tem. and until some satisfactory answer is given to it the British public ought not to rest satisfied with the present condition of education. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, I have stated to you that I continue of the same opinion which I have repeatedly expressed, that the state of education in England is insuflicient, unsatisfactory, and unworthy of this country. (Applause.) There are, I believe, three changes which are indispensable to a better state of things. The first is that, in some way or another, what is called the half time system should be adopted, so as to be in use for all classes in this country, and not to be limited, as it now is, to factories or establishments of one kind. (Applause.) Second, we must have, and we ought to have, a better, more complete, and more perfect organization. Third, we must have a larger and a more certain supply of money. With regard to organization, Her Majesty's Government have taken a most important step, and I trust the day is now at hand when we shall have a responsible Minister in the House of Commons to answer for the state of education. (Applause.) I think it due in fairness and justice on my part to say that I feel grateful to Her Majesty's Ministers for the manner in which this most important step has been conceded. But that is not enough; we ought to have some organization for local superintendence and local control. One objection raised against us in the House of Commons is that we are seeking a centralizing sysOn the contrary, I object to the present system as being too much centralized. Everything is done by a comparatively irresponsible committee. I have myself had the honor of sitting upon it, and know how it works; and I want it changed. (Laughter.) We ought to have control- local organization; and I don't believe we can possibly expect to have the education of the country what it ought to be until that central authority, modified how it may be, is aided by the local bodies of the people who take an interest in the subject. With regard to the increase of money, I confess I see no course but that, as I said before, a great public object, in which every one of us is deeply interested, ought fairly to be promoted by public funds; and therefore my opinion is that the most fair, just, and equitable mode of supplying existing deficiencies is by means of a rate. (Hear, hear.) In the debates it has been put most prominently forward that a rate for education would be open to all the difficulties and objections which are applied to a church rate. In my humble judgment of all the bug-bears (laughter) by which this great question has been impeded and checked this is one of the most unfounded; and I believe, on the contrary, that no other rate would be paid by the people at large so cheerfully, so willingly, and with so much satisfaction; and for this very plain and simple reason-that there is no rate from which the ratepayer would derive so visible and such immediate personal benefit to himself. (Applause.) But I have never recommended what Mr. Laing calls a grand uniform centialized system; on the contrary, my opinion is that, looking to the present position of this question in England, uniformity is not attainable, nor is it even desirable. Whatever we now do, we cannot, as wise men, lose sight of the existing state of things, nor of the efforts which have been made; and I believe the wisest and most prudent plan in any changes we may now make would be, not to supersede, but to assist, complete, and to supplement the existing state of things; and, further, that it ought to be done with the utmost possible regard to existing feelings and facts. I should be open to misconstruction if I concluded these observations without referring to what we hear so much about-namely, what is called the religious difficulty. Whatever the extent of that difficulty may be, I wish in the strongest terms to express my deep conviction that that difficulty is not insuperable. (Hear, hear.) I believe that the true, moderate, and wise view of that part of the question is to consider, as I do consider, that there may be two main points connected with it which we cannot and must not, lose sight of. The first is, looking to the education of the youth of England, every child ought to be duly and properly instructed in this first and greatest branch of knowledge. The second is, in giving this instruction, we must so arrange it as to adhere most strictly and most rigidly to the principle of perfect toleration, so that no violence shall be done to the religious belief of any denomination of Christians. Provided these two conditions are strictly and securely guarded, I confess that I am myself disposed to adopt whatever system I thought would be most generally acceptable and the most likely to procure general public support. (Loud applause.) No doubt, there are difficulties in this and in other parts of the subject. But can you mention to me any question of great public interest within your recollection that was free from difficulty? The emancipation of Roman Catholics was full of difficulty, but it was done [hear, hear]; Parliamentary reform was full of difficulties, but it was done; that question in which you took so much interest, the adoption of free trade and the repeal of the corn laws, was full of difficulty, [lond applause], and that was done [renewed applause]; the reformation of our laws for the relief of the poor was a matter of extreme difficulty, and it baffled Parliament for years, but it was done; and so must this be done. [Applause.] But don't expect this can be done by the individual efforts of independent members of Parliament. No; this subject can only be settled-and I believe it will be so settledwhen the Ministers of the Queen shall determine to grapple with it with courage and with determination. In the meantime much depends upon public confidence. I believe, I will hope, let us all hope, that the day is not distant, when Her Majesty's Ministers, in the name of our gracious Sovereign, may propose measures for the accomplishment of this great and noble object; and whenever that day may arrive, I, for one, will not believe that Parliament will refuse its support; I will not believe that the Parliament of England will then be slow to recognise that great principle enunciated in those eloquent words which you have already heard to-night-"The people want knowledge and it must be given them." VI. THE BISHOP OF CHESTER, REVISION OF THE BIBLE. At the annual meeting of the Liverpool Branch Bible Society, the Bishop of Chester, who presided, protested against the attempt to obtain an alteration of the Protestant version of the Scriptures, asserting that, as it now stands, it does not misrepresent any essential point of faith. "The present text," he said, "has a simplicity, vigour, and majesty, that no attempt at a modernised version has yet been able to equal or approach. But more than this, my friends, it has now been hallowed and consecrated by time. It is associated with every tender sentiment in our hearts, with every serious incident in our lives, with every cherished remembrance of our parental home, with every sacred enjoyment of our own home, with all the happy recollections of an early youth, with all the solemn feelings of advanced age. It is a word that lives in all the echoes of the past, in all the realities of the present, and in all the hopes of the future. They are heard every day around our firesides, engraved on the gravestones of our fathers, written on the living tablets of our own hearts. My friends, these are associations which it is indeed unwise needlessly or rudely to disturb." VII. SIR E. BULWER LYTTON. PRIZES IN SCHOOLS, At a recent school examination and festival in Hertfordshire Sir E. B. Lytton thus referred to school prizes:-You, who have this day received prizes justly due to you, continue to cultivate the qualities which will equally ensure prizes in the world. You who have tried for prizes, and this time failed, be consoled when I tell you from my experience, that a failure in the first instance often ensures the greater triumph in the end, becauce it tests one's pluck, stirs up one's metal, and makes it a point of honor to succeed at last. And if---which I can scarcely suppose there be some of you who would not even try for prizes, well, let those boys look well into their own breasts, and if they see there no sullen jealousy, no mean envy, of those who have received distinction, but, on the contrary, pleasure and pride in the credit reflected on the school that they belong to; why, then, they are brave and generous fellows, and, some day or other, bravery and generosity of themselves will obtain a prize in the world. Still, there is a wide difference between envy and emulation. And though you do not grudge others the honours they have won-still, seeing now how those honors are regarded-turn it well in your own minds, if you will not, when school re-opens, try yourselves for honours, which no one will then grudge to you. Do not think, that when we give a prize to a boy who has distinsuished himself, it is only his cleverness in some special branch of study that we reward. Perhaps he was not, in that branch of study, so peculiarly clever; perhaps many other boys might have beaten him if they had tried as hard. No! how many noble qualities may have spurred on that boy to try for the prize! Perhaps he had parents whom he loved-some indulgent father, some anxious mother-and he knew that the prize would make them so proud. Perhaps he had already conceived the manly wish for independence; he looked on the future, saw that he had his own way to make in life, that it must be made by merit, and that every credit he won at school would be a help to him in the world. Or, perhaps, he was only animated by that desire of distinction which is, after all, one of the most elevated sentiments in the human breast; it is that sentiment which inspires the poet and nerves the hero; it was that sentiment which made Nelson see not death but immortality in the terrors of the battle, and cry-"Victory or Westminster Abbey!" it was that sentiment which led the rank and file of the English soldiers up the heights of Alma. They did not hear the roar of the cannon, to whose very jaws they marched on with unflinching tread; they only heard the whisper at their hearts, "And if we do our duty this day, what will they say of us in England?" Ay, and when a boy sits down resolutely to his desk-puts aside all idle pleasures, faces every tedious obstacle-firmly bent upon honourable distinction, it is the same elevating sentiment which whispers to him-"If I succeed, what will they say of me at school?" or a dearer motive still--"What will they say of me at home?" SIR EDWARD'S BOYHOOD. Boys, when I look at your young faces, I could fancy myself a boy once more! I go back to the day when I, too, tried for prizes, sometimes succeeding sometimes failing. I was once as fond of play as any of you, and, in this summer weather, I fear my head might have been more full of cricket than of Terence or even Homer; but still I can remember that, whether at work or play, I had always a deep, though a quiet determination, that, sooner or later, I would be a somebody or do a something. That determination continues with me to this day; it keeps one hope of my boyhood fresh, when other hopes have long since faded away. And now that we separate, let it be with that hope upon both sides-on my side, upon yours,-that, before we die, we will do something to serve our country, may they make us prouder of each other and, if we fail there, that at least we will never wilfully and consciously do anything to make us ashamed of each other. RELIANCES ON DIVINE AID. But even in this we must not rely on ourselves alone; we must look for aid to Him who reads every heart and strengthens us in every trial. In the proceedings of this day nothing so touched and moved menothing made me so confident of your future-as the circumstance connected with the gift of the Holy Scriptures, which you so feelingly desired me to receive at the hands of your instructor, and the rever ence with which the gift was accepted. It would be presumptuous in me to add to what your master has said, with the authority of his sacred calling and the eloquence of his earnest affection. Only one word would say upon the habit of private unwitnessed prayer. All of you have been taught to address your Creator in private as well as in public. Continue that habit throughout life-listen to no excuses to lay it aside-you cannot yet conceive its uses in the sharp trials of manhood. All of us must meet temptations, none of us can escape errors; but he who prays in private never loses the redeeming link between human infirmity and divine mercy. To borrow an image from one of the great authorities of our English church, prayer is like the ladder which the patriarch saw in his dream, the foot of it set upon the earth, but the top of it reaching heaven, aud angels ascending and descending: ascending to bear on high our sorrows, our confessions, our thanksgivings; descending to bear back to us consolation, pardon. and the daily blessings that call forth new thanksgivings. And now nothing remains for me but to thank you for the credit you reflect on this country, and to wish you happy homes and merry holidays.--English Educational Times. EDUCATION AND CRIME-THEIR RATIO. BY T. WHITELAW. countries, and so by comparative "statisques," and general acknowledgment, have been ranked among the most viriuous nations. Mr. Hill, Recorder of Birmingham, the Rev. Mr. Clay, B. D)., Chaplain of the Preston House of Correction, Mr. Porter, Mr. Kay, and Mr. Haughton-all gentlemen whose position, abilities, and experience most fully qualify them to give an opinion on this matter are one, as to ignorance being the cause of crime. And In England, where, with the richest and most powerful aristocracy, the poor are very much worse educated than the poor of any European nation, excepting Russia, Turkey, South Italy, Portugal, and Spain, we find crime, like a moral Upas-tree, deeply bedded in the soil of ignorance, producing in the social world, fruit the most deadly, and tumults the most terrific. We have no need of withering sarcasins, or valuable apothegms to prove the truth of our assertion, even if they were logically admissible. But for the sceptic and incredulous believer in education we will adduce a few facts from trustworthy sources. first we shall quote Mr. Clay. That Rev. gentleman says, "That out of the prisoners in Preston Gaol, 36 per cent. came into the gaol unable to say the Lord's Prayer, and 72 per cent. came in such a state of moral debasement that it is in vain to give them instruction, or to teach them their duty, since they cannot understand the meaning of the words used to them." The head constable of Preston says, "That in the years 1853-4 he had 10,000 males in custody, of whom 9,641 or more than 58 per cent. could neither read nor write." Captain Willis, head constable of Manchester, says "He had 8,291 inales in custody in 1853-4, of whom 2,676 or 32 per cent. could neither read nor write and 5,303 or nearly 64 per cent. could read and write imperfectly." Captain Greig, head constable of Liverpool, says, that out of "25,1!1 prisoners, only 570 or two per cent. of the whole, could read and write well; of those who could read and write imperfectly there were 11,031 or about 43 per cent., while those who could neither read nor write, numbered 11,650 or about 48 per cent. of the entire number of the apprehensions,"thus showing the connexion between ignorance and crime. Mr. Hill, laie inspector of prisons, also shows the close connexion between ignorance and crime, for he says, even the mere powers of reading and writing, without reference to exercise in their intelligent use, are comparatively rare among criminals. To what extent the simple power of reading is often a protection from habits of crime may be judged of from the fact that a home missionary in Edinburgh told me that in all his visits to the poor, he never met with a single person, who was at the same time addicted to crime, and in the habit of reading. What an argument for public libraries?—English Literarium. Papers on Practical Education. PERSONAL CHARACTER. 64 "The teacher"—short words, and soon spoken; but how much do they suggest! It is the sweetest, most unassuming title of him who lives to impart knowledge and train up the young in the way they should go." It is a name which has acquired a peculiar softness, and yet dignity, from its association with a who was the Great Teacher, who taught as never man taught, spake as never man spake, whose every gesture, as well as is words and actions, were pregnant with the deepest meaning, and told with marvellous effect on His astonished followers. When we view the Lord Jesus surrounded by his disciples, and think of the meck and lowly One instructing them to learn of im, we have then the most perfect example of what the truc teacher is, what he does, and to what all his actions tend. The perusal of an article published in a recent number of a monthly Journal propounding the perverting doctrine that the increase of crime is in direct ratio to the spread of Education, prompts us to make a few THE INFLUENCE OF THE TEACHER'S WORK ON HIS remarks in disproof of an assertion which we cannot help regarding as an insult to the common sense and intelligence of the age, and which if suffered to pass uncontradicted, might be quoted against us at a future time. The tone of the article throughout implies a blighting censure on the benevolent cfforts of the best and wisest amongst us, and amounts to an unworthy libel on Education, which, after religion, is the greatest purifier of society, the most powerful element of civilization and progress. For what is the business of Education? What its object? Not to eradicate any principle of our nature; for the man whose soul has been expanded by philosophy and sublimated by virtue and religion, possesses the same faculties as the being whose soul has been crainped and enervated by brutal ignorance, and corrupted and debased by revolting crime. But it is the object, the grand object of education to direct all our faculties towards their proper objects,-to foster what is fair and good, and to check the development of that which is hideous and vile. The question naturally now arises as to whether education accomplishes this intended purpose? The answer undoubtedly is in the affirmative. If we reason either from analogy, or from the representations of eminent educationists, or from prison statistics, we can arrive at no other conclusions than that wherever the mind of man has been enlightened and edified by sound intellectual and moral education, there are fewer prisons, fewer workhouses, less delinquency in old age, and less depravity in youth. The writer, as a case in point, instances France, which, no doubt, extensive reading has enabled him to show, has been very much villainized by education. For be says that "the amount of crime in all the departinents is without a single exception proportional to the instruction received." For this statement he is indebted to the "Statisque Morale," whose corrcetness is disputable. However, taking its correctness for granted, a comparison of the state of morality in France at the present time, low as it may be, with that of 1801, when there was no National Educational system in that country, presents a gratifying proof of the moralizing effects of education. Scotland, Switzerland, Holland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and model educational Prussia have long been acknowledged educated I have said that the word "teacher" seems to me our sweetest title. Connected as it is with the Latin doceo and our own docile, it seems to picture to my mind the teacher as a being surrounded by pupils fuil of eagerness in the pursuit of knowledge—children feeling a pleasure in being taught, and a teacher more willing to lead than to drive— "Whose kind aud gentle sway But our other titles are also eminently suggestive, though not so attractive as this. We are sometimes called masiers and schoolmasters. The name conjures up before me my boyhood, with the master of the old school stalking in majesty, monarch of all he surveys, wielding from his chair of state the fathomable osier to sound every corner of his demain, and the little urchins much more anxious to avoid the touch of the sceptre than to con the mysteries of the ABC. This is a literal description of the spot in which I first got initiated into the wondrous power of a certain number of odd-looking characters, the most trustworthy of whom seemed to me to be the well-proportioned O. He who ruled us was a master,-for he displayed his might,-and a schoolmaster, and no more; for cut of school we shrank from him, fearful to rise above the horizon which bounded his highness' vision. It is but justice, however, to the worthy individuals to whom this description may apply, that now in a great measure "a change has come o'er the spirit of my dream.” Another of our titles, with a very spirited meaning, is that of "inculcator”—one who has to use his heel and kick in knowledge. The name expresses thus in its connotation the difficulty of our work. In the most favourable construction which we can put upon it, it may remind us of the words of Holy Writ: "Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little;" still inculcating truth, kicking it into the mind, and by repeated blows securing it there. But let it be well understood that the implements here are not carnal, but yet mighty, and have no conucction whatever with the too common and longestablished method of enforcing the teacher's words-the bastinado. Somewhat more pleasing is the term "instructor "-one who builds up in the mind the temple of knowledge, one whose "delightful task it is to rear the glorious palace of wisdom where before there was nothing but the waste of ignorance. If the architect feels that his work is noble, and if he is proud of his position as he sees the glorious fabric which his fancy conceived becoming a reality, then too may not the teacher feel his heart swell in his bosom as he sees his work succeed, and may he not well cry, paradoxical though the words scem, "Delightful task ?" But better than any of these is the name "educator"- one who draws out the latent powers of the intellect; who seeks not to pull the bud to pieces, but quictly to bring it to maturity, until it unfolds its beauties in due time and under the proper influences. This is, if I may so speak, the exegesis of childhood; and if the exegesis of a word re quires so much skill in order that its true meaning may be drawn out of it, how much skill should he possess who has to draw out the young Inind of the future man! To educate, in the true sense of the term, calls into exercise all the passions, and proves the principles which rule in the educator's breast; and thus, while he is teaching others, bis very work exerts a reflex influence on his own heart and life. It is to this especially that I would draw your attention now. No more surely does "face answer to face in a glass" than the heart of the teacher to the scholar, and the scholar's to the teacher's again. We teach, and at the same time are taught, There is a law of gravitation to mind as well as to matter. Each mind influences all within its reach, and is itself influenced in return. And surely, as the great end of our life is to form character-such a character as will be approved by our Judge -it is of the greatest importance that we rightly estimate the forces which are daily and hourly, as it were daguerreotyping us; which have contributed to make us what we are, and will have an influence in making us what we shall be. In a very important sense all are teachers. There is no one, however limited may be his sphere, or however infrequent his apparent opportunities of usefulness, who does not in some degree influence his fellow-man. As each drop of falling water does its part, however small, to hollow out the stone, so each act of every man has some impression on those with whom he meets. Example has long been held more powerful than precept, the living reality than the mere description; and therefore he who thinks that he does not teach must err, unless he hide himself from all his species; and even then he teaches, unless he can bide himself without the fact being known. How solemnly, then, does it behove every man to ask himself on whose side does his teaching fall? whose kingdom does he advance? whose army does he swell, that of God or that of the devil? Yes, all are teachers, and all are scholars; and in this sense, if in no other, may the words of the great educationalist be received. "Give me four-and-twenty scholars to day, and I will give you four-and-twenty teachers to-morrow" Every little scholar in our schools teaches, and we teach through them. Every action, every word, every gesture of ours, has its effect upon them, and through them on others. But it ends not here. We, who, in a stricter and more peculiar sense are teachers, are also influenced by our own pupils; and the manner in which we discharge our high duties has much to do with that eternity on whose brink we ever stand. The consideration is a very solemn one. It is one which deeply affected me at the commencement of my career as a teacher. I know not that I should have reflected upon it, were it not for an aged Christian who had known me from childhood, and often instructed me in the good and the right way. When she knew of my determination, she inquired with an earnestness which I shall never forget, "How do you expect to save your soul and yet be a schoolmaster?" The inquiry struck me deeply. I could not help reflecting upon it. She explained what she meant; that the schoolmaster was in so much danger of being continually provoked, that he might become irritable and passionate, and could scarcely ever cultivate the disposition of the meek and lowly Jesus. This seemed to give her much anxiety; and the question ever kept ringing in my ears. "Can you save your soul and yet be a schoolmaster ?" And, simple and unlearned as was that aged Christian, I feel that I owe much, very much, to that solemn question. It is thiswhich has led me to bring the subject before you. We know that that question would not have been asked by one better aware of what the teacher ought to be; but that does not lessen the solemn interest of the inquiry.-English National Society's Monthly Paper. CLAIMS ON EDUCATED MEN. (A kind friend has favored us with a copy of a discourse delivered before the graduating class of Harvard College, June 15, 1856, by Rev. Dr. Huntington. It is a truly admirable discourse, abounding in beautiful thoughts beautifully expressed His text was, "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him sbow out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom," (Jas. 3. 13.) From this he dedeced as his theme, "Life the test of learning." He closes by urging the claim laid on our educated men. His remarks on this point are so truthful, and withal so timely, that we need not apologise for giving them to the readers of the Journal. They are alike applicable to the graduates of all our seminaries of learning, and worthy the consideration of all, and particularly of those engaged in the great work of teaching.-Editor) Let us ponder, then, the great claims that are laid on our educated men. The country has claims,-We need -never more than now. more of that sort of education which stirs and fosters, from beginning to end, a loyal zeal for the central and dominant ideas that lie at the foundation of the republic. The scholar is not well trained that has not been formed day by day into a christian patriot. Our universities ought all to be nurseries, not of national exclusiveness, or national vanity, but of a just national honor, virtue, and devotion. They should rear and send forth prophets for the American Israel,-prophets brave and blameless, and speaking ever with a "Thus saith the Lord,"-prophets that no sophistry can bewilder, no tyrant silence, no bludgeon terrify, no flattery blind. Out of libraries, and out of laboratories, and out of the fore-arming contests of debate, let them send forth, for each impending struggle of right with wrong, thinkers and speakers "fraught with an universal insight" ingenuous and matchless men. For, as said that staunch old English republican of two centuries ago, in language suiting us to-day, "There is a study of politics worthy of christian scholars, that they may not, in a dangerous fit of the commonwealth, be such poor, shaken, uncertain reeds, of such a tottering conscience, as many of our great counsellors have lately shown themselves, but steadfast pillars of the state." Universal humanity has claims. That "good conversation" of the Christian scholar condescends to converse with the lowest offshoot of the human stock. That "meekness of wisdom stoops gladly to help the weakest wayfarer; to hear the story of wrong or weakness from the faintest or most unlettered lips; to sympathise with the wants of the vagrant, or the sorrows of the slave; to bring all the sublime resources of culture, the magic of invention, and the facilities of genius, to ease the burdens of penury, to open the path to the helpless, to pay respect and wages to unpaid toil, to inspire brute force with intelligence, to marshall idle men and women and children into ranks of self-sustaining labor. This is a worthy end for the best scholarship of the age. "How best to help the slender store. How mend the dwellings of the poor,- Above all, Christ has claims. And his claims are supreme. They transcend, they underlie, they encompass, all beside. The Lord of souls is Lord of the sciences as well. Common gratitude challenges obedience and love for him, in whose name every hope of civilization moves to its fulfilment, and every affection of mankind realizes itself in peace. It must be a personal obedience,-a personal love. No general and cold confession, no vague and rhetorical loyalty, no heartless and high-sounding praises, can satisfy that gospel of regeneration on which salvation depends. Penitence, trust, consecration, prayer, righteousness, these will; for God is Love, and his forgiveness waits. Every thought and imagination must be brought into captivity to the All knowledge that is not rooted holy obedience of the Son of God. "Who is a wise man and endued and centred there vanishes away. with knowledge among you?" He is the believing student, the studious disciple. Gentlemen of the Graduating Class, our doctrine culminates here. Every considerable change in the form of our life is meant to suggest to us something original as to its spirit. The dissolving of one set of relations moves the question by what law new sets shall be organized. When farewells and distance threaten manly friendships, what is more unavoidable than to think what arm shall keep the friend that is parted from, and whether there is not One Friendship in whose Eternal and Almighty clasp every human affection finds its safety? The separation of classmates opens spaces about each one's personality which let in light from above on all your plans and habits. A change of residence puts us to asking why we live at all; how long we shall need any earthly dwelling; whether we deserve any. How shall your tuition justify these years, and your future be adequate to the past? That question, like every other that an earnest experience asks, God's Book of Life answers. Life is the test of learning. Character is the criterion of knowledge. Not what a man has, but what he is, is the question, after all. The quality of soul is more than the quantity of information. Personal, spiritual substance is the final resultant. Have that, and your intellectual furnishings and attainmonts will turn, with no violent contortion,but with a natural tendency and harmony,—a working together, Be content to wait for Him with whom ages are days. "If but this tedious battle could be fought, Nevertheless, nevertheless, in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not. Go out with faith, with supplication. Ye shall come again in the Jubilee and Sabbath of the Resurrection rejoicing, and then, be content if it shall be with you as with the solemn pictured figures of the returning warriors, in the historical galleries of the Italian city, where the reverend and pious victors are seen, not in chariots, nor with sceptres, nor on thrones, nor with crowns on their heads, but kneeling, the crowns lifted in their hands, looking upward, and giving thanks to God.- Connecticut Com. Sch. Journal. Parties in correspondence with the Educational Department will please quote These society and civilization-politicians and statesmen, the orators of popular literary associations, and the champions of universal education and knowledge for the masses. avowals of noble lecturers are but an appropriate homage to the source of national greatness, a becoming response to the throbbing of the national heart, that the developed intellec tual powers of a people constitute the most essential elements of their greatness and prosperity-that even the educated soldier is better than the uneducated-that the educated labourer is more valuable to himself and others than the uneducated--that the educated citizen, and mechanic, and farmer, has immensely the advantage over the uneducated-that from the nature and variety of mechanical inventions, the unnumbered applications of mechanical and physical science in every branch of human industry, the training of the mind no less than that of the hand is essential to effective labour-that the connexion between ignorance and crime and pauperism, is the rule, while the connexion between education and crime and pauperism, is the exception. Close upon the footsteps of this national conviction, as to the importance of universal education, and the duty of the State, or Society at large, to provide for it, follows the conviction as to the obligations of each member of the State to contribute to it according to his property. Indeed there is no more obvious and equitable principle of political science than that each member of the State should contribute to support the institutions and burdens of the State, according to the property which he has acquired and enjoys under its protection, and which is enhanced in value as society advances. But the application of this principle to the great national interest of universal education, is only beginning to be felt in the higher classes in England, though it has long been the rule in the most advanced States of the neighboring republic, and is becoming firmly established in the most advanced munici the number and date of any previous letters to which they may have occasion to refer, palities in Upper Canada. It is this greatest problem of just as it is extremely difficult for the Department to keep trace of isolated cases, where so many letters are received (nearly 600 per month) on various subjects. THE UNIVERSAL EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. Civil Government is an agency created by society at large for the protection and promotion of the individual and collective interests of its members. The true object of Government has been justly defined to be "the greatest good of the greatest number." By Divine authority it is declared to be "a Minister of God for good." Kings and Governors therefore exist for the good of the people, and not the people for the pleasure of Kings and Governors. That it is for the individual and general good of society that each of its members should be educated, is now denied by none; nor is it any longer a doubtful dogma, but is a settled principle of government in all civilized nations, that the state or society at large should provide for the education of all its members, especially of its poorest members. The doctrine of despotic Prussia and Republican America on this subject, is at length becoming the doctrine of Monarchical England. The extracts given in the former part of this number of the Journal of Education, from recent speeches of eminent British statesmen, are but the expression of the national conviction and feeling on this greatest of national interests. That conviction must be deep and wide-spread, and that feeling strong and universal, to create this new feature in English and wise government, this vital principle of the highest civilization, which is proposed for consideration at every annual whether there shall be a free or rate-bill school—that is, wheschool meeting in Upper Canada, when the question is asked, there shall be a rate on the property of all for the education of all, or whether the parents only who send children to the school shall pay the tax or penalty for doing so, by supporting it. If the children educated in a school and their parents were alone benefitted, and if ignorance was no evil, and education no advantage to society and property generally, then none but such parents should be liable to support the school; then indeed no school at all should be established at the public expense, or receive any aid from public revenue. But if it is both the right and duty of the State or society at large to provide for the education of its children, then it should make as perfect a provision as possible for such education, both as to its quality and extension-to render it accessible to every youthful member of the national family, and as complete as possible in all its apparatus and facilities of instruction. The existence of a system of public instruction of some sort in every civilized country, is a homage to the principle that it is the duty of the State to provide for the education of its children; and if a system of public instruction exist at all, it should provide every thing that is essential to the perfection of a school, in regard to books and apparatus, as well as instruction; and a system of public instruction is defective, or approaches perfection, as it neglects, or provides for, these essential requisites for the diffusion of education and knowledge. But immediately in the wake of the question, as to the duty of the State and each member of it in regard to the universal education of youth, follows the last question, as to the duty of the State in respect to securing to all its youth the advantages of education; and therefore, whether neglect or cruelty on the part of the parent in depriving his child of all education, or vagrancy on the part of the youth, is not a crime against society at large, and ought not to be treated as such. As our school system is, in all its immediate applications, a local voluntary municipal system, the question presents itself in this form--whether the people of a municipality who tax all the property of such municipality for the education of all its youth, have not the right, and whether it is not their duty, to see that all such youth are educated. The right of a child to such an education as will fit him for the essential duties of a citizen, is as sacred as his right to food and clothing-a right of which a parent cannot deprive him without committing a crime against God and society. And is it not the duty of society to protect itself against such crime, and to protect each child against such wrong? Training up children in ignorance and vagrancy, is a flagrant crime against society-depriving society of examples, labours, and talents, which would be useful to it, and inflicting upon it serious disorders and expenditures. It is much better to prevent crime by drying up its sources than by punishing its acts. The latter should only be resorted to when the former cannot be reached. How intimate and general is the connexion between this training up of children in ignorance and vagraney and the expenses and varied evils of public crime, may be gathered from the statistics of the Toronto Gaol alone during the year 1856, as compiled by the Governor of the Gaol from the Gaol Register. The whole number of prisoners committed to the Gaol of the United Counties of York and Peel (including the city) was 1967. Of these, 401 males and 246 females could neither read nor write; 253 males and 200 females could read only; 570 males and 198 females could only read and write imperfectly; 68 males could read and write well; and only one male had a superior education. From these statistics it appears that more than ninety-five per cent. of the 1967 prisoners committed to the Toronto Gaol during the year 1856, have grown up without the advantages of a good common school education; and that less than five per cent. of the crimes committed, were committed by persons who could even read and write well;-facts which show that had a legal provision been made, such as would have secured to all these 1967 prisoners a good common school education, the number of prisoners committed to the Toronto Gaol last year, would scarcely have exceeded one hundred, instead of swelling to 1967; their crimes would have been prevented, and the time, trouble, and expenses attending their detection and punishment would have been saved. Schools are, of course, not responsible for the crimes and conduct of those who never attend them; nor are school laws responsible for defects in criminal laws, or police or municipal regulations. The Municipality that nobly provides for the education of all its youth, should undoubtedly have the power of preventing its youth from growing up uneducated. In Prussia and Switzerland-one a despotic monarchy and the other a democratic republic-effective provision is made to secure education to every child not incapacitated from bodily or mental weakness from acquiring it. If the parent is too poor, the State provides the means; if the parent is criminal, the State imposes the penalty. In several cities and towns of the neighbouring States, municipal powers to the same effect are possessed and exercised, to the great advantage of the public, and to the great benefit of unfortunate children. In no case-either in Prussia, Switzerland, or the United States is attendance at the public schools compulsory; simply the education of children at any school, public or private, that parents may prefer. The State steps in to aid parental poverty in the education of children, and protect helpless children against parental inhumanity, to deprive them of education; and to protect society at large against the evils of ignorance and its attendant crimes. We trust the current year will witness the taking of this last step towards securing to all the youth of the land, the full benefit of their Divine and human birthright-an education such as will fit each of them for his duties as a Christian citizen. Miscellaneous. WINTER. (A SERMON BY BISHOP HEBER, VERSIFIED.) Rude tyrant of the year, stern winter, comes, And o'er the landscape sheds a gloom profound; (Apt season for us all, to count the sums Of moments wasted, grave to look around, And learn from nature whether we are bound.) Dead and disfigured, the last falling leaves Submit their sapless wrecks to the hoarse sound Of his wild requiem; that which man receives, In guise of grief attends him to the ground, With all the pomp of art-here natural wail is found. The hills are grey that yesterday were green; The oaks are withered like the hopes of age; With firm determined pace the hour comes on, Through nature's works there is no favored class-- Seem in the average of this vast decay! (For we have need of it as well as they,) And we shall meet the universal call With lighter hearts, and better to display A. J. W. The heroic Sir Charles Napier wrote very beautifully and touchingly to a lady on the eve of his great victory at Meanelee-"If I survive, I shall soon be with those I love; if I fall, I shall be with those I have loved.” |