( S03 ) 



THE CENTRAL SOCIETY OF EDUCATION.* 



** I DENY that the state has a right to punish crime unless it first has 

 had recourse to Education for the purpose of preventing it." If 

 these are not the words uttered, they, contain the enlightened senti- 

 ment deliberately expressed by Lord Denman (the first criminal 

 judge in the land) from his place in the house of Lords and we 

 have the pleasure of recognising that learned nobleman as the Presi- 

 dent of a society lately established for the purpose of collecting, clas- 

 sifying, and diffusing information, with regard to the Education of all 

 classes of society, how deep, how extensive, how difficult a subject 

 this of Education is, we have long felt; and we have often painfully 

 lamented the chilling apathy with which it has been regarded by a 

 large portion of the nation, and the spirit of party and of rivalry 

 which has influenced but too many' of those who have interested 

 themselves in it, just as if there were not in the subject itself, difficul- 

 ties of sufficient magnitude without adding to it others with which it 

 had no necessary connexion. 



The Society we understand, proposes, if its funds permit, making 

 minute enquiries into the actual state of Education and the adaptation 

 of the systems at present practised to the wants of the nation. In or- 

 der to render these enquiries of any value it will be necessary that the 

 society should not confine itself to finding out merely the number of 

 children, who can read and write or the number of schools. It must 

 extend its investigation to the condition of the parents and the har- 

 mony of their knowledge, skill, industry, morals, and scenes of en- 

 joyment with it, and from two printed papers of questions put forth 

 by the Society we find that such is its intention with regard to the 

 metropolis, the provincial towns, and the rural districts in particular. 

 We have long been of opinion that education, unless it has a ten- 

 dency to make the labourer more industrious, skilful, moral, and 

 happy is of little avail, and we have always been at a loss to dis- 

 cover how mere instruction in reading and writing, alone can have 

 this effect; we earnestly hope however that the enquiries of the 

 society will be attended with beneficial results, which can scarcely 

 fail of being the case if they are conducted with wisdom. Not- 

 withstanding the extraordinary progress that we have made in ex- 

 tending our dominion over matter, it must be acknowledged that 

 we are far behind many nations of the continent in extending our 

 dominion over mind. 



The report of the Manchester Statistical Society with regard to 



* Our readers will recollect that our September number contained a somewhat 

 lengthy article on education, in which principles were developed not very unlike those 

 advanced by our present correspondent. We had not received a copy of the Society's 

 prospectus, until the sheet had been worked off. We propose always to devote more 

 or less space in each of our numbers to the consideration of education generally. Al- 

 though we have no connexion whatever with the Central Society of Education, we 

 claim to be regarded as their fellow-labourers, and we shall not forget to walch their 

 proceedings and encourage them in the good work that they have so nobly begun in 

 the face of a prejudiced public. Ed. 



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