The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-07 00:00:00

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SFAPER,

iA,';'/-7., __ • - '44
L 7:lr pCi:k
!•!-, V •,-- ,-: Or . r- F.:
rave measures, those measures - _-
support. (Hear, hear.) He had rm._ . - i. •
petual change, and believed it obstrtated find S
delayed the progress of public business an afiFfilcd
Governthents an excuse for doing nothing. lIC
was far from shying that he believed it was)
immaterial who held the reins_ of office;
but, as he thought it more . important that
we should have measures of reform than
to consider whether this person' or: that person
governed for the time being, he should suspend
his judgment with respect to the acts of the Derby .
Administration ; and . when the contemplated -
Reform Bill was brought.forward he would give it
his best attention, and, if satisfied with it, it should
receive his support. He Sli. '' ' ' t;.t more
confidence in them if they had spoz....:n ou plainly
and said, " We have been wrong all our lives ; we
see the error of our ways and will now amend." If
they would say plainly, "We do not think reform
wanted, but we know it is necessary to be reformers
to keep our places, and we will reform," he would
say to them, " Keep your places ;" but he objected
to words being used in a non-natural sense, and to
attempts to make people believe that Conservatism
meant Radicalism or Liberalism. (Hear and-cheers.)
All he could say was, that his hopes from the Con-
servatives were founded chiefly upon their incon-
sistencies ; but he was prepared to give a fair
hearing to their measures, and should be glad to
hope and believe that they would bring forward a
Reform Bill of which he could approve ; but to be
satisfactory it must protect the voter, considerably -
extend the suffrage, and provide for a modification
of the electoral districts, and unless the' Govern-
ment were prepared to introduce a measure of that
sort they could not -stand ; for it was, after all, not
Lord Derby or .my Lord Palmerston, but the people
who governed the country. Public opinion was the
breath of the body politic ; and if public opinion
was sound no Minister could ruin the country, or, -
if rotten, no Minister could save it. - With respec
to all the cardinal measures of Liberalism, he and
his hon, colleague were agreed, and he had no
doubt they would always.continue to act in unison.
He might add, that he believed a better member
they could not have; he had honestly earned his
popularity.
Mr. 11' HITE next addressed the meeting at some
length, chiefly on abstract questions of political eco-
!,,itivr.. 7 ^ ,-.'7 ' with some warmth upon the C0n-
..., A ..
~ ~ , , ,
spir air, :0.i., ~,•mcn he denounced : s a me ture that
......
would have tended to jeopardise Mir independeace.
He rejoiced in the opposition which he had given
to that measure, and if he had done nothing more
he should be proud of having opposed its introduc-
tion. He expressed in general terms his dissatis-.
faction with the Government of Lord Palmerston ;
and condemned the exclusive character of the noble
lord's administration. The hon. member spoke of
his vote on the Havelock memorial, his exposure of
the niggardly course proposed to be adopted, and
of the prominence he had suddenly attained through
the columns of the Times and other journals. He
alluded also to the reckless expenditure of public
money in grants for.unnecessary purposes, and ex-
pressed his belief that we should not obtain any
-economy of expenditure until we had a reformed
Parliament, - A permanent financial committee
. should be appointed, to whom should be referred all
- questions of expenditure. The committee should
have power to- eommand.the attendance of heads of
each department; and no money should be -voted
. unless. certified to be necessary for the public ser—
vice. With regard- to the Reform- Bill, his name .
was . associated with the Reform -committee, and
their olject would be to carry - out the programme
adopted as far as possible; they would get all they .
could and as much more as possible. ,
Votes of confidence were, after some manifesta-
tion of feeling on the part of a few present, passed
in favour of both members.

SIR J. PAKINGTON ON EDUCATION.

. WORCESTER, WEDNESDAY.

The First Lord of the Admiralty attended a-dinner
held here yesterday evening to celebrate the estab-
lishment of the Worcestershire Union of Mechanics' _
Institutes, which had been set on foot a few months
ago by his son, Mr. J. S. Pakington. In the course
of the after dinner proccedine,s,
The CHAIRMAN (Mr. Pakington) proposed the
health of the "Members for the Countyand Borough
of Worcestershire," which was acknowledged by
Sir J. PAKINGTON, who took the opportunity of
expressing his concurrence in the objects of these
unions, by which, he said; they arrived at unifor-
mity of action, and they also afforded a stimulus to
emulation. Seventeen mechanics' and literary in-
stitutes around Worcester had joined the Worces-
tershire Union—the objects of which, as expressed
by the rules, were as follows :-1. Mutual inter-
course and improvement. 2. Concentrated infor- •
mation on the progress and requirements of each
institute. 3. Encouragement and increase of even-
ing classes by examinations and, prizes, or other
means. 4. The engagement of lecturers, gratuitous
and professional. 5. The promotion of a 'good
system for circulating books or otherwise improving
local libraries. 6. The acquirement and diffusion
of information upon matters relating to mechanics'
institutes in general. He particularly approved of
rule 3, having for its object the encouragement of
evening classes. He regarded these institutes for
the working classes much in the same light as he
considered the universities in higher life—viz., as
a means of carrying the knowledge already pos-
sessed by the students further than it had reached,
and. preparing them for undertaking higher and
more honourable, as well as more useful positions
in the particular. condition of life for which they
were destined. He hoped that those who had
established this union of institutes would persist
in the good work which they had begun. It was
a work of great importance, and one which
deserved and would receive the gratitude of the
public. The necessity for the general extension
of knowledge among the people was now generally
admitted ; the only question was as to the means.
Every reflecting mind would acknowledge that it
could not be the will of God that man should be
allowed to live in ignorance of things past and to
come, things human and divine, great and small,
on the earth or in the heavens, or that the noble
gifts given 'to man should be left uncultivated, any
more than it vould be the will of the Almighty that
the soil .of the earth should remain barren and un-
tilled. (Hear, hear.) It was our duty as citizens,
as philanthropists, and as -politicians, to promote
education and the general diffusion of knowledge,
and no man would in this free country dis-
courage the objects which these institutions lad in
view. (Hear.) He himself had no fear of the
result of extending knowledge, and without. pre-
tending just now to expound any schen'? of politi-
cal reform, he would say that one of our first duties
was to see- that those who had to exercise civil

rights were made by education fit and competent to
discharge them. (Hear, hear.) It had been said
that " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."
He was not afraid of knowledge, but he was afraid
of ignorance with its headstrong ipassions.and pre-
judices, and it was their duty as good citizens to
extend as far as they could the spread Of know-
ledge, and to put an end to ignorance, ,Sir John,
in conclusion, again recommended the-filnoters of
the Worcestershire Union of Mechanics' Institutes
to persevere in their laudable design.
Mr. SLANEY, 'M.P., also expressed his approval
of the object, and observed that the great difficulty
in the wav of national education was the want of
unanimity as to the best means of carrying it out.

SERIOUS ACCIDENTS.—On Tuesday a shocking
accident occurred to Joseph Dihnot, aged 70. The unfor-
tunate sufferer was exceedingly intoxicated, and in crossing
the Seven Dials was knocked down by a cab, the wheel
Hospital by the police
passing over his body, and inflicting most extensive injuries.
Charing-crosstowheremr.skegg,
the house surgeon,
ofll ethme' aFs conveyeddivision,
assisted by the staff of that valuable institution, rendered
every assistance that medical skill could suggest, but ho
remains in a very dangerous state.—A frightful accident
by fire happened to a child named Harriet Rowe, aged 4
years, the daughter of very respectable
parents, residing in
Titelifteld-street, Soho. During the brief absence of its
parent, she approached the fire too closely, and fell in,.when
her clothi .n,, 1) ecame ignited. Her screams brought assist-
ance, when the flames were extinguished, and she was con-
veyed to Charing-cross Hospital, but remains in a precarious
state.—Thomas Acaster, aged 17 years of age, working on
board the Waterford steam-boat, was brought to "Guy's
Hospital, suffering from severe injuries. The unfortunate
youth was at work in the cook-house, when he slipped and
pulled over him a kettle of boiling water off the fire, scald-
ing himself in a dreadful manner. He remains in Peters-
ham Ward progressing favourably. •
FATAL GUN ACCIDENT.—On Monday morning a
fatal gun accident, by which Mr. Douglas Ward, a medical
student, met his death, happened at Castle Bromwich.
Mr. Ward's mother lives at that village, and deceased, with
a party, among whom was another young gentleman named
Chattoek, went out to shoot rabbits. They were on their
return home, and when near Mr. Newton's lodge gates
Mr. Chattock held his gun forward for the purpose Of
wiping the lock, as rain had fallen during the niorniporg.
From some cause or other toff gun, which had been if
on-
tentsnately left charged, went and the whole of thed
he was stall ing a
tents lodged in poor Ward's back, as
• nature of his
little in advance. He fell, and the serious ..
1 1 had
wound at once appeared from the fact that a large io e
running therefrom
been made in his- coat, and blood was I 0
which the un-
profusely. A dC6r was at once obtaine( ,
P 11'of the
Bradford owe 1,,
fortunate young man was removed to .-
was also of the
arty. Arms Inn, one of whose eons
sought, and Mr.
Ward
Medical assistance was at
.once . .
Ward himself requested that Mr. Clarkson, of
.BFriungham,
should be sent for. The messenger, on arriving at Bir-
mingham, found that Mr. Clarkson was from home, and to
procured the services of Mr. Crompton, of Temple-row.
That gentleman proceeded
at once to Castle Bromwich, and
could
did everything which skill suggest, but in vain, for
Mr. Ward died about 4 o cleft in the afternoon. It is sup-
posed that his spine.has been Shattered by the charge, part
of which also took effect on the right side of the Chest.—
Birhingham Daily Post.