Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-29 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NSETHERN TIMES.

Sir,—l scarcely hoped that my few crude ideas or the
People's Education would fi :d a place in your jotu foal;
much less did I inr,gice that they would be de erred
worhy of a favourable notice in, your leading col amns.
My :ole object in writing was to do good, and I 11 lieved
such would result not only to Liverpool but to the
country in general, if the Liverpool Corporation instead
of statAkig aloof from the Government iu this rn ost, im-
portant and meth vexed question,--the education of the
peop'e,—would unite her powerful and most sr iccessful
efforts with the Government, and by the blessit igs that
would be sure to follow from such a anion, in& ice other

places, whether of more or less -importance, to fi illow her
example, and by a united, friendly, and sim altaneous
movement, do that which divided councils, SI ?eculative

thecrists, platform orators, jarring sects, a nd Lady
Bountifuls, no matter how good thoir intentic ms,—have
hitherto failed to effect, and the want of which all great
and good men now feel and deplore—namely, to educate
the masses of the people properly.
You.: favourabk notice of my lett:v.., and y, our able re-
commendation of my views to thw C-orporati on, will, I
hope, be productive of much good, and in yo ar powerful
hands I would leave the subject •Without trc übling you
with another wcrei, were it not for the comma ats of one of
your correspondents on my previoos latter. Mr. Editor,
It must be bololness—it may be,,izapertin. ance—for a
"would be essayist`'' to defend.even his own 'production,
from' tae attack of the mighty chief of a mime rous people,
bllt as every parent. is morally bound to pr otect his off-
sprirg kom all corners, you will, I .'cope, allow rue the
opportunity to defend my weakly child from rite attack of
this pNwetful chieftain.
Without having ,recourse to illiginaate Yankeeism, or
the dead languageiwto convey ideas where they differ
from this learned eritc, for in my early youth I read and
appreciated the wiedun of the following couplet :

" Let all tha fooeign tongues. alone
Till you cartspell and write your own."
f will at once procexd to the consideration of his effusior.
I say, at' the. eid of paragraph 2nd, "education is not a
befitting sirject for questionable or doubtful experiments."
Here I thick': he has. found a " mare's met." Are the praise-
worthy and -successfula,e3orts of the... Liverpool Corpora-
tion in the cause of the people's education "questionable
or doubtful ,experinsenti ?" Are ,the efforts of our
government—who, within the recollection of comparatively
young people,.dared scarcely ask /3a,,c00 for this most
praiseworthy o4:,ject, but who now can some with confi
dence beL're •the peopk's parliament (because they have
been faith:fill in the discharge of their trusty) and, ask and
get wiihoca a murmur half a million,—" questionable or

doubtful ei:periments:" My recommendation went no
farther than that these twit great and successful elements

be united,

Ha Lc xt rep uthates governmental control,

because, as' ihe -says, " we know that governmental ad-
ministration does not give universal satisfaction in many
other matt en ." Before remarking his shallowness on
this Point, a would direct attention to. an assertion of his
ata'the end '..of paragvaph 5. After commenting on the
low irstroc hems given in our Corporation Schools, he
asserts that is to the, "arts and sciences our national
greatness is otiely attributable." Much as I revere the
arts and mice s, I deny this assertion in tote, and will
prone that he w=to asserts it, has a poor knowledge of
what this great 'lenation owes its supremacy to. Has not
the man who w sell (even riot' in the pride of our great.
res) make him 5e....f peefect in the arts, to locate himself
for years in the vital of a pitiful state, whose sovereign
is kept in power. erelely by the aid of foreign bayonets,
whose subjects s tic serfs, or worse. To what then
does England oe ',snits greatness? to that which your
correspoedenr, in ;ilia ignorance of great principles,
knows nothing or, and would repudiate to her
government and the pioneer administration thereof. It
is only in that, that we relay° what ether nations have not,
therefore it is only the nigh her government that Engle:el
is the greatest of all entions; and shall we, because a
would-'e-chief does not ace perfection in our government,
deny it the right to instr net its peoplei Away with sech a
notion. The government • ed. this country has been estab-
lished on the great moral Ppineiples of Cbristianitr, and,
•
at the same time, that it es scrupulously jealous of the
freedom of its subjects, it t niguires that their conduct be
regulated by given laws in unison with these principles,
the viclation of which laws iwi:rine punishable offences.
if the government have the r fight to establish these laws,
and the power to punish those who break them, there is
no duty more incumbent on on w rulers than that of educa-
ting or taming the people warding to ;these moral
wieciples, for it is tyranny to punish those whom you
base neglected to instruct in the way in which they
should live.
Your correspondent finds great fault with the followine
remark of mine :—" One of the evils that the c tuntry
labors under, connected with ell 'cation, is the want of
competent and well-qualified teach. Its." It is serroely
worth while to notice his illogical ie ferenee on bombastic
nonsense. I did not assert that then t are no well-qualified
teachers. lam happy to know that there are many; but
that thereirs a want, and a great wet 'ls of sub, is a fw,
that all who trouble themselves with th e subject feel and
deplore; and it was to call attention to a means by which
this want might in part be remedied, th tit induced me to
treuble you with the few remarks that teem to be so un-
palatable to -sour correspondent ; and h tr
these len
inetructors of our youth, who would feel l tis dignity hurt
by an otlicioza government inspector q uestioning his
capabilities, but who, thoegb dubbing himsel 'f the champion
of the unattacked talented teachers, proves tl to necessity of
a careful examiaatiou, when, in the last pat agraph of his
letter. be asserts "there is not, perhaps, one man in ten
qiialifi.e.d, by talent and tact, to become an instructor,"
who, I would askeis the slanderer of the teachers of this
country,.
Yoar scorreseonrlent finds fault because I hale pointed
out the Liverpool Corporation Schools as proper places for
training pintoes peszons to become teachers. In my
innocence, I believed that it was not necessary to prove
that they were proper places for Bach a purpose; but as the
contrary is asserted, Is will state some eaf the reasons that
cause me •to hold to my opinion. Though diverse, the
sesenions of eel great men on the eaeseef tire ignorance
of the poor ef this country, there is one evil whjela without
a dissenting voice is constantly dilated tatione—viz.: the too
early age that the children are removed from school, owing
in a great meascre to the straightened cireuseestances of the
parents, and , the t arly age at which children get employ.
went, whether in the aericulteral or manufnetoring dis-
tricts. 'Liverpool is, without eseeption, the only: place that
the agave circurrstences in this country does net overrule
the desire of the. pirents to hale their childrereodneated.
In no other part of ice country does the wages of the hus-
band -so adequately support the family as in Liverpool ; in
no other place is - the employment of the wife orchild so
little needed to assist in supporting the family as in Liver-
pool ; therefore, in no ether place are the childrno .of the
people continued at .school so long as in Liverpool ;:your
correspondent denying ,hat the Liverpool Corpoxezion
S bools are proper places fir training teachers fir .the
vouch of deis country, west assume that, which I hope
every intelligent aud &neg.:elan will repudiate with scorn,
namely, that with opportunity the children of the people
are incapable of being qualified to become useful instruc-
tors, 'or that in well .regulated echoole, such as our Corpo-
ration Schools are, with talented teachers, which he admits
they have; that theseneachers will not take pride in draw-.
ir!, out the talents of people who in their judgrrent may
e y t do credit to theircare, and honour to their .calling.
Yet on no other h3pothesis can he buill an objection to
oar Corporation Schoole becoming nurseries ft r useful
teachers. I laugh at what he calls law instruction coming
from talented instructors.
Mr. Editor, as my firet and only objeet in addressing you
i 3 the hope of doing good, which I feel from my fooner
notice I have not wholly failed in, I must apologise for
again cecunyine your valuable time, and woeld assure you
that only beieg " a would-be essayist," and fearing your
correspondent, if let pass with impunity, might "squash"
an other essatiste, many of whom. if let pass their frit
attempt, may become respectable correspondents to yours
and other journals, I wauld not trouble you with this
second letter ; and, at all ceen's, will not again teases your
and my own time in noticing the production of your cor-
reqondent, unless he infuses a lew snore perceptible ideas
in his productions, for I must confess that, in my dullness,
there are whole paregraphs of his letter out of which I
could not squeeze the geeet gen idea.—Yours,
J. Sse•
0. N.