The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-09-30 00:00:00

LORD STANLEY, M.P., ON MECHANICS''
LNSTITUTES AND EDUCATION.

Lord Stanley last week took the opportunity
of the opening of the Mechanics' Institute at
Stockport, to enunciate some great trnthr, which
perhaps may not be altogeter palatable to the
political party to which he belongs. His Lord-
ship thinka the name "Mechanics' Institute" not
well chosen, as clerks and small tradesmen, if
they are but anzions for knowledge, and are
willing to contribute their money towards the
support of the institution, receive, and are well
entitled to receive, just as much benefit from it
as the mechanic. They were established, which
at the time of their establishment did not exist,
—to meet educational requirements which
existed in the minds of the founders but not in
those of the pupils. The founders were men
possessing great zeal for education, but possessing
little knowledge of the class they wished to
benefit. They were also founded in a spirit of
party, for the purpose of opposing existing insti-
tutions. They had, however, proved abortive
instruments of party warfare; and, although
still possessing defects, they had excellencies
which entitled them to support. "I value
them," said his Lordship, "on many accounts.
I value them, because the help, both pecuniary
and personal—help not always necessary but
always welcome—which is asked for them from,
and which is granted to them by the wealthier
inhabitants of a town, gives to those wealthy
persons a fair and legitimate opportunity, not
open to any abase, of showing their interest in
the working classes of the neighbourhood. r
value them, because so far as their influence
extends, they are a perpetual protest against that
false doctrine to which many persons still—con-
sciously or unconciously--adhere, that the
diffusion of elementary knowledge is valuable,
not for its own sake, but only a# it may help to
promote the growth of some p ticular sect or
opinion. I value them, not 1 t, because of all
our educational arrangements ey alone have
been from the first, are now, a I hope will
i
always continue to be, independent 0 Govern-
ment subsides and Government control. "/ don't
complain that such assistance and such control
exists in the case of schools. I believe that it
is necessary; I believe that without it primary
education would not have made the rapid and
remarkable advance which it has made within
the last fifteen years; and, seeing what I believe
to be ita neoesaity, I accept it, as do the great
majerity of the English people, without in-
quiring+, over scrupulously into the question of
abstract principle. But lam not blind to a
possible risk. I believe that one of the leading
controversies of the next age will turn on the
question—At what point shall the limit be
fixed of State interference and of individual
action? I do not hesitate to declare my belief
that the habit of acting individually and collec-
tively, without reference to any central autho-
rity, constitutes one of the main distinctions be-
tween an energetic and feeble community.
And therefore, without adopting the theory of
those who support an exclusively voluntary
system without disparaging that Govern-
ment help which past neglect and recent
prejudice have, in my belief, rendered indispens-
able—l rejoice to see, in educational and in
other matters, the continuance, unimpaired, of
that self-helping, self-sufficing spirit which has
been the characteristic in all times of our English
race, which has been the secret of our freedom
at home, and the main cause of our colonizing
success in all quarters of the globe." This is
strange language from the lips of a Conserva-
tive, and must grate harshly on the ears of, not
only the political party to which Lord Stanley
belong, but also to all the opponents of the
"Revised Code" of education. There is no
doubt that his lordship is right, but he is
evidently greatly in advance of those who sit and
vote with him in the House of Commons.