Even then the practical debate had hardly more than begun.
All Wednesday and Thursday the war raged fiercely, first over the clause transferring the reorganisation of the Endowed Schools to the Charity Commission, which was ultimately carried on Thursday by 85 (218 to 183), after which various compromises Were proposed by the Government on the religious question, such as that one-third of the Governing Bodies of Church Schools might be Dissenters, and that a mere provision in the Founder's deed for visitation by the Bishop should not count as proving the denominational character of a school. But at this stage Mr. Hermon (Preston), the Recorder of London (Mr. Russell Gurney), Mr. C. Lewis (Londonderry), all good Conservatives, appealed to the Government to withdraw altogether the obnoxious clause, which several of them declared they did not know how to inter- pret, and progress was reported, apparently to give Mr. Disraeli time to consult fiery-minded colleagues on the subject. Yester- day (Friday) he announced that the raison d'etre of the Bill was to be-postponed for the present. The gestation of the mountain has seldom issued in the birth of a smaller mouse. Still, the mouse will be mischievous, so far as he goes.
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