The Sun. — London, England, 1851-05-23 00:00:00

GERMANY. TRANSPORTATION TO VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. The following is a copy of a petition to Parliament on this subject:— The humble petition of the undersigned merchants, trad ing with the British colony of Van Diemen's Land, and others connected with the said colony, Respectfully sheweth— That the colony of Van Diemen's Land having, in the year 1840, been made the sole receptacle of convicts sentenced to transportation, a most fearful state of things was engendered in the said colony, to the great dismay of the colonists, and the scandal of the nation at large ; and that it was accordingly determined, during the ad ministration of th e l ute Sir Robert Peel, to establish a new settlement in Northern Australia for the reception of offenders. That the administration which followed Sir Robert Peel's resolved to arrest the formation of the settlement of Noth Australia,aniedmteon,s suspendf d the o transportati on o f convicts to Van D years; and afterwards, apparently on profound reflection, r ao o he they de termined to abolish transportationaltogether s r eoo to nd V a a r n Diemen's Land, and to a d opt a sy steui punishment, of which the di s ti ngu i shing features were the punishment of offenders in penitentiarie s in this country, and their subsequent wide dispersion through various colonies of the empire. That her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies accordingly advised the Lieutenant- Governor of Van Diemen's Land, on the sth of February, 1 847, that it was not intended to.revive transportation to that colony at the expiration of the two years for which it had been decided that it should be discontinued; and that the Lieutenant-Governor announced this in struction to the Legislative Council of the colony in the following words :....., ib t. take the earliest opportunity of bringing before You the deci s i on o f her Majesty ' s Government, that transportation to , Van Diemen's Land shall not be re sumed at th e has already expiration of the two years for which it Her majeg Y t been decided that it is to be discontinued. nation, nay! a Government, in coming to this determi wishes of a acted in accordance - with the expressed large proportion of the free inhabitants of the colony." And. farthoefrmAoure, that the said Lieutenant-Governor, on the 20th 1847, in a dispatch to the Secre tary of State, w„,t d 4t i : her the revival of tra ns Majesty's Government against in these words:— p or tation to th e co l ony in any form, "As her, Majesty' s G„ Ce_seernment have decided that transortation is to , k and as that decision has been publicly ma l e I do not consider that trwn in the colony, or desirable, to carry out tThehesupci ;eenings of would be possible, tions contained in my dispatch, No. 83. portion of the community are so fun osted in the o - a large been raised to the eon . P position which has attempt now to reviv e the s vict system here,.that any ystem in an form, would be looked . upon by them us a br'e h 37 faith, and would cause, I have no doubt, feeli ng( 77 o f tility which would be very embarrassing to then 0 Govrn: meat." That, in the year 1848, her Majesty's Gove r nm ent notwithstanding to , contin ue nrne n t, transport a ti on o f co nvicts to Van Di notwithstanding its pro mises, resolved Diemen th e men s Land; and that the great body of transported offenders have been sent to the said colony ever since. That, between the year 1840 and the present time, petitioners have heard and believe that no less than '30,000 convicts have been sent to, Van Diemen's Land; ts)hAt upwards of 12;000 free people have, t een drivea fort h in consequence, from the colony, to seek homes and employment els,;:where; and that, by the census of the colony, take n in 1848, it would apar that three-fourths of the adult population were, or h a d be en, convicts—a were, or proportion which, ' • That the c _. oll., it is believed, has since increased. 01 its are in a state of the utmost discon tent at this revival a transportation, in the face of pledges of her As ; Majesty re as solemnly an -flounced by her M ajes ,;, s s r epresentative That bishop And clergy, the minister:el) _of various denominations, :members of the Legislatura tants, and guardians; on IQ 1-3;halafgiostfrates., merchants, pa ths respectable free people generally, stations, have over d over, in various of all ranks and Majesty the Queen, albs Lords S - petitions to her pirual and Tempered, or your Honourable House, pra3 o es. elsef against the in credible wrongs done to them by the continued portatinn of criminals to Van Diemen's Lam+, and that the pled ges o f h e r Majesty's Gov ernment ' cud at length b e h onoura bly fulfilled.- That, finally, the.women of the colony have lately a d_ alressed h er most grac i ous M a j es ty th e Queen, appf,ali,„ k. , hey sympathies as a mother as well as the &over eig n '' of a great empire. That, nsvertheless, her Majesty's Government still persist in sending large numbers of convicts to the said colony. 'phut, unhappily, a f ee li ng o f h ost i li ty to the fr ee colo nists seems to be arising in the minds of some of the Convict class es i n th e said coleiky; who, falsely , no doubt, ntorprcting certain stat ements o f h er i Majesty's Govern ment, appear to regard the • colony as theirs, and the free colonists as intruders. Thar,, with the discontent of the colonists on the one .hanl at what, in the language of their governor, they 'west inevitably regard as a breach of faith, and the exosporution of the convict classes on the other, your potiooners entertain the moss serious apprehensions that - - There was a dangerous flood at Vienna on the 13th, which destroyed all the bridges but one. Eight hundred copies of the supplement to the Allgemeine Zeitung have been seized by the police in Munich, and confiscated. The authorities acted on instructions sent from Stuttgard by telegraph, and were waiting for the packages, of whose contents they were quite aware before they arrived. It is , stated that the zeal of the police has on this occasion, for the first time, been rebuked by a high personage, without whose knowledge the seizure was made, and who was thereby deprived of his usual morning paper. The cause of the confiscation is not given. In Wiesbaden the police are also busy, but as re formers of the bad manners that have been introduced since the revolution. A custom has grown up of wearing the hat in the pit of the theatre in the pauses between the acts, especially by the visitors from mayence, who are losing much of their German formality in trifles. On two occasions the offenders have been officially called to order, and warned of the breach of decorum. The Treasury of Baden has brought a formal ac tion against the widow of B6bning, one of the leaders of the insurrection, executed in 1849, to recover a sum of several millions of gulden, with a minimum of one million, as the amount of the damage sustained by the Treasury of the Duchy during the revolt. That the widow can pay any part of it is out of the question. The Deutsche Allgemeine Zeituno• has the follow ing p aragraph, probably one of the last that will ap pear, on the Dresden Conferences : " After their formal close they will be forgotten as a total failure, and the re -organization of Germany will immediately be discussed at Warsaw by the Monarchs in person, and the Presidents of their respective Ca binets. All the ag it at i on, l a b our, an d exc h ange o f notes h as only led to the recognition of the old Constitution and the old Di et as the basis and body of the political system. The reforms, improvements, and innovations lie still veiled in the deepest obscurity of the future, and will first become visible in the second half of the present month. Perhaps conditions may be made in Warsaw that may favour one State at the cost of another; now is the right moment for Prussia to beware, lest under the appearance of an increase of power over the small States it is not itself placed in the rank of secondary powers." SERVIA.. A misunderstanding is said to have arisen between the Porte and the Servian Government, Th e P orte asserts that the insurrection in Turkish Croatia has been aided and abetted by Servia. SHIP LAUNCH AT ST. PETER'S. A beautiful first-class vessel, intended for the Indian passenger trade, was launched on Thursday last from the building yard of Messrs. T. and W. Smith, at St. Peter's quay, near this town. The day was most pro pitious, and a v ast crowd assembled to witness the in teresting proceedings. Although not so large as some of her predecessors, yet for beauty of model and warlike appearance, she surpasses them all; she is frigate built, being bored for 32 guns, with her timber and fastenings all ad apte d fur warlike service, should it be required to change her peaceful occupation. Her di mensions are—Extreme length, 197 feet 4 inches ; gun deck, 171 feet ; breadth, 38 feet 4 inches. The Hot spur, for such is the name this excellent and splendid vessel now bears, forms the thirteenth in the list of the splendid vessels built by, and under the ownership of the same firm, in the order under-men tioned :—Kestrel, 450 tons; Ostrich, 500 tons ; Pekin, 600 tons ; Colombo, 700 tons ; Duko of Argyle, 800 toes; Plantagenet, 850 tons; Bueephalus, 1,050 tons; Ellenborough, 1,100 tons; Glorisna, 1,000 tons; Tudo r , 1,150 tons ; LE r lh orough, 1,400 tuns; Blenheim, 1,500 tons; Hotvur, 1,142 tons. Tie two first of these, with other small but well-known Isidiamen, which have ceased to be th 3 property of Afessrs. Smith, were built at North Shields. The remainder, the of which the Hot s p ur WWI the last, were built at St. P e t er ' s . Th e k ee l o f Hotspur was laid down in July, 1848, immediately after thri launch of the Blenheim, and care has been taken that in the seasoning of the timber, the run of her hues, and her interior fittings should entitle her to the claim of being one of the best specimens of naval ar chitecture that has:been constructed in the dockyards of the Tyne. Before the vessel left the stocks the public were afforded an opportunity of inspecting her, and hundreds availed themselves of the privilege so kindly and con siderately granted by the .Messrs. Smith. About half past four o'clock, the tide being then at its highest, the shipwrignts began to drive the wedges, so as to ease the blocks, which were then speedily removed. The last remainit,Y, support having been knocked away, the noble vessel rested rot , a moment on its slippery way to undergo the christening ceremony, which was admirably performed by the lady of Captain Joseph Toynbee, the commander, breaking the brandy bottle across the bows, and then she glided away majes tically into the aqueous element, amidst the firing of cannon, and the cheers of an ,immense concourse of spectators. A platform was erected in the dockyard for a select company of ladies and gentlemen, who after the ceremony partook of refreshments provided for the oc casion; and throughout the afternoon, which was re markably fine, Messrs. Hawks and Crawshay's band played a number of popular airs. It is intended to rig the Hotspur with all possible dispatch, so that she may in July next depart from Gravesend on her first voyage to India.—Newcastle Journal. LONDON , THE SUN, _A :H OF AN INDIAN CHIEF. Da-o-ne-ho-ga-web, a Chief of the Senecas, died at Tc inawanda, in this state, on Friday of last week. This ch. iel was generally known among the whites by the na me of John Blacksmith. He was a most determined and lea .rless defender of the rights of his brethren against the eta .!roachments of the " pale faces," and his name may be found to several important treaties at Wash in 1;ton. He was always a z , .. , a10us opponent of the land sc s?culators, and frequently came in contact with them in courts of justice, and we believe on one or two coca 31SIS actually forced some of them to leave the Indian territory. He was strictly temperate in his habits, ay.d was regarded by the Six Nations as their greatest chief since the death of Red Jacket. According to the customs of the red men, a runner was dispatched to the Six Nations, consisting of the Oneidas, Onon dagas, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, Cayugas, and Senecas, with intelligence of the death of their great chief. The rc.aner to the Onondaga nation passed through this city on Monday last, and on approaching the Council-house of the Onondagas raised the cry of lament, which was understood by the tribe, who hap pened to be assembled in the Council -house at - the time. A messenger was dispatched to meet the :runner, who was still some distance from the Council-house. On meeting the runner, the Onondaga (who understood, from the peculiar cry, that he was the bearer of bad news) addressed a few words to him in the Indian dialect, of which the following is said to be a correct translation :—" Let it come forth, that our minds may also drop down." The sad news was then communicated to the Onondaga, and the two proceeded to the Council-house, where a large number of the natives were assembled, and all the particulars of the sad intelligence communicated to them by the runner. A string of black beads (the token of the death of a great chief), which is always carried by the bearer of the mournful news, was then passed from hand to hand round the council, and other tokens of mourning were exhibited. The occasion was of great interest, as the chief whose death they were called on to lament was universally beloved and esteemed by the Six Nations over whom he exercised authority. W e learn that his place will be filled next fall, when the Onondagas are entitled to officiate at the ceremony of crowning the new chief. We learn, also, that on Mon day text a chief of the Onondagas will be crowned at their Council-house in the place of one who died in March last.—Onondaga Standard. CITY SE WENS COMMISSION. On Tuesday a Court was held, Deputy Peacock i❑ :he chair. In answer to au inquiry from one of the Commis sioners, it was stated by tee surveyor, Mr. Haywood, that he (the surveyor) did not consider that the wood pavement in Bartholomew-lace and Lothbury was at all dangerous. The report of the inspector for the district was then read, on which Mr. MORTIMER, the inspector, stated that the wood pavement in Bartholomew lane and Lothbury had been altered, repaved, and made good, and that by that day it had been fini s h e d by the patentee, Mr. Carey, of Great Guildford-street, Southwark. The work, it was stated, had been completed within fourteen days from its com mencement. The former blocks have been laid, within ten years ago by the patentee. Several personal applications were then heard. APPOINTMENT OF AN ASSISTANT CLERK TO TILE COM MISSIONERS. In answer to a reference mado by the court; to the General Purposes Committee a short time sinc , a, it was reported by the chief clerk that six persons had been se lected as fit to perform the duties. The follovving are their names:---:#lr. William Jolly, of Mr. Temple's office, Guildhall; Mr. Josiah Crook, son of the contrete tor for the sowers; Mr. H. Blake, son of one of the commis sioners of sewers; Mr. Pearson, nephew of the city so licitor; Mr. Crawford, and Mr. Richmond. On the motion of Deputy HARRISON, Mr. Crocvk's son was declared to be ineligible, he being the son of a con tractor to the Commissioners. Exception was also taken to Mr. Blake's son and to Mr. Pearson, the former being the clerk to a ireember of the Court, and the latter being the nephew of the City Solicitor. Both these propositions were, however, overruled, and the names allowed to be retained. Mr. H. L. TAYLOR then moved a resolution, of . which due notice had been given, to the effect that the al ection of an Assistant-Clerk be postponed until inquiriE s had been made into the necessity for such a step being 'taken, and whether the Assistant-Clerk was likely egain to he fit to perform his duties. If he did so, he (Mr. Ta ylor) thought suc h an appo i ntment unnecessary. After a lon g di scuss i on, t h e CHAIRMAN said ther a was no doubt t h at the Assistant-Clerk was convalescent, and that they had better agree to adjourn the appoia tment °I an Assistant.—Agreed to. —Adjourned. SEABORNE MAILS. by the ni g h t _ the IN signifi es that the mails a re sen t from the General Post ,-02011 by the morning- Itch.] a vol , o Wb ene e r n ai nipaod :t 2li e n e : .... ..... , ..• , 1. AY L)11 C la ''... i , y - the morn i ng - . e —dispatch.] I P r o ° r m t dis.. what' W b 3 — a PLACES. London. p atched. die. 11- America (by U.S. pkt.) 14,114aY 27 i---.______l—___ America (by Brit. pkt.) , ,f N .. .. L L i l v v e e r rp poo oo l l .... 31ay 27 le ' lay 23 .. Southampt. May 29 Dover .. Dail • 3- America (by U.S. pkt.) xt j,,,,, 4 .. .. p Africa (West coast)• • N 14th of th e •- M N 9 1 t 9 h th o 8 f L the " Belgium N r Daily 7"" r uue• l Do„ r Juno 3 4 Alexandria * • • ....., • .. May 28 i Brazil .. Buenos A yres .. , . M 9th of the month IZouthanapt. June 12 California(viaChagres) 3l,l7 th of month e u tlaarapt. June 12 of Good Hope 17114th of month p°l;,tloailfipt. Arris 'ed • Cape ' Constantinople * .• • • 1 , / - 7th 17th 27th of mo ;Dove r th • • ' J m unii 3 i Central AmerlCa .• rnal.,:nt.:lllPlYnsouth • m,2d & 17th of mon. ISoutharn i: -- tu a , Y ,,,„ .: 0 • Channel Isles • • .. 2,T;Mon., Wed., & Fri.' Southanatt j i‘m -•..- 3117th of the month 'Southani • -- .•-/' 8 pt. A ril y ' a F ranc e .. .. 31 & N Twice daily .. ..(Dover Twi ed N 7th 17th 27th ef mo Dover 1 , *daily Greece •• •, •• . •• lay 3 0 Hamb .• •• Ni Tuesday & Friday London .. T ue . sat. Holland.. •• •• ' 31 1 Wednes. & Satur. London •• Men. Th,,,, N 17th of the month Southampt. Arrii fed Honduras .- •• • 1 Ireland .. •• M & 2 4 ,T Twice daily .. .. Holyhead .• Twin Many India (via Sonthamp.) M 20th of the month Southampt. May - 23 India (viaMarsellles) N 7th& 24th ofmonth Dover .. Julie, 2 Mediterranean (via Southampton) .. 3120th of the month Southampt. May 23 Mediterranean (via Marseilles) .. .. Nl7th& 24th ofmonth Dover .. Janet 2 •Arezie° • 2dof the month.. Southampt. Jane :a K aaei • .. .. 31 1 ra • • • • .. 3119th of the month Southampt. Jane. 12 Malta* • • N f 7th ' l7th ' l9th ' 27th 3 Dover May ,28 Narile s . &30th of month Papal State* • • • • N sth 15th 25th ofmo Dover • • May 22 reninsui ar : . • • • • 31 s th 15th 25th ofmo Dover .. May 22 Peru .. • • • • 31 7th 17th 27th of mo Southampt. May 24 I . Tuscany* .; • • • • 31 17th of the month Southampt. Arrived West Indies .• • • Math 15th 25thof mo Dover • • 31107 42 West Indies (e i eep -i M 17th of the month Southarapt. Arrived Y Havanna & Nassau) 2d o M ~, The malls to those e f the mo n th .. iSouthanapt • June 3 5 French packet NIA 31 arseires ntries thus marked (*) are conve3 vet by CALD•arfrs.—:NtailS to and fro ' are now despatched and due by fr o m -Ca via the United Si tate every American packet. 1 • , „ calamities may ari se i n the said colony which your Honourable House will ever deplore. That the wrongs inflicted on the said colony have aroused the sympathies of all the neighbouring colonies, and the whole of Southern and Eastern Australia is agitated on the subject of transportation; while io Van Diemen's Land leagues have been entered into among the colonists not to employ convicts arriving after a cer tain day of the last year; at the same time petitioners have heard and believe, that among the convicts active efforts are being made, on every homestead, to intimi date and drive away any free labourers employed by the colonists. That, in this alarming state of things, your petitioners. as deeply concerned in the well-being of the colony of Van Dieinen's Land, humbly, but confidently submit to your Honourable House, that every consideration of jus tice and good faith, religion and morality, as well as of good policy, requires that henceforth no more convicts be sent to the said eolony ; and they submit that it would be grievous indeed if the future nations of Australia should data their alienation from this country from such a cause as their compulsory contamination by the parent state. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Honourable House, taking the premises into serious consideration, will adopt such steps as to your Honourable douse may seem meet, at once to arrest the further transportation of offenders to the colony of Van Diemen's Land. London, May, 1851. BRITISH LADIES' FEMALE EMIGRANT SOCIETY, On Wednesday the seeond annual meeting of this so ciety was held at the Hanover-square Rooms; the Earl of Harrowby in the chair. The CHAIRMA N , in opening the proceedine.s, said the meeting was aware of the increasing alux of e migants from this country to distant colonies, and t hat those emigrants would constitute the pa r eats of future communities, possibly of future em p ires. It was true that some abuses had occurred u pon the passage outwards ; but the object of this s ciety was to protect the female passengers from insult- Ili g danger. This was done by the selection of religious ar d moral matrons, who were generally appointed by the G overnment, and by providing the female emigrants with suitable employment on the voyage. The society re quired support and sympathy, the more particularly at present, when emigration was greatly upon the increase. It appeared, from the report, that the society had from its commencement proposed to itself four objects:— " 1. To establish homes for the reception of the female emigrants, where they may be instructed and prepared, 'prior to their leaving their native country. 2. To pro vide visitation at the ports, where the emigrants are formed into industrial classes, and supplied with means for their instruction and employment during the voyage, through the agency of the visiting committees. 3. To secure the appointment of judicious and efficient matrons :for the superintendence of the young women on the • voyage, through the agency of the matrons' committee. 4'. To form corresponding societies in the colonies for 'le protection and assistance of the female immigrants o u their arrival. " During the past year twelve matrons have been ac cv s pted by her Majesty's Colonial Land and Emigration C ommissioners, and five by the Committee of the Female , migration Fund, on the recommendation of the matrons' mamittee. From many of these letters have been re :tived, and others may be now daily expected. The com i n ittee are anxious to have a supply of matrons in readiness, t h at they may have leisure to prepare for their duties by fore they sail. Sach matrons as are approved by the cn mmittee, while waiting their appointment, meet the s6l iretary weekly, to go through a course of religious rep tiding, such as they will find useful with the female en iigrants, and also to arrange the needlework which wi ll be committed to their charge during the voyage. " The following briefly shows the state of the finances f , 71 the present year:—From April, 1850, to April, La 51—Tot,:l receipts by annual subscriptions, 3081. 4s. 2el .; donations, 360/. 14s. 6d.; collections, 621. 55.; ba iai ice remaining from last year, 4051. 198. 4d. Total, I,i 137/. 3s. Expenditure, 811/. 12s. 6d. Balance in hand A aril, 1851, 325/. 10s. 10d." , The report was adopted, and after the pc.: , ,izg of reso- Irt 'tions in favour of continued support being extended to the society, the meeting separated. Ji EAT- INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS. On Tuesday, May 20 (Wm. Cubist, Esq., President, in the chair), the paper read was "On the Isthmus of Suez, and the ancient Canals of Egypt," by Mr. Jo se ph Glynn, M. Inst. C.E. The author's attention had been directed to this subject when the best route to India was under discussion, and that by the River Euphrates to the Persian Gulf was contended for, as offering advan tages superior to the one now so successfully adopted through Egypt and by the Red Sea. The possibility of the restoration of the ancient canals in the Desert, na turally formed part of the consideration of the practi cability of establishing a communication by water, which should admit of the passage of large vessels from sea to sea. It appeared that about six hundred years before the Christian era, Darius (Hystaspis) completed a canal from the Nile, a little above Bubastes, to the Red Sea, near to Patumos; this canal, which in some places was nearly 150 feet wide and 30 feet in depth, passed through the valley to the Bitter Lakes, and was navi gable for vessels of considerable burden, only whilst the Nile was high, as it was filled from that source, and that it served by its branches for the purposes of irriga tion and for the supply of fresh water to several impor tant cities. The ancients assumed that there existed a difference of level betweea the waters of the Mediter ranean and those of the Red Sea, and precautions were taken to prevent inundations, as for avoiding any mix ture of sea water with that from the Nile. This canal, after falling into decay, was restored about the year 644 of the Christian Era, by the Caliph Omar, who introduced many improvements and changed its junction with the Nile to a spot near Cairo, which had the effect of keeping the navigation open for a longer period during each year. The gradual decadence of Egypt, however, induced the degradation even of this great work, so that after about one hundred and twenty years the channel became choked up, and for above 1,000 years it remained neglected and almost forgotten, until during the French expedition, when Napoleon, who could always find leisure for encouraging the arts of peace, and promoting the interests of Bianco, directed a complete survey to be made by Monsieur Le Pere, an engineer of eminence, whose report and survey and estimate for construction, with a lino of levels from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, were published in De non's " Description de l'Egypt." 1 It was proposed to follow nearly the old line of canal, dividing the lenge.- into four sectio ns , a t suc h l evels as should enable the navigation to continue open for nearly eight months each year. The entire cost was esti mated at about twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling. The direct distance from the northren extremity of the Red Sea to the Mediterranean being about seventy five miles, the length of canal would be about ninety three miles, ,through a low barren sandy plain, offering no obstacles to the speedy execution of any engineering work, and traversing many lagoons and lakes, the level of whose bottoms was stated by the French engineers to be from 20 feet to 54 feet below high water mark in the Red Sea, at Suez. The mean rise of the tide in the Red Sea was found by M. Le Pare to be about 5: feet to 6 feet, and that in the Mediterranean about 1 foot. The surface of the for mer at high water being stated to be about 32i feet (English) above low water at Tyneb in the latter. The various points of elevation above the Mediterra nean would be thus:— High water at Suez ... .., ... 30i feet, F renc h . ••• Low water a t S uez ... ••• 25 „ Mean diff e r ence „ ... ••• ••• 27i a Extreme rise o f th e Ni le at Cairo, in a ordinary seasons ... . ••• i Lowest point o f the Nile, at Cairo, in 39 If 7) ordinary seasons ... ..• 1 6 Mean differe nce n ... ••• ••• 2 71 ~ Consequently, the Nile, during the height of the inun dation, a: Cairo, would be 9 feet above high water level, and 14 feet above low water level at Suez. M. Prony, M. Michel Chevalier, and Colonel Chesney, considered the construction of a canal practicable, in a country where no physical impediments existed, and where labour could be obtained, perhaps, at a cheaper sate than in any other part of the world. In the discussion which ensued, in which Mr. R. Ste phenson, M.P., Colonel Hamilton Smith, Mr. Ayrton, Mr. Greaves, and the author of the paper took part, it was shown from recent careful levellings and personal examination, that the levels o? low water in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean were identical, and, there fore, that the project of M. Le Pere, being based on a presumed difference of upwards of thirty feet between the seas, was not feasible; but that the error in the levels might be accounted for by the fact of the work being executed during a period of war of the most harassing description. It appeared, that the ridge now existing at the end of the Red Sea, towards the Bitter Lakes, consisted of ter tiary strata, the fossils of which were identical with those of the London Basin and the Hill of Montmartre (Paris), and that it had no doubt resulted from a geologi cal upheaval which had materially changed the features of the district. If this position were correct, there was little doubt, that originally the Bitter Lakes formed the head of the Red Sea, and the Ruins of Serapeum, and of other extensive towns around, indicated that the district had, at at a remote epoch, possessed great fer tility, being irrigated by the Canal of Sesostris, by which Lake Temsah was supplied with fresh water ; in fact, that at that period it was undoubtedly a fertile, beautiful region, and really " Goshen," the " Land of Promise." This interesting discussion terminated the business meeting of this part of the session, which was announced to be resumed on the second Tuesday in November. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. THE COUNTRY MARKETS. DERBY SMITHFIELD M ARKET, MAY '2o.—The numb er of fat b e a s t s t o -d ay was larger than that of l as t wee k , and the quality w as genera ll y goo ; the supply f rom th e nort h was large of bullock s an d h e if ers. The supply of sheep and lambs was large. Fat and store calves were considerably less in number than they have been for the last two months. Beef, 5d to sid ; mutton (out of the wool), 5d to 51d; lamb, 7d to Od ; veal, 43 3 d to 5d per lb ; pigs, 7s to Os Od per score. Rough fat, 3s 6d per stone of 14Ibs. Hides, 11d to 2d per lb ; calf skins 2d to 4d per lb. UPPINGHAM, MAY 21.—Wheat 36s to 41s; barley 23a to 25s Od ' • oats 20s to 25 5 . ; b eans 29 s to 32s per quarter. Butter 7d to 71d per lb; eggs 25 for Is. BosTati, MAY 21.—Wheat, red 27s to 38s Od, white 37s to 40s, extra 42s to 00s ; barley 22s to 25s ; oats 17s to 225; beans 27s to 32s ; peas 00i to 00s per quarter. NEWARK, MAY 21 . —Wheat, white 40s to 465, red 38s to 425; barley, malting 23s to 255, grinding 20s to 215 . ; oats, seed, 23s to 265, feed OOs to 003 ; beans, 32s to 34s ; tares 363 to 40s ; malt, 48s to 52s per qr. LYNN, MAY 20—Wheat 30s to 365. fine 38s 40s to 425; barley OOs to OOs, fine OOs; oats OOs to OOs, fine OOs to 00s ; beans Os to is, fine Os to Os per qr. LOUTH, MAY 21.—Wheat 34s to 39s ; barley 219 to 24s ; oats 14s to 16s ; beans 22s to 26s per qr. MELTON MOWBRAY, MAY 20.—Wheat, 38s Od to 44s ; barley 2-is to 26s ; oats 20s to 24s ; beans 28s to 32s per qr. Butter 7d to 8d per lb ; eggs 22 to 24 for ls. EDINBURGH GRAIN MARKET, MAY 21.—We had a fair supply of grain in the market to-day. Sales ready for all sorts, and prices a little up. Top of wheat the same as last week, and the average 8d up. Barley on the top the same as last week, and the average Sd down. Oats on the top Id up, and the average 2d up. Beans on the top Is up, and the average Is 4d up. Unsold -135 qrs wheat, 39 qrs barley, 71 qrs oats, and 00 qrs beans. Top of Wheat ... ... ... 6511 b. 44s Od „ Barley ... ••• .. 57 lb. 32s Od 3, Oats ... ... ••• ... 44ilb. 25s Od „ Beans ... ••• ... 6741 b. 34s Od I EDIN BURGH CATTLE MARKET, MAY 21.—The number of cattle was 611, or 134 less than last :week. Top price of the bast cattle, 63 9d; current, Os to 6s 6d ; secoulary and inferior, from 5s Od to 5s 6d per Dutch stone. A good clearance was effected. The number of sheep and lambs this morning was 1,225, or 476 less than last week. Top price of the best mutton, ti:ld per lb; current, 6d; ewes and inferior sorts, 5d to 51,1 per lb. Lambs, top, 225; current, 18e, and down to 15. s a head. DUNBAR, MAY 20.—Wheat, weighing 001bs, brought 425, and prices to 36s Cd. Barley, weighing 001bs, brought (Os Od, anti prices to 00s Cd. Oats, weighing 43ilbs, brought 2'2s 6d, and prices to 20s Od. Beans and peas, weighing 001bs, brought 00s Od, and prices to OOs Od. CORK, MAT 21. Barrels. Currency. 13 White wheat 223 Od to 00s Od OOs Od-20 store 0 Red wheat 00s 0:1 to 003 Od OOs Od-20 do 0 Barley OO3 Od to 008 Od OOs Od-16 do 0 Bere 62 Oats .......... „les 2d to lls 9d lls Bd-14 do 0 Pigs oos Od to OOs Od OOs Od per cwt Quantity sold at the Highest Prices:- 0 barrels white wheat; 0 red; U barley; 0 bere; 2 oats; 0 pigs. Quantity of Grain and Number of Pigs sold last week : Wheat, 21. Barley, 18. Oats, 483. Pig s , —. PRICES OF BUTTER. CANT. CURRENCY. First quality Second qualit y Fourth quality Fifth quality Sixth quality 36s Sixth quality . ............... . 27s 41 8 Return of Cattl e so ld f or t h e week ending May 17 Pigs, 357. Sh eep , 46 8. 'Cows, 82. CORE. — Flour—First I 1 s 6d to I2s Od ; extra 12s 6d ; seconds, 1086 d to 11 s Od; households 98 to 108 Od; thirds, 78 to 8 8 per cwt. O a t mea l 10 8 to 10 8 6 d; I nd i an meal 7s 6d to 8s 3d; wheat meal, 9s 6d to lOsper cwt. Indian corn 7i 15s Od to 8i Os Od per ton. Bran 8080 d to 858 per ton. Hay—Farmers 208 to 375; average 348; dealers 448 to 52s Od; average 00s per ton. Stz aw— Farmers 10s Od to 25s Od; average 00s; dealers 28s Od to 32s od ; average 001 Od per ton. Bread—Wh ea t en l oa f 50 to 6d ; household loaf 40 to 5d per 41b. Fresh butter, 10d to 12d per lb. Eggs-3s 4d to 3s 6d per hundred. Coals— Newport 14s Od; Lydney 15s ; Landore 14s ; Neath Cultn, 13s 6d per ton. Tallow 388 Od to 40s per cwt. Whisky, 25 o. p., 5s 9d per imperial gallon. Meat —Beef 4d to 60 ; mutton 5d to 7d; veal 4d to 5d ; pork 4d to Od; bacon 7d to 8d ; sausages bd per lb. Hops 61108 to 0/ Os per cwt. Bangor slates 312 s 6d to 3 / 5 8 per ton. Bark—Barbary 71 Os to 8/ Os; Valonia 151 to 01; French 61 Os ; Spanish 01 per ton. Fleece Wool 14s to 15s per stone. Hemp 321 t 0341 per ton. Fish—Scotch herrings 198 to 00s ; red ditto, 26s to 008 per barrel ; Newfoundland, 101 Os to 11/ per ton. Timber—Memel, 80s per ton ; red pine, 31 108; yellow ditto, 2/ 15s per ton; deals, 12s to 15s per 100. Hides— Market 24s to 345; salted 25s to 34s per cwt ; calf skins aid to 3d per lb. Potatoes, white 80 to 10d; Minions, /2d to Isd. Guano—Peruvian, 11/ 108 ; Ichaboe, 81 to 910 s per tor. Tar —Archangel, 199 per barrel. , EXTENS IVE S WINDLING IN FIANCE.--The police have just arrested six individuals for swindling on an exten sive scal e . Th ey became acquainted in the debtors' Prison Of Clichy, and established what they called com mission houses, on the Boulevard St. Martin, and in the Rue de Larochfoucald. They issued pompous circulars to manufacturers and tradesmen, stating that they had found magnificent debouclas for all descriptions of goods. In con sequence, considerable quantities of rnerchamlize were trans mitted to them, and they gave iu return bills of exchange, signed by men of straw. They sold the goods for whatever they would fetch the moment they came into their per son The principal actor in these frauds is the per son who last year organized a service of tilburies between Bordeaux and Tours, for conveying to the former city, for the use of certain speculators, the quotations of the Paris i Bourse, before itvhietyh great c()uld arrarpiviceiiitrinreagfuidlarfrcooursteileiTr heoelovuer "—French P per. were called the "Cabriolets du liable, which hung over them, ths y 13 u i c d l . e t s h t e r ave l mystery NE On the motion of Mr.W WRIT. CUMMING BRUCE, a new writ was ordered for the county of Argyll in the room of Mr. Duncan M'Neill who had accepted the office of one of the judges in Scotland. PETITIONS. Mr. FREWEN presented a petition from Sussex in favour of the Improvement of Towns Bill. An HoN. MEMBER presented two petitions praying for the repeal of the attorneys' certificate duty. Sir JAMES DUKE presented fivo petitions from the city of London, praying for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge. The MASTER of the ROLLS presented a petition from an individual holding the office of Clerk of the Enrolments in the Court of Chancery, complaining that recent acts of the Legislature had completely annihilated the fees of his situation, and praying the House to make some provision for him in the new County Courts Bill. Mr. W. J. FOX presented a petition against the Regium Donum grant. Sir B. HALL presented a petition from St. Pancras in favour of the consolidation of paving boards. Mr. DUNOUFT presented fifteen petitions from Lan cashire and Yorkshire against Papal aggression. Mr. DUNCAN presented two petitions from places in Scotland against the Education Bill. Mr. H. BERKELEY presented a petition from the coachmakers of Bristol, praying for an equalization of the carriage -tax. Sir GEORGE CLERK presented a petition from the Synod of Lothians against the Education Bill for Scot land; also a petition from the same place against the Jew Bill. Mr. KERSHAW presented a petition from Liverpool against the I?egium Donunt. Mr. M. GIBSON presented a petition from Manchester praying for the repeal of the taxes on knowledge ; also a petition from Ipswich against the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. Mr. JOHN O'BRIEN presented petitions from the parishes of St. Michael's, St. John's, and St. Munchin's, in , favour of the Towns Improvement Bill, and the reten tion of the 26th clause. ATTORNEYS' CERTIFICATE DUTY. Lord R. GROSVENOR announced that it was not his intention to bring forward his motion on this subject. ISLINGTON CATTLE MARKET. Mr. WILSON PATTEN moved that ehe Islington Cattle Market Bill be referred to the Committee on Smithfield Market Removal Bill.—Agreed to. E CCLESIASTICAL TITLES BILL. Mr. T. DUNCOMB E gave notice that, on going into Committee on this Bill, he should move that the first clause be postp one d until the House be in possession of the brief, rescript, or letter apostolic on which the said olause is founded. RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. Sir G. CLERK wished to ask the Right Hon. Gen tleman at the head of the Board of Trade what steps had been taken by the Railway Board in relattotn to the two late railway accidents ; and whether, if the Railway Board had not power to adopt regulations for the public safety, it was th e i ntent i on of the Right lion. Gentle man to introduce t Bill for the purpose of enabling that Board to interfere for the safety of life and limb to the public ? Mr. LABOUCHERE said the subject had been for some time, and wts still under the consideration of the Railway Board. With regard to the first ace ident, a very able report had been presented to the Commissioners on the subject by thegentleman who had been smolt down for the purpose, which report he should feel it his duty to lay upon the table of the House.—(E tear, hear.) An inspector hod also been sent down to attend the inquest on the second when it took pl. ice. With regard to the most material part of the .Right Hon. Baronet's inquiry, the propriety of the Ra :lway Com missioners undertaking the special control of railway ar rangements, in order to ensure public safety , he would take the liberty of asking the House to be ve ry cautious before they adopted the opinion that the pi iblic safety would be increased by being placed under the e control of a railway board. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Mr. E . WART rose t o move that it is expedient that the mitigations which have been made in t tie laws in flicting capital punishment in England be oxtended to Scotland, and (as far as possible) to the colonial posses sions of this country. He thought there could, at all events, be no objection on the part of the House to in stitute an inquiry into the law of Scotland on this sub ject. With regard to the colonies, he observed that the laws of several of them presented many anomalies as compared with th ose of England. Tn St. Lucia the penal la ws of Louis thus XlVth. were now in force; in Ceylon the Dutch lawi i prevailed, and arson, coining, homicide, receiving stolen 1 property, and other offences were punishable by death. At the Cape of Good Hope the same enactments existed which were introduced in the time of Charlo is V., and by plemlthe crimes of coining, forgery, housebreaking, rioting, and stealing, were visited with capital punish ment. There still remained, also, at Malta, a remnant of the Justinian code, and among other offences punished by death were attempts to poison, and even the breaking of the quarantine laws. He believed that many of o ur colonies had themselves effected considerable changses in their laws, but he was anxious that the laws of all the colonies should be made conformable to the laws et! England. ..._(liear, bear.) He was not aware whether the House had power to do this. It might be that the principle on which it acted was first to improve the constitution of the colonies, and then allow them to make laws for themselves—a principle to which he was i favourable, but he thought, at the same tiese, -that a 1 suggestion made by the ;House in the shape of a resolution such as he proposed, would have con siderable iefluenee iti the colonial legislative assemblies. Many governors of colonies had already expressed an anxious wish that the law should be assimilated, and he hoped, therefore, that no opposition would be offered to his motioe.--(Hear.) Mr. FOX MAULE said he could himself really see no objection to the proposition of the Hon. Member viz., thee th e l aw of Scotland and the colonies should be assimilated to that of England, but he questioned very much the propriety of the House adopting a resolution of such a vague character. As regarded the colonies, the House could not legislate for them in these matters, and they were themselves the best judges of that which best suited their internal arrangements. Mr. HUME did not think the Right Hon. Gentleman had done justice to the motion of the Hon. Member. With regard to Scotland, Ire should like to see what was practicable done by law ; but in reference to the colonies, where they had the right of self-government, he was disposed to leave the matter in their own hands. Many colonies, however, did not enjoy that privi lege ; and in so far as he was concerned, he thought their criminal laws ought to be assimilated to our own. He hoped, therefore, the Home Secretary would take up the subject and call for the opinion of the House upon it.--(Hear, hear.) Mr. H.A.WES did not deprecate discussion upon this subject, but he certainly was adverse to legislating upon it at; present. The motion, however, was defective so tar as it related to Scotland, because the proper mode of proceeding for altering the law of Scotland was by Bill, and mot by resol u ti on . Coasidering all the House had heard of late on the question of local self governms, ut, he did think it would be highly impolitic to adopt that part of the motion which had reference to the colonies. But, iu point of fact, as regarded the majority of our coloni es, th ere was no necessity for this species of le gislation, because their criminal codes, as nearly as was possible o r expe di ent, h a d a l rea d y been assimilated to those of th e mother country. In proof of this he need only refer-to the pap ers w hi c h had be e n laid before the House in the course of the present session, wherein it would be found that even in colonies whose codes were severer than our own, a desire was always ma nifested by the authorities to follow the example of the mother country, and adopt a system of transpor tation in p re f erence to resorting to the punishment of death.—(Hettr. hear.) Sir G. GREY was understood to say that instructions had been forwarded to Scotland to make the law there in criminal cases as lenient as it is in England.—(Hear.) Mr. EWART said the purpose of his motion had been answered by the discussion which it had given rise to, and he would not, therefore, put the House to the trou ble of dividing upon it. Tao motion was accordingly withdrawn with leave. SECULAR EDUCATION. Mr. W. J. FOX then rose, pursuant to notice, to move that it was expedient to promote the education of the people, in England and Wales, by the establishment of free sehoola for secular instruction, to be supported by local rates, and managed by committees, elected specially for that p urpose b y the ratepayers. He said he rose with s ome encouragement to make this proposi tion, becaus e , at t h e recent anniversary of the British and Foreign School Society, the Noble Lord at the head of the Government, who presided over the meeting, ex pressed hi s conv i ct i on that the present was a fitting time for melting additional efforts to promote the educa tion of the people. The proposition, therefore, that he was nose making to the House was not in its object ill-timed. Ile dienot, however, think the Noble Lord's language was sufficient to warrant him in expecting that the Noble Lord would honour this motion with his sup port, but it did w arran t hi m i n ex p ect i ng .that i t would HOUSE OF COMMOIVS, May 22. The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'clock. NEW WRIT. On the motion of Mr. HAYTER a new writ was ordered for the Borough of Newry, in the room of Vis count Newry, deceased. PRIVATE BUSINESS. Mr. A. HASTIE moved that the order of the Com mittee of Selection of the 11 th April, nominating the Committee on the Caledonian Railway (Motherwell Branch Extension and Lesinahagow Branches Lease) Bill, Group 15 of Railway Bills, be discharged: that the Bill be withdrawn. That leave be given to bring in a Bill to enable the Caledonian Railway Company to pro vide for the construction of certain Branch Railways in the county or Lanark. That on the said Bill being pre sented, and read the first time, it be referred to the Examiners of Petitions for Private Bills, with leave to sit and proceed to-morrow.—Agreed to. THIRD READINGS. The following Bills were read a third time and passed Chorley Waterworks. Eastern Union Railway. Edinburgh Royal Asylum for the Insane. Liverpool Docks (Alteration of Management, &c.). Weston-super-Mere Improvement and Market. CONSIDERATION OF BILLS. The following Bills were considered and agreed to:— Brackley Roads Consolidation. Great Western Railway (Railways to connect the Bir mingham and Oxford Junction Railway with the Lon don and North-Western Railway at;Birmingham, &c.). Hayling Bridge and Causeway. North Shields Quays and Improvements. Sunderland Improvement. FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 28, 1851. be received in no obstructive spirit by the Government. Ho thought this was peculiary the time when efforts for education were necessary, because passing events were such as to make them sensible of the position of their country in this particular. In almost every department, military, constitutional, and literary, there was room for self-congratulation, but on this one of education, it was not a question whether England was first among the nations, but ninth, tenth, or twelfth. If they looked, too, at their own internal condition—at the mass of pauperism and crime which existed among them, they would also see what necessity there was for an educa tional movement. They heard a great deal of the over -crowded state of the labour-market, but if they looked at the report of the inspectors they would find that in many districts, while there was a super fluity of uneducated labour, there was a great deficiency of that which required skill and education. The constitution of the country supposed knowledge and education in all subjects, and called upon all citizens to discharge duties which could not be discharged by un educated men. The means now pursued for the promo tion of education were not sufficient to carry out a system of education sufficient for the wants of the peo ple. To prove this, he would rely only on the reports of the Government Inspectors themselves; all of which were nothing more than a continued illustration of the necessity of some measure being introduced for the compulsory adoption of a general system of education. He did not mean to charge the Committee with inten tional partiality, but apparent and inevitable partiality was inherent in the system. There was another point which gave the appearance of partiality to the adminis tration of these grants. Of all the school inspectors ap pointed there were only three ,who did not belong to one profession, and that was the Church. There was also another show of partiality induced by the in structions which the Committee of Council laid down in regard to the bestowment of grants. Money was given, not in proportion to the educational wants of a district or locality, but the amount of volun tary subscriptions which were collected for the purposes of education. Ho found that an application for a grant was refused, because no particular religious education was given in the school, yet in many schools of this description, a more sound and really moral and religious education was afforded than in nanny establishments professing to be of a higher character. In rural districts the greatest difficulties had to be encountered in the formation of charitable schools, and the owners and occupiers of land contributed very trifling sums towards the funds required for the purpose. Hence the necessity became apparent for the interposition of the Government to make all classes pay in proportion to their means to the education of the people. Another reason why the present system could not accomplish the purposes of a national education was, that a religious difficulty stood in the way, and that people refused to pay for that which did not agree with their religious tenets. The Hon. Member then quoted passages from the reports of Mr. Kennedy and other school inspectors, for the purpose of showing the neces sity of some measure being devised for the extension of a wise and enlightened system of secular education. The inspectors did not speak merely from the condition of the great bulk of the schools actually in existence; their impressions were derived from the best class of schools, and they had seen these schools in their best condition. We need look no further than this impor tant fact, however, that the schools actually existing were twice as large as was necessary for the accommo dation of the children who attended them. In the gene ral return of the schools aided by Government grants, amounting to 3,255 schools, it was stated that the ac commodation for children was adequate to 539,000, but that the average daily attendance was only 246,979. With regard to the administration of the Government grant, too, in his opinion there had been very consider able partiality exhibited —not an intentional but an in evitable partiality—which was inherent in the system, and which could not but indispose a great portion of the people to giving their cordial co-operation in carrying out that sy s t em . N ow i t could not be doubted that the' British and Foreign School Society had effected much good throughout the country; but what figure did it cut in the grant for public education? In the year 1840, when the public grant was only 60,000/. the amounts granted to the National Church Schools and the British and Foreign Schools were about equal; being 5,246/. to the one, and 4,2204 to the other. Ira the next year the grant was increased, and the disparity showed itself. The Church Schools received 13,1974, and the B r i t i s h an d Fo reign School s on l y 10,945/. In 1849 the disparity became extraordinary, and the Church Schools obtained 39,574/. out of the public grant, and the British and Foreign Schools only 3,3504 ; and last year the public money applied to Church Schools was 24,720/., while that to the British and Foreign Schools was only 3861. Now he did not complain of intentional partiality in the distri bution of the grant. He believed the discrepancy was in separable from the fact that the religious difficulty, and other difficulties incidental to education, had thrown the British and Foreign Society back in its claims on the public funds. But could it be said that this disparity represented the relative position, labour, and usefulness of those two great societies? And was not an injurious effect necessarily produced thereby on the public mind? But whatever was the cause, there was the result. Another point in which the present system exhibited partiality, though it was not intentional, was, that of all the inspectors appointed, there were but three who did not belong to the Established Church; and these three wero absolutely requisite —one for the British and Fo reign, one for the Wesleyan, and one for the Roman Catholic schools. Another appearance of partiality was produced by the restrictions laid down by the Privy Council in the bestowal of grants. It gave the least help where most was needed. It gave in proportion, not to the educational wants of a locality, but to the amount of the voluntary subscriptions raised in that locality. Another partiality, which had an injurious tendency in certain lo calities, was this—poorratepayers in the rural districts did not look with complacency at finding themselves rated to give an education to pauper children, which they wore unable to bestow upon their own children—(Hear)—and it was stated in the third annual report for 1850 that the high standard of workhouse education was fast ceasing to be exceptional. But the worst of the partial results of the existing system was the inequality with which the support of schools pressed upon the different classes, and especially upon the clergy. The Hon. Gentleman here read the list of subscribers to one vil lage school, from which it appeared that to raise the sum of 28/., the expense of that school for one year, six landlords and farmers subscribed ss. a piece, the princi pal landowner in the parish three guineas, a friend of the rector Si., and the poor rector himself 17s. 10s.— (Hear, hear.) Surely a state of things liko that showed the absolute necessity for the intervention of Govern ment, so far as to call upon every man to pay according to his means: There was an aversion in persons to pay towards the support of that which did not agree with their theological opinions, and yet the present system, in a strange manner, whilst giving a stern denial to merely secular education, patronised every kind and species of theology, applied the public money to any creed, patronised error as regularly as truth, and seemed to rest on the conviction that there was some evil in mere instruction which might be rectified even by a bad theology.—(Hear, hear.) The British and Foreign Schools Society had as exclusive a creed as the National School Society themselves. And where, he asked, was the wisdom, the justice, or the propriety of calling upon Protestants to supply funds for the support of schools in which they had been told Madonnas were wor shipped by the children, and which schools were em plo) ed in the promulgation of that to which the country took the most violent exception?—(Hear, hear.) Every, one had now to pay for something which he dis believed, and he in turn became the occasion of taxation upon others for that which he believed and they did not believe. When he mentioned an educational rate, he trusted it would not seem to be an enterprise involved in expense which a nation like this ought to grudge. The best calculation which had been made proved that in the county of Lancaster twopence in the pound would be sufficient for the erection of all the schools which might be required for the whole of the children of that county, and he believed we were paying directly as much now es we need pay for a complete system of national edu cation. But we could not do better than take the expe rience of America upon this matter. He held in his hand a report signed by Mr. Henry Barnard, a com missioner appointed by Rhode Island in 1846, to com pare the different modes of public education throughout the various states of the Union. And he stated in re ference to places where the system had been carried out to completion, that whilst it gave a good education it had diminished the expense 01 both public and private instruction. The resolution which he (Mr. Fox) now submitted to the House asserted the desirableness of local government as well as of local taxation for the support or these schools; and he believed that by this means facilities would bo given for preventing some of the evils which were frequently anticipated as connected with the introduction of is new system. He was desirous of effect ing the separation of secular and theological instruction; but it should be recollected that the separation or anni hilation of either of these modes was a totally different thing. What he wished was that the schoolmaster should fulfil his work of secular instruction, and thus prepare and expand the mind for that religious training which then the minister of the chapel or the clergyman of the parish might bestow, and which he only could bestow with efficiency. Religion required an intellectual atmos phere, and other faculties were to bo trained besides those which were to be exercised in the reception of re ligious truths and principles; and therefore the advo cates of secular instruction were, in fact, rendering much more important service towards a religious education than were those who made the appearance of the one the sole object of their instruction, and threw the other into comparative disregard. Ho contended, then, that they were bound to separate secular and religious in struction, or, without it, there was no chance whatever of a general education in this country. They could produce no combination but upon this system. And was it wholesome that chil dren should be trained up from their earliest_ t youth within-the lines of sectarian demarcation? . Was i_ f n e o l i o g w o good d_ t t o o them rememberin after fte th r the impressions t p o re l s o s o i k ob b s ac w k b t i o e te w irzh t o b o e l b feted from them upon religious points, nitoe, and to have some better opinionofthtahnostehweyhocoduilfd oh of have theirif they r,i lg i h o a u d s b d e iff en er k en ep ee t s s ? epa T ra b t e e r a e n . c l i v :l4r o t o e n o : i cz oii mixed religious or coherence in the present system of a n i t and secular instruction. What with a or the Athanasian Creed tiil:ittnYuhltai`p:ti x -hcaetiA.oralel e B,' for instance? Why, they were treated by themselves as perfectly dtsticct in their own proceedings; for there as to a ee n r i t i a n i u o te so o b f o C ol or t n o ci r l w epo h r i t ch , minlysturupcotned hetbteseienuslpaerc,teonrsd, ' not upon the religious instruction. Did n o t this at once dc:troy the the o ry of their being indis so l u bl e, or there thebeing on any ee advantage ul d no tb be separated in s o from the other? Besides, them together that religious education bad been to a certain extent provided; and the voluntary principle would do that, both in the Es tablished Church and in the DisseLting community. But he would not say the voluntary principle in the Esta blished Church, because it was the bounden duty of the clergyman to attend to the religion of the children as well us the adults ; and let the work be / well one th clergyma n , w h ere was the necessity ford the h inter- ference of the schoolmaster in the teaching of religion? He was urging nothing new or unheard of; or for which he had not the sanction of authority. In an episcopal charge delivered two years ago in St. Paul's, the Bishop, in commenting upon the questioa of education, observed that however valuable masters of schools might he in other respects, they seldom found them possessed of ability to communicate real religion; that the doctrines which led to practical godliness must be inculcated by those whose office it was to expound the Bible; that the literary character of the school might depend on the master, but the religious character must depend on the clergy. The separation of religious and secular educa tion was in fact ected on in practice in all scholastic establishments, such as the Royal Naval School and others, over which the Government had control, just as it would be in the schools which he proposed. It was only when they considered instruction in a charitable point of view that they gave the preponderance to reli gious teaching. The Bible was not a book which should be given into the hands of poor ignorant children for the purpose of teaching them to read. Such was the opinion of Dr. Hook —an opinion which was sustained by the authority of one of the most eminent men this coun try ever produced, whose philosophy was as beneficent as his eloquence was brilliant, and whose piety was as unquestionable as his mighty talent—he meant Edmund Burke—who, in a speech delivered some eighty years ago in this House, in the year 1772, observed that the Bible was no summary of doctrines regularly digestedebut a venerable and multifarious record of Di vide promises. Such a book was not therefore the only fit and suitable work to be entrusted to the compara tively uninformed schoolmaster for the teaching of the ignorant children under his charge. They had all expe rience of that in th's country, for it had not been so ef fectual a barrier against criminality as had been sup posed. For twelve consecutive years the criminal tables showed an increase of criminality in the imperfectly educated. Such tables tested the value of sound instruc tion by a constantly diminishing ratio in the per -tentage of criminals well taught; they showed a constantly dimi nishing ratio in the per -tentage not taught at all, but a constantly increasing ratio in the imperfectly taught. The decrease in the former was 33 5-10 to 31 5-10 per cent., while the increase in the latter was from 53 1-10 to 59 5-10 per cent. Religious teaching failed, in fact, because it was not sufficiently combined with secular education. The Irish national schools were much better conducted in respect to the separation of theological from secular instruction than the schools in this coun try. There was a larger portion of the secular element in the instruction given, and the faculties of the children were, therefore, more fully developed. The result was, that from 1845 to 1849 (the years to which the re turns he had got applied), the number of those com mitted who could read and write, instead of increasing, as in this country, decreased from 26 3-10 per cent. of the whole criminal population in the first -named year, to 17 6-10 per cent. in 1849 ; whilst the number of criminals who could neither read nor write increased in a corresponding proportion —a result exactly the re verse of what took place in this country. In the re port of the inspector of the Lancashire Sunday schools, analogous results were traced, which proved that Sun day-school teaching required something in addition to its ordinary character to render it efficacious. It was necessary to do something, as the voluntary system did not meet the emergency, and was not capable of exten sion so as to meet it. If, therefore, not on the ground of preference, at least on the ground of necessity, they were thrown back on some such plan as that contained in the proposition he should submit to the House, that conviction was growing and spreading throughout the country, especially among those whose co-operation was necessary to the success of a general system of educa tion by the working classes. A number of such schools had already been established in London, where the edu cation, according to the judgment of Mr. Motley, the inspector of the British Weslyan denominational schools, was of a high order. The same gentleman also spoke of the great and growing attention which this educational problem excited amongst the great mercantile and ma nufacturing interests of the North, and he added that he had been invited to inspect most superior educational institutions which had risen out of the efforts of the working classes, aided by their employers, to elevate themselves in the:scale of intelligence. He thanked the House for it.; attention, and he had only to say that at the present time, amidst the conflicts of political parties —amidst the collision of rival churches and hierarchies —amidst the strife of sects, and the war of different classes, systems, and interests —amidst the collision of their various systems of policy, whether commercial or constitutional —amidst the competition of nations and the development of industrial and artistic energies, nothing could better engage the attention of the Legis lature than building up an educational fabric of national greatness and prosperity, founded on the broad basis of national intelligence. The Hon. Gentleman concluded with the motion of which he had given notice:—" That it is expedient to promote the education of the people in England and Wales, by the establishment of free schools for secular instruction, to be supported by local rates, and managed by committees, elected specially for that purpose by the ratepayers." Sir G. GREY said the Hon. Gentleman had begun his speech by referring to some observations made by the First Lord of the Treasury on the subject of education out of that House, and from them he anti cipated that though the Government might not concur with him in the proposition expressed in his resolution, it would not be met by them in an obstructive spirit. He assured the Honourable Gentleman, though he could not consent to his resolution in the form in which it was expressed, ho should not meet in a spirit of opposition any attempt that might be made to extesd the means of sound and useful education amongst the children of the great body of the people of this kingdom; and still less would he oppose any attempt to draw the different classes together, with a view to combining the different religious denominations in the promotion of that important subject. He did not dispute that there were great deficiencies in their present educational sys tem, and which were inherent in that system, as applied to the great body of the people. But he must also re mind the House of the great increase which had of late taken place in the means of education among the lower clases—an increase not only in the number of the schools, but also in the improved condition of the teachers, their qualifications for the discharge of their duties, and the improved character of the educ ition im parted. Ho admitted, at the same time, that much re mained to be done; but they were now asked to assent to the proposition that it is expedient to promote the education of the people of England and Wales by the establishment of free schools for secular instruction, to be supported by local rates, and managed by com mittees elected for that purpose by the ratepayers. So far as the application of local rates to supply existing deficiencies in education, he was not prepared to differ with the Hon. Gentleman. There could be no reasonable distinction drawn between the applica tion of local rates and the appropriation of a portion of the general taxation of the country to the pro motion of education; and there might be advan tages from local management, provided efficient in inspection of the schools were secured. To that part of the plen he had no objection; but he must hesitate be fore adopting a resolution on the expediency of enforcing a system of local rates for the purpose, because the cir cumstances of the different parts of the country were so essentially dissimilar, that though the system might be applicable to the country generally, it would not apply universally to all parts. They had a precedent in sllow tag a portion of the local rates for baths and wash houses, and in a Bill now before the House, for apply ing part of the local rates to provide better dwellings for the poor. If they might be applied, then, to the improvement of the moral, social, and physical condi tion of the poor, there could be no objection to their 1 application in the advancement of the more important object of sound education. But everything depended on what the character of that education was to be; and ho was bound to say he felt the same insuperable objec tion to the terms of the resolution that ho did to the Honourable Gentleman's Bill of last year, which the House had rejected, on the discussion of the second reading, by a very large majority. His objection was, that the principle of the Honourable Gentleman's motion was that the application of the local funds should be limited to the promotion of secular education, from which religious education should bo excluded altogether. Such schools would, if they succeeded, supersede those now in existence. The Hon. Gentleman said it was not fair to call on parties to support any system of religi ous education of w hi c h t h ey d i d not approve ; but the Hon. Gentlema n did not get rid of a similar objectionfor by his plan of applyi ng t h e rates, whether loca l or gene ral, to the purpo ses o f secu l ar educat i on on l y; there were large numbers who contributed to the rates who regarded the comm un i cat i on o f re li g i ous instruction along with secul a r e d ucat i on as i n di spensa bl e . i Besides, it should be remembered that the frequenters of poor schools had nowhere else to obtain religious instruction, whereas the students in seminaries and colleges for the better classes had other souroes for religious instruction, while they were usually arrived at a time of life when the reli g ious impressions and opinions were already formed; whereas, for the communication of cate c h et i cal instruction the children of the poor could not be got to the fiord from er a of frequent the church, and if they wereto of exclude their schools the practice of the reading God, they would deprive them of their only source of religious instruction. That was the pri nc i p l e of the Hon. Gentleman's present proposition, and of his Bill last year, to which he had then objected and still objected; and the repetition of that proposition now must meet with the same opposition from the Government that it had last year. The Hon. Gentleman had referred to o ne Gentleman national schools; but according to the Hon. Gentleman's proposition these sohools would be age deprived of participation in the local rates. The Hon. Gentleman had also referred to the opinion of Dr. Hook; but Dr. Hook had never expressed an opinion hostile to the reading of the Bible in schools with a view to religious in but th Reverend Gentleman thought it nught not to he used in schools for the mere purpose of teaching children to read. lie (Sir G. 1 Grey) doubted too. *f sehoolna ___ ~ ~ 1 they really could prevent a "'er rimy, conscious of his responsibility, from conveying religious instruction to the children com mitted to his care. The Hon. Gentleman had taken oc casion to allude to what he called the rival plan devised at Manchester. Some time back Mr. Entwistle and some other gentlemen submitted to him the heads of a system of enucation to be applicable principally, if not solely, to the very populous districts of Manchester and Salford, and stated that they meant to propose a Bill to Parliam ent f or the purpose not this session, us there would not he ti me , b ut next sess i on. The scheme was based on th e com bi nation of the representativeis, tricts— of dif ferent r e li g i ous d enominations in those large d the system to be supported out of the rates which sere to be a ppli ca bl e to the maintenance of existing schools in which religion was taught. Every religious denomi- nation was represented on their committee, and not withetaeding the objections of some Roman Catholic priests, the Roman Catholic laymen remained on the committee, and the committee did not despair of devi sing means of including the Roman Catholics:: It was expected, too, they would be able to include Leeds in its operation, and with the probability of such a scheme succeeding it would be most inexpedient to affirm a re solution which would exclude religious instruction from secular education. He trusted that the system he re terred to would be brought forward successfully, and that it would b e th e means f or augmenting the means o f education and of combining the different classes of the community in one common effort for that laudable object. Mr. HUME said the Right Hon. Baronet seemed to forget the great point at issue, the necessity of a general education for the poorer classes of the country. As the Hon. Member for Oldham had shown the clear con nexion between ignerance and crime, it behoved the Government t o a t ten d to the question. The Right Hon. Baronet said it was impossible to deal with the question; but it was done in the United States with the greatest success. He (Mr. Hume) agreed with his Hon. Friend that it was the duty of the country to educate the poorer classes for their respective conditions in life; and also that it should be at the cost of the State. In Ireland the Catholic priests objected to education without religion-- hence the godless colleges; while the Right Hon. Baronet said that he could not agree to any education that was purely secular and unconnected with the teaching of true religion; but there were upwards of twenty sects in England, each of them teaching a different faith. Who was to say which was the true religion? In the United States the villages of 50 individuals were obliged to main tain a school for six months, while those of 100 were obliged to maintain one a year. This was done without religious difference, because religion was excluded from them, and the children brought up alone in a know ledge of their duties to society. Were the citizens of the United States less moral or less intelligent than those of England? The example of the Americans, at least in this instance, should be looked to. They were bringing up a moral, virtuous generation of citizens, capable of fulfilling ail their duties; while in England the different sects were quarrelling about who should have a monopoly of the education of the people. His flea. Friend did not desire to set religions instruction aside; on the contrary, he desired to fit the youthful mind for its due reception. It was a duty specially worthy of a senate to legislate upon this subject; and it was a dis grace to England, rich, powerful, and populous, that there should be such an amount of crime co-existent and arising, as was proved, entirely out of the ignorance of that class which should be the best support of the State. The present system created the most serious difference between the several classes of the community; the contrary one produced the best effects on the United States — Massachusetts, for instance, whore the children of the poor were educated at the expense of the State. In Edinburgh the result of an inquiry instituted into the antecedents of five hundred prisoners proved that crime was transmitted from generation to generation in marl families, because of the ignorance and neglect in which they had been left. He therefore called ell men of property to consider whether it w ould not be better to adopt the system of his Hon. Friend, and by increauing education reduce the amount of crime- He hailed the Lancashire plan of education with great satisfaction; and if that could be carried out his Hon. Friend would be satisfied. Each parish should have the power of rating itself, for the support of the schools, as the parishes already had for baths and washhouses. Under these circumstances he hoped the Noble Lord at the head of the Government, who with his family had always been the great supporters of education, would not allow himself to be diverted by trivial differences, but would take the broad course. Surely Englishmen might do that which was done in this matter by Ame ricans. Mr. A. B. HOPE should oppose the motion, because he was desirotis of giving all creeds the most perfect liberty of action. The resolution of the Hon. Member for Oldham was, in his opinion, one more fraught with danger to the principle of religious liberty than, perhaps, any other that had ever been laid before Parliament. If a purely secular education could be given, be (Mr. Hope) would not object to it; but that was impossible by tee very laws of nature.—(Hear, hear.) If dogmatic religion was not taught in the schools under this system of the Hen. Member, some religion would neces sarily be taught, if it was none other than the negation of all faith. The Hon. Gentleman asked what had the multiplication table to do wida religion, and last year he had asked what had religion to do with the enjoyment of the beauties, of nature; but to be taught anything a child should be. taught to trace things to their rudi ments, and how, in that case, could a knowledge of the Supreme Being be shut out from his mind? Whether the most elementary education was imparted, therefore, or the most scientific, the result was identical. At the very lowest, these schools would have, consequently, to teach Deism or Atheism. A compulsory system of edu cation was instituted by the motion, and a scheme set up side by side with the established religion which taught these, and from which the poor could not escape. Therefore it was that be (Mr. II.) considered the scheme of the Hon. Member as so fraught with danger; and on this ground, as well as upon many others which he should not trouble the House to detail, he should oppose the motion. He was at one with the Hon. Gentle man in his winh to improve the moral condition of the people of this country; but he could not see why the Anglo-Saxon principle of decentralization, which had been adopted in trade and all other matters, should not be allowed freely to exist in the matter of education. Either religious toleration should be abolished, and a compulsory religion enforced as well as a compulsory education; or education in respect of religion should be left perfectly free. He had no objection to ha being made as free as possible, nor would he oppose taxation for the purpose; but he was of opinion that the only way to obtain a national system was to distribute the amount contributed by the State, in the ratio of their wants, among the several religious denominations of the country. lie was for the adoption of a system analogous to that of the London University, and he was opposed to the gigantic scheme which it proposed of centralisation. Colonel THOMPSON said the Hon. Gentleman had overlooked the fact that there were different establish ments for each denomination of Dissenters. Was there no way of getting rid of the great obstacle to a general education presented by religious difference? Why should not an hour a day be assigned for religious in struction ? Why should the religious question be forced on public education? It was not mixed up with private education. Boys and girls could learn French or Italian without it; why not the poor learn as well the art of reading? He thought the various sects were afraid of the spread of human knowledge. The State should take advantage .of it. Mr. TRELAWNY denied the proposition of the Hon. Member for Maidstone, that not to teach religion was a xegetion of religion. He contended that education, as a means of repressing crime, should be adopted by the State as;weil as any other mode of repressing it. The amount expended on the punishment of criminals at the present moment was enormous ; and it behoved the country to take up the subject. He could not compre hend the course of the Noble Lord in demanding an nually such a miserable pittance as 150,0001. for educa tion. If education was worth anything, it was worth more than that. Education would have put an end to the Ecclesiastical Tales Bill; and he believed, if the Go vernment asked for such a sum as would give a good general education to the poor, that Parliament would not refuse it, notwithstanding the selfish opposition of the middle classes to taxation. Sor far as he (Mr. Trelawny) was concerned, there was no sacrifice which he W 5 not prepared to make on the subject. Mr. W. FATTEN agreed with the Hon. Member for Montrose as to the necessity for education at the public t he expense; but in his own county, as well as throughout country generally, a false step would b e takes, and education not founded on religion. He believed that there was a strong feeling in the country at large that religion should be combined with education ; it was so in L ancas hi re , where great efforts were made to educate the people, and where those succeeded best which were based upon religion. If no other plan of education suc ceeded, he might, perhaps, support that of the Hon. Member; but until all those in process failed, he should oppose the motion of the Hon. Member, He was of ei . - Mon that the scheme now in agitation in Manchester, and though he yv luded to by his Right Hon. Friend, aasdmthitetedontehebeos-t and hh g e r m ea a t in re ta lu in c adapted for the counts equ polarity al l s p o o t p ' theula alas. rival It et however, a d ia t e h e a , t this was he voted against the resolution. Mr. M. GIBSON said the first the Right Hon. Gentlemn the Government werepart of the s p eec h o f a favourable gave h i ra t o greatthe Lancashire that scheme of education. The part of the Hon. Mem bees speech to which he was favourable was that which re ferred to the ' • , of whether a general but then, if'established or sectarian the result principle a rate. He doubted, however, system of rates could be established, they must not be denominational rates. If such kind of rates were adopted, would be that a special majority would be able to enf orce on th e m i nority of their fellow-parishioners that system of religious teaching to which the minority might be opposed. If then such a system were en force, it would put the whole country into a reli gious conflict. But if rates were to be levied without reference to religious denomination, it did not necessarily follow that the schools would be irreli gious schools, as they had been termed. This plan was to give elementary instruction, and to set apart a special separate time for teaching religious matters. It ap peared to him that the mere giving of primary instruc tion was so good in itself that it could not fail of pro ducing great moral effects. He had doubts of the pro priey of allowing schoolmasters to be also religious teachers. From what he had been informed, he was inclined to doubt whether Ministers were the proper par ties to have the controlling power over the religious studies of children. In a speech delivered by the Rev. F. Grose at a public meeting, it was asserted that the more a man advanced in knowledge the more he receded from religion. Now he differed from the sentiments of the Rev. Gentleman—on the contrary, he belived the more that a man was taught, the more likely he was to become religious and moral. The Rev, Gentleman fur ther said, we ought to weave Church of England or Evangelical principles with education. If we separated. secular and religious education, we should separate whale God had joined together. Now, he was sure the people of England would never agree to a system of public i rating, when they saw what clergymen proposed to do with the money if they got it, and the system of secta rian education they proposed to establish. He had s een the operation of secular education ' 13 I •Hollere d ,, and o glum, and other countries, and he defied any one to say those countries were less moral than ' England. It was not. right to throw on the supporters of his Hon. Friend's plan the charge of a desire to give education without religion; the object , his Hon. Friend had was to give useful secular instruction, and he should therefore sup - port it. r. W IGRAM laid the grow i ng interest in the su . b j sets.elved that the real question was not, whether e 4 Lt- 1