John Russell on the subject of your inquiries, and that I am directed to furnish you with the following explanations on the several matters to which they relate, resulting from recent deliberations of the Committee of Council.

1. Schools not connected with the National and the British and Foreign School Societies, have been admitted to the benefits derivable from the Parliamentary Grants, by means of the Minute of the 3d December, 1839. It was their Lordships' intention, when they adopted the Minutes of August and December, 1846, to remove the stringency of the Preamble to the Minute of the 3d December, 1839, which declares, that if the School be not in connexion with either of those Societies, the Committee of Council will not entertain the case, unless some special circumstances be exhibited to induce their Lordships to treat the case as special. This part of the preamble having been removed, the Schools, recognised by the Education Committee of the Wesleyan Connexion, would be admitted to the benefits of the Public Grants on the conditions observed in common, both by Schools connected with the National and with the British and Foreign School Societies.

But no school would be admitted to the enjoyment of these advantages, which did not fulfil the requirement contained in the Resolutions, with which the Minute of the 3d December, 1839, concludes; namely, that the daily reading of a portion of the Scriptures shall form part of the instruction in the School.

It has always been intended by the Committee of Council, that these words should be understood as requiring that the entire Bible, in the authorized version, should be required to be in use in Schools aided by Public Grants so far as such a condition did not interfere with the constitution of the Schools of the British and Foreign School Society, as founded under the patronage of His late Majesty George the Third, and subsequently sanctioned by Parliament since 1833, and which constitution includes the use of the Holy Scriptures, or Extracts therefrom.

Their Lordships have not superseded the operation of their Minute of the 3d December, 1839, by their Minutes of August and December, 1846. The

whole series of Minutes are connected, and are to be deemed mutually explanatory.

Their Lordships have hitherto made no provision for the extension of aid to Roman Catholic Schools; but they have

not, by their recent nor by any preceding Minutes, precluded themselves from presenting to Parliament further Minutes, by which, upon a full consideration of the wants of the population, and the constitution of the school, they may be enabled to grant such assistance. These further Minutes, when presented, will make a separate provision for Roman Catholic Schools, and will in no degree unsettle the basis on which aid is now granted to other Schools. Full opportunity will be given for the consideration and discussion of such Minutes, before Parliament is called upon to carry them into execution; and no one who agrees to accept aid under the present Minutes, will be thereby in any degree pledged to approve these future Minutes, or precluded from offering to them such opposition as he may think expedient.

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2. The Committee of Council appointed to superintend the distribution of Parliamentary Grants, for promoting Education in Great Britain. It is therefore obviously not within their Lordships' discretion to devote any part of these Grants to ecclesiastical or other purely spiritual uses. In framing all their Minutes, from those of 1839 to those of August and December, 1846, the Committee of Council have had in view this distinction. Unless, therefore, in their recent Minutes, the office of Schoolmaster be regarded as a function apart from that devolving on the Clergy and Ministers of religion, their Lordships cannot fulfil their obligation to apply the Parliamentary Grant solely to purposes of Education. If they were to use it in aid of the Stipends of Teachers in the responsible exercise of ecclesiastical or other spiritual functions, this fund would, insensibly, become a means as much for the support of Ministers of religion, as of Masters of Schools. They have accordingly made no such provision in their Minutes of August and December, 1846.

To these views of the character of the office of a Teacher in an Elementary School, and of their Lordships' discretion in the distribution of the Parliamentary Grant, they will consider it their duty to adhere.

3. The Committee of Council on Education having, in a preceding part of this Letter, signified their readiness to admit Schools recognised by the Education Committee of the Wesleyan Connexion to a participation in the Parliamentary Grant, on the conditions common to other Schools, their Lordships are disposed to provide for the Inspection of Wesleyan

Schools in a manner similar to that by which they have provided for the inspection of British Schools.

In appointing Inspectors of British Schools, my Lords have not consented to admit, as a valid objection to the appointment of an Inspector, that he did not belong to some particular religious communion. Their Lordships have desired to select for such appointments gentlemen who would impartially perform the duties of their office, while they acted in harmony with the religious communion with which the Schools inspected by them were connected. But they have not for this purpose considered it desirable, or scarcely practicable, that each Inspector should belong to the religious communion with which the Schools inspected by him were associated. It is obvious that such arrangements.would involve the Inspection of Schools in much practical embarrassment, and that it could not be conducted on this plan without an unnecessary addition to the numbers of the Inspectors, nor without a large increase of the pecuniary charge of such inspection to the Government.

With this general explanation their Lordships desire to assure you that they are anxious to appoint, as Inspectors of Wesleyan Schools, such persons only as may obtain the confidence and support of the Education Committee of the Wesleyan Conference; and that they will not recommend any person to Her Majesty for such appointment, without previously consulting the Wesleyan Education Committee.

They intend, for the reasons previously stated, that the persons so appointed shall also, under similar provisions as to their appointment, be employed in the inspection of other Schools.

4. The Inspectors so appointed will be guided and limited by the same instructions as those which have been issued to the Inspectors of British Schools.

5. The Committee of Council have not conferred on their Inspectors any authority beyond that of a power to examine and report to their Lordships, and have reserved to themselves the decision of all matters relating to the administration of the Public Grants under their Minutes. My Lords will therefore listen with attention to the appeal of the School Managers against the recommendation of any Inspector. They have always recognised the justice and propriety of such an opportunity for appeal.

6. The Committee of Council have given careful consideration to the sug

gestion of the Education Committee of the Wesleyan Connexion, that they feel it to be of great importance to the religious character of their Schools that their Lordships should concede to the Managers of the Schools the right to select in the first instance the Scholars, who, if approved by the Inspectors, may be recommended to their Lordships as Pupil Teachers or Stipendiary Monitors. Their Lordships perceive that this suggestion is founded on a misconception of the intention and practical tendency of the Minutes. My Lords intend that the Managers and the Inspector shall act concurrently. They consider the Managers as the proper arbiters of everything which relates to the moral and religious character of the Apprentice; and that the Inspector, while he receives their certificate on this subject, is to examine and report on the intellectual qualifications of the Candidate. They have therefore conferred on the Inspector power to examine the whole School, in order to make the comparative intellectual qualifications of all the Scholars apparent. While, therefore, it will be the duty of the Inspector to point out those who are intellectually best qualified, it will be the duty of the Managers to make known their comparative moral and religious qualifications. It is obvious, therefore, that the Inspector and the Managers must practically concur in the recommendation of the Candidate for the office of Pupil Teacher or Stipendiary Monitor.

7. Their Lordships, having during the last fortnight frequently conferred on the several matters contained in this Letter, and having authorized these declarations, will be ready to incorporate them in an explanatory Minute.

8. The Committee of Council have further deliberated on the subjects adverted to in the sixth Resolution of the United Committees of Privileges and Education, on the 31st of March and 1st of April, 1847.

It cannot fail to be known to the United Committees, that the regulations of Church-of-England Schools, in connexion with the National Society, which render instruction in the Catechism of the Church of England a condition of admission to the advantages of other instruction given in such schools, were not imposed upon that Society by the Committee of Council on Education. The maintenance of this condition has on more than one occasion been the subject of discussion in the Committee of the National Society, and it is material to

the consideration of this subject, that a large body of the Clergy consider themselves to be under obligations of conscience to make this requirement; consequently, after repeated discussions, this rule has been maintained by the National Society, though the Managers of each School are, with the concurrence of the Diocesan, at liberty to admit scholars who do not attend the Sunday-School or Divine worship, according to the doctrine and ritual of the Church of England.

Under such circumstances, my Lords, having regard also to the fact that National Schools thus constituted have enjoyed the advantages derivable from Parliamentary Grants since 1833, have not considered it their duty to make the admission of the children of Dissenters into such Schools without these requirements a condition of Grants under their Minutes for August and December, 1846.

Their Lordships greatly regret, that the children of Dissenters are not admissible into Church-of-England Schools without these requirements, and they would rejoice in a change in the regulations of such Schools, providing for their admission.

While on the one hand my Lords regard with respect and solicitude the scruples which religious parents among the poor may feel to permit their children to learn the Catechism of the Church of England, they have felt themselves precluded from insisting upon a condition which might at once exclude Church-ofEngland Schools, or at least the majority of them, from the advantages to be derived under the Minutes of Council.

Their Lordships hope that much may be expected from a careful review of the Civil and Political relations of the School, which has not at any previous period been so fully acknowledged to be a National Institution. Regarded in this light, their Lordships cannot but hope that the Clergy and Laity of the Church of England will admit that the view they may take of the obligations resting upon them, as to the inculcation of religious truth, must be limited by their duty to recognise the state of the Law as to the toleration of diversities in religious belief, and especially in those who, on the basis of the Apostles' Creed, approach so nearly as the Wesleyan Communion do, in doctrine, to the Church of England.

If their Lordships should find, upon the report of their Inspectors, that in parishes with only one School aided by Public Grants, communicants of Wesleyan congregations, too poor to provide

THE REV. CHARLES PREST, THE REV. GEORGE OSBORN, THE REV. JOHN C. PENGELLY, THE REV. THOMAS VASEY, Secretaries to the United Committees of Privileges and Education of the Wesleyan Conference.

THE United Wesleyan Committees met at Manchester on April 9th, pursuant to the Resolution for adjournment, and continued their sittings through the following day; and, after hearing and deliberating upon the preceding Correspondence, unanimously adopted the following Resolution :

"That these United Committees record their high satisfaction at the manner in which the Sub-Committees have executed the task entrusted to them of embodying, in their Resolutions presented to Her Majesty's Government and now read to these Committees, the various objections entertained to the measure of the Government as originally proposed, and offer to them their most sincere thanks for the efficient manner in which they have discharged their most laborious duties."

A Resolution was also passed, acknowledging the courtesy and consideration which the Committees had received from Her Majesty's Ministers, and expressive of a hope that some further inquiries which they deemed necessary would receive a satisfactory answer. In this hope it was agreed to recommend to the Connexion at large to refrain from any public remonstrance or opposition to the proposed measure of the Government.

It was also resolved that the Committees should adjourn till Monday, April 12th, to meet in London.

Such further inquiries and observations as the United Committees deemed it necessary to propose were embodied in the following Memorandum, which was presented to the First Lord of the Treasury, and the Lord President of the Council, by a Deputation from the Com

Wesleyan Centenary-Hall, London,
April 14th, 1847.

I. THE United Wesleyan Committees, having read and deliberated on the letter of the Secretaries to the Lord President of the Committee of Council on Education, and the reply of that Committee, dated April 7th, desire respectfully to express to their Lordships their grateful sense of the readiness with which they have listened to the various representations which these Committees deemed it their duty to make, and of their wish to meet, as far as possible, the views of the Wesleyan body.

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II. The feelings of apprehension and alarm with which these Committees at first regarded the Minutes of August and December, 1846, were very much relieved by the declaration of their Lordships, that those Minutes are not to be considered as a distinct and independent publication, but as part of a series which commenced in 1839, and in the earlier portions of which the daily use of the "Scriptures" was made a condition of receiving aid to all Schools not connected either with the National or British and Foreign School Society.

III. It afforded them not merely relief, but high satisfaction, to be informed, that, by the expression, "the Scriptures," in the Minute of December, 1839, their Lordships had "always intended it to be understood that the entire Bible, in the authorized version, should be required to be in use in Schools aided by Public Grants," though not belonging to the National or British and Foreign School Society; and that the operation of the Minute in which this requirement was expressed, would be in no degree interfered with by the recently published Minutes. And it would complete the satisfaction which the Committees have felt, to have their Lordships' sense of this matter stated in any future Minute which may appear.

IV. These United Wesleyan Committees have learned that their Lordships have not, by the recent or by any preceding Minutes hitherto, made provision for the extension of aid to Roman Catholic Schools. And while they understand that their Lordships do not feel themselves precluded from granting such assistance under the provisions which may hereafter be framed, and presented to Parliament in future Mi

nutes, these Committees feel happy to be informed that such future Minutes will in no degree unsettle the basis on which aid is now granted to other Schools, and that full opportunity will be given for the consideration and discussion of such Minutes. These Com

mittees also learn with satisfaction that they will in no degree be precluded from offering to such further Minutes, when they may appear, any opposition which they, in conformity with their avowed principles, may deem expedient and

necessary.

V. That while, in considering the religious aspects of the proposed measure, these Committees can by no means divest themselves of the fear that some parties will employ the advantages which it provides to inculcate Doctrines and Practices at variance with the principles of the Reformation, they nevertheless are gratified to learn from their Lordships' communication, that those advantages cannot be perverted into the means of forming and sustaining a Supplemental Ecclesiastical Establishment. They have learned with the most sincere pleasure that it is their Lordships' intention to devote the Parliamentary Grant "solely to the purpose of Education," and not to allow it to be used in aid of the "Stipends of Teachers in the responsible exercise of ecclesiastical or other spiritual functions."

VI. The United Wesleyan Committees further observe, that in their Letter of April 7th, their Lordships mention the Committee of the National Society, and the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society, and also signify their readiness to admit Schools recognised by the Wesleyan Education Committee to a participation of the Parlia mentary Grant, on certain conditions, but do not state how far it may accord with their Lordships' views to enter into stated communication with the Wesleyan Education Committee, and to receive their certificates respecting such Schools. As a "Central Board, watching over the interests of a distinct class of Schools," the Wesleyan Education Committee feel that both their own convenience, and the interests of the numerous Schools in connexion with them, would be greatly promoted by such an arrangement; and they respectfully suggest it for their Lordships' consideration. Assuming that it is their Lordships' intention to make such an arrangement, these Committees request to be informed in what way their Lordships design to make this arrangement apparent and available, whether by

an additional Minute naming the Wesleyan Education Committee, as the Committees of the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society are named, or in what other manner.

VII. Their Lordships have intimated that certain conditions of obtaining aid must be observed by Wesleyan Schools, if any such should apply, in common with those of the National, and British and Foreign School Societies. It does

not clearly appear to these Committees what these common conditions are; and they therefore beg to be informed whether their Lordships intend anything more by these expressions than that the questions contained in the usual forms of application for aid must be satisfactorily answered.

VIII. These United Committees also take this opportunity of stating, in reference to some passages in their Lordships' letter, that they never contemplated that their Lordships should appoint no other persons than members of the Wesleyan Societies, as Inspectors of Wesleyan Schools, (if any of them should eventually be aided from the Parliamentary Grant,) and they are anxious not to be misunderstood on this point. But they observe that their Lordships have stated that they will not recommend any person to Her Majesty for the appointment of Inspector, without previously consulting the Wesleyan Education Committee; and they would be glad to be informed whether they may understand this provision as implying that the same privilege will be conceded to them which has been enjoyed by the British and Foreign School Society, and which is stated in the Letter of Lord Wharncliffe to Mr. Dunn, dated November 30th, 1843, namely, that no Inspector for them will be appointed without the full concurrence of their Committee. And as their Lordships have kindly stated that they will listen with attention to the "appeal of the School Managers against the recommendation of any Inspector," these United Committees would further inquire whether, in case any Inspector of Wesleyan Schools should cease to possess the confidence of the Wesleyan Education Committee, their Lordships would allow an appeal to themselves against his continuance in office.

IX. With respect to the selection of Scholars to fill the office of Pupil Teacher, or Stipendiary Monitor, these Committees express their satisfaction with the explanation with which their Lordships have favoured them, to the effect that the Inspector and Managers

must practically concur in the recommendation of the Candidates for such offices.

X. With reference to the last subject noticed in the Letter of the Committee of Council, these Committees have observed with pleasure and gratitude that their Lordships are prepared to recognise the rights of conscience, and that they express their willingness, while seeking to extend the advantages of Education as widely as possible, to protect, as far as they may be able, the Children of Nonconformists and their Parents, in the enjoyment of their Religious liberties. They, however, regret to find, that their Lordships have felt themselves precluded from at present making any definitive regulations on the subject; for these Committees are of opinion that nothing short of strict regulations, issued under the authority of their Lordships, or perhaps legislative measures, will insure the cessation of those annoyances and injuries to which in many places Nonconformists are now constantly exposed. The compulsory learning of the Church Catechism, and the prohibition of attendance on their own Sunday-schools, and places of worship, with which the benefit of daily instruction is often coupled in rural districts and small towns, appear to these Committees to be conditions so entirely at variance with the principles of Religious Liberty, as to justify, if not imperatively to demand, their best efforts for their removal. If, therefore, they should at present be unsuccessful on this important point, they will not feel themselves precluded from repeating their attempts in subsequent years, nor from asking the Legislature to consider the subject before granting the Annual Vote for Education.

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XI. In conclusion, the United Wesleyan Committees beg leave to acknowledge their Lordships' kindness in assuring them that their Lordships will be ready to embody their explanations and proposed additions, in a Supplementary Minute to be published for general information.

On Friday, April 16th, the United Committees again assembled, to receive and consider the Report of this Deputation, as to the general substance and results of their interview on April 14th above mentioned, especially in reference to the subjects included in the preceding "Memorandum ;' and, after careful consideration, adopted the following as their