The case of " tunding " at Winchester, which has
excited so- much interest, has been referred to the Governing Body by Dr. Ridding, the Head Master. He, with all his assistant masters, though disapproving the severity of the beating in the particular case,. uphold the system, as do heaps of correspondents. Others declare that the cruelty exercised under it is abominable, while Dr. Rid- ding himself says the accused Prmfect is " good and gentle," and therefore admits that the personal character of the Prmfects is no. protection to those under them. It is on this point, the possible debasement of the Prsefects, that the system seems to us most injurious,—the desire to tyrannise being one of the earliest as well as strongest of the passions, and requiring the firmest- restraint. Our own impression is that the Prmfectorial system, which is beneficial, would work just as well if the sentences allowed did not include corporal punishment, and there is one little noticed argument in favour of that theory. An assault such as that com- mitted on the Winchester "victim "is punishable by law, and it is not the business of public schoolmasters to teach their scholars,
who will be the magistrates of the next generation, contempt for that authority.
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