withdrawment from the Arena of Political Debate, Your country still remembers You, and will not fail to call for You in the hour of danger. Though I am not ungrateful for personal kindnesses which Your Lordship has rendered me,— felt the more sensitively by me as one of a class towards which contempt is very generally meted rather than respect, I should have thought it indelicate to have made these the reasons of my present Act. I pre sent this Work to You, solely on the grounds of Your High Character and Patriotism. Believe me, My Dear Lord, Your Lordship's grateful and faithful Servant, RICHARD WINTER HAMILTON. LEEDS, Nov. 1st, 1844. ADVERTISEMENT. THE following Documents will explain the History of the Work which is now presented to the Public. The Author is conscious that he must be read with some prejudice, the opinions of men so greatly varying on his theme. He has retained the Title with which the Essay was originally headed, though he must remind those who peruse it, that the word "Institutions" is employed in its classical, and not in its conventional, sense. POPULAR EDUCATION. A PATRIOTIC Churchman of Manchester, whose name is to remain unknown, has entrusted to me the Sum of ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS, as a Premium for the most valuable Essay "On the best Method of extending the Benefits of Education to the People of England, consistently with the Principles of Civil and Religious Liberty.” The Essay must embrace the following topics : 1st. Some account of the Extent, and of the ascertained and probable Results, of Popular Education on the Continent and in the United States. 2nd. A Condensed Statistical View-so far as practicable --of the State of Popular Education in the Agricultural and Manufacturing Districts of England, including the instruction given in Day-schools and in Sunday-schools. 3rd. A similar view of the Comparative Numbers educated in those Schools by the Members of the Established Church, and by the different bodies of Protestant Nonconformists. 4th. Suggestions in regard to Methods by which the Superintendence and Resources of Society may be rendered more effectual, apart from the intervention of the State, as means of securing to the children of our peasantry and artizans instruction in the elements of knowledge, both secular and religious-at the same time, the questions, whether Education should be in any sense compulsory, or whether it should be aided in any way by authority or grants from the Government, will be left open, so that the discussion of them shall in no case prejudice the claims of the Essay on the other points above-mentioned. It is expected that the Publication will form a Duodecimo Volume of about Three Hundred Pages, and the Profits arising from its Sale, after deducting the usual Costs, will be presented to the Author. The Manuscript must be sent to my care, carriage paid, including the Name and Address of the Writer in a sealed Letter, by the first of March next, directed to 26, Cooper-Street, Manchester; and the Award, it is hoped, will be made in about two months from that time. The following Gentlemen. have consented to act as Adjudicators :-Rev. Samuel Davidson, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Criticism and Oriental Literature, in the Lancashire Independent College; Rev. Abraham E. Farrar, Wesleyan Minister, Liverpool; and Rev. John Kelly, Liverpool. ROBERT VAUGHAN, D.D., President of the Lancashire Independent College, near Manchester. College, Aug. 25, 1843. COPY OF THE ADJUDICATION. THE Adjudicators appointed to examine the Prize Essays on Education, having endeavoured to accomplish their task with all the impartiality and patience which it demands, are happy to announce that they are unanimous on the subject. Out of fourteen volumes which they have received, they have fixed on the one entitled, "The Institutions of Popular Education." It need scarcely be mentioned that, with every sentiment advanced in the Essay, they do not necessarily agree. But, after a careful perusal of the entire number, they believe that it has more intellectual power, more practical and sound sentiment, and greater compactness of argument, than any of its competitors. The publication of such an Essay will, in their judgment, effectually promote the cause of Popular Education in the land, to which the public mind is specially directed at the present time, and also fulfil the purpose of the benevolent individual to whose liberality its existence is primarily owing. SAMUEL DAVIDSON, It only remains for the Author to express his obligations to the unknown and unguessed Donor of the Prize; and to the Rev. Gentlemen who adjudged in favour of the following Essay. Both they, and the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, who was the Convener and Organ, have acted towards the Writer in the kindest and most fraternal manner. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE Author desires to acknowledge the Public favour which has been given to the Work, and which, within two months, exhausted an Edition of Two Thousand. Ill health, and a long absence on the Continent, prevented an earlier attention to a continued demand for it. He has now revised the whole,-bringing up dates, where it was possible, to the present time,-and somewhat enlarged the Volume. He hopes that the corrections and expansions of this new Edition, which considerably exceeds the number of the first, will show that he is not indifferent to the Patronage which his humble attempt has so abundantly received. DEC. 13th, 1845. |