New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1846-03-21
EXTRACTS FROM OUR FOREIGN FILES.
From the London Times, March 80.
The Oregon Question.

These sdyces contain the following outline o Tue cor
.s,6.,ce w ich has Dassed since tee Let OF Deceru
No. Lar be,yyeeI Mr. pssenham AID Mr.. buchanan the
American Secretary Of STATE ana WIN ny NJ Lane on
the Oregon question, ron; "n!cn VII. DC pvtceNeu
I'm, be tvc repeated offer OF the British Minister 10
DECIDE ,he whole question by arbitration has been
REACTED and the extreme pretensons advanced by
Mr. pok in his Inaugural Message now again enunc
s,ed The full pondence has not yet reached U.s.
is h0perer looked for hou1ly clipper schooner. Of large
foanase h1cine sa,d IN company ui the Patrick Henry
FIR ms port Supposed bring dispatches for Government
From the London Daily News.
Ragged Schools.
CRIME AND EDUCATION-...BT CHARLES DICKENS
offer no apology for entreating the attention OF
the readers OF the DAILY NewS 10 effort which has
been making for some three years and half, and
which is making now, to introduce among the most
miserable and neglected outcssts in London some
knowledge OF the commonest principles OF morality
and religion; to commence thei. recognition as I'M
mortal human creatures before the gaol chaplain be-
comes their only schoolmaster 10 suggest 10 society
tina; its duty 10 this wretched ;hrong ioredooneo 10
crime and punishment rightully begins at some dis
lance from the police Office and that the careless
maintenance from year year IN this the capital city
of the world of vast hopeless nursery ignorance
misery and yice-s breeding place for the hulks and
iails-is horrible 10 contemplate.
This attempt is being made in certain OF the most
obscure and suualid parts OF the metropolis, where
rooms are opened al night for the gratuous insIruc
ton of all Corners children adults, under the title
OF Ragged Schools. The name implies the purpose.
They who are ragged, wretched, filthy and Tor
lorn 10 enter any other place who could gam admls-
sion into no charity school and who would be driven
from any churchdoor, are invited 10 come IN here,
and find some people not depraved, willing 10 teach
them something and show them some sympathy,
and stretch hand out, which is not the iron hand
OF law, for their correction.
Before describe visit OF my own 10 Tagged
School and urge the readers Of this letter for Gods
sake to visit one themselves and think OF it, (which
is my main object, lei me say, that know the pri-
sons of London we'll that have visited the largest
of them more times than could count and that the
children in them are enough TO break the heart and
hope of any man. ! have never taken foreigner or
stranger Of any kind OF these establishments,
but have seen him so moved at the sight of the child
offenders and so affected by the contemplation Of
their utter announcement and desoation outside the
prison walls, that he has been as little able 10 dis
euise his emotion as il some great grief had sudden
" burst upon him. Mr.. Chesterton and Lieutenant
Tracey than whom more intelligent and humane
governors OF prisoners II would be hard, II not i'm
possible 10 fnd know perfectly well that these chill
dren pass and repass through the prisons all their
lives that they are never taught; that the Irst DIS
tinctions between right and wrong are from their
cradles perfectly coutounded and perverted IN their
minds that they cone OF untaugh parents, and will
give birth 10 another unaught generation; that 10
exact proportion their natural abilities Is the eX-
tent and scope of their depravity and that there Is
no escape or chance for them in any ordinary
luton OF human affairs. Happily, there schools
in these prisons now. IL any readers doubt how
ignorant the children are let them visit those schools
and see them at their tasks and hear how much they
knew when they were sent there. II they would
know the produce of this seed, let them see class
OF men and boys together, at their books las have
seen them III the House OF Correction for this county
of Middlesex and mark how painfully the fulgrown
feons toll al the very shape and form of letters their
he, eOli1
trast of this labor in the men, with the less buDted
ouckness CT the boys the latent shame and sense OF
degradation struggling through their dull attempts
at infant lessons, snd the universal eagerness TO
learn. impress me- in this passing retrospect, more
painfully than | can tell
For the instruction, and a first step in the refor.
nation of such unhappy beings, the Ragged Schools
were founded. was first attracted 10 the subject,
and indeed was first made conscious OF their exist.
about two years ago, or more by seeing an adj
vertisement in the papers, dated from West-street.
Saifron.hill stating That room had been opened
and supported in that wretched neghborhood for
upward of twelve months, where religious lnstruc-
ton had been impaired 10 the poor and explaining,
in a few words. wha, was meant by Ragged Schools
as generic term including then, four or five SINH
lar places of instruction. l wrote to the masters Of
this particular school TO make some farther inquiries
and went myself soon atterward.
twas hot Summer night and the cir OF Field
lane and Saffron hill not improved by such
weather, nor the people III those streets very
sober or honest company. Being unscquainted
with the exact locality Of the school, was fam 10
make some Inquiries about it These were very
loosely received in general; but every body knew
where was and gave the right direction TO The
prevailing idea among the loungers The greater
part of them the very sweepings OF The streets and
station houses seemed 10 be- that the teachers
ouixotic, and the school upon the whole lark
But there certainly kind OF rough respect for
the intention, and las l have said) nobody denied
the school or its whereabout, refused assistance
in directing 10 II.
Il consisted at the time of either two or three
| forget INTERCHANGEABLE rooms, upstairs in
miserable house. In the best of these the pupils in
the female school were being taught TO read and
write; and though there were among the number,
many wretched creatures stepped in degradation TO
the lips, they were tolerably quiet and listened
with apparent earnesness and patience to their in
structorS. The appearance OF this room was sad
and melancholy. of course-how could it be other
wise but on the whole, encouraging
The close, low chamber III the back in which the
boys were crowded. was so foul and stirling TO
be- at first, almost insuppor,able But its moral as.
pect far worse than its physical, tina; this was
soon forgotten. Huddled together on bench about
the room, and shown out by some taring candles
stuck against the walls, were crowd OF boys, vary
Ing from mere infants 10 young men sellers ttru
herbs ucifer matches fiins sleepers under the dry
arches OF bridges; young thieves and beggars-
win nolnlnS nHtuTdi " yuuln NOout lLcll; III
nothing frank, ingenious, or pleasant IN their faces
low browed, vicious, cunning, wicked abandoned
OF all help but this speeding downward 10 desruc-
ton ; and uputterably ignorant.
This, reader, was one room US full as il could hold
but these were only grains in sample of a multitude
that are perpetualy sitting through these schools
in sample OF q multitude who had within them once,
and perhaps have now, the elements of men as good
as YOU or j, and may be, infinitely better; in sample
ola multitude among whose doomed and sinful ranks
oh think of ihis and think cf them y the child OF
anv man upon this earth however lofty his degree,
must, as by destiny and fate be found, if at It's birth
il were consigned TO such an infancy and nurture as
these fallen creatures had
This was the class saw a! the Ragged School.
They could not be trusted with books; they could
only be instructed orally they were Difficult, of re-
duction to any thing like attention, obedience, or
decen; behavior; their benghted ignorance in ref
ercnce 10 the Deity, or TO any social duty, (how
could they guess a, any social duty being so dis
carded by all social teachers but the gaoler and the
hangman was terrible TO see. Yet even here, and
among these. something had been done already