The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-20 00:00:00

THE PUBLIC. SCHOOLS BILL

The Public Schools Bill, which is presented to
Parliament by the Earl of Clarendon, has just been
printed. There are few of our readers who will not
be anxious to be informed of its provisions, and we
hasten to satisfy their curiosity. We shall not, how-
ever, attempt immediately to express any judgment
upon proposals of so much importance and involving
such delicate considerations. In the following ob-
seriations we shall simply present our readers with
a short summary of the provisions of the bill, and
explicitly disclaim any intention of commenting
upon them.
The recommendations of the Royal Commission
may be referred to three distinct heads—that is, to
the governing bodies of the schools ; to the statutes
which determine the character of the foundation and
the appropriation of the school property ; and,
thirdly, to the general regulations for the course of
study and the management of the school. The
second and third of these three subjects are by the
proposed bill entirely subordinated to the first.
With a few slight exceptions, and subject to the re-
strictions which we shall explain, the alteration of
statutes and the framing of regulations are entirely
committed to the governing bodies. The bill pro-
vides for their appointment, and 'gives them the ne-
cessary powers of interferekc` e, and then leaves it to
them to carry out as they may think proper the
other suggestions of the Commissioners. With the
slight exceptions, therefore, which we shall presently
name, no matters of detail as to the constitution or
management of the schools are involved in the pro-
visions of the Bill. It is concerned almost solely
with determining the nature, of the new governing
bodies and the powers which shall be intrusted to
them. Upon their constitution and the nature of
these powers everything else will depend. In
framing the constitutions of the governing bodies of
the several schools the Bill seems to follow as nearly
as possible the recommendations of the Commission.
The new governing body is framed in each case
more or less upon the basis of the existing govern-
ment. The present members will for the most part
retain their position, but other members will
be added in. a proportion which varies with the dif-
ferent schools. The example of Etcln will serve to
indicate the nature of the changes proposed, though
they appear larger there than at the other schools.
In place of the present Provost, Vice-Provost, and
six Fellows, the governing bxly is for the future to
be composed of a Provost and fourteen Fellows, of
whom nine are to be honorary and five stipendiary.
All shall be members of the Established Church,
but shall not necessarily have been educated at
Eton. The Provost shall be nominated by the
Crown, shall be a graduate of Oxford or Cambridge,
of not less than 35 years of age, and not necessarily
in Holy Orders. He shall be required to reside
during the whole of every school term. The Provost
of King's shall be ex officio one of the honorary
Fellows. Of the other eight, who shall receive no
emoluments and shall not be required to reside, three
shall be nominated by the Crown, and shall be
Graduates of Oxford or Cambridge, and the other
five shall be elected by the governing body. The five
stipendiary Fellows shall also be elected by the go-
verning body. They must all be either distinguished
for literary or scientific attainments, or have done
eminent service to the school as Head or Assistant-
masters. Three of them, at least, shall be in Holy
Orders. They shall receive £7OO a year and a house,
and shall be required to reside three months in
every year. A similar change is proposed at Win-
chester, though the number of Fellows is not so
largely increased. At Harrow, Charter-house, and
Rugby the proposed change is simpler, consisting
merely in an addition to the number of trustees or
governors, with the provision that one-fourth of the
whole governing body shall be persons distinguished
for their literary and scientific attainments. At
Westminster, Shrewsbury, and St. Paul's the change
is more complicated, but is of the same character.
To the governing bodies thus constituted all the

property, rights, powers, privileges, and obliga-
tions" of the existing bodies will be transferred,
subject, of course, to the provisions of the bill ; and
in the case of Westminster and St. Paul's some
change will be necessary in respect to the tenure of
the school property. The time and places of their
meeting and the management of their business are
to be under the entire control of the governing
bodies ; a majority of members present is to decide
vaontye,quaensdtiott,er the
is, of
hechaitlneaonuni3se,
a fix
to haveed quorum.
acasortiumng.
oLuastolyf,tmhthaete:rteehrs wlroeoasmfouncuand willba.
le
nte expenses are to be defrayed
are,n t e asa f
fwe
eet
ihnagv
the
said,he
foundationf
of the school ; and secondly,
e
their provisions will be subject
t wc oo mi
kinds—first,
un underdad—thfi
rtheirconstitution
the o n
sta-
tutes control
Parliament and of the
as to its management. With the
regard to the former,
re-
gard to the latter their authority is eiunrestricted.;with
They will have power to amend and consolidate any
of the existing statutes, and to make new statutes
for any of the follow'
number, the conditions gofpaudrP°issseison:7aTnod
the decidepn.
vthe-
leges of boys on the foundation ; to re-arrange any
tenablescholars scholarships, exhibitions,
the
seexhhoiboiltioorns;.
those which have been creattkthde
or other emoluments
wijitnhiLersthiteylasetxfifeetpyt
years ; as, for example, to make emoluments now
l
tenable at only one college tenable at any college
Queen
in. general
n etrhael regulationscontrof
in either University ; to determine the mode and
conditions of appointment to any ecclesiastical
benefice in the patronage of the govern-
ing body, or to which those educated at the
school have a preferential claim ; to fix the salaries
of the masters and to abolish any other than the
head-mastership, and to dispose of the surplus
income of the school property. The only exception
to their independent decision on these points, to
which we alluded above, relates to the qualification
for boys on the foundation. The bill specially pro-
vides that no candidate for the foundation at Eton
shall be entitled to preference by reason of his place
of birth or abode, and that neither illegitimacy nor
bodily imperfection shall be a disqualification. In the
case of Shrewsbury the rights of the burgesses are
to cease in 1880, and after that date there will be 40
free scholarships absolutely open. At Harrow and
Rugby the privileges of free education possessed by
persons residing within the parishes or neighbour-
hoods shall cease,
ygeexEditefsrinnomfthtehosceassechoofas
the passing of the
baeotrn.
Twjiltehignovetrninen
over, are to prepare schemes for appropriating a
suitable part of their revenues to the promotion of
more-
over, childreno
r e -
for example,
tedyuecaattaibolnisinhintghesirepnaeriagtehbaoeuhrnheolso,d7e
;133.;41 being had
to the local objects of their founders and to the
altered circumstances of the present time. Besides
this which the governing
bodiess w restrictionsiallli make
statutes and the conditions
of their v
s :—No statute made by
the governing body of one school shall affect the in-
tthe
tykearethese
s underfoo w
in-
terest of another in endowments common to the two
without the consent of the governing body of the
second school, and where a statute would affect any
College in either of the two Universities sufficient
notice is to be given to the head of such a College.
A statute shall be valid after it has been approved by
her Majesty in Council, and this approval shall be
obtained under the following conditions :—The sta-
tute shall be laid before the Queen in Council and
published in the London Gazette, and any persons in-
terested in it may within a month petition the Queen
`against the whole or any part of it. Any such
petition shall be referred to five members of the
Privy Council, two of whom are to be of the Judi-
cial Committee, and the petitioners may be heard
by counsel. Further, all such statutes are to be
laid before Parliament at once, if it be sitting, and
if not, within three weeks after its opening ; and
either House may address Her Majesty within 40
days against the whole or any part of the statutes.

In the absence of any such petition or address the
Queen may pronounce her approval, or she may
approve the parts which are not objected to. The
other parts she may refer back to the governing
body, who will proceed to alter them subject to the
same conditions. Lastly, these statutes are to be
made before the Ist January, 1867, unless the
Queen shall specially grant an extension of the
time, but this may not be further than to January
1,1868. When once made, statutes may be altered
and cancelled from time to time in the same

manner.
With regard to the second head of their charge, the
governing bodies are, as we have said, uncontrolled.
They may make, alter, or annul as they please
regulations with respect to any of the following
matters :—The number of boys other than founda-
tion boys in the school ; their ages and the condi-
tions of admission ; the manner in which they are
to be boarded and lodged ; the payments to be
made for them, the fees and payments of all kinds,
and the application of such payments ; attendance
at Divine service, and the services themselves ; the
times and length of the holidays ; the subjects of
study and the general discipline and management
of the school ; and the disposal of any surplus in-
come, with a view to promoting the efficiency of
the education provided. With such large powers,
they will obviously have in their hands the entire
management and character of the school. Subject
to the statutes they may make, they will appoint
the Head-master and all, masters now appointed
by the governing body, and all the other masters
will be appointed by the Head-master and will
hold office at his pleasure. It is also specially pro-
vided that "no candidate for any mastership
shall be entitled to preference by reason of
his having been educated at the school of
which he desires to be master." The Head-master
will be subject to the general regulations of the
governing body on all the points we have enume-
rated, but he will be otherwise independent, and
will be supreme over all the other masters.

Such is a short sketch of all the provisions which
concern the management and constitution of the
schools. There remain only a few miscellaneous
provisions. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster
are, in conjunction with the Ecclesiastical Commis-
sioners, to vest in the governing body and their suc-
cessors the fee-simple of such an estate as shall be
adequate to the due maintenance of the school, and
also to make over to them the buildings at present
in use; but these are to revert to the Dean and
Chapter in case of the removal of the school else-
where. Power is given to the governing body of
any school to prepare a scheme for raising money
upon mortgage for the purpose of alter or enlarging
the school buildings, in obedience to the recommen-
dations of the Commissioners ; and such a scheme is
to be subject to the same conditions of validity as
the statutes before mentioned. The parish of Eton
is no longer to be under the spiritual charge of the
Provost, but is to be constituted a distinct vicarage,
in the gift of the Provost and Fellows, with an en-
dowment of £6OO a year. Further, the govern-
ing bodies of Westminster, Charterhouse, and St.

Paul's may lay schemes before her Majesty for the
removal of their schools from their present sites,
providing for the sale or mortgage of the existing
property, and these schemes will also be subject to
the same conditions as a new statute. Lastly, there

are two clauses saving all existing interests and pre-

serving the rights of the existing governing bodies

during the time which may elapse between the

passing of the Act and their reconstitution.

THE CONFEDERATE S FATES.

_,.., _
(Front the Times' Special Correspondent.)
RICHMOND, Feb. 16.
Never in any community have I witnessed such a
revolution of public feeling as has been wrought in
Virginia by the contemptuous terms offered to the
three Southern Commissioners who have lately re-
turned hither from their informal interview with
President Lincoln and Mr. Seward at Fortress Mon-
roe. It is idle to pretend that previous to that inter-
view the general heart of the Confederates had not
reached a lower pitch of dejection than was ever ob-
servable at any earlier stage of this rueful war. It
is true that the Confederate army around Richmond
has never participated in the despondency of the
Gulf States, and has hardly realised the amount of
depression prevalent in half hearted Georgia ; but,
in addition to the fall of Fort Fisher and the

triumphal march of Sherman to Savannah, there
was much to abate the characteristic hopefulness of
Richmond and Virginia. For more than 100 days
the Southern House of Congress have been in ses-
sion in this city, and anxious spectators have awaited
some exhibition of valour and vigour from Legisla-
tive Bodies called to deliberate upon the most mo-
mentous and appalling crisis that ever engaged the
attention, of a representative Assembly. I know of
no parallel to the feebleness and imbecility of the
results attained in the Southern Congress, unless it
can be found in the simultaneous deliberations of the
Federal Congress, or in the war of words which
Gibbon has held up to undying scorn, and which
raged at Constantinople among the Greeks of the
Lower Empire while the battering ram thundered at

the city's gates.
There is at this moment a lull, a breathing place, a
new point de depart for these sorely-tried Southern-
ers. In the first place, Wilmington has been sealed
as a port of entry, and all the sharks and Shylocks
who there congregated and shirked duty in the
ranks have lost their occupation. The demand for
gold, now that the chief port through which it
lately flowed has been closed, has already sensibly
diminished, and the spirit of speculation has received
in the loss of Wilmington a staggering blow, from
which all who wish well to Secessia, cannot but pray
that it will be slow to recover. Secondly, there is a
prospect that the Southern Congress will shortly ad-
journ, that the action of Congress will no longer be
invoked as a mysterious Abracadabra, destined to
neutralise the debasing influences of disaffection and
corruption, and that the finance of the country will
be committed to the far more capable hands of Mr.
Trenholm, while military affairs are left to the ma-
ture wisdom of Gen. Lee. Thirdly, the exchange of
prisoners, so long delayed, so long disingenuously
eluded by the North, has been resumed, under the
inexorable pressure of the relatives of Northern pri-
soners, and will, if honestly carried out (and we have
Gen. Grant's word that it will be honestly carried
out), give to the Southern armies some 30,000 or
40,000 men, many of whom still breathe the spirit
of 1862, and carry back to their comrades, now sadly
shrunk in numbers, voices that speak of Gaines'
Mill, of Chancellorsville, or of Antietam. Fourthly,
the question of putting negroes into the ranks, long
and vehemently debated and combated, not only
within the walls of Congress, but also at the corner
of every street and round every fireside in the South,
is gaining manifestly in public opinion, and seems
likely to lead to immediate and energetic action, with
a view to opposing Mr. Lincoln's 200,000 African
soldiers, when the great collision of next spring shall
arrive, at least a very considerable body of their dusky
brethren. Fifthly, the appointment of Gen. Breckin-
ridge to theimportant office of Secretary of War, and
the vigour which he has already exhibited in dis-
charging the onerous functions of that bureau have
given elastic confidence to men's minds, since it is re-
cognised that perhaps the most important office of
the State is now held by one who more than any
other man in the South possesses simultaneously the
qualifications of the soldier and the statesman, and
that the Bureau of War and the Bureau of Finance are
now administered by unquestionably the two fittest
heads for the purpose that Secessia affords. But,
lastly, and most important of all, the strong revul-
sion of feeling occasioned by the fruitless errand
which carried Vice-President Stephensjudge Camp-
bell, and Mr. Hunter to Fortress Monroe, and exposed
them to the indignityof listening to terms very diffe-
rent from those shadowed forth by Mr. Blair, has