The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 1869,

of June at the earliest. .The clauses were between
two and three hundred, and could not possibly be
briefly discussed with any regard to propriety. With
respect to what had fallen from the Lord Chancellor
as to the wishes of the mercantile community on the
subject, Lord CAIRNS said that the noble and learned
lord himself could attend to their wishes far better
in that respect, and could address the deputations
with greater authority than one of the law officers of
the Crown in the other House, who was not in the
Cabinet, and would have his time much taken up
with other business. The noble and learned lord
concluded by declaring that those most anxious on
the subject would rejoice at the House of Lords
taking up the measure first, if they knew the
risk they ran through other arrangements of
not getting it passed at all during this year.
Lord RussELL's remarks on the topic under dis-
cussion were characterised by good sense and discre-
tion. He showed the importance of the Upper
House taking some measures for consideration, and
he made a suggestion worthy of notice to the effect
that Government should extend the estimates to the
end of June, so that the House of Commons might
have time to discuss those measures which were sent
up to the House of Lords for consideration. It is to
be hoped that some beneficial result will follow from
this debate, and that this, the first session, of a
new Parliament will not pass away without wit-
nessing a better mode of transacting business in
the Upper House. It is idle to pursue the same
course year after year, and then to complain of its
evil effects. The interests of the country suffer from
the delay that takes place at one season and the undue
haste that is made at another, and it is high time
that a change should be made for the better in this
respect, for the present system does not conduce
to the credit or character of either House of Par-
liament.

The news from the United States is very unwel-
come, though not altogether unlooked for. There
have been for some time past rumours of the reluc-
tance of the Senate to confirm the Convention agreed
upon by the English and American Ministers ; but
most of us were willing to hope that such aversion
was exaggerated, and that both countries would be
only too glad to get rid of the interminable Alabama
question. Mr. ItEVERDY JGHNSON7 whom Lord STAN-
LEY not unreasonably accused of "letting out the
cat," might justly be supposed to know what
was in the bag he himself carried, and his asser-
tions were frequent and positive enough to satisfy the
most sceptical. Terms, according to the American
Minister had been agreed on by the London and Wash-
ington Cabinets, which were honourable to both
countries, and there could be no fear that any fresh
source of disturbance would arise. We learn by
telegram, however, that on Thursday last the Con-
ventio❑ was rejected by the Senate. We have two
versions of the affair. The Philadelphia news tells
us that the Senate committee agreed almost unani-
mously to recommend the
.rejection of the Treaty.
The telegram from Washington says that the Com
mittee reported adversely on the Treaty
with Great Britain, but favourably on
the St. Juan Treaty. The explanation of so unwise
a step is possibly to be found in political rancour.
The present antagonism between the Senate and Pre-
sident JOHNSON is so strong that the members of the
Upper House of Congress might very likely be un-
willing to allow their uncompromising adversary the
credit and the satisfaction of solving so difficult a
problem by his last official act. There are not want-
ing, however, indications of another nature. The
old feeling against Englan I is once more showing it.
self, and there are interests at Boston which are not
likely t) miss the opportunity it affords them
For the present the affair is again involved
in wearisome perplexity, though we must hope not
irretrievably so. One thing is certain. We cannot
make further concessions. We have done our part,
and must wait in patience. If the right of England
to recognise the Confederates as belligerents at all
is the disputed point, we fear the end of the en -
tanglement is some way off. No English Minister
could consent to submit such a matter to arbitra-
tion, but if he should do so, the Parliament, the
Press, and the public would very soon disclaim him
as a representative of English feeling, and a guardian
of English honour and interests.

THE most laborious of inquiries, and the most
voluminous collection of official information, have
produced their first-fruits in the shape of the
Endowed Schools Bill. The measure is not worthy
of the exhaustive investigation of the Schools
Inquiry Commission, but its shortcomings are inevi-
table from the nature of the proposed law. Its opera-
tion will be only temporary, and will lapse in the
space of three or four years, when the time will have
arrived for the entire reform suggested by the com-
mission. The radical amendment of the present
system of secondary education can be effected
only as part of the revision of all the branches
of public instruction. But in the meanwhile the
temporary measure is founded wholly on the report
of the commission, and embodies several important
stipulations from which immediate benefit will be
derived. The admirably comprehensive report of the
commission recommended that for the future endowed
schools be divided into three classes, the distinction to
be by the age of the pupils. The first class was to
be devoted to the education of boys who remain at
school to the age of 18 or 19 ; the second grade
would be determined by an age limit of about 1G;
and the third limit would be fixed at 14. As the
duration of a pupil's education depends upon his
social position, this division into grades would be
really a provision for the different wants of different
classes. Beyond this the Commissionersrecommended
that Parliament interfere in the disposal of any
endowment where it appeared that the object of the
donor was no longer of public benefit. Lastly, it
was agreed that the endowments ought to be more
equally distributed, so that there should no longer be
a surplus in some districts and comparative destitution
in others. To carry out some of these reforms, the bill
brought in by Mr. FORSTER proposes to create a
commission which shall have power to review the
educational endowments of the country, and recom-
mend alterations in the trust deeds, subject to the
sanction of Parliament. Such a body will be more
readily formed, and work more advantageously for
the temporary purposes of the Bill, than the Provincial
Boards recommended in the Schools Inquiry report.
And though it will not enjoy all the powers
which it was proposed to confer on the Provincial
Boards, its functions will be so extensive
as to secure many of the most needed
changes. The Commission's power to submit trust
deeds to Parliament for alteration, at once strikes a
blow at the greatest abuses of the present system.
It will now be no longer possible for money to be
wasted on the instruction of single pupils, or in teach-
ing subjects which, useful enough at the time the
endowment was made, are utterly unfit for the
requirements of this age. Latin and Greek will no
longer be inflicted upon boys in all but the
humblest ranks, to the prejudice of teaching which
might fit them for the duties of life. In short,
the will of a donor who had no conception of the
requirements of the nineteenth century will not be
allowed to prevail over the public good. This is
by no means all that is needed—it does not affect,
for instance, the management of schools—but it is
much, and is the precursor of more.

In addition to these temporary arrangements, the
Bill contains several important provisions which are
intended to be permanent. In no effective scheme of
reform could they be left out. An Educational
Council of twelve is to be permanently appointed.
Half it members will be nominated by the Govern-

ment, and the other six by the three universities of
Cambridge, Oxford, and London. This council,
which is quite distinct from the commission,
will be entrusted with the certification of
masters and the examination of all endowed
schools. After a certain date no teacher can be ap-
pointed to an endowed school who does not possess a
certificate of fitness, granted either by the Committee
of Council on Education or by this new council.
The charge of schools will no longer be entrusted to
individuals because they are deaf, lame, or otherwise
unfit for any occupation except that of perverting
education. A teacher must be equal to the duties of
one of the most difficult of callings before he can be
appointed. In addition, all endowed schools shall be
examined under the rules drawn up by this council,
and exhibitions open to the pupils of endowed
schools shall in future be awarded by the
council, or its officers. This power will subject the
secondary schools to a test of usefulness as searching
as the examination now required of all elementary
schools which receive aid from Government. Inef-
ficient or misdirected teaching, the,deplorable results
which were exposed by the Inquiry, will at
once be detected. The value of these stipulations is
self-evident. All that is necessary for the reform of
endowed schools as they exist, and the substitution
of efficient teaching, is provided. For the more com-
plete scheme, including redistribution of endow-
ments, we must perforce wait.

THE confident statement made by the Opposition
journals, that the QUEEN'S absence from Parliament
was due entirely to her repugnance to utter the
words placed in her mouth by the Royal Speech,
proves to have been as unfounded as it was confident.
Up to within a very few days of the opening of the
session lIEn. MAJESTY hoped to meet the two
Houses of the Legislature. It was only on the
urgent advice of her physicians that she abandoned
her intention. But so earnest is the SOVEREIGN in
the wish to mark her confidence in the Reformed
House of Commons, that she has expressed the wish
that the Address which both Houses pass in reply to
the Royal Speech may be presented to her by the
members of the two Houses in person. In a word, as
the QUEEN is unfortunately prevented by illness
from going to Parliament, she desires that Parlia-
ment should come to her. We need scarcely say
that both Parliament and the nation will rejoice in
this manifestation of the SOVEREIGN'S interest in
the political change which has lately been effected,
and her confidence in the advisers whom that change
has produced. Lord CAIRNS in the Upper House, and
Mr. DISRAELI in the Lower, had not a word to say
against this proposal. We can easily believe that it
was made all the more willingly by Mr. GLADSTONE
and Lord GRANVILLE, because it gave them an oppor-
tunity of disproving the idle rumours as to the want
of cordiality between the QUEEN and her Ministers.
It was this aspect of it which provoked the anger of
Sir LAWRENCE PALK. Throughout the debates
on the Reform Bill the hon. baronet re-
peatedly shewed his dislike of any exten-
sion of the franchise, and his restlessness under
Mr. DISRAELI'S educating process. The world has
changed, but Sir LAWRENCE PALK- remains the
same. The resisters of democracy in 1866 became
the heroes of a Tory democracy in 1868; but the
west country member continues where he was,
except that he now represents East Devon instead of
South Devon. He, therefore, can see no cause of
congratulation in an enlarged constituency and a
reformed House. Much less can he understand
why it should be celebrated by a procedure
which was last adopted after the battle of
Trafalgar. In the great victory of a nation over
its neighbour there was something satisfactory ; inn
blood-dyed decks, in sinking ships, in wounds and
gore and death there was abundant cause for
rejoicing; but in the peaceful enfranchisement of
our own working class, in the admission of more
than a million of our fellow-subjects to political
power, he sees none. And yet, perhaps,
Sir LAWRENCE PALK was but the spokesman
of many who more wisely kept silence. They cannot
be expected to view with satisfaction " a political
triumph which may, or may not, have been gained,"
or to be in the mood for repeating a piece of
State ceremony which was last performed when
the nation was delirious with joy. But if the repeti-
tion of that ceremony should suggest a parallel
between the vanquished of 1805 and the vanquished
of 1868, there is no fear that we shall confound
them. Tories no less than Liberals are Englishmen ;
are every whit as loyal and patriotic. The only
difference is that Liberals and Tories differ as to
the manner of shewing their loyalty and their
patriotism.

THE Millennium is come at last. The Orange lion
has lain down with the tiltraniontane lamb; the
Kerry leopard has made friends with the Antrim
kid. Mr. JOHNSTON, M.P. for Belfast, has moved,
and the O'DoNoGifirE, M.P. for Tralee, has seconded,
a motion for repealing the Party Processions Act.
Mr. JOHNSTON was lately in prison for violating
that Act ; Mr. O'DorroGnDE needs no intro-
duction to identify him. When two such
men agree touching any one thing, denial
must surely be unwise, impossible. And
yet what is it that they Want ? The repeal of
an Act which was passed to prevent them from quar-
relling; the repeal of an Act which forbade the
wearers of yellow to celebrate the siege of Derry and
the battle of the Boyne, and the wearers of green to
break the heads of the others for doing so. Both
parties desire to break each other's heads. Why
should they not do so ? Only if we give them leave
to do so it will not be quite the Millennium that we
shall see. It is not for nothing that lion and lamb,
leopard and kid are asking for freedom to bark and
bite. Give them that freedom, and they will
assuredly not only bark and bite, but growl and
fight, " for 'tis their nature to,"

.II'LEAN'S AN 2V UAL EXHIBITION OF OIL
PAIN TIN us.

The fourth annual exhibition of oil paintings, British
and foreign, is now open at Mr. M'Lean's new gallery, 7,
Haymarket, and a finer collection of pictures has rarely
been witnessed. Notwithstanding that Mr. M'Lean has
had to encounter a sharp competition he has succeeded
in spite of all opposition in collecting and arranging
for the inspection of the public about 160 " oils" of the
highest character ; many of them, indeed, having a con-
tinental reputation, and most of which will not fail to
delight all true admirers of the fine arts. In the exhibi-
tors we meet with no picture of trifling merit, each one is
a gem in its particular sphere ; and, unlike other exhibi-
tions, Mr. M‘Leans' specialty is quality as well as quan-
tity ; the rule in general being the reverse. Space
permits us but briefly to enumerate the most beautiful
amongst the beautiful, and thus we begin with " May
Blossom," by W. Bouguereau, in which the flesh tints of
the principle figure are surpassingly fine. " Capri—
gathering oranges," by E. Sain, is a delightful picture, so
is the "Confessional," by Gustave de Yonghe. C. Marchall's
two celebrated paintings "Penelope" and "Phryne"
adorn the cAlection, and Merles "Marguerite" at once
attracts and retains the attention of the visitor. The
"Artist's Model," by Frith, is remarkable for the clover
way in which the lights are dealt with, and many of the
visitors will at once recognise both the place and the artist
at work therein. There is a couple:of splendid Webb's,
ono "On the Dort, evening," the other "Rough weather,
morning." John Pettio contributes a very high class
painting, " Persuading Papa ;" and Mr. E. Nicol another,
"The new Tenant." There is a wonderful specimen of
flesh painting by Perrault, tiro pupil of Bouguereau ;
but the mo=t remarkable. painting in the Exhibition
is J. Linnell, senior's last and we believe his greatest
effurts, viz., the " Thunder Cloud." This great picture is
in itielf quite an exhibition, and one that will call forth
both wonder and surprise. „ making Houses" by Frere,
" A Pet Bird" by Smith," Maternal Cares" by W.
Oliver, and Poole's 'Coming down the Hill" aro all splendid
specimens. Mr. Al• Lean doubtless will receive general
praise for this his fourth exhibition, but that will be
nothing more than ho well deserves.

Her Royal Highness the DucheEs of Cambridge,
attended by Lady Geraldine Somerset, visited yesterday
the exhibition of Mr. Kenneth MacLeay's Drawings of
Highlanders of Scotland, at Mr. Mitchell's Royal Library,
Bond-street.

Alexander H. Stephens is reported to he in fail-
ing health, and unable to resume the duties of his profes-
sorship in the Georgia University.