Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-01-28 00:00:00

schools. This does not fit them to educate the children
of the poor. They go with the same knowledge into
`town or country, but wherever they go, their learning is
of one sort, and they have one stock of knowledge which
may or may not be applicable to the children who
come under their care. It may not be the knowledge
applicable to the future condition of the children. The
same knowledge that is required in a town school may not be
required in a country school. There is printed for the
teacher who has passed, a list of 1,152 voli. of educational
works (a laugh), from which he is left to select ; but in
many instances the titles would mislead, and we all know
that a country schoolmaster would not generally have
the money to secure an efficient library ; besides, what
new books are constantly issued, and as the course
of literature alters, the only plan he can adopt,
therefore is to pursue his own course. He
must adapt himself to circumstances. The peculiar
character of the classes of the population to be instructed,
may be divided into three classes, manufacturing, mining,
and agricultural. This division appears to me deficient,
and I think we might perhaps propose another. The
mining and manufacturing classes are very similar in
many respects, and are totally distinct from the agricul-
tural classes, though all work upon the products of the
world in different ways. Apart from the agricultural
class, and the mining, and manufacturing,
there is another large section of the population
which should not be overlooked- that which
has the land on one side and the sea bn the other. The
seafaring population is totally distinct from any other
classes, and in magnificent towns and villages, the industry
of which is not on the land but on the sea, here men
and children will look not to the land but to
view it almost with contempt as they look to
the adventurous life of the sea for a livelihood.
The Cardinal referred to the large number of the children
of coast guards, to those of the fishermen of Scotland,
and others, who were left without any special training
for the callings which they were in all likelihood destined
to pursue. He alluded to the report published lately by
Admiral Seymour, addressed to the Board of Trade, in
which he showed that hundreds, or even thousands, of
lives might be saved, if the use of the barometer were
taught to the fishermen and coast-guards. In a like
manner, pointed out what benefit might be conferred by
a practical training of the children in agricultural
districts, and how the difficulty of their educa-
tive years might be got over, by enabling
them to earn something, in the meantime, by
even growing vegetables, and referred to the efforts made
in that direction by Mr. Edgeworth, father of Miss
Edgeworth, before defined educational movements were
heard of. The asked if it was not a reproach to the age,
that if you wanted to get a boy a practical education for
some future remunerative and respectable class of life, the
best thing you could do for him would be to make a
criminal of him, and put him into a reformatory. (Hear,
hear, and -applause.) Rut the great difficulty remained ;
how was that education of which he spoke to be gained
for the agricultural and industrial population. He
felt a diffidence in -speaking upon that subject in
a county where • industrial pursuits prevailed more
than in any other part of England, and where
there were men who had the best desires to promote the
education of the poor, and who occupied themselves with
it. It would seem that if they had not discovered any
expedient, it must be difficult for him, uninterested in
such pursuits, to suggest any plan. Bat he observed
that there was a system -called "half time"—that is,
'when a boy belonged to a factory, or any industrial este-
rblishment, he was obliged during a certain number of
-years, to frequent a school for so many hours in 'the day.
'Now, the problem he would propose for the consideration
-of practical men would be this - could that system be
-reversed ? While you have a law that every boy which
is in employment in a factory shall 'frequent a school,
and that ;in a proportion which is hardly sufficient,
'can no plan be devised whereby those boys who .are at
-school can 'likewise be brought to occupy so many of their
hours in industrious pursuits—in the prosecution of trade
or business in one form or another ? (Applause The
-school has been made supplemental to the manufactory.
Could that not be made, in its turn, if not subordinate and
subservient, at least coadjutant with-the school? (Hear,
hear.) 'Lord -Brougham, in the conference to which I
have already alluded, made a shrewd remark, upon which
there has been a very painful comment within the last
few weeks. He said that, from his experience of
-mechanics' institutions, he recommended that the
management 'of all schools of 'that clase should
The placed to as considerable extent in the hands of
working men. (Cheers.) There is a new principle. I
!may add what TI read a short time ago. A French phy-
,sician, speaking of our English institutions, especially of
our grand societies for the protection of 'oppressed needle-
women, at the head of which are noblemen and gentle-
men of the highest rank, who meet, talk, and discuss -
and, I believe, ;ladies who contribute their attention and
interest materially to the work - this Frenchman, who
had been much in England, said, " I think, if these
noblemen would only .consult some working people,
they. would hear some unpleasant truths, 'but they would
receive some very sound advice." (Loud cheers.) A.
great and popular cause, like that of education, does
not want merely kind phrases of encouragement, or
what, perhaps, 'I may call patting on the back. It may
be filet a little practical experience would teach more
than all our conferences and discussions. You all remem-
ber the story, usually a little distorted, of the raising of
the great obelisk in at. Peter's, when all the capstans and
windlasses refused to move, and the severest penalty was
ordered to any one who should interrupt by a word of
advice, and Fontana, the great architect, and the greatest
engineers of the day stood perplexed, not knowing what to
do —the magnificent granite monument remained balanced
half wayin air, and if anything gave way would have been
shattered upon the marble pavement in a moment—when
one who 'is generally called -an English sailor, but whom
'I must claim for Genoa, only called out —" Wet the
ropes" and the obelisk was hoisted into its place in
obedience to the suggestion of a practical working man.
((;Treat applause.) The Cardinal then passed on to speak
of the condition of the poor in London, and the
means of promoting education there. He asked—
Why should there not be universities for the poor ?
(Applause.) I could point out in London, in the midst
of a population of the poor, large pieces of waste land,
which only served for criminal children to play upon,
or arches in roads where they may conceal themselves.
This has been so aver since I went to London. In
Westminster, houses that have been built are falling to
pieces, because nobody will live in them. Large
tracks of unoccupied ground may be seen. Here then
is land, and there is no difficulty in the obtaining of
the estimates for the purposes of education. Something,
then, may be done. And why should there not be
workshops, with steam power prepared, to which
children in the neighbourhood might go to be instructed.

The only difference between this -and the private
works would be, that the discipline would be more rigid,
and parents would find that their boys were learning
some desirable trade. Is not an experiment of this sort
worth being tried. No doubt that we shall be told the
expense would be enormous. I wish I could have
brought with me the estimates in my possession, showing
the amount that has been spent on gaols for our criminals,
on unions and asylums in the last few years —the peopling
of all these being generally the result of crime. Would
it not be worth while then to try the experiment
of preventation, and do what would have the
effect of saving thousands. And even £20,000,000 could .
not be better bestowed than in this way. It would be
equally to spending the same sum in emancipating the
slaves in the colonies - (cheers) ;—and preventing a
future generation being over-run by a stream of youths
made more acute in their vice and more dangerous to
society. I ought, perhaps, to apologise for having
spoken so boldly and so openly here, where I already
know that so much has been done, and is doing,
for education. Looking at the statistics and returns, we
find Liverpool standing very high, in proportion to its
population, in number of those who attend schools of
different classes, whether day schools or night schools ;
and, therefore, it may appear presumption in me to
advise, but, if I do so, it will not be to go back in any
thing that has been done. God forbid. But my advice to
you would be to use all the influence you possess to bring
about practical results. You are practical men here ;
you are men accustomed to carry out what you undertake,
and carry it out nobly. Your town, with all its immense
prospenty, its accumulation of worldly wealth, and its
progress in all matters of industry and commerce, in ad-
dition to the splendid character it has gradually acquired,
and the absorption by it of a considerable portion of the
commerce of the world. Your town, beyond all this,
has given to the world noble examples which, perhaps,
no other town in the British empire has produced. It is not
long ago that a merchant in this town had collected a most
valuable series of MSS, and some of the most rare and beau-
tiful ornaments the world has known, the collection of Sir
John Tobin. It might, he observed, be said of him, that
he was collecting for the nation itself, he so generously
scattered his wealth to obtain possession of those rare
monuments which now enrich our national collection.
This puts one in mind of the old Venetian merchants, or
the merchants of Genoa and Antwerp, who applied much
of the profits of their commerce to the promotion of the
beautiful in art. And I now may allude, with feelings
of grest respect and veneration, though I never knew him,
to a gentleman who was well known in this town, who
swept the lumber and dust-of prejudice from the pages
of history, and presented truth to our eyes. I allude _to
your
townsman Roscoe. (Cheers.) But whilst consider-
ing the dead, let us remember the living. When
you have rising at this moment in the mast
of your town, a magnificent structure, the cost
whicll has boon contributed entirely by one of your