The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-11 00:00:00

‘:, 7THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVgNING, APRIL 11, 1862.1

side of the far stronger Warrior, and seemed as if a rather prominent British Peer—prominent in I
they would have gone out at the other side, had I ecclesiastical matters, we mean, Lord EBURY, is at
there been one. In short, the recipe for smashing this time bringing forward a bill virtually to re-
an iron-plated ship's side comes to the very simple , peal the Act of Uniformity. We have plenty of
formula—" powder enough." sectarianism, bigotry, and the persecuting spirit left
But then comes the question—Can the gunswhich among us to this hour, but when we look at the
will bear such an explosion as that of fifty pounds cool proposal of the Church of Rome and of an
of gunpowder be carried by ships at all, and Archbishop in France—not a mere ignorant coun-
worked on board of them? Lord PAGET was try priest—to commemorate, as a religious feast,
obliged to reserve a definite answer on one of the most atrocious crimes of the Roman
this point ; still, he thought the 300- Catholic Church, we can but feel thankful that
pounder, for such the gun really was, could England is at least immeasurably in advance of
be worked afloat. If it can, it will be able the country which "stands at the head of European
to silence any fort we have yet built, and General civilisation." No Archbishop here, of any sect,
PEEL'S plan of placing cupolas on forts also, will could be guilty of such a display of savage
have to be the one ultimately adopted. On one re- bigotry. Society would "send him to Coventry."
suit of all these experiments the public should now
insist. It is plain that the old struggle between
the attack and defence will go on developing fresh
means of attack, necessitating, ever, fresh devices
for defence. Our policy therefore, is to adopt
the last discovery only so far as is just suffi-
cient to preserve our naval and defensive superio-
rity. The less we have to become antiquated by
each successive discovery the better, if we but safe
in the interim between one discovery and another.
We must not repeat Sir JOHN PAHINGTON'S great
blunder, of constructing a vast fleet of screw liners
and frigates, after the value of iron plating was
proved, only to have them all to cut down and
plated at a much greater cost than if they had been
built for that purpose.

Lord ELLENBOROUGII'S sensible observations
last night give hope that ultimately truth and
common sense on this ♦exed Education question
will prove stronger than party. If but a few more
of his own political bias be found to act the same
manly and patriotic part, the country will be saved
a wasteful expenditure, and the children of the
poor will gain something substantial for what we do
spend upon them. The commendation of these
proposals by Lord ELLENBOROUGH may well give
the President and the Vice-President of the Com-
mittee of Council on Education, and the Govern-
ment which sanctioned their scheme, both pleasure
and hope. The praise is certainly impartial, and
the hope is reasonable, that if a Tory lord of such
position can speak so decidedly, the mere party lords
who do but follow their party leader will be com-
pelled at last to yield.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH does not blame the Govern-
ment for yielding ; he confesses that they had
no alternative, but he blames without mercy
the coalition which compelled them to yield.
He expressed himself as thoroughly dis-
satisfied with the position of the question,
and believed the country would soon become dis-
satisfied also. The plain fact is, the Tories in both
Houses have on this question openly sacrificed
their duty to the country to the interests of party.
They found in half the parishes of the country a
hest of schoolmasters clamorous for what—to se-
cure the public money for their schools, although
these schools might fail to teach the children to
" read, write, and count." A more shameless cry
we never remember. It was nothing less than
demanding Government pay whether the work were
done or not. We commend to the attention of every
member of the House of Commons, who truckled to
the school-managers and masters, the following
spirited but just remarks of an independent Tory
Lord. " Government had," said Lord ELLEN-
BOROUGH, " a case of the most monstrous abuse
shown in the report of the royal commission—an
excessive expenditure constantly increasing, very
little good obtained, and no hope of more good
being done. They endeavoured to apply a remedy.
They could not reduce the expenditure, but they
desired to make such an alteration that at least
the benefit obtained should be commensurate with
the expenditure. That was a legitimate object
which it was their duty to endeavour to effect,
and it would have been contrary to their duty
if they had not made the attempt, They had
been driven to make concessions—they would
have been beaten on a division if they had not.
That he feared was the consequence of those con-
cessions, as when the question came on again there
would be just the same coalition, and there would
be a constant fight for more concessions. He saw
nothing in prospect but a constantly increasing ex-
penditure without a corresponding benefit to the
public."
We were, however, not prepared to find his lord-
ship following the views of the minority of the
Commissioners—Mr. GOLDWIN SMITH and Mr.
MIALL, and of Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. BAINES, and we
might almost include Mr. ADDERLEY—in the House
of Commons. None, however, of the Educational
Voluntaries could put their case much more tersely
than did Lord ELLENBOROUGH last night. " The
only interest," he remarked, " that he took in the
matter was on the ground of public economy. He
was perfectly satisfied that if Parliament were to
refuse all grants for education, such an impulse
having been given to it, the education of the people
would still go on with great advantage, because the
greatest portion of it would be owing to the charity
of individuals, and that would be received with
gratitude. But when the public purse came in at
one door, charity and gratitude generally went out
at the other, and economy went with them. He
wished success to the Government in their efforts
to arrest the progress of this enormous charge,
which the most eloquent advocates of the system
rather gloried in, and which, if it were allowed,
would absord a still larger portion of the revenue,"
Lord LYTEDEN'S and Lord GRANVILLE'S observa-
tions were also excellent, but we might expect them
to be of such a tenor from them. Lord GRANVILLE
did not conceal his opinion that the concessions
"were not improvements in the Government plan,"
that they " diminished the economy of the
plan, and diminished also the efficiency

The French EMPEROR has a peculiar mode of
dealing with his quondam friends and his present
enemies, the Roman Catholic clergy. By their help
and that of the army he mounted the throne ; for
a time he was as subservient to them as political
gratitude required, and received their abundant
adulation in return. But the EMPEROR is not a
bigot. It is quite understood that he is, personally,
altogether favourable to religious liberty. If he
has permitted local authorities to act as the slaves
of the priesthood, reasons of political convenience
have been at the bottom, and when an appeal from
the persecuted has been able to reach him he has
always, we believe, shown himself favourable to
them. These tendencies, but of course far more,
his not intervening to prevent the legations from
shaking off the yoke of Popes and Cardinals, have
made the higher clergy, especially, of France, his
bitter enemies. They have not only violated all
decorum by calling him nicknames in their public
documents, but are constantly on the look out to
do something which they know will be offensive
to him. He, on his part, seems to watch their eccle-
siastical antics with great composure. Very cleverly
he gives them rope enough to get themselves into
some outrageously absurd position, and then, com-
posedly, tightens the rope, and pulls them up sud-
denly ; while lay Frenchmen, who know little vene-
ration for ecclesiastics, heartily enjoy the fun.

The announcement we took from the Moniteur
last night was of a similar character to that which
checkmated the Bishop of ORLEANS, who honoured
him with the name of PONTIUS PILATE ; and to
another which recently bid Bishops stay at home
and not quit their dioceses without his leave, when
they were all eager to go to Rome, nominally to
aid in the manufacture of Japanese saints, really to
conspire against the liberties of the poor Romans,
and against the French and English Governments.
The Imperial Interdict which appeared in the
Moniteur yesterday is another illustration of priestly
madness, and imperial cleverness in putting the
bishops in the wrong and the EMPEROR in the right.
One only wonders that such clever men as Romish
clerics are commonly reputed to be, could so gravely
commit themselves as to give the lay roller such an
excellent opportunity of showing himself the better
Christian.

In France, as in England no educated laymen
are to be found who do not rather blush for the
persecutions of which the professors of their
faith have been guilty in past ages, than glory in
them. And it is to this universal sentiment the
EMPEROR was able to appeal. No Englishmen at
the present day defend the proceedings of Barthole-
mew's day, two hundred years ago—yet these were
defensible indeed in comparison with those of the
French Bartholemew's day. The returned STUART
and his Royalists did but expel non-conforming clergy
from their livings; in France two St. Bartholomew's
days were consecrated to Popery, in the blood of
thousands of murdered Protestants. One, the great
occasion, about three centuries ago, when the streets
of Paris were deluged with the blood of the unsus-
pecting victims ; another, however, preceded that
by about ten years, at Toulouse, in which only
about 4,000 were murdered in cool blood. They
had been wantonly attacked; had gathered together
for their defence, had capitulated on condition of lay-
ing down their arms and leaving the city. But on
their leaving, the Catholic authorities declared that
" no faith need be kept with heretics," and they
were all butchered. Rome applauded the deed—
and in 1'762 commemorated the butchery by ser-
vi4es and processions, -which it called " The feast
of 'deliverance I " and this celebration was again
made the occasion of renewed and bloody per-
secutions.

of the stimulus," which it would have

applied to elementary education. To-night we are
to know the extent of the concessions, as Lord
GRAN VILLE is to lay the altered—not amended—
Code on the table. It is, however, satisfactory to
find that Bishops and party leaders are not to have
it all their own way, even in the House of Lords

The Archbishop of TOULOUSE-it would seem
incredible were it not done in a public document—
recites with commendation the details of this
" procession to thank GOD for 4,000 murders," as
VOLTAIRE termed it, and would stir up the Roman
Catholics of Toulouse to celebrate a third time the
horrid feast of blood. We do not wonder that the
press of Paris is indignant at this attempt to repre-
sent Popery as retaining the thirst for Protestant
blood of bygone centuries, by exulting in its foulest
deeds of perjury and murder—deeds which enlight-
ened Catholics would gladly bury in oblivion. The
EMPEROR, however, as usual, adroitly seizes his
opportunity to put down an Archbishop, with the
certain approval of the civilised world, as well as of
the education of France—and the Bishop is posted
all over France and Europe by the following quiet
announcement :

but that one on their own side has the independence
and the courage to rise and commend a Ministry to
which he is politically opposed, when he saw it
serving honestly the public interests in regard to
economy of public money, combined with efficiency
of administration.

COURT CIRCULAR.

OSBORNE, APRIL 10.

The Queen, with Princess Alice and Prince Leopold,
drove out yesterday. Lieut.-Colonel Du Plat attended on
horseback.

Sir Chas. Wood arrived yesterday and had an audience
of her Majesty.
Sir Charles Eastlake also arrived from London.

" The celebration of a jubilee has been prescribed
by the Archbishop of TOULOUSE in commemoration
of a grievous and bloody episode of our ancient
religious discords. The present legislation and the
concordat in reference to the performance of
Catholic worship in the public streets, all impose
on the Government the duty of prohibiting a cere-
mony which might excite division and hatred, and
disturb public peace."

The Marchioness of Downshire gave her third
dancing party last evening, at the family mansion in Bel-
grave-square,

The Countess Apponyi and the Countess Marie
Paumgarten left the Austrian Embassy, yesterday, for
Paris.

The Duke and Duchess of Montrose and Lady
Violet Graham will leave town on Monday, on a visit to
Lady Emily Foley, at Stoke Edith Park, Herefordshire.
The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough left St.
James's-square, yesterday, for Paris, with the intention of
passing the holiday in the French capital.
The Earl and Countess of Erne entertained at
dinner last evening, at their residence in Eaton-square, the
Marchioness of Ormonde, Lord and Lady Cremorne and
the lion. Vesey Dawson, Mr. and Lady Louisa Tenison,
Sir Walter and Lady Caroline Ctirling, Mr. Townshend,
Mrs. Staples, &c.
Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston will leave
Cambridge House early next week for Broadlands, for the
holidays.

That the EMPEROR is right in preventing public
ceremonials which disturb the peace, we in this
country know by rather painful experience. We
know what has been the result of Orange proces-
sions in Ireland, and we do not permit either them,
or the counter manifestations. It must, however,be
acknowledged that there is some difference between
the ireitating commemoration of a fair victory, and
the . celebration of a faithless and wholesale
murder. Neither of the great sects here would we
imagine think of commemorating their worst per-
secutions of the ether as triumphs. Indeed, at the
present moment Nonconformists are commemorat-
ing with honour, the ejection of the two thousand,
on the English Bartholemew's-day, by the Act of
Uniformity, two hundred years ago ; but so far
from Churchmen glorying in the deed, they send us
pamphlets describing its harshness and cruelty, and

Viscount and Viscountess Lismore have arrived
at their residence in Grosvenor-street from Brighton.
OBSCENE PHOTOGRAPHS, &C., IN BOOK PACKETS.
—On the Ist of May next, and thenceforward, all photo-
graphs. drawings, prints, or other things, which
obviously and unquestionably of an obscene character, will
be excluded from the privileges of the book post, and must
not be sent in open covers to any place in the United King-
dom, or to the colonies, or to any foreign part. It will be
the duty of postmasters to send forward is envelopes, as
unpaid letters, any packets which may seem to them clearly,
to fall within the meaning of this prohibition. may be

LATEST NEWS.

BANK OF FRANCE.
PARIS, FRIDAY (This Day).

The Moniteur of to-day publishes the usual
monthly return of the Bank of France, which
shows the following results as compared with the
March account :

INCREASE.

Cash in hand .
Bank notes...

800,000
1,250,000
DECREASE.

Bills discounted not yet due .. .. 74,000,000
Treasury balance
Current accounts
Advances

CONSTANTINOPLE, APRIL 10.

In consequence of the incessant hostilities carried
on by the Montenegrins the Porte has informed the
Great Powers that it has sent orders to Omar
Pasha is address an ultimatum to the Prince of
Montenegro.
In this ultimatum the Turkish Government de-
mands the immediate release of prisoners, and a
formal engagement on the part of the Prince hence-
forth to prevent invasions of the Turkish territory.
The statement that the Turkish troops had entered
Montenegro is incorrect.

Tne report of an approaching modification of the
Ministry is entirely unfounded.

DOUAI, APRIL 10.

In the sitting of the Court at this town to-day,
to consider the appeal of M. Mires, the defendant
interrupted the Procureur-General, and declared
himself a victim of persecution.
In consequence of this violence M. Mires was ex-
pelled the court.

ATHENS, APRIL 5.
The captured soldiers have attempted to break
out of prison.

Orsini bombs have been discovered in the city.
Families are flying to the Piraeus in order to
take refuge on shipboard in case of need,
English and French ships of war have left for
Nauplia to afford an asylum to fugitives.
Heavy firing continues against the Royal camp.
Fresh disturbances have broken out in Syra, for
which island the steamer Amalia has left with

troops.
A band of Albanian Turks have crossed the fron-
tier at Lamia, and have penetrated to Oropo.
The Government has despatched troops thither,
and has forwarded notes to the Turkish Govern-
ment and the three protecting Powers.