The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 14, 1857.

100

education offered as " useful knowledge " was
too flashy, and was really of no practical use
to the parties concerned. " The foundation,
as Lord STANLEY said, 6' was left without a
" superstructure," because the kind of know-
ledge imparted at the preliminary schools
could not be possibly kept up by hardworking
labourers. Advanced mathematics are of
little advantage practically to mere agricultu-
rists, and pure metaphysics cannot be advan-
tageous to engineers and blacksmiths.
We believe that the working men of Eng-
land, their customs, their likings, their
antipathies, and their instincts, were not
sufficiertly consulted by the excellent per-
sonages who sonic forty years since inau•
gurated the movement for mechanics' insti-
tutes. That movement was originally set on
foot by Dr. BIRKBECK—an admirable man, but
rather too much of a theorist and projector.
He was reared in Edinburgh, and he partook of
the educational enthusiasm which existed in the
Scotch capital in the days when the Stewarts,
Playfairs, and Browns were attracting students
from all parts of Europe. Some of the ex-
ploded theories of the French Encyclopedists,
and a tendency to overrate the inherent moral
power of humanity, unassisted by religion,
still lingered in the Scotch school ; and we
think that it was a misfortune that the original
movement for Education was set going by so
many Scotchmen, inasmuch as the peculiar
English character of our working classes
should have been more studied. Mere show-
off knowledge, or the teaching which looks like
display, are not valued by our English working
men. They like something that will expedite
them in their passage through the world, and
facilitate them in their gradual ascent front
one class into another. We have ourselves
seen something of the practical working of
mechanics' institutes, and we concur with
Lord STANLEY in thinking that mechanics'
institutes have not answered the anticipations
of their first founders, though undoubtedly they
have done much good. As the Noble Lord
observed, "too much " was aimed at in the
first instance, and educational work wholly
disproportionate to the resources was under-
taken.
Yet such is the case in nearly all onward
movements. Man, as he advances to his goal,
finds that he has often as much to unlearn as
to acquire. With the best intentions he goes
about his work in the wrong way ; but it is no
reason because he has used his tools wrongly
that he is to throw them down in despair. The
movement on Education is a mighty one,
acted on by powerful social impulses; and let
us be assured that if it is not made to flow in
a right channel, it will take a wrong one.
It requires the correcting and stimulating
power of a wholesome public opinion; and we
are glad that Lord STANLEY has applied him-
self with such energy to this most interesting
subject.
The cause of Popular Education wants judi-
cious leaders to wield the rising opinion of
the growing classes of the present generation.
It is not in nature that Lord BROUGHAM'S
great powers can be preserved to us as long as
we could desire, and in some points that great
man's views are not in unison with the feel.
ings and tastes of the prc sent time. Lord
JoliN RUSSELL is almost exclusively a politician,
but Lord STANLEY has repeatedly shown a
striking aptitude for the furtherance of social
questions not entirely dependent on " party."
Connected with Lancashire, and by property
and associations identified with the north of
England, the Noble Lord has many qualifica-
tions for guiding this educational movement.
He has special talent for statistics, and he
has an understanding peculiarly adapted for
comprehending principles, while his mind is
too masculine to yield to the mere sentimen-
t disms of a popular question. The platform,
the tribune, and journalism have all done
enough for " Education ;" but the movement
wants practical and persevering managers,
whose sustained energy will atone for the
desultory and fluctuating enthusiasm which
alternately swells and ebbs. Every cause re
quires leaders and active chiefs, and we sin-
cerely trust that Lord STANLEY and Sir JOHN
PAKINUTON will not slacken in their exertions.
Although Lord BROUGHAM is enthusiastically
received at provincial assemblies, we must not

forget that the popular tribute is given to his
celebrity, and to sympathy with an aged
statesman who SOMA to defy time. But the
practical cause of Education requires fresh
leaders, not to supplant the old chiefs, but to
supplement their labours; and in this point of
view we hail with much interest the recent
addresses of Lord STANLEY.

jortign Qatxesp►afttftt.

PARIS, Nov. 12.
THE Emperor Napoleon has often been accused of
sacrificing principle to popularity, and courting the
favour of the commercial and moneyed classes.
Should such an opinion still exist, the letter* ad-
dressed to M. Magne, the Minister of Finance, on
the present financial crisis in France, must remove
it from all unbiassed minds. In this letter the
Emperor has shown his determination to act on
broad principles of political economy, studying not
the interests of certain privileged classes , nor being
swayed by the promoters of undigested and im-
practicable schemes. The letter of the Emperor has
created a great sensation throughout France, and
had complete)7 restored confidence. Political
economy has long been the favourite study of Louis
Napoleon. In Switzerland, and in the fortress of
Ham, many nights were passed in reading the
ablest authors on this intricate science. In England
he sought the acquaintance of ycur most celebrated
economists, and after maturely examining the opinions
of all the most competent authorities, he published
certain works which such men as Bastiat were proud
to quote.
The convocation of the Legislative Assembly is
officially fixed for the 28th, but the meeting for the
despatch of business will not take place before the
middle of January. The present session is merely
preparatory—such as receiving of new members, &c.
The Emperor is greatly afflicted at the death of
M. Abbatucci, late Minister of Justice. This states-
man was most sincerely attached to his Imperial
master, and administered his important functions to
the satisfaction of the great body of the magistracy.
From respect to the decesed, the Emperor has
ordered the Court theatre at Compeigne to be closed
this evening. The body of M. Abbatucci has been
embalmed, and he will be buried on Saturday
the 14th.
It is rather late in the day to speak of the late
lamented General Cavaignac, but his death took me
by surprise. Cavaignac was a truly honest man,
possessing that rare virtue, true patriotism, and
though legitimately ambitious, always acting from
the purest motives. He was, in short, a conscien-
tious politician and a brilliant military officer. By
the moderate republicans he was considered the
representative of the principles of 'BO ; by the violent
demagogues a drapeau suited to the moment, but to
be changed when no longer required. The Emperor
admired the general, whose career had been most
honourably brought to a close ; but in so little was
the influence of his natl. e feared over the mass of
the people, that on the day of his funeral no extra
precautions were taken to preserve the tranquillity
of the capital.
It is not true, as stated by a Belgian paper, that
amongst the 480 felon.; lately shipped for Cayenne,
there were sixteen political prisoners. Not a single
political prisoner was amongst those felons. It is
probable that the mistake arose from sixteen to
eighteen thieves, who had returned to Paris, contrary
to their sentence, forming part of those lately trans-
ported.
Giant de Hatzfeldt, the Prussian Ambassador, now
in Berlin, has been invited to pass a few days at
Compeigne. The count is expected to reach Paris
on Monday or Tuesday next.
If I am rightly informed, Lord Palmerston refuses
to accept the Prussian proposition to give the
Roumans an elective hospodar, instead of an here-
ditary sovereign. His lordship, acting under the
counsels of Austria, seems determined to attempt to
carry out an anti.liberal policy. The French Emperor
is as determined to see justice done to the enslaved
populations of Moldavia and Wallachia. Credit not
for an instant the report of France bein g on this
question in an isolated position. I now repeat what
I stated in my last, that the Emperors of France and
Russia have agreed in the policy to be adopted at the
approaching meeting of the I'aris Congress. That
policy, in all probability, will not be supported by
your Prime Minister.

*Priuted elsewhere.

Letters received at Havre from St. Petersburg
state that commerce was most flourishing in Russia ;
that the weather had become very mild, and that it is
supposed the navigation would remain free from ice
until the end of November—an unusually late
period.
The Duke of Modena has followed the example of
the Duchess of Parma, and retired from the Austro-
I t alien Zolverein. _ _ _

The Duchess of Parma has published the new
Customs duties to be collected. By this tariff the
duties on French goods will be less than they were
under the Austro-Italian Customs treaty.

THE GREAT MORTAR.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—lu your impressions of the 24th and 31st
ult. you do me great injustice with reference to the
ve►y largs (36. inch) mortars tried at Woolwich on
the 19th October last ; and I would hope that you
will, with that love of justice which yon profess in
your article under the latter date, permit me to
correct the false information which you ha-we con-
veyed. In TIIE PRESS of October 21, p. 1,011, you
state that" The monster cannon, the patented inven-
tion, we believe, of Major Blakely, of the Royal
Artillery," &e. ; and you then proceed to quote the
very incorrect account given in the Times of the
trials made on the 19th ult. with the 36• inch mortars,
at Woolwich. In your paper of the 31st ult., p. 1,001,
you convey to your readers the impression that these
mortars were not indeed the sole invention of Cap-
tain Blakely, for that Dr. Harte, of Trinity College,
Dublin, had simultaneously with that gentleman
discovered their principle; while as to myself,
" having obtained my information from Dr. Harte,
and brought the matter before Lord Palmerston,"
Ltc., 1 had succeeded in "obtaining " 10,0001. from
Government, and constructed mortars upon designs,
thus it seems, filched from others.*
A few dates (those awkward things to those who
would strut in borrowed plumes) will set these
matters right. First la me say the design of the two
30-inch mortars now at Woolwich is mine and mine
alone. Captain Blakely has had no more to do with
them than he had with the design of St. Paul's;
neither had Dr. Harte.+ My design for these mortars,
and a long and carefully prepared memoir respecting
them and the use of 36,inch shells, all fully
matured, were before the Ordnance authorities in
Dezember, 1851, were placed before Lord Palmerston
very early in 1855, and the mortars were under con•
tract of execution from my designs and specifications
early in June, 1855.
I never saw Captain Blakely until about three
months ago, and I am not aware that he ever saw
those mortars until the day the first of them was
tried at Woolwich. To my friend Dr. Harte I have
been indebted for his valuable investigation of the
nature of the strains on cylinders exposed to pressure
from within, published in the notes to my work " On
the Phy-ical Conditions involved in the Construction
of Artillery," and these were of great value to me in
corroborating my own views as to the correctness of the
proportions of those mortars which I had previously,
arrived at, but nothing more. I was fully in posses-
sion of the principles of construction of guns, d:c., by
concentric lamina, before I had ever spoken to Dr.
Harte on the subject, and my earliest communica-
tion with him or from him on the subject is dated
oth July, 1855 (more than six months after my
designs for those mortars had been in the hands of
Government, and nearly a month after my paper had
been read, on the 25th June, 1855, before the
Royal Irish Academy, in which this principle of con-
' struction is fully described, although the aczurate
mathematical investigation of it was not known to
me until communicated by Dr. Harte subsequently).

* Nothing in our remarks could convey such an impression.
+ In the later article to which Mr. Mallet alludes above, we
distinctly mention Dr. Ilarte and Mr. Maflet as the designers,
having received from Major Blakely himself a note correcting
our former impression of hie being the patentee. We may
have given Dr. II arte more prominence than is his due, but the
broad fact remains that the Government neglected to use tho
weapons recommended to them by several scientific men, for
we are greatly misinformed if many others did not urge the
use of inonster guns, and point out how they could be manu-
factured. As to priority of invention, we beg to recommend to
all concerned the advice contained in aletter on this subject from
M +Jur Blakely to the editor of the Mechanic's Magasine (Nov. 7),
in which he says:—" As I did my befit to keep my discovery
secret, of course they cannot have borrowed from me. Indeed,
even if I am the first proposer of the plan, that can in no
manner detract from the merits of Dr. Harts or Mr. Mallet,
cted
for,
as an artillery officer. my thoughts should have been dire
to the subject. I trust, therefore, that the question of priority
will not be raised, being totally unituporUint."

These investigations, however, did not affect in any
way the designs long before prepared for those
mortars.
Captain Blakely's pamphlet entitled " Some
Remarks on Gunnery," first edition, has its preface
dated 27th June, 1855, for private circulation, ant I
never saw it until within the last month. His
patent for certain forms of artillery was sealed 14th
August, 1855. I am not therefore likely to have
derived much advantage from him, as to designs
completed in 1854, and carried to completion without
alteration in any essential principle.:
It is foreign to my object or wish to go into any
question as to the originality of Captain Blakely's
investigations or patent, unless compelled to do so
by any further attempts to set up claims for him as
respects those mortars, to which he has no preten-
sion whatever. Their merits or demerits, whatever
they may be, belong to myself alone, and moreover
rest on other and totally different ground from
their being built up of concentric lamina.
I have already stated the precise nature of my
obligations to Dr. Harte (the first, I believe, who
ever correctly investigated the proportions of lami •
'tutted guns). I would add, that my distinguished
friend Dr. Robinson, Astronomer Royal, Armagh, was
kind enough to go through all my calculations on
the subject of the designs for those mortars, and to
verify my results, long, before I ever spoke to Dr.
Harte upon the subject.
In conclusion, I beg to say "I obtained" no money
from Government for those inventions—l have been
simply authorised, as directing engineer, to carry to
completion my own designs, by the usual method of
contracts—and that your financial information on the
subject, whencesoever obtained, is very incorrect.—l
am, sir, your obedient servant,
ROBERT MALLET.
11, 13ridge-street, Westminster, 10th November.