The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-10 00:00:00

RAGGED SCHOOLS. Loan GREY, yesterday week, presided at the annual meeting of the Newcastle Ragged an 1 Industrial Schools. His lordship, in the course of his address on the occasion, unpin the following remarks upon the advantages of these excellent institutions : Can there be any charitable undertaking which has stronger claims upon our warmest sympathies ? Is it not fearful to think that children are left to grow op neglected and untaught, or rather instructed in what is evil— children who are formed by nature and are fitted to be trained up to become useful and happy members of the community, and to be prepared for that higher existence for which their Almighty Creator intended them ? I am sure there is no right-minded man who can for a moment consider how great is the evil, how urgent the necessity of applying a remedy, who does not feel that it is the bounden duty of all, so tar as our means and ability extend, to pro. mote this attempt to correct this crying evil. And even if the higher motives of a sense of duty and charity were wanting, we ought to be induced to do so by the lowest consideration--that of our own interest. Need I tell you how great and how just an alarm has lately been created in the public mind by the unusual prevalence of crimes of great atrocity; need I tell you how much all classes of society starer from the multiplication of crimes of that description ; and need I further observe to you that, while the attempt to repress these crimes by any punishment hitherto devised has as yet met with very par- tial success, there is every reason to believe that some con siderable check, at all events, will he opposed to this increasing evil if some means can be found by which it shall be prevented that the criminals who now crowd our gaols should obtain annually fresh supplies from neglected children who are educatrd to the profession of crime. DR. GurimiE, at a recent ragged•school meeting in Edinburgh, gave the following interesting account of his labours and his pupils:— When I began the work of ragged schools in Edinburgh, I found some 2,0(X) or 8,0:H) children playing about the streets. These children were the seedlings and the young plants that afterwards grew into hardened criminals. They were begging by thousands; they were up every morning like a cloud of locusts, and spread themselves over the city. You had them at every corner. What I said was this—" You can't expect the parents to send these children to school, because they have no money to pay for them ; you can't expect the parents to send them to school, be cause the children have to support themselves, and more than that to support a drunken father or mother, and feed the parents with the fruit of their mendicancy." I thought that if I could set np a school, and in that school not only educate the children but clothe and feed them, and, where the home is very bad, house them—for we never like to separate parent and child in Scotland if we can prevent it —we will cure the evil. We opened our ragged school, we gave the children food—you are near enough Scotland to know what porridge is—we give them porridge in the morning, soup for dinner, and porridge in the evening, and it would do any man's heart good to see the potent powers of porridge. When we began our ragged schools they were swarming with juvenile beggars. ion will walk the streets of Edinburgh now for miles and hours, and you will not see a juvenile beggar at all. The Government is tiow to give us Ws. a year for every child of the abandoned and criminal class that we feed and educate, and you may depend upon it this is the true cure for our present evil Education on the one hand and temperance on the other MR. THACKERAY this week has continued his series of lectures at the Marylebone Institute. The room on these occasions has been fully attended. Mr. Thackeray's lectures are amusing, but, in the opinion of persons well able to judge, Mr. Thackeray has merely skimmed the surface of the period he treats. His matter wants depth and research. The lectures are to be repeated next week. PROFESSOR FARADAY delivered his fifth lecture on Attractions at the Royal Institution on Tuesday. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was present. THE LECTURE SEASON OF THE ARCHITECTURAL ExoisrrioN was opened on Tuesday evening by Professor Donaldson, who chose for his subject "The Architectural Magnificence of Rome." The sacred and secular buildings of the ancient Romans formed the divisions of his subject, and, in speaking of each, Professor Donaldson expatiated warmly on their grandeur and beauty, and took occasion to con trast the temples, the Forum, the Coliseum, and the Circus with the puny and comparatively insignificant buildings of London. For illustration of the lecture there were numerous drawings and plans and a large map of Rome, as well as several beautiful photo graphs. The audience nearly filled the large room in which the Architectural Exhibition is held. THE ODONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON held their first meeting on Monday evening last, at :12.t, George-street, Hanover-square, when a large muster of the leading practitioners of dental surgery met together. Some preliminary bus-iness having been gone through, Mr. Cartwright delivered an able ad dress, in which, after glancing at the progress of dental surgery during the last century, he took a review of the present position and prospects of the profession, and strongly urged the necessity of a liberal education in conjunction with the special qua. lification required for those who would practise this department of surgery with credit and success. He then referred to the circumstances connected THE PRESS. with the presentation of a memorial to the council of the College of Surgeons by cer tain members of the profession (including himself), stating the reasons which led to the adop tion of that proceeding. The advisability of maintain ing the connection of dental with general surgery was strongly insisted upon, and it was held that a voluntary separation from the College of Surgeons could not be but disadvantageous to the body of den. tists. The great need of a society formed on the model of other scientific societies as a point of union amongst the praztitionera of dental surgery, and as a medium for the communication of experience and the discussion of professional subjects, was pointed out, and the president concluded by expressing his conviction that there objects would ha fully attained by the establishment of the Odontological Society. He then urged upon the members the necessity of cordial co-operation in furthering the purposes of the society by the contribution of papers of interest, and by attendance at the meetings. Several interesting preparations illustrative of dental pathology were exhi bited, and there was a good display of instruments and appliances interesting to the profession. SIR HENRY RAWLINSON delivered a lectnre on Thursday night in St. Martin's-hall of considerable length, and of a very erudite character, on " Recent Oriental Discoveries in relation to the Bible." The Lord Mayor presided. The three points on which Sir Henry mainly argued were the ethnology, geography, and history of the country of Babylon. He showed how the slab-stones and other monu ments found in Palestine by himself and Eastern explorers verified the statements in the Bible, and mentioned a number of singular remarkable coin cidences between the Assyrian discoveries and the accounts in Scripture. To assist him in his lecture the walls of the hall were hung with numerous engravings, descriptive of the landscape scenery of Palestine and Syria, and on the platform was a model of an ancient temple and a slab with the cuneiform characters. ih. PH* Market nab gitg FRIDAY Evv:NrNo. Tue. return of the Bank of England for the week ending the 3rd inst. shows the following ci.augcs compared with that for the week preceding Increase in Circulation .. Increase in Public Deposits Decrease in Other Deposits Increase in Government Securities 399,403 Increase in Other Securities Decrease in Bullion 47,905 Increase in Rest Decrease in Reserve Bullion in Both Departments .... 10,18'2,406 Circulation, including Bank Post Bills The increase in the Bullion shown by this comparison is unimportant. The amount in the Bank is still above 10,0:f0,0(s4., and it is about 250,000/. more than was held in the corresponding week last year. Still the decline has now continued for three or four weeks, and if it continues the Bank Directors will at once extinguish the existing hopes of money becoming easier. The Reserve shows a large falling off, attributable partly to the addition to the Private Securiti es, and partly, it may be presumed, to the addition made to the Government Securities by advances upon deficiency bills, the issue of which was indicated in the revenue tables published last week. Both these items, the reduction in the Bullion, and the falling off in the Reserve, may therefore be referred to incidental circum• stances. There is reason to believe that had it not been for withdrawals to pay for silver bought upon the Con tinent, the Bullion would have shown a slight improve. merit, as coin is now finding its way back from Ireland. The other items in the comparison do not call for observation. The heavy demand fur money which prevailed last week, owing to the preparations to meet the commercial accept ances at maturity on Saturday, and the settlement of annual balances, has been succeeded in tho present week by a period of perfect calmness. The market, indeed, has been very quiet, and altogether things looked brighter. On Monday there was a good deal of inquiry, but the banking and discount houses were found to have good sup plies. The next day the best paper was freely discounted at 5i per cent., and on Wednesday at 51 per cent., or be , low the Bank minimum, while the applications at the Bank were comparatively few. From this state of things, impres- sions arose that the Bank, before long, would find itself compelled to reduce the rate of discount; but on the other hand equally strong impressions prevailed in other quarters, that the commercial demand fcr money was likely to become so active almost immediately, that capital would maintain its present value. Both these opinions are still held. Yesterday the payment of the dividends commenced SATURDAY, —__ - but it produced no part iculareffect upon the market, as the public received but inconsiderable amounts, while the re mainder was absorbed in repayments to the Bank of ad vances obtained during the shutting. But, although, as we have previously stated, there is no expectation of money Pilling below 5 per cent., we see no reason at present to disagree with those who believe that the rates may shortly be reduced from 0 to 5i per cent. The commercial de mand certainly is likely to become extremely active in a few weeks, if not sooner; but we know some houses who are abstaining as much as possible from applying for dis counts on the present terms, in the expectation that their patience will be repaid by lower rates. Indeed, with the dispersion of a sum of about 10,000,0001. during the next six weeks, most of which will immediately seek profitable employment and a large portion be applied to permanent investments, it is impossible not to anticipate good reserves in Lombard•street, which, again,must tell upon the discount operations of the Bank, so that we look to the natural effect of competition for a reduction, though we admit, that the reduction when it does come must be small, and that it may possibly be followed by a good deal of pressure. To day the demand for commercial purposes was quiet, and the supplies in Lombard-street and at the joint.stock banks were more than ample. Rut a circumstance oc curred most unexpectedly, which may possibly neutralise the tendency towards ease. The Bank Directors, without previous intimation, and to the surprise of the Sock Exchange, increased their charges for advances upon Go. vernment Securities from six to six and a half per cent. In the general money market this resolution produced no effect, as it has no relation to discounts, beyond creating a sensible abatement in the confidence of those who antici pated lower rates—among whom we reckon ourselves. As no explanation has been vouchsafed by the Directors of this proceeding, we can only give such as we have hear d. One is, that it was adopted in order to make an additional profit out of those holders of stock who required advances before the opening on the 16th. This explanation we cannot accept. Another, and more plausible one, is that the Directors were determined to counteract arrangements which they were informed some days ago had been or• ganised to borrow notes upon stock at one department, in order to exchange them for sovereigns at another, and then transport the gold to the Continent for sale. The six-per-cent. rate would leave a trifling profit upon such operations—operations which, it may be remembered, were carried on upon a great scale in October last, and only ended by the Bank refusing to lend upon stock, first for periods beyond seven days, and next altogether. What ever was the cause for this policy, it was no doubt one of an adequate character; and if this explanation, as sug gested to us, is correct, it will soon be thoroughly undei stood, and rather strengthen than weaken the Money Market for all the purposes of legitimate commerce. From France we have no great improvement to notice. There is some, but it is inconsiderable. Hopes, however, are felt, now that the disputed points with respect to Bel grad and the Isle of Serpents are settled, and the Neufchatel difficulty is in a fair way for amicable solution, that general trade will revive before spring. The Frenct are really doing a great trade with all the world; but they want to force it, anti hence the mass of the complaints that we hear. They are certainly in want of capital; but capital is the fruit of industry anti perseverance, not of sudden coups. And what capital they have is very dear. The Bank of France is still charging six per cent., anti re stricting its discounts to seveuty.live days' bills. Trade, therefore, qua trade, has some reason to complain; but it should be remembered that the Bank has to guard the country, as far as it can, atzainst the evils of associated speculation in its most dangerous form. If this element were allowed free course, it would, in a given time, cause a general collapse ; and, foreseeing evils of this character, the Bank maintains the screw nearly at its extreme point. In the meantime various expedients are being devised to relieve commerce while restraining the mania for gambling. Out of them something may possibly arise before long; or perhaps the Bank may shortly feel itself strong enough to attempt both operations simultaneously. But in France, as in England, cheap capital is out of the question. The monthly return of the Bank of France was published in the Monileur this morning. The commercial discounts have increased rather more than . ..1,10),(1001.—a fact which confirms our preceding observations ; but the advances on stock and bullion have been largely reduced. The bullion is about 270,000/. less, having probably been paid away in coin in the ordinary course of business. Altogether the return is more favourable than was expected from the nature of the reports by which its publication was preceded. The specie imports during the week have been con siderable. They amount to rather more, than 070,0001. L _ _am