The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-14 00:00:00

many such, hardships which one would imagine only
re quire to be pointed out to be amended, there is a
peculiar provision in the Pension List which renders
valueless the claims of the widows of any naval
officers who may have married after reaching the
age of sixty. If, at first sight, such an enactment
appears in any way reasonable, not a word can
assuredly be urged in its favour when we call to
mind the peculiar circumstances which surround
the domestic life of th© naval officer, and cast a
shadow over his home and affections. During the
years of his active service he is compelled to
separate himself for very long intervals from family
and friends. The Soldier's wife may follow her
husband across the seas; but the privilege of that
dear companionship is not permitted to the Sailor.
It is only natural, then, to suppose that in the
instance of the Sailor, above all others, late mar-
riages might be countenanced by law. After years
of estrangement from all home associations, the
Sailor may. more than all others, be excused if late
in life he seeks, in connection with some congenial
helpmate, to form "a comfortable couple," after the
fashion of TIM LINKIN WATER and Miss LA CREEVY.
If he do so, who, remembering the antecedents of
his chequered career, shall venture to blame him
for thus late in life endeavouring to surround him-
self with the endearments and ties of a home ? The
Legislature does so by placing his widow upon adif-
ferent footing from the widows of younger men.
His widow, the widow of a naval officer who has
married after sixty, having no c►aim--no legal claim
upon the consideration of that country to whose
service her husband has devoted the best years of
his life, and perhaps sacrificed the aspirations
of his youthful affe.ctioes. Such a clause in the
pension-list is not worthy of the generous, devoted
people whe are ever ready to contribute with no
stinting hand to every worthy claimant; and who
so worthy of such endowment as the widows of
those who have spent their lives in the service of
their country ! The clause we fully believe re quires
only to be duly considered in order to be imme-
diately cancelled.

While the principles which govern our chief
educational institutions are forming part of the
public discussions, and are being closely criticised
and examined by men of all parties, preparatory
apparently to some legislative change, it is interest-
ing to turn to a large public school holding its
annual festival, and assembling peers and prelates
and other dignitaries of the State to do it honour.
The Merchant Taylors' Company is indeed some-
thing than a mere school, being one of the very first
of our mercantile bodies, and possessing all those
claims to respect and pre-eminence which four cen-
turies of active and eventful life can give to any
institution. The celebration of Saturday was held,
however, exclusively in honour of the school which
is connected with it. The exciting days of exami-
nation were over, but the more gratifying and
gracious ceremony of awarding the prizes so hardly
won was among the first of the day's performances,
accompanied as usual by the delivery of orations,
the acting of scenes from the dramas of various na-
tions, and the comments of the head-master on the
individual achievements and general conduct of the
boys under his care. With the results of the
teaching the Merchant Taylors have no reason to
be dissatisfied, since out of the eight monitors four
have obtained open scholarships this year, and the
school can already boast of having ten scholars at
Oxford, and six at Cambridge, all doing creditably,
according to the testimony of Dr. HESSEY. Al-
though these statistics and the general ceremony of
prizz.giving and recitation might be chiefly inte-
resting to the youths concerned in it and to their
immediate connections, still a scene of the kind
possesses its attractions for the grown-up man, busy
in the great routine of political, professional, or
commercial life. Moralists may speculate on the
possible destinies of the heroes of the day, preachers
may sermonise on the vanity of human hopes and
expectations, and foretel the probable disappoint-
ments that await ambition; scholars may compare
the result of a test like the present with those that
attended their own school days; but as a general
rule the prevailing feeling is one of genial sympathy
for the eager youths, of hearty good wishes for their
future success, and of kindly yet touching remem•
brance that the grave spectators themselves once
formed part of a group as buoyant, as eager, as
ambitious. The testimony borne by the head-master
to the general good conduct of the boys under his
charge was highly gratifying, and proves that the
system of discipline adopted in our great schools is
not, as some would contend, altogether a failure.
At the banquet, as we have said, many of the cele-
brities of the day were assembled. Law was power-
fully represented by Lord CHELMSFORD and WENS-
LEYDALE and several of the judges; politics by
Lord STANLEY and Mr. WALPOLE; the Church of
England by the Bishop of OXFORD ; science by
Professor OWEN ; art by EASTLAKE and LANDSEER ;
the Universities by the two senior fellows of St.
John's, Oxford, and Dr. WYNTER, whose name has
lately been needlessly dragged into a newspaper
correspondence ; while a goodly show of Earls
and Marquisses proved that the Upper House
was not unmindful of the welfare of the Merchant
Taylors. The usual complimentary toasts called
forth the usual courtly responses, and, perhaps, the
only noticeable speech of the evening was Lord
STANLEY'S reply to the toast of the House of Com-
mons. In that brief address the noble lord took
occasion to maintain the general character of the
House, which he was then representing as
a deliberative assembly, possessing in a high
degree the confidence of the country. For
himself he declared that, during the years
in which he had been associated with its
members, and had taken part in its deliberations,
the stronger had become his respect for its opinions
and his faith in the general soundness of its deci-
sions. This is probably the case with any one who
mixes with a great public body drawn from various
classes, and representing various shades of feeling
and opinion on religious, political, and social mat-
ters. Where the number is large enough, and the
individuals sufficiently varied to represent fairly
the great body of the English people, we shall
always find a sense of right, a love of fair play, a
hatred of oppression, regulated and guided by the
sound common sense which is one of the predomi-
nating characteristics of our countrymen. But, as
these qualities are confined to no one class alone,
and are no more typical of the peer than of the
peasant, there can be no reason to fear any
change, or even considerable modification of
them, in a new House of Commons which
more fairly represented the nation at large. On all
questions of national interest or importance, the
unanimity of Englishmen of all ranks has always
been one of their groat safeguards, and there is no
reason to doubt that matters of more diverse nature,
foreignpolitics, changes in domestic administration,
questions
of law, finance, and social welfare, would
a s
calm and careful a consideration, as tem-
perate and impartial a discussion as they even do
receive
now in a House representing not the privileged
classes alone, but all ranks of English householders.
The days are gone by when mob-orators and demo-
cratic, leaders would have been selected by the
We may depend upon it that
np poorer oclass
hoo nf sconstituentswill exercise their newly-
acquired right more prudently, more conscientiously,