The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-05-11 00:00:00

THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN SCHOOL

SOCIETY.

On Monday, the 67th annual meeting of this society,
preceded by an examination of the pupils of the boys'
school, was hell in the Training College in the
Borough-road, London. Earl Russell had promised to
preside, but having a more pressing public engagement,
his lordship was unable to be present. In a letter to
the secretary the Earl stated
1 remain faithful to the principles of the society. For
many years I have contended for those principles against
the partisans of secular teaching on the one hand and on the
other against the adherent s of the rules of the National So-
ciety, which impose the obligation of learning the catechism
on vents days and of attending the worship of the Established
Church on Sunday, It has appeared to me that ally system
of teaching which omitted reilgions instruction must
be faulty and inadequate. it 'likewise appears to me
to bo necessary that the society should adhere, with the
most simple c imment and explanations, to the words of
the Bible. I therefore trust that the society will continue
Its labours, and that they may be mom and more success-
In various ages of Christianity doctors hivested with
the suithmity derived from the Cope, or placed in their hands
by the schools, have added to the Holy scriptures, and inter-
polated doctrines for which no sufficient warrant could be
found in the liihle. The attempts to make such doctrincs a
part of the education of these islands have of late years had
much Mane.° on persons of authority, civil and ecclesias-
tical. The Si-suits of Rome are endeavouring to gain posses-
sion of the means of education in Irelan and the Jesuits of
oxford are working hard to acquire control over the educa-
tion of England. Let us hope that these machinations will
be resisted by the lovers of religious liberty in England and in
Ireland. It is to be hoped that next year the members
of the Government will declare thomselves enemies to
oppresidoo of Dissenters, for they canuot expect a Baptist
parent woof ii be satisfied to pay a tax for the promotion of
infant baptism, or that a Prvishyterian will be willing to send
his sou to church to pray for a blessing on the order of
bßhops. These attacks on freedom of conscience may be
relinquished, and probably will be, before any long time
shall elapse.
" The state of Ireland in respect of education is more
ccitt-
ed Vales, speedily checked try the House of Commons, the
Ultramontane party, who hail as signal a triumph last year
at -Rome, will next year gain a triumph equally signs/ at
Dublin. For nip part I will only say that this is not a time
when tither the liberal clergy of the Establishment or the
Protestant Diesentera ought to go to sleep. Let them be Up
and active?
In his lordship's absence the chair was taken by Mr.
J. Gurney Banday, the treasurer of the society, who
was supported by, among °there, Loril Lyveden, Mr.
Cowper-Temple, M.P., Mr. Charles Reed, M.P., Mr.
J. C. Stevenson, M.P., Sir Walter Stirling, the Rev.
Dr. Binuey, Mr. Samuel Gurney. Mr. Kemp-Welch
the Rev. G. M. Murphy, Mr. Stiff, and the Rev. A:
Iffursell.
In the report, 'which was read by Mr. Bourne, the
secretary, attention was called to the fact that no
single School Board had adopted the secular system,
and of the 46 which had decided how much religious in-
struction should be given in the schools, 8 hied resolved
that the Bible should be read without explanation and
33 that it should be read and taught. The Borough-
road said Stockwell Training Colleges had been
enlarged, and two new colleges opened at Darling-
ton all SWanSea. PO that the society had acconimoda-
thn for 130 male and 225 f emale etude:eds. At
(Irritants 197 studests who presented their selvos for
examination gained ca-:h the biliest C. ' au I
during last year the colleges sent out 126 duly tmalificd
teachers. The number of students in residence was
332. In the Six schools the names on the register
numbered 1,422, and the total attendance 1,281.
Letters and reports had been received from schools
assisted by the society in France, Spain, India.
Madagascar, and the South Seas, and the Bahamas. The
income last year was £15,576, and the expenditure
nearly £3OO in excess. The report concluded by
giving the estimate of 4,500 as tire number of qualified
teachers that would in all likelihood le repired almost
immediately for School Board schools.

Lord Lyveden, in moving the adoption of the report,
said the great education question was, yet hardly
solved, for next year the Government would have to deal
both with the compulsory and secular schemes of edu-
cation. He argued that the compulsory clauses of
the Act were unsuitable, and could not be properly or
justly worked, and that education would lose very
much of its value if it was to be conducted in any
spirit of party or sect. He trusted the society would
continue to advocate the liberal principles on which
it was founded, for, while other systems and things
would become obsolete the necessity for education
would last for all time.

Mr. Cowper-Temple, M.P., who seconded the reso-
lution, said, while it would be difficult to over-estimate
the value of the society's work durivg the past 66
years, it still behoved them to IN& to the future. The
establishment of a national system of education would
no doubt relieve the needs Lithe. to felt by the friends
of voluntary education, but it would increase the
pressure on the society as regarded its training colleges.
To meet the requirements for efficient teachers there
ought to be enlarged, strengthened, and improved
means given to the society to train misters and mis-
tresses, and he was convinced that it would be almost
useless tosend into the field, even tomeet an emergency,
persons only half trained and educated. He rejoiced to
think that the arrangemeutsfor primary education had
not been disturbed by the Education Act, as he believed
them to be well fitted to sul)ply the wants of the Eng-
lish people. The new law Mil not weakened the obli-
gations upon parents, but, while putting good schools
within their reach, had simply required them to send
their children, duly respecting at the same time their
, independence. It was of more interest to the nation
that the rising gnu-ration should be educated and culti-
vated than even to the family or to the children them-
selves. He believed the compulsory clauses would
be found to operate practically and usefully, and
without inflicting any great hardship either on
the children or the weal. Ihe religious diffi-
culty, by which the Act had been nearly ship-wrecked,
had been much exaggerated by mere theorists, but
was very small in actual practice. The British and
Foreign School system had shown that the Bible might
be taught in a practical, efficient, and useful, but still
in an unsectarian way, and without going into the con-
troversial and theological disputes now so rife. The
I determination of the School Boards not to exclude the
Bible, bailed as it Was on a free and uncontrolled ex-
pression of public opinion, miaowed the soundness of the
feeling of the English people on this great question.
Mr. Cowper-Temple concluded an able speech by com-
menting on the freedom allowed in educational
matters, and by dwelling on the advantages rendered
by the society in the cause of an unsectarian religious
education.
Mr. Charles Reed, M.P., supported the motion,
urging that the London School Beard haA solved the
so-called religious difficulty in a practical manner, and
without infringing religious liberty; that they had
treated the Bible as an undenominational book, and
that they were convinced that efficient religious educa-
tion might be given without trenching on the doctrines
or tenets of any particular sect. He fully confirmed
the statement in the report of the great demand for
experienced and qualified teachers.
The motion was carried unanimously, as was also
another moved by the Rev. Dr. Money, and seconded
by Mr. Stevenson, M.P., to the effect that the meet-
ing believiwthat the reading and study of the Bible,
without the use of any formularies, secured what was
most important in the religious teaching of schools,
commended the plan if the Seciety to the friends of all
sects and parties ILK the most satisfactory basis of union.
Several other speeches were made, and the meeting
I concluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman.