388 TRINIDAD. 



lukewarmness on the side of the clergy. This might be obviated 

 by the intervention of the government, and the adoption of some 

 simple regulations. But the government has already refused, on 

 the pretext that it would be interfering with the free action of the 

 children. The third plan must, I conceive, to all impartial men, 

 appear free from objection ; so with the second, which would also 

 possess, in our climate, this advantage : it will be easier always, for 

 a zealous clergyman at least, to ride to the school-house, than for 

 twenty or twenty-five young children to walk a long way, through 

 rain, mud, or mire as the case may be to the minister's resi- 

 dence, or to the parish church or chapel. But it is said this would 

 be assisting in teaching and upholding the errors of popery, and 

 the heretical doctrines of dissenters ; and this the government can- 

 not do. With all due deference to the "powers that be" this 

 narrow-minded and illiberal pretext deserves no other appellation 

 than that of humbug ; for all true followers of Christ ought to find 

 greater objections to the fact of children living, and being reared, 

 in licentiousness and infidelity, than under the tutelage of evan- 

 gelical law. Now, against the last proposed plan, I cannot dis- 

 cover what objections can be urged ; except, however, the mur- 

 inurings of jealous sectarians, who consider themselves entitled 

 to all imaginable and unimaginable kinds of favours. The opera- 

 tive detail should be this : a strict surveillance of the Government 

 regarding the course of studies and the qualifications of the 

 teachers ; none should be appointed to that office except on pro- 

 ducing a certificate of qualification from the Board of Education ; 

 the course of studies should also be determined in a programme 

 published by the same authority. The schools to be subject to 

 the supervision of an Inspector of Schools. An educational fund 

 should be vested under this system, and a proportionate sum 

 granted to each denomination. A school committee, composed of 

 laymen and ministers, should be formed by each denomination, 

 and the educational funds holden by them in trust : competition 

 would thus be created and a worthy emulation fostered. 



Connected with this most important subject, are the two 

 following questions : should education be made compulsory ? 

 should it be gratuitous ? As far as my private opinion goes, edu- 

 cation should be made compulsory, as in Austria, Prussia, and 

 elsewhere. The amount of ignorance is so great in the colony, 

 and it is of such paramount necessity that it should be removed 



