The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-10 00:00:00

on Education,

Yesterday the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Pre-
sident of the Council, and President of the Com-
mittee of Council on Education, paid a visit to
Bristol, for the purpose of distributing the prizes at
the Diocesan Trade School of that city.
His Grace was received at the Council-house by
the Mayor (Mr. E. S. Robinson), and was enter-
tained at a sumptuous luncheon, at which a large
number of the leading citizens were present, among
whom were the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol,
the Very Rev. the Dean of Bristol, Mr. Commis-
sioner Hill, the Rev. Canons Moseley, Norris,
Girdlestone, Knight, the Master of the Society of
Merchant Vintners (Mr. S. V. Hare), &c.
After " The Ilealth of her Majesty the Queen"
had been drunk with due honours, the Mayor pro-
posed " The Health .of his Grace the Duke of Buck-
ingham," and slid that the visit of their distin-
guished guest showed the interest which her Ma-
jesty's Government took in the subject of education.
His worship also referred to the great work which
the schools of the country were doing in creating
the character of the rising generation. Alluding to
the special object of his Grace's visit to Bristol, the
mayor observed that the trade schools of the coun-
try owed their origin to a great extent to the Exhi-
bition of 1851, in connection with which he paid a
grateful tribute to the memory of the late Prince
Consort.
The toast having been drunk with enthusiasm,
The Duke of BUCKINGHAM, who was received
with loud cheers, in responding to the toast of his
health, said it was not, he must confess, without
some pride he rose to thank them for the honour
they had conferred upon him and upon the office
he held by the reception they had given him upon
the occasion of his visit to Bristol, and he thought
they would excuse him for saying that that pride
was enhanced when he mentioned to them that
that happened to be the first occasion upon
which he had had to take part in any public
business since he was honoured with the choice
of Lord Derby as one of his colleagues.
(Cheers.) It was with great gratification that he
learnt that all sides of politics and all sects of religion
had joined on that occasion to show respect to the
Lord President of the Council and the office he
held on the occasion of his coming to distribute the
prizes at the Bristol Trade School—(cheers)—a
school which held a singular position in this country,
for if it was not the only school of its particular
class, it was the most successful one, but he thought
it was the only one. (Cheers.) He was first asked
to come to Bristol very soon after he assumed office
by the Rev. Canon Moseley, and his first question on
going to the office after receiving the invitation was,
"Is it usual for the President to distribute prizes at
schools ?" For he began to think that there was a
very large amount of work to be done if he were to
distribute the prizes at every school. (Laughter.)
Ile was told that it was not so. " Why, then," he
said, " is it asked now?" and he requested to be fur-
nished with the papers connected with the school,
and he then saw that the circumstances were such,
and the establishment of the school was so peculiar
and its success so great, that he felt it was only due
to the citizens of Bristol that he should at once un-
dertake the duty reqtfired of him, and congratulate
them on the success which had followed the working
of the school which had been inaugurated some 10
or 11 years ago by his predecessor, Lord Granville.
(Loud cheers.) It was a notion of some people in
some parts of the country that the Lords of the
Council had little to do besides looking after the
education of the people, and he, too, was very much
of that opinion when he assumed office; but what
with cattle plague and what with cholera it had this
year happened that the President of the Council had
been obliged to remain in London,.unable to make
any engagements. The result had been that time
after time he had been obliged to postpone making
the appointed visit to Bristol, and it was got so late
that he began to fear that, unless he made an ap-
pointment for some particular day, he should fail to
fulfil his undertaking. (Hear, hear.) He did not
expect anything further to do nor anything further
to say than to attend at the hall on the occasion of
the presentation of prizes and distribute them to the
children, and, perhaps, say a few words to them.
Ile was not at all prepared for the kind, courteous
reception which he had received that day. He,
however, thanked them for it. Ile IntLt say a few
words in regard to what had been done in respect
to the school. He thought it conferred a marked
honour upon the citizens of Bristol that they should
have inaugurated a school of that particular class
and that they should have carried it to so success-
ful a result, and that they should, as he thought,
have led the way to a most important feature in the i
after education of, if he might use the term, the
boys of the mechanics, or the lower portion of the
middle class of the country. (Cheers.) The State
up to a certain point might urge, and some might
say compel, the education of these people. Up to a
certain point, he said, but he believed they would
all agree that up to that point the children must be
driven to school. (Hear, hear.) They did not go
willingly, they would plod leisurely and slowly,
with bags and slate, but they must be driven to
school if brought to school at all. (Hear, hear.)
Thus, they had the disinclination of the children to
contend against as well as the great demand for
almost infantile labour, and the poverty of the
parents, -who valued the shilling or two their chil-
dren earned, though it might cost them more for the
very maintenance of those children. (Cheers.)
Thoy had all those difficulties to contend against up
to a certain point, but if a boy was intelligent there
came a time when he would thirst for more know-
ledve, and when, if he had taken advantage of his
previous education, it would become rather a plea,
sure and an interest than a source of trouble ar-

annoyance. He thought a great deal might be done
by keeping the children at school for a longer period,

and giving them that amount of knowledge in the
superior branches of education which no high pres-
sure work in night schools or otherwise would ever
give them. (Cheers.) He said he thought it con-
ferred an honour on the citizens of Bristol in
having brought to so successful an issue their
Trade School, and he was glad that the first oc-

casion on which he had taken any public part
since be had assumed office should have been in so
ancient a city as that, and in connexion with an oc•

casion which, as he had said before, conferred such
an honour upon them. (Cheers.) He thanked them
again for the.very kind reception they had given him,
but he could not sit down without alluding to one
further subject, and that was the great competitive
examination, if he might so call it, and was to come
on between the whole world at Paris this year. That
would show whether in the 14 or 15 years which had
elapsed since the Great Exhibition of 1851 England
had or had not kept pace with the progress of foreign
countries since 1851. That was since the Exhibition
of that year they might consider the real training in
art and science had been gradually given to the
working men of England, and the Exhibition of
1867 would or ought to show that it had been of
some value, and he trusted it would. He believed
that as a Commissioner of the Paris Exhibition he
had seen no sign of any backwardness on the part
of England in a general way. (Cheers.) There were
trades —there was one leading industry, the cutlery
of England—which still hung back from exhibition;
but, taking England generally, he could not say there
had been the slightest hesitation in entering into the
lists, and it must be borne in mind that those exhi-
bitions were not mere shows. They rea'ly were
tests. The 900 might go and look at the thing as a
show, but the last 100 would go because they wanted
to know where to go for the best sorts of articles they
wanted in their trade, and it was to the prize lists
and honourable mention lists of those exhibitions

that the foreign merchant looked when he wanted to

know where to get the best; for instance, locomotive
engines, marine engines, or spinning machines.

(Cheers.) He trusted that the Exhibition of 1867
would show them they had not only kept pace,
but that they had made a slight advance. That,
however, remained in the womb of the future. At

the same time, when one came so near the ap-
proach of the Exhibition of 1867, he could not
think but that it. was right on the part of the
mayor to call their attention to him that was gone,
and to whose thoughtjhe first of those exhibitions,
and the progress which had since been made in the