'■:-'^' L'^'-^.v^j ]L W^ n p.'-^^ ,^.>-v ^-\>' ■ A' ADVEETISEMENT. At a Meeting of the London Diocesan Board of Educa- tion, held at London House on Thursday the 28th da}^ of February last, after the Report of the Sub-committee appointed on November 8th, 1866, to ascertain the opinions of che London clergy respecting compulsory or other measures of education in connection with certain observed facts in their own parishes, had been laid on the table : — Sir W. C. James moved, and the Right Honourable H. A. Bruce (in the absence of the Rev. W. Rogers) seconded the first resolution : — " That the state of facts disclosed by the returns of the ** Clergy of the Diocese of London, is such as to demand im- ** mediately the most energetic exertions to avert the disastrous " consequences which must otherwise inevitably ensue." This resolution was carried unanimously. Harry Chester, Esq., then moved, and the Rev. W. J. Irons seconded the second resolution : — '* That inasmuch as a considerable number of those Clergy of the Diocese of London who have made returns to this Board are impressed with the necessity of the extension of obligatory measures of education, and many others have con- ceded the principle, but have shrunk from the appHcation of it in fear of certain consequences, which would, as they con- ceive, follow its practical adoption : and inasmuch as none of those who are partially or absolutely opposed to the prmciple have suggested remedial measures, this Board earnestly desires that Parliament should immediately institute an inquiry into the desirableness of adopting these or some other measures to meet the exigency disclosed in the returns made to this Board." 4 ADVERTISEMENT. To which resohition the Rev. Derwent Coleridge moved the following amendment : — " That while admitting the imperfections of the present *' machinery of education, as regards the lower classes, this meet- " ing deprecates the application to Parliament for ohligatoiy " measures." This amendment having been seconded by the Rev. W. D. Maclagan (in the absence of Mr. Kempe) both the resolution and amendment were withdrawn on the recommendation of the Chairman, and a select Committee was appointed to consider and report upon the Manchester and Salford Education Bill, and any other means of bringing the important question suggested by the Report to a practical issue. A somewhat general desire having been expressed to see my speech in print, I have endeavoured to reproduce the substance of what I then spoke, and as nearly as possible in the same words, though well aware that the light sallies of an occasional speech may be ill calculated for serious perusal, and are likely to be read with much less indulgence than they were heard. A few verbal corrections are the only changes which I have thought it expedient to make under the circumstances. Nescit vox missa reverti. But as the main object is to give, in how- ever slight a sketch, a general view of the question, I have not scrupled to add, within brackets, some portions of my argument which were omitted in deliver3\ DERWENT COLERIDGE. Hanwell Rectory, March, 1867. U.UC-1 SPEECH. My Lord and Gentlemen, The Committee of the London Diocesan Board of Education have intrusted to me the charge of expressing the sentiments of those members who are not favourable to the views expressed or intimated in the resolution which has been proposed and seconded with so much force and eloquence. Or if not so, and I should be sorry in anything which I shall now say to compromise any one but myself, they have kindly in- vited me to communicate my own opinions in the way of an amendment. I rise to perform this task with unfeigned reluctance. First, because I find myself opposed to men whom I have long looked up to as among the most zealous, and disinterested friends of national education, men with whose feelings I warmly sympathise, whose general aim I cordially approve, but whose particular method, as now suggested, with the principle upon which it is based, I cannot but regard as radically unsound, uncalled for, unsatisfactory, and dangerous. Secondly, because I have much to say, my objections ex- tending to the whole length and breadth, let me rather say to the whole height and depth of the scheme ; while yet, being much more accustomed to use my pen than my tongue for such a purpose, I have little hope that I shall be able to set them forth either well or brietiy ; and I should be loth to inflict upon this meeting, and in particular upon your lordship, a long and dreary oration. Thirdly, because it is not pleasant for a man who has from early years, and in more than one capacity, shown some disposition 6 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND to active and proprressivc measures in the matter of education, to appear now in the Ught of an obstructive. And if I entered this room with this feeling, it cannot but have been greatly strengthened by the very strong terms, however complimentary and kindly meant, in which my name has been mentioned by the mover of the present resolution. I feel wholly unable to say what I would wish to say on this point without further con- sideration. I will merely remark in passing that the fact of " Derwent Coleridge " having been for so long a time what Mr. Chester is pleased to call " an Apostle of Education," might fairly lead to the supposition that, in opposing a particular method, he had no wish to obstruct the cause. However, I have now no choice but to proceed, and must ask for a patient if not an indulgent hearing. I must speak not to the mere terms of the proposition, which are studiously moderate and elastic, though even so, not I think, free from objection, but to its obvious meaning and tendency. And first of the preamble. It is stated that a considerable number of the clergy are favourable to obligatory measures of education. I contend that we have no e\ddence before us on this point. No evidence. Whatever may be the fact it is not disclosed in the returns. A number of clergymen, not an over- whelming number, have stated that they experience a difficulty in getting the children, or some of the children, in their respec- tive cures to attend school ; and that they are unable to suggest any remedy for this evil short of obligatory measures : no remedy at all, and therefore of course no remedy " short of obligatory measures." But this expression is found for them, and does not by any means commit them to this particular solution of the problem. [They may think the remedy worse than the disease; or not practicable, or not likely to be elFectual. I say nothing here either for or against any of these alternatives. All I say is that any one of them is logically consistent with the answer given by these clergymen in their returns. Or again, they may not have formed, or not cared to express any positive opinion upon this difficult question.] In one instance, that of my friend and neighbour the Vicar of Ealing, whose name is placed among those who are favourable to obligatory RATE PAYMENT. 7 measures, I have authority to state that though there certainly is a certain small proportion of the children in his parish whom he cannot persuade to attend school, and with whom, so far as he sees at present, nothing hut force could prevail, yet that he is entirely opposed to such rough and ready treatment.* I do not wish to lay more weight upon this particular case than it will support ; though it certainly goes some way to confirm the opinion which I entertained beforehand. My belief is that if a categorical answer to a plain and direct question had been sought with as much care as it has been avoided, we should have encountered a hail- storm of Noes ; and if the enquiry had extended beyond the limits of this diocese, it would have been still more pitiless and pelting. The news from the country would have been fearful. Now when we consider how large a share the clergy in this country take in educating and providing for the education of the lower classes, and how necessary their co- operation is deemed by many of those who have no special regard for their order, I think it would be well to seek some evidence as to theii' views and wishes other than surmise and inference. But I am content to waive this point. If the atiswers of the clergy had been as conclusively favourable to obligatory mea- sures as I believe them to be inconclusive, where they are not unfavourable ; if in the face of an admitted difficulty, whatever may be its extent, they were to send forth a general cry to the State for help, in the shape of compulsory powers, I should still hold it to be my duty to raise a voice of warning, and that in no uncertain tones. For we must look the matter fully and fairly in the face. If we go to Parliament with any such petition, any hint of com- pulsory measures, we must be prepared for what we shall get, be it what it may. Beggars must not be choosers. We must look to antecedents. We must observe the disposition shown by pubUc men at this present time. If any ingenious pro- jector hopes to get his own pet scheme passed, just so much, and exactly so, his columbine simplicity has not yet been tem- pered with the wisdom of the serpent. We must look also to the known opinions of those who have been the foremost sup- * A Becoud instance was mentioned by the seconder of this amendment. 8 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND porters, and will be the ine\dtable leaders of this entei-prise ; — men who know what they mean, and who know that nothing less than the whole means anything to the j)urpose, though they may be willing to accept instalments, and enlist recruits for limited objects, and for a short term of service. I think I shall meet with no denial from any of these men when I say that what they have in view is a general, as distinguished from a particular and supplementary measure ; and this no new discovery, but a scheme that has long been contemplated, a sweeping change. Less than a general measure will not indeed meet the case upon the present showing. It is not the children engaged in such or such an industry whom we are called upon to protect from undue or untimely labour, with some special pro\dsion for their school attendance, or educational proficiency. We have to meet the case of children kept from school from all sorts of causes, under every variety of circumstance. Less than a general measure will not satisfy this requirement ; and the speeches which we have just heard, not to speak of other indications, abundantly entitle us to assume that such general measure is to be based upon compulsion, or is intended to lead to it. Now compulsory education must be free education, whether the penaltj^ without which compulsory enactments are a nullity, be inflicted upon the parent in the shape of fine and imprison- ment, or on the employer of juvenile labom-, which comes to the same thing, the obligation still lying upon the parent, you must pay for that which you imperatively demand. [Poverty, real or alleged, will in numberless instances afford an irresistible plea for help, and if you help this man you must help his neigh- bour. There is no line to be drawn if once the limit of pauperism be passed, which assuredly it would be most unde- sirable to extend : and thus, for the sake of the few who really cannot pay, (whose case admits of ready relief in the present system) you must pay for the many who can and do. It may be said that this is not intended ; but it must come to this, as is admitted, and indeed desired by many advocates of the change. And if for attendance at school an educational test be adopted, to which, as I shall show by-and-bye, there are RATE -PAYMENT. 9 additional objections, it comes to the same thing. You cannot require a qualification without providing the means of attaining it, when to want is to starve.] These are not the times when you can exact the tale of bricks and refuse the straw without which they cannot be made. Now upon whom, and upon what is this charge to fall ? [The State must of course be responsible for the outlay which it has imposed; but the State is no more than a party authorised to draw cheques on the national exchequer, whether upon the whole, or upon a particular portion ; authorised to levy money, and bound to control the expenditure. The nation will have to pay the cost, as it does now, and must pay for what more may be required ; — but how? Will the State take the entire charge — cost and management — upon itself, or shall it be considered as a special incumbency upon one description of property, already heavily — and specially — burthened. In plain terms, will the cost be borne by the nation at large, under the control of the G overment, or will it be laid on the rate, county or parochial; and the management, as it needs must, with what- ever reservation, be left to the rate-payers ?] The two cases are, as I have elsewhere stated, wholly different. It is one thing to have a national education in the extended and only proper sense of the term, freely provided by the State, and paid for , out of the general taxation ; — an education, limited only by the need, and which, while it secures a minimum amount of instruction, does not lower the average by neglecting the maximum — the rich fruit which ought to hang upon the topmost boughs ; — an education calculated to develop all the faculties of every child, and make the most of him. I do not desire this. I am unwilling to drop my piece of meat into the brook to snap at what may prove an exaggerated shadow. I had rather bear the ills I have, than fly to others that I know not of. But to this I might be reconciled and hope for the best, if it could be carried out in its entirety. I might hope that the patent evils of the American system might either not arise, or be eifectually controlled, in this country. But it is idle to discuss the merits or demerits of a castle in the air. That it will be reared on terra firma in old England under existing 10 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND circumstances, is matter neither of hope nor fear. This cannot be so much as seriously proposed, if only on account of the cost, which must be estimated by millions year by year, to say nothing of the first outlay. The charge to the public revenue in America has been variously estimated at from 25 shillings to £2 for each scholar annually. In England it cannot be less for the same article, and is likely to be more. In fact you may fix on any sum between the two, or go still higher, according as the instruction is liberally and effectually, or scantily and imperfectly supplied. Multiply this sum, whatever it may be, by the number of childi'en requiring to be so educated, which again is variously stated at from eighteen hundred thousand to four millions, and the product, lying within these limits of variation, will give the annual cost. Without affecting a delusive accuracy, we may certainly conclude that it would be very great, and what may also be a reason for hesitation — very uncertain. [Observe, I do not say that the cost would in my opinion be too great, if the education supplied were really what it ought to be, or if this were the only or best means of getting it. In fact it would onty be a transference of a necessary expenditure, and less than is already paid by the State itself for objects scarcely less indispensable and far less remunerative. All that I say, and all that my argument requires me to say, is that the sum required is immensely larger than Parliament wdll be willing to gi'ant, or the country to sanction. As a pauper scheme, rigidly excluding all but the poorest children, and limiting the instruction given to their supposed need, as estimated by popular opinion — and in this shape alone would it obtain a hearing — the cost would still be sufficient to frighten the boldest Chancellor of the Exchequer from his propriety, and the result be no better than organised degi-adation.] But no such scheme is on the cards. What is intended, what has been over and over again proposed, what is inevitable, if we are to have a compulsory and therefore a free education, is to saddle the cost upon the rates — that is, to increase, and that enormously, what is ah*eady, in my judgment a great and growing hardship, whether we are to call it injustice or adopt the neutral RATE -PAYMENT. 11 term inequality — a hardship which every change in legislation, however beneficial, has a tendency to increase ; — the compara- tive exemption, namely, of funded and floating capital from the burdens of property, and in particular from the relief of that poverty which it so largely contributes to create. In two houses of the same description one may be occupied by a struggling mechanic or a clerk with a small salary ; the other by a retired tradesman, with a balance at his banker's and shares in two or three profitable concerns. They contribute equally to the rates. Take a step upwards in the social grade, and one householder with a small estate may have to pay five times as much as his next door neighbour with ten times his income and fewer calls upon it. This is the general question. Leaving this to be discussed by those whom it may concern, I wish to draw your Lordship's attention to the excessive aggravation with which this most unequal impost falls upon the clergy, whose official income being for the most part derived from land is reckoned to consist of land, though there may not be an acre of glebe on which to feed a cow. Here the inequality of which I have spoken becomes extreme. He may be, he often is to all intents and purposes, a poor man, and yet be the largest rate-payer in a wealthy parish. In every case his payments, under this head, are out of all proportion to his means, supposing him to have no private fortune. With a small life-income, subject to inde- finite demands — of a moral nature it is true, and therefore not allowed as deductions from his assessment, but which he cannot, will not, ought not, to evade — he may, he often does pay as much, sometimes much more, than his far more affluent neighbour — poor rates, highway rates, lighting rates, &c., &c., all for immunities and accommodations which his neighbour shares on equal terms with himself. Such is the case with the in- cumbent of a parish as it stands at present ; but what if an education rate be added to his liabilities ? There is nothing, as Sterne has observed in his descant upon solitary imprisonment, like a particular instance for moving the feelings, and, if I mistake not, my present instance will go far to convince the judgment. My schools at Han well — boys', girls', and infants' — could not 12 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND be maintained on their present footing, which is far indeed from extravagant, in the absence of school fees, subscriptions, and Government grants, by an educational rate of less than seven- pence or sevenpence half-penny in the pound. In other words the parish rates would be increased by more than one-half. Heavily enough they fall already upon the poorer rate-payers, but what if they were half as much again ! The incumbent's share would amount to £25 or ^£30. Whether this calculation, which is under the mark as regards Hanwell, be under or above the average requirement, it leaves margin enough to show that the incidence of any such impost upon the clergy would be generally veiy giievous, and, in many cases, quite intolerable. But would the parochial minister be thus relieved from his present responsibilities, which have been dwelt upon with so much pathos in this room as a reason for legislative interference ? The labour, the heart-weariness of collecting subscriptions for the support of his schools, the heavy dole which he must him- self contribute ? Not a bit of it. If he is to be helped at all, and help he certainly needs, it must be in some other way than by throwing the charge upon the rates. For what will you get? A school managed, if not directly by rate-payers yet assuredly in their interest, so far as money is concerned ; a school not merely frugally but parsimoniously conducted. It must be so, and it ought to be so, considering the source from which the funds will be drawn. How is the relief of the poor administered ? [I have said that a rate of so much in the pound will be required to keep our existing schools in their present condition. But more will be required. With compul- sory attendance the schools must be larger ; if the statistics relied upon for the support of this measure are to be trusted, very much larger ; and there will be a heavy mortgage upon the sums collected to pay for the extra machinery. Who can doubt that the education so supj^lied will be made as cheap as possible ? But a power of control will be reserved. Yes, the school will be adjusted to a given standard imposed by authority, and having reference not to the highest but to the lowest requirement. It cannot be otherwise ; for no more can be exacted, though much more may be fostered and encouraged RATE -PAYMENT. 13 — but not with poor men's money. A wise and powerful Government might do more, but not out of the rates. The extra cost must be drawn from the wealth of the land. So far as the legal provision extends, we shall have minimum schools — schools of the triple R ; and we know what this comes to. It is the plague spot of the present system, as modified by recent legislation. A low standard is imposed which is seldom reached, and never passed, except at a pecuniary sacrifice on the part either of the managers or of the schoolmaster. Such at least is the belief by which the ordinary practice is regulated ; and granting that under favourable circumstances and by the exercise of extraordinary skill, which cannot be calculated upon in a general system, a school conducted with higher aims might be made remunerative, — yet in a rate-paid school, there would be no room for such an expectation.] Whatever varied from the regulation model, whether in the way of difference or excess, all that might be required to supplement the Government allowance must still be paid for — by whom ? In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred by the clergyman, or through his instrumentality. And with what face will he now present himself to his old subscribers ? My liberal neighbours tell me that under such circumstances they will not give me a farthing, and my poorer contributors already tell me that the rates are so heavy and so much on the increase, that they must limit their charities. Perhaps I might still be able to do something, but how hardly ! My case is not singular. Clergy- men, look to it. Your kind friends having mulcted you it may be in the tenth of your available income, will leave you with more to do than ever. [But we are referred to the district schools, as conducted under the authority of the Poor Law Board. These are supported by rate, yet are liberally and successfully conducted. They may be so. The Central London District School, with which alone I am acquainted, is certainly most remarkable, but carried on under such exceptional advantages that its example may well be cited in the way of contrast, not of parallel to the proposed scheme. It is a boarding school maintained for a specific object at an immense cost, supplied by a union of the 14 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND richest parishes in London, and concentrated on pauper children only, a small portion of the whole. Its very excellence is purchased by the loss of that home influence, which however inconvenient it may too often be found, must be improved, be it ever so gradually, by wise legislation, by pastoral ministra- tions, by education itself, not put aside in any general project. This would be as undesirable as it would be impracticable. Moreover it is under the religious superintendence — the sole religious superintendence — of a Chaplain who devotes his time to this cm-e. Such at least is the case now, though this arrangement is the subject of loud reclamation and continual complaint. How will this be in an ordinary rate -paid school — the only school, it may well be, within reach — and w^hich every child is obliged to attend ?] Hitherto I have not spoken of the religious difficulty. On this point I should wdsh to speak with the most careful moderation. I will not allege that the con- stitution of rate-paid schools must needs be such, their evil effect so apparent, as to render it necessary for clergymen to maintain Church schools of their own, after pajdng for the school established by law, though the case has arisen elsewhere. I do not believe it will come to this with us. I believe that the parochial clergyman, so long as he holds his present position, will always be permitted and enabled to exercise a modifying if not a controlling influence over the public schools within his district, though it may be at some disadvantage — and extreme opinions must be left to provide for their own display. And again, I am ready to admit that the Church influence of our parish schools, as they are, is not such as to justify confident boasting, though the concession made by the last speaker in the character of a zealous Churchman appears to me too large and unguarded. If our dogmatic teaching does not sink very deep, or prove very lasting in the minds of the children who attend our schools so irregularly and for so short a time, if they do not fill the free-seats in our chm-ches, or add largely to the number of our communicants, yet I cannot admit that the religious tone which generally prevails — the morning and evening devotions, the knowledge that there is such RATE -PAYMENT. 15 a thing as common prayer, the acquaintance which it affords with Church Services — I can by no means admit that all this is without a beneficial influence. I think that we may infer the contrary from what we have observed by the side of many a sick bed, in many an hour of trial, nay, in the life of many in- dividuals whom we have helped to educate. If our parish schools had done no more in the way of religious instruction and moral training than produce the pupil-teachers which have passed through my own hands, it would be enough to commend our present — yet more our past and passing systems — to the mind of Churchmen, as some of those know very well by whom it has been opposed. For this shows what is the tendeyicy of the system, what it might be expected to do if it were strengthened and judiciously extended ; how much there is in it which at all costs ought to be preserved, and this not simply in the interests of the Church, but of social reformation and advancement, from whatever point of view considered. If I were speaking with any party object, I should use a more decided — a less conciliatory language ; but I am most anxious, more especially on this cardinal point, not to overstate my own convictions. I do not think it wise to IShut the door of hope against my own exertions, or anticipate that we shall be powerless, in the event of any change that may be imminent, even if it should be carried out in a less conservative spirit than that by which I am animated. In particular I am ready not merely to admit, but with the last speaker to assert, that secular education, as such, is good as far as it goes, and that it is not chargeable with the evils with which it may be accompanied, and which are fairly imputable to other causes. It is good in itself, and necessary as a gi'ound-work for that religious instruction with which it must in every case be sup- plemented ; though for myself I am now, as heretofore, utterly opposed to any separation between the two. I would have them grow up together with interlacing branches, and in an atmosphere favourable alike to the gi*owth of both. But however this may be, and whatever difficulties may be in the way of providing or maintaining such common nur- series, neither religious nor secular education, will, in my 16 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND judgment, be furthered, but much impeded by compulsory measures and rate-payments. Thus far I have dwelt mamly upon the latter grievance, more es2)ecially as it affects clergj^men ; but there is something to be said about compulsory education as such, indepen- dently of its cost, or the mode in which it is to be met. [Now I am not one of those who object to obligatory measures because they are '' un-English," though I do not think that this term, or the feeling — the instinct which it indicates, is deserving of all the ridicule which has been thrown upon it. When any proposed measure is reprobated as "un-English," what is meant is that it is alien to the habits and feelings of Englishmen, or in- consistent with the institutions to which he is accustomed, and to which, as he believes, the well-being of his country is in great measure due. This may be otherwise, but the burden of proof lies with the advocates of change. In any case the feeling is sound, and to be treated with respect, though in this or that instance it may be misdirected. It has been said that the estab- lishment of a police-force was opposed as being un-English, yet that it has proved most beneficial. Well, if you can show that our present system of education is as inefficient as the old Charleys, and that its place is likely to be as well taken by any compulsory measure, as our ancient guardians of the peace by the myrmidons of Scotland Yard, I concede the point. If not, I must still hold that so rude an interference with the liberty of individuals, and the domestic espionage which it involves, are objectionable, and I have some sympathy with those who shrink from such a course as un-English. But I do not myself take this ground. I am ready to yield to a proved necessity. I admit that there is an evil to be remedied, and am willing to examine any expedient which may be suggested for its removal on its own merits. I am far from wishing to foreclose the enquiry.] Now I hold in my hand a scheme proposed by one not merely of the most zealous and liberal, but most experienced and in- telligent friends of education with which it has been my good fortune to be acquainted.* He would simply lay a fine on • Mr. John Martin, by whose exertions the training school at Highbury was long maintained under the pressure of gi-owing difficulties. RATE-PAYMENT. 17 every employer of labour, who shall give employment to any person not holding a certificate of educational proficiency, and who shall have been under ten years of age when the enactment came in force. A small fee for the issue of the certificate is all the expense which he anticipates. What can be more simple, more effectual, or less costly ? An education test will give you the desired result, and it matters not how it is produced. But the result must still be exacted by pains and penalties, and this, as I have already shown must lead to a free and sufficient provision for its attainment, so that the whole question of cost comes over again. An education-rate, with its unequal and most oppressive incidence, still looms in the distance. But waiving this consideration, and supposing that such an educa- tion test can be had for little or nothing, how will it act ? [In the first place how is the working of this, or any similar scheme, to be superintended? Who is to discover the de- linquents, and how are the fines to be levied ? By the parson of the parish ? Ahsit omen I Or by the police ? Is the parish constable to take the alarm every time he hears a bii'd- clapper, and require the hapless urchin so engaged to produc^e his certi- ficate, as if he were a poacher ? In the case of large and localised industries, something may be done in this way with good effect ; but the employment of young persons, of both sexes, among the poor, consists very much in miscellaneous jobbing, and in domestic service, often in families removed but a step above themselves. Who is to track these youthful bread-seekers from house to house, from farm-yard to farm-yard from workshop to workshop ? I do not say that this difficulty is insuperable, but that the requisite machinery would be both costly and troublesome seems to be without a doubt. Let us suppose, however, that this matter is settled, and that the meshes of the police-net are di'awn so close, that no small fish can slip through :] how, in the next place, are we to deal with the lads and lasses who cannot stand the test, and so remain uncertificated? Are they to become helpless paupers, or are the boys to enlist in oiu: standing army of roughs, and win the bread without law, which the law forbids them to c 18 COMPULSORY EDrCATTON AND earn ? And, alas ! what is to become of the girls ? You will say that no such ignoramuses will then be found. Happy vision ! your penalty will not touch the worst class of parents ; these will still let their children wander at will, in their own devices, or for immediate objects, regardless of ulterior consequences, which will not fall upon the real of- fenders ; and, unless you make your educational test so low as to be worthless, or indeed mischievous (for a low minimum standard invariably lowers the average), there will always be a percentage of boys and girls who will pass through school, sup- posing their attendance to be secured, without reaching it. There are instances in this village of working men, obviously incapable of learning even to read, who are yet earning an honest livelihood. Are they to be sent to the workhouse ? And in less extreme cases. I know that in my own school there are always a certain number of children, who, whether from the force of circumstances, or from the constitution of their own mind, can never be brought to pass the higher tests which are now imposed, and this in spite of special pains on the part of their instructor. Now, think of a farmer or country squire, with half a dozen able-bodied fellows in the parish, to whom they dare not give a job of work — who must not fill a dung-cart — because they cannot read fluently, and write their names well. Doubtless in practice they would be let off easily enough ; but this would be to defeat the object. A blundering attempt at reading, a mere scrawl is of no value in itself, as such rudimental acquirement will not last. An examination which means so little when it is passed, will mean nothing the year following, and obviously it cannot be renewed. Thus it appears that you will require compulsory attendance, enforced by fine and imprisonment, to reach the parents, — an educa- tional test, followed by disqualification, if it is not passed, to ascertain the result ; and that this will either bend or break under the strain to which it will be subjected. But there is yet another point which, so far as I know, has never been touched upon in this discussion. If you oblige a boy to come to school, you must keep him there. You cannot turn him out, let him do what he will. Say that this power RATE-PAYMENT. 19 were vested in the clergyman, or some other authority, each case to be reported to the educational board, — practically it could not be exerted. The penalty would be too severe. Who would cuff a boy's ear, if he were sure of opening the carotid artery ? Now there is always a liability — in every large school a likelihood — of having some boy, whom no teaching can im- prove, and no discipline tame. He lies, he steals, he uses bad language, he breaks every rule ; he does no good to himself, and much harm to others. What are you to do ? You cannot flog him to any purpose. A boy must be the son of a duke to be well flogged now-a-days. It is a feudal pri\ilege, and on its way to the tomb of the forest laws. If a national- school boy receive any chastisement which such a boy will feel, and fear, his mother will bring him up to the Kectory the same evening, declaring that he has been treated " shameful ; " and his father will take him the next morning to the magistrate, for a summons against the master. Experto crede. Of course, expulsion is only resorted to as a last resource, but it is quite necessary that the power should remain. These are but samples of the inconveniences *which must result from compulsory education in this country. [It is said that they have all been overcome in other countries. Have they ? All the evidence that has hitherto reached me is either uncertain, adverse, or inapplicable. Foreign examples must be translated before they can be read in England. Any superiority which the original may exhibit may weU be lost in the process. It may be due to conditions which cannot be transferred — as in America to the comparative absence of extreme poverty, in Prussia to beaurocratic surveillance and control. Sec, &c. Besides education is not an end but a means. Is the result taken upon the whole, and relatively to the difficulties to be overcome more unsatisfactory? I doubt it gi'eatly. I have conversed on the subject with intelligent Americans, Germans, Swedes, experts in the educational question, and not one of them left upon me the impression that what they saw here was inferior, in their judgment, to what they had left at home. I believe that they looked upon the better class of our national-schools as they certainly did upon our training-schools, with admiration. It o2 20 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND is true this was in better times ; to which it may be difficult to return.] What then, I have been asked, in a tone bordering upon re- probation, would you do nothing? Have you no counter- scheme to propose ? I would do a great deal [though I can hold out no hope of removing, or greatly mitigating, by school- education alone, the evils incident to a community, where the population having long outgrown the means of comfortable sub- sistence, under any system of distribution hitherto devised, all available labour is required for the bare existence of the lowest class. Still I would make an effort, a fresh effort in my own way, and am willing to go a little out of my way in order to co-operate with others.] But a conservative reformer always speaks at a disadvantage, in the face of bold and enthusiastic theorists. In the present case, without at all denying the existence of evils, which are indeed patent, he may yet think that they have been overstated, while the good which has been done, and is doing, the remedial influences which are actually in operation, have been comparativelv overlooked : and again, he may think the remedies proposed much too "violent, and of very doubtful promise. Grant me your indulgence for a few minutes, while I illustrate this by a little apologue. A man has a bad leg. 'He has a rheumatic knee, or a swollen ankle, or he is troubled with corns, or he thinks that one or two of his toes are frost-bitten. Cut it off, says the hospital surgeon, famous as an operator. I will supply you with an artificial leg, so fitted with springs and bandages, such an exquisite piece of machinery, that it will do as well or better than the old limb, and will give you no further trouble. The man hesitates. * Your machine may be very clever, but what if like the Dutchman's cork-leg, it jerks off of itself, and carries me I know not whither ? or what if it prove a heavy incumbrance, and will not march ? At any rate it will not be vitally connected with my bodily frame, it will not beat with the pulses of my heart.' But what says his own medical attendant — a safe practitioner ? He cannot suggest an immediate, he cannot even promise an effectual cure. He recommends constitutional treatment — a more generous and at RATE -PAYMENT. 21 the same time a more careful diet — with some local application. It will not get well soon, he adds, perhaps it may never get quite well; perfect health is hardly to be expected at your age, if at any age ; and after all the leg is a fairly good leg, it has carried you along pretty well hitherto, and I advise you to tryit a little longer. My Lords and Gentlemen, compulsory education is this artificial leg. It is a costly, a cumbrous, and uncertain machine, which will prove as difficult to guide as it will be heavy to carry ; and in any case it will not be vitally connected with the heart, the mind, and the free-will of the body politic. We had better keep the leg we have got, with all its defects, and try to mend -them. What we have to do now is to improve our present schools. Some years ago we had a veiy good system, doubtless requiring modification, but very susceptible of it. We have now, in my opinion, a very much worse system, though it puts forward a principle, namely, payment for results, which if it were really carried out — if results were really tested and fairly paid for — all the results which a good school ought to produce ; if encouragement were substituted for penalty, or rather if penalty were no longer substituted for encouragement as a cheaper though far less efficient agency ; if attention were directed rather to the highest than to the lowest attainable product of elementary education (without however neglecting the latter), keeping in view a high and rising average ; and if sufficient aid were afi'orded in producing and maintaining the requisite machinery, now fast slipping out of our hands; — with these changes and additions the present system might well supersede its predecessor, and thus reinforced I believe that it would do all, or nearly all, that can be effected by school instruction under the peculiar conditions of this country. Special cases may be met by special provisions. Pauper schools and ragged schools may be established on a separate footing. There may be limitation to child-labom* in factories and elsewhere, and school attendance may be required under certain specific circumstances, for a particular and remunerative object. But the one thing needful is to improve and multiply- such schools as we now have, that they may spread over the length and breadth of our land ; schools I mean main- 22 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND tained by school-fees, by local subscriptions, and by Government grants, freely regulated by their local supporters in harmony with their religious convictions, and freely recruited with scholars through the attraction of their own excellence. Such in my judgment should be the tenor of any representations which may be made to Parliament on this subject. [State assistance, given under these conditions, on the terms of a well-guarded supervision, which of itself implies a certain power of control, is not merely needful as a help, but may be made useful both as a stimulus and a direction. Education is a national concern, and the impartial co-operation of the State with the Church, and with other religious denominations, — with educationalists of whatever class — in a w^ord with the people at large, whether as supplying the means, or receiving the benefit of school instruction, is entirely agreeable to reason, to con- science, to our national habits and feelings ; but I cannot consent to surrender the liberty whether of those who interest themselves in this cause, or of those for whom they are interested. It is said, indeed, that State assistance cannot be extended, or much longer continued, under such conditions, or in such terms, that the compact must be dissolved, and the charge surrendered, or that the Council Office will give way under its weight. Very likely, as it is now constituted ; but I have much better authority than my o-vnti for asserting that the difficulty does not lie in the nature of things. The author of the present system, by whom in its original form it was so long worked, has affirmed that his scheme, with whatever modification, is capable of an enlargement co-extensive with the requirements of the country, and at no immoderate cost. Doubtless, there must be a considerable change. Let the educational depart- ment of the State be as far as possible taken out of the domain of politics, and its administration assimilated more nearly to that of the laws. Let there be a Minister of Instruc- tion in the Upper House, whether identified with the Lord l^resident or not, and a permanent Vice-President, if in the Lower House, so much the better ; with as many secretaries as may be needful : one for Scotland, one for Wales, and in England RATE-PAYMENT. 25 prizes, at any rate by well-wi*itten reports, and by the pub- licity which they will give. For this object I think sufficient funds might be raised, and for this object I think they should be reserved — at all events till we have money to spare. Let us occupy a province of our own, and instead of picking up a few scattered ears from the well-reaped, well-gleaned fields of the National Society and of the Bishops' Fund, to be piled up upon the self-same stack ; instead of exhausting and mortgaging our scanty resources, that we may squeeze out a last pitiful drop into the half-filled, still petitionary cups which are held out to us — let us try to become for the Diocese of London what the National Society in one, and in my judgment its most important aspect, has long been for the country at large — the organ of educational improvement, both secular and religious, on Church principles. I beg to move that this meeting, while admitting the imper- fections of the present machinery of education as regards the lower classes deprecates any application to Parliament for obligatory measures. 26 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND POSTSCRIPT. Since this speech was delivered the Education Bill has been laid upon the table of the House of Commons by the Vice- President of the Privy Council, which is certainly a step, though a short one, in the right direction, and may perhaps encourage us to proceed in the course which I have recom- mended. It notices and does something to correct two of the most obvious evils of the Revised Code, its depressing tendency, and the loss of teaching-power which it has entailed. But it does not go to the root of the mischief. When a child has failed to pass a given standard, it is obviously the proper course to make him or her go over the old ground again, whereas the Revised Code requires that a child so failing, whether from inferior capacity or irregular attendance, should be put forward. Thus the time of the teacher is taken up by what generally proves a vain attempt, to work up such children beyond their mark. The whole school suffers, and these children in particular. The remedy which I pointed out long ago is easy. Let the master or mistress be permitted to present every child for examination in any standard not already passed, which may be deemed suitable, and let there be a rising scale of payments. The master or mistress will then carry up their scholars as fast as they can, but not too fast. A clever child may often pass two standards in one year ; he will then be examined in the higher. Let him rise as high as he may, there should still be an induce- ment to keep him at school, and to go on with his education. The same rule should apply to the infant school. Children under six, or even seven years of age are much better there than in the boys* school ; but why should their progress be ai-tificially retarded ? Every restraint upon the natural working of a school is inju- rious, and should be reduced to a minimum. To fear that National Schools in this country will ever teach too much or RATE-PAYMENT. 23 one for each of the ecclesiastical provinces, if no better division can be made, each responsible for his own department. Here there might be unity of action and persistency of method, with some variety in the application. In this, or some other way, all the difficulties of the Council Office might readily be overcome. If there be more work to be done let there be more hands and heads to do it. I am not now however concerned to support this or any other particular project for obtaining Government aid. I have not undertaken to propound any particular scheme for remedying the evils complained of, though I have pointed out the direction which, in my judgment, our efforts should take, and the prin- ciples by which they should be guided. All that I have attempted to prove, and my arguments are open to public criticism, is that any general measure of compulsory education, whether based upon school attendance or an educational test, involves the most serious difficulties and inconveniences, some of them apparently unforeseen, and none of them met by any provision that has been suggested ; and more particularly I have sought to show that the education rate, which will infallibly be resorted to, for the whole or part of the cost — ultimately, there is too much to fear for the whole — must be in the last degjfee unjust and oppressive. Such is indeed the Parliamentary expedient, pdr excellence. Whatever may be wanted in the way of social im- provement, the better treatment of the sick-poor, the payment of election expenses, without the risk of bribery — must be paid for out of the rates. These, and the like, are but additional pounds to the camel's load, and the patient animal, seeing there is no help for it, may groan a little and still jog on : but an education rate, commensurate with the need, will be a fresh pack. It may be said that the Members of ParHament by whom it wiU be voted are many of them among the largest rate-payers. Well, noblesse oblige. They are not men of smaU income, and they are not clergymen.] But would I give way to a hopeless spirit — would I remain inactive ? Far from it ! Let us make the most of our pre- sent agencies, and strengthen them, as far as we can, by our own exertions. I will not hesitate to avow that I am more anxious to carry up our present schools to their highest 24 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND mark, that they at least may do their proper work, and tell upon the country, than to force into tliem ^11 at once a number of the poorest and most intractable children, the effect of which has never yet been considered. It is a very different matter when they come in gradually through natural methods. There is no danger of their being overlooked by the parochial clergy, and when the number is large a special provision may be made mider the present system. Let us make the most of what we have; — and let it not be said that this is to evade the question before us. It is to face it with a boldness which my opponents may deem unfeeling, and my friends fool-hardy. The evils to which our attention has been so forcibly and so properly called are rooted in the constitution of society. They are due to those extremes of wealth and poverty which it has been the tendency, and all but the boast of modern legislation to increase. You must improve the homes of the poor, you must better their condition before veiy much good will be got out of our schools for them, — I mean for the lowest class of all. No attendance that you can enforce, no test that you can impose, wiU reach the malady. Other legis- lative measures, other civilising influences must pave the way. The Bishop's Fund is doing something, not a little, in this direction, if we will but have patience. Every new Church with its pastoral ministrations, every Mission-house with its schools, raises out of the mire a number of little outcasts within the district which it is appointed to reclaim. And the better the school the stronger will be its attraction. It will work its way downwards. And this I take to be our proper function as an educational Board. Let us seek to supplement the Government system and correct its patent defects. Let us appoint, as soon as we can adequately remunerate, a Church Inspector of Schools, for this diocese, equal in position, in talent, in the sldU and judg- ment which can only be gained by habitual practice, to the admirable men in the employ of the Council Office, and un- fettered by their instructions ; such a man as this Board had once the honour of bringing forAvard in a like capacity. Let us encourage a high degree of excellence in our schools by our examinations, perhaps by competitive examinations, and by RATE-PAYMENT. 27 rise too high, is absurd. As well might we attribute to our own bodies a specific levity, and keep them down with weights lest they should fly up to the moon. The pupil-teacher question presents a far greater difficulty. It is not merely that school- managers are unable to pay for their services, but that boys of the proper description are no longer to he had. Poor parents cannot support the cost of theii' sons' apprenticeship and subsequent training, now in- creased by the payment of an entrance-fee ; and the class above them, from which the best pupil-teachers have always been taken, will neither sacrifice the time, nor incur the charge. It was otherwise under the old code, when the vocation of a schoolmaster ofi'ered a better and a surer prospect. By attaching to the certificate of the schoolmaster a pecu- niary value dependent upon actual service, and upon good conduct, not only was his average salary increased, but his position improved in his own estimation, and that of his friends. Superior men were thus attracted to the profession, and kept in it, — and this at a cost very far from large when compared with the effect produced. It is said that no Govern- ment wdll again undertake such a charge. Well-^at any rate let this end be kept in view in any change which may be proposed. In America the career of the schoolmaster is more inviting. He finds himself in the way of advancement. This is the cheapest inducement that can be held out, but this country offers few opportunities of promotion to the school- master. Hence he requires to be better paid. And whatever is done let us build as far as possible upon old foundations, and not be led by any over-confident promises to place in jeopardy the good we have. Eadical reforms, even when most necessary, are perilous, and at best are apt to fall far short of the expectations held out by their advocates. I have lived to see three great political changes amounting in the aggregate to a social revolution. Catholic Emancipation, as it was called, the sudden extinction of colonial slavery, and the withdrawal of fiscal protection from home-grown com. I might add a fourth. — Parliamentary reform ; but this game is 28 COMPULSORY EDUCATION AND not yet played out, nor its issues ascertained. In favour of the first measure, it was alleged, that it would immediately and permanently tranquillise Ireland, bring over the Koman Catholic gentry at once to the Protestant faith, the peasantry soon after; and solve the whole difficulty of the Irish Church. It was urged in reply that Irish disquiet is due to the race, the history, the predial condition of the people ; that the triumph of the Roman Catholic party would but arm it with tenfold powers, for a more ostentatious and far more successful rivalry^ ; and that it would render the Protestant establishment in Ireland more troublesome than ever, and far more anomalous. On behalf of the second measure it was confidently promised that the negro would soon shake off the vices of servitude and become a brother indeed ; that the planter, compensated for his immediate loss, would presently gi'ow rich, '* beyond the dreams of avarice," by the substitution of free for servile labour ; and the "West India Islands become not in fable but in fact the Islands of the Blest. In reply it was whispered timidly and mournfully that the negro, freed at once and without preparation from the restraints which his nature and habits required, would become an indolent and insolent squatter ; that the compensation was a sham, and that the planters would be ruined ; that Jamaica would become and remain a spoilt wilderness, without the gi'ace of nature, or the wealth of art. The third change, it was contended, would make famine an impossibility, raise the condition of the common people by cheapening their food, and more than repay the land- holder and farmer by the stimulus it would give to the pro- ductive powers of the country at large. The blunderers on the other side maintained that a fictitious wealth would be created, the sudden collapses of which would produce all the effects of dearth, not in one class of society alone, but in all, with moral consequences yet more deplorable ; that the growth of the population would be unhealthily stimulated, and congre- gated in masses where riotous living would alternate with want, while the agricultural labourer would be permanently de- pressed ; that a flux of money would make living dear for the RATE-PAYMENT. 29 many, however easy to the few ; that small people would be made still smaller, and poverty be extended, if not deepened. Other and better reasons might have been given, and doubtless were given, though in a lower key, for each of these great reforms in which we all now acquiesce, and in which most of us rejoice, though some of us may wish that they had been accompanied by better safeguards. However this may be, one reason there was for making these changes, which, like the first of the fourteen given by the commander of a fort for not firing a salute, may be regarded as conclusive : they were inevitable. It may be that some such inevitable change in our educational system is imminent, whether arising from the altered condition of the country or brought about by persevering agitation. We are told so by those who are seeking to bring it about. If so we must try to guide what we cannot withstand. Whatever causes, seen or unseen, may be at work to revolutionise the social fabric, we must strive to accommodate the new as far as possible to the old. And in this spirit I am prepared to deal with the educa- tional question. Meanwhile I have learned thus much from experience — to distrust popular and telling arguments — to look very closely at numerical statistics, both as to their accuracy and their true meaning — to expect little, and nothing soon from social specifics ; and utterly to disbelieve in millennial predic- tions. Let us look before we leap. »t .^ \ ^ v^>: -?■''■•- .^' ^i^ j . \*^4^-:'^\ \r7% tf" ■!>!;-^:^ S ■#'' ^ •V A " ^^