The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

the mind requires hard, patient, and independent thinking
and work; the mere crude teaching a youth a bundle of
facts which he acquires with no labour, and only retain-
ing, neither digests nor assimilates, is no training at all;
they no way nourish his mind, but, deposited there,
are utterly as raw and undigested as he swallowed them.
He may be a full man, but it is the fulness of a bottle,
which will pour out what has been previously poured in,
whether vinegar or claret ; he may be a convenient depo-
sitary of other men's thoughts,—he may have sufficient
capacity for holding them, —but to call such a man edu•
cated is a misuse of terms, and to trust men to his super-
intendence is a misuse of humanity ; lie plunges into the
arena of politics, the sea of literature, or the fury of a re-
volution, unchecked by any glimmering suspicion of his
own folly, and hurls thrones to the ground, sees the people
massacred, and Europe in conflagration, without feeling
compunction or remorse; he is as insensitive as a bottle,
or a bag : take away what it is filled with, and what re-
mains?

It is difficult to ascertain Mr. Cayley's point
of view in judging of European events of 18-18.
In one place (vol. ii., p. 279) he writes :

Leaving France for the moment out of the question, dur-
ing the resettlement of Europe after the revolutions of
1818, two opposite forces appear mainly to have influenced
events, Austria on the one hand, and Lord Palmerston on
the other. These two may be considered as co-ordinates,
to which many subsequent events of importance may be
principally referred.

- -
His work would have more animated in-
terest if he had taken Lord Palmerston as a
central figure, and exhibited his gyrations. In
some places Mr. Cayley cleverly exposes the
vapouring policy of the Premier. Thus, in
relation to Don Pacifico, the author ob-
serves:—

What it was that induced the noble lord at the head of
the Foreign-office to engage Admiral Parker, on his way
back from the Dardanelles, in the affair of Don Pacitico's
bedsteads at the Piraeus, is a mystery. Whether it was
that his diplomatic and "judicious bottle•holding " to De-
mocracy had teen defeated by Russian and Austrian influ-
ence, and he considered that in striking at Greece he was
aiming a blow at Russia; Or whether it was that the Greek
shipping in the Levant was a cause of commercial jealousy,
as has been insinuated, it is difficult to say.
He then fastens attention on the double
blunder of the Foreign Secretary :

After a good deal of discussion, Lord Palmerston re-
solved to maintain the convention of Athens : thereby in-
sulting France to such an extent, that the a'nbassador of
that power, M. Drouyn de Lhuys, was recalled: thus land-
ing England in a larger quarrel, breaking the union of the
two powers, and giving encouragement to Russia :—a
policy which was, on the motion of Lord Stanley, censured
by the House of Peers, and escaped the censure of the
House of Commons by a narrow majority. Between the
two debates, however, the Foreign Minister gave way, and
let it be understood by the French Government that he
was willing to accept the convention of London.
Having thus estranged the English and French Govern-
ments, and joined the French and Russian together as
mediators, in short, having done as much mischief as pos-
sible, in such a small matter, the Minister appeared
dissatisfied with the success he had obtained.