Mr. G. 0. Trevelyan, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, appears
to be possessed of that extremely rare and inconvenient article, an over-sensitive conscience. He cannot endure to vote for a Bill increasing the grant to denominational schools, and has consequently resigned. When an ambitious man gives up his chance of a career from a conscientious scruple we have nothing to do but to respect his principles, even if we cannot, as in this case, appreciate his action. Mr. Trevelyan has known for months that the Education Bill would be a compromise between the denominational and the secular schemes, and to make of a little less or a little more a question of conscience is only to make representative government impossible. Nevertheless, so many people strain their consciences to live in the sunshine that we con- fess to a lurking respect for a young official, however ill-advised, who strains it in order to be on the shady side of the hedge. One gets an idea that if he made a promise he would keep it.
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