232 THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. 



within sight of one especial spot on which the genius of a 

 single man (for such we believe him to have been) has 

 bestowed an imperishable fame. It might seem ungracious 

 towards those officers who carried with them so much spirit 

 and bravery to the battles and privations of the Crimea, to 

 enquire too sceptically what proportion of their number were 

 fully conscious of the objects their voyage brought into view ? 

 how many of them saw with the eyes of history the moun- 

 tains of Lacedsemon, Scio's isle, the plain of Ilium, and the 

 crests of Ida and the Asiatic Olympus ? or felt emotion in 

 passing through those two straits, so famous in the history 

 and poetry of every age ? 



We put the question designedly ; but more in regret than 

 reproach. For we are compelled to admit that no adequate 

 provision has hitherto been made for the special instruction 

 of those numerous Englishmen who are called by military, 

 naval, or colonial duties to every part of the habitable globe. 

 The greatness of our empire, and the progress of knowledge 

 and invention in all that regards the social condition of man, 

 make at this time a necessity of what was heretofore only a 

 matter of expediency. In proportion to our power is the 

 magnitude of the duties we are called upon, as a nation, to 

 fulfill ; and one of those duties is that of sending out to the 

 defence and administration of our distant possessions, men 

 well fitted by temper and education to discharge their 

 functions with integrity and intelligence ; the latter, in 

 most cases, the best guarantee for the former. It is our 

 sincere belief, that no one is so well calculated to fulfill these 

 conditions as the English gentleman, in the highest intel- 

 lectual and moral sense of the word. But care is needful 

 that the standard be not lowered, either in comparison with 

 our former selves, or with the people of other countries, at a 

 time when all things are in a state of transition ; and when 

 much exists, in the rapid intercourse of the world, and the 



