The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-13 00:00:00

EDUCATION (SCOTLAND) BILL.

The LORD ADVOCATE having moved the second
reading of this bill,

Mr. NEWDEGATE presented a number of petitions
against it from various places in Scotland.
Mr. STIRLING rose, pursuant to notice, to move that
the bill be read a second time that day six months. He
regretted to have to oppose a bill for so laudable an object
as that of promoting the education of the people, but he
thought more consideration should be given to the subject
than it was possible to devote to it in the present session.
Although the system of national education inScotland was
to some extent defective, it should be remembered that it
was still superior to that which existed either in England
or Ireland, and the proof of this was to be found in the nu-
merous instances in which boys educated in the parish schools
of Scotland attained to distinguished positions in after life.
The hon. gentleman proceeded to state the number of
parish schools in connexion with the church of Scotland,
of which the established church had 935, and even the
episcopal church had increased of late years the number
from 12 to 93, and argued that great good had been done
in that respect. He, however, did not think that the mere
multiplying of schools would prevent vice and irreligion
any more than you prevent hunger by multiplying bakers'
shops. He thought Scotland might be proud of her parish
schools, and if they required reform it should be carried on
with a careful and kindly hand, but let them not be swept
away as was proposed by the present bill. They might
have faults ; their schoolmasters might be ill-paid, and
their salaries already too small, would be further reduced
by the operation of a law which was about to take effect,
and against that law they ought to be protected.
It was impossible to deal with this question without
touching on religious grounds ; but he was not about to
enter on the question of secular and religious education.
He believed, however, that the great majority of the
people of Scotland were in favour of religious education,
and it was not the intention of the Lord Advocate's bill
to weaken the religious element in the schools, though it
provided for it in a very clumsy way. It was only rea-
sonable that the church should be allowed to give a gua-
rantee for the quality of the teaching in the schools ; and
the connexion between the church and the schools had

existed so long with advantage that it ought to continue.
He had been in communication with many clergymen on
this subject, and their views were very reasonable ; for
they had no objection to be associated with a Government
inspector in the schools. With regard to grants of money,
although he would not ask the house to give money for
parochial schools connected with the church, yet he was
not prepared to vote money for schools which were not so
connected. There were about 9,000 schools, and the Lord
Advocate asked that they might each be endowed with a
sum of 161. a year, and also that half of the retiring pension
toschool masters should be paid out of the grant, which he
calculated would require 25,0001. a year, and the sum
asked was 18,5001., and he thought that the Lord Advo-
cate might have asked for it without the offensive condi-
tions contained in the bill, with reference both to the
Church and the Dissenting bodies in Scotland. There was
one part of the plan of the bill he should like to see tried,
which was to set up side schools which should be open to
all denominations where they were required, and if that
experiment succeeded, let the Government come down to
the house, and propose to extend the system. The hon.
gentleman then entered into a defence of the Presbytery
with reference to the conduct of the schools, and expressed
his regret that the Lord Advocate, in his speech, had said
that the condition of the schools under the superintendence
of the Presbytery was degraded beyond imagination. If
those words implied a grave charge against living men it
ought to have been substantiated, but if it was intended in
a historical sense it would have been better to have made
that sense appear. He urged that legislation was com-
menced in the absence of sufficient information ; and he
thought that there ought to be inquiry by a royal commis-
sion before legislation, but the Lord Advocate had put the
cart of legislation before the horse of inquiry. It was said
that the opponents of the bill admitted the defects of the
educational system, and yet wished to reject the bill ; but
he could answer to that, that the question had been con-
sidered by the opponents of the bill, and a draft of a mea-
sure prepared. which in the event of his motion for reject-
ing the present bill being carried, would be introduced into
the house. The hon. gentleman concluded by expressing
his regret that he had been compelled by a sense of duty to
oppose this bill, which might be construed into an opposi-
tion to the first step towards the establishment of a system
of national education.

The Earl of DALKEITH seconded the amendment, and
said he regretted that in addressing the house for the first
time he should be speaking in opposition to a bill intro-
duced by the Government. His main objection to the bill
was that it laid down the principle of the disruption of
parochial schools from their connection with the church.
The result of the present system had been so satisfactory
as regarded the education of the people of Scotland, that it
ought not to be hastily thrown over by a bill founded entirely
on theory. He did not say that the parochial schools were
not capable of improvement—for he admitted that they
-were—and he should be glad to see them improved. In
the preamble of the bill the Lord Advocate affirmed that
the superintendence of the church over the schools had
been defective, and therefore that the church
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longer have the same control over them a,
though the system of superintendence had been defectively
carried out, it was not defective in itself, and a declara-
tion to that effect had been signed by 2,000 proprietors of
land in Scotland, while in 19 out of 22 counties where
meetings had been held with reference to this bill the opi-
nion expressed had been against it. He thought that the
legislature was not justified in opening charges against the
Church of Scotland on the mere words of the Lord Advo-
cate and the Government without sufficient substantiation
of them by proof. There was no mention in the bill what
religion was to be taught, or whether any religion was to
be taught in the schools. He was ready to concur in any
improvements in the parochial schools consistently with the
preservation of the present system, but he wished the
house to consider whether a system which had made the
people of Scotland the best educated in the world should
be put aside, and a mere theoretical plan set up in its
place.
Lord ELCHO said his hon. friend who had moved this
amendment expressed his regret at finding that he was
obliged to move an amendment in opposition to the bill
brought in by the Government. He regretted to find that a
gentleman from whom they had expected better things,
should have permanently enrolled himself among the ranks
of their opponents. He considered that his hon. friend's
position was untenable, because he on the one hand
said there was a deficiency in the means of education,
and on the other hand he asked the house to maintain a
system which had caused the necessity of such a measure
as this. He was far from denying what had fallen from
his hon. friend and from the seconder of the amendment,
in favour of the present system. It was under that sys-
tem in a great measure that Scotchmen had become what
they are. But when his honourable friend the mem-
ber for Perthshire stated that the parochial schools
were of an unsectarian character, he begged to differ
with him in that respect ; for though the teaching was
unsectarian, the door stood open whether they were
Presbyterian or Roman Catholic. Yet he thought no ono
acquainted with those schools would deny that their con-
stitution was sectarian. What was required was an es-
sential alteration iu the parochial schools of Scotland,
which would bring them in harmony with the altered cir-
cumstances of the times in which we lived, and would
bring them back to what they were intended to be, namely,
the public schools for Presbyterian Scotland ; and it was
with this object and intention that his hon. and learned
friend had brought in this bill. In advocating this change
in their public schools he wished to guard himself against
being supposed to have any hostility to the Established
Church of Scotland. He entertained the greatest respect
for that valuable institution, he fully appreciated the be-
nefits it had conferred upon the country, and he did not
wish in any way to impair its efficiency. He would now
call the attention of the house to the difficulties with which
this question was surrounded, because, although there was
a general opinion that something should be done the great-
est difference prevailed as to what that something should
be. It appeared to him there were but three ways of estab-
lishing a system of public education in Scotland. In the
first place by extending the system which at present
existed ; in the second place, by establishing a system of
mei e secular education ; and in the third place, by estab-
lishing a system founded on a religious beds. Iu the first