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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
m 4 to divest it of any thing like a oarty designation , they took the title of the British and Foreign School Society . The Prince Regent is an annual subscriber of lOOf .: their royal highnesses the Dukes of Kent and Sussex are Vice Patrons : the Duke
of Bedford is the President : and among the Vice Presidents are , the Marquuses of Lausdowne and Tavistoek , Lords Darnley , Moira , Rosslynn , Fingall , and Clifford , Sir John Swinburne , Sir Samuel Romilly , and Messrs . Grattan , Horner , W . Smith , W ilberforce , &c . « The British Sy stem embraces in-• truction in Reading , Writing , and tfie elements of Arithmetic , and in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures
as derived from the scriptures themidves . It enters into no religious distinctions ; but is open to all of every religious persuasion . Its grand object is , by the general diffusion of education , to raise the moral character of
tlie great mass of the people ; to train tlemto habits of order and subordination , of industry , decency , cleanliness , and a regard to character ; and to impress early and strongly , upon the minds of the young , the divine commands as contained in the sacred volume .
" The simplicity , economy , and * urprising operation of the system , have excited the liveliest admiration of many distinguished foreigners : and , under the blessing of Divine Providence , this Institution will , in all probability , be the me ; ms of causmg the extensive establishment of
Schools on similar principles in Russia &ttd in France . There is every reason to believe that the Emperor of "Russia in . ^ JJilI mtrod uee the system throughout his dominions ; and the agency of the societ y iu extending it to France is Jti ll more direct , and alike important . ja that country a very large proportion of the lower classes are in the
"lost degrading ignorance ; and at ^ ast two million French children are unable even to rend . The effect of the British System would be to rejwre the knowledge of Christian duty and to check the disorder and li 7 ^ ntiwuaess which prevail in that co
^ appy untry . «^ " * he System is not confined to -u rope . Through the exertions of £ « Jj 'Ommittee ^ it has been extended xne remaining quarter * of the
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globe : and at this time there are schools established in different remote countries , for several thousand children . The native Indians of British
America , the Half-cast of Hindostau , the captured Slaves and Black Settlers of Sierra Leone , and even the Hottentots are enjo \ ing the advantages afforded by the Society : arid there is no limit but the want of the
pecuniary means of extending them more widely . " Among civilized nations , the only object is to give the first impulse , — to furnish a qualified teacher , and lessons in the respective languages ; and by this means schools might be speedily established in Poland , Germany , Flanders . &c . which would serve as
a preparation for many others . In the uncivilized regions , the aid must more completely come from Britain ; and at home also , in numerous cases , teachers and lessons must be provided at the commencement of schools . All
this involves considerable expense : and though the plans of the Committee have been aided by extraordinary liberality from individuals of their own body as well as from others , they have never beeu able to relieve the
Institution from the difficulties under which they first undertook the management of it , together with the great additional expenses which have since been incurred . Waving
themselves long laboured under these difficulties , they feel themselves entitled to call upon the friends of the system for their encouragement . Their present earnest desire is , to consolidate
the Society , and to ( five energy and efficacy to its exertions in future . tc The object is one in which all , parties may unite . By teaching from the Holy Scriptures in the authorized version , and promoting the attendance of children at the respective
places of worship of their parents , it offers a point of union for all of all denominations 5 and as it admits no catechism , or other instruction in peculiar religious tenets , it excludes none from the blessings of education . Its schools are schools for alt ,.
"Asa most important auxiliary to the Bibjle Society , it claims the support of that powerful and important Institution . To give the Bible , without the means of reading it 9 is useless . The one society offers the casket in which is the pearl of great price : the
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British and Foreign School Society . 6 W
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 615, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/15/
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