The University Testa' Bill passed its second reading in the
Lords on Thursday, Lord Salisbury reserving his amendments for the Committee, which will be taken after Easter, and stating that he no longer wished to prevent Dissenters from winning the honours and emoluments of the Universities, but only to prevent English youths at the Universities from losing the advantage of a religious education. He appealed to the great majorities in the large municipal constituencies for religious education, and said he did not believe the great majorities for this Bill in the House of Commons represented the real feeling of the constituencies con- cerning religious education. We never heard that the University Tests' Bill would do away with religious education in the Colleges, and do not believe it. But you can by no possible means secure young men at the age at which they go to the Universities from hearing all the arguments of able sceptics, nor would it be desir- able to do so if it were possible. The Universities are places of education for men, and they ought to contain, and must contain, those who believe and those who do not. Nor will the latter gain any additional influence through losing nothing by their disbelief.
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