further to examine into the principles of the Society, I found that this Institution supplies a great want that is felt in the country at large. We are now meeting upon one common platform, desiring to communicate sound education upon scriptural principles, and therefore we do not introduce denominational matters, except for the purpose of illustration. But, viewing them from my point of view, I could not but see that such an Institution as this was wanting for the education of the children in the country, because no merely Denominational Institution could supply the needs of our large population. I might very much regret it, from my position, but I could not ignore the fact, that there are persons whose opinion is entitled to respect, who want to communicate scriptural education, but who would not have confidence in that education being given exclusively by members of my own church. Now, because I cannot communicate 'scripture instruction in the way in which I, as an individual, might like best, shall I therefore take such measures as would deprive great numbers of that which I count to be a blessing? No; but I must be thankful for an Institution which is willing to meet me on grounds that I can consistently occupy, at the same time that it meets the wants and satisfies the requirements of large numbers throughout the country. Then, another ground of support, which 'may lawfully weigh with those who would be inclined to have their own private views of things, is, the supply which it gives to necessitous schools, that are con'structed upon the principles which it emblazons upon its banner, from which, I am thankful to hear, it neither has departed, nor intends to depart. I feel that all Christians can really have confidence, when they know that such sound scripture truths as those which the children gave utterance to to-day, are taught and encouraged throughout the land. I heard with thankfulness in the Report that a sum of upwards of £500 had been given in the way of assistance to necessitous schools in different parts of the country, schools attended mainly by the poor and necessitous classes. Now, on these three grounds, and many others that might be mentioned, I can confidently commend this resolution to the adoption of the meeting. First, it supplies a real want of education in this particular neighbourhood; secondly, the Institution supplies a want in the country at large; and, thirdly, it gives assistance to necessitous schools at home, and I am thankful to say its influence extends even to our foreign dependencies. In all these particulars, as far as one is able to ascertain, the supply has been satisfactory and liberal. If, as a clergyman, I consider the education given here, I find it to be sound, intelligent, and scriptural, and I am thankful for it. If, as the minister of the parish, I become acquainted with the pupil-teachers, or with the young people in training for the office of masters and mistresses (and it is my privilege to know some of them), I am satisfied with their being the right men and the right women in the right places. I have recommended friends of mine to take from this Institution those who have been trained here, and I occasionally receive letters both from those who have been connected with this Institution, and who are conducting schools in this country and abroad, which convince me that they will continue to preserve the same religious character that they sustained when I was personally acquainted with them. Prejudice has a very great influence upon all of us, whether we acknowledge it or not. It has been said by one of the divines of my own church, that prejudice to the mind is like dust to the eye; it both injures the organ, and perverts the object at which you look. So it is in these matters; the object at which we look is perverted, when there is prejudice in the mind, and the mind itself becomes cramped, and injured, and confined, and unfitted for that wise, extensive view of what is really a practical thing in a practical age, which ought to be taken in order to do our duty to God and to our country. I feel, then, the more I examine the matter, that we have a great safeguard in the fact that the Bible, and the whole Bible, without note or comment, is the basis of religious instruction in these schools. I feel that, on this ground, and for the reasons I have mentioned, I can commend this resolution to your support and adoption.

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GURNEY HOARE, Esq., said

I can speak to the resolution very strongly, having heard Mr. Cadman's opinion of the teaching in these schools, and I am delighted to hear from my friend Mr. Lawrence that he entirely agrees that, in teaching the whole Bible, you must teach the great leading doctrines of the Gospel. As to teaching the Bible as a mere book of rote, it is perfectly useless. That Bible must be explained, and let it be explained on the received opinions of nine-tenths of Christendom; then we shall be perfectly safe. We cannot listen to sectarian differences. There is nothing sectarian in this Society at all; it teaches the word of God in the way that it is generally and simply understood, and I am glad to think that the teaching will go on exactly in the same 'manner as it has done, to my knowledge, for the last forty or fifty years. I hope and trust it may continue to go on in the same way, and that we shall have the support of all our friends here, whether they agree with us in every point or not. The resolution passed unanimously.

The Rev. R. S. HARDY moved

"That the thanks of this meeting be most respectfully offered to Her Majesty the Queen, and to His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, for the continuance of the royal patronage and support."

The position that is thus taken by Her Majesty is worthy of her relationship to George III., who, we know, said he hoped the time would come when every child in his dominions would be able to read the Bible. I trust God's richest blessing will rest upon her, and her consort and family, and that they may be long spared to reign over these lands.

The Rev. H. CHRISTOPHERSON said

It appears to be the object of the Committee of this Society to present what may be called the aspect of a "coalition" of the different divisions of the Christian church, in order that it may be seen how thoroughly free from sectarianism the British and Foreign School Society is; so that I feel upon this occasion that I am here mainly to show that the Congregational body, to which I have the honour to belong, for the most part endorse the great principles upon which this Institution exists. I think I may be allowed to say how fit and appropriate it seems to me that a statesman, whose name has been identified for so many years with everything that has tended to increase, safely and wisely, the power of the people, should also be the statesman who stands in the very front rank of the promoters of national and popular education. It is a very great gratification to me to feel that wherever the name of Russell is mentioned throughout the world, it is a difficulty with the mentioner to tell which impression comes first, the impression of the warm advocate of the prin ciples of civil and religious liberty in this country, or the name of the foremost advocate of national and popular education. I do most earnestly trust that, for many years to come, that venerable name may continue among us as a living name.

W. B. UNDERHILL, Esq., Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, moved the third resolution:

"That the cordial thanks of this meeting be presented to His Grace the Duke of Bedford for his munificent subscription; and to the Right Honourable Lord John Russell, for again kindly taking the chair."

I felt much pleasure in being present at this assemblage of the friends of the British and Foreign School Society, and the more, my lord, because I happen to belong to a denomination (the Baptist) which, I believe, stands alone in not having participated in any denominational effort for education, and sustains to this day its connexion for the most part with this association. We believe, my lord, that education is not a denominational matter, that it is a concern for the whole people,

and that it does not belong peculiarly to any body to carry forward any educational operations. I should deeply regret the day when the British and Foreign School Society should feel itself constrained to succumb to the growth of that denomina. tional feeling which Sir James Kay Shuttleworth has so strongly marked; but I think there is a ground of possible union with regard to this question of some moment and interest. I believe the English people, as a whole, would not permit the Government to control or direct its education. They are willing, as experience has shown, to allow the Government to assist them to educate; but, my lord, that is a very different thing from the Government (like many of those on the Continent) actually exercising a control, not only over primary education, but university education, determining the character of the books to be learned, the religion which should be taught, and the moral philosophy in which the children should be instructed. That, my lord, is a kind of Government education which I believe the English people would by no means submit to; and I am disposed to think that here we may find a point of union between ourselves and others, one in which the Government shall be the assistant, but not the controller nor director of education-the helper, but not the master. I trust that the time is not far off when a scheme of national education for England may be accepted by all religious bodies of this country, upon the foundation on which stands, and I trust will for ever stand, the noble Institution over which you, my lord, so admirably and so properly preside.

ROBERT FORSTER, Esq., said

The resolution itself will explain its object. We are not only greatly indebted to the Duke of Bedford for his continued patronage, bestowed now for a number of successive years, but also to our noble chairman who is with us this day, and who gives his countenance to our undertaking from year to year.

The resolution was carried by acclamation.

The noble Chairman said

He thanked the meeting most cordially for the resolution they had just passed. His friend, Sir J. K. Shuttleworth, spoke of the large and liberal extent which he thought might be given to the Government grants. But it was one thing to speak of large sums of money at enthusiastic meetings, where all were favourable to education and public measures of that kind, and a very different thing to speak of them in the House of Commons, where perhaps the great majority were not so enthusiastic, where they had to consider the cost of these additions to the educational grant, and where men like Mr. Henley and Mr. Hadfield were ready to form a coalition to prevent the State from going too far in the way of education. Mr. Adderley, the Vice-President of the Council, said he expected the grant before long would amount to £1,000,000, but that it would not get much further than that. He was very much disposed to agree with Mr. Adderley upon that subject. He was disposed to think-if the new House of Commons was the same in this respect as the old that if they endeavoured to obtain a much larger grant of money there might be a reaction, and the grant might be diminished. He formed this judgment from observing the temper of various members of parliament, even those who were favourable to public grants of money for the purpose of education. But, on the other hand, he thought that if they attained to a grant of £1,000,000 for the purpose of school education, education would then be so widely diffused that the rest of the country would be really ashamed-not only ashamed, but suffer serious loss from the inhabitants not having the benefit of a good school-education. The mode in which that school-education was to be conducted must be denominational, as it was now to a great extent, or in accordance with the principle of that Society, which gave a sound scriptural education without interfering with the tenets of any sect. He did not believe that the mode of education adopted by a large Society in Lanca

shire, which despaired of being able to reconcile religious denominations, and which, therefore, confined its aims to secular instruction, would ever take root amongst the people of this country, or was likely to meet with success. That mode of education was exposed to this dilemma-either they must confine education to mathematics, mechanics, and geography, omitting altogether the moral elements of the mind, in which case the education was miserably defective, or, attempting to give moral instruction, they gave it in words which had less authority than the Bible, which had not the Divine sanction, and which he should say-even if the Bible had not that Divine sanction—was much less forcibly expressed than the moral instruction which was founded on the Bible. That being the case, they either refrained from giving moral instruction altogether, or they gave it in an imperfect manner; and they thereby seemed--although, no doubt, that was far from their intention-not to acknowledge Christianity, because they did not make use of it to enforce their moral principles. If they established, as they had done, and as had been shown by his friend, Sir J. K. Shuttleworth, a better mode of education than existed some forty or fifty years ago—if they spread the knowledge of that mode throughout the country-he hoped there would be such a general wish for education, that the people themselves-those who could do so—would furnish the means by which that education could be promoted. Least of all was he concerned for the middle classes of the country. There had been a very natural expression of opinion that the middle class of the country was worse off than the poor and the working class with regard to education. But as they had the means of education, and as they had intelligence, they would take care not to fall behind the other classes, and endeavour to keep up their education to the level at which it ought to be. He thought that the education of the country was in a promising way. The mode of teaching was improving every year. So far from people giving less importance to education, he found that the number of pupil-teachers and Queen's scholars was increasing; that they were sought with great eagerness, thereby showing that they found competent salaries in the great business of education. He should always think with pleasure that he had contributed in any way, either as presiding over the meetings of that Society, or as promoting plans in the Committee of Council, in advancing the cause of education in this country.

At an early stage of the proceedings the following resolution was proposed by MARK PHILLIPS, Esq., and seconded by J. C. LAWRENCE, Esq. :

"That this meeting has heard with regret that books are sold at the Society's Depository in which peculiar religious tenets are inculcated, and instructs the Committee for the year ensuing to order the discontinuance of the sale of all such books; and particularly desires that 'M'Leod's Geography of Palestine,' 'Hymns and Poetry for Schools and Families,' 'One Thousand Questions out of the Old Testament,' 'One Thousand Questions out of the New Testament,' and a book entitled 'Religious Instruction,' be no longer supplied from the Depository."

This resolution was subsequently withdrawn, on the understanding that the subject to which it referred should have the consideration of the Committee.

NEW TRAINING INSTITUTION FOR ONE HUNDRED

MISTRESSES.

It will be seen from the preceding report of the Annual Meeting that the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society are about to make an important extension in their training department. For several years past, the number of young persons trained in the Borough Road has proved wholly insufficient to meet the demand for schoolmasters and mistresses; while, at the same time, the Committee have been compelled, though with much reluctance, to refuse admission to many pupil-teachers who had successfully passed the examination for Queen's scholarships, and who were in all respects eligible candidates. Had the accommodation provided by the present building been greater, many hopeful young persons might have been received who have now been forced to enter other professions; and the schools throughout the country would have been better supplied with qualified teachers. Means have long been anxiously sought to remedy this evil, and it has at length been determined to appropriate the whole of the building in the Borough Road to young men, and to erect another for the reception of 100 female candidates. For this purpose a plot of ground has been purchased at Stockwell. Plans of the intended building have been prepared and approved, and the necessary arrangements have so far progressed that the first stone will probably be laid in the course of the ensuing month. An appeal to the friends of education will shortly be issued, in which further particulars will be detailed.

INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS.

Mr. Saunders has been chiefly engaged, during the past quarter, in the south of London, where he has conducted numerous examinations and attended many public meetings, besides pursuing a systematic course of visitation.

Mr. Davis has been occupied in the inspection of schools in the counties of Leicester, Stafford, Chester, Lancaster, York, Northumberland, Durham, Derby, Cumberland, and Nottingham. He has paid fiftynine visits to fifty-seven different towns and villages, and inspected seventyeight schools. These visits are exclusive of the calls which Manchester has had upon his attention during the quarter. Five Conferences with Committees have also been held, four public examinations conducted, and one Teachers' Association attended.

Mr. Vardy has paid fifty-four visits to fifty towns and villages, inspected seventy-five schools, held four conferences with committees, conducted three public examinations, and addressed four publie meetings.

During the past quarter Mr. Baxter has visited and inspected one hundred and three schools, in seventy-four towns and villages.