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

Igive to all its children. No advance can be made
without them. If well acquired, almost any advance
may be made upon them. Evening schools and
classes, mechanics' institutes, Sunday school s
and other means of instruction, can always
easily take in hand the lad who can
read and write NN 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.
ADDEALEY, 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 them the 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 Ashbourm 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 BLTXTONS,
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 MIRES
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 £2 eaeh, and in default of pay-
ment, they were to be COMMITTED FOE 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-
Meted on the boy, there cannot be two opinions, I
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 peculiar
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
to seasons and to localities. The difference observ-
able in the results of the varying seasons fluctuates
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
Ithe population is distributed amongst them. As
any one may understand upon the instant, for
example, when it is remembered that whereas in all
London
tere are 36 persons to every acre of ground,
in the City there are 156, and in the Cripplegate
That is to say, in the whole
metropolis--under
subdivisionetr
op o i js_2u9no f d .e r
40 to the acre—and in a single

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 hum. gentleman the
member for Finsbury. And that return presented
to 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
one 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. LETHEBY. 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 ExceHency 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 %o 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 X 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 further mischief, a commission has been con-
vened by Herr von Bayer, the conservator of Baden an-
tiquities.

TILE COLLEEN BAWN.—A French version of this
popular drama, by the prolific M. Dennery, has beenpro-
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,
Anne Chute's mother,
who is now called Jane, turning out to be the daughter of
important in villany to blow out his brains at the end of
and Corrigan becoming sufficiently
the piece. The period of the action also seems changed, for
some of the personages make their fortunes in California,
"Le Lac de Glenaston" is the title of this adaptation.