The Express.
London, England, 1868-02-06 00:00:00

OUR CONTZMPORARIIRL

(THIS DAY.)

MR. BRIGHT AT BIRMINGHAM.
The Times expresses its satisfaction at being
able to agree almost without reserve with the speech de-
livered by Mr. Bright yesterday to the artisans who
visited the Paris Exhibition. The singular modera-
tion of his address was in entire opposition to the speeches
which preceded his own. Proclaiming his disbelief in
the principle that everything should be done by
the government, the hon. member adduced prac-
tical reasons why the proposal to enforce compulsory
education, even when narrowed to the class which is sunk
so low as to be incapable of appreciating the benefits of
education, should be examined on all sides before any at-
tempt be made to carry it into execution. He suggests
that the imposition of a great system, supported by rates
and supplemented by a police to look after truants, upon •
people unable to weigh the burdens they feel against the
advantages they do not underetand, might be followed by
• dangerous reaction; and he recommends • gradual
insult upon the ignorance of the uneducated classes,
in which all existing educational machinery should be put to
use. Understanding by technical education instruction in
the principles of trades and manufactures, the Times agrees
in the conclusion that the interference of the government
in it would be en act entirely beyond its proper province,
and it is monstrous, as Mr. Bright says, to suppose if the
defeat exists schools of science for apprentices and young
workmen cannot be voluntarily established in the great
centres of our manufactures.
Acknowledging the statesmanlike temper of Mr. Bright's
speech on Tuesday, the Doily News is unable to speak well
of the specific proposals which it contained on the subject
of the Protestant establishment in Ireland, and which
scarcely differ in substance from those which have been
lately lint forward by Lord Russell and Lord Dulierin, and
which have been indistinctly hinted at by Mr. Gladstone.
Mr. Bright would retain about • third of the ecclesiastical
revenues of Ireland and di* ide it among the three great
churches. But if a portion is to be thus assigned, why not
the whole of them? If endowments are desirable at all,
the whole is not too large a sum for the needs of the three
churches. The task of distributing the revenues thus set
apart would give rise to endless difficulties and heart-
burnings. Of course, in any change that is made, vested
interests must to amply protected, and the endowments
left by individuals to the protestant church since the time
of the Reformation secured to it. But, with these qualifi-
cations, the resumption by the state of the temporalities
of the church should be complete, and the Daily Nees

regrets that Mr. Bright should have quitted the broad
lines of principle for an expedient which it fears will be at
once ineffectual and mischievous. His speech is equivalent
to a year's delay in the settlement of the church
question.
The TAP ;mph accepts the large and generous accents of
Mr. Bright's address as the true expression of the senti-
ments with which the liberal party approaches the task of '
treating the Irish question. By one of the strangest
caprices In political experience, we have plain evidence
that the leading man among the liberals below the gang-
way does not stand very far from the bulk of his party,
and is not prepared to demand extravagant measures. In
other words, he is a thorough Englishman, and therefore
not drawn on by theoretical aspirations or imaginative
fancies.
The Star thinks the caution which Mr. Bright throws
oat against hurrying too rapidly in the direction of com-
pulsory education is well timed. In adopting any new
system, it is not enough that it be intended for the popu- '
laz benefit, bat it must carry with it the popular
sympathy.
The ffrrufd thinks with regard to the church, Mr.
Bright's proposals, from his stand point, are fair enough,
and constitute a moderate and a judicious way of effecting
the change. But his plan for the settlement of the land
question is but a quack nostrum.