all the sects had this money divided amongst them, there is one half of the community who would not suffer their children to be taught by them. What then is to become of these children? Our public liberties demand a public universal system of education, and this can only be effected by agents appointed by the State, and answerable to the State; it can never be done if the money be given to any denomination, or divided among all the sects. Sir, we allege this is the broad principle on which the Common Schools are established; take this away, and you have no right to lay a tax at all; you could not lay a tax with any justice for this purpose. If the money is to be distributed among the dif ferent sects and denominations of christians, and they are to use it as they think best, even for their own proselyting purposes-I speak of no particular denomination-all have their preferences and peculiar tenets, and all desire to make converts to their belief-I say give the money to this end, and what follows? Why, that you ought to tax them severally according to what they receive. What right have you to tax Roman Catholics for the support of Methodist Schools? or what right have you to tax Methodists for the support of Presbyterian Schools? In short, what right have you to tax any sect for the support of the Schools of rival sects? You have first to ascertain what each requires to support the schools under their care, and then to tax that denomination to the necessary amount. You have no right to tax me as a Methodist, for the Roman Catholic Schools but only on the ground that education is necessary for the preservation of our public liberties and for the public safety."

Extracts from an article on education in the Westminster Review for July, 1851.

"Upon the second question-The mode of imparting religious instruction, the friends of secular schools lay down two positions that the schoolmaster is not the person best

fitted for religious teaching; and that it is not wise to delay the acquisition of elementary knowledge until all sects are agreed upon the precise forms and points of doctrine which should be superadded.

The misconceptions that exist on this part of our subject are more numerous than upon any other; and they are extraordinary; for, on examination, it will be found that the separation of religious from secular instruction, especially as regards credal theology, is not a novel theory, but the rule rather than the exception of the existing system. The religious instruction now imparted to the children of the working classes is almost exclusively confined to Sunday schools, with which no one proposes to interfere; and in Sunday schools the teachers are not the masters of common day schools, but the zealous junior members of a religious congregation, assisted by the minister."

"In infant schools, where the requirements of secular instruction are less urgent, religion is made a leading feature of the system; but here, again, we may remark that the infant school system does not include credal theology. From the majority of infant schools catechisms are excluded."

"The best schools, whether in England or on the Continent, are those in which this division of labor is carried to the greatest extent. The worst are those in which some half-educated broken-down tradesman undertakes to teach everything, and to act in the double capacity of schoolmaster and divine.

It is not for want of schools, nor for want of schools in which religion is nominally taught, that the working people of this country form neither an instructed nor a religious population; but from the too great preponderance of schools of the latter class. So much is thrown upon a narrow capacity, that nothing is effectually accomplished. Boys leave a charity school at fourteen, often without the ability

to make out a grocer's bill, and without a sentiment connected with religion beyond that of the weariness of an unsupportable task. Prison Inspectors report, that among the Juvenile delinquents at Parkhurst, and other prisons, there are lads of fifteen-a dozen times committed for as many different offences-as well versed in the Catechism and Liturgy as any member of the bench of Bishops. Of what avail can be religion if it be degraded into a mere exercise of memory? Better, surely, no teaching of religion than such modes of teaching it as reach neither the heart nor understanding, and end in practical infidelity.

It is for the interest of religion, that in every branch of education proper regard should be had to the division of labor, and the division of time. It is injurious to religion to attempt to reconcile incompatibilities. Arithmetic is one subject; theology is another. Both are best taught separately, and at seasons separately appropriate to each ; for "to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." It is an awful experiment, fraught with a moral danger no one can adequately estimate—a danger involving the confounding together in the mind of all distinctions between formal conventionalities and sincere piety, to attempt amidst the uproar of a school-room, to call off the attention. of a child from a sum in the Rule of Three,* or a fault in grammar, to questions of God and eternity.

The beau ideal of religious instruction, would be that of a

*In a work on 'Elementary Arithmetic,' published by a former Secretary of the National School Society (the Rev. J. C. Wigram), the subject was illustrated by questions of the following tenor :

"The Children of Israel were sadly given to idolatry, notwithstanding all they knew of God. Moses was obliged to have 3,000 men put to death for this grievous sin. What digits would you use to express this number?

"Of Jacob's four wives, Leah had six sons, Rachel had two, Billah had two, and Zillah had also two. How many sons had Jacob ?"

We quote these as an example of that false system of congruities which we deprecate, and which cannot be too earnestly condemned by religious minded men ; but it is gratifying to be able to note that better counsels are now beginning to prevail in the National School Society, and that the work from which the above are taken is now laid aside in most of their schools.

school supplied with efficient teachers for all mechanical, moral, and intellectual processes; each teacher restricted to the one department for which he might be the best fitted; and the teacher of religion, a man such as Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield,"-one to win the affections of youth; assembling a class for conversational lessons on God's providence, in a room apart, free from all din and tumult, and the intrusion of less solemn associations. There are schools in which this beau ideal is realized. Among them some under the superintendence of the present Dean of Hereford, Mr. Dawes. That they are not more numerous is to be lamented."

Persons wishing to enquire further into this subject may consult New Englander for April, 1848.

Horace Mann's 12th Report on Schools of Massachusetts. Dr. Ryerson's Reports on Canada Schools for 1851 and

1852.

Correspondence between Dr. Ryerson and Catholic Bishop of Toronto.

Correspondence between Horace Mann and Rev. M. H.

Smith.

60.

Reports of Presbyterian Board of Education.

Willm's Treatise on Education, 67, 92, 132, and preface

Debate before the Common Council of New York, on the petition of the Catholics for a portion of the school fund for their own Schools.

Princeton Review, July, 1846.

Metropolitan Review for March, 1853, published at Balti

more.

Various articles in the Reviews.

NOTE.-The Educational Magazine is published by SAYLES, MILLER & SIMONS, at Providence, R. 1. Price 50 cents per annum, payable in advance. All communications should be addressed, post paid, to E. R. POTTER, at Providence, or at Kingston, R. I.

REPORT,

Deaf and Dumb,

Blind,

Idiots and Imbeciles,

Educational Magazine,

Normal School,

INDEX.

Teachers' meetings and qualifications,

Colleges and their place in an educational system,

Objections to education considered,

Fundamental principles of a public system

Prayer and Religious Exercises in Schools.

Statistical Tables.

APPENDIX:

No. I. Relation of Schools and Colleges.

Extract from Report of Prof. Andrews,

37-48

Prof. Lewis' Thoughts on College Education,

48--53

No. II. Decisions on construction of School Law. Use of School Houses for other purposes than schools,

54-56

Making fires in school,

56-58

No. III. Religious Exercises in Schools.

Extracts giving opinions of various writers and speakers

59-83