, 1876-01-22

Lord ohaftes0ury, IN a letter to tbs Times,
asserts that the high conditions imposed on
schools by the London School Board have
practically broken up the Ragged Schools Of
London. which used to account for some
10000 street A~rabs,-aud while probably
absorbing q few into schools Of a better
kind, have sent q very large number Of
those who most needed civilising, back into
the streets, without any sort of provision for
humanisjng them. If this statement be true,
1t is a very serious one. No doubt it is very
difficult to sanction schools Of such low callbre
in some cases, and yet keep up the requisite
conditions in other cases where higher reaul-
sites are practicable. But certainly the effort
ought to have been strenuOusly made. 1t has
been, in great degree, the |scruples Of the more
respectable parents which have rendered ir
impossible to admit the street Arabs into
ordinary schools, and therefore others Of a kind
suited to them should have been provided dur
ing the interval that would have been needed
10 render them fit for better schools. Wash
ing, decent clothing, Intercourse with civiIised
beings, are no trihes for children of this class,
even where it is impracticabla to enforce i" the
three RS" at all. Lord Shaftesbury's state.
ment deserves the most careful consideration
by the London School Board.
The convict Henry Wainwright was ezocut-
cd Dec. 23rd morning, having previously lodg-
ed in the hands Of the Governor of Newgate
a written statement, in which he acknowledged
the justice OF the punishment, and said he
deserved it, though he did not absolutely
confess 10 having committed the murder.
lie seems to have died with courage, and with.
out bravado, and with professions of sincere
peniteuce. The attachment which existed
between him and his relatives and friends
appears to have been very warmly displayed
On both sides, in the farewell interviews,
which were extremely painful. A more curious
mixture Of complete calIousGess and capacity for
affection than was exhibited in him has seldom
been recorded In TIE history Of crime,
a curious letter to Wainwright from Stokes
formerly Wainwright's foreman, and the chief
agent in discovering the murder and in caus-
ing the apprehension of the prisoner, was pub
llshed IN Mondays papers. On its convention
al moral explorations to Wainwright we have
made some remarks elsewhere but the chief
DRIFT OF the letter, 50 far as regards its narrative
part, is Stokes's assertion that he was prompt
ed to open the CHASTITY parcel by a supernatural
voice. 1.-The very instant your back was
turned, | seemed to hear a supernatural voice
say to me three times, as distinctly as though
1t were a human voice somewhere near me,
open that parcel! open that parcel! Look
IN that parcel !.-....I hesitated what | should
do. | seemed to hear the voice again, and
then felt forced on by an irresistible impulse
to open it." He describes what be found, and
says he was puzzling what to say to Wainwright
on his return, when he was possessed by a power
which made him Immediately close it again, and
he then seemed to hear the supernatural
voice saying, Murder; it is a murder. Will
you conceal a murderi Ther re is unconscious
truthfulness in this account. At first, the
supernatural voice does not suggest anything
but what the instinct of curiosity would alsohave
suggested nor does it suggest anything after
wards but what the oommon-sense OF the man
would have suggested also. Such voices as
these need hardly be accounted supernatural.
Nature would account for them we'll enough.
The Berlin Correspondent of the Times
astonished the world on Wednesday by assert
ing that 1t was very doubtful whether, under
Inc German law, the assassin Thomas, ala.