The Sun.
London, England, 1830-06-01 00:00:00

BIRMINGHAM FREE SCHOOL.

(From a Correspondent of a Morning Paper.)
Seventeen gentlemen, who, we are told, are self-elected
'qovernors of the " Birmingham Free Grammar School,"
.1 iveharity founded by Edward VI., are now soliciting to
te-enact the Test and Corporation Acts and Catholic Disa-
bilities. From the singular nature of the enterprise, it is
fitting that their names should be publicly communicated,
to order that the British public may know and appreciate
• the notiont and enlarged views of the " elegant extracts"
of the town of Birmingham. Their names are alphabeti-
eally as follovrs:—lsaac Anderton, William Anderton,
• C. Alston, George Barker, Dr. Booth, John Cope,
Hey,. James Clarke, Dr. Freer, Dr. Gardner, William
Hamper, Oliver Mason, Theodore Price, George Sinicox,
Isaac Spooner, James Taylor, J. Wood, and James Woolley.
It is not credible that seventeen persons can he embodied
in Z.eae corporation unanimously agreed on the Quixotic
'undertaking; such, therefore, of the above-named as are
not members of the holy alliance, will of course publicly
disclaim any participation. The facts alluded to are shortly
these :—The school, founded in 1552, and endowed with
'the property of the dissolved monasteries and guilds, (much
of which was previously in the administration of the
Bailiff and Commonalty of Birmingham) was established
by Royal charter, the patent being entitled ‘' For the In-
habitants of the Town of Birmingham, concerning a Free
School in the same town, to themselves and their succes-
sors." The management and power of making by-laws,
for the order and regulation of the masters and school,
were vested in 20 Governors, and the vacancies in the
hodY,' from death, resignation, and non-residence, were to
be filled up by the survivors, from " the more discreet
and more trusty inhabitants of the town and parish
of Birmingham, or of the manor of Birmingham
tO the same town adjoining." The institution has
of late years, we are informed, gone backwards in
Proportion to the rapid increase of its funds. From the
rue in the value of its estates in the town and neighbour-
,"°:°,ll the annual income considerably exceeds 3,0001.,
with the certainty of constant augmentation from the ex-
piration of old leases ; and in 20 or 30 years the revenue
Will exceed 10,0001. per annum, and will subsequently
amount to a much larger sum. At present the buildings
Are in the most dilapidated state; even the statue of their
Itclal founder has mouldered from its exalted pedestal;
the scholars are barely more than 100 in number, and the
." dead languages " (the vernacular language of the present
Governors we presume) are alone taught. Fortunately,
the Commissioners for the investigation of Charities visited,
explored, and reported upon this time-eaten and superan-
nuated establishment (see Charity Reports, No. 20, page
647 and page 693), " as a fit case for the interposition of
the Court of Chancery ;" and that " the ignorance of the
Governors and their secretary of the existence of so consi-
derable a debt, implies a degree of inattention and neglect
to the concerns of the charity deserving of marked repre-
hension ." and the Commissioners further express their
hope that the Governors will adopt " a better regulated
system of management." This is the libel of the Com-
missioners, and it was ordered to be printed by the House
of Commons on the 18th of February, 1829, and it may
be echoed without any King's Bench liability. Imme-
diately on the appearance of this report, the attention of
the inhabitants being still more excited to the condition of
their trust, the Governors of course were obliged to do
AA" fdly " Chancery suit between tbe
""-nea'-General onrien the relation of themselves against the
as.Peuagogue and sub-pedagogue " of the school and the
aatshop of the diocess (Lichfield), has occupied five years.
The state of the school, and the Governors' scheme of im-
provement, are referred to a master to report upon. The
inhabitants are no parties to these proceedings, and we are
informed are in utter ignorance of every step.
The Governors, a fortn;ght since, unknown to the in-
habitants,—without even so much as a newspaper para-
graph announcing their intentions,—introduced an " Es-
tate Bill" into the House of Lords, read it a first and se-
send time, and gave notice of the Lords' Committee on the
Bill for Friday ! The prints of this this Bill were not re-
ceived in Birmingham till Monday se'nnight. The indig-
nation caused by the above exclusion, insinuated into a
schedule to the act, may be estimated by the fact of the
Dissenters exceeding in number half the gross population
of the town. The advertisement of resolutions, passed at
an aggregate meeting of all the different classes of non-con-
formists, comprising the Quakers, Protestant Dissenters,
and Catholics, inserted in this day's Times, will demon-
strate the strong public feeling excited by this most absurd
and gratuitous insult. Eligibility to the office of Gover-
nor has been enjoyed by all the inhabitants, without rela-
tion to religious opinion or profession, from the date of the
charter to the present moment ; it is the lawful birthright
of every inhabitant, as much as the private freehold of any
polder Governorr constitutes his individual property, and no
herited racfabjusily wrest from the Dissenters this their in-
neehetti.ted
franchise. All the intelligent and opulent mem-
here of the
so impolitic, church
aredisgusted i )y. a measure
and so injurious to the church itself.

$
An-active canvass has already commenced for
the representation of the county of Limerick, in the event
of A general election..—Cork constitution.