The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-02 00:00:00

Commissary-General J. M. M'Lean Sutherland—
Apothecary S. Jones.
The officers of the 9th Depot Battalion at the
camp at Colchester are about to presea a testi-
monial of respect to Col. Knox, C.B.
The annual sports of the 14th Hussars came off
on the Royal Pavilion Cricket-ground at Aldershott
on Thursday afternoon.

Her Majesty's iron steamship Valiant, 4,063 tons
and 800 horse power engines, built by Messrs.
Westwood and Bailie at Millwall, and masted and
rigged in the Victoria docks, yesterday went down
the river at the two o'clock tide for Sheerness, in
command of Commander Luke, steam reserve at
Woolwich. On account of her great draught of
water it was considered necessary to lay to at Green-
hithe for the night, and proceed this morning to
Sheerness, where she will receive her armament
from Woolwich and be completed for sec.
The launch of a fine ship of 1,500 tons, likewise
built in the above named yard (now called the Lon-
don Engineering Iron Shipbuilding Compasy), is
announced to take place at 2 p.m. today. She is
to be named the Royal George,

The following is a list of the naval and military
stations to which the Contagious Diseases Preven•
tion Act is intended to apply—Portsmouth, Ply-
mouth, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Aldershott,
including the limits of the parishes of Pirbright,
Ash, Compton, Peper•Harrow, Frimley, Patten-
ham, Seale and Tongham, Elstead, Farnham,
Birley, in the county of Surrey, Aldershott, Yately,
Crondall, Dogmersfield, Winehfield, Hartley..
Wintney, Cove, Eversley, Farnborough, Binstead,
Bentley, in the county of Hants ; Sandhurst, in the
county of Berks ; Colchester, Shorncliffe, the
Curragh, Cork, and Queenstown,
The Edgar, screw line-ofsbattle ship, Capt. G. P.
Hornby, bearing the flsg of Rear• Admiral S. C.
Dacres, C. 8., Commander-ht-Chief of the Channel
fleet, accompanied by the iron frigate (screw)
Warrior, 40 guns, Capt. the Hon. A. A. Cochrane,
C. 8., anchored at Spithead yesterday from the
westward.

The Himalaya, screw troopship, Capt. Lacy, went
out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday on trial of her
machinery, preparatory to her proceeding again on
foreign service. The trial was perfectly satisfaca
tory, and the Himalaya returned to the harbour to
complete the necessary preparations for her voyage
and the embarcation of troops, &o.

The Aurora, 35, screw frigate, Capt. Sir Lecpold
M'Clintock, steamed into Portsmouth harbour yes.
terday to refit atter the Baltic voyage.
The ships of war on the Australian station at
the date of the last advices were—the Harrier, 17,
Capt. Sullivan, at New Zealand (ordered home) ;
the Miranda, 14, Capt. ;Jenkins, at New Zealand;
the Eclipse, 4, Capt. Mayne, at New Zealand ; the
Curacoa, 23, Commodore Wiseman, at Sydney; the
Esk, 21, Ceptain Jlamilton, at Sydney ; the Fal-
con, 17, Capt. Parkin, at New Zealand ; and the
Salamander, 4, Capt. Carnegie, at New York.
Yesterday General Todleben, the Russian General
and defender of Sebastopol, paid a visit to Chatham,
for the purpose of inspecting the naval and military
establishments at that port and garrison, as well as
the system of fortification carried out at that mili-
tary station. The General travelled by the London
Chatham, and Dover Railway, arrived at Chatham
at half-past 11 a.m. He was accompanied by Gen.
Sir 3. F. Burgoyne, G.C.8., Inspector-General of
Royal Engineers, and his aide-de-camp; Capt. the
Hon. G. Wrottesley, Royal Engineers; Gen. Sir
J. M. F. Smith, K.II„ M.P., Royal Engineers;
Mr. E. J. Reed, Chief Constructor of the Navy ; and
an Attache from the Imperial Embassy in -London.
01 the platform awaiting the arrival of General
Todleben were MsjorsGen. Sir Robert Walpole,
K.C.8., commanding the troops in the Chatham
district, with his aideedeecamp, Lieute.Col. T. B,
Collinson, Lieut.-Col. J. W. Level], C. 8., Royal
Engineers and other officers of the garrison. A
number of carriages were in waiting in the station.. '
yard, in which the visitors entered, and were driven
in the firet instance to Chatham dockyard, where
they were received by Capt. W. H. Stewart, C. 8.,
superintendent ; Mr. Thornton, senior master ship-
builder, and the other principal officials. At the
moment of their entering the dockyard the work-
men were leaving for dinner. This, however, did
not prevent the General and the other visitors from
witnessing the extensive operations in pro..
gross relating to the construction and repair of
the largest descriptions of iron-clad vessels
of war. After spending a short time in the
offices, where the drawings and plans of the
principal iron ships were examined with much
interest, the General proceeded to the dock in
which the Bellerophon ironclad frigate is under
construction. The whole of the workmen having
been withdrawn from the ship, every portion of the
interior of the frigate was traversed, and the vari-
ous parts of the vessel pointed out by Mr Reed, the
greatest apparent interest being shown by the Ge-
neral in every portion of her construction, which
differs very remarkably from every other vessel of
the kind yet built. Leaving the Bellerophon Ge-
neral Todleben and party proceeded through the
yard, passing the docks and slips on which several
wooden vessels are standing in various degrees of
progress until they reached the ship on which the
iron-plated frigate Lord Warden is under construc-
tion, also from Mr Reed's plans. The brief time
occupied in the visit to the dockyard would scarcely
admit of any of the establishments being visited,
and shortly before two o'clock the General, with the
other visitors, quitted the yard and proceeded to the
Royal Engineer establishment at Brompton. Lun.
cheon for a party of 50 guests was served in the
Royal Engineers' messroom, to which most of the
heads of departments were invited. General
Todleben afterwards briefly inspected the companies
of Royal Engineers, who were drawn up in front of
their quarters in fatigue dress, previously to pro.
ceeding on the field works for their engineering
operations. The of study for the Engineer
officers, schools, and Royal Engineer museum, the
latter containing a varied and choice collection of
models connected with military engineering, as well
as an Equsily interesting array of articles of all de-
scriptions obtained during the Russian, Caffre, Chia
nese, and other ware were visited, and their contents
inspected with evident interest. General 'l'cdle.
ben afterwards prccceded to the Royal Engineer
depot field works—a considerable extent of ground
stretching from the fortifications to the Med.
way, and admirably adapted for the instruction
of the officers and sappers in everything relating to
military engineering, the construction of earth..
works, formation of bridges, &c. Upwards of an
hour was spent upon the works in witnessing the
operations of the Sappers and Miners and the re-
sult of their labours during the past summer, and it
was late in the afternoon before General Todleben
and the other visitors quitted the ground. They
returned to town by the London, Chatham, and
Dover Railway, the General before his depar-
ture expressing the pleasure his visit to Chatham
had afforded him.

The following appointments and promotions have
been made at the Admiralty :—Capt. J. G. Good-
enough, to the Victoria, commissioned—Comman-
der Mountford S. L. Peile, to the Espoir, commis-
sioned—Lieuts. H. L. Perceval, Hon. H. B. Hamil-
ton, Hardy M'Hardy, Walter Stewart, and A. H.
Markham, to the Victoria—W.H. Drysdale, master,
to the Victoria—Sub-Lieuts. Alfred T. Bagge, H,
S. Hutchings, and C. P. Polly, to the Victoria—
Allune P. Pascoe, midshipman, to the Meeanee—
E. J. Fellowes, midshipman, to the Racoon ; Mar..
ens M'Causland, Robert L. Smart, Henry W. A.
Littledale, Henry A. Askew, Moyrick T. Daubony,
William F. S, Mann, George 11. Bruce, and Robert
0. Webb, midshipmen, to the Victoria—Frederick
C. Boultbee, nominated to a naval cadetship—E.
A. Williamson, promoted to paymaster-in-chief on
the retired list—Frederick W. Le Grand, M.D.,
promoted to be Deputy InTcctor-General of Ilos-
pltals and Fleets, en tho retired list—Sidney S.
Spark, pymaster, to the Victoria—J. H. Manley,
t;ssist.-padmaster, to the Blenheim—Henry W.
Andrews, Wm. Phillips, and Henry Ellis, assist.-
paymasters, to the Victoria—the Thpr. S. K.
Stothert, chaplain, to the Victoria--the Rcv, J. W.
Bassell, chaplain, to the Liffay—the Rev. Henry T.
Clerk, chaplain, to the Blenheim—F. Brinckley,
naval instructor, to the Victorii—Frederick M.
James, clerk, to the Victoria—Henry Stubbs and
William W. Pary, assist.-clerks, to the Victoria;

Frederick W. Sutton (B), promoted to be chief en.
gineer—John Harwood, engineer, to the Dauntless
for the tenders—William H. Hooper, engineer, to
the Indus, as supernumerary—H. H. Mothersole,
engineer, to the Fervent—Eyre Miles, supernume•
rary in the Asia, promoted to be engineer ; F. T.
Pendleton, in the Styx, promoted to actieg-engi.
neer—and Robert Walters, assist.-engineer, to the
Formidable for the Lizard.

Lord Stanley and the Warehousemen and

Clerks' Schools.

On Monday about 150 gentlemen dined at Manchester
under the auspices of the Committee of the Warehousemen
and Clerks' Orphan Schools. A glee party sung a number
of glees, &c., between the toasts.

Lord STANLEY, who presided, in proposing "The Queen,"
said—Those of us who have lived to middle age have seen
stormy times in this country, and we may see such times
again, although all present appearances are in a contrary
direction. But it is the happiness of our modern political
system that under it no serious unpopularity can ever attach
to the Crown, except by the faults of the Crown. It may be
a paradox, but I believe it is the truth, that in proportion
as the sovereigns have parted with that direct power and
authority which they exercised in former days, in precisely
the same proportion they have gained in popularity and
even in social influence. (Hear.) The more men feel them.
selves free and self-good, the more ready they are to pay to
the highest authority in the country that which no law can
exact or enforce—the willing tribute of their loyal respect,
(Hear.) I am not in the habit of fl tittering royal persons
either present or absent, but it is bare justice to her Ma-
jesty to say that in the long list of English sovereigns there
is none who has more uniformly made public duty and public
interest the rule of her life. (Hear.) A court upon which,
during 27 years, no reproach can be cast, is at all times a
rare spectacle in English history—(hear)—and considering
the influence which the Queen exercises upon social life in
this country, I think we cannot doubt that she has thereby
conferred a very real and substantial benefit upon public
morals and on our English social life. (Applause.)
The CHAIRMAN, in proposing the health of " The Prince
and Princess of Wales and the rest of the Royal Family,',
said in this country the heir to the crown occupies a pecu-
liar and somewhat difficult position. He is shut out from
any direct and active participation in public life, but he is
bound to study and take an interest in the course of public
affairs. He is naturally the most impartial and disinterested
adviser of the Sovereign, but he is bound most scrupulously
to avoid any interference with the functions or rights of the
Minister of the day. (Hear.) In his position he can never
be wholly free fLona ceremonial restraint, yet he is expected
to see and to be seen. He must maintain a certain social re-
serve, yet he is expected to take part frankly in the plea •
stares and pursuits of English gentlemen. To fulfil these
various duties, to satisfy these expectations, is not altogether
an easy matter. (Hear, hear.) Those who think as I do, that
State shows and ceremonies are about the hardest work a
man can be put to, would find, if they were to try it, that the
highest station has its drawbacks, and that ample allowances
may be very hardly earned. (Hear, hear.) We have not
had the opportunity of knowing much of hie Royal High•
ness. What we do know is this, that wherever he has gone
he has acquired for himself personal popularity aril respect.
(Hear, hear.) I hope some day or another he may give us
a chance of making acquaintance with him in these dis-
tricts. lam sure he ought to be glad to see Manchester;
and I am quite sure that Manchester will be glad to see him.
(Applause.)

The CHAIRMAN gave " The bishop, clergy, and ministers
of all denominations,'' and said—Truly glad I am that here
at least, without dispute or objection, we are able to give
that toast in that form ; because it shows that among us
sectarian differences are not rife. (Hear.) I suppose we are
too busy. I have always noticed that when people had
nothing else to do they took to quarrelling; and whether
men are minded to quarrel, religious differences often serve
to that end. (Hear, hear, and laughter,) I think, how-
ever, the feeling here is that ministers of religion are not
antagonists or rivals, except in a friendly sense, but are
rather allies, fighting in different uniforms against one com-
mon enemy; and if I know anything of these things they've
got their work before them. (Hear, hear, and laughter.)
There is plenty of vice to combat ; they will meet plenty
of opposition of all kinds ; and what is more, they will meet
men who are not much in the habit of submitting to any
authority, and who aro accustomed to speak their mind out.
I recollect a friend of mine, an old clergyman who had a
large experience in various parts of England, saying to
me that he would much rather deal with Lancashire
men than with people from simply rural districts. " They
are not so smooth-spoken, they are not always so civil to
you, but they understand what yemi say; and if you can
once get them to ;agree with you, and to say that they
agree with you, you may be quite sure that they do,
because they wont say it if they do not mean it." (Rear,
hear.) I believe that is true, and I believe that the work-
ing classes in Lancashire, more than perhaps anywhere
else, havo that kind of intelligence and shrewdness that
they know a genuine man from a humbug, (Hear, hear,
and laughter.) Therefore, if a clergyman is minded to
throw his head and his heart into the work he has to do, I
Ido not know that he could wish to be better situated than
in Lancashire. (Applause.)

The Rev. Canon RICIISON responded, and heartily com-
mended the \Varehouscmen and Clerks' Schools to the
mercantile community, whore duty be said it was to raise
the £lO,OOO needed for the erection of the contemplated
buildings. He thought the necessary guarantee for the
commencement of the work ought to be obtained in a
fortnight.

The CHAIRMAN proposed "The army, navy, and volun-
teers," and said—A few years ago there might be many
persons to whom a toast of this kind would seem out of
place in this city; but as we grow older we grow wiser—
at least some of us do. (Laughter.) I think withal the
last two years we have discovered two things—one, that
the world is not quite so near to that state of lamb-like
innocence as some of us thought a dczen years ago, and
that if we, working bees, intend to secure the use and en-
joyment of our own honey, we shall have to show that we
are ready occasionally to use our stings—(" hear," and
laughter),—though I hope, like bees, we shall only do
it in self-defence. (Hear, hear.) The other thing is that
science and mechanical skill have as much to do with the
arts of war as they have with those of peace. That isn't a
new lesson. It is as old as the days of Archimedes, and
probably older—but it is a lesson which we had rather lost
sight of in recent times. Now, in our state of society, when
occasional war must be contemplated as a possibility, I
think there is no feature about it more satisfactory than the
extent to which the results are influenced by scientific
skill and by mechanical appliances. That is satisfactory,
because it is a guarantee, as far as anything can be so, for
the furtherance of our actual civilisation. It is a security
to the civilised and educated nations of the world, that their
power and skill will prevail against mere brute force and
mere animal courage. I believe we may congratulate
ourselves upon having here in Manchester contributed
not inconsiderably to that result ; and if we should be
unfortunate enough to be drawn into future wars, I believe
that the historian of those wars will record the name of Mr
Whitworth as that of a man who has done as much for the
military successes of the country as our most victorious
generals. (Hear, hear.) I believe wo have an army and a
navy which, though undoubtedly they have been very
costly, are yet efficient. I say that especially of the navy,
although in that respect we are in such a state of transi-
tion that nobody precisely knows where we are. (Laughter.)
But I believe we have maintained, and aro maintaining,our
relative superiority over other countries. And if, as the
general belief is, success in maritime war depends upon
three things,—the quality of our iron, the length of our
purse, and the courage of our men, why, we have the biggest
irondelds of any country, I believe we have longest purse,
and as for men, if we only do as well as they did in the
days of oar grandfathers, I do not think we have any rea-
son to fear. (Hear, hear) Ono word upon the volunteer
force. I look with groat respect upon that force, and I
think it is quite as important in a moral—(hear, hear)—l
mean in a political and diplomatic, as in a material point of
view—because it shows that though we may not have a
warlike Government we are at the bottom a military nation.
You may have a Government making a great parade of
driving on a war, men who would much rather be quiet in
their homes—(hear, hear)—but in this country all our Go.
vernments, I don't care who they be, all those who 'are re.
sponsible for the conduct of affairs, all thinking men, are
only anxious to be able to keep honourably and safely at
peace. But, if you once rouse the military spirit of the
country, there is that in us that if we are driven to war,
I believe we shall go to it with a will. I believe the volun-
teer moTement to be good in all ways. For gentlemen
engaged in sedentary pursuits is has been excellent as a
sanitary measure, a sort of anticipation of Banting.
(Laughter.) It has given to many men who were idle
against their will, idle because they had a competence
and no sphere of usefulness open to them—and
there are many such in English society—the pleasure of
employment, and the sense, for the first time, of feeling
that they were making themselves useful to the commu-
nity; and that is a pleasure which no man need despise.
(Hear, hear.) It has brought together classes who had not
an opportunity of meeting before in the same way; and last,
but net least, it has done a great deal to put an end to those
discreditable panics to which England used to be liable from
time to time. (Applause.) I believe we may reckon at the
present time upon an (talent volunteer force of 150,000
men. I moan that there is that number on the rolls, of whom
two thirds would be available at once it they were wanted;
and large as that force is, I believe it is only the nucleus of
the force which might bo available if any national exigency
should require it. (Applause.)
The lion, A, EGERTON, M.P., responded.
The children of the schools were then introduced.
The noble CHAIRMAN said—The introduction of these
welcome visitors shows that I am about to propose the toast
of the evening, 0 Prosperity to the Manchester Warehouse-
men and Clerks' Scheele." I rise under some difficulty in
proposing that toast, not on account of the weakness of the
case which I have to submit, but because on such a subject
it is hardly possible to say anything that your own experi-
ence and knowledge of the world will not have already sug••
gested. The proposition is to enlarge, or practically to found
anew, these schools, for the benefit of orphans and neoudi-

totes children of persons employed as warehousemen and
clerks. The questions we have to consider are—ls this thing
wanted ? Are there any reasonable objections to its exist-
ence ? And if not, are we setting about its establishment in
the right way ? As to the first question, I am afraid I am
not very well qualified to give an opinion, I have not with
me a fact or figure showing what the number is in these
districts Of the class for whom we undertake to provide. All
I know is that where a million of people are employed in
industrial pursuits, that class must necessarily be large,
You cannot have any place of business without a clerk, few
without more than one; and those who have visited those
magnificent palaces called warehouses, which are an equal
honour to the public spirit and to the taste of Manchester,
and which brings strangers from distant parts of the country
to inspect them, must be aware that not all the ingenuity
which Lancashire can command, not all our laboursaving
machinery, can avoid the necessity of a large amount of
human labour being there employed. Then you have a
numerous class to deal with. I may assume that you have
also a poor class. I take it that very few persons go into the
business of a warehouseman or a clerk who have any cone ,
siderable private means independent of what they can earn.
(Hear, hear.) I may assume further that, although men in
that position may and do rise in society, yet in the earlier
years of life their remuneration is rather small, and the sum
that they can lay by is therefore insignificant. (Hear.)
Give then those facts, a poor and numerous class, and you
have this also certain, that out of every large number of
poisons there will be a certain per centage—an insurance
office could give you the precise figures—who will die per-
maturely. That is a matter of experience and calculation.
It follows, therefore, necessarily that in that class you will
have a certain amount of poverty and destitution. You will
have a certain number of children thrown upon your hands,
and the question will be what to do with them. I see only
three alternatives. One, of course, is the workhouse. I
think those who look round this room will see reasons
stronger than I can suggest why it is not expedient to leave
children in that position to that resource. (Hear, hear.) But
feeling apart, and as a mere matter of national economy, 1
should say that it was an unwise course. In this country
to pauperise a man is to degrade him. (Hear, hear.) It may
be right or wrong, but the fact is so. Poverty to a mode-
rate extent is a stimulus. But when a man gets to the very
bottom of the social scale, he is under fearful disadvantages
if he ever tries to make his way up ; and the same
remark applies still more strongly to a woman. In addition
to that the workhouse training is bad, and on the whole I
think you will not require me to argue at length that you
would not like to see every orphan child of a warehouseman
or clerk left simply to the tender mercies of the union. The
second alternative is—Can or ought the employer to take
care of them ? The practical answer is very simple ; there
are some who can't, and a great many who won't. Though
I am the last to wish to discourage private liberality or mu-
nificence, still I do not think that it would be very desirable
that, as a general rule, there should be an expectation
created that wherever children were left orphans or desti.
tute, the employer should, as a matter of course, be bound
to take care of them. I will tell you why I think that would
not be a good general rule. We all know that men in that
class of life can enly provide for their families by pinching,
by self-denial, by refusing themselves many little luxuries
and comforts. I think it would he not a wise thing, I think
it would be a premium on imprudence, if you were to put it
into men's heads to argue in this way, " Why should I
argue, and pinch myself, and be so careful to make provi-
sion for my family? If I live they; will take care of them-
selves ; if I die I may look upon it as a matter of course that
my employer will take carp of them ; therefore anything I
lay by is saving his pocket and not mine." (Hear, hear.) If
you were to establish that as a general principle, the effect
would be to create a very general feeling of dependence and
imprudence, which two words mean the same among that
class. I put the alternetive, therefore, out of the question.
It seems to me, then, that you are inevitably thrown back
on the resource of some institution such as that we are now
promoting. I do not think it is open to the objection that
applies more or less to simple charity, the simple giving of
alms, because the leading idea of the institution is the come
bination of the principle of insurance with the principle of
charity, It is perfectly true that the help which is given is not
absolutely and strictly limited to the children of sub-
scribers ; but it is equally the fact, that, in all cases where
the merits are equal, children of subscribers will have the
Preference. What virtually the institution says to persons
in that position is, if you will help yourselves we will help
you—(applause)—if you will make a certain provision for
your families in the event of your death, and being unable
to provide for them we will put 'something down; we will
for every shilling you put down put down another shilling,
and so we will help you, and encourage others to make a
similar provision. I can conceive it possible that men may
say, " Why in such a case are you to give any help at all ?
Every man can and ought to insure his life, and no man has
a right to marry unless he can make it reasonably certain
that he can provide for the children whom he brings into
the world." My answer is that that is a thing very easy to
say, but not ccoally easy to enforco. Of course there is
truth in it ; I do not deny that there is a certain practical
logical truth in it ; and I freely admit that if all men were
perfectly wise and perfectly prudent there might probably
be no need of such an institution as that we are now sup-
porting. But that is not precisely the state of things in the
world in a Ineh we live. Men are not machines. They are
not merely reasoning beings; they have passions and feel-
ings, and if you are to condemn every man who marries
upon small means or doubtful expectations, and if you are
to look into the biography of notable men in this country,
ou will find that you are censuring many of those who have
subscqaently held nee highest positions, and done the meet
eminent service to the State. (Applause.) And let this also
be remembered, and in this presence I merely touch upon
it, that if in one sense a family is a burden, in another
sense it is a stimulus to exertion and a moral restraint,
(Hear, hear.) Take the case, we all know it, of the army.
Soldiers, as a rule, cannot marry ; moving about as our
army does from country to country, it is hardly possible
that theyshould. Here I won't say more; but we all know
what the result of that is ; we all know that soldiers are not
worse than other men, but if in some respects they appear
to be worse, it is because they have not what most other
men have—the comforts of a home. (Hear.) I think, there-
fore, that you would be straining too far a sound economi-
cal rule, if you were—wherever a man marries upon uncer-
tain prospects, fails in his expectations, cannot make family,provi-
say
suant you willpunish,expeetedly and leaves that
,
sfaiomnilfyorinh
distress—to
not him, for
he is beyond the reach of punishment, but them, by con-
signing them to total ruin. Further than that I should say
an insii ution of this kind is no real encouragement to im-
prudence. Wo cannot help, or pretend to help, ail who want
assistance; we can help comparatively only a selected few.
We require, I suppose, in every case evidence of character;
we require in a great majority of cases to know that some
contributions have been made by the father; and if on the
one hand, we make it somewhat easier for a man to provide
for a future family by giving trim these means of assisted
insurance, on the other hand we lead many men to make
provision for a family which they have, which provision
without such assistance they would not think of making, I
think you may fairly set one against the other. I have only
one word more to say as to the principle of the matter. In
cases of this kind experience is worth a great deal more
than thecry, and we know there is hardly a trade, profes-
sion, or occupation in England which has not thought it
expedient to make some provision of this kind for its mem-
bers. I am speaking of London only, because it is the place
I know best. Literary men, artists, newspaper men, and
railway servants have done it, so have farmers, grocers,
gardeners, and licensed victuallers; and I believe there
are many more of which I know nothing. Schools
founded on the principle of this are being founded every
year, and those that have been founded are regu-
larly and steadily supported. Of course I don't say that
is an absolute proof that we are right in the principles
we have adopted ; but I do say that when a largo num-
ber of persons in different occupations, unconnected with
one another, all of them interested in the result, adopt the
same means to accomplish the same end, that is strong
prima facie evidence at least that a general want is felt, and
that there is a general agreement as to the manner in which
that want ought to be supplied. (Hear, hear.) I do not
carry it further, but it seems to me that argument is sound
as far as it goes. Speaking in this company, I need say
nothing as to the union of classes as to the duties the rich
owe to the poor, or to tite expediency of obtaining, as far as
you can, the support and good feeling of those who work
with you. Everybody knows that gratitude and goodwill.,
are not things which can be bought with money, but so fa
as money can help to buy them that is the best investment
of his capital which even a Manchester man can make.
(Hear, and laughter,) Just one word before I sit down, on
matters of practical detail. These schools have existed for
eight years ; there have been 61 children elected, the num-
ber now in the school is 31, The income, excluding special
donations, is about £l,OOO a year, and there is a reserve
fund of £1,500, which I hope we shall not touch. The ime
mediate necessity is to obtain money for a new building.
I believe the schools have been carefully attended to, and
as far as possible under the circumstances, economically
worked. But there is a saying that nothing succeeds like
success, and the converse of the saying is equally true that
nothing ie so expensive as poverty. (Hear, hoar.) The cost
of the staff of the house, what may bo called the fixed e x•
penditure, has been, 1 believe, very nearly as heavy in the
case of these schools as if they contained double the number,
(Hear.) Theretoro, it, is a mere matter of economy to re-
duce that expenditure per head ty doubling the capacity of
the echo ,ls. (Applause.) I think you will see from what I
have said, there is plenty of rocm for any exertion you wilt
be inclined to make. I rejoice tosee that many of the leading
names of Manchester are associated with this movement.
I see some present; our president, Sir James Watts; Mr
Pender, Dr Fairbairn, and I might mention others who
when they once take a thing in hand, aro not in the habit
of letting it drop through. (Hear, hear.) I do not believe
that it is the practice in Manchester to give to any cause, or
to any institution, a merely idle and nominal patronage;
and I am quite sure that those who have given their names
on this occasion as stewards will give something more sub-
stantial. Though this is comparatively a small matter, I
confidently believe that in this, as in every other
matter, Manchester will not forfeit, but rather increase,
that great name of judicious liberality she has obtained
during the two years of the cotton famine. Pardon me for
detaining you so long, and let me ask you to join with me
in drinking, with all the honours, prosperity to these

schools. (Applause.) The toast was drunk with applause.
Mr R. N. PHILIPS responded.
Mr J. DUFFIELD, the secretary, announced subscrips
tions amounting to £1,131.
Mr W. R. WooD gave the House of Lords and the
House of Commons, which was responded to by Mr T.
BAZLEY, M.P.
Sir J. WATTS gave the health of the Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN, in responding, said—l wish] I had
words to express to you how heartily and sincerely I thank
you for the reception you have given me to-night. I am not
vain enough to suppose that it is wholly or mainly due to
any merits of mine, But I know the kindness of the recep-
tion which you have always given to my father when public
duty has brought him amongst you (applause)—and I have
felt all my life, as a public man, that a great part of any
position to which I have made my way was owing to that
which he had previously attained. But I thank you for the
welcome you have given mo—l thank you partly because
there is no testimony of good feeling which could reach
me from any other part of the country for which I should
feel half so grateful as that from which I receive from the
inhabitants of that county in which I was born, and in
which I hope to live and die. (Applause.) Partly also,
though I won't say a word touching on politics here, I do
feel that what Lancashire thinks to-day, England thinks to-
morrow—(applause)—and, therefore, the expression of
kindly feeling in this district towards one who, whether he
wishes it or no, is a public man, touches me more nearly
than it could in any part of the country. (Applause.) I
have said that I won't address to you one word bearing on
politics, and I won't; but I will just say this, because I
think it has nothing whatever to do with politics in a
party sense—that I have often differed from the majority of
parliamentary men in this respect—l always see them look-
ing out for something which gives them an opportunity for
a fight. (Laughter.) That is not the view that I take of
most public questions. I always wish to see how far it is
possible to bring sensible and moderate men to an agreement,
and if you cannot do that, why, then, of course fight it out.
(Hear, hear, and laughter.) But Ido believe that upon a
very large proportion of questions that are brought before
Parliament, if you can bring men of business, moderate sen-
sible men, into one room they will come to a substantial
agreement as to what ought to be. (Hear, hear.) There
is only one word further which I wish to say. It is a com-
mon popular idea that every man who goes into public life
is engaged in an incessant scramble for the possession of
executive power. So far as I can see, that is a mistake—
certainly, so far as I am concerned, it is an utter mistake,
(Hear, hear.) I hold that a man's business is to help to
carry on the business of the country to the best a his power
and ho may do that almost equally well whether he is a
member of the national Legislature or of the national execu-
tive. The difference to my mind between a mere politician
and anyone worthy of the name of a statesman is this, that
the one is thinking what the country will do for him, and
the other is thinking what he can do for the country. I beg
to thank you for the kindness of the reception you have
given me, and I hope that, feeling myself as closely con-
nected with Manchester as anyone in this room, we shall
meet publicly and privately on many future occasions.
(Applause.)
The meeting then drank the health of the ladies, and the
proceedings terminated.

The Singular Claim of Property at Wigan.

The borough magistrates at Wigan were occupied for
nearly six hours on Monday in hearing a case arising out
of the extraordinary seizure of the Manor-house, Scholes,
by two men acting as agents for one Horrocks, a grocer, at
Spenney Moor, Durham, the particulars of which have al-
ready appeared in our columns. Mr Hilton, the town clerk,
appeared in support of a summons charging Joseph Hor-
rocks and Charles Rowe with having forcibly entered and
detained the Manor-house, Scholes, then in the occupation
of the executors of the late Joseph Burns, as tenants thereof.
The defendants were represented by Mr Trotter, of Bishop
Auckland, Durham, solicitor for the claimant of the pro-
perty. The first witness called was Thos. Swarbrick, who
said he was ono of the executors of the late Joseph Burns.
Mr Trotter, learning that the will was not proved, at once
objected to the reception of the evidence of the witness as an
executor till the will was proved ; but this objection was
overruled. The evidence went to show that on the 12th
October the two defendants entered the house, stating that
they represented the real owner of the property, that they
were ejected by force, and that they re-entered immediately
afterwards by the back door, followed by a crowd who sup-
ported their claim, that there was much riotous conduct it.
the house till the representative of the owner departed,
and that since that period they had held possession by
forcible means. In opening the case for the defence, Mr
Trotter raised the point that, inasmuch as in everything
the defendants did they were exercising a bowel?* claim
of right, the jurisdiction of the justices were ousted, and
in proof of this several authorities were quoted. In sup-
port of his assertion as to right, Mr Trotter said the pro-
perty had passed from the hands of his clients owing to cer-
tain forged wills, one of which was actually proved 10 years
before the testator died. There was a long discussion on
this point, and the magistrates, after retiring to consult,
decided that they had power to hear tho case, as the sta-
tutes of Richard 11. and Henry VI. under which the pro-
ceedings were taken, seemed especially to meet cases such
as the one they were then considering.—Mr Trotter then
proceeded to discuss the merits of the charge, and stated
that the men were in the house by permission of complain-
ant's co-executor on Burns's estate, He denied that there
hod been any forcible entry, and, as a consequence. there
was not legally any forcible detainer. A great deal had been
said about the wrongful doings of his clients, and it was said
that Mr Taylor, the alleged owner of the property, was much
to be pitied ; tut surely, if anyone was to be pitied it was
his client, whose family had by two gross acts of forgery
been kept out of the property for a long time. Many per-
sons, no doubt, had bought some of the property not know-
ing these facts, and it would be hard on them, but he was
instructed that the owners of an immense quantity of this
Scholes land had bought it with their eyes open, knowing
what was hanging over it.—The Magistrates' Clerk (Mr
Part) said he had had to do with many titles in that district,
and never heard of it; and several of the leading solicitors
in the town who were in court made corroborative remarks.
—Mr Trotter said the case had been tried at the Lancaster
Assizes in 1807, and a verdict had been obtained. He could
not understand why the parties had not taken possession.
He could prove that Burns had attorned tenant to his
clients ; but if he could show that Swarbrick's co-executor,
Prow, disowned these proceedings, there was an end of the
case. After some consideration, the magistrates proceeded
to the house of Prow, who was too ill to attend the court,
and he stated that the proceedings wore taken without his
authority, and that when the defendants were repulsed
on the 12th of October, he pointed out to them that they
could re-enter at the back door. The Magistrates' Clerk
advised the justices at once to dismiss the case, and the
proceedings terminated.—The defendants were received
outside the court with a hearty cheer; and the police
evacuating the premises in dispute. they again entered, to
the evident delight of a large crowd of spectators. Yes-
terday's proceedings leave the inhabitants of the town
almost as much in the dark as ever as to the grounds of this
singular claim. •The claimants appear to possess a brief held
by one of the junior counsel in a case tried at the Lancaster
assizes in 18.1, Roe v. Tabley, and the evidence adduced
shows, it is alleged, that a verdict was obtained in favour of
the ancestors of the defendants in the case tried yesterday,a
certain will under which the land was held being proved to
be forged. The statement that the Manor-house is only a
very small portion of the property claimed seems to be well
grounded, and should there really be more in the affair than
the leading solicitors in the town believe, no little litigation
may be expected.

A BRAVE LAD.—Tho Charleroi journals relate
the following instances of fortitude on the part of
a little boy only:eight years old, the son of a labourer named
Malhaux, living at Farcinnes, Belgium. One evening, three
weeks since, ho was sent by his mother to fetch a loaf from
a baker's on the opposite side of the railway. On his re-
turn, when passing a level crossing about 150 paces from the
Farcionnes station, he saw a train approaching, and in his
alarm stumbled and fell. He nevertheless had the presence
of mind to roll into the space between the rails and lie still.
Unhappily, the clearing iron caught his blouse and dragged
him along till the train stopped at the station, but the wheels
had meanwhile passed over one of his arms and cut it nearly
off. When liberated ho exclaimed, looking at his mangled
limb, " Pray, do not tell mother !" and asked the by.
standers to fetch his loaf. It was found necessary to
amputate the arm, and chloroform having been applied
wiihout producing insensibility, he bore the op-ration with
the utmost courage, and only asked once or twice it the
surgeons would soon have done. His arm is now healing,
and the little fellow has returned to school as gay and
cheerful as his companions.

JUST THE PEOPLE Fort A SEANCE.—A correspon-
dent of thf BontbayGazette, in the central provinces,
relates an incident as having occurred at Raepore, which he
had obtained from a highly intelligent native gentleman
of his acquaintance. He (the intelligent native) was with
a great concourse of people at a fair held near the town of
Raepore, and while sauntering with many other strangers
in the fair, one of them began bargaining with two women
of middle age for some very fine sugar-canes. The man
got angry, and took up one of them, when the woman seized
the other end, and a struggle ensued. The purchaser offered
a fair price, the seller demanded double. The crowd looked
on, and a good deal of abuse of the female relations on both
sides took place. At last a policeman came up, and called
out to the man to let go his hold of the sugar-cane. He re-
fused, saying " that when people come to the fair to sell,
they should be made to sell at reasonable prices, or be turned
out." I, said the informant, thought the man right, and
told the policeman so, and that if he took the part of the
woman we would take the man's part, and see fair play.
Without further ceremony the Peeler with a knife cut the
cane in two, in the middle, and pointing to both pieces,
" There (said ho) you see the cause of my interference."
We looked and saw blood running from both pieces, and
forming a pool on the ground. The fact was the woman was
a sorceress of the very worst kind, and was drawing the
blood from the man through the cane to feed the abominable
devil from whom she derived her detestable powers; but for
the timely interference of the policeman ho would have been
dead in another minute, fur he no sooner saw the blood
than he fainted. Ha had hardly any blood left in him, and
could not walk for ten days I"