The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-25 00:00:00

inartaltt Ant

Scene 6. BANES OF THE NlLE.—Almanzor, King of Morocco (his
own Lord High Admiral, Commander-in-Chief, &e., on his way to
King Ptolemy's Court, to court King Ptolemy's daughter), Mr. T.
Matthews ; Ptolemy, King of Egypt (ratker a remote ancestor of
Ibrahim Paella, better known as Abraham Parker), Mr. Priorson.
Moorish Sailors, Attendants on King Ptolemy, &c. How Almanzor
came to Egypt to be married—the Princess having a decided objec-
tion to their being " bound in Morocco ;" and how St. George, not
having even " dipped" into the question of " lights," runs his
steamer on shore, and saves liiinszlf on the funnel.
Scene 7. GRAND HALL IN THE PALACE OF PTOLEMY THE FIRST,
KING OF EGYPT.—The Princess Sabra, Mr. Fiance, about to be mar-
ried to the King of Morocco, but patriotically devoting herself to the
digestive organs of the Dragon (a gentleman, whose prodigious
allowance of jaw enables him to speak for himself ), Mr. Wieland.
How this " marriage In high life" is suddenly interrupted by the
Dragon, who, rot only forbids the banns ; but elopes with the bride;
thereby plunging " her illustrious parents and several families of dis-
tinction at the west-end of the town into the deepest affliction," &c.
(vide Morning Papers).

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEIMER 25, 1846,

Incidentally the views of the present Government
have been in a measure divulged with respect to the
propriety, the advisability, and even the necessity for
some national system of education. During the
customary proceedings at a dinner given at York, on
Tuesday evening, in connexion with the York and
Ripon Diocesan Board of Education, the Right Hon.
Chairman, Lord MORPETH, took occasion to raise a
corner of that curtain which it is to be hoped will
be altogether removed before the close of the ap•
proaching session. After an apologetic assurance of
his incapacity to enter fully into the consideration of
the various local exigencies, on the plea of his being
now "more confined to the streets of London than to
the woods and forests, with which he is nominally
associated," the Noble Lord very adroitly touched
upon that grand question which has latterly engrossed
so much of the public attention, and the settlement
of which is anticipated from the wisdom and liberality
of her MAJESTY'S advisers. The concessions, the
principles, the acknowledgments, and the half pl o-
mises embodied in the expressions uttered by Lre
MORPETH will be peculiarly gratifying to the poi u-
lation, as they will be regarded as an official asst r-
anee that the moral and intellectual wants of tl •
community will not be neglected by the Administn -
tion. More than this, the observations made ( n
Tuesday evening by the Noble Lord, the Chief Con -
missioner of the Woods and Forests, will be devcured
with peculiar acidity by the multitude as the 19th of
January becomes day by day a more appreciable and
conceivable " to-morrow." So long has the necessity for
some State assistance to the education of the populace
been apparent, so repeatedly has the aid of tin
Government been postponed, so numerous and con-
flicting have been the plans propounded, and so con-
tinually have the expectations of the public been
.iisappointed by the dilatoriness of successive Cabinets,
that anything like a mere announcement of opinion on
the all-important subject seems like a perceptible
step in the right direction, and is welcomed accord-
ingly. Since the last election of Lord JOHN RUSSELL
as representative for the city of London, there has
been no such definite exposition of the views of the
Ministry upon the question of national education as
that contained in the brief but satisfactory remarks
of the Noble Lord the Member for the West Riding
of Yorkshire.
With a very natural circumspection, Lord MOR.
PETH deprecated any anxiety to extract from him
any inferences or conclusions as to the ulti-
mate intentions of the Legislature. "I will
not," he says, " encounter the topic as to how
far the State ought to act—how far the State
talc pt.upie.
That concealment of the machinery which has been,
or is being constructed by himself and his colleagues,
was indeed the only course the Noble Lord could
pursue under the circumstances. It would have been
miserably premature and marvellously inappropriate
to expound the schemes of the Government in detail,
or to commit the Ministry by any decisive declara-
tion. In making this reservation, however, Lord
MoarErn very judiciously insinuated the readiness
of the present Administration to meet the wishes of
the people to a considerable extent. " I may per-
haps," he observed, " without incurring the imputation
of great rashness, venture to conjecture that the
fittest course to pursue would be, not that which is
indicated by an extreme view on either side of the
case." In other words, we are not to anticipate from
the Government any educational measures resulting
from the dictates of party zealots or religious zealots,
from fanatics or latitudinarians. That is unquestionably
the declaration which might have been anticipated
from a Russell Cabinet. That is precisely the prin-
ciple most in accordance with the present enlighten-
ment and with the present prostration of factions.
The Legislature is neither to be influenced by the
voice of passion nor by the promptings of indiffe-
rence. It would be equally monstrous to com-
mit the Department of Popular Instruction
to the direction and discretion of ANA-
CLIARSIS CLOOTZ or Of SOLOMON EAGLE. Bigotry
would be as repressive and pernicious in its effect
upon an independent people as the most frantic and
mischievous infidelity; and anything at all border-
ing on either of those extremes would be found to be
essentially prejudicial. Undue earnestness in
behalf of anything dogmatic or conventional
would exercise a baneful influence over the
intellect and morality of the people, if it did not
actually breed insubordination. Indifferentism would
in Eke manner counteract all the advantages which
might be otherwise experienced from a legislative
interference.
In a subsequent portion of his speech, Lord MOR-
PETH expressed himself yet more definitely. "With
respect to the country at large," he exclaimed,
" I am not satisfied with the exact slate of
things which prevails at present." That is
assuredly emphatic and significant enough ! That is
virtually an engagement that something will be done
by the present Government towards the amelioration
of these mental wants of the populace, and this be-
cause a distinguished member of that Government
has explicitly announced his dissatisfaction with the
existing state of things.
Lord MORPETH was not, however, contented with
this simple declaration. lie proceeded further. He
enter into the minutiae of these national exigencies.
"I think there is a call," said he, "for more schools
than we have"--so much for the extension and diffu-
sion of education by the Ministry. 44 I think there
is a call for better schools than many of those we
have"-so much for the remodelling of the sys-
tem or systems at present adopted before the
matter is embodied in a Ministerial propo-
sition. Then, again, that little dissylable " many"
implies that good may be extracted from
the systems of some; that all the schools at present
existing are not improveable in every particular ; and
that advantageous clauses in the scheme to be here

after introduced to Parliament may be drawn from
Experience, as well as suggested by Anticipation.
" I think," he continues, " that many of
our masters are ill qualified for their office;
and almost all less well paid than we could wish"—
that is tantamount to an engagement that the normal
schools must undergo a thorough reformation. No-
thing, indeed, could be wanting to inspire us with
confidence as to the intentions of the Ministry in re-
gard to national education after the lucid and
candid enunciations of Lord Moarrui ; nothing
could be wanting to confirm our most sanguine ex-
pectations of the principles likely to be sanctioned by
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, after these assurances from the
mouth of the Right Hon the Chief Commissioner of
her Majesty's Woods and Forests.
Not the least valuable portion of the harangue de-
livered by the Noble Lord on Tuesday evening was
that in which he directed his remarks to the children
suPerintended by the York and Ripon Diocesan Board

system.
- Holding this opinion as to the cause of the evils of Ire-
land—an opinion entertained, we believe, by nine-tenths
V•l4/1 ...pciul pleasure a report or an argument lately
made, at an Irish court of registration, in which it
was insisted, that under the articles of union with
Ireland, all statutes attempting to establish a differ-
ence in civil rights between the two countries, are
ipso facto null and void; and that, consequently, Ire-
land can obtain perfect equality in such rights by an
appeal to the existing laws. We noticed this argu-
ment in a former article, and pointed out what would
be the results of establishing its correctness. We
resume the consideration of this argument, and shall
here shortly consider what is the nature of the in-
strument commonly called the Act of Union between
Great Britain and Ireland, and by what law its pro-
visions are to be tested. In the argument to which
we allude, the origin, objects, and nature of the Act
of Union are thus stated :
" Eorsome time prior to the year 1800, no power on earth
(to use the words of the declaration of Irish rights) had
authority to bind the people of this country, except the
King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland. In that year a
treaty was entered into and concluded, for the purpose
of uniting the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland
into one kingdom. This treaty is commonly called the
Act of Union. This instrument is not, however a mere
Act of Parliament, but a treaty—it is so expressly
termed in the second paragraph of the fourth article,
which runs thus:—' That such Act as shall be passed to
regulate the mode by which the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and the Commons to serve in the Parliament
of the United Kingdom, shall be summoned and returned,
shall be considered as forming part of tho Treaty of
Union.' No other Act of Parliament is styled a treaty.
What is the meaning of the word treaty ? It does not
signify a law enacted by a governing body to bind its
subjects, but it means a compact entered into between
co-ordinate and sovereign powers. The co- ordinate and
sovereign powers who were parties to the Treaty of Unicn
were the separate and independent kingdoms of Great
Britain and Ireland, represented respectively by the
King, Lords, and Commons of each kingdom. The
Treaty of Union commences with the following recital :
Whereas, in pursuance of his Majesty's most gra-
cious recommendation to the two Muses of Parliament
in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of
such measure as might best tend to strengthen and to
consolidate the connexion between the two kingdoms,
the two Houses of Parliament of Great Britain, and
the two Houses of Parliament of Ireland, have severally
agreed and resolved that in order to promote and secure
the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and
to consolidate the strength, power and resources, of the
British empire, it will be advisable to concur in such
measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of
Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such
manner arid on such terms and conditions as may be es-
tablished by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of
Great Britain and Ireland. And whereas, in further-
ance of the said resolution, both Houses of the said two
Parliaments respectively, have likewise agreed upon cer-
tain articles for effectuating and establishing the said
purposes in the tenor following.' Immediately after
this recital, the treaty sets out the articles of union,
eight in number. These articles were first settled by the
Irish Parliament, and sent to England as the terms and
conditions upon which Ireland would consent to be unite d
to England. England accepted these conditions with
some slight alterations. Ireland agreed to these altera-
tions, and confirmed the articles so 'altered. The ar-
ticles of union thus became matters of stipulation and
bargain betwe( n the two independent kingdoms of Great
Britain and Ireland. Great Britain solemnly pledged
herself to an exact observance of these terms and con-
ditions, and Ireland confiding in that solemn pledge, con-
sented to the union, which she was at that time fully
competent to reject.''

The statements above quoted are no doubt histo-
rically true. The Act of Union is a treaty entered into
between the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire-
land, at that time sovereign and independent, and
connected only by the golden link of the Crown ; the
very nature of the instrument would prove it to
be a treaty even although that denomination had not
been affixed to it, as in point of fact has been done in
the fourth article. A treaty is a common law enacted
and ratified by two or more nations for the due
execution of which each nation, party to the treaty,
pledges itself to all the other nations parties to the
same. The paragraphs or divisions of a treaty are
not termed sections, as in an Act of Parlia-
ment, but articles, and a treaty is said to
consist of so many articles. All these
forms are observed in the Treaty of Union.
It consists of eight articles, and the ratification of
these articles was thus solemnly declared by the Le- I
gislatures of Great Britain and Ireland :—" In order,
therefore, to give full effect and validity to the same,
be it enacted by the KING'S most excellent Majesty,
by arftl with, &c. &c., that the said foregoing recited
articles, each and every one of them, according to the
true intent and tenor thereof, be ratified, confirmed,
and approved ; and be, and they are hereby declared