The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-28 00:00:00

cessity of a national system of education.
Parliament have all the materials for the
a noble structure.

REMARKS ON EDUCATION IN 1847
By the lion Amelia Murray.
Condensation is an art in literary composition which
is now-a-days—namely, when most required from
the extraordinary multiplicity of publications—very
little understood. Hence we may literally say or
this miniature treatise by the Hon. Amelia Murray—
duplex libelli dos est. It is useful as a brilliant ex
ample of the advantages and beauties of condensation ;
it is useful as a token that the cause of education
among the poorer classes is a cause which finds sym
pathy—and what is more, ardent co-operation—in
the highest circles of the community. The lady who
has written this practical plea for the poor is one who
has mingled in all the gaieties and magnificence of the
Court of Victoria ; her book is even, in a particular
manner, on the title-page, "dedicated, by permis-
sion, to the Queen and the Prince Consort ;" her book
bears about it the atmosphere of Pimlico; her book
has received the distinguished approval of the most ac-
complished of foreign monarchs, King Louis Philippe.
And yet this little book, penned, as it were, under
the shadow of Buckingham Palace, associated with
the name of our Sovereign, and carrying with it
the prestige of a commendation from the Tuileries, is
one of the homeliest books we ever saw. Its argu-
ments are profound, but they are conveyed in the
language of the most singular simplicity. It speaks
the words of wisdom, but the wisdom is like the
lispings of a child. Since Mrs. Chapman wrote her
incomparable letters, we do not remember a volume
of similar dimensions so filled with home truths. The
lion. Amelia Murray has studied the exigencies of
education with an intense longing for the spread of
knowledge among the people. Government and po-
pular opinion are conspiring for the realisation of her
wishes, and the wishes of all similar philanthropists.
But while others have contented themselves with
wishing, like the married couple in the story book,
who longed for the black pudding, the lion. Amelia
Murray has been acting for the promotion of her
favourite project. The appendices to the brief work
before us are, perhaps, its most valuable contents,
showing as they do the necessity of instruction as a
prevention to crime, and the blessings that are inse•
parable from secular and religious tuition. When we
see the highborn thus striving to promote the
welfare of the lowly, the noblesse struggling for the
amelioration of the tier &at, we are, indeed, justified
in being sanguine as to the future reserved for our-
selves and our posterity. Already we have had the
utterances of the Parliament, of the Cabinet, of the
Press, of the different religious bodies in the empire,
of private individuals, and of public assemblies—we
have now in these clever " Remarks on Education,"
by the lion. Amelia Murray, the utterances, so to
speak, of the Palace : all are unanimous upon the ne-

NAIMATIVE OP' A JOUJUIEY ROUND THE
WORLD. Two Vols. By Sir George Simpson.
Often as this tc,rraqueous globe of ours has been
circumnavigated, it remained for the Governor-in-
Chief of the Hudson's Bay Company's territories in
North America, Sir George Simpson, to be the first
individual who ould travel round the earth overland.
The narrative of this remarkable journey is contained
in these two handsome and interesting volumes. Sir
George announces on the title-page, that his pere-
grinations were as far back in date as the years
1841 and 1842 ; and he apologises in a manner
for the tardy appearance of the work by
telling us in rather indifferent grammar, in
Ike preface, that his numerous occupations, of an offi-
cial character, have heretofore " precluded him from
bestowing an earlier and requisite attention to the sub-
ject." Although we cannot accompany the author in
all the sentiments expressed by him during the course
of his lucubrations, we are perforce carried along with
him in imagination during the whole of his curious
progress through Europe, America, and Asia, fas-
cinated by the bonhommie of his style and allured by
the singularity of his proceedings. For example, we
are lothe to hearken to his extravagant eulogiums
upon the Imperial monster of the North, whom he
mentions in this wise :
" The present Czar's personal qualities, physical, and
intellectual, and moral, must induce every man's judg-
ment to acquiesce in the homage which his feelings are
constrained to pay. Nicholas," he continues, "is uni.
versally allowed to present the noblest mould f form and
feature, to be the ablest and most laborious sovereign of
the age, and, what is higher praise than all in an indi-
vidual of his exalted station, to set before his people the
brightest example of all the domestic virtues."
At first such egregious toadying of a man univer-
sally execrated by civilised nations is incomprehen-
sible, but a cursory glance at a map of North
America will speedily explain the enigma ; it will
demonstrate the wherefore of such unexampled civi-
lity on the part of the Governor-in-Chief of the
Hudson's Bay Company, by revealing the contiguity
of their magnificent possessions to the enormous ter-
ritories colonised by the lieges of the Emperor
Nicholas. Sir George Simpson seems generally to
keep what is termed in sea-faring parlance his
"weather-eye open." Even in his dedication he
evinces a wholesome reverence for their High
Mightinesses, the Directors of the Hudson's Bay
Company. And upon a precisely similar, and ex-
ceedingly comfortable, and decidedly accommodating
principle, he becomes the earnest panegyrist of his
Imperial Majesty the Despot of all the Russias. Not
only this, but he degenerates into the extenuation of
the preternatural cruelties perpetrated in the icy wil-
dernesses of Siberia ; nay,he proceed to such outrage-
ous lengths in uttering encomiums on the very pater-
nal Government of St. Petersburgh, that he holds up
the system of banishment into Siberia as one emi-
nently in accordance with the dictates of wisdom and
philanthropy, and rather serving as a model for imita-
tion than otherwise. Protesting, therefore, in
language as emphatic as we can just now select
against this miraculous malversation of truth, and
expressing our abhorrence alike of the man who
wields the sceptre of the infamous Catherine with
such congenial brutality, and of the system by which
he consigns so many thousands of our fellow-creatures
to the lingering agony of expatriation in the wintry
wastes of Siberia, we turn from this disagreeable
portion of Sir George Simpson's narrative to the
pleasanter passages, in which he depicts his wandsr-
ings and ponderings in many remote quarters cf the
globe. At the outset we cannot resist expressing our
admiration at the inextinguishable gco 1 humour of
Our author throughout the whole of this remarkable
journey. When other men would have become
soured by the petty calamities incident to the tra-
veller, he continues the same blithe, cheerful, viva-
cious being he proved himself to he on starting. The
hobbles resulting from insufficient conveyances, from
lumbering carriages that refuse to budge an inch
further through the mud, from restive horses that
suddenly, in the very crisis of a roadside dilemma,
throw up their heels, snap their reins asunder, and
gallop " over the hills and far away," from ignorant
guides, uncleanly lodging, and unpalateable fare, only
proves fresh provocations to the facetiousness of Sir
George Simpson. Instead of bewailing the incon-
veniences attendant upon his out-of-the-way pere-
grinations, he seems, on the contrary, to have revelled
in the consciousness that a thousand casualties were
perpetually conspiring against his comfort. Sir
George displays a wonderful aptitude for seeing things
in their ludicrous light, and he avails himself of this
capacity upon every reasonable and unreasonable oc-
casion. Besides this, he is a keen observer of animal
and vegetable nature—of the picturesque in scenery,
and the characteristic in town life and village
life. His chapters flow, one after another,
each presenting a different spectacle to our con-
templation, like the sliding glasses in the
galantee-show. Every page, moreover, reflects
upon its surface, so to speak, the trees, and the waters,
and the mountains, and the houses, and the human
beings actually seen by the writer as he proceeded
onwards, as vividly as on the disc of a camera
obscura. A better idea, however, may be afforded of
the character of the work under consideration by
giving a condensed description of the route taken by
the traveller, than by referring to the prominent
features of his narrative, or the most conspicuous
characteristics of his style. Having embarked on the
4th of March, 1841, at Liverpool, on hoard the
British steamer " Caledonia," of 1,300 tons, and 450
horse power, Sir George Simpson proceeded in a
westerly course from the mouth of the Mersey. After
encountering a variety of adventures, such as only
occur to voyagers on the tempestuous Atlantic— ,
catching a glimpse of a whale, getting involved in the
very same hurricane in which the unfortunate " Pre-
sident" disappeared, mistaking a field of ice for land,
and a star for a "revolving light"—they entered the
harbour of Halifax on the 18th of March. On their
way thither they had passed by the Great Bank of
Newfoundland. From Halifax they " steamed" on to
Boston, where they disembarked from the " Cale-
(lonia," and, leavirg that pleasant city with as much
dispatch as possible, proceeded by railroad first to
Lowell and then on to Nashna. Nashna is described
by our author as one of the most precocious towns in
that mostprecocious of all civilised countrie3, America,
having sprouted into maturity with the rapidity of a
mushroom. Thence he hastened forward by a coach-
and-four to Vermont, and, exchanging that convey-
ance for a sleigh, clattered on towards Montpellier.
The party, however, were not destined to reach that
assemblage of villas without a preliminary stoppage
-m the road, in consequence of the vehicle sticking
perversely in the mud, and the horses bolting no less
perversely, and defying their pursuers until after a
"chase of several miles." On leaving Montpellier
they at once crossed into the Canada territories, reach-
ing Montreal by passing over the ice of the St. Law-
rence. Their journey then appears to have assumed a
rather, formidable character, seeing that they had to
travel slowly up the river in canoes, stopping now to
dine, now to bivouac, and now to diverge through
the thickets around the portages—a portage being
that portion of the banks which is situated between
the summit and the bottom of a cascade or a rapid.
Arrived at Lake Superior, Sir George expatiates at
some length on the riches imbedded in the vicinity of
the Thunder Mountain, were the soil is prolific in its
deposits of copper, tin, gold, and silver. Leaving Fort
William behind them the travellers pa Idled up the river
Kaministaquoia, passing severally through the Lake la
k.:roix, Lake la Pluie, and the I.ak3 of the Woods.
Here they pressed forward to the Rat Portage, to Fort
Alexander, hard by Lake Winipeg, to Assihiboine
river, and onwards across the gigantic prairies, by
Fort Ellice, Fort George, Kootanie Fort, and Fort
Colville, until their arrival at Fort Vancouver—a
spot latterly invested with extraordinary interest, be-
ing situated on that river Columbia in the Oregon
England and America.
Sir George Simpson had in this manner crossed the
territories so long disputed by
American continent by a road of five thousand miles
in the brief period of twelve weeks. Instead of being
exhausted by this enormous distance, he made eccen-
tric excursions first northwards to New Archangel
and Sitka, in the Russian territories, and thsn south-
wards to Port St. Francisco, to Monterey (since then
the scene of a battle), and to San Barbara, in Cali-
fornia. From the latter harbour he made an elliptical
course, touching at the Sandwich Islands, and re-
turning
Thence
he
to e them vRe
du sds
directly
tsettlementacrossthaet Nraecwifitracnhdanpgasel:
sing the extreme point of the promontory of Kam-
stchatka, entered the port of Okotsk. The narrative at
this point is so wonderfully dismal in the depicted cold-
ness and desolation of those northern regions, that we
shall content ourselves with a mere enumeration of the
principal stages of his subsequent journey. Having
boated up the river Okota, he went on horseback,
through pine forests, to Yakutsk, downwards by
the Lena (one of the vastest rivers in the world),
passing by the gold country near the Yenisei, and
reaching the capital, Krasnoiarsk ; thence to Tomsk,
to Omsk, to Tobolsk, and to Ekaterineburg, in the
centre of the Uralian mountains, where there are in
abundance amethysts, diamonds, topazes, gold, silver,
iron, and platina, principally
the property of M.
Yakovleff and Count Demidoff. Lucky Demidoff !
lucky Yakovleff! the silver spoons in
your mouths
when you were clothed in swaddling garments must
have been encrusted with precious stones, and as large
as soup ladles ! On to Kazan, on to Novgorod (where
is the largest fair in the world), on to Moscow (the
phoenix of cities), on to St. Petersburgh, down the
gulf of Finland, down the Baltic to Hatnburgh, and
then to London, where Sir George Simpson arrived
just at the close of the October of 1842, having jour-
flied round the world.' overland in the wonderfully
short time of nineteen months and twenty-six days !
Wonderfully short, however, it cannot long continue
to be regarded, seeing that steam promises soon to
render the route a trip of comparative facility. As a

OPENING of the TRENT VALLEY
RAILWAY.— SPEECH OF SIR ROBERT PEEL.
Saturday having been appointed for the opening of
the Trent Valley Railway, the train started from the
Euston-square station at twenty-five minutes past nine
o'clock ; but for fully an hour before many persons had
arrived at the station in order to take their places in
time. At the starting of the train from Euston-square
there were fourteen or fifteen carriages, each containing
eighteen persons. At Rugby, and various other places
on the way, a great number of individuals joined the
company, and on the arrival of the train at Tamworth
there could not have been fewer than 700 or 800 persons
in the carriages. On reaching Nuneaton, the first sta-
tion after leaving the London and North Western line,
a large concourse of persons were assembled to greet the
arrival of the train, which they welcomed with loud
cheers, and with every demonstration of delight at the
opening of the new mode of conveyance to and from
their little village. The train, which left Rugby
at forty minutes past eleven, reached Nuneaton at
half-past twelve and Atherstone at ten minutes to one.
Here the villagers were dressed in their holiday attire.
Crowds of persons came from all parts of the surround-
ing country, and all the children of the Sunday and
other schools were brought out, under the care of their
teachers, to witness the interesting sight. The station
was decorated with flowers and evergreens, and flags
were to be seen floating in the air in various directions.
As the train arrived and departed it was greeted with
hearty the A.s and waving of handkerchiefs. A similar
reception met the train on its arrival at Polesworth,
which it re ached at fifteen minutes past one. But it was
on its airi gal, at twenty minutes to two, at Tamworth,
that it was greeted with the greatest enthusiasm. An
excellent band of music was engaged for the occasion.
The first persons who were seen on the platform were
Sir Robert Peel and his lady, and other members of his
family. The Right Hon. Baronet went up to a number
of the gentlemen as they quitted the carriages, and cor •
dially shook them by the hand. Sir Robert appeared
in excellent health and spirits.
Shortly after the arrival of the train, the company pro-
ceeded
to a commodious tent, beautifully fitted up for the
occasion, where they sat down to a cold collation. The
number of persons who partook of the collation, which
was served up in excellent style by Mr. Bacon, proprie-
tor of the Queen's Hotel, Birmingham, could not have
been less than from 1,200 to 1,300. Among the noble-
men and gentlemen present, we observed Lord Sandon,
M.P., Sir R. Peel, M.P., Lord Ingestre, M.P., Lord Anson,
lion. Colonel Anson, M.P., Sir C. Douglas, M.P., Sir
W. S. Davide, M.P., Captain A'Court, M.P., Mr. Hud-
son, M.P., Captain Carnegie, M.P., Mr. G. C. Legh,
M.P., Mr. Alderman Copeland, M.P., Mr. Cardwell,
M.P., Sir P. D. Egerton, M.P., Mr. Ricardo, M.P., Mr.
George Glyn, Chairman of the London and North-
Western Company; Mr. Houldsworth, Chairman of the
Manchester and Leeds Company; Mr. Edward Tootal,
Chairman of the Trent Valley Company; Mr. Edmund
Peel, late Chairman of the Company; Mr. Yates Peel,
the Bishop of Lichfield, &c.
Mr. TOOTAL, chairman of the company, presided on
the occasion, and was supported by Sir Robert Peel on
the right, and by Viscount Ingestre on the left. The
company having partaken of the refreshment,
The CHAIRMAN rose and proposed the health of her
Majesty, which was drank with great applause.
The usual loyal and patriotic toasts followed, and were
received in the most enthusiastic manner.
The CHAIRMAN then rose and said, that the next
toast he had to propose was one which he was sure they
would all heartily respond to. There were times at
a hich all men felt themselves incapable of doing justice
to the subject in hand, and that was one of them. He
never felt more embarrassed in his life, and although he
might put a good face on the matter—(Laughter)—they
might believe him that the trial of that day was
one of the most severe that he had ever under-
gone. He, however, felt extreme gratitude for the
support which they had given him. When he first pro-
posed to have a formal opening of the Trent Valley line,
he never anticipated that he would be surrounded by so
much rank, talent, men of science, men of business, and
railway directors, as be then saw present. He had in
the first instance been anxious that the chair should be
taken by the chairman of that great company, the Lon-
don and North-Western, under whose patronage this
line was that day opened, but that Hon. Gentleman,
(Mr. Glyn) declined to do so. He was next anxious
that their late chairman, Mr. Edmund Peel, should fill
the position, but he having also declined, the charge had
reverted on him (Mr. Tootal), and be trusted that their
kindness would make up for his deficiencies.—(Cheers.)
He had to acknowledge a debt of gratitude he owed to
the Right Hon. Baronet on his right (Sir R. Peel)
for the manner, when introduced, he waited upon
him for the first time at Drayton Manor House to
request his support. The Right Hon. Gentleman
at once saw him, and listened to his explanations ;
and whether is was from the extreme kindness of
the Right Hon. Baronet, or from the honesty of the
cause he (Mr. Tootal) represented, the Right Hon.
Baronet had continued to pay the utmost attention to
him whenever he subsequently felt it necessary to call
upon the subject. They had had a hard struggle, but
there they were at last —(Cheers.) In 1839 the Bill
was first introduced into Parliament, supported with
the utmost interest of the Right Hon. Baronet, who
continued that support until they were finally success-
ful. On the 13th of November, in the year before last,
the Right Hon. Baronet, while labouring under a fit of
the gout, neglected his important avocations to cut the
first sod of their line.— (Cheers.) That was, under the
circumstances, considered one the most imprudent
things the Right Hon. Baronet had ever done ; but
it showed how deeply he had at heart the interests
of their line.—(Cheers.) He knew that by going
the most direct and shortest route from Rugby, the
centre of England, to Glasgow, Liverpool, Manches-
ter, and other places in the north, they would
be effecting a saving alike of time and money to the
commercial interests of the country ; but the spot where
they were then assembled (Tamworth) might now be
almost called the centre of England, with respect to time,
the mode in which they now reckoned distance.—
(Cheers.) He recollected that on a former occasion Sir
lt. Peel mentioned that this was the route formerly taken
by the Romans to the north, and how correct they were
proved by the fact that Telford followed in the same
line at the short distance of 2,000 years—(Cheers)—and
by the exertions of the directors they had that day opened
that line, by which one hour would be saved in the dis-
tance between London and Liverpool—(Cheers)—the
system of miles being now out of fashion ; and when the
electric telegraph was completed, as it would be in a
short time, they would be enabled to communicate their
thoughts to John o'Groat's and back in half the time it
now took to write them. At the period of cutting the first
sod the Right Hon. Baronet expressed his opinion that
they would be enabled to travel, when this line was
opened, from London to Manchester in 64 hours. They
had, by their arrangements, improved upon that 25 or
30 per cent., and he (the Chairman) expected that they
would shortly complete the distance in 4i hours—
(Cheers)—although when, in 1839, he talked of doing
it in 7i hours, he was looked upon as a visionary and a
madman, but it was now proved that he was only a little
before the time.—(Cheers.) The Right Hon. Baronet,
true to the support be had given to the railway through-
out, had that day, at no little personal sacrifice, honoured
them with his company; and without attempting to pass
any eulogy on the Right Hon. Baronet, which he was
sure would be out of place, he begged to propose the
health of Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P.. one of the most
ardent of our supportars.—(Cheers.)
The toast having been drunk with three times three
and one cheer more,
Sir ROBERT PEEL rose, and spoke nearly as follows :
—Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen—lt is with
much pleasure I rise to respond to the kind manner in
which my health has been proposed from the chair, and
the equally kind manner in which it has been received.—
(Cheers.) There is only one statement made by ros
Hon. Friend, the Chairman of the day, which I will not
confirm—that in which he has informed the meeting that
I have made any sacrifice in being present to-day.—
(Cheers.) That statement is, lam sorry to say, so at
variance with the fact, that I cannot let it pass; for I
assure you, that it would have been a great disappoint-
ment to me if anything had occurred to render my absence
necessary from this assembly.—(Cheers.) I will not
forget the occasion on which we are met—that here men
of all political opinions meet upon neutral ground.
I shall not forget that on this day all political
differences ought to be forgotten—and even on this
day railway animosities ought to be suspended.—
(Cheers.) Let the memory of all former grievances be
forgotten as to the broad or the narrow gauge, if, un-
fortunately, they were doomed to be renewed to-morrow.
—(Cheers.) We have met this day to celebrate the
completion of a great work, which reflects equal credit
on the company who undertook it, the contractor who
carried it out, and, lastly, I will add the men whose
sinews and industry have brought it to a successful issue.
—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, without having any personal
interest in it, I have given to this line my best support,
because I have always felt that it must be ultimately
completed. Although there might be a long struggle
before the Committees of Parliament—though the land-
owners might be kept in suspense—and though large
sums might be transferred to the pockets of those whose
genius we honour, while we have no peronal sympathy
with their gains—(Laughter)—l felt that the time must
come when the Trent Valley line would be completed.—
(Cheers.) My Hon. -Friend has reminded me, that,
on a former occasion, I said that the Romans had pur-
sued the same road to the north as that of this line.
I am obliged to my Hon. Friend for so reminding
me, and I am sure it will not abate from the merits of a
Stephenson, because, 2,000 years ago, the Romans found
it necessary to open up a north-western—a great north-
western—communication, the termini being London and
Chester.—(Cheers and laughter.) That line was opened
by a celebrated engineer, who appears to have united in
his own person engineer and contractor—being the Ste-
phenson and the Brassey of his day—Julius Agricola.—
(Cheers and laughter.) Gentlemen, when that engineer
found it necessary to make a road to Chester, he deter-
mined to take the the direct line, although the gradients
were not favourable.—(Cheers.) He used no tunnels,
he made no embankments or cuttings, but he went
through the valleys and up the hills.—(Cheers and
laughter.) His stations were not badly chosen, for leav-
ing Wolverton about a mile to the right, he went to
Weedon ; from thence, between Hinckley and Nuneaton,
to Atherstone, and on to Fazeley, one mile from Tam-
worth ; from thence he proceeded by Lichfield, on to
Chester.—(Cheers.) I take it that if Mr. Stephenson has
not taken quite so direct a line by the Trent Valley,
that he has improved on the gradients of Julius Agricola,
while it must be admitted that this line is as good and
his stations as well ehose4,—(Cheers.) I thought that