Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-24 00:00:00

Conference.

We have already stated that, in legislating on
the subject, not only must Education be good,
but it must also be universal and permanent.
The consideration of the object of Education,
and the being to be educated, at once suggests
the expediency and means of elevating the
Educator in public estimation. Our laws do
not recognise an unprepared and uneducated
minister in the Established Church, nor will the
superior courts listen to an advocate, eloquent
though he be, unless he has been called to the
bar, prior to which he must have " eaten his
terms." The medical practitioner must possess
a diploma ere he can sue in courts of law for
his professional fees; and now the officers of the
Civil Service must undergo an examination as to
their literary attainments, ere they receive their
commissions. All this is right and proper.
We only regret that a principle so salutary has
been so long in being adopted. Turn we from
those instances to that of the teacher of youth,
and what do we find. Any one can be a school-
master. The discarded servant of my lord, who
loses his office for some slight neglect of duties,
can doff the plush breeches, and gold or silver
laced livery, mount a suit of black, and become
the instructor of the children of his lordship's
own tenants. If he can read, write, and cypher
a little, he has sufficient qualifications for the
office. How is it possible, under such circum-
stances, that anything approaching Education
can be imparted ? The Educator of such a
school does not know the meaning of the very
term, " Education," nor could he, if asked, give
the vaguest idea of the "Constitution of Man."

We belong to that class of Educationists who
think that if we would have good education, we
must have good educators ; and that, to secure
the latter, proof of literary and professional
abilities should be given to a competent tribunal,
before allowance is granted to act as a teacher.
In a word, we would have every one—male and
female—who has adopted education as a profes-
sion, to hold the " diploma" as such. What is
voluntary with the College of Preceptors, we
would make compulsory by Act of Parliament.
If we deem it right to guard the public health by
enactments of the Legislature, we should, in the
same spirit, and guided by a similar principle,
take special care that no empirical drugs are
vended for the mind which will contaminate and
injure its free and healthy action. Had this
been done, England would not have been the
seat of such an amount of religious insanity.
The pernicious doctrines of JOE SMITH, alias
Mormonism, would not havi be ,u tolerated,
nor wrmld th.. 0 Sias upon thousands of our
fellow-countrymen and 'women have set out for;
the Great Salt Lake, to become settlers in that
land of blasphemy and disgusting polygamy.
Witchcraft, too, would not have its adherents ;
nor would there be followers of that nefarious
convict, the Leeds Wizard.

But there are other evils connected with the
imperfect character of the Education imparted to
our working classes. The election petitions now
before the House of Commons show that all our
past efforts at the instruction of the people have
failed to raise up a race of patriotic and virtuous
citizens have been futile and unsuccessful.
What has taken place at Rochdale has, no
doubt, been practised elsewhere, and it is a
complete evidence that, generally .speaking, the
quality of Education is defective; and that until
we elevate the calling of the teacher into a
fourth learned profession, and reward it in a
manner commensurate with its deserts and
importance, we cannot expect any solid or
lasting improvement. We shall have other
opportunities to refer to these matters. Mean-
time, we hope the Conference will have a
successful result, and that 'some practical and
really useful results will follow its deliberations.
It has our best sympathies, and we will watch
its proceedings with great interest.

COUNTY Couar.—Mr. Conway presided in this cou-t
yesterday, and a large number of cases were disposed of,
none of which, however, poessed any especial im-
p, dance. _

On the arrival of the U.S.M. steamer, Columbia, from
New York, on Thursday morning last, the passengers
presented Captain Berry with an elegant sextant, in token
of their appreciation of the ship and her commander.
DOCK ACClDENT—Yesterday evening, a lad employed
on board a ship in -the Brunswick Dock fell from the
rigging, and dislocated his ancle. He was immediately
conveyed to his own home, where every attention was
bestowed upon him.

DETERMINED ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.—Last night shortly
after eleven o'clock, a person of gentlemanly appearances,
entered a supper-room in Lime-street, and after sitting a
few minutes, deliberately t. ok his penknife from his
pocket and inflicted a most severe, but fortunately not
fatal wound in his throat. From the papers that were
f. and upon him, it appeared that his name is Baker, and
he is a traveller for a Manchester house. He was imme-
diately removed to the Infirmary where he remains in a
dangeruus state.
couosza's INQUEST.—Yesterday, the, Coroner held the
following inquest :—On the body of a child named Emily
Barlow, that was killed in Pembroke-place. The details
of thi' case appeared in our paper of yesterday, and the
jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death." Inquests
were also ope-!ed in the following cases :—On the body of
David Simmons, the mate of a ship, who died in the house,
37, Sparling-street, under the circumstances stated in our
paper of yesterday. The inquest was adjourned in order to
have a post mortem examination made of the body. Also,
on the body of John Small Ncble, 52, years of age, a
joiner, who resided at St. Paul's square, but who died in
a house in Brooks-street, under circumstances ' that
required a post mortem examination of the body, and the
hearing of be case was therefore adjourned to this day for
that purpose,