interference with the voluntary exertions of the people to educate themselves. At this time it was thought a lesser evil to let the children of the poor remain ignorant, than to establish a system of education which was made applicable to all sects, by omitting distinctive points of sectarian teaching from the lessons given in the schools. The Dissenters objected to the Established Church getting a new endowment in the shape of grants in aid of their schools. The Secularists objected to public money in any form being spent in subsidising sectarian schools, even though these were under State inspection. In June the subject of colonisation stirred up some discussion in the country. Ever since Mr. Charles Buller, in 1843, had emphasised the distinction between colonisation and emigration, a party had existed who taught that it was not wise to leave the settlement of our Colonial Empire to the chances of casual or voluntary emigration. Lord Lincoln attempted to enforce their teaching by drawing the attention of the House of Commons, on the 1st of June, 1847, to the importance of this question in its bearing on Irish distress. He moved an Address to the Queen praying her to take into consideration the means by which colonisation might be made subsidiary to other measures for the benefit of Ireland. He urged that the Government should endeavour to direct the surplus or redundant labouring population of Ireland to Canada and Natal, and suggested the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry. The plan was opposed by Mr. Vernon Smith as vague, and as likely to prove too costly for an embarrassed country like Ireland; and by Lord John Russell, who thought that the Colonies would be alienated if the mother country led them to suspect she was exporting to them the dregs of her population. Still, on the general principle that it was well for a weak Government to be conciliatory, Lord John Russell permitted Lord Lincoln to carry his Address, but only on the understanding that it was not to lead to any practical result. [Illustration: JOSEPH HUME.]