The University Tests' Bill at last got into Committee on
Tuesday, and Durham was, we are happy to say, included in its scope. The Conservatives did not resist the admission of Dissenters to Con- vocation, but they tried a battle on the clause which repeals the Act of Uniformity, so far as that Act requires a profession of membership of the Church of England from all fellows of colleges. Mr. Raikes wanted to require the profession from all masters, heads, and resident tutors, and to open only non-resident fellowships to the Dissenters. But the promoters of the Bill insisted on the principle that the Colleges should be left free to determine for themselves what conditions they would exact from their own officers, and Mr. Raikes was defeated by the majority of 121,-216 voting for the clause as it stood, and only 95 for the amendment. Yet this measure will go up to the Lords, and in all probability be there sacrificed to the grudge which the Lords bear against all liberal measures, especially just after they have been compelled to submit to a constitutional defeat. The practice of keeping one House out of all harmony with the other, as if expressly to check- mate it on all matters of secondary importance, does certainly seem a very imbecile constitutional device.
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