Infantile School Society.
The Times, 1824-06-08T00:00:00

A niecing was bald yesterday, at the Freemasone' Tavern, Great aticen-street, for the purpose of forming an Infantile School Socie. Y. By iine o'cloDck, the centre of the room was occupied by a num- er of la,dies of the first distinction ; and shortly afterwards, thie kIarquis of Lcinsdow-r, wbo presided over the meetingr, took his seat ipon the Platform, as did also the AMarquis of Downshire, Lord Cal.. horlo, Sir James Macintosh, Al. P.; H. Broughamn, Esq Al. P.; .)r. sh.ilhgtor, .1 P.W ibroce, Esq., 51. P.; JohnSih sq.,ne M.P.; % Lealce, Esq., 11.P. ;Leslie Forster, E`q. P. P. 1olneiBonev, lit. p.;, Sir John Lubbock, Colonel Mcoa4 be Rv. D. Thrpe, the Rev. E. Irving, Dr. Birkbeck,an a '"ous other gentlemen with whose namres we were unacquainted. The I1larquis of LJA-,sDowN opened tlie meeti-ng, by stating the ibjects for which the conveners of' it had called it together, end by riv'ng a oncise history of the circumstances which had led then to t9ink that in doing so at the present period they wero ~O`sulting thec interest and advantage of the puiblic. A few YearTs tKO, in conIsequence of the suggestions of some benevolent init'ivi. loals an attempt was made to escablish in Westminster an infant ichloo. That experiment had been subsequently tried in various plartsi OF the country; and he was happy to state, that it miighit at present bD dlescribed as a successful experiment, and as such be yre- asmmended to the favourable notice and consideration of the coun- 'ry- Thiough he had been one of the parties who had first attemlpted :o carrY that experiment into execution, he must say that he was least Of all entitled to claim credit for it-, successful termninaLtion ; ror though he had originally joined in it fromi a conviction thaIt it could de no mischief, and mnight do some good, he had never been sosagin n his anticipation of its effects as somRe gentleme hdbe,wose v-iews had fortunately turnled out to be mr orcl ae than his own. Their project had completely suceed o ol nwhat might be called a nega- tive Sense-he men inkeigtecidren of i he lower orders out of mnischief and Vice whcvih leaards he nurtured into vil. lainy andl crime-u lois oiiesense, namely, in engrafting in the minds of chid elnso ~asyand virtue at an earlier Perioti than had ytbeimgndpossible adin nurturing in them that temnper adisotonhich at alatrpro of their lives was like to ripenit every virtue that dignfe uan nature. He ~vh ad also t ani objeecto sotepa nisrtappearance, -wbich, as it had also occurred to tes ewudnto to pass on thisocca- siani without some noie li a lasfl,that with regard to Young children, the best andtewsspa ofe edcation was domestic education, as it was connece wihaltoedomestic feelings, at. tachmeats, and virtuies, which it was the interest of society to che-. tish and Protect. Now this plan apeared at first sight calculated to destroy oil the advantages derived froin that system of education ; but on submittingy it to subsequent consideration, and on balancing this Objection to it with the benefits which it was proved to coafer, he felt convin~ced that the alternative left to his choice was not be- 'tween education acc,ording to this plbin or education at home, but betwen eucaton ccording to this plan or no education at all; for n acrodedmetropols like London, and in various othiers of towns, ~Iarticularly in the maniufacturing districts, h fonn~to be q itenipossible for the parents of either vex, in tholwerordrs f lfe,to give that attention to their children which was required by a de regard to their health, their comforts, their morals, and their religion. Their children, therefore, were not so muich witlittwrn from the rare of sedulous, and affectionate prents asthey were-from crowded. streets erd corrupted neighbourood'~ those places in which their education had been hitherto conducted, iB xposed to all t'he demoralizing influence of vice, until they were ready for the perpetration of great atrocities, and until they had nur. l~ ured their juvenile delinquenc into the .commission of the most ;c laring offences. Such waehe view which he had to present them ilof these infantile instimutions. They mnust all be aware that in- ~stances of depravity, not to be exceeded by persons of maturer age, had already been exhibited by children of not more than 8ix years of ag. 51hey ast likewise all be aware that cons liracie had een orme bythe more advanced in life, in which c\iildren bad eenempoye inmany cases as the innocent, and therefore as hih moe uefu mebers. On the other hand, they were now to filar tht nsttuios existed in which children whose morals were 3tainted had been again restored to mental sanitude, and in which the managers, acting upon the principle that where the seeds of evil ihad been sown there also the seeds of virtue might take root, had had the satisfaction of sLeong hundreds of children giving security in their present good conduct for their future happiness and well-doing, and exhibiting , even now in their infancy, the beautiful picture of a well-conducre~d and harmonious society. Such was the object that they had been that dav called together to promote ; ansi, as uthy WOu[ld be addresed by'other gentlemen who were better acquainted withthe lan n qestion than he himself was, he should not trespass loner ponther otice at present, but should make way for those whower beterquaifed than himself to attract their undivided at. Mr. BRUGY{AXthen came forward amid loud cheering, Ilie had beenreqestd t prpos th fist esoution to themi on the present 'occsion in onseuenc of is hvin accidentally been one of thoe wo hd smeyeas ao tiedinWestminster the experiment ress. His noble friend, who had juststdw,hdsae ods tisictly the objects of this plan, andhareudsoieitilte only argument which it appeared to him colfarybugeaais it, that he had left to him little matter ofosrainwewtho trespass upon their attenition. There had been, however, another objection advanced against it, to which he would advert,. th'ough he 'onsidered it extTemely frivolous. It had been said, that in p-atronizing this plan, they were carrying their schemes for educa. non to fa, an thattheywerenot a little extravagant in hining afer heyhadobtine eucation for children whose agerenere thm cpabe o reeivng s,that they needs musi giv itto hidre wh ha nt yt ataiedsuch age, and who, is: poin of act wer mer inants li wihdto God that they lied obtine mansof duatin fr ll hechildren whose age rendered temn capable of benefitting from thiemn; but unfortunately they had not yetobtained that desirable object, though great exertions had beon mnade, and were stillmaking, to obtain it. LettinK, however, that fallacy pass for the prezent, he would meet the objection, that thy were carrying education too far and were pushing it to an ex. treme, in two different ways. In tle first place, he would reniind the meigthat the bjcion came from those who objected even tc th educati.Kon of children.. ofa more advanced age, on the ground thal hey could not be spared from their parents, because their labour, young as they were, was oflservice in providing for the subsistenice of the family. These very objectors, he it recollected, were the per. ions who, when it was proposed in Parliament to limit the houn if labourWfr children in manufactories, in order to give them tirmi to obtain instruction, met the proposition with the distinct assertion ~ithat thetinse ofthese children; was too valtiable forthe parents to loseit, i:No stronger argument than this could, in his opinion, he advanced for eginin toaffrd instruction to children at an age when, froim ther pyscalinailty, their labour could he of no value to theii parnts Th oiieranswer which he would give to these objectors was th neessty f the case. It was found that, when they took chilrenfrom7 w8 year of age-a periodl of life at which tht schooling of children generally commenced-they were not void 01 propensities to, or he sliould rather say of habits of, vice, which were too deeply rooted to he ever eradicated. He could not give a stronger demonLstration of this point titan by mentioning the fact that there had been instances of conviction, and he believed of ca. pirl onvcton,ofchildren who were not more than eight years of age.Now,whenthey found that habits were formed at so early an age eadng o th comision of the gravest ofrences which were knon t th la, i suelycould tiot he denied that they ought to commece te edcation of chiildren at an earlier period than they did at present, in order to restrain their bad passionis, aoacuti them tomoral habits, and to store their minds with those feelingswhiich would naturallyexclude tho~se propensities which led to consequences which every man of humanity must deplore. (Cheers.) His noble friend had already stated to themn,that the expe. riment whichhsadbeen made atWestminster in theseschools was nota sicolitary exermet he would now enter into a short detail offsets to :onvince themr tha.t thie beneficial results of it did not exist in mere theory, hut were to be seen in various place in a. clear, palpable, s ndl practical form. It was now near]y si er ic the expe. riment of an infant scolwas first tried in Brewer's-green2iVet. ' ninster. Some tine afterwards, another experiment was tried to a creator extent, under thte inspection of his worthy friend Alr. Joseph WVilson, of Spitalfields-of which it was uinnece'ssary for him to say snore at that moment, as he believed most of the persons whom he ddressed had alreaidy visited it. Another school on thjisprinciplevwas iferars established att Waltharnstow, under the care of a brother f M 'I tlon:hehad not seen it, but heunderstood the pIlan to be t,til mre xtesiv than either that of the Eschool at Brewer's. hren o inSptalfields. At Brewer's-green there were not more han e htyDr one bundied children ; at Quaker-street, Spi- ~.a fild, te umbers varied from 200 to 220; at WVal. Ithaato heheheved there were about 220 chiildren permanent. ~ly H rasalsotold that in Wvli,itechapel there was a schiool of this Itsrpsnat whc 170 children attended. The advantages with, leihtese schools were attended in the metropolis had led to the loriaon of similar scool C s in vaiu arts of the country. There sasone established in M1eadow-'streoet', Eristol, which wais attended 'nerly200chidren-he might safely say that the average num- ~erof hilrenatendinigit wasl150. Ouitof that school seven other ,;cholsbad prug-three at Bristol, one at WVellingtoni, one at ~iBth oe a Brmngham, and one at - [WIe did not catch oftepaeMr. Brougham mentiloned.] He had other that though this p an nee enforced upon the 4lulicattntin,nded eerypais had been Ltaken not to attract ehoue to it untili a nw hte it was likely to succeed or iot,-hc had ote facts, he repeted, to shiow, that notwith. itading the Prvc witlh whic it ad been conducted, 13 i success had been so grat,as tospread its fanicin every direction; I!lnd it wa o'poceeding ina a career of prosperity, wiith an accele- 4ard pogrss,tht was calculated to bear down every obstacle that i~nikt e b~gtagainst it. It was untder thtese circunmstanices that ~in poact~t~ o tese schiools appeaed to the support of the public; oth icssof thleir apVeal he could not entertain the slight. Inc oub, whn h looked at the respectable audience by which he usssurouned.His noble friend hadl unanswerably metthe objec- lion tht tis lanwithdrew the child from the care uf the parent. i~Jesies ha hi nolefriend had urged upon that subject., it ought {1i bereclletedtht iddnofoowthat the parents, if their ~hidrc wee lft o teircar-a arewhich at the very best was t~ny nglienc, toug itwasoftn ot so harmless as negligence, ~rin an ctie poer eertd inpererting the infanit faculties of thei mids,andin endrin thm sbservient to the infamousisur. ses of those who were moreadvanced in ageandin crime_iteught hobe recolRccted, he repeated,thatitdidnotfollow that the poor parents Ihemselves might not delegate to others that care of their children hicb eheir cwn occupations in life tight prevent them from under- -aking themselves. Indeed it was too notorious a fact to be disputed at tne lower orders of society, wbilst theywere themselves engaged !i earhing a livelihood, either sent their cnildren, no matter how OUng, to a day-school, or else intrusted their to the management of person, who having to take care of an immense number of chtl. ren, thoughlt she most casily performed her duty by LAtink.care of one. (A laugh.) The promoters, therefore, ot infant schools, did U ot so much separate the child from the parent as they stood In thc parent, whilst they separated the child fronm the negli- - sto whom the parents intrusted it. The learned gen. nthen proceeded to stabethat it ought to be borne in mind that carrying this experiment into effect on a more extensive al,one of the main objects would be to establish a ntral model school in which the system could be brought perfection, and in which masters and mistresses could be to supply other schools to be hereafter erected in places where e population Was dense and numerous. He would fai,i hope that a respectable meeting which he was then addressing--and a more petable meetiig he had never seen assembled in thatroom for any nevolenc or philanthropic object-would not separate that day ithout giv;ng such a testimony of their good-will to the institution question as would enable the managers of it to form a central seol for tlc surposes he had described. When they looked to the ~lnminanes which unfortunately existed in the metropolis, and every ~her lsrge town, for every speces of irregular habit and vicious ex- ISSwhe!1 they found that children tsnderfour years of age had, by the force of habitas subversive of all morality, been, If not ac-, tual criminals, at least ready to become so as soon as their physical strength would permit-wben theyfoundthat the temper,thatgreatre- gulator of the happinessormiserv of human life,could bepermanently spoiltI at fiVeyeaTssofagC, andthi-t titereforeitvas nec-ssarytobegin at an earlier age our 'effbrts to imnprove it, he tlioughit no man, whto con- sidered how far the peace and prosperity of this great country de- pended on the happiness, of the lower orders, would refuse to lend hi-s aidl to promote the geat and glorious work for which they were that (lay assembled. (Cheers.) WVithGut further circumloacution, hie should move-"1 That this meeting isstronyly impressed with asense of the manny and great benefits, moral and political, which may be expcte toreslt tom th geera etablishment throughout the unitd kigdo, an esecialyipopuoustowns and villages, of in- fan scool onthepln o thse lredy ored in Vincent-square, Wesminte,-i t~akr-srce, piclfelds at Walthianistow, at Air.We~Estrssc the Tos. le sid,that little more 'was left for him to do than to unidertake th fral part of seconding the resolution which bad jutst been re',d to hm for their noble chiair- mnan, and his learned friend Mlr. Brouga,hadi justified the ob- jects of the meeting so aLbly, and had eftdthe argumnents urged against it so satisfactorily, that it Was unnecessary for him to say a i~ordl upon that subject. Happily for niasnkind, statesmen were nowv discovering that the political state of nations depended upos their meoral state; and again, that their moral state depended upon their religous state. It was thecrefore clear, that a wise Governmenat could not begin too early to instil into the miinds of its subjects the leading truths of morahity and religion. Th's was an afbecting con- sidraton an oe in which he knew that their noble chairman full conurre. Itwasextrordiary,how long states- men hilt cntedin fo obect ofwordlypolicy, had ovelooed hos grat riniols, he ounatin f all true po- lic, wichtheAlmght hal etabised for the temiporal happi- nessandfutue wlfar ofmanknd.He trusted, however, that tho se days ef darkness and ignorance were now passirgaway, end tha the time would shortly arrive, in which the only dispute be- tween rival statesmen wouldi be, which could conduce most to the moral anid intellectual benefit of mankind. When he considered the demoralized state of the inhabitants of our populous cities, lie could not help reflecting that we were ourselves, in a great degree, the cause of the evil we deplored. WVe had not provided means for their education,and had aldlowed them to acquire bad habits -without talting pains to teach them good. In spite of the efforts which his learned frienid had so creditably made to diffuse the light of education over every portion of the empire, we had yet seeni no universal plan adopted for the educ-ation of our poor ; and could we then wonder, recollecting our great manufacturing population, oar large military force, and the corruption which bath were calcuilated to engender-could we wonder that, without re- ligion as many of them were, anid without education as more of them were, that their mnothers were hardly fit instructors of the interest- ing little beings intrusted to their care? These little beings were capable of having their tempers trained to good eyen from their ear- liet infancy; and as that was the case, we could not begin too soon to instil into them principle which would enable them to exemplifyvin their future life the temnporal benefits of the Chnrstian. dispensation. (Cheers.) The resolution was then put, and carred. A1r. Jouxw S31eT'rssaid that he rose to move thenext resolution, whiichi was as follows:-" That for the purpose of extending the knowledge and promoting the adoption of this system, a society be now instituited, undler the designation of the Infant School So- cit;the object of which shall be7 to establish in some central part o Umetropolis ani institution whichl, while it dispenses its ben'efits to he djonin poulaion ma alo srveas a model for imitation, andas seinay fr tainng nd uaifying masters and mnistrmesse to frm nd upernted shool." he onourable memnber then procede togiv a hor hitor ofwhat he had seena in thtese schols Heobstvd, hatan nspcton of them had convinced him hatthechaacte ofallmanindwas fixed at a very early period of life. lagdeed, there was often ubservable in children of two or three years of age, dispositions and propensities of the most ob- jectionable nature. He made that remark-, not only as a parent himself, but also as a person who had some expecrience among young chilren.Now in he etabIshet whir i e was at presenit staningforardto rcopmen, eerypossible measure was emn- ploed o eadiatebadan toinsil irtousprpensities. The prinipls offorearnceerecarie intematar as possible, andnotingnudhemor dligtfu thn o rgar te conduct which thee lttl cilden xhiitd i thirintercourse with each other. Instead of that spirit of opposition, and coympetition which was excited. and in liis opinion erroneously excited, in some systems of education, nothing was witnessed in these stchools but a spirit of mutual kindness and benevolence. Indeed, every effort was used to diminish in the minds of the children that prh'ciple of selfishness which was the bane of our common nature. He had seen the re- sults of these establishiments realizinig all that he had read of the golden age. lie had seen in them childlren of two or three years of age niever ouit of hurnour, always cheerful, and active, and happy, and never so happy as when at these schools. Their capability for learning was also excited to the utmost, as the principle on which the whiole of these establishments restedl was not fear, but love. (Great applause.) H-e was convinced that whenever chiltlren were intmidted teirlitle acltis wre raped; and that the absence of far ustbe rocred beoretherinellcts could be called into ac- tion (Chers. n onclsionheobervd,tbhat onegreat object of the meeingougt e bahe btanin ofproerschoolmasters andschool- mssreses,nd hattha obectcoud nt wvell be obtained without the formtio ofa cetra scool or hei'intruction. There thley muise learn patience and firmness, qualifications without which nothing couldhe done for the instructuonof young children. Thehon. gentle- mnan then moved thesecond resolution. The Rev. Dr. Trsois's seconded the resolution, lie thought that a society of this nature, independently of the benefits which it would confer on the children belonging to it, would be of great ser- vice as anauxiliarY to other societies. Indeed it mi-htbe consider- ed as preparatoryto mostof themn, inasmnuch as the children brought up unaer its c-are would not have to unlearn the bad habits which. under other circumstances, they might have contracted. He looked upon this society as particularly deservinig of the support of that re- ligion whose dlivine Author had said, " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not." (Chcers.) The resolution was then pus, and carried. Sir J. MACIANTOSH, in p roposing the next resolution, observed, that after the mnanner in which this institution had been vindicated fromi objection, anod recommended to adoption by eloquen ce, argu. mnent, and facts, little or rather nothing was left for him to say to the meeting. He could only tell them what they had, indeed, been told alreatly, that this institution wasi an experiment made to extend the limitsi of education, and to begin instruction at that earlyperiod of infancy in which thiebhunian characterreceives an indelibleimpression, and assnusies aformn difficult to be changed at any subsequent period. He could only tell them that an experiment bait been mnatte on mnore than a thousand chiildren, in ordler to decide whethier they could not be recued fromn guilt, rendered miore contagious by the nearness of those alreadly tainted by it, and whethier the foundation of good principles could not be laidi in those young mninds, whbere evilprn ciple8 must spring up if care were not taken to eradicate thm (Cheers.) They bad heard ihat that experiment bad been com- Pletely successful; and having been so, it now came to claim the liberality, of every person whbom Providencehad blessed with the means of supporting it. fiel would not repeat the answer which had been given to the objection, that this plan. of education separated the child from the paren t. If he could bring himself to think that it did so, he for one would never recomme-nd it. Familieqi were the schools apptoint- ed by Providence for the implanting of the moral and domestic vir- tues. Pernicious indeed would the poet be, and little worthy of public approbation, that attempted to=ubid thiesocial ties of nature and to destroy that seminary of the afflictions whbich teaches man all that mnakes him either armiable or useful in siociety. The alternative, htowever, wasi not betweeni education under this new system, or edu- cation at home, but beiween education under this systemi and cor- ruption in the streets, or no educationi at all. The alternative was, whether children shouldI go to those schools of corruption which educated for the gailows, or to those schools of instruction where children were to be nurtured into useful memibers of society. Hav- ing said thius much, he would now inform them that his duty was to pose a resolution for the formation of a subscription. He wudbegin by making ani appeal to that sex which was never deaf to thie voice whiceh called uponi their benevolence or charity- which was the depositary of every virtuous and generous einotion- which was the civilizer of the humnan race-and whiich was called uipon on thiis occasion snore than on any other,, to exert all its in- fluence in obtaining the benefactions of the rich for the poor and unprotected infants (cheers) who were more particularly the ob- jects of its care. (Cheers.) To the gentlemen whio hIeappened to be pre-sent, he would reconmiend this charity as one which was attended with less doubt of its practical utility than any other-as one whose uiltimate success the mnost acute opponent could not venture to deny. The only objection which lie now exoected to hear urged against it was, that it could not be productive sf so much benefit as its advo- cates expected ; but admitting that to be the fact, it woulld still be productive of as much good as would justify the greatest ardour on their lpart. The relief given to the poor directly in mnoney might be attended withi doubtful consequences; but the ai that was given to them in bestowing right psincsples on the risinig ge- neration, was the greatest and mioat tunmixed good that coutld be bestowed on human nature. (Cheers ) The learned gentlenian then moved the following resolution- ',That a subscription be now entered into for thne purpose of ac- complishing this object, aild that Samiuel Hoare, jun., Esq., be re- quested to act as Treasurer." Mr. W. ALLEEN seconded the resolution, and observed that lie was a friend to this institution, on account of the liberal prnciples on which it waswcnducted. 'Ihe conductors had tkatday ,he under- stood, given a pledge--(Dlr. Brougham- assentedl)-wbilst the chil- dren sent tot these schools were educated religiously, they should not be taught any particular catechism or creed. (Great cheering.) The reslution was then put, and carried. Liord CALTSSORPE proposed, and the Rev. E. IRtVING seconded, the 4th resolution-(For which see advertisement.) Sir J. MACuINTOSH then read the amount of the sums alreadly subcried;frnt hic itapeard tatabout 7001. was subscribed The arqus ofDowNHsss, inpropsinga vote of thanks to ther nblecharma, fr is bleconuctin hechair that day, ob. served, that though he was particularly anxious to extend thebene- fits of this system of education to the infant poor of Ireland, and though he had already expended some part of his income in pro. moting it in that country, he would still give his mnite to extend it among the infant poor of this country. It might not be so large as that of other gentlemen, but it was given with the utmost good-will to the objects on which it was. to be bestowed. The noble Alarquis then wrote down his subscription for 201. Dr. I1SEINGTON, in seconding the resolution, observed, that he had always been of opinion that that man was the greatest bene. factor of his kind who contrived to diminish in the greatest degTee the sum total of hunian misery and crime. Now, as ignorance was the prime cause of crime,-a fact proved by the circumstance that deeds of the most aggravated guilt were generally perpetrated by persons of the darkest ignorance,-it followed that the best way of eradicating crimewas by removing its chief eause-ignorance. They ought, therefore, to commence giving their fellow-creatures, at the earliest period at which they could receive it, that education which was best calculated to preserve virtue and Drevent vimce If any proof were wanted of the necessity of such education, he would merely say that after an accurate examnination of the books be- longin totheSocietyforthe " RefugeoftheDestitute," it had been found tnatmore than two-thirds of the objects sent totlem by thema- gistrates were the oftspring of parents who eithercould not or would not give theirchiidrcn attendanc or education. Aftercomplimentitg his learned friend, MVlr. Brougham, for the active manner in which he had always exerted himself in behalf of the education of the poor, and after congatulating the country that no man could now be found hardy enough to declare that povcrtv and ignorance ought al- vays to egO together, he proceeded to contend that the steps which liad been that day taken wTerethe best of alothers to instruct and enlighten the rising generation. ln-conclusion, lie eulogized the Mlarquis of Iarisdown for having not deemed it inconsistent with his high avocations te attend to the interests of the present institu, tion_an institution which, though it was bumble in its formation, he would venture to predict would be mighty ln itH resultS Forthe knowledge,the enevolence, andthe humanity, which the noble niaroihs had always displsyed, both in public and private life, he thou.ht that he was fully entitled to the gratitude of his fellow-ci. tizens. Hc theefor cordially secondel the modon of his noble friend. (Cheers.) The motion was then put, and carried. .The M1arquis of LANSDowvt returned thanks for the honour which had been conferred upon him. He could only repeat, Ohat the only merit which he claimed was that of not having been indifier- ent to the call that was made upon him by the benevolence of others, and he migbt add, by those feelings of humanity which had their placein everybosom, and which, if they ncted at all, mustinduce their owner to assistin commencing the education of his fellow-men on a lower, but therefore on a more extensive basis than any which had hitherto been attempted. He should not have said any thing more to them, had not two schemes, allied to thte present, been communi- cated to hir since he entered the room. It might be encouraging to those who were present to hear, that an infantile school had been formed at Putney, in Surrey, on a very cheap plan ; it consisted of a brick cottage of 4 small rooms, on a ground floor and was calcu- lated for the use of 50 children. This scheme might be adopted in other villages witlh effect, especially as it w-s combined with another school for training up female clildren into servants after they had left the Nationalschool. He. was likewise infordied that another school upon the sanmeprinciple had been formed at her own expense in Palmer's-buildings,by fitis& Neave, of AlbeMarle-street. (H ear, from iMlr. Brougham.) Ye mentioned thesefactsinordertoencourage them to collect all these scattered streams of benevolence into the channel from which supplv and assistance might afterwards be dis- pensed to the minor rivulets which might again branch out of it. Byso doing, they would best administer to the wants, happiness, and comforts of their fellow-beings. The efXects of this meeting would then be long seen in the amelioration of the inferior orders of society, and in the improved eondtion of the mechanics of the countr, whose well-being thay were bound to cherish by every consideration of interestand justice. (Cheers.) The meeting then broke up. IMFANTILE SCHOOL SOCIETY.