376 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



chism was taught, and no reli- 

 gious observances exacted. It 

 is contrary to the doctrine as 

 well as discipline of the Romish 

 church, to allow any Protestant 

 to interfere with those matters, 

 and consequently it is impossible 

 for Romanists to send their chil- 

 dren to any school where they 

 form part of the plan. 



Your Committee are happy in 

 being able to state, that in all the 

 returns, and in all the other 

 information laid before them, 

 there is the most unquestionable 

 evidence that the anxiety of the 

 poor for education continues not 

 only unabated, but daily increas- 

 ing ; that it extends to every part 

 of the country, and is to be found 

 equally prevalent in those smaller 

 towns and country districts, 

 where no means of gratifying it 

 are provided by the charitable 

 efforts of the richer classes. 



In humbly suggesting what is 

 fit to be done for promoting 

 universal education, your Com- 

 mittee do not hesitate to state, 

 that two different plans are ad- 

 visable, adapted to the opposite 

 circumstances of the town and 

 country districts. Wherever the 

 efforts of individuals can support 

 the requisite number of schools, 

 it would be unnecessary and 

 injurious to interpose any parlia- 

 mentary assistance. But your 

 Committee have clearly ascer- 

 tained, that in many places private 

 subscriptions could be raised to 

 meet the yearly expenses of a 

 school, while the original cost 

 of the undertaking, occasioned 

 chiefly by the erection and 

 purchase of the school-house, 

 prevents it from being attempted. 



Your Committee conceive, that 



a sum of money might be well 

 employed in supplying this first 

 want, leaving the charity of 

 individuals to furnish the annual 

 provision requisite for continuing 

 the school, and possibly for 

 repaying the advance. 



Whether the money should be 

 vested in commissioners, empow- 

 ered to make the fit terms with 

 the private parties desirous of 

 establishing schools, or whether 

 a certain sum should be intrusted 

 to the two great institutions in 

 London for promoting education, 

 your Committee must leave to 

 be determined by the wisdom of 

 Parliament. 



In the numerous districts where 

 no aid from private exertions can 

 be expected, and where the poor 

 are manifestly without adequate 

 means of instruction, your Com- 

 mittee are persuaded, thatnothing 

 can supply the deficiency but the 

 adoption, under certain material 

 modifications of the parish school 

 system, so usefully established in 

 the northern part of the island, 

 ever since the latter part of the 

 seventeenth century, and upon 

 which many important details 

 will be found in the Appendix. 



The modifications will be 

 dictated principally by the neces- 

 sity of attending to the distinction, 

 already pointed out, between 

 districts where private charity 

 may be expected to furnish the 

 means of education, and those 

 where no such resource can be 

 looked to; and the tables sub- 

 joined to this Report, will afford 

 important lights on this subject. 

 It appears farther to your Com- 

 mittee, that it may be fair and 

 expedient to assist the parishes 

 where no school-houses are 



erected, 



