THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Issue 16, 15 December 1857, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

NELSON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15,1857.

"As truth is truth, And, told by halves, may, from a simple thing By misconstruction tea monster, grow, I-il tell the whole truth." Sheridan KnOwles.

Our "Editorial infallibility 'being now duly inaugurated, we feel more at liberty to.speak ex cathedra, on all those momentous subjects that must from time to time unfold themselves before us, in our provincial life, as iri a glowing panorama. At present, we have the disadvantage of issuing our Bulls far away from the metropolis, the Rome, of especial advantages".; and weTiave now and then to AVish for more immediate inspection Of our rescripts, when they so miraculously, as it were, spring from the iron type, with but a small portion of mortal infirmity, a slight change of a word here and there, to sheAv mankind that we belong to dear menders of nets in days of old, —insofar as our nicely arranged network o;f Avords may require repairs. When we duly enter and dwell in our glorious capital then Aye hope, not only to renew any broken meshes, but also to keep all our fishing apparatus'—to speak allegorically—in more perfect order. Meanwhile, we shall endeavour to lead the faithful believers in the truths of the Colonist with as -much accuracy as circumstances will permit. A Report of Schools at length reached us in our retired part of 'the- wilderness, professing to be published by authority, but Avhich, in the wisdom vouchsafed to us, we judge "to be pregnant with heretical errors. We forego, for a brief time, our intention of publishing, for the guidance of all good people on the right side," our already-inti-mated deliberations on proper instruction, and the means of supporting schools for the young, and call vigilant attention to certain heterodox fanciss propagated by the said pernicious reports. Let thewakeful beware. It is true the reported observations of an authoritative Inspector seem to be somewhat in correspondence with the condition of our infant settlement; only the said Inspector seems to forget now as he has done formerly, that the said settlement consists of men as well as children. His official remarks appear rather too much, to speak with all forbearance, in the style of carriage visitors to charity schools. Their tory superiority of mannerism suffices to show that, such authors, like all false teachers, have never delighted in the dignity of the lowest place. After profoundly pondering the ponderously profound statements put forth in the publication aforesaid, and affixing our Anathema to sundry dogmas therein covertly introduced, we have been, inwardly relieved by the consideration that the animus of the old serpent creeping along with them and in them would hiss, to some degree^warnings against the renown of tory wickedness crookedly and stealthily worming with its malignity into our institutions. Unquestionably the air of imagined superiority, an attitude of loftiness, resembling the primeval snake raised on his tail to gaze on the tree of knowledge, will not beguile any now, but the very Aveakest of the daughters rof Eve, we mean those, at the two extremes of life, who need dental assistance. On this account, the bane of these promulged heresies may be very limited.

Some persons will remember that a Report, a kind of prospectus, afiort of supererogatory firstly,-, preceded First Report of " The Board," styled " The Central Board of Education." - But in fact, save as to a few paraded figures, the latter is only a supplement to the former; indeed they may be said to be one and the same. They both indicate the same wondrous information, the same unfathomable policy, the same transcendent, complacent authorship, and the same exalted consciousness of ability to lecture on schools—in a charitable spirit of course. In these particulars, the late Secretary, and the duplicated official, the InspectorSecretary —two names for duties that any English clerk may perform—may both be said to he related, like substance and shadow. Both these dignitaries seem to take it as settled, that their almost faultless scheme of education must, henceforth, be a fixture. They, to be sure, have so driven the soft piles of unerring thought into the; oozy flat of their own sacred measures, that the superstructures of learning to be erected thereon must stand—as if on Saint Peter himself. The keys of the kingdom of mind are theirs! It is to be feared, however, that their wood will not soon fossilise, that it is too green, and too prone to glimmer the phosphoric light of speedy decay, to be of permanent service. Reformed sots, we are told, are apt to regard their own views of sobriety as the only right ones, and themselves as amongst the first students of that interesting subject: so of supervisors of education, occasionally, with all'its platform of regulations. New officials, fain "to magnify their offices, come out with their trim torches of guidance, and, with a make-believe simplicity, inform your innocent ignorance of the sad night of things formerly; as if there had never been an orb above us, and thus teach us the value of their inspiration; an inspiration often too sublime to notice grammatical blemishes; although some sceptics might vainly dream that to be inspired for that very purpose would be the point desired, for scholastic benefit—where men are too feeble to study for it properly. So thought we, when we first glanced at what may be termed the heraldic, the preliminary Report, that sonorous and prolonged imprimis, —and so we cannot avoid thinking of the " First Annual," issued by "■ The Central Board." We have, marked numerous parts of both for literary cautions, to be observed in private tuition; but hoping soon to illumine mankind by a correction of sundry blunders, our own amoiigst the rest,—-for that is the way to become confirmed in infallible power,—it would not occasion an extravagant expense, we deem, were we also to compile a neat little work for school exercises in syntax. " The First Annual, &c," as far as the part that begins to treat of things in " The Province of Victoria," will form a good long lesson for children who may be required to render defective, into tolerably sensible, English. The other part may be added to the Inspector's letter, so as to form a basis for one of those short lectures, connected with pleasing "explanations" and "questions" that are in this marvellous age of discovery descried by an inspectional intuition, of quite a new sort; so much so as to to take the world by surprise, particularly the old stagers of school masters, who are now duly instructed that children are to be taught "to think" as well as to read. All tutors are doubtless vastly obliged for this information. Their eyes must water with grateful admiration in seeing how an old threadbare maxim is brushed into newness. The bloom or gloss upon it is fresh as the carvings and paintings of a Babylonian or Theban tomb just opened to the day with all their ancient novelties. Teachers of the rising generation cannot but rise and bow to the illustrious Inspector! Moreover, at the same time, their irrepressible laughter must be their thanks —they are so gladdened in contemplating the vast "improvements" suggested by him. Anticipations of the "the general improvement" resulting therefrom, and "the further improvements," which his patronage so formally promises, are most overpowering; they hope, with trembling expectancy, he will shortly bring them forthwith as little painful labour as possible. Their expectant desires almost perspire all over them, in learning that "there are methods," somewhere, "which may be generally applied," but that require respectable introduction, " like strangers," possibly angels incognito ; and they earnestly pray him, to be pleased to favour them, after securing good aristocratic " vouchers " for the honesty and breeding of the same, by presenting them for acquaintance at an early opportunity. In the. interim, they flatter themselves, that, when the Inspector again condescends to visit the schools, he will not take upon himself directly the examination of pupils, doing, in his peculiarly gentlemanly style, the drudgery of teaching—either himself or others. Certainly, it may be an accomplished example of taste and aptness, in this mode, to give a finished copy to both the tutor and the taught; for the Inspector's exalted rank must impart faultless tuition. Nevertheless comparison ( being an odious measurement of competency, —as there is" the odium comparativum, no less than an odium theologium, or as it was more vulgarly called in Roman antiquity, theologicum,—they trust, with all diffident submission, he will spare them in respect of that. So, in future, if the proposal find grace in his eyes, it may be hoped he will suffer them to examine their respective schools, —thus doing their own business, but doing it under the multiform sagacity of his sapient direction. By this means the masters may be more sure of retaining the respect of their charges. The sage Inspector will thus at once inspect the school, that is to say the usual Instructor, and instructed, —without allowing the poor master or his classes to feel that within the four walls of school dominion there can be any greater authority than tlie gentleman who sways the ferula. Every genuine master, assuredly, should in his own realm feel that he is,— aut Ccesar aut nihil. A sentiment this, we suppose, not quite disowned by the really amiable Inspector himself; a personage of whom the masters speak kindly. We only add, the foregoing, comments are entirely our own, but we have made them in sympathy, as we have fancied, with magisterial feeling in the schools, and with a view of suggesting to the really respectable Inspector some better plan of examination than the one which he has followed, but followed we would suppose only occasionally.