Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register

MR. OSBORNE MORGAN, M.P., ON HIGHER EDUCATION. The prizes and honors won during the past year by the pupils of the Liverpool Institute were distributed on Monday niht hy Mr Osborne Morgan. Mr Osborne Morgan, who was loudly cheered, said :—Mr Chairman, ladie-, and gentlemen,—My first duty to-night-and a very pleasant one it is—is to congratulate very heartily the students to whom I have distributed the priz-s, and to express a hope, in which I am sure we thill all join, that the distinctions 1 which they have won to-night may prove the earnest and the prelude of more solid successes in after life. (Apolausj.) In doin;; tli I do not wish unduly to elate their expectations "r to excite their hopes still less do I desire to di-oourage th"lIe who have failed. Many of these unsnoot.-sful a-pi, ants will, I hope, have other opportunities of rttiieving their defeat and even th"st> who omi ot win prizes at "chool mn v console themsel ves with the itfirclion that there atf many boys a.id giils w ho, from constitutional caust's. do not attow to ad vantage in examination, and that thtre are stiil more men and women who, like winter fruit, ripen slowly and late in life. The trite and often-quoted examples of Benjamin Franklin and Walter Scott and many other great men serve to s how that, to borrow a metaphor from the racecourse, those who make the runniug early do nut always come in first at the finish. (Hear, hear.) But, when all is said on the subject, there can be no doubt that such successes as those which we uonnntmorate to nulit are to be reckoned as so much to the good by those who obtain them They are a pure and just source of happiness not only to those who win them, but to those near and dear friends aii(I relatives who live ag-ain ii their li Vè8 and rejoice in their joy. They inspirn that self-confidence which, if it is not carried too far, and does not degenerate into vanity, is one of the greatest helps to success in life. One thing, however, I would wish you never to forget- it is the working for these prizs rather than the winning of them which does you the real good. (Hear, hear.) I am not speaking now merely of the acquisition, the accumulation of knowledge, which the preparation and tuJy you have gone through bring with ir, but of the mental and moral discipline, the self rlenial and self-control, which that study and preparation involve. It is in this spitit that I would wi-h you to look hack upon the triumphs which you have achieved to-night. My young friends, the light of your bright happy faces carries me back over the gulf of many years, and vividly recalls the days when I was your age, and when, like yoursel ves, I, too. strove to si ike the thirst ot boyish ambition— when in my school days, like you, perhaps, I felt alternately the tumu'tiious joy of victory and the chastening pangs of defeat. Now, I observe that the most distinguished men who have discharged the duty which I am privileged to perform to-night have selected some special educational topic for the pur- pose of illustration in their addresses. Bearing this in mind, I do not know that I can employ our time, better to-night than by asking you to accompany me f .r a short time back to the day—now, alas far distant—when I was your age, and to compare the educational facilitits and opportunities which you of the rising generation enjoy with those with which the generation now passing away was fain to content itself. The contrast wi 1, I think, not be un- interesting, and it will eerve a useful purpose if it helps you to appreciate the privileges which you enjoy, and perhaps make the young men and women whom I see around me more tolerant in their judg- ment of those who did not possess those ad vantages. (Hear, hear.) For I am afraid that the boast which Homer puts into the mouth of his heroes-" We are far better than our fathers "—is not confined to the Homeric period, but rises more or less natural!y to the lips of the youthful generation of every country and every age. I a«k you, then, to carry your minds back to the timp, now forty years ago, when I was leaving school. What were the conditions under which a young man could then obtain what was 1 ailed a "liberal education," and where was it to be got ? I use the words "liberal education" to express a some- thing higher and wider than that special training which is needed to fit a youth for the desk or the warehouse, for the lawyer's office or the doctor's surgery. The definition, I am aware, is not a very scientific one, but perhaps it will enable you to under- stand what I mean more clearly than a more elaborate periphrasis. Now. I think that at the time at which I speak almost the only places in which a liberal education," in the sense in which I use it, could be obtained, were the two old universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The Scotch universities, no doubt, existed then as now, instinct with a vigorous life of their own. But comparatively few Englishine- except those who wished to get a medical degree, went so far afield in search of an academical training. London University was then, as it is now, an examining, not a teaching body. This institute existed, it is true, but in a very different shape from that which it has now assumed, for it was founded, I believe, as a mechanics' institute, and for several years did excellent work as such. ("Hear, hear," and applause.") Our public schools and grammar schools educated, in a way, thousands of boys, but the latter were immeasurably inferior t > the grammar schools of the present day and even our public schools, except in the citse of boys whom they prepared for the universities, and on whom was lavished nearly all the care and energy of the masters, gave wh.t was at the best a very stunted kind of education for the boys who did not go up to Oxford or Cambridge generally left school when they got into the fifth form, and had learned little except to play good cricket and write very bad Latin verses. (Laughter.) I well remember an observation of a friend of mine when I asked him why he did not send his sons to one of our great public schools, and he replied that he did not see the use of sending a boy to be blacked at a public school unless he could afterwards be polished up at a university." (Laughter.) If, therefore, I except the case of those intellectual gip.nts who are to be found in every age—who can rite superior to surround- ing circumstances and be their own educa- j tors, just as they can be the architects of their own fortunes—I think I 'nay say that forty years ago the only avenue by which a young man could hope to attain the ad vantages of a liberal education was by entering one of the older Univer- sities of Oxford or Cambridge. (Hear, hear.) But whom did those Universities educate, and how did they educate them ? At Oxford, at least, where I took my degree, most of the Colleges were little more than clerical seminaries. Not half the men called to the bar, very few solicitors, and I may say scarcely any merchants or manufacturers, in those days reaped the advantages of a University education. (Hear, hear.) There was, I recollect, a prejudice amongst business men against allowing a youth who was in- tended for a mercantile career "to waste his time at College." To a certain extent this prej udice was well founded. The age at which youths entered the University was later, and the time absorbed by a University curriculum was longer than it is at present. Fathers who had to make their own way in life felt that life was too short for such vanities, 'ihey feared the distractions and temptations of a College life, or dreaded-perhaps with reason-that at twenty-two or twenty-three years of age their sons would be too "set," if I may use the expression, to work their way up from the bottom of the commercial ladder. (Hear, hear.) But what kind of liheral education did a Uni- versity then give? That education was mainly con- fined to two subject.classic.-3 and mathematics. Of natural science I am ashamed to confess it, standing as I do in this county of John Dalton and Henry Roscoe, we knew absolutely nothing. (Hear, hear.) Of modern history and modem literature we had but the vaguest knowledge. Even modern languages we had to pick up, if we chanced to go abroad, as best we could, and we learn them as a boy learns to swim, by being thrown into the water. (Laughter.) Professors of some of these subjects no doubt there were, but they did not count in the scholarship or fellowship examinations in the schools or in the tripos. I cannot resist quoting what my valued friend an old Oxford pupil, Mr Grant Duff—a most competent witness-said on this subject from this very place some eight or nine years ago. The routine of studies at Oxford in my time was about ai narrow and as injudicious as it well could be. The worship paid to certain books-a." for instance, Aristotle's Ethics-and to certain arts—as, for instance, the art of writing Latin prose—was perfectly preposterous while a man might have known as much physical science as Professor Huxley, and as much history as Lord Acton, without it having had the slightest influence on his place in the schools or on his success in a fellowship exainina' ion. The official curri- culum was absurd." (Hear hear, and applause) I pass over what Mr Grant Duff was good enough to say about the unofficial influence of his tutors, to which he very kindly attributes more weight perhaps I than it deserved. Now, I am not going to enter into th vexed question of the comparative merits of a classical and a scientific education. That question has been very ably handled by the apologists of both systems— by none more ably than by my distinguished friend Sir Lion Playfair-though, I am afraid, with little practical result, for, as far as I can see, the advocates of both systems remain entirely unconvinced by the arguments of their opponents. For my part, I think that in an English university there ought to be room for both and, while I should be profoundly ungrate- ful to my old Alma Mater, to which I owe nearly all the educational advantages I have ever had, if I denied that there was not much good to be got out of her teaching, I will admit at once that that teaching was very one-sided and very unfair to those numerous young men who could not make their mark in the university, be- cause they could not appreciate the mysteries of the Greek article or write Latin verse without making a false quantity. But one sided and even absurd as our Oxford curriculum may have been, it had one recommendation which was not to be des- pised. What we learned we learned thoroughly. (Hear, hear.) I really think that if, just before taking my degree, I had been awoke in the middle of the night and put through the books which I to.)k up, I could have gone through them backwards. (Laugh- ter.) I remember a very great statesman telling me that he had worked far harder to get a First at Ox- ford than he had ever done as a Minister of the Crown or a member of Parliament. (Laughter.) Now, labour of this kind though it might have been be- stowed on more worthy objects, was by no means labor thrown away. The intellectual food on which we were nourished may not have been of the choicest kind. but it served to get our digestive organs into first-rate condition. For the senior wrant/ler or the double first-class man of that day the word difficu,t "ceased to have a meaning; and absurd as the system may have been there was much to be stid for it when j idged by its fruits. It pro- duced Whewell and Babbage it produced Macaulay and Bulwer Lytton it produced Peel and Gladstone. (Loud applause.) When we think of these men we may surely sav-" There were giants in the earth in may surely (Renewed applause.) But if the gate by which a young man could hote to enter upon a liberal education was narrow, and the field itself limited, what am I to say of the educational opportunities of a young woman at that time; There was then no Girton, no Sommerville, no high school for girls. (Hear, hear.) The education which a girl got, except what she could manage to pick up herself as she went a'on- was about as worthless a thi is as could he imagined. (Hear, hear.) A smattering of accom- plishments tamrht in a dreary, humdrum way, which awakened no interest and implied no kind of mental discipline, was supposed to suffice for a woman's education. Indeed, an edticat-d woman was for the most part regarded as something to be shunned or feared-a being unfitted for the ordinary duties of wifehood or motheihood. I well recollect the first time I ever peeped into Blackwood's Magazine many many years ago. My eye fell on a parody of the old Scotch border song, the refrain of which WaIi- To it, ye son", out your studies in order. All the blue stockings are crossing the border. Now, this was not a mere piece of persifiage. It was a serious warning against the invasion by the weaker sex of a province which man claimed as exclusively his own. I really do feel ashamed of my own sex when I think of that miserable jealo jsy—not alto- nethwr extinct even now—w!o< h, instead of recognis- ing the fact that God ma Ie woman to be the equal and the helpmate of man, would, by denying to her the educational advantages which we possess, degrade her to the position of a doll or a drudge. Truer far is the chord which our poet Laureate struck when he wrote those noble lines— Yet in the K>n» years liber mmt they gr >w — The man be more ot worn in, she "f man He gain in sweetness and in moral height. Nor lose the wresthng tlii*vs th it throw world. She nidntal hra,it nor fail in chddw.ird care, "r lose the childl k" 111 the larger mind. Till at the la t she set herself to man, Like perfect music unto noble word (Applause.) But let us take leave of this somewhat dreary retrospect, and turn to the outlook before us. What a change has come over the prospect A liberal education is no longer the monopoly of a par- ticular class or a particular place. In a certain sense it has been brought within the reach of every boy and girl whom I see before me and [ do not hesitate to say that eveiy one of them has it in his or her power to obtain a wider as well as a more thorough educa- tion than fell to the lot of the most favored scions of the aristocracy half a century ago. (Hear, hear.) To what causes, then, are we to attribute this remarkable change? Foremost among those caus-s I would place the gradual growth and development ot these great middle-class schools, of which this institute may be taken as a very favorable type. It consists, as you are aware, of a commercial school, a high school, a school of art, and the Blackburne House School for I girls, and I doubt whether, if we take either the num- ber of students educated in these different schools or the eTidences ot proficiency afforded by such tests as University and other examinations, you will fin i a more flourishing set of schools in the king- dom. (Hear, hear.) One thing is <8rtain. This Liverpool Institute is, I believe, taking it in all its branches, the largest day school above the level of an ordinary elementary school in England. (Ap- plause.) That is a thing of which this great city has a right to be proud, especially when you consider that she possesses sea cely any educational endow- ments which can compare with trose of other large towns, and that the whole of her educational system has had to be built up, so to speak, with her own hands. (Hear, hear ) Now. I know it is or has been the fashion to disparage day schools. The greater part of the upper classes have been educated at boarding schools, and most of our stories of school life are laid in them. Her.ce it has come to pass that these schools have been invested with a sort of glamour of romance which is to a certain extent de- lusive. For my part, I believe that a good day school in which the influence of home life can be retained while the discipline of a school is preserved intact is —especially in the case of girls—quite as well calcu- lated to bring out individual character, without stunt- ing the affections, as most boarding schools. (Hear, hear.) Certain, too, it is that in those countries where middle-class education is generally believed to have received its highest development, such as Germany, Switzerland, and, indeed, Scot- land also, the immense majority—not only of girls, but of boys—receive their education in this way. Nor must we forget that a large proportion of the students who have been thus edu- cated could, but for the existence of these schools, never have been educated at all. (Hear, hear.) And now let me pay a tribute of acknowledgment to the efforts which the old universities have made to promote education in England, and I pay it the more readily because as you have heard, I have spoken somewhat disparagingly of the direct part which they played in the training an instruction of the past generation. Not only has their own curriculum been greatly enlarged—not only have they broken new ground by admitting to that curriculum subjects such as modern history, modern literature, and natural science, which were completely ignored in my day— but they have, of their own accord, initiated one of the most important educational movements of this century. They have stepped down from the Lucretian heights in which they were once content to dwell and have met the requirements of the non-academical | world halfway. As the mountain could not come to Mahomet, Mahomet has come to the mountain. I allude, of course, to the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations, the effect of which, perhaps, upon the English middle class, it is difficult to over-estimate. The institution of these exami- nations awakened our grammar and other middle-class schools from the lethargy into which thev had sunk. (Hear, hear.) But it did more than this. It supplied young men and young women with a test by which they were able to measure them- selves. Now, if it be true, as the Athenian sage has told that self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom, I think I may >ay that it is t ptally true that self-appreciation (if I may use the term) is one of the first conditions of practical success in life. It shows us our weak as well as our strong points, and holds up the mirror as well to our shortcomings as to our capacities. It is with great pleasure that I observe that you in Liverpool have known how to avail your- selves of the advantages offered by these examinations and that several of you boys have recently gained Lord Derby's prizes awarded to the first senior and the first junior of the Liverpool centre of the Oxford Local Examinations. (Loud applause.) I do not forget, too, that two years ago a pupil of the Black- burne House School occupied in one of these examina- tions the proud position of first junior girl in all England. (Applause ) But you men of Liverpool do not any longer denend wholly borrowed light you have now a University College of your own, with a principal and a staff of professors of which any university in the world might be proud. (Hear, hear, and applause.) I have perused with great interest the short account of the foundation of the University College of Liverpool, which is con- tained in its calendar and although it might be pre- mature at present to hazard a prophecy as to its future growth and development, I can safely say that it commences its existence under the happiest aus- pices. I hardly knew which most to admire—the generous, and even lavish, manner in which it has been endowed, or the shrewd, practical spirit in which its curriculum has been laid out, up'£1 which 1 may say. in passing, we in North Wales have endeavoured to model our new University College just established at Bangor. (Applause.) Indeed, this disposition, of which I can see traces not only in Liverpool, but al-o in Manchester and London itself, to place our great teaching academical centres in the heart of grea" and busy cities, instead of stowing them away, as our cestors sought to dn, far from the-tir and bustle of active life, marks a new departure in the his- tory of English academical life. I welcome as part of that new departure a movement which, I am glad to see from a paragraph in one of your Liverpool papers, is sec on foot to establish a commercial curriculum in connection with your University College. I need hardly say that in no quarter could such a proposal be made with such cood chance of success as in this great mercantile metropolis of England. (Applause.) But there are in Liverpool many men and women who are unable to avail themselves of the ad vantages which your univer- sity offers, on whom the res aivjusta dumí presses hard, and who at the acre of sixteen or seventeen must be content to study to live instead of living to study. (Hear, hear.) For thm. too, this institute provides the means for carrying on into later life that course of self-improvement which thirty or forty years ago would have been remorselessly cut short at the ter- mination of their school days. I do not know that any part of your curriculum has interested me more than the account of your evening classes—embracing, as they do, subjects as varied as the ancient languages and mathematics on the one hand, and book-keeping and shorthand on the other. [ would most earnestly recommend those of you who are about leaving the Institute, and are destined, as many of you no doubt are, to enter at once upon the active business of life, I to keep up your connection with the Institute by attending these evening classes. I am per- fectly certain that if you alopt that advice you will never have rea-on to regret it. (Hear, hear.) But among the aids to h:gher education which the generation possesses, I must not forget to notice the extraordinary reduction which has taken place in the price of educational works, especially those designed for the teaching of the young. When I 1 was a tJlY, certainly one of the greatest obstacles in the way of obtaining a good education on reasonable terms was the dearness'of our school b oks. 1 may mention that I well recollect giving out of my own pocket-money 30i-tiie price of four cricket balls-for Matthia's Greek Grammar; and every other educa- tional work was proportionately dear. I see that the educational works of the ypar may be reckoned by hundreds, and that they are for the most part as cheap as they are good. The Times alone professes to review 500 Christmas books this year, of which a large proportion are written for the improvement as well as amusement of the young. Now, if one of the first desiderata for a workman is that he should ha able to get bis tools cheap, you will at once see what an enormous advantage you young labourers in the fields both of litnrature and science possess over us. You have also a very important instrument in the newspaper press—daily and weekly—of the present day. When I was young, a daily newspaper was a rich man's luxury. It is now almot a poor man's necessity. But though I am not prepared to assent to the famous saying of Mr Cobden that there is more wisdom in one article in the Times than in alltheh:8tories of 1 hucydides," I cannot butadmit theenormous educa- tional influence of the newspaper press of the present day-an influence the more powerful because it is exerted indirectly and almost unconsciously. For a man sits down to his dailv paper as he sits down to his tea or csffee, and imbibes its teaching with as little effort as he takes his cigarette at noon or his pipe at night. (Laughter.) But if the paths of learning have been made m >re easy, they have also been made more agreeable. The steps of Parnassus, which were rrnrged enough in my time, hive become so smooth and pleasant that to surmount them has become al- most a labor of love. Boys and girls are now being wheedled and coaxed along the road over which they were driven before. Now, do not think that this is altogether an unmixed good. No doubt it is pleasant enough to suck honey from every flower, but as Lord Iddesleigh very well reminded us not long ago, the kind of discursive reading which is characteristic of the present generation has its weak side. I pointed out to you in an earlier part d this address that the effect of our old university training was at least to make us thorough. I am afraid that the tendency of modern study is to make men and women sliallow-to give them a smattering of many things, a preference for the sort of reading that can be done in an easy chair, and a distaste for that thorough mastering of a subject which can never be attained without real, downright, and even painful labour. Now, I can hardly imagine a greater intel- lectual danger than this, and, in order to enable you to guard against it, I will venture to-night to give you one piece of advice. Make up your minds to .%fake up your m i n d to study at least one subject thoroughly. Let it be, if you please, one to which you are naturally attracted. If it he a science, I would suggest botany or geology as a study likely to draw you into scenes contrasting pleasantly with your daily life in this great city. If it be a language, I would suggest German-not merely because a knowledge of that language will enable you to unlock the treasures of the noblest literature, next to our own, of modern times; to study the immortal work s of Lessing and Klopstock, of Goethe and Schiller-btitbecati-le from its form and structure German will, as a philological study and an intellectual exercise, repay the labour you bestow upon it better than any other modern language with which I am acquainted. But the choice of subjects is comparatively unimportant. What I want to impress upon you is that you should try to learn at least one thing thoroughly But I must not close without one more word of w It is scarcely too much to say that, than!, tJ the various causes which I have I tried to enumerate, there are now almost ten well- educated men and women where thjre was only one well-educated man forty years ago. (Hear, bear.) ow, you in Liverpool kii )w well enough that the market value of t-very article is regulated by the law of supply and demand. With such free trade in education as we have got, it is obvious that a liberal education can no longer be the mono; oly of a chosen few. True it is, tli:it if the su, ply lias grown the demand has growl) also. If there are inoie teachers, there are also mare scholars; it there are more writera, there are iatinitely more readers of books if there are more artists and more pictures, there are also more connoiseurs and more buyers. Yet 1 think we must not shut our eyes to the fact that the supply of intellectual wares is at present somewhat over- taking the demand. The state of things which John Stuart Mill, in a passage of his Political Economy," laments, in which intetlectual labor was immoderately rewarded in comparison with manual skill, is rapidly passing away. Class is treading upon the heels of class, and our working population are rapidly invading professions which a generation ago were regarded as the close preserves of the aristocracy, and are securing for themselves a share in the intellectual prizes which were then the special property of the upper or pro- fessional classes. Every ghta is thronged with suitors, all the markets overflow, Far be it from me to regret this change; but I con- fess to some little apprehension that boys and girls in these days may be over-stimulated, "over-scholar- shipped," so to speak and that young people may be tempted into some ambitious occupation in which they are not strong enough to succeed when they would have done far better to have followed, and in following to have raised and ennobled, the more hum- ble following of their fathers. (Hear, hear.) I say this because I have had few experiences in my life more painful than the applications which during the time I held a Government office, and was supposed to have the disposal of some little patronage, I received from well-educated men for any work, however hum- ble—I had almost said menial—to save them from starvation. To investigate the various causes which led to the failure of these men in life would perhaps be an instructive, though it would certainly be a melancholy, task. In some cases that failure was due to caiise-i beyond human control; but I believe that in most instances it arose from that hurried ambition which is apt to o'erleap itself from a desire to obtain immediate results, and a disposition to draw bills on the future which, unfortunately, were not always met at maturity. The ranks of the learned professions, as they are called-nctably of the bar- are tilled with disappointed men of this type. It is difficult to suggest a remedy for this growing evil. Pro- bably if young men starting in life would be careful to take a more exact-I might almost say rigorous —measure of their power physical as well as mental, they often might be saved much keen suffer- ing, much of that hope which maketh the heart sick." Meanwhile one thing is certain, that those students who have learned to cultivate and enjy a higher intellectual life for its own sake, rather than for the adventitious advantages which it brings with it—who have resolutely placell before themselves a lofty standard of plain living and high thinking irrespective of reitilts-will most surely reap the reward which that life has in store for those who honestly and diligently seek after it. But I do not wish to end with words of discouragement. After all it is to the buoyancy and ardour of youth, with its high hopes and generous, sometimes almost quixotic, aspirations, that we owe most of the great tilings which have been done in the world. (Applause.) Depend upon it Alexander the Great would not have conquered the universe at thirty, and Lord Beacons- field was not far wrong when he made Sidonia say that The history of heroes is the history of youth." (Applau e.) And it is for this r. ason that to those of us who believe in the moral and mental growth and amelioration of our country and our race, the subject which I have tried very imperfectly to illustrate to-night, possesses an absorbing interest. You un- doubtedly enjoy advantages which were denied to the generation on whom the curtain is now npidly faH)ni{. Remember that pri.He?ea involve responsibilities, and that to whom much is given of them will much be required. It is a trite saying that the future of a country is the property of its youth. In that sense you may be said to hold in your hands the threads of the destinies of England. The world of the future, with its far-stretching horizon, its bound- less possibilities, belongs to you. To you it may be given to rule the promised land which we can only dimly discern from the heights of our Pisgah. Like the runners in the old Greek festival, of which some of you have read, we hand the lighted torch to you. Be sure that you so carry it in the race which is set before you that when your turn comes to (lltit the stage, and to make rOllll for a generation now unborn, you may he able to say, We have not lived in vain." (Loud applause.)

Correspondence. I I THE ANGLICAN CHURCH.—REFORM OR DISESTABLISHMENT, OR BOTH? S i R,-We are certainly living in wonderful times for progress from darkness to light. Within the last three weeks the fountains of the national deep have been opened up. The grand council of Great Britain and Ireland has been elected by a newly enfranchised people. Every institution which has no other props that the worn out pillars of antiquity totters to its fall, and among such is the State Church. There i, indeed, a stirring among its dry bones. It is not two months since that famous manifesto came out, signed by fifteen of the leading Peers, and a number of distinguished commoners. It called upon all electors, especially those with Liberal tendencies, in the most solemn manner to rally round the Church of England and maintain her in the position s he tio-v liolds, as our great National Institu- tion." The status quo of that congeries of inconsistencies and scandals, was thus to be pre- served. Scarcely a hint as to reform is to he found in the manifesto, and the lesser and local trumpets of Wynnstay or Gredington were "8 silent as to any shortcomings in this bulwark of Christianity. But now a shell has indeed fallen in the Church camp. It was silently charged some weeks ag.), it is reported, by Canon Freemantle. A week ago, on the 12ch December, from the city of London, it was launched by the hand of the Vicar of St. Lawrence Jciiry, and its ohject is to make the Anglican Church a national presbytery. It is a shrapnel shell, which in bursting discharges deadly missiles against five grand abuses, and is signed by six deans, ten canon-4, six heads of colleges, fellows and tutors, great public schoolmasters, and a number of rectors, vicars, curates, and three Queen's chaplains, about ninety of the elite of the beneficed clergy, and this week Dr. Ityle, the Bishop of Liverpool, has given similar 1 views in columns of leader type in the Manc/icster Courier. The reforms that the new Sanhedrim of the English Church have proposed are so sweeping, that they may well startle the Rip Van Winkles, who have been so long keeping sleeping, or have kept their eyes wil- fully closed to the signs of the times. Their first proposition is one that must have long recommended iiself t,) every thoughtful Churchman, viz the giving th: laity, by means of parochial councils, a clearly defined share in the administration of Church affairs. It declares the primary importance of such councils in increasing the local interest of the congregation in Church affairs, and to stimulate their feeling that the Church is theirs, and that they have a. responsible share in its life. For the first time in the Anglican Church, the barrier that penned up the sheep and made them inferior to tho shepherd is to be broken down, and Mr Albert Grey's Bill, or an enlargement, to be put into legal operation. The next proposition goes far to put an end to the traffic in livings" privately in brokers' offices, or publicly at auction marts, and to prevent any clergy- man being appointed to a living without previous con- sultation with the parishioners or their ret resenta- tives. In all these points they endorse the report of the Royal Commission, and the recommendations which were named recently in your columns, to be embodied in statute law. Their third recommendation is to p ovide security against ministerial inefficiency, from whatever cau-e it may arise, and to give Bishops greater pewer and facility, to remove incompetent and criminous clerks. 4. — To reduce the anomalies of the endowment of the Church, and to readjust them, to suit changed localities and shifting populations. 5.—To retax the Act of Uniformity, and to make it lawful to hold in Churches, a greater variety of ser- vices, to suit varying needs and circumstances. Upon these points they are all agreed, but differ about others. These they say cannot be delayed, without detriment to the Church's influence, and hindrance to her usefulness. They exprets a hope that their opinions will not be unwelcome, or valtielp-H. This anpeal is addressed to the Archbishops of York and ( .nterbury, and says that Fiuch reforms, they are a- uted, will be gratefully recognized by tOle nation. This document, which will take a memorable place in ecclesiastical history, is signed by clergymen whose incomes vary from Vloo a year to those holding dean- eries, prebendaries canonries, and other preferments, of more than £ 1,.><K>. It can only have been an over- powering sense of the corruptions which have re- mained in the Anglican Church, which convocation has been unable to touch, which has given rise to such a document. It is addressed to a Prelate who told the country the other day that it was in the happy state of supporting, every few miles, a c!erical farm, occupied by a tenant of culture and a gentleman. a centre and sign of religious truth, and it practically declares that the farms are to,) often bought and sold, are badly tilled, often enormously endowed, and that the farmers are very often no better than they should be. buch is the character of this fiery cross," which is to go round among the clergy with its statement in detail of grievances to be removed. If any answer is given it is that I agree with the general purport of this address, and will allow my name to be affixed as a signatory," to be addressed to Mr Walsond, Char- terhouse, London. Not far from 1,000 clergymen signed a document in favor of vestments and cere- monial some years ago. How many among the 13,000 will sign this truth-telling and far more vital memor- ial ? yous rtrrunt as the French sav.—I am. &o.. A LIBERATION 1ST.

TRUSSES, single Elastic Stockings Knee-caps, Anklets, Silk and Cotton. Best quality, fit guaranteed. Bandages, Belts, Enemas, Water- proof Sheeting, and Surgical Appliances at J. F, EDISBUP.Y'S, 3. Hii^h-street, Wrexham. 808 I 'rOWI,E'S PE Y ROYAL AND STEEL PILLS FOR FEMALES quickly correct all irregularities, and relieve the distressing symptoms so prevalent withthe sex. Boxes Is ltd and 28 9d, of all Chemists, gent anywhere on receipt of 15 or 34 stamps by the maker. E. T. TOWLE, Chemist, Nottingham. 17)0 READ R. THOMPSON & Co.'s SPECIAL CHRISTMAS OPFER, in the3rd column of page 2. 22b4a

f Markets. WREXHAM. -THURSDAY. White wheat (por nieastire old) 09 Od to IN W Ditto ditto now 08 Oil to IIø 081 Rou wheat, old 751be. r, 41 be "■< M Ditto now. j.. to 4. M Uata old (per bushel of 451be) M 0.1 to 3- 1M Ditto „ now 210 Hi to 3* 311 .,ieed do 0, M to 0. W Malting barley per 701bs) 4a 9d to fis Id Grinding do. (per tHlhsL. 3. 9.! to 4!J Jd Potatoes, new (per 120 lbs) α- Oil to 21 id Butter (per lb.) of hi oz.) li 3d to t. 4A Beef (per lb.). (Is Hd to lilt M Iutton(perlb.). 0s Iill to lis M Pork (per I b.) (ig 7d to (If M Veal (per III.). itt, m to I' M Lamb (per lb.) 9d to 0* 104 Fowl (per cou"le). > 1M to 4s Ducks t 4., M to St OH Turktr,», cocks (per coapte). 1*' Oil to 20s U4 Ditto bons, Is <)< Od to lib 88 (leeme (per lb.) On M to Wfi 10 Eg|Ztt (! to S for-% Shilling. MOLD. WiiD.-iF-snAy. -White wheat, perbobbett, 110", tu (Mh 04 red wheat 13s Oil to 13s fid; oats, lk4 Cd to 94 ltd barley, lis to Its OA butter, per lb, 11.1 t. lit 0,1 Iot", ltf for a shilling potatoes per 200 Ib" 4< Cd to 5s. CHESTER. Mot*. 0:4 Wheat, white per 75ih 59 Od to Os 0 1. 0s 0d to 0" 0cI Ditto, red. 1M to 5s ta. 0..4 0d to 0* 04 Barley, malting, fiOlbs Is Id to Is Td.. 0-. 0d to Os lid Ditto, grincling, (;Ilb 3i 6d to 0g os lid Oats, per 4t51bs — 2s (>d to 29 ild. 1.1" Od to Oil lid Beans, per Stilb 0s Od to Us nd. 0s 0d to (19 lld Ditto, hgyptian, per ISlllba 29* Odtotta 0d.0» 1i.1 to 00s 0cI lit,lian e,)tn Per IIH)I' 5s Id to OsOd. 0s O i n> O. 011 CREWE Cvrri.E, iday. There was a fair supply ol fat and store stock, and a good attendance of buyers. Beef lId to 7d per lb, mutton tilit to 7Jd, pork Ns to K4 3ti per score, veal ti}ll to tid per lb. New milch cows £ 1(5 to £ ■22 tach, barrens £ ii to ilO, stiiks Z4 to £ f. OS WEST It Y. White wheat (per 75 lbs.), 5, (id to 5s lotl red wheat old. 49 21 to 4s Id oats, new (per 200 lbs.) 17" lid to Rfci So Jaltinlt barley (per 2S0Ibs.) 17" Oil to 21s 4<1 grinding; ditto, Os oil potatoes (new) per It! !bs Is 0d to Is Od hutter (per Ill,), Is 2.1 to Is 3d heef li, I to Oil; mutton, 8d to '.Id veal, 7d to 4%1, lamb, '.Id to 10^4 pork, lid to Sd; fowls (per couple), 4s Od to 5s Oil; ducka, 5a Oil to its Od ejtg". 7 for a niiilling geese, 09 to (S. each; turkeys each, 5i (id to tis Oil. iUJTHlN. MONDA* —lied wheat per hob. new, 10" <>d to lit, Oata ditto new, tSi tid to 7s till Malting barley ilitto, ikki. Ud to 101. 3-1. Grinding ditto, 0s. Od to 0s Hd Butter, Is :ow to Is 3d per lb. Beuf, 84. tv lOd. Mutton, 7d. to 94 Pork, Sd. to !I' Fowls, 2s tM to 3s 61 p-r couple Pnchs 4s Od to 4; (id Gt ese, 8d per lb. 9 t.. 10 foi a shilling; potatoeq, 5s to (is per hobbet. DEN Bill ll. Wednesday.—The market on Wednesday was well at- tended, though rain fell at intervals during the day Fresh butter, Is 2d; tub ditto, Is Jd fo-vls, li = 0 I to 3s; ducks, 3n to 5a rabbits, 2" Sd beef, HJd to lid mutton, 9Jd to 10d Teal, 8d to !)d per lq eggs, 12 for a shilling salinon, Is per lb. cod tisb, titt per lb. mushrooms, 7d bo lOd per quart. ELLLSSMELT R. TtiESDAY.-Wheat 5s 3d to 5s tid; red 4s (id t" S* Od P81'7 Iblt, oitiley 5s 6d to (is Oil-. "at. ;111 till t. ,h Ut; eggs, 7 to 8 for ashilling; butter, ls3d to Is 4d p«r dish of US 0. fowls, 3s fid. to 4s 0,1. per couple ducks Is 0d to 5s rid per couple geese, dd to 011. per Ih, turkey*. 0, to OOd. pei lb potatoes, OsOd per 00 lbs; new ditto, Od. WHITCHURCH. FNIDAT.—Wheat, It 8d to os Od I- r 75 Ita. barley, 4, Oil to 5a. 3d oats, 2s ud t" 3i. <51 eggs, 7 to 8 for ashilling; butter, IsOl :o Is. 3 I ;.tlr ,lilth of ll'o/ fowls, 3s Od. to 4s. 0 i iier t,i)tilitt- ducks, 3, 94 to 5s 0d per couple goe-'e, 0,1 to lid per lb turkeys, 00 I. to OOd. per Hi. potatoes, In. ('! to Is. 94 per 9jlbs new potatoes, ltti per lb beef, tI i to (hi. pet lb. mutton. 51. to Jd veal, 7d to i LUhh, 7.1 to lOd. pork tid to 7d per lb. SHUKWSBITIIY. CORN, atunlay.- The following were the quotations White Wheat, per 7511).q 0* (I ito 0" (M New ditto < It ) 5 s 141 Itecl cUtto 040 11.1 to 0s lid New ditto 4s M to 4s 84 Hurley, (malting) per 7t)1 bt; 4s 6d to 5s 44 Barley, (fevding) per 701bs 3< Sd to 4s 44 Oats, (white) per 225lbs lss <5.1 to 20* Oct New ditto „ 1:1-1 0.1 to 15s 04 Oats(blaik) „ I. 17 s Cd to 19 Od New ditto 'H)s Od t > 00s 04 Beans, per "Uih" l.i. t; I to 15" M LIVERPOOL "\TT. Monday. The supply of st ■c'l, although loss th I lal week, w:is exteri,4ive, consisted of ne. 'y Iii,ii) t! Lttle in re th in 110 eorr "spou lin mvrkotof last year. The qua ity gener.dly of a medium and inferior description. In harmony witu til-! c nintry nv it tr;i le during the week, prices were lowor all round. Tho) exports from Ireland to (tre.tt Br.t iin for the week en lin4 mth Oecemb r amounted to an I 11, oil sheep. The American sup.dy consisted of ii)!?) a .ctle, qrs of beef, and 973 e.reti.,gi of mutton Bed 11.1 t > tij.l, ami mutt n 41tt t) 7J 1 per It). C ttt e 2t4 lo ;i7s perc^vt., live weight. At iinarket-2,2:30 cattle an.11 481 sheep. Cotts, Tuesday. —With an avera-^B attend iiv* at cur Exchange this morning and a steady t me a mo It. rate tr,6tle was transacted in wheat at late rates futures also steadier but an advance of J I checks badness. Flour was a little more inquirell for at unchanged prices. Indian corn steady, with a fair consumptive dun ind at Is S I for o d, Is 5d to Is (id for new, ttitl 4s 7(1 for new and old, white ami yellow moricitn 51 711, December old crop 41-1 n I IHitllwcI buyers, January new 4s 3d to 4s 3Jd, ;tiid Feh.I,ireh-April 4s 111 to 4s 3Jd round corn uncti inged Cmqu intina 511 tj(III, Oee,.s;\ .¡oJ lid, and Galatz 59 percental. Beans 34 lower. S iiilis itis to 2 Is till per qr. Peas quiet at 5s tid per centil. Oats very qui-tt flne qu ilities rather better. A I retail dem tnd in oatmeal at 2 Is (id to 21s per load. t PROVISION MARKET Tuesday.—Beef quitlt but steerty in value. Pork slow of sale. With only a retail busities passing in bacon, prices are unchanged. Hams ;i,pd shoulders steady at unaltered currencies. Cheeso ti-m% but not specially active. Buiter quiet. Beef (3e41hs)<- Kx. Indian uess 758 to S3s 9d, Plate and packet tiOs to 70s. prime meis 51-9 61 to ti7s (id. Pork (2001bs)—Prime uiem 40s toSJs. Bacon (1121bs)—U S. short iniai-fle boneless to Is Hd, Do. ria in 30s to 31s, long mid lie bonele-s to :11"1. short clearbacks 33s to 3.1s ti I. Cumberland 30s to iex. Hams in silt—Long cut 3Istoi2s, shortcut 34s to l-», s'loulders 22s to s, Cheese U. States ex. 45s to 47s, cood to tine 31s to 38s, middling 15s to 2")J. Itittter-tl.,i. and Canada ex. 80s to S)0s, tine tiOi to 70«, good 159 to 50s. LONDON. CATTLE, Monday.-With the exception of choico boosts sales have been forced at less money extreme top valv 5s 2d t > 5s 4d per Slbs. A clearance will not be made British beast arrivals-21) Scotch, 400 Irish, tOO Norfolk, Su-sex, and Kssex, 580 midltnd, home, and western counties. Sheep trade remains slow, the very best I) iwna realise our top quotations. C lives dull und inactive. Pig trade very ha.,1 Niiieh cows quoted X15 to 1:2.4 eacl*. Beef 3.. 2d to 59 21, mutten 4s 4d t > 5s 10.1, veal 3s 1M to 5s. pork 2s to 3s M per Hlos, Be ists 1150, sheep 3C31). calves 130, piss 20, including foreiga heists 50. Coit.N, Monday.—Tne mtrket is quite ina-dtnate in all dep;&rtinent. hoth English and foreign. Wheas, in the absence of demand, may he quo ed nominally the same J. last week. Flour very quit Barley inactive. (ijits are firm owing to scircity. M iiz^ is quoted tid to Is che iper on the week. Beari-; tnti peas are wi,tioul. vh:ttige. Engll h — W.ieat 4784, barley 3939, oat4 HU. malt 2 U01, beans 285. pja-s 231, Hour 19,20". Foreign- W heat r>\6'57, barley (ilOl, in iize 1*> 591, beans 3173, peas 30r;k), tiaur j 25,>Oi sacks and 600 barrels. Hop, Mond ly.-Trade continues very Arm for best co loury qualities of English hops, souie considerable sales bein; reported ;it full prices. Medium and inferior kinds, however, meet with little demand, and low sorts of foreign, which are in largd supply, are only seasonable at less money.

CORN AVERAGES. For the week ending Dec. 12. The following are the quantities sold and the prices this year and last year QUANTITfE9 SOLD. PRICES. This year. Last year. Thfa year. Las* j ear WheAt r)()S';l til.241 :!(), .VI. 30s 101 Barley.. 12*5 332 12ti 3S4 29< 8 i. nit (II Oats 9 2-59 1_»,S41 18s 21. 19. 51.

THE POPULAR BEVERAGE for Breakfast, Luncheon, Tea, and Supper, in all seasons, is Cadbury's Cocoa. —Comforting, strengthening, nourishing-fur old and young, robust and feeble. "No BREAKFAST, NO MAN," is an old saying, but those who cannot make a hearty morningmpai, will find Cadbury's Cocoa » pure refined beverage—com- forting, exhilarating and sustaining. 1190 For FANCY DRESS and E% E-ii-iG SHOES, KITE AND ( o., the largest stock in Wrexham, Gentlemen's Shooting Boots in great variety. All kinds of Repairing executed at KITE AND Co's, 3, Yorke- street, Wrexham. W31 DO YOU ENJOY PERFECT HEALTH IF NOT? WHY NOT? The simplest manner fur man to secure immunity from disease is to follow, as far as practicable, the laws of nature, and if illness overtakes him, to tacf,. all remedies only such preparations as are supplied by nature. The only natural remedies are vegetable, and the chief vegetable remedy of the present age is Gwilym Evans Quinine Bitters. This preparation is now extensively taken throughout the c.untrv bv patients snffenng from debility, ncrvousneHs an4 general exhaustion, and if any value be attached to human testimony, the efficacy of this medicine haa been successfully established. Its claims have been tested and proved by the medical profession and others, and corroborateo by the written testimonials of eminent men. The Quinine Bitters contain not only a suitable quantity of quinine in each dose, but the active principles of the following well-knowit herbs sarsparilla, saffron, gentian, lavender, burdock, and dandelion. The uQe of quinine is well known. but it has never been satisfactorily combined with these preparations, until, after overcoming considerable difficulties, the proprietor was able to secure a perfectly uniform preparation, combining all the es?n??i properties of the above plants in their greatestpurUy and concentration. It is now estabHs.fed as ? Sn? medicine, and is increasing in popular favour «.k!L more it is known and Gwilym Quinine itter8 is a tonic 8cientificlJo])Y mixed in hppy proportions. What is Gwilym Quinine Bitters recom. mended for? I.-Indigestion its different forms, 80Gb a. 8ick bead-ache, heart-burn, cramp, flatulency, sense of fulnes8 and opprepgion after eating, rlrowsine88, and pain, in the region of the heart.  tion the best  for depression of sp?' and melancholy. Bun* ? vegetable pick-m?un ??d strongly recommended for nervous di.ea? £ h J! undue anxiety; despondency, fainting 6ts, neuSg?,? and nerve Tnerny 3-tfas Knr.?f" treated (after all other known prepar ?ons had f? severe cases of affections of the chest, such as common colds, bronchitis, asthmatic colds, shortness of breath, spitting of blood, &c., 4.-Are invaluable to nureing niother.9, they enrich the blood, and impart a liealthy and safe tonic during the period of lactation. Should be taken by all delicate females, as they strengthen the system, thereby promoting trood hpskith -vz are. invaluable to tho-se who suffer from Hysterics, Fainting its, Giddiness Pains in the Side, Headaches, or Sickness. 5-To children growing, and to people suffenng great weakness, either after an ill„es» or through long confinement in ill-ventilated rooms, or other cause they are invaluable. GWILYM EV.\ti' QUININE BITTERS are recommended by Doctors, Analysts, Chemists. ,V.,W in !c !i,t and 4. fjd BottlCtl, and Cases containing three U'id Bottles at 12s bd per case, by all Chemists, or from the Pr prietcrr ca-rriatje free, parcels post (under cover). N.H. No one should suffer without trying "Gwilym Evans Quinine Bitters.—Mr Gwilym Evans, F.C.S., Pro- prietor, Laboratory, Llanelly, South Wales. 1288