The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

f?ROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.)
(From the Globe.)

Education is henceforth an affair of the State. It is
true that the Executive Government confers with the
heads of the Church as to the appointment of inspec-
tors of Church schools. But, as Lord John Russell
stated, in reply to the inquiry of Mr. Baines, there will
be other inspectors who will be appointed by the Com-
mittee of Council independently of all ecclesiastical con-
currence, in the inspection of schools not connected with '
the Church of England. Thus the Executive Government
will be free to maintain the rights of conscience. The
elementary education of the people will not be employed
as a means of exercising spiritual domination, as it
might have been, had the desire of the National So-
ciety, to make education an exclusively ecclesiastical
matter, prevailed. Elementary instruction—it cannot be
too frequently repeated—is one of the civil concerns of
the State, free from all ecclesiastical control, whenever
the will of the parent intervenes to secure for his child
the participation in a common social advantage, which it
is the duty of the executive government to provide.
The whole length and breadth of this great principle
is included in the recent arrangement ; and is in no
respect impaired by the concurrence of the govern-
ment with the Heads of the Church in the inspec-
tion of schools connected with the Church of England.
The sole reliance of the people of this country for
the maintenance of the rights of conscience, in the esta-
blishment of a system of elementary education, must
be on the prerogative of the Crown, the wisdom of
Parliament, and the powers of the Executive Govern-
ment. The joint exercise of these powers has secured
the civil rights of the people, in times past, from
the insidious encroachments of the ecclesiastical autho-
rities aiming to obtain ascendancy in the State. The
present times are full of warning. That the traitorous
thought has found entrance into some minds, to ren-
ler the ecclesiastical independent of the civil authority
nthis country, is matter of easy proof—the controversy
now happily terminated was the medium of making it
public. He has read the history of his country to little
purpose who imagines these presages can be neglected
with impunity ; and that Government deserves the gra-
titude of every enlightened citizen, which, in spite of
clamour, falsehood, and foul vituperation, has turned
aside the traitorous project to rob the Sovere:gn of her
legitimate right, and to despoil the executive of its useful
f unctions in any system of National Education.
(From the Standard.)
The session of parliament rapidly approaches its
close. In truth, between proxies and pairs, the two
houses have already, in a great measure, divested
themselves of the character of deliberative bodies,
and may be said to be in some measure like the
French Chamber of Deputies—self The
routine of legislation still proceeds, but in a manner
scarcely precedented in our parliamentary history ;
and that cannot be satisfactory to such as think that
reasoning- and discussion are proper preliminaries to
the making of laws by which the complicated interest of
a great people are to be adjusted and governed. If it
is sufficient that a fourth or fifth part of the aristocracy
and of the representative body directly concern them-
selves in the management of public affairs, it is surely
as sufficient in January as in July. Be this, however, as it
may, the fact is, that the thing now sitting is but a fraction
of the Parliament ; and that it is so, can be ascribed only to
the perfect confidence or to the thorough disgust of the
Members of the two Houses that have withdrawn. For
proof of perfect confidence, however, we must look in
vain to the divisions of the Session ; these divisions giveevi-
dence of nothing but a singular absence of such confi-
dence. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that
Lords and Gentlemen retire from the scene of their le-
gislative labours in disgust, that they see that they can
do no good by the sacrifice of time and convenience,
and content themselves in the hope that the few re-
meining at their posts are enough to prevent serious
mischief.

(From the Courier.)
Our 'Welsh Contemporary, the Merthyr Guardian,
thus notices the announcement of the appointment of the
Rev. Connop Thirlwall to the see of St. David's :
" The Rev. Connop Thirwall has been appointed Bishop
of St. David's."—Morning Chronicle of Wednesday.

Thus says the morning organ of the Government, and
its object in making the assertion is obvious enough ; but
we can tell our readers that the Rev. Connop Thirttvall
has NOT been appointed Bishop of St. David's, and not-
withstanding the acknowledged talents and merits of that
Rev. Gentleman, it is more than doubtful if he ever be
appointed to the Bishopric ; nay, we are not without hopes
of -Seeing a 'Welshman wear its mitre, as in justice he
is entitled to do. If the Reverend Mr. Thirlwall had
been appointed, what meaning could we attach to the
reply of Lord Melbourne to the,Liverpool deputation :
If there be so strong a desire for Welsh Bishops., how
comes it to pass that there is no movement in the princi-
pality and among the Welsh clergy on the subject ?' or
words to that effect. Did Lord Melbourne say that the
see was filled up, or that it would be filled up with the
haste that the Chronicle would have us believe. No. He
asks for an expression of the people of Wales on this
deeply interesting question ; ant he will not have long to
wait for that opinion ; for the people of the principality
are up and doing, and we wish them God speed."
In the simplicity of his heart our Merthyr friend makes
sure that Lord Melbourne is not a man of two mean-
ings, or rather that he is capable of speaking one way
and acting another. Last Friday's Gazette will serve
to show on how rotten a reed he leaned ; and it will be
useful, moreover, as a note of reference for the whole
principality, of the mode in which its spiritual concerns
are understood and cared for by the Ministry of
tile time being. The case of \Vales in that respect
is not singular, since an approximation to Unita-
tian heresies, it is more than suspected, has been, and
continues to be, one of the choicest recommendations
to an English or Irish mitre. By Lord Melbourne's
reply to a deputation from the Welsh Church in Liver-
pool, it will be seen that his Lordship equivocally inti-
mated that the want of a " movement," or agitation,
in Wales and " among the Welsh clergy," might be
assumed as the chief cause why immediate compliance
with the desire expressed for the nomination of a
Welsh Bishop was not granted ; the fair inference from
which was, that in the event of such " movement" or
otherwise, tha appointment would be made to depend.

ACTION OF DAMAGES-EDIN-

BURGH JURY COURT.

HORNE V. ROSS.

Oa Thursday, the following issue, in an action for de-
famation at the instance of Donald Horne, Esq., W.S.,
against Hugh Rose Ross, Esq., of Cromarty, came on
for trial before Lord Cockburn and a Jury :
" Whether at Inverness, in Wilson's Inn, on or about
the '3(l day of October, 1839, and in presence and hear-
ing of Alexander Thomson Monro, Lieutenant and
Adjutant in the Royal Horse Guards, Evan Mackenzie
and Colin John Mackenzie, sons of Sir Cohn Mackenzie
of Kilcoy, and Alexander' Cumine, clerk to Alex-
ander Mactavish, solicitor in Inverness, or one or other
of them, the defender did falsely and calumniously say
that the pursuer was a coward, or a damned coward ;
or did falsely and calumniously use, or utter words to
that tffect, to the loss, injury, and damage of the pur-
suer r
Damages laid at 1,0001.
The Dean of Faculty appeared for the plaintiff, and
the Solicitor-General for the defender.

- -
After a long address from Lord CocKnuaN, the Jury
retired, and after a short deliberation returned a una-
nimous verdict for the plaintiff—Damages 5001.

ANECDOTES OF NAPOLEON.

The Siecle keeps alive the Napoleon enthusiasm by
publishing from day to day the feuilletons of M. Marco
de St. Hilaire respecting the last days of the empire.
The feuilleton of this morning gives an account of the
attempt made by Napoleon at Fontainebleau to com-
mit suicide, which is far more detailed than anything
which had hitherto been published on the subject.
Napoleon, after the infanious abandonment of Berthier,
and the open insults of Ney, had indirectly signified
his intention of destroying himself ; and his valets-de-
chambre, Constant and Manchand, had taken the pre-
caution to remove his dagger and take out the powder
and ball from his pistol case. No danger was there-
fore apprehended ; and although Napoleon, when the
treaty resulting from his abdication was brought to
him, had refused to sign it, and declared that he had
an alternative, it was believed from his manner that he
had abandoned the idea of suicide. The narrative then
proceeds :
At one o'clock in the morning the Duke de Vicence
Caulincourt) was sent for by the Emperor. On en-
tering the chamber be found the Emperor in convul-
sions, with his face pale, his mouth eontracted, and
his eyes starting from their sockets. " Ah, Sire," said
Caulincourt, " what has happened to you! You are
very ill ; let me call in a physician." " No," replied the
Emperor, "it would be useless ; go into my cabinet
and take the pocket-book which contains the letters of
•
the Empress—you will take it to my son, and give that
letter which is on the table to my wife ; tell her that
I deplore my misfortunes only on her account and
that of the King of Rome. You will tell her, that
having failed in rendering France triumphant over its
enemies, I no longer regret the loss of life." " Ah,
Sire !" said Caulincourt, " I guess the dreadful truth ;
your Majesty is resolved that we shall die of grief."
Napoleon cast a melancholy look upon him, and in a
voice which was becoming weaker and weaker, said,
' Yes, it is true, I could no longer resist the torture
hat I have undergone, and the humiliation to which I
rito be subjected in being surrounded by foreign
agents. My eagles have been dragged in the dust—
Ab,my poor Caulincourt, I have been but little known
shall be regretted when lam no more. My friends
my companions in arms have abandoned me—Marmont
and Berthier have inflicted the last blow—they whom
I loved so truly."
A crisis came on and stopped the voice of the Ern-
perer. He became greatly convulsed, then vomited
.".nightly, and had another convulsion. Afraid lest he
7711hould allow the pain which he suffered to overpower
• '-Ilis\courage and give vent to groans and cries, he bad
',4lglist a handkerchief into his mouth. In this fright-
, • -,:xjtOituation Caulincourt did not dare to call for assist--
7-•
t •