The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-07 00:00:00

[BRATISH PRESS.]

We deem it one of the peculiar blessings of
this country, and a chief cause of that high tone
of moral and religious feeling by which English-
men have long been so honourably distinguished,
that the province of education has been almost
exclusively confined to the clergy. The principal
and assistant-masters of our great public schools
are, with scarcely any exceptions, clergymen.
Most of the Colleges in our Universities are, by
their constitution, clerical, as far as regards the
Fellows and Tutors. The greater number of
respectable private schools are under similar
superintendence, and there is hardly a private
tutor of respectability who is not a clergyman.
One advantage of this system is, that the nation
has a great security for the moral respectability,
as well as literary attainments of those to
whom the educatio❑ of its youth is confided.
Another is, that the rising generation are reared
in principles of attachment to the established re-
ligion of the land. In following this course we
have the best assurance that the youth of this
Christian country will be imbued with some
knowledge of the evidences, the doctrines, and the
precepts of the religion.which they profess. Where
there is systematic instruction in religious know-
ledge, the students are at least reminded of its im-
portance, and not suffered to be ignorant for want
of having their attention directed to the most im-
portant of all the subjects of human knowledge. So
far is it from being true, as is asserted in the Morn-
ing Chronicle, that at Oxford no religious instruc-
tion is imparted to the students there, that regu-
lar lectures are given in every College on some
portion of the Scriptures, and at neither Univer-
sity, under the regulations of late years, can
any young man proceed to his first degree,
without undergoing an examination in the. evi-
dences of history, and contents of the New
Testament. This is one of the features which
I honourably distinguish our English Universities
I from those of Scotland; and it is the want of

this provision for religious instruction—not
simply the accidental want, but the delibe-
rate and avowed exclusion of it—which we hold
to be a fatal objection to the proposed London
Academy, in the eyes of every pious and sincere
member of the English Church. The distinction
which is attempted to be taken between the case
of young men residing in the Universities and
those who continue to live with their parents (to
whom the business of religion under the new
system is to be left), might be worth attention
were it true—which it is not—that the parents of
those youths who are likely to attend the Lon-
don Academy Lectures were competent and at
leisure to read lectures on divinity to their sons.

[MORNING POST.]
We stated in our Paper of yesterday, that
some unexpected hesitation had taken place in
Mexico in ratifying the Treaty of Commerce with
this country. We have now to announce that this
hesitation continued till the Ist of May, when,
after considerable opposition, the Treaty was ra-
tified by the Legislative Assembly. It was then
sent to the Senate, by which body also it was ex-
pected to be agreed to in a few days. So certain,
indeed, was this event considered, that Mr. Mo-
rier was making the necessary preparations to set
out with it for England about the 10th May. The
objections which were made to the Treaty are va-
riously stated in different letters. It is said that
some dissatisfaction was felt at the absence of a
distinct verbal recognition of independence, as if
the formation of a treaty were not, in itself,
such a recognition. The clause that Great Bri-
tain should be placed in its commercial relations
with Mexico on the footing of the most favoured
State (with the exception of Spain and the new
Republics), seems also to have liven rise to
some objections or misconceptions. It is certainly
probable, that from the diplomatic inexperince of
the Committee of Congress, the import of the term
" most favoured States," was misconceived, and
supposed, instead of conveying the stipula-
tion that Great Britain should be placed on
a footing inferior to no other State, to import
that she should be raised above them all. It
would be idle to indulge in any feelings of ani-
mosity on account of such an occurrence. It
must be recollected that undue suspiciousness is
as much the characteristic of ignorance as undue
credulity ; and when we consider the want of
information which must necessarily exist among
the majority of the Mexican Congress, men edu-
cated in a province of such a Monarchy as Spain,
we should not wonder or be offended at the mani-
festation of either of these qualities iu their first
proceedings.