220 THE EDUCATION OF THE POOR BILL, 1807. intended to abandon certain parts of his elaborate Bill and to divide the remaining clauses into four Bills. The first of these related to education; the second dealt with poor law reform and the building of cottages for the poor; the third contained his scheme for a parochial fund of assurance; while the fourth proposed to regulate and equalise the county rates. All four Bills were reported. The Bill for establishing a Plan for the Education of the Poor was brought forward for recommittal on April 24th, 1807'. It had been previously circulated among the magistrates throughout the kingdom with dispiriting results2. "It was not meant," said Mr Whitbread, "to supersede any parish schools for the education of the poor, already established; it was not meant to increase unnecessarily the charges upon any district, where parish schools were already instituted for the education of the poor, by establishing therein additional schools; his object was, that in every parish where there was a number of poor who could not afford to pay for the education of their children, there should be a school established for their instruction.' He regarded the education of the poor as "the incipient principle and grand foundation" of all benefits to be derived from any future reform of the poor laws. The Bill proposed that the poor children of each parish should be entitled to receive two years' education between the ages of seven and fourteen years. The occupiers of lands and houses in the parish were to be rated to provide the education, which was to be superintended by the parson and the parish officers. The Bill empowered the "magistrates to purchase or hire any buildings or lands whereupon to erect buildings for the purpose of schools." The appointment of schoolmasters was also to be made by the magistrates The carrying out of the Act was to be placed in the hands of the magistrates, with power to suspend the law where further or new schools were not necessary. 1 Hansard, vol. IX. col. 538. 3 Loc. cit. col, 1051*, SAMUEL JOHNSON AND EDUCATION. 221 Debate on the Bill. Mr George Rose1 pointed out that the parents of children would choose the earliest period for sending their children to school, as less likely to interfere with labour, and so make the Act of less value than was expected. He suggested that a system of maritime schools should be started round the coast capable of educating 80,000 boys at one time, and thus creating an inexhaustible supply of men for the British Navy. The Bill was supported by Henry Erskine, who pointed out the advantages that Scotland had derived from education. He hailed the Bill" as a measure auspicious in the highest degree to the industry, the morality, the happiness, and good order of the people of this country." Mr Bragge Bathurst objected to the Bill "because it would do away [with] Sunday schools, to which no person would subscribe, when the parochial schools should be established." Mr William Windham opposed the Bill, and quoted the opinion of his friend Dr Johnson, that "it was not right to teach reading beyond a certain extent in society'.' Mr Whitbread in reply pressed the position that crime decreases with education: "In Westmoreland, the best educated county in England, executions were scarcely known. Search the Newgate calendar. The great majority of those executed in London every year were Irish; the next in order were English, and the last Scots. 1 Rose (1744-1818) at this time had just become Treasurer of the Navy. See Dictionary of National Biography, tit. "Rose." 2 This was not in accord with Johnson's general views. In 1780 he said "I would put a child into a library (where no unfit books are), and let him read at his choice. A child should not be discouraged from reading anything that he takes a liking to, from a notion that it is above his reach. If that be the case, the child will soon find it out and desist; if not, he of course gains the instruction; which is so much the more likely to come, from the inclination with which he takes up the study" (Boswell's Life of Johnson, edited by J. W. Croker, 1860, p. 661). On the other hand Johnson disliked an education wanting in thoroughness. He charged Scotland with giving a poor universal education. "Their learning is like bread in a besieged town; every man gets a little, but no man gets a good meal" (ibid. p. 452). The charge may have had some truth in it, but it came with poor grace from an English thinker of that date. 222 This was in exact proportion with their respective systems of education among the lower orders'." He maintained that the cost of his scheme would not in any case exceed a shilling rate. Mr Whitbread's instance hardly bore out his point, since as a matter of fact Ireland had, in respect to a scheme of education, a much better position than England, and at the very date when Mr Whitbread was speaking great efforts were being made to revive education in Ireland. THE REVIVAL OF MEDIEVAL ECONOMICS. Second reading. Mr Giddy's views. The Bill went into committee, and the second reading was moved on July 13th, when Mr Davies Giddy opposed the Bill. He considered that "however specious in theory the project might be, of giving education to the labouring classes of the poor, it would, in effect, be found to be prejudicial to their morals and happiness; it would teach them to despise their lot in life, instead of making them good servants in agriculture, and other laborious employments to which their rank in society had destined them; instead of teaching them subordination, it would render them factious and refractory, was evident in the manufacturing counties; it would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books, and publications against Christianity; it would render them insolent to their superiors; and, in a few years, the result would be, that the legislature would find it necessary to direct the strong arm of power towards them, and to furnish the executive magistrate with much more vigorous laws than were now 1 Hansard, vol. Ix. cols. 539–550. 2 Ibid. cols. 798-806. 3 There is something painful in this callous reference to the manufacturing counties where the bitter cry for education was destined to be practically unheard for another half century. Mr Giddy's views were almost identical with those expressed by Walter Map in the twelfth century (see p. 28, supra), but while Map had, in consequence of the system of feudal tenures which provided some sort of a subsistence for every man, a fairly good case to argue, Mr Giddy's views were founded on ignorance or stupidity. The latter charge can hardly be made against a man who became President of the Royal Society in 1827. See Dictionary of National Biography, tit. "Gilbert (formerly Giddy), Davies” (1767-1839). Cf. Lord Hardwicke's views in 1751: see p. 169 (footnote), supra. PETITIONS AGAINST THE EDUCATION BILL. 223 The Bill in committee. in force." This astonishing speech, which apparently dealt with a class of non-human beings, does not appear to have at all excited an indulgent House of Commons, which was on the whole as friendly to the Bill as it was to the assiduous Parliamentarian. It was read a second time without a division, and was committed by a vote of 47 to 13. On the same date six London petitions against the Bill were presented, and subsequently twelve more London petitions and a petition from Liverpool came before the House' in opposition to the Bill. In committee on July 21st, 1807, Mr Sturges Bourne, objecting to the compulsory character of the educational relief offered, proposed as a substitutional clause "that it shall be lawful for the Churchwardens and Overseers in any Parish, Township or Place, with the consent of the major part of the Parishioners or Inhabitants in Vestry or other parish or public Meeting for that purpose, after one month's Notice assembled, or of so many of them as shall be so assembled, to establish, if they think fit, within their respective Parishes, a School or Schools for the instruction of the Children of the Poor, and to purchase or hire any Buildings, or to purchase any Land for the erection. of any Buildings, and to erect any Buildings which may be found requisite for that purpose, and to employ or contract with any person or persons to be approved by the Minister of such Parish, to instruct the Children of the Poor, under such rules and regulations as they may think it expedient to adopt?." The compulsory clause in the Bill was lost by 23 votes to 12*, but an additional clause enabling parish officers to contribute to the expenses of the school was added. The Bill was ordered to be printed as amended, and the consideration in committee was adjourned till August 4th. On that date Mr Sturges Bourne's voluntary clause was adopted, the power of the parish officers to build schools was attacked but upheld, 1 Commons Journal, vol. LXII. pp. 699, 701, 720, 731, 744, 745, 753, 790. 2 Loc. cit. p. 817. 3 Hansard, vol. Ix. cols. 850-9. 224 THE DEMAND FOR EDUCATION IN 1816. and the preamble of the Bill, which referred to the instruction of youth as leading to the promotion of morality and virtue, and which cited Scotland as an instance of such benefits, was objected to, but retained by 33 to 28 votes'. The Bill was read the third time on Thursday, August 6th, and on August 11th Lord Holland moved the second reading in the House of Lords, when Lord Hawkesbury's motion that the Bill should be read that day three months was adopted without a division. The Bill was opposed by the Lord Chancellor (Lord Eldon) and by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Manners Sutton), who, however, declared themselves in favour of improved educational conditions. Lord Stanhope strongly supported the Bill, and attacked the claim of the Establishment to control all education. With the failure of this Bill all effort after legislation was abandoned for nine years. 53. The Select Parliamentary Committee to enquire into The Education Committee of 1816. 4 the Education of the Lower Orders was appointed in 1816, and issued its first report, dealing with the Metropolis, in the same year. Subsequently the Committee extended their enquiries to the whole Kingdom. In the third report a very different story to that given by Mr Brougham with respect to the condition of the country in 1803 was told by the Committee as to the educational position in 1816: "There is the most unquestionable evidence that the anxiety of the poor for education continues not only unabated, but daily increasing; that it extends to every part of the country, and is to be found equally prevalent in those smaller towns and country districts, where no means of gratifying it are provided by the charitable efforts of the richer classes"." This was so despite "the neglect and abuse of Charitable Funds con 1 Hansard, vol. ix. col. 1049*-55*. 2 Commons Journal, vol. LXII. p. 824. 3 Hansard, vol. Ix. cols. 1174-8. 4 See pp. 229, 259, infra. 5 Third Report from the Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders (1818), p. 56. |