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    JfeH9»I6rf 1855. .J TEPE ? LEID'EK: #&#

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    Immkial Parliament. The Fermotf Peerage....

    existing * state of education has obtained the concurrence of all religious denominations . He gave-his hearty opposition to Sir John Pakington ' s measure ; and he hoped that the House would deal a death-How to all the three companion measures which veie before it . — -Mr . W . J . Fox insisted upon' the urgent need which exists for some national seheme of universal education . The present system is most ineffectual .. The great bulk of those who are committed ' to prison for crimes are such as have been gent to * the schools which now exist . The utterly ignorant are the small number ; the number of those yrho can read and write is not so small . He trusted that the three bills would be sent to the same committee , where they might be amalgamated into one

    measure . Sir John Pakington entered into a minute reply to the arguments against his bill advanced by Mr . Henley ire the last debate . The main proposition of Mr . Henley and of Lord John Manners' was , that the existing system has not failed . But this is not a tenable position ; while , on the other hand , it is impossible to controvert the facts upon which the present state of things is impugned . The continental nations , with a few exceptions , and the United States of America , witli the exception of the slave states , are in advance of England . Sir John then quoted a variety of statistics , showing the lamentable state of ignorance to be found among the poor , of whom large

    proportions have no knowledge of the existence of a God or . of the name of Jesus , while many are unable to repeat the names of the months , and have no coniception 1 of the distinction of vice and virtue . The voluntary system had been found insufficient for the support of schools ; and thirty-two clergymen have stated that they have been obliged on the average to pay out of their own pockets 26 / . for the support of schools in their parishes . Mr . Henley had said that the effect of the bill would be to pauperise the country . Were the people of New York , Pennsylvania , Holland , and Scotland , pauperised by Laving to support free schools ? He ( Sir John Pakington ) was merely contending that England should have advantages similar to those which have existed in Scotland for two centuries . Extraneous aid being necessary , there was no other resource than a rate . With respect to Mr . Denison ' s objection , that there was no provision in the bill for compulsory attendance , it must be borne in mind that , before such a provision could pass , more schools must be provided , and the effect of the bill in improving schools would probably be to stimulate attendance . On the motion of Mr . Ewakt , the debate was again adjourned till Monday next . BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE . Some reraaks made by Mr . Disraeli , upon the premsvture period at which morning sittings had commenced , and a suggestion by him that they should be confined to Tuesdays and Thursdays , led to a rather long conversation respecting the business before the House , in the course of which Mr . BouvERre contradicted the report that it was intended to withdraw the Partnership Amendment Bill and the Limited Liability Bill . WAYS AND MEANS . In Committee of Ways and Means , it was resolved , on the motion of Mr . Wilson , that , towards making good the Supply granted to her Majesty , the sum of 1 . 0 , 000 , 000 / . be granted out of the Consolidated Fund . This Gold Finger-Rings Bill whs x * cad a third

    time and passed . KEUCIOUS WORSHIP BILL . The Earl o Suaftesbuuv on Tuesday moved the adoption of the report on the lleligious Worship Bill , thcoliject of which is to repeal so much of the act of George III . as prohibits the assembling of more than twenty persons in a house , besides the family , for the purpose of religious worship . The Eurl remarked that it is permitted to persons to open their houses for balls and other diversions ; it is lawful to have a " meet" with a puck of hounds for the purpose of amusement ; and it ought to be equally legitimate for persons to gather in one spot for devotion , Now that the penny stamp is taken o ( F newspapers , there is ([ reat danger of tho country being overwhelmed with seditious and infidel publications ; and every opportunity should bo nought of counteracting this

    poiuon with the antidote of religion . Lord Shuftesbury then went at length into several details exhibiting , the spiritual ignorance which overspreads a largo part of tho population of this country , of whom fivo millions in England and Wiilos never attoml any religious service whatever , while in one parish not ono hundred people out of ten thousand attend regularly- any place of worship , and only one hundred and fifty occasionally . One . of the chief moans of encountering this ignorance , and of instructing it , is < leclnre < l illognl . Different religious societies arc in tho ' UnWrt of calling meetings in their schoolrooms for the purpose of religious dovotion ; but tho very a « t' of prfryor constitutes such meetings Mogul , and ** ntl & r » ithose ¦ who nrc engaged in conducting them Hhbte-tirn lino of from 20 h . to 201 . The Churohhns of late taken to holding open-air meetings , at one of

    which ; held the other day in Greenwich Parky as many as twelve hundred persons attended . If these efforts are to be extinguished , there would be an end to the best system devised in these times- for reaching large classes of the poor and'ignorant ? . Bagged schools , also , and many other institutions for enlightening and evangelising the lower classes , would be destroyed by an enforcement of the present law ; since the meetings of all such bodies as these are commonly opened with prayer . There is no hinderance to attending a lecture at -which-the evidences of Christianity and the truth of the Bible maybe disputed ; but a meeting for the maintenance of these , which should be opened wIMl'prayer , would be

    illegal . Indeed , he believed that the inauguration of the Crystal Palace , when the Archbishop of Canterbury offered up a prayer , was a monster violation of the law . But he was told the law is obsolete . Yes ; yet it has a power of revival , lord Barham , now the Earl of Gainsborough , used to have religious services at his own house , at which the village school attended ; but Lord Rontiney laid an information against him , and he was fined 40 / . for two meetings . A county magistrate in the north of England had recently endeavoured to civilise the

    poor on his estate by- religious exercises in the largest of their cottages ? the meetings were largely attended , and the thing went on well for a few months ; but it was then intimated that the proceedings were illegal , and they ceased . The reason for the present law has passed away . The acts of George IT . and George III . are wholly unsuited to the present times ; and his Lordship maintained that it is most unjust to put an interdict upon any man receiving any number of persons in his house for religious worship .

    The Bishop of London had great doubt ; whether the practice is illegal when clergymen act under the sanction and with the license of their bishops . He doubted also whether it would be any advantage for unqualified persons to be at liberty to hold small congregations in private houses , and thus draAv them away from the parish church . He should like to have a clause embodying that view added to the bill . —The Bishop of Oxford had no doubt that the bill was brought forward with the best intentions ; but , since he believed it would interfere materially with the action of the Established Church , he must oppose it . It would confuse the line of demarcation between the Church and Dissent , and would do serious injury to the cause of religious peace . The existing prohibition does not extend

    ; o open-air meetings , as Lord Shaftesbury , no doubt inadvertently , 'had said ; and , as for housemeetings , the small payment of half-a-crown will procure a license . He therefore held that no alteration of the law is requisite , and concluded by moving that the bill be recommitted that day six months . —The Earl of Harrowuy , the Earl of Cinchesteb , the Duke of Argyll , the Earl of Roden , and the Lord Chancellor , spoke in favour of the bill , and the Earl of Carnarvon against it . — Their lordships then divided , when the numbers were—For the bill , 31 ; against it , 30 . The bill was then reported with amendments . —The Earl of Shaftksmiiry , on Thursday , in answer to a request from Lord Derby , refused to refer the bill to a select committee . The Roman Catholic Charities Bill was read a third time and passed . MORNING SITTING . Ill the House of Commons , at tho morning sitting , tho Validity of Proceedings ( House of Commons ) Bill was read a second time . The remainder of the sitting was expended in discussing , in committee , the details of the Metropolis Local Management Bill . DECIMAL COINAGE . In tho evening , Mr . William Brown moved a series of resolutions , " That tho initiation of the decimal system of coinage , by the issue of the florin , has been eminently successful and satisfactory ; that a further extension of such system will be of great public advantage ; and that an address be presented to her Majesty , praying that she will be pleased to complete the decimal scale with the pound and tho florin , as KUggested by two commissions and a Committee of the House of . Commons , by authorising

    tho issue of silver coins to represent the value of the ono-hundredth part of a pound , and copper coins to represent the one-thousandth part of a pound , to bo called ' cunts' and ' miln' respectively , or to bear such other names aa to her Majesty niuy seem advisable . " In support of tho motion , ho eiUx . 1 Heveral authorities . —Lord Stanley seconded tho motion , considering that the plan embodied in thortiport of tho Committee , and now proposed in- the resolutions before tho House , is the best of uny of tho plans that have yet ; been proposed , and that it would bo attended with very low practical inconvenienetiH .

    Air . J . B . Smith moved , as mi amendment , to leave out from tho words " pleased to" to the end of tho question , in order to add tho words " invite , a congress of representatives of all nations , at sonio convenient place , with the view oi eonnidoring tlve practicability of adopting a common standard ol moneys , weights , and measures , " instead thereof .

    The small coins comtemplated- in the plan of * Mft ? Brown would be utterly useless ; inconveniences-and ' losses would be caused by fractions ; a decimal system of weights and measures would be a necessary complement of the . change ; and this would render an extensive alteration of our laws indispensable . It would be but wise to invite the co-opera--tion of other nations . —Mr . Lowe , while admitting the advantages- of the decimal system , thought , that the unit or integer proposed was too high , ' and that perplexities would be thus occasioned , the chief burden of which would fall " upon tlie poor . r A cent is twopence and . two-fifths of a penny . Such a coin could never get into circulation ; for it is a .

    mere arithmetical quantity . The only recommendation of the mil is that it is the thousandth part of a pound . It appeared to him that we should be unwise in adopting a system whicli would involve such a complication of divisors . In a scientific decimal coinage , the unit must be something which would divide the pound without a remainder . The proposed new coinage would be incommensurable with foreign money . In selling small quantities of goods by the pound or yard , we should be obliged-to resort to the decimal of a pound , which might require the use- of nine figures . In short , the project would be most puzzling , and would multiply , instead of economising labour . —The motion was supported by

    Mr . John M-Ghbgor and Mr . Hakeey . —Mr . Kicardo acknowledged tliat- the change would be attended with inconveniences , but thought that we should submit to them for the sake of the advantage . —The Chancellor of the Exchequer believed that the scheme was open to many serious objections ; but he assured Mr . Brown the subject should receive the most careful consideration of the Government , and he recommended him to withdraw his motion . —Mr . Cardwell was of opinion that , although the difficulties attending the proposed change are not so

    great as to be insuperable , the time has not arrived at which the scheme could properly be carried into execution . The House should prepare the country for the adoption of the plan , which is of high scientific value . —Ultimately the first of Mr . Brown ' s resolutions ( that which asserts the success of the florin ) was carried by 135 to 56 ; the second resolution affirming the advantage to be derived from an extension of the decimal S 3 stem , was agreed to without a division ; and the third resolution , praying for an address- to the Crown , was withdrawn .

    NATIONAL EDUCATION IN IRELAND . Mr . Kennedy moved an address for a commission to inquire into the arrangements most desirable for rendering national education in Ireland more comprehensive and complete—firstly , by means of industrial instruction ; secondly , by securing the most efficient teachers . He was proceeding with his speech , when the House was counted out , at half-past eleven o ' clock . SUNDAY TRADING ( METROPOLIS ) BILL . In the House of Commons , on Wednesday , Lord Robert Grosvenob , moved the committal of this bill , which was opposed by Mr . Massby , who moved to defer the committee for three months . He

    denounced tho principle as being in the last degree mischievous . It would interfere with the interests of the working classes , and merely proposed to do by an Act of Parliament vlmt might be clone by any one who chooses to act for himself . Sunday trading is confined to a few dealers who minister to the wants of the very poor : those men are always at liberty , whenever they please , to shut their shops if Jieir conscience should require it . Compulsory legislation has never been known to control social evils . The only remedy for such is to be found in moral correctives . —Lord Stanley supported the bill ; and Mr . W . J . Fox resisted it , observing that it picked out trading exclusively , disregarding work

    and amusement altogether . A measure of such a kind ought to strike boldly at Sunday work ; in which cane it would interfere with bishops and archbishops , their cooks and carriages . —Mr . Kkr Skysiiir , in supporting Hie bill , described a visit which he had recent ) v paid to [ Joundsditcli 1 ) air on Sunday morning during tlio l »«> urs of divine service . Ho admitted , however , that l « e »" vv no drunken men , nor any tiling disor . leriy , iiinl that , in the words of a policeman with whom ho conversed , " there was nothing purtieiilarlv wroiitf tfoing on , with tho ox-Sir John biiKM uIsoHpoko

    ception of t ! iicvin-. " - . BY in favour of iliu bill ; while Mr . Punc-omuio , Mr . DiuiMMOND ( who would vote ior an honest bill which wonl ' cHndu . lo « l «»>»)» Mr . Hkntinck , Mr . Wilkinson Mr AhoimiK , Sir Jo . s-iiiU Walmmlky , and ML- ' llrvwouTii resisted it . —After a few words from Lord Rohkiit ( iKOHVHNoit mid Mr . IJahkow , in defence the llou . si ! divided , wlicn the original motion wnaJarrkd by 158 to Al .- 'i'lii ? Ho . iho then went into commit tee on the bill , tho details of which underwent much discussion , tlicj Chairman , before all It he clauses were gone through , being ordorcd to

    rohort progress . I Tnii Validity ov Phookkuinos ( TIousm of Commons ) Bill was committed , rend ' a third time , ana

    Jfeh9»I6rf 1855. .J Tepe ? Leid'ek: #&#

    JfeH 9 » I 6 rf 1855 . . J TEPE LEID ' EK : # & #

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16061855/page/3/