting, however, much of that ornate style of decoration which would un necessarily absorb an undue portion of the fends at present available. The site which the building is to occupy is a very pleasant one—on Wandsworth Common, a short distance from the Clapham station of the South-Western Railway, overlooking on one side the Wandsworth House of Correction, and the very pretty gothic building of the Freemasons' Asylum for Female Orphans. The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone was conducted last Saturday with great state by her Majesty in the presence of her illustrious guests and a brilliant crowd of distinguished persons. Her Maiesty arrived about five p.m., and, after certain preliminaries, his Royal Highness the Prince Con sort, as President of the Committee, presented her Majesty with an address from the Patriotic Fund, detailing the origin and objects of its institution, with the results of its labours and the immediate object of the erection of this asylum : The orphans admitted (said the address) into this insti• tution will be carefully instructed in their moral and reli gious duties, and, in addition to a useful elementary educa tion, will be taught those branches of industrial knowledge which will fit them to perform the duties of domestic servants; and, when they may become wives and mothers. will enable them to manage their households with economy, and, by habits of cleanliness and order, to contribute to the comfort and cheerfulness of their homes. Such is the proposed object of the institution which your Majesty is graciously pleased to patronise by permitting it to bear your illustrious name and by gracing it with your presence this day. The Queen replied : I gladly avail myself of this occasion to express the great satisfaction I have derived from the gratifying evidence presented to me of the manner in which my faithful sub jects throughout the whole extent of my dominions, and in the most distant parts of the world, have evinced their genuine sympathy with my own feelings of admiration for the ;.!allant conduct and enduring fortitude of my naval and military forces, by their munificent contributions to the funds for the relief of the widows and orphans of the brave men who have fallen in the discharge of their duty to their Sovereign and their country. You have fully justified the confidence placed in you by your judicious and impartial distribution of these funds, and I entirely approve of the appropriation of a portion of them to the erection and per manent endowment of an institution in the success of which I shall ever feel the warmest interest. MR. WIGAN. GREAT and general has been the regret in social and theatrical circles at the illness of that most accomplished actor, Mr. A. Wigan. A benefit in his honour has been arranged at the Olympic Theatre for next Friday night. Amongst the committee are several names of the highest dis tinction in rank, fashion, art, and literature—the Marquises of Lansdowne and Stafford, Lord Ward, Mr. R. W. Grey, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Messrs. Stanfield, Maclise, Richard Doyle, and many more. Mr. Wigan well deserves this honourable sympathy. Admired as an artist on the stage, Mr. Wigan has always been respected in general society as a scholar and a gentleman. We trust that on Fri day there will be a full demonstration of the great regard felt for him in many social circles. He won the highest professional rank by his talents, and he enhanced it by his personal merits. He has now the claim of ill health to the cordial sympathy of his friends. It is mournful that after having surmounted all the struggles of so difficult a profession lie should now be disabled. We sincerely hope that he will yet be restored to his former health ; and a generous gathering on next Friday will be a cordial to the spiiits of one suffering from severe illness. DEATH OF BERANGER. THE poet Beranger is dead. Pierre Jean Beranger, the great song-writer of France, was horn in 1780, in Paris, of very humble parents. The future poet's earlier days were passed in poor employments, but the thrill of exultation that run through France when the news arrived of the victory of Marengo, awoke in the breast of Beranger the slumbering spirit of song, that has ever since poured out its notes to gladden and vivify the nationality of Frenchmen. His works rapidly became so popular, that their author was enabled to enjoy in purse the independence which was the real jewel of his soul, and on he went, enjoying life himself, and singing what greatly promoted the enjoyments of others. But the Bourbons in time were restored, and the freedom of our poet's thoughts did not suit their politics ; so, in 1821, they put Beranger into gaol for three months. He bowed and endured, and, the three months expired, came forth from prison, and again wrote his songs, and was again, in 1828, put under lock and key for nine months. When Louis Philippe came, he proved to be no more favourable to free expression in type than his relations, the elder Bourbons, had been ; but in all ill-fortuno Beranger still had his good temper and his muse to console him, and manfully lived through the evil days. When the revolution of 1848 resulted in the Republic, nothing would suit his countrymen but making Beranger a senator, and he was accordingly elected a member of the National Assembly. From the duties of his heavy post he pleaded age and the claims of his muse as an exemption. _ _ lle n had written very little of late. The Empress of the French was amongst those who sent most fre quently to inquire after the poet in his last illness. HONG KONG: THE Times correspondent has reached Hong Kong at last, and in the first of his letters gives us a slight sketch of the town, and its first effect upon a fresh Englishman : Twenty-four hours in British China have not enabled me to. do much towards examining and correcting the ideas I have obtained from diligent perusal of Pantier, 13azin, Staunton, Ellis, Hue, Fortune, Davis, Montgomery Martin, l'Abbe Grosier, Stanislas Julien, and a host of others. Bear with me, therefore, if in the intervals of the study of the great problems before me I send you only a few scraps of news and a few vague first im• pressions. My earliest impression undoubtedly is that our facetious European friends who advise us to " go to Hong Kong" have not an accurate knowledge of the spot. A gentleman who should " go to Hong Kong " in the present state of affairs, although he may have his pocket full of dollars, is not unlikely to be obliged to sleep upon the pavement of Queen•street, and will be indebted to the protection of the Malay guard if his throat is not cut before the morning. It is a town of beautiful houses, but its powers of accommodation are not capable of indefi- nite expansion. The flight from Canton and other causes have filled it. General Garrett and his staff, who might reasonably have anticipated some preparations for their reception, found it convenient to sleep on board the steamer, and were glad to shelter themselves whert they might. The general, on the day after his arrival•, with great difficulty got a room at an inn, and his suite were happy to avail themselves of the hospitality of the Hong Kong Club—an establishment to which we cannot be too grateful; and if there is any gr..titude in Pall-mall the military clubs should be open to every member when he visits London, in requittal of good offices rendered in utmost need. These soldiers, however, are all old cam• poigners, who have reminiscences of the winter before Sebastopol, and will soon reduce matters here to their proper bearing. In other respects, Hong Kong is a place where a turkey and a ham costs 5/., and where a dollar, whose par value is 4s. 21, costs sa. in English bills or gold. It has some other peculiarities which strike a new comer. If you dine with a merchant here, you notice that when your host takes leave of you at his outer door, he has a Malay soldier standing sentinel in his hall with a loaded musket. He explains to you, also, that the house is so arranged that all those long-tailed domestics who waited it dinner are or can be shut off from that part of the house in which the Europeans sleep. If your host should accompany you a few steps towards yourown domicile he is careful to buckle his revolver round his waist, and—say it is nine o'clock—he is uncomfortable if he goes ten paces without being challenged by an armed patrol. We have given no thought to the " hostile shores" of China, yet just across is the land of the enemy. His rocky mountains seem to rise from behind the last line of shipping, and probably would be still more nra^ly approached by them but for a circlet of low rocks which rise the crater of a volcano in the midst of the strait, letting the blue water, however, eddy in the hollow. At the foot of those lay hills is an enemy's batter) of four guns. But, although there is a great noise of firing among these sis terly ships, which are always saluting each other, and whose kisses are of the heartiest smacking sound, yet the four Chinese guns never join in the pastime. The braves of Mr. Commissioner Yeli bide their time until the ships be gone home. and the police of the town aro disbanded. Rusticuo el-pedal." Meantime, expectation is rife as to what Lord Elgin will do.l "Sir," said a military man to our corre spondent, "you must blow your way through Canton at the point of the bayonet, and you must hold the city in the name of the three allied powers." That is the prominent feeling of every one in Hong Kong. Raolleg Onkel Etta ditg itttitigentt. FRIDAY EVENING. THE return of the Bank of England for the week ending the 11th inst., shows the following changes compared with that for the week preceding : Increase in Circulation Decrease in Public Deposits Increase in Other Deposits Decrease in Government Securities 107.841 Decrease in Other Securities 2,860.030 Increase in Bullion Increase in Rest Decrease in Reserve Bullion in Both Departments Circulation, including Bank Post Bills The Bullion shows a smaller increase than had been anti; cipated from the purchases made by the Bank last week —a circumstance that may to some extent be owing to the pay. ment of the dividends. Most of the other changes shown by the comparison are attributable to the same cause, especially the diminution in the Public Deposits, the increase in the Private Deposits, and the large reductions in the amount of Private Securities. They have now fallen to 10,455,171 .1, being the largest amount at which they have stood for a long time past. The Million, it will be observed, is gradually increasing; but the Reserve shows a large falling off—a result solely attributably to the sti mulus given to the circulation by the dispersion of the dividends. The Bank Directors yesterday reduced the rate of dis count from 0 per cent., at which it had stood since the 18th of June, to 5f per cent., the reduction applying alike to discounts and to loans upon securities. The discount establishments and joint stock banks have made cor responding changes in the rates of allowance for money at call and for deposits; so that now the average value of money is from 5 to 5i per cent. This change was partially expected last week from the nature of the Bank returns, the more moderate character of the silver drain to the East, the magnificent prospects of the harvest, and from the competition of Lombard•street absorbing nearly all the best bills to the exclusion of the Bank—a sure sign of money being abundant. It was, however, deemed just probable that the Indian news might be of a character to justify some delay in the reduction ; but it will have Mimic observers that it is almost the invariable policy of the Bank not to arrest the progress of amelioration from political considerations alone, because that would imply an absence of confidence. Of course ordinary prudence would induce the Directors to discourage any and all feelings of this character. The Indian news proved, both politically and financial:y, unfavourable. With regard to the first, we are, in fact, struggling for the existence of our empire, and have made very little progress towards regaining our ascendancy ; while, with regard to the second, trade is not only had and unsettled, out the finances of the Government are disorganised, and the proposals for a loan have met such limited success that, according to rumours emanat ing from great Indian houses, Leadenhall.street will shortly openly negotiations in this market. In these cir cumstanees it was wise for the Bank to reduce ; and, probably, the Directors were not totally uninfluenced by the expediency of showing to commercial Europe that, notwithstanding our• Indian embarrassments, we are still very comfortable here. Money was not in much demand in the earlier pert of the week, applications being postponed as much as possi• ble, in order to take advantage of t he lower terms expected; but yesterday and today it was in increased request, and the Bank was doing more in discounts.