The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-10 00:00:00

NATIONAL EDUCATION

- .
LETTER FROM THE REV. JOHN SINCLAIR, M.A., SECRETARY
OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY, TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD
ASHLEY, M.P., CHAIRMAN OF THE SUBSCRIPTION COM-
- MITTEE FORMED IN AID OF, THAT INSTITUTION.
National Society's Office, Jan. 1, 1840.
My Lord,-7,-At the request of the subscription committee
1 have drawn up the enclosed st:ttement, containing further
',4rounds'on which to rest their present appeal in behalf of the
National Society to the generosity of the. English public.
The passages .1 have extracted from the letters sent to this
oy the clergy and managers of schools will effectually
advance the great object which the committee has at heart,
&they produce the same impression upon others which they
hive made.upon myself.—l have the honour to be, my Lord,
with much respect, your Lordship's faithful and obedient
servant, J.OHN :INCLAIIt., Secretary.
To the Right Hon. Lord Ashley, M.Y.-

AN APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY TO
THE FRIENDS AND PROMOTERS OF SOUND CHRISTIAN
EDUCATION THROUGHOUT ENGLAND AND WALES.
The National' Society has now for upwards of 27 years
carried on, unobtrusively, but laboriously, and, it is believed,
effectually, the great work of promoting the education of the
poor in the principles of the Established Church. By its
charter of incorporation the society includes in its committee
of management, besides a stated number of temporal peers
and Privy Councillors, the whole of the right rev. bench,
and has thus been enabled to exercise a beneficial influence
over every diocese and district in the kingdom. For many
years the ,resources of the society arose entirely from the vo-
luntary contributions of individuals who had at heart the
instruction of the young in the principles and practice of
genuine Protestant Christianity. The contributions to its
funds were by no means in proportion to the magnitude of
the object to be effected; but-so judiciously were they hus-
banded and expended, that in the year 1833, nearly half a
million of.children were receiving education under the super-
intendence of our parochial clergy in schools connected with
this truly Christian and patriotic association. In that year the
society for the first time received assistance in its benevolent
labours from the public Treasury. The sum of £20,000 was
voted by parliament for the purpose of education, no part of
which was ever appropriated to the National Society itself,
though a considerable proportion was set apart for schools
recommended by the society to the Lords of the Treasury.
The conditions required by their lordships were, that the
tenure of the site should be secure; that the edifice should
be suitable as well as substantial ; and that reports npon the
state of education should, on being called for, be presented
to government. Their lordships confined themselves to these
equitable and well-advised requirements, because they gave
no aid to the maintenance of the school, but only assisted in
its first erection ; and assisted only at the rate of 10s. per
head for every space of six square feet allotted to each child.
Their lordships acted upon the principle, that the managers
of the school, by whom four-fifths of the cost of the building
were paid, and the entire maintenance of the schgol was de-
frayed, were entitled to the privilege of deciding as to the
qualifications of the teachers, and the system of instruction
to be pursued. Their zeal in the cause of popular education ;
their rank in society, as belonging to the middle and more
educated classes ; and, in someinstances, their station in the
, church, entitled them, it was conceived, to this moderate ex-
ercise of confidence on the part of the public. Any inspecs
tion of the school, to ascertain how the parochial clergyman
was discharging his duty to the younger members of his flock,
was left to his ecclesiastical superiors. ,
The foregoing arrangement for the diaribution of,the na-
tional bounty continued in operation for the space of five
years. The amount was not large, or rather, indeed, was
trivial, in comparison with the magnitude and importance of
the national object to be attained ; and, indeed, the method
of distrPeution was not free' front serious objections; yet the
plan encountered rio resistance from. the Church, and was ac-
quiesced in by the community at large. A new impulse was
given to the progress of education, and an expectation raised,
and-gradually confirmed, in the minds of its supporters, that
the parliamentary bounty will continue to flow—and, per-
haps, even More copiously—in its accustomed channel. No
suspicion arose, or could in candour be expected to arise, that
the ordinary annual gift would be all at once encumbered
with new conditions.
The year 1839, however, has brought an unforseen change.
During the last sessidn the sum of 4:30,000 has been voted
for educational purposes ; not, as before, with the full con-
currence of both Houses of Parliament, but by the lower
- house alone, contrary to the declared wishes and solemn re-
monstrances of the upper. A Central board, consisting of
four privy councillors, all of them laymen, to the marked
exclusion of the spiritual members, has been for the first tune
established, and to their discretion has been committed the
distribution of the grant. In exercising this discretionary
- power,. the board thus constituted were unhappily persuaded
to betray suspicions as to the zeal and judgment, not only of
the originators and promoters of schools throughout .the
country, hut even of the National Church itself. They re-
quired the inspection of all schools which should hereafter
be aided by public money; and would not be satisfied with
an inspection carried on under the authorities of the Church,
a but insisted upon appointing an ipspector of their own ; who,
without inquiring into what had hithegto been considered the
most important point for examination, namely, religions
knowledge, should ascertain merely the state and progress
of what is now termed secular instruction. In this new con-
dition annexed to public grants for educational purposes, the
managers of schools, and especially the clergy, to whom pro-
fessionally the superintendence of education is confided,
could not be expected to concur. An inspection by Church
authority, so far from resisting, they would have courted ;
but not only had they reason to apprehend that this inter-
ference of a government functionary would lead to further
and very perilous encroachments on their pastoral influence,
but they considered the measure as in itself objectionable on
various grounds; and more especially from its tendency to
make religion be regarded as a secondary instead of a primary
and paramount consideration.. The clergy, therefore, were
precluded by conscientious scruples from accepting the aid so
ungeneronsly and cruelly restricted.
Meanwhile many friends of practical education, trusting to
the wonted assistance of parliament, and to the hitherto un-
failing co-operation of the National Society, not only pro-
jected plans of new schools, but proceeded to carry them into
execut:on. In several instances, the minister of the parish,
foremost as 'became his holy office in the good work, made
himself persOnally responsible for the whole of the dencien-
. eicaoyhiela !the:public grant was expected to supply. But
.suilderily.this resource fails him, unless, as has been stated,
• lie &mats 'to conditions which he considers dangerous and
dealleige: . •., mg. , .
.4Rniquene:Aalutiepecameeption of the difficulty.and ern
baraas the clergy were reduced by their zeal
fbe pdpillanaalulia),ioined with their high-minded reso-
lution, rennin to! auffier,,,fpr, conscience sake than do violence
tO their 'Fr:Amelia, ifs;Would he necessary for the public to
evade iiresantieneof the .volimainons correspondence,
zln un et•aae 10.00.1sittairs, which,
.during the last three
leoettis, it has been my painful task to: peruse. In many
iredances, tee applicant, who had accepted, offers from the
C;Muni; tea of Comieil, i:iforeas me that he has done so with
great edeeeiace, because. "iris resources were utterly
in:oath:l:et fee- the work ;" Or.because " the parish would
otherwise eemelii in its usual destitution in point of education,
and it would be totally out of 'his power to risk the undertak-
ing neon his esei caponsibility ;" or because " his funds
were quite iiiadeeeete to pay his contractor ;" er because he
was "obliged to take the money much against his will, in
utter despair of ever obtaining a grant from any other source:
or because,' "to his great regret, the managers, from the
kindest intentions, would not suffer him to incur the respon-
sibility of raising the requisite funds."..
' In other cases the, apPlicant, after accepting the offer of
the Committee of Council, has opened his eyes. to the danger
lurking under the plausible pretence of unauthoritative go-
vernment Inspection ; has heard of the acknowledgement.by
the Committee of Council that regulation A is only "fur the •
present year;" and will be afterwards succeeded by more
stringent measures ; has ascertained what is the ultimate ob-
ject of the philosophical educationists -by whom government
inspection was first proposed ; lies begun to look upon it as
the first step towards transferring the superintendence of
education from the Church to the State, and thereby either
introducing into schools a generalised Christianity or banish-
ingShristianity from them altogether ; and has written to
me earnestly soliciting assistance from the society that he
may rid himself of the offensive bond and return the money.-
When the applicant has from the first considered himself
precluded from accepting the grant, he has the_Christiau
firmness to decline it, alllieugh lie-is almost driven to accept
it " by urgent necessity," or thereby " brings himself into •
a strait ;" or must " make himself responsible for the deli-
' ciencY ;" Or " fears
,he lEtbit AbanclutiDis present. project ;"
or " from the, poverty of his pariah must take upon himself
the whole exeense ;" or " will be, involved in great enibar-
rassreent ;" or" is-called upon to pay a large sum which Ile
has only the means-of meeting to a limited extent;" or "is
' subjected to greetiinconvenience, having, on the faith of the
government gitasit,made preparations the..cost of which he,-•
will lie obliged to defray ; ' or- " finds himself at a stand-
still, with-the future !all dark, and at a loss what to do."
Sometimes my correspondence has afforded me the grati-
fying intelligence that the applicant will not call for assistance
l'i ma the National Society, because it is " not to the society,
bet to parliament, that he looks for redress of the wrong
he has sustained ; or because " the promoters of the school,
who strongly objected to the proposed inspection, had sup-
plied all his wants ;" or because " he was enabled to carry
`tin his buildings' through the very great munificence of a
'neighbouring landowner ;" or because " he will endeavour
to procure the !sum required from other quarters, and trusts
that his parishioners will not ultimately suffeafrom his per-
formance of a duty which he owes no less to them than to
himself;" Or because " he call afford to complete the school
tediclings froM hia own resources, and considers it the duty
Of every individual to strain every nerve at this crisis to ren-
der hiruSelf rather a help than a burden to others."
A painfulecontrast to these gratifying communications is
afforded by the many letters I have received from every quar-
ter of the kingdom, in which the parties inform me, that as
they cannot, under present circumstances, conscientiously
accept public•inoney, and consider the whole cause of sound
Canstien ediliaition in tile greatest jeopardy, they have either
tc,ir the present abandoned their whole. design of building
selioors,•ol. htiVe contracted the dimensions of the buildings,
iir kill be satisfied with one school instead of two, or with
Sunday schools instead of week-day schools, or will not now
jsyov"ide accommodation for the master and mistress. To
upon right principles,
e arcn m
:elLoeir how effectually the Conunittee of Council have sue-
(' cued in discouraging the chief patrons of popular education
I shall conclude these quotatious with
rrleasio4leved6xiammtp•tleo :I—ay"oTnehe
:!!';leo o; s merel
le vies
tporaoamaoft ear simOilfdtinhge
1711iCII may 'hy auv probability,
at any future tune, be diverted
from the object for' which it • is now to be erected, namely,
tl,c,es. ed•hration ef the Poor in sound Church of England prin-
ce
It is to 9be •
i.de these • circumstances of unprecedented and
on:looked-Tor embarrassment, to- animate the promoters not
popular instruction, to meet newailainis upon the National
~,ociety; frau; varieties in a state of spiritual destitution, which
some future occasion I may deScribe, hut of which.the
co •••
public has et present no neepoon—sthat the Subscription
C'ouniiittee, formed in and of the National Society, are now
eadeac'onring • to call forth the generosity of the English na-
tion. It is at the request of that committee that I have writ-
ten the above explanatorystatements ; and I shall only add,
that al appeal.such as theirs, in behalf of the Church of Eng- •
Luld, has never Yet been made in vain. All partiesare
a, rest . that no object whatever is more important than the
education of the 'people; and no party can deny, that reli-
gion h 1 a Christian country must form the basis of Christian
nistruction. Upon this basis the National Society has been
tormed.and incorporated and remains with the English
i; .
public to
decide this long-tried and useful edifice
:ilia?? coetie•— to '‘v ether be , • -of sound popular education,
a hula•ark
or he sufihred to !hc crumble into ruin; whether the clergy shall -
supported in their I • ;erve in-
violate the silleervisiotng pr%hout re-
?,!),:, their flocks, feeding without
straint the laralis conans
t
Shepherd. of the sheen, e-oslaub to their charge by, the. g.tas
e..!sehjectcd inviiiimts inter-
inter-
ference ; we great
laed shall be instructed and maae of the population of•Eng-
catechised in
it was promulgated by its Divine reuerea,C„-liese-ti tilitelfal'enes
ninnutilateit and entire, or ahall.ree' !""-• "'' apostles,
feet inetreetion, incapable. of trainii
'6 thema-paral and imper-
to moral virtue
here or happiness-het-eater.

roect
- .MATEs.,—The following memorandtun appears in-
quarter's. Navy List :---," Admiralty,- Dec. 16, 183 this
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are pleased to di My.
that in future the names .of all - mates who shall'remain u
of the service for more than one year without- applying for ant
aPP°ll4Witft shall:. be , removed • from 'the -official register. of
mates.and midshipmen; and they 'shall he considered as hay.
'jag r4ll4fatislied the naval service, unless my lords shall be
satisfied
.that • the omission proceeded from ,unavoidable
causes." • , .