The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-18 00:00:00

of the end of this nefarious system. We have
no right and no wish to interfere directly in the
politics of other nations. The domestic affairs
of the French or the Americans are their own
special concern, not ours. But we have all an
interest in the spread of justice and humanity
among the brotherhood of nations. Whatever
benefits Frenchmen, Americans, or Chinese will
ultimately redound to our advantage. Their
injury, also, is our loss. We must, therefore,
rejoice in the extension of freedom over the
world, even should it produce, in the first
instance, some money loss, our own included.
It has been proved that, in the long .run, slave
labourers Cost more than free labourers. And it
must be so, because there is a moral govern-
ment of the world.

The supply of Cotton for manufacture in this
country can be drawn largely from other fields
as well a.s from America. We do not say that
this can be done suddenly, or within a year or
two, but it may be done at no distant time if
men of business will only take up the question
and be on the alert. It is said that French
Algeria might contribute some,

Dr. LIVINGSTON testifies, that in more than one
place in Africa, he has seen fine specimens of
cotton, and he specially singles out Angola, as
being excellently adapted for this production.
But our own Indian possessions offer the widest
field. All concur in believing, that here we have
ample scope and verge enough, when that mag-
nificent country, or cluster of countries, shall be
properly governed. As we have indicated, this
supply cannot be Created immediately as by a
sort of _Aladdin's . lamp. But progressively,
surely and not very remotely, we may look for-
ward to this, Reforms and changes must happen
in India ere this can be attained. The tenure of
land has to be improved, the country must be
watered by canals and reservoirs, and railways
must connect the cotton growing districts With the
sea board. When all this is done, our supply of
Indian cotton can he tenfold increased. The
results would be beneficial beyond even the most
sanguine calculation. Our home supply would
be less precarious, as being drawn from more
varied soils, and from a greater number of sources.
The failure of one-could hardly be the failure of
all. A great encouragement would be given to
freedom in America, and a heavy blow could be
dealt at the inhuman system of man holding
property in man. In a thousand ways, it would
benefit the Queen's Indian subjects, giving the
people employment, expanding the trade of
India and England, compelling better govern-
ment, developing the vast resources of that land
of the rising sun, and so leading on to the gradual
but iresistable improvement of the country and
the people.

THE Congregational Board of Education has
held its annual meeting in London. The Report
sets forth the progress of the Society for the
past year, and we are glad to find by the state-
ments which it contains that the cause espoused
by the Directors isl,progressing in a satisfactory
manner. We are such earnest advocates of the
cause of Education that we hail with delight any
and every effort to promote the mental and moral
illumination of mankind. But although we
approve and wish " God speed" to the " Congre-
gational Board of Education," and anxiously and
ardently desire to see it progress in its career of
philanthropy and usefulness, we are compelled
to dispute the soundness of some of its " distinc-
tive features." This we do from a thorough con-
viction that of all subjects which can engage the
mind of man, Education is the foremost. As we
have previously remarked, "it is great now—great
at all times, not a helper only in the building up of
society and civilisation, but the only foundation
on which all society and civilisation must finally.
rest." This is not a new idea. The sages of
ancient Greece and Rome uniformly asserted the
advantages that flow to the individual and to
society from the training of youth, and from the
literary and moral culture of the human mind.
Philosophers and legislators of old, through the
States of Greece and flame--as well as in all
other quarters where once the lamp of science
shone, instituted schools for imparting know-
ledge and transmitting to posterity the discoie-
ries of literature. The benevolent design was
confined to no sect or class. All were alike free
to sip at the glorious fountain of knowledge.
The prince and the peasant—the patrician and
the plebian, repaired to these schools of erudi-
tion. They competed with each other in
laudable emulation for the palm of intel-
lectual honours. Men of intellectual genius,
extensive learning, and solid character,
were the ruling spirits and the teachers
in these schools. They transferred to
others their own sublime speculations—initiated
youth into the arts and sciences—and gave circu-
lation to the triumphs of philosophy through the
wide amplitude of the literary world. The
advantages resulting from the labours of such
men can at once be conceived. Society owes its
all to education. PESTOLAZ zi has a.remarkable,
a true, and a striking educational maxim, "As
the teacher is, so will be the school; and as the
school is, so will be the scholar."
Influenced by the soundness of this doctrine,
we deem it among the foremost of the duties
belonging to the mission of the public journalist
to urge upon society the paramount importance
of extending and improving the cause of Educa-
tion. How that is to be effected, brings us into
issue with the main principle of the Congrega-
tional Board—Voluntaryism.
That which confers a national benefit should
be supported at the national expense. This is a
principle which all our la vvs and great public
institutions recognise. The repression of crime
is a national advantage ; hence we erect and
maintain prisons, and organise and support a
constabulary system. Our army and navy are
types of the same principle. Yea, more, the
very institution of "tithes" in England and Ire-
land, and "teinds" in:Scotland, are evidences that
our fathers of old held and fell the principle, that