The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-25 00:00:00

' bravery of the veteran have not Veen denied that
he is wanting in discretion ! Discretion, for-
sooth ! Ho may not have discretion to
flatter a Minister, or to seek promotion or
employment by indirect means. But he has
discretion to maintain the honour of the British
flag, and to sweep all opposing vessels from the
seas and oceans where it is proudly displayed.
He has discretion to capture, sink, burn, or
destroy the enemy's fleets, and to batter down
her arsenals. He may not be skilled in the art
of special pleading--he may not be a practised
diplomatist, nor qualified to make fine-drawn
distinctions, nor to spin out protracted ne-
gotiations ; but he possesses the " discretion"
we require the discretion which will enable
him to apply to the best advantage the power-
, fill force placed under his control to confer
the greatest benefits on the friends and allies of
Great Britain, and to inflict the largest amount
of damage on her foes, and finally to dictate the
terms of a not inglorious peace under the shadow
of the flag that has never yet been disgraced by
Englishmen. This is what the country wants ;
and heartily do we rejoice that so satisfactory a
guarantee has been afforded by the Government
for the vigorous and energetic conduct of the
war as that supplied by the judicious appoint-
ment of Vice-Admiral Sir CHARLES NAPIHR io the
Chief Command of the Baltic Fleet. It is evi-
dence that inaction will not be the rule in that
quarter of the globe—that the combined fleet will
be occupied in something beyond merely blockad-
ing or watching the motions of the enemy!

We by no means grudge the time devoted to
the education question on Tuesday night. The
debate was carried on in the fairest spirit, yet
with considerable earnestness ; and, besides the
instruction which all but mere partizans gain from
the discussion, great good is done by keeping the
most important of our domestic duties fully before
the public. Almost every speaker threw some
light on the general question ; and while the
house (properly, we think) decided that a local
Act, to lay rates to the amount of 40,0001. at
least, could not be proceeded with when so decid-
edly opposed by the local corporation, yet the
reasons for refusal were many of them of national
importance.
The present system aids, from the national ex-
chequer, schools of all denominations, leaves their
religious instruction and peculiarities untouched,
and, by inspection and scholarships, endeavours to
improve the quality of the education. The Man-
chester Bill proposed not merely to aid, but to
pay the entire expenses of the schools by a local
rate ; on the one condition that no child who
wished to enjoy the secular instruction should
be required to receive the religious instruc-
tion also ; that the latter -should be given,
probably, in extra hours. The schools are, of
course, to be free schools. The National School
Association at Manchester advocates also free
schools, supported by local and locally adminis-
tered rates, but requires. that the education shall
be purely secular, leaving the religious instruction
to Sabbath schools, ministers, and parents. It
offers, we believe, to adopt the existing schools so
far as wished. Both the Manchester schemes aim
to supersede voluntary support by local rates,
which, if the large majority of the ratepayers
approve the system, is little more than an exten-
sion of the voluntary system. The chief difference
between them seems to be that the promoters of
the rejected Bill retain the denominationalism of
the school. It is contended that this lays the
Bill open to the same objection as that entertained
against church rates. It must be owned, however,
that a local rate for all places of worship in the
district—for this is the real parallel—would be
a totally different thing from a church rate for one
denomination.
Two of the most important points made good
in the debate were the seeming hopelessness of
gaining the class most needing education, the dan-
gerous class in all its grades, by gratuitous edu-
cation, or by anything short of compulsion ; and
the next to impossibility of finding teachers
adapted to this class by any means at the com-
mand of Governments. Our readers will remember
how these difficulties have hitherto perplexed us,
and they do so still. Those amongst the poor who
prefer their beer and gin to their children's
education, those who are too vicious and sen-
sual to wish even for advantages for their
children which are above their own tastes, and
which would unfit their offspring to follow
their parents' degraded mode of life, those
also who partly support themselves by the earn-
ings of their children—none of these would send
their children to school, merely because the in-
struction was secular, or cost them nothing. All
of this class must be sought out by persons whose
heart is in the work ; and it is the concurrent tes-
timony of such men as Lord SHArrEseußy, Mr,
M. D. HILL of Birmingham, the Earl of HAR.

ROWBY, JOSEPH STUEGE, indeed of all who have
taken much interest in Ragged and Reformatory
Schools, that Government aid could never pur-
' chase the self-denying, kindly, hearty zeal, by
' which alone these efforts have hitherto been car-
ried on. "It is not enough," observed the Earl
of HARROWBY, "to appoint well-paid officers, or
to have a number of persons scrambling for Go-
vernment appointments, and too happy to re-
ceive Government salaries. We must, on
the contrary, look for assistance to those who
have already distinguished themselves by per-
sonal sacrifices and great exertion in the work."
The sum of the matter, then, appears to be this ;
—the better part of the poor are already educat-
ing themselves at the cost, in school pence, of
nearly 500,000/..a-year ; the worse part are not
deterred from education by the cost, but by habits
which compulsion alone, or the best quality of
missionary zeal, could overcome; the former would
not be endured in a free country, the latter no
rates or Government grants can purchase. This
is the great, the real difficulty, and it is better
that it should lie clearly before us all.
We may add, that we should much like the
friends of Secular Free School Education to set up
a few model schools on their own principles by
subscription. They are sufficiently numerous and
wealthy; and till they do so, they are destitute of
all argument, or nearly so, from English experi-
ence, and the trial might teach us all something.

The Duke of Devonshire has been paying several
flying visits to his grace's marine villa, Kemp Town,
which is in progress of enlargement by the addition of
Colonel Peel's mansion.
The Marchioness Dowager of Downshire left Gros-
venor-street yesterday, on a visit to Mr. George and
Lady Charlotte Chetwynd, at Grendon Hall, near
Strafford.
The Earl of Burlington has arrived at Belgrave-
square, from Holkar Hall, near Windermere.

The Earl of Powis left Berkeley-square yesterday
for Walcob Hall, near Ludlow, accompanied by the
Hon. Colonel Percy Herbert, M.P.

Lord John Russell will entertain a large party of
ministerial members at dinner this evening, at Chesham-
place.

THE FLAG-SHIP FOR (117EZNBTOWN.—As we have
already stated, the Conway, 26, at Devonport, is to be
the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Sir W. F. Carrol, K.C.8.,
the commander-in-chief at Queenstown, relieving the
Ajax, 60, screw, Captain Warden, and adding that ship
to the Baltic fleet.

MADAME TIISSAUD'S ExHißiTioN.-=--The group repre-
senting the most celebrated characters during the late
war appear to attract the chief attention of the visitors,
in consequence, no doubt, of the warlike aspect of the
European Powers and the probable protracted struggle
likely to ensue. This group consists of the Emperor
Napoleon the Ist, the Emperor's of Russia and Austria,
Prince Blucher, Murat, Ney, and others, all of whom
have been taken from authentic sources and are ad-
mirably executed, and form a subject of the highest
interest.

ST. PETERSIIIIRG.—Advices from St. Petersburg to
the 16th inst. mention that, in consequence of
breaking ,Dff of diplomatic relatiou& the English resi-
dents had; waited upon the Brh Ambassador by
Whom the y were informed that Count Nesselrode 'had
repeated the assurance formerly given, that even in case
Of war be tween the two countries their persons and pro-
toy Nvo aid be respected. Some business continued
the o be trazinacted in produce, the buyers stipulating for
pt ion. of receiving the goods or paying a forfeit.
In cone
nseq uence of the decline in the rate of exchange,
s 1
country la, : arelhB of gold had been despatched to this