The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-25 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tags DAY —Morning 36 min.after 8 I Evening 14min art. 9
To- vfoomow—Morning 47 mtn.after 9 j Evening 15 min. art.lo

THE WEATHER.—Sum Orrice, May. 25.
TEINRMONZTER, IN THE SHADE.
70 —highest since noon yesterday.
52 —lowest this morning and during the night.
70 —this day. at noon.
6 BAROMETER, 29'92—rising again.
-WIND, Variable and light, from S. to S.S.E. and S.E.W.,
with flue warm weather.
HALF•PAST Two. —Wind, S.E. Blowing rather fresh,
with cloudy weather.

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LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 2.5, 1855.

Whatever "ambiguity" there may be in the terms
of the motion brought forward by the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Bucks, there has been
none in the language in which he has advocated
its adoption, nor in the results which must follow
from its adoption by the House of Commons. It
is, as we yesterday stated, expressive at the same
time of want of confidence in the Ministry and
of censure for their evasive and truckling con-
duct. It then looks to the past and future, and
raises the issue on which the representatives of
the people must decide fairly and decisively. He
asks the House, " to say in distinct lan-
guage that the time for negotiation has
passed." He asks it to support his motion,
because one of its main objects is " to put
an end to the fatal union" (the nature and effect
whereof he so graphically depicted) " between
diplomacy and aggressive war." in this there is
no " ambiguity." All is straightforward and
above-board, and no independent or unprejudiced
person—no man resolved to carry on the War
vigorously and energetically until a just, an
honourable, and probably a permanent " peace"
be conquered from Russia—can possibly hesitate
as to the course to be pursued. It is no mere
party question. It may incidentally determine
the fate of the ministry, but as the Right Hon.
Gentleman preyed, beyond the possibility of doubt
or misconception, that has followed ex necessitate.
It could not be avoided unless the representative
branch of the Legislature were contented wholly
to abdicate the functions which it had so long
suffered to remain in abeyance, and to convert into
certainties " the dark suspicions" that have become
so prevalent as to the conduct and intentions of
her MAJESTY'S Government. Honourable Gentle-
men must now make up their minds one way or the
other. There is no middle course. They can-
not evade the responsibility forced upon them.
There is no alternative but to say " Aye" or
cc No,' to put " an end to the diplomatic shuffling
and Ministerial trifling," or to give everythinc,
into the hands of Ministers, and enable
them to perfect such arrangements as they
think proper, founded on the Russian proposi-
tions, or the restoration of the status quo, what
have justly been characterised as " miserable
amendments " do not afford a loophole for escape.
They are practically put forward in favour of the
Government, and arrayed in such vestments as to
suit every taste—from that of the member of the
Peace Society to the most unflinching asserter of
the national honour. But it is not a time for
hair splitting or quibbling on words. We might
cordially concur in the amendment of the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for Kidderminster if it
had been brought forward as an original mo-
tiou.____! i had
notbeen to defeat a resolution which would
produce the
results so ardently desired by the
turn t
country,he to el off doubtful votes, which might
sea: n
i favour of an English policy, but
which, in eouzeue
in the same list with
ethereof; would be recorded
thoseeelitesof the Members for
Manchester, the P
c and the other advocates
for a disgraceful and t
ccdodge" is doubtless veryll°inragr:r peace. Tire
enious. I 6 is
what our transatlantic bietbren tarreat'e
smart;"n
but it cannot succeed, nor show d
Honourable Gentlemen be suffered to indt Ige
‘
in the "ostrich fancy" that because t",
close their own eyes to the consequences, their CeT
stituents will likewise be hoodwinked or deceived. \
Never did Mr. DISRAELI produce sounder or
more conclusive arguments than last night. Never
was his eloquence more inspiring—his diction
more brilliant. He shock off, for the time being,
the
trammels
by
whi.is fettered
party, the oligarchical influences
Wh he s fettered and restrained, and wits
indeed th.
man of the people," boldly and in-
difituntly de-
nouncing the truckling and co.atempti-

ble policy so long pursued, and which has le 1 to
so many injurious c Insequences so lavish
an expenditure of blood and treasure. So
far as the nation was concerned there was no
necessity for apologising fur bringing on the
motion. His excuses should have been alto-
gether of a different description—for suffering
himself to be at all influenced by a dread of
the " vulgarimputations " which might be cast
upon his motives. By unprejudiced and right-
minded citizens out of the House, and not en-
gaged in the strife of party, looking to men rather
than measures, he will never be blamed for
bringing on his motion, and thus boldly
grappling with the difficulty, but he may be cen-
sured for so long postponing an obvious duty—
for yielding even a tacit assent to " the abnegation
ofits functions " by the assembly of which he is
a leading member.
His keen and searching exposure of the Minis-
terial policy, his unsparing dissection of the Vi-
ennese humbug, was perfectly conclusive. It
could not be refuted. Even a plausible answer
could not be put forward. The ex-Plenipoten-
tiary—the man who took so prominent a part in
stimulating the warlike ardour of the people
—who, after using as " prove ords " as
:ancient Pistol, was still willing to swallow
the Muscovite leek, who exhibited an uncalled-
for subservience to Russia in his admis-
sions, and adopted the practice of Ministers
at St. Petersburg by using one description of lan-
guage for his own people, and another of very
different tenour and effect for Europe, was scari-
fied by the vigorous assailant. The attack in-
duced Lord J. RUSSELL to speak, and made Minis,
ters abandon the course which they seem dis-
posed to follow for themselves as well as for the
nation—viz., to let their honour and safety rest
in the hands of auxiliaries rather than defend
them by their own personal exertions. Lord J.
RUSSELL, being compelled to rise, made one re-
markable admission, which fully confirms what
we have so long asserted, and which clearly
proves the absurdity of further delay. The
Noble Lord declared that he did " not expect
that Austria is prepared, in the present state of
the question, to take an immediate part in the
War against Russia with us." Why, then, fur-
ther procrastinate ? All this time we have been
"waiting for Austria "—have been cajoled by
fond, but illusory, hopes that she would fulfil her
promises and act an honest and straightforward
part. These expectations are, however, frus-
trated. That point is established on the highest
authority. What, then, are we now " waiting "
for? What can be theutility of further negotiation?
The admission should prove decisive, as to the
motion, with every man who is not prepared to
sacrifice his country for the sake of party—to
destroy the prestige of the -United Kingdom, and
seriously injure her vast interests for the sake
of obtaining some of the crumbs of patronage
that fall from the Ministerial table. Let these
things be pondered well by every man who wishes
to retain a character for independence before
he absents himself from the division, or walks
into the lobby in support of Ministers. Another
important revelation has been made. Mr.
GLADSTONE now stands forward as the avowed
supporter of the Peace-at-any-price policy, and the
rumours which have been circulated as to the
alliance between the Peelites and the Peace Society
are painfully confirmed. Let, then, every man be
at his post this night, when the fate of the country
for good or evil must be finally determined .

The Administrative Reform Associations will be
glad to observe that upon the case of the rejec-
tion at Woolwich of the scholars of tried merit
from Trinity College, Dublin, and admitted the
substitution of patronage appointments, Mr. JAMES
HEYWOOD has given notice of a motion for an
address recommending that the appointments there
shall in future be adjudicated to merit as tested
by public competitive examinations. The Order ,
in Council, and the appointment of Mr. EDWARD
RoMILLY, the declared advocate of aristocratical
selections, should also be brought under the notice
of the House, although the case of the rejections
at Woolwich will, by taking a division, serve the
objects of the local associations in distinguishing
the real friends of appointments or promotions for
merit.

IThe Order in Council, it is to be observed,
goes out of the way to declare that the Examining
Board "shall not make any alteration in the no-
mination, or appointment of candidates by those
who are or may be charged with the duty of no.
mination or appointment." That is to say, the
patronage nominations are retained to Messrs.
HAYTER and WILSON, and to all those political
chiefs of the class who, according to the testimony
of Mr. JAMES STEPHEN himself, "to gratify
their " political, domestic, or private feelings,
have brought the service into its present con-
dition of a clear majority of dangerously unfit
appointments.

But yet it may be said the candidates will now
be submitted to an examination, directed by an in-
dependent board. This independency in the sense
of impartiality we have shown to be impeachable.
Assume them, however, to be impartial ; grant
that the examiners are, what they will not be,
under existing arrangements, qualified to examine'
as to the chief specialities of the several depart-
ments. The best examinations, without competi-
tion, can only be what are called "pass examina-
tions," and it is proved upon the experience of li
specially qualified examiners, whose general inde-
pendence, probity, and impartiality are undoubted,
namely, in the examinations for medical degrees,
that these pass examinations are grossly defective.
So much is this so, that from whatsoever places
diplomas have been obtained upon the ordinary
examinations without competition and publicity,
the army and navy medical authorities re-examine
the candidates. These re-examinations—not in
themselves competitive—are most exceptionably
lax, yet the rejection of from one-third to one-
half of the candidates is by no means unfre-
quent. Notwithstanding the diplomas of M.D.
obtained by " pass examinations," it is shown
that medical men take care to re-exajuine
candidates for appointments to dispensaries.
In France competitive examinations (or the con-
cours) alone are depended upon. An article on
the Army Medical Arrangements in the last num-
ber of the Medico-Chirurgical Review, gives the
prevalent professional impression on the necessity
of introducing the concours in the medical insti-
tutions of this country ; and to this, after the cer-
tain failure of the worthless plan now proposed,
the civil services must come. •No doubt pass
examinations will serve to prevent such scan-
dalous appointments as those described by Mr.
CHADWICK and others—such as of people incapable
of numbering or of writing, and utterly worth-
less. But Sir JAMES STEPHEN, who well knows
the difference between pass examinations and
competitive examinations, or examinations for
honours at Cambridge, saw at once in Sir CHAS.
TREVELYAN'S plan for competitive examination,
that it would be destructive to the incumbency of
those mediocrities in the public service for which
he sets up his profligate plea.

"But why, in the choice of clerks, are learning and
ability, and whatever else they imply, to have this in•
variable precedence? In the dull details of public office,
there are many which the learned and able A will not
accomplish a whit better than the ill-informed and cam
neon-place B—nor perhaps so well. Surely, mediocrity
and even dullness—the lot of the vast majority—have
some claims, which are as well entitled to regard as are
those of learning and ability. It is not without some
reason that, in all other pursuits in life, patronage
exercised in the spirit of nepotism is made the shelter
of the weak and otherwise helpless."
To these appeals, which are sounded in chorus
from the Home-office, from the Board of Trade,
and from all the older offices, the present ar-
rangement is a satisfactory assurance that the
reign of dullness and mediocrity shall not be dis-
turbed. The answer to them by Mr. Joir..N "MILL
Will now be for the consideration of the Adminis-
trative Reform Associations.
I "In the preceding observations," Mr. Mill says, " I
benefit if
hparovpeoassesduirnseid,. as requiring. no ihat the object
duties of the
itself desirable ; that it would be a public
composed of the
WhLiplublic service, or. all that part of it the
who could be are of an intellectual character, were
atnatost intelligent and instructed persons
maintain a contra meted to it. If there be any who
fop, doctrine, and say that the world is
not made only
crity also ought tolra.flo't ability, and that media-
Ye share in it, I answer, cer-
. . _