The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-08 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AUGUST 8,1857. alone is a tolerably good reason for rendering a knowledge of it advan tageous to military men ; while its superiority as an instrument of education is now a fact which nobody any longer questions. Another point on which we should be glad of a little further information is the system proposed to be adopted in regard to " honours." What advantage will accrue to candidates who pass this voluntary examination ? This is not at present stated ; but we hope matters will be so arranged as to avoid any inducement to young men who are likely to spend their lives in active reg4mental duty, from seeking to become profound scientific philosophers, from injuring their eyesight by noxious gases and midnight study, and their bodily vigour by years of sedentary toil. We are unfeignedly glad to observe that our own recommendation of last week has not turned out heterodox after all, and that the age for admission to the army is to be extended to one-and-twenty. We think, indeed, that the Council might go further in the same path with advantage, and allow no candidates under nineteen years of age to be admitted. But they have taken a step, though a very slight one, in the right direction, and on the whole we think the public has as yet no reason to be dissatisfied. " Wanted a new Lion " has long been a cry in our London circles, and the Attorney -general has kindly undertaken to realise the part of the expected roarer. Sir RICHARD BETHILLL, within the last few weeks, has become a decided celebrity, and his character been dis cussed with considerable vivacity. He is, indeed, a remarkable per sonage,' and deserves the attention of connoisseurs in human nature. He has had great success ; he has learning, eloquence, energy, accomplishments, and he has, we rejoice to add—weaknesses. It is fortunate that a personage like Sir RICHARD, so truly great in his own valuable opinion, and so very considerable in the esteem of many others, has still some foibles, some interesting traits of the ridiculous, which link him with ordinary mortality. If he had not those weak nesses, Sir RICHARD BETHELL would be too great for mere terrestrial life, and there might be danger of his fading away into the abstract ideas of his own conception, the quintessence of forensic perfection, and preter-scholastic profundity. It is his weaknesses that make the Attorney-General so popular with many• Even his foibles have their intellectual side. The Gods of Greece, as moulded by ancient sculp tors, were said to regard human affairs with " serene irony ;" and Sir RICHARD BETHELL, in his condescending recognition of the House of Commons, and in his humane toleration of such an illogical assembly of novices in reasoning, approximates to a sort of Chancery demi-god. In all points of views Sir RICHARD BETHELL is an extra ordinary man. He was a Tory ; he says that he is a Liberal ; and he avers that he is no trimmer. He has persuaded himself that a logician of a high order could by no possibility be a political apostate ; and he is ready to demonstrate that a ratiocinative renegade is an llogical conception, arising from a confusion of ideas and a non distribution of the middle term. Some there are who think that the true way to interpret Sir RICHARD BETHELL is as a rich humorist masking himself as an Equity Barrister. There is much of the true ►pis coulters in his union of mental power, scholastic pedantry, and forensic pomposity. It is possible, after all, that he may be quizzing people when he is in his apparentl3 gravest mood. For we cannot suppose that he is always in earnest in his assumption that he never, by any possibility, could be wrong. He must surely condescend to ac knowledge that his lapsus about "Francis Clarke" was not exactly a joke, although people did laugh heartily while Mr GLADSTONE was ad ministering some " refreshers "to Sir RICHARD'S memory. It was dis covered, after all, that Sir RICHARD was not the sole exception to the rule, Iluntanum est errare He has always gone in fur being that excep tion , but even Lord ELDON, if alive, would not say " I doubt " upon that point, which must be considered as settled by " Francis Clarke," who must have been an ilbconditioned " fellow " to get up out of his coffin for the express purpose of Sir RICHARD BETHELL stumbling over him. It is plain that " Francis Clarke " had an obtuse brain to think of a resurrection with the object of breaking the shins, or sophisms, of the great cobweb-maker-general to Lord PALMERSTON'S Ministry. It is pleasing, also, for ordinary mortals to find that the Attorney-General, after a three hours' endurance of a Committee on the Divorce Bill, was " wearied." Many of us may now contess to being tired . without feeling shame, just as those who toast their toes in winter delight to recollect that the " Iron Duke" was so fond of a sea-coal fire. Sir RICHARD BETHELL—" wearied ! " 60, then, he is mortal, after all ! A lion who never was tired would astonish the coteries ; but even taken as he is, starers will find plenty to amuse them in studying the peculiarities of the new specimen of " The Deep Rc(a)d Lion," whose hairs bristle like the quills' of a porcupine, and whose roar would frighten an audience almost as much as Mr. SPCRGEON. The Government appear at last to have been roused out of their habitual lethargy towards India, and to ho exercising all the vigour they can command to despatch troops to the scene of action. Tu be sure, with a fleet of steamers lying idle in the home ports, they have permitted a score or so of transports to knock about the chops of the Channel for the ;last ten days. But one thing at a time ; the troops are embarked, and the transports are off. Six weeks hence it will strike some original genius in the Government that steamers might have 773 towed those transports into the trades, or that some of the African steam squadron might have been ordered to cruise on the line to help them out of the variables ; but let us he thankful that the troops have gone, and trust in Providence that they get to the Ganges in time to be of use. The appointment of General DUPUIS to the command of the artillery, and of Major General WisnuAkt to the command of a division, will be received with satisfaction. General WINDHAM, we believe, was offered the appointment shortly after his return from the Crimea ; but he declined it from motives %%hiclt have by no means lost their force. His acceptance of the post at the present crisis does honour to the Gallant General, and is in keeping with his manly and chivalrous character. The Drogheda Election Committee has seated Mr. MeCsNx apparently on the ground that it was not proved that either Mr. MCCANN or his agents were identified with the outrageous rioting that took place in the town during the last election. There, as else where, the priests were conspicuous in playing the parts of brawling electioneerers. So they have been for the last twenty years, and we desire to know what the Ministers really propose to do against their reverences? It is of no use for the literary organs of the Liberal party in England to keep up a succession of strong articles against " spiritual intimidation." If Ministers are serious in their desire that sacerdotal electioneering should be stopped, other means must be employed than pens and ink can supply. After the general election of 1832, the Earl of DERBY earnestly called the attention of the House of Peers to the scandal of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland voting iu an organised manner at elections ; but the leaders of the Liberal party then threw cold water upon Lord DERBY'S suggestions, and they espoused the side of the priests. It deserves to be known that the interference of Irish priests at elections is a modern abuse. The first time that the priests became tribunes of the people was at the County Waterford election in 1826. They decided the event on that occasion, and in the following year they were similarly used at the Louth elec tion. They were next employed at the Clare election in 1829 ; and the manner in which the Catholic Question was carried on one side, and conceded on the other, has by many been held to have stripped hat measure of its anticipated benefits. It was then hoped that the priests would desist, but since that day they have been incessantly busy in popular politics. They have totally destroyed the old Whig party in Ireland, and :liminished the number of the Conservative represen tatives. When they take part in elections, it is almost impossible to with stand their influence ; they have become an imperium in imperio, and it is strange that they play at the same time the parts of demagogues and place-hunters. Hitherto the reclamation against these sacerdotal malpractices has been confined to Conservatives, but many English Liberals are now echoing the Conservative opinion that something must be done to prevent the interference of the priests at elections. Under their influence the public life of Ireland has degenerated in honour, the eloquence of her sons ( with a few forensic exceptions) is to be sought for in the past, and the fame of Ireland in the British Senate is not adequately sustained. The detailed intelligence from India this week completely sup ports the views we have from the first put forth. The outbreak is national, not military. It i 3 a rebellion of the people and Princes of India against our rule, and the army has been the first exponent of the national discontent. Everywhere we see proofs of this in the con duct of the peasantry, in the gradual spread of the revolt, in the rebel lion of the native contingents, in the suspicious attitude of the native Princes, and in the fears felt at Madras and Bombay. —lt is not un amusing to mark the manner in which this intelligence is received by the Government organs. The Post last week, although it has all along maintained that it Was "a mere military mutiny," and that the rebels in Delhi were "a rabble rout," with "not much artillery" and " no " ammunition "—they have only, by the way, 150 guns, which they were rapidly putting into position, and tons of stores and gunpowder—at length admits that it is " a conspiracy," that " the greased cartridges " have little or nothing to do with the movement," and that the "real secret " of the rebellion is in the intrigues of the King of DUDE and some of " his neighbours ;" while the Times, who has " looked in vain %for so long a time for " the influence of dethroned rajahs," at length admits that the conduct of the native Princes is far from " satisfactory." We trust that the next mail may bring us no proof of that conduct be coming decidedly hostile. The fall of Delhi we can scarcely believe. General BARNARD, by the last accounts, was waiting reinforcements, which could not reach him for weeks. It is quite possible that failing ammunition and approaching rains may have rendered a dash on the town imperative ; but what if that dash only met with partial success, and the loss of the best and bravest of the British officers ? What if our Hoops, after succeeding in forcing their entrance at the point of the bayonet through the walls, were decimated by the fire from the houses, checked in their advance, and compelled to a desperate hand-to-hand conflict in the streets? Although we should have no fears for the result, yet the few thousand men General BARNARD had in hand were scarcely equal to a prolonged street warfare. But it is needless to anticipate the intelligence of the next maiL The Govern ment may approve of the petty policy of concealments ; the country would rather it were alwa., s told the worst. But let us assume General BARNARD may be so foi tunatc as to capture Delhi, will any man of common understanding maintain that the rebellion will be suppressed? Why we have the whole of Bengal up in arms, and the rest of Hindostan plotting our expulsion. The fall of Delhi will be the signal for a terrible guerilla warfare. Heaven grant tuat it be nothing worse !