LIMITED LIABILITY BILL.

This bill gives a new scope to the enterprise of our smaller capitalists. No doubt, the supervision of public opinion, not less than parliamentary jurisdiction, will be brought to bear upon any schemes calculated to take advantage of what we have a strong opinion will prove a national benefit. The example of our Gallic neighbours, amply demonstrates the efficiency of the principle, which, in the hands of a people so enterprising as the English, will not fail to be productive of great results. In the Metropolis we are rejoiced to observe such vigorous efforts used in reference to

SANITARY MEASURES,

for which Sir B. Hall, and his able coadjutors, are entitled to the just thanks of the country. The peculiarity of the normal condition of our London population is of such a nature as to forbid any successful treatment of this important subject which is not radical and thorough. No half-measures will do here. The area is too vast, the crush of life too severe, to secure the desired result, unless the component parts of the vast civic machine be made to work harmoniously together. In the thorough purification of the Thames, we trust that measures for the economical resources of science will not be lost sight of. Surely it would be feasible, now that the levels of our great railway lines are wellknown, and now that their engineering difficulties are overcome, to carry out a complete and well-organized system of conveyance for the sewage of the great Metropolis, as a fertilizing agent of the highest value. An An apparatus of pipes, at the side of each important railway running from London, could be arranged on the most economical principles. All engineering expenses have been already incurred, and the purchase of land through which the arterial system is to pass, is already completed, and a moderate rental for the use of their lines, would be gladly accepted as an addition to the yearly income of the respective companies. In

RELIGIOUS MATTERS

We have to notice the contest still going on between Mr. Liddell and his staunchly Protestant churchwarden. The affair seems to be one, like most ecclesiastical affairs where justice is required, demanding a long purse. Accordingly

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Mr. Liddell makes a strong appeal to those of his party, affirming that it is on public grounds that he has undertaken the defence of what are often called holy ornaments, which might, we imagine, be more properly denominated, ornamental holiness. Though the result of this struggle be now left to the Ecclesiastical Court, it must not be forgotten that the Ecclesiastical Court itself will, ere long, be put upon its trial; and as in the body politic feudal relics will speedily disappear, so the canon law of the Romanists, still remaining in our so called Spiritual Courts, will be effectively done away with. In the midst of these disputes, the Papacy itself, the head of unity, seems sadly disquieted at the rebellious conduct of Piedmont and Spain. The Pope has addressed an allocution to these states, and the object of this address seems to be even more pecuniary than doctrinal. Alas! it is to be feared, that these are but the beginnings of his holiness's political troubles. The affairs of Austria in Italy, the constitutional firmness of Piedmont, and the stubbornness of heretical England, will, it is to be feared, give, ere long, additional uneasiness to the see of Rome.-Nous verrons.

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

WE extract the following letter from the pages of a newspaper. The facts related in it may be depended upon, and it seems scarcely credible that a line of conduct at once so far from creditable and so totally indefensible should be adopted by any body of persons called "gentlemen." However there is the old motto "Quos Jupiter vult perdere prius dementat."

"SIR, I am unwilling to ask a portion of columns so occupied as yours are, for any personal object, but as you have been appealed to occasionally on account of the Ecclesiastical History Society, may I beg the favour of a short space to defend myself against a most unwarrantable imputation.

"The Rev. Alexander Taylor, the secretary of a committee established for the purpose of winding up the affairs of this long defunct society, has put forth a report which has only recently fallen into my hands, and which contains statements which are, so far as I am concerned, totally untrue.

"Actuated by the desire to raise a subscription for the Rev. Robert Eden, Vicar of Wyndham and Canon of Norwich, to reimburse him for the losses which he has suffered through the failure of the society, they, the committee, or more probably he, the secretary, has brought against me a charge of having deserted Mr. Eden when the society was surrounded with debts, difficulties, and liabilities. This charge is not brought openly, it is true, but covertly and

by way of inference. The report merely states that at this period that is, as the public are desired to believe, when the society was in insuperable difficulties-then the two gentlemen, who, with Mr. Eden, were co-founders of the society, declined all further connexion with it, but left Mr. Eden to meet alone the great liabilities which they had helped him to incur. Now, so far as I am concerned, I protest against this statement as false-wilfully false.

"I left the society before the publication of a single volume, and I left it because a person was employed as secretary whom I felt to be totally unfit for the office. I warned Mr. Eden again and again, that in such hands the society could not succeed, and I left it because I foresaw liabilities not yet incurred, but under such management, in my judgment, unavoidable.

"If, then, Mr. Eden is to be gazetted as a victim, be it so; yet I cannot see that he is the victim of anything save his own obstinacy and folly, and I certainly do very indignantly protest at being supposed accessary to his martyrdom.

"After my secession I continued on the most intimate and friendly terms with Mr. Eden, rendered him on several occasions very important services connected with the society, and collated with the sealed book in the Tower, free of expense to the society, but as an act of friendship jointly to him and to Mr. Stephens, the two first volumes of the prayer book edited for the society by the last-named gentleman. For this I received, not of course as payment, which would be absurd, but merely an acknowledgment, six copies of the small paper edition and one of the large; these I have dispersed among friends and public institutions. I mention this to show my willingness to aid Mr. Eden. I am sorry to add that when the third volume was printed no collation took place, the whole work was spoiled to save a little expense, and the committee now refuse to complete my sets! leaving me, as a reward for my labour, a certain number of odd volumes, just in fact a few pounds of waste paper! I should not notice this, discreditable as it is, were it not that in order to enhance Mr. Eden's claim to a subscription, the secretary's report has brought this false and scandalous charge against me.

"I am, sir, your obedient servant,

OUR readers will probably be aware that for some years past the Government has supported an institution at Kneller Hall, for the education of schoolmasters. The plans, theoretically considered, were faultless; and the principal, the Rev. F. Temple, was acknowledged to be one of the princes of English teachers; for some time, therefore, a prestige attached itself to a Kneller Hall schoolmaster, which caused his services to be everywhere in great demand. In course of a

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few years, however, it was found that these Government alumni were not so good as was usually supposed, being pre-eminently deficient in the vous πρактiós which is so indispensably necessary to a good teacher of the children of the lower orders. The difficulty was soon perceived by the schoolmasters themselves, and many of them exchanged the calling which gave them neither pleasure nor profit, for one in which they were at least sure of the latter; the education which they had derived at Kneller Hall was useful for a clerkship, if it was too unpractical for a district school. Another cause soon began to add to the previous disturbing influences; the institution was called upon to furnish masters for workhouse schools; and those who had indulged in high hopes of success and a comfortable position in society, found themselves reduced to miserable, and often filthy, rooms in "the poor man's palace;" where their duties were "irksome, if not degrading," where "the labour required of them was often excessive and disagreeable," and where “ a common looking-glass has been pronounced a luxury to which they are not entitled." Besides this, they were totally unfit for their work, and it took many years of patient, unrelieved toil to become acquainted with the practical duties required of them. After two years' training, under such men as Messrs. Temple and Palgrave, they might naturally be expected to have no small amount of intellectual power, which would be utterly lost in a workhouse school, although it might be turned to very good account among the children of artizans and shopkeepers. We are sorry that this latter class has not met with more attention, for we think that artizans especially would in every way profit by being emancipated from the thraldom of the ignorant teachers who still unhappily abound, and who yet would form far better instructors in a workhouse than the students of training colleges. They should therefore change places, and if they were to do so there would not be so much cause for the continual complaint of the middle classes, that the children of the lowest orders are far better provided for than their

own.

The conduct of the Government with regard to Kneller Hall, gives us but little confidence in their practical sagacity in educational matters. If the students were too highly trained for district or national schools, surely, à fortiori, they were utterly unfit for workhouse schools. We are aware of the extreme difficulty of properly solving the problem which everywhere presents itself. "How is the teacher to be

rendered it for his here! But the same time a little mora patient persverre wild lave enabled Mr. Temple ʼn master the pot. I his pians had not been suddenly cut short by the appointment if as pupils to workhouses. We regret aut sich 1 anses should have produced so ter 1 lure is that if Keller Eil and we hope that when the experiment is in red, it will be given a fair chance of mecova.

Apropos of Government uds to education, we may mention a pun which merits great attention, especially in manufacthrmy distracts. The nest firmidacie obstacle to the intellectual progress of the children of the poor, has long been felt to be the early get wach they are taken from school

and placed at work The wages which they earn are very triding, but, especially in case of a large family, it often requires considerable self-carci on the part of the parents to pay even a few pence weekly for their education, instead of receiving the few shillings which their labour would bring in. The only way to meet the difficulty is to give the parents some pecuniary compensation; and as this cannot be done in every instance, the money is bestowed in the form of prizes after examination. The scheme has been tried in South Staffordshire, and has met with very decided success; it has also been approved at a large meeting of the nobility and gentry of the coal districts in the north, and we hope shortly to hear of its general adoption. We are convinced that manufacturers generally would on the whole be great gainers by thus paying the more promising among the children of their workmen to stay away for a few years from work, which cannot but stunt their growth morally, physically and intellectually. A very short trial will show the incalculable advantage of having an intelligent body of employées.

THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE.

We observe that the opportunity afforded by the conflux of visitors to Paris at the time of the Queen's visit, was seized upon by the Evangelical Alliance for holding a series of conferences. The most important subject of discussion was the federal union of all Young Men's Christian Associations. The scheme reflects equal honour on those who originated it, and on those who purpose to carry it out; we cannot be content to look at it from the narrow standing point of partyprejudice, it will be a means for bringing in many sheep to Christ's flock, and as His servants we feel bound to rejoice