The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, IAPRIL 15, 1862.

THE SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1862.

A week's later news from America is now before
no. But the week's advance is rather in the votes
of Congress than at the seat, or seats, of war. Com-
modore FOOTE still is held in check by Island No.
10 ; and when he is likely to reduce it is not to be
conjectured from the information which has yet
arrived. We aro told his boats were found unsuit-
able for the power of the atream; that the heavy
guns were placed in the bows, while they were
obliged to anchor with their sterns to the Island,
and that the lighter artillery were not power-
ful enough for the work required. This, with the
" yawing and wabbling about" of the boats, is to
account for the long delay there about three
weeks, if we remember rightly. From New
Orleans, the capture of which had been the subject
of rumour, the only known fact is, that PORTER'S
Federal flotilla had arrived at Passe a l'Outre, one
of the months of the Mississippi, nearly a hundred
miles below the city.
The Confederates have formed a new line of
defence in the South. It is almost two hundred
miles in length, and appears .to be based on the rail-
road which runs east from Men: phis, on the Missis-
sippi, to Georgia. It is described. as commencing
with Decatur, which is a station in the north
of Alabama, a little south of Tenness,ee, and
terminating with Island No. 10. It is said that
200,000 men have been mustered to defend it, and
BEAUREGARD, who is in Alabama, is of course in
chief command. As the Federals are now in great
force in Tennessee, just north of this line, a battle
appears to be daily expected. On the Atlantic coast
the Federals appear to be pressing bard. Fort
Pulaski—which protects Savannah, the capital of
Georgia, is closely invested, but the city and its ap-
proaches are said to be strongly fortified and de-
fended by 15,000 or 20,000 men. General BURNSIDE
has occupied Beaufort, but the report of the blowing
tip of Fort Macon appears to be incorrect, the fort
still holds out.

In Congress the PRESIDENT'S proposal has at last
been carried, the Senate having adopted it by a
vote of 22 to 10. The Bill for the abolition of
slavery in the district of Columbus, with compen-
sation to the slave holders, was also expected to be
carried by a large majority. TIIIII3, so far as reso-
lutions go, the Congress has takoa a really im-
portant step. It has pronounced that slavery is
Bch a mischievous evil to the Republic that it is
worth while for the States, and the Central Govern-
ment together, to incur the vast expense of con-
atitutbak the slaves free men, by paying their value
to their owners. We have preceded them at the
cost of twenty millions in a similar trans-
And Amerii'ans, had they been
wise, might have
ucompl ished the same object, at
the cost, as their
114EsIDEN T told them, of a single
year of war. It is
significant of the evil effect of
slavery on the masters, that
the Border States, for
whose benefit these resolution„ are pritharily passed,
stoutly oppose them. Probably the tn,zi
ority of ten
is from them. It is to be feared that much will not
come of the mere offer to buy oft the
hese:vaentod
that if it be meant to operate, measures
be taken to make slavery in the Border States very
inconvenient to masters. we wish, however, to
hope the best of the North, and shall, therefore,
-watch a little anxiously to se© whether their Reso
lotions for Emancipation are intended for business
or for show.

action,

Sir HENRY STORKS is showing himself one too
many for the lonian agitators. Those obdurate and
and recalcitrant gentlemen, having lately, in a man-
ner, nailed their colours to the masthead—Sir
IiENRY takes a careless flying shot at it. And with
such good aim—that fragments of this graceless
banner of sedition come fluttering down about the

ears of the Would-be revolijtionists in little rags like
ribbons, The Parliament, in effect, had, with con-
summate coolness, intimated, in reply to the inau-
gural address of his Excellency the Lord High
Commissioner that, after all, nothing effectual could
possibly be looked for in the way of improvement
for the population of the lonian Islands—
saving and excepting through the preliminary
of the union of those islands with the king-
dom of Greece. It is the old story. Mr.
GLADSTONE'S Mission Extraordinary, has been
altogether without effect. That ripe Homeric
Scholar, Financier, Statesman, and Rhetorician,
might have succeeded to admiration in his enter-
prise had he but had reasonable men to deal with.
But there is that homely motto which tells us of
the utter impossibility of contriving by any (the
wildest) stretch of ingenuity to make a silk purse
out of a sow's ear. The right hon. gentleman,
now her Majesty's Chancellor of the Exchequer—
some time, as history will not fail to relate, as a blue
book of portentous magnitude, has already related
—Lord High Commissioner Extraordinary to the
lonian Islands, in the name of her Majesty, might
admirably well, as he did, argue with the leading
men at Corfu upon the disloyal impropriety of their
all but insurrectionary proceedings. But—demon-
strate this though he could, and did, as clearly as
those, his words of witchery could demonstrate any.
thing—he could not with all his rare abilities, aided
by his exquisite adroitness both in diplomacy and in
statecraft, he absolutely could not go in violation of
that wholsome truth expressed in that old, old adage.
An d to this day the miracle of transformation remains
unaccomplished. " Convince"—every one knows
who!—" against his will," et cetera. And so the
lonian Parliament reverts to its old rebellious no-
tion—by
now respectfully approaching Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S Soldier-Successor with the assurance (in
reply to his late address to them) that it is all
idle to talk about a reconciliation with the English
Government. That the British Protectorate must
come to an end. That the lonian Islands—what-
ever the councils of St. James's may say to the con-
trary—must be united sooner or later to the
kingdom of Greece. Well, and the result of this ?
Is it not a delightful and even perfect justification
of Sir HENRY STORKS' selection to the office of
Lord High Commissioner ? While even the mas-
ter-hand of Mr. GLADSTONE fails, after long fum-
bling over the Gordian knot of that lonian
difficulty, in any way at all to untie it, or even
partially to disentangle it—Sir HENRY STORKS
makes no more ado whatever about the matter,
but coolly whips out his sword, and, in a twinkling,
the Knotty Question is unloosed. " I cannot pass
over," he says, "in silence the allusion made in
this address to the question of the Union of these
States to that sectionlof the Greek race which con-
stitutes the present kingdom of Greece. The Legis-
lative Assembly declares that it will employ all
legal means to give effect to this unchangeable
desire of the people. The only legal and consti-
tutional course to adopt, if indeed such a term can
be applied to the proceeding, would be that of a
petition to the Protecting Sovereign. Such a peti-
tion was addressed by the Legislative Assembly of
the 11th Parliament to her Majesty the QUEEN)
when a solemn and conclusive answer in the nega-
tive was given by her MAJESTY. To the declara-
tion contained in that answer I refer yon. In
accepting the Protectorate of the lonian States
England has undertaken duties and acquired rights.
It only remains for me to intimate to you, that
while she will discharge the first with scrupulous
fidelity she will maintain the last inviolate. It
would be well, therefore, for the Legislative As-
sembly to apply itself to its true functions of useful
legislation and to abstain from the further agita-
tion of a question which must be looked upon as
having been settled by the sole authority which is
competent to entertain it."

Now really, than this, we take it, nothing could
very well he more simple, in the way of a response,
or more perfectly conclusive. The still irritated, and
unconvinced, and almost revolutionary Parliament
of the lonian Islands, is reminded that already all
it could do towards carrying out its wishes for a
Union with Greene, it has done. It is agreeably
called to its remembrance how the petition articu-
lating its sentiments had been sometime back trans-
mitted to the Protecting SOVEREIGN, and how by
her MAJESTY it had been returned in due course
with an explicit Negative. Sir HENRY, with grave
irony, after having thus acted in a sort of unoffi-
cial capacity, as Remembrancer to the lonian Le-
gislature, as well as in his official character as Lord
High Commissioner of the lonian Islands—quietly
recommends the representatives of the lonian
people "to abstain from the further agitation of a
question" already so thoroughly well discussed !
And, in lien of that, so to shape their future course
that, under the guidance of a calmer judgment, the
Legislative Assembly may henceforth apply itself
to its more legitimate functons of useful legislation.
The advice is sound. Let us even yet hope that
the lonian representatives ma'y, upon reflection,
take it in good part, and, what is more, acct upon it.

llt could hardly fail to strike every reader of the
1
Premier's speech last Friday, in reply to Sir G.
BOWYER, that he spoke on the French occupation
of Rome, though with perfect friendliness to the
French EMPEROR and Government in language very
full of meaning. It seemed as if he could hardly
have gone so far, without being aware that he
should not be saying what was unpleasant to a
neighbouring Government. His arguments from
the really best policy for France, from the incon-
sistency of the Roman occupation with the pro-
gramme of the French war of liberation, and with
the principle of non-intervention, proclaimed by
France as well as by England, all appeared so co-
gent and earnest, as to point to the supposition that
the EMPEROR was not unwilling that the world
should be told by a venerable personal friend, and
by an allied Government that his position was no
longer politically tenable.
The French press has received the speech in the
same light; The Moniteur is silent on it, and does
not even give the speech of Lord PALMERSTON him-
self, though it furnishes Mr, LAYARD'S. But the
other French paper', and even those of Belgium,
speak of the importance of the debate, and openly
commend the views of our Premier. The Lebats
analyses the speech, and says—" His lordship for-
mally declared against the occupation of Rome,
which he considers as contrary, if not to interna-
tional law, at least to the principle of non-inter-
vention proclaimed by France. The noble speaker
even endeavoured to prove that French policy, by
impeding by such occupation the work of
Italian reg'eteration, is contrary to the well-
understood ,interests of France herself."
But it goes on to ea,. ow that, while the sympathy of
England with Italy is bP apparent, " whatever may
be the opinion passed on
Franee and on the presence or
hi to
17 will judge of the difference
which France '
Italy; the
Italian
Will one a„ knowthe present policy of
and England willh ehravaernir:
and to distinguish between
France and at Rome,
of the services
ndered to
nation, freed and regenerated,
" how to give to each her part,
the
we think it right to declare viato. the active sympathy of
me feeling of England. Still,
that we fully approve
of the general tendency of the noble lord's observa-

tions." Such remarks, however, show that French-
men are conscious that \at the present moment they
are earning rather the than the gratitude of
Italians.

Some of the papers seem half to believe, as was
almost suspected here, that diplomatic communi-
cations on the evacuation of Rome have actually
passed between the two Governments. Thus the
Opinion Nationale thinks that a fresh application
has been made by the English Government to
that of France to withdraw its troops from Rome.
" We have been informed on good authority," it
says, " that a note in that sense has been lately
transmitted from London to Paris. We give this
information for what it may be worth, hoping, if
it is true, that it may have inspired the French
Government with a heroic resolution to with-
draw, amid the applause of Italy and of liberal
France, from the issueless politico .religious posi-
tion in which it has placed itself through
confounding the temporal power and the
spiritual, the complete separation of whidh
it would fain obtain from the Holy See.'
It believes that it will not long be possible to resist
the pressure of public opinion—when the Italians
themselves, all the Liberals of Europe, and every
Catholic capable of reading the signs of the times,
are united in desiring that the occupation should
cease.

We hope the conjectures both of France and of
England will prove correct. The EMPEROR is soon
to be our guest—and it is even said that he is to
be accommodated in Buckingham Palace itself. We
may assure him that no offering he could bring the
English people would be so welcome to them, and
gain him such hearty popularity, as to have com-
pleted, so far as he is concerned, the liberation of
Italy. When he turned back from Villafranca, we
all felt grieved that he should leave his work in
Venetia unfinished; still we could but own that it
was for him to say whether he would spend the
money and blood of France on the siege of the
Quadrilateral. A darker cloud came over the
Italian achievement when Savoy and Nice were de-
manded in payment; but even darker still have
been the doings at Gaeta and Rome. We in Eng-
land have not liked to say all we thought of these
sad affairs. Gaeta, however, is done with. Rome
remains. For that there is no excuse. The occu-
pation has beggared the French Exchequer, and it
fills Naples with blood through the POPE'S bri-
gands. Let the EMPEROR visit us with the friend-
ship's gift of—Rome emancipated, and the Italians
put it possession of their own capital—and we can
promise him a cordial welcome. Perhaps Lord
PALMERSTON and the EMPEROR think BO too.

Are we to have any agitation against the revisions
of the Revised Code P We could almost wish the
teachers and managers should make another trial,
since we should begin to hope that they would
share the fate of the dog in the fable walking over
the bridge with the piece of meat in his mouth. It
may be seen in the alterations which we printed
yesterday, that the managers and teachers have
used the Commons with considerable success. They
have got a handsome share of the public money for
merely keeping the school in a state which,
unless it were done, ought to disentitle
it to grant anything. A report that the school
is in decent order, and the attendance tolerably
numerous, secures at once four shillings—that is,
one-third of a total grant of twelve shillings per
child to the school. The remainder is to be paid if
the child will bear examination in the three ele-
ments; if not 2s. Bd. is to be deducted for failure in
any one. The four shilling grant is, however, to
be paid whether the child learns anything or no-
thing—it has only to attend, and to have a clean
face and hands on the day the inspector comes.
The examination by age is to be exchanged for
more frequent examinations, but the master is to be
allowed to classify the children for examination,
not with regard to what shall require of him tho
greatest amount of efficiency, but so as to bring
most money to the school. It is but a slight check
upon his gaining a maximum of State grant for a
minimum of instruction, that each child will have
to pass a somewhat higher examination each time.
Age is regarded in one case—the one which shall
secure pay without work. Children under six will
not only receive the 4s. attendance grant, they will
also receive 6s. 6d. without any examination at all.
It is pretended that they are too young for any
examiner to judge whether they have been taught at
all. We should rather say that when it is proved
that the children of the poor leave at ten, it is of
the highest importance that the infants should,
without pressure on their minds, or unhealthy
restraint, have been taught, unconsciously of effort,
the elements which every mother or nursery
governess has taught her children by that time. But
why the State should pay half a guinea a head for
taking care of a mother's infant, some half dozen
hours a day we cannot understand. That, is what
bishops and members for Universities have forced
upon the Government through the wisdom of
Parliament.

We do not say that the Re-Revised Code is no I
gain to the public, but we do unhesitatingly affirm
that all the alterations, so far as we can comprehend
their working, are a loss to it—a loss of money
and a loss of instruction for money. It is a gain
1 that a part, two-thirds, of the pay depends on exa-
mination; also, that the centralised system of deal-
ing with so many individuals all over the country
is to come to an end. But the costly and redundant
training-school and pupil-teacher system is still
artificially supported. As real worth is not suffi-
cient to maintain it, therefore the Government
takes it under its protecting wing—a protection
which has created so many costly " vested inte-
rests."

One thing begins to be apparent—what Lord
ELLENBOROUGH has, at least, opened his eyes to
perceive—that the whole scheme is very much of a
failure. It helps those who least want help, and
sends the most needy empty away. It destroys
charity, and with it the gratitude the poor might
feel to benefactors, and substitutes a National Edu-
cation Rate, for which the recipients feel no grati-
tude, but, on the contrary, beard the Government
with an angry and overpowering clamour, if they
are asked to take State money for work
only. It is frightful to :think in how
short a space of time self-respect has
men lost, and school-teachers acquired the temper
of State paupers. A reaction must occur, though
we confess the treatment of the present Govern-
ment's plan by the House of Commons is not of a
kind to prompt succeeding Governments to volun-
teer further reforms in the interest of the public
and of education. The lesson of forty thousand edu-
cational paupers, increasing, too, in numbers every
year, will deter from all future attempts to im-
prove the existing code.

The Governor of Madras has recently taken a
curious crotchet into his head—and a crotchet
we fear it is as cruel and costly as it is certainly
curious. He has with a wonderful effrontery—
for it really amounts to nothing less—suddenly set
bis heart upon transforming into Government
offices for the accommodation of his own " fol-
lowing" or entourage, one of the most salubrious,
in truth we may venture to call it emphatically
the most salubrious among the feW really healthy