The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-25 00:00:00

but these mistakes were not sufficient to de:strop
the reputation of a soldier who, in the field and
under fire, displayed the qualities of a Bayard !
We must forget in the brilliancy of h-; earlier
career the leaning to Germanism, which was the
only error of his long and useful life.

The Austrian Government is not fond of idle-
ness. It delights in " occupation ;" wherever it
can obtain a footing it continues to hold its
ground, on pretexts which, however untenable in
the eyes of the purveyors of " teeth money," are
quite sufficient to satisfy the Emperor and his
advisers. It appears that the evacuation of the
Principalities is still postponed. Austria holds on
with desperate tenacity until the final arrangement
has been completed, an arrangement which she con-
trives to protract as long as practic tble, so as to
obtain free quarters for her troops until the latest
possible moment.
She now bestows, forsooth, " the fullest pos-
sible approval" on the resolution adopted by the
Ottoman Government of fortifying various posts
on the Danube where facilities for crossing might
he afforded to an enemy. But why should Austria
be called on to approve or to display any feeling
one way or the other ? If the contemplated acts
he within the legitimate authority of the Porte,
they require not the Austrian sanction ! If other-
wise, the It hole of the contracting parties should
be consulted. England, France, and Sardinia,
that lavished their blood and treasure to sustain
the SULTAN'S power, would have a better right to
speak than Austria, that played a despicable game,
seeking to advance its own private objects rather
than the general interests of Europe. But we hear
little ir anything of these matters, while the "ap •
proval" of Austria is ostentatiously paraded, as if
it were a matter of which any• one untainted by
Germanism could greatly concern himself.
It is, indeed, important that the Principalities
should be speedily freed from the invasion to
which they have been subjected-ten invasion
which, so far as the brutality and cupidity of the
soldiers are concerned, has been far more onerous
than that even of the Muscovites, which the
" Western alliance" was forced to terminate.
To expel the Russians we sacrificed thousands
of lives and millions of treasure. Can we
with any consistency see equal wrong inflicted—
the only difference being that one was effected by
cunning, the other by force ? The mischief was,
however, the same in either case, or if there could
be a chance it would be adverse to the Austrians.
We know that we were greatly jockeyed
at the Parisian Conferences. Our diplomacy
failed, partly because our representatives
did not merge their characters as gentlemen and
men of honour in diplomatic pettifogging. But
it is therefore the more incumbent on our Ministers
that they shall not permit themselves to be made
laughing-stocks in the eyes of Europe, but that
they insist on the Treaty being carried out in its spirit
and integrity. One of the main points stipulated
for was the immediate evacuation of the Princi-
palities. It should at least have taken place
simultaneously with, if it did not precede, the
departure of our troops from the Crimea.
But while every British and French soldier
has returned home, the Austrians still linger
(like ACHATES at the tomb) to try what further
booty they can acquire, or how they can further
exasperate their victims. We may be assured
that the game is well played, and that seeds are
now being sown that will hereafter produce an
abundant crop of mischief. Let the British Go-
vernment show itself equal to the exigency, and
be assured that none but a decided line of
policy will produce results creditable to itself or
beneficial to the welfare of Europe.

"Men die for /rant of cheerfulness as plants
die for want of light." If Lord STANLEY has but
.eicceeded in impregnating the future conduct of
:he Oldham Lyceum with a conviction of this
painful fact, he will have been one of its greatest
benefactors. There can be no doubt that it has
been too much overlooked in the educational and
other public projects of philanthropists, from the
time when BIRKBECK started the Mechanics' In-
stitute, and RAIKES the Sunday School, which
was the first grand effort to teach the million to
read, up to the present time. The first attempt
was of necessity to initiate the many into the
mysteries of the alphabet ; nothing could be done
worth doing till the man could learn from the j
printed page ; and within the recollection of thou-
sands now living, that was the privilege of the
few. Pulpit sermons and pot-house harangues
were the great fountains of knowledge ! the Bible
and Prayer-book were a large library, and the
clergyman and gentry were not few who thought
that library enough for any one who had to earn
his living by trade or labour. Sunday schools,
and British schools, and Lancasterian schools, and
Bell's soh )ols, and, finally, Mechanics' Institutes,
with a Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know-
edge to provide them with aliment, wonderfully
increased the numbers of those who, at least, were
able to read whatever was adapted to their taste.
lastly followed the present plan of Government
E.lucation, under the reign of Lord JOHN Rus•
SELL, with Sir JOHN KAY SHUTTLEYORTH for his
,re,:nier. The result is, that Lord JOHN and Mr.
EDWARD BAINES contest the point whether as
many are riot now studying in our schools of one
kind or another as could ever be induced to attend
them ; whether the next step must not be com-
pulsion. We shall not pretend to be umpires.
What wo are certain of is, that the motto fur-
nished HS by Lord STANLEY is the one we need
to act on. The intelligent will now see to it
that the people learn something ; the intellect is
in no danger of being overlooked; the clergy of
all denominations will take care that the creeds
on which their schools are unhappily based will
be duly taught, and, if we may believe them, the
moral faculties will be educated thereby ; we
suppose we must take their word for it, though
for ourselves we are inclined to think that creeds
have but a cobweb connection with either morality
or real religion. But the one department not
only adequately attended to yet is that of cheer-
ful amusement. The vast mass of the community
itra kept prosy, dull, and heavy by the monotony
:f toil, and its too full occupation of their time ;
they need stimulants. Unfortunately there is one
which meets them, in towns especially, at every
turn, and degrading excitement is resorted to, be-
catiee nothing else is easily accessible. The worst
is that such habits are not easily changed, and
that the young are but too ready to adopt them
before anything better can be offered them. The
great want, them, to be supplied is amusement
kindred with the education we give. Amusement
which shall do for the temperament what, by in-
struction, we have been seeking to do for the
intellect. It is not necessary that we sheuld
offer suggestions ; it will suffice at present to in-
sist on the want. Those best acqu tinted with our
populace will soon devise the appropriate means.
Knowledge, for its own sake, will everbe
hopeattrac-
tive but to the few ; though we may well
that the number is daily becoming greater amongst
our citizens and young men of the tradesman
class. The desideratum is amusement for the
olase who have obtained a tolerable education,