'These words apply rather to higher education than to that of an elementary character, but the warnings are almost as

necessary in regard to the latter kind. Because a youth has greater book-learning than his father, it is not necessary that he should earn his living in a different way.

is impossible to doubt that to some extent the more complete system of elementary education which now prevails in this country, and which has been the result of the Act of 1870, has something to do with the migration of some of the rural population to the towns, and has produced in some places and in some ways dissatisfaction with the existing order of things and a desire for larger wages. When people have learnt, to use Lord Derby's words, that culture is compatible with moderate means and that poverty does not necessarily imply ignorance, they will have gone a long way to become useful, educated, and at the same time contented citizens. There are some who regard the views of Lord Derby upon what may be termed the general principles of education as pessimistic and not sufficiently full of encouragement. But it would be impossible, if we sought for some passage in these speeches of a less critical and more urgent kind in regard to this subject of education, to find one more practical, more clear, or more convincing than that in which but a few years ago Lord Derby pressed on an audience the necessity for a system of continuation schools to carry on the education of those who, having passed through the public elementary schools, were willing yet further to increase their knowledge.

'In 1870,' he said, 'the nation decided that, so far as was in the power of any public authority to prevent it, no child should grow up unable to read and write, or destitute of at least some elementary knowledge. That object has been in the main accomplished; but the very success which has been achieved so far leads to a further demand. It is felt and seen that of all the teaching which has cost so much trouble and money-certainly not less than seven millions yearly, and probably a good deal more-a large proportion, larger probably than most of us suspect, goes absolutely to waste. Just as in the richer classes, in the portion of society which is supposed to be educated, boys pass years of their lives chiefly in trying to pick up a little Greek and Latin, which nine-tenths of them never utilise and soon forget, so in the village school or Board school a great deal is learned which, from mere disuse, is absolutely lost in a very short time. That is, looking at the matter from a purely intellectual or educational point of view. Looked at from the point of view of morals and discipline, the result is nearly the same. A lad is turned out of his school, and started to make his own way in life at the age of twelve or thirteen. It is quite right that he should begin at that age to contribute towards

his own support. It is not only right, but in a society organised like ours it is even a necessity. But work does not take up all his time. The evenings remain to be disposed of, and what is a lad to do? where is he to go? He is not always welcome at home, especially if the house is small and the family large. Even if he is welcome he does not always care to stay there, and parental control is feeble in the classes that maintain themselves. There is no place for him to resort to except such as are not of a very desirable character, and the streets of Manchester on a winter evening are not very attractive or exactly the sort of playground you would wish to see selected. Therefore on various grounds we think we are justified in asking for help to enable those boys who really take an interest in learning to carry their school education a little further. There are three separate but not unconnected objects which the promoters of these classes have in view. They want to help in the extension of that technical instruction for which everybody is now calling out, and which is so useful, perhaps so necessary, for material success in life. They want to help young men who have a turn for culture, whether scientific, literary, or artistic, to develope their faculties, for the sake of the increased enjoyment, the deepened interest in life which all increase of intellectual power tends to give; and lastly, they want to help boys of the ordinary sort-not exceptionally bright or exceptionally studious, but boys with a good deal of human nature in them-to find some decent, harmless, and pleasant occupation for the hours which are not taken up by work, and which in the absence of such occupation will almost certainly be wasted in idleness, and very probably wasted in mischief. That is our justification for wanting to set up evening classes. . . . I think I have sufficiently explained what we mean and what we want, and I would sum it up in one sentence: Look after the lads, and you may trust the men to look after themselves. And recollect what these lads are. They may not know much; many of them may not be particularly wise, but when they reach the age of twenty-one they form part of the now ruling class of England. The working class, as we all know, outnumbers not only every other, but all others put together. No policy can be successful, no policy can have so much as a trial, which does not commend itself to the opinions and the feeling of the artisans and the labourers of England. They in the last resort must determine what our relations with foreign States are to be, how we are to manage India, what we are to do with our Colonies, whether we shall stick to competition, or try to protect native industry again. It is a new experiment in the world's history that we are trying. The United States have many constitutional checks; the republics of antiquity were slave-holding communities, and, in fact, in the view of the present day would be looked upon as only aristocracies with a large number of members. We in England have given all power practically to the House of Commons; and we have given all power over the House of Commons to those who work with their hands. Lord Sherbrooke said long ago when the franchise was more restricted, "Let us at least teach our masters to read and write; " and we say, Let us endeavour to bring about a state of things in which every

English elector shall have at least as much knowledge as is possessed by the average American citizen. That may not be a very lofty ideal to reach, but I suspect it is a good deal above our ordinary English level.' (P. 440.)

No one who considers these extracts can doubt the urgent need, alike from a moral, an educational, and a business point of view, of some system of continuation schools, and no one can find in these same extracts a single note on the speaker's part of discouragement, though what some might term discouragement was in truth on the part of Lord Derby only very desirable plain speaking.

We cannot quit Lord Derby's speeches on education without some reference to his views on the policy of the Education Act of 1870 and the compromise of that year between the supporters of the voluntary and the board systems. His expressions of opinion are especially valuable at the present time when the educational question is again attracting public attention, and when the treaty between the two sections of educationalists appears to be in danger. Lord Derby's words on this subject should be weighed by both parties. He was essentially a friend to the increase of education, he appreciated the importance of the voluntary system, and he looked at the matter wholly free from party and from sectarian prejudice. The speech to which we desire to draw attention was delivered in 1870 soon after the passing of the Education Act of that year, and at a meeting to forward the objects of the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education. Therefore it was a speech primarily to help the voluntary schools. Having stated that the object of the promoters of the meeting at which he was presiding was to increase the efficiency and to add to the number of the local elementary schools, Lord Derby addressed himself to a wider audience than was assembled before him :

'We most of us know what is the principle, and what are the leading provisions, of that important measure for the extension of elementary teaching which has become law within the last few months. It is not my duty or my wish to criticise that measure; but I may say in passing that, looking at it not with the eye of a theorist or of a partisan, but from the point of view of a practical administrator, it seems to me to have been conceived in a spirit of fairness, moderation, and of equity as between the various parties and interests concerned. What Parliament has in substance said to the people, whether in towns or countries, is this: "We intend to have every child in England, without exception, taught to read, write, and cipher, so that it may have a fair start in the race of life, and be capable of discharging its duty to its family

and the State. We hold you, the local authorities, and you, the ratepayers, responsible for this being done, and done effectually; but, provided you do it, we don't want to tie your hands too tightly as to the means which you shall employ. If you can get on without compulsion, so much the better; if you cannot, you are authorised to use compulsion. If you can work the machine through the agencies actually existing, do so and welcome; if you can't, or would rather not try, there is provided in the School Boards a new machine which will be more effective. If voluntary funds, met by aid from the State, will suffice, go on with your voluntary arrangement; if that breaks down, there is a system of rating to fall back upon." That is what the Legislature in effect has said; and I think as far as one can judge the plan is one which bids fair to obtain the maximum of useful result, with the minimum of antagonism, opposition, or injury to the feelings of individuals or classes. But recollect this, the Education Act of last session is, upon the face of it, merely a tentative and experimental measure. There is no finality about it; and, in the present and undecided state of opinion, there can be none. So much, however, is clear that it holds out to the various religious denominations into which the community is divided, the very strongest possible incentive to exertion; because, while on the one hand they are told that on certain conditions their assistance and co-operation are invited and welcomed-Parliament wisely, as I think, in the circumstances of our country, does not refuse to avail itself of the powerful assistance of those ecclesiastical bodies which, it is universally admitted, have done so much to promote elementary education, and which could do so much to impede any system of teaching to which they conscientiously objected-it yet, on the other hand, holds over them and over us, and over the entire community, a very distinct and intelligible warning-I prefer to call it so; I won't use a more unpleasant term-that if the educational requirements of the nation are not met by the agencies now in force, or by those which it has recently sanctioned, those requirements will have to be met in some other way, and probably no future arrangement that can be come to is likely to be as unobjectionable as the present in the eyes of those who have in their hands the working of our present elementary school system. Well, I think I may assume that it is not the object of any one in this room either to find fault with the Education Act of last session, because that would be useless, or to endeavour to turn and twist it to any special purpose of their own. The promoters of this meeting desire, as I understand them, honestly to work the Act, according to the intention of its framers, and to use the powers which it confers in the spirit and for the purpose in which, and for which, they were meant to be used.

'Now, the Act gives an option to every locality between the extension and effectual working of the old existing schools, and the creation of School Boards to establish new ones which shall be supported by rates. Now, I have not a word to say against the system of School Boards. They are an experiment which ought to be tried fairly, and which will be tried, I suppose, in pretty nearly every large town throughout England. It may be that we shall come to them universally

in the end; as to that, I say nothing. But it seems to me, speaking my individual opinion, that they are likely to answer best where the area of their operations is largest, and will have the most difficulties to encounter where the area is smallest. First, because in the large towns you have a wider choice among educated men to serve on the Boards; next, because where each important denomination is well represented there is less chance of injury, real or imaginary, being sustained by a minority; and, lastly, because the dislike to paying rates-a feeling very natural-is likely to be strongest in agricultural districts, where people make their money more slowly, and where, as the saying is, they are apt to look twice at a shilling before they part with it. . . . I do not think, therefore, that those persons are either unreasonable or illiberal who, in their own neighbourhoods, are anxious, as far as may be, to enlarge the old foundations instead of laying new ones, and to go on as long as they can with the educational machinery to which they and their neighbours have been accustomed, and which does not involve any addition to local taxation. At any rate, in doing so they are only adhering to a system which the Legislature has expressly sanctioned, and to which it consents that assistance should be given from national funds. Now, my only feeling in the matter is this: let us have the Act effectually put into operation; let us, by whatever agency we may severally prefer, render primary instruction at least universal; and, seeing as I do in this proposed Diocesan Board of Education an engine which may be powerful for that purpose, I for one give it a very willing support.' (P. 22.)

It will be observed that Lord Derby clearly understood the Act of 1870 to give those who were carrying on voluntary schools the right to continue them so long as the voluntary funds met by aid from the State would suffice. At the present time the difficulty has arisen that the supporters of voluntary schools find that the funds raised by the subscriptions of contributors are in many cases insufficient, largely in consequence of the operation of the Education Act of 1888, by which school fees were abolished and elementary schools were made absolutely free, and partly because the Education Department is more stringent in its requirements in regard to the sanitary state and general condition of school buildings. Public opinion in regard to these latter matters has advanced considerably since 1870, but the principle laid down by Lord Derby as being that which underlies the Act of that year-namely, that if the educational requirements of the nation are not met by the agencies now in force, these requirements will have to be met in some other way-applies with singular force to the state of affairs at the present time. Lord Derby would assuredly have condemned any attempt by the Education Department to crush voluntary schools out of