The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-06 00:00:00

MILITARY EDUCATION.

THE necessity for some organised system of
military education is now universally acknow.
ledged. Men no longer canvass the principle;
they merely dispute its application. The ques-
tion has now become one of degree rather than
of kind ; is not whether high professional know-
ledge be indispensable in our officers or no,
but how far that can be made a test of prac-
tical efficiency. Our own opinion is that it
can scarcely be made so at all ; that the
utmost we can do is to take such precautions
as are in our power to prevent the one from
being detrimental to the development of the
other; and that, having done so, we must be
content to take our chance. We cannot have
perfection ; and we must trust to the sagacity
of those set over us not to be deceived by the
pretensions of successful pedants who would
fain make a long memory a substitute for a
strong arm.

Many of the recommendations and remarks
of Colonel YOLLAND and his two colleagues
have a bearing upon this point. One of the
most important subjects noticed in their very
able report is the age at which military educa-
tion should commence. We perfectly agree
with them in fixing the period at some two
years later than is customary at present—for
thus may be insured almost the whole of that
preliminary public-school training which has
so powerful an influence on the formation of a
manly character. Nor is this the only advan•

THE PRESS.

tage. It is a customary saying in England
that the army makes a man fit for nothing
else; and though there are two other very
potent causes at work to bring about this
result—i e., the formation of certain habits
perhaps inseparable from military life, and
the fact that that member of a family is too
frequently sent into the army who would
never have been fit to get on either in that or
any other pursuit—still, no doubt the earlier
the separation from general studies the more
would this evil be discernible. It may be
said, of course, that education is intended to
qualify a man for success in his profession,
and not for failure. But this, though very
good logic, will not satisfy the complaints of
the grumbling paterfamilias who may find a
son thrown back upon his hands without
either the intellectual culture or the business
habits indispensable for a civil career.
Young men intended for the Church, or for
the Bar, and very frequently those intended
for Medicine, do not begin their specific
education till two or three and twenty years
of age, and yet their subsequent pursuits lead
them far less away from general literary
culture than those of the soldier. Is it un-
reasonable, therefore, to ask that he should be
removed from this beneficial school of training
not more than five years earlier than the mem-
bers of rival professions, with whom it is the
fashion to contrast him ?

How far ordina►y public schools are com-
petent to undertake the work of military
education is another point discussed by the
Commisaioners, and decided by them, we
think, justly in the negative. A separate
department in a public school devoted to
studies alien to the spirit of the place would
never invest them with the desirable amount
of dignity, or infuse into the student those
professional feelings and habits which na-
turally grow up among the classes of a military
college. A young man so educated would be
less of an officer without being more of a
gentleman, and would enter on his profession,
if not exactly with a sense of its inferiority,
still without that enthusiasm which is one
great desideratum in the British army. It
must be considered, however, that, as far as
mere knowledge is concerned, a public school
is probably competent to impart all such as
properly comes under the head of general
military education as distinct from that re-
served for the scientific corps. Should there-
fore the whole scheme proposed by the Com-
missioners be deemed too expensive in the
present state of our finances, we might very
well leave the education of our line officers
where it is now, and confine ourselves to the
establishment of better institutions for the
Stuff, the Engineers, and the Artillery.
Supposing, however, these several mili-
tary schools or colleges to be established,
two other questions arise in connection with
them first, is the entrance to be made au
object of competition? secondly, are all arms
of the service to be educated in the same
school, and afterwards drafted off to special
academies ? In regard to the first point, the
Commissioners say very well that a low
standard of examination could do no good,
and that a commission in the army is not as
yet a sufficiently tempting prize to induce
any great number of candidates to undergo a
severer one. With reg,ird to the second, they
recommend that the option of proceeding to a
special scientific school should be the reward
of those cadets who acquit themselves
honourably in the final examinations of the
general school. Nor, do we think there is
much ground for fearing what has been
alleged in opposition to this plan, that few
but plodders would avail themselves of the
chance offered, while the more active and
dashing young men would be tired of books,
and anxious to begin life at once. The sup.
pleinentary course of scientific study would
not be protracted at the outside beyond two
years—and many think it might be less—and
the youth who had got interested in his work,
and had been taught to regard his profession
in a proper spirit, would not shrink from so
cheap and advantageous a method of pur-
chasing his advancement in life. All these
points, however, will have to be fully discussed
hereafter ; and ample materials are afforde d

SATURDAY,

by the comparison of French, Austrian, Pile;
sian, and Sardinian procedure, which the
Commissioners have carefully compiled.
But among the various recommendations
and improvements which the Commissioners
have seen fit to propose, there is none which
elicits our more hearty approval than their
suggestions on the subject of rewards. Their
proposal is to found " Queen's cadetships " for
the most successful pupils at the entrance
examinations, and that "an increase of pay,
" to last for five years, should be given to the
" pupil most distinguished in the examinations
" upon leaving college." These rewards woula
correspond to a great extent with the scholar.
ships and fellowships of our old Universities,
and would be a step in the right direction,
though by no means entirely adequate to the
end in view, which is, we apprehend, to mike
it worth the while of able and aspiring young
men to enter the army as a working profession.
The fact is, and there is no getting over it,
that the English are not now a military people,
and neither officers nor men will join the
army from the stimulus of enthusiasm only.
If officers are to be drawn from the wealthy
and aristocratic classes, scientific education
can never be pushed beyond a certain length.
If, on the other hand, they are to be sought
among the same class which now usually fills
the highest situations in the Church and at
the Bar, the same incentive must be given
them. The one will not resign their yachting
and their hunting for a profession that de-
mands severe study; nor the other their
chances of a judgeship or a mitre, for a pro-
fession in which 1,0001. a year is a brilliant
prize. We trust never to see the day in which
the former class shall be excluded from the
army, and we agree therefore with the Com-
missioners in deprecating competitive ex-
aminations for entrance into military schools.
But we also desire to see a strong infusion of
the scientific and hardworking element, which,
while affording first-class men for special
and responsible posts, would at the same time
leaven the whole profession, and insensibly
raise the tone of all our regimental officers.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE AND
MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION.

THE following important report has just been made
to the Senate of the University of Cambridge :

June I.—The Council of the Senate beg leave to report
to the Senate that they have received a deputation from
Birmingham, consisting of Rev. E. H. Gifford, Mr. J. T.
Chance, Mr. NV. L. Sargent, Rev. H. W. Bellairs, and
Rev. F. Temple, on the subject of middle-class education.
They have also received the subjoind memorials on the
same subject. They are further informed that a scheme
has been prepared by the Hebdomadal College of the
University of Oxford for the purpose of establishing a
system of examinations to be conducted under the autho-
rity and direction of the University, either at Oxford or
elsewhere, and of conferring certificates or some title of
proficiency upon those candidates from schools of a middle-
class character who may pass the examinations with
credit. The council are of opinion that a scheme of a
similar nature might advantageously be adopted by this
University ; and accordingly they recommend that a syn.
dicate be appointed for the purpose of conferring with the
persons who take an interest in the matter, and of prepar-
ing, in the form of a report to the Senate, the details of
such a scheme as they can recommend for its adoption.
Philpott, Vice-Chancellor ; Robert Phelps, W.
Whewell, G. E. Come, William Selwyn, E. Harold
Browne, J. Grote, W. H. Bateson, G. E. Paget, W. G.
Clark, F. France, Francis Martin, J. C. Adams, Charles
Hardwick, W. M. Campion.

THE PETITION OF THE QUEEN MOTHER ASP
PRINCES OF OunE, as presented to the House of
Commons, is a lengthy document giving the history
of the recent annexation of Oude, and concluding
with the following prayer
- •

Your petitioners pray your honourable house to take the
premises into your full consideration, and to redress the
grievances herein complained of, and that a select com-
mittee of your honourable house may be appointed to
inquire into the contents of this petition and the matters
arising out of the same, and that his Majesty the King of
Oude and your petitioners may be permitted to appear
before such committee and may be heard by themselves,
their counsel, agents, and witnesses, in proof of the allege.
tions herein contained, with a view to the establishment
of their rights, the fulfilment of justice, the maintenance of
treaties, and the preservation of the honour and dignity of
the British nation ; and that your honourable house will be
pleased to grant to your petitioners such other relief and
redress in the premises as your petitioners maybe deemed
entitled to according to international law and to the first
principles of truth, honour, and good faith, and as to you:
honourable house shall seem meet, &Wig, and just.