An important question was decided in the Town- Council of
Liver- pool on Wednesday. Mr. Birch, who seems to be a half-and-half Reformer, proposed that additional schools should be erected by the Corporation, wherein education on the old system might be given to the poor, the Irish system being retained in the existing schools. His object was to mitigate the opposition of the Churchmen and Tories, as well as to give all sects the opportunity of education. Mr. John Cropper moved as an amendment, that the Corporation Schools be sold for the term of seventy-five years., under a covenant that they should be used for tbe education of the poor of Liverpool.
Mr. Blackburn strongly opposed any alteration ir the present sys- tem. He denied that the schools were sectarian, or that public opinion generally was against the system which had been adopted. It should not be forgotten that the new system had been adopted by a large majo- rity of the Council elected by the people— The system was supported by many members of the Church of England, and the Protestant Dissenters were universal in their approval of it. The Roman Catholic population of the town were with them as the heart of one man; and that was one instance of the happy union that might be brought about between the two countries in something more than a name. He was convinced that the effict produced by what had been said against the system at public meetings. and the lashings it had received from the pulpit, would soon die away. They had failed in their intended object. It was next argued that the change proposed would produce and secure peace to the town. Did the Council expect any such result ? So far from that being the case, its adoption could only affind addi- tional argument for their opponents who would turn round upon them and accuse them of want of principle, and with giving a preference to place at the sacrifice of their principles.
.He denied that the schools were sectarian—
There were now in the schools thirteen hundred children ; of that number two hundred and fifty were Protestants, and one thousand and fifty Roman Catholics. There, in his opinion, was a goodly proportion of Protestants to Catholics, when all the circumstances of the case were considered. No sooner were the schools called into existence under the present system than they were
left without a single teacher ; the teachers under the old system gave in their resignation a day or two before the schools opened. In addition to this, placards were posted, and every exertion used to draw children from the " Popish schools," from which the Bible was excluded. Placards, signed by clergymen, were posted even on the walls of the schools ; and that sacred desk, the pulpit, was used as a means of warning the public against the schools. So great was the outcry raised, that it was even dangerous for the children to attend them ; the aid of the police was obliged to be called in, and it was not until one individual had been brought before the Magistrates that peace was restored. Opposition to the schools was now declining ; and he believed the time was not far distant when the number of Protestants attending them would be increased ; and so far from the system adopted being a failure, the opposite was the truth.
Mr. Blackburn concluded by moving a resolution that it was expedient to continue the schools on the present system.
Mr. Rathbone, Mr. Walmsley, Mr. Egerton Smith, the Mayor, and several other members, supported Mr. Blackburn's resolution; which was carried, by a vote of 45 to 10.
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