Ought boys and girls to be educated separately, or together? The youth of both sexes of our Scottish peasantry have been educated together, and as a whole the Scots are the most moral people on the face of the globe. Education in England is given separately, and we have never heard from practical men that any benefit has arisen from this arrangement. Some influential individuals there mourn over the popular prejudice on this point. In Dublin a larger number of girls turn out badly, who have been educated alone till they attain the age of maturity, than of those who have been otherwise brought upthe separation of the sexes has been found to be positively injurious. In France the separation of the sexes in youth is productive of fearful evils. It is stated on the best authority, that of those girls educated in the schools in convents apart from boys, the large majority go wrong within a month of their being let loose on society, and meeting the other sex. They cannot, it is said, resist the slightest compliment or flattery from the other sex. The separation is intended to keep them strictly moral, but this unnatural seclusion actually generates the very principles desired to be avoided.

We may repeat that it is impossible to raise girls intellectually as high without boys as with them, and it is impossible to raise boys morally as high without the presence of girls. The girls morally elevate the boys, and the boys intellectually elevate the girls. But more than this, girls themselves are morally elevated by the presence of boys, and boys are intellectually elevated by the presence of girls. Girls brought up with boys are more positively moral, and boys brought up in school with girls are more positively intellectual, by the softening influence of the female character. The impetuosity and pertness of a boys' school are by no means favourable even to intellectual improvement, and the excessive smoothness of female school discipline does not strengthen or fortify the girl for her entrance into real life, when she must meet the buffets and rudeness of the other sex. Neither sex has participated in the improvement intended by Providence, by boys and girls being born and brought up in the same family. Family training is said to be the best standard for school training; and if the schoolmaster for a portion of each day is to take the place of the parent, the separation of the sexes in elementary schools must be a deviation from this lofty standard.

Much may be said on this highly important subject. We would solicit those benevolent ladies who sigh for the establishment of girls' schools, to the exclusion of the other sex, to examine carefully and prayerfully whether the exercise of such tender benevolent feelings may not actually prove injurious to society as a whole. It is very pretty, and truly sentimental, to witness the uniform dress and still demeanour of a female school; but we tremble at the results. Most certainly moral training wants one of its most important ingredients, when the sexes are not trained together, to act properly towards each other. The English are beginning to feel the evils of separation in school, and the opposite course in many cases is beginning to be pursued, and but from popular prejudice would ere long be universal. In Scotland, unfortunately, the practice of separation and defective moral training is beginning to be introduced among all classes of the community.

A number of schools established of late years in the towns of Scotland, even where the system pursued has been modern, have been, we are sorry to say, for boys alone, or for girls alone-the projectors acting as if they trembled at a shadow or a phantom of their own imagination. Man, whether male or female, is no doubt a sinful creature; and sin and folly are to be avoided and checked on their first development.

Under twelve or thirteen years of age, nearly all lessons may be given to boys and girls in the same class with mutual advantage. Beyond that age, the branches useful to each in the sphere in which Providence intends they should be placed, although in some points the same, yet they naturally and gradually diverge. Absolute separation, however, we conceive to be positively injurious.

In the Normal Seminary of Glasgow, the most beneficial effects have resulted from the more natural course. Boys and girls, from the age of two or three years, to fourteen or fifteen, have been trained in the same class-rooms, galleries, and play-grounds, without impropriety; and they are never separated except at needle-work. Nay, during the last fifteen years, between seven and eight hundred students, chiefly between the ages of eighteen and thirty, have been trained in that institution, three-fourths generally being males, and one-fourth females-and for two-thirds of the day they have been together, in the same model schools, class-room, and play-grounds, and not one case of impropriety has occurred. It may be imagined that such a course might lead to imprudent marriages, but, so far from this being the case, only one marriage has taken place between two of the students a very prudent one-and the parties had been acquainted previous to entering the Seminary. During the day, all, both old and young, are under the superintendence of the masters of each department. After school hours, the children are at home with their parents, and the students from the country are lodged in respectable private families in the immediate vicinity of the institution-thus copying, as closely as possible, the most natural and improving of modes of education. School, under the master during the day, and at home under the parents in the evening. Even where the conduct of the parents is not altogether exemplary, we prefer this mode to any other-the moral training of the school proving a powerful, if not a complete antidote; and the moral conduct of the children is often found to have a reflex influence on their parents, promoting cleanliness and sobriety, and even piety, at home.

The Editor's Portfolio.

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NONE BUT CHRISTIANS CAN GIVE A CHRISTIAN EDUCATION.

If it be generally true, that more has been learned from example than from precept, it is especially true with regard to children, who possess an extraordinary acuteness in detecting the inconsistencies of a teacher; and when they perceive that he disbelieves his own profession, falsifies his own assertions, departs from his own rules, respect for his teaching is utterly at an end; there may be a verbal acquirement of knowledge-an outward obedience-a cold constraint-but there will be no living impression-no drawing of the soul to God-no formation of Christian principle and Christian character. As in human so in spiritual learning, the teacher will seldom communicate that which he does not himself possess.-Rev. J. Slade. Sermon at the Opening of the Chester Training College.

THE REAL POINT AT ISSUE.

Some persons have objected, that the children of the poor are over-educated; it may be so; but we need not stay to discuss this point; education they will have at this day; our purpose is to place it on a right footing-to furnish an antidote to the pride and perversion and idolatry of human learning-and store the youthful mind with the treasures of life and immortality.-Rev. J. Slade, Ibid.

BISHOP JEBB ON MORAL TRAINING.

Upon the important subject of National Education, Mr. Davison and Bishop Jebb held sentiments nearly identical. On one occasion when Mr. Davison started and led the conversation, he threw out strong doubts and objections to the prevailing rage for diffusing knowledge among the lower classes: knowledge, per se, he conceived quite as likely to produce bad as good consequences; he thought the power of reading to be about as operative morally as the power of hearing; for the term education, he would substitute training, i. e. early discipline of the temper and passions, for which he thought the plough a better instrument than the National school. His discipline he would connect with the arts of industry, not with ideal knowledge. The readers who may wish to compare these sentiments with those in Bishop Jebb's Discourse on

Transmissive Religion, (Practical Theology, Vol. I pp. 214, 40) will have the advantage of forming or regulating their judgment, by the light arising from the consent of two such minds.* Upon the principles of education, above indicated, Mr. Davison and the Bishop were much interested by the plan, then in its infancy, of establishing Infant schoolst, in which, while the acquirement of mere knowledge necessarily formed a very subordinate consideration, there must exist, in the ductility and malleableness of the materials, the best and happiest opportunities for the exercise of discipline and training.-Foster's Life of Bishop Jebb, Vol. pp. 254-256.

ON THE ADVANTAGES OF CLOTHING A LIMITED NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN A PAROCHIAL SCHOOL.

By the union of older establishments for clothing as well as teaching a limited number, with schools formed on a more comprehensive plan, you may increase in a very high degree the utility of both. That superior aid which is now imparted to a select number, may thus be made the incentive to industry, obedience, and good conduct in all; and while on the one hand a large field is opened for selection in making these appointments (so that the choice need never fall upon undeserving objects), so on the other, these partial rewards, distributed on such a principle, and soon known to be so distributed, must needs re-act beneficially and powerfully upon the whole system, infusing a spirit of honest emulation, lightening the toil of duty, and commanding respect even from those who fail of obtaining the distinction. It has often been observed, that confined charities are acts of favour only to individuals, not benefits conferred upon the public at large. By the union now recommended, and which I know has been adopted in many places with signal success, advancement is made to go hand in hand with merit, and the stream of private benevolence is turned into the channel of public good.

It is not easy to calculate the full extent of such an advantage; for not only is the deserving child helped and befriended, he is honoured at the same time. His parents and relations partake in the joy. It is no longer the badge of dependence, but the proof of good character; a testimony that will plead in his behalf under all difficulties, and will assist all his future endeavours throughout life.-Dr. Copleston, Bishop of Llandaff. Sermon at St. Paul's, 1829.

Documents.

EDUCATION IN THE MANUFACTURING AND MINING DISTRICTS.

A Special Meeting of the Committee of the National Society for the Education of the Poor in the principles of the Established Church, took place on Wednesday the 5th instant, his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, President of the Society, in the Chair. Present: his Grace the Archbishop of York; the Lords Bishops of London, Bangor, Gloucester and Bristol, Salisbury, and Chichester; Lords Kenyon, Sandon, Courtenay, and other Members.

The Secretary directed the attention of the Committee to communications he had received from various quarters of the kingdom, and from several Heads of the

Upon the subject of general education, Dr. Johnson has expressed sentiments so opposed to the views in fashion in the present day, and, at the same time, so entirely coincident with those entertained by Bishop Jebb, that to quote the passage from his favourite author will be doing his views the best justice. [This passage is given at length in p. 94, of this journal, beginning at "The truth is, &c. Ed.]

The Bishop had recently visited the Infant school, established by Joseph Wilson, Esq. of Clapham, in Quaker-street, Spitalfields. He was equally struck with the principle of these institutions, and with its application, and observable effects. The Infant school system continued to the last the only modern invention in education which met his full approval.

Church, urging the Society, at this important crisis, to provide a special fund for extending and improving elementary education in the Manufacturing and Mining districts.

The following Resolutions were unanimously agreed upon:

That at the present crisis it is the especial duty of the Members of the Church, Laity as well as Clergy, to make extraordinary efforts for raising the children of the poor, in the more populous of the Manufacturing and Mining districts, from the alarming state of ignorance and demoralisation disclosed to public view by recent inquiries and events.

That the success which has attended the endeavours of the National Society, under the most unfavourable circumstances, and with very limited means, to found and support Schools in the most neglected of those districts, afford the strongest encouragement to increased exertion for this specific object. That immediate measures be taken to collect a special Fund, the whole of which shall be expended in grants towards building School-rooms, and, in certain cases, increasing or guaranteeing the salaries of teachers, for limited periods in the Manufacturing and Mining districts.

That the Address prepared by the Secretary, Mr. Sinclair, and bearing the sig. nature of his Grace the President, be adopted and circulated. That the Finance Committee, consisting of the following Members, the Lords Bishops of London, Durham, Chester, Bangor, Ripon, and Hereford; Lord Ashley, M.P.; Viscount Sandon, M.P.; Lord Redesdale; Rev. J. Sinclair (Treasurer); William Cotton, Esq.; William Davis, Esq.; G. F. Mathison, Esq.; and Richard Twining, Esq., be requested to undertake the Collection and Administration of the Fund.

ADDRESS.

The Committee of the National Society earnestly request the attention of the Church, laity as well as clergy, at the present crisis, to the important question-how the poor in the manufacturing districts may be raised from the alarming state of ignorance and demoralisation disclosed to public view within the last twelve months, and may receive the blessing of a sound religious education?

The education clauses of the Factory Bill having been withdrawn, no general plan of mixed education appears likely to be soon attempted; and the Church is for the present called upon, with a moderately increased amount of aid from the State, to carry on the work from the contributions of her own members. It now remains to be seen whether the Church is able and willing to complete the great work she has so long and so strenuously laboured to accomplish,-of providing, from the resources of private benevolence, sound religious instruction and moral training for the children of the poor. Various circumstances afford encouragement to the discharge of this important duty. There is abundant evidence that education under the superintendence of the Church will be gladly received,-may be cheaply afforded, -and, with the Divine blessing, will effectually secure its object, by instilling Christian principles, the great sources of peace and order and social happiness, into the minds of our manufacturing population.

1. That parents among the working classes should be found willing, as they unquestionably are, to accept instruction for their children at the hands of the Church, cannot excite surprise. Parents who, from casual circumstances, have withdrawn from the communion of the Church, though they assent in general to its doctrines― parents who attend alternately their parish church and some place of separate worship more conveniently situated,- -as well as parents who are indifferent about religion, could hardly fail of being glad to place their children under wholesome discipline and instruction. They naturally regard the superintendence of the clergyman and his personal teaching in the school as a security for its good management; not only as an encouragement to the scholars, but a pledge for the good conduct of the master. They see their children from day to day become more orderly and obedient: more cleanly, useful, and industrious; and, in all respects, better members of the domestic circle. The experience of the National Society justifies the expectations which on these and other general grounds might have been formed. Throughout the manufacturing districts parents of every denomination readily send their children to National Schools. The factory-inspector for the West Riding of Yorkshire, after

stating that the number of factory-children in his district amounts to 10,000, thus proceeds :-"The success which has attended the exertions of the National Society in behalf of factory children is very encouraging. Nearly every factory-child in the districts assigned to the Society's Schools at Leeds and Bradford now attends them. The last official returns give about one hundred and eighty in attendance at Leeds, and nearly three hundred at Bradford. No objection to the mode in which these schools are conducted has been made since they have been in full operation, either by a parent or a child." The same statement is continually repeated both by clergymen and schoolmasters. At the Society's model factory-school at Bradford, which was opened since the publication of the Report above alluded to, and built for the accommodation of 200 children, the attendance, including both the morning and afternoon, has for some time past amounted to 400, of whom a large proportion belong to different sects. Similar returns could be quoted from nearly all the populous districts of the north.

2. It is an additional encouragement to exertion, that while the poor are willing to accept the blessing offered to their children, and through their children to themselves, it may be afforded at a moderate expense. Neither the original cost of building, nor the subsequent charge for maintenance, present such serious difficulties as might at first be apprehended. The original outlay for the erection of the schoolbuildings is seldom more than 40s. a scholar. Returns from 33 places in the manufacturing districts shew that school accommodation for 13,750 children cost £26,433, or at the rate of £1 18s. 6d. each. Of this sum, the Privy Council has occasionally contributed in poor places to the extent of 20s.; and as it is generally understood that the parliamentary vote at their disposal will this year be increased, they are not likely to reduce their bounty. The grants of the National Society have been in most cases at a lower rate. The Committee, for the reason stated in their last Report, viz., that the worst cases are generally the last to present themselves, earnestly desire to raise their contributions to 10s., or in extreme cases to 158. When an educational movement begins throughout a country, local efforts are first made in places where zeal and wealth are abundant; next in places less favourably circumstanced; and last of all in places where great poverty prevails, where popular education is dreaded or disregarded, or where peculiar difficulties exist, such as that of procuring a site, or of acting with unanimity or cordiality in favour of any one system. The Committee, therefore, were, more frequently than in any previous year, under the painful necessity of allowing plans for the instruction of the people, after having made some progress, to be abandoned. It is a melancholy fact, that for some months the new applications did little more than compensate for the cases in which grants previously quoted had been relinquished. Happily, the number of important townships wholly unprovided with school accommodation is not so great as to present an insuperable obstacle to the efforts of the benevolent. New schools in 80 or 100 populous places would probably supply a large proportion of the deficiency. Should the liberality of the members of the Church in all parts of the country be commensurate with the magnitude of the object in view, it may be hoped that the amount thus collected will be sufficient, in addition to local efforts, and grants from the Committee of Council, to provide, in a great degree, for those wants which the Government and Legislature so deeply lament, but, owing to present difficulties and conflicting interests, are unable to supply.

Nor does the amount of extraneous aid necessary for the annual support of schools, if fairly estimated, offer serious discouragement. Weekly payments from the children, church collections, and annual subscriptions, go very far, especially in the case of large schools, to raise the funds indispensably required. It is in the case of small schools in outlying townships, where there is no resident clergyman, that the chief impediments occur. It is an important fact connected with the point now under consideration, that when nearly 2,000 applications were made for a share of Betton's Charity (a fund intended to be distributed among schools in annual grants not exceeding £20 each for a single school, and £40 for a double school), a large proportion of the applicants expressed their confident hope, that with assistance to that extent they might be able to maintain their schools in an efficient state. The Society, therefore, if sufficient funds could be obtained, would gladly vote grants for limited periods, especially to schools on their first establishment, till the advantages of education begin to be ascertained from experience, and are appreciated in the district; a pledge in each case being required from the school