The national Republican., 1867-12-30
POPULAR EDUCATION.

The suffrage movement In England has leo 10
a combined and earnest effort on the part OF the
English aristocracy in behalf OF popular eduea-
tion. Lord Brougham, when he was plain Henry
Brougham, gave utterance to that noble and
epigrammatie sentence, which has been SO long
used as household motto In two hemispheres,
viz, "The schoolmastcr 10 abroad" All OF
EnRland's nobility feel to-day that the time mas
fully come to educate these masses upon whom'
by the extension of the franchise is devolved the
great and awful responsibility OF making the
laws of the realm. 1t Is indispensable that the
lawmakers of great nation should be enlight-
ened; and when this duty devolyes upon the
people, and they pass from state OF vassalage
into the condition of Legislators, 1t must be ac-
knowledgcd that enlightenment and intellectual
culture becomes the necessity OF the hour, and
the indispensable requisite OF the situation
When It was proposed to give the ballot to those
who rented a freehold, Lord Derby characterized
IL as "a leap in the dark" The noble Lord
looked upon the proposition as one fraught with
danger to the safety, security, and stability of
the Government. lie and others OF his class,
who, with their ancestors, had governed for
long ages, saw nothing but evil to the body poll
tic from this step. But free suffrage came In
spite Of Lord Derby, the Tory Minister, and even
to the utter surprise OF John Bright himself.
Very few of England's statesmen looked to sec
founding fact to see Tory Cabinet indorse this
project of household suffrage, but SO 1t Is; and
Mr.. Disraeli said at a banquet, given in his
honor the other day at Edinburgh, that " the OBJ
ject Of the Tory party had always been the re-
form of Parliament on the principle of house
hold suffrage"
We think that this declaration was an after
thought with the great statesman. Probably
Mr.. Lowe, Lord Cranbourne and Lord Carnar-
A.. -. .ann Nha NNN.Nh all -
that they never contemplated reform of this
sort to be carried forward by the tory party.
The dread of popular education has always been
afrIghtful A scarecrow before the vision OF Eng
land Aristocracy. But It is so no longer. They
see, now that suffrage is extended, education
must go with II. Mr.. Lowe let out his pent-up
feelings and expressed the views OF the Tory
party when last year he said in his wrath, after
il was made certain that the household suffrage
bill would pass, 1--WE must now try and prevail
upon our new masters to learn their letters"
This speaks volumes in favor OF popular educa-
tion. With suffrage and governmental RESPONSE
bilities education must come. Some years ago,
in the carly days of Punch, when Douglass Jcr-
rold, Blanchard and Thaekaray had charge Of
this pungent sheet, Sir James Graham made the
attempt to compel the manufacturers to give
some education to the children In their employ.
The effort was unsuccessful, and Punch came out
with cartoon which represented four eccles!as-
tics, High Church, Low Church, Calyinistic and
Catholic, each having hold Of an uneducated
urehin, and each seizing the liR.b OF the unlucky
child, and thus threatening to tear him limb
from limb that each might have the control and
charge of his education. Above this strife Of
the contendIng divines sat the devil himself, look
ing with intense and satanic satisfaction upon
the scene. Then the child could be educated for
no other purpose than to be used like machine
in a cotton factory but now and henceforth he
must be man, a law-maker, and the question OF
his education is a very different thing and even
England's Tory ministry have at length got this
idea into their stupid noodles, and now, more
than ever before, is Lord Brougham's word
realization; "The schoolmAster is (indeed)
abroad" Popular education must characterize
the age.