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

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 80, 1844.

" that as he is now in Chancery," " they should
at any rate wait until he is cleared !" Nay it even
allows the man, whose:disgrace and discomfiture are
inseparable from the justification of his victim, to
publish a long and scurrilous letter in its columns
in which, among other misrepresentations, he is
disingenuous enough to assert that the " accounts
are now before the Master, and, as yet, i nexamined !"
The conduct of the Times in this matte and its disre-
gard of that decent courtesy, from the practice of which
the conductors of the public press have not hitherto
considered themselves exempted, can surprise
none of its later readers, and, us last of
all. We give it joy, therefore, of so congenial a fel-
low-labourer as Mr. Rock, assured as we are that
when its ordinary store of Billingsgate shall become
exhausted (a very remote contingency) there is one
inhabitant, at least, of the parish of Walbrook with
whom it may advantageously contract for a fresh
supply.

means, are ready to make pecuniary sacrifices, in
order to have that destitution removed.—(Hear.) I
am quite sure that that is the best ground upon which
this matter can stand. Its effect is to make the in-
habitants themselves aid the Government in its efforts,
but by no means to make the Government supply
that which, in point of fact, ought to be contributed
locally, from a feeling of the want of education which
is at the time pressing upon the place.—(Hear.)
These being, then, the terms upon which the grant
was to be made, the grant was increased ; and the
grant, since the year 1842, has been exactly doubled.
It is now 40,0001. a year. Now, lam very far from
saying that 40,0001. a year is the whole that is re-
quired ; but it was much better to go on by degrees ;
it was safer to see in the first place how the scheme
worked. And I have very little doubt that
if Parliament finds that the former grants of
money which they have voted have been properly ap-
plied, and that they have produced the desired result
—nay, I may say, instead of having very little doubt,
that I am quite satisfied, Parliament will be ready to
increase the grant. In order to obtain information in
this respect, it is necessary that the schools to which
money has been granted should be inspected, and that
a report should be made to the Committee of Council
for Education, and through it to the Bishops ; and also
that Parliament should be made aware of what has
been done by means of these grants, and what the re-
sult is; and whether, in point of fact, the objects of
the grants have been properly carried out. It was
necessary, then, to appoint inspectors for this pur-
pose ; and the ommittee of Council begun very ino-
derately, for they appointed only one inspector. Be-
fore that appointment was made, a great discussion
arose with respect to the propriety of such an ap-
pointment ; and, on the part of the Established
Church, it was stated that the effect of the ap-
pointment of those inspectors would be to throw the
whole system of education into the hands of the Privy
Council, and that they had no security that the Com-
mittee of Council would, in fact, be members of the
Established Church. It was necessary therefore so
to guard the appointment of inspector as that no im-
proper person should be placed in that office. After
much discussion, it was arranged that the persons to
be appointed inspectors should be subject, in the first
place, to the approval of the Archbishop of each pro-
vince, and so long as they had the confidence of the
Archbishop within whose province they acted they
should continue inspectors. That each inspector
should be appointed by the Committee of Council,
with the approbation of the Archbishop, but if the
Archbishop should at any time afterwards declare his
disapprobation of the conduct of any inspector, and
require his removal, he should be removed by the
Committee of Council from the office. I think you
will see that this gives to the Established
Church the greatest security against the danger
that was apprehended. I mention it because there has
been great jealousy upon that subject. A notion has
got abroad among the clergy, I am sorry to say, that
the object of the Committee of Council is to get
possession of, and to direct the whole education of, the
people. They urge that they (the clergy) are the
appointed ministers of the Church, whose duty it is
to give religious instruction to the people, and that
secular instruction, without religious instruction, is
of no value, and that, therefore, the Church has a sort
of right to conduct the universal education of the
people of this country. Now that would be true,
perhaps, if all the persons of this country professed
the Established religion; but, unfortunately, that is
not the case. We all know how rife Dissent is ;
moreover, we see yearly and monthly new sects
arising, some of which, more or less, detach persons
from the Church of England ; and there can be
no doubt that the whole body of Dissenters from the
Church in England is a very considerable one. Now,
they all, undoubtedly, contribute towards these grants.
Every man, whether Churchman or Dissenter, pays
the taxes out of which this fund is to be provided,
and, therefore, they are to be considered in this
matter; and, this being so, I don't think that the
clergy of the Church can set up a right to teach those
persons who do not belong to the Church of which
they are ministers. It was, therefore, thought neces-
sary, in some degree, to guard against that ; and the
result was that Parliament, when it voted the money,
stated that the grants should be made riot only to
schools in connexion with the Establishment and
the National School Society, but also to schools
in connexion with the British and Foreign
School Society—a society which differs, un-
doubtedly, from the National Society in many
respects, and especially in this—that the National
Society requires the Catechism :to be taught in the
schools connected with it; whereas the British and
Foreign School Society, while it inculcates the neces-
sity of reading and exercises in the Old and New Testa-
ments, does not admit of a catechism of any descrip-
tion. As I have stated, the Church received a security
with regard to the inspection, in the arrangement that
no person can be appointed as inspector by the Com-
mittee of Privy Council without the approbation of
the Archbishop of the province in which he acts ; nor
can he continue his duties, though so appointed, if the
Archbishop should atany time declare his disapprobation
of that person. Now the British and FcrAgrs School
Society had no security upon this subject; yet it has
been stated, and I mention the statement now for the
purpose of explanation, that that Society has received
more favour from the Committee of Council in this re-
spect than the Church. An inspector was appointed for
the schools in connexion with the British and Foreign
School Society; that inspector, a man with whom I
am personally acquainted, a most excellent, a most
valuable man, a member of the Church of England,
in the course of his inspection, undoubtedly, alarmed
the members of the British and Foreign School So-
ciety; they conceived that his object was to cry
down their mode of educating their children, and that
he was endeavouring to force upon them his own
favourite modes of education. Nothing could be
more unfounded, I sincerely believe, but as this feel-
ing extended itself among them, they, having no
security as to the appointment of the inspectors,
naturally looked for some security equal to that
which the Church had received. They complained—
they said, " All we ask is, that a person may not be
appointed who, by the mode in which he carries on
the inspection, will hurt our Society, and prevent us
from carrying out our views and objects." We said,
" We perfectly agree with you with respect to the
appointment of inspector, that the person appointed
should be cautious ; and that instead of doingany thing
to in the Society, or to weaken its influence or power
over the schools in connexion with it, he ought, on
the contrary, to do everything he can to strengthen
that influence and to support the Society." The
Society then said, " All we ask, as the condition
upon which our schools shall be inspected, is, that
if at any time your inspector should conduct him-
self so as to forfeit our confidence, we should be
allowed to return the money we may have received,
and be no longer subject to your inspection." To
that the Committee of Council have agreed. They
thought it was right that the Society should have
some security that the inspectors to be appointed
should be persons in whom the Society had
confidence, and upon whose discretion it could rely.
I have said that a notion has got abroad, especially
among `some of the clergy, that there is a disposition
in the Committee of Council to assume to itself the
whole of the direction of the education of the people,
or so to interfere, at all events, as to indicate a disposi-
tion to separate the clergy from the people with re-
spect to education. Now, I won't enter into the
question of the right of the clergy ; but this I am
quite sure of—that if the people who profess the doc-
trines of the Established Church are to be taught, the
clergy are the instruments through which the educa-
tion must mainly be carried on.—(Hear.) They are
the parties with whom the bulk of the people are
almost constantly in communication, they are always
on the spot ; they are in a station between the higher
classes and the lower classes; they are themselves,
generally, persons of education and talent; they have
influence not only with the lower classes but with
the upper classes ; and whatever may be said of the
voluntary zeal of country gentlemen or of tradesmen, in
the cause of education, I say that it is the business
of the clergy to be zealous in that cause. I say that,
if education is to be carried on at all, it is absurd to
think that you must not make the clergy the active
means of carrying it on. I can assure you that there
is no ground for this jealousy of the Privy Council in
this respect. There can be no ground for supposing
that the Privy Council are desirous to oust the clergy
of what must be considered as part of their duty ; but
it is the duty of the Council to see that the money
voted by Parliament is properly applied, and so
applied as to carry out the objects for which it was
voted ; and no one can ever think that Parliament
will continue to vote money unless they have some
assurance that the results will be such as they hoped
for when the money was voted. With this view it is
appointed four additional inspectors,
epveerfect concurrence of the Archbishops,
at their request as well as that of the National
Stythhl
. I have endeavoured to explain these mat-
tawteheoriaeshtieto we
you as fully as I can, because, as I have said,
there have been great misapprehensions upon the sub-
ject, and I know that things have been said which
have no foundation, the effect of which I trust that
what I have stated, speaking with the authority which
my station gives me, may, in a great measure, tend
to remove.—(Hear.) But there aro some other points
to which it may be well to advert; and one is
with respect to the aid and assistance which is to
be given to the normal schools. You are aware
that normal schools are institutions for the pur-
pose of educating persons who are intended for
the office of schoolmaster—an object most impor-
tant in every point of view. Nothing is more
deplorable than the state of education (speaking
generally) of the schoolmasters who affect or pretend
to teach the people. No system of education, no ef-
forts for education, can be of much value until we
shall have masters who shall be able to combine the
improvement of the moral and religious knowledge of
their pupils, as well as of their manners, with the
general education they may impart. If their art of

carrying on the discipline of the school and in the
management of young people shall be such as to
enable them to do this, then may we trust that they
will be able to give then an education which may
make them good men and good subjects. No pains
that can be taken are too much in this matter. I wish
I could say that the business of a schoolmaster could
be truly called a profession. I wish that the middle
and lower classes of the people in this country
could see in the situation of the schoolmaster a
situation to which they might hope to arrive, and
which would not only afford them a decent liveli-
hood, but raise them in the scale of society to a sta-
tion which the important trust reposed in their hands
seems to require. This must be done by degrees ;
and yet, perhaps, there is no object more important.
—(Hear.) Towards this object the Committee of
Council have given considerable assistance. They
have given the National Society 5,000!. towards build-
ing. a normal school, and they have given 1001. a year
towards the maintenance of that school. They have
given (I am speaking only of what has been done in
England)—they have given 3,500/. towards a building
for a training school at York, and they have given as
much for a building in the county of Chester ; and
there are other applications now under consideration
of which I shall say nothing. They also have given
to the British and Foreign School Society the
sum of 500/. for their building, and for the main-
tenance of their schools 7501. a year ; the relative
proportions of 1,000/. and 8501. having, in point of
tact, been calculated upon the number of masters that
each of those societies intended to educate. And here
I may take the opportunity of saying that I was very
much surprised recently to read in a newspaper that a
reverend gentleman had stated at a meeting, held in
the East Riding of this county, that it was true that
the Committee of Council had given 3,500/. towards
building a normal school' at York, but that they had
given 7501. a year to the British and Foreign School
Society, and had refused to give any thing to the
National Society. Now, such a gentleman, before he
states things in a public meeting, should be quite
sure of his facts. And what did this declaration
produce ? It elicitedfrom another reverend gentleman
who was present at that meeting the impassioned ob-
servation, " I never heard of such conduct in my life."
(Laughter.) Now I would. entreat gentlemen, clergy-
men especially, before they make charges of that
description, to inform themselves of the real state of
the case ; to take the trouble of writing to, or of in-
quiring of, those who know something about the
matter, and not throw out those insinuations and
groundless imputations. I trust that, after what I
have said, these accusations of a partiality hostile
to the Established Church may not be repeated, at
least within the county in which we are now met.
The object of the Committee of Council for Education
is to accomplish that which Parliament has declared
to be its object; that object is not to educate
only those who are connected with the Estab-
lished Church, but others. It is not only to give
education in the way pointed out by the Church
of England, but to give the means of education
to other persons who have means, and are willing to
contribute from their means to the education of the
poor of their respective sects.--(Hear.) Now these
are the subjects upon which I was anxious to say a
few words. I have said already that I regret that
there are not more present to hear me.—(Hear.) I
wish that every clergyman in this district had been
now present; I wish that every man who has at
heart the education of the people of this country could
hear me, that I could remove from each of their minds
anything like a feeling of jealousy of the powers and
proceedings of the Privy Council in respect to educa-
tion. All that the Committee desire is to act cordially
with the clergy in this matter. Their object is to give
education to the people, religious in the first place, and
secular also—and with respect to those schools that
are connected with the Established Church, to do it
not only with the consent of the clergy, but with
their active, with their willing, with their free co-
operation.—(Cheers.) Perhaps you will excuse me
saying a little more upon the subject of school-
masters.—(Hear.) I have already stated the great
want of proper and efficient schoolmasters that now
exists. It is a want that is daily increasing, and upon
which we have the most clamorous claims upon us for
assistance. What we shall be able to do, or what
persons may expect us to do, I cannot say. But no
person is more convinced than I am that upon the
improvement of your scoolmaster does in fact de-
pend the improvement of education. (Hear.)
We have done something. By the last Order of
Council upon the subject we have agreed to do
something towards building schoolmasters' houses.
That is a great point. In order that a schoolmaster
should be held in proper regard and respect. and that
he should hold the rank and station which I have
already stated I think it desirable that he should hold,
I am of opinion that he ought to be provided with
a suitable residence—a house by no means too
large, so as to exalt him too much in the scale of
society, but he should be taken out of a cottage and
put into a decent residence, which would be calcu-
lated to make those persons of the classes lower than
himself inclined to show a proper feeling of respect
for the schoolmaster who teaches their children. I
need not, after whist I have said, assure you that
the great object I have at heart is, that in the per-
formance of the duty I am called upon to perform, no
act of mine shall give good ground for jealousy or ill-
feeling to any class or to any person, whether Church-
man or Dissenter.—(Hear, hear.) I am a Church-
man, from a strong feeling that the Church of Ehg-
land contains doctrines infinitely superior to any
others that have ever been promulgated upon earth;
that they are the doctrines of our Saviour; that they
are the doctrines which will load to our eternal salva-
tion ; and for those reasons I am a steady, a
staunch Churchman. But I cannot help feeling
that others are at liberty to judge for themselves
upon this question, and that there may be per-
sons who may conscientiously feel that they cannot
agree with me in my opinion. I am not, therefore,
to shut them out from all education ; I am not to say
to them—" Though Parliament has voted a sum of
money for the education of the people, I will not give
you any part of it, although, in fact, you contribute
part of it in the first instance." These are the grounds
upon which I shall act in my office.—(Hear.) I do
entreat the clergy to co-operate cordially with us ;
and if they will do so I do not fear that, in process of
time, the people of the country in which we live will
become the best and most religiously educated people
on the face of the earth. His Lordship sat down amidst
loud applause."

EAST SURREY REGISTRATION.
Mr. S. C. Fish, the Revising Barrister, held his
court, on Saturday, at the Horns, Kennington, to
revise the lists of voters in the parishes of Clapham,
Streatham, and Lambeth.
Mr. Meymott attended on behalf of the Conserva-
tives, Mr. Jeans for the Liberals, and Mr. Sydney
Smith, the well-known anti-corn-law lecturer. also
appeared to support a new claim made in the Lambeth
district.

Mr. Rowland Evans, of Lower Tulse-hill, attended
to support his claim to vote, which was objected to un
the ground that he had not sent in a proper claim.
It appeared that Mr. Evans had merely written a
letter to the overseers requesting them to place his
name upon the list of voters for the county, his quali-
fication being a 501. rental.
The REVISING BARRISTER said this was not a proper
notice. The Act of Parliament specified a particular
form, which must be followed, at all events, in mate-
rial particulars. As this had not been done, he could
not allow the claim.

Mr. Evans said he thought it was hard that he
should be disfranchised, when it was quite clear that
he had a legal qualification. He wished to know
whether he could not now amend his claim.
The REVISING BARRISTER said he could not do so.
The claim must be sent in by a certain day in July,
or it could not be received. The claimant could
easily obtain a copy of the proper form, and he must
renew his application next year, when his name
would be placed on the list.
The claim was then disallowed.

In the parish of Lambeth, Mr. W. G. Aime
claimed to vote in respect of an original lease of a
house in Devonshire-street, Kennington, let to sepa-
rate tenants, each paying less than 101. per annum,
but :producing in the whole more then 101. a year,
clear of all charges. The claim was opposed by the
overseers.

The REVISING BARRISTER asked on what ground
the overseers opposed the claim ?
Mr. Meymott said that the objection was, that the
property in question being within the borough of
Lambeth, was properly the subject of a borough qua-
lification, and not one for the county.
Mr. Smith said he appeared in support of the claim
and he apprehended that the claimant was clearly en-'
titled to vote for the county. He said it was an im-
portant question, and he should be very glad to have
the Barrister's decision upon it. The claimant held
the lease of a large house, which was let to several
tenants, some of whom, however, paid to the amount
of 101. a year, so that there was no borough qualifica-
tion. The 25th section of the Reform Act appeared to
be framed with the object of preventing two persons
from qualifying for the same property, but in this in-
stance, if the present claim was not allowed, the pro-
perty would confer no vote whatever. Mr. Smith
concluded by stating that one similar case had oc-
curred last year in the parish of Bermondsey, and the
Revising Barrister allowed the claim.
Mr. Meymott said he recollected the case referred
to by Mr. Smith, but he did not see any anal, gy
between it and the present claim, because, in the
former, there were several separate houses hOd under
one lease, whereas, in the present case, it was one house
only, which was clearly of greater value than would
form a borough-qualification, and, therefore, it could
not confer a vote for the county.

Mr. Smith contended that the e9sem wen-
There were several different hoiditigs by temmis in
both cases, none of them being of sufficient amount