The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-24 00:00:00

educational requirements of all the poor would be
properly attended to. (Hear, hear.) And here again
he must quote from his right hon. friend Mr. Lowe :
" The right hon. gentleman said that the educa%
tional grants should be expended with fair and just
regard to the requirements of the dicT,rent classes
of schools recognised by the Minutes of the Com-
mittee of Council. This seemed a very fair propo-
sition, but the practice of the Privy Council was not,
and never had been in conformity with it. And if
the House affirmed the motion, they would lay down
an entirely new principle of action, which would be
subversive of all the principles hitherto acted upon
by the department. The practice of the Committee
of Education was not to give grants in consideration
of requirements and necessities of the schools, but
in consideration of private persons coming forward
and supporting them."
To this there were two answers, First of all, if
such was the practice of the Privy Council, it
ought to be changed ; and, secondly, Mr. Lowe
had fallen into a practical error. He said the prac-
tice of the Privy Council was to grant money in
consideration of private persons coming forward.
That was precisely what they were asking for the
ragged schools ; they had never asked that they
should become entirely a burden on the public
purse. Bat one thing he did regret more than
any other in the speech of Mr. Lowe, and it
was when he made a boast of the pecuniary
saving which had been effected by withholding aid
-to these ragged schools. The charge upon the edu-
cation department, it appeared, while this grant to
the ragged schools was in existence, was £27,000
a-year, but in consequence of withholding that
grant the amount was reduced to £5,500, and Mr.
Lowe boasted that a saving of £22,000 had been
effected. He trusted no one there would think the
sum a large one for the purpose, hut in the N *Lew he
had long entertained as to the mode in which edu-
cation should be assisted by the State he felt cer-
tain that the day would come when, if this central-
ising system of doing everything from an office in
London were adopted, the amount of that national
, grant would become so great the Chancellor of the
Exchequer would raise hisvoiceagainst it. Already
had this been seen in the course pursued by Mr.
Gladstone, who wry the first Chancellor of the Ex-
' chequer to openly speak against the grant, although
others had not liked it a whit better, But when
they considered what had been done by these rag-
ged schools, was £22,000 or even £27,000 at all too
large a sum to spend out of the State funds in their
suppoi t ? The statement he held in his hand, and
which he intended to read, would show what had
been done
" Upwards of 3,000 children had attended the
Aberdeen industrial schools since their commence-
ment. Of these 600 have gone from schools into
situations, and are, with very few exceptions, known
to be doing well ; while of the others there is every
reason to believe that a very large number have not
misconducted themselves. During the last few
years the greatest possible change has taken place.
Out °lithe 1000 vagrants who were reported to be
wandering in this part of the country, the whole
juvenile population, calculated at nearly 400, have
entirely disappeared. The juvenile offenders in
prison under 12 years of age have decreased from
61 in 1841 to 15 in 1858."
Having further adverted to the good done by the
ragged schools, and quoted from the paper read by
Miss Carpenter at the Bradford meeting of Social
Science, to show their beneficial effect on society
at large, Sir John Pakington said he had
endeavoured, as far as possible, to state the griev-
ance which had necessitated their conference, and
he trusted that the result of their discussion that
day would be a practical remedy for it. The remedy
he proposed was to address a firm remonstrance to
the House of Commons, and to demand that the
dictates of benevolence and common sense should
be no longer disregarded; and he trusted that they
would be supported strenuously both in and out of
Parliament. Having shown how, when last brought
on, the question had been met on both sides of the
house in no party spirit, the right hon. chairman
expressed a hope that such would be the case this
year, and while advising that it should be brought
on early in the session as a substantive motion,
instead of being left till the estimates werebrought
on at the end of the session in the presence of only
a few members, he suggested to the meeting the
propriety of choosing for their leader, not himself,
but some other of his colleagues, because he was
afraid the fact of his being a member of the late
Government would not do their cause any good.
(No, no.) The right hon. baronet, after some fur-
ther general remarks, expressed his confidence in
the ultimate success of the movement.
Mr. W. D. HILL, Q.C., next rose, and after a
few preliminary observations proceeded to deliver
a very long written address. Ho said the object
which they had in view was to bring the little
outcasts of society into the brotherhood of man-
kind, and to enable them to hold their new position
by conferring upon them, so far as instruction and
training at school could avail, the faculty of self-
maintenance. The grand truths of religion should
stand first in any system of education. The learned
gentleman contended for the principle of a State
provision for the education of children, and spoke
of the advantages of ragged schools, quoting the
opinions of Lord Palmerston and Lord Derby in
their favour. He then refuted the objections which
had been made to the ragged schools, and con-
cluded by moving a resolution in conformity with
the principles for which he contended.
Mr. SCIIOLEFIELD, M.P., seconded the resolution
moved by Mr. Field. It was—
" That obedience to the laws of God and man is
powerfully promoted by the diffusion of sound
knowledge, and the training up the young in the
exercise of the great duties of life ; therefore it is
incumbent on the State, as far as possible, to insure
the means of education for all children for whom
their -parents are through poverty unable, or
through ignorance unwilling, to provide it."
A paper on " Ragged Schools," setting forth
their usefulness, was read by Miss CARPENTER
which was warmly commended by Sir John Raking.
ton.

The Archdeacon of WORCESTER made a sugges-
tion, which resulted in adding one or two words
in the resolution, He expressed his cordial con-
currence in the objects of the Conference.
The Rev. Mr. OSBORN, chaplain of the Bath
Gaol, declared it to be his unqualified opinion that
every child in the land ought to be educated.
The Rev. Mr. BACHE, Unitarian minister, of
Birmingham, said that, even though he stood alone
in the matter, he could not permit the resolution to
be put without expressing his perfect faith in the
voluntary principle.
The resolution was put and carried.
The Rev. Dr. GUTHRIE moved the second reso-
lution

" That neglected and morally destitute children
constitute a very large portion of the community,
yet that no educational aid is given for their educa-
tion from the Parliamentary grant, comparable to
such as is given to other classes of schools."
He said his experience in Edinburgh enabled him
to bear testimony to the fact, as stated in the reso-
lution, that neglected and destitute children con-
stitute a very large class of the community. He
had laboured for seven years in the very lowest
part of the town of Edinburgh, and had become
(
satisfied that it was impossible to raise the ragged
classes unless it was done through the rising gene-
ration ; and the only way of doing that was by
means of ragged schools. Such was also the
unanimous opinion of the city missionaries, with
whom he was acquainted. He knew that
the number of this class of children was
very large in all towns in Scotland, and he
suspected that in England the case was still worse.
There was not a town in Scotland with a popula-
tion of 6,000 but needed a ragged school. He was
astonished that Government did not take ragged
schools under their most fostering patronage, con-
sidering their usefulness. In Scotland they were
the only schools to which persons of all opinions
gave their undivided approbation. He contended
that a man who brought his child up as a savage
and as a burden to society committed an offence
against it, and society was entitled to protection
against such persons. No experiment had been so
successful as that of ragged schools, and such was
their importance that they might reasonably ex-
Peet public grants to enable them to be carried on,
and yet they had to dance attendance on the Go-
vernment for a long time before obtaining a penny
of assistance, and they had no sooner got it but it
was taken from them. Before the establishment

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