The University Tests' question is settled at last. On Tuesday
Lord Salisbury's proposal to insist on his chief amendment,—the new test,—was thrown out in the House of Lords by a majority of 39 (128 to 89), when he withdrew the other two amendments (which it is said he might have carried), and the Bill, as it last came from the Commons, was agreed to, and has since received the Royal assent. The Universities have now, therefore, for the first time become truly national,—all lay students of whatever religious creed being on equal terms, though the prizes held out to men willing to take holy orders are still far too numerous and a great mischief to the Universities. It has been a long and tedious struggle, and the Church would have gained a very different position by this time in the nation, if she had accepted this just and sound measure twenty years sooner.
