The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-20 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIVIES.-LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY.

probable, to no further steps, there is certainly as
littib loss in this case as in that of Naples.
eonstantinop!e dates and letters to the 6th inst.
are to hand, On the previous day a council of
ministers had been held, to deliberate on the choice
of a new column!' of Moldavis, but no decision
had been then come to. The diplothatid body had
been then consulted on the subject, and the result
had been made known by telegraph. The news of
the conclusion of the treaty of peace between Eng-
land and Persia had reached the Turkish capital,
but had not produced much sensation, as the'
result was anticipated. The account of the disso-
lution of the English Parliament was the general
subject of conversation.

THERE is no question of greater Moment at the
present time than that of National Education.
All the candidates who have addressed the elec-
tors of Liverpool have referred to the subject.
Each professes to approve of the extension of
education, and to long for that period when the
mental and the moral illumination of the rising
generation will be the first and most anxious care
of the Government. To us it appears that those
who thus declaim upon the oestion have but
little studied the subject. Messrs. HORSFALL
and TURNER, at the Amphitheatre, on Monday,
told us that they advocated Education, but it
must be clogged with certain obstacles, which
must ultimately result in the mis-education of
the people.
In considering this all-important question, we
base our advocacy of it upon these grounds,
without which all our efforts must be perfectly
futile—these are, that education must be good,
permanent, and universal. It is with reference
to the first that we now write.

Education, to be good, must have special refer-
ence to the being to be educated. Man is that
being. Hence we have, at the outset, to consider
not only the object of Education, but also the
being to be educated. The object of all Educa-
tion is to render mankind able, intelligent, and
moral. By the term able, we allude to his
physical qualities—that which gives him a bodily
frame well developed, and all the powers
appertaining thereto. Intellectually and mo-
rally, it is the object of Education to
draw forth and expand all those powers and
functions of the mind which will enable its pos-
sessor to acquire knowledge, use for useful and
practical purposes the powers of observation,
attention, and generalization, and to value and
appreciate the binding obligation of " Right and
Wrong." In a word, Education, as we understand
it, should aim at rendering man content to per-
form all those duties which appertain to the
individual, whether it relates to the social circle,
or his duties as a member of a national com-
munity.

Messrs. TURNER and HoRsrALL tell us that
Education without religion is nothing less than
a curse, a national sin ! To this we demur, and
boldly tell the one and the other that they know
nothing of the subject, that they are actuated by
the cries of the May meetings in Exeter Hall, or
the blustering bravadoes of a M‘Neill, a Falloon,
or a Taylor. It is nothing less than religious
intolerance, bigotry supreme, and superlative
ignorance of the whole subject, for any man
who offers himself to represent a constituency
such as Liverpool, to tell us that Education,
unless based upon peculiar religious dogmas, is
nothing but a national sin—a calamity for which
all classes should go in sackcloth and ashes.
We tell the Tory candidates, that education,
to be really useful, and efficient, and to
answer the purposes of the State, must
be unshackled by any religious creed,
or the influence of religious party. It is the
object of education to rear up good and virtuous
citizens. The inculcation of creeds, and the
peculiar doctrines of this or that sect, is anta-
gonistic to the full development of intellect.
" Prove all things, hold fast that which is
good," says one of the most celebrated apostles.
How can this be, if the young and tender
mind is surfeited with the religious distinctions
of LUTHER or CALVIN, the theological subtle-
ties of a CLARKE, a WESLEY, or an ARIUS, or
the metaphysical ideas of a WHATELY or a
STUART ? The State, in extending education,
requires intelligence and morality. This is the
utmost limit of their legitimate expectation.
To effect this it does not require the Church
catechism of CHARLES TURNER, nor the Psalm-
singing doctrine of THOMAS BERRY HORSFALL.
We tell them plainly that the rising genera-
tion can be trained and brought up as good
and intelligent citizens, without their doctrinal
theology, What is it that teaches us to he
good and virtuous citizens ? Is it the doctrine
of Pope Pius, the creed of ATHANASIUS, the
Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England,
or the Westminster Confession of Faith ? We
trow not. 'Whenever these gentlemen speak of
education, let them think of what we say,

Now, as to Mr. EWART. He says that educa-
tion has been the favourite hobby of the
family. We believe it. Our candida*peaks
plainly and intelligibly. He is nco'ineasurer
of another man's faith in his own theological
bushel. Charity and good-will are the elements
of his educational creed. If he cannot induce
the millions to partake of his religious meals,
he will not starve their intellects. He wishes
to raise up a race of hardy and intelligent
people, well tutored in the exercise of all those
duties which appertain to the patriotic citizen,
and the moral and well-disposed subject of the
British Crown. Electors of Liverpool, you
have your choice. Say who is right or wrong.

THE duty which the nineteen thousand
electors of Liverpool will soon have to perform,
in returning two members to the Imperial Par-
liament, is one of the highest moment to them-
selves and to the whole country. At stated
periods of varying length the electors have to
fulfil the high function of acting for themselves
and for the unrepresented, It is surely befitting
that every voter should take into his most serious
consideration the principles on which he ought
to give that vote. Indifference or wrong bias
here, is recklessness of the public good. He who
does not conscientiously pause and consider how