The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-10 00:00:00

EARL RUSSELL ON EDUCATION.

RELIGIOUS TREATiVIIiNT (iF ROMAN
CATHOLIC PgISONER.s.

On Monday afternoon Earl Russell presided at the annual
meeting of the British and Foreign School Society, which
was held in London. His lordship said the question of
education at the present moment divided public opinion.
One of the first principles of the society was to introduce
religious teaching into the schools, and the Bible it was
decided should be the foundation of that
teaching. For his own part he did not
consider a man educated until he had received
religious teaching. He might read with great
correctness and fluency, and might write a beautiful hand;
he might have a thorough knowledge of geography, and
be an admirable arithmetician, but this he looked upon as
instruction only, and he could not consider a man to be
educated unless he was versed in the principles of the
Christian religion. These were the principles of the society,
and it would be carried out, whatever the Legislature
might do. He had said that they founded their teaching
on the Bible, and he would further say that they laid aside
all catechisms and formularies. The Bible was given to
them as the Word of God, and was an inspired book ;
whilst catechisms and formularies were Written by men,
were the sentiments of men, and contained the faults and
the passions which existed at the time they were written.
The one great lesson taught us was to forgive each other,
and that they put in the most plain and forcible
manner. These were the principles which were advocated
by the society in 1808, and he saw no reason why any
alteration should be made. What they wanted now was
school masters not school teachers, in order that educa-
tion might be properly spread among all classes, and it
behoved them all to look out for the best class of people
who could be found for carrying out the work. It was
said by a man in a high position that the
Government paid 88 per cent. of the money expended upon
pnblic education, and it seemed a matter of surprise to
the person to whom he alluded. For his part he should
like to see Government spend, instead of 88, something
like 99 per cent. in this way. Now, as to what points
were to his mind necessary with regard to a national
system. He thought it necessary to divide the
country in such a manner that the districts
should be convenient, and the maintenance of
schools as economical as possible. That was the in-
tention of the bill which he introduced, and in which the
Dissenters took great interest. In the next place
it appeared to him there should be no rate
imposed, and nothing like a tax imposed on the
people in any district to which the people in that
aistrict, by themselves or by their representatives,
had not given full consent. It was the old
maxim of our Constitution that if a general
tax was required the House of Commons, as the
representatives of the public should give their consent to
it, and any departure from that rule would be unadvisable,
mischievous, and unconstitutional. Referring to the bill
before the House, his lordship said that when the bill
for household suffrage was passed the Liberal party, who
felt certain that they would be in a large majority,
naturally stated what they should do. Many said " Let
us abolish compulsory churches ; " and a great
majority, like himself, said, "Let us do justice to
Ireland—if the Church of Ireland is indefensible, let us
abolish it, and if the landlords cannot be defended let us
change the system. Much had already been done with
these two questions. A compulsory church was swept
away in compliance with the wishes of the people of that
country, and they had come to the more difficult question
of the land. The great genius and unwearied industry
and animation of Mr. Gladstone he felt sure would solve
the question. A great majority, however, wanted to see
a generous system of unsectarian education. His tests of
the efficiency and practicability of the bill were, first, that
there should be a division of the counties into districts, that
the schools should be increased, and that the teaching- should
be unsectarian. He did not know if these points were
contained in the bill, but if they were not-the bill would
hardly have the assent of the nation. If any. other than
the bill he had indicated should become law he should
certainly take a course which was open to the House of
Lords, and enter his protest against it. He impressed
on the members of the Lower House the importance of
closely watching every clause so as to understand before
voting it the length to which it would go, and the actual
operation it would have. If they had sectarian religious
teaching the effect might be very disastrous, when they
looked at the fact that the Church of England now was
not the Church it was, owing to unfortunate innovations
which had taken place. If they insisted upon denomina-
tional teaching, they could not foresee what
in ten, twenty, or thirty years that teaching
would be. He could not but feel that a
gimlet was at work at the bottom of the Church, and it
behoved them to be very vigilant and to take care that this
great Protestant country, with its Protestant Bible, Pro-
testant teaching, and Protestant schools, helds its proper
rank among the nations of the world.

The select committee of the House of Commons, on
prison ministers, and the manner in which the Prison
Ministers Acts are carried out, resumed their sittings
yesterday morning, Mr. Maguire, M.P. for Cork in the

The Rev. Mr. Collingridge, Roman Catholic priest of
Manchester described the system adopted in the prison of
that town. The Protestant chaplain had a salary of
£3OO a year, and a nice house and garden, and while he
was away there had been a sum of £44 voted for the
Catholic minister, and it had been received for a short
time, but he refused it as being ludicrously inadequate.
He also stated that there was no objection on the
part of the magistrates to allow the Catholic prisoners
the ordinary Catholic books of instruction, and of late
years they had paid for them, but what he strongly
objected to was the presence in the cell of the Protestant
Bible, Prayer Book, and tracts, which he considered an
insult to their holy religion because in case of the articles
in the Prayer Book the Romanist ceremonies were
stigmatised as dangerous deceits and fables and
some of their doctrines described as blasphemous. The
Protestant Bibles and prayer-books were placed in the
cells in accordance with the prison rules. He was allowed
only to visit the prisoners once in the day on Sundays,
and could not give more than two minutes to each. What
he wanted was to visit them in. common, or what was still
better, in classes.
The committee adjourned.

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY - MORNING, MAY 10, 1870.

MEAT PRESERVING.

The Gamgee meat preserving process NM now been sub-
jected to severe tests, which it has excellently borne.
Meat preserved on Professor Gamgee's principle has
crossed the Atlantic Ocean repeatedly, both to North and
to South America ; and the important question whether
the process would defend fresh meat through the long
voyage to Australia, with the trying alternations of
climate, has been triumphantly answered in the
affirmative. In November last a small consign-
ment was sent out by the Harkaway, and reached Mel-
bourn in excellent order. The crew and passengers of
the vessel ate part of the flesh on board, after the Line
had been crossed, and it was pronounced first-rate. The
surgeon of the ship writes :--" I was very glad to have
such tender mutton, as our sheep had to be eaten so fresh
that the mutton was always as tough as a halter.
All who tasted—captain included—were astonished
and enraptured." Recent news from the colony
stated that much interest was felt in the results of the
experiment, and another consignment was anxiously ex-
pected. Regarding the shipments to South America the
Buenos .Apres Standard of March 30, states that the meat
consigned to Messrs. Prange and Co., of that city, had
arrived out ; and that the preserved mutton used by the
captain of the Hipparchus on the voyage, and
given to the passengers after the ship had passed
the Equator, had been found excellent. Similar
reports have been made as to parcels sent out
to Madeira and to St. Vincent, and to a consignment re-
ceived in London from Troy, Ohio ' • and, altogether, the
tenour of the accounts goes -very far to establish the
success of Professor Gamgee's process in preserving fresh
meat for transmission in bulk beyond seas. The experi-
ments hitherto made have been conducted on such a scale,
and with such unvarying good results, that preparations
are now in active progress for an import trade of great
magnitude, which it is anticipated will shortly be de-
veloped.—Chamber of Agriculture Journal.

THE TEACHERS AND THE TIME-TABLE

CONSCIENCE CLAUSE.

The Time-table Conscience Clause question was
discussed at a conference of teachers and members of
Parliament on Saturday in London. Mr. Whitwell,
M.P., presided, supported by Lord F. Cavendish, M.P.,
the Hon. W. Cowper-Temple, M.P., Mr. Kay-Shuttle.
worth, M.P., Mr. Dent, M.P., Mr. Pease, M.P., and
' Mr. Baines, M.P. Teachers of all denominations were
present.—The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, said
it was decided when they last met that the religious diffi-
culty did not really exist inside the schoe/ walls, and it
was agreed that masters must be allowed to employ
the Bible teaching to illustrate and point the moral train-
ing of the children. They had now met to diseuss some
practical conscience clause which would carefully protect
the consciences of the parents and deal fairly with the
teachers. His opinion was that the time for religious in-
struction should be fixed at the beginning of the school
hours, and the children whose parents objected should be
engaged in some other work—Mr. Lawson said
that such a conscience clause would remove much
difficulty, They had a great objection to any
child being exempted from attendance during any
portion of the school hours. They considered that Par-
liament ought not to interfere with the time tables, but
the main objection they had was the absence of the
children from the school during the religious instruction.
He should recommend the teachers, if they were allowed
to have the children in school, to give way so far as to let
Parliament fix the beginning or end of the school
hours as the time for religious instruction. Mr.
Dent said he bad heard that the conscience clause they
would probably get would allow them four opportunities
of religious teaching in the day—at the commencement
and end of the morning and afternoon school hours.
This would give them an opportunity of teaching the
whole school by sections, each section at a different time.
—Mr. Heller thought that the time table
should be left to the teachers, and not regulated
by an Act of Parliament. What would suit one
school and one district would not suit another.—Mr.
Ryder had lately spent three weeks in East Lancashire,
and had been into every school which came in his way.
He was told by the teachers that there was practically no
religious difficulty, and they did not see the necessity for
a conscience clause.- - -The Hon. Cowper-Temple asked if
it was inconvenient to give religious instruction at the
beginning or end of the school hours ?—Several
teachers answered this question by saying that
in poor districts the children were not punctual in the
time of attendance -at the commencement, and the first
half hour was greatly broken into by the late arrivals,
and the end of the school hours was often interrupted by
the visits of parents bringing their children to school for
the first time, or to make complaints. Soule of the chil-
dren sometimes left early because they were wanted to run
errands, and for other reasons. After some further dis-
cussion the following resolutions, suggested by Mr.
Pease, were agreed to :—" That it is essential that all the
children attending a school, whether attending
religious instruction or not, should assemble at the
same time." "That all children not attending the
religious instruction should be employed in some other
school work during the time of religious instruction."
" That the time for religious instruction in any school or
to any scholars shall be plainly set forth on the walls of
the schoolroom in which such instruction takes place ;
such times for religious instruction to be approved of by
the Educational Department." " Should the school
master ascertain, or should he receive notice from any
parent, either orally or in writing, that such parent
objects to the child being present at the time of religious
instruction in use at the school, the master shall enter
such objections in the registry of the school."