The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-19 00:00:00

• Ail
r E N, 1, b N, WEDNESDAY

flinching determination wad whether the Li..
bunal should have the power of inflicting fine and
imprisonment,or either, on the guilty arty. The
Lords had determined that a pecuniary fine may
be imposed in lieu of the costs and damages in
the disgusting action of Crim. Col , which will
happily be abolished. After a sharp struggle, this
has been expunged from the bill, and there is
now no punishment for the adulterer save the
possibility of costs being given against him. This
question may again come before Parliament at no
very distant period.
The grand struggle took place on the clause
authorising the remarriage of the parties. Every
inch of ground was fiercely contested ; but in vain.
The House would not consent to consign the
guilty party to eternal and hopeless degradation,
or to permit her seducer and betrayer to with-
hold the sole reparation in his power to offer to
society as well as to his victim. We have already
explained that such a provision would withdraw
the main check on many profligate and licentious
persons, who are deterred from crime by the
notion that they are bound in honour to marry
the partner of their guilt. If the parties
were compelled to intermarry whenever they
could do so, it would do far more to prevent
the offence than any punishment in the shape of
fine or imprisonment that could be inflicted. A
would-be adulterer would pause before binding
himself for life to the partner of his crime.
We regret to say that the Government partially
yielded to the clamour raised on behalf of the so-
called conscientious scruples of the clergy—that
is to say, so far as they would be bound to marry
the guilty party. We have already so fully ex-
pressed our opinions on this point that it is only
necessary to say, that those who are in re-
ceipt of public money, who are paid by the
nation for discharging certain functions, have
no right to object to perform any ceremony au-
thorised by the law of the land. This has been
manifestly a compromise to save time, and it will
meet the general fats of such compromises, by
being exceedingly unpalateable to all parties. We
cannot see how the alleged supremacy of the
Crown over the Churches of England and Ireland
can be asserted in the face of such a provision.
It is a novel position that beneficed clergymen
. may, at their mere will and pleasure, set them-
selves in open hostility to the existing law of the
land.

Sir Jour; PAxINGTON has again and again
striven to bring under the consideration of the new
Parliament the question upon that great measure
for the improvement of our population—a sound
moral and religious education—the most efficient
preventive and the best corrective of the particu-
lar class of vices, with the merely repressive mea-
sures against which the Legislature has recently
been occupying the public time so largely, and in
many respects so discreditably. When, the other
night, he asked Lord PALMERSTON for a day for
the consideration of the Education question, we
we were sorry to see no expression of regret re-
ported from his Lordship at the possible post-
ponement of the paramount subject, and that he
referred to the preoccupation of the public time
with the discussion on the Divorce Bill,
as if it were an amusement which he
did not care to interrupt. Now this
pre-occupation of the House as against the
education question—a pre-occupation not properly
with the substantive law of divorce, which surely
needs large amendments, but as pressed by the
Government, merely with the question of proce-
dure, is very discreditable, for to the extent to
which our young and teeming population, rising
into adult life, are ill educated, they disregard law,
and the Legislature labours in vain. It would
' have been befitting the Prime Minister to have
preferred the postponement of the comparatively
little, for the sake of the immenselygreater ques-
tion, involving the whole field of morals and pri-
vate conduct waiting for consideration.
On the chief educational questions there are
large differences as to the facts ; first as to the
existing amount of educational provisions. Mr.
EDWARD BAINES, the leader of the voluntaries,
alleges that existing provisions are sufficient, one
answer to which is that upwards of 60 per
cent. of those who are called upon to sign mar-
riage registers, can only affix their marks, that our
penal commitments exceed 100,000 per annum,
and that hordes of depredators and quacks, includ-
ing such fortune-tellers as are found flourishing
at Leeds, live upon the illiterate. More-
over, there are widely extending opinions that
the quality of a large proportion of the educa-
tion now given is entirely unsuitable and almost
worthless. Most of that given at the dame
schools is proved t ) be so. One set of objections
to a large proportion of the instruction given in
the higher schools is its abstract, and also its
Monkish character, and the little knowledge it
imparts of important " common things," to which
Lord ASHBURTON has directed attention. Miss
COUTTS BORDETT has been most worthily exerting
herself to improve the education c)romonly given
to females of the poorer classes ; to impart
in-
struc',ion on household matters ; to exercise them,
in arithmetic for example, on domestic budgets,
and in showing how "both ends" of weekly earnings
may be made to meet, and to give them a more
practical training, calculated to make them better
wives as well as better servants, than a large pro-
portion of them now prove to be.
At the recent educational conference his Royal
Highness Prince ALBERT stated forcibly the great
difficulties interposed in the way of the voluntary
education of the labouring climes, by the demands
made on the time of young persons under the com-
mon modes of instruction requiring, for them, large
sacrifices of the wages and service needed for the
support of families. At that same conference,
Mr. CHADWICK adduced instances of well-con-
ducted "half-time" schools, where the instruction
given, in combination with industrial occupation,
had bevea proved to be at least as efficient as the
common full-time instruction given in the like
schools without such combination. The CJll-
feronce agreed with him and adopted his resolu-
tion, recommending those examples of half-time
teaching, for careful examination and report, as
being fraught with new and important conclu-
sions bearing on the whole scheme of popular
education. The same gentleman maintains that
schoolmasters, and educationists in general, have
not examined, and, indeed, are rarely in a posi-
tion to examine properly the comparative results
of their various modes of instruction, traceable in
the condition of their pupils in afterlife. He
states also, with a view to renewed investigation,
that or the pupils of some inferior school's
fcr the
Poor, not more than a third
were to be
found in courses of productive
industry after leaving
c
numbers of them were to be
and that large
beofound iahonsesof
correction as delinquents, or on the mendicity
lat of the pupils
books, or on the pauper rolls—whi
of schools of an intermediate or of a better de-
scription, the greater proportion are to be found
engaged in honest labour, and of the pupils from
the highest order of district schools, the Whole
are got into beneficial courses.
It will be agreed that it is highly important
that the latest experience of these various results

obtained several years ago, should be examined
and brought forward for the public information.

In the discussions on the education question
the Prussian system is frequently referred to dis-
paragingly by the antagonists of a public pro-
vision ; but to what authentic and recognised
sources of information do those gentlemen refer ?
and are they aware that Prussian and German
educationists say they have made mistakes in not
making the instruction sufficiently practical, and
in other respects, which mistakes they would them-
selves correct ? It would be of advantage that
their latest experience should be properly sought.
' In the United States of America large questions
have been raised in respect to popular education,
which ought to be examined for our own sakes.
A proper commission of enquiry such as Sir
JOHN PAIINGTON and Lord JOHN RUSSELL pro-
pose, which shall examine and report the latest
evidence, on such points, would surely make im-
portant preparations for the discussions next
session, and prevent the public time being fruit-
lessly consumed by renewed disputations on ques-
tions of fact which admit of previous settlement.
We trust that it will prove to be untrue that the
Government intend to resist enquiry, and that it
will be made manifest that Lord PALMERSTON
duly appreciates the solemn claims of the question
for the best legislative preparations.

We cannot perceive any tyrannical interference
with private rights in the attempt now made to
abate one of the greatest social nuisances that can
be imagined, and to enforce some respect for the
laws of decency and morality and Tor the health
of the people. Many trades and callings are sub-
jected to police surveillance, the necessity of the
cane being the sole excuse for the measure.
Why, then, should the keepers of common lodging-
houses be exempted ? It is perfectly optional on
their part whether they bring themselves within
the provisions of the bill or not. They are not
compelled to receive all corners, or to throw their
houses open ,to every applicant. Should they
desire to do so and make a profit from those com-
pelled to seek the protection of a roof, they
should cheerfully submit to regulations essential
to their own health and comfort, as well as to
that of their guests. An Englishman's house
may still be his castle, although he may not be
permitted to extract an unholy profit from the
miseries of his fellow-creatures, or to crowd a
number of persons of opposite sexes into rooMs
totally inadequate to their accommodation--.to
bring them into contact with disease and crime,
aid produce the most demoralising results. The
well authenticated reports of the fearful scenes
enacted at these rookeries and back-slums, clearly
indicate the necessity for further legislation. Every
dwelling-house, every room so contaminated, is a
nuisance to the neighbourhood, an offence against
every individual, who in seeking refuge from the
inclemency of the weather, should not be exposed
to far worse evils than those he is seeking to avoid.
But while measures are adopted to improve the
lodgings offered to the poorer classes, steps should
also be taken in another direction. What leads
to this overcrowding, to the placing human be-
ings in places not fit for animals of the lowest
description ? It is the want of other and more
suitable accommodation. Under the existing
laws, no person will be permitted to rest in the
open air. The stern Police injunction to "move
on" is heard whenever he or she may at-
tempt to rest their weary limbs. The
Adelphi catacombs—the dry arches of Wa-
terloo - bridge, cannot find space for
every houseless wanderer. The Union Work-
, houses are avowedly deficient in respect to sleep-
ing accommodation. The poor are driven with
reproaches from their doors, and stern necessity
compels them to seek shelter wherever it can be
obtained for the prices they can afford to pay. If
we enter on a crusade against the miserable apo-
logies for accommodation offered, we are bound to
provide a fair and proper substitute. Every
metropolitan improvement lessens the amount of
accommodation within their reach. But nothing
is given in its place. The parochial authorities
are not compelled to provide the shelter of a roof,
either for casual paupers or for those able and
willing to pay a small sum for shelter.
There is nothing but the extension of the sys-
tem of model lodging-houses that can provide an
adequate remedy. Even the very poorest in the
community are not enamoured of filth and suffo-
cation. If they could obtain comparatively de-
cent accommodation at moderate rent, those
wretched dens would speedily be deserted. The
salutary competition would work an effectual cure.
The two measures should proceed pari passe.
While we enforce regulations for the health and
decency of lodgers of the class barely removed
from the limits of pauperism, we should at the same
time supply places of shelter for those who would
otherwise have to seek in crime the means of
obtaining admission even to prisons or police sta-
tion=. Of course it is too late to hope for such
an enactment during the present session, but
while we should not on that account reject the
bill now before the House, some pledge ought to
be obtained from Government to introduce suit-
able provisions at the very commencement of the
next session—so as to ensure reasonable accommc-
dation in every district at moderate prices for all
who may be likely to require it.

DEATH OF LADY LYTTELTON.—We regret to learn
that Lady Lyttelton died at an early hour yesterday
morning, at Hagley Hall, Worcestershire. Her ladyship
had been suffering during the last month from an in-
ternal complaint, which towards the close of the past
week assumed a more favourable aspect. A relapse took
place on Monday morning, and from which her lady-
ship never rallied. She had the consolation to be sur-
rounded by all the members of her family at her
dissolution. The deceased lady was second daughter of
the late Sir Stephen Glynne, Bart., and sister to the
present baronet and Mrs, W. E. Gladstone. She was
married to Lord Lyttelton in 1839, and leaves issue
twelve eons and daughters.
Madame Bosio appeared in " Lucrezia Borgia," at the
Theatre Royal, Dublin, last Saturday evening.
The It ilian company, from the Lyceum (Royal
Italian Opera), with Madame Ristori at their head, gave
last evening, at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, the first
of four pertormances. The play was " Macbeth."
Accounts from Vienna state that General Gustavus
von Degenfeld, one of the most distinguished officers in
the Austrian service, has blown out his brains from a
disappointment in love. The deceased was fifty years old.
SYRIA.—A. Constantinople correspondence of August
8, in the Courrier de Paris, states that troubles have
occurred at three leagues distance from Jerusalem, and
hat twenty-two persons leave been killed, amongst whom
are same women. . _

CURIOUS RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—During the floods in
Lancashire on Saturday night, the water collected on
the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway at Waleden to
such a depth as to put out the fire of the engine, and the
train was sopped for upwards of five hours.
YELLOW FEVER IN THE WEST INDlES.—Writing, oo
the health of St. Thomas, a correspondent informs us
that ye low fever had abated, but had destroyed upwards
of :ix hundred sailors from the Ist of May to that date.
What frightful mortality ! —Jantaica Morning Journal.
THE MUTINY IN INDIA.--A gentleman, speaking of
the various tortures inflicted on ladies and gentlemen
by the mutineers and the low Muhummedans, says
"they slit the skin round the throats of their victims,
and polled off mask, scalp and all. The Lord recom-
pense them !"
AN OFFENDED MUSICIAN.—Herr Ernst, when, at the
residence of an exalted personage, finding tbat no one
was paying attention to his performance, quietly put up
his violin, left the room, and the next day, when " his
terms" were sent him, declined to receive the money.—
Musical World.
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY OP
IRELAND.—The annual exhibition and meetings of this
society commenced at Waterford on Monday. There
are between six and seven hundred exhibitors, besides
those who send machines and implements. The trial of
Ploughs and other implements has excited much interest.
The Lord Lieutenant, who will be the guest of the Mar•quia of Waterford, is expected to be present at the latter
part of the proceedings.

LATEST NE W:n,

MARSEILLES, AUG. 18.

Intelligence of the 13th from Tunis, states that
there had been, in that city, a ferocious attack on
the Jews.

The Christans themselves had been threatened.
Several persons were killed.
The British Consulate was insulted.
Military measures for repressing the outrage
were taken very tardily.