manlike. He hunts, drives, plays, larks, smokes cigars, talks slang, and is pronounced by his brother-officers to be "a capital fellow." To be sure he does, without intending it, serious hurt in many instances to the gentlemen with whom his sovereign_has commanded him to associate. Having plenty of money to throw away, he introduces a taste for expense into the corps, which young men that have no money are by no means bound to acquire, but which, being very enticing in itself, is apt to put prudence to sleep, and to draw into its vortex multitudes to whom indulgence, even in moderation, is ruin. Finally, after the military life begins to pall upon him, he sells out, and either betakes himself to Lincolnshire, that he may hunt more at his ease, or plunges into the vortex of fashion in London. He generally winds up by becoming a respectable county magistrate, and it may be even a highly respectable Protectionist member of parliament. of his duty. Who can have forgotten the memorable instance of Colonel Brotherton in 1831, who, for the lack of a little firmness, combined with some acquaintance with the constitutional law of the country, suffered the half of Bristol to be burned down, and sacrificed lives as valuable to society as his own? And have we not before us, in the case of the officer who, but the other day, ran his own head and the heads of his party against a stockade, filled with savages, in New Zealand, a memorable instance of the unfitness of a mere parade colonel to undertake the care of the national honour, and of the lives of her majesty's troops? Indeed, what was it that occasioned the loss of our army, and the tarnish upon our military name at Cabul? That which, till a better system arise, must for ever expose us to like results elsewhere, namely, the ignorance and incapacity of our commanders,--an incapacity arising from this, that they were never taught in their youth to study the principles of the art which they in manhood had practised; and therefore, though abundantly able to obey, and to achieve what mere bravery might attempt, were quite unequal to combat the first difficulty that arose, with weapons drawn from the armory of their own judgment. Nor are these instances isolated in the military annals of this country. It is a remarkable fact, that throughout the whole of the Peninsular war, the British army asserted a decided superiority over that of the French only where the Duke of Wellington commanded in person. True, Lord Hill managed one affair admirably; and the battle of Albuerra was undoubtedly won, Lord Beresford commanding. But, in the first case, Lord Hill succeeded by obeying, with his accustomed fidelity, the directions given by his chief; and, in the second, victory declared for England in spite of blunders which would have destroyed any army except that which Lord Beresford commanded. And what shall we say when we look elsewhere? Were the campaigns of 1812, 1813, and 1814, in Canada, such as there is much to boast of when we describe them? May we refer to New Orleans as affording evidence that our military system is perfect? The second case in which gentlemen dedicate their sons to the noble profession of arms is, when they find that the young gentlemen will not take to any other and more settled callings. Hence the dullest or the idlest member of a family is invariably marked out to be the soldier. "What am I to do with Charles? I have tried Eton, and he would not learn any thing there. I sent him to a private tutor, who reported that his moral conduct was unexceptionable, but that it was impossible to get him to study. What shall I do with him?" "Send him into the army," is the answer invariably returned, and into the army the idler is sent. And he turns out such as we have described the great body of British officers to be, a spirited but most ignorant youth, though, as his colonel reports to the Horse Guards, a very good officer. Now we really do not think that these are the proper sources whence the great supply of officers for the British army ought to be drawn. For it is a great mistake to suppose, that even in peace occasions do not arise from time to time that require both knowledge and a habit of judging correctly in an officer; and, in war, we all know that both are indispensable to the right performance We object to the officering of the British army with the idlest and dullest men of the aristocracy; and, as the best, and indeed the only meaus of preventing this, we urge upon the commander-in-chief not to exercise his patronage until he shall be satisfied, by some process or another, that the young man recommended to him for a commission be at least able to read and to speil. We express ourselves thus, because, in the list of our personal acquaintances, there happens to be, at this moment, more than one gentleman honoured with her majesty's commission who cannot spell the commonest word if it exceed two syllables. Indeed, we venture to go a little farther, and to suggest, that as there are at least twenty applicants for every commission that falls, the twenty young gentlemen be, in some way or another, put upon their trials, and the least ignorant selected. But if we might propose a plan, it would be this that a board of education be established at the Horse Guards, before which every aspirant for military glory shall appear, in order that it may be known, not only that he is physically capable of sustaining the wear and tear of a campaign, but that the days of his childhood have been devoted to the acquirement of true knowledge, and to the sharpening of the faculties which Nature may have given him. The Quarterly Review says, that the aspirant ought to have some notion of modern languages, and be able to pass a moderate examination in history, geography, and mathematics. If it were possible to go on, as the Quarterly suggests, with the young man's education after he has joined his regiment, we should be content to countersign the petition. But not seeing our way quite so far as yet, we are constrained to ask for something more. The board of education ought to be satisfied that the candidate is animated by a spirit of inquiry, so that there shall be some chance, at least, of his pursuing his studies of his own accord; and the better to aid them in arriving at this conclusion, we would suggest, that they fix no maximum standard to begin with. Thus, if ten or twenty young men appear before them, and there be five vacant commissions, it will be their duty to recommend the five candidates whose intelligence seems to be the sharpest, and their knowledge the most extensive, due regard being paid to the sort of acquirements which tell the most towards the formation of the soldier's character, such as drawing, fortification, land-surveying, and mechanics. By these means we shall, at least, ensure a good supply of recruits for the time to come; and the recruits of this year will be as anxious, ten years hence, to raise the standard of intellectual excellence in their own profession as we can be. So much has already been written on this subject in various quarters, that we are unwilling to trespass more than is absolutely necessary on the attention of our military readers. We could not, however, seem to be indifferent to a matter, in itself so important, and now happily so much discussed, and we have, therefore, ventured to add these, our own views, to the stock which the reading public has accumulated, or may hereafter accumulate, in regard to it. One point, moreover, we think it right to urge. If any thing be done at all, and we have reason to believe that much is in progress, we do hope that it will be done heartily and with a right spirit. No man nor set of men ought to be blamed for errors in a system which it is judged expedient to alter. The present generation did not commence the system, and the past only took it up. It is sufficient for our contemporaries to have discovered, among them, where the defects lie, and it is wise in them to apply the remedy. For ourselves we rejoice in the assurance, that the impulse having once been given, no power on earth can stop the progress of real improvement. And we hope that many who read these pages will live to acknowledge that the army, deserving of all respect and gratitude as it is, has been, both in a moral and social point of view, largely improved by the better education of its members. VOL. XXXIII. NO. CXCVIII. 3 B CONTEMPORARY ORATORS. No. X. MR. SHEIL. EVERY public speaker who can arrest the attention and act upon the feelings of an audience, is, in the most loose or enlarged acceptation of the term, an orator; even in its strict and literal sense, the same definition would almost apply. But it is needless to remind our readers that there are almost as many gradations of excellence included in that general term as there are in similar ones used in reference to painting or sculpture, or poetry or acting. As the circle of public intelligence becomes expanded, by the greater spread of general knowledge among the people, and the more universal excitement of all classes in questions of a political or social nature in reference to legislation, the number of public speakers who excite attention and maintain a hold upon the feelings of the people becomes almost indefinitely multiplied; the intellectual quality of their speeches is deteriorated in proportion as their practical utility is increased; and it becomes more and more difficult to settle the old and often-disputed question, "What is an orator?" Several speakers have already been included in this series, and more will probably follow, whom it would have been absurd to place upon the list of those, so few in names, but so brilliant in performances, who, by the common consent of mankind, by the testimony of history and the evidence of their works, happily undestroyed, are recognised as being the great masters in the art of oratory. Yet, on the other hand, the individuals so excluded exercise a direct and powerful influence over their fellowcountrymen scarcely paralleled, and certainly not exceeded, by the higher order of public speakers. Their utilitarian value fully compensates to the general mind for their want of artificial enhancement. The public, perhaps, would care little to know what were the brilliant excellencies of Mr. Sheil or Mr. Macaulay, or what a critical analysis would dis cover of their defects, if the plan of the writer gave them that information on the condition that in the exercise of a somewhat hypercritical judgment, he left them in ignorance of the oratorical qualifications of Lord John Russell, or Sir Robert Peel, or Mr. Cobden, or even Lord George Bentinck, men with whose names the whole country is ringing. Yet a speech from Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Brougham, Mr. Sheil, Mr. Macaulay, or Mr. Disraeli, or from Mr. Fox and some of the most distinguished platform speakers, wholly differs not merely in the degree but also in the nature of its excellence from those of the more practical orators,-they who really lead the public mind. The one is a study for the intellect and a pleasure to the imagination, for its intrinsic excellence or beauty, while the other derives its interest from extraneous causes, ceasing with the excitement of the hour; such as the position of the speaker, the nature and position of the subject he is handling, and, generally, from the exciting political causes which every year of struggling perpetuates. But the men of the higher order have their ultimate reward. The others have the applause of the present hour alone. Their lumbering speeches are duly reported in the newspapers, in their inglorious rivalry which shall produce the greater number of columns of print; but after the lapse of a week they are forgotten, or only remembered that they may be quoted at a future time against themselves, when, in the mutations of modern politics, they shall find it necessary to contradict all their former assermer opinions. But the real orator tions and argue against all their forof the highest class-he who has had a nobler end in view than forensic sophistry or mere clap-trap and cajolery-not only is admired at the time he utters his speech, but is remembered long after his temporary rivals are forgotten. His effusions are read and studied as models by successive aspirants to fame; they are admired by the poet as he admires his Milton, his Wordsworth, or his Tennyson; by the artist as he admires his Titian or his Turner; and it is to them also that the most valuable praise of all is accorded that of posterity. The practical men secure the present only, the men of genius enjoy both the present and the future. Mr. Sheil is a man of genius, and, making allowance for some defects which shall be hereafter adverted to, an orator of the highest order. Whether his speeches be read in the closet years after they were delivered, or whether they be heard with all the advantage of that burning eloquence, that brilliancy of diction, that fiery impetuosity of action, which have now become almost associated with the name of Sheil, they are still the same powerful, beautiful, soulstirring works, still models of the finest rhetorical art. Scarcely any terms of admiration would be too strong as applied to some of his speeches, while even those which do not rise to the highest pitch of excellence have, nevertheless, so decided and so distinctive a character, that they may be at once known to be the production not only of a superior mind, but of the particular man from whom they have proceeded. The very faults of his style cease to be defects when regarded in connexion with the pervading tone of his mind, and the leading features of his character. Mr. Sheil's parliamentary reputation is now of about fifteen years' standing. For that period he has reigned without a rival as the most brilliant and imaginative speaker, and the most accomplished rhetorician, in the House of Commons. That assembly heterogeneous as are the materials of which it is composedpossesses a marvellous instinct in the discovery and the appreciation of oratorical talent. It is their interest that they should have among them those who can occasionally charm them from the plodding realities of legislation, and the dull lucubrations of the practical men. Therefore, they are always alive to excellence, and stamp it at once. Not very long since a new member, a Mr. Cardwell, made a remarkably valuable speech on a question of a practical nature, full of powerful reasoning, concentration, and mastery of the facts. Till the evening when he made that speech, he was comparatively unknown; but he had not been on his legs a quarter of an hour, before the unerring instinct of the House (which operates as closely upon good business speeches as on the most eloquent) discovered that, in his degree, he was a superior man, and the cheering with which he was greeted at the close of his address was the stamp they set on his ability. Sir Robert Peel was among the listeners, and in a few weeks afterwards Mr. Cardwell became a minister. If, in these days of statistics and sophistry, a modest and undistinguished individual was thus singled out, à fortiori it could not have been long before such an orator as Mr. Shiel was elevated to the highest point in the admiration of the House, at a time when high oratory was more valued. He came but to be heard and to be triumphant. Heralded by the hyperbolical praise of his Irish admirers, his first speech was looked for with a curiosity not unmingled with doubt. But he passed the ordeal successfully, and from that hour has been regarded as one of the most distinguished and remarkable of the many great orators which his country, fertile in genius as in natural riches, has ever produced. Our mention of the Hibernian admirers of Mr. Sheil reminds us that we have something to say of that gentleman beyond what is prompted by a recollection of his speeches in the House of Commons. For, unlike most of our most distinguished men, Mr. Sheil was famous as an orator long before he entered parliament. His eloquence had not been the least important element in causing that unanimity of feeling among the people of Ireland which ultimately led to the great political and religious revolution of 1829. There are very few instances on record of men who have become famous as speakers at the bar, or at the hustings, or at public meetings, having equally stood the test of the House of Commons. It is one of Mr. Sheil's many claims on our admiration, that having been an energetic, enthusiastic, and suc cessful leader in a great popular, or rather a great national movement, he should have had the taste and tact to so subdue his nature in the very hour of triumph, as afterwards to adapt his speaking to the tone most agreeable to the House, and to charm them as much by the fire of his eloquence as by the delicacy of his rhetorical artifices, without the aid of those stronger and more stirring stimulants to the passions which form the very essence of successful mob-oratory. In very few instances indeed has he even discarded these voluntary fetters on the exuberant vigour of his patriotism and nationality. Not as an orator merely will Mr. Sheil assist to rescue this age from the charge of mediocrity. Thirty years ago he first began to be known and appreciated as a poet-when he was only looking forward to the bar as a profession, and long ere visions of applauding millions, or of high ministerial office, or a place in the councils of his sovereign, ever crossed his ardent and aspiring soul. As the author of the tragedies Eradne and The Apostate, Mr. Sheil already occupied a high place among the writers who were then his contemporaries-a place not very much unlike that now held by Talfourd. In the intervals of those productions, and for some time afterwards, he contributed to the periodicals of the day, and had altogether, even at the early age of twenty-two, made himself that kind of reputation for originality and a high order of talent which floats about society and interests, by some means or other, more certain in their action than perceptible, the general mind in the career of particular individuals. Still, although there were at all times vague predictions that he would "do something" some day or other, no one seems at that time to have suspected that he contained within him the powers which soon afterwards made him second but to one man as a leader of the Irish people, and ultimately have enabled him to compete with the most illustrious men of the day in those qualifications which ensure parliamentary success. But with the time came the man. The Roman Catholic question had of late years assumed a great parliamentary importance. The stalking horse of an ambitious party, the cause had come at last to be regarded as "respectable." English statesmen and orators-men who in a few years became the rulers of the country-succeeded those great and eloquent Irishmen in whom the advocacy of Roman Catholic freedom from civil disabilities had always been regarded as justifiable-nay, a matter of duty. In the meanwhile, all the legal dexterity of Mr. O'Connell had been devoted to the construction of an artful but comprehensive scheme of agitation, by which the people of Ireland might be organised and an unanimous call be made on the English parliament for emancipation. This organisation went on, with more or less success, for years. Under the name of the Roman Catholic Association it rose from the most insignificant revival (after a temporary dispersion) in the year 1823, until it assumed that gigantic shape which ultimately terrified the government of England into an undignified submission. It was in that year, 1823, that Mr. Sheil and Mr. O'Connell, who were destined at no very distant time to be the great leaders of the Association, first met, under circumstances somewhat romantic, at the house of a mutual friend in the mountains of Wicklow. There a congeniality of object overcame the natural repulsion of antagonist minds, and they laid down the plan of a new agitation. That their meeting was purely an accidental one made the results which followed still more remarkable. Their first efforts were received with indifference by the people; but in a very few weeks the Association was formed, and the rolling stone was set in motion. To those who are curious in such matters it will be instructive and amusing to observe the parallel circumstances of the origination of the Roman Catholic Associa tion by some six or seven enthusiasts at a bookseller's shop in Dublin, and that of the Anti-Corn-Law League, by a few merchants at Manchester, or at Preston-for the cotton-heroes of the late campaign have not yet determined at which place the nucleus was formed. We have alluded to the natural repulsion of antagonist minds. Contrast more marked could scarcely |