Year: 1870




asked from the House of Commons grant
memorable debate occurred in which
Lord Macauley participated. His speech
on this occasion was one of the ablest and
most exhaustive ever made on the subject.
The position assumed by the Democracy
of this State upon this question of educa-
ton is SO similar to that occupied by the
opposition to the measure referred to, that
Lord Maeauley' 'sspeeeh becomes ofpeculiar
interest to our people. Its Importance and
pertinence to the issue now fairly made be-
tween the two parties is our excuse for Civ
ing 1t so much of our space. a.


In reply to such arguments as those adj
vanced by the leading Democrats in the
late Convention upon the question of popu-
lar education, Lord Macauley said:


~ believe sir, that it is the right and
the duty of the State to provide means of
education for the common people. This
proposition seems to me to be implied in
every definition that has ever yet been
given of the functions of a government.
But the very narrowest sphere that
ever was assigned to governments by any
school of political philosophy is quite wide
enough for my purpose. On one point all
the disputants are agreed. They unani-
mously acknowledge that it is the duty
of every government to take order for Civ
ing security to the person and property Of
the members of the community.


Let Adam Smith answer that
question for me. His authority, always
high, is, on this subject, entitled to peculiar
respect, because he extremely disliked busy,
prying, interfering governments. He was
for leaving literature, arts, sciences, to take
care of themselves. He was not friendly to
ecclesiastical establishments. He was of
opinion that the State ought not to meddle
with the education of the rich. But he has
expressly told us that a distinction is to be
made, particularly in commercial and
highly civilized society, between the edu-
cation of the rich and the education of the
poor The education of the poor, he says,
is matter which deeply concerns the COM
monwealth. Just as the magistrate ought
to interfere for the purpose of preventing
the leprosy from spreading among the peO-
Pile, he ought to interfere for the purpose OF
stopping the progress of the moral djstem-
pers which are inseparable from ignorance.
Nor can this duty be neglected without
danger to the public peace. If you leave
the multitude uninstructed, there is serious
risk that religious animOsities may produce
the most dreadful disorders. The most
dreadful disorders! Those are Adam
Smiths own words and prophetic word.
they were. Scarcely had he given this
warning to our rulers, when his prediction
was fulfilled in a manner never to be for
gotten. ! speak of the No Popery riots O
l7S0. do not know that l could find II
all history o stronger proof of the PROPOSE
ton, that the Ignorance of the common
people makes the property, the limbs, th'
lives of all classes Insecure. Without th'
shadow of a grievance, at the summons o
a mailman, a hundred thousand people ris'
in insurrectiOn. During whole week
there il anarchy In the greatest and wealth
lest of European cities. The Parliament
besieged. Your predecessor sits tremblin,
in his chair, and expects every moment Z
see the door beaten in by the ruffian
whose roar he hears all round the house
The peers are pulled out of their coaches
The bishops in their lawn are forced to H.
over the tiles. The chapels Of foreign am
bassadors, buildings made sacred by tn
law Of nations, are destroyed. The hous
of the Chief-Justice In demolished. Th
little children of the Prime Minister ar
taken out of their beds and laid in thei
night clothes on the table of the Hors
Guards, the only safe asylum from the fur
of the rabble. The prisons are openeS
( Highwaymen, housebreakers, murderer
come forth to swell the mob by which the
have been set free. Thirty-six fires al
blazing at once i'm London. Then come
the retribution. Count up all the wretch'
who Were shot, who were hanged, wi
We're crushed who drank themselves
death at the rivers of gin which ran dow
Holborn Hill and you will find that battl
have been lost and won with smaller "a
rfice of life. And what was the cause


this calamity, a calamity which, in the hi
tory of London, ranks with the gre
plague and the great fire? The cause WI
the ignorance of a population which hi
been suffered i'm the neighborhood of pa
aces, theatres, temples, to grow up az rue
and stupid IA any tribe of tattooed cam
balls in New Zealand--I might say as al
drove of beasts in Smithfied Market.


&


"This, then, Is my argument. Ii IL Il
duty of government to protect our perso
and property from danger. The gross
norance of the common people Is prime
pal cause of danger to our persons and pr
perty. Therefore, IL Is the duty of the Go
erninent TO take care that the common pc
pie shall not be grossly Ignorant.


~


81 say, therefor, that the education


the people is not only a means, but the be-
means, of attaining that which all alln
TO he chief end of government; and,


this be so, IL passes my faculties TO unds
stand how amy man can gravely coDtel
that government has nothing 10 do wi
the education Of the people.


My confidence in my opinion