The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-08 00:00:00

COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

At the Salford Epiphany Sessions, which com-
menced yesterday, the Chairman (Mr. A. Milne), in
charging the grand jury, said the state of education dis-
closed in the calendar was very lamentable and deplorable.
Of 69 prisoners, four were well educated, 14 could read but
could not write, 29 could read and write imperfectly, and
22 could neither read nor write at AIL Judges from time
immemorial up to the present time—and the remark ap-
plied more strongly to quarter sessions and the superior
courts—had been crying out and begging the country to
take into consideration the state of the education of the
people. It was really shocking to see so much ignorance
as must be rife amongst the lowest class of the community,
as evidenced by the state of these calendars. They were
told to train up a child in the way it should go, and when
it was old it would not depart from it; aid they might
depend upon it the converse of that was also true—that if
they did not train a child at all, but let him run about
the streets when he ought to be at school, that child, unless
he was very fortu..ate indeed, would come to grief
and destruction. They would always have calendars
full so long as they allowed such a state of
things to continue. He was glad to say that
the country seemed at last to be awakening
4. to the neoessi of giving these children some education.
They werebeginning to find now that taking the very
lowest view o it, it was cheaper and certainly better to
prevent children committing crime than to punish them
by sending them to gaol after they had committed it.
Some of the grand jury were probably aware that several
efforts had been made in this city for the purpose of edu-
cating the lowest class of the community. A society had
been formed, and had now been in operation for two or
three years, and was doing its best to remedy the evil.
Their object was to give assistance to poor parents to send
their children to echooL That society had done a great
deal of good, and they had now come forward and stated
at a public meeting in Manchester that it WY their unani-
mous and deliberate opinion, formed after considerable
study of the subject, that nothing would be of any avail
with the lower classes of the community but compulsory
education. When they considered of what that society
was composed—that it was not composed of one particular
sect, but that its members were composed of all shades of
politics, and of a great variety of religious opinions—and
when these gentlemen thus came forward, after giving the
subject a great .leal of their consideration, and stated that
it was their deliberate opinion that nothing would avail
but compulsory education, their opinion was entitled to
vme great weight. He was happy to say they had
cnged public opinion in the town, and that by
• very large majority they bad carried their resolutions.
They carried the approval of the meeting to a bill making
education compulsory, and further providing for it by a
small rate of 6.1. in the pound. The objections which had
been made to that bill appeared to him to be extremely
weak. The rate would certainly not fall heavily on any
but the poorest classes, and if they got cheap education
for their children they would in the long run be decidedly
the gainers. Whatever might be the fate of that bill, it
would, at all events, have the effect of calling the atten-
tion of parliament to the subject. He trusted that it
would meet with a favourable reception, because he was
quite sure the country had up to this time grossly neglected
the education of what might be called the lowest claim of
the community, and it was;,iniposaible to have anything
but large calendars and a great amount of crime while
children were allowed to learn everything that was bad by
the neglect of their parents. Feeling very deeply on the
subject, he hoped and trusted that something niight be
done to remove • state of things in which we contrasted
very unfavourably with many foreign countries.

It appears that the Prussians are so unpopular
at Frankfort, that when the burghers give a party they
send out cards with "S. P." in the corner. This is meant
for Sans Pry/since—no Prussians will be present.

The " Cupidines Veneresque" of the cafés ehantants
at Paris are in a state of collapse. Theresa is suffering
from a temporary loss of her voice, and is compelled pro
tem. to retire from the stage. Suzanne Lagies has been
engaged as a substitute at 240/. per month. The "muse
of the gutter," as M. Veuillot puts it, is not undervalued
in France.