The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-30 00:00:00

ip, Master `5
to for ,tho

Kaffraria. The Brisk, laqrscrew-corvette,,Captctin
C. W.. HoPe, passad' 5e Kiffrarfe, exchanging
signals, on Seppi7, about 240 miles off Falmouth,
also the BreMen steamer Concordia, bound for, the
Mediterranesp: The passengervof the Kclfraria,
on their arrival-at
.r!.alMouth, pres&ted an address
to Captain Starks,-fitii*lve of tbeit great satis-
faction at the accommodation affordeclihem on the
passage. The Llfraria &loge a Supple Mental mail
of 11 bags.

Naval and Military Intelligence,

On Wednesday, Col..WOipdhouse, C,8., Commandant ot-7,4t.,,,
the -Woolwich Depa,_ inspected the let Division of the
Depot Brigade of -.Royal Artillery, stationed at Sheerness*
The troops received the inspection in1*,:(441 after giving_
,the customary salute:, were inspected ; they4hen-marched
past. in quick tin:brill qvatttr-distanco column, and were
agairi,formed in lineo-tTheslnspecter addressed them in..
complimentary terms ufeiL.-;their clean and smart appear-
ance. The Colonel then proct edec(tp? inspect the barracks,
the soldiers' recreation rooms, the Militar•Yhospital, and the
garris`en books, andkipressed his eritiksatisfactionwith
theThode in which everything was
10 o'clock on Wednesday night 150 officers and men
,of the 13th Brigade of RoyalArtiller4 with their accoutre-
ments, landed at the Camber dock, Sheerness, from Shoes .
,bn4ness;*and in three honis ifterwarOreceeded by special
train to Dover. -K.t.74 the same eveiiiiirNe. 3 Battery ofs:,
id Brigade of ifoial Artillery arrividlt Sheergest.freni"
riroOlWich, eMbarked for Shbeburyness:- '
-'-~theSerpent, 4, steam innboat, 695foias, *0 home power,
:vas taken out of the large basin in Sheerness Vea-yar.dOn
Wednesday, and prOCeeded on a trip to, the Nore Lightand' • •
"bick to the coal ship in the river, in :order to test the•ma-
'Chine& prpvicus to the trial. trip at—t4e measured aTo off-
_the..lllaplin Sands. The result was moat satisfactory, and
ttlie.Nil will betaken on trial this days.-
bursatnrday last one of Captain 13Ialtely's 11.5141.1.-Itam-
ther'el4bast steel guns, Weighing-24 tons, underwent two
rOuilTitsf proof at the 'What-rich hutt, with charges of 4')lb -
of ptier, and cylinders of 2401 b each. After the second
';oundlir.:Mli.inlay, the proof. master, detected uhissing
';iouai4hioh seemed to be-caused by the,Tasitge of Umis- -
esla
tAkiigh the butt. On examination it appeared that the'
210111tfyituder had struck on an old shot, which had been
fired,icliSoine former proof and had not been extracted, and
the Lfiliggit4' had been forced upWards and passed through
-the 'lnt. The continuation of the proof was there-
rare.6' future day. In the meantime the Royal •
;060 ;71411'1. i'ient underl2A Ilieexanliattion and repair
'of thl:':?!-1 was complei ell :on 'Wednesday morning;
"'
the , i••:; • renewed. The charges were increased to
•
I COL, tiipl)wilcr atiX.6oolb cylinders, and at the coec`uzion of
lrattfrlgilaUdiftg the ,en,;.riaolig tuni„=„tiA tile
e! •,, slightest brenii:l4,or strain was (lit, et,..d in
the guns. Many persons intetataffinhe
gun were in attendance each day, among whom were Mr
Kendall, the Peruvian Consul in London ; Col. Bolognese,
an artillery officer in the service of the Peruvian Govern-
ment.; Capt. Palliser, late 18th Hussars, and others. The
company was represented by Capt. Blakely, Mr Campbell,
I\lr Vavasseur, and Mr 'Wood:

Yesterday theßlakely ordnanc. 7 inch steel gun, made to
the order of our own Government for naval purposes, was
proved at the batt, with charges of 31.11 b of powder and
shot weighing 110Ib each. The gun is rifl4cl with 18 grooves.
and weighs 6 tons 2 cwt. The proof was likewise satisfac-
tory, and the gun was taken in charge by the department
of the inspectors of artillery, and will be fitted as a ship's
gun for service.
We have been furnished with the following interesting
return of the steaming capabilities of some of the vessels in
the Channel fleet, as ascertained on two recent occasions:
—On the 27th August, in a trial of two hours, under full
boiler power, the results were as follows :—The Prince Con-
sort gained on the Hector 3,200 yards, on the Defence
3,880 yards, and on the Enterprise 5,300 yards. The
Research was not tested on this trial. On Sept. 20 trials
took place with half boiler power, of three hours' duration,
with the following results, the Research and Black Prince
being included in this trial :—The Black Prince gained on
the Prince Consort 6,974 yards, the Prince Consort gained
on the Hector 6,475 yards, on the Defence 3,300 yards, on
the Research 19,614 yards, and on the Enterprise 19,825
yards. As the speed of the slowest ship in a fleet must
become the speed of the entire fleet in all combined offensive
and defensive operations, vessels like the Research and En-
terprise would appear to be misplaced when occupying posi-
tions as component parts of a British fleet in the Channel.
An almost universal feeling is entertained by naval officers
that for all purposes of warfare a slow vessel is worse than
useless, as her career can only end in capture by theinemy.
The paddlewheel steamsloop Gladiator, 6, Capt. Francis
Shortt, from Madeira, arrived in the Sound on Wednes-
day morning. She left Plymouth on June 21 for Madeira,
and arrived there on the 29th. On July 26 she took chargo
of the sailing transport Wanboojeeg, which had been towed.
to Madeira by the paddlewheel steamvessel Bulldog. The
Gladiator arrived with her at Sierra Leone on July 18, coaled
there, and left on the 20th for Cape Coast Castle. The
Wanboojeeg then embarked parts of the Ist and 2d West
Indian Regiments, and left Cape Coast Castle in charge of
the Gladiator on July 30, and was towed to lat 18 S. long
017 E, and on August 6 proceeded to Barbadoas. The
Gladiator returned to Cape Coast Castle, and on the Bth
embarked a part of the 4th West India Regiment, with
which she sailed on the 9th for Lagos. On the 12th she
disembarked them into the Investigator, 2. The Gladiator
then embarked a detachment of the 3d West India Regi-
ment, and proceeded to Palma. There she took on board
another detachment of the 3d, with whom she left on tho
20th, and she arrived on the 30th at Sierra Leone. She
then embarked 75 men of the 3d West India Regiment,
and the crew of the Spanish slave vessel America, captured
by the Arid in the Mozambiqo Channel, and proceeded to
Gambia. She disembarked her detachment of the 3d West
India Regiment there, and sailed on the 4th of September,
with the slaver's crew, to Teneriffe. She left on the 13th
for Madeira, arrived there on the 16th, and left on the 20th
for England. The Gladiator has experienced light easterly
winds on the homeward passage. She brings as passengers
from Lagos EnsignM'Callagh and a soldier belonging to the
3d West India Regiment, and from Madeira 22 naval in-
valids. Having same slight injuries in her coal bunkers, she
will probably be sent to Seyham for repair. The West
Coast squadron were stationed at intervals of 15 miles up
and down the coast.
The Russian storeship Gailiack sailed from Plymouth on
Monday for the River Amoor.
The screw steam corvette Brisk, 16, Capt. Charles W.
Hope, left Plymouth on Tuesday for Australia and Not
Zealand.
The Channel squadron is expected at Plymouth towards
the close of October or in the beginning of November.
Several hired mechanics and others working in the
Devonport dockyard will shortly be discharged, to reduce
the expenditure.
The following appointments were made on Wednesday at
the Admiralty : —Lieut. H. A. Clavering to command the
Sharpshooter, commissioned—Lieut, W. T. W. Hambly to
the Orontes—and John Bruce (b.), chief engineer, to the
Cumberland, fur the Star.
The following appointments were male yesterday at the
Admiralty :—Lieut. F. W. Hallowes to command the
Nimble, commissioned in a separate command—Lieut. R.
M. Sperling, Lieut O. IL Parker, and Lieut. E. G. Bourke
to the Rattlesnake—Lieut. J. E. Stokes to the Euryalus ;
Lieut. G. N, Smallpiece and Lieut. R. T. Clarke to
the Hector—Sab•Lieut. F. Romilly to the Racoon—Sab-
Lieut. A. H. Duthie, Sub-Lieut. W. Neilson, and Sub-
Lieut, R. B. Wilkinson to the. Rattlesnake—Sub-Lieut.
A. R. Cooper to the Sharpshooter—J. Southwick, second
master to the Sharpshooter; W. L. Ilartison, maeter's-
-9918t, to the Sharpshooter—W. Lovely. assist.-paymaster,
to the Cumberland—A. P. Cox, assist.-paymaster, in charge
ro the Sharpshooter—G. C. E. A. Townsend, assist.-clerk,
to the Warrior—and C. Raxworthy, assiet.-clerk, to the
Sharpshooter.

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 30, 1864.

The question of providing the people of a dense'y
crowded city with the means of at least occasionally
breathing fresh air, and enjoying the sight of earth
and sky unchecked by houses and roadways, has
long been held to be of considerable importance by
our sanitary reformers. The further the science of
health is studied the more we come back to nature,
and it has long since been recognised as an indis-
putable truth by our most eminent medical men
that all the drugs in the pharmacopia cannot supply
the place or atone for the deficiency of the great
necessaries of nature, fresh air and exercise. These
conditions are absolutely essential to health, but,
strange to say, they are often neglected by those
who have them easily within their reach. The rich
and fashionable immure themselves in close, hot
rooms, or take a drive in a close carriage, while their
houses are built in the most airy situations, and
their time is their own to seek health on foot. The
experience of common sense and the skill of science
are alike thrown away upon them, and the conse-
quence is a feeble and drooping condition, in which
they look with envy on those below them, who,
with fewer advantages, have known how to use
them better. But when the doctor tames to the
working classes he finds still greater obstacles in his
way than luxurious habits or fashionable inaction.
He has all the difficulties of bad or insufficient
food, overwork, want of rest, unhealthy ;homes,
and, above all, bad water to contend against, be-
sides the injurious effects which many trades and
occupations exercise upon the health of those who
follow them, If the laws of nature render certain
things indispensable to health, the kind care of
Providence has been bountiful in supplying them.
As there is no distinction of persons beyond our
temporary ranks and divisions, but the same wants
are common to all humanity, so the supply is
within the reach of all. The fresh air blows
softly and purely around the hovel as the palace,
the water lbws where all may reach it, the earth
lies outspread with fair and pleasant scenes enough
to tempt man to wholesome exercise. But with
the ingenuity peculiar to him he soon contrives to
wio the beneficent works of nature, and to neutra.
lice her gills. Not content with building mice.
Table houses' in each positions that their main ob-
ject seems to be to exclude every breath of air, he
further poisons tho balmy winds of heaven with
evil gases and noxious vapours, generated by his
own wilful folly or neglect. The water which
lbws ready for all to use he roaders foul and un-
wholesome by the sewage of great towns, while
few oitla be tempted in his crowded and

noisy highways to take a walk for plea-
sure. If he do so, however, where is the
scope for the free games of happy childhood, for
the pleasant saunter, for the unrestrained enjoy.
went which proves so essential a part of the benefit
derived from open-air exercise. Any one who has
watched a group of poor children at play in one of
the parks will readily perceive how very much is
lost to them in the careful walk through crowded
streets, and the better class of the labouring pope•
la ion are always anxious to avoid the bad consea
quences of letting their children play about the
courts and alleys. The public parks meet this
difficulty admirably, and supply a place not only
for the children with their bat and hall or hoop, but
for the working man at the cicse of his long summer
day's toil, or in his Sunday holiday to stroll with his
wife, and laugh at all the children's frolics. In the
larger and less fashionable parks, indeed, cricket
and other games are allowed which afford healthy
and innocent recreation to young men who are kept
close in shops and at desks for the greater part of
their time. All these simple and natural pleasures
tend to foster the kindly affections, to refine and
, humanise, and to counteract in some degree that
whirl and bustle in which most of us live in these
high pressure days, and which leaves room to think
of nothing beyond the wants of the hour. With
these views our philanthropists and our legislators
have encouraged, by every means in their power,
the opening of people's parks, and always with
very satisfactory results. In London we have
several fine parks, but unfortunately the rapid
growth of our vast city leaves weary miles between
the tired operative, or the weary housewife, and
their pleasant walks. London has taken so much
from the country that the least the monster can do
is to allowsome little gaps amid the ever spreading
bricks and mortar for pure air and recreation for
the people. We must follow the example of the
Chinese, who include gardens and grounds within
the walls of their cities. But while sanitary science
renders the benefit of such places indisputable, there
are always found some short-sighted economists
who think that the great question of public
health should bs subservient to some tem-
porary saving or lccal advantage. It re-
qaires a continual watchfulness on the part of the
friends of the people to preserve the old tradi-
tionary spaces, the heaths and commons arcund the
metropolis, from being built over and encroached
upon. It has been a hard fish; to keep Hamp-
stead, Mitcham, Tooting, and Cia?hdm from being
converted into streets, and squares, and rows of
dull, semi-genteel villas. It is generally still more
difficult to inaugurate a movement of the kind, and,
therefore, the vestrymen for zhe parish of St.
Leonard's, Shoreditch, deserve great credit for
having had sufficient public sprit to set on foot a
movement for opening a People's Park at the
London-fields, for the benefit of the poorer
classes in the populous parishes of Hackney
and Shoreditch. The lost of purchasing
the land will not be great, but the advantages of
saving them from the braider will be incalculable.
It is to be hoped that the parochial authorities of
Hackney will meet the proposal with fitting libe-
rality and promptitude; sad that so good an oppor-
tunity for bent fitting the close courts and crowded
alleys of those eastern districts may not be missed.
The more the chances of fever and other epidemics
are diminished the better for all classes, and the
general interests are involved in any question which
concerns the public health. On all accounts then
we 'wish good speed to the proposed undertaking

The paper which Miss CARPENTER read " On
the Duty of Government to aid in the Education of
the Perishing and Neglected Classes," touched
upon a, subject of great importance, fur its issues
are not confined to the immediate objects con-
cerned. The crime of the country she declared was
traceable to early neglect and ignorance, and
doubtless there is every reason to concur in the re!
mark. It has before been stated by those well qua-
lified to judga that idleness was at the root of
nearly all the cases of juvenile offenders, whose
offnces so shock and mystify the public. Their
connections are so bad that they cannot work if
they will to get an honest livelihood, and unless
some special care is taken of them and some bene-
volent interposition takes place there seems no
chance left but that they should joi❑ in the dreary
ranks who have gone before them in the ways of
crime. The ragged schools are of great benefit,
but it is much to be regretted that they do not re-
ceive the help that they stand in so much need of,
and which ought on all accounts be aff ,rded. The
elucational grant has not bee❑ of any use to them,
and it really seems strange that those in authority
should persist in ignoring the claims of an insti-
tution so ca'culated to improve the social and
moral conditio❑ of the lower classes. Miss CAR-

PENTER'S paper made out a very strong case for
these young beings who seem in such desperate
need of a helping hand being stretched cut to
them. The explanations which she gave concern•
ing their sad state of ignorance and depravity
are sufficient to strike the attention of all
who are interested in the subject, and
surely such a question passes beyond the limits of
education itself, and takes us into the higher region
of matters that relate to the well-being of the cut-
casts, and their destinies here and hereafter. The
discussion that afterwards took place upon the sub-
ject of female education was an eiifying one, and
the subject being one that has often of late en.
grossed the attention of experienced minds, addi-
tional interest was imparted to the affair. Many
useful trials and important suggestions will be
found in the paper presented by Mr NORRIS, the
late Government Inspector of Schools, on the
" Education of MiddiesCiass Girls." It takes a
comprehensive view of the subject, fairly explains
the difficulties that environ it, boldly grapples with
the obstructions that are in the way, and finally
points out desirable alterations and greatly needed
improvements. It is at all times an awkward task
to settle definitely the line that should be drawn in
the requirements of female education. Perhaps more
might have been effected if the contending parties
had consented to form a neutral ground, and neither
expect nor refuse so much. The consequence has
been that those who are not sufficiently educated
themselves to understand the importance of educa,
tion have often got confused, and believed that the
new systems were wrong, and that it was safer and
wiser after all to keep to the old beaten track, and
not teach girls more than they absolutely required
to know, Ttie real diffuulty, however, lies in this
very thing, It is nearly impossible for any one to
say how much it is really requisite to learn,
nor, in the chances and changes of life, What
circumstances may arise to render more extended
knowledge necessary. At all events it is the
bounden duty of all concerned in the task of edu-
cating the young to ponder deeply upon the vast
and influential work upon which they are engaged,
and also it behoves all those whose children need
instruction to reflect as to whether they are re-
ceiving what is most beneficial for them. Mr.
NORRIS touched upon the real difficulty of the
question in improving the education of girls, and
that was the indifference of the parents; they
would not recognise the difference between a
trained schoolmistress and one who had no real
aptitude or proficiency for the Ws.'. The come, I

quence is that the greatest difference exists between
the methods employed at the training colleges
for schoolmistresses, and the means that are
adopted by the private sources of instruction.
Parents seem only to care for accomplishments,
and to disregard the vital consequences of a sound
and extensive education. Mr Noßms's ideas of
remedial measures appear to be most rational, and
could they be carried out there can be no doubt
whatever as to the great and imprrtant advantages
that would accrue. He said, for instance, that
those who write upon female education should
avoid all unnecassery details and disquisitions, and
keep resolutely to the point. It cannot be difficult
to fix upon any particular blemish, and to call
attentiou to the necessary means to rectify it.

There is arithmetic for one thing, in which there
is, as he observed, notorious defective instruc-
tion. It is enough to awaken the attention
of the indifferent to learn that it has been
said by eminently scientific men that the want of
an early training of the mind was the cause of much
of the ill health of women, and that they would not
be so absurdly credulous about spirit-rapping, and
such things, had their minds been braced by more
vigorous discipline. Another subject of contempla-
tion comes home to all, and that is, that thousands
of females are now striving to gain their own live-
lihood under circumstances of great difficulty, and
that chiefly occasioned by their lack of early edu-
cation. Surely such facts ought to speak for them-
selves as a protest and a warning against the super-
ficial education of the day. The suggestions
made by Mr. NORRIS as to examinations
appear to be most excellent, and it is
indeed high time that some notice should
be taken of a subject which so greatly concerns the
welfare of society. People are too apt to think that
all that is required is a showy edueation, but they
forget that a fe w years often see the end of the mere-
tricious acquirements of the day, while as long as
life lasts, for good or for evil there will be felt the
consequences of the early training of the mind. It
is, then, most desirable that due attention be paid
to this subject of female education ; and Mr NORRIS
has done good service to the cause by his remarks,
which take so elevated a view of its requirements.
Not less to be appreciated is the calm tone he has
adopted, thus keeping up his Efluence to the last,
and not becoming lost in the excitement of wild
theories and irrelevant discussions, by means of
which so many mar the effects of the services they
might render.