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commerce; hence most capitals and many large cities are built on the banks of rivers It is to her position on the Thames that London is chiefly indebted for her rank as the first commercial city in the world.”—British_and_Foreign, IV. Book, p. 21.

3. During the summer of the northern hemisphere, the countries of Arabia, Persia, India, and China, are much heated, and reflect great quantities of the sun's rays into the atmosphere, by which it becomes extremely rarefied, and the equilibrium c nsequently destroyed. In order to restore it, the air from the equatorial southern regions, where it is colder (as well as from the colder northern parts) must necessarily have a motion towards those parts. The current of air from the equatorial regions produces the trade-winds for the first six months all in the seas between the heated continent of Asia and the equator. The other six months, when it is summer in the southern hemisphere, the ocean and countries towards the southern tropic are most heated, and the air over those parts most rarefied; then the air about the equator alters its course, and flows exactly in an opposite direction."-McCulloch's Course of Reading, p. 241-242.

Give an account of

ENGLISH HISTORY.

(Three hours allowed for this Paper.)
SECTION I.

1. The character and Government of Edward the Confessor; -or, 2. The victories and subsequent expulsion of the Danes ;—or,

3. The steps which led to the consolidation of the Heptarchy into a Monarchy.

SECTION II.

Enumerate the instances in which

1. England took part in the Crusades ;-or

2. England has interfered by arms to support foreign sovereigns against their subjects, or foreign subjects against their sovereigns;—or,

3. England has engaged in foreign war in support of (a) the hereditary rights of her Sovereign (b), the unity of the British Empire (e), protection or extension of her commerce.

SECTION III.

1. Give an account of the reign of Henry IV.

2. Give the pedigree, life, and character of Henry VII.

3. Sketch the successive attempts made by England to conquer, or unite, the Kingdom of Scotland.

SECTION IV.

1. Give a brief outline of the Wars of the Roses, and of their effects upon the country, both as regards domestic and foreign policy.

2. Give an outline of the reign of Elizabeth.

3. Write a sketch of the growth, and narrate in detail any one of the principal feats, of the British Navy.

SECTION V.

Write full notes, and draw proper maps or other illustrations for a lesson to be given to your First Class, on

1. The Wars of Edward III. in France;-or 2. The English colonization of America;-or 3. The progress of British power in India. SECTION VI.

Write full notes, and draw proper maps or other illustrations to show how you would treat one of the following passages, supposed to be read by your First Class.

1. "America was discovered by Columbus in the year 1492. Several European nations, following the example of Spain, sent out ships to explore the new continent, and the beautiful countries, and rich gold and silver mines they found there, disposed them to try and get possession of all they could. As the nations were some of them ignorant savages, and the rest not nearly so well skilled in war as the Europeans, they were easily overcome; and numbers of them were cruelly s'aughtered by the conquerors, who made themselves masters of nearly the whole continent, and kept those of the natives who were not killed in a state of bondage. After much war and bloodshed both among the Europeans them. selves and with the natives, the chief part of North America remained at last divided between the Spaniards and English, and the South between the Spaniards and Portuguese. But in the year 1783, the descendants of the English who inhabited the centre of North America, separated themselves from Great Britain, and formed themselves into an independent republic, called the United States."Irish, IV. Book, pp. 133, 134.

2. "In the time of Henry the Second of England, Ireland was conquered, and since that period has been under the English kings. Its history is therefore blended with that of England. In the year 1800 its parliament was uni'ed to that of England.

"A great part of this island is covered with immense bogs. These form a remarkable feature of the country: they afford abundant supplies of peat, used by the inhabitants for fuel. These bogs are the remains of ancient forests, and large quantities of wood and the skeletons of animals have been found in them.

"The lakes of Killarney at the south-western extremity of the island are very beautiful, and will bear comparison with the finest in England or Scotland. Their banks are high, and covered with wood, and verdant islands are scattered over the surface."— British, IV. Book, p. 82.

3. "On the threatened Invasion in 1803.-By a scries of criminal enterprises. the liberties of Europe have been gradually extinguished; and we are the only people in the eastern hemisphere who are in possession of equal laws and a free constitution. Freedom, driven from every spot on the Continent, has sought an asylum in a country which she always chose for her favourite abode; but she is pursued even here, and threatened with destruction. The inundation of lawless power, after covering the whole earth, threatens to follow us here; and we are most exactly, most critically placed in the only aperture where it can be successfully repelled-in the Thermopylae of the World."-Mc Culloch's Course of Reading, r. 24.

No. 77.

PAPERS FOR THE SCHOOLMASTER.

JULY 1, 1857.

Schaalmasters and the Gapitation Grants.

From the number of letters written by teachers on this subject, it is pretty clear that the relation between them and their employers is suffering, just now, some little disturbance. That the Council Office desires to make the position of the teacher fairly remunerative no one will deny; but those who understand aright the relation of the Council Office to school managers, must be quite aware that the Office is limited in the extent of its powers of interference. School managers in some matters are shut up to a certain course, in others they exercise their discretion. This is as it should be. In this land of free institutions, and self-government, few well-informed persons would wish to see an entire centralization in the management of our educational institutions. A local board, with a fair range of independent action, kept from too great a divergence from general principles by gentle restraint, and under a little periodical pressure, from a central power, seems to be as near perfection as may be hoped for. But with the advantages of such a system, we must be content to bear with the defects, which are inseparable to it. Teachers should therefore not condemn a system as a whole, because here and there the managers of a particular school do not come up to their standard of right, or it may be, fail in some cases, in doing justice to a very worthy schoolmaster. Desiring, as we do, to see teachers and their employers pulling the same way-together and heartily, we cannot but regret when we are forced to believe in the existence of a neutralising element.

The present discordance seems to arise putting a different interpretation on the

from the two parties "Minute" regulating

the distribution of the Capitation Grant. It appears, however, that school managers have kept within legal bounds, though it may be doubted whether they would not, in some cases, have been justified in taking a more liberal view. Still much can be said on their side of the question, for elementary schools are supported with great difficulty, one individual in many instances, carrying the entire burden. It is true, con siderable assistance is rendered by the Council Office, but this aid is really for the purpose of sustaining a better kind of school, and therefore does not lessen, but rather increase, the pecuniary burden to be borne by the school patrons. When the action of the Council Office is looked at from this point of view, it does seem to countenance the objection urged by some people-that the present outlay of public money, has not improved the education of the poor. Every body who knows anything of the history of popular education in this country, is aware that the fees of elementary schools have been doubled, and in some cases trebled. This increase of fee has greatly changed the grade of children, and pushed down the class, which originally filled National Schools, into the Ragged Schools. This result is known and deplored by school Committees, but they are compelled to enforce the higher fee, or fail în maintaining their schools.

Teachers should have some regard to these difficulties before concluding that there is a want of liberality on the part of their employers. Besides, their interests are so bound up together, that as a rule, we may be certain that they will act by their teachers only as gentlemen ought to do. But whilst we believe this to be the rule, we have no doubt that exceptions do sometimes occur. In fact, we have heard within the last month of more than one case in which moneys were transferred from the school account to an auxiliary account, under circumstances which left the impression that it was done to prevent the teacher's receiving the addition of a few pounds to his stipend. Such cases must, indeed, be rare, because it is suicidal on the part of the school managers to do A starved horse cannot put in his full pound of flesh, neither

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can a teacher who feels himself wronged, work with his full energies, and no wise man would expect him to do so. Such committees as are kind and liberal seldom fail to get good men, and further, are prepared to keep them at any reasonable cost, for experience shows that there are few things which tend more to disorganise and demoralise a school than a frequent change of teachers. Where committees act differently, we think it will be found to arise from their inexperience, or from the cause before referred to-insuperable difficulties in the matter of finance. Where either of these causes operate, the teacher should calmly survey his position: He is a free agent, and should he find his post one of great discomfort without the prospect of amendment, he should change rather than attempt to carry on his mission without heart. School-keeping has its full share of disturbing influences, quite enough to vex the spirit of a man in tolerably good humour; but when to these is added a want of good sympathy with his managers, the position must be of intense bitterness to the teacher, and of doubtful benefit to the school.

VOLUNTARY HALF-TIME SCHEMES.

A Paper read at the Education Conference in London, by the Rev. C. H. Bromby, M.A.

In entering upon the question whether the half-time measure now applied to our Factories can be extended to other departments of labour, whether without legislative interference, within what limits success may be anticipated, we, I fear, must exclude every element of philanthropy, and simply reduce the question to one of profit and loss. We must in other words limit our investigation to the enquiry,-How far can we persuade the employers of labour that the half-time measure will not diminish their material profits? In looking for an answer we must keep distinct the different departments of labour. It may be sufficient to recognise three.

(1.) Factory labour. (2.) Agricultural labour. (3.) Desultory labour. In applying the question first to the department of Factory labour, there can be no doubt of the true answer. The system of

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