The new Education Bill is being strenuously debated in the
Prussian Parliament, the Liberals opposing it as more clerical than the Clericals themselves. Herr E. Richter describes it as " an order to every child to believe in God," and declares that its logical sequence is a confessional University, a confessional Poor-Law, and a confessional Army. It is stated that the Emperor is startled by the extent of the resistance, which has been accentuated by the resignation of Dr. Miguel, the Minister of Finance, on the ground of the expense the Bill will involve. After a conference with him and the Minister of Education, it has been arranged that certain concessions shall be made in Committee, and that Herr Miguel shall wait for that stage:of the Bill ; but it is not certain that the measure can be carried at all. The Government has a customary majority of thirty-six, but Herr Bennigsen has broken away from it, and the majority may disappear. The effect of the Bill on Jews greatly sharpens the opposition. The majority of Jews in Prussia are "reformed," but as they
belong to no recognised "confession," their children will be educated like Christians. By the latest accounts the Emperor will persevere.
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