The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-09 00:00:00

uent pas-

ful classes of objections, he was far from

such opinion's N

.e generally enter-

man could contemplate the -establishment of a sys-
m of popular Education, in this country, on the
Rol; cririn in +ll a+ 01-c:4-orn .i+

all, or who could have supposed it safe or expedient
that the great mass of the people should be 'called
on to enter the field of general knowledge, and yet

D travc

invite

there without the

they should
light of Religion." Entertaining such opinions,
his lordship would surely have done well to have
thrown himself upon what he confesses to be the
" general" feeling of the country, and to have
risked the apprehended " difficulties, opposition,

..
such a general feeling existing in favour of a really
comprehensive national system, must speedily sub-
side as its usefulness manifested itself.
In behalf of such a course Lord Brougham ex-

pressed himself in decided terms ; and in a great
measure recognises the fact, left out of view by

aat the Inst

of this Country are based upon at
Religion. After, eulogising the past exertions o
the clergy in promoting education amongst the
people, his lordship went on to say :
" The Church would not have any system which was

Established

so comprehensive as not to allow of any clerical inter-
ference ; the Dissenters would not have any system which
allowed the least interference on the part of the Church ;
and, therefore, unhappily, between the two, education
wer -q to the wall--

..nt more or les, _ It was impossible to hay,
such a system of supervision as would suit all Dissenters

Ind leave the Dissenters

3 take if or not, as they pleased

There are few who, from his large opportunities,
enjoyed during many years of intimate contact
with the leaders of the dissenting party, are better
able than his lordship to decide how far the outcry,
i has hitherto been directed by that party
tgainst a system of education over which the
church shall have a reasonable amount of superin-

tendence, is the outcry of the leaders merely, or is
cordially adopted by the masses whom they lead.
It is clear that he pets it down to the former; and
most justly he concludes—and experience warrants
him in doing so—that those masses will not for
any length of time be prevailed upon to withdraw

themseh•es from a participation, upon merely ima-
ginary grounds, in the benefit§ of a sound educa-

fional system

With- resj

)ect to that portion of the government

plea for declining to establish such a system, on
the ground of anticipated objection from those
who argue that education, like religion, should be
left to voluntary efforts, we do not feel it necessary
to offer more than a remark. We have seen the

short-comings of the voluntary system thus
even in providing means of instruction for

children Of parents predisposed by their religious
convictions to accept its aid. But that anything
l• 1

of infant vice, resulting from ignorance, existing
amongst the neglected poor of our large towns,

and eien in many ofmir agricultural districts,

will require great hardihood to maintain.
We regret most deeply that Lord John Russell
and his colleagues have, in the measure under

shrunk-- from the performance of what is
now acknowledged to be, on the part of the state,

notice,

lso, which

can bejuaifiedon

purely economical grounds
No previous government has ever been placed in
such a favourable position for the settlement of
this question upon a comprehensive and efficient
scale. The church, we firmly believe, was not dis-
posed to throw obstacles in the way, but rathe.
willing to concede somewhat to obtain such a set-
tlement; and their relations towards the various

dissenting sects would have enabled the ministry
to do more towards appeasing any clamours, which
might have arisen from those sects, than a Con-

servative government can ever expect to effect,
Whether an effort will be made in the other house

of Parliament to procure an extension of the present
measure, we do not, of course, as yet know. The

feeling with which the proposition was received in
the Lords, and the approval recorded in its favour
from the episcopal bench, leave us little to hope
for from that quarter.

Lieutenant Benjamin Alpin has been appointed to coin
mand the Redwing steam-packet at this port.

The Rev. J. Gm,

at present curate of St.

Church, in this town, has been presented

by the vicar o:

rrescot, to

Of Trinity College, Canci.

Goluar

incumbent Of St. Matthew's C-hurch, in
ited Examiner, at that College,
d Commerce, College of Pre-

in Natural Philosoph.

evening,

Lead, on electricit