2 74 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the magistrates in every school-less district. All poor children were 

 to be entitled to two years schooling between the ages of seven and 

 fourteen years. The bill was mangled in the Commons and lost in 

 the Lords. In 1816 a select committee was appointed to report on 

 the education of the lower orders. In 1818 it reported on the condition 

 of the country at large. 'The anxiety of the poor for education' was 

 daily increasing, though the opportunities were very bad. The single- 

 school (mostly church-school) districts showed, however, an increasing 

 degree of liberality, and the religious views of the school were not 

 pressed upon the children of parents holding other views, provided 

 that the children were really taught such other views. This committee 

 recommended the universal use of a conscience clause, the establish- 

 ment of rate-supported, free parochial schools in very poor districts — • 

 the principle of the act of 1870 — and, in rich districts, the making of 

 grants to aid in the building of schools the maintenance of which 

 would fall upon voluntary subscribers — the principle adopted by 

 Parliament in 1833. Had both these suggestions been accepted in 

 1818, educational progress in the nineteenth century would have been 

 far more rapid. 



In 1820 Mr. Brougham introduced his first education bill. In his 

 speech he fully recognized the labors of the clergy on behalf of educa- 

 tion, and he noted the great improvement of the position since 1803. 

 Then only one in every 21 persons in the population was at school, 

 while in 1820 it was one in every 16 persons. This meant, however, 

 that still one fifth of the population was without the means of educa- 

 tion. Moreover, London was still ' the worst-educated part of Christen- 

 dom.' The bill proposed the universal establishment of parochial 

 schools with efficient teachers. Funds were to be found by local rates 

 and by the diversion of old endowments. The religious teaching was 

 to be undenominational. This bill was opposed both by the dissenters 

 and the Eoman Catholics, and was abandoned after the second reading. 



Thirteen years now passed without legislative effort, but these years 

 saw the growth of a great volume of public opinion. Mr. Brougham's 

 pamphlet entitled ' Observations on the Education of the People, ' pub- 

 lished in 1825, ran through twenty editions in less than a year, and 

 on all sides the importance of the problem received recognition. The 

 year 1833 produced the first results of the educational renaissance. 

 On Saturday, August 17, the House of Commons voted the sum of 

 £20,000 in aid of private subscriptions for the erection of school- 

 houses. The new era of definite state intervention in the education 

 of the people may be said to have opened with this vote. From that 

 date to this an ever-increasing annual vote for education has dignified 

 and justified the statute book.* 



*Over £10,000,000 was voted by Parliament for Elementary Education in 

 England and Wales for the year 1902-3. 



{To be conliuued.) 



