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duce them to take their children from school at an earlier period than formerly, for the sake of their earnings. The payment in kind is giving way to payment by money wages; the labourer is becoming more in the habit of buying his provisions at the shop instead of receiving them from the farm; the porridge and milk diet is being abandoned for white bread, tea, and sugar; consequently a few shillings at the end of the week are of more consequence than formerly, when a supply of food received from the farmer lasted throughout the year. The more migratory habits of the present day also have an injurious influence, by causing changes of school, which, with the elder children, naturally lead to an earlier leaving than would have been the case had there been no change of residence. Public opinion, likewise, has less influence on those who are frequently changing their abodes. The authority of the Church, which was formerly omnipotent both for good and for evil in Scotland, has been so much weakened as to be now almost of no weight whatever. Above all, the increase of population, and the increased facilities of locomotion, bring a mass of poor and ignorant labourers, chiefly Irish, into the districts where wages are high and education good. The competition of these men has a manifest tendency to bring down both the rate of wages, and the condition of education and intelligence to their own level. Uneducated themselves, they place no value upon education: they work for low wages, and send their children to labour, as soon as they can make a sixpence by sacrificing the child's permanent welfare to the need of the hour.

Manufactories and mines also every where offer the temptation of comparatively high wages to children.

The law permits them to be sent to these manufactories at eight

years of age; the parents, therefore, very reasonably come to the conclusion that they may, without impropriety, follow the rule in one branch of industry which the State expressly sanctions in another. With the pressure of poverty upon them, these inducements tempting them, and these examples around them, we cannot be surprised if the high and conscientious feeling which has hitherto led the Scottish peasantry to make such sacrifices for their children's education, should break down, and give place to one not higher than what prevails in other parts of the empire.

Some of the changes in manners and habits which we have just referred to may be regretted; they are sometimes spoken of with regret, both by the Commissioners and by the witnesses, in these Reports. It would be futile to dream of checking the progress of these changes; they are the inevi table result of the mighty social revolution that is at work every. where around us; but in this wonderful age of transition, in which our lot is cast, when all old things are passing away, we are called upon to consider how we may best save what is good in our old institutions, how preserve the living spirit, when the old body is worn out, and adapt it to our new circumstances. One of these good things which we would not willingly let die is the old parochial school system of Scotland, with its real though indirect compulsion, as it existed in the Lowlands; for it never made its way thoroughly into the Highlands, and the great towns have sprung up without it, or any adequate plan of education in its place. This indirect compulsion proceeded from the semi-feudal or patriarchal mode of life, which prevailed in the rural districts of Scotland; from the authority of the Church, and the force of public sentiment, acting upon a stationary

community. The dependence of an earlier period has given place to absolute independence; the jurisdiction of the Kirk session is a thing of the past; but the public sentiment which deemed the education of their children to be the bounden duty of the parents, though weakened, is still strong among the great majority; it is a minority only who neglect that duty. For the sake of society, as well as for the sake of the children, these men should be compelled to discharge that duty, the necessity and benefit of which they are themselves too ignorant to perceive. Those, on the other hand, who do their best to fulfil this duty require the assistance of the Legislature to perform what they desire; in their hard struggle to maintain themselves, and to educate their children, they have a right to demand that they should not be exposed in the labour market, to the competition of the children of those who are alike careless of the welfare of their offspring, and regardless of what they owe to the community.

Since, however, the principle of compulsory attendance has been introduced into the English Elementary Education Act of last session (though left to the discretion of the School Boards whether they shall adopt it), and since the same proposal is contained in the Lord Advocate's Bill on Scotch Education, now before the House of Commons, we may assume that the principle is sound; all we have to do is to determine to what extent it shall be carried. If, then, the principle be sound, that no parent should be permitted to deprive his child of sufficient education, beyond all doubt it should be made of universal obligation. To permit a man to escape what is declared to be both a moral and a legal duty, by merely changing his residence from one parish to another, is really too great an absurdity, too monstrous an anomaly,

VOL. III.-NO. XVII. NEW SERIES.

even for this, the land of absurdities and anomalies. It would not be more irrational to leave it to each parish to determine whether 'picketing' or 'baby farming' should be lawful or unlawful within its bounds. Practically considered, the consequences of such a system would prove most hurtful to those districts, and to those individuals, who are most anxious to fulfil their obligations. Take two adjoining parishes, in one of which the attendance of the children has been made compulsory, in the other not. The first has to pay increased rates for education, consequent on the increased numbers to be educated; the labourers lose the earnings of their children; and the farmers are deprived of a portion of the labour they have been accustomed to. The second parish has a lower education rate (if in England, escapes an education rate altogether); the labourers pocket all they can squeeze out of the hard toil of their children; and the farmers get a cheap supply of juvenile labour. Such a prospect as this will hardly act as an inducement to other parishes to adopt compulsory education; or reconcile the labourer, anxious to do his duty by his family, to a measure so partial and unjust in its operation. We do not see in the Scotch Bill as it now stands (and this observation applies equally to the English Act) that a School Board has any power to prevent children living in adjacent parishes from being sent into its parish, to be employed in labour; thereby depriving the labourers in it of the compensation they would otherwise have derived from an increase of their own wages.

It would also tend to the yet further crowding of the agricultural population into small towns, in which compulsory education was not enforced. From these towns, bands of children, similar to those gangs that attained so unenviable a notoriety in the eastern counties of

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England, might issue forth each morning into the better regulated districts around, in which education had been made compulsory. This would be felt to be so intolerably unjust, and so mischievous, that it would soon lead either to the giving up of compulsion altogether, or to its being rendered universal. On the other hand, if Parliament would take the bold, the wise, the statesmanlike course of themselves deciding the question for the whole of Scotland, they would be supported by the almost unanimous voice of the country. It could hardly be considered an experiment, for the new system would make no violent alteration in the practice of the majority of the people; it would only confirm that which has long been customary with them; but it would compel the careless and negligent, who are to be found in every community, to do what the bulk of their neighbours are already doing; and it would prevent the ignorant and thriftless immigrants of a less advanced country from introducing their own lower modes of life and of civilisation. It is not a change of practice, speaking generally, that is wanted-it is a new sanction that is required to maintain the old practice, that might otherwise, from the change of times and circumstances, grow feeble, and perhaps die out.

The condition and history of popular education in Scotland has been very similar to that of Germany; and the same motives that, in the last century, led to the adoption of the present system of compulsory education in Germany, require a similar change in the Scotch system. It is generally supposed in this country that the German system of compulsory education is a new-born creation of philosophic sovereigns and statesmen; but this is not so. " The compulsory school attendance,' says Mr. Pattison, dates from the earliest

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period of the Reformation, and was a recognised religious duty, long before it became a law of the State. From the time of Luther's address to the municipal corporations of Germany in 1514, this has been so recognised, whether it was enforced by enactment or not. It was the distinction of the Protestant child that it should be taught to understand and practise the doctrines and duties of its religion; it was the business of the Church to see that all its youth did so.' "The Allgemeines Landschulreglement of 1763 for the first time exactly defines the age, viz., from five to fourteen; but this was only defining an obligation universally admitted as one of the first duties of the citi zen and the member of the Church. If there was any novelty in the ordinances of the eighteenth century, it was in adding writing and arithmetic to the religious instruction given in the village schools. Compulsory education in Protestant Germany never had to contend with an adverse public opinion, not because the spirit of personal liberty is wanting, but because, since Protestantism began, there has never been a time when it was not thought part of parental duty to have the children properly instructed.'

Change Germany and Luther into Scotland and John Knox, this extract will be as applicable to the latter as to the former country; and just as the German Governments were obliged to provide new means of compulsion when the old had lost their strength, so it is now necessary that the State in Scotland should take upon itself a duty which the Church is no longer in a position to discharge.

It is much to be desired also that Parliament would adopt the Prussian limit of fourteen instead of thirteen, as at present proposed by the Lord Advocate's Bill. The Prussian elementary schools, even with compulsory education up to

fourteen, have been obliged to give up all attempts to teach the children anything beyond reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing; for they are a people who undertake nothing that they do not perform thoroughly. They had found, by experience, that the whole school time from seven to fourteen was not more than enough to secure to the children a mastery of these, the mere elementary rudiments of knowledge. Should the plan, which seems to find favour with many of the Commissioners and Assistant-Commissioners who have enquired into the state of education in these islands, be adopted (i.e. that children should go to school regularly up to ten, and then for half-time in manufactories, and for the four winter months in agricultural districts), we are convinced that we shall go on very much as we do at present. Parents will think they have done all they are bound to do when they have fulfilled the specified require ments of the Legislature; few children will be allowed to remain at school beyond the prescribed minimum period. In that case there is too much reason to fear that, at the end of another generation, after vast sums have been spent, and an untold amount of labour and anxiety has been bestowed on the cause of elementary education, a

large portion of our men and women may be still growing up no better educated than they are at present. If this be so, it will arise from the fact that they leave school before they have learnt to read sufficiently well to be able to enjoy it; they consequently soon give up the practice, and in too many instances lose altogether the imperfect knowledge they once possessed: thus their education, which should be continued as long as they retain their faculties, comes to an end just as they are entering upon life. The Scottish peasantry, at least in the best districts, look upon fourteen as quite early enough for a boy to leave school, and begin work. The organisers of the Prussian system have found by experience that all that time is absolutely required to lay the foundation of an education necessary to fit the citizen-soldier for the work of life; and they are the men who know how to make the best use of everything; they never throw away time, money, or exertion. We should therefore be rejoiced to see the age of fourteen adopted in place of that of thirteen, as the limit up to which every child should be required to attend school without intermission, subject, of course, to exemption on the ground of any reasonable excuse, to be approved of by the School Board.

PARIS: : 1588-1594. COMMUNE VERSUS KING.
AN HISTORICAL STUDY.

Si je me suis arrêté pour un instant sur cet épisode, c'est que là, pour la première fois, il fut possible à l'observateur de bien juger cette population Parisienne, comme elle est facile aux effarements subits, combien elle est crédule, aveugle, emportée, et quel peu de fond il faut faire sur son bon sens et sa raison! Elle n'agit jamais que par caprice, et flotte sans cesse, comme un vaisseau sans gouvernail, sur une mer agitée de vents contraires, d'un extrême à l'autre, de la confiance la moins justifiée au découragement le plus profond!

Francisque Sarcey. Le Siege de Paris. 1871.

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N the Ninth Book of Davila's History of the Wars of the League in France, our imagination is caught by one of those picturesque scenes in which the French national annals abound, one to which a master's hand has here given a peculiarly life-like presentment. We can almost hear the clamour and see the crowds which greeted the entry of Henri Duc de Guise-le Balafréinto Paris, on a memorable spring noontide of the year 1588. Davila tells of it thus:

The Duke of Guise entered Paris on

Monday, the 9th of May, near upon the middle of the day. He brought with him no greater a company than seven horsemen, some of them gentlemen and some servants. But, like a diminutive snowball,

which as it descends the mountain sides increases continually until it becomes a mighty mass, even thus, joined by the populace, who quitted their houses and shops to follow him with loud applause and joy of heart, he had not reached the centre of the city before he had at his back upwards of 30,000 persons: nay, scarce could he work his way forward, so great was the throng. Up to the skies went the cry of the people, nor was 'Long live the King!' ever shouted with so much applause as Long live Guise!' It was who should salute him, who should tender him thanks, who should bow down before him, who should kiss the border of his garments. Those who were unable to get close to him testified their joy profusely with clapping of hands and bodily gestures; others worshipped him as something holy, and touched him with chaplets, which they

then kissed, or applied to their eyes and foreheads. Women scattered flowers and leaves from the windows, and blessed his appearing. Meanwhile, he, with a cordial aspect and smiling countenance, spoke gracious words to some, cast friendly glances on others, and passing through the press of people with head uncovered, omitted nothing which could serve to conciliate the popular applause and goodwill. In this manner, without pausing at his own house, he rode straight on to St. Eustache, to the palace of the Queen-Mother, who received him pale and trembling, and in a mood of terror very unusual with her for his arrival took her by surprise, M. de Bellievre having assured her of its improbability three hours before.

This scene ushered in the memorable revolt of Paris, which lasted till March 1594. For nearly six years no monarch trod the stones of the contumacious city. Three days after Guise's entry, the popular émeute, which had long been preparing, broke forth. Barricades were raised, the civic bands of St. Eustache and Montmartre advanced even to within thirty paces of the Louvre; and the king, Henry III., had to make his escape by a back door of the palace. A revolutionary party reigned supreme over street and place and faubourg.

the extreme section of the Roman The party was that of the League, Catholics, who were for no compromise with the Huguenots, who aimed at the absolute exclusion of Henry of Navarre from the succession to the crown; who distrusted the King of France as much as they hated the King of Navarre; whose professed zeal for the spiritual prerogatives of the Church went beyond that of the Pope himself; whose military leaders were the ambitious chieftains of the house of Guise; whose ultimate instigator and abettor was Philip II. of Spain, the type and incarnation of the most uncompromising reactionary bigotry.

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