TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11456, 15 December 1902, Page 7

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

In an interesting article Tounger Officers ia the "Dftily Mail," Sir for th« Navy. William Laird Clowes contrasts the advanced «g« of the men who command British battleships to-day, with the youthfulness of captains who, a century ago, performed some of the finest naval feats in our history. Cochrane, when, as a commander; be took the Gamo, in 1801, was less than twenty-six; Edward Hamilton, when, as a capudn, he cut out the Hermione, iv 1799, was in his twenty-seventh year; Charles Napier, when, as a captain, he made hinv nelf master of Ponza, in 1813, was still tttder twenty-seven; and Charles Brisbane, ■when he captured Ouracoa, in 1807, had been a captain for eleven years, although he was but thirty-eight at the time of hie ■plendid achievement. A dozen other instances of the extreme youth of famous commanders of the p««t are cited by the ■writer, who declares that as many more might taave been mentioned. Of sixteen emptatos who fought at Trafalgar whose birthrate* be was at>ie to discover, only noe was a» old *» forty-seven years at the date of the battle, and the average age Nnu no more than thirty-nine, while the youngest wat but thirty-one. The average age of the same men whea they were apIKnmtsd. captains was but twenty-eight; nowadays a man seldom approadheg that rank till he is forty. "If «• new Trafalgar Kfcre to be fought to-morrow the participating captains of the -vessels in the line toouldi average forty-nine or fifty, instead of tbirty-nine years." The regulations as to jMoiority present an insurmountable barrier to a man's earlier advancement, unless he v particularly fortunate. The same preference for onen of advanced experience in responsible position* ie noticeable in these daya in many other departments. Statesmen end leaders of max are older than they owd'to be ja the days of "a kingdom trusted to a sohoolboy'e care." Possibly one MMon ii that the affairs of life are more tnroilTed and complex" under pxeeent day eonditaoiMi. In land warfare *» well as n»v*i, Gartih'e one rule, "to dash against mine «aemy and to iwin," is no longer <rafBob the insietence on - seniority

fen *be Nftvy, at least, is looked upon by Sir WBlkni Ladrd! Olowe» ac a mietake. ' VMet modem ciromnstanoes, oe'thioke, the ttMbia, opoa a naval officer in war time i» Bumf ttniM at continooue and atrong as it mm m th» days of wooden waUe. Hβ no tafte IhM 4ht knowledge that so long, «i hold, Sue enemy cannot owye OvA to HMet> Itim; "anyttuAg may happen ■t any tnaenuiA, and under alxaoct .any .000- - *ie. mas of thirty-nine of iotij it lately to be in mooh better health land ivifoor tot endoring moh. a (train than «tM 9M& of fifty. Th» pWmt First Lord of the Admiralty, it is »t*Wd,ha< more than (Mace lOnted 2iu recognition of thk iact> ; fad *fccn» v conic powrbility of ihk briog- ,*« X«OO£«f «tiffic«n» forward. - - .j, , ' Xα* indllionaire, it goes .» A GkM ykted -without saying, is < not -' lafflkwaira. > m average person. IKe- •"-' r j ' . dtdabg to eteer any «Ud'Sα COWKt be is generally noted ikls asaßoceoe oi , lus.aneanneße. The huge AgqttJQim 01, Andrew Gtmegie draw more

attention, pectops, than would otherwise t I* firen to t&e dose-fSstedneas of Russell 6sgt, -mhaUmui to have'the distinction, in America, 61 baying "garnered , in the folded r grain*'" to mojn». puipoee titan, any sJe^e c jßjuL Wove Mm.,,, His parent* fjtodwlfy .-hoped ih*t- he % would be- - "come ■ fpeoeMful former and tf good y Cangregatiorialist, \ but from tU fiOßoeaipoiot of view-' he hae done better than tibftt, end wap recently described by tbe-'m. Jamoi'a Gaaette" ac "a young ■Mα of eighty-«ii, who wm hud at-work •• wta the otber day piling up higher and ■ Ueber the mountain of gold he hoe traUt f»'. iuraelf. Of his thrift . two At present being told. $•(* is' T*ry law) of appks, «ibd for a long ■Jmt vm iiMto habit, of buying a single •pbl»eT«ry day «T* eertata «hop, lavishly over tbzee-ltalfpence for', the ptxxay* "Beoently, , however, the price w«o* up' to, tfcweponce, «od the multi-mil-KoaiNK a«tounded the. froitMwr by saying, me iwre fcttf «a appfe/' The eecond rtoryfaflsto "cap , * thit, but is well worih Wlmg f Two men wOWng hmtiedly along Lrberty sbeet, I7«w York, almost ran int* ' «a elderly man. in a cheap, iUrfitting, ruety-

brown overcoat, with collar partly turned down. ' Hk smirched felt hut had evidently - bee exposed to the ram *ad dust of many seasons, hie trousem were baggy and almost frayed, while hi* shoes thad not been blacked for weeks. One of the men paused to •aiute U» old gentleman with much rwpuct, and exchange a> word with him. "H«w

much did he for,"vqntffied W» ■ coepanion when he Mjomed.him. "I caw yea pat your hand in ytjur pocka* and lihooght the old felk>w might have beaten you oat of. a quarter." Hβ waa much sur- " prised at the aswnwnce that the •habbylooklng ccquAintance was Russell Sage, the • miilionaire. ■'.. ; '•. . ■ ■ .... ..V ; ; . • . The peculiar interest KtoUthio Man which attache* to the i la early history of the Holy Palestine. Land renders any addf» , : tion to our knowledge iJtereof especially acceptable, What the London "Standard" describes a* "almcet a Hew departure in Palestine archaeology"----s %as, at appears, been made quite recently In the course of a series of excavations nndertaken at to the right of the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem. The results obtained ere recorded in a paper contributed iby Mr R. A. S. ftfacalister to the Statement" of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The site has been for some time identified wifch Gezer, an old Gaaaemite city which -was sacked by Joshua. iEveu at that date tie new discoveries show the place had been occupied for at least several centuries. Mr Macaluter found three well marked series of ancient walls, besides one, Jess perfectly defined, of tariier date. In what wiis evidently the oldest part of the town were discovered rounded pillars of stone, like those which Jacob is several times recorded to have set up. Under an adjoining pavement jars were dog up containing infants' bones, some charred, so that it ia most probable that the pillars marked place* of sacrifice, where the children ''passed through the flit" ia honour oi tome gr»dio»t»or ef

Molocb. An artificial cave, approached by stops, with a circular shaft at the far end, had .evidently been used, far Iback in' antiquity, as a crematory.. About half of it* area was covered to the depth of a foot with human aahee, and- oherred human bones. A later race had used the cave for inhumation, for a number of bodies vere deposited, apparently in a crouohmg position,, nil over the floor. A secood cay* had, in more recent times, been tunned into a cistern, but it contained six skeletons, five of which seemed to have been buried, while the sixth, representing only the upper half of a girl, had previously been sawn in two. The decapitated head* of two other girls, found near by, were further evidence of human sacrifice. The excavation showed that four cities had in turn existed on the site. The first inhabitatxtU of the fortress were plainly a Neolithic people, w,ho burned their dead, and apparently knew nothing ol metals. Next came a primitive Semitic race of the copper and early bronze age, who buried their dead. Probably the first—possibly the second— race practised human sacrifice. Two later Semitic occupations followed, the former of them—if the evidence of scarabs can be trusted—dating back not leas than two thousand years before Christ. Other relics prove eomo communication with Egypt, and one clay cylinder indicates a trade with Babylon. So far Mr Macalister has ■been prevented, by want of funds, from un- ' covering more than the eastern half of the whole site. The result of his further ex- | cavations will be awaited with interest.