The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-23 00:00:00

doubt that it will. Female education was
specially dwelt upon in the interview with the
minister. The memorial presented to the univer-
sity authorities has been signed by above 900
teachers, and there can be little doubt of its favour-
able reception. Nothing could be mere incorrect
than the representations made in some quarters that
the discussion alluded to was for obtaining degrees
to female pupils. Such a notion never was enter.
tained by any of those who attended the meeting.
Indeed it was excluded by the known fact that no
degrees are given at the local examinations by the
universities; and the only object of Mr. Hastings
and those who supported him was to have those
examinations opened to females. The importance
of these to persons who desire to follow the line of
governesses and schoolmistresses, or indeed the
humbler line of housekeepers, or even nurserymaids,
is manifest ; and it was stated at the meeting, on
the authority of our colleague, Mr Harris, chairman
of the Society of Arts, that women who, having
passed the examination of the Society, have
obtained first-class ceatificates, had been able at once
to obtain situations as housekeepers in large es-
tablishments, instead of having to work their way
up through different degrees of domestic service.
At a time when great exertions are making by
public-spirited persons, ladies especially, to give
increased facilities of female employment, surely
this discussion in the association has been most op-
portune. But we have always been zealous in our
efforts to encourage women of a higher class in their
endeavours to better their condition by cultivating
letters ; and here at York we are naturally re.
minded of one intimately connected with the county
where she was born (the daughter of a highly re•
spected clergyman), and esteemed by distinguished
families—the Stricklands, Swans, Ramsdens, Head.
lams,—Miss Eyre, whose works, " Queen's Pardon"
and "FemilyHistory," have been well received, and
as will be in a few days found in the pages of Mr.
Cassell's Quiver another is about to appear, " A
Lady's Walks in the South of France," giving a
most interesting account of the inhabitants, the
working classes especially of the countries near the
Pyrenees. To patronise those who thus supply their
wants by labour is an appointed duty to the mem-
bers of our association. The accident which gave
rise to the resignation of our colleague, Mr. Lowe,
is much to be regretted. He seems to have thought
a point of honour required that step, but when a
committee had fully proved that there was no
foundation whatever for any charges against him,
it is unfortunate that he should not have resumed
his place in the department where his labours have
been so useful to the interests of education. The
revised code has on the whole given satisfaction. The
system of examination has both diminished the
expense to the State, and made the payment depend
on the result of the instruction, and those only
receive the benefit who are unable to bear the ex-
pense themselves. The whole subject will be
considered in our education department, and
it is only to be regretted that Mr. Lowe's
absence from the country must prevent his at-
tendance. Intimately connected with the interests of
education is the great reform of the Post-office,
which has of late years been effected by Sir Row-
land Hill ; and it is most gratifying to find that his
merit and that of his plan has been recognised by
the Government and Parliament since our last can-
gress. In this material respect he differs from all
inventors. So little was he under the influence of
sanguine expectations that he greatly underrated
the success of his plan, and overrated its cost. He
foretold that the number of letters would increase
fivefold ; they increased between eight and nine
fold. He feared there would be a loss to the
revenue of £300,000, a cost which he considered
the advantages of the change well worth. But
there has been no loss at all ; on the contrary, the
nett revenue increased by above £lOO,OOO. The
enabling poor persons to correspond with their
friends has greatly encouraged their learning to
write, besides the unspeakable comfort afforded by
this free intercourse. But the cheap and easy con-
veyance by book post is of the utmost benefit to all
literary men and to the readers also. This advan-
tage is entirely due to the new system. The Post-
office savings banks is another and most important
benefit to the working classes, which can only be
said to have been carried to its full extent by that
system, though without owing its origin to it. We
cannot leave the subject of the Post Office without
remarking the superiority of great over ordinary
men in the history of its changes. Mr Pitt stood
by Mr Palmer in his introduction of mail coaches,
when all the authorities of the Post Office were
against him. The great Duke cf Wellington almost
alone perceived the merits of Sir R. Hill's plans,
when others, Sir Robert Peel included, either op-
posed or coldly supported him. That he is destined
to effect further improvements there can be little
doubt, and we can only wish him the full restore.
Lion of his health that such improvements may be
brought forward. The subject of the patent laws
is sure to come under discussion with report of the
commission upon it, under our colleagues Lords
Stanley and Oeerstone. Though the Government
have ably and successfully given encouragement to
the fine arts, in their application to manufac.
tures, they have shown little favour to discoveries
in science and their application to the useful arts.
Since last congress our most distinguished colleague
Sir D. Brewster's grand improvement of light-
houses, the eesult of his optical discoveries, has
failed to obtain duo protection from the Board of
Trade. It is to be hoped that it may not share the
fate of Sir W. S. Harris's lightning rod, which has
saved life and property to a great amount, but was
resisted for 15 years by the Admiralty and the
Treasury. To the stillness of party already men-
tioned may possibly be referred t hose opinions which
have of late been ventilated upon the important
subjects of foreign or international and of colonial
policy—opinions which, though in some points
sound, and in all respects well deserving attention,
are yet in material particulars unfounded and re-
quire to be guarded against. It has been said no;
only that great care should be taken never to en.
gage in the disputes of continental states, but that
the rule should be laid down of absolute and entire
isolation, and that we have no more reason ever to
mix ourselves in those disputes than if we belonged
to another world. That the greatest mischief has
resulted from a rash and needless interference to
preserve the balance of power is undeniable. But
that no violent usurpation, no seizure of one
power's dominions by another, no extinction of one
' state and its absorption in another, can justify our
interposition, it is impossible to maintain, unless we
are prepared to see such an augmentation of some
one state's force as shall reduce all others to sub-
servience under it, while a timely help given to a
weak state, and alliances formed with others, may
serve to secure us against the dangers that might
arise from the grasping propensities of conquerors
unopposed. The love of maintaining national in-
dependence, and the natural and jest abhorrence
of manifest wrong, may even be gratified, if the
opportunity arise of acting in concert with others
to resist the wrong-doer, and this where no obliga-
tions of treaty bind us. It is not correct to repre•
sent this as a sacrifice to the desire of national in•
fluence, or as a mere indulgence in feelings. It is
useful as the means of preventing aggrespseioan,eanncde,fupo;• '
holding the general law of national inded
when wo speak of the balance of power, the real
meaning of the phrase and of the principle is the
maintenance of the existing order of things, the
established distribution of dominion, and the pre-
vention of change by lawless violence. It is never
honourable—nay, hardly even safe—for a great
nation to stand by and witness, unmoved, acts of
inexcusable aggression to the violation of all national
rights, acts such as the oppression of an unoffending
people. The greatest crime in modern ages was
the partition of Poland, contrived by him whom
men have called great, but whose tree-
nubiler:ifleesctrlg
andi cruelties were without example before
our days, the second Frederick of Prussia; he was
joined by his willing acoompae, Catherine, whose
usurpation of the Russian throne and countenance
of her husband's murderers was as scandalous as
her life was profligate. Maria Theresa was drawn
into the plot, and ever after repented of her weak-
ness. The acquiescence of the other Powers covered
them with disgrace, and the subvercion of all public
principle, fatal to national morals, was felt in its
consequences in after times. The wars and the ill"