The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-16 00:00:00

A.DJOURNED DEBATE ON THE EDUCATION QUESTIO

In order to render the adjourned debate more intelligble to
our readers, we may mention that the Education Committee,
in their proceedings, put forth the following resolution—the
confirmation of which was moved by Mr. MOLYNEUX, and
seconded by Mr. HODGSON :
"The Education Committee, looking back with satisfac-
tion to the proceedings of the past year, think it right to
state the course which, after mature deliberation, they pro-
pose pursuing. By the established system, a sound educa•
tion, based upon'religion, is imparted to all who will seek its
blessings, without excluding any but such as refuse to read
the Bible in common with their fellow Christians ; an excep-
tion, therefore, for which the committee do not feel respon-
sible. The daily business of the schools commences and
closes with prayer. The Bible is read daily, and all who will

)enefit of sound rel►gious instruction,
)f the Church of England ; but which

.dentioned instruction is arced upon those who
may conscientiously object to it; and therefore the children
of Roman Catholics and of dissenters are not required to
learn the Church Catechism, nor to attend church on Sun-
day. The committee would appeal to the dispassionate judg-

ment of all whether this systini, alike removed from intole-
rance on the oneiand, and the still greater evil of latitudina-
rianism on the other, is not such as should be maintained,
and be alone maintained, by the Town-council ; whether it
be not admirably adapted to effect the greatest possible good,
without violating charity ; for however they may regret that
any should exclude themselves from participating in its bene-
fits, the committee cannot open wide the door of admission
unless by diluting, so to speak, or accommodating, the Bible
to the prejudices of those who refuse to receive it in its en-

tirety and purity, or, in deference to the same prejudice, by
dispensing with its use altogether. For neither alternative
is the committee prepared. The first involves a proposition
inadmissable in a Christian community ; the latter would be
in effect to administer secular instruction alone without in-
culcating a duty on the only sure basis of religious principle,
a system which the committee conscientiously believe would
make them the vehicle of a curse and not a blessing. Both
these are alike inconsistent with the sacred trust reposed in
the committee in a nation where Christianity, in its purest
practice, is established as a part of the law of the land. The
committee are persuaded that the town of Liverpool, fired of
the continued agitation of this subject, will gladly receive the
determination of the council to maintain the schools on the
sound basis of religious principle, and therefore in the faith-
ful and earnest discharge of their duty the committee an-
nounce their purpose, under the authority of the council, to
maintain inviolably the system of education now pursued in
the schools, and while they allow to others, as fully as they
claim for themselves, the right of acting according to the
dictates of conscience, they would respectfully deprecate the

continued agitation of a question whiCh, if the present reso-
lution be confirmed by the council, can scarcely be discussed
to any useful purpose, nor without peril to charity and peace."
To this resolution Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE, seconded by
Mr. TURNER, moved the following amendment :
" That it be referred to the committee to consider whether,
after establishing in the Corporation Schools a system of re-
ligious instruction based on the principles of the Church of
England, and in all respects in strict accordance with her
tenets, such a modification cannot.be made in the existing
rules and regulations as would render the schools more avail-
able for the classes of the poor professing different religious
opinions, by allowing their children the benefit of the secular
instruction of the schools, the parents giving an assurance to
the committee that their religious duties shall not be neg-
lected."
The MAYOR having stated that the council would now

;ed with the adjoUrned debate

Mr. PLATT requested,
Town-Clerk would read the
Corporations' Act.

efore it commenced, that the

.?d section of the Municipa

11 upon Mr. Asp