NEWS BY THE MAIL.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 146, 21 November 1874, Page 4

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

[From the Sjjectato)', August 22.] Sheffield having, from old trade outrages, the reputation of being the most ruffianly town in England, which it is not, has determined to educate itself. The School Board is spending £IOO,OOO upon new schools, nine out of sixteen of which are ready; the number of children at school has been raised from 12,000 to 24,000, and the Archbishop of York, in a speech, when four of the schools were opened, calculated that in twenty years there would not bean uueducated man or woman in the place. This is the result, says Mr Forster, who was also present, of three, years of compulsion, and it helps to confirm him in his belief that the time has arrived when compulsion may properly be applied,—a belief which, in his opinion, is shared by a majority of the House of Cora mons. Mr Forster also mentioned that he had intended, if the Liberals had remained in power, to introduce the Scotch system, and tempt the masters by more liberal payments for the higher standards, to teach branches above mere reading, writing, and arithmetic. Mr. Forster further intimated that he hoped, by applying the half-time principle universally, to make education compulsory up to fourteen years of age,—an immense improvement, which would incidentally remedy an unintended injustice. A boy under the Workshops Act only attends school half the day, but a boy not under that Act, but still earning money, may be compelled to attend the whole day, the Board having no option in the matter. Mr Forster hopes the present Government will compete with the old one in measures such as this, and forgets that it has already lowered the standards, refused increase of pay to Irish schoolmasters, and tried to restrict Endowed Schools to the Church of England. Like Joseph 11. of Austria, it " wants obedient subjects, not an educated people." The King of Denmark has visited Iceland, on the thousandth anniversary of the settlement of the island, and himself "inaugurated" the new Constitution. He was well received, but not enthusiastically, and the Constitution is evidently only accepted as an instalment of justice,—one old farmer pronouncing, amidst general applause, a speech which meant that it would do when very greatly improved. The main objections appear to be that the king can promulgate decrees having the force of the law when the Althing is not sittiug, that Iceland is shabbily treated about money, and that the power of veto is expected to be too real. The control over local funds is, however, conceded to the Althiug, and that, if wisely used, should involve self-government. We fear, however, freedom does not much matter in Iceland. The people, for want of capital, cannot make the roads essential to the use of their mineral treasures; the area of cultivated land deceases, and the most energetic are emigrating year by year. Indeed, it is difficult to understand why, in a community so ill-placed, yet educated and civilised, anyone remains. Cannot they get an island in the Pacific for themselves.

According to telegrams of August 18th received from Hong Kong, the Chinese are not disposed to allow the Japanese to keep Formosa. The Government of Pekin, which is in a mood to believe that it can do anything, has informed the Court of Yeddo that its troops must be withdrawn within ninety days, and is making preparations to land a great army on the island. The Japanese are very confident in their ironclads, and unless greatly pressed for money—a point upon which great uncertainty exists—will probably endeavor to destroy the Chinese army as it crosses the strait. Even should it land, the Mikado's advisers 'will probably persevere, as, should their troops succeed, they will acquire a splendid new possession; and should they fail, some thousands of armed feudalists who are greatly in the way will be got rid of. If the war actually breaks out, as seems probable, the .Russians, with their fleet off the mouth of the Amour, will be masters of the situation; and it may suit them, threatened as they have recently been, to give the Pekin Government a severe blow. Formosa may save Yakoob Beg yet. The Royal Commission on scientific instruction has issued a fifth report, recommending that grants of public money should be made to University and King's Colleges, London. The giants ' should be capital sums to allow the Colleges to obtain or extend their buildings, and annual allowances in aid of expenses for scientific teaching. The annual grants must be dependent on a complete separation between the finances of the Colleges and tho»e of the schools or hospitals in connection with them, and the money to be paid down must be regulated by the amounts raised by subscriptions. Moreover, King's College must abolish all religious restrictions upon the selection of the teachers of science, and on the privileges granted to studeuts of science, before any grants can be made. The Commissioners think it unadvisable that the Crown should claim in return any visitatorial powers over the Colleges, or any voice in the appointment of the Professors, even those whose stipends are to be increased. That does not strike us as a scheme likely to meet with the approval of Parliament, and of course it will not be taken up by the present Ministry. They would as soon endow Judaism as University College. Three ruffians, named Moran, Foy, and Nock, were walking in a Birmingham street, when they saw a respectable woman n t «,med Mason standing at her own door. One of them assaulted her indecently, and on her husband remonstrating, kicked him, severely wounded, into his own house. They then broke op p n the door, kicked and beat an old woman, flung a young woman and her baby downstairs, fought the police when they arrived with a poker and a linen-prop, and would have escaped, but that the neighbours turned out aud prodded them with lineupoles till they were taken. The police, nevertheless, charged them only with assault,

and the magistrates gave Moran thirteen months's imprisonment, and Foy nine, while Nock, who had "only" fought the police, was let off with a 20* fine. The chief blame in this case rests with the police, who seem everywhere afraid to prefer serious charges ; but the magistrates, in letting off men who resist legal authority by force, do their best to reduce the police to a mere mob. Evidence in such cases must of course be most carefully sifted, but a man who has struck a policeman on duty should never escape a committal for trial. These ruffians fear nothing but a " Red Judge." William Jackson, a man of 29, formerly a soldier, was hanged in York Castle for the murder of his sister, He persisted in denying his guilt up to the morning of his execution, when he sent for the Governor, made a full confession, and then died with the utmost courage. His demeanor at the last made an impression in his favor, but on his trial he tried to accuse a witness of perjury, though, as he admitted to the Governor, she had told the truth; and the murder was an almost motiveless atrocity. He was going to seek for work, when his sister, who was much attached to him, begged him to take her with him, and said, " Wherever thou goes, I will go with thee 1" "So I made no more to do; I opened my black bag and took out my razor, and cut my sister Lizzie's throat. She screamed out when the blood flew out. She dropped on the footpath, and I lifted her off. She muttered,' Oh, Will !' I think, and then I ran away." It was a bad murder, but it is impossible to forget that if Jackson had kicked his sister to death instead of cutting her throat—-that is, had added torture to murder —he would have escaped with twelve mouths' imprisonment at the outside. The Right Rev Charles Sumner, lately Bishop of Winchester, died on August 15th, at Winchester. He was, let us trust, the last of his kind—an Evangelical who really believed, but who wanted, above all things, to get on and become rich. He obliged the Conyngham family by marrying a lady to whom the heir of the house was attached, and thenceforward was pushed on by the Marchioness, George IV.'s latest friend. He was rapidly made Canon of Worcester, Canon of Canterbury, Bishop of Llandaff, and Bishop of the unreformed See of Winchester, with Earnham Palace and an unknown income. He enjoyed this for forty years, and yet when he resigned conditioned for Farnham and a pension of £2OOO a year. His moderation was extolled, for he might have had more ; but he drew in his life probably three-quarters of a million from the Church, and did for it in return little beyond the ordinary duty of a Bishop. He wrote nothing, urged nothing, founded nothing. He was not a nepotist, and had no moral defects, and he led a serene and stately life, which, with his fine manner, impressed people ; but if there is never another Bishop like him, so much the better for the Church.

The electors of Stroud seem fully resolved to take upon themselves the business of settling the election law of the country. Once more a petition has been filed, this time against the return of Mr Brand ; and if Mr Brand were unseated, and a Conservative elected in his pbice, we should probably have another petition and another election trial. There seems to be no reason why this method of fighting out political battles should not be carried on to infinity, except that it is very costly and very unsatisfactory to everyone coucerned. The constituency is left without representation, perhaps at a most important crisis, and in addition to the expenses of the petitiou and its trial, the cost of the new election must be counted, There is, besides, the waste of time and temper, and the intemperance of every sort, from beer-guzzling to hard swearing. It may be thought that the electors of Stroud might be well satisfied with the facts that have been already ascertained respecting the character of the borough. It has been proved to be not generally corrupt, though it possesses a small corrupt element ; it has been shown that it is fickle in its political choice, and that parties are evenly balanced. Cannot those who are beaten bide their time, and save the credit of their town? Dr Drysdale has been delivering before the Medical Association a counterblast against tobacco. He says that the weed produces blindness, palpitation of the heart, diarrhoea, and diseases of the mouth, and holds that its nearly universal use is contrary to the true laws of hygiene. He evidently, however, dislikes smoking as a nasty habit quite as much as an unhealthy one, and entirely fails to show that Englishmen who smoke suffer more than Englishwomen who do not. Indeed he admits that Turks and Germans scarcely suffer at all, and is obliged to account for the fact by stating that German and Turkish tobacco is almost devoid of noxious properties His whole argument, therefore, comes to this—that a smoker should not smoke too much or too strong tobacco. As everybody admits these propositions, Dr Drysdale would have done more service, both to medical science and the public, by stating how much tobacco isfound to be enough, and what kind of preparation is too strong for health. Ten people are killed by gluttony for one who is hurt by tobacco, but food is, nevertheless, not very bad for man.

Baron Pigott has at last settled the curious point raised by the Peculiar People,— whether domestic treatment of the sick without doctors is or is not a punishable offence. Thomas Hiues. of Woolwich, one of the sect, was tried on Wednesday, on a charge of manslaughter, for having neglected to secure medical attendance for a child who died of measles, or of convulsion following measles. It was proved that the father had nursed the child carefully, had given it port-wine, sugar and arrowroot, and had, in fact, done all he could except call in a doctor or administer medicine. Baron Pigott, therefore, laid it down that there was no case, the Legislature not having made medical attendance compulsory. There was no neglect, but great care, and a man could not be punished for manslaughter because he was superstitious. The decision was unquestionably sound, punishment where there is no criminal motive being always unjust, but the judgment seems to require a little explanation. Wc presume that in a srrgical case the neglect to summon a surgeon would be considered criminal. The King of Denmark, on his return from Iceland, paid a visit to Leith, where he was met by the Princess of Wales, who proceeded with her father to Copenhagen.

Xot very long ago the following notice in writing was entrusted to the town crier of Abergavenny —"This is to Inform the In Habitance Of this Place that theare will be a Sarmoncl preached this Eving at 7 0 Clock by mrs. Eleonor Hariss, By the Old duke, Castle street—mrs. Hariss is a Lisend misehienery."