^^Abvuani^'^ I Ira-" MINIVER^ v^lOSANCUfjv. ^^ILIBRARYQr I33NVS01^ -< %a3AiNn3W^ o o laDNV-SOV^" ^^^lUBRARYQ< ^ - - — ■ ^ ^;lOSANCElfx^ kavnaiH^ "^^Aavaaii^ o %a3AINrt3WV^ ^VOSANCElfx^ o -v^lLIBRARYO^ -v^lUBRARYQc, 133NVS01^ -< %a3AINn-3WV^ ^&Aavaani^ ^ o ^UIBRARYQ/r soi^ "^aaAiNn-JWV^ ^odiWDJO^ "^aaAiNn-awv** ,^,OFCAIIFO%, -5>^tllBRARYQ<^ u3 -3 oc ^.OFCALIFO/?^ MIY/?/;^ ^lllBRARYQr^ I \y\^ ^^mmy^^ \m4^, ^oFCAiiFo;?^ ^w^UNlVERs•/A o ^5vWEUNIVER% ^lOSANCElfj^ o "^/saaAiNn-awv ^lOSANCElfj^ gn# ^>&AaV83IH^ &AMvaan# ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^£>Aavaan# THE INSTITUTIONS POPULxiK EDUCATION THE INSTITUTIONS POPULAR EDUCATION. AN ESSAY TO WlllCn THE MANCHESTER PRIZE WAS ADJUPilED. liEV. EICHMD WINTEE HA]\IILTON, LL.D,D.D. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW ; JACKSON & WALFORD : LEEDS : J. Y. KNIGHT, 39, DRIOGATE. M DCCC XLV. LEEDS: PRINTED BY ANTIIOSV PICKARD. LC-iS TO THE RIGHT HON. EARL FITZWILLIAM, ETC., KTC, ETC. My Lord, I beg You to accept the Dedication of this Volume. It is written upon a theme wliich has ever commanded Your close attention smd re- ceived Your munificent support. As a Treatise, it is not improbable that it may contain opinions witli wliich Your judgment does not coincide. Its spirit of freedom and candour I am confident that You will approve. Were I to addi'ess Your Lordship, us did Walker King* at an early period of Your life, it would be Bisho}) of lloclicbter. in a Dedication prefixed to au Edition of Burke. 803123 VI. iiKr)rrAri(tN. t(» say lidw every aii<,Miry ol' Yotir ilien (jpening eu- rcer 1ms l)(;en lulfilled. In Your compurativt; witli- drawmeiit from the Arena ol' Politital Debate, Your country still remembers You, and will not fail to call for You in the hour of danger. Though I am not ungrateful for persontd kind- nesses which Youi' Lordsliip has rendered me, — felt the more sensitively by me as one of a class towards which contempt is more frequently meted than re- spect, — I should have thought it indehcatc to have made these the reasons of my present Act. I pre- sent this Work to You, solely on the grounds of Your High Character and Patriotism. Believe me, My Dear Lord, Your Lordship's grateful and faithful SoiTant, RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON. Leeds, Nov. 1st, 1844. ADVERTISEMENT. The following Documents will explain the History of the Work which is now presented to tlie PubHc. The Author is conscious that he must be read with some prejudice, the opinions of men so greatly vary- ing on his theme. He has retained the Title with which the Essay was originally headed, though he must remind those who peruse it, that the word " Institutions" is employed in its classical, and not in its conventional, sense. POPULAR EDUCATION. A Patriotic Churchman of Manchester, whose name is to remain unknown, lias entrusted to me the Sum of One Hundked Guineas, as a Premium Ibr the most valuable Essay " On the best Method of ex- tending the Benefits of Education to the People of England, consistently wiih the Principles of Civil and Rcli^iniiN Ijbcrlv. Vlll. ADVFIUTISKMKNT. 'I'lie EsHuy nui«t embrace the following topics : — Ist. Soiiiu accimiit of thu Kxteiit, and of tliu ascertained and probable Results, of I'opular Education on the Continent and in the United States. 2nd. A Condensed Statistical View — so far as practicable — of the State of Popular Education in the Agricultural and Manufacturing Districts of England, including the instruction given ill Day-scliools and in Sunday-schools. 3rd. A similar view of the Comparative Numbers edu- cated in those Schools by the Members of the Established Church, and by the different bodies of Protestant Noncon- formists. 4th. Suggestions in regard to Methods by which the Superintendence and Resources of Society may be rendered more effectual, apart from the intervention of the State, as means of securing to the children of our peasantry and arti- zans instruction in the elements of knowledge, both secular and religious: — at the same time, the questions, whether Education should be in any sense compulsory, or whether it shoidd be aided in any way by authority or grants from the Government, will be left open, so that the discussion of them shall in no case prejudice the claims of the Essay on the other points above-mentioned. It is expected that the Publication vnU. lonn a Duodecimo Volume of about Three Hundred Pages, and tlic Profits arising from its Sale, after deducting the usual Costs, will be presented to the Author. ADVERTISE MKNT. IX. The Manuscript must be sent to my care, car- riage paitl, including ihe Name and Address of the Writer in a sealed Letter, by tlte Jirst of March next, directed to 2G, Cooper-Street, Manchester; and the Award, it is hoped, will be made in about two months from that time The following Gentlemen have consented to act as Adjudicators : — Eev. Samuel Davidson, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Ciiticism and Oriental Literature, in the Lancashire Independent College; Eev. Abraham E. Farrar, Wesleyan Minister, Liverpool; and Kev. John Kelly, Livei^pool. ROBERT VAUGHAN, D.D., President of the Lancashire Independent College, near Manchester. College, Aug. 25, 1843. COPY OF THE ADJUDICATION. The Adjudicators appointed to examine the Prize Essays on Education, having endeavoured to accomplish their task with all the impartiality and patience which it demands, are happy to announce tliat they are unanimous on the subject. Out of fourteen volumes which they have received, they have tixed on the one entitled, " The Institutions of Popular Education." It need scarcely be mentioned that, with evei'y sentiment X. ADVERTISEMENT. advanced in tlu; Essay, they do not necessarily agree. Hut, after a carefid perusal of tlie entire nunil)er, tliey believe that it has more intellectual power, more practical and sound sentiment, and greater compactness of argument, than any of its competitors. The publication of such an Essay will, in their judgment, effectually promote the cause of Popular Education in the land, to which the public mind is specially directed at the present time, and also fulfil the purpose of the benevolent individual to whose liberality its existence is priniai'ily owing. SAMUEL DAVIDSON, ABRAHAM E. FARRAR, JOHN KELLY. It only remains for the Author to express his obhgations to the unknown and unguessed Donor of the Prize ; and to the Rev. Gentlemen who adjudged in favour of the following Essay. Both they, and the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, who was tlie Convener and Organ, have acted towards the Writer in the kindest and most fraternal manner. CONTENTS. PAGE. Dedication, ,5 Advertisement, 7 Award, 9 Chap. I. — Pukliminary Thoughts on certain Por- tions OF OUR Population, 1 Chap. II. — On the Poor as a Class, 16 Chap. III. — On the Principal Divisions or the La- bouring Community, 37 f'uAP. IV. — On tice Kind of Education adapted to THE Poor, r/J Chap. V. — On the Advantages arising from the Education of the People, 88 Chap. VI. — On Sabbath Schools, 112 Chap. VII. — On Foreign Systems and Means of Edu- cation, 143 Chap. VIII. — On the Statistics of Domestic Educa- tion, 177 Chap. IX. — On the Parties responsible for the Education of the People, 2(»1 CuAP. X. — On the Means and Resources of the Country to procure a sound Education for the People, 2")f> NOTE. On Cla!n>.ctxai Tj/xi'v ruv aXXojv rraauv bri/iiov^yiuv a(f:ti/j,tvfjv{, bin iivai brifii- bu^yovi I'Kivdi^tag r/j; toXsw; rra^u ay.^ijiiii, y.ai /x/,0£^ a>.>.6 irrilribivin o, ri /myj ng roulo fi^n' owbiv brj bioi av aurot;; aXXo rr^aTTin oubs fji,ifiiisdai ' caw bi fMifj>uv}ai, fMi/MiaSai aibeiiovc, (TCfjf^ovag, oaiovg, eXevdi^ovg, y.ai ra ToiauTa cavra • ra o avi'/.iudi^a fj,rPi rroniv, /zr,7= biivovg iivai iJ.in,r,aaaOa.i!' Plato. — De Republica, Lib. iii. " If, therefore, we are to hold to our first reasoning, that our Governors, without interfering in any other Manufacture whatsoever, ought to be the most accurate Manufacturers of the Liberty of the Stale, and to mind nothing but what has some reference to it, — it were surely proper that they neither did, nor imitated, any thing else. But if they should so far exceed their province as to affect such imitation, let them emulate models which are manly, wise, pure, and free, and all the kindred virtues. In no possiVjle case can it be their duty to follow Slavish measures." " In the adoption of the system of Education, I foresee an enlightened peasantr}', frugal, industrious, sober, orderly, and con- tented, because they are acquainted with the true value of fru- gality, sobriety, industry, and order; crimes diminishing, because the enlightened understanding abhors crime; the practice of Chris- tianity prevailing, because the mass of your population can read, comprehend, and feel its divine origin, and the beauty of the doc- trines which it inculcates; your kingdom safe from the insult of the enemy, because evei-j' man knows the worth of that which he is called upon to defend." Speech of the late Samuel "WTiitbread. Esq.. M. F. THE INSTITUTIONS POPULAR EDUCATION CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS ON CERTAIN PORTIONS OF OUR POPULATION. The Philosophy of Population, though it has recently excited much attention and produced ample discus- sion, does not seem even now to have obtained that place in Human Studies which it so well deserves. It is strange that it should bear this modern date. Since in eveiy country the questions it embraces must have been of almost equal importance, — the failure threatening the industrial resources, as the excess does the subsisting means, of every community, — it is a ground of sui^prise that we can find scarcely any notice of it, any reference to it, in the writings of antiquity. It was, doubtless, a subject of anxious thought to many who lived in the remotest periods of the etu'th. B 2 I'ltKf.IMfNAKY TirOf'furTS 0\ 'i'lio siig(' ill liis contemplations, tlie statesman in his projects, could not utterly neglect or slight it. With a terrible earnestness it demanded the attention of both. Plato, indeed, in his ideal of a State, has not wholly overlooked it. Speaking on certain regulations of mar- riage, he causes liis great interlocutor, Socrates, to state the alternatives, — "That as far as possible our city may be neither too full nor too empty."* The void exhausted by frequent famines, the waste left by exterminating wars, would sometimes peril the being of peoples and the identity of nations. Grave was the problem, how these devastations might be repaired. Redundance was not, on the other hand, unattended by difficulties. Though the world may not have been filled with its present number of inhabitants, some parts of it were densely thronged. The swarm gathered in the fruitful vale. Wherever, too, the limit of a coun- try was narrow, — not lying in the depth of a continent but shut in by shores, — not spreading over a cham- pagne but imprisoned by mountains, — increase would become more likely, from the higher cultivation of the soil, from the demand of domestic manufactm'e, and from the prevention of any outgi-owth of itself beyond the bounds which local necessity had set. Scarcely less grave was the problem, how these augmented wants might be supplied. The records have not been kept, but it cannot be doubted, that profound musings, that yiyv>i]a/."— Rep : lib. v. CERTAIN rORTIONS OF OUR rorULATION. 3 sagacious conjectures, that comprehensive schemes, haye always more or less agitated the mind of thu wise and tlie good, touching their species in this par- ticular view of it, — its repression or its multipUca- tion. Philanthropy, of no degi'ee or direction, could overlook that w^hich involved its every exercise. -A hoary dignity, unquestionably, rests upon the science, however its discoveries lie bmied with the fathers of the world. The Sacred Volume has gathered up certain nota- tions of this great study of our nature, wliich are worthy of their register. It points us to Him who "en- largeth the nations, and straiteneth them."* It assures us that it must be on account of His anger against our wickedness, if lie " multiply the nation," and with- hold the proper consequence by not "increasing the joy."t The gi-eatest proportion of human beings to their earthly dwelhng-place is always assiuned by it to be a good, a tiling to be desired. God, it assures us, " made it to be inliabited." " He hath made of one blood nil nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth." Is the Parent described ? "AsaiTOws are in the hand of a mighty man ; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them." Is the might of Thebes, ^Yith its hundred gates, proclaimed ? It is " populous No." Guai'ding wuth holy jealousy and feai-ful judgment every violation of purity, consecrating mamagc as • Job xii. 23. t Isa. ix. 3. 4 PIlKI.IMINAliV TIIOIfillTS OM " the triK! scniroL' of Imiiiiui offspring. " no man can be an intiiidcr in the world. His liirth gives right of place and proviHion in it. Piux-ntal sin may, in the opinion of society, throw a shame around 1dm. It may bo the wisdom of society to treat him differently from the bome-boni child. Hut what if no inheritance gi-eet him ? What if yearning and high anticipation have not hailed him ? The genial fount of maternal nourishment was not denied the babe ; and the joyless mother, in the sense of its undeserved wrong, has sometimes entwined it in only a fonder embrace. We need not fret ourselves with fears of too many guests for the banquet of nature. The prolificness of our kind has its own hmits, and wants not oiu" checks. He, who bids the poorest, has spread the board. He has estabhshed the proportion between the numbers and the viands. There is bread enough and to spai'e. Want may exist in the destitution of the means by wliich a share of that provision can only be obtained. That is not the enquiiy. Is there necessity for that privation ? Except in the aiid or frozen waste, there is not local dearth : even thefr rigoiu's may be over- come. Cultivation finds new powers in the most unyielding soil : ocean has scarcely been skimmed for its wealth. " God hath made the round world so sure," that not only cannot it be moved, but its nutri- tive powers cannot be exhausted : sober calculation has shown, fi"om the square miles and their relative inhabitants of China and Britain, that nine thousand CETITAIX PORI'IUNS 01- OUR POl'CI.ATION. Ti millions of human beings might live upon the planet without civjwdiug its area or impoverishing its supply. Were there any danger, any evil, in tliis almost incon- ceivable augmentation, the given amount is a pure chimera. If some countiies be now well replenished, wliich the ancient landmarks did not recognise, — others are but the wrecks of a mighty depopulation. The ascertained fi'uit of Mamage restoiins every feai*. The law of Increase is almost mathematically estab- lished. Perhaps the quantity of human creatures is not gi'eater now than at some former periods of our globe. Let us welcome all who emerge among us into life, let us confess theii' equal title with our own, not daring to speak of anterior possession, not grudging one against another, nor charging God foohshly with a disparity which it is most profane to suppose. Justly and benevolently let us think of any imaginable addi- tion of man as a happy consummation : as calling upon us for a more active and zealous discharge of the duties of pliilauthropy. ! precious is the hfe of man ! Well may we hail him who now has begun to hve for ever ! If the Heathen could speak of iiim : '' Animal providum, sagax, multiplex, acutum, memor, plenum rationis et consilii, quem vocamus Hominem, preclara quadem conditione generatum esse a summo Deo :"* * " That the creature, far-seeing, ingenious, unrestricted, exa- mining, recollective, full of reason and purpose, whom we call man, must have heen formed with such renowned qualities by the Suj)reme (iod." — Cicero. De Legibus, lib. i. I) rKK/.I.MIN AHV TIIOnraiTR ON liow hIiouKI \vu honour uU uitii ! How unworthy is every contemptuous expression towards any on our tongues ! Is he to be despised ? Is " he a vessel in wliich is no pleasure ? " If a spirit of dispni'agement be entertained towards any man, as the consuming animal, as tiie supernu- merary disturber, — his entrance on this earth an encroachment, his mingling with its tribes an imper- tinence, — one who came uninvited and who departs undesired, — such a temper is not di'awn from Reve- lation. When we pray unto our Father which is in heaven for our daily bread, we acknowledge all man- kind for our bretliren, and include them in the prayer. Each man is the brother for whom Christ died. None may be indifferent nor displeasing to us. We are our Brother's Keeper. The most distressed is most proxi- mately om' neighbour. We are debtors to all. We owe to love one another. The Cluistian Charity courses each drop of our common blood through all the wind- ings of the human heart, and identifies all its great principles with imiversal man. And at least our native countiT makes a noble investment, though not more than just, for the needy. It has no Apothetse,* like Sparta, for the deformed infant : it provides, unlike tlie ancient Massagetai,t no living grave for age. But let us indulge no visionary ideas of man in liis most perfect state on eai'th. He must always be a laboiu'er. The fuiTow must be turned, the forge " riutiivcli. Lvour : t Herodotus. Cleio. CERTAIN PORTIONS OF OUR POPULATION. 7 must be lighted, the anvil must be struck. There will be required the miner, the excavator, the builder, the husbandman. Most minute processes must be con- ducted : most menial tasks must be performed. The drudgery of present occupation may be somewhat mitigated. Yet bodily exertion will ever be exacted. Though liis brow shall be raised still higher to heaven, the sweat of toil must be always there. A law pro- claims this necessity. Population stands in a relation to the supply of food. There is invariably, in every civilised country, a certain proportion between the two. By some restraint or check, population is not suffered a permanent or common advancement upon the means of subsistence prepared for that population. They do not swell in diverse ratios to each other. Increase of human kind seems to Itnow no indefinite expansion : increase of food for human kind as little knows a wasteful supei-fluity. We speak not now of certain affinned calculations. We diffide in them. The multiplication of the species is, to our conviction, extravagantly computed. But the true inequality, though veiy far from the arithmetical and geometric figures, we consider a most important principle. It is the great incentive to industi-y and competition. Too rife and too easy a provision for our wants would weaken the mainspring of every social movement : he who will not work ought not to eat : and the place of every one who feeds upon the universal garner must be pvopcily apportioned and eagerly souglit. He cannot 8 PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS ON sit down to tli(; ft'iist without having first earned his sliai'e and vindicated his title. In the treatment of enquiries whieli affect popula- tion, we are hotrayed into a f^tylc of language, perfectly innocent, hut not equally felicitous. We speak, when looking on the crowds of the town and city, of the masses discovered there. Now we, in this wise, talk of every congeries and conglomerate. We correct oui*- selves by qualifying the phrase : they are living masses, the masses of human beings. But our judgments are distorted by the phrase. We unconsciously ghde into a prejudice. We have gained a total, without tliinking of the parts. It is a heap, but it has strangely become indivisible. These masses present to us no delinea- tions, no individualities. When we speak of mind in reference to them, it is as though there was but one mind informing all ; or of capacity for feeling, as though there was but one capacity for feeling exci- ting aU. In reckonings of their number to a given space, or to a particular period, we absolutely break down these quantities, not into integers, but ahquots and fi'actions. We must reduce the sums into fifths, and thirds, and eighths. We call decimals to our aid. If disaster overtake the throng, — if military execution befall some lawless multitude, — we hear without sur- prise, that perhaps only two, or four, of the dense mass hare suffered hann or death. From the extenuation which tliis is supposed to urge, we might imagine that the catastrophe was univei"sally diffused : that the CERTAIN PORTIONS OF OUR POPULATION. 9 deadly missive, that the sabre gash, were equally dis- tributed. But each component was a perfect system of existence in himself. He who was wounded, only he was harmed ; he who was killed, only he has tlied. There was no common nene nor life in the crowd. We might say, only these were injured or were slain. But it is a solecism to say that only these of the mul- titude were thus affected. There is no compendium of men. All others of the multitude escaped, and these suffered as if they had stood alone. They lost nothing of themselves in their associates. They were but their uncompounded selves. To himself, to his hereafter, to liis God, each man is a separate entity, — you cannot di\dde nor multiply him, — you cannot make him sometliing more or sometliing less, — amidst whatever congi'egation of his fellows he is found, he is distinct from all, as though he wandered the lone pilgrim across the tuftless desert, or in solitaiy skiff traversed a shoreless sea. Peculiar views may be entertained of certain com- munities, of many populations. In many districts their number extends to a sui-prising dcgi'ee. Locality, giv- ing rise to occupation, strangely influences the fact. A coal, or an iron, field gathers upon it a manufacturing race. No immigration can account for the sudden rise. It is a nidus of a new commonwealth. The births, contrary to general hypothesis, seem to be in proportion to the density of the population. Every resistance of atmosphere, health, employment, counter- 1(1 I'UKI.I.MrNAKV rilOL(iins ON works it ill viiin. It is mi cbblesH tide. Some liitlierto ban'en temtory is piled with luctones, covered with families, studded with luibitations. Tlie question is detemiincd, — no light one to the serious mind, — that more or less human beings may be produced. Tens of thousands owe their existence to these circumstances. T3ut lor the rich minerals beneath, these had not breathed among us. Difficulties, vast, and even awftil, beset the statement : but there is the fact. The gates of life are more suddenly and widely thrown open. From the time of Hargi-eaves and Arkwriglit, fi'om the years 17G7 — 1770, tliis increase has been manifest. From the opening of the present century, it may be shown to be at the rate of one and a half per cent, a year, or fifteen per cent, each ten years. It cannot be less than a quarter of a million per annum on the present population. The state of the present population in Great Britain awakens anxious emotions in eveiy thoughtful and benevolent mind. Its ocean-ramparts restrain it from pressing outwards. This restriction does not, however, prevent frequent discharges of it. From the Returns furnished by the Emigi'ation Board, we leara that the number of emigi'ants, in the seven yeai's, fi'om 1825 to 1831, was 103,218, or an average of 14,745 yearly: in the ten years, from 1832 to 1841, 429,775, or 42,977 per annum. During, therefore, the last seventeen years, the total number has been 532,993, or an ave- rage for that period of 31,352 each yeai'. Tliis is a CERTAIN PORTIONS OF OUR POPULATION. II great efflux: but what sensible vacuum is efiected? The difference is seen in other paits of the United Empire, as when the estate is cleared, or some clan is deported. But in England and Wales, to which this Keport is confined, gi-eat as is the withdrawment, it is scarcely possible, except by arguing what otherwise must have been, to prove a substantial and practical rehef. A pei*plexity arises as to the emplopnent of so many ready and willing labourers. Could it be shown that Machinery throws out of work any number of hands, it would be vain to do more than deplore the consequence. An'est its powers, and what hands could you employ ? The demonstration is easy, that it not only is necessary to help us to produce at all, but that it creates demands for manipulation, and resources of handicraft, which otherwise could not be known. Ma- nufactm'e is not a misnomer, when most indebted to mechanical contrivance. There is notliing in the labour of civihsed man, but requires some implement, — another teim for a machine. When he ceased to tear up the ground with his nails, — if he ever did that brutal or menial act, — he called for artificial aid. The spade, the hoe, the share, the harrow, ai-e all abridg- ments of manual power. It would be difficult to prove that what was good in its incipient use, became a vio- lent evil when it was a little more elaborated. Man, in the different branches of his manufacturing skill, hesi- tates not to call himself, — and feels that there is no opprobrium in it, — the artizan and the mechanic. 1:^ l'I:^:I,I^^^AK^■ tiiol'ohts on Tlicvc iirc liiii'dsliipH, iiidiihitahly, connected with sudden tninsitioiis in nn'cliiinicid improvement. A large class, perhaps indentured to that division of hd)our wliicdi is now superseded, feels itself aggiieved. In disgust and revenge, it will give no assistance to the improved instrument. ^Most conceivable is it that these men should feel tluit society has cast them off. They apply, with reluctance, to any sort of occupation. Regular habits being broken, they henceforth prefer the most desultory. They rapidly begin to sink. They have refused to avail themselves of the increased labour which the innovation has really introduced, because their original, and somewhat exclusive, privilege has been disturbed. There was no necessity for this aban- donment to physical and moral degeneracy : but the result might be too confidently expected, and may be too naturally explained. The spectacle of whole bodies of worlanen, thus pauperised and thus blotted out, is, happily, veiy rai'e ; it is a stage of things which some of us have known, and which cannot happen without a heart-rending commiseration. Several of those vents of population, which the contests of kingdoms and other national convulsions furnish, have failed to thin tlie present generation, though they were most active with that which preceded it. Then was tlicre such a havoc of our youth, such a blight upon the flower of our population, tliat the middle-aged " went among men for an old man." The wastes of fever were ten-fold of those which now CERTAIN PORTIONS OF OUR I'OPl'I.ATION. \ 'i destroy our poor. Variolous disease iiuide sure of its hapless victims. N(j comparison can be maintained between the quality of the food and clothing of the former and present operative. The cockle and the rag of his father he would despise. Inconvenience in higher wants, and suftering from greater numbers, are inevitable. But what would we recall ? " Laudas Fortunain et mores antiquse plebis, et idem, Si quis ad ilia Deus subito te agat, usque recuses : Aut quia non sentis, quod clamas, rectius esse ; Aut quia non tirmus rectum defendis :" — '■■ The whole population of this Country is tills Coun- try's trust. No man has home, above the meanest hut, but that home is mortgaged for the support of liis poorer compatriots. He must share his citizenship with them as equal citizens. The whole law, — not a particular statute or enactment, — both wiitten and traditionary, — the viitue of the entire code, — consti- tutes this benefit of property as much the right of the pauper as the holding of that property is the right of its possessor. It is not contended that this claim is never opposed, is never harshly conceded, is never * " Thou praiscst the condition and manners of the ancient mul- titude, and yet wouldst decline any return to them, if Providence (lavc thee the means : showing citlicr that thou dost not think what thou declarest to be right, or hast not the courage to defend it." — Ilorat : Satir : lib. ii. 7. I I ritKI.IMIN.MlV 'niOffiHTS f)N niggardly supplit-d. It is not contended that the able- bodied are, by any just construction of tlie law, enti- tled to a fare of comfort and abundance wluch the self- supported cottier does not know. The luxurious diet is not the due of any : decent subsistence is the claim of all. This demands conditions ; it is not desi- rable to make it so easy that it should not be inde- fatigably sought; the support it holds out should be accompanied with a feehng that every expedient needs to be tried before this shall be accepted. But it is no inhospitable shelter. It is no precarious inhabi- tation. Its relief is not of sufferance, but of consti- tutional challenge ! There is no power to relegate the meanest outcast fi'om this national provision ! It is another tiling when the labourer insists upon special protections. These are refused to the capitahst and employer. Commerce and revenue may make them impossible. If the worlonan asks for what is incom- patible with the progress of mechanical improvement and mercantile liberty, he asks, however he, the indi- vidual, may not live to suffer it, for the destruction of liis class. Labour, like every ti-ading interest, is best promoted when it is least indulged. It must hold, and abide, its market. The swaddling-bands of a mis- taken kindness and custody only cramp its energies and frustrate its rewards. It may, however, plead one legitimate consequence, — being itself free for general benefit, though it may be paitial evil, — that Food, whatever may be the contingent difficulties, should CERTAIN PORTIONS OF OUR POPULATION. 15 be no loss free. And then the poorest will think of his mother eountiy with gi-atitude, and will say of her in the language of inspired commendation, " She is like the merchants' sliips ; she bringeth her food from afar." Since it is very important that we should be able, in speaking of the need of Education, to show who are the pailics that are its proper subjects, and in all our complaints of the multitudes who are uneducated, to ascertain the numbers to which remedial measures can be applied, — the following Table has been drawn up with much care and with great exactness. CENTESiMAii Pboportioxs of the Population of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, — severally at the under- mentioned Ages, — according to the Census of 1841. Under 5 From 5 „ 10 » 15 „ 20 „ 25 „ 30 „ 35 ,, 45 „ 55 „ 65 „ 95 Unkiiow years to 10 to 15 to 20 to 25 to 30 to 35 to 45 to 55 to 65 to 75 to 85 to 95 upwards ENGLAND. 13-18 11-91 10-83 9-93 9-75 8-07 7-34 11-15 8 5-19 3 1-16 -18 -01 •30 100 WALES. SCOTLAND. 13-33 13-20 12-25 12 11-15 11-33 10-08 10-33 9-09 9-71 7-60 7-50 6-80 7-27 10-23 11 8 7-62 5-86 5-33 3-46 3 1-62 1-28 •32 •23 •02 •02 •19 -18 100 100 IRELAND. 1 to 5 years 15-25 6 to 10 . 11 to 15 . 16 to 20 . 21 to 25 . 26 to 30 . 31 to 35 . 36 to 45 . 46 to 55 . 56 to 65 . 66 to 75 . 76 to 85 . 86 to 96 . 97 upwards Unknown . 13-25 11-95 11-60 8-52 9-08 5-03 10-14 7-20 4-96 2 -80 -13 •02 •07 100 CHAPTER II. ON THE POOR AS A CLASS. General views are ofteu flattering. Our first impres- sions are often false. We stand upon some eminence, and contemplate the surface of a countiT- There is the prospect in its flowing outline of hill and valley, woodland and stream, mingling and melting into one another, in perfect proportion and hanuonious aiTay. A closer examination of the landscape would show us the ruder features, the rugged, the abrupt, the naked : the fissured rock, the mis-shapen trunk, the den, the cave, the abyss. Or, we chmb some tower, and look down upon the outspread map of the city. The whole agrees and corresponds. Palace, temple, hall, — tun'et, spu-e, dome, — complete a glorious picture for the eye, — without contest or rivalry', a blended, though a well delineated, mass. A naiTower inspection would set before us many unsightly objects wliicli had been lost in oiu' panoramic view. There is the alley, the purlieu, the hovel, the cabin ; and many a noble building but liides insanity, disease, and want. Still these ai'e only figures of a more important and a more disappointing research. Behold himian society ! It seems often a ON TIIK POOH AS A CLASS. 17 splendid paf,'eant. There are its ensigns of state. There are its engines of power. There are its tro- phies of war. There are its monuments of civiliza- tion. What wealth does it contain ! What learning does it boast ! What happiness does it secure ! How exquisite are its refinements ! How profuse are its luxuries ! Its sound of voices ! Its variety of move- ments ! Its keenness of pursuits ! Yet let us look more steadily and piercingly into it. What reverses of our fond ideas come out to the light ! How are our prepossessions mocked ! Misery is discerned by us in concentrated measures and countless fonns. The ghttering disguise is stripped away. Deep are the sorrows which that veil concealed ! " All tilings are lull ol' labour; man cannot utter it." "This sore tra- vail hath God given to the sons of man, to be exer- cised therewith." But Poverty is not only a serious ill in itself, — it is the aggravation of every other, and of its own natui'e it must be very widely diflfused. We cannot hope that it will altogether cease. We can scarcely hope that, with all possible corrective and rehef, it will ever cease to press upon multitudes with extreme severity. We, as Christians, need not lay oui' account for any other state of society. Our Bible is full of refer- ences to it as to a pennanent condition of things. It makes plain our duties towards it. If it prophet- ically denote its subversion, — it encourages the hopi', it strengthens the assurance, as the result only of joli c 18 ON Tin: I'(>()K AS A CLASS. gious influence. Wv, in the niuiin while, are hy no means to regard poverty as any judgment upon thosi who suffer it: tlicy may be the brethren of Christ. " the holy seed" which is " the substance" of the Nation or of the Church. We are commanded to " consider the poor." We must study their case. We must sound their misery. We must render ourselves conversant witli thcu" affah's, thch* prejudices, their physical sufferings, their sphitual privations. " The righteous considercth the cause of the poor; but the wicked regardeth not to know it."* There have been peoples which have not comprised, in the descriptive sense, the poor. They have been found in some fertile chersonesus or thinly-inhabited isle. The rank vegetation has superseded the neces- sity of labour and the value of propeity. These instan- ces are few. There can be no civilization when such a state of tilings exists. Civilization has its root in laws which secure to men tlie paiticular advantages of their talents and exertions. It thus encourages, as well as necessitates, inequality. As it does not dis- cover in men tlie same faculties and adaptations, so it does not suppose that tlieir satisfactions can be the same. Competition, whatever may be its inconve- niences, is an unmixed good, in comparison with any stagnation in hiunan fortunes. The perfect atmospheric balance is the soui'ce of disease and the repression of energy : the drooping flower opens to the breeze, * Prov. xxix. 7. ON THE POOR AS A CLASS. 19 ■lUil life beginning to fade comes back invigorated on the wing of the tempest. Tlie convulsions of society not only strengthen its fi-ame, but are the throes of its noblest improvements. The existence of the Class, which we call the poorer order, is thus inevitable. Power can be only in the hands of the few. Wealth easily is drawn towards power. These are mutually engi'ossing and subservi- ent. Where wealth arises from the sudden discovery of the precious metals, the countiy must be poor. The barter is wanting wliich those metals may represent and facilitate, but cannot produce. AVlicre the wealth is that of commerce, it will be more distributed : inter- mediate ranks also mil be found, and not merely poor and rich. In this kingdom wealth is not generally deposit, but capital, — it is a traffic-stock. Population increases, by a law partly obvious and partly occult, with the progi'ess of national affluence : and the result is, that the larger moiety must depend for their suste- nance on labour. Tliis result is not violent : affluence creates wants, and the more numerous the wants, the more numerous must be the workers to supply them. Let us now think of these as a gi'eat civil division. It is too common, alas ! it is too natural, to enter- tain a prejudice against this rank of our fellow-country- men. They think that labour is their all. Is it strange that they should set liigh store upon it ? They have learnt, they see, that it is the spring of all value. Need we wonder that they do not underrate it ? They cannot W ON Tin; pool! AS \ clahh. but have marked what appalling effeets its interruption and ^vithdrawment can inflict on a community. Can wc be amazed that they should sometimes wield tliis teiTible po%ver ? In all those opinions tliere may be the infusion of error and mistake, because naked pro- positions seldom consist of perfect truth. Labour is not the poor man's nil, Imt he has a vital benefit in the property around him, for othenv'ise his labour could not command its reward. It is not the spring of all value, because its quantity may be so redundant that it shall be thrown out of demand. Its refusal may shock the operations of the mart, but it is a self- destructive expe- riment, generally inducing the depression of wages, or the abandonment of entei^piise, together with aliena- tions which no time can heal. But do the operatives alone take partial views of such questions ? If their ideas are of the one side alone, may they not plead the more ready apology ? Are not their employers often con\icted of the most perverse blunders, wliile having access to eveiy means of infonnation ? Happily do the elements of society settle themselves, wealth and labour being equally necessaiy to each other. Now we can find in the pages of ancient liistoiy but little description of this class. It was overlooked and spiuTied. The priest only cai-ed for it as it gave him dupes, the poet as it ftunished him satu'es, the monai'ch as it raised liim sinews. The people could not, however, be altogether gross and brutish. The veil is sometimes raised to allow us a faint glimpse of ON THE rOOR AS A CLASS. 21 their habits. Their huts are seen and their fire-nooks exposed. Their foci ai*e as dear to them in the battle as their slirines. We just raise their latch and look into " pauperum tabemas," and contemplate the scene while " arator gaudet igni."* In every negation of his- toiy there is suffrage in their favour. Its silence is elo- quent in their praise. Thinking upon their numbers, their rude forces, their fonnidable passions, it is impos- sible to deny them a large renown of vii'tucs. Kindly affections built up their homestead. Contentment l)lesscd then- toils. Kesignation lightened their rigours. And though their rehgion was harsh and evil, yet its few ingi-edicnts of tnith and morality directed and soothed their hves. There ai'e many reasons to beheve that the principal leaders of Pagan philosophy were niornlly inferior to the people whom they despised. But whatever may have degraded or redeemed the character of the ancient poor, there gathers around us a stupendous specimen of this condition. On every side poverty, — often mocked by the hope of employ- ment, sometimes sinking into the despair of support, — exists. We think of tliis class with grateful pride. Ah, were they more closely studied, they would win our admiration ! Then should we see the kindness with which they help one another under every ill. Then should we observe the hourly submission with which they bcnr unimaginable sufferings and privations. I'heu should we discover their indomitable industry ' Horat ; Carrii : lib. i. Od. A. U'^ ON TIIK l'0(»li AS A (M.ASK. iiiul ciuliuuiKJL'. ri)tii would tliun.' he revealed to us, not all tliu comfort wliicli wc ciiii vividly lUncy, but the struggle agiiinst a squalor which no fancy can con- ceive. Then would there be revealed to us, not all the order which we might fondly desire, but a restraint of lawlessness the temptation to wliich only poverty can understand. The house-side woodbine and tlie window- plant declare the simple taste of elegance. The better suit of npparel indicates a sense of station and the duty of appearance. When parental authority cannot be exercised, how cheerfully is it committed to more com- petent direction ! If the cliildren be for a time placed under the government of those who seek their welfare, how docile do they commonly approve themselves ! Though manner be distant and resei'ved, how soon does a true charity waim it into confidence and gratitude ! We suffer oui'selves to wonder that long neglect of the poor should have provoked their distrust, that frequent oppression should have goaded their resentment, that hopeless failure should have broken their spuit. The sympathy of the poor with each other, — their availing kindness, their true-hearted tenderness, to- wards all who are more needy and more soiTowing than themselves, fonn their characteristic trait as well as impress upon them a high nobility. Where the store is so scanty, where the supply of die merest wants is so anticipated, where the sleep of the midnight hours is so compelled, an animal selfishness might be expected to betray itself. Sluill poverty share its crust and divide ON TIIK POOR AS A CLASS. 23 its pallet ? Shall it gather the children of famine, the benighted and belated stranger, the tempest - driven wanderer, ai'ound its ciimibs and embers ? Shall it attend on sickness ? Shall it give alms to the bhnd and decrepit ? Shall it pour its balm on the heai't of helpless age ? These are not its excitements, — they are its traditionally usages, its holy superstitions, its veiy laws. And shall we despise those who thus bear one another's burdens ? who, weeping themselves, still weep for them who weep ? Where else is tliis exalted plulantlu*opy ? " The poorest poor Long for some moments, in a weary life, When they can know and feel, that they have been, Themselves, the lathers and the dealers out Of some small blessings — have been kind to such As needed kindness ; for this single cause, That we have all of us a human heart."* The paneg}Tic of the poet is just : his reason does not comprehend all the amiableness of the fact. It is not a " single cause :" his is but one of many. We may especially applaud the commonalty for their domestic virtues. The prejudice, we know, is against this exemphfication. General charges are alle- ged of unthriftiness and dissipation. The fact, how- ever, demonstrates itself. The cottage is fmnished ; a weekly rent is paid ; food is provided ; clothing is obtained ; medical attendance is requited. The * Wordsworth. 'It ON TMK I'OOIl AS A CLASS, credit, if nllowcd at, nil, is short. During this time, the remuneration ol' labour fluctuutes, more frequently to decline thnn rise. Can the unsparing imputation of waste and improvidence be just '.' Can it with any fairness be generally pressed ? It is easy to complain that the poor labourer has funded nothing for the period of scarcity and age. He never could be but on the verge of want. He has hardly commanded the barest necessaries of life. Except for the strictest precaution he must have suffered the loss of roof and the dearth of bread. Accusation of such a kind betrays and destroys itself The absence of envy characterises, in a very sin- gular manner, our poorer fellow-countrymen. It can only astonish us that they acquiesce in arrangements of society which do not seem to meditate their good. It might, perhaps, be proved, that their interest is con- sulted, but the ai'gument would be slow and abstract. They wait not for it, it may be that they could not appreciate it, — they have already bowed to then- lot. It was assuredly unjust for the Roman Poet* to * " Notante Judice quo iiosti, populo ; qui stultus houores Snepe dat indignis, et famce servit ineptus : Qui stupet in titulis, et imaginibus." " According to the verdict of the crowd whose fickleness thou well knowest, — who in their folly often confer honours on the unworthy, and in their misjudgment become slaves to a name : who are affected with strange amazement at inscriptions and statues." — Horat : Satir lib. i. 6. ox THK POOR AS A CLASS. 25 asperse the people for those dispositions which gene- rously accorded the honours wliich their civil supe- riors had gi'asped. Similar dispositions may we now witness. Our poor delight in eminence of worth and goodness. They murmui' not at the establishment of claims which they could never shai'e. They do reve- rence to the monuments on which they know their name never can be engi'aved. And instead of deploring the independence of oiu- working people, we should deprecate tlieir servility more than the boldest stubbornness of mien. In tliis there may be an ill-directed spirit. Though it be strong it is controllable. It contains in it a capacity of greatness. But the independence wliich we would encourage is always properly modest and intelligent. It is the port of rectitude. It is the carriage of prin- ciple. It abhors the crooked and the mean. Let the aitificer and the husbandman stand in the assurance and erectness of an important constituency. They ai'e the essential strength of society. They ai'c the brawny aims of the pohtical body. They cannot be rent from the great system without its overthrow. Who are the labouring poor ? Are they an excrescence, or a sur- plus, or an evil, of which we might rid oimselves ? Honour to whom honour ! They are the bank of our wealth ! Tlioy are the fulcnim of oiu- power ! If we reckon capitahsts, money-changers, and land-owners at I,.S06,7r)7, — and the non-producing classes at 0,468,661, including women, infants, the sick and the '•*(". ON TIIK I'OOIt AS A CLASS. infirm, — \vc Imvc tlic great mftjority of the Iiil)oiiring, that is the producing, order, at no less n sum than 7,751,507. But arc they only a mechanical momen- tum in the great progress of society? Let us not sneer at their mental influence on all. They do tliink, however penned upon the glebe, or imprisoned in the loom. Their intellectual nature, though feebly deve- loped, cannot be extinguished. It is now, at least, earnestly awake. These deserve our respect. They glorify our country. They are the People ! The Folk ! The Nation ! Speak of Estates ! This is the Estate for which otliers merely can be named ! It is often made gi'ound of complaint, that tliey who earn their bread by laboiu', are not now what they were. There are those who recall the reminiscences of distant times. They tell us of another state of things. Then the poor showed no desire of improvement. They were as easily diiven as the herd. They beUeved all that was told them. They yielded to every claim which was demanded of them. Tlieu" minds were in the hand of a proprietor. Their souls were held by soccage and serfdom. They were virtually the subjects of purchase and transfer. Theu* cabins were rated as stalls, and theu' gardens as pastures. Beyond animal wants and appropriations and gambols, they were not to pass. That they no longer can be thus resti-ained, that liigher prerogatives have been asserted by them, that they are not what too recently they were, gladly we concede. We rejoin as gladly that to such debase- ON THE POOR AS A CLASS. 27 ineiit they can never be reduced. Is it to be deplo- red ? Ought they not to rise in the scale of freedom, thought, and reUgion ? Were they made for the rich or for themselves ? Are they the instruments of our convenience, or constituted to seek out their own hap- piness ? Where society is just, these tilings go toge- ther : but it is an unworthy view which he must take, who can think that any fellow-man is born to wear Ids livery, — to cringe at liis nod, — and di'udge for his pleasure. If any individual has a perfect title to the recog- nition and protection of his rights, it is the poor man. Poverty must be always at a disadvantage in every struggle. Let them be declared, nor he be blmued that he demands them. The freedom of labour and the freedom of combination are not more than sufficient equipoise to the weight of counter influ- ences. Surely the manly vindication of his charter is as pati'iotic as when some tyranny is thi'own down. Why may he not stand for his defence ? Is it not great in liim to cast ai'ound liim all the bulwarks of the law ? May he not be forgiven for a jealous, a morbid, intcntncss upon his rights ? Do not their scantiness make them precious ? Is it not his solitary stake ? Is it not his country's cause as truly as liis own ? There is a benevolent, and there is an abasing, view of this large section of our people. It would not be easy to exculpate some, who liavc enounced their 28 ON TIIK roiiR AS A CLASS. opinions, IVom tlie cluirge tlmt they regard tlieir pooro brethren as essentially inferior. They deal in cold con- tempt and lofty arrogance towards them. They look down upon them as a lf)wer variety of the species, — as the vessels fonned from a coarser clay. They are loud in their proclamations of destiny. These are bom for labour ! It is their only design and use ! We are Httlc disposed to meet these opinions as serious. If serious they be, they only excite disgust. The family of tlie aristocrat acquire a grace of education and a care of fosterage, which the cliildren of the rustic do not obtain : but is there not often deformity in the one contrasting with the beauty of the other ? Have not the most vigorous intellects, those which have dis- tinguished a land and created an sera, sprung from tlie humbler ranks of life ? And is it to be borne that, in this Countiy and beneath the shadow of its gene- rous Constitution, any of our people shall be marked out as hopelessly, inexorably, doomed to menial toil ? Is it to be borne that some shall speak of others as created for their convenience and ease ? Is it not the francliise of eveiy man, if he have the opportunity and the abihty, to exchange gi'osscr for intellectual labour, a lower for a higher sphere ? Is one of our race to be kept down ? The benevolent view of man is that which anticipates and attempts his mental and moral elevation. It mourns liis present condition. It does not beheve that he is always to traverse tlie same cycle of failm-e and disappointment. It cannot bear to think ON THE POOR AS A CLASS. riO of whole portions of the human family endlessly em- ployed, only as material forces and animal powers are regulated. And while the poor are surveyed by some as a refiise to be swept away, and by others as only the means of production, the Christian pliilanthro- pist would invest them with then- true immunities of reason, of improvement, of immortahty. He does not desire to exempt them fi'om labom*. He knows that the hands of Paul wi'ought : that of Him, who was infinitely greater, it was asked, " Is not this the Car- penter ?"* No kind of labour that is needed for the good of society can degrade those who are engaged in it. Yet it will occui- to his prophetic hope, that some of the dire hazards, the exhausting hardships, the wea- risome liours, of present occupation may be reheved. He will indulge the confident expectation, that a lei- sure may be granted hereafter to the busy and the toihng wliich now they cannot Imow. The cheap- ness of food, consequent upon a freer intercourse and closer neighbourhood of nations, may gi-eatly facilitate tliis remission. Mechanism may lift up man fi'om the galling exaction of some of liis actual pursuits. Polytechnic science may invent the instruments which shall dive as liis substitute into the bowels of the earth. Be these exemptions, however, wlmt they may, man shall not always be retarded in his progi'css, nor defrauded of liis hope. If it be still ordained of him that he eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, on that * Mark vi. :}. 30 ON TlfK l'(M)K AS A CLASS. brow sliiill 1)(,' more legibly wntt<;n the characters ofim mortality. H' In: be still required to go forth unUj his work and to his labour until the evening, he shall be the pilgrim of sweet meditation and heavenwai'd step, while the outgoings of the morning and the evening shall rejoice over liim. A knowledge of tlie duties of his station will not disqualify him for their peifoiin- ancc ; nor ^vill the consciousness of their utility extin- guish his capacity for any satisfaction wliich may grow out of their discharge. There are two views wliich we may take of the poor, well calculated to raise towards them our esteem and even plaudits. It is difficult for us to imagine sufierings drawn through an entii'e life. The difficulty is on eveiy hour. Yet they bear their load patiently and cheerfully. And it is, also, to be doubted, whe- ther any class of society be so strictly moral. The statement may at first surprise. It is the lie to general prejudice. Look upon their industry, tlieir love and pride of cliilcb-en, theii* conjugal fidelity, their longing after home, their truth, their simple welcome of hospitality, their keen anguish of bereavement, their patience in illness, their confiding and gi'ateful sus- ceptibility, — think of these as enduring virtues, vir- tues transmitted through ages and generations, virtues inhering in their state, and the conclusion cannot be withstood, that the morals of no class have been more rigidly proved, more honourably sustained, more cha- racteristically indicated. ON THE rOOU AS A CLASS. 31 Are they ignorant ? They have been bound do\vn in it. Arc they vacillating ? So often have they been deceived, they know not whom to tnist. But when have they been dignified by responsibihty, and have not fulfilled it ? What had Athens been without its Demos, or Eome without its Plebs ? If the one was wayward, was it not with the vei^ sensitiveness of pa- triotism, and with the jealousy of any influence wliich might derange the balance of their social hberty ? In the long exercise of the Tribunitial sufii'age how few mistakes did the other commit, and then not on the side of anarchy and misnile ! The Ecclesiai of the Pnyx, and the Comitia of the Cu'cus Flamininus, fui'- nish numberless proofs that the popular mind may be sober, steadfast, and gi-ave. The men who have looked upon the commonalty with a grudge of theu' power and a derision of then* grossness, have often been smitten with involuntary admiration of their inteUigence and virtue ; recanting their prejudices and ovei'paying their errors, — hke Macliiavel, in a defence of despotism, pro- nouncing perfect panegyrics upon the people.* If the Poor, by occasional restlessness and demand, excite the fears of the other orders of society, it is only fit to enquire, whether there be not sufficient ground for tliis dissatisfaction. General ceusm'cs will not meet the case. True wisdom will see in every form of uneasiness and complaint only the indications of a great mental condition. It will seek those remedies * Oil thu First Decitdu of Livy. Lil). i. cap. 58. ■\'i ON THK I'OOli AS A ri.ASS. which descend to the evil. It is vjiiii |)oHcy to stave oft' liny danf^cr wliich hcs in opinion or principle. Wiiat was HociaUsm but tlie loud want of tlni multi- tude excluded from great social advantages ? What is Chartism but the importunate resentment of the multitude proscribed as poUtically nought ? It is far better, in all such crises, even in popular commotions, to heal the wi'ong than to punish the remonstrance. The authority of law is only a means to an end : ter- rible example may repress : it leaves but an aggra- vated jealousy. The true dignity of States is seen in tlieh" calm impartiaUty, their forbearance of the igno- rant, their redress of the aggrieved. There is nothing so formidable in the feelings of our population but wliich kindly measui'es, timely adopted, may reconcile and adjust. Theu* heart still is sound. They are irri- tated, and there may be cause. Seaix-h out that cause, and let the remedy be as searcliing. The great error is to mistake as the ills, what are only the symptoms. The ulcer, under this superficial treatment, rankles on. This is the folly of all class legislation. It maddens the people. This is the empiricism of a mawkish sensibility, which takes the people's labour fi-om them and sells it away, and proposes thus to soothe them, wliile it cheats them of evei^ cinl trust. This is die refinement of tortiu'e. It is not too late to save them. But they caimot any more be blinded. They must be indemnified and guaranteed. No more look upon the surtace save to suspect what works bouoath. The ON THK POOH AS A CLASS. 33 simmt'riiiL,' and bubblin*^- ol' the c'tiuldruu Ibrewanis as wliut may be its noxious vapours and fierce ebul- litions. It is high time that they who profess Christianity should entertain both kindhcr and juster feehngs towards our common humanity. We are too mucli swayed by the extrinsic. We naiTow our interest too much by the caste. W^e owe more to man as man. He may make himself vile, but he cannot make him- self indifferent. His gi'eatness will burst forth in spite of all his humiliations. We ought to reckon with him according to liis true capacity and being. We are bound to set store upon him according to Ms unseen and predicted worth. We must follow liim forth into bis futurities of existence. Where we cannot give our homage, we can but the less withhold our suspense. What is the possible of such a creature ! How tre- mendous are the alternatives which lie in the infinite of his existence ! Many writers suppose us inconsistent. They speak of man as unfallen. They regard him as now exist- ing in his original condition. They treat him with scorn. They throw an air of ridicule around him. They mock and jeer liim. They press us to unite with them in this contempt. They rely upon our concert because of our avowed conviction tliat he is a degenerate creatiu'c. But our animadversions are of another kind. We cannot despise the lowest of the low, tlic vilest of tiie vile. We may siiuddcr at their D •*U ON TIIK POOR AS A CLASS. debasement. Wc may tremble for their doom. I'm our feelings are at the farthest remove from any sym- pathy with them who speak lightly of human nature. We see in it a fearful lapse. How difierent is tlieir tone from ours ! We regret it, — they make selfish use of it. Wc speak with pity, — they sport witli it in scofl'. Wc respect the original, — they see no trace of a higher state. We attempt its retrieval, — they despair. We behold in each indi\'idual man, the immortal, the charge of a Providence, the subject of an Atonement, the heir of an eternal Retribution. We mark th'' remains of greatness. We recognise the capacity and pledge of a restoration to that greatness. We see what was the innocence in the defilement. We learn the majesty from the niins. Never vdW we consent to the disparagement of such a being ! The nature of man is the shoal on which all infidel philosophy, and, if it can be, all infidel benevolence, are WTCcked. These cannot explain liim. They mark contrasts in him which they cannot reconcile. The great and the little, tlie strong and the weak, the divine and the infernal, they cannot adjust. His origin they cannot deduce. His recoveiy they cannot meditate. They may explore all secrets, and master all difficulties, but this. Clmstianity alone makes it plain. Man is great but fiillcn, is strong but sinning, is divine but debased : therefore is he sjii- ritually little, weak, infernal. It brings liim back to spiritual gi'eatness, strength, and di\'imty. It shows ON THE POOR AS A CLASS. 85 liiia !ill lliiit lie was, is, slmll be. It rxphiiiis ilu- iiiternicdiatc stages and processes. It accounts for all. Man ! taught by this religion, I can abhor thee, dread thee, reverence thee, bemoan thee, shun thee, Hee thee ! But, O fearful, mysterious, being, I cannot slight thee ! There is something that may be regarded of the incidental and the adventitious in man, not affecting the intimacies of his nature. Of this kind are his sccidar connections, conditions, and pui-suits. He is a kinsman, bound in tics ol' household and of rela- tionship, but soon the stream of his Ufe-blood will «'ease to flow. He is a citizen, held by many pohtical duties, but soon the noblest empires will have faded from the woi'ld. He is linked to this earth as his k)cal habitation, but soon the earth will have been consumed in flames. He may have been rich or poor, exalted or depressed, influential or inert. But what- ever he has been, and though all these revolutions overtake him, there is an essence in him, a self, which it is even awful to contemplate. Let us conceive of two such men as they pass away from tliis present scene to realise the life to come. Wliile inhabitants of earth, let tluni have filled the most extreme stations of society, restrained from every contact, and alienated from every sympathy. The one shall be the monarch, — suiTOunded by courtiers, heralds, guards, — nn'elling in luxuries to which every rliiiic coiitribules, — lioJdiiiLi tln' I'ale ol nations on n •in ON THK I'OOK AS A CLASS. nod. The other slmll 1)(; the beggar, scorned by every eye, reviled by every tongue, spumed by every foot. The day has come when both must die, — the moment is common to their death. The first presses the couch of softest doAvn, and reclines beneath the canopy of lofty state. The cordials of pain and weakness stand rife around him on tables of cedar and gold. The an'as waves not to the lightest wind. The palace is hushed in silence. An empire scarcely breathes. The second drags liimself to the dunghill, and, without a soothing word or an alleviating office or an affection- ate tear, gasps alone. It is at tliis appointed moment that their spirits break away ! Two souls are on the wing ! Two souls are tracking then- way to their final account ! Pursue, if you can, their course ! Ascer- tain, if you can, their condition ! Tell us, wliich is the monarch's, which is the beggar's, soul ! By what impressions do you recognise, by what mai'ks do you distinguish, them ? You know not either by its robes or by its rags ! All such tilings are left below. The funeral, of royal state and of pauper meanness, has committed their equal bodies to the earth, and their equal souls have been weighed in the balances of a <;ommon immortahty ! CHAPTER III. ON THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS OF THE LABOURING COMMUNITY. Time was when our counti'ymen united every employ- ment ; tliey delved the soil, they wove the fleece. The consequence was, that the agiiculture was as crude as the manufacture, and the manufacture was as humble as the agiicultm'e. Great immigrations brought Avith them their trades, and established among us their sta- ples. These were deemed so helpless at first, that tliey were defended by incoi*poration and privilege. But now our woollen, cotton, and silk, fabrications have drawn out an immense amount of artizans, and we commonly divide the people into agricultural and niu- nufacturing. Cicero made tlie same distinction in his day ; but while we quote him, we must not thought- lessly prejudge the case between these classes as he has done. In Ms Oratorise Partitiones, section 25, he writes : " Et quoniam non ad veritatem solum, sed etiam ad opiniones eonmi, qui audiunt, accomodanda est oratio ; hoc primum intclligamus, hominum duo esse genera; altcrum indoctum ct agreste, (juod ante- ferat semper utilitatem honcstati ; alterum exjpoUtunt, •JH ON iiii: i'HiN ON TIIF, PRINCri'Af. DIVISIONS rill' proper fdiiciilioii ol tli(; people oiiglit to be pursued in no party spirit. It excited no surprise, that the cliihh-en of" the mftnufiicturcr were often neglected. Tt WHS made matter of enquiry, but it was known 1111(1 allowed before. It was for a lamentation. Vicious habits destroy self-respect, and corrupt the sense of relative responsibility. The focal knowledge of great communities supposes not the illumination of each constituent. But sui-prise was felt, sudden and indig- nant, when the pitch and extent of education among the rural districts were absolutely rated higher than in the great emporiums of cunning devnce and pro- duction. It startled all. The bravado overreached itself. It is outrageously untme. It is characterised l)v that hardihood of assertion which is commonly adopted to appease a misgiving conscience and to bol- ster a defenceless cause. In what manufacturing dis- trict could a parish be found abutting on a cit)- wiili its noblest cathedral, containing the bai'onial residence of one who is a tme pilliu" of the State, with two church - wardens, two sur\-eyors, two guai'dians, the only functionaries in it, and two cannot read, two cannot write, and only two can both read and write ? Of what county, the seat of mechanical art, could a bold rebuker declare, and his charge be for a moment undenied, that half of its inhabitants could not read ? In the Fifth Report (1843) of the Eegistrai- Ge- neral, we observe one of those facts which are very OF THE I.AHOUUING COMMUNITV. ')l conclusive as to the ignorance wliich prevails in par- ticular portions of the countr)'. The signature of the parties who are married must be by tnark, if they can- not write their names. The general fact is lamentable, that 33 in 100 men, and i!) in 100 women, should have so subscribed themselves. But let us mark the difference between municipal and agiicultural districts. In the INIetropohtan divisions only 11 men in the 100 were thus compelled to sign : in Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire, there were 47 ; in Bedfordshire, 49 ; and in Herts, 50. The question of the larger or smaller mortality among the inhabitants of town and counti7 has, of late years, been urgently discussed. When it is recol- lected that there is no population in any part of the world so shut up in large communities, the enquiry becomes most interesting. Ci\ic residence is our pecu- liarity. But the distribution is vei*y unequal.* The county of Lincoln, (we proceed on the Population Re- turns of the year 1831) contains more acres than any other, save Yorkshire, wliich is always considered as three counties under different Lords Lieutenant. Next to Lincoln is Devonshire in its extent : the former comprising 1,671,040 acres; the latter, 1,054,400. Now being gi'eat agricultural districts, what is the number of their inhabitants ? Lincoln only counts 317,465. Devon only comprehends 494,478. Let us now take two manufacturing regions. Lancashire * M'OuIloch's Statistiail AccDUiit of the l)rili>ili Eiii]>liv. r)2 ON Trrr-: i'Ui\(ir\i, nrvrsioNs consists of frwor iicrcs, tliiiii cillitT of the foregoing, namely 1,130,240, — that is, less by no inferior mea- surcnient than above half a million. But what is its population'.' l,3;JG,8rrl: that is, a million and nearly twenty thousand of inhabitants more than Lincoln : and eight hundred and forty-two tliousand three hun- dred and seventy-six above Devon. The West-Riding of Yorkshire contains 1,04H,040 acres. Its population is 970,350. Tliis space is less by 22,400 acres than Lincoln, and 57G0 than Devon ; but it exceeds the population of the first by six hundred and fifty-eight thousand, eighty hundred and eighty-five ; and that of the second by four hundred and eighty-one thou- sand, eight huncbed and seventy-two. Tliis calcula- tion will make it obvious that, in Lancashire and the West-Riding, there is a very great density of popula- tion. Now this is not generally favourable to health. Land being very valuable, streets ai-e confined and houses are huddled together. The Sanitary Report of large towns is, therefore, in general unpromising. This is considered, however, unfairly. It is employed to prove tlie unhealthiness of manufactures. But the closeness of residences is only on accident. Is em- ployment in the factory detrimental to health and life ? We have not yet seen it proved. If there be excess of laboiu: in the mill or in the field, it must be injurious, and there are no terms sufficiently strong to denounce it. If chilcb'en should be so oppressed, if they be ovenvorked to deformity, these OF THE LABOURING COMMUNITY. 53 lines are intended for no apology, — The Lord look upon it and require it ! If casualties aiise in the use of macliinery fi'om gross neglect, not one word shall pass us to extenuate such reckless barbarity. But are these cmplojonents mischievous ? The attention should, in justice, be restricted to tliis. The town of Leeds has been thus put forth to an unhappy promi- nence. It may not be salubrious : but are its mecha- nical employments the cause of so low a figure as indicates its mortahty? Now, in the first place, the labourers of every kind, in every town, are deemed most likely victims of early death. The Poor Law Commissioners have made their Report upon the com- parative chances of life in difierent places, but the average ages are always in tliis order, — gentlemen and professional men and their famihes the highest, — tradesmen and their famihes the next, — and labour- ers, artizans, and others similarly employed, and their famihes, are placed at the lowest point of the scale. And this is found not only in the Whitechapel and the Strand Unions, London, — in Kensington Union, perhaps its most healthy suburb, — but in counties such as Rutland, Wiltshire, and Westmoreland. It seems the law. We are not culled to explain it. But is it not ahke the law ? It is so in Leeds, a thorough manufacturing town, covered with a dim canopy of smoke, ill-built and ill-di'aincd, whose water, imtil very lately, imbibed the deposits of all its fecu- lence, all its manufacturing and dyeing lees. And T)] ON IMF. I'lMNCirAf. DnisroNS yet Liverpool, not a rnuimliicturing town, with cvitv advantngc of uculivity Uj n niiglity estuary, with trans- parent atmosphere, with miini(;ipal opulence, reckonH against the '^0 deaths of ehihlren at Leeds, no fewer than (iO ; and Hath opposes to the same number ^2 deaths. These are children of the first class : but also to 2245 deaths of servants in Leeds, Liverpool gives 4004. Tlie Wiltsldrc Unions furnish as large a rate of deatlis in particular ages between 10 and 20 years, as the reputedly shortest lived town in the kingdom. But examine that town. If manufacture be the cause of its mortality, all parts of it will neai'ly be the same. But there is a discrepancy in different wards of one death to the whole population in 23, and of one to 36. That locality has much to do with it is evident, for the proportion of deaths in the environs of the ^letropohs, and of Manchester and Leeds, is less than among the liighest classes in two of the agricultural counties.* Allowance is, of course, to be made in the above estimates for the relative size of the towns and their respective popu- lations. There are adverse propositions oflFered by certain theorists, — one tells us that it would be no loss to the country if every factory were swallowed up, and another, a poetaster, cares not w^hat be wrecked so that our old nobihty be saved. This may be a very lofty and generous vein. In the mean while, a serious * Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Class, &c. OF THE LABOURING COMMUNITY. 55 business remains : a people must be fed. Tlic ques- tion is not, what might be best in other cii'cumstances ; but, what is to be done in ours ? The manufactuiing districts are constantly increasing in population. In 1811 the agricultural population were as 352 in the 1000 of the whole. In 1821 they decreased to 332 In 1831 they declined to 281. Calculating by the same ratio, LQ 1801 they will be reduced to 175. The ma- nufacturing population had multiphed proportionately on one-third of the area of the country. They are now, in that naiTow space, 54 per cent, of the entire population ; while, on the other two-tliirds, the agii- cultui'al population is only 4G per cent, out of the whole. In the manufactming seats, the poor-rates ai'e only 4s. lOd. per head, wliile in the agiicultural they are 7s. lOd. Here is, then, the refage for what otherwise would be a superfetate population. And yet this is the system to be swept away ! What would be the condition of the farming counties if all who claimed settlement in them were diiven back upon them ! What would be the sustentation of the labourer if all the crowded regions of manul'acture were thin- ned of those who did not belong to them by birth- right, and only rural occupation was left ! What would be the indescribable disproportion of labour to hands, and of food to mouths, if there were an equable dispersion and distribution of the population over the soil, and notliing but its tillage spared for their reward ! 56 ON xm-; i-imncii'ai, mvtsioNK 'I'lie invective against the Factory, against its en- (•r()U(;lim(?nt upon the retreats of Nature, against its wild (listurbuuce of her quiet and sacrilegious profa- nation of her sanctity, — setting itself tonidst wood- land and l!d oi- i:i)r-cATiON contempliilion cuiinot \n: (lislmnoiiring to ilie Creator ii(»r unworthy of us. Vftcont npathy and dull conceit arc sufficiently evinced towards tlie tokens of the Deity around us : " a brutish man knowetli not, neither doth a fool understand this :" but we cannot perceive how there is in this state of mind and form of character, any security for social well being. Mechanical knowledge would be an appropriate addition to tliis training in physics ; for it is melan- choly when the macliine which man attends for some minor ofi&ce, seems more intelligent than himself. Powers ai*e employed in wondrous forms and combi- nations, but those powers are very simple. It is in this simplicity that they ai-e great. Let them be scan- ned, explored. No iiide curiosity, no superstitious dread, will then be left to prey upon the mind. Even the overweening pride of human achievement will be humbled. It will be seen that, in tlie most compli- cated engine, tliere is no power created, that the power hud always existed, that its more laborious operation is only redeemed or its colUsion prevented, that there have been but discoveiy and adaptation of it, tliat it has no inbeing in the hiunan mind, that it subsisted in the works which were from the foundation of the world. The ingenuity of man in the invention is not denied, but " liis God doth teach bim to discretion ;" and it is only ingenuity in collecting gifts, and fol- lowing laws, wliich He has bountifully and wisely provided. ADAPTKI) TO THK POOR. 75 Refinement of taste may be fostered among the classes addicted to the extremest labour. Wlierever the arts abound, this refinement descends to the hiun- blest ranks of life. In Athens the common people acquired such an accurate eai" fi'om the models of eloquence among them, that the slightest offence of tone and pronunciation was immediately detected. The love of music, painting, sculptiu-e, grows upon the most unsusceptible minds when the noblest speci- mens are famiharised to them, — and would not this elegance be a happy exchange for coarse sentiment and manner ? Would it be in any danger of sinking into efieminacy ? We should like to see oui* people in the Botanical Gai-den, in the Picture Gallery, in the Musical Academy, in the Philosophical Museum. We should rejoice if such were their recreations and amusements. We would that they were embued with the tme sense of beauty. The poor on the Continent mingle with the rich in public places, and there is no rudeness : they walk in the same arcades and par- terres, and there is no spohation. Our countrymen have been distrusted, and, therefore, have been de- baiTcd fi'om these higher advantages. Surely it is time that a new trial should be given them. They have already proved themselves worthy of the privi- lege. Let them have access to the trophies of nature and the wonders of composition, and there will be witnessed a taste, — a most worthless substitute for a deeper education as many a country shows, but which 70 ON TIIK KIMi oi KIICCATION will crown llio tK-rpcr < dncatioii of iliis country with 11 most iip[)ropriate grace imd a most softening influ- ence. 'J'lie exlii])itif)n of the fine and mechanical arts, to which the Sabhath school cliild is admitted during some holiday, not only gratifies the curiosity of all, but tliere may be an eye which receives the first im- pression of lovely forms and ingenious contrivances, a mind which canics away its first idea of proportion and design, a hidden zest and genius wliicli emits its earliest spai'k, — the young observer may be the future painter, sculptor, and machinist ! It is not expected that all will concur with our next recommendation. But we are deeply convinced that the industrious classes should receive a politi- cal instruction. If govemment be in any sense an arrangement for their benefit and a trustee for their security, it ought to be shown in what manner it acts on their behalf. A foundation should be hiid for theii- confidence. If apparent wi-ong be done them in any legislative measures, they have a right to be satisfied that it is not real, or that, if real, it is indispensable. Prove to them that the reclamation of the common, where then- poultry strayed, was demanded by the general consumption of the country. Convince them that it is only just that they, in the excise on the necessaries of life, should pay the largest share of the national bm-dens. Make it plain to them that their own interests are ohieflv consulted in the with- liolding from them of all part in the direction of adaptp:d to thi-: pooh. 77 national affaii-s. If you can bring proof, they will be readily satisfied, or at least will submissively yield : if you cannot, it is at your peril that you proceed. A government has no proper arcana ; it is a gi-eat social regulation, a strict convention. It is the execu- tive for tlie greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number of its supporters. It is only a rela- tive tiling. Not a thought can it legitimately bestow upon itself. Its strength, fiimness, revenue, are of the people, and for the people. It is no truce of party, it is no game of faction. Its force is in the sound, thinking, influential, preponderant, ascertained, majority of its subjects in favour of its measures, — and in the unanimity of its subjects in favour of its institutions. Throw all light over its frame and working ; make the people parties to it ; let them appreciate the use of every principle and adjunct; invest them with a beneficial interest in all ; while they " sit by the fire," let them know " what 's done in the Capitol;"* and your commonwealth is imperish- able. The advantage of this kind of education is two- fold, — you bind the people to the State, but in their improvement, if the State be wrongous and defective, you must raise the State to the people. Sueli a popu- lace might be trasted in the most critical times. It would bow to the severities of what it saw was inevi- table scarcity. It would acquiesce in the lowness of till" price of labour, wlien it perceived (he slackness of * Sliaksiu'arc. (^oriolamis. 78 ON Tur: kink ov KntCATioN demaiid. It would liold no (juuitcI with the seusons. It \v(jiild not suicidally destroy property. It wouhl not listen to the nostrum of the political empiric. It would not sway to and Iro under every noisy leader. Among its ranks might be seen an enlightened patri- otism to encourage the public spirit of other orders, — at least to expose the timid and to shame the venal. One feature of popular education ought never to be overlooked. It cannot be denied that the mental circimistances of the labouring poor foiin a sort of proscription. In vain we say, that every man in our countiy can rise into a better lot. It is theoiy. It is possibility. How may it be ? It is the duty of those who can impart education so to fashion and direct it as to lift the people universally to this starting point. Give them the capacity thus to rise. Wlien elevated to a few degi'ees, it is their fault alone if they do not advance. The progress, henceforth, must be theii" own. But until then, they hardly can emerge from a deep debasement. The hope of extrication has not wliispered to their ear. The instinmients of melio- ration are not fmnished for their use. Waken the soul fi'om its sleep. Stir up its powers of life. Give it its place in the competition. Let it have room for the race. And then will it be no idle mockery, nor ribald insult, to the meanest, when we assert that he may improve liis social condition if he will : the chances remain not so much to be di'awn as that a prize is actually won. It is a goal already gained, ADAPTED TO THE POOK. 79 but it points to others more distant and more glori- ous still. The education which is denounced, because wholly secular, requires some Uttle notice. Does such exist in our country ? Does that deserve this description, which is found associated with the most anti-evange- lical communities ? Is there the school in wliich is found no inspired verse ? Is not morahty infused into the reading-lesson and copy-book ? If the infidel has his educational institution, it is, we know, for iiTeh- gion : we include it not in the defence : though, even in it, the probability is, that trath, sobriety, and kind- ness, will be inculcated. The question has been violently agitated, Wliether education can be properly scriptural, which only recog- nises selections fi'om Scripture. We thiidc it may be right to teach a part of Divine Revelation, when we are not suffered to teach the whole. We practically, where the entire volume is the reading book of the school, do very mainly use it in sections. None would wish it to be read indiscriminately and con- secutively by children of all the classes and foims. Happy, at least, are they who arc free to act in these choices for themselves ! Nor are we disposed to offer one excuse for those who, in order to pi'omote the most flattering schemes of universal education, enter into a compromise, the conditions of which shall be the employment of Scriptui'c witli a corrupt text and IVaudulent translation ! f^O ox rilK KIM) OF KIUJCATION Tlic neccsHity ol'i'emulo cduciition is unjustly over- looked in most of tliese general enquiries. But it is not, ill Miiy view, of inferior importance. The future mothers of ii people iire the best protectresses of a State from moml deterionitioii. Let them Ije trfiined us thinking beings. The female intellect only wants culture to establish its strict equality. But there are domestic virtues wliich specially adorn the sex. The house-wife is woman's proudest name. The home is her pecuhar sphere. Honourable is her distaff: as honoui'able her careful management and thrift. It is plain for what sphere she should be instructed. Deeply is it to be deplored when the blooming girl is, by the calls of want, diverted from these duties. They should be early commenced, and as often as possible resumed. Then the regulations and arts of other employment may not be useless. They will supply the means of independence, if woman's common lot be not fulfilled. They will impress habits of self-denial and industry. They will afford an experience, whose finiits may be most wholesome, and which shall set homestead joys in the most enviable view. But they have too fi'e- quently a contran- influence. They bring many snares. Their principal evil, if it can be shown to be tme, is a tendency to disqualify for the obligations of wedded life. To tliis we know there is ready answer : we doubt whether it be quite satisfactory. We cannot be forced fi'om tliis conclusion, that there is no sub- ject of education, so fitting, so desening, so influential, 4 ADAPTED To THE PuOK. 81 as the female : that there is no instniment of raising man to contentment, peacefiilness, sobriety, and all human responsibilities, as the educated female : and that there is no such created source of holy power in this world as may be found in the example of the educated female, bearing on her the noble distinc- tions of Avife, mother, and Christian ! When the cot- tages of our land shall thus be blest, we may hope that the sullen tyrant of the family will be softened by love, and the vilest wanderer be reclaimed to the sweet bonds of household allegiance ! The Science of popular education has made great advances within a few short years. We are not san- guine that the classics and mathematics could be taught in any other way than they were acquired of old. But more intelUgence might accompany and direct the lessons. The pupil might be more drawn out and be treated as a more reasoning learner. And this is done with the peasant cliild. His attention is awakened and his mind is interested. He is almost betrayed into knowledge. The truly illustrious disco- verers, Bell and Lancaster, introduced the reciprocal and monitorial system, wliicli is one process of intel- ['* lectual elimination. He who sees in it a mechanical and automatic exliibition, has yet to understand hu- man nature. It is mind exciting mind, and evolv- ing mind. It is mind informing itself Like some natural agent, it contains a twofold power, — as tlie expansion of heat or the t'lcclricity <>f light. G ^2 ON TIIF KIND OF FDrCATION h ciiiinot bi' (lonifd, tluit tlic (•]iarnctI.N(. MIOM \>v (listmit, cousc to draw Ibrtli iIk; idol-honour wliich uow is ])aid to it. It will in viiin look around for that intlucnco whicli it now commands. Mjunmon will ho left alone in its temple : the image may be unspoiled, but only a scornful silence and solitude shall siUTOund it, — its priests will have refused to offer and its vota- ries to adore. Nor can we doubt that there are other kinds of worship wliich are fated to be much reduced. Even now we feel that the true imperial names, the names wliich rule the world, arc not those of scep- tred monarchs or laiu'eled heroes. These will, it may be for long time, command for themselves monuments and statues. But the men of intellectual originality and power, are the real potentates and conquerors. Theirs is no vulgar, fleeting, sway. They need not the honours of shrine and sculpture. Or, if these be awarded them, — if they lie iniu-ned among the cloistered dust of kings and warriors, how does the mind feel at once the proper distinctions between the spoilers and instructors, the scourgers and benefac- tors, of our race ! That the tuition of the lubouiing orders must pro- duce its effect upon the whole structure of society, is not denied. That inconveniences may arise from it, cannot be faiiiy contested. Any suddenness of movement, however, need not be feared ; it is im- possible. But the question occm's. Is society rightly based, and would not this pressure upon it, which ran be only intellectual and moral, be advantageous ? THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 01 Society, it must bo remembered, is not in reality what it is metaphoricully described. It is a collection of human minds. These act upon each other. The depression of any is to the benefit of none. All is mutual in elevation or in advance. Select the meta- phors themselves. Is it a family ? Does hopeless ignorance in some of its members, in contrast with the privileged information of others, make it more happy ? Is it a pyramid ? Ought not the strongest materials to sustain its square, whatever be the sub- stance of its point ? It is supposed, that the subordinations and relative distinctions of the commimity must be confounded if the knowledge of the poor should be increased. But this statement imphes many gross mistakes. For, in tJie fii'st instance, is it not of the nature of knowledge in general, and of the particular knowledge wliich is now instilled, to make men peaceable, inoffensive, and obedient ? " That it is the poUcy of governments to keep the people in ignorance is a maxim sounding like the subtlety that is in a statesman only by birth or beard, and merits not his place by much tliinking. For ignorance is rude, censorious, jealous, obstinate, and proud, these being exactly the ingredients ol" whicii disobedience is made."* Then, secondly, there is im- plied the charge, that the higher gradations of society lue stationary in their knowledge, luid ai'c thus easily overtaken. Is it not notorious, that tlicsc have been ' Diivciiant. 92 ON TIIK ADVANTAOKS ARISING FROM most active in nil inentiil improvement? And, onci more, ought any rank of tliinking beings to be strait- ened and repressed, until those who possess tlie acci- dents of wealth and dignity, who have the favoured start, feel disposed to quicken their (nvn progress ? Is it not, too, a happy circumstance, that an impulse is given to society, from whatever quarter it may proceed ? May it not be supposed that the richer portions of the people have excited the poorer, as well as that the poorer have stimulated the richer ? " The age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls liis Ivibe."* Tliis is the fear, but it is a whole- some and practical fear. AVliy should not the pea- sant stride in the ways of knowledge ? Wliy does not the courtier preserve liis place in the competition ? It is far more difficult for the one to gain, than for the other to keep, liis ground. The cqui-distances might be easily maintained. We feel a strong persua- sion that tliey generally are. But were it otherwise, Is the right of the poor to be sacrificed to the caprice of the affluent ? It is a pledge of good and gloiy to tlie empire, that knowledge diffuses itself from so many points ; but, cliief of all, that the heai't of those, to whom its access is most difficult, is bent upon it. The producing classes show tlieir resolve : the sense of shame and the desii'e of safety may be left to stir the rest. Let the ignorant master feel his inferiority to * Shakspeare. Hamlet. THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 93 the educated servant. It is the feeling wliich such an accidental transposition of the parties ought to pro- duce. It is not only inevitable : it is that which we should dcsii'e, for its own sake, to exist. It is diffi- cult to di'aw an indictment against a whole nation : the mind of a mighty people will little heed what creeping tilings are outsped in its march, and thrown belund it. Graver judgments ai'e pronounced. It is foreseen that the growing intelligence of the workers wiU con- strain organic changes in the pohty of the empii-e. The word ought to be defined. New distributions of the same power cannot constitute organic change. Po- pular suffrage is an element in our constitution. It may be enlarged, just as the peerage has been in- creased, without any vital revolution. With tlie effect, in its precise amount of quantity, we have not in this argument the smallest concern. Only let us not be frightened at undefined terms. It is not, then, denied tliat with the advancement of knowledge there will be an advancement of society. A free government will reflect, of necessity, the opinions and refinements of its people. It is not an unnatural inference, that those classes wliich are not now deemed sufficiently enliglitened to bear a part, and exercise a responsibi- lity, in the management of the state, will, when thus prepared, find their way, and, it is hoped, their wel- come, to political immunities. Tlus surely would be not only their proper riglit, but for the securitv oC the 91 ON THI': M»V\NT.\GKS ARISING FROM coramonwcalt.il. It would Ijc the nniltipli<;iition of its sound, intelligent, and hcartswom, mcmbci-s. But there would be no organic or vital revolution. The strict principle of our Constitution would cmly be more emplmtically declared. It is true, that pecuniary qualification now exists for the enjoyment of certain rights. But it is simply thus assigned, because pro- perty is supposed to be a pledge of infonnation. There is no partial right given to any class of society wliich is not a trust intended to be executed for th< whole. Property was thus, again, considered the index of a moral abihty to undertake such trust. We need not blame om* ancestors for this appointment : it was not only the best, but we have not foimd out a better. A poor man may be erudite, but we do not expect it : a rich man may be untaught, but it is to our sur- prise. Money must always have its influence in secu- ring iustmction, and penmy in debarring it. But if knowledge and virtue, wliich humbler circimistances have been thought to discourage and almost to pre- clude, can estabhsh their existence in those circum- stances, or in spite of them, — then, siu'cly, they may claim equal respect, though unclothed with their ordi- nary ensigns. It is then, also, that the question may arise, wliich we are not called to settle, whether these attributes, apart fi'om other secular investitures, should, or should not, give a potential voice in the dii'ection of pubhc affairs. It may be fitting, or it may not. How- THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. J)0 ever it may be determined, the poor are in n better frame of mind to receive the decision. The alternative must rest upon the unreasonableness of any political chango as dedueible from their intellectual and moral change. Then, if unreasonable, the more reasonable the parties contemplated in it, the more readily will they see that um'casonableness. But if contraiiwise, then the reasonable change must be yielded. Can it be safely or honestly refused, an instant beyond the evidence that it has become desii'able and just ? In the North American Republic, it is well known that a universal suffrage obtains. There are patriots, statesmanly and philosopliic, who would not for a moment touch that right. They see its justice, as well as necessity, in their Federal Constitution. JUit still is it the constant subject of their distrust. They are filled with alarm at its exercise. The ballot-box, the symbol of a mighty liberty, is watched by them Avith a gnawing suspense. It is not for party that they tremble. PIcarts never glowed than theii's with a stronger enthusiasm of love for their land and its franchises. But they know the character of mjTiads of the voters. They arc aware of the brutal igno- ruiice aiul moi'al vileness which characterise the crowds whicli hasten to the poll. The number of voters for General Hanison to the Presidential Chair, was nearly unprecedented, and yet it was thirty thousand less than the ascertained number of freemen who could neither read nor write. Such a deserij)lion dn 96 ON Tin-: AnvAXTACiEs arisinc; from tliesi' virtuous remonstrantH furnish, that our hlood runs cohl, or iiiouuls iiidii^ninut, as \v<; read it. Wo (.'iiiph))' not any ars^ninirnt, which rni<,'ht ho tlius sug- gfsU'd, against the widest extension of" popuhir elaims ; but we do seize the principle, tliat knowledge and virtue are the only guides of liberty, and the only guarantees of right. Tliis we surely learn, and this we most confidently proclaim, that an enlightened and religious people cannot be too free ! It is little else than a degradation to reply to those objections which speak of man as happier in ignorance than as taught. We are reminded of past times. There was then no enquir)', no complmnt. Contented ignorance was the excellent quahty which ruled the mass. The eulogium, such as it is, may not be strictly deserved. We have received sufficient inheritance of proof, that this period of contented ignorance was invariably backward of the times in which it was extolled. It was never the theme of pre- sent honour. It was a golden age, but always past. If such opinions be worthy of momentary attention, we demand, Wliat must be their estimate of man who entertain them ? His happiness is placed in the quietude of sensual existence. He is forbidden to do more than obey the gi-osser appetites of liis nature. He is walled up in liis lot. Were he prone and not erect, save as to tlie profit of liis toil, it would not be deplored. Is he happy as man ? Is it not, in the forgetfulness and abandonment of manhood, that he THE EDUCATION OF THE TEOPLK. i»7 is happy ? Such animal happiuebb lius always quo alloy, man wants some other : and it is exposed to interruptions and chances, from which the happiness of mere animals, when creatures of value and domes- tication, is jealously presen-ed. Of men so imbnited, we might speak as Tacitus did of the ancient Germans, and not without his biting sarcasm : " Securi adver- sus homines, securi adversus deos, rem difficilimam Hssecuti sunt, ut illis nc roto qiiidoii ojnm sit."* Until man is educated, he is not perfect man : and there can be no doubt that many feel a dread of liis proper development. They consider tliat he is aimed with new powers, when only his proper powers are eUcited. The reasoning is as false as if you so ai'gued of the organ preserved, or the Hmb saved, in bodily cure. Should they object, that the proper powers of man would be better restrained, because so capable of miscliief, — the analogous objection cannot be resisted, that the organ and the limb were inju- diciously restored, because they may be spared for some e^dl work. The mind of man, undisciplined, is no more capable of its fitting use, than is the dismem- bered trunk to perfonn the operations of the body. Yet is the comparison imperfect. For the truncated frame of man is Avithout power of locomotion or exter- nixl action. But the uninfonned mind retains its power * " Fearless of men, and not foreboding the anger of the gods, they have reached this most difficult point, tliat they know not a •-•cinaiuing wish. " — Do Moiilm.s (iermaiiiiv. H !)H ON TIIK ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM for evil. IgiKJiiinof is the uver-ready subject of per- version and turbulence. The well-known case of proceedings among work- men, respecting the rise of wages or the abridgment of Jiours, has been often quoted against the extension of knowledge to them. It is said that these, and other interruptions, of the commercial system, are attribu- table to some one or two superior minds. These utter the inflammatory harangue. These diffuse the wide discontent. Such a leader is dreaded by the employer, and is the instigator of inconceivable confusion and misery. Now no statement can more perfectly cany its own antidote. That brawler, assuming that the quarrel is unjust, hides liis own better knowledge, and practises upon the ignorance of others. He knows well, that masters have almost as httle command over wages as their sei*vants. He knows well, that wages have but small connection with the prices of food, and that often the one may stand just as high as the other shall sinlc low. He knows well, that the abundance of laboui' must deteriorate its market worth, as well as the excess of all supply. If he be thus enhght- ened, he must conceal his knowledge. His listeners must be led into other notions, or he is at once gain- said. Here, then, is the most unaccoimtable distor- tion of all trath and inteUigence hastily admitted, credulously cheered, by the crowd. What gives him his influence ? Not so much his own mental capacity, as the ignorance of those whom he deceives. By TIIK EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 09 that he works and seduces. The proof is furnished, in such a man, of what even a httle mental power can accompHsh, and how it can only be counteracted. Let the crowd be taught. When the eyes of the many open, their Polyphemus ^vill cease to be famous for his Cyclopean vision. Let the labourer be shown Ms true interests, let him see what ncccssaiT and con- tingent causes affect them, and the demagogue will find his arts ineffectual, and the alarmist may convince himself that his forebodings were vain. The plainest evidence is on record, that crime proceeds in even step with the mental nideness of a people. That they arc haimless in proportion to their ignorance, is an opinion well-nigh abandoned of all. A few of that antiquated prejudice may occasionally creep out among us, and when the sun least shines or sinks beneath a passing cloud, they may unhood their pale visages and mutter their dismal vaticina- tions. They look their dark farewell, upon a world now rolHng in too direct a hght. They hate its beams. They predict that the relations of masters and ser- vants cannot sumve tliis flood of knowledge. The only treatises they can endure, arc those which teach every man to be " his own," — for tlic subordinate will soon no more be found. We appeal, then, to tiie igno- rance wliich they regard as the only salvation of States. They would retain and invigorate it. They would safely keep these treasures of darkness. And they can point to its strong-holds Prisons arc the monuments 100 ON Tirr: advantages aririno from as well us tho fortifications. J'hese slielter the virtues which once it was vogue to praise. These gamer the most ample fruits of that abject and unreasoning con- tentment whi(;h even biu'ds have been inspired to sing. There is a criterion, however, before which pleasant illusions and brilliant enchantments are compelled to flee. It is more sudden in its potency than Ithu- riel's speai". A table of facts and nimibcrs breaks the spell. In that wliich was prepared by the eminent Dr. Cooke Taylor concerning the state of Ciime in Manchester, guided, in part, by the Pamphlet of Mr. Neale on Juvenile Dehnquency in that town, and based upon details furnished by Sir Charles Shaw, we find the ratios between offences and ignorance set forth in a most convincing manner. Wliat is the result? Eleven-twelfths of Crime in that dense population are committed by the uneducated, and principally by those who are utterly so, not knowing how to read. One-twelfth is left, and includes all those offenders who have been educated, whether more hberally or only just at all. In a southeni county, Sussex, forty-nine prisoners were arraigned for incendiaiism, principally of stacked com. The crime itself seems only capable of being conmiitted by the most deplo- rable fatuity. It would forewarn us how sottish must be the ignorance of those who could perpetrate it. More than forty could neither read nor write. Only two could both read and write. The gaol of Taunton, according to the account of its Chaphun. and according THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 101 to the announcement of a candidate for the senate on the hustings of the adjoining county, received during two years alone tlu*ee hundred prisoners, and these chiefly youths, who knew not any meaning connected with the names of Jesus, save for profane execrations. Of course, these could not read a word. In the Tables wliich have been ftuiiished from the Prisons of the Country, we may see the degi'ccs of instmction received by those who have been commit- ted to them. The three last years may be selected. The per cent, of these respective differences is as follows : 1840. 1841. 1842. Unable to read and write 33-32 ... 3321 ... 3235 Able to read and write imperfectly . 55-57 ... 56-67 ... 58-32 Able to read and write well 8-29 ... 7-40 ... 6-77 Instruction superior to reading and writing well -37 ... 45 ... -22 Instruction could not be ascertained 245 ... 227 ... 2-34 The man, whose mind is stored with knowledge, is acquainted with a soiu'ce of pecuhar pleasures. They lie within himself. They are independent of com- mon accidents. They are indulged without reproach. They invigorate and cheer the spirit. They bring no satiety with them. They raise above the low pursuit and sordid taste. They tend to pohsh the manners, and refine the habits, of life. We are anxious not to be misunderstood. We do not say tliat tliey must be associated with virtu<', tliiil tin y may not be degi'aded \02 (».\ THK ADVANTAOKS ARISING FROM to vice liul WO do iiffiiJii. llmt ///r// tln.-ir trut' clm- rticter is clmngtd. Wo do not any that they tend to the quest of true rehgion. We do not confound tlic Tree of knowledge and the Tree of life. But we do affinii thiit, things being equal, knowledge will always be more fiivourablc to that end than ignorance. The eccentric genius may lower himself: the man, flat- tered or excited into a self-esteem of mental power, may never have cast oflf his base and iiiinous propen- sions. Who can, however, doubt, that the enquiring and instructed peasant is happier in his little cup- board libraiT, than he would be at the vulgar resort of dispute and drunkenness ? It is now that he feels the true self-respect. He is not likely to divide him- self between purer joys and gi-osser indulgences. He is not the probable subject of those alternations wliich have confessedly been witnessed in some of the ranks of science and literature. He feels liimself a captive disentlu'alled. He sees an onwai'd path before liim, with ever enlai'ging and brightening prospects. His is the gladness, liis the sweetest trimnph the mind can know^ of newly- awakened powers. His is tlie elevation of a higher mental taste. He^ discriminates, compares, reasons, reflects. " Wisdom is better than strengtli," and "weapons of war."' Moral Imbits are almost necessary to it. With " the lowlv," and " the well-advised," is " wisdom." It " dwells with piii- denco." By it "a house is built." "He who hath it undei*standeth his wav. He, indeed, is rioh and THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 103 puissant who finds, in Imowledge the most eimplo, those achievements over space and time and death which Euripides describes : " I have determined the proper antidote to forgetfiilness, defying Lethe itself, in the humble ait of conjoining what may be, and wlmt may not be, pronounced, vowels and consonants, into words, so that my most distant Mends, far off be- yond the seas, may have accurate knowledge of every thing wliich happens here at home ; and the dying may unbosom themselves in a few sentences to their children, by bearers unconscious of the message : even the calamities which arise from contention may be tlius retrieved, and a scrap of writing prevent the triumph of fraud."* The mere justice of educating the poor, — it being supposed that the education of the other classes may confidently be relied on, — is appai'ent fr'om that equal obedience which is required fi-om all by our laws. Each subject is supposed to know them. But not * Stoboei Loci Communes, pag. 707. It is an extract from the Palamedcs, a lost drama of that tragedian. " Ta T6 Ati^tts ^ccoftax' o^ffiara;, fioMov Aipuva, xai (pcovouvlu. iruXkapias T<<'«f, E^iu^ev ocvSouToiTi y^!e.f/,iJt.ciT noivai. Cltr'T ou Ta^ovra vaviia; u^i^ tXox.x; 'VecKfi KOLT oiKovs Tavjx fri^arffai koiXu;, Vga\pa>}as ei'Tetv, rov Xa/39»Ja J' eiiiyai. "A «f i^iv TiTlouiriv uvf^oToif xaxa, AiKros iiainci, x' Hx in. ■v/itiJw As^nv." KM ON Till-: ADVANTAOKS AnrfiINO fRONf only Hliould every iiiiiu lie j,'onerally acquainted with them, hut there are hues of distinction, and prin- ciplos of conduct, which are superior and antecedent to tlieni. Tlic man of moral perceptions may know little, and remember less, of particular statutes : hut he cannot oflend. His mind is transfused with right sentiments and dispositions. His honour and recti- tude arc as the instincts of his soul. And it is in this manner that all ought to he instructed. Lycur- gus wrote not his laws, because he loved to read them in the rudiments of public opinion and con- duct. The poor have this claim upon us. Found their habits and train their ideas on gi-eat comic- tions of justice. Let them see the manifold evils, as well as guilt, of every encroachment on property. Demonstrate that law is for their protection. Show them its constant, quiet, and universal benefit. Awa- ken the glow wliich even tliey may feel. Their per- son is as sacred as that of the proudest noble : the strongest battlement is not more impregnable than their lowly thatch. Nor will it be difficult to teach them the fitness of certain arrangements wliich are embraced in our great constitutional pohty. It will be as necessaiy, as it is just, to explain them. The first appearance of these settlements cannot be satis- fiictoiT to the hiunbler class. "NVliatever may be their abstract theory, then* asserted balance, the poor feel not the positive advantage. They must labour and puffer still. It is not unnatiu'al that thcv should think Till; EDUCATION 01 TIIK PEOPLL. 105 the system partial and uubenevolent. Why these immense inequalities ? Will there be engendered no envy nor distrust ? Are they not a down-trodden race ? And yet we believe, — apart from local and subordinate oppressions — not denying that without distui'bance it might produce far more, — the whole is for the advantage of the poor. In its wreck would be their destruction. But to work out this conclusion, and malce it bright and clear, much remains to be disabused. Still it may be shown that hereditary monarchy is q most wholesome measure, while our own civil wars may be adduced to the proof. It may be shown that a necessary aristocracy of cumulativo wciilth is checked and softened by one of title and descent. It may be shown that primogenitm'e is ne- cessar}' to sustain the elevation of rank, and to secure lionom* from inefficiency. If these appendages and decorations of society be not so imderstood as to be appreciated, they need not hope for any perpetuity. Before infuriated ignorance they must perish. Like the rocks hurled forth in the rage of the volcano, the turbulent masses of wliich destroy the architec- ture at its skirt and the vineyard of its side, — prejudice and despair will scatter around them wild dismay, leave notliing fair and lovely beliind them, and ovenvhelm the once happy scene in a common desolation. The quaint, but just, npothegni. Knowledge is power, — docs not give all the tnitli It is not tnic I or; ON Till .\ii\,\.m,\m:s arising fhom tlmt Lliere is none other power. Ignorance is power. It is a ready, congenial, and earnest, capacity for ill. It selects not its instmmcnts, it defines not its ends, but it turns every tiling into weapons, and suspects all as foes. Its stay is on brute sti-ength. Its cou- rage is fury. It knows no directing sway. It is unreasoning, monstrous, untameable. It is not de- void of cunning and perseverance. It can band its numbers, deal its sophisms, and aim its blows. And is this the power, wliich all confess to be so formi- dable, that we take to our embrace, in fear of the dangers of popular education ? You may bhnd this giant-force, and hope then to make sport of its un- couthness : but it will be "avenged for its eyes" in a more indiscriminate and phi'enzied ruin, careless that itself should fall, if the fi-amework of society may but perish with it. Shortsighted is the policy that meets only present difficulties. Administration is commonly a compromise, a sliift, a party juggle : govenmient is properly a pro- found science, a generous guardianship, anticipating danger, grappling evil, guiding opinion, exploring futurity. Society is fai' more than an accommodation for daily wants. This is but a small power in its balance, and only an accessory element in its life. It can never be preserved for honoui*, nor even for perpetuity, but by the influence of liigh moral princi- ples. Eulers and people will be alike and simultane- ously pure or corrupt. It is scarcely possible to think THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 107 of them as different in their general ideus. TjTanny reflects but the abjectness of those on whom it treads. When a community has grown sensual and slavish, bartering the noble in enjoyment for the mean, and the durable in advantage for the momentaiy, it must soon dissolve. Monarchy and Repubhc, by such de- generacy, have fallen into the same fate. It yawns for eveiy fonn of coniipt and profligate society. Know- ledge and vutue, those twin-stars of heaven, can only guide and bless the nations, and save them from the overthrow which the abandonment of gi'eat leading deteiminations and aims most assm*edly provoke. National character is deai" to the patriot. If he l)e enUghtened, free, and religious, he will not blindly exaggerate its worth. That character must not be sought in the patrician, in the pliilosopher, in the rich. It must be the reflection of the popular spuit. This must be its index and scale. It Hes deep down in the pubhc heart. And can we, with full measure of justice and integrity, place forth om* national cha- racter and boast its untarnished shield ? Would we not see it more inspired with the love of hberty, more erect in unpurchaseable independence, more gentle in domestic love ? Would we not see it stronger, finner, nobler, more philanthropic with all its civism, more unselfish with all its freedom ? Some of these gi'cater elements of character are already stnigghng into light. Bui we desire that such a character sliould attat-li to our whole pcoplo ; tlmt th<' world sliould rise ii|). ;ind, lOH ON THK ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM lor our (Icfenco of riglit iiiicl our largess of benevo- lence, should call us blessed. Then should we inherit glor}'. That gloiy would be pure and refulgent. A rchgious education must be the precursor of such renown. Intelligence and moral principle can alone sustain it. The most distant and most hostile em- pires will do it justice. " This is your -wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations wliich shall hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely tliis great nation is a wise and undei-standing people.'" The keeping of this glorious name is in our own charge. We may win it, or we may lose it. The means are simple. We are free to employ or per- vert them. The more tremendous is our responsibi- lity. " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." There is one justification of educating the people wliicli may rest at present in theory, but it carries no small weight with it. Employment now is general. With machineiy it has increased. But population closely presses upon evei7 improvement of mecha- nical power. It is not, however, improbable that hereafter, if not soon, human labour will be abridged. A leisure will be secured to labouring man. To re- strict his houi's of labour by any legislative enactment, is to oppress liim. It is to sell away his bii'thright, his capital, his all. Yet if the means of production be so multiplied, that with fiu" less toil he can satisfy his animal wants, his supei"fluous time must be em- THE EDfCATION OV THE I'Ei'PLE. 109 ployed. Education can alone prei)are liim for it. To the uneducated, its gi'oss occupation would be far more exhausting and demoralising than the excess of labour. Who does not rejoice in the weekly half-holiday, wher- ever it is allowed ? In the earUer closing of shops ? In the limitation of the hours of business ? It fur- nishes an opportunity of mental improvement. But were it to respect the uneducated, those who scom all education, — important as we might deem it in itself, we could not but dread its constant abuse. We can conceive of a nation so full of mechanical auxiharies, that its labourers need not work more than six hours in the day : we can conceive of that nation occupj-ing itself in mental and virtuous activity : but we could not trust even Britain yet ! The imfolding of the moral principles of our nature is a necessary part in tlie liighest education, and no- tliing inferior to tliis purpose can we desire for our poorer countrymen. For though we tliink literary knowledge is a boon, — though we would all were thus enUghtened, — though we abhor and scom the doctrine, that were this all, it were better to withhold it alto- gether, — we sluink not from the avowal, that this would be most imperfect. It would not be the dis- ciphne of the proper mind, the tnic soul, of man. It would be shght and dispai'agcmcnt of that which covers liim with liis greatness. Reason, in him, is not supreme and final. His understanding is not him- self. These are solely the means of something higher. IH) ON TIIF: \1»\ ANTAOES ARIKING FRONf Tliey nrc only seen in their riglit place when siibonli- nated to religion. This is the end and good oi' man. The moral natm'e then finds that which can satisfy it. It wields both reason and understanding, but as the insti'iuncnts with which it seeks first " the kingdom of God iind his righteousness." Tliis is the use of reason, this is the reward of understanding. Man is now himself. His essence is evolved. His immortality is ascendant. His spirit has overcome. We are not to be hampered in our view of the advantages attendant on education, by confining them to the present Ufe. Let us think of man as rehgiouslv accountable to God, and follow him to the " great white throne." The labouring classes find few oppor- tunities of intellectual culture, and hear but feeble warnings of religion. Their too common condition not only disqualifies them for the pleasui'cs of literarj' and philosopliical attainment, but their habits leave them in ignorance of the Chiistiau salvation. It is that " no vision" in wliich " the people perish :" it is that " lack of laiowledge for which they are destroyed." " To give Imowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins tlu'ougli the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath %-isited us," must siu'cly be our duty. This is the poition of the soul, of wliich it cannot be disinlierited. We cannot begin too soon with the infant mind in these incul- cations. Let him who would see another generation, not stubborn and rebelUous, but setting their heart THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. Ill ariglit, and their spiiit steadfast with God, impress the infancy of the cliildhood of this. " Whom sliall we teach knowledge ? and whom shall we make to under- stand doctrine ? them that are weaned from the milk, and dra^\Ti from the breasts."* It is unjust to appeal to the present state of things, and to deduce from it the futility of the hopes which liave been entertained as to the benefits of education. Education has not had its trial. Our people have not been taught. We can prove that, in the districts of this countiy where instruction most prevails, there ai'e the fewest and the Hghtest crimes. No reasonable doubt can exist that this will be found equally tme, wherever knowledge, Cluistian as well as lettered, spreads. The moral nature of man must remain the same. We see that the same may be affii-med of tlie most favoured classes. We expect not the cessation of evil from any such cause. But we must be pciTait- ted to protest against the supposed failure of an expe- riment which has not been made. As well might it be averred, that the diving-bell had not succeeded in its intention, notwithstanding that it had recovered as much of the sunken WTCck as it could contain, because it had not swept all the depths nor exliaustcd all the treasures of the sea. * Isa. xxviii. 9. CHAPTER Vr. ON sahdath schools. Existing under a modified form in Scotland fi-ora the period of the Reformation, — little needed Jimong the Nonconformists of England, from the same epoch, a large portion of whose sabbaths was devoted to family instruction, — a system has arisen, among us, which we cannot too nan'owly scan, — singulai*, original, and most potential. It is not the parole inculcation of religious truth, — in this practice of rote among its young disciples the Roman Superstition more than vies with all, — but a rudimental training, a mental deve- lopment, — that in learning to read the Bible, religious instraction may not only be obtained but the capacity for acquiring it may be impai'ted. The plan is not uniform, but as generally adopted its pm-port is tliis : to explain, dming some of the sacred houi's, the art of reading as connected with that great means of grace and salvation, the study of the Scriptm-es. Yet tlus is but its lowest step. The waiTant to do that which is chiefly mechanical is foimded in its most rehgious end. God has given his Book to all, — to be read of consequence by all. The gift implies the privilege ON SARBATH SCHOOLS. 113 ;iij(l llic duty. If we thus "profane llie salilmtli," we are " blameless." It is obvious, however, that the obUgation whieh we hold most strict, the right which we deem most clear, to teach the young the signs and sounds of an alphabet in order to give them access to the words of eternal life, might not be needed ; and that the present necessity to do so may quickly cease. The question then would simply be. What is the best mode of conveying scriptural knowledge to the young ? It is to be feai'ed that the parents, who send their childi'en t(j be taught the ai't of reading, cannot read themselves. But a much wider and more serious view may be taken of the loiowledge wliich those parents possess. It is lamentable how little disposed are the pious to spcidc of rehgion to their children. It may not be concealed that the aptitude to teach does not always belong to a competent knowledge of the thing to be taught. The fitness and the disposition of this class of parents to instmct their offspring in these matters may be, therefore, without invidiousness, dis- trusted. As it was requisite for those who could not read themselves, to send their cldldi'en to those who could, if they were to be taught that method; so, it is as indispensable for thom who are uninformed in rehgion themselves to devolve upon others the task of infomiing tlieir children, if they are to enjoy that boon. Is there but an equivocal advantage in the system, is it only a succedaneum, — until, in the uni- versal power to read, iuul tin' ms univcMSiil j)oss(^ssion I Ill ON SAMHATII sriloois oi' tli(3 lioly li^lit, it may bu supersedud '.' Wo linve no d()iil)t, tliiit this is tlio judgment of many. Not only is their objection raised to the very preparatory character of its tuitions, but that it is a witiidrawment from the domestic discipline. But surely this species of education has a valid claim to certain apologies as well as every other. Now there is a defence com- monly set up for a very similai* plan. It is contended that it is better, — the consideration of any incapacity apart, — for the young of the most opulent families to be removed for a time from home. Their edu- cation is argued to be conducted thus in a more concentrated manner. A juster oeconomy of time and attention is secured. A fsuther plea is adduced in favour of its being conducted among many associates. The principle of competition is awakened, and the knowledge of the world, at some time inevitable, is only a little anticipated while it is gradually gained. Even a jmbHc curriculum finds nimierous advocates, and its nationalism is loudly extolled. Surely, then, this humble system cannot be wholly vicious. Its change from the pai'ental roof, its class-mates, its imi- fonnities, are not unworthy featiu'es. Yet tliere are evils in each of these aiTangements. The separation from the tender vigilance and circle of the family does a wrong to the feeling of the cliild, which it cannot, at any futui'e age, altogetlier forget and shght. It is life's first trial. It is the heart's eai-liest shock. To be thrown into the society of indifferent companions, ON SAliBATH SCHOOLS. 115 for weeks and months and yoai's, incurs no small hazard of moral infection. Where there is also but one general treatment, the individuality of original temperament vdll often be destroyed. From such dan- gers tills system is exempt. It seizes the good alone. The child is still the inmate, though not without the shifted scene, of the habitation where its infancy was reared. Its most j&.'equent, though not exclusive, companions are brothers and sisters. Its return, after the few hours of absence, reinstates it in all its free- dom of idiosjTicrasy and development. There seems no consistency in any objection which the educationist can raise against the Sabbath School. But the valuable influence of these institutions, because of their unpretending character, has often been depreciated. The jeer has been raised against them, that the knowledge wliich they convey is so circumscribed. It has been forgotten, or concealed, that the knowledge was descriptive, that it was the most important, and that the agency employed in communicating it was precisely adapted to tlie know- ledge itself. For none have boasted that this was, in a large sense, an education : all that has been asserted is, that scriptural knowledge may be, and that it is, in this manner, impressed most appropriately and most efficiently on an order of minds, which must be othei'wise wholly imblessed with the knowledge of Divine truth, utterly untrained to the practice of Chiistiiiu virtue. When a siil)stitut(' cmi \n- lound I HI ON SAnRATH SCHOOLS. for i). tlirn- will Itf no higoted pertinacity to retain it. Wlicn )li(! necessity shull itself have passed away, the liibours which arc now cheerfully rendered for the abatement of a tremendous amount of popular ignorance, will be still more cheerfully resigned. We can easily conceive of a Ijctter state of things. This is but a remedial and corrective measure. And still we should not wish to do away with the system itself In it we have discovered not only a mighty fulcrum of good ; we have gained a principle. Most happy would it be if evciT child that entered such a school was tlioroughly grounded in the practice of reading and writing : for these acquirements, it is self-apparent, do not constitute knowledge, but are only particular means of attaining it. Knowledge might tlien be immediately pursued. Eveiy mind would be prepared and quickened for its investigation. The fui'niture of the room, only now not unsightly because of its utility, would be exchanged for the more intellectual exliibitions of Chiistianity. There would hang the map on wliich might be traced the walks of Cluist and the voyages of liis apostles ; or the chart, by which might be explained the descents of patriarchal line and the epochs of synchronous his- tory. The spelling-book and the primer would be for- gotten. Another apparatus would appear. The most educated youth could find advantage in its disciphne. The most cultivated method of teacliing would not be here misplaced. The system, always and exclusively ON SAKBATII SCHOOLS. 117 related to the genius of the Christian Sabbath, woukl caiTy the rehgious education of our best famihes to a precision and a finnness, wliich, to speak leniently, it has scarcely yet approached. Hours of the week might be gracefully occupied to agree with the scrip- tural studies of the Holy Day. And there, as in an institution beyond the partialities and intcrniptions of the household, and yet scarcely standing out of the shadow of its eaves, — amidst the generous and inci- ting passions of a collegiate emulation, — might our children command a proficiency and reach a mastery, that would be an aimour of hght, proof against the weapons of infidelity, — and a wing of immortality, soaring above the enticements of the world. Happy homes, when the sabbath sunlight shall rest on them, — no holy office suspended, no benignant influence restrained, witliin their precincts, — which shall send forth their groups to the Christian Seminary as well as to the Christian Temple, — welcoming their return to stead and hearth with fairer smiles and fonder bless- ings ! Very different Sabbath Schools do we hope to see : but far*, ever fai', be the period when their faci- lity shall be disused and their principle be sui'ren- dvrr.d ! / We are no apologists for any evil which may be detected in the administration of the system. We are no bhnd admirers of its too obvious defects. But it is power, and we desire its perfect action. It is infimcy, and we seek its holy growth. There are peculiarities lis (IN SAIlUAfl/ SCHOOLS. iu it whicli ought to n.dcciii it IVoiii the destruction which nwdits the fashion of the hour und the expedient of the age. It deserves a heraldic perpetuity. Public gratitude has not failed to record its bene- ficial influence. Slow as its suffrage commonly is, and in this testimony most reluctant, it is all but universally acknowledged to have been the principal agent of the change, wliich, it is admitted, has taken place in our national manners. Tliis is now a page of unquestioned History. We are a different people. There were opponents of the innovation. They would gladly have preserved the pastimes of village buf- fooneiy and rudeness. They mixed up the national character witli sports of barbai-ous cruelty and strife. Ignorance was the only aliment on wliich such brutal revels could depend. They are well nigh swept away. There were, indeed, senators, who denoimced the change as the depression of public spirit and the breaking down of patriotic bravery ; the confessed means wliich wrought tliat change even the mighty Horsley most unwortliily and unprovokedly assailed. But the encomiasts of that former state of tilings are few, are reserved, ai'e self- ashamed. The enemies of Sabbath-School Instruction are too scattered to band, too imbecile to argue, too abashed to coniront. The senate and the cathedral will never ngiiin ring with these idle declamations. We are bound, in estimating the measure of any national good, not merely to guage the positive merits ON SABBATH SCHOOLS. 119 of that measure, but the collateral benefits. That which can establish for itself a vei-y scanty proof of immediate influence, may often justly claim a lai'ge indii'ect operation. And were we unable to show the rise of a distinct intelUgence, among the commonalty, as the effect of this system, still should we prove greatly in its favour if we could adduce its beneficial bearing on all intellectual improvement. Now "sve are confident of its actual sweep. But there is more than tliis. It has given a universal impulse. Look around -j on the March of Education. How much has it been exalted in its character and enliirged in its compass ! Three results ai-e specially manifest. The first is, the mental elevation of the wealthier classes, which, at no (hstant date, were httlo raised in mental culture above the liind. It was wlien the common people felt the desire, and foi-med the resolve, to leam, that those who are socially superior betook themselves to letters in self-defence. A second consequence was, the abro- gation of that great inequahty of mind which existed in a fonner centuiy. There was a deep abyss divi- ding one rank of the nation from the other. Riches created no such inequahty as did mind. It removed orders farther from each other which were already sufficiently apart. The educated were as a scantling to the uneducated. A true sjTnpathy was impossible. But now no order, as an order, is left in ignorance. And thus knowledge binds ail the members of the commonwealth tofrether. informs tlicni all. and assi- I'ii) ON SAKHA IJf srilUMls milatcs tliuin all. And a third advuntage is, tlie character it lias stamped ajx)!! all education. The grammar-school taught a lore too little popular: every where instruction is now adjusting itself to tlie spirit of the times. Religious instruction was scarcely known in any of those foundations, nor even in the Univer- sities themselves : now no course is endured, even by those who seem scarcely affected by tlieir o^^'n dictum, which is not governed by rehgion. All this is sub- stantial gain to the gi'eat cause of a diffused, impar- tial, and Christian, education. But to what may it be attributed ? The majestic river rolls out of this himible spring. The mighty city has sprung up from tliis hidden quarry. Nor is it unjust to enquire, when we examine the pretensions of any benevolent scheme, what evil is prevented, as well as what good is secured. A popu- lation wliich is unenhghtened, may, for a time, be quiescent. But there is no security for its peaceful, or rather its torpid, habits. In a moment, fear or revenge may lash it into fiuy. A tempest, even at tlie time we suppose, was blaziug upon the neighbour coast. It was of fearful violence and duration. It swept all the mounds of autliorit)', all the ornaments of civihzation, before it. And whence did it burst ? From a people goaded to vengeance by then* wrongs, but a people in every sense most untaught. Theirs was not the reason to imderstand the charm of Uberty or the majesty of law. Theirs was not the viilue to ON SABBATH SCHOOLS. 121 hail the blessedness of civil order and the duty of indi- vidual restraint. No torrent could plunge witli more headlong violence. Doubtless their leaders were more intelhgent and more wicked than themselves. But tliey were congenial instniments. The lowest of the people were but the pack of those cruel hunters, and, cheered by their halloos, bayed in deep cr}' for carnage and for blood. When it was feared that tliis anarchy would inundate our countiy, the first waves were stemmed by its awaking mind. It loved not misrule : it brooked not infidchty : it coveted not massacre. Its heart was stout against such lures as these. If the skirt of the storm went over us, it was but as the sin-inking banner of a flying foe. The lightning played around the conductor of our purest institu- tions with a lambent gleam, its fork having struck, and its bolt having exploded, far away. The Sabbath School System was the salvation of the empire ! It may be said, and not without a colour of jus- tice, that the very ignorant, that the nidest of our mobs, were the most zealous adversaries of certain Fo- reign principles which were once supposed to threaten the health of our national mind, and the stability of our constitutional existence. A distinction must needs be made wliich appeals for its truth to histoiy. The lawlessness of those principles it required a true, a religious, virtue to resist. They were resisted. Yet the true resistance was not indiscriminating. To whatever guilty excesses those principles luul led. iIk^ 122 ON SAJIJJATII SCHOOLS. struggle, which called them into life, wfts most noble. Never had people such a gi'ound of stem resentment. They could scarcely strike, but some oppressor fell, some chain Hliivercd. It seemed the birth-throe of liberty. 8(j it would have been, had that people been christianised in their aims and associations. But there were witliin our shores those who hated tlie liberty. Vituperation was heaped unsparingly upon it, and was purposely confounded with all tliat had stained its professions. The fact really was, that none of those evil deeds had been done in the cause and vindication of freedom, but that noblest blessing was put forth as the covering and palliation of those e\il deeds. High, holy, heavenly, hberty, was to be crushed. Truth was to be warped. Conscience was to be di'agooned. Who should assist ? Was it a people, finn to their ancestral immunities, theii" free- bom rights, who now rose for this foul persecution ? The conspirators could not enlist allies like these. Liberty was no less tlieir love, because of their disgust of enormities committed in its name. No, no, not these were chosen nor could be found : but the lowest of the low, the ^•ilest of the vile. A caitiff horde answered the summons, the offscouring of all tilings, fi'om dens, from prisons, fi'om stews. They knew no cause, tliey recognised no principle, — no enthusiasm bore them away but that of conflagration and plunder and blood. These were the mffian hands wliich were lifted for every work of destmction. Hirelings and ON SABBATH SCHOOLS. 123 mercenaries, they would have changed their course to any other for a larger ruin and a licher brihc. A more trenchant sarcasm upon political dissimulation and religious hypocrisy cannot be imagined, than the trimipeted zeal of these incendiaries and marau- ders in the cause of order and the semce of Chris- tianity ! In this apology for the system, we must not forget that a sound Biblical education, which nothing but tliis system could have most partially secured, is of imperative value to our national greatness. Unkno'^Ti to us be the leveUing feeling in respect of nations, equally with that which regards individuals ! We love our countiy. We would exalt it to the truest gloiy. We pray for its preeminence. But then we little reck of arms. At any rate, we have known a surfeit of such fame. We would sedulously cultivate the arts, but their perfection could not constitute us illustrious. We must dig a deeper foundation for a lasting cele- brity. Virtue can only make us free, freedom can only make us gi'eat, rehgion can only make us vir- tuous. The column, however trophied and figured, cannot stand without tliis plinth. Tlic sliield of the fullest orb and richest device should be distributed into its quarters by the Cross ! The national chai'acter must ever depend upon the free, independent, use of the Scriptures. Tliis is strictly a Protestant principle. It cannot cohere with Koman- isni. Whenever such right l)y that system seems to I2i ON SAIWIAIH s(jnooi,s. be allowed, it is with an evasiveness whieh makes us (lonl)t its sincerity, it is with a supervision which makes us suspect its good will, it is with a reserve wliich nmkes us distmst its truth. No vernacular has it catholically sanctioned. Diocesan and provin- cial license there may be, but then it is at the plea- sui'c of the spiritual director of evei-y licentiate. Tlie Vulgate is the only translation formally permitted, and this has long since taken the place, and usurped the authority, of those Originals which it so often dis- torts and misrepresents. Noav, go tlirough the lands of Europe. See those where the Bible is openly, securely, avowedly, read : in other words, those wliich have embraced the principles of the Keformation. Their peoples are strong and noble in their doings and their virtues. The climate, the mountain scenen,' and atmos- phere, may inspke in others the love of hbeity, — patri- otism may bind them to their native soil by a passion wliich is very disease, — but T}to1 and Switzerland, ready enough to repel the invader, crouch beneath their own yoke, and giind to their own superstition. Look at the German Mind. Luther's Version of the Holy Volume formed the language of that country. It gave freedom to the studies of its universities. It awoke the genius of its wide-spread family. It burst the spell wliich had oppressed it from the time of the Empire. The predictions of Tacitus would never have othei^wise been fulfilled. Never, otherwise, would its bimded nations, — with the Ivrc and the sword, — have driven ON SABBATH SCHOOLS. 125 fi-om their bosom the mihtai7 despotism which soiiglit to draw them into itself. Its mid transport and ImiTah of hatred to oppression had never else been heard. It is tliis which confers self-respect on man. He is in constant communication with tlic truth of God. Nothing stands between him and it. His mind is filled with its noble images, its mighty conceptions, its triumphant hymns, its tender strains. He catches its inspiration. He imbibes its largeness. It is tlio Book which makes man brave and free. The inlay- ing and infusion of it in liis soul tm'n him to another man. Its saving blessings apart, its general power is mighty. It reflects itself in the noblest efforts of human genius. Poetiy, eloquence, music, literature, art, borrow unconsciously, if not directly, from its wealth. The Bible is the nation's sun, reflected when not seen. It is the same to the individual. He sits at the feet of no priest. He stipulates not for pardon witli liis fellow-womi. His soul, bowed before the Deity, is seen in the attitude of seraphs: but it does not stoop to man. It is erect in its o^vn riglits and prerogatives. What w'ould our national character be, wei'e the Bible taken from us ? Were it a sealed book ? Could we only peruse it at the will of a con- fessor ? How changed would be oui* manners and our feelings ! The interdict would paralyse all tliat was noble and erect! It would be the reconstniction of that spiritual tyranny before which the iuwurd inde- pendence of tlie spirit droops! Tt is in vnin to say \2I'> ON SAHHATII SCHOOLS. 1 1ml llio mind olour nation 1ms been most ubject when most. ivHpiouH. It was then at a piteh for grave and solemn arl)itrement, if it saw itself beset by artifice and overwhelmed witli wrong. The men who loved the Divine Word were, in the hour of their countiy's peril, the men of steel. They sought peace, but they knew that it might be too deai'ly purchased. They hated war, but they knew that it was a better alternative than submission to injustice and collusion with dishonour. Reluctantly tliey called the sword from its scabbard, but, when drawn, they spared not the quiuTcl. They stood for all that is dear in affection find great in prin- ciple. They urged a feai'less way. No Italian monk could quell them. They had trodden down the wretched pleas of power and impiety. They reached the trae heroic. The Sword of the Spirit flashed from their hands, and they were invincible. Their soul gathered all dint and courage. They could resolve. They could resist. They could die. Tmth to them was all. Life had no end, death no rewai'd, but its de- fence. Reverse tliis scene. Bring back the age when Revelation was proscribed. Once more set the ban upon it. Chain it to the cloister. Immiu'e it in the cell. And you shall see the fawning upon pretension, the abandonment to dictation, in om* countrymen, again. It has appeared, wherever the Bible has been prohibited. A pseudo-Protestantism has mimicked Vatican expurgation. The Bible, we are told, is only capable of proof us the Church — hke some Algebraic ON SABBATH SCHOOLS. 127 unknown quantity — warrants it, and is only capable of being understood as the Church interprets it. Its circulation has been scorned and opposed. And what is the result ? These are the men who repine at t)ur liberty, long for the stagnancy of public thought and opinion, and would sell their country to the basest dotage of superstition, and to the most iron gi*asp of oppression. The use of reUgious fonnulee in the Sabbatli in- struction of young persons, has not found the same favour with our times, as it did with ages upon which we ai'c wont to look back with respect and admiration. The catechism is supposed to cramp the enquiring mind, to predestine unjustly the ideas and opinions of the future intellect. But does not oral teacliing sup- pose that there is the eai'ly initiation of the child into certain sentiments? that there arc the recommended and enforced sentiments of them who teach them ? Wliether it be wrong thus to lead captive the unformed mind, to anticipate and press its future decisions, will be differently adjudged. They who attach little importance to rehgious speculation, who maintain its indifference, however just, and its innocence, however erroneous, will decry it as illihti-al. They who believe tliat truth is one, that it is inconvertible, that it alone can sanctify the heart, that it may be ascertained, that for a descriptive assertion of it they ought wilhngly to die, will not shrink iVmn sudi a cliarge. If Chris- tianity be a yet unsettled problem, tlie uncertain gloss 12H ON SAIUJATJI .S(;ilO(Jl,S. (JUf^lit not to 1)(; imposed. I5ut if millions know wliiit it is, luul nnanimously declare its meaning, — if mil- lions, in eircumstanccs and under influences the most different, declare tliat they have arrived at this eonelu- sion ill llie same way, — then do we possess the moral demonstration that it is detemiinable, that it is a doc- trine of fixed certainty. If it be not, if we be left in necessary suspense, if the most we know of it is but a guess, faith is presumption, martp'dom is fanati- cism. " Make not thyself over wise ; why shouldst thou destroy thyself?" But we have not so learned Christ. We know whom we have believed. We can teach, therefore, with all authority. We can prove out of the Scriptures tliat these things are so. We digest them into summaries. They are easily remem- bered. They cleave to the mind in its farthest years. It is still objected, that the dogmas ai'e often beyond the understanding of the young. But are not the rules of grammar and the postulates of geometry ? Yet these must be well stored in the memoiy first, and then experience apphes them. The cliild learns, it may be with httle apprehension of the pui-port, certain definitions of doctrinal tnith. These ai'e only now in the custody of his recollection. Eeason soon swells as a flowing tide : the channels are prepared to receive it. A stronger light breaks in upon the mind : these indented characters stand fortli in its iiTadiation. A precise proposition is already adjusted, a module of the tnitli, enabling tlio judgment to give it a more ready UN SAHI'.ATII SCIIOULS. 129 })ercepli(jn, and to retain it in a more compressed fonn. In after life, these catechetical answers come to us, not as early lessons only, but as ripe tlioughts, as weighty reflections, as echoing oracles, — binding youth and age together in the sound words whicli memory keeps dis- tinct, and which faith makes holy. And when such epitomes of the Christian verity are authenticated by proofs cited from Scripture, the true principle is avouched. What is it ? The words of men are worth- less and unbinding, but as they are founded on the word of God. Tlie child is directly taught to h)ok into his Bible for the reason and sanction of whatever lie repeats. It does not, however, follow, that there should be no sjTiopsis of the gospel. Convenience is much consulted by the practice. The vacant mind is filled. The thoughtless mind is anvsted. The indif- ferent mind is impressed. And the advantages are not all immediately seen. The ideas of men, too much engrossed in other things, are preserved in clearness and consistency : whih? a reason of the hope that is in them may Ijo more compactly and more pointedly assigned. The devoteeism of the Romish system finds its principal support in this (>arly disciphne. The purest Protestant churches, and in their best periods, have always made it their chief care. The I'lpiscopalian community of this country strenuously insists on it as the preliminary to all learning, and as the condition of .•ill pvivilci^c Time was w'hcn the Noin'oiitovniists would have disowmd the fiiiiiilv which K \'M) ON RAHHATir SCHOOLS. lived in its neglect. And we Imve admimble treatises for this end. Sometimes tliey iire fV)und in large vo- Innies, tis in llunmionds Prnetieal Catechism, — the Chnrelimnn's boast. Sometimes they arc put into more didactic foiiiis, as in tlie Assembly's Catecliism, — the inheritance and glory of the Evangehc Separatist. Of tliis latter, it may be affirmed, that it is the least, of all snch works, sectarian ; while it is earnest in the theology of a particular type, all questions which aflfect the rites of worship and the schemes of poht)' are not so much as named. Its plan of sustaining itself by scriptural references, whether they be satis- factory or not, must be approved by all. There is no feature of this system more beautiful, none which renders its highest modification more worthy of pei-petuity, than the necessaiy temper of its discipline. We need not contemplate tlie ordinary class and the common teacher, to understand it. The tone, the manner, the look, are not the common auxi- liaries. It is not parental power, where nature has infixed its original behest. It is not professional au- tliority, the transference of that piimary law to tliose who stipulate a secular remuneration. In the house- hold, there is oftentimes the respect of an unreasoning deference. In tlie academy, there is as frequently the submission to an overaweing dictate. In part, both these examples may be lamented ; yet are they in part necessai-y to the constitutions in wliich they are found. But this is a labour of love. The little scholar is not ON SABRATII SCHOOLS. 131 thrown upon the teticher as the child on the parent, nor is bound to him as the pupil to the preceptor, — uU the ties which attach him are voluntaiT and ami- able. It is the voice of the Saviour in his disciples, Suffer the little children to come unto me I He lays liis hands upon tliem, through the hands of his people. In, no other instance can instruction wear this form. It is the disinterestedness wliich, properly speaking, no parent can evince. This is a tender adoption. It mav be violated. But who does not feel that in sucli a scene, the hai'sh accent, the frowning brow, the tlu'eatened chastisement, are untrue ? Do they not jar, like profane interruptions? Why may not the incomparable kindness of the system be prolonged, when its eai'Uer and cruder stages are weU nigh for- gotten, and when its capabilities shall be developed in their perfect matuiity ■' And ere we yield to the outcry against the system, as though because it is not adequate to the wants and deserts of the people, it is therefore inefficient, we must be permitted to affirm and to argue that, without it, all other endeavours would be ciippled. We have shown the impulse it lias given them. Let it be withdrawn, and a main prop of our popular intelli- gence would be snapped asunder. That intclhgence is not small when compared with ibnner times. The (qualification for municipal honours would not now be concedt'd to tin- skill ol' counting :i I'rw hob-nails. Tlic cjiijiicitv to read would siiirccly now be decnit'd l;j'^ UN sAHiJAUi SCHOOLS. 11 clerical distinction, worthy of a spccitil benefit. 'J'lie alteration of tlic solar style would not now be exe- crated as a pilfering of time from the people. The story of the apparition now finds but little chance of credit. Stoi-ms blow, and no one suspects that the poor bereft and stricken widow of the village has raised them. No other expedient than the Sub- bath school would meet the case of the childxen of the needy. It is gratuitous. There is none other that ought to be. It begins with the formation of the mind. It disdains not even the earliest years. It selects those hours wliich poverty can exclusively call its own. It wins confidence in cu'- cumstances where it is rarely felt. It blends many intellects in a way very favoui'able to theii* excite- ment and invigoration. The rich and the poor meet together, and their mutual jealousies are allayed. There goes forth a constant influence which works in every channel of life. Prejudice and superstition lose hold after hold. The deep, broad, shadows, wliich ages had accumulated and condensed, break and flee away. Great questions enter at this humble postern into the recesses of the pubHc mind. Com- prehensive principles are evoked from the least of all seeds, which thus may fall into the infant heart ; and these rise up for general knowledge, hke the resistless spread of a forest. How many have recorded their obligations ! How many have dignified their bene- factors ! The great, the noble, ones of excellence ON SAHKATH SCHOOLS. HiS and usefulness, have been bom here ! It was the drawing forth of the axle which became a chariot of triumph ! It was the exercise of the stripUng war- rior, who has been destined to seize the gai'hind of victoi7 ! The Christian ministry would be maimed of its best instniment, of its right arm, were tliis specific co-operation abolished. To the poor is the gospel preached. To enter into the simplest statements of truth, some forethought, some preparation of ideas, is indispensable. The vacant mind, though the epi- thet might too well intimate the absence of religious conceptions, docs not exist. It is full of error mid misapprehension. It has yet to leiun the first prin- ciples of the doctrine of Christ. In it is the mix- tm'e of infantile ignorance and masculine enmity. Happy is the facility which tliis system affords us in beginning with the cliild ; liis heart is tender and supple. What prepossessions are escaped ! What dreams are unknown ! The pastor may lienceforth assume much of liistory, of doctrine, of principle. The child is wise unto salvation. The whole quality of instruction may be raised. The man of God is encouraged and impelled. He must feed his flock with knowledge. He cannot slight even the childi-en before him, — excusing his carelessness by their igno- rance, or his apathy by their unconcern. The Sab- bath school generally supplies the sanctuary with its most intelligent hearers I'M <»N SAHI'.AIII SCIIMOI.S. 'I'lic Cliristiiiii Cliuicli would no 1(;hs sutler in the al)stnu;li()ii of this its Imppiest iippendiigo. It lias drawn I'ortli iiit(j modest light some of the most active and lioly spirits of the age. A peculiar adaptation has been elicited, a mastery of the intricacies which it is so difficult to unfold, a penetration into the motives which it is so common to overlook : the dis- covery of these sacred talents were worth all the laboui's and charges wliich have fi'om the beginning been iucuiTed. Here has the future pastor first felt the inspiring power moulding him to an unknown work. Here has the missionary, the future bearer of the keys which shall unlock the word of Ufe to hun- ibeds of millions and disimprison those hundreds of milUons themselves, first received the mantle and the burden of his unessayed cntei-prise. Suppress the Sabbath school, and the energies of a people ai-e benumbed : a principal scope for action and devote- mcnt is cut off: the heart of the church beats lan- guidly and heavily. The present advantages of this order of schools are ah*eady gi'eat : but liitherto they ai'e cliiefly re- deeming/. That is now done in them wliich should precede and qualify the entrance of even- child : that now is required which should be done at home. We, however, anticipate an immense improvement on the system. That improvement shall be but its proper growth. The beginning was small : the latter end shall greatly increase. Instead of the drudgery of OS SA15BATH SCHOOLS. 13") teaching and learning the barest inchoates of know- ledge, the Httle community shall become the Bible class and be addicted to a Bible catechesis. The youth of our best families and of our pious members shall be in constant attendance. Whatever belongs to a scriptural education, may, at least, be groimded here ; and a sufficiency of direction in regard to other reading may be easily supplied to those who enjoy the leisure of the week, so as to perfect it. The criticism of the sacred text, — the history of codices, — the collation of manuscripts, — the external, intrin- sic, and expeiimental, evidences of Christianity, — exe- gesis, generalization, — the cavils and objections of infidehty, — tlie serious, tliough easily suraiountaliK-, difficulties, together with the presimiptive arguments iU'ising out of those difficulties, in genealogy and chronology, — all may bo laid open to a liigher cul- ture of the juvenile mind. It is, therefore, another idea which the Sabbath school awakens among the churches in the northern part of our island, and of the Transatlantic shores. They would not abrogate this institution, but the model- thought, the archetype, is fai* more exalted tliau oiii- own. Pastors, deacons, the most gifted, the most zealous, take their part. It is an intel- lectual labour which none think unwt)rthy of them. The plan is not only inteiTogatory and suggestive. While it awakens a sense of mental power and acti- vity, it puts in requisition lioth tiic knowledge of the l.'Ui ON SAlilJAIII S(MI(K)|,S. iiistrucLur, iind liis ii[)iitii(lr of loiivt'ying it. He may not sliiinbcr. He <;imiiot idle. Tlie rcli^nons ency- clopiKcliii niust lie explore and teaeli. And is not this the higliest style of ('lirislinn, and (.'liristian minister, that he shall he mighty in the Scriptiu*es ? Why have we monmed in our day over such revolt- ing defections from principle ? Why is the rule of judgment and obedience even now so little settled ? Why the present contests of opinion '.' Why reason- ings the most forced and inconsequential ? The Bible is neglected. The Bible is displaced. It must be restored to its supremacy. It must be allowed its incontrovertible authority. It must be entlu'oned in its all-sufficient independence. Aid not this oracle by incantation. Help not tliis sun by satellite. Sup- port not this heaven by axis. But what shall give the Holy Volume tliis rightful vindication ? Does not every influence of hiunan systems work in an adverse direction ? Is it not a tendency of our fallen nature always to seek the satisfaction of itself with the infe- rior and unworthy imitation ? For the " fountain of living waters," do we not substitute the vain likeness of a " broken cistern ? " Instead of a full day-light, do we not " compass ourselves about with spai-ks ? " So have we disparaged the Word. All the plagues of schism and heresy, of eiTor and infidelity, have come upon us for tliis sin. We " hold fast deceit, we refuse to return." There is, nevertheless, a power in action, which shall, we beheve, "' restore all things." UN SABBATH SCHOOLS. I,'i7 It is that educatory regiiueu of which Scriptiu'e is the rule and end. Bible knoAvledge is the knowledge which we are most desirous may increase. Bible truth is the truth whose promotion we principally implore. Tliis alone can save. We see in it, also, the only spirit of an enhghtened philosophy, and the only basis of a sound legislation. It is the catholicon for all pohtical, as well as moral, ills. There is no lever to upheave the sunken nations but tliis. The Sabbath school system may well then be our boast. Like some gi'cat principle of nature, incredibly simple and certain, it is only so much the more subhme, that it sei-ves where all else fails, and achieves that of which eveiy thing beside despairs. They wlio " call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and honourable," — who say not " what a weariness it is," — who deprecate eveiy abridgment of its moments and eveiy relaxation of its decencies, — will hold to a system wiiich is its truest acknowledg- ment and best defence. A child so educated will not be easily induced to profane it. Instead of secularising it, the school, which takes its name, causes it to be remembered and liallowcd. If this country b(! ever (loomed to fall into tlir voi'tcx ol' tliat desecration which marks the Continental Sabbath, — and there are conspicuous leanings to the doctrine which would abet it, as well as palpable confonnities to the practice which would acclimate it, — the iiistnictiou wliicli it identifies and blesses must first be overt lirown. 'riien. I.'IH ON S.Mtl'.ATII SCIKjOI.S. indeed, its worHliij) umy be speedily forsaken, and its sanetity be profaned. That sign between heaven and eartli may be blotted out. Its deep-fixed reverence in the public niiiid will lie laughed to seom. A wliolc Snhbath, the only possible Sabbath, the Sabbath of hoth Covenants, will he repealed. Antichrist may then hold its revel ! Tractarianism will have gsuned its passion ! The Sabbath of Laud and Butler will burst in all its irreUgion and dissipation over our land ! Then for the Moms-dance on the common and the Pollva in the hall ! Ye who shudder at the thought of such a wreck, stand forth the uncompromising assertors and guardians of this best Discipline of our Nation's Youth and Country's Posterity ! It cannot be doubted, that the spirit, peculiar to this institute, has produced the most beneficent eflfects. If its inevitable reaction were only to be viewed, there is no result of a present kind more to be desired. The nobility of the land have been seen occupied in the instniction of the children of then* poorer neigh- bours : merchants have gathered round them the oflf- spring of their artizans and workmen. Was it pos- sible that no conciliatory influence should thus be borne to the mind of tenants and servants ? Was not the distance of the paities for a Httle while reduced and shaded down for mutud good will ? Did not afla- bility and condescension banish discontent and surly malignity ? Would not both paitics profit in these passages of confidence ? Must not station and rank ON SAHJ5ATII SCHOOLS. 139 lose their Imuglity bearing ? Must nut poverty iiud depression reject their A\Tongfiil suspicion ? While the nation has been divided into so many factious and convulsed with so many dissensions, it is no small good, that the rising generation have been placed under a system wliich gives the most obvious contra- diction to the brawl of the demagogue, the insinua- tion of the sceptic, and the scorn of the churl. And this influence has a two-fold direction. Tlic manners of the uneducated parent are softened as he discerns the gentle bearing of his ofispring. He feels that the new-awakened sense of truth and right, now set before liim, constrains liim to caution and self- restraint. A cliild's rebuke is a smiting thing. He cherishes a deeper interest and hope in liis linnilv, and if he speali foolishly of their attainments and their prospects, it is an ambition we have little heail to check. His happiness is now witliin liis house- In »ld. He provides for it and tends it. It is his chamied circle. It is his garnered store. He rises in the scale of humanity. He is from the moment of his first desire for the true welfare of his cliildren, a useful citizen. He is another man. The State has ill ]iiiii a support; unseen, but importiint, us tlie foun- dation's most ludden stone. His influence is ciuiied onward to an extent that omniscience only can define. From that purified fountain of domestic ordci- and intelligence, a downward rivci'. slill pnrrr than its source, goes to far distant times and ^^^(^ui'rations. 140 ON KAiJUAin schools. Tlif i)jii-cntiil lovrimiii sliiill iissuiiic ii higher suered- nesH. All the domestic charities sludl hloom int(i richer beauty. iMich nation shall bo n family, and cacii land shall be a home. And thus some liumble individual may become an honoured founder, he may " become a great and mighty nation, " gi^'ing laws to them and ruling them from his uni. The light may be thrown upon the remotest period, and be reflected from an unborn state ! " One generation shall tell Thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts ! " It is, doubtless, an inferior view of Revelation, — but one not unworthy, one not inapposite, — that it is the perfect rule of all social obhgations. It stands the impartial umpire between high and low, rich and poor. The condition of life cannot exist wliich it does not aiTange. Its deontolog)' is most exactly measured. Were the ai'gimient to need it, we might remind any whom the community most shghts or aggrieves, that this is their sui'est staff and broadest buckler. We addi'ess another class. Many place all cixii \iitue in subordination. Let them be assured that the Sacred Volume cannot oflend them, save when their o^nti tenns are unjust and arbitrary. It teaches youth to rise up in honour before age. It inculcates submission to authority. It ui'ges respect to dignities. It upholds the claim of masters. It inspires content- ment under calamity. It awakens gi-atitude for kind- ness. Let the children of the poor be trained in its ox SABBATH SCHOOLS, Ml counsels and precepts, and no real interest of society can remain unbenefited : order will find, in the opera- tion of tliis system, its best security, — property, its safest bulwark, — and law, its tmest reverence ! They who tliink of Revelation as only desemng a superficial perusal, will except to our statements. They can only wonder that we should place it as a theme worthy of continuous interest and research. But we know that it is " exceeding broad." Its " secrets of wisdom are double tt) that wliicli is." We see in it immortal fruit. Here lies, we beheve, the comer-stone of all those principles, the nidiment of all those discoveries, wliich shall beautify our eternal existence. The " sapngs of this Book" are not for- gotten in heaven. It is there tliat they are set in their brightest hght, and that they are unfolded in their largest development, and that they are tran- scribed in their purest record. The child who is taught to read, and to understand its simpler por- tions now, cames in his hand the words of eternal life. He who has entered upon the tme examina- tion of it, cannot fail to perceive how its essential truths may enduringly engage the human mind, nor to acquire the taste which rejects any lower theme. It is the " b('(/it)niur/ of wisdom;" Inil tlistant worlds shall be its ever-chmbing steps, and eternal ages its ever-glorious wa)Tnarks. Every other species of p()])uliir ('(liiciitiun will Inil to promote tli(^ gveiit cuds of socitil iiuproveinent l)ut 112 ON SAHMATII SCHOOLS. (lull wliirli lias its biisis in Scripture, mid its principle ill l)('nt'Yolt'nij(\ Yoii Imvo to j^'ain the confidt-iicc ol" lIr- poor, us well as to instruct them. The chains of Xerxes might us easily bind the rush of tlie Helles- pont, as you can sliackle the popular opinion and feeling. Go and win the nation's heart. Go with the Sacred Volume in your hand, with the tranrpiil atmos- phere of the sacred day m'ound you, your lips breath- ing prayer and distilling knowledge, leading your young catechumens into the Christian Temple, — and long arrears of vengeance shall be cancelled, and a thousand "WTongs shall at once be redressed. Only can you thus mould your people. They are tract- able to light and love. Such a people ai'e worthy to be respected, to be venerated : never need they to be feared. This is the palladium of our national existence, the rapng out of our national glory, the building up of our national sti'cngth. " Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times."* * How little this system was understood, how uuduly it was estimated, at first, may be seen in Winter Evenings or Lucubra- tions, by Vicesimus Knox, vol. i. 48, " On the Beneficial Efl^ects of Sunday Schools." The Article is intended to be laudatory, — but it is " faint praise." CHAPTER VII. ON FOREIGN SYSTEMS AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. If any thing could biing to light the deep ignorance of France, — the reputed nation of intellectunl \iva- city and refinement, it was her Revolution. Instead of being the result of the strong expansion of mind, it failed from the want of it. Knowledge would have preseiTed all its blessings and prevented all its cala- mities. Never had a people a juster gi'ound of quarrel, even to the last appeal: liberty has not ceased to moiu-n its bitter discomfiture by the betrayal of their folly. They threw away the noblest chance ever given to a nation of striking down tyranny throughout the world. What must have been the mental debasement of a people where the poissarde and the cliiftbnnier were often the principal leaders, and the lowest faux- bourg sent forth their daily report of the national destinies ! It is in vain to bhmie the illuminati. Great as was their guilt, this was not tlicii- (I()inL,^ iioi' any result of their influence.* There wore, however, ' See Mounier, with the remarks of Lord Jeffrey on it in the first Number of the Edinburgh Review ; as also those of Lonl Brougham in the 3ril vi>l. of his Political Sketches. I I ( (j\ i()i;i;i(i\ s\si KMs Htatesnicii iiml itiihlifisls wlio saw tin* caiisf oi' fiiilmc. — men ol' iK'nevolcncc and virtue, who iildiorrrd the hideous crimes which stiiined that gi'Ciit event, crimes that hnve for ever rf)bl)ed it of all authority as an example, und that foi- linll' a century have served for a plea to strengthen the most iron despotisms. These patriots saw that education had alone l)een wanting to have given freedom, — rational, constitutional, legal- ised, — to mankind. Early as 1794, the Convention passed a decree for the estabUslmient of iiormdl schools, the first use, we beUeve, of the word in this connection.* The schoolmaster was therefore to he created. Napoleon in 1802 estabUshed the EcoLES PRiMAiRES. Education could not prosper where the conscription counted out the rising race : the youth of that empire was di'afted for the carnage of fiu' distant battle fields. The reinstatement of the ancient dynasty was unfavourable to schools which were strictly secular ; and more reUgious seminaries well nigh absorbed them. Notwithstanding, the Mi- nister of Public Instniction took them under his care and direction : and they still received a support * " La Convention s' etait impose'e la mission de reg^ne'r^r la Fiance ; elle proc^da par la destruction de ce qui existait, arec 1* intention de tout reconstruire sur des bases plus solides et plus larges. . . . Mais si grande que fut sa puissance, elle s' en exage'ra quelquefois 1' entendue, et 1' experience nous a appris (let-on reten- tlssante et profonde) que s' il suftit d' un decret on d' une loi pour aliattre et desorganizer, il faut d' autres moyens pour i-eedifier." — Eooles Rovales de Franco. Par Alexandre do Saillet. p. illG. AND MEANS Ol' EDrCATION. 1 iT) fi'om the natiuniil reveiuic. But superstition was in tliis aflair too confident, and the second Revolu- tion opened with a prospect, bright and auspicious, lor national education. With the principle of such government interference, we are not now called to deal : facts alone concern us. The present Monarch — in exile himself a teacher of youth — put liimself at the head of the instructors of Ids people ; and in the memorable law of June 2G, 1833, he demands tlie presentation of a triennial report, to himself person- ally, of all these Elementaiy Schools. In tlie return offered by M. Villemain, we find the following parti- culars. Thirty-three thousand and ninety communes, out of the whole number of thirty-seven thousand two hundi'cd and ninety-five, have now these primary schools. The children admitted to them amount to 3,000,000. During the past five years, ^1,200,000. have been spent in building or purchasing school rooms. There arc also many classes for adults. These include 68,500 persons, who repair to them in the evenings, after daily labour, crowding from the cluimp and the atelier, — and during the hours of the Sab- bath. There are 555 Infant schools, beautifully called Salles D'Asyle, — which receive a total of 51,000 scholars. Each commune must, for itself, or in conjunction with others, form one of these primai-y schools. The admission is gi-atuitous in all these communal establishments, where poverty cannot aflbrd the ordiiiarv terms, wliii li arc \eiy low. F'aili citizen L I K) ON FOKKffJN SVSTKMS liiiH II It'^'iil ri^'lil to t'litcr Ilis diildreii. 'I'lic Iviicli ers obtiiin smiill slipcnds of about i'^O. Tliese an; increased according to the number of the pupils and the wealth of the district. There are also higher scliools, les ecoles superi^ures, and many scholars pass from tlie one to the other. The Roman Ca- tholic Religion, as that of the majority, is taught. Special Schools exist for Protestants, in which there is declared the iiillest liberty, save that there is the same inspection of them by the Prefects, who, gene- rally holding the popular faith, can scarcely be wel- come visitants or impartial judges. One provision is certainly liberal. Eacli school is under the maire, a municipal council of twelve, the cure, the common magistrate, and the Protestant pastor, if there be any. These are subject to the control of a similar body of the orondissement, and that one to that of the depai'tmcnt. Tliis is superintended by the repre- sentative of the king. The funds for these schools are compulsoiy, but only according as there is need. The conmiunes are to avail themselves of any local revenue, and of any donations or bequests for that end. Then they may levy, contributions fonciere, personnelle, et mohiliere.'* If there be deficiency after all, it must be supplied from the national exche- quer. The attendance is i-ohaitari/. The consciences of the parents are consulted in all that regiu'ds the * For all expenses of rent, of the child's education, and of school furniture. ANlJ MEANS Ul- KbLX'ATlON. 117 religious education of their eliildren. That enhght- ened educationist and statesman, to wliom we have referred, says in his report : " This suhject has given rise to no serious difficulty. The mixed schools, — namely, those made up of pupils ol' various persua- sions, have answered well ; but sepai'ate schools have been specially nifdntained for the legally recognised dissenting minority of a community, when proper rea- sons have been shown for it, and when there were means to do so. Thus, in 1810, wliile there were 28,818 schools for Roman Catholics, there were also 077 for Protestants, 81 for Jews, and 2059 of a mixed character. " The simultaneous method of tuition is at present the favourite, to the rapid abandonment of the individual and mutual. Laborde claims the invention, but it is a mere copyism of the British system. The adult schools depend most strictly upon voluntary support : none are taxed for them. They are countenanced by government, but are directed by that class of persons who possess both lay and ecclesiastic character, — religious, but not coinobitic, — the sa-urs and the freres. It is supposed, but is not stated, thai these schools ai*e all registered and placed under general supei-vision. Tlie teachers of the elementary schools are 62,859. Thry are all examined in tlicir qualifications, whe- ther stipendiai7 or not, and aiv not suflered to hold the station without h re ret d' iiiKfrurtioii. The model schools are 79, in which the more proficient 1 l'"^ ON FORK ION SVKTKMS cliildnii, iiitciidrd lo he teachers, iire received fnjin the priiniii'y ones, imd iire kept three years. The discipline is very severe, and if any of these in didiicti(r training he careless and negligent, they are quickly dismissed. It is impossihle to see such a system in operation, whatever we may tliink of its basis, without admiring its arrangement and acknow- ledging its influence. To this appai'atus may be added a higher order of education, — in 4G Royal Colleges, having 18,097 students; in 287 Communal Colleges, with 20,854 students; wliile £80,000. were paid in 1842 towards their expenses. It is calculated, however, that the third of the population, at present, can neither read nor write.* In Germany, education has found its favourite theatre, and thi'ougliout the compass of that great countiy it has advanced with gigantic strides. The cradle of the lleformation, that true sera of popular knowledge, it might be expected to furnish specimens of mental power and culture. And tliere is an ear- nestness, a heart, an inborn life, in all it does. A closer examination may sometimes (lisajipoint. — like the Shadow-Spectre of its Hartz, the Avild imd the romantic of its intellect may disappear. It still retains the wondeiful, and there is a course of deve- lopment wliich points to a glorious futm-e. Its * See the Public and Domestic Economy in Prance, by the Editor of Galignani's New Paris Guide. Also, Chambers' Infor- mation for the People, 1835. AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. 149 Scholarly Burschdom is itself a great type and influ- ence. It is a confederacy, a fascis, against tyranny. It is an adolescence of mind bursting out against prejudice and prescription. It is the sacred youth wliich guards its country and would liasten its age. Its folly and fanaticism is often sulhciently appa- rent. Yet there is strength in such a sodahty. There is certain success in such a cause. The enthusiasm cannot be lost. While it exists, woe to the traitor and to the spoiler I Invasion aud pei*fidy cannot live before it ! It is knowledge encited by patriot- ism, warmed by braveiy, and refined by sentiment ! It is a thermal spring, like those of its own land, which no season nor accident can freeze or thmi- nisli ! But it is witli its humbli- plans of national education that we must now content oiu'selves. We will put the statistics of this matter into the foiTU of question and answer: — What j)roj)ortiou of the population can read and write ? The proportion in the whole population of chil- dren, attending the public or parish schools, is as one in sia^ or seven. In the lloman Cathohc states, where they ai'e generally only under instruction IVoia six to twelve years of age, the proportion is less than in the Protestant, where education is earned fonvard until fourteen and fifteen years. At least, 5,000,000 attend school, about an equal nimiber of boys aud «aris: in Prussia alone there nrc i>,000,000 in 22.000 {!'){) ON rOUKIGN SYSXrCMS schools. Vci7 fbw villiigus can \n- found witlir)Ul Olio; unci even in mountainous districts, wlicre tlie inhabitants are necessarily scattered, proper rej,aila- tions arc enforced to prevent any serious neglect. No villages are suffered to have one in common, if distant more than two miles from each other, in a flat country, or than one mile, in a wold : they can- not consolidate if there be marsh or river impassable at any season : if the number be too great, namely, more than a hundred scholars to a teacher, the union is disallowed. Perhaps in this monarchy, the number of children under instruction reaches the most perfect figure. Take its population at 12,720,f^23 souls, the report of its last census. Of this number tliere were, in 1831, 4,767,072 children up to the age of full fourteen years. Now the calculation is, that out of one hundred children, from one day old to fourteen years of age, about forty-tliree ai-e between seven and fourteen years, — which is the appointed period for attendance. Tliis table gives us the sum of 2,043,030 in com'se of instruction. The official returns are very complete as to the efficiency of the law : for in that very ycai-, there were, 2,021,421, leaving a deficiency of only 21,609 : a deficiency we may easily suppose to be made up of childi'en, imbecile, aristocratic, in foreign schools, or in native private establislimcnts. The number is, therefore, generally taken from the estimates of Prussia, which is deemed the true index, or tlic just ratio, of insti'uction to population, — o/ic AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. 151 in six nj)07i the whole. Tliese can all road ami write, or are learning to read and write. Does education in the free schools embrace (jene- rat elements of knowledge ? Instruction, except in veiT particular- cases, is not confined to reading and writing, — these humbler acquirements are thought much more of in Britain and France. In Germany they are esteemed very inadequate to improve the mind or morals. Indeed, so universal are these branches of knowledge, that in Bohemia, beggar cliildren are commonly found versed in them. In all the free schools, aritlmietic and general leaiTiing, togetlier with rehgion, must be taught. There are several hundred Inl'ant schools, for the reception of destitute and vagrant cliildren, and of those detected in venial offences, where all these instructions are enjoined. In most of the States, education is not limited to the legal course and period of the fourteenth year : it then takes anu- ther form, the rehgious training by pastors in the churches on the Sabbath and the Festivals. What is taught of religion } Tliis is considered the first thing in the universal system. Its matter and vehicle will differ according to the faith of the country. In the I'rotcstant th^^- sion of the country, the Bible is explained, Luther's Catechism is adopted, and generally a particular cate- chism belonging to each State. Hut the catechetical method is almosl invariable. 1")3 ON lORKKiN SYSTEMS Wliiih (irr I he S/nhs n/ I lie (' oiijcilcintioti inoaL or least, (tilrdiind ill fitr science (Hid diffusion of edit cut ion f- Prussia, perhaps, may take the iirst place : some will contend for Wurtemburg, still more will urge the claims of Saxony, as its rival. Then we may an'ange Baden, Nassau, Weimar, Bavaria, and Austria. Tliose which are behind in the race are Mecklenburg, the Hanse Towns, Pomerania, some parts of Hanover, and tlic electorate of Hesse. Good public buildings, for tliis purpose, are found in almost all the states, but especially in Prussia, Saxony, the Rhenish pro- vinces of Bavaria, Nassau, and Holstein. Is the si/stem legislative or voluntary I Though each Countn' has its own statutes, all agree to make education strictly a business of govern- ment. It is as much considered the right of the government to interpose for this end, as to lay a tax and to require military service. It will be a proud day for the freeman when the right of rulers shall only be recognised as another name for their duty. It would be unjust to the great Diet of Germany, to deny tliat it conceives its education of the people to be both. Is attendance coiiijiulsori/ or free ? The question which is most serious in a Country like oiu's, where there are such varieties of opinion and such oaths of liberty, does not excite any consi- derable jealousy in this. Its States are generally AND MKANS OF KDITATIOX. 1 'i.'^ without constitutions. The people iu"e accustomed to see every thing done by an Executive. They do not feel themselves competent, or liave never been treated us if they were, to build bridges, make roads, or direct canals. They affect not the temerity of fonning libra- ries and museums. Others think for them. Be it religion, be it education, — strangely contrived to be always put into one manifesto by the poUtician, and into one category by the pliilosopher, though two tilings were never more dissimilar-, — they accept it, and quietly submit. The poor man, any man of humble hfe, is controlled, beyond doubt, in the edu- cation of his family. Education is police. Prussia, which seems to leave an opening for discretion in this case, — which only insists, according to law, upon the school attendance of all cliildren if tliere bo not satisfactory proof that this care is attended to at home, really and practically is inflexible. Its code speaks of the infliction of fine, imprisonment, and liard labour, upon the parent, who docs not send his family ; and upon all masters and guardians who may have the trust of children. It is mihtaiy muster and parade ! The only exemptions whicli are allowed iVdin tlir compulsory attendance can be pleaded, in privilege, by very few. Domestic education is not of child l)y parent, but by tutor. The private school to which I lie cliild mav be sent, involves serious expense. This latter institution is iiudfi- govcrniiieut control 154 ON IflUKION SYSTEMS iiihI licunso. The poor inuii is It.-f't without a clioicc. It is a great excellence ol' this system tliat it is gra- duated : if the boy be capable, he is passed from the burgher school to the gymnasium, and, if capable still, he is transferred to the university. How (ire (Ik; schools siijiported ? The public schools arc sometimes possessed of funds; but as these are generally insufficient, they ai"e assisted by the State. These local funds arise either from a foimer excess of income, or from pri- vate hbcrality. Though called free, eveiy child must pay according to tlie abihty of the parent. The Boai'd receives the money, and the master is pledged a stated salary, irrespective of the receipts from the pupils. What are the mea)ts of ohtaitiiiif/ competent schoolmasters ? Prussia possesses sixty noiTual schools : a few are found in the smaller states, such as Gotha and Olden- burg : and there ai'e some even in Mecklenburg and Hanover. * It may be added, that in different paits of Ger- many there su'c schools and asylums expressly for the cliildren of prisoners and state-culprits. There is great mercy in the conception of such cstabhslmients. A * Much of the above information has been taken from Works by Dr. Kriiger : " Travels thiough Saxony, Bohemia, and Austria," 2 vols. " Travels thi-ough Germany .and Switzerlau'l, ' "J m-Is. '• Re- marks on the new French Laws on Education." AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. lOr) necessity is upon tlie government to withdraw such parents from their families : it docs all it can to com- pensate for the disasters which follow the execution of its just decree. Such offspring he under a social ban wliich devotes them to vice ; a prejudice of scorn has afready condemned them ; the home is brokiii up ; each avenue of success is shut against them ; — how reasonable, how equitable, as well as beneficent and kind, is such a provision ! The state of education in Hamburg, that great resort, that noble gate to the depths of tlie Continent, bears certain commercial features, as we might expect ; and it is opposed by difficulties which gi'owing regions do not know. From personal enquiiies imd observa- tions, the following information has been obtained. The proportion of childi-en in schools is not so high as in other pai'ts of Germany, being not more than one in eight. The schools are of two foundations, the parocliial and the free. They are very similar. In both lu-e given instructions in reading, wiiting, drawing, liistory, geography, the vernacular grammar, and religion. Tliis latter subject of tuition includes the exphmation of the historical parts of tlie Bible, while catechisms, texts, and hymns, are required to be committed to memory. There are twelve free schools in the city and suburbs : they are well orgimiscd, and contain 3500 pupils. The parish schools are seventy- seven in numbei-, and educate 3550. To the list must be added live testamentary sdiools, and five J.'in ON lOKKKiN SNSIKMS belonging to (liffercnt cliiirclics. There is u Collegiate Institution also, the Johaniiuiim, with Professors of a very respeetable rank. The power of the clergy to inspect, and very greatly to control, these estabUsh- ments, is, perhaps, rutlicr admitted than ordained. It does not seem vigorously exercised. One peculiarity ought to be noticed. The compulsion known in other countries is not sanctioned here. The only binding punishment of ignorance is, that no cliild can be con- firmed who has not been educated consistently with his station. But the consequences of this privation are not light. Most of these remarks will apply to Bremen and Lubeck. Denmark was not only an early patron of the normal system, — a sure criterion that popular educa- tion is active and extending, — but the monitoiial plan of instruction has made such rapid progress, that fi'om 1819 to 1829, seven sehools had increased to two thousand six hundred and forty-six. If the preten- sion of Holland be just, that one in Jive of all its inliabitants is at school, Prussia and Saxony must yield to it. Non\'ay is better educated than Sweden, upon a parochial scheme, — but less dependent upon the clergy than in the latter kingdom. The tenn is greater than usual, nearly ten yeai"s. It is made obli- gatoiT on each pai'ent; and he may be punished even if he prematurely withdraw liis child. Switzerland, the liill-country of freedom imd independence, has pushed on in the raer ; but it is only in a few of its AND MKANS Ol' EUUCATION. 157 cantons tluit it can boast its sixtli in education. In 1 (^28, Lord Brougham infeiTcd, from extensive enqui- ries, that Vaud, with its capital Lausanne, containing nearly 200,000 inhabitants, was one of the best edu- cated districts in Europe. One-seventh of the popula- tion was ill the different seminaries. Fellenberg has not tliouglit, without rousing his eountrymen. When we consider the period in which he begun to move, the originality of his conceptions, his defiance of inexpugnable prejudices, his perseverance in i)lans so much in advance of liis times, — we cannot withhold from liim the highest praise. Such men arc as day- stars, brealdng the night and hastening the dawn. At Hofwj'l there are 0000 students. Pestalozzi, perhaps a bolder thinker, has created a centre of extraordinaiy power in Yverdun. Bavaria is worthy of high men- tion, as having emerged from the lowest condition of ignorance and moral con'uption in a very few years : and by the strength of its educational organization, it is Hfting no unworthy brow among surrounding nations. It has reached the eiglitli of its people in the number of its scholastic youth. The arts seem to form here a home. Hall after hall is dedicated to them. 'J'hat noble Temple, the Vulhalla, is but adorned with the images of the Teutonic Great, — the poet, the wanior, the artist, the sage : the education of a people so long debased, deserves a nobler monu- ment, or, rather, already ol)tains it, ikiI in lane and ]Hllin-, l)iil in one wliosc perpetuity is lasting as that |,')H ON FOnKTriN SVSTKMS imtion, iind wliosc loiindiilioii is broad us tliiit land. Who could liiivi! tliou<(lit, 11 quarter of a century ago, that, on the banks of the Iscr, there should enshrine itself the genius of sesthetic beauty, and that there, too, should enthrone itself the spirit of the Faderland ? But of all countries, Austria, as exceedingly ma- ligned, deserves the fullest justice. A fooUsh speech of its Emperor, Francis, is too well remembered, — " I want not philosophers, but good subjects : " his virtues and his deeds of quiet usefulness are little recalled. " The evil that men do lives after them ; The good is oft interred with their bones."* Tliis powerful State preceded almost the whole of Eui'ope in teaching the people. But its position was long stationaiy. It educated about three out of twenty. It has retrieved itself. More than 1,500,000 are in tuition. There are better proportions in some parts of the emph-e. In the Tp'ol, 99,4G3 young mountaineers are taught out of 105,260. In Moravia and Silesia, the amount is 230,503 out of 250,749. Besides 1500 schools of industry, and 8000 supple- mental schools in Hungary, there are 13,000 schools, lower and superior, in the empire, or one school to every two hundred and seventy-five families. The pro\-ision of education for the city and canton of Geneva, is worthy of notice. It is most rehgiously * Shakspeare. Julius Csesar. AND MHANS OF EDrc \l ION. 1.")!) iVoe. It is all but univorsal. The schools are partly at the charge of the State, and partly of the communes. The departments of seculai* and theologieid ti'aining are distinct. The fonner is placed under the direction of a council. Its establishments arc general, auxi- liaiT, and special. The general establishments are tlie academy, the colleges, and the primary schools. The academy resembles our universities, with its cludrs of divinity, law, science, and literature. The course of study is four years in the first, but four yeiu's must be previously spent in pliilosophical and mental studies. The whole includes thirty-two professors. The next is the college, resembling our higher gi-am- mar schools. Tliis reckons a principal and sixteen teachers. The primary schools are very multiplied. The interest of the commonwealth is given to the entu'e system. But the college seems to be the favourite. Every pageant is accorded to its exami- nations. The civil and mihtary authorities enter the processions, and aid the distribution, of the prizes. The day is the gala of the year. Yet the sums given to the Faculties ai'c mean. The numbers wliich attend them are not numerous. In the Divinity Hall of the academy, there are not geiK rallv more tlian eighteen students. Upon all its Institutes, the attendance docs not attain to two hundi-ed. The college may comprehend rather more than three hun- dred pupils. The machinery is immense lor the luuuber taught. 160 ON KoKF,r(;N svstkms Tlic cause (j1' Miiropciin (■ducution, at least, is Hecmv. Tliu petty State, wliieli liates the light, bars itself ngainst that beam in vain. Rampant tyranny and cowled bigotry offer a fniitless resistance. There is a security for it which no convulsion can sweep away. But were school, board, cabinet, to perish, the knowledge wliich they have communicated has entered living mind, taken fast hold of public opinion, and is an imperishable thing. It would be easier to unwind the Alp from its root, or to stifle Danube in its sources, than to overthrow the mighty work which has been founded, or to stem the vast intellectual and moral influence wliich has gone forth upon the spuit of the nations ! All these gi-eat educatoiy engines are national, legislative, and, with scarcely an exception, compul- son'. They are accomphshing great results : in ano- ther part of these enquiries it may be our duty to decide whether these featm'es ought to characterise popular education, and whether these external suc- cours do not retai'd and vitiate it. But there is another scene which invites om* atten- tion in these enquiiies, — a New World unfolds itself to oiu" view. Where, a few ages since, the wild Indian only reared liis wattled wig^vam and where his war- whoop rang, beneath the shadow of forests, old as the world, — where civiHzation had not set its foot. — where a book had been never seen, — where the wliite man was utterly unknown, — Europe has settled AND MEAN'S OF EDUCATION. J 01 millions of its children in noble towns and cities. A mighty countn' has been reclaimed : as mightv a nation has been consoUdated. Great are the phy- sical outlines of that land. A majesty is in all its proportions. The people is growing up to them and drawing in their spirit. Its noblest colonization be- gun in martyrdom. The pilgrim-fathers fled not thither from immediate persecution, — for Holland had given them refuge and home, offering hospitahtv to their poor, and reward to their learned, — but tliev embarked in calm and com'age for conscience sake. " For His name's sake they went forth." They sought tlie desert, that their liberty might be no more ham- pered and that their benevolence might be no more restrained. Here they found a scale and range worthy of the Puritan soul, and the exiles of New England earnestly commenced the pm^jose of then- mission, — the salvation of the aborigines and the settlers. Their first effort was to establish the means of education. The example has been emulated. State vies with state. The Old have legislated to secure it, — and the Federal Government receives no New one without providing for it. The last census of the State of New York, that of 1840, gives the population at 2,428,921.* The school funds consist of endowments, gi'ants, and appropriations, from the state and individuals, and amount to 10,500,000 dollars, whicli, by ihr law, " Unitoil States Alinainic or ('(Piniik'ti- KjilK'niuri:*. Isl3. M 1(52 ON FOTIEION SYSTEMH lU'i! docilavt'tl inviolable. Commissioners of tlie com- mon schools lire cleeted nnnually by the peopli- in the scveriil towns. The towns arc divided into school districts by these commissioners. The tnis- tees of the schools arc chosen Ity the inhabitants of these districts. These must undertidie the erection or the maintenance of a school-house in each district, out of a tax which they levy on the inhabitants, according to the vote of a yeai'ly meeting thereof. The qualifications of the teachers must be approved by inspectors, independent of the teachers, but, like them, the choice of the people still. The contiibution, by impost, in each district, must equal that which is apportioned to it out of the public funds. Every pecuniary deficiency is supphed by tuition-fees upon those parents and giiardians who are of sufficient abi- lity. The poor are released fi-om all such chai-ge. The school is, in no instance, to be open less than four months in each year. The visitors and examiners of the schools ai*e the inspectors and a deputy superin- tendent for the coimty. In him the more popular power of the system ceases, for he is appointed by the supervisors. These are responsible to the Secre- tary of State, who is superintendent of all the schools. To liim are made the annual returns of all. Schools are maintained, wherever necessary', for the children of African descent. Normal schools are grafted on the most flourishing institutions, for the training of pubUc teachers of both sexes. It is likewise required that a AND MEANS OF EDUCATION'. Hj.'i perioilioa] journal be distributed to each sohuul, a work extensively devoted to education, and not of a sectarian or party character, containing the laws of tl]^ States, — the scholastic regulations enforced by the superintendent, — his decision upon questions affecting the organization, administration, and government, of these schools, — and a comprehensive report, by the superintendent, to the legislature of their condition tlu'oughout the state. The whole number of districts is 10,8!^G, in which schools are carried on during an average period of eight months in the year. The amount of children educated is 003,583. Tlus, if correct, will show that the number of cliildren is very nearly as four upon the whole inhabitants of New York state, — a higher computation than we can find in Europe.* The teachers received last year 1,043,000 dollars. The principle of American education seems to be this. Each State requires that there shall be an orga- nization of schools proportioned to the inhabitants of any region. In the New England states, this is about a school to two hundi'ed souls. For tliis there are generally certain funds from bequest, and original votes of land or money by the legislature. Connecticut, in a commutation with the General Government of certtiiu ancient tenures, received 2,000,000 of dollai's which were nobly applied to its education fund. It is be- hoved tliat this state alone dispenses witli imy a.ssess- ' Natural History <>f Now York. Mil ON FOREIGN SYSTEMS mciit. Wliriicvcr jiuhlir sii[)j)<)rt is enforced, it is sell- taxation, 'i'lie clmructer ol' the school, and its kind of tuition, gi'catly depend on the will of the subscri- bers. According to the circumstances of the cUil- dren, their entrance is perfectly gratuitous, or slightly charged. It seems also an invariable rule, from which Connecticut is not shut out, that the schools must be built by the people ; whatever pubhc grant is made must go strictly to the conduct of the school. A few other States of the Union may be also reviewed as to tlioir encouragement of education. There are diversities, but among them will be found substantive agreement. When Maine became independent, a law was passed requiiing every town to raise annually, for the support of the schools, a sum equal to forty cents for every person, to be distributed among the school districts, in proportion to the number of inhabitants in each. Its permanent school fund is 17,520 dol- lars. The present amount of scholai-s is reckoned at 140,000. But then the boy-schools are open but two months, and the gii'ls', but ten weeks. Otlier- wise it would be a gratifying result. For, as the population in 1843 was but .501,703, — and these statistics, at least, go as far back as the year 1840 — (which inteiTal has doubtless greatly increased them) — it would leave more than fom* of the total in a coiu'se of instmction. The writer from whom this statement is taken adds, that if one dollai* and six ANT) MEAXS OF EDUCATION. If;.') cents, instead of forty cents, were levied on every inhabitant, the schools might be in acti\at}' all the year, and he beheves the tax would not be rcgtu'ded as a grievance. * The goveiTunent of New Hampshire has, by law. a vote of one half per cent, per annimi on the capital stock of banks, w'hicli is appropriated for the ii'ee schools. It has no other independent resource. Ver- mont possesses, also, its htcrary fund, — a lien of six per cent, on the profits of the banks. Massachusetts is generally considered a centre of light. It abounds in all liberal institutions. It is the eye of the States. We learn fi'om different coUa- tions,t that in a hundred and one to^vns, or districts of four miles squai'c, 12,393 pupils attend private schools. The private schools of Boston are of the liighest character ; yet is it acknowledged that in none of them can young men be more thoroughly instructed and prepared for the universities, than in its public schools, and no where better fitted for business life, than in its high schools. Salem, in Essex County, Lowell and Charlestown, in Middlesex County, ai-e deserving of the highest praise. Their exertions have l)een surprisingly gi'eat. In all these towns, tlie whole number of persons, between the ages of twenty-one and forty-four, who cannot read imd write, is only fifty-eight. In one considerable town, there are but three, of the above-mentioned age, who cannot read " Book of the United States. t Iliid. 1 0(5 ON lOKI-.ION KYSTKMS iiiul writi' ; and Uichc three are dciil mid duml). The primary schools of the whole state are ."{.'JO'-i. Thi- number of pupils in them is 10U,i(i57. We nre indebted for tlic following document to the Honourable Horace Munn, Secretary to the Massa- chusetts Board of Education, who was sufficiently kind to attend to certain questions which were ad- dressed to him, a gentleman whose heart and soul ai'c in the cause : — " The following is a general outHne of our school system, and of its administration. " The law requires every town to maintain a school in which reading, writing, English grammar, geogra- phy, and arithmetic, shall be taught, for a longer or shorter time, according to the number of its inhabi- tants : when the population exceeds a certain number, a school must be kept in whicli higher branches are taught. But this law is a dead letter, as every town voluntarily raises money by tax, to keep a longer school than the law requires. The money is raised by a vote of the majority of artizens in town meeting, every man who pays even the smallest tax having a right to vote. To those schools supported by the town, every child has a right to go, without fee or payment of any kind. "At the beginning of each school yetu", the State Board of Education send out a blank form of register to each pubhc school in the state, on which each teacher is obhgcd to enter a great variety of statistical AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. Ui7 facts, in relation to his school. At the end ul' llie year, these registers, now filled, ai*e passed into the hands of the school committee of the town. At this time also, the Board of Education send to each school committee in the Commonweal ili, u blank ibmi ol' return : on this form the respective committees con- dense and collate all the facts contained in the school register, wliich they now have from the school teachers. They also answer all questions, which the Board see fit to propound, in the blank ibnn of return. Hav- ing filled this last fonn, they retiun it to the Board. The school committee are also required by law to make a written report to tlie town at the end of tlieir official year. " In tliis report, they detail the errors or defects of the schools, and suggest plans for their improve- ment. A copy of this report is also transmitted to the Board of Education. From the retiu*ns and reports, the secretary of the Board prepares a volume, called the 'Abstract of the School Retunis.' This 'Abstract' contains all the statistics of the schools for the year. It also contains selections from the com- mittee's reports, thus prepared and pi-inted. Several copies are sent back to each town in the state, (more or less, according to the inhabitants in the town,) so that each town and each school committee are requited for what they have contributed, receiving back tli. hints, advice, or suggestions, ol' mH tin' otliei- towns iji the Commonwealth. ]i')X ON FOKKION SYSTEMS " III iidditioii to till- al)ovf, the secretary oi tlu; Board visits difrerent puits ol" the State, as much as is practicable, — reads all the reports of the commit- tees, — coiTesponds with the friends of education, and, at tlie end «>1' each year, makes an annual report. This is printed l)y the legislature, and is sent to evei*y scliool in the state. " These are the means by wliich we endeavour to excite the pubhc mind to a sense of the importance of education. For some years past, the towns in tliis State (whose whole population is less than 740,000) have raised, by voluntary taxation of themselves, more than £100,000. This is for the items only of teachers' wages, boai'd, and fuel for the schools. In the five yeai's following the organization of the Board, the amount expended on the single item of school-houses in the state, building and making permanent repairs, was ^ei 30,000. Boston, with a population of 90,000, according to the last census, has, for several years past, raised, by taxes for schools, more than £30,000. annualhj. " We have tkree noraial schools for the education of teachers. These have been established between four and five years, and are doing well. Teaching is not generally a profession here, but is becoming more and more so." Pennsylvania makes education the right of every citizen. The Oirard luiid might educate the entire state ; but it is so (rammclcd by infidel prejudice AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. Ifi9 and persecution, that its munificence is almost una- vailing. Delaware, linppy in the absence ol' debt, and in its surplus of 500,000 dollars, regards education as a sacred tmst, wliich its preemption enables it to exe- cute most diligently ; but still it requires contributions equal to any grant from its fund. Virginia, having been a creditor of the General Government, by reason of advances made to it during tlic war, in 1810 devoted a considerable part of the repayment to its Literary Fund. The House of Dele- gates then ordered the dii'cctors of that fund to divide each county into townships, and the whole state into districts, that there might be a primary school in each townsliip, an academy in each district, and a imiver- sity for the whole state. But the Senate tlu'cw some obstacles in the way. The indomitable spirit of Jef- ferson secm'cd the last : and to it the legislature now devotes 15,000 dollars a year. But the other branches of the original plan are fiu' from being com- pleted.* Already there arc 1501 primar}' schools and 35,331 scholars. Through most of the States of America, where education is fostered, academies are estabUshed which arc sanctioned by incorporation. These institutions arc generally guai'auteed by those at whose instance that act was obtained. They bear an iiiternu'diale character between the Sciiool and the I'liivcrsily. ■ Tucker's Lilt- "f .U-ircixin. 170 ON KlIU.Ii.N SVSTKMS Tlie infant mind is assiduously cultivated, and in IK) country in there such an abundant supply of hooks calculated to engage early attention and form the habit of early thought. The manner of raising the revenue for the support of the schools seems various. Sometimes it is in the fonn of a direct capitation tax under government col- lection : sometimes it is of a more local levy. Where there is no literary fund, it would appear that it is often doubly paid, first to the general exchequer of the state from which grants arc issued, and secondly towards the district disbursement. The States which, in our prejudice, have been condemned as grossly ignorant we shall find, upon the most approved evidence, to be undesen'ing of this blame. A few may pass in review before us. Alabama is divided into two great districts. The population of both is 590,750. In the Northern District there is a university witli 90 students; to which must be added 28 academies and grammar schools with 1055 scholars; 260 primary and com- mon schools with 7544 pupils. To show the influ- ence of proper parental motive, only 1993 of these pupils arc at the public charge. In the Southern District there may be numbered a university with 02 scholars ; 86 academies and grammar schools with 3953 scholars; 371 primary and common schools with 8599 pupils, — of these 1220 arc alone at pubhc cost. Yet the number of wliite persons, over twenty years of AND MEANS OF EOrCATION. 17I age, who can neither read nor write, is '^2,592. — We will now cast our attention on Louisiana, divided into its eastern and western districts. Its population is 352,411. It has 12 universities or colleges and 989 students: 50 grammar schools and academies witli 1995 scholai's : 179 primary and common schools with 3573 pupils, of whom 1190 are pubhcly supported. The number of those who are above twenty yeai-s of age, and who am neither road nor write, is 4801. — The population of Tennessee is 829,210. It possesses H universities and colleges, and 94 alumni; 152 aca- demies, and 5539 scholars ; 983 primary schools, and 25,090 pupils, — of whom G907 are educated by the state. But its number of wliites past twenty years who can neither read nor Amte, is 58,531. — Kentucky claims a population of 779,828. Its colleges or univer- sities are 10, with 1119 students: its gi'ammai' schools are 110 with 490G scholars; its priman,' schools ai'e 952 with 24,G41 pupils. Only 429 are at the expense of the state. Still 40,018 whites, above twenty years of age, are without any education. — Oliio is a most populous district, comprehending 1,519,407 souls. It includes 18 colleges, with 1717 members; 73 acade- mies with 4310 scholars; 51 80 common schools, wtli 218,009 pupils; of these 51,812 depend upon the pub- lic revenue. Those who can neither read nor wiite, being more than twenty years old, are 35,394. — Michi- gan, Indiana, Illinois, and even Arkansas, are urging Ibvwiud in tlic ciircei'. And where tlie live coloured 172 ON FORKION SYSTEMS population is so widely tlisperscd, nnd the slave is so generally extant, may we not confidently hope that education will be a principal means of breaking invi- dious caste and cruel oppression ? Before the holy light shall not this injustice be scared away?* It must not be imagined that the Religious Com- munities of tliis great people are indifferent specta- tors of what is going on. The Presbyterian Church in the United States, during 1840, gathered for the purposes of Education 22,435 dollars. t In the arrangements of Education among the New States, the Federal Government has acted with perfect faith and zealous regai'd to this most important cause. No territory can be received into the Union without a fonnal partition of certain lands on behalf of schools. The method is the following. Each townsliip is six miles square, and is suiTcyed into sections of one mile square. Tliis gives a plot of thirty-six sections. The sixteenth is "donated" by Congress for the support of common schools. Tliis is as neai'ly central as the subdivision will allow. It is then sold, the proceeds are invested, and the inte- rest is annually apphed towai'ds the expense of all * Besides the Works before cited, reference has been made con- stantly to the most unimpeachable documentary evidence in the Sixth Census or Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the United States, aa corrected at the Department of State in 1840 : published by authority of an Act of Congress, under the Direction of the Secretary of State. Washington : Blair and Rives. t Minutes of the rrosbvtcrian Church. 1S41. AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. 173 tlie schools which that area may contain. But no part of the section can he sohl to ohtain a huikUng : tliis must he raised by the people. The sectional iiuid can only he devoted to salar}', fuel, and cun-ent expense of administration. The people are not com- pelled to take part in the business. It may be that the section cannot find a purchaser. But if they do agree to undertake it, and decide to choose tiiistees, then the trustees may compel payment of cveiy cost whicli the schools incur. That the allotted portion should not find a buyer, is veiy improbable. It is so placed that it is a most desirable property. The outer lines of the lai'ge quadrangle may front to an unpco- pli'd wild. Trade must be chiefly within the inclu- ded squares. It is not likely that such an allocation will long remain unsought. The enumeration of the sections is from the north-east corner of the ]Map, or from our right hand, recommencing at the left. 6 6 4 3 2 1 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 18 17 16 SCHOOL. 15 14 19 20 21 22 23 24 30 29 28 27 26 25 31 32 33 34 35 36 In such a Countiy, Education lind^ n l)oundless field. America is vonng in its people, its soil, its 1/1 ON FOREIGN SYSTEMS government. It has no history, tmd scarcely annals. Tt counts (lays rutli(n' than centuries. A mighty expe- riment is acU'tl there. It might need a rein lor its tossing neck and impatient foot, to guide it to the goal. The 1)arlv, launched on such a sea of rocks and breakers, demands a powerful helm. The people arc the power, the rule, the life, of all : Scnatus Popu- lusque. None could ever so require to bo taught. Education is the star of their hope and their guidance. That star is fixed. As the school-house rises amidst the landscape of New England, on the far shores of Missouri and ^Missisippi, and at the very base of the Rocky Mountains, — there is the emphatic pawn, which that great Republic gives to an attentive world, of enhghtened freedom, extending civilization, and pure religion. When America and Britain, so essentially one, contend, it is not War but Sedition. The United States, whether always on the best principles or not, have begun the work of Education in right earnest. Between them and our Counti-y there are many marked distinctions in the manner of under- taking it. It has seized a far more powerful hold upon theii' pubhc mind. Theii* action is far more ramified and commanding. A much stronger, and a ftu' more living, power is infused into the adminis- trations, ^lore individual votaiies, more noble enthu- siasts, ai'e at work. We take it up as a necessity, slowly felt and heavily imposed : they cherish it as a passion and explore it as a science. It is eveiy one's AND MEANS OF EDUCATION. 175 delight. The statesman will not descant on suffrage but with this guidance : the oeconomist will not treat of barter but with this check : the patriot will not ap- peal to hberty but with tliis inspiration. On our side of the Atlantic there are none of those scorcliing ful- minations hurled at country, state, people, with which their orators "flame amazement." They scoff, they satirise, they taunt, they jeer, the mass of ignorance among them. They declare fi'om on high that there are nearly 2,000,000 children in the Union untaught. They avail themselves of inauguration, festivity, hoH- day, when spirits can little brook reproof, to cast the charge into the nation's teeth. Tribune and pfllpit lend their utmost power to the object. Nothing will they accept, — no bond, no handsel, — but universal education. There is a fen-our in their language, and a dauntlessncss in their bearing, bespeaking the genero- sity of their ambition, and wortliy the majesty of their cause. With their 173 colleges and 1G,233 students, — theu' 3242 academies with their 16-4,159 scholars, — their 47,209 primaiy schools with their 1,845,204 pupils, they wield a mighty, though insufficient, appa- ratus. Hail Columbia ! Thy star-cmblazoncd flag waves over no empty, barren, freedom ! From the rampart of olden institutions, of which we are nei- ther wearied nor ashamed, we can gratefully honour thee, banner! never to bo mocked, — but most we honour thee, in thy peaceful fjlds ! We quarrel not with till' libcrtv \vlt)<'li tliou dost assert, nor with the 170 ON FORKIGN SYSTEMS, KTf. resistance wliicli thou didst rally ! Tliine was a liglit- oous quaiTcl ! J3(' tlion t-vcr cnsif^ of tlic^ wise, tlio good, tlic! free ! " Quis genus TEncaduni, quis Trojoc nesciat ur))cin ' Virtutesquo, virosqiie, ot tanti inccndia Ijelli ( >iuu obtusa adeo gestamus pectora, — "* It is a pleasing thought that the Education of the world is not quite neglected. Our Missionary Soci- eties gather, daily, hundreds of thousands of children heueath their care. The IMissionar,' is the School- master wherever he sets liis foot. He runs to and fro, and knowledge is increased. Nor is every hea- then nation ignorant and rude. Cliina welcomes our lahoui's with its three hundi'ed millions of people, half of whom at least can read.f The machinery of learning is well estahhshed, its thinlang classes are divided into four hterary orders, and not a man can rise to any ofl&ce of dignity and trust hut as he abides the most searcliing and prolonged examination into his educated fitness. Tliis is not simply a lovely theory or a hare possibihty : it is the unvarying practice. * " Who can be ignorant of the ^nean race and their city of Troy? Of their valour, their heroes, and the provocations of their noble resistance? We carry not in our bosom hearts quite sl)iilli Schools by their churches, many of botli sustaining others in the hamlets of their neighbour- hood. Their Home Mission Reports would show that religious education is the favourite object of their labour, and the rigid criterion of their success. In the manufacturing district aforesaid the efforts of these bodies have been greatly extended. The Sabbath Schools of the former comprehend 57,30m scholars taught by 0014 teachers ; and though the other in- cludes far fewer chui'ches, and perhaps less wealth, it exists not without an equal energy and a proportionate result. The English counties Aividely differ from each other in their civilization and knowledge. Though their pursuits be the same, the natives do not seem of the same race. Sometliing of the old national character which belonged to those counties, or junctions of counties, seems unobliterated. In Dorsetshire and Wiltshire are the strongholds of ignorance. The pcasanti*y is in a state of rapid and grievous dete- rioration. In Nortliumberland there are few who are not able to read. The Sabbath school in that fine county seldom reckons any cliildi'eu who have to learn this humble attainment. It is generally held as a Bible class. Yet will it not be found a ques- tion of geographical degrees There is some truth in the doctrine of races. But why is Cornwall so intelhgent, but by its means of rehgious education ? OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION. 191 Why is Kent so lost in ignorance, but for tluit very want ? The system of Scottish Instruction has found both hearty defenders and opponents. It is strictly paro- cliial. Its scliools ai'c 1005 in number. The gi'ound of objection to these schools has appeared to us, very mainly, a dislike of their rehgious and catechetical chai'acter. But while these features are reasons ^vith us for admiring them, we fear that their boasted efficiency is ill-proved. The literary quality is poor. Many of them are ambulator)', and in the thinly peo- pled parts arc held only dming four or five months in liu'm houses. Among coasts so ^vild, in regions intersected with loch and frith, stretcliing into liead- land, broken into islet, serious disadvantages must bo felt. These, in all blame, should be allowed. But it is a mistake that the people are educated in these schools. Only one in thu'ty-eight was so trained, as recently as the year 1818. There is, subsequently to that date, an increase of sixty-two schools. But they come too late. As national they have lost their influence. They were never gratuitous. Each cliild pays liis fee. The endowed stipend would not yield (he master the most meagre support. The General Assembly enquired into the state of Education in the year 1824. It was supposed that elementary training was witliin reach of all, save the inhabitants of the Highlands and Islands, and these amounted to about 50,000. In 1833 eighty-six additional schools were 192 ON Tin; STATISTTCS established in these destitute iiiid (h'eary districts. But these were so iniuh;quate, that (nily a thirte'cnth part was found to attend of those wlio needed instme- tion. Here, tlien, we have a national system of edu- cation, principally resting upon the subscriptions of the children. It is so far from meeting the case, that the highest Church Court interferes to extend it, not by legal assessments, but by popular collections. It is grown out of repute. How is it that tlie Scotch are, then, so well educated ? Not by the instra- mentahty we have considered. The jyrivate schooh are 2222, and three-fourthn of the 2>coiAe are in- structed in them ; at least, not in the national pubhc schools. What a lesson is this upon the true educa- tiotial liberty! What a spectacle of the ceitain defectibility of all institutions, which depend not upon tlie principle of self-government and the support of the people ! There is found in the Scotch schools very gene- rally, even in those of different orders, a sti'ong com- petitive practice. When a question is proposed, the class is expected to answer as quickly as possible. The pupil who feels that he is able to do so, darts foi'ward, wliile his rivals, with eager looks and out- stretched hands, are already at his side. The question is not put calmly to the first, jind then to the second, and so onward to the last, but to all at once. Places are taken, tickets are given, and notices of the dux- ship are recorded. The effect is singular. All are OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION. li)'S intent. Tlie organs of tlie teacher must be as quick as the gestures of the cliildren. It is even a physical strain on all. All pant with emotion. It is a very stiTiggle. The rush, the shout, but, above all, the im- passioned physiognomy, fumisli a cmious exhibition. It may be doubted whether the extreme rapidity docs not, in some instances, discourage the timid aiid hesi- tating mind : it must stimulate, in no mean degree, the ambitious and the ready.* It would be unjust to an honoured name, not to mention the Glasgow system ; in its more novel fea- tures originated, and in its more common ones im- proved, by Mr. David Stow. Its modifications of older principles ai'e greatly commended by experienced teachers, and by those who have looked much into the minds of the poor. The elhptical practice is remark- able in it. It has become more important than at first it aspii'ed to be : it is a noimal school, to wliich many religious communities now send their future teachers. Another Institution, of a vei^y difierent Ivind, is raised in St. Andi'ew's. It is the bequest of the Rev. Dr. Bell, the founder of the National Schools. He was a native of that venerable city. The academy is noble in structure, and its com'se * When the eloquent Cunan ^-isited Scotland, he thus wrote to a friend : — " In this country, what a work have the four and twenty letters to show for themselves ! — the natural enemies of vice, and folly, and slavery ; the great sowers, l)ut the still greater weedcrs, of the human soil." — Life of CuiTan, by his Son. lUl ON TlIK STATIKTICH of instruction i» most libcnil. 'J'lie proffssors arc vei7 able luul crudiU'. Tliougli the Founder wns a clergy- man of" the Knglisli Church, he lias left the endowment (|uitc unrestricted. If the Presbyterian influence be ascendant in it, it is not dictatorial nor exclusive. The autlior has never s(,'en a school combining greater advantages, or administered on better principles. It answers to the manner of our chief Proprietary College Schools. It stands amidst ruins, all of them awfully memorable, — the witnesses of noble martyrdom, the tombs of debasing superstition. How different the order of tilings it testifies ! What new thoughts and hopes it proclaims ! Whatever may be the eccentricities and e-sols of Ireland, the contentedncss of ignorance hes not upon its character. Its national mind is quick and sus- ceptible. It craves for knowledge. Umighteous laws long obstructed its development. Yet even when fine and imprisonment were enforced upon the Roman CathoUc who kept a school, and when the Protestant Parochial school existed only in the peijuiy of those who had sworn to establish it, the poorer class sent their children to the hedge-school, a name of contempt for institutions in which the smatterings of knowledge could only be obtained. But now there is imrcstricted freedom. The prosehlizing furor, wliich made the name of pai'ties every thing, and wliieh cai'cd not what were its means and subjects, finds httle favoiu- in the eyes of the enlightened and sincere. The Hibernian OF DOMESTIC EDUCATFON. 195 Society, fonned in Loudon, 1800, gave a gi'cat impetus to the education which had long been legally restricted, or hypocritically pursued. The Kildare Place Society was productive of ver)' enlarged good, and it may be doubted whether any better plan has been substituted. Still if a national system were to be estabhshed, the veiy prejudices of the nation deserved to be consulted. Scripture extracts were preferred to tlic use of tlie whole volume. It then appeared that this Society had done the same ! But it denied itself It misrepre- sented its own excellence. It bowed to a clamour, and hid its ovra just deeds. It had been too indulgent, also, to the Protestant parts of the countiy, where it was less needed, and too niggard to the more fanatical. It had allowed itself an undue and sectarian bias. It is this bane wliich seems to canker eveiy promise of melioration to that injured land ; and the Society of which we speak was not proof against it. But it did good service. In 1830, it could enumerate 1620 schools, and 132,573 scholars. We blame not the new Boai'd, — not its institution, for it seemed to be demanded by powerful bodies, — not its directory, for that is beyond all praise. It has already more than 140,000 cliildren under its charge. All difficul- ties considered, all competitions allowed, wc cannot think that a more reproachless system, of a puldic kind, could be devised. Tiie vice of both, is govern- ment money and govennncnt inspection. None are satisfied. .Ml is liiwarlrd. F-<|uality is |)i(iinised, 1im; o\ tifk statistics and oacli cumplHins (»!' unfUinicss. A system is taken up 1)Y one cabinet and denounced by its suc- cessor. Tlie life of a wiivm benevolence cannot beat in liny scheme of State. It is a set of parchments and seals. Tt ennnot be worked from the lieart. Public treasure, made to pass in any channel but the direct disbursements of the commonwealth, " cats as doth n canker." It is a bribe, — not in the sordid sense, — but still a bnbc to partiality, recklessness, and sloth. The Irish Society of London for Promoting the Education and Religious Instnjction of the Native Irish, through the medium of their own language, has taken an interesting field. It enrols 16,975 pupils. Besides its youth, it teaches 13,048 male adults, and 2608 females. Educationally considered, the sister isle is not an ignorant coimtiy : we have spoken of externally sustained schools. In 1828, it was ascer- tained that there were 1 1,823 elementary schools. Of these, eight-elevenths were private, voluntary establish- ments, at wliicli the pupils paid. They were entirely independent of paiish, of society, of help ; in every view, they were self-sustained. The number of scho- lars was, in the gToss, 560,549 ; of whom 304,730 bore the cost of their own education, — ncai'ly three times the amount of the Kildarc Place Society's pu- pils. When all these and other more denominational acts are put into one sum, a superiority may be sho^^-n to Great Britain. The Shami'ock triumphs over the Thistle and tlic Rose. Fourteen vears since, the OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION'. |!»7 Writer heard a Resolution pass the Annual Meeting of the Sunday School Union of Ireland, — held in the Rotunda, Dublin, — which thanked the 15,000 teachers associated in it, and the Eai'l Roden, as one, acknow- ledged the vote. What a people would it be with the open Bible, and with the "open face" to read it! When will a holy calm succeed its upheavings of political excitement ! When will its tender genius, loving its legend and its yore, cease to mouni the past, and paint its brighter visions of the future ! Fair is thy verdure, Erin ! but thou shalt yield a fairer increase ! Hai-p of thy wilds and halls ! which erst was struck to strains of patriotism and hberty, — whose witch-notes still sun'ive ! thou shalt ring with nobler themes and swell into diviner liannonies ! Like Judah's lyre, thou shalt be swept with the inspi- ration of the Saviours love and glory ! Like the haqi of heaven, thou shalt breathe only the tones of an unearthly peace and love ! And He who " taketh up the isles," and who spans liis tlu'one with a " rainbow in sight, like to an emerald,' shall take thee, thou emerald gem of the ocean, and set thee in that girdle of his covenant faithfulness and love ! When Great Britain and Ireland sliall bave ad- vanced in the knowledge of Scripture, and in the spirit of Christianity, those I'aukhngs, which liave long alienated them, shall be forgotten. Wliy shouhl they not ])e one ? Placed side by sich. iuc liny not rangfod (<»• love luid ulliniirc".' How i> it thnt l'J8 ON TUK STATISTICS they jicld not mutiuJ strength ? Who can wish that cither should be exalted to tlie d(!pression of tlie otlier ? Both must suffer together : both together only can rejoice. The true patriot should allow no rival claim. "Non ego, HOC Toucris Italoa parurc jul>cbu, Nee mihi rcgna peto ; paribus se legibus ambsc Invictae gentes aitenia, in fardera mittant."* It is an unpleasant part of the enquiry, to ask whether Conformists or Nonconformists have better done their duty. The Nonconfonnist was earlier in the task ; the Confonnist was indifferent or averse. The Nonconformist loved the object, and fully trusted in it : the Confonnist was but faintly attached to it, and feaiingly doubted its consequences. But then, in tlie nature of tilings, some of this difference in the views and feelings of the parties might be expected. The one was scattered, independent, self-ruled : the other was an immense corporation, not free, not self- determined. Novelt}' might be a temptation to the first : antiquity could scai'cely but be the prejudice of the second. The stake of the former was small : that of the latter was serious and xiUil. But when * " I will not compel the Latins to obey the Trojans. I seek not for myself new dominions. My only desire is, that two such nations, both invincible, may be indisstlubly united by equal laws, and trothed for ever in imperishable treaties." — Virg : .Sneid : lib. xii. ISO, &c. OF DOMESTIC EDUCATION. I!)!) both were actually engaged, — the emulation between them cannot be denied, — tlie dispai'ity of means was speedily manifested. The buildings, the equipments, the revenues, of the Episcopalian schools were dis- played in a proud preeminence. That Church took uj) its measures ^dth a unity, a %'igoui', a success, wliich outstripped its forerunners and competitors. Its esta- blishment gave those measures strength, its wealth facility, its discipline compactness. That which others were compelled to struggle in order to eflfect, it accom- phshed with a giant's ease. It still has the advantage of power and riches. None of those who may deny its right to be the instnictress of the people, will com- plain of the influence which it has morally acquired, or grudge the ascendancy which it has by its volun- tary efforts won. Time was, when it was provoked to jealousy: it now quickens those who gave it the first impulse. We deem it, in the worldng of its schools, too exclusive in its tenns of reception, too intole- rant in its imposition of doctrine. But its system must be of certain benefit. It extends to spots which more detached exertions cannot reach. The Dissen- ters, confident in the rights and blessings of know- ledge, have fallen behind their avowals. In tlic Sabbath Schools they are, indeed, among the fore- most. In the Weekly Schools they ai-e grievously defaulting. It is conceded, tliat iimcli of their doings is concealed within the liritish and Foirin;ii School Society, of which tlicv hnvr no recognised honour 'iOO «tN rHK STATISTICS, KTC hut lire still tlif main support, iiut were they all in it, were it nil theirs, it is not enough. They ought to contribute more than all its funds : they ought to centuple all its schools. There is a spirit, however, arising, which, from whatever quarter it may show itself, we are ready always to condemn. It is an affected ijpiorancc of the labours of others. It is the utter evasion of them. Does any man sincerely hope that the whole youthful generation can be brought into his church or commu- nity ? Can he be bigoted enough to dream of such an absoi-ption and comprehension ? Has he any right, in fact or in equity, to speak of all besides as desti- tute of Christian education ? No station, no talent, of such men, can make us believe this their oversight to be sincere, or this thek zeal to be honest. Better will it be that the contest of all pai'ties should exist alone in a generous strife of out- doing each other. There is a scope for all. There is little occasion of self- exultation to any. When the country is subdued to knowledge and rehgion, it will be suf- ficient time to adjust our respective deserts and to grasp our proper honours. " But rise, let us no more contend, nor blame Each other, blamed enough elsewhere, but strive In offices of love how we may lighten Each other's burden in oxvc share of woe."* * Milton's Paradise Lost, Book x. CHAPTEK IX. ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. It may be felt not a little mortifying, that a question like that which concerns the proper agency in popular education, should, in this period of the world, be open to discussion. It might have been expected, that tlie men of light and benevolence would have long since agreed. The truth, we should have thought, must, ere now, be ultimately fixed. It surely is capable of easy determination. Can our countiy be divided in opinion, after its frequent boasts of knowledge and freedom ? Can it hesitate, when it affects a tender guardianship of all its natives, and sets its Peniten- tiaries in tlie ends of the earth ? Can it speak of it as an unsettled point, standing as it does in a position so distinctly to be obsen'ed, aiTayed as it is with an influence to be so powerfully felt, displaying, as it imagines, a pattern to be so worthily followed ? Great principles arc not hastily approached. They require long probation nnd experiment, before they settle down into pioof and experience. They we oftf'U ]pft in dnnbt. lipcausc thev arc not wnntrd in 202 ON THK rAUTIKS HESrONSlBLE application. New circumstanccB arise, which direct men's attention to tliem. A crisis comes, and they can no longer remain in abeyance. At once they must be exposed and decided. The delay was not lost : the exigence was not precipitate. This is the common history of all important conclusions gained by the pubhc mind. They drag along witli scarcely any perceptible progress, through events wliich seem to have no affinity with them, and through ages wliich seem to have no care for them, — imtil they are estabhshed as under a flash of light, and witli a direct- ness of intuition. We ai"e slow in mooting what has hitherto been assumed, and love not to disturb what has almost universally been granted. Though the science of legislation was cultivated from the earliest ages, how little are its precise func- tions cleared and estabhshed ! Few minds ai'e settled, still fewer coincide. That which the interests of social man might have been expected to estabhsh at once, still wavers in indetennination. Some would consti- tute it as a Ceremonial, to impose and to awe. Others would render it an Agency, to absorb all the business of life into itself. It is principally \-iewed by one party as a rule over mind and conscience : mainly is it regai'ded by a second, as a contrivance to release man from his wants, and from his exertions to supply them. The former hails the Monai-ch as the Vice- gerent of heaven, as the Eoman Emperors were the Pontificcs Maxinii : the latter vociferates, as did the FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE I'EOl'LE. 203 mob of Paris, wliile they bore Louis the IGth from Versailles to his capital, Boulanger, Boulangor I gra- cing Ms office with a procession of loaves. The time has arrived when we must needs ask, To whom is the education of the people committed ? Tliis question has been adjudicated, in tlie estimate of many, beyond any rifjhteous reversal : others think that, until now, the evidence was never completely sifted, nor the understandings of men prepared to pro- nounce upon it That there is difficulty in it, might be suspected, fi'om the confident tone in wliich the contending parties speak: neither will allow tlie possi- bility of each other's conclusion. But difficulty of tliis kind has often been overcome, and the clear accents of truth have presently been heard oveqiow- eiing the controversy. There is one constitutiuii of rcspousibiUty wliich is oiiginal. It must plead precedence to every other. It is a law the most fixed and certain. He wlio decreed that the species should spring constantly from itself, has ordained the parental authority as primuiy and invariable. To honour father and mo- ther is the first commandment of the second table, first with promise, first in morality, first in influence. It caimot be abrogated nor superseded nor tnuisfeiTcd. It is the root of all duties, and the pledge of all vu-tucs. This is the true school. Tlie parent's kneo is the proper place of moral training. Now bcaiitifiil is the sentence which ricrm iiuliio ((inctTuitiu ilic 201 ON TIIK I'AKTIKS RKSrONRiniJ' the early tuition ol" the Gracchi I " Legimus epistolus ComeHie, niiitris Grncchorum : appuret fihos non tiun in (jremio cducaton, qiiam in sermone malrin."* It is, confessedly, a mysterious law, that the ofl'spring should be so greatly affected for the most critical, and not the shortest, season, by the parent. That parent may be unprincipled. His influence may only be per- nicious. But in reasoning on original constitutions of nature like this, we must often satisfy ourselves ^\^th general principles. Can any other arrangement be conceived, the nile of increase being given, wliich could provide for the helplessness of infant life and mind ? Is any other to be imagined so natm*ally beautiful and fitting? "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth," was the ordinance of Paradise and the blessed- ness of innocence. Sin has peiTerted our nature, but none of its original dctenninations and conditions are desti-oyed. That wliich could only have been designed for good, is now often perverted for evil. The iniqui- ties of parents are visited upon the cliildren. The sceptic obsei-vcs, with ourselves, the same fact : it is a fact which must as gi'eatly hamper his moral system as om- own. The influence of the parent is, then, inevitable : if we can deduce the mind of the law-giver from the law, it is the Divine Decree. We may infer, * " We ponder the letters of Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi : it would seem that those boys were brought up, not so much on the lap as on the sweet-voiced counsels ol" theii- mother." — Brutus, sive de Claris Oratoril>us, 57. FOR THE EDUCATION- OF THE I'KOrLK. QO.J from the benevolence of all those decrees, tliat, how- ever there is incidental evil, (and need we wonder, when the transmission is of that wliicli is necessary'!- J any transference of the care of offspring would be an evil essentially aggravated. The possible mischief of this natural constitution has been considered by the pliilosophcr and the states- man from ancient times. ISIany of these boldly urged tlie prior rights of the state. They maintained that the cliildren were its issue and property. They in- sisted on its custody and regulation of them. The parents were set aside. Patriotism was supposed to absorb instinctive affections. Father gave up liis son, and even mother her daughter. The sages and juris- consults of antiquity not only seem absolute in these opinions ; they have been followed by some modem writers of no mean repute. A few specimens of those older, and then of these more recent, tliinkers, may be adduced. The prototj^e of these opinions is seen in the Institutions of Sparta. In the biogi'aphy of Lycurgus, by Plutarch, we find sentiments of this kind fomially declared as those on which he acted. " He resolved the whole matter of legislation into the bringing up of youth."* " He regarded the education of youth as the first and most excellent duty of the hiw-giver."t * " Tom yiti oX»v »a.t 'Xa.vni va/AafKria,s t^yov ctf rr.y -rxidaeo tt>ti\} i." + " 'I'y,; Ss Taiieta; »v ftiyii'i)* tiyara tow ttfiifirtu xai xaXXif** iayav aval. 20(5 ON Tino I'.\rtit:s uKsroN.sinLK " He considered children not so mucli the property ol their parents »i.s ol" tlie state."* " Parents were not at liberty to train up their children according to their own idcas,"t Agreeably with these rules, he placed marriage and gestation under th(j puhhc care. The infants were committed to puljlic nurses ; and after seven years of age;, all were fed at public tables. The concubinage which was enjoined forbade propriety in offspring. The intercourse was so vilely promis- cuous, that the boast was that there could be no adulterer. Lcsche was a scene of unutterable gross- ness. The education of the youth was worthy of that brutal soui'ce. They were trained to suppress all the hetter emotions. Detection was taught to be the only crime. Valour was repaid by vice. Natural affection was scorned. And tMs national system of juvenile association is left on record with all its distinctive features, to prove that every system must be utterly wrong wliicli makes hght of the parental instinct and the natural law. Plato, in liis Repubhc, inculcates the same piin- ciple. He, hke Lyciu-gus, speaks of maniage in its mere view of issue, and with no more dehcacy than would become the breeding of the inferior animals as a source of gain. He allows the most unbridled sexual intercourse, if it be Likely to produce hai'dy and hand- " Oux i^icu; nyeii-o tuv TaTigai* tdv; Taida; aXXa xinov; rns i" Ouli £^eiv lx,x?u T-'.fftv luii Txiilveiy u; '.[iiuXirt rot tiici. FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. '^07 some children. After a disgusting passage he proceeds: "That their cliikh'en be also common, so that the father shall not know liis own son, nor the son recognise his own father. This is harder to be believed than the other as to possibility and usefulness. I do not believe that any will doubt the advantage of it, that it would be the greatest good for the women to be in common and the cliildren to be in common, if it could bo accomplished."* It is then proposed that magistrates shall be appointed to receive the cliildi'en immediately on buth, and earn- those of a well formed and noble descent to certain nurses dwelling in another quarter of the city. But they are to be authorised to bring the mothers of those childi'cn, whom they have not been permitted to see, in order to suckle them, — still as if it were a business of stock and means of profit, — wliile every art is to be employed that no one should know the babe which she has borne. The rude Lacc- deemonian was not more ruthless of the defonned child than is this contemplative sage. It is asked, — we shudder at the incestuous reason of the question, — " how shall fathers and mothers and other kindred distinguish each other ? In no manner can tlu'v I)e known." And tliis is he whom nations nil but wor- ship, the Divine Dreamer, the Celestial Seer ! All invective, and not uudesei-ved, is heaped upon the " " Ka/ rovi vaiias "■u koivov;, r.a.i /^uti yavnt ixyanv Moiva* t»» auToZ, f/,t)Ti TaiScc, yovict. IloXf, i^t), roura ixeitau jKO^«»," — x. r. >. Dc Roi)ii1)lic;i. I'll). V. 20H ON THE I'AKTfi;S lUlSI'ONSIHM-: systems of modern infidelity : it is forgotten tlint their foulest dogmns first fell from his honeyed lips, that the metempsyehosis of his spirit is umong us in the most execrable licentiousness and disorganization, and that were he on the earth he would he the liigh priest of the orgies which cveiy virtuous mind abhors and loathes. But the hideousness of the idol is lost to the votary in the marvel of its legend, the nimbus of its glory, and the distance of its shrine. Xenophon, in his Institution of Cyrus, contrasts the laws of the Persians with those of other nations. " These laws appeal- to begin with a provident care of the public good ; not at the point where most other governments begin; most other governments, giving to all the liberty of educating their children as they please But these laws, taking things higher, are careful, fi'om the beginning, to provide that their citizens shall not be such as to be capable of meddling with any action that is base and vile." He then explains the four plans of public life. That of the boys was national instruction under elders. They spoke of going to learn justice rather than letters. They held com-ts among themselves for the accusation of any offence. Their curriculum was in no sense literary, but a training of tlie body to temperance and warfare, and of the mind to habits of modesty and obedience. The whole must be received with much allowance, since the liistoiT is often wholly unauthen- ticated, and the writing is rather that of a pleasing For. THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOri.E. '^O'J romanticism than of ii gi'iive and veracious chronicle. It is, however, vahiable as tlic opinion of so profound and so good a man. Aristotle supports the same opinion. " No man can doubt, hut that the education of youth ought to be the principal care of every legislator ; by the neglect of which great injury befalls the civil poUty of states."* It may be thought that Grecian education was generally private. In the Dramatis Pcrsonse of both tra- gedy and comedy, the pwdaijofiue frequently appears. But he was the person who had care of the very young of a household, without regard to their education. He was the man-nurse of the family, and was often em- ployed in taking the boys to school. The true school- masters were the Paidotribcs and the Didascalos. The law of pubhcity was not as rigid in Athens as in Spiuta, but opinion and custom were on its side. The Are- opagus is supposed to have had sometliing to do witli its direction. The educating system of Rome little appears. The choice of its youth studied in Greece or Ionia. Tlie commonalty seems to have been hardy, ignorant, wayward. QuinctiUanf speidis of former times " Politics, lib. vlii. cap 1. " Or( l^lt oi-i nucfirri fiaXira. T^ayuK- TiVriav -ri^i tzi t«v vtaiv •xu.^eta.t, «:/S«y a» ocu.firii>jrr,vctf Kai yao i» Tail ToXiriv ou yiyvtfiivov rduro, jiXaTTH ra; TaXireta!. t It is .still unsettled whether Quiuctilian, or Tacitus, or a third party, be the author of Do Oratoribus Diah)^£;iis. It generally piu'.'ies as the composition of the first. Any author might be proud of m noble a composition. 1* •^I() ON iiiM i'\i;iii;s i!i:si'i)N.siiu,l-: as Ijctti r iliiiii Iiis own. Tlic pit-tun; lie draws is very beiiutirul of wliat had been the domestic bringing up of youth, with its then reverse. "Quia eniin ignorat et eloqufMitiam et ceteras artes deseivisse a)) ista vetere gloria, noil iii<»i)i:'i hoiiiiiiuiii scd desidia juventutis, et iiegligcntia parentuin et inscicutiii pra-eipientium, et oblivioue moris antiqui '.' ((lue mala prinuuu in urbe natii, niox per Italiam I'usu, jam iu provineias manant : (juamquam nostra nobis notiora stmt. Ego de urbe et his propriis ac vernaculis vitiis loquar, quae natos statim excipuint, et per singulos setatis gradus cumu- lantur, si prins de severitate ac disciplinii majonim circa educandos formandosque liberos paiica praedixero. Jamprimum suns cuique filius ex casta pai*ente natus, non in cella emtae nutricis, sed givmio ac sinu matris educabatur, ciijus prtecipua laus erat, tueri doraum et inservire liberis. Eligebatur autem aliqua major natn propinqua, cujus probatis spectatisque moribus, omnis cujuspiam familise suboles committeretiir, coram qua neque dicere fas erat quod tui-pe dictu, neque facere quod inlionestum factu videretur. Ac non studia modo ciu'asque, sed remissiones etiam lususque puerorum, sanctitate quadam ac verecundia temperabat. Sic Cor- neliam Gracchonim, sic Aureliiun Ctiesaris, sic Atdam Augusti, matrem, prsefiiisse educationibus, ac produx- isse principes liberos, accepimus. Qua? discipliua ac severitas eo pertinebat, ut sineera et integi'a et nul- lis pravitatibus detorta uniuscuj usque : natura, toto statim pectore, airipcret nrtos bonestas : et sive ad rem FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. '211 militrtvem, sive ad juris scientiani, sivc ad eloquentise stiidium inclinasspt, id solum a<,'('rct, id univcvsuni hauriret."* Juvenal devotes his fourteenth Satire to the eximi- plo of parents and its influence on children. He ■ "Who can now be ignorant that eloquence and the fine arts have fallen below their ancient glory, not from a deaitli of men, but from the indolence of youth, and the neglect of parents, and the ignorance of instructors, and the deterioration of the ancient discipline? The evils, begun in the city, have poured themselves over Italy, and now inundate the very provinces. Ours are, how- ever, more visible. As I confine myself to the prevalent vices of the Metropolis, vices which destroy our youth and gather them- selves into every stage of life, — I will first speak of the uncompro- mising discipline which our ancestors exercised in teaching and training their children. In those times, each child could boast a modest mother. The infant was not sent, as soon as born, to the hovel of a mercenary nurse, but was reared on the knee and breast of its own mother, whose highest ambition was to regulate her home and wait upon her offspring. Some matron, related to the family, distinguished by unblemished morals, was set in charge of the little ones, before whose presence nothing low could be said and nothing dishonourable could be done. She ordered not only their studies and painstaking, but also their relaxations and sports, with a cer- tain sanctity and reverence. It is thus we find that Cornelia the mother of the Gracchi, that Aurelia the mother of Ctesar, that Attia the mother of Augustus, superintended the education and unfolded the mind of their noble children. The consequence of all this un- yielding system was, that the disposition of eacli was simple and self-consi.stent, unwai-ped l)y vices, and undiverted from scholastic pursuits : whatever was his bias, whether to military detail, or to the science of jurispnidence, or to the cultiration of eloquence, he gave him.self to that pursuit, and thoroughly ma/lc himself muster of it." 2)2 ON IKK l'\FniEH Ri:SI'f)NSIBLE hIiowh liow soijii ilir cliild tiikcs chiiructt'r, that Irom till' curliest yciirs llu; lilossrmi sets: " Cum Septimus annus Transient puero, nonduin (jmni dcnte renato, Barbatos licet admoveas mille indc magistros, I line totidem."* (lis lines deserve immortality: " Nil dictu foedum, visuque hicc limina tangat : Maxima debetur puero reverentia." t Such language proves that the domestic system of Ms city and country had greatly fallen, which will always be the eflfect of public institutions where attendance is enforced, if not by penalty, by that which is more oppressive, — the influence of fashion and the condition of preferment ! The Roman citizen was foimally constituted, by the Patria Potestas, the very sovereign of liis family. And it is worthy of remai'k, that Plutarch objects to the laws and institutions of Rome, that there was no public rule and system of education, such as existed in Lacedaemon. Horace shows us that " the great boys, spnmg from noble centurions, with satchel and * " When the seveuth year had gone over the head of the bo^-, ere he has renewed his tirst teeth, although _you put him under the instruction of a thousand most venerable masters, from thai time he remains the same." t " Nothing impure in expression or in look must profane those eaves : a religious reverence is due to youth." FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 213 tablet swinging on their left arm," went to the private school, and settled their accounts moutlihj : while, — for none can be more simply tender than the lyrist in his pensive mood, — he describes liis father, humble in circumstances but generous in views, taking him ibr education to Kome, still never abrogating domestic superintendence : " Ipse mihi custos incorruptissimus omnes Circum doctores aderaty* We should scarcely have expected that in the Oceana of Haiiington such opinions could be found. But that powerful and independent author is a veiy earnest advocate of them. " To set men to tlie work of industry, wluch is health, the Commonwealth must begin betimes with them, or it will be too late ; and the means by which she sets them to it is education, the plastic art of goveniment. But it is as frequent as sad in experience (whether through negligence, or, wliich in the consequence is all one, or worse, over- fondness in the domestic perfomiance of this duty) that innumerable children come to owe their utter per- dition to then* own pai'cnts ; in each of which the commonwealth loses a citizen. Whereibre the laws of a government, however wholesome soever in tlicin- selves, arc such as, if men by a congi-uity in their education be not bred to find a rehsh in them, tliey " " He acting still as iiiy iiiiconiproinising piiardian, wn.« nlwa,\ s at the elbow c)f my teachers." — Satir : lib. i. G. 'Hi ON THK rAinii:s uKspoNsnuj-; will 1)(! suiv In Inutile iiinl dctL'st. Tlic fducution, therefore, oi" a mini's own children, is not wholly to be committed or trusted to himself." This reasoning is the more strange, inasmuch us the parent is supposed ready to do his duty; and should he fail, it is im- putable to the excess of kindness. But could the parent, endowed with those dispositions, bring up the child in any way that was not confonnable to the rules of that government ? If that were good, would not patriotism and allegiance be parts of the educa- tion ? Is not submission to the civil rule, is not the admiration of the civil constitution, tlie veiT general characteristic of the governed ? How vile must be that tyranny which youth will be sure to " loathe and detest!" How instantly should it be swept from the face of the earth ! Hobbes, in his Leviathan, strongly avers tliis pre- rogative of the Euler to manage the education of his subjects. — " They also that have authority to teach, or to enable others to teach, the people their duty to the sovereign po"wer, and instiniet them in the knowledge of what is just and unjust, thereby to render them more apt to live in godliness, and in peace amongst themselves, and resist the pubhc enemy, are pubhc ministers : ministers in that they do it not by their own authority, but by another's ; and pubhc, because they do it (or should do it) by no authority but that of the Sovereign. The monarch or the sovereign assembly only hath immediate authority from God to FOR THE EDUCATION OK im; I'KorLK. -^ i ,") teach and instruct the peopk' ; and no man hui tin- sovereign receiveth his power Dei gratia simply ; that is to say, from the favom' of none but God : all oliiei-, receive theirs from the favour and providence of God, and their sovereigns ; as in a mouarcliy Dei gratia ct Regis ; or Dei providentia et voluntate Regis." It is not easy to determine what are the exact ideas of Sir Thomas More in his interesting romtmce of Utopia. Some are beautifully domestic regulations. " Every mother is nurse to her own child, unless eitlier death, or sickness, be the let." . . . . " All in their childhood be instructed in learning. ' . . . . " The city consisteth of families : the families most com- monly be made of kindreds." .... " But to the intent the presciibed number of the citizens should neither decrease, nor above measure increase ; it is ordained that no family, w^hieh in every city be six thousand in the whole, besides them of the country, shall at once have fewer children of the age ol' four- teen yesu'S or thereabouts, than ten. or more than sixteen. Tliis measure or ninnber is easily obseni'd and kept, by putting them, that in fuller i'amilies bo above the number, into families of smaller increase. l)Ut if chance be, that in tlic wliojc city the su|)|)ly increase above the just nuinhcr, tlicrcwitli they till up the lack of other citii^s. ' All these arrangciucnis put youth at the disposal of the State. Houdineu are. likewise, introduced lor the unnv liuinlilr duties (>r (he eoiiiinuuilv. 2\('> ON TIIK I'MillKS UKHI'ONSIIil.i; IJacon has i-liusni tlit- same imaginative vehicle for Ills rofloctions. Jii liis New Atlantis he opens his conception of a true commonwealth. Here all is wise : " the riches of Solomon's house." Here all is pure : it is " the Vir<.,'in oi' the world." He, alone, of this class of theorists, requires not the parent to forego his right in his offspring. His exquisite descriptions of the Feast of the Family, the honours of the Tir- sau, the favom's conferred upon the Son of the Vine, the retinue of the thirty descendants, the approach of the herald, — the entrances, retirements, and returns of him who is the pater-famihas, — the kingly gift, — the shouts of the people of Bensalem, — are wi'ought as with one design, to do reverence to the marriage institute, and to proclaim the time glory of parents in their cliildren. We must not omit, that Infidehty ranges itsell' upon the side of parental irresponsihihty. It is at every expense of feeling that we transcribe the lan- guage wliicli it has uttered. " The present system of maniage is perfectly absm'd, and the greatest piece of tyranny towards the females that could possibly be invented. Every contract of that kind ought only to be continued so long as it is agreeable to each of the parties, and each ought to be at hberty to put an end to it whenever he, or she, pleases Mtu-- riage and sepai'ate famiUes create selfishness ; no one has any right to say that this is my child, or these are my rhildrcn : they should all be brought up in FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOI'LK. -^17 one general establishment, and tlien their habits and ideas would be similar, and they would then hve toge- ther in hannouy and concord."* Similar doctrines have been penned.f Surely it is veiy obvious to every person, on the perusal of these opinions, that, if they contain any truth, they do not present all the truth ; and that thcv have lost a very large portion of tlie ground which once they occupied, without any disputing them. As abstractions they would now be boldly denied. No power could be brooked which would tear these cai*- liest, holiest, ties of nature asunder. The infancy and youth of our cliildren can only be placed under one control. But the wisest and freest government ought to see that this claim docs not degenerate into bondage. The seniccs of a cliild, at a reason- ably appointed age, should become liis OAvn. Tlie State may have yet a more dchcate function to dis- charge. In this country' there is a tribunal wliicli has sometimes interposed between the reckless and vicious parent and the injured child. The equity of that proceeding is not aiTaigned. Yet it is to be doubted whether it be carried on in the supposition that the State is the foster-parent, "in loco parentis," or in simple protection of the helpless. It is obvious, too, thill this appeal can only be of rare occuirence. * Robert Owen's Speech at i\lanchester, in ihc Escliuii;.'0 Uuoiuh, during liis first public visit to tliat town. + His Book of the New Mornl W.-ibl 21H ON TIIK I'AKIII.^ KKSF'ONSIHI.K Whore Honu; tlignity aiul piitrimony arc at stake, our Clmnccry makes the heir its ward, and undertakes his education. It snatches liim from the contagion of foul example in the licentious household. But is this not rather in its province of guardianship over all estate, than in the h\'pothesis of a parentage which of right it can assume ? Over the child of the poor man, — though drunkard, dehauchee, spend- thrift, — it docs not cast its shield. The precedent, therefore, scarcely establishes a principle, and even if there be the principle, it can only admit of the most piu:tial operation. The world has always been best administered when the opinions and feelings of mankind have been most respected. These opinions and feelings, when tnie to nature, wdll flow in one direction. Parent and pro- geny are hard to part. Rob not the monster of its young. The ease must be extreme in which this violence can be endured iimong cinUzed men. If this alienation be the mark of progress and the augury of optimism in society, we might prefer the barbai'ous horde and the nider sera ! But the commonwealth has a vital interest in the education of its subjects. Ignorance defeats its liighest ends. There is supposed a general acquaintance with its laws and institutions. It holds all ahke accoimt- able. It punishes with equal rigom', save in a case of discretionary punishments. Should it uot undeitake that all, beneath its authority, be properly infonned ? FOR THE EDUCATION OF TlIK I'Edl'I.i:. t.M !» Now in all these investigutions, there is u pri- mordial test. Does government exist separately from the people, tliey being boni for it ? Can it right- fully pursue ends to which the people do not agree? Can it he bound to undertakings which the people in its erection did not entrust to it ? We need not be told that few original compacts of this kind can be found : that governors and subjects are seldom called to such tmiicable consultation. Still we must ask, Do these governments exist of any right but by the national will? Can they have any duty to perform but as the instrimient of that will ? The people may be foolish or wicked in shaping that government, in fixing its principles, in vesting its powers, — but itself can only be the organ of their voice, the sword of their avengement. They may be right or wrong in giving up to it the education of their children. This is the matter of their own covenant with it. But it can have no claim to enforce that education, except as they shall thus make such claim over to its defence and care. It is, sm'ely, too late to speixk of governments as independent and imprescriptible. The powers that be are of God, inasmuch as it was his will to make man a social being, and society can only exist by legal administration. We owe an account to Ilim for our social, as well as individual, cdiuhut. Hut whatsoever is right in the one capacity, is so in the other. There can be nn pubjir conscitncf dilieront 220 ON THK I'AKTIKS IIKSI'ONSIIU.K rroiM private conscience. It can be no more proper to resist public tlian private aggression, wbatsoever be tbc proper species of tbat resistance. How can it be tbc prerogative of a government to educate the people? Has the eternal King commanded and au- thorised it ? Where are his anointed lieutenants ? If government be only an affair of arrangement, then education may, or may not, be included in that arrangement : if it be of heaven, wc must demand its revealed muniments and provisions. The only justifiable, or supposeably proper, occa- sion for taking tliis business out of the hand of the parent, — of resuming his responsibihty by any govern- ment, — is, that he will not attend to it, that he suflFers his childi'eu to grow up in ignorance, that they thus become injurious and dishonoming to the State. This is a case wliich may be supposed. Many cannot see why that ultimate power of states, to throw them- selves between parent and cliild, should not be here exerted. Parents and children are subjects. Parents are pledged by their social condition to seek every benefit of the cliild. A breach of that condition is proved. The State enforces it. The cliild has lost liis natural, and even ci\il, protection and guidance. It is in oi-phanage. It is time for the control of that child to be taken up by anotlier. The original trast is deserted. A conventional one must be substituted. The wilful neglect of educating his cliildren justly lays the penalty nf shnmo on the parent, when he Foil THE EDUCATION OF THE rEOPI.E. ::i'?l beholds a third party do that which lie woiihl not dn himself. An analogous proceedmg is legtdised among us. The laboui- of young persons was deemed to be too prolonged in oiu' factories. A hill was passed to restrict it to eight hours, from nine yeai's of age to thirteen. This might seem only to afl'ect the exaction of masters, but it was not without its compulsoiy influence on pai'cnts. It has been feared, at least, that many of these arc not mindful of the proper strength of their cliilch'en. Poverty has too much rested on the returns of this labour. It might have been said, that pai-ental instinct would have rendered all interference unnecessary. The objection was over- ruled, — and public functionaries lU'c seen in our hic- torics, the appointed guardians of those whoso tender age the kindness of fathers and mothers is not left to defend. Who can question the right of pai'ents in their childi'en ? Yet their responsibility is not suffered to be final. Our Constitution knows not of any self- teiTQinating power. The favourers of interference not seldom boast, that which (jthers fear, — tlic probable extinction of youthful labour. But the case is to be made out, en- we provide for it. We have been generous beyond tiie limits of tlu! argument, in meeting it in its supposititious form, b'ew will assert, that education should be imposed where it is voluntarily pursu»'d. Aud is it a conunon tiling, tliat tlic cliildp'ii of ibis (•(•uutry arc thus neg- 222 ON Till': I'AuriKs uksi'onsihi.k lected? Is tlicn- not a pridf, oi'u-n too Invisli of tlie nu'iins, in our poorest fellow-subjects, to educiitc their iiuuilies ? Tlio contrary spirit may sometimes be shown. The vicious will most likely be careless of their offspring. We »re, however, persuaded, tbat tliis is the very smiill exception. There is a f^'eneral desire !nnon<,' the most ignorant, that the hue of ignorance should end with themselves. Ere now, the pai'ent has become the pupil of the child, and endeavoured to sumiount those practical inconveniences wliich he ah'cady resolved that child should never feel. The main objection, in many minds, against leav- ing the education of their children to parents, is, their supposed unfitness to make a proper selection of the teacher and the coiu'se. This disqualification, how- ever, does not appear, when the medical or the legal adviser is to be chosen. A certain repute or expe- rience is generally a sufficient test. It will be urged, that this objection is, at least, vahd in religion. We do not allow it. It is the duty of the poorest to " take heed what they hear : " To " beware of false teachers : " To " tri/ the spirits." There can be no external guarantee. No order, no office, no system, can be the pledge of uniform or sound doctiine. Every man must be fully persuaded in liis own mind. It is a principle which has gained ground of late, that most things are done best by government. We must have obsenod a gvndual encroachment upon FOR THE EDrCATION OF THE FEOPI.E. '^2^ private interests and companies which once existed, and in periods of no high liberty, with a strong independence. The East Indian Finn of poHticul conunerce, that vast Proconsulate, is drawn into the vortex of the all-encirchng State. Tlie Bank of Eng- land is gradually obeying the same g}'ration. The gi-eat transit -system of these realms is evidently re- garded with this evil eye. These are questions of property witli which we do not intermeddle. They are only regarded passingly by us as symptoms of a reigning spirit, of a domineering idea. But central- ization is now so strongly justified, tliat education is phiced among its principal duties. Tlje most uncon- stitutional measure of modem times provoked, on tliis account, little resentment. There were epochs, and there have been men, that would not have endured the Order in Council which originated the Committee of the Privy Council for Education. We might have as reasonably received, in full insignia of his office, a Minister of Public Instruction : some .^dile to real* our schools, some Censor to inspect our families. It is to be deplored, that the leaders in the nuistcr-roll of our senatorial philanthropists indulge an opinion whose consequences they can have never examined. They seem to tliink it at present impracticable, — even for a long time they admit that it must proceed witli gi-eat caution, — but still they hail the consummation of public statf and j)()Iici' lor natinnal training. States- men, l(H'turers, journalisls, nppeiir upon one side. It 224 ON Till-; I'ARTIKS IIRSPONSIBLE is espouHud uh an incontrovcrtiblr iiiitli. Lord Dt-n- Dinn, tlint f^reiit justiccr and magistrate, — wliose voice is always on tlie side of liberty, abitshing from his scat in (.-ourt and council a world's wrong-doing, tJK! iiuirdcr of the slave's deliverer abroad or tiir espicry of tlie letter's confidence at home, — contend- ing for the subject's right against the legislature's prerogative, — throwing open the prison-house where the champion of millions lay, not by legal quibble but Ijy constitutional demand, — has pronounced liis sentence : " It is the bounden duty of the State to pro\dde for the education of the people." De Toc- queville thus dechu-cs Ids opinion : " The first duty which is at tliis time imposed upon those who direct our affairs, is to educate the democracy ; to wann its faith, if that be possible ; to puiify its morals ; to direct its energies ; to substitute a knowledge of busi- ness for its inexperience, and acquaintance with its true interests for its blind propensities."* We must, nevertheless, ask what tliere is in government which requii'es this function, and which qualifies for it ? We may then produce reasons to prove that its inter- ference is prejudicial to the cause itself. To gidn a just conception of ci^^l government, Ave may veiy properly enquire into the representation of tlie Holy Scriptiu'es. If it be that Divine nce- gcrency which many have described, its picture and model will be enshrined tliere. We read of tlie King. " DeniiKTiicy in America, FOR THE EDrCATION OF 'I'HK PEOPI.t. y-^O who sliould supersede the Theocracy, that wlicii he " sate on the throne of liis kingdom he should write iiim a copy of the law, lest his heart should he lifted up ahove his brethren.'" We read that " he who ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fetu- of the Lord." We read that "rulers are not a terror to good works, hut to the evil." But none of these quotations place a sceptre in the monarch's hand to sway the consci- ence, to subject the soul. All that this government respects is the overt act. No intimation is afforded that it is responsible for the opinions of the people. And if it were thus responsible at any former time, it would be unable to exercise its duty in this and other countries, at their present date. The people are now the teachers of their rulers. Opinion woiks up from the lower to the higher gradations of society. tSenates and kings but ceremoniously perform the national will. Scarcely ever does it happen that they are in advance of the public mind. From it, but slowly, they gather their infomiations and their decisions. AVhat, in our time, maintains the religion of the privileged classes, but the rchgious manners and prin- ciples of the common people ? The responsibility of teacliing a whole country, cannot but be serious ; and if it inhere in govern- ment, there must be a reasonable proof of its competency. But this it would be very difficult to establish. Are the regions of a rourt and n legis- lature impen-jons to piv-'jiidics nnd errors ? Wjnit Q 220 ON THE I'MtKKS RESPONSIHLE security cnn tlicy lumisli, llmt tlic education, whicli they would impress, is just iind sound ? Wliat pecu- liar apocalypse of truth do they enjoy ? What has purged their visual sense of every film ? It was when (lie National Convention of France actually debated the question of a national education, that Jacob Dupont "freely avowed that he was an atheist!" If each Power be competent, because responsible, all arc in one category. But the Scotch and Enghsh schools, — schools of one island, estabhshments of the same State, — inculcate contradictory doctrines. The governmental system differs in almost every land. Which is to be credited, and which to be refused ? If the responsibihty be to teach that which is wrong, where fall the consequences of this responsibihty ? The people suffer now. Little can they know of eter- nal retribution, w^ho boldly say that they will bear it for the people. The variance, then, of the systems, destroys the equal duty to propagate them, and the universal obhgation to receive them. It is not uncommon to veil tliis argimient in figure. Thus is it depicted. A father is justified in impressing his rehgious sentiments on liis cliildren. The law of nature and of rehgion requires this of him. The king is the father of liis people. Therefore he should not leave them without the rehgion he sin- cerely behoves. — Strip off the veil, and the argument may easily be destroyed. The parent is necessarily older than the eliild ; the rehgious parent, which the FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. UUl case supposes, is wiser and better than the ehihl ; and, withal, a natural relationship, whieh ean have no parallel, involves a principle and right of authority wliicli cannot but aflFect the child. And yet let that child aiTive at a period of life to judge for himself, and he ought not to be charged with filial impiety, should he reverse the parental instructions. Apply the figure. Is the king older ? How many of his subjects exceed him in age ! Is the king wiser ? Sometimes, at least, even in this quality he may be surpassed. An inspired king imagined the opposite case. * Is the king better ? Honoured be the pious king, but we are not surprised that so many have " done e\il in the sight of the Lord." Only then is it a figurative style of speech, when the king is called the father of his people : it is not a strict relation, it is not a moral tmth. He governs them, imd they sustain him : they give him the system of rules by wliich only he can govern them : and it would be a much more analysed conception, a much stricter Ibnn of language, to say that the people are the father of the king, than that the king is the father of the people, — since he governs them by their choice and investiture, and receives fi-om them his political power and existence. It is not easy to be cuusisteut. In the very interesting " Essay on the Profession of Personal Religious Conviction, by Professor A. Viiict. ul" Lau- • Eccles. iv. 13. '228 ON 'rrri': pautiks kksponsiih.i-: sanne, may be found tlie following remarks: "Although the theory of government wliif;li I luive adopted does imply the rejection of the theor)' of paternal jurisdic- tion, at least, in the strictest sense of the terms, I can- not think of forbidding to governments the exercise of paternal feelings and paternal virtues. I cannot con- sider the enterprises and improvements of civilization as outrages on justice and liberty. I am now desi- rous most explicitly to state, that whatever may be my views as to the ideal perfection of a community, I regard all governments actively engaged in breaking the bread of knowledge to their subjects, not the ene- mies, but as the fiiends, of liberty." Every reader must see incoherence and vacillation in these sen- tences. Some appear as tniisms. If a government should act like a parent, not having the n'f//it to do so, the excellent author would approve I A\Tiy should it not as much give religion as education ? Wliat funds has it to accomplish this, but the revenues forced from the people ? It is a most lame and im- potent conclusion. It can only be explained by liis fear of raising too great a controversy — the double question of Established Churches and Educational Impositions. What, then, it may be asked, should a monarch do ? We answer, what any other man ought to do ; be himself religious, and presei-ve a domestic disci- pline of religion. Let him maintain a pious, holy, court. Let his example, and even his counsel, recom- FOR THE EDUCATION OK THE PEOPLE. t>'Z9 mend religion to his subjects. But we liuve a pre- cedent, and tliis we enforce. Would that all leaders and governors of nations might speak the language, and act upon the decision, of Joshua : — " If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ! "* It yn.]l be said, that the Chui'ch of the Country is the proper instructress of tlie people : that it is its direct design. On the question of civil incoi-porations of Christianity, we do not touch. It belongs not to our argument. The ai'gument leaves it open. It binds neither side of the dispute. Then, regarding any indefeasible claim of such a church, apart from its political establislunent, as only of itself, — we ask. How has it acquired the right to control the educa- tion of the people ? Has the State, wliich has adopted it, given it the right ? Then will come the question. Is it a right which the people may allow? Is it in agreement with their rights ? A state conscience is a sti'ange argument for infringing the consciences of millions. The diversity of churches will peqilex the peasant and the boor. Such diversity annuls the boast itself. There is education, it is to be adminis- tered under an ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but what is that ? It may be the Sorbonne of Friuice, the Synod of Russia, the Inquisition of Spain, the Diet of Rationalistic Germany, the Consistory of Socinian " Josh. xxiv. ir>. 'i'M) ON Tin-: I'AKTItS RESPONSIBLE Geneva. Those cannot nil Itc tlic fitting mediums and the iiptcst instruments. Let ever)- favourable cxeiption bo oonocded to tbe P'.nglish Chureli. Allow its doctrinal purity and tolerant spirit. It is plain, that if the people be so lamentably ill-educated, as is charged upon them, here falls the censure. If it was the duty of that church to direct the discipline of the rising race, — if it received " the nation's trust, the nurture of her youth, her dearest pledge,"* — then has it most unfortunately, or most guiltily, failed in it. The Universities it inexorably shuts against all dissidents from its doctrine, though surely they stand uot less in need of lore. We fear that we must charge it with neglect, if not malversation. From a table of the funds appropriated to educational purposes, accord- ing to the Report of the Commissioners appointed to cuquii'e into them, M'Culloch deduces the following facts : " It appears that, under the present defective and slovenly management, the income of endowed schools in these coimtries, exclusive of the sum appro- priated for that purpose by the chartered companies of the metropohs, tmiounts to .i'180,30!). But nine of the most opulent Enghsh counties, including Clie- sliire, Essex, Kent, and Lincoln, ai*e omitted in the above abstract, not having been enquired into by the commissioners when it was pubhshed. Allowing for this deficiency, <\nd supposing that the estates, and other property appropriated to educational piu-poses. ' Cowpcr. FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE I'EOi'LK. '^31 were reasonably and well managed, we believe that we shall be within the mark, if we lay down that a free income of from £400,000. to £'450,000., is at pre- sent partly, and should be entirely, devoted in Eng- land and Wales to the support of school education." It is a munificent endo^vmcnt : it is a mighty feoff- ment : what a work would it have wrought had it been faithfully and assiduously administered ! But the Chm'ch neglected the population : other guides arose and obtained a powerful influence over it : and society has long since been so divided into rehgious sections, that few will entertain the hope that the old ecclesiastical ascendancy can be recovered. If any imaginary right be retained by it, its power has passed from it. There are miUions who will not submit to its instructions. It can impart no tnily national education. Special reasons may be found against the doceut authority and right of any EstabUshed Church. Per- fectly just as may be its position, scripturally pm-c as may be its doctrine, it does not follow that, therefore, its province is in the education of the youtliful race. Its close and dependent connection with ilie State, must always create a tendency to take its piut. This tendency becomes a temptation to lean to the side of power. Popular hberty is not hkely to be its che- rished vision, or warmest inculcation. There is no wrongful suspicion in this view. Whatever is a cirtaiu tendency becomes a h\\. Hut hiiilory juh^tihcs our '■l'A2 ON THE I'AllTIKS IIEHI'ONSIHLK jciilousy. KcdcsiaHticiil corporations must liave pro- per, if not Hclfisli, interests. Can such corporations bo expected to foster enquiry into their f^'onnds of exist- ence ? May we divine that they will champion the progress of freedom and general knowledge ? Will they be intent especially on the advancement of the people ? They may have a useful place in a country, and yet be most disqualified for this particular service. Besides, an Established Church is a living commu- nity. Its standards and symbols may be irreproach- able, but itself has prejudices and other party passions. If it teach, it must teach what its functioniuies think and feel. It may be brought under the influence of most noxious eiTors. Its ministers and interpreters, for the time, may wrest and strain language, otherwise understood, to support them. Such errors may grow into fasliion and become ascendixnt. Are these to be taught ? A great portion of the actual clergy may favour tliem. Is the church to promulgate this cor- rupt doctrine ? Wliat security has the nation that only Christian verity shall be imparted to its youth ? Formularies and articles cannot be sttunped upon the mind in their strictest and pui'posed meaning. There comes between the one and the other, individual and van-iug opinion. It cannot be doubted, that if tliis imagined duty were now committed to the English Hierarchy, many of its ministers would train the young to ilie most doting and abject superstitions. No small part of the opposition to the recent attempt FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. U'S'-i to esta])lish National Educatiou, sprung from tlm general disgust and dread of a revived Poperv. When we are told what a government ought to do, — and when particular duties are imposed upon it, it is only necessary for us to assert what in all cases must he its princij)leH. It must be impartially just, it must he strongly protective, it must be intelligently free. It should favour no class at the expense of ano- ther. It should act in ecpiality towards rafli and all. It should not, even '' to do a gi*eat right, do a little wrong."* Whatever are the particuhu* duties, they must be subsequent to these principles, and should fall within their influence. In the one, there can be no mistake, — they are fixed ; — in the otlier, mistake is easy, — they are speculative and arbitraiy. In every country, the education which is forcible may not appear equally a wrong ; nor is it in the same degree, an inconsistency with a right-minded govern- ment. There being but one system of faith, there is no appai'ent wrong or inconsistency in its invariable inculcation. It may be the will of the present people. Tliere is not the sense of force in the collection of the tax, or in the surrender of the cliililrcu. I5ut all this favouring circumstance does not luakc the prin- ciple right. It but wards off an actual incunvenieuce and collision. Another generation may tliink other- ^vise. It is of our country, however, tliat we restrict ourselves to speak. " Shakspcaic. McrcliHut of \ cnicc. U'M ON JJIK I'AUTIKS UKSI'ONSJIJLK Tn England may be numbered, upon tlie safest oaleulatiou, as many separatists from the EsUiblished Church, as adherents. These are subjects as loyal, as important, as w(jrthy of righteous maintenance, as their conforming fellow-countrymen. They deserve, they demand, to be treated alike with the rest. It is, therefore, obvious, that a government which is just, equal, protective, free, must find that any national education will, perhaps, of necessity, bear partially and wrongfully upon such a people. Make it secular, the religionist complains. Give it any rehgious pecu- harity, and the different religious communities protest. There are those who object to any interference, let the case be what it may. Others feel it to be an outrage upon conscience, to assist in the promulgation of sentiments wliich tlicir hearts condemn. There are not a few patriots, who see, in any unilbnn sys- tem, the destruction of our national character and the enslavement of oiu* deai'-bought liberty. There ai'e not a few economists who see, in any bias of edu- cation towards some more than to others, an unjust tlistribution of a revenue, contributed, without distinc- tion, by all. The reason, then, is against tlie supposition, that it is the duty of government to educate the people, inasmuch as the attempt involves, at least, in almost eveiy instance, an injustice ; that greatest flagi*ancy wliich any can commit, that greatest evil which any can avoid. But every principle is worse thiui dubi- Foil THE EDUCATIOx\ OK TIIK I'EOPLK. U^io ous which cannot be carried out. The principle is tliis. Government has so deep an interest in the education of the people, that it must direct it. How for shall it be extended ? Government has the deep- est interest in its electoral community and hereditary aristocracy. Should it not enforce, then, the edu- cation of this important class ? If good for any, would it not be good for all ? Where must the pro- cess stop ? The argument proves too much. The restriction, at what point soever it is raised, can only be capricious. Wliat right can exist to force the poor child fi'om his piu'entage and home, wliich does not apply to the fondling of the rich and the heir of the noble ? The basis of much specious theory on this attri- buted duty of States, has been the admixture of public and private obligations. The amiable citizen has beheld ignorance around him. He has attempted to instruct the poor. In tliis all was voluntai'y. Parent and iliild were under no consti-aint. He has only tidien li'om his own proper store. He reasons, that the many ought to do what the individual does. He is right when he speaks of the many as of so many imliviihuUs. They may voluntarily combine, or vt)luiitiirily act alone. But his inference is most violent, — that wiiich individuals arc bound to do, government is likewise bound to do. If it be true, that each person, in an associated capacity, must aei in tiiai iii|»ii(ity, exactly ns he would when insulated, llien he cannot join an\ !^3G ON IJll-; I'AICIILS HLSl'ON^mi.L civil company or incorporation. For lie must now work out simply their intentions, whether mercantile or scientific. He must not alienate their funds to religion, — cither to maintain his own, or to oppose that of otliers. He feels, at once, that what would be his personal, is not his relative, duty. He has depri- ved liimsclf of all power, choice, liberty. — It is some- times asked, and in a triumphant tone. Is it not the ofl&ce of government to do all the good it can ? We answer, that it must attempt no good in contraven- tion of its true pui'poses, or by illegitimate means. But this question is intended to reduce the opponent to dilemma. Government should do all possible good : the enforcement of universal education is a good : therefore, government should enforce universal edu- cation. The major premiss assiunes a questionable proposition, a perfect fallacy, as to the kind and limit of good : it must do evil, that good may come. The minor premiss is as gratuitous, for whether this enforcement of imiversal education be, or be not, a good, is the moot matter in debate. The conclusion is nugatoiy, for it depends upon notliing. The whole, indeed, is vicious, for it begs the question, — it asserts that government education is a good, — the point in dispute, — the point imder denial. " Certainly, the gi'eat multiplication of -sii-tues upon himian nature, resteth upon societies well or- dained and disciplined ; for commonwealths and good governments do nourish virtue grown, but do not FOR T[IE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 237 much mend the seeds: hut t/ie miaerij is, tJmt tlw most effectual means are now appUed to the cuds least to he desired."* If the duty of the individual and tlie government be coextensive, the Christian will often spum in liis philanthropy the frontier of liis countiy, and seek the moral illumination of the world. He is a debtor to the wise and to the unwise. He feels it to be liis duty to consecrate his property and his influence for the mental and spiritual benefit of mankind. Must the State imitate his example ? Is it to exercise intervention with foreign countries for these purposes ? Is it to drain its coflers for them ? It is the duty of the Clu-istian, as far as he can, to Christianise the whole species. Docs it follow that the State ought to attempt the same ? The asserted claim of any govemmeut to educate the people, may not, at first, appear to involve any serious evil. But no pretension can contain so dis- tinct a principle and means of tp'anny. It is gi-asping tlie Avhole intellect of a counti*}'. It says, in impious rivahy of the Father of spirits, "All souls are mine." Its right being so far acknowledged, it knows no definable limit. What sliall be taught, lies in its behest. A just consequence of its prerogative is the censorship of the press. All literature it nmst regu- late. Every expansion of opinion it must libernte. It stereot}']ies the public mind. Tlicse are not impro- * Bucon. *i8M ON TIIK I'AKTIES nESPONSIHLE bable ovils ; llidiifi^li, were tlifV siniply possihlr, tin- aapncioiis and llic provident of tlio lutiirc, would n.'siMt ii j)iiii(iplc wliicli ((iiild be so iip])licd. IJut expe- rience is not silent upon these effects. The Executive Government of tliis kingdom, in taking up the matter of national education, has been severely blamed. We deem it capable of some defence. We are quite sure, save towards a certain department, that the blnmo has been too unmeasured. We ask. Was it not again and again urged upon the attention of the State ? Was not the neglect of it as often laid to its charge ? Was it not provoked into it by taunt and invective ? Did not a moral impeachment hang over it ? All sides, all parties, averred the duty of the government to interfere. Besides, it was the less blameworthy in that the principle had been already enacted. Compulsory education was recog- nised in the Factory Bill. That clause might be of very contracted power. The complaint was very general, not that the clause was legislated, but that it was so inoperative. All the wliile, that which we condemn was largely approved. The giievance was felt, not tliat it was done at all, but not done with a just eificiency. Our rulers might well rebuke us for suffering them to assume a false, as the pubhe, opinion, — for silently and unreproachingly behold- ing the ' germ of what we allege to be so immense an evil, — for our inconsistency, or our cowardice. "We do remember our faults tliis dnv." FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. '^^y It may now be proper to expose, by facts, the reasoning wliich we have assailed in abstractions. National education does exist in many of the Conti- nental States. It has operated long enough for decided eflPects to be seen. There is abundance of organization. There are grand Referendaries. There are portfeuilles and bureaux. Local check is un- known. Self-government is repudiated. All hangs upon one centre. Let us examine the great scholastic regimen of France. There is a Minister of Public In- stniction. He is the Master of the University, which is the keystone to tlie whole edifice of education. It has dependent upon it, academies, royal colleges, com- munal colleges, institutions, pensions, primary schools. A Royal Council assists the Minister. The seven functionaries, of wliich it consists, di\'ide the faculties and departments of education among them. Under them are inspectors- general. Then tlie Heads of the academies arc constituted over their respective pro- vinces. All is detail and surveillance. There is nothing which can elude the jealous care of the most balanced system. But freedom is sacrificed on the elaborate altar. Teacher and pupil cannot know it. The school is the ward of one great, panoptic, prison- house, with the keepers before the door. The work of Professor Lorain gives a deplorable account of the state of things. He was one of four hundred and ninety inspectors sent forth by Guizot to examine into the primary schools. He proceeds upon their geuerjil 240 ON TIIK I'AKTIKS RK.SPONSIHI.F. reports.* Tlif talc is ulmost incredible of the mis- cronntH who wen- r^alh'd schoolmasters, and the hovels wliich wore called schools. The^iucapacity, the vice, the squalor, the audacious dissimulation and deception, nearly surpass the power of belief. The moral influ- ence is too apparent. It is the chtu-acteristic of thf brave and free to rest upon themselves. The dcsin of the true patriot is in every thing to circumscrib' the province of government, where it can be done by extending the sphere of individual action. In our countr)^ the loan of the State is generally deprecated. We would allow nothing of our commerce, or our un- dertakings, to fiill into its hands. But when education is resigned to it, we ai'e henceforth childi-cn. The mind is discouraged and debased. We consent to receive our ideas, and those only which are minted with a royal de^•ice. We ai"e under tutors and gover- nors. Self-reliance, the soul of virtue, the talisman of success, is beaten do^vn. France is infidel or superstitious at a bidding. Generation is in conflict with generation as the educatoiT machine is set. The nation looks up for its dii'ection to tlie existing ruler or government. It can, therefore, only be in bondage. It is not the people, but that power. That power is a gi'eat deputation to do cveiy tiling. And why is * The original work is largely quoted from in a Publication of 1843: "Reasons against Government Interference in Education: by an Observer of the Results of a Centralised System of Education during Thirteen Years' Residence in France." FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 241 this ? Because the mind of the nation is made pri- soner, and led captive, by the training which meets it at the outset of Ufe, — which binds it to unifomiity, im- presses it with helplessness, and satisfies it with depen- dence. Hence, the absence of enterprise ; the dearth of largo and stining views, of gi'eat and far-seeing principles. The quarrel of the people may be with the government ; emeute may shake it, or revolution may overtlu-ow it ; but they keep to the one idea, the one idol, of the government still. The high-souled refoim of the nation, the regeneration of the people, enters not into their thoughts. They think themselves free, but it is in the sale of their freedom. They capitulate to a system of egregious vainglory : for empty honour and pageant, they lay down their amis and abandon their ganisons. They may find out in time their folly. It will not be long before they see how " men ride over their heads." They have bowed themselves to the despotism, and they must not complain that it tramples on them. Like other fortijications, they will at hist learn that educatoiT bulwarks are for their own intimidation. All will bo turned against them- selves. We have a hundred governments in England ; if they do wi'ong, the tribunals proscribe and punish : but, with one much grudged exception, (save that of the Registration, which requires a central safe keeping and archive,) centralization, that subordinate romifi- cation wliich gives to n Parisinn boiird its national ubi(|nity, is unknown to us. 242 ON THK I'AUTIKR UFISPONSIBLE The ((liuiitidii which is estiiblislicd in PrusHiu, is a thcmo of very wide utid vehement eiilo^')'. It has been exalted as a model of perfection. The best, the only safeguard, of liberty, is hitlicrto withljeld. Tliut Constitution which was promised, when a popular spirit was to be awakened, whicii was the signal-cry for levies of youth and treastire, is still ungratefully and perfidiously refused. The last and the present monarchs have borne their faculties meekly, and have exhibited many amiable \'irtues. But poor, and to be accursed, are " the virtues which undo a country." The private excellence and domestic goodness of the despot are not uncommon. His nature must have some vent of tenderness. Wielding a mighty maclii- nery of oppression, it is not likely that he will carry cruelty and violence into liis home. It is a respite of self-torment, to find here pastime and caress. It is relief from the heav)' forms of State. It is only a variety of selfishness. Who commends the lion, as it devours its prey, that it is loving to its mate and playful with its cubs ? No more dire misfortune has fallen on man, than tliis amiableness of tyi-ants. It often is pretence. Better were it to be so. Often it is real. It is then pleaded for excuse to oiiish miUions of families, to send desolations through mil- lions of households. A Nero and a Cahgula could not do half the mischief of a William and a Ni- cholas. ^Vliat is the countiy of wliich we speak ? tliis kinmlom of boasted liffht ? this land of uni- FOR THE EDrCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 248 versal ('(.luctition ? A ciimp of mananivrcs. an arse- nal of weapons, a l)arrack of troops. All arc trained to militaiy semce. Upon this martial regulation is founcLxl the system of instruction. It supplies, of course, immense facilities for it. A thousand subalterns are ready to conduct it. Psedagogues are the orderlies and sentries. The dnim and the drill are the notices and exercises. An elemental^ educa- tion, very complete as far as it goes, is confessedly afforded. But what is the national character wliieii it can shape ? It severs the proper sympathies of parent and child. It extinguishes the proud consci- ousness of free agency and personal accountabihty. It raises mind to one level : it as often sinks it to tlie same. A dull monotony succeeds. To this is a noble people made slave and victim. What liigh deeds can such discipline provoke ? What are the excel- lencies wliich this culture can inspire ? They who anticipate the reign of mind and of religion, can see, in all this mechanism, no preparatory process, no encouraging earnest, no prophetic hope ! * Moral motive should operate on the parent, and, as early as possible, on the child, in the work of instruction. But though there may be national pro- vision in a free country witliout compulsion, in eveiy despotic land, it is more oi' less coercive. The com- mon practice in Germany is, for the schoolmaster to keep a list of the children who attend his .sehuul. * See Laiiig's " Notes oi' a Tnivcller." 24J ON THE r\in'n;s responsible This inusi he (lertified by tlie clergyman of the parinh, who roinoiistriites witli tlic pan-nts, if their cliildren are not enrolled. If this liave no effect, the names of the defaulters arc lonvarded to the eommissioners of education, or to the Consistor)', as the law may be ; and they are then cited to the Ccjurt of Judicature, to which they are amenable, are fined, or imprisoned when they have not the means to pay the fine. It may be said, that recusancy seldom manifests itself, and tliat these punishments are rarely inflicted. But there is another sanction more concealed. The cere- mony of Confinnation depends upon the attendance of the cliildren at the school, and their civil rights can only be obtained on receiving it. Tliis proscription is only a disguise of the same harsh and overbearing force, which threatens the mulct or the dungeon. Not disposed to take offence at a word, nor to indulge a fastidiousness of criticism, we have used, as a pai't of the common tei-minolog}-, what is called traiiiiiifj. But we disrelish it. It seems to treat man too much as the animal or the posturer : it reminds of the menege or the gymnasium. It is sufficiently well accommodated to the theoiy of man, as the crea- ture of circumstances, as the proper quantity of flesh and spii'it to fill up mercantile or militaiy parallelo- gi-ams. If there are those who think that tliey can make him just what they wish, we are siu'e that tliey have not planted that aim on any noble height. They would weld liim to their end only, as more malleablv FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPIK. '^4 5 subservient to them tliuii the metals which tliey forge. But if wc believe in the diversities of human intellect, that there lie deep in it the elements of various power, that education, as the word intends, is the appointed mode of di'awing forth its mined stores, then, the sys- tem of batons and signals, — the fugle management ol" all, notliing discriminated, nothing adapted, — can only miserably fail in every exalted piu'pose, securing but the living machine and debased instrument. We seek to raise tlie individual, and tlie nation, to " glory and virtue," to " honour and immortality," to "a heavenly calling," to " a divine natm'e." Training is a sorry word for such a destiny. A nobler evolution is sup- posed : a more celestial impulse is requii'cd. In the classical ages of Greece and Kome, though the gymnastic exercises were recommended, they do not seem to have been enjoined. They were extolled, but not imposed. These and music were the rudi- ments of education. We know that the instruction of youth was most carefully studied, that the science of education was most dihgently prosecuted ; but govern- ment did not affect to legislate upon it. Once, and, perhaps, only once, was the liberty of teaching revo- ked. This is a sufficient prool' tliat it was an under- stood and admitted right. In the JHilli ()lyiii})iad, the period of Polyperc-lion, a decree was passed in Athens, by which teachers Avere forbidden to set up any school, unless the liberty of doing so had been granted by tiie senate nnd people. A certain Soplio- 2jn <»N niK I'AUriKS |{KS|'(»NSIHI,K ck'S, tlif son 1)1' .\iii|»lii(ilr(l!i, hears tlic l)ii(l i-rcdit of iiisti^'iitin;,' it. TIk; very iiuxt ycur it wiw annulled, unci its author was accused, l)y Pliilo, of a wicked out- rage on the laws, and amerced in five talents, though Demochares, the nephew of Demosthenes, pleaded liis cause. Tlmt inter\'al which saw the suppression of educational liberty, was marked by the indignant retirement of Theophrastus, and the other philoso- phers, from the city.* It is recorded, that during the consulate of Caius Fannius, Strabo, and of Cnoeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, (A. U. C. 030,) a persecution arose against the philosophers, — some accounts say, the Rhetoricians, and others, the Epicureans. But their perfect hberty would not have been denied, save on the allegation, that they were the corrupters of youth, to wliich their methods and opinions lent at least some colour of probabihty.t * Bergmaim. The author has done his utmost to obtain this work. lie has failed. He is compelled to do that which he most dislikes, quote a quotation. He finds, however, the following account of the same fact in the Biographie Universelle : " Pour 1' atteindre plus surement, et lui oter les moyeus d' une juste de'fense, une loi ferma toutes les e'coles, et interdit aux philosophes d' enseigner, soit publiquement, soit en particulier. En un instant, Athcnes fut priv^ de toutes les voies de 1' instruction. Les philosophes s' doignerent le meme jour ; les rheteurs seuls eurent le privilege demeurer. L' effet de cette loi dura un an : elle fut alors rapportee, et son auteur condamnd a une amende de cinq talents. Les philosophes rentrerent aussitot dans Atheues." t Aulus Gellius, lib. xv. cap. 11. The author <>f the Attic Nights is evidently wTong in conjoining the name of Messala with Strabo. FOR THE EDUCATION OF TIIK I'EOl'LK. 247 How pleasing are the touches of domestic tender- ness and order, which some incidental passage, in a classical author, unfolds, as marking the Homan com- mon life. We are accustomed to think of it only in its severer forms. We call u[) hefore our minds imrelenting sternness and stoicism. But the parental character was not despoiled of its nature. It was beheld in the most ardent desire to train offspring for all social duties. Wliile it assiduously prepai'cd them for the State, it resigned not that business to it. Thus, in the Adelphi of Terence, the wit of Syrus does not hide from us the parental influence in edu- cation : " Ut quisque suiun vult esse, ita est."* Nor does tlie weakness of Demea conceal the indefatigable earnestness of that influence : " Nil prsetermitto : consuefacio : deniqiie Inspicere, tanquam in speculum, in vitas omnium Jubeo, atque ex aliis sumere exemplum 6ibi."t An education not provided in this manner, an appai-atus set up independently of all popular choice and control, can never be valued as it must be to be avaiUng. If it be presented as a dole and boon, it will be depreciated by those who see in it no kind motive. If it be enforced by payments, the exaction " " Parents make the chiiracter of the chihl. " + " I omit nothing : I am always teaching : my chief injunction is, that he look into the lives of all, as in a mirror, and out »l' them select a pattern for hiuij-cH. — Act 3, bc. 1. 2iH ON TIIK PAKTIMS KKSroNSIIW.K will irritate tlio more tliut it is iiTCHponsibly applied. The party stands neither in the eapaeity of tlie bene- fieiary nor the creditor. He must receive and he must contribute. It is well known that tlie simple gift is rarely estimated. Sweet is the bread of care. The proceeds of labour inspij-e a dcli[,']itful inde- pendence. How many a Bible is treasured, towards which the little weekly instalment was devoted ! How manly is the feeling of many a frugal swain when he accounts with the village schoolmaster for the humble tuition of his cliildi'en ! An eleemosynary educa- tion, or that wliich is eked out by compulsory pit- tance, will never warm the heai't into gratitude. In such a scheme of national instruction there is a boasted uniformity. But this is a property which eats out the core, wliich destroys the life, of every scheme of honourable competition. Repetition con- victs no error, experiment opens no truth. The mind of eveiy cliild is to be impressed in the siunc way. The next generation is to beat time to the step of this. But far different is the earnestness of the volun- tary education for which we plead. The private teacher owes his success to studious thought and constant self- improvement. He must compare his plans. He must divine his pupils. He must revise liis proceedings. He must advance with others. If he pause, he wiU lose the race. Education is liis commodity and he must ply it. Empiricism will not be the unlikely consequence of tliis rivalry ; but his greatest mistake FOR THK EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 249 cannot be so unsuitable as tlie success, his lowest effect cannot be so superficial as the triumph, of a national education. It is argued, with much of the air of an after- thought, that if little be acliieved by tliis method in the education of youth, yet tlmt, in securing such a number of teachers, a nucleus is obtained for social advancement. These, it is contended, are in them- selves a vast accession to the stock of national leai-ning and intelligence. We cannot concede it. Such men are nothing in a community but as insti'uctors. Their instmctions are caiTied very generally to the limit of their own knowledge. They have been trained for a certain office, and are most uninfluential out of it. And what is their independence in lending themselves to a unifonn system of literary and religious tuition ? They are the underhngs of a despotic power. They are the drudges in the execution of its decrees. They may educate the people in this slavish rut ; they may educate them well : but what are they in themselves ? Wliat discoveries will they make ? What liigh-souled virtues will they estabhsh ? What baniers of preju- dice will they throw down ? Wliat lights will they cai'ry forward into the future ? We mark tliem Avith a deep jealousy. They are the ready agents of every anti-popular plot. They are the Piwtorian guard. They arc as the Switzers and the Janisarics of tiic tyrants who hate our " nature's onward plan." Sub- serviencv is written on llicir biow. Thev are beld in 250 ON THK I'AiniKS laCSl'ONSIlJLE leash to assist, at any iiioiiitiii, \]i(; iron arrest of ciuiiiiry and tlu- rrcklcss suppression of liberty. Tlicy arc the task-masters to crush the human spirit. Me- chanically inured for mechanical duty, they are crea- tures of tlie routine, the circle, the groove: they are not the men to tliink, to reason, to soar away towards the sun of truth. They are the puppets of a show, — they are only impelled and managed by unseen springs and wires. Other countries, other powers, may see, in this uniform training, the precise means to as precise an end. They proclaim that their purpose is unitive. They would melt down all discordances of opinion into a common mould. The following extract from Le Siecle of 18th March, 1837, cannot be mistaken: "An end of tliis kind can only be obtained by the means of education, wliich, in taking generations at their source, finds neither prejudices nor interests con- trary to its influence. This is above all necessary, after a revolution wliich has fractioned the country into so many parties ; for if education were free, parents would entrust theii* children to those schools wherein then* principles were professed ; society would still remain divided ; political stiife, party and reli- gious hatreds, would tlius be perpetrated from age to age; and it would be impossible for government to accomplish the peaceful mission with which it has been charged. We would, therefore, have been wilUng enough to restrain paternal authority, and the rights FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 251 of teachiug, in favour of the University, provided tliat University had received the impulse of a national government." Was that the wolf-hark of the Corsiean dynasty ? Was it the toothless doting of the elder Bourbon ? It is the apology of the second revolution, of the regenerated nation, of the popular kingship, of la Jeune France, in ftivour of its educatory catlio- licon ! The University, it is intimated, is not quite in unison with the movement. There is no Napoleon to cow it. There is no Chai'les to entice it. If it were less independent, more democratic, it might take the masterdom of all the ideas and convictions of the people ! Tliis may be the language only of jouniahsm. Another extract shall be taken from the Report which was drawn upon Public Instmction, 1837, by M. Dubois, member for La Loire, member of the Royal Council of PubHc Instmction, a general Inspector of the University, and Director of the Normal School. " Thank God and the progress of civilization, it is now admitted that the State cannot allow the educa- tion of the people, nor yet the higher branches of knowledge, to be exposed to the mercy of political and rehgious parties, and to the changes of private industr}'." " Can a govenunent allow tlie principles, tlie rules, tin- manners, and tlie habits, rehgious, civil, and political, on wliicii it is founded, to be tossed about l)y every wind of doctrine ? Every day, complaints are heard about the auanhy wliich prevails in publii- opinion. Would it. by cliauee, be UIJ2 ON IHE rAKTlKS IlKSrONSIBLK a njinedy for this evil, if, in tlio midst of so many new systoms of education, the national majority, of which the government, after all, is hut the highest expression, — the majority, that constituted, acknow- ledged, and sovereign, authority, in all other matters, dared not, or could not, proclaim itself sovereign also in education ?"* The spirit and the scope of these quotations are exphcit. We blame them for no disguise. But we indignantly ask. What must be the state of the coun- try which can endure them, which can applaud them ? The right of private judgment, of unbiassed enquiry, of moral independence, is blotted from their charter by the citizens themselves. Public education is abused for the avowed purjDose of this disfrancliise- ment. It is to be employed for the very end of a universal assimilation. The modifications of mind are thus sought to be destroyed. The religious individu- ality of man, the most solemn thought wliich can possess liim, that which is the " whole of man," is not recked of. His present social condition and subser- \'iency is the total view and care. His "large dis- course, looking before and after," is erased. He must think only tln-ough one medium. His patriotism consists only in a Prociiistean denaturalization. And should it not be a warning, like tliat of the Treble Woe, how we indulge the theory of a Public Edu- * The Author is indebted for both extracts to the Pamphlet before quoted, " Reasons against Govcrnnieut Education," ic. FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 253 cation, an education by the fasliionable agency of central board and stipendiary inspection ? The litc- rai*y information and taste of such a people can never be exalted : but however great could be their proficiency, the most accurate knowledge would be no substitute for the sense of personal accountability. Their minds might be filled with the cuiTes of geo- metry and the wonders of physiolog)', to say nothing of poeti-y and romance ; and yet the Plague of Dark- ness might be upon them, the more portentous that it was not felt. Would we know what France anticipates as its millenium, its euthanasia, its apotheosis, we need but consult the Book of its Royal Schools, or, according to the second title of that beautiful pubUcation, " L' Avenir De La Jeunosse." That high hope is founded upon certain institutions for cadets. The youthful candidates for fortune are trained in them. They almost all point to the public scmce, — Polytechnic, Naval, Staff", Chaiters, Verduring, Mining, Cavalry, Road and Bridge construction, Engineering and Artil- lery, and even Veterinary ! There are also establish- ments for the Fine Arts, for Law, for Medicine, and for Music. The normal school is the most honoured of all. It is the " Pepinierc" of a universal influence. It is the centre and ganglion of a universal distri- bution. Oh how unlike the spontaneous, tlie origi- nal, the vigorous, outworking of our country's mind ! How artificial, tame, monotonous, compared with the 254 ON IHI-; I'MiTIKS KKSI'ONSIHLE nutiiriilncss iind indupondcncf of our pi.'ople ! 'J'he arts und professions ocase to bu libt-ral ; and the soil, over wliicli f^ovomment sets its army of merce- naries and espials, resounds with tin- one step, or rather trauip, of a nicchuiiieul unifoiinity. All must bo stunted to be made equal, and be ri^nd to be made even. The trees of the forest must be clipped to one pattern. The windings of the river must be straight- ened to the most undeviating line. " Avenir ! " We cannot welcome it. We see in this formalistic plan no seeds of power, no augiuies of glory ! The nation, so handled and worked into its shape, never can be illustrious ! Its generations can only be cycles of what has been ! There is no advance. It has no susceptibility of progression. It never can be greater, by the All Hail, Hereafter ! Poor Louis, from his Bed of Justice at Versailles, declared liis " resolve to estabhsh, in every part of his kingdom, that unity of design and system, that con'espondence of the parts with the whole, without wliich a great State is only weakened by the number and extent of its temtories." He, tlierefore, would put down the various parhaments of liis kingdom. He must centrahse ! He provoked the nobihty and clergy against liiin, as well as the people. The pro- ject brought him to the prison and the block. Such uniform education binds and tethers a peo- ple. It leaves generation after generation in the same hopeless state. It allays thscontent, but it is FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE . 255 by Stopping all progress : it is the gtiin of slavish supineness at the loss of immortal craving : you, for the sake of the citizen, forego the man. The pendu- lum does not describe an arc of more unvarying mea- surements, nor sweep a succession of more tiresome vibrations. But even now the reaction comes. The State and the Chui'ch of France cannot act together, nor agree as to the proper share of each in tliis business. The Minister of Pubhc Instruction, in this present yeai', (1844,) has brought in liis Education Bill, estabhsli- ing Uberty of instruction for all individuals, and the right of parents to educate their cluhli'en in their o\v^i way, — securing perfect control for the govern- ment only in all pubUc establishments. The ^fonarch, on opening the present Session of the Chambers, announced liis wishes to give freedom to education. The meaning is plain. The Church would overawe the Civil Power, and claimed, for this end, tlie training of the people : the Civil Power perceives that it must abandon some portion of its foimer pretensions, in order to hold in check the haughty puqioses of the Church. The U/iivers, the t)rgan ol' the liierarcliy, furiously assails the Bill. Between these fierce en- counters, which shall be the greater tyrant and divide the lai'ger ascendancy. State or Clmrch, tlie only hope arises, tlnit the youth of France may escape being brought into bonds by both ! Such sti'uggles, if not the happiest means, an', perhaps, the surest earnests. 25G ON THK I'AHTIKS RESPONSIBI.K of lil)orty! Wlicn Pope iind Emporor contended, then only was tlio breiitliing time for liberty, — then only wjia Europe free ! And this is a warning to us of prophetic menace. The ambition of the Pupal See is unappeasable. The Order of Jesuits sought, by every ingenuity, to im- pose its yoke upon the mind of nations. It began its tamperings, wherever it could worm itself, with the simphcity of youth. Its aggi'essions soon became so daring, that Europe drove it from court and college, a hissing and byeword of beguilcment and oppres- sion. Strange is it that its treachery is so generally overlooked. Its self - inconsistency surely might be trusted to condemn it. Its boasted poverty has ever contrasted with its mighty wealth, its affected meek- ness with its aggrandising cupidity, its averred sub- mission witli its sovereign independence. But it is not always that power itself perceives the danger. It stoops to be the abject instrument of the Papal super- stition. So is the Sorceress seen still sitting on the Beast, (the symbol of tjTannic pohty,) with its head and its horns, curbing it to her will. The people succumb also. And she is seen, therefore, sitting upon many waters, (the emblem of popular, multitudinous, interests,) ruling also then snrging violence. Sliall there be no end ? Kesign education to the national governments, and it will not be long ere the ban- ners of every country shall cringe to the Gonfalon of Rome ! FOR THE EDUCATION 01- I'lli: ri:l(l ! Wliat diro misfiy had Leon prevented ! Hiu;h Ijhick disf^'riice wouhl not Iiavc fallen on our country : sudi portentous evil would not Imve hor- rilicd our laiid I A duly did somewhere exist: that duty was by souk^ parties neglected. Nor can it he denied, that this duty has a serious aspect on society. " Qui non recti; instituunt ntque erudiuul lilx-ros, non sohiiu lilx'ris sed et reipuhlic8& faciunt injuriam."* It is, therefore, a social duty. .'Ml the present youth must speedily become the main support and life of the commonweidth. They must impress its movements. They must be the political constituency. They must fonn the mind of another generation of youth. They will soon have passed the great lines of manhood. Many a social duty exists, however, apart from the ruling power. We prejudge not now the determination of the question. We only protest against any wTCSting of the term. Social and political duties are not necessarily convertible. The political must be social, but the social need not be political. Eleemosynary instruction does not seem to have been thought of by the ancients. Theii- religion taught them no principle of charity. Where there was no hospital for bodily disease, no asylum for bereave- ment and destitution, it was scarcely to be expected * " They who do not train :uiil instruct aright their children, as greatly injure the State as their offspring." — Cicero. AND RESOURCES OF Tills (OUMIiV. 201 that the school should be conceived and supported by the existing benevolence. Thus Plutarch, in his l^ring- ing up of Children, exclaims : " It is my liighest wish, that the blessing of education should be extended to all ; but if there be any who, from their straitened circumstances, cannot avail themselves of my recom- mendations, let them blame their hard lot, but not my advice. For the very poor ought to do their utmost to obtain for their children the best education, and if they cannot command this, let them seek the best witliin their power."* We feel that the duty of providing education does not only rest upon the parents; but that, when they are too ignorant to conduct, too occupied to inspect, too poor to compensate, the education of their off- spring, the duty of assisting them falls upon others. This duty belongs to that large class of morals, wliich includes the love of our neighbour. It is written on the second table of the Law. The illustration is simple. Wherever there is misery, the Christian feels that it is his duty, accord- ing to liis abihty, to afford relief We look not to the State for the support of our infiiinaries and fever- bouses and mendicity-societies. They depend upon voluntary contributions. Sliould it b*' said Unit cdu- * " KyM yap f/.ciXii-a «» pjovXoiiji.rii Tan Konri ^^nrifiov ntai t>)» ayuytiv- K/ St rivig tviiu; toi; liicif f^aTTovnt, aivyarnvauri rtif tfiois x^naafffxi To.^a.yyiXfu.cKn, rnv ru^tiv airiafft/rif, du tom ravrm e-vftfiivXiUnvra.''^ x. r. >.. — Plut : Miji taiiay) \y'uyr,y,. yr»vi ON Tin; i;i>i ( Ai KiNAi, mkans cutioii cimiiot expect the muhu symputliy, we answer, that there is no olijeet of more tittin;^' commiseration tlian the " child left to himself. " Should it be insi- nuated that it is precaution, rather than sjiiipathy, wliicli induces us to stem iiiferlion and pauperism, — it might be well replied, that there are no eonse- quences more threatening than those of ignoranee. If this be an evil and a misehief, the obligation weighs upon all to abate and overcome it. Policy and self- interest may, also, not be inoperative in the determi- nation of this conduct. The benefit of education, to even- class of mind, has been by some doubted. They have discovered, in the unlettered, the vein of excellent sense. They have found a manly understanding and sagacity : " Rusti- cus, abnormis sapiens, crassaque MineiTii."* They have known the self-vindication of genius. It has gi'own up in a wild and rank luxuriance. They doubt whether the hardy mind of the fu'st case would not be enfeebled by discipline : whether the independence and bloom of the second instance would not be compressed by rules and arts. But how often do both fmiiish occasions and specimens of this very want ! The mas- cuhne ^^gour is dogTuatic, abrupt, vain, supercili- ous, overbearing. The intellectual quahty, wliich tlie sudden and powerful rostus denotes, and which men call genius, becomes w-ayward, self-Anlled, indolent. * " A peasant, wlio is a pbilosophei- ignorant of the rules, an\ riii'. i;i>r(ATMiNAi- mkans we all |)( n^civc that iiny interfurencc with our (liiiiiliililf iustilutions, — wlmtover should destroy their spontaneousncsH iind sell-povcmirnent, must tend to their subversion. Tlieir tiid would iif)t oidy be iu danger of defeat, l)ut the moral charaeter of the nation wouhl suffer total eelipse. That perennial spring of kindness and pity, whieh now sends forth such abundant and heabng streams, would be sealed. The bands of society would be burst asunder. Our civic life would be wholly transformed. All pity ject, more especially for the encouragement of my young professional friends. Mr. Liddcll has truly told you that, in my early days, I worked at an engine in a coal pit. I had then to work early and late, often rising to my lal our at one and two o'clock in the morning. Time rolled on, and I had the happiness to make some improvements in engine-work. The fiist locomotive that I made was at Killingworth Colliery, and with Lord Ravensworth's money. Yes ! 'Lord Ravens- worth and Co. were the first parties that would entrust me with money to make a locomotive engine. That engine was made thirty-two years ago. I said to my friends that there was no limit to the speed of such an engine, provided the works could be made to stand. In this respect great perfection has been reached, and, in consequence, a yery high velocity has been attained. In what has been done under my management, the merit is only in part my own. I have been most ably assisted and seconded by my son. In the earlier period of my career, and when he was a little boy, I saw how deficient I was in education, and made up my mind that he should not labour under the same defect, but that I would put him to a good school, and give him a liberal training. I was, however, a poor man : and how do you think I managed ! I betook myself to mending my neighbours' clocks and watches at night after my daily labour was done : and thus I procured the means of educating my son. He became my assistant and my companion. He got an appointment as under reviewer, and AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 2C}'j would be II vice, and all relief a circumveution of legislative design. We revolt at the consummation which rises upon us. Let us not see this iiiin of our Country ! Its sun could not set in a 'darker night ! But it will be contended, that education is not to be classed with ordinary charities. It is to stand out as an exception. It is a more solemn and difficult duty. It is the proper business of the government. It must not l)e left to private hands. On this opi- nion we offer the foUowing animadversions. at nights we worked together at our engineering. I got leave to go to Killingworth to lay down a railway at Hetton, and next to Dar- lington; and after that I went to Liveqwol, to plan a line to Man- eliester. I there pledged myself to attain a speed of ten miles an hour. I said I had no doubt the locomotive might be made to go much faster, but we had better be moderate at the beginning. The ilirectors said I was quite right ; for if, when they went to Parliament, I talked of going at a greater rate than ten miles an hour, I would jiut a cross on the concern. It was not an easy task for me to keep the engine down to ten miles an hour, but it must be done, and I did )iiy ])est. I had to place myself in that most unpleasant of all posi- tions — the witness-box of a Parliamentary committee. I could not find words to satisfy either the connnittee or myself. Some one enquired if I were a foreigner, and another hinted that I was mad. Hut I put up with every rebutt", and went on witli my j)Iiins, deter- mined not to be put down. Assistance gradually increased — iin- ])rovcments were made every day — and to-day a train, wliicii started from London in the morning, has brought me in the afternoon to my native soil, and enabled nic to take my place in this room, and see around me many faces whicli I have great pleasure in look ing upon. Friends and fellow-townsmen, I tliank you most heartily for your kind reception, and wish you every happiness tliis world can afford. " 200 ON TIIK LDtUAIIONAI, MKANS We repeat our protest against all attempts to dis- seize parents of tlieir rights in their children. The everlasting statutes of nature forbid the rapine. How- ever flattered and extenuated, the act is outrage. Disguised as it may be, it is odious tyranny. It is treason against the sympathies of the universe. Nor arc we loss strenuous in our resistance of compulsoiy education as a wrong to all liberty. Short- sighted are they who would abridge, or suspend, this, for a gi'cater good. There is no greater good ! There can be no greater good ! It is not a simple means, it is an end. And is it not the most tren- chant despotism to take any human mind, — added to the injustice and robbery of alienating it jfrom that charge to wliicli Providence and Nature have en- trusted it, — and to adjudge what knowledge it shall, or shall not, receive ? And it is only a covert mode of exercising the same interference, when benefits ai'c attached to those who yield to it, and, of course, disadvantages follow to those who refuse. The far-reaching eye of the legislator and the philosopher sees here no tr iflin g injustice. Persecution may consist in withholding privilege, as well as in inflicting suffering. Not only does it operate in outraging person and property, but in abstracting or lessening the advantages which ano- tlier dii'cction of opinion might have secured. Every man in this country is visited with it, who, because of pecidiar religious conviction, is denied perfect AND RESOURCES 01' THIS CorNTRY. '^07 equality \yiih others ; or who, in consequence, is re- fused his share of any public and national benefits, to which, in common ^v^th otliers, he pays his sup- port. It is quite time to give up such narrow sets of ideas. The most negative injuiy, — any depression in society, — any passing by, — any shght, — any post- ponement, — for conscience sake, is persecution. The administration of such a hiw cannot fall equally. The encouragement to education, by any penal dis- abiUties on its neglect, is the civil proscription of those who never enjoyed its means. Men are treated as responsible, who were not fi'ce agents. Caltunity is condemned for guilt. It is still more umight- eous. It visits the grievance on a mental state as crime. Any du'ection of law is absurd wliich cannot be pursued. "Wliere could you stop ? You punisii the uneducated mind. What other mental habits and conditions will you punish ? " Be just," is the rule of our Constitution. To delay and withhold justice is its violation. But if only a class were entitled to it, would it not be a monstrous abandonment of that charter which decrees equal protection to tlie life, property, and hberty, of all ? On the same ground, a Literate quali^cation for electoral rights in tlie commonwealth, must be con- demned. The man has not sinned, but his parents. The stimulus comes too late for personal improve- ment. But while we deem such a proposal as utterly unjust, wliat a stigma is it, and wbiit niin 268 ON TMK KDl CATIONAI, MKANS miiy it Iniii^', tluit tlie power of voting for the legis- lature, the true sovereignty, of the lund, is often asso- ciated with the rudest ignorance ! What country can be safe, whose freedom is thus entrusted to the cus- tody of vulgar stolidity and prejudice ! 8uch brute power can only be expected to exercise itself in the most dangerous extremes. Like the sliifting ballast of the storm-tossed vessel, it is sure to be propelled to the wrong side. A principle is worthless wliich cannot be carried out. If the principle, involved in our present ques- tion, be, that education is the province of government, then are subjects to be regarded indifferently in its application. Having houses and fields, or not having them, — the one rule applies. These are but acci- dents : they leave the principle what, and where, it was. If it be, however, intended to make it only concern them who will not perform the duty them- selves, the inference is fatal. Then it was not the original duty of government, but one that has lapsed to it. Another inference is as necessary, that when parents will resimie it, the duty reverts to them unprejudiced and unimpaii'cd. It is pasy to say that the danger is only prob- lematic, tliat it is but a possible abuse. All danger should be guai'ded, all abuse should be counteracted. We ought to be prepared for the worst. Notliing can be right and good, which, of itself, can be made the means of injury and the subject of perversion. The AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 209 cause is evil which contains these evil seeds and powers. It is easy to say that the suggestion of tins possible turn of events is a breach of justice and charity, that it cannot be offered without the imputa- tion of the most criminal motives. All this may shock the simpering flatterers of fashionable opinion : it may stay the course of them who covet the honours of an equivocal candour at the cost of the rewards, unearthly and distant, wliicli await the upright. It is easy to demand of us, What ground have we to suspect the principles of men whose political station is high, and whose social sphere removes them fju* from every cor- mpt influence and sinister consideration ? We are not scared by all tliis loud passion, all tliis towering indignance, this " Ercles' vein." The civil consti- tution, under which we live, teaches us that no man is to be trastcd. It exempts none, it protects none, from doubt and jealousy, because of certain chai-acter and condition. It endures no instance, no plea, no grade, of iiTcsponsibility. Eveiy man is under bail and recognizance and oath to it. It holds hght as air, and cheap as dust, all individual professions. It knows no man's person. It takes no man's word. Its genius is tliat of wholesome scnitiny and precaution. It will be secured. Talk not, then, to us of casting slur and slight upon public men. We abandon the spirit and the rule of our constitution the moment we give credit to men beyond tbcir measures mid (brir liabihties. \Vitli tlic tciidciii'v of wlmi ilicv do, we 270 ON Tin-; i: dicaiional mkans Imve as much concern as with the nuked deed itself Gladly we acquit motive when we can : hut motivi- may bo detected through the transparence of ti-ndency. Capacity for good is capacity for evil. N'igilant and searching ought to he all our investigaticms. It is an honest thing to diffide. The withholdment of confi- dence is neither ungenerous nor unjust. And are not consequences of incomparably greater value to ns than forms of present politeness and courtesy ? We allow no occasion, in the shai-pest severity, for rudeness. We hate invective and scurrility. Our " purpose is necessary, and not envious."* But whenever we mark a tendency, we must forecast a result. We cannot find resting-place between. The pause is nothing : seen or unseen, a result is begun. Posse and Esse are to us but one. And when any gi*eat bodies, political or ecclesiastical, have acquired the law to educate the people, — enforced by the sanctions, and subsidised by the resources, of the State, — what can alter the tendency, what can an'est the result ? Must not both agree in the kind and limit of that education ? Will any body seek an education wliich may hazard it ? Wliatever are its principles, will it not do all to wind them into the pubHc mind ? Can it be other- wise in disposition or in effect? Change human na- ture, regenerate it by rehgion, and our fears are only decreased. Infirmity of judgment, paitiahty of feeling, will cleave to it still. But in its present too common • Shakspeare. Julius r'spsar. AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. '^71 order of things, such a power, simple or composite, is a frightful thing. It is so minute in its penetration, it is so bold in its assumption, as only to be com- pared to some fabled Polypus of the Deep, with its vast and innumerable antennee, drawing insatiably into itself alike the drifted sea-weed and the stateliest ship. Consequences do not unfold themselves at once. It is folly to wait for them. Tendencies are conse- (|uences. Cmsh the egg. Uproot the seed. Utter bold denouncement against the principle. Else shall we be miserably deceived. Men ai'e plausible. Con- cessions ai*e liberal. None begin tyrants. Exclusive- ness is rather shamefaced at the first. But the tyrant grows. Exclusivenesg soon becomes the saintly virtue. Agent and plan, may not, indeed, always meditate their own conclusion. They are formed and fashioned by their course. We must, therefore, resolutely stand upon tliis preparatoiy gi-ouud : Whither do the prin- ciples incline, and the circumstances tend ? Let the State leave the good work of Education alone. Let it not tamper with it. It is rapidly extending. Fuel has, ere now, stifled the fire, — sup- port has riven the arch, — and butti-css has thrown down the wall. All populai- ojiiiiion and infonnation, which is wholesome and enduring, is self-generative. Interference is no longer honourable. It is to claim the glory of an independent Work. When Douglas beheld his rival, llandolpli. and a little band, over- whelmed with numbers, he rushed to his aid. Hut "il'Z <»\ rill.: liuucA'iKjNAi- mkans seeing tlmL lie Imd iilreiuly extriciiU'd liimHell", and beaten buck tlie foe, — the generous wfirrior bade hi-^ men to bold and halt. He cried, — "They haw delivered themselves : let us not lessen their victory by affecting to share it." Government meddling comes too late for help or for renown. We arc commonly pressed with the argument, thnt a government is always far above the people in pur- pose Mild iiitormation. If this statement can be esta- blished, there might be much plausibility in the assumption of the educational function by the State. It is the fault of the people if it do not lend all its intelligence and virtue to its executive. But when other kinds of rule prevail, the statement is not so demonstrable. They who are the quiet of the land -will feel it a very dubious pohcy to disturb an order of things w^liich generally works for the benefit of the sub- ject. In the mean time, they may see much that they regret. An under-current of knowledge and rehgion may flow on far purer than that which is more prominent and extolled. If the people be always inferior, how is it that theu' suflBi'age is so commonly sought and their censure dreaded '? The im-age of Pasquin in later Rome, often bore the epigram and lampoon which made its Conclave and Inquisition tuni pale. In truth, governments mistake as the commu- nity never can. They are more precipitate, and there- fore cannot check haste. They are more timid, and therefore cannot (diide fear. Thev are more isolated. AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 273 and therefore cannot resist prejudice. They are more privileged, and therefore cannot understand opinion. But we ask, — little afraid of contradiction, — Where is there such strange delusion, touching the state of the people, as in cahinets and senates ? Where are such egregious blunders spoken, in regaixl to the religion of different denominations, as in parhament ? Does our government lead ? Is it not, almost invariably, the last to perceive any pohtical question, tlie last to allow any moral appeal ? Did it, of itself, as going before the times, — strike the fetters from conscience, reform the representation, abohsh slaver}', re^^se the criminal code ? Does it precede the national mind in repeahng the taxes upon knowledge ? We scarcely blame tliis tardiness of governments : we can account for it : perhaps it is inevitable. They were never, in the nature of things, intended to be pioneers. But we do reprehend their fawning parasites. It is better for governments to foUow a people, than for a people to follow governments. Their leadership we depre- cate and disown. It is, therefore, in vain to affiim, that govenimcnt is the most competent to teach. The largest systems of instruction in the land are now independent of it. Dare it direct or advise the studies of tlie Universities ? Has it not been made to feel the independence of the trustees of foundation schools ? The competency of a government to teach, ought rather to be called its tendency and temptation to enslave. Let it prepure T ^71 ON Tin: KDITATIONAI. MK.WS all the IcHsons, iippoint nil tlic musters, commission nil the inspeetors, (;!" one great seliolastie institute, and it marshals at pleasure the nation's mind and the country's conscience. The people are bound hand and foot : the iron eats into their soul. No doubt can exist, tluit the general notion that every State should establish some religion, has lent great strength to the dogma, that it should provide some education. It is not our assigned ta.sk to up- hold or contest that notion. But we must not be compelled to suspend upon what is undebated, upon an impounded question, upon an exempt case, any proposition, as though its affirmation were proved. Nor do we regard the propositions as equipollent. Most different religions have, in some countries, been established at the same time, and yet were wholly regulated among themselves, without any State con- trol. So every educational system might be estab- lished, and yet without government superintendence. The probability is, however, that any executive power, in its rehgious and eduentional estabhsliments, will expect to dispense some patronage, to acquire some influence, and to receive some report. We can scarcely think that it will ask no political return : the least which it may be supposed to demand, is a general inquisition into the schools that it sustiuns. This is a just demand. But it is, also, an iuftint t}Tanny. The question is now made one of meims. It is pronounced to be an absurd idea, that private bene- AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 275 factions can reiich the malady. The ignorance of our country is represented to be its darkest reproach. With what truth the charge is brought against us, we must leave the previous statements to settle. But of this we ai-e confident, that were that charge of ignorance just, better would it be to retain our igno- rance, than to lose our liberty ! Knowledge is ac(|uired at too dear a rate, if slavei7 be its piice ! We see a better future in tlio one predicament than in tlie other. Liberty will presently destroy ignorance, but slavery will still sooner extinguish knowledge. " 'T is Liljerty alone that gives the flower Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume ; And we are weeds without it. All constraint, E.xcept what wisdom lays on evil men, Is evil ; hurts the faculties, impedes Their progress in the road of science ; blinds The eyesight of discovery ; and begets, In those that suffer it, a sordid mind Bestial, a meagre intellect, — Thee I account still happy, and the chief Among the nations, seeing thou art free ; My native nook of earth ! I could endure Chains no where patiently ; and chains at home, Where I am free by birthright, not at all."* We ai'e really encouraged, by certain opinions from high places, verdicts almost new, certainly those which, until now, we have not lieard. The Premier * CowiXT. T;i.sk. lin.iU V. *-i7(i ON I UK KDICAIIONAI, MliANS (irdiviit liritiiiii silid, so recently an tlie Ifith of July, iNll, " As to the institution of lihraries in the towns of tliis country, he thought the ohligation of the rich in each district to provide such estal^lishmcnts was so strong, that the public purse ought not to be laid under eontrilmtioii for this object." This is exactly our prin- ciple : it yet lags a little : but it is travelling in the right direction. It is our very argument : it needs but a more consistent expansion and application. The question of ability is really not the question of principle. If it be asserted, that the funds of pri- vate benevolence are insufficient to educate the nation, the difficulty does not exclusively embarrass tliis mat- ter. Christians, and Christian Churches, see that many great effects ai-e to be secured. They possess not the means. They look to the God whose are the gold and the silver. They caimot invoke any unholy alli- ance. In liim is their help. But if the principle shifted witli the means of carrying it out, we should soon find a hopeless check. We would Ckristianise the coimtiy vrith a system of purely evangelic means ! We cannot do it, or, at least, it is said that we cannot. Are we to court worldly measures and resources ? Are we to abandon the design to worldly men ? In all such cases we are to do what we can. " For if there be, first, a Arilliug mind, it is accepted accord- ing to that a niiui hath, and not according to that he hath not." If particular districts be marked as those wliich can neitlier originate nor sustain schools, the AND RESOURCES OF THIS COrXTHV. '^77 argument is lai'ger tliiin tlie instance supposed. Tin* member of the Establishment may most consistently use it. But how is it " fitted" in a Dissenter's " lips ?" Would he say that, in places vhicli could not mjiin- tain their own temples and sei-vices, government should uphold them ? Is not the appointment and sustentation of instruction in religion an estabhsh- ment, as far as it goes, of tliat rehgion ? The suppo- sed inability of any men, distributively or collectively considered, to do any thing to its utmost success, can be no reason for not doing to the utmost of their capacity : and reason cannot be oftered, by that partial failure, for the intei'position of the very aid which, in all the most cognate relations and their most notable failures, is sternly refused. Our country indisputably contains a hundred-fokl of the wealth that would be required. There is one aspect in wliich such redundance stands forth with disgusting contrast to this appropriation of it. We pronounce no judgment, whether it be necessaiy or not, but we can only mourn to see the land covered with an army and a pohce. Ever)' where force and defence are made to appear. Law and government grasp a rod of iron. The cannon, the sabre, the bay- onet, the staff, wait for action. Prisons fill our liinil- scapcs and overhang our to^^^ls. How frightful must the morals of the people be to need this ever-present defiance and array ! What enlightened and benevolent citizen does not dcsiic ihnt ibis cxjicnditnrc cniild 27H (IN IIIK KIXCATKJNAL .MKAN8 he otherwise directed, that inorul means might be sub- stituted for those of violent repression and avenge- mcnt, tluit prevention miglit supereede the punishment of crime, tluit the mind of that body which is now mnnacled miglit have been rightly instmcted, tliat the heart of that convict now driven forth from society might have been touched and won ! What plans of peace would this treasure have ripened ! What foun- dations of order, loyalty, and obedience, would it have laid ! Soldiers and constables would have been ex- changed for teachers : barracks and prisons would have been turned to schools : the outcasts of our penal settlements would have adorned their homes : the scaf- fold would have resigned its wretches for honoured life and dying triumph. We ask not tliis sum from the Exchequer, — we crave its erasui-e from the Budget: we would not receive it from the Treasury, — we would refuse it to the Ways and Means. But where will be the impossibihty of supporting, fi'om private funds, that extension of education which we all desire ? We are told, that tlie State alone can do it. There is a mysteiT of finance in this which we cannot unravel. How can the State raise the amount ? Is it not to be raised upon the people ? Is the inabihty in that integral amount, in its very self, until it has passed into the pubhc coffers? Does it there acquire its potency and fulness ? A very small effort, small when weighed against the property of the nation, will suffice. AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTUV. 279 If the work be doing, if a gi-eat portion of it be adequately done, why should it be transfen-ed to tlie government of our land ? Are not its pecuniary obligations sufficiently heav}' ? Are not its inventive powers of supply well-nigh exhausted ? Are not its duties and departments already too multifarious ? The governments of great nations exhibit a reserve of legislation. The petty state is always addicted to its vexatious excess. " Plui'imse leges, coiTuptissima res- publica."* The freer the people, the less they leave the State to do. And large impulses and movements prove that the nation, undii'ected and unmded by government, now ponders its responsibihty and awakens its strength towards this undertaking. The National School So- ciety has made its call, and the splendid answer of court, aristocracy, hienu'chy, demonstrates that it needs no revenue but the good will of its members. The British and Foreign School Society is beginning to receive a new consideration of its long neglected claims and ungratefully requited eflbrts, wliile its pa- trons and supporters feel the exigent demand upon their utmost help. The Wesleyan Methodists throw all l)ehind by a glorious siu*etyship ol" hundreds of tliousaiuls for futun; years. The Dissident Bodies are in consultation, — many of them in action, — to enlarge tmd strengthen the basis of tiieir well-known attempts to increase the enlightened happiness of the ' Tafitus. 2H0 ON TlIK I'.Dl'CATIONAl. MKANK people. The public mind seems filled with thf one idea. It will nocomplish itself. It is the axle of innumerable wheels. If the plans, now inchoate, be realised, — if the operations, long since commenced, be furthered, — the stress of the case is encountered and the wants of the nation will be satisfied. It is the concession of one who has pleaded strongly for a National Scheme of Education, but who has evi- dently felt its difficulty, if not its fallacy, at every advancing footstep, — it is the concession of Lord Brougham himself, — "We have now a right to con- clude against any general interference of the Legisla- ture, until tlie offerings of individuals shall be found to be insufficient, and the seminaries they have estab- lished shall be seen going to decay."* " Speech in the House of Peers, 1837. " My own opinion has long been that no government in this coun- try can succeed in devising a measure for the general education of the people. The principle being admitted that all who pay the taxes are to be benefited by their erpenditure, it would not be possible to adopt a system of education on Church principles, since that would exclude Dissenters. On the same principle it would be impossible to have an essentially Protestant education, since that would exclude Roman Catholics ; — but the same principle would pre- vent any measure for a Christian education, even admitting the designation to be applicable to some systems which would exclude all the articles of the Christian faith and all the doctrines of the Christian religion ; since the very name of Christianity is offensive to tax-paying Infidels." — Letter of the Rev. W. F. Hook, D. D., Vicar of Leeds, in the British Magazine, October, 1842. See also the Charge of Archdeacon Wilberforce, 1843. AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 28 1 The Pai'liamentary grant, not equal to some royal pension, is unworthy of the cause which it is designed to promote. It should be dechned. Both the Societies, wliich now partake and distiibute it, should feel tliat their voluntary support makes them too independent to accept such boon. If it be for liirc, the service and the wages are ignoble. The manner of the dole is as objectionable. It is a liu'e. A half is given where the other half is raised. This may appear, in its pro- portion, just. But even thus regarded, it is partial. Poverty, in the competition, has no power against wealth. Its temis are too high for the one, its lar- gesses too inconsiderable for the other. But were it as munificent as it is mean, there are many who must refuse it. The interdict is not on all. They who con- tend that religion should be estabhshed by the State, may be consistent in receiving support from the same quarter for education. But tlicy who have all along denounced that principle, must not now palter with it. It is not for them to say that there is no compro- mise if there be no stipulation. If religion be the smallest element in then* ideas of education, they would receive, in the state support, the establish- ment of tlicir rehgion. They would enjoy that par- ticular use of the Public Money which others of their countiymon, who were equally taxed for it, could not enjoy. For it is a perfect diTimi tliat it can be given unconditionally. The dignitaries of the Esta- blished Churrh liavc alrendv been obliged to niakr 282 ON TIIK EDUCATIONAL MKANS Ijiiiiililing conditioiiH ol" submission and peace to tlio (JuimciJ Board. They have not forfeited consisteney. But if Dissenters accept the pay of goveniment, if tliey do not firmly and inflexibly abjure it in all shapes and pretexts, their prevarication will cover them with infiuny. All will be remembered against them which they have said and which they have done. They will be set for public scorn. They cannot touch stipend or gift, and their hands be clean. The mo- ment they take it, the most important grounds of private judgment and uprightness are abandoned. The whole question on wliich they have stood for the liigher spirituality of the church is trodden under foot. Their boast of freedom is rebuked. Their cha- racter of sincerity is confounded. They will deserve to be reviled for hypocrisy, — the mimmiers of prin- ciple, the swashers of conscience ! They will be indeed abased. They will have pelded to a bribe, wliile tlieir fathers shi-unk not from the death. The mark of servitude will be burnt deep into their brow. They will have stooped tlieir neck to the yoke. They will have passed beneath the Caudine Forks. It is surely a Httle strange that this elementary principle and necessary conclusion of Protestimt Non- conformity, should have been, not without some pains at wit, though "vvith a sparing abstinence of argument, described as altogether new. There is always suspi- cion attached to the untried opinion. Its supposed singuhuity brings it into contempt. Tliis can be only AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 283 tlio conduct of prejudice. The question, "whetlicr it be one of antiquity or of the instiint, may be ahke worthy of consideration. How can, then, the objection to the extension of the national revenue for religious pui-po- ses be accounted novel ? Tlie two thousand ejected ministers who tlu'ew themselves upon the Dissenters of this country for fellowship and support, may not have abandoned the Established Church because they thought tliat, a priori, the estabhshment of any church was wrong. But they were not the founders of Nonconfonnity ; tliey fled only to its sanctuary. Its records ai'e of a higher epocli. Its fathei-s de- nounced every civil incoiiioration of Cbiistiimity. If the contrary doctnne has been ever breathed by those who claim to be their descendants, theirs is the embarrassment of the experimental, the prob- lematic, the abrupt, the inventive. Tliey lu'e the Discoverers. Why should the sneer of a new and sudden illumination be indulged ? The support of reUgion by the State is the objection of tlie Dis- senter. Without recanting tliat objection, liow could he accept aid in support of rehgious education ? It does not render his consistency with tliis nidiment the less close and imperative, because lie bas not attentively meditated every apphcation of it until now. When had he the opportunity? When was lie called to refuse ? He always knew and lield tlie principle : the offer of patronage and assistance lias not lieep his frequent temptation to forget it. ^'<•u niav irv 284 ON' TIIK KDrCATIONAf. MKANS to involve him in Hudden deviation from liis course. Wliat is the pretext for this clmrge ? He has heen associated witli tlie British System, whose normal schools puhlic grants have sustained. But that is not a Dissenting Institute. He lias enrolled himself in it as a patnot and a Christian. He owned a heart larger than his denomination. It may he that he has regretted sueh grant, employed liis influence to dissuade its acceptance, and generously contributed in order to do away with the gi'ound of necessity on which it was pleaded. It was not for him to control the convictions of others, the friends of liberty, the best men of the land. — It has been said that Dis- senters already received Parliamentary endowment. This refers to the Kegium Donum, a sum of less than i£2000., voted annually for the relief of poor Dis- senting Ministers. But a large majority desire that this may cease. Nor is the charge founded on a just analog}'. When the princes of the Hanoverian dynasty acceded to the throne of these realms, they felt themselves so greatly indebted to the influence of the Protestant Nonconfoimists, that they deter- mined to mark their sense of it by a royal boimty. The donative was bestowed from their own privy purse. The Civil List was an exchange and satis- faction for sacrifices which tliis Eoyal Line was pre- j)ared to make of certain fiefs and revenues. Specific payments were transferred from the Royal Family to the State. Gifts and dotations, aforetime free and A\D RESOURCES OF THIS COCNTRV. '^MO personal, were now undertaken by the legislature. This donative was among the rest. The Monarch no more gives it but the Parliament. But he is supposed to have vested in its Houses a full equi- valent, and to have assigned fur this pui'pose an ade- quate provision. It is still described as his bounty. The acceptance of it as his bounty could be no com- promise of the strictest Dissent. He has paid over tliis bounty in pei-petuity. It is a rent-charge. It is the burden on a particular estate. The Dissenter might well wish to be rid of it. Nevertheless, it is only righteous to say, that it stands on specific gi'ounds. It cannot in fairness be confounded with any subsequent or futm'e gi'ant. It cannot contra- dict or pei-plex the consistency of any who repudiate all State aid for the administration of religion. Non- conformists, in tliis repudiation, follow no new light. The eri'or has been to quote as their prototj'pes Howe, Baxter, and Owen, rather than liobinson and Ainsworth, Thacker and Penry, Barrowe and Green- wood, Rough and Simpson, those eai-lier confessors, exiles, and martyi's, those original standai'd-bearers against tliis principle. The antiquity of their opinion proves nothing for it: but it purges them of anv iniiordtiou ! Convinced of the exaggerations which have gone forth, concerning the condition of education in this countrj', and especially in the manufacturing districts, — persuaded that wlnii tlic iniitici- shall be nion^ 286 ON TUK LDI.TATIONAI, MKANS investigated, iimcfi of tlic present iilnrni will pass away, — assiu'ed, thtit when new schools are erec^ted, and larger schemes of instruction are applied, the principal difficulty will be to obtain pupils, — we are equally impressed with the necessity of informing luid exciting the public mind upon the duty of seeing to the education of the people. And it is the clear obhgation of eveiy man who loves his God, his neighbour, and his countn.', to advance the benefits of education. Then; is no me- thod of benevolence more requisite, more useful, more enduring. It iiffects universal interests. " The wise child" is the future patriot and saint. The spirit is touched and moulded when it can be most easily shaped. "The golden bowl" is j&lled from "the fountain." You lay up an inheritance of principle and example for a boundless herciifter. But while it is our social, as well as individual, duty to extend these advantages. Christians are found in other bonds. They are collected into churches and communities. A new power accrues fi*om tliis rela- tion. Their influence is gi'eatly multiphed. Every measm-e of well-doing commends itself to them in tliis capacity. To gather pecuniaiy income for secular chai'ities is very appropriate and honoui-able to them : but religion is their first care. They ai'e set for the defence and diffusion of the gospel, at home and abroad. And is not education, comprehensive as it is of all temporal and eternal good, a work which they AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 2H7 should encourage ? Have not many of our churches and communities forgotten tliis pui*pose and betrayed this trust ? Among the resources wliicli will be most efTectual in the miiintenance of education, is the true inde- pendent feehng of the poor. Parents, who know what is the happiness of education, who, in consequence of it, have acquired the principle and habit of virtue, Avill always prize the opportunity which may present itself of bestowing it upon their children. For this, however scanty may be their means, they will cheer- fully contribute. " Out of deep poverty they ^vill abound to the riches of liberahty." It is a dubious pohcy to make any school entirely free. But be tliat as it may, the time is coming when tlie plea of an apparent necessity shall not be urged. The negU- gence and apathy wliich gratuitous offers are often designed to cheat, shall not be known. And then shall be created the true fund of education. It may be aided still, — but not as an alms. The free-will offerings, the cheerful payments, of the poor them- selves, will foim a store of wealth. It will be of the best kind. It will be followed by the most living influence. There is nothing visionary in tlie hope. Six years have passed since it was put on record, that 1,120,000 children attended the day schools of tlie country, besides the pupils of endowed schools. How many of these j)ai(l ibr tlieir education ? We lind no l(>ss ainoiiiit than ibis, tbat 7.'{(I.(H)(I were thus self- 288 ON THK KDTCATIONAL MKANS sustained, nearly double the number of those who had depended upon assistance. It is impossible to express the injury that may be done to the moral feelings of the countn-, by tin- governmental provision for its wants. A sense of surfeit, sickly and depressed, follows such a course of preparation. Let hunger seek its food to enjoy it. Let ignorance feel its need of instruction to pursue it. The cases, indeed, are not parallel. The one is instinctive and essential to merest life : the other is intellectual, and knows no such gnawing pang. But the lesson is the same. Man values nothing but that for wliich he must deny and exert liimself. Give to any people the means of gratuitous education. ^lake it known and declare it urgent. Your first difficulty will be its general disesteem and slight. The parent thinks it a favoui* to accept it for his cliild. He feels in its acceptance a certain degradation. It is a pauper- alms. He does not educate ! He, by the discipline of liis family, acquires no self-respect ! Or, should it be enforced, his position is not raised. He is the more jealous of its motive and design. Simple bene- volence falls not witliin the scope of governments. Why does it now offer aid? What does it now pro- pose ? There ai'e great searchings of heai't. Is it to raise the national mind to independence ? Is it to kindle it with the inspirations of freedom ? We may be advised and we may be assured that, in this country, education at the cost of the State, or AND KESOUKCES OF THIS COUNTUV. '>.S!> ratlicr by the exaction of the people, will never be weleomed as a boon. Coercion cannot be supposed in such a case. Let the officer of pohce be seen dragging the peasant's eliild from its home to sc.'hool, let the recusant pai'ent Ije declared to be under tlic forfeiture of all relief from the funds provided fur the poor, and a revolution would not wait an hours delay. What was the odious Ship-Money to this ? " The Village Hampden " would be warranted to rise, and his "dauntless breast" could never know a more approved courage. We could not wish to sur^■ivc that overthrow of patriotism and liberty. We should have hved long enough to have been spared the spectacle of our people's shame and our country's ruin ! That " bold peasantry," wliidi is our " nation's ])ride," is yet to be understood. Treat men as just and generous, and you both awaken those emotions iind confirm them. Oppress them and think of them as a scndle tribe, and you ^\■ill verify your estimate. Against constant scowl and taunt, no class of men can long contend. Deprive virtue of its rewards, and it dies. Forbid any room for its exercise, and its attempts are wanting. The working of tiie l*oor h;\w, — a noble institution in itself, — has pauperised the feehng of the humbler class. Once the bounty upon idleness, a sudden check in its administration has driven the industrious to despair. A medium, a juste milieu, is required. Local goveniiiuiii will br ilir safest and kindest correetiou. Let iioi lis strings l)e U ■I'.IU UN THK KDICAiroN \(. MKANS |iiill((l I'loni iilar, Itv mii iiivisiltir mid in'osponsiblt' (liviiii : let cacli union bo its own ci.-ntrulization. And tlicn shall our Ijtirdy, patient, noble, character appear again to the nations. ITk; people shall reflect it. The olden race shall be seen. Yet not rugged in liiiidincss, not sullen in patience, not reckless in gene- rosity, as were their fathers. Knowledge shall hut complete the strength. The granite may be as solid, though it is polished. The gold may be as sterling, though it is wrought. And in notlung shall we hail that return, that aphelion, of the national character, more than in its recovered independence. We believe the day is not distant, when the blessings of education shall be so universally appreciated that the very poor, out of the retrencliments of frugality and the savings from vice, shall proudly send forth their ofFspiing to the school wliich they have assisted to build, wliich they love, in some leisure moment, to inspect ; and wliich slisill only be the more commended to their sup- port, when their children shall no more attend it, that it made them the good sen-ants and the useful rela- tives whom their dim eyes still fondly watch, the comforters of their sinking age and the heirs of their humble name. The earnings of the poor have long since been the life-resource of Christianity : we depend upon them, beyond any other auxiliary-, for the prop of general education. It has been nobly said by Bacon : " Antiquity de- scn-eth that reverence, that men should make a stand AND RESOURCES OF THIS COrNTRV. 201 thereupon, and discover what is the best way ; but when the discovery is well taken, then to moke pro- gi'cssion. And to speak tiiily, antiquitas sa-cidi juvcu- tuN tnuncli* These times are the ancient times, when the world is ancient, and not those which we account ancient, ordine retrogrado,-\ by a computation back- ward from ourselves." We hold the gi'eat Venilam's plea and creed. For in these anticipations we ai"e aware that olden times are not to be om* mark. We do not want the merry England which many would restore. We love the greenwood glade and tlie lirook- circled village Avith an enthusiasm no less than tlicirs. But they applaud an antiquity of ignorance and of bni- tality. Besides, a new order of men belongs now to us. They are of British lieart, but their labour is not, like that of their fathers, on the soil. They are our artificers and operatives. We can hail no condition of the people in wliich they are not included. Yet, strange is it, that many would relegate this race. They pray for a universal yeomam'y, and would be glad to raze every factory. With admirable consis- tency they make a national boast of our commerce. They tell of ancient countries. Tyre and Corinth and Alexandreia, with their ports and trieremes, — of Spain, with her gtdleons, and Venice, witli her argosies, — how all are surpassed by our fleets and wiu'cs. What barter would they leave us ? We know that they * "The old age of time i.« the youth uf ilic world.' f " In inverted order." 202 ON THK F.DIirA'irONAr. MKAN8 liiivt! secured for eoni Uk; right of export. But is it liliely to be demanded, even might it be spared? What freights, for exchange is tlie basis and pliilo- sophy of commerce, must our noble barks bear forth to the world ? We trade witli distant marts for their products, — what arc to be our returns ? What have we to send ? They want not our grain ; we our- selves need often to go to them for it. An agricultural country cannot be commercial, but in the super- abundance of its crops. If these theorists could have their will, the net of the fisherman would only be left to our wharfs, and the keels wliich now cleave the deep would rot on our shores. — But we hasten back from these remarks. We seek the happiness of the whole people. We set not class against class. Each is wanted. None must be proscribed. The national character has received new elements into it, and its futui'e development must always henceforth be more mental in its stamp, and more independent in its bearing. Much remains to be done : but much is doing. Verily, we beheve, that our star is rising to the centi'e of the sky. We beheve that we have begun to renew our youth. The bane is known. The antidote is apphed. Our diviners are mad. Our enemies are found Hars to us. Other nations wane. SiuTOimding empires fall. " ]Meantime, the Sovereignty of these f\\ir Isles Remains entire and indivisible ; And, if that ignorance were removed, which acts AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 29.'] Within the compass of their several shores To breed commotion and disquietude, Each might preserve the beautiful repose Of heav'nly bodies shining in their spheres. The discipline of slavery is unknown Amongst us — hence, the moi-e do we require The discipline of virtue ; order else Cannot subsist, nor confidence, nor peace."* The quantity of instruction in the country is not so much an occasion for reproach, as its character. No doubt can exist, that it is in many instances deficient. It is committed to those who have no lettered and no rehgious quahfications for it. The system is often mechanical and cruel. This is a most important question. But it will rectify itself. Education cannot be repressed within ancient limits. And we foresee, in its certain improvement, its cer- tain support. Wlien the teacher shall be wholly given to it, when he shall feel the true delight of teacliing, when it shall be liis proper profession, when he shall not have taken it up because a bank- rupt in all besides, — then, shall his qualifications secure his recompense, and men must see, in what is communicated, a good deserving their most liberal returns. A noble guide to the higher education uf the country is found in our Grammar schools. They are not numerous, but are widely dispersed. Nicholas ('ai'lilc describes four hundred and seventy-five such * \Vi)rdswiil wlicii that Ivn- was uo more swept, tlie unimal nature has recovered its stronf:fth, and the hjwcr instincts have returned. The higher and rehgious nature of man needs our first eiu-e. We, therefore, earnestly strive that the edu- cation of tlie people he so conducted, that it should be rested upon a true regeneration, — the expulsion of the heast, — the evocation of the saint, — the tri- umph of a new creature, — an effect heyond the power of even moral means to produce, but which may only he sought in their dihgent and prayerful application. Wliile the evil is menacing, wliile it is pilncipaliy found in the increase of population* over means of instruction, w'hich were recently more adequate tlian at present they arc, — let us not be drawn away from its anxious consideration, hy questions which serve but to amuse the politicians of the day. Among these is the theory of a national education. It is little esteemed by those who urge it. It is ever and anon argued to satisfy a party. Notliing is done, and none Imow better tlian they who m'ge it, that nothing can be done.f But it gains time. It staves off diffi- culty. It appeases importunity and clamour. Things " According to the scale of past experience, we may look for au increase of two millions and a half in the next ten years. -f- " From what you say, and from what I have heard from others, there is a very natural desire lo trust to one or two empirical reme- dies, such jvs general education, and so forth." — Lil'e of Sir Walter Scott. Letter to J. B. S. Morritt, Esq., Rokeby. AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRV. '200 remain as they are. Tliis is what such poUticians wish. They can admire Gray's Ode to Ignorance still, wliich the bard never completed, and which for his fame he ought not to have begun : for, satire as it is, thougli these Boeotians perceive it not, it is poor and tiune. The guilt of the delay and of the failure, is devolved upon certain opponents. The advocates ai'e clear, imd appeal to their best, though unfortunate, efforts. Thus, the resistance of the Factory Bill, brought into ParUamcnt during the session of 1843, is ingeniously described as the resistance of a wise, comprehensive, plan to educate tlie poor. An argimient is vei^ com- monly raised upon that resistance, that they who were active in it, are bound in a most peculiar man- ner to assist national education. If, indeed, they had defeated a measiu-e wliich would have wrought it well, and secured it permanently, the ai-gument would be as stringent as just. But we hold that they defeated not a true and enduring instruction of the people, but its mockery and gag. The fact is, that it pro- scribed the best teachers of the young, and warred, to destruction, against the best existing methods of in- structing tlicm. The entire host of those petitioners against it, — the 2,0(i8,050 appellants to the senate to cast out a measiu'c whoso fraudulency, dissimulation, bigotry, words were never made to describe and to denounce, — saw that the intention was to stop the moral advancement of the people. He who dared this insult, under the gtirh of benevolence, and in .300 ON TUK i:i»t f'ATIONAr, MEANS tlio name of religion, must have grasped at iK^iumrs wliicli vizier and iiuiuisitor liad liitherto lell un- uttemptcd. * It is not necessar)' to mention distinetly tlie grounds of opposition to that nefarious measure. It may suffiec to say, tliat it was most unequal to tax those who had already made large saerifices for edu- cation alike with those who had hitherto made none. It was, also, most invidious, laying the charge of the gi-eater ignorance on the manufacturing popula- tion, rather than on the agricultural, the monstrous reverse of fact. It must have proved physically ruin- ous to the very parties whose benefit was avowedly intended, for such were its conditions, that it could " Though the "Olive Branch" was rejected, the reader may accept it as a beautiful image of that education wliich a free people not only need, but wnll, of themselves, provide, being reminded of the description in Sophocles : " Es-/v 3* ois tyu Ouo IV TO. fiiyo'.X't Aa«;5( ssra/ TliXo-ro; von fiXaT'*, fuTSV/i a;^et^a>Tov auTCTsio*, Ey^iait (folinua daiav, O raoi 6aWa fiiyi^a ;^a»«a VXciuxa; TaioiTpofiu f'jXXot iXaat;." k. t. '/.. " For in our land there flourishes a plant which is unheard of in Asia, and even in Doris, that great isle of Pclops, sdf-pUmtcd and gdf-produced, defying ever)- hostile sword, no where so healthy as in these parts, the oerulean, leafy, and youth-sustaining. Olive." — Qidlpus Colon : lin. 725. AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRV. .'K) 1 l)ut tlirow a very considerable portion of the diil- dren out of employment. It was defective, even in its own purpose, for it could not have reached to the fiftieth part of the youth who need instruction in the mill districts. But its un-English, its Jesuitical, features, betrayed themselves. It fell before a blast of scorn and execration. The Cutilluo tied amidst the storm. In a spirit, far removed from polemical, we must declare the eternal withdrawment of another agency beside the State. The Spiritual power was a well- known and clearly understood idea in the dark ages. It was every where present. It held a fearful rule. It grasped universal life. It called the thunder of other worlds to its aid. At the Reformation, we only see the lust and successful struggle of man to escape from it Many had been his strong but uu- avaihng attempts. Since then, it has not foimally subsisted among Protestant people. Tliey have shaken off the intolerable yoke. It is a tyranny passed away. Education can never come again beneath its bigoted and fierce control. Endeavour after endea- vour may be made : l)ut it must be impotent. Tiie Spiiitual power, as a ghostly instrument of oppres- sion over the souls of men, has ceased. They must be as foolish as they are wicked, who can hope to revive it. Religion will only the more gain its pro- per influence, and her ministers stand upon tiieir just ascendancy. IU)2 ON THK KDtTATrONAI. MKANS Natioiiiilisni will no inort- Im; tli<; decoy. Wlml miscliiel" has the dream already done ! Nutioniil edu- cation, in tlie sense of that \vatcl)word which tlie oppressors of mankind love to interchange, this coun- try can never hrook. Its spirit, its character, its free institutions, are not the stems for tliat hitter pi'aft. Such machinery may consist with slaves, hut not witli its sons. Liherty is their gloiy and their heing. Dark- ness conceals all, a little light discovers only a little truth, but tlu! full day exposes each diversity ol' tilings. Our various opinions and feelings are but as the prismatic decomposition of our intellectual and moral hght. We ask not the unifonnity of dull ignorance : the monotony of rigid obsequiousness. Nationalism ! It is nothing ! The Nation ! It is every tiling ! Let the leaven work in all parts. Let the light kindle from all directions. But that free- dom which is our birthright, our father's legacy, our childi'en's hope, — most needed in education, — shall not be immolated on its altar. There are to be found many champions of general liberty, who, in other times, would have agreed in these opinions. They, however, think that now they see an end of the tlireatened danger. Their confi- dence is in civil liberty. They cannot fear any result of religious domination so long as we retain our free institutions. They laugh our anxieties to scorn. Knowledge defies supei-stition, and the security of political rights, of consequence and of necessity, seals AND RESOURCES OF THIS COI'NTRV. 803 those still more sacred. So they reason. Thus they would queU our fears. But we must be suffered to avow most opposite conclusions. It is an anomaly, wliich tlirusts itself upon the consideration of mankind, that the same people may not be equally impressed with the value of civil and of religious liberty. An indifferent obsen^er, a superficial thinker, might have supposed that these could not be disjoined. Shall the patriot stand fortli to brand some "raiser of taxes," some innovator on the laws of the commonwealth toucliing property and exchange, and leave in liis dark recess the tyrant of the soul ? It is most possible that the less outrage shall be resented, and that the greater shall be made a boast. When South America threw off the Spanish Yoke, — when her repubUcs seemed to glow with the spirit of the purest freedom, — when the wrongs of ^Montezuma were promised their just redress, — intolerance was made the exception, and all liberty of religious opi- nion was denied. In Spain herself there rose a patriot band, generous, resolved, fierce as her toiTcnts, en- trenched as her hills, but the Bible must be excluded and the gospel suppressed. The priest retained liis power, and superstition upheld its reign. Wlierever there is tlie straggle for constitutional independence tln'oughout present Europe, little of tlie claims of enhghtened conscience is enforced. Men are in eiu'- nest about all besides. Against imposts, restrictions, imprisonments, mulcts, linidly will tbcy pli-ad. .lea- :)04 ON THK KDUCATrONAL MEANS lously tlicy wiitcli every i'n(;rf)iichmeiit, fiiiiily ihey repel every attack. The clank of chains jar« their inward sense. All the bonds of slavery they indig- nanily denounce. But an Inquisition, and its famili- ars, they can pass without disgust. They can abandon niiin to spiritual despotism. The Barons of Runny- mede extorted no charter, struck no blow, for private judgment and individual faith. The hardy, self- anned, peasantry of Helvetia and Tyrol asked but the liberty, defended but the right, to njam their mountain-sides, and delivered up their soul to the most fanatical debasement. Now why is it, that two blessings, so congenial, so mutually consequential, so naturally one, should be thus divided ? How is it that they who esteem, and contend to blood for, the one, should neglect, and even betray, the other ? Moral causes may be assigned. Man, though responsible to God, feels it not as he does his connection with man. The present is more engrossing than the future. Earth is attractive as is no after-state of being. The men who will otherwise debate all pro- positions, all testimonies, all teims, will simply ac- quiesce in religious dogma. They do not think concerning it at all. They will give themselves no trouble about it. It lies out of tlicir accustomed studies. It may, or ^jaay not, be true. They some- what value it for the sake of others. It has a bene- ficial influence over certain orders of society. It checks and awes. How is it that these thinkers on AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUXTRY'. 805 eveiy thing else, never think on tliis ? How is it that they can submit to the decisions of others in this department of enquiry alone ? Is it not the most I'jei'sonally interesting and momentous of all questions which can arise ? How is it that the fiiends of general Hbcrty so enormously stumble here ? Lightly they speak of the religious capacities and claims of the poor. In our senate ever}^ voice of free- dom utters its burning periods and finds its ready champions : but when " the things wliich belong unto God" are noted, and when evei7 man's rights, in respect of those things, are urged, what syncope is there of ordinary intelligence, what echpse of common sense ! Wliy should not all be moulded to one reli- gion ? What have the poor to do but to follow their appointed guides ? — We cannot trust, — we are driven to the avowal, — we cannot trust the best friends, the best informed, the best tried, advocates, of civil liberty, with our religious interests. We grieve, we blush, to declare that we see in civil hberty but a most imperfect secmity for the rights of conscience. But the converse is as historically, as it is gloriously, true. Eeligious liberty has always won, as its accom- paniment, civil freedom. The reason is in Christian motive. Lutlier, ZuingUus, and Knox, were true and holy men. They loved the good of their spe- cies. They grasped the gi'eatcr benefit, and secured the less. And, therefore, are we alanncd, because all rec())'d and nil experience prove, tlmi iKitimts and X 300 ON TIfK KDITATIONAL MKANS deliverers mny eontent themselves with striking off the body's iron, and yet perpetuate the spirit's bond- age. We eannot trust these men. They have not learnt that " the redemption of the soul is precious." Their aspirations are not those of conscience strug- gling to be free. We will unfurl a banner, — beneath it the defence of every mortal concernment is safe, — which has other mottoes than those of policy, whose mighty field is emblazoned with other enrichments than those of war, whose foldings mo stirred with other impulses than those of present passion and conflict, wliich streams towards heaven ! If we be accused of stupidity in not discerning that it is the right and duty of the State to educate the people ; if we be charged with propounding, in the contrary view, a new doctrine ; may we not retort ? How long has it been understood ? The ParUamcn- tary Commissioners, of 1838, upon the condition of education in tliis country, thus report the result of their labours : " They are convinced that, however inadequate the present system of instruction for the hiunbler classes may be, in many districts, it is owing almost entirely to the laudable and persevering cflbrts throughout the country, of benevolent indi^-iduals, that any thing at all worthy the name of education has been afforded to the children of the working classes in the lai'ge towns." " Until very recently, the subject appears to have entirely escaped the atten- tion of government.'" " On this matter, important AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. :^07 as it is to the welfiire of all classes, there seem to exist no soui'ces of information in any department of government." Sudden, then, is the outburst of light wliich has come upon our jurists, statists, and legislators ! Philanthropists and Christians for so long a time have intruded upon their province ! " They arc the men, and wisdom shall die with them ! " But there is another tribunal. These sena- tors and statesmen tu'c but the functionaries of the nation. The solemn appeal has been made to it : Vehtis, Jubeatis, Quirites ? And if the answer of Britain be not sufficiently emphatic, for ever to debar such encroaclunents, for ever to wani such inter- meddlers, its rulers must be seized with utter infa- tuation, no wise to be accounted for but by the judgment of liim " that turneth wise men harkuard, and maketh their knowledge foolish." Wlien honest conviction is entertained, its honesty must be proved by its consistent support and perse- verance. Now it is not denied that national educa- tion is a veiy favourite project with many. They only of late may have dwelt upon it. Still later has it been that they have understood its difficulty. But, I'rom time immemorial, education has been benevo- lently, that is, voli(nt(irili/, applied. In tliis is no novelty. We find in tliis fact a well-proved principle. From it, with the experience of ages upon it, we are not inclined to swen'c. It is not that which can coexist with any compulsory scheme It fades and OOS ON Till': KDirATlONAt, MKWS lulls hd'orc tlic foiitniry system. Tin' idea is liope- less, tliJit tli( y cini 1)(' coiicuiTont means. Every present lovm of cdueation must be wetikened and absorbed, by ibe uiiitive and national measure wbich lias been supposed. It cannot be; a mere addition to wliat is now in subsistence : it must supersede. Tlie "new piece" will destroy tin; ancient texture. Sucli contraries must dash in endless collision. No common basis, no reconciling solution, can be found. The man of enlightened and sincere principle must, in this conjuncture, be inflexible. He will ftnd him- self placed amidst conflicts of opinion. He will be condemned for the most opposite prejudices. He will be urged to move in the most contrary directions. His star is above, and he must steer by it. " Virtus repulsoc ncscia sordidac Intaminatis fulgct honoribus ; Nee sumit aut poiiit secures Arbitrio popularis aurae."* The scioKst, unread in liistor}-, unversed in con- stitutional knowledge, after a superficial glance of other countries, may repeat the verbiage, " that to tliis country the distinction is due, of being the least educated country of Europe, of being the only one " " True courage, unacquainted «"ith defeat, shines on with untarnished honours ; neither grasping, nor laying down, the en- signs of its dignity at every tuni of the popular will." — Hur: Carni: lib. iii. 2. A\n RESOURCES OF THIS COfNTItV. MdO which has no system of national education." And why, My Country, art thou thus arraigned '? What means tliis charge ? This treason to thy honour, from them who call themselves thy sons ? These panicidal, though imbecile, bolts against thy Shield ? Is it that thou art dark, while all around thee glows in light ? Is it that thou art alien to the love of knowledge and the advancement of learning ? Is it that science and erudition and poetrj^ have fled thy shores ? Is it that the Muses find in thee no haunt ? Hast tliou no theatre for the aits ? Is it that thy swains and arti- zans do not think and will not enquii'e ? Canst thou boast no cunning workmen ? Is it that thy mind stag- nates and thy conscience sleeps ? Is it that thy litera- ture, complete or serial, teems multitudinously for one great appetite and zest ? Is it that the bird-hum of infant pupils swells upon the village breeze ? Is it that in the far distant dale, the school, of no com- mon lore, hfts its grey porch ? Thy crime is known I Despots have banded themselves to mutter it I Thou art too enhghtened and wilt radiate thy light ! Thou ai't too free, and wilt proclaim thy fivedom ! Thou wilt not give thy hmbs to be bound ! Thou wilt not be cajoled into the surrender of thy rights ! Thou art too high-souled, too erect, too thouglitful, for this abject education ! Thou canst not be converted into a school ! Tiiou canst not submit to the for- mula of a disciphne ! And, therefore, O my country ! if I loved thee ever, 1 llie more reverently \o\v lluc .'110 ON Tlir: EDUCATIONAL MEANS now, — now, ilmt ill tliy ^'reiitncHS, tliou hnst broken the snare wliich aught less than thy jealousy of hberty might not have detected, and aught less than thy entiuisiasm of independence might not have spumed ! Still may tliine be, " Pity utid fuar, Religion to thy God, peace, justice, truth, Domestic awe, night-rest, and neighbourhood. Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades. Degrees, observances, customs, and laws."* Others may desire the supple, slavish, unreflect- iug, race. We ask of men to t hink . We seek even the conflict of opinion. We know, in the language of Milton, that " opinion is knowledge in the making." They may afford the education which rather binds than unlooses the spirit of man. They would reduce society to a scale of exact degrees. Government they would erect into a universal control. They re- gard man as the mere accessory to higher aims. They play the game of their ambition, — tlie types of power and rank traverse theii' board, — and the people are the paw^ns with which they defend their privi- leged figures, and fill their vacant squares. We can take no such sen'ile estimate. We renounce the cruel wi'ong. We desire to see the community astir : a thing of life and action. We hold that indepen- dence is its best virtue. The characteristic firmness ■ Shakspeare. Timoii of Athens. AND RESOUUCES OF THIS COUNTUV. -S I 1 of a nation is its surest defence. We scorn the dis- cipline wliich so many love, and whose covert intention is to lull the noble and the brave into unsuspecting confidence, to tame them into abject submission. " What constitutes a State ? Not high raised battlement, or laboured mound, Thick wall, or moated gate, Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned ; Not bays and broad-armed ports Where laughing at the storm rich navies ride ; Not staM-ed and spangled courts Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride ; No : — Men, high-minded men. With powers as far above dull brutes endued In forest, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude, — Men, who their duties know, But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain, Prevent the long-aimed blow And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain : These constitute a State ! And Sovereign Law, that State's collected will. O'er thrones and globes elate Sits Empress, crowning good, repressing ill." * Instead, then, of seeking national education, — ii figment, hopeless as the secrets wliich darker ages " Sii- William Jones. The thought lie confesses to Ije taken, and the poem imitated, from Lycrous. — Cicero has a similar idea in his Letters to Atticus : '■ Non est in pariotibus Rcspublica." — Lib. vii. 11. • U'4 ON TMK rMiUCATIONAL MEANS frivolously pursued, — lt!t us gird ourHt-lves lor the glorious enterprise of educiiting more extensively, and, above nil, more perj'cct/i/, the people of our land. Let not any factious statements, any ill-pondered charges, induce us to take up the flattering extreme. There is evil in the city, and throughout every region round about. Much is to be done. Liberal things must be devised. Personal exertions must be en- gaged. Our countiy grievously falls below its true altitude. By its privileges it is exalted to heaven. \Vliy, then, the many recesses into which heaven's splendour has not pierced ? Why, then, the many wastes upon which heaven's verdure does not bloom? Have we not suflered to grow up among us an ano- malous state of tilings ? We may find some excuse in the want of precedent. Histoi7 ^^olds out no light. Experience suggests no rule. But still, has the evil dilated itself before us ! It is two-fold : the dispaiity of old means to meet new combinations, and the constant degeneracy of a certain number of the popu- lation into pauperism and recklessness. The plague must be stayed. Education does not stand alone : it marches on with a glorious fellowship. Yet more or less formally it enters into eveiy remedy. Man must be made his own friend and healer. Melioration can alone proceed fi'om himself. But how can this be, save as he becomes a creatiu-e of intelligent and virtuous aims ? How can he become this, " except some man shall guide' him ".^ AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 'M'-^ Let us ransack tlir purlieus of misery and squalor; let us plead the cause of the outcast poor. In all our towns and cities there is a fearful detenoration going on. There sinks away a mass of human beings in indescribable degi'adation. They have reached, through rapid descents, the lowest point. A moody despair sits upon their spirit, or a fierce reckless- ness awakes it. Revenge is in their hearts. It may be succeeded by sullen apathy. Decency is defied. Shame is lost. What educatory means, though built before their doors, can avail them ? The simplest stipulations would preclude the attendance of these children. Demand of them cleanliness and the plainest clothing, to say nothing of payment, and they are hopelessly debarred. It will be impossible to asso- ciate them with the ofFsprin^^ of the operative. Yet must they perish ? Honour to those who call them together in their tatters and their rags ! Honour to the delicate woman, the heiress of title and opulence, who is seen, by her smile and her accent, taming the ruffian child into order and consent ! Why should not these asylums be multiplied ? Is there only occasion for them in the crowded town ? In the village population, there is the same lawless iiuli- gence. Families, iVom whatever cause, are bowed to the earth. They have witnessed their last dilapi- dation. The tempter stands at their side. They can dare the worst. The poacher, the riek-bumer, tlie felon, — their prowl is liki' tlmt <<[' tin- wild lioist. .'ill ON Tin; KDUCATIONAL MEANS 'J'licy arc dreiulcd ol' nil. Not to the neat and peace- ful school-house can their little ones be allured : into it they could not be jJlowcd to pass. TjCt educa- tion become " a servant to all." Let it learn every art of accommodation. " To the weak, let it become weak." None must we neglect who share an im- mortal lot with us : of none of that race must we despair for which a Saviour died ! In the neighbourhood of Hamburg, there exists an institution, called Kauhe Haus, wliich is a model for such a humbhng charity. Mr. J. H. Wickem is its founder. It is a school for the children of the lowest class, those who have been trained in infamy, and have never known the domestic relation, save in the most brutal, or in worse than brutal, form. The system is that of a family, or of families. They are taught to leai'n eveiy thing by labom*. They are well instructed in general knowledge. They are encou- raged in all independent feeUng. Great confidence is reposed in them. Nearly every thing is left to their honour. And well have they merited and re- paid tliis generous consideration. In the recent fire, these pupils were the most daring adventurers in an'esting the conflagration, and the most assiduous comforters of the distressed. Very determinately should we put away from us all the chafings of party stiife. Let us devote our- selves to the momentous duty in its own spirit. Be not accusation met with accusation. Return not AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 31') suspicion for suspicion. Do that which is right, whomsoever you imitate. Act for tlie gi'catcst good with whomsoever you coalesce. Thoroughly sift and cleanse and apply the question. Blot out the past. Forget reproach and indignity. Prove that you have at heart the education of the country ; and that n(i danger shall daunt, no sophistiT shall divert, no lahour shall wear}^, no failiu'c shall depress, you in canning it into effect. Still we feel that the mind of the nation is mis- imderstood. The moral worth wliich it contains is credited not. The habits and tastes of its truly influ- ential classes, are not comprehended. Our statesmen stand afar off. They do not associate and sympa- thise with those tliey rule. They seldom speak of them without gross eiTor. They know almost nothing of the inner hfc of society. Chiefly are they wi'ong in then* own selfish nature, and in the estimate which they have formed of human nature, as only selfish. Their maxims are all like this. They scarcely see any but the courtier, the sycophant, the pensioner. They, therefore, cannot conceive the spirit of Chris- tian benevolence. They dare not commit any cause to the spontaneousness of popular support. Their distrust of private, voluntary', agencies, is angi'v and scornful. Oh they know not the nation's lieart ! They blind themselves to that force of principle whicli, instead of running itself to wnstc, t>nly increases in strength as it expands in compass ! If they will ;Un ON TIIK KDCCATIONAI. MEANS but give tlif people credit for (|uiilities, wliieli are n(» estrangement from iiiitioiiiil cliaracter, which are no re(hin(lanc(^ to Christian prof(!ssion, — qiiahties not of yesterday, hut which h)ng trial has incontestahly pro- ved, and exigent opportunity has sublimely unfolded, — tlicii may they be assured that, what they cannot accomplish, what it is vain for them to essay, shall be done effectually and permanently by a simple power, which they have not imagined, which they cannot compute, — but which can easily educate a country,. for it is destined to Clmstianise the world ! And there is one form of effort in our country which statesmen may well ponder. It is new and original. Despotism could not endure it. Clu"isti- anity can alone guide it. It is the power of associa- tion. Men combine. Thus science is promoted Suffeiing is, in this manner, soothed and indigence relieved. The individual loses liis helplessness in the concert and cooperation of some great fellowship and action. Clu'istian men need not have sought the rule from others : their religion dictates it. The prayer of their Master, that " they may be one," in order that " tlie world may believe," is fulfilled. They ai'e " one," they visibly appear' as " one," they prac- tically labour as " one." They " strive together," tliey "contend earnestly," for a common end. The efficacv of the principle is amazing. It is a self- muldplving sti'ength which exceeds calculation. It is the acorn becoming the oak : it is the oak bccom- AND RESOURCES OF THIS COTNTRV. .'U 7 ing the forest. Tliis method, whicli owes itself to the tendencies of our religion, now strengthens into a national characteristic and habit. It is a part of our life as a community. The stranger gazes on our institutions as the most singular features of our countiy. Their voluntary origin and support, their self-government and self-administration, he beyond all his common prepossessions. He has lieai'd of Hotel de Dieu, Ki-akenhausen, Orphan House, Pai-a- clete, — he has heard of persouiil bounty and bequest, — but he now beholds a new scale, receives a new conception, in guilds of benevolence, in coi-porations of charity, without charter, without impost, constituted in no perpetuity but securing it, entailed upon no descent but renewing it, exhaustless as the ocean, suc- cessive as the day ! We wait for no Hero, we want no Hero, to guide : the Heroism is in the age. He who invokes one, and professes his confidence in such an advent, must allow us to ciill the mighty spirit now moving over society, a Pantheism, thougli i in- different from that which he ill conceals, rather than the hero-worship which he avows.* Surely they who hold the political helm of such a people, should study this tlicii- moral peculiarity, giving it favoui', allow- ing it scope, — never questioning its independence, nor fettering its hb(.;rty. There are profounder researches still left lor our rulers. The nation is deeply smitten with that earaest- " Tlioiiins (.'arl}K'. ;{|H ON TIIK IIDTJCATIONAL MF.ANS ncss of fooling lioforo wliicli fashions and expedients sooner or Inter must give wny. It is thinking out great questions. It is pressing fonvard in the high- way of mighty prineiples. The toy and tlie gewgaw no more ean divert, no longer can deceive. There is inward energy. The fire enfolds itself. New impres- sions are made. All awakes and stirs. Let the course bo observed and watched. But let not men, in their " tricks" of a "little brief authority," tamper with it. The giant is rising up, — withe, rope, and web, and even beam, are alike weak to bind liim ! There is that which is yet farther removed from the ken of governments. It is not psychologies prob- lem or national development, — it is the vitality of Clu'istian motive. They understand, and sagaciously enough, how men will huckster the gold of the tem- ple, while they malce it their house of merchandise. They know what religion means in the mouth of those who regai'd it as their gain, and wield it for their aggrandisement. But most of them have yet to learn that there is a liidden principle, fed by a celes- tial influence, in constant exercise wherever beats the renewed heart. That is unselfish, pure, generous, unwearying. It seeks not praise of men. It asks no reward, but the success of its benevolence. It goes about doing good. And in this land, amidst its reli- gious distributions, how intense is the ai'dour of Cluistian zeal ! It knows not repose nor check. It is in unabating influence. Legislation could only mar AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. :{I'J and encumber such a spirit. Would you dig into the spring to assist it ? Would you, by lever, enforce the growth of vegetation ? The impulse of Clmstian principle is quite as much of its own nature, of its own progress, of its own self- evolution. Kings may " assemble ;" when they " see it" they may " marvel : " yet need they not be " troubled nor haste away." It is no defiance. It is no usui-pation. It is not "imperium in imperio." It gently rises and meekly spreads. It adorns the strongholds of power which would othei-wise only lour in then- fonns, and often binds them when othci'wise they would crumble amidst their breaches, — as the moss, with its httle flower, often relieves, and, with its cementing fibre, strengthens, some nodding pile or tlu'catening ruin ! Of one thing we are assured. The enemies of edu- cation must fail. They have no hold on truth. They have no resting-place in fact. For then neither the past fiunishes experience, nor tlie futui'e encourage- ment. They are counter-worked by all principle and all opinion. The entrenchments of pliysical force can no more avail them. A thought is stronger than a sword ! A printing-press has more sway than a park of artillery, and a schoolmaster can put an anny to flight ! Tyrants have already fiillen before this new power. Dyonisius is at Corinth ! We lU'C bound in oiu* system of education to cherish, witli great steadfastness and benevolent appro- val, ])articular views of man. Others may instruct 820 ON TIFK EDffATFONAI. MKANS liiiii ill order lo n;prc'ss. Wo would int('i*pr('t liis cliaructenstics iis liis destinies. To those destinies we would lift up all the knowledge whifh we impart. We desire his perfect development. Man is u creature of jiro;/rrHs, whenever found in circumstances of civilization. Popular institutions have an expansive principle in them. The human mind, which naturally contiiins this tendency, is quickened in its advancement by the social element. We believe that the species, with many reverses and retardations, has gradually improved. Its own law of progress has been resisted, but could not be utterly destroyed. It satisfies the argument to show that there never was such an amount of all that enters into the civic good of man, — knowledge, law, hberty, refinement, invention, wealth, — at smy given period, as now subsists, since the vrorld began. Like cross- currents of the ebb, we have beheld the contentions which would thwart this law of human progress, — but as such cuiTents only precede and indicate the turning of the tide, so now we mark the flow and predict the flood. Our plan of educating the people must agree with tliis noble bias, and chief distinc- tion, of oiu' natiu-e. Far be from us the injustice and madness of withstanding such a power of deve- lopment and pledge of acceleration ! We may seek to guide it, — to stop it is an attempt as impious as vain. The dai'kness of a general ignorance can never again cover the nations. The civilization of AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 'i'-il the world can never more recede. We must treat man accordingly. We must provide him for Ins joiuuey and equip liim for his race. Man, as seen in his present external condition, will certainly lay claim to greater liberti/. Govern- ments will fniitlessly withhold and resist the reason- able prayer or the stern demand. No such problem can be settled in politics as tliis, — how a people, who have known and contended for freedom, shall contentedly abandon the holy cause, or shall willingly accept of its diminution. It can only grow. Opi- nion, patriotism, individual self-respect, new statutes and pmdleges, are its strength and security. Tyranny knows that its time is sliort. That of ohgarchy has passed under special abhoiTence, and scarcely can hope a morrow. Though we deprecate the tiunul- tuary licentiousness as the worst foi*m of oppression, we observe, in the aspect of the times and in the spirit of the nations, the assui'ance that Uberty is the type of deep reflection and earnest resolve. The age not only cries for it, — the pecuHarities of order, infor- mation, enterprise, wliich that age unfolds, require it. All halts without it. It cannot be abused, as in earher and capricious visitations it may have been. Legisla- tion, science, learning, commerce, implore its aid. The freedom of conscience is still more exigent. Its fate may be now, what it has always been, to follow, civil liberty with unequal steps. A convulsive eflbrt is at present put forth by bigotry to crush it. Hut we fear Y 82:2 ON Tin: kduoational means not tli(> resiill. I'rivntc rcsponsibilit}' is so clear ii tnitli, is so powerful a plea, that it must be yielded. These art' the prospects wliicli open before us. Civil and religious liberty must prevail. Man shall every where be free. The interests of an enUghtened, generous, Christian, enfranchisement are daily winning ftivour and acquuing force. Then the project of education must obey the same direction. Be not afraid. !Mur- miu* not at what is, or at what shall be. Speak not as if man were too little restrained. There cannot be an excess of hberty where personal and social rights evenly advance. But true Hberty ceases the instant that they clash. Convince it of its duties as well as excite it by its immunities. Show how it can only be attained by worthy means, and secured by fitting uses. A nation which is only free to en- slave others, deserves to be rooted up, — to be con- sumed like a forest where wolves hold their riot, and fill their den, with their mutilated victims. But most of all are we warned that, in education, we presume on notliing of mere opinion, but that we adduce truth in its authority and fact with its evi- dence. Reasons must be rendered for all we teach. Rash and hardy asseition must be disclaimed. How ought we to remember, with a holy vow, that true Cluistianity and true knowledge must agree with each other! We can find no devotion in ignorance, nor faith in superstition. We can obtain no influence in any unfounded conceit. False aphorism and idle ANU RESOURCES OF TJIIS rOINTRV. ■i'i'i omen anil fjjTiitiiitous ilopfinii i:aiin()t aviiil us if we really seek the well -being oi' our race. This was the error of the Koman Antichrist. It was, accord- ing to its boast, infalUble. It mistook prejudice for demonstration. It condemned Gahleo. Did it dis- prove the revolution of our world around tlie suji '.' It fixed the Vulgate text. Did it supersede codex and rescensus in the examination of the true Word of God ? Especiidly let us discriminate between the doctrine of Revelation and our gloss. Let us not teach our scholars any tiling doubtful. If you tell them that six thousand years ago the Creator formed this earth out of nothing, — you deliver a sense whicli Scripture does not give, and which the stratifications of the planet, with their vegetable and animal remains, refute. If you tell tliein that tlie inferior creatures die because of human sin, — you urge a comment which Scriptm'e does not support, and which, not only involves inniunerable inconsistencies, but lays itself open to the plainest contradiction in the depo- sits of animal races whose congeners were never kno\vn by man. Other illustrations might be nused. These may awake our caution. When man imposes his theories on the Bible, it is he who speaks, while that is degraded by being made only his medium. Let us be satisfied that all result, invention, discoven', the most unexpected in order and the most remote in time, must be what Revelation cannot oppose, but receives, adopts, approves. All truth is one ! 321 ON THK LDnCATIONAL MKANS Our scliume and s|)iiii, of education, therefore, stop slidit ii.ost iiii\v()it]iily iuid inefficiently, save as they rogiircl the curtiiin prof,Tessiveness of civilized man, the destined enlargement of his hherty. and his indefeasible title to be instructed in that far- reacliing knowledge which rests in perfect and uni- versal truth. In our systems of general education, two things are wanted. The first is, that the gi'eat institutions of the country be made strictly national. It is a pitiful policy to sell knowledge at the price of con- science. Can it be good, or sound in principle, that one party in the State only shall be taught ? Should not the living fountains be laid open for all ? ^Mien learning is made the privilege of a party, is not the inference strong, that that pai'ty feels the precarious- ness of its tenure, and must strengthen it ; the fal- lacy of its creed, and must sophisticate it; the pau- city of its members, and must recruit them ? If it be founded in right, the more information it can lend to its opponents, the more likely is their conver- sion. Truth can find no strength in the ignorance of its foes. — Nor is it less desirable that the means of education be cheapened. The lower kind does not call for any reduction in its terms. But every step beyond it, rises most disproportionately. Any better culture is quite out of the reach of the poor. Even the gratuitous foundation school, in the apparel it supposes, and in the books it demands, exceeds tlieir AND RESOURCES OK THIS COINTHY. '.\2'j capacity. These, too, are not eveiy where. Europe and America give far greater facihties to the children of the hibouring class. Competition, at the same time, restrains the price, and elaborates the commo- dity, if such expressions of traffic may be allowed. Nothing can be more fanatical, than to suppose that the value of knowledge is depreciated by the hum- bleness of its pecuniary charge. Its true impor- tance must always be the same. The treasure is unvarying, whatever be its vessel. Are the classic writings less worthy of our admiration, now that we read them no longer in their costly uncials and vel- lums ? Is the Bible divested of any sacredness, because it is no more shut up in libraries and mu- seums, but is attainable by the poorest cluld ? The whole apparatus of instruction, the entire system of literature, must be coiTcspondcntly reduced. It has been begun. The favoured few may sneer. But when Penny Magazines and Reprints were first thrown into circulation, a new sera was written for our coun- try, — a new principle was established lunong its people, — for henceforth the excellence of knowledge was made to rest, not on the difficulties which beset it, not on the accidents which adorned or depressed it, but on itself! We cannot disguise it from ourselves, that we are not only in a crisis of the liistory of education, but that education itself may become an occasion of snare and peril, ft is vaunted by some ut> all that .{20 ON THK KDUCATIONAI, MKANS is needed to rcctiCy imr imtmi'. It is pured down hy them to very insi^aiilicant dimensions. It is mude to include only the knowledge wliich pertains to the present sensible state of tilings. The instructions whieli it imparts are not so much esteemed as the inward powers it elicits. These are inherent powers of self-improvement. The good is in man. It only remains to he evolved. His hetut only needs to be unfolded. Condorcet, in his Philosophical Outlines, insists upon this perfectible faculty. Godw^in and others have followed him. These look to the reign of miud. With gross inconsistency, they also hail tlie brutal freedom of the lower instincts. How uutnie is this view of human natm'e ! Education would be of little value, and often a cruel mockery, did it only awaken the understanding and its susceptibil- ities. You must now instil knowledge. You have the subjective capacity; you must now fill it with objective good. This is connected with the disbehef of that, for which all Cluistian education must allow, — the follen condition of our natm'e. That natm-e is not tlie fair tablet upon which you wiite whatever you may please, — fearful characters are already blotted tliere. It is not the bough which can bend into whatever direc- tion you will, — it has its own stubborn inclination. In every step you take of moral cultm*e, you will find resistance. Let us not disguise it fi*om om- selves. It is no accidental influence. It is propen- AND UKSOURCES OF TH18 COUNTRY. '.\27 siou of the most certain kind, la all. tli()UL;li varii'd in its manifestations, it is the simie. Let this tiiith be pondered and solemnly revolved, — it will cheek much hope, but it will prevent much more disappoint- ment, — "The heart is deceitful above all tilings, and desperately wicked" ! The friend and champion, who would instruct uni- versal society, is often placed in singular difficulties. He must not imagine that he can satisfy the objections which shall assail him from the most opposite sides. But if he have silenced the enemies of education, he has that wliich is far more foimidable with which to contend. Tliis is the conduct of certain advocates. These are the fanatics to whom tliis subject is a monomaniacal idea. They, by their extravagance, their visionary theories, their ill - calculated plans, tlurow a ridiculousness upon the sacred cause. No sober men can act with them. They are full of fim- tastic images and distorting dreams. This is their panacea for all the e^^ls of domestic and civil life. They do no justice to the other means of human advancement. They affect contempt for all the insti- tutions which soften the ferocity, mid curb the A-io- lence, of man, — for all that humanises, softens, and refines, the nation's heart. They speak with scorn of authority, rtmk, laws, manners, and even of religion. They insult all rite, solemnity, commemoration, fes- tival, badge. They leave no room for association, for confidence, for fcehng. TIk \ will not understand. 828 ON iiiii i:i>r(A riDN.M. mkank tliiit there iimst he an jintecedenl Htiite of tilings, a mighty I'rumewoik, witliin wliieh are comprohonded the duties whieh edueation is designed to explain and to enforce. The ohjccts must be provided on which the unsealed eye may iix. The path must be laid inr that ibotstep ^vhi(;h slialj heueelorth press it. Civilization can spare no ornament, no elegance, no courtesy, no polish, — much less can it forego any principle, any influence, any usage, which preserves the citizen in order, in hannony, in good will, in peace. It is an exquisite poise of the natural and the artificial. A breath may peril it. The educa- tionist ought to be the foremost in his reverence to it. It is not for him to slight a fabric which alone can furnish him with range for liis experiments and with basis for his triumphs. And there are those Avho repudiate all sympathy with such a school of thinkers, that still commit all human fortunes and destinies to education. As the word is commonly defined, even as the word can be most largely understood, we utterly chssent li"om the idea. The direct preaching of the gospel, together with its ordinances, we beheve to be the only instrument of wide-spread and true melioration. If education be flattered to the sHght of tliis divine appointment, if it be tlu'ust into its place, if it be abused to super- sede it, it is from that hour an idolatry, a good unduly exalted and misplaced, a deified instiniment of good, a Nehushtan, a useless, defiling, irreligious AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 'S2i) thing. It is quite necessary tlmt we, in the argu- ment of the most Christian education, do not betniv it by an idle boast or an undeserved homage. We forebode not evil nor doom of Britain. The progress it has made has been long, steady, glorious. It has redeemed the slave, at a price greater tlian many a nation's dower, — a nobler act than his mere emancipation. It has dedicated its proudest archi- tectiu'e to designs of mercy. It has purged its code of blood. It has granted many equal rights to its children. It is sending forth freedom tlu-ough its mighty colonizations. Its shores offer sanctuary to them who are oppressed. Its liberty is a model for all people. It has a world-wide fame. From its high, clift'-cinctured, tlirone of rocks, wliile the waves sleep around it, it looks forth calm in conscious power, erect with generous pui^pose, casting its shield ai-ound freedom, mediating the elements of strife, — the lumi- nary of knowledge and the angel of religion ! Why should Britain fall ? What canker is in its destiny ? What omen casts the lurid ^liadow over its disk ? Its difficulties are those of might, puissance, greatness. They may be overcome. They already yield. They are brought to view by the ver}' means which gi'apple with them. If crisis come, if danger fall, let it burst upon an enhghtened and religious people. . In tins will be our stay, whatever is the shock, — whatever the deluge, tliis will cause our ark to ride upon the waters ! ■\^() ON TIIF. EDrrATIONAI, MEANS We ivtul iiui evil ill tlic si^Tis of Ukj times. The events, wliidi me the most threatening in their Hcem- ing, speak to us of hope. Instead of forehoding a rediindiinco of popuhition, we anticipate, in niimhers, a strength and gloiT. Instx-ad of regarding our fields as incapabh.' of yielding an enlarged and a more ade- quate supply, y>c anticipate the foison of an unknown hushandry. Instead of Ijcwailing that the national spirit is worn out and sunk into decay, we anticipate its waxing greatness. Instead of turning to the sun of a once mighty prosperity as now fast westering and going down, we anticipate a meridian for it wliich it has never scaled. Considering our constitutional pri- -sdleges, and oiu" Cluistiau facihties, our progress as a people has been slow. But where the rudiments of character ai"e gathered tardily, their development is frequently sudden. For ages there was not that advancement of right thought and feeling wliich might have been expected from the intellectual and moral causes then at work. But there was not pause. Every step may not be traced, but the course can be measured. A thousand things would shock the reli- gious refinement of the present times, wliich our fore- fathers wiUingly brooked. In knowledge, in mental happiness, in temporal plenty, in political power, our common people never stood as they do now. Pubhe opinion exerts a force liitherto imconccived. Rem- nants of tp'anny give way, one after another, before the srrowth of hbertv. The ferocity of manners is AND RESOURCES OF THIS COUNTRY. 331 allayed. The national relationsliips are founded upon intelligent reciprocations and lionoui-able principles. Diplomacy supersedes war. Genius and science wait not for posthumous honours, but share contemporai-)' fame. Rehgion transfuses itself into channels which formerly it could not reach. BibHcal criticism gains an unwonted favour and celebrity. Missions begin to take a place in our characteristic tastes and habits, and a prominence among our declai'ed and most favoured institutions. And, withal, the true condition of our countiy itself employs a vigour of attention, and a disinterestedness of benevolence, wliich the popular interests never engaged before. The common allegation is refuted, that foreign objects blind us to those at home. We proudly show that our coasts do not dissever us from the interests of a universal humanity. But the influence of tliis philantlu'opy is reflex. The state of our population is, after all, the cause wliich fixes the closest study, and is the question to which even' other is postponed. He can possess little claim to truth and honesty, who represents that the momen- tous problem of the people's happiness and welfare is now overlooked. Would that it had been earlier pursued ! Over what a region, and what a race, must the sun have then risen and tlie heavens bent ! We would not boast. It is presumption. W(! would not despair. It is iugi'atitude. We see vic- tory in struggle, and behold tlie sign of hope reflect 382 ON TFIK LDtTCATIONAI. MKANS, ETC. itself from the stonn. We remember our guilt, and know \\]m\ we liavc (Irscncd. We sing of mercy, because God in wrath has remembered mercy. He has wrought out our deliverance for us. We cannot think, from His own indications, that He is mindfhl to destroy us Tlie salt which is sown in our land, is not of ruin but of life. The ploughshare, chiven through it, is not of destruction but of cultivation. Christian Education is our want, and will be our strength. Let it be no longer delayed. Let it be no more stinted. Give it the scale which it deserves. Grudge not the due proportions. Lift it on high. Let it overtower the noblest monuments of the land. Let " Wisdom build her house," let her " hew out her seven pillars/' let her " cry upon the liighest places of the city ! " Tliis will be solid fame. It will be true glor}'. It will bring all other bless- ings with it. It ^vill be the security of all. If, like Solomon, we, as a nation, seek " an understanding heart," — not only a secular education, but a reHgious disciphne, — that we may "discern between good and bad," — " God will give unto us, that which we have not asked, Boi/i Riches and Honour'/' NOTE As the question of Classical Learning occurs in the foregoing Essay, — the Author hopes that he may be excused quoting a part of an Address delivered by him at the last Anniversary (June 19, 1844) of the Protestant Dissenters' Grammar School, near Lon- don : it has only been printed in a Periodical. In an age of calculation, a mechanical age, it was the honour of this School to seek and uphold Grammar Learn- ing. The temptation, the increasing temptation, tlie sordid temptation, was to turn all instruction into a craft, a mani- pulation. There was appetite for very little more. No cla- morous importunity demanded this sterner style. Objections were even heard against it. Its likeliliood of superfluousness was urged. Its irreligiousness was denounced. But here this noble Institution made its stand. It would parley witli none of the common-places of vulgar igiiorance or mistaken scru- pulousness. It joined its assent to the authority of universal experience, that the acquirement of languages, especially of the classic languages, is the foundation of the greatest learn- ing, and the instrument best fitted for intellectual outgrowtli. None contend for exclusive attention to them. None suj)- pose that they comprehend the utmost materials of indoc- trination. Mathematical and physical enquiries deserve nu mean place in our institutes of tuition. But is the youth- ful mind capable of their highest principia >. Ought it not z •'{.'I I ON CLASSirAI. LEARNING. to pass through a strengthening, expanding, preparation / Would not rigid science overstrain it ? The cultivation of the richest languages, in the mean while, elicits and braces its energies. Oh how narrowly do they understand, or rather, how unrighteously do they propound, the case, whose sole notion of learning a language is to get a glossary by rote ! They know not that language is the expression of some peo- ple's inward life and heart ! They know not that language is the minute inscription of habits and tastes which no public monuments can record I They know not that the words of the wise are the chronicles of their wisdom, and the words of the good are the emanations of their goodness ! They know not that in the loss of these particular dialects of human speech, the loss must follow of the experience fur- nished by the most wonderful nations of the world ! They know not that men must think in words, and that by words only can they be induced to think ! They know not that language is the best analytic test of mental precision, so that rarely is that justly conceived which cannot be expressed ! Thus the ancient Greeks declared reason and speech by the same word.* This is not the time to defend our curriculum. That time is past. We cannot renew the controversy. It is settled. It is fatuous to regard it in a way the most hypothetical as that it can be disturbed. It is a fixed, demonstrated, Coper- nican, truth. Only there is a defence of it almost worse than its im- peachment. We love not selfish considerations in the unfold- ings of the rational and moral principles of our nature. We would not press the care of youthful training upon a scale of social convenience and utUity. A smattering of this lore is, forsooth, to be tolerated, because it may assist the con- quest of the mercantile modern tongues ! It may help the ' A,,..-,-. ox CLASSICAL LEARN I NO. 335 chemist and the l)otanist ! It may guide the pludder through laborious nomenclatures ! It is, perhaps, just endured, be- cause deemed essential to a certain gi-ade of society, and with a hope that it may be attended with civil advantage ! It is submitted to as a sacrifice ! It is borne with as a loss ! It is secretly regretted ! At heart it is despised ! Aspii-ations are indulged that it shall soon yield before the discoveries of cerebral organization or of practical thrift ! Oh let us never plead the cause of those great fonns of utterance, those musical effusions, those variegated terminol- ogies, those heart-deep vibrations, those scenic epithets, those transparent self-reflections of the mind and the sensibility of the hidden man, — those languages which give us citizenship in ancient states, until we bum with their patriotic passions, and a seat around ancient roof-trees, until we are entangled with their domestic ties ; — those languages which load us through long-lost cities and homes, far more vmerringly than we can find our way through such cities and homes when actually laid open from their volcanic inundation ; — those lan- guages which are as a song of the affections, an enthusiasm of the faculties, of our nature, when of itself it was most dignified and sublimated ; — those languages which are full of the {esthetic of beauty and grandeur ; — those languages to which others, only as they approach them, are graceful, apt, and strong ; — let their cause never be pleaded on grounds of a low expediency, nor hold quarrel for them with "sophis- ters, oeconomists, and calculators." It is too high a cause for them to appreciate, and can only be conducted by the gene- rous views and emotions which they do ntit understand. The study of the Greek and Latin writings has been severely condemned as irreligious. They are most certainly the productions of Pagan writers, and tlicir allusions of a sacred character are formed upon the mythology which they professed. The objection must equally lie against the study :\'.\C> ON cLASSKAi. I. i:\iiMN*;. of theu" statuary and architecture. We must cast dowTi all those prodigies of the antique, — those breathing marbles Ije- fore which we can hardly breathe, — those friezes, those enta- blatures, those capitals, those colonnades, those arches, which seem to form themselves afresh l)efore our eyes, and to build up anew their original structures. Of the chief classic wri- tings it may be affirmed that they are imbued with a sincere piety. Reverent is the mention of their gods. They impute disaster of every kind to the neglect of the temples. They accept of rule and power as divine gifts on the humble sub- ordination of a people to supernal rule and power. " Ilinc omnc principium, hue refer exitum." " Why is Mezentius held up to our horror? "Contemptor Divum."t Why are we made to shrink from his prowess and defiance I " Dextra inihi Deus." Why does the death of the tyrant, though the slaughter of his son might have constrained our pity, fail to draw a tear? "Nee Divum parcimus ulli." Homer is very chastity in his household descriptions, and he is a devout worshipper of those divinities whom his machines so often require and reveal. Pindar, with all his flights and fervours is without a stain. Think of the historians, Herodotus, and Thucydides, and Liv)', — the orators, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Cicero, — and where is the fear of harm ? In a few places of the epic, and a few more of the lyric, poets, there is polluting image and diction. In some of the moralists there is pro- faneness. But there is room enough for selection. Suppose that Catullus, Ovid, and Lucretius, were never brought into our schools. It would be loss ; but a good acquaintance with Latin, and better Latin, might be formed without them. I have lately most reluctantly come to the conclusion, that Plato is a very tainted writer : but the Middle Attic may be studied without his use, and he is not often set before our youth. The Greek tragedians are smgulai'ly pure. We would * Ilor : Caim : lib. iii. 6. t Vir : .Encid : lib. x. ON CLASSICAI, LEAIiMNC. 3^7 hide and exculpate nothing wrong : our wonder, however, is, tiiat in heathen works these vices should be so rare. To say that they are idolaters is certainly gratuitous : Ijut was Ijoy evei* proselytised to their superstition ? flight not the pre- ceptor direct the pupil to the manner of homage and faith whicli they bear to their fabled deities, and teach him hence the constant acknowledgment which he ought to render to the Holy One and True i To say that the ancient classics are fraught with recitals of battles, is but sliglitly to con- demn them : was boy ever turned into soldier by the blood of mortals and the ichor of immortals, mingled together on the Trojan plain >. If battles did occur, it cannot be strange that annalists recorded, or that bards sung, them : the strug- gles of Thermopylae, ilarathon, and Salamis, surely may be told and read : and should any fear that the youth thus taught should fly to arms, it can only be just to remember, that far more probably would strifes of a later and patriotic interest fire his fancy, and native heroes of the past and present hour arouse his emulation. Give these renowned models of writing their own principles of a deplorably false reUgion, and I fear- lessly say, that they present nothing more extraordinary than their devout spirit and their blameless delicacy. He must possess a strange sense of virtue who takes refuge from them in om- Gibbon, Dryden, and Pope. There would be as little happiness of escape from Aristophanes and Terence into our native comedy : even Shakspeare's tragic bust is not so un- bluiTed and unsoiled as are the heads which the Grecian Melpomene has so long since crowned. The higher state of education among us has been very salutary as to our profession of Olu-istianity. When learning was sinking low, an unliealthy feebleness came over all beside. Enquiry was arrested, and thought was proscribed. Our reli- gious belief began to dote. A poverty of conception, an efle- minacy of language, presented all Kicrcd principles most .'{.'{M ON CI.AHSICAI, LKAUNINf;. cliHadvantageously. A poltroon fear contracted and fihrivelled up the soul, llcsconsus of the inspired text was deprecated as an encouragement of scepticism, if not a rapine upon it by scepticism itself. Canons of criticism were condemned. The possible conclusions of science were beheld afar with an utter dismay. Men spoke of the laws of evidence and of interpre- tation, in a manner which made them quite different things in religious, and in common, applications. Whatever had been held by certain authorities and symbols, was proclaimed as coordinate with Revelation itself. But what have the true hermeneutics achieved ? Distrust of inspiration ? I profess myself a believer in the Divine suggestion of every word of true Scripture, jot and tittle. But the book of God, given in its present conditions, must be authenticated as any other book. Its text must be collated and confiraied as any other text. Its language is to be interpreted as any other language. We think it responsible only for itself. We are often plied with sentences as extracts from it which it never contained. There are those who oracularly assure us of its purport and scope, which we may think it never did intend. Now we can open the Bible, and with open face can read it. Not my Bible, not yours ; not what I have taken to be the sense of it, not what you ; but only that which can prove itself to be the uncorrupted Bible — but only that which can be proved to be its unperverted meaning. Now, is this strong, earnest, im- partial, spirit the characteristic of our times ? It is the fruit of liberal learning. But while we honour the instrument, we still more glory in the result. We believe it is the spirit of truth. Revelation seeks not the blind, the unreasoning, homage of our mind. It loves, it commands, investigation. " Search the Scriptures." By your full conviction of their veracity, by your entire reliance on their information, by your cordial devotion to their excellence, alone do you allow their claim or magnify their origin. ON CLASSICAL LKARNrNG. 839 Philosophy is no longer scanned with a. jealous eye. Time was, at least, when its name was in little favour among our naany. The discoveries of science were supposed to lour with an ominous aspect upon Christianity. But this is now better understood. There has been no compromise nor concession. All that is proper Christianity, the religion of salvation, has long been given to us in the inspired page. We ask no new lights as to its substance ; though new and still more beau- tiful illustrations may constantly be thrown around it. In itself it is complete : it is a dogmatic discovery. We should as soon think of addition to the physics of the universe, or to the principles of mathematics, as to the compass of the Gospel. But now let just and comprehensive philosophy com- mence any of its studies in reference to it. We hail its approach and subserviency. If moral, having worked out its theory of obligation, it will find in Christianity its best sanction and time approval. If inductive, Christianity anti- cipates it, — " Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." If the philosophy of history, Christianity furnishes its only scheme and key. If the philosophy of mind, it is forestalled by the scriptural analysis of the inner man. Kindle these illuminations to all their strength : our religion looks but the more intensely glorious beneath them ! Or let science lay open her experiments : we still arc fearless. Scan the chronology of the firmament ! Read history in the strati- fication of the rocks ! Discovery and deduction are on our side. Let the great laboratory be entered, — let forge and crucible be plied. Let silicon, the matrix of modem mira- cles, ))e put to all its torture ! These elements are at an eternal distance from life and self-action. Archaeology may lift its torch upon the " dark backward and abysm of time." Not a date, nor a scene, nor an event, of our religion does it disturb. In all this are seen the might and the divinity and the victory of our faith ! •MO UN CI.ASSICAI, I,KAHNI\(;. liiborty has nhtuined strerif^th in tluH enlurgenient, of the p(»pulav mind. The servile and tlic alycct are abhorrent Uj religion, and to its selcctest influences. It awakens a con- scious dignity. It enables each Inrnd-man to burst his chains. Oppression has often stung tf) resentment, but more often has it bowed to abasement. Persecution, if it did not frighten our spirit, had sat heavy upon it. It had silenced our minis- ters, and suppressed our schools. Deliverance seemed hopeless. So long as the night of ignorance deepened around us, our love of freedom languished. We were satisfied to be oppressed. We sought toleration. We loved the hateful word. We asked no more of a revolution which we had conducted to triumph, and of a dynasty which we had raised to the throne. But as learning once more dawned, we felt the brand of toleration. We had sworn by liberty in the rescue of our country : we for ourselves now invoked its aid I And as we sprung from our dust, rivet after rivet started from our chains, and link of those chains fell after link. It is our fault, and just will be the retribution, if any man bring ns again into bondage. LEEDS: PRINTED BY ANTHONY PICK.\RP. CATALOGUE OF BOOKS, PUBLISHED BY J. Y. KNIGHT, LEEDS, HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO, LONDON. BY THE REV. R. W. £IAniXI.TOir, ZJ..I)., S.D. Author of the " Prizn Ei-^n'inn Eiluiation." In the Press, in one large Volume, Deuiy Uvo. A SECOND VOLUME OF SERMONS. Demy 8vo., C'lotli Boards, Price 88. fid. MISSIONS : THEIR AUTHORITY, SCOPE, AND ENCOURAGEMENT. AN ESSAY : To which tlic Second Prize, proposed by a recent Association in Scotland, was adjudged. " We shall not undertake the unnecessary and invidious office of attempting to point out the respective merits of the several volumes before us. (Including ihe third prize Essay, and that of the Hon. and Kev. Baptist W. Noel, M.A.) Each writer has followed his own train of thought ami illustration in his own way, and with good effect; and has supplied much important information and cogent stimulus; and we trust that by Ihe Divine blessing great benefit will accrue to the cause of Missions from their several and unitecflabours." " \Ve gratefully accept them as a valuable boon to the Christian Church."— C/irirfian " iJoth the Essays fulfil all the conditions required in the public announce- ment, and were it not that the adjudicators state they were influenced in their decision by the Si. ntiineni, arrangement, style, and comprehensiveness, and by the general adaptation of the Kssays to their proposed object, wc should be per- plexed in accounting for their preference. Each writer has put forth all his powers, and excels himself; but, in point of arrangement, style, and adapta- tion. Dr. Harris's Essay is superior to Mr. Hamilton's. The great argument is conducted by both with equal success; sometimes Mr. Hamilton, and some- times Dr. Harris, appears to have the advantage. The reasoning of both may be said to be logic on fire." " One of Mr. Hamilton's peculiarities is what all persons well read in the Dible, and familiar witli its style and phraseolog)', will greatly admire, and more highly value the production on that account. We refer to the peculiar diction of the Uible which he has interwoven with the texture of his style. Whatever thought springs up in his mind wears the drapiry of inspiration. Analogies and c'ontr.u.ts from thesacree iiniilnycd. Scrip- turo tiiillis anil exprc«itiinis arc inli-rwovcn with the very itulntance of tne arfjinnent, invi'StinK it with a liiml of unearthly ilreiu, and nallr>wjn|{ the 11x10 it l» altogether an extraordinary vii)rk."—Suniluj/ SilniiJ Tmilnrr'A Magnzini: " What our opinion of Mr. Hamilton in, at a piit upon record in our notice of hi< ' Nugn- I.itcrariic.' In his ' Miiisiona' he has well auiilaineil his rejmtation, and his pages glow witli devout fervour as he pleads with an irresistible force of reasoning the cause of the perishing heathen." 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AN APPEAL TO THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY, ON THE DISPUTED QUESTIONS OF THE TIMES : In Tiirec Lectures, on the Doctrine of Sacramental Efficacy, tiie Claim of Apostolical Succession, and tiic Union of Church and State. " We are bound to state that he writes in a sulxluetl and thoughtful spirit; • * • and far surpasses any pamphlet on the same side which has prociHHied from Churchmen. —;(/i7/.s7( C'/ilir. " 1 cannot recoiiinund too strongly Mr. Kly's admirable pamphlet on Apos- tolical Succession, the Sacraments, and Union of Church and State; which is a compendium of the arguments against the sentiments of the Oxford Tracts." — Hev. John A. Jamrs't Chri^tidu Fellnw.ihip. " Kvangelical sentiment, sound argument, and Christian courtesy pervade these Lectures." — Hupti.tt Mui^nziiif. •• The respected author of the.se three Lectures has done noble service to the Church of Christ, by the calm and dignified, but yet successful manner in which he has (lisj)osed of the Oxford Tmct-.\Ien, or rather of their more than simi-popish notion.s. " i'be logic of his 'Appeal' is ecpial to all its other ([ualiiies; and both ' Sacramental KfHcacy' and 'Aiiostolic Succession' have come out of his iron grasp feeble, and helpless, and ready to die. Let but the people read this ■Tract for the Times' and the Oxforil divines may save themselves the trou- ble of fulminating any more of their popish bulls." — Einn/(elical Miigiizini: '• Mr. Kly ably refutes these several claims of the Church." — Sun. J. Y. KNIGHT, PDBLISHEE, '■ ThU in a very Koaitonablp, Jiiilirioui, nnrt tnmpcratc rxpoiure of the pxtr*- vnf;nnt rlaiiiis ricintly put forwanl, on In half of thf (hiirch, by the I'uttj party, in what are calle-». " It is due to Mr. Kly to «ay thai he treau hi» oubjcctit with great eameit- ness, eloquence, aTid ahiUty. —llrUiiJ MiTmr//. "The reverenil author h.is ixpemleil upon each of them a eood deal of pains, and di.«playesiiion in which he places them ; in his remarks, he ii decided and unconipromisinR, though free from asperity ; while in his argu- ments, lie honourably avoids that system of special jilcadinR which he has frequent occasion to point out in the passaRes selected from the authors whom he controverts. Though we liiid in .\1r. Kly's writings the bold and uncom- promising character of the advocate of the truth, we also recognise with iiles- surc the marked traces of the good feeling, candour, and amiability or the man." — Hhrffifld Itirirpi>nrii-nt. "The Hev. .1. Kly has done himself and the denomination to which he Ijclongs, honour by the manly, temperate, and Christian manner in which he has discussed this question. The three Lectures are creditable both to the head and heart of the Writer. \Ve wish we could do justice to this work." — Omfrre' i:ational Magaz hie, XXVI. Third PMition. 8vo., pp. 44, Price 1». DISSENT VINDICATED, AVith a partictilar Reference to the Question of National Religious Estublishments. A Discourse delivered at tlie Ordination of the Rev. Julius Jlaik, at Chelmsford, May Catli, 1837. " We have not seen a more luminous, more scriptural, or more satisfactory statement of the grounds on which Dissenters vindicate their separation from the Established Church, than is contained in this .Senuon: — a statement too so calm, gentlemanly, and Christian in its tone and spirit, that the most fastidious Churchman could' not complain of it. The argument is close, pointed, and in our view irresistible." — Leedi Mercui-tj- " The author writes with mildness and dignity, and scorns to resort to vulgar abuse, where nothing but calm argument is worthy of a triumph. Churchmen will, indeed, ditfer from the author; but those of them who are devout and candid will be compelle*! to pay deference to .Mr. E.'s understanding and heart. To Dissenters who wish to understand their professed principles, and to Churchmen who really desire to know what enlightened Nonconformists hold on the subject of Church Establishments, we would cordially recommend this masterly summary of Dissenting principles." — Eeangdiral Magnzine. XXVII. Demy 8vo., Price Is. THE OBLIGATION OF THE CHURCH TO PROSECUTE THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE TO WHICH IT IS COMMITTED ; A Sermon preached before the London Missionair Society, in Surrey Chapel, May lOth, 1837. "A truly impressive Discourse, in which the obligation to Missionary enterprisei as connected with Christian discipleship, is very forcibly stated."— Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. XXVIII. Demy 8vo., Price 4d. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED ON OCCASION OF lAYIXO THE FIRST STOKE OF EAST-PAR.\DE CHAPEL, LEEDS, On Monday, the 2nd of September, 1839. 39, BBIGGATE, LEEDS. 9 XXIX. Demy 8vo. Second Edition. Price Is. lid. "WE MUST DISSENT." A REPLY TO THE STUICTURES OF THE KEV. G. A. I'uOLE, M.A. ON AN ADDRESS Delivered at the Laying of the First Stone of East Parade Cliapel, Leeds. WITH A LETTER TO MR. POOLE, IN liEJOINOER TO '"AN APPENDIX" TO HIS .STRICTURES. " VV'e cannot but conpratulatc Mr. Ely ujjon his comjietency to meet those additional demands ujwn his attention which controversies create, in a manner so satisfactory to his triends and creerusal, and we cordially recommend it to their notice. We sincerely hope it will have a wide circulation." — Coiigregatiimal Magazine. XXXII. I'Jiuo., Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. THE ALLIANCE OF CHURCH AND STATE UNSCUIl'TURAl., INEXPEDIENT, AND INJURIOTS. •• As a lucid enumeration of the arguments against the union of church and statu from scriptural princi|)le, practical working, and inherent tendency, it is well fitted for distribution amongst Dissenters, (many of whom we are sorry to say have very vague iile.is on the momentous character of the question, and therefore would fain let it sleep,) and also amongst those tx)rn and brought \\\> in the pale of the Kstablishmenl. The latter will not find in its tone and tem|>er any just cause of otienc-e." — Eclectic Review. XXXIII. .'52mo., Stiff Cover, Price Id., or 7s. per Hundred. Fifth Thousand. AN EVANGELICAL CATECHISM FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 10 J. Y. KNIGHT. rrnLisnER, XXMV. Twelfth Ivlitioii. Fooliiciip Jlvo., Price 7». HISTORY IN ALL AGKS. " This is a work of ; exhibiting, in n catCfheliral fonn, a ni<»t interesting and conij>rehen»ive sketch of history, from the earlii-st iK-riixk down to the present moment-— We know not who may l>e it.« author; but he bids fair to rival most other writcm in the same department. His arrangements are most lurid, hit selections are singu- larly Juoicious, and the deference paid by him to revealed religion, and to the great principles of the Christian faith, is alike creditable to his judgment and to nis heart. To public schools, academies in general, and private familic-s, we beg earnestly to recommend this able cmd judicious compendium." — KmnifelUxU Stannziiie. •' All works of this kind are useful and valuable if they are edited on sound princii)les and a good plan of reference. — And such is the i>rc«enf volume, which is prinfCfl for the Proprietors of Publications on Christian {'rineiple*. judiciously arranged and comprehending so ample a store of information, that it may be truly said to furnish a satisfactory outline of ' History in all Age*.'" — Literary Gazette. XXXV. Foolscap 8vo., Price 7s.; 12ino., Half Bound, Price lOs. 6d. HISTORY OF THE JEWS, IN ALL AGES. By the Author of " History in ali, Aoe.s." " As a concise view of Jewish History, consistent with the data of the Holy Scriptures, it is a volume of interest and usefulness, which may be advanta- geously read by all classes." — Liternry Cazette. '• The History of the Jews, published a few years ago by Professor Milman, and extensively circulate the pages of this volume to an uld-fasliioncti chintz curtain — •full of birds and flowers meeting.' We cannot pass over the aim of the collec- tion without commendation, as we know of no |>ubliration more likely to awaken in yf)ung minds a keen relish for the wonders and beauties of creation ; nor in lUayi of more advanced years a volume better calculated to keep alive all the p\ire feeling.-, of the heart." — JJteruiii Gazette. " This is a |>rettY book and well-imagineoinl of view, aUo, it muM booliowetl to possess great merit; and it must be admitted that, while tlie Author has con- sidered carefully the pathological and doctrinal )>oints — he lias not been less solicitous to establish their bearings in improving the treatment of the dis- ease." — Kdiiibui-iih Mniiiiil and SurLcUtil Jiiurna!, Mu. 1J4. "The work merits apnrobation. It contains all the evidence that can be adduced to render probable the similarity of nature of all these important alTec- tions, and thus gives a guidance which, in their investigation and treatment, cannot fail, if cautiously followed, to lead to good; and on the subject of Erysipelas, commonly so called, it supplies all the information which is scat- tered through a vast numlier of records, many of which are scarcely accessible to the majority of readers." — Medical Gdzi-ttc. "Altogether we consider that Mr. Xuimeley has done good service to the Profession by the production of this Work." — Provincial Stedictil and Surgu-al Jmtrnnl. "We have great pleasure in recommending Mr. Nunneley's book to our readers; it displays great talent and zeal; it is well written, abounding in learning and sound' practical directions," — Dublin Journal of Medital Sciencr. "We confess that, after an attentive examination of Mr. Nunneley's remarks upon the different affections just enumerated, and which he would iiitrtxlucc into the family of Krysipelas, we cannot refrain from admitting the very strong presumptive eviilence, at least, which he affords on the propriety of giving to the term a wider latitude than has yet been usually conceded to it. " Mr. Nunneley's Treatise is a sensible and well-written Kssay. We may not probably consent to all his opinions, as to the propriety of extending the term Erysipelas so far as he has done; he has, however, made out a strong case in favour of the views he .advocates, and he is entitled to the somewhat rare praise of having (piestioned and criticised the opinions of others dispassionately and justly." — Medical ijuartt'rly Ret'ieir. " We cannot shut the volume before us without recommending it to our medical friends. It contains much information, and is marked by much gootl sense. The Practitioner will find in it that which will stand him instead in practice." — Medii:o-Chirurfrical lievii-ti: " In conclusion, we beg to recommend the Work to the Profession, as being one of great value, not only for the originality of the matter, but for the immense number of references to the best authorities on the subject." — Retro- Kpect iif Practical Medicine. XLII. Foolscap 8vo., Price 4s., Cloth Boaixls. ANATOMICAL TABLES ; CONTAININ'O CONCISE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE MUSCLES, LIGAMENTS, FASCI.t:, BLOOD VESSELS, AND NERVES. INTENDED FOR THE USE OF STUDK.NTS. X/,III. BV MB. W. OSBVBN, JTTN. Dcmv 8vo., Price \0^., Clotli Roanl?, DOCTRINAL ERRORS OF THE APOSTOLICAL AND EARLY FATHERS, BY WILLIAM OSBURN, J UN. The celebrated author of '■'■Spiriluul Desfjwtisiii" who ilcscrvcs to be designated one of the master minds of tlic age, in the Appendix to the adminble production just named, thus sjieaks of Mr. Osburn's Book. " While sending this Aiipemlix to press, the author h.is recciven(erning those false notions ami superstitions which, IiavinR hatl their birth in the second century, or sooner, were permitted to live in our reformed Churches; hut which now encumber our practical Christianity, confuse our theolofjy, and (generate interminable disagreements among the dcrpy. Finallyi Mr. Osbum and the author aprce m fervently desiring the welfare and per- petuity of the Kpiscopal and l':stablishe' claim to the fullest liberty of statinp and defending his own principles, and to reeeive full credit for the 'integrity and sincerity of his motive*. He is infinitely more to be respected I'cir the manly and intVllij;ible avowal of his {leeuliar sentiments upon this topic, than if by any alUctationof latitudinarian candour, he had in any respect merged, or niiitralised, or (•(ini-ealctl, what he deems to be the truth. We must not omit here to observe, that Mr. Osburn's episco|ialian opinions are neither unnecessarily obtruded, nor oflcusivcly exiircsse«l. He only speaks as a man of decision and conviction ought lo speak, upon matters which he considers of paramount and universal importance. " We shall add in conclusion, that we nave seldom peruseil a iKxik with greater advantage than this most instructive volume. No library, and cs|iecially no theological librarv, ought to he without it. We repeat it, for this volume Mr. Usburn is entitled to the i)crnianent gratiluile of the public." In the " Cliriaiiaii (,'i(ar(/iiiii" the Reviewer savs " We pass over with considerable reluctance the chapters on Tradition, Inspiration, and Angels, in each of which, but specially in the last, Mr. (). has brought together much that is important and highly interesting: and hasten to notice the statements given u^ concerning liapti^m and the Lonl's Sup|ier. In each of these it is remarkable how early the mystery of iniquity began to work ; how soon the outward and visible sign was cont'oundcnl with the inward and spiritual grace, and how readily even the Karly Fathers adopte CnMFRKlIKNSIVK (illAMMAR OP TIIK FRKNCII LANGUAGE, For the Use of Young Students; containing scvi-ntl Idiomatic and Difficult Constructions, which liad bcrn hitherto unexplained, reiiuceii to Rule. XLIX. Koolscap !!vo., Price '2b., Cloth Uoarils. KEY TO THE EXERCI8ES IN RUBATTEL'H FRENCH GRAJIMAR. I.. Foolsrap five, Price 4s. fid.. Cloth Boards. INTRODUCTION TO THE FRENCH LANGUAGE, Containing a Concise and Complete Arrangement of tlie Verbs. Second Edition. Roval 3'2n)o., Silk, 'Is. fid. SCATTERED LEAVES OF POESY. LIl. Foolscap 8vo., Price 4s., Cloth Boards. SELECTIONS FROM A CORRESPONDENCE o.v .SUBJECTS COXXECTED WITH CHRISTIAN FAITU AND PRACTICE. With an Introductory Preface, by Mrs. Ste\'e.n's. Llll. Third Edition. IJimo., Price 3s. Bound. THE JUVENILE REMEMBRANCER. Rules for Behaviour, Rcadiug, and Writing ; Divine and Moral Majcims ; Catechisms on the Holy Scriptures, &c. Liv. 3*7 TRB REV. W. EC. BTOVTEI,!,. Foolsr.ip "vo.. Cloth Boards, Price ?)S. fid. THE MISSIONARY CHURCH : Designed to show that the Spread of the Gospel is the proper Business of the Church as the Church. By the Rev. W. H. Stowell, President of Rothcrham College. "It gives me much pleasure to take this occasion to recommend to serious perusal the publication of a dear friend, the Rev. Professor Stowell, entitled, ' The Missionary Churcli." To its elegance of composition, closeness of reason- ing, and piety of temiier, is added much information on the details oi our modern Societies and on the branches of their agency." — ' .Misiicm : thrir A^ithority, Scope, and Encouragement. By the Rev. Dr. Hamilton.' Royal 8vo., vol. 1., parti., Price 10s. 6d., Cloth Boards. TRANSACTIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY OF LEEDS, CONSISTING OF PAPERS READ BEFOItE THE SOCIETY. A. PICKARD, FRINTBR, TOP OF DRIOOATE, LEEDS. r ij^ 1 •CAIIFO/?^ ^OfCAllfO/?^ ji\m\\ ^wHmm/A ■^•^ilJDNVSOl^^ %aiMVl lUV ^ UNIVERi"//) o ^^KlUBRARYd?/^ A\lllBRARY6jc %jnv>jo^ %ojnv3jo>^ mwm/A I JDNVSOV^ v^lOSANCElfj"^ o "^/sa^AiNnawv^ .>\;OFCAllfO/?^ >vOfCAllF0fi'^ '^;lOSANCElfx^ o lOSANCElfj> o avHan-^s^"^ ^^AavJiaiH^"^ ;lOSANCElfj> %a3AiNamv^ ^^^^l•llBRARY^/• ^^^ILIBRARYQa ^<5fOJIlV3JO^ UNIVERS/A ^lOSANCElfT> .>i,OFCALIF0% ^OFCAlIFOff^ LiiFo/?4^ ^ofCAiiFi rir""' vV^ P'-jJT^ UCL IIVER% '% 158 01106 2568 UCLA-Young Research Librarv LC75 .H18i y IVERS-ZA ^lOSv^ BRARYQr^ i IG-! ^ ^^^ ^^"^ ^^^ ^ ^1x1 '^•^mhmiw ^^AHvaaiH^ ^:lOSANCflfx> CO so I %a3AiNn-3WV^ ^lOSANCElfj-^ o ^ S ;a IIVtR% ^lOSANCElfj> IIVERS"//, wsoi^ "^a^AiNnaw^- ''