The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-24 00:00:00

isteS indebted to nobility for his start in life than that admirable man Lord ST. LEONARD'S. So in literature, we could ask these raisers of class-cries to behold the absui dity of their Cant. Of the great poets of the present gene ration, Lord Minos by popular consent is crowned first. SHELLEY was the heir iu remainder to an ancient baronetcy, now possessed by his son, Sir PERCY SHELLEY. Popular taste at present admires the poetry of Mr. TENNYSON, a member of a most ancient landed family, and SMITH, BROWN, and JONES have not yet evoked such sweet tones as the Laureate from their well-hammered lyres. Then look to the minds that have delighted the community with their genius for fiction. If the author of " Pelham " be the heir of Knebsworth and the Lyttons, on the other hand Mr. DISRAELI honourably boasted in the House of Commons of his literary escutcheon. It would be truly absurd to excite a cry of " class " in these various cases, and we hope that all people of sound sense will unite in protesting against an odious clamour, invidious because inquisitorial, being raised in this crisis. Once raised, no one could tell where it would end, though instinct might warn us that it would point to revolution. THE BURMESE EMBASSY TO CALCUTTA. WE should have read with infinite amusement the account of the termination of the Burmese Embassy to Calcutta were it not for the con templation of the somewhat serious results that are likely to ensue from it. In the whole records of diplomatic history there never occurred anything so absurd ; and we can easily conceive how greatly the farcical result must have mortified that very self-sufficient personage the Marquis of DALHOUSIE, who, at a cost for salary of twenty-four thousand a year, and for expenses of fifty thousand a year more, is sowing the eeeds of the ruin of India, and at the same time is building up his own for , tune at Calcutta. For a Governor-General of such enormous personal pretensions to be so outwitted, and made sport of by a mere bar barian, was a sight truly ridiculous. After his Lordship had told all the world, through his organs, that the Envoy had come specially to do him homage, to avow himself the slave of the English, and to give a legal title by treaty to the territory we have occupied, though it can hardly be yet called conquered, the anti climax was too absurd for the gravity of the gravest, and it has been received with an unanimous burst of laughter from one end of India to the other. The fact is, that the little Marquis, like his worthy ancestor and predecessor in the lord ship of Cockpen, was so immersed in the consideration of his own consequence, and so convinced that the Burmese Envoy could have no other object than to pray, on any terms, for peace, and he was so puffed up with the expectation that his reign would receive at its termination the crowning glory of the formal cession of Pegu, that he went out of his way, to an unheard-of extent, to make himself agreeable to the barbarian who was sent to treat with him. A Government steamer brought the Envoy from Burmah—the Vice regal carriages and cortege met him at the landing-place at Calcutta—almost royal ho 'flours awaited him at the Governor-General's palace—he was lodged and fed sumptuously at the public expense—guards of honour were assigned him—the troops were passed in re view before him—and, in short, every honour was shown to him that in Europe would be accorded to a crowned head. At last, after all these preliminaries, a grand Durbar, for the reception of the Royal message, was held by the Governor-General, attended by all the minor magnates, and surrounded by all the pomp and glory that encircle the Viceregal Throne of Calcutta. The long-desired mo ment had now arrived when the object of the mission was to be officially communicated, and when the Burmese was to give utterance to the message of his mster—when, lo in stead of the anticipated ce ssion of Pegu, it THE PRESS. contained exactly the reverse, namely, a very firm and specific summons for its immediate restoration to the King of BuRMAH, from whom, as was alleged, it had been unjustly taken. For one moment the assembly stood aghast, but the farce was too much for them , and they burst into a general titter, while the rage of the befooled Marquis found vent in a most indecorous, if not blasphemous, reply. To claim for the power which ho swayed a duration continuous with the duration of the universe was to show alike his ignorance of history and a want of reverence for (lon--his ignorance of history in not knowing that na tions, like men, have their periods of progres sion, maturity, and decay—a rule to which we can hope to form no exception; and a want of reverence for Got--for what can be more irreverent than to assert for the sovereignty man wields an attribute peculiar to the sove reignty of the Deity, in whose eyes the mightiest empires are but as dust, and their terms of existence but as a summer day ? This assumption by Lord DALHOUSIE of the lan guage which the Holy Scripture puts into the mouth of the Almighty is a mark of the height of arrogance and pride to which the possession of unrestrained power may lead a self-sufficient and conceited man. The probability is that the return of the Envoy to Burmah will be speedily followed by a descent of the Burmese army on Pegu to enforce their Sovereign's demand. If so, adieu o all hopes of getting troops from India for the Crimea ; indeed, as Burmah is as un healthy as Balaklava, we shall, in that case, have to supply the waste of life in two armies instead of one. It is not so much that question, however, which immediately affects us as a question in reference to Lord DAL HOUSIE that was lately mooted in the Times — and that is how far such a man as he has shown himself to be is fit to conduct the war with Russia in which we are now en gaged. It is well known that in all that related to his own proceedings in the business, he most grossly mismanaged the second Sikh war, and that but for the exertions of others, and more particularly for the indomitable courage of Lord Gouou, it would have ended in failure, instead of, as it did, in a rather doubtful triumph. It is also well known that his interference in the affairs of the Burmese war was of a nature equally mischievous, as GODWIN'S posthumous work proves, though the parts of the manuscript most crimina tory of Lord Dtmiousixhave been confessedly suppressed. Then, again, as regards the commanders under him there is not one with whom he has not quarrelled. Lord Govan he caused to be superseded ; to the late Sir CHARLES NAPIER he purposely wrote such letters as made it impossible for him with honour to retain his command ; Gonwis he re called from Burmah ; and to Sir CoLIN CAue- BELL, the Orimean hero, he behaved in such a manner as to induce this noble old soldier to say that poor as he was he would rather break stones on the road for his daily bread than continue to serve under him. Yet, notwith standing all this, notwithstanding that Lord DALHOUSIE knows nothing of war himself, and that all the military arrangements which have been dictated by himself have been pre eminently bad—notwithstanding that he has quarrelled not with one commander only, but with every commander in succession who has served under him, all of them being superior men to himself, and superior, perhaps, to any other available generals in England—notwith standing that as a climax to his misgovern ment he has now laid the foundations of a second Burmese war, and at the same time allowed himself to be outwitted by a barbarian envoy, and made the laughing stock of the public in India and of all men acquainted with the facts in England—notwithstanding all this, he is actually held up by the Coalition as the man most fitted to restore the prestige of our arms at Sebastopol, and to cope with the astute diplomatists and generals of the Em peror of Russ's. England was sunk low enough when its armies were committed to the guidance of a Newcastle, but it will find a lower depth still if they be ever intrusted to the direction of such a man as this. SATURDAY, PROMOTIONS FROM THE RANKS. LORD STANLEY, in his eloquent speech at King's Lynn, stated only the simple truth when he reminded his hearers that promotion from the ranks had necessarily been rare, on account of the long peace not having given our privates opportunities for performing those daring feats of individual heroism by which several of them in the Crimea have risen he the well-won honours of commissioned officers. With the paise given to these gallant men we can heartily sympathise. Good character, competent attainments, a stalwart arm, and a stout heart, have gained their deserts, when these manly spirits were gazetted to carry the colours of their regiments. By their personal chivalry they won their coats of arms. A College of Heralds can give them no more honourable blazonry than the uniform of a British officer, marking the rank of a gentle man, won on the field of martial fame. But while rejoicing ovet these deserved pro motions, we must decline to endorse with approval the crude conceptions of those who desire to abolish the sale of commissions, and demoralise thoroughly the character of the British army. We believe that the originators of those wild propositions have not considered the peculiar social conditions under which our English army exists, and as the subject is one of most serious importance, we desire to show the danger of such levelling theories. An army in any country is a tremendous moral and material force. It influences the manners and habits of thinking of the whole population. When raised to a large standard it almost overpowers the authority of any other institution ; and hence France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, must be classed as essentially Military Monarchies. In those countries the ruling Sovereigns are also head* of their armies, and the habits of society, the yearnings of ambition, and even the spirit of literature, amongst those nations are largely eoloured by military prejudices. In England, on the contrary, commercial feelings, and con stitutional traditions, mark the tastes of her population. Our society is formed on an old basis ; it has a peculiar territorial distribu tion ; it has " Town and Country"—" Whigs and Tories"—" Church and Dissent." It has many factions, a host of newspapers, freedom of speech, and liberty of association. In such a peculiar state of society a de mocratised army of the French revolutionary pattern would be worse than a perilous expe riment. It would be organising a powerful cause of the gravest social changes. It would be a huge anomaly in our careful system of free privileges and established property. The ambitious spirit of such an army could not possibly be contented. It would, des facto, have such an influence that it could have no check to balance its organisation. By the ne cessity of things, it would pass into an armed political league. We should soonfind ourselves ruled by what a great orator once called " a stratocracy ;" and under the specious desire of popularising our military system we should find " too late" that we had been disorganis ing our free institutions, by substituting in their place a great military force, the precursor of absolutism. We say, then, that we cannot approve of a democratic organisation of the English army. At present it is (in no party sense) a highly Conservative institution ; but if all its officers are taken from the ranks we shall be setting up a power that has no alliance with the pro perty of the country. If the gentry of Eng land were a limited class, and if they were degenerate in manhood, such a scheme might have some claims to consideration ; but their numbers are too great, and their personal spirit too high, to give any decent pretext for so sweeping and revolutionary a change. But, in saying so much, we again repeat that we hope liberal rewards, with no niggard hands, will be dealt out to heroic privates, or to men of military aptitude, who distinguish themselves pre-eminently. Let it be felt throughout the ranks that there is no impass able chasm between the officers and pr ivate s. So much can be done without s wee p ing changes, or perilous experiments. We can shower rewards upon the deserving without, in the spirit of levellers, sowing the Reeds of social destruction. 1