The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-27 00:00:00

forehead and ey

will be all the better able to elo

urns abundantly prove the close con-
We hail

nection existing betwixt ignorance and vi

lculated to render invaluable service to this important

It is the successful en

and comprehensive intellect to grapple with a really diffi-

cult subject

In supporting

s own views, lie cx

rare degree of taleid, combined with moderation ; and
the measures which he suggest. ran-- of

)unci judgment and of much practical experiencf

will atten

t a brief outline of this elevcn• pamphlet

with sheaving that the question at issue is

not betwixt education and non-edu
good education and depraved knowledge

all we not, educate the peopl

but shall we

educate the rising

embers of society, or allow them to be trained and in-
ructed by the zealous agents of vice. " Vice,

Mr. Dufton, " vice opens schools as well as virtue
crime has rewards for the zealous, and punishments for
the refractory, quite as efficacious as those at the disposal
Let this great truth be once thoroughly
-let it once be understood that we have

)f recitud.

not to choosti between edu

the simple reason that non-education is an utter impos-
sibility ;—let it be not only known but felt, that our
choice is confined to education or mis-education—that
we have to decide between possible good and positive evil
—and nine-tenths of the controversies which have beer
raised on the subject will be dismissed as sheer imperti-
nences." Our author next (IP-

commonly called ignorance, and by

establishes the necessity of national education. This may
be considered the first part of Mr. Dufton's pamphlet.
In the second part he enters upon delicate ground,

namely, the insufficiency and

adequacy of

educational systems to meet the ex
This undoubtedly is delicate grounc

writes in a kindly an

1_ conciliatory spirit

earnest, and expresses his ,opinions strongly and with
candour. Yet the tone and temper of his pages are far
from being offensive. He may convince : he cannot an-

noy : and our prejudices are not roused even when our
prepossessions are opposed. With the utmost imparti-
ality he lays bare the imperfections of the National So-
ciety on the one hand ; and on the other he adduces the
testimony of Dr. Vaughan to demonstrate the inability
of dissent to supply the universally-admitted deficiency.
In short, voluntaryism, whether it be the voluntaryism
of the National Society, or of the British and. Foreign
Schools, whether it be the voluntaryism of the established
church or of dissent, he holds to be utterly inadequate to
prOvide an enlarged system of national education co-

He therefore invokes
—,t; of the state. " For the
same reasons, , " that state intervention is ne-
cessary in the dispensing of national charity, in establish-
ing national security, and in enforcing general rights, we
hold that state intervention is necessary in national edu-
cation, not to supersede but to aid individual and volun-
tary exertion.

extensive with the national wants
the assistance and interferen
" says he,

The strongest advocate of poor-laws
never recommended the distruction of asylums, hospitals,
and infirmaries ; the firmest supporter of a police force
would not advise us to dispense with bolts, bars, watch-
dogs, and watchmen ; the greatest admirer of law will
not withhold his praise from private arbitration ; and in

the same way the advocates Of state intervention would
not recommend a single individual to withhold his sub-
scription or contribution from the erection and mainte-
nance of schools." And again : "We invoke the assist-

ante of the state because it can alone interfere efficiently
and beneficially—it clone can escape t

imputation of
trust the cause of

mixed and unworthy motives

national education to the state, because

the state is the

nation." In the remaining part of his pamphlet, Mr.
Dufton brings forward the details of the measure which
he submits for the adoption of the state. For these de-
tails we must refer our readers to the pamphlet itself,
merely observing that the proposed j -
and comprehensive, practicabi
other subjects, to which we hav

for alluding,