The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-01 00:00:00

England Taken Down a Peg or Two.

We have been of opinion that the branch of knowledge
most neglected in this country is the knowledge of self, and,
that if a great national disaster should ever occur, it wollll4
in all probability be occasioned by our overweening via'
risaism, which has induced us to make ourselves odious
to all other countries by the loudness and persistence
of our thanksgivings to the Almighty that we aro not
as other nations are, but that England is the "wisest'
virtuouscst, discreetcst, and best " nation under the sun'
The British statesman has always held himself up as the
very soul of disinterestedness and honour ; the British
man of business has always proclaimed himself to be the,
type of intelligence, energy, and honesty ; the British saint
has always claimed to bo a far holier practitioner than the
saint of any other ago or clime ; the British matron Jots
always assumed to be a pattern to the rest of womankind'
our soldiers have always pronounced themselves superior
to the soldiers of the rest of Europe in every quality whici
the,
can render a soldier formidable or admirable ; and t°-
excellence of our public-school education has, we °-
fondly assured by ourselves, made the English gentleman
what ho is —nulli secundus. The experience of the last
20 years is, however, happily bringing us to a more rea'
sonable frame of mind. We are beginning "to see ony
selves as others see us." We acquired our firstlesson in self'
knowledge from the Crimean campaign. When the disastrous
war with Russia broke out, our military authorities fencill
supposed that by hurrying a couple of thousand Guards over
to Malta in such unnecessary haste that most of their dirt/
linen was left behind at the wash, and by announcing ide
the military journals that Lord Cardigan's hussars had haul
their swords sharpened by the Dublin cutlers—we 011°?.,,
terrify the autocrat of the north into speedy subraissie,-;
But it is a melancholy matter of history now that
.t:4
Russian Emperor was not terrified a bit by our bufnlitl°t;
proceedings, and that our brilliant army proved veil
more fit for active service in 1853 than the tawdry file
engine of a nobleman's country seat usually is when °—
breaks out on the premises. As long as its services
not required it looks red, and bright, and gaudy', an
practical ; but when called into sudden operation 01:!
emergency it invariably sticks fast, so corroded is its
so decayed is its gear, and so utterly have the flrereeei
whose business it is to keep it in order and work it, neglect'
to
their duty. The next disillusion to which we have bed „f
submit has been with respect to the superior purity;
the British matron. We have had to thank the late „b..
mented Sir Cresswell Cresswell for that ; and as the it
ject is a very delicate one, we will say no more abue"ro,
than than the last time we were in Paris, the open .P.OO
fligacy of several English matrons of rank and P°eitilhe
in London society, who had not yet passed through the
mill of the Divorce Court, was the talk and 4
scandal of the French metropolis. And we are s°' „f
to have to add to the remarks made on the condact.
those merry wives of England there was no P°ssbis
reply. Recent well-known bankruptcies have r.etio
well disposed of the superior pretensions of the Bri ity
man of business and the British lay saint—and the
and disinterestedness of the British statesman riik,
been aptly illustrated by the Edmunds scandal ; 10,1
the Royal Commission on the public schools of 131;,.tecl
has laid bare the nature of the education which is asset-haa
to generate better and more accomplished gentleniellsot
are bred elsewhere. The records of Tattersalls' and sif-
market, too, daily supplement this last branch a d
knowledge. The tone of public morals in Engl°2l.o in
certainly lower than it was 20 years ago. Default° into
money and in conduct we see freely admittodectod
society which formerly would certainly have reit con-
them ; the conventional decalogue which we Oleo,
tains many venial, few, if any, deadly sins. In' Cons`
is scarcely possible to point out any one of the Ten and
mandments (old style) which may not now be(Venis the
habitually transgressed with entire impunity .biy
transgressor be only wealthy and influential. rosinierelyr
condition to which our social morality is reducea., which
denotes a state of transition, and that from the ev. iot,o that
is now rife a good may ultimately arise. Let us 11„iited
this may be so; but in the meantime it cannot be "7g
the
that we have been occupied so steadily in denonn, 717. at-
motes in our neighbour's eyes as to have a
tention entirely diverted from the beams willestiid pat
our own. What should we ourselves hay.°
a. very few months ago of the integrity.
(j
the -
interestedness of the late Abraham Lincoln, 1f the
'minds scandal had occurred at Washington,
_,,os
late President and his family had occupied thet se, l';,ivti."oo,l
tion in public attention that the Keeper of h
.1`41:10re
conecienco and his kith and kin are occuPlill'bof 0010
What should we have thought of the morality bto,
foreign capital where the revelations with. avhl
_lo_l4 were,
become so familiar through our own Divorce u ,0
_carrel"-
as they are here, matter of daily and hourlyu
oyes lt is
Scale by scale, the scales aro falling from oure
naore 111°
to be hoped that if we do not in time beeeln rabi
as a nation, we may at least become more hu
_all Gaz an
ette.
lee
offensive than we have hitherto been.—Fell
nn

MELANCHOLY ACCIDEN---T AT CLEETHOES•----
,it tO
sSaturday the fishermen of Cleethorpes put °— of
dredging
the purpose of following their daily practice 0
ar lging for oysters. Among the number so engeecil:r•ot
1 young man named Wm. Harper, along with a boy to, . gist
um. They bad not been long at work before Harper s D.°
was struck by a heavy squall and seen suddenly to capsie,
pitching both the occupants into the sea. A brother of t.l-1°
unfortunate man was near them at the time, and instatt,.ll
bore down to their assistance, but only in time to save 11. a
boy. The body has not been recovered, The decease 4 V(
only 27 years old, att4 warred,