The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-30 00:00:00

EDUCATION OF THE POOR.
IMPORTANT SPEECH OF LORD WHARNCLIFFE.

The following speech of Lord Wbarncliffe, deli-
vered on Monday last at a meeting of the friends and
supporters of the Society for Promoting the Increase
of Church Accommodation, and the Endowment of
Churches in the Diocese of Ripon, and also of the
Ripon Diocesan Board of Education, held at the Court
House, in Barnsley, is most important, and may be
considered as a declaration of the feelings of Govern-
ment on the important subject to which it refers.
We take our report from the Leeds Intelligencer.

Lord WHARN-CLIFtE rose and said—" Ladies and
Gentlemen, the resolution which you have just passed
concludes the business of the day, but before we sepa-
rate I am very anxious to address to the meeting a
few words upon the present state of the questions
with regard both to church accommodation and to the
education of the poor; and also to take this opportu-
nity of explaining what Government have done—
what their objects are—as well as what the objects of
Parliament have been in voting money for both these
purposes—and finally to remind you how to obtain,
and to instruct you how to make use of the sums so
granted. And first with respect to churches. But
before I address myself particularly to this point,
I may observe that this district—the West
Riding of Yorkshire—and the county of Lan-
caster, are perhaps the two parts of the
whole kingdom that require the greatest care with
respect to the religious instruction of the people,
from the nature of the manufactures carried on in
them, from the vast congregations of people without
any instruction brought together within them—numbers
so great as to be far beyond the power of that number
of persons which, up to a late period, were alone
appointed to instruct them as their pastors. I say
that this district, of all others, is that which requires
an extension of church accommodation and the
appointment of additional ministers to instruct the
people. Both those objects have been kept in view,
and, to a certain degree, the wants of the people in
this respect have been supplied. First of all let us re-
collect what this district was originally. The greater
part of it was a very thinly-peopled district, and a
large portion of it scarcely cultivated at all ; now it is
crowded with people; many parishes of enormous
extent are become very populous. This town in
which we are assembled, which is very populous, in
which manufactures have increased and are increasing,
and in which there is a prospect of the continued
increase of those who should be provided with reli-
gious instruction—this town, I say, is not a parish ; it
is merely a township in the parish of Silkstone, the
parish church being situate several miles off. And
so it is in many other places—the parishes are so large
that the mother church is totally inadequate to accom-
plish its original purpose of affording space for those
who should worship their God in it, at a convenient
distance from their homes. I say that this district
is the one which, above all others, requires the atten-
tion of the Government, the attention of the Bishop,
and of the clergy, as well as of all persons who have
really the interests of religion and the welfare of the
people at heart, to provide such accommodation which
shall enable the people to perform and to receive in-
struction in their religious duties. Under these cir-
cumstances, then, I am happy to say that the session
of Parliament before the last produced a measure which
does enable these districts to receive a much greater
degree of spiritual instruction than heretofore. I al-
lude to that Act of Parliament, usually called " Sir
Robert Peel's Act," which puts it into the power of
the clergy and their parishioners to apply to the Ec-
clesiastical Commissioners to form districts within
which even though there may be no church erected,
but where a suitable room can be procured to be li-
censed by the Bishop, a clergyman may be appointed
to give that spiritual instruction to the people which
is so much needed. By that Act provision is made
by which the maintenance of such ministers so to be
appointed is secured. I cannot help hoping that that
measure will have a very great effect upon the reli-
gious instruction of the people. It was intended to
have that effect ; and my hope is that it will prove so.
I was myself at one time of opinion, that the first
thing to be done was to build churches; but now I
incline to think that that was a mistake. The first
duty, as it seems to me, is to appoint persons who
will administer religious instruction to the people,
allotting to him a suitable and convenient district;
and I am satisfied that when that duty is properly
performed by duly qualified and zealous men, there
will be no want of the means for building churches
in this country. lam persuaded that, upon suitable
religious instruction being afforded by zealous and
competent ministers to those classes of persons to
whom it is very important that such instruction
should be given, they will not be satisfied with a
mere room in which to worship God, but will find
the means of aiding the Government in providing a
proper place for religious worship.—(Hear.) So much
for the first object which we have met to promote this
day.—(Hear, hear.) I now come to that of educa-
tion ; and, standing in the situation which I do,
honoured by her Majesty with the superintendence
of that department—for a department it may now
be called—to which the education, or rather the
means which are supplied by Parliament for the
education of the people is committed, I am
anxious to say a few words upon that subject;
and I very much wish that there were a greater num-
ber of persons present here, that a larger number of
the inhabitants of this district might hear what I have
to say. I say this, because, undoubtedly, there are
great misapprehensions abroad upon the subject.
There are misapprehensions, in the first place, as to
the objects for which Parliament have voted the sum
which is at the disposal of the Committee of Council
for Education. The misapprehensions are still greater,
perhaps, with respect to the objects which the Com-
mittee of Council have in view, and the mode in
which they will carry into effect the wishes and inten •
tions of Parliament. You are all aware that up to a
very late date nothing was contributed by Parliament
towards the education of the people. It was left en-
tirely to the efforts of individuals, and I am sorry to
say, that the result of that was, that the state of edu-
cation in the greater part of England is lamentable
in the extreme. Ido not think that in this parti-
cular district it can be said to have been in so bad and
inferior a condition as in some other portions of the
kingdom. We all know that the greater portion of the
poor hereabouts, and still further to the northward,
are educated to a certain degree. They can most of
them read and write to some extent, and many of
them can go through certain rules of arithmetic ; but
in the south of England the absence of that kind of
knowledge even to that extent among the poorer
classes is lamentable and frightful. I think, there-
fore, it was time for Parliament to interfere, and to
give something towards the education of the people.
It was the duty of a paternal Government to propose
it to Parliament; and when proposed to Parliament
it was cheerfully acceded to. The first grant made
by Parliament was in the year 1836. I may be
wrong as to the year, but I think it was in that year.
It amounted to 20,0001. A small sum, indeed,
to assist the efforts that were making for education,
especially when one remembers the number of
persons and districts over which a sum of that
description was to be extended. However, that
was the sum. It was to be distributed by the
Lords of the Treasury, upon no condition whatever,
except that the Lords of the Treasury might, if they
thought proper, send a person to inspect the accounts
of the schools that were to be benefited by the grant.
There was no inspection with respect to what was
taught in those schools. There was no charge of
any kind. There was no condition on the part of
persons who received part of that grant that their
schools should be devoted solely to the education of
the poor- This system lasted not above two years. It
was found that, after the money was granted, nobody
knew anything about it—that Parliament and the
Government were giving money, without knowing
what it produced—and it was thought advisable to put
the matter on a better footing. Accordingly it was
taken from the Treasury, and placed in the hands of
a Committee of her Majesty's Privy Council—now
called the Committee of Council for Education--con-
sisting of some of the Ministers of the Crown ; and
the grants are now distributed upon their responsi-
bility. When it was so removed from the Treasury
to the Committee of Council, it was absolutely neces-
sary that the objects for which this money wag
granted should be thoroughly. understood, and that
certain conditions should be insisted upon in order
that the money voted by Parliament—the public I
money—might be so properly distributed as that it 1
should not be turned to evil instead of to good. Ac-
cordingly certain rules were established by Order of
Council. One of those rules was that, in a deed, the
promoters of every school should agree that any
school to be built with the aid of money from these
grants should be devoted for ever to the education of
the poor. Another condition was, that they should
also be liable to inspection by inspectors appointed
by the Committee of Council for ever. These
are the two conditions originally required; and be-
sides this great care is taken by that committee
that the money granted by them shall not be
the sole and only means by which the school buildings
shall be erected ; but that the number of persons will-
ing-to contribute in aid, and the amount they are pre-
pared to contribute, shall be taken, in great part, as
the real evidence of the want of a school in a particular
district.—(Hear, hear.) It is quite clear that were it
otherwise the whole country would be looking to
Government to do the work at its expense, and the
true sources of charity woull be dried up. Every-
body who had the means would be disposed to stay
their hands ; and, in short, the whole would be suf-
fered to fall into the hands of Government. This
seemed to the Government to be anything but de-
sirable ; and, therefore, let it not be supposed that any
party, or any parish or township, can come to
the Government, and say, " Give us part of
that grant," claiming it as of right. They must, in
the first instance, show the destitution of the place
in respect of education, and then they must
show that those within the district, who have the