Is there any library attached to the establishment?—Yes, there is, for the use of the children.

How does it happen that the number is not complete ?There are 84 vacancies just now; we are obliged to keep a number of vacancies for children that come from abroad; there is a barrack fitting up at Southampton, for an additional 400 boys.

Do you think that this number, when completed, will be sufficient to receive all the children who may require it, during peace?--I should think in time of peace it would.

How many have you at present on your sick list?-Twentynine boys and twelve girls.

Your establishment is in general healthy?-Very much so; I think we lose in general about one per cent. per

annum.

Mr.Jon DAUGHTEY called in, and Examined.

ARE you acquainted with the state of the children of the poor of the metropolis?-I have for several years been in the constant habit of visiting the poor in Spitalfields, and I have also been a regular visitor of a large Sunday school, by which I have seen a good deal of the state of poor children. To what school do you refer?-The school in Georgeyard, Drury-lane.

How many children are in that school?-About 600 in in that school; but in several schools connected with it, in Hinde-street Lambeth, Westminster, &c., there are in the whole about 3,000.

What observations have you made upon the effect of Sunday-school instruction ?-To speak generally, I have observed that it has had the most salutary effect upon the children who have been instructed, and also in numerous instances upon the families with which those children were connected; they not only preserve vast numbers of the youthful poor from ignorance and contamination, but have been the means of forming the character of multitudes. I myself know not a few, who, but for Sunday-school instruction, might have been among the worst members of society, but who are now young persons of exemplary character, and are steadily and actively engaged in communicating to others that instruction which has proved so useful to themselves.

Their moral character is improved by the instruction they receive?-Most decidedly. My visits to the habitations of the poor have enabled me to see the effect at home, which as a mere visitor of a Sunday school I should not have had the same means of seeing.

Have you observed much difference in the families where the children attend Sunday schools, from those where they do not?-A very marked difference in many cases, especially where the children have attended Sunday schools a sufficient length of time for such effects to appear.

What difference have you observed between Sundayschool children and others whose education is neglected?— I have, I think I may almost say uniformly, observed that Sunday-school children, such as have been in Sunday schools for any length of time, to be more respectful in their behaviour, and cleaner in their persons.

What class of the poor generally send their children to Sunday schools?-Chiefly mechanics and the labouring poor; we find it more difficult to get the children of the most degraded classes.

Do you conceive there are a great number uneducated, in the metropolis?-Certainly still a great number.

Have you found that, in your visits to the poor of Spitalfields? We have found it even there where Sunday-school education is carried to a greater extent than in some other parts of the town; we are seldom out a single evening without meeting with children who have not before attended any Sunday schools, or had any advantages of education; of course in such cases we endeavour to induce the parents to send such children.

Are the parents of those uneducated children desirous that their children should receive instruction?-In most cases, when the advantages are pointed out to them, they seem truly desirous of it; and we have succeeded in inducing the parents of many scores of poor ignorant children, to send them to various schools in that neighbourhood.

Do you conceive that a great number of poor children in the metropolis would be entirely destitute of education, but for Sunday schools?-Certainly they would, especially when trade is at all in a flourishing state; we then find comparatively few of those who are able to work, that have not some regular employment which must totally prevent their attending a day school; and of those who may not be old enough to work, one at least in most large families is necessarily detained at home.

Some of the children are employed to nurse the younger? -Frequently so, and in other ways assisting their mother.

If the means of education were provided for all poor children on the week-days, do you still think there would be any occasion for Sunday-school instruction?-I certainly think there would, for the reasons just stated, and because Sunday schools afford peculiarly favourable opportunity for impressing the minds of the youthful poor with a sense of

their moral and religions duties, upon which their conduct and character in future life so much depend.

What do you think is the cause of the ill conduct of so many of the children of the poor in the metropolis ?-In great numbers, to the want of education, undoubtedly, and especially of that kind of education which connects with it a due observance of the Sabbath, and a constant inculcation of the truths and duties of religion; there is the root of the evil; other causes might be mentioned, such as bad company, gambling, &c. but I consider these as rather effects of the grand cause just mentioned. It is no slight advantage of Sunday schools, that they are directly calculated to preserve from the infection of evil associates, as that is the chief day on which bad and neglected boys assemble and corrupt each other.

Do you think Sabbath-breaking is productive of many evils in the metropolis?-My observation inclines me to attribute to it a great part of the immorality which is to be found among the lower classes.

Have any particular facts fallen under your own notice on that subject?-The opinion has, I may almost say, been forced upon me by the great body of facts and instances that have fallen under my notice in visiting the poor; with me it is no theory; I had not been many months engaged in this work before I was necessarily led to the opinion, and the correctness of it has been most fully confirmed in my mind by subsequent observation and experience. Neglecters and breakers of the Sabbath, among the poor, are almost always careless about the characters and habits of their children; they are often idle and dirty themselves, and their families have consequently little domestic comfort; whilst those who pay a strict and proper regard to the duties of this day, are, in nine cases out of ten, found to be sober, honest, cleanly and industrious, and particularly anxious for the welfare of their offspring. I shall not be understood as attributing this great superiority of character to a mere formal attendance on public worship, unconnected with the sacred truths which are there inculcated, and to the influence of these truths and duties upon their minds; they clearly need such a weekly monitor, and we find little consistent morality among them which is not produced in this way.

Do the children in Sunday schools generally attend public worship? In all the Sunday schools that I am acquainted with, they attend public worship; we consider it as of the greatest importance to habituate them to this.

Do you conceive special benefits arise from this early attendance on public worship?-Yes, certainly,

Do you conceive that the advantages which children derive from Sunday-school instruction are confined to the benefits of the Sabbath merely; or are there other benefits, which you have not stated?-By no means to the Sabbath; many of the children learn considerable portions of moral and sacred poetry and scripture, and other pieces, which the teachers think likely to be useful to them, during the week; they are also furnished with suitable books for weekly reading, from a circulating library attached to the school.

Have you had any opportunity of observing how Sundayschool children conduct themselves in their respective families?—I had lately an opportunity of inquiring into that circumstance, relating to a considerable number of the children who attend the Sunday school in George-yard Drury-lane.

Whence did that opportunity arise ?-The sub-committee of that school thought it necessary, in consequence of some charges which they had heard against its moral tendency, or at least against the character of the children who attended there, to inquire into the insinuation, and also, at their own habitations, into the character of the children and the condition of their parents.

Do you mean a report from Newgate, brought against the National and various other schools?—I refer to that report.

What was done by the sub-committee in consequence of hearing of that report?-The sub-committee met to take it into consideration; and though they were most fully convinced that the charges were altogether unfounded, they thought it proper to make a general visitation to the habitations of the parents of the children, in order to make inquiries on the subject.

What was the result of their investigation?-The result of that investigation was highly satisfactory; they not only found that there was not the least shadow of ground for any of the charges brought against the school, but that the school had been productive of a much greater quantum of good than they had supposed.

Did they find any instances of great good having resulted to the children? Yes, and not only to the children, but to the families in which they live.

Did you visit many of the families?-In connexion with a friend I visited about fifty of the families.

You were completely satisfied with the result of those visits-Not only completely satisfied, but much encouraged by the good we saw and heard of, beyond any thing we had formerly supposed. In the course of this investigation, was found that the homes of the children comprising the

it

upper classes in the school, almost universally wore a decent and comfortable aspect, and the parents appeared tidy comfortable people; whilst those of the lower classes were observed to be generally of an inferior order. As the classes were visited by different persons, we were not aware of this general distinction, till the committee met to read their respective reports. Upon examination, it was ascertained that the time which the children of the sixth, which are the upper classes, have been in the school, averages about three years and a half; and that of the children in the lower classes does not exceed a few months: it is therefore a fair and natural inference, that much of the difference, even in the parents and families, is produced by the influence of the school.

Are the teachers in that and the other schools with which you are connected gratuitous?-All of them gratuitous.

Do you find gratuitous teachers most beneficial in Sunday schools-Certainly they are. I would beg to state here, that gratuitous teachers have always appeared to me to be one main excellence of the Sunday-school system; it appears to me calculated to secure Sunday schools from those abuses and that decay to which we know other establishments of that nature, where the teachers are paid, become liable. I would beg here just to state why I think so. It cannot be doubted that most persons who engage in the humble and laborious work of teaching in Sunday schools, do it from a pure and benevolent motive; and if at any time their zeal and interest in the school should decline, they have no inducement in the nature of pay or reward to continue their services, and of course withdraw from the school; and there is never any difficulty in supplying their place with persons who have the necessary zeal and other qualifications, both for teaching poor children to read, and for instructing them in all the duties of religion. As I am not a teacher, these remarks from me will not be thought improper.

Have you observed a particular affection towards the children fostered in the minds of the teachers?-1 have certainly seen that.

Do you find respect and affection from the children to their teachers?—Yes, generally, when they have known each other any length of time; and I have always found this extremely favourable to their improvement, and to useful impressions upon their minds; both the tone of feeling which pervades the mind of the teacher, which I have already accounted for from what must be his character and conduct, and the respect and affection induced by that on