which ignorance revealed itself. There were 60,000 children in poor-houses under influences little less injurious than those of prisons. (1) "I know of nothing more pathetic than a workhouse school," wrote Mr. Cumin, in one of his reports. Dean Alford wrote, at the end of 1839:-" Prussia is before us; Switzerland is before us; France is before us; there is no record of any people on earth so highly civilised, so abounding in arts and comforts, and so grossly, generally ignorant as the English." (2)

The particulars and extracts which have been given represent the general condition of education at this period— a condition which formed the humiliating topic of every assembly of Englishmen, and of every newspaper and publication of ordinary intelligence. Under these circumstances it was a source of the greatest discouragement and perplexity to thousands of reflecting and benevolent men, that the wide divergences of opinion prevented any united and comprehensive action. The difficulty did not spring from the people themselves. It happened then, as it has always happened since, that the classes which stood most in need of education were those who presented the smallest obstacle to the acceptance of a general plan. In the evidence taken before the Select Committee of 1834 it was well established, that the parents of the scholars were, in the majority of cases, perfectly indifferent about the tone, colour, or management of the schools, so long as they could get good secular instruction.(3) "Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of children of nonconformists were taught religion, by considering them what they were not, i.e., baptised according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England." (*) The Secretary of the National Society testified of their schools, that ninetenths of the parents would remove their children if they could 1 Quarterly Journal of Education, 9, 49. 2 Life of Alford, 121. Quarterly Journal of Education, 8, 251. 4 Shuttleworth, Public

3

Education, 246.

get better instruction, without thinking at all about the religious knowledge. The children of Jews, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics, were often found in British and National Schools. It was not that the parents were always wholly ignorant or indifferent upon religious questions. The compulsory attendance at church and the imposition of the catechism were often keenly felt as a grievance and a violation of the liberty of conscience. But where no other schools were available, earnest Dissenters would send their children to Church schools with the feeling that home influence would counteract the teaching of the school and Church, and with the firm intention to keep them in the practice of Dissent. It was a strong proof of the value attached to education when such conditions were acceded to. Amongst the very poorest classes, and those outside all denominational influences, there has been since the beginning of the century, an increasing current of feeling in favour of school instruction, often testified by exertion and self-sacrifice even in extreme poverty.

The interdict against a united and national system came from the moral teachers of the people, and was pronounced necessary in the interests of religion. As new plans were developed and discussed, several phrases have been used to describe them.

There were the exclusively denominational schools, in which the creeds and doctrines of a particular Church were imposed on all the children. The "comprehensive" system, and the "combined" system, are phrases which have been used to describe other plans. Most of the schemes which have been proposed and embodied in resolutions or bills during the last half-century, would come under one or the other of these three descriptions. The meaning and object of the denominational system requires no explanation. Under the "comprehensive" system, a school would generally be in connection with some religious body, and definite religious instruction would be given in the school; but the

parents of the children would be allowed to decide whether they should attend or be withdrawn from it. The "combined" system is that which was established in Ireland, the scholars receiving secular instruction from the schoolmaster, and separate religious teaching from the ministers of the denominations. But no common ground was found upon which the sects could meet and agree and let education proceed—although, at the outset of the struggle, there was no party which objected to State assistance. The Voluntaryists who afterwards grew into an influential party, had not yet formulated their objections to State aid and control. When the Committee of Council was appointed, the great body of the Protestant Dissenters of all sects, sustained the Ministry and approved of public grants. Mr. Edward Baines, the founder of the Leeds Mercury, and father of the gentleman who afterwards became the leader of the Voluntaryists, supported and voted for the Government scheme of 1839. (1) It was not until the administration of the Committee of Council threatened to give undue advantages to the Church, that Dissenters discovered civil and political reasons against State education, and joined in a policy of opposition to its extension.

From the beginning of the struggle to its close, the Church, while doing its utmost to extend education of its own kind, by its own methods, and for its own purposes, has been the grand and chief obstructive to any national system. The National Society prescribed tests and methods, laid down terms of union, and from the Sanctuary at Westminster claimed the right to dictate the terms upon which the education of the people should be permitted to proceed. The charter of the National Society declared that it was founded to educate the children of the poor, "without any exception," in the doctrines of the Established Church. (2) The position 1 Hansard, T. S., 42, 727. 2 Notes of my Life, Denison, 137.

get better instruction, without thinking at all about the religious knowledge. The children of Jews, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics, were often found in British and National Schools. It was not that the parents were always wholly ignorant or indifferent upon religious questions. The compulsory attendance at church and the imposition of the catechism were often keenly felt as a grievance and a violation of the liberty of conscience. But where no other schools were available, earnest Dissenters would send their children to Church schools with the feeling that home influence would counteract the teaching of the school and Church, and with the firm intention to keep them in the practice of Dissent. It was a strong proof of the value attached to education when such conditions were acceded to. Amongst the very poorest classes, and those outside all denominational influences, there has been since the beginning of the century, an increasing current of feeling in favour of school instruction, often testified by exertion and self-sacrifice even in extreme poverty.

The interdict against a united and national system came from the moral teachers of the people, and was pronounced necessary in the interests of religion. As new plans were developed and discussed, several phrases have been used to describe them. There were the exclusively denominational schools, in which the creeds and doctrines of a particular Church were imposed on all the children. The "comprehensive" system, and the "combined" system, are phrases which have been used to describe other plans. Most of the schemes which have been proposed and embodied in resolutions or bills during the last half-century, would come under one or the other of these three descriptions. The meaning and object of the denominational system requires no explanation. Under the "comprehensive" system, a school would generally be in connection with some religious body, and definite religious instruction would be given in the school; but the

parents of the children would be allowed to decide whether they should attend or be withdrawn from it. The "combined" system is that which was established in Ireland, the scholars receiving secular instruction from the schoolmaster, and separate religious teaching from the ministers of the denominations. But no common ground was found upon which the sects could meet and agree and let education proceed although, at the outset of the struggle, there was no party which objected to State assistance. The Voluntaryists who afterwards grew into an influential party, had not yet formulated their objections to State aid and control. When the Committee of Council was appointed, the great body of the Protestant Dissenters of all sects, sustained the Ministry and approved of public grants. Mr. Edward Baines, the founder of the Leeds Mercury, and father of the gentleman who afterwards became the leader of the Voluntaryists, supported and voted for the Government scheme of 1839. (1) It was not until the administration of the Committee of Council threatened to give undue advantages to the Church, that Dissenters discovered civil and political reasons against State education, and joined in a policy of opposition to its extension.

From the beginning of the struggle to its close, the Church, while doing its utmost to extend education of its own kind, by its own methods, and for its own purposes, has been the grand and chief obstructive to any national system. The National Society prescribed tests and methods, laid down terms of union, and from the Sanctuary at Westminster claimed the right to dictate the terms upon which the education of the people should be permitted to proceed. The charter of the National Society declared that it was founded to educate the children of the poor, "without any exception," in the doctrines of the Established Church. (2) The position

1 Hansard, T. S., 42, 727. 2 Notes of my Life, Denison, 137.