The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-05 00:00:00

t 4 t

Thste ig iltntattlinf,f, ot)

gist w

ao ably egtitawiptiLl

moly

C()
it not that

present Sohpol Committee, we i-. 1; ie astute
cunning of the gentleman who brings it forward will
not permit us to treat as harmless a missile directed by

his hand. Mr. Alderman Evans would, we have no

doubt, gladly take the initiatory in any step calculated
to obstruct the proceedings of, or to overthrow alto-

gether the Conservative Education Committee of

council. Such we confidently believe is the object
which this eminent utilitarian has in view ; and we

would therefore impress upon the Conservative body

in the council, to over their most strenuous opposition

to the present motion. It will not be sufficient on this
occasion for Conservatives to argue that no danger can

----- -
ensue, because they cannot see the wires which the

alderman has within his fingers. The proposition, in

itself, is one which no body of men, with the slightest
portion of self respect, can entertain ; and we trust
that no absurd and disgraceful concession, on the part
of Conservatives, will permit its jesuitical author to
chuckle over the success by which it will thus have

been attended
By the same paper we observe that Mr. Councillor
Platt will move, on Wednesday, " that a special com-
mittee be appointed to take into consideration the pro-
priety, or rather the necessity, of having two additional
schools, one in the south and the other in the north
district of the town, for the accommodation of the
lower classes, (of which the Catholics form a consider-
able part,) and to give them a good secular and moral
education but no religious instruction." (!) Excellent,
Mr. Councillor Platt ! A somewhat different kind of
personage are you to the redoubtable Alderman ; and,
therefore, we little fear your assault upon the principle
of Scriptural education ;—seconded, although doubtless
it will be, by that eminent and enlightened Conserva-
tive, Mr. John Smith ! " MORAL EDUCATION BUT
NO RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION." Will there be no
Romish catechism'taught in'.,these schools, Mr. Platt?
If not, we greatly fear that their reverences, although
the council should he willing to play " the Prince of
Denmark, with the part of hamlet omitted," for their
amusement, will scarcely thank them for the perfor-
mance. We may be in error, however. The next
good thing to being a Roman Catholic, in the estima-
ion of the priesthood of that schism, is to be of no
-eligion at all ; and, therefore, "moral education" with
no religious instruction" may be the next best thing
to being educated under the immediate tutelage and in
the creed of Rome.
A mind trained up—educated--morally educated (!)
—without a knowledge of religion, of a Supreme
Being, or of a future state of rewards and punishment—
what a scroll will there he presented for superstition to
trace her dark imagery upon ! What a society would
that form whose youth were cursed with such a system
of education ! Reflect upon it—think of it—good
Liberal gentlemen of the council. What fruits could
you possibly anticipate from this moral education with-
out religion ? Is not that charity worthy of being ac-
cursed which would take into its keeping the children
of the poor and deny them the knowledge of the God
who made them;—which would impress upon the
youthful mind merely secular knowledge, and leave
the fair table, which it presents for receiving religious
instruction, A BLANK, to be impressed in after life
with the hideous falsehoods of Infidelity, of Deism, or
of Socialism ? Oh ! gentlemen, discard this odious,
destroying, soul-debasing attempt to reconcile possi-
bility and impossibility, truth and falsehood, right and
wrong ; discard it ! That every true Conservative in

the council will do so we trust; and we entertain a
sanguine anticipation that, with the exception of a few
gentlemen, of the peculiar mental conformation of Mr.
Councillor Platt, there will not be found many, even
of the Liberal portion of that body, who will stultify
and degrade themselves by giving such a proposition

their support.
We have heard much, of late, from liberal lips with
respect to the " symptoms of repentance" which have
been displayed by some Conservatives upon this ques-
tion of scriptural education; and more than one ru-
mour has reached us, pointing out the course which
will be pursued by certain gentlemen, whose defection
we should be sorry to see, upon one or both of these
motions. We trust sincerely that calumny has misre-
presented the opinions of those to whom we allude ;
and that they will not; on trial, be found wanting to
thosegreat principles, the undeviating maintenance of
which has contributed so mainly to their present posi-
tion in the confidence of their fellow-townsmen. Should
it be, however, that the cunning plausibilities, by which
they are insidiously surrounded, have shaken the mind
of any Conservative members of the council, we implore
of them to tear from before their eyes the film of error
throug'i which they have been seduced to view this
question, and to look at it boldly, and exercise upon it
their native good sense and integrity of judgment. Let
them do this only, and we are confident that we shall
not have to regret the loss of one voice with whose
support Conservatism may not readily dispense.