NOTES AND QUERIES.
WHY was there no duel between Sir James Graham and Mr. William Beresford ? Let the public confess that it feels disap- pointed. There is something so extravagant in the idea of an affair of honour" between the late Secretary at War and the present First Lord of the Admiralty, that the public regrets the omission, which it discovers by the publication of Mr. Beresford's apology. We do not see why Sir James let him off half so easily, for the apology was limited. On reflection, Mr. Beresford re- calls the word "coward"; yet he had used others. Why deny the public the amusement of Mr. Beresford's explanations,— he has such a way with him in explaining! The Flewker letter was almost worth the story which it drew forth at Castle Hedingham. We do not propose pistols and a breakfast, for Sir James might challenge "W. B." to another kind of duel, and punish the wanton assailant quite as severely as if he were made to confront a hair-trigger. He has retracted the "coward," but there still remains the "sinister," "braggart," "im- pudent," "brazen," am! " meretricious " to be disposed of,—each one an epithet worth a duel. Let Sir James challenge W. B. to explain each of those words—their meaning and philology.
We do not admit the claim put forward for Marshal St. Arnaud, of having been par excellence the author of the victory of the Alma—his absence the cause of subsequent "torpedo" inactivity. There has been some mistake on that point. There is, and has been, no commander in chief of the Allied forces in the Crimea, but the British and the French armies are commanded separately each by its own chief; and the two commanders are instructed to act in concert. They have done so most admirably ; and one effect of their joint labour under a joint danger, with a common -victory, has been to promote that feeling of firm alliance which is now exhibited in Paris as much as in London. Give St. Arnaud all his due on that point, and the impetuous soldier deserves much for thus playing the part of statesman in the saddle : he would have been an unfit man to possess the sole command, since he was of a disposition which did not retain its purpose for two days con- secutively. He lacked the quiet firmness whioh distinguishes Wellington's companion and pupil. It was Lord Raglan who in- vented the masterly stroke of the flank movement upon Balaclava. There is no reason to praise St. Arnaud for qualities which he did not possess, in order to pay homage to his high qualities of soldierly daring, the true statesmanship, and the heroic victory over pain which distinguished him at the last.
A man, they say, can take no interest in his progeny beyond his grandchild or his great-grandchild ; and corporations would seem to be no more provident than individuals. One of the greatest corporations in the world, London City, is frittering away its valuable land, and blocking up the space for the future as well as the present. In making the new improvements near St. Paul's, a greater space of land has been thrown open. As there are moun- tains which are seldom seen without their cap, so St. Paul's, it would appear, will not be permitted to show more than once a century, when some great change, perhaps some fire, may give a transitory glimpse of his proportions. Part of the land which has been thrown open is now under boards announcing it for letting by the City ; and, according to the present appearances, the mouth or opening of" Old 'Change' is not to be more than thirty feet wide. It is one of the thoroughfares of the future. Already new bridges are projected to relieve the crowded traffic of the Metropolis, and yet ere is the Corporation engaged in blocking up & thoroughfare, and a Manchester warehouseman is permitted to browbeat the ca- thedral. It is probable that, on a short account, a higher value may be got by crowding the land ; but we ask whether it is so in the long run ? Does a given acre in the neighbourhood of Cornhill return a less rent because the opening of that site has secured greater space, greater freedom, and more comfort for the magnates who rent it?
Not long hence, perhaps, it will be regarded as a gross bar- barism that we should maintain a great force fur putting down fires, when we might supersede it altogether by preventing the fires from arising. Really we believe that a moderate amount of mechanical ingenuity could render almost any house fire- proof, and could minimize the dangerous character of most fires. Individuals must necessarily await the gradual improve- ment of building, and in the mean time they must place some reliance upon Mr. Braidwood and the insurance-offices. But those who build great warehouses for the store of combus- tible materials, or of any materials at all that can be fuel, should be held answerable for not rendering their stores perfectly fire- proof. The most explosive materials can be handled with some- thing approaching absolute safety. During battle or practice, the ship's powder-magazine is open, and the explosive material is freely handed about, but discipline secures all necessaty precautions, and something which is very close to absolute safety. There is scarcely any artificial peril that cannot be perfectly neutralized by sufficient and appropriate precautions.
Why do the self-appointed missionaries of certain ecclesiastical views forget the peculiar circumstances of their own day? One of their apostles, Dr. Pusey, rushes into print with an argument on a -very abstruse question. The minor "fathers" went beyond even such questions, to discuss "how many angels could stand on the point of a needle "—but they did not discuss it in news- papers. A Preraphaelite form of chanting the service may have its merits—but not as a police case.
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