The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-26 00:00:00

I powers of Mr. FRANCIS FITZGERALD4IIO ingenuity of Sir COLMAN O'Looncis, and the professional abilities of many more like (the late) FRANCIS MAHER, and others. But it is not a little singular that in none of those trials Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH was ever retained. The Irish Bar, as we said, labours under difficulties about ventilating facts like these. Its members have a dislike to assail the Crown, and until the case of Mr. W. KEOGH occurred no one would be disposed to call in question the co.iduct of the Government. But the case of Mr. KEOGH cannot be passed over. The Bar of Ireland has its prescriptive rules, and its members have a clear constitu tional right to know upon what grounds is an adventurer raised above their heads . Many of its members have read the significant sen tence in Commissioner PHILLIPP'S biography of CURRAN (so much praised by Lord BROUGHAM) :—" Let us hope that in the learn " ing, the integrity, and the eloquence of the " Bench and Bar, Ireland may find some " compensation for the loss of her Parliament " and the ruin of her independence."—(Plia lipp's Curran, p. 340.) That feeling should not be baulked by unscrupulous promotions. Let us request close attention to the more official views raised in this deeply disgraceful appointment. Many persons supposed that Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH would have ended in some colonial appointment. Major BLACICHALL was member for a county, and parroted the Repeal Catechism, and the Whigs in 1849 sent him out as a Colonial Governor Doctor MAURICE POWER was " Liberal" member for the county of Cork in 1850, and the Whigs ap pointed him Governor of St. Lucia in 1851. If Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH had ended his career in that fashion, people would not have wondered. But to have appointed a person with his most singular antecedents to a Judgeship on the Bench at four thousand pounds per annum does indeed call for and justify the most in dignant reclamation. Nor must it be forgotten that there are some special circumstances connected with this appointment which suggest reasons for further inquiry about it. In 1850 the Whig Ministry appointed Mr. HENRY GEORGE HUGHES to be Solicitor-General. He was a gentleman of great legal talents, extensive practice, and untainted public reputation. Why was such a gentleman as Mr. H. G. Hughes passed over to make worn for Mr. W. Keogh ? But something more also remains. Mr. JOHN HATCHELL was for many years one of the lead ing Whig Crown lawyers in Ireland. Along with Chief Justice MONAHAN, Mr. HATCHELL conducted the State Prosecutions in 1848-9. He was Solicitor-General at that time, and had realised (like Mr. HUGHES) a large fortune at the Bar. Why was Mr. HATCHELL refused the Attorney-Generalship by the Coalition in 1853, and thrust into a subordinate judgeship as Commissioner for Insolvents, at twelve hundred per annum, while such a person as Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH is raised over his head, at a salary of four thousand a year ! ! These are in truth most singular facts. They well deserve the astonishment which they ex cited at Dublin and in Parliamentary circles. If it was a purely Irish subject, we would not bring it at such length before the notice of our readers, but the nomination of a politician like Mr. KEOGH to a judgeship is an English as much as an Irish question The Executive of the Crown is common in both countries, and the standard of official honour should he the same for both. The fact, also, that the equilibrium of the Judicature in Ireland has been disturbed, and that the " Liberal " party threatens to monopolise the whole Bench in Ireland, will demand the attention of all thinking persons interested in order and at tached to fair play. Already there have been symptoms that the appointment of Mr WIL LIAM KEOGH has produced a peculiar effect on the Irish Bar; but these and other grave issues raised on this most improper appoint ment shall be discussed by us on another occasion. CIVIL-SERVICE EXAMINATION. THE scheme of competitive examination for admissions to the Civil Service must evidently be judged solely by its power of adding to the thi, THE PRESS. efficiency of that service. We must consider the work to be done, and then how best to get at the manner of man who is most able to do it. As far as the system of examination helps us to do this, well and good ; as far as it does not, it is worthless. Education, to be of service to an individual, must be one of two kinds—it must either be such as enlarges the mind, raising it to the con templation of general principles and final causes, such as sharpens the intellect and purifies the taste, or it must be such as teaches a man the knowledge of those particular things with which his busi ness in life requires that he should be acquainted —as tho use of his plane to the carpenter, or of his awl to the shoemaker. Anything between these two may be all very well in default of something better, but should not be regarded as an end to be sought after in itself. To apply this principle to the question before us, it is doubtless an excellent thing to have men of really liberal education in the Civil Service, or to have men thoroughly skilled in the duties of their particular departments. In the one case the tone of the service will be raised, in the other its practical efficiency. But the public are apt to deceive themselves in this matter. They are too apt to believe with Sir EVERARD WAYERLEY that the mere turning over the pages of a hook is in itself a merito rious and profitable thing; in other words, that the possession of any sort of knowledge is of necessity useful to any sort of man. This, though in our opinion untrue, is not, as a mere theory, productive of any harm. But as soon as it becomes the basis of educational operations it is fraught with mischief. To point these remarks practically, it is only upon certain conditions that the scheme of Civil Service examinations is entitled to our sup port. As long as intellectual acquirements are not made the only tests for admission to the service of the State, let them be made a sine qua non. But let us not forget that for practical employments something more is required—something, too, far less easily dis pensed with—that there may be deficiencies more fatal to a clerk in the Treasury than ignorance of the date of the Revolution—that a tidewaiter may possess almost every qualifi • cation for his post, though he should happen to spell the first syllable of warrior with an 0, as is mentioned in the Civil Service Report. We have no intention of holding the balance between Lord GODERICH and the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, their comparative heaviness not being doubtful. We are simply entering our protest against the abuse of the competitive principle, and not the use of it. We are but advancing substantially the same views which have already appeared in this Journal on the subjects of Civil Service reorganisation and military education. . _ But the practice of nomination has a ten dency to introduce a sort of half-and-half standard of attainments beneficial neither to the candidate himself nor to the service which he seeks to enter. We have no hesitation in saying that the questions proposed to candi dates under the present system are nine out of ten of them farcical—sufficient to keep up the form of an examination, and nothing more ; whereas, if the competitions were thrown en tirely open, the examination would at once become real, and the commissioners compelled to set papers which should boa genuine test of fitness. Now they are compelled to accom modate their questions to their candidates, — then, candidates would have to raise them selves to the level of the questions. But the great benefit to be expected from the abolition of the nomination system is in the relief of Government from the burden o patronage. This petty kind of patronage about which no inquiri's can be made is the source of an infinite amount of corruption and jobbing, and Members of Parliament, one would think, should be the first to rejoice at their emancipation from this bondage. There could never be a clearer case of killing two birds with one stone than by the proposed exten sion of the examination system. We should obtain better men by a less objectionable process. It would be just as easy to look to SATURDAY, . the general fitness of candidates when taken from the community at large as when taken from a limited number; and it would be far easier to insure those qualities which in many of the lower departments of Government are especially necessary. THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA UPON THE PEACE. AT the Emperor's late visit to Moscow, upon tl,e reception of the governor of the city with deputa tions from the civil and military authorities, his Imperial Majesty delivered the following speech up( n the peace: Gentlemen,----The war is over; far I ratified the treaty of peace which had been signed at Paris before I left St. Petersburg. I am happy to be able to announce the news to you officially, and to repeat to the nobility of Moscow the words which I addressed to my people inmv last mani festo. Russia was able to defend herself for many years to come, and I believe that, no matter what forces were brought against her, she was invulnerable on her own ter , ritory. But I felt that it was my duty, in the real interests of the country, to lend an ear to proposals compatible with the national honour. War is an abnormal state, and the greatest successes obtained by it scarcely compensate for the evils it occasions. It had caused an interruption of the commercial relations of the empire with most of the States of Europe. I should certainly have carried it on had not the voice of neighbouring States pronounced itself against the policy of late years. My father, of imperish able memory, had his reasons for acting as he did. I knew his views, arid 1 adhere to them from my very soul ; but the treaty of Paris has obtained the object which it was his ambition to obtain, and I prefer this means to war. Many of you, I am aware, regret that I should have so readily accepted the propositions made to me. It was my duty as a man and as the head of a great empire, either to reject or accept them frankly ; I have honourably and con scientiously fulfilled that duty; I am sure that allowances will be made for the difficult position in which I was placed, and that shortly every devoted friend of Russia will render justice to my views and intentions for the welfare of the country. Supposing the fate of arms should have remained con stantly favorable to us, as it has been in Asia, the empire would have exhausted its resources in keeping up large armies on different points, the soldiers of which would in a great measure be taken away from agriculture and labour. In the government of Moscow itself many manufactories have been compelled to close. I prefer the real prosperity of the arts of peace to the vain glory of combats. I have thrown open the ports of Russia to the commerce of the world, the frontiers to the free circulation of foreign produce. I wish, henceforth, that the greatest facility shall be afforded in our markets for the exchange of wares of every origin, and of the raw materials and manufactures of our soils. Various projects will shortly be communi cated to you, the object of which will be to give an impulse to home indusry, and in which, I trust, every nobleman will take a share. SEVERAL GOSSIPPINO ANECDOTES are told of the plenipotentiaries during their stay in Paris. Count Buol and Count Orloff, it is said, were standing together one evening in the salons of the President of the Senate in the Luxembourg, when Count Orloff drew the attention of his Austrian colleague to some battle-pictures of the empire, with which the room was hung, in which the Austrians figured, but not to their glory. " Look here, count," said Orloff, "these ought to interest you more than me." Count Buol looked and smiled grimly. " Never mind, never mind," Count Orloff continued, "I am sure these pictures were not left here expressly to awaken any unpleasant reminiscences in your mind or to vex you. Our hosts are too delicate to pain you. The servants no doubt forgot to remove these pictures, though they knew you were coming, but don't mind—don't mind." On another occasion, Count Buol, putting forward some extravagant pre tensions relative to the principalities, while proceed ing with his argument, Count Orloff whispered, not sotto voce, but lout enough to be heard, "Ma foi, pas mal, M. le Comte ; pas si mal. On dirait que c'est les Autriohiens qui ont pris Sebastopol." It is certain (adds a Paris correspondent) that when the Russian plenipotentiary asked one day of Count Cavour, in a good-humouredly expostulating manner, " What could have induced Sardinia to make war on Russia ?" Count Cavour replied that Russia had never recognised the constitutional Government of Piedmont, and that she was obliged to declare war if it were only to prove that she was still alive and moving. "My dear count," said the Russian, " if we did not recognise you, it was those Jesuits o Austrians (clenching his hand) who prevented us." THE APPOINTMENT OF PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at St. Petersburg has created the liveliest apprehension in certain circles at. Vienna. " The Prince," says a correspondent from that city, " during his sojourn here, was obliged to eat more dirt than generally falls to the lot of any one man ; and it is foreseen that he will do all in his power to deprive his successful opponent, Count Buol, of the confidence of his Imperial master." As there is a powerful Russian party in Vienna Count Buol's position is generally considered unsafe. 1