The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-06 00:00:00

STONE'S decision as the ultimatum of their conduct,
if they wish to do their duty to their constituents,
and serve the cause they profess to honour. The
country will appreciate alike the good intentions of
the Ministry and the factious spirit of their oppo-
nents ; and to the country must an appeal be made
if Mr. GLADSTONE'S mischievous instructions be
carried. He knew very well that the Ministers
must accept this as a motion of want of
confidence, and of course they have done so. We
have hitherto been hopeful as regarded the progress
of the Government Bill, and our hopes have been
realised. We still hope and believe that the renewed
struggle of next week will only serve to bring the
Ministers a renewed victory ; but, if not, they must
go on boldly, and appeal to that which can control
the spirit of faction—the voice of public opinion—
and the result will not be favourable to the con-
spirators of Carlton-terrace.

The important though complex question of
national education was last night brought up for
consideration in the House of Commons. Mr.
Lova took occasion to object to the new minute
of the Committee of Council on Education, the
object of which is to increase the grants made to
primary schools. Mr. LOWE entered at some length
into the question, and although he has been
associated with most of the reductions in this de-
partment, he begged the noun to understand that
he did not begrudge the money—£7o,ooo—for
any useful purpose connected with national
education, but that he thought so far from
increasing the efficiency of the existing
system it was likely to diminish it. The right
hon. gentleman drew an alarming picture of the
condition in which national education was found to
be in 1862, and he expressed his conviction that the
great and sweeping changes made that year by the
Committee of Council on Education had been most
beneficial, notwithstanding the panic created
amongst tilos.: concerned in education. The num-
ber of schools had been increased by 1,350, and the
number of pupils by 110,000 , and that had been
effected with a saving estimated at £400,000,
though he should be disposed to reckon it
at £lOO,OOO more. So much for the present
state of things according to Mr. LowE, but these
figures do not show that there is no possibility of
improvement. Every year the importance of edu-
cation is becoming more widely recognised ; every
year some of the old prejudices die away ; and we
may naturally believe that the number of scholars
will go on steadily increasing in proportion to the
population, because the number of totally ignorant
and therefore indifferent parents is constantly di-
minishing. The next generation will not have so
much to contend against in the illiterate fathers and
mothers who, having "no learning" themselves,
cannot see the necessity of their children having
any. We may reasonably ask, however, whether
there is not something Unsatisfactory in the
system which requires so much voluntary help.
The State is certainly rich enough to pay for
public instruction of this kind, and in many
countries such schools are altogether the business
of the Government. No one wishes to see that
method adopted here, and most of the parents
would greatly prefer paying something them-
selves for their children's education. Still
the public grants might be made, we
think, in a little more liberal spirit, and
since the necessity of public instruction is ad-
mitted on all hands, it would surely be well to re-
serve voluntary effort and pecuniary assistance for
the classes below and beyond the reach of National
Schools. The Ragged Schools of our great cities
may fairly claim a grant in aid, but the bulk of
their work and their cost must be borne by those
enterprising philanthropists who undertake them.
The National School, on the other hand, has no claim
on charity, though a powerful one on justice, and the
grants of the State should be ample enough to defray
what is required beyond the children's pence. Of
course there is no object to be gained by extrava-
gant expenditure, and unless efficiency is secured
the smallest sums are excessive, but the first object
should be the satisfactory working of the system,
not the reduction of expenses. Mr. LOWE regards
the whole question too much as it looks upon paper
without regarding the practical effect on the scholars.
He asserts that the additional grant will be wasted
where it is not mischievous, and in his speech
last evening ho examined the three charges
brought by Mr. CORRY against the present sys-
tem. The first objection is that the smaller
schools are unable to comply with the con-
ditions of the Revised Code ; the second, that
too much attention is given to reading, writing,
and arithmetic, to the neglect of grammar, history,
and geography ; and the third is that, under the
present system, the number of pupil teachers has
very much declined. Mr. LOWE proceeded to dis-
cuss and to contradict these charges, but not alto-
gether satisfactorily. His argument against the
first objection was not a little singular. He con-
tended that it was no harm if the Government con-
ditions pressed hardly on the smaller schools,
because denominations were too fond of having
their own, and there were often two or three
small schools where one large one would be much
better. To the second objection he replied that
it was no use to teach grammar and history with-
out a sound substratum of rudimental knowledge,
and as the children generally left at eleven little
more could be attempted. This answer, at first
sight, seems plausible enough, but good authori-
ties have told us that in the schools where the
highest proficiency is attained in the higher
branches, reading and writing are most carefully
attended to. We fully agree with Mr. CORRY that
it does not speak well for the existing system
that an intelligent boy of ten years of age,
who had left school in a country town,
should never have heard of Edinburgh or Dublin.
The third objection, respecting the falling off of the
pupil teachers, Mr. LOWE treated lightly, and de-
clared it to be false political economy to give a
bounty upon the employment of pupil teachers. Mr.
Coma summed up the case very briefly and con-
clusively when he said that he did not care about
political economy, but that finding a great falling
off in the teaching power of the country, a great
injury to the education of the children, a
great diminution in the supply of candidates for
certificated masters, thereby endangering the
whole system,he felt it to be his duty to take imme-
diate action. It had been found that the average
attendance in the schools throughout England and
Wales was 863,420, of whom 566,037 were pre-
sented for examination ; 284,000 passing in the
lower standard, 80,000 in the fifth standard, and
only 13,000 in the sixth or highest standard. It
is evident that some change must be introduced,
and we believe these grants to the primary schools
will be most beneficial. Where one pupil teacher
is expected to instruct 89 children, we need not
wonder that none of them know where Dubliu is.
The House thought with Mr. CORRY, and ex-
pressed themselves very decidedly adverse to Mr.
LOWE'S misplaced economy. On a division 203
against 40 decided on behalf of the more liberal
proposal.

A grandson of the ex-Lord Chief Baron Pollock
is second in the Cambridge Classical Tripos for 1867.
Sixty-one years have elapsed since Sir Frederick carried
off the blue riband of the University; he lives in the full
enjoyment of all his fine faculties to see a grandson attach
an honour almost as groat as his own to the family name.
—Law Times.