The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

tained that 2,861,848 received no instruction what-
ever ; while an analysis of the scholars with reference
to the length of time allowed for their school tuition
showed that 42 per cent. of them have been at school
less than one year, 22 per cent. during one year, 15
per cent. during two years, 0 per cent. during three
years, 5 per cent. during four years, and 4 per cent.
during five years. Therefore, out of the two millions
of scholars alluded to more than one million and a
hall remain only two years at school. " I leave it to
you to judge," said his Royal Highness, "what the
results of such an education can be " :

Gentlemen (continued the Prince Consort), these are
startling facts, which render it evident that no extension of
the means of education will be of any avail unless this evil,
which lies at the root of the whole question, be removed,
and that it is high time that the country should become
thoroughly awake to its existence and prepared to meet it
energetically. To impress this upon the public mind is
the object of our conference. Public opinion is the power-
ful lever which in these days moves a people for good and
for evil, and to public opinion we must therefore appeal if
we would achieve any lasting and beneficial result. You,
gentlemen, will richly add to the services which you have
already rendered to the noble cause if you wilt prepare
public opinion by your inquiry into this state of things, and
by discussing in your sections the causes of it as well as
the remedies which may lie within our reach.
This will be no easy matter; but even if your labours
should not result in the adoption of any immediate practi-
cal steps, you will have done great good in preparing for
them. It. will probably happen that, in this instance as in
most others, the cause which produces the evil will be
more easily detected than its remedy, and yet a just arpre-
ciation of the former must ever be the first and essential
condition for the discovery of the latter. You will pro-
bably trace the cause of our social condition to a state of
ignorance and lethargic indifference on the subject among
the parents generally; but the root of the evil will, I sus-
pect, also be found to extend into that field on which the
political economist exercises his activity—l mean the
labour market—demand and supply.
To dissipate that ignorance and rouse from that lethargy
may be difficult, but with the united and earnest efforts of
all who are the friends of the wJrking classes it ought,
after all, to be only a question of time.
What measure can be brought to bear upon the other
root of the evil is a more delicate question, and will re-
quire the nicest care in handling, for there you cut into
the very quick of the working man's condition. His
children are not only his offspring, to he reared for a future
independent position, but they constitute part of his pro-
ductive power and wark with him for the staff of life ; the
daughters especially are the handmaids of the house, the
assistants of the mother, the nurses of the younger chil•
dren, the aged, and the sick. To deprive the labouring
family of their help would be almost to paralyse its domestic
existence. On the other hand, carefully collected statistics
reveal to us the fact that while about 000,000 children
between the ages of three and fifteen are absent from
school, but known to be employed, no less than 2;200,000
are not at school, whose absence cannot be traced to any
ameertained employment or other legitimate cause. You
will have to work, then, upon the minds and hearts of the
parents, to place before them the irreparable mischief
which they inflict upon those who are intrusted to their
care by keeping them from the light of knowledge, to
bring home to their conviction that it is their duty to exert
themselves for their children's education, bearing in mind
at the same time that it is not only their most sacred duty,
but also their highest privilege. Unlass they work with
you, your work, our work, will he vain ; but you will not
fail, I feel sure, in obtaining their co-operation if you
remind them of their duty to their God and Creator.
Our Heavenly Father, in his boundless goodness, has
made his creatures that they should be happy, and in his
wisdom has fitted his means to his ends, giving to all of
them different qualities and faculties,in using and develop-
ing which they fulfil their destiny, and, running their
uniform course according to his prescription, they find that
happiness which he has intended for them. Man alone is
born into this world with faculties far nobler than the
other creatures, reflecting the imago of Him who has
willed that there should be beings on earth to know and
worship Him, but endowed with the power of self-determi-
nation, having reason given him tor his guide. He can
develop his faculties, place himself in harmony with his
divine prototype, and attain that happiness which is
offered to him on earth, to be completed hereafter in entire
union with Him through the mercy of Christ. lint he
can also leave these faculties unimproved, and miss his
mission on earth. He will then sink to the level of the
lower animals, forfeit happiness, mid separate from his
God, whom he did not know how to find.
Gentlemen, I say man has no right to do this, he has no
right to throw off the task which is laid upon him for his
happiness ; it is his duty to fulfil his mission to the utmost
of his power; but it is our duty, the duty of those whom
Providence has removed from this awful struggle and
placed beyond this fearful danger, manfully, unceasingly,
and untiringly to aid by advice, assistance, and example,
the great bulk of the people, who, without such aid, must
almost inevitably succumb to the difficulty of their task.
They will not cast from them the aiding hand, and 0,43
Almighty will bless the labours of those who work in his
cause. (His Royal Highness concluded amid continued
and enthusiastic cheering.)
The Secretary then read the report, which reca-
pitulated the various points of interest dwelt upon
in the speech of the Prince Consort, and stated that
since ISti) 2,000,0001. had been expended in the
erection of school buildings, thus affording the means
of education to more than 500,000 children, while a
sum exceeding 1,250,000/. was annually expended

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for the support of schools for the children of the
working classes.
Lord BROUGHAM next addressed the meeting, and
went at length into a history of the efforts whic had
been made in the cause of educational progress by
Mr. W. Allen, Mr. Fox, the late Duke of Bedford,
and the Educational Committee of the House of
Commons. The Bishop of OxFoal) also addressed a
few remarks upon the advantages of the present
Conference ; while the Rev. Canon MOSELEY discussed
the question of the early removal from school of the
children of working men, which he attributed to the
indifference of the parents to the advantages of
education. _ _

vv
His Royal Highness then formally declared the
Conference open.

On Tuesday the business of the Conference was
commenced at the Thatched house Tavern. In
order to systematise the work the Conference yds
split up into four sections—A, B, C, D—asl a
supplemental section, E, presided over respectively
by the Bishop of Oxford, Right Hon. sv. Cowper,
Sir J. Kay Shuttleworth, the Dean of Salisbury, and
the Dean of Westminster.
Under Section A wag discussed the evidence
regarding the age at which children were withdrawn
from school. The papers read were by Mr.
Mitchell, Inspector of Schools, Mr. Heyett, F.R.S.,
and Mr. Goodman, of Birmingham.
Under Section B an inquiry was made into the
circumstances attending the removal of children from
the schools in continental countries, with a view to
seeing how far that removal took place at a later or
an earlier age as compared with the same event in
these countries. The papers read were by Mr.
Joseph Kay, M. Eugene Rendu, of the Ministry of
Instruction in France, the Rev. Dr. Matter, of
Strasbourg, formerly inspector of schools under the
Government of Louis Philippe, and Capt. Boscawen
Ibbetson.
Under Section C was considered the best means
of promoting school attendance. The Rev. J. P.
Norris, the Rev. J. W. Kennedy, the Rev. Nash
Stevenson, Mr. Tiemenheere, and Mr. Thomas
Hare, Charity Commissioner, contributed important
papers upon the subject.
In Section D Mr. Alexander Redg,rave, Inspector
of Factories, read a paper " On the operation of the
half-time system in factories." The Rev. C. H.
Bromby, of the Cheltenham Training-school, de-
livered, an address I" On voluntary half-time
schemes." The Rev. P. Marshall, of Hulme, read
a paper upon "Factory education, with suggestions
for improvement." The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert,
M.P., deliverei an address in reference to some
industrial schools at Wilton. Mr. J. Thackray
Bunce read a paper on "Feeding and Evening
Schools " ; and Mr. I. Fawkener Winfield, of Bir-
mingham, read a paper upon the importance of
factory schools.
The supplemental section, E, was formed after the
meeting of Monday to dispose of the surplus papers
which it was found impossible for the other sections
to consider in the time allotted for their sittings.
The first paper read was " On juvenile delinquency,
in its relation to the education movement," by Miss
Carpenter. The second paper was by Mr. Jellinger
Symons, one of her Majesty's Inspector of Schools,
" On industrial training as an adjunct to school
teaching." The third paper was read by the Rev.
Mr. Girdlestone, " Will an improvement in the
dwellings of the labouring classes have any influence
on the value which they attach to the education of
their children ? and can any use be made of the
electoral franchise in the same direction ?" The
two remaining papers were read, one by Mr. W. L.
Sargent, of Birmingham, "On the proposed middle-
class examinations as a means of stimulating the
education of the lower classes"; and the other by
the Rev. H. G. Robinson, of the Training-school,
York, entitled, "Suggestions of plans for retaining
children at school till a more advanced age."

On Wednesday the final meeting took place, when
the reports of the several sections were read. Earl
GIIANVILLE presided on this occasion, and concluded a
briet opening address by calling upon the Bishop of
Oxford, as president of Section A, to present his
report.
The Bishop of OxForm said that the section over
which he had the honour to preside had arrived at
the following conclusions :
I. That, in the opinion of this section of the Conference,
the greater number of the children of the working classes
in the agricultural, manufacturing, and mining districts
are removed from school when from nine to ten years old,
and that their removal at so early an sg in great measure
destroys the effect of the education provided for them.
2. That this section, having inquired into the causes of
such early removal, is of opinion that it is not commonly
to be traced to the poverty of parents, but in some in•
stances to objections to the rules of the school, in others
to its impractical character, in others to an undervaluing
of education by parents from the inefficiency of the educa-
tion which they themselves received ; and, as a general
rule, to the state of the lebour•market, which imparts

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