The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-24 00:00:00

on without obstruction, and the unprotected
fear. But the last few weeks 'Save
revival of the evil to an extant which
past experience. The first impulse
passenger—haply a householder who
an unusually heavy rate—on being assailed, as soon
as he has got fairly on his way, is to ask what
the police are about, and why they do not repress
at least the more flagrant forms of mendicancy.
But a little consideration, quickened by the memory
of what he has read at breakfast time in the
morning papers, satisfies him that more than
a question of police efficiency or street
reform meets us here. What its nature is
may be learned from the report of the inquest on
the young man, MICHAEL Lyows, which we pub-
lished on Wednesday. Limes had been committed
to Holloway Prison for twenty-one days for beg-
ging, an offence which in the City is treated with
great rigour. He arrived there on Saturday, and
on Sunday be died, before he had performed even
one of the one-and-twenty days' hard labour to
which be had been sentenced. Mr. WIATHER-
asAD, the Governor of the prison, described the
condition in which the man came under his care.
Re was " very low, emaciated, fairly exhausted
" from want." The Governor asked him how he
had come into that state. He answered that he
was out of work ; he had slept at the
unions from night to night, caught cold, and
then got so poor that he went about starving—a
description of death with which the metropolitan
public is rapidly becoming familiar. A question
was raised at the inquest whether the poor man
received proper medical attention ; and it may be
taken as established that the prison surgeon, who
did not see him until Sunday morning, and then
thought LYONS was " able to undergo his sentence
" of 21 days of hard labour," did not perceive
the urgency of his case. On Sunday evening
the surgeon saw him again and ordered him into
the hospital : but by that time he was struck with
apoplexy, once popularly supposed to be the
retribution of luxury and excess, but now
better understood to be a frequent consequence of
debility. That LYONS did not get thespecial atten-
tion he so urgently required, surprises us less
when we learn from the Governor of the prison
that out of the 51 prisoners who were received
last week into the prison, having been committed
for begging, " 30 were in the same state, some of
" them women, worn out by starvation."
This death marks the break down of the simply
repressive method of dealing with street-begging.
It is not a thing to be got rid of by a more pro-
cess of " putting down." We may punish
mendicancy when we have taken away its
justification, but we cannot make a crime of
destitution. It makes little difference whether an
alderman sends a starving man to a workhouse or
a prison ; humanity demands that in either
place he shall be carefully tended, nourished,
restored, and the only effect of pretending to
visit starvation with penalties will be to turn
our gaols into hospitals. It is easy to see what
will be some of the consequences of these dis-
closures. Private, casual charity will be now dis-
pensed with lees discrimination, and be more
shamefully abused than ever. It cannot be
helped. We ought to be able to go about our
business with the conviction that means of relief,
duly guarded against imposition, exist for every
destitute person, and that therefore a street beggar
must be an impostor whom we may safely repel.
But we are not permitted to embrace this
satisfactory belief ; the wretch whose half-
told story we impatiently cut short may be
within a few hour' of death from want, perhaps
before the week is out we may be reading
the sad story of his end in the newspapers. Hu-
man nature will not accept this responsibility ;
men's lives are not to be sacrificed to maxims
that would be true under conditions that are not
realised. This death of LYONS will be a godsend
to the professional beggars. The public will now
give away money with both bands, and for one truly
necessitous man who is saved a score of vagabonds
will thrive. And so it will be until our system of
relief is established upon a different footing; until
we organize our public benevolence, and place it
under the direction of that knowledge and judgment
which individuals cannot be expected to exercise or
-mesa.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

ward to demand

teaching shall be furnished to all elassea. The Vela,
with few reservations, is disposed to agree with
the hon. gentleman's reasoning—not that it would
abolish altogether the studies that bays hitherto
obtained, but that it would have more practical
instruction in them. No one who know, how Latin Has
been taught in our schools on fail to be aware of the
waste of time and labour which is ceased by an antiquated
method. Well may Mr. Lowe pronounce against the
system which places abstract grammar before the practical
knowledge of the vocabulary, thus inverting the natural
process by which every child acquires its native tongue,
and by which men in some countries speak with ease five
or six languages. The moet valuable part of his
speech is that in which he demands that the study
of English and of the physical sciences shall be
DO longer neglected. It certainly seems strange that
a nation whose literature is so transcendently rich
and varied, and whose laoguage bids fair to be the domi-
nant speech of the world a century hence, should throw
aside its chief and most classical authors in the work of
education. The lose of some of the best words of the old
English vocabulary, and the substitution of mean and
trivial expressions, is greatly to be attributed to this neg-
lect. Equally wonderful is it that a country which most
hold its own by practical science, or see itself surpassed
by those who have larger and more fertile territories,
should allow tens of thousands of youths to be sent yearly
into active life without the faintest idea how a steam-
engine is constructed, or how a telegraphic message is sent
along the wire.
Whatever exception might have been taken to Mr.
Lowe's former denunciation of classical learning, there can
be none, the Star thinks, to his execration of it as the
plague-spot on the instruction which is now supplied to
the middle-class. Whatever doubts may have arisen se to
the expediency of that wide cultivation of physical and
experimental science in the universities which he had pre-
viously urged, there cannot be much question that the
sciences of observation and experiment, apart from their
merely technical value, supply the most efficient means by
which the man who desires to succeed in practical life can
, discipline his powers. Mr. Lowe's suggestions on this
, head are well worth consideration, and it is to be hoped
that the opportunity for their receiving a practical effect
• may soon arise.

Eke Court.

OSBORNE, JAW. 23.

The Queen drove out yesterday- afternoon, at-
tended by the Duchess of Roxburghe ; and her Majesty
walked in the grounds this morning, accompanied by
Princess Christian.

Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice, and
Princess Henrietta of Schleswig-Holstein also walked out.
Prince Arthur and Prince Christian, attended by Sir
John Cowell and Lieutenant Picard, went out shooting.
The Prince of Leiningen arrived at Osborne yesterday.

Despatches were sent yesterday from the Colonial-office
to the Governors of the settlements on the West Coast of
Africa and to the Governor. General of Canada.

The Duke and Duchess do Chartres have been
staying during the week on s visit to the Earl and Countess
Spencer at Althorp Hall, Northamptonshire. Among the
company assembled to meet them are the Earl of Shrews-
bury and Ladies Adelaide and Gertrude Talbot, the Earl
Browolow, the Earl of Clanwillisun, the Earl and Countess
Granville, Lady Sarah Spencer, Lady Margaret Charter*
Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Liddell, Mr. Calcraft, &a. The gen-
t times' during the week have had the opportunity of
_ _ .

hunting with the Pytchley hounds.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Hastings have
left Donnington Park on • visit to the Duke of Rutland at

Belvoir Castle.
The Earl of Derby is detained at Knowsley by

a severe attack of gout, and is not likely to be well enough

to arrive in London fora few weeks.

- _
Viscountess (Mary) Combermere entertained at
dinner, at her residence in Belgrsve-square, yesterday
evening, his Excellency the Prussian Ambassador and
Countess Bernstorff, Baroness Brunnow, the Duchess of
Cleveland, General Lord William Paulet, Lord Colchester,
Lord and Lady de Blequire, Lady Molesworth, the
Right Hon. H. T. L. Cony, General Sir Henry
Storks, Mr. Hepworth Dixon, &c. Later in the evening
her ladyship received a small party.
The Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer arrived at l'ortemouth Dockyard at 5 p.m. yester-
day from London, and embarking in the paddle-yacht
Black Eagle, Staff Captain Whither, proceeded to Osborne,
on a visit to her Majesty.
The Marquis of Westminster has resigned the
office of Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire.
An influential meeting of the friends of the
York Diocesan Church Building and Endowment Aid
Society was held at York yesterday, under the presidency
of Earl Fitswilliam, there being also present the Arch.
. .

bishop, Earl Zetland, Viscount Halifax, Lord Wenlock,
Lord Wharncliffe, and others. The archbishop ventured
to express the hope that if, for another ten years, they
were able to continue the grants in the same proportion
they would, by increasing all endowments below 1001.,
wipe away that which at one time was • disgrace to the
church and to the landed interest of the country. Reim-
lotions were rand commending the society to the
enlarged support of churchmen, and requesting the
archbishop to issue a pastoral recommending parochial
collections in its behalf. Before the meeting separated
sums amounting to between 6,0001. and 7,0001. were
promised.
We (Tunes) understand thatSirßoundell Palmer
has given an opinion that the consecration of • new bishop
for Natal, as proposed for Saturday next, cannot be held
in England without a violation of the law. Various places
have been suggested in England as the scene of the event,
but it is now, perhaps, more likely that another attempt
may be made to secure a church in Scotland.
The Emperor and Empress walked some time on
Tuesday in the Champs Elysees. Her Majesty wore •
dress and paletot of grey cashmere, trimmed with sable.
Prince Humbert of Savoy and the Duke and
Duchess of Aosta have passed a week in Florence, showing
themselves a good deal in public, in the royal carriages, on
the promenade of the Camino and elsewhere, and finding
everywhere a cordial reception. The duchess is fair in
complexion—a white skin, little colour, light brown hair,
of middle height, and • graceful figure.
Mdlle. Patti has recovered from her indisposition,
and made her re-appearance on Monday, for the bandit
of the Italian Charitable Fnnd at Paris. The Theatre RIM
Italians was densely crowded, and as each ticketcosts2ofr.,
the charily had a very good night.
Paris is well supplied with game at this season.
Most of the Imam, ducks, hares, and rabbits, come from
the vast preserves of the Grand Duchy of Baden and War-
timbers—Heilbronn, in Wurtemborg, and Strasbourg being
the chief sons whence the supply is despatched for the
French capital Thence also come most of the pheasants
and partridges. The grouse in the Paris markets come
from Husain. and England. Woodcocks are rare in France,
but abound in Conic., Sardinia, and, shove all, on the
south coast of Italy, where they are captured in nets for
French consumption. Smaller game come from the Lego
Maggiore and Garda. The larks in poulterers' shops, in
rows on alight wooden spikes, also come from the south
and from the departments of Lot, Lot et Garonne, and
the Loiret. Water fowl, such sa wild geese, ducks, quail,
ko., an sent from Holland in immense numbers.
Eroo CoLizos—The following are the arrange-
1411enis. this
Prot eLeronlKsl4.ll.• Captain of tsti.emionppoi,fi.tnte W. School!:
Tritton ; Captain of the Boats, T. M'Clintock-Banbury •
Captain of the Eleven, C. J. Thornton ; Keepers of the.
Fives' Wall, C. T. Thornton and C. J. °Hawse ; Keepers
of the Racket Courts, W. F. Tritton and C.. 1. °Mower;
Old Choices in the Eight. T. K. IFOlintock-Btinbury, W
C. Calvert, J. B. Mass ; OM Choioes in the Eleven, C. T.
Thornton, H. IL. Walter, W. O. Higgins, C. J. (Amway,
W. F. Tritton, W. Hay, M. Homer. P. Co and the
G. Harris. 011 last day of the half almm the AM
tint won @poisoned to the Upper Sobsol, when an addrams
was pr swtd to the late Head Masts, the Bev. Dr. B.
lelsbm, after his farewell speech, by the captain of the
=bad amid loud sad prolsopod
I Kowtow Scweoi,.—At ihtlirela of July next
I lbw TR be an shwas to taws or four shams scholar-
ships Of Mt • year each, stable during saddens at the
morel. All boys ender 1.3 es the 17th of J.aaary 1868.
are ebribis. Farther iniorautioa will be ferniehd Ly thi
Head Ilaitor.

INTERS.

AND

se sounded with emphasis in the
official region' of France bat not too highly for the object
which is to insure the MOWN of the four hundred mil-
lion loan. Aocording to the most accredited reports in
Praia, the advocates at this ken have carried their point
against the distinguished supporters of its postponement.
M. agile has demonstrated the necessity of immediate re-
sources, and now that all opposition is abandoned
the chief oonoern of the government is to obviate the
alarm which may be created by a loan following in such
close succession the law on military organisation. It is
much to be feared that the efforts made to revive a feeling
of tranquillity will prove abortive as long es public opinion
is kept distracted by the divisions which exist amongst
the governments of Continental Europe, between these
governments and the people, and the continual
military preparations which coincide with this
deplorable state of things. The old one adage,
si ris paces pave bellun, is used up ; it is base coin,
which no longer circulates. That pacific sasorances should
have any value at present, they must be accompanied with
at least partial disarmament. Even the undoubted
improvement in the relations of France and Prussia has
not had the effect of restoring security in the existing
state of things, and it is interpreted as • danger to the
liberty and destiny of Italy. This is no doubt an
exaggerated view, but it has • basis of truth, aad the
intrigues which it supposes indicate the perils to which
the peace of Europe and the development of its liberty are
exposed.

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