The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-02 00:00:00

'ELLING TON COLLEGE.

The first regular " speech day" of this institution,
which bids fair to become a rival of our more cele-
brated public schools, took place yesterday, in the
presence of his Royal Highness the Prince Consort,
his Royal Highness Prince Arthur, the Earl of
Derby, and a large party of guests, among whom
were Sir J. Lawrence, Sir C. Phipps, Sir W.. Cope„
and the Rev. Mr. Kingsley. The place chrisen for•
the ceremony was the great dining hall of the col-
lege, in the centre of which, from a slightly elevated
platform, the youthful Cicero harangued. the assem-
bled Quirites, and the aspiring Roscil appealed to
a good-humoured and kindly disposed audience.
After Kent's beautiful anthem, " Thine, 0 Lord,
is the greatness," very sweetly and correctly given,
with which the proceedings commenced.
Mr. Boughey, the head prmfect of the school,
stepped forward on the platform, and began the
recitations with a portion of Mr. Tennyson's -well-
known ode on the death of the late Duke of Wel-
lington. Mr. Boughey, who yesterday " be,re his
blushing honours thick upon him," and carried.
away the palm from his rivals, will forgive us if we,
in all kindness, suggest to him the old st,v,ry of the
Athenian orator, who, on being asked what were
the three principal parts of a speech, reptlied, "Ac-
tion, action, action." Still, on are whole, the per-
forn►ance was very creditable.

The Rev. Mr. Benson, the head master, then pro-
ceeded to award the Queen's medal, which is to the
school in point of honour what the Victoria Cross
is to the United Services. The following extract
from the statute will show the object for which this
prize was established:—
" Her Majesty would wish, by establishing this nrize, to
hold up to the admiration of the students, and to their emu-
lation as far as they are capable of emulating such virtues,
the great qualities of the hero and statesman to whose honour
and to whose memory the college has been instituted. It is
not beyond the power of anybody to exhibit cheerful submis-
sion to superiors. unselfish good fellowship with equals, inde-
ixialenee and self-respect with the strong, kindness, and pre-
tect4on to the weak, and a readiness to forgive offences to-
wards himself, and to conciliate the differences of others,
and, above all, fearless devotion to duty and unflinching
truthfulness. lie who displays all or any of these quali-
ties will have so far trod in the steps of the great Duke."
Amid the hearty applause of his comrades and of
the whole assembly Mr. Boughey was called up to
receive the medal by the head master, who in a few
brief words highly complimented him upon the
good conduct which he had always exhibited and
upon the great assistance which he had given the
masters in forwarding the discipline and organi-
zation of the school. At the conclusion. of • the
speech his Royal Highness the Prince Consort, pre-
sented the medal to Mr. Boughey, expressing at
the same time a hope that the success which had
marked the opening of his career might attfaid him
through life. The medal, designed, as we 'were in-
formed, by the Prince Consort himself, bore on one
side the head of her present Majesty; on the other
the simple motto " Duty towards God and man"
occupied the centre, encircled by the words, "in
honour of Arthur, Duke of Wellington..." The
Prince Consort's prize for history was awarded to
another distinguished pupil, Mr_ Cubitt, who also
received the governor's first prize for chymistry,
Mr. Boughey gaining the second ehymical award.
The Archbishop of Canterbury's prize for divinity
was carried off by Mr. Chase, while Mr. S)topford,
after reading a very good specimen of French com-
position, was rewarded with the Earl of Derby's
prize for that language. A capital scene, capitally
played, from " L'Avare," then succeeded, i n which
Spence, ma., as Maitre Jacques, threw himself so
thoroughly into the spirit of the piece ati to elicit
peals of laughter from the audience. Boughey
made a good Harpagon,while La Fleche e.nd Valere
were well played by Kelly and Stopford. Mr. Ed-
wards, the winner of the governor's prize for Latin
composition and the first mathematical. prize, re-
cited a specimen of his composition, but spoke
too low for us to venture an opinion as to its
merits. The German prize was gained by Spence,
ma., who certainly, if he put -the same
energy into his studies as into his acting, should
command success. A very lucid chyrnical essay
upon the composition, the properties, and the modes
of smelting iron was then read by Mr. Cubitt, who
obtained in return the governor's Ist prize for
chymistry. Donne, ma., and Graham, ma., respec7
tively obtained the Ist and 2d prizes for botany.
We must not omit to mention that Mr. Auetain won
the 2d mathematical prize, and that Mr. Newbury
carried off the arithmetical prize against f. he whole
school. The school prizes, in which sever al of the
above-mentioned youths a second. time real ped fresh
rewards, were then distributed, and con sisted of
standard works of the best authors in ver. y elegant
and beautiful bindings. The proceedings were
brought to a conclusion by a scene from t be " Mid-
summer Night's Dream," in which Bab ington, as
Quince the joiner, and Spence, ma., as Br ottom the
weaver, particularly distinguished themutilves, giv-
ing themselves up uncontrolledly to the f un of the
moment, and diffusing it in an astonishi ne: manner
for such young performers among the 13p tetators.
Stevens's madrigal, " From Oberon in Fairy Land,
formed a fit epilogue to the scene, and was feelingly
rendered and enthusiastically applauded. Dulce
Domum," most creditably sung, showed
what was to be the result of the day
ceremony.
The The National Anthem, led by Mr.
13adZiPi;ible sin
sit fficiently
sing-
ing master, to whose exertions the
what may
be of the boys is chiefly. due, concluded_
nce. Between the acts the guests be called the first and principal aecsttsofretthieriaertfoortmh-e-
a
residence of the head miansttehre,
awftherenreoo
annm concert,
elegant
m.
luncheon awaited them. In e
consisting of sacred and profane music, .given by
under the leadership of Mr. Bishop,
the arrangements of the day to at end.
bthroeugbhoyts .1
The number of the pupils is not vet cc )mpleted.
At present there are 149 pupils, and there is
ample room for 60 more. It is, however, ex-
pected that after the vacation there will be but
few vacancies, as the excellence of the education,
combining as it does "those branches .af scientific
knowledge which have a special application to
the arts, commerce, and industry of the country"
with "what is usually understood by a gi)o d English
and classical education," is beginning to be apPre-
elated- The boys, if we may judge ' from their
appearance, are the best sanitary comrn.ents on the
situation of the school. A more healtJny, happier,
manly set of lads it has never been ov r lot to see.
The system which is pursued is identi cal with
. that
of the late Dr. Arnold—viz., of trustir ig everything
to the honour of the boys, and the ref snits of it, we
were informed, are excellent,corps rai and other
punishments having much diminV shed since its
introduction.

THE SUN.

LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1880.

Yest© rday was an anniversary which will never
be forgt Aten in the British dominions. Twenty-
seven ylars ago 800,000 of our fellow subjects,
slaves till the dawn of the Ist of August, became at
once mal 3ters of themselves. The Crown of Eng-
land shook off gladly what had long been an annoy-
ing and burthensome appendage, not an ornament ;
and all England rejoiced that every portion of the
British dominions, and not merely our own island
home, lbecame sacred to liberty. Islands, where
once sli tvery was the normal condition of the
coloured man, became instinct with the genius
of the i nother country, and the great Slave Re-
public :,00n found to its mortification that some
black 13 aen, deemed " things" in its own territory,
could nipt be reclaimed, when the accidents of the
sea had thrown them on the Barbadoes.

But Lhe work is not yet complete. Not only
a g.twery dominate the whole republic where
"all tilt
is still n are born and dual," but the slave trade
rampant by the good help of that republic.
Abjurin
el' it herself, she yet through a paltry
jealousy
refuse 4 to co-operate, in the arrangements
on the high seas necessary to give full efficiency to
.3f our cruisers. While Spain has
continued: to this day, nothwilthstanding we gave
her £400,,000 to put down the slave trade—Spain
has continued it as vigorously as ever. Indeed,
she remains now the only Power vrhich nurses
instead of opposing the evil. The bravery and
determination of our cruisers have not been alto-
gethcr in vain, however. It is something to know
that while during the five years terminating
in 1840 not fewer than 135,000 slaves were
im-
ported annually, the numbers have fallen

to 35,000 at most ; though there is at
the present moment a tendency to increase rather
than otherwise.

Under these circumstances, our Foreign Secre-
tary has addressed a long communication to Lord
COWLEYJ virtually, of course, to the Emperor of
the FRENCH ; and, as the EMPEROR is so very
friendly just now, and has especially told us all of
his love of hohesty, and his hatred of thieving, we
may hope he will cordially co-operate with us in
endeavouring to put down the most infernal dis-
honesty and robbery—that of robbing men of their
liberty, robbing them indeed of themselves, and
making them the property of kidnappers and re-
ceivers of stolen goods. His lordship reviews the
whole state of the case, and shows not only what
has been done and might yet be done to destroy
this accursed traffic, but the great commercial ad-
vantages which have resulted from the destruction
of the trade where it has been stopped, so that
there is not even the poor excuse of advantage to
commerce generally, to plead on behalf of this
accursed traffic. The commerce with the West
Coast of Africa, from the ports where the
trade has been suppressed, actually amounts to
£3,000,000 sterling per annum ! From the Bight
of Benin, from which, twenty years ago, there
werg, no exports but kidnapped negroes, the expor-
tation of palm oil last year was estimated at nearly
17,000 tons of the value of between £700,000 and
£BOO,OOO ! Lagos was, till our operations destroyed
the slave trade there, one of the worst of the slave
marts—last year its exports in palm oil, ebony,
and cotton, amounted to £220,000 ! Such reassur-
ing facts as these convict the slave trade, if it were
possible of being worse than any epithets yet ap-
plied to it can describe. It is not only an infernal
villany in itself, but it cheats the world of a really
valuable and honourable commerce, and deprives
the poor natives of the civilising blessings of honest
industry and trade. Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S views
of the effects of suppressing the slave trade on the
coast of Africa, and of the unspeakable blessing of
commerce as a civiliser of the heathen and barbarous
tribes have been fully borne out, it may be remem-
bered, by the observations and experience of Dr.
LIVINGSTONE himself, both on the east and west
coasts of that continent.
Lord JOHN proposes to the French Government
three measures as essential to the success of our
policy. The first is a systematic plan of cruising
on the coasts of Cuba by the vessels of Great
Britain, Spain, and the United States ; the second
is the introduction of a law of registration in Cuba,
by means of which the employment of slaves im-
ported contrary to law might be detected by the
Spanish authorities ; and the third and last is a plan
of emigration from China, regulated by the agents
of European nations in conjunction with the
Chinese Government.
For the first of these it is desirable to obtain
the co-operation of the United States ; this
this ought not now to be so very difficult. The
PRESIDENT, if he be at all a man of honour, must
be ready to join with England and France in
giving effect to the language of his own message,
to which Lord JOHN RUSSELL calls the attention
of the French EMPEROR :-" It is truly lament-
able that Great Britain and the United States
should be obliged to expend such a vast amount of
blood and treasure for the suppression of the
African slave trade, and this when the only portions
of the civilised world where it is tolerated and en-
couraged are the Spanish Islands of Cuba and
Porto Rico." If this indicates, as we may hope it
does, that America is beginning to get weary of
the expenditure into which she has been forced
in the way of cruisers, and of maintaining the cap-
tured negroes in Liberia, some relaxation of her
very silly jealousy may be looked for.
The second proposal is, we fear, of doubtful trope.
An efficient system of Registration was long ago
arrasged by Spain, and she professed, of course,
her intention to carry it out. Congratulations
even, we believe, passed on the subject; but it has
remained a dead letter ever since. It was doubt-
less so intended. Cuba still continues to be the
grand mart and centre of the slave trade, and the
natural and horrible result is, that the planters
have not even the inducement of self-interest to
take reasonable care of their slaves. They use
them up, and replace them by the aid of the

slaver.
The last proposal is one which requires two con
ditions for its fulfilment; the first that the slave

trade be suppressed, and the planter compelled, if

he want more labour, to look to free immigration.
The next, that adequate securities be provided for
the fair treatment of the coolies, not only in Cuba,
but in obtaining them from China. The despatch
we are referring to is the last paper of a series
just laid before Parliament, which tells us
officially what we had all heard before,
that the crimping of coolies in China, by the
natives themselves, set on by foreign traders, has
been of a kind which almost beggars description.
Steps have, however, been already taken to place
things on a better footing; and it appears that
the Chinese women even are overcoming their
aversion to emigration. The Chinese are naturally
not only industrious, but ever ready to carry their
industry wherever they can ; California and
Australia are evidence enough of that ; and it needs
but that they should have confidence in receiving

fair treatment and pay, and they would probably

be ready to solve all the difficulties of the labour
question, in any of the countries between or near

the tropics.

A Palace of Justice—as we intimated yesterday
—is now formally commended as at once feasible
and desirable by the carefully prepared report of
the Royal Commissioners. The Commission in
question was appointed, it may be remembered, to
select that particular site which might upon due
consideration appear to them the best among all the
various localities proposed for the New Courts of
Law when eventually concentrated. And, as might
have been safely predicted, the site chosen unani-
mously by the Royal Commissioners is the one
suggested by the Attorney-General, Sir RICHARD
BETIIELL, namely, the space—hitherto little better
than a squalid rookery—lying betwixt Carey-
street and the Strand, exactly midway between the
Temple and Lincoln's Inn, in the very heart's core
of the purely legal district of the metropolis. The,
selection of this site in particular is commendable,
especially as a choice involving in it a variety of very
remarkable advantages. Firstly, the spot fixed upon
at the Attorney-General's suggestion by the Royal
Commissioners is one of the very spots in all this
vast capital most demanding improvement. It is,
if the bull be allowable, a waste plot of ground,
densely and villainously populated. It is all this,
and a great deal more that is abominable and insa-
lubrious, while it is at the same time one of the
most central parts of all London ! It is, in point of
fact, about TILE " central part" of London !
Situated at an equal distance from the mercantile
and maritime East and the fashionable and legisla-
tive West—the knot of union between the twin
metropolitan cities of London and Westminster.
Let this site be really swept clean of all its present
encumbrances, and let there be a fitting Palace of
I usties then erected—and how many interests will
tb.ere nothave been together carefully consulted. The

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