ItlistElIantous.

The King of the Belgians, since his arrival at Buckingham Palace, has frequently walked out alone, dressed in plain black clothes. On Saturday evening his Majesty walked for an hour in the enclosure of St. James's Park.

It is reported that the Venerable Samuel Wilberforce, the Archdeacon of Surrey, and one of the Chaplains in Ordinary to Prince Albert, is to be the tutor to the Prince of Wales.

Lord Grey is pronounced by his physicians to be " going on well." The Queen Dowager was one of the earliest to make regular inquiries about the Earl's health. The Queen and Prince Albert and the other Royal personages in town have been assiduous in their messages of inquiry.

The Earl of Ripon was taken unwell while attending a Cabinet Council at the Foreign Office, on Saturday ; and though not seriously indisposed, was unable to resume his official duties.

Literature and society have sustained a great loss this week by the death of Mr. Murray, the eminent and estimable publisher. He had been in indifferent health for several months, but the symptoms did not excite alarm in his family till Friday sennight ; and he died on Tues- day morning. The following tribute, to which much might be added, is from the Morning Chronicle- " In private life Mr. Murray was beloved by all who knew him ; and in kindness of heart, warmth of hospitality, and sincerity of friendship, has left few equals. As a publisher, his name is associated with those of all the most eminent men who have adorned the literature of the present century—many of them still alive to lament his loss, and many of them gone before him, leaving reputations which, living, he did all that enlightened enterprise and the noblest liberality could do to foster, and for which his reward will be a fame as lasting, afoot so splendid, as their own. In after ages, the name of Byron pram'. neatly, and of Scott, Southey, Moore, and a host of others almost as illustri- ous, will not fail to excite the remembrance of the publisher who first gave their productions to the world, who lived with them on terms of intimacy and friend- ship, and who rewarded their genius more substantially than bookseller ever re- warded genius before. Mr. Murray was in his 65th year; and had been in business as a publisher, first in the Strand, and afterwards in Albemarle Strcet, for upwards of forty years."

The Oxford Convocation, on Wednesday, conferred the degree of Doctor of Civil Law on Mr. Everett, amid a scene of the utmost tumult ; several members dissenting, because it is understood the American Ambassador was at one time a Unitarian minister. A scrutiny into the votes was demanded ; but the Vice-Chancellor says that he was not aware of the fact until too late a stage. The dissentients threaten eilterior proceedings, to set aside the degree ; while, in punishment for

the riot, a Fellow has been rusticated for five years, two other persons for three years, and a fourth for one year. A number of the dissentients have presented an address to Mr. Everett, earnestly disclaiming personal motives, and expressing the highest respect for his character and station.

Increase In 1800. In 1813. percent. 121,959 381.808 213 143,349 504.933 252 8,610 17,225 NO — —

273,918 904,016 230

The effect of voluntary zeal is illustrated by some further figures : the increase in Episcopal church sittings since 1,800 has been 190,710, or 125 per cent ; in chapel (Dissenter) sittings, 439,388, or 363 per cent : of 192 Episcopal churches and chapels built since 1800, 51 have been built out of Parliamentary grants aided by subscriptions; 141 by individuals, local corporations, or subscriptions ; chapels built by Dis- senters since 1800, 921.

The next section exhibits the statistics of Sunday-school teaching. Lord Ashley takes one-fifth of the population as capable of education ; much too high a number, says Mr. Baines : children between five and fifteen years of age constitute one-fourth of the population ; but the children of the poor do not stay at school ten years, or till the age of fifteen. He calculates that one-ninth of the population might be ex- pected to attend Day-schools, one-fifth Sunday schools. The facts ap- pear in the following table—

Proportion of Sunday Scholars to Population.

In Westmiuster 1 scholar to 31 inhabitants.

In all London 1 ditto to 20 ditto In Yorkshire 1 ditto to 5 1.3d ditto

In Lancashire 1 ditto to 51 ditto Sunday Scholars in Manufacturing Districts.

In Yorkshire 145.232 In Lancashire 208.924 In Cheshire 9,388 363,514 Being 1 scholar to every 54 inhabitants.

Without asserting that the Sunday-schools are as efficient as they might be, or denying that there is much inequality among the teachers, for the capabilities of the system are by no means fully developed, Mr. Baines contends that these schools are beneficial, especially in their moral and religious effects, beyond all calculation-

" But what say our accusers, the Children's Employment Commissioners They tell you--• The teachers (of the Sunday-schools) volunteer their merito- rious efforts ; which, however, are altogether unsystematic and feeble. That, in all the districts great numbers of those children who had been in regular at- tendance on Sunday-schools, for a period offrom Jive to nine years, were found, on examination, to be incapable of reading an easy book, or spelling the com- monest word ; and they acre not only altogether ignorant of Christian prin- ciplee, doctrines, and precepts, but they knew nothing whatever of any of the events of Scripture history, nor any thing even of the names most ,,commonly oc- curring in the Scriptures.' New, Sir," continues Mr. Baines, "I determined to adopt a teat so simple as to be of easy and general application, and yet very decisive, to show whether the instruction in Sunday-schools was of the wretched kind here described. I inserted a column in the schedule, for Scho- lars who read in the Bible or Testament.' The answer to this in the returns is, that

Out of 363.544 Sunday-scholars,

201 843 read is the Scriptures.

That is, 554 per ceut of the wl,olc number.

And when you remember how very large a proportion of the entire juvenile population is in the Sunday-schools, and consider how young many of them must be, the fact that 55i per cent are actually reading the Scriptures will ap- pear very satisfactory." Considerable notice has been taken of a paper in the Leeds Mercray- a letter by Mr. Edward Baines junior to Sir Robert Peel, "on the Social Education, and Religious State of the Manufacturing Districts "; the object of which is to show that Lord Ashley's speech on the necessity of education, and the Report of the Children's Employment Commission grossly misrepresent that state. The writer observes, that the object of the Commission, from whose Report Lord Ashley chiefly drew his materials, was to find out whatever was wrong in the physical and moral condition of the children—to make out a case; and thus there was an accumulation of unfavourable facts, what was satisfactory being slighted. Respecting the moral condition of the children of Leeds, Lord Ashley gave the most shocking details : Mr. Baines quotes a letter by a gentleman who was a Magistrate of Leeds, of great profes- sional and literary ability, who says that the juvenile delinquents of Leeds do not belong to the working population of the district, but are the children of vagrant parents, attracted to the town from a distance ; that the young people employed in factories are seldom brought before the local police tribunals ; and that the criminal youths so prominently referred to by Lord Ashley are not trained in the Sunday-schools.

In order to a more extended vindication of the manufacturing dis- tricts, Mr. Baines published an appeal "to the Ministers of Religion, Superintendents of Sunday-schools, and Manfacturers of Yorkshire and Lancashire," requesting that they would in their several townships and parishes collect the statistics of religion and education : committees were accordingly formed in all the manufacturing towns of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire ; schedules being furnished on a simple plan; and Mr. Baines had returns from places in Yorkshire, with a popula- tion of 770,265; Lancashire, 1,207,495; Cheshire, 41,500; total, 2,019,260.

In a digest of these returns, he first exhibits the religious statistics, in a section showing the state of chapel and church accommodation. Various English and Scotch ecclesiastical authorities are quoted, to justify the estimate that church-accommodation should be provided for 50 per cent of the gross population. In Westminster, the abode of the Royal Family, the Bishops, and the aristocracy, the proportion of sit- tings in places of worship to the whole population is 30 per Cent; int the whole Metropolis, 36 per cent : Mr. Baines's returns from York- shire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, show, for a population of 2,019,260, church and chapel room for 904,016. The Commissioners assertep that no provision had been made "for the extension of educational and religious institutions corresponding with the extension of the popula- tion" : this is answered by the following table ; in which, however, Mr. Baines would make an allowance of 10 per cent for churches and chapels built on the sites of smaller places of worship—

Population. Church aud Chapel Sittings.

In 1801. Increase In 1841. per cent.

In Yorkshire

377.581

770,265 104 Lancashire 486 890 1,207.495 148 Cheshire 20,146 41,500 106 Totals 884.617 2,019.260 128

'The returns respecting Day-schools are less relied upon from the greater difficulty of obtaining particulars respecting them ; but, such as they are, they show that in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, the number of Day-scholars is 193,523, for a population of 2,019,260; being more than one for every eleven of the population. The result is supposed to be one-tenth below the actual numbers; which would raise the pro- portion of Day-scholars to I in 10 of the whole population.

Mr Baines comes to the following conclusions-

" 1st. That in the manufacturing districts there is church and chapel room for 40 per cent of the entire population; and, deducting the Catholics, who fill their chapels several times in the day, the church and chapel room for Pro- testants cannot fall greatly short of 50 per cent. "2d. That that provision for the religious instruction of the community has been made, and is still supported, almost wholly by the voluntary zeal and liberality of the inhabitants; no less than 603,733 sittings in churches and chapels having been provided within the present century, of which only 62,493 are in Parliamentary churches. "3d. That the provision for religious instruction is far more abundant, in proportion to the population, now, than it was at the beginning of the century. Judging from the existing churches and chapels, the accommodation has been increased 223 per cent, whilst the population has only increased 123 per cent. But, allowing for the old places of worship rebuilt or abandoned, the increase in accommodation may be considered as 203 per cent. "4th. That Sunday-schools have been provided, and are supported and taught, by the voluntary zeal of the inhabitants, in which one in every 5i of the population are enrolled on the books; which must include an immense pro. portion of the whole children of the working classes. "5th. That 55i per cent of the children in Sunday-schools are able to read, and are actually reading the Holy Scriptures.

"6th. That nearly sixty thousand teachers are gratuitously engaged in the benevolent and pious duty of Sunday-school instruction.

"7th. That one in every ten of the population are taught in Day. schools ; of whom only a small proportion in Dame and Factory schools. "8th. That the proportions of the Established Church and other religious bodies, so far as the sittings in churches and chapels would indicate, are as ffil- lows,—viz. Established Church, 343,522 sittings ; other religions denominations, 560,494: but probably the proportion actually attending the churches would be less than this in comparison with the other sects. "9th. That the proportions of Sunday scholars taught are as follow,—viz. in the schools of the Established Church, 108,805; in the schools of all other denominations, 254,739."