The drift of the E lucation meetings an 1 letters
of the week has all been steadily in the direction of Mr. Forster's Bill. A meeting of the Union was held in London yesterday week, at which Mr. Hughes, though a member of the Lsagua, made an excellent speech in favour of the Government; and Mr. Baines, M.P. for Leeds, wrote an admirable letter to Monday's Times in support of the resolutions agreed to by the meeting, speaking in the name of the more moderate Dissenters. " As an old Sunday-school teacher," says Mr. Baines, " who has witnessed the great blessings resulting from that institution, I yet declare my strong opinion that the Sunday-school is of itself wholly inadequate to the reli- gious training of the young." A Conference held on Saturday, and consisting of Liberal Members of Parliament and of a body of school teachers from the Wesleyan, British, and Church Schools of the metropolis, came, after thorough discussion, to a conclusion entirely favourable to theA;overnment measure. Mr. Ryder, a British teacher, said he diu.euot believe in the religious difficulty, " it was a platform difficulty only," a statement received with marked cheers from the teachers present. In a word, we do not in the least suppose that the Dissenters as a body desire to obstruct the Government Bill, and a great majority of the Dissenting schoolmasters are heartily favourable to it.
Previous page
