within the range of probability that it would amalgamate with the Papacy, not only from the long standing hereditary animosity, but from their having diverged more and more, century after century, as the Papacy has brought in one innovation after another, and rendered it impossible to retract them by its claim of infallibility; and the Greek Church would have fewer sacrifices to make in acknowledging the Emperor of Russia for its head.

The creed and ritual of the Russian Church is precisely that of the Greeks, and the only difference is that the Greek Church regards the Patriarch of Constantinople as its head, while the Russian Church acknowledges the Emperor. And this is a real headship, in the sense of regulating its internal doctrine and discipline, as well as governing it in external things. The Russian Emperor, in short, unites the dignities of Pontifex Maximus and Cæsar, as many of the Roman Emperors continued to do after the empire became Christian, and as Basil and his immediate successors, towards the decline of the Eastern empire, again did :—

"The Emperors claimed to be selected agents of divine power, and to be placed above those laws which they could make and annul................. ......while the Greek Patriarch, deprived by the Emperor of all political authority, dependent on a synod, and subordinate to the civil power, offered but a faint representation of what was in that age conceived to be the true position of the head of the Church” (49, 76).

A few months will indicate the course of events, and it will be from France that they will probably take their direction; and parties in that country are so complicated as to render it impossible to calculate beforehand the probable results. All seem to be endeavouring to gain time, and the coolest and most cautious is the most likely to succeed.

Of Mr. Finlay's work we need only say that, though brief, it is ably put together, and he gives his authorities for his facts. It appears also to be candid and impartial, although its general tone is somewhat more democratic than suits our taste. He has already published a history of Greece under the Romans, and means to follow the present volume with a history of Greece under the Turks; and these works fill up a gap and supply a desideratum in English literature.

[We scarcely need say that the above was written before the 2nd of December, which has again turned the eyes of all Europe upon France, and has indicated the probable course of events still more clearly than before.-EDITOR].

35

ART. II.-Outline of a Plan for Combining State Assistance with Safety of Church Education. By GEORGE ANTONY DENISON, M.A., Vicar of East Brent. London. 1851. 2. Plan for the Establishment of a General System of Secular Instruction in England and Wale, adopted by the General Council of the National Public School Association. March 17, 1851.

3. Instructions for the Draft of a Bill to Promote Education in the Municipal Boroughs of Manchester and Salford. February, 1851.

IT was remarked, it is said, by one if not more of the principal attendants on her Majesty during her late progress through the manufacturing districts of Lancashire, that, much as it had been talked about, without seeing it, it was impossible to form any correct idea of the amount of population which those districts contain. These parties had, doubtless, seen, and even, perhaps, not without astonishment nearly akin. to fear, passed through the midst of many a London mob. They had, possibly, gazed on the Champs Elysées, thronged with the gay spectators of a Parisian fète; or even watched, not without apprehension, a formidable array of sans culottes, as with blouse and musket they marched to the exciting strains of Mourir pour la Patrie through the barricaded streets and boulevards. As far, however, as mere numbers are concerned, never till they drove through the streets of Manchester, on October 10th, did they really know what numbers meant. It is no wonder, therefore, that those who are always living in the midst of such astounding numbers should be more than ordinarily impressed with the important influence, either for good or evil, which they cannot but exercise on society at large. It is no wonder that they who have been chiefly instrumental in bringing together such a countless host of immortal souls should be painfully awake to the responsibility which they have incurred. In plain English, it is no wonder that the higher classes of Manchester should take as two of the documents placed at the head of this paper attest they are taking a more than ordinary interest in the education of the labouring population. Nor can we bring ourselves to think that the royal progress, fruitful as it cannot but be in many and most important political and social results, will prove altogether barren as regards the subject at present under our consideration. By her simple attire,

her dignified yet kind and courteous manner, her unaffected interest in all around her, and, above all, by the confidence with which she trusted herself almost unguarded to the largest assembly of her subjects ever gathered together, the Queen, at the same time that she read to the world at large a lesson, not soon to be forgotten, on the impossibility of republican principles finding any resting-place beneath the shade of a constitutional sceptre so mildly and graciously wielded, bowed likewise the heart of all the men of Manchester themselves, even as the heart of one man. On the other hand, we are much mistaken if all the men of Manchester, congregated as they were in countless yet most orderly myriads, with loyalty in their hearts and a boisterous welcome on their lips, did not at the same time bow the heart of their Sovereign Lady. Neither her Majesty, nor her royal consort and councillors, we are persuaded, can have seen, as they have now with their own eyes seen, the hundreds and thousands of the manufacturing districts, without asking more earnestly than ever before, and with a determination of finding some practical and immediate solution of the difficulty which it involves, the important question-" How are these dense masses to be educated ?"

There have long been, and still are, three great impediments in the way of anything like a general diffusion of education amongst the labouring classes. One of these is the difficulty of raising a sufficient fund. It is no easy matter, even with the assistance of Government and the National or British and Foreign School Societies, especially in those poor and thickly-peopled districts in which schools are most required, to raise a sufficient fund to complete even the fabric of a new school. How many, commenced several years ago, remain even to this moment unfinished-with incomplete fences or none at all-with no residence for the master, and in the inside with few, if any, of the fittings requisite for the attainment of knowledge and the maintenance of discipline and order! And even to attain to this most imperfect state of things, the promoter of the school-in ninety-nine cases out of an hundred the parochial clergyman-has been either burdened with a debt which he can ill afford to pay, or been forced to resort to the most miserable and disagreeable shifts of mendicancy, charity sermons repeated ad nauseam, and odious bazaars; has been driven, perhaps, to beg from house to house through his parish, and been rewarded for his importunity in behalf of others by coldness or even impertinence which could scarcely have been exceeded had he been begging

for himself. But, when the school is built and finished, and even furnished with all needful books and apparatus-when a proper play-ground has been provided and fenced-when even, by what might charitably have been expected was the last great effort, a residence, such as a well-educated man ought to have for repose after the harassing labour of the school, has been added for the master-then, after all, for the promoters of the school comes the tug of war. The repairs of the school buildings have to be provided for. The wear and tear of books and apparatus have to be supplied. Rewards for the diligent must be prepared; and, above all, the salary of the master and his assistants must be furnished. In short, as is well known and keenly felt by almost all who have any practical experience in the conduct of schools, if the original outlay is no easy matter, the annual maintenance is inconceivably more difficult and perplexing, and is in no way alleviated either by the National or any other voluntary Society.

It is true that, in some districts, the plan of mixing different classes of scholars in the same school at various prices, so ably carried out by the present Dean of Hereford at King's Sombourne, may succeed in making the school almost, if not quite, self-supporting. Such a system, however, is suited for only a few, comparatively, and these chiefly the agricultural districts; and in the poor and thickly-peopled districts of the manufacturing counties can have no place. It is true, likewise, that the admirable plan devised by the Committee of Council on Education for the augmentation of the salaries of deserving masters, the payment of pupil teachers in proportion to the number of scholars, and the sale of books on reduced terms, has, wherever it has been brought to bear, lightened to a considerable extent, though by no means wholly relieved, the terrible burden of annual maintenance. order, however, to produce anything like a general or telling effect, this plan requires to be somewhat modified so as to suit all sorts of districts; and such an increase must be made in the parliamentary grant for education as would enable the Committee of Council to give these facilities in every case in which they are deserved. As it is, in the majority of schools throughout the country, there is a great deficiency in the supply both of teachers and books and apparatus, as well as great difficulty in maintaining even this insufficient state of affairs. The consequence is, that the school is always at low water and in a languishing condition, and its managers perpetually living from hand to mouth; like all other persons, with great responsibilities and indifferent resources, in a constant worry;

In

and obliged to have recourse to all sorts of miserable expedients to make both ends meet. Who ever heard of a mill, a manufactory, a mercantile concern, or even a private property, thriving under such circumstances? What reason have we to expect that the case will be different as regards a school?

"This want of adequate and constant funds "-observes the Rev. W. J. Kennedy, her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, in his Report for 1850 "for the annual maintenance of schools, which I have just referred to, is at the bottom of nearly all the defects observable in schools. Want of proper funds leads to the appointment of inefficient teachers to scanty supplies of books and apparatus-to dirty, repulsive, and unhealthy rooms, and to a scale of fees higher than it ought to be."-Minutes of Committee of Council, 1850, vol. ii. p. 433.

"The clergy"-writes Mr. Mitchell, another of her Majesty's Inspectors--" whose incomes are lessened by the present low prices of agricultural produce, begin to look with great anxiety on institutions, the burden of whose support is thus more and more extensively thrown upon their own private resources. Many are almost on the point of closing their schools, and the greater part lament the imperfect manner in which they are compelled to carry them on, through lack of funds."-Ibid. 1850-1, vol. ii. p. 251.

Another impediment in the way of a general diffusion of education consists in the indisposition or inability of parents, even when a school is close at hand, to avail themselves of the advantage offered for their children. As the fact ascertained by the promoters of the Manchester and Salford scheme of education-namely, that there is at this moment existing in the boroughs of Manchester and Salford almost, if not quite, a sufficiency of school-room for the population of those places, if it was all brought into daily operation-is a striking proof of the existence of the first impediment mentioned; so another fact, which may be gleaned pretty extensively from the Reports of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, as well as from other authorized sources namely, that such school-rooms as are daily opened are rarely more than partially filled or filled only with very young children-is a no less incontestable proof of the existence of this second impediment alleged. It may be that the quality of the instruction afforded in our schools is not such as supplies to the parents a sufficient temptation to incur the expense of their children's school wages. This will, of course, be remedied, in proportion as the schools are possessed of a larger and more certain income;