The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-29 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY

of Great Britain, so long as corporal punishment is
',Aided upon nearly marriageable girls at our
charitable (!) institutions, so long will there
remain ample room for improvement, and an exi-
gent necessity for amelioration. It is but
too frequently the custom of nations and
generations to vaunt their superiority to all
surrounding nations and all antecedent generations,
it matters not in what, in benignity, intelligence,
vigour, or civilization. As with others in this parti-
cular, so to an extraordinary extent is it with our-
selves. We imagine as a nation that whether in
benignity, intelligence, vigour, or civilization, we
are the first and foremost ; the same likewise is our
most self-sufficient impression in regard to this be•
yond all preceding generations. Yet, in boasting of
our benignity, but little thought is given to those
mean and execrable punishments retained to the pre-
sent, amongst us even in our most benevolent institu-
tions, and our most chivalrous professions; not re-
flecting that our ancestors would have blushed to
employ the same ignominious means of correction had
they attained a similar state of prosperity, knowledge,
and civilization.

Even in the most elementary writings upon the
training systems advisable in the education of children,
or in the instruction of our military or maritime de-
emlers, it is insisted with all possible emphasis
that flogging, besides being disgraceful to those who
inflict it either retributively or correctively, is most
prejudicial and irrational, most ineffectual and even
brutalising.

In the excellent volume of Mr. STOW, a gen-
tleman eminently qualified to pronounce an opinion
upon a subject of this character, it is decidedly main-
tained that " corporal punishments tend to harden or
break the spirit." Having studied most profoundly
the science of education, he arrives at the conclusion
that nothing can be more barbarous than the employ-
ment of the rod, the cane, the rule, or the ferula. He
says:--

" In Scripture parents are commanded to use the rod
of correction, and nut to spare the child for his much
crying.' This, of course, is a command to parents, not
to schoolmasters. We admit, however, that when a
parent delegates his power to a guardian or schoolmaster,
he may, if ha chooses, in common with other authority,
delegate also the divine right to chastise; but the school-
master possesees no inherent right in himself to do so.
The parent, of course, is not commanded to whip when
there is no occasion for it, neither must the master; and
it is a question whether the literal rod is always to be
used, or the ferule, or cane, or ruler, or kick with the
foot, ell of which are common in schools. It is evident
that the mere sensation of bodily pain is not punish-
ment, unless it is understood to be so; for how much
pain will a boy sustain from his companions at play
without a murmur, certain punishments being the for•
feits of the game; and, therefore, he suppresses his
torture with the utmost heroism. The understanding of
the punishment must bo present, or the mero sensation
of bodily pain is no punishment to him. Instead, there-
fore, of passing into the understanding. through the
physic-11 department of the human being, we pet for
punishing as well as stimulating by the higher sensibili-
ties of our moral nature."

Beyond this he pronounces the practice of physical
castigation to be nothing less than a slovenly way of
performing the delicate and responsible duty of
tuition. Instead of waiting to investigate a fault, or
to reason with the culprit, or to remove an
intellectual incapacity or a moral obliquity
of vision, the teacher, according to the old
blundering system of corporal punishments, draws
forth the instrument of torture, and does the very
reverse of appealing to the understandings of his
pupils. What was negligence on the part of the
child before becomes confirmed into a vice under the
hardening influence of stubborness. Besides which,
the things that should be rendered loveable are made
detestable in the eyes of childhood by the brutality of
an obtuse and barbarous custom. Talk as we may,
then, of our advancement in civilization, and of our
progression in humanity, we have ample Call% for
shame at our short•comings, and for anguish at the
qualms of our national conscience.

While the Protectionists are holding meeting after
meeting, at which the approaching ruin of the coun-
try and a national bankruptcy is predicted—while
Mr. COBDEN is fulminating threats and menaces, at
Leeds and Bradford, against all who venture to differ
in opinion from himself—a still, small voice has been
heard from the Midland Counties, which we venture
to affirm will have far greater effect on the public
mind than the Jeremiads or roarings to which we have
alluded. It is a letter from a landlord to his tenantry
—from one who, after full consideration, and after
accurately weighing the comparative advan-
tages and disadvantages of a free-trade policy,
deliberately abandoned his former opinions, and
afforded as complete a proof of the sincerity of his
convictions as ever was exhibited by the leader of a
powerful party, the Minister of a great nation.
When Sir ROBERT PEEL decided on bringing for-
ward the repeal of the corn-laws he was well aware
of the inevitable consequences of the measure. He
knew that it would effect the dissolution of his
party, of those who had previously followed his
counsels and obeyed his dictates with a blind and im-
plicit confidence, that it would sever former
ties and connexions, and convert admiring
friends into inveterate and unscrupulous foes.
He knew that it would lead to the downfal of his
Cabinet, and bring his legitimate opponents, with
whom he had been so long engaged in the contest for
office, into place and power. He was not, however,
deterred by such considerations. Boldly and man-
fully he proclaimed the change, and sacrificed his own
party predilections and party interests to what he
believed to be calculated to promote the prosperity
and happiness of the community in general.
We have already alluded to the admirable address
which the ex-Premier has just addressed to his
immediate tenantry on the present state and
prospects of agriculture so far as they con-
cern the existing relationship between them.
Although some years have elapsed since the
destruction of monopoly, and the abolition of the
bread-tax, causes have been in operation during that
period which render it impossible to calculate accu-
rately the results, or to fix the allowances which the
owners should make to the cultivators of the soil.
Sufficient has, however, appeared to render it certain
that there is no reasonable prospect of a restoration
of the abandoned policy, and to show that
" the effect of the recent changes of the
law, in respect of the free import of the
main articles of subsistence, will be to maintain
a range of low prices in average seasons, and to pre-
vent very high prices in seasons of dearth. In other
words, their effect will be to ensure, so far as legisla-
tion can ensure it, cheapness and abundance of food,
as the ordinary rule, to diminish the risk of scarcity,
and to mitigate the suffering from it should it unfor-
tunately occur." Such is the opinion of the Right
Honourable Baronet, an opinion in which we fully
and cordially concur, and if his judgment be well
founded, it must convince even the most
sceptical that the Act of 1846 is " ir-
revocable," and that " neither the present
nor any future Parliament will consent to re-impose
duties upon the main articles of human food, either
for the purpose of protection or of revenue."
The questions at issue, then, between landlords
and tenants must be decided according to the present
state of the law. The losses that will fall on agri-
culturists must be fairly and equitably apportioned
between the parties interested. The proprietors of
land cannot evade or get rid of their just
share of the responsibility, or endeavour to cast
the entire burden upon the shoulders of the
tenant farmers. At the Protectionist gatherings it
has been admitted that there is still an ardent com-
petition for land, and that rents are fully maintained
notwithstanding the general depreciation of the price
of every description of produce. The Right Honour-
able Baronet wishes to show that he does not take
such erroneous views, but that he is prepared to enter
into equitable arrangements with his tenantry ; and
he indicates the principles upon which a
final settlement will be effected when the
fitting time arrives for that purpose. He
will " not refer merely to the diminished price
of one article or another, but will take into the
account all the considerations that fairly enter into
the question, will try to estimate the effect of recent
legidation, and of improved means of conveyance in
reducing not only the price of produce but the cost
of production also—and will compare the disadvan-
tage to which the tenant-farmer may be exposed
from competition with producers in other
countries, with the benefit which he may
derive if he has ordinary shill and cepi
tai from the abolition of the duties on many
articles which are, or may be, profitably consumed