The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-27 00:00:00

gained in the House of Commons by actual pur-
chase than were ever added to the Conservative
cause by the sauce means. We might also have
shown, from the antecedents of the retired Home
Secretary, that an erroneous estimate has been
taken of his character in believing that his foreign
policy with reference to the complicated state of
Affairs in the East would have won him a larger
share of popular favour than has been earned by
the effete Premier. These subjects may, however,
safely be left until another opportunity, and the
more so because we feel convinced that, after the
experience of the last few years, and the repeated
changes which have taken place in the Govern-
ment of the country, an intelligent British public
will be inclined to listen to the arguments of
sober reason rather than be guided by the passion
of party feeling, which has not inaptly been said
to be the " madness' of many for the gain of a few."

THE question of Education is one of such vast

importance as affecting the welfare of the com-
munity, and, indeed, the future stability of the
State, that it is not surprising a more than ordi-
nary share of attention should be devoted to it,

especially at this season of the year, when we are
almost upon the verge of another. Session of Parlia-
ment, and when, also, the mind is most disposed
to turn to questions affecting the interests of
humanity rather than the stern asperities of poli-
tical strife. At a recent lengthened examination
of the Wolvesey Training-school for Schoolmasters,
held at Winchester, Lord ASHBURTON announced
that at the next E

aster examination a scholar's prize
would be awarded for the most extensive know-
ledge of common things, and two teachers' prizes,
for the most effective teaching of common things.
In the course of his address, LOrd ASHBURTON

referred to several attempts which were being
made in other parts of the 'country, and having
explained his views to his numerous auditors, said

he appealed to their assistance " to show not only
by their lessons in school, but still more powerfully
by their example out of school, how the garden
could best be cultivated, how the dwelling might

be most efficiently and economically warmed and
ventilated, upon what principles food and clothing
should be selected, and how chronic ailments might
be averted by timely attention to premonitory symp-
toms and recourse to the physician. They could
teach the measurement of work, the use of the
the pulley, and the windlass. They could,
in short, expound those methods, suggested by
ever-advancing science, by which toil might be
lightened and subsistence economised."

The high position which Lord ASHBURTON has

occupied renders his motives above the suspicion
of being dictated by the mere desire of acquiring
popularity ; but we may question the soundness of
his judgment, and the propriety of making such
matters as those alluded to by his lordship the
objects of any system of National Education. It
may be, and no 'doubt is, advantageous to the
children of the humbler classes that they should
become acquainted with the things which belong

to the every-day affairs of human life, and it would
be equally advantageous to them to learn some
useful trade by which they might obtain the means
of their future subsistence. It does not, however,
become the duty of the State to apprentice every
aspiring youth, because he might be
benefited by so doing ; nor would it be politic,
whether the means were attained by a grant from
Parliament or the aid of voluntary contributions,
inasmuch as it would weaken, if not destroy, the
sense of independence which is indispensable to
healthful action, and place such children in unfair
competition with those of the class immediately
above them, who may not choose to avail them-
selves of such aid. As for the knowledge of
common things, or articles in common use, it is
acquired by a kind of intuitive perception, the
result of observation and reflection, rather than by
any method of school teaching. A point to which
sufficient weight is not given in every considera-

tion of this question is, that the only duty which
really attaches to the State is the instruction of
the rising generation in their moral duties as
Christians and good subjects, and all beyond this
more properly devolves upon the parents, the
natural guardians, or those who, from motives of
benevolence, may choose to extend the instruction
of poor children into what may be called the
accomplishments of civilised life. When all men
were of one faith, it was a duty which belonged to
the Church, and it may be that the neglect of its
performance led to the growth of Dissent, which
has now rendered its due observance almost imprac-
ticable. We must not, however, too hastily adopt
the conclusion that the people among whom educa-
tion is the most diffused are on that account the
better subjects. Both in Prussia and Scotland
education is more general than it is in England ;
but none will attempt to assert that either country
produces more loyal subjects than our own beloved
land, where loyalty is a duty and a privilege in a
greater degree than any where else. It was well
observed by a speaker at the festival of St. Simon's
Church schools last week, that in the examination
of candidates for the local police, it was generally
found that although the Scotchmen had been
better educated, the Englishmen were the better
men, and this he attributed to the latter having
been better trained, while the fprmer had acquired
a greater amount of human knowledge. This view
of the case ought not to be left out in any conside-
ration of the question of popular education, because
it touches nearly the important object, which ought
to be moral training rather than mental cultivation.
We have entered upon this subject more at length
just now, because it is a time when our attention
is more properly turned to the wants of our poorer
fellow-creatures, and it is to be hoped that in the
approaching session of Parliament it will meet
with that amount of consideration which its impor-
tance justly desetves.

WHILE statistics are brought forward to show
that the increase of crime has not kept pace with
that of the population—owing something, it may
be, to the extension of education, but more perhaps
to the greater efficiency of police operating as a
preventive as well as a detective force—it must be
acknowledged that there is at the same time a
greater precocity of crime, and that the records of
our Police-courts display a frightful prevalence of
juvenile delinquency. It is a subject which presses
forcibly on the attention of every one who regards
the well-being of society, and has led to a con-
ference in the town of Birmingham a few days
since, which was graced by the presence of several
leading members of both Houses of the Legisla-
The report states that the meetings, which
were held in the spacious Town-hall, were attended
by several thousand persons--a fact which may be
owing to the opportunity of hearing the speakers
on the platform. The conclusion to which the
meeting came was the advantage and propriety of
establishing reformatory asylums for discharged

prisoners, such as now exist in some parts of the

country through private benevolence, and that the
expense should be borne either wholly by the
State, or conjointly with the aid of individual con-
One of the greatest difficulties to

tributions

contend with is the restoration into the paths of
honest industry of those who have once been con-

victed of

ime, and suffered the penalty awarded

by the law

If necessity were the first strong
temptation to err, it has become stronger by
the punishment inflicted : for he who had little
opportunity of obtaining employment when his

character was comparatively good, has far less
chance of retrieving his position when discharged
from gaol, with the additional disadvantage of
contamination from evil associates. Such an indi-
vidual is thrown back upon society as an outcast,
with no other resource—however willing he may
be to avail himself of the instruction which he has
received in prison, and however anxious he may be
to return to an honest course of life—than to
resort to evil courses for a: means of living, until he
has again to undergo a similar punishment, to be
followed by similar results. Such a position is one
deserving of the deepest commiseration, and there-
fore demands the application of the most practica,
ble remedy which can be devised. The attempt
which has already been made by the London
Philanthropic Society, which has an establishment
at Redhill, urrey, and also by means of refuges
for dischare, prisoners, has been to a certain
extent successful ; but their operations have been
confined by reason of the small means contributed
for their support. The most feasible course
appears, therefore, to extend this means of refor-
mation b 3 - assistance from the public purse, and it
will readily be admitted, on consideration, that it is
good policy, from motives of economy as well as
common humanity.

In dealing, however, with the many cases of
mere children, who too often are not only encou-
raged, but actually compelled by their inhuman
parents to steal in order that they may indulge in
idleness, and, in the event of conviction, be relieved
of the responsibility of maintaining them, more
stringent measures should be taken to involve the ,
parents in the consequences of their children's
offences. In every instance where magistrates are
compelled to send such offenders to prison, the par-
ents should be compelled to contribute towards their
maintenance, and it may be that this would operate
towards a more careful supervision of their con-
duct, and a restraint against such inhuman prac-
tices. Much has been said about the advantages
of education, but it is `of little avail unless it is
purely Christian instruction; whereas the tendency,

particularly in Our large manufacturing tov

to make it more and more of a secular character.
ThOse who have investigated the subject have
arrived at the sad conclusion that education has

served rather to change the direction of crime
than to lessen it ; so that cunning and ingenuity
have taken the place of open violence against
person and property—a change by no means bene-
ficial to the welfare of the community, because, in
ordinary cases, more difficult of detection. It is to
be hoped that the movement commenced in Bir-
mingham will be persevered in until brought to a
successful issue, and that the Legislature will be
convinced of the necessity of using all the means
that are available, as well for the reformation as
for the punishment of criminals.

A CASE was brought before the London Court
of Bankruptcy last week, which involves a most
important question with respect to Foreign Bills
of Exchange. It appears that on the application
of a bankrupt for his certificate, an objection was
made by the London and Westminster Bank, on
the ground that they were the holders of a bill
for £3OO, which they had discounted in the ordi-
nary course of business, accepted by the bankrupt,
but not being on a stamp, inasmuch as it purported
to be drawn at Natal, they were unable to recover
it, because the bill had really been drawn in
London, at the office of the bankrupt, who had
accepted similar bills to the amount of about
£4,000. The Commissioner, in commenting upon
the case, said that the party who appeared to him
most to blame was that CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER who had sanctioned the stamp-law in
its present state. The London and. Westminster
Bank having advanced money on the bill honestly

and bona "fide in the ordinary way of trade, were,
when they attempted to prove on the bill against
the estate of the acceptor, met by the stamp-laws,
which said, "You shall not prove your debt,however
just it may be, because the bill on which you seek to
prove has not the legal stamp." It was a serious
matter, as the effect of such a system, if suffered
to go on unchecked, will be to render all foreign
bills in this country not negotiable, because such
tricks may be constantly played with bills in Eng-
land without any remedy. It was, therefore, a
serious matter, which Government ought to look
to at once. We can readily agree with the Com-
missioner as to the importance of the subject,
inasmuch as it is one which strikes directly at the
root of our foreign commerce, so as to render
difficult, if not impossible, all our monetary trans-
actions connected with it, supposing the view of it
taken by the Bankruptcy Commissioner to be the
correct one. This, however, may be open to ques-
tion, as such functionaries are not always the most
trustworthy exponents of law. It is an axiom of
British jurisprudence, that no man may take ad-
vantage of his own wrong, but this would not be
the case if a man accepted a bill on unstamped
paper—knowing it to be drawn in this country,
and yet, from being dated in a foreign country,
appearing to a third party to be a legal document
—and then availed himself of his own wrong
doing to escape his liability to the payment of the
draft. We should rather incline to the belief that
such a man would render himself amenable to the
penalty incurred for his breach of the stamp-laws,
and at the same time liable to the satisfaction of
the innocent holder. If this be not the case, it is
certainly full time that the Legislature interposed
an efficient remedy, or bankers and others will be
fully justified in a general refusal to discount all
foreign bills, a step which will have a serious effect
upon our commercial transactions, not only with
foreign states, but with the colonies. We still
adhere to the opinion that the Commissioner of
Bankrupts was wrong in refusing proof to the
London and Westminster Bank iii the case we
have alluded to, because it is directly offering a
premium to an acceptor to avow his complicity in
such a transaction ; but should a change in the
law be necessary, it should not only be effected as
early as the forms of Parliament will permit, but
it should be of the nature we have pointed out.
The parties to the fraud, whether as drawers or
acceptors, should be liable to innocent holders for
the amount of the bill, and, at the same time,
should be rendered amenable to the law for the
full penalties incurred by their breach of the
Stamps Act. The question might profitably un-
dergo the discussion of our Chamber of Commerce,
and should be pressed upon public attention, in
order that it may speedily receive a satisfactory
decision.

MINISTERIAL CHANGES

AFTER an interval of te:

ays, during which all

exertions to fill up the gap in the coalition caused
by the retirement of Lord PALMERSTON have been
unsuccessful, the breach has been patched over,

and the retiring

ECRETARY induced to

keep his plac€

Times of 3;esterda

with apparent authority

!e the followi

noundement

ad reached us, t

'mount PALMERST(
)ffice of Secretary

by the CROWN

ad, accord

held since he expr

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Secretary 1

n of Lord PAL
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has not been definitive]
that 01Q SECRETARY C

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