general superintendence of diocesan education. And with the same view, local boards for archdeaconries and other districts are intended to be, and in some instances are on the point of being, actually formed. Experience has shewn that, without system and organization, education cannot be well administered. Our neighbours on the Continent supply this by ministers of public instruction and their officers. But this is as alien from the British constitution as it is repugnant to the feeling and habits of Englishmen; and no rightlyjudging person could approve any scheme which forbad the education of our poor being fostered by the country squire, and conducted by the country parson. But there is nothing inconsistent with this in the former co-operating with his neighbours in the management of their district or county, nor in the latter looking up to his own cathedral for direction and support. Indeed, unless they will avail themselves of all the aid which combined energies and ready-formed institutions can offer, they will find their straggling schools and ill-paid schoolmasters contending at fearful odds with the discipline and salaries of a board of commissioners. So that it is to be hoped that the friends of the church in the country will not be backward in responding to this appeal, nor suffer the effort which has been made to fall to the ground for want of doing that which, after all, must be done, and can be done only by themselves.

CENTRAL SOCIETY OF EDUCATION AND THE CHAPTER OF

CANTERBURY.

IT is to be hoped that the greatest publicity will be given to the following letter, not only in justice to the Chapter of Canterbury, who have been so causelessly assailed, but in order to give the public warning how they listen to the statements of "The Central Society of Education," and its formal "reports," and its heavy accusations against so many parties. Here is a case where a reporter had an offer of information and declined using it; where, if he had applied to public sources of information, he could not have been misled, and yet where he has made a series of the grossest blunders, not to say falsehoods, and then, without hesitation, founded the most serious accusations against a public body upon them. These statements and these accusations, the "Central Society" has adopted without further inquiry, and is thus fully entitled to all the credit or discredit which attaches to such proceedings:

LETTER TO B. F. DUPPA, ESQ.,

Hon. Secretary of the Central Society of Education.

Cathedral Precincts, Canterbury, October 3rd, 1838. SIR, I have received your letter of the 24th of September, and with it a copy of the "Report made to the Central Society of Education by F. Liardet, Esq., on the state of the peasantry of Boughton, Herne Hill, and the Ville of Dunkirk, near Canterbury," with reference to the riots lately occasioned by the maniac Thom. You tell me a second edition of this report is now printing, and add, "should you discover any inaccuracies, you would oblige me by pointing them out, in order that they may be corrected or acknowledged;

and if a perusal of the tract should render you desirous of making any strictures upon it, I shall be happy to insert them; excepting of course (which to you is needless to state) observations deficient in becoming courtesy."

I trust, Sir, that I shall not disappoint your expectations in this respect, by an attempt to correct some inaccurate statements which I find in the report respecting the Ville of Dunkirk and its peasantry, who are represented as the tenants of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, and whose misconduct appears to be attributed to the neglect of that body. The portions of the report to which I wish particularly to call your attention, I will cite as I proceed. Your reporter begins by saying-"With very few exceptions, the whole of the persons implicated in the late events belonged to the parishes of Herne Hill and Boughton, and the Ville of Dunkirk, an extra-parochial district bordering upon both the above-mentioned parishes. Of these, by far the greater number were from Herne Hill; Dunkirk furnished the next largest proportion; while that from Boughton, which is much more populous than either of the preceding, was inconsiderable." (p. 10.)

I am at a loss to understand how this general statement is to be reconciled with the enumeration of particulars which immediately follows:-" Of the persons killed, five were from Herne Hill, two from Dunkirk, and only one from Boughton; and of the fourteen now in confinement awaiting their trial, ten are from Herne Hill, none from Dunkirk, and two from Boughton." (p. 10.)

Surely, Sir, three are more than two; and if three may fairly be called an inconsiderable number, two cannot be more considerable. But the fact is, that the only inhabitant of the Ville of Dunkirk known to be implicated in the riot was George Branchett, who was killed. Your reporter admits, that of those committed to take their trial, not one was from the Ville. Allow me to add, that among the eleven others discharged by the magistrates on their own recognizances, no Dunkirk man appears. How then can it be truly stated that, next to Herne Hill, Dunkirk furnished the largest proportion of rioters, and by what process can the single individual, George Branchett, be multiplied into a considerable nnmber? I make no comments, but pass on to your reporter's account of the Ville of Dunkirk itself:-"The Ville of Dunkirk," he says, "is an extra-parochial district, comprising an extensive tract of woodland of not less than 5000 acres. The whole of this property, with the exception of about 1200 acres belonging to a lay individual, forms part of the possessions of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. Until within these few years, the district was very thinly inhabited; but since part of the land has been cleared, it has become much more populous; at present, the number of inhabitants is about 700." — "Though the tenants of the church, and living within view of the spires of Canterbury, there was not a church where they could attend the ordinances of religion, nor clergyman to guide and instruct them." Again, "The district is still without church or chapel; and would be utterly destitute of religious superintendence and instruction of any kind, but for the gratuitous services of the present vicar of Herne Hill. This gentleman, besides endeavouring to persuade the people to attend his church, has established, at his own expense, in Dunkirk, a day school, kept by a mistress, for the instruction of the children. The inquiries occasioned by the late events, have, however, induced the dignitaries of the church of Canterbury to turn their attention to the spiritual wants of the hitherto neglected tenants. They are now, it is said, taking steps for the erection of a church within the Ville, and the site of it has already been determined on." (pp. 36, 37.)

I have taken these statements together, as they are evidently intended to make out a case of culpable neglect of their poor tenants against the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. They have already, it appears, been largely circulated by your society; and they have been made the foundation of repeated attacks in the newspapers, as little to be commended for their courtesy as their truth. I doubt not, Sir, that you will be surprised and concerned to find, that

your society has been made the instrument of sending forth statements so full of inaccuracies; and those of a nature which a very moderate share of diligence, in applying to the proper sources of authentic information, might have prevented; especially when you perceive that these inaccuracies form the only pretext for the grave charges of neglect which are brought against the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury.

In the year 1834, an admeasurement was made of the Ville of Dunkirk, from whence it appears that the district contains 5224 acres, of which 4260 acres are woodland, and 964 acres pasture or arable. This property is divided among twenty-two proprietors, of whom five are ecclesiastical, collegiate, or charitable corporations, and the remaining seventeen are laymen. The whole property of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury within the Ville consists of 992 acres 17 perches of woodland in their own possession, and a small piece of arable or pasture land, called in the admeasurement 16 acres, 3 roods, 13 perches, held under a lease for twenty-one years, renewable every seven years, by a wealthy resident in Canterbury-with this exception, they have not a single tenant in the Ville. The whole of the remaining arable and pasture land, excepting 1 acre, 2 roods, 3 perches, belonging to Christ Church, Oxford, and 1 rood, 32 perches, belonging to St. Nicholas's Hospital, at Harbledown, is the property of laymen. So much, Sir, for the distribution of property within the Ville, and the charge urged against the dignitaries of the church of Canterbury, that they have neglected the spiritual wants of their

tenants.

From what sources your reporter obtained his information is not for me to surmise. But it seems clear, that if he had applied to the persons who levy and collect the poor-rate of the district, and consulted their rate-books, he could not have been so greatly misled. Here, at least, the documentary evidence would be conclusive. With respect to the population, it appears, from the census (vide Population Abstract), that it has been increasing, but in a continually diminishing ratio:-Thus, in 1801, it was 338; in 1811, 446; being an increase of 108 :-in 1821, it was 543; being an increase within ten years of 97:-in 1831, it was 613; being an increase of 70. There is no reason to believe that any great addition has been made since. Indeed, it has been just stated to me, that the returns made by the overseer, when the last census was taken, in 1831, were very much below the figures printed in the Population Abstract, and that probably the population does not now amount to the sum of those figures. But be this as it may, no such large portion of the land has been cleared of late years as to occasion or account for an increase of the population. I am assured that the oldest inhabitants of the Ville remember nothing of the kind within the last twenty years. Before that time, two of the lay proprietors cleared, one, 200 acres, the other, 100 acres, but with little profit; the land being, for the most part, far better fitted for the growth of wood than for cultivation. It is true, that hitherto there has been no church or chapel in the Ville, and that a subscription is now raising to supply that deficiency, and to provide a residence and an endowment for the minister, and a school for the children of the poor. But the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury disclaim the merit of having originated this beneficial measure. That is due to their venerable diocesan alone, whose attention had been turned to the spiritual wants of the inhabitants of the Ville before "the inquiries occasioned by the late events." And he was making preparations for supplying these when there was not the slightest reason for supposing that the Ville would become the scene of a disastrous affray.

The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury responded, indeed, to the call of their archbishop as soon as it was made, to the extent of their means, in common with the other proprietors of the Ville. Certainly not influenced to do so by the riot, in which they well knew the Ville to be no further involved, than as its woods provided the maniac leader with a convenient spot for the array of VOL. XIV.-Nov. 1838. 4 F

his followers, and one of the inhabitants, fatally for himself, was induced to join the illegal assemblage. Nor did the dean and chapter aid the subscription with any view to the benefit of their tenants, for they have none to take advantage of the church, or to share in the pastoral instructions of its minister; but because they are always ready to contribute to any well-concerted plans for the religious instruction of the poor in their vicinity, whether their tenants or not, and never more so than when such plans are sanctioned by their visitor and diocesan,

In the same spirit they have contributed, from its first establishment, to the school in the Ville of Dunkirk, which the vicar of Herne Hill first set on foot, and continues to superintend, though assuredly not "entirely," nor even "chiefly," or greatly "at his own expense." I am authorized by the vicar of Herne Hill to state, that he gave your reporter no such information. He is as much above assuming undue merit to himself, or concealing the liberal support he has met with from the proprietors of the Ville in his benevolent endeavours to impart the blessings of a religious education to the children of its poor inhabitants, as he is incapable of lending himself to representations injurious to the character of the dignitaries of the church of Canterbury. He has assured me, that not only did he not make this statement to your reporter, but that the offers he made to that gentleman of assisting him by his own local knowledge in correcting the information he might receive from others, were not accepted. Of the account given by your reporter, respecting the general condition of the inhabitants of the Ville of Dunkirk, the nature and value of the instruction they have received, and the knowledge they possess, I forbear from saying a word. Nor shall I enter into any discussion of his opinions respecting the education of the poor, however I may differ from him in some important particulars. My object has been to correct those incorrect statements, which he has made the foundation of a charge against that ecclesiastical corporation to which I have the honour of belonging-a charge which has furnished other writers with matter for much calumnious remark. And as your society has been made the instrument of circulating rather largely these injurious misrepresentations, I trust, Sir, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury may look to you with confidence for such reparation at least as may be made by equal diligence in sending forth a corrected statement. you will not, I think, be surprised, if I am induced to place the truth before the public through the medium of the periodical press also, as affording me additional means of counteracting the aspersions of London and provincial newspapers. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

B. F. DUPPA, ESQ.

And

J. H. SPRY, Vice-Dean.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S LETTER AND QUERIES.

THE reader will probably remember Lord Althorp's queries to the overseers about schools &c. Lord John Russell has now taken a still more extraordinary step by the publication of the following letter, which, with the consequent letter of the poor-law commissioners, deserves the reader's careful attention for many reasons. Among others it would be well to discover the object; for some, and one would think a very strange, object there must be to induce a minister of state to issue such a strange inquiry. The union guardians are composed of any persons whom the respective parishes may elect; and of course, in nine cases out of ten, are the farmers and petty shopkeepers, because there is no one else. Now these persons, quite irresponsible, which is one tolerable objection, and perfectly incompetent, which is another, are, in fact, to supply the government with a view of the religious state of the

country. How can the farmer tell how many people a large church, encumbered with pews and overwhelmed with galleries, will hold? Will he spend his time in ascertaining how many petty schools there may be in a parish? And yet more, can such persons be in any degree able to form the most distant idea how many people can, and how many cannot, read and write? But again, as these guardians are quite irresponsible, what guard is there for the fairness any more than the carefulness of their returns? We have all known and seen what has been done, and indeed is constantly doing, about school returns; and, in consequence, churchmen should look very sharp to the use Lord John Russell means to make of those returns. Perhaps the best safeguard against much evil from them is the probability that in many cases the guardians will not trouble themselves to make any return at all. All that can be got are to be sent in by Nov. 20th. Why this haste?

(From the St. James's Chronicle, Oct. 9, 1838.)

THE following is a copy of a letter from the Secretary of State for the Home Department to the Poor-law Commissioners :

"Whitehall, Aug. 25, 1838. "Gentlemen,-I am desirous of obtaining information upon some very important matters, in which it appears to me that you can assist me very materially. The points upon which I wish to inquire are the amount and deficiency of religious instruction, and of education, now existing in England and Wales. For this purpose, I think you might frame queries to be addressed to the clerks of boards of guardians, now formed and in operation under the Poor Law Amendment Act. The questions to which I should wish the attention of these officers to be directed are, for each parish in their respective unions, on the following heads of inquiry:

"1. The number of churches and chapels of the established church?

"2. The number which each is capable of containing?

"3. The number of dissenting places of worship, with the denomination to which they belong, and the numbers each is calculated to contain?

"4. The number of schools in each parish, stating whether they are connected with the National Society, the British and Foreign School Society, or with any religious denomination, and whether Sunday or day-schools?

5. The total number of children receiving education in schools in each parish, with the estimated population in the year 1838 ?

"6. The supposed proportion of persons who cannot read or write to the whole population in each parish?

"I should wish to receive this information by the 20th of November, as far as it can be ascertained.

"I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,

"J. RUSSELL."

"Poor-law Commission-office, Somerset-house, Oct. 3. "Gentlemen,—The Poor-law Commissioners have the honour to transmit, for the perusal of the board of guardians, a copy of a communication, which they have received from Lord John Russell, her Majesty's secretary of state for the home department; and they request the board of guardians to authorize the clerk, and other officers of the union, to give their aid in procuring the information pointed out in that communication.