The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-01 00:00:00

- -
SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES. —When the first humble beginnings were
made of an educational grant to assist the needy
schools of the country, no one could have foreseen
that from that small seed would grow up a great
centralised administration, exercising a larger influ-
ence, practising a more minute interference, having
to deal with more constant solicitations, and, we may

say, provoking more irritation and distrust, than
almost any other department of the public service.
Perhaps if those who established the Committee of

Council on Education could have known what invi.

dious powers it would have to assume, and how diffi-
cult would be the grafting of a system of Government
support and interference on the voluntary education
of the country, they would have been content to

Leave the matter to private enterprise, or corporate

enterprise, or to the efforts of the benevolent. But
the Committee of Council exists, as it is for good or
evil an institution of the country, and there is nothing
but to make it as efficient for well-doing as possible,

and to restrain it from those various mischiefs to
which " Boards" are so often inclined. A committee

to inquire into its constitution has been moved for
by Sir J. Pakington, assented to by the Government,
and agreed to by the house. The first object of the
motion is to concentrate the authority, or at any rate
the responsibility, of the committee in one person.
At present the names of the committee read rather
like a list of the trustees of the British Museum, or
the governors of some ancient charity, than the
members of a department which has to do serious
work and encounter inevitable fault finding. They
are the Lord President of the Council, the Lord
Privy Seal, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the
First Lord of the Treasury, the Foreign Secretary,
the President of the Poor-law Board, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, and the Vice-President of the
Committee of Council. Sir J.Pakington thinks that
a business which is to be conducted by so many and
' various personages stands a chance of not being per-
formed at all. The answer, which we think suffi-

cient, is that the President of the Council is really
responsible for the proceedings of the Board, and
is, in fact, a Minister of Education for England.
To our mind, the constitution of the Board is a
matter of no very great moment, and it may be that
a more direct organisation would only tempt it to
arrogate to itself powers injurious to the free deve-
lopment of instruction by the efforts of the commu-
nity. The tendency of an official department is
always to impose restrictions and prohibitions, where
it is the true policy to invite co-operation, and this
tendency is developed in the Privy Council in the
rule which refuses aid to any school that is not
taught by a certificated master. In this great
country, full of wealth, with thousands who have
_ _

the means and leisure -Co devote themselves to the
management and support of schools, with an edu-
cated clergy all over the land engaged constantly
in their supervision, is the rule that no school
shall receive a shilling from Government unless the
master, who has the actual care of the children,
comes up to London and passes. an examination
before persons appointed by the Department. By
this rule it may really be said the structure of Eng-
lish society is ignored, the principles of English
activity are contradicted. The voluntary system,
on which education has been hitherto successfully
conducted, depends for its existence on the right of
every man who opens a school to carry it on with
whatever machinery and by whatever persons he
may think proper. The help which those who have
the power will be inclined to give depends on the
liberty they enjoy of regulating the schools after
their own manner, and employing the persons in
whom they have confidence. Now, in the smaller
and poorer parishes of the country the regulation of
the Privy Council must work most detrimentally to
the establishment and maintenance of schools. The
school is almost always dependent on the benevolence
of two or three people, of whom one is generally
the clergyman. The place is too poor for the rest
of its small population to make much addition to
what these persons have contributed. The question,
then, comes whether they are to have a certificated
master. They find that they can obtain a young
man who at the age of 20 or thereabouts went
through a not very ifficult or searching examina-
tion, but that they must pay him a comparatively
large salary, with the prospect of his quitting them
as soon as he hears of something better. For some-
thing better he is of course always looking out.
When they consider the matter thoroughly they
come to the conclusion that they cannot afford him,
and indeed do not want him. They have a master
who • discharges his duties with efficiency, who has
no desire to leave, and shortcomings on his part are
made up by the supervision of the managers of the
school. The clergyman gives a certain time to it,
the children are well taught, and every one feels
that there is no necessity for any change. Yet,
though this school may be all that any inspector can
desire, though it may be clean and well ordered,
though the children may pass an excellent examina-
tion and be plainly docile and well behaved, it can-
not receive one sixpence of grant, because its mas-
ter is not certificated. Yet this is called payment
for results. It ought to be called payment for in-
struments. The results are there, and yet because
the instrument, or rather -Lone of the instruments,
used to produce them has not the Government
mark, aid is refused. Thus the money voted by
Parliament is not paid to the schools which are the
most successful or the most needy, but to a certain
limited class the managers of which have availed
themselves of the services of this favoured order,
the certificated masters. The extracts read last
night in the House showed how large a portion of
the best schools are excluded from Government
assistance because they are taught by uncertificated
masters. Now it must be admitted by any one who
considers the subject that the Government is not
bound, and indeed has no right, to look at anything
except the state of the school and the success of the
teaching. The certificate of the schoolmaster gained
by passing a commonplace examination cannot be a
better guarantee than the character of most of the
managers of schools, or the profession and Univer-
sity degree of the clergyman of the parish. What
presumption, then, is there that the children
are better taught in the school of a certifi-
cated master than in one where the master is
uncertificated, but which has perhaps two or
three able residents who take an abiding interest
in its success and exercise a constant control ? It is
said, however, that if the regulation be abolished
there will be nothing to guide the Government in its
grants but the report of the Inspector, and that it is
impossible to gain a real insight into a school by
merely visiting it. This argument, which ought of
course to lead to nothing less than the entire abo-
lition of Inspectors, is, we think, fallacious. An
Inspector comes and stays three or four hours; he
looks about him and observes, talks with the master
and examines the boys, and if he cannot form a
judgment of the school he must be a very weak per-
son indeed. But those who rely on this argument
forget that it cuts the ground from under themselves,
for the certificate of the schoolmaster is itself granted
only after an inspection of his school. He must
first pass his examination, and then a school con-
ducted by him must be twice reported as satisfac-
tory before he receives the valued badge. So if in-
spection be valueless for testing the merits of a
school, it is valueless for guaranteeing those of a
schoolmaster, and the whole theory falls to the
ground. The conclusion to which we must come is
that great injustice is done to a number of schools
by the perseverance of the Committee in maintain-

ing untenable distincttons. The public has a right
to ask for free trade in teaching as well as ht
other profession. This is the interest of the coun*.
at large, and particuiarly of those rural parishes
which are now bid to unite to the number of five or
six and go shares in a certificated master, but whic?
under a better system would be able to teach their
children in their own way and by the help of their

own educated inhabitants.
HERALD.—The very important subject of the
Public
attention of our army, to which we called Public
attention on several occasions during the recess,
seems at length to have attracted the notice of par'
b ament ; but so far as suggestions offered by private
members go they are by no means adequate
nlve
of
effect the object aimed at. Mr. O'Reilly's pla
prolonging the first engagement from ten to twe
n°
years, and giving increased pay, would, we have
doubt, prove a failure. If the shorter term of the
vice did not induce men to enter the army in ,tilet
numbers anticipated, it is not at all likely ton
adding two years more to it would have certainetter
effect. Attaching particular regiments to
localities might no doubt be attended with eg
vantage, provided they happened to be "."-
tinguished corps ; and the intimate connection
so formed between regiments of the line and of tbe
militia raised in the same districts would likely have
a considerable effect in promoting volunteering fr°,7l
the one to the other, or even in inducing young 5:1:d
to enlist in corps where they would be surroun'v
by their neighbours and friends, whose Pies lens
would render the separation from their fanlilieS
painful. Such regiments as the CorinanAab
Rangers" or " The Black Watch" find their
,ram
always well filled, not only on account of their r:,40
lant reputation and remarkable services, but eettw"
their designations include a whole province in,
land, and the entire Highlands of Scotland ; on; a
would be idle to expect the same success bin
merely local designation for regiments which
not boast of similar renown and do not caru',-ea
records of so many hard-fought fields euiblazlv
on their colours. Where regiments are exclusiv
"
national it is easy to conceive that young flier' to
longing to the same country will prefer themes,
others. There are not, however, more than Pe.
laps a dozen such in our service, and they are Pc
cisely those -which do not require to hold out.bie
ducements to procure a sufficient supply of e41.1,g1.0, or
recruits. But can any one suppose .that the .1-orAi ,
70th, who have not had any opportunities °1 —l6
teS
playing their gallantry, and who, unfortuns„ a
bear no emblems of victory on their banners, wft",j..
succeed better than others in enrolling men men v-to
fordshire or Surrey merely because they haPP,„,,Ot
be named after those counties? The Grovernw,Aer
measure which Lord Hartington announced as,%tea
consideration, will, we presume, be prolnutder
when the army estimates of the year come
discussion, and we trust it may include at leas
lee some
such provisions as we have in our former arti-_,eit
the subject ventured to suggest. It is not a,1:3";
we
sufficient number of men to fill our ranks tina"not
require ; the quality of the recruits should labia
retain
to much, too ; and no measure can prove av
to obtain good charactered men, and to t a
them in the army, which does not hold, 0„11 of
comfortable provision at the terminatie'vith
their service to those who enter iit anee-
limited expectations, and of ',professional auv7iibat
ment to such as enlist from higher motives., „rip-
additional pay will fail to attract the desired aeLoce.
tion of recruits is fully evidenced by past exPe;;tv.
That it may tend to draw more of the q.lO-`,'"'thot
already have may be true ; but we maintaw idle
while high pay will offer inducements to tb;will
and dissolute to enter into a first engageraent,fltvir
not be so certain to ensure a continuance
services in a second, while it must prove se—„f of
detrimental to discipline. If we required Pr% at
the truth of this assertion it is to be found repad pap
hand in this year's estimates. " The uniseT"gools,
of soldiers confined in military prisons, an 65 t°
and barrack cells," which amounted in 1863 to one
£41,000, is set down in this year's estirt one
£6s,ooo—more than 55 per cent increase are
year. Now, as the crimes for which those re',
undergoing punishment may be in almost :evictl3'y b°
stance traced to drunkenness, they may 13,-1 able°
attributed to such a command of money 39, --nliritS•
the soldier to indulge in his taste for arclenl). .
And the evil consequences of furnishing him not
an over and constant supply of ready cash„l,,
terminate with his incarceration for diserueic.eile°
mutinous conduct—his conviction of such 0.1
entails the loss of the good conduct pay, w,b,lbc, les'
a main inducement to him to enlist ; and Lim in'
Bening of his means of indulgence renders 11 pas
attentive and discontented. He deserts if b,e with
a favourable opportunity, and if not he Wait: i,na
impatience the expiration of his engagerneil ,',/1101
carries nothing with him into the society. t°,o the
he returns but his poverty and his hostility to-
service, the harshness and injustice of whose regoo
tions he misses no opportunity of impressing ,„r' it.
those whom he may find at all disposed to elnons
The British soldier, independently of the grattfi ast
supply of a reasonable quantity of beer, has a" -ant,
from 4d. to sd. a day to expend on his aratiscoloti
and this is quite ample for his reasonable wan,.ts'oro
would be quite sufficient to content him if 'Log
but aware that there was at the same time s,'„—liaea
increasing for his future benefit an annual oa
addition to his pay, which he would tellci_con'
quitting the army, " The additional or g°°naonn°
duct pay" at present given to our soldiers s;:cooty-
to over £lBO,OOO a year, or at the rate of tin long
v..,o;llfitf gh
four shillings per man annually. S°Tniitieh of
en°n
service and good behaviour may dral% majority
seventeen pence a day, and yet the
those who remain in the ranks untu
pension retire without haviiig savecllll°llefYbusine°'
to enable them to embark in a small line,°-,nt sing
whose profits would contribute. to the,ue,:pensi(i
port of their families, for which their of er
is absolutely insufficient. If, then, the ter'""
gagement were limited to twenty-One tLe ell"
divided into three terms of seven Year S--3
--
,
ertY 11p
of each of which the soldier would be a ,b 010,;(
tap
withdraw, and if at the same time a stunt- his
increasing according to the duration .scon);•,'
under arms, was invested for his benefit, '''focn
we have no doubt induce many and better 0000,
enlist than now present themselves. BonntYthe Or6hi
should be continued—to be deducted from .0,014,4
instalment of the saving to his credit if Ile .1.0, 19'
fit to retire at the end of the first seven ie'col ea,
not to be deducted should he enter on a sec,rotio?lld
gagement, during which the annual in' dart
would be augmented in amount, and one°l.;eors t,„a
the third ; until at the end of twentya Densof
well conducted soldier should, along.viritu
of a shilling a day, find himself in P°sPi o
£lOO. It is needless to say that the fact la fors'e
vision being made for him, which he sh°,ll:is o'ol
,:
if convicted by court-martial of any ser-L19,•,-od c°"
would prove a powerful inducement to bhic
duct, while the anticipation of a respeetmneilo;
sion if he continued under arms would receinThisli';
to the vicissitudes and hardships incident
'
fession. The abolition of all extra 24 „ tio
believe,
go a very great way in carrrii6oies,e
plan ; and the establishment of flank eethe best
be filled, not by the longest men, but a 9 to
soldiers, who should receive additional P,%jtae,io
French service, would be a greater 3u„" "ert
them than good-conduct badges, for the lead,
be eligible to the campagnies d'ilites after e gl9lO
service, whereas they cannot now obtainroo tioo
conduct badge before three. If, in ad re,
young men of education and ability were,'„ &f lea
years' service in the ranks, permitted tube eiltl,olo
for entrance to the military schools, and e go
on Succeeding to gratuitous education I:tell-4110
qualifying themselves for commissions, 3 Tod' Ad
would be effected in the morale of 10001 tile
should have older and more experieneeNe-a 000°
non-commissioned officers well qua on
°
instant to fill the places of commissioilv-
might fall in action.

astriBn:/1111:9511176° '
ANTRIM.—On the 26th ult., at Glenarrn Castj-' tl3`)
Births.
lane, the Countess of Antrim, of n daugb•tel" 14e:et:
t,,1°..
HAMILTON.—On the 27th ult., at 3, Wilt°ll-er ° iii
Lady Emily Hamilton, of a daugher.
KEKEWICII.—On the 27th ult., at Edgbaston, the 01.01
Trehawke Kekewich, Esq., of a daughter._ de's cli:3e4
SEYMEu.—On_ the 26th ult., at 37, Ave,nu:ltet 'I
Elysees, Paris, the wife of Ernest C'al
Esq., of a son. (-1 111
LusfHtlNheGTlOnNn—e:lTOWemApTlT7e.,—abrriOn ath:ere-213a;tt_hiauslv:•:::alt:13:Viallifiglt-
oof the Holy Trinity Westminster, 'Vernon f the fs• •
„,0 o ,tor 0
WI Ai
lo
WOOD- laStot,tFeEpFhisqlie.n._, Lushington, to Jane, third ~.. Of .
lFarneed eri ood,oof
nB4,thce 2c3ldesuitotn.:sqatuaxe•
ourlabottri3O:-,,:,1‘;
?to Alice,,!:! ung la h John you
soeustth(enit atnedr
oCfollrjlinott:o-0,:e:-
Hutton, Essex.
—On the 27th uplt
Leader, aged 91. • 101'
eattlli:;
LEADER.
RirsgpoLaud,ayr.ell, Iller
rAso..nWAth.. D. Lines, M.11,0•V•S" age' -at' 13e
LINES.—On the 26th ult. at Denbigh ea 320' °ljafe 00'
MIETILLE.—On :the 25th lt at Gower-Or'. : id,
_ diei:
Guards, of
SAfinaiNrd,DEC:sOciN.:—On
Btsh.e 24ault.,
vicar of u., the v• , woo
Wooton Basset, and rector ni ' 13.'
aged 82. S-streetbrif
09,ntshitio $i 14
hssbriotto)
SIyaAnISLAND.—On the 24th ult., at Crayfortl, u
_ illt
It" 2,
noilfil2aisNerdtvihorrtlle eit Euscf..:Beaged
TBoh.mos oilwitio:\isi,rotm,.
London : Printed and Publibhed by W1LI•O foe, '-ty 0 '
of No. 112 Strand, rilllter, at Tus SO °01:coull
rrirtooSsao,underson.,,f irlea:47:::..,
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in
Middlesex.—Wednesday, Biaroh 1, 1861