1818 April 27

Parl. Ref. {Bill} [...?]

Reasons Note

II. Electors Who

Reading Qualification

Reasons

{2}

*6

{by an unquestionable sort[?] which sort /and that sort/ is constituted in the instance of such individual constituted by the faculty of taking into and keeping in his view not only the limit[?] of the laws to which he stands bound to obey, but, upon occasion, the arguments that have been employed for and against the several measures to which the several persons for or against whom he is /may be/ called upon to give his vote, have respectively been known or expected to give their support or their opposition, as the case may be: in one word by the faculty of reading.}

Note (a)

The time necessary and sufficient for a person, in an adult state, to acquire the faculty of reading, in such sort as to be able to read any passage out of the English Bible, and thence baking[?] terms of act and service[?] and words newly derived from other languages dead and living, may on the ground of simple experience be stated at no more than two months: and this without prejudice to the quantity of time commonly bestowed /employed/ on /in/ productive industry, by those whose means of living are altogether dependent upon it.

Partly by his own personal /immediate/ exertions, partly by the means of disciples trained up by him for the purpose, Mr Thaddeus Connellam[?], a native of Galway in Ireland has already communicated the faculty of reading, to the degree of proficiency above particularized, to upwards of 40,000 of his countrymen: he himself, with the exception of a bare subsistence upon the most frugal scale serving gratuitously, and his disciples likewise upon the same generous terms. Many of his /these/ pupils have also been taught to write several of their letters, written in a good hand, as well as in a correct style, and spelt with propriety, I have myself seen. The hours thus employed in his Schools are - three hours before going to work and three hours after leaving work: leaving 12 hours for work and meals, and six hours for sleep. This account I have taken from his own mouth, and from the character I have heard of him from several inestimable[?] quarters, I believe it to be true.