Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-07-29

eral skillful French officers, and that there is
in the country good supply of arms and am
munit!on; prudence and good judgment dictate
that the force sent there should be sufficient to
compel compliance with the demands IF the
Commissioners, if necessary.
The Administration has moved in this mat
| ter with exemplary caution throughout, and
| has, without doubt, adopted that course which
| shall soonest secure the object sought, and that
with the least expense. By hasty or inconsd-
| rate action we might, more readily than is
generally believed, have become involved in a
war, the results of which could not have been
| to our advantage under the most propitiOus
circumstances while its expense would have
been a serious matter, and our merchant ma
rine, during its continuance, become constantly
liable 10 annoyance, insult, and injury.
PUBLIC SCHoOLs.-FOr several weeks past
the columns of the STIR have teemed with no.
tees of the examinations, &c, OF the public
schools in this city, and we have spared neither
time nor space in laying before our readers
everything of interest IN this connexon whic h
TRANSFERRED Our only object was tho dissent
nation Of accurate ideas respecting the cond,-
ton of the schools, and the extent to which
they exert beneficial influence on the COM
munity, in order to arouse, if possible, more
general and lively interest in their behalf
That our schools are well-conducted, and de-
servedly bear high character, no one need
doubt; but improvements are nevertheless ne
cessary in more than a few instances. AMI the
sooner they are made the better. We cannot
believe that the almost incalculsbIe public
blessings conferred upon this comm unity by
these Institutions, at all appreciated. If
such were the case, the examinations instead
OF attracting only some half dozen persons
most OF whom were teachers in other schools,
would have been largely attended by the pa
rents and friends of the pupils. Public spirited
citizens would likewise have been present to
enjoy the evidences of popular intellectual i'm
provement thus furnished, and discover what is
yet required to be done to make these schools
more adequate to dispense the blessings of ed
ucation throughout the community
We had not, in any case, any intention of
speaking of the comparative merits of the sew
eral schools, or of rejecting on the aualifica-
tons of some of the teachers, as being superior
or inferior to those Of others. Those are mat
tiers with which we have nothing to do; and, in
truth, we could have had no good reason to
praise one teacher above another, had we been
so disposed; for, as far as anything was elected
by the examinations, there was no basis fur
nished on which to construct a comparison
with any degree of fairness For instance if
the scholars in one school were shown to be
expert in one study, while those of another
were apparently deficient therein, we were not
confident that such an exhibit entitled the
former school to a greater need Of praise; be-
cause, forsooth, the examiners may have opened
the book at the very lessons recently learned
by its scholars, while the other scholars may
not have studied those lessons for a long time
Again, the scholars deficient in one study were
probably, the most proficient in some other to
which their attention had been more especially
devoted. Their average ages and opportuni-
ties were also different in different schools; and
In nearly every school the examinations com
menced with the least advanced classes, COM
posed of scholars who had but recsntly entered
the schools, and SO much time was occupied
with examining these, that the higher classes
were seldom submitted to more than a very
| cursOry test. For these reasons we have re.
Trained from advancing anything more than
general opinions respecting the examinations
1t Is not our intention, however to let the
matter of public schools rest There is much
yet required to be done. We want more schools
and better houses for most of those now in ex.
istence; for, of truth the accommodations fol
| more than half the schools are a disgrace tc
! the city Then we want more teachers for the
| scholars now attending the schools as it is folly
TO suppose that one teacher can impart instruc-
ton as rapidly and thoroughly to sixty or sew
enty scholars as to a school of only thirty OF
forty. When the public become cognizant Of
these and other manifest wants there may be a
more general disposition 10 remedy them and
| improve the schools; and it is only necessary
for an effort to be made for this purpose now
by this community, in order to insure assistance
from Congress at its next session We are com
PEELED to leave the subject at present, but shall
refer to it again at an early day.
ONE OF THE ABUSES OF THE TINES is de-
cidedly, the mawkish sensibility which regards
the criminal as more worthy Of sympathy than
the public whose law he has violated, or the
victim OF his unlawful act. Already this com.
munlty has been a terrible sufferer from that
cause, though of late, thanks to the frmness
and integrity of the purpose of those called on
to act as jurors, and the intelligence and in
fexibillty of the court, the moral disease to
which we refer now hardly exists here. How
1t exists and operates in New York, as in divers
other northern ATTITUDES especially, is capitalIy
described in the following extract from late
number of the New York Express:
'' At the last term of the Court of General Soc
slons, l33 persons were presented to he tried for
felonles OF various desert ptions. OF these no
less than 90 pleaded guilty to minor offence
their pleas were accepted, and, in several i'm.
stances, 'certain considerations, - powerfully
urged by counsel, were allowed extenuatiuy
circumstances; and In view Of the gravity of the
offences, hardly more than nominal punishmentx
were Inflicted. The public prosecutor acted wise
~; generally speaking, In accepting pleas of
suity, on account Of the extreme uncertainty of
bn, ing conviction at the hands Of modern juries
tn C serious question whether, in sue h cast s.
n