The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-17 00:00:00

the second class of those who are called upon to re-
turn thanks to the University of Oxford—l mean
the schoolmasters of the country who have taken
part, or who shall take part, in preparing pupils for
these examinations. They must feel that their posi-
tion is considerably raised by it. When I say raised,
don't let me be supposed for one moment to imply
that it is a profession that is required in the estima-
tion of society to be raised. My grandfather was a
schoolmaster. I was a pupil of an uncle whom I
loved and honoured as my father. I was a pupil at
Eton of a cousin whom I loved as an elder brother.
One of my brothers, as many of you know, has been
for years labouring in the school at Eton—success-
fully, I may say, certain diligently—for a great
number of years as assistant-master. I come of a
family of schoolmasters ; and let me assure those
who are here of that profession that I hold that
part of my descent with as much pride, and greater
pride, than I do my being able to trace it upon the
other side to a gentleman who happened to be Lord
Mayor of London for several successive years in the
reign of King Henry 111. (Hear, and applause.) I
look upon my schoolmaster's descent as the more
noble of the two ; and I am perfectly certain that
not only the schoolmasters now assembled, but-all
the intelligent persons who are here, will go along
with me in that feeling. (Hear, hear.) Schoolmas-
ters will feel not merely that their labours are
brought more into the sunshine, and that they re-
ceive the reward which it is no shame for any man
to be proud of receiving, when they produce their
successful candidates ; hut the more intelligent
among them will receive extremely useful hints by
the course the examinations have taken, as to the
best means of discharging their duty. (Hear.) I
will not go into details in which I might run my-
self aground, for despite all my lineage I am not so
practically acquainted with the subject as many
others now here. But there is one thing I would
venture to point out. I would press upon them the
importance of that which the University of Oxford
adhere to, to the great disappointment of many
persons—namely, the sticking to the elements, and
saying that nothing shall supersede accuracy in the
lower and rudimental parts of education. (Hear.)
I do not know how that may be with some masters
in this county. I can speak for myself, and one near
me ‘Mr. Sillifant) will bear me out. My good uncle
—it is now nearly 60 years ago, for I began my
Latin before I was six years of age—when we came
to a new book, I remember especially Homer, said,
"Now, boys, this is a new language. You have
been reading Xenophon and Lucian. You are now
going to read Homer; he spoke in a different lan-
guage, he thought in a different way from the
authors you have read. Let us go by steps." Every
word, little or great, every noun and verb, every
single word in that book did he make us give an
account of. For the first fortnight, three weeks, or
a month, about five lines took an hour to get
through; and very tedious it must have been to a
man who possessed great delicacy of mind, and
could enter into the whole beauty of the poet as a
poet. Yet he submitted to that drudgery because
he knew well how it would pay. The consequetre
was that at the end of a month we knew the book
we had gone through—the 100 or 200 lines—so ac-
curately that we might be said, as far as boys could
do, to know the book. We knew it grammatically,
and nothing came too hard for us after that. That
I venture to suggest as an example that might be
of use to all schoolmasters. (Hear, hear.) I have
said I do not knowhow this is in this county among
the masters. I have not the smallest doubt how it
must have been with those whose pupils have been
successful. I will tell you a story which I have upon
the best possible authority. It does not apply to
any schoolmaster here, or within many hundred
miles of this county. An examiner was about, and
he had a class before him—the first class in arith-
metic. They were able to answer questions ; they
had gone through all the higher branches of arith-
metic, and were prepared to answer anything. But
he said, " I will give you a sum in simple addition."
He accordingly dictated ¢ sum, and cautiously in-
terspersed a good many ciphers. Suppose, for in-
stance, he said " a thousand and forty-nine." He
found there was not one in the class who was able
to put down that sum in simple addition ; they
could not make count of the ciphers. That showed
him the boys had been suffered to pass over far too
quickly the elementary parts of arithmetic. (Hear,
hear.) The examiner took them in grammar, and
quoted a few lines from Cowper—
. "I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute."
" What governs right ?" There was not a boy
could say, till it was put to them " none to dispute
my right." Then
-" The beasts that roam over the plain,
My form with indifference see.'
None could tell what governed "see," or what " see "
governed after it. These are instances that I think
it not useless to mention, for the purpose of draw-
ing the attention of intelligent schoolmasters to the
neeessity of attending—not merely once in the be-
ginning, but going back from time to time—to the
elements. (Hear, hear, and applause.) To the third
class, the young men whom I see before me, I shall
simply say a few words, for they have already heard
an excellent address from my friend, Sir John Ken-
naway. I am sure you will feel that you are bound
to be extremely thankful to the delegates and the
local examiners for the trouble they have taken,
and for the excellent manner in which the Oxford
examinations have been carried out. (Hear, hear.)
I beg of yon, much as I said to you last year, to
consider that above all things, in your present situa-
tion, industry and attention are the things you
should hold by. Do not let the 'honours you have
received induce you to go sleep and to say." I have
done enough." If so, it is the greatest misfortune
that you have attained honours. (Hear. hear.) If,
on the contrary, they encourage you to further
exertion, then no one can say how great the benefit
may be. (Hear, hear.) Let me impress upon you
that the best motto you can take for yourselves in
this respect is that which was taken by amost emi-
nent man, who made his woy from a hair-dresser's
shop to be Chief Justice Tenterden. What was his
motto ? When a man is made a judge he is made
a sergeant, and as sergeant he gives rings to some
of the great officers of State, with a motto upon it.
His motto was "Laborer' He did not refer to his
own talents. It was not " invita Minerva." To
his immortal honour be it said—from the hair-
dresser's shop in Canterbury to the Free School in
Canterbury ; from the Free School in Canterbury
to Corpus Christi College ; from Corpus Christi
College to the bar; from the bar to the bench ;
from the bench to the peerage—he achieved all
with unimpeachable honour, and always practising
that which was his motto at last. One a the most
gratifying scenes I have ever witnessed was when
that man went up to the House of Peers in his robes
for the first time, attended by the whole bar of
England. (Hear' hear.)

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

EASTERN COUNTIES.
Mr. Walford, the defeated candidate in tlEle Ate
election for auditors of the Eastern Countie, s Rail-
way, has transmitted the following further state-
ment in connexion with that affair. His ( Marge,

it will be remembered, was that Mr. Lo re, the
chairman, had distinctly intimated that 'either
he nor the directors as a body would take part in
favour of any of the parties, it being con sidered
that the selection should be strictly left to thi 3, share-
holders themselves, and that notwithstandi rig this
Mr. Love at the poll turned the choice in fa your of
a personal friend, Mr. Flower, by the use of proxies
intrusted to him for general purposes. On the in-
sertion of Mr. Walfurd's original letter an i inpres-
sion was intimated that Mr. Love would week to
put himself right by some reply, but he has: appa-
rently not deemed it necessary to take any notice
of the matter, although the complaint was n( it based
upon anything that could be treated as an unwar-
ranted assumption, but upon a written do climent
in the possession of the aggrieved candidato., On
that point, however, Mr. Love has a perfect right
to consult his own feelings. The shareholde Ira like-
wise, although they will hardly be prepared. to jus-
tify anything on the part of their officers th at may
appear disingenuous, may feel quite contenit that
their proxies should be used as on this occasion.
All that need be remarked is, that if ever ti ley find
any unpleasant results from the system, they must
not call for public sympathy. When their allow
directors to nominate auditors, it is just tbie same
as if a cash keeper in a firm were requested. by his
employers to appointthe accountant who is t o check
his totals Sir,—You having pronounced. some
explanation' from the directors or chairman. of this
company necessary with respect to their reoent con-
duct in connexion with the election of audLitors, I
have been content to wait. Indeed, I feel I have
little further to do with the matter individually,
you having, greatly to the satisfaction of the pro-
prietors, taken it up on public grounds.
" If the chairman chooses to remain impervious
to censure, I am bound to inform you it is not so
with a majority of the members of the board.
Since my first letter in your columns, some have
called upon me, and many more have written, as-
suring me that they were no parties either to the
obtaining or the misuse of the general power
proxies by which Mr. Love managed to secure th e
election of his own auditor.
" As the letters so received give an insight into
the management sufficient fully to account for the
wcrst misfortunes of this unfortunate company, I
shall feel that I am doing a service in handing you
copies of them. You wilkperceive that intrigue and
dissension are in the ascendant, and that might is
usurping the province of right. So far as they
affect the question before us, eight of the boarddis-
t.inctly deny all participation in the use of the di-
rectors' proxies, several expressing their strong in-
dignation at the proceeding; one declines informa-
tion ! one remained neutral from circumstances ;
and one ' fully concurred,' his name, indeed, having
been in the proxies.
" In one of the letters you will find the following
passage At a meeting of the directors at the
London Tavern a few minutes previous to the ge-
neral meeting of the proprietors on the 25th ult.,
the chairman, after making favourable mention of
one of the candidates, Mr. Flower, asked permis-
sion of the board to use proxies in his possession, if
necessary, for that gentleman.' The 'if necessary,'
I presume, means if he could not defeat me in any
other way; and the asking permission shows that
the chairman considered the general power proxies
as not under his own control. In fact, they were
obtained in the name of the directors.'
" The request was not only not complied with, but
several directors strongly deprecated the idea of
tampering in the election of an auditor. The meet-
ing was suddenly terminated, and the next day the
chairman did turn the election by the proxies in
question.
" The first account Mr. Love has to render is to
11's colleagues, the next to the public, and the third
to the proprietors. With myself he had no com-
punction in breaking faith; how he will justify
himself before the three tribunals named every-
body appears anxious to learn.—Sir, yours most
obediently,
" CORNELIUS WALFORD, JUN., F.S.S., F.S.A.
" 7, Bank-buildings, Lothbury, Sept. 14."

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE WEEK.

TIIE" SUN, LONDON SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 17, 1859•