The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-23 00:00:00

STRADELLA.

By Miss Russell. Miss Ernst, Mr. Herbert, Signor Tivoli,
Mr. Morley, and a powerful Chorus.

The return of Mr. LEVY, who will perform several cele-
brated Airs on the Cornet-a-piston.
The Comic department comprises Messrs. Harvey and
French. " The Nerves "—Mr. Marshall—Mr. Wood and his
talented Son—and Miss Harriet Coveney.
Musical Director, Mr. Jonghmans.
Admission—Hall, 6d. ; Stalls and Balcony, ls.

T H

EOX F 0
6, OXFORD-STREET.
EVERY EVENING.

R D,

A Grand Selection from Auber's New Cornie:Opera, " LA
CIRCASSIENNE," by Miss Ernst, Messrs. Greene, H.
Herbert, and the Company. Also fromiVerdi's new Grand
opera, "Simon Boccanegra," by Miss Russell, Messrs.
Morley, Greene, Greville, and the Company. Balfe's new
ballad, " The Maid and her Moorish Knight," by Madame
Enderssohn. Mr. Levy on the Cornet-a-piston, and varied
Comic Entertainments by Miss Harriet Coveney, Mr. and
Master Wood, Messrs. Harvey and French (The Nerves),
Mr. E. Marshall, and Mr. W. Randall. Hall, 6d.; Balcony
and Stalls, is ; Private Boxes, 108. 6d.—Musical Director,
Mr. F. Jonghmans.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 4h. 10m.—Afternoon, 4h. 30m.
To-mmtow.-Morning, 4h. 46m.—Afternoon, 6h. 10m.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, OCTOBER 23, 1861.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
59—highest since noon yesterday.
47—lowest this morning"and during the night.
57—this day at noon.

Baaolurrmt-30.10 ; rising.
WlND—Eolith-Westerly—light; with fine weather.

No one wishes to wrong the schoolmaster. We
are persuaded that the concoeters of the new educa-
tional minute, whoever they were, had no such wish,
and if the minute would work unfairly towards
them, its details would be willingly subjected to
revision. The truth, however, is, first, that it is not
easy to wrong the schoolmasters, as a class; and,
secondly, that the objects of the new minute must
be secured, if the public money is to be paid for
education—those objects are stated in the preamble
as being to render the distribution of the parlia-
mentary grant " more simple, more general, and
more effective for its purpose."
The reason why we have always thought the
schoolmasters could not be much hurt is this—that
the demand for good schoolmasters is in excess
of the supply. At a meeting of the Worcester
Diocesan Training College on Monday, the Bishop
of WORCESTER sensibly observed, that as to the
prospects of schoolmasters, he looked upon the prin-
ciple of education as so firmly established in this
country that schoolmasters would always find occu-
pation ; and, as the labourer was always worthy of
his hire, the more qualified they were for their office
the higher would be their position, both pecuniarily
and morally." Let any one look around and he sees
that those who are interested in schools anywhere
will not be content with an inferior man. Even if
the place be two small for competing schools, there
are schools in adjoining villages, the success of
the teachers is well known—for nothing
is sooner bruited abroad in a neighbourhood than
the success of a master in turning out sharp, well-
taught boys—and the consequence is, that managers
will pay a little more rather than put up with an
inefficient man. The conviction is fast growing,
even amongst farmers and their landlords, that a
well-taught population is the cheapest for them—
worth the cost of education—and interest and duty
aro thus combining to render the teacher a man in
request. So far, therefore, as the present sys-
tem has produced teachers worth having, they can
make fair terms with managers—and so far as they
are below par, the State taxes ought not to be spent
upon them. If it be said that the State has really
forced an extra supply .in the market, which, how-
ever, we do not believe, we should only reply, that
the sooner the State put an end to the forcing pro-
case the better. The work has, however, arrived at
the stage in which it ought to be more and more
self-supporting.
But as to the grand point of all—the kind and
amount of instruction which alone the State ought

to give, by paying for when it is given—there will,
we trust, be little difference of opinion when the
point comes for discussion before Parliament. As
Lord STANLEY Showed at Leeds in the speech we
reported Yesterday, the question is in a great mea-
sure settled by the age at which the children leave
school. It is the result of' trial that, on the ave-
rage, they quit school at ten. After that time,
their parents require their earn-
ings for the support
of the family. Nothing can
compete with
the necessity, for the poor, of earning a
livelihood ; and by the time they attain that age, it
has become evident, that their earnings are
an
in-
dispensable part of the family subsistence. The
question therefore is, what can be taught them by
that time. The obvious answer to that question is
the condemnation of the too ambitious and shoWy
efforts which have probably been stimulated by the
present system. The three elements essential to
advance afterwards, if the pupil has a turn for
it, might in most cases have been mastered
fairly by the children, had attention been
chiefly concentrated upon them. But the
precious time has been frittered away in attempts
to communicate more than pupils could learn or
.master's teach in the time.

We do not, of course, underrate the desirableness
•of learning something more than reading, writing,
and arithmetic. We only maintain that these are
e snential now for the poorest; and just, therefore,
ghat the nation, standing in loco parentis, ought to

"

I give to all its children. No advance can be made 1
without them. If well acquired, almost any advance
may be made upon them. Evening schools and
classes, mechanics' institutes, Sunday school a
and other means of instruction, can always
easily take in hand the lad who can
read and write w ell. Let him therefore be fur-
nished by his country, if parents cannot do it, with
these indispensable tools ; let these be easy to his
hand, and then the path to indefinite intellectual
improvement is fairly opened to him. He may
attain all within the limits of his pecuniary means,
his time and his talents.

We gather from the speech of Lord STANLEY at
Leeds, as well as those of Lord LYTTLETON, Sir
JOHN PAKINGTON, the Bishop, and even Mr.
ADDEBLEY, at the Worcester Diocesan Training
College Meeting, that the unreasonableness of the
hubbub raised at first is beginning to be seen. Sir
JOHN PAKINGTON was right in his remark, that
one important question was " whether the pre-
sent system could go on much longer"—that
good had, of course, been done by it, but
so much below the maximum, that it was doubtful
whether a thorough recast of it was not necessary
to save the Government grants from being soon
altogether refused. We would advise teachers
above all things to avoid the foolish cry of " vested
interests." It is easy to silence it by the facts of
the case ; but one thing is certain—" vested inte-
rests" of one man always mean the " vested injuries"
of another. When a cause can be defended on its
merits, no one resorts to this shabby defence. Those
who use it confess that they are not worth to others
the money they receive from them. And if the
schoolmasters persist in it, we shall certainly con-
clude that, whether we pay thenVhe public money
or not, they are not worth it.

A batch of country justices, whose names are
not given in the country paper we quote from, have,
at the Ashbourna petty sessions, just been mak-
ing a truly worthy exhibition of themselves, and
of the game laws—those laws which they always
administer with such zest. CHARLES FINNY,
CHARLES BARNES, HENRY BUXTON, JOHN BUX-
TON, JOHN SMITH, WILLIAM MIERS, and THOMAS
LANE (a lad apparently about ten years old), were
charged with having committed a trespass in search
of game upon land at Stanton in the occupation
of JOSEPH THOMPSON, and over which Mr.
DAVENPORT BROMLEY, of Wootton Hall, has the
shooting. The trespass seems to have been
one of that kind so natural to country gentle-
men themselves who follow the hounds, but
for which no one dare summon them, of having
gone on land not belonging to them in the eager-
ness of the chase ; an eagerness shared, as all of
us can remember, by boys of ten years of age, with
gentlemen mounted on hunters. It appeared that
MIERS, BARNES, LANE, and SMITH went, on the
30th of September, by invitation of the BUTTONS,
who are occupiers of land in Stanton parish, to have
a course with a brace of greyhounds upon their
farm. A hare was there found which ran into the
adjoining field occupied by THOMPSON, and into
which some of the parties went.
Now it appears, first, that there is an act, section
35, 1, and 2, WILLIAM IV., cap. 32, which exempts
persons hunting or coursing with hounds from the
penalties of trespass, and that the hare being started
on the BUXTON'S land, they had, therefore, a legal
right to follow it. Secondly, that Mr. BROMLEY'
who had the shooting on the land, wrote to the
bench to withdraw the proceedings against MIERS
and the boy LANE. These worthies, however, gave
no heed to any appeal, not even to one from the
solicitor for exemption of the boy LANE. One and
all they were fined 12 each, and in default of pay-
ment, they were to be COMMITTED FOR TWO
MONTHS TO PRISON ! !!

The account of the proceedings is but brief in
the report of our country contemporary. As it
stands, it seems as if the magistrates wilfully re-
fused to allow the exemption accorded by an
express enactment ; an exemption on which pro-
bably all of them had relied times innumerable
in the hunting-field. Unless facts were adduced
not mentioned in the report, the conviction was
clearly illegal; the only presumption in their
favour being that no mention is made of any notice
of appeal. Respecting, however, the penalty in-
flicted on the boy, there cannot be two opinions,
and we hope the Home Secretary will return the
money. The idea of fining a child, who probably
had not twopence in his pockets, two pounds,
with the alternative of a prison for a school-
room, and felons for his class-mates, and
all for the boyish sport of running with
adults after greyhounds and a hare, may be law,
but it certainly is the wildest extravagance of
injustice. Were these petty sessions Solons
fathers If not, we presume, according to
WORDSWORTH, they had once been boys—but
certainly, in their case, the "boy" was not "father
to the man," for, had they retained a particle of
their boyish mirth and innocence, and had they
seen the little fellow going at the hedge into the
sacred enclosure in full chase of the hare, they
would have given him an encouraging hurrah!
The game laws are detestable enough ; but when
love of game impels the country squires to such
abuses of law as this to protect it, they are doing
their best to let the light of justice and reason
into the whole subject. Many a head of game
will doubtless die an illegal death, many a
leveret perish before it has left its mother, and
many a partridge's nest in the neighbourhood of
Ashbourne feel the weight of an accidental foot, in
wild revenge for imprisoning children for running
after wild animals. Who can blame wanton de-
struction of game, when it is the punishment of
penalties wantonly inflicted for its preservation.
The peasant's justice, who destroys a nest of game
eggs, is every whit as reasonable as that of the
magistrate who would send boys to prison for the
sake of his hares.

Quarter after quarter we watch with peculist-
interest for the return of Dr. LETHEBY, the medi-
cal officer of the City of London—his return, that
is, giving us the guage of the sanitary condition of
the metropolis. The last return—but just' now
published—is among the most suggestive yet
issued by this indefatigable public servant. It is
certainly in many respects about the most impres-
sive and instructive. And, while on the one hand
it cannot but be regarded as full of sources of
anxiety, it must be allowed on the other to be
eminently replete with encouragement. That very
extraordinary disproportions should be noticed in
the returns we have really and truly no reason to
be any way surprised at. And this alike in regard
toa seasonsle i n theanredsutoltlsoocfaltihtiees;aryTinhge difference uoc bt
us ea rt
fluct
uates
in proportion to the extent of their manifold
changes. The difference traceable, upon a compa-
rison of divers localities, must, on the other hand,
be necessarily something remarkable if only by
reason of the disproportionate manner in which
the population is distributed amongst them. As
any one may understand upon the instant, for
when it is remembered that whereas in all
example,
Londonthere are 36 persons to every acre of ground,
in the City there are 156, and in the Cripplegate
subdivision 290 ! That is
to
acre--andsinay, in
thea
singlewhole
t met rop o lis—u nde
r4O tothe

subdivision close upon 300 ! Let it be recollected
also in regard to this—the various degrees of enter-
prise manifested by the local authorities in different
parishes in the promotion of sanitary improvements.
And from a consideration of these and other parti-
culars of a kindred character, it may be readily
appreciated how the returns come to vary so very
wonderfully.

The way in which the general mortality is pro-
portioned amongst the different ages, still (as
revealed to us in these impressive returns) startles
us with one most painful reflection. Whereas
between the ages of five and twenty only nine
deaths occur out of every hundred ! Whereas
between the ages of 20 and 40 there are only 10
out of every 100 deaths ; between the ages of 40
and 60 only " sixteen ;" and beyond the age of 60
" twenty"—as many as 45 deaths out of every 100
(very nearly half the entire sum !) are the deaths
of little children under five years of age ! Priva-
tions of all descriptions, DAFFY'S Elixir, " over-
lying," and, alas ! also deliberate infanticide—each
of these sources of infant mortality has very much,
indeed, to do with this terrible aggregate. The in-
crease of infanticide during the last few years,
especially in our metropolis and its immediate
neighbourhood, has even drawn down upon it the
vigilant attention of the Legislature. It is among
the most frightful " signs of the times" latterly
brought to light—and already within the last few
sessions this source alone has presented an appal-
ling array of statistics. If we remember rightly,
the return moved for in respect to the number of
infanticides actually proved, though but very
rarely, indeed, brought home to the guilty
parties, was moved for by the hon. gentleman the
member for Finsbury. And that return presented
fo view a spectacle of increasing crime in this
way, urgently calling for the stringent interpo-
sition of the Imperial Legislature, to the end that
an attempt at least should be made towards its
diminution.

While the mortality altogether shows a decrease
as compared with previous years, a diminution
doubly remarkable and therefore doubly satisfac-
tory because occurring in spite of the general in-
crease of the population, there are two points
worthy of particular notice in respect to this aver-
age mortality—one encouraging, the other the re-
verse. There is a diminished mortality, that is to
say, in regard to one class of diseases—and en
increased mortality in regard to another. The
decrease in the number of those who died from
measles, from continuous fever, from scarlet fever,
and from smallpox,shows a highly satisfactory falling
off in the average upon the quarter, from 8i to 39 !
The diminution being from 29 to 18 from continuous
fever. From 25 to 18 from scarlet fever. From
10 to 1 from small-pox. And from 17 to 2 from
measles. The reverse, however, has now to be
notified in respect to the victims (chiefly children)
of whooping-cough, of croup, and diphtheria ;
deaths from these causes having risen from an
average aggregate of 28 upon the quarter to one
of 43 ! The average aggregate again of deaths
within the quarter from inflammation of the lungs,
a comparison of statistics shows to have risen from
•ne of 54 to one of 63 ! So that the latter aggre-
gate thus may be said to have reached its grand
climacteric. Altogether it is instructive to
note that there has been a diminution
of the average within the quarter of
deaths attributable to zymotic affections from 179 to
155. While, unhappily, it has to be noted down
immediately afterwards, that there has been, on the
contrary, a deplorable increase of deaths from
tubercular disease, within the same interval, from
154 to 163. Where improvements have led to •a
diminution in one class of disease, however, they
may readily lead also, in the end, to a proportionate
diminution in another. That is our hope. That
is the encouragement, really and truly, to be derived
from an examination of these periodical returns of
Dr. LETREBY. The last item from whose last
report, here to be particularized, shall be the
gratifying intimation that within the period passed
under scrutiny by this humane officer' of Public
Health, nearly 600 orders, exactly 596 orders for
sanitary improvement have been issued and acted
upon.

THE QUEEN'S RETURN FROM SCOTLAND.-EDIN-
BURGH, Tuesday Evening.—The Queen, Prince Consort,
Royal family, and suite arrived at St. Margaret's station,
Holyrood, at half-past 6. The Duke of Buccleuch, the
Right Hon. W. Cowper, the Lord Provost, Lord-Advocate,
and others were in waiting.

His Excellency Count Dimitry Nesselrode has
arrived at Maurigy's Hotel, from a visit to Viscount and
Viscountess Palmerston, at Broadlands.

His Excellency Senor Don Juan de Francesco
Martin, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
of the Republics of New Grenada and Guatemala, has ar-
rived at Maurigy's Hotel from Paris.

The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough have left
Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock, to visit Frances Anne,
Marchioness of Londonderry, at Wynyard Park, Durham,
where a select family circle have assembled.

The Earl of Yarborough continues to gradually
regain health and strength, and should the improvement
continue, it is the noble earl's intention, together with the
Countess and Lady Sophia Pelham, to repair to Brighton
for the autumn.

The Earl and Countess of Cardigan are expected
in town in a few days from Deane Park, Northamptonshire,
where they have been receiving company.

Frances Countess Waldegrave and Mr. Harcourt,
M.P., have arrived in Paris from a tour. They are expected
to return to England in about ten days.

Lord and Lady Willoughby d'Eresby have arrived
on the Terrace, Piccadilly, from Drummond Castle, Perth
shire. In a few days the noble lord and lady repair to
Torquay.

Lord and Lady Lyndhurst and the Hon. Miss
Copley arrived at their residence in Great George-street on
Saturday, from Tunbridge Wells.

Lord and Lady Harriet Ashley have left Gros-
venor-square for Brighton, for a short period,

Lord Clarence Paget, M.P., has left his official
residence at the Admiralty for his seat in Wales.

The Dowager Lady Foley is seriously ill, at her
residence in Great Stanhope-street.

Lady Ibbetson bas arrived at Farranee's Hotel
from Down Hall, near Harlow.

Sir E. Stanhope, Bart., has left Maarigy's Hotel
for Dover.

Colonel T. M. Steele, C. 8., of the Coldstream
Guards, who, it will be in the recollection of many of our
readers, was military secretary to Field-Marshal Lord
Raglan in the Crimea, has been very dangerously ill. Since
Sunday he has been pronounced decidedly improving, and
hopes are now held out of his eventual restoration to
health.

The demand at Paris for bills on London con-
tinues active, and the agents of the Bank of France have
made a further slight advance in the terms at which they
will draw on Messrs. Rothschild and Baring. It is evident
that even in the face of the credit of £2,000,000 difficulty
will be experienced in preventing fresh amounts of gold
from being remitted to this side.
HEIDELBERG CASTLE.—A sad misfortune seems
to be impending over the magnificent ruins of Heidelberg
Castle, in consequence of the railway tunnel which is being
taken through the hill upon which the ancient building
stands. Since the commencement of the works several rents
and fissures, some of them serious, have made their appear-
ance along the whole length of the castle walls. In the
lower part of the structure, as in the chapel, and especially
in the cellar with the great tun, the injuries are more con-
siderable than in the upper apartments. With a view to
inquiring into the cause and extent of the damage, and the
prevention of frirther mischief, a commission has been con-
vened by Herr von Bayer, the conservator of Baden an-
tiquities.

THE COLLEEN BAWN.—A French version of this
Popular drama, by the prolific M. Dennery, has been.pro-
duced with decided success at the Ambigu-Comique.
Though M. Boucicault has assisted in the work of adapta-
tion, the story is considerably modified, Eily O'Connor,
who is now called Jane, turning out to bo the daughter of
Anne Chute's mother, and Corrigan becoming sufficiently
important in villany to blow out his brains at the end of
the piece. The period of the action also seems changed, for
some of the personages make their fortunes in California.
"Le Lac de Olenaston" is the title of this adaptation.

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THE SUN.
LONDON, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 23, 1861.