The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-06 00:00:00

AN ARCHDEACON ON EDUCATION.

At a meeting held in connection with the St. Leonards
Church Schools at Bilston the other night, Archdeacon
Moore said that he thought the first thing to take care of in
the matter of education was that it should be a religious one.
There was a great danger in these days. There werepersons
who told them they wished the people to have a religious
education, but they would leave it to be given haphazard.
They would open schools where they would be bound to teach
reading, writing, and arithmetic, tut not religion. If they
read the Bible, they would not be allowed to explain it
Whereas the foundation of all schools should be a religious
education, it was the last to be considered in the proposed
schools. The chaplain of Newgate had stated that of the
masses who went to gaol for terrible offences, the worst of
all were those who were well educated without religion.
They used that which was given to them to improve them
to corrupt them. They read all manner of bad books, and
imitated the badness contained in them. Therefore it was
their duty to be wary of all systems of education
which were propounded, in which religion was not the
foundation. The Archdeacon proceeded to say that
if they were to teach religion they must teach it as they
would anything else, on certain fixed and definite prin-
ciples. There was a great deal of talk about reading the
Bible in school; but what was the use of the Bible
being read if it was not explained? Let them take the
Bible and put it into the hands of a man who had never
seen it before, and how little ho would be able to make
out of it. He might learn a good deal of good from it,
but when they placed the Bible in the hands of a person—
either child or man—they were bound to teach him what
they believed to be the meaning of it. Therefore, he said
to all members of the Church of England, " You are
not only bound to advocate a religious education,
but you are bound to advocate an education based on
the religion of your own Church, which you know to be
founded upon God's blessed Book, the Bible—to advocate
for your schools the religion found in your Prayer-books."
Speaking of the scheme of the National Education
League, the Archdeacon said the proposed tax would
effectually destroy private subscription. With regard
to the compulsion clause, he did not believe English-
men would stand that a poor foolish fellow should
be sent to prison for not sending his child to school.
To him such a thing appeared foolish, monstrous. Let
them, however, make a bold stand against that greatest of
all evils, the rooting out of religion from education. He
strongly objected to the power of refusing admission to
the child of a Dissenter to a national school being takes
out of the hands of the manager. As a fact no child was
ever turned away, and where notice was given the
religion of the Church of England was not taught to the
child.

A FARMER CHARGED WITH CRUELTY.
At the Herts Quarter Sessions, Mr. John Ginger, farmer,
of Hemel Hempstead, appealed against three convictions
of justices on petty sessions, for causing horses belonging
to him to be cruelly ill-treated and tortured. The prose-
cution was instituted by the Royal Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Animals, and Mr. Ginger, who
had been previously convicted of a similar offence,
had been sentenced to be imprisoned for a month for
each offence. Against these convictions Mr. Ginger
appealed. He was represented by Mr. Serjeant Sleigh,
with whom was Mr. Clark; and Mr. Harris, with whom
was Mr. Lucas, appeared for the Society. When the case
was called on, Mr. llarris said he felt bound, on the part of
the respondents, to inform the court that he was satisfied
by evidence which had been put before him that
if the case were proceeded with, the appellant's
reason, and probably his life, would be endangered.
Under these circumstances he felt that, acting
on behalf of a society which was established for a
humane object, he could not, by going on with the prose-
cution, be a party to what he believed might be the
infliction of the penalty of death. Lord Salisbury said
that the course taken by the learned counsel was most
irregular. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals was not the party to judge whether there has
been sufficient punishment. There was another course
open, namely, to apply for an adjournment of
the appeal, and then go to the Secretary of State for
a commutation of the sentence. Mr. Harris said
the Secretary of State had no power, unless there
were a conviction and punishment following. Lord Salis-
bury: There is in this case. Serjeant Sleigh: No; the
technical difficulty is that inasmuch as an appeal has been
lodged, the sentence is suspended, and the Secretary of
State cannot interfere unless the appeal is withdrawn or
the sentence confirmed and the man remitted to
prison. Lord Salisbury, after consulting with the
other magistrates, intimated that if no evidence were
offered, the conviction would be affirmed, and the counsel
on both sides then agreed to go on with the case.
The evidence on the part of the respondent showed
that on the 28th of September, 1869, Mr. Ginger had
several teams ploughing in one of his fields, and that in
these teams there were three horses in a state unfit for
work, having old sores, which were discharging water and
blood, under their collars. It was also stated that these
horses were under fed and overworked. For the appellant
a number of- veterinary surgeons and farmers were now
called, who stated that they saw the horses on various days
from the sth to the 16th of October, and that they were
in good working condition. Evidence was also
adduced to shew that Mr. Ginger had been out of health
for some time past, had latterly left his affairs more in the
hands of his servants than formerly, and did not regularly
see his horses. Medical men were called, who stated that
Mr. Ginger had had a severe attack of bronchitis, that his
health was quite shattered, and that if the sentence of the
justices were carried out, the most serious results might
be expected. After this, Mr. Ginger addressed
the court, stating that he was absent from home
on several days preceding the 28th of September, and
never saw the horses; but since his conviction he had
shown his respect to the decision of the magistrates by
purchasing a new team of eight horses at a cest of £4O
apiece ; that the prosecution and appeal would cost him
£l,OOO ; and that if he were sent back to prison it would
kill him. The magistrates then retired for consultation,
and on their return Lord Salisbury stated that the Court
confirmed the conviction, but that they had requested him
to make a representation to the Secretary of State for the
Home department with a view to the commutation of the
sentence, being of opinion that the penalty was out of pro-
portion to the offence. Mr. Ginger was then liberated on
bail, pending the decision of the Home Secretary. In
the case of the appeal of William Sharpe, Mr. Ginger's
foreman, who had been sentenced to six weeks' impri-
sonment, the conviction was affirmed, but the court stated
that, in confirming it, they did not expresss approval of the
sentence.

A contract is spoLen of in Central America to
ouild a railroad across the republic of Guatemala, to unite
the two oceans.

A new tale ley the author of "Thu Ifeir of Itecl-
clyffe " is commenced in the Monthly Packet for January,
entitled " The Pillara of the House ; or, Under Wode
under Rodc."

Mr. Abernethy rarely met his match, but on ono
occasion he fairly owne:l that he had. Ho wai sent for by
an innkeeper, who had had a qUarrel with his wife, who
had scarred his face with her nails, so that the poor man
was bleeding and much disfigured. Abernethy thought
this an opportunity not to be lost for admonishing the -of-
fender, and said, "Madam, are you not ashamed of yourself
to treat your husband thus—the husband, who is the head
of all—your head, madam, in fact "—" Well, doctor,"
fiercely rat: 049 virago? " 4114 why I pat i!crAtat tiaq
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