The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-29 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE COMMERCIAL TRA-
VELLERS' SCHOOL, PINNER.

On Saturday last the beautiful edifice which the libe-
rality of the commercial travellers of Great Brtain has

erected close to the Pinner station of the North-Western

Railway, as at once a home and a school, for the orphan
children of the less fortunate members of their body, was
publicly opened by his Royal Highness Prince Albert,

;o whom the chairman and committee of the institution

had the honour of presenting an appropriate address.

The day was beautifully fine, and the consequence was

the presence of an unusually large number of 'the friends
and supporters of the institution, so that the whole pro-
ceedings went off with quite an unexpected eclat. The
new school house, which has been erected at an expense
of several thousand pounds, is a handsome and commo•
dious edifice in the Tudor or Elizabethan style, now so
fashionable, and is replete with every convenience, and
almost luxury, that could be required in a public school.
Indeed it is very much to be questioned whether the

pupils in the neighbouring and more aristocratic in-
stitution at Harrow are half so well lodged and
cared for as the orphans of the commercial tra-
vellers. The home is situated in the centre of a

piece of park-like ground, nicely clumped with trees,
and, as seen from the station, forms a very promi-

vent and perfectly harmonious feature in the charac-
teristic English landscape. On Saturday last the
building was decked out in its gayest in honour of the
illustrious guest expected. The principal school-room,
in which the address was to be presented, was profusely
decorated with evergreens, and the girls schoolroom, in
which the banquet was laid out, was quite a forest of
greenery, interspersed with dahlias and geraniums taste-
fully arranged, so as to give quite a summer aspect to

the entertainment, save when the sharp wind rushing
through a suddenly opened door roughly reminded the

surer, occupying the next seat to his lordship. Not
less than between five and six hundred ladies and gen-

tlemen sat down to dinner.
After the usual loyal toasts, in proposing which the
CHAIRMAN noticed the gratifying fact that Prince Albert
had presented the institution with a donation of one hun-
dred guineas, his lordship proceeded to give the toast of
the evening, " Prosperity to the Commercial Travellers'
Schools." His lordship, after some complimentary ob-
servations on the beautiful buildings in which they were
assembled, proceeded to observe that he took a more
sanguine view of its probable results than was expressed
in the address which they bad all heard read at an earlier

hour. That address did' not venture to hope that the
pupils of the school would ever be distinguished in the
higher branches of education or learning, but he was
more sanguine, because he felt proud in believing that
England was a country in which the lowliest might by

the force of talent and industry arrive at the highest
position, and who was to tell what talent, what genius,
what industry might be developed in the young people
who were the objects of their fostering care 1 (Cheers.)
The present was pre-eminently an age of progress,
and who was to say that the children who were now
their orphan charge might not at some future day stand
high in the world of commerce or of letters, and in their
turn extend the hand of liberality and protection to fu-
ture orphans and with similarly beneficial results ?
(Loud cheering.) Ile found that in the Commercial
Travellers' Schools three hundred children might be
boarded, lodged, and educated, and he asked the com-
pany to consider what might be the consequences to
society if that large number of intelligent beings had
been left neglected and impoverished to fall into the ever
open and easy paths of immorality and vice ? (Hear.) It
was then an institution pre-eminently worthy of their
support, and he trusted that it would receive, as it well
deserved, the munificent aid of the whole commercial
body. (Cheers.)
The next toast was "The Health of the Lord Mayor,"
proposed by Dr. Vaughan, who observed that as the
great desideratum of the present day was to see the
" right man in the right place," the City of London
ought to congratulate itself on the presidency of its pre-
sent chief magistrate. (Cheers.)
The LORD MAYOR returned thanks, and proceeded to
propose, with a warm eulogium, the health of Mr. Geo.
Moore, the treasurer of the institution. (The enthusiasm
with which this toast was received must have been ex-
tremely gratifying to the gentleman in whose honour it

of, not a man attempted to interfere with any speaker,
nor even with the assembly of pemns, until their ser-
vices were deemed indispensable, and had they not been
near at the time it is impossible to tell what would have
been the consegy nee. The number in the park must
have been upwards of 20,060, and su threatening did
things appear at one time that the gates of the marble
arch were obliged to be closed against the populace.
There were about 20 mounted police officers in the
neighbourhood, under the direction of Captain Labal-
mondiere, Superintendent Gibbs, and Inspectors Searle,
Walsh, Durkin, Banks, and Jackson, and the manner
in which they carried out the arrangements were most
admirable.
From the calculations made by the polices about 500
persons per minute entered the gates of the park during
the holding of the meeting, or rather series of meetings.
Owing to the yelling and execrations of the crowd,
the horses of the mounted police were terribly fright-
ened, and they kicked and plunged terrifically, but for-
tunately no one was injured thereby.
Another meeting, it was stated, was to be held in the
same park on Sunday next, weather permitting.

THE TRIAL OP STRAHAIV, PAUL,

AND BATES.

The following is a more detailed account of the address
of Baron Alderson than we were enabled to give in our

impression of Saturday
Mr. Baron ALDERSON precegded to sum up the evi-
dence. Ho said that Lefare the conclusion of the pre-

;tent proceedings he should the jury an incidental
question, arising out of part of the evidence and argu-
ment of counsel ; but the question he should leave for
them to decide—namely, whether the defendants were

.
guilty or not—was of a totally different description.
He thought the jury bad better confine their attention
to the charges in the first four counts of the indictment,
though there were other counts, respecting conspiracy,
&c. The first four counts set forth that the defendants

were the bankers and agents of Dr. Griffith, by whom
they were intrusted with certain valuable securities there-
in mentioned for safe custody, and that, notwithstanding,
they, without any authority, sold and converted the same
to their own use, contrary to their duty and trust. Re-
specting a good deal of that statement there was no doubt ;
but the question for the jury to decide was whether the
defendants sold those securities contrary to their trust.
If they did, they were guilty of the misdemeanour which
was charged against them in the indictment, and the
punishment for which was provided by the' 7th and Bth
George IV., cap. 29. That was the question now to be
determined. No doubt, there was a great difference in
the cases of the three defendants. Against Sir J. Paul

the case pressed more hardly than against the other two,
and against Mr. Straban more hardly, perhaps, than
against Mr. Bates. Tbat was the order, probably, in
which the jury would have to consider their respective
guilt or innocence. The learned judge here recaptulated
the evidence of Dr. Griffith with reference to the 5,0001.

THE SUN, LONDON. MONDAY Ewe fe:141.14 at OCTOBER 29 1855

of the charge. The jury would consider, also, the nu-
merous opportunities which Strahan and his partners
had of knowing all these circumstances, and yet that no
complaint or outcry had been raised to Dr. Griffith on
the subject. With respect to the defendant Bates the
case was, in some respects, stronger than that of Strahan,
inasmuch as he was the most active partner in connec•
tion with the firm, and was the person. who most fre-
quently held communication with Dr. Griffith. The de-
fendant Strahan might have thought that the restora-
tion of the Danish Bonds by others of a similar amount
might have satisfied Dr. Griffith ; and so perhaps it would,
if the substituted bonds had been forthcoming. That,
however, would have been no answer in point of law to
the crime of converting them, although it might perhaps
have prevented Dr. Griffith from putting the law in force.
The last point to which he would refer was one which was
rather a question for the Court than for the jury—one
with respect to the construction of the act. It was cer-
tainly a very singularly worded act, and the framers of it
probably I. ever dreamt that anything would occur under
it like what had arisen in the present case. The words of
the section in the act were—