The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULYIB, 1857.

ports. That may or may not be ; but if the hired transports are to be
steam transports we venture to call attention to a letter, printed else-
where, from an occasional correspondent at Trincomalee, in which is
stated a not unimportant fact bearing upon the employment of steam-
ships—viz., that the Government supply of coal at Trincomalee is
"utterly unfit for fuel." Now, it is just possible that any steam troop-
ship, en route to Calcutta, may, by stress of weather or other circum-
stances, be compelled to put in at Trincomalee for a supply of coal ;
and what awaits them at a time when moments are precious, when
every British soldier landed in India within tha next few months is
doubly worth his weight in gold, we can see by the fate that befel
the Fire Queen on the Ist of June. She was en route to Galle, to
embark troops fir Calcutta, and she put in at Trincomalee short of coal.
Every one can appreciate the urgency of the case. The first terrible
intelligence of the outbreak in India had reached Ceylon, backed by
the pressing appeal of Lord CANNING for troops : not a moment was to
be lost. She could be coaled in four hours and have been off. %Val it
be believed that she was detained upwards of sixty hours, and then
sent away with a stock of firewood ! The Government supply of coal
upon inspection by the engineer of the Fire Queen was pronounced
worthless. Nov, as efficiency in every department of the public
service is acknowledged to be desirable, and in all its Indian branches
at the present emergency is vitally requisite, we should be glad to know
why these coeds were kept by the Government authorities at Trinco-
malee so long, that they partly became, as is usual with coal in tropical
climates, self consumed; and further, whether, since the discovery of
their worthlessness, they have been condemned and a fresh supply ob-
obtained, or whether that coat, which the engineer of the lire Queen
rejected as utterly worthless, and compared to " gravel," is still kept on
hand for the use of such steamships now leaving England, or such of
her Majesty's vessels now in the Indian seas, as may perchance run
short of coal in the Bay of Bengal and bear up for a fresh supply to
Trincomalee ?

The value of intellectual culture in itself, no man we presume will
question. Its relative value, compared with other qualifications with
which it does not usually co-exist, is the great point which the advo-
cates of liberal education find it so difficult to uphold. Classical
study has of late years been especially singled out for attack by lovers
of materialism, nor can we agree with the leading journal in be-
lieving that the number of such persons has now very much
decreased. Plenty of merchants and tradesmen, more wealthy than
wise, are still to be found who withdraw their boys from school at
fifteen, on the ground that a longer period of devotion to polite
letters unfits them for the pursuits of business. They forget that
business in turn may unfit them for the pursuits proper to
humanity. We must remember also that another class of enemies
with which Greek and Latin have to contend are those whose dislike
of them proceeds purely from jealousy. They cannot get over the
feeling that a tssics have hitherto been made a sort of touchstone of
gentility, and they are uneasy under the weight of that pregnant
phrase, •"lhe Horatian scholarship of a gentleman." There is yet a
third class of objectors who advocate education in modern literature
arid science as superior in kind to HOMER, VIRGIL, and ARISTOTLE. We
believe, indeed, that, with the highest and most refined class of minds,
a reaction against the thoughtless materialism of twenty years ago
has really commenced. We do not believe, for instance,
that SYDNEY SMITH would have written his famous article
on classical education now. But, for all that, we think
the lovers of classical literature have reason to be thankful to
Mr. GLADSTONE for his late manly and eloquent eulogy. It is right
that the public should occasionally be reminded that in moral and
political philosophy, especially the latter, we cannot get beyond
ARISTOTLE and PLATO; that in oratory we have, at all events, not
surpassed the two classic models ; and that in purity and beauty of
composition, it is still found that he succeeds best who has studied
from his boyhood the poets, statesmen, and historians of Greece and
Rome. These are facts, and every now and then it is right to clear
amiy the lumber that smothers them, and permit them to shine
before the world.

The debate of Friday next promises to be one of the most inte-
resting of the present session. The subject is the compulsory clause
of the Divorce Bill, on which we have already expressed a tolerably
strong opinion. We believe it is a long while since the leaders of the
Liberal party have so deeply offended numbers of their own sup-
porters, and so violently outraged the national sentiment of justice, as
on this occasion. Among the clergy themselves indignation is rife.
Not only are those opposed to the Bill who abhor the act
which it enjoins ; but many who have no objection to celebrate the
marriage between adulterers are justly incensed and alarmed at the
attitude assumed by Government. Will the Church at length awaken
from her dream of Liberal protection, and acknowledge the truth of
our own predictions, that it is only by a steady support of the Conser-
vative party that she can hope for security of either property, privilege,
or conscience ?

The importance of the famous CLARENDON capitulation, and
the unimportance of the MARCY letter, are by degrees being
perceived by practical men. Mr. LINDSAY and Lord JOHN RUSSELL
this week have noticed both, after fifteen months' consideration.
Humanity condemns the privateering system. By all means let the
issue of letteis of marque be for ever suppressed. But unfortunately
our transatlantic connections have a characteristic predilection for
that species of warfare. There is something free, manly, and
independent in that mode of accomplishing the destruction

701.

of one's fellow-creatures or gaining possessing of their effects.
Before they can be expected to surrender a favourite occupation, we
must consent to the abandonment of some counterbalancing advan-
tage. There must he a quid pro quo. We maintain a large naval
armament in time of peace, in the hope, not indeed always realised,
of bringing wars when they occur to a speedy conclusion. With the
goods of an enemy while within the territory of a neutral State, we
cannot meddle; but on the sea, the common highway of nations, our
preponderance in naval force has hitherto enabled us to make tolerably
short work of the commerce of must of our opponents. This superiority
is precisely the advantage most grudged us by our rivals on the deep.
The shipowners of New York perceive a manifest advantage in their
appointment to the office of carrier for the goods of belligerent
nations. The interest of Great Britain is as manifest to suppress the
marine traffic of an adversary. The former, while th.3ir country holds
aloof from the contest, would not fail to benefit by the hostilities of
others ; while a naval war could scarcely occur of any magnitude to
which this country could avoid becoming a party, and being such, her
interest must be identical with the exercise of her maritime power to
the fullest extent.

The approaching election for the city of Oxford, for the repre-
sentation of which Mr. THACKERAY is a candidate, naturally leads the
admirers of that gentleman to canvass his fi`ness for a Parliamentary
career. On his keen but kindly humour, his penetrative sagacity, his
knowledge of life, and his extraordinary literary ability, this is not the
time to enlarge. Those qualities will be taken fur granted by the
majority of our readers. But it may be permitted us to inquire what
evidence they afford of his competence for the business of legislation.
Mr THACKERAY, we must recollect, will not enter Parliament, if elected,
as an ordinary man—all that he says will be widely quoted. and all
that be does eagerly imitated. If, then, his previous pursuits have
been such as in any degree to impair his breadth of view, or his fair-
ness of judgment. such circumstances should be allowed even more
than their usual weight. Mr. THACKERAY is a social satirist—that is to
say, his special subject of study has been the weaknesses of mankind
when collected together in societies. This species of observation
alone is calculated to lead a man into some kind of contempt
for all forms and regulations—a way of thinking which an
isolated literary life, unconnected with any of those great institutions
which teach the excellence and the necessity of organisation, precedent,
and authority, has no tendency to correct. There is no proof in any
of Mr. THACKERAY'S writings that he has given much consideration to
political questions, and it is probable he will approach them in some-
what the same spirit as be has done social ones—that is, whatever
strikes him as foolish or unreasonable at first sight, he will attack with
sweeping invective. Now, there are two reasons why this mode of pro-
ceeding is far more objectionable in political than in social questions.
Firstly, the former are so complicated that it is very seldom that a
first view is a right one; secondly, the satirist can impose no law
upon society as the legislator can If he is wrong, society will not
attend to him, and he may go on his way howling. Mr. THACKERAY.S
" Snob Papers," fur instance, with all their wonderful merit,
contained a great leaven of injustice. Suppose the dicta therein
laid down could have been made binding on every man,
woman, or child in the United Kingdom! That, we trust, is
an impossible case. But we wish to remind the electors of
Oxford that just such an uncompromising and indiscriminating spirit
will Mr. THACKERAY bring to the consideration of the gravest questions
in Church and State ; and that the celebrity and popularity of his
writings must not be unreflectingly assumed to prove capacity for the
more practical business of politics, which are, as BERKE tells us, " the
" science of compromise."

"S. G. 0." writes very sensibly sometimes. With the pith of his
observations on the subject of industrial schools, as expressed in
Thursday's Times, we fully concur. People will sooner or later find
out that we cannot nourish mind and body on the same system. The
latter will thrive very well on regular rations meted out at stated
hours. But the mind will not digest knowledge administered in a
similar fashion. We may pour so much " fact " into a boy's brains
every morning and afternoon; but, unless we exercise discrimination,
there the facts remain, crude and useless. The majority of all classes
in the community are doomed to remain where they were born ; and,
as we have often urged in dealing with University education, it is the
second and third rate minds we are principally bound to take care of.

INDIA.
The hot heart beats again, whose fitful thr)o
Plassy's fierce thunders frightened into rest ;
The dark eye gleams, o'er whose indignant woe
Clive's forceful arm the unwilling eyelid pressed.
Like a wronged beauty, all her black hair flying
Its jewelled fillets in the spoiler's hands,
With no joy left but vengeance before dying,
Fierce, frenzied, frightened, this our India stands.
Look ! she who crouched, as in the cane-brake green
Her own sleek tigresses, can leap as high,
And they who hunt the savage jungle-queen

Must set their choice to take` her or to die.
Oh, Vernon Smith ! loud speeches will not shame her,
Nor dainty gloves on delicate fingers tame her !