1884.] 
On Technical Education. 
153 
Eton, Harrow, or any other of the great public schools at 
the present day for our aristocracy and the wealthier class to 
send their sons to, to be educated ; all real education would 
have been crushed out of the land, and, as far as our minis- 
ters of education were concerned, we should be pretty much 
in the condition that China is at the present time. But the 
Rulers in England in those days were wiser as regards edu- 
cation than our Rulers appear to be at present ; they, like 
the Rulers of other countries, sought out men distinguished 
as educationists, in our own and other countries, to advise 
and aid them in educational systems and projects, just as is 
done at the present day in Germany; for in that land of 
learning the custom is to associate, with the Minister of 
Public Instruction, men, as Councillors, who have had large 
experience in educational matters, and have given evidence of 
their administrative powers in that department. As exam- 
ples of what was done in former times in securing the 
assistance of those renowned in the science and art of edu- 
cation, it may be mentioned that Alcuin, a Yorkshireman, 
was employed to organise the schools of Charlemagne. 
Sturm, who was called the schoolmaster of Germany, had 
a pension from the King of Denmark, another from the King 
of France, and a third from the Queen of England, for his 
educational labours, and his school-books were adopted by 
Ascham in England and by Buchanan in Scotland. That 
great and distinguished educationist of the day, John Amos 
Comenius, was summoned to England in 1641, by Order of 
Parliament, to advise them on educational matters, and he 
would most probably have been appointed to some College 
to carry out his system of education, which had an important 
effedt on Milton, but his visit to England was cut short by 
troubles arising in Ireland. His first great book on Educa- 
tion, the “ Ianua Linguarum Reserata,” or “ Gate of 
Tongues Unlocked,” immediately on its publication circu- 
lated throughout Europe ; it was subsequently translated 
not only into Greek. Bohemian, Polish, Swedish, Belgian, 
English, French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, but also into 
Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and even Mongolic. In those 
days our Government, like other civilised Governments, 
sought for the best systems of education, for sound education 
was valued, and the educator was honoured and respected. 
The same cannot be said at the present day under the system 
of payment on results ; the educator is not respeCted, he is 
treated as a menial, and his position is such that he can be 
deprived of his employment at a moment’s notice by an ir- 
responsible official by the mere stroke of his pen. 
VOL, VI. (third series) m 
