The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-12 00:00:00

THE. PRESS.

vising and extending the minutes of the Committee
of Council on Education, the Home Secretary de-
clared that the subsequent resolutions were practi-
cally inadmissible. On abstract principles, much
might be said for them. But the resolutions in
themselves were inoperative, and if it were attempted
to embody them in some definite statutes, very
serious difficulties would be encountered, leading, in
his belief, to most intractable animosities. This dis-
tinction between a theoretical approval and a legisla
tive condemnation Sir George went on to apply to
the successive propositions comprised in the series,
especially as regarded the proposed machinery for
inspection, the interference with charitable trusts, and
the compromise suggested between the secular and
the religious systems of instruction. To the com-
pulsory rate for educational purposes he also objected,
but. stated that the Government were preparing a
bill to sanction the levy of a voluntary rate in every
district where a certain majority of ratepayers might
pass a vote with that object.
_ _

Mr. HENLEY, under the changed aspect of tha
scheme, consented to withdraw his amendment, that
the chairman should leave the chair, extending his
approval, however, only to the first resolution.
Mr. GLADSTONE, however, objected to this abrupt
termination to a debate which had already occupied
the house for two nights.

Mr. BALL defended the existing voluntary system
of education, and wished to leave it undisturbed to
its natural development.
Sir S. NORTHCOTE, notwithstanding the abandon-
ment of the scheme by its author, proceeded to corn•
ment upon many of the features it had presented,
and expressed his opinion of its inadequacy and
impolicy. He noticed many particulars in which
no provision either existed or was proposed for sup-
plying the educational wants of the country.
Mr. DRUMMOND drew a broad distinction between
instruction and education. The utmost efforts of the
Legislature could but find means for instructing
children to a certain degree, while no amount of
instruction could make an hone't man.

After a few words from Mr. W. MILEs,

➢lr. GLADSTONE noticed the technical inconve-
nience attending the mode of dealing with an im-
portant question by means of preliminary resolutions,
and complained of the conduct of Lord John Russell
in retreating from his position in the midst of a
formal debate. By this stratagem the defeat of the
resolutions had been forestalled. With some exemp-
tions he was convinced that the sentiment of the
house was adverse to those resolutions, and, for his
own part, the right hon. member declared he found
nothing in them to approve except the intention of
their author.

Loud calls for a division followed the close of Mr.
Gladstone's address, and the question was put from
the chair, when
Mr. DISRAELI hoped that hon. members would be
saved the perplexing task of dividing upon an issue
which was now presented in so entangled a shape.
He recapitulated the turns and changes which the
question had undergone during the two nights'
debate. He commented in sarcastic terms upon the
rapid manoeuvre executed by Lord John Russell in
withdrawing half his resolutions from impending
discomfiture, and recommended him to abandon also
the remainder, rather than divide the house prac-
tically upon nothing.
Lord J. RUSSELL briefly replied, declining to with-
draw the selected moiety of his resolutions.
Lord PALMERSTON appealed to Mr. Henley to with-
draw his amendment and allow the division to be
taken the first resolution.

The feeling of the house was, however, against
this arrangement, and the committee divided on the
question that the chairman should leave the chair.

The numbers were
Ayes
Noes

Majority against the resolutions 102
On resuming, the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Bill was
passed through committee.
The houso rose at half-past one o'clock.

A TREATY made by the Hospodar Stirhey with
Maximilian von Haber, for the construction of a
railway from Orsova, through Krasova and Bucharest,
to Braila, has been laid before the Wallachian Divan
for its sanction. The cenvention, it appears, was
signed at Dresden on the 2nd of February last. The
Divan has sanctioned the scheme ; but letters from
Bucharest. state that competent persons deny the
validity of the concession, or the power of the tem-
porary governor of Wallachia to make any such
compact.
THE ADVANTAGES OF AUSTRIAN OCCUPATION IN
ITALY is shown in some late published orison returns.
The number of inmates in the prisons of Romagna
in 1850, 10,436 ; 1851, 12479 ; 1852, 11,787; 1853,
12,035; 1854, 13,006. In Bologna one, during the
winter and spring of 1855, there v•ere"no less than
800 robberies, and 80 robberies with' violence, be-
sides 20 invasions of the banditti'

Corrtsponttittt.

"THE PRESS " AND ITS CONTEMPORARIES

TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."
Sir,—Peace is declared, and I consider we owe it,
under God, to the line taken by your journal last
autumn immediately after the fall of Sebastopol. I
know not by whom your leading art Hes on
that event were written, nor do I care to know.
All 1 know is that they were the subject of
conversation in all political society, and were
quoted and commented on by every local jour-
nal in the kingdom. While the Times and other
powerful papers were clamouring for more war and
bloodshed, for the humiliation and dismemberment
of Russia, your journal surveyed the question in a
calm and statesmanlike manner, and showed how the
real and legitimate objects of the war were attained,
or at any rate were now attainable, by honest straight-
forward negotiation. Encouragement from such an
influential quarter, and the assurance that any
reasonable concessions would be well received by a
powerful and united party in England, soon induced
our enemy to make proposals of negotiation. At
this stage THE PRESS surpassed its contemporaries
in early information as remarkably as it had done
before in statesmanlike views. For weeks and weeks
the assertion of THE PRESS that negotiations had
commenced, was ignored or roundly contradicted by
many of its powerful rivals, and its early and exclu-
sive information called " guess-work," and " canards "
Now, however, the tables are completely turned, and
the more the past numbers of THE PRESS are• ex-
amined by the light of current events, the higher its
character will stand.

➢ly chief object, then, in the present communica •
Lion, is to beg that you will at once publish in a
connected form the leading articles on the war
which have appeared in THE PRESS since the fall of
Sebastopol, with the dates on which they appeared,
and a brit running commentary upon the manner in
which they were received by your chief opponents. I
would suggest that they be published in the form of
a supplement equal in size to your ordinary edition.
This double number of THE PRESS would, I think,
meet with a sale unparalleled in the history of
journalism.—Your obedient servant,
March 31. A CAMBRIDGE M.A.

MR. ALBERT SMITH AND HIS " FLIMSY."

TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—ln your paper of last week I was surprised
to see a paragraph respecting my late appearance at
Windsor Castle, purporting to be sent by some ad-
vertising agents, at my desire, with a request for its
gratuitous insertion. The reader could receive but
one impression—that I had been writing puffs about
myself and then circulating them.
I never desired anybody to do anything of the
kind. I do not even know the agents you mentioned,
and I read the paragraph for the first time in your
columns —I have the honour to remain, your obe-
dient servant,

ALBERT SMITH.
12, Percy-street, Bedford-square,
April 7th. 1856.
[The circular referred to was given room in
THE PRESS of last week at the request of Messrs.
Abbott and Barton, on behalf of Mr. Albert Smith.
The publication appears to have caused some annoy-
ance to Mr. Smith. Really we are not to blame.
Those most respectable advertisement agents,
Messrs. Abbott and Barton, forwarded the paragraph
on flimsy to us for gratuitous insertion ; a request
complied with, It was a capital specimen of the
" puff direct," and we hope it produced all the
benefit anticipated.-Ed. PRESS.]

THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA
was kept by the Highland Society, on Wednesday
evening, at the Freemasons' Tavern, with the usual
ceremonious festivity. His Grace the Duke of Argyll
occupied the post of president, and was ushered to
his seat with much pomp, preceded by stewards and
pipers, and surrounded by members of the society.
After the usual routine of toasts, that of her Majesty
being received with tremendous cheers and High-
land honours, the whole company standing with one
foot on the table, the chairman gave the toast of the
evening, "The Battle of Alexandria, and the memory
of the Highlanders who had fallen there." He said
that in that toast he would include the memories o
Alma and Inkermann and the other events of the
war which was now happily concluded. He ex-
pressed a hope that the firm alliance now subsisting
between England and Franco would prevent the
necessity of commemorating the deaths of any more
victims of such another struggle as that of Alexan-
dria. The " Army and Navy," " Foreign Ministers,"
"Chiefs and Clans," followed, and were duly responded
to. The meeting was exceedingly brilliant, several
offictrs of the anity and navy, and many gentlemen
in Highland costume, being present,

A