The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-24 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-MUSE, Chal:lca llf al (by, N% hal-finger
of 4, Birchin-larte, in the city of Lonille, and of Hagan s•
wharf, in the borough of Southwark, who was stated to
have been concerned with Joseph Windlo Cole in un-
lawfully, knowingly, and designedly by a false pretence,
obtaining from Mr. Seton Laing and another an order
for the payment and of the value of 10,0001,, with in-
tent to cheat and defraud, was brought before Alderman
Wire in the custody of Thain, the detective officer, for
examination.
The prisoner was apprehended by Thain and Webb
at a house at Brentwood, in whisk he had been living
for a considerable time.
Cole, it will be remembered, was convicted a few ses-
sions ago.
Mr. Humphreys, jun., of the firm of Humphreys and
Co., attended for the prosecution, Mr. Murray attended
for tke assignees of Cole, and Mr. Digby appeared for
the prisoner.
Thain said—l produce a warrant against the prisoner
which I received from Alderman Sidney when Lord
Mayor. I apprehended the prisoner at Brentwood yes-
terday afternoon, and I know him to be the person re-
ferred to in the warrant.
Mr.. Seton Laing; of 39, Mincing-laae, said—We; are
colonial brokers. The defendant is, to my knowledge,
the person mentioned in the warrant. He has been in-
dicted for the fraud stated in that warrant, and six true
bills have been found against hire, upon which he has
not been tried, and if time be given certificates of those
indictments can be produced.
The prisoner was then remanded.

A matrimonial alliance, we understand, is on the
Lapis, and will shortly take place, between Mr. Wemyss,
of Wemyss Castle, and Miss Kennedy Erskine, daughter
of Lady Augusta Gordon Hallyburton, and grand-
daugl;ter of his late Majesty King William IV.
The Tamar, which leaves Southampton this day
with- the 66th Regiment, will take out a mail to the
Black Sea. •
•A
SUPPLEMENT GRATIS WITH THE DISPATCH EVERY
WEEK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.--The unexampled inte-
rest which attaches to every incident connected with the
operations of the Allied Armies in the East, has deter-
mined the proprietors of the Weekly Dispatch, to devote
a greater space to the intelligence from the Seat of War
than the ordinall limits of this the Largest Newspaper
Could possibly afford, and with the view of giving the
amplest details, have resolved upon the issue of a Series
of Supplements which will include every particular con-
nected with the Siege and decision of the contest at
Sebastopol, and will be continued whenever demanded
by the progress of the campaign. By the publicatica of
these Supplements, the portion of the paper usually
devoted to incidents of domestic and political importance
will be reserved intact, and the engrossing subject of war
will receive the fullest aed most varied illustration. A
Supplement will be published on Sunday next, and on
each succeeding week until further notice.—Orders may
be given to all Newsvenders in town and country, and
at the Dispatch Office, 139, Fleet-street.
THE WRECK OF THE FORERUNNER —OFFICIAL IN-
VESTIGATION.—Yesterday at noon the inquiry at the
Board of trade into the loss of the African mail steamer
Forerunner off the coast of Madeira on the 25th alt.
vas resumed before Rear Admiral Beechey and Capt
Walker, 11.C.5., the Naval Commissioners of the Board
of Trade, and M. Edward Yardley, the Thames police
magistrate. Captain Johnstone, the commander of the
Forerunner, was called at a late hour, and examined at
I considerable length, The inquiry Wii44 Agai4 adjourned.

[PRIacE SD.

LORD ST.A; Lry AND SLR ROBERT REEL

AT P 11E8T-61\7:

PRESTON, Nov.
.23.
Last night a literary soiree was, held at the institu-
tion for the Diffusion.of:Kno wieelge in this. town ; the
attendance including the Hon. Lard Stanley, M.P., -Sir
Robert Peel, Bart.,. M.P., M. R. Ford, of
-Read Hal;
High Sheriff of Lancashire, Mr. J. W. Patten, and Mr.
James Heywood, members of the northern division of
the county, and other influential gentlemen.
Lord ..-'4.I7ANLEY allressed the assembly as follows :
Ladies and gentlemen—l dare say that many of you will
feel, as I confess that I do, that something like an apo-
logy is required for undertaking to call your attention
at a time like this—at a time o great and almost un-
precedented national excitement—for undertaking to
call your attention front that subject with which all
men's minds are occupied, and on which all eyes are
fixed, to matters wholly alien and distinct from that one
subject of all-absorbing interest. At the same time Ido
not think we shall be accused of any indifference to the
•military honours of: this country, if, even at a critical
'moment of that which unfortunately threatens to be a
prolonged • struggle, we endeavour to give a practical
_proof that war ought not, and •.peed. not.
,interrupt the
couree.of more•peaceful occupations. (9heers,). On the
contrary, as we are told, end told not untruly, that it is
the inevitable tendency of foreign war, by absorbing,
'almost monopolisind, public attention, to check the pro-
epeiss of internal rerorm, and as that consideration neces-.
sarily and naturally induces many persons to regard the
etieiggle in which we are now engaged with feelings more
unfavourable than those which they might ether wise en,
tartain, I believe, that the.best scrvice--rperhap§ the 914
sereice which we can render—perhaps .the only way
in which we can co=operate with those who are
fig-hting our battles abroad---is: to give to the coun-
try- a practical -evidence that their -exertions do
not tend to paralyse ours—that social progress,
that internal improvement, that intellectual culti-
vation, that care for-the wants of, the poorer classes, are
not interrupted even by the existence of a most foralid-
able foreign contest. (Loud cheers.) Well, ladies and
gentlemen, I do-not suppOse it ne.ces!cary to state.at any
letigth the cirearnstanctis under which we are met. We
are met, after a. colleetife. existence of something more
than a quarter of a century—we are met here to cele-
brate the 20th
.anniversary of this institution. You
have this evening heard the satisfactory announcement
that there rests upon yoUr finances no remains whatever
of .debt. . The institution is totally-free and unencum-
bered. (Hear.) It numbers upwards of six hundred
members; it enjoys a clear income which exceeds 3001.
a year ; it is now carrying on the education of above one
hundred and eighty stulents in its various classes ; and
its library contains more than 5,000 volumes, which are
freely circulated arnongSt its members. These, gentle-
men, are briefly the leading facts as connected with this
institution. Yon have probably very often heard it
said—and there is a good deal of truth in the remark—
that mechanics' institutions have answered their purpose
exceedingly well, except.that it is apt to happen that
there are no mechanics in them—(laughter, and hear)—
that is to say, that institutions originally established, if
not entirely, at least mainly, for the benefit of the work-
ing-class, have a natural tendency, Barely, perhaps, from
some apathy in that class ; peaty, it May he, in some
cases, from the subscription being fixed too high ; partly
from some feeling of pride which makes the various
classes reluctant to mix ; but whatever may be the cause,
it is a very common result that institutions originally
established principally or exclusiVely for the benefit
of the working-class ilo not comprise many members
of that class. But,, though they are useful, they be-
come useful in a different way ; they become institu-
tions more for the benefit of the middle and trading
classei. (Hear, hear.) Ido not say how 'far that
is the case here, because, although I made inquiry into
the subject, I could not precisely ascertain. what num-
ber of bond fide operatives you hare upon your list of
subscribers ; but I believe from all I hear that it is not
considerable, and somewhat less than it ought to be.
(Bear, hear.) And I should venture to urge upon those
who have the management of the affairs of this institu-
tion, seeing how complete and entire their success has
been in every other respect, to make that the next point,
the next object to which their efforts are directed, and
to do all in their power to induce and to urge the work-
ing
men of Preston to join more fully than they have
hitherto done—l do not say in promoting thisinstitu-
tion, but in sharing the benefits which it confers.
(Cheers.) Let us consider, if possible, without vague-
ness and without exaggeration of phrase, what are the
purposes, what are the objects, which a society of this
kind fulfils. There are two points of view in which it
may be regarded—the social and the educational. First,
as to what I call the social point of view. Now we all
knew, we all perceive, that society in the present day is

in many respects constituted very differently from what
it was in former times. Various causes have operated
upon it ; perhaps amongst those causes the principal and
most apparent has been that increase of local communi-
cation which tends almost to destroy, within, at least,
the area of this country, all separations produced by space.
New, on the whole, there is, of course, no doubt—the
man would be insane who denied it—there is no doubt
that that increased facility of communication has been
productive of very great benefit to the community ; but,
like every other benefit in this world, it has its accom-
panying evils. And one of these evils, I think, is a
tendency, an increased tendency, which most people
notice, and which has been very frequently a subject
of discussion—a tendency to a disruption of local con-
nections and ties. (Hear, bear.) I think wo shall
fled, if you compare the state of society now with what
it was 50, or still more 100 years ago, that men in the same
class, following the same occupation, though in different
parts if the country, are in much closer and more inti-
mate relation one with another than persons in different
classes, following different occupations, who reside in
the same immediate locality. (Hear, hear.) The tie
of class becomes stronger, the tie of local proximity be-
comes comparatively weaker.- Now, no doubt other
causes concur, though in a lesser degree, to increase that
division between Cllsses. There is among the wealthy,
perhaps,.greater luxury and refinement ; there is among
the working classes—and I for one don't regret to see
it—a more serongly-develeped feeling of independence,
which makes them reluctant to meet those who, per-
haps, they think do not meet them on equal terms ; and
there is, ne doubt, also the pressure of severer labour
upon all classes, consequent upon the increased activity
if our age. But be the causes what they may the re-
Ault, I think, is certain. And what we want to 'do is,
vvhat,it is important to do is, to find for this severance,
for this disruption of local tie., a remedy which shall be
efficacious and universal. (Hear, hear.) The only re-
medy which I know is, so far as it is possible, to pro-
vide common pursuits, to provide common occupations
and amusements, to induce different classes to meet one
another more free!y, so, as to make people think a little
e_se of their individual place and station in society, and
little mere of their duties to society. (Hear, hear.)
For myself, I consider that every pound and every shil-
ling which is subscribed to institutions of this kind, or to
free libraries, or to public baths, or to museums, or parks
and gardens, for the use of the public-=every shilling
which is subscribed in that way from private funds to a
public and general object, is so much cleat' gain to the
country ; it is so much taken away from that enormous
waste which is produced by private and what one must
call selfish luxuryit is so much taken away from that
w:iste and employed for the public advantage. (Cheers.)
You have all probably heard in the last few years a great
deal said about the want of *a system of national educa-
tion. A great deal is said of the want of a proper supply
of schools for the working classes.: Now lam very far
from denying that such a deficiency does really exist.
But I believe, if we came to look into the matter accu-
rately, wo should find that our first and principal want
is net so much a greater number, as an improved Qua-
lity of schools. Now in this matter Parliament may do
something ; whether it will is another question. govern-
ment inspectors may do a little in raising the standard

of teaching ; but, after all, neither Parliament nor Go-
vernment can do all 'that is wanted. The principal
labour, the principal responsibility, must rest, after ail,
on the parents, and upon no other persons. (Hear,
hear.) Well, what you have to do, then, if you want.
a better system of teaching fur children—what you
have to do is, to overcome Ale apathy and indifference
of the parents. Now, of those parents there are many
who were themselves brought up in ignorance, and who
therefore as a general rule cannot be expected to have
much feeling of the advantages of education. But there
are many others who, having themselves received in their
early days a more or less good elementary education,
are nevertheless quite indifferent to their children- re-
ceiving the same, on this account—they say,
"We were
taught at school ; we learnt to read and write, we left
school, and after we left schoOl we found that no boots
were put in our way. It was only thatoccasionfally
could got a newspaper. We bad no meats usingonha thoseur
acquirements, which we gained with so mulbe at
! school, and therefore they have been comparatively
less." I have heard that language held beforeerceive what I
I cannot say it was held untruly. now, unsned-
am coming to. What I desire tol:ueruepis,
valued, you must
that if you
want school instruction to be properly
make it valuable. It is not valuable°Pe
g man, for the grown
rYunless for the boy
who has left school, for the
man of all ages, you
profiting by that power
provide bollY/hUinn- e a s of continuing his
education, or, at all eveats,
npileeaatsl
su roef
which ho has gained of reavdiidneg wbii,tish
weiatsbe
to himself—unless you
which
tahned
in his early days he has
of using that powern net
labeur. This, then, is the
acquired with so
nix
principal object of
istiteutiens of this kind. You supply
s you give instruction by means
books, you supply c ass, ,
of lectures to the adult popula.tin. Once interest the
grown men and women,
adult population, once interest
fathers and mothers, in this work of education, and
it, in a very few years, you will have such a 1
teaching improved iii quality and extended
demand
in rely
quantity,nPn fnor
as will compel tho passing---or, what would
be still better, as would supersede the passing of a Par-
liamentary measure on the subject. (Loud cheers.)
lam aware that there are some persons, and those
fri, ?idly to the cause cf education, who imaine that
,-0.. n in the working class, whatever their desire to
lea, e, cannot find sufficient leisure or opportunity, ex-
cept in cases where the enthusiasm and desire for
knowledge is very strong. Now, of course, I do
not mean to say that we can expect that in any class