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

Downwards to climb, and backwards to advance.

The death of Sir CHARLES HOTHAM, the Governor of Victoria,
creates a vacancy which it will be difficult to fill up. Sir CHARLES ap-
pears to have united more of those qualities which his position espe-
cially requires than are ususlly found in the same individual. With
naval firmness—a quality surely very needful in one who is appointed
to administer the laws in a half lawless community—the deceased
Governor combined a liberality of sentiment and a skill in diplomacy
not always to be met with in sailors. To his possession of the
latter quality, though somewhat slurred over by the Times, Lord
MALMESBURY bears unimpeachable testimony. Sir C. HOTHAM negotiated
ono of the most important commercial treaties of this generation ;
and that with a people requiring " uncommon tact and patience " in
the management of them It was this treaty which opened " the
" internal trade of South America to Europe through the vast dm-
" nels of the Parana and Paraguay, which pierce it for 1,200 and
" 1,500 miles."

A DANIEL COME TO JUDGMENT.

Alll-" Widow Alschree."
Have ye heard o' the judge from Athlone?
Och hone!

From stuff-gown to scarlet he's grown,
Och hone!

Oh, he tickled the hearts
0' the boys in thim parts,
And now he can stand all alone,
Och hone

0' pledges he's broke a full score,
Or more ;

And parties he's sold to the fore,
Galore !

Ould Ireland now,
From the hall to the plough,
Expicts from him illigant law,
Asthore!

Far so spotless was this Mister Keogh,
It's thrue !
You might thry him and tempt till all's blue,
Might you !
For the purtiest place
He'd not risk a disgrace,
Or be friendly with Whig or Peel crew,
Hurroo !

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APRIL 12, 1856.

But Peelite and Whig were one mind,
And jined !

It's little to stop them ye'll find
When inclined !
Says they, " What'll you be? "
" What is there? " says he.
" There's this gown—and whatever's behind
0' that kind."

And this Mimber they all thought so shy,
My eye!

Niver thought o' his ould party-c ry-.
For why ?
_

But, " Begorra," says he,
" As ye've that berth for mo,
Ye may put down the scat for Athlono
Yer own !"

There's a moral contained in my song.
Not long ;
When a Brass band's man rails for a wrong,
Quite strong,
If to win him ye sigh,
Jist bid—and ye'll buy ;
For they're all like the judge from Athlone,
Och hone!

THE PREMIER'S EDUCATION SPEECH.

(LAST NIGHT.)
IThe hour at which we go to press unfortunately compels us to insert the following
report a short time before the speech itself can be delivered; but the material, if not
the textual, accuracy of the version will be found unimpeachable.]
- -

Lord PALMERSTON : Sir, I humbly conceive that, instead of talking
about education, the House had better have carried out the original
intention of her Majesty's Government, and gone into Committee of
Supply to-night. However, as instead of going into Supply the House
preferred " going to Johnny "—(laughter)—as my friend the Hon.
Member for Sheffield says my late friend Lord Melbourne advised him
to do, and as the Government has been so repeatedly called upon to
declare its educational policy, I shall not shrink from the challenge.
The resolutions which " Johnny "—I beg pardon—(laughter)—which
the Noble Lord the Member for London has laid before us go, to a
certain extent—for, like himself, they go no great length—(laughter)—
towards enacting compulsory education. Now, it seems to me that all
education is compulsory. At least, I know, for myself, that if I had
not been compelled to learn I should have known precious little.
(Hear, hear.) You coerce the baby to learn its alphabet by withhold-
ing the lump of sugar until it has articulated the letter ; you coerce
young frock-and-trousers with hints at the birch ; and you
coerce the big schoolboy with the wax-ended cane. You
compel the collegian into his rooms with the bulldog ; and you
coerce the young man into moral habits with the wife and
the mother-in law. (Laughter.) I might go further, and show
how political knowledge is coerced into the candidate by cabbage
stalks and defunct cats, and knowledge as to the matters on which he
legislates is beaten into the statesman by hostile majorities. There-
fore the principle of compulsory education is not a new one. But I
am reminded by those who have paid more attention to the subject
than I have done, that it is compulsion, applied to the parent, not the
child, that my noble friend "Johnny"—(laughter)—advocates. This,
Sir, I confess is another view of the case. This, Sir, may be an inroad
upon our liberties, upon our right of private judgment and action, a
robbery of those treasures which have been handed down to us from
the remotest antiquity, and which it is our duty to transmit to poste-
rity intact and undefiled (Loud cheers). I own, Sir, that it appears to
me that the same benignant nature, which as I explained elsewhere,
made all babies good, has provided that all parents shall be educators.
(Hear, hear.) I. say that it is impossible for a parent to escape the
duty of trning his child, either personally or by proxy. • Why,
Sir, I don't 'now my noble friend Johnny's notions, but it would be to
me quite impossible to live in a house with an untrained child.
(Laughter). The child forces you to teach him. He breaks your
windows, he burns your papers, he spills ink over your white trousers,
he cuts offyour:cat's tail, and he makes himself such a general and per-
vading nuisance, that teach him self-government and good morals you
must. I defy you to leave him untaught. (Hear, hear). There, Sir,
is the compulsory principle, and one established by nature, and I see
not why a resolution of this House should gild refined gold and paint
the lily, and throw a perfume on the violet. (Cheers.) But, Sir,
although I object to the plan of my friend Johnny, it must not be
supposed that I subscribe to the views of lion. members opposite.
For instance, they affirm that all educational processes should involve
a religious element, and that my noble friend's plan would become
secular. I thoroughly agree that religion is a very important thing,
a most important and invaluable thing. Without religion we should
have had none of our sumptuous and noble cathedrals, our elegant
Churches, ay, and our highly respectable, if less ornamented dissent-
ing chapels. Without religion, we should have had none of our
I‘!iBsioluiry and Tract Societies, and a hundred other institutions, the
glory of the country. Had there never been any religion in these
islands, my noble friend's family would have been far poorer than it
is, for there would have been no church-lands to endow it. (Laughter.)