The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOINDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 3, 1863.

man be carried on without their voice being raised
in protest or their energies exerted in its uprooting,
These are the real friends, and the kindest bene-
factors to their race, and it is to be regretted that
such are so few.

One of the distinctive marks of a highly civilised
community is the value placed on education. Long
after the rough and illiterate manners of a young
state have died out and the love of war in its rulers
has become changed into the science of Government,
there is usually a long lapse during which a great
gulf divides the few members of the privileged
classes from the ranks below them. It is thought
enough if the very rudiments of education are con-
fined to the better sort of people, and the masses
have commonly not even the desire to learn. Bock
learning, as it is scornfully termed, is looked upon
with much the same disfavour as the good old Earl
DOUGLAS expressed when he felicitated himself on
the fact that only one son of his "could pen a line:,
In countries where the principles of constitutional
government have not been established, there is very
often a feeling on the part of the rulers that it is
safer for the people not to be too learned, that the
less they trouble their heads about such matters the
more submissive and quiet they are likely to be.
This ides, like many others, is both right and wrong.
There is no force so unmanageable or dangerous as
an ignorant mob when once its passions are fully
roused, and it is urged on by wily and designing
leaders. On the other hand a superior mental
training, while it renders men amenable to all just
laws and disposed to support law and social order
for their own sakes, makes them unwilling to submit
to tyrannical and unjust measures, and qualifies
them for offering that firm and prolonged
resistance to despotism which has so often
fought the battle of our English liberties.
The difference has been admirably summed up by
one who has been one of the great pioneers of
popular education in our own day. " Education,"
says Lord BROUGHAM, " makes men easy to lead,
but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible
to enslave." It is, therefore, a favourable sign of
the times that in most parts of Europe great efforts
are being made for the extension of popular know-
ledge. In parts of the Continent, indeed, education
is in some degree compulsory; but such a system is
contrary to the spirit of English rule. All that is
done among us must be based on the voluntary
principle; the people themselves must wish for the
blessing before they can be made to receive it. At
first sight the application of this principle to the
case in point might seem of rather doubtful result,
however admirable it may be in other matters.
ignorant persons are by no means the most likely
to appreciate the blessings of knowledge. There
are few children who would not prefer a game at
play to their school-books, and in later years the
disposition to learn, uncultivated in childhood,
grows still less. By the time the untaught child
has reached man's or woman's estate, not only has
he lost the little aptitude he possessed for acquiring
didactio information, but he has begun to think he
can do very well without it, and to look with some-
thing like contempt on those who talk much about
the advantages of education. But, notwith-
standing all difficulties, the principle, sound
in theory, works well in practice, and,
thanks to the encouragement and facilities now
offered on all sides, there is no lack of students to
come forward not only from the idle and untrained,
but from the desk, the workshop, the manufactory.
At a meeting recently held in Hertford with the
object of distributing the prizes and certificates
gained by the successful competitors at the late
examination of the local board, in connection with
the Society of Arts, the Right Hon. W. COWPER,
M.P., delivered an address on this subject. He oh-
served, in commenting on the occasion that had
orought them together, that it was impossible to
help those who would not help themselves, and that
it was, consequently, a source of gratification that
so many young men availed themselves of the op-
portunities offered to them by the Society of Arts
and other institutions. He said very truly that the
certificates obtained by the successful students would
be doubly valuable to them ; they were not only
proofs of their abilities and information, but they
were testimonia!s to the steadiness, self-control, and
perseverance which had enabled them when their
day's work was over resolutely to turn aside from
the amusements of their age to cultivate their minds
and pursue their studies: Knowledge thus acquired
is not easily forgotten, and the very effort made to
apply the mind to such objects, is in itself a species
of mental training. According to the recently de-
veloped theory, that as much may be learned by chil-
dren in three days a week as in six, it would
not be surprising to find that many of these young
students who probably lament the impediments in
their way, have learned more, and in a surer fashion,
than a large proportion of our college students.
The highest prize given by the Society of Arts has
been won by a clerk in a London office, and we may
be sure that such a distinction has not been won

without long hours of tedious and unwelcome labour.
" A certificate," said Mr. COWPER, " bearing such
testimony to the patience, the industry, and the
self-control of those young men must have great
weight with all those who are seeking to employ
persons of their character, and will be to theca as
good as the title deedi of an estate, for they are title
deeds of those montal and moral qualities which it
is a blessing to them to be able to show." The future

opening before a young man of such a character,
possessed of sound faculties properly cultivated, is
truly a very wide one. Industry, knowledge, and
resolution are the chief steps in the upward ladder
to fame and fortune, and many a self-taught man
has climbed to the very top. The future of our

country, as Mr. COWPER justly observed, rests
mainly in the hands of the middle classes, and the
best security we have for the maintenance of our

public rights is to be found in their mental and

moral training. 'rho lessons of history serve to
point the moral of the scenes going on around us ;
the teachings of science are in every way valuable,
the love of art and literature is a refining and ele-
vating influence that brings countless blessings in
its train. Such advantages are now, thanks to the
efforts of the wise and good, placed within reach of

all classes, and we trust the youth of England will

never fail to do honour to the adoption of the volun-
tary system in education, as in all other spheres of

our social and political existence.

THE EARL OF ELGIN,

We understand that telegraphic news is expected
in London from India by the members of the family
in the course of to.morrow (Friday), when the
result of the noble Earl's serious illness will be
learned.—Post.

PISCICULTURE IN IRELAND.—As showing what
can he done in fish breeding, when it is properly
gone about, we may state that the extent of new water
taken in by the Messrs. Ashworth, in the district of Loughs
Mask and Carra, comprise an area 30 miles in length by 10
in width. In a communication with which we have been
favoured by Mr. Ashworth, we are told that as many as
659,000 salmon-ova were collected, impregnated, and trans-
ported for the purpose of stocking the new salmon-water—
that is to say, the waters that communicate with Loughs
MbSk and Carra, the purest streams Of the rivers at Tour-
'Theseoe River at .14 n
—o..Ymount, and other streams.
will go o)a propagating themselves ad
Y become highly productive.
Saltont.fi i itl4;
bung
s oncewi l will
aitetteoddiluced into a good stream, and properly protected,
aweo.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

M. FOULD'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT,
PARIS, DEC. 3.

M. Fould's financial statement has been published
to-day. It states that the total amount of the
deficit is 972,000,000 francs. It is neeeessary to
consolidate part of the floating debt. The produce
of a loan will be employed to redeem the Treasury
Bonds, and will put in circulation an amount
corresponding to that which it will demand.

M. Fould proposes to the Emperor to fix the
amount of the loan at 300 million francs. The
expenses in Mexico will amount to 210 million
francs at the end of 1863. M. Fould says

" It was hoped that a Mexican loan would lead
to the repayment of our advances. But notwith-
standing the confidence we have of seeing a regular
Government reestablished in Mexico at no distant
future, we must not allow the security of our
finances to depend upon the liquidation of the debt
of Mexico to France.

"We hope for a day when, by the reduction of
the expenses and an improvement in the receipts,
it will be possible to resume the operation of the
Sinking Fund.

" If in the future the equilibrium of the Budget
be maintained, if the generous efforts of the
Emperor assure peace and the State prosier, our
financed will permit us to reduce the taxes and
a his Majesty."
lTheie Nationewih lately of
published the project of a Con-
stitution, which, it is stated, had been submitted by
Prince Couza to Great Powers.

This intelligence has been officially contradicted.

THE PRINCIPALITIES.
BUCHAREST, DEC. 2.
The members elected to form the Committee o❑
the Address all belong to the Opposition.

communications with the seaboard and cover the

railways.

Jalapa was occupied on the 23d October by 2,200
allies, under the Mexican General Liceaga, who
was at the same time to hold Perote and Puento
Nacimal.

The health of the troops continued excellent upon
the high plateaux.
Perfect order prevails at Vera Cruz.
The yellow fever had almost entirely disappeared
in the city, as well as in the Tierra Caliente.

The arrival of a convoy of convalescent men,
which left Mexico on the 21st October was expected.
The climate of France being requisite for their
complete recovery, they were to be embarked on
board one of the transports leaving Vera Cruz for

Europe.
TOUCIIING THE RUSSELL RESIGNATION.—We
knew it was all nonsense. A Whig is like the Old French
Guard—he dies, but never surrrenders.—.Punch.