The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-13 00:00:00

CENT MEASURES 1i OR THE PROMO-

Ir7tSV6iEEUCATION IN ENGLAND.
This is the title of a pamphlet just published by
Ridgsyay, giving an account of the state of education in
England, and the effect of ignorance in increasing crime,
together with numerous details of the state of education
on the Continent, and a general outline of the Govern-
ment plan of education, contained in a minute of the
Committee of Council of the llth of April, which is
superseded by that of the 3d of June. In the
Lot minute it is stated that the most useful
aPpli,cation of any sums of money voted by Perlis-
iftent„• in the opinion of the Committee, would consist
in the eroployment of those monies in the establishment
°f al normal school under the direction of the State, but
that they had met with so much difficulty in reconciling
conflicting Interests, that it is not in the power of the
Committee to,mature a plan for the accomplishment of
this design without further consideration. The Com-
mittee therefore recommend simply, that the right of
jusptction be retained, and that no further grants he
nude except on this condition, and that a part of the
monies be applied to the purpose of inspection, and to
the mean,: of, acquiring a complete knowledge of the
present state of education in England and Wales.
The lattor subject, the state of education in England
and Wales, appears to be very imperfectly known, but
still sufficient date are given to establish the -degrading
fact that England, as regards the education of the
People, is behind all the other Protestant States of Eu-
rope. In Switzerland, which stands at the head of the
list, the proportion of scholars to the whole population
-Is about 1 in 5, in Prussia it is 1 in 6, Denmark 1 in
Scotland 1 in 10, and England I in 11. We
liave some doubts, however, of the general accuracy
01 this list, and particularly the last statement ; with
the exception of a few districts in the Highlands, and
tiles a thinly peopled, nearly the whole of. the people of
from
are able to read and write,
while this f Is so
.1r
'brotn ,being the case in England, that according to the
Report of the Poor-law Commissioners it was no uo-
-"num') thing so find overseers and persons in the
nitddle classes of society who could not write, and ac-
tording to reports from the chaplains of gaols, a
oast propwion of the • prisoners are unable even
'° read. Itt Preston gaol, for instance, out of
1'129 individuals committed 554 were unable to
•-ead, 220 could Ivrely read, only 152 could readi well
and write a little, acid not more than 8 could rem
an
write
No, r.° in
1 Scotland could furnth
Sue, g a return as this, or any thing like it. In
n u-
I ranee the proportion of scholars to the p P.
%tic'n the Roman States 1 in
5,, s 1 in 17, and a,
; the showing that i;ere there is most Church
'there
thereby
r•iere is least knowledge. If we had prcp?r
,!tilrns, we believe the diocese of Canterbury would, al
that respect, vie with the Papal States, In other parts
of the country the reports from the chapLins of gaols
are
US bad, probably, as could be returned by nOy
.chap-
lia of a gaol in the Roman States. Witness the 1316!-ure
drawn by the chaplain of the county gaol at Bedford t---0
" The great leading characteristic of the prisoners (he

stated) was ignorance, heathenish ignorance of the simplest
truths." At Midsummer Quarter Session he reported that
" as to the condition, mentally and morally, of his unhappy
charge, he regretted to say it could scarcely be more igno-
rant or degraded. It was his conviction that no pen could
depict in colours sufficiently dark the moral and spiritual
ignorance and debasement of the vastly greater number of
those unhappy beings who pass through the prisons."
The Report of the chaplain of the county gaol of
Warwick gives a similar picture of the criminals there :
.‘ Their condition, as regards education, is this ; of
every twenty-four who arc committed, on an average seven
have been taught to read and write ; eight can read only ;
and nine can do neither ; most of those who can write can
read tolerably well, though their writing is generally a
very poor performance; but at least the half of those who
can read only, do it very badle. With regard to those im-
portant parts of education, religion and morality, generally
speaking, no instruction whatever appears to have been
given to them ; for in a vast majority of instances, the per.
sons who come to prison are utterly ignorant both of the
simokst truths of religion, and of the plainest precepts of
nal ality."
-t` England alone," the writer adds, "of all the Protes-
tant States:of Europe, appears, as regards education, to
have misunderstood the genius of Protestantism. With
the wealthiest and most enlightened aristocracy, the richest
and most influential Church, and:the most enterprising mid-
dle class, her lower orders are, as a mass, more ignorant
and less civilized than those of any other large Protestant
country in Europe."
There are also some curious, interesting, and satis-
factory details relative to the progress and effects of
education in France, from which it appears that nearly
all the crime in France is committed by persons who
are ignorant, and within a fraction all the crime is con-
fined to those whose instruction has been limited to
reading and writing.
We close our remarks on this useful pamphlet with
one extract, and it would ha difficult to find a better
proof of the great blessings conferred by education, and
the misery entailed on the lower classes by ignorance,
than the few following facts. In a report made to M.
Guizot, when Minister of Public Instruction, are these
words :

" Thus it appears that, out of 50 persons sentenced to
death, not one, belonged to the well-educated class ; that
47 in that class were subjected to only slight correctional
punishments, and four to simple surveillance ; leaving only
49 t‘ell educa!ed persona out of the whole population of
more than 32,000,000, or 1 in 664.678 persons, who, in the
course uf the year 1833 were considered deserving of pu-
nishments in any degree severe.",

SECOND EDITION.
SUN LFFI c.E, Seven o Clock.