There has never been any general superintendence exercised over the en dowed schools of this country. The Court of Chancery only interferes when it is applied to, and then only to a certain extent ; and visitors are only appointed for particular endowments ; they are also often ignorant of their powers, and they rarely exercise them. As many of these places have only small endow ments, are situated in obscure parts, with the property vested in unincorpo rated trustees, who are ignorant of their duty, and sometimes cureless about it, we may easily conceive that these schools would be liable to suffer from fraud and neglect, both of trustees and masters ; and this has been the case. The object of the statute of Elizabeth was to redress abuses in the management of charities generally ; but a great many endow ments for education were excepted from the operation of that statute, which in deed seems not to have had much effect, and it soon fell nearly into disuse. Ap plications for the redress of abuses have, from time to time, been continually making to the Court of Chancery, and Berkhampstead school has now, for a full century,- been before the court. In many cases the governors of schools have obtained Acts of Parliament to enable them better to administer the funds. This was done in the case of Maccles field school by an Act of the year 1774, and another for the same school has re cently been obtained. An Act of Parlia ment was also obtained in 1831 for the free-school of Birmingham, the property of which had at that time increased con siderably in value, and is still increas ing. Both these schools were founda tions of Edward VI.. and were endowed with the property of suppressed religious The condition of the endowments for education in England may now be col lected from the Reports of the Commis sioners for Inquiry into Charities. In 1818 commissioners were appointed under the great seal, pursuant to an Act passed in the 58th year of the reign of George III., entitled " An Act for appointing Commissioners to inquire concerning Charities in England for the Education of the Poor." A great many places were excepted from the operation of this Act. The commission was continued and re newed under various Acts of Parliament, the last of which (5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 71) was entitled " An Act for appointing Commissioners to continue the Inquiries concerning Charities in England and Wales until the 1st day of August, 1837." All the exceptions contained in the first Act were not retained in the last; but the last Act excepted the following places from inquiry : " The universities of Ox ford and Cambridge, anc: the colleges and halls within the same ; all schools and endowments of which such universi ties, colleges, or halls are trustees ; the colleges of Westminster, Eton, and Win chester; the Charter House ; the schools of Harrow and Rugby ; the Corporation of the Trinity House of Deptford Stroud ; cathedral and collegiate churches within England and Wales ; funds applicable to the benefit of the Jews, Quakers, or Ro man Catholics, and which are under the superintendence and control of persons of such persuasions respectively." Under the last Act the Commissioners completed their inquiries into endowments for edu cation and other charities, with the excep tions above specified. The Reports of the Commissioners contain an account of the origin and endowment of each school which was open to their inquiry, and also an account of its condition at the time of the inquiry. The Reports are very bulky and voluminous, and consequently cannot be used by any person for the purpose of obtaining a general view of the state of these endowments; but for any particular endowment they may be consulted as being the best, and in many cases the only accessible sources of information.
The number of grammar-schools re ported on by the Commissioners is 700; the number of endowed schools not clas sical, 2150 ; and of charities for education not attached to endowed schools, 3390.
The income ofgrammar-schools reported on is 152,0471. 14s. ld. ; of endowed schools (not classical), 141,3851.2s. 6d.; and of the other charities given for or applied to education, 19,1121. 8s. 8d.
The previous remarks on grammar schools must be taken subject to the pro visions contained in a recent Act of Par liament, which is the only attempt that has been made by the legislature to re gulate schools of this class. This Act (3 & 4 Vic. c. 77) is entitled " An Act for improving the Condition and extend ing the Benefits of Grammar-Schools." The Act recites, among other things, that the " patrons, visitors, and governors of such grammar-schools are generally unable of their own authority to establish any other system of education than is expressly provided for by the foundation, and her majesty's courts of law and equity are frequently unable to give ade quate relief, and in no case but at con siderable expense." The Act then de clares that the courts of equity shall have power, as in the Act provided, "to make such decrees or orders as to the said courts shall seem expedient, as well fos extending the system of education to other useful branches of literature and science, in addition to or (subject to the provisions thereinafter contained) in lieu of the Greek and Latin languages, or such other instruction as may be required by the terms of the foundation or the then existing statutes, as also for extend ing or restricting the freedom or the right of admission to such school, by de termining the number or the qualifica tions of boys who may thereafter be admissible thereto as free scholars or otherwise, and for settling the terms of admission to and continuance in the same, and to establish such schemes for the application of the revenues of any such schools as may in the opinion of the court be conducive to the rendering or maintaining such schools in the greatest degree efficient and useful, with due re gard to the intentions of the respective founders and benefactors, and to declare at what period, and upon what event, such decrees or orders, or any directions contained therein, shall be brought into operation ; and that such decrees and orders shall have force and effect, not withstanding any provisions contained in the instruments of foundation, endow ment, or benefaction, or in the then ex isting statutes ;" but it is provided, that if there shall be any special visitor ap pointed by the founder or other com petent authority, he shall be heard on the matters in question before the court makes any orders or decrees.
This enactment extends the power of the court over grammar-schools very considerably, as will appear from what has been said ; not so much however, if we view what the court has done, as it we take the declarations of the most emi nent equity judges as to what the court can do. The power however of changing a grammar-school into one not a gram mar-school, which is given by this Act, is a considerable extension of authority but the power is limited to cases (§ 3) where the necessity of such a change arises from insufficiency of the revenues of a grammar-school for the purpose of such school. But this provision, as it has properly been remarked, will be of very difficult application ; for in many successful grammar-schools the revenue is small, and in some which are not suc cessful it is large. Smallness of revenue, therefore, will not of itself prove " insuffi ciency of revenues" in the sense intended by the Act. The same section contains also a provision, that except in this case of insufficient revenues, the court shall not by this Act be authorised to dispense with any statute or provision now exist ing, so far as relates to the qualification of any schoolmaster or under-master. The dispensing power then which the court has often assumed, as shown in some instances above mentioned, remains as it was ; that is, it does not exist at all.