given to the Church-of-England to afford undue power to the children in the Catechism and the Liturgy, provision shall be made by the trustee that those whose parents object to that mode shall be instructed during that time in some branch of knowledge, thereby providing, that during the interval of the retirement of the Church of England children, the education of the others shall proceed. But heretofore no provision has been made for the religious instruction of Dissenters, except on Sunday, in the creed to which they belong. I propose that the children of Dissenters shall have instruction in the tenets of their creeds, even during working-days, and that the whole matter shall be at the disposal of their parents and guardians." And further, Sir James Graham read a new clause, which provided that the trustees of the school should appoint a day in the week, to be approved by the Education Committee of the Privy Council, "in which any scholar whose parent desires he may not be present when such Catechism and Liturgy are taught as aforesaid, may, during three of the usual school hours, receive religious instruction [either in the school or elsewhere] from the licensed minister of the chapel in which such parent attends divine worship, or from any person whom such licensed minister may appoint." In districts where there happened to be no Roman Catholic school, the parents of Roman Catholic children were to have power to object to their being present at the reading or teaching of Scripture, or at Divine Service. The clauses relating to the appointment of trustees of the schools had excited great objection among the Dissenters, being alleged Church. Sir James Graham thus explained the alterations introduced into the amended Bill:-With respect to the trustees, he would propose that instead of leaving the second churchwarden to be nominated by the clerical trustee, the Bill should give a right of election to those persons who should have been donors or subscribers of a certain amount to the school. The remaining four trustees he proposed to constitute through the election of ratepayers assessed at 101. ; but in order to prevent the minority from being unrepresented, he would propose that no ratepayer should be allowed to vote for more than two of these four trustees. The appointment of the headmaster of the school he would leave with the Bishop, but all the assistants should be appointed by the trustees. He would give to any one trustee a power of appealing to the Committee of Privy Council against the acts of his colleagues; and he would suggest some enlargement in the powers of the Privy Council. Sir James Graham concluded with an earnest appeal to the House, to further a measure deliberately shaped to combine the respect due from the Government to the Established Church with perfect liberty of conscience; urging his belief that imminent danger would result from its postponement. "I may be wrong, but I feel intimately persuaded, that if this measure, modified as it now is a measure treated with signal forbearance by the political opponents of the Government, and with respect to which an earnest desire has been manifested to arrive, if possible, at the adjustment of this most important matter-if a measure so proposed, so supported, and so treated in Parliament, shall fail to effect the great object of a combined system of education, from this time all further attempts to attain that end will be hopeless, and henceforth we must expect nothing but a system of education conducted on adverse principles, and in an antagonist spirit, which, I say it with deference, instead of producing a feeling of unity and good-will among all classes of her Majesty's subjects, will but aggravate the bitter spirit which now exists; and I venture to predict that the most fatal consequences will flow from it." Lord John Russell responded to Sir J. Graham's hope that the Bill would be discussed with proper calmness he vindicated the exertions of the Dissenters in the cause of education, by pointing to their pecuniary support of Mr. Lancaster's system; he thought that the amendments rather tended to remedy defects and fulfil the original intention of the measure than to depart from its principle; but calculated that the new composition of the trust would secure to the Established Church a majority. He hoped that they should proceed to a consideration of the Bill, with a prospect of wiping away from this country the stain of not having an efficient education for the working classes; an object in the attainment of which those classes were more deeply interested than the Government, or any party in the State. Manifestations of opposition, more or less strong, were given by Mr. Ewart, Dr. Bowring, Mr. M. Gibson, and Mr. Aldam. Mr. Hawes and the Earl of Surrey reserved their opinions. Viscount Dungannon and Mr. Borthwick declared their support After a vague and desultory discussion, the Bill was re-committed. A few days after this debate, another on the subject of Education took place in the House of Commons upon a resolution moved by Mr. Roebuck, who took occasion to point out some of the points on which he objected to the measure of Government. The Bill made education depend upon the accident of employment, and made no provision for education in the first eight years of a child's life; and the whole machinery for working the Bill was thrown into the hands of Churchmen-all, from the Secretary of State and the Privy Council down to the teacher, must be Churchmen; they could not stir a step in the Bill but they met with some wonderful attempt on the forbearance of the people. He should show that in a moment. Supposing a child to gain the illwill of any of the persons connected with the school or of the teacher he could not come to school, he could not work, therefore he could not get his bread; so that they made the life's-blood of the child depend on his creed. Exhorting Government to place itself at the head of public opinion, and to set an example of toleration, Mr. Roebuck concluded by moving— "That in no plan of education maintained and enforced by the State should any attempt be made to inculcate peculiar religious opinions; because as such an attempt would be considered a plan for maintaining and strengthening an undue superiority of one sect over all others, the animosities and strife already existing among different religious denominations would thereby, unhappily, be greatly increased, and the cordial co-operation of all sects and denominations, which is absolutely necessary to insure the success of any plan of public education, rendered impossible. Sir James Graham opposed Mr. Roecuck's resolution, because it was abstract and surrounded with practical difficulties. He then proceeded to the vindication of the Government Bill. Mr. Roebuck had treated the Bill as a scheme of national and general education; but, in introducing the measure, he (Sir James,) had especially guarded the Government against any such admission; he had distinctly said that it was never intended as a scheme of national educationthat it was meant to grapple with a particular difficulty, confined within certain limits specified in the Bill. The Bill proposed to deal only with the education of that portion of the people of this country who were now compelled by law to be educated. Mr. Roebuck was wrong in describing the machinery of the Bill as exclusively in the hands of Churchmen; of the three Secretaries of State one was actually a Presbyterian, and Mr. Sheil, a Member of the Privy Council was a Roman Catholic. Sir James Graham defended the preponderancy given to the Established Church: the very fact that it was established presumed a preference; and, supposing there were a school with but one master, was it a hardship that his creed should conform to that of the Established Church of this country? He, for his own part, thought that the Church would not do its duty if it made any concession upon this point, and it was one upon which he felt that he could not conscientiously give way. At the same time, the measure which he proposed to the House afforded every facility and security to those who wished to preserve their own peculiar tenets. Mr. Hawes opposed the motion. Claiming for the Dissenters perfect equality, not in matters of state, but in religious teaching, and therefore persisting in opposition to the Government scheme, he could not agree that, because there were difficulties in teaching peculiar opinions to all, the Legislature must go to the other extreme, and say that no other system of national education could be adopted except that which was purely secular. He mentioned the Irish system and the British and Foreign SchoolSociety as instances of success in a combined system of education with the Scriptures as a basis: no system of education would be acceptable to Dissenters, which should exclude the Bible from the schools. After some further debate, Mr. Roebuck's resolution was negatived by 156 to 60. The concessions which had been made by the Government in the Educational Clauses of their Bill, with a view of pacifying the alarm of the Dissenters, failed entirely to accomplish that object. The dislike and jealousy with which the measure was viewed by that active portion of the community, seemed to be in no degree diminished by the proffered alterations; petitions continued to pour in, and the demonstrations of hostility to the plan were so loud and numerous, that the Government came at length to the resolution of abandoning a measure which there seemed no hope of carrying with anything like concord and acquiescence on the part of those who were to be affected by it. On the 15th June, after the presentation of an immense number of petitions, nearly 200 of which were presented by Mr. Hindley, and one by Lord John Russell from the City of London, signed by 55,000 persons, the Home Secretary announced in the House of Commons, the intended abandonment of the Educational Clauses of the Bill. He said that when he introduced the Bill, he explained that the Ministers considered the clauses necessary in regard to the position in which the classes to be affected by the clauses were already placed by the Factory Act, which makes education compulsory. The proposition was made in no sectarian nor party spirit; and he was bound to say, that it had been received, if not with favour, with forbearance on the part of those usually opposed to Government; for which he begged to tender his sincere acknowledgments. The success of the measure depended on its being received as a measure of concord and conciliation; and it had been framed with that view; but, soon after its introduction, he found that the great body of Dissenters had insuperable objections to it. Extensive modifications were made to meet those objections; but in that he had been wholly disappointed. On the part of the Church, there had been great willingness to make concessions amounting to sacrifices, but it had been met in no corresponding spirit. The great evil which the measure was intended to counteract had not been removed; Lord Ashley's statement as to the ignorance of a large portion of the population remained unshaken. Yet Government had been forced to the conclusion, that it would be most consistent with their public duty not to press the Educational Clauses of the Factories Bill during the present Session. Personally, he felt deeply disappointed; but, although he had been made the object of great obloquy on the part of many who were opposed to this measure, he now sat down without the slightest ill-feeling towards any one who had taken a part in opposing him. He promised to state on an early occasion the further intentions of Government, and on the 19th he declared that they did not mean to give up the remainder of the Factories Bill, which he moved to be re-committed. A desultory conversation thereupon took place. Lord Ashley approved of the resolution of Government, though he deeply regretted the loss of the Education Clauses, by which the vast body of neglected children seemed consigned to an eternity of ignorance-a vast responsibility lay somewhere; and he intimated his determination, that unless a very mighty change should take place in the mutual temper of both parties, he would never be a party to any attempt by mutual concession to bring antagonist parties to act together in the same general plan. Mr. Milner Gibson protested against the use of the word "concession; " attributing the failure of a general system of education to the doctrine that there was some recognised superiority in Churchmen-some Divine right to trample on the religious liberty of Dissenters, and to take money from Dissenters to teach the tenets of the Church of England. The lost measure, however, was a very pitiful proposal: it would not have caused the education of a single child in the great city of Glasgow, and of not many more in the manufacturing districts of England than already received education. Sir Robert Inglis and Mr. Hindley exhorted Ministers, not on account of the objections against the particular measure, to abandon the general subject of education. Sir George Grey, Mr. Colquhoun, Mr. Stuart Wortley, and Mr. Wyse recommended an extension of the Parliamentary grant; Mr. Wyse urging an alteration of the existing orders in Council regulating the distribution; and Sir George Grey asking for some intimation of the intentions of Government, with respect to further legislation in the matter. In answer to this question, Sir James Graham stated, that the Government were not prepared to announce their intention of endeavouring to frame another measure on the same principle as that which had been withdrawn. They intended to avail themselves of the experience of what had occurred, and to wait to see what would be the effect of individual exertion. It would, however, be open to Lord John Russell or any other Member to introduce a measure on the subject; and he would not, on the part of Government, offer any opposition to such an attempt. In the House of Lords, a few nights afterwards, Viscount Melbourne mentioned that he had received various petitions against the abandoned Educational Clauses of the Bill, adding, "I have only for one to say, that I deeply regret the sudden termination of a measure so worthy in itself, and so much desired by a large portion of the community." On the 5th of May, Sir Robert Peel brought forward in a Committee of the whole House a plan of which he had given notice for relieving the spiritual wants of the kingdom by the endowment of additional ministers, and augmentation of small livings. He referred to various passages in the reports of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, showing the great extent of spiritual destitution in populous places. All must lament this state of the country; and her Majesty's Ministers had thought it their duty to recommend to Parliament the consideration whether aid might not be obtained for religious instruction from ecclesiastical resources? If the result of that aid, as far it might go, should be found to produce the benefits he anticipated from it, he was not without hopes that Parliament would hereafter grant pecuniary assistance for carrying those objects yet further: but at present his proposal was confined to ecclesiastical resources. At the end of 1834, he had advised the Crown to issue a Commission, the result of whose inquiries had been to show that the revenues of certain bishoprics, cathedrals, and other ecclesiastical establishments, were much larger than their proper purposes required. The commission had recommended the transfer of such surplus receipts of the church to a new fund, which now amounted to about 25,000l. a-year. Out of this fund about 16,700l. per annum had been applied to the augmentation of small livings: and other analogous purposes had been marked out, which, with the 16,7007., would absorb in all about 32,000l. In a few years this fund would be very considerably increased by the falling in of canon |