The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-26 00:00:00

nature.

In the observations which we made in our last, in
reply to a contemporary, on the subject of reform in
the Corporation Schools, we treated the question as
one of expediency—(for as such it is susceptible of be-
ing discussed)—a question of expediency, we shall
say, with a religious aspect; we would continue to view
it still in the same light. What a Christian parent,
master, or statesman would do, with regard to those
whose instruction is peculiarly committed to his csre,
is not indeed a discretionary matter, but one of very
clear and positive duty. The question which we are
discussing is, however, not exactly that,—but how it
may be proper to act in a case where parties may be
concerned over whom we cannot exercise force. Here
there is room for the exhibition of a discretion, and we
are not bound to act uniformly in the same way : our
mode of proceeding may be essentially altered by cir-
cumstances.

In Liverpool we have to deal with a case in which
the great majority of the children arc of Protestant pa-
rents, and a few comparatively are Roman Catholic ;
and it is asked whether, under all the circumstances, it
would be advisable or expedient to relax the principle
of scriptural education in behalf of the latter class ?
It may be conceded that their exclusion from the school
would be an evil, and that it would be desirable, if pos-
sible, to retain them in it. This may be granted; but
we may perceive a still greater evil on the other hand ;
and our wisdom will consist in choosing the lesser of
the two. If there be on the one side the possible de-
privation of some, of a certain amount of useful in-
formation, there is on the other the evil of a compro-
mise on a point of principle big with consequences
which it is difficult to estimate in all their extent and
weight.

Schools of an eleemosynary foundation, and de-
signed for the benefit of the humbler classes of society,
must necessarily, in their construction, be hound by
rules different from others, and peculiar to themselves.
They are not designed as colleges of learning; they
are not instituted_ for the purpose of adding a few

graces and ornaments to the mechanic mind—some
perhaps useless accomplishments to persons des-
tined, for the most part, to earn their bread by
the labour of their bodies ; they are established
for imparting, during a brief period, such sound
instruction as will show to the young the way
in which they should go, and such as, when old, it
would be desirable they should not depart from—in-
struction of a vital, essential character—touching the
very root of the matter—the heart and judgment in
man, and preparing him to become a good subject and
good citizen—to fear God and honour the king. This
is the distinctive purpose, or certainly ought to he
such, of a national or municipal school designed espe-
cially for the humbler classes of society. Then it fol-
lows as an indisputable truth that the instruction of
such a school should be religious—drawn from the
purest source—and enforced by the highest sanctions.
On this head the controversy is at an end. It is no
longer disputed, first, that the highest motives and,
most powerful sanctions to the performance of the
moral and social duties ought to be let in upon the
youthful mind ; and secondly, that it is the religion of
the Bible, and that alone, which supplies them. Hence
it follows that the school of which we speak ought to
be unequivocally and decidedly scriptural.
Such being the recognized character of the institu-
tion, we are prepared to meet the proposition for a
partial exemption of the pupils from the obligations of
its fundamental rule—to dispense with the authorita-
tive teaching of holy writ in behalf of Roman Catholics.
And first, we observe that this would be a wide de-
parture from the original purport and intent of the in-
stitution, which was not, as we have already observed,
to impart some trifling portion of instruction in the
various branches of human learning, or the less im-
portant appendages of vital wisdom ; and we are bound
to inquire in the strictest manner, and be satisfied in
every scruple, before we yield compliance to such a
demand.

We have already briefly considered the specific
grounds on which the Roman Catholics prefer their
request, and have shown that they are such as should
rather confirm us in adhering unreservedly to the rule,
than induce us to relax it ; because they rest upon as-
sumptions which directly impugn a fundamental prin-
ciple of our faith as Protestants

We are asked to recognise and countenance the
doctrine of the Church of Rome of the insufficiency of
Scripture as a guide and rule of faith without the tra-
ditions and commentary of uninspired men ;—we are
asked to cast a stigma upon our authorised version of
the Bible, as if it were either imperfect or essentially
incorrect; and certainly, upon such grounds, it is
quite impossible that we should move. if such reasons

tion of our

school

be given wh:4‘ th
should be dispensed with, we must negative the re-

quest; we have made up our mind long since on these
heads, and do not mean to stultify ourselves. It is