DISCIPLINE OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
7th January 1854.
Sin—It is never too late to own a mistake. I was wrong when I ques- tioned the accuracy of a statement made by your correspondent "Sagittarius" with regard to an event at one of our public schools. He has subsequently stated in your columns that he referred to Harrow, and I find that the case was as he represented it.
I am no Harrovian, and hence have to apologize to him for another blun- der. I misunderstood his use of the word _Plecemv ira te, which I supposed to be used by him not in reference to the number, but to the great powers of the upper boys. •
It Would be an ungraceful act to add much to a recantation. I have for many years been familiar with the working of a system which intrust& very large powers to, and imposes very heavy responsibilities upon, the sixth form of a public school ; I have seen the happy results of that system : col- lisions between the sixth form and their schoolfellows have been extremely rare; I cannot recall a single instance in which the monitorial power was invoked in consequence'of a dispute at football or any game ; I have been accustomed to see all distinctions, except those of skill, temper, and courage, vanish at the commencement of " the match" : and lastly, though I know that all machinery, whether moral or material, requires constant supervision, and is liable even then to occasional checks and flaws, yet I have heard so many misstatements and misunderstandings on the part of those who were not familiar with the real state of the case, and the story, told as it was without any hint as to its locality, seemed in itself so counter to the usual tone of public school life, that I hastily concluded it to be a mistake ; and, writing as I did in error, so also committed another error by signing myself AN OLD DECENVIlt.
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