New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-16

so-t canno. be erpected TO make very rapid ad'
vance. Yet this beautiful system a'' 'o' o'V
maintained itse.f in France, where a. msh5 "he'
revolutionary Innovations have been a'''''''''
bot some fifteen other nsions, OF grrasrr VI ''''
commercial importance some IN Llrope ana o'ne''
in America have been inducci one after me "'hr''
TO sdoptit.
The lat, Universal Exhibition Of indu'T! AZ
Paris led to tl~ forming OF al interns'onai a''',
cia.ion for ,be adoption Of uuisersa. system oil
weight, and measures divided into seyernl branch
Is, one ior each OF the principal nation' repre-
.epted At tie Exhibition The Eng SlisA Committee
have taken hold Of the matter with great zeal.
They have prepared and published very elaborate
and exhaustive report drawn up BY one oil their
members, Mr. James Yates, on the question
"Whnt is the first unit Of length" Tiis report
goes very strongly for adopting the French metre
In addition 10 all the theoretical and abstract arsu-
ments in its favor time has sdded this sdd.tionai
one: that il has been tested by experience, and Is
now actually in Use in considerable part OF the
world, reducing TO that exteht the difficulties soo
incouyeniences Of change. Beside the objeenon
above referred to. based on patriotic sentiments
and adherence to the actual, another obJecton' OF
more scientific character, has been taken 10 the
French metre. II hiss been sIlaged thst the actual
French metre does not ful6l the boast of thai eos
nopolitan, scientific and exact character which has
been set Up for it. II s stated that, being based
upon the measure of an arc of the meridian BE-
tween Dunkirk and Barcelona, il involves two dis
tinct errors Of calculation, brought to light by the
more advanced state Of Astronomical knowledge,
which deprives the standard metre preserved at
Paris of the character of actually representing the
ten mlon,h part Of the distance from the equator
10 the pole To this objection Mr.. Yates makes
two answers. In the first place, if the Paris stand
ard metre is incorrect, no reason exists why the
error should not b. corrected BY the common con-
scut and cooperation of all the nations which should
agree to base their system of mensuration upon the
idea of a single unit divided from the size of the
globe itself In the next place, the two alleged
errors serve practically, to very great extent, to
annihilate each other as one OF the errors OF
calculation operates to exaggerate the length oil
the standard METRE the other to diminish it. 40
TINT between them the Paris standard after all, does
not deviaie from the true theoretical metre except
by qusnity almost too small for human spprecia-
tiOn.
From the position which Great Britain holds in
the World OF commerce, it is Indispensable that
she should take the lead in any change that may
be adopted. That she should actually come into
the French system of mensuration would not be at
all more surprising than are the actual political
relations of France and England to those who
look at things with the eyes OF twenty years. Nor
tifyng as it may be to our Republican pride, ii is
impossible TO deny that, within the last thirty
years, beginning with the great Parliamentary Re
form, which was nothing less than peaceful rcvO-
luton, Great Britain has far outstrpped us and
all other nations in the introduction of changes
based upon rational views OF Improvement. Slow
as the English are TO move, when they do move
they are apt TO be sure.