The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-04-27 00:00:00

schools in Ireland alto

ae view of securing a mi

d education ; and

Iction in some of the

reat facts of

Very little more was done then ; the object was

thought desirable, but the means were questioned

In lc,

so, Mr. STAN I

,EY, afterw

ands Lord STANLEY

and now Earl of DERBY, bEcatne Secretary for
Ireland; and during his three years' incumbency
he wrote the celebrated letter which laid the foun-

dation of the present National system in Ireland.
The management of the general business was to be
in a board, composed of persons of different reli-
gious views ; and applications were to he received

with peculiar favour when they came from persons

of the Bible was

to be optional, but of certain Scripture extracts

compulsory. No catechism was to be taught, and
no peculiarity of creed was to be a disqualification
in a teacher. It was proposed that the theological
instruction should not be mixed up with the ordi-
nary scholastic hours and duties ; but that at set
times facilities should be presented for such in-
structions being given, by the ministers of various
communions. This letter was written during Lord
GREY'S administration ; the system was esta-
blished ; and it has been supported by every
ministry since. It is disliked by the highest class
of extreme parties, for all would prefer to have
Education in their own hands ; and one of its most
violent opponents is Dr. WHALE. It is avowedly
a sort of compromise, to suit the peculiar circum-
stances of the country ; a large number of Protes-
tants gladly take advantage of it ; but, as might be
expected from their numbers, the Roman Catholics
enjoy the largest share of its benefits.
The system in England does not exclude Scrip-
tural instruction; for Mr. KAYE SHUTTLEWORTII
judged very correctly when he arrived at the con-
clusion that England required and demanded more.
The tolerant principle was introduced therefore,
not by the exclusion of any one item of instruction,
but by giving assistance equally to schools of all
classes. The government inspector insists on a
sound education being given, and on the Scrip-
tures being taught ; but different catechisms are
taught, and different theological systems imparted,
in the schools of Churchmen and Dissenters. This
system has been only a few years in existence; but
it seems to suit the genius and requirements of the
people remarkably well. It agrees with the Irish
system in embracing both secular and religious
subjects; but it differs from it in the management
and details, and especially in the fact that it admits
the sectarian element.

Last of all, is the system as yet in nubibus, the
system advocated by the member for Oldham. It
was suggested by a committee in Manchester, a few
years ago, under the title of the Lancashire Public
School System : but, as a county plan, it is, for the
present at least, abandoned, and an attempt is
made to apply it to Manchester only. Whatever it
may be now, in its first draught it was sectarian
without being religious; for it was a necessary
qualification of the central committee that they
should be of at least four different creeds, and yet
Religious Education was totally excluded I In its
principle it was as bad as the London University,
where Christianity is not recognised more than
Hindooism ; in its management it proposed to
introduce an element of strife which even the fol-
lowers of OWEN and FEARGUS O'CONNOR have
wisely avoided. The supporters of this system have
never been very numerous, and they consist in a
great degree of those who are hostile to Christianity
at heart, though they exclaim only against the
dogmas of sects.

In addition to the RELIGIOUS question, one of
FINANCE has also been agitated. Mr. Fcx and
his friends would' support Education by local
taxation, as is done in America ; and on the same
principle that we are taxed for civil or sanatory
purposes. This part of the plan has been at once
adopted by another party in Manchester, consisting
of the Bishop and a large number of
.his Clergy,
with Protestant Dissenters of all kinds. They
insist on the Education being not merely secular,
but religious also ; in short, the same as our pre-
sent National system in England. They hold that
the present grants for educational purposes are ina-
dequate, and that the whole sums are very un-
equally distributed. In this view we cordially
coincide ; and the Clergy Society in this town, at a
meeting in March, 1851, were in general of the same
opinion.

The following will shew the working of the pre-
sent system. There are about 20,000 children of
the poor under instruction in Liverpool at this mo-
ment, and the annual expenditure is not less than
£lO,OOO. Almost the whole of this sum is raised
by those who are favourable to Religion and Edu-
cation, the rich and careless paying actually nothing,
because the subscriptions are voluntary. There
are probably not more than 2,500 subscribers in
all, though this is not a tithe of the number of
ratepayers. This, however, is not the whole of the
evil. Men subscribe for the support of the schools
near their residences; and thus there is always
most money where it is least required. But in the
neighbourhood of their offices the poor are left in
ignorance and heathenism, each one trying to shift
the burthen to some one else. Whatever be the
principle adopted, therefore, in our National Edu-
cation, we must eventually come to local taxation
in the matter of support; for it would just be as
absurd to rely upon a few spirited men fcr the
lighting or paving of our streets, or the support of
our Library and Museum, as it is to suppose that
they only should contribute to educate the people.

The British and North American Royal Mail steam-
ship Canada, Lang, commander, with papers and letters
from New York to the 13th instant, Boston to the 14th,
and telegraphic accounts from New York vid Halifax, to
the 14th, has not yet arrived. Should she reach in time,
we shall publish her news in an extra edition.

THE LATE FIRE IN THE BRUNSWICK GRAVING DOCK.
—Yesterday an inquest was held on the body of Antonio