On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
objected to , as if education could be conducted without expense . It is stated to be especially ill-timed , at an era when unprecedented private exertions are made to diminish the
existence and ills of ignorance , and when public burthens and parochial taxation are already greatly oppressive . But Mr . Brougham has proved , if the information he has industriously collected may be relied on , that private exertions , if they have done much , are
far from having accomplished all that is desirable , and though it is stated that the information he has proceeded on is imperfect , and education more generally diffused than he is aware , not the least reason is given for this
assertion . That taxation , both public and parochial , is heavy , is too true , nor is it likely to be lighter ; and if this objection be admitted , it is equivalent to a prohibition of all further exertions for the education of the
poor . But to those who thinE there is a temporary pressure , which time will in some degree remove , it may be replied , that were the Bill passed in the present session , it could not be
immediately carried into full effect . A considerable delay must take place before this could be done ; and parishes where a local pressure may be particularly felt , would no doubt be able to
postpone the measure to a more convenient opportunity- ^ Dismissing , then , these general objections , I come to the details : and here let me state what appears to me liberal and praise-worthy in the plan . In the first place , it is a seheme in which Government will exercise no
interference ; against this Mr . Brougham has effectually guarded . There will be no room for ministerial patronage or influence . The school-masters are to be chosen by the parishioners , and paid out of the parochial funds . In the next place , the schools mil be open to all , without distinction of sect
<> r party ; and there will be no interterence with the religious opinions of any but those children whose parents are honk fide members of the Church ;> t England . Such , at least , arc the intentions of the honourable mover ; d it
an < V if there be anv thino- in tko wr > - * a there be any thing in the provisions of the Bill really tending to neteat these intentions , I cannot doubt tnat he will readily alter it . Let us , then , see what these provi-
Untitled Article
sions are . 1 st . The master is in all cases to be a member of the Church - It would be better , no doubt , could this be otherwise ; for it cannot be denied that , in equity , Dissenters of and
every description , Catholic ^ even Jews , have a right of eligibility to those offices , to the support of which they contril 3 ute , according to their numbers , equally with their fellowcitizens of the Church . But abstract
rights cannot always in society be strictly maintained ; some sacrifice must " be made to convenience and expediency ; and when it is considered that the Establishment compr ises at least half ( I think much more than
half ) of all the population of England and Wales , and that religious instruction is thought by the rulers and friends of that Establishment ( and justly thought ) an essential part of the duty of the master , is not Mr . Brougham justified in proposing that he shall be a member of it ? And of what are the
Dissenters hereby deprived ? Of the chance of obtaining , in a few instances , a laborious and very moderately-endowed office - y when it may be safely affirmed , that any person competent to fulfil its duties , may , by equal industry , do as well for himself in any
other way . But , it is said , the exclusion narrows the choice ,, and the best person might not always be chosen * A person sufficiently qualified may , however , always be chosen . The situation does not require rare talents and
learning . Industry and attention are the chief requisites . So much for the qualifications of the master . Now , 2 ndly , as to what he is to teach . The clergyman is to direct what books are to be introduced into the school , with
the proviso that no religious book is to be used except the Bible , and no prayer except the Lord ' s Prayer . Can any ' thing be more liberal than this ? Even Jews , I should think , could not object to their children reading the Bible , the Old Testament at least , and
saying the Lord ' s Prayer . But " such selections might be made ae would be highly improper , ' * and the Nonconformist has ingeniously picked out and strung together some texts which thus presented might be objectionable to Catholics and Unitarians . Can it ,
however * be seriously thought that any thing of this kind would be done ? It must be difficult to find objections
Untitled Article
On the Objections to Mr . Brougham ' s BitL 155
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 155, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/27/
-