Lord Russell has written from San Remo a characteristic letter
to Mr. Forster, stating that he is " sorry " to see Mr. Forster's great Bill for national education has met with opposition on the second reading ; but we rather fear, from the tone of the letter, that he is not so very sorry, after all. At least Lord Russell's letter is very nicely adapted to increase the difficulties. "It is clear," he says, "that in all country districts Churchmen will have a majority, and it is, I gather from past experience, equally clear that where Churchmen have the majority on the School Board they will use the advantage to introduce into the schools what the Bishop of Winchester calls distinctive teaching." Lord Russell proposes to avoid the difficulty by withdrawing all discretionary power from the School Board, imposing the reading of a lesson from the Bible and the singing of a hymn before school-hours in the Bill, and applying the conscience-clause to this preliminary devotional service, for the sake of the Roman Catholics, Jews, and others who might object to it. What difficulty does this sugges- tion meet ? It appears to exclude the possibility of purely secular schools and schoolmasters, for which some districts may wish, with- out rendering a contest in the School Boards on the subject of the
creed of the schoolmaster to be chosen, at all likely than before. Probably the gist of Lord Russell's letter is in its concluding sentence. "Such men as Mr. Miall and Mr. Winterbotham ought surely to be conciliated by justice, and not overpowered." They are not very likely to be overpowered. But Lord Russell
has had the merit of putting it into their heads that all conces- sion on their parts will imply that they have been overpowered.
