The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-01 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION.
(From the Kent Herald.)
One of the important questions that will undoubt-
edly come under the early notice of Parliament is that
of national education. The amendments introduced
from time to time into the Minutes of Council have
removed many objections entertained by the consci-
entious friends of public intelligence who yet fear the
effects of a state education mainly directed by a State
Church. There is certainly a growing feeling that
popular knowledge is so inestimable a boon that we
should not be too captious as to the medium through
which it is offered; and under a Liberal Ministry we
ought not to expect that an undue preference will be
shown to any religious sect in the arrangements
deemed necessary for carrying out the educational
measures. We trust that all is but preparatory to a
state of things in which instruction purely secular
shall be alone imparted at the national expence-
-an/thing short of this involves more or less of op-
pression to some individuals.
The question 'meanwhile cannot be too fully dis-
cussed in al! its bearings, and in reference to the sub-
ject we have pleasure in laying before our readers the
following extract from the Hull Advertiser, in which
testimony is borne to the merits of a t: my liberal and
enlightened clergyman of -Kent, the Rev. J. Dutton,
Rector of Warehorne, a notice of whose pamphlet on
the subject of Nat'onal Education some time since
appeared with extracts, in our columns :
"In the Advertiser of last week a paragraph ap
peared to the effect that, on the previous Monday
evening, a meeting of the friends of Voluntary Edu-
cation was held in the school room of Fish-street
Chapel, for the purpose of considering a motion,
which was not then brought forward, in favour
of an application to the Government for a partici-
pation in the Government grant for the endowment
of ;Schools. This meeting was attended by the
Rev. Thomas Stratten, the Rev. Ebenezer Morley,
the Rev. Newman Hall, Mr. Hill, Mr. Tapp, and
several other of the supporters of the Dock-
green and Holderness-road Schools, who had op-
posed the Government measure when before Parlia-
ment, but whose hostility, we are happy to say, has
dwindled down to some vague misgivings, destined to
disappear altogether in the course of a few months.
We give these gentlemen great credit for having the
moral courage, thus early, to enter upon a retracing
of their steps in a wrong direction ; and it will afford
us sincere pleasuire if, when the question is next
brought forward, an unanimous resolution be adopted
for accepting all the support that can be obtained from
the Board of Privy Council. We know no question
which has gained so much by public discussion, and
even by the strong and earnest opposition made to it,
as that of national education in conjunction with
the State. As is well observed by the Rev. John
Dufton, Rector of Warehorne, in Kent, whose pam-
phlet, National Education ; What It Is, and What
It Should Be,' wss circulated by order of the town
council of this borough among its members in June
last, ' Our prisons have the extent of palaces, because
our schools have been limited to sheds.' Nor is it
a question between Education and Non-education. In
the language of the eloquent and reverend author of
this, the best pamphlet yet published on the Educe
tion question, vice opens schools as well as
virtue; crime has rewards for the zealous, and
punishments for the refractory, quite as effi-
cacious as those at the disposal of rectitude.
The thief is educated, the poacher is edu-
cated, the pickpocket most sedulously educated.
There is no school in the world where more heed is
given to the progress of the pupils than that in which
a Fagin acts as master, and an Artful Dodger as head
assistant.' Education is a question of religion, a
question of morality, a question of health, a question
of finance, and a question of police. To what ulti-
mate power do we refer all questions of public morals,
public health, finance, and police ? Every one knows
that the decision of such questions is the proper func-
tion of the State, and that the State has been con-
stituted to discharge such functions. What is the
State but society in its jural capacity—a capacity
assumed to secure social rights and to prevent social
wrongs. There are important rights to be secured
in education, and there are grievous wrongs to be
prevented; and if the State interferes not for both
purposes, those to whom the conduct of the State is
entrusted are guilty of a gross dereliction of duty.,
The same able advocate of the National System con-
tends, with a force of truth of which we believe the
members of the Hull School Committee will admit
the invincibility, that it is in the nature of voluntary
school subscriptions to drop off; and to be so irregu-
larly and reluctantly paid, as to compel the having
recourse to artifices, not always of the most worthy
or laudatory character, for the purpose of ' keeping
up the steam.' We are far from insinuating that any
such practices have yet been resorted to in the case of
the Hull Schools; but, unless we are very incorrectly
informed, their present financial state is such as to
call for very urgent measures of relief. Of course,
an application for Government aid is not intended
either to prevent voluntary subscriptions, or to
limit the power of the Schools Committee in
regulating their management. This is admirably put
by Mr. Dufton in the pamphlet from which we are
quoting. Great as is the extent of private benevo
lence in England,' he observes, it has not been found
possible to dispense with poor-laws; interested es we
all are in the preservation of our persons and our
property, we are obliged to seek the aid of a police
force; and, with all the excellence of our Sixon
system of juries, no one has yet declared himself an
advocate for a voluntary administration of justice in
England. Now, for the same reasons the State in-
tervention is necessary in the dispensing of national
charity, in establishing national security, and in
enforcing general rights, we hold that State inter-
vention is necessary in national education, not to
supersede but to aid individual and voluntary exer-
tion. The strongest advocate of poor-laws never
recommended the destruction of asylums, hospitals,
and infirmaries ; the firmest supporter of a police-
force would not advise us to dispense with bolts, bars,
watchdogs, and watchmen; the greatest admirer of
law will not withhold his praise from private arbi-
tration ; and, in the same way, the advocates of State
intervention would not recommend a single individual
to withhold his subscription or contribution from the
erection and maintenance of schools.' We trust that
these observations, from the pen of one of the
ablest of all who have written on the Education
question, will be well weighed by the members of the
School Committee. We quote them in a spirit the
most conciliatory, and with wishes the most sincere
for the advancement of the voluntary support hitherto
given to these schools. To err is human, but to seize
the earliest opportunity of acknowledging error has
something in it almost divine. We are ourselves very
far from wishing to cherish the memory of involun-
tary error, and the gentlemen whose names we men-
tioned at the beginning of this article are not of a
creed to claim for themselves the merit of infallibility."
—Hull Advertiser, Oct. 15.
We fully agree with our contemporary that the
Rev. Gentleman's essay is the best that has appeared
on the subject, and the friends of National Education
in Canterbury and other towns of Kent, will do wet
to follow the example of the town council of Hull,
and circulate it widely in their respective localities.
[We trust the excellent example set by the town
council of Hull will be followed by the other town
icouncilsfo ft
hteh kingdom.emo s
most
‘,aiu a bThe e treatisever p published
sfhlAfe
dr. Dutton
on
the
subject of national education.—En. Sun.]

ASTURIAN MINING COMPANY. An adjourned
annual meeting of registered shareholders in this under-
taking was held on Saturday, at the Company's Offices,
9, Austinfriars, Samuel Pratt, Esq., chairman of the
board of directors, presiding. The report submitted on
the occasion stated that at the previous meeting the di-
rectors were in hopes of being enabled to name an early
day for the payment of a dividend, but in this expecta-
tion they had suffered disappointment, owing to delay
caused at the mines by the failure of a clay retort, the
death of one of the Spanish workmen, and the illness of
others, which induced the alcade of the village to put a
stop to the whole mercurial operations. It had since,
however, been ascertained that the man died from natu-
ral causes, and the board were just in possession of the
fact that the injunction had been withdrawn. The effect
of this delay was, that instead of being able to deliver
to the Spanish Government three or four thousand
pounds' worth of mercury, as might reasonably have
been expected, not more than two thousand pounds'
worth was sent in. In the mean time- the produce of
the mines has been accumulating, and the accounts re-
ceived from them went to show that the ore increased
and the mine deepened. The chairman having given it
as his opinion that the shares would in a short time be
worth 100 per cent., the meeting separated.
PRINCELY MUNIFICENCE. —The parish church of
Ewell, Surrey, being in an extremely dilapidated and
ruinous condition, besides being insufficient for the
accommodation of the increasing population, a parish
meeting was held some time since to take into considera-
tion the propriety of repairing the old, or erecting a new
one, when Sir G. L. Glyn, the rector, offered to pay the whole expense in the first instance (the supposed
cost about 6,0001.) if the parish would
agree to raise
1,0001. out of the above sum in twenty years, to which
they agreed. Sir G. L. Glyn gave an
and a also
spacious and handsome
progress from the desims of
i
edifice is
Glutton,
n
architect, the contractors for the
work being Mr. Myers, of London and Mr. W. Killiek,
of Ewell. The sum of 300/n. on'
being doublperesent building will hold about
Building Society. The 15 given by the Church
about one-third of the wh ' the number of the other, and
600 persons,
four o'clock, o.expopulation.
itaiLwAv ACcIDENT.
an accident occurrcder atday theafternoon, St. Leonard's
est about
depot of the Dalkeith Railway, in consequence of two
carriages accidentally
comingrThThomas
the
in contact, whereby a
person of the nameo
Valiancepol
ice tgoto
hish isleg
broken. lie was removed by
own
house, Pleasance.—North British Mail of Friday.
r LIE LATE ACCIDENT ON TUE LANCASTER AND
CARLISLE
.iAILWA.Y.—The owner of the cattle lately
11111( .1 by the railway accident, near Alllntliorv, has been
paid the full value of his stock thereby destroyed, by the
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Company.—Carlisle
Journal.

MYSTERIOUS CASE.
On Friday an inquest was commenced at the
Ct ck, Hackney, before Mr. Baker, the coroner of
the district, on the body of Samuel Nelme, Esq.,
aged 74, a gentleman of independent property, whogr,
' dek.th took place on the previous Wednesday. The
suddenness of Mr. Nelme 's death created a very great
sensation. The facts which transpired at the sitting
of the jury were as follows :—About three weeks
ago the deceased and his grandson were in the
garden at the rear of the premises, when the deceased
heard the report of a pistol as if it had missed fire,
at the back of his ' head. He immediately turned
round, and his grandson exclainied, " Grandfather,
some person has attempted to shoot you." On the
following morning a pistol was discovered lying upon
the ground in the garden. The police succeeded in
tracing the pistol to the grandson. The matter was
hushed up by the relatives, and no further proceed-
ings were taken by them. Deceased was greatly
terrified. The deceased was always considered a very
hearty man, and enjoyed very good health until Fri-
day, the 22d instant, when he complained of sicknesi.
On the following morning he remained in bed, and
in the afternoon his wife left the room, considering
that he was asleep. A surgeon arrived shOrtly
afterwards, and pronounced life to be quite extinct.
A jurorsaid that when the deceased was shot at, he
heard, the snapping of a pistol several times, as if
some person was firing it off without any percussion
caps. The circumstance had created great suspicion
in the minds of the jury, and they could not return
their verdict unless there was a post mortem examina-
tion of the body., The coroner considered the re-
marks of the jury very proper, and directed that the
contents of the stomach should be analysed. The in-
quest was then adjourned. On Saturday the inquest
was resumed at four o'clock. The first witness called
was Francis Doulman, surgeon, who stated that he
had made a post mortem examination of the body of
the deceased. Found a dark appearance round the
mouth. The lungs were slightly affected. There
were diseases of the heart sufficient to cause death.
Had not analysed the contents of the stomach ; there
was not time for that.—lnspector Waller, of the N
division of the Hackney police, deposed that deceased
called at the station on the 10th instant, and stated
that himself and grandson were at the back of the
house in the garden, and that he heard an explosion
similar to that of a percussion cap, when his grandson
said that a man had just run away, adding, " There
he goes." Deceased said he did not see the
man himself. His grandson said he climbed
up a tree and escaped over the wall. De-
ceased said he was tolerably close to his grand-
son at the time. Witness then directed an in-
telligent officer to sift the matter to the bottom.
On
.the 414 following the deceased and the officer
came to the station, bringing a small pistol, a hand-
kerchief, and some gunpowder and shot. The con-
stable said that these articles were found in a copse
in the garden, and that the handkerchief was identi-
fied as belonging to the deceased's grandson. De-
ceased, in answer to a question put to him, said that
he felt convinced the boy had fired the pistol, but not
for anything serious, but for klark. W. Spinks, the
constable referred to by the preceding witness, said
—The wall which deceased's grandson represented
the man alleged to have fired the pistol to have
escaped by was upwards of sixty feet high—too high
for any one to have dropped from. Found a quantity
of shot, as well as the pistol and the flask, rolled up
in a handkerchief. The pistol was loaded ; there
were seventeen shots in it. The handkerchief was
covered with blood. The boy's mother said the
handkerchief had been taken from her a month before,
and that the blood upon it had come from her nose.
She thought there was a conspiracy against her boy,
and that the things found in the garden had been
placed there with a view of carrying out their pur-
poses. Deceased, after the boy's mother had stated
this, said he did not think the pistol had been fired by
his grandson. Some of the jury here suggested the
absolute necessity, to further the ends of justice, that
the contents of the stomach should be analysed, and -
that the jury should adjourn until such time as a
competent chemist should be able to lay the results
before them. The inquest was then adjourned till
Tuesday next.

MAR YLEBON E VESTRY.
On Saturday a very fully attended meeting of this
vestry took place, for the purpose of considering a
notice of motion, of which Mr. J. F. Standford had
given notice last week, relative to the influx of Irish
paupers.
Mr. STANDFORD, in bringing the subject before
the vestry, said, if he felt himself justified in bringing
this subject under the notice of that board at their
previous meeting, the information he had since re-
ceived tended more than ever to show that he was
right in doing so, and that the matter was worthy of
the most serious consideration. He was prepared to
prove, that so far from the evils arising from the emi-
gration of Irish paupers being likely to diminish,
they were frightfully on the increase. He had ob-
tained his data, not from any newspaper reports, but
from the high constable of Liverpool, who proved
that the influx of Irish paupers was daily increasing.
—(Hear.) During the present week no less than
3,133 persons of this class had arrived at Liver-
pool; the numbers who so arrived in September
were 10,369, and during the present month the number
amounted to 11,772. These parties not only brought
with them filth and disease, fever, diarrhoea, and
other contagious disorders, but they were for the
most part pilferers and plunderers, even in the open
day. Mr. Standford then proposed that a memorial
should be presented to the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, setting forth the evils arising
from the great increase of Irish paupers, and urging
upon him the necessity of renewing the precautions
adopted in the spring of the year, of instituting,
under the protection of the Custom house officers at
the several ports, a system of quarantine, so as to
prohibit the entrance of those paupers who were dis-
eased. He further proposed that a resolution should
be passed by the vestry, to be respectfully transmitted
to the board of guardians for their consideration, by
which resolution the vestry should express its wish
that all the Irish poor who had not become settled for
five years in the parish should be removed—that those
poor who had applied for relief should first be searched,
to ascertain w hether they had sufficient means of
supporting themselves—that none should be relieved
without also being made to work—and that no relief
should be given in money. He (Mr. Standford)
thought if such resolutions as these were adopted the
example would be followed by other parishes. They
would act as an effectual check upon Irish pauperism
in the metropolis.
Mr. LEWIS rose to object to the resolutions, on the
ground that no notice of them had been previously
given. The notice given last week did not extend
so far.
After some discussion Mr. STANDFORD withdrew
thehis motion,mTeimE
memorial
andln arni
Nd
Ggraeovs
roe l
uniutoiAtoinfcces
Lotzt:
sot
NahtEeu
rwldvoluyTli
WITH GAS.
bringGAs . on
The VESTRY CLERK. read the memorial from the
Western Gas Light Company, established at Kensall-
green, requesting the permission of the vestry to lay
their mains throughout the parish of Marylebone.
Mr. CARR rose to move the appointment of a com-
mittee. He considered this subject one of great im-
portance to the public. The high price of gas in the
metropolis had long been a matter of complaint.
Whilst in London they had to pay 7s. per thousand
cubic feet, in Birmingham and Manchester it was ob-
tained at from 3s. 6d. to 4s. per thousand cubic feet,
and although that was the case the companies were
enabled to pay a dividend of ten per cent. Even in
London the companies who sold gas the cheapest
paid the largest dividend.
Mr. GLAZIER seconded the motion.
Mr. SODEN supported the committee, as he thought
the most beneficial effects- might result to the rate-
payers by their putting themselves in communication
with the managers of the Western Company.
Mr. BELL had expressed his doubts last week as to
the statements put forward by the deputation, that
the gas proposed to be -supplied
upon
oy nn
et
v‘he,ihsime‘h: IdtVeh eei st
et ehr
en
mists Gas Company" was both purer and stronger than that
suppliedany
other.th e Hdeathaadu
sis
hid-
business
by
toinvestigate
whose names were mentioned had arrived at
their conclusion
rawtrkhedreerhecoohbrardercpvtl.aetasure in stating that
carried, and ions the resolutions
theirf
After
rint csalonumds ieoc naf'srti
a committee was appointed.
se

SUICaIy ingDeEvenINWRITECROSS-STREET
an inquest was held by Mr. W. Payne,
iSnatltilirdhitecross-street prtson, on the body of Thomas
mAi..ad.namosfams highly
Richards, aged twenty-five, a young
respectable connexions in Monmouth-
formerly a clerk in the Post-office, who com-
ptsfhrptieeghawbrroifenuaddti
ot
whawiant.
that the
Ft
ahrdeore
medt ezerotc mhre
eai
ans
evidence
nee
deceased
t bahecect mot
ofhf
e r
sso
eauwyni
iec
nir
inm
ate-
el
mil,
ambWi t t by
of the prison on the 10th of June last, at the suit of a
Mr. Sayer, for 102/.125., and on the 12th a detainer was
lodged against him by Mr. Temple, of Furnival's
for 105/. At first he seemed in good health and spirits,
which, however, gradually declined, and he became .at
intervals greatly depressed. On Friday week, being evi-
dently more diseased in mind than body, he was ad-
mitted into the infirmary, when he rallied ; his recovery
being greatly accelerated by being made acquainted with
the praiseworthy exertions in his behalf of Mr. Burden,
the governor, who, on account of his perturbed state of
mind and ill-health, had effected an arrangement with
his creditors for his discharge, which would have taken
ridayatnrnboedon,
andhe was
leftaloneplaceon
Siant Saturday
roomy la s
in ht. ae
infirmary
on
nariie
etntlhyocaksleieep,
the
et
yard
dtliyn
eafpteerowl lying
had been long estranged from his family, and his wife,
to whom he was married in May, 1846, in her evidence,
said that she had not seen him from the commencement
of the present year. The jury having made some ob-
setearnvcantsiocnnsnonnecttheed ywoiuthth
hofts them melancholy end,
and trheecirnceur;
end, returned
verdict of " Temporary insanity."