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fetsad would be too ciosciy connected with the Established Church , and that ife&stoctoines of the Establishment would b& Hfeeljr to be incjilcated there . On the other hand ? the measure was opposed by the adherents of the Established Church , because they thought it was not
sufficiently connected with the Establishment , and that the schools would Ire too open to Dissenters . At present it was almost impossible to reconcile these two parties ; but he hoped r when the subject came to be more fully discussed , and better understood by : the Dissenters , the great difference of opinion which prevailed
would have the effect of teaching both parties , that liberality on the one hand ought to be met by concession on the other . The controversy had been carried oa ( with few exceptions ) for the most part 4 > y persons on either side who were sincerely anxious to promote the great common eird—the advancement of
education of the people . The improvement of the education of the people was , he was convinced , the object of the wishes of both Churchmen and Dissenters , and only a little further time was necessary to afford both these parties an opportunity not only of coming to a clear understanding of the points of difference
between them , but to bring them nearer to a common understanding of the operation of the measure proposed by him . Discussion was the best means of making known the nature of his plan ; and in order to afford an opportunity for further
discussion to arise on the subject , he had come to a resolution to postpone his Bill till next session . He would here beg to remind both parties that great concessions were expected from each of them . He would first remind those who were of
opinion that his plan would open the door too widely to the admission of the children of Dissenters , that they were asking Dissenters to support schools from which their own children were excluded . Dissenters were obliged by the payment of
parochial rates to contribute to the support of schools from which they were in effect debarred from receiving any benefit . It was a necessary part of his plan that the schools should be , to a certain degree , connected with the Church
Establishment ; but he thought the Church ought not to desire the exclusion of Dissenters , not only on the general principle of justice and liberality , but for the sake of the Establishment itself , which would be most effectually injured by an adherence to intolerant doctrines . To the Dissenter
he would say , that the principle of the Bill yrm such , even if it should receive no modification whatever , that it must be cqnsjdered a , great sacrifice niade ., by the Church to the peculiar opinions of the
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Dissenters to allow it to pass . Me was not without hopes that one © r two points in the plan which had given the greatest umbrage to the Dissenters might be modified without much difficulty . Those points were not of much importance ;
and even if he thought the objections which were made to them were wrong he should still be of opinion , that it would be proper for the legislature to defer to a general prejudice , when it might be done without any substantial sacrifice of principle . The Dissenters had always made the most strenuous endeavours in the cause of education ; and
speaking to them in their character of friends to education , he would ask them to reflect upon what the principle of the Bill gave countenance to . The principle of the Bill had been involved in all the disputes between the Dissenters and the Established Church for the last twelve years—namely , whether Dissenters should admit the doctrines of the Church * The
Church had always said , we insist on the reading of the Catechism and the Liturgy in schools , and that the children should go to Church . The Dissenters , on the other hand , said , that it was much better
to omit the reading of the Catechism and the Liturgy , and the going to Church , and to devote the schools merely to the teaching of reading , writing and accounts , which would enable persons of all sects to attend them . The Bill to which the
Dissenters ' now objected sanctioned their principle in opposition to that of their opponents . The Bill proposed that no peculiar creed should be taught in the schools ; that the Liturgy should not be read ; and that there should be no compulsory attendance of the Church . He hoped that this statement would produce effect in any
after-discussion on this subject . Great national good might be effected if both sides would exhibit an equal share of liberality and concession . Should each party continue determined to yield nothing to its adversary , he must then come to
the painful but inevitable conclusion , that the legislature could do nothing in the cause of education , and that the undertaking must be eventually abandoned . This led him to the last point on which he would trouble the house . Some
persons entertained an opinion that the interference of the legislature in order to promote education , was not at all useful . This was a most extraordinary argument . Doubts might exist respecting the manner ;
but very little doubt could prevail respecting the nesessity , of the interference of the legislature on this subject . In order to support the opposition to the Bill , ft had ( 1 » % en contended that the ^ parochial r $ turtjjfe were incorrect , and could , notJb e relief on . Some persons had gone so
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SQ& Intelligence , —Parliamentary . Popular Education .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1821, page 502, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2503/page/62/
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