The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 9, lB5B.

976

i njudicionsly push progress forward too far in that (Erec-
tion—to that liberty which, as Englishmen, we prize so
dearly.
Sir G. C. LEWIS, after returning thanks for the
honour done him, alluded to the remarks made by
Sir J. Walsh as follows :
There is one sentiment to which my hon. friend has
given utterance and which I think will meet with general
concurrence—namely, that we are not necessarily to identify
democracy with liberty, we are not necessarily to suppose
that progress in the direction of democracy will itself, with
proper guards and securities' increase our public liberties.
He has taken you across the Channel and asked you to con-
template the political condition of the kingdom of France.
I will ask you to look across the Rhine, to look to Germany
as well as to France, and say whether the hasty and ill-con-
sidered rush they made a few years ago in the direction of
democracy has not ended in rivettiug despotism on their
necks. Nothing is wore obvious than that a hasty and ill-
considered attempt to run by a short cut to the goal of
democracy, will land you in the very opposite goal. I will,
however, add one remark to those which Sir John Walsh
has made, and that is, that hitherto, in my opinion, all
advances which we in this country have made in the
direction of democracy, have likewise been advances in
the direction of liberty. That has been owing to the
cautious manner in which the progress has been made, and
to the manner in which public measures are proposed and
considered in this country. That which has been hitherto
will, I sincerely trust, continue to be the case. It is with
a view of contributing my small mite to that conclusion
that I have ventured to throw out my sentiments with
respect to. the coining Reform Bill. I trust those who
propose it will form a distinct idea of what it is they seek
to accomplish. 1 trust, also, they will make an honest and
sincere proposal, and that they will not attempt to ac-
c nnplish one thing under the mask of another. If they do,
they will have the certainty of detection before their eyes.
No political trick in this country ever passes undetected,
and the certain result is a reaction of public opinion, and
a tendency to advance too rapidly in the direction contrary
to that in which an attempt may have been made to mislead
the public. From whatever quarter a Reform Bill may
come, and in whatever shape it may present itself, I trust
it will receive that consideration which will, when it obtains
the sanction of the Legislature, make it tend to the public
good ; and as I feel sure it will be, and must he, in the
directicn of democracy, so I believe it may be brought to
increase our public liberties.

MR. BLAKEMORE, M.P., AND MR. MARTIN,

M.P., IN HEREFORDSHIRE.
AT the annual dinner of the Ledbury Agricultural
Society, on "The Health of the County Members"
being given,
Mr. BLAKE:IMRE, after stating that politics were
excluded in that society, referred to the attempt
made in the late session of Parliament to introduce
another measure on agricultural statistics, but which
had failed ; nevertheless, he expected the subject
would hereafter be brought forward again. He ex
pressed his approval of the new system of parochial
harvest homes, one of which he had himself attended
on the previous day, and alluding to the harvest of
the present year, said the five harvests of Hereford-
shire—bark, hay, corn, hops, and fruit—had all been
most abundant, and they had reason to thank
Providence for having so blessed that garden of
agricultural industry. It would, indeed, have been
most diastrous if, atter the panic which they had
experienced so lately, Providence had not counter-
acted its effects by the blessing of a most bountiful
harvest. He was pleased with the tone of public
feeling which prevailed at the present time. There
was an evident sound attachment to the religious,
political, and national institutions of the country, and
as long as they had a monarch on the throne of
England he was sure no attempt, whether made at
home or abroad, to infringe upon the institutions
and the prosperity of the country would be tolerated.
With regard to Cherbourg, he considered the visit of
our Queen and Commons to the place would result
more in our safety than our danger. He was not
present, but he was not one of those who entertained
an idea of design from that quarter.
Mr. Ma'am, M.P., also briefly addressed the
meeting, confiuing his remarks to agricultural
subjects.

MR. SOTHERON.ESTCOURT AND THE
BISHOP OF SALISBURY ON ADULT
EDUCATION.
AT the annual meeting of the Hants and Wilts
Adult Education Society, add the Conference of In•
etitutions in union with it, held at Salisbury on
Wednesday, the Right Hon. T. 11. S. Estcourt, M.P.,
President of the Poor-law Board, who presided, in
moving the adoption of the report, said —He was
persuaded that anything like an attempt to catch
hold of the youth of both sexes after they had left
school in an artificial manner--that was, by holding
inducements of pecuniary profit or interest to them
other than those their own minds would induce them
to take on the subject of education—would end in
failure. Such a course was tempting to the clergy-
man who has with infinite labour established a

school, and also to the lay squire who was anxious to
promote the welfare of the people on his estate, as
an inducement for them to leave their natural
employment and attend to their mental culture ; but
he was persuaded that anything of the kind would
only be of a temporary and exceptional character.
What, however, they ought to do was to establish the
means of giving both sehes instruction after the
usual period of their attending school, without inter-
fering with their ordinary occupations, through the
instrumentality of their relatives, friends, and
employers. As an instance of the d:fficulties that at
present existed in keeping the children of the agri-
cultural labourers at school, the right hon. gentleman
said that about a year ago he was desirous of doing
something to promote education in his own parish,
and, as an example, wanting one boy on his farm, he
thought he would take two, and that the two should
make one boy, as regarded their work—one being at
school and the other at work alternately—a kind of
Castor and Pollux, one in heaven and the other on
earth ; but what was the result' Why, he was sorry to
say that after about three or four months' trial he found
they preferred earth to entering the gates of paradise,
or, in other words, that they preferred digging in the
soil of the earth to that of the fields of knowledge,
and they left his employment as soon as they found
another master who would employ them in the sole
cultivation of the soil. The alternate system would
not answer, and they had no right to expect success
from it, because it was an attempt to interfere in an
artificial manner. The only enduring mode by which
they might hope to effect the continuance of the
education of boys and girls after the period when
they usually lett school, would be by producing in
their minds a desire for it, either because it would
promote their interests or give them pleasure ; and
to speak plainly, he saw no other mode of doing it
than by the establishment of evening schools, where,
for a slight emolument, working men of a little edu-
cation would be willing to attend and instruct those
requiring it. The main thing, however, after all,
was to interest the people who were to be bene-
fited by this movement. During the Crimean war
his parishioners took a great interest in the events
of that period ; and in order to cultivate among the
labourers a desire of improvement that then mani-
fested itself, he established a reading•room for them,
providing them with paper, candles, and fire ; and in
order to make them feel a greater interest in the
matter, and a degree of independence, he made each
person who attended contribute a penny a week
towards the expenses; and the result was that every
adult in the parish enrolled his name as a member,
and attended the reading•room ; but at the end of the
month nne of them informed him that they could
not go on, because many of them could not read on
account that the print was so bad. He advised them
to get a reader, and they did so, and upon the whole
it answered very well.
The Bishop of SALISBURY said he entirely con-
curred in all that had been said by the chairman.
He fully approved of night schools for the labouring
population, and be had taken every opportunity of
informing his clergy that he thought, so far as their
health and means would permit, they could not be
more usefully employed in the winter months than
in superintending such schools, and, he rejoiced to
say, he believed there was no diocese in England
where there was more being done in that respect
than in the diocese of Salisbury. He was not
speaking by comparisons he had instituted, but
from information given to him by one of her
Majesty's inspectors of schools, and who had
given Mill most pleasing information relative to the
number and efficiency of those schools. To make
them attractive to the adult population they must not
view them simply as schools, but as a place where
they might obtain interesting information.

MR. C. B. ADDEIILEY, M.P., ON NATIONAL

EDUCATION.
ON Monday, at Stoke upon-Trmt, the annual
meeting of the North Staffordshire Prize Scheme
Association for the Promotion of Education was
held, and the prizes awarded to the successful
candidates by the Rev. J. P. Norris, one of her
Majesty's inspectors of schools, were distributed.
The prizes consisted of 72/. in money, forty four
Bibles, and four medals. The chair was occupied
and the prizes were distributed by Mr. C. B. Adderley,
one of the members for North Staffordshire, and
Vice President of the Committee of Council on
Education. A large number of the clergymen and
gentry of the district were present, and the pro-
ceedings were of a deeply interesting character.
Mr. ADDERLEY before distributing the prizes
delivered an address, in which lie said the first
inference to he drawn from the largeness of the
number of candidates who elected to be examined in
the Scriptures was that the general feeling of the
people of this country was by no means in favour of
a national system of secular education only. This
was now taken as a settled fact by Parliament, an

chhee s t r mentionedSel
cn
was always considered one of the s o problems
sansinileleu,swtrhaetinonthoef
Manchester
of
etthatucaa
shorteducation.
A
time
School applied to him for a portion of the
arha.
a
Secular
mentary grant for educational purposes, thie n
answer he could possibly give was that it was
not
within the province of the Committee of Council
to
make a grant to a merely secular school. If there
was one thing which more than another had upon
all occasions been definitely laid down by Parliament
it was this—that the principle to be adopted in the
distribution of the educational grant was that of
rendering assistance to the voluntary efforts of all
recognized religious denominations. The second
inference which Mr. Norris made in his annual
report was drawn from the fact that 200 children of
all denominations, with the consent of their parents,
submitted to be examined by him in the Scriptures,
and from this he inferred that the religious difficulty
was not a real obstacle to the establishmeet of a
comprehensive scheme cf national education. He
was afraid Mr. Norris's inference would not stand
the test of experience, although experience might
bear it out in part. He believed that the religious
difficulty need be no obstacle if the parents were
sensible and if the managers of schools and the
examiners were trustworthy. But religious jealousies
did exist, and there was nothing else which prevented
the formation of a great national scheme of educa-
tion. It was these religious jealousies which had
rendered the Irish National Education scheme as
purely denominational as the National Schools of Eng-
lacd, and which had prevented the ad )ption in this
country of a plan far more economical and efficient
than that which at present existed. There were,
however, signs of these jealousies vanishing ; for Mr.
Norris reported that several of the promoters of
British schools had expressed their complete willing-
ness that he should examine the children taught in
them. Referring to an earlier report of Mr. Norris,
with regard to children being taken from school at
too early an age, Mr. Adderley said he did not at all
wish to compel parents to keep their children at
school. It was sometimes contended that the Legis-
lature ought to use such compulsion, hut he thought
such a course ought to be guarded against; and he
did not believe it would ever succeed in England.
It would be inefficient, and would be sure to be
evaded. He believed that the best scheme for
keeping children at school for a proper length of
time was the prize scheme. He was not for keeping
the children of labourers from the labour which was
their real school for life, and a very efficient school
too ; but, at the same time, he thought a prize
scheme was doing, and was likely. to continue to do,
a good work, by preventing reckless parents and
employers from prematurely benefiting by the
strength of those who ought to be at school. The
existence of an educational commission at this
moment must be of very great interest to every friend
of progress. The commissioners had commenced
their investigations with great spirit; and they
intended for their guidance to take sample districts
from various parts of the country. What their
object was, or rather what the object of Parliament
was through them, was to arrive at some safe con-
clusion regarding the present state of education
generally. They knew the state of inspected schools,
but they also wished to know the state of those which
were not inspected. They wished also to know the
state of remote places which had no schools et all ;
and he could assure the meeting that the gentlemen
who composed the commission were very able men,
and had set about their work with great earnestness
and vigour. They would, among other things, con-
sider the prize scheme with the view of ascertaining
how far it could be made available for a national
system of education. That was all he should say
with regard to their work, but he would add that
when they made their report he did not believe they
would propose any radical change in the existing
system. This association and other associations
might, therefore, proceed without waiting for the
report of the commissioners, for he believed that
the prize scheme exactly embodied the best prin-
ciples of the existing system.
The very interesting
extracts which Mr. Norris had read from the com-
petition papers must convince them that the aSSOilla
non was doing a great and good work, and that it
deserved tl:e warm support of all the friends of edu-
cation.

Mt JOHN PAKINGTON ON MECHANICS'

INSTITUTES.
THE First Lord of the Admiralty attended a dinner
held at Worcester on Tuesday evening to celebrate
the establishment of the Worcestershire Union of
Mechanics' Institutes, which had been set on foot a
few months ago by his son, Mr. J. S. Pakington. (n
the course of the after-dinner proceedings,
Air. PAKINGTON, the chairman, proposed the health
of "The Members for the County and Borough of
Worcestershire," which was acknowledged by

T H

Sir J. PAKINOTON, who took the opportunity of
expressing his concurrence in the objects of these
unions, by which, he said, they arrived at uniformity
of action, and they also afforded a stimulus
i to emu-
lation. Seventeen mechanics' and literary institutes
around Worcester bad joined the Worcestershire
Union—the objects of which, as expressed by the
rules, were as follow t—l. Mutual intercourse and
improvement; 2. Concentrated information on the
progress and requirements of each institute ; 3.
Encouragement and increase of evening classes by
examinations and prizes, or other means ; 4. The
engagement of lecturers, gratu tons and professional ;
5. The promotion of a good system for circulating
hooks or otherwise improving local fibrin ies ; 6. The
acquirement and diffusion of information upon
matters relating to mechanics' institutes in general.
He particularly approved of rule 3, having for its
object the encouragement of evening classes. He
regarded these institutes for the working classes
much in the same light as he considered the Uni-
versifies in higher life—viz., as a means of carrying
the knowledge already possessed by the students
further than it had reached, and preparing them for
undertaking higher and more honourable, as well as
more useful positions in the particular condition of
life for which they were destined. He hoped that
those who had established this union of institutes
would persist in the good work which they bad be.
gun. It was a work of great importance, and one
which deserved and would receive the gratitude of
the public. The necessity for the general extension
of knowledge among the people was now generally
admitted ; the only question was as to the means.
Every reflecting mind would acknowledge that it
could not be the will of God that man should be
allowed to live in ignorance of things past and to
come, things human and divine, great and small, on
the earth or in the heavens, or that the noble gifts
given to man should be left uncultivated, any more
than it could be the will of the Almighty that the
soil of the earth should remain barren and untilled.
It was our duty as citizens, as philanthropists, and
as politicians, to promote education and the general
diffusion of knowledge, and no man would now in
this free country discourage the objects which these
institutions had in view. He himself had no fear
of the result of extending knowledge, and, without
pretending just now to expound any scheme of poli-
tical reform, he would say that one of our first du-
ties was to see that those who had to exercise
civil rights were made by education fit and competent
to discharge them. It had been said that "a little
knowledge is a dangerous thing." He was not afraid
of knowledge, but he was afraid of ignorance, with
its headstrong passions and prejudices, and it was
their duty as good citizens to extend as far as they
could the spread of knowledge, and to put an end to
ignorance.
Mr. SLANEY, M.P., also expressed his approval of
the object, and observed that the great difficulty in
the way of national education was the want of una-
nimity as to the best means of carrying it out.

MR. COLLIER, M.P. for Plymouth, appears to have
completely abandoned Lord Palmerston. Before his
constituents on Tuesday, Mr. Collier declared in
favour of Reform, resident suffrage, vote by ballot,
and rearrangement of electoral districts ; and he
exprest.ed his opinion that Lord Palmerston's faith.
lessness on this question was the cause, and the just
cause, of his fall from public favour. Speaking of
the present Government, Mr. Collier said it was not
his intention to give any factious opposition to the
Administration of Lord Derby. He looked at mea•
sures rather than at men, and, provided he found the
present Government adopting liberal and progressive
measures, those measures would have his support.
Be had no desire for perpetual change, and believed
it obstructed and delayed the progress of public
business, and afforded Governments an excuse for
doing nothing. He was far from saying that he be-
lieved it was immaterial who held the reins of office ;
but, as he thought it more important that we should
have measures of reform than to consider whether
this person or that person governed for the time
being, he should suspend his judgment with respect
to the acts of the Derby Administration, and when
the contemplated Reform Bill was brought forward
be would give it his best attention, and, if satisfied
with it, it should receive his support.

---
AT A MEETING OF lIIS CONSTITUENTS AT ABERDEEN,
on Friday, Colonel Sykes reviewed the leading events of
the session, especially dwelling on the votes given
upon the Reform questions, and having pointed out
the different sections in the House of Commons, pro-
ceeded then to describe independent Liberalism :
There are great lamentations about the direction of
party influence, and a noble lord last year wrote a hook
asserting that this country could only he well governed
by party, and that patronage was essential to any party
to keep its followers together—at least so I interpret the
arguments used. Party has been rendered imperative
by the growth of a body of men amongst the Liberals,
who have resolved to exercise their own judgments upon

their duty as good
could the spread of
ignorance.
Mr. SLANEY, 111.1
the object, and obs
the way of national
nimity as to the be
MR. COWER, M
completely abando
constituents on 1
favour of Reform,
and rearrangemen
expressed his opin
lessness on this qu
cause, of his fall f
the present Govern
his intention to gi'
Administration of
sures rather than
present Governme
measures, those n
Ile had no desire
it obstructed and
business, and affc
doing nothing. I
lieved it was imm
but, as he thought
have measures of
this person or the
being, he should s
to the acts of the
the contemplated
be would give it
with it, it should r
AT A MEETING I
on Friday, Colonel
the session, espec
upon the Reform
the different sectil
ceeded then to de
There are great
party influence, an
ihseniog that this
by party, and that
to keep its followe
arguments used.
by the growth of
who have resolved