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people hard already made comnEflW ^ and to assist rat / bet * than to institute schemes of public benevolence . Scojte is thus allowed for the exercise of private benevolent genius , . the
encouragement of which is of more importance to the character and happiness of a nation , than the execution of any works of magnificence , or the eatc * - blishment of any institutions , however specious and imposing .
But , without meaning to object absolutely tb a national and compulsory scheme of education , I will venture to lay it down as ail indisputable principle , that fclfafc plan is best , with a view to this end / wMch embodies the ^ argest portion of fc& £ individual feeling of a
community * and co-operates With , instead of superseding ' , private tiitife : Nay , I will farther assartie , that any measure designed for the benefit' of the ni&ss of the people will be inefficient if tti ^ re pdWer be calculated oh as the
instrument of success ; and , indeed , if the feelings of the people be not enlisted in wtot is regarded as their own cause , &nd a certain popular character t > e not given to plans involving their Interests , but in whifch if they concur not dhfeerfully , nothing is done .
After these general remarks which I have raadfe at the outset to prevent the necessity of repetition and to guard against misconstruction , I proceed to examine Mr ^ Brtmgliam ' a recent Bill providing a new plan of Education for England . I shall consider it in connexion wkh His own speech on the Ihtroddfctioh of it in £ 6 the House of
Oommohs , * arid with ail elaborate , and as it may b ^ term ed official , justification of if in the Edinburgh Review . My object is to ascertain in what mannet * and degree the Bill , if passed itito a law , may aflfect Nonconformists to the Church of England , and particularly Protestant Diasfctiters , aha
consequently how fiir it may be expedient or necessary fbr them to oppose its progtess . The Bill is rtTOW&Jjhr And designedly &Arbed and fitted fttr ffie Ghtarfch . The author of it , iii Ms opening speech , calted ttjpdii the Hdtfgfc of Commons to " oftfcervfe how he had united aiid kniu
* As imported in the Times . Jtihe 29 , 1820 . f No , LXVTI ., for August , 1 & 20 ;
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ted the Astern with the Church Establishment , " He addressed Hfthstftf on that occasion to the prejixttices , the fears , tM vanity arid ambition of the clergy , whom tie loaded with extravagant compliments . * We did not overlook the Dissenter ^ , but he evidently considered them as too insignificant to be allowed to be ail obstacle
to a great measure . He almost confessed that he meditated some wrong to them , when in a conversation in the House upon the extension of the Bill to Ireland , he said , " If the Dissenters
in England bore the same proportion to the EstablishedChurch as they did in Ireland , he should itever Have Brought forward the ttttitidti : ' * that is to say , If the Dissenters had been to
Churchmen as 4 to 1 , instead of being as 1 fo 4 , he wotild nave framed a different measure , ot none at all > so that whatever merit the Bill may have on the score of expediency and policy , public of private , We are entitled by the authors own £ <* hfeSsion to pronounce it to be •* not absolute wisdom . ' ^
Some complimentary expressions as to the Dissenters also are inserted into the Review , but these ate evidently designed to conciliate them to noni * esi 6 tance to the Bill , which the style of persuasion adopted by the writer plainly shews that he considered not favourable to theit * interests .
We have only to look at the Bill to see how undisguisedly it aims at being auxiliary , as the proposer more than once in his speech avows that he in-* The clergy are praised for having made prompt and full returns in answer to the circulars of the Parliamentary
Committee . But they must have been rather bold to have refused to reply to the application of such a body , with such a Chairman at Us head . And if they be so praiseworthy , what must be the merits of the Scottish clergy , ' who made returns riot less dmpte or 6 xpedftibus , though they have not quite so tfifofcji ife&fcn t 6 be
satisfied \ tim thfeiir station hi tibblety , and are lttft itttt * tem&& lit WHS jprbtndftoh of national edtttfattoii ? H 4 m » infty ' be mentioned , that the Scottishuiler ^ y ha # . wifhout poi ^ iaJmentdry dtotatioh , atird merely for the &ake $ of i * rpmothi £ fhe national welfare , fi ^ rni ^ hed Sir John Sm < - ia
olair with conious m&terial 8 4 Vmt , hta * etoAt olair with copwm pmt / f ^ jfoitfa sgbm s ^} ^^ w i ^ M w $ m ° mkt # 8 es vnth Strong gr ^ % uO 0 ia a letter to tht lasr Oeneril AMcMttbly . '•
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26 TWej Nwteonformist . No- XIX >
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1821, page 26, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2496/page/26/
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