The debate was not a good one. The Liberals insisted
too much on Mr. Lowther's change of front, in promising en- dowments for the first time in the House of Commons. Lord Cairns had really held out the same promise in the House of Lords, and everybody knew that endowments of the kind offered,—a kind quite useless to the cause of education itself, though useful as rewards for those who had somehow obtained it,—were really to be offered by the Government. But the official Liberals insisted on this surprise because they were a little timid as to avowing the extent of their Liberal- ism, while the Radicals insisted on it, because they were a little ashamed of avowing the extent of their bigotry. Some of the Irishmen were very candid, especially Mr. O'Donnell and Dr. Ward. Mr. O'Donnell gave his sanction to the Bill, because it would throw the Queen's Colleges into confusion ; while Dr. Ward professed his desire to get what he could, and his profound disbelief that he should ever got more from the Liberals. And there, very likely, lie was right. The Bill, if it passes, will do no real good. But the debate will de- fine the outlines at once of Radical bigotry and of Trish Catholic pliancy.
