This article was in type before the Chancellor's speech upon
National Education was delivered. It confirms our opinion as to the largeness of the fund which is applicable to the instruction of the people. According to Lord BROUGHAM, the annual income derivable from charitable bequests must at least be 1,200,0001., and very probably 1,500,0001. This fact renders any discussion as to the utility or mischief of an education-rate (a very different thing, however, from a grant from the Consolidated Fund) almost unnecessary. A similar observation may be extended to his re- marks on the advantage of schools supported by voluntary sub- scriptions; though, if a uniform system be desirable, awl educa- tion mean more than reading and writing, it is pretty clear that subscription schools, where each active subscriber will have some scheme of his own, are not desirable when national ones can be obtained. Lord BROUGHAM'S plan of Normal Schools, to instruct the Schoolmasters, is, as Mr. SIMPSON suggested, highly useful. We trust he will act up to his implied promise, and endeavour to procure a grant for that purpose.
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