The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-11 00:00:00

MR. ADDERLEY, M.P., ON EDUCATToN.

The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., Vice-
President of the Committee of Council on Educa-
tion, addressed a meeting at Sarney on Thursday
evening. The occasion was the foundation of the
local library and museum. Mr. Adderley is the
founder of the museum.
Mr. ADDERLEY commenced by a comparison of
our principles and system of State education with
foreign countries. Here the rule was that the
State should in no case interfere, except where it
was absolutely necessary. In autocratic countries
there was a king patron, who gave education as he
pleased, as in France, where the whole system was
organised by the Government; whilst in Prussia
they went still further, and so got rid of what
was a great difficulty in one way, namely, the
policy of the State affording not only education,
but religion to the people. In Prussia there was
a Government religion concocted by the Go-
vernment, and of course enforced on the people.
In America the difficulty was removed in a
different way—by elimination—the religious
element was omitted altogether, the primary part
which this country never could consent to eliminate.
(Cheers.) England, therefore, could not imitate the
examples of either autocratic or democratic coun-
tries. Where then, in this country ought the State
to interfere? He maintained that here the State
should not aid or interfere with anything which
could possibly be done without its assistance. The
State must do all aggregate national acts—such as
the conduct of war and of foreign affairs, the admi-
nistration of finance, and of the laws—but it was a
distinct rule and principle in this country that,
aught else should be left for the people to do them-
selves, simply because they could do it best, and
were interested in its being done. There were, how-
ever, some exceptions to the general rule of non-in-
terference of the Government with national educa-
tion, and the most prominent of these was the ques-
tion of educating the poor. Here the great rule of
self-interest was not experienced, or, in the terse and
strong words of Mr. John Stuart Mill, " the want is
felt least where the need is greatest." The
help of the State in matters of education should be
strictly confined to the case of the poor. Now, it
seemed to him that there were three classes of poor
children, in whose education the State might safely
and legitimately, and ought to interfere ; firstly,
the children of the industrious working class ;
secondly, pauper children who are absolutely desti-
tute, who are practically parentless, and cast upon
the tutelage of others ; and, thirdly, the children
of parents who could educate them but won't, and
who were cast upon the world to become criminals
and utterly abandoned. To the first of these classes
the State stood in a paternal relation, and was
bound to help them. The other classes it was most
necessary and essential the State should aid, be-
cause it must support them as thieves unless it edu-
cated them, and made honest, industrious citizens
of them, and of use to the country. (Hear, hear.)
He thought there could be no doubt on this point
as a question of cheapness and policy. As re•
garded the children in that class of schools, of one
of which the residents of this neighbourhood
had reason to be proud (reformatory schools), there
were two specialties which did not belong to other
schools. One was, that in educating the children
in them, the State should take care to enforce the
payment by the parents of such a contribution to-
wards the cost of the child's support at the house
as it would have cost them at home. If they did
not do that they would be holding out an absolute
reward to vicious parents to neglect their children.
(Hear, hear.) The other specialty was that indus-
trial education must necessarily be an element in
the instruction afforded. This must be so because
the State, standing in the relation of a parent, must
provide an apprenticeship to such a trade as would
enable the children to become honest andindustrious
members of society. Mr. Adderley en passant
turned aside to combat the erroneous impression
which, he said, existed with regard to this class of
schools, that they were prisons and not schools. He
maintained, however, that they had so far vindicated
their character, and he trusted that ere many years
they would be recognised as necessary, if not pri-
mary, as amongst the important class of national
schools throughout the country. (Hear, hear.)
The right hon. gentleman then went on to enforce
the duty of the State towards pauper children,
taking occasion, however, in doing so, to lament
that the Act of 1857 did not empower boards of
guardians to establish district industrial schools for
these children, where they might be removed from
the noxious influence of the workhouse. Speaking
next of the children of honest artisans and work-
people throughout the kingdom, who did not attach
sufficient importance to education to demand it as
they would food for their bodies, he inquired why
should schools for this class be supported by the
State ? Well, if not the State, who ought to come
forward ? Why not employers ? Why shouldnot
the voluntary good feeling of employers and
others furnish the money to cover the expense
of educating these children ? The State
must come in to aid, but it must merely aid—
not supersede voluntary effort. The educa-
tion afforded should be general and elementary ;
it should be confined strictly to the poor, and to
children and youth, and not extend to adults old
enough to look after themselves. There was, how-
ever, a constant nressure to induce Government to
interfere beyond the limit of elementary education
in these schools, and to combine the industrial ele-
ment. This was a great mistake. It was all very
well in reformatories, where the relation of the
State was parental, but the result of educating the
three millions of children in this country within the
age of discretion, in all the branches of industrial
training in an elementary school, would be so dis-
astrous that even the Emperor of the French would
shrink from incurring it. (Laughter.) No national
workshop would have so disastrous an effect as such
an attempt, and yet there was nothiNg which the
department of Government with which he was con-
nected was so frequently called upon to do as to as-
sist in the industrial branch in elementary schools.
Mr. Adderley next glanced at what he termed the
shallow philosophy which was now and then enun-
ciated about teaching " common things" to the
lower classes of children ; and after turning over
for a few moments the question that had been raised
as to the proper age at which the education of
youths should be diverted from the elementary into
the special channel, that channel which was qualify
them for the duties of life ; after all, he said, the
parents of children must be the judge of this point,
according to the level which the wants of the coun-
try find for themselves from time to time. The right
hon. gentleman remarked that Cobbett once said to
Lord Af
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annhseis;torian.,, (Laughter.) Yes, replied Lord Al-
thorp, " that's just what I am trying for with
schools ; I want to make good ploughboys as well
as good historians." Still Cobbett's sneer was a good
one against some theorists of the present day. Mr.
Bright, in his speeches, made just the opposite mis-
take. He could not believe that a ploughboy could
not be educated well unless lie was made a scholar;
nor could Mr. Bright comprehend that those whom he
termed aristocrats had any business in real life.
Now he (Mr. Adderley) believed in the education
of industry, and the industry- of education and posi-
tion, and believed that a ploughboy might be as
well educated as Mr. Bright, without knowing quite.
as much of history as he did. (A laugh.) And it
ever Mr. Bright rose to the position of an aristo-
crat, which the institutions of the country allowed
one with talents like his to achieve, he would find
in that elevated sphere quite as much scope for
diligence and field for industry. Revertinc, to the
early age at which it was said the young were
made to enter upon the business 0 life) the right

hon. gentleman dwelt briefly upon the half-time
system, of the principle of which he expressed his
approval. He afterwards made some observations
upon the 'working of the Government assistance to
schools of design. He cow iselled the greatest cau-
tion in not going too far, o.nd held that whilst sti-
mulating them by awarding prizes and other induce-
ments to the pupils, the State ought at all events
not to stand in the way, au the result of injudicious
patronage must result in the corruption and ulti-
mate failure of its object. In conclusion, Mr. Adderley
addressed himself to the case of mechanics' and
other institutions of a cognate character to those of
which they were the promoters, and which were
maintained in their efficiency by the independent
efforts and the independent desire for improvement
of its members. He contended that to extend Go-
vernment support to such institutions would be to
stab this independence ; and by teaching the pro-
moters to walk on crutches instead of their own
legs would diminish their activity and zeal. After
some general remarks on the blessings which would
accrue to the State as the work of education pro-
gressed, the right hon. gentleman resumed his seat
amidst prolonged applause.
On the motion of Mr. C. RATCLIFF, a hearty vote
of thanks was accorded to Mr. Adderley for his
able lecture ; and, after a similar compliment to the
rev. chairman, the audience separated, many of
them spending some time in inspecting the contents
of the different departments of the institution.