The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-26 00:00:00

14,1
EDiri ON

S 1;'?-1-P,LT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FRO] d.
THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
ee so convinced of the truth of the old max;m,
(.cc .es repetita placebit," that we consider it cur
dut.y to notice, and, as we hope, effectually to scotch,
" eeent hydra-headed argument of our Contemporary
Ae Morning Herald, upon -the subject of national
• education. We bad thought that the statement of
I. Guerry with regard to the appearance of an excess
elf criminals in the most instructed departments of
Erance, compared with those less instructed, had been
:sufficiently often refuted, both with respect to the Let,
and to the inference ; for it has been shown first,
that the single year upon which he founded his calcu-
lations was an exception, and that if he had taken eny
one or more of the preceding or following years, his
conclusions would not have held good ; and, eeconniy,
with respect to the inference, that no argument un-
favourable to educe' ion can be drawn from the feet
that a highly instructed community furnishes an exces-
sive proportion of criminals, if it can be shown that tleese
criminals are almost wholly uneducated. And this has been
proved over and over again, both in these columns and in
other publications. The Herald itself brings forward the
proof in the very article to which we refer, although in
sin incorrect form, the error of which we must expose.
'Ale are unable at present to turn to the original paper
eehich it quotes (the C'ouricr), but it adopts and puts
-forwited the following statement that, in France
The number of criminals accused was, in 1834,
6,952 ; and iu 1838, 8,014.
Of these there were uneducated,
i. e., could neither read nor 1334 1635
write . • • . . 4,080 4,469
Imperfectly instructed, i. e. could
read and write imperfectly 4,061 702
Knowing to read well . 608 2,587
Possessing superior instruction . 203 276
The inference drawn by the Courier is, that there
is " a vast comparative increase of crime, not among
the unlettered or imperfectly educated classes, in
which there is a positive diminution in 1838, as
compared with 1834 ; but in the two classes decently
and more highly instructed." This would be true, if
the figures were rightly stated, but there is this im-
portant error, that the numbers in the two classes of
imperfectly and well instructed are transposed in 18:38,
and that instead of 2,587 persons being able to read
well, the correct number is only 702, which is erro-
neously stated to be the number of those possessing im-
perfect instruction. This 'Correction being made,. the
deductions of the Morning Herald and Courier fall to
the ground ; for it appears that the increase of edu-
cated criminals in the latter year, the increase of the
total number being taken into account, is a mere frac-
tion, which may be nothing more than the consequence
of comparing two single years. The par tentage pro-
portion in the two years was as follows :-
1834 1838
Uneducated
Instruction imperfect
Knowing to read well
Superior instruction .. 2.9 0.4
The proportion of the educated (for the latter class
elono are entitled to that appellation) bad increased
trom twenty-nine in one thousand to thirty-four in one
thousand. But do not these figures prove the falsity,
absurdity, of the inference that " crime and educa-
tion proceed together'?" Where is the evidence of
education among these criminals ? Not four in one
hundred had received an instruction superior to read-
ing and writing well ; not more than twelve in one Lun-
Arc(' could even read and write well. If any advocate of
national education had put forward such a rash proposi-
tion, that reading and writing would of themselves re-
etrain persons from the commission of crimes—we have
never supported such a doctrine—where is the evidence
that these criminals could read and write ? 88 in 100
septet only read and write imperfectly, 56 in 100
restld neither read nor write ; unless, therefore, it
son he proved that not more than four in 100 of the
ereneral population have received such a suderior
degree of instruction as is here attributed to a fraction
of the criminals, and that not more than 12 in 100 of
the general population can read and write well, it is in-
cantestibly certain that the criminals in France are be-
low the standard of instruction in that country, and that
the ignorant and ill-instructed classes furnish much
more then their quota to the courts and prisons, the
gallies and the scaffold. If we turn to England, the
evieence is the same. -While the compositor was busy
in setting up the article in the Herald, a paper vas
being read before the Statistical Seciety of London.
in which the author shoved that, upon an average of
the last three veers, only 4 in 1,000 of the criminals
enniesitted for trial in England and \Vales were edu-
cated, and only 10 in 10) could read and write
tell ; 35 in 100 were wholly destitute of instruction,
not being abie either to write or to read, and 54 in
100 possessed the lowest degree of elementary instisie-
ties, being able to read or write imperfectly. It
cannot be doubted that this latter class had not re-
ceived that amount of insirucion which is ivortltt of
the title of education, which, by the nature of the le,-
sons con eyed, or by the direction given:to the thoughts,
could hare hail any permanent good iefluence upon
minds and hearts. These two class .s, therefore, or
Laarly ninety in a huadretl, must be placed together as
persons wholly destitute of moral instruction, and almost
,ie4tittiti of the elementary knowledge by the aid of
which it might be acquired. The third ideas had ad-
vanced a step farther—they could read and write eel::
bet it does not necesserily follow that educ:tion
been grafted upon instruction, and that their reason wes
convinced, their hearts touched, their hope raised, their
faith established, while their intellectual powers were
cultivated and developed. Less than this fails short of
education, and education cannot be justly charged vti:ll
inefficiency to f.?`,!ra,t) crime because a number of hal-
efiticated persons figure in the table of criminels.
No system or institution can be taxed with insam-
peteney because it fails to produce its intended effect
without a suflieien;. trial, or before it has had time
to develops and apply its resources. Whether it be
t,-ue .or not that the number of criminal offenders has
increased in this and other countries contemporaneously
will the establishment of schools, and the extension of
tae means of education, which we tare not prepared to
a.lmit ; and whether it be true or false that the propor-
Von of criminal offenders is greatest in d•strices where
ins:rue:6li is most prevalent, we deny that any inference
tinfa-rourtHe to education can be drawn from the atilr-
InAtion of either proposition, because it has been shown
dI4L it is not ny the educated that the mass of offime,s
is co emitted, jtit by the ignorant, whom the extens
el' the system of education has not reached, or by the ill-
edueteed. with whom the system has not advanced ter
rough to produce any effect. With regard to 'he r—
etraining iteluecce ef mere instruction the question is del-
f, rent. Instruction operates upon the mind—education
el:on the heart ; and we know that sin is engendered in tlei
begirt. However, we find that even instruction has snout
140,;(1 iereemee. Only 10 in 100 criminals in Englend
dam• raj iesiructed ; and we know that instruction meet
prepare the way for education, of which it is the
It to and the forerunner. " The schoolmaster with
his primer must precede " the schoolmaster with his
Bible ;" or else either the Bible must be used as a '
trier and teak book, or the instruction of the child be
eoefined to oral communication. There is, however,
evidence to show, that religious knowledge—and there
cannot be a living faith without knowledge—rarely exists
without instruction. The chaplain of the Lewes gaol
shows in hie report of last year, that out of 846 pi i-
!:oaers confined during that year, only eight could read
and write well. All of these, and none rJ the other
8:33, were acquainted with Christian doctrine ;
uthers were acquainted with the history of the S
; of these 49 could read +el! ; out of 541 who
were either wholly ignorant, or could only read im-
perfectly, not more than five were acquainted with
the history of the Saviour. At Preston, out of 270
offenders, eleven were instructed in religion ; of these
nine could read and write well. In the paper before
referred to some very interesting evidence was brought
forward on this point. In comparing the proportion of
male: and female criminals respectively in Englandi
Scotland, and Ireland, it resulted that the proportion of
females was greatest where they were the least in-
wanted ; and they were the least instructed where the
amelleat proportion of them was at school. In Scot-
land the proportion of female criminals is in 23 in 100 ;
in Ireland, 21 in 100 ; and in England, 17 in 100.
The proportion of instructed criminals in England is
out as great among females as among males. In
Scotland and Ireland it is only one-third. In Eng-
land the proportion of girls at school is about 91
to 100 bays ; in Ireland it is only 72 ; and in Seot-
lend 68 to 100 boys. Here, then, the excess of ,
criminality among females in Scotland and Ireland,
as compared with England, is traced to a smaller
proportion of that sex being at school in the former
countries.
If, however, instruction be insufficient to
restrain persons from vice and crime, ignorance is still
more inefficient for that purpose. Instruction becomes
more and more competent as it advances. Education,
though not always successful, as no human method can
be, is the perfect instrument for the attainment of this
object. Let those, then, who object. to instruction im-
prove the methods in use, and supply education in its
stead—a sound and really efficient education, which will
reach the understanding as well as the memory, the
heart as well as the hand and eye ; and which, while it
teaches the people they have duties to perform to their
Maker and their fellow-creatures, will furnish them also
with that knowledge which will enable them the more
easily and the more efficiently to fulfil one of their du-
ties to themselves and their families, namely,
that of
providing for their temporal wants ; of raising them-
selves above the temptations of poverty and the degra-
dation of dependence.
(From the Times.)
There seems to be a large amount of busybody non-
sense talked in English newspapers relating to the for-
tifications of Paris. The subject, we beg leave to say,
is altogether and suite exclusively a French one, When
it was first broached by the Government of Louis
Philippe, then presided over by that formidable War
Minister, M. Thiers, we expressed in few words a
pretty decided hint, that the fortifications then pro- '