The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-31 00:00:00

ledge in their possession, and not to be contented
with the shadow, will readily welcome and entirely
coincide with these inducements to test their pro.
gress and attainments. Mr. LOWE dwelt at some
length on the advantages which the system of ex.
amination confers upon the State, and remarked, in
allusion to the disparaging comments made upon
it, that the plan possessed the double advantage of
excluding as well as selecting. An enormous
amount of stupidity, incapacity, and idleness is
kept out of the public service by the application
of these tests, and this alone is a positive benefit
to the community. If Government plans—as they
are being developed—are operating successfully to
bring into a focus and circulate the results of edu.
cltion, so that we may understand the practical
working of the tfforts made which have bean so
much descanted upon, the practice of examining
each child and paying for each one who passes is
an admirable one, and tends greatly to facilitate
the attempts made to extend education as widely
as possible and as successfully. Mr. LOWE closed
this part of his subject by a capital description of
the tests which men encounter in the world, if they
persist in shirking these preliminary examinations.
He truly said that if their bread was won by their
own ability and exertion, their whole life was one
long examination. An appreciating public will
either condemn or applaud their Efforts, and thus
decide whether their careers are to be failures or
successes. " The barrister when cross-examining
his witnesses, the clergyman in his pulpit, the
physician attending his patients, the statesman in
the House of Commons, are all really undergoing
examinations." Mr. Lowz rather deprecates the
term " middle class examinations," rightly saying
that it seems somewhat supercilious, because no
one talks of himself as belouging to the
middle class, and it is only when he
thinks himself of the upper ones that he
discourses about this term. The right hon. gentle.
man was opposed to the suggestions of some that
Government should found, endow, and teach in
these schools. But he very properly argued, the
money which would do this must be taken from
the taxes to which the poor people contribute—
and, besides, the religious difficulties would wreck
the undertaking at once. Another obstacle is, that
it is opposed to the principles which rule English
society—and what suited old Greece or Rome would
not apply to the present time and condition of
affairs. Some may be disappointed at the dis-

paraging tone which is here applied to endowments,

but, doubtless, a little consideration will tend to
show the statement is true, if not palatable to all

parties. Mr. LOWE asks what is the use of cling-
ing to old prejudices if we wish to go on in con-
formity with the advance of intelligence in which
the present day abounds. " You do not want a
dead but a living link connected with a living
body, and nothing can be more fatal to progress
than to suppose that you can, by availing yourself
of the money of dead men, give to schools the
vitality and energy which can only arise by contact
with the living, breathing, moving mass by which
you are surrounded." Much profitable knowledge
may be deduced from this passage, and as there is
no royal road to learning, so neither can there be
a monied one to teaching, and the master as well as
the teacher ought to prove his proficiency, and ex-
emplify his capabilities. Mr. LOWE made some
observations upon the necessity of teaching youths
what is useful to them in after life, and declared
that where time was limited it was folly to waste
years in the study of dead languages and leave
the history of their own country unknown, and
various other important elements untouched during
the precious days and opportunities that would
never return. For the middle-class children to
neglect modern languages and history, book-keeps
ing, and physical science, is really to "invert the
order of everything, and to put the pyramid on its
apex." The right hon. gentleman touched upon the
two points with his usual clearness and ability, such
as the importance of the two universities of
Oxford and Cambridge uniting in these examina-
tions, the great prejudices which exist with regard
to females obtaining the advantages of certificates
which robs those who support themselves of their
legitimate right ; and finally closed his eloquent

and admirable address by alluding to the late
lamented Duke of NEWCASTLE, whose interest in
the subject of education was great. On the whole,
it may be said, that this is a very ablespeech. It
enters into many points that are difficult to touch
upon and rather invidion3 to grapple with ; it
invites attention to matters which concern the web.
fare of the community, and which can never be

neglected without the beat interests of the State
suffering now and hereafter, It is education that

moulds the human mind, and develops the highest
qualities of our nature, and if this is neglected, no
wealth and no possessions can make up for the
lamentable deficiency.

We have later news from New York, announcing
he operations of the War up to the 19th inst. in-
clusive, by tho arrival of the China, which super-
sedes that of the Etna by four days, but there is
nothing of a very decisive or momentous character.
Still the appearance of being on the eve of battle
is manifest, for such is the for:orn hope of LINCOLN
with respect to his re-election that he has de-
spatched three members of his Cabinet to urge
GRANT to be more stirring, and so the Minister of
War, STANTON himself, has repaired to the head-
quarters of the Army of the Potomac, giving
GRANT full powers to collect troops from all and
every place he can, no matter at what risk, so as
to win a victory, a decided victory, and nothing but
a presidential victory, for in that consists the hope
and stay of the Administration. In order to impress
upon the long coming victor of Richmond the
urgent necessity of the case, the Minister of War
is backed by that of Finance, and he, again, by the
far-famed Prophet of the long-ago ninety days
chronicler of the War—the ill-starred thread of
whose prophecy the cruel Fates, taking dudgeon at
such abrupt intervention on their own peculiar pro-
vince, cut short in a most unceremonious way. They
cast the tangled skein of adversity not over one but
among all the generals of the Federation, not only
to the confusion of the heroic band, but to the utter
chagrin of the Cabinet and of all the hopeful plans
of the President. Whether Mr LINCOLN entertains
more sanguine ♦iews of the visit of three commis-
sioners than of one remains to be proved by the
result, but we suspect that the web of his future
destiny is now being woven at Richmond under
the patient superintendence of the wizard LEE,
watched by the lynx-eye of the far-seeing sooth-
sayer, DAVIS. Tee brother President of LINCOLN
has this especial difference, he is not afraid to tell
the truth and shame the Northern oracle whose
eoene•shifting prompter has beguiled him for the
last four gets of the " bloody drama" with
dissolving views of the Union. The last
scene of all is fast coming, but, like the
spectre of an uneasy dream, Mr LINCOLN seems
restless to anticipate his fate, and to; accelerate the
crisis by urging GRANT to " do and do and do."
He knows not what he is doing, but a few days may
close that gate which no President can ever open
aglin. As if there were not enough to harass the
mind of the executive at Washington, a deputation
of the Democrats of Tennessee have thought fit to
bole :heir consoienco by being absolved from the