The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-09-09 00:00:00

~LONDON, tUH3DAI

Tke Comer,

ekilek lIiIiMPD Bler fell is

Tanta KWTOit or 1245;toobss, co OONICI
•turi Tam lIIaXTUT 101 LIXMILit, *am"

opencast. AssaultLT or Tan COMMIS or soottuatto.
sin highly initilled that a k opperttralti tit
hark premises itself at sthstetiog so t4prejudices whieli.
(or.esyeral Yeagftiatt. hat. loom aeentantatiag In the tol
9f the key. Mr. Menzies of Old Lanark. reirethig iht
blishateit at' ?few Laws& t sato( disaloasieg the
the senterone reports wbish, i. oanatqwwwo of Ott.
iodises, he has donned it hie ditty. sloes the pier IBIS b.
circulate, with grest induitty. far and near.
It is knows to all reSeedwg in.. to be a law of eet
satatic ftiti .MU% the mind et awativaneed period of life
is filled with priindien. the jiligosent biomes ottetstrod,
and often worse than toeless. This law of oar ossansee

stature at ones discloses tits might of the letter, whisk, (Sr.
wtostely for the ceuerer moan sad for the improvement of
society, Mr. Menzies has given to the public. Hole out to.
be blasted for itr bets gvestly to Mr pitied on account of bisi
awn *lingo. At the same ,U h• lee ittsweet. onitasete
inlay, the instrasse*hy which mach Write will be Atom
to tito world. Me has so doubt beat desivous. of giring
tin Moth, sod- the -*hole math, Is. the AAA statonsaut
which be has pot forth tmak yet,it as happens that, from
bieginaiug to "Mewd. it tiatalus *thing but error
•aadmisrepressamtion. to bs azomustedlorsolp by the st-
unt to which his prtjedims have led hiskiosilop sad jodg-,
mint zany.
li la wrident that•ile. Manisa basesstawansiestod his pre.
justices to the Presbyterah„ 'that the Pres.
'bytery t= aid
Monk have them to the General
Anemia, of Scythed t the vest& M. that a statement has
been concocted, witichltawathaawiaosholyte their friends
to Ivor
I bare been publicly mewed of ezelodinte the Bible from
the Missals-at the insatiate,. fee the formation of Charge•
for at New Lanark. where little or no attestion is said to
,* paid to poNgivoolostractims.sed-aipeomising dolosioo
and deception os the public, rerapsetlog the moral state
of that Allege, the females of which aro seemed of being
less-chaste than others.

le so
hero
these iliiitrella Irian directly contrary
le. fact. • hem bees leg oeseeiests of the tyranny to
,lelekth the human Naiad has every where been subjected.
said of the evil thus prodested. It is. t erefore, a principle 2.
If which I bays always been overcool tenacious, that all
my fellow creatures sheaddowjey foll rty of couschusee ;
rand I have been equally scrapalose in sot infringing. is my
'own practice, upon the conscience of ear one. Ti.. Jake-
'Manes of New Lasok Wag almost all-Calvinists, I con-
shaded dal they wools! wish their children to be brought
up in this creed. I therefore. from the thus this establish-
ment came under my direction, 24 years ago, have allowed
the Scriptures, toad the Catechism of the Church of Scot-
land, to be regularly mad sad taught in the schools. I
have done so solely in otsesitmee to the g I principle I
bare jest ittoted ; sad I sever. for one moment, had the
most *Wont intentioa of withdrawing either! If the inha-
bitants of the village had bees Roman Catholics, the scrip-
tares, on the same priori*, should have been excluded ;
or, if Jews, the New Testament should sot have bees is-
trodueed ; or, if they lead been Maliornedans, the Komi
simeld bare bees taught. For I hold it sot only I. be
unjust, het doweright4opetisse and tyranny to force spas
a people aoy thing coottory to their consciences, or to 'Heir-
hold from them what they conscientiously believe to be
essential to their roksions• welfare.
Never for a mouseneltd I suppose that any Mini.ter, or
body of religious mem to this country, could imagine that
they had any right to labelers with a private school, which
jurisdiction.
was in no way whatever under their erisdiction. and not'
even supported by one Calviaist. Nor hare they any right.l
I tell them now that they have se more authority to inter-
fere with the New Lanai' schools than with the arrange-
meats of my private boas.; sew bare they any to meddle
with the coetwience of say owe, whether Christian. Jaw,
Turk, or (Wei, as they may term him. Any of oar fel-
low subjects in India have as emu right. were they here,
to establish schools for the instruction of their children is
the Gimlet) mysteries, as the General Assembly of Scotland
possess to establish Wools to instruct children in the
mysteries of Calvinism' sad, were it otherwise, I fur one
would leave a meetly where such religious despotism pre-
vailed.
Out Mr. Menzies. whatever might be his desire, never
ventn red to make any oath representation to tunas he states
in ids letter, respecting the allege! prohibition of the
Scriptures In our schools. Nor did any Member of the
Presbytery ever mention the subject to me. These gentlemen
well knew they had no right to do it. All that everpassed
between Mr. Mensies sod myself, ou this subject, happened
ene day when he was coming into the village. and I was
returning from it. On meeting him, after the usual salu-
tations and enquiries, he said, "I hear in Lanark, Mr.
Owen. that you do not allow the Scriptures to be used in
your schools. Is it true?" The question appeared to me
so very absurd, (for I had not than heard that such an idea
bad been entertained by any one,) that I replied. with some
emphasis, •• Mr. Alenzies, I recommend one general role
to you in these matters, which is. that you never give any
credit to a report in Old Lanark, respecting tine proceedings
et New Lanark, for not one in twenty of them is tine;"
and we immediately separated. Now this is all that ever
passed between Mr. Sleaziest or the Presbytery of La-
I nark, and myself, on the subject of withdrawing the Scrips
tore..
The mistake which was so eagerly seized upon by the
enemies of the system which l advocate, was a very sample
,one.
I wished to impr..ve the minds of the children
in the schools, by giving them a general knowledge of
i Natural History, lieueraphy, and Ancient and Modern
History ; and I had nude urnepreparstioos fut this par-
' pone, and Kleen some general instructions to the masters
on these subjects, just before I get out on a journey, on
which I wen likely to he absent souse months. On the
morning of any departure, I looked into the schools, as Is
my usual practice, to say god bye to the children, with
whom I spend as ninth time as possible when I am at
home, beliering,as I do, that the right education of the
rising generation is the most important duty that society
can perform. Jost as I was coining away, one of the
masters, Mr. Slendell, who is very religiously inclined, said,
" If we give these lessons in lieugraphy and History to'ihe
children, there wilt be little time to read the Scriptures,
i satl to each the Catechism." The latter was then taught
_an saterslays. I instantly replied, as I was leaving him,
“ Theo let the Catechise, he taught on the Sabbath, in the
Ilitailay Schtikls." The' Sunday schools are held three
Ltitriesmach Sabhank,•witon 'the Seriptares are mil, and the
Catechism taught. I heard nothiag more on this subject
.until I met Al-. Menzies, as I have tnentioned, many months
attet %revile. It seems the master, **Hi whom alone I had
the conversation, soppreti that the Scriptures, as well as
the catechism, tie re:ro be read-on Sunda •s only, but even
this mistake cf Ale: Armond's 'was rectified br Mr. degg,
rcemoo asle Was lilt:wined of
.it, A' few days oftvroarda,
and mosey' totornhstoefieeel b.Avd a 'Word elmial fld sitter.
It is probable Velinuld Vit out bail lietied time: seal; a mis-
take, bid eyeriecedietAlf the supborierti of 'tbe:org Orin..
oftbezatorki bert .4ork 0.04'104 thet‘ it traa.pitssibli they
might make iteneeldo*, Of iri 'TO. the ataa(lyantiag; Ar Ay
Mewlranark ibltaldistinftekrbrit this 'ittemOi, 1tata1.644
whit h have preceded it, will only tentl to render thh' new