LITERATURE IN AMERICA. The multitude in this country, so far from favouring and honouring high learning and science, is rather prone to suspect and dislike it. It feareth that genius savoureth of aristocracy! Besides, the multitude calleth itself a practical man. It asketh, What is the use? It seeth no use but in that which leads to money or the material ends of life. It hath no opinion of having dreamers and drones in society. It believeth, indeed, in railroads; it thinketh well of steam; and sayeth that the new art of bleaching by chlorine is a prodigious improvement; but it laughs at the profound researches into the laws of Nature, out of which those very inventions_grow; and, with still greater scorn, it laughs at the votaries of the more spiritual forms of truth and beauty, which have no application to the palpable uses of life. Then, again, the influence of our reading public is not favourable to high letters. It demands, it pays for, and respects, almost exclusively, a lower style of production; and hence a natural influence to discourage higher labours.”—Address of an American to a Collegiate Society, quoted in Caswall's "America."

CHURCH EXTENSION.—A meeting, most numerously attended, was held lately at Freemasons' Tavern, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament to adopt immediate measures for Church Extension. Lord Sandon was in the chai. The following Resolutions were moved:

1st. It was moved by Lord Ashley, and seconded by the Rev. T. Dale, "That it is the bounden duty of a Christian State to provide for the spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of the community.

2nd. It was moved by Mr. Hardy, and seconded by the Rev. H. M'Neill of Liverpool, "That the principle of a religious establishment as constantly recognised by the Executive Government and the Legislature of the country, necessarily involves the obligation of providing for such extension of Church accommodation from time to time, as may meet the wants of an increasing population."

3rd. It was moved by Mr. J. Labouchere, and seconded by the Hon. and Rev. B. Noel, "That the increase of the population renders it imperative on the Legislature to increase in proportion the Church Establishment." It was afterwards moved and carried, that the foregoing resolutions be embodied in a petition to the Commons, to be presented by Lord Sandon.

NEW CHURCH.-The Directors of the Bank of England have voted £500 towards the building a new Church in the eastern division of the metropolis. AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS IN ASIA MINOR.-I have to-day had an opportunity of examining some of the agricultural implements of the country (Mysia); one is used for the joint purpose of threshing and of cutting the straw: it is very primitive and curious, consisting of a thick plank of timber flat on the ground, with another smaller one inclining upwards, to which the animal is attached, for the purpose of dragging it over the corn, which is spread out on the hard, rocky ground: the flat underside is stuck full of flints or hard cutting stones, arranged in the form of the palate or rough tongue of the cow. In the one which I examined I found the teeth all made of beautiful agates, and on inquiries heard that the stones are found, chipped, and set near Beerimitch, in the mountains of the Idæan chain, a few miles from this place. The roller is a trunk of a tree, often weighted by the driver riding on it; it is dragged over the ground, but does not revolve.-Fellows's Asia Minor.

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

"G. H. P." shall be attended to.

"A. S. S." shall appear in our next.

"P. P.'s" second article in Vindication of the Church Establishment, next month. "The Rev. Dr. R.'s" Letter, No. 6, shall appear in our next.

We are obliged to an Episcopalian" for his communication. The subject is too important to be treated so briefly. The MS. is left at the Publisher's: if the Author will amplify it, and put it in the form of a letter, we shall be happy to insert it. We thank the Rev. J. G. for his friendly hint-it shall be attended to.

WILLIAM EDWARD PAINTER, STRAND, LONDON, PRINTER.

POPULAR FALLACIES ON THE SUBJECT OF NATIONAL EDUCATION EXPOSED.

WE are tempted again to revert to the subject of education, by the appearance of the work whose title we have given below.* This work, we believe, is written by a lady who is distinguished for her knowledge of the German language, and who, if we mistake not, translated that singularly luminous, profound, and erudite work, on English institutions and English society, with which M. Von Raumer was pleased to favour the world not very long since. With a knowledge of this circumstance, we imagined that the work now before us might possibly contain some of those peculiar opinions on the subject of education, which we believe originated in Prussia, although, at the same time, we were certainly staggered at the very conservative quarter from which the work was committed to the press. But it seems our first opinion was the right one. This work, which purports to be a reprint, with additions, of an article which appeared some years since in the Foreign Quarterly Review, evidently belongs to the modern utilitarian school. Although it must be confessed that considerable skill is displayed in avoiding a direct grappling with certain points belonging to the question at issue, and in seeking rather to beat about the bush at a safe distance, yet sentiments and reflections are continually occurring which betray the inclination of the authoress to a system of education which should be common to all denominations of Christians, and which, therefore,

* On National Education, by Mrs. Austin. 12mo. J. Murray. 1839.

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it is very evident, would possess nothing of the peculiar character of Christianity about it. In one place, we are very gravely told that if the Church of England were to conduct the education of the people, it might possibly assume a sectarian character. We congratulate Mrs. Austin on this discovery; we believe that she is the first person who has presumed to term the Church a sect, and we beg to assure her that, by using such language, she only betrays how very little acquaintance she possesses of those characteristic marks which distinguish a church from a sect. In another place we are told, that in order to form a national system of education, the Church must concede, and the Dissenters must concede, and form a common ground, on which both parties may walk. Now, as all members of the Church, we presume, trust, and firmly believe that she possesses the truth, and the whole truth, and, moreover, teaches it to her followers in genuineness and sincerity; and as this is capable of proof by an appeal to the Scriptures, a fact which many of the adversaries of the Church are compelled to allow, we should be obliged to Mrs. Austin to tell us how this concession could be made, even supposing that Churchmen were willing to make it, without involving a sacrifice of divine truth, a glaring dereliction of principle, and an abandonment of that stedfast profession of the faith, which constitutes the Church of England a pure and apostolic Church. In order to recommend this system of education, which should be common to all parties, we are told that it is not necessary that children should be instructed in religious doctrines, but that it is sufficient for them to be taught the precepts of religion, and the duties which belong to it. Now, we should like to know how the one can be enforced without a knowledge of the other? How can the duties which flow from religion be impressed upon the youthful mind without some acquaintance, in the first place, with the foundation upon which those duties rest; and how can the child possess that acquaintance without being instructed in the doctrines of religion? What is the use of telling a child that he is not to tell an untruth, that he is not to steal, that he is not to take the name of God in vain, unless he is also told that these acts are forbidden, because they are contrary to the law of God; and how, again, can he be told this, without being also informed of the attributes of that great Being who is called God, of the nature of the divine law, and of the volume in which it is contained? How, lastly, can he learn all this without being instructed at the same time in the principles of a form of faith?

Here, then, is perceptible at once the fallacy of such an opinion as Mrs. Austin has expressed, and the utter impossibility of reducing it to practice, even if it were desirable. But it is not desirable so to do. It would be manifestly wrong, nay, more, it would be actually criminal. It is a sacred and indispensable obligation imposed on every parent, and every guardian of a child, for the performance of which he will be held responsible at the dread day of account, to instruct the youthful being entrusted to him by the Almighty in the doctrines and duties of religion. This duty, if he is unable to execute it himself, he must endeavour to have performed

by others. But it frequently happens that the parent may not only be without the power, but also unconscious of the necessity, of performing such a duty. What, then, is our obligation in such a case? We must explain this duty to him, we must offer to him the means of performing it, by declaring our willingness to provide the means of instruction for his child. If he refuses to avail himself of this offer, there is nothing more to be said, we have done our part, the responsibility henceforth rests with him.

But Mrs. Austin, it seems, although she is unwilling to give instruction in the doctrines of religion to the child, and would only impart a cold and heartless system, destitute of what constitutes the very life and essence of Christianity, is yet unwilling, with regard to this species of instruction which she would allow, to leave it at the option of the parent or guardian. She openly professes her admiration of that part of the Prussian system which enforces on parents the duty of sending their children to school by the infliction of pecuniary penalties in case of non-compliance; nay, she even proceeds farther than this, and quotes with evident approbation a passage from De Tocqueville's work on American Democracy, in which he describes the practice pursued in the State of Connecticut, where it appears that not only are pecuniary penalties enforced where non-compliance with the duty occurs, but that, if these fail, the child is taken out of the hands of the parent by the law, and placed at school, nolens volens. This, certainly, is one of the most beautiful illustrations which could possibly be imagined of the true nature of a republican form of government. Here is an instance of the most grinding tyranny, sanctioned by law, in a country which professes to be the freest of the free, where freedom is a word on every lip, and the popular will, if not in theory, certainly in practice, appears to be the sole rule of action. But so it always has been, so, we fear, it ever will be. The history of the ancient world affords us this lesson, and it would seem that modern times are not far behind in confirming it, by the illustrations which they are continually giving. The lesson to which we allude is this; that wherever liberty is most talked of, and the possession of absolute freedom is most eagerly demanded, there the most despotic acts are constantly committed, and the most flagrant and glaring violations of the security and comfort, and even of the personal freedom of individuals, take place. It may well be asked, what solution can be found for that extraordinary contradiction and inconsistency so frequently observable in parties professing the most extreme political opinions, who, at the same time that they avow an attachment to freedom which knows no bound or limit, in the very same breath will recommend, with the most unblushing coolness and ease, the adoption of a law contrary to the very first principles of real liberty as it is every where recognised, and one which would inflict the utmost measure of oppression? But who shall explain the glaring inconsistencies which present themselves daily and hourly in the conduct of the motley and discordant array of Whigs, Liberals, and Radicals, that beautiful union so edifying and instructive to our countrymen? There certainly is

one mode of explanation; although perhaps, for the credit of human nature, we ought to hope that it is not the true one. It is this: that those persons who have freedom on their lips are tyrants in their hearts; and when they talk of popular rights, liberty of the subject, and all the other cant and jargon peculiar to their school, they only wish to obtain an excess of privilege for themselves, that they may have the power of denying it to others. How often do they not laugh at and despise the folly and credulity of the poor dupes who are led on by their artful devices! Some of the best contrived of these, undoubtedly, are the various schemes for educating the people, as they are called-they had better at once say for unchristianizing the people-which are brought forward from time to time by the Liberal party. Yes; they wish to educate the people as creatures of clay, not as inheritors of immortality! They wish to train them up, not as well-educated, orderly, and religious beings, loyal to their Sovereign, and dutiful and obedient to their Creator, but as pupils in the school of revolution and disorder, as scholars in a baseless, a cold and lifeless system of generalities, made up of worldly philosophy and superficial science, with just such a vague infusion of religion as might be sufficient to plunge its disciples into the icy abyss of Deism, or, what is scarcely better, the soul-hardening doctrines of a chilling Socinianism. Pupils so instructed, they well know, at the fitting time and season, will be found apt and ready instruments to be employed in promoting those schemes for raising themselves to uncontrolled and despotic power over the lives and fortunes of their countrymen, which they would carry through at the sacrifice of individual happiness, nay, even by the destruction of all that is best and holiest in the land; in one word, of all that belongs to our temporal and eternal welfare.

which we

There are many other points in the work before us, might perhaps notice, but we shall content ourselves with only one, since it displays a degree of ignorance of the condition and circumstances of a large and important class of the population, scarcely to be expected in any person, and proves the nature of the qualifications sometimes possessed by persons who are very zealous in forming theories on the subject in question. Mrs. Austin objects to the system of Sunday Schools, and considers that this mode of instruction is an invasion of the leisure which should be enjoyed by the young on this sacred day. Now, we respect this lady for the kindness of her motive; we beg to assure her that we are as desirous as herself, or as any other persons can be, that the young, more especially amongst the poorer classes, should enjoy a respite from the toils and labours of the week; but we cannot forget, at the same time, that there are higher interests than those of earth to be consulted, that the happiness of the soul is rather more an object of concernment than the relaxation of the body. It is with this view, therefore, that we would continue the system of Sunday schooling, although, in a certain degree, perhaps, it may be thought to infringe upon that rest which is intended for all on this day. We view this system, indeed, as one of the most valuable parts of that instruction