The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-08 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

21118 DAY.—Morning, 6h. 40m.—Afternoon, 7h. 3m
To-MORROW:Morning, 7h. 30m.—Afternoon, Bh. Om.

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LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 8, 18G7.

It is always an advantage for themselves and
others when those who are distinguished for their
attainments, and are also mixed up in the strife
of the political world, can turn aside for a brief
instant from the more engrossing occupations of
their lives to turn their thoughts and direct the
attention of their hearers to more refined and ele-
vated subjects. Thus Mr. GLADSTONE'S speech on
mental culture, which he delivered on Saturday
afternoon at the College Buildings in Long-acre,
was a welcome change to his discourses at St.
Stephen's, and at other places where the ques-
tions of the day are ever on the tapis.
This was the first meeting of the institution, which
has been establidicd for the purpose of promoting
adult education" through the agency of evening
classes. 'i h.., Rev. W. Hum pann-, the vicar of
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, took the chair, and many
young persons of both sexes appeared to m ituess
the proceedings. Mr. GLADSTONE'S speech was
much to the purpose, and he fully explained the
purport of the Society, at the same time testifying
to its excellence, and referring to the necessity of its
establishment. The right hon. gentleman commenced
by saying that hecould not really do much in the way
of introduction, as lie could do but little to serve the
community in which he lived by personal action.
Such an apology was not necessary, for all who are
at all acquainted with public matters and political
characters must know the truth of the remark here
met with, that" we had an exciting, an absorbing,
and an exhausting life, and that we have but a very
small residuum of time and of strength at our com-
mand for the discharge of any other than what are

equality in one respect--masters and men were
treated alike if they infringed upon the regu-
lations. Workshops were blown up with
complete impartiality, whether the offender
were employer or employed. The degree of
demoralisation revealed by the evidence given be-
fore the Commission is something wonderful.
Sometimes, indeed, the offenders express a lofty
regret at the inevitable consequences of their own
crimes. RENSHAW was " grieved" to see the suffer-
ing of the poor old woman whom he helped to
carry out of the ruins of the house he bad blown
up. PEARCE took credit to himself for his reluctance
in falling into BROADHEAD'S plans and hiring a
murderer to shoot an unoffending neighbour. But
these were rather the exceptions to the rule. For
the most part the witnesses either did not think it
worth while to affect compunction for what they
had done, or did not see that their acts were in any way
censurable. Systematic perjury was one of the
things that did nut come under their ban. One of
the witnesses examined on Saturday admitted that
he had walked over to a neighbouring town with two
other men to blow up two workshops for a sum of
money. The three men were tried at York and
set up an alibi in defence, which was sup-
ported by 15 or 16 witnesses. In fact there
seems to be no hold upon these men. The ordi-
nary fears and hopes and feelings of men are
powerless over the votaries of Trades' Unions.
The terrors of the law have little or no weight, since
the terrors of the Union are greater. There is no
hope of escape from the vengeance of an offended
secretary—there is great hope of eluding a negli-
gent or indifferent police. The ambition which is
usually so powerful an incentive in all ranks—the
hope to get on, " to make his way in the world,"
to get credit in his trade, or to put by money—is
denied to a man who is pledged, whatever his abili-
ties, to live and die at the same dead level of medi-
ocrity. The still stronger feeling which makes a
father anxious to provide for his boys, and give them
a start in life—the common desire that a son should
be brought up to his father's business—is put
completely aside by societies which interfere with
all such domestic plans and purposes, which limit
the number of apprentices, and in some instances
forbid the employment of boys at all. The kindly
feeling existing between master and man, the good-
will and friendliness produced by constant associa-
tion between fellow-workmen, can have little in-
fluence over a man who may be called upon to put
a can of gunpowder down his master's chimney to-
morrow, or to listen quietly while a mate's name is
put down in the black book. We are a good deal be-
hind the age with our old-fashioned notions
of loyalty and friendship between man and man.
The Sheffield philosophers have left the rest of the
world far behind them, and have set themselves free
from such trammels. They do not aim even at the
thieves' honour of not betraying a common secret
or incriminating a companion, since it was fear of
the personal consequences that tied their tongues
hitherto, and when immunity from the consequences
was secured the revelations came fast enough.
But while society with one voice is condemning the
atrocities of these men it may be asked whether the
blame must rest exclusively with them ? There
must have been long and grievous neglect of the
manufacturing towns to have allowed a generation
to grow up so entirely devoid of common morality.
Education will not infallibly make a boy into a
good man, but it gives him a fair chance of beinr,
so. It lifts him above degradation, it protects him
against the influences of men like BROADHEAD and
PEACE, by giving him a standard to judge
them by, by making him sensitive to the opi-
nion of other and better men. If the
moral and religious training of the boys at
Sheffield had been years ago cared far as it should
have been, we should not find those boys grown
men, breaking every law of GOD and man with in-
difference and impunity. More than 20 years ago
the author of " Sybil, or the Two Nations" painted
in vivid colours the ignorance of the working men and
boys in some manufacturing towns. The descrip-
tion of the file cutters of Wodgate tallies too well
with the accounts we have lately heard from actual
places, and a bitterprice has been paid, and will be paid
for the long neglect. The task, like all tasks left
undone, has grown in difficulty. The men, un-
taught in childhood themselves, will not send their
boys to school. The demands of labour are in-
creasing ; young hands are wanted at the factories,
and boys of manufacturing towns can earn as
much as an agricultural ;labourer. How can we
expect ignorant men to resist the temptation ?
The boy is put to work and kept to work, often in
defiance of the regulations, and the evil goes on
perpetuating itself. The social philosopher in
" Sybil," turning away with disgust from the
dismal picture or human life, exclaims, " Could not
one missionary be spared from Tahiti for our fellow-
countrymen in Wodgate !" Twenty years ago
many of the men whose names are now held up to
public odium might have been still capable of en-
lightenment, still accessible to good influences.
In twenty years the untaught, uncared for children
of oar labouring population will be men and women
playing their parts in life. Should we not take the
hint and profit by the warning ?

It will afford general satisfaction to all classes of
her MAJESTY'S subjects to learn that the Princess
of Wales has at last appeared in public. The sym-
pathy which has been felt for her in her long and
trying illness has found expression in part by the
enthusiasm with which her appearance was wel-
coined. It must have been gratifying to the Princess
and also to her illustrious consort who accompanied
her. Most appropriately with her Royal High-
ness's first appearance was the laying of the foun-
dation-stone of the Alexandra Orphanage for Infants
at Hornsey-rise. This duty,whichwayst, at herohave
been performed by the Princess herself, as
Duchess Sutherland.
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turned a short but impressive reply, which grati-
fied the assembly, and ably represented the feel-
ings of those present. In alluding to the sad cause
which prevented her Royal Highness from coming
among them, she added that the attachment and
admiration felt for her Royal Highness " had been
increased tenfold by the courage and cheerful
brighthess with which she has borne so long the
suffering and illness from which by the blessing of
God she has now so nearly recovered." Lord G RAN-
v 1 1.1. E made an appropriate speech, setting forth the
merits of the institution, and expressed :hope that
when it was erected on its in tgnificent site, overlook-
ing one of the richest cities of the world, " the in-
stitution might fulfil the expectation of its friends."
It is, indeed, to be trusted that these words are
prophetic, for it is a charity that appeals to every
one who takes an interest in the works of benevo-
lence, and no one can deny the claims of the help-
, less beings who are to enjoy its benefits.

The long-looked-for visit of the Viceroy of
EGYPT to this country has at last arrived, and his
Higlineas was received on Saturday with all due
pomp and ceremony. In addition to the interest
naturally felt on the occasion of so are a visit
there has been some additional excitement in the
public mind, in consequence of a fear that suffi-
cient consideration might not be s' own to the

called our public duties." Notwithstanding this ob-
servation, Mr. GLADSTONE contrived to get through
his task with considerable success, and to prove in an
unmistakeable manner that much may be done, and
that something should be done, by all who set them-
selves diligently to work to improve their minds,
and prepare themselves for the due performance of
their duties. Goodwill and earnestness of aim seem
to be the distinguishing features of this institution,
and much may be hoped from such attributes, for, as
Mr. GLADSTONE said, it is cheering and encouraging
thus to make these signs so favourable to the full
development of the scheme. Beyond all other
tokens, however, must be ranked the encourage-
ient given by those who come forward to re-
ceiva instruction when they are required by
other labours, and thus give to the under-
taking those " odds and ends" of time, which
are all they can spare, and yet which may be turned
to good account by sedulous care and scrupulous
devotion.

Hereupon the right hon. gentleman pointed out a
most useful moral to his young hearers; he said that
" this saving of odds and ends of time was appa-
rently a very humble act, but it was an act which
no man should neglect." A story given in illustra-
tion was very applicable. A young Frenchman,
called LAFITTE once sought employment from a
banker in Paris, but that person informed him that
he could not grant his request because there was no
vacancy in his establishment. In turning away
sadly the youth's eyes were cast down, and he saw
a pin on the floor which he carefully picked up.
The banker was so struck by this symptom of care-
fulness that he gave him the desired employment,
and the bank which bore LAFITTE'S OWD name is
still in Paris, and was long one of its most im-
portant ones. " The picking up of that pin," said
Mr. GLADSTONE, " is not unlike the saving of those
stray moments which we all have at our disposal,"
and it would be well if others besides those imme-
diately concerned would lay the lesson to
heart, and make the most of their opportu-
nities. It is really surprising to find how
much may be done by the right application of time
and the employment of spare moments, and, as the
right hon gentleman said in this discourse, is the
most hopeful symptom among any class ; for even
as if you look after the pence the pounds will look
after themselves, so if you look after the moments,
the days, and months, and years will take care of
themselves.

The present condition of society is truly an anxi-
ous one, and, what with the rapid increase of wealth
and the part the labouring man has in the profits of
his toil, it demands increased attention alike from
the politician, the philosopher, and the social student.
Referring to our labouring man, Mr. GLADSTONE
said that he included in that designation all who
worked with the pen or the head, supposing them
to be subsistent upon their work for their labour,
just as he would the skilled mechanic and artisan ;
and, as he said, one of the greatest advantages ac-
cruing from the prosperity of the country of late
years has been that the labouring classes, in the
actual acceptation of the term, have been better
remunerated than was possible twenty or thirty
years ago. The danger that now obtrudes
itself upon our notice was ably pointed
out in this speech : it is that many are
not satisfied with the enjoyments their means
confer, but live beyond their actual allowance, and,
as it is truly put, " the great object of consideration I
is not what the condition of each may be, but that
each man may be master of his own condition."
To obtain this desideratum the object of each
should be to improve his own mind, because all
knowledge has two ends—first, by the value of its
acquirements ; and next by the benefits its acquire-
ments confer upon the mind as an instrument of
culture, strengthening, enlarging, and enlighten-
ing his mind, and thus raising him in
other circumstances, and also in character,
and the development of those faculties the posses-
sion of which has caused him to be made in the
I image of GOD. Mr. GLADSTONE concluded his im-
pressive address in eloquent terms, wishing to each
present that in the day of prosperity or of adversity
they might reap the' rich fruits which honest, dili-
gent mental labour never failed to produce." Those
fruits might come sooner or later, as the case may
be. "It has pleased GOD to endow some men with
faculties that wow rapidly, and it has pleased
Him to _tidow others with faculties that
unfold themselves slowly ; but depend upon it,
there is not a man, except in a few rare and excep-
tional cases, to whom, whatever may be the differ-
ence of his talents and endowments, a sufficient
store has not been given, if he will only use it
rightly, to enable him to live for the benefit of him-
self and of his fellow-creatures, and for the honour
and glory of GOD." He then distributed the prizes,
and it may safely be said that this first meeting for
the distribution of prizes at St. Martin's Hall was
successful, and likely to be long remembered by
those whom it intimately concerned, while the pro-
ceedings are of interest to the community.

The examinations of the Sheffield Trades' Union
Commission were brought to a close on Saturday.
To-day it is to resume its sittings for the purpose
of granting certificates to witnesses who have crimi-
nated themselves. No doubt this part of the pro-
ceedings will excite a good deal of curiosity, as each
witness is to be informed in open court whether or
no he is held to be entitled to a certificate. The
notorious BROADIIEAD, CROOKES, and their asso-
ciates will of course be present, and will probably
go away scatheless so far as legal punishment
is concerned. The real ends of justice, have,
however, been better attained by granting
these criminals the desired indemnity, be-
cause by that means the Commissioners were
enabled to obtain full revelations of a state of things
which otherwise would hardly have been credited.
Unless BROADHEAD and his allies are very differently
constituted from most other men they will not be
altogether free from punishment. Their occupa-
tion's gone. Their ill-got gains and ill-employed
power and influence have come to an end, and all
they have left is the contempt of their fellows and
the disgust and horror of all respectable men.

So far as the examinations aro concerned
the work of the Commissioners is done.
No further cases of violence or intimi-
dation retn.(in to be inquired into, and the
solicitors who attended the court on behalf of
masters and men had no more charges to bring
forward. The facts IN hieli have been brought to
light in the course of the examinations arc among
the most remarkable ever elicited in any court.
They have disclosed the existence of an organised
system of assassination and outrage in an English
town,eame feelingsstippos anedtdo be governed by the same laws,
rotected by the same force, and influenced by the
principles as the rest of the body
politic. It is quite plain that in Sheffield, in spite
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judges and magistrates and police force,
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Unionists at least carried out their principles of