The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-21 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

The Duke of Marlborough gave notice, in the
House of Lords on Monday evening, that on
Tuesday next he would bring under the notice
of their lordships the question of the state of
elementary education in England and Wales,
and at the same time lay upon the table a
bill upon the subject. No more important
question as regards the whole of the people of
this country can engage the attention of Par-
liament. Nor can it be objected that the
materials for forming a correct opinion as to
the wide-spread prevalence of the grossest
ignorance among the working classes in this
country are not within the reach of every
member of the two Houses of Parliament.
Commission after commission has reported
upon the ignorance of the poor in our large
towns, in our rural districts—in workshops,
in factories, in mines, and in agricultural
gangs. That ignorance far exceeds in dark
and soul-destroying density any that could
exist in any Catholic country. There never
was, and there never could be, anything at all
resembling it in Catholic Ireland. There, in
times past, hundreds of the thousands of the
poor were ignorant of the enlightening myste-
ries of the alphabet. They could neither write,
read, nor spell, and of the circle of the arts
and sciences their conceptions were crude
enough in all conscience. But the least in-
structed among them were never without re-
ligious education. Catholic parents, however
poor, and however unskilled in the use of
bo9ks, caain9t thenatielye4 comply Tfith the Qb-

ligations of religion, or live in Catholic societit
without habituating their children from their
earlieSt infancS, to practise such of the duties,
and commit to memory such of the precepts
of their religion, as to give them claims to be
regarded as having a tolerably exact knob'
ledge of their duty to God, and of their respon•
sibilities as members of His holy Church. In
this respect there is an immense difference
between the ignorance of Catholics who call
neither read nor write, and the ignorance of
such of the Protestant rural peasantry of this
country as are shut out from any religious iv
struction but such as is obtainable from a Boob
which they cannot read, and are incapable d
comprehending. While the want of school-
learning excludes Protestant peasants from
access to their only source of religious instruc-
tion—the Bible ; 'the most unlettered Catholics
have as ready access as the most learned to that
everlasting, ever overflowing fountain of di'
vinely wise and most salutary instruction, the
confessional—rendering it virtually impossible
for them to be ignorant of any of the great
truths of the Gospel.
That the position of Catholics is exceptional,
as regards the moral density and irreligions
description of popular ignorance in England
and Wales, is proved by the reports of the
Children's Employment Commission presented
to both Houses of Parliament, in which aban;
dant proofs are supplied of the actual mental
and religious condition of the labouring port'
lation and their children. Mr. Kay, travel'
ling Bachelor of the University of Cambridge,
reports thus :---" The great majority of the
people in the great towns of this kingdom have
no religion. . . . About one-half of our
poor can neither read nor write, have never,
been at any school, and know little, or pee'"
tively nothing, of the doctrines of the Chris'
tiara religion, of moral duties, or of any higher
pleasures than beer or spirit drinking and the
grossest sensual indulgences. . . They
live precisely like brutes, to gratify, as far as
their means allow, the appetites of their uncul'
tivated bodies, and then die, to go, they bar
never cared, thought, or wondered whither.
How religiously, or even morally, to educate
a creedless people is so difficult a matter that
we are not in the least surprised at the great
disinclination of former Governments to at
tempt it. And this difficulty will be found to
constitute an impossibility if it be now at;
tempted to frame a system of education unde
which parents of every and of no religious de-
nomination are required to send their childr°
to be instructed in the same common schools'
Upon this question the Rev. Herbert Vaught,
D.D., Superior of St. Joseph's Missionary ()°:
lege, has just published an excellent and we'd
timed pamphlet, which we strongly recommend
to the immediate attention of the Dalce,er
Marlborough and the other members of
Majesty's Government. It is entitled " Mee
lar Education in England : the Conscieni
Clause, the Rating Clause, and the Seely o,
Current," and treats the whole question ini
comprehensive, enlightened, and patri.°te
N
spirit. Dr. Vaughan is strongly and wisely
opposed to the substitution of any school Or t
tem for the denominational system at presentv
in operation in England. After a careful 0.0
urination of the whole school question in all
bearings, and after fully considering wl/es
would be the effect, not as regards Catholiv
alone, but as regards civil society, and trai
great mass of the English people, of the sae ,
systems recommended by Dissenters and See, 11e,
larists, Dr. Vaughan asks that the existing 'Leib
nominational system, under the Privy Con°oll.
be retained and energetically developed throes„
out the country. He asks Parliament, so real
to vote millions annually to repress and punisii,
crime, and hitherto so niggardly in voting
dreds of thousands for the prevention of orl7l,
reality, largely to increase the national exP,e of
diture for education ; providing for the renll,o
school-rooms as well as for the cost of tf'er
erection of school buildings, and payment Do
results in education, whether the teachers j
or be not certified. There are thousands
lata
excellent and competent persons in Engle
who would gladly devote their time to t.
education of the children of the poor, leave
the efficacy of their teaching to be testeuA
results, but who under no circumstances
submit to a public examination as to
right to possess a Government certificate. fer
he had a choice, Dr. Vaughan would prep
trained masters and mistresses of schools ;
with a million of untaught children, eto
neither schools to receive, nor teachereilio
instruct them, he would willingly Pal.' 00
rent of rooms, and pay for the results in,eo
case of allnndertakings to communicate to 91 a
the rudiments of a combined scholastic ae
religious education. We have read this Pfellerfi
phlet very carefully and agree with every. W.,,51
of it, and Heartily commend it to the per
of all who take an interest in the eduea.,', of
question. As regards the Education Bwre.
the Duke of Marlborough, we are not-altgs
hensive that it will propose to interfere he
the present denominational system. 040 f 1,4,
system of common, or purely secular Vl' ,a
which finds favour with many worthy ::/.0
excellent men among Dissenters, all vire rfor
to say is, that no plan could be adopteu
the ultimate destruction of Christianity
England, more likely to prove efficacious, t„l,lt A
to establish by the authority of ParlianleLo
national system of education, excluding. -n-of
the teaching in all schools every doctrin:or
tenet the teaching of which would be objec'i,
able to one or other of the religious dellero
nations constituting in the great aggregate
people of England.—Westminster Gazette.

,
Boston spends $200,000 a year for ficige4''.,/eft
Now York twice as much ; but a large share of the
York money is paid to Boston florists. ,„§1)18
[Auvuar[simENT.)—Henceforth no one will doubt the vat--90,4
properties of Du Barry's health-restoring Revalenta ;I'oooll
Invalids' and Infants' Food, since to the thousands of bLa Dee
it has already received from Invalids whose position ha', folfo
deemed hopeless, we may now add that of his Holiness th.io,o
whose health has been perfectly restored by it after thflayet`or
of unsuccessful medical treatment. We quote from the ,010,1
du Midi," July 25th :—" Rome, July 21, 1866.—" The•ug
the Holy Father is excellent, especially since, abandolol4
other remedies, he has confined himself entirely to Dl%iate,,lol
Revalenta, Arabica, Food, e' of which he consumes 6„tieko
at every meal. It has produced a surprisingly Lisa 'Ol
effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot 111.'00 5.5.4
excellent food too highly." We extract a f_civ..,„tijoe:/,
more than 68,000 cures:—Cure No. 58,216, of the
de Brehan, of seven years' liver complaint, was er• „era
debility, nervousness, with a nervous palpitation , Lie
digestion, constant sleeplessness, and the most intoletT, 1,F1;
vous agitation. Cure No. 1,771: Lord Stuart de Det0e.49,5305,
Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia. ,0000,414
" Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nfiess,
asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms, toc"-101003,
vomiting.—Maria Joly." Cure No. 46,270: Mr. James f /
of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years' diseased lungs, spittineutiot,,,o
liver derangement, and partial deafness Important 4;:iitotis,
Beware of the many unsavoury and more than sIoPPY
au
to which, without authority Baron Liebig's name is Inv
18./;
ciously attached 5 OS. 1
In tins at ls. lid.; 1 lb., 2s 9d.; 2 lbs., 4s. 6d,, piew
12 lbs., 225.; 24 lbs., 405.—BABRY Du BARBI' and,,li'ecej9if
Regent-street, London; also Fortnum and Mason, 184,‘,, and
•ct 63 lgw' nd at 61, Gracechurch-street; 4, Cheapst e; , • ts•
Oxford-street; 330, Strand; and all grocers and therm

Births. A nuaer6'
HILL-On the 19th inst., at St. Columb's, Lau--
the wife of Sir John Hill, Bart., of a daughter. oicir
LAY-On the 19th inst., at 89, Gloucester-terraee, e
park, the wife of R. N. Lay, C. 8., of a daughter; 0, °I
PEEL- On the 19th inst., at Pinner, near W36°-
wife of Laurence Peel, Esq., of a daughter.
Marriages. Ir
Af 116 ie
LOOMES-PALMER-On the 19th inst., at 5t..,,--,„8 of r,
lington, David, eldest son of John Loomes, -71%),10"
lington, to Charlotte, youngest daughter of u• Of
Esq., of St. James, W.C. , „I Giggatfl /a
PILKINGTON-SINCLAIR- On the 19th inst., - f si of
Richard, second son of R. Pilkington, EA, °' Art"
Hall, St. Helen's, to Louise, eldest daughter of
Sinclair, Est., of Dale House, Garston.
Deaths. 17015
AYTOUN-On the 18th inst., at 4, Melville-Planste"
Bello, Mary, widow of the late James Edni°ll
_At
Aytoun, J.P. for the county of Fife, aged SO. ClAr
BURNETT -On the 13th 1111
inst., at HornsburY 11 °ln' 0,
Somerset, Mrs. Burnett, aged 76.
COLLINS- On the 19th inst., at Southborough, v-cea.A. ~.
bridge Wells, Harriet, widow Collins, 'atbo,ol,:,
HALL -On the 16th inst., at 5, Waterloo-place, Tajo r
ton, Lieut.-General Lewis Alex. Hall, Royal A
age 74. 430
Grey for
M A.ACgNuAeUs
,G lIT
widowA N- Oofn
the
ee Iht7tteh imnsetllealtniGlmenerentlartotite,
i;.
merly of London, aged 88. cilise,
WiNsLow-On the 19th inst., at Thame, Oxforth'
Winslow, Esq., aged 76. ,
---ft
London : Printed and Published by WILLIdg id o pf
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tun SUN 011eetoottOr
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, 12 °l°
middltria...§aturdw, Ilarch n, Iso3,