After Mr. Balfour bad put the case of the official
Opposi. tion with his usual Parliamentary skill, Mr. Birrell closed the debate in a speech of remarkable power. He dwelt with pride upon the fact that "the main object and the passionate desire of this Government" had been to do what it could to secure throughout the country as an ordinary rule and principle of our school life that religious education should be given. A propos of the allegation that Cowper-Temple instruction would withdraw children from membership of the Church of England, Mr. Birrell quoted the fact that a member of the present House of Commons had five daughters who were sent to elementary schools. "The three who were educated in Board-schools were communicating members of the Church of England, and the two who were educated in Church schools were stern and unbending Non- conformists." Many parents of Roman Catholic children who attended the Board-schools had admitted that their children had received advantage from the simple undenominational teaching there given. "There are in the Provided schools many Roman Catholic teachers, devoted men and women, who give Cowper-Temple religious instruction every day of their lives, and find it no injury to their faith." Mr. Birrell ended his speech by declaring that the dominancy of the Church in education had in truth been injurious to her spiritual interests, and that the removal of this dominancy would not injure "by one jot or tittle the catechetical knowledge, or the Prayer-book knowledge, of any child of future days."
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