Mr. Balfour was the chief guest at a luncheon at
the Junior Constitutional Club on Wednesday, and spoke at length on the educational crisis. Dealing with the Lords' amendments to the Education Bill, he maintained that, so far from hopelessly muti- lating it, they were almost all in the direction of making it what its authors said.it ought to be; and he vigorously denied the
assertion that as amended the Bill might become an endow- ment of denominationalism. Mr. Balfour observed that a fight between the two Houses on this question was probably im- pending, and after that a fight some day in the country. But whenever and wherever the battle came, they were ready. He scouted the notion that the country had given a mandate on the education question at the last Election, and declared that if the Government dared to appeal to the country they would witness a notable revulsion of feeling against this most sectarian and unfair measure. We have pointed out elsewhere that though it would probably be good party tactics for the Lords to refuse all compromise on their amendments, and so to wreck the Bill, it is most undesirable that they should yield to the temptation to score a party victory. If once the country becomes convinced that the Peers are thinking of the interests of the party rather than of the nation, they will lose the confidence of the people. The greater the temptation to " dish " the Liberals, the more it behoves the Lords to be circumspect.
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