Lord Broughamhad to move their Lordships for a copy of the charter of the London University, for the rules of the said university, and the degrees conferred thereby. He could not take leave for this Session, and perhaps for ever, of the greatest subject which could occupy the attention of rulers and lawgivers—the education of the people—without offering a few words to their Lordships on the peculiar position in which this great question now stood. If their Lordships were to conclude by a resolution, pledging themselves to proceed by a bill next Session, they would perform their duty in a manner which would redound to the honour of Parliament, to the credit of the Government, and to the peace and satisfaction of their own minds. Nothing could more clearly show the progress which the question of education had made than the debate on the subject this Session, which drew together all the Peers of the realm, and which attracted as large a number of the Members of the House of Commons, and of their countrymen, as they admitted to witness their proceedings. The man who, thirty years ago, should have predicted such an event, would have been treated as a visionary. One inference which he drew from that debate was, that their Lordships would abdicate one of their highest privileges—eminent as their branch of the Legislature was for dignity, and for no slight weight with the community—if they were longer to neglect the establishment, on sound, liberal, moral, and religious grounds, of a system of education for the people. It naturally struck himself, too, that if he were to bring in his bill Session after Session, though he might be convinced of the soundness of the principles on which it was based, and of the adaptation of the provisions to attain the object which he had in view, he still was convinced that he was keeping possession, and exclusive possession, of the subject; that he was preventing others from taking it up who would come to the work with greater power, with forces of a different kind to back them, and with more weight in the community and Parliament than he could pretend to. He, therefore, thought that, by withdrawing his bill, and providing such a substitute as he had referred to, he should do this great subject the best service in his power. "Therefore it is," said the noble and learned Lord, "that I have come to the resolution, not of 592 abandoning this question,—Heaven forbid ! while I exist that is impossible,—so woven is it with my heart, so entwined with my very nature, that I could not, any more than I durst if I could, forsake it; but I abandon it in a qualified sense of the term. I withdraw from it to leave others more powerful to take it up. I give it over to my noble Friend at the head of the Government. Let him apply his vigorous and manly understanding to the subject. Let him, with all the resources at his command, as head of the executive Government—let him, with all the assistance of the supporters of the Government in this House, take it up, according either to those principles which have formed the ground-work of my bill, if it so pleases him, or according to any other or better principles, if he prefers them on reflection, and no man will be more ready to give up any share in promoting this great proceeding than I shall. Let him prepare a bill founded on right principles, and propounded in an enlightened and liberal spirit, it is needless to say with what cordial affection I shall greet his entering on such a course, and how my ancient attachment to him, which has never been altered [here the noble and learned Lord became considerably affected], will revive in my bosom, and will make me hail with joy his taking that part which his duty prescribes to him, but which his interest as a Minister ought to induce him to take, as the certain means, if not of carrying this great measure, of encircling his Government with a glory which will never fade." The noble and learned lord then proceeded to say, that he had stated one inference which he drew from the memorable debate of that Session. There was another, not so entirely satisfactory, and it was this, that in England (he spoke not of Scotland and Ireland), however anxious they might be to see a change, the necessity and importance of which was admitted by all, and however urgently they might all press forward to effect it, an universal national system of education was utterly unattainable, if the Church of England was excluded from its superintendence. He went further, and said, that such a plan could not be adopted unless a preference was shown in some material respects to that Church by law established, and the whole frame of our civil and ecclesiastical polity (whether rightly or wrongly he cared not) being founded on 593 such an assumption. This opinion was not suggested for the first time by the debate some time back. He had laid it down in the committee of 1819. He embodied it in the bill of 1820. And no sooner had he given the power to the parish minister to put his veto upon the schoolmaster if he chose, than his worthy and esteemed friends, the dissenters, took the alarm. Twas in vain that he reminded them, that he left the door of the school which he proposed to establish, not only ajar, but thrown right back on its hinges for the admission of their children. They met, they combined, they reasoned. They felt more than they reasoned, and they were more led by their passions than either by their feelings or their reason. Behind his back they candidly avowed their opinion; they amicably stated their reasons, they strenuously propounded their principles, they constantly urged their claims. Time after time he met them in consultation, in debate, in public and in private, and during the whole time that these discussions were carried on, he made but one convert. But that convert was worthy not only of exultation on his part, but of all the love, the reverence, the veneration, which encircled him in the eyes of his pupils, of his flock, of his friends, and of all his countrymen who knew him. He spoke of the late reverend, and he would add, revered (not merely as an empty title, but as a word conveying some idea of his character) Dr. Lindsey, as steady a friend of the dissenters, as great an alien to all love for Church establishments, and as great an enemy, above all, to the errors of popery, as ever came out of the country of the same league and covenant. His venerable friend thus addressed his brethren on this subject:—
My friends, I hate episcopacy, I detest and abhor popery; but rather than that the children of the people of this country should be lost here, and perilled hereafter, by remaining in ignorance, I would have them taught, if they should be taught, by the Pope of Rome himself.These were among the last words he spoke on this earth: he died the next day—suddenly died—and he left to his friends this strong memorial of his good sense, of his liberality, of his universal philanthropy, and above all, of that quality which peculiarly belonged to him—which he had not seen to belong in so great a degree to almost any other person, and which ap- 594 peared to be wanting altogether in some men—namely, when he saw he was in the right pursuit of an object, not allowing unworthy prejudices, unsound and unchristian prepossessions, to stand in his way as to the mode and manner in which it should be effected. Such enlightened views were not general. The friends of this cause were constantly met by a humiliating and mortifying obstacle; they heard it constantly said, "the Church is very anxious for education, and she has done much to promote it. The dissenters are very anxious for education, and they have done much to promote it." To the latter a debt of gratitude was mainly due; but the Church had followed the course of the Dissenters, and forwarded that great cause. But, one and the other, great friends as they were of education—deeply as they respected it—dearly us they loved it, from human frailty—from the constitution of our imperfect nature, even when in pursuit of the best objects, even when warmed by the purest and holiest feelings—praised still more highly, loved still more dearly, one other thing—and that was, victory. The Church wished for education; but they wished to keep down the sects a little more. The Dissenters wished for education; but they wished to pull down the Church a little more. Now between these two feelings, springing from the same base origin; distinguished by the same ugly ill-favoured complexion, but pointing to the same Babel work of mischief and confusion, the interests of the people and of education were sure to fall prostrate, and hopelessly prostrate, unless their Lordships interposed and formed a plan on wise, universal, liberal, and Catholic principles. Whatever unpopularity attended such a plan, he was willing to take his share of it. He hoped his noble Friend would come forward and manfully do his duty in this matter; for it was him of all others he wished to see take the glory of such an enterprise, and he (Lord Brougham) would always be ready to share as an humble and distant follower, the labours and trials of this undertaking.
§ Motion agreed so.