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Under his guidance we have succeeded in opening several industrial schools of the agricultural class on the property of which he has charge at Gairloch. One of these schools has not been, from one accidental circumstance, in so flourishing a condition as the other. In regard to the other school, which is most prosperous, it is intimated that the ground originally set apart for farming operations has been so well cultivated by the scholars, that additional waste land has been assigned to them, so that the work is making rapid progress. The Coinmittee have had also under consideration the propriety of establishing a similar school in Sutherlandshire, one of the ministers there,-Rev. George Mackay of Tongue,-assisted by an able and enlightened friend of education in the district, having brought a carefully considered plan under their notice. (Applause.) I need not enlarge on the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity that presents itself for the institution of such agricultural schools. There is another class of schools in which the Committee take a deep interest although they were not prepared to make a special Report in regard to them. I mean Missionary Schools, or schools intended for the poor and destitute localities. I may notice the following:-1. West Port School, embracing infant, industrial, and juvenile schools. Now, it is formally recognised as a congregational school; still it has all its old and distinctive characteristics. It is still Chalmers' Territorial School. (Hear.) It has now obtained the advantage of pupil teachers from the Committee of Council, their Lordships expressing in their decision their high approbation of the appearance made by the candidates, whose examination passed over, after having been examined by the Inspector transmitted to London. The teacher, too, offered himself recently for examination by the Government Inspector. 2. Newbigging, Musselburgh, embracing infant, industrial, and juvenile schools, a very remarkable instance of the success of the territorial principles. Pupil-teachers have also been obtained here. 3. There is the school in the Old Wynd of Glasgow, the particulars of which I cannot give. This school has been established in the district of Dr Buchanan, on a most desirable footing, and has already conferred most signal benefits on the population of this destitute locality. There is also a school about to be opened at Fountainbridge, near the Canal here. A school has likewise been in operation for some time at Canonmills, in the neighbourhood of this Assembly. It is established in the destitute village of Canonmills, and is attended by about 160 children. It has been a very successful one. At the beginning it had but a handful of scholars, but it has now so thoroughly established itself in this neighbourhood, that the people of the district have come to take an interest in it as their own, and have determined to support it. We have another missionary school in Stockbridge, which is attended by 120 pupils. (Applause.) The seventh and only remaining class of schools to which I have now to call the attention of the Assembly are the Normal Schools of Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Normal School of Edinburgh has, during the past year, been conducted with undiminished efficiency. There is a circumstance connected with it which I am desirous to state, as it falls in with what has been recognised as extremely desirable by this Assembly. I am delighted to intimate that, in the report of the classical teacher, it is stated that Hebrew is taught to the students in the Normal School. (Hear.) I am glad to announce this, because it holds out the prospect of what is so very desirable, namely, the introduction of the elements of Hebrew even in the ordinary Schools of Scotland. (Applause.) In regard to the Normal School of Glasgow, I am glad to say that it continues to maintain its reputation. It is well known that the Glasgow Normal School has acquired a special reputation under the auspices of Mr Stow, so well known in connection with the training system. (Hear.) It is well known that, in connection with him, it has acquired the confidence of our Wesleyan friends in England to a great extent; and that they send their teachers to be trained in the Normal School in Glasgow in large numbers. Before passing from this matter, let me just make a remark with regard to the financial affairs of the Normal School. The Assembly is aware that the Normal School in Glasgow was built immediately after the Disruption. The Normal School obtained a grant from government; and, by the liberality of our friends in Glasgow, it may now be reported as free from debt. (Applause.) With regard to the Edinburgh Normal School, I have to report that, some years ago, a piece of ground was procured near the Castle Hill; and some here present may remember that the

foundation stone was laid there with the customary solemnities. The foundation stone is destined to lie there alone without the building,-(a laugh)—for we have seen cause to change the situation of the Normal School in Edinburgh. I have to mention that the Committee, after full and deliberate consultation, agreed to purchase Moray House in the Canongate,—a house well known to fame as connected with important events in Scottish history; but what is more important, a house peculiarly suited for such an institution as this. We have about two acres of ground; and the house has, with a little alteration, been made to accommodate tolerably well the Normal School. I have to state, that arrangements have been made for the Normal School to take possession of the premises on Wednesday forenoon, when I hope as many of the members of Assembly as possible will attend at the installation of the school in Moray House. (Hear.) The Normal School has hitherto been accommodated very imperfectly in rooms under the Music Hall in Rose Street. The Committee had been able to make this change very economically, at less expense, I believe, than the original site on the Castle Hill would have cost us. We have the means of making the Normal School in the Canongate unrivalled in the kingdom, considering the extent of the ground, and the admirable access for children of all classes to attend the school. (Applause.) On this subject I have also to report that the Committee have been taking steps for procuring the necessary funds in a quiet way, and without much agitation. I am glad to say that we have received very nearly £2000 for defraying the expense of fitting up Moray House. It is right that the Church should know, however, that we will require fully £2000 additional, in order to entitle us to the benefit of the Government grant, by means of which the whole expense, up to this moment, may be defrayed. Speaking on the subject of the Government grant, I take this op portunity to report that your Committee, in compliance with the instructions of last Assembly, appointed a deputation to wait on Government, and to have a conference with the Lords of the Privy Council. We proceeded very strictly upon the views contained in the resolutions of last Assembly, especially as to the esta blishing of a general national system of education, based on sound principles; and further, as to the propriety of relieving the present system from its objectionable feature, namely, its being a scheme embracing, not only evangelical denominations, but all sorts of persons willing to build schools and to support them. We reported to the Commission the result of this interview with Government, that we had failed in the object we had in view. At the same time, we reported that, as to the details of the Scheme, we met with every disposition to accommodate us. I have to state, however, that there were two things in the arrangements of the Government Scheme, with which, in a practical point of view, this Church has reason to be satisfied. In the first place, we held, and represented it strongly to the Government, that, according to the present plan, an undue favour was shown to the Established Church; in this respect, that the salaries already provided by the State are not first taken into account as grants of the public money, before any additional grants are given out of the same national funds year by year. The way Government propose to administer, and was at this moment administering, this grant from year to year, is this:-They estimate the sum spent in education by any parties promoting education, and then they give a certain proportion of that sum in addition, by way of grant. They do not take into account the existing endowments of the parish schools as constituting a claim for additional grants. And I observe that our friends in the Establishment are grievously offended because Government do not take into account the existing arrangements of the parish schools as constituting a claim for additional grants. How, then, do we consider onrselves as wronged, and the Establishment as unduly favoured in the administration of the Government grants? Take it thus. Suppose a parish schoolmaster has already a salary provided by law of £30 a-year; that £30 does not entitle the schoolmaster to the Government grant; but the heritors and other parties may provide an additional endowment; and, suppose, for instance, they provide £30 more, then, according to the present plan, Government will give a grant of £15. We say, therefore, that for whatever grants our friends in the Establishment may be entitled to, the existing endowment should be deducted, otherwise we do not start fairly; for we, in taking advantage of the Government grant, start without any endowment.

(Hear.) We have to furnish £60 in order to be entitled to £30; but our friends in the Establishment, starting with the advantage of the present endowment, instead of £60, may require only to provide £20; that is to say, if they provide £20, and get £10 from Government, they have then £90, supposing they have £60 of endowment. We say this is an injustice. (Hear.) We have also to complain, in reference to the Normal Schools, that we do not get the same measure of justice which the Establishment have got in reference to their Normal Schools. The Establishment obtained, by a vote of Privy Council, some time before the Disruption, grants, I think, to the amount of about £5000 for each of their Normal Schools. Now, we cannot bring Government further than this, that they allow one-third of what we raise, which will amount in regard to Glasgow Normal School to about £3000, and in regard to the Edinburgh Normal School to about the same amount. While I have felt it to be my duty to bring before the Assembly what we brought before the Privy Council, in regard to this advantage which the Establishment will have in working this Government measure, I think it right to say, that we have practically no ground to complain of anything beyond what I have now stated. (Hear.) As far as the practical details of the measure are concerned, our teachers have met with every encouragement. Our teachers have had no scruple about submitting to the examination required by the Government; and every possible facility has been given to our teachers and to our schools for taking advantage of the grants. (Hear.) I have now only to call the attention of the Assembly, and, very briefly indeed, to the state of the funds. I will not enter into details. I may mention that the amount of funds raised from all sources this year is very little more than last year, being somewhere about £150 more than last year, while our expenditure has increased very considerably. The increase of our expenditure has been occasioned, not so much by the multiplication of our schools, as by acting on the principle of raising the salaries of our teachers, according to the scheme of competition announced last year. We had intended, during the course of the past year, to make vigorous efforts in seeing that all the congregations of the Church had a machinery in operation to comply with the act of Assembly regarding monthly contributions. Circumstances have prevented us from carrying out that resolution. Meanwhile I may state, that there has been an increase of £1100 in the Schoolmasters' Sustentation Fund during the last year, and this Fund, allow me to say, is the sheetanchor of our Scheme. There has been a decrease in some other parts of the funds, chiefly, I believe, in individual and miscellaneous donations. But it is satisfactory to report, that, in spite of all drawbacks, the increase in the Sustentation Fund for Schoolmasters is £1100; and, I believe, there is room for very considerable increase during the period that is to come. I have just one single word to say as to our future prospects in regard to finance. We began this year at the 31st of March 1848, and we began it with a deposit of about £700. We could very easily meet the expenses of the year, but for a circumstance I am now about to mention, and that is, that our payments to teachers of their half-year's salary comes on at this term, and we have no means of getting in a sufficient sum of monthly contributions before that time for the payment of our teachers. This is an occurrence not arising in any way from the year that is past, but it is one that we have inherited from the practice of former years. We were in the habit of beginning our year as at the 31st of March, with but little in hand, and sometimes with nothing at all. The Committee have proposed a plan by which we may be relieved from our present embarrassment. It had been arranged that the education collection shall, come first this year, and that it shall take place on the third Sabbath of June; and what we have to ask of the Church is this, that they would consider this collection as a very special one. If it is, as I trust it will be, a large collection, to be devoted to the schoolmasters' sustentation, I believe that we will be able to maintain our Scheme by the plan of monthly contributions afterwards. If the Church will only regard the collection to be made in June as a very special appeal; and if by means of this collection we can succeed in meeting the salaries due at this time, which is not an extravagant expectation, then we are prepared to act rigidly on what is the principle of the Scheme, namely, the principle of dividing at Martinmas and Whitsunday no more than what we have in hand; and dividing it just on the principle of the Sustentation Fund for ministers, namely, of dividing it according to the proportion and status of the salaries to which the teachers are entitled. (Hear.) But

it is manifest that unless, by means of the collection to be made in June, we are able to meet the salaries due in May, we will still have arrears of salaries embarrassing and encumbering us. Let, however, the salaries due in May be cleared away by the collection to be made in June, and we have six clear months in which we can collect the monthly contributions before the payment in November. If brethren will only give me their hearty support in this matter,-if they will only see that machinery is set in operation in every congregation for carrying out the plan of monthly contributions, -if they will only see to it, our organization is prepared for the management of these monthly contributions, I am ready, by God's blessing, to peril the whole Education Scheme on this plan, if the Church will work it. (Applause.) The issue will be, that the Church will be relieved from having a separate collection for education at all. There will then be a collection for the College, and no collection for elementary schools. If there shall be but an Association in every congregation, gathering on an average not more than £2 a-month, we will be able, not merely to meet all the expenses of the Scheme, but to have a considerable surplus for its farther developement and extension. (Applause.) And now, without troubling the Assembly farther, let me refer, as I do, with regret to the vacancy that has occurred in connection with the Scheme, through the resignation of Mr Gibson, who has accepted the office of one of her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools for Scotland. I had hoped to be in circumstances to-night to be able to recommend to the Assembly an individual of high qualification to succeed Mr Gibson in the office of Inspector of our Schools. I regret to say that I have not permission to propose that individual to-night. I beg leave, therefore, to request that the General Assembly give power to the Committee on Education to look out for a suitable individual to act as Inspector, and to report to the Commission in August next, the Commission being authorised to confirm the appointment. I beg further to propose, that the Committee be authorised to fix all the matters in connection with his salary. I am deeply impressed with the importance of a right appointment to this office. I believe it is impossible to carry on this Scheme without men of high professional standing, as well as business habits, to take the superintendence of it; not so much for the inspection of the schools, perhaps, as for the purpose of giving his mind and heart to this great undertaking. (Hear.) It is im. possible for any Committee to work this undertaking without the assistance of a competent man. I trust that this house and this Church will never cease to entertain a high idea of the responsibility connected with this Education_Scheme. We have, during the last two years, made a very auspicious start. We have succeeded in maintaining among the teachers of youth connected with our Scheme the very best spirit. They are enthusiastic, they are hearty, and they are zealous. We have succeeded, to a large extent, in maintaining an interest in this Scheme throughout the Church, although not without considerable labour; but I trust that the more the Church considers her duty, the more will she look to the importance of maintaining in efficiency the Education Scheme. I am convinced that the more she considers the question of her own stability in the land, the more will she be awakened to a sense of the importance lying on her of being-and we are the only communion that can do so— -prepared to give forth a clear and unequivocal voice as to the kind of education the country should have; and at the same time, be prepared to give practical effect to that voice. (Hear.) We are in circumstances to be, to a large extent, the educators of the youth of Scotland. We are in circumstances to take advantage of what assistance Government can give us, and upon this only principle on which assistance for education ought to be given. I rejoice in being able at all to co-operate with Government in any good work of this kind; and I consider that this Church is in a position, more thoroughly than any other body in the country, to go forth and possess the land. (Applause.) We have the confi dence of the people. They send their children freely to our schools. We are also free in this matter from many of the trammels which hamper our friends in the Establishment. We must, therefore, not allow the opportunity to pass away without taking advantage of it, else we may, by deferring it, meet with the difficulties and embarrassments that will in future prevent us from occupying the field that is lying before us. There is no proposal of any scheme for education that can possibly thwart or impede our proceeding. We possess the means of giving a literary

and commercial training to all that come forward for the common business of life ; and we possess the means of giving a higher scholastic training for all who shew an inclination, and have the talent for the higher walks of professional education and enterprise. We have, besides, the means of religious instruction for all. I have thus attempted very imperfectly to go over some of the particulars in the report; and I have now only earnestly to entreat our brethren to give the report, when it comes into their hands, their most serious consideration, and to bring it also under the serious consideration of their people. (Cheers.)

Mr CAMPBELL of Monzie said,-I rise to move, in a few words, the adoption of the report now laid before the House. I approach the subject of education with all deference and humility; because, Fathers and Brethren, permit me to call this, at the present moment, one of the most striking and amazing facts which the Free Church presents before a wondering world. I allude not to that Report alone; but I look to the Sustentation Fund,-I look at the Home Mission,-I look at the Foreign Mission,-I look at all the Schemes of the Church, and, I ask, which cf them has failed? And, looking to the success which has attended them all,-looking to all that which the Free Church has been called to do, and entitled to perform, we are bound to humble ourselves before God, and really stand in awe. (Hear.) If anything can, more than another, call us to this duty, it is the most gratifying information which Dr Candlish has been communicating to us this night. (Hear, hear.) When we look to the difficulties and trials of the times in which we live, and see that, notwithstanding, this Scheme, and all the Schemes of our Church, are prospering, we are bound to acknowledge that this is another proof of the helping hand of God being upon us. (Hear.) Now, let me ask you, do you not feel yourselves honoured in being here this night, testifying as members of the Free Church? -and, if you are so honoured to be helping on this great cause, are you now to stand still?-and, having yourselves raised a testimony for the Head of the Church, will you leave the youth of the land ignorant of your principles? (Hear.) I am sure that the parents whom I address will give a warm response to such an appeal; but is there any member of this house disposed to leave without instruction and guidance the innocence and the youth of our land? (Hear.) No, you say; and I am sure that there is no body of men less likely to do so than the Free Church of Scotland. How is it, then, that our contributions to this important Fund are yet so small? I fear it is because the Education Scheme has not loomed sufficiently large in the eyes of our people. Let them now give earnest heed to what has been stated by Dr Candlish, and feel it a privilege to address themselves to the plain and practical course which he has indicated; and I am confident that if they resolve to place this Scheme on the footing which he has described, and put forth their efforts in its behalf, all difficulties will disappear. In the large towns there is really no serious difficulty to be encountered. It is in the country districts where difficulties chiefly occur. In the large towns you may combine to carry out the Educational Scheme in all the localities where education is needed; but in the country it is altogether different. I would ask you to turn your attention, therefore, to the country districts, left to be provided for by the parish schools. Look at the multitudinous duties of the masters of these schools; they are clerks to everything, and inspectors of everything; and it is impossible for them to discharge their duties as schoolmasters, so that the youth under their care are entirely neglected. (Hear, hear) These districts are calling for education at the hands of the Free Church, and I see openings for your exertions in all of these localities, which it will be folly not to take advantage of. (Cheers.)

Professor FLEMING.-When the gigantic Scheme for our Free Church education was proposed in this house, I took the liberty, in the conference, to state that I thought we were beginning rashly,-that I thought we ran a considerable risk of not carrying the people of the Free Church along with us; because we were about to institute a great scheme of education as a substitute for our parochial system, without making the slightest attempt to improve that system, when I thought improvement, therein, quite practicable. I regret to say, Sir, that I met with no sympathy, nor the slightest countenance, and sat down in despair; and I would not have risen this night, but for what fell from the honourable gentleman who has just sat down. It is this,—the parochial teachers are so occupied with secular concern

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