The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-01 00:00:00

1-cziing of the-peopic at large, for the discontinOrfee
i"4"+""l4interfefloititivAit+he--laws,_nnd dangerous
to the peace and socialorcler of th,community,
is one of the best signs we have yet .seen of .the
condition of Leland.. The Governtnent. while. it
resolves to protat-Ithe-Catholics:
from illegal pia
lence, has now so inuali'confidence'in the Orange
party that it can rely on its abstaining from com-
mitting its annual outrages and iniults. Should
the local magistrates and gentry, thus put on
their-honour, answer the expectations .of. the .Lord
Lieutenant, as we have no doubt they will, Ireland
miy be looked on as redeemed from those party
quarreli'which for many years have made her the
aiinaar abode of bloody strife and the disgrace of
the empire.,

We direct the attention of 'our readers to the ab-
stract of a Report.on steam-vessel accidents. As all
:hat travel now travel by steam, the subject is one
of general interest, and the public will be anxious
to support the Government in carrying into effect
measures for the prevention, we will not say of ac-
cidents, but of gross and fatal negligence on the
part of steam-boat owners. Who can read without
the deepest sorrow and 'indignation, the following
portion of the report relative to the loss of two
vessels :—" The calamitous losses of the Forfarshire
and Northern Yacht are closely' investigated, and it
appears to be incontestably proved, that these ves-
sels went to sea with boilers and machinery in so
leaky and disabled a state that the fatal catastro-
phe which awaited their Unfortunate passengers can
occasion no surprise. Several cases :of imminent
peril to vessels and passengers are adduced, on in-
disputable testimony, exhibiting the fact that-
steamers are so frequently sent to sea so • ill found,
ill equipped, and in so imperfect a condition,
as to warrant • the conclusion that several which
have foundered- or been" wrecked, commenced their
voyages in a Similarly defective and unseaworthy
state." Of the truth of these statements there can
be no doubt, and these two events alone are -suffi-
cient to *arrant the adoption of-strong measures to
prevent the recurrence of similar disasters. Had a
proper survey, such as. that recommen&led by the
Report, been made, what'suffering would have been
saved to the surviving relatives and friends of those
who miserably perished by the negligence, cupidity,
and wickedness of proprietors, who, for the sake of
getting the profits of only one voyage, risked the
-sirefy, and finally caused the death, of so many of
their fellow creatures In 1838 the number of
Mercantile - steam vessels .was 810, and now it
amo-..nts to 900—all 'carrying • passengers, whose
lives are at the mercy of shipowners, whoinsure the
-Vessels, but leave. the paisensers to their fate. In
ahr.ost even: other
.eouritty except FAngland—in
France, Holland, B.dgium, the United States, &c.
—means have been adopted for the security of the
public, and at length our Government follows the
example. The Report recommends a Central Board
6 superintend the control of this new mode of con-
veyance.: Whethefsuch a Board May be necessary,
or whether the Board of Trade might be competent
for such an undertaking, we trust the Legislature
will be called upon soon to decide. All must be
anxious that-the present session, hitherto so barren
of useful measures, should not be allowed to pass
away without- some legislative enactment for the
most-important of all objects the general safety of
he public.

Ifie 711110 were appointed in Ja
nuary last, to inquire into the number and nature
of accidents.wbich have happened to steam-vessels,
and into the practical means of preventing them,
have agreed in recommending .that a Board shoUld
be appointed to register and classify all vessels na-
vigated by steam, &c. One part of Mr. WARD'S
plan 'for appropriating waste lands, consisted in
establishing a Board for the express purpose of
selling the land and locating emigrants. Mr.
WYSE proposed to place education under a-Board,
to be established for that purpose. We' have heard
of a proposal. to place the issue of paper money
under a Bc•ar.d.... All_ (Mt Narioug,c.ommissioners,,
when they meet together, constitute Boards, so
that at' present, amongst those. who undertake to
manage our affairs, whether by Divirioappointment
or by delegation from a higher human power than
their own, there is evidently a mania for Boards.
That is the prevalent political epidemic. All evils
are to be cured, all rnisfoonnea, prevented, by ad-
ditional- Boards, We cannot say that Boards are
unconstitutional, for we have. the Board of 'Green,
Cloth and the Admiralty Board, which swallowed,
by Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S directions, those an-
cient establishments, tbe Navy and Victualling
Boards. But though not unconstitutional, we are
so much at a loss for evidence of the great services
rendered to the community by these various Boards
in past time, that we find from experience no reason
to hope great _benefit in future from such a multi-
plication of Boards.
Of moral epidemics like this it is more easy to
find the 'cause, we apprehend, than of physical
dernies. 'At least We suppose we can detect the
cause of this political epidemic, while that of the cho-
lera- and the of -influenza remain wholly unknown.
'Fhe nation- constitutes and appoints a Sovereign,.
though
,he or she does not now- do 'much, some
100 Peers and 658 Commoners, to look after the
public affairs. These several gentlemen again cob-
itutu a.nd appoint t gteat number of, others, to aid
and assist them, and all this great body of persons,
being .set apart to take care of the public, con-
stantly rack their ingenuity, and are inces-
.sant in their watchfulness to accomplish this in the
best and most 'complete manner. No sooner,
therefore, does any new evil arise, which startles'
the public mind, than all this vast mass of active
and intelligent men, to , whom the community
deputes the task
.of taking care of it, turn their,
thoughts to the means of prevention or of cure. Of
course more care, of one kind or another, more of
their peculiar duty immediately suggests itself to
them as the only remedy, and Boards are formed
or proposed. At present, owing to the great
attention bestowed on public affairs, and to
the censure the governing classes leave of
late received for negligence, . they have all be-
come unusually active ; and. we have now -more
Boards proposed to take care of us than ever -before..
Where and when this activity may stop-We know
not, but if Boards' are multiplied much more, they
must soon take care of 'each Other, for the whole
community will be formed into Boards.
A similar epidemic may be observed amongst the.
Clergy, who are set apart to watch over the public
morals, and, being roused intoactivity, are now ar-
&nay striving to bring every part of the community
and every day of the week Under their guidance.. It
is impossible, indeed, that these conscientious men
can be otherwise than deeply affected for the state
of public morals, and equally impossible, as long
as they are set apart to look after them, that they
should not he active in endeavouring to regulate the
whole society.
Certainly we see no bounds to the exertions
either of those who look after our spiritual or tem-
poral welfare. Besides accidents by steam-vessels;
there are accidents by stage-coaches, accidents on
rail-roads, accidents in mines, accidents in building
houses,' accidents in working quarries, accidents in
managing furnaces, etc. etc., all of which ought to
to fie investigated, and Boards appointed to prevent
them. Great loss of life has taken place in mines, and
already the accidents on railways have. been most
frightful. A.Cornmissioner, if not a Board, ought, on
the principle now acted on, to be appointed to every
mine and every railway. We cannot enter further
into details, and, indeed, enough has been said to
show that the field of labour, both for our political
and spiritual guardians, is nearly boundless, and
that they have the best reasons for increasing their
numbers, extending their power, and requiring more
money from the people.

One of the unworthy tricks resorted to by the
advocates of popular ignorance, in the late contest
about education, was to misrepresent the result of
the mined system of instruction adopted in foreign
countries. In Prussia and in Holland this system
has long
en
been acted upon, and its beneficial effects
have been
era )11 • experienced. It therefore re-
quired more than ordinary audacity to bring for-
ward Prussian education as an instance of failure,
and on this falsehood to found an argument against
educating the children of different sects in the same
school. From a letter
on this subject, signed " Vi-
ator." inserted elsewhere, tile.
true state of the mat-
ter will appear. So far from ihe mixed plan having
on trial. been found impracticable, ;at is in a state
of active and -salutary operation.
Whenever the
number of children belonging to one or other of
the two great sect's, the Protestant and the Catho-
lic, does not amount to a hundred, they are taught
in the same school ; where that or a greater num-
ber is found, economical reasons recommend a se-