The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-04 00:00:00

the President which he does not think fit to execute
himself ; consequently, in obedience to his Royal
Highness's commands, I rise for the purpose of re-
turning to those present the grateful thanks of the
Governors for the honour which you have done them,
and for the appreciation which you have manifested
of the college over which we preside. I must say
that from no quarter more gratifying or more satis-
factory to us could this toast proceed than from my
my right hon. friend, because, as he says, he has had
for some years a boy at the school—who has done
credit, let me add, to the institution. It is the more
satisfactory to us, because my right hon. friend has
not been a careless observer of what was going on.
I have known few persons who so carefully and
rigidly criticised whatever he thought he might find
amiss at 'Wellington College. I speak in the name
of the Head Master, as well as of the Governors,
when I say we are very much indebted to all those
who, in a friendly spirit, point out anything that
requires amendment in our system, in order that we
may have the opportunity of rectifying it. And I
think my right hon. friend will do us the justice to
say that his presentations have always been attended
to (Sir J. Pakington—Hear, hear) and that we do
all in our power to meet the just requirements of
those who honour us with their confidence by send-
ing their sons here. His Royal Highness has ad-
verted to the circumstances under which this school
was founded, and they have been again alluded to
by my right hon. friend. I have taken from the very
first a deep interest in the prosperity of this founda-
tion--I say from the very first, because it did so
happen that when the news arrived in Scotland of
the lamented death of the Duke of Wellington, I
was in attendance on her Majesty as a Minister
of the Crown, and the subject was afterwards
under the consideration of her Majesty, his
Royal Highness the Prince Consort, and myself
how best the debt could be discharged which the
country owed to that great man, and what form
of monument or memorial it would have been
most gratifying to the feelings of the late duke, had
he been living, to see erected in his name. It was
felt at once by her Majesty and the Prince Consort,
and in that feeling I cordially joined, that no memo-.
rial to the Duke of Wellington could be more grati-
fying than to afford to the orphans of officers of that
profession, of which he was so distinguished an or-
nament, an education such as it would be impossi-
ble for them with their own limited means to obtain,
fitting them for future usefulness in whatever station
of life to which they might afterwards be called on
to labour. Let me add that a misapprehension has
prevailed with regard to Wellington College—a mis-
apprehension that I believe has prevented some
parents from sending their sons here. It is supposed
that this is a military school; on that subject it is
most important that there should be no misappre-
hension. Although the foundationers are all sons of
deceased officers, yet the education given is a gene-
ral education, the best that can be given, not con-
fined exclusively to any particular branch, but cal-
culated to fit boys for going to Sandhurst, for pro-
ceeding to either of the universities, for entering
into the service of the State—in point of fact, for
every position of life to which the sons of English
gentlemen can possibly be called. I may perhaps be
permitted to congratulate the governors and the
friends of the college generally on the very rapid in-
crease which it has made in public estimation and
general usefulness. I can hardly realise to myself
that it is not above nine years since her Majesty first
attended on this spot, then a barren heath, and al-
most inaccessible, without a single building, or the
slightest approach to a building, except the outer
walls of this college; and that it is little more than
six years since the buildings around us were com-
pleted, and the college opened for the education of
boys. At the time I speak of we opened with the
modest number of 70 boys, hoping that in the course
of four or five years we might reach the number of
100. In January, 1859, the number was 76 ; in
January, 1860, it had risen to 138; in January,
1861, the college contained 213 ; in January, 1862,
there were 222 boys, which was as much as that
time the college was capable of holding. In 1863 the
very beautiful and highly ornamental College chapel
was finished, and thereupon one of the dormitories,
which up to that time had been appropriated, was
restored to its original and proper purpose, enabling
us to find room for 30 additional boys. In January,
1864, the school again was full, the numbers having
risen to 252 boys, at which limit it has remained to
the present time. Out of, lam sorry to say, very
limited means, we have been compelled to undertake
the building of a new dormitory to hold 42 more
boys, and if I should have the honour of addressing
this company this time next year, I feel confident
that this dormitory will likewise be filled, and that
we shall again have the full number that we can take
within our walls. This rapid progress in six years
from 76 boys to 252, and the fact that we have at
this moment 50 or 60 candidates for the foundation,
and a still greater number of non-foundationers,
waiting for admission without ability upon our part
to receive them, forms, I think, convincing proof
which I can adduce that public confidence confirms

the steps taken by the governors, and affirms tho
distinguished merit of the head master of the college.
I hardly know whether I ought to allude to a matter
of which complimentary mention has been made—
the gift which I had the great pleasure of offering to
the college as the result of a publication for which I
am responsible. It cost me nothing but the labour, a

very gratifying employment, bestowed upon the
work which has produced this result; the public have
been kind enough to pay it—(laughter)—and I
thought I could not more usefully devote this liber-
ality on the part of the public than towards promot-

ing the interests of the foundationers of Wellington

College. It occurred to me that as many of them
came to the college under disadvantages as regards
their early education, on account of their poverty—
an honourable poverty, not a thing to be ashamed of

—and with little inheritance other than the honour
of their fathers' name, I could not do better than

endeavour to hold out a stimulus encouraging them

to make rapid, and not only rapid, but steady, pro-
gress in education from the period of their entering
college. I found that, fortunately, the sum which I

had to dispose of was sufficient to make a permanent
investment producing, I think, £54 a year, and this

I proposed should be given to that one of the foun-
dationers not being less than 16 years of age, who
on leaving the school should within the year have
most distinguished himself, not for talent, but for

industry, application, and general good conduct. I

felt that for mere talent and ability there were prizes

and premiums enough here and elsewhere, but the

more important and more sterling qualities of steady
application, industry, and good conduct, were not so

generally rewarded, or so much the objects of gene-
ral commendation. I thought there might be some-

thing of novelty as well as advantage in holding
forth a stimulus to general, steady, persevering good
conduct, which, while talents and ability are given
to one and not to another, would be within the

reach of every boy who has the ambition to deserve

it. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen, forgive
me for alluding for a moment to a topic which I
should not have mentioned had attention not been

called to it by his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales. But the subject having been mentioned, I
thought it desirable that I should fully explain—

speaking in presence of some whose boys may be in

the school, or who may be thinking of sending them
here—what is the object and scope of that gift
which it has been my happiness to be able to pre-
sent to the College. The noble earl, after some
further observations, concluded by proposing " The

health of Rev. Mr. Benson," who responded in ap-

propriate terms, and the company, quitting the
marquee, proceeded to the chapel, where a recital
on the organ was given by Mr. Edmonds, organist

and choir-master.

Shortly before 4 o'clock the major portion of the
guests returned to town by the special train. As it
left the Wellington College Station the pupils and

staff of the institution, who clustered thickly on the

platform, raised hearty cheers for the occupants of
the Royal carriage.

MURDER BY A FARMER.—Denis Driscoll, a farmer
belonging to Mohona, near Skibbereen, the other day fol-
lowed a man named Cornelius Brian, and with a scythe
severed his head from his body. There aro numerous re-
ports as to the cause which led to the murder, but it is
confidently believed that jealousy had a great deal to do
with it.