On the second point we differ altogether both from the Friend of India and his correspondent. If any thing worthy of the name of learning is to be encouraged, the test must not be a low one. India is not to be rescued from her present condition of mental darkness by the communication of a little peddling elementary knowledge, a smattering of natural history, a smattering of geography, a smattering, perhaps, of grammar. Water spread over the entire surface of a country in a thin sheet creates a stagnant marsh; collected into deep channels it becomes the source of universal enjoyment and prosperity. It is much the same with knowledge. We may rest assured that in every country, where a high standard is not aimed at, nothing will be accomplished that is worth an effort-nothing that will effectively raise the character of the people. Impart only to a few minds sound, solid instruction in language and science; educate them not for shew, but for service; and the beneficial effects will in due time appear in the influence which those educated in such a manner will have on their fellows, and in the desire which will be created for the acquisition of attainments similar to theirs. That mongrel state of half-knowledge when, to use the well-known simile of Dr. Johnson, "learning is like victuals in a besieged town-every man has a mouthful and no man a bellyful," is one from which we sincerely hope that India will be preserved. We cannot do all that the zealous would desire, or all that the sanguine may hope for; but let us at least take care that what we do is done wel and efficiently-that it is executed with workmanlike skill and not with the bungling hand of a tinker. In England the revival and diffusion of learning is chiefly owing to the numerous grammar-schools which sprang up over the country, in which the higher branches of knowledge, as far as language was concerned, were studied and rendered familiar to a large body of youth. Had these schools been established for the purpose of giving elementary instruction in reading and writing only, what would have been the result? A paralysis of the national mind; a stagnation of the flow of intellect; a universal cramping of the powers of thought by restricting them to petty objects. And such will be the effect every where if those who are anxious to diffuse education are not mindful of quality as well as of quantity. Especially will this be the case in India, where the mind, long imprisoned in thick darkness, requires more peculiarly the bracing influence of severe study to enable it to regain its natural vigour. The Friend of India sneers (not much in the spirit of a friend) at making a knowledge of Shakspeare, "Addison and Johnson, Whewell and Brinkley, Herschell and Somerville, indispensable to office." Now we are not called upon to discuss the question whether holding out the prospect of official employment as the reward of literary attainment be or be not the best mode of encouraging learning, for the Friend of India himself approves of it, provided the tests be framed according to his own standard; but we do say, that if the cultivation of the learning of the West is to be encouraged among the natives of India, the object is to be effected by recommending to their study such authors as those above-named, rather than Dilworth, Dyche, Fenning, Vyse, Mavor, and their brethren of like calibre. We wish to see the native mind strengthened and invigorated, not merely crammed with a little commonplace information. We wish improvement to be progressive; but progress is far less likely to be secured by establishing in the first instance a low standard, and trusting that in time it may be advanced,

than by fixing a high one, which few will at first reach, but by the gradual effect of example and imitation will in course of time be within the power of many.

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The third objection is, in our judgment, not less unreasonable than the second. The offence given by the Council of Education under this head seems to be, that in framing a course of examination for students of the English language, they have actually had the temerity to admit into it the works of an obscure and barbarous writer of the Elizabethan era named Shakspeare. In this respect, the character of the new rules, according to the Friend of India, assumes, a very singular appearance." We cannot help thinking that it would have assumed a more singular appearance" had Shakspeare been passed over. But the operation of the rules, we are told, entails" glaring partiality." How? We should despair of explaining satisfactorily, and therefore the Friend of India shall speak for himself. "Let us suppose," says he, "the case of a youth brought up in a seminary other than the Hindoo College and its offshoots. He is re quired to construe a passage in Othello. He replies that plays are not class-books in missionary schools, but that he has read and is prepared to explain Milton and Cowper. Then, sirrah, the president may say, you are totally unfit for the public service of the British Government in India. It is not to be expected that society will tolerate the continuance of a system, the tendency of which is to throw the whole administration into the hands of institutions from which all religious instruction is excluded." We hope that society would not tolerate the continuance of any such system if it were ever introduced. We are warm friends to the progress of human knowledge, but still warmer to the extension of that knowledge which surpasses all other in importance as far as it eclipses all other in the grandeur of its revelations. We are anxious that India should partake with us of the blessings of human science, but far more anxious for the arrival of that appointed time (and arrive it assuredly will) when the light of divine truth shall penetrate the darkest recesses of India, and its myriad inhabitants shall rejoice in that light. Looking back on the past, we can see with sorrow and shame that our countrymen have been too often indifferent (not to say worse) to this result; but we are hopeful of the future, and we should lament the interposition of any let or hinderance to the glorious consummation before us. But we must, in a spirit of truth and candour, remind the Friend of India, that if the rules of the Council of Education do exclude the pupils of missionary colleges from the benefits of examination in the first instance, and consequently from the ulterior advantages the fault is in those with whom the management of those colleges rests. Can any thing be more narrow-minded and captious than the answer put into the mouth of the supposed pupil, that " 'plays are not class-books in missionary schools?" We can understand why many plays should be excluded; we can understand why Congreve and Wycherley should be denied admission; but what sort of judgment must that be which excludes from a course of English study the author who stands at the head of English literature-its brightest ornament and proudest boast-Shakspeare, the first of poets, and in the first class of philosophic writers? And what must be thought of the ground of the exclusionthe form under which the magnificent genius of the poet was developed? He might have adopted the epic, or the lyric, or any other but the dramatic (perhaps the noblest of all), and he might have been read; but the

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excruciating agony, that he felt it necessary to send a message to one of his officers (Lord T. B. Cochrane), requiring him, if he had not yet retired to rest, to ascertain whence the noise proceeded. His lordship, it appears, had retired to rest" but, under the influence of zeal for the comfort of his commanding officer, he desired his servant "to go and see where the noise proceeded from." These are his own words, and from these we learn that his lordship's servant possesses a very remarkable faculty. Pigs, they say, can see wind, and this wonderful orderly can' see noise. He went and reported Mr. Welch and his guests to be the d disturbers. This was communicated to the majorgeneral, who forthwith deputed a sergeant of police to go to Mr. Welch's house and request that the curtain might fall on the performances of the evening. The message was civil enough, for it was accompanied by the general's compliments; yet it was impertinent enough, for it was transmitted to a person not under the general's command, and related to a matter in which he had no right to interfere, There seems reason, however, to believe that the civility was dropped by the way, and that the policeman, not accustomed to such amenities, forgot the compliments. The rest of the was delivered, and this function completed, the message messenger was summarily ordered down stairs, as might have been expected. After he had reached the street the wrath of Mr. Welch ascended to a point worthy of his name, and putting his head out of the window, he assured the retreating policeman, that if the general sent any further message of the like character, he would horsewhip somebody-whether the general or the policeman seems to be disputed. We hope it was not the general, for, as Mr. Welch was clearly in the right up to this point, we are anxious that he should be right throughout. The evidence as to the person destined, in case of a repetition of the offence, to ne under the discipline of the horsewhip, is contradictory; but the policeman obviously took the threat to himself, for he summoned before the officiating magistrate the person who uttered it. This perhaps was not very extraordinary, but the result undoubtedly was. Mr. Welch was fined twenty dollars! Had he actually resorted to the use of the horsewhip, this would have been intelligible enough; but he had only threatened, and therefore the utmost extent of magisterial power in this case was to bind him over to keep the peace. Even this power might be questioned, because the threat was hypothetical, and its execution depended upon another party doing something which he had no right to do; but under any construction, to require security for the peace was clearly all that the magistrate was empowered to do, and in inflicting a fine he exceeded his authority.

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A writer who has taken up the defence of the magistrate in one of the local papers, alleges that the defendant in this case had acted improperly on some former occasion ; but that could furnish no justification of the infliction of an unlawful punishment when he again came before the magistrate. We are sorry to see Englishmen, vested with a little brief authority," at a distance from their native country,"playing such antic tricks;" but it is well that even in so small a community as Hong Kong there is a press to give them publicity. sdic Yaara isoist

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OVERLAND COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA. *** THE acceleration of the overland mails, by adopting a route shorter and more convenient than that at present em

ployed, continues to occupy the earnest attention of the Anglo-Indian public. Venice having been suggested as a port preferable to Trieste, Mr. Waghorn has published the following letter in the Times:

VIS 127 DOE Mary all of sw The 1997) of norod itė: Since my late trip from Trieste I have received numerous letters from parties resident at Venice, and from railway projectors on that line of route, stating that Venice is a better point to London than Trieste, therefore take the liberty, through your columns, to tell one and is no for steamers, as it cannot be approached on dark nights. As a sailor, and to the minds of all sailors this one reason is sufficient, and therefore I do not trouble you with others.

Trieste, or rather Dwino, is the spot in future for the most rapid

Sthis letter Great Britain and her Eastern posses

will save me the trouble of answering such points in future.non ut ita guidaidt plad "O

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route. T, Sir, have nothing to do with the politics of any co

except for the benefit of my own and in this matter, as far as

concerned, politics are entirely out of the question. Is it reasonable:

&

that England should be expected to go through France, 300 mile

further distant to Alexandria than the route now opened to us

the influence of Austria, whose influence with the other states is al guarantee for the whole being carried out far more rapidly than ever it will or can be through France, even when the whole line of railway complete from Boulogne to Marseilles? My reason for this asserdi tion is as follows:

At this momeat we have steam on land, sea, and river all the way to Bruschal, near Carlsrhue, and before the French get their lines one to This is not all; for steamers to go rapidly, the Adriatic is better than the Mediterranean. The Adriatic is an inland sea, covered with numerous

islands along its east coast, and in adverse weather a steamer would go, on the average, two miles per hour faster than a steamer in the Mediterranean, particularly in the stormy Gulf of Lyons.: 917

We can now get mails in ninety hours between Trieste and London, which is the average to or from Marseilles; the gain is by the Cologne and Ostend Railway, and Manheim Railway, to Bruschal, near Carlsrhue, while through France there, is not yet one mile of railway available; by-and-by, forty-five hours will be the average, when a railway is completed to Dwino or Trieste. From Trieste to Alexandria one of her Majesty's best steamers will average five days; no steamer can average it from Marseilles in less than seven days. Now, here is a positive gain, against all denial, of two days on the sea passage to Alexandria, W T 2100it 1. to

*

I have no doubt that the present Government of England, in connection East-India this matter

through. I have still my eye on further shortening the route to India:

in all its bearings, not forgetting the railway over the Desert. I can only say my aim shall be steadily and unchangeably fixed to all that' tends thereto.. 7 UIN STUCI JES

On perusal of the well-merited eulogies bestowed on Lieut. Wag horn for his successful effort to discover a second route for the overland mail from India, I have been induced to make inquiries here, which lead me to suggest that a third, and, perhaps, more feasible, route might be pointed out. The distance from Alexandria to Trieste or Dwino and to Barcelona are, with little difference, the same; believe to Dwino it will be about

1,600; the passage from Alexandrino English miles, to Barcelona to which mail it would also take, being much plainer sailing (which perhaps would compensate for the triding increase of distance) than that have stood, very often most difficult navigation. From Barcelona to Sani Sebastian or Passages, the finest barbour in the boy of Biscay got 260 English miles, which the present road might be over in a light carriage in two days. The ordinary Spanish mail from there arrives here now in three days a half, and it proceeds at a very slow pace, and is detained several hours at Saragossa to come on by the Madrid mail. I have very lately travelled over the road from San Sebastian to Saragossa, by Pampeluna and Tudela; and ; to the latter place it was a most excellent high road; a new line of high road was then being made, and is now, I understand, completed**

from Tudela to Saragossaculty from Saragossa herë

is the river Cinea, which is at passed by a ferryboat, and when the mountain torrents come down is sometimes impassable, but a new suspension-bridge has just been contracted for by Govern ment, and is to be immediately constructed, the commercial houses of this city having advanced the capital. Powerful steamers could, I believe, reach this port from Alexandria, with greater ease and security than that of Trieste or Dwino, in five days. You cross to the Cantabrian coast in two or even less, and another steamer could take the mail from there to Southampton or Plymouth in three days. The British steamers on the north coast of Spain, during the civil war, I believe generally did it with ease in that time. An Irish gentleman, whose opinion I consider of value, as he is a ten years resi

exhibitions of" that "unprincipled publication"-Punch. The charge is false. The wit of Punch is free from malignity, and as to the" disgusting" part of the matter, who is disgusted? No man is ashamed of Punch lying on the table of his library; no woman, be she maid, wife, or widow, shrinks from admitting it to her boudoir. Mr. BUCKINGHAM, indeed, is annoyed; but, free-trader though he be, he enjoys a monopoly of the annoyance. This, how ever, is a digression from our immediate purpose, which was to notice some of the changes which have come over Mr. BUCKINGHAM's mind. How long has he been the champion of the "throne" and the "altar?" His leanings used to be in a different direction, but Punch has made him "a sadder and a wiser man."

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Passing over these changes, however-passing over the original absurdity of a serious controversy with Punch, we suppose that a man engaging in such a folly must be bound by the ordinary rules of warfare, and among them by that which forbids the use of poisoned weapons. Has Mr. BUCKINGHAM done so? He gives an account of an American paper called the New York Herald, which he alleges to be supported by the most infamous practices. The "conductors," according to Mr. BUCKINGHAM, send out persons to collect private scandal, which, when collected, is either published for the amusement of those who delight in such reading, or suppressed on the payment of money; and he relates the story of an attempt to obtain from himself five times the ordinary price of an advertisement by way of a bribe. We know nothing of the New York Herald, and we should be sorry to take the character of any paper from Mr. BUCKINGHAM. But whether his statement be, or be not, accurate, matters not. It is with a paper represented to be thus infamous that Mr. BUCKINGHAM compares Punch. Can any thing be more atrocious? There may be occasional differences of opinion as to the justice of the satire in that paper; individuals, like Mr. BUCKINGHAM, may feel irritated when they suffer from its sting, but no man has hitherto ventured to accuse its "conductors" of venality, even by insinuation. No man believes that it is possible by money to obtain the insertion of any thing in Punch except as an advertisement, or the exclusion of any thing, be it what it may. Mr. BUCKINGHAM talks a great deal about fair play-here is a specimen of his practice.

The plain fact is, that Mr. BUCKINGHAM is greatly disappointed, and very angry. He thought he was housed for life, and he begins to fear that he is not. The "home" which he promised himself does not promise to be so lasting as he had hoped. He has done all he could, even to running up and down the country, to give lectures in public-houses on the advantages of becoming a subscriber to the British and Foreign. Institute; but subscribers will not come. This mode of endeavouring to catch them is, we believe, original; but then the British and Foreign Institute is a very orignal establishment, and its founder a very original person. What would be thought of the departure of an itinerant lecturer on behalf of the Conservative or the Reform Clubs, the Athenæum or the Alfred, to coax guineas. out of the pockets of country gentlemen? Mr. BUCKINGHAM, however, had no scruples. He had got "a home," and he wished to keep it.

his circumstances in the face of the public, as street-beggars expose their rags and infirmities, that there is no impropriety in referring to a subject upon which Mr. BUCKINGHAM him self affects no reserve. When a man is everlastingly bringing himself before the public in forma pauperis-shaking a begging-box at them, or sending round a goodnatured friend with a hat on his behalf, there is no indecency in inquiring into the grounds of the appeal. We have looked into the pamphlet under notice for some satisfactory explanation of this matter, but have found none. At pages 9, 10, we have an extract from a speech made at the general meeting of the members of the Institute, in which it is stated that Mr. BUCKINGHAM had, in a single year, relinquished to the Institute a surplus of £190, advanced £500 of his own money towards a loan that was required (for his own establishment, be it remembered), presented to the library 500 volumes of books, worth £300; given £50 to the misguided person who undertook the "club department" (we suppose this means the eating and drinking department, though, as Mr. BUCKINGHAM is a teetotaller, we do not see how he could aid at the opening of a tavern); purchased and paid for out of his own funds a grand pianoforte, the cost being £150; bought a picture, for the benefit of the Insti tute, for which he paid £200, and further had given the use of sundry other ornaments, purchased and paid for by himself; the whole of these acts of liberality, together with "incidental expenses inseparable from" Mr. BUCKINGHAM'S "position of resident director," involving, according to the estimate of the speaker, the sacrifice of a sum exceeding £1,000. We could not but be delighted to find the "resident director's " circumstances so flourishing (for we wish him no harm); but reading on, we came to a statement by a noble and learned subscriber, to the effect that in a given year, Mr. BUCKINGHAM'S emoluments amounted to no more than £4. 19s. 3d.; the statement very naturally concluding with a proposal to put the begging-box again in requisition, and invite each member of the club to subscribe an additional guinea for the benefit of Mr. BUCKINGHAM.

Oh day and night, but this is wondrous strange!

It is not without reluctance that we advert to the pecuniary circumstances of Mr. BUCKINGHAM. In the case of any other man, such advertence would be impertinent and bautal; but he has been for years past so continually throwing

Here is a man with an income of £4. 19s. 3d. per annum, giving away in one year money and property to the amount of £1,000. This beats all to nothing the well-known results. of military economy :—

How happy the soldier who lives on his pay, He spends half-a-crown out of sixpence a day.

Mr. BUCKINGHAM must be a first-rate manager, and if he conducts the affairs of the club as well as he does his own, it ought to prosper. By the way, we remember, that on some pretence or other (we do not distinctly recollect what), Mr. BUCKINGHAM some time since addressed a circular to the booksellers, begging copies of their publications for the use of the British and Foreign Institute. We should like to know whether the books thus procured were those which he claims the merit of giving to the establishment.

And so from the irreconcileable statements contained in Mr. BUCKINGHAM's pamphlet we feel it impossible to determine what his circumstances are. One thing, however, is certain; if the club fail, we shall have more begging on behalf of its resident director. The gallant ship which was to bear a select party round the world has, we suppose, foundered, for we have not heard of it for a long time. The

Mr.