The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-04 00:00:00

LONDON. .VO.VDAY. APRIL 4.

schools. It is not hazarding too much to assert, that
in the vast Lumber of these the funds might be em-
ployed in a manner far more advantageous to the
public than is at present the cue. 'the mode in
which this should be effected would doubtless offer
some difficulties, in order that on the one side local
rights, and on the other public interests, should not
be neglected, but none which might not be easily
subdued. The word local suggests a final remark.
Although it may be granted that all private in-
terests and the agencies through • inch they aro
manifested, should be subordinate iu the execution of
a large and comprehensive plan, it must still be held
as contrary to the genius and character of the nation.
that all kcal rights should merge in a great cen-
tralising system. Neither of the local plans brought
before the public have yet solved the problem of
I public education under the conditions which Eng-
lishmen require. But we do not despair of seeing
some plan pat forward to which these objections do
not attach. Ratepayers might surely be vested
with the power of determining when or where new
schools should be founded, and also what alterations
in existing schools should be necessary. Towns
wouldreadily exercise so useful apowcr if it wcregiven
I them, and in rural districts, where the impulse to
start a school did not exist, a plan could be devised
for administering an useful stimulus from without.
Being responsible for the support of schools, it is but
just that local bodies should have a voice in deter-
mining what schools should exist. How far any
central council should bo responsible for the whole
nation, and whether the mere subjection of the
schools to national inspection would be sufficient, is a
question that Parliament should decide.
The measure which Lord Jolts ItussELL was
mainly instrumental in bringing forward fourteen
years ago, although productive of some very great
results, has nevertheless proved that unless a plan
of education can be devised by which lust energies
may be excited and assisted and sectarian influences
be subdued or disregarded, nothing will be done. We
trust that Lord Jolts will not hesitate to meet this
great difficulty with the manliness he has often
hitherto displayed, and that ere long we shall have a
measure of education which shall wipe away from
us the reproach of being the only great Anglo-
Saxon community in which men are allowed to grow
up without the ordinary means of de%elopiug their
intellects, or of properly communicating with their
brethren.

Tu.NltillT the curtain drawn up on the second act
of the great 'Nahum. iitary drama of 1:v.13. The
programme is varied and long. It contains notice-
that foretell debates on election abominations, aggras
sated assaults, Australian packet irregulatities, and
railway accidents. The muster roll of the Militia is
to be investigated by Mr. Mot ; the Taxes on
Know aro to be again denounced by their
iad►lutignblu enemy, Mr. MILNER G;I:JON : the
CZ111141:1 l lergy Reserves Bill is to be urged to
that point it ought long ago to have reached, whilst
the Jew Biil is to bo advanced with nil the speed
that slog coach " tho Lords" will allow. A score

of other things are set down for Parliamentary
discussion and pubhe approval—as the list in another
column bears a ituess—but no single item in the
whole catalogue can touch in immediate interest the
subject that is to-night to be inaugurated, when Lord
intim Itussi:hh rises to explain the intentions of
het Msjeety's Government on National Education.
"In respect of educational efforts," says the
lreAniinstie Revives. in its current number, Tahiti
can cry shame to England. King KAMEIIANIEUA is
richer in educational apparatus than Queen Vic-
/onto. While the latter can only point to a veiled
Committee of Council on Education, with a pally
annual sum of 150,000 f., or less than the three hun-
dredth pill of the national revenue at her disposal,
the former has his responsible Minister of l'ublic
Instruction, with 3,000 f. a year, or one-third of the
national it taut', for his school requirements."
Do King KAmEII.%IISIIA and his dark subjects look
with more respect than Queen 'VIC-SORIA amid her
lieges upon the need of education? Undoubtedly
not. We may back any sixth-form boy in an English
grammar school to hold forth on the necessity and
advantages of education in a manner that would
make every Tahitian, from IiAMEUAMLIIA down-
wards, listen with astonishment. We seldom read
an assize report without finding that a judge laments
that the prisoners brought before him have had
no opportunity of receiving instruction. Clergy-
men ate for ever pointing out the awful igno-
rance which prevails in certain quarters, and
the terrible tffccts which of necessity spring from
it. Philanthropists look upon the masses of the un-
educated with pity. Politicians contemplate them
with dread—religions persons of all denominations
with horror. From the highest to the lowest, we are
all Tossed to uphold the cause of education,—to do
battle with ignorance. The want of success arises
perhaps from our astonishing unanimity ; we are so
determined that the nation shall be taught, that we
each fight for the exclusive possession of the right to
teach. And here lies the whole of the difficulty.
In May, 1839, when Lord Jolts ItussEth was ad-
vocating the measure of public education, which was
afterwards adopted, the Bishop of LONDON, at
Willis's Rooms,. expressed, in one sentence, the feel-
ing which, us long as it operates, must utterly crush
all hopes of ever obtaining a perfect national system.
"I say," were his Lordship of LONDON'S words,
"that WE have a right to the exclusive education of
those who belong to our own church."
The President of the Wesleyan Conference, the Chief
Rabbi, the Chief Elder of the Plymouth Brethren,
Cardinal Itlst:mart, and the acknowledged heads of
all other churches, will make the same assertion,
and we can scarcely imagine that the Bishop
of LoNnoN would, for a moment, deny their
right to do so. Our own simple answer to the claim
is, to each and every claimant—Yon claim as a right
what you either cannot or will not perform as a duty.
We say to the Church of England as we say to all
other religious denominations in the kingdom, you
never have educated all your children, and we do
not believe you ever can. It is impossible to point
out a single religious denomination in England—with
the exception of the Quakers, and the exception here
is easily explained—which educates the whole
of its children. There will allays bo found in
each, a large number of children who from want of
means or opportunity have been suffered to grow up
with their minds untended sad uncared for. But
this is not the whole of the case; not only do we
deny that the denominations can educate the children
of the nation, we assert that the very subject which
forms the groundwork of their claim, is the worst
taught. Consult the records of the Inspectors of
Schools—a mine of knowledge—and you will
find that the Inspectors, whether lay or clerical,
whether of church schools, or of schools of other
denominations, are almost unanimous in affirming
that the examinations on theological subjects are
the most unsatisfactory of all—that neither religion
nor knowledge has been inculcated—that the soul
and the intellect are equally uninstructed. There is
no necessary connexion between theological koow-
ledge and religious feeling, and this is a satisfactory
answer to the whole outcry which has palsied the
peelers of every statesman who has meddled with
the education question for the last twenty years.
The church, nut the school, is the place for proper
religious teaching. Yet theological squabbles alone
deprive us of a National System of Education.
No statesman, more particularly a Minister, is
likely to risk any portion of his popularity, or his
us, by making the reply in terms so
as those which we have just stated.
It is enough for him to say to the denominations—
whether you succeed or not in imparting religious
knowledge, or educating religious feeling, is your
own affair. If you fail, your failure be on your
own head. Remember, however, that all sects merge
in a higher unity—The Nation. The nation, with
one voice, declares that its units, the men and the
women who make up the whole body, must, in order
to vindicate their position as members of the whole,
prove their acquaintance with a minimum of those
branches of knowledge, without which a human
being, in the present day, most stand aloof,
except as a mere machine, from all the great move-
ments of society. Reading, writing, arithmetic,
some formal instruction in the laws of language, are
no longer luxuries—they are necessaries. If our
population is not to be degraded below that of any
other in Europe, it most possess these. If you,
while you are quarrelling about other things, pre-
vent us from acting in this direction, we must take
the law in our own hands, and act without you.
It is a shame and a sin that children should
be allowed in England to come to years of
maturity without those bare elements of knowledge,
without which they are as much behind the great
majority of their countrymen as if they had been
born maimed, or deficient in members necessary to
perform the ordinary functions of life. This is what
s Minister should, say—whether Lord JOUN
RUSSELL will say anything like it to-night we know
not. But of one thing we are certain, no propo-
sition can possibly succeed in conciliating all the
various and diff..rent sects, and any attempt to pro-
ceed on that principle must foreshadow its own
failure.
An important subject to be considered when any
plan of national education is a subject of debate
is that of funds. A minister of education will ever
have the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his
eye, when ho proposes any plan that may trench
upon the ways and means of the latter. Nevertheless,
the means for a comprehensive system of national
education, are not so completely dependent upos
the co-operation of a Chancellor of the Exchequer
in England, as in Tahiti. We have vast funds appli-
cable to any plan which may meet the appro.
bation of Parliament. The country is studded
with schoolhouses, built by pious founders in
ages past, which are as available now as at the time
when they were built. There are endowments at-
tached to these houses which are still bearing fruit,
although not in a direction in which the nation has
any immediate concern. The houses are, in many
eases, used u private re,adences• the endowments
received without auy—or very slight—services being
rendered in return. Many of these foundations, in
short, have degenerated into sinecures. In so common
a work as Carlisle's Endowed Grammar Schools, we
hare an account of four hundred and seventy-five

FRANCE.

PARIS, SVNDAT EVENING.
The Moniteur of to-day announces the reception
by the Emperor of M. de Parra, Envoy Extraordi-
nary and Minister Plenipotentiary. of the Queen of
Portugal, with the reply of her Majesty to the letter
of meal of the Count Marescalchi.
Despatches from Vienna state that Field Marshal
Radetaky had published a decree nullifj log all mort-
gages made by the Lombard refugees on their landed
property since 1847.
Despatches from Vienna announce the reception of
an official note from the Russian court, disavowing
any intention on the part of Prince Menschikoft to
disturb the integrity of the Ottoman empire, and
stating that the immediate object of his mission was
to exact the due fulfilment of a treaty made with
Turkey two years ago. With respect to the Holy
Places, Russia was equally bound, with the other in-
terested powers, to a 'settlement of this important
question.
A telegraphic despatch, dated Madrid, March 20,
announces that the Government has presented to the
Cortes several projects of law relating to the extinc-
tion of the floating debt, to the creation of thirty
millions of annual renter, in three per cents.; to
the acknowledgment of 101 per cent. interest for the
non-dinverted coupons; to constitutional reform; to
the consecration of the principle of substitution in
the transmission of property to the eldest son.
Although it is understood that some of the opposi-
tion journals have lately received a private warning
that systematic hostility, however veiled in covert
phraseology, and tempered by moderate language,
will not be permitted, the Assemblee Nationale seems
nothing daunted, for in its leading article to-day it
plainly speaks of the empire as no regular govern-
ment, but a mere expedient, which even its founder
must be well aware cannot last long. The occasion
for this sortie is the appearance of a pamphlet, which
has thrown the Pays into extacies, entitled "Speeches
and Messages of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte from his
return to France to December 2, 1832." This pam-
phlet has been distributed gratuitously to ever
member of the Senate and Corps Legisiatif, and is
of course understood to be a direct emanation
from the head of the government. It com-
prises the famous electioneering address of
1848, in which Louis Napoleon, disclaiming the
character of an "ambitious man," dreaming some-
times of the " Empire and war," sometimes of putting
"subversive theories "into practice,said he would hold
hie " honour pledged to leave to his successor at the
end of four years power strengthened, liberty intact,
a real progress established "—the speech in the Con-
stituent Assembly, after his election, when he swore
the solemn oath to the republic and tho constitution
—the celebrated letter to Edgar Ney, in which he
sod, " the French republic did not send an army to
Rome to crash Italian liberty; I thus understand the
reestablishment of the temporal power of the
Pope, a general amnesty, the secularisation of the
administration, the Code Napoleon, and a liberal
government." The pointed-out and oft-repeated
disclaimers of any intention to make a coup tretat,
including the allusion to his oath which disarmed
the suspicions of the Assembly in November, 1830—
the speech on opening the Senate and Corps Legis-
latif, on March 29th, 1832, when he said, "Let us
by the republic, it threatens no one, and may re-
Moue everybody "—the affected doubts and hesita-
tion about the empire, expressed at Lyons so recently
milleptember 20th, 1832—the decidedy Imperial tone
emesal in less than a month later at Bordeaux—
sad, finally, the speech at St. Cloud on December 1,
1832, when he said, I assume to-day with the
crown the name of Napoleon 111., because the logic
of the people has already given it me by their accla-
mations." The reperusal of all these documents
with the attention they deserve, convinces
the Assembles more and more of the exceptional
and revolutionary character of the present epoch.
Since the language and acts of the President of the
Republic, now Emperor of the French, have hem so
dissimilar within the space of a few days, it is be be
presumed that the situation was continually
and that his impressions, apparently so con
were rapid adaptations to the "ever varying hose
Such is the substance of the Assembles's appreciatima
of the collection. And lest it should be answered
that although while the republic lasted it was neces-
sary for the head of the state frequently to change
the apparent course of his policy,
.yet this necessity
cannot recur now that the empire is established, pas-
sages are quoted from the pamphlet to show, out of
Louis Napoleon's own month, that his uncle fell be-
cause, pressed by the necessities of war, he assumed
too much personal power, and that measures of
" public safety" can only remain in operation for a
short time.

The Asumbla, in conclusion, says ironically in
its article : _ .

Ihe impression produced by the pamphlet is that the
author of these pages considers himself in an especial man-
ner as invested with an exceptional and extraordinary mis-
sion. We cannot contradict such a sentiment which is our
own in more pants of view than one. We have often in-
sisted upon this exceptional character, the inevitable con-
sequence of a revolutionary epoch, a character which
ap-
pears in the strongest possible light when contrasted with
all that constitutes the regular and permanent condition of
governments sad societies.
According to a Constantinople correspondent of
the Union, Colonel Rose, after he had sent for the
English fleet, changed his mind, in consequence of
what passed at an interview with Prince Mensehi-
koff, and sent despatches by a French steamer to Adm.
Dnndas, begging him not to stir from Malta. I have
not seen this stated anywhere else. The English
squadron was at anchor at Malta on the 27th ult.,
and it was said they had orders to remain in port
until further instructions.
The grand ball given by the city of Paris to the
Emperor and Empress last night in the splendid
rooms of the Hotel-de-Ville, passed without any in-
cident worthy of note. About 4,000 invitations
were issued.
M. de Saint Cheron, who for the last four years
has conducted the well-known legitimist corres-
pondence called " Lettres Parisiennes," renounced
the undertaking on April 1, and the correspondence
will no longer be carried on.
I The Cturrier de Mariodlo announces that the bank

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 4, ,853.

lof exchange of that city has voted the creation of a
central bank of exchange in Paris:
A shock of an earthquake wee distinctly felt at
Havre at 11 o'clock on Friday last. It lasted two

minutes.

I understand that at the Odeon on Friday even-
ing_ during the performance of M. Foulard's
" Honneur et Argent" in the presence of the Ent-
purer, the audience indulged in a political tnanifesta-
uon, almost amounting to an emeute. This
piece, after being refused at the Francais has
' obtained extraordinary success on the opposite bank
of the Seine. The hero of the drama is placed in a
variety of trying situations, but throughout the five
acts steadily withstands the temptations of " Money,"
and adopts "Honour" as his guiding star. The pit
caught at several sentences, written doubtless with-
out the least political purpose, and applauded
them in such a marked way as to show
lunmistakeably, that in their opinion the principal
spectator of the play had need of the mural lesson
conveyed by it. The manager of the theatre was so
frightened that ho left the house, and when the Em-
peror sent for him was not to be found. This is the
first demonstration of the kind which Louis Napoleon
has encountered since his accession to absolute power.
At the Bourse, yesterday, ltentes and Batik Stuck
were active, and generally advancing. The Three
per Cents., for cash, advanced 30c., while, for the ac-
count, they fell oe. The Four-and-a-Half per Cents.,
for cash, rose 30c., and for the account, 70e. Bank
Stock further advanced lof. At the close of business

prices stood thus quoted :—For cash, Three per Cents.
79f. 70e.; Four-and-a-Half per Cent. 103 f. 30c. For
the account, Three per Cents. 79f. 63e.; Four-and-a-
Half per Cents. 103 f. 60c.; Bank Stock, 2,671
Ihe following are the latest quotations from other
continental bounce :—Antwerp.—Loan, Four-and-a-
Half per Cents., 1814, 981; Spanish Deferred, 241,
1; ditto, Interior, 43 7-16; Austrian Metal., 83i.
Frankfort.—Austrian Five per Cents., 961; Two-
and-a-Half per Cents.' 441; Bank Shares, 1,538;
Spanish Three per Cents., 441 ; One per Cent., 24
13-16; Exchange on London, short, 1191; United
States Six per Cents., 1171. Berlin.—Four per
Cents., New, 99 ; Four-and-a-Half per Cents, 103;
Bank Shares, 109. Brussels.—Loan, Five per Cent.,
1832, 1002; ditto, Four-and-a-11'dr per Cents., 1844,
981 ; ditto, Four-and-a-Half per Cents. Con., 1832,
981; ditto, Three per Cents., 1838, 741 ; ditto, Two-
and-a-Half per Cents., 1844, 551; Austrian Metal.,
841 ; Spanish Deferre, 241; Roman Loan, Five per
Cents., 981; National Bank Shares, 1,700; Belgian
Bank Shares, 901; Exchange on London, 23.03.
Madrid.—One per Cent., 24 11-16; Three per Cents.,
431; Certificates Amortisable Debt, 2nd class, 61.
nous, SATURDAY EVININO.
_ _

The following telegraphic despatch, dated Vienna,
April 1, has been received to-day :
" We learn from Constantinople, 22nd ult, that, in
a circular addressed to the Ambassadors to announce
his nomination, Prince Menschikoff expresses the
hope of a good understanding between Russia and the
other powers."
M. de Kelkin, an attache of M. de Nesselrode, has

just arrived in Paris from London. M. de Kelkin
travelled from St. Petersburg to London in six days
and eight hours.
The ambassador of the Bcy of Tunis, with a suite
of six persons, has arrived in Paris.
The last despatches from Algeria announce that
the expeditionary column of Colonel Devaux and
several other detachments were actir.g in the south,
where a certain degree of agitation, but without any
serious importance, had recently manifested itself.
The Paine says it was generally reported that the
grand expedition to Kabilia bad been postponed.
About a month since I informed you that Colonel
de Sercey, an officer on the staff, had been put under
arrest by Marshal Magnan, iu consequence of a com-
plaint made by M. Achille bionsseau, formerly of
the Assemble Nationale, that the colonel had
swindled him out of a large sum of money. A court
martial is now sitting in Paris to try Colonel de Sercey
upon this charge. The nature of the case is this.
Some years since it was suggested to M.
Morisaeau, by a common friend, that if he
were to employ some part of the fortune he
bad then lately inherited from his family in aiding
Osissel de Sercy to carry on a tobacco plantation in
Corsica he would at once assist a worthy man and
make a good investment. M. Morisaeau bad met
Colonel de Sercey at Marshal Gerard's, and knew
him as a man moving in excellent society. Upon
the strength of representations made to him he
opened a credit for Colonel de Sercey at his bankers
to the extent of 100,000 f. In a very short time
nearly the whole money was drawn out, and M.
l'iloriaseau could get no satisfactory explanation of
the way in which it had been expended. To allay
his uneasiness certain securities were given him,
which it is alleged y ere counterfeit. One of the
charges is, that Colonel de Sercey professed to assign,
by way of security a sum of money represented to be
owing to him by Marshal Jerome Boaaparte, which
in point of fact was not due. Colonel de Sercey
indignantly denies all the charges affecting his hon-
our, and it is represented on his behalf that M. Mo-
rireau's advance was not a loan, but in the nature
of a partnership speculation. The proceedings,
which are expected to last several days, are not yet
sufficiently advanced to make it possible to enter into
details without the risk of misrepresentation. The
case excites intense interest, owing to the rank of the
prisoner, and to an expectation, possibly very ill-
founded, that some extraordinary disclosures, having
a political bearing, will be made in the course of the
trial. The court is as crowded as the presiding
officer will allow it to be. The eccentric Marquis de
Below, the husband of Byron's Countess de Guic-
cioli, interrupted the proceedings yesterday for a
long time by refusing to obey the order of the Pre-
sident to leave the court, he being subpcenied as a
witness. Ultimately the Marquis de Boissy was
turned out, but on leaving he threatened to argue
his right to remain when ho should be re-admitted
to give his evidence.
The Moniteur publishes the average price of wheat
in the principal markets of France for the last month.
The highest price was 19fr. 38c. per hectolitre in the
markets of Toulouse, Gray, Lyons, and Marseilles,
and the lowest ltifr. 94e. in those of Metz, Verdno,
Charleville, and Soissons. The average for the whole
of France is 18fr. 2c.
The Court of Caseation yesterday rejected the
appeal of Mercadier, Delpeche, Denis Bathes,
Tnadorr, Carrier, Galzy, and Gordy, condemned to
death by the council of war of Montpellier for having
taken part in the affair of Bedarieux.
PARIS, FIIDAT Evateme.

The Auenab.'ee, in noticing a statement in a govern-
ment correspondence that the Pope's journey to
Paris had been postponed till August, says it feels
authorised to add, according to private letters from
Rome, that at the present the Pope has no thought
of coming to France at all.
The political arrests of the 6th of February last are
after all to lead to a trial, although it has not been
possible to frame an indictgnent for a conspiracy. Out
of forty or fifty persons arrested, only eleven have
been selected for prosecution upon various charges
depending upon the success of the police in raking
up incriminatory matter of some kind or other
against persons suddenly dragged from their
beds to a prison, upon the allegation that a
dangerous plot had been discovered. The Duko
de ltovigo and M. de Lapierre are to bo
tried for unlawfully distributing printed works (col-
portage). The Count de Coetlogon, M. Anatole de
Coetlogon, M. Virmaitre, M. de Planhol, formerly
an editor of the Gauge de France, and Dr. Flandia,
brother of the advocate-general of that name, are ac-
cused of belonging to a secret society. I understand
the Duke de Rivigo was interrogated with the view
of framing a charge against him of the unlawful pos-
session of "arms and muniments of war." He had
in his house two swords, one belonging to his de-
ceased father (Marshal Savary), and another which
was his own when a captain of national guards. I
am not aware whether this charge will be proceeded
with. The trial is fixed for Tuesday week, before
the Tribunal of Correctional Police.
The Russian General Ogareff, nide-de-camp to
the Czar, has lately been visiting the dock-yards and
port of Lorient, accompanied by M. de Itayncval, a
French naval officer. He made the most minute
inquiries concerning the question of the transatlantic
packets.
The Afoniteur says :
The receip3 of the octroi to the 22nd ult. inclusively,
i amounted to 81 millions, if they continue in the same pro-
portion they will reach 38,300,000 fr. for tho year, or
3,800,000(r. more than was set down in the calculation of
the budget of 1853.
The above paper also observes :
Several of the claims made by Frenchmen on the Ame-
r rican government, on account of vessels seized at California,