affected by their efficiency. Steady advancement in learning is also promoted hereby, since no scholar may be presented twice in the same standard. A child that was in the first at a former examination must have advanced at least to the second when the next arrives, or forfeit the benefit of the grant. These regulations are also admirably adapted to correct partiality in the teachers, and secure a proper distribution of the teaching power through every part of the school. For should favouritism be showed to some, while others are neglected, the neglected ones failing to pass their examination, the master's income will suffer through his partiality. Here then is a guarantee for fairness and justice, which will enable the poor man to feel that he shall not be disappointed of his hope in reference to his children whom he sends to such schools.

Good discipline is scarcely less important than good teaching; and this also is promoted by the system under consideration. The inspectors found much to correct here. In one school a master was found pacing up and down the aisle, on the day of examination, with a cane in his hand; and when the inspector remonstrated with him about it, he gave the amusing explanation, that when he first took to the school the children were so rough in their manners that he was obliged to arm himself with a good cane to save his life; and he had now become so accustomed to the practice that he found it difficult to break it off. (p. 23.) Who can help shuddering at the danger to which he stood exposed, and admiring the heroism he displayed in braving it? In some schools the inspectors found hardly any approach to order; there was not work enough to keep the children quiet; all were talking at once, as in many Sunday Schools; everything was in disorder; the master's orders could not be heard above the storm of juvenile voices ; insubordination existed; registers were not properly kept; and as a consequence, little school work was done. Grievances of these kinds existed, and bore sad fruit in many places; but they are fleeing at the inspector's approach like darkness before the morning sun; and good order is prevailing in many government schools at the present time. Nor need we wonder, since the grant depends to a great extent on their orderliness and efficiency. Nor is the financial stimulus the only one: there is an appeal to a higher principle, the hope of obtaining a good report from the inspector, and the apprehension of incurring a bad one. For the fact that in one school nearly all the scholars pass the examination, while in another most of them fail to pass; this, when made public, must be felt in the right quarter. So healthful is the influence exerted in general by the inspector's visits, that many schools which do not apply for grants, ask for and receive regular visitation from Her Majesty's inspectors. (p. 196.) By the individual and thorough

examination enjoined under the revised code, the real state of the schools is discovered, and their excellencies or faults made known in a way that must ultimately raise their character very considerably. Hence, most teachers and managers regard the inspector-not as a dreaded detective-but as a useful friend and helper; and some of the most successful masters ascribe much of their success to the stimulus exerted by the examinations. The times when these are held are considered the red-letter days of the year. Much anxiety is felt in reference to their approach. Preparatory examinations are usually held at intervals in order to ascertain how the work is progressing. Thus, diligence and earnest application become habitual.

But is it all gold that glitters? Are there no inconveniences, faults, and hardships, connected with the government system of education? This were too much to be expected in a world where nothing is perfect. To us it seems a hardship that the grant should be forfeited by every child not present on the day of examination; for such absence might be occasioned by prevalent sickness, by the occurrence of the market being held the same day, etc. In these cases the master's income would seriously suffer through no fault of his own or of his charge. There is no doubt, also, that occasionally children are kept in a lower class than that in which they ought to be, simply because the master fears that if advanced into a higher standard they may fail to pass, and thus injure him both in his purse and reputation. But these are but slight faults when balanced against the many excellencies that have been enumerated. Some have objected to the system on account of the very limited range of the subjects taught. They would like the children to travel over a wider field, and take in a more extensive range of subjects. But is not this very limitation an excellence? If something is lost in breadth is it not more than made up in depth? Less pretentious it may be, but is it not all the more valuable? What is learned is well learned, the mind is trained to exactness, and a foundation for the great and varied attainments is laid. Some have objected to the system under review because it appeals to a low motive-the desire of gain. But might not the same objection be urged against almost every good thing? It is true that the system appeals to the desire of gain; but it does not ignore higher motives. The fact of the case is, it simply makes a teacher's duty, honour, and interest, to coincide; and what is this but the very principle on which the great Governor rules the world? It holds out the offer of assistance to deserving teachers, but denies it to worthless ones. Hence its tendency will be to drive the latter from the field, or else force them into exertions for their own improvement, and the efficiency of their labours. That we have not arrived at a mistaken judgment

is rendered probable by the fact, that good teachers generally speak well of the system, while bad ones are all but unanimous in its condemnation. (p. 272.)

As to the future, it appears to us that one of the probable results of government education will be the rapid and general extension of education among the masses of the people. That this will inevitably follow requires but little proof. For if in the course of the last twenty years it has wrought such wonders, and opened the gate of knowledge to so many hundreds of thousands of our juvenile population, what may we expect in fifty or a hundred years to come? At that time the country tradesmen will no longer, for want of a little learning, be reduced to the curious necessity of keeping book with chalk on the back of the shop door, making a large round O for a penny and a small one for a shilling; but he will be able to keep his accounts in an intelligent and proper manner. Then the young man and maiden, splendidly attired, and beautiful to behold, after retiring from the hymenial altar on which they have pledged their mutual vows, will no longer feel the mortification of having to make a cross in the marriage register their mark as an apology for inability to write their names; but education will have enabled them to handle the pen in a way that will not discredit their respectable appearance, or diminish the joyfulness of the occasion. And along with the disappearance of popular ignorance, may we not hope for a large diminution of crime and pauperism, and a corresponding elevation in social and moral character? Thus the ground will be somewhat prepared and made good for the reception of the seed of the Gospel.

Another result of the government system will be the increased difficulty of supporting private schools for the children of the poor. For it must be apparent that schools of private adventure will have to fight the battle of competition with state schools against such fearful odds as will leave them no reasonable prospect of victory. The matter stands thus: in the government school there will be almost everything favourable; a staff of thoroughly competent teachers; a good, respectable looking, and tastefully arranged school-room; an education known to be sound and satisfactory; and all this accompanied by a scale of fees that are agreeably small. Whereas in a private school almost everything will be found just the reverse of this; the teachers may be either good, bad, or indifferent, as the case may be: (and if good, as there is no system of inspection to render it evident, the public will be slow to believe it;) the school-room will frequently be badly situated and poorly fitted; while the fee charged will probably be double the amount charged in the other case. How then can private schools flourish, or even live? If one grocer sells excellent sugar in a splendid shop at fourpence per pound, while his neigh

bour sells an inferior sugar in a small, dingy-looking shop at sixpence, a child can tell which way the stream of custom will flow. The application is too obvious to need further remark. Many such schools, we are sorry to say, after ineffectual struggles for life, are dying out, and others are dragging out a miserable existence. We do not rejoice, we rather grieve for this. We regard it as a necessary evil attendant on a good system. Some may feel surprised at this and be led to inquire-if christian churches by hundreds and thousands can be established and maintained without state aid, why cannot as many schools be established and supported without it? We reply, simply because the latter, among Methodists, would cost nearly ten times as much as the former. Just compare the church and school together. A hundred and fifty or two hundred pounds per annum, aided by the valuable gratuitous labours of our laymen, will serve to provide itinerant ministers for a circuit containing a dozen different places; while to provide efficient day schools for the same places would require little less than ten times the amount. Hence it will appear that though we may be able to provide our societies with the means of grace without foreign aid, it by no means follows that we can provide them with the means of a good education.

And intimately connected with this is another probable result to which we invite the special consideration of Primitive Methodists, namely, that those religious bodies which decline to accept government aid to day schools must thereby sacrifice considerable influence and prosperity. A moment's reflection will render this apparent. Those communities which accept state aid will eventually get the great bulk of the children, of all religious persuasions, into their schools. And who does not see the vast advantage this will give them over other churches? For as a tree leans in the direction in which it is trained, so the young mind inclines towards the denomination from which it receives its education. Who has not seen that the child brought up with a stranger comes in time to love that stranger more than its own parents? And in like manner that church which educates the children belonging to various denominations will probably succeed in engaging their affections and withdrawing many of them from the church of their fathers into the bosom of its own communion. How much of the present prosperity of the Church of England and the Church of Rome is accounted for by this circumstance? Our own church as well as others has suffered severely from this cause already. Who has not beheld with deep sorrow the children of our members becoming Unitarians, Episcopalians, or Romanists, and learning to despise the church of their fathers? Nor can we wonder at this however much we may deplore it; for it is only the natural result of the system under consideration so long as one body

accepts and another declines state aid. See then how the case stands: a religious denomination cannot retain its young people without itself providing for their education. But this we have shown to be extremely difficult without government aid. Hence the irresistable conclusion that all religious sects which refuse such aid must greatly curtail their usefulness and circumscribe their power,—— an evil that will go on increasing proportionately with the rapid spread of government education.

But if so, unless the thing is dishonourable, or wrong, ought we not as a denomination to accept State aid for our day schools? Can we afford the annual loss of thousands of our sons and daughters from our altars? The part we lose, moreover, are the most educated part, such as we can least spare; such as will in all probability rise to influence in the world, and such as if retained would exert a powerful effect for good within our own communion. Nor is this all. Are we not continually losing our educated young men and women who have devoted their life to the work of tuition? Having so few day schools of our own we have no sphere for them among ourselves; hence they are driven by a stern necessity to seek elsewhere what they fail to find in their own church. Who has not met with such cases? Our losses from both these causes are such as to give great pain to all who desire the Connexion's prosperity. That we are become a numerous body, and have been favoured with considerable success, we admit; but how much greater and stronger should we be to-day had we been able to retain all our young people?

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Nor is the evil of which we complain yet come to its full growth. Great as has been our loss in the past, it will probably be much greater in the future, unless we prevent this by accepting State aid. The number of schools belonging to other bodies will keep increasing; our children will of necessity be sent to them; and as a consequence they will to a very large extent be alienated from us. Our numerous Sunday schools will but partially prevent this. your child goes five days in the week to a church school, and one day only to a Primitive Methodist Sunday school, has not the church five chances to one against your own church? But in thousands of cases our own children do not come even to our own Sunday schools; the denomination that cares for them during the week lays claim to them on the Sabbath also. This is no exaggeration, but the simplest statement of fact. What reasonable hope then can we cherish, under such circumstances, of retaining such children amongst us? Our Sunday schools as well as our churches and congregations suffer seriously from this cause. Day schools would be feeders to them no less than to our membership. But the question may be asked, Could we by accepting Government aid succeed in establishing and maintaining any consider

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