The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-23 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 28, 1846.

link between scholastic education and active life is
frequently, lost in the National Schools, but in most of
the schools for the middle classes it is not only lost,
but it is obstinately and of set purpose rejected.
Everything is sacrificed for that which is not gained,
classical knowledge ; and which, if gained, would in
ninety-nine cases out of the hundred be practically noe-
-1 less. Even Mr.WATSON confesses that our grammar-
' schools require the interference of the government, since,
conducted as too many of them are, they arc no better
than public nuisances. We are told, however, that
they are so conducted in accordance with the testa-
mentary dispositions of the founders; and that the
founders expressly declared that these schools were
established " to give youth instruction in the Latin
tongue." This pretence is sufficiently absurd, and
furthermore, as used by the advocates of existing '
grammar-schools, is utterly untrue. By " instruc-
tion in the Latin tongue," the founders did
not mean " a classical education;" in their days
every treatise on art and science, small or great, was
written in I.atin ; and, consequently, " instruction in
the Latin tongue" included all the elements of an in-
dustrial and commercial education. If the masters of
grammar-schools are determined to adhere to the letter
of wills and charters, let them forthwith prepare Latin
treatises on arithmetic, algebra, geometry, botany,
zoology, chemistry, and the whole cycle of mixed and
applied sciences, and let them teach those in their
schools instead of authors whose style and subject are
equally beyond the range of youthful appreciation. If
they arc resolved to adhere to what is "nominated in
the bond," let them fulfil all its conditions ; if their
tender consciences preclude them from giving any-
thing beyond " instr uction in the Latin tongue," let
them place the Latin tongue in the condition in which
it stood when the restriction was imposed. We are
surprised that this obvious distinction between what
was intended by " instruction in the Latin tongue
and a classical education, escaped the notice of so
acute an ansiquarian as the Vice-Chancellor of Eng-
land. CORDERYS colloquies might have satisfied him
that there was no necessity of going before a Master
to find out that " instruction in the rudiments of
science " was consistent with " the will of the founder,"
for it was actually such instruction that the testator
designed and intended.
Of the value of a classical education none can be
more sensible than we are; a young man of eighteen
studying Horace is nobly employed ; he can appre-
ciate his beauties, he can admire his tact, and he can
interpret his allusions from the records of history.
But a boy of ten or twelve poring over the same
author is merely a palpable absurdity. Ile is destroy-
ing his future power of enjoying the author, and
imbibing not a classical education, but a weariness
and hatred of the classics, and of all belonging to them.
We give the books of men into the hands of children,
and then complain that children are idle and in-
attentive; we might as reasonably assert that they
were lazy farmers, if we found them reluctant to
take the charge of ploughs and harrows.
The evil of which the pamphlet before us complains
is not confined to the National. Schools ; it is nearly
universal in the country, and a remedy can be
obtained only by the intervention of government.
Schoolmasters will buy their information, as apothe-
caries buy their drugs, in the cheapest market, and
sell it in the dearest. But public morals require
supervision of the learning market, as public health
does of the medicine market, and to calm the appre-
hensions of Mr. EDWARD BAINES, we deem it right
to add, that such supervision does not impose on
officers of state the necessity of becoming either
schoolmasters or apothecaries.

JEREMY BENTHAM, hi the preface to his "Rationale I
of Judicial Evidence,"indulgesin a stminof happy and
powerful ridicule, directed against the English law
practice of excluding certain kinds of evidence. No
item of evidence, says the utilitarian sage, ought to
be withheld from the parties who arc to pronounce
judgment. The evidence may be worth something,
or it may be worth nothing, but it is their business
to determine that its worthlessness ought not to be
pre-supposed.
This would be very sound doctrine were all
matters of law and fact decided by competent pro-
fessional judges. But we have jurymen to deal
with, men who arc brought from behind
the counter or the plough, or (equally ill-
prepared for the judicial office) from turning
sentences or painting portraits, and placed in the jury-
box to judge in complicated questions between man
and man. These individuals, from want of previous
habit and study, are but indifferently qualified at best
to sift and winnow truth from falsehood, even in testi-
mony which bears directly on the point at issue. To
let in a Hood of irrelevant gossip upon them is sure
to distract their minds, divert their attention from the
question submitted to them, and lead to some Wan-
dering, even when not an unjust, verdict. It was to
guard against this danger that the " practical wis-
dom" of the English law introduced the custom of
withholding all in [levant evidence from juries, in-
stead of iding unnecessary perplexity to their
already sufficiently puzzled brains, by calling upon
them to decide what was relevant testimony and
what not.

The decision in the action against the Spectator
newspaper for libel on Monday week, is an illustra-
tion of the wisdom of this practice. In April last, a
paragraph appeared in that journal containing a charge
of improper conduct on the part of the Society of Bri-
tish Artists, in getting up a petition for a royal
charter. The Spectator is published on Saturday
afternoon : on Monday the editor was waited upon
by the secretary and solicitor of the inculpated body,
who represented to him that the accusation was libel-
lous and untrue. The editor being satisfied of the
correctness of their representation, immediately gave'
orders that not another copy of the paper should be
sold ; and in his next number inserted a distinct and
full contradiction of the charge, adding, "as the
assumption on which our censure was founded proves
to have been erroneous, we willingly retract the offen-
sive comments, and express our sincere regret at hav-
ing, through misapprehension, imputed blame which
was undeserved."

This was the whole case with which the jury had
to deal. But Sir FREDERICK TIII:SIGER, in opening
for the plaintiff, read critiques upon the exhibitions
and management of the society from Spectators of
former years. Lord DENMAN allowed these criticisms
to be read, although, in his charge to the jury, he told
them, "They were not to give damages for the former
articles." if these articles were not to influence the
minds of the jurymen in assessing damages, why did
Lord DENMAN allow them to be brought before them ?
He knows the jealous care with which English judges
have always sought to withhold from the cognisance
of jurors facts and circumstances which ought not to
bias the decision of men acting as judges,
but which can scarcely fail to bias unprofes-
sional minds. Lord DENMAN'S charge shows that
he was fully aware of the danger. " They were
not to give damages for the former articles; but it
teas impossible to help recollecting their spirit." This
is an English law version of " mind, don't nail his
ears to the pump." It is saying, in as many words,
"these articles ought to have no influence on your
decision, but I could scarcely blame you if they had."
Lord DENMAN has on this occasion neglected the wise
habitual caution of English judges, although fully
aware of the danger of doing so. This departure
from the usual practice on his part left the jury under
an impression that it would be no unpardonable act
to award damages, not only on the act immediately
under their consideration, but in recompense of purely
..Esthetical strictures of an earlier date.

The question is one of less importance to the Spec-
tator (though the costs of a law-suit are no trifle)
than to the profession of journalists at large. The
journal—which, during an existence of eighteen
years, has only thrice been called in question for
l•bel : twice on purely vexatious and nugatory ,
grounds, and once for precipitate harshness promptly
and effectively atoned for—can be little injured by
the verdict. But the public press, already sufficiently
open to annoyance and chicane by the indetermi-
nate vagueness of the law of libel, will be still more
exposed if the precedent of Lord I)F.SM.tN is to be
followed, and counsel allowed to perplex the minds
of jurymen by all kinds of irrelevant and mistifying
testimony. We claim no impunity for libels : we
know how apt the power of disseminating accusa-
tions is to be abused ; we do not even ask for Lidency
towards makers of rash assertions; but we do ask—
as matter of common justice—clear, definite, un-
rernlexed rules of law, and the banishment of all
I Irrelevant topics from the declamations of counsel and
the testimony of witnesses.

PARIS, Dac. 20.
It now appears positive that the ministry, intimi-
dated by the high barons of the funded property and
the industry of France, will not this next session pro-
pose to the chambers any change in the prohibitive
system of the customs. Its organs in the press will
, erdeavour to cover this shameful retreat, by attri-
buting to it a conservative intention, but no one will
be deceived by it ; on the coutrarv, it will be looked
upon as an act of weakness. We shall only acquire
the further conviction that this deplorable cabinet,
wholly occupied, by intrigues and personal questions,
has neither the will, the intelligence, nor the neces-
sary strength to discuss the real interests of the
country. A solution of difficulties was, however,
never more urgent. The question of free trade en-
groans all minds. There is not a city in France in
which the inhabitants have not met, or arc not on
the point of meeting, to deliberate solemnly
upon it ; and, whatever may happen, this difficulty
wall have contributed to spread and increase the
tendency towards public discussion. Seveml journals,
the Constitutinnee/ amongst others, have passed in
review the respective forces of the prohibitionists and
free-traders, but the truth has yet been declared by
none. To take a sound view of the question, it is
necessary to call to mind that the partisans of the
prohibitive system, for the last four years in parti-
cular, have had organised committees in all the manu-
facturing towns. The composition of the Chamber of
Commerce and of the Chambersof Manufactures, which
consist of coteries arbitrarily chosen,countenance every
demonstration in favour of privileged interests. 1
think I have mentioned that with the exception of
Bordeaux and Marseilles, where the friends of free
trade are strong and active, the reformers are getting
up an organisation, which can only be the work
of time. The following, however, is the actual
state of the two parties. The prohibitionists may
reckon on Normandy, Flanders, a part of Alsace, and
some manufacturing places in the centre and south
of France; Elbmuf, Lille, Rouen, Amiens, St. Quen-
tin, Troyes, and Limoges arc openly favourable to
them. Nantes and Mulhausen daily with the ques-
tion, each after its own manner. But Nantes is a
commercial city, and while protesting against free
trade desires that prohibitions should be done away
with. Mulhausen exports its produce, and in this
view of the case demands various reductions in the
tariff. On the side of free trade are ranged the great
maritime towns, such as Havre, Bordeaux, and Mar-
seilles. The silk trade is represented by Lyons, car-
rying in its train Avignon and Nimes; and woollen
manufactures by Rheims. Sedan, which pro-
duces the finest tloths, without declaring for free
trade, has raised its voice against prohibition, and
the son of M. Cunin Gridaine, himself a cloth manu-
facturer, is at the head of this movement. It is not
at all doubtful that the towns in the midst of the wine
districts—Orleans, Tours, Dijon, Macon, Toulouse,
Epernay, Chalons-tier-Saone, and Chalons-sur-Marne
—will sooner or later join the ranks of free trade ; and
the same thing will take place with the imperial
cities of Metz, Nancy, and Strasbourg.
Paris is a world to agitate. The idea of cammer-
cial liberty is receiving a slow but sure development.
But some years may elapse before it becomes popular.
The founders of the association are unceasing in their
endeavours to forward the cause. Everything
in its favour was to be expected from
the railway companies. They are sufferers by
the prohibitive system in general, and by the mono-
poly of iron in particular, more so inaeed in this
respect than any others: but they are fettered by the
iron-masters, who have become members of their
divers administrative bodies. The TALABOTS are
masters of the Avignon Company, The proprietors
of Firchambauld and Crcuzet arc in league with the
Lyons Company. M. Ditouti.LAßD, of the Alais
Mines, influences the Nantes Company. In short,
the iron-masters form a feudal aristocracy, and domi-
nate the industrial freedom of the country.

The agriculturists, desirous of preventing the
introduction of foreign corn, also oppose the
cause of free trade. This is not its real
interest : but the landed proprietors are men of
little education, and the political privileges which they
enjoy have given them a taste for preserving privileges
to industry. When it is said that the landed aris-
tocracy in France is liberal, one point is apparently
forgotten, and that is, that the duties on iron were
established less for the interest of the iron-masters than
for that of the timber proprietors. To sum up : although
the forces of the free trade party are balanced by those
of the prohibitionists, the founders of liberty of ex-
change in France will only triumph when they have
brought to their standard the whole mass of con-
sumers. It is the mass which makes revolutions.
The war which has now begun is one of claw.rs.
The struggle must take a wider field. Inert
matter must be stirred up, heated, and set in motion.
The popular lava must flow and inundate the soil, if
monopolies and privileges are to disappear. 0.

FRANCE.—SINGULAR PIIENOMENON.—A letter in
the Phare de Bayonne states that the whole surrounding
country was literally buried in snow. The falling of snow was
accompanied by thunder and lightning. The electric fluid
fell into the theatre whilst the performance was going on.
t also struck the mast of a ship in the roadsteads of Blono-
pignon, causing much damage to the spars. Some of the
windows is the towns were smashed.

GERMANY.—DR. LIST.—The Nuremberg corres-
respowlent gives the following details of the death of the cele-
brated leader of the Zollverein :—" The suppositions relative
tothe tragic cud of Dr. List are but too well founded. On
Thursday last his body was found near Kuffstein. A pistol-shot
had terminated his existence. The coroner's inquest, as well as
letters found upon his person, left no doubt as to the rash
act he had committed. The letters proved that he ha I long
nourished the idea of suicide, and a violent flowing of blood
to the head irresistibly drew him on to the desperate resolu-
tion. Ile recommends his family to the care of his friends.
His affairs, however, are in excellent order. Ile was
years of age."

BRAZILS.—Bv the Antelope steam trader, arrived
at Liverpool from Ito de Janeiro, the Gazelea 0/fir hit of
that city has been received to the 2nd of November ; but
those to the 21st of October are miming, having been trans-
mitted by the Spider sailing packet on the 22nd of that
month. The Spider, it will be borne in mind, comes home
direct to Falmouth, whilst the Antelope called at Bahia and
Pernambuco, taking in bags at both those places. Such
facts speak for themselves—here is the Antelope safe in the
Liverpool docks and her letters delivered—the Spider is still,
it is supposed, spinning her cobweb on the Atlantic. The
importance, therefore, and superior advantages of a steam
[ conveyance for mails and despatches to and from South
America cannot be, for a moment, questioned. The Ex-
change had improved to 28/, and the Home Stock Six per'
Cents to 83. Coffee way in good demand, but that for sugar
was rather slack. 8,000 chests were in stock. From Monte
Video the date was to the 20th Octolrr, but all was in antis
taw. An attempt to check the slave trade had been made by
the sovernment, by placing obstacles in the way of a
colourable transfer of the property in foreign vessels to
Brazilian • and an alteration in the rate of postage on foreign
periodicals had been decreed, reducing it to id. eachon those
printed in countries which did not charge more on those of
Brazil.