New-York daily tribune., 1851-05-29


body denounces while no one JuStihes abstract
edly; and yet it is always upheld, and presume
always will be- And if the question could now
be put to a direct vote, even Of the taxpayers
I alone Shall or shall not a system of Common
School Education for the United Kingdoms be
maintained by National Tax ~ believe Free
Schools would be triumphant. Even If such
system were matured, put in operation, and to be
sustained by Voluntary Contributions alone or
lef, 10 perish should not despair OF the result
But there is lion in the path, IN the shape OF
the Priesthood of the Established Church. who
insist that the children shall be indOc!rlnated IN
the degmas of their creed or there shall be no
State system of Comfon Schools; and behind
these stand the Roman Catholic Clergy, who
virtually make similar demand with regard to
the children of Catholics The unreasonable
ness. as well as the ruinous effects of these de-
mands is already papsble on our side Of the At
lantic If, when our City was meditating the
Croton Water Works the Episcopal and CathO-
lie Priesthood had each insisted that those
works should be consecrated by their own Her
archy and by none other, or in default Of this we
should have no Water-works at all, the case
would be substantially parallel to this. Or II
there were hundred children whose parents
were of diverse creeds, in some city, all blind
with cataract, whom it was practicable to cure
altogether, but not separately, and these uyal
Presthoods were respectively to lnsist-They
shall be taught our Creed and Catechlsm, and
10 other, while the operation Is going on, or
there shall be no operation and no cure, that case
would not be materially diverse from this. In
vain does the advocate of Light say to them,
Pray, let us give the children the inestlmable
blessing of sight. and then you may teach your
creed and catechsm to all whom YOU can per-
suade to learn them, they will have the closed
ewes opened according to Loyola or 10 Laud, or
not be opened at all Do they not provoke US to
say that their insisting on an impossible, a Suicl-
da condition, is but a cloak, blind, fetch, and
that their real object is to keep the multitude IN
darkness | am thankful that we have few
cergymen in America who manifest a spirit akin
to that which to this day deprives half the
children of these Kingdoms Of any considerable
school education whatever
think nothing unsusceptible of mathematical
demonstration can be clearer than the impera-
tive necessity of Universal Education as 4 mat
ter simply Of Public Economy. In these dense
" peopled islands, where service is cheap, and
where many persons qualified to teach are main
tanning a precariOus struggle for subsistence,
system of General Education need not cost half
so much as in the United States, while wealth
is so concentrated that taxes bear less hardly in
proportion to their amount here than with US.
Every dollar Judiciously spent on the education
of poor children would be more than saved in
the diminution of the annual cost of pauperism
and crime, while the intellectual and industrial
capacity of the people would be vastly increased
by it, do not see how even Clerical resistance,
formidable as it deplorably is, can long resist
this consideration among people so thrifty and
saving, as are in the main, the vielders of poll
tical power in this country
-Pohhcal Reforms move slowly here. Mr..
Hume's motion for Household Suffrage, Vote by
Ballot, Triennia Parliaments, &c. was denied a
consideration, night before last, by the concerted
absence from the House Of nearly all the Mem
hers-Only twenty-one appearing when forty
tout Of over six hundred) are required to cOnstl-
tute quorum. So the subject lost It's place as
set notion and probably will not come up again
this Session. The Ministry opposed It's conslde
ration now, promising themselves to bring for
ward measure for the Extension Of the Fran
chise nert Session, when II is very unlikely that
they will be in position TO bring forward any
thing. II seems to ne that the current sets
strongly against their continuance msofiice, and
that, between the hearty Reformers on one side
and the out-spoken Conservatives on the other,
they must soon surrender their sembance of
power. Still, they are skllful in playing off one
extreme against another, and may thus endure or
be endured a year longer but the probability is
against this To my mind, 1t seems clear that
their retirement is essential TO the prosecution of
Liberal Reforms. So long as they remain in
power, they will DO, in the way OF the Peoples
Enfranchisement, as near nought as possible
o. Nothing could live
Twixt that and silence.D
Their successors, the avowed Conservatives,
will Of course do nothing but they cannot hold
power long in the Britain Of to-day; and who
ever shall succeed them must come in on pop
ular tide and on the strength of pledges to spe
ciic and comprehensive Reforms which cannot
well be evaded. Slow work, say you! Well,
there is no quicker practicable. When The To-
nes shall have been in once more and gone out
again, there will be another great forward move
ment like the Reform Bill, and think not till
then, unless the Continent shall meantime be
cOnvulsed by the tl.roes Of general Revolution.
i should like to see chance for the defeat
Of that most absurd Of all Political stupidites,
the Ece!ssiasiieaI Titles Assumption Bill, but do
not Persecution for Faiths sake Is most abhor-
rent; but sincerity and zeal may render 1t re-
spectable but this bill has not one redeeming
feature While it insults the Catholics it is per
fectly certain to increase their numbers and