EDUCATION.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2178, 28 December 1875, Page 3

EDUCATION.

(To the Editor of the Evening Stay.) Sib, —It is with the greatest diffidence I address myself to my fellow workers on this subject, many of them knowing more than I can possibly know about education My only excuse being, that I in common with many, possess the strongest interest a man can have in a new country, viz.: a numerous family growing up as ignorant as bullocks, who will in a few years have a roice in the affairs of the country. And if ever our class is to rise and become a blessing instead of a curse, it will be by throwing light into dark places almost .like a divine revelation,-like a lighthouse on a rocky coast. The fact stands broadiy out, that the working classes shall have the power of the state in their hands, that is, in all English speaking communities. The most of our eminent writers at home agree on this point. Look at the gigantic strides we have made since the Chartist Riots. In my humble opinion, if we ■ -4£cure the power before our children become educated, we should be liable to overturn the best system of Government the; world has ever yet seen _ a system, I venture to say, that gives more real liberty to every individual man than any form of Government extant. I allude to British rule. I am afraid we are going ahead too fast; our intelligence is not keeping pace with our increasing strength, and I think manhood suffrage, • pure and simple, a deadly and fatal mistake to the working class. I know it swamped the "know nothings" in America, a patriotic association having the good of the country at heart. Education, then manhood suffrage. How could a man take charge of a ship as captain if he knew nothing about steering, and less about navigation ? Such a man would land his passengers and cargo somewhere at the.bottom' of the sea. Sir, I conceive it is of infinitely more importance.that the/Ship of State should be steered by skilful and educated pilots, who would know their latitude at all times. Better to copy from our old land that admirable hive of human industry and the. home of everything that is great and grand in human nature, a land so memorable in great achievements that it is something to wonder and be astonished at. They are straining every nerve to extricate their people. I would therefore respectfully and earnestly urge upon my fellow working bees, if we wish to retain any portion of the honey we gather, to insist upoß_ our members supporting a grand national system of education onthe broadest basis, compulsory in its clauses, the state paying all the expenses, to such of its members as may through poverty or any other cause be unable to avail themselves of its advantages ; and I humbly conceive that returning a member of our own class, simply because he was a working man, would not benefit us in the slightest decree. It would be the blind leading the blind. Sir, we want a broad stream of light letting in upon our children, so that they can easily grasp the objects their fathers have so helplessly stretched out their hands for. Depend upon it, Sir, if intelligence was more widely, diffused we should not be sending for coals to Newcastle when they are almost at our doors, nor allow large areas of mining ground to remain idle when our men are in want of work.—lam, &c, * . G. A. Reddish. ShortJand.