The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-09 00:00:00

Av. "(Vii
Tt.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1853.

The motion, of which the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman the Member for Aylesbury had given
notice for yesterday evening, and which had been
put off until Monday on account of the indisposi-
tion of the Ministerial Leader of the House of
Commons, has again been postponed, and this
time indefinitely, without any time being fixed
for its resumption. It is, in fact, unconditionally
withdrawn—the only circumstance being the ex-
pression of a hope, on the part of the Hon. Gentl-
eman, that the Noble Lord the Member for
Tiverton (not of London) would permit him to
bring oa the -motion as soon as the public service
will permit. We confess that we participate in
the regret expressed by the Hon. Gentleman and
by the Noble Lord the Member for Marylebone at
the information which the House and the country
had every right to demand being thus kept back for
an indefinite period, during which the very na-
tural curiosity by which the public mind is agi-
tated is to remain unsatisfied, and the suspense
which has exercised so disastrous an effect on the
Stock and Share Markets, depressing matters far
below their natural value, may be continued. We
=not conceive that the expression of the unani-
mous feeling of both Houses of Parliament .for
we can entertain but little doubt that the expres-
sion would be unanimous, or tantamount thereto,
to sustain and support her MAJESTY'S Government
in vindicating the honour of the British nation,
and maintaining inviolate the integrity of the
Ottoman dominions and the balance of power in
Europe—could be attended with inconveni-
ence or injury to the public service, o;in
any degree prejudice the negotiations that
are still going forward, and thereby increase
the chance of hostilities, which should, be avertei
by any means consistent with British honour
and good faith. On the contrary, we should
have thought that such an expression would have
strengthened the hands of the Government, and
conferred additional authority on the diplomatists
engaged in the important discussion, when it was
incontestibly shown that they were prepared for
any alternative, and that if matters had unfortu-
nately proceeded to extremities—that we were
unwillingly forced into a war, which could scarcely
be a " little.war'.'—they would have been sup-
ported heart and hand by the Parliament and
People of the United Kingdom. This, we say,
was, and still is, our deliberate opinion; but under
the peculiar circumstances of the case, although
we may regret the disappointment, we cannot cen-
sure Mr. LAYARD for having complied with the
request, considering the quarter from whence it
proceeded, and the terms in which it was con-
veyed.

The matter has indeed assumed a very different
aspect since yesterday, which leads us to look con-
fidently forward to the amicable arrangement of
the entire difficulty, and the maintenance of
friendly relations with the CzAn, without preju-
dicing the important interests involved in the
result.

The mere fact that Lord PALMERSTON came
forward as the mouthpiece of the Ministry was a
new and very auspicious feature in the transac-
tion. That Noble Lord has long enjoyed the
confidence of the people in everything connected
with foreign affairs. They believed that in the
hands of the " English Minister " the honour of
their country would never be tarnished, or its real
interests damaged. The alleged division in the
Cabinet was regarded with greater " apprehen-
sion," we might almosthave said "dismay," because
they feared that any vacillating or temporising
policy, of which he could not approye, must neces-
sarily prove prejudicial to the ytelfaie of the
United Kingdom, and of Europe. 'These appre-
hensions are, however, materially allayed, if not
altogether removed, by the appearance of the
Noble Lord, and his interference in the transac-
tion. It affords an. assurance that the rumoured
division either never existed, or that it has been
repaired ; or, at all events, that the policy of the
Noble Lord has prevailed, and that he is nOw
directly responsible for the management of the
flair. His language, too, was clear and unequ
vocal, befitting a British Minister addressing a
British Parliament on such a subject, wherein the
well-being andhappi nets of the country was sodeeply
concerned, and he gave the satisfactory assur-
ance that the Governments of France and England
" are united in a common course of policy, are
aiming at a common object, are gnided by common
interests, and inspired by the most perfect and un-
reserved confidence in, each other!" When that is
the case—when the great source of uneasiness is
thus completely dispelled, it scarcely required the
addition, " that any temporary forbearance which
two such Governments, which two such countries
may have shown, would not have arisen from a
want of determination, or that the most concilia-

tory course they could pursue, could not be con-
strued into a symptom of timidity or weakness,
or that "the interests and the honour of England
and France are in safe keeping."
Theseare, indeed, satisfactory assurances, such as
may well appease the natural anxiety previously
entertained on the subject. But they are not the
only consolatory matters that have occurred. It
will be obvious to any person of ordinary capa-
city that something of no ordinary importance
had taken place, even since the preceding evening,
when the Earl of CLARENDON spoke on the sub-
ject of the appeal made by Lord BROUGHAM to
the Marquis of CLANRICARDE, for the postpone-
ment of the motion of which the Noble Marquis
had given notice--something, too, of a very
favourable character, which led not merely to a
well-grounded hope, but almost to a moral cer-
tainty, that hostilities mighthonourably be averted.
Not more than a week had elapsed since the motion
of the Honourable Member for Aylesbury was
not only not deprecated, but even invited by
Ministers, and a Government day given up for
its discussion. When that discussion was un-
warrantably postponed through the misconcepj
tion (!) or unwarrantable meddling of the Presi-
dent of the Board of Control, it was only
adjourned until Monday, another Government day
being assigned for the debate, notwithstanding
the pressing nature of the public business. We
also find that the Foreign Secretary, in the Upper
House, only asked postponement, not the with-
drawal of the motion, saying that, " after the
great delay that had taken place in bringing the
question to a solution, considering, too, the
very grave interests that are connected
with it, and the very natural anxiety which
exists not only in their Lordships' House,
but throughout the countryy to possess all the
information which her MAJESTY'S Government
could safely give, he felt that he ought not again
to ask his Noble Friend to withdraw his motion,"
and yet the very next evening we find Lord
PALMERSTON (I) making an urgent appeal to Mr.
LAYARD to do that which, according to Lord
CLARENDON, "he ought not to be asked to do." It
must be obvious that new and very important in-
formation has been received, and that the matter
has been placed on a much more satisfactory
foundation.

There is another very significant circumstance,
which, although merely conveyed under the head
of " fashionable intelligence," adds additional
and very powerful corroboration to these pleasing
anticipations. Her MAJESTY'S steamer Vivid
was yesterday dispatched to Antwerp, to await
the arrival of the Grand Duchess MARIE, the
eldest daughter of the EMPEROR, and widow of
the Duke Of LEUCHTENBERG, who, with her six
children, is forthwith coming to this country,
and for whom a residence has been taken at Tor-
quay. The Grand .Duchess CATHERINE, daughter
of the Grand Duke MICHAEL, with her husband,
Duke GEORGE of Mecklenbargh Strelitz, is also
about to pay a prolonged visit to the Isle of
Wight, and the Vivid is to repair to Ostend for
her reception, immediately after landing her
cousin at Dover. These matters, though appa-
rently insignificant in themselves, prove that the
CZAR does not meditate immediate hostilities ; and
with the other circumstances to which we have
alluded, show that there is at present no danger
of a formidable rupture, or of dishonourable
inactivity.

Lord SHAFTESBURY'S speech on his Juvenile
Mendicancy Bill has, we trust, attracted already
the attention of most of our readers. It is, how-
ever, with no ordinary pleasure that we offer our
support to the measure generally of the Noble
Lord. Details may need revision, but we have
long been convinced ourselves that the class of
parents and children in question must be dealt
with on exceptional principles. Having no sym-
pathy whatever with a puling humanitarianism on
the one hand, nor, on the other, with any need-
less interference with personal liberty ; believing,
too, that the State is but a poor substitute for the
parent, we have yet no manner of ,doubt that
pity for children trained to thieving, and by con-
sequence to the prison and the hulks, and com-
mon prudence for our social safety and comfort,
alike demand a measure of the kind proposed by
the Earl of SHAFTESBURY. It may be difficult to
define with rigid legal precision " what is a
child ;" but, like many other things difficult to
define, the difficulty in actual life is small
indeed. It must also, no doubt, be in-
evitable that a large measure of discretion
be entrusted somewhere, and in the ad-
ministration of law, discretion ought to be re-
served for emergencies rather than called into
daily exercise. The danger, however, we con-
ceive to be of the smallest in the present case.
If policemen, pestered by vagrant boys, would be
sometimes liable to get rid of them on any terms,
yet the magistrates and judges are disposed
enough' to be tender-hearted to juvenile delin-
quency ; and, after all, almost every boy whom
a policeman would be glad to get out of the
neighbourhood, even if nothing definite could be
proved against him, would be better iu a Reforma-
tory School than with his own parents, if he
have any. Let it be borne in mind that the
worst results of abusing the powers asked for
involve no great hardship, and admit of easy
remedy. It is not proposed to send the unfor-
tunate, children to a gaol, but to a real
Reformatory School— to place them under the
care of persons selected for capacity, and for
humane interest in the task. Such persons could
not be difficult to find through the school inspec-
tors and otherwise, and no suitable remuneration
ought to bo grudged to induce them to throw
their entire energies into the work. The instances
in which individuals thus selected and paid would
fail in their duties, and prove harsh guardians of
the children, would be but few indeed compared
with those in which the children, if left with their
parents, would not be far worse used. Again,
should the children have been taken to this, really
not disagreeable, and morally advantageous,
school without sufficient cause ; should it appear
that the parents were not, after all, dangerously
neglecting the child's education and interests, it
need not be an expensive process to reclaim
their offspring upon adequate prcof of their moral
right to do so. .

We think it idle to indulge, in a case like this,
either sentimental or legal scruples. Indeed, all
the former ought rather to be in behalf of the
thousands of unfortunates trained to think clever
roguery a necessity and a virtue ; and all the lat-
ter should be enlisted on the side of preventing
the educatiOn of victims for its penalties, even the
most severe of which cannot deter from crime.
Lord SHAFTESBURY'S strongest language was fully
justified in denying either the legal or religious
right of parents to bring up their children to be
the pests of society in fact, to train them syste-
matically to violate its laws. Our courts of law
now remove children from the care of parents and
guardians who prove themselves unfit to bring
them up, and may they not be enabled summarily
and effectually to prevent parents or guardians from
training the children entrusted to them to be vaga-
bonds, pickpockets, burglars, and cut-throats? Is the
unlikely possibility of one severe schoolmaster, or
of a child or two taken for a few weeks needlessly
from their parents, to stand in the way of such
an indispensable law as this ? We speak delibe-
rately when we say that Lord SHAFTESBURY'S Bill,
when put in the most efficient form for working,
will be worth more than all the Education Bills
of the: present or any preceding Government ;
they have only aimed to educate those who were
fast educating themselves—his Lordship's Bill is
to secure the education of thaw who are not merely
neglected, but positively trained to mischief.
. Lord SHAFTESBURY made out the strongest case
conceivable. In no department of public useful-
ness is he more at home, and we are always happy
to see him at work in it. Hi 3 personal investi-
gations have been extensive, and his knowledge
very considerable, and he has been t
nooot yrigoinnial
sources most certainly for information;
consulting magistrates, gaol chaplains,
city mis-
sionaries, and ragged-school teachers, but having
examined largo numbers of professional thieves,
and other offenders of the same class himself.
The result is such facts as the following : that out
of 90 thieves, 62 had begun to steal when they