Letters and Journals of James, Eighth Earl of Elgin by Eighth Earl of Elgin James
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page 37 of 611 (06%)
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subsisting between those who lately stood to each other in the
relation of master and slave. Past wrongs are forgotten, and in the every-day dealings between man and man the humanity of the labourer is unhesitatingly recognised. [Sidenote: Religion.] We have seen how zealously Lord Elgin exerted himself to realise his own hopes for the prosperity of the colony, by encouraging the spread of secular and industrial education. Not that he regarded secular education as all-sufficient. His sympathies[2] were entirely with those who believe that, while 'it is a great and a good thing to know the laws that govern this world, it is better still to have some sort of faith in the relations of this world with another; that the knowledge of cause and effect can never replace the motive to do right and avoid wrong; that our clergymen and ministers are more useful than our schoolmasters; that Religion is the motive power, the faculties are the machines: and the machines are useless without the motive power.'[3] But, as a practical statesman, he felt that the one kind of education he had it in his power to forward directly by measures falling within his own legitimate province; while the other he could only promote indirectly, by pointing out the need for it, and drawing attention to the peculiar circumstances of the island respecting it. The following are a few of the passages in which he refers to the subject:-- [Sidenote: The Church.] Much has been done by the island legislature--more, I think, than could reasonably have been looked for under the circumstances--towards making provision for the religious necessities of the population. But |
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