educationists would limit it, or the restrictions which they would impose upon it; we will not now pause to consider. However we would remind them that, "The inan who does not look up is sure to look down, this is a short but a very true and pithy saying, and one which, if duly considered, could not fail to exercise a vast influence on the minds of those prejudiced against Popular Education. To afford every advantage to the working portion of the community, to improve their moral and intellectual character, is a public duty, and one that should call forth the interference of the State. Only by educating the laboring multitudes can we safely get them to "look up," and this spirit once engendered and coupled with industry and per severance, must necessarily tend to elevate them in no incon siderable degree. "Look up," we would therefore say to the poorest of our fellow creatures, for by doing so you can only hope to reach that ever-to-be-desired goal-independance: on the other hand, "look down," and the pauper's home, or felon's cell, will be the reward awaiting you at life's decline. Every day brings about facts that clearly prove the correctness of both statements; we see the industri ous and persevering soar above their class, while the indolent and improvident become the victims of poverty and crime, Education is the best antidote for these miseries, especially for the latter. Those most competent to judge of the matter believe this to be the case. "Where crime was in aberance," speaks Lord Campbell, "good education existed."** Again, Archbishop Whately, in his address delivered to the members of the Manchester Athenæum says" Men are liable to be deceived and misled, but it is in darkness more than in light; in twilight more than in full in sun, that error is liable to be mistaken for truth."

While fully concurring with such high authorities in their statements on this point, let us hope that some thing may be done to raise the social character of our toiling poor. And as we consider that this can best be accomplished by the opening of an Educational Institute adequate to their wants, the great necessity for such an institute in Dublin is obvious. The opening of it would be an invaluable boon to the numbers of the working community of our city that it would be so if properly organized and conducted is a fact too palpable to need demonstration. Why should we fold our

:

Speech on National Education, House of Lords, July, 1854.

arms and look on the mechanics and artizans of our cities and large towns, still in ignorance and made the instruments. of wily politicians, without aiding them to dispel the dark cloud, enabling them to see into and repair the evils of neglected early training.

It must have been obvious long since, to those acquainted with the character of the working classes of Dublin, that a proper educational institute, that is an institute having for its objects the intellectual improvement of the working man, is not only desirable but indispensable, if we wish to ameliorate his moral and social condition. "To a thinking man," writes the Rev. Mr. Beames, "the condition of the working classes is a subject not merely of interest, but alarm. It has been shown that the proportion of criminals to the honest and industrial classes is increasing; that though our laws are infinitely milder than they were, even thirty years ago, the number of convictions is larger."* In our opinion the education of the working classes is a subject well deserving the attention of the State. In England ample provision is made for it. In Ireland none. In the former it occupies the attention of the noblest of her peers, the ablest of her statesmen, the most learned of her judges, the most scientific of her philosophers. But in Ireland it has few active advocates. These classes have been styled "the pith and marrow" of the people, by a true friend of Mechanics' Institutes, the Earl of Carlisle, whose anxiety and solicitude for the improvement of the working man's condition never tires. "Let," speaks the noble Earl in his address at Huddersfield College, 1843, "education be provided for the heirs of poverty and the children of toil, as a relaxation from the weary hours of labour; let it be provided for them as a solid and sustaining nurture for the intellectual, the moral and the spiritual cravings of nature. And let me give this parting exhortation to you, that within the whole range of your several spheres, according to the best of your abilities, you should promote the united cause of a free conscience and universal education."

Such an exhortation, and coming from such a source, should stimulate the professed friends of Popular Education in this country, to follow the example of the noble earl, and in

"Meliora," vol. ii, p. 70.

duce them, as far as in them lies, to provide for the educa tional wants of the poor Irish apprentice and of the neglected artizan. Were we duly to consider the evils arising from ignorance or want of education, and contemplate the miseries it entails, we surely would not have remained so long indifferent to the social condition of the working poor. Did we afford to the Irish artizan advantages similar to those offered him in the sister country, many an avenue to poverty would have been closed, many an ill-fated marriage would have been prevented, and instead of feeding work-houses, and prisons with poverty-stricken and forsaken offspring, we would be providing for the premature and thoughtless father means of mental culture and enlightenment, which would, in a more auspicious period of life, enable him to acquire for himself and his little ones, a cheerful homestead, secure from the blighting blast of poverty. Whatever may be the divisions of opinion regarding the cause or causes of early marriages, we hold that ignorance is the main and most powerful. Is it not among those who have been debarred the blessings of education in youth, or those whose after education has been neglected, that the majority of unhappy marriages take place; marriages, in whose train follow misery, discord, and but too often abandonment of either parent. We merely allude here to early and improvident mar riages, as one of the many evils arising from the neglect of the after education of the working classes, or in other words, indiference to improve the condition in which they have been placed by Providence. As long then as we continue unheedful of, and indifferent to what may be justly entitled the right of every working man, no matter however poor or insignificant he may be, so long may we expect to have an increasing demand for workhouse and prison accommodation. And we would further add, that by debarring the working portion of the community the means which properly managed Mechanics' Institutes would afford, we are indirectly aiding to encourage rather than to suppress the spirit of religious hostility still existing among its already formed victims. Bigotry is fast disappearing from among the most enlightened classes of Ireland, and we thank heaven that it is so; but let it not be understood, that among the lower and uneducated portion it is on the decline. No, the bitterest spirit of bigotry is still existing among the poorer of our fellow countrymen; a bigotry that could only issue from a darkened and unenlightened mind, and we fear things must remain in this sad

stale if some effectual means be not adopted to bring the Protestant and Roman Catholic artizan to a greater, and more friendly intercourse with each other. Any man acquainted with the character of the working poor of Ireland, must see the necessity for this; and we would state that any professed friend of Ireland, having a true wish to regenerate her, must direct his attention to, and urge the necessity and justice of, educating and enlightening this important body. It has been truly said, "that half our animosities arise from ignorance of each other;" and there can be no doubt that the other half is, in a great measure, attributable to the want of proper education. From ignorance proceeds that spirit of faction and religious hostility among the poorer classes, which has ever been the greatest obstacle to their social and moral improvement. "What years of distrust and dissension, how many generations of misery and crime has it sent forth from its prolific womb. We have seen these things, but have seen them very late. We have attacked the consequence, but the causes are not yet extinguished."* To contribute our aid in removing this cause is now the object of our serious consideration. We therefore propose the opening of Mechanics' Institutes throughout the country, where the necessity for doing so can be shown, clearly and satisfactorily.

or con

In Dublin, the want of a proper Mechanics' Institute has been sadly felt by the working classes, and educationists of every party will admit its need. Perhaps in Europe, there is not a city where the after education of the artizans is more neglected. We could not point out one institute in Dublin affording to the poor mechanic opportunities of acquiring the knowledge suited to his taste, or genial to his faculties. In fact, the education of the parent is a thing seldom or never spoken of. The laboring multitudes of this city seem too insignificant a body to engage the attention of the educationists of the country, or if they do, there are none philanthropic enough to come forward to advocate the cause of their instruction. It is a vast work no doubt, but it is of vaster importance, vaster than we might at first imagine. Educate the parent, and he will be earnest for the education of his children; offer advantages of continued education to the children now attending our Public Schools, and

* Wyse-"Education Reform," vol. 1.

when they become parents themselves, they will be anxious that their children shall experience the same abiding fruits. What have we done in Dublin up to this for the education of her poorer citizens; we have given them opportunities, doubtless, to have their children instructed in the elementary branches of knowledge for a few years, but after they have left the "friendly shelter" of our schools, their education ceases to be worthy of our notice, or sufficiently important to engage our attention.

The teacher thinks his duty done the moment the pupil quits the school. His duty is done, but not that of the pupil. The education must be continued. In the upper classes of society this is not difficult. Daily occasions, long leisure, abundant means, provide in most instances for its prosecution. The middle and lower orders are less fortunate. The active and stern interests of life press upon them. Physical wants usurp their own being-intellectual pursuits are overpowered--mere culture is forgotten.

This after education, if so it may be called, is in general neglected, or when applied, it is generally on so limited and local a scale, that its influence is scarcely perceptible. But it is essential. A building does not consist in foundation. If elementary education be justly an object of national solicitude, so also are the means by which this elementary education may be given, through every successive period of life, its full value and efficacy."*

We have allowed the minds of many pupils of our National Schools to sleep, never it would seem to waken. We have done worse, we have not held out any inducement to counteract that of the public house or political assembly. Our school doors were closed against him when the toil of the day was over, though he was still willing to prosecute those studies upon which he had already entered, while attending our national and other public schools. The leisure hours should be employed, and in the majority of cases how were they devoted? We speak from conviction when we assert that they were devoted to anything but advantage to himself or to mankind. We have seen many who were justly considered the most promising pupils when at school, become degraded members of society, bearing the brand of the drunkard and vagabondbeing contaminated by those who considered themselves their equal as regards social position, and would laugh them to

Wyse on "Education Reform," vol. I., p. 289.