THE NONCONFORMISTS AND THE EDUCATION BILL. [To THE EDITOR OF
1115 " SPEOTALT011."] Sin,—You perhaps rightly attribute a part of the Nonconfor- mist opposition to the Government Education Bill to a sense of past injustice at the bands of the Established Church. But is there not a more logical ground for it in the existence of an Established Church at all ? The voluntary schools of the Church are connected with her parochial organisation and endowments, and, although not themselves endowed, have been in the past, and still remain, a most valuable support to that system. To admit them equally with the Board-schools to the support of local rates seems like a new link of connection between Church and State, which Nonconformists desire to sever rather than strengthen. May not this be the explanation of what appears to liberal-minded people as a form of religious bigotry ? Would that our Nonconformist fellow-citizens could recognise, as you urge upon them, that as they cannot capture the Church schools, which form the majority, it would be wise to look facts in the face, and to accept the compromise proposed by Mr. Balfour. Considering the relations between Church and State in Scotland, in Ireland, and in our Colonial Empire, they need not be anxious about the future of the Establishment question.—I am, Sir, &c., OCTOGEN■EL&N.
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