The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-05-28 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

TO LORD VISCOUNT SANDON, &C.
My Lord, With such a notice on the bdoks of the House
of Commons, as that which stands for the 31st instant, on
the subject of national education, your lordship will not, I
am persuaded, condemn, as intrusive or unseasonable, a few
lines from one of your clerical constituents.
The lively interest so long and so practically evinced by
your lordship, in this vitally-important subject, confirms the
conviction under which I write, that the great freedom of the
following observations will be kindly received.
We look upon this subject as involving the whole question,
whether an established church is to be maintained in this
country or given up ? If the national provision for religious
instruction, under the superintendance of the national clergy
must continue limited to its present amount, whatever may
be the increase of population : if the quantity of the chil-
dren's bread be doomed to " finally," while by no Malthusian
contrivance can finality be stamped upon the number of the
children, it is obvious that either starvation or separation
must be the lot of the family. We presume that'll° sane man
contemplates the possibility of such hereditary churchman-
ship on a national scale as will prefer starvation ; and we
earnestly invite attention to the inevitable consequence of
the alternative, when the separatists will (as progressively
they must) equal, and then rapidly out-number the original
household.

We are aware that many persons, some of them high in
station and influence, who are friendly to the church, are
nevertheless disposed to yield so far to existing circumstances
as to consent to throw all parties upon their own individual
exertions and private contributions, to add to their existing
resources, as their increasing numbers require addition • and
we are far from denying that in such a race the established
church has a long start, and would (in the perfect bona fide
neutrality of the government) keep foremost for ever. But
we cannot conceal from ourselves that this would be a sacri-
fice of the principle of an established church, and to degrade
what has hitherto been a national, and therein consistent, in-
stitution, into the anomaly, by which our bitterest enemies
delight to nickname us, viz., a favourite sect.
If this must be done, we presume to think it ought to be
done openly and avowedly, and after due notice given to the
nation •, but we cannot be silent and see such consequences
entailed upon the country by a disingenuous side wind. We
feel assured from the internal evidence of the documents already
before the public, compared with collateral incidents and con-
nexions, that the proposed scheme of education did not origin-
ate with her Majesty's ministers, but with enemies of the
state, who are urging those ministers forward. Most naturally
therefore, we have course to our constitutional privilege of
petition, to prevent, if possible, the infliction by surprise of
such a Alamity. We confidently expect that not only those
. who agree in our entire view of the question, but those also
who advocate the open competition of parties unaided by the
state, will strenuously oppose a scheme which, by engrossing
the national funds, at the same time that it would operate to
the exclusion of the national clergy and all other consistent
Christians, stands exhibited before the nation in the aspect of
a two-fold partisanship, at once the underminer of Christian
liberty and the pioneer of papal aggression.
By moving an amendment on the 31st, to the effect that
£30,000 be voted, not to the new and un-English board pro-
posed by the right honorable the home secretary, but to the
Diocesan Boards lately formed and still in process of forma-
tion, to be distributed in sums bearing proportion to the
population of the respective dioceses, or to the amount of
contributions raised by the respective boards, and by dividing
the house upon it if necessary, your lordship would secure the
lasting gratitude of a vast majority of your constituents, and
confer, we sincerely believe, a benefit of no ordinary magni-
tude upon the country.
It is my privilege to transmit herewith a petition upon the
subject, numerously signed by my congregation, which we
respectfully request your lordship to present and support.
I have the honor to be, my lord,
Your lordship's obedient and faithful servant,
HUGH M'NEILE.
Liverpool, May 24, 1839.
The Lord Viscount Sandon, &c. &c.

NATIONAL EDUCATION

TO THE INHABITANTS OF SHREWSBURY

GENTLEMEN,—I hope you will not think me presumptuous
if I venture to call your attention to a petition respecting
national education, which is now in course of signature in
this town. The matter is of a kind which may easily escape
the notice of those whose minds are not habitually turned to
such subjects.

The necessity of the petition arises from the following cir.
cumstances—

Hitherto the parliamentary grants for education have been
divided between two great societies, the National Society
and the British and Foreign School Society ; the former train-
ing its children in the principles of the established church,
the latter educating without distinction of creed. Here
then the claims of churchmen and dissenters are both satis-
fied : and it is difficult to see what an honest government
has to do, but to aid these societies in improving and enlarg-
ing their plans to the fullest needful extent. But no ! the
established church educates too large a proportion of the
children of the poor. This will not do for her enemies. She
is marked for destruction : her clergy must be superseded,
her influence :must be destroyed. And a summary way has
been devised to this end.

A committee of the privy council has been appointed to
superintend the application of any sums voted by parliament
for the purpose of promoting public education. This com-
mittee has approved a scheme for its future guidance ; and
in order to carry into effect that scheme an estimate of
£30,000. is to be proposed byLord John Russell in the House
of Commons on the 30th inst. You will find the scheme be-
low : I entreat you to mark and ponder it ; for I say with
all the solemnity of conviction, that its effect, if carried out,
will not be only to subvert the national church, but to destroy
all pure religion in the land, to produce general scepticism and
infidelity, and to pave the way, for the restoration of popery.
It goes to poison the streams of national faith and virtue at
the fountain head.

But first, can we suppose that the noble lords who compose
this committee are by habit, by discipline, by leisure, fitted
for the task of preparing a scheme of national education ? It
cannot be. They approv e and adopt the scheme, but we may
be well assured , they did not draw it up. With whom did
they advise? Not, certainly, with the prelates of our church ;
not with the heads or profesgors of our universities ; with
none of those in whom an honest churchman would confide.
But with whom ? We have a right to ask—we shall not be
informed—but we may shrewdly guess.
There is a certain society called the Central Society of
Education, which ranks among its members the Marquis of
Lansdowne, President of the Privy Council and of this com-
mittee ; also Lord John Russell, who is to move the grant ;
also Messrs. Grote. Warburton, Hume, Leader, Sir W.
Molesworth, and others of their party ; also Messrs. Wyse,
O'Connor, and other Roman Catholics ; also Messrs. Thorne-
ley, Hills, and a great proportion of Socinians, with several
Socinian ministers ; but few, if any names to which a church-
man can point with confidence. This society has published
three volumes of papers and tracts on education. I have not
yet seen the third volume ; but the two first are sufficiently
decisive of its principles and designs. I might quote several
of these tracts to prove that they are identical in principle
with the proposed scheme, but I shall content myself with
referring you to the last paper in the second volume, and I
beg you to remark that this is the only paper which appears
without the writer's name. Read what follows, and you will
call him a political prophet, if you do not think with me,
that what he has prophesied he has also contributed to
fulfil :

" Some have said that all hope of amending the present
state of things must be far distant, in consequence of the
nicely-balanced state of parties. Perhaps some years must
elapse before a bill for national education, such as the people
of this country ought to demand, will pass the House of
Lords ; but a bill for national education is not at the present
moment a sine qua" non. Ministers have the power in their
own hands, assisted by a simple vote of the House of Com-
mons, of extending indefinitely the number of schools, and
of commencing a reform in those which already exist. -
" Nothing more is required than a central board of educa-
tion, composed of fit men (whom the crown may appoint),
with the same power over the annual government grants for
educational purposes that is now given to the Lords of the
Treasury.

" Twenty thousand pounds are now voted every year in
aid of building school-houses, which when erected, merely
serve to deceive the public into the belief that education is
advancing, when really it is making little or no progress.
Suppose the same money given only on condition that the
school established should be conducted upon a plan likely to
be effective, and how different would be the result from what
we see at the present moment.
" Let there be a model and normal school for training pro-
perly qualified teachers. Let the central board have power
not only to aid in building school-houses, but in supporting
good schools when established, and the way would be gradu-
ally paved for a more comprehensive measure. The power of
withholding an annual grant, of however small an amount,
from an ill-conducted school, would be quite formidable
enough to cause their authority to be respected ; and the
power of giving pecuniary assistance, however limited, would
be quite sufficient to induce by degrees all the mismanaged
charity schools now existing to place themselves under the
board.

" The plan is simple and feasible ; nothing but resolution
is wanting to effect the object, not in a moment, but by such
steps as would be at once safe and certain.
" Let no one imagine that the work of educational reform
can be effected without centralization. Without a central
board, armed, not with despotic powers, calculated to irri-
tate and inflame the public mind, but with sufficient power
to make it the interest of all persons connected with schools
to adopt improved plans of instruction, little or nothing can
be accomplished. An individual might waste a life in rea-
soning with schoolmasters and mistresses, appealing to com-
mittees and their secretaries, and canvassing subscribers,
without succeeding in changing the character of more than
half 'a dozen schools throughout the country. But a central
board, operating by means of an establishment for training
teachers, and annual grants, might in a short time produce a
change that would appear as the effect of magic.
" The danger that the powers of a central education-board
might be used as an agent of despotism, is, in this country,
altogether imaginary. No board appointed by government,
whether composed of whigs or tories, could be composed of
men so illiberal in their views of education as the vast ma-
jority of country farmers and small tradesmen in all but
large towns, to whom it would otherwise be necessary to
appeal."
Here, Gentleman, you see the plan chalked out which the
government has actually adopted, and you gee the extent to
which it is designed to go. These schools are to be " ex-
tended indefinitely," a change is to be produced " that will
appear as the effect of magic" (aye, truly, and the arch-magi-
cian's own work), " the way is to be gradually paved for a
more comprehensive measure." If you want further proof
of the intention to supersede all other schools, and of the
anticipation of this result from the present scheme, take
another extract.

" The most serious objection that has yet been urged
against a national provision for the education of the people
is, ' that it would check, and finally put a stop to, the work-
ing of the voluntary school system, and throw the whole
burden of existing free schools upon the government.' We
are told that ' the effect of every grant is to rcduce the amount
of the donations and subscriptions by which schools are
generally supported.' For such a result it is necessary to be
prepared. Private individuals of course relax in their exer-
tions when the subject is taken up in a quarter able to render
much more powerful and efficacious assistance than they can
afford ; and it is therefore reasonable to conclude, that what-
ever money may be voted in aid of free schools, more will be
required, until the full sum necessary for their support shall
be supplied from the same source, or raised by means of
local taxation.',
Now let us pause one moment. Here is, confessedly, a
great revolution to be worked in no less a matter than the
education of a people ; in their moral and spiritual state, in
their relation to this world and to the next. We have a
mixed Constitution of Sovereign, Lords, and Commons.
Could a mightier subject engage the attention of all those
three estates, or would the thought and labour of a whole
session be too much to bestow upon it ? Yet here it is pro-
posed to be effected by a vote of the House of Commons,
huddled over among the money estimates of the year. If
this be constitutional, then there is a defect in the Constitu-
tion. If it be consistent with the ,letter, surely it is in gross
violation of the spirit.
As it is beyond doubt that this writer is either a minister
of the crown (therefore anonymous), or at least a minister's
adviser, it is worth while to hear some of his arguments.
" Another reason why elementay education should not be
dependant upon charity is, that the system has a tendency to
perpetuate the distinctions and dissensions of sects in religion.
Private individuals cannot, like government, assume a neutral
position. Every person attempting to set up a school for the
gratuitous instruction of the children of the poor is immedi-

ately identified as a churchman, a catholic, an independent,
a baptist, a quaker, a unitarian, or as belonging to some one
or other denomination. This leads to the supposition that
his object his to propogate the religious opinions he entertains,
and hence a disposition on the part of those who hold other
sentiments to draw the children away, and to set up an
opposition school.
" When a school is opened by dissenters, the object is
immediately supposed to be to alienate the minds of the
children from the church, and a school is presently started
by some equally zealous churchman to draw children away
from the chapel. Catholics view with jealousy and alarm a
school established exclusively by protestants, and protestants
view with the same feelings the schools established by catho-
lics. Trinitarians and unitarians find it impossible to unite
even for teaching-reading, writing, and arithmetic; and thus,
instead of children being allowed to grow up together, culti-
vating charity, good-will, and kindly affections for each other,
they are early in life separated into hostile camps, and com-
pelled to regard each other, if not with hatred, at least with
suspicion and distrust."
And again—
" The voluntary school system, by placing all the existing
free schools in connexion with some church or chapel, and
under the direct influence of clergymen of different denomi-
nations would appear to be favourable to the interests of
religion, were it not that, as far as religion consists in peace
and goodwill among. men, it cannot be effectually promoted
by a system which keeps the children of different sects
apart, and cuts them off from every opportunity of meeting
before their feelings have become embittered by theological
controversy."
Once more—

" It is supposed that the most serious obstacle a board
of education would have to struggle with would be religious
prejudices ; but this difficulty has been much overrated, and
exists out of the House of Commons more in name than
reality. In any plan for national education provision must
he made for religious instruction. Let that be provided for
fairly and fully, and the public will pay no attention to the
outcry which may be raised to the friends of intolerance
who would have children hate each other for the opinions of
their parents, rather than meet in a spirit of charity and
universal brotherhood."
And in a note :

" A few words upon the principle of separate or sectarian
schools. It is a principle discouraged by the governments of
France and Germany, and to, which every good man should
be opposed. So long as children are not allowed to play
together because the opinions of their parents differ, the
religion of peace and good-will among men will never have a
practical meaning. However numerous a sect might be, we
would not (individually) promote the formation of an exclu-
sive school. An educational board should be extremely
solicitous by all possible methods to bring the children of
different sects together, that they may no longer grow up
regarding the consciousness of other persuasions as moral
monsters to be shunned and abhorred."

Now, gentlemen, I appeal to: your common sense to
note, in these., passages, the alisurdity ofthe reasoning,
and yet the hisidiouss of the design. The writer is
vastly foolish, but a little malignant too, when he talks
of children being made to hate and distrust each other
by being brought up in separate schools. Does he mean
that all children of any one school hate all children of any
other school? Or, more probably, that all children of any
school in which only one form of religion is taught hate all
children of other schools in which the same form is not

taught? Now the proof of this monstrous and malignant
assertion rests upon the asserter. Has he given proof ?
None. The statement is neither probable nor true ; I can
safely say it is -untrue of Church Schools : others, I hope,
will contradict it still more generally. Again I put it to your
common sense which state of things is more likely to pro-
duce dissension and hatred ' •—separate education, in which
children are trained in one form of doctrine without frequent
reference to the differences of other forms ;—or the compre-
hensional plan, according to which children, though united
for the rest of their lessons, receive religious instruction from
different teachers in distinct places, and (mark this) under
circumstances which make it peculiarly incumbent on those
teachers, if honest and zealous, to warn their pupils against
the errors of their companions ? But honest and zealous
teachers of orthodox doctrine, and the prevalence of their
opinions in his new schools, are evidently not what this
writer hopes or expects. lam much mistaken if he is not
(supposing him of any religion) a Socinian : and from the
fusion of all religious colours in education, he hopes to pro-
duce every where the muddy complexion of his own creed.—
The Sociman leaven is already discernible in the committee's
scheme. We see it in that impious distinction of religious
instruction into ' general' and special ;' a distinction which
has but one fault,—that it is contrary to the divine word ;
all scripture being " given by inspiration of God, and profit-
able for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction in righteous-
ness." General' religion, it seems, is "to be combined
with the whole matter of instruction :" as to the ' special,'
periods are `to be set apart for such peculiar doctrinal in-
struction as may be required for the religious training of the
children.' Now what is this ' general' religion which is to
pervade the system ? It may, for all we know, be mere
Deism, intended to include the Jew and the Deistic Infidel :
for the Atheist, it appears, must be contented to do without
an education : our-committee, like Robespierre, will have an
" Etre Supreme." But we will suppose it to be some modi-
fication of Christianity, though the term is not to be found
in the scheme itself, and though such an avowal destroys at
once the comprehensive character of the plan by excluding
the Deist and the. Jew. What then can this Christianity be
which all styling themselves Christians are to be taught? It
can only be what is called the morality of the gospel, its rules
of outward action as distinguished from its doctrines of faith.
This is in effect the Socinian scheme, which represents Christ
as a merely human creature, divinely endowed and commis-
sioned to teach a purer code of morals and to certify a future
existence.—Socinianism then (the secret heresy I fear, of
many in the higher classes, but which can never be a faith
to the poor) must be the general religion' of the proposed
scheme. I do not mean that the mere human nature of
Christ is to be taught in express terms ; but I do say that
the absence of the doctrine of his divine nature will be in
effect to teach his mere humanity. And thus, in of der to
comprehend a very small section of the community—of the
poorer classes a very minute fraction indeed—those mighty
doctrines which are held in common, and as essential to sal-
vation, by the Church, by Roman Catholics, by Presbyte-
rians, Methodists, Baptists, Independents, in short, by an

immense majority of the people, are to be excluded from the
' general' routine of national education.
. _ .

Now as to the effect of such exclusion. Can it be denied
that its tendency will be to disparage the excluded doctrines,
as, at least, of secondary importance, and unessential to a
good education? But what is a good education? Aye, it is
a mighty question : would it were asked and pondered as
generally and as solemnly as it deserves I I implore you to
consider the answer which I humbly venture to propose. A
good education is one which teaches the human being to
perceive and comprehend the various relations in which he
stands to his Creator and to all created existence, and trains
his moral and physical nature to a capacity of feeling and
acting in harmony with those relations. And if we acknow-
ledge that God has revealed relations between himself and
us which could not have been known without his revealing
them—such doctrines, I mean, as the Trinity, the Incarna-
tion and Atonement of a Divine Redeemer, the Influence of
the Holy Spirit, the Headship and Offices of Christ in His
Church—we must also acknowledge that no education can
be good which does not undertake, as a primary object, to
unfold these doctrines to the young mind, to combine them
with all its matter, and to inweave them into its whole sys-
tem. But this is forbidden by the terms of the proposed
scheme. Doctrinal instruction is to be given at periodical
times set apart for the purpose. Now I will put the matter
to your sense and candour. Do you suppose that doctrinal
religion and its correlative duties can be effectually taught
in this way, at occasional seasons, and by subordinate per-
sons ? On the credit of my own experience I assure you it
cannot be. The communication of religious knowledge and
religious impressions, as it is the highest, so is it the hardest,
task of the educator. 'The corruptions of human nature in
his pupils, and in himself, inevitably make it so. He needs
for the purpose all the influence and authority which station
can give,- besides the conviction of strong faith, and the
assistances which are promised to prayer. Believe me, the
pretence of religious instruction is an idle mockery, if not a
purposed deception, where it is not provided that the princi-
pal or rector of the school shall profess and teach the doc-
trines of salvation. Education is one work, and must be
carried on with unity of purpose, under the direction of a
single mind, vital Christianity pervading and imbuing every
part of it. Where this provision is wanting, as in the scheme
before us, where doctrines are taught like superfluous accom-
plishments, the children will imbibe an opinion that religion
is a matter of secondary concern ; they will come into the
world prepared either to adopt any creed which may be first
presented to them, or contemptuously to reject all.
On these grounds I am content to rest my opposition to
this (I can use no lighter term) anti-Christian scheme of
National Education. I adopt, indeed, all the objections
stated in the petition ; but, as I did not before last night
think of addressing you, I have not time now to press them.
The scheme is so bad in principle, and so uncalled for in
practice, that to expose its principal vices is easy, to explain
them all endless ; while it is very difficult to discover one
just ground on which it can be recommended.
An outcry, says the anonymous herald of the scheme, will
be made by the "friends of intolerance." This letter, I sup-
pose, he will call an " outcry." But is it made by a friend of
intolerance? Let me be told what intolerance I have ever

befriended, or what I now befriend. ---Forthe past—if any
Dissenters shall do me the favour to read this letter, let me
assure them that I have always advocated, not merely their
toleration, but their civil equality, to the utmost extent com-
patible with the maintenance of national religion, which I
sincerely believe essential to national peace and prosperity.
For the present—as regards the proposed scheme—let us see
on which side the intolerance appears. In respect to na-
tional grants of money for education, the Church says to
Dissenters :—" Help us to establish schools for our children
and we will help you to establish schools for yours : that we
may each teach our own form of faith, and follow our own
communion, and live in peace and amity, " The answer
made (not I believe, by sincere Dissenters, but by a party
unduly claiming to speak their voice) is—" No ! you must
come into the same schools with us, or you shall have no
schools at all," " But this is-against our conscience," say
the friends of the Church, " for reasons which we will make
good." " Very well : then you must go without education."
And this is the scheme of men who stickle for freedom of
conscience • and those who raise their voice against it are
`•friends of intolerance." " 0 Liberty !" said Madame
Roland on the guillotine, what crimes are perpetrated in thy
name." " 0 toleration !" may we now say, " what intoler-
ance is exhibited in thy name.'
But peace between rival sects is proposed by the scheme.
Vain hope ! Either, as we have seen, dissension will be in-
creased (and this must be the first result,) .or a peace will be
obtained by sacrificing and silencing truth. But what a
peace ? Such as our Roman conquerors of old enforced.
" They made a solitude, and called it—peace."
First, we shall have the desolation of abomination—pre-
valent infidelity : then (for the poor must have a religion)
the Romish Church, which preys upon every dead faith, will
once more establish its corruptions in the realm. May this
woeful fate be averted, and let us all do something, however
litte, to avert it, relying on the aid of a stronger power than
our own. Let us all petition against the proposed scheme ;
all Churchmen, whose Churchmanship is more than a pro-
fession ; all Dissenters, whose love of Christian truth is
stronger than their enmity to that Establishment with which
they agree in all its saving doctrines.
If our existing systems of education require improvement
and enlargement (as indeed they do,) let them be wisely im-
proved and indefinitely enlarged ; if they need inspection,
let inspectors be appointed by the common consent of their
friends and of the Government ; but let us not poison the
well-springs of religion, let us not prostrate the ark of our
faith before the Dragon of Infidelity.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your faithful and humble Servant,
BENJ. H. KENNEDY.
Shrewsbury Schools, May 21st, 1839.

SUGAR FROM OTAHEITE:—She schooner Ulitea came in
yesterday from the Society Islands, having brought up a
cargo of sugar from Otaheite. We understand that this
beautiful little island last year produced 100 tons of this
article, and that this year it will be nearly double, as the
growth of the cane is in its infancy : the sugar is said
to be of very excellent quality. When the settlement
at Moreton Bay is thrown open for location, we entertain
but little doubt that we shall be able to cultivate sufficient
cane, in the warm latitudes to the northward of that place,
as will, in a few years, supersede the necessity of sending to
a foreign port for a cargo. The canes imported from the
Mauritius by a Mr. Mayo, and planted at Moreton Bay by
that gentleman, are said to thrive well, and will, no doubt,
at a future day, be the germ of vast fields of this valuable
article of domestic consumption. Sydney 'Commercial,
Journal, Aug. 8, 1838.

MEETING OP THE SOUTH LANCASHIRE
CHARTISTS ON KERSAL MOOR.

(From our Own Reporter.)

The long-talked of meeting of the Chartists of South Lan-
cashire, in anticipatibn of which, lest a popular commotion
should take place, the government had concentrated a large
body of troops in and near Manchester, " came off" on Sa-
turday last, happily without the slightest disturbance of the
peace and although the vaunted affair—thanks to the'exe-
cutivp and the precautions of the local authorities—has re-
sulted in the signal disappointment of these would-be " lead-
ers of the people," who, doubtles, privately invoked a
general and insurrectionary rising, but were restrained from
pursuing their ultimate object by that discretion which is the
better part of valour, we deem it proper to place upon record
a detached account of the proceedings, as illustrative of the
good sense of the working clssses in these populous and ex-
citable districts—exhibited in the paucity of their attendance
as chartists—and of the political imbecility and contemptible
pretentious of the itinerant demagogues who had hoped to
goad them on to rebellion, in order that they might them-
selves become the principal sharers in the spoils of anarchy
and confusion.

The " demonstration" was, indeed, an utter failure, as
regarded the objects of those who induced it, but will serve
as a gratifying memorial of the discernment not only of those
who abstained from attending but of those who, though pre-
sent, were drawn to the spot more out of curiosity and in
search of recreation than from any sympathy in the sentiments
of the leaders of the movement ; and the ridiculous, non-
sensical, and we may add, ludicrous propositions submitted to
and carried by the ignorant portion of the meeting, will open
the eyes of those who may hitherto have been blinded and
misled by the plausible but vain, delusive, and dangerous
doctrines propounded by O'Connor, Stephens, and their less
adept followers. What, for instance, could be more futile,
more insulting to a body of men, whom the depression of
trade has unhappily reduced to poverty and almost to desti-
tution, than to call upon them to withdraw their deposits
from the savings' banks, and to convert their paper money
into gold, with a view to reduce the government of the coun-
try to bankruptcy ! What mote imbecile or impudent than,
in a resolution, to swell the numbers of the meeting from
fifteen thousand at the utmost to five hundred thousand
" good men and true," and to apply to the Home Secretary
for 500,000 stand of arms, with adequate ammunition, &c. !
What more foolish than to call upon the working classes to
deal exclusively with chartists, few of whom have anything
to sell! But we must leave the proceedings to have their
own weight, apart from any animadversions of our own.
The coming " demonstration," so pompously announced,
had naturally excited considerable anxiety and apprehension
in the minds of the local authorities, lest a breach of the
peace, and a consequent necessity for the offensive employ-
ment of the military should ensue. The prepartious to sup-
press anything approximating to a popular rising were more
than adequate, both as regards the soldiery and the police,
to the utmost emergency that could have been anticipated.
Besides the troops collected in the district, and a large por-
tion of whom were quartered in the immediate vicinity of the
ground, (at Broughton,) the police were in readiness to act,
and many special constables were sworn in. Happily the
services of neither of them were wanted ; the whole passed
off peaceably, and almost tamely ; and those of the chartists
who remained on the ground at the close of the meeting min-
gled and amalgamated with the holiday folks who sought re-
creation in the races and their attendant games and pastimes.
The meeting, we learn, was one of a series proposed to be
held in different parts of the country, for the purpose of im-
buing the minds of the people with chartist principles, and,
as appears by one of the resolutions, of obtaining the approval,
confidence, and support, by the working classes, of the body
calling themselves " The National Convention." The sorry
result of the meeting under notice will probably, however,
deter the leaders from any further " demonstration" of their
weakness. The following passages are from the placardissued
by the Political Council calling the meeting :
" Men of South Lancashire,—You are hereby called upon
once more to come forth in your majestic myriads, to show
to the heart-seared factions that have so long laid prostrate
the liberties and rights of the industrious, and now acknow-
ledged intelligent millions, of this fast-fading emporium of
the world (fading because of her impolitic and tyrannical
fetters), that you will no longer tamely submit to the arro-
gant and withering rule which has so long disgraced this
beautiful land of promise—poisoning and impairing the
energy of its industrious and over-burdened population.
" Come, then ; and under the motto of peace, law, and
order ! demonstrate to the world that British freedom must
be something more than a name—that it must be a reality
seen and felt, enjoyed and wisely appreciated by you, who
have long groaned and suffered under the all-grasping fac-
tions, who have so long monopolized your every comfort, by
basely depriving you of every natural right of citizenship."
The authorities of the town, as before stated, appear to
have entertained considerable apprehensions of a disturb-
ance, and in their anxiety to preserve the peace, greatly over-
rated the numbers and the means of those who might have a
desire to disturb it. On Thursday the following notice,
signed by seven of the local magistrates, was extensively
posted through the town and neighbourhood:—
" Whereas, large numbers of persons have, on various oc-
casions of late, assembled and met together, in different parts
of the 'county, many of them being armed with bludgeons
and other offensive weapons. and have by their exciting to
breaches of the peace, caused great alarm to her Majesty's
subjects. And, whereas, a public meeting has been adver-
tised to be held on Kersaj Moor, on Saturday next, the 25th
instant, which, in our opinion, may become dangerous to the
public peace. We, the undersigned magistrates, acting for
the division of Manchester, do earnestly recommend all well-
disposed persons to abstain from attending such meeting, and
advise masters and heads of families to warn and use their
influence with their work-people, apprentices, families, and
others, to the same effect. And we do further warn all per-
sons attending the meeting of the dangerous tendency of such
proceedings. , ,

J. FRED. FOSTER, J. KERSHAW,
SHARSPEARE F. PHILLIPS, D. MAUDE,

C. J. S. WALKER."

GEO. W. WOOD,
T. POTTER,
The policy of this announcement, inasmuch as it showed a
perhaps groundless degree of apprehension, and imputed an
importance to the chartist gathering of which it was alto-
gether unworthy, was somewhat questionable—for if it
deterred a few from attendance at the race-course, it pro-
bably drew to it a larger number to gratify the curiosity
which it was calculated to excite. It appeared, too, that the
leaders of the meeting had had a previous interview with the
authorities of the town, and had pledged themselves that no
fire-arths, pikes, or other offensive weapons should be brought
to the ground ; and it is due to the chartists to say, that whe-
ther in compliance with the orders of their chiefs, or from a
wholesome apprehension of the interference of the military
and civil bodies collected near the scene of operations, they
came not only without arms, but for the most part without
even walking sticks. The above placard, however, was
scarcely posted through the town, ere the political council of
the chartists, in order to contract its effect in thinning the
meeting, issued the following :

" NOTlCE.—lnasmuch as several evil-disposed persons
have, through the press, and by intimidation, endeavoured
to deter the people from attending their duties at Kersal
Moor Demonstration, the public are hereby informed that
the boroughreeve and the authorities of Manchester, have
pledged themselves not to interfere with the proceedings of
the day, but to render every reasonable protection that may
be required. By order of the political council, held at Ken-
nedy's Lecture-room, 14, Redfern-street, Miller-street.
JOHN TILMAN, Secretary."

Meantime, a large body of soldiers was quartered at Cheet-
ham-hill, Broughton, and others were proximated in the
neighbourhood : the civil force, augmented by auxiliaries,
was also in readiness, and would have been employed in the
first instance had occasion required.
About eight o'clock in the morning, and from that time
up to noon, numbers of carts drove towards the town and
race-course, filled with country people from Eccles, Stock-
port, Hyde, Ashton-under-Line, Staley-bridge, Oldham,
Bury, Ratcliffe-bridge, Leigh, Hindley, Wigan, &c., many
of them doubtless to witness the " great demonstration,"
but many more to enjoy the recreations of the town, and the
sports on Kersal Moor usual on Whit-Saturday,—a day
which invariably draws from their abodes in the neighbouring
districts thousands both of the manufacturing and farming
population. This will account for the great, though by no
means extraordinary, assemblage of persons congregated on
the occasion. The streets of Manchester, towards nine
o'clock, became much thronged, and the numbers continued
to increase until half-past ten, at which hour the procession
of the chartists, which had been gradually mustering at New
Cross and Shude-hill, began to move onward to the moor.
They were headed by Mr. Benbow and Mr. Butterworth, on
horseback, who acted as marshals, and were accompanied by
bands of music, and numerous flags and banners, many of
them new. The order was as follows :

Green silk flag.—" Manchester Political Union.—Vote by Ballot
Universal Suffrage, and Annual Parliaments."

Two white silk banners, bearing the rose and thistle; with green
silk banner, bearing the harp and shamrock.
Men twelve a-breast.
Band, and drums and fifes.

Flag, with portrait of Stephens, and " Female Political Society of
Ashton." On the other side, " God and the right."
Females, cleanly dressed, four a-breast.
Flag.—" Rights of Man."

Green fiag.—" Hulme and Chorltm." "Murder demands justice.
Men four a-breast, with rosettes.
Band.
Flag.—" The Productive Classes."
Do.—" European Branch."
Political Society of Fustian Shearers.
White flag.—" Vote by Ballot, Universal Suffrage, Annual
Parliaments."
Flag.—" The Men of Staly-bridge."
Foresters' Band.

Flag.—He that is not for us_is against us.—Stephens for ever !"

Men four a-breast.

White fiag.—" For a nation to be free, it is sufficient that she
wills it."
Men four a-breast.