The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-26 00:00:00

THE SUN,

of 93—the Government plan was approved by
the great majority of the independent Liberals.
The Chairman then reported progress ; the next
question at issue is whether the first members
of the Council shall be nominated in the bill, a
course to which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
saw some objections, which he proposed to state
when the bill was next before the House. This
will probably be on Thursday next, and it is anti-
cipated that it will have gone through committee
on Friday, and may be brought before the Lords
early in the ensuing week. This will allow ample
time for consideration before the conclusion of
the session, and afford no excuse for rejecting the
necessary legislation in any fit of petulance, ex-
cited by a supposed want of consideration for their
dignity.

The advantages resulting from the proceeding
by resolutions, on which the bill was framed, is
now clearly perceptible. Had the rival schemes
of Lords PALMERSTON and DERBY proceeded pari
passe, it is more than probable that neither would
have been carried during the present session, and
that the existence of the all but universally con-
demned double Government would have been
protracted for another year, and that after it had
been branded by the clearly expressed opinion of
the House;of Commons, respecting its inefficiency.
Nothing more injurious, both to Eng-
land and to India, or more calculated to
prolong the existing disturbances, could possibly
occur, and yet it is still hinted at by some of the
Palmerstanian journals, who speak of the "im-
possibility" of its receiving the legi*lative sanction
during the present session, and try to excite the
ire of the Peers at the alledged slight, so as to in-
duce them to disregard their duties in a fit of
pique.

It is, however, " the wish that is father to the
thought." There will, as we have already stated,
be ample time for calm and deliberate considera-
tion. The hereditary legislators are not ignorant
of what has taken place "elsewhere." The debates
have been duly " wafted on the wings of the
Press throughout the length and breadth of the
land ;" and it would indeed be a gross disrespect
to their Lordships to suppose that they were igno-
rant of what was known to every person of ordi-
nary intelligence and information in every locality
and district. There is a " legal fiction," that neither
House can take cognisance of any matter until it
has been properly introduced to its notice by
some of its members. But that " fiction " will
be practically disregarded, for their Lordships have
already been enabled to make up their minds on
the salient points, and it is but justice to say that
they come to their conclusions more promptly than
the co-ordinate branch of the Legislature, and are
not so likely to be influenced by factious motives.
We do not say that party feelings do not exercise
some influence, but they will not expose
themselves—under any circumstances—to the
censure to which some of the chosen representa-
tives of the people have recently rendered them-
selves liable.
The true Liberals have acted wisely and judici-
ously. Those who had no personal objects to
achieve, who were not " waiters on PROVI-
DE..vcs," seeking either for themselves •or
friends the crumbs of patronage that may
fall from the Ministerial table, could not be in.
duced to join in the factious movements that
t)ok place. The Hon. Member for Dangarvan,
who has given so many proofs of thorough inde-
pendence, who so recently refused to accept a
position for which he was thoroughly qualified, lest
by any possibility his disinterested views might
be misconstrued, explained the true course
of the party of which hp is a leading mem-
ber. "As a fair, impartial, and upright poli-
tician," he has determined to give the Go-
vernment fair play, that they might have time
to develop their policy. He saw that " they had
done great things f)r the cause of progress,
things that no other Government ever attempted
to do, more than any of their Whig predecessors,
who had been in office for the last ten years."
He was, therefore, anxious to give fair play
to the Government, and to avoid all those miser-
able squabbles and factious proceedings which
brought disgrace upon those who joined in
them, even on the name of the proudest statesman
in the land. These sentiments reflect the
highest honour on Mr. MAQUIRE. What he
has done as a popular representative we have
likewise acted on as an independent journal of
advanced opinions. It is absurd, then, for the
Times, or its servile flock of imitators, to speak of
Lord PALMERSTON or Lord JOHN RUSSELL as the
head of the Liberal party, or to hint at the ini.•
prudence of a " weak Government." Lord
DERBY has now the support of those who will
maintain him in power so long as his
conduct merits their approbation, and is
in accordance with that which he has exhibited,
since, happily for the nation, he assumed the
position formerly held by Lord PALMERSTON—
gave to Lord MALMESBURY the portfolio of Lord
CLARENDON, and enabled Mr. DISRAELI to place
the finances of the country in a satisfactory
position. Ali honour be to him, then, say we
cordially !

The extension of the system of Competitive
Examination has been productive, incidentally,
of a good result, in every way as gratifying as it
was unexpected. It has demonstrated, in a re-
markable and conclusive manner, the fact that
Mechanics' Institutions are NOT, as many have
erroneously imagined, failures. It has shown, as
was formally stated on Thursday evening, upon
the annual conference, held at the Society of Arts,
in the Adelphi, that these establishments—Me-
chanics' Institutions—" are gradually, slowly it
may be, but surely, taking a prominent position
in the country," and further, that the position
already acquired by them is, even now, at once
reputable and satisfactory. How it is that these
welcome truths have been attained; it is certainly
interesting to note ; and a very few words will
readily enough afford those who may be yet un-
informed upon the subject, the requisite explana-
tion.
According to the ulterior decision arrived at by
the Council, entrusted with the responsibility of
conducting the organisation and development of
the newly established system of Competitive Ex-
amination, it was resolved to adopt the scheme of
diffusion as originally propounded. It was de-
termined, in other words, by this deliberative and
authoritative council to hold an examination, where-
ever an institution, or a group of institutions,
would enter into satisfactory arrangements for
the accurate and faithful working of the examina-

visible in the returned papers duly authorised, by
the signatures of the required members of the
Board of each particular locality. The document
in each instance constitutes proof positive that the
papers enclosed with it were formally worked in
the presence of a certain specified number of the
Board—that they were so worked by the candi-
dates, whose numbers they bore respectively—
that in eaoh individual instance they were worked
without any extraneous assistance whatever, whe-
ther derived from each other, front any other person
present, from books, from notes, or from memo-
randa—that three hours constituted tne maxi-
mum of the time occupied in the working of these
papers from first to last—that no individual was
permitted to resume or complete his paper after
having quitted the examination-room during the

lapse of the period allotted for the filling up of
that paper—finally, that the paper of questions
given to each candidate was in each instance taken
from the closed envelope in which it had been
forwarded, from the Siciety of Arts to the Local
Board, the seal being broken in the presence of
that Local Board, and in that of the assembled
candidates. Here, assuredly, were sufficient secu-
rities for the due and honest working of the sys-
tem of Competitive Examination. And in every
instance, saving in one solitary exception, the
Local Boards, we are now informed, have through-
out scrupulously attended to the whole of these
rigid, but imperatively requisite, regulations.
Consequently—abstracting that one exception—
before 57 Local Boards the result may, through
the subjoined statistics; be recognised as having
been sufficiently satisfactory. Although, be
it observed, 1,107 candidates attended the pre-
liminary examination. Nearly half of this number,
namely 501, were pronounced by the local Boards
as eligible for the final examination. Of these
501 candidates, 288 were afterwards examined in
Whitsun week—when 360 certificates were
awarded to 199-89 only proving unsuccessful.
Beyond all which it is further stated upon autho-
rity that the condition of the Institutes is at the
present moment far better than at the period when
the Union was first established, and more classes
have sprung into existence—there is a more re-
gular attendance upon those classes—and a more
marked attention is everywhere paid to the solid
branshes of useful knowledge. It must surely be
recognised, therefore, after what has been stated,
that, beyond the good accruing to the individual
candidates, there are the no less obvious advan-
tages secured to Mechanics'
_lnstitutions generally
throughout the country—all resulting from the
wiser organisation and the wider extension of
these beneficent Competitive Examinations,