The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-01 00:00:00

THE RESIGNATION OF COLONEL BOXER,

We rsgret to hear (says the Pall Mall Gazette) that
Colonel Boxer, R.A., has resigned his appointment of
superintendent of the Royal Laboratory, and that this
resignation has been accepted. Colonel Boxer's suc-
cessful exertions in connection with the improvement
of our war materiel aro known mainly through the
fuzes, shrapnel shell, life-saving rockets, and breech-
loading cartridges, with which his name is associated ; but
these are only the more conspicuous examples of an
inventive faculty which for fifteen years has been in con-
stant operation for the public benefit. Among Colonel
Boxer's less known improvements we may name prominently
the iubricators for Armstrong breech-loading guns, and the
application of remedies in. 1857:8, in the face of strong
opposition, for certain serious defects in the Enfield rifle
ammunition, which at that time threatened to lead to the
condemnation of the arm as a general service weapon.
Still less known, perhaps, axe the services which Colonel
Boxer rendered at the time of the Crimean war.
Lord Panmure, as Secretary of State for War, writes :
" To his untiring zeal I am delighted to confess that
my means of keeping up the heavy fire at Sebastopol are
entirely owing." The Clerk of the Ordnance states :—"He
has saved the department from disgrace and the country
from imminent danger." And in 1860 Mr. Sidney Her-
bert officially expressed his concurrence in these opinions.

TIIE NATIONAL EDUCATION LEAGUE.

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The Leeds Branch of the National Education League
has been holding a meeting under the presidency of the
Mayor. Mr. George Dixon, M.P., President of the League,
Mr. Carter, M.P., and other gentlemen interested in the
question were present. The Mayor, in opening the meeting,
said that he had been a member of the first educational
committee formed in that town thirty years ago. There
were two systems before the country, one being that of the
TTnion which desired to supplement the existing plan, the
other that of the League which desired tohave a new plan.
Subsequently Mr. George Dixon, M.P., who was loudly
cheered, addressed the meeting at some length. The
League, he said, respected the founders and supporters of
the voluntary schools, who had done the only educational
work that had been done in this country, and they did not
wish to interfere with them,butto occupy the groundwhich
the volunteers bad not taken up. The Leagc proposedthat
the country should be divided into select districts—say,
for instance, the town of Leeds to be one; that in each
chool district there should be a school board, elected
the whole people, and that such board should ascer-
tain the extent of the educational deficiency, and have
-.iower to rate the people for the cost of supplying it. The
Government should have the power to see that those
',cards did their duty, and of inflicting penalties upon
them. The League intended to frame their bill so as to
interfere with the present schools as little as possible ; they
Would authorise the Government to give them even
greater assistance because they did not wish for any
thing like a revolution in education which would
to disadvantageous to the country. In his own opinion
the now national school rate would eventually prevail,
but the denominationalists who thought their system
the best ought not to fear their rivalry. Mr. Dixon then
entered at some length into the religious aspect of the ques-
tion, explaining that the League did not believe any harm
could be done by the exclusion of dogmatic teaching
to children under 13. They did not object to the reading
of the Bible in the schools; all they said was that the
people themselves should say whether they wished to have
:t read or not. The denominational teaching had hitherto
failed in winning the labouring classes, for the majority of
those who filled our churches and chapels belonged to the
middle classes whose religious teaching was gained at home.
The object of the League was not to demolish the existing
system, but to attain, as quickly as possible, the desired
result of educating the people. Mr. Dixon was succeeded
by a Mr. Womersley, who protested against paying rates
for the education of other people's children. After speaking
some time ho said, "If I knew the majority of this
great meeting were against me I should sit down." Upon
this the greater part of the audience rose to their feet
amidst great laughter, and the speaker sat down discom-
fited. Mr. Carter, M.P., answered Mr. Womersley's objec-
tions in an amusing speech, and held that the compulsory
plan of the League was the only one that would answer.
Resolutions in support of the League were passed, and the
proceedings terminated.

The consecration of Dr. Harvey Goodwin, late
Dean of Ely, to the Bishopric of Carlisle, took place on Tuesday
morning in York Minster. No day has yet been fixed
for the consecration of the now Bishops in the Province of

The Western 1110rizing- Nezvs.of Tuesday says that
in consequence of the illness of the Archbishop of Can-
terbury it is probable that some delay may occur in
the consecration of the new bishops. Had the
archiepiscoyal eoe been vacant, a patent would have
been issued to the Archbishop of Bork to complete
the necessary formalities, but as it is still occupied this
cannot be done. At present Archbishop Tait is unable to
sign tho papers, and for this reason the confirmation of
Dr Wilberforce as Bishop of Winchester, at Bow Church,
which was to have taken place on Saturday last, did not
coma aff.