"1. That in the Metropolis and the great Towns of England and Wales, there exists a great want of education among the children of the Working Classes.

"2. That it is desirable that there should be means of suitable daily education (within reach of the working classes) for not less than oneeighth part of the Population.

"3. That the amount of assistance afforded by Government should be regulated as heretofore, subject to modification of these Rules in cases where the poverty of the district was proved to require it; the special ground being reported in each case.

"4. That, under existing circumstances, and under the difficulties which beset the question, your Committee are not prepared to propose any means for meeting the deficiency, beyond the continuance and extension of the grants which are at present made by the Treasury for the promotion of Education, through the medium of the National and British and Foreign School Societies."-Report, p. xi.

With the statements contained in the two first resolutions we quite agree; but the information is not new. It has long been notorious that the education of the poorer classes in this country is meagre and wretched beyond the possibility of exaggeration, and almost of description. The Committee have come to the conclusion, and apparently on very sufficient data, that oneeighth of the population ought to be undergoing daily instruction in schools set apart for the poorer classes. The following table shows what proportion of the Population is actually in receipt of such daily education :—

We would desire particularly to direct the attention of our Readers to the second Column, which is formed by throwing out of calculation the children who merely attend the Dame and Common Day Schools, the instruction communicated at which places is unanimously pronounced to be of no value whatever. For instance:

"The information acquired in these schools cannot be said to amount to education; it can exercise but little influence in expanding the minds or forming the characters of the scholars, beyond what may possibly be produced by the restraint consequent upon attendance at school.”Committee's Report, p. vi.

"These schools serve for little more than to keep the children out of danger during the time their parents are engaged in daily labour."Westminster Report, p. 16.

These schools are generally in a most deplorable condition. Many of the teachers are engaged at the same time in some other occupation, such as shop-keeping, sewing, washing, &c., which renders any regular instruction among their scholars absolutely impossible. . . . . In by far the greater number of these schools there were only two or three books among the whole number of children. . . . . In the great majority of these schools there seems to be a complete want of order and system. The confusion arising from this defect, added to the very low qualifications of the master, the number of scholars under the superintendence of one Teacher, the irregularity of attendance, the great deficiency of books, and the injudicious plans of instruction or rather the want of any plan at all, render them nearly inefficient for any purposes of real education."-Manchester Report, pp. 5, 6, 9. "With few exceptions the Dame schools are dark and confined; many are damp and dirty; more than one half of them are used as dwelling, dormitory, and school-room. Above forty of them are in cellars. the common day schools in the poorer districts it is difficult to convey an adequate idea, so close and offensive is the atmosphere in many of them. The dimensions rarely exceed those of the Dame schools, while the number of scholars is more than double. The children who attend these schools receive no instruction which is at all deserving of the name."-Liverpool Report, pp. 11, 19.

Of

Ample confirmation of these statements may be found in the Evidence published by the Committee, whose report now lies before us, especially in Dr. Kay's, Mr. Wood's, and Mr. Caldwell's; yet these schools give all the daily instruction which from one half to two thirds of the Working Classes in large towns are able to procure. The remainder are educated in the National and Lancasterian Schools, and others supported wholly or in part by charity or endowments; and although in these cases the school-rooms are far superior, and more real instruc

tion is conveyed, yet even here it is lamentably defective and inefficient. The Manchester Report observes, p. 11,

"Some schools follow Dr. Bell's Monitorial System, and one, containing 1,040 scholars, is managed upon the Lancasterian plan. These schools seem to be generally well conducted according to the systems they pursue; but it appears to the Committee that these systems are capable of much improvement. In the Lancasterian school, for example, and in others where a very large number of scholars are placed under the direction of one master, the plan of instruction is too mechanical; and while the children make considerable proficiency in such branches of knowledge as can be taught in this manner, particularly in writing and arithmetic, many other branches of useful knowledge, and still more, the general cultivation of their mental powers, are often totally neglected.'

Remarks to the same effect are to be found in the Salford and Liverpool Reports: and the York Report says,

"There are three National Schools with 560 scholars, which are connected with the Established Church, and conducted on Dr. Bell's monitorial system. A tolerable degree of order and discipline is preserved; but from the nature of the system, the education cannot be otherwise than defective in the extreme, as the children are instructed by children little more advanced than themselves, and who are often open to petty bribery; while the master, amid such a crowd of scholars, can give nothing but the most meagre and superficial superintendence."-P. 14.

But it is to the fourth resolution* of the Committee that we particularly wish to direct the serious attention of our Readers. The Committee assert that they can recommend no better system than that of continuing the Government grant of £20,000 per annum, through the medium of the British and Foreign and National School Societies. This system is the following:-When, by local subscription, any town or district has raised half the sum sufficient for the erection of a school, and when it is certified to one of these Societies that such School shall be conducted on the plan and principles laid down by them, the Society recommends that a sum of money be granted from the Treasury for the completion of such School; and the grant is made as a matter of course. In the last five years £70,000 has been thus paid through the medium of the National Society, and £35,000 through that of the British and Foreign.

*This Resolution was moved by Lord Sandon, in opposition to the one proposed by Mr. Slaney, Chairman of the Committee, recommending the establishment of a Board of Education.

This is the system which the Parliamentary Committee conceive that, under existing circumstances, it is impossible to amend.*

Let us now spend a few moments in examining what is the nature and amount of the education conferred by the Schools belonging to these two Societies, which appeared to my Lord Sandon so excellent, that no public money should be granted to any conducted on a different system.

I. National Schools.-These Schools are, or profess to be, conducted on Dr. Bell's monitorial system. They teach, or profess to teach, Reading, Writing, and Cyphering, and the doctrines of the Church of England. They educate, or profess to educate, 516,000+ Scholars. Real, useful, secular education, they neither give, nor profess to give. The National Society in fact, by the confession of the Secretary, is not a Society for educating the People, but for promoting the doctrines of the Church.

"656.-What do you understand by the principles of the National Society?—The National Society is really little else than another name for the Established Church. It is constituted for the purpose of promoting the education of the Poor in the principles of the Established Church."

If any thing were wanting, after this confession, to condemn the system pursued at these Schools, much information as to its inefficiency for the real purposes of education might be found in the Reports published by the Statistical Societies of Manchester and London, to which we refer our readers. In addition we will quote a few passages of the evidence extant upon this subject. Dr. Kay says,‡

I once went with M. Malac, Member of the French Board of Instruction, in one of the large towns of the North, to visit one example of each of the Public Schools. We visited a National, a Lancasterian, a Foundation, a private Charity School, and an Infant School, and before leaving our House in the morning, we put down two series of questions, the first part of which related to one of the parables of our Saviour, and the other to the obligation of speaking the truth. On entering each of the schools we requested that the parable should be read by the children;—we then put the questions (which were perfectly fami

It is remarkable that even the Rev. Mr. Wigram, the Secretary of the National Society, recommends an extension of the principle on which these grants have been made.-Question 679.

+ Evidence of Mr. Wigram, p. 67.

The late events near Canterbury have shown how useless, nay how dangerous, an exclusively religious education, uncombined with proper intellectual training, may become. Almost all the most devoted, and if we may add the term, distinguished followers of the fanatic Thoms, were persons who attended church regularly, and could read, but who read nothing except the Bible. See Leardet's Report on the State of the Peasantry in Kent. Also Monthly Chronicle, vii.

Evidence, p. 5.

VOL. I. No. 4.-New Series.

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liar) to the children in the most advanced class in each school; the questions were not answered in the National, or the Lancasterian, or the Foundation, or the private Charity School; but they were all answered in the Infant School, particularly the questions respecting the moral obligation of speaking the truth."

In many of the National Schools writing is not taught at all,— especially in Devonshire, and other agricultural districts.

The

"Fred. Page is Master of Rickling National School, Essex. School is superintended by the Clergyman of the Parish. Teaches both boys and girls reading and spelling in the New Testament. Teaches nothing else. Writing not allowed to be taught; the chief objection made when it was proposed, was that the boys merely learned to scribble on the walls."*

The method by which Arithmetic is taught in the National Schools is illustrated by the following extracts from a work lately compiled for their use, by the Secretary of the Parent Society :

Examples in Addition.—Of Jacob's four wives, Leah had six sons, Rachel had two, Billah had two, and Zillah two also. How many sons had Jacob?

Subtraction.-Our blessed Saviour ascended to Heaven forty days after the resurrection, and the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles fifty days from the same time. How many days are there from Ascension-day to Whitsunday?

Multiplication.-When Moses dedicated the Tabernacle, each of the twelve Princes of Israel made an offering to God, of two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs. How many animals of each kind did they offer ? and how many in all ?

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Division.-Our Lord showed himself to the Apostles forty days after his Passion. For how many weeks was he seen?"†

This is the instruction from which the children of our poorer classes are to learn how to cast up and draw out bills, and make the various calculations required by Butchers', Bakers', and Mechanics' apprentices.

Reading is certainly taught at these Schools, but as certainly it is ill taught, and ill remembered the following are given, not as evidence, but as samples of evidence.

“ Mr. Claydon, Master of Ratcliffe Workhouse, a very intelligent man, says, I do not know how it is, but when the boys from this Workhouse were sent to the National School, there was not one of them that turned out well; and even in reading, writing, and arithmetic, they made no progress while they remained."

* Schools for the Industrial Classes, p. 17.

+ Elementary Arithmetic, by the Rev. J. C. Wigram.