A meeting of the British and Foreign School Society was
held on Monday, under the presidency of Earl Russell, at which a letter from Mr. Bright was read, apologising for his absence, and saying, what will hardly please his constituents, that "the bulk of opinion in England, as in Scotland and Ireland, is in favour of some religious instruction in schools, and it is to be deeply regretted that the moderation and simplicity of your system could not be accepted by all Christian persons and sects." Mr. Forster, who was present, spoke in the same strain. The British-School system was the system at which the School Boards were more and more aiming. It was nonsense trying to make children theologians. It could do no good, though it would probably do directly " very little harm." Still he could not have dispensed with denominational effort when he had to make so great a call on the country to supplement it, and he had therefore been compelled to avail himself of the forces he found in possession. Lord Russell himself said very little, except in favour of Mr. Forster, which he balanced by praise of Lord Sandon, on the strength of having known Lord Sandon's father and his grandfather for a long titne,— a reason for familiarity, but hardly for panegyric. Nor did it improve the case for Lord Sandon, when Lord Russell declared that he had always held it much more important to improve the quality than to increase the quantity of education,—" the Third Standard" certainly not being superior in quality to "the Fifth." However, in spite of Lord Russell's dictum, educational quantity is just now quite as important as educational quality. We want the best education of the greatest number.
Previous page
