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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    A LITTLE LEARNING.

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    THE NEW BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. have few additional remarks to make on the

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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

    LOBD PALMERSTON , in the seventy-sixth year of his age , and the fiftieth year of his reign as a guardian of the State , lias suddenly turned moral philosopher . Most people when they are nearing their latter end , are anxious to become " good " in some way or other . Some build alms-house , others build churches , others turn Dissenting ministers , or tract distributors . Lord Palmeeston devotes himself to the moral wants of mechanics and shoeblacks . The noble lord ' s sermons at Leeds breathe the true spirit of enlightened philanthropy ; and so great is the impression they have made on the public niind , that we can only regret that the noble lord did not become a moral philosopher at an earlier period of his life . If he had , we think it possible that the lion and the lamb might have come to ah amicable arrangement long ere this , and Dr ; Cumming ' s tribulation been altogether avoided . It is generally supposed that there is a fair amount of common sense in the world , but it seems that we have wanted Lord PAiiMETSTON to tell us that two and two make four , in order to be fully convinced of the fact . ' The Scottish clergy had no idea that there was any cure for cholera but prayer until Lord Paljieeston went down and told them that they might pray to Dooms-day without effect , if they did not flush their sewers , and cleanse the courts and alleys of their crowded towns . And now the noble lord has dispelled another cloud of darkness . " A little learning is a dangerous thing , " says the the poet . " Dont believe it , " says Lord Palmeeston , " a little . is better than none at all . " One would imagine that commonl earning sense had discovered the true application of this observation long ago . But it appears not . Lord Palmekston has first made the discovery , and we are all agape at the clever thing he has said . Such is the advantage of possessing- a great name , and occupying a high position . Every word that flows from such a mouth is an oracle , and every trite and worn-out sentiment or opinion , the utterance of a s ' ag-e . How Lord Bboxjgham must smile at the adulation of Lord Paxmerston's'discoveries on education which are now ringing in all the newspapers . More than thirty years ago he and Dr . Bikkbeck fully recognised and pi-actically acted upon the principles which the public are now accepting from Lord Palmerston as discoveries . Mechanics' Institutes , and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge , have long been practical exponents of the well-recognised fact , that a little learning is better than none at all . And is it not long since Mr . Recorder H ill clearly demonstrated that the only effectual cure for crime was the education of the poorer classes . Yet it seems to be regarded as something quite new , when Lord Palmersxon tells us , at this late hour of the day of civilisation , that , " the amount of the evils which afflict society greatly depends upon the direction which is g'iven in _ the earliest years of life to the minds of the rising" _ generation . " The great pioneers in the march of social regeneration may well exclaim here , '" Thank you for nothing-. " They laid dowc these principles thirty years ago , and have been acting upon them ever since . Now , when half " the work has been done ; when houses of refuge , and reformatories , and ragged schools have been established all over the land , and when the results are showing- themselves in a marked and appreciable diminution in the number of criminals , our leading men of the political world step forward and tell us that we should do what we have already done without their help ; and , indeed , in default of the obstacles which they have thrown in our way . If tho honest truth wore told , the governing classes , the hindowners , and the gentry , are only now accepting these social movements because they can no longer resist them . They have become Liberals by tho same process . They resisted the stream as long as they could ; but when they could no longer oppose its accumulated force , they had no alternative but to go with it , or be swamped . There is possibly no social doctrino which has done so much harm as this self-same dictum about a little learning . It is a doctrino which tho country gentleman and the landowner have huggod as tho dearest item of their creed . By acting upon it , and shutting ; out their farm labourers from the benefits of even the most elementary education , they have been able to degrade thorn to the level of negro slaves , and Keep down wages to nino shillings a wook . Tho slave- owners of Virginia go upon the samo principle . They will toll yo \ i that it is u bad thing to cdueato niggors , for thon they road books , grow religious , and don't do near so > muoh work . And , in this country , whilo tho landlords havo resisted tho sprond of oduoation , in order to koop down wages , tho politioal classes havo disoourngod it for a similar end— an end equally solfish , xmgonerous , and wiokod . That end has boon to keep tho masses in ignorance , that they might bo justified in denying their political rights . The opponents of ltoform havo droadod nothing so much as tho growing 1 intolligonoo of tho working * classos . Even its advocates havo boon haunted with misgiving's for tho result of a widely - extondod suffrage , consequent upon tho olovation of tho masses . Wo must all , of oourso , greatly rojoioo that oar masters and governors aro beginning to placo thomsolvos at tho head of tho great sooial and educational raovomonts of the clay . " Wo shall not rojoot those labourers or deny thorn thoir fair sharo of ci'odit , even ' though they havo not oomo into tho vineyard until tho eleventh hour . At tho samo timo , howovor , wo oaunot . allow thorn to talk as if they had boon tho first volunteers in tho oause , and had borno tho heat of tho day . Thoro is something positively ridiouloim in thin nanumption . Tho Premier , at tho XH-osont time , is going about ; 'the country liko a fjroat Liborator , ¦ who has only just aohioved his opportunity . Ho assumes tho ofiioo of a Boxt of sooial Moasiah , who has only just oomv I

    upon earth to grapple with the fullness of wrath . No one would suppose that the field had been open to him any time during" the last half century . One cannot help laughing at the clap-trap character of some of the noble lord ' s proceedings in the north . 'There , for example , is his visit to Fairburn . His lordship has an estate there , partly hereditary and partly purchased , the tenants of which have paid him rent for half-a-century ; but it is seven and twenty years since they have seen the face of their landlord , Only one old lady remembered ever having cast eyes upon him , and it is- interesting to know that the noble lord was " a handsome man when he came afore , that is , he was younger like , for he ' s very handsome now , yo u know , for his time . 1 And the noble lord made up for his long absence by showing that he was as handsome in deeds as in looks . On passing through Fairburn ' s one street the attention of the Liberator was arrested by alow iron-hooped door , guarding the entrance to what seemed to . be a cavern cut out of the sandstone rock . " There , " said the Liberator , "is a place worthy of Naples—what is it ? " " Fairburn ' s lock-up , please your lordship , " was the reply . " ' s is it ? " " Your lordship ' s . " Oh ! mine , is it ? " rejoined the Liberator , sharply , " then let it be taken down , and see that it is done at once . " So no doubt by this time Fairburn ' s bastille has been razed to the ground . Was there ever anything finer in a play ? We really must have an historical picture of this—Lord Palmekstos ordering the demolition of the Fairburn lock-up . From what we hear of the dimensions of the dread prison , two men and a boy for half a day will be quite equal to the duty of sweeping this last stronghold of tyranny frOrn the face of the earth and—the market-place of Fairburn . Henceforth every man in Fairburn will be at liberty to get drunk and conduct himself " obstreporoursly " with impunity ; for Lord Palmeeston has said that there shall be no longer a lock-up in Fairburn , and his word is law . The noble lord would seem to imagine that it only required a speech from him on social regeneration to put everything right . He must be convinced , at any rate , that there is to be no more wickedness in Fairburn , since he has given-orders'for the demolition of the lock-up .

    Untitled Article

    Nov . 33 I 860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 909

    A Little Learning.

    A LITTLE LEARNING .

    The New Benevolent Society. Have Few Additional Remarks To Make On The

    THE NEW BENEVOLENT SOCIETY . have few additional remarks to make on the

    Untitled Article

    "Y ^ TE a intentions W of a New Benevolent Association for the Kelief of the Poor and Distressed—an association professing its' readiness to co-operate with , all or any of the numerous benevolent institutions already in existence in London . The idea is highly laudable , and we shall gladly hear any further details when the plan is more matured . So much strength and money are often thrown away in England from carelessness about details , loose organization , and what the French would call want of logic , that we venture to offer , in as few words as possible , the details of the Prussian arrangements Berlin for the relief and superintendence of those who are obliged at to appeal to public charity for total or partial support . The writer from whom the sketch is taken—and few more intelligent and observant travellers have ever taken pen in hand—pronounces the system excellent in its working . The multitude of our poor , their habits , locations , resources , and main stream of relief , differ widely from those in Berlin , so we offer the Prussian system , not for adoption in its totality , but as one from which some important hints may perhaps be taken , Berlin , says our traveller ( we abridge him ) , with a population ot between 300 , 000 and 400 , 000 , has no poor rates , no allowed regular mendicity , the land in its vicinity is bad , and its manufacturingoperations trifling ; yet each municipality of the city manages to provide adequately for its own poor ; mainl y by the agency of what may be called private eleemosynary exertion . Every municipality appoints directors ( with the Burgomaster as president ) from members of tho magistracy , of the town council , and private members selected by each par ish out of its parishioner , s ; in this direction clergy and medical men may , and often do , join . Iheso manage , besides the supeiuntendonce of the looser poor , the poor-schools , poor-houses , and hospitals , and see to tho distribution ot their funds . Nor is tho superintendence a careless or superficial one ; indeed , so groat is tho attention to tho sick poor , that steam and sulphur baths arc supplied them when necessary , and they are often sent to drink mineral waters . . . As in tho case of our district visitors , each poor-commiBBioncr has a distinct section of his district put under his charge , and in general is not responsible for tho care of more than ten or twelve pauper families . Tho number of pauper commissioners will now probably amount to nearly a thousand ; it was considerably smaller when Mr . L / ViNO gave hit * account , and they aro chosen ho liberally from all decent and woll-to-do mombcrs of tho community , that oven a respectable muster chimney-swoop was one of their number . At tho end of each month , tho poor commissioners hold a mooting to make their report and settle buainoss . 11 ' a pauper requires relief , ho applies to the president of tno distriot , who makes minuto inquirios into tho oaso ; if it appears worthy ho refurn it to tho commissioners of tho sootion . in , wmon tho naupor is living } inquiries aro made rospooting his last piaoo of rUdonoo ( in urgent cases immediate relief may bo granted , by pormiBHion of tho president ) ; if tho paupor ' s ^ tenaonts « J found to bo correct ; twenty-live printed 9 ™»^ n B J ^ t gJ regarding his connections , « go , health , and former oooupatoon , wliieh luTin bound to answer , and horo lot it be > obserrai , that in Prussia tUo neai-obt blood relation ., aro bound ^ ' ^' * . ^ ™ support- their poor rulativtw . H dokiuwB } h urged , tho Ptyw ° " » wAus hi * statement , mid at tho und o tho hat of W ftoo * the decision of tho ooramtebionera is vrntton . Xhis also wervos m a giiidw , if tho pauper remove * olwwlwro .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 3, 1860, page 909, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2372/page/5/