The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-12 00:00:00

,

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION,—
C. F. HANCOCK, Jeweller and Silversmith to the
Queen, 3?, Bruton-street, Bond-street, having been selected
by the C3namittee to make the "BAD
Rifle AssociaE " to
tibon," e Worn by
the Members of the " Nationalbegs
respectfully to inform them that it may be procured at his
Establishment, or on the grounds at Wimbledon, in SILVER,
price 7s. 6d., and in GOLD ENAMELLED, price Three
Guineas.

THEATRw.-ROYAL, liAymmiKET.
Lessee, Mr. J. B. Bucknone.
Mr. Buckstone's Annual Benefit.
THIS EVEN IN(,', the penormances will commence with
a new Ballet. BACCHUS AND ARIADNE. Miss Fanny
wright, the Leclercqs, Mr. Webster, &c.
After which, a new Comedy, entitled MY LORD AND
MY LADY ; or, It Might have been Worse. Mr. C. Mathews,
Mr. Andrews, Mr. Buckstone, Mrs. Charles Mathews, Mrs.
Wilkins, &c.
Mdlle. Parepa will sing; also the Vocal Concert Quartette.
After which, Mr. Buckstone will deliver his Annual Ad-
dress.

To conclude with THE SCAPEGOAT.
Commence at 7.

HO YA PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Lessee and Manat.er, Mr. A. Harris.

THIS EVENING, the new comic drama, entitled A
HOMESTEAD STORY, Messrs. Ryder Shore, and Miss
M. Harris.

Followed by HAMLET. Hamlet, Mr. Fechter. Sup-
ported by Hermann Vezin, Ryder, Meadows, to ; Misses
heath, Elsworthy, and R. Leclereq.

EW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPIII.-
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.

Tars EVENING MR. GORILLA. Messrs. J. t,. Took,
P. Bedford, Billington ; Miss Kate Kelly, Miss E. Thorne.
After which (230th time), THE COLLEEN BAWN. Mr.
D. Boucicault, D. Fisher, Billington, Falconer, Stephenson,
C. J. Smith, Romer, Howard, Ward ; Mrs. Boucicault, Miss
Woolgar, Mrs. Billington, and Mrs. Chatterley.

To be followed by THE CENSUS. Mr. J. L. Toole, Mr.
Eburne, Miss K. Kelly, and Miss E. Thorne.
-

Doors open at halt past 6—Commence at 7.

CANTERBURY -HALL CONCERT'
AND FINE ARTS GALLERY.

EVERY EVENING,

Two Grand Selections from celebrated Operas. including
Verdi's new Opera. THE BA.L MASQUE (first produced
in England at this Establishment), with a Chorus of Forty
Voices, and upon a scale unequalled at any other Concerts.
Miss Russell, Miss Ernst, Mr. Greville, Ur. Herbert, Signor
Tivoli, Mr. Bernard; popular Solos on the Cornet-a-piston,
by Mr. Levy (the first performer of the day); the Brothers
Conrad (in an entirely original entertainment on the double
rope, not to be seen elsewhere); continued success of Mr.
{good and his talented little Son.

The Comic Department comprises the followinc, favourites :
—Mr. Marshall, Mr. Hollingsworth; the NERVES, IDY
Messrs. Harvey and French ; and Mrs. Lawrence.
Musical Director, Mr. JONGTIMANS.

O X F 0 R D,
6, OXFORD-STREET.
This noble building being now completed, its architectural
beauty, elegance of ornamentation, and brilliancy of lighting
render it one of the sights of the metropolis. Open Every
Evening. The programme is varied, and includes Selections
(by a full company of principals, powerful band, and chorus)
from "Macbeth" and "Un Ballo in Maschera." both operas
by Verdi, the composer of the day—The wonderful Solos on
the Cornet-a-Piston of the renowned LEVY—Scotch Duets by
the Misses Stuart, and other vocal and instrumental music
of the highest order. Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans. The
Comic portion of the entertainment is supported by Miss
Green, Messrs. Sam Collins, Harvey, and French (the Nerves),
Wieland, E. Marshall. and W. Randall. Admission
Sixpence ; Balcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private'
Boxes, 10s. 6d.

T H E

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 4h. 43m.—Afternoon, sh. Om.
To-moßßow.-Morning, sh. 20m.—Afternoon, sh. 44m.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, JULY 12, 1861.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADS.
71—highest since noon yesterday.
53—lowest this morning and during the night.
70—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29.74.
WlND—South-Westerly; light, with sultry weather and
cloudy.

445),
4r.
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'1 E SUN.

LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1881.

An annual Education debate is a necessity. The
money we have to vote demands it—the various
crotchets of our Educational philanthropists
demand it. And one thing more demands that we
all give attention enough to know it is going on—
we are yet only feeling our way to a final national
system. Nothing is more certain than that the
present plan cannot be the permanent one. It is
central, complicated, and because central and com-
plicated, enormously costly. Again, it fails in the
first grand desideratum of a national system—it
does not reach the class who most want its aid. If
any plain man of common sense were asked—" Who
)ught to be the first subjects of National Educa-
tion " he would certainly reply, " Those
whose parents are too poor to educate them
themselves," and he would perhaps add, those whose
parents are too irreclaimably vicious to allow any
hope that their children would be sent to school-
In a word, it is not the business of any Govern-
ment to help those who can help themselves. But,
as with regard to material food, no one must be
left to starve because he cannot earn his living, so
with regard to what is deemed the requisite
mental aliment for every member of a civilised
community, if the child cannot obtain it by the
regular means, the State must step in. It must
meet the cases of educational pauperism.
Now this is precisely what the present system
does not do. Admitting, for argument's sake, all
the good claimed to be done by it as really done,
which we are far from doing, what it has left un-
done is its great condemnation. It enriches the
richer parishes and rends the poorer parishes
hungry away. It says. " For every £lOO we have
given we have called forth voluntary contributions
to the amount of 1200." But the parishes with
fewer than six hundred exclaim, in reply,—" We
hardly know you ;
we are too poor to support any-
thing like a decent school, and yet we cannot get
a farthing from lOU, while we see our neighbour
parish larger, mere populous, and wealthier,
with two school-rooms, one for Dissenters and
one for Churchmen, with their well paid teachers,
and pupil teachers, and capitation
grants, all
paid in great part out the national taxes to which
we have contributed our share, while we, who need
it most, cannot get a shilling in return!' And this
is the cardinal vice of the system. It just shuts
out from its benefits those who most need it, and
who have a direct claim to their proportion of the
national bonuses out of the fund to which all must
contribute alike.

• Within its own selected sphere also there is much
calling loud y for remedy. Since the earliest in-
vestigations there has been indeed a great advance
in the numbers of the population at school, they
were at first one in seventeen ; in 1833, they rose
to one in eleven, and in 18G0 they had reached the
very high proportion of one in seven. This is as
high a rate as can probably be attained ; hardly
any European state shows so high an average. But
as the Commissioners remark in their report, nothing
can be more delusive than these returns of numbers.
The capitation grants are made upon the attend-
ances. Hence there is every stimulus to the
teacher to make these as numerous as he can,
but, the number of the children attending who have
obtained even an elemmtary education, does not
appear to be more than one fourth of the whole.
The error of capitation grants based on attendance
merely, is one, however, which the Government has
e" and proposes to remedy. Were attendance
not made a
con ideration, the masters might pro-
duce boys to the inspectors who had received their
instruction from other masters; but it is now pro-
posed to require feat those for whom the grant is
paid should shoe a
fair acquaintance with reading,
writing, and arithlZEtic.
If a scholar fails in any
of these the grant on his account is to be propor-
tionably diminished.. As"' money, if paid, ought
to be paid for resulto, though we have much to ob-
j ect against the whol.e capitation system, we yet are
muchgratified with the alteration hi it. Mr.
LOWE says—" Hav;tagthus secured attendances we
propose to go a step further. We propose that an
inspector shall evc mine the children in reading,

I writing, and arithmetic. If a child should pass in
the whole the full capitation grant will be given ;
but if he fail in writing, for instance, one-third of
the grant will be withdrawn; if he fail in both
reading and writing two-thirds will be withheld ;
while if he fail in reading, writing, and arithmetic
no portion of the grant will be paid. Thus, the
House will see that we shall never pay anything
for a child unless we have been satisfied—first, that,
he has attended above a certain number of times ;
secondly, that he has attended a school which is
under a certified master; and, thirdly, that he has
satisfied an inspector of his capacity in reading,
writing, and arithmetic. I hope the change we
propose may have some effect in correcting the evils
in the teaching which have been complained of.
Our object is to secure, as far as possible, that the
attention of the master shall not be confined to the
upper class of his school, but shall be given to the
whole, and we endeavour to effect that object by
making the payment of the capitation grant depend
upon the manner in which he has instructed each
child,"

We respectfully suggest to the Government, to
inspectors, to managers of schools, and to all whom
it may concern, that if we uphold a system of edu-
cation out of the public taxes its first object ought
to be a comparatively humble one. As in poor
law relief, we must think of educational necessaries,
not of educational luxuries, The three elementary
subjects of education we want every child to study.
Beyond that we wish every child to be a geo-
grapher, a historian, a mathematician, and so
forth,to the extent to which his tastes, time, and
ability enable him to be so. But great has been
the error of more ambitious efforts. We most of
us know from early recollections, perhaps from
parental experience, how easy it is for
a teacher to furnish a few crack boys
whose performances shall be reported as what '
has been achieved in his school ; while five-sixths
of the boys have received, perhaps, hut a very
slender modicum of his attentions. Both his own
credit, and the labour of drilling common-place
lads, combine to induce him to throw his strength
into the best possible cultivation of the few minds
which will pay for it. The Commissioners very
properly call attention to the greater importance of
teaching all well, than a few superlatively well.
We add that it ought to be the main object. The
great majority of the working classes will never
need more than elementary teaching ; they have no
use for more. And, we may rest assured, that
wherever there is ability and taste for fur-
ther knowledge, the lad who can read,
write, and cypher will never fail to
teach himself—the most valuable teaching of all.
It is moreover a great injustice to the great body
of the poor, if the teachers are selected from a class
who will not feel a thorough interest in teaching
those elements which are essential to all. We
have no right, at the public expense, to furnish
instruction of a kind wanted by the less needy
classes, when it leads to the neglect of that which
the poorest need, and which none can do without.
The Government does not propose to make any
alteration in the denominational system. The
national education is still to be carried on through
the agency of the sects. We cannot blame them
for this. It is a miserable device to be sure, but the
mutual intolerance of the various denominations
leaves no alternative. There is a better system of
Government education in Ireland, but it is assailed
on all sides from year to year. Nowadays
" Christians so love one another," that they cannot
have their children taught common school subjects,
except with an addendum of some creed, catechism,
or worship, which shall be a magic security against
the evils of knowledge. A catechism is like the
horseshoe nailed in the door-way. That superstition
has pretty nearly vanished, we may hope in due
time the other will follow it. We do not imagine
it would last long if laymen were the advisers—we
should be content, thankful, for such religious les-
sons as all sects would agree in ; but our profes-
sional leaders will never submit to this. They seem
to think the virtue of Christianity lies in the points
in which Christians differ from each other; hence,
logically, not to teach the children these differences,
is to omit Christianity altogether. When better
days will come we cannot tell. Till they do we
must often be compelled to bear the cost of two in-
ferior schools in one parish, when we might have
one good, or, perhaps, first rate one.

The time has at length arrived when we may
venture to exult—without (while so doing) any
appearance of precipitation—in the fact that the
Volunteer Movement has now taken its place, to all
appearance, securely and permanently among our
national institutions. A couple of years, neverthe-
less, we have seen to be alone requisite for the
accomplishment of this great achievement. For
that it is essentially an achievement in itself, and
an achievement, too, of a resplendent character,
who shall gainsay ? Within two years the man-
hood of England has spontaneously, and among all
classes of society, organised a force, a self-support-
ing force, numbering very little short of a round
aggregate of 200,000 skilled Riflemen. And this,
recollect, has been done not under the incitation of
any hasty panic, but calmly, resolutely, and it may
be said quite accurately, and in the literal mean-
ing of the words, with a rapid deliberation. Sixty
years ago the musters of the Volunteers through
England took place under very different circum-
stances indeed. Then there was barely time for
reflection. Then the emergency was one of the
' most urgent kind well imaginable. We were at
war with France. We had been at war with
France during several years continuously—for the
must part (by reason of our insular position)
upon the Ocean. And there, upon those confront-
ing coasts of the French Republic—there, almost
within view of oar shores, upon the opposite
side of the British Channel—a formidable arma-
ment was being collected, under the banners of
the greatest Soldier the world has ever seen (Sir
WILLIAM NAPIER—the English Historian of the
wars that
took place long afterwardasrinatraheauPteusvinas-
sula—has said it)—a formidable m
there being collected together under the First Consul
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, in the immediate neigh_
bourhood of Boulogne-sur-Mer. This was the posi-
tion of things now exactly sixty years ago, that is in
the year 1801, when NELSON was striving with the
most heroic enterprise to destroy the flat-bottomed
boats there gathered together under the protection
of the French batteries, to be in readiness when-
ever the opportunity might occur for putting Gene-
ral BONAPARTE'S project of au invasion of England
to the test by conveying over an army of 100,000
veteran Republicans, to march upon London with
fire and sword.

The illusory Peace of Amiens came soon
afterwards—as a postponement. England and
France, for one brief interval in the midst of
their great war of a quarter of .a century's dura-
tion, enjoyed a halcyon,. breathing time, during
which—at any rate at the/commencement of which
—a permanent recorailiation of the two coun-
tries appeared to be just barely possible. Then
it was that our Liberal statesmen flocked
over to Paris and were formally presented to NAPO-
LEON at the " Court" of the First Consul in the
Pidaca of the Tuileries: conspic,uous among these