GREAT BRITAIN. 182 GREAT BRITAIN. civil marriages amounted to 15 per cent. It is estimated that the number of people not in the Established. Catliolic, or Jewisli churches, Avlio are therefore jiresumablv Dissenters in sym- pathy, is considerably over one-fifth of the total population. After the Methodists, the Con- gregational ists and the Baptists respectively are strongest, the Presbyterians following with a much smaller number, the members of this Church being most numerous in the northern counties of England. The Dissenters are strongly predominant in the northern counties of Wales, and attempts have been made to secure the dis- establishment of the Episcopal Church within Wales. The Catholic Church had remained quite small in England and Wales until the influx of the Irish in the famine years from 1845 on. ^More recently the Catholics have secured many converts from the Established Church. In 1900 their number was estimated at about 1,500.000. The Church of England is not composed of homo- geneous elements. On the contrary, on account of its latitudinarian policy, widely diverse fac- tions are retained within its organization. Since about 1S50 the High Church element, represent- ing a reactionary movement toward a greater ceremonial, has become predominant, while the Broad Church movement, which stands especially for a more liberal theology-, has also grown at the expense of the old Low Church. The changes have not been so marked in Scot- land, Presbyterianism having a much firmer hold upon that country than Episcopacy has upon England. Both the Episcopal and the dissenting churches mentioned above have secured a footing in Scotland, but have never become strong. Lat- terly the Catholics have had a growth in Scot- land similar to that in England, and in 1900 their number was estimated at about 305.000. However, Presbyterianism itself has had an eventful course, undergoing a number of schisms. The Established branch, though still containing over half of the total number of Presbyterians, contains less than half of the Church communi- cants of the country. When, after the union with England, Parliament gave lay patrons the right to present clergymen to vacant benefices, the ensuing dispute resulted, in the early part of the eighteenth century, in two divisions, the se- ceding bodies afterwards uniting and becoming known as the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland; and finally in 1S43 the same question resulted in another division from the Established Church, which gave rise to the Free Church of Scotland. In 1900 this body etfected a joint organization with the L'nited Presbyterian branch rmder the name of the I'nited Free Church of Scotland. Of the minor divisions of the Presby- terian Church, the most important is that known as the Reformed Presbyterian. Neither the Es- tablished Church in England nor the Established Presbyterian Church in Scotland receives any State financial aid. The support of the Episcopal Church is secured mainly from the local endow- ments of the individual churches. In Ireland the Celtic element has persistently stood by the Catholic faith, but the early influx of Scotch Presbyterians and English Episcopa- lians and the very heavy emigration of the Catholics in the nineteenth century have resulted in appreciably reducing the Catholic percentage. The Episcopalians, who in 1901 numbered about 579.000, or 13 per cent, of the population, are centred in Dublin and the eastern portion of the island. Tlie Presbyterians, with a member- ship of 443,000, are confined largely to the nortli- eastern part. There are Ul.OOO Methodists. Jews are not numerous in the United King- dom, 150,000 being given as their number in 1901. They are confined to London and a few of the other large towns. The organization of the difTerent denominations represented in the United Kingdom will be given under the respec- tive titles of those bodies. See also Ireland. Education. There has been a verj' marked contrast between the development of the educa- tional system in England and Wales and its development in Scotland. In the former kingdom there ^^■as no public-school system until the nine- teenth centun' was well advanced, and its devel- opment tlien was very slow, lieing hami^ered throughout by a bitter religious controversy. In Scotland provision was made for public schools before the close of the seventeenth century, and the system developed without serious embarrass- ment from religious controversies, and has always ranked much in advance of the system in the southern kingdom. During the earlier centuries a large number of endowments had been estab- lished in England, administered usually under the auspices of some religious sect : but the in- struction was usually defective, comprehending little more than the dead languages. So little regard was exercised over the administration of these endownnents that abuse was easy, and many of the endowments were lost or diverted into other channels. The scheme of education em- braced but a small part of the population, and the educational status compared very imfavorably with that existing in some of the Continental States. In the early years of the nineteenth century an interest began to be aroused in behalf of a more general diffusion of education. Two rival organi- zations were established for that purpose. The British and Foreign School Society, dating from 1808, represented the dissenting religious ele- ment, and its board schools were carried on in accordance with a plan advocated by its leader. Joseph Lancaster. Xo dogma was taught, but the Bible was read. The National Society (1811), on the other hand^ followed the ideas of An- drew Bell, and made religion and the interests of the Established Church prominent in the national schools which they founded. The growth of interest in education resulted in the appointment of a connnittee from the House of Commons (1810) to inquire into the nature of elementary instruction, and in 1818 of a royal commission to inquire into educational charities. But no financial aid was given until 1833, when .$100,000 was granted, this being divided be- tween the educational societies. Inspection was soon made a condition to receiving aid, and the rival factions secured the right to approve the inspectors who were to examine their respective schools. In 1856 an educational department was founded to administer the Government grant. 'Payment by results' became the ruling principle in the distribution of funds, the 'results' being determined by the examination held by the in- spector in the subjects of reading. wTiting, and arithmetic. In 18fi9 the school accommodations were only half those required, though they had doubled in the decade ending in that year. In 1870 the Elementary Education Act was passed,
