The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-25 00:00:00

LITERARY POLITICIANS.

WE arc glad, for the sake of Literature, that
so brilliant an author as Mr. THACKERAY has
not been permitted to run the risk of mis-
applying his time and talents to politics ; but,
though we do not commend his ambition, we
can sympathise with the disappointment of
his hopes. Mr. CARDWELL, however, was cer-
tainly the better choice for the electors to have
made.

Mr. THACKERAY is a man of shining abilities
and sturdy energies, but we doubt whether,
without much exertion, he could succeed in
the House of Commons. He has not a
political mind ; he wants facts, habits of
logical thought, and appreciation of sustained
reasoning. Mr. TUACKERAY could hardly ex-
pect to be more successful than the late
CHARLES BULLER, yet Mr. BULLER was a
failure because he dealt too much in persiflage,
and discussed grave subjects from a humorist's
point of view. But CHARLES BULLER had
great attainments, was a good political econo-
mist, and his knowledge of public life could
scarcely be acquired by Mr. THACKERAY with-
out prodigious exertion. Even to obtain such
a reputation as CHARLES Bem.za enjoyed it

would not be worth the while of Mr. THACKERAY
to withdraw himself from literature.

It is a mistake to suppose that there is
aught hi literary pursuits any more than in
legal studies which unfits a man of talent for
polities. Everything depends on the man him.
self. BURKE was a literary man, and so was
CANNING, but both had a natural inclination to
politics. In France, Guizox, THIERS, and many
more eminent persons, were politicians as well
as authors; but Mr. THACKERAY has never
shown any aptitude for public life. He seems
never to have had any vocation fur it, and he
has not weighed the loss of time, the great in-
dustry, the study of social questions involved
in the pursuits of a politician. Neither does
he seem to have considered whether he could
become an effective debater. Voice, elocution,
delivery, presence of mind, and self-control
under excited feelings must all be learnt by a
man aspiring to Parliamentary distinction.
These accomplishments cannot he acquired in
a day or a year. They take time, thought, and
study. Let a literary man apply his energy to
politics, and, like a barrister, he may succeed
or fail. All, as we said, depends on himself ;
and we cannot say that as yet Mr. THACKERAY
has shown many of the qualities which are
necessary to Parliamentary success.
Still, if ha turned to politics and worked
hard we believe that he might succeed up to a
certain point ; but the reading public and his
numerous admirers would never be compen-
sated for his relinquishment of the pursuits
in which he has invested his name with a cele•
brity far greater than he could attain in the
Senate.

EARL COWLEY AND THE PERSIAN
TREATY.

WE perceive that Captain LYNCH has written
to one of our contemporaries to deny his
having had anything to do with the late Per-
sian Treaty except only as a simple translator,
and our contemporary, governed no doubt by
the rules which all respectable journalists feel
bound to obey, has accepted this denial, and
allowed the matter to drop. We also respect
Captain LYNCH'S word, and nothing can be
farther from our intention than in any way to
controvert his assertion ; but at the same time
the Gallant Captain must pardon us if we pro-
fess that a more extraordinary and mysterious
proceeding than the whole of the behind-the•
scenes work of this Persian Treaty has never
yet come before the public. We observed
largely on the matter at the time, and there-
fore we feel bound at present to make a few
remarks on the closing scene of this very re-
markable transaction. And now let us shortly
state the facts of the case. Lord COWLEY re-
ceives an order from the British Government
to conclude a treaty with an Ambassador
accredited as he is himself to the French
Court, and no doubt the terms he Was to
require were at the same time furnished to
him—which, let us remark in passing, were
about one half as favourable to us as those
which we might previously have obtained at
Constantinople. During three whole weeks,
notwithstanding the impatience of the Eng-
lish Cabinet, who were almost nightly ques-
tioned in the House on the subject, nothing
whatever was effected in the matter, and it
became notorious to every man in Paris who
was in a position to obtain anything like accu-
rate political information that the whole affair
was at a dead lock, and the Persians them-
selves made no secret of it that such had been
the want of tact displayed by the British
negotiator in his first advances, that no
further progress could possibly be expected.
At this stage of the affair Lord COWLEY is
heard (by a gentleman of unimpeachable
veracity) at the Spanish Ambassador's,
and in reply to a person of high rank,
who asked him how he " got on in
the Persian negotiation, to declare " That
" he could make nothing of the Persians,
" that they could not or would not understand

" him, but that it would be the worse for them
" hereafter, as they would be the sufferers."
One of two days after this pretty clear enun-
ciation on the part of the British Plenipoten-
tiary, Captain LYNCH offers his services, which
are readily accepted, and in two or three days
more the treaty is actually signed ; we are
quite sure that we are within bounds in stating
that in one week from the time of Lord
COWLEY'S positive disclaimer of there being
the slightest chance of his effecting a treaty
with FEROUK KHAN, that treaty was in the
lisnds of Lord PALMERSTON, and was brought
over by Captain LYNCH himself.
It may posaibly be said that Lord COWLEY
• was finessing with the Spanish Grandee who
asked him about the treaty, but what possible
motive could he have had for so doing? Every-
body knew that he was employed to make the
treaty, and it could • only have been to
his credit to have been able to state
that it was progressing favcurably.
Hitherto the affair seems mysterious enough,
but there is stranger yet to come. The Times
of that date pompously announced that three
of the most celebrated Oriental scholars in
the world—Colonel 0 USELEY, Colonel OTTER,
and Mr. REDHOUSE—were engaged by the
British Government, and were actually in
Paris waiting to translate this very treaty, and
also to assist in communicating between the
great personages employed in the negotiation.
To our certain knowledge, also, at least two
of the attaches or counsellors of the Persian
Embassy speak perfectly good French, and
are capable of translating the treaty into at
least as good Persian as Captain I.onicies. It
was not, therefore, for want of efficient inter-
preters that Lord CowLEr found it impossible
to make FEROUK KHAN understand him ; nor
was either the British or the Persian Embassy
under the necessity of employing a dilettante
translator, and paying his services at the very
extravagant rate at which Captain LYNCH'S
appear to have been estimated.
The question is, perhaps, more important
than at first sight it seems to be ; it is nothing
more nor less than whether Earl COWLEY de-
serves the magnificent reward which his
Sovereign has been advised to bestow on him.
If he does, what shall we say of the rewards
which have been heaped on Captain LYNCH ?
He first receives a sum of 5001. ft om the Bri-
tish Treasury; in the next place, FEROUK
KHAN (who must have known pretty accurately
the extent of Captain LYNCH'S services) recom-
mends his Sovereign to bestow on him the
highest honours in the power of Persia to give,
•T to create him a Knight of the ancient Order of
the Lion and the Sun, and promote him to the
dignity of a nobleman of his kingdom. Were
ever such rewards bestowed before on the
simple translator of a treaty?
Nothing can be more natural or more chi-
valrous than for Captain LYNCH to rush to the
rescue of his principal, but it requires the
ample respect due to an assertion proceeding
from a man of his honourable character to
admit his nob episeopari to its full extent; and
he will surely pardon the public for having
believed (previous to his disclaimer) that,
although in these days of jobbery and corrup-
tion the British Treasury may have paid at
so extravagant a rate the trifling services
which he is willing to arrogate to himself, it
was hardly to be supposed that the Shah of
PERSIA would have lavished on him the
highest dignities at his command had he not
been represented to him by his own Envoy as
the real author of a treaty which he justly
believes to have saved his kingdom.