The Sun.
London, England, 1837-11-23 00:00:00

VIE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1837.

THE KITEING DINNER.

IRISH NATIONAL EDUCATION.

(From the Pilot.)
West is too great a fool to be mad—only for that maxim
of experience and the brutal insensibility which is asso-
ciated with intellect as it approaches the brute—the condi-
tion to which he has reduced himself would drive an intelli-
gent being to insanity. His life had been like one of the
" fat weeds that float on Lethe's stream," until promo-
tion for any Tory lawyer in Parliament infected him with
speculative politics. Poor dull weed, what has his spe-
culation done for him ? He brought corruption so close
to the boudoir of the ermine, that it well nigh stained
the robe itself. Not one peaceful moment has he had
since he attempted the party game for which nature and
habit had so unfitted him. Ruined fortune, an upbraid-
ing father-in-law, war abroad, ruptured peace at home,
scolding, squalling, kiteing, feeding, dunning, and empty
pockets ; this is the reward of departing from the com-
fortable apathy towards politics and the little guineas
quietly coming in to the son-in-law of an Irish Judge.
Poor man, again say we—who exchanged a life of brawl-
ing written speeches, and turmoil, for the fat contented
ignorance which used to procure that happiness which
consists in the desires being on a level with the capa-
city. We really would not condescend to notice in our
pages so ugly an apology for a public man, were not him-
self, his speeches, and his pretensions forced on us by
the Orange Press, because he is the miserable instrument
pushed forward in the crusade against O'Connell. The
dinner, its failure, and its fallacies, which we showed up
so completely in a late number, is still reverted to by
the Tory Press in a manner unaccountable—if the des-
perate condition of the party did not excuse the grasping
at straws, or that failure is often deemed success with
mediocrity.
Look back on it West, and observe what a wretched
affair it was ! The hopes of tho faction who are fooling
and using you are wrapt up in the Lords—they toast
them even before the Queen, and yet but one Lord, and
he the offscouring of the Peerage, a coachman in nature, a
Peer only in name—was the solitary Lordling in attend-
ance. Who were the rest of the performers ? Murtagh
Sullivan, whose name has become a bye-word for humbug
and meanness, and of whom all parties are tired. Profes-
sor Butt, the discarded Editor of a Tory northern paper.
A mad Captain Jones—bladdering Perceval, and monkey
Bruen, the rejected of Carlow. Such the field officers.
The quality of the household troops, of the mass, may be
judged by this, that Saunders' newspaper teemed the day
after with advertisements for stolen cloaks, hats, umbrellas,
all taken and appropriated by the friends of West and purity
of election. A lordling—a rabid apostate—an editor dis-
charged for incapacity, and an ex-Member ejected for ty-
ranny—these were the elite of a dinner, of which Butlers,
guzzlers, and thieves, formed the filling stuff; and the
changes upon which have been rung by the Tory Press
ever since as a great " demonstration" forsooth, and an
impulse given to the plot for raising the wind for West.
There can be but one opinion as to the material of that
mustering. The work was as bad as the material. We
have, in a former number, shown that the speech Jackson
emitted then (where were Shaw and Lefroy ?) contained,
in vindicating himself from the charge of wilful falsehood, a
a glaring repetition of the sin. The lies of Jackson were re-
lieved by a variety in the absurdity of West. Only think
of any man who is let out without a keeper accusing the
' present Government of a law made by Tory Stanley, and
of appointments under that law made by Tory Blackburne.
' But West is an ass—a regular donkey ; so there is no use
in saying more about hint; nor would more be said, only it
is on the shoulders of the ass, laden with the gold of fac-
tion, that the citadel of the Constitution is to be entered.

(From the Glasgow Chronicle.)
We inserted last week an extract from a published
letter of the Rev. James Carlile, relative to the Irish
system of national education. We now proceed to
give a portion of the evidence adduced by Mr. Car-
lile in support of that system. Mr. Carlisle says :
The following extracts from the evidence given by
Lady Osborne, who at one time was hostile to the
National System, and did what she could to educate
the peasantry in her neighbourhood through the
agency of the London Hibernian and Kildare-place
Societies, will perhaps be considered as decisive of the
working of the system in regard to that part of Ireland
to which they refer, namely, the vicinity of Clonmel :
" Did you find any difficulty in obtaining the concurrence
of the poorer classes of society in attending your schools
previous to the establishment of the National Board ?—ln
the Hibernian Schools there is not a single Roman Catholic.
In the Kildare Place School there were a good many Ro-
man Catholics, but it was often empty ; every now and
then it used to be emptied for some time, and then the
children came again, because I have a good deal of influence
in the neighbourhood, and to please me they came ; but
then it went on in a very sleepy kind of way, for I could
not venture to ask them any questions, and I do not think
it is the least use for children to read the Scriptures unless
you ask them questions—unless they are brought home to
the heart and to their understanding.
" Will you state to what circumstance you particularly
attribute the occasional absence of the children, at the
the times when you say the school was emptied ? It was to
the priest's desiring them now and then not to come ; that
always emptied the school-house.
" And notwithstanding the influence you naturally pos-
sessed in the neighbourhood, you found that you could not
sufficiently counteract this objection which was raised on
the part of the priest ? No ; I should like to mention ano-
ther circumstance. For some time after I returned from
the Continent, I was very much engaged, particularly in
furnishing my house, and did not give much attention to
the schoos ; but afterwards I began to attend very regu-
gularly, and I found that whenever I heard the children
read (for you are not allowed to question them under the
Kildare system), I observed they did not read any book of
Scripture consecutively. Sometimes it was a chapter in
Luke, sometimes in John. I asked the master the reason,
and he made no answer ; but he followed me out of the
school, and he said it was because the children, a great
many of them, would not hold the Testament in their
hands ; they have Extracts ; so that whilst I had the Tes-
tament they read the Extracts that corresponded to the
chapter that was to be read. That was one thing that led
me to adopt the National System, because I thought it was
infinitely better to read a book consecutively, and to have
an opportunity of asking them questions upon it, than to run
over the New Testament in that sort of way. I thought it
was infinitely more profitable.
" Will you be so good as state whether, since the Na-
tional System has been introduced into the schools under
your superintendence, you have found that the object was
accomplished both of insuring a more regular habit of
attendance, and a more efficient system of education ?—A
most regular, animating, and numerous attendance. I have
about 208 children'in the school, and it is not a sufficiently
large room ; it was not built anticipating any such numbers."
" But you have had the utmost number in constant at-
tendance that the accommodation admitted of ?—Yes I
have. It is wonderful the number that I have.

" And no interruption or difficulty is experienced, either
from objections of the priest or of the parents ? Not the
least ; and the children were so delighted with the system
being changed, even those who had before come merely to
please me, that they kissed the Books, they were so glad to
get them.
Amongst the 208, are there Roman Catholics as well
as Protestants ?—They are all Roman Catholics, except
about ten Protestants ; but that is only because there are
no more Protestants in the parish ; if there were they
would all come to me—l have every one, not only in the
parish, but those that live two or three miles off.
" So that is a perfect system of simultaneous education
of Protestants and Catholics, so far as the population goes ?
—lt is quite so.
" Your Ladyship has stated that the children objected to
hold the Testament in their hands ; can you assign the rea-
son for that ?—Yes ; because they have an idea that the
Bible is a Protestant book.

Her Majesty the Queen Dowager has been gra-
ciously pleased to express a desire to give her aid towards ex-
tending the usefulness of the Newman-street General Lying-
in-Charity, and to signify that she will become an annual con-
tributor of ten pounds to the funds of the institution.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn and
family left Carlton House terrace on Monday for Dover, en
route for Paris.

The Earl and Countess of Chesterfield gave a
grand dinner on Sunday last at Chesterfield House to the
Duke of Rutland, Colonel and Mrs. Anson, and a select party.
The Baroness de Norman took her departure on
Saturday for Hamburg in the General Steam Nevigation Com-
pany's packet John Bull; and the Bishop of Nova Scotia left
town on Saturday for Edinburgh, in the Company's steam-
ship Monarch.
The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland entertained
a distinguished party at dinner on Sunday at Stafford House,
consisting of the Earl and Countess of Carlisle, the Earl and
Countess Granville, Viscount Morpeth, Lady Elizabeth
Howard, Lord Leveson, and the Hon Mr. Lascellcs. At
ten the superb saloons were illuminated, and their Graces
received the following :—The Duchess-Countess of Suther-
land, the Earl and Countess of Mulgrave, the Countess of
Surrey, Lady Rivers, Viscount Melbourne, Mr. William
Cowper, Mr. George Cavendish, Count Maurice Esterbazy,
and Mr. Frederick Byng. _ . _

" As to the efficiency of the system of education, do you
consider that it has proved more efficient in teaching the
children than the former system ?—Far more. I think it
is the best present that ever was made to the country ; I
think it is a most admirable system.
" Does the Protestant C!ergy man of the parish co-operate
with you in the school ?—He visits it ; he knows that the
children are so well taught that he does not come to teach
himself.

THE WEATHER —At Edinburgh the winter has
set in with unusual keenness and rigour. The thermometer,
on Thursday morning, was so low as 29. The atmosphere has
been thick and hazy, though little rain has actually fallen._
Edinburgh Courant.
CLERIGAL CONTINENCE.—In the last number of
the Northampton Chronicle, a clergyman is denounced as
having been for years a regular weekly visitor to a notorious
brothel in that town. The case of clerical delinquency pub-
lished by the Chronicle appears too atrocious for belief.
Mrs. Baring, wife of the celebrated banker, and
daughter of the Duke of Bassano, met with an accident the
day before yesterday, in the morning, which might have been
attended with serious consequences. As she was rubbing a
lucifer on the sand paper, a spark flew into one of her eyes.
The uneasiness of Mrs. Baring and her friends on this occa-
sion will be easily understood by those who know that this
lady, who is generally admired for her beauty, is particularly
remarkable for her tine eyes.—L'Europe.
A smart shock of earthquake was felt on the 31st of
October in the city of Murcia, in Spain. Several houses were
thrown down, but no lives appear to have been lost.
SUDDEN DEATus.—On Monday week, Lieut.-Col.
Eckersley, brother to James Eckersley, Esq., cotton-spinner,
of this town who presided at the Conservative feast,
at Hindley, was taken ill and died on Saturday. He was
an old campaigner with the Duke of Wellington in the
Peninsular War, and furnished one of those rare in-
stances in the British army, of having risen chiefly by merit,
from a private soldier to a field officer.—On Monday night
week, died at the house of John Woodcock, Esq., Wigan-lane,
Grace Bailey, daughter of Mr. William Bailey, of the Shoulder
of Mutton Inn, Standishgate. She was in apparent good
health, employed at needlework, in company with her fellow
servants at seven o'clock, and before eight she was a corpse.
It is said that she was about to be married, and that the bridal
chamber was already furnished.—Bolton Free Press.
LORD LONDONDERRY.—Many Correspondents
are eager that we should more fully expose this humbug—but
really the failure was so ample and complete that it would be
only twice "to slay the slain," to take further notice of it.
We can assure our Londonderry friends that the insignificant
and farcical nature of the proceedings were as well under-
stood here as they could possibly have been upon the spot. As
proof of the fact, if any additional evidence were required, we
have only to refer to the solemn but caustic irony of the Mail in
itsshort comment upon the matter, and the total silence of the
Times and Standard. We have it upon the best authority,
that when the Duke of Wellington glanced over the speech
of the old Marquis and his hopeful son the other day at the
Junior United Service Club, that he could not smother his in-
dignation, but turning to John Wilson Croker, who happened
to be present, exclaimed, " Good God, look here, and see
what a pretty mess this old blockhead is again bringing us
into." Crocker took up the paper and soon threw it down,
heaving a sigh.—Dublin Pilot.

" Did he join in the application to the Board ?—No ; he
was opposed to it ; but, seeing it work so well, he feels no
longer the same opposition. He has some objection against
the principle, but, finding that it works so well, he says
he shall always visit the national schools that come within
his jurisdiction.
" Then he has become perfectly satisfied of its efficiency
as a system ?—Yes, of its working as a system.
" Are there any other schools under the Board in that
neighbourhood ?—Yes, there are. I have visited fourteen
of them.

" Does the Roman Catholic Clergyman co-operate with
your Ladyship ?—Yes, he does.

In all the schools ?—He visits in all of them.

" Have you ever enquired of the Master whether the
Priest, when he comes to the school, gives the children
any religious instruction whatever ?—Yes, I have ; he never
has done it. There was one day, I think, that he heard
them their Catechism once.

" The Schoolmaster being a Protestant, there was no
objection made on the part of the Roman Catholic children
to attend the school ?—Oh, none at all. I believe the
Priest was so glad that I should co-operate in the system,
that he made no objection. The children in my school
sing the hymns of the Board, which are very excellent ;
they are most devout and pious ; they are such hymns as
you would be delighted to put into the hands of Protestant
children ; and it is a very delightful thing to hear those
children lifting up their little voices in the praise of God.
Amongst other hymns they sing Bishop Heber's missionary
hymn.
" you spoke of the great efficiency of your present sys-
tem of reading the scriptures in the school. What is your
system of reading the Scriptures in the school, which you find
so efficient 1-1 think the questions so admirable that are
at the end of each Scripture lesson.
" Your Ladyship is alluding solely to the Scripture les-
sons?—Yes, which I think•quite sufficient. I have been
often at meetings where I have heard that not only a single
book was sufficient for the conversion of a soul, but a single
chapter, and even a single verse ; surely, then, I thought
it would be very desirable to introduce a system which
would give the Roman Catholics four books of Scripture ;
that I should have hundreds under my teaching reading
four books of Scripture, where otherwise there would not be
one. I have heard a meeting thunder with applause, when
it has been asserted that a single chapter of the Bible would
be sufficient for the saving of a soul.
" Have you any doubt that since they have been taught
under the National System, as far as it has fidlen under your
observation, the language and precepts of Scripture have
'Repine much more familiar to the Roman Catholic poor,
than they had been at any former time, and under any other
system ?—Much more. I am quite convinced that my chil-
dren know more of the Bible than at a great many Sunday
schools in England, and what they know they know tho-
roughly. _ .

TAXES ON FOOD.—Next to the Bread Tax, which
falls most severely on the poorer classes, there are several
other iniquitous taxes on different kinds of food, which tend to
raise the prices of them considerably. Thus, immediately
after the war, the landlords contrived to raise the duty on but-
ter from ss. per cwt. to 20s. per cwt., at which enormous
height it still remains. The duty on bacon is 28s. per cwt.,
which amounts to an entire prohibition. On cheese the duty
is 10s. 6d. per cwt. We may foim some notion of how much
these taxes cost the nation if we begin to calculate the quan-
tity that is annually consumed of these articles. We have no
statements at hand comprehending the whole nation, but we
see from Marshal's tables, that the consumption of butter in
the metropolis alone is calculated to be worth about 2,000,0001.
annually. If then we take the whole population of Great
Britain ;and , Ireland at 24,000,000, we may, without exag-
geration, calculate that the sum expended on this article will
not fall short of 20,000,0001. If we add to this the consump-
tion of milk, cheese, and many other articles of food, which are
raised in price ,by the Bread Tax, the sum lost annually by
the nation will appear so great as to stagger ordinary belief.
We do not think there is any exaggeration in saying that the
Corn Laws cost the people of Great Britain fifty millions a-
year. Thus, not only is the working-man ground down to
the earth with want of employment, but his food is taxed to the
amount of 40s. a-year for every member of his family. At
this rate, a man having a wife and four children, pays about
121. a-year, in order that the landlord may pocket 20s. or
30s. of it.

'° Do they perceive, that having become acquainted with
it, they acquire a taste and a relish for it, different from that
which they are found to acquire under any other system ?
—Yes ; they have even bought some of the books."

The Mary Anne pilot-boat, Brown, master, of
Milford, on the 15th inst., ten miles west of Lundy, boarded
the Russian ship Whartrue, from Archangel, bound to Bristol,
and obtained the following melancholy intelligence frum Cap-
tain David Coke, late master of the brig Caledonia, of
Greenock, from Quebec, viz., " that the said brig was cap-
sized on the 31st ult., with the loss of one seaman and one ap-
prentice from the tops.; was obliged to cut away the masts ;
vessel waterlogged, and no getting at any provisions, which
reduced the survivors to such a state that they were obliged to
subsist on the dead bodies of some of their comrades for seve-
ral days ; they were taken off the wreck on the 9th instant, by
the übove Russian vessel Wartrue. In addition to the above
two washed out of the tops, five died of starvation and fatigue.
Those saved were David Coke (master), the first mate, the
carpenter, James Dal\ ney, second mate, arid James Rimer,
apprentice. The said vessel was abandoned in lat. 55 deg.
N., long. 15 deg. W. from Quebec, timber laden."—Cam-
brian.