§ Mr. Wysemoved the second reading of the Bill for the education of the people of Ireland. After the large exposition he had already given of its principles, it would be unpardonable to trespass long on the attention of the House, especially when a subject of so much interest was about to come before it. He should reserve, for the next stage, the arguments by which he should be able to support each of the Clauses. He should confine himself on the present occasion merely to a few words on its most important principles. The most prominent of these was the recognition that any measure for national education, should repose on moral and religious instruction. That principle was admitted by every civilized state of Europe and America, and laid down as the groundwork of all amelioration, without which education itself would produce evil, by spreading wider the seeds of error and dissension. It was well said by Mirabeau, that liberty was not so important as religious and moral instruction; and the experience of all history had shewn the justice of the remark. The second principle laid down in the preamble of the Bill was this:—that wherever a system of education was intended to be extensively applied and permanently secured, it could only be accomplished by the joint co-operation of Government and individuals. Therefore, while it was necessary that Government should have that control over education which belonged to the superintending power, it was necessary that the people should co-operate. This principle he had endeavoured to carry through every part of the measure. In all cases of this kind it was obvious that the people must feel considerable interest in the improvement of their immediate connexions; but it was impossible that in remote and poor parishes anything like a general system of education could be established, unless, in the outset, the first efforts were made, by a Board. If the people contribute, he had taken care to give them a share in the management by Local or School Committees—not so as to interfere with the labours of the teachers, but so as to keep up a proper inspection. 1131 He should trust little to the Board if it were not controlled by public opinion, and responsible to the House. With regard to religious instruction, which had been so much a subject of difference among nearly all classes in Ireland, and which had materially impeded the general march of education there, he had endeavoured to provide for all the contingencies by means the most simple and natural. With the concurrence, on one side, of the Board, and on the other side, of the parish, he confided to the parish the assessment for the support of the master of the school. It was obvious that much might be done by the existing law. Out of the 1,600 schools in Ireland, no fewer than 1,000 were in the province of Ulster, and only 600 in the other parts of Ireland. One of the most important obstructions hitherto existing to any arrangements for education, had been the want of proper teachers; that was a point upon which he insisted, and he had made provision for the instruction of proper persons capable of imparting instruction to others. There could be no greater absurdity than to suppose that children could be educated without educators; to attempt it was labour in vain. The first important step in education was, to provide a school for the education of teachers; and powers were given to the Board, not only for the education, but for the selection of proper teachers. The Board would superintend the instruction of teachers, that schools might be well provided with proper masters. Thus, also, a power was given to reward those who were deserving. Without some encouragement of this kind, it was almost a desperate attempt to obtain teachers, who might be confined to the obscurity of a small parish, without the means of distinguishing themselves. It was not necessary to enter more into the details of the Bill; the outline of which he had laid before the House on a former occasion. Some Gentlemen might be surprised not to discover particular regulations in the Bill; for instance, particular regulations regarding religious and other instruction; but looking to the several codes of Europe upon this point, it would be found that such details introduced into the body of the law had been usually ineffectual; many contingencies, not at all foreseen, occurred to defeat them, and they would render necessary an Act of Parliament almost every Session. He had, however, given the Board sufficient authority to introduce rules of the kind. He hoped that most of the principles in the 1132 Bill would meet with the unanimous concurrence of the House, and should content himself with moving the second reading.
§ Lord Morpethhad no objection to the second reading of the Bill, on the understanding that it should not be further proceeded with during the present Session, in order that the Government might consider during the recess, how far the objects of it might be practicable.
§ Mr. Shawwas not prepared for the Motion of the hon. Member, but, on the understanding suggested by the noble Lord, was ready to assent to the second reading. In doing so, however, he was not to be considered as coinciding in the views upon the subject of education which the Bill embodied.
§ Mr. Wysethought the best plan would be to send the Bill, on its being read a second time, to a Select Committee. If his Motion, however, were now agreed to, he would name a day for the Committee, and that would give time to consider what course it would be best to adopt with respect to it.
§ Lord Morpeththought there were too many questions already before the Select Committee to justify the House in sending another at the present advanced period of the Session. It would, however, be time enough to consider that when the Report came from the Committee on Diocesan Schools.
§ The Bill read a second time.