The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

TIIE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE. SEPT. 17.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
72—highest since noon yesterday.
57—lowest this morning and during the night.
68—this day at noon. _ .

BAROMETER--330'04•
WIND, Northerly; light and fine.

THE SUN.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858.

The Earl of ELGIN has earned his Marquisate.
Nothing could have been more admirably nego-
tiated than our recent treaty of peace with the
Chinese. With the terms of the treaty our readers
are already perfectly well acquainted. They have
been given by us so succinctly and repeatedly that
they assuredly require no further enumeration. It
were almost as superfluous to detail yet again the
various concessions made by China in the peace
now concluded with the Allied Powers of Western
Europe, as it would be to prose over the different
articles of the treaty signed in 1843 by the Man-
darin KEYING and Sir HENRY POTTINGER.

Of the particulars of the ceremonial accompany-
ing the negotiation of this more recent and more
important Treaty, we have all of us read with
delight the vividly graphic narrative penned by
the Times' Correspondent. By a curious coinci-
dence, pointed out by that able narrator, the Treaties
of 1843 and of 1858 were alike signed on the 26th
of June. By the first—on the 26th of June, 1843—
the thin end of the wedge was cleverly inserted.
Now, again—on the 26th of June, 1858—the wedge
has been driven home with an unerring hand to
the heart of the stubborn fabric of Chinese exclu-
siveness. Driven home thus by our energetic diplo-
matist, the Scotch Thane, who,webegan by saying,
has thus very nobly earned a reward we doubt not
now reserved for his acceptance—his elevation from
an earldom .to a marquisate.

Undeniable though the facts are by this time,
the particulars relating to this memorable negotia-
tion are nevertheless so remarkably good, so
wonderfully advantageous to ourselves, so hopeful
for the Chinese; so auspicious of the spread yet
further and further, among a stupendous popula-
tion of more than 400,000,000 Pagan barbarians,
of the benefits of civilization and of the blessings
of Christianity—that even now the news seems to
be really and truly scarcely credible. There, how-
ever, legible and tangible enough, is the magical
Treaty, duly signed, sealed, and delivered. Sealed
with the vermilion seal of the Chinese Government
—signed with the hieroglyphic signatures of the
Mantchoo Mandarin KWEILIANG and of the Mongol
Mandarin HwAsHANA—the latter President of the
Civil Board and Second Commissioner, the former
Chief Secretary of State and Senior Commissioner.
The authoritative autograph upon the other
side being the more familiar name of Lord ELGIN,
Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary. Nay, the various
topics of the Treaty are not merely completed thus
by the respective negotiators ; but an Imperial
decree, according to our latest advices (dated July
the 4th, 1858), had actually been received from the
palace of the Emperor HEIN-FLlNG—declaratory of
his consent to its ratification. So much for this

rapidly negotiated Treaty of Tien-sin—a pacification,
the terms of which secure to us an ample indemnity
for the past, and a most propitious and encouraging
prospect for the future. There cannot bo an instant's
doubt, that the terms thus quickly exacted from
the Chinese are in no way exorbitant. They must
prove in the end, they cannot possibly fail to prove
in the end, signally beneficial to the very race from
whom they have been extorted at the cannon's
mouth, and at the point of the bayonet. They will
open up to the people of China not merely the
comforts of cheap calico and hardware—the produce

of the workshops of Birmingham and of the factories
of Manchester—they will (far beyond all this) bring
them into direct and constant intercourse with the
traders from distant England. Who can tell—perhaps
before much longer we may receive evidence of the
fruits of this intercourse, among our importations
of tea and crape, in the shape of a queer little fly-
leaf of hieroglyphics called a Chinese Newspaper.
Railway contracts may be entered into by enter-
prising English firms for the laying down of rail-
ways along the Chinese seaboard, and far away into
the interior, along routes leading to Burmah or to
Tartary. Telegraphic wires may connect Pekin

with Canton. Submarine cables may be trailed
down the channel of the Pciho across to Hong
Kong. We may have photographic serials brought
home vividly illustrative of Chinese life—public
and domestic—city and suburban. Ste •
reoscopie
views may come to us of the turns and angles and
watch towers of the Great barbaric Wall between
China and Tartary. What a God-send, at any rate,
the treaty will be to that pleasantest of travelling
companions, who has told us long ago all we could
reasonably want ever to be told about Chamouni
and Mont Blanc—about Musson and that delight-
fully stupid ass of an Engineer. When our hu-
morous observer has returned—the Londoners, at
least, will not have reason to remain long in ig-
norance as to the peculiarities of life and Man-
ners among the Chinese multitude.

Edueationists continue, like other folk, to make
their discoveries, and to promulgate them till they
gain general acceptance. Amongst the latest is
one enforced, by Sir GEORGE GREY in the sensible

and useful speech which we gave our readers yester-
day. The business then in hand was adult rather
than juvenile instruction ; the meeting was one of
Literary and Mechanics' Institutes--a me. ting, there-
fore, of persons interested in teaching those who

had left the care of National or British and Foreign
Schools, and who have become perfectly free agents
—our lads, our young men, and, to some extent,
our middle-aged men too. It is for them that

Mechanics' Institutes were first devised ; and the

most sanguine hopes were cherished of seeing our
rising operatives voluntary students in the exact
sciences, in history, biography, and geography.
The works of the Society for the Diffusion of Use-
ful Knowledge, originated by the same earnest men

who planned Mechanics' Institutes, sufficiently show
what they hoped of the rising town generation of
England. Formidable treatises on algebra and
geometry alternate with others on important
and useful branches of knowledge ; there was a
vigorous effort for " knowledge made cheap and
easy ; but we do not, just now, recollect one
of the long and able series in which the aim was
" knowledge made cheap and amusing," much less
in which the aim was chiefly to amuse.

Another principle sacred in the estimation of the
promoters of these institutions was, that political
and polemical works must not on any account be
admitted into the libraries ; we believe they were
till lately, perhaps are to this day, generally
refused, even if proffered gratuitously ! The result
of these great mistakes has been -conspicuous
enough. It is, indeed, marvellous how they could

have been made. Take that part of the commu-
nity which has the means of ready access to books,
and how many of its members are students of
useful knowledge ? And what, again, is the pro-
portion amongst our middle-class young men and
women, and of those of the higher classes too,
who read much besides amusing fiction, religious
books, or politics. The institutes appear to have
sedulously and jealously excluded just the kinds of
reading which those who read without the aid of
institutes almost universally prefer. Besides
ignoring the universal propensity of our race to
seek excitement and amusement for its own sake,

they ignored also the most marked characteristics
of Englishmen—their earnestness in politics and
religion. The controversies in each, form almost
the staple of English conversation—when it gets
beyond gossip—according to the temperament of
the talkers. Yet, under the pretext of preventing
strife and debate in these bowers of science, not
only amusements, but controversy too, were
excluded.

The rule should have been the exact reverse. ,
The patrons of all creeds in politics and religion
should have been invited to contribute all respect-
able works on their own side, and the graver and
more earnest readers should have been able to find
in the mechanics' library just such pamphlets and
books as the class next above them read with inte-
rest ; but, above all, the institute should have been_
the place where every good tale and novel could be
found. It should have vied with the circulating
library by the superiority of its selection only ; it
should have sought to amuse the toil-worn opera-
tive by what amuses the sons and daughters of
his better-off neighbours, and have endeavoured to
improve his taste by excluding merely the vicious
and the trumpery.
Sir GEORGE GREY, in his speech to which we
have referred, entirely and heartily accepts these
views. They are not new. They have been advo-
cated several times already by gentlemen of
diverse politics and creeds, and it is now
pretty generally conceded that the people cannot
be drilled into the love of " useful knowledge,"
technically so called; it is acknowledged that
knowledge, like trade, must have its own free course,
and that it is as useless to overstock the operative
reading market with intellectual materials not in
demand there, as it was to send our pianofortes and
our broad thin calicoes to the Celestial Empire,
who wanted neither. So complete, however, is the
change becoming, that the quarterly, monthly,
weekly, and daily literature of the time is now the
most attractive part of the entertainment in all
institutes and in libraries for the many. Let any
one visit these places at the hours when those can
be present for whom they were specially designed,
and he will see the table or the fireplace surrounded
by students, not of science, or philosophy, or even
of history, biography, or travels, or any of the
branches of "useful knowledge," but of the latest
newspapers, as the article most in demand, the time
for that most precious vehicle of knowledge being
generally limited, so as to give all a chance ; while
those who are waiting for it are poring over the
next latest paper, or the pages of _Blackwood or
Fraser, or some weekly or monthly, anxiously
looking up every minute to see whether their turn
for the most interesting knowledge is come. In-
deed, according to these means, the Mechahics'
Institutes are perforce becoming newsrooms.
And this is the course which must not only be
adopted universally, but the friends of adult in-
struction must advanbe in it. It is in their power,
we firmly believe, to do very much both to allure
the working classes from intemperance and
dissipation, and to lead them on in the path
of self-improvement. The modern newspaper is
the very thing for that purpose. It contains
such a mass of information, not worthless gossip
merely, brought from all quarters of the globe,
that a habitual newspaper reader, unless he confine
himself to its trifles, must know more of all
it concerns men to know, beyond topics of per-
sonal and local interest, than passably educated
persons knew in the last generation. The class of
persons, indeed, who now edit newspapers and
contribute to them is the guarantee for this ; they
arc persons not only of knowledge and ability, but
persons who have a character to maintain. While
the great body of readers will always prefer the
newspaper and the novel to everything, the
newspaper, much more than the novel, will suggest
to them innumerable subjects on which they may
be led to seek yet higher knowledge. Between the
varied and valuable news of the day, the reviews
of books and the comments of a well-educated
editor, it seems impossible that newspapers should
not be the happiest device conceivable for impart-
ing a great deal of current and improving
knowledge to those who will read no more, and
of stirring up many to drink at deeper fountains.

"Si vispacem parabellu;n." This time-honoured
apophthegm has seldom been impugned save by
those who altogether ignore war, and who are pre-
pared to surrender even their constitutional rights
and privileges—nay, more, their very liberties, to
the first assailants. Everyone, in fact, agrees that
the national defences must be preserved in good
order and efficiency. We cannot permit an armed
foe to pollute the sacred soil of England, and to
preserve this cherished immunity we must be pre-
pared, not only to maintain the defensive, but also
to assume the offensive, whenever occasion may
require such a demonstration. It is an im-
portant power, no doubt, to be enabled
to withstand an enemy's attack, but we
shall scarcely maintain our prestige unless we are
able to return blow for blow, and to maintain a
moderate balance in our favour should it unfortu-
nately come to hard fighting.
Hitherto England has maintained her maritime

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