238 RECENT LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS. of the good conduct of the pupil Teachers from the managers of the school, and of their punctuanty, diligence, obedience, and attention to their duties from the master or mistress. in Church of England schools the parochial clergyman, and in other schools (not excepted by the Minute of 10th July, 1847, the managers, annually certify that the papu Teachers pave been attentive to their reagious duties. The parochial clergyman also takes charge of their religious instruction in Ceuren of England schools, and assists in this part of their annual examination. By these regulations their lordships intended to secure that great importance should be attached to the character of candidates, and of their families, as well as to the religious and moral conduct of the pupu Teachers during the whole period of their apprenticeship. Their lordships have no doubt that you have carefully borne in mind not merely the letter of these regulations, but that you have felt that the spirit of them indicated their lordships anxiety that, while vigorous efforts were made to increase the efficiency of the instruction of the children of the poor, you could not fulfil your duty without paying at least equal attention to all the moral influences by which they are surrounded, nor without exercising the utmost vigilance that every expedient should be adopted likely to improve their habits and manners, to promote a sense of order and decorum, a respectful obedience to their parents, teachers. and superiors, to cultivate an intelligent disposition to fulfi the duties of their station in life, and to enable them to see how their interest and happiness are inseparable from the well-being of other classes of society. To this end it is desirable that you should attach peculiar importance to those parts of their lordships' Minutes of August and December, 1846, which relate to the character and conduct of the apprentices, and that you should avail yourself of every opportunity to obtain from the clergyman, managers, and Teachers information as to the dispositions of the apprentices, their habits, aptitude for teaching, and interest in their duties, and to ascertain what degree of confidence the managers have in their moral qualifications for the proper fulfilment of the responsible functions of Teachers of the poor. Their lordships are the more anxious that you should systematically renew these inquiries at each of your visits to the school, because those visits are necessarily few, and much occupied with the details of the examination of the proficiency of the pupil Teachers and scholars, and because it appears to their lordships to be on this account important, that it should be perfectly understood that these consideratious will have no less weight with you and the committee, than the actual result of your own examination, and that no misdirection in the efforts of the Teachers and their apprentices should arise from the unavoidable prominence given to that part of your inquiries, which has immediate reference to the progress of the instruction. I have the honour to be, Rev. Sir, your obedient servant, SUMMARY OF NEWS. "There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." It is not in general our custom to refer, in so brief a summary as this, to the criminal prosecutions of the country: but a case has been lately tried, so unprecedented in the atrocity of its details, and of so absorbing an interest to the public mind, that we step out of our usual course to notice it. Our readers will perceive that we allude to the Stanfield Hall murders, and Rush's trial, at the Norwich assizes. A most patient hearing was given to the case by the jury, both to the evidence of the witnesses and the defence of the prisoner, which, of itself, lasted fifteen hours. The result has been -approved we feel by every man's conscience, and by the collection of facts-his conviction. And sentence was then passed upon him by the judge of the court. The evidence was mostly circumstantial, but clear and decisive. His previous quarrels with Mr. Jermy, his debt to him which then, interest and principal, had just become due, his forgery of certain property deeds in the name of his victim, his absence from Potash farm on the night in question, his perturbation of mind and excitement of manner, and expression on his return, his destroying the garment which he wore, and concealment of the boots, and the direct testimony of four witnesses on the spot that the man who fired the shots was Rush-all this, not to speak of his crippled incoherent and uncorroborated defence, was a plain and unequivocal proof of his guilt. May he be led to repentance even at the eleventh hour, and confess the justice of his sentence. It is certainly matter of thankfulness to God that we have such good laws and such upright judges to administer them, and that there is such a general confidence as to the whole system in the minds of the English, which facilitates justice and renders its administration satisfactory. The last Indian Mail brought news of a decisive victory gained by Lord Gough over the Sikhs at Gujerat. The details, at the time we write, have not reached England. We are glad to think that this brave old warrior, as he certainly is, with his other military defects, will now return to England with his former defeat-if it may be so called-retrieved, and fresh laurels upon his brow. Our news from the Continent speaks of renewed war. In Italy, the Armistice having been concluded, the King of Sardinia commenced operations against the Austrians. Radetski, however, the Imperial Commander, has been again successful. The Piedmontese Army has been broken up; and Charles Albert, seeing that affairs were hopeless, has abdicated in favour of the Duke of Savoy, his son. The war is still progressing in Hungary, which must eventually end in the discomfiture of the rebels. Affairs are gloomy in Sicily. The Armistice between the insurgents and the King of Naples has ceased, and the war been re-commenced. Both the English and French Ambassadors have endeavoured to negociate between the parties, but without success. The Government of Palermo frankly but firmly refused their mediation. In Denmark, too, the army has been re-collected, and hostilities have been commenced with Germany. These two latter facts have caused a decline in the English Funds. We are happy to see that the Protestant Church in the Netherlands is forming a plan for establishing a Refuge for Aged Widows and Orphans. It is to be fixed at Brussels, and J. Talheim, pastor of Malines, is the Secretary of the institution. There seems some probability of the question of Slavery in America, being ere long discussed. Mr. Clay, with whose name, in connection with United States politics, our readers are probably familiar, has published some strong sentiments respecting it. He considers that the time is come for a gradual emancipation of the negroes. He advises, however, that the course taken should be cautious and prudential, so that all apprehension of a Slave revolution may be removed. His remarks apply especially to Kentucky, one of the principal slave states, and of which he is an inhabitant. He proposes that all born after 1855 or 1860 should be free, and that for those already born, who are emancipated, a free passage should be granted to the colonies, and an outfit for six months. There are other details which are too lengthy to be extracted. May this which has long been the disgrace, and which must eventually, unless abolished, be the destruction, of America, be speedily overthrown and removed. A meeting has been held in London against Sunday Trading. A fact was mentioned by Lord Harrowby that, since the bill for shutting up public-houses on Sunday morning, became law, crime in Liverpool on that day had decreased seventy-five per cent. While, however, we dilate on the physical, intellectual, and moral benefits conferred on the labourer by this day, let us take care that we dwell sufficiently on this, that it is to be a rest to the Lord. NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. J. FOSTER, PRINTER, KIRKBY LONsdale. THE FAITHFUL SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER.* You all know that our late departed friend gave herself very devotedly to this part of Christian duty. She commenced this work at the first formation of the Sundayschool in 1825; and from 1825 to the last Sunday of 1848, the last day on which a gracious Providence allowed her to be present in the school, she superintended, and might be regarded as the main-spring in the working of the school. In the earlier part of this long period she had a family at home, and important household cares in addition, which would have furnished sufficient excuses for her refusal of aid, or for inattention, and occasional remissness in duty, had her mind been less determined and bent upon doing good. the younger members of her family were brought to the school with her, and therefore kept under her own eye, and brought gradually to take part in this work of God. I can bear testimony, during the years I have known her, that she was always punctual in attendance, always in her place, and never absent unless when positively compelled. In former days, before Sunday-schools were established in the other parishes of Cambridge, this school was larger than it is at present: but whether larger or smaller, her interest in it and attention were the same. Some of Of late years, the school may be said to have con * Extracted from a Sermon preached in St. Sepulchre's Church, Cambridge, on Sunday Morning, January 21, 1849, by The Rev. J. E. Dalton, B. D., Fellow of Queen's College. In consequence of the removal of Mrs. Catley, who laboured long, devotedly, affectionately, in that parish: was employed as usual on Sunday, the last day of 1848, and called to cease from her labours on earth on 10th January, 1849. tained the whole of such children of this small parish as are the proper attendants of a Sunday-school, with the few exceptions which were needful, or where it was scarce possible to hope for attendance; the exception being occasionally the drunkenness of one parent, which not only clothes a man himself in rags, and leaves his poor children's bodies in as bad or in a worse condition than his own, but does even more to deprive and injure their souls: in other cases, the bad conduct or careless disregard to religion of a parent, which would allow in their children an habitual negligence in regard to the means of instruction. Her knowledge of the whole parish, and of the situation and circumstances of the parents, and her known kindness in assisting them, made her of great use in promoting a good attendance, and extending the benefit of the school to all. In the school, she was, to speak in one word, as a mother; and the simple and unaffected tokens of grief which have been shewn, both by teachers and children at her removal, have proved to every observer that both teachers and children regarded her as a mother. One word with regard to her conduct to the Teachers. It is evident to all that a superintendent must possess firmness as well as kindness. Excuses will be made for want of punctuality, for absence, for remissness, which must be treated as nothing more than excuses. Unless regularity and order are kept, even at an expense of convenience, every thing must become disarranged, and the whole work marred. It is not to be supposed but that in some cases there is need to remind of what is forgotten, or that persons may not have some inclination to levity, inconsistency, or shew, of which they are perhaps themselves hardly sufficiently aware, or that they do not sometimes think that a higher position or more regard is due to themselves, than is awarded. A superintendent of a school cannot please every one. At the same time I think that if any one, who may have felt pained on these accounts, will look back, they will find that the admonishing look,' or the notice taken, or the word spoken, were tempered. with kindness, and that they have cause now to be |