The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 5, 1868.

necessary in order to keep the schools well sup-
plied with pupil teachers, but they contain only
920 students. The inspectors state that there is a
great reluctance on the part of the managers of
many good schools to bring them under inspec-
tion, because they think that the expense to
which they will be put will not meet
an adequate return. Mr. BARRY affirms
that of 300 scholars in his district only 107 came
under inspection. While on this point, it is worth
considering whether some means may no', be de-
vised for inspecting the lower order of boarding
schools in the country. Every one remembers Mr.
SQUEERS and Dotheboys Hall, but there is some
reason to fear that the species is not altogether
extinct. In Yorkshire and other counties, where
boys are liberally fed, kindly treated, and thoroughly
educated for £2O a year, there is room for an oc-
casional visitor from the State inspector. Probably
there is little direct ill-usage, but the low order
of instruction does not certainly tend to raise
the standard of education throughout the country.
If every schoolmaster were bound to have a certifi-
cate up to a certain standard, a check might be put
upon a system which degrades education, and really
retards, instead of advancing, the pupils. If our
educational endowment funds were more equitably
administered, boys, whose parents could only afford
fifteen or twenty pounds a year for their education,
and who do not like to send them to a national
school, might have a chance of getting solid Eng-
lish instruction at one of the public institutions.
The lower middle class are, in reality, worse
off than the poor, since these, if they
choose, can get a thoroughly good rudimental
education at the National Schools for a few pence
a week. We are glad to find that the number of
night schools under inspection has increased 13,438
during the year, and that in 1867 they reached
45,837. In the day schools, too, there has been a
large increase in the attendance, though much re-
mains to be done. Lord R. MONTAGU, after a
careful examination of the returns under the several
heads, arrived at the conclusion that at least 46 per
cent. of the children between 3 and 6 years of age
who ought to be at school were not there. It is
true, as Mr. FORSTER said, though in a different
sense, that there is little dependence to be placed
on figures, still there is no doubt that there are
largo numbers of children whose education is al-
most entirely neglected. The real difficulty is not
to be found in the rules of the Council, the addition
or exclusion of the conscience clause, or any other
theoretical trouble. It is to be found, as Lord R.
MONTAGU observed, in the apathy of the parents.
Alderman LusK, and one or two others, advocated
the adoption of a compulsory system, but Lord R.
MONTAGU justly remarked that " Where education
was valued compulsion would be unnecessary, and
where it was not valued compulsion would be use-
less." We agree with the noble lord that an educa-
tional rate, so far from making the ratepayers take
a greater interest in the education of the poor,would
be likely to have a contrary effect, judging from
experience and from the tendency to :parsimony,
expenditure, and grudging of cost which exists in
those appointed to keep down the rates. The
education of the people is not a matter to be mea-
sured by £ s. d., though prudence in the national
expenditure may be wise and necessary. Our
object in a matter of this kind must be
first to obtain a good, cheap, and effi-
cient means of popular education, and then
we may think of the manner of regulating
the expense. It is sure to be a slow business to
undo the neglect of former years, especially as
owing to that neglect a generation of parents
has grown up, who, ignorant themselves,
aro indifferent to the ignorance of their
children. So long as we are in the
right way, and arc making steady progress, we
may be satisfied, the G. be sure that we are
making progress. A little less stringency in the
regulations, a more liberal and tolerant spirit
in . the whole system, would tend to en-
courage rather than to deter the managers
of schools in seeking governmental assistance.
Our Education department is governed a little too
much in a doctrinaire spirit, which is more anxious
to force every one to conform to its particular
theories and regulations than to keep in view the
great end of forwarding national education.
The battle between ignorance and education
is, broadly speaking, the battle between vice and

virtue, for the great majority of our depraved and
criminal classes are recruited from the utterly
ignorant and untaught. Let the State do its duty
in a large and enlightened spirit, and we shall soon

_ .
see the population of our prisons and workhouses
diminish as the educational estimates increase.

Under the impression that you cannot have too
much of a good thing, Mr. BRIGHT has again ad-
dressed the good people of Liverpool. A resolu-
tion waspassed at the Philharmonic Hall, expressing
confidence in Mr. BRIGHT and approval of his con-
duct for the last twenty-five years; whereupon Mr.
BRIGHT went over that ground, and showed how he
had always been right and how others had been in-
variably wrong, pointing out that if the Corn-laws
had not been abolished during thelastten years, the
consEquence would have been the " overthrow of
everything else in the country which the people are
accustomed to value—the Church, the Peerage, the
Monarchy itself." It is really extraordinary to notice
how completely Mr. BRIGHT overlooks the injustice
he is doing the people of this country by his inflated
remarks. It is paying them a very poor compli-
ment indeed to say, that however hard the laws in
existence may be, that they would proceed to acts
of violence such as he shadows forth. The real
friends and well-wishers to the people never speak
in this strain, and they better appreciate the spirit
of forbearance and the love of order which are so
characteristic of this nation. Mr. BRIGHT glories
in the cheap Press and the Treaty with France, and
other changes that have occurred, but where would
be the good of all these if we have not
advanced further than to fall back on charges
worthy of the barbarous ages, and quite incompat-
ible with enlightened Christianity. We may ob-
serve that the greater part of the speech is occupied
in the description of the beneficent schemes that
the last quarter of a century has wit-
nessed; and yet what was the first reso-
lution passed at this meeting yesterday
why, that general satisfaction was felt at the
extension of the franchise secured by the recent Act
for Amending the Representation of the People.
Who, we may well ask, effected this great work
but the very party that Mr. BRIGHT so pertina-
ciously vilifies? The fact is, Ile feels naturally
awkward at meeting those whom he has so often told
that the Conservatives were against all Reform,
now that these very statesmen haie passed the'mea-
sure in question, and one of a far more comprehen-
sive character than any proposed by the other side,
Mr. RI-troll-I's pet scheme itself included. The last
charge which he brings against Mr. DISRAELI is that he
thinks as they do on most subjects, but chooses to
act otherwise, which is a very extraordinary retention
of the affair, to say the least of it. All this is not
very edifying to those who regard the good
of the country as of more importance than
the election of this statesman to office or the
displacement of that minister can be. Mr. BA IGHT

is very indignant that Mr. GLADSTONE is kept in
opposition, and is using all his power to restore him
to his rightful sphere of action, which may be taken
as the text of his discourse.

LATEST INTELL LGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

QUEENSTOWN, June 5

The Royal Mail steamship Russia, from New
York on the 27th ult., arrived here at 5.30 a.m.
to-day, with 173 cabin passengers and $1,010,000
in specie. She landed 100 sacks of mails and 28
passengers, and proceeded at 5.45 a.m. for Liver-
pool. All well.

SOUTHAMPTON, June 5

The Hamburg and American Company's steamer
Bavaria, from New York, passed the Needles at
10.5 a.m. to-dap.

BAVARIA.

Mumen, June 5

Prince : Napoleon left here this morning for
Vienna. He dined yesterday evening with the
French Minister, but during his stay neither paid

or received any visits.

RUSSIA.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 4

The Minister of Finance has approved the plan
for converting the shares of the Dunaburg-Wit-
tepks Railway Company into fully paid-up shares
to bearer, as proposed by the-directors, subject to
the approval of the shareholders.

SuEz, June 5.

The Mongolia from Calcutta 10th May, and the
Salsette from Bombay 19th May, arrived at 7 p.m.
yesterday, and 9 a.m. to-day respectively.

INDIA AND CHINA (HEAVY) MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, June 5.

The Peninsula and Oriental Company's steamer
Pera, with the above mails, has arrived here with
186 passengers, £1,345 in specie, and a general
cargo, including raw silk to the value of £90,000.
She experienced fine weather during her passage.
On the 24th ult. the Pera spike the steamer Isis,
bound for Alexandria.

GIBRALTAR, May 31.
Exchange on London, 90 days, 49f ; on Paris,
5.22 ; Madrid, 8 days, par to discount.
The gunboats Redpole and Skylark were in the
harbour.

BOMBAY MAIL.
MARSEILLES, June 4.
The Bangalore arrived at 11 p.m. to-day. The
mails leave by the 11.30 train to-morrow.

GIBRALTAR; June 4.

The Ripon arrived to-day at 8 a.rn., and leaves
at noon for Alexandria. All well. She experienced
fine weather.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, THURSDAY, June 4.
The Emperor has been out of sorts the last day or two,
and it was perhaps to this cause that his "moroseness" at
Rouen was due. It is the inevitable concomitant of per-
sonal government that the sovereign should be overworked.
While Victoria can in the very height of a political battle
bury herself in the Highlands, 600 miles from her capital,
Napoleon is compelled to spend long hours every day
with his Ministers, determining what they shall say
in the Chambers, how they shall answer this
and that Opposition orator, how they shall overcome
the obstinacy of an economical commission, how they shall
reply to this foreign despatch and deal with that Foreign
Minister, and, above all, how they shall carry on the great
work of preparing for war. Is it wonderful if the man
with all this responsibility upon his shoulders, with all
this wear and tear of brain, should sometimes look ab-
stracted and " morose " in the midst of a shouting crowd,
or if he should sometimes suffer from une indisposition.
legere? 'This year, it is said, the Emperor will not even
allow himself his usual visit to Vichy. Even at Fontaine-
bleau, where he goes in a few days, he will work at the
new volumes of his " Vie de C4sar." His only real
holiday will be at Biarritz some time in the autumn.
In addition to all his other labours, there is little doubt
but that the Emperor is preparing for the elections. It is
now held almost certain that they will take place this year
after the meeting of the Conseils G6n6raux. In all dis-
tricts where the Government has fixed upon candidates
the prlfets have been instructed to make them known to
the maires and the notables of each commune. Where no
selection has been made, the prefets have been
told to study the disposition of the electors, and to
ascertain what chance a Government candidate would
have. Already it is contemplated to oppose the re-election
of M. Maurice Richard, M. Tillers, and other members of
the Third party.
Incessant telegrams continue to announce Prince
Napoleon's progress from city to city, with the invariable
appendix that the Prince is travelling incognito and has
no particular mission. It is now stated that he will spend
several days at Bucharest—without any particular object,
of course. Still, it is a little singular that the father of
Prince Charles of Roumania should just now be at Vienna,
with the object of pacifying the irritation of the Austrian
Government, aroused by the maltreatment of the Jews in
his son's principality.
The visit of the Emperor and the Empress of Austria to
Paris, which it was always said would take place after
the Empress's recovery from her confinement, is again
postponed sine die, nominally on account of her Majesty's
health, which, however, seems to be excellent.
A good deal of criticism has been excited by the enor-
mous supplies of war materiel which are being stored up
by our Government at Civita Vecchia. It is said that
already there are sufficient supplies for 100,000 men. This,
probably, is an exaggeration. But there is no doubt that
Napoleon means to turn the occupation of Pontifical terri-
tory to good account in the event of a war, and will
endeavour to counterbalance the Italo-Prussian alliance
by directing hostilities against Italy from the States of the
Church. Meanwhile, it is stated that the relations between
Paris and Florence are growing more "strained" every day,
though I hear this evening that an arrangement has been
made between the two Courts for the payment of arrears
due to the Pontifical Government by the Italian.
All the world, at least all Paris, has heard of Sophie,
the famous Dr. Vdron's cook. She is now in the service
of M. Sainte-Beuve. The other day Prince Napoleon
went to call upon the prince of critics. M. Sainte-
Beuve was not quite in tenue to receive so distin-
guished a guest. He was obliged to keep the Prince
waiting, and so he proceeded to chat w't'l Sophie. " I
hope," he said, " that monsieur was satisfied with
the ovation which the students gave him on account of his
speech " (in the Senate). " Oh, yes, monsieur," replied
Sophie, meaning to compliment the Prince, " they all
cried Vivent les Imp6rialistes !' " " You are mistaken,"
said the Prince ; " they cried, Vivent les Materialistes !' "
Poor Sophie was shut up ; though, bearing in mind the
Prince's theological opinions, I suspect that he liked 1-I,e
second cry quite as well as the first.
M. Am4d6e Pichot, who is said to know England as
well as any Englishman, being very desirous to bring out
the life of Mr. Charles Dickens, wrote to your illustrious
compatriot to know if he would furnish any materials.
The following is Mr. Dickens's reply :—" I was born at
Portsmouth, in the county of Hampshire, February 7,
1812. It would be a pleasure to me to give you some
details of my life if I had not formed the inten-
tion, a long time ago, of writing it myself. It
will amuse you perhaps to know that I have read my
biography many times, and I have found on each occasion
strange and new incidents which revealed to me facts
about myself that I had no idea of.—Pour M. Atn6d6e
Pichot." All that lie gets is a date and an intimation not
to trust any of the materials which, no doubt, he has been
industriously collecting. Even hero-worship must subside
after such a rebuff as this.

The Paris journals publish in full the report presented
by M. Ferdinand de Lesseps to the shareholders of the
Canal. As this document and the subsequent speeches
occupy nine columns, you will not expect me to present
even an analysis of them. Your readers may,
however, like to know that M. de Lesseps quotes
with great satisfaction the letter from the Duke
of St. Albans which the Times published a short time ago,
a leading article in the Daily Noes of March 28, and the
speeches delivered at Newcastle on March 20 by Sir
William Armstrong and Mr. Eustace Smith, all pro-
claiming belief in the success of the canal ; an announce-
ment the more gratifying to the shareholders, as it has
until lately been a part of the Englishman's creed not to
believe in the canal.

I hear that the Emperor is really a good deal grieved
by the death of his favourite dog Neron. The Empress
dislikes dogs, and rarely saw this one. So be attached him-
self particularly to the Emperor. He was a very fine
English setter, brown, without a single spot, and 7i years
old. He figures in the statue of the Prince Imperial, by
Carpaux, and he had the honour of hunting up the first
pheasant that the Prince ever shot at. N6ron is buried in
a corner of the Tuileries garden.

A Vienna correspondent of the Morning Herald states
that since the promulgation of the "confessional" laws
the clerical party are shewing a spirit of resignation to a
change which they are beginning to admit was inevitable.
The present Ministry has firmly established itself, and if
here and there (especially abroad) there are some lingering
suspicions that constitutional reorganisation in Austria
Will meet with the fate it formerly experienced in Prussia,
it is because the fact is overlooked that the elements for a
reaction are entirely wanting in Austria. The nobility,
high and low, with the exception of a very small party,
has quietly and without opposition yielded. Between
the upper and the lower houses there has not been a
shade of dispute or jealousy in regard to the making of
the laws.

A Paris correspondent of the Independence Beige says
that the relations between Vienna and Rome are much
better than is generally supposed. The Hungarian Arch-
bishop, Louis Haynald, has been charged by the Emperor
with a mission to the Pope, and has written a letter, in
which he has drawn a moving picture of the difficulties by
which Francis Joseph was surrounded. He has assured
his Holiness that there was no alternative for Francis
Joseph but to sign the confessional laws or to abdicate.
Had he chosen the latter step it would have been neces-
sary to establish a regency, and in that case the
Emperor's son would have been in the hands of the Pro-
testant Baron von Beust. The Pope, it is said, has been
much impressed by this letter ; has acknowledged the
difficulty of the Emperor's position, and the undesirable-
ness of such a regency as that described. He has also been
greatly touched by the filial submission of the Emperor,
and has told him that lie is not responsible before God
for an act forced upon him by the pressure of events ; but
that he must seize the first favourable opportunity to re-
establish the former engagements between Austria and the
Holy See, since those engagements are superior to any that
lie has made with men.

The Correspondence Italienne denies the assertion of the
Avenir National that France has engaged with Italy not
•

to increase the French garrison in Papal territory. Ihe
only engagements existing between the two countries are
those specified in diplomatic arrangements already pub-
lished. The same paper denies the report that Signor
Nigra, now Italian Ambassador at Paris, is to be removed
to London.

The Rome correspondent of the Liberte says that the
tension between the Courts of Paris and Florence becomes
greater every day, partly on account of the Italy-Prussian
alliance, partly because of the slowness with which the
Italian Government carries out the financial convention
with the Pope. It is Stated that the French Government
has resolved to conside'r Italy in arrears for two millions
sterling of the Pontifical debt, upon which France has
already made large advances to the Holy See.
The same writer mentions that the armaments in Rome
and Civita Vecchia are going on with great vigour, and
that the sentries at the gates of the latter place have
been doubled. The health of the Pope is excellent, and
"drives to despair those who covet his heritage."
The Emperor has determined to continue in the path of
progress, and has given permission to his subjects to esta-
blish a bull ring a l'Espagne at Havre, where the Interna-
tional Maritime Exhibition is now open. This, in
Napoleon's opinion, is one of the ingenuous arts which
" soften nl4'ti manners do I.(:>t suffer them to he
, _
• .
fierce.''

PROPOSED MEMORIAL TO THE DUKE OF

EDINBURGH.

-- -
An English committee, consisting almost wholly of
gentlemen interested in the Australian colony, has been
formed for the erection of a memorial in Sydney to com-
memorate the gratitude of the inhabitants of New South
Wales for the preservation of the Duke of Edinburgh
from the hand of the assassin who attempted to take his
life. They held a meeting on Thursday, at the Bank
of New South Wales, in Old Broad-street, with Sir
John Young, Bart., K.C.8., in the chair. It was held
in pursuance of a request forwarded from Sydney that
colonists now in England should join with the inhabitants
of New South Wales for the attainment of the object in
view. Sir William Denison moved the first resolution,
expressive of full sympathy with the views of the colo-
nists in their thankfulness for the escape of the Duke
of Edinburgh, and of their accordance with the judg-
ment of the colonists in proposing a hospital as a suit-
able monument. The resolution was seconded by Cap-
tain Towns, and was agreed to. Mr. Wentworth
proposed, and Mr. M. Josephs seconded, a motion re-
solving that a subscription list should be opened. Mr.
Adolphus Young recommended that the subscription
should not be confined to colonists, but should be open to
all England. Sir Wm. Denison thought the inhabitants
of the colony would object to the extension of the resolu-
tion. It was, however, adopted without alteration.
Sir Charles Nicholson, in moving that a copy of the pro-
ceedings of the meeting be sent to those referred to in the
last resolution, confessed that he rather sympathised
with Mr. Young in asking for the support of people
connected with the colony generally, as well as those
associated with New South Wales. The result of some
conversation was to extend the resolution to the colonists
of Australia and those connected therewith, inviting their
co-operation. Captain Mayne was requested to send
letters accordingly, and with him were joined, as a sub-
committee, Mr. M. Joseph, and Mr. Mort. The meeting,
on concluding the business, gave a vote of thanks to the
chairman.