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October 29, 1853] THE LEADER. 1035
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PUBLIC EDUCATION: MR COBDEN AND SIR ROBE...
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FINE ART PROJECTS. Mk. Hrnuy CoiiK, tho ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Religious Aspects. Two Religious Phenome...
Indies there is an increase of ninety-five in one portion , against a decrease of one thousand three hundred and sixty-one in another . In British North America and its neig hbouring islands there is an increase of six hundred ana twenty-three , against a decrease of two hundred and fifteen . " . ' " Thus , it would appear , that , both at home and abroad , the cause of Methodism , is not advancing . In Great Britain the decrease is remarkable . It is only in its
missionary operations that it can boastof increasing numbers . The fair inference seems to be , that the progress of Methodism is in inverse ratio to the exertions of the Church . At home , where the Church has put forth her energies with greater vigour of late years , the decrease not only of Methodism , but of all kinds of dissents , is observable . On the contrary , in the colonies and in foreign stations , where our full ecclesiastical system , has not duly come , and where the field is fairly open to them , their increase is very perceptible . ' *
The third aspect of religion is presented by the Church of England . Cholera rages in a particular part of Southwark . In the diocese of Winchester , prayers have been put up for fine weather , to stay the progress of cholera . You would never imagine that the cholera district of Southwark is an appanage of the bishopric of Winchester , yielding huge fines upon renewals ! But it is / This Bishop of Winchester has been quite recently consecrating a new church at Geneva !
October 29, 1853] The Leader. 1035
October 29 , 1853 ] THE LEADER . 1035
Public Education: Mr Cobden And Sir Robe...
PUBLIC EDUCATION : MR COBDEN AND SIR ROBERT PEEL . It is now some months since " education " was a topic at public meetings , although privately the topic has not been , lost sight of . This week we have two remarkable gatherings—both connected with Mechanics' Institutions ; one bringing out Mr . Cobden in the most useful and estimable light , the other exhibiting a singular medley of gentlemen united in a common cause by Sir Robert Peel at Tamworth . On Wednesday , the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute was re-opened , and Mr . Cobden not only officiated as President of the evening , but as a public teacher , and delivered what we may call an inaugural address . The first part of it related solely to the affairs , the deficiencies , and the requirements of the institution in which he spoke ; and this portion of his speech was delivered with that plainness and kindness of manner and tone , mingled with humour , which characterises Mr . Cobden when not engaged in a controversy . From the local institute , he was naturally led to ask for what these institutes were established . " Not as a system of education , but to supplement the want of education , and we want the education still -which we wanted when these institutions were founded . I know
that it is made a vexed question , and to some extent a party question . I never regarded it as a party question . I don t care through what it comes . Give me voluntary education , or State education—but education I want . ( Loud applause . ) I cannot accept statistics to prove the number of people who attend chools—to prove that the people are educated , because I cannot shut my eyes to what is evident to my senses , —that the people are not educated , —that they are not being educated . ( Kenewed applause . ) I was talking only yesterday with a merchant in Manchester , who told me that he had attended at the swearingin of the militia in one of the largest manufacturing towns of England , and that not one-half of thoso sworn in could read , and not one-third could sign their names . ( Hear ,
hear . ) Now , without wishing to utter any fanatical opinion with regard to the peaco question , I must say , with all sincerity , I think it would have been much better to hand these young men over to the schoolmaster rather than to the drill-sergeant . ( ' Hear , hear , ' and laughtor . ) For I think the safety of this country would bo more promoted by teaching them to read and write than by teaching thorn to face about right rightly . ( Laughter . ) I was talking this subject over to an old friend of mine at Preston , and ho said , * I attended the coroner one day lost week at an inquest . There- were 13 jurymen ; five signed their names , and eight » nado their mark . ' Can I shut my oyos to what is going on around us P I cannot , and thoreforo I say wo aro not an educated people ; and I say it it ) our dutyand our
, safety calls upon us , to eeo that the peoplo aro educated ; f , . ^ now of no place more fitting to discuss tins subject than in such a meeting as this , because I take it for granted you are all interested in it . You all admit tho deficiency of juvenile instruction , or you would not hare attended to tho defective adult education . ( Hoar , hoar . ) Wo aro not nn educated people , and I havo no hesitation in assorting 1 that , in point of sclu > ol learning' , tho mass of the English People aro the least instructed of nny Protestant community in tho world . (' Sharao . ' ) I say that deliberately . 1 remember quite woll at tho time of tho Hungarian omifir & tion into thin country after tho revolution , a very
distinguished minister or religious toachor of Hungary w » w tiukinK to mo on tho Hubjoafc of our education , uml 1 told «» m a Wgo portion of our peoplo could neither read nor Write . J ft . could not boliovo it , ami mud , ' If it ia truo a Jurgo proportion of your people eiin neither road nor write , «« w do you maintain your constitutional franchises and your political liberties P Why , it is widen ! , to mo that your NiHtitutions aro rather ahead of your pooplo , and that this "'" -government in only a h / ibifc with you . ' It in a habit , «« v < l wo will cling to ifc and hold it ; but I want a safer "uiulation . I want to havo our nolf-govornmont a hnbifc appreciation—Bomothinir our ueonlo will ho nmud of l
« n < not Himply a habit ; and thoro is no aecurity unlesu it 11 blWe < 1 . upon a wider intelligence of tho poopjo than we ttflet with at tho prouont moment . It meets \ m at ovpry tirn—yon can't do anything- in social reform but you *^ ° Jaao * with tho quoation of education , Take tho question
of sanitary reform . Why do people live in bad cellars , surrounded by filth and disease ? You may say it is thenpoverty , but their poverty comes as much from their ignorance as their vices ; and their vices of ten spring from their ignorance . ( Applause . ) The great mass of the people don ' t know what the sanitary laws are ; they don't know that ventilation is good for health ; they don't know that the miasma of an unscavengered street or impure alley is productive of cholera and disease . If they did know these things , people would take care they inhabited better houses ; and if people were only more careful in their habits than they are , and husbanded their means , they might get into better houses . " Another illustration came pat to his hand ; and here he made some significant admissions : —
" I see in different parts of the country a great social movement _ going on between different classes of the community , lor instance , in the town of Preston you have 20 , 000 or 30 , 000 persons out of work , and there is in that place not a chimney but is cold and cheerless—neither smoke nor steam cheering your eyes . Look at the destitution and misery caused by leaving a town in this state for a month or six weeks . Why is this ? I answer , it springs from ignorance . ( Hear , hear . ) Not ignorance confined to one party in the dispute . ( Applause . ) It is ignorance on both sides , and deplorable is its result . ( Renewed applause . ) But do you suppose , that when the world becomes more enlightened you will have such a scene as this , of a whole community stopping its labours for a month , or six weeks , and creating misery , immorality , and
destitution that may not be removed for five or six years to come ? ( Hear , hear . ) When masters and men understand the principles upon which the rate of wages and profits depend , they will settle their matters and arrange their differences in a less bungling way than that which now brings so much misery upon all parties to the quarrel . ( Applause . ) Even , now , however ,- we see great progress in this respect . I remember the time when the cessation of labour by 25 , 000 persons would have led to riot and disturbance , and the calling out of the military . This is not to be seen now . ( Hear , hear . ) We seo passive resistance and firmness to an extent which , if they had policy and propriety at their back , would be highly desirable , and most commendable . ( Hear , hear . ) But , gentlemen , we shall probably live to see the time when another step will be * taken onward . You will live to see the time when men will
settle these matters , not by resorting to blind passion , by vituperation and counter-vituperation—when the question of wages will be left to the master and man to arrange according to their own interest—when the whole question of wages , and the rate of wages , will he settled just as quietly as you now see the price of any article fixed in the public market . ( Hear , hear . ) They did not find that people who went to market with cattle , potatoes , or anything else , struck against the buyers of those cattle or potatoes . They did not find that the seller of the cattle struck against the seller of the potatoes , and that the buyero and the eaters of the potatoes stood quietly by and starved while the potatoes rotted . They did not find men doing such things ; but they found that it was by the higgling of the market that they tranquilly decided its price ; they thus fixed the price of the day , and the whole
thing was quietly settled without that irritation and waste of property , without that misery and suffering , which I consider most painful , and , as a sign of the intelligence of tho day , the most discreditable—that struggle between master and workpeople which is passing m our time . ( Applause . ) I am not saying one word of the merits of either side upon this question . Both parties think themselves right , and both are , no doubt , right ; in attempting to get tho best price they can , the one for hia labour , and tho other for his capital ; but if there were moro intelligence upon this question—if the laws were better understood which decide finally and inexorably tho relative value of labour as well as everything else , those matters would bo settled without that hideous amount of buffering which I deplore to seo accompanying- these strikes and troubles in tho manufacturing districts . ( Applause . )"
Hero ho instituted a comparison between tho people of England and the peoplo of tho United States , in point of education , giving the palm to tho latter , and backing up hia position with an instructive Manchester anecdote . " When I cam « through Manchester tho other day I found many of tho most influential manufacturing capitalists talking very gravely upon a report ; which had reached them from a gentleman who was selected by tho Government to ao out to America , to make a report ; upon the Great , Exhibition in New York . That gentleman was ono of tho most , ominont of the mechanicians * and maclunemakei-B of Manchester , employing a very lurgo number of workpeople , renowned for tho quality of his productions , and known in tho scientific world , and whoso Hoiontifie
attainments were appreciated from tho Astronomer . ' l & oyul downwards . Ho has boon over to New York to report upon Mio progress of mochuniefl and mechanical arts in tho United Htatos . Woll , he 1 » ah returned . No report from him to tho Government , has , an yot , boon published , and what ho him to say specifically upon the subject , will not , bo known until that report has ' been so made and published to tho country . But , it hart oozed out in Manchester among his neighbours , thiit ho hot ) found in America a degree of intelligence among the manufacturing operatives , and u state of things in the mechanical < wtn , which have convinced him that , if wo aro to hold our own-if wo are not . to fall back in tho roar in the race of nations—wo must educate ) our pooplo ho ns to put thorn upon a level with tho moro educated artinann of tho United SUto-H . ( Applause . )"
ThiH intelligence of danger filled him with gladness . " Napoleon used to nay to those in communication with him , ' If you have any bad news to tell me , uwuko mo at any hour of tho night , for good nows will keep , but ; bud news I cannot know loo soon . ' J nay , Mien , I am delighted with this , for lot but iiuglitjiauen know of a
danger to face , and of a difficulty to surmount , and there is nothing within , the compass of human capacity which they will not accomplish ,- but the great misfortune is , that Jingnslunen . are too much given up to and incrusted with then * insular pride and prejudice , —a sort of Chinese notion of superiority , —that they will not awaken up and use their eyes as to what is going on in other countries until it is too late . I am glad , therefore , that this question is is to be brought forward ; but why should America be better educated than England ! Do you think that a a new country which has the wilderness to cultivate , primeval forests to level , roads to make , and every bridge and church to erect , —do you think that such a country is in a
position to rival an old country , if that country will only do its duty to its people ? No , an old country has greater advantages and facilities at command than a new one ; and if you find a new country beating an . old one in this matter , depend upon it , it is because of some fault in the old one . We don ' t read in ancient Greece , when she sent forth her colonies , that they became the teachers of the mother country . No ; Athens always remained the teacher of the whole world . And it is a shame if a new people , sent out from us only yesterday , is to be held up for our admiration and example , and this too in the matter of education . Now , I hope that it wont be said that there is anything in these remarks which is out of place in an assembly such as this . It appears to me that if there can be a meeting at
which such an object as this should be discussed , it is just such a meeting as this . We are all here , at all events , presumed to feel a great interest in the subject of education , and therefore anxious to promote it . And . I don't despair even now . I should not despair of this country , if the people of this country would onl y resolve to do ifc , surpassing all the world in education in a generation or two . ( ' Hear , hear , ' and applause . ) But we must not refuse to adopt the improved machinery of other countries . "We must not belike the Chinese with their junks , who refuse to build their ships after our improved model ; we must not refuse to adopt what we see in other countries if better than our own . If we sec the Americans beating / us in our spinningjennies and in their sailing-boats , we adopt their
improvements ; if they send over a yacht which beats ours , we send over and build one which will beat them ; if a man comes over and picks our locks , we may wonder how it is he makes better locks than we do , but ; we buy them ; and so it is in other matters of this kind . But , on the question of education , they have in the United States adopted a system which we in this country have not adopted , except in Scotland to some extent ; and what is so natural as that we should follow the same rule in this matter as we do in the manufacture of our machines for spinning cotton , and in the construction of our ships ? I take it that , the result being in favour of American education , it proves that they have adopted better means than we have , and , if we would rival them , we must not be ashamed to adopt their plan , if better than our own . ( ' Hear , hear , ' and applause . )"
Other gentlemen addressed the meeting , and at halfpast ten the proceedings ended . The gathering at Tamworth was a double celebra-, ion—that of the Tamworth Library , and that of the Midland Counties Association of Mechanics' Institute ? . Its chief interest for the cause of education lay in the peculiar association of persons—Lord Yarborough , Sir Robert Peel , Mr . Monckton Milnes , Mr . Adderloy , Mr . Rocorder Hill , Dr . Lyon Playfah-, and others . Those gentlemen made good speeches , but not above the level of good speaking now-a-days . Sir Robert Peel ia tho
President of the Association for the coming year , and was the host of the speakers whose names we have set down . Tho most noticeable thing in liis speech was an attack on strikes . More confident in his political economy than Mr . Cobden , Sir Robert denounced tho conduct of the operatives , while he left untouched that of the masters . Dr . Lyon Playfair ma < lo a practical Hpeech , recommending courses , of lectures in regular order on art or science , instead of lectures capriciously selected on the topics uppermost in the public minrl at the time . At the business meeting of the delegates it was resolved that this course should he recommended to the institutes forming the Association .
Fine Art Projects. Mk. Hrnuy Coiik, Tho ...
FINE ART PROJECTS . Mk . Hrnuy CoiiK , tho prime originator of the Croat Exhibition , has come before the public to-day with a plan for carrying out the proposal of tho fvoyal CommiHsionera of the Exhibition of 18 . 11 , with rospect to tho establishment of institutions for the promotion of Art and Scionco , at Kensington , rather by tho public tlieni-Helves than by Government . Mr . Cole argues that , in thitt country , private enterprise m moro oflicient than Government agency , and he therefore wants the public to back up his plan . That plan he describes in thoso words : —
" Tho plans involve tho erection of spacious and attractive buildings ( themselves developing- tho liifj henl , stuto oi Scionco and Art ) for tho purpose of exhibiting collections , which should illustrate tlio progress of Scionco and Art ; the formation of tho collections thoniHelvoH , and tho execution of various extensive works , conducive to popular improvement and recreation . HosideH , it is proposed t , o erect certain buildings for Government , objects , hu « 1 i iih tlio . Department of Science and Art , and for any Institutions which may require thorn , such a » the lioyal Academy of Manic , which has already applied for ground at . Kensington for it building .
" The Government , and the Oommiflsionorfl would havo to lay down certain general conditions defining whether tho whole , or only a part of tho plans , should ho executed by private agency . "Tho following coiu'no of action might prolialily bo a \ - rangod , and would neom calculated , on the ono bund , »<> fluouro thv uclvwat / ujfoa of r < wpou ») il > lo uutl uufettorad nwtion ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1853, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29101853/page/3/
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