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of 1854 , the condition of Scotland would not now be an insuperable objection to the Scottish Education Bill . At that period the country from Tweed to Naver was in the throes of a politicoecclesiastical resolution . Nearly all the talent , energy , and piety of the Presbyterian Church , was arrayed in favour of reform in the administration of patronage . The Evangelicals , fighting ostensibly ; for the headship of Christ , were striving to substitute a priestly for a constitutional tyranny . They maintainedthat the State was bound to support the Church , and , in the same breath , that
the State , had no business to interfere with the Church . As is usual , when parsons lay themselves out to produce . popular excitements , the bulk of the people were enthusiastically in their favour ; and as the . event proved , were ready to secede , rather . than submit to the powers that be . No better ^ opportunity could have occurred for settling the question of Establishments in Scotland . The moderate party were lukewarm about all but the ^ loaves and fishes , and quite ready to give up the tights of the future for a guarantee of their continuance during their own life time . The
Evangelicals , on the other hand , although they : advocated the princi p le of the Establishment , were en the e ^ ve of quitting their connexion with it , and would jio more have been sorry to see it sink than would rats a ship they had deserted . In fact , if the present proposal to disconnect the old parochial schools and the Scotch Kirk has a chance of acceptance , the attempt to set the Church of Scotland on r new footing , in 1843 , ' would have been as acceptable , as meritorious , and politic . But Sir James Graham did not see that the time
had come . ^ He neither attempted a settlement of the Establishment on a new footing , nor stooped to a compromise with the Evangelicals ; he vindicated th «! rightsof ^ patrons and the authority of the Crown ; he divided the Presbyterian Church against itself , and thereby sealed its fatej—too weak in state craft to succeed in reconciling parties , and too conservative in principle to attempt an orgaftic change in the Church government , ne let go hi « hold of the bone of contention , and permitted the belligerent divines to fight it out in their own way . ^ ^^ -.
—, They have done so , and , as usual , enthusiasm has triumphed . at least for the while . If it is a peculiarity of religious enthusiasm to believe in miracles , it is its privilege to perform them . The Free Churchmen , relying on the co-operation mostly of the poorer arid the middle-class , entered on a competition with the old Kirk , with all its privileges and appointments . They matched church against church , manse against manse , and stipend against endowment , in every parish in the kingdom . : They founded and endowed theological schools and colleges . They endowed
professorships in Humanity , the Sciences , and Arts ; and , going beyond the mere machinery for educating their pastors , largely contributed by bursaries and exhibitions to the maintenance of such deserving students as forfeited the bounties of Royalty by adhering- to the cause . But there was one class of their followers for whom , within the first few years of their progress , they were unable to make provision . A large number , if not a majority , of the parochial schoolmasters of Scotland , giving up
their connexion with the Church for " conscience sake , " had thrown themselves on the generosity of the seceders . Many of these men suffered so severely , that , although an educational system had no part in the original scheme , for the evangelisation of the country , formed by the Free Church , it was at . last found necessary to include it . An agitation was set on foot , and the land overrun with agents and orators , who demonstrated the duty of " lending to the Lord" so efficiently , that , within a year , five hundred schools and
schooland it is a proof of their success that the Government grant- —candidates for which must undergo examination—has been much more extensively useful to the Free Church than to the Establishment . Add to this that in many country parishes the site of the old school , well chosen as population was distributed a century ago , is now such as to make it inaccessible to those for whom it was intended , and that the Free Church school is
set down in the position most convenient for the present population , and it will be seen , that there exists in . Scotland an educational system co-extensive with the old parochial one , provide ^ , with younger , more energetic , better trained , and also , and in consequence , " better paid teachers ; at the same time that their schools have the advantage in structure and position over those of the rival establishment .
Such is the case . Whatever difficulties stood in the way of a national scheme of education in . 1843 are doubled in 1854 . The failure of the Home Secretary is a legacy to the Lord Advocate ' Now how does his lordship propose to deal with the ^ question ? He is so far free of conservat iv e qualms , that he professes not to believe in . the divine right of old and bad institutions to grow older and worse * and proposes . to dissever the school and Church establishments , in Sco > tland . But why , we ask , lias he confined his attention solely to the old system , while a new and better should at least have divided his attention ? By raising the qualifications and salaries of the
schoolmasters he will at * best only put the old system into condition to conduct the rivalry on a footing of equality . Such rivalry , however good ; in some of its results , being connected with and dependent on the continuance of religious antagpnispa , is to be deplored . Besides , outside the large towns there is no room for the rivals . "VVnere one school fills another empties . Even when the qualifications of the teachers are equal , the Free Churchman has the advantage * since the poorer classes , whose child ren attend such schools , are mostly of his persuasion . Jfow we are not
doing battle for Free Churchmen ( fbr whom , however , in their proper sphere we have-a , proper respect ) , but would it not have been more in keeping with the terms of the compromise in favour of a national system of education latel y come to at Edinburgh between the leaders of all denominations in Scotland ^ if he had proposed a grant in aid , not to rival seminaries , but to such of the existing schools of all kinds aa from position and structure are best suited to meet the public wants . There would no doubt be great difficulties in the way of such Eclectism . But they might be overcome . Free Churchmen would throw no
obstacles in the way of such an arrangement if we may judge from their recent professions . Their school system is no essential feature in their scheme , and only when the people had to be heated up to subscription-point was it maintained that it was such . It a true national system of education is to be founded in Scotland , let it by all means be founded fairly on the existing systems . One , and the strongest , reason for attempting some such ai-rangement is its justice . Although the Lord Advocate has omitted to mention it
there can be no question that when the present Bill comes ( if ever ) into operation , all other grants for educational purposes will be withdrawn . Royal gifts for such purposes to a country like Scotland are highly pernicious . They tend to perpetuate sectarian rivalries in a matter into which sectarian feeling cannot enter without prejudice to national , interests . Relying on such
assistance , every petty little schism , since th « days of Fisher and Fletcher , may lift up its head and meditate a school system for its children . There must be an end to these whatever happens , and we cannot "well see how , in justice , Government aid is to be wholly withdrawn from Free Churchmen without the compensation which a scheme based on theirs as well ais the old parochial schools would be calculated to aifFord .
masters houses were erected and paid for . Nor was this all ; provision was made for expanding the school-system , and a Sustentation Fund formed , from which , since 1846 till now , the teachers have regularly received such stipends as , witli the assistance from the Government grant for Education in Scotland , has made their position materially better than it was in the old
connexion . In the interval of seven years since the formation of the Free Church educational scheme , the number of these Schools has so multiplied that now almost every parochial school in Scotland has a young and vigorous rival ; while in all the large towns model institutions have been founded for the training of teachers—a kind of institution whi .-. h the Establishment does not possess , except m Edinburgh and Glasgow . Every care has been taken to increase the efficiency of their masters
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NICHOLAS AT HOME . It all depends upon , the point of view . Viewed from Milan or Spielberg , Francis Joseph is a species of hereditary fiend , whoso function it is to torment men for entertaining honourable and patriotic motives , or even natural affection for their kind . Viewed from tlie drawing-room in Munich , he is a fine soldierly fellow—an engaging lover , the very picked specimen of " a dear man . " Viewed from Bucharest , Nieliolas is a lawless invader , a trampling tyrant , a superstitious cantor ,
adealerurr intrigue , fraud , and false hood * Viewed from ^ . Fo ^ W . Ofl ^^^ oWidi ^ rt ^ hni an unprincipled violator of his wotdTan invader of European law , a shame to the royal order , and an offender to be resisted j but viewed ; only from the standing place of the Peace , deputation , & has Own drawing-room , he is an a ^ enti ^ e hojrt ,: a * affable great man , a candid but , misunderstood prince a monarque incompris , a humane sovereign ,, anxious for peace , yearning to be . re-united to England , a practical Christian , a gentleavan . who can appreciate the fir § t ; lady in our own land , " not <> nly as a sovereign , but as a lady , a -wife , and [ a mother . "
There is no mistake in the matter . Jpseph Sturge , Robert Charfeton , and Henry Pease must be able to make affidavit of what , they eaw ; and what they saw was most creditable to the Emperor . Although ; there , wa ^ ihe greatest disparity in their social stations , lie condescended to make to them a speech prepared-especially to convince their hearts ; telling , how , his ; feelings had been wounded ; how , he . had . risen superior to insults [ and invectives ; how he held out his hands to his enemies in , a true Christian spirits ; They
spiwhjLa hand , and there wftejro . blood Qnji ; they saw , his countenance , it was tiiily Christian ; they saw his drawing-room , it was a model qfcslmness and peace . They , saw his Empress , a gentfe ! &erman lady . They saw , in ; fact , the ^ gentleman in bis home , they shared his hospitality , ' ; fi | ggfjrer ceived . his confidence , and altogether they witnessed a scene that must have been to them truly charming ., . . ¦ ¦ - ' ' - ^ ' i ' , * . i - ; . - > ' „ , ¦ ¦• . ^ For , we repeat , it all depends upon the point of view . "We , have formerly mentioned , an old
eentlemivn , eminent among Parjsyans for haydng actually known the revomtioniste pf ^ , 1793 ^ . among them the chief of all those revolutiopists ^ Robespierre . It had been his singularfelijdty to regard M . de Robespierre from the <^ axini ? igpoiiit Ojf view . He had gone to him on a mission not unlike that of J . Sturge , R . Charleton , and H . Pease , namely , to ask a reprieve for a man v perfectly innocent * under sentence of death at nine o ' clock , next
morning . Robespierre promised to reprieve the man , and he ^ did so , only . regre ^ ttibg that hair wprkr ing late of nights made him rise late . , ^ And he must have worked late ttat ni ghfti" said oiir oldest inhabitant , " since mypoorj 6 pei ^ d-T :---r ; j A guillotine gesture supplied thei eren ^ . " For , " continued the living , memoir , looking back With delight to that charming interview , *' he was most amiable in society PV And it is in society , where a man s real heart comb s out , that the . triple broadbrim has viewed the Autocrat of all the Russias .
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BELIEF FOR POOtt LORDS . A cuhious scene occurred in the Encumbered Estates Court , at I ) ublin , ' this week , lord Gprt appeared to invoke the protection of the Commiamissioners , in order that he and his family might not be turned ov . % of his dwelling-house by the purchaser of the land , of which not long since the Irish Peer was the nominal lord . Tnere have often been ejectments in Ireland , and some classes , like the eels , have grown used to the infliction ; but now , it appears , the hardship is rising to inflict its sting on classes who had formerly been the agents rather than the sufferers . One cannot but feel regret even for a Lord ; the more because he is a Lord . For it is all
nonsense to say that past habits make no difference . We will not fall into the cant which would justify the ill-treatment of a poor man , because he has been used to privation and hardship ; nor as little will we fall into the cant of pretending that the same hardship is equally grievous to the man hardly brought up , and to him who has been brought up in luxury . The traveller knows better . He knows that the youth who has never
encountered storm and shipwreck , frozen desolation , or starvation , destined to traverse a remote horizon before food can be reached , will undergo a torture , moral as well as physical , to which the hardened adventurer is callous . That must be a hard and vitiated heart which can seo without sympathy a Lord , whose lands are passing from him , petitioning for forbearance , lest he be ejected lUce a common sans potato . "
But there are more Gorts in the United Kingdom tlmn some philosophists reckon . If there are Lords bankrupt in wealth , there are Lords also bankrupt in health , in social utility , in political influence—Lords who are n reproach to their order , and whose title is a badge of disgrace to themselves ; Barous to whom obscurity would b 0
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JIabch 4 , 1854 . ] TH E L E ADE H , m&
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 4, 1854, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2028/page/13/
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