CROSBT-HALL 
 
 EDUCAT : v 
 
 T
 
 J\/[tchaeI Ernest Sadler 
 
 'University College-^ 
 
 Oxford 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 t 
 
 
 " 
 
 . 
 
 J.J
 
 CROSBY-HALL 
 
 LECTURES ON EDUCATION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 JOHN SNOW, 35, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1'rice Two Shillings and Sixpence.
 
 1C 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the new circumstances of the Congregational Board of 
 Education, originating in the meeting at Derby, it was 
 thought to be wise, and necessary, that the sentiments of the 
 Board on the Educational question should be propounded 
 fully, and in a permanent form ; and hence the Course of 
 Lectures, contained in this volume, was delivered, under the 
 direction of the Board, in Crosby Hall. The announcement 
 of their delivery was responded to by crowded audiences ; and 
 their publication in the columns of the BRITISH BANNER has 
 given an opportunity to many thousands of persons to read 
 them, who would never have seen them in their present form. 
 
 The Board feels under deep obligation to the Lecturers 
 for the time, and labour, devoted to the preparation of the 
 Lectures; and tenders to them its warmest thanks; and trusts 
 that this volume will not only lead to the increased diffusion 
 of sound principles, but will encourage many to make 
 
 873124
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 vigorous efforts for the spread of Education, and to contri- 
 bute liberal donations and annual subscriptions towards 
 sustaining the Board in its general operations, and in the 
 establishment of its contemplated Normal schools. 
 
 As the Lecture of the Rev. JOHN BURNET was not 
 written, the Board feels that it would be unjust to that 
 gentleman to print the brief, and imperfect, report of it, 
 which appeared in the Newspapers. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION, 
 
 4, COI.EMAN-STREET-BUILDINGS, 
 
 MOOHGATE-STREET, 
 
 April Mth, 1848.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ON THE I'ROGKESS AND EFFICIENCY OF VOLUNTARY EDUCATION 
 
 IN F. Mi LAND. BY EDWARD BAINES, JUN., ESQ., LEEDS . 3 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 ON THE EDUCATION OK THE WORKING CLASSES. BY THE REV. 
 
 ALGERNON WELLS . . . . . . . .51 
 
 LECTURE HI. 
 
 OX THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE 
 PEOPLE. BY RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON, LL.D. DD., 
 LEEDS . . .71 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 OX NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS. BY 
 
 REV. ANDREW REED, B.A., NORWICH . . . .97 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH POPU- 
 LAR EDUCATION. BT EDWARD MIALL, ESQ. . . .141
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 r A < r 
 ON THE PUOORESK AMU EFFICACY OF VOUNTAUY EDI CATIU.N, 
 
 AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. BY THE liKV. HENRY KICHAUD 1/1 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION OK THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, 
 AND THE POSITION OF NONCONFORMISTS IN RELATION TO 
 ITS ADVANCEMENT. BY THE REV. ROBERT A1NSL1E . . 22" 
 
 E R R A T A. 
 
 Page 38, last line, for " proportion of the children of the working classes in 
 Day-schools in 1846, 1 in 2i," read, " 1 in 23." 
 
 In page 33, line after the table, "increase of population from 1833 to 1846, 
 86 per cent.," ought to be, " from 1803 to 1846, 86 per cent."
 
 LECTURE I,
 
 LECTURE 1. 
 
 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF VOLUN- 
 TARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 BY EDWARD BA1NES, JUN., ESQ., OF LEEDS. 
 
 Introduction Government measure of education Reasons against it The voluntary 
 principle explained and defended I. INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL CONDITION OP THE 
 
 PEOPLE PRIOR TO THE MODERN ERA OF POPULAR EDUCATION London, a Century 3gO 
 
 II. THE MODERN ERA op POPULAR EDUCATION Sunday-schools Day-schools 
 Joseph Lancaster and Dr. Bell British and Foreign School Society, and National 
 Society Infant Schools Ragged Schools Mechanics' Institutions Other educational 
 societies and establishments Normal Schools STATISTICAL VIEW OF THE GREAT 
 RESULTS OF VOLUNTARY EDUCATION Comparison of 1803, 181S, 1833,aq41846 Great 
 improvement in the character of education Grounds of confidence for the future 
 Opinions of Mr. Macaulay and Mr. Burke Progress of the periodical press Conclusion. 
 
 AMONG the many controversies of the age, it is cheering to find 
 some great truths which receive general assent. Few persons, for 
 example, would question the proposition, that Religion, Knowledge, 
 and Liberty conduce to the highest prosperity of nations. There 
 would be great diversity of opinion as to the practical application of 
 the truth, as to the kind of religion, the method of promoting 
 knowledge, and the best form of liberty. But it is an advantage, 
 and one which England has not very long enjoyed, that the general 
 principle is admitted. No English writer, uow-a-days, commends 
 Ignorance as the mother of devotion, or advocates the despotic in 
 preference to the representative form of government. 
 
 Religion, knowledge, liberty, then, may be regarded as forming 
 the golden tripod on which the genius of Britain sits, dispensing 
 truth and happiness to the world. Each stem of the tripod should 
 have the strength of the rock, and all should lean towards and 
 support each other. The religion should be that divine principle 
 which not merely restrains, but animates and ennobles, which 
 shuts out no ray of light, and sanctions no species of injustice. The 
 knowledge should be pure truth, free from all superstition and 
 servility, illustrating at once the claims of God and the rights of 
 
 B2
 
 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 man among his fellow-men. The liberty should be according to 
 knowledge, and consistent with the peace and order inculcated in 
 the Gospel. 
 
 I shall not be understood by this figure to imply that I elevate 
 any right or interest of man into rivalry with the claims of his 
 Maker. No. But I deem knowledge and liberty to be heaven- 
 born, to belong to religion itself, to be embraced with it in the 
 same radiant circle even the girdle of righteousness and love with 
 which the Almighty encompasses his decrees. 
 
 If this view be correct, it is the sacred duty of Englishmen to 
 protect and advance religion, knowledge, and liberty, in their alli- 
 ance with each other, and never to promote one at the expense of 
 the rest. The facts to be brought out in this Lecture seem to me 
 to illustrate the connection of which I have spoken, as natural and 
 worthy of being perpetuated. Venerating religion and loving liberty, 
 it will be my object to show that knowledge ought to be promoted 
 among the youth of England with a due regard to both. 
 
 It is humbling but salutary to remember, that the influential 
 classes of this country have not long admitted the duty, or even the 
 safety, of encouraging the bulk of the people, that is, the labouring 
 classes, to acquire knowledge. Popular education in England may 
 be said to bear date from the commencement of the present century. 
 Before that period, knowledge, like liberty, had been slowly though 
 surely making way ; but it very rarely extended beyond the upper 
 and middle classes. It was thought unsuitable for the labouring 
 class, or beyond their reach. The aristocracy, and even the clergy, 
 regarded ignorance as the safeguard of order, and knowledge as 
 incompatible with subordination. 
 
 s In the middle of the nineteenth century, when education is more 
 f extended, and more rapidly extending and improving, than at any 
 ' former period, our rulers have taken up the belief, that it is not safe 
 to leave education to the people themselves, but that, in order to 
 make it general and efficient, it must be aided and controlled by the 
 Government./ It is my firm and sorrowful conviction, that this is 
 one of those aberrations in the progress of truth, of which history 
 contains so many examples. How often have we seen error, when 
 defeated on one side, unexpectedly making head on another, and 
 threatening to recover all the ground it had lost ! It has been so in the 
 history of religion, of government, and in many of the departments 
 of knowledge. Imperfect reformations, half conquests, and balanced
 
 VOJA-NTARY EDUCATIOK IX KV.T.AND. 5 
 
 advantages, characterize the march of truth through this erring world. 
 The eagle gaze of Luther did not receive every ray of solar light. 
 The Protestant Reformation of Germany, Switzerland, and England 
 did not quite destroy the shackles of prejudice. The almost blame- 
 less Revolution of America left the monster form of Slavery to rear 
 itself beside the largest growth of Freedom. The great Reform 
 of the English House of Commons was neither complete nor 
 unblemished. In Germany and France we have seen philosophy 
 debased by infidelity. The revival of spiritual religion in our own 
 day is accompanied by revived superstition. And we have scarcely 
 emancipated industry from Government control, under the name of 
 " protection," when the same control, under nearly the same mis- 
 nomer, lays its grasp on the more sacred interests of education. 
 
 It seems very remarkable that Government, which in all former 
 ages held aloof from the education of the people, should now, for the 
 first time, claim its superintendence as a right and duty, when the 
 people have made such extraordinary advances in educating them- . 
 selves. If it be indeed the duty of Government to promote the 
 education of the people, it is a duty which has been so entirely 
 neglected through all the periods of our history, that we could J 
 not safely rely upon the Government for its discharge in future. Of 
 this newly-claimed right and newly-discovered duty we may say, 
 that no claim could be made with a worse grace, and that the duty 
 is undertaken precisely when it is least needed. 
 
 It will hardly be denied, within the limits of England, that the 
 people have a right to educate their own children, and that it is their 
 duty to educate them ; that this right and duty belong first, by the 
 law of nature, to parents, and next, by the law of Christianity, 
 to those whom Providence enables to assist their poorer neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 I shall not further discuss this question, because it will be under- 
 taken by an abler hand in a future Lecture.* I will only remind 
 you of the general rule, that the more responsibility is divided, the 
 less efficiently is the duty performed. 
 
 AVhilst I believe that education is the duty of the people them- 
 selves, I am equally persuaded that it does not come within the 
 province of Government, according to just views of what that pro- 
 vince is, under a system of political and civil liberty. But I am, if 
 
 * My friend and townsman, the Rev. Dr. Hamilton, author of the " Insti- 
 tutions of Popular Fducation," and of the third Lecture in this series, " On 
 the Parties responsible for the Education of the People."
 
 G ON THE PROGBESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 possible, still more strongly of opinion, that, wherever the duty lies, 
 it is eminently the interest of the people to discharge it themselves ; 
 and for these, amongst other reasons: 1st. That a duty is likely 
 to he best discharged by the parties on whom it most directly rests, 
 and who have the strongest motives for its performance. 2nd. That 
 our duties are the discipline ordained by Heaven for our moral im- 
 provement, and that to relieve men of their duties is to deprive them 
 of their virtues. 3rd. That the virtues especially cultivated by Volun- 
 tary education are those which most conduce to the interests of 
 liberty and religion, namely, self-reliance, the great safeguard of 
 freedom, and active Christian benevolence, our only hope for the 
 evangelization of the world. 4th. That education conducted by a 
 people themselves, is likely to have a more vigorous and healthful 
 character, than it could have if the schoolmasters were continually 
 looking with hope and fear to Government officers. 5th. That new 
 and improved methods of instruction are more likely to be intro- 
 duced under the free competition of a Voluntary system, than under 
 the uniformity and vis inertice which visually characterize a Govern- 
 ment system. 6th. That with whatever zeal a Government agency 
 might be worked at first, it would be likely to be perverted to pur- 
 poses of Ministerial patronage. 7th. That though at present a wish 
 is professed only to aid Voluntary effort, yet the natural tendency of 
 the system is to deaden the Voluntary spirit, and to bring schools 
 more and more into dependence upon the Government. 8th. That 
 the question of education is implicated with that of religion, and 
 therefore the serious objections which apply to Government inter- 
 ference with religion apply also to Government interference with 
 education. 9th. That in the state of things which exists now, and 
 is likely still to continue, a Government Education Board must be 
 under the influence of the Church and the Aristocracy ; and from 
 this and other causes, the Church of England is sure to obtain the 
 lion's share of evrey education grant, the only alternative being, 
 the still worse evil of subsidizing the schools of all sects, which 
 amounts to the subsidizing of all forms of religion. 
 
 I am aware that some of these reasons will not have their due 
 weight with the friends of Church Establishments. It is evident 
 that many have been prejudiced against the Voluntary system in 
 education, by their rooted dislike to the Voluntary system in religion. 
 Nor can I deny on the contrary, I am fully convinced that both 
 rest substantially on the same principles, and must be opposed or 
 defended by the same arguments. Whatever weakens the cause of
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. / 
 
 Voluntary education, weakens that of Voluntary religion ; and what- 
 ever strengthens the one, strengthens the other. 
 
 Whilst I say this, I cannot but express a doubt, whether it was 
 sound policy on the part of Churchmen to seek to extend the Estab- 
 lishment principle, by obtaining a supplementary establishment for 
 education, inasmuch as education had hitherto been free, and as the 
 advantage they expect to gain will only aggravate the sense of injus- 
 tice already felt by Nonconformists. 
 
 Two great and influential classes among our public men are jealous 
 of the Voluntary Principle, first, the partizans of the Church, be- 
 cause they regard that principle as hostile to the existing Establish- 
 ment ; and, secondly, the disciples of the Continental policy, of 
 endowing all education and all religion, because, I believe, they 
 really do not understand the Voluntary Principle, but connect it 
 with over-earnestness, or fanaticism, in religion an error with 
 which they themselves are certainly not chargeable. Some object to 
 the Voluntary Principle as inefficient ; but others object to it, though 
 they do not say so, because it is too efficient. Most think it not 
 trustworthy, on account of its alleged want of steadiness and uni- 
 formity : and, with all my admiration for the Voluntary Principle, I 
 must admit that it has the same defects as Nature and Freedom ; 
 that it does not always move in straight lines, or array its forces in 
 regimental order, or obey pedantic rules, or make the succeeding 
 century a copy of the preceding, or flatter statesmen by limiting 
 improvement within Acts of Parliament ; but still I believe that, 
 like Nature and Freedom, it has a magnificent rule and range the 
 rule of a living spirit, and the range of whatever achievement God 
 has made possible to man. 
 
 I speak here of the Voluntary Principle in an enlarged sense, not 
 confining myself to its operation in providing the means of religious 
 instruction. Of course I do not ask for it, throughout the scope 
 of my whole argument, that New Testament sanction and 
 authority, which rests the support of religion on voluntary liberality, 
 to the exclusion of the compulsory interference of the magistrate. 
 We must, indeed, extend that New Testament principle to religious 
 education ; for, if we once receive public money for religious instruc- 
 tion in our schools, we should very soon receive it for religious 
 instruction in our chapels. On that point there can be no dispute, 
 except with men whose views are exceedingly confused. Noncon- 
 formists, giving religious education, are precluded by their religious 
 principles from receiving Government money.
 
 8 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 But I do not confine my views, in defending " Voluntary educa- 
 tion," to merely religious education : I apply the terms to the 
 cultivation of the human mind in all its extent to literature, science, 
 art, and politics to colleges, newspapers, magazines, books, and 
 literary and scientific institutions to the life-long training of the 
 adult, as well as the elementary instruction of the child. Con- 
 cerning all these I am ready to declare my opinion, that the Volun- 
 tary Principle is adequate, is the most consistent with liberty, is 
 conducive to the highest improvement ; and, on the other hand, 
 that these things do not come within the province of Government, 
 whilst Governmental interference often retards advancement and 
 shackles freedom. In support of my views, I appeal to the free 
 press, the free literature, the free science, and the free education of 
 England, in opposition to countries where all these things are taken 
 under the care of Government. 
 
 If my argument should fail to vindicate the freedom of our 
 schools, it must equally fail to protect the freedom of our periodical 
 press and our general literature. The press is quite as important 
 an educator as the school : the case for placing the former under 
 Government help and superintendence, is as strong as for placing 
 the latter, nay, stronger, as any one will be convinced who reflects 
 on the manifold defects and abuses of a free press, and on the un- 
 speakable importance of that great engine, which so principally 
 moulds the mind and will of England. Nearly all the Continental 
 Governments which pay and direct the school, pay and direct also 
 the pulpit and the press. They do it consistently. And our 
 Government educationists at home would only be consistent, should 
 they recommend Government grants and inspection to all our 
 ministers, our editors, and our authors. 
 
 To prevent misconception, I may say, that I do not deny the 
 power of an enlightened despot to erect a vast and complete machi- 
 nery of education, and, by a large expenditure of his people's money 
 on colleges, museums, galleries, and theatres, to force the growth of 
 learning, art, and taste among them, especially when they are 
 precluded from the nobler duties and more practical enterprises of a 
 free people. I look at the whole question, and at the whole man ; 
 and, regarding man in all the capacity of his moral and intellectual 
 nature, and communities in all their interests, I reject the petty 
 advantages of despotism, and claim the more generous, though 
 perhaps looser, regimen of freedom. 
 
 It may be well also to explain, that the Voluntary Principle does
 
 Vol.l XTARY EDUCATION IN ENGI-AND. 9 
 
 not exclude, or affect to be independent of, the aid which men of 
 wealth, power, and station can give to public objects. It even asks, 
 that " kings should be nursing fathers and queens nursing 
 mothers" to religion. It invites the largest donations of princes 
 and nobles towards the erection of the temple, the college, or the 
 school, when " they offer willingly of their own proper yoods" 
 acknowledging that " all things come of God, and that of his own 
 they have given him."* It accords praise to our Alfred, our 
 Henrys, and our Edwards, and to a long train of nobles, prelates, 
 ladies, gentry, and merchants, whose munificence founded, out of 
 their own estates and incomes, most of our ancient schools of 
 learning. The only conditions of accepting help which the 
 Voluntary Principle requires are these first, that the gift be truly 
 Voluntary, not the produce of exaction, or the appropriation of what 
 does not belong to the donor himself ; and secondly, that it in no 
 way interferes with the absolute self-government of the Church. 
 Thus the Voluntary Principle is independent, without pride, 
 willing to accept, without covetousuess or subserviency, jealous 
 for the purity of the Church and the interests of liberty, not 
 anxious for endowments, because of their liability to abuse, more 
 willing to give than to receive, ever appealing to, and thereby 
 cultivating and strengthening, the highest motives, love and duty to 
 God, and love and duty to our fellow- men. 
 
 But we are told, by a thousand tongues and pens, " The Volun- 
 tary Principle is a failure ; however plausible it may appear in argu- 
 ment, experience proves its inefficiency." 
 
 I accept the appeal to experience ; and boldly maintain that the 
 Voluntary Principle, so far from having failed, has triumphantly 
 succeeded. 
 
 In illustrating " the progress and efficiency of Voluntary education 
 in England," I must ask leave to resort to two modes of proof, 
 namely, the historical and the statistical. You may think it strange 
 that I should apologise for using what may seem almost the only 
 kinds of proof in a question of this nature ; but in nearly every work 
 or speech which I have read on the side of State Education, I find 
 a tacit discountenance of all appeal to by-gone years. There is 
 extensive research among the Blue Books issued by Government 
 Commissioners, but an almost total abstinence from a comparison of 
 
 * The thanksgiving of David, when he, his nobles, and his people had 
 'offered willingly" their treasures for the building of the Temple. 1 Chron. 
 xxix. 3 14.
 
 10 OX THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 our present with our former educational state. I doubt whether, in 
 all the speeches of Ministers and their supporters last Session, there 
 was a single reference to the experience of the last fifty years, for 
 the sake of ascertaining the progress of popular education, and 
 determining the worth of the principle on which it had been con- 
 ducted. Still less did they venture, by more remote historical 
 inquiry, to pry into " the hole of the pit from which we were 
 digged." And as to statistics, it is the fashion to scout them, not 
 only as troublesome, but actually as proving nothing ! Last year I 
 was sneered at by the Times as " bristling with statistics." And a 
 few weeks since, in reference to an examination of the educational 
 statistics of Wales, the Morning Chronicle said 
 
 " Mr. Baines has reproduced his old argument for the sufficiency 
 of the Voluntary Principle, namely, the number of children at school 
 in proportion to the whole population. We do not think it at all 
 necessary to go into the details of this argument !" 
 
 On the same occasion the Daily News said 
 
 " We repeat for the fiftieth time, statistics are next to worthless 
 in this inquiry !" 
 
 Now if " the number of children at school in proportion to the 
 whole population" be not a point of the highest importance in this 
 question, and if " statistics are next to worthless," we might as well 
 discard the science of numbers as a troublesome invention, tempting 
 men to ridiculous exactness and inconvenient demonstration. I had 
 thought that figures were admitted to be useful, as representing 
 numbered, measured, and ascertained facts ; but it seems the inde- 
 finite is preferred to the definite ; and certainly it is more convenient 
 to the rhetorician, who has to cover over an exposed fallacy. In 
 the use of figures this evening I shall be sparing ; and those which 
 I introduce shall be so plain, that they may be instantly compre- 
 hended and easily retained. But I cannot gratify our opponents 
 by treating an arithmetical question with an entire absence of 
 arithmetic. 
 
 First, however, let us take a hasty glance at. 
 
 THE INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE 
 PRIOR TO THE MODERN ERA OF POPULAR EDU- 
 CATION. 
 
 I persuade myself that you will accompany me with interest, 
 whilst I select a few facts as symptoms of the state of the population
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 1 1 
 
 in former times. For unless we attempt to gauge the depth from 
 which we have risen, it will be impossible to have any just notion 
 of the elevation now attained, or any correct estimate of the agency 
 by which it has been reached. 
 
 Before the invention of the art of printing, though there were 
 colleges and schools in England, the educated classes were extremely 
 few in number. The clergy almost monopolised the scanty portion 
 of learning which was then to be had ; and the nobles and knights 
 were for the most part unable to write, and in many cases to read. 
 The largest library in England in the middle of the fifteenth century, 
 namely, that presented by Duke Humphrey of Gloucester to the 
 University of Oxford, did not exceed 600 volumes ; and it was the 
 close of that century before the Greek language began to be taught 
 in that seat of learning. Inasmuch as the bulk of the labourers 
 were held in a state of serfdom till the end of the fourteenth century, 
 we may infer, with certainty, that they were nearly as ignorant of 
 letters as any tribe of barbarians ; and though the boroughs were 
 attaining some political and commercial consequence, yet their popu- 
 lation was insignificant compared with the rural population. It is 
 estimated, that all the towns of England, including London, then 
 only contained 170,000 inhabitants, whilst the population of Eng- 
 land and Wales amounted to 2,700,000.* 
 
 After the invention of printing, which was introduced into Eng- 
 land in 1474, books multiplied; and the centuries which have since 
 elapsed have witnessed a gradual extension of education. From the 
 days of Chaucer a noble literature has accumulated in England. In the 
 reign of the lettered Elizabeth a constellation of men of genius ap- 
 peared. Many schools and colleges had been founded, and richly en- 
 dowed. Yet, even of Elizabeth's day a modern historian thus writes 
 
 " The learning which existed in this age, however remarkably it 
 may have shone forth in particular instances, was by no means gene- 
 rally diffused, even among the higher classes ; while the generality of 
 the lower and many even of the middle classes, remained to the end 
 of the period almost wholly uneducated and illiterate. The father 
 of Shakspeare, an alderman of Stratford, appears to have been 
 unable to write his name ; and probably throughout the community, 
 for one man that was scholar enough to subscribe his signature, 
 there were a dozen who could only make their marks." f 
 
 * Pictorial Hist of England, vol. ii., p. 269. f Ibid -> vo1 - " P- 823>
 
 12 ON THK 1'ROGKESS AND EFFICIKNCY OK 
 
 This was at the close of the sixteenth century. With the growth 
 of freedom, commerce, and wealth, education still extended itself. 
 Newspapers were first published during the civil wars of Charles I. 
 But after the Restoration, an Act was passed, that only twenty 
 printers should practise their art in the kingdom; in 1666 there 
 were only 140 " working printers" in London; and the censorship 
 of the press that early form of Government care for education 
 was not abolished till the Revolution of 1688. The periodical press, 
 with few exceptions, was meagre and paltry till the close of the 
 eighteenth century. The first magazine was published in the year 
 1731. But so scanty was our literature during the first half of the 
 eighteenth century, from 1/00 to 1756, albeit including the Augustan 
 age of Anne, that the average number of new works published 
 during that period did not exceed 93 each year. At present, the 
 average number of new books exceeds 2,000 volumes yearly. It is 
 a still more decisive proof of the small amount of reading, and there- 
 fore of education, in England a century ago, that, in the year 1 744, 
 not more than 100,OOOZ. is computed to have been spent by the 
 people in books, newspapers, and publications of every kind ; whilst 
 in 1844 the amount thus expended was 2,085, 600^.,* being an 
 increase of more than twenty-fold, though the increase of population 
 within that century was only two and a-half-fold.f 
 
 The moral state of the population a century back corre- 
 sponded with its intellectual state. We often hear lamentable repre- 
 sentations of the crimes and immoralities of our own day, which, in 
 the estimation of some, is worse than all that have preceded it, and 
 hastening to the catastrophe of public convulsion. Yet I never 
 converse with old men, either in London or the country, but, not- 
 withstanding the propensity of age to think former days better than 
 the present, I am told of an astonishing improvement in morals and 
 religion. It will be of real use, as giving us correct views on a 
 most important subject, and inspiring thankfulness to God for the 
 days on which we are cast, to recal a few particulars. 
 
 The reader of the lives of the Wesley s, Whitefield, and the Countess 
 of Huntingdon, will remember only too many illustrations of the 
 brutal ignorance, demoralization, and irreligion with which those 
 great modern revivalists had to cope, especially in the early part of 
 
 * Mr. Charles Knight's " Life of Caxton." Appendix, 
 t The population of England and Wales in 1750 was 6,517,035, and in '1841 
 it was 15,906,741.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 13 
 
 their career. From the close of the " Life and Times of the Countess 
 of Huntingdon" I select the following passage, descriptive of the 
 Church and the clergy in the former part of the last century : 
 
 "The parson satin the kitchen of the village-inn, smoking tobacco 
 and drinking ale with his parishioners ; or he played the fiddle and 
 attended at the merry-makings of the neighbourhood. A higher 
 class hunted with the neighbouring gentry ; as magistrates, joined 
 them in the prosecution of poachers, and were game-keepers rather 
 than soul-keepers ; mighty hunters before the Lord, but not eager 
 in the pursuit of truth ; fishers, but not fishers of men ! A still 
 higher grade associated with the wits and beaux esprits, were fine 
 gentlemen even in the pulpit, and gave the tone to their district. 
 But the meek, the humble, the devout minister of religion was rarely 
 to be met with ; the earnest, eloquent, persuasive, energetic, urgent 
 messenger of the Gospel was almost unknown. If such were the 
 shepherds, what were the sheep ? A few only were Papists, but 
 multitudes were daily becoming Dissenters ; the Socinian heresy was 
 much encouraged, the Deists flourished, and there were even those 
 who boasted of Atheism. Lambeth Palace had its balls and routs ; 
 music parties for Sunday evenings even the Bishops countenanced, 
 and card parties were not unfrequent on the Sabbath evening. The 
 humble classes imitated their betters. A sneer at religion was wit ; 
 the parson was the standing joke ; and the church was used chiefly 
 to rail at, on account of the occasional levies it occasioned, and which 
 appeared to recal its memory to the otherwise forgetful people. 
 Hundreds of thousands of persons were without the means of reli- 
 gious instruction ; millions had never heard a sermon ! 
 
 " Such was the case with the Church of England. What is the 
 picture now ? 
 
 " The education of the people, ONCE OPPOSED BY ALL THE 
 GREAT, is now the universal demand, and the contest of the two 
 grand political divisions in the State is, not who shall best stave off 
 the disagreeable necessity of general education, but who shall have 
 the glory of advancing it who shall have the power to influence and 
 to direct its course."* 
 
 The author proceeds to show the delightful contrast of the 
 present times with the former in regard to religion and virtue. 
 
 Any one who shall turn to the close of the fourth volume of the 
 " Pictorial History of England," will find drawn together, from 
 
 * " Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon," vol. ii., pp. 540, 541.
 
 14 ON THE 1'KocaiEss AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 various authorities, many details of the morals, manners, and con- 
 dition of the population of London in the reign of George II. I 
 select a few : 
 
 " There were many shops in which toys, trinkets, and jewellery 
 were disposed of, not by regular sale, hut hy a raffle ; and to these 
 places gallants were wont to take their mistresses, and treat them 
 out of their winnings. These fooleries were imitated in humble 
 life, so that the very fruit-stalls in the streets were places for 
 gambling, where dice or the wheel of fortune initiated apple- 
 munching urchins into the doctrine of chances. Thimble-rigging 
 was also fearlessly practised as a trade in the open streets. But a 
 still more pernicious kind of trade was that practised by a class of 
 pedlars, who vended strong liquors in the streets upon stalls 
 and wheelbarrows, or carried them about wherever a crowd was 
 gathered. Drinking-houses were at least as numerous in London as 
 they are at present, although the population was little more than 
 one-third of its present amount."* 
 
 According to a Report, drawn up by the Justices of Middlesex, 
 in 1 736, " Every sixth house in the metropolis was a licensed gin- 
 shop,"f m addition to those who sold liquors in the streets. 
 
 The consumption of liquor in England and Wales a century back 
 and at present is illustrated by the following facts : In 1/42, the 
 quantity of British spirits distilled was 7,160,000 gallons ;J in 
 1847, it was 5,356,794 gallons. At the former period it averaged 
 1 and 1-1 Oth gallon per head to the population ; at the latter period 
 only 3-10ths of a gallon per head. In 1750, the consumption of 
 malt averaged nearly five bushels (4'85) to each individual in the 
 country; in 184.5, it averaged 1 bushels (1'30).|| From these 
 facts we deduce, that the consumption of strong liquors in England 
 is not more than about one-fourth of what it was a century ago, in 
 proportion to the population. The total abstainers among my 
 audience will well know that this fact speaks volumes : let them 
 " thank God, and take courage." 
 
 To resume my extracts from the History : 
 
 " But the natural evils of rain, mud, and dust, were not the worst 
 to be encountered in walking about the metropolis. Pickpockets 
 
 * " Pictorial History of England," vol. iv., p. 822. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 854. J Ibid., p. 853. 
 
 Excise Revenue for 1838 1847. (Parliamentary Paper.) 
 || Porter's " Progress of the Nation," (Ed. of 1847,) p. 564.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 15 
 
 had become wonderfully numerous, so that, whether at church or 
 market, the theatre or the ball-room, purses, snuff-boxes, and 
 watches disappeared with a facility incomprehensible to the owners." 
 la 1728, a gang formed a design to rob the queen, in St. Paul's- 
 churchyard. "The squares of London were infested with throngs 
 of beggars: frequently these wretches were also thieves."* " Play- 
 goiug was still as frequent and as fashionable as ever, without the 
 theatre having undergone any moral improvement : the same sort 
 of plays were acted, and the same license in behaviour tolerated, as 
 had prevailed during the reign of Charles II." A place of most 
 infamous resort, called Bellsize-house, with gardens, music, and 
 other attractions, was opened at Hampstead ; and it is curious to 
 read in the advertisements, that " for the security of the guests, 
 twelve stout fellows (afterwards increased to thirty), completely 
 armed, patrolled between London and Bellsize, to prevent the 
 insults of highwaymen, or foot-pads, which may infest the road ! " 
 The historian brands this place as " a precious temple of Cotytto." 
 " The great approaches to the capital, and especially Bagshot and 
 Hounslow-heath, and Popham-lane, were traversed by mounted 
 highwaymen, either singly or in small bodies." " Few, therefore, 
 ventured to set out on a journey without being well armed, and 
 sanguinary encounters with robbers were frequent upon the high- 
 ways."f 
 
 In 1 744, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London represent, in an 
 address to the King, " that divers confederacies of great numbers of 
 evil-disposed persons, armed with bludgeons, pistols, cutlasses, and 
 other dangerous weapons, infest not only the private lanes and 
 passages, but likewise the public streets and places of usual con- 
 course, and commit most daring outrages." In 1/51, the celebrated 
 Henry Fielding, a magistrate, published his " Inquiry into the 
 Causes of the late Increase of Robbers," in which he compares the 
 London gangs to Italian banditti ; and adds, that this state of 
 things exists, though cart-loads of our fellow-creatures were once in 
 every six weeks carried to slaughter at Tyburn. 
 
 The pressure of the poor-rates was far more severe a century ago 
 than at present. The food of the population was far inferior. 
 
 At this period the amusements of the people, and not merely of 
 the lower class, were brutal and degrading : prize-fighting and cock- 
 fighting were patronized by princes and nobles ; bull-baiting and 
 
 * Pictorial History of England, vol. iv., p. 823. f Ibid., pp. 825832.
 
 16 ON TIIK PEOGRKSS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 bear-baiting prevailed throughout the country ; dog-fighting and 
 low gambling were the favourite amusements in every suburb of 
 London on the Sunday morning. 
 
 Speaking of a later period, namely, from 1/60 to 1/84, the 
 historian says, in reference to the best paid class of workmen in the 
 metropolis : 
 
 "There was little of education even among these, the only 
 sections of the lower classes where it could well be looked for. The 
 aimless and .excessive violence of their trades' unions, then for the 
 first time heard of, show on how Iowa stage of intelligence they stood. 
 Among the remainder of the honest poor, wages were in one sense 
 high, but precarious. For the education of all this dense mass no 
 provision was made. That class had drifted out of the cognizance 
 of the Church : the charity and free schools of earlier times were 
 organized on too narrow a scale for their use. Sunday-schools were 
 an invention of the latter part of this period, but did not come into 
 play till the next. The Methodists were the only teachers of the 
 poorer classes of the metropolis ; and persevering, and in some 
 respects dexterous, teachers they were."* 
 
 One more authority as to the moral and intellectual state of the 
 humbler class in the towns and villages of the country, towards the 
 close of the century, and I close this part of my case. It is from 
 the immortal founder of Sunday-schools, Robert Raikes, whom I am 
 proud to call a brother- editor. In a letter of his, published in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine in 1784, he thus describes a common scene 
 in one of the suburbs of Gloucester : 
 
 " On Sunday, the street is filled with multitudes of little wretches, 
 who, released on that day from their employment, spend their time 
 in noise and riot, playing at chuck, and cursing and swearing in a 
 manner so horrid, as to convey to any serious mind an idea of hell, 
 rather than that of any other place." 
 
 In his first published recommendation of the plan of Sunday- 
 schools, in his own newspaper, the Gloucester Journal, on the 3rd 
 of November, 1783, he says : 
 
 " The Lord ? s-day has hitherto been prostituted to bad purposes. 
 Farmers and other inhabitants of the towns and villages complain 
 that they receive more injury in their property on the Sabbath than 
 all the week besides : this, in a great measure, proceeds from the 
 
 * "Pictorial History of England," reign of George III., vol. i., p. 654.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 17 
 
 lawless state of the younger class, who are allowed to run wild on 
 that day, free from every restraint." 
 
 And he adds, as the result of his experiment for more than a 
 year, 
 
 " The barbarous ignorance in which they had before lived, being 
 in some degree dispelled, they begin to give proofs that those 
 persons are mistaken who consider the lower orders of mankind as 
 incapable of improvement, and therefore think an attempt to reclaim 
 them impracticable, or, at least, not worth the trouble." 
 
 You will hardly think that I have wasted your time, in placing 
 before you these evidences of the state of the population, in regard 
 to education, morals, manners, and religion, before the era which I 
 have called that of popular education. Where " progress" is to be 
 estimated, I know no other way of doing it than by ascertaining 
 first the point from which we started, and then the point we have 
 reached. 
 
 But I may be told that a retrospect of the centuries we have 
 glanced at is not satisfactory for the Voluntary Principle, that it 
 shows the people did not do much to educate themselves. I reply, 
 if the people did little, what did the Government do ? Nothing. 
 Worse than nothing. During part of the time, it placed the Press 
 under censorship, and often punished the free and fair use of it with 
 cruel severity. The ruling and influential classes habitually, with 
 few exceptions, frowned on the instruction of the working people. 
 Whatever schools there were, whether superior schools, common 
 schools, or charity schools, were provided on the Voluntary 
 Principle. The means of education kept pace with the public sense 
 of its desirableness, and even with the amount of intellectual food 
 that proceeded from the Press. During the whole period we have 
 reviewed, I apprehend that the improvements realized in our laws, 
 institutions, literature, industry, and national character, originated 
 mainly with the people, and in very few cases with the Gevernment. 
 
 Our civil freedom, the main source of our present greatness, was 
 undoubtedly won from reluctant governors, by the pressure from 
 beneath. It is readily admitted that the Voluntary Principle in its 
 action follows public opinion, and does not precede it. But Govern- 
 ment, though in some rare cases it may precede public opinion, in 
 the immense majority of cases refuses even to follow until it is 
 compelled. The grand question, after all, is, which is the natural 
 and usual source of popular improvement, the Government or the 
 
 c
 
 18 ON THE PROGRESS xAND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 people ? If it is the Government, I give up my cause as lost. But 
 if it is the people, then the interests of education, like those of 
 liberty, are most safely committed to their keeping. 
 We come now to consider, secondly : 
 
 THE MODERN ERA OF POPULAR EDUCATION. 
 
 1. And first, in order of time, and in some respects even of 
 importance, we speak of 
 
 SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 
 
 This great institution dates from the year 1781 or 1782, when the 
 first Sunday-school was gathered by Robert Raikes, in Gloucester. 
 Nothing can be more simple than the history of the institution. It 
 commanded approbation wherever it became known. There were, 
 indeed, opponents belonging to the classes which are jealous of 
 .every innovation ; but they were soon silenced by its rapid and 
 decisive success. All sects adopted it. At first the teachers were 
 paid ; but it was found that gratuitous teachers might everywhere 
 be had, who made up by their zeal and religious interest in the work 
 what they might want in technical skill, and whose numbers also 
 compensated any inferiority to the single paid schoolmaster.* Ac- 
 cordingly it was thrown entirely, or with very few exceptions, on 
 gratuitous teaching. The effects have been most blessed. The 
 teachers are almost as much benefited as the scholars, reaping 
 a moral and spiritual reward for their labours. That thousands of 
 teachers derive intellectual improvement from their exercises for and 
 in the Sunday-school, is undoubted ; as it is, too, that thousands 
 owe their conversion to its holy influence. Unions and associations 
 of Sunday-school teachers prevail very generally, and are productive 
 of many and great advantages both to the teachers and to the 
 schools. Who would not tremble at the thought of losing this 
 hallowed, * edifying, and sanctifying employment for the better 
 instructed youth of our congregations ? 
 
 The effect of the Sunday-school on the working classes must 
 obviously have been most salutary. This would be declared to be 
 inevitable, even by one who had no practical knowledge of the 
 
 * A small tract very recently published, (" An Account of the Origin of 
 Sunday-schools in Oldham and its Vicinity, by C. A. O'Neill,") shows that the 
 Wesleyan Class-leaders of Oldham began the plan of gratuitous teaching as 
 early as 1785.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 19 
 
 matter. By giving to millions of children a sacred occupation for 
 some hours of the Sabbath, instead of leaving them to range the 
 streets and fields, by giving them the habit of attending religious 
 worship, by placing them under the affectionate instructions of 
 pious, or at least virtuous and benevolent persons, of a rank above 
 their own, and possessing mental cultivation, by establishing bonds 
 of regard between teacher and scholar, which often have an influence 
 beyond the school-days, by the effect on parents of what the 
 children learn, and of the teachers' visits, and, above all, by the 
 actual knowledge of Scripture truth imparted to the scholars, an 
 amount of good is done, and of evil prevented, which is beyond 
 calculation. Who would not shudder to contemplate the probable 
 state of our population at this moment, had Sunday-schools never 
 existed ? 
 
 There has been no general enumeration of the scholars in Sunday- 
 schools, since the Parliamentary returns of 1833, at which time 
 there were in England and Wales 15,828 Sunday-schools, containing 
 1,548,890 scholars. The proportion of scholars to the whole popu- 
 lation at that time, was 1 scholar to every 91-3 inhabitants. I 
 thought it a moderate estimate in 1846, that is, thirteen years later, 
 to take the number of Sunday scholars at 2,000,000 ; which would 
 be in the proportion of 1 scholar to every 8 of the population. I am 
 persuaded, that this proportion would now be an under-estimate. 
 The improvement of Sunday-school tuition, the peculiar zeal mani- 
 fested of late years by the teachers, the increased attention drawn to 
 education, the happy invention of Ragged- schools, and the great 
 increase of public day-schools, most of which are also used as Sun- 
 day-schools, combine to assure us, that the proportion of Sunday 
 scholars to the population must have considerably augmented. 
 
 It is also to be borne in mind, that the children of the upper and 
 middle classes rarely attend the Sunday-school. On this account, 
 we may deduct about one-fourth from the population ; after which 
 it would appear, that the proportion of Sunday scholars to the 
 labouring classes would be as 1 scholar to every 6 inhabitants, or 
 even, allowing for the increase which seems probable, as 1 scholar to 
 every 6 inhabitants. This represents a very large proportion of the 
 children of the working classes in Sunday-schools. 
 
 The number of children from 5 to 15 years of age, in England 
 and Wales, in 1846, is correctly stated by Professor Hoppus, in his 
 "Crisis of Popular Education," (p. 118,) as 3,891,127. Deduct 
 
 c2
 
 20 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 one-fourth for the upper and middle classes, and the number of chil- 
 dren of the working classes, between the above ages, was 2,918,345. 
 If the whole of these children attended Sunday-schools for ten years, 
 from the age of 5 to 15, there would be 2,918,345 Sunday-scholars. 
 If the number of scholars was only 2,000,000, it would either show 
 that a considerable proportion do not attend the Sunday-school, or 
 that, if they do, it is for a shorter term than 10 years. Two million 
 Sunday-scholars would give an average attendance for every child of 
 the working classes equal to seven years. 
 
 But, as we know that many young people attend the Sunday- 
 school beyond their 15th year, and up to their 18th or 20th, let us 
 take another view ; let us take all the children of the working 
 classes from the age of 5 to the age of 20 ; they are found to be 
 about 4,177,774. If every child attended Sunday-school for 15 
 years, we should find 4,177,774 Sunday scholars ; and as the actual 
 number is supposed only to be about 2,000,000, it would follow 
 either that more than half the children did not attend school, or 
 that, if they did, it must be for less than 15 years. In this view, as 
 in the former, the actual attendance averages about seven years for 
 every child among the working classes. What is the real proportion 
 of the children attending school, and what the duration of their 
 attendance, must be matters of opinion. My own judgment would 
 be, from the above figures, and from my knowledge of the discon- 
 tinuous attendance of children, that there is no large proportion of 
 the children of the working classes who do not receive some years of 
 Sunday-school instruction. 
 
 There is great diversity in the proportions of Sunday-scholars in 
 different parts of the country. In the metropolis, they do not much 
 exceed 1 in 20 of the population, so far as we can judge from the 
 reports of the Sunday-school Union, and the Parliamentary returns 
 of 1833. But in the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire, Lanca- 
 shire, and Cheshire, they were found, by actual returns in 1843, to 
 amount to 1 in 5 2-5 inhabitants. And from the Reports of the 
 Commissioners to inquire into the state of education in Wales, it 
 appears, that the Sunday-scholars are as 1 in every 4 of the popula- 
 tion.* As a general rule, it will be found, that where the working 
 classes are numerous, the proportion of Sunday-scholars will be 
 large ; and on the other hand, where the upper and middle classes 
 
 * The population of Wales, in 1847, was 970,857, and the number of 
 Sunday-scholars returned by the Commissioners was 238,740.
 
 Vni.CNTARY KmiA'liON IN ENGLAND. 21 
 
 are numerous, and great numbers of the children attend Day-schools, 
 the proportion of Sunday-scholars will be small. The towns of 
 Liverpool and Manchester illustrate this rule : in Liverpool, where 
 the proportion of the labouring classes is less than in Manchester, 
 there are considerably more Day-scholars, and considerably fewer 
 Sunday-scholars. Notwithstanding many first-rate and model Sun- 
 day-schools in London, and its Normal-schools among the first in 
 the world, the enormous masses of this unparalleled metropolis are, 
 according to the accounts hitherto published, very ill provided with 
 Sunday-schools, and not well provided even with Day-schools. The 
 recent establishment of Ragged-schools will do something to supply 
 the defect. But in all large cities and towns there are haunts of 
 vice and wretchedness the philanthropist's "Slough of Despond" 
 which baffle both police and benevolence, and challenge the utmost 
 ingenuity, perseverance, and even heroism of Christian zeal for their 
 cleansing. 
 
 There has been no general enumeration of Sunday-school Teachers. 
 But in the returns from the Northern Manufacturing districts, in 
 1843, the proportion of teachers to scholars was found to be 1 in 
 6 1-5 ; in the recent Welsh Reports of the Commissioners, the 
 number of teachers returned is as 1 to 7 1-10 scholars; and in the 
 metropolis, the proportion is 1 teacher to 10 scholars. Perhaps we 
 may assume 1 teacher to 8 scholars as a probable average through- 
 out England and Wales ; in which case, the number of Sunday- 
 school teachers will be 250,000. A noble band ! The Young 
 Guard of England ! The Volunteers of our Sacred War ! Let 
 them deeply meditate the charge committed to them, and by self- 
 discipline, devotedness, and prayer, insure success in their blessed 
 enterprise ! 
 
 A few years ago it was common for our State-Educationists, both 
 official and private, to scoff at the Sunday-schools as a contemptible 
 agency. This tone has now been abandoned. The testimonies to 
 the value of Sunday-schools are too important to be withstood. I 
 select two or three unexceptionable witnesses. Dr. Hook, the Vicar 
 of Leeds, says : 
 
 " The mainstay of religious education is to be found in our 
 Sunday-schools." "The most earnest, the most devoted, the most 
 pious of our several congregations, are accustomed, with meritorious 
 zeal, to dedicate themselves to this great work." * 
 
 * Dr. Hook's Letter to the Bishop of St. David's, p. 47.
 
 22 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 Mr. Fletcher, the Government Inspector of Schools, says : 
 
 " The history of Sabhath-schools would exhibit an amount of self- 
 denial and benevolent devotion, unsurpassed in the annals of philan- 
 thropy." * 
 
 Mr. J. P. Kay Shuttleworth, in the official " Instructions" to the 
 Commissioners on Education in Wales, says : 
 i, " The Sunday-school must be regarded as the most remarkable, 
 because the most general, spontaneous effort of the zeal of Christian 
 congregations for education. Its origin, organization, and tendencies 
 are purely religious." 
 
 Mr. Jelinger C. Symons, one of the Welsh Commissioners, 
 says : 
 
 " The thousands who throng these schools belong exclusively to 
 the working classes ;" " in many places these working people, in 
 their Sunday-schools and chapels, have alone kept religion alive, and 
 have afforded the only effective means of making known the Gospel." 
 " The system is admirable."^ 
 
 Mr. Henry Vaughan Johnson, the Commissioner for North 
 Wales, calls the Sunday-school " the main instrument of civilization 
 in North Wales." He speaks of " the vast number of schools ;" 
 " the frequency of the attendance, the number, energy, and devo- 
 tion of the teachers ; the regularity and decorum of the proceedings, 
 and the permanent and striking effects which they have produced 
 upon society. "J 
 
 Such are the admitted character and working of the Sunday- 
 school. Contrast the state of our labouring population before its 
 invention and at the present day, as shown by the facts and autho- 
 rities laid before you ; and say, if a moral and intellectual improve- 
 ment has not taken place, compared with which all our extended 
 commerce, wealth, and dominion are unimportant. 
 
 I remark, then, on this great institution first, that it is purely 
 Voluntary, and, secondly, that it is distinctively religious. It is 
 the fruit of the zeal of religious bodies for the religious education of 
 the poor. I must claim it as a magnificent effect of the Voluntary 
 Principle, combined with the religious spirit. It is unprecedented 
 in the history of the world. An army a vast army numbering a 
 quarter of a million, of teachers, organised and disciplined for a 
 work of pure religious benevolence, and continuing at their duty 
 * Fletcher's Report on Schools in the North of England, p. 449. 
 
 f Mr. J. C. Symons's Report, p. 51. J Mr. Johnson's Report, p. 59.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 23 
 
 year by year, without fee or reward, devoting themselves affection- 
 ately and prayerfully to the moral and spiritual improvement of no 
 less than two millions of our rising youth, distributed among them 
 in little companies of six or eight, so that nearly all the children of 
 the working class, in their turns, receive the truest kindness and 
 the most valuable example from those somewhat above them in 
 society ; it is a spectacle beyond measure noble and delightful ! 
 England ought to be more proud of its Raikes than even of its 
 Newton. 
 
 Imagine, for one moment, that all these two million children 
 could be educated on the Sabbath by paid teachers under Govern- 
 ment support and inspection. Would the result be as valuable? 
 Not by one half. It is not the receivers only of the good, but the 
 doers of it that are benefited ; and, for our congregations to lose 
 these fields of sweet and profitable employment for their young men 
 and women, and for society to lose this precious cement of its 
 different classes, would be a calamity of the greatest magnitude. 
 But would any Government have ever conceived such a project, or 
 attempted to execute it? The idea is ridiculous. The fact is, that 
 freedom and willingness infinitely surpass Governments in invention, 
 enterprise, and power of adaptation to circumstances. Governments 
 have neither heart nor soul ; and, so far from being disposed to 
 self-denying activity, their natural and normal state is to be at rest. 
 
 We come now to speak, secondly, of 
 
 DAY-SCHOOLS. 
 
 The merit of giving the first great impulse to popular education in 
 England belongs to Joseph Lancaster. But the method of tuition 
 by which Me attracted so much public notice was, in its great prin- 
 ciples, adopted by him from the plan invented by the Rev. Dr. Bell 
 at the Military Orphan Asylum at Madras. When superintendent 
 of that institution in the year 1/91, Dr. Bell one day observed a boy 
 belonging to a Malabar school writing in the sand : thinking that 
 method of writing very convenient, both as regards cheapness and 
 facility, he introduced it in the school of the Asylum ; and as the 
 usher refused to teach by that method, he employed one of the 
 cleverest boys to teach the rest. The experiment of teaching by a 
 boy was so remarkably successful, that he extended it to the other 
 branches of instruction, and soon organized the whole school under 
 boy-teachers, who were themselves instructed by the doctor. On
 
 24 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 his return to England, he published a Report of the Madras Orphan 
 Asylum, in which he particularly pointed out the new mode of school 
 organization as far more efficient than the old. 
 
 This publication took place in 1/97, and the following year Dr. 
 Bell introduced the system into the school of St.Botolph's, Aldgate, 
 London. He afterwards introduced it at Kendal, and made attempts, 
 with small success, to obtain its adoption in Edinburgh. Settling 
 down soon after as rector of Swanage, in Dorsetshire, he was nearly 
 shut out of the world for some years ; yet he retained his strong 
 opinion of the value of the new system of education, and had the 
 school at Swanage conducted on that system. 
 
 In the meanwhile, Joseph Lancaster, son of a Chelsea pensioner in 
 the Borough-road, London, opened a school in his father's house, in 
 the year 1 798, at the early age of eighteen. He had been an usher in 
 schools ; and being of an original, enterprising, and ardent character, 
 he had himself made improvements in tuition. Dr. Bell's pamphlet 
 having fallen in his way, he adopted the Madras system with eager- 
 ness, and made several improvements in its details. In the year 
 1802 he had brought his school into a- very perfect state of organ- 
 ization, and found himself as well able to teach 250 boys, with the 
 aid of the senior boys as teachers, as before to teach eighty. His 
 enthusiasm and benevolence led him to conceive of the practicability 
 of bringing all the children of the poor under education by the new 
 system, which was not only so attractive as to make learning a 
 pleasure to the children, but was so cheap as exceedingly to facilitate 
 the establishment and support of schools for great numbers of the 
 poor. He published pamphlets recommending the plan, and in one 
 of them ascribed the chief merit of the system to Dr. Bell, whom he 
 afterwards visited at Swanage. He also made his own school free, 
 and obtained subscriptions from friends of education for its support. 
 He had embraced the religious views of the Society of Friends, and 
 some of the benevolent members of that society seconded his enter- 
 prise. The patriotic Duke of Bedford, having been invited to visit 
 Lancaster's school, became a warm and liberal patron of the system. 
 Lancaster pushed his plan with the ceaseless energy of an enthusiast ; 
 nothing daunted or disgusted him ; he asked subscriptions for new 
 schools from every quarter. At length the king admitted Lancaster 
 to an interview, which took place at Weymouth, in 1 805 ; and, being 
 charmed with what he heard of his large designs, the admirable 
 order and efficiency of his schools, and also with the simplicity and
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN KNG1.AND. 25 
 
 overflowing benevolence of the man, his majesty subscribed 100Z. 
 a year, the queen 501. , and the princesses 2.5/. each, to the extension 
 of the Lancasterian system. George III. also declared himself 
 patron of the society, which was soon afterwards formed, to promote 
 education on this system. 
 
 Such was the origin of the " British and Foreign School Society," 
 which was formally established in the year 1808, and designated 
 " The Royal Lancasterian Institution for promoting the Education 
 of the Children of the Poor." It was a favourite view of Lan- 
 caster, that, whilst the Scriptures were read, and Scriptural instruc- 
 tion given in the schools, there should be nothing taught in 
 which all sects of Christians might not unite. This feature of 
 the plan soon caused opposition from members of the Church of 
 England. Whilst Lancaster was travelling about the country (in 
 1805) lecturing on the new plan, and obtaining golden opinions 
 in every quarter, even from bishops, Mrs. Trimmer, a clever and 
 zealous educationist, but of the straitest section of the Establishment, 
 took and sounded the alarm. She corresponded with Dr. Bell, 
 roused him to jealousy, brought him to London, and published 
 pamphlets exposing the latitudinarian tendency of Lancaster's 
 system, and summoning the Church to take up the education of the 
 poor on Dr. Bell's plan, and so as to provide for "the proper 
 instruction of the young members of the Church and State, in 
 accordance with the Act of Uniformity." In her letters, she called 
 Lancaster the " Goliath of Schismatics ;" and, at a later date, Dr. 
 Southey, who was a friend of Dr. Bell's, commonly spoke of 
 Lancaster as "the Dragon," sometimes joking on "Bel and the 
 Dragon" the subject of a caricature of the day. 
 
 In process of time, the Archbishop of Canterbury adopted Dr. 
 Bell's plan in the Lambeth Schools, and the Duke of York in the 
 Schools of Chelsea Hospital ; numerous schools were established on 
 that plan in 1808, in London, Winchester, Shropshire, Durham, 
 &c. Dr. Bell endeavoured to get the Government to take up his 
 plans, and to establish a National Board of Education under the 
 Government, with schools placed under the management of the 
 parochial clergy. In this he failed. 
 
 At length, alarmed with the rapid progress made by the British 
 and Foreign School Society, and fearing that the children would be 
 drawn away from the Church, the bishops and clergy, with many 
 of the aristocracy, combined to form "The National Society for
 
 26 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Estab- 
 lished Church throughout England and Wales." This Society was 
 formed in October, 1811, at a meeting at which the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury presided. Patronised by the prelates, the aristocracy, 
 and members of the Government, it made rapid way. Diocesan 
 Societies, in connexion with it, were formed the same year at 
 Durham, Exeter, and Winchester, and others soon followed. A 
 main object of this Society, as of that in the Borough-road, was to 
 train schoolmasters ; and for this purpose an institution was opened 
 in Baldwin's-gardens, Gray's-inn-lane, of which Dr. Bell was made 
 gratuitous superintendent. We find that in 1812 there were schools 
 in connexion with the National Society, containing 8,620 scholars ; 
 in 1813, schools containing 40,484; in 1814, 60,000; in 1815, 
 97,920; and in 1818, no less than 180,000 scholars. It is not to 
 be supposed, however, that all these were new schools : many, 
 doubtless, were old schools remodelled, and placed in connexion 
 with the National Society. 
 
 Such was the origin and early history of the two great educational 
 Societies. They were both purely Voluntary, and so continued up 
 to a very recent period. I could not better explain my own views of 
 what is desirable for the education of the country, than by quoting a 
 sentence from the Report of the National Society, for 1815 : 
 
 " The work which has been so auspiciously begun, they are 
 satisfied will never be abandoned : their resources are INEXHAUST- 
 IBLE : their fund is the NEVER-FAILING LIBERALITY of an 
 enlightened nation, ever anxious to encourage the growth of pure 
 religion, and deeply impressed with the conviction, that a Christian 
 education alone can lay the solid foundation of national prosperity, 
 in the virtue and piety of the people." 
 
 I am a firm believer in that " inexhaustible fund" " the never- 
 failing liberality of an enlightened nation." But the Society which 
 trusted it when its scholars were 97,920, loses its confidence when, 
 by means of that very liberality, the scholars under its superintend- 
 ence, directly or indirectly, had swelled to 911,000! 
 
 It is impossible for me to trace, in ever so slight a way, the 
 history of all the educational institutions which have sprung up in 
 this country within the present century, to provide for the diversified 
 wants of the community. Yet I must mention a few of the most 
 important, among which is 
 
 The Infant School that beautiful exhibition of wisdom, kindness,
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 27 
 
 and gentleness, which might seem to have been designed only to 
 promote the happiness of the playful inmates, whilst it allures them 
 into knowledge, and charms them into order. Perhaps the first 
 professed Infant School was that in Vincent-square, Westminster, 
 which I remember to have seen with great admiration in the year 
 1824 ; though in the same year I saw children trained in nearly the 
 same way at the admirably-conducted mills formerly belonging to 
 the benevolent David Dale, and then to Mr. Owen, at New Lanark. 
 I am not able to pronounce who was the inventor of the system ; 
 but it certainly owed its pretty general adoption to the zeal and 
 ability of Mr. Wilderspin. The Infant School is an invaluable 
 addition to our educational institutions ; yet there are physical 
 causes, such as the impossibility of sending very young children to 
 any considerable distance from their homes, and especially in the 
 winter season, which will prevent its ever including so large a 
 proportion of the infant population as might be desired. At the 
 educational census of 1833, the children of Infant Schools were 
 89,005. In order to train teachers for Infant Schools, the Training 
 School of the Home and Colonial Juvenile and Infant School 
 Society was opened in Gray's-inn-road. That excellent institution 
 bears date from 1834. Like the Infant School system, it was of 
 purely Voluntary origin, and so continued till the recent measure of 
 the Government forced its supporters as they thought, at least 
 either to accept public money, or to abandon the Institution.* 
 
 The Ragged School, or School of Industry, had its origin in West- 
 minster, in the year 1837, where a school under that name was 
 established by Mr. Walker, an agent of the London City Mission, 
 and supported for many years. It was improved upon in the year 
 1843, at Aberdeen, by a few benevolent individuals, among whom 
 Sheriff Watson took the lead. The design of its authors was to 
 reach the very depths of ignorance, vice, and destitution, by drawing 
 the mendicant and ragged children out of the streets, and the 
 Scotch improvement was the addition of one or more meals per day, 
 in addition to the inducement of kind treatment and gratuitous 
 instruction. Prudence and constant vigilance are required to guard 
 such an institution from imposition ; but when these qualities are 
 exercised, together with peculiar kindness and perseverance, the 
 
 * So I have been informed by one of its leading friends. I presume some of 
 the more influential subscribers must have threatened to withdraw, if the Insti- 
 tution did not place itself in connexion with the Government
 
 28 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 Ragged Schools are found to produce excellent effects. At Aber- 
 deen, the school exceedingly diminished mendicancy and juvenile 
 crime. Its operation having been made known through the press, 
 and chiefly through " Chambers' s Journal," Ragged Schools were 
 established in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, 
 Birmingham, York, Dundee, and other large towns. In this city 
 a Ragged School Union has been formed, and the schools include 
 6,000 children. It ought to be mentioned, that there has for some 
 years been a Sunday-school for the very worst of the juvenile poor, 
 in connexion with Surrey Chapel. 
 
 Once more I draw attention to the fact, that this most modern of 
 our educational improvements is a fruit of the Voluntary Principle ; 
 and it is admitted by Lord Ashley, who has taken a lively interest 
 in the Ragged Schools, as well as openly maintained by their leading 
 friends, that these are institutions which can only be worked by 
 Christian benevolence, and which would be marred by Government 
 interference. They require too much self-denial, too much pure 
 Christian principle, too much patience and delicacy of management, 
 to be in any way trusted to Government functionaries. Mr. William 
 Chambers, in his article on the Dundee Ragged School, in March 
 last, earnestly deprecates any attempt to ally these institutions with 
 " such inert bodies as parochial boards." He says emphatically : 
 
 " Private benevolence and enterprise have done it all ; and with 
 these agents, what may not be anywhere, and on any matter of 
 social concern, accomplished ?" 
 
 I echo "What?" 
 
 There is another class of institutions of which I have much 
 personal knowledge, and which cannot be omitted, namely, the 
 Mechanics' Institutions. It is proper to mention them, because 
 many of them are not mere institutions for the benefit of young 
 men and adults, but have large evening classes, especially for the 
 instruction of the young, and even Day-schools. The Liverpool 
 Mechanics' Institution has, in its various Day-schools, from 800 to 
 900 children, taught by upwards of 50 masters. In the Hudders- 
 field Mechanics' Institution nearly the same number of youths 
 attend the evening classes ; and a Female Educational Institute in 
 the same town, for the benefit of the factory girls and servants, is 
 attended by 130. The Leeds Mechanics' Institution has Day- 
 schools attended by 140 boys, and evening classes attended by some 
 hundreds of boys and youths. The first Mechanics' Institution was
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN KNdl.ASD. 29 
 
 formed by Dr. Birkbeck, at Glasgow, as far back as 1 790 : but I 
 only know of one other Institution of the kind established before 
 that of London, namely, the Edinburgh. In the year 1824, I 
 attended a lecture by Dr. Birkbeck, at the London Mechanics' 
 Institution, which then met in an old chapel, I think in Falcon- 
 square. Henry Brougham, who afterwards did so much to promote 
 these institutions, was one of the audience. Since then, Mechanics' 
 Institutions have multiplied rapidly. We have no less than 86 in 
 Yorkshire, containing 16,000 members. Probably there will not be 
 less than from 80,000 to 100,000 members in Great Britain. This 
 is a kind of institution that may be established in every town and 
 village of the kingdom, so that no one can foretell what may be 
 the extent of its usefulness. You will observe that the Mechanics' 
 Institution, like all the others I have mentioned, is a fruit of purely 
 Voluntary zeal. 
 
 "Whilst Voluntary associations have stooped to the wants of the 
 very lowest classes, they have shown themselves not unequal to pro- 
 vide for the education of the highest. Two colleges on the scale of 
 universities have been established in the Metropolis namely, Univer- 
 sity College and King's College and a University at Durham, with- 
 out any aid from the Government. Several important Theological 
 Schools have been established by the Congregationalists and Wes- 
 leyans, and also several schools for the sons and daughters of 
 Ministers and Missionaries. Numerous Proprietary Schools have 
 been formed in various parts of the kingdom, both by the Church 
 and by Dissenters, to combine the advantages of a high education 
 with residence under the parental roof. At York, and, probably, in 
 other counties, Yeoman Schools have been founded, under high 
 patronage, for the special benefit of the agricultural population. 
 Philosophical and literary societies, public libraries and museums, 
 and various institutions under the names of Athenaeums, Lycaeums, 
 Youths' Guardian Societies, as well as reading-rooms, news- 
 rooms, &c., have been multiplied through the kingdom. All of 
 these belong to the present century, and all are Voluntary. 
 
 There are several great Educational Societies, in addition to the 
 National, the British, and the Home and Colonial Infant School 
 Societies. The Wesleyans have undertaken to build 700 schools in 
 seven years, and they are doing the work. The Congregationalists 
 commenced an effort in 1843, by which the great sum of 120,000^. 
 has been raised, to promote the building of schools. The Roman
 
 30 
 
 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 Catholics have opened both schools and colleges. The Free Church 
 of Scotland is raising 700 or 800 schools, besides a college. There 
 are County Educational Societies in Essex, West Kent, Cambridge- 
 shire, Devonshire, and Pembrokeshire. 
 
 A distinct and important feature of our educational improvement 
 consists in the Normal or Training -Schools, for the training of 
 teachers. It has sometimes been said, that all these have been 
 assisted by Government ; and it is, indeed, true that several of them 
 have accepted public money in aid of their buildings. But you will 
 remember that the Borough-road School was a Training- School for 
 more than thirty years before it ever received a grant ; that the West- 
 minster, and several of the other Training-schools of the National 
 Society, as well as several of the diocesan Training-schools, existed 
 for many years purely on the Voluntary Principle ; that the Bat- 
 tersea Training-school was established by two individuals, Mr. Kay 
 Shuttleworth and Mr. Tuffnell, with their own funds; that the 
 Home and Colonial Infant School Society's Training-school, in 
 Gray's-inn-road, was founded on an independent footing; that Mr. 
 Stow's Training Institution at Glasgow had existed many years, 
 and acquired eminence, before it received a grant ; that the Congre- 
 gational Training Institution for female teachers at Rotherhithe, and 
 the Brecon Normal College, are fundamentally and altogether Vo- 
 luntary ; and that the Male Normal School, now about to be founded 
 by the Congregational Board, will be so. It is, therefore, absolutely 
 false to say that the Normal Schools are the creation of Government, 
 or that they require funds beyond the strength of Voluntary effort. 
 
 I last year enumerated twenty-eight Normal Schools in England 
 and Wales, containing about 900 students, with accommodation for 
 1,100.* You are about to add to the number. A Normal School 
 
 * I quote the following from the Report of the National Society for 1846, 
 and the Reports of the other Societies named : 
 
 NORMAL SCHOOLS, 1846. 
 
 
 Students. 
 
 Accommoda-J 
 tion. 
 
 National Society's Normal Schools : 
 Battersea 
 
 72 
 
 7* 
 
 St Mark's College, Chelsea 
 
 59 
 
 70 
 
 Westminster Training Institution 
 
 146 
 
 
 "Whiteiands, Chelsea 
 
 54 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 
 Carried forward . 
 
 331 
 
 2-21
 
 vol.! XTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 31 
 
 for the Evangelical Church, at Cheltenham is about to be opened ; 
 and a prospectus has been issued by Lord Ashley for another 
 Church Normal School in London. The British and Foreign 
 School Society lately contemplated four new schools of this kind. 
 If Normal Schools do not rise up in England equal to the demand 
 for them, we must read our political economy and our experience 
 backward. It is puerile to suppose that for such institutions we 
 need the aid of Government. Even if large and handsome buildings 
 were required, could we not point to colleges in London, Birming- 
 ham, Manchester, and Liverpool, at Richmond, Didsbury, and 
 Airedale, and to many Proprietary Schools, as well as to a multitude 
 of ancient endowed schools, to show that nothing which is truly 
 required is beyond the power of Voluntary benevolence and spirit ? 
 And now have we any means of measuring the progress which, by 
 
 NORMAL SCHOOLS, 1846. (Continued.) 
 
 Students. 
 
 Accommoda- 
 tion. 
 
 Brought forward 331 
 
 Diocesan Training Institutions, 
 For Schoolmasters: 
 
 Canterbury 4 
 
 York and Ripon (at York) j 36 
 
 Durham j 13 
 
 Winchester 19 
 
 Chester 41 
 
 Chichester 10 
 
 Exeter 19 
 
 Gloucester and Bristol 6 
 
 Lichfield 26 
 
 Lincoln 1 
 
 Llandaff (at Newport) 
 
 Norwich 3 
 
 Oxford 14 
 
 For Schoolmistresses : 
 
 Canterbury 4 
 
 York and Ripon (at York) 8 
 
 Chester (at Warrington) 20 
 
 Chichester (at Brighton) 11 
 
 Norwich 7 
 
 Oxford (at Kidlington) 6 
 
 Salisbury 26 
 
 British and Foreign School Society 103 
 
 Home and Colonial Infant and Juvenile School So- 
 ciety (instructed during the year) .... 156 
 
 Brecon Normal School 28 
 
 Congregational Training Institution : 
 
 Rotherhithe . . . , 
 
 Total . . . 
 
 894 
 
 221 
 
 4 
 36 
 13 
 19 
 70 
 13 
 20 
 12 
 26 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 6 
 
 20 
 35 
 16 
 
 7 
 
 40 
 30 
 
 631
 
 32 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 all these appliances, has been made ? Can we take an observation, 
 and find the longitude ? I think we can, if you will permit me to 
 become a little statistical. And as it is of the highest importance 
 not to delude ourselves or others with vague statements, I believe 
 you will indulge me. 
 
 We have no earlier educational statistics than the year 1818, when 
 a Committee of the House of Commons, of which Lord Brougham 
 was Chairman, obtained returns of all kinds of Day-schools, from all 
 the parishes of England and Wales, through the medium of the 
 parochial clergy. But one object of Lord Brougham was, to ascer- 
 tain the progress that had been made by the schools on the Bell 
 and Lancasterian systems ; and therefore his schedules contained 
 columns for the " New Schools." It appeared from his returns, 
 that in the year 1818, the number of Day-scholars in England and 
 Wales, was 647,883. The numbers returned under the head of 
 "New Schools," were 150,642; and as all these schools had been 
 established since 1803, the inference drawn by Lord Brougham, and 
 with apparent fairness, was, that by deducting them from the total, 
 we should ascertain about the number of scholars in 1803. Deduct 
 150,642 from 674,883, and we have 524,241 as the probable num- 
 ber of Day- scholars in 1803. 
 
 The next educational census, after Lord Brougham's, was by a 
 Committee of the House of Commons, of which the late Earl of Kerry 
 was Chairman, in 1833. Those returns were obtained through the 
 medium of the overseers of the poor. The schedules included many 
 more particulars than those of 1818. The returns of 1833 gave a 
 total of 1,276,947 Day-scholars in England and Wales, of which 
 89,005 were in Infant-schools. 
 
 The present number of Day-scholars, or rather the number in 
 1846, has been the subject of much controversy. In that year, I 
 estimated them at 1,876,947, being certain that this was below the 
 mark, but resolved to err on the side that was opposed to my own 
 wishes and argument. This calculation was severely attacked. I 
 say nothing of the result of the controversy ; but I add, that Pro- 
 fessor Hoppus, who published his " Crisis of Popular Education" 
 about twelve months later, after the closest and most impartial 
 scrutiny of all the evidence he could find, conducted on scientific 
 principles, arrived at the conclusion, that the number of Day-scholars 
 in England and Wales, in 1846, was 2,000,000, and that there was 
 school accommodation (if equally distributed) for 2,300,000. Mr.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN KM; I. AM). 33 
 
 Charles Knight, in a very able article on the " Progress of Education 
 in England," in the Companion to the British Almanack for 1847> 
 after a careful and elaborate calculation, arrived at the conclusion, 
 that there were 2,200,000 Day-scholars. Professor Hoppus's esti- 
 mate, therefore, exceeded mine by 123,000, and Mr. Knight's 
 exceeded mine by 323,000. 
 
 The reports of the Commissioners of Education in Wales show so 
 extraordinary an increase of scholars in that country since the year 
 1833, that I sincerely believe Mr. Knight's estimate of 2,200,000 
 Day-scholars for England and Wales, not to be above the truth. 
 However, I will still lean to the side of moderation, and will take 
 Professor Hoppus's estimate of 2,000,000. 
 
 We see, then, that the number of Day-scholars in 1803, was 
 524,241; in 1818, 6/4,883; in 1833, 1,276,947; and in 1846, 
 was at least 2,000,000. There has been a great increase of the 
 population ; but, allowing for that increase, we find that the pro- 
 portion which the scholars bore to the population rose as follows : 
 In 1803, there was 1 Day-scholar to every 17 of the population ; 
 in 1818, 1 to 17 ; in 1833, 1 to 11$; and in 1846, 1 to 8|. 
 
 DAT-SCHOLARS AND POPULATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 
 
 IN 1803, 1818, 1833, AND 1846. 
 
 
 
 
 Proportion of 
 
 Years. 
 
 Day-scholars. 
 
 Population. Day-scholars to 
 
 
 
 Population. 
 
 In 1803 
 
 524,241 
 
 9,128,507 
 
 1 to 17 
 
 1818 
 
 674,883 
 
 11,398,167 
 
 1 to 17 
 
 1833 
 
 1,276,947 
 
 14,417,110 1 to Hi 
 
 1846 2,000,000 
 
 17,026,024 
 
 1 tot *| 
 
 Increase of Population, from 1833 to 1846 . . 86 per cent. 
 Increase of Scholars, ditto ditto . . 281 per cent. 
 
 If we took Mr. Charles Knight's estimate of the number of 
 scholars, of course the comparison would be still more favourable 
 the improvement still more extraordinary. 
 
 But the most interesting conclusion to be drawn from these statis- 
 tics is one which I do not remember to have ever seen clearly 
 brought out. It is, the immense extension of education among the 
 workiny classes, as distinguished from the upper and middle classes. 
 Nearly all the increase must have taken place among the working 
 classes : it has by no means been spread equally over the upper and 
 
 I D
 
 84 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 the lower portions of society. This is evident from a slight con- 
 sideration of the facts. We may assume, that in 1803 the children 
 of the upper and middle classes were pretty generally educated. 
 Now, what were their numbers ? and what was the whole number of 
 scholars ? The whole number of children between five and fifteen 
 years of age, in England and Wales, in 1803, was 2,190,841. If we 
 assume one-fourth of the population to belong to the upper and 
 middle classes, the children of those classes would be 547,710. But 
 we have seen that the entire number of Day-scholars, in 1803, was 
 only 524,241. It follows, of necessity, that the children of the 
 upper and middle classes were not then receiving education for the 
 whole ten years from their fifth to their fifteenth year. If we 
 suppose that they were at school eight years, instead of ten, we 
 ought then to find 438, 1 68 of these children in school at one time ; 
 and, deducting this number from the 524,241 Day-scholars, it 
 would appear that there would be 86,073 scholars who must have 
 belonged to the working classes. But the whole number of children 
 of the working classes, at that time, was 1,643,130. The result is, 
 that only 1 in 1 9 of the children of the working classes, who were of 
 the school age, was at school at one time, in 1803. 
 
 How different is the case now ! The whole number of children 
 from 5 to 15 years of age, in 1846, was 3,891,127 ; one-fourth of 
 these may belong to the upper and middle classes, and the other 
 three-fourths to the working classes. Suppose that the 972,782 
 children of the upper and middle classes attended school, on the 
 average, eight years each ; we ought to find 778,226 of them there 
 at one time. But the total number of Day-scholars, in 1846, was 
 2,000,000, leaving, therefore, 1,221,774 scholars belonging to the 
 working classes. Now the total number of children of the working 
 classes was, in 1846, 2,918,345. The result is, that 1 in 2- of the 
 children of the working classes, of the school age, was at school, at 
 the same time, in 1846. 
 
 In 1803, only 1 in 19 of the poorer children was found in school 
 at one time ; in 1846, 1 in 2^ is found in school. At the former 
 period there were only 86,073 scholars of the working classes ; at 
 the latter there are 1,221,774. Is not the improvement in the 
 educational state of this class, forming the bulk of society, indeed 
 astonishing ? And I point it out, not merely because it is so gra- 
 tifying in itself, but because it is the triumphant and crowning proof 
 of the power of the Voluntary Principle ; for the class in which this
 
 VOLfNTAKY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 35 
 
 mighty improvement has been effected, was precisely the class least 
 able to help themselves. 
 
 But it may be said, that the figures just given are still very un- 
 satisfactory, inasmuch as they show only 2,000,000 scholars, out of 
 3,891,127 children of the school age ; and, if we confine our view 
 to the working classes, only 1,221,774 scholars, out of 2,918,345 
 children of the school age. But this would be a perfect fallacy. 
 No reasonable man can expect all the children of the country, rich 
 and poor, sick and healthy, to attend school for ten full years, from 
 their fifth to their fifteenth year. I have contended, that it would 
 be as much as we could reasonably expect, if we found all the 
 children attending school, on the average, five years. Dr. Vaughan 
 distinctly says, not in the British Quarterly, but in his " Reply 
 to Mr. E. Baines, Jun.," prefixed to the republication of that 
 article : 
 
 "I admit that Jive years is as long an average as we should 
 calculate upon." (p. 13.) 
 
 Now, if all the children were receiving an average of five years' 
 schooling, the number found in school at one time would amount to 
 about 1 in 9 of the entire population. In 1820, Lord Brougham 
 thought it would be sufficient if we had 1 in 10 of the population in 
 schools ; and in 1 835, he thought it would be sufficient if we had 
 1 in 9. The Parliamentary Education Committee of 1837 estimated 
 that 1 in' 8 of the population would be sufficient to be found in 
 schools ; and this is the proportion actually existing in Holland and 
 Bavaria, countries of which the education is said to be very com- 
 plete. Now we have seen, that in England and Wales, in 1846, we 
 had 1 in 8^ of the population in schools. 
 
 The number of Day-scholars gives an average length of schooling 
 of more than five years to every child of the school age in England 
 and Wales. 
 
 If we suppose that the children of the upper and middle classes 
 attend school for eight years, on an average which seems to be a 
 reasonable estimate we should find that the number of scholars 
 belonging to the working classes gives an average of 4 1-5 years for 
 every child among those classes. Of course, I do not mean to say 
 that every child is educated ; but only that the number of scholars 
 actually found in school would yield that average for the whole. 
 
 There is one circumstance which will make the result rather less 
 favourable, namely, that the scholars in Infant-schools, most of 
 
 D2
 
 .36 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 whom are below five years of age, are included in the 2,000,000 
 scholars, whereas the number of children with whom we have com- 
 pared them are only those between 5 and 15 years. In 1833, the 
 number of Infant-scholars was returned as 89,005 : if they should 
 have borne the same proportion to the whole of the Day-scholars in 
 1846 as in 1833, their numbers would be 139,397, out of the 
 2,000,000. They would probably, however, bear a larger propor- 
 tion, but we cannot tell how large. Suppose we take them at 
 200,000, which, being deducted from the 2,000,000 Day-scholars, 
 would leave 1,800,000 between the ages of 5 and 15. The effect on 
 my calculations would be this : It would give an average duration 
 of schooling of 4f years to all the children in the country within 
 the school age, and an average of 3^ years' schooling to the children 
 of the working classes within the school age. But the proportion 
 of scholars to the whole population would remain the same, namely, 
 1 in 8. And the reduced calculations do not show the whole 
 amount of education in the country ; because it must be remem- 
 bered that, on the supposition, 200,000 infants below 5 years of age 
 are found in Infant-schools. 
 
 If, however, Mr. Charles Knight's estimate of the number of 
 scholars were correct, as I believe it is, it would not be necessary to 
 reduce my first calculations. We should then have the general 
 average of 5 years' schooling for every child in the country between 
 5 and 15 years of age ; and, in addition, 200,000 infants below 
 5 years of age receiving instruction. 
 
 In regard to Day-schools, I must observe, that some assistance 
 has been given by Government, since the year 1 832, for the erection 
 of the buildings, (about one-fourth of the cost of a large proportion 
 of those buildings,) the total amount granted between 1832 and 
 1846 having been 395,000. But nothing whatever was given 
 towards the annual expenses until the measure of last year. Volun- 
 tary benevolence has supplied three-fourths of the cost of the 
 buildings, in many cases the whole cost, and in all cases the entire 
 expense of maintenance, over and above the school fees. For these 
 varied purposes, including the building and maintenance of both 
 Day-schools and Sunday-schools, several millions sterling must have 
 been voluntarily raised within the last thirty years.* 
 
 And now, having done with the items, let us strike the balance of 
 
 * For a calculation on these points, see my " Letters to Lord John Russell 
 on State Education," (1846.) Letters 4 and 5.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 37 
 
 profit and loss in this great matter of the education of the people. 
 But of loss I can find nothing nothing in number of scholars, in 
 quality of education, in the morals, religion, habits, or condition of 
 the people. All has been clear gain. And what a gain ! We have 
 seen the Sunday-school institution spring up from nothing, till it 
 comprises 2,000,000 scholars, and 250,000 teachers ; and it is as 
 though, on some piece of waste land, covered with rubbish, and 
 ruins, and stagnant pools, we had seen reared, as noiselessly as the 
 great Temple on Mount Zion, without the sound of axe or hammer, 
 a glorious structure dedicated to the praise of the Most High. Then 
 we have seen the whole people awakened to a sense of the value of 
 Day-school education, and the number of Day-scholars increased 
 from 524,241 to upwards of 2,000,000 ; whilst the working classes, 
 which had only 1 in 19 of their children receiving education in 
 1803, had 1 in 2 3- in 1846. We see, at this day, schools in which, 
 on the average, every child in England and Wales, of the school 
 age, is receiving about five years of Day-school education, and every 
 child of the working classes is receiving seven years of Sunday- 
 school education. 
 
 We have no information, except from a few localities, as to the 
 proportion of scholars receiving both a Day-school and Sunday- 
 school education. We may assume that very few of the 972,782 
 children of the upper and middle classes, or of the 778,226 children 
 of those classes whom we have assumed to be found in Day-schools 
 at the same time, attend the Sunday-school. And, on the other 
 hand, as the children of the working classes attend the Sunday- 
 school seven years on the average, and the Day-school only about 
 half that length of time, we should naturally infer that about half 
 of the Sunday-scholars would not be in actual attendance on the 
 Sunday-school and Day-school at the same time. From these 
 simple elements we should naturally draw the conclusion, that of 
 the 3,891,127 children between 5 and 15 years of age, there would 
 be very few who were not either among the 2,000,000 Day-scholars 
 or the 2,000,000 Sunday-scholars ; and, indeed, that a very large 
 proportion of the whole must receive some period of Day-school 
 instruction, and nearly the whole of the children of the working 
 classes must receive a considerable period of Sunday-school instruc- 
 tion. Dr. Vaughan stated, in a letter to the Patriot, in December, 
 1846, that he found in " two Sunday-schools near Manchester, of a
 
 38 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 description likely to give a fair average, in this respect, of Sunday- 
 schools in general in the manufacturing districts," that out of 1,465 
 children, there were only 51 (or 3^ per cent.) who had not, at one 
 time or other, attended Day-school. Of the 1,465, there were 
 616 attending hoth Sunday and Day-school at the time; 798 
 attending Sunday-school, and who had attended Day-school ; and 
 only 51 at the Sunday-school who had never been at Day-school. 
 Dr. Vaughan himself drew the following conclusion from the 
 facts : 
 
 " It will, I think, be found upon inquiry, as indicated in this 
 result, that in England Sunday-schools prove to be of value as 
 subsidiary to Day-schools ; but that children who never become 
 Day-scholars do not often become Sunday -scholars." Reply to 
 Mr. E. Baines, Jun., (p. 9.) 
 
 I believe, with Dr. Vaughan, that nearly all Sunday- scholars 
 receive Day-school instruction at some period of their lives ; and if 
 so, nearly all the children of the poor must be in that case. Pro- 
 fessor Hoppus concluded, from the scanty evidence which he found 
 on the subject, that about 3,290,000 children were receiving either 
 Sunday-school or Day-school education ; and Mr. Charles Knight 
 carried the number up to 3,500,000. All these facts and calcu- 
 lations concur to show that there is but an inconsiderable number 
 of children absolutely destitute of education ; and of course there 
 is a still smaller number destitute of the opportunity of acquir- 
 ing it. 
 
 STATE OF EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 
 IN 1846. 
 
 Sunday-scholars 2,000,000 
 
 Sunday-school Teachers 250,000 
 
 Day-scholars 2,000,000 
 
 Proportion of Sunday-scholars to Population . . . 1 in 8| 
 Proportion of Day-scholars to Population . . . 1 in 8 
 
 Proportion of the Children of the Working Classes in 
 
 Day-schools in 1803 (86,073 scholars) . . . 1 in 19 
 
 Proportion of ditto in ditto, in 1846 (1,221,774 scholars) 1 in 2|
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 39 
 
 Average Duration of Day-school instruction for ALL the 
 Children in England and Wales (exclusive of 200,000 
 Infant-scholars) ....... 4f years 
 
 Average Duration of Sunday-school instruction for ALL 
 the Children of the Working Classes in England and 
 Wales 7 years 
 
 I do not say that this is enough. I am far from saying, that 
 here the swelling tide of knowledge ought to stop, or will, or can. 
 Looking at the mighty progress that has been made, at the velocity 
 with which the great engine of education is now travelling on its 
 magnificent way, at the unexhausted force of the motives which are 
 impelling it, at the momentum which even the brute mass of society 
 has acquired, I no more expect to see it brought to a stand, than to 
 see our planet halt in its revolution round the source of light. But 
 I could as soon believe this, as I could believe that the substitution 
 of the Compulsory for the Voluntary Principle would mend its speed. 
 To my judgment, the change is as wise as it would be, in dissatis- 
 faction with the unseen forces and noiseless movements of the orbs 
 of light, to hang each planet to its sun in visible chains. I think 
 there never was a more vulgar piece of narrow statesmanship than 
 that of Lord John Russell, in adopting the project of Mr. Kay 
 Shuttleworth. 
 
 But we are told that the justification of that measure is in the 
 inefficient character of the education, now given. Two years ago, it 
 was the fashion to say, that we had not half as many schools as 
 were wanted. That delusion having been dispelled, we are now told 
 that the education given "in the schools is worthless. I frankly 
 admit that we have still many wretched schools. I have been told 
 by the Morning Chronicle, that I am the advocate-general of 
 bad schools. In one sense I am. I maintain that we have as 
 much right to have wretched schools as to have wretched news- 
 papers, wretched preachers, wretched books, wretched institutions, 
 wretched political economists, wretched Members of Parliament, and 
 wretched Ministers. You cannot proscribe all these things without 
 proscribing Liberty. The man is a simpleton who says, that to advo- 
 cate Liberty is to advocate badness. The man is a quack and doctrinaire 
 of the worst German breed, who would attempt to force all mind, 
 whether individual or national, into a mould of ideal perfection, 
 to stretch it out or to lop -it down to his own Procrustean standard.
 
 40 ON THE PKOUHESS AN1> EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 I maintain that Liberty is the chief cause of excellence ; but it would 
 cease to be Liberty if you proscribed everything inferior. Cultivate 
 giants if you please ; but do not stifle dwarfs. The servants were 
 well-intentioned, but not wise, who proposed to pluck up the tares ; 
 for there was danger that they should root up the wheat with them. 
 Yet this is the very spirit in which many Members of Parliament 
 and leading journalists, calling themselves Liberal, too are now 
 proposing to remodel society by Act of Parliament, and to govern 
 mind and morals by Boards of Commissioners. 
 
 In the better days of his political philosophy, Mr. Macaulay thus 
 rebuked this dangerous propensity to lean upon the State for the 
 mental and moral advancement of the nation : 
 
 " It is not, (said he) by the intermeddling of Mr. Southey's idol, the 
 omniscient and omnipotent State, but BYTHE PRUDENCE AND ENERGY 
 OF THE PEOPLE, that England has hitherto been carried forward in 
 civilization ; and it is to the same prudence and the same energy that 
 we now look forward with comfort and good hope. Our rulers will 
 best promote the improvement of the nation, by strictly confining 
 themselves to their own legitimate duties ; by leaving capital to 
 find its most lucrative course, commodities their fair price, industry 
 and intelligence their natural reward, idleness and folly their natural 
 punishment, by maintaining peace, by defending property, by dimi- 
 nishing the price of law, and by observing strict economy in every 
 department of the State. Let the Government do this ; THE PEOPLE 
 
 WILL ASSUREDLY DO THE REST."* 
 
 But I declare my belief that education has improved in quality 
 quite as much as it has increased in amount within the present 
 century. One feature of that improvement consists in the substitu- 
 tion of a mild and reasonable for an excessively severe discipline. 
 This reform was a leading characteristic both of Dr. Bell's and Mr. 
 Lancaster's systems. Dr. Southey thus speaks of Dr. Bell's expe- 
 rience in his childhood, at a school at St. Andrew's : 
 
 " He never spoke of the discipline, or rather tyranny, which he 
 witnessed and endured in those years of his life, without indignation : 
 ' Oh, it was terrible !' he said, ' the remains of feudal severity ! I 
 never went to school without trembling. I could not tell whether 
 I should be flogged or not.' His father, he used to say, had been 
 driven from the grammar-school by cruelties that would now hardly 
 
 * Critical and Historical Essays, contributed to the Edinburgh Review. By 
 Thomas B. Macaulay ; vol. i. p. 269. See also the same article, passim.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 41 
 
 be believed ; yet neither his father nor he were wanting in capacity 
 or diligence. Schools (adds Dr. Southey) were everywhere con- 
 ducted in those days upon a system of brutal severity." * 
 
 I hardly need say, that this system is now banished from nearly 
 all kinds of schools, and has been denounced by every educa- 
 tional reformer, as well as satirized by our most popular writers, 
 who exercise an influence as great as a hundred Government 
 inspectors. If there are any schools where the brutal severity 
 lingers, I apprehend it is those which are furthest removed from 
 popular influence. 
 
 The methods of tuition, the school apparatus, the school-books, 
 the plans of constructing and ventilating school-buildings, the com- 
 bination of moral and religious with secular instruction, and every 
 other branch of this great practical question, have been illustrated 
 and improved to a most gratifying extent, by Pestalozzi, Oberlin, 
 Bell, Lancaster, Fellenberg, Wilderspiu, Arnold, Stow, and many 
 others, by the Normal-schools of Yverdun, the Borough-road, 
 Battersea, Chelsea, Gray's Inn-road, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and 
 Dublin. The Central Society of Education, the Society for the 
 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and many other voluntary associa- 
 tions, have *it least circulated the improvements of others, if they 
 have not made discoveries themselves. The science of education has 
 made far greater progress in our own day than that of medicine, 
 jurisprudence, or political economy. 
 
 Now, inasmuch as our Normal-schools at present contain about 
 1,000 schoolmasters and schoolmistresses, which number is renewed 
 every year, or every two or three years, and as fresh Normal-schools 
 are constantly rising up, it is absolutely certain that the country 
 will soon be pervaded with well-trained teachers ; and by the natural 
 and necessary competition among teachers, in the presence of a 
 critical public and perhaps few portions of the public more critical 
 than the parents among the working classes, or I may even say the 
 children themselves, who are ever comparing notes with each other 
 the improved methods of tuition must inevitably be forced into 
 general adoption. 
 
 If it be said, that private schoolmasters will not adopt these 
 
 improvements, I reply, that they are far more interested in adopting 
 
 them than the teachers of public schools. Their livelihood absolutely 
 
 depends on their success. And if Parliament can discover stronger 
 
 * Southey's Life of Dr. Bell, vol. i. p. 5.
 
 42 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 motives than self-interest and necessity for the rapid and sure adop- 
 tion of improvements, it is the most remarkable discovery of the 
 day. I am by no means sure, that large public schools will in the 
 long run prove the most efficient instruments of education. The 
 discovery of Dr. Bell was long supposed to be invaluable ; but the 
 monitorial system is now condemned by many able educators, espe- 
 cially on the Continent. Let every system have an open field, and 
 in the end the best will win the day. Let private schoolmasters 
 receive fair-play from the Government, and not be unjustly dis- 
 couraged by grants of public money to public schools which compete 
 with them. Every interference of Government tends to increase the 
 necessity for that interference and the habit of it ; the more Govern- 
 ment interferes, the more likely shall we be to have a practical Act 
 of Uniformity in regard to schools ; and in my judgment that 
 uniformity, so far from being an advantage, as many doctrinaires 
 suppose, would be the greatest obstruction to improvement. 
 
 The private schoolmasters have just adopted an institution which 
 promises to be of great utility, if it should keep clear of Government, 
 and avoid the evils of a monopolising corporation, namely, the 
 " College of Preceptors" If wisely and popularly conducted, the 
 College will acquire public confidence ; and its examinations and 
 certificates will be quite as valuable as those of any learned body. 
 This is another proof of the unlimited inventiveness of freedom. 
 
 It would be just as hopeless to continue bad modes of education 
 when better become generally known, as it would have been to 
 retain the old weapons of war after the discovery of gunpowder, to 
 spin with the one-thread wheel after Arkwright and Hargreaves had 
 perfected their spinning-frames, and Watt the steam-engine, or to 
 travel by pack-horses and stage-wagons, after the construction of 
 railways. 
 
 Even the strongest of all the Educational Societies is subject to 
 the law of competition. In the year 1826, Dr. Bell, finding that the 
 National Schools were falling off, wrote as follows : 
 
 " Our schools are not attended as they might be, because neither 
 parents nor children find they are worth attending ; and other 
 schools, inferior in almost every respect, but where something is 
 taught, however badly, have attractions for scholars which ours have 
 not, because superior attention is paid to their modes of instruction, 
 however inferior in themselves, and to superintendence." * 
 * Life of Dr. Bell, vol. iil, p. 317.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENdlAND. 43 
 
 The National Society, then, was under the same necessity as any 
 other Society, of improving its schools, or losing its scholars. And 
 so it ought. I am aware that Government wish to promote good 
 education. The first effect of their interference may be to produce 
 some improvement ; but unless all experience is valueless, the ulti- 
 mate effect will be to stereotype the methods of teaching, to bolster 
 up old systems, and to prevent improvement. 
 
 One of the grand arguments of our State Educationists is, that 
 the Voluntary Principle will not, and cannot, sustain the annual 
 expense of well-conducted schools. This argument is strongly 
 pressed both by Professor Hoppus and Dr. Vaughan ; and my 
 respected friend, the Professor, in a recent letter in the Morniny 
 Chronicle, after making a calculation of what he supposed would be 
 the annual cost of public schools, appealed to me whether it was 
 possible for the Voluntary Principle to sustain it. My reply is 
 brief, but I think conclusive. First, That the Voluntary Principle, 
 by its two modes of operation, namely, the payments of those who 
 are benefited, and the contributions of the benevolent, can sustain, 
 amply sustain, every needful cost, both of education and of religion. 
 And, secondly, That if the people cannot sustain it, the Government 
 cannot ; for the Government has neither strength nor money but 
 what it derives from the people. 
 
 It may be responded " We know that the people have the power, 
 if they are disposed to use it, but they are not ; and, therefore, it is 
 necessary to compel them." Oh, then, it is not a pecuniary or a 
 physical ability that is wanting, but a moral ability ; and for that you 
 leave the people and fly to the Government! you abandon the 
 Voluntary for the Compulsory Principle ! For shame ! Where have 
 you been living, that you know so little, and think so meanly, of 
 the people of England ? Have you been shut up within the walls 
 of colleges, poring over German philosophy ? Yet even those 
 colleges should have spoken to you of the power of English liberality 
 and public spirit ; for every stone of them was laid by the Voluntary 
 Principle. Have you never heard that the Nonconformists of Eng- 
 land and Wales, who are the poorer sections of the community, have 
 built about 13,000 places of worship,* and are sustaining their own 
 ministers and services ; which, at an average of only 120/. a year for 
 each place, implies an aggregate Voluntary expenditure of more than 
 a million and a half yearly ? Are you not aware that the Church of 
 
 * The following table of Nonconformist places of worship in England and
 
 44 ON THE PKOGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 England have, within our own generation, built or rebuilt several 
 thousands of churches, and that for most of them new funds have 
 been provided? Do you forget the millions that must have been 
 expended in building and supporting Sunday-schools arid Day- 
 schools ; and the still more extraordinary fact of the moral and 
 spiritual agency employed in the Sunday-schools ? Do you not 
 know that there are benevolent societies, having their centres in this 
 metropolis, which collect from the people more than half a million 
 sterling every year, by far the greater part of which is intended for 
 the religious benefit of heathen nations, the black man and the red, 
 the savage and the cannibal ? Have you not heard how many 
 Sunday-schools and Day-schools are supported by these societies, 
 
 Wales has been compiled with care from the official publications of nearly all 
 the religious bodies mentioned for the year 1847 : 
 
 NONCONFORMIST CHAPELS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Wesleyan Methodist . . . 3,000 Methodist New Connexion . 277 
 
 Independent 1,800 Unitarian 220 
 
 Baptist 1,435 Orthodox Presbyterian . . 147 
 
 Primitive Methodist . . . 1,421 Lady Huntingdon's ... 30 
 
 Roman Catholic .... 540 In^bamites, New Jerusalem 
 
 Bible Christian 391 Church, and various, (esti- 
 
 Quaker 346 mated) 500 
 
 Wesleyan Association . . . 316 
 
 Total . . 10,423 
 
 NONCONFORMIST CHAPELS IN WALES. 
 
 Calvinistic Methodist .... 759 Quaker 9 
 
 Independent 640 Wesleyan Association ... 6 
 
 Baptist 312 Primitive Methodist .... 12 
 
 Wesleyan 469 Various minor Sects, (supposed) 80 
 
 Unitarian 30 
 
 Total . .2,317 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 Chapels in England 10,423 
 
 Ditto in Wales 2,317 
 
 Total . . 12,740 
 
 Beside the above, there are many preaching-places. For example The Pri- 
 mitive Methodists, in their Annual Report, say that the 1,421 chapels mentioned 
 above are " Connexional Chapels," in addition to which they have 3,340 
 " Rented Chapels." The Wesleyan Association also mention 215 " Preaching- 
 places, rooms, &c," The Wesleyans, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and 
 perhaps all the other bodies, have also preaching-rooms and stations, in addi- 
 tion to the chapels enumerated.
 
 VOT.rXTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 45 
 
 thousands of miles from our own shores ; that they have founded 
 colleges for training ministers in Hindoostan, China, and the islands 
 of the Pacific ; that they have Normal-schools and Infant-schools as 
 successful as those of England, in islands a few years since only peopled 
 by the most brutal barbarians ; that their devoted agents plunge into 
 the wilderness, take up thei. . bode in the most pestilent climates, and 
 brave every danger and hardship, for the benefit of tribes who often 
 repay them by seeking their blood ? Or, as it is the moral ability of 
 the people that you question, have you not heard that a million and 
 a quarter of the inhabitants of Britain, and a much greater number 
 in Ireland, have had the moral courage to abandon the use of 
 intoxicating liquors ? And that at least half a million of persons in 
 England, representing perhaps families comprising two millions, are 
 joined in Provident Societies, which require the self-denial of years 
 to provide against remote and contingent evils ? 
 
 If you know these facts, as you do, how can you doubt the ability 
 and willingness of the religious people of England to give their poorer 
 fellow-countrymen and fellow- Christians whatever help may be 
 needed towards the education of their children ? And above all, 
 how can you doubt it, when you must know that by far the greater 
 part of the work is already done, and the schools already in operation ? 
 You talk of the impossibility of raising a few hundred thousands 
 a year, forgetting that the annual income of the people of England 
 and Wales must be from two to three hundred millions ! 
 
 If you think my confidence in my fellow-countrymen unwarranted, 
 listen to the far bolder faith, which one of the greatest of our political 
 philosophers expressed in the people of our American colonies. 
 Had his wise and generous principles been acted upon, England 
 might have saved her colonies, her blood, and 140,000,000^. of her 
 treasure. What Mr. Burke said of the American Assemblies in 
 17/5, may, with confidence immeasurably stronger, be said in 1848, 
 of the people of England. He represents his ministerial opponents, 
 who were for levying taxes by force on the Americans, as saying to 
 him, by way of objection to his measure of conciliation : 
 
 " Your plan gives you no revenue. No ! (he replies ;) but it 
 does. It secures to the subject the power of REFUSAL ; the first 
 of all revenues. Experience is a cheat, and fact a liar, if this power 
 in the subject of proportioning his grant, or of not granting at all, 
 has not been found the richest mine of revenue ever discovered by 
 the skill or by the fortune of man. It does not, indeed, vote you
 
 46 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICIENCY OF 
 
 152,752?. 11*. 2fd, nor any other paltry limited sum ; but it gives 
 the strong box itself, the fund, the bank, from whence only revenues 
 can arise from a people sensible of freedom : Posita luditur area. 
 In truth, this dread of penury of supply from a free assembly" 
 (I may say, from a free people) " has no foundation in nature. For 
 first observe, that besides the desire which all men have naturally 
 of supporting the honour of their own government," (I may say, of 
 their own country, or county, or city,) " that sense of dignity and 
 that security to property, which ever attends freedom, has a ten- 
 dency to increase the stock of the free community. Most may be 
 taken where most is accumulated. And what is the soil or climate 
 where experience has not uniformly proved, that the voluntary flow 
 of heaped-up plenty, bursting from the weight of its own rich 
 luxuriance, has ever run with a more copious stream of revenue than 
 could be squeezed from the dry husks of oppressed indigence by the 
 straining of all the political machinery in the world ? ' ' 
 
 Thus " the power of refusal," which our State Educationists 
 consider the fatal vice of the Voluntary System, is pronounced by 
 Mr. Burke to be " the first of all revenues :" and the power " of 
 not granting at all" which they believe would certainly be exercised, 
 is declared by that statesman to be " the richest mine of revenue 
 ever discovered by the skill or by the fortune of man." In that one 
 passage is contained the true and profound philosophy of the 
 Voluntary System. 
 
 May Ij before I close, present to you an ocular illustration of that 
 vast advancement of the people in knowledge and intelligence which 
 it has been the object of this Lecture to demonstrate, and to trace 
 to the independent energies of the people themselves? Lord 
 Brougham has called the newspaper " the best possible public 
 instructor." Whether this description be correct or otherwise, no 
 one will deny the vast power of that instrument of the diffusion of 
 knowledge. Perhaps in a free country there could hardly be a truer 
 indication of the amount of popular thought, active intelligence, and 
 general reading, than the newspaper. The supply of intellectual 
 food must bear some proportion to the intellectual appetite. I wish, 
 then, I had had copies of the London newspapers of the last century, 
 to contrast before your eyes with the colossal papers of the present 
 day. Unfortunately I have not. But it chances that I possess 
 copies of a provincial newspaper belonging to four different periods ; 
 and as the memory of the eye is stronger in many persons than that
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. 47 
 
 of the ear, 1 will exhibit them. This is a provincial newspaper of 
 the year 1/29 ; this is the same newspaper of the date of 1739 ; 
 this of 1778; and this of 1848. [The Lecturer exhibited copies 
 of the Le?ds Mercury for the ahove periods.] The first is a 4-page 
 tract ; the last contains more matter than an ordinary octavo volume. 
 The first contains 5,000 words, the last 180,000. Such has been 
 the growth of knowledge and intelligence in England without 
 Government help. \Vould"the growth have heen as great with it ? 
 Would it have been one-tenth part as great ? The improvement in 
 those newspapers explains the political reforms of the last hundred 
 years : and I ask, did those reforms proceed from the Government, 
 or did they proceed from the people ? 
 
 I have done. The case is before you for your verdict. You will 
 bear me witness that I have drawn my facts from no narrow range, 
 my authorities from no exclusive circle, my conclusions from no 
 scanty or doubtful premises. A broad view has been laid before 
 you of the growth of education and intelligence, in combination with 
 that of virtue and religion, among the people ; and, at the same 
 time, we have so entered into details, and applied the test of figures, 
 as to avoid the delusion that often attends vague generalities. Am 
 I not warranted in saying that the progress of England during the 
 last century, but most of all within the last half-century, has indeed 
 been mighty ? that it has been accomplished by the independent and 
 voluntary exertions of the people themselves ? that Religion, Know- 
 ledge, and Liberty have gone hand-in-hand, and mutually strength- 
 ened each other ? 
 
 For myself, when I survey the recent history of my country, my 
 heart swells with exultation. I am proud to be an Englishman, and 
 still more proud to be a Voluntary. But if I am proud of the past, 
 I can trust the future advancement of my country to the same 
 principle which has achieved such great moral triumphs. I should 
 neither think it honourable nor wise to change our policy in the full 
 tide of our success. And if a Continental policy should be creeping - 
 in among us, a policy whose spirit is materialism, and whose grand 
 resource is functionarism, a policy which would impair the noble 
 self-reliance of the people, and bring religion itself into bondage, I 
 call upon you to give it your utmost resistance, and to rally but the 
 closer around that standard of virtuous Willinghood, which our 
 fathers reared in worse times, which we will never desert, and . 
 which, I confidently believe, will wave over a regenerated world. \^
 
 LECTURE IT.
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 BY THE KEY. A. WELLS. 
 
 Present difficulties connected -with the question Working classes Their full manhood 
 Their vast numbers Their social importance Their depression Exaggerated repre- 
 sentations of the evils prevailing among the working classes Desires for their elevation 
 Virtue essential to this The working classes need many ameliorations, but education 
 essential to them all, and religion essential to a just education Means already provided 
 for their education Constant improvements therein Aims in education ought to be 
 high The people should be moved to seek and provide education for themselves An 
 educated nation a noble spectacle Congregationalists can only educate religiously 
 Cannot receive Government grants Are not sectarian in their present educational course 
 Could not possibly approve the present Minutes of Council Regard education itself 
 but as a means to promote liberty, piety, and salvation. 
 
 A LARGE subject a theme in itself of deep interest and now 
 rendered by circumstances in England doubly momentous. Here, 
 past neglect, with its arrears of labour, and its dangers of mischief 
 with its difficulties to be overcome, and its controversies to be 
 decided addresses a loud call to every lover of his country and of 
 his species, to contribute his mite, however small, towards the great 
 work of educating the people of England ; while there are dangers 
 not a few to be avoided, arising out of the excess, and irregularity, 
 and impatience of our new-born zeal, which may rush upon its end, 
 too regardless of the means employed, and exaggerating at once the 
 evils to be remedied and the results to be gained. Just now some 
 sober wisdom, some exact inquiries, some moderated expectations, 
 may be hardly less useful, and not at all less necessary, than energy 
 and courage, to do well, and for permanent good, the too long- 
 neglected work of general education. 
 
 Our sympathy is this evening challenged for the working classes : 
 that is, in fact, almost for human kind at large, the condition of 
 labour being so universally that of our race, as to render the sons of 
 wealth and of ease but the exceptions, and the fractional minority in 
 all lands and in all ages. Ever imposed on by appearances, and 
 seeing mankind distributed into ranks and orders, presenting an 
 
 E 2
 
 52 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WORTHING CLASSES. 
 
 exterior, in some to dazzle, in some to repel, we yield to an influence 
 too likely to sway our judgment, till we call the proud happy, and 
 despise the poor. But here we own the working classes our fellow- 
 men. We see in each peasant and artizan entire human nature, in all 
 its integrity and completeness. In each we recognise and honour all 
 the physical and mental, all the social and moral, all the spiritual 
 and immortal endowments and capabilities of man. We put aside 
 rank, employment, culture, condition, that we may come at the 
 nobleness and value of our common nature. Nor do we perceive, in 
 these our brethren, any inferior type of humanity, a feebler reason, 
 a heart capable only of less noble sentiments, and less tender 
 affections a moral sense, yielding but poorer virtues, and less 
 trustworthy integrity. No ! all the differences of developed man we 
 attribute to culture, but find original, native man, quite irrespective 
 of rank the equal child of the impartial Maker and Benefactor of 
 the race. 
 
 Neither can we admit or feel, that the well-being, happiness, and 
 future destiny of an individual in humble life are less important than 
 those of an individual in a higher social position. To relieve the 
 pain of a peasant, is to remove as much suffering as to cure the 
 equal ailment of a prince. To save the soul of a labourer from death, 
 is to effect a work as important as if that spirit dwelt in a person 
 arrayed in fine linen and faring sumptuously every day. To render 
 a cottage the abode of household virtues, and domestic enjoyments, is 
 to diffuse as much happiness as to carry the same blessings into a 
 more splendid abode. 
 
 The Christian revelation teaches the sublime and ennobling doc- 
 trine of the essential, not of the social, equality of mankind. The 
 personal man the accountable, immortal man is, in its creed, the 
 same curious, wonderful, and fearful workmanship of God all the 
 world over. Outward development and position may indefinitely 
 vary. Diversified ranks and relations among men for social pur- 
 poses are as much the will of God, and therefore as sacred, as the 
 essential equality of the race. Just sentiments towards our fellow- 
 men can only result from giving due weight to both these considera- 
 tions. But by far the more common and fruitful source of views 
 unfavourable to benevolence and to justice is found in the prevalent 
 habit of sinking the individual in the class, of rarely coming close 
 enough to the person through thought of his condition and of 
 forgetting the man equally in the great and the humble, the splendid
 
 ON THE EUlX'ATIoN OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 53 
 
 and the mean. Genuine philanthropy is that love of man, and care 
 for his welfare, which nothing but fellowship with personal, living 
 human nature, in its native powers and workings, can produce. 
 
 But when we pass from consideration of the individual to that of 
 the class, then the interests and welfare of the humbler portion of 
 mankind are found to preponderate unspeakably. Here numbers tell 
 with prodigious, overwhelming force. If each man of every class 
 be essentially of equal worth, the multitudes of these equal beings, 
 grouped as the working classes, give to that division of our common 
 race an unutterable importance. How they swarm and increase 
 in the earth ! We labour for terms to express or intimate their 
 numbers. They are the "masses," the "millions," the "people." 
 They are thought of as in excess. They increase too rapidly. How 
 shall they be fed ? how governed ? how improved ? Indeed, their 
 multitudes render them awful. We equally want faith in God, and 
 love to man, when contemplating in thought the sublime spectacle of 
 these innumerable crowds, we inquire, what can we do for their 
 welfare ? How can they be lifted up to knowledge, virtue, and 
 happiness ? 
 
 Nor is their social importance inferior in its place to their essential 
 consequence. The three elements of the resources of the great 
 human commonwealth are labour, intelligence, and capital the last 
 is gathered and administered by the wealthy ; the second is con- 
 tributed by the gifted and studious : but that first great contribution 
 of endless toil is supplied by the working classes. There are they in 
 your fields and your mines, your factories and your ships, your 
 warehouses and your workshops, giving an amount of manual and 
 physical effort which no nature, no patience but that of men bred to 
 labour, could sustain. Hardly less consumers than producers, they 
 form that great elastic power in the community which endures 
 privation and adjusts demand and supply. Amidst scarcity and 
 high prices, their unavoidable privations diminish consumption ; and 
 amidst plenty and cheapness, their increased enjoyments restore the 
 remuneration of capital and the profits of trade. In national policy 
 their judgment, once enlightened, would have immense force and equal 
 value their voice, raised in favour of religion, peace, rational liberty, 
 and just government, would be irresistible. These multitudes, once 
 enlightened and virtuous, would render the social fabric immovably 
 secure and peaceful. 
 
 Hitherto the condition of the working classes has been, in all
 
 54 OU THE EDUCATION OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 times and in all countries, one of severe and unjust depression. In 
 itself it is far indeed from dishonourable or unhappy. It favours 
 health, simplicity, and freedom from factitious care. Its wants and 
 temptations are few. Thoughtful moralists pronounce, that if in 
 the scale of advantages for human welfare it does not rise above, at 
 least it does not sink below, the positions occupied by the learned, 
 the wealthy, and the powerful. Of course this vast portion of the 
 human family must ever take its full share in the calamities inci- 
 dent to the human race in its present condition such as are the 
 results of the order of things prevailing in this world beyond the 
 power of human control such as bear undeniable marks of being 
 the appointments of the Great Ruler of the system amidst which we 
 live From neither public nor private calamities can the lowly 
 position of the multitude shield them. Disease and death spare 
 them not. By them the horrors of famine must be first endured. 
 Among them pestilence reaps its most ample harvest. The iron 
 hoof of war tramples them to the dust. Unjust laws and exactions 
 make them their first victims. It is to these last that reference is 
 here most relevant. The many of mankind have suffered awfully at 
 the hands of the few. Either terrible retributions, or better days 
 are at hand. The latter, we hope and believe. The very names 
 branded on the sons of the soil vividly portray the treatment they 
 have received from its lords. Villein, serf, vassal, slave, are terms 
 of dire import. The notion that the people must be kept down, is 
 a shocking maxim. The sentiment that they must not be taught, 
 lest they should cease to obey, smites a heavy blow on the Govern- 
 ment which is conscious that it would never be endured by an 
 enlightened people. Through fatal mistakes, it has been thought 
 necessary to maintain rank by proscription trade by monopoly 
 religion by ignorance power by force property by terror ; and the 
 dregs of this cup of miseries the poor have wrung out and drunk. 
 Neglect of the people unconcern at their sufferings apathy or 
 despair as to their improvement forms a serious count in the indict- 
 ment brought by justice against those who ought to have been their 
 shepherds and benefactors, using for their behoof all the powers of 
 Church and State. But brighter times are at hand. Light breaks 
 through these heavy clouds in all directions. The glorious enter- 
 prise of elevating the multitude has been commenced. The 
 heavenly mission of proclaiming glad tidings to the poor has been 
 entered upon. On all sides men are busy in exploring their suffer-
 
 ON TUK EDUCATION OF THK WORKING CLASSES. 55 
 
 Jags, and publishing their wrongs, that they may be redressed. 
 This is the bright and hopeful feature of our time. This fully 
 redeems it from the opprobrium, that it is utterly sordid and 
 material that it has no great thought, no noble impulse. Care for 
 the many is its great thought, its noble impulse : a far higher 
 mood of man this than that which has fought battles, built 
 cathedrals, and adorned cities. Nor will this mission be vain and 
 unsuccessful. The many may be instructed and raised. They will 
 be found grateful for benefits. Light will vindicate its superiority 
 to darkness ; Christianity will win its last earthly honour, and gain 
 the last earthly confirmation of its truth, in the power of its spirit 
 and its doctrine to raise the multitude out of the wrongs and 
 miseries of so many afflictive ages. 
 
 The condition of the working classes in our own country at this 
 time has been portrayed in very dark colours. Not a little 
 exaggeration must be allowed for in the descriptions given by many 
 excellent persons in pursuit of most laudable and benevolent efforts 
 for the general good. Zeal to move the public mind, and to obtain 
 the necessary funds for the removal of diversified evils, has led in 
 many instances to representations of those evils, too strong, too 
 highly-coloured, too general : hence our country has been, iu fact, 
 libelled. The Romanist has derived from Protestant witnesses a 
 testimony unfavourable to the influence of the Reformation, after 
 three centuries of trial, on the English people. The advocate of 
 State centralization has borrowed the statements of the friends of 
 Voluntary education, to prove Prussia and France far more generally 
 educated countries than England. The Protectionist has drawn 
 most gloomy pictures of the operatives the Free-trader in reprisal 
 has set forth in still darker colours the condition of the peasantry. 
 Churchmen and Dissenters, after their different modes, bewail the 
 irreligion of the people. Advocates for sanitary reform proclaim the 
 squalor, indecency, and* domestic degradation of great multitudes ; 
 while those who toil for the improvement of our criminal code and 
 prison discipline, make every reader shudder by their details of 
 hardened profligacy and juvenile delinquency. On ah 1 sides a dismal 
 chorus is heard chaunting one unvaried theme of reproach, lamenta- 
 tion, and terror, on the condition of the people the millions of 
 England. It is all true, or not true, as it is applied. If these 
 statements are made to embrace all, or most of the English people, 
 they are false and libellous ; if only to apply to portions of the 
 people, unhappily they are too true ; and they supply a melancholy
 
 56 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 comment on party religion, party politics, class legislation, and 
 
 excessive commercial cupidity. But, after all, the great multitude 
 
 of the working classes in England are not hrutal, not ignorant, not 
 
 vicious. There are soundness and health in the land. There are 
 
 materials for improvement, and grounds for hope. The better 
 
 qualities, the better condition of the great mass of our population, 
 
 supply motives for effort, no less than the wretchedness and vice of 
 
 detached portions of it. Some require to be redeemed ; all want 
 
 to be raised. We are not for keeping down, we are for raising up. 
 
 We would lift, by a tranquil process of improvement, the entire 
 
 fabric of society without dislocation, conflict, or confusion ; as the 
 
 wide surface of society is elevated, we would have it heave up all 
 
 the higher ranks at their present relative altitudes, or in better 
 
 adjusted and safer proportions all rising together equally, and in 
 
 due order : like those vast geological forces which lift whole regions 
 
 plain, mountain, valley, lake, and river without convulsion or 
 
 disturbance a rise unknown till the previous line of sea margin on 
 
 the shore is found to have been raised far beyond the reach of 
 
 ocean's highest tides. 
 
 Our ambition is to see the multitude of the English people 
 enlightened and virtuous raised above dishonourable dependence, 
 and whatsoever is abject in want and suffering. We would see 
 them in decent attire and comfortable dwellings in family order 
 and domestic pleasures. They should have their rational sports 
 and recreations their well-spent holidays and excursions. Their 
 toil should be lessened, and their pleasures increased. England is a 
 free country. She has noble representative institutions. She makes 
 public opinion bear powerfully on legislation and policy. She 
 summons her sons to think and speak on public affairs and national 
 interests. It is, therefore, at once unsafe, inconsistent, and 
 disgraceful that any numerous class of her people should be un- 
 educated ; unable to appreciate either her interests or their own ; 
 impatient for a suffrage which it is equally unsafe to concede or 
 to withhold, because they are disqualified, not by poverty, but by 
 ignorance, for the trust which only the enlightened and virtuous can 
 fitly hold. 
 
 We have no idea of either personal or national elevation apart 
 from increased virtue in the individual or in the multitude. Social 
 virtue is the parent of social welfare. The good man in the good 
 citizen. Temperance, honour, courage, prudence, and self-respect ; 
 the fear of God and the love of man, these are the virtues which
 
 O* THE EDUCATION OF THE \VOKKING CLASSES. 57 
 
 will ever bless the possessor, and make him a blessing. Impregnate 
 with sucli virtues the multitudes of a nation, and that will become a 
 great and glorious people. The wealthiest and the mightiest of men 
 cannot dispense with these virtues ; without them their possessions 
 and their power will be but a curse to themselves and others. 
 The humble sons of labour need them no less ; for they alone can 
 redeem their toil and straituess from degradation and misery. 
 Virtue is our want. Whatever will promote virtue is our remedy. 
 Without virtue we are but mocked with promise of reform, and 
 predictions of prosperity. Religion without virtue is a sham. 
 Liberty without virtue is a cheat. Free institutions without virtue 
 are but chains in another form. Intelligence without virtue is but 
 illuminated wickedness. Tell not the people knowledge is power : 
 virtue is power. Tell not the people, the franchise is liberty : 
 virtue is liberty. Speak not of national conscience, of incorporated 
 religion. Goodness is ever personal, and the virtue of a nation is 
 the virtue of its individual citizens. Their several bosoms are the 
 only store-places of this inestimable and noble treasure. There is a 
 God in Heaven, and a law on earth, which will ever bind together 
 crime and misery, virtue and happiness, as in the most inevitable 
 connexion of cause and effect. 
 
 What, then, shall be done for the working classes of England ? 
 Many things would we do for them, were power and will to us the 
 same. \Ve would improve their dwellings, and make them scenes 
 of comfort, order, and affection. We would shorten their hours of 
 toil, and in many cases greatly increase its remuneration. We 
 would lessen their need of charity by rendering to them more justice. 
 We would diffuse among them afresh the power of religion, and 
 gather them into the sanctities of the Sabbath and the house of 
 prayer, as the scenes of their holiest, happiest earthly hours. But 
 one thing must be done : they must be educated. This alone is not 
 all they want ; but this they do most urgently need, and without 
 this their many other wants can never be supplied. Through this 
 the way may be found to their full emancipation. Non-education is 
 indeed an impossibility. The child not trained to knowledge will 
 be schooled in ignorance ; if not brought up in industry, idleness 
 will be his instructor ; if not disciplined for virtue, the lessons of 
 vice are at hand. Every true lover of education raises his standard 
 high. He can be satisfied with no low aims. He would have the 
 understanding informed, the powers exercised and enlarged, the 
 character formed, the man developed. Instruction and education
 
 58 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 are his two ideas. By instruction, he would have knowledge stored 
 and built into the mind. By education, he would have the native, 
 in-born powers of the mind drawn forth and invigorated. In both 
 processes he would have the sacred and the common mingled and 
 interwoven. They are in their own nature allied, and mutually 
 dependent and helpful. Everything true is in harmony with all 
 other truth. No knowledge can we acquire of nature, of history, of 
 art, but, if we will trace it to either its root or its end, we find it in 
 God. Nothing that we know can we interpret or apply, but it will 
 give an utterance in favour of virtue and right. Knowledge has 
 been too much and too long divorced from religion : their disloca- 
 tion, not their blending, is unnatural and injurious. It is not, 
 indeed, so much theological and dogmatic religion that should be 
 blended with all education, but that of the heart and the life the 
 simple and the practical the rudimental and the genuine. The 
 teacher of religion, whether parental or professional, should ever be 
 religious, and teach religion should employ its sanctions unfold 
 its principles drop into the young mind its seeds ; be himself 
 governed by its spirit, and be animated by an enlightened care for 
 the very highest interests of his pupils. 
 
 How shall the working-classes be indeed educated 1 How shall 
 schools be provided for those as yet altogether neglected? How 
 shall the schools already in operation be improved and rendered 
 really efficient ? How shall the working-classes be themselves 
 awakened to a just sense of the value and necessity of education for 
 their children ? How shall education for the many be best diffused 
 throughout this country in harmony with its free institutions, and 
 without collision with its numerous and deeply-rooted diversities of 
 opinions and parties in religion? These are questions equally 
 weighty and difficult. But they are not now asked for the first 
 time. The answer to them requires not still to be sought in specu- 
 lation and theory. On the contrary, these problems have already 
 been studied and solved by wise and practical benevolence. The 
 answer to them is, in great measure, supplied by the schemes, the 
 exertions, and the successes of the first half of this nineteenth 
 century, during which eventful and illustrious period a firm founda- 
 tion has been laid, on which to carry forward the noble work of 
 universal education. Beautiful and astonishing are the contrivances 
 and adaptations of recent philanthropy to diffuse the advantages of 
 education among all classes. 
 
 There are Infant-schools, for children of an age at which it was
 
 ON THE EDUCATION OF TI!K \VOK' . 59 
 
 formerly thought impossible that they should acquire knowledge or 
 endure discipline, and so were left to acquire every habit and dispo- 
 sition hostile to subsequent culture. Now, to the first freshness of 
 childhood, school is rendered a pleasure, and learning a pastime. 
 The years that were once worse than wasted, are now made to 
 receive an influence preparatory and advantageous for all the in- 
 struction of after-years. There is now also added the Sunday, as 
 well as the week-day, infant-class, when these interesting groups 
 are guided to knowledge and devotion by methods of engaging 
 gentleness and skill, instead of being coerced into unnatural quiet, 
 amidst the scenes of worship they could not in the least comprehend. 
 
 Then follow Sunday-schools in their almost universal adoption 
 and use. In them intelligence and religion are happily blended. 
 The sacred hours of the day are not desecrated, but hallowed, in 
 these labours of benevolence and necessity. Every charity of the 
 human heart is here exercised. Instruction is afforded in ingenious 
 and endless diversity, from the Infant-class for those that can but 
 lisp, to the Bible-class for those of more advanced years and attain- 
 ments. These Sunday-schools are the honour and salvation of 
 England. 
 
 There are your Daily-schools in constantly and rapidly increasing 
 numbers. Then there rise above these, evening-classes, people's 
 colleges, and mechanics' institutes. 
 
 For the outcasts there are Ragged-schools. For juvenile delin- 
 quents, Penitentiary-schools. For pauper children, Union-schools ; 
 these two latter classes of the unfortunate or criminal being legiti- 
 mately provided for by the Government, to whose care they are 
 confided, equally by the necessities and institutions of the country. 
 
 All these diversified forms of education are even more rapidly 
 improving than extending. They constantly become more efficient. 
 No part of the entire system shows any mark of decline or deterio- 
 ration. It is in full growth of power and improvement ; but is as 
 yet at an early period of development. In this age of astonishing 
 progress, education is seen holding an equal and honourable place 
 in the general advance. To this nothing has more contributed than 
 the strenuous efforts made for the improvement of teachers. Nor- 
 mal and Training-schools for instructors are admirable and indispen- 
 sable institutions : in them the future teachers of your schools are 
 themselves trained in knowledge and in the best mode of instructing 
 and governing youth. In these, also, there is constant improvement : 
 they will soon be made colleges of no mean rank. The elevation
 
 60 ON TILIi KDUCATIOX OK TJIK WOJIKING CLASSES. 
 
 of the schoolmaster has commenced, and is certain. The old oppro- 
 brium of his ignorance and tyranny will be wiped off. He will 
 become the man of intelligence and character the friend and bene- 
 factor of his charge. 
 
 Constant, also, are the improvements in school books and school 
 plans. The science of mind is found as open to discovery as the 
 science of matter. How to teach, how to improve children, are 
 questions admitting of new and advanced solutions, no less than 
 inquiries how best to cultivate the soil, or to perfect manufactures. 
 And these improvements cannot fail to proceed indefinitely, so 
 long as education is kept wide open, and free to competition, and 
 to all those impulses which liberty constantly supplies. But once 
 close up this great science and movement of mind from these 
 invigorating breezes, whether by monopoly or bounty, whether by 
 coercion or patronage, and the sure result will be torpor and stag- 
 nancy. Remove the popular impulse tell the people they cannot, 
 or they will not do this work give them the notion that there is 
 another power at hand to supply their deficiencies, and to do what- 
 ever they neglect let this be done, and education will obey the 
 same law that has hitherto invariably consigned to decay endowed 
 religion, protected trade, regulated literature, and patronized art. 
 
 If it be asked, " What limits would you place on the education of 
 the working-classes?" the answer is, "NONE." Teach them all 
 you can, by any means induce or enable them to learn. How far 
 would you carry the instruction of the working-classes ? As far as 
 possible. Alas ! we need place no limits, we need be jealous for 
 no bounds, we need fear no excess here : they, your pupils, will 
 restrict you. You will have no need to restrain them. Look at the 
 case. Ponder the facts. How brief an attendance can you secure 
 at your daily schools ! How few can you allure to your evening 
 classes and people's colleges, for advancement of their education 
 in the youthful period from fifteen to five-and -twenty ! In how few 
 can you kindle an emulous desire of advancement ? How do toil, 
 care, and want quench aspiration, and press down noble purpose ! 
 How does disordered human nature fail to value the intellectual, 
 the moral, and the immortal ! No ! ye friends of education, ad- 
 vancement will be your toil ; limitation your fear ! You are not yet 
 surrounded by clamorous applicants. Far remote appears the day 
 in which too much acquirement will be the peril of the multitude. 
 
 But apart from this, Who is afraid of knowledge ? of sound, 
 healthful intelligence ? Of knowledge, the light and joy of souls !
 
 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WORKING CI.ASSES. Gl 
 
 Of knowledge, the object for which minds were made, and their 
 faculties given ! Of knowledge, in capacity for which man resem- 
 bles his Maker; and in acquiring which he communes with all 
 created things ! Of knowledge, the foe of everything infidel, 
 sensual, and brutal! What page of history, science, or genuine 
 poetry must we close from any man, saying, Here knowledge is 
 perilous here ignorance alone is safety ? Of what discovered facts 
 in nature of what refined productions of genius must we say, 
 " These are the luxuries of the few alone?" If, indeed, only of the 
 few, those few are not the favoured in circumstances, but the 
 select in mind, and these may be found among the working-classes 
 in as large proportion as among the privileged classes ; and wherever 
 they may be found, there they should be sought, that at this un- 
 costly and noble banquet of mind they may be welcome guests, 
 and joyful partakers. Lift up the people, cheer on the people, to 
 as much acquisition of knowledge as possible. Raise everywhere 
 the standard of mind. If some, if many, so encouraged and helped, 
 press upwards into higher departments and circumstances in society, 
 so much the better : they will bring health and power with them 
 into the ranks, by which they will be hailed as brothers, not scowled 
 upon as intruders. No ; teach the people all they can learn, all they 
 will learn. 
 
 Then we would instruct the working-classes in manhood as well 
 as in childhood we would prolong their education from the school 
 into life. By the pulpit, by the press, by lectures, meetings, and 
 discussions by missions, politics, and affairs we would inform, 
 enlarge, and elevate the general, the universal mind. We would 
 have a knowing and a thinking people. Nor is this impossible : 
 we are on the way to this noble state. Should the second half of 
 this century equal the first in progress should it advance as far 
 onward from its present starting-point as that now closing has done 
 from its infinitely more unfavourable beginning, England will com- 
 mence the twentieth century of the Christian era, a land of light 
 such as the world never before saw ! And this is, moreover, the true 
 sentiment on which to attain whatever degrees of education are 
 really practicable; namely, to aim at the highest mark and standard. 
 It will be found an entire mistake to suppose that, if we design no 
 more than to teach the working-classes to read, write, and cipher 
 this, being a simple matter, will be easily effected and zeal to 
 accomplish it will be in proportion as the object seems practicable.
 
 62 ON THK EDUCATION OF THE WOBKTNG CLASSES. 
 
 On the contrary, so poor, so mechanical a notion will never rouse 
 to any generous, inspiring effort ; neither will such acquirements 
 be ever valued for their own sake, by the working-classes. It is 
 only as means to an end that elementary school-learning can ever 
 be thought valuable. When these accomplishments were rare, and 
 a distinction to the possessor, then the working-classes valued them, 
 because, on going into life, easier and more lucrative situations were 
 open to them on that account ; but now that they are becoming 
 common, even universal, they no longer confer this distinction and 
 advantage, but must be recommended as the necessary avenue to 
 mental advancement and pleasure to a respectable character and 
 position in society to a share in the great movements of mind 
 everywhere in action. 
 
 And though, at first sight, it may not appear so, yet, in truth, 
 this proposed elevation of the people is rather the recovery of a lost, 
 than the creation of a new, equality in society ; for, when in past 
 ages the noble and wealthy could but seldom read and write when 
 the history of the nation was sung in ballads and preserved by tra- 
 ditions when the wisdom of the age was limited to maxims of 
 prudence, signs of the weather, and tales of wonder then the serf 
 knew as much as the baron and, however power and wealth distin- 
 guished the oppressor from the oppressed, they lived, at least, in the 
 same intellectual world, and were, by force of a common supersti- 
 tion and an equal ignorance, one people. But now that intellectual 
 has accumulated perhaps even more than material wealth, while the 
 possession of the former, equally with that of the latter affluence, 
 has been confined to a portion of society, the causes of distance, and 
 the difference between the working and the reading classes, have 
 been injuriously augmented. Were a wider, and somewhat less 
 unequal diffusion of wealth than that now prevailing, possible, it 
 might be healthy and good for the body politic but, to diffuse 
 among all a portion of that magnificent treasure of knowledge now 
 possessed not merely by the learned, but by the informed, of this 
 country an equitable adjustment, by which none would be wronged, 
 none robbed a distribution, possible as well as just this would be 
 a benefaction and a blessing, which, however inestimable in itself, 
 could not come alone : it must draw thousands in its train. One 
 movement of immense force and value in the great work of advanc- 
 ing the education of the working-classes will be gained, whenever 
 this great benefit shall become a matter of demand as well as of
 
 ON THE EDUCATION OP THE WORKING CLASSES. 63 
 
 supply. At present, the universally prevalent idea is, that education 
 must be provided for the working classes given to them pressed 
 upon them. It is thought much if they can be induced to receive 
 instruction. The idea generated in the minds of many not unintel- 
 ligent working men, by the interference of Government in the affair, 
 is, " "We had rather have schools for our children as a legal right, 
 rather than as a charitable boon by Act of Parliament, than by 
 effort of benevolence." It may be greatly doubted whether, in such 
 a case, dependence on public taxes, and control by public authority, 
 is really less dishonourable than dependence on benevolent exertion. 
 But, indeed, why any dependence at all in the case of a vast number 
 of skilled artizans ? Their resources are surely adequate to secure 
 education for their children in schools of their own selection, and 
 under their own influence. Once moved to take the work into its 
 own hands, this class can do for itself far more than either Govern- 
 ment or benevolent associations can effect in its behalf. Then 
 would arise competition among schoolmasters, and the inspection, not 
 of a paid agency, but of interested and vigilant parents. Then 
 would the funds of benevolence be released for a more effectual 
 supply of real destitution. And then would education be no longer 
 a controversy, but a work and a triumph. 
 
 The world has never yet seen the magnificent spectacle of an 
 educated nation. France and Prussia are not educated nations. 
 Their people may be taught less or more ; but, for general enlighten- 
 ment, free thought, command of books, liberty of discussion, they 
 know nothing of these elevating privileges. The instruction given 
 by power must subdue, not emancipate : it must inculcate slavish 
 sentiments equally on the teacher and the taught. But when a 
 whole people may and can explore all themes, discuss all subjects, 
 think freely, and speak free thoughts ; when freedom, enlighten- 
 ment, and virtue meet together, how will a people, so ennobled, 
 reform its institutions, maintain its peace, spread abroad its com- 
 merce, and become more mighty to diffuse blessings and happiness 
 in the world, than ever the most renowned of conquering nations 
 to carry victory and havoc, triumph and miseries, far and wide 
 among mankind ! 
 
 It may not be unsuitable for the present Lecturer to offer some 
 explanatory remarks on the course recently adopted by the Congre- 
 gational Union on this most important and national interest the 
 education of the working classes. His hope is, that these proceed-
 
 64 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WOKKING CLASSES. 
 
 ings will be found worthy of the principles and objects ever sacredly 
 cherished by Independents in every period of their history. 
 
 They deem glorious and Divine Christianity specially the friend of 
 the people, the multitude. They find among the prominent and 
 lasting proofs of its divinity, " that it proclaims glad tidings to the 
 poor." They read in its history the sure, though often interrupted, 
 rescue and advancement of the people. The corruption of mild and 
 merciful Christianity they find to have been ever the wrong and 
 scourge of the people. They perceive a blessed adaptation of the 
 gospel to the people, and of the people to the gospel. Carry simple 
 Christianity to the multitude ; it will win them and bless them. 
 Let a people receive the gospel, and they are emancipated and 
 blessed. Independents have no hope for mankind but in connexion 
 with pure Christianity. Its designs and promises, its resources and 
 means, they think alone adequate to regenerate the world. They 
 also deem the gospel as friendly to knowledge in all its forms and 
 developments, as it is to the people. Itself a revelation of truth on 
 subjects respecting which without its guidance man could discover 
 and know nothing, it gives aid to every rational inquiry, and subor- 
 dinates to its purposes every advance of truth. Moreover, Inde- 
 pendents have ever laboured to harmonise strict religion and entire 
 liberty. They have ever rejected priestly claims, and secular autho- 
 rity in religion. They have turned from the great to the humble. 
 They have sought strength from the many, not from the few. They 
 have trusted their cause to a wide diffusion rather than to a perilous 
 height. For better and for worse, they abide by principles and a 
 mission, which send them among the people. 
 
 Nothing could be more natural and inevitable than that Inde- 
 pendents should bear part in all movements for popular education, 
 and that they should pay special attention to the principles on 
 which it might be proposed to conduct this work. For them to 
 adopt any separate operations for educating the people, detached 
 from Christianity, was impossible. Could they have borne part in 
 a merely secular education, they would have acted as citizens among 
 their countrymen, not as religionists and Dissenters, apart by them- 
 selves. As churches, they could have no ground of combined action 
 but their sacred principles ; they could have no object but to com- 
 bine, with their best efforts for general enlightenment, their equally 
 strenuous struggles for genuine Christianity : hence, with them, an 
 insurmountable obstacle to the receipt of public money for their
 
 ON THE El) I' I 1 ATI ON OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 65 
 
 schools. Their schools must be religious. For religion they can 
 receive no tax-raised money they can admit no interference of that 
 Governmental authority which ought to follow, and must follow, 
 wherever public funds are received. 
 
 Moreover, to them entire independence is essential. They must 
 ever be equally free to act and speak. They must hold themselves 
 entirely clear of all temptation to ask, when their public testimony 
 is required, How will our conduct affect our grants ? The belief 
 of many Independents is that, from the hour they received Govern- 
 ment money, they would be a changed people their tone lowered 
 their spirit altered their consistency sacrificed and their honour 
 tarnished. They know not how to conceive of their deputations 
 waiting at the Treasury how honoured men, whose names must not 
 be mentioned, could there mingle with the delegates of other name- 
 less bodies in the antechamber of the Committee of Privy CounciK 
 How they would be received by the dispensers of Parliamentary funds, 
 we can easily imagine ; how welcomed with bows and smiles ; how 
 they would be complimented on their enlarged views and new 
 liberality of sentiment ; and how they would feel we may be sure 
 that their birthright was sold, their locks shorn, and they like other 
 men. Therefore some Independents think the question is, not How 
 can we obtain Government money ? but, How can we avoid it ? If 
 there must be any ingenious interpretation of our principles for any 
 purpose, let it be to determine how we can maintain our liberty, not 
 how can we receive the grant ? So that, supposing such Indepen- 
 dents to have no settled judgment, whether the State can or cannot 
 rightfully and usefully interpose in the work of general education ; 
 whether some other classes of the community could or could not, 
 consistently and advantageously, receive State co-operation, money, 
 and control in their schools, they would still say, Independents 
 must be independent ; which they will be no longer, and no further, 
 than while they " owe no man anything." This may be an arduous, 
 but it is an honourable, position : to be Dissenters in education, as 
 well as Dissenters in religion ; to be misunderstood and repudiated 
 on all sides; to be shut out and kept down, without hope of 
 emerging into national equality and advancement, is no light matter ; 
 but a clear, ringing testimony to truth and liberty is worth it all. 
 
 It is not without many regretful feelings that Independents find 
 themselves now acting their part in this national work in their sepa- 
 rate denominational character. For all the pleasure, and for many
 
 66 ON THE EDUCATION OF THE WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 of the advantages, presented by co-operation in such a cause with 
 the wise and good of other Christian communities, they would have 
 preferred to act on a wider and more open basis. In part, necessity, 
 and in part conviction, led them into their present course. Those 
 acting on this sectional basis have concluded, after anxious delibera- 
 tion on all the complex circumstances of the case, that they could 
 thus most effectively contribute their influence and aid to the 
 common enterprise. No alienation of heart from Christian brethren 
 no indifference to the great interests of their common country 
 no desire to build up party strength no love to differ no fondness 
 for the little and the narrow, drew them into their present position. 
 Their hope is, that by the compactness and unity of sectional organ- 
 ization, they will be able to work with most power for the public 
 good, and to exact most effectual influence in favour of true educa- 
 tional principles, of the best educational plans, and of true-hearted 
 rivalry to excel in this great department of philanthropy and patriot- 
 ism. Some of those bearing part in the movement which has origin- 
 ated these Lectures, have altered their early opinions on the subject 
 of State aid and control in popular education. At first, zealous and 
 arduous for the object, they hailed Government as a powerful co- 
 worker. Experience, progress, and discitssion changed their views. 
 But their sentiments on the grant, as now administered, have never 
 undergone the slightest alteration. As Voluntaries in religion, they 
 always objected to pay their portion of the tax, as much as to receive 
 their portion of the grant. They demur to pay for the teaching of 
 the Church Catechism and the Roman Missal of John Wesley's 
 System and the Improved Version ; and, were civil equity to be fully 
 carried out, of the Jewish Ritual and the Deist's maxims. They do 
 still resist the erection of a supplementary establishment of schools 
 in aid of the establishment of Churches. As firm Whigs, they do 
 object to the unconstitutional procedure of a summary settlement of 
 delicate questions of religious freedom by Minutes of a Committee 
 of Privy Council, sanctioned only by a money vote of the House of 
 Commons, sitting in Committee of Supply. They do believe cen- 
 tralization un-English and perilous to liberty ; and are still in favour 
 of that system of local action and government, as old as Alfred, 
 which carried Saxon liberty through the Norman Conquest, the 
 Papal tyranny, the Crown encroachments of both Tudor and Stuart, 
 the perils and advancements of the glorious Revolution, and without 
 which England never could have been free, and never can continue to
 
 ON THE KIM-CATION OK THE WORKING CLASSES. 67 
 
 be free. Yet, after all, strong and moving as were these consider- 
 ations, it was, and is, as Educationists, that Independents most of 
 all object to the Government grant for education. They believe it 
 will in the end impede, deaden, restrict, and injure this sacred cause. 
 Could they have thought otherwise on this point, they would have 
 felt under temptation at least to acquiesce. The practical might 
 have overcome, in their minds, the theoretic. For the sake of 
 education they might have risked apprehended injury to liberty. 
 But there can be no such dissonance and contrariety among true 
 principles. The sacrifice of truth and liberty can never be the 
 redemption of knowledge and enlightenment. One freedom will 
 beget, one liberty will protect another. But unfair authority is no 
 less generative and prolific. State power in religion, State power in 
 education, State power in money, State power in inspectors, State 
 power in Whitehall reaching over England; these all, as kindred 
 influences, are against Dissent, against liberty, against national 
 spirit, and therefore against every allied interest of a self-governed, 
 self-acting people. 
 
 But enough. Liberty itself is with us but a means to an end the 
 handmaid of virtue and religion, the instrument of intelligence and 
 happiness. We desiderate a people, an entire people, raised through 
 liberty to knowledge, with knowledge to virtue, by both to happiness 
 and honour. If we have mistaken our way to that end, we shall be 
 happy that others share not our error. If paths which we thought 
 had a different direction, conduct other labourers to our wished 
 results, we shall rejoice when their success convinces us of our mis- 
 take. We would see educated England the model nation of the 
 world, that other peoples may take our State for their pattern, our 
 history at once for their warning and their guide ; that so they may 
 reach our results without our distractions, and that we may be 
 inspired and solaced amidst every labour and struggle by which we 
 tend to so glorious a destiny ! 
 
 F2
 
 LECTURE III.
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE 
 EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 BY RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON, LL.D., D.D., LEEDS. 
 
 Definition of the terms The parental constitution The right to education False premises 
 on this subject The province of government That it is bound to educate, a new dogma 
 Its compact and its capacity Disadvantages with which voluntary education has to 
 contend Hopeful presages. 
 
 IT is the People which the present examination respects, a wide, 
 generic, term. Statistically considered, they are the inhabitants of 
 a given land. Imperially regarded, they are the subjects of a 
 sovereign power. The term knows nothing of classes, orders, dif- 
 ferences : it is the patent of simple citizenship. " High and low," 
 " rich and poor," " small and great," are the same in this category. 
 No man can aspire to any nobler rank. He who springs from the 
 people can never pass beyond them. All ambition ranges within 
 this fellowship. Everything is great only as it is popular. Pre- 
 rogative is but the borrowed loan of the people. Aristocracy and 
 commonality are but spontaneous marshallings of the people. The 
 crown is but the badge of the voluntary service of the people. 
 There is no right which the people can surrender or transfer. They 
 have no power of alienating aught of their manhood or of their 
 civism, one particle of human or social claim! All power is in 
 them, all honour, all that they can do in reference to those posses- 
 sions is, not to cancel them, that were their political annihilation, 
 not to sell them, that were their moral slavery, but to entrust 
 the power for particular administration of public affairs, and 
 to invest the honour for particular reward of patriotic virtues. Let 
 neither be parted with! If that people be great, if they would 
 become greater, let them keep in mind and in hold the original 
 compact ; let them remember, that this outward condition of things 
 is mere arrangement and compromise, that the signiory is native 
 and necessary to them, that it cannot be pawned by venality nor 
 betrayed by abjectness, that it not only immediately reverts, but
 
 72 ON THE PARTIES 
 
 never can be relinquished, and that while their lien is maintained 
 upon whatever they have allowed the use of to some for the benefit 
 of all, the equality is absolute, and the fee-simple of this glorious 
 inheritance is only and for ever in themselves. 
 
 In speaking of the people, I would not refuse nor hesitate to 
 apply the term in the universal sense. It may predicate our kind. 
 And as we both desire and foretell the extension of every blessing 
 to the species, to every member and portion of the human family, 
 it would not be an improper treatment of the thesis, though incon- 
 veniently large, to demand, What parties are responsible for the 
 education of the race ? I trust that we should not be behind, in 
 our benevolence of definition, the philanthropy of toast which a 
 warm-hearted man, once suddenly called upon to give one, most 
 candidly and impartially proposed, " All people that on earth do 
 dwell." A difficulty, indeed, occurs in all such inquiries, whether 
 more restiicted or comprehensive, What those parties can be that 
 are to educate the people ? Are they not themselves the people ? 
 And if so, who are to educate them ? " Quis custodiet custodes ?" 
 Whence do they kindle their torch ? 
 
 We do most repugnantly allow the term to denote the labouring 
 multitude. We envy and grudge them such a distinction. They 
 are no more the people than ourselves. It is to our shame if they 
 have won propriety in it. Deeply will it mortify us, should we be 
 pompelled to resign our share. Not as a refuse, at least, can they 
 so be called. Theirs is the majesty of numbers. Not as lower 
 orders can they be figured, save as the rustic work of the palace, or 
 the plinth of the Corinthian column. In them is productive wealth, 
 and that which multiplies value tenfold. They are strength and 
 life to a community. All besides are for them ; they are for them- 
 selves. Without them capital is not wealth, and knowledge is not 
 power. Not that they are selfishly divided from the rest. They 
 sustain and elevate. They are not the trunk on which flower and 
 fruit are grafted, but which bears them after its kind. We cannot, 
 therefore, speak of them in scorn. Scarcely know we pity. We 
 burn at their wrongs. We sicken at their abuses. " This people ! " 
 cried the ancient hypocrites : " the people," thus a vulgar refine- 
 ment describes them. A philosophy, cruel as Herod, scowls upon 
 their birth, as though they intruded upon nature's festival, and 
 incommoded lordly guests holding banquet there. Thus are their 
 practical applications computed. To what account can they be 
 turned ? Mechanism can be made almost intelligent : why should
 
 FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 73 
 
 not intelligence be made almost mechanical ? They are the in- 
 feriors! Coarser clays to be rudely shaped into the vessels of 
 dishonour ! Born for menial drudgery, sound into their ears inces- 
 santly their destiny and doom! To hope to be otherwise, is a 
 quarrel with a fixed law, an inexorable fate ! They are the tools of 
 gain, the conscripts of ambition, the materials of luxury ! 
 
 It is somewhat a new doctrine that the people, as they are styled, 
 ought to be instructed. Time was when the opposite doctrine was 
 favoured and impressed. They could not know too little, or be left 
 in a too contented ignorance. They were bound to let others think 
 for them ; they had nothing to do with such privileged things as 
 government and religion. But it is now discovered that they must 
 be taught. That which was maintained to be the spring of their 
 industry, the preservative of their virtue, the mother of their devo- 
 tion, is now discarded. The truth is, that the people have found 
 for themselves an education, and have acquired the art of thinking, 
 and these parties do not approve of the spiritualism of that educa- 
 tion and the independence of that thinking. They would take both 
 under their management. They would give it their own direction. 
 Hence their sudden conversion and new-born zeal. They would 
 unsting the evil. They would wield the power. " That it spread no 
 further among the people !" 
 
 It is necessary that we should fully and distinctly inform our- 
 selves of what education consists. The education of the people may 
 suggest to different minds most different ideas. If it be a business 
 of mere instruments, for reading and writing are only means, and 
 not ends, we should take very little interest, and certainly no 
 share, in the controversy. We would not run a tilt or a gauntlet 
 for the sake of alphabets, we would not know an ebullition for 
 pothooks, nor bare our bosom for hangers. Ours are deeper, more 
 solemn, views. We look upon man. We seek to educate him. He 
 must be developed and expressed from inward capacity ; he must be 
 directed and disciplined for an awful future. He must be inter- 
 preted aright. He must be properly placed. With at least as 
 careful study as with which we examine the instinct, the habitude, 
 the habitat, of bird, or beast, or fish, we are bound to search into 
 the true nature of man. Like other existences, he is marked by a 
 fixed nature. All hearts are fashioned alike. But there is not that 
 inflexible certainty of acts which may be affirmed of the mere 
 animal. The creature of reason and volition cannot be foreseen bv
 
 74 ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE 
 
 us in his doings. We must, consequently, allow in him for moral 
 eccentricity. Yet may we define what he is. Man is something 
 more than matter, he is a spiritual being. He is accountable for 
 the exercise of his liberty, possessing a choice of conduct. Death is 
 his enlargement and enfranchisement to immortality. He lives for 
 ever. These are the views which make him great and dread. To 
 draw out such a being for his duties, and his beliefs, and his 
 prospects, must be a religious task. Any attempt to educate him, 
 save religiously, is a mockery and an insult. It is like the prophetic 
 picture, the " roots in the earth, with a band of iron and brass." 
 It is depreciation and repression. We cannot, indeed, conceive of 
 an education of man's nature, without a constant appeal to his rela- 
 tions towards the Deity, and to the influence of rewards and punish- 
 ments over him. What is defended as secular education is most 
 superficial, considering the depths of his soul ; most incidental, 
 considering the laws of his being ; most temporary, considering the 
 revolutions of his duration. Such a secular education need not say, 
 there is no God ! but it must not say that there is one. Such a 
 secular education need not say, that Christianity is a lie ; but it 
 must not say that it is the truth, and no lie ! Such a secular 
 education need not denounce the faith of an hereafter; but it, 
 as a thing of an earthly seculum, must never point to secula 
 seculorum ! 
 
 But we admit, that the children of the poor are placed under 
 serious disadvantage. If every man has a right to education, if 
 education be due to every man, if he must be educated to be pro- 
 perly the man, then indigence does interpose a great restriction, and 
 handicraft demand a vast diversion. And we also admit that, upon 
 this showing, there is a class to which the labouring poor may look 
 up for help in the matter of education. It is a proper indemnity to 
 them. They who owe to them the means of wealth, leisure, and 
 knowledge, ought to pay back to them not only the wages of 
 labour, but that priceless possession of which labour tends to 
 deprive them. 
 
 In saying this, we are aware that there is an appearance of con- 
 cession. The right of man to education needs to be well considered 
 before it can be allowed. Upon whom of his fellows is it to be 
 enforced ? If it be his due, of whom is it to be required ? These 
 researches might only conduct us more circuitously to our thesis, 
 and but clog our discussion ; for they, in some sort, would be a
 
 FOE THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 75 
 
 petitio principii ; they would anticipate and assume what we have 
 to prove. Nor would the desirableness of education establish its 
 right and due. Many other advantages might be pleaded for the 
 same consideration. If there be any claim of man, it is such as he 
 may assert, and which he may be left to himself to win. The 
 original title to education is of the child on the parent : the gentle 
 Desdemona could thus address her father, Brabantio " To you I am 
 bound for life and education !" 
 
 I am anxious, before any other party be admitted, most suppositi- 
 ously, in the education of the people, to defend and hallow the 
 parental constitution. This is the grand provision. Society is 
 based upon this law, the earliest law. It cannot be imitated. It 
 cannot be transferred. It cannot be superseded. All nature cries 
 aloud, by a common instinct, against interference with offspring. 
 No outrage is so universally resented ; no bereavement is so bitterly 
 rankling. Say what men please against its too arbitrary power, it 
 is the only check to a tyranny, not like itself, possibly capricious, 
 but necessarily and only oppressive. Say what they will against its 
 transmission of error and prejudice, it is the only new independence 
 to break up the conceits and presumptions which otherwise would 
 be perpetually secure. Say what they will against its engendered 
 evils, it contains the solitary corrective and remedy of every evil. 
 The scheme which would repair its mischief, would indefinitely 
 multiply mischiefs, all of them indefinitely more portentous. There 
 is not a fouler treason, than to gainsay this original institution. A 
 distrust of it is a traitorous spirit. Trace it where man is worst 
 amidst his worst habits and temptations, still, where could you 
 replace its tenderness, its care, its guardianship, its sacrifice ? Those 
 brawny arms of toil speak its strength, alike with the softest arms of 
 embracing love. Intrude upon it, and society stands still. The 
 incentive of labour is gone. We live no more in the future. Come 
 once between parent and child, and the golden band which knits all 
 together is snapped asunder. What 13 that call it State, conspi- 
 racy, rapine which affects to take charge of my offspring? My 
 other acquisitions are conditional ; my other treasures are alienable ; 
 my civil rights are things of covenant and arrangement ; these have 
 been earned, inherited, or won ! But I have another property and 
 propriety in my children ; these are imprescriptibly my own they 
 are myself! Parenthood is their protector ! It is the vulture which 
 tears the broodling from the covering wing ! Traverse the length
 
 76 ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE 
 
 and breadth of the land. Enter its cabins and its hovels. Judge 
 not according to a sentimental romance, but judge righteous judg- 
 ment. There are abuses, grievances, cruelties. These mark them- 
 selves. They stand out. They force themselves into notoriety. 
 They are noted conned. What are they in figures, what in excep- 
 tions, to domestic allegiance and regularity ? Count them against 
 the rural peasantry of the village and hamlet, going forth to their 
 work and their labour until the evening, when the housewife spreads 
 the simple repast, and children greet the return ! Count them 
 against the, perhaps, ruder crowds who, at the reverse of the curfew, 
 hasten to the factory, but eat their meals in their adjoining cottages, 
 and, when the shadows lengthen, there lie down to rest ! The brawl 
 of the street is rare. Nightfall, in its stillness and in its peace, vin- 
 dicates the domestic character of the people. Those homesteads of 
 poverty are, after all, though slandered and reviled, happy dwellings 
 tabernacles of joy. I have faith in the great workings of Nature ; 
 in the tenacious links of parent and progeny ; in household order, 
 and rule, and influence. I deprecate whatever would tamper with 
 it. There cannot be a substitute for it. Its penates are worth a 
 whole mythology besides ! 
 
 I do not allow, by any of the previous admissions, that labouring 
 habits are incompatible with a considerable share of education ; nor 
 that they are unfavourable, except for their consumption of time, to 
 self-cultivation. To allow this would be fatal to the question ; for 
 it is a chimerical idea, that the poor shall cease out of the land, and 
 that engrossing occupation shall be no more needed. It may be 
 requisite, in some future conditions of society, that every man, like 
 the ancient Jews, shall learn a trade. The world will never refine 
 into a learned leisure. If education be destined to universality, it 
 must consist with hardy, as well as skilled, labour. We want to be 
 disabused of our artificial prepossessions. We ought to feel that 
 there is no unlikelihood nor contrast between Araunah and the 
 threshing-floor, Elisha and the plough, David and the sheep-fold, 
 Amos and the sycamore-tree, Peter and the fisherman, Paul 
 and the tent-maker. 
 
 We shall surely concede to the labouring poor, not only the full 
 parental investiture, but the right, in common with ourselves, to 
 depute the educating power where they please. If they cannot teach 
 their children, they are entitled to choose those instructors whom 
 they prefer. They are not to be shut up to this or that. If it be
 
 1-Ui! 1HK EDUCATION Ol- TilK rEOl'Lli. 77 
 
 Seplied, that tliey will not avail themselves of any, the fact is osten- 
 sible, that poverty is generally extravagant in this. There is a pride 
 which overcomes a very parsimony, or if it produces parsimony, 
 for its sake, in all else, cheerfully ahides the strait. If it he replied, 
 that they are unfitted to discriminate between rival claims, the tact 
 which guides them to the best leech and lawyer will be adequate to 
 direct them to the best schoolmaster. It is the old dogma, the 
 people can know nothing about religion, and it must be dictated to 
 them. But so the religious mind' of Britain was never created, it 
 is self-formed and self-renewed. 
 
 We may be expected, on our known principles, to protest against 
 forcible, compulsory, education. We only passingly notice it for 
 future observation. It is surely little to say, that liberty is more 
 precious than education ; that education could be no counterbalance 
 to the disturbance of any right ; that the reluctant parent, embit- 
 tered by the violence, would thwart any contingent good ; that the 
 deported, abducted, child would participate the parental rancour, and 
 nurse his little revenge ; and that this would be a civil war to the 
 very hearth. We do uot believe that, whatever pains be taken to 
 blind and corrupt the people, the nation's heart will ever be so 
 craven and so sunk as to endure the indignity. 
 
 It is now asked by many, What is to be done ? Who are to be 
 evoked to do it? We proceed to the answer, but by no means 
 conceding that parents have generally failed in their responsibility, 
 or that there is any great dearth of the educatory apparatus. 
 
 That which is public mind is often long in being stirred to public 
 opinion. It is commonly inert and stagnant, loves a careless ease, 
 settles into a dreamy notion, until its fears are alarmed and its inte- 
 rests endangered. Then its short-sighted stupor is roused, and its 
 activities may only become too eager. Public opinion is slow in its 
 formation. Great general principles are commonly elicited and matured 
 in retirement. Quiet, reflecting, spirits have patiently been at work 
 upon them. They are wrought in studious abstraction. They 
 resemble not the experiments of the forge, the crucible, and the 
 retort. They are tried, and tried again, in another laboratory. 
 They, like mathematical truths, must be the same at every time and 
 in all possible circumstances. They resemble the gold vein, the 
 richest of ores but the latest of minerals. Think of Adam Ferguson 
 or Adam Smith (such first and foremost men deserved the original 
 man's patronymic !) sitting with wrinkled brow and wasting lamp in
 
 78 ON THE PARTIES KESI'ONSIBLE 
 
 their deep meditations. They have mused long and searchingly. 
 The problem at length is solved. They have found it ! They have 
 found it ! They cast some greatly simple principle into the public 
 mind ; it is not quickened except it die, or seern to die ; it is buried 
 in seeming death. It takes hold of the surrounding soil, it spreads 
 its fibre, it strikes its root, it bursts the surface of the ground, it 
 multiplies on every side of the furrow into which it fell, it waves to 
 heaven ! We may not be ruminant as they. We cannot boast their 
 far-seeing sagacity. But we have come by a greatly simple prin- 
 ciple. We have found it, we have found it ! We see how the 
 people can be educated, and how they only can. It is in struggle. 
 That is what we want. It cannot henceforth be overlaid by indiffer- 
 ence and scorn. It is opposed. It must then be heeded, sifted, 
 agitated. This is good for truth and right. The harrow is as 
 necessary as the share. Tremendous interests are stricken. A 
 shattering blow has fallen upon ancient and mighty foundations. 
 We are prepared for a death-grapple of sides. The terms are most 
 unequal. The odds might affright the stoutest nerve. But we are 
 so assured of the principle, that we should sin against it were we to 
 falter in its maintenance or to despond of its victory. 
 
 We have seen false maxims, once deep-seated in the public mind, 
 once strongly fortified by the public opinion, yield to argument, and 
 shrink before truth. Few, some brief years ago, doubted that the 
 ratio of wages was to the price of food. It was assumed, it was not 
 discussed. Once brought into question, the theory was quashed. 
 It was contrary to common sense. The wages of labour could only 
 be ruled by the standard of labour, by its worth or by its demand. 
 It is exploded, it is extinguished, it cannot come into human 
 thought again. As little do we doubt that very popular, very 
 plausible, very enticing, assumptions, touching the question of edu- 
 cation, are even now about to receive condemnation, and are hasten- 
 ing to inglorious exposure. This, at furthest, is the beginning of 
 their end ! No sentiment seems at present more rife and attractive 
 in certain quarters, than that it is the province of the Government 
 to educate the people. This is the statesmanship of the times. 
 
 We may venture to inquire, What is Government ? Many make 
 a mystery of it. They hedge it with a divinity. Now, none are 
 better satisfied, more profoundly convinced, than we, that He, who 
 is not Author of confusion, wills the social order of men, adapts 
 them to it, and has ordained its larger outlines. The duties of the
 
 FOR THE EDICATION OF THE PEOPLE. 79 
 
 ruler and of the subject are given a general interpretation and 
 enforcement. From the inspired code, we ascertain that the things 
 of God arc eternally distinct from the things of C.ESAR, that earthly 
 jurisdiction cannot encompass thought, that faith and conscience go 
 together, that the civil sword is not borne in vain in regard to well- 
 doing and evil-doing, but that it is borne in vain, that it is a very 
 vanity, " an air-drawn dagger," when it is brandished over the soul ! 
 
 It is not necessary to argue the abstract proposition. We are not 
 timid of it. We do not shrink from it. Were a people unani- 
 mously to invest a Government for this purpose, we deny that they 
 could give it this right. They could not thus transfer to it parental 
 duty. They could not convey the requisite power and capacity. So 
 far as it was attempted by the deputed party, it must be wretchedly 
 performed. It will suffice, however, for our present argument, to 
 contest the question in simple reference to the elements of our 
 Government and the principles of our Constitution. 
 
 To try the question, whether this be the province of the Govern- 
 ment, we must apply various tests. Let us examine our own. Is 
 it, in this case, enacted and provided ? Is it in the bond ? I love 
 not to hear my fellow-subjects speak doubtingly of the Constitution, 
 where it exists, what it is. It is an understanding, an intelli- 
 gent covenant, something better than dusty archives, or engrossed 
 parchments, which guards property, liberty, life. Its reign is that 
 of law. Its tribute is that of suffrage. Look at your statute of 
 treason, your trial by challenged jury, your Habeas Corpus. Its 
 principles are avouched and inviolable. It may not be consistently 
 carried out. But it is in itself a wondrous thing. Every republic 
 looks to it, even for its model. Our fathers devised it, upheld it, 
 and shed their blood in its defence. But, we demand, knowing that 
 in its spirit it is a trust had and held of the people, when, in this 
 great compact, again and again renewed, sometimes at the sword's 
 point and the cannon's mouth, in Council-chamber, in Aulic con- 
 gress, inaugurated at Runnymede, and rallied at Chalgrave, by 
 oath, by blood, where does the people, in what clause, surrender to 
 the State the responsibility of their education, and where, in what 
 clause, does the State undertake it ? Show us the statutes at large. 
 Apply to them the constructive latitude of exposition. Let court- 
 lawyers and constitutional lawyers be summoned to give judgment. 
 We are appellants to them, and let them answer our appeal. What 
 tribunal speaks ? What juris consults respond ? What grey-beard
 
 80 CN THE 1'AEl'IKS RKSl'OX.SIBLE 
 
 ancestry calls up the remembrance ? From what remote antiquity 
 comes a voice ? Out of what depth of ages resounds the oracle ? 
 We are constantly reminded of the wisdom, of the foresight, of the 
 providence, of our fathers. They bear authoritative names. We 
 venerate their urns. On which part is their prescription ? To 
 whom do they give their sanction and bequeath their experience ? 
 Education was a part of their religion. None honoured it more 
 than they. " Ever witness for them" their schools and their col- 
 leges ! How they spread the means of learning over our land ! Did 
 they abandon the task to Government ? Did they crouch for extra- 
 neous and public aid ? Their endowments, the broad stripes of their 
 estates with which they cheerfully parted, their princely bequests, 
 prove how olden a principle is Voluntary self-reliance. Descend to 
 nearer times. Unwind the scrolls of your best patriots, senators, 
 magistrates, true to prerogative, yet ever most on the side of the 
 people. Listen to your Somerses, your Newcastles, your Chathams, 
 your Burkes, your Camdens ! Talked they of the right or duty of 
 the State to educate ? It coalesces with none of those high prin- 
 ciples which gradually develop themselves in the constitutional 
 history of our country, which season the very forms of our legisla- 
 tive and juridicial institutions, which seem to thread themselves, like 
 as the nerves which rise almost imperceptibly from the human 
 brain, until they are foliated and knitted into the organs and instru- 
 ments of the manly frame. 
 
 Government Education is the crudest novelty. It was not 
 attempted until 1833. It is not fifteen years old. Is it so proved, 
 so clear, so efficacious, that it must disturb and subvert all that cen- 
 turies have confirmed and achieved ? Is the upstart to scatter all 
 that is rooted and well tried ? Is the Grecian monster-toy to be 
 trusted rather than our anciently enshrined Palladium ? 
 
 But whether it rank among modern platitudes or not, let us 
 examine its pretensions, let us canvass its merits : is it right or is 
 it wrong ? Is it strong in truth, and benevolence, and policy ; or is 
 it unhealthy and untenable ? 
 
 Putting from us all the mystery of things, acquainted with 
 nothing, however high and holy, into which we may not inquire, 
 we address ourselves to the simple question, What is Government, 
 as it obtains among a free people ? We know nothing of its arcana, 
 we will hear nothing of its State-craft, we do no worship to 
 heaven-born Ministers, though we have often prayed that they had
 
 FOB THE EDUCATION OF THK PEOPLE. 81 
 
 been heaven-retained, and had never quitted their birth-place. 
 Government is we employ the term with no sneer the creature 
 of the nation. It is a trust. It can possess no legal competence to 
 do otherwise than the nation's will. If it assume an independence 
 of that will in some great peril, amidst some gross popular delu- 
 sion, still at its own hazard, still awaiting its own account, we 
 might even see a heroic virtue in the act. Our idea of the most 
 liberal Government is far higher than delegateship. It may be 
 obliged to resist momentary outcry. But we deny that it can intro- 
 duce a new principle into the code, much less into the constitution, 
 without an appeal to the nation. It must be put to issue. When 
 has such a convention been held ? When have popular meetings, 
 and municipalities, and petitions, declared for the principle ? Some 
 have approved aid, some have sought it, none have been bold 
 enough to avow the principle. Nay, they have charged us with 
 morbid sensitiveness and cruel wrong in suspecting that such a 
 slavish principle could anywhere, or by any one, be possibly 
 entertained. 
 
 Before the State can fairly take upon itself the work of public 
 instruction, it should establish its peculiar capacity for it. We say 
 no more concerning the distance at which hitherto it has stood, and 
 the delicacy with which it has hitherto refrained, from this work. 
 It has all to begin. It finds no machinery to assist its operation. It 
 looks around in vain for a minister of education. It can go to no 
 board, nor bureau, nor portfeuille. The wisdom of our ancestors has 
 left no such appendage to a Cabinet. All is to be created. The 
 ministry sets about it. There is a chief, he is a Cabinet minister, 
 and then an array of clerks and inspectors, who certainly are not 
 of the Cabinet. The whole is irresponsible. But the justifying 
 allegation is, that a Government, from its high position of intellectual 
 superiority, should guide the mind of the people. In what does 
 this superiority consist ? Scarcely in literature. Its speeches and 
 its manifestoes lead to a rather painful distrust of its peculiar aptness 
 to teach the art of eloquence and the syntax of composition. Scarcely 
 in politics. It invariably lags behind the questions of the day, 
 always carried from without ere they receive its support and stamp. 
 Scarcely in religion. Perfect respect sometimes fails to follow its 
 expositions of doctrine ; nor can a true holiness invariably warrant 
 even certain points of practice. Heaven does not uniformly hear 
 our prayer to " give unto the Lords of the Council grace, wisdom, and 
 
 G
 
 82 ON THE PARTIES KESPONS1 BT.E 
 
 understanding," nor to " teach our senators wisdom." We are 
 compelled to conclude, that the people are generally in advance 
 of those who govern them, in all the higher elements of a true 
 education. 
 
 It may be objected, that this is an inversion of things ; that a 
 paternal idea is involved in the State. That this is sometimes 
 averred, we know, and we know, that the supposed duty of teaching 
 the people is suspended upon it. But all the parental duties are 
 then implied ; and we must not stop at one. Well ! can the State 
 carry out all ? It is thus that figures are abused. " These sheep," 
 said David, " what have they done ? " The metaphors of the family 
 and the flock are beautiful but only beautiful metaphors. No 
 argument can be raised upon them. They are not literal truths. 
 Children owe their existence to parents. But the people exist 
 independently of the State. If it be said, that only political existence 
 is intended, be it so. We are helped. The people is here the 
 parent ; it is the author of political existence ; it is before all other 
 things ; it is the source of all relations, and the origin of all institu- 
 tions : it begets the State, it feeds the State, it clothes the State, it 
 revises the State, it checks the State, it chastises the State, it may 
 outlaw the State ! It finds, no doubt, a froward child and a forgetful 
 pupil. But it has the means of discipline. It has the key of the 
 wardrobe of velvet and ermine. It has the charge of the refectory of 
 tribute and revenue. It has not, however concealed, quitted its 
 hold of the rod. In extremity, it may turn the prodigal out of 
 doors. If the question be stirred, who shall educate ? who is the 
 better qualified ? at least the respective postulants must submit to 
 a previous examination ! 
 
 Rights and duties, it is allowed, are not always correlative. I 
 may have a right, and yet it may not be my duty to press it. 
 Things lawful may not be expedient. Still is it scarcely conceivable 
 that the rights of a Government should lie in abeyance. Such 
 rights, if genuine, if beneficial, if unselfish, are for use. How can 
 it be a right to educate, and not a duty ? Be it remembered, that 
 this is not a business of personal rights, inherent and connate in the 
 individual, but public, the trusts of public investiture, the pledges 
 of public benefit, not like those which are private, under the con- 
 trol of a circumstantial prudence. We, then, infer that, if it be the 
 right, it must be the duty, of a Government to teach. Two conse- 
 quences will be granted. First, that it ought to enforce obedience.
 
 lul; THK Ll'lCAi'lo.N uh I |{h 1'KoPI.E. 83 
 
 Law needs an executory principle. Be the penalty some disqualifi- 
 cation, some deprivation, it is force as much as mulct and imprison- 
 ment. No matter what, sanction is required, and it is the duty of 
 the Government to see that its behest is obeyed. But, secondly, if 
 the obligation be in Government to teach, the obligation must be on 
 subjects to learn. If such were a theocracy, God would have made 
 these duties parallel. If a nation has formed its Government with 
 this provision, that nation is bound to take the attitude of the scholar 
 towards its own anointed instructor. Let us see where we now are. 
 Let us weigh the corollaries. These parties cannot lawfully think in 
 different ways. Teacher and learner must act in common. All, in 
 the condition of subjects, cannot but yield. This is the foot of in- 
 tellectual tyranny ; but we have bowed our necks to the sole of that 
 foot. Nor is this all. There are other and more serious conse- 
 quences. Education must be religious. Numberless awakenings rise in 
 the course of it, which can only be religiously answered. If Govern- 
 ment has found out the true religion, and can insist upon infusing 
 into education some parts of it, why may it not insist upon its whole ? 
 Indeed, it has always seemed to me, that if Government is seised 
 of the right, and laid under the duty, of establishing a religion, all 
 toleration is inconsistency. From such right and such duty perse- 
 cution becomes the clearest of all rights and duties. Doubtless, we 
 may rejoice in every degree of religious sufferance or liberty, but it 
 is only a relief, a mitigation, under a state of things which never 
 should have been. 
 
 A true moral philosophy, blending with a hardy logic, deals with 
 certain questions, not only on their own principles, but by pushing 
 them to their necessary difficulties and natural results. 
 
 The pecuniary assistance of the State the lowest, though per- 
 haps not the least, exercise of this supposed right and duty must 
 have its conditions. It cannot be flung idly away : it must be 
 accounted for. Now, if this boon cannot be equally divided, or if it 
 must be accompanied with invidious distinctions, then is there par- 
 tiality. And let us never forget, that all this money is the people's 
 money, and that they all have an equal right to it. Why should it 
 most lavishly be bestowed upon the rich ? Why should a religious 
 section be preferred ? Why should it be turned into a bounty upon 
 particular opinion ? Why should some parties be altogether denied 
 their pittance of a share ? We complain not of these consequences, 
 we tax them not with injustice, they are inevitable they belong 
 
 o2
 
 84 ON THE PABTIES RESPONStBT/E 
 
 to the responsibility of managing a public expenditure ; but we do 
 thus convict such measures of injustice when they, of their own 
 nature, debar and force back impartiality. 
 
 That statement is good for nothing which proves too much. The 
 statement that Government ought to educate a people, is general. 
 Does the whole educational system of the country properly attach 
 to it ? Is the entire nation comprehended ? Some will qualify it, 
 and say that they only intend the poor. Then there is one law for 
 the poor and another for the affluent. Then, too, poverty and 
 affluence mere accidents are rendered the types of ignorance and 
 wisdom, which are mental states. But it is not impossible that 
 some shall contend to include the wealthier classes. I am free to 
 declare that this is my opinion, the case being allowed. If Govern- 
 ment be authorised to teach any, let it teach all. Let it study hard, 
 and begin -with itself, for self-cultivation often bears a full ripe fruit. 
 A Normal-school for courtiers would be worth a visit of inspection. 
 An Infant-school for those of noble blood might elicit that sweetness 
 of common nature which fictitious manners so soon disguise. A 
 Finishing-school for placemen and pensioners, would afford a rich 
 exhibition of supple joint and sinew. A very gymnasium might 
 open its gates, teaching by its poles how to climb, and by its hoops 
 how to bend, until curved backs and itching palms should fill the 
 scene. Here, too, might be taught the manly sports of shooting 
 pheasants in battu, or of evicting tenants by almost as summary a 
 process, without which how could proprietors live on their estates 
 or endure their homes ? Oh, let it go round ! Let the State do 
 its duty by all alike. Teach the poor for what they were born. 
 Teach the rich their proper destiny. Discern between the delf and 
 the porcelain. There must be no exception. None must play 
 truant. The nation's forms are set! The nation's tasks are 
 appointed! All in! all in! (as some of us urchins used to say at 
 school.) Seems this absurd ? It is but a legitimate dilemma. 
 
 An equal support of all religions is the virtual proclamation that 
 all are equally true. But as this is impossible, the real construction 
 is, that all are equally false. Either the one or the other is a most 
 evil and noxious implication. A practical mischief ensues, not 
 incidentally, but necessarily ; for if the danger be escaped of con- 
 sidering them alike and tantamount, then has every man to assist 
 that which he rejects, and still may not find his equivalent (which 
 conscience cannot allow it to be) in the maintenance of his own. He
 
 FOB THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 85 
 
 who consents to such an arrangement takes an ignoble bribe. To 
 advance himself, he submits to the encouragement and premium of 
 those forms of error which he most abhors. It is a poor boast for 
 the Protestant, that what he receives for his cause he must give 
 back in aid of Romanism, a wretched truce, that as Trinitarian 
 Christianity is helped, so is Unitarian aggression upon it promoted 
 likewise. If this be to build, it is only to pull down what we build, 
 and to make over to others the materials. They mock us hi every 
 rival structure. 
 
 Nor let us suppose that the worst evil is involved in this loose 
 and indiscriminate support of all the Christian professions. The 
 principle is carried farther. Look at the vast colonial empire of this 
 country. Continents as well as islands, mainlands as well as coasts, 
 fill its map. In the Indian Prefecture, schools are maintained where 
 idols are set up for the reverence of the children. Amidst the 
 Australian territories, new people are tampered with by all that is 
 slavish in underling policy and corrupt in pseudo-catholicism . 
 These latter specially threaten our country. They are the wider 
 circumvallations of a siege which, if not arrested, would constantly 
 close upon the innermost citadel. They are the convolutions of the 
 serpent, which, if not destroyed, will press out the life of our civil 
 and religious strength. 
 
 If it can be shown that the aid of Government leads to the dis- 
 couragement and extinction of the Voluntary support of education, 
 its only imagined or argued support until a few most recent years, 
 many would esteem it, so far, an evil. It must ever be a generous 
 and elate emotion which springs from independence. It is something 
 to bear a weight alone. We summon all our strength for it. Let 
 us be helped, and the strenuous effort is relaxed. Its glory is 
 snatched from it. Atlas would drop his load of earth, and sink 
 under his burden of heaven, were a brother Titan to interpose. 
 Now, when the Exchequer opens for us, the consciousness of pres- 
 sure upon us ceases. It may be said this is but to incite us. It is 
 not according to the laws of human motive that it should. For a 
 time we may maintain it, because the aid is measured out in strict 
 proportion to it. But we are tempted to withdraw, not believing the 
 threat that Government will withdraw. The school is built, the 
 master is appointed, the pupils are gathered. Shall that school be 
 left to decay, that master to starve, those pupils to become out- 
 casts ? Government has expounded its responsibility to us ; and we
 
 86 ON THE PABTIES RESPONSIBLE 
 
 have reliance, though we decline, that it will remain true to it. If 
 it be its duty, it is a pitiful mode of performing it. To require a 
 bribe before it will act at all, would seem to show little heart for 
 it. It would seem, upon a triple calculation, that it has reached 
 the conviction that its duty in this affair is as one to three, and that 
 of the people is as two to one ! 
 
 I have no wish to impute any sinister design ; but many men 
 about Government avow the policy of getting the mind of the nation 
 under an unitive system of education. They would cast all its ideas. 
 Can we think these men the enthusiasts of knowledge and freedom ? 
 They would bid for all influence, the Pulpit and the Press ; they 
 would buy up all priesthoods and fellowships. They would torture 
 all into shape, and fix that shape for ever. It is against such a 
 Machiavelian, Austrian, Chinese archetype that we contend ! 
 
 A concession is sought to be wrung from us, in respect to certain 
 departments and classes, among which it is affirmed that the State 
 only can be the educator. We are pointed to our prisons, to our 
 troops. Government, in these cases, is said to stand in loco parentis. 
 Little welcome may be given to Voluntary instruction in such 
 instances. Still has it found its way. Where gyved hardihood and 
 profligacy yelled with bestial strength and gnashed with bestial 
 fury, where sympathy was derided and kindness spurned, was 
 found a better teacher than the State ! The State was the keeper 
 before the door, and kept the prison ; but an angel of the Lord 
 came -upon those wretched and branded inmates, " and a light 
 shined in the prison." Elizabeth Fry sat, prayed, persuaded, wept, 
 there, in loco matrix. She was to them more than a parent ; and, 
 as they listened and as they gazed, they were as those whom their 
 " mother comforteth." Where is the gaol, to which we might have 
 access, that should want a Voluntary education? Our distant 
 soldiers and sailors find evangelists, teachers, pastors, in those 
 noblest of Voluntaries, our Missionaries. 
 
 The argument for the jurisdiction of the State in popular educa- 
 tion often halts, but still more frequently betrays and neutralizes 
 itself. Its advocates will rarely assert that it ought to ply its 
 jurisdiction, the people being already educated. But this proves 
 that its interference might not be necessary, that the object might 
 be otherwise attained. If it ought not to interfere, its task being 
 accomplished by others, then it may either depute its duty or 
 suspend it. The common plea is, that it ought to educate the poor,
 
 FOR THE L11)L( AlloN OF TH L; I'KOl'LE. 87 
 
 because the parents of the poor cannot, or will not. This is to 
 make it but a succedaneum. It reserves to itself an ad interim 
 power. Its present right or duty grows out of the neglect of the 
 rights or duties of others. Then it has not the primary, the 
 inherent, vocation. When parents shall attend to these rights, or 
 duties, the Government is superseded, and reverts to its natural 
 irresponsibility. The argument is complete. We, at the same time, 
 deny the assumption on which it proceeds, that these parents 
 generally are chargeable with such inability or negligence. 
 
 Then, who are to do it? Do what? We believe that a very 
 large bulk of the people are now under instruction. But there is 
 defect. We feel that there is much to overtake. The sentimental, 
 or the partizau, cry of them who never expressed a care, or took 
 a part, for education until now, shall not turn us to indifference. 
 I do not think any can be over-educated. I wish every man under- 
 stood geometry as well as Barrow, and the stars as Newton. But, 
 first of all, let the people trust to themselves. Let them seek all 
 that is withheld from them, by the force of knowledge, and virtue, 
 and religion. These are the only weapons with which they must 
 contend, with uhich they can succeed, in the conquest of their 
 immunities. Much of education is in their power. The thirst, the 
 effort, the resolve, for it cannot be in vain. Mind enlarges with 
 these dispositions. Thousands of ways are open, thousands of 
 means are at command. They never want help who will help them- 
 selves. Let the vicious vulgar, let the low dissipation, let the 
 contented ignorance, let the hopeless apathy, be eschewed. Let 
 the people, the mighty folk of labour and industry, lift themselves 
 up. The ocean-coasts more generally sink than rise ; but some 
 have been known, without convulsion, to rise, nobler headlands 
 than before, while the billows recede and sink. So shall the true 
 elevation of the people be hailed by all the good! Its swelling 
 rampart shall not appal, but only more firmly beat off the waves 
 And now, let all true-hearted and Christian philanthropists show 
 themselves ready to this good work, zealous of these good works. 
 They have every augury in the state of the public mind. They, on 
 every hand, may read note and presage of onward movement. I do 
 not say that Christian ministers, as ministers, Churches as Churches, 
 are peculiarly obliged to lend an impetus to it. But all that is 
 benevolent in them, all that breathes warmly for our humanity, all 
 that is refinedly and expansively Christian, assuredly does. It is
 
 88 ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE 
 
 no superfluous, no gratuitous, duty, to desire and pursue the weal of 
 our race. We must love our nation. We must honour all men. 
 We must condescend to the man of low estate, the brother of low 
 degree. We must not despise one of these little ones. Let us act, 
 with others, if it might be a national league. Let us act, but only 
 when repulsed, alone. Let us keep the cause before the world. 
 
 It is wrongly objected, that we withstand others in doing the work 
 which we will not do ourselves. We only withstand a noxious 
 principle, which we believe to be destructive of the work. We do 
 not boast, but of that work we hope that we emulate our share. 
 Yet we are likened to the dog in the manger. We never were in 
 the manger. We keep watch at the stable-door. We guard the 
 entrance against the intruding steeds which would eat our master's 
 hay and corn, and the pilfering varlet grooms who would abstract it. 
 We raise the alarm by our deep baying. We should be caressed if 
 we took the bait thrown out to us, were we dumb dogs that would 
 not bark, lying down and loving to slumber. 
 
 Do not suffer yourselves to be hurried into extreme conclusions. 
 Let not the taunts which meet you irritate, and thus blind, your 
 judgments. Your business is with your Government, and your 
 people. If there be an argument which could vary the question as 
 to others, this does not bind yourselves. If there be aught to 
 favour such a treatment of serfs and slaves, repel it when it 
 approaches freemen. Nor does consistency pledge your objection to 
 every act of the State in extending science and art. Let it equip 
 the voyage of discovery. The national navigation may be its lowest 
 excuse. Let it purchase statues and pictures. The national refine- 
 ment may not exhaust its reasons. We have contended against 
 Governmental Education. By this we have understood the whole 
 civil and moral training of our nation. We would not that its mind 
 be cast into a mould. We would not that its ideas should be nor- 
 mally prescribed. But what have expeditions to burst the polar ice, 
 what have galleries stored with treasures snatched from Ilyssus 
 and Xanthus, to do with our constitutional jealousies and whole- 
 some fears ? To encourage and cheer the State to these enterprises 
 is one thing ; but it is a very different thing to entrust it with the 
 key of knowledge, and to acknowledge its right of custody over 
 that key ! 
 
 That which we had best attempt, considering our means, is not 
 the building, furnishing, and peopling, of schools, but the training
 
 FOR THE EDUCATJON Of THE PEOPLE. 89 
 
 of teachers. Our Churches are rich in suitable candidates. Our 
 principles are most adapted to form right views and habits of 
 instruction. We shall thus concentrate our influence. We shall 
 direct the moving power. We shall stand at the springing of the 
 waters. Let nothing divert us from it. Let us run to and fro, that 
 knowledge may be increased. Our prosperity and greatness can 
 rest on no comparable foundation. It will be the stability of our 
 times. It will give each his place, and all their intercommunity. 
 And when shall come the consummation, theirs shall be the praise, 
 theirs the triumph, who went straightfonvard with steady principle 
 to achieve it, never seeking it by crooked policy never helping 
 it by beggarly elements, satisfied to be esteemed lukewarm, unre- 
 pining when accused of disaffection and hostility, never turning 
 aside to sophism or to lure, determined on conquest, but as deter- 
 mined that the conquest shall be worthy of the cause ! 
 
 Constituting a religious community, the system of Sabbath-school 
 instruction particularly appeals to us. Be sure here is a mighty 
 power. We see it now in a very elementary and inchoate condition. 
 It has hitherto been a struggle with the crudest prejudice and igno- 
 rance. Its labour has been that of the pioneer. A nobler work is 
 before it. It is the sower going forth to sow. Here is the fulcrum 
 of that lever which shall raise society from its most degraded 
 depths ; and here, too, is the holy signet which shall stamp upon it 
 an exalted sanctity. 
 
 We do not conceal from ourselves our disadvantages. We cannot 
 soon forget our proud sacrifices. We love education, but there are 
 things which we love better. For them we have suffered loss and 
 rupture of the oldest and the dearest ties. It was, indeed, a taunt 
 which we had not' deserved, when Education was inscribed on the 
 standard of our foes ! 
 
 We see arrayed against us that love of money which makes stoop- 
 ing sycophants and crawling mercenaries, called into action by bribe 
 and bounty. The teacher and the child are to be bought. It is 
 a small beginning : the wedge has one side thin. Commonly, to 
 give it power, you must strike hard if you would drive it to its head ; 
 but this works its own way, for it is a wedge of gold. " Virtus pott 
 nummos." 
 
 We see in all such measures a tendency to pauperize education. 
 It is already made too eleemosynary. Where it is paid for, it is 
 always more thankfully estimated. Any aid which is now proposed,
 
 90 ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE 
 
 so vain is the scheme, will not originate a school, nor cheapen one ; 
 but then it is known that the Government has power over it, yields 
 support to it, and each child will be thought its foundling. 
 
 We see in these tfmperinjjs with a higher independence more 
 than a tendency to destroy the self-reliance of a people. It is but 
 an experiment and reconnoissance. It is a precursor. A system is 
 avowed, of which this is little more than a symptom. It is publicly 
 recommended to take all general interests into the State, and to 
 stipendize all who superintend them. 
 
 We see strengthened, by these means, that ghostly power which 
 seemed well-nigh laid, once more ruling by superstitious fears, 
 now beguiling maiden simplicity and sensibility, then extorting the 
 miser's hoard. The cowl and the crucifix insinuate themselves. 
 The infant mind is brought under the control of those unscrupulous 
 agents, who are the hirelings of one Church, but the familiars of 
 another. 
 
 We see an insatiable rapacity which millions of sterling cannot 
 appease, grasping at more. It knows not Balaam's check, though 
 its house is full of silver and gold. Not the little addition makes it 
 happy, but the prospect which that addition opens ! It sees it with 
 a gloating eye ! Its joy for it is almost riotously elate ! It " grins 
 horribly a ghastly smile, to hear its famine shall be filled, blessing 
 its maw, destined to that good hour." 
 
 We see a centralization which is always to be deprecated, not as 
 accidentally, but necessarily, tending to abuse, an over- riding of 
 the country by inquisitors, a multiplication of officials, new sources 
 of a corrupting influence in seduction and in intimidation. It is an 
 insidious attempt upon the independence of the electoral consti- 
 tuencies. It is to be a quietus to the rising claims of the poor. 
 
 We see in it a futurity of evil. The nation will blindly lend itself 
 to an accrescent power. We shall have a new pension list, a new 
 national debt. Claims thicken and seize on a perpetuity. It is 
 " little," it is " small." But, for it is not the pecuniary cost about 
 which we comparatively care and fret, so is the alligator's egg, and 
 the lion's cub. " It is but a scratch ; marry, 'tis enough. No ; 'tis 
 not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door." The well of 
 truth they would not sink, and the church-door is wide enough for 
 all our renegades. 
 
 We see a fetter forged for the restriction of educational freedom 
 and competition. Left to its native strength, committed to its true
 
 FOR THE EDUCATION OF TUB PEOPLE. 91 
 
 independence, mind will grow up under it variegated and prolific. 
 When the culture is cramped, there will be a dwarfish and barren 
 growth. There will be an organization of ideas. A very concrete 
 of dead intelligence only will be left. Nothing will be created to 
 inform the life within, or to enrich the world beyond. That which 
 should liberate will rivet; that which should develop will straiten. 
 There will be no laying open of the soul of man. In a modern 
 instance of statesmanship nothing very great is contemplated 
 though visions are made to play before us of a more artistic laundry 
 and a more mathematical excise ! 
 
 But I do not despond, much less despair ! It will be hard to 
 bow the mind of England ! There are too many historical glories, 
 too many constitutional safeguards, too many free institutions, too 
 many popular habits, to justify a drooping thought. It is a pending 
 crisis ; but crises are the birth- throes of all great issues. It is a 
 serious struggle ; but struggle is the price of all momentous victo- 
 ries. At present the few must stand against the many ; but " the 
 fewer men, the greater share of honour !" I pity the schoolmaster 
 who is set over boys to teach them servility and slavery. There is, 
 ground and kneaded into our native temperament, that enthusiasm 
 for freedom and erectness, that this may be a hapless fate. One of 
 this order, among the ancient Falisci, brought his pupils with him 
 to betray them to the Roman general, Camillus, who was then 
 besieging that people. Revolting at such treachery, though in his 
 own favour, the generous conqueror spurned him ; and, arming the 
 boys each with a rod, sent back the traitor, with a strict command 
 to them to flog him all the way. I trust they stoutly obeyed. I 
 hope they settled all arrears. What would I have given to have 
 claimed the opportunity of reprisals upon some who reared my 
 tender thought with little commiseration of my tender skin ! So 
 may every school, turned into a house of bondage, be in an uproar, 
 and such taskmasters learn, from a well-swinged experience, the 
 peril of insulting their country's mind and independence ! 
 
 The retrogressions of social and religious truth are illusory, and 
 not real. No step is lost. All though it seems to waver, or even 
 to recede truly advances. It must make way. Whatever surrounds 
 it, must make way for it. We might have thought that this battle 
 had been decisively fought. We were prepared to claim the field. 
 We had well-nigh shouted the victory. But it is happy that the 
 strife has been rejoined. We may rejoice that it is once again put
 
 92 ON THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE 
 
 to the issue ! The whole of the question was never before placed in 
 sight. The entire gage is only now thrown down. And though we 
 may deem the repetitions of error and sophistry tiresome, though 
 we might have hoped that the common places of vulgar ignorance 
 and obtuseness were worn out, yet this has always been the trial 
 of those who would forward the race, and amend the world. It is to 
 be done, and to be done again. But thus only can that which is 
 achieved be consolidated. There is no giving way no yielding. 
 The giant plants his foot a little farther back to take a more mighty 
 spring, and to deal a more conquering blow. There is no mere 
 turning round no circle. Like the seven ledges of Dante's Moun- 
 tain-cone, we travel no ground again : each curve is a spiral ascent, 
 and each winding lessens as we rise ! 
 
 At least we have one "Patriot" with us. That is a patriotic 
 host. It has stood firm with us amidst frown and menace. Its 
 high and eloquent intelligence has been of the greatest stead and 
 service. Its " leaders" might be manuductions to the age. Now 
 up with the "Banner /" I am not content with a flag-staff, with 
 its drapery reefed and furled ! Where is the meteor streaming forth 
 of its folds ? Where the breadth of the shadows it might fling ? 
 Where the thunder of the flappings it might resound ? Where is 
 the battlemented height on which it should be planted, a signal 
 known afar ? It wants but one device to its emblazonments, but one 
 motto to its legends, Free, self-sustained, self-advancing, Educa- 
 tion. Then, what will be its gorgeous field ? Then, what will be 
 its triumphant flight ? When will the meridian hour strike ? * 
 
 Our ranks may even thin. Truth may fall in the street. Men 
 may ride over our heads. Our natural allies may turn to be our 
 bitter foes. Whig, Reformer, Free-trader, whom we never forsook 
 in their evil hour, may desert us. Where we cannot find consistency, 
 we can ill hope gratitude. We grudge the delay for our generation. 
 For ourselves, we can bide the time. We do not seek, with Malcolm, 
 " some desolate shade, and there weep our sad bosoms empty ;" 
 but rather say, with Macduff, " Let us hold fast the mortal sword ; 
 and, like good men, bestride our downfallen birthdom." Galileo 
 was not more convinced of his principle than we. Somewhat like 
 his is our persecution. Others would bring the sun of knowledge 
 
 * The allusion is to two well-known newspapers of the Nonconformists. 
 The latter had said that it was only an early hour as to its convictions : if it 
 were true at seven, it must strike at twelve.
 
 FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. 93 
 
 to wait upon them. We would bring them to wait upon the sun of 
 knowledge. If the earth will catch its light and warmth, the earth 
 must move, and move round it. The mechanics of the universe 
 were always right. The laws of mind have been disturbed. But 
 they once were duly obeyed, and shall be obeyed again ! Look forth 
 upon the spiritual, moral, universe ! The sun is high ; and if it 
 moves, it moves not to us, though it may draw us with it into some 
 more glorious depth of splendour, into some mightier firmament of 
 power. The earth circles it, in tribute and for regeneration. Let 
 the people, like the planet, know their duty. As she relumes her- 
 self at the great urn of solar fire, let them seek their true enlighten- 
 ment. It will not revolve for them : let them secure for themselves 
 this only peaceful and holy revolution. Still, with Galileo, not in 
 suppressed mutter, but with outcry from the housetop, we proclaim, 
 The Earth must move ! does move !
 
 LECTURE IV.
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE TRAINING OF 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 BY THE REV. ANDREW REED, B.A. 
 
 1. Importance of the subject Normal schools the garrisons of education 2. That party must 
 succeed which trains the best teachers 3. (a) Description of a Normal school 4. Effects 
 collects into a focus the experience of teachers 5. Gives rise to Model schools 
 6. Prevents teachers from hastily quitting their work 7. Longer time needed at the 
 Normal school 8. (b) Principle at the basis of the Normal school that many persons 
 have a natural passion for teaching the young other educational impulses love of 
 parents curiosity of children benevolence of the public 9. The love of teaching the 
 born teacher no hireling 10. Teachers too incompetent underrated American specimen 
 11. Humiliating treatment of teachers 12. Government reports of English teachers 
 to be suspected 13. Self-supporting schools to be preferred to a charity education Free 
 Normal schools tend to create the former 14. (c) History of educational efforts 15. Pesta- 
 lozzi 16. Count Fellenberg 17. Lancaster interview with George III. 18. Wilder- 
 spin, &c., all volunteer teachers 19. (A) Means of elevating the class of teachers as a whole 
 no outward means alone raise personal character 20. Train only religious teachers 
 opinions of Central Society Prussia Arnold Derby resolution 21. Elevating influence 
 make education a Christian mission to the young 22. (e) History of Normal schools 
 Prussia Holland France Saxony 23. Effects on Germany Stow's opinion Horace 
 Mann Carlyle Howitt Krummacher 24. Effects in France despotic power 25. 
 America few Normal schools no Model schools 26. American teachers deficient 
 instances 27. General effects of American education 28. British Normal schools 
 began as early as abroad 29. British and Foreign School Society Normal schools con- 
 nexion with Government indefinite religious basis 30. National School Society Normal 
 schools general character 31. Home and Colonial Infant Normal school 32. Battersea 
 Training school 33. Irish Normal schools 34. Scotch Normal schools Glasgow 35. 
 Congregational Normal schools 36. Government effort to ally with itself all British 
 Normal schools dangerous effect of such an union 37. (f) Principles for the future 
 conduct of Free Normal schools 38. United or Denominational action 39. Spirit of 
 Directors 40. Economy in building 41. Use existing schools as model schools 42. Not 
 over-cheapen the training 43. An Infant Normal school required at once 44. Improve- 
 ment of Sunday schools 45. Character of Director, Matron, &c. 46 . Care in selecting 
 pupils 47. Summary of argument 48. Concluding address to Congregational Dissenteri 
 49. Address to teachers. 
 
 A PATRIOT of olden times, full of noble confidence, is said to 
 have thus addressed the rulers of the day : " You shall make 
 the laws let me make the ballads for the people." In a simi- 
 larly profound consciousness of the importance of my subject for 
 
 H
 
 98 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 this evening, I feel disposed to say to my colleagues and the 
 public, "You shall teach the children let me but train the teach- 
 ers" The more important the subject, the more sensible of a 
 want of experience and capacity to treat it as it deserves must the 
 lecturer acknowledge himself. I come forward by request. I 
 cannot be charged with presumption. But apologies are vain. 
 The effort must be made, and there is at least a powerful stimulus 
 to brace up the utmost energies in order to illustrate a subject which 
 appears to me second to none of this series in practical moment. 
 
 1 . 1 must confess my surprise, that, in recent discussions on educa- 
 tion, this subject has found so little illustration, that the public are 
 but slightly acquainted with the purport of this branch of education, 
 and by no means alive to its high claims on their attention and 
 support. Those persons who are most conversant with modern 
 education on a large scale know, that the real secret of power lies 
 in training the teachers. I wonder at the anxiety of our Govern- 
 ment to burden itself with the charge of local schools, while it can 
 quietly secure the entire control of the Normal schools. The State 
 may make the most liberal oifers of grants without inspection, of aid 
 without control, and may safely surrender the choice of the teachers 
 to the local subscribers, and rarely trouble itself to look after the 
 schools, provided it has under its plastic influence the model schools 
 on which all the general schools are formed, and the Normal 
 seminaries whence the teachers are sent forth, imbued with such 
 bias as the State Commissioners may please, and through life held 
 to the central school, whence future help and promotion may be 
 expected. Were I asked an opinion as to the ultimate probability 
 of success on the part of the great educational rivals in England at 
 present, those who accept State grants, and those who refuse them, 
 I should unhesitatingly say, the party which secures the training of 
 the teachers, which ultimately succeeds in sustaining the best and 
 most numerous Normal seminaries. I would say to educational 
 societies, let the schools for children take care of themselves, but 
 busy yourselves to train teachers. Beat all competitors here, and 
 you are safe. Spare no effort to supply the best teachers in the 
 greatest number, and it matters not what appliances are brought to 
 bear on schools, what petty bribes or promising inducements ; it 
 will then be evident that to you belongs the palm of increasing both 
 the number and the efficiency of the schools ; you will obtain the 
 confidence of Committees, the gratitude of teachers, and the meed
 
 TRAINING OF TtACHERS. 99 
 
 of public distinction. Normal schools are the garrisons of education. 
 Whoever possesses the garrisons commands the open country around 
 them. While others are mainly striving to allure children to their 
 schools, and lavishing funds on fresh and sightly buildings, be it 
 your wisdom to expend the chief effort on first-rate Normal schools, 
 and you will have your reward. 
 
 2. There can be no doubt that we, the Congregationalists, are fully 
 committed to an honourable contest to preserve liberty of education 
 for this country. We have passed the Rubicon ; there is no retreat ; 
 for, like Hannibal, we have burnt the ships. We are pledged, in 
 the face of every opposition, to maintain, so long as we are able, a 
 system of religious education independent of State aid. We firmly 
 believe, that eventually we shall succeed. Government education 
 will not be popular. Secular education cannot be effective. Sooner 
 or later, our principles will triumph. But the struggle may be long 
 and arduous, and it is of the utmost consequence to us to avail 
 ourselves of every modern improvement which may economise our 
 resources and give us an advantage. But have not our rivals the 
 start of us ? Are not all the Normal schools in their hands already ? 
 Can they not work this principle better than we can 1 There is 
 much cause of alarm in these queries, but as yet there are only few 
 Normal schools in this country, and those by no means so efficient 
 as they might be. We are therefore at less disadvantage in starting 
 than might have been expected. These institutions may be worked 
 with far more economy, and with even greater effect, than has been 
 usual. Let us strain every nerve to have the best British Normal 
 schools. 
 
 3. (a) But I am in danger of beginning to build without lay- 
 ing a foundation. Not a few persons may require a definition and 
 brief history of Normal schools before they are prepared to consider 
 their value, and duly to estimate their importance. The word 
 normal is derived from norma, a rule or standard. It is conven- 
 tionally used for a seminary in which teachers are trained, because 
 there, in effect, the standard of education is formed for a particular 
 system or country. A Normal school, therefore, means an institu- 
 tion where persons desiring to qualify as school-teachers receive 
 instruction for as long a period as they can afford, under an able 
 conductor, assisted by lecturers on various branches of education, 
 who superintend their training in the science of teaching and the 
 improvement of their own minds ; besides which, there should be, 
 
 H 2
 
 100 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 in union with the establishment, schools of a superior order for 
 children, (therefore called model-schools,) in which the pupil-teachers 
 may have frequent opportunity of practising the art of instruction 
 in the classes under the eye, and corrective suggestions of an 
 intelligent and kind master. Such is the outline idea of a Normal 
 school. The idea of such schools probably originated out of the use 
 of monitors. When a larger number of children was placed under 
 one master, by employing some of the older ones to teach classes of 
 the younger, a great advance was made in extending the means of 
 popular education. These monitors the master, of course, found it 
 necessary to drill with special pains, that they might be qualified to 
 teach. The training of monitors became of prior consequence, even 
 to teaching children. Some of these monitors remained a consider- 
 able time in the schools, and ultimately went forth as teachers. 
 Here is, then, the germ of a Normal school for training teachers, 
 and the next step of the generalization is perfectly easy and natural, 
 from the training given by a master to his monitors, to the collecting 
 of a number of pupil-teachers, or candidates for the position of 
 teachers, under one roof, to be trained under a superior master, and 
 in connexion with a model-school. 
 
 4. Some of the objects contemplated in forming these pedagogical 
 schools may be here noticed. It soon became a general maxim, 
 that " like master, like school ;" or, as it has been quaintly expressed, 
 " The master is the mirror at which the children dress themselves." 
 The improvement of masters was soon, therefore, felt to be a primary 
 concern, and the real secret of all educational success. Committees, 
 before engaging a master, felt the insecurity of trusting to a passing 
 examination of his knowledge, or to vague testimonials of ability, 
 often the most hollow and deceptive. A man may converse well 
 and be well informed, and yet have no ability to teach children. 
 Teaching is partly a gift ; but the art may be acquired, and is always 
 susceptible of much improvement. A good teacher, untrained in 
 the various methods which genius has discovered and experience 
 confirmed, must spend the first years of his labour in a series of 
 experiments on the first principles of tuition, at the expense of his 
 pupils ; and almost as soon as he becomes familiar with his 
 vocation, he may be removed, and all his hard-earned experience 
 dies with him. A Normal school collects the scattered experience 
 of past educators into a focus, and communicates its concentrated 
 impulse to succeeding generations ; so that by a year's instruction
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 101 
 
 at such a seminary, a teacher is spared much trouble and disappoint- 
 ment in the outset, commences with far better principles than he 
 could have struck out for himself, and has, through his whole course, 
 a valuable centre of information, whither returning at intervals, he 
 may learn the improvements of others, and to which he may com- 
 municate any fresh plans which matured reflection has suggested to 
 himself. As might be expected, it is found that nothing tends so 
 rapidly to advance tuition in a district, as the foundation of such an 
 institution. I shall presently trace its origin and history ; but it 
 has now been tried in Germany, England, Holland, France, 
 Switzerland, and partially in America, with uniform success. While 
 in Austria, where teachers are still trained by mere attendance at a 
 common primary school, without the advantage of a Normal school 
 the school system is comparatively stationary, and exhibits little 
 progressive improvement. 
 
 5. The model schools connected with Normal seminaries must 
 usually be of a high character, and give an elevated tone to all other 
 schools in their neighbourhood. Other schools branch off from 
 these in different directions, and an element of education is produced, 
 which will always create its own demand a large number of com- 
 petent teachers sent forth with due qualifications every year. 
 
 6. If it be objected, that teachers furnished with a superior 
 education would be tempted to relinquish their calling for a more 
 lucrative pursuit, it may suffice to reply, that each pupil-teacher 
 usually pledges himself, on entrance, to give three or four years to 
 school instruction after he leaves the Normal school, or to refund 
 the value of the pecuniary assistance he has received there. If a 
 person so trained has not sufficient love for teaching, or finds on trial 
 that his tact is not in that direction, or that he prefers and can succeed 
 better in some other walk of life, surely it can hardly be a source of 
 regret that he should be enabled to better himself! The tendency 
 of these establishments is decidedly to elevate the rank and profits 
 of the educator, and eventually to counteract the disposition to leave 
 this class of occupation for others. 
 
 7. The time spent at these schools varies considerably. It has 
 gradually lengthened as these institutions have risen, and their 
 worth has been felt. Stow states, that at first "a month was con- 
 sidered a great sacrifice many contented themselves with a fort- 
 night, and some even with a week : by-and-by the students 
 remained two months. We then refused to admit any for a less
 
 102 ON NOKMAL SCHOOLS FOE THE 
 
 period than three months. Next, six months was fixed, and now 
 a year is required."* 
 
 The period has extended abroad to two and even three years, 
 which last term will, I am persuaded, not be thought too much 
 when education takes its proper rank among the useful professions. 
 Every trade has its apprenticeship of five to seven years. The farmers 
 have their agricultural college, or are with a practical farmer for 
 several years to learn their business. Law, medicine, and the arts 
 have their colleges, curriculum, and pass examinations for their 
 pupils. The clerical office has its colleges and course of preparation. 
 It is high time for the educator of the young to have similar 
 advantages extended to him, quite as much from a sense of the 
 importance of this profession to the public welfare, as from any idea 
 of personal kindness to himself. Three years would be well spent 
 in such preparation. The first year would be used in confirming 
 the knowledge already possessed, and in giving it depth, solidity, 
 and extension. The second in studying the theory of education, and 
 bringing the pupil up to an average standard of acquirement in each 
 branch of knowledge. The third might be more particularly given 
 to practising in the model-school, with the presiding teacher, which 
 might occupy partial attention during the previous years also. On 
 leaving, an examination should be held, and various certificates 
 presented. The pupils would retain a connexion with their alma- 
 mater during life, and hence would arise a kind of inspection of the 
 Normal school over schools supplied by its teachers. Everything 
 should be done to consolidate the establishment, that it might 
 become worthy to be called, what it really is, the Educator's 
 University. 
 
 8. (b) Having thus described the Normal school, for the benefit of 
 any who may be imperfectly acquainted with its meaning, I will now 
 proceed to illustrate some principles which may more fully show the 
 great importance of this modern improvement. It must not be 
 forgotten that the chief hope of the general education of the people 
 rests on that strong disposition to teach the young which is with 
 many persons a ruling passion of the character. 
 
 Those who despair of the education of children, save under the 
 interposition of the Government, cannot have properly considered 
 the constitution of society, and the strong and varied impulses com- 
 municated by Divine Providence, in order to secure that most 
 * Stow's Training System, p., 104.
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 103 
 
 important object. There is the instinctive and fond love of father 
 and mother, who, in different ways, extend to their offspring a tender, 
 self-denying care, which all the adverse influences of social selfish- 
 ness cannot quench, and which needs only to be enlightened to prove 
 effectual. There is the inherent curiosity of the child his desire 
 to learn his docile pliability and quick observation and inquisitive- 
 ness, which affords a ready avenue to the hearts of the young, if 
 rightly used, and needs only to be properly directed in order 
 marvellously to facilitate the work of education. There is the 
 emotion of public benevolence, which comes in as an auxiliary where 
 the former are dormant ; the strong desire which man feels, that 
 his neighbours should share the privileges he enjoys a feeling 
 which Christianity arouses to the highest pitch which has given 
 birth to a great variety of charitable institutions which has already 
 effected much in aid of the education of the poor, and promises a 
 daily advance. Now, the interference of the State, instead of 
 fostering these native impulses, sets them aside, and becomes a poor 
 substitute in their room. This is the strongest objection to such 
 interposition. But there is yet another social guarantee for educa- 
 tion, less regarded than the former, yet no less directly efficacious, 
 and which, as it more especially lies at the basis of my topic, I shall 
 notice at greater length. 
 
 9. I refer to that love of teaching, that desire to communicate know- 
 ledge, with which many minds in the community, in every nation 
 and age, have been strongly imbued. Though parents may fail to 
 train their children from ignorance or carelessness, and though the 
 docility of children, together with the benevolent efforts of the 
 public, were less operative in favour of popular instruction than 
 they are, yet there may always be found a large number of persons 
 in society providentially disposed to perform the teacher's office 
 from a real love for its duties, with the additional and natural ex- 
 pectation of some fair remuneration. To some, this service appears 
 so destitute of all charm, and so servile a drudgery, that they wonder 
 the richest rewards can tempt a competent person to undertake it. 
 But they must not judge of others by themselves. There are those 
 who feel a peculiar fondness for little children. Like an ear for 
 music, or a taste for the arts, this disposition seems innate. To 
 the female, it appears like a part of the essential distinction of her 
 sex, though some are more fully under its influence than others.
 
 104 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 There are also those among men who vie with the softer sex in being 
 enamoured with the engaging society and artless ways of children. 
 Of their prattle they never weary. Their opening characters they 
 love to trace. They delight to gratify the spell-bound listeners 
 with the marvellous tale, the merry song, the amusing or harrowing 
 narrative. They discern the importance of making their influence 
 bear upon the formation of right conceptions and virtuous feelings. 
 They feel amply rewarded in the unfeigned and transparent grati- 
 tude of these affectionate young creatures. This disposition is 
 happily combined with the natural impulse the almost craving to 
 communicate which the possession of knowledge usually inspires, 
 and the yet more general desire of benevolent minds to benefit other 
 minds as largely as their powers extend. Out of these mingled 
 elements Nature's teacher is formed ; and such characters are more 
 numerous in society than may be supposed. Such a man becomes 
 an instructor spontaneously, whenever he falls into the society of 
 children. He intuitively understands their sympathies, and has 
 the happy art of becoming one with them. He possesses the true 
 professional ardour. He is the born-teacher the educator nactus 
 non factus. There is no earthly situation he more covets. Even 
 without large emolument he would select the educator's sphere ; 
 nay, at a sacrifice, he would aspire to the noble task of training the 
 " young idea." He is no hireling, who drudges on at a labour he 
 detests for the consideration which he covets. The means of living 
 are necessary to him of course, and he gladly avails himself of them 
 in this work ; but the work itself he loves, whether he gain or lose 
 by it. As the faithful minister feels within himself the call to 
 preach the gospel, irrespective of station or emolument, so the 
 teacher is conscious of an inward call little less distinct and impera- 
 tive. Very commonly, the ideas which lead men to both offices are 
 the same ; for the true teacher is not often a man without religion. 
 Many such minds are moved by very decided spiritual influences. 
 They behold the work in its full evangelic importance connected 
 with the eternal issues the native obstructions the scriptural 
 expedients which revelation discloses. These considerations main- 
 tain their sleepless vigilance and prayerful anxiety under a sense of 
 accountability to God, which arouses emotions unknown to the mere 
 secular teacher. The teacher we describe is a pastor as well as a 
 teacher, seeking, in the midst of his little charge, by the help of
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHEKS. 105 
 
 God, that hereafter, as their spiritual father, through the Spirit, he 
 may joyfully exclaim at the bar of God, " Here am I, and the 
 children whom thou hast given me." 
 
 Such a man will need little inspection or oversight. He may be 
 trusted. To the best of his power he will do his duty, whether 
 men witness or he is unobserved ; for he works to God rather than 
 to man. He will be diligent in furnishing his own mind with all 
 necessary acquirements, and will feel the importance of keeping up 
 the interest of his pupils by continual freshness of information. No 
 portion of their training will appear unimportant to him, for each 
 has a reaction so powerful that all are necessary, in some sort, to his 
 ultimate aim. 
 
 10. But it will be said, such eminently-qualified teachers are very 
 rare. The common complaint is, that masters are so very incom- 
 petent, and that the office is so despised by society, that respectable 
 persons hesitate to enter on it, and the remuneration is so exceedingly 
 small, that no exterior attraction sets the situation in a Jbetter aspect. 
 Here is a vicious circle, out of which many despair of finding an 
 escape. It is to be feared such remarks are too true. The follow- 
 ing racy American dialogue, from a Government Report, shows how 
 much underrated are the services of a teacher : 
 
 " A. calls on one of the trustees. 'Well, neighbour A.,' says the 
 trustee, ' we have hired a man to keep our school this winter.' 
 ' Oh ! how much do you give him a month ? ' ' Twelve dollars.' 
 (48*. 301. a- year.) * You must be a bright one, to pay a man 
 such high wages, these hard times, to keep our school. I've just 
 hired a man to work for me this winter, at chopping, threshing, 
 and drawing logs, and I give him only eight dollars a month, and 
 he's a real smart fellow, too. He can thresh ten or twelve bushels 
 of wheat in a day, and clean it up in the evening ; and he'll chop his 
 four cords of wood day by day, and not wink at it ; and I think 
 it is a pity if we can't employ a man to sit around the stove all day, 
 and have thirty or forty to wait on him, as cheap as I can hire one 
 to do the work I have for a man to do ; and I think it's a chance if 
 he has much of a school.' 'I know,' says the trustee, 'it's too 
 much; but no one else came along, so 'we thought we had better 
 hire him.' 'Didntyou try to beat him down any?' 'I should 
 think we did, We worked him from noon till nine o'clock at night, 
 and got him down four dollars. He asked sixteen dollars at first.' 
 ' You should have beat him down four dollars more ; and that
 
 106 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 would be more than a teacher ought to have.' " New York Report, 
 1843, p. 136. 
 
 I rejoice to feel that, daring and false as our Government Com- 
 missioners are, (witness the Report on Wales,) they dared not have 
 made such a statement as this regarding public opinion. Possibly 
 such a scene might occur in some of our darkest rural districts ; but, 
 in all our towns, such an unworthy estimate of the educator, as an 
 " unproductive labourer," meets with the contempt it deserves. 
 
 1 1 . Yet the teacher is neither remunerated nor respected according 
 to his real worth. 
 
 I have often been grieved to witness the conduct of the managers 
 of schools to the master or mistress. They receive, too commonly, 
 the treatment of servants. There is no shake of the hand, as to a 
 labourer loved for his work's sake ; no seat oifered them ; but their 
 inferiority marked, by their standing while the Committee sits. 
 They are taken to task without delicacy, even before their pupils. 
 Strenuous self-vindication is considered arrogant presumption. If 
 they succeed, they obtain a cold approval or a humiliating patronage. 
 If they fail, under great discouragements, they are borne down by 
 expressions of dissatisfaction, instead of being upheld by sympathy ; 
 and at length dismissed without ceremony, to find another situation, 
 if, with broken spirits and damaged character, any door shall open 
 to them. How trying to hear, on some great school show-day or 
 examination, when parents and subscribers are gathered, and the 
 poor teacher has laboured to prepare the children, and his strength 
 is spent in conducting a most interesting examination, compliments 
 paid to the subscribers, laudations to the wealthy patron in the 
 chair, congratulations to the parents, rewards distributed to the 
 children ; and yet, amid these lavish praises, there stands the hard- 
 working and poor-paid teacher, who has toiled daily against immense 
 difficulties with untiring patience, exhibiting qualities of head and 
 heart, which in any other station would gain him general esteem 
 he whose energy has brought up the scholars to the pitch of 
 excellent order they exhibit he stands there almost unnoticed, 
 modestly retiring from remark, and cordially enjoying the happiness 
 of the children and parents in whose welfare he has so deep an 
 interest. Where are his praises, his congratulations, his substantial 
 rewards ! They are found less often in the earnest and respectful 
 co-operation of Committees, than in the grateful affection of scholars 
 and parents, and in the testimony of a good conscience. This
 
 TRAINING OP TEACHEK*. 107 
 
 reproach is fast passing away. I cannot forbear lifting my voice 
 against such an enormous wrong. 
 
 12. Many teachers, no doubt, have been unworthy of the position 
 they have held. It is not my place here to hold them up to derision. 
 I could soon extract, from Government Reports, statements 
 respecting our common and dame schools, which would greatly 
 tickle your fancy. But, for my part, I become more and more 
 suspicious of the authority of those Reports. Be it never forgotten, 
 that when Popular Education found a cold reception from the higher 
 classes, she found her best friends among these humble assistants, 
 who felt her value, welcomed her presence, and laboured alone in 
 her service. Surely with an ill-grace do those higher classes, now 
 they see their error, and repent, and are inviting Popular Education 
 to their aid, turn round, and spurn away the poorer attendants, who 
 so long and patiently attended her in the days of her humiliation ! 
 It suits their purpose, who come to spy the nakedness of the land, 
 and sweep the ground clear for the introduction of their new-fangled 
 State schemes, to despise these unpretending seminaries ; but the 
 true patriot has cause to glory in their general diffusion, which 
 proves the spontaneous power of natural resources for educating the 
 people, even during the apathy of Government, and the neglect or 
 opposition of public sentiment. It may be fairly doubted, whether 
 the mass of Government schools, in other countries, are better than 
 many of our common day-schools. These are often kept by respect- 
 able persons who have seen better days, and have had a good 
 education. The small number of scholars the domestic air of the 
 school often gives it a greater moral influence over character than 
 the larger and more pretending school acquires. 
 
 13. I am free to confess that I desire to see the schools of the 
 poorer class self-supporting ; conducted not by Committees, as 
 charity-schools, but by enterprising and well-trained teachers on 
 their own responsibility. Certainly, for the middle-class, schools 
 kept by private individuals, who are responsible for their success, are 
 usually preferable to proprietary schools under the control of 
 Committees. But this change can never be wrought for the lower 
 classes, except by training teachers qualified to raise and sustain 
 schools which may ultimately stand on their own merits. Of course 
 this system could not be generally adopted at present ; but I hope 
 the Normal school will gradually prepare the way for school after 
 school to throw off' all charitable aids, and stand on an independent
 
 108 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 basis. I oppose all Government aid on the ground (amongst others) 
 that it must prevent this gradual improvement ; keep the education 
 of the lower classes dependent on charity ; and hinder even those 
 schools which might easily become independent from assuming that 
 superior position. From our free system and efficient Normal 
 school we may expect to rise up a large number of good self- 
 supporting schools, first in the larger towns and cities, arid gradually 
 even in country towns ; which, in the outset, partly sustained by 
 generous contribution, will remain in close alliance with our 
 religious institutions, beside which they will have grown up. 
 
 14. (c) Now that we have illustrated the love of teaching, and 
 the character of the true educator of whose efforts even yet society 
 has so low an estimate let us glance at the history of the chief 
 educational efforts in this and other lands. 
 
 Slow has been the process by which educators themselves and 
 the public have, by degrees, learnt " how to teach." As in other 
 sciences, progress has been realised by the efforts of individuals. 
 One has lived to remove this error, another to deposit this conclu- 
 sion. Persons urged by superior intelligence and inspiring philan- 
 thropy to venture away from the ordinary routine, have applied fresh 
 methods. The world has followed in their wake, but in the lapse of 
 time their method proves its imperfection. The views of reformers 
 are pushed to an injudicious extreme by their followers. Thought 
 is awakened others break away correctives are sought till some 
 bold experimenter discerns a new principle, commanding both the 
 former inadequate reform and its correction. He assumes the lead, 
 and the world again follows the new guide. So by successive elimi- 
 nations of error, we arrive at nearer approximations to truth, and 
 society finds step by step the untracked, spiral path up the inacces- 
 sible and misty mount of science. Time will not allow me to speak 
 of the educational efforts of past ages the early Christians the 
 Reformers of Fenelon and Spener, pious Catholics waked to a 
 holy rivalry with the Protestants of our own far-seeing and patriotic 
 Milton our sagacious and practical Locke our Edgeworths, Hamil- 
 tons, Mores, &c., of the German Frank, whose noble orphan-house 
 at Halle contained one of the earliest and best Normal schools, and 
 who left his mantle on the illustrious Count Zinzendorf, 1 700, whose 
 pious system resulted in the schools of the Moravian brethren, which 
 are so justly celebrated for their orderly and quiet discipline. Nor 
 can I criticise the efforts of Rousseau and the sceptic philosophers
 
 TRAINTXC OF TEACHERS. 109 
 
 of France, giving them the meed they deserve ; nor describe the 
 counter efforts of Bassedow and the philanthropists, in their turn 
 opposed by the rationalist Kant, and Eclectic schools, during which 
 contention the question was, whether education should be based on 
 the self-development of nature or on the remedial applications 
 of revelation for a disordered nature, and which severe contest 
 resulted in the defeat of the naturalists and the permanent connexion 
 of religion with education. 
 
 15. We come now, however, to some names on which I am fain to 
 linger, as fine specimens of the real educator. Pestalozzi is not 
 improperly called the " Father of Modern Education." His school 
 at Yverdun, and little book, " How Gertrude teaches her Children," 
 formed an era in education. Dr. Biber's memoir should be perused 
 by every teacher. He commenced his labours by teaching seventy 
 children at the asylum at Stanz. They were from the lowest class, 
 exceedingly depraved, and seemingly incorrigible, without school 
 accommodation, destitute of friendly aid. Discouraged and opposed 
 by various obstacles, he was resolved to attempt their transformation 
 by power of sympathy and love. Well did he succeed. " Before," 
 he relates, "the snow of our mountains melted under the influence 
 of the vernal sun, those children could no longer be recognised as 
 the same beings they came to me." " There," adds Dr. Biber, " in 
 the midst of his children, he forgot there was any world besides his 
 asylum. At the first dawn of day it was his voice that called them 
 to the light of the rising sun, and to the praise of their heavenly 
 Father. All day long he stood among them, teaching the ignorant 
 and assisting the helpless, encouraging the weak and admonishing 
 the transgressor. His hand was daily with them, joined in theirs ; 
 his eye beaming with benevolence, rested on theirs. He wept when 
 they wept, and rejoiced when they rejoiced. He was to them a 
 father, and they to him as children." Here was the true teacher. 
 
 16. The Abbe" Girard followed the same principles at Friburg. 
 Count de Fellenberg was a fine specimen of the enthusiasm for 
 teaching. He originated the idea of a practical or industrial educa- 
 tion. " Educate the people for what the people are designed to be." 
 This man, born to aristocratic honours, and in high station, conde- 
 scended to the position of a despised schoolmaster, under the influ- 
 ence of the most generous pity for the poorest of the poor the 
 lowest of the low. It was his desire to raise these depraved classes
 
 110 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOB THE 
 
 by " the formation of the future man, who in twenty short years 
 would be giving the tone and manners to his country." To this 
 aim he consecrated a large fortune, a long life, and the entire facul- 
 ties of a cultivated mind, and a large heart. For more than thirty 
 years he kept his post, and had his reward in great usefulness and 
 a wide esteem. He had above 6,000 pupils under his care at Hofwyl, 
 though he began with literally a single scholar. He trained a large 
 number of teachers, who, now he is gone, remain to spread his 
 principles, and swell his usefulness. One of the most distinguished 
 of these is Vehrli, who at present conducts one of the best establish- 
 ments in Switzerland. 
 
 I/. Nor must I forget our own Joseph Lancaster, the son of a 
 Chelsea pensioner, a poor but a pious man. At eight years, he 
 says, his heart "filled with love to God," with breathings of good 
 will to the human race, " and with desires to devote his life to the 
 service of God." At fourteen, reading Clarkson on the " Slave 
 Trade" impelled him to start for Jamaica, to teach negroes to read the 
 Bible. At eighteen, he began a school at home, with nearly ninety 
 children in Southwark. Many were taught free of expense. Two 
 benevolent friends paid for five or six poor children, and from this 
 became regular subscribers. Over the school was the singular 
 inscription, " All that will may send their children, and have them 
 educated freely ; and those who do not wish to have education for 
 nothing, may pay for it, if they please" The school filled, but his 
 income was very scanty. Those philanthropic peers, the Duke of 
 Bedford and Lord Somerville, helped towards a new school-house. 
 " The children now came in flocks," and the " necessity was the 
 mother of invention." The old plan of education was inadequate ! 
 He now struck out the monitorial system. He soon had 1,000 chil- 
 dren, with whom he was always domesticated joining in the games 
 of play-hours and he even gave dinners to the most needy of them 
 in distressing times. " The character," says his biographer, James 
 Corston, "of benefactor he scarce thought of; it was absorbed in 
 that of teacher and friend. Is it any wonder that children so trained, 
 to whom so many endearing occasions were presented, evidences 
 should abound of affection, docility, and improvement? In them 
 he had many ready co-operators, and, however incapable of forming 
 designs, never were agents more prompt and ready to execute." 
 He now became an object of fashionable notice. " Foreign princes,
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. Ill 
 
 ambassadors, peers, commoners, ladies of distinction, bishops, and 
 archbishops," visited his school. He had an interview with George 
 III., in 1805, characteristic of both parties. 
 
 " Lancaster, I have sent for you to give me an account of your 
 system of education, which I hear has been opposed. One master 
 teach 500 children at the same time ! How do you keep them in 
 order, Lancaster?" 
 
 " Please thy Majesty, by the same principle thy Majesty's army 
 is kept in order, by word of command." " Good good it does 
 not require an aged general to give the command one of younger 
 years can do it." Lancaster describes the system. " Good good, 
 Lancaster, I highly approve of your system, and it is my wish that 
 every poor child in my dominions should be taught to read the 
 Bible. I will do anything you wish to promote this object." 
 " Please thy Majesty, I can go through the country, and lecture on 
 the system, and have no doubt but in a few months I shall be able 
 to give thy Majesty an account, when 10,000 poor children are 
 being educated, and some of my youths instructing them." (Here 
 is the first hint of an English Normal school.) " Lancaster, I will 
 subscribe 100^. a year, and (to the Queen,) you shall subscribe 501.; 
 Charlotte and the princesses 251. each, and you may have the money 
 directly." " Please thy Majesty, that will be setting thy nobles a 
 good example." The Queen : " How cruel that enemies should be 
 found to hinder his progress in so good a work !" Charlotte : "A 
 good man seeks his reward in the world to come." A truly 
 interesting interview, and creditable to both parties. 
 
 Lancaster was well fitted for the teacher's post, but not for the 
 management of a large association, and of complicated money 
 matters. He got into sad troubles. A friend relates his first 
 introduction thus : " I called at his school to inquire about the 
 training of a teacher, and after some conversation about it, I slipped 
 into his hand a 1 01. note, as an acknowledgement of my obligations. 
 What was my astonishment to see this quiet man, who had been 
 calmly conversing a moment before, turn pale, tremble, stand fixed 
 as a statue, and then, flinging himself on my shoulder, burst into 
 tears, exclaiming, c Friend, thou knowest it not, but God hath sent 
 thee to keep me from gaol, and preserve my system from ruin.' " 
 He was arrested for debt. His affairs arranged a society formed 
 of which he became a paid agent, out of which sprung the British
 
 112 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOB T.HE 
 
 and Foreign School Society. Unfortunate in business matters, he 
 was a true educator of the first class. 
 
 18. So also was Wilderspin, who was one of the earliest founders 
 of Infant schools. If he did not first collect these very little ones 
 into schools, he first systematized the teaching proper for such 
 institutions. He had a large school in Spitalfields, and was called 
 the " Baby Professor." 
 
 Some of our Sabbath- school teachers and the founders of our 
 modern Ragged schools deserve a mention here, but I must not 
 pause to describe their efforts. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the finest specimens of real educators 
 have risen spontaneously, and that the chief improvements in the 
 art of instruction are owing to them. 
 
 We may rely on it that society will continue to supply such 
 Volunteer teachers, unless Government should step in and discourage 
 private attempts by a stereotyped system of State mechanism. 
 
 19. (d) How, then, may the common school teacher be raised, 
 and somewhat of the exalted spirit of these great patterns be infused 
 into the class? Some say, give him the dignity of a Government 
 officer, and a novel majesty will attend his office. Others, that we 
 must offer better salaries before we can expect better men. Far 
 more sensible is the suggestion we are anxious to advocate, that the 
 opportunity should be given to teachers of a good training in a 
 Normal school. Yet we own, our reliance does not rest alone on 
 any of these mere outward helps. The teacher must raise his own 
 office, after all, by the exhibition of a right spirit, and the carrying 
 out of good measures to full success. The outward importance of 
 the office may be elevated, and yet the teacher fail to support his 
 dignity. The salary may be never so much increased, and yet the 
 greater is the risk of the intrusion of hirelings. Even the Normal 
 school mny open its halls and send forth its quota of full-trained and 
 certificated instructors ; but unless they have an innate and strong 
 love for the duties of their profession, they will soon flag and 
 abandon it ; and if they possess not the native ability to convey 
 instruction, all the drilling in the world will not give them the 
 incommunicable power of electrifying and vitalizing the minds of 
 others, by the vitality and sympathy of their own. And unless they 
 succeed thus, how can the public be expected to value their exer- 
 tions ? Men do not value, unless they feel advantage. Society must
 
 IKAINlNiJ 01 TKACHKUS. 113 
 
 be made to feel the full power of the educator to see fruits to 
 witness glorious trophies. Men must examine a sample ere they 
 will believe the praise lavished on the crop, and advance the funds 
 required to reap the harvest. "Whatever contributes to the success 
 of education, tends directly to exalt and glorify its conductor in the 
 public eye. No teacher, therefore, should be encouraged who takes 
 up the vocation merely for a livelihood. This awful mistake must 
 be corrected. It is felt that the care of souls is too solemn a matter 
 to be an affair of traffic that the Bible ought to bear no profit on 
 its printing and publication, but be sold at cost price. How long 
 shall the formation of the character of the young be left to tutors 
 and governesses, who, from the inferior treatment they receive, 
 cannot be expected to give themselves to the task from other than 
 sheer necessity, or mercenary considerations? It must be loudly 
 proclaimed, that education is a business which calls for a deep per- 
 sonal devotion and love in all who engage in it, and is too responsible 
 to be placed in competition with pecuniary gain. 
 
 20. If a religious education is the only real education, it also 
 follows, that none but truly pious men are qualified to manage it. 
 This aphorism, most appropriately stated by the Hon. and Rev. 
 Baptist Noel, at a meeting of the British and Foreign School 
 Society, should be regarded as an axiom, and must on no considera- 
 tion be violated by those who would place the training of youth on 
 its right footing. 
 
 Even the school of educators connected with the Central Society 
 of Education, (not usually leaning towards the union of religion with 
 education,) in their Journal of Education, in the article on Prussian 
 schools, adopt this principle : " It may be laid down as a principle, 
 that a man whose religion is not intimately combined with his senti- 
 ments, is totally unable to teach religion to others with any practical 
 effect, whatever may be his power of instruction or his eloquence." 
 Even in Prussia teachers are required to prove, in the mystic, yet 
 significant language of German philosophy, that " their religious and 
 moral feeling is aroused." Dr. Arnold than whom few men were 
 finer specimens of the practical educator has given a decided opinion 
 on this subject hi his Lectures on Modern History, in the following 
 language: "This is the exact difference between teaching and 
 education: a teacher whether it be of Latin and Greek, or of 
 French and German, or geography and history, or of drawing, or 
 of gymnastics has nothing to think of beyond his own immediate
 
 114 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 subject. It is not his concern if his pupils' tastes and abilities are 
 more adapted to other studies, if that particular knowledge which 
 he is communicating is claiming a portion of time more than in 
 accordance with its value. He has one single object, to teach his 
 own science effectually. But he who educates must take a higher 
 view, and pursue an end, accordingly, far more complicated. He 
 must adjust the respective claims of bodily and mental exercise of 
 different kinds of intellectual labour ; he must consider every part 
 of his pupils' nature, physical, intellectual, and moral ; regarding 
 the cultivation of the last, however, as paramount to that of either 
 of the others." Much more is it incumbent on a religious body 
 like ourselves to resolve, as we did at Derby, "That, agreeably to 
 the practice which has hitherto been adhered to by the Congrega- 
 tional Board of Education, no candidate for admission into a Normal 
 school in connection with this Board, shall be eligible, who is not in 
 communion with some Christian Church." No information, no 
 aptitude, no fervour of zeal, will make up for the want of spiritual 
 motives. So far as we can judge of character, we must seek to put 
 the conduct of our schools into the hands of intelligent Christians 
 men of God full of love to God, and to the souls of men. How 
 else can we hope to insure a religious education in our schools? 
 How else can we believe that the blessing of God will be truly and 
 acceptably sought, so that his " grace, which bringeth salvation," 
 will be bestowed upon the hearts of teacher and children? The 
 natural eye may not see much difference between a school under 
 such a regimen as we have described, and one in which such holy 
 influences are disregarded ; but the eye of faith instantly detects the 
 glaring want the spiritual mind feels painfully the cold earthly 
 touch the privation of whatever evinces sacred unction and healthy 
 moral feeling. The absence of fruitfulness will soon expose this 
 destitution ; for, without religion, the effects of education on character 
 will be poor indeed. 
 
 21. But what is more sure to raise the teacher's office, than to 
 fill it with men truly disinterested, sincerely at home in the work, 
 and breathing into it the soul of holy grandeur and of heaven- 
 inspired love ? Who could witness such labours without a deep and 
 favourable impression ? How could such men be despised by the 
 wise and good ? Normal schools are excellent preparations towards 
 exciting a higher professional tone among teachers, but they must 
 be wholly re-modelled before their general tendency shall be such as
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 1 1 5 
 
 to produce teachers of the highest class. Not only must the quali- 
 fications for admission include the requirement of a well-accredited 
 religious character, but the methods of training adopted must be 
 consistent with this loftier aim. Then will a class of educators 
 rise who shall extort respect, even from the worldly, by the practical 
 effects of their superior influence. Then education itself shall be 
 disencumbered of objections and difficulties which have narrowed 
 the path, and shall command all the facilities proper to its merciful 
 task. It shall wield a vast moral power over the destinies of man- 
 kind. It shall enrich earthly society with many unimagined bless- 
 ings, and cause each generation to advance rapidly on that which 
 preceded. It shall prepare for heaven, from the lost and perishing 
 outcasts of society, many seraphic spirits to adorn the train of the 
 King of Glory. The educator shall stand side by side with the 
 philanthropist, the pastor, the evangelist, the missionary, exercising 
 his ministrations for the good of humanity in a different sphere, but 
 in a kindred spirit, and with like success and honour, when educa- 
 tion shall be evangelised, and conducted as a Christian mission to 
 the juvenile population of the world. 
 
 22. (e) Having thus illustrated the sort of elevation which is 
 desirable in the character of our Day school teachers, let me pro- 
 ceed to examine the value of Normal schools, in order to produce the 
 contemplated improvement. It has been supposed that we are 
 indebted for the origination of Normal schools to the central 
 influence of Governments, and that they are peculiarly and almost 
 necessarily connected with a system of State education. Nothing 
 can be more unfounded than such an idea. The plan for the for- 
 mation of Normal schools was first conceived and executed by enter- 
 prising private educators, not only hi this country, but in Switzerland 
 and Germany, where they took their rise. The great improvements 
 made by Basedow, at Dessau, and Solzman of Schnepfenthal, and, 
 after them, by Pestalozzi, at Yverdun, induced other public schools 
 to send their teachers, on purpose to learn their superior plans. 
 Hence arose Normal schools. Teachers were sent to be trained in 
 Pestalozzi' s school in 1806. The State did not undertake this 
 work in Prussia till 1817. (In 1833 there were forty-three Normal 
 schools, with 2,036 pupils, sending out annually near 800 teachers 
 of primary schools.) In 1838, forty-five Normal schools, with 
 2,583 pupils, sending out yearly near 956. The best of these 
 schools (for they are very unequal) are in the Rhenish provinces, at 
 
 i
 
 116 ON NOBMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 Moers and Bruhl ; in Saxony, at Erfurt and Weisinfels ; and in 
 Brandenburg, Potsdam, and Berlin. These are in a good state of 
 efficiency. The students are sure of promotion to schools, exempt 
 from military service, raised in public regard as officers of Govern- 
 ment, and permitted to retire on a pension when incapacitated. 
 About one-third of the young men so sent out prove unfit for the 
 work. The number required annually to maintain an efficient system 
 is four per cent, on the number of teachers in schools. Prussia had 
 23,921 primary teachers in 1838, and, therefore, 956 pupils would 
 be wanted. Only 846 were trained, so that 110 is the deficiency. 
 It is held that twenty-five more Normal schools are required to per- 
 fect the Prussian system. It is through the Prussian Normal 
 schools that the Government conveys its impress on the public 
 mind. 
 
 In Holland, general education was first carried out by the Society 
 of Public Utility, and taken under State patronage about 1804. 
 Most of the Dutch teachers have been trained in primary schools, 
 and only recently two Normal schools have been founded at Gro- 
 ningen and Haarlem. The latter, under that spirited educator, 
 M. Prinsen, is well and favourably described by the French philoso- 
 pher, Cousin, and our Chambers. 
 
 France entered on this career yet more lately, and it is hard to 
 trust her education statistics. In 1842, they report seventy-nine 
 Normal schools, with 860 pupils, of which, however, 713 had been 
 placed there during the year. Their period of instruction must 
 therefore be very brief. The best specimen is that at Versailles, 
 which has furnished thirty pupils annually out of the 120 under 
 instruction. Generally the French Normal schools are not of a high 
 character, but in a state of experiment. 
 
 In Saxony were, in 1832, including the Freyburg school, seven 
 Normal schools, with 253 pupils, furnishing seventy or eighty 
 teachers per year. About 100 are wanted for this kingdom. 
 
 23. What, then, is the effect on the character of European school- 
 masters and their teaching? Where the Government has least 
 influence, as in Holland, the teachers are free ; but in Prussia and 
 France the Normal school is the most powerful engine of despotism, 
 and the schoolmasters are functionaries, obsequious and subservient 
 to the State, on which their promotion and even standing depends. 
 In Prussia, the master is expected to educate 100 children without 
 any monitors a requirement which must be fatal to success. He
 
 TRAINING OK TEACHERS. 117 
 
 has minute instructions (according to Mr. Howitt) from Govern- 
 ment, to inculcate reverence to royalty and implicit obedience, and 
 the eye of Government is on him constantly, through inspectors and 
 boards, &c. Mr. Stow says that John McCrie, an intelligent 
 young man, was sent by the Glasgow Society, for nine months, to 
 study the Prussian system, and reported that there was nothing 
 new in it ; that " in Prussia they had not moral training ; and as to 
 Bible training, it was not attempted."* Horace Mann, of America, 
 (a great authority,) declares that many Prussian teachers are " in- 
 wardly hostile to the doctrines they are required to teach." He 
 asked one how he could teach what he disbelieved ? He replied, 
 " It is a lie of necessity : the Government compels us to do this, or 
 it takes away our bread." He found one inspector of a large dis- 
 trict, a " thorough Pantheist and disbeliever in the Divine authority 
 of the Book, whose use, and the inculcation of whose doctrines, as 
 held by the State, he was enjoining on all schools under his charge." \ 
 Howitt, and even Thomas Carlyle, declare that the body of pro- 
 fessors and teachers in Germany are generally infidels. CarlyleJ 
 says, " Formal and Normal schools of heresy are so organised, that 
 one can only marvel how any pass through the ordeal of a univer- 
 sity, or even a theological education, with a spark of faith remaining." 
 And Howitt says, " Among the whole number of German students 
 I have known, it would be difficult to select a dozen who are not 
 confirmed infidels." Such is the effect of State training on the 
 freedom, liberty, and religion of Prussian schoolmasters ! 
 
 24. In France the teachers are much the same. There is even 
 less possibility of competition. In 1831, a few spirited French 
 gentlemen, with Count Montalembert at then- head, opened a free 
 school in Paris, unconnected with the State. It was forcibly shut 
 up by the police, and the transgressors arraigned before the Court 
 of Peers, prosecuted by the Government, and actually fined 100 francs 
 
 * Stow's Training System, p. 58. 
 
 f Report of Educat Tour, pp. 233238. 
 
 Moral Phenomena of Germany, p. 67. 
 
 German Experiences, p. 91. Several of these testimonies are taken from 
 Edward Baines' Letters on State Education, Letter 9. To these may be added 
 the testimony of the Rev. Dr. Krummacher, of Berlin, who has publicly 
 denounced the present educational system of Prussia, in a clerical assembly, as 
 " one of culpable neglect and soul-killing latitudinarianism, more fitted to rear 
 a nation of infidel philosophers than of believing Christians." See Evan. 
 Christendom for March, 1848.
 
 118 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOB THE 
 
 feach, for keeping a public school without the authority of the Impe* 
 rial University.* After such specimens, nothing can be a more 
 proper subject for jealous dread to a patriotic Englishman, than the 
 union with the Government of Normal schools engines the most 
 powerful for evil or good for enslaving or elevating the public 
 mind, as they are themselves fettered or free. 
 
 25. America, which, in respect to education, is said to be in 
 advance of most countries, by no means appears to advantage, as 
 regards the training and qualifications of teachers. There are but 
 few Normal schools in America, and those which exist have no 
 model schools attached to them, in which the pupil teacher may 
 practise what he learns of the art of teaching. He goes forth, 
 therefore, with armour which he has not proved, and knows not 
 how to wield. 
 
 It reminds me of a young friend of mine who was sent to learn 
 farming at a so-called Agricultural College, when, forsooth, there was 
 no farm on which to train the students ! He paid me a visit in 
 Norfolk, and hearty was the laugh of the Norfolk farmers, when 
 they heard of a youth learning to be a farmer at a college, without 
 an acre of land. Such deficiency must attend a Normal seminary 
 without a model school. 
 
 The Americans, sensible of the defect, ingeniously contrive a 
 substitute, by forming the pupil teachers into classes, which they 
 instruct as if they were real children, each in turn. I need not 
 explain the poverty of such a substitute, or the impossibility of 
 efficiently sustaining so fictitious a system. 
 
 26. The accounts given of teachers by their own reports are 
 accordingly far from satisfactory. One says, " It was stated pub- 
 licly by a member of a school committee in a town containing thirty 
 or more school districts, that at least one-half of the teachers 
 approved by them would be rejected, only that it would be vain to 
 expect better teachers for the present remuneration." Central 
 Society. Paper on America* 
 
 Massachusetts has very few Normal schools. New York State 
 reports, since 1830, the foundation of sixteen such institutions, but 
 they hardly deserve the name, and are spoken of by official reports 
 as a " failure." In 1843, the following statement was made by the 
 inspectors : "It appears, from the reports of the deputies, that of 
 
 * France, her Government, &c., p. 183 ; a book which should be re-read at 
 this crisis, by all who would see the real origin of the late Revolution.
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHEttS. 119 
 
 9,000 teachers whose schools were visited by them in their annual 
 inspections, one- half had taught the same school less than one 
 year, 958 only two years, 4/5 for three years, 329 more than three 
 years. 
 
 " The number of teachers under 18 years was 903 : between 
 18 and 21, 2,421 ; between 21 and 25, 2,895 ; between 25 and 30, 
 1)170; over 30, 1,611. 
 
 " The average compensation for male teachers, 1 7 dollars (31. 8s.) 
 a month; and for females, 7 dollars (II. 8s.); or about 401. for 
 a man, or 16/. for a woman, per annum." How can education 
 flourish under so penurious a system ? 
 
 "In the south of Alleghany, but one teacher out of 165 had 
 taught the same school for two successive years. In Broome county, 
 but six out of 242 for three years, and 133 less than six months on 
 the whole. In the county of Cayaga, only ten out of 221 for more 
 than two years, and 130 less than six months. In Columbia 
 county, 121 of 266 for less than one year in the whole, and in the 
 county of Gennesee 93 of 147 teachers were entirely destitute of any 
 previous experience." 
 
 " I was forcibly impressed," says the Tomkins county deputy, 
 " with the sage remark of a teacher who had been engaged in the 
 business for years, when I requested him to have his pupils read 
 less, and to be more particular that they understood what they 
 read!" " Sir," he replied, "children can do but one thing at a 
 time ; and if they read well, they cannot be expected to understand 
 what they read, nor can I require it of them. I wish them to 
 learn to read well, and when they are old enough they can take 
 dictionaries, and learn the definitions of words, and then they will 
 understand what they read ! !" 
 
 Another inspector states, " During these examinations, I have 
 found 169 teachers, of whom 68 were males, and 101 females: of 
 the males, 17 or 18 may be, comparatively speaking, ranked among 
 the first class of teachers, pursuing the inductive mode teaching 
 ideas as well as words ; 14 of them ought not to have been licensed 
 or employed, having no ability to teach, and in several cases they 
 were wanting in all respects. 
 
 " In one instance the inspectors of schools in Mayfield granted 
 certificates to a man known to be intemperate." Neio York Report 
 for 1843. 
 
 It is remarkable that female teachers are in many districts more
 
 120 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 numerous than men. Often a man teaches in summer, and a 
 woman in winter. Even boys' -schools are frequently entrusted to 
 women. The idea gains ground, that women are as competent 
 teachers for boys as men. How far economy and a defective idea of 
 education originate such notions, I cannot say ; but the fact tells 
 badly for American schools. 
 
 27. Pennsylvania and the other States have scarcely any preten- 
 sions to offer to the name of Normal schools. If I have not been 
 able to flatter the Americans on the high character of their teachers, 
 I think I have shown the extreme importance of the institutions for 
 training teachers, for which I am at present pleading, by the evil 
 consequences which, in this enlightened country, arise from their 
 almost entire absence, or very imperfect character. 
 
 I wish it to be understood, that, in speaking of American educa- 
 tion, I have had special reference to the teachers and provisions for 
 training instructors, but not so much to the primary school system. 
 I should willingly testify on another occasion to the excellent effects 
 of American common schools ; at the same time, I hold that its 
 connection with Government has proved injurious. 
 
 Those who understand the real working of the much-lauded 
 American system, are aware, that though it widely diffuses the 
 common elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, it has glaring 
 defects. It constantly tends to increasing centralization and 
 Government influence. Permanent endowments in the hands of 
 trustees are substituted for taxation and public representation. A 
 gratuitous admission decreases its value, and produces a most irre- 
 gular attendance of children, which would be far less if they paid 
 for the teaching received, and can only be remedied under the 
 present system, by making attendance compulsory. 
 
 The incompetence and small salary of the teachers, and the failure 
 of Normal schools the want of religious and moral influence in the 
 school training, and the overbearing jealousy against Voluntary 
 schools, sustained independently of the State system show that 
 America has yet much to do before her education be adapted to 
 raise up a virtuous and godly republic, or even stand a comparison 
 with the unendowed Voluntary common schools of Britain. 
 
 28. We have already seen that the first germ of Normal schools 
 appeared in the school of Pestalozzi, in Switzerland, about 1806. 
 It is satisfactory to know, that a similar institution arose in our own 
 country about the same time, under the Lancasterian system ; the
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 121 
 
 adaptation of which, whether by Joseph Lancaster or Dr. Bell, was 
 about 1808, when was formed the British and Foreign School, and 
 in 1811 the National School Society, which two societies have taken 
 the lead in all English educational movements up to this day. Both 
 these Societies now have extensive Normal schools. 
 
 29. That of the British and Foreign School Society is too well 
 known in this city to require a detailed description. In 1818 the 
 Borough-road sent out 45 teachers; in 1828, as many as 87; in 
 1838, increased to 183 ; in 1841, no less than 207. 
 
 In 1839, a grant of 5,0001. was received from Government towards 
 erecting new and commodious buildings. The model-schools of this 
 Institution, its staff of superintendents and tutors, are surpassed by 
 no other seminary in this country, perhaps in the world. 
 
 It is well known that the Committee of this Society has long 
 shown a disposition to ally itself with Government ; and that, in 
 a recent deliberative Conference on the new Minutes of Council, a 
 decision was arrived at which (so soon as it has been confirmed by 
 the next annual meeting in May, a step essential to its validity by 
 the constitution of the Society) virtually makes the British School 
 Society a medium through which the grants of public money are to 
 be distributed to schools applying. While the constitution of the 
 Society allows the mixture of Voluntary contributions and public 
 grants in its support, we cannot agree to recognise it as a Voluntary 
 Society, nor, consistently with our views, can avail ourselves of the 
 acknowledged advantages of its training establishment. It is with 
 great concern and disappointment that we have witnessed these 
 changes, which constrain us to provide for ourselves Normal schools, 
 in which teachers may be received and trained according to our own 
 principles. 
 
 But were the Borough-road School still unconnected with the Go- 
 vernment, there would yet remain a serious defect in its arrangement 
 for religious instruction, which would render it requisite for us to 
 make some better provision. I am aware, that many schools con- 
 nected with this Society are as religiously conducted as we could 
 desire. But at the Normal and model schools the original purpose 
 of steering between religious parties, so as to offend none, is pre- 
 served ; the Bible is read and taught without explanation public 
 prayer is inconsistent with the rules of the constitution and the 
 liberality of the theory is found mischievous in practice. Attempts 
 have been made, it is true, to require a profession of orthodox views,
 
 122 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOE THE 
 
 and a certificate of piety from every candidate for Normal training ; 
 but such efforts have only partially succeeded, and have drawn down 
 severe and just animadversions, as a departure from the original and 
 free constitution of the Society. This Society, therefore, while it 
 retains its present constitution, can never take the lead of an 
 expressly Evangelical education. We would gladly indulge the 
 hope, that even yet this valuable Institution the child of Voluntary- 
 ism, and so long the sheet-anchor of the cause of liberal education 
 may not be lost to liberty, nor become the instrument of Government 
 and the fountain of an irreligious secular education, such as liberal 
 politicians desire to see, cooling down the Methodistic enthusiasm, 
 which, to their disgust and dismay, is fast returning on the common 
 people, and threatening to bring about a general religious fervour 
 through chapels, Dissenters, and Sabbath-schools, and religious Day 
 schools, similar to that which animated England in the Common- 
 wealth, under the Puritans, only of a more enlightened and far less 
 martial kind. I still hope better things of a Society cradled in 
 opposition inured to conflict whose success has arisen from its 
 very difficulties, and whose freedom of thought has been boldly 
 maintained at least till a year or two ago, when its Report thus 
 closed "Unpledged to any particular system, and by no means 
 exclusively attached to that which is at present adopted, the British 
 and Foreign School Society stands forth as ready to receive as it is 
 anxious to impart. Its sole object is to have the children of the 
 labouring classes taught in the best possible way, and by such 
 methods only as shall appear most likely to effect that end. Its 
 ultimate aim is to render them intelligent and devout students of 
 Holy Scripture, the only book which is " able to make them wise 
 unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 
 
 This Society had projected four additional Normal schools in the 
 provinces, which appear to be delayed for the present. 
 
 30. The National School Society has several Normal schools. 
 This system is closely connected with the Established Church; 
 Every child learns the Catechism and parts of the Liturgy, and must 
 attend Divine service at church. This Society has Juvenile and 
 Infant schools ; and, moreover, it is a Sunday-school Union. 1 shall 
 afterwards use this fact to show the importance of taking our 
 Sabbath-schools into close connection with our Educational Board. 
 The chief training school of this Society is in the Broadway, West-' 
 minster. The Central Infants' school is in Tufton-street, West-'
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 123 
 
 minster. St. Mark's College, Chelsea, under the Rev. Dr. Coleridge, 
 has been recently founded on very superior plans. An interesting 
 Report is furnished by the Rev. J. Allen. It is too young as yet 
 to have had much effect. It had forty pupils. Establishments, 
 also, for training adult teachers, are open at Manchester- buildings, 
 and in Smith' s-terrace, in which were sixty masters, and seventy- 
 one mistresses, making up for previous deficiency. Through fear, 
 on the part of the Evangelical party, lest these seminaries should 
 fall into the hands of the Puseyites, a Training school has been 
 opened in Cheltenham, under the Rev. F. Close, the state of which 
 
 1 am not able to describe ; but its formation is a sign of the times. 
 Such schools must raise the character of the Church of England 
 education, which, in truth, greatly requires elevation. The rote 
 learning of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, Commandments, Collects, 
 and often the Articles, occupy the first consideration, leaving room 
 only for a little reading, writing, and ciphering. For a sample of 
 the spirit of this system, I may point to the elementary arithmetic 
 of the Rev. J. C. Wigram, Secretary of the Society, whose questions 
 are formed on the idea of combining Scripture and arithmetic thus 
 ludicrously. In numeration, he asks : " Mesha, king of Moab, was 
 a sheep master, and rendered to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs. 
 
 2 Kings in. 4. Write down the number." In addition, " Of 
 Jacob's four wives, Leah had six sons; Rachel had two; and Zillah 
 and Billah also two each. How many sons had Jacob ? " Also : 
 " There were seven days between the birth of Jesus and his circum- 
 cision, and five days from that event to the Epiphany, the time 
 when the star led the Gentiles to worship the Holy Child. How 
 long was it from the Nativity to the Epiphany?" What can be 
 more unreasonable than such a use of Scripture, or more bewildering 
 than such a mode of teaching arithmetic. Such education needs 
 to be purged of nonsense, and elevated many degrees. Even in the 
 central schools, however, there is much opposition to the introduc- 
 tion of further information. The average attendance of children in 
 the model school, is said to be under a year. The period of training 
 teachers, only a few months. The fear of over-educating the poor, 
 which prevails among the clergy, aristocracy, and country gentry, is 
 a constant clog to the progress of the Society. A new spirit, how- 
 ever, has awakened some of the Church party to the necessity of 
 improvement, if they would keep pace with others, and maintain 
 their hold on the public mind, which is doing much to overcome
 
 124 ON NOEMAL SCHOOLS FOK THE 
 
 old prejudices, and make them earnest and formidable rivals in 
 popular education. 
 
 31. There is an admirable Infant Normal school in the Gray's Inn- 
 road, called the Home and Colonial Infant Training School. This 
 society is unsectarian, but has latterly fallen into some connection 
 with the Government schemes. Its plans are, perhaps, the most 
 worthy of imitation, in our view, of any Normal school in England. 
 
 The qualification of pupils are founded on the following admirable 
 principle : " Religious and moral principle. As the primary object 
 of Infant schools is to cultivate religious principles and moral senti- 
 ments to awaken the tender mind to a sense of its evil dispositions 
 and habitual failings before it becomes callous by its daily inter- 
 course with vice and to lead it to that Saviour who so tenderly 
 received such little ones, and blessed them to accustom them to 
 trace the hand of their heavenly Father in his works of providence 
 and grace, and to be impressed with the truth that his eye is ever 
 on them ; since such is the primary object an object which, if 
 unattempted, infant education is valueless the Committee consider 
 that, in addition to an unimpeachable moral character, decided piety 
 is indispensable, and that without it no teacher can be fitted for his 
 work." Report. 
 
 A probation of a month is required of all candidates. Their stay 
 in the seminary we think far too short twenty weeks. In 1842, 
 pupils, 194 admitted, and 47 before in the Institute; equal to 241. 
 Of these, 56 had withdrawn, 148 been trained, and 37 remained to 
 next year. There are good model schools. Half-yearly meetings, 
 to discuss education, are held for the benefit of the pupils. The 
 society appointed Mr. Bilby as an inspector of Infant schools, but 
 were compelled to relinquish his valuable services by the expense 
 incurred. One feature of this school deserves attention. Nursery 
 governesses are trained at a reasonable expense, and carry into 
 families the plans here used. This is a most important practice, 
 which should not be lost sight of in our new Congregational move- 
 ment. 
 
 32. There is also in London a Normal school, which sprang from 
 private enterprise, in order to train teachers for industrial schools ; 
 but which has lately become completely attached to the National 
 School Society. The account of the origin of this school is very 
 interesting.* In a visit on the Continent by Dr. Kay (now Shuttle- 
 
 * Minutes of Council, for 1846.
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 125 
 
 worth,) and Mr. Tuffngll, thev were particularly struck with the 
 school of Vehrli, at Kruitzlingen, and whose plans they describe 
 with a poetic enthusiasm. "Such men," say they, speaking of 
 teachers trained in this school, " we felt assured would go forth 
 cheerfully to their humble village homes to spread the doctrine which 
 Vehrli taught of peace and contentment in virtuous exertion ; and 
 men similarly trained appeared to us best fitted for the labour of 
 reclaiming the pauper youth of England to the virtues, and restoring 
 them to the happiness, of her best instructed peasantry." Returning 
 home, they resolved to establish a Normal school, for the supply of 
 good teachers for the schools of our prisons and workhouses. They 
 found a valuable coadjutor in the Hon. and Rev. R. Eden, of Bat- 
 tersea, and obtained suitable premises. In January, 1840, they 
 opened the schools. The pupil teachers were 24, placed there at the 
 expense of some wealthy friends, at the rate of 201. per annum. Two 
 tutors were engaged. A garden of five acres surrounds the house. 
 The detail of the difficulties encountered and overcome, is one of the 
 healthiest educational documents I ever perused. The plans of the 
 institution are excellent. The balance of accounts in 1840, however, 
 showed a debt of its then enterprising reformers of 1,283?. Not- 
 withstanding the aid of the Government, and the great success of 
 this experiment, in which 50 pupil teachers were trained, its origi- 
 nators found it too burdensome for private individuals, and have 
 transferred it to the National School Society, under whose control 
 it remains. They never fairly cast it on voluntary benevolence. 
 These are the chief institutions of the kind in London, save our 
 Congregational Normal schools, to which I shall presently advert. 
 In the rural districts of England are a few similar establishments, 
 but not of great standing or merit. 
 
 33. In Ireland, the Commissioners of National Education have 
 a large and flourishing Normal school in Tyrone House, Dublin, for 
 the use of which several excellent school-books have been provided. 
 
 34. Scotland has several Normal schools of high repute, the chief 
 of which exist in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and originated, not from 
 Government endowments, but from the earnest enterprise of intel- 
 ligent educationalists like David Stow, of Glasgow, and Pillans and 
 Wood, of Edinburgh. 
 
 The Glasgow Training school has been well described by its inde- 
 fatigable originator, Mr. Stow.
 
 126 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOB THE 
 
 The model school is a juvenile seminary for both sexes, who, as 
 in the Infant schools, are educated together. The formation of 
 character is the main object. The children are under the master's 
 eye, both in the covered and uncovered school-room (as Mr. Stow 
 happily styles the play-ground). He states the fact, that 180 
 children of the lower classes in Glasgow for five months frequented 
 the play-ground, which is planted with flowers, shrubs, and fruits, 
 without the slightest injury to the garden, or theft of the tempting 
 productions. The Institution includes an Infant school, a juvenile 
 school under fourteen years, and a Normal school. The use of 
 books is discouraged, and the mode of simultaneous lectures to the 
 children in the gallery preferred. After the lecture, the school 
 divides into classes, under monitors, who examine the pupils as to 
 what they remember. These schools received Government grants ; 
 but at the disruption in the State Church they took part with the 
 Free Church, and, I believe, stand aloof from the schemes of 
 Government education at present. 
 
 A model and Normal school has also been erected in Edinburgh, 
 in connection with Government and the General Assembly. 
 
 35. Besides these schools, our own denomination has been the 
 means of founding, since the alarm of Sir J. Graham's Bill, an 
 efficient Normal school in Wales, which it has been lately resolved, 
 at a very spirited conference, to remove from Brecon to Swansea, 
 where it appears likely to enjoy liberal patronage, and to hold to its 
 Voluntary character. Also, we have a very promising Normal school 
 in London, for mistresses, which has already sent out some valuable 
 teachers, and the arrangements of which our Committee are now 
 earnestly labouring to expand and improve.* It is high time to do 
 so: for the Government has already put itself in communication 
 with all the other Normal schools. Irish education is entirely under 
 the State control. But for the Free Church, all the Scotch Normal 
 schools had been affiliated with the Government ; and in England 
 the two main societies the National School Society, and the British 
 School Society have fallen into the wake of the plans of the Com- 
 mittee of Council. If we would secure our position, as determined 
 
 * Mr. Baines calculates that we have in Britain no less than 28 Normal 
 schools, with at least 900 pupil teachers ; an amount worthy of compare with 
 continental efforts, and all originating in the Voluntary principle. See Lec- 
 ture I. of this Course.
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHKHS. 127 
 
 supporters of free education, it must be by a prompt and liberal 
 attention to the maintenance of Normal schools of a first-rate 
 character. 
 
 36. Few sources of information throw so much light on the 
 animus of the Committee of Council as their correspondence with 
 various Normal schools, which have received grants. These docu- 
 ments show a disposition on the part of the Government to secure 
 all possible power, a reluctance to concede to reasonable demands, 
 and yet a positive anxiety not to break off such negotiations in the 
 outset, by hazarding the refusal of their grants, and the consequent 
 loss of influence. Thus it was only after a lengthened correspond- 
 ence, that a veto on the appointment of Scotch Inspectors was given 
 to the Committee of the General Assembly. The British School 
 Society most humbly petitioned against being inspected by Church 
 of England Inspectors, admitting, most unworthily, that they could 
 not expect to have a veto like the Scotch, but only asking that the 
 Reports should be submitted to them in writing before being pub- 
 lished. They got an abundance of fair promises, but no sight of 
 a Report. They accept a grant on condition that they shall be at 
 liberty to refund it at any time, if they are disposed to refuse inspec- 
 tion. Mr. Tremenheere's crushing Report comes out, and is sub- 
 mitted to the Committee. Stung by its depreciating remarks, they 
 at last adopt the bolder tone of threatening to abandon the grant. 
 What reproof do they receive ? Forthwith, Lord Wharncliffe gives 
 them the veto already accorded to the Scotch, and, to heal the 
 dreaded breach, 75QL per annum is granted in addition.* There 
 is no doubt, therefore, that Government is alive to the importance 
 of securing in their favour these Central Institutions, at whatever 
 cost. Should the influence of the State predominate over Normal 
 schools, a most formidable and growing power over the public mind 
 must ensue. 
 
 It is impossible to be blind to the ramified powers over teachers, 
 committees, schools, and parents, which the influence of a Normal 
 school must gradually impart. If held exclusively by the Govern- 
 ment, it constitutes a power the more arbitrary and irresponsible, 
 because indirect. We must wrestle hard, in fair competition, to 
 place this influence in the hands of a Voluntary society responsible 
 to public opinion. The last thing to be yielded the first which 
 has been desired and sought is the power to train teachers. 
 * Minutes of Council, for 1845.
 
 128 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 If anything could make me regard with less sorrow the embarrassed 
 state of the public funds the retribution which has begun to fall 
 on a shameless and military expenditure in a time of distress the 
 significant warning given by our French neighbours, who have forced 
 out the ministry which has been long the tool of despotism, and 
 which vainly sought to repress the just demands of the people for 
 constitutional reform or even the odious increase of the odious 
 income-tax it is the hope that an empty treasury may prevent our 
 ministers from achieving their schemes of State centralization, bor- 
 rowed from the Continent; and that they may learn, from the 
 example over the water, to retreat in time from the effects of irri- 
 tated public feeling, and let alone their constant officious tampering 
 with commerce, education, and religion. 
 
 37. Let me now make a few remarks on the principles most 
 suited to the future conduct of Free Normal schools. 
 
 38. I confess I could have wished to see a somewhat wider confede- 
 ration of all friends of education, who, like ourselves, object to receive 
 Government grants, and who hold evangelical views of religion. But 
 this subject has been fairly discussed, and appears not suited to the 
 temper of the present age. The various evangelical bodies seem as 
 yet disposed to separate, rather than associated, action. This posi- 
 tion has been taken, and can scarcely be reconsidered. Let us hope, 
 that advantage may arise out of the emulation of division of labour 
 among smaller and compact bodies ; and let us labour to preserve a 
 firm, good understanding, a comparison of plans, and a readiness to 
 co-operate, among the several denominations labouring in this field ; 
 otherwise the country will exhibit a patch-work supply of education, 
 irregular as to its provision, its character, and its results. If these 
 evils are watched against, the different societies may animate, impel, 
 and imitate each other sowing with each other broad-cast in the 
 spring, and rejoicing with each other in reaping the autumn harvest. 
 
 39. Sure I am, that not the Directors of a Missionary Society ought 
 to be more thoroughly penetrated with a sense of responsibility, and 
 need of Divine assistance, than those who form a Board of Manage- 
 ment for rearing a new generation for the service of God and the 
 improvement of human society. They should be men of intelligent 
 piety, men of prayer, of sound, tried wisdom, of educational experi- 
 ence, and they should engage in so sacred an undertaking with an 
 earnest devotion to it of their utmost energies. Their primary 
 concern must be, to fill existing schools with good teachers.
 
 TRAINING OK TEACHERS. 129 
 
 Reliance must not be placed on the offer of better salaries to 
 teachers alone. The only way to raise the character of teachers is 
 to raise their training. Then a model will be afforded for the imi- 
 tation of local schools. Instructors will be annually sent forth into 
 the country, well fitted to improve the tone of education, to raise 
 public feeling to a juster appreciation of educational labour and 
 results ; and public feeling thus raised, would re-act on the selection 
 of masters ; for a people who had once been accustomed to good 
 teachers would never again be content with an inferior class. An 
 effective Normal school, then, is an essential pre-requisite to all 
 improvement, or even to the retaining our present position. We 
 have made a beginning, but our institution is as yet quite imperfect 
 and immature. Let us try to conceive a beau-ideal of the training 
 school with which we can be satisfied. 
 
 40. Many persons who have seen the Borough-road School, and 
 pictures of the splendid buildings of the National schools and Scotch 
 Normal schools, at once see, in imagination, rising in some fashion- 
 able part of London, a large, elegant, and costly architectural 
 structure, which may bear on its imposing front the inscription, 
 " Congregational Normal Schools" I do not object to tasteful 
 buildings suited to the object, and within the means ; often, in a 
 large and new edifice, beauty is quite consistent with true economy. 
 But, after all, in schools and chapels, the beauty is in the moral 
 work effected by them, not in the building. These sumptuous 
 erections were the snares which made Government grants necessary, 
 and for which they have been received. Let us free ourselves of 
 this ambition, and be content with external plainness, that we may 
 expend all our available resources on the internal efficiency of the 
 institution. Some roomy, old-fashioned house, with enlargement, 
 may suffice to send forth teachers as well fitted for their work as if 
 they heard lectures in a classic theatre, took meals in a spacious 
 hall, slept in the most commodious dormitories, and were ranged for 
 daily worship in a splendid chapel appropriated to their use. 
 
 41. As to model schools, we have already in London some Con- 
 gregational schools admirably fitted for this purpose, as at Bermond- 
 sey and at Stepney, the chief expense of which might be spared by 
 locating the Normal school in their neighbourhood. 
 
 42. I am by no means an advocate for gratuitous, or even over- 
 cheap education, either for children or teachers. In most of the 
 Normal schools the young people board at the seminary, paying
 
 130 ON FORMAT, SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 according to a fixed rate. In Edinburgh they do not all board 
 under the roof. At the Borough-road there are, I believe, two rates 
 of charge, 12s. or 6s. a week. At the Glasgow Training School the 
 students support themselves, and pay a fee of 31. 3s. on entrance. 
 I would not seek to cheapen down our Normal schools. The de- 
 pressed state of our colleges for the ministry is, in my opinion, owing 
 mainly to the subscriptions of the public going to defray the board 
 and lodging of the students, instead of obtaining for them the best 
 literary and theological advantages. Let us spend as much of our 
 income as possible in forming the character of the future educator, 
 and as little as possible charge ourselves with the burden of his 
 physical wants. Underselling other institutions in this respect must 
 bring its own retribution ; for the less you charge pupils for their 
 own maintenance, the less advantages can you afford them in the 
 great purpose for which they resort to the Normal school. 
 
 43. No central Normal school is complete without three distinct 
 branches the Juvenile Masters' Department, and Boys' Model 
 School ; the Juvenile Mistresses' and Girls' Model School, and the 
 Model Infant School, with both male and female pupil-teachers. 
 
 We are now expanding our efforts so as to have a Normal school 
 for masters as well as mistresses ; but hitherto nothing has been said 
 of an Infant Normal School. I cannot suppose that this deficiency 
 is designed, and I feel sure that it ought to be at once removed, and 
 the infant school effort be undertaken along with the others. 
 The Scotch and the National School Society combine them, and 
 they are found to strengthen each other, and play into each other's 
 hands. Juvenile schools, without infant schools to feed them, and 
 prepare for them, are at great disadvantage. In many places an 
 infant school may be kept up, and after a time the elder children 
 retained, where a juvenile school would have no chance, from the 
 early age at which children go to work. In the Normal school, 
 some pupil-teachers, who show no tact for juvenile children, are 
 found well qualified to take charge of infants, and the reverse. 
 Were the institutions connected, an exchange might in such cases be 
 made. In the training of infant-school teachers, we should have but 
 one or two competing institutions the Home and Colonial, and the 
 National school, both under Government influence. There is ample 
 room in this field for all, and the want of a liberal establishment of 
 the kind has been long felt, and would, I fear not, prove successful. 
 
 44. It has long been felt that our Sunday-schools need improve-
 
 TKAixixr. OF TK.vrm :i:s. 131 
 
 ment, and often has the idea been suggested of model Sunday- 
 schools, in which all improved methods might be tried and shown in 
 practice. The British School Society, from its constitution, could 
 not enter on this field. The National School Society unites this 
 with its other efforts, in some measure. At Battersea, the pupil- 
 teachers are instructed in the management of a Church Sunday- 
 school in certain matters of parochial business, and even in playing 
 the organ. Generally speaking, I am averse from expecting a Day 
 schoolmaster to teach in a Sabbath school ; but very often they both 
 can, "and will do so, of their own accord, and often would have a class 
 of their own elder monitors on the Sunday, which might be of the 
 utmost value to our Churches. But on Sunday there is no reason 
 why the model schools of the Central Seminary should not be turned 
 into Sabbath schools boys', girls', and infant, and such of the pupil- 
 teachers as were willing to devote part of the Sabbath to this pur- 
 pose, practised in teaching. The novel institution already found so 
 useful in many quarters an Infant Sabbath school would be 
 improved, and the idea spread wherever it is yet unknown. No 
 means could be more powerful in aid of our educational effort than the 
 linking closely together our Day with our Sabbath schools. They 
 would thus react on each other for mutual improvement. Never be 
 it forgotten, that the Sabbath school was the pioneer of daily educa- 
 tion for the people, and should be held in grateful esteem by all 
 educationalists : of course I do not intend to suggest that our Day 
 scholars should be forced or unduly enticed into our chapels or 
 Sabbath schools, but merely that the two agencies for educating the 
 people should be harmonised and combined. 
 
 45. We are then to suppose our operations thus expanded, our 
 school buildings ready, and our model schools near at hand. What 
 should be the internal arrangements? The model schools, with 
 their master and mistresses, may be left out of the question. It is, 
 however, very important that a due control should be possessed over 
 these by the Board of Education, or that the Committee of the 
 schools, which may be adopted as model schools, should be one in 
 which perfect confidence is felt, otherwise the operations of the 
 Normal school may be seriously impeded and thwarted. The 
 Normal school itself will require a principal and a matron resident in 
 the house, and having charge respectively one, of the male teachers 
 and the entire educational proceedings of the institution, and the 
 other, of the female teachers and the domestic arrangements. Various 
 
 K.2
 
 132 ON .NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 masters and mistresses for different branches of instruction are 
 needed. Lecture-room, sitting-room for pupil-teachers, and sleeping- 
 rooms must be provided. And so the establishment in its outline is 
 before you. 
 
 The director of such an institution should be a sort of embodiment 
 in his own person of the principles on which it is founded. His 
 chief business is to lecture, and exercise the pupils in the art and 
 practice of teaching. This is done by giving them instruction on 
 the methods and objects of teaching, the general history and con- 
 dition of education in other countries, the most recent improvements 
 in different branches of the art, into all which remarks there should 
 be ever infused such a moral and religious spirit, as may mould and 
 influence the character to higher aims than those of mere secular 
 training. The lessons should usually open with a prayer. His 
 intercourse with the pupils out of the lecture-room is a most 
 important means of benefit. It should be affectionate, improving, 
 and religious in its tone. The director should be familiar with the 
 private views and feelings of his pupils. He should visit them by 
 turns in their own room, or have them into his, for the purpose of 
 labouring to arouse them to the most eminent attainments, in their 
 chosen calling, for the service of religion and their country. He 
 may sometimes read and pray with them, taking kind notice of their 
 difficulties reproving, instructing, and encouraging them entering 
 into their personal circumstances and prospects seeking to win 
 their confidence watching over their health and character with 
 affectionate interest. His connection with them in the Normal 
 school should be of such a character as to secure their grateful 
 affection through life, and make them ever ready to have recourse 
 to this early faithful friend and adviser in future difficulties. The 
 matron, also, should be capable of similar influence over the female 
 teachers ; not a mere housekeeper, but one whose intercourse may 
 prove quickening to the pupils who are in daily contact with her. 
 The same may be said of all the masters employed. May our 
 Normal schools be fortunate in obtaining the services of thoroughly 
 qualified and devoted labourers, who cannot desire a nobler sphere, 
 and may expect, in success, a rich reward ! 
 
 46. The admission of pupils requires the greatest vigilance. 
 Those candidates must be selected who are most likely to advance 
 the character of education. Those who assume the position of 
 teachers mainly for a livelihood, must not be encouraged. Those
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHEKS. 133 
 
 who have no marked capability for the work, or who, whatever tact 
 they possess, have no decidedly religious motive for undertaking it, 
 must not find admission. Let the Board place little reliance on 
 recommendations or certificates, but use every exertion to make 
 personal and indirect inquiries, and rely much more on a judicious 
 examination in their own presence. Few persons have courage 
 enough to refuse recommendations if solicited, though they doubt, 
 or are quite ignorant of the person's worth who asks them. Pastors 
 cannot do a kinder thing to a young person, whose gifts are not 
 striking, than to dissuade rather than encourage any application. 
 The present system, according to which ministers sign their names 
 and give testimonials, simply because they see that others have done 
 the same, or to relieve themselves of trouble, is a disgrace to us as a 
 body, and renders this kind of recommendation of none effect. 
 
 After all, the best test, next to a strict personal examination, is a 
 month's probation ; after which the case should be again examined 
 formally, and decided. Timidity as to consequences should never 
 induce managers to relax these requirements. To keep up the high 
 character of their seminary is of far more ultimate importance than 
 the losing a few mediocre applicants. Beside moral and religious 
 character, natural good temper, active habits, fondness for children, 
 and aptness to teach, as well as a good measure of general informa- 
 tion to begin with, are very desirable in every pupil-teacher. At 
 first, it may be difficult to find those who come up to such a mark ; 
 but the very setting up of the standard would soon gather a sufficient 
 number aro\md it, and when once the character of the educator is 
 thus raised, an incomparable pattern would be exhibited to the 
 country and the world. It is requisite, that the teachers should be 
 trained beyond the point of intellectual attainment absolutely neces- 
 sary ; for no one teaches well what he knows, unless he knows a good 
 deal more than he teaches. The pupils must practise teaching 
 under the eye of the director in the model- schools. They should 
 be trained to bear the criticism of their masters and fellow-teachers. 
 At other times they should be left alone with a class. The period 
 of residence at the Normal school should be fixed, and should not 
 be less than two years. Some provision should be made to insure 
 the services of those who leave the training school, for at least two 
 or three years after the close of their preparatory course, or for the 
 refunding of the expense incurred by the Institution in their prepa 
 ration. So it might be reasonably hoped the services of a large
 
 134 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOB THE 
 
 number of well-qualified persons would be obtained, and they would 
 go forth, year by year, in more numerous companies, "full of the 
 Holy Ghost and of wisdom," to reproduce, by the grace of God, in 
 various localities, what they had witnessed and assisted to sustain in 
 the model schools. One such institution as this would effect a more 
 salutary and radical change in our entire educational system, than 
 the most unsparing profusion of schools scattered over the country, 
 and retaining the present deficient objects and methods of popular 
 improvement. 
 
 47. I have now done. I have sought to explain the proper cha- 
 racter of a Normal school the elevation required before the educator 
 takes his right place in society the utility of Normal schools in 
 accomplishing that elevation, and the history of these institutions 
 from Pestalozzi to the present day, in Europe and America, as well 
 as in our own country. I have also ventured to suggest an imme- 
 diate expansion of our Congregational Normal schools, to meet the 
 present emergency, especially the speedy formation of a Normal 
 school for training infant-school teachers. I would urge the 
 expending on these efforts the main resources of our educational 
 movements. I doubt not the gentlemen of the Board, and its 
 officers, and the chief friends of education among us, are fully alive 
 to the importance of training first-rate teachers. But possibly some 
 of our ministers and people, looking anxiously to their local schools, 
 may overlook, unless reminded, the imperative need of helping to 
 maintain, in full vigour, that central institution, on whose efficiency 
 must depend the character of all provincial schools, because it 
 moulds their teacher. Let me entreat our wealthier friends, both in 
 town and country, to contribute heartily and largely to this effort, 
 remembering that in our present state it is more true than ever that 
 " Bis dat qui cito dat" On the whole, I regard the call on us to 
 support our Normal schools peculiarly in this day of struggle for 
 freedom of teaching, as scarcely inferior to the high claim of our 
 colleges for the education of the ministry. 
 
 48. Congregational Dissenters, suffer the word of exhortation. 
 We are committed to a noble but arduous stand for liberty, both of 
 education and religion. We are entering on an encounter with for- 
 midable and numerous antagonists. The vast preponderance of 
 influence, both in Church and State, is combined with a desperate 
 eagerness to prevent the prevalence of our ecclesiastical principles. 
 Our cause we feel to be good and right. The signs of the times are
 
 TRAINING UK TEACHEHb. 135 
 
 in our favour. Our predecessors had not our opportunity to gain 
 public attention. The time they were biding has at last arrived. 
 If in this crisis we are to play the part of Christian men, it must be 
 with sacrifice. For a time popularity may depart. As we gain a 
 real power, our sense of weakness and the abusive opposition of 
 opponents will increase. When we are decided, waverers will leave 
 us offended. We shall be shaken and sifted. The burden may fall 
 heavily on the property, character, and interests of those who are 
 thoroughly earnest. Some may die before the triumph comes. Yet 
 faith in a cause allied so closely with the honour of our religion, and 
 the liberties of our fatherland, shall not be disappointed. 
 
 Some there are, I grieve to say, who would sound a retreat ; who 
 affect, most untruly, to represent a large disaffected minority ; who 
 expose to our opponents an exaggerated picture of our weakness 
 and divisions ; who provoke jealousies and heart-burnings amongst 
 us ; who blame our intemperate zeal, and boast their superior 
 moderation ; who bid us conceal our obnoxious principles, from a 
 prudent regard to circumstances ; who excite prejudice by declaring 
 that we are neglecting to build the Church of Christ, in order to 
 pull down other church systems, and that Dissent is now declining 
 through the new rash policy of avowing our ultimate designs, 
 wholly unmindful of its collapsed condition during the previous 
 years of moderation and reserve. What though these unworthy 
 attacks come backed' by the grave authority of men of learning, 
 character, and experience, who profess to befriend us ! Here, in the 
 heart of London, I lift my humble voice against the injurious and 
 disheartening counsels of all such timorous spirits. Had our 
 enemies spoken thus it were natural, but our friends 
 
 " Who would not laugh if such a man there be ? 
 Who would not weep if Atticus were he ? " 
 
 Why conceal our principles, unless we are ashamed of them ? 
 Why fear to bring down the assaults and sacrifices which Truth 
 ever expects her servants bravely to endure ? Let us hold fast 
 Christian charity, self-possession, and a reverential subordination of 
 our own views to the will of the Most High. But let us not shrink. 
 Remember Mordecai's motto, sent to Queen Esther in a fearful 
 crisis, reminding her that influence bestowed by Heaven brings with 
 it responsibility : " For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this 
 time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jew*,
 
 136 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOR THE 
 
 from another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed ; 
 and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a 
 time as this!" Divine Providence prepared our forefathers, even 
 according to the infidel Hume, to save the civil liberties of English- 
 men. " Who knoweth" whether he hath brought us to our peculiar 
 and trying position for a similar noble purpose. If any smile at our 
 apparent boasting, let him think that God has made us the depo- 
 sitaries of certain principles which seem destined to overthrow the 
 present tottering ecclesiastical Establishments ; and the same God 
 can endow us with grace to become the means, in his hand, of pro- 
 ducing the greatest changes. Great occasions have ever been the 
 nursery of magnanimous and heroic conduct. The heroism of the 
 Greek character was formed in the furnace of the Persian invasion. 
 When the innumerable host of Xerxes threatened, by land and sea, 
 to sweep the people from their ancestral soil, then discords ceased ; 
 a national feeling arose ; Athenian celerity and inventiveness blended 
 with Spartan fixedness and resolution ; a combined devotion of pro- 
 perty and person was called forth by stern necessity, from which the 
 formidable foe at last recoiled. 
 
 We Congregationalists must pass through the furnace to become 
 worthy of success. The present crisis may, under the Divine 
 blessing, impart to us, as a body, that elevation of character and 
 breadth of purpose which only can qualify us and our descendants 
 to wield, with wisdom and purity, the influence which must accrue 
 when our views become prevalent. This education struggle is our 
 present battle-field. I look upon these Normal schools as a Ther- 
 mopylae, where a few brave hearts may rally, and succeed in repulsing 
 from a free territory the encroachments of a powerful host. And I 
 rejoice that we are not without a Leonidas, who, by his incomparable 
 exertions, his sacrifice of personal connections and interests, his 
 able, temperate, and unflinching advocacy of free education, at the 
 very moment when it was both most difficult and most necessary, 
 has shown how much one man of resolute purpose may do in 
 stemming the current of popular feeling. Fear not but, in the long 
 run, a free education will work better, and be more popular, than 
 Government schools. But, whatever the issue, it is our part to 
 make the experiment, and to preserve our Voluntary schools to the 
 last, in the face of the most overpowering competition. To this end, 
 let our chief efforts be directed towards the training of the best 
 teachers, in the largest possible numbers.
 
 TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 137 
 
 49. I cannot forbear from addressing a closing word or two to 
 
 TEACHERS OF SCHOOLS, OR CANDIDATES FOR THAT OFFICE. 
 
 Ponder well, I beseech you, my friends, which system will tell best 
 in the end on your profession. No doubt, to you as individuals, 
 advantageous offers may present inducements to accept public money. 
 But are you sure whether by doing so even the remuneration of 
 your services will be permanently increased ? Will not the grant 
 which Government gives go rather to save the money of the sub- 
 scribers than to afford you any additional help ? So it has b. een with 
 the Irish Regium Donum, which has shamefully diminished the free 
 contributions to the ministers' salaries from Presbyterian congrega- 
 tions. It is already reported to have been so in schools which have 
 taken the Government grants. On the Voluntary principle, the 
 salaries of teachers have been constantly rising and must rise, while 
 the Government bounty, if it raises them a little at first, will fix 
 them at a stationary point ever after. But you do not regard 
 pecuniary interests as a paramount consideration. Look then, into 
 the public reports of Government. Inspect, and ask yourselves, to 
 what a stretch of power the influence of these gentlemen may not 
 be carried, and how little independence will remain to teachers 
 subject to it. To please a Committee may be hard enough, but how 
 will you deal with a single Inspector, from whom you have no prac- 
 ticable appeal ? who can at once dissatisfy your supporters with your 
 labours, and may hinder you from gaining a fresh situation ? If you 
 enter a Normal school connected with the State, you will become 
 through life part and parcel of a system which, though it appear 
 liberal and generous in the outset, claims and possesses the power 
 to rob you of all independence, to ruin your prospects if you resist, 
 and which must become (as in other lands) more and more grasping 
 and arbitrary as it consolidates its power, and loses fear of provoking 
 dangerous resistance. Look at the clergy of this and other lands 
 who have become endowed by the State. At first some inde- 
 pendence, and the form of self-government, was left to them ; but in 
 process of time, that honourable profession has been stripped of all 
 ecclesiastical power burdened by oaths and other restrictions bound 
 hand and foot by the power and bribes of human governments. 
 The forms of liberty remain in Established churches, but only as 
 the objects of sad ridicule and deserved mockery to all intelligent 
 observers ; while the real power is exercised by worldly politicians, 
 who tighten rather than relax the reins of usurped authority. Let
 
 138 ON NORMAL SCHOOLS FOE THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 
 
 the day-school teacher, who is no hireling, but who honours and 
 loves his profession, avoid the snare which has written "Ichabod" 
 on the endowed clerical profession, lest a like degradation befal the 
 educator also. 
 
 And, brethren, in a day when absurd panics of invasion of wars, 
 and rumours of wars have directed public attention to the weight of 
 martial taxation, the sin of national warfare, the folly of mural and 
 armed defences, let those who are anxious to avert any recurrence 
 to the horrors and atrocities of European war, employ the season of 
 peace yet more earnestly in cultivating the intelligence of the masses 
 of the people, and so throwing round our native land the best of all 
 bulwarks that sound Christian education which has been well 
 
 called " THE CHEAP DEFENCE OF NATIONS !"
 
 LECTURE V.
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT 
 WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 
 
 BY EDWARD MIALL, ESQ. 
 
 Introductory and apologetic remarks Limited view of the State Educationists Their 
 mode of dealing with the subject protested against The question stated Compulsory 
 provision for education objected to 1. As displacing a confessedly superior system of 
 means 2. As involving consequences too great for calculation 3. As retrogressive 
 in its character 4. As offering no guarantee for the fulfilment of its promises 5. As 
 likely to enervate social philanthropy, and lower the tone of public spirit 6. As con- 
 demned by experience 7. As essentially unjust 8. As opposed to the general tenor 
 of God's moral administration Concluding summary. 
 
 THE subject assigned to me for exposition by the Committee who 
 arranged for the present series of Lectures was described by them in 
 the following words : " The Non-interference of the Government 
 with Popular Education." If, guided by a reference to the other 
 topics selected by them for treatment, and in the absence of a more 
 exact specification of their plans, I have correctly caught their 
 meaning, it is this That it is neither the duty of Civil Government, 
 nor would it be for the interest of its subjects, to make legal pro- 
 vision for the education of the people. This, at any rate, is the 
 conclusion to which it will be my aim to conduct you. 
 
 I can most unfeignedly aver that I enter upon my undertaking 
 with great diffidence. I would fain have shrunk from it, if my 
 conscience would have permitted me. In many respects, I feel
 
 142 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE 
 
 myself to be ill-qualified to do it justice. Amidst the pressure of 
 other engagements, I fear that my visits to the abstract truth, at 
 whose shrine I bow my reason, have been too hurried, and, there- 
 fore, too irreverential to allow of a full and satisfying insight into its 
 more hidden mysteries. I could have wished to have given to the 
 contemplation of it a mind, at once calm, free, earnest, and undis- 
 tracted and not to have come forth from its presence until my 
 whole intellect and heart had become penetrated by its light, and 
 baptized with its spirit. I look upon the theme as involving in it 
 principles of the grandest import, the reception of which by nations 
 is an earnest of indefinite progress, the rejection of which is a sen- 
 tence of perpetual wandering to and fro in relation to which belief 
 will conduct them at last to " a land flowing with milk and honey" 
 disbelief, leave them to " perish in the wilderness." Hence, I 
 am painfully sensible, how likely it is that the question should prove 
 too lofty for my reach, and too comprehensive for my grasp ; and I 
 candidly confess, that if sense of obligation would but have over- 
 looked the cowardice, inclination would have prompted me to give 
 my task the slip. 
 
 Let me not, however, be misunderstood. Painfully alive as I am 
 to the deficiencies under which I labour, in this attempt to make 
 good the position assigned me to defend, I have not the smallest 
 misgiving as to the soundness of the position itself. With all my 
 consciousness of the fallibility of human judgment, and with the 
 readiest and heartiest recognition of the authority, learning, and 
 talent arrayed against me, I feel myself entitled to declare, that my 
 convictions on the subject are settled, and, I think, unchangeable. 
 This profession, I am aware, savours somewhat of presumption ; 
 but unless a modest estimate of our own powers binds us to surren- 
 der at discretion any or all knowledge which we hold to be morally 
 certain, at the bidding of superior intellect, or, it may be, pre-emi- 
 nent virtue, I think I may retain my humility without letting go my 
 confidence. A child upon a hill-top may see the relative bearings 
 of the objects outspread before him more clearly than a philosopher 
 at its base. That the advocates of a compulsory provision for the 
 education of the people are wrong, I have no more doubt than I 
 have that some of their premises are right ; but the whole strain of 
 their argument convinces me that they look at the question from a 
 low position. I impugn not their motives I am far from under- 
 rating their ability but I do say, in no faltering accents, that from
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH VolTT.AR FIifCATION. ! 13 
 
 the ground of immediate and temporary expediency, they cannot 
 command a view of the whole subject before them. How the means 
 of elementary education may most speedily overtake the wants of 
 the people, however important an inquiry, is not one the answer to 
 which should be held to decide the propriety of Government inter- 
 ference. And here, as it seems to me, is the radical error of our 
 opponents. Their benevolence is in a hurry. The eyes of their 
 judgment are bedimmed with the tears of their sympathy. Them- 
 selves rejoicing in the abundance of pleasure and profit resulting 
 from education, and feeling acutely for the privations of the ignorant, 
 they burn to impart to others what they value for themselves with 
 all the haste which human possibilities will admit of. Like over- 
 fond parents, they wish to stimulate the mind of their country into 
 precocious development, forgetting, in the excess of their affectionate 
 concern, that by a general law, admitting of but few exceptions, 
 precocity of all kinds is followed by an early death. 
 
 I must protest, therefore, at the very outset of this discussion, 
 against the claim of any conclusion to be regarded as final, which 
 covers nothing more than the proof of a clear want, and a plan 
 adapted to supply that want. I protest against the wrong done to 
 my reason, when I am told, here is a terrible evil, and here are 
 means by which it may be removed, and am bidden at the same 
 moment to overleap all the considerations which lie between the 
 want and the proposed method of removal. I may have physical 
 demonstration of the inconveniences attendant upon an ulcerated 
 limb, and I may have satisfactory evidence that it may be cured by 
 the use of Holloway's ointment ; but, surely I am not bound there- 
 upon to admit, that a resort to such a remedy must be the dictate 
 of far-seeing wisdom. I might inquire, for instance, before looking 
 upon the question as finally closed, whether the ingredients of that 
 much-advertised medicine, are such as prudence would consent to 
 put in contact with my constitution whether the sores it is capable 
 of drying up may not be symptoms of a disease which it is sure to 
 aggravate and whether, whilst it does what it undertakes to do, it 
 will not also do something else, which was not " set down in the 
 bond," and in comparison of which, I would prefer to endure my 
 pain and my infirmity for a few months longer. It is to the solution 
 of inquiries precisely analogous to these, that I propose to devote 
 the few remarks which follow. I am not here to deny the exist- 
 ence, nor the virulence of the festering complaint, although I take
 
 144 ON THE NON-1NTEKFERENCE OF THE 
 
 leave to remark, in passing, that when partizans describe English- 
 men as " the worst educated people in Europe," their tone of exag- 
 geration suggests the idea of a beggar in quest of alms, rather than 
 of a physician soberly stating his judgment of a case. Nor do I 
 undertake to point out to you the efficiency of another and more 
 natural agency of cure; this has already been done by one pre- 
 eminently qualified in all respects for his work. My business, as 
 I conceive, is this I have to consider whether, taking for granted 
 the worst of these representations which have been made to us of 
 popular ignorance, and assuming virtue in the specific recommended, 
 a wise people should consent to remove the one by the application 
 of the other whether there are not some great laws of mind and of 
 Providential government which, in doing this, we should violate, and 
 the violation of which will entail penalties more to be dreaded than 
 those which past neglect have brought upon us, whether, in a 
 word, we should do well to listen to the advice of men who propose 
 to alleviate present misery, without paying any very solicitous 
 regard to prospective and remote consequences. Our opponents 
 may be considered as counsel for the present generation. I stand 
 here as counsel for posterity. They call for an instant suppression 
 of a crying grievance. I ask for a wise suppression of it. They 
 appeal to the specialties of the case. I appeal to broad, general, 
 indefeasible principles. 
 
 I believe it is common for Englishmen, before they fight, to strip ; 
 for soldiers, before they lay siege to a fortress, to clear away the 
 brushwood by which it is surrounded ; and for lovers of truth to 
 disencumber their argument of all those extraneous questions, which 
 tend to perplex the judgment. I will try, then, to make bare, 
 definite, and palpable, the point at issue. 
 
 It may be as well, at the outset, to state, that I shall have no 
 occasion to put this audience to the trouble of drawing a distinction 
 between secular and religious education a distinction so easily laid 
 down on paper, and so impossible to be preserved in practice. It 
 will content me, so far as the present question is concerned, to 
 understand by the term " education " the communication of desir- 
 able knowledge, and the formation of praiseworthy habits. This, 
 I imagine, to be a fair statement of the good sought to be imparted, 
 whether by the Government, or by any other organized agency. 
 Neither do I intend to push my opponents to a strict definition of 
 what is meant by popular education. It is quite certain, that to the
 
 '.OVERNMF.NT WITH POl'UI.AU F.hCCATlOX. 145 
 
 eye of a statesman attempting to reduce theory to practice, and 
 words to things, a grave difficulty might be seen to lurk under the 
 term. Is he to give education to the people, irrespectively of their 
 worldly circumstances, to rich and poor alike f or is he to select the 
 poor only, and, if so, where is he to draw the line of demarcation ? 
 I repeat it, I will dispense with the advantage which common 
 sense might wrest from our opponents, by these and similar demands 
 for further and more precise information. I will suppose this 
 information to ha*~e been furnished I will suppose the word 
 " popular," or " national," when employed to designate the precise 
 range within which a compulsory provision of the means of instruc- 
 tion is expected to bear fruit, to exclude all who can afford to 
 educate their own children, and to include those only who are abso- 
 lutely dependent upon help from without. Further, I will allow 
 the advocates of Government interference and herein I shall be far 
 more liberal to them than the Legislature, whose aid they invoke 
 to choose their own plan, to construct their own machinery, to 
 appoint their own officers, schoolmasters, and monitors, and to pre- 
 side in every parish or district over their own schools. So far as 
 I can avoid it, I will give them no opportunity of setting aside all 
 my reasoning the good, the bad, and the indifferent alike by 
 telling me that it is directed against the theory of a State system of 
 education, whereas they contend merely for a National system. 
 Government interference I will assume to mean nothing more than 
 a legal provision of the means of desiraWe instruction for those who 
 cannot secure them for themselves. And now I come to the point 
 to be determined. A certain, and, in accordance with my conces- 
 sions, a clearly defined portion of the community are wholly des- 
 titute of the means of suitable instruction. On what principle is 
 that destitution to be met? on the principle of moral and religious 
 obligation, or on the principle of legal authority? Granting, not as 
 a fact, but simply as an argument, that the force of " you ought " 
 has not sufficed as yet to remove the evil, is it wise, is it just, is it, 
 in the long run, kind to resort, for that purpose, to the force of 
 " you shall?" With all the emphasis which strong conviction can 
 give to expressive language, I answer " No!" 
 
 I am quite conscious that this answer is of little worth unless 
 backed by an array of good substantial reasons, and that its dignity 
 will be measured by the train of argument at its back. To marshal 
 these before the judgment of this audience constitutes the burden of 
 
 L
 
 146 ON THE NON-INTERFEKENCE OF THE 
 
 this evening's task. Whilst engaged in this work, I venture to 
 bespeak your patience and your candour. It may be, that consider- 
 ations which have left an indelible impression upon my mind, may 
 fail to plant a trace of their power upon the minds of others. Yet, 
 perhaps, it will not be deemed unbecoming in me to remark, that, 
 on high moral questions, the weight of an argument is not always to 
 be calculated from the degree of pressure felt from it by the under- 
 standing. Where all the habits and exercises of thought have been 
 called into activity, by what we term the practical business of life, it 
 is only natural that men should exhibit a toughness of mental tex- 
 ture, which makes them insensible to the force of abstract moral 
 speculation. It may be, also, that in an opposite case, that force 
 may be unconsciously over-rated. All, therefore, that remains for 
 me to do, is to submit to you, in order, the views which have guided 
 me to the conclusion I maintain, and leave you to decide, after a 
 careful examination of them, whether you can trust them to conduct 
 you to the same point. 
 
 The first thought which beckons me in the direction of my final 
 decision, is suggested by the spontaneous concession of our oppo- 
 nents. I find them forward to admit, that the education of the 
 young devolves originally upon the parent, and that any lack of 
 power in the parent to discharge his trust would be more fitly sup- 
 plied, supposing it to be supplied at all, by benevolence, than by 
 authority. They say, that if the force of " you ought " were but 
 adequate to do the whole work of education, it were unquestionably 
 to be preferred to the force of "you shall." True, some who have 
 conceded this in terms, recal it in their argument, and claim for the 
 poor man the luxury of demanding the education of his offspring as 
 a right rather than a boon. I will not stay to test the validity of 
 this claim, further than to ask from what source a man with nine 
 shillings a week, and who may be taken, for argument sake, to come 
 just within the line of destitution, derives his right to require from 
 his neighbour, with ten shillings a week, who stands on the other 
 side of the line, to contribute in taxation to the instruction of his 
 children ? Setting aside, then, this novel and over-stretched claim as 
 empty flourish, I ask, whether the admission generally made, that 
 Voluntary benevolence, if it were but up to the mark, is superior as 
 a moving power to magisterial authority, does not imply something 
 worth consideration ? Either there is a virtue in this agency which 
 cannot be discovered in that, or there is a defect or danger in that
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 147 
 
 which does not attach itself to this. Whether a sense of moral and 
 religious obligation works the machinery of popular education more 
 kindly, whether it elicits and exercises more nobleness of soul, or 
 gives freer scope to the play of generous affections, whether its 
 movements are less clumsy, and are capable of readier adaptation to 
 changing circumstances, or whether legislative intervention imports 
 some elements of danger, deadens some laudable sensibilities, or 
 drains its vitality from a spirit of self-reliance, it is not necessary for 
 me to decide in the present state of the argument. My immediate 
 business is with the concession itself, with the recognised superi- 
 ority in kind of " ought " over " shall," as a moving force in the 
 matter of national education. It occurs to me, as I should presume 
 it will occur to every thoughtful mind, to inquire what is the 
 exigency which dictates a resort from the one to the other. The 
 Voluntary principle, it is said, cannot overtake the evil calling for 
 removal. Now, what does this mean ? That it cannot overtake the 
 evil this year, or next, or within twenty years, or within fifty ? 
 What are the broad features of its past history? Until a very 
 recent date, it did whatever work was done, single-handed and alone, 
 did it, too, when fashion and authority opposed its influence, and 
 sneered at it for its pains and perseverance. Well, has education 
 advanced under its auspices, and is it still advancing ? Instances, 
 no doubt, may be adduced, of efforts here and there given up, or of 
 periods of exhaustion after particular outbreaks of spasmodic excite- 
 ment and exertion. But draw not your inferences from the wavelets 
 that ripple at your feet. The tide may be steadily rising, though 
 the pebble you saw covered but just since is now left dry. Calculate 
 by some surer marks. Cast your eye back some twenty years. 
 Are the means of education fewer, in proportion to the population, 
 now than they were then ? Is the question less prominent than it 
 was, or does it excite less interest than it did ? Are there more or 
 fewer readers, an increased or diminished supply of books, papers, 
 and periodicals? Are the working classes, on the whole, more 
 brutal in their tastes, or less intelligent and enlightened than they 
 were ? Or, comparing the last five years of the twenty with the 
 first, can it be averred, that sense of moral obligation in this par- 
 ticular matter is less general, less powerful, or less active than it 
 was? I am not afraid of the answer. The pen of history has 
 written it, and the world has yet to witness the effrontery which 
 would tear out the leaf. Mark now the demand that is made upon 
 
 L 2
 
 148 ON THK NON-TNTKRFKRENCK. OF THE 
 
 us ! Two generations have scarcely passed away since England awoke 
 to the importance of educating the poorer classes. Spontaneous 
 benevolence commenced the work, carried it on, spite of numerous 
 difficulties and powerful opposition, is still active, energetic, and, I 
 may add, augmenting, both in power and in skill. Do you really 
 believe, in the face of all this evidence, that what yet remains to be 
 done can never be accomplished by this same system of agency, a 
 system which you admit to be preferable in kind to that of magi- 
 sterial or legal compulsion ? Let your faith, however, be what it 
 may, ours roots itself in a knowledge and experience of the past. 
 We cling to the confessedly superior system, and doubt whether 
 " ought," which is prospering in its work, can be prudently thrust 
 aside by " shall," simply because it has not yet completed it ; 
 because, although advancing by rapid strides, it is not " as" swift as 
 meditation or the thoughts of love." You point us to much yet 
 remaining to be done, to much more than Government itself can 
 do in a trice ; but we will take leave to question whether the ulterior 
 and less difficult stages of the enterprise ought to be handed over for 
 achievement to a totally opposite principle of agency to that which 
 accomplished the earlier and the more arduous. We do not say 
 that out of the concessions of our opponents we can fairly extract 
 a justification of our refusal to admit compulsory aid ; but we say 
 that, viewed in juxta-position with the history of popular education 
 in this country, they may well make us pause, and think further 
 before we finally commit ourselves. 
 
 And here a second and still graver thought forces itself upon our 
 consideration. The advocates of a legal provision for the education 
 of the poor call for the adoption of a change so entire, so vast, so 
 fraught with new elements of influenee and contingencies of peril, 
 that we must be excused for asking them if they really know and 
 appreciate what they are about. Let us look at it first in miniature. 
 Is it too much to assert, that individual character is largely, is 
 incalculably affected, for good or for evil, by the kind of force which 
 is brought to bear upon it, in order to the determination of conduct ? 
 Is not every one aware, that when the moving power is from within, 
 the wheels, if I may so express it, which it sets agoing, and which 
 direct and regulate, whilst they transmit it to its chosen end, are the 
 main elements of virtue ? and that, when the moving power is from 
 without, the whole mechanism of mind is superseded as useless ? 
 Why, what is the essential distinction between a freeman and a
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH I'Oi't LAK EDUCATION. 149 
 
 slave, but simply this, that the personal conduct of the one is 
 prompted by his will, that of the other dictated by authority? The 
 two states differ most materially, not merely in the class of enjoy- 
 ments eacli will yield, but in the kind of virtues which they admit 
 of. Xo moral change can happen to a man calculated more 
 extensively to affect his destiny, than that which removes him from 
 the sphere of "you ought" to that of " you shall." It brings the 
 growth of his character under subjection to an entirely opposite set 
 of conditions. Most of the impulses which before moved him 
 become useless. All the exercises of thought, desire, prudence, 
 judgment, self-command, and the like, are thrown out of gear. To 
 the whole extent to which he is under external pressure and con- 
 straint, he ceases to be a living soul he is nothing more than a 
 structure of complex animal mechanism. 
 
 Now, we take the liberty to ask our opponents when, in relation to 
 one great department of social responsibility and duty, they aim to 
 transfer a whole nation from the dominion of the one force to that of 
 the other from the self- moving power of moral obligation to the 
 external power of legal authority whether they possess any certain 
 means of measuring the extent of the moral change they are seeking 
 to effect ? Few of them, we suspect, have seriously taken this into 
 account. They talk loudly of the impolicy, the cruelty, the danger 
 of leaving so large a section of the community as are now devoid of 
 the means of instruction in their present state of helpless ignorance ; 
 but have they, in that spirit of manliness which dares to look on 
 both sides of the question, pondered the result upon, not a fragment 
 of society, however large, but society itself of placing it under what 
 may be called a new dispensation ? Why, in reach and duration of 
 influence over national character, I cannot conceive of any merely 
 political revolution that might bear comparison with it. How far 
 it would ultimately reverse the current of thought the seeds of 
 what novel habits it would sow what modifying power it would 
 exert upon the sympathies or what sort of effect it might have 
 upon sense of obligation are problems of solemn moment where a 
 great nation is concerned ; of far more solemn moment, though, 
 perhaps, not generally so felt, than any change in the form of civil 
 government. I do not determine, at this stage of the discussion, 
 whether the alteration would be for weal or woe. My purpose, just 
 now, is simply to draw attention to its magnitude. Men have talked 
 so glibly, and even jestingly, about it, that we arc in danger of con-
 
 150 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE 
 
 tracting the notion, that nothing more serious is involved than more 
 or fewer schoolmasters a better or a worse provision for the instruc- 
 tion of the poor. The truth, however, is, that the proposal put 
 before us is nothing less than that, to an immense extent, we should 
 shift the axis of social morality, and that, whereas, so far as care of 
 the mind and morals of our neighbour is concerned, it once turned 
 upon sense of responsibility, it shall turn, for the future, upon legal 
 compulsion. Without deciding whether this be right or wrong, we 
 say the change recommended is so vast, so incapable of accurate 
 measurement, that, before we could be brought to accede to it, we 
 must see a much stronger case of necessity than any which has yet 
 been made out, and laid before the public. We are not disposed to 
 try this tremendous experiment upon national character merely to 
 put forward the cause of education by a few years. 
 
 I advance another step in the argument : I submit, that the 
 transference of educational movement, so warmly urged, from the 
 basis of Voluntary exertions to that of law, is not only a change of 
 inconceivable vastness, but one which carries us in a backward direc- 
 tion. It deliberately sentences the nation to sit on a lower form. 
 Hitherto, the progress of humanity has been upwards from passive 
 submission to power, to cheerful and willing obedience to truth. 
 Just in proportion as the wise and far-reaching combinations of 
 Providential government have developed man, just in that proportion 
 have they elevated him into the region of individuality, and taught 
 him to find his impelling motives in his own conscience and affec- 
 tions. That he might be governed by truth rather than by power, 
 would seem to be the leading purpose of revealed religion. Hence, 
 Christianity has exhibited truth to him in forms of loveliness so 
 attractive, of adaptation to his wants so complete and cognizable, of 
 mastery over his affections so potent and transforming, that, wherever 
 it is received, it supersedes the action of law from without, by im- 
 planting a stronger and more generous law within. And it is worthy 
 of remark, that all the arrangements of Providence are adjusted upon 
 the principle of calling out into daily exercise this inner and indivi- 
 dual life. The stage upon which we are placed is crowded with 
 opportunities inviting it to action all its appropriate exercises are 
 accompanied by pleasure all its neglects entail penalty. Within 
 the range of his capabilities, each man is made responsible for the 
 progress and welfare of the world ; each has his post, his influence, 
 his power over other minds, his share of social importance. The
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 151 
 
 first, the most natural, and, in the long run, the most effective, 
 appeal of want and misery for help and alleviation, is to individual 
 sympathy and sense of social obligation. No favourable response to 
 that appeal can be given without improving and ennobling the nature 
 of him that gives it. Society trained up under such an arrangement 
 encouraged, on the one hand, by the ample rewards which follow the 
 discharge of obligation, and disciplined, on the other, by the sharp 
 penalties incurred by neglect, gradually gets the better of its selfish- 
 ness, becomes more thoughtful, acquires a greater sensibility of 
 conscience, and drops, one after another, as not only useless but 
 cumbersome, most of those severe restraints and appliances of coer- 
 cion which it once judged to be absolutely indispensable. 
 
 Looking at the nature of the human mind, at the general prin- 
 ciples of Providential government, and at the spirit and tenor of 
 heaven-born Christianity, it may be safely affirmed that law, as law, 
 is "a beggarly element of the world ;" that in its operation upon 
 human nature it advances none of the great ends of man's probation 
 elicits none of his active virtues ripens in him none of the germs 
 of truth. To the whole extent to which it displaces individual sense 
 of obligation, it sends him back from manhood to infancy from the 
 world to the nursery from a moral dispensation to a dispensation 
 of physical force. 
 
 Now, I confess, that I augur no lasting good to society from the 
 very general disposition of the present age to merge individual 
 responsibility into that of civil government, and to perform our 
 duty to our neighbour by a sort of public proxy, thus attempting 
 to evade the penalties of our own indolence and selfishness, by 
 purchasing a joint-stock substitute for fulfilling our solemn trust. 
 If peril arises to our social security and our free institutions, from 
 the growth in our midst of a formidable excrescence of ignorance 
 and vice, does not that peril warn us for some nobler purpose than 
 that of going back to coercive principles, and of renouncing our 
 reliance upon all the higher motives to exertion ? Is that a wise, is 
 it a becoming use to make of the punishment of our past neglect, to 
 put ourselves into a position which exiles us from the region of 
 future virtue, and ministers to our safety only by degrading us from 
 the category of agents into that of tools ? When Providence affixed 
 to our social selfishness and inactivity the appropriate penalty of 
 danger to our social interests, was it with the design, think you, of 
 spurring us forward to increased vigilance, generosity, and concern
 
 152 ON THE NON-INTERFEKEN'CE OF THE 
 
 for others, or of driving us into a resignation of the high and 
 honourable charge committed to us, into the hands of civil govern- 
 ment ? The men who counsel us to consent to a legal provision of 
 the means of education for the poor, point to the consequences 
 resulting from many generations of delinquency ; and, instead of 
 deducing therefrom the most cogent argument for instant, earnest, 
 and self-denying activity, tell us that virtue must be abandoned as 
 inefficient, and that we must seal our own humiliation by invoking 
 the interposition of force. I object to this, as treachery to the 
 moral dignity of society. I protest against this hasty revocation of 
 the commission it holds or, rather, this passionate and unmanly 
 transfer of it to other hands. I challenge the right of any people, 
 however unanimous, to shift the responsibility which God has 
 imposed upon them as individuals, upon the shoulders of a mere 
 Committee for the whole. And I am compelled to wonder whither 
 has fled the respect of Christian men for their own nature, to say 
 nothing of the genius of the religion which they profess, when, in a 
 matter so vital as the training up of childhood, they ask that their 
 country shall be relieved from any further trial of the law and dis- 
 pensation of moral obligation, and shall be subject, henceforth, to 
 the law of brute force. Why, it is nothing less than condemning a 
 community on account of some awkwardness in its earliest attempts 
 to feed itself to a perpetual infliction of the bib and the spoon. It 
 is a concession made to laziness ; one of those short cuts by which 
 national sloth hopes to save itself the toil of a tedious journey the 
 vulgar impatience which cannot wait to untie a knot, but calls for a 
 knife to cut it the puerile officiousness which, distrusting the influ- 
 ence of sunshine and rain to open the rose-bud, pulls it open with 
 rude fingers, and thinks to hasten it to its blushing and beauteous 
 maturity. It bodes no good ; it bodes, I fear, darker and drearier 
 times, this itching propensity to go down to Egypt for help to run 
 for shelter from the land of promise, to the land of horsemen and 
 chariots. If we take not heed, it will put back the moral destinies 
 of the world for many generations. 
 
 Before we can be expected, in reason, to acquiesce in this great 
 change, or to beat a retreat upon a principle which, in such a matter 
 as education, we cannot, either as freemen or Christians, occupy 
 without shame, we ought, at least, to be well assured that the special 
 advantage which, by such means, we hope to purchase, will be fully 
 obtained. That it should be as extensive as it promises substan-
 
 uOVEKNMENT WITH POPULAK EDUCATION. 153 
 
 tial, and not hollow permanent, and not transitory is the least 
 demand we are entitled to make. But, to my judgment, no guarantee 
 has been yet offered us, that the demand will be satisfactorily met. 
 This legal provision of educational means may possibly prove a 
 failure. I confess, I, for one, have my doubts doubts strong 
 enough to drag me upon the very confines of disbelief. In the first 
 place, the real disease appears to me to lie far down beyond the 
 reach of any system of educational means. When you have placed 
 your school, your schoolmasters, your books and apparatus, in every 
 parish or district, just as you have provided your church and your 
 clergyman, is there not ground to fear, that abject poverty will 
 operate to prevent the use of them by the children, in the one case, 
 as it does by the parents in the other ? That undermost stratum of 
 English society, in our large towns especially, upon which ignorance 
 squats contented, and crime crawls about unconscious of its own 
 hideousness that too rapidly increasing class, in fact, which has 
 stirred men's fears, and provoked the cry for Government inter- 
 ference, will that be reclaimed, or even touched, by any instructional 
 machinery which coercion can furnish ? I will not say far from 
 it that no mental and moral light can be let in upon this more than 
 Egyptian darkness ; but I do say, that, if there be any constancy in 
 the laws of human nature, this numerous herd of outcasts from 
 comfort and civilization, these familiar companions of squalor, filth, 
 and brutality, can be attracted from their cellars and their garrets 
 by no light but that which is warm from sympathizing hearts. I 
 fear that nothing but burning love, like that of Him who went in 
 search of the lost sheep until he found it, will be able to do much 
 good in that grim region of desolation and the shadow of death ; 
 and that the unclean spirit which possesses and vexes that hapless 
 section of the community, is of a sort that will not go out but 
 by prayer and fasting. Glowing hearts and liberal hands must 
 pioneer the way through that jungle, for alphabets and primers, 
 books and pens. 
 
 And, then, as to the industrious poor, the main body for whose 
 benefit a legal provision of school means is claimed, are we quite 
 sure that, on the whole, and in the long run, they will be gainers by 
 this plan ? I refrain from speaking with perfect confidence on this 
 point ; but I beg to throw it out as a problem well worthy of mature 
 i onsideration, whether, in the pursuit of any great social ends, 
 moral in their kind, as contradistinguished from physical, the last
 
 154 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE 
 
 result is not always an equivalent, neither less nor more, of the 
 amount of will which has been employed to achieve it ? For my 
 own part, the older I grow, and the more I observe, the less am I 
 disposed to place reliance upon the power of mere machinery. 
 Given, a certain amount of social interest in the work of education : 
 and you will have, in real social value, a result equivalent to that 
 amount. And no extension of machinery, which it does not itself 
 make and sustain, will enable it to realise more than this equivalent. 
 The facilities which aid it to cover a much larger surface, will also 
 prevent it from giving the same degree of watchful and superin- 
 tending care to the wider sphere which it did to the narrower. In 
 process of time, when novelty has exhausted itself, the whole series 
 of instrumentalities, committees, inspectors, schoolmasters, and 
 assistants, will become the medium of transmission to so much 
 efficiency, and no more, as public interest in the matter will supply. 
 A self-moving and self-improving apparatus, let no one expect! As 
 is the man, so will be his strength. As is the life, so will be its 
 development. As is the value at which society estimates the educa- 
 tion of the poor, so, with or without Government interference, will 
 be the ultimate value of the effect it will produce. All beyond that 
 will turn out to be an imposing sham, or, in the words of the Lord 
 Chief Justice of England, " a delusion, a mockery, and a snare." 
 
 It is, moreover, worthy of remark, before we quit this branch of 
 our subject, that moral vitality seldom augments, either in intensity 
 or in volume, as the result of being provided with a large stock of 
 ready-made facilities. The will of man to do good is usually most 
 lusty and vigorous when compelled by circumstances (pardon the 
 homeliness of the phrase) to " rough it." He who wrestles with 
 difficulties, is most likely to exhibit a brawny development. Action, 
 antagonism, re-action, growth, is the order of things settled by Pro- 
 vidential law. Where all is smooth and mechanical, the spirits 
 soon flag. Of all the roads that one can walk upon, that which is 
 straight and level is the surest to induce weariness. Many a man, 
 charitable to the full extent of his small means, has speculated 
 upon the immense good he would do with a princely fortune ; and, 
 pretty generally, where a legacy to a large amount has dropped into 
 the lap of such an one, his benevolence has not expanded with his 
 opportunity of expressing it. I have a grievous suspicion of all 
 " royal roads" to great moral ends, and I feel a qualm come over me 
 when I see inscribed upon any plan, " National Education made
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 155 
 
 easy." Whatever else may be the effect of such a system, sure I 
 am that it will not brace up the now existing amount of intelligent 
 and disinterested care about the matter. Spontaneous virtue, which 
 grew and flourished out of doors, will be none the stronger for being 
 removed into a greenhouse. Mind may make opportunities, but 
 opportunities seldom make mind. 
 
 These considerations have carried conviction to my judgment, that 
 the proposed change from " you ought" to " you shall," in refer- 
 ence to the education of the poor, vast as it is in its character, and 
 retrogressive in its spirit, may, after all, fail to work out the perma- 
 nent extension and improvement of the means required, with a view 
 to which we are asked to adopt it. But this is not all. The sub- 
 stitution of legal authority for philanthropic zeal in this matter, will, 
 if there be any constancy in the laws by which human hearts are 
 swayed, or any truth in experience, inflict deep and irreparable injury 
 upon the intellectual and moral prospects of this empire. I know 
 how puerile it would be to utter such an opinion at random. I have 
 not done so, and I proceed to submit to this audience, with all the 
 brevity which the question will allow of, the train of reasoning which 
 conducts me to this conclusion. 
 
 The advocates of a legal provision for the education of the people 
 would do well, I cannot but think, calmly and patiently to revolve 
 in their minds the question how far, in matters relating to the 
 intellect, the character of every movement depends upon the point 
 from which it starts. Commence, for example, with compulsion, 
 in the shape of an educational rate, and all your machinery must 
 necessarily be constructed with strict relation to the original moving 
 power. Thereafter, nothing whatever can be safely left to any force 
 but a compelling one. From the first step to the last, all must be 
 kept in motion by pay, and regulated by authority. The ability, 
 industry, and perseverance of the master ; the due supply of the 
 material of instruction which he is to employ ; the efficiency and 
 regularity of inspection ; the worth of periodical examination all 
 the details of arrangement, must be legislated for on the presumption 
 that you have unwillingness to deal with. At no stage of the pro- 
 cess can you pass into the region of Voluntaryism. Nowhere will 
 the mechanism admit of the introduction of spontaneity. It must 
 needs be pervaded throughout by compulsion. The system must be 
 destitute of inherent vitality. The force which sets and keeps it in 
 action must, in every instance, come from without. Upon this
 
 156 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE 
 
 hypothesis all provisions and regulations must be framed. Now, we 
 do not believe that indifference can be made, by any series of evolu- 
 tions, to work out the same ends as Voluntary zeal. The problem 
 to be solved is the vivifying of national intellect ; and the solution 
 proposed is a galvanic battery. We have no faith in it. Like 
 begets like. The stamp answers to the seal. Where all the ap- 
 pliances of mastership are but a graduated scale of external restraint, 
 the general features of scholarship will be sure to exhibit traces of 
 the same character. To teach up to the point absolutely required 
 by law, will be all that the first will attempt ; to learn as little as 
 such instruction will demand, will be all that the last will profit. 
 To minimise trouble will be the ruling motive of all parties. The 
 object to be accomplished an object, let it be borne in mind, which 
 is expected to raise the character of the rising generation is thus 
 entrusted to an organised army of functionaries, whose leading idea 
 it will be to accomplish it to the least possible extent. Compulsion 
 ought always to suppose a natural antagonism between the obliga- 
 tions it imposes and the inclination of the instrument it employs. 
 
 We are convinced that a greater misfortune cannot befall a people 
 than to have their intellectual habits gradually encroached upon by 
 this spirit of authority. We can conceive of no condition more 
 certain of terminating in disastrous results than one in which " you 
 shall" is promoted to the guardianship of mind and morals. If, in 
 that department of human affairs, there is not freedom ; if the 
 training of intellect and of conscience is to be deliberately committed 
 to an authority whose force is official rather than real ; if the 
 idiosyncrasy of the nation is to be determined, not by men whose 
 hearts are prompted by spontaneous interest in the matter, but by 
 pay and preferment ; if, in a word, all that is truly spiritual amongst 
 a people is to take its origin from the low and sordid motives which 
 endowed oificiality inspires, then, as a people, we are undone. All 
 hope of progress is paralysed : all tendencies to growth are doomed 
 to extinction. Everything is after its own order ; every seed produces 
 fruit after its own kind. If we can satisfy ourselves with external 
 decency a state of things which appeals to the eye rather than the 
 judgment then a compulsory provision for the education of the 
 people may answer the purpose. But if we aim at higher objects 
 if it be our desire to furnish mind with full aud free scope for natural 
 development if we would have organised institutions to be some- 
 thing nobler than "organised hypocrisies" if we are anxious for
 
 GOVF.KNMFNT WITH POFUI.AP. KDUCATrON. 1 .") 7 
 
 the embodiment of the true, the real, and the living, as contradis- 
 tinguished from the false, the nominal, and the dead if the expan- 
 sion of a God-begotten thing be dearer to us than the extension of a 
 mere form of human device, then we shall patiently work the prin- 
 ciple of willinghood. The immediate results may not he showy, 
 but they will be solid. There will be less outward decency, perhaps, 
 but more life. The body, for a time, will not be comely, but it will 
 be quickened by a soul. And this, after all, is what we want life 
 reality conscience. The mechanism which undertakes to fill up 
 the vacancy which these ought to fill will be found, in the end, to 
 be an impediment rather than an assistance. 
 
 Meanwhile, who will furnish us with an estimate of the deterio- 
 rating influence likely to be exerted upon the public spirit of our 
 people by this transference of responsibility ? The value of moral 
 obligation as a moving force is to be computed, in the secular, as 
 well as in the religious education of our countrymen, not merely 
 from the direct results to which it conducts, but also from the 
 indirect influence of the process which it employs. Dwell upon it 
 a moment or two ! Society, suppose, is conscious of some urgent 
 want lives on in the neglect of its obligations, and reaps the 
 penalty. Anon, here and there, men of sensitive consciences, large 
 hearts, and indomitable resolution, are inwardly impelled to cast 
 about for a remedy. Here is life to begin with. The germ may be 
 as " the smallest amongst seeds," but it is a living one. The 
 unostentatious philanthropists, each in his own sphere, become 
 " preachers of righteousness," inculcate upon individuals their 
 responsibility and their duty hold up before society the light of 
 some forgotten truth, and commend it, by persuasion, to the notice. 
 Presently a few kindred spirits wake up from previous torpor, 
 respond to the appeals with which they are addressed, and, gather- 
 ing about the original nucleus, swell the amount of life. So much 
 mind and feeling are now awake in reference to the particular object. 
 Combination follows concert co-operation. The press is em- 
 ployed. Arguments are collected, marshalled, and sent forth to 
 invade and subdue the general indifference. Triumph after triumph 
 is achieved ; not, however, without hard labour, great self-denial, and 
 unflinching perseverance. New domains are won from the vast 
 territory of public listlessness. The spirit of moral conquest be- 
 comes contagious. Whole classes are seized by it. Activity grows 
 to be as universal as it is spontaneous, and by the time the end is
 
 158 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE 
 
 gained, one is at a loss to decide which is most important the 
 object accomplished, or the tone and habits of the public mind, 
 nurtured by the process of accomplishment. 
 
 I assert, without the fear of contradiction, that it is to the action 
 of this moral force, to the gradual working out of its ends by the 
 power of " you ought," and to this alone, that Great Britain is 
 indebted for whatever public spirit it can boast of. Devolve upon 
 the principle of compulsion the social obligations which are now 
 spontaneously, or from inward impulse, assumed by the philan- 
 thropic, and patriotism would shrivel up into a senseless prejudice 
 a mere chattering, boasting, self-glorifying passion. The men who 
 work, because the voice within them commands them to work who 
 act up to the extent of their capacity and means, without waiting to 
 see what others will attempt who seek their happiness in the 
 discharge of duty, and who cultivate responsibilities which others 
 willingly permit to perish of neglect these are the men who pre- 
 serve the social body from actual putrefaction. One such, in a 
 district, will create a silent public opinion, which renders further 
 degeneracy all but impossible. In his own sphere, one such will 
 diffuse just enough light to make sleep uneasy, and to compel all 
 sorts of noxious things, which else would have lived and gendered 
 there, to crawl away into completer darkness. Not a few of these 
 practical patriots and philanthropists have been disciplined by their 
 moral obligations, in every part of the empire. To them most 
 modern schemes of social amelioration and progress may trace their 
 origin. They are to be found in every Committee-room in which 
 a good work is to be done, for the mere pleasure and the utility of 
 the doing of it. From them goes forth, through various channels, 
 a powerful influence to modify the opinions, principles, and modes 
 of action of all classes of society. They are the life, the conscience, 
 the heart of the body politic. Senators may be ignorant of them ; 
 the public press may know nothing of their whereabout ; the 
 wealthy may hear of them only through some appeal for pecuniary 
 contribution ; but, after all, these are the men upon whom the 
 higher interests of manhood rest the springs which keep the world 
 in motion towards a brighter and a happier destiny. If, therefore, 
 it could be proved that the country would gain, from a legal pro- 
 vision of educational means, a large increase in the amount, or a 
 considerable improvement in the quality, of the book-learning 
 imparted to the people, the advantage would be dearly purchased by
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 159 
 
 the loss, or serious diminution, of the class we have attempted to 
 describe. And yet this, in our judgment, would be the certain and 
 disastrous issue of the introduction of compulsion in aid of education. 
 The two principles " ought " and " shall " are antagonistic, and 
 cannot well run in couples. The Irish Reyium Donum is the most 
 modem proof of that. Make the erection of the school-house, the 
 maintenance of the schoolmaster, and the superintendence and direc- 
 tion of education, the business of authority, whether national or 
 local, and the active and earnest advocates of popular enlightenment 
 will die out in a generation or two. For a brief period, those who 
 took an interest in the work will take an interest in it still. But 
 their occupation will be gone. Their hold upon the conscience of 
 the community will be lost. Their arguments will want cogency 
 their appeals, pertinence and power. Mechanism will have dis- 
 placed life, and mere doing will supersede all care for the mode and 
 spirit in which it is done. I characterise any approach to such 
 a consummation as a great national calamity. The moral sympathies 
 of society, rendered comparatively useless by the constant presence 
 and action of legal authority, would shrivel up like an unexercised 
 limb. Supersede the necessity of philanthropic effort, and the vis 
 vitte of the nation will become extinct. We can derive no perma- 
 nent advantage from aught that is not capable of spontaneous 
 growth amongst us ; we can ensure only evil by counteracting Pro- 
 vidential laws. Communities, as well as individuals, are under the 
 merciful sentence, " By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." 
 All attempts to evade our responsibility will terminate in disappoint- 
 ment and in sorrow. Indolence, however ingenious its devices, will 
 bring home to us at last sickliness and shame. Increased sense of 
 duty is more to be desired than increased knowledge. Let us 
 beware lest, in the ill-considered methods we adopt to enlighten the 
 understanding, we harden the conscience, and breed a canker in the 
 heart. 
 
 I pass on to observe, that a legal provision for the education of the 
 people is condemned by experience. I am prepared, of course, to 
 see this decision controverted. Instances will be adduced whose- 
 testimony in favour of resorting in this matter to the compulsory 
 powers of law, many are disposed to accept as worthy of confident 
 reliance. So far as they apply, let them, by all means, have their 
 weight. To me they do not speak in very convincing accents. 
 Where time enough has elapsed to allow of the full influence of the
 
 160 ON THE NON-INTKHFERENCE OF THE 
 
 system upon national character, results have not been such as alter 
 my judgment. A wide, or even universal, diffusion of knowledge, 
 when accompanied by a general intellectual pugnacity, servile sub- 
 mission to ancient standards, and a rigid attention to mere shows of 
 propriety and decency, and, at the same time, unattended by superior 
 morality, deficient in generosity, devoid of all high-toned principle, 
 and quickened by scarcely a breath of spirituality, may have its 
 charms for utilitarian philosophers, but will never do much, I fancy, 
 to help on the right in its struggle with might, or to make conquest 
 of any large domains of human nature for virtue and religion. I 
 may be a heretic for saying so, but I would rather have an ounce of 
 heart, than a pound of brains. And where the experiment is going 
 on amongst a newly-settled people, whose amplitude of territory 
 produces more than enough for all, and by whom, consequently, 
 pinching poverty need never be known except by the hearing of the 
 ear, no proof is afforded me that the much which is now done by law, 
 would not be accomplished as easily, as surely, as efficiently, and 
 with greater satisfaction, and nobler rewards in the doing of it, by 
 the simple force of moral obligation. The experience, however, to 
 which I refer, lies at our own door. We have had, for centuries 
 past, a legal provision for the instruction of the people for training 
 up the nation in morality and religion, I allude to the Established 
 Church. It has enjoyed ample revenues it has secured the services 
 of highly educated functionaries it has distributed them with skill 
 over the entire breadth of the country it has wielded immense 
 influence and it has had time enough to develope all its capabilities ; 
 and what has been its success ? I do not ask, what sort and mea- 
 sure of Christianity it has diffused among the people, because I 
 shall be told in reply, that the question is irrelevant that the nature 
 of religion elevates it above the reach of assistance from law and 
 that spiritual ends were never likely to have been promoted by any 
 merely secular machinery. I will not therefore press for a reply 
 quoad vital godliness, nor dwell, in accents of commiseration, upon 
 the evidence daily thrust before our eyes, of the strange uncomfort- 
 ableness exhibited by the genuine Christian spirit which unfortunately 
 has got entangled with this unlikely system of means, and which, if 
 it were to utter its complaint in Scripture* language, could discover 
 no sentence more appropriate than that exclamation of the Apostle, 
 " Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body 
 of death?" But then, if reference to the failure of the Established
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 161 
 
 Church, in so far as spiritual Christianity is concerned, is pronounced 
 to be beside the mark, it may claim to be admitted as pertinent, up 
 to the limits of all that is merely intellectual and external. If it be 
 anticipated, that legal compulsion will diffuse abroad some accurate 
 knowledge of Julius Csesar, surely I am not out of order in inquiring 
 whether it has communicated to the poor an historical acquaintance 
 with the life of Jesus Christ. Revelation consists, for the most part, 
 of facts, narrated with inimitable simplicity, and instinct with mar- 
 vellous interest. How comes it that, with such ample provision for 
 their instruction, the poor of this country, by tens of thousands, are 
 represented as utterly ignorant even of these facts ? The doctrines of 
 the Gospel may be understood, as mere propositions, by the most 
 unlettered. "Whence happens it, that they know nothing of them even 
 as propositions ? The precepts of Christianity will be admitted to be 
 sufficiently plain and comprehensive. Why, then, do you marshal 
 before us troops of ragged children who, on your own showing, can 
 scarcely distinguish between right and wrong? If your immense 
 system of means and appliances for religious instruction, as by law 
 established, cannot convert men's hearts, it might, at least, have in- 
 formed their minds, and have imparted to them the first elements of 
 religious truth, a mental cognizance of its facts, dogmas, and prin- 
 ciples. Now, has it really done this ? Have its vast resources arid 
 peculiar advantages been made to conduce to even this narrow result? 
 Withdraw our Sunday schools, the most precious of the embodiments 
 of moral force, from our villages and hamlets, from our districts and 
 haunts of the poor in manufacturing towns and great cities, and how 
 much Scriptural information, think you, will be left in their midst ? 
 What proportion of the residue can be fairly traced up to the legally 
 authorised source ? And yet men, who would blush to answer these 
 questions as conscience dictates, would fain persuade us to repeat and 
 enlarge the experiment. Because an elaborate and richly-endowed 
 national system, constructed and kept in motion to civilize and 
 moralize the people, by instructing them in the leading facts and 
 doctrines connected with the life and death of Jesus Christ, has 
 utterly failed in its duty, we are desired to set up a similar and sup- 
 plemental system, to compass the same point, by teaching children 
 the history of Socrates or Julius Csesar. Why, it is really a tax 
 upon our patience to reply to so preposterous a demand. If you rely 
 upon a pecuniary provision and a staff of able teachers, as sufficient 
 to humanize the destitute by instruction, have yon not got them in 
 
 M
 
 162 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OF THE 
 
 the Established Church ? If any kind of information let in upon 
 the intellect is calculated more than another to elevate, to purify, to 
 refine, is it not just that kind which there are already the most 
 ample compulsory means for imparting ? And, in the face of egre- 
 gious failure, are we to be taunted with indifference to the mental 
 and moral progress of our poorer countrymen, because we decline to 
 be parties to the erection of more machinery, on precisely the same 
 principles, but intended to work up far inferior stuff? I really 
 wonder where the wits of some of our good friends have fled ! If 
 they had half the faith in the Voluntary Principle which they appear 
 to have in the Compulsory, or half as keen an eye to the short- 
 comings of the last as they clearly have to those of the first, Dis- 
 senters at this day would have presented an unbroken front against 
 the advance of a principle which has already cost them so dear. 
 
 I hurry on to the last argument upon which it is my purpose to 
 dwell. I might, perhaps, and not without effect, have arrayed against 
 a legal provision for popular education some considerations illustra- 
 tive of its essential injustice and, indeed, such was my original in- 
 tention. I might have challenged the right of human law, whether 
 representing the will of organized power or merely of a majority of 
 rate-payers, to reproduce in the next generation, at the public ex- 
 pense, in which I am compelled to bear part, opinions which I hold 
 to be unsound and prejudicial. But lest I should unreasonably 
 detain you, and, desirous of leaving for a more fitting occasion every 
 argument which might possibly provoke a skirmish upon mere 
 details, I will content myself with having barely mentioned it, re- 
 serving, however, my right to expand it hereafter, should I deem it 
 expedient. 
 
 I request, then, your candid attention to that principle of the 
 Divine administration which every resort to legal compulsion for 
 the achievement of positive moral good, seems to me to counteract. 
 Glance, in rapid thought, over the history of this country, justly 
 regarded as one of the most signally-favoured spots on the surface 
 of the globe. Where is the mind that can take in anything ap- 
 proaching to an adequate idea of the iniquity, crime, and impiety, 
 which have run, in times past, and still continue to run, their devas- 
 tating career ? In the Church, as well as out of it, what lamentable 
 perversities, what miserable mistakes, what hideous forms of selfish- 
 ness, what awful hostility to the purity and benevolence of revealed 
 truth ! What myriads of lives have been poured out before the
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAR EDUCATION. 163 
 
 altar of ambition of hearts, have been broken by the cruel lawless- 
 ness of lust of souls, have been destroyed by the prevalence of a 
 lie ! How many sighs of anguish have gone up to Heaven, laden 
 with the touching story of the poor man's wrongs ! If earth could 
 give back all the scalding tears she has drunk up, wrung from the 
 defenceless by the iron hand of oppression, who could look upon 
 that vast lake of sorrow, without having his spirit within him stirred 
 to vengeance? And yet the whole scene is patent to the eye of 
 GOD has been from the first. Why has He not interposed ? 
 With Him has dwelt at all times the power of standing between 
 depravity and its prey, and of forcing disorder back within the 
 lines of peace and justice. How comes it that He allows the yet 
 unequal struggle between right and might, light and darkness, truth 
 and error, holiness and sin, to be so indefinitely protracted, when 
 it were but for him to will victory, and instantly it would appear ? 
 Who questions His power ? Who doubts His goodness ? Who 
 impugns His wisdom ? Six thousand years has He looked down 
 upon the wretchedness and malignity of mankind, and yet never 
 during that time has he abandoned his mighty plan of destroying 
 moral evil by the sheer force of moral good. The sublime prin- 
 ciple of His administration is calmly and unswervingly adhered to, 
 although human fears, hopes, passions, prayers, and curses, cry out 
 unceasingly for a temporary suspension of it. Silently, like the 
 dew, He is penetrating, refreshing, and beautifying individual spirits, 
 sending them forth into regions of darkness and death, and waiting, 
 in majestic composure, the slow development of the assimilating 
 energies of his own truth. And, whilst the process goes on to our 
 apprehension, how tardily ! mark how he holds back the hand of 
 his power ! When, by the slightest pressure of his almightiness 
 upon the springs of human destiny, he might put forward our history 
 at his will, and cut short, in their very midst, the days of iniquity 
 and woe, he, nevertheless, forbears, and having, from the beginning, 
 chosen to obtain sway over man by a moral sceptre, refrains from 
 every display of the sceptre of force. Can any man contemplate this 
 soul-subduing spectacle without being filled with the thought, that 
 there is deep meaning in all this ? When the world's history shall 
 have been completed haply before its days have finally run out 
 can any mind which has faith in God entertain a misgiving, lest the 
 grand secret should not transpire ? or doubt that when it does loom 
 upon created intelligence, it will satisfy every soul that all has been 
 
 M 2
 
 164 ON THE NON-INTERFERENCE OK THE 
 
 right? When man's eye can discern the connection of the now past 
 with the now future, and trace back the tree of life, laden with the 
 fruits of immortality, to those earlier ages, when the extreme slow- 
 ness of its growth excited his special wonder, will there not be reason 
 ample enough to bless Eternal Goodness that it had power to wait, 
 and that the hurry and impatience of creatures, incapable of seeing 
 more than a part of the magnfficent plan, did not and could not 
 extend themselves to the all-seeing Creator ? 
 
 Now, inasmuch as God is thus manifestly carrying on a stupendous 
 process of moral amelioration by moral means alone, working out his 
 high purposes in this world by the force of truth on individual con- 
 sciences, and hiding, meanwhile, " the thunder of His power" 
 inasmuch as he has authorized us his servants, in humble imitation 
 of Him, to seek the elevation of our fellows, and the fitting develop- 
 ment of their faculties, by means such as He employs, but has 
 nowhere authorized us to compel the unwilling to assist us inas- 
 much as no interpositions of his resistless might to hasten on the 
 great experiment, invite, sanction, or suggest a resort by us to force 
 does it become men of religion, men who have faith in truth, for 
 I address myself this evening specially to such, to exhibit all the 
 flurry of a sceptical impatience at the apparent slowness of sense of 
 obligation, and to be foremost among those who clamour for a meaner, 
 but somewhat swifter, power ? If the work of educating destitute 
 childhood does not prosper as they would wish to see it, in the hands 
 of spontaneous benevolence, self-denial, and devotedness, why is it ? 
 Are these great moving agencies comparatively torpid? Take up, 
 then, the trumpet of warning, and blow a blast which drowsiness 
 itself shall hear ! Put your heart into the strain, for the echo will 
 surely correspond with your earnestness ! Have you done this ? Are 
 you doing this ? Do you verily believe in this ? If so, calm your 
 apprehensions, and possess your souls in patience. You are doing 
 what your Master has bidden you to do, and you may leave the 
 results with him. But, alas! this is just what you, the advocates of 
 a legal provision, are not doing. No ! with the best intentions, 
 doubtless, but with the vexed temper of disappointed eagerness, you 
 go up and down society uttering all kinds of unworthy suspicions as 
 to the competency of moral obligation to do its own work weaken 
 its elasticity by the breath of your own unbelief collect statistics to 
 prove its powerlessness and end by renouncing it as too feeble for 
 what it has undertaken, and by calling in compulsion to paralyze and
 
 GOVERNMENT WITH POPULAK EDUCATION. 165 
 
 rid the world of it. Fatal mistake ! Virtue turned out of doors, as 
 an impostor, by the hands of her own friends ! And why this out- 
 rage ? Why this dethronement of conscience, and this installation 
 of magisterial power? Because, forsooth, your sympathies are in 
 haste, and cannot bide the issue of God's appointed method of 
 raising dejected mankind. Words of persuasion, of exhortation, 
 of entreaty, of encouragement, of reproof words that will burn their 
 way into the heart words that, like the lyre of Orpheus, will draw 
 life and spirit forth from inanimate nature words that, wherever 
 they fall, will quicken into deeds words that will shake and scathe 
 even thrice- mailed selfishness these, which in other and higher 
 enterprises are found effective, and upon which, backed by God's 
 blessing, you rely for subduing the whole world to Christ these 
 will not do are all too inefficient, in the work of education ! Albeit, 
 they have made some way since first they were directed to this end, 
 and, against fearful odds, have 'won a vantage ground, they are not 
 strong enough for the magnitude of the undertaking, nor swift 
 enough for the vehemence of your desires ! You must have thunder 
 the thunder of this world's law "nothing but thunder." Oh! it 
 is a mournful sight, this propensity of religious hands to snatch up 
 the sword of the magistrate, in order to drive on their own schemes 
 of usefulness. It argues anything but confidence in the ultimate 
 superiority of moral force, or approving acquiescence in the leisurely 
 movement of the Divine purpose. If we really believe that mankind 
 may be intellectually and morally bettered, more speedily and effec- 
 tually by mere power than by truth and that the main-spring of 
 our mechanism to convey instruction to the mind must be forged 
 out of compulsion, because sense of obligation is too weak to bear 
 the strain why, it is about time for us to cease boasting of an all- 
 pervading Providence, and, since we reverse his plans, we may as 
 well lay aside our hope in his triumph. But, come ! I cannot con- 
 tinue further in this strain. I do trust that this return to " the 
 beggarly elements of the world" has been proposed without serious 
 consideration of all the evil it involves. Other minds, looking at 
 the question from other points of view may not have discerned in 
 it the dishonour done to moral principles, and to God's administra- 
 tion, which strikes me with so much force. They will pardon me 
 for speaking out all that was in me for only thus could I have 
 delivered my soul ! I own, I am growingly jealous for th sufficiency 
 of Christ's Gospel, as embodied in men's hearts, to carry on, as fast
 
 166 ON THE NON-iNTEKKEHENCE OF THE 
 
 as the nature of things and the laws of mind will permit, all great 
 enterprises of practical usefulness ; and hence I seized the oppor- 
 tunity, unexpectedly and courteously offered to me by the Committee 
 under whose arrangements we now meet, of vindicating the para- 
 mount claims of the principle of individual moral obligation from 
 some of the obloquy recently cast upon it. 
 
 I have now laid before you the course of reasoning which has 
 compelled my judgment to pronounce against any system, however 
 modified, which would provide means of education for the poor on 
 the principle of compulsion. I need hardly point out to you that 
 my arguments, if good for anything, cut away the ground on which 
 every plan, admitting the aid of law, must ultimately rest. Indeed, 
 it has been my aim to steer clear of all plans now before the public, 
 and to strangle the error itself rather than any particular form of its 
 development. It was open to me to have reached the same conclu- 
 sion by a widely different path. I might have commenced with an 
 examination of the legitimate objects, powers, and functions of civil 
 Government ; and have gone on to show, that the care of mind does 
 not fall within the range of its duties, and cannot be assumed with- 
 out injuring the people it is professedly taken up to serve. But, as 
 I have already hinted, the occasion appeared to me to demand, that 
 the argument should be built up on high moral considerations, 
 rather than on a basis, however solid, of merely logical deduction. 
 My object has been to drive at conscience, for it is possible to take 
 the understanding captive without touching the will. 
 
 With a brief summary of the whole case, as I have endeavoured 
 this evening to present it, I will close my observations. The sub- 
 stance of the question submitted for examination was : " Is it expe- 
 dient, is it wise, would it be conducive to national well-being, to 
 provide for the education of the destitute by the interposition of the 
 authority of law? " To this question my answer has been, " No ;" 
 because Voluntary benevolence, prompted by sense of obligation, 
 universally admitted to be superior as a moving force, is already 
 largely engaged in the work, prospers in it, and promises to com- 
 plete it. " No ;" because to abandon moral for legal force, in so 
 important a department of social duty, is fraught with contingencies 
 of peril, and may involve effects upon national character, which no 
 man can accurately estimate. " No;" because the change proposed 
 is nothing less than social retrogression a retreat, without neces- 
 sity, upon " beggarly elements." " No ;" because we have no
 
 GOVERNMENT WJ.TU i'OPULAK EDUCATION. 167 
 
 guarantee that the surrender we make of a high position, will insure 
 even the specific advantage for which alone it could be given up. 
 " No;" because, even if we had, the good attained would be coun- 
 terbalanced by the greater evil, of damage to our intellectual cha- 
 racter and to our public spirit. " No ;" because experience warns 
 us to anticipate an egregious failure. " No ;" because the step 
 recommended cannot be taken without trampling upon the claims of 
 justice. " No !" finally and emphatically, because we cannot adopt 
 such a course without a virtual impeachment, and immediate coun- 
 teraction, of the manifest design, scope, and principle of God's moral 
 administration. On these grounds, leaving out of sight the nature 
 and purpose of civil government, which conduct us to the same 
 conclusion, we offer our protest against any interference of the 
 Government with popular education.
 
 LECTURE VI.
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF VOLUNTARY 
 EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 
 
 BY THE REV. HENRY RICHARD. 
 
 Reason why the subject was selected The Government Commission HISTORY OF EDUCA- 
 TION IN WALES, during the first three centuries of the Christian era Fame of British 
 learning in Europe The monastery of Bangor-Iscoed The mission of Austin His 
 intercourse with the Fathers of the British Church His instigation of the Saxons to 
 make war on the British Alfred the Great invites professors from St. David's College to 
 Oxford Decline of learning amid the civil wars The Welsh and Henry vn. Slate of 
 Wales after the Reformation Dr. Llewellyn's testimony John Penry's efforts Rev. 
 Rhys Pritchard Rev. Thomas Gouge Rev. Griffith Jones, Llanddowror His cir- 
 culating schools Mrs. Sevan's munificence, and its results MORAL STATE OF WALES 
 ABOUT A CENTURY AGO Description of it from the Rev. Thomas Charles's Trytorfa 
 Testimony of John Wesley Of Mr. Charles's Welsh biographer Of Mr. Charles himself 
 Of the Rev. John Davies Of Arthur James Jobnes, Esq. Statistics of Education in 
 1803 PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN WALES Statistical comparison of 1803, 1818,1833, 
 1846-7 Efficiency of Voluntary education Extent of reading among the people Number 
 of Bibles circulated Of Commentaries Their general literature Mr. Symons's judg- 
 ment respecting it List of English theological works translated Periodicals Effect of 
 education on the character of the people Their chapels and Sunday-schools Their 
 liberality Testimony of Mr. Johnes Of Rev. W. Jones Of Dr. Owen Roberts Of Dr. 
 Carl Meyer Of T. W. Booker, Esq. Official testimony Criminal returns" Rebecca" 
 commissioners J. Wyatt, Esq. EXAMINATION OF THE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT Their 
 character of the people not true Their incompetency for their work From ignorance of 
 the language From their prejudices as Churchmen From want of sympathy with the 
 religious feelings of the people From wishing to make out a case Their mode of con- 
 ducting the Inquiry Selection of assistants Proportion of Dissenters and Churchmen 
 examined Suppression of evidence Method of eliciting evidence The most ignorant 
 and depraved class made to represent the whole population Mr. Symons's unfairness 
 Cause of clerical hostility Examination of evidence of the Rev. R. P. Davies Of the 
 Rev. John Griffith Of the Rev. Henry Lewis Davies The effects of the Report in 
 Wales Conclusion. 
 
 I CANNOT conceal from myself, that it is owing to an accident, and 
 that of no very flattering description, that the subject which is to 
 occupy your attention this evening has gained the distinction of a 
 place in the present course of Lectures. It may be true enough, 
 that there is much in the past history and present condition of the 
 principality of Wales, that well deserves and would amply reward
 
 172 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 the study of both the philosopher and the Christian. Its people 
 might well be regarded with a mixed feeling of curiosity and venera- 
 tion, forming, as perhaps they do, the only pure and genuine remains 
 of that ancient Celtic race, which occupied at one time so large a 
 place in Europe the aboriginal possessors of this island the first 
 stratum in that wonderful -social formation which it now exhibits 
 who amid all the changes that have affected and amalgamated its 
 population, the successive immigrations of Romans, Picts, Saxons, 
 Danes, and Normans, sweeping like so many inundations over its 
 surface have alone retained unmixed their distinctive national 
 character cherishing in the mountain retreats to which they were 
 driven by these repeated invasions, their own ancient language in its 
 purity and strength, and preserving many hereditary customs, and 
 the fragments of a traditional literature, hoar with immemorial 
 antiquity, where may be found, imbedded, as it were, to this day, 
 the fossil remains of a former European world. It may be also true 
 that this ancient people, after having been first oppressed, and then 
 neglected for many centuries, have, within the last hundred years, 
 become marvellously quickened into a new life, by having infused 
 into the heart of society among them the leaven of mighty spiritual 
 principles, which have raised them from the degradation of barbarism 
 into the light and liberty of the Gospel ; and the practical result of 
 which is seen in the most complete and remarkable machinery of 
 the means of spiritual instruction and worship that has probably 
 ever been produced by the spontaneous and voluntary piety of a 
 poor and obscure, but earnest and true-hearted, Christian community. 
 All this, and much more, may be true ; but it is owing to none of 
 these things, but to a cause far less creditable, that my native 
 country has been raised to the questionable eminence which it is to 
 occupy to-night. It is because the whole nation has been brought 
 publicly to trial, at the instance of the Government of this country, 
 and on the most serious charges against its intelligence, morality, 
 and religion, that those who cherish towards it yet some lingering 
 feelings of favour, have granted this opportunity to one of the 
 humblest of its sons to bring forward what it is yet possible to say 
 in its defence, before it is abandoned to summary and final condem- 
 nation. Perhaps, also, the gentlemen who arranged this course of 
 Lectures, feeling that, as in the case of Marathon, Morgarten, and 
 Naseby, those names became magic and memorable words in the ears 
 of men for all ages, not because the spots themselves were specially
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 1/3 
 
 distinguished by any natural attributes of beauty and grandeur, but 
 because they were the fields on which the supposed battles of liberty 
 were waged and won, so the principality of Wales might well be 
 raised out of its native obscurity, and become the object to which 
 all eyes should be directed, when it is known or suspected that it is 
 likely soon to be chosen as the battle-field on which a conflict of 
 great principles is to be fought, in the issue of which, the liberty, 
 the independence, and the social dignity and progress of the people 
 of this country are most essentially involved. You are all, doubtless, 
 aware, that in the latter part of the year 1846, a Commission was 
 appointed by the Government to inquire into the state of Education 
 in Wales. This Commission consisted of three gentlemen, Mr; 
 Lingen, Mr. Symons, and Mr. Vaughan Johnson. They have 
 accomplished their task ; and the result of their labours has been 
 presented to the public in the three bulky volumes now before us. It 
 is assumed, of course, that the Commission is a prelude to some 
 system of practical action on the part of the Government in reference 
 to the education of the people ; and most assuredly, if the spirit in 
 which this preliminary inquiry was conducted is to be taken as any 
 index of their future intentions, it may well awake the earnest and 
 immediate alarm of every true friend of evangelical Dissent and 
 Voluntary education. 
 
 In treating the subject allotted to me this evening, the plan I shall 
 adopt will be this : I will first give you a brief and rapid sketch of 
 the history of education in Wales, from the earliest times to the 
 rise of Methodism and modern Dissent ; I will then endeavour to 
 show what has been accomplished there, in the work of education, 
 since that time ; and lastly, I will try to examine the character of 
 the Commissioners' Reports, with a view to ascertain how far they 
 may be taken as a fair, satisfactory, and trustworthy representation 
 of the present state of the principality. 
 
 It will answer no practical purpose to lead you back to the times 
 of our Druidical ancestors. Suffice it to say, that from the frag- 
 ments of their ancient literature that have come down to us, it is 
 evident that they held knowledge in high veneration, and conferred 
 special, social, and civil privileges upon those who were engaged in 
 cultivating it themselves, and in teaching it to others. 
 
 After the introduction of Christianity, which took place unques- 
 tionably within the first century of the Christian era, it was not 
 likely that this love of learning should be diminished, after objects
 
 174 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 of knowledge and inquiry, so much worthier their attention, had 
 been introduced among them. Accordingly we find, in the records 
 of the first three or four hundred years of the Christian church in 
 Britain, that many large collegiate establishments were formed, dedi- 
 cated to religion and literature. Of these the most celebrated was 
 that at Bangor-Iscoed, in Flintshire, where, at one time, were two 
 thousand one hundred monks ; part of them devoting themselves to 
 bodily labour to provide sustenance for their brethren, that they 
 might uninterruptedly give themselves to reading and the ministry 
 of the Word. From these institutions went forth men thoroughly 
 instructed in all the learning of their times ; some of them bearing 
 the fame of their country's piety and erudition to the uttermost 
 parts of Europe. In the large oecumenical councils, summoned 
 under Constantine the Great and his sons, in the third and fourth 
 centuries, at Aries, at Nice, and at Sardica, to decide the great 
 Donatist and Arian controversies, which disturbed the unity of the 
 Catholic faith, we are told that the British churches were repre- 
 sented by men who bore an honourable part in the defence of sound 
 doctrine ; for Athanasius himself testifies that bishops from Britain 
 joined in condemnation of the heresy of Arius, and in vindication of 
 himself. As a further illustration of the extent to which theological 
 learning was cultivated among the British churches, it may be 
 observed that Pelagius, who, though he unhappily swerved in some 
 of his speculations from orthodox doctrine, and thereby agitated all 
 Christendom by the controversies to which he gave rise, was, never- 
 theless, acknowledged by the most illustrious of his adversaries, 
 Augustine, to have been a man of great ability and piety. Pelagius 
 was a Welshman, whose name originally was Morgan, and who was 
 educated, it is supposed, at the monastery of Bangor-Iscoed, to 
 which I have already referred. Now, you will please to remember, 
 that the Britons had attained to this high state of mental culture 
 and Christian erudition, which enabled them to send forth learned 
 men, whose names resounded throughout all Europe, some centuries 
 before your ancestors the Saxons had begun to forsake the old Pagan 
 superstitions which they had brought with them from Germany ; and 
 when, at length, in the sixth century, the Pope sent the celebrated 
 Austin, as a missionary, to convert the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants 
 of this island to the Christian faith, he found that the ancient 
 Britons, driven, by the successive invasions of these formidable foes, 
 to seek their last asylum in the mountains of Wales, were not only
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 17i> 
 
 in possession of Christianity, but were so well instructed in its prin- 
 ciples, that they firmly resisted all the attempts made by that arro- 
 gant ecclesiastic to bring their churches to acknowledge the usurped 
 spiritual authority of the Bishop of Rome. When he first arrived 
 here, he invited Dunawd of Bangor-Iscoed, who had been repre- 
 sented to him as pre-eminent among the scholars of the age, to 
 come and assist him in preaching the Gospel to the Saxons ; but the 
 abbot replied, that he did not think it worthy to preach to that 
 cruel people, who had treacherously slain their parents, and robbed 
 them of their just and legitimate property ; and at the same time, 
 we are told, " did dispute at large, with great learning and gravity, 
 against receiving the authority of the Pope, or of Augustine." 
 Having thus failed with Dunawd, that he might demonstrate to 
 the Cambrian priests and monks the legitimacy of his pretensions, 
 he assigned them a conference on the banks of the Severn, the limit 
 between their territory and that of their conquerors. The assembly 
 was held in the open air, under a large oak. Augustine required 
 the Britons to reform their religious practices according to the usages 
 of Rome ; to return to the Catholic union ; to be obedient to him- 
 self ; and to employ themselves, under his direction, in converting 
 the Anglo-Saxons. In aid of his studied harangue, he set before 
 them a man of Saxon birth, who, he pretended, was blind, and 
 restored him to sight. But neither the Roman's eloquence, nor his 
 miracle, had power to terrify the Cambrians, and make them abjure 
 their old spirit of independence. Augustine, not yet discouraged, 
 appointed a second interview, which, with a degree of complaisance 
 that attested their good intentions, was attended by seven bishops of 
 British race, and a number of monks, chiefly from the great monas- 
 tery of Bangor ; but, after a long conference, they conveyed to him 
 their decision in these words : " We will never acknowledge the 
 pretended rights of Roman ambition, any more than those of Saxon 
 tyranny. We owe to the Pope of Rome, it is true, as to all Chris- 
 tians, the submission of fraternal charity ; but as for the submission 
 of obedience, we owe it only to God, and, after God, to our vene- 
 rable superior, the Bishop of Ker-leon-on-the-Usk." For a long 
 while, the British Church continued resolute in its refusal to recog- 
 nise the Papal authority ; and the consequence was, that in accord- 
 ance with the ancient policy of that persecuting church which he 
 represented, Augustine and his successors excited their Saxon con- 
 verts to make war upon the British, exasperating the national
 
 176 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 animosities, already sufficiently violent between the two people, by 
 .adding to it the fanatical frenzy of religious bigotry. For many ages, 
 therefore, the Britons were liable to frequent incursions from their 
 Saxon neighbours ; who, instigated by the councils of Rome, invaded 
 their country, destroying their churches, burning their monasteries, 
 and putting to death the pious and learned monks, who, in the 
 seclusion of those establishments, were pursuing the peaceable occu- 
 pations of literature and religion. But that the British did not 
 forget their ancient love of learning, even in the midst of these com- 
 motions, seems clear from the fact, that when Alfred the Great 
 ascended the throne of England, one of his first acts was to invite 
 three able teachers from the College of St. David's to superintend 
 the University of Oxford. The persons selected on this occasion 
 were Asser, who taught grammar and rhetoric ; John Menevensis, 
 who read logic, music, and arithmetic ; and John Erigina, who pro- 
 fessed geometry and astronomy."* 
 
 After this, however, it would seem that learning gradually declined 
 in Wales, agitated and torn as society was constantly by civil feuds 
 among their own princes, and by the fierce and sanguinary conflicts 
 which they waged, but waged in vain, against the ascendant destiny 
 of the Saxon and Norman races. Severe and oppressive laws, also, 
 suppressing the ancient bards arid minstrels, who had always stimu- 
 lated into activity the national mind, and enacting that no Welshman 
 by birth could hold the smallest public office in his country, which 
 were from time to time passed by the English kings, must have 
 tended greatly to discourage the cultivation of knowledge and the 
 progress of education among the people. When Henry VII. landed 
 in Wales, to contend for the English throne with Richard III., the 
 poor Welsh, knowing that the blood of their own Tudor was flowing 
 in his veins, planted the banner of the Red Dragon on the top of 
 Snowdon, and rallied enthusiastically around his standard, and, by 
 their devotion and bravery, contributed not a little to secure for him 
 the celebrated victory which changed the dynasty of England on 
 the bloody field of Bosworth. " Henry VII.," says M. Thierry, 
 " placed the Cambrian dragon in his arms by the side of the three 
 lions of Normandy, and, by means of the archives of Wales, 
 traced his genealogy to Cadwallader, the last chief who bore the title 
 of King of Britain. But these frivolous acts of vanity, rather than 
 
 * Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest, book i.
 
 VOLUNTARY F.m'CATloN, AS F.XKM i'LlKIKD IN WAU.x. 1/7 
 
 vif gratitude, were all that tlu- new king did for the people whose 
 devotion had given him victory and a kingdom. His sou aud 
 successor, Henry VIII., treated the mass of the people like all 
 his predecessors as a conquered nation, to be feared and dis- 
 liked. He studied to destroy the ancient customs of the inhabit- 
 ants of Cambria, the remains of their social state, and even their 
 language." 
 
 When the Reformation was established in England, as the result 
 of royal will rather than the spontaneous election of the national 
 mind, Wales, never much attached to the Roman Church, became, 
 without reluctance, nominally Protestant, along with the rest of the 
 country. But, as it was the work of the Government and not of 
 the people, it seems to have produced in the Principality little effect 
 on the popular mind, for no efforts were made by the Government 
 to secure to them those means of instruction which, according to the 
 theory of Protestantism, ought to be provided for all whose faith, 
 being set loose from the anchor of dogmatic authority, need to be 
 put in a condition to use with efficiency the principle of private 
 judgment, substituted in its stead. Not only did the Government 
 lend no assistance in the religious enlightenment of the Welsh people, 
 but they actively interfered to repress the efforts they put forth 
 themselves ; for although they gave every encouragement to the 
 translation of the Bible into English, when some persons in Wales, 
 zealous for the new reforms, had undertaken, at their own cost, a 
 version of the Scriptures, orders were given for the seizure and 
 destruction of all the copies, which were carried off from the churches 
 and publicly burned. Nay, in Dr. Llewellyn's historical account of 
 the Welsh versions and editions of the Bible, it is said, " For 
 upwards of seventy years, from the settlement of the Reformation by 
 Queen Elizabeth, for near one hundred years from Britain's separa- 
 tion from the Church of Rome, there were no Bibles in Wales, but 
 only in the cathedrals and in the parish churches and chapels. 
 There was no provision made for the people in general, as if they 
 had nothing to do with the Word of God ; at least, no further than 
 they might hear it, in their attendance upon public worship ouce in 
 the week." 
 
 About the middle of the reign of Queen Elizabeth the celebrated 
 John Penry, whom you regard as one of your Puritan fathers and 
 confessors, and who was a Welshman, made an attempt to call the 
 attention of the Government to the deplorable destitution of the means 
 
 N
 
 178 ON THE PROiiKESS AND KFK1CACV OF 
 
 of religious instruction which prevailed in his native land. There are 
 two pamphlets of his still extant on this subject, entitled, " A Treatise 
 containing the Equity of an humble Supplication to Parliament for 
 preaching the Gospel in Wales," and " A View of the Wants and 
 Disorders in the Service of God in Wales, with a Petition to Parlia- 
 ment for their Redress." 
 
 But I cannot find that these patriotic efforts of Mr. Penry, acting, 
 of course, according to the prevailing convictions of his time, as to 
 the duty of the State to provide religious instruction for the people, 
 was ever followed by the smallest practical result. 
 
 In the reign of James I. there arose a very remarkable man in 
 South Wales, who for a long time exerted an extensive and most 
 salutary influence upon the mind and character of his countrymen : 
 I allude to the Rev. Rhys Pritchard, Vicar of Llandovery, in Caer- 
 marthenshire, known throughout the whole principality to this day, 
 by the familiar and emphatic name of " The Vicar." This most 
 excellent man, penetrated with deep sorrow at witnessing the de- 
 graded condition of his countrymen, took all means in his power to 
 awaken the slumbering mind of the nation. By his earnest and 
 eloquent preaching in his native tongue, (a thing at that time most 
 rare in Wales,) he attracted such crowded congregations, that he 
 was often compelled to come out of his church, and to address the 
 assembled multitudes in the churchyard. He is said to have trans- 
 lated many books into Welsh. But the work by which he is best 
 known, and by which he will continue to be known as long as a 
 fragment of the Welsh language survives, is the " Candle of the 
 Cymry," generally called by the Welsh themselves, " The Vicar's 
 Book." This work consists of a number of poems on moral and 
 religious subjects, most simple in their language, and even slovenly 
 in their metrical composition ; but full of poetry and feeling, and 
 thoroughly saturated with evangelical truth. It is not a very easy 
 thing to give to an Englishman a correct notion of the beauty, 
 sweetness, and simplicity of the original ; but the following spe- 
 cimen, translated by an able Welsh scholar, seems to be, on the 
 whole, happily done. It is called " Gweddi Foreuol," Morning 
 Prayer : 
 
 " At dawn, when first thy slumber flies, 
 
 Raise to the Lord of Hosts thine eyes ; 
 To him who watched, and gave, and blest 
 Thy hours of helplessness and rest.
 
 VOT.r.YIAKY KIH"< A I 'loN, A* KX.KM IM.I 1-'1KI IN WAI. VS. 179 
 
 " Oh ! give the first-fruits of thy heart, 
 
 The first-fruits of thy mind and tongue, 
 For second thoughts are not the part 
 Of Him to whom all hearts belong. 
 
 The redbreast, ere his little bill 
 
 He moistens in the morning dew, 
 Carols to Him who saved from ill 
 His tiny couch the darkness through. 
 
 ' Alas ! that man should -wake more dead 
 
 To all the blessings God has shed, 
 Than the wild birds, which, morn and eve, 
 His gifts with hymns of praise receive." 
 
 The effects produced by this work none can conceive, who do not 
 know the enthusiastic love of the Welsh for the poetry of their 
 native tongue. It ran like a stream of electricity throughout the 
 country, vivifying the national mind, and lodging many of the pre- 
 cious truths it embodied deep in the core of the national heart. 
 And yet, it would seem, that during his own life-time these poems 
 were not printed, but recited by him orally, and thus taught to the 
 people. The reason for this, no doubt, is to be found in the repre- 
 sentation which he gives, in one of these beautiful poems, of the 
 mental and moral state of his countrymen : 
 
 " 'Tis a reproach and bitter shame, 
 
 That rests upon the British name, 
 That not a hundredth part, indeed, 
 
 God's book in their own tongue can read." 
 
 To remedy this crying evil, as far as he could, he gave an endow- 
 ment of 2QI. a-year no insignificant one in those days to establish 
 a school in his own parish. This school went on prosperously 
 during the life of the founder, but soon after it disappeared. The 
 school-house, we are told, having been built on the banks of the 
 river Tywi, was swept away by an inundation of the river, and the 
 endowment was swept away by another torrent yet more violent and 
 voracious, which has swamped and absorbed a good many more such 
 charitable bequests I mean clerical rapacity ; for we are told that 
 " Thomas Manwaring, the son of Dr. Manwaring, Bishop of St. 
 David's, who had married the vicar's granddaughter, took possession 
 of the land belonging to the school, undertaking to pay the school- 
 master himself, which he did for a year or two, and then withheld 
 from it all support." 
 
 The next effort which I find made on behalf of the education of 
 
 N 2
 
 I HO ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 the Welsh people, was by a pious and excellent Nonconformist 
 minister, of the name of Gouge. I suppose he must have been 
 acquainted with the language of the Principality ; * for, after having 
 been ejected from his living of St. Sepulchre, in London, he imme- 
 diately turned his attention to Wales, and began to travel and preach 
 in that country, and translated, or got translated, various useful 
 works from the English. But seeing the deplorable destitution of 
 the means of education among the Welsh, he seems to have formed 
 an association of English gentlemen, to raise and establish a fund 
 for publishing pious books, and opening elementary schools in Wales. 
 And it is delightful to observe the men of which that association 
 consisted ; for there we find the most illustrious names of the 
 Church of England and of the Nonconformists, forgetting their own 
 differences of opinion, uniting together to bless and befriend our 
 poor country Archbishops Tillotson and Stillingfleet, combined with 
 Richard Baxter, Poole, Bates, Patrick, and others. In the first 
 report they published of their operations they say, among other 
 things, " that they had placed 812 poor children in schools, to 
 learn the English language, in 5 1 principal towns in Wales, and that 
 there have been bought and distributed in several families 32 Welsh 
 Bibles, which were all that could be had in Wales or London, and 
 likewise 240 New Testaments." 
 
 I suspect that this generous contribution was not an endowment, 
 but an annual subscription, which ceased with the life of the bene- 
 volent donors ; for I am not aware that any of the schools established 
 by Mr. Gouge and his coadjutors survived for any considerable time 
 after his death. 
 
 Another long interval of drowsiness and neglect appears to have 
 elapsed before anything more was done for the education of the 
 Welsh, during which they had sunk into the grossest state of igno- 
 rance and brutality. About the beginning of the eighteenth century 
 God raised up another man of apostolic mind and purpose, whose 
 heart was stirred within him as he looked abroad, and saw his 
 countrymen wholly devoted to iniquity Griffith Jones, of Llandowror. 
 He was the founder of what are called the " Circulating schools," in 
 Wales, very remarkable institutions, the account of whose origin is 
 as follows : Mr. Jones was accustomed, on the Saturday before the 
 sacrament Sunday, to assemble his parishioners, for the purpose of 
 familiar catechetical instruction and prayer. By the difficulty and 
 
 * Mr. Charles, in his Trysorfa, I find, says that Mr. Gouge did not know the 
 Welsh language.
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 181 
 
 reluctance manifested to answer the simplest questions which he put 
 to them on scriptural subjects, he discovered the appalling ignorance 
 which prevailed among the people. He determined, therefore, as he 
 had no other resources, to appropriate the money collected at the 
 ordinance to the establishment of a free day-school. In process of 
 time he began to procure aid from other quarters, especially from the 
 munificence of Mrs. Bevan, a lady of large property and great 
 generosity, residing at Laugharne, in Caermarthenshire. This 
 enabled him to originate several others ; and, in order that the 
 advantages derived from them might he diffused as widely as 
 possible, the schools were removed in two, three, or four quarters, 
 from one parish to another : hence they obtained the name of 
 " Circulating schools." In 1763, the year of Mr. Jones's decease, 
 that is, about thirty years after the first experiment had been tried 
 "with the sacrament-money of the parish of Llandellin," the number 
 of schools which had been established at different times, and in 
 various places in Wales, amounted to 3,495 ; and the number of 
 scholars who had been educated in them amounted to 158,237. 
 This was certainly a degree of success which the most sanguine 
 friends of the institution could have hardly anticipated. We can 
 only justly appreciate its real extent when we recollect that the popu- 
 lation of Wales during this period contained, on an average, 
 between 400,000 and 500,000. 
 
 For twenty years after the death of Mr. Jones these schools, which 
 had been multiplied to more than 200, were entirely supported by 
 the private liberality of Mrs. Bevan, who, when she died, left in her 
 will 10,000^. for their perpetual support. The validity of this will 
 was contested by the Lady Stickney, the heiress and executrix to 
 Mrs. Bevan, by which means the property was thrown into chancery 
 for twenty years, when it increased to 30,0001. Mr. Charles Bala, 
 writing in his " Trysorfa" in the year 1800, and in reference to 
 this property, observed that there it continued till very recently, 
 when the Lord Chancellor decided the case in such a manner as to 
 render the money utterly unavailable for the benefit of Wales. This 
 prognostic proved true ; for although there are a few of the schools 
 still in existence, they are in a condition miserably languid and 
 inefficient, and entirely under the control of the clergy, who prize 
 and employ them far more as instruments of petty vexation to the 
 Dissenters, than as means of promoting popular education. 
 
 Not withstanding, however, these scattered and occasional efforts,
 
 182 UN THE PKOGBESS AND EFFICACY UK 
 
 the state of the country, previous to the rise of Methodism, and the 
 beginning of what may be called modern Dissent, was, on the whole, 
 very dark and deplorable. As it is impossible to estimate aright 
 the amount and value of what has been accomplished in the way of 
 education, without comparing the present with the past condition of 
 the people, I must ask your attention to a picture, drawn from the 
 most authentic sources, of what that condition was in the Principality 
 eighty or a hundred years ago. In a publication, called the " Try- 
 sorfa," edited by a man whose name will be fragrant in the memories 
 of his countrymen for ever I mean the Reverend Thomas Charles, 
 of Bala and which was published in 1799, the following account is 
 given of the state of Wales, about the middle of the eighteenth 
 century : " In those days the land was dark indeed : hardly any 
 of the lower ranks could read at all. The morals of the country 
 were very corrupt, and in this respect there was no difference 
 between gentle and simple, layman and churchman. Gluttony, 
 drunkenness, and licentiousness prevailed throughout the whole 
 country. Every Sabbath there was what was called a chwareu gamp, 
 a sort of sport in which all the young men of the neighbourhood 
 had a trial of strength, and the people assembled from the sur- 
 rounding country to see their feats. In every corner of the town 
 some sport or other went on, till the light of the Sabbath-day had 
 faded away. In the summer, interludes (a kind of rustic drama) 
 were performed, gentlemen and peasants sharing the diversion 
 together." 
 
 John Wesley, on his first visit into Wales, at the beginning of 
 Methodism, has left on record in his journal the opinion, that the 
 ignorance of the people was so great, " that they were as little versed 
 in the principles of Christianity as a Creek or Cherokee Indian." 
 But to come yet lower down : Mr. Charles's Welsh biographer, in 
 referring to the state of the country a little before the time when he 
 (Mr. Charles) commenced his labours, describes it thus : " Ig- 
 norance, recklessness, and every species of iniquity, had spread with 
 great power through the land. The Church ministers were in a 
 most degenerate state, both as to principles and practice the gentry 
 using no influence in favour of religion or good morals, but them- 
 selves giving examples of many kinds of wickedness ; the common 
 people sunk in darkness and superstition ; and the few Dissenters 
 that remained, generally asleep, in mere formality, and some of them 
 fallen into doctrines and practices equally corrupt. In short, the
 
 VOU'NTAKV EDUCATION, AS EXK.Ml'Lt t I r.l> IN WALKS. 183 
 
 condition of our country was very deplorable, through the absence 
 of knowledge and religious influence ; the Bible rarely to be found, 
 despite the valuable exertions of the Christian Knowledge Society, 
 and in many parishes of our country it was impossible to find ten 
 persons that could read in any language." Then he adds, in a 
 note: "The publishc. of this memoir has obtained credible tes- 
 timony, that in Anglcsea there were many parishes in which there 
 were scarcely two or three persons, besides the clergyman, who 
 could read, about the year 1/40." Nay, what does Mr. Charles 
 himself say, in a letter written to a friend in London, so late as the 
 year 1808 ? " In my journeys through many parts of North Wales, 
 about twenty-three years ago, I found that the condition of the 
 poor, generally, was so low, with regard to religious instruction, that 
 there was scarcely one in twenty, in many places, who could read 
 the Scriptures ; and in some places, after special inquiry, it was 
 difficult to find even one who had been taught to read." I 
 might multiply quotations of the same kind ; but I will try your 
 patience with only one more, taken from the Memoirs, recently 
 published, of an excellent and venerable man, well known to me I 
 mean the Rev. John Davies, of Nantglyn, who died so late as June, 
 1843, at a very advanced age. In writing, some time before his 
 death, an account of the state of the country in his youth, he 
 says : " About sixty years ago, the people were sitting in pagan 
 darkness and ignorance, and all, great and small, lying in wicked- 
 ness. Few went to the churches, or anywhere else, to worship 
 God ; all parts of our country were full of every species of sports 
 on the Sabbath-days others in the taverns, drinking immoder- 
 ately, dancing and singing to the harp. Interludes were then in 
 high esteem among the people ; they were wont to travel a great 
 way to hear and see them, and they were regularly announced by 
 the parish-clerk in the churches, after the service, and the sports in 
 like manner. There were very few in a parish that could read at 
 all ; and those who could were rather high people, who had received 
 some English schooling. Occasionally a Bible might be found in a 
 great house, which was kept in a chest or box, locked up as a charm, 
 to keep the house from harm. There were many charms performed 
 with the Bible. As an instance of this, I remember an old man, a 
 neighbour of mine, who suffered greatly from asthma. Somebody 
 advised him to place a Bible under his head for three nights. His 
 will- went through the neighbourhood to search for one, and at last
 
 184 OX THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OK 
 
 found an old English Bible in a house called Plas-Newydd, Henllan. 
 She brought it home, and placed it under the old man's head ; after 
 which she declared that he slept very comfortable. Another person, 
 a large farmer, had a cow very ill on Sunday. After giving her 
 physic, it was thought the animal was dying. He immediately ran 
 into the house, procured the Bible, and read a chapter out of it to 
 the cow. Another time, the clergyman and the clerk of the parish 
 went to administer the sacrament to a farmer who was ill. The 
 clerk entered the house before the clergyman, and the farmer's wife 
 asked him, 'What have you got in that green bag, Thomas?' ' The 
 Bible and Common Prayer Book,' was the reply. ' Pray let me look 
 at the Bible !' said she. ' There it is,' said Thomas. 'Well, blessed 
 be God!' exclaimed the old woman, 'there never was one in this 
 house before, nor any occasion for it before, blessed be God!' ' 
 
 Mr. Johnes, in his " Essay on the Causes of Dissent in Wales," 
 to which I shall presently advert, after tracing the effects of Griffith 
 Jones' schools, says: "We are irresistibly led to three con- 
 clusions 
 
 " 1st. That, before the rise of Methodism in Wales, the churches 
 were as little attended by the great mass of the people as now. 
 
 " 2nd. That indifference to all religion prevailed as widely then as 
 Dissent in the present day. 
 
 " 3rd. That if the influential members of the Church had evinced 
 the same zeal for the religious education of the people as was shown 
 by . Jones and his cordjutors, the Welsh peasantry would have 
 continued to look to the Church for instruction, instead of seeking 
 it from the Methodists. But," he adds, " that a portion of the 
 clergy zealously opposed Mr. Jones, and that many of the higher 
 classes were systematically opposed to the education of the poor ; 
 while the bishops of Wa es had not even countenanced his measures." 
 
 According to a statement made by Lord Brougham, in the House 
 of Commons, in 1820, it would appear and I can easily believe it, 
 as it corresponds with the authorities I have already quoted that, 
 before 1803, the proportion of day scholars to the population in 
 Wales was 1 to 26. On this r>art of my subject, I gladly avail 
 myself of Mr. Baines's admirable statistical analysis of the Com- 
 missioners' Reports, together with the view he has given of the 
 results which these exhibit, as compared with previous returns of 
 the educational state of the Principality ; and ] take this opportu- 
 nity of conveying to him what T believe I may represent as the
 
 VOM-NT.-VHY l.nrCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 
 
 185 
 
 earnest and unanimous thanks of a whole people, for the gallant 
 manner in which he stepped forth to do battle on their behalf against 
 the Commissioners and their allies, the London papers : 
 
 NTMBERS OF DAY 8~HOLARS, AND PROPORTION TO POPULATION. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Day Scholars. 
 
 Proportion to 
 Population. 
 
 In 1803 
 
 21,369 
 
 1 to 26 
 
 1818 
 
 30,601 
 
 1 to 22 
 
 - 1833 
 
 54,810 
 
 1 to 15 
 
 1846-7 
 
 110,034 
 
 1 to 9 
 
 But this is not all. " Remarkable and even marvellous," Mr. 
 Baines remarks, " as this is, the increase in strictly religious educa- 
 tion, as indicated by the increase in Sunday-schools, is still more 
 surprising." It was in the year 1789 that the Rev. Thomas Charles 
 established the first Sunday-school in North Wales. And now mark 
 the wonderful rapidity with which these excellent institutions have 
 struck their roots, and spread their fibres through the whole extent 
 of the country. 
 
 NUMBERS OF SUNDAY SCHOLARS, AND PROPORTION TO POPULATION. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Sunday Scholars. 
 
 Proportion to 
 Population. 
 
 In 1818 
 1833 
 1846-7 
 
 24,408 
 173,171 
 238,740 
 
 1 to 28 
 1 to 4 4-5ths 
 1 to 4 
 
 How, then, has such a statement as this been dealt with by the 
 Commissioners and their abettors? They dispose of the whole 
 thing by pronouncing, with oracular air, this comprehensive dogma : 
 " That statistics are nxt to worthless in this inquiry," and " that 
 no mere statement of either the number or increase of their schools 
 can possibly prove that the Welsh are able to provide for their own 
 education." It is not a little remarkable to observe the change 
 which has come over these gentlemen's minds, as to the value of 
 figures. I remember well, when these liberal politicians and literati 
 began to awake in earnest (and let me add, at a very late hour of 
 the day, after the Dissenters had been long at work,) to a sense of 
 the importance and necessity of popular education, they abounded 
 with statistics. We had calculations and returns of all sorts poured
 
 186 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 upon us calculations as to the proportion of children to the whole 
 population as to the proportion that ought to be at school the 
 proportion that were at school the proportion that were not at 
 school the comparative proportion at school in England and other 
 European countries. If any one attempted to open his mouth, in 
 favour of past educational efforts, he was instantly deluged with 
 a shower of statistics. We were told, there was no arguing with 
 figures ; no means of refuting the severe logic of the Rule of Three. 
 But when a gentleman was found, who had vigour and dexterity of 
 arm to wrest their favourite weapon out of their own hand, and to 
 turn it against themselves, and in defence of Voluntary Education, 
 they suddenly discover that " statistics are next to worthless in this 
 inquiry." 
 
 But how does the remark apply to this Welsh controversy ? 
 Why, I suppose it is meant to be affirmed that the education 
 nominally given there is inefficient and worthless, and produces no 
 practical result on the intellectual and moral condition of the people. 
 Well, I join issue with them on that question, and am willing to 
 submit to any fair test they can themselves propose. Is the demand 
 for books and the actual amount of reading, which prevails through- 
 out a community, to be regarded as any proof that the education 
 given them has, at least, taught them effectually the use of letters ; 
 stimulated their mental activity, and generated studious tastes and 
 habits ? Well, let us apply this test to the Welsh. And first, as to 
 the circulation of Bibles among them. I hope the mention of this 
 book will not cause any of those worthy gentlemen to curl their lip. 
 A greater man than any of them is likely to be, has said, in com- 
 paring the choicest forms of heathen literature with these writings, 
 even as guides on questions of political science 
 
 " Their orators thou then extoll'st as those 
 The top of eloquence ; statists, indeed, 
 And lovers of their country, as may seem ! 
 But herein to our prophets far beneath, 
 As men divinely taught, and better teaching 
 The solid rules of civil government 
 In their majestic, unaffected style, 
 Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome. 
 In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, 
 
 What makes a nation happy and keeps it so." 
 
 
 
 Well, then, of this book, which, according to Milton, is best
 
 VOLI NTARY EDITATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 187 
 
 adapted to " make a nation happy, and keep it so," the Welsh have 
 had no sparing supply ; nay, I should, perhaps, be safe in saying, 
 a more ample supply, than any other nation under heaven. My 
 esteemed friend, the Rev. Thomas Phillips, the agent of the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society in Wales, has kindly furnished me with 
 the following information on this subject, taken from the records of 
 that noble Institution : 
 
 Bibles and Testaments circulated in Wales from the establishment 
 of that Society in 1804, to January, 1847, 740,000 copies. In 
 order to show the rate at which this work is going on now, he has 
 favoured me with the following calculations : 
 
 Population of North and South Wales at the last census, 91 1,321. 
 
 Bibles and Testaments sent there during the last three years, 
 123,748. 
 
 Proportion to the number of individuals, 1 Bible to every 7. 
 
 So that, in addition to the enormous numbers previously sent, the 
 Bible Society alone has, within the last three years, furnished a Bible 
 or Testament to every 1 in 7 of the whole population in Wales. The 
 highest average in England is 1 in &$. Mr. Symons is pleased to 
 say, in one part of his Report, that the peasantry, especially the 
 female peasantry in Cardiganshire, are grossly ignorant and illiterate. 
 Now Mr. Phillips informs me, that the highest average of Bible 
 distribution in Wales, for the last three years, is in that county ; 
 that is, in the proportion of 1 to every 3f of the entire population. 
 Now, mark, these are not all the Bibles circulated in Wales. There 
 are many issued by the Christian Knowledge Society, besides what 
 arc sold by private booksellers. In addition to which he informs 
 me, that of the Rev. Peter Williams's Bible, which is a large quarto, 
 with annotations, the price from about 20s. to 30s. a copy, there 
 have been sold, in eighty years, 40,000 copies in the principality. 
 Now, it should be remembered, that the whole of these Bibles, from 
 the Bible Society and elsewhere, were not given away, but'sold ; so 
 that this immense supply was fairly created by the demand. And, 
 I ask, what could the Welsh want with such a multitude of Bibles, 
 if they could not read ? 
 
 But it may be said, that the Bible is sought by them only out of 
 fashion or superstitious reverence, but that they cannot and do not 
 make any efforts to obtain an intelligent acquaintance with its con- 
 tents. In reply to this, I adduce the following significant fact, that 
 the Welsh have in their own language, and in eztensive use among
 
 188 OX THE 1'ROGEESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 them, translations, in whole or in part, of the following eminent 
 English commentators : Matthew Henry, Thomas Scott, Adam 
 Clarke, Samuel Clark, Dr. Gill, Dr. Coke, Guise, Burkitt, Brown of 
 Haddington, Campbell, and Barnes. In addition to these, there are 
 six or seven original commentaries on the whole Bible, some of them 
 very able and elaborate, with many more on separate books of Scrip- 
 ture. As an evidence of the extent to which they are in request, I 
 may say, that one commentary on the New Testament, which has 
 only been published a few years, has sold 8,000 copies, and a new 
 edition was issued from the press about a twelvemonth ago. Later 
 still has been the appearance of Barnes's admirable work, the de- 
 mand for which has been still greater, I may say, indeed, enor- 
 mous, if what I have heard of its circulation even approaches the 
 truth.* 
 
 But let us pass from this to take a survey of their general litera- 
 ture. Mr. Syrnons, indeed, with his characteristic modesty, autho- 
 ritatively declares, that " the Welsh have no literature worthy of the 
 name ;" and Mr. Vaughan Johnson still further improves on this 
 dictum by adding, that they have " neither language nor literature " 
 for secular knowledge. Really, in the face of such an assertion as 
 this, one is almost startled out of the profound reverence which one 
 would ever wish to cherish for so dignified and consequential a cha- 
 racter as a Government Commissioner, and tempted to ask, be the 
 literature of the Welsh what it may, what on earth can these men 
 know about it ? They have never read a single page of Welsh lite- 
 rature in their lives. The nearest approach that I can find which 
 any of them ever made even to an attempt to understand it, was by 
 the following notable device : Mr. Johnson got some person ac- 
 quainted with the Welsh language to translate, off the wrappers, the 
 contents of one or two numbers of some half a dozen of the Welsh 
 periodicals. And as a specimen of Mr. Symons's critical competency 
 on the literature of the Welsh, I will give you a very edifying anec- 
 dote, which will illustrate also several things besides his critical 
 talents. The Rev. Thomas Price, better known in Wales by his 
 literary name, Carnuanhawc, is one of the most estimable and learned 
 clergymen in the principality. In company with this gentleman, 
 Mr. Symons visited and examined a school in his parish. Having 
 
 * " We have upwards of five hundred volumes of religious works, and of 
 those, forty-two are commentaries on the Bible." Rev. W. Williams's Lecture 
 on the Welsh as a Nation.
 
 VOLUNTARY EOrCATIOX, AS KXK.M Pl.I FIED IN WALKS. I S> 
 
 asked a question which Mr. Price thought beyond the capacity of 
 such young children, and, when they failed to answer it, having 
 " commenced a lecture on their ignorance in a strain of severity which 
 he considered not only out of his province as a Commissioner, but 
 rather more harsh than the case required," Mr. Price was tempted 
 into asking Mr. Symons if he could answer that question himself. 
 The learned Commissioner blushed and blundered, but could bring 
 out no reply. So great an insult to his dignity seems, however, to 
 have sunk deep into his heart, as he takes every opportunity he can 
 possibly find in his Report to sneer at and ridicule Mr. Price. Thus 
 in one place he refers to a History of Wales, in the Welsh language, 
 published by that gentleman some years ago, and takes upon himself 
 to say, that it is written in such obscure and scholastic Welsh, as to 
 be absolutely unintelligible to all but a few scholars, and that " the 
 sale never paid the expenses of the printing." Now I know this work 
 well, and can assure you, that it is as perfectly intelligible to every 
 ordinary Welsh reader as Hume's " History of England" is to you. 
 And as to the sale, Mr. Price says, in a letter to the Times, noticing 
 this piece of spiteful impertinence, " This assertion, I am happy in 
 being able to place amongst the other untruths of which I ha\4 to 
 complain, and I have the further gratification of saying, that of the 
 2,000 copies which were printed, almost the whole were bought by 
 the labouring classes a description of people who, Mr. Symons 
 would have us believe, are scarcely able to read at all." Mr. Symons, 
 referring, in another part of his Report, to the Normal school at 
 Brecon, says, in the depreciatory and sneering spirit which pervades 
 all his remarks, that unless Government pays the teachers (for that 
 is the plain English of his meaning), that " a college for the cultiva- 
 tion of Arabic m Birmingham would scarcely be a more hopeless 
 enterprise than a Normal school in Wales." Now I venture to say, 
 that he would be quite as competent to fill the Arabic chair in this 
 imaginary college at Birmingham, as he is to pronounce a judgment 
 on the merits or demerits of Welsh literature. 
 
 What, then, is the character of the literature which the Welsh 
 possess ? It would be of no avail for me to enumerate or describe 
 to you the many able and admirable original works the productions 
 of native learning and genius of which they can boast, as you would 
 not be able, of course, to form any opinion of them. But you know 
 the worth and value of your own literature. And I find that, in 
 the department of theology, the works in whole or in part of the
 
 190 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 following eminent divines, ancient and modern, have been translated 
 into Welsh : Calvin, Baxter, Owen, Charnock, Goodwin, Bishop 
 Hall, Fisher, Brooks, Bunyan, Gurnal, Boston, Watson, Flavel, 
 Fleetwood, Poole, Brown of Haddington, Colqoun, Samuel Clarke, 
 Mason, Harvey, Doddridge, Watts, Jonathan Edwards (all his prin- 
 cipal works), Cole, Fawcett, Maclean, Keach, Burder (Eastern Cus- 
 toms), Wesley, Robert Hall, Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Dick, Abbott, Finney, 
 Angell James, Gurney and Jenkyo, together with many of the works 
 of the Christian Knowledge Society, and Religious Tract Society. 
 And yet "the Welsh have no literature worthy of the name!" 
 There may be differences of opinion, to be sure, as to what is worthy 
 of that name. Perhaps if the Welsh had in their possession Lord 
 Byron's poetry and Charles Dickens' s novels, Mr. Symons would 
 have admitted they possessed something like " a literature." But I 
 am content, before such an audience as this, to rest their claims to 
 that honourable distinction on the noble list I have just read. 
 
 Turn we now for a moment to their periodical literature, no bad 
 index to the mental activity of a people. They have, first of all, a 
 quarterly, which I dare to affirm contains articles which would not 
 dishonour the pages of your own British Quarterly or Eclectic. 
 They have about fifteen monthly magazines, with a circulation of 
 at least 60,000 a month. But this does not half represent the case. 
 By far the greater part of these circulate among the peasantry and 
 the labouring classes. Nay, more, many of the principal contri- 
 butors to them are men of that class. Mr. William Rees, a church- 
 man, and a highly respectable publisher at Llandovery, who has 
 sent forth from his press specimens of typography which would 
 reflect credit on the first houses in London, gives the following 
 evidence to Mr. Lingen on this point : " The Welsh peasantry are 
 better able to read and write in their own language than the same 
 classes in England. Among them are found many contributors to 
 Welsh periodicals. I publish a monthly periodical myself (Tr Haul}, 
 and have many contributors from this class." * Now, without 
 
 * I regret exceedingly to find that this gentleman has descended to so 
 unworthy and ungenerous an act, in order to injure his competitors in Welsh 
 Periodical Literature, as to inform Mr. Symons that, " during the progress and 
 reign of Rebecca-ism, his was the only one of the Welsh magazines that 
 openly denounced its promoters and abettors." This imputation, which was 
 first advanced against the Dissenting periodicals by the Times' Commissioner 
 (as he was called), was amply refuted at the time. I translated, myself, some 
 articles of earnest and eloquent denunciation of the Rebeccaites from the
 
 VOI.i;\TARY KPI.TATION, A> 1 \ I :MPLIFIF.B IN WAl.I.s. 191 
 
 wishing to institute any invidious comparisons, will you allow me to 
 ask, how much of the periodical literature of England finds its way 
 among the agricultural labourers of Kent and Essex ? How many 
 of the chaw-bacons of Norfolk and Suffolk are accustomed to illu- 
 minate the world through the pages of our magazines ? I wonder 
 whether my friend Dr. Campbell has any large proportion of his 
 literary staff from that quarter ? Now, mark, gentlemen. In order 
 to estimate aright the significance of this fact as to the extent of the 
 Welsh periodic and other literature, you must take into account that 
 all this provision is made for a population of not more than 600,000 
 persons at most ; for, when you subtract those parts of Wales that 
 are entirely Anglified, and those classes of the community whose 
 literary tastes are exclusively confined to the English language, and 
 who take no interest whatever in the literature of their native land, 
 I believe the number I have stated is considerably outside the mark 
 of the purely Welsh portion of society, who have to consume the 
 whole of the literary supply I have described. Now, I appeal to 
 you in the name of all common sense, if the Welsh are in such an 
 utterly uneducated and illiterate condition, as some folks would have 
 us believe, what do they want with all these books ? They are not 
 good for eating or drinking, but only for reading ; and the poor 
 Welsh have no money to spare, to lavish on commodities that are 
 utterly unnecessary and worthless to them. 
 
 But what effect has the education of the Welsh had on their 
 moral and religious character ? It is difficult to know what order of 
 facts would suffice to satisfy the sceptical and sarcastic gentlemen 
 with whom we have to deal. What will they say to such a fact as 
 this, that, within the last fifty years, the Welsh have built, or 
 rebuilt, for themselves, 2,000 chapels, for which an excellent judge 
 computes them to have already paid at least eight hundred thousand 
 pounds ? Surely, in whatever contempt Dissenting conventicles may 
 be held, the people who did this could not have been sunk in the 
 " depths of ignorance, and in the slough of sensuality !" What will 
 they say to this other fact, that, in about sixty years, the Welsh 
 have, by their spontaneous energy, without help or sympathy, but 
 the reverse of both, from Government or gentry, covered the entire 
 face of their country with an array of 2,514 Sunday-schools, with its 
 
 Diwygitcir, edited by the Rev. David Rees, Llanelly, which were published, at 
 the time, in the Patriot. I am afraid Mr. Rees must have known that he fras 
 reviving a slander which had been abundantly and notoriously disproved.
 
 192 ON THE PROGRESS ANU KFKICACV OK 
 
 noble band of 33,662 voluntary and gratuitous teachers, and 238,7-10 
 scholars ? Would they ascertain the influence of this system, in 
 exciting and cherishing the benevolent sympathies of the people on 
 behalf of others, let them attend to this third fact, furnished to rne 
 by my friend, the Rev. Thomas Phillips, to whom I was indebted 
 for the return of Bibles circulated in Wales : Free contributions sent 
 from Wales to the Bible Society, in the last three years, in addi- 
 tion to paying for the large numbers they required themselves, 
 10,062/. 13s. 2d. ; proportion to the number of inhabitants, 2^d. to 
 every man, woman, and child throughout the country. Free contri- 
 butions from England during the same period, 81,645/. 10s. lid.; 
 proportion to the number of inhabitants, I^d., just one-half of what 
 the Welsh have contributed. In England, the highest average of 
 free contribution to this noble society has been in Rutlandshire, 
 which was 4^d. to each person. In Wales, the highest average has 
 been in the Isle of Anglesea, which was ll^d. to each person. And 
 yet, this is the country " that is fast sinking into barbarism !" 
 
 Shall we look more minutely still for evidence of the character of 
 the people ? Be it so. Whither, then, shall we turn ? I will not 
 summon Dissenting witnesses they may be supposed partial. A 
 few years ago, there was published a prize essay, on the Cause of 
 Dissent in Wales, by Arthur James Johnes, Esq. This gentleman 
 is a churchman ; and the whole purport of the essay is to deplore, 
 in the bitterest terms, the prevalence of Dissent, and to suggest 
 means for the recovery of the people into the bosom of the Church. 
 It is, however, written with eminent ability, and in what may be 
 called a somewhat candid spirit, for a churchman. This gentleman, 
 speaking of the absurd reasons which some assigned as causes of 
 Dissent in Wales, remarks : " Nothing, for instance, can be more 
 unsatisfactory, than to rank ignorance and individual eccentricity as 
 in themselves causes of Dissent in Wales ;" for the fact is, he adds, 
 that "Dissent has advanced with knowledge, and not with igno- 
 rance." 
 
 Shall we take the evidence of a clergyman ? Take the following 
 from an essay on the Character of the Welsh as a Nation, by the 
 Rev. W. Jones, of Nevin, who, before he was ecclesiastically 
 enlightened, was a Baptist minister, but who had then been received 
 into the bosom of the Apostolical Church. This gentleman, let me 
 add, has, since the publication of this work, been doing the amende 
 honorable to his clerical brethren for the too glowing eulogies he
 
 Yi.rVr\KY KM CAT!u.N, AS KXl.M I'M ! 1 LI > IN WALES. 193 
 
 had passed on the influence of Methodism and Dissent, by coining 
 forward very copiously in these Reports as the defamer of his country. 
 But before he had been smitten with that influence, this was the 
 style in which he spoke of the people j " In an important sense, 
 and to a very great extent, the Welsh are a religious people. Reli- 
 gion has been so far disseminated in all parts of the Principality as 
 to give the Bible an universal reception. The people at large are 
 able to read the Scriptures. True, there are exceptions, but those 
 are limited to children under ten years of age, and to old people 
 above seventy. One of the loveliest features of the moral condition 
 of the Principality is seen in the careful manner in which the sabbath 
 is observed. It may be doubted whether the seventh day is so 
 scrupulously observed in any land on earth. It is just that I should 
 say, that this arises, in a great measure, from the labours of the 
 Welsh Methodists, and on account of the dissemination of their 
 principles among the great mass of the people. The same views 
 are entertained by other denominations, and they order the members 
 belonging to them to observe the Lord's-day in a similar manner. 
 The Welsh may claim a character for being honest. That much 
 deception is practised by the most depraved part of the people, is a 
 fact not to be denied ; but the wicked acts of a small number must 
 not be held as forming the character of the whole nation, whilst the 
 majority of the people lead a life of virtue." 
 
 Shall we take the evidence of a layman ? The following are 
 the words of Dr. Owen Roberts, of Bangor, who, I believe, is not, 
 professedly at least, a Dissenter : 
 
 "As to religious education, if by that hackneyed phrase be 
 meant a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and an acquaintance with 
 the practical Christian duties inculcated in the New Testament, 
 I will, without scruple or hesitation, assert, that there can hardly be 
 met with in North Wales a child, who is ten or twelve years of age, 
 and whose parents are members of either of the Dissenting denomi- 
 nations, who will not be found as fully well informed, if not better, 
 than four-fifths of the clergy of the Established Church ; except, 
 perhaps, those who were originally educated for the ministry among 
 the Dissenters. The advance made in Scriptural knowledge, which 
 in so peculiar a manner distinguishes Wales, has been effected in 
 spite of all the efforts, covertly and openly, made by the clergy of the 
 Established Church, to check its progress, and to crush those indi- 
 viduals who have favoured so truly benevolent an object."
 
 194 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OK 
 
 Would the opinion of an intelligent English gentleman residing 
 among them be satisfactory ? Here are the words of T. W. Booker, 
 Esq., the present High Sheriff of Glamorgan, respecting what the 
 Commissioners describe as the worst part of the Welsh population. 
 In answer to Mr. Lingen's questions, he says : " A residence of thirty 
 years in Glamorganshire has made me acquainted with the condition 
 of the mining and manufacturing population of a great part of the 
 county. Their domestic accommodation of late years is greatly 
 improved, and each succeeding year improving. Habits of sobriety 
 are, on the whole, well cultivated. Habits of providence and 
 economy are, in my opinion, as well observed by the population of 
 Glamorganshire as by that of any part of the United Kingdom. 
 Their religious feelings and observances are very marked in this 
 Welsh county : witness the almost universal orderly observance of 
 the sabbath the large attendances at weekly prayer, and other 
 meetings the careful maintenance of the churches and chapels 
 and the sacred reverence for the churchyards and depositories of the 
 dead. Their care for their children, and sense of parental respon- 
 sibility, are exemplary in the extreme ; particularly so in comparison 
 with other mining and manufacturing districts. When kindness 
 and protection are manifested and extended by their employers and 
 superiors, respect, with unreserved confidence and attachment, are 
 returned. Their moral and mental condition is still improving, as 
 evidenced by the banishment and absence of political discontent 
 the increased indulgence in domestic comforts the growing neatness 
 and smartness of dress and furniture the avidity to give educa- 
 tion and schooling to their children and generally, wherever oppor- 
 tunity is afforded by local institutions, or influential encouragement, 
 to make provision for a reverse of times and for old age. The women 
 are kindly, tenderly, and respectfully regarded. Their "character" 
 is chaste but confiding, honest and industrious. Their influence is 
 great, and on great emergencies powerfully exerted. The duties of 
 wife and mother are naturally and well understood, and fulfilled." 
 
 Would you prefer the testimony of a foreigner? you can have it. 
 Dr. Carl Meyer, a learned German, who has resided lately for some 
 time in Wales, and has travelled throughout the country, gives the 
 following important testimony: "To speak against Dissenters is 
 quite anti-national ; and he who does so should not be considered a 
 patriot not only because the Dissenters constitute by far the great 
 majority in Wales, but because they are the most respectable and
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 195 
 
 esteemed portion of the community, on account of their character 
 and strict discipline, and their honest and straightforward dealings. 
 Should Dissent become extinct in Wales, the chief ornament of the 
 nation would be lost at once." 
 
 Would official testimony be more satisfactory to you ? we can 
 furnish that. The criminal returns show, that in 184.5, whilst the 
 commitments in England were as one to every 635 of the population, 
 in Wales they are but one in 1,311. Even the Commissioners of 
 Inquiry that were sent down to investigate the causes of the Rebecca 
 riots, hi 1843, observe in their Report, that "the average amount of 
 crime in the greater part of South Wales is so small, that a large 
 proportion of the magistrate's duties is of a ministerial rather than 
 a judicial nature." 
 
 In the " Cambrian Quarterly Magazine," vol. ii., p. 52, we have 
 an extract of the evidence of J. Wyatt, Esq., the then Attorney- 
 General for a part of North Wales, before the Law Commissioners. 
 It refers to three counties in which Welsh is spoken exclusively, and 
 which are proverbial for their Dissent: "The great body of the 
 people speak the Welsh language, and their habits and manners are 
 but little changed. They are quiet, religious, and loyal people ; 
 their ancient simplicity and habits of respect to their superiors 
 remain unaltered ; and the crimes which disgrace and terrify Eng- 
 land, and which her boasted judicature is unable to suppress, are 
 little heard of. Capital punishments are rarely inflicted ; and these 
 three counties boast with pride, that for the last forty years only two 
 executions have taken place in Merioneth, two in Caernarvonshire, 
 and none has taken place in Anglesea." 
 
 I believe that every Englishman who visits Wales is struck with 
 the peaceful, decent, industrious character of the people, their social 
 order, and respectful demeanour to strangers. Notwithstanding all 
 that is said in these Reports, " honest Welshman" is a proverbial 
 expression, which has not yet lost its force, wherever the people are 
 known. The following lines by Thomas Churchyard, an old poet of 
 the age of Queen Elizabeth, describing the inhabitants of Wales in 
 his time, is, I believe, still fully applicable to them ; while, since that 
 period, many higher qualities of character have been added to those 
 which he celebrates : 
 
 " They will not strive to roist, and take the way 
 Of any man that travailes through the land; 
 A greater thing of Wales now will I say ; 
 You may come there, beare purse of gold in hand, 
 o 2
 
 196 ON THK PROGRESS ANT) KFFIOAOY OK 
 
 Or mighty bagges of silver stuffed throve, 
 
 And no one man dare touch your treasure now ; 
 
 Which shewes some grace doth rule and guyde them there, 
 
 That doth to God and man such conscience beare." 
 
 Such, ladies and gentlemen, is the evidence by which I illustrate 
 " the progress and efficiency of Voluntary Education in Wales." 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to furnish you with the means of judg- 
 ing what Voluntary Education has done for Wales, I turn now to 
 compare this representation with that given by the Commissioners 
 in their recently published Reports. And what is the character of 
 their representation ? Taking all the evidence of facts and figures 
 contained in these Blue Books, it would be extremely difficult, from 
 the confused and contradictory statements with which they abound, 
 to elicit from them any consistent or uniform result at all. But 
 there can be no mistake as to the general impression which the 
 Commissioners themselves are anxious to convey, as to the state of 
 the country. That impression is, in the highest degree, unfavour- 
 able. It is scarcely too much to say, that any one reposing plenary 
 faith in the competency and fidelity of these gentlemen, and forming 
 his judgment under their guidance alone, can hardly fail to come to 
 the conclusion, that there is not a more ignorant, depraved, idle, 
 superstitious, drunken, debauched, lewd, and lying population on 
 the face of the earth than are the Welsh. That this is not too 
 strong a representation, will appear from the impression which they 
 have actually produced on the minds of Englishmen, who have no 
 other means of information than that which these Reports supply. 
 The Morning Chronicle, for instance, gathers from them the conclu- 
 sion, that " Wales is fast settling down into the most savage bar- 
 barism." The Daily News, also, whose words I have not this 
 moment at hand, strains language to the utmost, to express the 
 total degradation, moral and social, in which the Principality is 
 wallowing. The Editor of the Examiner infers, from the same 
 evidence, that the Welsh " are sunk in the depths of ignorance, and 
 in the slough of sensuality ;" and, that " their habits are those of 
 animals, and will not bear description." Is this, then, true? If the 
 experience of eighteen hundred years, as to the effect which the 
 faithful and earnest preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will 
 produce on the moral character of a community is not to be sud- 
 denly belied and reversed, it is not true. If innumerable testimo- 
 nies from men of all grade, condition, creed, and character, Whigs 
 and Tories, Churchmen and Dissenters, rich and poor, Englishmen
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 197 
 
 and Welshmen, which are rising spontaneously from all parts of the 
 Principality, to contradict these Reports, are to have any weight, 
 it is not true. If resolutions passed at crowded public meetings, 
 convened in all the neighbourhoods, more specially and conspicuously 
 branded by the Commissioners and their witnesses, to protest against 
 and deny, line by line, and statement by statement, the charges 
 contained in the evidence, and to dare and challenge their slanderers 
 to the proof, are to be counted of any significance, it is not true. 
 If the universal cry of stern indignation, which has been wrung 
 from the heart of a people of simple feelings and secluded habits, 
 and utterly unused to all political excitement, but stung beyond all 
 patience by a sense of intolerable insult and wrong, a cry which is 
 waxing louder and fiercer every day, and multiplying its echoes, like 
 reverberations of thunder among the mountains and along the valleys 
 of Wales, if this unanimous and protesting cry of a whole nation is 
 entitled to any attention, it is not true. If the testimony of an 
 individual so humble as myself, but not without means of forming a 
 judgment at least equal to those possessed by these Commissioners, 
 born and educated in the heart of Wales, intimately conversant with 
 the character, habits, language, literature, and religious ministrations 
 of the people, were of any importance to be added to this cloud of 
 witnesses, I scruple not to give it, and to say it is not true, but 
 grossly, foully, scandalously false. How, then, comes it to pass 
 that the Reports of these Commissioners, appointed expressly for 
 the purpose of securing accurate information, and who prosecuted 
 their labours with no small parade of impartiality, are of a nature 
 so untrue and unfair ? It will be my business now to explain how 
 this happened, by exposing the principles upon which, and the 
 process by which, these huge documents have been compiled. And 
 if I do not convince every unprejudiced mind, before I have done, 
 that they are utterly untrustworthy as a full, fair, and satisfactory 
 delineation of the national character and the state of society in 
 Wales, I shall be content to receive from your lips a verdict of 
 Guilty, against my country. 
 
 Let me, however, at the outset, guard myself against misconstruc- 
 tion. I stand not here as the apologist of anything evil in Wales. 
 I stand not here to assert its immaculacy, nor to pass extravagant 
 eulogies on either its intelligence or virtue. I admit freely that, 
 notwithstanding all that has been done and is doing, education in 
 Wales, as in England, is still in a most imperfect condition. I 
 admit that there is in Wales, as there is unhappily in every country
 
 198 ON THE PBOGKESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 in the world, a large amount both of ignorance and immorality. 
 I will even admit, that the kind of microscopic inspection which the 
 country has undergone, by the labours of these Commissioners, has 
 brought to light considerably more of both, than the more sanguine 
 and hopeful of us had imagined to exist. I will admit further, that 
 there are among the Welsh certain habits and practices of the most 
 painful and reprehensible sort, which their Christianity has but 
 partially corrected, and which reflect deep dishonour on the national 
 character. I have not scrupled, frequently in the presence of my 
 countrymen, to lift up my voice against those evils in tones of most 
 emphatic and unmistakeable reprobation. And if I do not expatiate 
 upon these to-night, it is because I feel (and I am sure I shall carry 
 the sympathies of every generous Englishman with me in the feel- 
 ing,) that the proper time to display your magnanimity and moral 
 courage, in exposing the frailties and imperfections of a friend, is 
 not when that friend is standing arraigned at a public tribunal, on 
 a criminal charge, before partial and prejudiced judges, and on the 
 evidence of his most determined and rancorous enemies, who eagerly 
 seize the hour of his trial "to feed fat the grudge" which they 
 have long cherished against him. I do not admire, and will not 
 imitate, the chivalrous candour which would deem that a fitting 
 opportunity to hold up to the public gaze the blemishes and defects 
 of my Fatherland. I will, however, attempt to deny no charge 
 that can be fairly made and sustained ; but when the most ample 
 concessions have been made with regard to the social evils we have 
 still to deplore in the Principality, I do not hesitate to affirm, that 
 these Reports present even those evils in a most exaggerated form, 
 while almost all the good, which might serve to relieve and modify 
 these dark colours, is habitually, studiously, and systematically kept 
 back. 
 
 But I return to the task which I have set myself, of explaining to 
 you in what manner these Reports have been concocted. I say, 
 then, in the first place, that the Commission itself was originally 
 constituted on a principle utterly at variance with all justice and 
 fair dealing that the men selected were entirely and in almost 
 every respect lacking in the qualifications necessary to discharge the 
 task in a manner impartial and satisfactory to the public mind that 
 the mode they adopted of prosecuting their inquiries, both in what 
 they did and what they omitted to do, was such as thoroughly to 
 disentitle the fruit of their labours to credit or confidence, and that 
 much of the evidence which they have actually collected in these
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED JN WALKS. iy9 
 
 books, derived, as it is, from men who were either most imperfectly 
 acquainted with the real state of the people, or violently prejudiced 
 against them, is not to be relied upon, as a mere statement and 
 collation of facts. 
 
 I hold, then, that the gentlemen selected as Commissioners, what- 
 ever may be their personal accomplishments and virtues, against 
 which I have not a word to say, were in almost all respects perfectly 
 incompetent for the task they undertook ; and, in the first place, 
 mark, they knew not one word of the language ! Whether it be 
 their misfortune, as the Commissioners loudly assert, or their hap- 
 piness, as others believe, the fact remains the same, that the great 
 bulk of the inhabitants of the Principality speak and think in Welsh. 
 And would it not strike any one as a practical absurdity, too glaring 
 to be for a moment entertained, that when an inquiry had to be 
 instituted into the education of a whole people into their mental 
 and moral training the men to be chosen for this work should be 
 those who had no acquaintance with the organ through which the 
 mind of that people could alone reveal and express itself, and no 
 direct medium of communication whatever between the inquirer and 
 the objects of his inquiry ? What greatly aggravates the absurdity 
 in this case, is the fact, that these adventurous gentlemen, instead 
 of restricting themselves to their proper duty as inspectors of schools, 
 aspire to give a complete estimate of the national character, and of 
 the whole system of society to pass a judgment on the domestic 
 habits, the religious institutions, and the literature of the country, 
 together with the influence and operation of all these on its social 
 character, and the development of its civilization ; and all this 
 without knowing a syllable of the language. Could so radical 
 a disqualification be supplied by the aid of assistants and inter- 
 preters ? Mr. Symons, in one place, speaking of the anomaly of 
 administering justice in English to a people who do not under- 
 stand the language, makes this strong remark " The mockery of an 
 English trial of a Welsh criminal, by a Welsh Judge, in English, is 
 too gross and shocking to need comment" Now, did it never occur 
 to him, that to bring a whole nation to trial, under circumstances 
 yet more unfair and disadvantageous, had in it at least something 
 equally " gross and shocking ?" The fact is, that such an appoint- 
 ment, after the Ministers had been expressly admonished against it, 
 was an experimentum in corpore vili, an ungenerous presumption on 
 the helplessness of their victims, which I believe they would not 
 have dared to inflict had they not thought that the poor Welsh were
 
 200 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 an obscure, defenceless, and unfriended people, on whom they could 
 practise any injustice with impunity, because there was no one to 
 stand up in vindication of their rights. 
 
 But this is not all : not only were the Welsh to these gentlemen 
 foreigners in speech, but they were also, to them, schismatics in 
 religion. It is now too notorious a fact, resting on indubitable 
 statistical returns, to need being insisted upon here, that the great 
 bulk of the Welsh people are Dissenters, both in fact and feeling. 
 By a return, carefully and elaborately made last year, it was proved 
 that the Dissenters, compared with Churchmen, are as eight to one. 
 But this is not all. In the essay "On the Causes of Dissent in 
 Wales," Mr. Johnes remarks: "The mere number of Dissenting 
 chapels (enormous as it is), furnishes but an inadequate idea of the 
 popular feeling towards the Establishment. In many districts the 
 churches have hardly any congregations whatever ; many of those 
 who frequent the church go quite as constantly to chapel ; and it is 
 a very common remark, that when the clergyman is beloved, it is 
 generally rather as a benevolent layman than as a clergyman ; and 
 that even then the people chiefly confide in the Dissenting ministers 
 for guidance and consolation." Such being the case, who does not 
 perceive, that an inquiry into the state of education in Wales, eon- 
 ducted in the comprehensive form which these gentlemen chose to 
 adopt, would, to a great extent, resolve itself practically, and in 
 effect, into a trial of the influence of Dissent ? And was it a small 
 matter in these circumstances, that all the men who were to conduct 
 this inquiry should be Churchmen in all their feelings, and habits, 
 and prejudices ? It is not necessary in order to demonstrate the 
 obvious unfairness of appointing Church Commissioners to inspect a 
 nation of Dissenters to assume that the gentlemen in question 
 were blind and violent bigots. But it would assuredly be paying 
 them a poor compliment to suppose that they were so utterly indif- 
 ferent to the Church in whose bosom they had been brought up, 
 and by whose spiritual ministrations their religious characters had 
 been formed, as to have no fond filial partialities towards their eccle- 
 siastical mother, and no lurking jealousies or grudges towards those 
 who they saw had supplanted her in the affections of a whole people. 
 Can you conceive it possible, without imputing to them a state of 
 feeling which I should be very sorry to charge them with, that this 
 circumstance would not, consciously or unconsciously, influence their 
 judgment, and cast its own hue over the whole sphere of their vision ?
 
 YOUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 201 
 
 And, in point of fact, innumerable evidences of this continually ooze 
 out over the entire surface of these huge volumes. 
 
 But, even apart from these sectarian prepossessions, I suspect that 
 these gentlemen (or at least some of them) laboured under a still 
 more serious disqualification for doing justice to such a people as the 
 Welsh I mean a total want of sympathy with their religious views, 
 sentiments, and feelings, and the modes of thought, habits of cha- 
 racter, and forms of worship and action to which they give rise. It 
 is a principle which I believe all men of any reflection will admit to 
 be both true and important, that before we can understand aright 
 an individual or a community, we must bring our own mind into 
 some degree of sympathy with theirs. Now, the Welsh are pre- 
 eminently a religious people. The Bible is their text-book and study. 
 Theology is their science. The ministry of the Gospel is the great 
 spring of their mental and spiritual activities. The discussion of 
 religious truth, and the exercises of religious worship, constitute the 
 chief impulses and excitements of their intellectual and moral nature. 
 All this, combined with their national idiosyncracies, have conspired 
 to form a peculiar type of character, which, I will venture to say, 
 these gentlemen, from their own widely-different education and 
 habits of thought, were singularly ill-fitted to comprehend or appre- 
 ciate. I appeal to you as Evangelical Protestant Dissenters, whether 
 you would consider every educated and well-informed man of the 
 world, competent to estimate your religious system of thought and 
 action, or whether you would be content to abide by his judgment ? 
 Why ! do we not here in England, with the advantage of a common 
 language and frequent intercourse, find it impossible to make states- 
 men and politicians, and even the leaders of the so-called Liberal 
 Press, understand our principles ? Are they not constantly falling 
 into the most ludicrous blunders, as well as the grossest miscon- 
 structions of our feelings and aims, in their attempts to interpret 
 and apply our sentiments ? Now, the Commissioners who were sent 
 down to Wales were men of this class young Whig barristers, who 
 accepted this job, no doubt, as a hopeful step to further official 
 employment and promotion.* But were these the men qualified for 
 so delicate a task, as to investigate and pronounce judgment upon 
 the religious character and institutions of a community of Evan- 
 gelical Christians ? I have no particular grudge against gentlemen 
 
 * Two of them, Mr. Syraons and Mr. Lingen, have already obtained their 
 reward ; the former having been appointed " Inspector of Schools."
 
 202 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 of the law. It is my happiness to number among my friends some 
 members of that profession, who are as much distinguished by their 
 piety as their intelligence. But I would put it even to them, 
 whether they would regard the sort of education which these young 
 gentlemen passed through at Lincoln' s-inn, as likely, in any eminent 
 degree, to prepare them for such an occupation ? Would the Sun- 
 day-school Teachers, that are present here to-night, like to see such 
 men intrude into their classes ? Would our ministers be content to 
 submit their public teaching, their devotional exercises, their church 
 arrangements, to the critical discernment of such arbiters as these ? 
 As they stood by, with pencil and note-book in hand, and, perhaps, 
 a scarcely-suppressed sneer on their lip, to pry into our most sacred 
 and spiritual services, would we not be disposed to exclaim, with 
 Wordsworth, on another occasion, 
 
 " Art thou a lawyer ? Draw not nigh ; 
 
 Go, carry to some litter place 
 The keenness of that practised eye 
 The hardness of that sallow face." 
 
 Now, the practical result of this utter want of sympathy with the 
 religious system of the people, is everywhere painfully apparent in 
 these Reports. There is a constant depreciation of the value of the 
 scriptural and religious knowledge gained in the Sunday schools, and 
 an elaborate eulogy upon the incomparably superior worth and im- 
 portance of secular knowledge. There is a continuous running sneer 
 at the interest which the people feel, and the great vigour and dex- 
 terity of mind which it is admitted they display on questions of 
 doctrinal theology. The information illustrative of Scripture, which 
 they derive from such commentaries as those of Thomas Scott, and 
 Matthew Henry, and Adam Clarke, is contemptuously described as 
 " the Rabbinical sort of learning, and exalted doctrine, which suits 
 the popular taste." The language of their devotional poetry, which 
 is as familiarly in use with us as with them, is characterised as " a 
 singular piece of religious jargon." Forms of speech, technical if 
 you please, but in constant and current use in all evangelical circles, 
 such as a "call to the ministry," a "gift in prayer," are sarcasti- 
 cally italicised, as evidently strange cant phrases in the estimation of 
 the Commissioners. Revivals and Rebecca riots are placed in the 
 same category, and their origin explained on precisely the same 
 principles. Need we wonder, then, that the religious community in 
 Wales of every denomination have protested, as with the heart of one 
 man, against being judged on the evidence which has been collected,
 
 VOLUNTARY EDCCATIoN, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 203 
 
 and the opinions which have been pronounced by such men as 
 these ? 
 
 But there was still another circumstance which increased the 
 a-priori probability that the labours and results of Voluntary educa- 
 tion in Wales would not be fairly and impartially represented by 
 these gentlemen. They began their work under the influence of " a 
 foregone conclusion." They were sent, and they fully understood 
 this implied purport of their mission, to make out a case in favour 
 of Government aid and interference. The disciples of the transcen- 
 dental philosophy maintain that the human mind, in its intercourse 
 with external nature, projects so much of the forms of its own con- 
 sciousness upon the things it sees without, that it may be said to 
 half-create the objects it beholds 
 
 " We receive but what we give, 
 
 And in our life alone does nature live." 
 
 And so I am very certain that these gentlemen brought along with 
 them, in minds prejudiced and predisposed, much of what they saw 
 in Wales. The vigilant eye of Mr. Baines instantly detected this. 
 It has, I believe, been denied by Mr. Symons, but his declaimer, of 
 all men, on this point, will receive little credence. His report, more 
 than any of the others, abounds with indications of his extreme and 
 nervous eagerness to prove the utter powerlessness of the Welsh to 
 educate themselves. The following is an extract from a letter I have 
 recently received from a friend in Wales, which will serve to illus- 
 trate the way in which Mr. Symons collected his materials on this 
 subject : " Mr. S., in quoting the evidence of five gentlemen at 
 Tregaron, to support his conclusion that the Welsh are generally 
 favourable to receive Government aid, employs this expression 
 ' They voluntarily made and signed the following statement.' Now, 
 is not this meant to convey to the reader, that, having discussed the 
 subject, they unanimously came to the same opinion, and then 
 expressed it in the words they considered most applicable to their 
 views ? If so, then it is a mistake. The affair was managed as 
 follows : After conversing on the subject in his presence, Mr. 
 Symons, constituting himself their chairman and secretary, expressed 
 their views in his own style, and they afterwards signed it I cannot 
 say with certainty that they all fully understood what they signed, 
 owing to their imperfect acquaintance with the English language." 
 In the prominent and emphatic manner in which this question was 
 brought forward on all occasions, in the careful avoidance of those
 
 204 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 men and their evidence, who were known to be declared and deter- 
 mined opponents of Government Education in the extreme avidity 
 with which sentences or fragments of sentences, favourable to that 
 opinion, are seized and brought forward into ostentatious prominence 
 by means of italics in the constant insinuation, in the strongest 
 language, of his own personal conviction on the matter, there are such 
 ample proofs that Mr. Symons was ever desiring to make out such 
 a case, that one cannot but be surprised at the cool audacity which 
 could have ventured on the denial. And this secret purpose would, 
 of course, lead the Commissioners to take and to give the darkest 
 possible view of the character of the schools, the qualifications of 
 teachers, the attainments of the children, and the whole apparatus 
 of Voluntary education throughout the Principality. 
 
 I have thus shown, I think, pretty clearly, that the men selected 
 to constitute this Commission were not such, in qualification or 
 character, as were adapted to inspire beforehand much confidence 
 in their labours. 
 
 I now proceed to examine whether their mode of conducting their 
 inquiries was such as to remove the dissatisfaction and jealousy with 
 which the original constitution of the Commission was justly 
 regarded. 
 
 I have already given you the proportion of Dissenters and 
 Churchmen in Wales. Well, the first thing which these gentlemen 
 did on their arrival in the Principality, was to wait upon the bishops 
 to consult them " in the difficult task of selecting suitable assistants." 
 A difficult and a delicate task it unquestionably was ; but were there 
 none deserving to be consulted on this subject but the bishops of a 
 church, which is in a minority of one to eight of the inhabitants of 
 the country? The Right Rev. Fathers recommended, as was very 
 natural, that they should seek their assistants among the young 
 clerical students in the Church College of St. David's, at Lampeter. 
 This arrangement was accordingly adopted, and out of ten or twelve 
 persons employed as assistants and interpreters during the whole 
 investigation, only two were Dissenters, the rest being Churchmen, 
 mostly these half-fledged young clerics from Lampeter. The next 
 question we have to ask is, From what sources did these gentlemen 
 seek their information ? To say that, from the predominance of 
 Dissent, we might have justly expected Dissenting ministers would 
 at least have been equally consulted in the collection of evidence, is 
 only to state half the case. Not only were they entitled to this by
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 205 
 
 reason of their superior numbers, but they were, beyond all com- 
 parison, the most competent to testify to the state of the country. 
 They are the pastors of the people, who mingle with them in all 
 their relations, who understand their character, enjoy their con- 
 fidence, preside over their religious institutions, and are themselves 
 the most active and important agents in their moral and spiritual 
 education. The clergymen of the Church of England, for the most 
 part, live aloof from the people ; some of them caring little for 
 aught but the emoluments which they reap from them, and others 
 regarding them with sullen and rancorous bitterness, on account of 
 the preference they give to the unauthorized teachers of Dissent over 
 their own canonical and apostolic ministrations. In these circum- 
 stances, then, how were the opportunities of giving evidence appor- 
 tioned ? In the following way. There were examined 
 
 Clergymen . . . .159 
 
 Lay Churchmen . . .73 
 
 232 
 
 Dissenting Ministers . . 34 
 
 Lay Dissenters . . .45 
 
 giving a majority of 153 Churchmen over Dissenters. 
 
 But as we trace the working of this system in particular districts, 
 its gross injustice becomes still more flagrantly apparent. " In the 
 hundreds of Dewisland," says a writer in the Principality News- 
 paper, " Keness and Kilgerran, in the county of Pembroke, in which 
 the Dissenters are as nine to one of the population, as the Report 
 itself will prove, we find out of 54 who give their evidence, 38 are 
 clergymen of the Church of England, and not one Dissenting minister! 
 Yet there are living in the above district a large number of re- 
 spectable and influential ministers connected with the Independents, 
 Baptists, and Calvinistic Methodists." Indeed, nothing strikes a 
 person acquainted with the Principality so strongly, in looking into 
 these Reports, as the absence of almost all the most conspicuous 
 men connected with Welsh Dissent. Where, I may ask, (as has 
 been asked by hundreds of Welshmen besides,) where is the evi- 
 dence (to confine, my self only to South Wales) of Mr. Richards, of 
 Fishguard ; of Mr. Rees, Llanelly ; of Mr. Thomas, Pontypool ; of 
 Lewis and Lloyd, of Henllan ; of Griffiths, St. David's ; of Evans, 
 Penygroes ; Stephenson, Nantyglo ; and many others, whose names are 
 throughout Wales " familiar in men's mouths as household words ?"
 
 20(5 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 Now, gentlemen, let me ask you to conceive that a commission 
 similar to this had been sent out in England, the practical result of 
 which, whatever might be its ostensible design, would be to bring 
 to trial the influence and operations of Dissent. What would you 
 say if, in looking over the reports of such a Commission, you missed 
 the names of such men as Mr. James, of Birmingham ; Mr. Jay, of 
 Bath ; Dr. Raffles and Mr. Kelly, of Liverpool ; Dr. Hamilton, of 
 Leeds ; Dr. Campbell, Dr. Morison, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Binney, 
 of London, and indeed almost all the best known and most trusted 
 men amongst you ? while you found given, in extenso, the evidence 
 and opinions respecting the influence of English Dissent on the 
 intelligence and morality of the people, of the Rev. Michael Augustus 
 Gathercole, and the editor of the John Bull newspaper ? I do assure 
 you, most solemnly, that this is a precisely parallel case to what has 
 been done towards Wales in these Reports." 
 
 But this is not all. Not only did these gentlemen ignorantly or 
 wilfully omit to consult the best informed and most competent 
 authorities, but they did far worse. Now, observe, I am not going 
 to mince the matter ; I have taken care to get firm ground beneath 
 my feet before I stood here. I do distinctly and deliberately charge 
 these gentlemen with having dishonestly garbled or suppressed, not 
 once or twice, but in many instances, evidence given to them by 
 some of the most respectable and intelligent men in Wales, but 
 which evidence was almost uniformly in favour of the people. I 
 will not refer to the numerous indignant complaints which constantly 
 appear in the Welsh papers from persons whose evidence is con- 
 tained in the Reports, against the mutilated form in which it is given, 
 and against the manner in which the Commissioners have made a 
 general application to the entire population of certain strong expres- 
 sions employed only in regard to a small and most depraved class of 
 the population; I go on authority of the most direct and undoubted 
 kind, when I affirm that the following gentlemen furnished valuable 
 and copious information to the Commissioners, every line of which 
 has been suppressed : The Rev. Lewis Edwards, President of the 
 Calvinistic Methodist College, at Bala ; the Rev. John Phillips, 
 Bangor, Agent for the British and Foreign School Society in Wales ; 
 Dr. Owen Roberts, Bangor, a respectable lay gentleman, who has 
 interested himself long and deeply in the social and educational con- 
 dition of his country ; Rev. Edward Davies, of Haverfordwest, who, 
 in a letter I received from him this week, says, " I gave evidence
 
 VOLUNTARY EDI'CATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 207 
 
 myself to Mr. Lingen, which covered nearly two pages of his folio 
 note-book, and of which there is not a word in the Report ; simply 
 because, I suppose, it tallied not with the grand purpose of making 
 out a case for Government aid ;" the Rev. Thomas Thomas, Prin- 
 cipal of the Baptist College, at Pontypool ; the Rev. Evan Jones, 
 of Tredegar ; the Rev. Mr. Bright, of Newport.* There are some 
 
 * Mr. Symons, in a letter addressed to the Rev. H. Griffiths, Brecon, and 
 which, at his own request, was published in the British Banner of March 22nd, 
 seems to deny this charge. I feel bound, therefore, to produce the following 
 facts relating to his district. The Rev. D. R. Stephen has repeatedly made 
 this statement at public meetings held on the subject of the Reports, both in 
 England and Wales : " The Rev. T. Price, Cwmdu," the respectable clergy- 
 man already referred to, " had a long conversation with Mr. Symons, and of the 
 whole conversation the latter reports only a single phrase, which Mr. Price says 
 no clergyman could have uttered in such a connection as that in which it is 
 given, and which those present at the time, say he never uttered at all. This 
 I have from Mr. Price himself." The following is an extract from a letter 
 which I received, in reply to Mr. Symon's assertion in the Banner, from the 
 Rev. T. Thomas, Principal of the Baptist College at Pontypool: 
 
 " Mv DEAR SIB, I am sorry I cannot very distinctly remember all that 
 passed between Mr. Commissioner Symons and myself, when, about twelve 
 months ago, he honoured me with a call. I, however, recollect enough of the 
 substance of about an hour's earnest conversation to assure you, that I expressed 
 strong views and opinions relative to the state and prospects of the Welsh popu- 
 lation in these parts, which were at least as much entitled to be ' deemed 
 evidence,' as the unwritten statements of others to whom Mr. Symons refers 
 in his Report. While I expressed in emphatic terms my disapproval of the 
 Minutes of Council on Education, and represented legislators and employers as, 
 to a great extent, the authors of the people's ignorance and degradation, who 
 were making the effects of their own bad laws, heavy taxation on the neces- 
 saries of life, and on the means of instruction, &c., the reason for establishing, 
 at the nation's expense, a system of educational patronage and police, I stated 
 to him my full confidence in the ability and disposition of the working men, if fairly 
 treated, to educate themselves, without Government aid or inspection. * * 
 * * But what passed between us on the occasion referred to, Mr. Symons, 
 barrister -like, will not by any means take as evidence, though relating exclusively 
 to the objects of the Commission ; for he says, in his letter in the Banner, ' What 
 passed in conversation with my informants, I, of course, in no case deemed 
 evidence, or reported as such.' Mr. Symons must mean only that when ' what 
 passed in conversation' was favourable to the morals, intelligence, and religion 
 of the working-classes of Wales, he in no case deemed or reported it as evi- 
 dence ; for when a nameless ' lady connected with and living at one of the 
 large iron-works, told' him of a man who, while pouring rum into his tea, said 
 he could not afford to spare his girl's wages, and when a Bristol merchant, 
 for whose respectability we have no voucher, told him that all his efforts to 
 carry on commerce with the Welsh, were wholly frustrated by their inveterate 
 faithlessness, their vivn vote testimony, made prominent in the Reports, must
 
 208 OX THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 of my countrymen, probably, present here this evening, and they 
 know and can testify that there are not, throughout the whole Prin- 
 cipality, men who, from their high character and standing, the 
 official positions which some of them occupy, and the prominent 
 and remarkable part which others of them have taken in connection 
 with this very subject of education in Wales, are more entitled to 
 be heard on this question than the gentlemen I have just named ; 
 and yet the evidence of all these men has been studiously sup- 
 pressed ! And why is this ? I do not hesitate to say, that it was 
 because it was of such a character as did not suit the purpose of 
 the Commissioners ; nay, indeed, Mr. Symons scarcely makes a 
 secret of this. He refers to the three gentlemen whom I mentioned 
 last, Mr. Thomas, of Pontypool ; Mr. Jones, of Tredegar ; and 
 Mr. Bright, of Newport, and acknowledges that they " gave him 
 very valuable assistance in the prosecution of his labours." Why, 
 then, are their testimony and opinions on the state and prospects 
 of education in Wales withheld ? No possible reason can be con- 
 ceived, except it be found in a sentence which Mr. Symons has 
 coupled with the introduction of their names, viz., that " they 
 expressed, in no measured terms, their disapproval of the Minutes 
 of Council." 
 
 Now, is not this monstrous ? Did Mr. Symons, when he received 
 his commission, understand that he was to accept and record the 
 evidence and the judgment of none who differed from him in their 
 estimate of the Minutes in Council ? These, then, were the prin- 
 ciples on which the Commissioners selected their witnesses. 
 
 Let us now turn to ascertain in what manner they elicited evidence 
 from those who were thus chosen. Among them were not a few 
 who were sufficiently ready, without any prompting, to bring forward 
 
 be taken as good ' evidence' against the people, and in favour of Government 
 interference. The interview and subsequent correspondence I had with Mr. 
 Symons were quite enough to satisfy him as to the kind of evidence I would 
 have given in answer to his printed queries. Mr. S., therefore, did not furnish 
 me with those queries, nor had I the remotest idea of their existence until I saw 
 them, with convenient answers, in the Blue Books ; and I cannot find in the 
 Reports a single instance of evidence given by a Dissenting Minister, or other 
 person, previously known to be hostile to the interference of Government with 
 the education of the people. * * * * 
 " I remain, 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 "THOMAS THOMAS."
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, A> F.XEMl'UFIEI) IX WALKS. 209 
 
 whatever would most reflect discredit on their neighbours ; but, in 
 truth, the Commissioners left them little option as to the selection 
 of their materials. Their inquiries were evidently shaped in such 
 a form as to bring out the worst aspect of character, and the lowest 
 specimens of intelligence and morality, throughout the country. As 
 an illustration of this, take the following out of a series of questions, 
 which were sent in a written form, by Mr. Symons, to different 
 parties throughout his district : " Is there any deficiency of good 
 Day schools, with competent masters, in your neighbourhood ; and 
 in what respect are they defective?" "Is there much ignorance 
 among the poor ; and on what subjects ?" " Are their morals 
 defective ; and if so, in what respects ? State instances and facts 
 which illustrate this !" Now, is it not easy to foresee that in 
 answering such leading questions as these, in which the attention of 
 the witness is specifically and pointedly directed, not to the educa- 
 tion but to the ignorance, not to the social virtues or good qualities, 
 but to the immoralities of the population by which he was sur- 
 rounded, that the inevitable result would be to bring to the surface, 
 and to expose in undue prominence, all the corruptions and feculence 
 of society ? Can any one in his senses doubt, that if Mr. Symons 
 had framed his inquiries differently, that if he had asked for the 
 amount of knowledge possessed by the people, instead of for their 
 ignorance, if he had sought to elicit an account of the humble 
 virtues and excellences of the poor, instead of searching what was 
 defective in their morality, if he had desired instances and facts to 
 illustrate their piety, their devout and religious habits, the self-denial 
 and devotedness with which they support the cause of God, that 
 the eye of every one of those questioned would have been directed 
 to another class, which, I thank God, are neither few nor rare in 
 the Principality, and that practically, and in fact, a widely different 
 picture of the social character of the people would have been evolved 
 as the result ? Now, I want your particular attention to this point, 
 as it will serve to explain much of what these Reports contain. I 
 do not deny, observe, that many of the evils depicted in them do 
 actually exist in Wales ; though even these are, I firmly believe, in 
 many instances grossly exaggerated. But what I do object to, and 
 vehemently protest against, is, the practice uniformly pursued by 
 the Commissioners, of taking the utmost pains to hunt out, with the 
 keen scent of a vulture, all the corruption and garbage of society, 
 and putting these forward as fair average specimens of the intelli-
 
 210 ON THE PROGKESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 gence and morality of the people. Take the half a dozen foul and 
 revolting statements, which have been carefully selected and paraded 
 by the Whig newspapers out of these Reports, and what do they 
 prove, even if they are true ? which some of them, at least, are not, 
 as I shall presently prove to you. That there are in Wales, as 
 there are, unhappily, in every community under heaven, extreme 
 instances of gross depravity. But, in the name of all common sense 
 and justice, is it fair to take these as the standard by which to form 
 your estimate of a whole people, and, on the strength of them, to 
 rush to the conclusion that "their habits are those of animals," 
 and that they are " fast sinking into the most savage barbarism ?" 
 Apply the same test to the population of this metropolis. Let a 
 number of men be appointed, who shall regard it as their duty to 
 rake up all the ignorance, and filth, and vice, and depravity, and 
 wretchedness, to be found in London, and let them bring forth the 
 most hideous examples of pollution they can find, as illustrations of 
 the state of society ; and, let me ask you, would you be content 
 that any foreigner should form a judgment of the whole metropolitan 
 community from such materials as these ? As I have been wading 
 my way through these enormous volumes, where, I have asked 
 myself again arid again, are the hundreds, and thousands, and tens 
 of thousands of my poor countrymen, who are the worthy, con- 
 sistent, and exemplary members of our Dissenting churches, who, 
 in their humble stations, exemplify the power and loveliness of 
 Christian principle, and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in 
 all things from whose stone hearths there ascends, day and night, 
 the incense of a simple spiritual devotion, perhaps more acceptable 
 in the sight of Him that reads the heart, than the glittering pomp 
 of priestly pageantries, or the pealing swell of cathedral music ; 
 whose homely huts, though devoid of all pretensions to the 
 elegancies, and even many of the comforts of life, are nevertheless 
 adorned with the beauty of holiness ? Where is the record of these 
 men's characters and virtues ? That there are hundreds and thou- 
 sands of such, I know. Have I not stood beneath their humble 
 roofs, whose naked rafters were polished and japanned by the smoke 
 of the mountain turf? Have I not sat at their uncovered deal 
 tables, to partake of their buttermilk and oatmeal-bread, which, 
 coarse fare though it be, they feel a hospitable pride in dispensing ? 
 Have I not knelt on the mud floor, beside the wretched pallets on 
 which they were stretched, and learned from lips pallid with the
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 211 
 
 hue of death, lessons of Christian resignation, and of holy and 
 triumphant confidence in God, such as I never learned elsewhere ? 
 Where, I say, are these men who shed the lustre of their humble 
 piety over the hills and glens of my native land ? I find no trace 
 of them in these Blue Books ; and until I do find them, I utterly 
 refuse to accept their contents as a fair representation of the character 
 of my countrymen. 
 
 I do not mean to say that all the accounts given of the intellec- 
 tual, moral, and social condition of the Welshmen in these Reports 
 are of the one-sided and unfriendly sort I have de'scribed. I do say, 
 indeed, that, for the most part, this was the kind of information which 
 the Commissioners, and especially Mr. Symons, most diligently 
 searched for. And I do say, moreover, that such is the prevailing 
 and predominant character of the whole mass. In spite, however, of 
 the careful selection of witnesses, and the significantly suggestive 
 nature of the questions proposed to them, there have come out, in the 
 course of these investigations, not a few facts and opinions, highly 
 honourable to both the intelligence and morality of my poor vilified 
 countrymen. And how do the Commissioners deal with this part of 
 the evidence ? I will admit (and I do it with the utmost pleasure,) 
 that the testimony they have borne to the excellence and good effects 
 of the Sunday schools is both candid and cordial. But, in other 
 respects, the summary which these gentlemen had to construct out 
 of the evidence collected, is founded upon, and illustrated by the very 
 worst portions of that evidence, while that which is favourable to the 
 people is, in general, kept in the background, or officiously and care- 
 fully explained away. I would undertake to compile out of these 
 Blue Books themselves, without introducing anything of my own, be- 
 yond a few connecting and explanatory sentences, a widely different 
 character for the Welsh from that which the Commissioners have 
 brought into the foreground of their picture. I ought, perhaps, to 
 say, that these remarks apply with more especial emphasis to Mr. 
 Symons than to either of the other two. It is most remarkable to 
 observe the resolute and relentless purpose with which this gentle- 
 man sets himself to blacken the reputation of the country. Not only 
 does he bring forward isolated instances of extreme stupidity, wrung 
 from terrified and confused children, as fair specimens of the school 
 instruction not only does he introduce mere hearsay evidence, which 
 he may have picked up in casual intercourse at an inn, from some 
 wandering and irritated bagman, as sufficient authority on which to 
 
 p 2
 
 212 ON THE PROGKESS AND KFF1CACV OK 
 
 ground a sweeping imputation on the honesty and integrity of a whole 
 nation not only does he give the utmost prominence to the falsest 
 and foulest charges against the teaching and services of the Dissen- 
 ters, as directly nursing the grossest immoralities among the people, 
 without apparently troubling himself in the slightest degree about 
 their truth or probability not only does he carefully mark in italics, 
 lest they should escape any one's attention, these slanderous charges, 
 and whatever else he could find unfavourable to the cause of Volun- 
 tary Education ; but, when facts highly honourable to the nation, 
 and too marked and notorious to be overlooked, or kept out of sight, 
 are forced on his notice, he anxiously sets himself to explain away any 
 favourable impression which they were calculated to produce on the 
 mind of the reader. I will give you one striking example of this. 
 After he had drawn a picture of the morals of the country, daubed 
 with the darkest colours, he remarks "Notwithstanding this 
 lamentable state of morals, the jails are empty." He gives, then, a 
 short tabular comparison between the relative criminality of the three 
 counties in his district with that of the neighbouring agricultural 
 county of Hereford, the result of which shows that " crimes are twice 
 as numerous in Herefordshire, as in Radnorshire or Brecknockshire, 
 and five times more so than in Cardiganshire." Well ! and does he 
 pass this fact over to the credit of the moral and religious principles 
 of the population, or even leave it without remark to make its own 
 impression on the reader's mind? Oh, by no means ! He first in- 
 forms us that this absence of crime is to be regarded as a strange 
 "moral anomaly in the Welsh character," and then proceeds to 
 explain it in the following fashion : " I attribute this paucity of 
 punishable offences in Wales, partly to the extreme shrewdness and 
 caution of the people, but much more to the natural benevolence and 
 warmth of heart, which powerfully deter them from acts of malice 
 and all deliberate injury to others." You see, Mr. Symons will 
 allow nothing to be attributed, if he can help it, to the restraints of 
 moral and religious obligation acting on the character of the people, 
 nothing to the practical influence of that Christianity taught in their 
 Sunday schools, and preached every Sunday, from more than three 
 thousand pulpits, throughout the land. 
 
 It is time for me, however, to offer a few remarks on the evidence 
 itself to be found in these books. And first of all, as to the phy- 
 sical condition and domestic habits of the poor. The Commissioners 
 loudly complain of the want of order, cleanliness, and decorum, in
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 213 
 
 their economic arrangements. No doubt there is much to be deplored 
 in this respect among the lower classes ; but I deny that it is to be 
 taken as a proof of their moral degradation. If they live together in 
 their small cottages, in a manner which is at variance with our 
 notions of propriety and comfort, it is because they cannot help it. 
 " Their poverty, and not their will, consents." It is very well for 
 these jaunty young gentlemen, travelling about the country in post- 
 chaises at the expense of Government, to turn up their noses, in. 
 horror and disdain, at the want of decent accommodations and 
 domestic comfort in the home of the poor Welsh cottager. But set 
 them down with a wife and large family of children, to subsist upon 
 seven or eight shillings a week the usual wages of an agricultural 
 labourer in Wales and see what a figure they would then cut ! What 
 dignified domestic arrangements would they make in such a case 1 
 How many spare bed-rooms would they have to rejoice in ? How 
 much of privacy and social elegance would they expect to enjoy ? I 
 say it is not fair to the poor, in forming our estimate of their habits, 
 to forget the mighty difficulties with which they have to contend, from 
 the extreme narrowness of their means, and the necessary straitness 
 of their habitations, to preserve even an approach to domestic order 
 and decorum. 
 
 It is probable, however, that the Commissioners will justify 
 themselves in drawing so dark a picture of the country, by referring 
 to the testimony of others residing on the spot, and supposed to be 
 intimately acquainted with the people. Now it is perfectly clear 
 that it would be impossible for me, on an occasion like this, to deal 
 with such an enormous mass of evidence as is collected in these 
 volumes as a whole. All that I can do is to select a few of the most 
 remarkable and characteristic parts, as samples of the rest. I had 
 intended to advert, in the first instance, to some rather peculiar 
 specimens of Dissenting evidence to be found in these pages ; but I 
 abstain for the present, in the hope, notwithstanding what has 
 appeared in the Banner, that certain parties will deem it wise, even 
 for their own sakes, to imitate my abstinence. I will say no more 
 on that subject, but pass on to observe, that in almost every instance 
 the worst evidence, that which contains the foulest aspersions, and 
 the most sweeping charges, has proceeded either from clergymen, or 
 from renegade Dissenters, or from men who combined both these 
 characters in their own person. I will endeavour to explain the 
 cause of this. Separated as Wales has been, by position and Ian-
 
 214 ON THE PKOGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 guage, from the rest of the kingdom, it is not until within the last 
 few years that the English public has been made acquainted with 
 the actual religious and ecclesiastical condition of the Principality. 
 A few of us, however, whose lot in Providence has been cast among 
 you, have of late endeavoured to bring before your notice the fact, 
 that so mighty has been the prevalence of Nonconformity in Wales, 
 that it has spread like leaven among the population, until it has well 
 nigh leavened the whole lump. Considerable publicity has been 
 given, from time to time, to these disclosures. Now there is a class 
 of clergymen in Wales, to whom these revelations were in the highest 
 degree distasteful ; men for the most part of the most worthless 
 characters themselves, personal and official, who did and are doing 
 little or nothing by their own exertions to promote the mental and 
 spiritual improvement of their countrymen, but who nevertheless 
 cannot endure that others should have the credit they deserve for 
 fulfilling those obligations which they had so grossly neglected. 
 These men attempted in the first instance, and for a long time, to 
 deny the fact that dissent was in the ascendant in Wales. The last 
 desperate effort of this sort that I have seen was directed against 
 myself. At the great Educational Conference, held in this room 
 last year, to oppose the Minutes of Council, I stated as a reason 
 why the Government plan would press with peculiar hardship on 
 Wales, that the great body of the Welsh people are Dissenters. A 
 few nights after, Mr. Bright made a similar statement in the House 
 of Commons. The following week there appeared a letter in the 
 St. James's Chronicle, in which the writer did me the honour of 
 coupling my name with Mr. Bright in reference to the above state- 
 ment, and to charge us both, in elegant phrase, with having been 
 guilty of " enormous lying." Abundant and accurate statistics 
 have, however, come from various quarters, to illustrate the matter 
 in dispute, and it was found at length that this war with figures was 
 too utterly hopeless to be long sustained. What, then, was to be 
 done next ? Well, the next best thing was to endeavour to prove, by 
 the most reckless and exaggerated representations of the ignorance 
 and immorality of the people, that Dissent had been a great curse 
 to the country, that under its regime the inhabitants, instead of 
 improving, were sinking fast, not only into superstition and fana- 
 ticism, but into the lowest depths of moral and social degradation. 
 Now this commission was a golden opportunity for these men to 
 accomplish their purpose ; and chuckling with secret glee at their
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 215 
 
 luck, they eagerly seized it, to pour out the long-accumulated 
 rancour of their higotry upon the people and their religion. Now 
 let it be distinctly understood, that I do not include in this descrip- 
 tion all the clerical gentlemen whose names appear in these books. 
 I acknowledge, with the highest gratification, that there are not a 
 low who acted the part of high-minded and honourable men, who 
 refer to their dissenting neighbours in terms of kindness and respect, 
 who recognize their right to object to the imposition of the Church 
 Catechism on their children, and who make frank and generous 
 admissions of the value of their past and present services in the 
 instruction of the country. There is no tribute of gratitude and 
 admiration which I am not prepared to render to these men. But I 
 am going to speak of a totally different class fierce blustering bigots, 
 who deem it a small matter to affix the stigma of infamy on the 
 brow of their mother-land, so they might but avenge themselves 
 upon Voluntaryism and Dissent. As a specimen of the animus by 
 which these worthies are actuated, take the following extract from 
 the evidence of the Rev. Lewis Evans, vicar of Llanfihangel-y- 
 Creyddyn. Mr. Symons asks, " Do the Sunday schools supply 
 existing defects in Day schools ? and state your views of the character 
 and results of the Sunday-school system in this district." To which 
 replies the reverend gentleman: "They do not. Their character 
 is to puff up the young with pride and contempt of public worship, 
 And they are beds to nurture Dissent and its evils; disorderly 
 behaviour and disobedience, inasmuch as they are generally 
 left to themselves, or superintended by incompetent persons, and 
 under the control of illiterate and ignorant masters." "What 
 are the chief obstacles," again asks Mr. Symons, " to the mental 
 and moral improvement of the poorer classes ?" " The want of a more 
 efficient body of the clergy the poverty of the livings ;" and after 
 enumerating various other reasons, he adds, "But above all, the 
 night meetings of the Dissenters, 'and the immoral and polemic 
 teaching of their preachers" 
 
 Take another specimen from the evidence of the Rev. Richard W. P. 
 Duvies, of Crickhowel. It relates to one of the mining districts in 
 Breconshire, called Brynmawr, which Mr. Symons, mainly on the 
 authority of this gentleman, describes as a sort of pandemonium. Mr. 
 Davies, after referring contemptuously to the existence of Dissenting 
 chapels in this neighbourhood, as being no antidote to the evil which 
 prevailed, because they are without " responsible guides and pastors,"
 
 -10 ON THE PROGRESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 goes on to depict his neighbours in the most hideous colours. The 
 Commissioner, of course, eagerly seizes this delicious morsel, and 
 putting it in the fore-front of his summary, assures the reader, on the 
 strength of it, that " not the slightest step has been taken to improve 
 the mental and moral condition" of this dangerous population. This 
 flattering description of themselves comes to the ear of the people. 
 They call a public meeting at the Market-hall. The attendance, we 
 are told, "was crowded, and the excitement intense, and yet the 
 people conducted themselves with good sense and propriety." At 
 that meeting there came out the following facts, that while it was 
 true enough, as the reverend witness had testified, that there was 
 neither church nor chapel of the Establishment, within two miles of 
 Brynmawr there were six Dissenting chapels, which had been built at 
 an expense of nearly 6,0001. , and which numbered 1,136 members 
 in actual fellowship, and in which accommodation for worship was 
 provided/or every man, woman, and child in the place. But this was 
 not all. This dangerous and degraded population have lately erected 
 a British school, at the cost of 3001., and have among them a band 
 of 200 Sunday-school teachers. 
 
 At the same meeting a medical gentleman, residing in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and, from his profession, of course in habits of close and 
 daily intercourse with the people, voluntarily came forward, though 
 an Englishman and a Churchman, and made the following state- 
 ment : " Having been a resident for some time in your town, and 
 having an opportunity afforded me in my professional character of 
 judging whether or not the inhabitants of Brynmawr deserve the 
 character given of them by some of the gentlemen examined by the 
 Commissioner, I most emphatically assert that they have been 
 belied by some of the gentlemen examined, and whose evidence 
 appears in the Report. Let facts speak for themselves, and they 
 are the best evidenc. I will mention one or two. There is a 
 population of about 5,000 in this town, and I ask what has been the 
 extent of crime in this place for the last few years, although without 
 the protection or presence of the military or police (I was wrong, 
 there is one police-officer in the town for the last week) ? I say, 
 very little, indeed. And what can we ascribe this state of things to, 
 except the very moral and peaceable disposition of its inhabitants. 
 But I should not be at all surprised if the very reverse was the case, 
 and which undoubtedly it would, were it not for the Dissenting 
 ministers and their congregations, whose conduct is creditable, and
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, As lAI.Mri.lI- IEL> IN WAKES. 217 
 
 beyond all praise. They have acted as men and Christian ministers ; 
 and, as a member of the Established Church, I regret to be obliged 
 to say, that the contrast is great indeed between what they and the 
 clergymen of the Establishment have done for the religious and 
 moral instruction of the people ; for while on the one side I behold 
 five or six Dissenting chapels and schools, on the other there is not 
 even a church or school, or substitute for one, to be seen in the 
 whole town ! I therefore say, it comes with a very bad grace from 
 clergymen of the Establishment to say that the. people are ignorant, 
 and without knowledge of either a God or a Saviour. I also deny 
 that the inhabitants of Brynmawr are the immoral, low, and 
 degraded people they are made to appear by the Report, or that 
 there are only one or two respectable shopkeepers in the town." 
 Well, and how is all this to be accounted for ? Did this reverend 
 informer bear false witness against his neighbour ? Oh, not at all ! 
 for to his apostolic eye these exertions of Dissenting zeal and 
 benevolence, were in effect as nothing. For, listen to the lofty and 
 oracular style in which he instructs the Commissioner as to what 
 the Government should do, and in the course of which, perhaps, 
 you will find some explanation of the strange circumstances just 
 narrated. " It appears to me to be the imperative duty of a wise 
 and patriotic legislature to encourage and facilitate, to the utmost of 
 their power, by public grants, and public patronage, and advances, 
 the education and instruction of the people committed to their care ; 
 the resources of Government cannot better be applied than by 
 affording knowledge, civilizing and enlightening mankind ; and it 
 would ill become a minister of a Christian Apostolical Church, to 
 suggest any other mode of dispensing education, than entrusting it 
 to the heads of those, who, by Divine appointment and Divine 
 right, are constituted the channel for diffusing the light of Christian 
 truth. The Church and its ministers are the proper vehicles for 
 carrying out the same." Do you not see the swell of spiritual and 
 sacerdotal pride spreading and dilating over his reverend face ; and 
 what had the poor scabbed sheep of Brynmawr, who, when left, 
 uncared for, to wander over the mountains, had sought shelter in 
 the unconsecrated folds of Dissent, to hope from the tender mercies 
 of this apostolic gentleman, who seems to hold sacred the " right 
 Divine of priests " to garble the truth, and to slander their 
 neighbours. 
 
 There is another instance of clerical bigotry, yet more malignant
 
 218 ON THE PBOGRESS AND EFFICACY OK 
 
 and revolting, furnished by the evidence of the Rev. J. Griffith, 
 Aberdare. I beg you to observe, in the first place, that it relates 
 to the self-same district, described in such terms of generous com- 
 mendation by J. W. Booker, Esq., in the testimony which I have 
 already cited. There is this difference, however, between the two 
 witnesses, that the latter, at the time when he gave his evidence, 
 had resided among the people some thirty years, and the former 
 about three weeks or a month. The substance of Mr. Griffith's 
 replies to the Commissioners, may be given in a few words. 
 " Generally speaking there is very little sobriety ; the men drink in 
 the beer-shops, and the women at home. Nothing can be more 
 improvident than the Welsh miners and colliers. Nothing can be 
 lower, I would say more degrading, than the character in which 
 the women stand to the men. Promiscuous intercourse is most 
 common, is thought of as nothing, and the women do not lose caste 
 by it. Their religious feelings are peculiar to the temperament of the 
 Welsh. They are very excitable have nothing like what is con- 
 sidered elsewhere a disciplined religious mind. They go to meeting 
 at six, come out at eight, and spend the remainder of the evening at 
 beer-shops. Properly speaking, there is no religion whatever in my 
 parish ; at least, 1 have not found it yet." Well, on Wednesday, 
 the 23rd of February, a meeting was called at Aberdare, by public 
 advertisement, which is described as " the largest and most enthu- 
 siastic ever remembered to have taken place in the parish." Mr. 
 Griffith was invited by the Rev. Thomas Price, a respectable Baptist 
 minister, " in a very respectful letter," to meet him there, to sup- 
 port the statements he had made in his evidence. His insolent 
 reply was conveyed in this one sentence " I will never give you 
 that honour." The meeting, nevertheless, went on, when witnesses 
 far more competent than Mr. Griffith deposed to the following 
 facts, That though no doubt there is there, as in all large works, 
 too much drunkenness, yet is not this evil characteristic of the 
 Aberdare workmen ; that the women are not at all addicted to 
 intemperance; that this "improvident" people had, within the last 
 forty years, established no less than from forty to forty-five societies 
 for the express purpose of providing for the contingencies of sick- 
 ness and death, to which they contributed 2001. per month, or 
 2,4001. per annum, and that there were in the neighbourhood from 
 1,500 to 1,800 houses, built by the workmen alone for themselves, 
 within the last few years ; that the assertion about the women was
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, A* EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 219 
 
 a gross and wanton slander, as " the women of Aberdare stand as 
 high, with regard to moral purity, as any women in the kingdom ;" 
 that not one out of 800 persons ever frequented a public-house on 
 Sundays, and that it " was a standing rule in religious communities 
 belonging to Dissenters, to exclude from their society every man 
 who frequented a public-house on Sunday ;" that in this parish, 
 where the reverend vicar could find " no religion whatever," there 
 had been built, within the last thirty-seven years, sixteen places of 
 Divine worship, at an expense of about 10,000^, and twenty sab- 
 bath-schools and benefit societies had been established. It was also 
 proved, that, although there are eight Dissenting ministers residing 
 at Aberdare, two of them of thirty-five years standing, Mr. Lingen 
 never called upon any one of them, but took his entire description of 
 the character of the place and the people from this reverend bigot,* 
 who, at the time, had been in the parish about three weeks ! Was 
 there ever a more utter defiance, I will not say of justice, but of 
 
 * I despair of conveying to the English reader any adequate idea of this 
 man's character, except by saying, that he is a sort of Welsh Gathercole. 
 Rabid hatred of Dissent is the one animating principle, which imparts a kind of 
 grim and galvanic activity to an intellect otherwise of the meanest order. Since 
 giving the above evidence, he has been writing letters in the Merthyr Guardian, 
 expressly to neutralize " any favourable consideration of Dissent in the forth- 
 coming Report of the Commissioners in Wales," an apprehension which, as the 
 event has proved, he might have very safely dismissed. In these letters he 
 deliberately makes the following atrocious assertion : " That if nine out of 
 every ten of the Welsh people are educated by Dissenters, so are eight out of 
 every ten of the men so educated, when they can afford it, drunken and immoral ; 
 and eight out of every ten of the women, above the age of sixteen, unchaste and 
 insensible to female virtue." 
 
 I had once intended to have offered some rather strong remarks on this man 
 and his productions; but really, however strongly tempted to it by loathing 
 and disgust, one is restrained by a sort of contemptuous pity, from planting 
 one's heel on the head of a creature, already crushed and writhing beneath the 
 concentrated indignation of a whole people. He may be safely left to " the 
 universal hiss, the voice of public scorn," which is greeting his ears from every 
 part of Wales. He is now trying to bear up under the load of obloquy, by 
 which he is overwhelmed, by writing incessantly in one or two of the Welsh 
 newspapers, in a style of affected smartness and nonchalance, dissuading Lord 
 John Russell from paying any heed to the complaints and remonstrances of the 
 Dissenters, in regard to the Reports, and reiterating with additional vehemence 
 and ferocity, his thrice-refuted slanders against his countrymen and country- 
 women 
 
 " Wipe out the slime of calumny in vain, 
 The creature's at his dirty work again."
 
 220 ON THE PROGKESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 common decency, than is exhibited in the whole of this Aberdare 
 business. 
 
 But I prefer selecting from all others, for special examination and 
 remark, the evidence of the Rev. Henry Lewis Davies, of Troedyraur, 
 in Cardiganshire. And I do so for several reasons. In the first 
 place it is one of the worst (involving the most serious charges 
 against the people and their religion) to be found in these three 
 volumes. In the second place, it is pnt forward with great and 
 studied prominence by Mr. Symons in his summary. In the third 
 place, it has been carefully culled as a choice specimen, by all the 
 Whig papers, and published as an illustration of Welsh morality ; 
 and, in the fourth place, the parties on whose authority I am about 
 to contradict its statements are personally and intimately known to 
 me, as men on whose veracity the most absolute reliance may be 
 placed. 
 
 " The Day-schools are very deficient in Wales. The people gene- 
 rally desire and deserve to have better schools. I believe that good 
 schools, where the Bible should be taught, without the Church 
 Catechism or any sectarian doctrines, would nourish ; but I am sure, 
 that in this neighbourhood no schools exclusively on any Church or 
 sectarian principles would answer, or be sufficiently attended. As an 
 instance of this I may state, that when Sir James Graham's Bill was 
 proposed, the Dissenters and Methodists in my parish opposed my 
 school, and told the people I was a Roman Catholic. Very few chil- 
 dren remained, and it was obliged to be given up in consequence. 
 The Independents and Methodists then joined in establishing a Day- 
 school in my parish. They tried to teach each their own doctrines 
 and catechism in the joint school, and soon split, and were obliged to 
 establish a separate school within two or three fields of each other ; 
 and yet their principles are nearly similar. 
 
 " The Welsh poor people are wofully ignorant on all secular sub- 
 jects. They used to be well instructed in the Sunday schools in the 
 Bible and in Scriptural truths ; but latterly, since so much doctrinal 
 controversy has arisen, they pretty nearly confine their questions, 
 (pwnc in Welsh,) and catechising, to polemics. For instance, such 
 as State and Church connection ; that confirmation is contrary to 
 Scripture ; that baptism ought to be by immersion, or the reverse ; 
 Presbyterianism and Independency, &c. ; they thus attend far less to 
 Bible history and Gospel truths than to these sectarian points. Hav- 
 ing been absent in England for about twelve years, I perceived a great
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION A* EXEMPLI FI F.li IN VALES. 2'21 
 
 change for the worse in this respect on my return six years ago ; and 
 this state of things is rather worse than better now. The pwnc is 
 generally printed, and always chaunted at the schools about here. 
 They often meet at evening schools, in private houses, for the prepa- 
 ration of the pivnc, and this tends to immoralities between the young 
 persons of both sexes, who frequently spend the night afterwards in 
 hay-lofts together. So prevalent is want of chastity among the 
 females, that, although I promised to return the marriage-fee to all 
 couples whose first child should be born after nine months from the 
 marriage, only one in six years entitled themselves to claim it." 
 
 Now, I happened to be pretty well acquainted with this locality 
 myself, and having received the impression, from annual visits to the 
 neighbourhood for nearly ten years, and free and frequent intercourse 
 with the people, that they were peculiarly peaceful, intelligent, and 
 religious, I was utterly astounded when I read this piece of evidence. 
 I wrote instantly to a friend residing there, calling his attention to it, 
 and begging to know what truth there was in it. He made it known to 
 his neighbours, and a universal storm of indignation was raised 
 through the parish. Mr. Davies was written to in the first instance, 
 to produce his authority for the charges he had made, each of them 
 being separately and minutely described. He sent back a note deny- 
 ing being actuated by any sectarian feeling in what he had advanced, 
 and declaring " his intention to enter into no paper discussion on the 
 subject." But that would not do, for the Welsh blood was up. A 
 public meeting was called. The largest chapel in the neighbourhood 
 was densely crowded. Every one of the charges contained in the 
 evidence was deliberately examined, and indignantly denied. It was 
 proved that Davies' s school was broken up, not because the people 
 thought him a Roman Catholic, but because he insisted upon the 
 children, (nearly all of Dissenting parents) attending the Church on 
 the Sunday ; that such " a joint school of Independents and Metho- 
 dists, which soon split,' because each tried to teach their own doc- 
 trines and catechism," never had an existence, except in the curate's 
 own imagination that instead of the Sunday schools confining their 
 questions and catechising to polemics, that not one of the schools in 
 his parish ever had a catechism on any one of the subjects he men- 
 tions that so far from the evening schools for the preparation of the 
 pwnc leading to the immoralities he describes, there has been no 
 Evening-school held in the parish for fifteen or twenty years, that 
 the secret of his never getting any one of his female parishioners to
 
 222 ON THE PROGKESS AND EFFICACY OF 
 
 claim the promised return of the marriage-fee, was not the cause 
 which he slanderously insinuates, but because Mr. Davies had made 
 it a condition that the child should be brought to him to be baptized, 
 and the people, being all Dissenters, disdained to sell their principles 
 for the sake of his contemptible bribe that, in one word, almost the 
 whole of this foul representation was a tissue of the most wanton and 
 
 gratuitous (y ou know what), invented by this man, to avenge 
 
 himself of his parishioners, because they were Dissenters. But this 
 was not all. These spirited Welsh farmers determined that they 
 would not leave the matter half done. At the meeting referred to. 
 they adopted a memorial to Lord John Russell, in which they call 
 his Lordship's attention to the above facts, and earnestly protest 
 against being judged on such evidence as this, and conclude with the 
 following consolatory hint to his Lordship : " Your memorialists beg 
 leave further to state, that whatever may have been their impres- 
 sions before, as to the desirableness of Government aid, the spirit 
 displayed in these reports has gone far to awaken such deep distrust 
 of their fairness and impartiality, as to make it more than doubtful 
 whether such interference would not be more a curse than a blessing." 
 This memorial, signed by 150 persons, all freeholders, farmers, and 
 householders in the parish of the Rev. Mr. Davies, I now hold in 
 my hand, and shall endeavour to find some means of transmitting it 
 to his Lordship in the course of a few days. 
 
 I could easily multiply samples of the same description. But ex 
 uno disce omnes. Such is the character of much of the evidence 
 contained in these books, on the authority of which our schools are 
 depreciated, our eiforts to enlighten and elevate the people ignored 
 or sneered at, our ministers and their labours defamed, our peasantry 
 represented as mere animals, our women slandered, and our whole 
 system of social civilization held up to the scorn and reprobation of 
 mankind. But notwithstanding all this, I can hardly regret that this 
 Commission was issued, and that it prosecuted its labours in so un- 
 mistakeable a spirit. It is working well in the Principality. Before 
 it came out, I was greatly afraid that many of my countrymen 
 what with the severe pressure of poverty and the hardship of the 
 times, on their scanty means, and the recent and imperfect manner in 
 which their attention had been directed to the question, and the in- 
 fluence of many syren voices that had been employed, in soft and dulcet 
 tones, to woo them into the caressing embrace of the Government, 
 I had begun to fear that they would allow themselves to be
 
 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALES. 223 
 
 tempted into becoming, in the matter of education, pensioners of the 
 State. But the veil with which this fond suitor had covered his face, 
 like the " veiled prophet of Korhassan," has been lifted too soon, and 
 discovered features so hideous, that the half-consenting maid has 
 hrunk back with a shriek of horror from the polluted embrace. Just 
 in the nick of time, the Principality newspaper had been started 
 as the organ of Welsh Dissent, and conducted, as it is, with admira- 
 ble spirit, vigour, and ability, it has rendered to the people of Wales 
 uch inestimable service, in rousing and sustaining, and directing the 
 national opinion at this critical moment in their history, that they 
 ought, were it only in gratitude, to rally around it, as with the heart 
 of one man. The eifects already produced have been great. " The 
 Reports," says the editor of that paper in a letter to me, "have done 
 incalculable service to Wales. I augur much good from them. A 
 Government official would now be scouted from the country." A 
 respectable minister of the Calvinistic Methodists writes, " My own 
 Connexion are coming out to be Anti-State-Education and Anti-State- 
 Churchmen. The slanders heaped upon them by their former friends 
 of the church have done, and are still doing them, immense good." 
 The Rev. David Rees, Llanelly, in describing to me what he stated 
 to Mr. Lingen, says, " I told him that we at Llanelly had endea- 
 voured to form a general educational union, but as many Churchmen 
 and Wesleyans would not join unless we applied to Government, and 
 as nothing but secular education would be given, we consented to 
 apply for money to build the school, but that I thought that neither 
 parents nor children would ever value a thing which cost them 
 nothing. Subsequent to his being here, the Minutes made their 
 appearance, and we at once stood up and said, ' Union or no union, we 
 shall not be a party to receive one farthing of the 500?. voted to 
 us by the Committee of Council.' Our brethren, who were for 
 Government grants, respected our conscientious scruples, and we 
 kept together, and rejected the 500/. And now a school-room, 
 and a splendid one it is, capable of holding 600 children, which 
 will cost 750?., is built, the master is elected, and the school-room 
 cleared." 
 
 I count myself happy to have had this opportunity to stand up in 
 vindication of my calumniated country, hi the presence of so large a 
 body of intelligent and high-minded English gentlemen. You have 
 the character, and, as far as I have seen, most deservedly so, of being 
 pre-eminently a generous- people lovers of fair play, who do not like,
 
 224 VOLUNTARY EDUCATION, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN WALKS. 
 
 and will not suffer the weak and defenceless to be trampled under 
 foot, by mere wanton and irresponsible power. 
 
 I appeal to you, then, on behalf of my vilified Fatherland. I 
 appeal to you on the ground of right, and as you love justice, to 
 protect us from being first overwhelmed with calumny, and then, 
 under cover of that, be oppressed by a yoke on our conscience, which 
 neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. 
 
 I appeal to your sympathy as fellow Christians and fellow Dis- 
 senters, to help us to defeat the conspiracy which is assuredly forming 
 against freedom of religion and education in Wales. I might appeal 
 to you on the ground of self-interest for in our persons your princi- 
 ples are imperilled. I invoke the justice and generosity of English- 
 men, to interpose the impenetrable shield of their lofty moral indig- 
 nation, between a simple, warm-hearted, but defenceless people, and 
 the wrong which it is designed to perpetrate upon them, under the 
 pretence of evils which do not exist, and in the name of a charity 
 which is not felt.
 
 LECTURE VII.
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE OF 
 
 ENGLAND : AND THE POSITION OF NONCONFORMISTS 
 
 IN RELATION TO ITS ADVANCEMENT. 
 
 BY THE REV. ROBERT AINSLIE. 
 
 The Lectures previously delivered Subject of the present Lecture The condition of England 
 affects all other nations The true greatness of England What is education? Who are 
 to be educated ? Education for real life Moral and religious culture Civil rulers not to 
 enact, nor enforce religious teaching The educational condition of England at remark- 
 able periods, and among classes and professions Failure of Government grants, and the 
 success of Voluntaryism in advancing agriculture Religious knowledge among different 
 classes The educational condition of peculiar localities Some places specially require 
 a Government commission Our educational condition as to quality and quantity Lost 
 mind, and men who have emerged from the deepest poverty Who are the Nonconform- 
 ists? Historical facts Persecutions by the Church and the State Dissenters and 
 existing institutions Deeds of Voluntaryism Past success an argument for ad- 
 vancement Joseph Lancaster David Nasmith Our duty to our country and to 
 mankind. 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, It devolves upon me to close this 
 series of Lectures. For seven evenings you have listened with 
 patience, kindness, and the closest attention, to the gentlemen who 
 have preceded me. Great themes have been expounded ; great 
 principles have been illustrated, and sustained by irrefragable 
 arguments ; the misrepresentations and falsehoods, in the Reports of 
 the agents of Government in relation to Wales, have been exposed 
 and refuted by the withering power of truthful evidence ; covering 
 the Commissioners with reproach and shame sufficient to justify 
 the virtuous indignation of an outraged and slandered people the 
 censure of all impartial men in the House of Commons the con- 
 
 (i '->
 
 228 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 I 
 
 demnation of all honest Englishmen and the consignment of the 
 " Reports" to the waste-paper department of the Committee of 
 Council on Education. 
 
 Your attention to-night is respectfully asked to " The educational 
 condition of the people of England, and the position of Noncon- 
 formists in relation to its advancement." 
 
 A comprehensive subject. Personally, socially, nationally im- 
 portant to Nonconformist, Churchman, and to every British subject ; 
 and indirectly, if not directly, to the well-being and elevation of 
 mankind. 
 
 The condition of England, affects most materially the condition 
 of all other nations. Our science, literature, commerce, laws, liberty, 
 and religion ; and our personal and social habits, are conveyed 
 to other nations ; modifying and changing ancient governments, 
 enlarging national liberty, stimulating industry, and provoking 
 emulation. They are taken to uninhabited shores to unclaimed 
 districts of the antipodes to dense forests and, borne on the tide 
 of emigration of Britain's sons and daughters, they become the 
 guide, and model for new countries, and infant empires for 
 monarchies, and republics destined, probably, to last the duration 
 of our globe. 
 
 England's greatness and influence are not to be measured by the 
 extent of her sea-girt isle, her colonies, her dependencies, nor even 
 by her wealth. These are surpassed by her knowledge, freedom, 
 religion, great institutions, and great principles : which have cradled 
 and nurtured her children into men and women thinking, reasoning 
 men and women which have accumulated and expended an amount 
 of benevolent and pious labour, self-denial, enterprise, and self- 
 sacrifice on her own shores, and for the benefit of the slave and the 
 free, the uncivilized and the civilized heathen in distant climes, 
 unequalled, and unapproached by any other nation. Let us, in 
 considering the condition of England, prepare ourselves for an 
 enlarged and just judgment. Contracted views, class prejudices and 
 notions, antiquated bigotries, defences of errors and abuses, because 
 of their age and ancestry, must be abandoned. We want sound 
 principles. Truth, justice, love, liberty, freedom of conscience, 
 freedom in religion, wise and equal laws, the enjoyment of just 
 rights by all classes of the people, and the education and elevation 
 of the masses to their rightful position as our fellow-creatures before
 
 OK THK PEOPLE OK KNGJ.AND. 229 
 
 God, and our fellow-subjects and citizens in a free and advancing 
 commonwealth. The millions of England ask for these ; and they 
 must have them. Be it ours to help them, by education, self- 
 government, the love of order and virtue, and the fear of God, 
 universally to obtain them. 
 
 In speaking of the educational condition of England, let us under- 
 stand what we mean by education who are the persons that should 
 receive it and whether the accident of birth, or of poverty, should 
 be a barrier to any persons possessing it or whether, on these 
 accounts, they should be debarred the enjoyment of what they can 
 acquire ? The notion of education, now happily passing away, 
 comprehended little more than being able "to read, write, and 
 cast accounts." To make some of the poor a more useful kind of 
 mechanical apparatus, appears to have been the highest aim of many 
 who sanctioned education in a Charity-school ; and even this was en- 
 cumbered with notions and doctrines so slavish, and depressing, that 
 the child dared scarcely glance at a superior, unless when performing 
 an act of obeisance. 
 
 In education there is the end, or object we seek to accomplish ; 
 and there are the means by which it is to be effected. The means 
 of education are even now, in different classes of schools, too much 
 confounded with the end, and substituted in its place. The educa- 
 tion of an intelligent being embraces ; first, the development of the 
 mind ; the unfolding, strengthening, and cultivation of the mental 
 powers according to their constitutional tendencies and character. 
 And second, the development of the heart ; wherein the culture, 
 growth, training and the discipline and government of the affections 
 and passions should be assiduously attended to. Where such 
 developments are not aimed at, the teacher is either deficient in a 
 just conception of what he has to do, or blameable for neglecting 
 the highest and most important end he has to accomplish. 
 
 For educating the intellect we must have proper means, and they 
 must be judiciously employed. Reading, writing, and the science 
 of numbers must be taught ; and they should be acquired with as 
 much ease and pleasure, and in as short a time, as accurate and 
 sound instruction will permit. Knowledge of many things can be 
 acquired chiefly by reading; writing enables us to preserve our 
 thoughts, and the fruits of our reading ; puts us in possession of 
 the power of corresponding with absent relatives and friends, besides 
 its multiplied uses in mercantile, professional, and literary life
 
 230 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 And it is by the science of numbers, the poor boy selling oranges in 
 our streets counts up his daily earnings, and Newton, La Place, and 
 Airy measure the magnitude and distances of the heavenly bodies. 
 Languages and the sciences still further enrich and enlarge the domain 
 of mind; increase our pleasure, and augment our power of usefulness. 
 The heart is to be cultivated by moral and religious truths and 
 principles, and by examples of kindness, disinterestedness, and 
 goodness ; so that we may have loving children, affectionate and 
 devoted brothers and sisters, faithful friendships, kind, humane, 
 benevolent dispositions cherished towards all men, and that habitual 
 desire of self-culture, and self-control that honourable and Chris- 
 tian fulfilment of the duties and relationships we sustain, which shall 
 sweeten life, smooth some of its rough and rugged features, and 
 promote the happiness and common good of our families, our 
 country our race ! 
 
 "With these views of education, who are the parties to be educated? 
 Shall the family of a working-man be excluded, or even neglected ? 
 or shall he, on account of his position, in which he cannot enjoy 
 what wealth purchases, be in any way restrained as to his mental 
 acquirements and aliment ? Common sense the honour and safety 
 of our country Christianity and the common tie which binds us to 
 Him who created the mind, and the heart, all condemn the exclusion, 
 or the neglect even of the humblest, most defaced, and broken 
 image of the blessed God we may find upon the earth. With us it 
 is an axiom, THAT EVERY CHILD SHOULD HAVE THE BEST EDUCA- 
 TION HIS MIND WILL ALLOW HIM TO RECEIVE, AND HIS CIRCUM- 
 STANCES CAN COMMAND. Every person of sound mind should 
 learn to speak and write his mother-tongue easily and accurately ; 
 every one should be taught to reason rightly on moral questions 
 and duties, and on religious and general subjects ; to utter what he 
 thinks, easily, and without embarrassment ; to be a lover of sound 
 wisdom, truth, purity, and goodness ; to be able, in a humble 
 degree, to understand some of the wonderful works of the blessed 
 Creator, which are around, above, and beneath him ; and as he is 
 amenable to the laws of his country, he should be so familiarly 
 instructed in them as to prevent his breaking the law, or, through 
 ignorance of it, becoming unconsciously involved in trouble and 
 disgrace. 
 
 Many who are friendly to what they call education, and even 
 ladies and gentlemen, on school committees, are unfavourable to
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 231 
 
 some departments of instruction, under the idea that they will lift 
 a poor child out of his proper place. And what is his proper place, 
 but that which he can attain, through a kind providence, by know- 
 ledge, industry, talent, ability, perseverance, and virtue? Why 
 should a boy continue in a Union workhouse if he can become a 
 merchant's clerk? Why should a ragged urchin, running about our 
 streets, be left to become the prey of ignorance, vice, and crime, if 
 we can clothe and instruct him ; and, instead of letting him go to 
 gaol, train him to industry make him a useful member of society 
 a mechanic a tradesman or a teacher of others ; and let him run 
 a career with, and probably outstrip, those who were born under 
 happier circumstances, and with a brighter prospect ? 
 
 It is with us a deep, and growing conviction, especially in reference 
 to our schools for the middle and upper classes, that much time is 
 lost in unsuitable studies much wasted by the manner and method 
 of learning languages, which, in a majority of cases, are subsequently 
 forgotten, or but little used many matters of great practical moment 
 for real life overlooked and the learner and learning, not sufficiently 
 aided by the teacher and teaching. An eloquent writer in the Edin- 
 burgh Review, nearly forty years since, thus propounded his view of 
 education for real life ; and so far as it goes, we think justly and 
 admirably. Speaking of a young man intended for public life, he 
 says, " We would exhort him not to affect the reputation of a great 
 scholar, but to educate himself for the offices of civil life. He should 
 learn what the constitution of his country really was, how it had 
 grown into its present state, the perils that had threatened it, the 
 malignity that had attacked it, the courage that had fought for it, 
 and the wisdom that had made it great. We would bring strongly 
 before his mind the characters of those Englishmen who have been 
 the steady friends of the public happiness, and by their examples 
 would breathe into him a pure public taste, which should keep him 
 untainted in all vicissitudes of political fortune. We should deem 
 it of the utmost importance that his attention was directed to the 
 true principles of legislation ; what effect laws can produce upon 
 opinions, and opinions upon laws ; what subjects are fit for legisla- 
 tive interference, and when men may be left to the management of 
 their own interests ; the mischief occasioned by bad laws, and the 
 perplexity which arises from numerous laws ; the causes of natural 
 wealth ; the relations of foreign trade ; the encouragement of manu- 
 factures and agriculture; the laws of population ; the management
 
 232 THF EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 of poverty and mendicity ; the use and abuse of monopoly ; the 
 theory of taxation ; and the consequences of the public debt." 
 Neither our schools nor our colleges do much even as to elementary 
 tuition in these matters ; and our merchants, professional men, and 
 senators, as such, are educated to a great extent in the counting- 
 house, the office, the House of Commons, and by their intercourse 
 with the people. 
 
 Deeply important as we deem these branches of education to be, 
 we cannot sanction the absence of moral and religious training. 
 No development of the mind is nobler, than when a Milton, a 
 Boyle, a Bacon, or a Newton, is found in humble prostration 
 before the eternal Source of all life and light ; and no development 
 of the heart can be more perfect, than when there is a growing 
 likeness to the virtue, goodness, and love of Jesus Christ ! Our 
 religion we get from the Bible ; our morals from the same book. 
 God is the creator of the child and the adult we would educate, and 
 the Author of the book whose Divine truths and precepts we would 
 teach. There is in it that which can alone raise a fallen being to the 
 highest virtue enable him to pursue an honourable, useful, and 
 holy career in life supply him with the purest motives for the 
 most self-denying and lofty actions and inspire him, as he thinks 
 of the loss of mother or father, sister or brother, friend or alien, 
 with the hope of re-union beyond the grave. For the poor, whose 
 homes, alas ! in many cases, are not yet the abodes of piety, whose 
 time at school is necessarily short, whose opportunities in after life 
 for religious instruction are embraced or neglected, very much under 
 the influence of their early training ; we cannot, we dare not, give 
 them only secular learning. They must have, if they desire it, or 
 do not oppose it, the morals and the religion of the Bible. They 
 must be taught, not by a hireling, but if possible, by one who 
 believes what he teaches. The labourer is worthy of his hire : he 
 must be paid. The parents must pay ; where they cannot, richer 
 neighbours and the friends of education must pay. No civil ruler, 
 not even a House of Commons, is justified in enforcing the teaching 
 of religion in churches, chapels, or schools, and compelling universal 
 payment for it, by making the Socinian pay towards Roman 
 Catholic doctrines, and Roman Catholics towards doctrines they 
 deem heretical, and all parties made to aid, by compulsory payment, 
 the spread of error and of truth. This is an injury inflicted upon us 
 as religious men ; an infringement of our liberty by the civil ruler,
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGI.AND. 233 
 
 which we ought not to bear, and is opposed to the freedom for which 
 we have been struggling for years, and must struggle until we obtain 
 it. In teaching religion in our schools, there must be liberty to 
 teach what is considered essential to the enlightenment of the mind 
 and the culture of the heart ; making religion, by the spirit per- 
 vading the school, and the manner of teaching its lessons, lovely in 
 itself, and the thing to be desired to make men and families live in 
 peace, and love one another. We fully agree with Milton, that " the 
 end of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents, by regaining 
 to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to 
 imitate him, to be like him as we may the nearest by possessing our 
 souls of true virtue, which, being united to the heavenly grace of 
 faith, makes up the highest perfection." 
 
 With such a standard to judge by, what is the educational con- 
 dition of the people of England ? On the one hand, we have to 
 avoid the exaggerated statements, made by such travelling tourists 
 as Mr. Kay, and such clergymen as Mr. Bennett, of Knightsbridge. 
 On the other hand, we have to discriminate, and while bearing testi- 
 mony to the largeness of the general supply, we must frankly admit 
 any specific and remarkable local deficiencies, and endeavour to 
 supply them. If we had larger space than one lecture furnishes, 
 we might have referred at length to the educational condition of 
 England 1st, at remarkable periods, or historically; 2nd, as it 
 exists in the various classes and professions in society ; 3rd, as we 
 find it in peculiar localities ; and, 4th, as it now exists, both as to 
 quality and quantity, among the millions. Our allusion to these 
 topics must be very brief. 
 
 There was a time when, instead of the Colossal metropolis which 
 now exists with its population of 2,000,000, the banks of our river 
 exhibited roughly-constructed wooden huts, inhabited by uncivilised 
 beings, scantily clad. Their religion, or rather superstition, was 
 very prominent. Their priests were the Druids, their temples, 
 groves and secret recesses, their sacrifices human beings, and 
 their punishments, by the priestly power, the severest that could be 
 inflicted. Knowledge, such as it was, the priests claimed. The 
 Romans changed this state of things, but only by the strong arm of 
 the law. Other priests in progress of time appeared, and at an 
 early period in Ireland, Wales, and England, learning for a time 
 flourished. The earliest literature in any of the native languages of 
 the British Islands, of which any remains have reached our time,
 
 234 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 appears to be the Irish, and the next the Welsh. The clergy for 
 centuries were considered almost the only persons who were required 
 to know anything. Schools, however, were multiplied, and about 
 the thirteenth century such was the fame of Oxford that she num- 
 bered 30,000 students. Subsequently learning declined, and in 
 1357 the number was reduced to 6,000. Scholars became mendi- 
 cants, and carried with them recommendations for the charity of 
 the benevolent. The historian of the University of Oxford, Anthony 
 Wood, relates a story of two of these learned travellers, who pre- 
 sented themselves at a baronial castle, and exhibited their credentials : 
 in which, among other gifts that they possessed, it was said they 
 had a poetical vein. The Baron was determined to put it to the test. 
 He ordered them to be suspended in a pair of buckets over the 
 draw-well, and to be dipped alternately in the water until each 
 should produce a couplet on his awkward situation. The Baron 
 and his friends enjoyed the fun. The exciting power of cold water, 
 after some time, brought forth the poetry, and they enjoyed the 
 hospitality for which they had begged. 
 
 Early in the fifteenth century printing was introduced to England. 
 This soon began to work a change. The period of the Reformation 
 was increasingly favourable to the spread of education. The foun- 
 dations of Edward and Elizabeth were intended to consolidate the 
 Reformation, by diffusing learning among the middle and humbler 
 classes. The range of instruction was not very extensive. Reading 
 was not taught earnestly, and writing was greatly neglected. The 
 prescribed curriculum, as we find it in the 79th canon, was as 
 follows : " All schoolmasters shall teach in English or Latin, as 
 the children are able to bear, the larger or shorter catechism, here- 
 tofore by public authority set forth. And as often as any sermon 
 shall be upon holy and festival days within the parish where they 
 teach, they shall bring the scholars to the church where such 
 sermons shall be made, and there see them quietly and soberly 
 behave themselves ; and shall examine them at times convenient 
 after their return what they have borne away of such sermons. 
 Upon other days, and at other times, they shall train them up with 
 such sentences of Holy Scripture as shall be most expedient to 
 induce them to all godliness ; and they shall teach them the gram- 
 mar set forth by King Henry VIII., and continued in the times 
 of King Edward VI., and Queen Elizabeth, of noble memory, and 
 none other."
 
 OF THE I'EOPhE OF ENGLAND. 235 
 
 Neither the church monastic education before the Reformation 
 nor the endowed grammar schools, nor free schools after the Reforma- 
 tion, were sufficiently numerous or comprehensive to instruct the 
 population even of those times. In a very able article on the progress 
 of education in England, in the " Companion to the British Almanack 
 for 1847," the writer, though an advocate for State interference, 
 hears the following testimony : " The education of the people since 
 the Reformation has proceeded from the people. It has been uni- 
 formly in a state of progress, though occasionally exposed to corrup- 
 tion and consequent decay. The endowed grammar schools are 
 coincident with the progress of the middle class ; the free schools, 
 which are not grammar schools, go along with the gradual rise and 
 progress of the operative class ; the Sunday-schools, and the other 
 schools of Voluntary association the schools of the present century, 
 belong to a new era, when the universal education of the people is 
 held to be a matter of duty and necessity." We date the rise of 
 popular education from the rise of popular preaching. Deep sleep 
 had fallen on the clergy of the Establishment, and Dissenting 
 ministers had great fear in their hearts of the political consequences 
 of religious agitation, when Whitefield and Wesley came to rouse 
 the slumbers of one world by the thunders of another. The Esta- 
 blished Church had existed for upwards of two centuries. No want 
 of revenues, no want of exclusiveness, no want of legal enactment, 
 nor of priestly pretensions ; the parishes were numerous, the popu- 
 lations comparatively small, hut darkness covered the land, and gross 
 darkness the people. The humbler classes at that period were in 
 a state of great mental and moral debasement. Grossly ignorant, 
 intemperate, brutal in their habits and sports, addicted to the pro- 
 fanest swearing, and living in open contempt of the sabbath and of 
 religion. Such was the dread of evangelical piety at that time at 
 Oxford, that six young men were expelled the University, not for 
 immorality that was allowed to flourish, but for reading, praying, 
 expounding the Scriptures, and singing hymns in private houses. 
 Whitefield and the Wesleys brought about a new order of things. 
 With religious feeling came the thirst for religious knowledge, for 
 the Holy Scriptures, and the new era of Sunday-schools and Bible 
 Societies, Tract Societies and Lancasterian Schools followed ; and 
 whatever may be said, or thought of the present time, as to education, 
 religion, liberty, and onward progress in literature and mental free-
 
 236 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 dom, sure we are, that this is the best instructed, most religious, 
 and the freest age, of any in our national history. 
 
 As to the educational condition of the classes, and professions in 
 society, very various opinions will be formed by thinking men, whose 
 judgments will he guided chiefly by the kind and extent of education 
 they have observed among them. We thank God for the great men, 
 and the good men in the high places of society ; for upright, learned, 
 and just judges. The profound learning of our English judges, in 
 their own proper departments, is not surpassed in any nation upon 
 the globe. Among the clergy of the Established Church, we have 
 scholarship of the highest order ; extensive, accurate, and scriptural 
 theology ; great theological acumen ; and virtue and piety of the 
 highest class ; and within the same pale, we have men who are 
 superstitious, foolish, ignorant ; whose theological knowledge is sur- 
 passed by a well-trained Sunday-scholar, whose religion is in cere- 
 monies, whose piety is in alms-giving, and whose pleasures and sports 
 are in the world. And as the Church is now constituted with her 
 prizes with her bounties upon hypocrisy the unprovided members 
 of the aristocracy and of the gentry standing at her gates she must 
 remain one of the most mixed churches as to the moral character of 
 her ministers, if not the most corrupt denomination in our land. All 
 State-Church establishments, in all countries, are liable to this low state 
 of moral character, and of religious disqualification for the discharge 
 of the Christian ministry. Other denominations in this respect have 
 infinite advantages over the State-Church, because they have disci- 
 pline ; and even as to learning, there are Presbyterians, Wesleyans, 
 Congregationalists, Baptists, and others, who now rank with the most 
 learned and able of the English clergy. Among our senators we have 
 able men of birtl* and of rank ; and some who hav'e come up from 
 humble life, and earned for themselves a fame which the oldest and 
 ablest British statesmen have gracefully conceded. Political-education 
 has been considered to be almost the exclusive right of the aristocracy. 
 That day has gone by. The army, the navy, and the bar supply too 
 many senators r but it is obviously to the interest of these professions 
 to do so, though greatly to the increase of our fiscal burdens, and the 
 injury of the people. The medical men of England are not surpassed 
 for skill, science, and benevolence, by any in the world. Our scientific 
 men, for discovery and practical utility, take the precedence of all 
 others. Our working mechanics, for intelligence, skill, ingenuity,
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 237 
 
 and finish of their work, in almost every department of labour are 
 unrivalled. Our literary men constitute a mighty host, and our free 
 institutions and our free Press, have given them an advantage over 
 thousands on the Continent, who could think, but until recently could 
 give no utterance to their thoughts. Our soldiers are a brave, fearless, 
 desperate body of men, especially in any great emergency ; but thoy 
 are grossly ignorant, and thousands of them most licentious and de- 
 praved. Among our sailors, within the last few years, there has been 
 an extensive reform. Temperance, and spiritual religion, are now found 
 in many British vessels ; and sailors, who see so much of the power 
 and goodness of God, are not afraid nor ashamed to acknowledge and 
 adore Him in whom they live, and on whom they hourly depend. These 
 men, as the supposed representatives of English morality, habits, and 
 religion, have in times past done inconceivable mischief on foreign 
 shores, and sadly libelled their country. Many of them are doing 
 it still ; but the process of regeneration now going on we hope will 
 not stop, until our naval and mercantile seamen are in morals and 
 religion, as great an honour to Britain as in bravery, perseverance, 
 courage, and skill. And what shall we say of our agriculturists of 
 our agricultural labourers ? men and women living in thinly popu- 
 lated districts, and in villages, where there is a church to a parish, 
 generally with an excellent living ; where the Clergy have had it all 
 their own way for centuries ; where they have had the finest oppor- 
 tunity of showing what a richly-endowed church could do in a small 
 population ; and where it is said the Voluntary Principle cannot pos- 
 sibly succeed. To the everlasting disgrace of the Church, and of the 
 compulsory principle, we are compelled to say, that the agricultural 
 labourer is generally most ignorant, senseless, and stupid. No class in 
 society was of easier access to the Clergy, but it was neglected ; while 
 from the soil, on which the sweat of the labourer's brow fell like the 
 dew of heaven, they annually gathered never neglecting it their 
 tenth of the produce. Yes, the tiller of the earth they looked upon as 
 one of its clods : the sheep they had sworn to feed and to fold, they 
 did little else to, but shear : and then left them to wolf or bear ; or to 
 the still more destructive monsters ignorance, intemperance, and 
 irreligion. Let any man study the history, and understand the con- 
 dition of our agricultural population for the last century or two ; and 
 let him ask what the millions of money received by the Clergy have 
 done for that population ? generation after generation having grown 
 up ignorant of the rudiments of learning and of religion, dolts in 
 intellect, serfs in their social position, and degraded by utter ignorance
 
 238 THE KDIVATIONAT, CONDITION' 
 
 as low as a rational being could be made to descend. Hence they 
 have been easily oppressed, hard worked, and badly paid ; and by 
 some masters not so much cared for as the cattle they feed, and the 
 horses they plough and harrow with. Of course, in these remarks, 
 we refer to the great body of the Clergy, as having acted thus in time 
 past, and not a few of them who even now dislike thoroughly the 
 instruction and improvement of the labouring population. Other cler- 
 gymen, however, have done, and are doing all that they can to remedy 
 the fearful state in which they find the people ; but they are fettered 
 by the prejudices and the fears of some of the upper classes : many of 
 them dreading that serfdom and slavish submission cannot coexist 
 with knowledge, elevation, and liberty. In 1841, we had 881,622 
 agricultural labourers ; 277,135 farmers and graziers; and 49,232 
 gardeners, nurserymen, and florists : making a total immediately 
 connected with the culture of the earth, of 1,207,989. Knowledge 
 is spreading in the first class ; the third class, for some years, by its 
 position has been making great advances in learning and science : 
 and the second class, (thanks to the Voluntary Principle,) has now 
 taken an onward movement which we trust will conduct it to honour, 
 to its proper status in society, and to prosperity. 
 
 We cannot resist giving you an illustration of the power of the com- 
 pulsory, and of the Voluntary Principles in relation to agriculture. 
 About the year 1793, agriculture was said to be in a very low state : 
 as it is said of education in 1848. The Shuttleworth of education 
 was the Sinclair of agriculture. Nothing, it was declared, could make 
 British husbandry flourish but Government patronage, and annual 
 grants from the House of Commons. Sir John Sinclair at length 
 succeeded in establishing the Board of Agriculture.* It received a 
 
 * AN UNFULFILLED PROPHECY. Sir John Sinclair, in his " Code of Agri- 
 culture,", page 501, asks, " What public encouragements for the advancement 
 of agriculture ought a wise Government to bestow ?" And he proceeds to 
 argue, and to prophesy as follows: "Many able men, reasoning solely from the 
 abuses to which the system of encouragement is liable, have thence been induced 
 to condemn this policy, and to recommend that of giving to individuals the 
 entire freedom of exercising their industry in their own way, without any 
 legislative interference whatever. They dwell much on the reply once made 
 by some of the principal merchants of France to the celebrated Colbert, who, 
 having asked What Government could do for them ? was answered, ' Laissez 
 nous faire' (Let us alone). It is certainly better to let agriculture alone than 
 to establish injudicious regulations respecting it. But if a Government will 
 make such inquiries as may enable it to judge of what can be done with safety
 
 OF THE PEO1TK Of ENGLAND. 239 
 
 charter from George III. For nearly a quarter of a century it had 
 an annual grant. These grants ceased in 181 7, and the Board of Agri- 
 culture died a natural and unlamented death. Government grants 
 had paralyzed it ; its officers were comfortable ; and, after a time, 
 the only harvest looked for was the annual grant. What is the 
 state of things now? The agriculturists and most of them good 
 Churchmen are trying the Voluntary Principle, and with admirable 
 success. The Duke of Richmond, Sir Robert Peel, and others, took 
 part in the formation of the Royal Agricultural Society, on the Volun- 
 tary Principle. It has succeeded. It is doing a great work for Bri- 
 tain and the world. In education, in the arts and sciences, it is 
 eminently successful. It has about 7,000 members an annual 
 income of about 10,000?. ; it had invested property, on the 1st of 
 March, 1848, amounting to 8,999. stock, and a cash balance, at 
 the bankers, of 2,6291. A Government grant for agriculture would, 
 I believe, be scouted even by Sir Robert Peel, as a " heavy blow and 
 great discouragement " to its prosperity. 
 
 But what is the state of religious knowledge among the different 
 classes we have enumerated I mean of publicly reported religious 
 knowledge ? What is it in our schools and colleges ? What is it at 
 Eton, Harrow, Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford ? And what is 
 it in many schools of inferior repute ? Is it made a primary, or even 
 secondary, object, to imbue the mind and heart with the spirit of the 
 New Testament? Are the principles and doctrines of Christ ex- 
 pounded for the modelling of the heart and the guide of the life ? Is 
 there an earnestness, a reality, in reference to spiritual and practical 
 religion a living and prominent imbodiment of it in our scholastic 
 establishments ? How many living Arnolds and how much religious 
 Arnoldism have we for the young men now growing up to fill the high 
 places of society ? Public opinion and the Press are doing much more 
 
 and advantage, and will promote agricultural industry, not only by removing 
 every obstacle to improvement, but BY GRANTING POSITIVE ENCOURAGEMENT, 
 
 AGRICULTURE WILL PROSPER WITH A RAPIDITY, AND WILL BE CARRIED ON- 
 TO AN EXTENT WHICH IS HARDLY TO BE CREDITED, AND IN A MUCH 
 
 SUPERIOR DEGREE than by the ' let-alone ' system, under the torpor of which 
 ages might pass away, without accomplishing what might be effected in the 
 course of a few years under a judicious system of encouraging regulations! " 
 Sir John had the " positive encouragement " for a quarter of a century, and it 
 failed : the "let-alone" system is now resorted to, and the science of agricul- 
 ture is flourishing beyond any period in our national history.
 
 240 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 than the systems and regulations of the schools. Whatever may be 
 the deficiencies in the theories, there is, however, an improvement upon 
 the practices of bygone years. The great body of the Clergy, sixty or 
 seventy years back, was a public scandal. There are now in their 
 ranks some of the best men upon the face of the earth. As for the 
 House of Commons, one of the sources of our laws for the State, and 
 for the Church, the very name of religion is, among many of its 
 members, a bugbear, and a laughing-stock. It is a synonyme for 
 cant, humbug, clerical power, rapacity, and bigotry ; for selfishness, 
 discord, and exclusiveness. And is it to be wondered at ? Where 
 have they seen religion, but in creeds, ecclesiastical history, Church- 
 rates, tithes, penal enactments, party-strifes, and denominational 
 struggles and feuds ? And of what use do they think religion, but 
 for a status in society, a good living, Government patronage, and 
 occasionally a bishopric from the Premier, for some political relation or 
 friend ? Has anything for many years created a tithe of the contempt 
 and disgust in the public mind, in reference to religion and Church 
 establishments, that the falsehood, injustice, and worldly policy 
 involved in the Hampden controversy have done ? Religious education, 
 (if these be the fruits of a " National religion") among the intelligent, 
 moral, upright portions of the community, will be at a discount, while 
 the corruptions of the Church establishment remain ; and, like the 
 immoralities of a theatre, they are essential, to its existence, and 
 political utility. We have, however, more religious men in the House 
 of Commons, and at the Bar, than formerly ; but we have many who 
 for infidelity, irreligion, and vice, are as bad as strong minds, strong 
 passions, plenty of money, and corrupt companions can make them. 
 There is more religion, morality, soundness of character, and social 
 happiness among the middle classes of British society, than in any 
 other country. They are the strength of the Commonwealth, the 
 source and spring of our industry, genius, commerce, science, and 
 prosperity. In the miscellaneous and agricultural population in Eng- 
 land, there is but little religion, except where Voluntaryism has taken 
 among them a religion, not of forms, ceremonies, tithes, but of in- 
 telligence, feeling, and principle. Look at Essex, as an agricultural 
 county, where an unendowed religion flourishes, and then look at 
 Dorsetshire, where an endowed Church has been subject to but few 
 and feeble interruptions, and the state of society, of mind, know- 
 ledge, social enjoyment, and independence of thought and action, will 
 tell which system is a blessing, and which a calamity to the country.
 
 OF THE PFOPLE OF ENGLAND. 241 
 
 There is a third aspect in which we may look at the educational 
 condition of England ; I refer to certain localities in large cities, 
 towns, and rural districts. And here we admit that some of them 
 are very bad. We want an educational mission to these localities. 
 These are the places where the black paint is obtained ready made, 
 with which the Government inspectors exhibit upon their blue 
 canvass the picture of England. It appears that Wales is very bad. 
 Even hay-lofts have been ransacked to get at the state of the people. 
 Three questions put by Mr. Symons, to elicit information, were 
 these : " Is there any deficiency of good day-schools, with competent 
 masters, in your neighbourhood ; and in what respect are they 
 defective ? Is there much ignorance among the poor ; and on what 
 subjects ? Are their morals defective ; and, if so, in what respects ? 
 State instances and facts which illustrate this." Now, let this 
 same Commission be sent into all our cathedral cities, beginning 
 with Westminster, and let them inquire into the state of the popula- 
 tion, especially of that part of it living nearest to the cathedral ; let 
 them ask about the ignorance and the morals of the poor ; let them 
 witness the degradation of the wretched beings that they will find 
 by hundreds and thousands in Westminster. They will want no 
 " statement of facts." They will see enough in one hour, to disgust 
 and humble them for a week ; and let them ask what the cathedral 
 has done for these people? what the clergy of the cathedral? 
 And the answers will be humiliating, and scarcely to be credited. 
 We have no dislike to cathedrals, to daily worship, to soul-ravishing 
 music ; but unless these are the end of religion the object of the 
 mission of Christ the great purpose for which he died ; we would 
 rather see the whole cathedral staff, headed by the Dean, pioneering 
 their way into the abodes of indigence, squalor, disease, and death, 
 discharging the high and Divine functions of the ministers of Christ, 
 in teaching and comforting the poor, even were it but for one day, 
 than we would hear their prayers and music for a week. Chris- 
 tianity is a living, soul-indwelling religion. Our Lord intended it 
 for real life, for the enlightenment and comfort of the poor, not for 
 the worldly aggrandizement and ease of men, elevated to prefer- 
 ment and to episcopal thrones by a civil ruler, whether from poli- 
 tical friendships, or antagonism, or reward. 
 
 Having visited, and reported upon the state of the population 
 around our cathedrals, let this same Commission go into Dorsetshire, 
 Cambridgeshire, and Bedfordshire, and other counties where the 
 
 R
 
 242 THE EDUCATIONAL CONDITION 
 
 Church has not been much roused by Dissenters. Let Mr. Symons 
 go to Oxford to Cambridge. Let him go to the heads of houses, 
 to inn-keepers, to stable-keepers, to wine-shades, billiard-rooms, 
 and other places I forbear to name. Let him ask, "Is there 
 much ignorance here ; and on what subjects ?" Are the morals of 
 the people [and of the students] defective ; and, if so, in what 
 respects ? " State instances and facts which illustrate this !" 
 Why, a commission upon the morals of Oxford and Cambridge, if 
 fairly and honestly gone into, nothing concealed, and all published 
 in a blue book, would, by comparison, leave Wales a land of rustic 
 innocence and simplicity. And for a thorough acquaintance with 
 the Bible, Wales need fear nothing in comparison with Oxford and 
 Cambridge. Last Sunday I was at Cambridge. In the evening I 
 preached in behalf of the Cambridge Town Mission. The popula- 
 tion is about 25,000; not 5,000 families. Now, with all the 
 clergy and Dissenting ministers in the town, with the hundreds of 
 young men nearly 2,000, I understand training for the Church, 
 there are so many poor families in Cambridge, who are neglected, 
 and have no religious instruction, that the Dissenters, by Volun- 
 taryism, support a missionary, and want to support two, in order to 
 convey (not ecclesiastical or party instruction this is forbidden), 
 but religious knowledge and consolation to the poor. It is time 
 that the people knew and felt that religion is their inheritance ; and 
 while men are paid out of national funds to propagate it, and 
 administer its consolations, some authorities, either spiritual or civil, 
 ought to see that the poor are not neglected. 
 
 There is another, and the largest view of the educational condition 
 of England, as it respects school provision and school agencies for 
 the millions, that might and ought to be taken here ; but it has been 
 so fully, comprehensively, and ably illustrated by my friend Mr. 
 Baines, that I feel it to be unnecessary to introduce it. It would be 
 easy to introduce other illustrations of the past state of society, and 
 to repeat similar statistics ; but a reference to Mr. Baines's lecture 
 will amply illustrate this part of the subject. In that lecture you 
 will find information as to the past and present educational con- 
 dition of the masses Sunday schools Day schools British and 
 Foreign schools the school of the National Society Infant schools 
 Ragged schools Normal or training schools the proportions of 
 children to the whole population in attendance at schools, as well as 
 general observations upon the whole question of the greatest value.
 
 OF THE PEOPLE OF EXGIAND. 243 
 
 It is consolatory to mark the progress of education as to quality 
 and extent among all classes, especially among the humbler. 
 Although we have no love for the Church Catechism the most 
 meagre compendium of theology extant, and containing some most 
 false and unscriptural statements whether in the hand of the child 
 of a Dissenter, or Churchman, yet, with the drawback of teaching 
 this in National schools, we rejoice to know that these institutions, 
 especially where there are competing schools, are greatly improved. 
 For the people, we hope great things ; and from the people we 
 expect great things. Let them have the best education. Some of 
 them, now in Voluntary schools, are obtaining a better education 
 than many in boarding-schools and grammar foundations. To say 
 nothing of what has been lost to nations, and to the human race, by 
 neglecting the mental culture and development of the poorer classes, 
 let us be encouraged by what has been gained by the foree of circum- 
 stances in the providence of God. As travellers, the world has been 
 benefited by a Columbus, the son of a poor wool-carder ; and by 
 Cook, the son of a farmer's servant. Science has had Ferguson, the 
 son of a labourer ; Brindley the engineer of canal navigation, from 
 the lowest depths of poverty ; and James Watt, to whom the world 
 owes vast obligations for the steam-engine, the son of a block- 
 maker and ship-chandler. Richard Arkwright, the youngest of 
 thirteen children of very poor parents, and put out to be a barber, 
 altered the cotton and stocking-manufactures of the kingdom, and 
 gave them an impetus, unparalleled in the annals of commerce : yet 
 so sadly neglected was he as a child, that when he had attained fifty 
 years of age, deeply lamenting the want of early education, he 
 encroached upon his sleep one hour to learn Engh'sh grammar, and 
 another hour to improve his writing and spelling. Alexander Murray, 
 formerly the Professor of Oriental languages in Edinburgh, was 
 a shepherd-boy ; Dodsley, the great publisher, was a footman to the 
 Hon. Mrs. Lowther ; Lackington, of undying fame as a bookseller, 
 was the son of a journeyman shoemaker ; and the greatest European 
 philanthropist, John Howard, on whom Burke pronounced a splen- 
 did eulogy, was the son of an upholsterer, and himself an assistant 
 in the warehouse of a wholesale grocer. We could go on for an hour 
 with such illustrations from the annals of the dead and of the living. 
 At this moment we have greater men in our free country, who have 
 risen from the humblest classes, than at any former period, and 
 universal education will multiply them a thousand-fold. 
 
 R2
 
 244 THE POSITION OF NONCONFORMISTS 
 
 The more we can cherish among the poorest class a noble self- 
 dependent spirit, paying what they are able for education, letting 
 them feel that they are not paupers upon benevolence, nor upon the 
 State, the greater will be our success, and the more certain will 
 be the growth of correct and virtuous principle among all classes. 
 
 We now have to consider the position of Nonconformists in rela- 
 tion to the advancement of education. 
 
 Some . foreigner, unacquainted with British ecclesiastical history, 
 or some Englishman equally ignorant, may ask the question, " "Who 
 are these Nonconformists 1 Are they ignorant persons, disloyal, 
 unfriendly to liberty, enemies to the State, persecutors of other men, 
 irreligious, patrons of ignorance, and anxious to prevent the spread 
 of light, and of religion among mankind ?" Let us briefly refer to 
 them. Strictly speaking, every person who dissents from the Church 
 established by law, and on this ground declines membership, is a. 
 Nonconformist. Roman Catholics and Jews, in relation to the Church 
 Establishment, are Nonconformists. So are the Members of the 
 Society of Friends, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Baptists, Independ- 
 ents, and other bodies of Dissenters. Members of the Estab- 
 lished Church of Scotland are Nonconformists to the Established 
 Church in England. In Rome, in Germany, in Scotland, English 
 Churchmen would be Nonconformists. The conventional use of 
 the term, however, embraces Presbyterians, Baptists, and Inde- 
 pendents. Our reference to-night will be partly, though not 
 exclusively, to ourselves, as Congregational Independents, forming, 
 as we do, one branch of the English Nonconformists. Our 
 history, institutions, principles, and practices, prove that we are, and 
 have always been, the ^friends' of learning, of loyalty, of liberty, of 
 religious freedom, and of the political and religious advancement of 
 our race. This is the judgment and the testimony of men who 
 belong not to us ; and these things have been to our honour, or dis- 
 honour from the earliest period of our history. David Hume, the 
 historian, says, " Of all Christian sects, this (the Independent) was 
 the first which, during its prosperity as well as its adversity, always 
 adopted the principle of toleration." But let us discriminately 
 employ terms. Independents existed before the memorable Act of 
 Uniformity, from which period, strictly speaking, Nonconformists date 
 their existence. Dr. Hamilton says, "There were Independents when 
 there were Lollards when there were Puritans when there were 
 Nonconformists. They were not bound up with any of these, whether
 
 IN KKJ.ATTiiN Tu ITS ADVANCEMENT. 2-l."i 
 
 considered as sects of Christian communion or as indexes of current 
 belief." Bartholomew-day, 1662, was the birth-day of about 2,000 
 Nonconformist clergymen, and from that period they have not only 
 not become extinct, but have flourished and multiplied. They have 
 in the aggregate propagated their sentiments, throughout the British 
 islands, colonies, dependencies : the islands of the Southern Sea, in 
 Africa, India, and China, and they believe that as education extends, 
 Church Establishments by the civil power will become more and 
 more unpopular, and finally be modified and conformed to something 
 like the churches of the New Testament, and the exigencies of man- 
 kind. 
 
 From the year 1662, (a period of 186 years,) Congregational 
 Independents have ranked and been incorporated with Noncon- 
 formists. What has been, and what is their relation to the spread 
 of education in England ? "We are taunted with having done but 
 little. The, Voluntary Principle which we advocate is pronounced 
 to have been a failure. I suppose that no one imprisoned in 
 Newgate is present in this hall, listening to this lecture. No one 
 confined in the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum is expected to be of sound 
 mind, and able to conduct his affairs, and fit to be at large. No 
 American slave is expected to be at liberty in the streets of New 
 York, and at his pleasure, taking his passage for England. No poor 
 man in the Union workhouse has a demand made upon him for 
 Income-tax. But any of these things would be just as reasonable as 
 to have expected Nonconformists, until very lately, to take any part in 
 the education of the children and people of England : or even to have 
 done much to spread their principles, erect chapels, and educate their 
 ministers. Let me refer you to a few facts in our history, to prove 
 that, for a time, we were prohibited from doing anything, that the 
 Church, and the State, singly and together, persecuted and oppressed 
 us every degradation that could be devised, was inflicted tyranny, 
 with her rod of iron drove us from place to place, forbad us approach 
 to a corporate town, shut up our schools, and threatened us that if 
 we opened one, we should be fined and imprisoned, and if more than 
 five persons met for religious worship, they should be transported. Is 
 it just, is it manly, to taunt us with having done nothing after hav- 
 ing for many years bound us hand and foot, and it was hoped, had 
 crippled, if not destroyed us ? But to the facts : 
 
 Froin the year 1660 until 16/2 (twelve years,) no less than six 
 Acts of Parliament were passed to crush, and if possible, to externri-
 
 246 THE POSITION OF NONCOXKOKMTSTS 
 
 nate us from the British soil. The first was the Corporation Act ; 
 the second, the Act of Uniformity ; the third, an " Act to suppress 
 seditious conventicles," declaring it a transportahle offence for more 
 than five persons to unite in religious worship, except according to 
 the forms of the Church of England. The fourth, was the Oxford, 
 or Five-mile Act, by which it was enacted that no dissenting teacher 
 who took not the non-resistance oath, should come (except upon the 
 road,) within five miles of any corporation, or of any place where he 
 had preached, under a penalty of 501. and six months' imprisonment. 
 The fifth was a revival of the Conventicle Act, with increased severi- 
 ties ; and the sixth was the Test Act, which was not repealed until 
 the year 1828, only twenty years since. Two years afterwards 
 (14 Car. II.) it was enacted, That if any schoolmaster or other person 
 instructing or teaching youth in any private house or family, as a 
 tutor or schoolmaster, before license obtained from his respective 
 archbishop, bishop, or ordinary of the diocese, according to the laws 
 and statutes of the realm (for which he shall pay V2d. only), and 
 before such subscription and acknowledgment made as aforesaid, then 
 every such schoolmaster, and other, instructing and teaching as afore- 
 said, shall, for the first offence suffer three months' imprisonment, 
 without bail or mainprise ; and for every second, and other such of- 
 fence shall suffer three months imprisonment without bail or main- 
 prise, and also forfeit to his Majesty the sum of five pounds." This 
 was the work of the Clergy ; this the toleration and liberty of the 
 English Church ; this the eagerness of an established priesthood to en- 
 lighten and elevate England ; and this the interference of the Govern- 
 ment with private and public education. Notwithstanding this Act, 
 the Dissenters, in the beginning of the 1 8th century, did all that they 
 could to promote education. At length their efforts in instructing 
 the people aroused the jealousy of the Church ; and in the year 1714, 
 the infamous Schism Bill was introduced into the House of Com- 
 mons, and on the 1st of June was passed by a majority of 237 
 against 126. Lord Bolingbroke introduced it into the House of 
 Lords. The activity of Dissenters in the work of education was 
 alleged to be the cause of its origin. An effort was made to introduce 
 a clause to allow them schools in which they might instruct their 
 own children ; but it was rejected by 62 votes to 48 ; and at length 
 the bill itself was carried by a majority of 177 against 72. Now 
 what was its enactment ? " That no person in England or Wales 
 shall keep any public or private school, or seminary, or instruct
 
 IN KKLATION TO ITS AHVAXCEMKNT. 2-17 
 
 youth as tutor or schoolmaster, that has not first superscribed the 
 declaration to conform to the Church of England, and has obtained 
 license from the respective diocesan or ordinary of the place ; or, 
 upon failure of so doing, may be committed to prison without bail or 
 mainprise. And that no such license shall be granted before the 
 party produces a certificate of his having received the sacrament, 
 according to the communion of the Church of England, in some 
 parish church, within a year before obtaining such license. And if 
 any person teaches any other catechism than what is set forth in the 
 Common Prayer, his license shall be thenceforth void, and he be 
 liable to the penalties of this Act." This was Government interfe- 
 rence with education ! And this the guilty conduct of men calling 
 themselves the successors of the Apostles ! Mercifully for Britain, 
 God interposed. The bill was to have come into operation on the 
 1st of August; but on that day the Queen died, and the prospects 
 of its promoters were clouded and blackened by the advent of the 
 house of Hanover. It remained on the statute-book until the 5th of 
 Geo. I., when it was repealed. It was about the time of the passing 
 of this bill, that the populace was excited to commit acts of violence 
 upon the Dissenters. Five of their chapels in London were greatly 
 injured; and, among them, New-court Chapel, in which the Rev. 
 Daniel Burgess preached. The pulpit and pews were torn out, the 
 roof demolished, and everything that was combustible publicly 
 burnt in Lincoln's-iun Fields. 
 
 In the beginning of the reign of Geo. II., the spirit of many of 
 the clergy was of the worst kind. The celebrated Dr. Doddridge 
 distinguished by his moderation, and by a most peaceful spirit, no 
 sooner opened an academy at Northampton, than a prosecution was 
 commenced against him in the Ecclesiastical Court, by some digni- 
 taries of the Established Church.. Yes, these men thought it a crime 
 (and the state of ,the law sanctioned them) for such a man as 
 Doddridge to instruct youth in knowledge, virtue, and piety, and 
 for doing it he was cited into the Ecclesiastical Court a 
 Court which, to the dishonour of our country, the disgrace of the 
 Established Church, and the injury of liberty, still exists, but must 
 be swept away by the swelling tide of knowledge, of justice, of com- 
 mon sense, and of Christian liberty, which shall, ere long, carry with 
 it Church Courts, and some other things, to their " own place." 
 The clergy were determined to inflict upon Dr. Doddridge the full 
 penalties of the law ; but the facts of the case being fully stated to 
 the king and especially the representation that was made of the
 
 248 THE POSITION OF NONCONFOHMISTS 
 
 high and amiable character of the Doctor, George the Second, to 
 his honour, ordered the prosecution to be stopped; and by the 
 Royal interference the clergy were disappointed, and the Doctor 
 escaped. 
 
 It is now about twenty years since we succeeded in gaining the 
 repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. So lately as the 25th of 
 April, 1828, the Bishop of Bristol of that day made a remarkable 
 speech in the House of Lords. He was alarmed at the petitions 
 sent to both Houses of Parliament, from all parts of the kingdom. 
 He did not like the repeal of the offensive Test Act, and, in speak- 
 ing upon it, made the following extraordinary remarks about our 
 schools. He said : " The Dissenters are a powerful body ; they 
 have a great control in many places ; they have established schools 
 in various parts of the country ; and it is not unworthy of remark, 
 that they frequently keep the children at those schools on the 
 Sunday, when the service of the church is going on, by which they 
 are deprived of religious instruction. If your Lordships will permit 
 me, I will mention one circumstance connected with this point 
 which is worthy of attention. If your Lordships look at the Report 
 of the Committee of the House of Commons, on Education, you will 
 find it stated, in the evidence of Dr. Hunt, that, in his opinion, one 
 great cause of the increase of crime is the detention of the children 
 at these schools [Sunday-schools], by which they are deprived of 
 regular religious instruction." This is an extract from a speech, 
 not twenty years old, by a Bishop, in the House of Lords ! The 
 Nonconformists were then clearly doing too much for his Lordship ; 
 and what they did in their Sunday-schools accounted for the increase 
 of crime ; and now, the Government offers its patronage to do some- 
 what of the same kind of thing, even in Day-schools, in order to 
 suppress crime ! 
 
 Nothing is more certain and notorious at the present hour, to 
 those who know the working of the Established Church in rural 
 districts, and small towns, than that the zeal of the Dissenters, and 
 their efforts to instruct the young, are very offensive to many of the 
 clergy, and the most shameful practices are resorted to, to thin our 
 Day-schools, break up our Sunday-schools, and, if possible, drive 
 the Missionary from the district, the humble Pastor from the village, 
 and his flock into an alien fold. Bribery, parish alms, school-bounty, 
 and Society-relief, in the form of apparel and food, are employed to 
 allure or to intimidate ; while anything but fraternity is cherished 
 on the part of the clergyman with the Dissenting minister. But
 
 IN KKLATION TO ITS ADVANc KMKM . '24U 
 
 these things must have an end, and a sound religious education will 
 rapidly and blessedly accelerate it. 
 
 The latter part of the last century, and the beginning of the pre- 
 sent, the education of the people began to attract attention. Look 
 at the two parties of Conformists and Nonconformists at that time. 
 The former in possession of vast wealth annually, for the religious 
 education of adults and children ; in possession of the funds of the 
 endowed schools, at that time grossly abused, and the education for 
 which they were founded shamefully neglected ; their churches built, 
 and the influence, power, and learning of the kingdom in their favour, 
 with grants from the treasury for new churches, unopposed. Look 
 at the Nonconformists ! Poor, not freed from civil disabilities, 
 oppressed, persecuted, despised. See what they had to do. Out of 
 their poverty they had to build their chapels, support their ministers, 
 and keep their edifices in repair ; build colleges, educate their mini- 
 sters, found Sunday-schools, attend to the claims of the local poor of 
 every district, and build Day-schools. The extent to which they did 
 these things, the statistics of various denominations amply illustrate : 
 and in addition they attended to the claims of the slave, and of the 
 civilised and uncivilised heathen. 
 
 A Baptist Minister was the founder of the Bible Society, and also 
 of the Religious Tract Society ; an Independent Minister was the 
 founder of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum. Dissenters founded the 
 Orphan Asylum at Clapton since taken from them by Churchmen. 
 An Independent Minister founded the Infant Orphan Asylum, 
 also taken from them by the wicked test of the Church Catechism ; 
 and then he founded the Infant Orphan Establishment, where there 
 is no test, and where there is given to the child of the Churchman in 
 a Christian spirit what the Churchman denies to the child of a 
 Dissenter in a sectarian spirit. Dissenters founded the Orphan 
 Working School, now on Haverstock Hill. A Dissenter founded 
 the London City Mission. A Dissenter was the origin of the 
 British and Foreign School Society. Dissenters have, with 
 Churchmen, aided in building and supporting British schools 
 over the whole kingdom. The magnitude of Voluntary support 
 is triumphantly but libellously stated to be the annual amount 
 of about 362,000 contributed to the British and Foreign School 
 Society. This is utterly untrue. Local subscriptions have built all 
 the local schools in the kingdom, and sustained them until the recent 
 operation of Government grants. But, besides these, the unselfish
 
 250 THE POSITION OK NONCOXH'OBMISTS 
 
 Voluntary Principle sent a Baptist missionary to India, before a Church 
 missionary or a Bishop had planted foot on that soil ; and when, to 
 the disgrace of England and English law, he was obliged to take re- 
 fuge in a Dutch settlement : and a Congregationalist was the first Pro- 
 testant missionary to China : he translated the Scriptures into the 
 Chinese language ; compiled a Lexicon ; and both of these men, 
 Carey and Morrison, rose to the highest distinction in India 
 and China. The South Seas, Africa, Greenland, and every part of the 
 world, have been visited and blessed by men of God, sent forth and 
 sustained by the Voluntary Principle. They have reduced spoken, to 
 written languages, translated the Scriptures, founded schools and 
 colleges, made large contributions to literature and science, and have 
 conferred on Britain immortal honour. And the Established Church, 
 as an Establishment, has done nothing in other lands, but what she 
 has done on the same principle. She is now, however, by her emissaries 
 and friends, wherever she can get a footing, trying to exist by tax- 
 ation ; and is already in our Colonies oppressing the people with 
 some of her worst laws. South Australia, where it was understood 
 none of these evils were to be visited upon the emigrants and settlers, 
 has recently memorialized the Queen to withhold her sanction from 
 the scheme of paying for religion out of the public taxes ; but to 
 their dismay and indignation, Lord Grey, the Liberal Whig, has 
 sent them back his decree in these words : " It has been my duty 
 humbly to submit to Her Majesty my opinion, that the course pur- 
 sued by the local Legislature, in applying some part of the local 
 revenue towards the promotion of religion, knowledge, and education 
 in the Colony, merits Her Majesty's entire approbation." A man 
 with these sentiments, having rule in the Colonial-office, cannot be 
 removed too soon, if we wish to preserve British connection with the 
 Colonies, and to build them up in peace and prosperity. 
 
 Let the history of the Voluntary Principle for the last sixty years 
 be written and read, as it has been illustrated by Roman Catholics, 
 by Presbyterians before and since the Free- Church rupture, by 
 Independents, Moravians, the Society of Friends, Baptists, Wesleyans, 
 and other bodies, and even by Churchmen : and then let the history 
 of the compulsory principle be written and read with its oppressions, 
 cruelties, injustice, dishonour to Christ and Christianity, and its 
 injury to the spread of religion ; and let any impartial jury, even of 
 Churchmen, pronounce a verdict on the usefulness of the two sys- 
 tems in enlightening and benefiting mankind. We want a concise,
 
 IN" HKI.ATION r l(> ITS AliVANi LMF.NT. 251 
 
 well-written, popular history of the DEEDS of Voluntaryism for the 
 spread of knowledge, education, liberty, commerce, Christianity; and 
 for the support of ; benevolent and philanthropic institutions, includ- 
 ing our asylums and hospitals. Such a book ought to be presented 
 to Lord Grey by the Colonists of Australia, and by the Voluntaries 
 of England to every Member of the House Commons, the House of 
 Lords, and the bench of Bishops. 
 
 As to the advancement of popular education in Great Britain and 
 the world, we are pledged to it. We must have, and encourage 
 others to have, the best Normal schools they can command. Edu- 
 cate the teachers, and you do much to educate the people. We 
 admire the proportions, the orders, the decorations of architecture ; 
 but our mission at present is not to gratify taste, but to build up 
 and adorn the human soul. Too much money has been either igno- 
 rantly or wilfully spent upon some of our school buildings, and our 
 colleges. We must have the best books, and the best apparatus we 
 can command. Among Catholics, Churchmen, and Dissenters, we 
 must know what is doing ; and if they are in advance of us we 
 must at least equal them, if we can, overtake them. The quality 
 and extent of education must not be ruled by prejudice, nor by 
 narrow and sectarian views. Let us do what we can to adopt the 
 best system work out the most judicious and practical plans use 
 the best books and confer the greatest amount of good in our 
 power upon teachers and children. We are free to advance. Let 
 our progress be marked by kindness, wisdom, discretion, sobriety, 
 and zeal, and then we may hope for success. 
 
 There is one point on which a few words may be expected from 
 me, as the Secretary of the Board of Education : it is that of 
 acting denominationally. We would not have done it, could we have 
 avoided it. There are two causes of denominational action. First ; 
 Churchmen, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, and the Free-Church of 
 Scotland, have determined to act singly, and if they can get Govern- 
 ment money on their own terms to accept it. But from the Church 
 downwards, they will meet with more disappointments than they 
 expect. The State will have its quid pro quo and so it ought. Such 
 Churchmen and Dissenters as can unitedly take Government money 
 will do it on the floor of the British and Foreign School Society. 
 
 The other materials of union, are some of the Congregationalists, 
 some of the Baptists, some of the Society of Friends, and some 
 of the Unitarians. With the last of these, we have no sympathy.
 
 252 THE POSITION OF NONCONFORMIST* 
 
 We think it dishonest and immoral, professedly to unite with Uni- 
 tarians upon an equal platform, and teach nothing but Orthodox 
 doctrine. We should not like to be served so ; and we would not 
 therefore like to serve others so. We sincerely respect and admire 
 many of the Baptist body, and many of the Society of Friends ; but 
 the former have been represented to us as being willing to coalesce in 
 school operations with Unitarians, more closely than we can feel 
 ourselves justified in doing ; and the latter we have thought have 
 required, that on some points there should be too much that is nega- 
 tive, especially in respect to the religious management of Normal 
 schools. Personally, we should prefer a union of all true-hearted 
 Christian Voluntaries. The denominationalism of the Congregational 
 Board consists, in the management of the Board, and its connection 
 with the Congregational Union of England and Wales. In every- 
 thing else it is perfectly undenominational. The education is to be 
 religious, but it is left to the Committee of every school to direct it 
 as it pleases. There is no creed, nor Catechism imposed upon any 
 school, nor upon any child. Local schools may be sustained, 
 directed, managed, by Churchmen, Baptists, Wesleyans, or by 
 Friends : the teaching and management are under the control of 
 the Local Committee. What we want, is to secure a religious educa- 
 tion, resist temptations to bribery and Government grants, and to 
 raise up schools that, for sound instruction, religious feeling, and 
 Catholic government, shall be a blessing to our country. With all 
 will we co-operate as far as in us lies, and with none will we have any 
 strife, if we can avoid it. We are BRETHREN, for the common good 
 of our country, and of the world ! 
 
 And now, in conclusion, let me ask the friends of Voluntary Edu- 
 cation and of freedom men who desire to be consistent who scorn 
 a bribe who court not a smile at the cost of principle who are 
 lovers of their country, and would not entail upon posterity, for a 
 temporary advantage, a permanent, ever-increasing, and intolerable 
 burden of clerical power, Government patronage, ammual taxatien, 
 and of State scholastic appointments, let me ask you to co-operate 
 with one another locally and nationally, to educate as far as lies in 
 your power such as are neglected, to improve and advance education, 
 to sow in British minds and in British hearts seeds of loyalty and 
 liberty, of justice, independence, charity, freedom of thought, speech, 
 and conscience, freedom of worship, both as to the mode and support 
 of it, not sanctioning the tyranny and oppression of Ecclesiastical or
 
 TN RELATION" TO ITS ADVANCEMENT. 253 
 
 State exactions, either in our colonies or at home, for the support 
 and spread of education by Catholics, by Churchmen, by Dissenters ; 
 nor for the support of Catholic'worship or Protestant worship, Ca- 
 tholic doctrines or Protestant doctrines, whether we believe them or 
 not. The education that we and others have given to British chil- 
 dren and adults, and even to British statesmen, encourages us ; for 
 although this may be but the hour of twilight, we know that the 
 midnight of mind in Britain has passed away. Streaks of light 
 appear in the horizon, the atmosphere is brightening, and, although 
 we may have some storms, liberty, knowledge, and religion, like the 
 rising sun, shall break forth, and illumine, and bless our land ! Men 
 gather not grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles. But that the 
 fig-tree should never more yield its fruit, required a miracle. There 
 are those among us, by the help of Heaven, capable of working out a 
 regeneration of our working classes, and of our statesmen, which 
 promises the happiest results. On all points we may not be 
 agreed, while we would fain hope that our differences are not 
 insurmountable. Our great objects should be exalted before us, 
 and nothing should be permitted to intercept our view of them, 
 nor cool nor quench our desire and determination to realize 
 them. The course is clear before us the race is glorious to 
 run. Nonconformists ! Voluntaries ! Friends of Education ! Friends 
 of Freedom! your deeds are already registered in the annals of 
 your country, and in the records of the Church of the living God ! 
 Kings and queens ; Charles', James', Elizabeths', and Anns', who 
 have tried to exterminate you, are dead and buried. The British 
 nation has decreed that the principles they professed, shall be gradu- 
 ally, but decently interred in one common mausoleum, large enough 
 to contain all tyrannous ecclesiastical and political enactments all 
 social, Church and State injustice and oppression all tamperings 
 with freedom, and all exactions to uphold error, and provoke to 
 unkindness and strife. Your principles have lived and flourished. 
 England, their native soil, suits them ; let us act the part of faithful 
 husbandmen. America the soil to which they were carried 
 when some of our number were driven away from our shores 
 also suits them. There religion spreads ; but there is no State- 
 Church. Our Colonies will suit them ; they will flourish in their 
 virgin soil ; but if the enemy, occupying the place of power, com- 
 mands that among our wheat his emissaries should, in early dawn, 
 sow the poppy, the thistle, the nettle, the dock, and other weeds,
 
 254 TITK POSITION OF NONCONFORMISTS 
 
 then we must prefer a fallow to bad farming ; we must deep-drain in 
 the neighbourhood of the House of Commons ; and we must ask for 
 the dismissal of a steward, who, in his ignorance or self-will, is deter- 
 mined so to cultivate our colonies, that instead of making them 
 integral parts of the British empire, appears determined to goad them 
 to anger, isolation, and independence. 
 
 It was the boast of Augustus, that he found Rome of brick, and 
 left it marble. But for free Christian men, in the present state of 
 the world's population, there are nobler deeds to do than this, and 
 more glorious and lasting monuments to leave of our existence and 
 power. To do the will of God, with respect to an orphan child ; 
 giving him shelter, clothes, food, instruction, and religion, and to 
 train him for the happiness of heaven, is a nobler work than found- 
 ing a city. To be devoted to the well-being of our country, 
 the instruction, social and domestic happiness, just liberty, and 
 training of the millions, by the school, by the pulpit, by the 
 press, is indeed a noble mission. Thus we deepen the foun- 
 dations of social and national happiness ; we equalize our claims, 
 duties, and responsibilities ; we raise the poor from the dung-hill ; 
 lower the pride of him who holds his inferiors in contempt ; teach 
 the tyrant, that he has neither example nor authority from heaven to 
 rule in any other way, but in justice, equity, and mercy, and prac- 
 tically inculcate the brotherhood of mankind, and the beauty and 
 blessedness of peace, virtue and love ! Of a truth, wealth and station 
 are chiefly to be envied, because they bestow, to a larger extent, 
 the power of thus benefiting and blessing mankind. But after all, 
 the will and the power may dwell in the heart of a man who has 
 not a shilling in his pocket, and God can make him successful. 
 Remember Joseph Lancaster. That man has done more for the 
 children of Britain, and of the world, than any prince that ever 
 occupied a throne. He has left a legacy to his country, and his 
 race, more valuable than had he endowed the Committee of Council 
 on Education, with property as large as that possessed by the 
 Established Church. And remember David Nasmith, a man of 
 pure and intense love for his fellow-creatures, and burning zeal to 
 elevate them and make them happy. His race was swift, his course 
 was short, his work was quickly done ; but we fearlessly affirm, that 
 by his establishment of City and Town Missions, he has directly and 
 indirectly spread more religion and knowledge among the poor ; he 
 has diffused greater happiness in the social life of the lowest classes
 
 IN RELATION TO ITS ADVANCEMENT. 255 
 
 of society, than any bishop of the Established Church, or the whole 
 bench of bishops together. We go further, and affirm, that the 
 State-Church, as an Establishment, has done nothing like the 
 amount of good among the poor in our cities and towns, with her 
 immense revenue, during the present century, that David Nasmith, 
 by God's blessing, was honoured to accomplish. It is worthy of us, 
 wherever we find ignorance to supply instruction ; divisions and 
 strifes to endeavour to heal them ; oppressions and injustice to 
 exert ourselves to afford relief; irreligion and vice to supplant 
 them with godliness and virtue ; and thus to leave children and men 
 better than we found them : and should God honour us in con- 
 verting but one sinner from the error of his way, we shall have 
 saved a soul from death, and have covered a multitude of sins ! To 
 me, much reflecting on the rapid flight of time, the vanity of human 
 greatness, power, .wealth, and glory, the uncertainty of fame, 
 whether by the favour of a prince, or of the people, the shortness 
 of our existence, and the days that must come upon us, when we 
 shall say we have no pleasure in them, it seems a worthier and 
 nobler honour to be building up, polishing, and furnishing living 
 temples, as the habitations of virtue and of God, than to dwell in 
 idleness, accumulate wealth, and cherish the pride of caste and of 
 selfishness. Our great Model is a holy, just, benevolent, and merciful 
 being, full of goodness and love, who, when upon earth, continually 
 went about doing good. To follow in his footsteps, is to be his 
 disciple is, to do the will of God is to acquire for ourselves the 
 largest amount of happiness we can enjoy ; and to confer upon others 
 whatever can do them the most good for this state,*aml for immor- 
 tality ! 
 
 Tyler and Reed. Bolt-court, Fleet-itreet.
 
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