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    tidies there is aa increase of ninety-five in one portion , against a decrease of one thousand three hundred and Jity-one in another . In British North America and its neighbouring islands there is an increase of six hundred and twenty-three , against a decrease of two hundred , and " 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 onl y in its missionary operations that it can boast of 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 !

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    PUBLIC EDUCATION : MB . GOBBEN AND SIB BOBEBT PEEL . It is now soine 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 Kobert 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 . Prom 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 statiatics to prove the jmmber of people who attend « chools—to prove that the meople are educated , because I cannot shut rny eyes to what as evident to my senses , —that the people aro not educated , —that they are not being educated . ( Renewed applause . ) "S . was talking only yesterday with a merchant in Manchester , who told mo that he hod attended at the swearing an of the militia in one of the largest manufacturing towns of England , and that not one-half of those sworn in could road , and not ono-third could sign their namea . ( Hear , hear . ) Now , without wishing to utter any fanatical opinion with regard to tho peaco question , I must say , with all sincerity , I think it would have been much better to

    hand these young men over to tho schoolmaster rather than ( to the drill-sergeant . ([ Hear , hear / and laughtor . ) For X think the saiety of this country would bo more promoted t » j teaching thorn to read and write than by teaching them < to face about right rightly . ( Laughter . ) I was talking this subject over to an old friend of mine at Proaton , and ho said , " I attended tho coroner one day laat week at an inquest . There were 13 jurymen ; five signed their names , and ei ght made their mark . ' Can I shut my eyea to ~ what is going on around ua ? I cannot , and therefore I say wo aro not an educated people ; and I say it ia our duty , and our Bofoty calls upon us , to seo that tho peoplo are educated ; and I know of no place more fitting to discuss thia subject than in such a meeting aa thia , because I take it for grantod

    you are all interested in . it . You all admit the deficiency of juvenile instruction , or you would not havo attended to tho defective adult education . ( Hear , hoar . ) "Wo are not fln . educated peoplo , and I havo no hesitation , in assorting that , in point of school learning , tho mass of the English |> ooplo aro tho least instructed of any Protoatant community in tho world . ( ' Shamo . ' ) I say that deliberately . I romembor quite well at tho time of tho Hungarian omipration . into this country after tho revolution , a very distinguished minister or religious toochoj | of IJLiuigary was talking to mo on tho Hubjocfc of our education , and I told him a largo portion of our pooplo could neithor read nor write . lie could not boliovo it , and said , ' If it is truo a

    largo proportion of your j ^ eoplo can neither road nor writo , now do , you maintain your constitutional franchises and Jour political liberties ? Why , it is evident to mo that your »» iHt itutionH aro rather ahead of your pooplo , and that this t olCprovernmont is only a habit with you . ' It is a habit , » nd wo will cling to it and hold it ; but I want a safer » ouwtlation . I want to havo our flolf-govornmmt a habit **» appreciation—somothing our pooplo will b < 3 proud of , f md Ktofc simply a habit ; and there ia no security unless it i « blued upon a wider intelligence of tho peoplo than wo TOeL't with at Hio proeont moment . It moots uo ut ovory * um—you can't do anything in oooial reform but you ° * o wot with tho question of education . Toko tho question

    of sanitary reform . Why do people live in bad cellars , surrounded by filth and disease ? You may say it is their poverty , but their poverty comes as much from their ignorance as their vices ; and their vices often spring from their ignorance . ( Applause . ) The great mass of the peop le don't know what the sanitary laws are ; they don't know that ventilation ia good for health ; they don't know that the miasma of an unscavengered street or impure alley ia 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 movementgoing on between different classes of the community . For 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 P ( Hear , hear . ) When meters 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 w ould have led to riot and disturbance , and the calling out of the military . This is not to be seen now . ( Hear , hear . ) We see 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 aee the time when men will Bettle 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 be settled just aa quietly as you now see the price of any article fixed in the public market . ( Hear , hoar . ) 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 buyers and the eaters of the potatoea stood quietly by and starved while tho 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 the day , the most discreditable—that struggle between master and workpeople which is passing in our time . ( Applause . ) I am not saying one word of tho merits of either side upon this question . Both parties think themselves right , and both are , no doubt , right in attempting to get the best price they can , tho one for his labour , and the other for his capital ; but if there were moro intelligence upon this question—if tho laws were hotter understood which decide finally and inexorably tho relativo value of labour as well as everything else , these matters would bo settled without that hideous amount of suffering which I deplore to seo accompanying these strikes and troubles in tho manufacturing districts . ( Applauso . )"

    Hero ho instituted a comparison between tho people of England and tho peoplo of tho United States , in point of education , giving the palm to the latter , and backing up hia position with an instructive Manchester

    anecdote . " When I cfltno 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 go out to America , to make a report upon tho Great Exhibition in Now York . That gentleman was ono of the most ominont of tho mechanicians ! and machinomakera of Manchester , employing a very largo number of workpeople , ronownedfortho quality of Introductions , and known in tho scientific world , and whoso scientific attainments were appreciated from tho Astronomer Jtoynl downwards . Ho has boon over to Now York to report upon tho

    progress of mechanics and mechanical arts in tho United States . Woll , ho has returned . No report from him to tho Government has , un yet , boon published , and what ho has to aay specifically upon tho mibjcct will not bo known until that report has iboon » o jnado and published to tho country . But it has oozed out in Manchnntor among his neighbours , that ho haw found inAmorica a dogroo of intelligence among tho manufacturing oporativos , and a mfato of tilings in tho mechanical arts , which havo convinced him that , ifwo aro to hold our own—if wo are not to fall buck in tho roar in tho race of nations—we must educate our peopleho aa to put thorn upon a lovol with tho moro educated artiaans of tho United States . ( Applause . )"

    Thia intolligonco of danger filled him with gladnofm . " Napoleon used to Hiiy to thoso in communication with him , ' If you have any bad nowa to toll mo , awako mo at any hour of tho night , for good nowa will keep , but bad nows I cannot know too noon / I Bay , then , I am delighted with this , for lot but Englishmen tnow 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 Englishmen are too much given , up to and incrusted with , their 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 wiry 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 . How , 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 tie people of this country would onl y resolve to do it , 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 be like 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 see 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 come 3 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 La 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 celebration—that of the Tamworth Library , and that of the Midland Counties Association of Mechanics' Institutes .

    Its chief interest for the cause of education lay in the peculiar association of persons—Lord Yarborough , Sir Robert Peel , Mr . MoncktonMilnes , Mr . Addorley , Mr . Recorder Hill , Dr . Lyon Playfair , and others . These gentlemen made good speeches , but not above the level of good speaking now-a-tlays . Sir Robert Peel is tho President of the Association for the coming year , and was the host of the speakers whose names we have set down . The most notioeablo thing in his speech was

    an attack on strikes . More confident in Iris political economy than Mr . Cobden , Sir Robert denounced tho conduct of tho operatives , while he loft untouched that of tho masters . Dr . I / yon Playfair inado a practical speech , recommending' courses of lectures in regular order on art or science , instead of lectures capriciously selected on the topics uppermost in the public mind at the time . At the business meeting of tho delegates it waa resolved that this course nhould bo recommended to tho institutes forming tho Association .

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    FINE ART PROJECTS . Mil . HJiNEY Cole , tho prime originator of the Croat Exhibition , has como boforo tho public to-day with a , plan for carrying out tho proposals of tho Itoyal Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1861 , with rcHpoct to tho establishment of institutions lor the promotion of Art and Science , at Kensington , rather by the public thoni-RolveB than by Government . Mr . Colo argues that , in this country , private ontorpriso in moro oflieionfc than Government agoney , and ho therefore wants tho public ? to back up his plan . That plan ho doHoribotJ in theso words : —

    " Tho plans involve Mio emotion of spacious and attractive buildings ( th < unsolv

    " Tho Government and tho Commiflsionorfl would havo to lay down certain general eonditiorm defining whether tho wholn , or only a part oi" tho plans , should bo executed by private agency . " Tho following courso of action might probably bo arranged , and would ( toom cn . louliM . tMl , ou tho ono Jmnd , to sooura tho wlvwitagoa of rospoiisiblo and , unftttwocl action ,

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    October 29 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1035

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1853, page 1035, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2010/page/3/