The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-07 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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111611 WATIUR AT LONDON BRIDGE.
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LONDO.V, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7.

YESTERDAY—as a report in another column
explains—the Prime Minister received very blandly
a deputation on the Education question.
Education is, as we take it, a matter that con-
cerns the whole country. And yet Lord Jolts Hes-
/ELL, nu farther gone than yesterday, admits a depu-
tation trim Leeds, and listens to what they have to
say on the subject,—the principle laid down in his
recent letter to Mr. MILS La GlimoN notwithstanding.
Far be it from us to complain that Lord JOIIN has so'
soon violated his own very strange resolution not to
receive deputations from particular districts on Main
that concern the whole country. The next best thing
to nut having laid down such a rule is to break it as
soon as possible.
Whether or not we should congratulate the
educationist deputation from Leeds on their having
been Livoured with an audience by Lord JollN,
we scarcely know. His lordship is bound by
• voluntary pledge to introduce next erasion a
measure of parliamentary reform. Thus circum-
stanced his n•fusel to receive the deputation from
the !gam hester Iteform Conference may have
etriginated,—very probably did originate,—in •
fear that whilst conversing with them be might, in.
advertently, make premature revelations respecting
what he intends to do. if this view of his conduct
be correct, then the probability is that his readiness
to admit educational deputations to his presence im-
plies thqt he has no fears of being led to reveal his
intentions respecting education to them,—inasmuch
rr he does not intend to do anything.
We say this, not for the purpose of discouraging
such advocates and promoters of education ns may be
disposed to seek interviews with the Pet:mint :--quite
the contrary. The more sluggish and lazy ministers
are, the more necessary it is to keep pushing them
on. We arc glad to see the educationists moving at
Manchester, at Leeds. and elsewhere. It is a symptom
that the faith in,—the eagerness to obtain,—general
education, is on the increase. And these deputations
serve at once to bring this conviction home to the
government, and rouse tho emulation of other dis-
tricts.

'flu rumours which have of late been flying about
respiTting further impending changes of the cabinet
ought to put the friends of education on the alert at
present. With or without good grounds the name
of the Marquis of L.►rsuowcE has been mentioned
among those of cabinet ministers who are understood
to wish to make way for younger and more robust
men. Now the Marquis, as President of the Coun-
cil. is er ijieio chairman of the education committee.
The hest guarantee that the PREMIER can give
the public of his intentions to promote good go-
vernment and necessary reforms is to appoint compe-
tent and energetic men to any seats in the cabinet
that may fall vacant. The President of the Council
being all that we have in England in the
shape of a minister of education,—and the ap-
pointment being in all other respects little better
than a sinecure,—it ought to be conferred on none
but a man sincerely devoted to the cause of educa-
tion ; extensively acquainted with the best methods
of promoting education ; and capable of persevering
effort.

The fact is that the Committee of the Council on
Education may at present, for all practical purposes,
be considered as in abeyance. It has de /into no re-
sponsible. woi king head. The venerable President
of the Council—one of the most liberal, benevolent,
and enlightened of his party—has, for some time,
been disqualified by his increasing years and infirmi-
ties from taking an active part in the labours of the
committee. l,oder him there is no one whose
official position entitles him to take the lead; and
what is worse, no one who possesses the moral courage,
and freedom from prejudice, and superiority to red.
tape etiquette and official routine, that would enable
him to supply the place of his chef. The business of
the committee is conducted languidly and with half
a heart. " The sluggard says there is • lion in the
path." The pneu-euranti head clerks or secretaries
of the education committee find—or fancy—all kinds
of dangers and impediments in every path they are
invited to enter upon.
This is lamentable. The yearly parliamentary
g
rant for educational purposes s, from its niggardli-
ness, unworthy of so great a nation. The field of
action, the powers attributed to the committee, fall
far short of what is required for its important ob-
jects. Nevertheless, a good deal has been done in
course of the last eight or nine years. An offi-
cial staff of superintendents of schools has been
formed, whose members are certainly characterisod
by intelligence, tact, and zeal in their soca-
bon. The normal schools established by go-
vernment have trained a considsenble number of
industrious, efficient teachers, end are actually
bringing forward every year • greater number of
such teachers than government ea provide work
for. Lastly, the regulations_ adopted by the com-
mittee with reference to the distribution of grants in
aid to schools, have now been so matured and recti-
fied, that preasetees of listeindinal schools—of all
sects except the Banaralsiag high eiturchmen—can
co-operate, and de meoperate modially, with the
Committee of Ifiesadem Leahy Mk to the utter
want of goverment eassarameent to general edu-
catioa mom tea sr tweedy years ago, it will not be
denied that this state of maks maitests a decided
improvement. It cannot be Wiwi matiseal WOW
bon, but it is • fair pormathe it While**
Manchester and other amiatims have beta pa-
pering the publie maul kr a el retinal
se/ loots. originated, seppresd, mmaged by the
people themselves, the Csaimittas of the Oaanadi en
Education has been training a body of public
servants qualified for the ha of embalm, over, en-
lightening, easeoregintseremdpec=lesal efforts ;
—has been edissatiag te set an
example and awaken a gamut emaistisa in their
whole class ;—end has bee miming tits voluntary
efforts of the hinds steamed= Ia ell of the
kingdom. The aid need the tisaallial efforts,
tending to a edemas ente Irma_ smelts Oats of
origin,lam materielly saMed fie wheat el a
sound and mile spasm of asthma N. assidsa.
Hut tMs, ia so ihr es the Committee of Osman ea
Educed.. b meseraid, iof the poet. At meeM,
!en the sans elm abided to the sems is,
in a groat meson, ia a Mateo, swimedialanisastiom
Its mica is partially paralysed ; its heat is inert ;
its "prior aims lukewarm ;
__and 1W state of
affairs braeassommi intenamiMini en the
part of Wahiawa' balm so oseseibis er responsi-
ble appointments mdse the essemittas, that has
complicated its prosee end asutraliaed to a
still greater sate its A more sincerely
smaset, er atmssnlightsned head for the committee
it would net be easy is find ; but a younger and
more active man is needed to discharge his novel
and iesa datiss. Aad one of the first and
most dudes sea a ere will be required to
disebargs, will be that of sternly reminding his sub-
ordinates that if they are to vermin in office, they
must work,—and that in the sense that the legislature
has prescribed and the people desire,—not merely to
gratify their own personal crotchets and pmpossea.
scions.

The importance of the end to he attained ought of
itself to be sufficient to ensure the Premier's atten-
tion to considerations such as these. But there is
one upon which we have not yet touched that has
not unfrequently been found more powerful with
aristocratic politicians. The Committee of Educa-
tion has done so much that there is danger in stop-
ping. MALLET DC PAN mentions a conversation la
which D urrox attributed the first French revolution
in great part to the fact that the state allowed ple-
beians like himself to be educated in the high offices
of the law, and to acquire the habits and ambitious of
the class that tilled them, and then excluded all but
patricians from these offices. An able and aspiring
body of men was thus called into existence in every
province, who,—finding no legitimate fleld of action
for their acquired abilities,—made for themselves an
illegitimate one; who—denied the privilege deo-ope-
rating to support the state, set themselves to subvert it.

The Lortual schools of the Committee of Education, in
its presen t paralysed coedit ion, a re every year throwing
upon moiety thousands of active and accomplished
teachers, for whom no safe and profitable field of
uetian is provided in our civil and social system, and
who have therefore every temptation to busy them-
selves fur its subversion. _ _ _

—.
The government make teachers and neglect
pupils; and if the people were as indolent as the
government, there would be but sorry hopes for the
future. Happily such immeiations as the one that
waited yesterday on the ['rime Minister with their
demands, 84.1111 determined to persevere till the great
question on which its members are engaged is settled
on a basis worthy of a great and prosperous nation.

Draisc. the last few days the Times has been
using the Kullir war as a peg on which to hang a
number of remarks upon the state of our army and
detentes. Are these articles in a ministerial paper
to be the forerunner of a ministerial demand fur more
money for soldiers? Our military system is deficient
enough—as every practical military officer knows too
well —but the way to mend it is by a proper reform
of what troops we have, before the people arc asked
to put their hands in their pockets to pay for
more. The large sum of money annually voted
for army and ordnance expenditure would,
if properly applied, be amply sufficient for
national requirements. If our contemporary asks
only for army reform, there can be no good objection
to the request; if the growl is preparatory to a
suggestion for making our present system more un-
wieldy and expensive, then the country and parlia-
ment must be on their guard.
When the Emperor NAPOLEON, in the deserted
halls of the imbue of Fontainebleau, received intel-
ligence of M MMONT'S capitulation of Paris, he was
forcibly struck by the disastrous consequences arising
from the dispersion of his armies. To oppose the
allies flushed with success, he had but a few batta-
lions of his guard, whilst the flower of his troops
were in garrison at hamburg, Mantua, Antwerp,
and Barcelona, in fact, anywhere but where
they were wanted. A hundred thousand men,
besides Soutr's veterans of the Peninsula, were
still in existence, and he who had led an innumera-
ble host to Moscow, found himself, through neglect
of those serf- principles of warfare of which he has
been the chief master, unable even to contend for an
honourable surrender. That abdication of Fon-
tainebleau is a lesson to every state, but to us it
is a practical one which comes straight home. We
have our hundred regiments of the line, and a score
of cavalry, with thousands of artillerymen, but sonic
are in the Keliat-pass, others on an exploring expe-
dition to t'ae centre of Africa, and to guard our own
shores fur which that army was originally instituted,
we have, besides the Guards, but eleven regiments
of cavalry and seventeen of infantry scattered from
John o'Groat's to the Land's-end.

We arc not speaking of the force in Ireland, be-
cause if in time of. peace we are unable not only to
dispense with a single regiment from that country,
but have even been obliged to form a fresh military
district, it is not probable that in time of difficulty we
should be justified in calculating upon reinforcements
from it. But if the turbulency of the inhabitants
requires to be kept down by main force, would it not
be as well that they should pay for their amusement,
which could easily be done by increasing the corps
of constabulary, instead of occupying the attention
of an expensive body of men raised for the defence
'of the nation at large?
The actual force which England can at this mo-
ment command, without greatly inconveniencing the
present arrangements, are 3,000 horse and foot
guards. 3,000 cavalry, 12,000 infantry, including the
depots, and about 4,000 artillery, making a to al of
240/110 regulars; but out of this Devonport, Portsmouth,
Dover. Sheerneat, Woolwich, &c., have to be garri-
soned ; and we therefore cannot calculate upon more
than half that number as available for field service.

Keeping in mind—whatever alarmists who de-
sire army extension may declare—that the only
actual danger which England is susceptible
of is from piratical raisins of some five
thousand men, landed suddenly on the coast, we may
as wise and prudent men ask the question—cannot
we without adding to our already enormous army
expenditure, be given some system of armament, by
which—should necessity arise—this small force of
regular troops could be given full scope for acting in
the field without in any way being weakened
by detachments and garrisons? We possess an ex-
cellent force of sixteen thousand pensioners who
could just as well do the garrison duty as the line, a
flue body of police who if proper ly drilled would make
able auxiliaries, and a yeomanry which every
general officer who inspects them states to be
most praiseworthy. It were well, therefore, that
these several bodies be so organised as to be
fit fur service at any moment required. At present
we have the pensioners exercised for eight days a
year on some heath or common, where they look
uncommonly well, but they are utterly incapable of
undergoing the fatigue, hurry, and anxiety to which
they would be subjected in the field. Besides, being
nearly all married men with large families, they
would have no great desire to expose themselves, if
that could be helped ; it is, therefore, essential that
they be kept behind stone walls, and no doubt they
would be as efficient in such a position as any others.
The police, as a body of heavy infantry, would
be invaluable. Steady in their habits, ac-
customed to obedience and order, well clothed,
all they want to take the field is a knapsack and a
musket. In our large towns, where they number
some thousands, they might be organised much in
the same manner as the French gendarmerie, divided
into foot and horse, and though adding •
strong force to our army, would not add one penny
to our expenses. As to the yeomanry, we have no
doubt that if duly encouraged, we should obtain •
body of horse from which the cavalry might obtain
men who would require but little further instruction.
Of the militia we say nothing, because the
experience of the last " calling out" of that
knee would scarcely justify its being tried
a&n. It is recruited from that body of the nation
whose time is its bread, and for the protection of
whom we have raised a standing army. " No militia,"
says Marshal MAJUIONT, " even supposing them to
be the bravest men on earth, will at first be worth
anything. The value and courage of each can only
be tested by experience; and as their first efforts will
be made without the powerful succour which confi-
dence affords, in all probability, they will produce greet
and irreparable disasters." Besides, the clothing and
arming of so enormous a body is by no means
a small matter, so much so, that an addition
to our army of some five thousand men, would be far
more economical. But there is a force for which
England possesses peculiar resources, and that is a
lady of irregulars, armed with the new long-range
rifles, and who from behind hedges or copses could
cause great havoc in an enemy's lines. Such a body
could soon be formed with the gamekeepers of the
gentry, and volunteer corps of young men in country
towns. Each county could have its own regiment of
these, officered under the lord lieutenants. Never
with an army, but always near it, the operations
of a defensive force would never be impeded in the
same manner as if a regular militia were attached
to it. whilst an enemy could not send out foraging
parties or small detachments without suffering
the greatest loss.
Were these precautionary measures to be taken,
our regular army could then be divided between De-
, vonport, Portsmouth, Dover, and the south-west
coast, in detachments of five thousand men each
which would be ample to meet any enemy that
could be landed without England obtaining due
notice of a serious war, to meet which we have
nu doubt the nation would rise as one man. What
we have, at present, of infantry and cavalry, though
' ; few in number, is complete and in the best condi-
tion ; but, unfortunately, we cannot say the same of
If our artillery. We drew the public attention some
time back to the inefficient state of the garrison ar-
I tillery, but we have now to state that the field is, if
anything, worse. We are too apt to be misled by
the accounts of Woolwich reviews, and the shining
gold coats of the horse artillery as it gallops out of a
cloud of smoke on Woolwich Common is a very
pretty night, but we are too apt to gild the de-
ficiencies of the army. A battery of horse ar-
tillery to take the field requires DM horses
and 172 men. At present, a troop has
ii:i horsiss and 86 men ; that is to say, that if required
t i act, the whole of those three gay troops which are
kept for show would have to be broken up to form
one efficient troop. Six horse artillery guns com-
plete is all we could muster at Woolwich, at a
time when our neighbours can bring one hundred 1

into the field without' ineonsenienee. if low
money was spent on gold lase, coats, which make
as many tasgets for the enemy, and more on liar-
am, it would be more to the purpose. We by no
mesas wish to disparage the corps itself; for it is'
as essential to en army as light cavalry is ; bat
we hive sr right to complain that what
ought to be kept as an efficient body for the service of i
the public is kept as a puppet show for the amuse-
ment of "distinguished parties." Could anything
be more ridiculous than such a body, all heron-
plumed, marching on a drizzly day over Salisbury
pain? Hut the foot artillery is but little better; a
battery requires 162 horses; it has 63, and of those a
third are old stagers, who could make their way over
Woolwich Common blindfold. At Woolwich there
are five batteries "in course of instruction ;" that is
to say, there is not ono efficient for service. Out of
these five, not two could be formed. Yet we
want a battery with each division. That is to say,
three on the south coast, one on the west, and a re-
servo at Woolwich,—not to oppose a landing, but to
meet an enemy, supposing one had landed. And,
indeed, why cannot field artillery be just us well in
the south as at Woolwich. "It will not be so handy
for reviews." So much the better; it will have less
review practice ; more of field manmuvres. We pay
rather dear for these little amusements, and like
other people would wish to get the most for our
money. Before wo are asked to spend one penny
more on soldiers, let those wo have be put on a
proper footing.

FRANCE.

THIS DAY'S NEWS.

BY SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.)
(►IOY Oct OWN CORRJUIPONGINT.)
PARIS, WIDNRIDAT MORNING.

The device " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," is
abo/ishod, and tho former names of streets bearing
the word " royal" Cr. restored.

PARIS, TUESDAY MORNIXO.
I informed you yesterday that the appearance of
the constitution had been delayed in consequence of
the incomplete state of the organic decrees, with
which it is proposed to accompany the promulgation
of the fundamental charter. These decrees are
appended for the sake of comprising the constitution
in as few articles as possible. It is said that France
will be divided into electoral districts.

The return of Count Flahaut from England is
waited for, before the new diplomatic arrangements
are completed.
Singularly enough not a word about the great
dinner, given yesterday at the Tuileries by the Presi-
dent to the mayors-delegate of Prance, appears in
any paper. The court of the Tuileries was illumi-
nated, and for the first time since 1848 the apart-
ments inside blazed with hght.
'With regard to the fete at the Opera, to which the
President has invited the same Mayors, the " Pro-
phete" has been chosen for representation. No per-
son will be admitted without an express invitation ;
all the offices are closed.
The Moniteur contains the decree of concession of
the Paris and Lyons Railway. The Minister of
Public Works, in his report to the President of the
Republic, shows how much more advantageous to
the State the conditions now obtained by the go-
vernment are than those which accompanied the
last bill. The sum to be paid by the company to
the Treasury is 114 millions, including the four
millions expended by virtue of the last credit. This
payment is to be effected in four years. The section
from Chalons to Micon is to be opened in two years;
that from Macon to Vaise in three years; the portion
traversing Lyons is to be completed in the course
of the succceaing year. Thus in four years at the
latest the great line from Calais to Marseilles will
be open to the public. A special train for the trans-
mission of despatches is to be furnished gratuitously.
An article of the cahier des charges will facilitate
the concession of the branch from Dijon to Mulhouse,
by placing the advance of the materiel and of the
expenses of working the line, at the charge of the
Paris and Lyons Company. The company will also
bo obliged to furnish the Treasury with another mil-
lion as its share of expenses in the railway-zone at
Paris. This sum will complete the 113 millions
which I mentioned in my letter of yesterday
as engaged to be paid by the company.
The administration is to remain independent
of that of every other line which has been
actually converted. Tho council of administra-
tion will not be allowed to include the presidents,
nor more than two members of each of the councils
of the administration of the other lines conceded.
Thus the public will be protected against the dangers
of a monopoly. Of the sum to be paid by the com-
pany, 49 millions will go to meet the subvention
promised to the grantees of the Avignon Railway.
The remaining 8.5 millions may be consecrated to the
relief of the floating debt, or to the execution of
other great works.
General Castellano has extended the operation of
his edict dissolving all fraternal associations to the
whole department of the Rhone, and to the depart-
ments of the Ain and here.

By a decree of M. Vincent, Prefect of the Rhone,
dated Lyons, Jan. 3, all political inscriptions, and in
particular the words liberty, equality, and fraternity,
are to be immediately effaced from all public edifices
and private houses of the department. The trees of
liberty are to be cut down or uprooted.
Two thousand five hundred prisoners in the
deparment of the Var are now awaiting their trial by
court-martial.
PARIS, TULIIDAT EVININO.
It is now decided, I am told, to adjourn the pub-
lication of the constitution until the 16th. Besides
the lengthening process of framing those organic
decrees whieh the proclamation of Dec. 2 expressly
assigned to the legislature, another serious cause of
delay has arisen from the difficulty of finding
senators. In fact, notwithstanding the eight mil-
lions of votes which seemed to sanction the coup
efetat, the most eminent men in France continue, to
their honour, to hold aloof from a government which
preaches through all its organs the destruction of those
only legitimate sources of liberty, the parliament and
press.
Up to the present hour only four names of
importance are put in circulation as having accepted
a seat in the Senate. These are, MM. de Monts-
lembert, de Bourgoing, de Bauvean, and do Mtrode.
MM. de Mouchy and de Mortemart are also
mentioned ; but I understand that the consent of
the latter two has not yet been obtained. In the
nex ten days it is hoped that the negotiations now
set on foot to hook a few stars of the first magnitude
into the Upper Chamber will have been co eluded
successfully. Probably the number of senators will
not exceed the number of departments. lam given
to understand that it will be 80. As soon as a certain
number of respectable names are secured, the
remainder will be filled up with generals, a sort of
houcke-trou, of which there is at present no lack.
The prisoners of Ham, I hear, are to be set at liberty
the day before the promulgation of the constitution.
A good deal of difference is still said to prevail
between Louis Napoleon and his advisers as to the
policy of paying fixed salaries to the members of
the legislative bodies. Montalembert is favourable
to the salary system.
It is reported this afternoon that the Consultative
Commission will meet to-morrow at one, in the
Palace of the Quai D'Orsay, to hear the new consti-
tution read. This appears not strictly reconcileable with
what is stated above with regard to the adjournment
of the publication of the constitution. But where all
is but hearsay I can only report to you the rumours
which reach me from different quarters without
attempting to explain them. I may add to
the last statement, the most important,
news that I can hear of to-day is the in-
creased probability of M. Fould's retirement from
the ministry, where, it is said, ho will be succeeded
in the financial department by M. Theodore
Duces, present minister of marine. You are already
aware that negotiations were set on foot with M.
Duces, with a view to his assuming the portfolio of
Finance in a Billault ministry,so long ago as the end
of October. Although the financial abilities of M. I
Duces are unquestioned in plain matters of basi-
-1 ness, the dexterity of M. Fould in managing the
Bourse would be very much missed at the present mo-
meet, were the latter to resign. The President's
' crotchets for effecting a revolution in the present system
of taxation are still steadfastly resisted by Fou!d.
Hence the retreat of the latter from the cabinet'