doubtful, that those who anticipate her downfall from schools founded upon the principle of equality, are in the bottom of their hearts convinced, that this is her unfortunate condition. We, however, do not think so ill of her cause: and therefore it is that we feel persuaded, both that her interests have been mistaken, and her spirit misrepresented, by those noisy and ungracious advocates who have so officiously interposed with their aid against a danger to which her genuine friends and admirers never can suppose that she is exposed.

In confirmation of this view, it is peculiarly deserving of remark, that while so great, or at least so active, a portion of the members of the Church are in England exerting themselves, with so new and ominous an activity, in opposition to general education -in Ireland, the very same church should be acting upon the very opposite principle. In Ireland, it is laid down by the Board of Education' as the foundation of all their proceedings, that the resort of all to the same seminaries should, as far as possible, be encouraged and secured. In the Fourteenth Report of the Commissioners of that Board, which has just been printed by order of the House of Commons, the very second paragraph says,We have applied our efforts to the framing of a system which, whilst it shall afford the opportunities of education to every description of the lower classes of the people, may, at the same time, by keeping clear of all interference with the particular religious tenets of any, induce the whole to receive. its benefits as one undivided body, under one and the same system, and in the same establishments,'

Surely it will not be pretended, that in England, where the majority of the people belong to the Church, this Church is in a more tottering condition than in Ireland, where it is said that not more than one twentieth part of the population belong to it. Surely a great patriotic proceeding, which is not suspected of producing the slightest danger to the Church in Ireland, cannot actually be incompatible with its existence in England.

It should always be remembered too, that teaching the elements of literature, and teaching the elements of religion, are two different things; that they really have no more connexion, than any other two branches of education whatsoever; and that upon the principle of the division of labour, there is an obvious advantage in teaching them asunder, Wherever there are diversities of religious persuasion, therefore, the utility of separating letters, which can be taught in common to all, from religion, which can not be so taught, seems so extremely obvious, that it is difficult to comprehend, either how it should have been overlooked, or upon what principles it can be denied.

It is very remarkable that the selection of such religious readings as implied nothing offensive to any sect of Christians, which in the Lancasterian schools has been so violently reprobated as teaching what, by a strange abuse of the word has been called abstract Christianity, is the very expedient which is recommended by the Prelates, Clergymen, and other eminent characters, who compose the Board of Education' in Ireland. It is also remarkable, that the true and proper expedient for inculcating all that is peculiar and distinctive in the modes of religious be lief, is the very expedient which is approved of, and proposed by the same distinguished members, lay and ecclesiastical, of the Church in Ireland. In the same Report of the Board of Education which we have already quoted, they say,

In the selection of books for the new schools, we doubt not but it will be found practicable to introduce, not only a number of books, in which moral principles will be inculcated in such a manner as is likely to make deep and lasting impressions on the youthful mind, but also ample extracts from the Sacred Scriptures themselves, an early acquaintance with which we deem of the utmost importance, and indeed indispensable, in forming the mind to just notions of duty, and sound principles of conduct.

It appears to us, that a selection may be made, in which the most important parts of Sacred history shall be included, together with all the precepts of morality, and all the instructive examples by which those precepts are illustrated and enforced, and which shall not be liable to any of the objections which have been made to the use of the Scriptures in the course of education.' The study of such a volume of extracts from the Sacred writings would, in our opinion, form the best preparation for that more particular religious instruction, which it would be the duty, and, we doubt not, the inclination also, of the several ministers of religion, to give, at proper times, and in other places, to the children of their respective congregations.'

The Board of Education in Ireland, composed entirely of members of the Church of England, and mostly of clergymen, decide thus clearly and unambiguously for the separation of instruction in letters, from instruction in religion;-declare that they should be carried on in separate places;—and that the clergymen of the respective congregations are the bounden, and the fittest, teachers of religion, to the children of their flocks. On the ground, then, both of unanswerable reason, and the highest and most unexceptionable example, we may venture to conclude, that the Church of England, if she is the best organ of religion, as her panegyrists say that they believe she is, has nothing to fear, but every thing to hope, from the most liberal plan of giving instruction to the poor.

If this first question however be well decided, there is really an end to the controversy; and it can scarcely be worth while to inquire into the comparative importance of a Church-establishment, and of general education; since it appears, that those two things are not opposed, but united in their interests. The impulse, however, in favour of education, has now been decidedly given; and the work must go forward, in spite even of greater obstructions than those which we are now lending our feeble aid to remove. Mr Edgeworth, in a letter annexed to the last Report of the Board of Education, attests this fact very strongly as to Ireland; and concludes with these remarkable expressions- I ⚫ cannot quit this subject without observing, that the poor are now uncommonly anxious to procure education for their children. As a proof of this I may mention, that in a number of private letters which I have lately had an opportunity of seeing, from young men abroad in different parts of the world, I have found most urgent entreaties to their parents or their wives, to keep their children to school.'

From observation and inquiry assiduously directed to that object, we can ourselves speak decidedly as to the rapid progress which the love of education is making among the lower orders in England. Even around London, in a circle of fifty miles radius, which is far from the most instructed and virtuous part of the kingdom, there is hardly a village that has not something of a school; and not many children of either sex who are not taught, more or less, reading and writing. We have met with families in which, for weeks together, not an article of sustenance but potatoes had been used; yet for every child the hard-earned sum was provided to send them to school. From a quarter, worthy of our confidence, we are informed, that the number of letters which pass through the post-office, and, by the circumstances of their direction and superscription, prove that they are between persons in the lower ranks of life, has increased in a remarkable proportion during the last twenty years. Sunday newspapers are another extraordinary proof of the progress of reading, and the love of political information, among the lower orders of the people; however objectionable some of these publications may be thought. We are inclined also to think, though of this we cannot speak so positively, that the Evangelical_and Wesleyan Magazines are chiefly read by the lower orders and of these together, it is affirmed, that from fifty to sixty thousand copies are distributed every month. We certainly wish that this disposition to read were better directed; though we are informed, by persons who have paid some attention to the subject, that in point of rationality, and really useful in

formation, the publications in question have greatly improved within the last four years.

Waging no war with the Church of England, to which, as a Religious Institution, we are willing to ascribe all the virtues with which her highest dignitaries have adorned her, we have no hesitation in declaring, that the political services which she has been said to render to the State, are so far from being worthy to be compared with the advantages of general education, that we should look upon the cessation of these services as an advantage of no small magnitude.

The alliance of Church and State,' when rightly interpreted, seems to mean merely the alliance of the majority with the majority, in order to keep down the minority,-which does not appear either to be a very just or a very necessary measure: And accordingly, the doctrine of this famous alliance, which was at one time crammed down our throats with so much vigour, and which some persons seem sufficiently disposed to revive at the present moment, has been so generally discredited of late years, that it may fairly be considered as abandoned by all the temperate and enlightened advocates of the Establishment. Dr Paley, for example, has stated unequivocally, that to make of the Church an engine or even an ally of the State, serves only to debase the institution;' and that the single end we ought to propose by an ecclesiastical establishment, is the preserva⚫tion and communication of religious knowledge.' And to the same purpose Mr Burke, in terms still more direct and decided. -An alliance,' says he, between Church and State, in a • Christian commonwealth is, in my opinion, an idle and a fan⚫ciful speculation. An alliance is between two things that are • in their nature distinct and independent, such as between two sovereign states. But in a Christian commonwealth, the Church and the State are one and the same thing.' To us, indeed, it appears more like a burlesque upon Government, than any thing else, to say, that the only way to secure the excellence of any political institution, is to connect it with a corporation of priests, dependent upon it by their interests, and consequently bound, as far as interest is concerned, to support it, when it invades the rights of the people, as well as when it protects them. We are extremely happy to find the clergy of the Church of England, with almost one accord, now renouncing and ashamed of this perilous doctrine, and declaring the sole and exclusive utility of their order to consist in the preservation of a pure faith, and good works among the people. No good government can ever want more than two things for its support; 1st, Its own excellence; and, 2dly, a people sufficiently instruct

ed, to be aware of that excellence. Every other pretended support must ultimately tend to its subversion, by lessening its dependence upon these, and consequently lessening the induceinent to promote good government and general instruction.

We cannot conclude this article without observing, that the Report which has been published by the authors of the exclusive scheme, conveys hardly any information. It tells us indeed

of meetings that were held, and speeches that were pronounced about the excellence' of the Church, and the excellence' of the Church Catechism, and the advantages' of religion; and it also tells us of large sums of money that were subscrib ed: But as to what has been done with that money, except buying of stock, our information is scanty indeed. We cannot indeed find out from the Report, that any school as yet owes its existence to the exertions of the National Society' (as it has christened itself), but one which is spoken of about Gray'sInn Lane: And, whether even that is actually opened, or only in a state of preparation, we are unable to discover. In an article of the Appendix, there is an account of several local subscriptions; and under the title Schools' as connected with those subscriptions, the names of about forty places are inserted: But in how many of these the schools are established, and in how many they are merely projected, does not appear. We observe, however, that they include all the old schools, in which the new methods have been adopted-and even those in which they were adopted before the National Society' had any existence; as those in Gower's Walk, Whitechapel, and in Orchard Street, Westminster. Where so little pains are taken to give clear and precise information, we may be pretty sure that clear and precise information is not calculated to advance the credit of the Institution.

While the Exclusive Society, however, with their great means, have been accomplishing so little, the extension of the Lancasterian schools, under all the disadvantages of deficient means, has been great and cheering. Instead of one solitary school for 1000 children in the metropolis, no fewer than three Lancasterian schools, for 1000 children each, have been erected;-one in Spital Fields; one for Cripplegate, Aldersgate, Coleman Street, and St Luke's; and a third for Farringdon Within and Without, and the parishes of St Sepulchre and Clerkenwell. The journey of Lancaster in Ireland, and his visit to Scotland, were the occasion of many schools. It is impossible on this head to be particular, because it is only incidentally that intelligence of new erections reaches the parent Institution in Lon