The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 24, 1864.

trict, and unfortunately the previous proceedings
of our authorities are not calculated to inspire
confidence in the prudence of their actions OZ the
wisdom of their decisions.

The subject of education is not a very novel
one. It has become a truism to say that educa-
tion is beneficial to every man ; that properly
given it develops his faculties and fits him for
whatever station he may occupy, for whatever
work he may take in hand. The old days are quite
passed away in which the advocates of education
had hard work to convince those of the old school
that it was desirable for the lower classes to get
beyond reading the Bible and spelling their name;
in fact, at the present time the danger lies rather in
the opposite direction of overmuch teaching. Still
there is a gradually increasing sense of the impor-
tance of cultivating the mind, which makes the
subject fresh end always full of interest ; and very
lately the public schools commission has opened
the question with regard to our great seminaries
of instruction. A want is beginning to be felt in
our scholastic system, which the energy and enter-
terprise of Englishmen will not long delay to supply.
There is a wide gap between the national school
and Eton, Harrow, and their rival establishments,
yet this vacancy lies just where the wants of a
very large and important class of the British public
—those of the middle rank—need instruction. Mr.
GATHORNE HARDY referred to this subject in deep
livering an address the other evening at a school
designed in some measure to supply this want. The
occasion was the annual examination and distribu-
tion of prizes at the Westminster and Pimlico
Commercial Schools, which was founded to provide
a satisfactory education for the children of
tradesmen and small professioaal men in
Westminster and its neighbourhood. • Mr. HARDY,
who occupied the chair, observed that the chief
thing which commended itself to their notice, was
the question of middle class education, which was
the only education not assisted throughout. In the
upper ranks there are the endowed colleges and great
public schools, the recipients of substantial bene-
factions from their ancestors. For the lower classes
there are the national schools, which give a good
sound education to the children of working men ;
but for the smaller tradesmen and people of that
class there is an absolute lack. It has been proved
by the inquiries of the commission that many of the
small introductory schools are superficial in their
teaching, and there is good reason to fear that a
~nperficial education is all that is gained in many
instances by the class of which we have spoken.
Sir. HARDY observed that it was especially impor-
tant at the present day that men of the middle
ranks should be well informed, else the growing
intelligence and increasing knowledge of the classes
below them would soon outstrip them. The bays
of the school which he was then addressing would
t)robably in after life have to preside over others, to
qrder, guide, end rule them, and if their subordinates
,n position were really their superiors in intellect,
low difficult and dangerous would be such a shoe.-
lon. There is much need that something should
oe done for the solution of this difficulty, and the
,;stablishment of good sound public schools for the
tower middle classes will exercise a most beneficial
.f,fluence on the general intelligence of the country,
%nd supply a long existing want.

The Countess (Dowager) of Jersey has returned
,o her residence in Berkeley-square, from Middleton Park,
uear Bicester. It will aff ,rd tne large circle of her lady-
ship's friends pleasure to learn that the countess is in ex-
cellent health.

Tne Countess Cowper entertained the Earl and
Countess de Grey and a large party at dinner yesterday at
her thansion in St. James's-square.

A grand amateur dramatic performance will takt
place at Her Majesty's Bijou Theatre, Haymarket, on
Monday, July 4, in aid of the funds of the Epileptic Hospi-
al. At the request of the committee, Mr Molloy's operetta
which was lately produced with signal success at St. James's
Hall, will be repeated.

THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE VOLUNTEERS.
—ln reply to a letter from Lord Bury, thanking
his royal highness for the honour conferred upon the Civil
Service Rifles by the late royal inspection, the Prince of
Wales writes :—" Marlborough-house, June 16, 1861.
My dear Lard Bury,—Many thanks for your very kind
letter, which I have just received; and for your kind
allusions to the Princess and myself. I can assure you
that both the Princess and myself are deeply sensible of the
feelings displayed towards us. And we were both very
much gratified by the inspection of the Civil Service
Volunteers under your command yesterday. We shall
always be most anxious to support any great public institu-
tion and undertaking ; and it is mostnecessary to encourage
the volunteers, who have displayed so noble a feeling in
coining forward for the defence of their sovereign and
country.—With my kindest regards to Lady Bury, I remain
yours very sincerely,—Signed, ALBERT EDWARD.—Lieut.-
Colonel the Viscount Bury, 31,P."
DISRAELI writes to the Guardian to defend
himself from a charge of disingenuousness made by that
paper in a review of " The Revolutionary Epick," and
based on an alteration which Mr. Disraeli had made in the
now edition of that poem. He says that in omitting the
words " Nature's laws" (which in the original edition are
said to have approved the bold blow that Brutus struck)
he has made a " purely literary" alteration.
AN EARTHQUAKE PENDULUM is rather a start-
ling instrument, but it is in use by Mr E. Lowe,
the astronomer of Highfield House, near Nottingham, who
by its means witnessed "a sensible movement of the earth
from IV, NAV, to E.5.E.," on the evening of the Sunday
before last, succeeded by "an almost canstanl movement,"
though less "sensible," for the space of two hours during
the fo:towing midnight.
LORD CLYDE S ►SUCCESSOR.—" Manhattan" says
excitement has been caused here by a London letter
in the _Herald, It states that General M'Clellan is the heir
to Lord Clyde, being first cousin to him, and nephew of
John M'Liver, the father of his lordship. Of course the
news is true, and lam glad of it. It will relieve General
M'Clellan of much embarrassment. As a peer of England
he will be much respec ed, and he is capable of holding the
position with credit to himself, as no military duties are
anmsed to an English peerage, It will relieve the mind
of Mr Lincoln. The new Lord Clyde has my best wishes.
It is a great pity that the late Lord Clyde did not know
his American relative, and feel how high ho was honoured.
The same correspondent also mentions that Punch had con-
tained a caricature portrait of the correspondent, ears
and all.

EDUCATION GRANT FOR SCOTLAND.—A minute
of the Committee of Council o❑ Education, dated
the 11th inst., has been laid before Parliament. It directs
that the following letter of instructions to be issued to Her
Majesty's inspectors of schools in Scoiland : —" The Revised
Code, so far as payments to elementary schools are con-
cerned, is suspended in Scotland until June 1865. You
will continue strictly to inspect and examine schools accord-
ing to the forms and instructions of the Revised Code.
lour duty is the same as if the examination of children in-
dividually, according to article 40 of the revised Code, hau
been the prescribed method of inspection under the
Code of 1860, Augmentation, stipends, and gratitutics
will continue to be paid on your report as under the Code
of 1860, and will not bo assessed at so much per child."
THE OLD STußY.—Grouse arc abundant on all
the moors of the surrounding foresee. No better
weather could have been wished for the hatching and
bringing the young broods to maturity. Already the young
birds are fast getting strong, and the broods are large and
numerous. For maisy years past there have not been such
promising and cheering prospects for the sportsman.
Ptarmigan, black cock, and all other game are plentiful;
while hares and rabbits, more especially the latter, aro
swarming in such numbers on the low grounds as to be a
perfect nuisance, not only to farmers but also the young
plantations, where their destructive ravages must, if con
tinued, end in utterly destroying the young firs and larches.
Stags are getting into splendid condition,and never perhaps
were the herds so large and numerous, and yet so promis-
ing of affording early and good sport to the huntsman in
the wide forests of Mar as they are this season.-4647.),c0i
Journal.

CHILD SMOTHERING TN THE m'anorous.—
Last evening Mr John liurriphrP4B,
coroner for East
Middlesex, held two inquests-, one at Bethnal-green, and
the other at Shoredita, on the bodies of children suffocated
in bed. the Ci..oner observed that thousands of children
were destri:,:ied annually by the carelessness of parents, and
they :Are called " Saturday night cases," because the chief
portions of such deaths occurred on the Saturday night,
when the parents would eat hearty suppers and indulge
largely in intoxicating drinks, after which the children were
placed between them and overlaid, whereby they became
suffocated. Verdict in each case—Accidentally euff‘nated
Omni; On eareieeknesig of tio Parente.