The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-23 00:00:00

!nation ? The present plan of leaving the nominations !
universally in the bawls -f Government i riot
it. Were Government ever so willing to be just, it
cannot select the best men, because it is not omniscient.
If ever so impartial, it could only select the best men
within its ran ;e of viion ; and these might be fix from
being the best men attainable. Government might act
fairly in nominating a young man living in Duke-street,
St. James's, to a vacant post ; and yet at that very mo-
ment there might be a superior young man who would
have taken the office living in the High-street of Is;ing-
ton, or in the wilds of Cumberland or Perthshire. Ob-
viously, in short, if we are really to act on the principle
of selecting the rn at fit, an opportunity must be given
to all who think themselves fit to come forward. In
other words, instead of leaving Government to selec,`,
the fittest of those cas tally presented to them, there
ought to he a public notification to the whole country,
that such and such men are wanted, and that the fittest
of those who present themselves will be selected. The
answer to such a summons clears away one portion of the
duty, for, when the summons has been answered, there is
no doubt 39 to who are the attainable men. They lie col-
lected, so to speak, into a mass ; and the only remaining
task is that of selection of the fittest. This selection,
however, is, in reality, a work of the examination of evi-
dence. To all intents and purposes the man of whose
fitness the surest evidence can be obtained is to be ac-
cepted as the fittest. Government may itself, if it
chooses, conduct the work of examining the evidence ;
or the working heads of departments may individually
do so. Considering the moral influences at work, how-
ever, to incapacitate Ministers, or even the heads of de-
partments for the impartial discharge of this duty, and
considering also that, in the proposed circumstances,
the work of examination would in itself be a)husiness of
large dimensions requiring time and care, it is certainly
better, if, indeed, it is not absolutely necessary, that,
in the majority of cases, the work should be deputed to
a board expressly charged with this class of duties."
" The plan of appointment by competitive examination
to all initial posts in the service, that is to say, through-
out all that portion of the civil service on which it is
deemed desirable that the offices should be filled by
young men destined to be trained in the service—has,
therefore, our full approbation. We think the proposal
to this effect made in the report one of the greatest re-
forms ever offered to the country. We think it a great
reform as regards the service itself, promising a vast in-
crease of efficiency, a great saving of the national wealth,
and an enhancement of the national power and comfort.
But its indirect effects seem to us its greatest recommen-
dation. The purification of political morals and of the
legislative which it would effect, by removing causes of
corruption, seems to us worth any sacrifice. Then again
its effects, as a stimulus to all the educational institutions
of the country, and as an influence tending to bring them
into unison, seem incalculable. Schools and colleges all
over the country would have their powers tested in a new
manner ; there would be a premium upon educational
improvements ; the Scottish system would vie with the
English system and take hints from it, and vice versa ;
and lagging localities, sterile in officials, would have to
hang their heads in shame, or justify their sterility in
such products, by pointing to products of another kind.
Finally, the present intensity of that miserable nolarising
influence which divides British society into the two fac-
tions of Whigs and Tories, and, penetrating into the
thoughts and characters of individuals, obliges Gem un-
consciously to make the distinction between Whiggism
and Toryism an a priori law of their lives and firm of
their entire mental activity, would be sensibly dimin-
ished ; Whiggism and Toryism would assume more
nearly their true limits as inductive expressions of facts ;
and in lieu of the alternative of Whiggism or ToryiAn as
an ever-pre,:ent form of thought, theta would be subAi-
tuted, to some extent, the far more ennobling influence
of unlimited emulation with others in general and on-
ward culture."

A gleam of light was thrown on a dark corner
of the present system in a short but important
debate in the House of Commons on Friday night,
when Mr. NA.PIER called attention to the injury
done to the public service, and to the great injus-
tice done to the Dublin University and to indivi-
dual members, by the rejection at Woolwich of
advanced mathematical students, whose merits for'
the Engineerfng department were proved upon
competitive examinations at the University, and
to the appointment of others, not for merit, but
for patronage. This crmpl'int was met by the
bold avowal by Mr. MONSELL that merit was not
recognised by the Board of Orclnan3e. " The
Right Hon. and Learned Gentleman," Mr. NAPIER,
said the Clerk, "had fairly stated that he did not
accuse any of the authorities of acting unfairly,
because it was admitted that those authorities
made the nomination not on the ground of merit,
but merely in accordance with a system long esta-
bliShed." Of those nominated, "It was not pre-
tended that they were selected because they were
the fittest persons ;" but a promise was given that
care should be taken to make them fit ; and so
these abominable outrages on the public service
in the provision of capacity for future direction of
the War, and on individual rights, pissed in the
patronage-fed House. But it is to be hoped that
it 'will not now so pass with the public.

One Irish member declared that there would
be no justice for Ireland but in public examina-
tions, nor, it may be added, for Scotland, nor
England either ! The Rev. CHARLES GRAVES,
the Professor of Mathematics in Trinity College,
Dublin, in a letter to Sir CHARLES TREVELYAN,
thus adverts to the morality and Imperial policy
involved in this seemingly subordinate question of
open competitive examinations :
"It is in Ireland that we may hope to see the bes
fruits produced by an improved system of appointment
in the public offices, as it is there that patronage hag
caused some of the worst social evils. The practice o
governing with a regard to existing parties and religions
has been carried to a far greater excess in Ireland than
in England ; so that the Irithroan of the present day is
in a great measure the product of a system that has been
operating for centuries. Something also must be as-
cribed to the native character of the Celt, which, though
it may have more genius and versatility, is not as rich
in the elements of industry End resolution as that of the
Saxon. To these causes it is owing that our country-
men are exposed to the charge of wanting sell reliance.
Tam convinced that the occa,ion for this reproach would
cease if patient labour and steadiness of conduct were
better encouraged, as they would be if the plan of throw-
ing public appointments open to competitioe were car-
ried into execution. If the Irishman saw that the path
to fortune was open to merit only ; that, on the one
hand, no hindrances arose from political or religious
dis-
qua'ifications ; and, on the other, that no help was to be
obtained by jobbing or favouritism ; instead of writing
memorials to ' the Castle,' and importuning members
of Pat liarnent to do something for biro, he would try to
do something for himself by a course of self-denying
diligence.

"The Irishman sometimes suspects that, owing to his
remoteness from the head-quarters of Government, or to
the existence of a prejudice against him. he has not a
fair chance of employment in the public service. He
alleges that English and Scotch men, as such, and with-
out regard to their qualificat'ons, are generally preferred
to him. Whether his apprehensions be well or ill
founded, it would be desirable to remove all grounds for
them. But when appointments can be obtained as the
rewards of merit evinced at examinations where all are
free to compete, we shall hear no more complaints about
the unequal distribution of patronage amongst the natives
of different parts of the empire. English, Scotch, and
Irish will respectively obtain as many appointments as
they deserve ; neither more nor fewer. Those who are
most successful may have some reason to exult, but
none will have any just cause to complain ; and the
consequence of this would be a more real union of the
three kingdoms.
" I must notice another point in connection with the
working of this scheme in Ireland, which you will agree
with me in saying is an important one. We find that
the animosities which arise from religious differences
are greatly embittered by the patronage system. Every
appointment of a Roman Catholic, obtained in the usual
way by the exercise of Parliamentary influence, is doubly
vexatious to disappointed Protestants, and vice versa.
These feelings are strongest among the lower classes,
whose bigotry is commonly proportional to their igno-
rance ; but they pervade Irish society at large, and do
considerable mischief—as the friction of the parts of a
machine interfere with its easy and effective working."
It might be.supposed that the great principle
in question had been concocted and established
by throwing open the first-class civil offices, the
writerships of India, and the Indian medical
ap-
pointments, to open competitive examinations.
Not so, however. People in high authority see
distinctions in the case—numerous members of
the House see distinctions ; and the Administra-
tive Reform Associations will now see, and enable
the public to see, this great distinction wider—
that, in the case of the Indian service, the House
was, for the most part, abolishing the patronage
of others ; and now it will be called upon (and,
upons
edtehnryo
iunggh tlt
linoeatlruconstituencies)must
beto calledps ord-
nance,as and abolish patronage, in reality, of its own.
The first year's competitive examinations for
the appointment of medical officers for India have
concluded, and concluded to the entire satisfac-
tion of the eminent persons engaged in them as
to the complete efficiency of the method of exa-
mination as a test for merit. It was attended
with the example—which brilliantly illustrates
the soundness of the views enunciated by the
calculated_oeroaiftorrye:ne
writer in the North British Review, and by Dr.
GRAVES—of a native Indian, Clutterhuchy, coming
to the competithin, laboriously prepared, and ob-
taining the second place out of more than twenty
e ni
r:.er
no] competitors.confidence
ietnhe
emSijutlicl
millions
our
rea nienfes event t
afnewdjaoswn3enttoo.
It were to be hoped that the example might be
repeated in the tests for merit by the coming
competitive examinations for writerships. Justice