(The above does not include the troops stationed in France and in the East Indies, which will be given in our next.) Account of Institutions formed in the SOUTH of ENGLAND, for teaching Adults to read. DULT Schools were first established some years ago at Bristol. On inquiry as to the number of Bibles wanted for distribution among the poorer inhabitants of that city, it was discovered that many of them could not read. The dispersion of the Scriptures among persons so circumstanced was properly suspended; Adult Schools were instittued; and nine schools were opened for men in the space of about thirteen months, the same number for women; and three hundred persons of each sex were actually receiving instruction. After the publication of the first annual report, the subscriptions, which till then had been inconsiderable, increased; additional schools were opened in Bristol and its vicinity; and in less than two years from the first introduction of the plan into that city, and independently of four congregational Adult Schools which taught two hundred and seventy persons, the number of men and women admitted were one thousand five hundred and eight, making, with the two hundred and seventy already stated, a total of one thousand seven hundred and seventyeight persons. Similar Schools are now opened at Plymouth, Salisbury, Sheffield, Norwich, Yarmouth, Ips wich, Bury, &c. &c. &c. From the: facilities which cities and towns afford for instruction of all kinds, when contrasted with the scattered habitations of the country poor, the more striking results in the instance of Adult Schools, as in every other, bave of course been produced there; but even amidst a more widely and thinly spread population, the benefits already s derived from such institutions for the instruction of grown persons have been sufficient to encourage, and even to call for, the establishment of them in other districts. Indeed, the earliest School for teaching Adults appears to have been opened in a country place in Monmouthshire. In 1811, a School on a similar plan was instituted at Bala in Merionethshire; and several others of the same kind have since been established in North and South Wales, in places remote from 1 any considerable town or city. The difficulties which local distance and parishes the dispersed state of cottages in many parishes present to the success of such a plan, appear to have yielded to animated and persevering exertion on the part of the authors and promoters of it, and to the impression at length produced by such exertions upon the minds of the illiterate, of the probable ultimate importance to their own wellbeing of an object for which they saw heir better-informed neighbours disinterestedly taking so much trouble. In a pamphlet containing these and other particulars respecting the Adult Schools, lately published by Dr Pole of Bristol, it is supposed that there are n England alone one million two undred thousand grown persons who cannot read. Without pretending to udge of the probable accuracy of uch a calculation, the data of which re not given, or of the state of intruction in this particular neighbour ood as compared with others, it may e asserted generally as an indispuable fact, that a very large proportion f grown persons of both sexes roughout the kingdom are so far om being able to read sufficiently for e purpose of acquainting themselves ith the Scriptures, that they do not en know their letters; and, if a dgment were to be formed from an periment lately made in some pashes, have at present little desire to arn. Indeed it must be considered a part of the undertaking, and a incipal and most difficult one, to stil this desire; to bring persons so plorably ignorant to a sense of their n unhappy state, as it respects igious knowledge and improveat, and persuade them to embrace offer of being relieved from it; this can hardly be done otherwise n by the concert and concurrence this purpose of the Clergy and ity of a number of parishes, so sited as to admit of ready communiion with each other. The most flourishing institution of kind is that established in the June 1817. counties of Bucks and Berks, including the towns of Maidenhead, Beaconsfield, Wycombe, and Marlow*: upon an invitation from fifteen neighbouring clergymen, a meeting was held early in September 1814, when they stated as follows: 66 Impressed, as our profession requires us to be, with the importance, both to the temporal and eternal welfare of the people respectively committed to our care, of their being taught to read sufficiently to enable them to acquaint themselves with the the Holy Scriptures, we have seen with proportionable interest a statement of the success which has actually attended the establishment of Adult Schools in several parts of the kingdom for the purpose of instructing persons from the age of sixteen years and upwards to read, with a direct and immediate view to their acquiring a knowledge of the Bible; and we have resolved on using our endeavours, as well individually as collectively, towards the establishment and support of a similar Institution in this neighbourhood, under the direction of one general Association, and with the support of one common fund, to be created by donations and annual subscriptions." Another meeting was held on the 31st October, and on the 7th December a general meeting took place, when Lord Grenville accepted the office of President, when he made a speech to the following effect: "His Lordship began by congratulating the Meeting on the prosperous state of the Institution, at so early a period from its establishment, and on the zeal and activity of the General Committee, which had given so effectual an impulse to all ranks and classes throughout the District. His Lordship then entered at large into the fundamental principles of the Institution; dwelt with great force upon 1916. the Account of its origin, &c. 8vo. Windsor, the infinite importance of Instruction ing a public assembly, which had inda ced him on this, the first opportunity which presented itself, to come for ward and explain the grounds on which he had accepted the office of President, and given his unqualified support to the Institution. He con fessed, that when the plan was first made known to him, he had enter tained doubts how far it could be rea lized; from the degree of information already obtained, he was, however, convinced that the plan was as feasible as from the outset he had felt that it was desirable; from that moment his diffi culties had ceased; for all observation and all experience had taught him, that the diffusion of knowledge amongst the lower classes had an evident and direct tendency to ameliorate their moral and social condition. If such then was the effect of knowledge, generally viewed, how much more forcibly did the argument apply to the diffusion of the knowledge which was to be found only in that Volume which contained the written precepts of the Christian law, and from which many of our fellow-countrymen bad hitherto been excluded !" In January 1815, his Royal High ness the Prince Regent, as Crow proprietor to a considerable extent the district, was pleased to signify gracious intention of befriending Institution. A request was then pres ferred that he should become its tron, to which he graciously accede sending at the same time the donation of a hundred pounds. The report of the General Committes published on the 8th July 1816, hibits the degree of success with wh the Institution has been attended. "The Instruction has, by the cos lidation of several schools, been ried on much more successfully th in the former season, although fewer points of the district, and wi out any considerable apparent incre in the number of scholars. One the sand and forty-three scholars, in ba gave in their names to be instructed the first season; and whilst a doubt existed in many minds whether the illiterate would present themselves in any considerable numbers to be taught, it was important to establish incontrovertibly this fact in the first instance, independently of the degree of instruction which the whole of this number might actually receive. But on the present occasion, when this primary apprehension has been done away, your Committee has felt it a duty to discriminate between occasional attendance (which has served to little purpose beyond that already mentioned), and regular persevering application on the part of the illiterate, such as can alone enable them to attain their object; and your Committee are able to report in consequence, that one thousand and sixty-two Adults have during the last season regularly partaken of the instruction, and that of this number seven hundred and forty-seven can now read and incidentally it may be worth remark, that of the total number who have thus been in a course of instruction this season, five hundred and twenty-two did not even know their letters originally when they begun to learn: forther, four hundred and eighty-five were new scholars. The instruction thea of five hundred and seventyseven scholars of the former short Season has been this last season perfected; and one hundred and seventy persons have been taught (many of them from the very alphabet) so as to be able to read currently the New Testament. Three hundred and fifteen remain instructed only in part. The want of additional Committeemen, and of active assistance and superintendance in the schools on the part of many already on our Committee list, has prevented this number, considerable as it is, from being still larger; experience having uniformly verified the fact (foreseen from the outet), that without a vigilant super intendance exerted throughout every part of the district, the labours of your Committee, in a general view, must be comparatively incomplete. The consolidation of the schools, in the instances where it has already taken place, has supplied, in some measure, this defect; and a still farther limitation of the schools to such spots as promise effectual superintendance, would, if the Institution continues, be on the same account advisable. At the same time, eight new schools have this last season been established, precisely on the ground of an effective local attention being secured to the instruction in them; in other words, the power of having recourse to the Scriptures is now communicating to eight new parts of the district, to which, but for the continuance of this Institution, there was no prospect of its being imparted. The prospect of Adult Instruction without the district, and throughout the kingdom generally, upon the principles of this institution, is not equally promising; but it is to the credit of the Society of Friends, that there are few towns of any note in which that exemplary body of men has not endeavoured to establish such instruction. Your Committee, some months ago, in the view of diffusing the principles of the Institution, and affording additional scope for their practical exercise, acquired very minute informa tion as to the number of illiterate persons in some of the principal towns of the kingdom. At Birmingham, where, as a central spot, these inquiries began, it was satisfactory to learn, that in consequence of the early establishment of Sunday Schools in that town, not more than from two to three hundred persons (out of 54,000 supposed of age to learn, and from amongst a total population of 93,000 souls) were four years ago illiterate. The reverse of this picture may be contemplated in the case of Coventry, where there is reason to believe that out out of a population of 28,000 souls, one-half of the mixed population of men, women, and children, of age to learn, is illiterate. Some partial efforts have been made on the part of a few individuals in that city to put an end to this state of intellectual and moral degradation; but the very small proportion of persons above the middle classes resident there, added to other causes, has hitherto rendered the success of those attempts very doubtful. In the Adult School lately formed in the National School-room at Coventry, 30 persons only attended during the last winter; and it was found necessary to require of these 1d. each per night for the payment of the master and school expences. Early in the present year, we communicated with the French Committee of Education at Paris, in the view of engaging their attention to the subject of Adult instruction. Their reply, which is on your table, gives room to hope that such instruction may become part of the general plan of education about to be established in that country. Further, the departure a few days ago, for the Continent, of Mr W. Allen, of Plough. - court,_ Lombard - street, encourages your Committee to look forward to the extension of Adult Instruction generally throughout the Continent of Europe. Mr Allen has taken charge of the various printed papers of the Institution, and is likewise farnished with an abstract of our proceedings down to the present time, which he will cause to be printed in Dutch, in German, and in French, as in his tour he passes through the countries in which these languages severally are spoken. A letter from Dr Pole, of Bristol, which is also on your table, contains some interesting particulars in respect of Adult instruction from America. At the commencement of the season of instruction now concluded, it was intimated to the illiterate gene rally, as then was probable, that the season in question might be the last ; but the degree of instruction since communicated, coupled with the circumstance of the extensive field for exertion, which, as it now appears, still remains, forbids your Committee to come forward in the present moment with such a proposal; deference to the numerous requests of a contrary kind from those who are learning and those who are superintending the instruction, must of itself prevent this; many Adults have indeed been taught, but many also are as yet not at all, or but partially instructed; some new and effective schools are still in their infancy, and it can hardly be a question whether we still maintain the instruction in places where, while the inhabitants most earnestly solicit such continuance, the local circumstances imperiously demand it. At Lane-End alone, 102 persons have during the last winter been more or instructed; thirty-four of them have been sufficiently taught, in consequence of our sending a man and his wife to reside there as teachers during the winter : a similar establishment a Seer-Green promises a similar result. Lastly, the zeal of the efficient part of your Committee continues unabated." |