Davis, 1839.

ORIGINAL WORK, PUBLISHED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERIES ENTITLED

PEOPLE'S EDITIONS.

A TOUR

IN

53

HOLLAND, THE COUNTRIES ON THE RHINE,

AND BELGIUM.

IN THE AUTUMN OF 1838.

BY

WILLIAM CHAMBERS,

ONE OF THE EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

EDINBURGH:

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS;
SOLD BY W. S. ORR & CO., LONDON; W. CURRY JUNIOR & CO., DUBLIN ;
AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

PREFACE.

THE noble stand which the Dutch have made in all periods of their history in favour of rational freedom, their extraordinary industry and perseverance under many disadvantages, their reputation for love of order, and, in particular, their widely organised system of public instruction, had long inspired me with the wish of visiting Holland, in order to observe personally the social condition of its people, and if possible to learn something which might be advantageously made known to my countrymen at home. In the autumn of the past year, I was at length enabled to put this desire in execution, and found a sufficiency of time to spend a few weeks in the Low Countries, as well as in the districts on the Upper Rhine.

Shortly after my return home, I offered a series of rough sketches of my journey, in the pages of the unpretending literary miscellany with which I happen to be connected; and these having been received with a degree of approval which I had no reason to expect, I have collected them together in the following pages; and besides giving them that revision which their hasty preparation had rendered necessary, have now added a number of particulars, matters of fact and observation, which were for the sake of brevity omitted in the original.

Pursuing one of the most beaten and oft-described tracks in Europe, the offering of the present work to the public may seem in some measure presumptuous. I trust, however, that the principal object of my excursion, and the nature of some of my inquiries, will be accepted as an apology for its appearance. Keenly alive to the necessity of an improved and greatly extended system of primary instruction throughout the United Kingdom-a system which should comprehend all sects, parties, and conditions, with prejudice to noneI was exceedingly anxious to make a personal examination of that organisation of schools in Holland, which had already called forth the fervent encomiums of Cuvier and Cousin. On this subject, therefore, the reader will find a variety of details, which, though not new to inquiring educationists, have never yet, as far as I am aware, been broadly circulated in Britain. The mode of publication of the present work, it is humbly trusted, will assist in making the nature of the Dutch system of instruction better known than it has hitherto been among the community of this country. Without descending to a dry narration of facts, I have endeavoured to show that there exists in Holland an organised process of elementary instruction, which, limited as it is both in quality and amount, is of universal application, and, while suiting every sect and class, possesses the happy merit of being esteemed by clergy of all shades of opinion. The intrinsic cause of this universal acceptability, as it will appear, is the complete separation of religious, or rather doctrinal, from secular education, the one being confided exclusively to the clergy of the different denominations, and the other being placed in the hands of the lay teacher. Whether, amidst the war of parties, and in opposition to deeply rooted prejudices and vested interests, such a scheme of juvenile culture could be established in the United Kingdom, it is not for me to discuss; in all likelihood, we shall have to endure much political as well as religious strife and suffering, before the minds of the people will be in a fit state to appreciate so great a blessing. It may nevertheless be of importance to a cause which I have much at heart, to make the fact extensively known in this country, that there is a region divided from us by only a narrow sea, and not less distinguished than our own for the flourishing state of orthodox religion, where a national system of education has been conducted for many years with complete success, and the perfect approbation of all parties. The extensive diffusion of this fact, with the details of the system, can scarcely fail to aid in hastening the period of our emancipation from the deplorable prejudices and animosities, on this subject, in which we are now unfortunately enveloped.

W. C.

EDINBURGH, April 20, 1839.