1079

and comfort, and in their conduct, examples of decency, modesty, and sobriety.

These, we are told, are the oUT-DOOR scholars, who attend the parish-school only during the hours of instruction, and whom the present system of diffusing knowledge has superadded to these establishments. But what are we to expect from the inmates of an establishment which admits this dreadful innovation, this infectious principle of associating the abandoned ruffian of the streets with the child of yet uncorrupted innocence? We trust there are still many of these institutions, whose governors have had the discernment to perceive the danger of this false liberality, and the firmness to withstand the specious attempt to destroy the validity of the benefit they are calculated to confer, by holding out the visionary project of increasing its extent without diminishing its value. But almost in every neighbourhood may be seen, whenever the voice of uproar disturbs the public peace, the congregated colours, red, green, and blue, in ominous assemblage, whose mingled hues are emblematical of the deadly wound which has been thus inflicted on the public morals, by this unhallowed principle of substituting speculative knowledge for practical wisdom, and a semblance of unreal learning, for a sound moral and religious education.

To this prolific source of evil may be traced, in no small degree, the enormous increase of crime, in a ratio alarmingly greater than that of the increase of population; and if we remark, also, the increasing ratio which the numbers of juvenile delinquents bear to those of a more advanced age, we may not only trace this increase to a wrong education of the young, but we may assure ourselves, that while the present system is in operation, it must continue to be progressive. Surely we can want no stronger testimony of the inefficiency, or even of the dangerous tendency, of knowledge when separated from discipline, than the simple fact, that the inordinate increase of crime beyond what the increase of population might be expected to produce, and more especially the increase in the number of juvenile offenders, has been in direct proportion to the prevalency of that system to which we have vainly trusted for its diminution.

It is time, then, that we should retrace the steps by which we have departed from the sound and wise policy of our ancestors, in the conduct of our establishments for the education of the poor; and disregarding, as visionary and delusive, the vain hope of universal enlightenment, confine our so

1080

licitude to realize that practical amelioration which it is still in our power to secure, by restoring to their original value those institions which have been perverted from their purpose, and multiplying as extensively as our resources will permit, those establishments for the maintenance, clothing, and education of the infant poor, in which alone any real benefit can be procured to the morals and character of the rising generation.

It is utterly in vain that we anticipate any beneficial result from any institutions, however conducted, that separate maintenance from instruction. Want and misery are sources of vice, equally as prolific as ignorance; and it is only by a vigorous and a universal effort to rescue, as extensively as possible, the unhappy children of the destitute from both these sources of evil, that we can hope to effect any sensible or any permanent change in that state of society, which at present is revolting to humanity, and rapidly tending to endanger the existence of social order and public tran quillity.

Of those institutions in which provision is made for instruction only, those only are beneficial which confine themselves to reading, and which, in imparting that faculty, confine themselves exclusively to the reading of the scriptures. From this source alone more real wisdom, both as relating to the present and the future state of man, more practical instruction in the knowledge of his duties, and more powerful influence in persuading to a performance of them, are to be obtained, than from the whole circle of the sciences, independently of that fundamental and essentially preparatory knowledge. No man who is intimately acquainted with the Bible, however unlearned in other respects, can be in a state of ignorance. This knowledge alone is capable of making him a useful and a valuable member of society. From this fountain of true wisdom, he will learn his interest and his duty in every station of life, and derive principles of conduct which will infallibly promote his happiness in this world, and prepare him for a happier state hereafter. On the contrary, no man who is ignorant of the Bible, however learned in other respects, can be truly wise, or eminently useful. The essential knowledge contained in that sacred volume, however the half-taught sceptic may affect to despise it, is in reality the very source from which the eloquence of the orator, the sublimity of the poet, the learning of the philosopher, the wisdom of the statesman, and the skill of the mechanic, are primarily derived; and

1081

.......

he who pretends to disregard it, proclaims only his entire ignorance of the very rudiments of that knowledge of which he is so proud.

There are many stations in life, and these by no means the least conducive to the well-being of society, in which no other learning is necessary; and which, though affording to those who fill them, much inward gratification, and much intrinsic comfort, might still become irksome and disgusting to those whom a little learning had puffed up with arrogance and conceit, and taught to murmur at the dispensations of Providence. Hence, our Sunday schools, as enabling the children of the poor to read the Bible, and inculcating a due observance of the Sabbath, and a regular attendance on the public worship, are in the next degree calculated to promote the interests of society, by their influence on the minds and conduct of a numerous class of individuals. But if they advance one step beyond this, which is their natural limit, they tread upon dangerous ground, and by aiming at more than is salutary in itself, and more than they have power to control, they may frustrate all the benefits they are, in their own nature, capable of conferring.

The knowledge of the sacred scriptures, which it is exclusively their province to impart, containing within itself the seeds of moral wisdom, and the principles of human happiness, may be safely communicated without that regular and constant discipline, which it is not in the power of these institutions to exercise over the conduct of those who attend them. But the vain knowledge, and useless learning, which, in some instances, these institutions have unwisely attempted to teach, and to the acquirement of which they have misappropriated the Sabbath, unrestrained, as they must be, by salutary discipline, and established, on the compromise of religious duties, are calculated to produce, in a tenfold degree, all those evils against which they were intended to guard.

Those who have unthinkingly superadded to the instruction of our Sunday schools, or in any establishment in which provision is not made for entire maintenance and education, any thing beyond the simple faculty of reading, seem to be little aware of the value of the boon they have thus tacitly depreciated. In removing this disability alone, they have broken down the barrier of ignorance, and opened an inlet to every species of knowledge. Happy, if in communicating this valuable gift, they have made the means of acquiring

1082

it the medium of obtaining a knowledge of the sacred scriptures, and have thus fortified the minds of the young against the seductive allurements of a specious philosophy, and administered an antidote to the destructive poison which, in cheap publications of various kinds, is circulating in every direction, for the corruption of the thoughtless and inexperienced.

The difficulty of first learning to read, is greater, and requires more perseverance, and more assistance, than are requisite for the subsequent attainment of any of the sciences; and, gratefully would the gratuitous communication of that benefit have been felt and acknowledged by many, who, by their own unassisted efforts, and indefatigable perseverance, by many severe privations, and by the sacrifice of their hours of respite from their daily labour, have overcome this obstacle to their future progress.

This seems precisely the point at which gratuitous instruction, unless connected with gratuitous maintenance, should cease. Beyond this point, all gratuitous instruction is unwise, unnecessary, and unsafe. If we trace the history of those men, who, in every age, have emerged from the depths of obscurity by the force of their genius, or the intrinsic merit of their character, and have risen to stations of eminence by their talents or their conduct, we shall find them generally possessed of strong mental powers; temperate, frugal, patient of labour, industrious, and persevering. They have, in the first instance, appropriated a part of their hard-earned and frugally managed wages to their own instruction; and, progressively improving themselves, without any intermission of their daily toil, they have risen by the force of their own intrinsic merit, to stations of eminence and rank, to which, without those sterling qualities, no degree of learning could have raised them; and, their conduct in these stations has proved, that the same intrinsic qualities which prompted their pursuit of knowledge, also directed its acquisition to purposes of public utility and advantage.

Where we find instances of such sterling merit, the want of learning is only a temporary obstacle, which persevering industry will in due time remove; and the exertions and conduct necessary to this effect, will create and mature those qualities and habits which are essential to a right application of it to the public good. Where this merit is wanting, all the learning that can be gratuitously given to

1083

the poor, will not only be unavailing, but injurious, by its tendency to destroy that stimulus, which, an effort to obtain it would apply to the character, and to prevent the formation of those habits which would ensure a right application of it to the good of the community.

Our principal anxiety should be, to improve the character, and rectify the conduct of our poor brethren, by a moral, rather than a literary education; by instilling good principles, and inculcating good habits; and, the only certain means of accomplishing this desirable object, is, by training up children in the fear of the Lord. Thus only will they acquire, when they grow up, a regard to the laws of their country, and to the rights of their fellow-creatures; thus only will they learn "to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before their God;" and thus only will they become good subjects, contributing, by their conduct and example, to the maintenance of order, and to the welfare of the state.

It cannot be too often repeated, that learning when separated from moral and religious education, is impure, unavailing, and delusive; it will neither lead to wisdom, nor impel to virtue; its influence upon the conduct will be ever varying and uncertain; it will impose no restraint upon the impetuosity of youth; and not unfrequently it may lend the aid of sophistry to strengthen those propensities to evil, which nothing but the influences of religion can control. The superstructure of knowledge upon any other foundation, can be at the best but an uncertain good, and may become a positive evil. Hence our NATIONAL SCHOOLS are but dubious in their tendency; and unless some plan can be devised to give a right impulse to the knowledge they impart, more steady in its operation, and more powerful in its influence, than the partial admixture of religious instruc. tion, unenforced by constant discipline, and soon obliterated by association, during the intervals of study, with the dissolute and the abandoned, they may, instead of producing that benefit, in the hope of which they were established, become powerful engines of mischief to the community, of danger to the state, and of injury to every class of society.

In this age of liberality, it might appear inhuman and unjust, to propose any diminution of the benefit they are supposed to confer on the labouring classes; but justified, as we are, in questioning the reality of these supposed benefits, it is perhaps no more than obeying the dictates of a sound

120.-VOL. X.

1084

discretion, to suggest their restriction to the simple study of reading; and having once removed this powerful obstacle to the future progress of the poor, to leave their farther advancement in knowledge to the energies of their own character, and to the opportunities which industry, frugality, and good conduct, will sufficiently afford them.

If our National Schools were to be limited to gratuitous instruction in reading, and in the course of that instruction to confine themselves exclusively to the reading of the sacred scriptures, they might do much to rectify the principles, regulate the conduct, and improve the character of the poor. They would thus be laying a foundation upon which knowledge might be subsequently established without danger to the interests of society; and in addition to this, they might, upon very moderate terms, but never gratuitously, give a regular course of instruction in the most useful branches of practical knowledge, at hours which would not interfere with their daily avocations, to such, and to such only, as might feel the want of it, and had been previously prepared to receive it.

In this manner our National Schools might, to a certain degree, be collaterally serviceable in associating virtue with knowledge, and in promoting a right application of it to the interest of individuals, and to the good of the community. The prospect of future advancement would be a powerful stimulus to industry, and the consciousness, that the means of obtaining it were, by a prudent management of their resources, always in their own power, would tend greatly to create habits of frugality. Thus the two main-springs of worldly advancement would be constantly in action, and with all their force counteract every disposition to idleness and prodigality, which are the two most powerful incentives to vice.

But though our Sunday and National Schools may be serviceable in contributing to diffuse the faculty of reading, and, by confining themselves to the study of the scriptures, may tend to the promotion of religious knowledge, yet, unconnected as they are with any constant discipline, or vigilant superintendence of the conduct of their scholars during the intervals of attendance, they cannot safely venture upon any thing further; and it is more than probable, that even the good they are capable of effecting in this manner, may be altogether counteracted by the opportunities which the congregation of numbers will always create, of forming unprofitable and dangerous connexions, and of origi

3 Y

1085

1086

If any proof be necessary of the justice of this inference, let any one remark the disorderly and tumultuous manner in which these children conduct themselves in the public streets, on their return in groups from the several schools, both male and female, to which they resort; and even on the Sabbath, in their return from the church. This is a sufficient demonstration of the inefficiency of these institutions, and clearly proves the utter impossibility of accomplishing any real good by the mere diffusion of instruction, however valuable in itself, unless it be associated with constant discipline, an entire seclusion from the public haunts of immorality and vice, and a total exemption from the counteracting influence of evil example at home. Now, these advantages, all of which are essentially necessary to a right and efficient education of the poor, can be found only in those establishments in which provision is made for their entire maintenance; and with a very few exceptions, we know none of this character, except our PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS, of which it would be the highest wisdom, and the most beneficent liberality, to augment the number.

If learning, then, ought not to be separated from moral culture, and if a right education of the poor be more productive of good to the community, and of happiness to individuals, than a general and indiscriminate diffusion of knowledge, what important and extensive benefit might not arise from the united co-operation of the patrons of our National Schools, should they see the propriety of converting a part of their spacious buildings into convenient dwellings for the children, and, contracting the large number of scholars to whom they impart an inefficient degree of instruction, appropriate their funds to the entire maintenance, and effectual education, of the infant poor.

How incalculably more beneficial, both in its tendency to promote the good of society and the benefit of individuals, would be the training up to virtuous principles, to moral habits, and to useful industry, even of fifty children of poor parents, who, by their conduct and example, might promote the interests of society, than the partial instruction of five hundred, whom no regular course of discipline has prepared for usefulness to the public, and whom the knowledge they may have acquired, may qualify only for becoming more systemati

As far as the consequences of the present system of separating knowledge from discipline, have developed themselves in the conduct of those upon whom it has been tried, we may safely judge of it by its effects. Are our domestic servants more faithful, more industrious, or more obliging? Do they remain longer in the same family, attached to all its interests, and regarded with attachment by all its members? Content with plain and becoming simplicity of dress, do they more carefully hoard up their wages as a resource for infirmity and old age; and when retiring from a long course of honest and faithful service, do they independently maintain themselves with the accumulated fruits of their own labour, augmented into a sufficiency for the comfort and support of their declining years, by the grateful acknowledgment of the family in whose service they have spent their youth? Are the young men in our shops and warehouses more attentive to business, more faithful to the interests of their employers; and, intent only upon the improvement of their minds during the intervals of business, do they more studiously avoid the haunts of dissipation, riot, and intemperance? Are they more careful in the choice of their companions, and more guarded, in their pursuit of pleasure, against any excess that may lead them into temptation, or expose their master's property to danger? Are our young people of both sexes, more decent in their language, and deportment in the public streets? Are the children of the poor more dutiful and affectionate, and do they submit with less reluctance to the restraints of parental authority?

If these are in reality the happy consequences of this system of diffusing general knowledge, these the blessed fruits of instruction unconnected with discipline, whence the numerous societies for the encouragement of good servants?—the rewards adjudged to such as may have lived even more than one year in the same family? Whence the societies for the protection of trade, and for the prosecution of swindlers? whence the necessity of multiplying in every direction the number of street-keepers to preserve the public peace, and the frequent broils that occur from the loud and obstinate resistance of refractory boys to the authority which has been found necessary to check their turbulence? Whence the blasphemous imprecations, and frightful indecencies of language, that assail

1087

the public ear? Whence the frequent incarceration, even at noon-day, of hundreds of drunken persons, of all ages, and of both sexes; and whence the continual and increasing depredations upon property of every description, committed, in far the greater number of instances, through the agency of corrupted servants, and by the instrumentality of children?

If this picture of the present state of society bear any resemblance to the truth, it is evident that the character and conduct of the instructed poor are not improved; and, if we compare the present state of society with what it was prior to the introduction of this system, it will be equally evident, that they are greatly deteriorated; there is abundant

reason,

then, to question either the tendency of these institutions, or the policy by which they have been administered. If they are really capable of producing the good which has been expected from them, they are badly managed; or, if they are well managed, they must be, in their nature, incapable of producing any public benefit; in either case, a serious and impartial inquiry into the cause of their failure, is highly important; and, it is unquestion. ably the duty of every one, who wishes well to his country, who would promote the interests of society, or contribute to the happiness of his fellow-creatures, if possible, to ascertain the cause, and to point out the remedy.

No

The grand error in the principle of our modern institutions, for the gratuitous instruction of the poor, seems to consist in the erroneous supposition, that all moral virtue is to be derived from an improvement of the intellectual faculties, and that the wayward passions, and the natural propensities, which, in youth, so powerfully betray to vice and immorality, are to be corrected by the influence of the understanding alone. provision, therefore, is made for that vigilant and unremitted course of discipline which is requisite to subdue the predominancy of evil in the human heart, nor any opportunity afforded to those continued efforts which are necessary to cultivate the principles of virtue, till, having grown into a habit, they acquire strength enough to take the ascendancy in the character, and, by their powerful influence in 'rectifying the disposition, and controlling the conduct, to restrain from evil, and impel to what is good.

If our modern establishments were conducted upon principles that would first aim

1088

at the improvement of the heart, and, afterwards at the improvement of the understanding, we should rejoice in cordial concurrence with those whose maxims, in the present system of misconceived and misguided liberality, we cannot, by any means, approve. If this "march of intellect" were preceded by the pioneers of discipline and good morals, we should hail its progress, as a march to victory over every evil that disturbs the peace of society, and destroys the happiness of man. But, considering virtue as the sovereign good, and the moral improvement of mankind as the sovereign happiness, we cannot but regard it as a retrograde movement, tending to any thing but peace and good order.

NUMA.

LAW AND JUSTICE, CONTRASTED, IN RE FERENCE TO WEST INDIAN SLAVERY.

LAW is of human construction. Every nation has its own laws. Every independent nation forms its own administration of law. Justice should govern all civilized nations. Justice has a divine claim upon all civilized governments, whether Christian or Mahomedan. Laws inconsistent with justice, are an insult to the Divine Being. If any thing could justify rebellion, it would be, when an executive government becomes tyrannical, oppressive, and cruel. Rebellion is to be deprecated. It is only to be preferred when the governed are trampled upon by their governors. Subjects, and their property, are at the disposal of government, in justice! The independence of a nation must be maintained by its rulers; but when human laws are oppressive and tyrannical, they produce disaffection in the governed, and a desire for foreign interference. No human law can abrogate justice. Justice should be the polar star to all human law-makers, and to all executive governments. The glory of British law is, its justice; and the nation which excelleth in justice, stands highest in rank. Justice can never fail. Kings may be dethroned; thrones may be overturned; kingdoms may be dissolved; laws may be abrogated; but justice is imperishable. She stands as the pillars of heaven.

The day may arrive, when London will but be remembered, as Babylon, Nineveh, and Troy now are. But justice will retain all her pristine glory. Whether any other nation can boast of such sovereigns, judges, and philosophers, as can England, I will not presume to say? But how a system of such glaring injustice, as now disgraces the