CARLYLE AND THE EDUCATION QUESTION.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR,"] SIR,—The following extract f.rom Carlyle's "Life of Sterling" (p. 242 in first edition), being part of a letter dated June 30th, 1839, seems strangely appropriate two generations later :— " For the present, it appears, the English Education Question is settled. I wish the Government had said that, in their inspection and superintendence, they would look only to secular matters and leave religious ones to the people who set up the schools, whoever these might be. It seems to me monstrous that the State should be prevented taking any efficient measures for teaching ROMall Catholic children to read, write and cypher, merely because they believe in the Pope, and the Pope is an ipipoetor—which I candidly confess he is ! There is no question which I can so ill endure to see made a party one as that of Education?'
Previous page
