The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-29 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 29.1.-46 n

The opportunities for the display of heroism are
not restricted simply to the time of war. They may
arise at any moment—anywhere—out of the most
accidental circumstances. The fact is not only thus :
but, it should be added, at once, that there are heroic
professions in periods of profound peace, in the midst
of civilians, in the throng of our city streets, and in
the most secluded and solitary corners of the iron-
bound coast of these islands. The Fire Brigade and
the Lifeboat Service stand pre-eminent among those
heroic professions. Mr. BRAIDWOOD'S death was as
noble as that of any Captain of a Forlorn Hope dying
in the breach of a beleaguered town. The achieve-
ments of the gallant boatmen in the ser-
vice of the Royal National Lifeboat In-
stitution are as worthy of celebration by
painter, or by historian, as any performed
in the crash of actual ba'tle by our warriors whether
on sea or land. And,from our insular position among
the civilised nations of the earth, the services of men
like these, men who go down to the great sea in ships
or in boats like cockleshells, are, naturally enough,
very dear to the hearts of our population. Here it is,
indeed, that, without any disparagement whatever to
the QUEEN'S Army, the Royal Navy is always spoken
of par excellence as essentially and intensely the
National Service. And we conceive that it would
not be extravagant, or in any way indicative of the
smallest tendency to exaggerate, if we were to assert
that, among all our purely charitable and
eleemosynary institutions, the Royal National
Lifeboat Institution is popularly regarded as the
favourite. Periodically, that is to say, at the corn-
mencement of every first quarter, there is published
a little unpretending record of the last three months'
doings of the association, which has long since come
to be regarded as one of the most enthralling publica-
tions anywhere published in a quarterly form. As we
have just intimated, it is even in its outward appearance
conspicuously unpretending. The cost of it is no more
than fourpence. It numbers up altogether but a very
few pages. It appears—pamphlet form without any
external covering or adornment. An occasional wood
cut is inserted illustratively among the double-
columned letter-press. To a certain extent each new
instalment bears an instantly recogniseable resem-
blance to its predecessors. Bat, for all that, it is a
quarterly publication, that over the vast majority of
those who examine its contents exercises a fascination
onlycomparable to that recognised by the schoolboy in
one of the old-world books of Voyages and Travels,

Hairbreadth "'Scapes and Perilous Adventures. And
what constitutes at once the charm and value of the
particular record we are now referring to, is this, that
it is no me rely fictitious narrative or collection of
narrativel. It has the enthralling interest of being
actually foutaded upon fact. Its glamour is its
veracity throughout. And the purpose with which it
is written and published, is:more than the catching of
any casual reader's fancy. Its one aim or design is
this—to further the interests of the particular insti-
tution, of the development of which its numbers are
the accumulating history. As significant of the vital
importance of the Royal National Lifeboat Institu-
tion to the community, it is important to bear in
mind the single fact that the society possesses now
upwards of Two Hundred Lifeboats (207), and
that by means of that noble Life-saving Fleet
its boatmen rescue annually from otherwise
inevitable destruction along our casts, at the least
One Thousand Lives from Shipwreck. No wonder
the institution is called Royal, as indicative of its
b..ing under the direct patronage, and invested with
t'te personal sympathy, of the SOVEREIGN. No won-
der it is called National, as a Society appealing di-
rectly, and not in vain, to the hearts and con-
sciences of all ranks and classes of English-
men. In its regard—in regard to this Royal
National Lifeboat Institution there are two
things absolutely essential at all times in a per-
petually increasing community, and in view of a per-
petually expanding trade. And those two things
are, first of all, the maintenance of the society's
efficiency, and, secondly, the steady and appreciable
development of its operations. Year by year it is
essential that new Life-boat stations should be—as
happily they arebeing—established in localities where
previously no self-righting Life-boat has been known.
There are nearly half-a-dozen of such new stations,
for example (or of fresh applianc3s at old stations)
that have been called iuto existence under the aus-
pices of the Life -boAt Institution since the " Journal"
of the society last made its appearance. At Broad-
stairs, in Kent, on 3 of the association's self-righting
life-boats has been established. A similar boon has
been accorded to the locality of Abergele near
Rhyl. A new establishment has been created in the
Isle of Man, at Ramsey. A now lifeboat and car-
riage have been forwarded to a station in South
Wales of no less importance than Penarth. And,
thanks to the generous interposition of the Man-
chester Unity of the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, a fresh station has been called into exist-
ence at Cleethorpes on the coast of Lincolnshire. An
association, thus energetic and indefatigable, may
always count, in truth, upon the co-operation of
the more noble-hearted members of the community.
That co-operation, to be effective, must always, how-
ever, be prompt and munificent.

THE report issued annually by the Committee of
Council on Education narrates the progress of the
national system of instruction, and describes in detail
the condition of efficiency attained at the end of each
scholastic year. Its statistics skew the increase or
falling off in the number of children attending
schools, and of those who successfully meet the tests
prescribed by the Council ; the earnings of every
school in the United Kingdom are set forth ;
and the regulations of the Committee, as altered
from year to year, are codified. The most interest-
ing part of the volume consists of the various yearly,
bulletins furnished by the inspectors of schools and
training colleges. These contain a summary of the
business of the year, describe the state of public
feeling on education in their several districts, note
the defects which exist and the improvements which
ought to be made. Such a document ranks second
to none of the blue-books of the year; and at the
present time, when great changes in our system of
education are universally looked for, it is of special
value. It is not a little remarkable that in most of
these inspectors' reports the prospect of a great
educational revolution is taken as a matter of course,
and many of the most important points in dispute
are freely canvassed. In fact, a change has colne
over the spirit of the inspectors' dream. They are
all men of high attainments, and they enjoy every
facility for ascertaining what is wanted and what
will best supply the want. Their position
guarantees them against the suspicion of pro-
nouncing prematurely in favour of change, and
yet they generally agree in regarding the present
system as merely a temporary arrangement. The
educational ship which was launched so successfully
in 1846 has become so water-logged in 1869 that
even the officers hasten to abandon her. It is true
that the past year has witnessed considerable im-
provement. The number of schools under inspection
has increased in England by 820 on a total of
13,400, and in Scotland by 161 on a total of 3,130.
The average attendance of scholars in Great Britain
has progressed from 1,130,000 to 1,221,000. Then the
percentage of scholars who have acquitted them-
selves to the satisfaction of the examiners has materi-
ally advanced throughout Great Britain, and in all
three branches of knowledge—reading, writing, and
arithmetic. The salaries paid to schoolmasters have
improved -- Lney nave Ivitg
teen at slarvation point, until few teachers worth
having were to b 3 found, this is a decided gain.
But these, and similar facts, though highly satisfac-
tory in themselves, are regarded only as matters of
detail, in no wise affecting the question of the day.
The present system of education is inadequate, and
no progress of which it is capable will enable it to
reach the required point.

Nothing in the report is more remarkable than the
decision with which the inspectors pronounce on one
of the most hotly-contested points of the educational
problem. The majority of them allude to compul-
sory education, and those who do, without any
exception, pronounce in favour of the principle.
They all tell the same story, and, with some modifi-
cations, propose the same remedy. Very old the
' story is. Great numbers of children who ought
to be at school are not to be found there at all;
very many who do go attend so irregularly as to
derive little or no benefit from the instruction.
Parents are indifferent to the intellectual and moral
welfare of their offspring ; or at least care so little
about it that it weighs nothing in the
balance when the prospect of earning a shil-
ling or two presents itself. fri some cases this
arises from the most immoral neglect, in others it is
the result of extreme poverty. Such are the influences
by which even the insufficient system that exists is
prevented from accomplishing its full work, by
which, in this age, half the children of Britain grow
up in ignorance and crime, by which the work of
education is rendered a comparative failure. Mr.
TREGAItTIIEN, who inspects the schools in the
counties of Dorset and Somerset, says, " To
speak of the apathy and poverty of parents
leading to the early removal of scholars,
of irregular attendance at school, of the
moving from one school to another, of the demands
of the labour market, and the irresistible temptation
of adding the smallest sum to the weekly earnings
of the family, is to tell your lordships what others
have told over and over again. My portfolio is full
of letters uttering the old complaints, telling the
same old story." To give similar testimony from
the other inspectors would be mere repetition.
Mr. TnEn AnTrr-EN, as a remedy, proposes either
a law forbidding a child being taken away from
school before he has acquired the first rudiments
of knowledge, or a law providing that up to a certain
age, 10 or 11 years, it shall be illegal to employ a
child in any agricultural pursuit, unless he is in
possession of a " scholar's certificate " testifying that
he has mastered the elements of instruction. Mr.
ROLTLEDGE, who examines the schools in the West
Riding of Yorkshire—quite a different district be
it noted—finds the same evils and suggests a similar
remedy. His scheme is that no child be allowed to
work at all up to the age of 10, be have paREd I

the second standard of examination prescribed for
national schools—that is until he can read an easy
narrative, copy n manuscript a line of print,
work sums in addtion and subtraction, and repeat
the multiplication table. After the age of 10, Mr.
ROUTLEDGE suggysts that full-time work shall not be
allowed up to the age of 14, unless the pupil have
passed the sixth standard, which requires fair
proficiency "in tle three R's." After fourteen
State interference must cease. Mr. FRENCH is con-
fident that compuSory attendance up to a certain
age is the only remedy for the evils of irregular
attendance and total absence. Other inspectors,
without suggesting any precise plan, pronounce in
favour of the principle of enforced attendance.
It does indeed appear as if these clergymen had
been seized with the revolutionary spirit of the age;
but compulsory education is not the only, nor
the most important, change they advocate.
They have no hesitation in rudely assail-
ing, and, in fact, completely overturning,
the voluntary system; most of them pronounce in
favour of a local rate; and they find even the
religious difficulty not insuperable. The voluntary
system has of late been treated with cautions respect.
In the House of Commons it has been upheld that if a
forced rate is to be added, it must, at least, harmonise
with, and not supplant, the voluntary system. But
judging by the tone taken by the reverend
inspectors, it would seem as if the respect accorded
to the voluntary system must be likened
to that delicate attention always paid to a
prisoner about to be executed. Several of the in-
spectors, with charming unofficial plainness, pro-
nounce the voluntary system an utter failure. It
has unquestionably accomplished much ; but
it fails simply because a great national
want cannot be supplied by charity alone.
Many good schools are kept up largely
by subscriptions ; but the working of the principle
in other places is most lamentable. In hundreds of
parishes a bad school or none at all is the effect of
leaving a great national work to the good-will of
individuals. Mr. MITCHELL says : " The voluntary
system, when tried by the balance, must be
pronounced to be greatly a failure, numbers of
children receiving no education at all, and many of
the remainder an education that is totally inefficient
and valueless." Almost all the other inspectors have
the same tale to tell. Some of them give
remarkable practical examples of the failure of
the charitable system. One of its most common
results is to leave the education of a
parish entirely at the disposal of one or
two local magnates, whose subscriptions are the
chief maintenance of the local school. Sometimes
one landholder is lord of the district, and refuses to
give or sell a piece of land for a school, however
pressing the want may be. Somtimes objection is
made because the proposed school is to be a British one,
sometimes because it is to be under inspection, and
sometimes—will it be believed ?—simply because it
is a school. The agreement as to the proper'
remedy for this state of things is very general.
The inspectors would not absolutely banish
the voluntary system, but they insist upon
ample provision to meet the cases where
it is found inefficient. Mr. BOWSTEAD suggests
that a public officer report upon all cases where the
local school is bad, or where one is absolutely
wanting. Then let power be given by Act of Parlia-
ment to some public authority to summon a jury to
have a value set upon the land that is required, and
to compel the owner to give it up on receivingits price.
Mr. Du PORT also recommends the establishment of
schools supported partly by a local rate and partly
by the Government grant in places where the supply
of instruction is deficient. Due notice must be given
to the parish, in order to afford time for the starting
of an effective school under the voluntary system.
With regard to the question of religious teaching in
these rated schools the inspectors speak charily—
most of them being clergymen ; but one or two
believe that parents would have no objection to reli-
gious teaching in such schools, provided that no
doctrinal element were involved. There are some
difficulties which the inspectors do not seem to dis-
pose of in bringing forward these great changes.
But the great evil of bad and insufficient education
does exist, and, in remedying the evil, trifles of
detail must be kept vuboraiiittte. It is a very
significant fact that a body of such authority and
responsibility should be found so much at one on
this great subject.

CAPES T INTELL MEM

(REU'"ER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, June 28.

The New Hampshire Legislature has ratified the
16th Constitutional or Negro Suffrage Atn:nl-
-

The Cunard steamship Russia and the Guion
steamship Colorado arrived out to-day; the Inman
steamer City of Antwerp thi3 miming, and the
Hamburg and American steamer Bavaria yesterday.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.

Gold closed at 137 i; the highest quotation dur-
ing the day was 1374 ; the lowest, 1371.
Sterling Exchange on London
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1889 l2ll.
“ 1883 llBl.
sc ,4 1867
10-40
Illinois
Erie 291.
Cotton—Mil upland 33c.
Petroleum—Standard White 3lle.
Flour, extra state, $6.20c. to $6.80c. Cora, old
mixed, 100 c.

QUEBEC, June 28.
The Allan (Glasgow) steamship Moravian ar-
rived to-day.

CnooKfrAvEN, June 29, 9.20 a.m.

The Inman steamer City of London, from New
York on the 19th inst., is now passing Browhead
Signal Station, en route for Queenstown.
SOUTHAMPTON, June 29.

The North German Lloyd steamer Ohio, from
Baltimore, with passengers and cargo, arrived here
this morning.
The Rhein sails at noon to-day for New York.

SPAIN.

MADRID, June 28, Evening.

In to-day's sitting of the Constituent Cortes a
tariff amendment, proposing the increase of import
duty on cereals, was rejected by 96 against 48
votes.
The debate on the customs tariff continues.
Tranquillity prevails throughout the country.

THE BRAZILS.

BUENOS AYRES, May 29.

Exchange on London, 49. Wet salted hides, 37k;
number of beasts slaughtered, 41,000; sales, 25,000;
shipments, 47,749 ; stock, 10,000. Dry hides, for
Germany, 47 ; for Aerica, 44 to 45 ; sales, 26,000 ;
shipments, 64,335 ; stock, 74,000,. Freights to the
Channel unchanged. Wool, 53 to 68. Tallow,
beef, 15i to 16 ; mutton, 15i. Lumber, 42. Car-
diff coals, 13. Cadiz salt, 8.

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, June 28.

The London, Belgium, Brazil, and River Plate
Royal Mail Steamsbip Company's steamer City of
Rio de Janerio, Captain Peters, arrived at St. Vin-
cent on the 13th June, nine days from Falmouth,
and sailed the same day for Rio de Janeiro.
The chartered steamer Mendoga arrived at St.
Vincent on the 18th June, and sailed on the 19th
or Falmouth.