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