Star.
London, England, 1820-06-29 00:00:00

.

)

',... .

cams °ti asai's. for the purpose of promoting edu-
cation among the poor. After this, in the year 1704
Pope Benedict issued a Bull, strongl yrecommending
instruction among the lower orders, and pointing out
in the most scientific manner the necessity of such a
system. The effect of this system of instruction in
France was such, that the Lieutenant of Police in
Paris declared, that since the establishment of the
schools, theexpenie-of-dse Pekes in' the-Faubourg
St. Antoine was less
.by $O,OOO francs a year than
before their 'establish t. The Honourable Gentle-
man next alluded 'to a brook, formerly published in
'this country by a. person Of the/name of Mandeville,
in which he stated, that pOOr children were debauched
by going to school,' and by, receiving education, be-
cause they them )ear, ed, bad principles. in. religion
• and politics. The answer to this was, that the chit-
"' Idren should not be taught any of those things ob-
.
":
jected to. Here Mr. Brougham alluded to a Circular
lately sent by the Pope to the Irish Catholic Bishops,
cautioning them to prevent Catholic chitdren from
'attending the schools of Bible Societies; but at the
same time his Holiness was not unfriendly to educa-
'tion, for he recommended that every possible care
'should be taken to have the children of poor Catho-
- 'lies properly eduCated. Mr. Brougham next adverted
'to the objection against the education of the poor on
'the ground that it would draw them away from their
'useful occupations. Certainly it was not his (Mr.
Brougham's) intention to have these children in-
structed in the learned languages, or in science: still
'he did not think that any serious evil could arise even
"from persons knowing something mere than reading,
'writing, and arithmetic. As an illustration of this
remark, he should read a 'letter from a man named
'Gilbert Burns, a labouring peasant in Ayrshire, and
the brother of 'the celebrated and delightful Scotch
Poet of that name. The letter wavorrittenhy him in
answer to certain questions respecting-the propriety
of allowing peasants to he too learned. He said, that
he considered no sort of farm labour to be iliconsist
ent with the most refined and pleasurable state of the
mind, except threshing, which was a great drudgery
and disturbed the mind ; and he added, that the man
who invented a threshing-machine ought to have a sta-
tue erected to his memory, to be placed in a niche next
to that of him who was the first cultivator of the potatoe.
—This was a toleraLle sentiment for a man who was
a peasant and a thresher. So that thus there were
'means of education in England for 1-14th of the
population. In calculations on this subject, it was
'wid to take the proportions of the population by
ages, and the FrenCh tables had accordingly laid down,
that all within the age of eight and 14 years formed
1-14th of die population. With all deference to the
distinguished Gentleman who formed the tables, he
would be allnwed to say, that his computation did
'riot produce the same result. The difference between
them might have arisen from the circumstance, that
-while the French calculators proceeded upon abstract
principles, he had checked his computation by the
:digest on the table, and by a reference to the returns
' the: Parsoni of 'the different parishes. From all
-that he was enabled to collect unon this subject, he
=was of opinion that the l'iench calculation was con-
tsiderably oithin the trunk, 'and that it would have
'been more correct; if instEad of 1-14th it had assign-
ed 1.16 th as the proportion which all within the ages
yf eight and 14 formed to the whole population of a
country. " Herice he would assume, that where there
were not meal's of education for 1-1001 or 1-9th of
the population, there. Must be a deficiency, and ac-
cordingly if he found that in England there were
Only means of educating 1-14th of- the population,
he should Conclude that there was a deficiency to
the amount between 1-14th and 1-10th. It would
be f( mid by a reference to the columns of the Digest,
that 5,360 children were educated at what were
called dame schools. Every on who knew any,
thing of a dame school, knew that they were not
places of education at all—that was to say, that nei-
ther wi king, nor reading, nor cyphering, were learn-
ed ti,eie. Bat nevertheless, such places were of the
utmost consequence, because they kept the children
out of harm's way, and prepared them for applica-
tion afterwards to the various branches of education.
llowever, he only made these observations in order
to shew to the llouse why the children that wore
placed in those scluiols should not be included within
the number of those to whom education was actually
afforded. Deducing, therefore, these schools from
the means of education, the average would be found
as capable of giving education only to 1-16th of the
population of England. But it was worth while for
the House to consider how long the country was in
the enjoyment, even of this extent of means. A re-
ference to the columns of the Digest would shew,
that since the year 1803, means had been furnished
for the education of 150,000 children, on the Bell
and Lancasterian plan. He did not mean to say that
this was the number to which the children educated
in these schools, established in 1803, should be li-
mited ; but it was obvious that, as malty of the Bell
a•id Lancasterian establishments were superstructed
upop old schools,
•there must be a deduction from
the number of scholars belonging to the establish-
ment gat present, to the amount of what the old
schools were capable of educating. Before 1803,
there were Means of edicatiOn in England for no
more than 455,000 children, or one-part of. the, po-
pulation. Looking to Scotland, and taking the
average of twelve counties, he had. computed, that
at present there were Means of education for one-
ninth of the whole populaiion of that kingdoth, being
more than the French ACademicians thought to be
suf&ienr, and as much as hi; (Mr. Brougham's) com-
potation, even contemplated to be necessary. The
means of education in the Principality of Wales were
much lower than in either of the kingdoms he had
Mentioned, being capable of educating only 1-20th
of its population. Before 1803, there were means of
education only for 1-20th. It would lie, perhaps
not unacceptable to the House to have some infor-
mation on this most interesting subject with respect
to foreign countries, and in doing so, it was only
necessary for him to mention the names of the autho-
rities from whom he derived his information—Baron
de Stael, Cutler; Laborde, Du Hamel, names dear'
to science, in order to obtain at once the confidence
of the House to his statement. The proportion of
the number to whom education was extended in
France, was 1-28th to the whole population. Low
,d
however, as this projiortiots was, would be found,
to have been an eitraoriGnary stride in the course of
dive years. In 113191 Watts the last report was =deo