The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-14 00:00:00

-771Tit—teliglan 'fined- he cuincinediNii& and regu-
late the whole system of instruction.
2. That it should fm—t-his purpose be considered ge-
neral and special. -- :
3. That periods should be set apart for peculiar doc-
trinal instruction.

4. That a chaplain should be appointed for the spe-
cial religious instruction of children of the establish-
ment.

*5-s-fliAt- the number of children connected with any
sect in the school warranting the appointment, and a
licensed minister of that sect should be also appointed
for -their special instruction.
6. Otherwise the parent or natural guardian of the
child to be permitted to secure the attendance of such
licensed minister : the instruction to be given apart.
7. Roman Catholics, if their parents or guardians re-
quire it, to be permitted to read their own version of the
Scriptures, either at the time fixed for reading the
Scriptures, or at the hours of special instruction.
8. No certificate to be granted to a candidate teacher
unless the authorised religious instructor attest his con-
fidence in the character, religious knowledge, and zeal
of the candidate.

How, then, are your objections made out ? and how
are they consistent with the position you occupy, and
with the principles you profess as Protestant Dissenters?
Would you exclude altogether special religious in-
struction ? or would you enforce:one faith upon those who
profess another, on the penalty of exclusion ? The
parent who insists, at school, on the religious training of
his child, and that his religious training shall he in the
hands of the pastor of his own communion, is not likely
to have neglected that duty elsewhere. What, then, did
the system propose? That in affording education, op-
portunity should not be denied for fulfilling the higher
duty, and that in affording opportunity it should be
afforded on the great Protestant principle of liberty of
conscience to all. Government seeks not to teach
systems of religion, much less those which are false and
injurious ; it seeks only not to exclude religion, and, in
order that none may be excluded, it renders liberty of
conscience ass acred within the school as in the house of
the parent, or the Church to which that parent belongs.
Then if the children of Churchmen from their number
shall have what seems most convenient, an appointed
minister with an appointed duty, is not the Dissenter's
child under similar circumstances similarly entitled ?
Next, the Catholic is endeared to his own version of
the Scriptures ; and et me remind you, that as the wind
blew more fiercely, the traveller drew his cloak more
firmly about him. The Catholic will not accept the
Protestant version—shall he have none ? And how
does the permission to use this version, if the parent
wish it, render it of equal force or recognise it as of
equal authority with the version authorised by law?
There is no pretext for saying this iu the Government
prtah, -and I am bound to attribute the statement to
sonic misapprehending information received from some
other source. As little ground is there for the fear of
doubt and infidelity arising from the exhibition of
rival sects contending for rival creeds, simply because
such a state of things could not have existed under the
proposal of the Committee of the Privy Council on Edu-
cation, for the desire for special instruction would have
been made by special, and therefore private, application
to the governor of the schools, and it would been given,
as you must now see, apart, as the readings of the Romish
version might have been, and would doubtless, on the
slightest representation of offence to Protestant feeling.
I have now gone through all the points which arise
upon your objections ; and have endeavoured to show
you how in some instances you have been misinformed
as to the actual facts, and in other instances have mis-
taken their probable consequences. In doing this, I
have placed some of the difficulties which arise under
your view, in the form of questions, and have done so,
not imputing any conclusions to yourselves, but with the
view of bringing the difficulty more directly under your
notice, as I feel convinced that whatever your conclu-
sions may be, you will bring to the reconsideration of the
subject the most entire honesty of purpose.
But allow me to add, that while I will yield to no
man in attachment to the Protestant as opposed in
doctrine to the Romish faith, I cannot consistently
with my principles allow religious distinctions to
operate prejudicially to political rights. If I
could, I tell you frankly, that the line I should be
compelled to draw would exclude more sects than one,
and you may rely on it that the only safe principle for
all is to include all, for that there is no medium
between all and none, but one dominant. I believe that
as education rightly administered is the great remedy for
political errors, so also by subserving the cause of truth
and strengthening the mind against superstition would it
be found one means of removing errors in religion. As
Protestants, therefore, relying on truth; I conceive you
to be interested in the spread of education. I have al-
ready said that I am interested in it as a politician as
well as a Protestant. I look to education as the great
regenerator and safeguard of the institutions of the
country. I know not how a sufficient commencement
is to be made without the aid of Government. I can
conceive no means of effecting this but upon the princi-
ples of religious equality, and while I must express my
regret that a jealousy of Roman Catholicism, to me
inexplicable in men who should have more faith
in the foundation of the Protestant creed, has for
the time set this measure Liside, let me hope that
further consideration may induce us all to agree to some
system, which, as far as practicable, shall carry out the
•views of all who mean honestly and wisely by the cause;
and if, consistently with the principle, the Protestant
faith can be better guarded, the amended system shall
only have my more earnest support.
In-the meantime, I cannot he insensible to the fact
that the course pursued by a large portion of the Dis-
senters on this question has materially prejudiced their
peculiar and just claims on the consideration of the
Legislature, and extended the period during which they
will yet have to pray for redress.—l am, Gentlemen,
with the sincerest respect, your very obedient servant,
F. HENRY F. BERKELEY.

ARMED ASSOCIATION.—We understand that
about one hundred and fifty inhabitants of Loughborough
having formed themselves into an association, and aophed
to Lord John Russell, to be provided with fire arms, for
the purpose of protecting themselves, their application his
Lordship has complied with,
DOUBLE MAIL.— LIVERPOOL AND DUB-
Ltx.—lt was expected that the arrangements fur this desir-
able object would have been completed and in operation on
the Ist instant, but the measures on the London and Bir-
mingham railroad for facilitating the conveyance of the
mail trains will not, however, be complete until the 20th
instant, when the Admiralty steamers will, it is expected,
leave at eight o'clock in the mort,ing and eight in the
the evening. A number of passengers for Ireland arrived
by the mail train from London in Liverpool on Satur-
day morning, in the hopes of finding " all right,"
and, consequently, great disappointment was felt
when they ascertained they should remain in Liverpool all
the day. The vessels chartered from the city of Dublin
Company, by the Admiralty, to enable them to carry this
arrangement into effect, are of a very superior class, and
the accommodation they afford the very best. The Prince
made the passage from George Pie..lohad to Kingstown-
harbour on Wednesday evening last in ten hours and
eighteen minutes, notwithstanding she had to contend
against the flood-tide for the first three hours after leaving
the Mersey, and had no assi.3tanc: from wind during the
entire passage.—Dublin Evening Post.
STEAM-PACKET COLLISION ON TIIE Rt-

VER.—Tuesday morniiig, shortly after nine o'clock, the
steam-ship Waterwitch, Captain Gibson, sailed frmn the
St. Katherine steam-packet wharf for Hull, with a con-
siderable number of passengers. About the same time
the. Diamond Company's steam-packet G m took her
departure from London-bridge wharf for Gravesend, also
crowded with passengers. When the Waterwitch reached
opposite to Downe's wharf, Lower East Smithfield, she
took the ground, in consequence of being heavily laden,
and the tide remarkably low, and remained fast. The Gem,
which was following in her track close astern, br_fore
her speed could be checked, struck the Waterwich on the
starboard quarter, and did some damage. The Gem had
her side covering-boards on the larboard-paddle floats com-
pletely cap away. The greatest alarm prevailed, par-
ticularly among the female passengers, whose screams
were heard at a great distance. Several watermen imme-
diately put off to the steamers, and several of the passen-
gers, more frightened than the rest, on board the Gem,
mite on shore. Fortunately no person received injury,
and, after a short delay, both vessels proceeded down the
river. The collision was purely accidental.
M. ARAGO A CAPTIVE.--M. Arago, while
employed in 1809, by the Instittee of Paris, to make ob-
servations in reference to the longitude, was obliged to
hurry out of Spain, and sought refuge in Algiers, where
he was detained prisoner. Mr. Blanckley immediately
went to the Dey to solicit leave for him to quit the coun-
try, and endeavoured to make him understand that the re-
searches of the philosopher were for the benefit of mankind
in general. The Dey answered, that if be were of any
other nation he might listen to such arguments, but that
no Frenchman should leave his kingdom ; and that if he
wished to find the longitude, &c., he might take his spy-
glass,. and go up ono of the mountains in that vicinity,
which would answer his purpose quite as well as in any
other part of the world. And thus terminated the audience
with this enlightened Prince.
NEW INVENTIONS.—It is no slight evidence
of the inventive spirit of the age, that, almost at the same
time, three apparently equally important discoveries, in
the department of the fine arts, should be made in Paris,
St. Petersburg, and Berlin. Whi:e Daguerre, in
Paris, found out how to produce the most accurate copies
of objects in a chemical way, by means of the action of
light ; while Jacobi, in Petersburg, transformed by a gal-
vanic process, engravings on copper into works in relief,
without destroying the former; an invention, by means of
which it is possible to multiply, in a mechanical way, o:l
paintings, with all their biilliancy of colours, and that with
a fidelity hitherto unattainable, is approaching to perfec-
tion at Berlin. The inventor, Jacobi Leipman, has been
led by his studies of colouring, and the mixing of colours,
to the idea on which he has been already engaged ten
years, till he has recently been enabled to accomplish the
difficult object which he proposed to himself.—Foreign
Monthly Review.

BRUSSELS, JUNE 9.--Numerous subscriptions
continue to be received for the sufferers by the inundation
at Burght. In order to register the deaths of the victims,
it was necessary to hold an inquest to ascertain the identity
of the bodies. The official account states that only thirty
bodies have yet been found, which were identified the day
before yesterday, and buried yesterday evening in the cc.
metery of Grimberghen.