The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-09 00:00:00

TI-TE ''SUN' LO 4100 INT, FRI D EVENING, MAX q 9, 1862.

Treasury benches ; for, whether it be a naval or
military power may depend upon accident, but
Toryism certainly is not a moral power.
Very unfortunate, indeed, is this over-eager
attempt of the hon. member for Bucks. Badly
managed as well as ill-timed. The trick of evading
a reply from Mr GLADSTONE was more than counter-
balanced by the reply of the Premier. Mr. GLAD-
STONE would not have managed it half so well as the
humorous lord. The speech of the great Tory was
a capital subject for banter, and Lord PALMERsTON
met it by the most clever combination of banter
and argument. Mr. DISRAELI discovers in Mr.
COBBEN'S pamphlet, and the growing dissatisfac-
tion with our expenditure, and of the Irish mem-
bers with the Liberal Italian policy of the Govern-
ment, an opportunity, as he thinks, for a hostila
resolution before this session is over. But he has
not caught the Premier at least napping. He
knows his ground. He justly scoffs at the elaborate
attempts to prove that sympathy with a free and
united Italy is the cause of our high army and
navy estimates—he decclares himself proud of his
Italian policy, and very distinctly insinuates that if
the hon. member for Bucks means fight, the country
must settle between them ; these were his conclud-
ing words—" My belief is that the opinions and
sentiments we entertain and have expressed on the
different affairs now going on in Europe are in
unison with the feelings of the country, and that
attachment for freedom and constitutional govern-
ment which is so peculiarly characteristic of the
whole people of this united kingdom. That being
the case, I am somewhat surprised that the right
hon. gentleman, who is evidently prepared to be a
member of some new administration, should have,
in the course of his speech, given expressions to
opinions so much at variance with the feeling of
the country, merely because he thought that they
were at variance with the opinion of the Govern
ment to which he is opposed."

The twentieth annual meeting of the Field Lane
Ragged School on Wednesday in St. Martin's
Hall was almost, as a matter of course, presided
over by the good Earl of SHAFTESBURY.
Growing grey in the service of his humbler
fellow-citizens though the new K.G. elect is of
late years—himself as yet but in his prime, it
must be like the autumnal fruition already of his
earnest and life-long labours to note as he could
note the other evening, in his capacity as chairman,
the signs of the benefits already accruing to the
very poor in this great metropolis, from the opera-
tion and development of one of the chief among
those humane institutions to the promotion of
whose interests his energies have so long and so
very earnestly been devoted. From the reliable
statistics of the past twelvemonth submitted to the
consideration of the assembly last evening gathered
together in. St. Martin's Hall, it appeared beyond a
doubt that the attendance during the year at the
Field Lane Ragged Schools for boys and girls, and
for infan ts,:has been of the most satisfactory character
imaginable. Upon an average throughout the whole
year that attendance in the infant school alone has
been daily-205! During the twelvemonth as
many as 201 new baby-scholars have bean admitted
there within the walls of the institution. The
average during the interval of time has meanwhile
in the boys and girls school, been 330 daily-4,370
of these children having been duly passed through
the establishment. And it must especially be borne
in mind that it is not alone the education of these
little ones that the institution cares for. They aro
not merely sedulously instructed during the period
of their daily attendance, month after month, and
from year's end to year's end. Situations are,
wherever it may be found suitable, discovered for
each—th A boys PVPIrt hOin Ey, not unfr.cpotitly,
drafted into her MAJESTY'S navy as opportunities
have arisen. For example, during the year last
past, as many as "seventy-nine" of these urchins
have passed into the QUEEN'S service afloat, upon
crossing the threshold of the Ragged School of
Field-lane. While within the same period 115
other boys, having duly passed through their educa-
tional course, according to the system in vogue at
the institution, have been enabled at once to enter
upon the honest, thriftful pathway of regular em-
ployment. " Eighty-seven" girls, also, obtaining
in like manner the absolutely priceless boon
of opportune situations. As if to indicate,
in as vivid a manner as possible, the untiring
assiduity with which the interests of these poor
waifs and strays of the metropolis are watched
over, physically and intellectually, there is another
branch of the institution not yet particularised
eminently well deserving examination. It is, of
course, quite obviously the Night-School tor Bo.; s in
connection with the Ragged Institution in Field-
lane,' that we are here more particularly alluding
Ito, the Night School for Boys, the Secretary
1 informs us, having as many as 180 as the average of
its daily (meaning nightly) attendance.
Before closing our remarks upon the progress of
this most humane establishment, we would especially
direct the attention of our readers to the circum-
-1 stance that it is not simply beneficial to the children
i who are there harboured, by its housing their poor
bodies for the time being, and by instructing their 1
previously blank intellects—it is in a worldly way
even wonderfully advantageous to them for the
rest of their natural lives, by its enabling them
to acquire, during the period of their attendance,
knowledge of some handicraft capable of furnishing
them afterwards with remunerative employment.
Proof positive of this is discoverable in the signifi-
cant items jottod down for the past year by the
Secretary's pen —items to the effect, for instance,
t hat within the last twelvemonth in the industrial
classes of one division of the school as many as 915
boys have learnt their craft as tailors, and 810 boys
their's as shoemakers. A similar tale to which might
be told in regard to the industrial classes of the
other division—namely, in pleasant illustration of
the fact, the very large number of girls who have
simultaneously been acquiring there various skill
with their needles—now, let us say, as shoe-binders,
DOW as sempstresses.

Is further evidence desireable by way
of indicating the beneficent influences set
at play among these little Bedouins of
civilisation P Is such not abundantly visible in
admirable offshoots of the Field Lane Ragged
School, like the " Mother's class," like the " penny
bank," or like the " clothing association," all of
which little offshoots we here, with unaffected de-
light, give promise to gro vv and flourish surprisingl3
Take the penny bank by Way of illustration
bank in which, at this time, there are as much as
£231 paid in, bit by bit, by some 500 depositors !
There are little luxuries, too, in the way of allure-
ments to knowledge and good behaviour, distributed
periodically, and with the most judicious discrimi-
nation, among the poor children of this Ragged
School in Field Lane—hitherto neglected little
creatures, who certainly never had an oppor-
tunity of knowing what a luxury of any kind (even
the humblest) was before. Unless, perchance, it
might have been after the fashion of the pour
little Marchioness in the " Old Curiosity Shop,"
who (it will be remembered) astonished
Mr. RICHARD SWIVELLER so very much
at their first meeting by describing to him the
deliciousness of orange peal squeezed and soaked in
Water Or unless, again, their experience of coin-

fort might have been brought home to them pre-
viously by some supreme misfortune, as in the in-
stance of Maggy, in " Little Dorrit," who having
been, once upon a time, in consequence of an acci-
dent, tenderly nursed and nurtured in one of ►the
London Hospitals : whenever afterwards she en-
joyed a treat, would smack her lips and cry out
with a relish, "0! ain't it Hospitally !
To these Maggies and Marchionesses sent
forth by the Field Lane Ragged School,
what must not have been their enjoy-
ment of the 231 successful competitors among
the girls out at place!! Who carried off during this
last year each a prize varying from half-a-crown to
three half-crowns—for what ?is it asked. For the
very substantial merit of retaining each her place
for a whole twelvemonth!

We have not finished, however, by any means with
our record of all the good done, the practical, phy-
sical, substantial good done, by means of this bene-
ficent, charitable institution in Field-lane. Besides
the blessings squandered about, as we have shown,
among hundreds, nay among from 4,000 to 5,000
boys and girls and little infant children, there is
the material comfort it has distributed all the while,
moreover, among the very lowliest members of our
adult pauper population. Within this same year
last past, as many as upwards of seven thousand and
a half (exactly 7,537) poor creatures have passed
through the male refuge connected with the insti-
tution. And the good done to these poor souls, it
should be observed especially, is of no merely fleet-
ing or temporary kind either. Out of those 7,537
persons thus relieved in the direst extremity of want
—233 being placed in situations, 181 having tem-
porary employment given to them, 25 being en-
abled to enlist in the Army, and 108 in the Royal
Navy. Again, there is the female refuge in Field-
Lane with its 2,300 recipients of charity during the
year, besides very nearly 300 (to be precise, 278)
servants out of place who, within the same interval,
had received shelter in the servant's home. Alto-
gether there have been 13,000 of the utterly home-
less and very destitute population of London who,
within the year, have received the aid of this benig-
nant charity. Nearly two thousand of their num-
ber having been permanently transferred from the
squalor of the back slums of the metropolis, to situa-
tions in which, by the honest labour of
their hands, they can earn for themselves and
their families a thrifty but comfortable
subsistence. Here is precisely one of those hard-
working charitable institutions scattered here and
there about London and Westminster—" Supported
by Voluntary Contributions"—that the foreign
visitors now crowding into our metropolis ought
not to pass by altogether unnoticed. The more
ardent philanthropists among them, at any rate,
would do well to pay a casual visit to Field Lane—
not restricting their attention exclusively during
their stay amongst us to the splendid side of our
London life. Let them feast their eyes, if they
will, with the fruit of our wealth and industry.
Yet to obtain a juster knowledge of the working
of our whole complex social system, it cannot but
be well also to cast a look askance, however fleet-
ing, at the perpetual war 'with poverty that is
going on underneath.

A testimonial of £5,000 to an editor, and as an
editor, is something not of every day occurrence,
Were it so indeed, our profession might be exposed
to rather severe competition. Such, however, was
the noble but well earned tribute offered by the
Nonconformists of the kingdom to the Editor of the
Nonconformist, on that now well known weekly
journal attaining the age of twenty-one. For a
long time the journal was hardly heard of beyond the
limits of ono an. of Dissenters ; but after Mr.
MIALL became member for Rochdale, and he and
his journal, became the subjects of vehement
attack by the clerico -political men of the day,
it rapidly attracted public attention. The
Nonconformist has certainly done great ser-
vice to the cause of Religious Liberty. It was
originated to fight that battle, or more precisely,
the battle of Religious Equality; and with untiring
zeal and perseveraree, and with confessedly distin-
guished ability it has fought that battle ever since.
If we ever wanted to turn to a source whence we
could derive the fullest and latest informition on
such topics, with the best arguments upon them,
we have always found the Nonconformist a perfect
repository of facts and reasonings.
Mr. MIALL has been, what Englishmen like so
deservedly, a thoroughly consistent man. His views
have been as liberal on politics as on ecclesiastical
matters. He has always dealt with the two as
inseparably connected. He has, however, nothing
of the firebrand about him. He is a careful,
we may say, a profound thinker. He would not
care to convince except by arguments which ought
to convince. He has been often in advance of his
constituency, as we may call it, but it has always
been the advance of a clearly ascertained position.
Mr. BRIGHT, who spoke at the meeting, told the
assembly that-6 In 1860, Mr. MIALL was ap-
pointed one of the Commissioners on National Edu-
cation. No better selection could the Duke of
NEWCASTLE have made when he asked for a man
of intellect and judgment, one who had the confi-
dence of the voluntary party, to appoint
upon that Commission. He (Mr. BRIGHT) had
heard from the lips of the Duke of NEW-
CASTLE what he thought of Mr, MIALL after the
work of the Commons was over. He had heard
him speak of his courtesy, bis moderation, his libe-
rality, his sound judgment, and his laboriousness,
in language at least as eulogistic as anything which
has been uttered on that platform." This is high
praise, but we have no doubt it was well deserved.
The friends of Mr. MIALL's principles have done
themselves, as well as him, honour, by this well-
timed testimonial. He has succeeded, in connec-
tion with the Liberation Society, in calling public
attention to the Religious Equality movement.
For many years ecclesiastics and politicians
treated both the journal and the society with
silent contempt. They do so no longer.
They are put on the defensive. They get up
counter-societies and edit counter-journals. No
better proof of the power of the-religious equality
movement can be furnished than the fact that it is
at this moment the boast of the Tory Opposition
that its House of Commons victories have all been
gained at its expense. The Wednesday bills on
different matters affecting religious liberty, includ-
ing the Church Rate one, have all been more or
less promoted by Mr. MIALL and the society with
which he works. To the exertions of these
gentlemen Sir JOHN TRELAWNY, in truth,
owes his Parliamentary position. And all
the Wednesday muster ings of the Tories
last year, were so many proofs of the strength of
the new power, which it required their utmost
exertions to defeat. Even the Howse of Lords
Committee on Church Rates owed its origin to an-
tagonism to the Liberation Society. A man who
has in so short a time accomplished so much, well
deserves the honour he has received ; and the advo-
cates of Religious Equality have done wisely to
sho-w to all the kingdom, by that kind of proof
which all Englishmen respect, that they are not
ungrateful. We hope dissenters will be strong
enough, in some constitutency, to return him again
to Parliament. We want such an accomplished

representative of Voluntaryism there, as rauch as
the Duke of NEWCASTLE did in the Educational
Commission.

Another step—a very small one, but still a step
—has been taken in a right onward direction by the
promoters of the Concentration of the Law Courts
upon a convenient site. It is well known that not
only has that convenient site been selected in the
neighbourhood of the Courts as they at present
stand—this chosen site being midway between
Carey-street, Bell-yard, and the Strand—but that
a Government Bill embodying the scheme was this
session introduced by the law officers of the Crown,
and was only defeated inopportunely in one of its
earlier stages from a misapprehension as to certain
purely financial considerations. Well, with a view
to dissipate these obstructive, and for the present
session at least, disastrous misapprehensions a
deputation of gentlemen connected with the Law
Amendment Society deemed it advisable to wait
upon the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of
the Exchequer. The deputation, it should be
observed at once, there and then took oocasion to
wait upon Mr. GLADSTONE, not simply with an
argument upon the matter, but with a distinct
proposition to get over the financial difficulty.
They submitted it to Mr. GLADSTONE as a shrewd
and keen witted and practised financier, whether or
not the whole difficulty referred to might not be
readily enough scattered to the winds by some such
device as the following, i.e., if the Government
would but propose to Parliament that, "as a
means whereby to protect the public purse, there
should be a small tax of 3s. 4d. charged on each
writ issued from the common law courts, and on the
inception of any suit in the Admiralty, Probate, or
Divorce Courts, which would raise an amount equi-
valent to the annual interest upon any sum in excess
of the estimate which it was probable would be
spent upon the undertaking." While listening
attentively to this proposition, and to the
argument with which it was enforced by the
gentlemen constituting the deputation that sub
mitted it to his notice, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer abstained as a matter of course from pledg-
ing himself distinctly to its support. Yet, at the
same time, Mr. GLADSTONE added that if the Society
would but furnish him with their calculations he
would—if the law officers of the Crown should
again bring the matter forward, as they will
beyond a doubt next session—he, Mr. GLADSTONE,
would "clear up to the House of eommons the
financial objections to the scheme." More than that
in the way of a promise the deputation of Wednes-
day could hardly have hoped for.