The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

have fallen from 154 weekly in August to 51, 44, 41
in October, and in the last week to 27. Eighteen
persons died of cancer, 118 of consumption, 51 of
apoplexy and paralysis, 35 of disease of heart, and 19
of dropsy, 105 of bronchitis and pneumonia;
women died in childbirth. Twenty-seven violent
deaths were registered. In the week the births of
737 boys and 790 girls, in all 1,527 children, were
registered in London. In the ten corresponding
weeks of the years 1845-54 the average number was
1,411.

THE QUARTERLY RETURN.
The Registrar-General issued a return on Tuesday
last comprising the births and deaths registered in
England during the summer quarter that ended on
September 30, 1855 ; and the marriages in the
quarter that ended June 30, 1855. The returns of
deaths (says the Registrar-General) exhibit as their
general result a favorable state of the health of the
country in summer, and a striking improvement on
the returns of the summer quarter of the previous
year. The diminution of the number of marriages
indicates some pressure on the resources of the
people from the high price of bread . but the low
rate of mortality implies that under the English
system of poor laws, imperfect as it is, the labouring
classes suffer less distress than the workmen of the
Continent, who have no legal right, under any cir•
cumstances, to relief.
MARRIAGES.-38,454 marriages were registered in
the quarter that ended on June 30, or less by 1,935
than the number in the corresponding quarter of the
previous year, when the number of marriages was'
considerably above the average.
BIRTHS.-154,834 births were registered in the
quarter that ended September 30. This number
only exceeds by 99 the number of births in the
summer quarter of the year 1854, and indicates a
rate of birth (3,265) above the average of the season
(3.196 annually).
INCREASE OF POPULATION.-154,834 births and
87,934 deaths were registered. The natural increase
of the population of England and Wales in the three
months is, therefore, 60,900, which makes the gain
of people in nine months in this part of the empire
157,147.
INCREASE IN PRICES.—Among the most impor-
tant circumstances that affect the number of births,
deaths, and marriages, must be placed the state of
trade, the prices of food, and the weather. The
prices of Consols in the three quarters that ended in
September, 1853, 1854, and 1855, were 97, 931, and
901 ; so the interest of money rose in the proportion
of the reciprocals of these numbers. The prices of
wheat in the same seasons were 51s. 10d., 635. 10d.,
and 765. ld. a quarter; of beef, by the carcase, in
the London markets, 51d., 51d., and 51d. a pound.
The prices of these articles of food, therefore,
rose, iu the interval of two years, wheat 48 per cent.,
beef 15 per eery. Mutton, in the three summer
quarters, was sold at 01d., Od., and 6d. a pound.
Potatoes, by the Waterside-market, Southwark, were
sold at 117 s. 6d., 80s., and 745. a ton. The fall of 37
per cent. in the price of an article of food which is
consumed at the tables of all classes, and by persons
of all ages and both sexes, is an important set-off
against the rise in the price of wheat, and may partly
account for the fact that the public health is better—
the rate of mortality lower—than it was in the
summer of 1853.
The decrease of mortality in the quarter is
ascribed by the Registrar to the improved sanitary
arrangements generally adopted throughout the
country—a measure, he observes, which will save
more lives at home than have ever• been lost to us
abroad in the years of our greatest losses in war.

LORD GODERICH ON ADULT EDUCATION.
AT the annual soiree of the RIPON Mechanics' Insti-
tution, on Friday evening last, Lord Goderich ad-
dressed the audience at some length I upon the sub-
ject of mechanics' institutes and their reference to
education. His lordship commenced by observing
that, although the difference of the state of public
feeling at the commencement of this century and its
present age is much in favour of 1855, yet we had
not arrived at a time when we might rest satisfied
with that which was done and doing in the matter of
public education
It is tnie that if one who had lived one hundred years
ago was to return to existence now he would be astonished
at the advance we have made in this matter of education,
and think that he had awoke into some Utopian and almost
impossible state of existence; nevertheless we, who live
in the midst of this state of things, must at least feel that
we have advanced in reality but a little way in the work
which has been set us to do, and that we have but begun
to solve that important question—one of the most impoi-
tant which the present age is called upon to solve—the
question of spreading over every rank, from the highest
to the lowest of the population, the blessings and benefits
of education.
After alluding to the origin of mechanics' institutes,
and paying a high tribute to the worth and talents of
the late Dr. Birkbeck, Lord Goderich observed that he
thought such institutions were peculiarly adapted to

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the genius of the English people, although he was
not prepared to admit that in their present state they
were perfect for their object :
I believe that mechanics' institutions have their peculiar
dangers and their peculiar imperfections. It is a great
advantage, doubtless, when they are combined, as here,
with a series of classes. I perfectly agree with what fell
from your chairman, when he said that the classes were
the most important part of the mechanics' institution.
( Hear, hear.) I enter into no question as to what else
you may add to those classes (though anything whatever
that you add to them which will attract one man to attend
to them is an advantage) ; but if you mean yourmechanies'
institutions to be the colleges of the poorer classes—if you
mean them to afford the source of sound education, the
basis of those institutions must be the classes, otherwise
you surround them with great danger, because you place
before the members a library—it may be a large and ex-
tensive library, such as that which belongs to this institu-
tion—which has necessarily been formed to a certain extent
by accident, being the collections and donations of various
persons, entertaining different views upon certain principles
and questions—into a library thus formed you turn loose
the members of your institution to seek for knowledge for
themselves.

After enforcing the necessity of establishing and
maintaining classes as the basis of education, the
noble lord alluded to the success with which Mr.
Maurice has met in establishing a working man's
college in London, but admitted that the scheme
presented clink:46es which might prove too much at
first for the well intentioned people at Ripon. Lord
Goderich then alluded to the futility of the common
objection against education as unfitting a man for his
particular trade, by holding up the intelligence, and
at the same time the bravery and courageous endu-
zance, of our soldiers in the present war as a direct
proof to the contrary. Upon the question of State
aid to education he freely expressed his belief that
the State, from various cause, would do little or
nothing
We, who have been sitting in the House of Commons
last session—Mr. Lascelles, Mr. Beckett, and myself—
have come away with the conviction that you are not
likely to get much aid to public education from the State,
beyond that which ►s afforded at present, or an extension
of the present system. We spent night after night in die-
cuss.ng and quarrelling over three educational bills
brought in by three distinguished gentlemen—all leaders
of large and important parties—but what was the result ,
I believe the house, as a body, was earnestly desirous to do
whatever was possible in national education, but the result
was precisely nothing. We wasted no time, but effected
nothing; and, whatever may be my or any other person's
I opinion upon the mighty question of State education, upon
which it is not my business to speak to-night, 1 have
arrived at this conclusion, that if we wait until we get
more State for education we shall have to wait lung
enough. (Hear, hear.)
Glancing at the movement in favour of the ad-
vancement of merit to high office, Lord Goderich
complimented the meeting on the steps taken by the
Government on that point, and concluded his
lengthened adslress by an appeal to all classes to
endeavour to secure the education of the people,
and not to rest or slacken in the work until that

point be quite attained
It is said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing,
and it is true, fur you cannot stop the people from having
knowledge. Knowledge of soma kind they will have,
and it rests with you whether it shall be sound, valuable,
and useful; whether it shall be a knowledge which shall
make them good citizens of their country ; cr whether it
shall be a knowledge which will render them liable to be
led away by others, and to be deceived by every falsehood.
What we are called upon to do is little compared with that
which former generations had to do. We are apt to pass
ourselves off as the most enlightened and the most public-
spirited people that the world has ever seen ; but when we
look at that which we have done, and compare it with the
work of past ages, we shall see how little we have really
accomplished in the matter of education. Past ages built
the universities and endowed them more largely than we
have endowed mechanics' institutes. It was the piety of
your ancestors which built that !Muster and raised thxt
abbey which we all know so well, and if we would foil' w
their steps, and emulate their virtues, we must build a
temple far nobler than they built--a temple for the
human mind.

THE CONCORDAT BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND ROME has
been much discussed at Venice and Milan, and double
seem to be felt as to its ever being ratified ; much
astonishment has been expressed at its ever having
arrived at its present stage, considering the known
anxiety of the Emperor to maintain his Government
independent of all external power.
A IzommisT CONSPIRACY is said to have been
discovered in Paris, and the arrest in connection with
it of a duke bearing one of the oldest names in France.
It is said that the affair is identical with one reported
in a legal journal the other day, a feature of which
was the deposit of a sum of seven thousand francs
in a country bank for the purpose of suborning
workmen.
- -

THE DufzE AND DUCHESS Olr MONTPENSIER are
now at the castle of Cornigliano, where the Countess
of Neuilly, the widow of Louis Philippe, and the
Duke and Duchess of Nemours, are staying. The
Duke and Duchess of Aumale are expected at Genoa.

!

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tittlion nttilittnti.

THE Speaker will issue the writs for Southwark and

Wells in about ten days' time.
SounrwAax.—Sir Charles Napier has been attend-
ing a series of public meetings during, the week, to
declare his principles. Mr. Scovell also has attended
several meetings of his friends, and the contest so
far promises to be well sustained on both sides.
PLYMotrtn.—Mr. R. P. Collier on Tuesday ad.
dressed his constituents at some length. Adverting
to the leading topic of the day, Mr. Collier expressed
his opinion that he thought the present Government
had taken a " vigorous, decided, and successful
course wtth regard to the war," and that he believed
the surest path to peace was that of success, guided
by energy and resolution. Touching freely upon
home topics, and upon the coarse which he hadpur-
sued in the last session of Parliament, Mr. Collier
concluded his addreSs by calling attention to the
successful results of his motion upon Russian trade
in the Baltic and Black Seas, and by a denial of the
statement that he had been offered a judgeship in
Calcutta.
Wem.s.—The canvass of Captain Jolliffe, the Con-
servative member, is highly satisfactory. Mr. Ser-
geant Kinglake arrived at the city on Saturday last,
and, after issuing his address, commenced an active
house to-house canvass. A correspondent of the
Morning Herald atfords us the following little
anecdote :
About a fortnight before Mr. Tudway's death, when all
hope of his recovery was at an end, this little city was
visited by its other representative, the Right Hon. W. G.
Hayter, the patronage Secretary of the Treasury. For ten
days successively the light honourable gentleman drove
punctually into the city from the friend's house where he
was staying, three miles distant, and remained until late in
the evening perambulating the streets, calling upon various
electors, accosting them, and making the moat affectionate
inquiries into their welfare. Singularly enough, while he
was here a rumour got into circulation that still more
patronage was to be placed at the disposal of the Wells
electors, notwithstanding the astounding published list of
seventy places already bestowed, and, by way of an earnest,
an odd berth or two was given to deserving applicants. We
are glad to be able to state that, despite the persuasions of
Mr. Haytei, the canvass of the Sergeant has been the re-
verse of encouraging, while Captain Jolliffe has everywhere
met with the utmost cordiality. The mayor has issued a
notice containing various clauses of the " Corrupt Prac-
tices Prevention Act of to warn the electors against
the consequences of bribery and treating. The clause
having reference to the promises of place, office, and em-
ployment, to procure votes, has an especial bearing upon
the recent visit of Mr. Hayter.

MEATH.—Mr. 0. Farrell, a resident landlord, is
about to contest this borough.
ADDRESSES TO CONSTITUENTS.
DURHAM.—Various members during this and the
preceding week have met their constituents, and ad •
dressed their electors either with a review of the last
session or with an explanation of their past, conduct
in Parliament. Among the first was Mr. Atherton,
M.P., who on Wednesday week met a few of his en
thusiastic constituents at Durham, and favored
them with a tedious and ungrammatical retrospect of
the past session. Mr. Atherton commenced by ex-
plaining that he did nut agree with any one who said
this was a moment of no political excitement—in his
opinion it was one of the highest and most absorbing
political excitement, because the politics of the
moment were the politics of the management of the
war :
He did not think that Parliament on this subject pro-
perly represented the people of England, because he was
persuaded that there was but one opinion. There was no
two opinions—there was no varying shades of opinion—
there was one sentiment pervaded all—that the war which
they had undertaken must be carried on, and must be
pursued with vigour, in order that its termination might be
speedy, and its results triumphant.
With respect to the war itself, the hon. gentleman
at some length congratulated his constituents upon
its important results, and then, with an amiable can-
dour which did credit to his character, Mr. Atherton
proceeded to explain how it was that, having sup-
ported Lord Aberdeen through "thick and thin," to
use a vulgar but expressive phrase, he felt it his
duty—when he perceived that if Mr. Roebuck's
motion were carried Lord Aberdeen must resign, and
that the success of Mr. Roebuck's motion was inevi-
table—to leave his venerable leader and vote for Mr.
Roebuck. After an agreeable fling at the " factious
spirit of the Opposition," the amiable member for
Durham enlarged upon the delicate susceptibility of
the world in general and this nation in particular,
and declared that the " bare idea of the Opposition
taking their seats on the Ministerial benches at this
crisis would be fraught with dire calamity to the
nation and the world at large." Mr. Atherton then
with much kindly commiseration deplored the lost
reputations of Mr. Gladstone, Sir James Graham,
and Mr. Sidney Herbert, and alluded in touching
terms to the unfortunate position of his former vene-
rated leader, Lord John Russell. Suggesting finally,