The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-18 00:00:00

MR. DISRAELI ON EDUCATION.

On Thursday afternoon the national schools which
have been in course of erection for some time past
on Naphili-common, were opened by the Venerable
Archdeacon Bickersteth. The proceedings com-
menced by a sermon in the parish church of Hug-
henden, after which the company proceeded to the
school, where the archdeacon read the usual service
and formally pronounced the school to be opened.
The Right Hon. B. DISRAELI, M.P., then ad-
dressed the meeting. He said—Young friends, and
all of this parish under this roof, I must congratu-
late you on the completion and opening of a build-
ing for one of the most important objects that you
could possibly have in view. You have at last the
means of education secured to you, and the oppor-
tunity of meeting in a permanent and certain dwel-
ling. We have not, in this parish, before this, been
without the means of education, but those means
have depended on sources upon which we could not
always rely, and we necessarily met under roofs that
we could not command ; but you have this day
completed a building which belong to the parish,
and which is to-day opened for one of the
highest and holiest purposes that can influence
man. I need not impress upon you the import-
tance of education. To " train up a child in
the way he should go" is a perfect education—to
teach him those truths of religion and principles of
moral conduct which shall govern him throughout
this life, the importance of which has already been
impressed on you by the touching and impressive
sermon which our archdeacon has delivered in the
parish church. Education is important not only
to you now, but in reference to your conduct and
future condition in the world. Twenty-years ago,
if I had been addressing an audience like the pre-
sent, I might have endeavoured to persuade you
of the advantage of education, but that mode of
considering the subject is now entirely past; we
have got further than that—it is not merely the
advantage of education that I have to impress upon
you, bat the necessity for it. You have no longer a
choice if you wish to meet fair fortune in this
world. There is no longer a choice between
ignorance and knowledge. Such is the progress
of improvement in all the conduct of man in the
present day, that the time is rapidly ap-
proaching when what was formerly the rudest
labour of this parish will be conducted
only by men of intelligence, and this con-
sideration should influence you all. The population
of our parish is very peculiar ; the means of em-
ployment are derived from two sources—from the
cultivation of the soil and from manufacture ; and
it is a combination not usual in the parishes of our
country. It bas hitherto been always considered
that if any person gave himself up to manufacture
a degree of intelligence was required superior to
that of a lad who followed the plough. That time
has passed, and but a short time will elapse before
the intelligence required by the lads who follow the
plough will be greater, if possible, than that at pre-
sent required of the manufacturer, who now obtains
a much higher rate of wages than the ploughman.
You will not therefore have the opportunity of
choosing, as you did years ago in this parish, be-
tween the class of labour you will have to follow. ,
Boys used to say, " I am no scholar, 1 will thereto*
follow the plough." But that time has passed, and
in another year perhaps no person will be able to
follow the plough unless he has a large amount of
intelligence. You see, therefore, that it is abso-
lutely necessary that the population of every parish
and even of a scattered district like that in which
we live, should most seriously consider the import-
ance of being educated, and the necessity of the
mean by which that education should be obtained.
Now, to read, write, and cipher will be the three
things absolutely necessary for the next generation,
whatever may be their occupation, and therefore I
press on you the great importance of taking ad-
vantage of the school and of the opportunities now
within your reach. I know that it is the custom
for boys to leave school at an early age in order to
obtain wages for their labour, and that on this
account it is difficult for them to remain long enough
to obtain that degree of education which is neces-
sary to qualify them for success in life, and give
them that sufficient amount of intelligence which is
necessary for the competent performance of their
duties hereafter. I know that it is thought most
unreasonable to suppose that a lad who can sup-
port himself by his earnings should make what
seems at first a very great sacrifice, and remain at
school when he might earn wages; but he would
in the end receive much larger wages had he taken
advantage of the means. At the same time I know
that the sacrifice is a real and a great one to remain
at school when you can obtain a reward for your
labour; but I hope we may by other means assist
those who are in this painful situation. I trust
we shall be able to establish night schools, open at
least in the summer months, when an opportunity
will be given to lads who have not pursued their
studies, and also to a generation before them, who
never had these advantages, but who may thus
keep abreast with the other generations. Instances
are always much more valuable than general ad-
vice and observations ; and I cannot help but call-
ing to your notice the case of two boys who have
been educated at the parish school of Hughenden,
without the advantages which we shall experience
in the present establishment, and with as great dis-
advantages from our uncertain income and dwel-
ling-place as probably any parish school ever yet
experienced. I remember within the last 12 or 15
years two cases of boys who were educated, and
who had no other education but such as was afforded
by our poor parish school at Hughenden. The first
was a boy who, I believe, has brut hers now in our
school of very fair intelligence, great industry, and
great integrity of conduct—as necessary as intelli-
gence and industry ; he availed himself of the ad-
vantages afforded by our little school, when they
met in a hired room on the green ; he learned to
read, write, and cipher; he progressed in arithmetic
so well that he got a place as clerk, in which he
deported himself with great correctness, and his
character was mentioned in that way which was
most satisfactory to all who knew him. After he
had been two or three years employed, and had
risen in society by his industry and intelligence)
he lost his clerkship, but from no fault of his own ;
I was acquainted with him and his merits, and in-
troduced him into the Civil Service, and that boy,
now a young man, occupies a very distinguished
post her Majesty's service. He is an officer of
civil rank, an officer highly esteemed, and enjoying
a considerable income, likely to rise even'to an emi-
nent position, and the only education he ever re-
ceived was obtained from our school on the village-
green. That is a very encouraging case, and there
is not the least reason why others should not be
equally fortunate. The second was the son of a
farmer, but his education was the same as the son
of a labouring MAIL ant most in-
dustrious, He was intellig
:
and equally distinguished for most
moral
g .
conduct and
interity
moment the hea That young man is at this
d of a
large mercantile establish-
ment, and likely to rise to high civil dignity. Both
those men are now veryinyouna, and both of them
I have frequently seen
Obtained smock
on the green. The frocks when boys
y
no other education
than that afforded here, but
now bath of them are
fully competent to conduct affairs of the
we
importance.
greatest
moment and with men of
the
I should be extremely sorry if e should in this
school be cut out by the pupils of our touchhumbler
school in days gone by.
I hope to find such an at-
tendanco here, devotion of purpose and
mulation
and exertion among the scholars, that they will
rival, and successfully, those two instances I have
mentioned. You have great advantages here. I
greatly obliged to the venerable arch-
feel myself
deacon for coming to our humble building and
giving importance to that undertaking. You have
the advantage of a parish pi Test who is regarded
all, even those who may not belong
anti respected by
to his communion, and their children may enter
this school. Always see him with a welcome look.
He is one who enters into every cottage, not from
a feeling of intrusion, hut from a friendship which
I believe is universally felt. I hope that this un-
dertaking will conduce, not only to the intelligence,
but to the happiness and future welfare of the in-
habitants of this parish.
The ARCHDEACON then said—l hardly like to
leave the position which I have enjoyed to-day ,

without asking you to give the expression of your
best thanks to the lord of the manor, not only for
the very great aid he has rendered to the erection
of this school, but for the very useful remarks and
observations which he has made on behalf of this
institution in his address. I rejoice that we meet
on an occasion like this, and that we meet on so
bright a day, and I hope that that sun which now
shines so brightly on our work is an emblem that
we have the smile of our God in this undertaking.

About 5 o'clock the company dispersed, the chil-
dren remaining to partake of tea in the schoolroom

SHIPWRECK ON THE KINTYRE COAST,

AND LOST OF FOUR LIVES•

driven ashore at was totally
,
We regret to learn that the ship Geneva, of Lon-
don, between 600 and 800 tons burden
lost on Monday evening, by being
the Mull of Kintyre, to the south of Carskey Bay,
and four of her crew perished in presence of several
who could render no assistance,
ipne
consequencepeople o n thesh shore,
of r
the stormy state of the weather.
The Geneva sailed from Quebec to Antwerp, timber
laden, and on the 24th September she was aban-
doned, in a sinking state, in lat. 46 N., long 34 W.
Her crew were subsequently picked up by the Prus-
sian brig Louisa, from New York, and landed at
Queenstown on the 4th of October. Some time after
the ship had been abandoned she was discovered by
the crew of the St. Michael, of Glasgow, Capt.
Boyd, which sailed from London for Montreal on the
13th September last, about the same latitude, viz.,
near the Banks of Newfoundland. The Geneva was
boarded, when it was discovered that she had been
abandoned, and her papers taken away, the only
living creature on board being a poor cat which had
been left behind to perish in the sinking vessel.
Wm. Fordyce, belonging to Shetland, mate of the
St. Michael, and four of the crew, volunteered to
take charge of the waterlogged ship, and endeavour
to take her into Glasgow, believing, as they did,
that there was a possibility of so doing. They were
accordingly permitted to take charge of the ship.
The undertaking, which was of the most daring cha-
racter, was pretty successful till Monday, when the
vessel approached the Kintyre coast. The weather
became most tempestuous, and, notwithstanding the
mate and crew used every effort to preserve the ship,
by keeping her off the shore, they were unable to do
so, and she struck about 6 o'clock near the place we
have named, and so rough was the sea, that by 11
o'clock at night she had gone to pieces, about 300
yards from the shore. From the time the vessel
struck till she went to pieces the waves continued
to dash over her, and when the fatal moment arrived
—when she broke up in hundreds of pieces—the
scene was one of the most heartrending description.
On the shore were standing men with brave hearts,
hearing the cries for help of their drowning fellow-
beings, as they drifted out to sea on pieces of wreck,
but they were helpless—they could render no as-
sistance, and four of the brave seamen perished in
the waves—the mate (who had acted as temporary
master of the derelict) alone escaping with his life.
And his escape was a most miraculous one. When
the ship broke up he leapt upon a piece of the
wreck, and was tossed to and fro from eleven o'clock
at night till nearly five in the morning, when his
tiny raft was floated near shore, and he expected
every moment to be dashed to pieces against the
rocks. His case was a desperate one, and, after
watching for some time, he made a most deter-
rained leap, and, though he fell short he was
assisted by those who had gathered on the rocks,
and '*Oho ultimately saved. When the perilous
position of the Geneva was first discovered infor-
mation was sent to Campbletown, and the lifeboat,
which was stationed there last year, was, without
delay, conveyed, with a first rate crew, under
Mr. Watson (Lloyd's agent), to the scene of the
disaster. The boat was launched with great diffi-
culty, and pulled towards the wreck; but, un-
fortunately, she was too late—the poor fellows,
who had clung to parts of the wreck or cargo,
having all disappeared. The Geneva, as we have
already said, broke up quickly, and all vestige of her
(with the exception of her floating cargo and wreck)
soon disappeared. The logs of timber, of which her
cargo was composed, will be drifting about for some
time, and masters of steamers and other vessels
would do well do keep a sharp look-out for
such floating wreck. In connection with this dis-
astrous event the following incident is worth re-
cording. As we have already said, the only
living creature found on board the derelict was
a cat. The poor animal, with the instinct natural
to its species, was alive to danger the moment the
Geneva struck ; and when the mate made the leap
upon the piece of wreck, the cat almost simultane-
ously leapt upon his neck, and clung there during
the whole time he was tossed about. Every move-
ment he made was watched by the poor animal ;
and when he made the leap by which he was to live
or die the poor grimalkin made a bound at the same
moment, and reached the rocks in safety, amongst
which it concealed itself. The Kintyre coast, as is
well known, is a most dangerous one, and has fre-
quently been the scene of many disasters similar to
the above ; but although this is the case, we regret
that the communication between that coast and
Glasgow is not so expeditious as it should be. For
instance, although the Geneva was wrecked on
Monday evening, no definite information regarding
the disaster was received in Glasgow till Wednes-
day at midday. This want is one which could be
remedied, and it is worthy the consideration of ship-
owners and others interested whether a telegraphic
communication could not be established for the pur-
pose desired.

EXTRAORDINARY ATTEMPTED INFAN-

TICIDE AT BATH.

An extraordinary case involvinc, an attempt at
infanticide, but which was fortunately detected and
prevented, came before the Bath magistrates on
Wednesday rcorning. Sarah Caseley, a young
woman of respectable demeanour, was placed at the
bar charged with attempting to murder a new-born
infant. The mother of the infant, named Caroline
Nicholls, is in custody, but not in a fit state to be
brought up. It appears that shortly after ten
o'clock on Tuesday night three young women,
named Hucklebridge, White, and another, were
passing along the gravel walk, near the Victoria
Park, when their attention was called to two females
—who proved after to be Caseley and Nicholls—
near the bottom of the path; from their cries the
three went towards them, and found Nicholls groan-
ing, and in a condition that indicated that she was
about to be confined of a child. In a few minutes
it was evident that the woman had been delivered,
for Caseley was seen to pick up an infant from the
ground, and to throw it over the park rails amongst
the shrubbery. The crieseof the child tended to con-
firm the belief that the prisoners were attempting to
get rid of it. Directly on this, Caseley was heard to
say to the other, "Now then," and both took to their
heels and ran off. White and one of her companions
pursued them. Nicholls, extraordinary to say,
escaped. Caseley, however, having a larger bundle
of wearing apparel, which hampered her progress,
was overtaken at the corner of Gay-street, and
secured_ The women charged her with having thrown
a babyover the rails, and desired her to go back and
take it out. She went back with them, though un-
willingly to the gravel walk, and then denied
throwing the child over; but Hucklebridge had in
the meantime scrambled over into the park, and
there found the child covered with some clothes,
but which had not been fastened round it. When
asked if she did not hear the baby cry,
Caseley did not reply, and threw down her
bundle, saying she would not carry it any fur-
ther. She was detained till the screams of
the women attracted a policeman to the spot,
and into his custody she was given. Hucklebridge
wrapped the infant in her shawl, and accompanied
the offieer and his charge to th
J. Lawrence, surgeon, was atb police-station. Mr.
, was once sent for, and on
attending performed
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