THERE are still many persons in this country, although they are doubtless a diminishing number, who maintain that the education ol the lower classes of society is injurious to them, as unfitting them for the station in which they were born, and making them discontented with their lot. They contend that when the labouring classes for the most part could neither read nor write they were better servants and better citizens; that they were more respectful to their superiors; and that if less enlightened, they were nevertheless more simple-minded, and more moral. In defending the reverse opinion, we desire to distinguish between education and over-education. We are aware, that in the nature of things in this world the few only can. rule, the many serve—that the comparatively few must be the employers of labour—the many the labourers, and that to educate the latter as highly as the former would be to unfit them for the position in life in which Providence has placed them. What we contend for is that all should receive a fitting education—that even the lowest should be enabled to read, and write, and calculate—to- read for his own information, and to write and calculate, that he might be able to communicate with absent relatives and friends, and be fitted for any situation or employment for which a knowledge of writing and ciphering is necessary—to thus add to his innocent and rational pleasures and occupations, and, where any innate talent might exist, to afford him an opportunity to turn it to account: so that, in short, none might be excluded from advancing his social position, on opportunity offering, if qualified to do so.

Starting from these premises, we maintain that every one is the better for a sufficient mental as well as moral education.

That the humblest labourer or servant will the more intelligently and therefore the better perform whatever duty is allotted to- him, both to his employer and to his home circle: and that even the most viciously inclined will in general be less brutal, gross, and savage, in following his evil propensities.

We have thought these few preliminary remarks on the general question of education not out of place, although we have only to do with the education of one class of our countrymen—the seafaring population of these Islands. We will now proceed to consider the special case of that class.

Now without doubt the seamen of this country are as- much in Heed of, and as likely to be improved by, a suitable mental education as any other class- of the community.

They have often much spare time on. their hands- whilst at sea having no duties to perform, at which periods any rational employment of their minds would relieve them from the tedium of idleness, and conduce to their mental and frequently to their moral improvement. Their advaneement in their profession also depends much on the extent of their education, as not only can no seaman be qualified to take command of a ship unless he can read and write, and is acquainted- with the ordinary rules of arithmetic; but it is also requisite that he should possess a knowledge of the science of navigation, and, to some extent, of nautical astronomy. NOE. can it unfortunately be said of out seamen th t they are in advance of other classes in their moral character—in all that invests with dignity and nobleness the human race. On the contrary, owing to their peculiar temptations —their exclusion to a great extent from the home-circle of domestic life and from companionship with the other sex—the force of evil example always most irresistible when men are congregated together in numbers— the hardship and dangers incident to their profession— all these circumstances and others conduce to make the character of the sailor more reckless and extravagant, if not more immoral, than that of the married labouring man ashore.

But not only is it for the seaman's individual benefit that his mental and moral character should be raised,—it is also of national importance; for the safety of human life and of a vast amount of property is dependent on the skill, knowledge, and sobriety of the officers and crews of merchant-vessels; and spread as they are over every part of the globe that is bounded by the sea, their example is everywhere promotive of good or evil; and they bring accordingly credit or discredit on the country and the religion which they represent.

How then shall the fitting education of the seamen of our mercantile marine be best effected? It will-at once be generally conceded that such education can be only effectually undertaken with youth. The young sapling, unless of very crooked growth, can, by proper training, be bent to any shape at will: the matured tree is immovably fixed; as it has grown, so it must stand.

The establishment of schools for boys at all our seaports, under such regulations #s should insure so far as possible the transfer of their scholars to the sea service, would therefore seem to be a first essential to any system for the better education of Merchant Seamen. Adult Navigation Schools, furnishing suitable instruction for the qualification of officers, might also be allied to them, or be separately established.

This most important question has been brought to our notice by the perusal of a recent Report on Navigation Schools by Capt. ALFRED RYDER, R.N., to the " Committee of Council on Education."* We consider Capt. RYDER'S Report to be a most valuable one; and as his opinions on the subject are entitled to more weight than would be our own, we shall proceed to extract them from his Report as far as the limits of our space will admit. We believe that the " Committee of Council on Education " could not have made a more judicious selection of a naval officer to inquire into the state and circumstances of the already existing " Navigation Schools." We only regret that the very limited space we have at command will prevent our doing more than making a few desultory extracts from the pages of his Report.

After repeating, under different heads, the most obvious reasons why it is desirable to raise the tone of the Mercantile Marine, Captain RYDER at once proceeds to show that the only mode by which that object can be secured is by ascertaining the average number of vacancies which annually occur in the Mercantile Marine, from deaths, desertion, and change of profession, and Ihen to be prepared to fill up those vacancies, as far as possible, " with well-educated English, Scotch, and Irish lads." Taking, in round numbers, the total number of men in our Mercantile Marine as 200,000, he shows, from various statistical calculations, that the annual waste from the three causes above alluded to may be taken as at the very least 6,000. Then stating that lads are not ordinarily welcomed on board merchant-vessels before the ages of 15 or 16, he assumes that the three years previous to those ages would be most advantageously spent at Navigation Schools, at which they would acquire all useful knowledge suitable to their future profession.

School accommodation for 18,000 lads would therefore be required.

" A Commercial Navy," he remarks, " fed by a supply of lads who had for three years attended the classes of a Navigation School, * Captain Ryder's reports are to be found in the " Reports of the Department of Science and Art for 1859 and 1860." Eyre and Spottiswoode.

would challenge comparison, for general knowledge and information, with any profession in England, and it would soon cease to be the last resort of those idle, troublesome fellows, expelled from the agricultural class and the various trades, who are too old, too ignorant, or too profligate ever to make even indifferent sailors. Whilst the necessity of our having foreigners in our commercial navy, as at present, would be obviated." As it would perhaps be inexpedient at once and on an adequate scale to attempt to provide Navigation Schools for 18,000 students, and as funds might not be forthcoming for the purpose, Captain RYDER thinks that " the first point to be aimed at would be to establish an adequate number of schools—to offer scientific instruction, on the lowest terms, to a sufficient number of boys to supply the demand for educated young men to fill the vacancies in the ranks of master and mate." Assuming, then, that the proportion of officers to men, in the Merchant Service, is 1 to 10, he considers that there would be about 20,000 officers required; and supposing the average service of officers to be 15 years, that the yearly supply required would be about 1,300, and the period of continuation at school being, as before proposed, for three years, that accommodation for about 4,000 lads would be required. If the schools opened their doors to day-scholars only, 40 schools for 100 scholars each would be needed. If, in addition to the 100 dayscholars, each school had an evening class of 30, then 30 schools would suffice. These schools should of course be placed in the centres of supply: the principal seaports— and the establishment of such schools Would form a valuable preliminary to the larger scheme; for the general improvement of the class of officers in our Mercantile Marine could not but be in itself an incentive to improvement of the foremast men brought into contact with them.

It appears that at present there are 12 Navigation Schools established, viz., at Hull, Newcastle, Sunderland, Leith, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Waterford, Liverpool, Great Yarmouth, and in London at Shadwell, Well Street, and Poplar. Added to these is the Venus School-ship at Woolwich, supported by the Marine Society:, for destitute boys, and the AKbar, Reformatory Ship, at Liverpool, supported by local contributions, and a Government grant of Is. per diem for each boy. At the 12 Navigation Schools, above enumerated, numerous adults are prepared for the Board of Trade Examination, but only 291 boys are being educated, of whom 40 are positively going to sea, and 154 probably. About 140 are educated oh board the Venus, and about 100 on board the AKbar.

It surely must, on reflection, appear extraordinary to any thinking person, that when the enormous interests at stake in our Mercantile Marine are taken into consideration t no effort has been made to add to the above miserably inadequate supply of education for our vast Merchant Navy.

After stating the various subjects which might be advantageously taught to boysj during the proposed three years' course, Captain RYDER alludes to the chief difficulty to be met at the outset, viz., the reluctance of some parents and the inability of others to maintain their children for so long a period at school as three years. He proposes-, as inducements, amongst others, that the Government should give halfyearly prizes, in the shape of exhibitions, instruments, and books, in the proportion of about 1 to every 8 boys—that the Admiralty should encourage the schools, by drawing their first-class boys from those who had attended them—and that shipowner) should be induced, if possible, to take boys as apprentices who bad passed through the schools.

Captain RYDER considers that the masters in the present schools are not sufficiently paid, and that a part of their salaries being derived from fees for teaching adults— chiefly by cramming them, to pass the examination BOW required by the Board of Trade—an inducement is thus offered them to neglect their boys ia order to give a greater amount of tune to their more profitable adult scholars.

Then follow various details and propositions, to most of which, as we have chiefly to do with the general question only, it is impossible to do more than refer—such as the selection, qualification, payment, and superannuation of masters; situations of schools; playgrounds; gymnastic exercises; libraries; periodic inspection; &c., &c. Captain RYDER attaches great importance to regular inspection of schools, which he would make half-yearly. We agree with him in the great importance of sufficient inspection by duly-appointed Government Inspectors, on which the efficient working of the whole system would greatly depend.

He proposes several judicious arrangements, to make it the direct personal interest of the masters to devote their utmost attention to all their pupils, and not to the most intelligent only, and for the good government of the schools in various particulars.

After .giving, at length, numerous suggestions for improving the internal constitution of Navigation Schools, and for making them as attractive as possible, both to parents and boys, Captain RYDER proceeds to estimate what would be the probable expense of the plan proposed by him:— Supposing the 100 day and 30 evening scholars at every school to pay each 6d. per week, and 12 adults 5s. each per week, he calculates that the receipts on each school, less local expenses, would be 2221. 13s., whilst the average yearly expenditure on each would be 47 3L; thus leaving a deficit to be made up of 250Z. 7s., or about 21.10s.

per boy per annum. Supposing that freehold sites for the school-buildings were purchased by contributions raised in each locality, and half the cost of the schoolfittings provided from the same source, there would remain the sum of 24,OOOZ. on those heads to be provided by the Government.

Captain RYDER suggests two sources which might be made available to meet the above expenses. 1st. It appears that the fees received at each port where there is a Marine Board are in excess of the expenditure about 8,0001. per annum; the aggregate of which sums would more than support 30 schools of 100 boys each. 2nd.

When seamen in the Commercial Marine die, their effects are sold, and if the relatives of the deceased cannot be discovered, the proceeds of such sale, together with the wages due, are handed over to a department of the -Government. A large balance, amounting to no less than 5Q,000/., is said to have accumulated under that head. This sum, he thinks, might well be expended in building Navigation Schools for the benefit of the profession to which the deceased seamen belonged.

Captain RYDER alludes to training-ships as preferable to schools on shore.

He concludes his useful Report by alluding to the three principal obstacles which oppose themselves to the success of his proposed plan.

1st. A disinclination on the part of shipowners to enter boys; they preferring stout landsmen instead, especially in steamships.

2nd. A disinclination on the part of parents to send their boys to sea.

3rd. A disinclination on the part of boys to go to sea.

He considers that if the Educational Department of the Government were to assist liberally the establishment of Navigation Schools, on the great advantages connected with them becoming generally known, each of those obstacles would gradually disappear. As regards shipowners, he remarks thus,." Although at first sight it may appear more economical to enter no boys or apprentices, or a very few only, and those at very low wages, yet that by so doing they are contributing indirectly, but yet surely, to the deterioration of the whole class of seamen, and to the ultimate injury of the shipowning interest." As regards parents, his observations are so excellent that we will quote them entire: " While sailors are, what they frequently are at present, not the most moral or respectable members of society, it is probable and natural that many parents would regret their sons' choice of the sea as a profession.

" But as sailors and masters improve by the aid of Navigation Schools, where they will be instructed in their youth, and are received in sailors' homes at every port where their vessels touch, this class of objec- tions will gradually become obsolete; anc the profession of the sailor will take its proper place by that of the high-skillec mechanic, as one of the noblest professions a working man's son can adopt, being also one of the highest paid, 3$. and 4Z. a month, besides victuals and medical attendance being the not uncommon emoluments of a merchant-seaman. Moreover, the profession of a sailor, if he is a steady man, may be rendered both healthy, improving, and entertaining, and acts most beneficially on the character and temper. Steam and science are rapidly diminishing the longest voyages; and long periods of absence, one of the most natural objections of a parent, are becoming the exception instead of the rule.

" The wish to go to sea is implanted by Providence, doubtless for the wisest purposes, in large numbers of the boys of these islands, frequently in those who have never seen the sea. Those parents, ministers, or schoolmasters who take upon themselves to thwart this natural and laudable wish, going the length, as they frequently do, of treating the boy's desire as an evidence of a vagabond and depraved taste, may be fairly charged with the responsibility of the boy's immoral and depraved life, if such unfortunately is the result of his going to sea; for his naval career is probably commenced by running away from home, and he thus severs all those domestic ties which conduce so much to the preservation of parity of life and manners.

" This conduct on the part of parents should be deprecated by every one who has the best interests of his country at heart.

" Every respectable and well-conducted boy who desires to go to sea should be aided and assisted to do so, and this course should be systematically adopted throughout the country. The Government, by the support of Navigation Schools, show their opinion on this subject. It only remains for the schools to be put on a proper and liberal footing, worthy of the Government and of the object which they are intended to serve.

When this is done, the profession of the sailor will be rescued in the minds of the lower classes from all the odium which at present urrounds it." The above extracts are from Captain RYDER'S Report of 1859.

Since they were in type, we have seen his Report of 1860, which states that his suggestion for increasing the pay of the schoolmaster has been adopted, also his plan of examination, and the additional payment to the masters, dependent upon the results of the examination.

In the meantime the Commission on the Manning of the Navy has sat and reported, suggesting that 12 training-ships for the Merchant. Navy, each capable of holding 200 boys, be established, and that from them 2,400 boys be sent into the Merchant Navy every year. Captain RYDER welcomes the prospect of the training-ships being placed in the principal commercial ports, and considering that they will meet, to a certain extent, the demand for education for boys before they enter the Mercantile Marine, he dwells at considerable length on the importance of opening Evening Navigation Schools on shore, at each port, for the instruction of the apprentices and seamen who have already entered the nautical profession. If the weekly fee be kept low, and the room well lighted, and if the master be intelligent, there is, he thinks, little doubt but that the evening school will be well attended. We therefore hope that ere long no seaport will be without its Evening Navigation School.

We find that Captain RYDER, between the issuing of his two Reports, made a further investigation into the actual amount of the annual drain of seamen from the Mercantile Marine.

He is now of opinion, and produces the evidence to substantiate it, that the drain is not less than 16,000! This startling amount prompted him to place himself in communication with one of the most influential shipowners at Liverpool, S. R. GRAVES, Esq., and jointly they have addressed a letter to ;he Duke of SOMERSET, pressing upon His race the absolute necessity of immediately placing the 12 training-ships at the ports, and also of enacting, with the consent of the shipowners, an apprentice law (the abrogation of which, a few years since, has always been regretted by shipowners). We propose to refer to that letter in a future Number.

We cannot conclude our remarks on the subject of the education of the future generations of our merchant-seamen, without expressing our deep conviction of its immense importance. In all the vast machinery of this progressing world by which the designs of Divine Providence are being effected, there is at this moment perhaps no other single engine that is producing more colossal results than this gigantic body with its 200,000 working members—a body which has formed the great nerve of communication between this small island and the whole external world,—which has been and is the great carrier not only of our merchandize, but of our civilization, our ideas, our liberties, and our religion, and by whose aid we are peopling other continents with our race.

And is not an engine of such magnitude, and such grand utility, worthy of infinite care ? To what perfection have we brought the machinery of the steam-ships of our Royal and Mercantile Marine! What systematic care and attention is bestowed on it to insure its perfect working! And what success has attended those efforts! If, from the imperfection of human nature, we may not expect to bring out such perfect results in our less plastic mental and moral machinery, may we not yet hope that the time may arrive when as much care shall be bestowed on the latter as on the former; and that the result may be, that the efficient working of the two may bear a nearer resemblance to each other?