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and , by so doing , exposes the lower classes of Dissenters to insult and to oppression . That your Petitioners , whose loyalty and attachment to the constitution of
their country , have ever been unquestionable , regard this Bill as a measure which would subject them to an unjust and invidious proscription , by virtually pronouncing them unworthy of being entrusted with the education of the children
of their fellow-citizens , or with any share of the management orcontroul of schools , at which the majority of scholars may not be the children of Churchmen , and where even their own children may be entered ; and , by such means , increase the civil disabilities , and encroach on the religious liberty of Dissenters .
That your Petitioners , for the reasons already mentioned , without entering into more particular exceptions to the Bill , huinbly eutreat of your honourable House , that it may not be passed into a law . And your Petitioners , as in duty bound , sfeall ever pray , &c .
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Brougham ' s Bill , if passed Into a law , will infringe upon the rights of Protestant Dissenters , I can assure you that nothing was ever farther from the thoughts of Mr . Brougham than any such infringe - ment . And in giving proof of this , I shrink not from participating in the blame
which may be attached to him on account of the provisions of his Bill . Jn justice to him J must declare , that when he first projected that Bill , he wrote to me , requesting my opinion as to what was necessary to guard the rights of Dissenters , and that 1 stated in reply , that I thought we could claim nothing more
than that such of the children of our various sects as should partake of the benefits of public education , should not , on that account , be compelled to join in the worship of the Established Church , or to learn any catechism at Tariance with their several creeds . Mr . Brougham might certainly have applied on this occasion to men more eminent or more
influential among the Dissenters—certainly not to any one more jealous in defence of Dissenting principles than myself , whom , I presume , he was induced to select as the medium of information in consequence of a friendship which has long subsisted between us , and which has enabled me duly to estimate , not only the extent of his talents , but the excellence of his feelings and principles .
On a careftil perusal of his Education Bill , I am satisfied that the views which I indicated are strictly provided for . It is ordered therein , that " the scholars of every school , to be provided under the
Act , shall attend the divine service of the Church of England every Sunday , under the charge of the master . " Ill should i deem of any system of general education which did not provide for religious observances : and as it is certain that the
majority of children educated under the Bill will belong to the Established Church , it is , I think , undeniably fitting that , under its general provisions , to that Church they should be directed to resort . But , at the same time , the rights of Dissenters are reserved by a clause leaviuft the children of Dissenters under the
absolute direction of their parents as to the place of worship which they shall frequent . On the same principle it is ordered , that the Church Catechism shall be taught one half-day in the week ; but it is
prescribed , in strict and anxious words , that the children of Dissenters shall not be compelled , and , I may say , even induced to attend such catechetical instruction . I am surprised to learn that uneasiness has arisen in the minds of some worthy people , from the provision , that the
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138 Inteltigencei—Mr . Brougham ' s Education Bill .
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Rev . fV . SfiepkercTs Letter to John TVilks , Esq . [ From the Times newspaper . ] To Joein Wilks , Esq .
At a time when power is arrayed in certain and almost avowed hostility against the mental improvement of the great mass of the population of England , it is much to be lamented that any differences should arise between the sincere friends
of civil and religious liberty . On this account I read with pain the animadversions which you made on Mr . Brougham ' s Education Bill , in a letter , jointly signed by Mr . Thomas Peilatt and yourself , and published in the Theological Repository of July last .
la that letter you assert that Mr . Brougham ' s Bill is a " needless" one . Surely , Sir , this is a hasty and inconsiderate expression . I am confident you are not hostile to the education of the lower orders of the peopte ; and if you will calmly consider what immense numbers of that class of the community are
destitute of the humblest species of literary instruction , you will retract the epithet in question as applied to Mr . Brougham ' s exertions . Mr . Brougham , Sir , is no theorist . He is a practical man . He ascertained , by much pains
and labour , the extent of the evil before he set about devising a remedy . When you characterized his Bill as a «* needless " one , you must not hare been aware , or you must have forgotten , that three mil * Items of otir fellow-subjects are tlestitute of education . But you seem to conceive that Mr .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1821, page 188, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2498/page/60/
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