New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-02


brothers, especially of the Duke Of York. the less
said the better. The experiences of the poet
Shelley at Eton, and the memories Of "the harsh
"and grating strife of tyrants and Of foes, that
he beheld there wrupg from his humane heart
those fine dedcatory stanzas Of the Revolt OF
Issm; and DR.. Arnold, the late head master OF
Rugby, is the best of all witnesses to the state OF
manners be found there prevalent. His constant
efforts to reyolutionize it is one of the noblest
aspects of the life Of that enlightened and liberal
reformer, and his letters and sermons abound with
the sad and eloquent records Of his failures, his
dependencies and his hopes.
Lieut. Perry's case speaks for the Army, and
the manners and mode Of life common among
army officers still formed topic of conversation
in the public mouth, when q sad case turned up
illustrative of the same sort Of thing in her Maj
esty's naval and marine service. On the night of
the 18th September, Lieut.. knight of her majes-
tvs ship Dauntless, lying at Portsmouth, brought
on board two girls of q certain character, who
were entertained by all the officers on board In
the gun. room. The melancholy finale OF the
affair was that one of the two girls was handed
over the ships side into boat at 3 A. NJ. in
state of "deadly insensibility" caused either by
wine or drugs and died shortly after, protesting
that she had come to her death in consequence
Of injuries received on board the Dauntless.
I.ieuts. Knight and Seymour have been charged
with mansaughter, and the case will be thor
ousbly investigated whstever doubt may hang
about the criminality of thetwo lieutenants there
can be none as to the state of manners current
among "oficers and gentlemen" of the naval and
marine service who could endure and be aces
sorry 70 such transactions as that in the common
room of the Dauntless.
But these facts are not merely the result OF the
old system they also afford the occasion for re-
| FORMS marking the slow advance of the middle
class, and of their standard Of morality in social
influence as we'll as in political power. That
class, with their liberal principles and softer civil.
ianmanners, have long been possessing themselves
ofand modelling after their own image those social
institutions which still retain the impress of aris-
tocratic and Tory origin. So prominent an insti'
tuition as the royal family early felt the effects of
this influence. Victoria in her domestic habits is
as much bourgeoise Sovereign as was Louis
Philippe. The Duke Of Clarence lived long
enough to become respectable" King; the
Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge died "highly
respectable" men, and the Dowager Queen
Adelaide when she begged so earnestly in her
will that she might be Inferred with extreme SIM
plicity and as an every. day Christian lady, and
that the vain ceremonial and parade due to her
rank should be dispensed with, is browning in-
stance of the extended ascendancy of middle class
modes of thinking. Another prominent institu-
ton, the Established Church, was likewise early
visited by the same influence. While the old fox
hunting, ne-bibbing, card-playng Tory parson
has almost disappeared, the Low Church clergy
man. the creature of the middle-class, is alto
pether Puritan in his mode of life.
But there are other institutions that were
less early approached, or that yielded less easily
to "Outsde pressure:" one of these was the
public schools-ceYtainly second in Importance
to neither the army, navy nor court. The
year 152s, the era of DR.. Arnold's appoint
ment to the head -mastership Of Rugby, marks
the epoch when Liberal principles began to
enter that school, whence they have spread
to others. 1t is beyond question that, owing
mainly to the general social movement, and
partially to the special impulse given by DR.. Ar
mold, the harsher features of English public
school life have been much mitgated of late
years. The degrading punishment of loggng
has been either altogether discarded or re-
served only for the younger boys. Still, in
the leading schools Of Eton, Harrow aud
Winchester. the system of tagging or Of
mental service Of lower by higher pupils,
remains in much of its pristine rigor. Now,
tagging is plainly repugnant to the Liberal
ideas of the middle-class, and as plainly con-
sonant with the Tory notions Of the classes
highest in the social scale, and this situation
would lead US to expect attacks from the middle
class upon the Objectionable practice. At the time
when the first Reform Parliament, the Parliament
of the middle. class abolished Colonial Slavery,
that mitgated form of the same system which
existed in the public schools of England, did not
escape severe public animadverson from the class
who had carried emancipation. The system lived
through these attacks, partly because DR.. Arnold
himself stood forward as its champion. But the
repugnance of the middle class remained unal
tered, and was sure to manifest itself anew when
ever favorable opportunity should present itself.
Such an opportunity arose in 1917. fag at
Winchester was badly handled by Project and
the affair got noised abroad so much that DR..
Moberly, the head master, felt himself called
upon to publiih an elaborate defense Of the sys-
TEN. Another opportunity arose last year at
Harrow which was better improved upon. A
dispute took place on the football ground between
one Of the Monitors and Fag. The monitor