We do not understand the outcry against the attempt 'to
ensure that the middle-class, too, shall not leave its children uneducated. Ne doubt in a class where the presumption raised by social, habits always is in favour of the parent, it would be ex- ceedingly undesirable to introduce a costly, vexatious, and needless espionage, in order to secure what is tolerably safe without it. But unquestionably it would be simply unjust, and even monstrously unjust, to apply a compulsion to poor' parents which should not also be applied, in case of need, to well- to-do and even rich parents. And for this purpose it is manifestly essential to keep, and occasionally enforce, the right of demanding proof from the middle-classes, no less -than from the poor, that their children are properly instructed. If we are to "educate our , masters," and yet haughtily demand exemption for ourselves, there will soon be a cry that if ignorance is to be the privilege of wealth, it can. hardly be the disgrace of poverty.
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