The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-11 00:00:00

T11E11.740)1 E'VE R.

58
This mortal:l7
This day at Two o'clock
GI
Barometer-30.13.
Wind—lV.N.lV ; moderate, and fine.

4 -I,ff
j
otr...4kzontek

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 11, 1863.

i
The quict irony of " S" in our leading contempo •
racy must be rapidly rendering his contributions as
distasteful to the Federals as those of their own wilful
" MANIIATTAN." The initial must sound to Yankee
ears sarcastically sibillant. " MANHATTAN" often
blurts out the unpleasautest truths, home truths that
must perforce be doubly and trebly unpleasant, when
discussed at the hotel bars of Washington and New
YJrk over modest quenchers in the guise of a mint-
julep or a cocktail—because coming avowedly from
the lips, or rather from the pen of a partisan. But
with "S." it is altogether something very different.
Liverpool is the placc he hails from, it will be ob-
served. It may be taken for granted, we presume,
that he is no American, neither from the North, nor
yet from the South—but that, on the contrary, he is

a right-down, plain-spoken Englishman. Then it

is, as we began by saying, the very quietness of his
irony, that gives so much poignancy to its sting.
The perfect self-possession of his manner in jotting
down his commentaries quite deliberately, must be
something frightfully irritating to a Northern ;
must rcnder his calm insinuation of a sneer, when-
ever they fall upon genuine Yankee ears, as agree-
able to that same genuine Yankee, as though
his palate had been suddenly drenched with
gall and wormwood. Among the latest of these
penetrating, and surely intolerable gibes flowing
to all appGarance from a pure love of, minhief on
the part of S., is the casual remark with which
he opens out upon his old enemies, the Federals,
to-day, in the manner following :—" The City of
-Washington," he says, "reports the capture of two
Federal gunboats on the Rsppahanncck—a curious
fact, as the Confederates have nothing afloat in that
quarter, and must have taken them by attack from
the land.'' And he adds, with an air of scornful
incredulity that he takes no trouble whatever to
conceal—" We are also informed of the seizure
of 100,000 bales of cotton at Natchez.
There was some moderation in not calling
this 1,000,000, which sounds much larger,
and only takes one or two more ciphers of
type." Now for all those barbed and poisoned
arrows of ridicule perpetually hurtling about them
from all imaginable quarters, the Federals have
simply and solely and wholly to thank thcmsalves‘
They have to thank their own flagrant and noto-
rious mendacity. Their own aptitude for "piling
it up mountainously." Their own passion for what
we are accustomed to call in this country, a wilful
perversion of facts and an unseemly preference for
exaggeration and antipathy over telling the plain,
bold truth. When" S." flouts them for not putting
down 1,000,000 instead of 100,000—he de-
rides them not out of any perverse spite on
his own part, but because of the systematic
mendacity notorious upon theirs. He is merely
uttering in a few plain words the obvious thought of
thousands. They might just as lief say 1,000,000
as 100,000. "All's one for that"—to them—just as
it was of old JACK FALSTAFF when, with his lips
pet wet from the flaggon, he protested to Prince HAL,
:th an oath, that he had not that day tasted sack
Bt narY• If we were to have believed the Yankee
a tenie.ut ..s
after Gettysburg, MEADE and his
plela were T
and his EE
defeated
to make short work of
Confederate
army. Whereas—ever since Gettys-
burg—tht
ducted :hia :federate commander-in-chief has con-
any serious molestation,
7 whithersoever he listed without
his own head,:litatil3n, has recruited it, has chosen
ar
tors
afresh, and has prepared
quite deliberately,for
a choice of his own future
operations. The
since his victorious
vaunted
U M
s EADE all the while
acting,
success over the South,
simply upon the detcnbi
ing of Fort Sumter into Again, the crash-
ing
taught to believe by the s was,
we
were
exultant Commentators
tidins
upon that news, directly the
glad
of the fall of Sumter had g
reach
ea
washington—the fall
of Snorter
New
York and
was to lead the assailing Federal force, almo
into Charleston. ._ht. by a
hop, skip, and a jump, into
babilities there, however, appear to be fading out
rapidly before the advance of the autumnal, and
the prospect of the wintry season. All we can do
is to wait, and watch, and listen to the accounts
brought to us from time to time from the side of
the Federals, with as much credulity in the accuracy
of their assertions as those same Federals have
left us.

At the Liverpool School of Science, the QUEEN'S
Prizes were delivered by Lord STANLEY. His
lordship made a most interesting speech, and intro-
duced several instructive topics into his discourse.
He explained the object and purpose of the insti-
tatiao, which were to promote the general know-
ledge of science. He said, truly enough, that it
was idle for a man to walk though a collection of
interesting objects in art and nature without being
able to understand them. It was also felt that
it was not suitable for a town like that, the centre
and capital of the commerce of the north, to have no
special institution to teach science. Lord STANLEY
remarked further on that in Liverpool they had not
suffered from the American war to any very con • 81-

derable extent, and, indeed, some had been gainers;
:but still all had felt that they had a paramount
.claim on them superior to that of education "in
the sufferings and privations of nearly half a mil-
lion of their fellow-ecuntrymen." To this cause he
attributed the fact that the funds of the institution
were not so prosperous as might have been de-
sired. Still the attempt had not been a failure.
Se many as 12S had attended the lectures, and the
students who had gone through state examinations
had passed in the respective numbers of 41 from 43,
and 31 from 33. Therefore, the best use had been
made of the resources. He would touch another
point, and mention that institutions such as these
often get connected with some particular sect or
party, however freo and unfettered may be their
opening course. But science was " neutral ground,"
and he might say that this institution had been
formed and continued without in any way passing
from its ostensible object. But, his lordship aptly
remarked, if it were otherwise, perhaps, they might
have fared better. In most men there was some of
the fighting instinct, and it was often strange how
the love of good was stimulated by a little oppo-
sition. For them, however, things were doubtless
better as they were, for, if they excited no enthu-
siasm, at least they had no prejudices to encounter.
They had nothing to do with politics, with religion,
or social controversies, than that they be-
lieved that the more scientific training was cul-
tivated the less likely any one was to become
the sort who injure any cause they take up, hot-
headed, narrow-minded, mischievous enthusiasts.
This is very correct reasoning, as it is never from
the class who is the most highly cultivated, or the
most reflective, that the violent notions proceed
which do so much damage to all who are connected
with them in any way, whether in concert or in
opposition. If it was asked what was the aim pro-
po„d by such a school as that here referred to, he
would say that its result was two-fold. In the
first place, it decided to impart a number of the
principles which they had to apply to men ocsu-
pied in various pursuits, it taught them to work as
men, and not as machines. This is certainly a
great desideratum to be achieved, and one that is
sure to prove advantageous to a large and influen-
tial body of men who, working in their several
arduous vccations, are great national benefactors,
and are well worthy to enjoy that pride and pleasure
in their engagements which gives the truest zest to
labour, and makes the skilled artizan as great in
his way as any king that walks the earth in pride.
LORD STANLEY then said that the institution had
another object, to provide a more special culture for
those who fall into loose and vague habits of thought.
Into this very comprehensive subject he did not
mean to enter, but he would remark in passing,
that he had long believed that even in the education
of the upper classes those who were supposed to be
the " brain-workers as opposed to the hand-workers
of the community, too much time is given to the
study of the works of man, or too little to those cf
❑ature." Lord STANLEY further illustrated his
valuable remark by instancing how an English lad
might go up to college after having carried off the
highest honours of a public school, who is skilled
in the compilation of Greek and Latin verses, and
yet cannot tell why water runs down hill instead
of up, and how the heating of water in a boiler
enables a ship to move. His lordship went on to
say that he disparaged no kind of culture, and
indeed felt kindly disposed towards pursuits that
he once followed himself, but he did not see why
one pursuit should altogether supersede another.
In the best foreign schools the case was different,
and in intellectual training we were behind them,
if we were superior to them in moral and physical
discipline. This is very true, and the sooner
these mistakes are rectified in our public
seminaries and colleges the better. These
is no reason why a more extensive style
of teaching should not prevail, and the results
are sure to be beneficial to all concerned. Lord
STANLEY justly observed that almost all great in-
ventions, and especially those in manufactures,
were made by men who had risen from the racks.
People might say that if they succeeded so well,
why should their successors need improvement?
He answered that they did not know what might
have been done, and " Brain Power," was too rare
and valuable to be allowed to run to waste. These
toilers and searchers after truth might be wasting
precious time for want of right information, and be
like men who lost their way in dense forests, who
did not know that within a few yards there was a
good road leading to the desired end. There was
no room hero for the usual objection what was to
be done with the trained man when they got him.
Every manufacturer in Lancashire would ask what
was his use and value. The demand exceeded the
supply, in fact. Lord STANLEY concluded his inte-
resting speech by saying that they must look to in-
dustrial science as a means towards the develop-
ment of a higher civilisation. The slavery of man
to man was terrible ; but there was another kind
of slavery, that of those whose sole existence was
an unrelieved struggle to supply their wants.
" What they need is to have a portion of their work
taken off their hands. To this end w© are daily
progressing." The winds of heaven, the waters of
one rivers, the force stored in our coal fields, arc
multiplying a thousandfold the power of human
muscles, and giving leisure for human thought.
There was no reason in the remarks constantly made
that machinery was unpopular; the history of
science was the history of improvement ; it was
the conquest of man over nature, "of intelligence
substituted for brute force, and skill for toil ; of
life lengthened, disease rendered less severe, leisure
more abundant, knowledge more ample, and men
better fitted for those high destinies which, we
believe, it is the purpose of Providence they should
fulfil." A more fitting and appropriate conclusion
could hardly have been made to this highly in-
structive discourse, on a subject, too, which so
intimately and materially is connected with the
interests of all.

An interesting ceremony took place on Wednes-
day last in the town of Dundee. On that day the
People's Park, the noble gift of Sir DAVID BAXTER
to the town, was formally opened to the public.
A general holiday was observed in the neighbour-
hood in honour of an event which promised such
great and substantial benefits to all future genera-
lifts of citizens. Such gifts are happily not so rare
in
—elm days as to be matters of wonder, but they
are not
respect a national work. The
common enough to deprive them of interest
importance, and the large and liberal spirit in
and
which the
Present undertaking has been carried
out renders it in every
hearty cheers
of fellow-citizens
must have carried
the gratifying assurance to Sir DAVID BAITER
that his munificent
donation g
be held
had given uaiversal
satisfaction, and that
hisparnla N7'll lon
ntpar in
the day's
deservedly in honour by the
residents
Another spectator, who took a pre in Dundee.
proceedings, must have bee
n mucht
in-
terested by them. Earl RUSSELL, 'Who is staying
in the neighbourhood, was invited to be present on
the occasion, and to receive at the same time the
freedom of the town from the hands of the Corpo.
ration. The eulogistic address with which the gift
was accompanied, and the allusion made to the
achievements of his earlier career, must also have
_ been gratifying to his lordship, Comparing the

past with the future, he must watch with interest
the vast moral, religious, and political changes
which have taken place in Scotland, as in England,
since the days of the Test Act and the Reform Bill.
There is room undoubtedly for some self-compla-
cency in the mind of any man who took part in
those great movements which have made us what
we are ; but we cannot help thinking that Earl
RUSSELL appropriates more than his due. "I
have been happy," he says, in acknowledging
the compliments paid to his political career,
" I have been happy to contribute humbly to the
victory of those eloquent and distinguished men
who were foremost in the cause of Catholic emanci-
pation—who won for the people the great battle of
the repeal of the corn laws. With regard to the
measures in which I had a more immediate part in
preparing—the repeal of the Corporation and Test
Acts ; in framing a plan for the reform of our muni-
cipal corporations—l have been studious to build
upon the ancient foundations, to adapt new mea-
sures to existing laws, and to put them in harmony
with the institutions of a country justly proud of
its liberty." Such a character might have been true
of Lord JOIIN RUSSELL ten or twelve years ago,
but it is not altogether recognisable in the Earl
RUSSELL of the present day. Religious toleration
is happily no longer a matter of discussion—but
what of political reform ? The adaptation of "new
measures to existing laws" is somewhat at a stand-
still. It is difficult to avoid remembering on such
an occasion that the present Liberal Administra-
tion has left this cardinal point of liberalism un-
touched ; that at first loud professions filled the
place of practice, but after a time even these died
out and left an absolute blank. Even Earl
RUSSELL does not trouble himself any longer
with talking about his love of reform, and his
desire to see the great work happily accomplished.
He has now taken up another line, and plumes
himself upon the recollections of the past. The
popularity of Lord PALMERSTON may be, as his
noble colleague asserts, just and universal, but it
was certainly not enhanced by the circumstances
under which he came into office, The change of
administration by a dexterous political move was
made under false colours. The urgent need of a
Reform Bill, wholesale, comprehensive, and con-
clusive in all its clauses was professedly the great
question of the day. The Tory measure, which
though faulty and limited in its scope, was still
capably of adaptation to the national requirements,
was dismissed with sovereign contempt. How could
such fervent Reformers give a moment's tolera-
tiou to a partial and temporary measure. The
victory was won, the helm of State changed hands,
and all men watched to see the great results of the
Liberal accession to office. But, watch they might.
Session after Session has gone by, measure after
measure has been proposed, debated, or carried, but
the New Reform Bill remains among the things of
the future. It is not to be reckoned among the
achievements of that Cabinet of which Earl RUS-
SELL is so conspicuous a member. The " strict
impartiality " which Earl RUSSELL prides himself
on having observed, during the American struggle,
is also open to criticism. Whether the end of the
chapter will prove that England has acted a
part worthy of her, may reasonably be questioned ;
but at least it is unfair to talk of rigid impartiality
in a case where non-recognition of one of the com-
batants was virtually affording substantial assist-
ance to the other. It is fortunate that our Foreign
Secretary still plumes himself upon the re-
flection that " British law and British justice "
are safeguards and securities—a fact which British
merchants and shipowners had begun to doubt.
Whether they have afforded much protection to the
owners of the Peterhoff and the cargo we may
leave those gentlemen to answer, but, with a
damaged trade and crippled commerce, having
offended both belligerents and left other neutrals to
step forward and take the lead which our position
gave us, we need not boast too much about the
happy conjunction of " peace and honour." Earl
RUSSELL when he kept out of the range of politics
was happier in his address. His suggestion as to
the occasional employment of the new park as a
playground for the schools of the town, was accom-
panied by some just and sensible remarks on tne
importance of duly interspersing study with re-
creation—a fact too often overlooked by the
instructors of youth. The bow never unbent is an
old comparison, but the lesson it teaches is not yet
fully learnt, and the startling assertion made by
the inspectors that the children who were at school
ifuuslltiotfutsiloigugsesftoiornsthtoe thcehidldirreecutorosfoftahceadewme
halt time learned as much as those at whole time, is
iaelst
ha
inedr
an
yd
,s
tu wellcu toun givecount
lo a n
g listh hours
u rosf thedev
devoted
tt
eud id et
to
du
closepursued classes.
application
p p elliactcahs
toion ; but who knows how much is lost
gpuoristeadn,cehuotf
slowly rrhereicmo
under that apparent gain ?
such questions is becoming
it will be some time yet before it is fully appre-
ciated ; and " the youngest Burgess of Dundee"
did good service when be bespoke for the youthful
students of the city the use of the People's Park."

The Steam-Rams in the Mersey.

Some doubt has been cast upon the statement
which we made a few days ago with reference to
the steam-rams El Alonastir and El Tousson, in
course of construction at Mr. Laird's yard. We
can only repeat our certainty of its accuracy. The
GJvernment have given notice to the builder that
the ships will not be allowed to leave the Mersey,
and if it is fcurd that thtir construction is con-
trary to the terms of the Foreign Enlistment Act,
they will be se.zed as violating its provisions.—
Morning Post.