The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-11 00:00:00

Tll Pi SALW, Lo. no 14, vft ii)..4.*- I.E --ii Aii i N (4. JANU A. It

name—Slß B. BRIDGES—here intervened to save

the honour of the tenant- Your master,
no doubt, told you to shoot the rooks." Poor
HARRY HOILE here let out a world of wit in
weakness, " But there is a terrible many of them
other birds, and I was told to drive all birds off
the land." All birds. To be sure—farmer
HARVEY suffered ten times more from Mr. RICE'S
pheasants than from all the rooks for twenty
miles round. Poor HARRY'S little wit was set
upon saving his master's crop. He well knew that
every grain these preserved vermin scratched up
and eat—(for vermin they were to the farmer)
lost his master one hundred grains next August.
HARRY treated all the vermin alike therefore.
HARRY thought it too bad, that when wheat was
80s. a quarter, and bread a shilling the quartern
loaf, " them other birds," worse than the rooks,
should not share the fate of rooks. Well, such
was all the evidence. The Bench " consulted "
" considered the case clearly proved against him"
—" ordered him to pay 1/. and 17s. 61. costs,
or ONE MONTH'S IMPRISONMENT WITH HARD
LABOUR !

Poor HARRY—" I have no money but what

I work for."

Sir B. BRIDGES—" It will b© a very good
warning for you."

Poor HARRY--" Will you allow me any time?"
Chairman—" No."
Poor HARRY—" I have got 10s."
Chairman—" That won't do."

Poor HARRY was accordingly taken to prison !
Probably at the rate of his wages the month's
imprisonment and hard labour were not very dif-
ferent to a fine which would have half starved
him fur six months ; but starvation and liberty
were the choice of a half-witted English lad.
What shall wo say for the heartless abuse of jus-
tice for the sake of a cock pheasant by a Bench of
English Magistrates ?

Lord LONDFABOROUGH, to his infinite credit, did
something more than burn with indignation for
the reputation of the county magistracy, and
for a wrong which surpassed the worst tales
of rural Turkish justice. He sent poor HA.RItY
a 51. note. Never since five-pound notes were
invented was one better used. It goes far to
redeem the character of the order—Comity Magi-
strate. Not, however, to redeem the character
of that particular Bench—one of whose number
could not rest without venting his mortification
in a letter of cur-like insolence to his Lordship,
which, of course, his Lordship will preserve as a
curiosity. Will Mr. BRIGHT return to his old
battle with those country justices and the game
laws, and leave that with Russia to us ? It will
be better than wanting us also to strike our flag.

The fact that in this country the extremest
ignorance and poverty are to be found daily and
hourly alongside of the highest civilisation and
luxury to which humanity has, as yet, attained,
is too apparent to escape the observation of any
intelligent Englishman, and presents too startling
an anomaly not to stimulate him now aid then
to reflection. He has but to perambulate the
lanes and alleys of our cities, to cast a hasty
glance at the miserable, crowded, and unwholesome
tenements of the poor, and pass from thence to
our aristocratic squares, and on to our crowded
thoroughfares, to feel convinced that the regions
of darkness are hardly farther from the regions
of light than is the lowest poverty from the
heaven of the social scale. Yet how much after
suck a tour remains to be revealed ? What a
depth of ignorance, depravity, and woe, what a
height of intelligence, benevolence, and enjoy-
ment confront his eye in the pages of the daily
and weekly press. Reports of inquests held
by the coroner, of the police-office, of the
Courts of Assize, of the gaol and of the peni-
tentiary, we find alongside reports of festive
proceedings of the meetings of philanthropic
institutions, of deeds of charity and mercy, of
scholastic triumph; and of the results of scientific
application directed to the promotion of the natio-
nal welfare ; alongside of advertisements, also, in
which invention offers luxury to enjoyment, com-
fort to suffering, and the mitigation of toil to
the over-burdened who can pay for it. No won-
der, then, that in dealing with the subject of
Ragged Schools, a veteran Statesman like Lord
J. RUSSELL should draw attention to an anomaly
so patent and so deplorable, and throw out some
suggestions in order to its mitigation. The
wonder would have been had he not done so.
Having noticed the greater attention bestowed
of late years than formerly on educational subject',
and the progress made both in the quality and
accessability of the means of material comfort, so
that we were now enabled with small means to
obtain clothing and furniture which might have
been envied by the richest of the land three or
four centuries ago, we find him speaking after
this fashion :—" Yet in the midst of this age of
civilisation, and in a country proud, and justly
proud, of what the labour, the skill, the ingenuity,
and the science of man had accomplished, we
found that in the midst of society—in London,
close by the dwellings of the highest and noblest
of the land, in the cities where our great manu-
factures flourished, and in the townssupplied with
every convenience of life—that there were per-
sons in the lowest class of society, and, in a
country which traded with the countries of the
whole world, knowing nothing of geography
(would that were all !); in a country boasting o:

its history and constitution, knowing nothing of
that history and constitution ; but more than all,
in a country where the light of the Gospel was
spread around, knowing nothing of the truth of

religion, and to whom the name of GOD and
of CHRIST was unknown." Having established
the truth of his assertions by a reference to th•
reports of the chaplains of gaols and inspectors of
prisons, we find him casting about for the cause
of a state of things like this. The poverty of the
lower classes ? Yes, in their poverty he finds a
clue to their ignorance--a poverty which is the
result of excessive competition, and which de-
prives them of the means of doing more than ob-
tain enough for their daily sustenance—a poverty
and a competition which, in his opinion, no law
nor the adoption of any socialistic theory could
remedy, but which in ours good legislation might
greatly mitigate. Having arrived at this conclu-
sion, hardly worthy of an enlightened Statesman,
wo come to his Bernier resort ; and that is, fur-

nishing tho lower classes with such means of educa-

tion, that their children need -not grow up in a

state of ignorance so gross and deplorabl9, but

should be put in the way of obtaining, by intelli-

gent labour, something more than is necessary for

bare sustenance. These means were offered to a

Large extent in ragged and industrial schools, which

could not be toogenerally or generously supported—
schools calculated to improve society, not by means
of vague speculation, "but by that plain, practical,

patient dilly work which GOD had ordained to
be the lot of man, and by which alone they might

hope such amelioration -might be effected."
Efficient, if not adequate means, doubtless, and
such as we also sincerely wish were more gene-
rally offered ; means, too, which should not, as
his Lordship suggests, be suffered to be made
available for any other classes than those by whom
they are most needed, and were especially
designed.

LATEST NE WS.

THE COUNCIL OF WAR AT PARIS.

PARIS, FRIDAY.
The Moniteur of this day publishes the follow.

ing :

"A Council of War met to-day at the Tuileries.
The Emperor presided. The Council is composed
of the Emperor, the Prince Jerome Napoleon,
the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Napoleon, Lord
Cowley, Sir Edmund Lyons, Admiral Dundas, Sir
Richd. Airey, Sir Harry Jones, General La Mar-
mora, Marshal Valliant, Count Walewski, General
Canroltert, General Bosquet, General Niel, Gene-
ral Martimquey, Admiral Hamelin, Admiral Jarier
de la Graviere, and Admiral Penaud.

"The Council is not commissioned to arrange
the plan of the approaching campaign, nor to
deliberate on the political considerations which
might cause one plan to be preferred to another.
Its object is to enlighten the allied Governments
as to the various military combinations which can

be adopted, to foresee all eventualities, and to
determine their exigencies. Formed for the

greater part of experienced Generals, who have
almost all taken a glorious part in the operations;
accomplished in the East and in the Baltic, the
Council of War can only give advice, which will
have been deeply weighed, and furnish proposals,
eminently useful for the best employment of the
land and sea forces which the Western Powers
are preparing.

BANK OF FRANCE.

PARIS, JAN. 11, 8 A.M.

The Moniteur publishes the return of the con-
dition of the Bank of France and the branch
banks up to Thursday, the 10th of January :
Active.—Coin and bullion, 81,184,345 f. 260. ;
coins in the branch banks, 118,426,113 f. ; bills
due yesterday to be paid to-day, 638,424 f. 22c.;
portfolio of Paris, of which 86,060,607 f. 77c.
come from the branch banks, 235,755,409 f.
97c. ; portfolio of branch bills on the place,
210,939,492 f. ; advanced on bullion and
moneys, 3,089,000 f. ; advanced on bul-

lion and moneys in the branch banks,
1,661,700 f. ; advanced on French public
securities, 40,802,236 f. 10c. ; advanced on
French public securities in the branch banks,
6,773,250 f.; advanced on rail way shares and bonds
34,210,300 f. ; advanced on railway shares and
bonds in the branch banks, 11,145,600 f. ; dis-
count of Treasury bonds to the Treasury,
40,000,000 f. ; advanced to the State on the
treaty of the 30th June, 1848, 60,000,000 f. ;
rentes of the reserve bank and its branches, ex-
bank, 12,980,750 f. 14c. ; rentes, disposable
funds, 52,188,783 f. 88c. ; hotel and furniture
of the Bank, 4,000,000 f. ; property (immeubles)l
of the Bank and branch banks, 5,055,095 f. ;
expenses of the administration of the Bank
and branch banks, 108,863 f. 93c. ; various,
1,610,142 f. 33c. Total, 920,570,505 ft 83c.

Passsive.—Capital of the Bank, 91,250, 000 f. ;
reserve of the Bank and braitohes, ex-b Inks,
12,980,750 f. 14c. ; reserve imrnobiliere (fired re-
serves) of the Bank, 4,000,000 f. ; bills to bearer
in circulation of the Rink, 512,432,000 f. ;

bills to bearer in circulation of tlie
branch banks, 95,505,5501. ; bills and orders
payable at Paris and in the branch banks,
5,490,698 f. 98c.; bills (receipts) payable at sight,
at Paris and in the branch banks, 4,089,108 f.;
Treasury account current creditor (crediteur)
51,372,584 f. 70c. ; current accounts of Paris,
106,806,255 f. 86c. ; current accounts in the
branch establishments, 23,888,1141. ; dividends
due, 4,217,121 f. ; various discounts and interest

at Paris and in tho branch establishments,

2,815,713 f. ; commission on deposits, 4,353

95c. ; re-discounts during the last half-year at
Paris and in the branch establishments, 1,738,733 f.
2c. ; dishonoured bills, 7,521 f. 82c. ; sundries,
3,972,000 f.. 40c. Total, 920,570,505 f. 83c.
Examined and certified by the vouchers.
The Governor of the Bank of France,
Count d'ARGOUT.

BERLIN, JAN. 9.

According to the Gazette de Koenigsberg, Russia
has declined the mediation of Austria, and accepts
that of Saxony. It is stated from Vienna that
Count Nesselrode has declared that the proposi-
tions of the 22d Dec. presented no absolute cha-
racter, and that Russia. admitted modifications.

FRANCE.
PARIS., THURSDAY EVENING.
Orders have been given to make preparations at
Rouen for the immediate arrival of a very large
quantity of gunpowder from the manufactory of
the Bouchet, in order to forward it without delay
to Brest and Cherbourg,. INTot less than 110,000
tons are to be sent to the former port, and 224,000
to the latter.