The Press. — London, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

1156 THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 28,1857. • of this nature are of much graver importance than questions arising out of the revival of Orange societies. Why should the Jesuits obtain " the spiritual guidance ' of the Dublin police ? The fact is stated with such circumstantiality that there can be no room for doubting it, and taken in connection with the tone of Dr. CULLEN'S pastorals it deserves most attentive consideration. The race of rising public men is not so numerous that we can afford to lose Lord STRANOFORD, more known to the world as the accom plished GEORGE SYDNEY SstrrHE. Although he did not realise all that was expected from him, it must be recollected that the politics of the day were not favourable to the rise of one with his eclectic creed, and that the mixed character of his tenets interfered with his representa tive force. He had great talents for language, and a natural turn for dwelling on subjects requiring elaborate and finished ornament. His capacity for construction did not equal his fine powers for arabesque and fanciful decoration ; and some faculties of a coarse kind were wanting, in order to give due balance to his airy intellect. His " His- toric Fancies" contained some charming pieces with feathery grace of diction, but we have read still better things from his pen. In word painting he excelled, though some of his portraits of contemporaries were rather too panegyrical, and all subjects he was rather prone to regard through the prismatic hues of a rhetorical fancy. He is one of the few men of our generation of whom it can be truly said that he had talents fur writing in both prose and verse ; and he also won dis tinction as a speaker. But, like other gifted men, Lord STRANOFORD scattered his talents, and it would have been better for his fame if his mind, in JOHNSON'S words, had been " determined in some particular " direction." Yet, undoubtedly, he was a most accomplished man, and had a brilliant nature, which aspired to soar with the instincts of his blood. Four times in the seventeenth century Lord STRANOFORD'S family had intermarried with the SYDNEYS of Penshurst Castle, and both the first and second Viscounts STRANOFORD had each married a SYDNEY; and ROBERT SMYTHE, of Sutton, married no less a personage than the Sacharissa of WALLER. The Strangford pedigree through the seventeenth century is environed with poetical and chivalrous associa tions, and the father of the late nobleman, when raised to the English peerage in 1825, took the second title of Baron Penshurst. It is re ported that Lord STRANOFORD was engaged in an historical work of considerable importance, and the fact seems not unlikely, as for several years his Lordship had taken little active part in public life. There is one point in the very admirable;speech of Mr. BERESFORD HOPE at Maidstone, reported in this week's Times, which deserves special attention. We mean his allusion to the cottage accommoda tion of the poor. One great reason why education has not produced those moral results which twenty years ago were predicted from it, is that too much was attributed to the influence of mere knowledge. But a scanty pittance of geography, or arithmetic, or history, doled out to the poor man's children could never generate sufficient moral vigour to cope with the physieallimpurities which environed their daily life. While these last are permitted to continue we shall look in vain for any tangible result from the spread of national education. The tree of knowledge must not only be planted and watered—it must have a free space for growth, far removed from the deadly upas shade which, in our country villages, as well as in our fetid cities, makes it wither, rot, and perish. Another reason for exerting ourselves as much as possible in this particular department of philanthropy is that for tunately here there are no differences of opinion and no doubt about the good effected. Education is a thing about which no two men can agree, and, while we are wrangling over what is the best species, the patient languishes for want of even the worst. Some there are, too, who tell us that education is no sort of good after all—that it makes men worse instead of better, vicious, discontented, and so forth. But there can be no doubt in the world that a four-roomed house is better than a three-roomed one, and that human beings must be benefited by the introduction of cleanliness and decency to their dwellings. These are broad palpable truths which the ignorant can appreciate as well as the learned. Let us, then, while the question of education is still less advanced than we could wish, devote ourselves heartily to a branch of social amelioration to which there are no impe diments, if only our benevolence and liberality be in earnest. We shall be doing good service to the cause, and every fresh cottage built on improved principles will be so much contributed towards lighten ing the labours of the schoolmaster. Children brought up in an atmo spere of domestic purity will present few of those difficulties to the patient and kindly instructor which he experiences in the inmates of those hovels and pigsties, the inmates of which were but one remove superior to the bullock and the hug. We trust Mr. Hon will give some portion of his experience and abilities to the promotion of these desirable objects, and that his well-timed reflection on the responsibi lity of landlords will not be without fruit. We are not quite sure which class of sympathisers is the more difficult to bear, the worthy folks who make the worst of one's misfor tune, or the equally excellent people who make what may be called the best of it. Our own personal feelings certainly incline us towards the former ; and of the two principal forms of that terrible infliction, the consolation of one's friends, we think that on the whole we prefer the dismal variety. There may be, we all feel that in general there is, a soul of goodness in things evil, but we like to be permitted to dis cover it in our own case without dictation, and to be suffered to draw the moral of our own misfortunes for ourselves. We fancy we should be apt to doubt the friendship of the gentleman who would make a spiritual case of a severe illness, and speedily forget our sufferings in an improving contemplation of the moral uses to which they might be THE WEEK. War mss business of an important character will be transacted in the short session of Parliament before Christmas will entirely depend on the tone taken by Government in the debates of next week. Parlia ment is professedly summoned to meet on account of certain difficul ties of a financial character, but it is more than probable that the astute Premier will with diplomatic art endeavour to use the opportu nity for ulterior purposes. He is embarrassed by his Reform pledge ; he is not sure whether the Legislature is prepared for " the total aboli " tion of the East India Company's Government," and he may endea vour to use the next few weeks for the object of ascertaining the real views of Parliament upon India. The plastic and yielding character of the Premier cannot be forgotten. If the " double Government of India" were still approved, Lord PALMERSTON would be prepared to praise it; and if it were condemned, the Premier would be ready to assail it. " The Noble Viscount is not the man to stand up for a principle," was truly said by the Earl of DEBBY ; and the times which are approach ing call for a more decided view, and a stronger ruling purpose than can be imparted to politics by Lord PALMERSTON. People are growing tired of the Premier's equivocal attitude, and his system of " see-saw " has become wearisome. Ministers will, possibly, try and entice the House of Commons into an approbation of Lord CANNING. We hopo that both Houses of Parliament will act with great caution, and not fall into any trap. The Premier is entirely responsible for Lord CANNING'S appointment ; and the " Calcutta Petition " from the " Chamber of Commerce " is far too serious a document to be treated lightly. The main charges in it, un doubtedly, we have heard before, and the Blue-books authenticate them. But the importance of this petition arises from the fact of such highly influential classes at Calcutta endorsing the charges against Lord CANNING ; and that the Governor-General has damped the loyalty of the English in India is evident from this position having been adopted by "a large majority" of the "Chamber of Commerce" at Calcutta. Merchants, barristers, physicians, and traders in a city like Calcutta are not prone to oppose constituted power; and the extreme step of such a body as the " Chamber of Commerce " petitioning the Queen for the recall of the Governor-General must have been produced by crave causes for dissatisfaction. Parliament, we trust, will remember its prodigious responsibility, and not prematurely endorse with its high approbation the conduct of Lord CANNING merely because the Premier has so praised his own nominee. Although in both Houses there will be interesting and important financial debates, it is not likely that the chief principles on which the currency question rests will come into discussion, but the policy of making further changes in the Act of 1844 will probably cause some division of opinion. Admitting that the principle of the Bank Charter is sound, there is still a most important question, as to whe ther 14,000,0001. should be taken as a limit to the circulation of the 13ank of England. Whether it be right that there should be such great differences between the currencies of England, Scotland and Ireland, is another question deserving consideration. The sudden way in which the present crisis has come upon the country will, probably, make Parliament averse to opening up the whole ques tion of the currency in the debates before Christmas, but next year the subject will be likely to receive a fuller discussion. There is, in relation to the rising questions, a consideration of some importance with respect to the way in which the Speaker's chair is filled at the present time. Speaker DEsisos's opinion will often be called for in relation to certain proceedings of the Government with reference to Money Bills, Ways and Means, &c., &c. Questions, partly of a legal and partly of a financial kind, will possibly demand the speaker's opinion during the session of 1857-8 ; and it is to be hoped that the Speaker will acquit himself with more practical ability than he dis played in the course of last summer. High legal authority of the first professional eminence has declared that the Orange Society, in its present form, is in no respects contrary to the law of the land. Whether such a society be useful or otherwise, whether it should be fostered or not, arc questions fairly open to free opinion. That the society is legal there can be no doubt, and therefore the arbitrary tone taken by Lord Chancellor BRADY in his letter to the Marquis of LONDONDERRY has given great offence. A remonstrance is now being prepared against that letter, and a depu• tation at a future time will wait upon Lord PALMERSTON in order to present it, when it has received a due number of signatures. We have read the remonstrance in the columns of our able contemporary, the Dublin Daily Express, and its language is manly and temperate, like the calmly firm tone of men who " know their rights, and knowing dare maintain them." The usurping power of the Executive, the attempt to dictate political opinions to the gentry of the country, should be resisted, more particularly as Lord Chancellor BRADY has been making batches of Liberal J.P.'s in a manner that causes some astonishment in various districts. Some highly curious facts are stated in the Daily Express of November 23rd in relation to the religious " direction" of the Dublin police by the Jesuits of Gardiner's street Chapel. The Dublin police, it is said, is composed nearly entirely of Roman Catho lics, and it appears that it is acknowledged by the Roman Catholic organs that the " spiritual guidance of the Jesuits has been brought "to bear upon the police." There are not a few who think that facts NOLM‘