The Press. — London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

AUGUST 12, 1854. tion as long as obstruction was in their power ; but, seeing that the public feeling on the point is no longer to be controlled, they come for ward with a measure which shall have as fair an appearance as may be, but which shall be productive of the minimum of practical result the condition and fortunes of the people of India. The only provision which they take care shall prove ofreal effect is that one which these rulers, wise in their own generation, never by any possibility lose sight of; and that is, that a number of richly-endowed appointments shall be forthwith created in the shape of " heads of the educational departments " and " inspectors," which are to he conferred on the relatives and friends of the civil service. If we should be deemed hypercritical in thus characterising this despatch, our readers need only turn to the pages of it to find ample warrant for what we say in the language of the directors themselves. Their words towards the conclusion of it, when summing up the mea sures which they have adopted, are, "We " must add that we are not sanguine enough " to expect any sudden or even speedy results "to follow from their adoption." In fact, apart from the usual amount of verbiage which forms so large an ingredient in every Indian despatch, we shall find that nothing is really done to further the object professedly held in view. The extension of English schools is not greatly encouraged, and the vernacular languages are defined as the media through which instruction in the arts, sciences, and literature of Europe is to be conveyed—lan guages into which it would take a century to translate the works which in a single year issue from the English press, even if transla tion were possible into tongues which pos sess no words capable of conveying the ideas to be conveyed. Indeed, the only practical encouragement which has yet been afforded by the Indian Government to the study of English literature is taken away by this des patch ; for the scholarships and exhibitions which have hitherto stimulated youth in the various English colleges in India are to be abolished or reduced in value to the point affording the minimum of subsistence. The despatch again admits that " young men " who have passed a difficult examination in " the highest branches of philosophy and ma " thematics are naturally disinclined to accept " such employment as persons who intend to " make the public service their profession " must necessarily commence with; " but, at the same time, it studiously avoids remedying the evil by opening any higher offices to the ambition of such persons than those humble situations for which they are eligible at pre sent. Indeed, it goes so far as to say that the best-educated persons are only to be preferred for employment before the totally uneducated, when " equally eligible in other respects." And, as if for fear that even this should be deemed to afford too great an encouragement to learning, the directors are careful to declare that, beyond this general announcement, they will take no other steps to ensure their pro fessed wishes being carried out, as they " cannot interfere by any further regulations " to fetter the free choice of the officers re " sponsiblo for the selection in a matter of " which they bear the sole responsibility." If they hold out no inducement, however, to natives to pursue their studies in any other parts of India, they express great hopes of the progress of the people at Madras, " where (as " they facetiously observe) the Ryotwarn set " tlement affords a practical inducement to " the people for the acquisition of elementary " knowledge." They might have added that a very small amount of elementary knowledge would be sufficient to enable people there to add up their yearly incomes under it, if bare walls and starving families did not, without the help of arithmetic, sufficiently proclaim to them the result. Such is a faithful analysis of this despatch, by which Sir CHARLES Woon and his admirers profess the hope of spreading education and raising the moral condition of the people of India. Debarring natives from every office of consideration ; shutting them out from all those avenues to improvement in their posi tion and prospects which in other countries lead the mass of students to the pursuit of knowledge ; doubting " the expediency of ap- Me0.... 1 , ,... be3ls 1113 W 1.311111 UllpitULV va a.vaa . to be conveyed. Indeed, the on encouragement which has yet bt by the Indian Government to tl English literature is taken away patch ; for the scholarships and which have hitherto stimulated various English colleges in Indi abolished or reduced in value t affording the minimum of subsis despatch again admits that " " who have passed a difficult exa " the highest branches of philosoi " thematics are naturally disinclin " such employment as persons wl " make the public service their " must necessarily commence wi the same time, it studiously avoid the evil by opening any higher ( ambition of such persons than th situations for which they are elii sent. Indeed, it goes so far as to best-educated persons are only to for employment before the totally when " equally eligible in oth( And, as if for fear that even thin deemed to afford too great an ent to learning, the directors are caref that, beyond this general announc will take no other steps to ensue fessed wishes being carried 01 " cannot interfere by any further " to fetter the free choice of thi " sponsiblo for the selection in " which they bear the sole respon If they hold out no inducement natives to pursue their studies i parts of India, they express great progress of the people at Madras, " they facetiously observe) the " tlement affords a practical in " the people for the acquisition " knowledge." They might have very small amount of elementar would be sufficient to enable pet add up their yearly incomes und, walls and starving families did the help of arithmetic, sufficientl; them the result. Such is a faithful analysis of t by which Sir CHARLES WOOD and profess the hope of spreading el raising the moral condition of t India. Debarring natives from consideration ; shutting them ( those avenues to improvement i tion and prospects which in otl lead the mass of students to t 1 knowledge ; doubting " the expe TEE PRESS. " plying the funds at the disposal of Govern " meat to the encouragement of the acquisi " tion of learning by means of stipends, which " not only far exceed the cost of maintenance " of the student, but, in many cases, are above " what he could reasonably expect to gain on " entering the public service or any of the " active professions of life ;" determining henceforth to reduce and abolish these, though the income of such scholarships in few cases exceeds eighteen, and, we believe, in no case is more than sixty pounds per annum,—they still hope at some distant period to effect the regeneration of India. On a future occasion we propose to submit our own views of the measures required to carry out the objects which it is the professed design of this despatch to forward, for we, too, are of opinion that the best guarantee for the stability of our empire in the East consists in educating our native subjects to appreciate the arts, the sciences, and the literature of our own country. We do not, however, think that such a piece of jugglery as is contained in this education despatch is calculated at all to effect that end, more especially when accompanied by such acts of habitual injustice at the India Board as that detailed in our last num ber, and since exposed in the House of Commons. CENSUS RESULTS. (Continued from THE PRESS of August 5.) THE next head of investigation is that which relates to the " occupations of the people," or, as we may phrase it, their social division into &Asses. The report here departs from all former precedent, and arranges the various forms of human labour or existence under fourteen distinct headings. In the first rank stands the civil service of the country, in cluding all persons therein employed, from the Sovereign down to the office-clerk, and embracing both Houses of Parliament. This class contains 71,191 persons above the age of 20; among whom are placed policemen, prison-officers of all grades, magistrates, local officials, and employes of the East India Company residing in England. To the above number the civil service, properly so called, contri butes 37,698 individuals ; while 29,785 hold local offices of some description, paid or unpaid. The collective aggregate of this administrative body amounts to 1.317 per cent. on the entire male adult population ; or about 1 in 400 of the whole people of Great Britain. Next comes the military service, including army, navy, pensioners, half-pay officers, and the like. These are thus distributed:— Army, effective 142,870 Navy, effective 35,903 Army, non-effective 03,905 Navy, non-effective 20,492 exclusive of the East India Company's forces. Thus we find that of the total population of Great Britain, not reckoning the militia, employment in which is only temporary, about 1 in 158 is engaged in military pursuits, past or present. In the third class stand the learned professions— clergy, lawyers, and medical practitioners. Of these the respective numbers are : Clergy (of all sects) Lawyers Medical men - - Law-clerks, officers of courts, parish clerks and persons employed about churches, and others occupying subordinate positions in connection with these professions, swell the entire list to 110,370. Next come authors, artists, and men of science, numbered as follows : Authors, editors, and journalists 2,R68 Artists among whom 4,915 are returned as painters, and 2,971 as architects or builders. Scientific men, professedly and ex clusively so called 466 Teachers, male 66 female This classification is of necessity imperfect; many authors are returned as graduates of universities, holding employment therein; many are teachers; in fact, the number of persons who engage in more than one occupation forbids accurate enumeration. In the fifth division we have women and other members of families whose duties are either those of the household or combined with some external and distinct pursuit. Of 3,481,524 wives, about one fourth engage in some kind of non-domestic employ ment; of 795,590 widows, two-thirds have a business which they habitually and regularly follow. Of youths and girls under 20 we have 747 Attending school 2,745,837 Not attending school We infer from the context, although it is not deafly stated, that children are excluded from this reckoning ; but there is here a want of clearness in the report. Of children between 5 and 15 years, numbering 7,694,583, only 2,405,442 are returned as habitual scholars ; showing that nearly one-half are brought up without school-teaching of any kind,—a result, as it appears to us, mucn less favourable than that which we lately inferred from the educational statistics this year published. The sixth class includes those " who are engaged " in lodging entertaining, attending, or providing " articles of dress, so as to be brought much into personal contact with those they serve,"—a singular classification, which brings together a variety of em• ployments totally different in character. It would be difficult, for instance, to show that a hatter, a shoemaker, or an undertaker, belong to the class of personal dependents ; yet personal dependence seems to be the idea conveyed in the definition quoted above. Nor is it practically true—a hatter is not more in "personal contact" with his customers than a butcher, baker, or greengrocer. This mis cellaneous catalogue of trades and occupations com prises 2,420,173 persons ; of whom three-fourths are women. _ _ The seventh class is confined to individuals follow ing mercantile pursuits, and extends from the Rothschilds and tho Barings to costermongers and marine-store dealers. Its numbers are not stated, and its limits are vaguely defined. Under the eighth class (also not numbered) are reckoned all carriers, whether on railways, roads, canals, or the ocean. We have next (class ninth) the agriculturi.ts, re turned as 2,390,508 persons, of whom three fourths, or about 1,800,000, are men. They are subdivided as follows : Landowners, men 71 women Total Farmers, men and women 305,802 Labourers Women employed in the field Indoor farm servants (men) Indoor farm servants (women) Farmers' relatives living with and working for them (men) Farm bailiffs _ . Agents Land surveyors Woodmen 10,070 Gardeners and nurserymen Of all the men above 20 years of age, 20 per cent., or more than one-fourth, rank under this heading; 8 per cent. of all the women ; 8 per cent. of boys under 20; and 3 per cent. of girls under 20. In class tenth we have all those persons who are employed about animals, whether in catching,breed ing, taming them, or oth erwise.; These occupaticns employ 100,262 persons, of whom 86,528 are men. We find nearly 37,000 men and boys engaged in fishing ; grooms, jockeys, and men in stable employ near 25,000 ; gamekeepers, 9,221. Next follow mechanics, artisans, and handicrafts men, constituting four classes by themselves, and collectively constituting a body of 3,700,000 indi viduals. Of these an ample and detailed classifica tion is given ; but we cannot follow it out without too much extending our space. A fifteenth, or supple mentary, class is added to the rest, consisting of persons whom employment do not fall under any one of the above heads, but who are, nevertheless, doers of work in some shape. The idle rich are very few. Of adults, holding property to any considerable amount, and without employment, we have the fol lowing catalogue : Independent gentlemen 10,604 91 gentlewomen 15,318 Annuitants, men women 121,222 157,402 persons in the poorer class are stated to have no fixed occupation, but to be either vagrants, paupers, lunatics, prisoners, or dependents. REPORT ON CONVEYANCE OF MAILS BY RAILWAYS. THE committee appointed to inquire into causes of alleged postal delay on the principal lines of railroad has reported, and offers a variety of suggestions, chiefly on points of detail, into which we Abel not enter. It appears from the evidence taken before them that the average delay on the London and Newcastle line was, during the last three months of 1853, thirty-five minutes, fifty-three minutes, and sixty nine minutes, daily. In summer it diminished, but on the general average of nine months there appears a detention of forty minutes daily. On the London and Edinburgh line the daily delay averaged. -