The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-29 00:00:00

is really one long examination. The barrister when
crossiexamining a witness, the clergyman iu his pul-
pit, the physician attending his patient, the states-
men in the House of Commons, are all really under-
going examination. (Hear, and laughter.) True,
they aro transacting the business of their callings,
but they are doing so under the eye of an intelligent
and discerning iublic, and accordir•g to the opinion
which the public form of their capacity depends their
success or failure in life. All life is thus not a formal
but an actual examination, and men prosper or fall
as they satisfy the conditions of examination. In-
stead, therefore, of avoiding educational tes's, we
ought to make up our minds to them. It is of no
use to make 'wry faces ; it is better to meet the
difficulty honestly, and to master it boldly. What
we have to do let us do, as the wise man noun%
selied, with all our might, sure that if we do this
the result will crown our labours with success.

Cheerio.) And now I will mention one other
effect of examination. It has thrown a great deal
of light, and it has drawn a great deal of attention,
to the state of middle-class ed ucation in this country.
Those who speak on these occasions seem unable
to escape from this subject. 1 confess that I also am
drawn into the vortex, and I yield to the influence
the more readily because I am afraid 1 entertain
opinions which are not generally broached. I vie w
this subject as one of great importance, and think
immense benefit will arise from discussing it. It
does not seem to me that the term " middle-class
education" is very happily chosen. To my ear
there is in it something rather supercilious and one-
sided. Nobody talks of himself as belonging to
the middle classes, and it is only those who,
whether rightly or wrongly, consider themselves as
belonging to the upper classes who use this term.
As I say, Ido not much like it, but finding it in
common use I also use it. Another objection that
I have to the term is its extreme vagueness. What
do we mean by " the middle classes ?" It depends
eery much on the subject with which we connect
them. If we are speaking of political power, we
give those words one meaning—if of education, we
attach to them another meaning. For educational
purposes " the middle classes " means all those per-
sons who, being too well elf to send their children
to the schools assisted by the State—the schools of
primary education under the Committee of the
Privy Council—are yet not sufficiently wealthy to
send their sons to the great public schools. This
vast class—comprehending almost all the commu-
nity, except the very poor who live by manual
labour, and the very rich classes—is, for purposes
of education, " the middle class." It is thus really
&fined only by negatives. What it is we do not
know, and when the subject comes to be thoroughly
sifted you will find that " the middle class" must
be divided and sub-divided into several classes and
categories before any system of education can
be made thoroughly appreciable to anybody.
This class would hardly include the child that was
just above the primary school, or on the other hand,
the child that was just below Eton. It is said, and
said with truth, that though we have get a typo
of primary education, with which I am disposed to
be content—the reading, writing, ciphering, and
religious instruction which together form a good
education for the poor man's child—for the great
middle class wo have no such type. The schools,
it is said, cannot be reduced under any general
head ; they differ in every possible way, some of
them being imitations of the public schools, some
resembling the primary schools, smile based on one
system, some on another, with no definite type or
arrangement which will apply to all of them. It
is said to be the intention of the Government to
issue a commission upon this subject; and a great
deal of good will be done if the subject is thoroughly
investigated, and we learn what these middle-class
schools are, and the work they are doing. The
question is, what remedy shall be applied ? We
all agree that the system is defective, but how is
it to be set right ? Now, there are two very
favourite nostrums, One has been put forward by
a learned professor of the University of Oxford, and
is in considerable favour with some whose opinions
I hold in much respect, and for whose philanthropy
I have still greater respect. It is that the State
should take the matter up, that we should steal a
leaf out of the book of the French system, that we
should create a multitude of Lycees and Gymnases,
the Government taking upon itself to found, endow.

and teach in all the echoes of the middle, classes.

Now I for one emphatically disapprove that sugges-
tion, and I will give such reesons as occur to me.

n tho first, place, the taxes cut of w!lich then

,chools must be endowed aro ta=cs raised not only
'rem the middle and the upper but from the work-
cg classes in this ccuntry, and as far as I under-

stand the question it is neither just nor equitable
to tax the poor in order to educate the children of
persons who are perEctly able to pay for that
education themselves. (Hear, hear.) That is one
very serious objection. There is another, which
Would not; perhzEs bo readily occur to you, but

which is equally insuperable—the religious diffi-
culty. The moment you come to endow these schools
the question as to the religious teaching there would
arise, and upon that every system would infallibly go
to wreck. Yon would never get parties to agree upon
the religious teaching, and the scheme would be ship-
wrecked at the outset. This dilemma would present
itself—either you would adopt one form of religious
teaching, in which case it would become obnoxious
to all the denominations which it did not include;
or else, religious teaching being left nnprovided for,
you would be told that this was " Godless" educa-
tion. There is another objection to the system I am
considering, because I hold that it is the duty of the
parent to find instruction for his child. This is the
first duty arising out of the relationship between
parent and child, and I know no principle upon
which the State ought to take the duty out of the
parents' hands and discharge it for itself. (Hear,
hear.) It might be well in the cities of ancient
Greece that the State should break up the ties of
family, and should educate its own citizens. But
English society is founded on the family tie; it is
the relation of parent and child which holds the
whole of this community together, and it will be
an evil hour whenever the State shall invade or seek
to interfere with that relation. (Cheers.) There is
another reason which you will probably think of no
little weight—namely, that there are no peculiar
means by which the Executive Government of the
day can ascertain what would be the proper educe.
tion for the middle classes. If such a measure were
introduced into the House of Commons, the Govern-
ment of the day making a programme of the studies
to be pursued, the other half of the house would
probably declare that these were the very worst
studies which could be devised ; and when that
side came into power and produced their plan, those
who had been criticised would in turn, no doubt,
beoome equally ready and merciless critics, so
that after all we should come to no settled conclu-
sion. For these reasons I hope we may not come to
see any interference by the Government in the way
of directing what middle-class education should be.
(Hear, hear.) Then there is another suggestion which
is very popular, and which I dare say will attract the
attention of the Commission—namely, that those en-
dowments which have somehow gone astray from the
purposes of popular education shall be by some
means recovered and applied to their legitimate
use. I have not the slightest objection. No doubt it
will be very agreeable to the parents if their bur.
dens can be thus lightened. lam not going into
the question. But though you may get endowments
for middle class education, and by so much lighten
the burden of the parents, it is utterly impossible
for you to form, taking endowments as your foun-
dation, any type of a satisfactory middle class edu..
cation, and for this reason—if you want to preserve
like the fly in amber, like a fossil or a crystal, the
prejudices, the ignorance, and the mistakes of one
age, for the full 11,ze of light prevailing in another
age, there is no such expedient as an endowment.
(Hear, hear.) This has succeeded perfectly where-
ever it has been tried. A thing may be right and
wise in the days when it was done, but time will
not wait, and it is left behind by the progress of
events. This is just the contrary of what we want
•
in education. What we want for a type of middle
class education is something which will meet the
requiremoats of the times, dcvelope with the idea,
of the time, improve as we improve, and adopt and
absorb in it all the now light we can give it. (Hear,
hoar.) Now, the last place to look for this is in an
endowment. You do not wAnt a dead but a living
limb, connected with a living body, and nothing
can be more fatal to progress than to suppose that
you can, by availing yourselves of the money of
dead men, give to schools the vitality and energy
which can only arise by eontact with the living,
breathing mass by which you are surrounded.
(Cheers.) Another objection to endowments is that
in an endowed school the master is always paid
whether the work be well or ill done. The master
of the unendo wed school is not paid at all by parents
unless he does his work efficiently, and thus these
schools acquire a stimulus in education which
endowments have really the effect of destroying. I
coma now to a third mode of proceeding. According
to the vulgar proverb, " Those who pay the fiddler
have a right to call the tune." Who pays the fiddler
in this instance ? The parents. Then it is for the
parents of the children of the middle class to say
what education there children ought to receive
and neither by the State nor by endowment ought
that power to ba taken from them. But

then I am met with the difficulty that that has bee❑
so all along, and that the parents of the children
being apathetic and lethargic things have come to
their present state. Well, then, we have narrowed
the question to a very small point, because, admit°
ting that this cannot be done by the State through
the Charity Cemmissioners or Parliament, and that

it must be done by the parents, the whole problem
now is how are we to enlighten the parents of the
children as to the proper education of the children
whom they send to these schools. That opens a
very difficult question. I have told you that the
schools of the middle class are situated between two
extremet—the primary and the public schools. I
may be told, then, that the answer to this problem
is exceedingly simple. " Incorporate into your
middle.class schools the reading, writing, and
ciphering taught in the primary schools, and in ads
dition take so much of the teaching of the public
schools as would be found necessary and useful for
the purposes of the middle class," That, I think it
would .be.. said, is the course which ought to be
adopted. But then comes the question, " What is
the teaching in these public schools, and what part
of it can be thus appropriated ?" Here arises a serious
difficulty. At Eton they teach Greek and Latin. If
you ask what else, you will be told Latin and
Greek. (A laugh.) I cull out of Latin and Greek

that which will be useful for the great mass of Eng-
lish youth who havo to toil and earn their bread by
business-like habits. The dlfieulty cannot be solved
in that way. It is almost incredible that the diffi-
culty should exist, but it does exist. And it is hard
to understand when you look at the history cf the

thing. Eton and Winchester were founded in the
reign of Richard 11. and Henry VI., in the darkest
time of the middle ages. At that time there was no
knowledge except Latin and Greek, and very bar-
barous Greek. The good founders, by their statutes,
gave the children all the knowledge that could then
be got. Consider how the people were situated.
The first germ of physical science did not appear
until Bacon's time, 200 'years after the founda-
tion of these public schools. The new world of
America was then unknown. The noble litera-
ture of Germany, of Spain, and the greater part of
Italian literature, had no existence. Nearly all mo-
dern history may be said. to have come into exist-

ence since that time. For then there was only the
history of Greece, or that of the corrupt empire of
Rome. All else was the squabbles of kings and
barons—which Milton likens to the conflict of kites
and crows—from which nothing was to be learnt,
except the propensity of human beings to destroy
each other. it was natural for Wykeham and the
other founders of our public schools to confine the
education imparted there to Latin and Greek, there
being nothing else to teaoh. But now that we have
extended our knowledge in every direction, #oes it
not appear a little strange to retain the same sys-
tem of teachipg as prevailed in the time of Richard
11. and Henry VI. ? I will not follow tia topio fur-
ther except so far as it shows that the public schools
can be no guide for those of the middle classes, and
that we cannot seek there for a type of that com-
plete education which should be given to one of the
. .

rising citizens of a great and free empire. What I
suggest is that, putting aside prejudice and mere
historical views, the Commission, and all of us in-

deed should consider what ought to be the educa-
tion of the middle class, who are called on to make

,heir way in life by in tel]igence, probity, and know-

ledge. I shou"d lay down certain principles with

confidence if it were riot that the tide of prejudice has
set in with great strength. It appears to me that the
object of education is to teach a person that which
. .

it is most important ho should know. This seems a
very simple proposition, and ro one in the abstract

will dispute it. Now whet is it of the most import•

ance a man should know ? Setting aside religion, of
which I am not speaking, is it not mom important
that he should know the actual state and condition

of things around him than the mere names of things?
My first proposition is, thit as we cannot find time
to 6-Awn ad, it i mat, important to twxhthi;:igs and

impart facts and knowledge than to teach words;
the second is, that it is more important for an Eng•
lishman to know the history of his own country than
that of anyother country in the world,past or present.
That is perhaps true of every nation, but it is more
true of England than of any other country in the
world, because the world has never seen such another his-
tory. Since the conquest it has grown gradually up, each
part fitting into the other, steadily and majestically deve-
loping itself like one of our noble oaks here in Sherwood
Forest—expanding into one single mighty whole, so that we
can trace the rise of every familiar institution and custom to
the most remote antiquity. (Cheers.) The history of
France goes up to 1789, but then occurs a great gap which
nothing can ever fill up. I say that the world has never
teen such a history as ours, and, that being so, is it not bet-
ter that a boy should learn thoroughly the history of his
native land rather than spend his time in reading the wars
of Greece, or the bloody quarrels of democracy and aristo-
cracy in Rome ? All these subjects have their use, but is
it necessary that such immense importance should be at-
tached to them as we now see ? Is it not more important
that a boy should learn modern than ancient history—that
he should know a little of modern geography instead of
tieing carried back into remote antiquity ? Well, then, I go
a step further. Is it not better that an Englishman should
be master of his own language than that his time should be
spent in learning dead languages which he will never be
called upon to write or to speak? Persons will always be
found to study the dead languages for their beauty, and
Latin will always be necessary for a gentleman. But to
make Latin and Greek the principal study of youth—l am
speaking of the middle class—and to suppose a boy has got
an education when he knows nothing of his own language,
nothing of modern history, nothing of modern languages,
nothing of bookkeeping, nothing of physical science, is to
invert the order of everything, and to put the pyramid on
its apex. Is it not far more important that a boy should
speak French or German than that he should write Latin or
Greek ? For his advancement in life there can be no ques-
tion that the modern languages are more important than the
dead languages. from the many fields of industry which
they open up to him. lam not speaking of those who can
afford to throw away these best years of life, but of those
who have to fight their own battles, who have to acquire
not only the knowledge which produces an effect upon the
mind, but that which has its own intrinsic value in the
battle of life. What can bo more idle for these than the
making of school verses, whether Latin or English ? What
worse education can there be than that of trying to make a
lad a poetaster ? Any man of fair education can string
verses together, but among 10 millions of men who can do
this there will not be found one whom nature hath endowed
with the gifts of a true poet. What can be more absurd
then than to attempt to make young men write verse who,
from the extreme rarity of the gift, cannot possibly succeed,
and who, if they did by chance succeed, would probably be
consigned to misery and to poverty for the rest of their
lives ? (Laughter.) The object of the education of the
upper classes seems to me to be words, not things, as if the
triumph of education was to make a man a sophist, a
poetaster, or a schoolmaster. Now, Ido not think that is
all we ought to do for English youth. We may do better
things than that. In the first place, I am not at all sure
that wo do not materially injure the very objects we intend
to promote by too exclusive a cultivation of the dead lan-
guages. Our aim is rather to give taste than knowledge,
yet taste is exactly the thing which no education can give.
A man has it or he has it not. Some men we know who,
without pretending to any considerable acquaintance with
classic models, have a correct taste, and in their speeches
you never hear an instance or an illustration which is in-
appropriate. There are not in the House of Commons two
men who speak with better taste than Mr Cobden and Mr
Bright, yet neither professes a very exact knowledge of
classic writers. On the other hand I could mention men
who have studied the classics closely, and can hardly open
their mouths without offending some rudimentary canon
of taste. The fact is, that education may give you ideas
and words, but not taste. And I do not know why it
should, because, though taste is the delight of society, it
is not a thing which ought to be looked to in so rough
a scheme as that of popular education. I venture to think
that these maxims do embody a scheme upon which a
really sound typo of middle class education may bo founded.
It can only be enforced however by the will of the parents,
and all that can bo done is that these who have an opportu-
nity of influencing public opinion should we those oppor-
tunities in order as far as possible to develope this subject
in its diff,rent bearings, work it out more fully than I can
now do, spread information, and so pave the way for a
sound system of education in England. Let me remind
you before passing from this eulsjsct that in the study of
Greek and Latin we are not following classical examples.
Words could not express the indignation with which an
ancient Greek would have received a request that he would
learn Persian, and the Greek langusgo does not contain a
word equivalent in tense to our word "grammar," Yet
these people carried human intehigcnco further than any
people who ever lived I They were educated to understand
things about them, and allowing other countries to speak
their own language they classed them with sovereign con-
tempt under the name of barbarians. There is another point
on which I wish to make myself clear. I hold that the Go-
vernment has a great interest in the education of every one
of its citizens. I would not allow the State to infringe upon
the parents' tight to educate his child in his own way. But
it does appear to we that the parents have a right to know,
if possible, what kind ct education their children aro re-
ceiving. When a man sends his child to school ho knows
very little of, he cannot really tell what sort of education
his son is receiving. That is in some degree remedied by
what we have witnessed to-day, because it will naturally be
inferred that those schools which gain prizes are well con-
ducted. That, however, may bo a fallacious conclusion,
since schoolmasters may devote themselves to produce a
few show boys ire order to mako an appearance on these
occasions. What the parent wants to know is whether a
good sound system of education prevails throughout the
whole school, how is he to ascertain that ? An instance
occurs to me in the report of the Public School Commis-
sion. The Commission proposed to examine all the pupils.
If they had proposed to burn down the schools, boys, mas-
ters, and all, there could not have been greater consterna-
tion. There is no more amusing piece of literature than in
the correspondence which took place with the master on
this subject, All agree] that it could not be done, but the
reason why it could net be done differed extremely. I
hardly wonder at this reluctance, for if the President of the
Council were enabled to send to Eton a school inspector,
such as he sends to the primary schools, with instructions
to report that many children satisfied the standard, not in
Latin and Greek, bat in English, I would venture to Bay
that that report would terrify the papas and! mammas of
England out of their wits (laughter), and the utter igno-
rance of the boys of things assumed to be known by every
boy would lead to a revolution in the edueekion there, more
rapid and more summary than we can conceive. Why should
we not arm the State with that power ? Why should not
the State be permitted to send a person to examine any
school open for the education of children and report u on
it? I would not lot the State do more than report the-
suit of the examination, and upon that let the parents act
es they might be advised. Supposing this were done, if a
school was seen to be badly managed the master would lose
his pupils if he did not mend his manners. In this was,
you would exercise a pressure upon the schools. The pro•

tees is a slow one, but I believe it is the only possible
process. In this country we resist things forced upon us
by Government; wo like to do things for ourselves, and in
this way, if progress is slow, at any rate it is sure. I think
you will not settle the question by the interference of Go-
vernment, nor materially advance it by obtaining ondo mo-
ments; it must be done by the action of the middle classes
themselves; and the only assistance the State could render
would be by instituting this compulsory power of inspec-
tion, so that at any rate the community might be aware of
the state of education in any particular school. That is
not, in my opinion, an unreasonable interference with the
liberty cr the subj:ct, because the State has a great
interest in tho condition of these schools, and without
a system of State inspection parents have no means
of testing their condition. Let me now, before I conclude,
make ono suggestion as to this examination. It appears to
me very undesirable that we should have the two Univer-
sities holding different examinations. There is nothing
bettor than a competition between persons examined. There
can be nothing worse than a competition between exa-
miners. ,It tends to prevent duo caution in awarding certi-
cates. One set of examiners underbid another if they want
practice, and the whcle system is brought to the ground.
Now,it is desirable here that the standard should be exactly
the same, that there should be no difference between the
value of certificates awarded by Oxford or by Cambridge—.
and I can see no reason why the two Universities should
not appoint a common delegation to whom the question of
examination should be confided. It is a question which
must force itself upon them sooner or later, and I now
throw it out for their :consideration. Again, we say it is
right that those who havo passed a successful examination
should have the fact recorded, and that their knowledge, so
to speak, should thus be stamped into money. That seems
a just principle. ,Why is it extended to men alone P Sup-
pose a young lady acquires the knowledge covered by these
examinations. Suppose she is a good mathematician, or has
a knowledge of any language or branch of natural history.
All ladies cannot marry. t Suppose she has to work for her
bread. What fairness is there in denying her this certificate
of proficiency which you give to every man who can gain it?
(Hear.) Where is the gallantry of the male sex in refusing
to women that which we find so beneficial to men ? These
things are a blot on our civilisation. When I see that a
woman who acquires the art of printing is not admitted into
the printing office lest she should lower wages ; when I find

ar absolute, panic among the doctors at the notion of any
woman practising medicine—it seems to mo that our treat-
ment of the fair and better half of humanity is most harsh
and unjust. Vie overheltu them with compliments—we
give them precedence—but when it comes to (-quill jus-
tice,, when they ask to have equal justice with ourselves,
we not only do not treat them with gallantry and

coneideratim, but with the utmost cruelty and contempt.
(Hear, hear.) I do not want a separate examination for

women, but if a young lady can satisfy an examiner upon
the same subjects, as are set before men, she is as much en-
titled to the advantages of this certificate as they have ;

and it is narrow-minded, an unfair, and an unchristian
thing to dilly thin certificate to her, The right hon. gentle-