The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-08-22 00:00:00

portion of ten per cent. per annum, so as to com-

plete ti

years, and though this

plan would not have

iiiedied all the evil corn-

plained oi

it would have gone very far to mitigate

would have considerably lessened the ex-

penses of litigation, which have been often incurred
between parishes in the same union, and by throw-

ing the cost of maintenance over a wider district

it would have tended to equalise the poor-rate,
and thereby have diminished the hardship insepa-
rable from the present system, by which the heavi-
est burdens are imposed on those least able to bear
them, the parishes containing the richest inhabi-
tants producing usually the fewest paupers. It
will be remembered that the bill was withdrawn
owing to the interference of members of the Cabinet
who had taken no pains to mature the measure,
and who, notwithstanding their ignorance of the
scope and objects of the bill, rashly promised to
include Irish paupers in its provisions, in order to
conciliate the members of the Irish brigade. Such
an alteration would have made the law worse in-
stead.of better, and Mr. BAINES, indignant at the
interference with his well-digested labours, threw
up the bill and threatened resignation. Whatever
may the fate of the Ministry, it is to be hoped that
the measure will receive due attention during the
recess, and that, profiting by experience, it will be
left in the able hands to whose department it
properly belongs.

NATIONAL EDUCATION

LORD BROUGHAM availed himself of a spare ed over the manner in which they are conducted, so
that the streets, particularly the most frequented sour, during one of the recent sittings of the
of Lords, to introduce a string of resolu- thoroughfares, present scenes which no one can
)ortant and often-discussed subject deny to be disgraceful, and which by no means

tions on the im

of National Education. It is a question upon redound to the credit of those who are entrusted
which considerable difference of opinion exists, with the maintenance of good order. Had the
upon which very much has been said and written, magistrates performed the duty entrusted to them,
in which almost all who have taken an interest there would have been no occasion for the inter-
ference of the Legislature ; but it is notorious that
profess to be actuated by pure philanthropy, and
yet it is one of which the majority appear to mis- a duty so important has not only here but else-
take the true scope and object. Those who have where been very generally neglected, and the Legis-
gone the most carefully into statistics and official lature is therefore amply justified in endeavouring
returns limit their attention to the number of to interpose a remedy. The question shOuld, how-
schools and scholars as compared with the popula- ever, be fully discussed during the recess, and we
tion. Criminal calendars classify the quality of may then anticipate that at the next meeting of
prisoners by their ability to read and write ; and Parliament a measure will be introduced with every
when reference is made to the extent of education reasonable probability of its success
in other countries, such as Scotland, Prussia, or
the United States, the statements are confined to
the same limits, without any apparent regard to
the nature of the instruction imparted. Such a
mode of treating the subject appears to be based
on the idea that the first and foremost duty of
every one is to elevate himself in the social scale,
and that in order to do this he must be able to
read and write. The key to knowledge is the art
of reading, a proposition recommended to those
admit the conclusion by
to the necessity of reading the Holy
Scriptures ; and yet the whole scheme, in its

lOPENING OF ST. GEORGE'S HALL

TILE interesting ceremonies to be observed at the open
ing of St. George's Hall have been at length
agreed to, subject, of course, to the final decision of the
Council. A meeting of the committee, to whom the
arrangements have been entrusted, was held on Saturday
at which the Mayor announced that he had received inti.
mation of an official character, to the effect that, conse

=Only

who might

hesitate t

quent on the unsettled state of public affairs, and the
intended visit of the Prince Consort to the French camp
at St. Omer, it will not be consistent with the royal
arrangements for Her Majesty to grace the inauguration

referring

I of Si

This decis,

getfulness of the lessons to be derived

disappointment by the population of Liverpool, and

divine authority. So far from advancement in life,

according to Nv(

idly notions of its meaning, I

arrangements, consequent on the expected royal visit, being

he is expressly enjoined
to be content in that station of life wherein it has
pleased Providence to place him. So far from

)f man

I thus removed, it was recommended that the hall be opened

on Monday, the 18th of September, instead of Tuesday,
the 19th, and that, after the formal opening by the Mayor

and writing being the first steps to know-

and Council, the oratorio of the Messiah shall b
formed, provided Sir Henry Bishop can succeed in e

told that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom," and our SAVIOUR, in alluding to the
common desire of man for the riches of this world,

artistes to do full justice to Handel's chef d'a
grand miscellaneous concert will b(

given in the hal

evening