speaking as he now did in public, he knew that he was saying it before the people of England that he was ready to co-operate heart and hand with Mr. Cobden in the promotion of this measure. (Loud cheers.) It had been his (Sir John's) fate to differ from Mr. Cobden in public life, and it might be his fate in public life to differ from him again. (Hear.) He (Sir John) was not there to retract his opinions. The part he had taken in public life had been a part honestly and consistently adopted (hear); and when he differed from Mr. Cobden he had differed only as honest men might differ, as to the road to be taken to attain the common end. (Hear, hear.) He as a Conservative thought it essential that the youth of England should be trained to understand and value those institutions he was anxious to preserve, and Mr. Cobden as a Liberal, would probably tell them that it would be false and spurious liberalism which would not recognise as a first principle and a first article in its creed the elevation of the working classes amongst our countrymen. (Hear.) Well, then, he could see no reason why he should not co-operate with Mr. Cobden—(hear), and with those who were opposed to him in public life, upon this one great question, which ought not to be a subject of party difference. He saw strong reasons and motives in favour of this co-operation, and whether they looked to the effect on parliament, or to the effect on the country he was sure the moral effect would be great, to see men of opposite parties in public life casting aside their party watchwords, and consenting to act together for one great object, which all admitted related immediately to the wellbeing of the country. It was a high and holy cause; it was a cause the success of which depended upon the support it received from the people of this great commercial city, and, through them of the people of the country at large. He believed they had such support and assistance as to ensure to the cause a triumphant issue. (Loud and continued cheering.)

REPORTS OF THE INSPECTORS OF FACTORIES.-The reports of the Factory Inspectors for the half-year ended the 31st of October last has appeared in print. From their conjoint reports it appears that the inspectors have applied themselves to the consideration of the duties under the act of the last session in regard to the fencing of mill-gearing and machinery. They find the provisions of the "arbitration" clause wholly inadequate to afford that amount of protection to the operatives which they conceive must have been contemplated by the Legislature in passing the act of 1856, and they have therefore not taken any proceedings under that act. They do not object to the principle of arbitration, but to the class from which the arbitrators are required to be chosen, because that class is not qualified to act in such a capacity. The number of factories from which schedules were received in 1856 amounted to 5,117 against 4,600 in 1850, and 4,217 in 1838. Of these 2,210 were cotton factories, 1,505 woollen, 325 worsted, 417 flax, and 460 silk. The cotton factories have increased 142 per cent. and the silk 66 per cent. The woollen trade is becoming concentrated in Yorkshire, and the worsted manufacture is almost exclusively confined to the same county. The flax trade is most vigorous in Ireland. The number of spindles and looms in 1856 was respectively 33,503,580 of the former, and 369,205 of the latter, and the actual horsepower given in the returns is 161,435. Power-looms have increased from 115,801 (in 1836) to the number already indicated-viz. 369,205. The average value of the cotton goods and yarns exported in the three years 1853, 1854, and 1855 was, in round numbers, £31,000,000.; of the woollen and worsted goods and yarn the average exports for three years amounted to £10,000,000. The number of children employed has decreased considerably in flax and woollen factories, while it has increased in worsted. The total number of children under 13 years of age employed in all kinds of factories last year amounted to 46,071; the number of males between 13 and 18 to 72,220; the number of females above 13 to 387,826; and the number of males above 18 years to 176,400making a grand aggregate array, so to speak, of 682,497. There were during the halfyear 1,919 accidents from machinery, and 53 not due to machinery. The number of informations was 380, and the number of convictions 245. The return of accidents abounds in the same horrible details as usual.—Evening Star.

PRINTING IN CHINA.- According to the best authorities the art of printing was known in China upwards of 900 years ago. In the time of Confucius, B.C. 500. books were formed of slips of bamboo; and about 150 years after Christ, paper was first made: A.D. 745, books were bound into leaves; A.D. 900, printing was in general use. The process of printing is simple. The materials consist of a graver, blocks of wood, and a brush, which the printers carry with them from place to place. Without wheel, or wedge, or screw, a printer will throw off more than 2,500 impressions in one day. The paper (thin) can be bought for one-fourth the price in China that it can in any other country. The works of Confucius, six volumes, four hundred leaves,

octavo, can be bought for ninepence. For an historical novel, twenty volumes, one thousand five hundred leaves, half-a-crown is the price amongst the Chinese.-Montgomery Martin's China,

PATENT MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT SOUTH KENSINGTON.-In compliance with Memorials addressed to His Royal Highness Prince Albert, to the Commissioners of Patents, and to the Lords Committee of Privy Council for Trade, by the Society of Mechanical Engineers, and from Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, and other large towns, the Commissioners of Patents have undertaken the formation, in connection with the Great Seal Patent Office, of a Museum of Models of Patented and other Inventions, and of a Library of Works on subjects relating to the Industrial Arts.

The Building being now ready, such Possessors of Models as desire to have them exhibited in the Museum at Kensington may ascertain what space can be allotted them, on application by letter to the Superintendent, at the Great Seal Patent Office, 25, Southampton Buildings.

The Models will be kept in perfect order, and in glass cases when required.

ASSOCIATED SOCIETIES OF EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY.-The election of an honorary President for these Societies took place on the 4th February, when Sir John M'Neill was elected by a considerable majority over Lord John Russell.

PUBLIC EDUCATION IN SARDINIA. TURIN, Feb. 11.-The bill on the reorganisation of the superior administration of public instruction has been adopted by a majority of 75 to 55. The number of schools for male pupils in the kingdom amounted in 1856 to 5,872, for females to 2,887; the number of pupils in the former was 187,130, in the latter 109,356. These numbers show a vast improvement since 1850, when there were only 4,336 schools for males and 1,276 for females, with 137,399 and 40,278 pupils respectively.

The Head Mastership of the Ludlow Grammar School will be vacant immediately. The salary is £200 per annum, and fees. All applications must be made to R. Anderson, Esq., Clerk to the Trustees, Ludlow, on or before the 19th of March.

EDUCATION BILL.-Sir John Pakington introduced his new bill on the 18th February. It was somewhat vaguely described as a permissive local rating bill which as everybody knows will remain nearly a dead letter.

The Hon. W. F. Cowper, who is appointed to the important post of Vice-President of the Board of Education, then made his first speech as first Minister of Education in England. But the following is all that we need record :-"With regard to religious instruction the turning point would be whether according to the terms of compromise, the master of a denominational school was to be prohibited from giving doctrinal instruction to those pupils who were not of the same denomination as himself. The right hon. baronet was not very clear upon that point, which seems to him (Mr. Cowper) to be the most important one; for if all that was asked by the secular party was that no distinctive religious formulary should be taught to the children of those parents who objected to it, that was no more than was constantly done in national schools, the directors of many of which allowed children whose parents objected to their being present, to absent themselves during the time set apart for the teaching of religious formularies. The principle which was contained in the bill introduced by the right hon. member for Manchester (Mr. M. Gibson), and which was advocated by the secular party, was that no distinctive doctrine should be taught to the children by the schoolmaster. That was a principle to which the denominational party in this country was not prepared to accede.

It was assumed by those who prepared that bill that it was perfectly easy to inculcate all the cardinal virtues without teaching doctrinal religion. From that position he (Mr. Cowper) entirely dissented. How could the master teach a child his duty to himself without a reference to the self-denying principles and examples of Christianity; his duty to his neighbour, without teaching him something of Christian love; or his duty to the Almighty, without speaking to him of the covenant under which he is placed, and his relationship as the child of a Heavenly Father?

Whatever might be the objections to proceeding by a voluntary and local arrangement, yet at present this was the only way in which we could proceed. It was pretty clear that no system of national education to be supported by rate could be adopted so as to be compulsory upon the whole country, but it was quite possible that certain parts of the country-such, for instance, as the city of Manchester, which was most anxious to be allowed to rate itself-might gladly adopt some such system as that now proposed. There was also great use in dealing separately with towns and rural districts, as there was always a difference in the circumstances of those two classes of places, which rendered it essential that there should be distinctions made in the mode in which they were dealt with."

LIST OF EDUCATIONAL BOOKS.

Eschylus, Persæ à Blomfield, new edition, 8vo.

Annals of England, vol. 3. foolscap 8vo.

Arnold's Practical Introduction to Greek Accidence, 6th edition.

Churchman's Year-Book for 1857, 12mo. cloth.

De Fivas's New Grammar of French Grammar, bound, and Key to ditto, new edition.
Dublin University Calendar for the Year 1857, 12mo. cloth.

Griffin's Card Drawing, the Half Sir, &c. foolscap 8vo. cloth.
Hall's Companion to Authorised Version of New Testament.
Hall's principal Roots of the Greek Tongue, 3rd edition, 12mo.

Miller's My Schools and Schoolmasters, 6th edition, crown 8vo. cloth
Nichols's Cyclopaedia of the Physical Sciences, Svo. cloth.

Passion Week, with illustrations by Albert Durer, cloth.
Pictorial History of England, new edition, vol. 4. cloth.

Sheppard's and Evans's Notes upon Thucydides, Books 1 and 2, cloth.
Wright's Vocabulary and Exercises on Seven Kings of Rome.

Questions and Answers.

INSPECTING SCHOOLS.-Not having received any grant from the Government, can I have my school inspected, and am I bound to obey the Inspector?

Answer. No: but under no circumstances are school committees or managers "bound to obey" any one: nor is it the object of inspection to exact obedience, but to suggest improvements, and facilitate them.

VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION.· Ministry going out?

Answer.-Yes.

Will this office be vacated by the

PUNISHMENTS.-Is there any work exclusively on this difficult subject?

B. R.

Answer.-Exclusively we are aware of none: but all books on the practical conduct of schools touch more or less upon it. We believe that the best punishments are deprivations, not inflictions. State your case or need, and we will prescribe for it.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

REVIEWS.-We are going to make immediate arrangements for an increased staff in our critical department, especially as regards classical books.

MR. J. STEEL.-Will he be good enough to favour us with his proper address? letter we sent him has been returned through "the Dead Letter Office."

A

"C."--Our kind contributor sent the last paper too late for this number, and we should prefer the addition of the physical facts, as soon as convenient.

"TRAINING COLLEGES."-The principals who receive the JOURNAL are respectfully requested to shew it to their students for their perusal.

HE forthcoming report of the Endowed Schools Commission, followed as it will be by that of the commission just appointed to inquire into the system of the "Queen's Colleges," will doubtless show the necessity of some energetic and speedy measures on the subject of upper and middle class education in Ireland.

For the benefit of readers on this side of the Channel, we should give some information concerning the system which in Ireland supplies the place of our own much undervalued grammar schools. In the twelfth year of Queen Elizabeth, the foundress of the University of Dublin, an act was passed for the establishment of free grammar schools in all the chief towns of the kingdom. This was the origin of the Diocesan Schools, which in 7 William III. were denominated "classical." They were supported by a tax laid upon ecclesiastical property. In 1788 commissioners reported of them unfavourably, and stated that in thirtyfour dioceses they found only twenty diocesan schools. In 1809 the number had decreased to thirteen, of which only ten were in tolerable repair, and the pupils numbered in all no more than 380. Only six of these schools exist at present: Carlow, Cork, Downpatrick, Elphin, Monoghan, and Wexford. A seventh at Limerick, will shortly be revived. The seven Royal Schools are situated at Armagh, Banagher, Carysfort, Cavan, Dunngannon, Enniskillen, and Raphoe. The Endowed Schools are ten in number: Bandon, Ballyroan (Queen's County), Clonmel, Eyrecourt, Kilkenny, Kinsale, Lifford, Londonderry, Middleton and Youghal.

By the Act of 33 Geo. III. the endowed schools of Royal and private foundation, and subsequently the diocesan schools, were placed under commissioners appointed by the crown, styled "The Commissioners of Education," who publish a brief annual report. [This body is entirely distinct from the Board of National Education in Ireland, some of whose school books are familiar doubtless to our readers.] Thirty exhibitions have been founded, varying in value from £25. to £50. for students who enter Trinity College, Dublin, from any of the following schools :Armagh, Dungannon, Enniskillen, and Cavan. Students who enter from the classical schools of Erasmus Smith at Drogheda, Ennis, Galway, and Tipperary, are entitled to certain exhibitions, which they hold for about seven years. The commissioners whose report on endowed schools we have mentioned above, are another distinct body, five in number, appointed in 1854, for inquiring into the endowments, funds, and actual condition of all schools "endowed for the purpose of education in Ireland, and the nature and the extent of the instruction given in such schools."

In addition to the inspection of the schools over which their jurisdiction extends, the Commissioners have held public courts in Dublin Castle, the proceedings at which have on one or two occasions attracted considerable notice, as bringing prominently forward the testimony of most competent witnesses, the deficiencies of the middle classes of Ireland in branches as VOL. XI. NO. 124, N.s.

elementary as arithmetic and English and all important in commercial education. There cannot be the least hesitation in saying that in no part of this kingdom is there provision made for the education of those who begin the battle of life early, equal to that which is within the reach of everyone in Scotland, in the parish schools, and in the "academies" of the larger towns. The attempts made in Ireland, under the governments of Henry VIII. and William III. to establish in each parish a school "to promote the English order, habit, and language" failed, and no wonder, for education cannot be so easily crammed down a people's throats, especially by strangers and enemies. It is beyond a doubt, likewise, that more recent schemes have not been much more successful; witness the difficulties of the National Board, aiming at a system of education, in many points particularly well carried out, and including religion carefully weeded of doctrine, and the greater difficulties of the Queen's Colleges, where education is as carefully weeded of religion.

It is not easy to account for all this by alleging the unhappy divisions of the country by the all-pervading factions of Romanist and Protestant, or by ascribing it to the natural disposition of the people, and that independence of character which is their just pride. The truth, however, is plain enough that the Irish nation as a whole has hitherto been not only slow, but unwilling to avail itself of any authorised or "government" provision for education. The Romanist parish schools, indeed, often thrive; yet things are pretty much the same now as they have been for some generations past, the upper classes seeking education in England or France, private schools not standing high in Ireland, and the lower classes satiating their appetite for learning either by what might be picked up from private teachers, miserable in every sense, or else by means of the "hedge schools," which abounded and yet abound throughout the country: better, indeed, than might be expected, both in the quality and quantity of the instruction given, but in other respects most mischievous, and naturally turning the occupation of the schoolmaster into contempt.

We believe that very much may be hoped for when, and not before, the position of the master of one of the endowed schools in Ireland is recognised as on a par with that which his confraternity hold in the sister kingdom. When this comes to pass, Ireland, as well as England, may have her public schools. It is admitted that among the present charters of the endowed schools, to say nothing of the University of Dublin, there is scholarship enough, if that were all that were required, to keep the standard of education high; but there are complaints on the one side that the schools are kept back by circumstances from acting in full efficiency, and on the other side we have a cry from the Queen's Colleges, as well as from the University of Dublin, complaining of the unsupplied want of intermediate schools.

46

The Queen's Colleges have been compared to a completely furnished first floor with no stairs to render it accessible. A re-organisation of them is now apparently almost inevitable, and we should not be sorry to see the Queen's University in Ireland" take its place as an examining body, doing on a large and official scale the work so satisfactorily attempted in England by the Society of Arts, holding examinations at certain times for all who choose to come, and granting diplomas or certificates, stating accurately the extent of knowledge shown by each candidate in the subjects in which he may have offered himself for examination. We have before us the course of study as drawn up for the Queen's University. All we