Reviewing the education debate as a whole, we think we
are justified in saying that the prospects of peace are some. what brighter. All depends on whether the Nonconformists will insist upon having their full pound of flesh. If they do, then no doubt the representatives of moderate Church opinion —who we firmly believe are in the majority—will be forced back into taking common action with the extremists. If, on the other hand, the Nonconformists will take to heart the Shakespearean advice and remember that though one may have a giant's strength (in the matter of a Parliamentary majority) it is tyrannous to use it like a giant, all may yet be well. Magnanimity never yet injured a man or a cause. The Non- conformists must also remember the very great temptation to which Churchmen who are also strong party men are exposed at the present moment. Unquestionably the party game, as politicians understand it, is to refuse all compromise, and to do nothing to let the Government out of the very awkward and difficult position in which they are placed. Here, indeed, Unionist Churchmen may also remember the Shakespearean motto we have just quoted. Mr. Runciman has our best wishes in the difficult task before him. If he is wise, he will remember that the Archbishop of Canterbury is essentially-a moderate man, and one who recognises that the Church occupies a national position and that it would be a crime for her to try to make what we may call sectarian capital out of the present situation. Mr. Runciman must also remember, how- ever, that the Archbishop of Canterbury is in a very difficult position owing to the fact that the most active, though not the largest, party in the Church is almost as anxious for its pound of flesh as Dr. Clifford and the extremists who follow. him are for theirs.
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