144] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



secondly as they exist in small 

 towns or villages. In large 

 towns, where the population ex- 

 ceeds seven or eight thousand 

 inhabitants, sufficiently ample 

 means are commonly found for 

 instructing the poor, the laudable 

 exertions of individuals being 

 directed to this object. And 

 there can be no doubt that a 

 number of schools calculated to 

 educate all the poor of such 

 places may be maintained by the 

 voluntary contributions of such 

 bodies, if the first expense of pro- 

 viding school-houses is defrayed. 

 The line traced out for parlia- 

 ment with regard to such districts 

 seems sufficiently plain. It should 

 confine its assistance to the first 

 cost of these establishments, and 

 leave the yearly expense to be 

 borne in every case by the private 

 patrons. \Vlien we turn to parts 

 of the country more thinly 

 peopled, we find, that the means 

 of instruction being scanty, there 

 is little reason to look for their 

 increase ; 3-Gt the poor are every 

 where anxious for education. All 

 the evidence collected by the 

 committee evinces the truth of 

 this statement, so honourable to 

 the character of our country. 



The difference here laid doAvn 

 is twofold. Where the town is 

 considerable, though the inha- 

 bitants may be of various religious 

 denominations, no impediment to 

 instructing the whole arises from 

 that circumstance, because there 

 is room for schools upon both 

 principles. The churchmen may 

 found a seminary from which dis- 

 senters may be excluded by the 

 lessons taught.ard the observances 

 required ; while the sectaries, or 

 those members of the establish- 



ment who patronize the schools 

 of all without distinction of creed, 

 may support a school upon this 

 universal principle. But this is 

 evidently impossible in smaller 

 towns where the utmost exertions 

 of the wealthy can only maintain 

 a single school. But in the vil- 

 lages and country districts, where 

 individuals live in very narrow 

 communities, we cannot expect 

 the work of educating the poor 

 to be undertaken by the volun- 

 tary zeal of the rich. Here, there- 

 fore, we must look forwards to 

 legislative interference. In Scot- 

 land this system has long been 

 established with the happiest 

 effiscts ; and there seems to be no 

 other way of providing education 

 for all the poor in smaller towns 

 and country parishes, than by an 

 imitation of its sj'Stem, with such 

 changes as may adapt it to the 

 situation of this country. This 

 subject was introduced some years 

 since by Mr. Whitbread ; but 

 Mr. Perceval thought his propo- 

 sal premature, and recommended, 

 that before any thing farther was 

 done, a commission should be 

 appointed to examine the present 

 state of the charitable foundations 

 and other institutions for educat- 

 ing the poor. The committee 

 has already made great progress 

 in the investigation of this sub- 

 ject; and we are now diligently 

 employed in prosecuting those 

 researches, and in digesting their 

 results into tables, which may 

 exhibit at one view a general but 

 minute chart of the state of edu- 

 cation throughout the empire. 

 When these tables shall be laid 

 before the H««se, an ample foun- 

 dation will be prepared for the 

 legislative measure which, sooner 



or 



