The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY MORNING, 3 UNE 20, 1870.

so far ahead as to be out of sight. Yet men like
Mr. FAWCETT and Mr. VERNON- HARCOURT, mis-
taking their own set for the people of England,
would urge the PREMIER forward in a path
where the people of England would cer-
tainly not follow him at present, nor, we believe,
at any future time. The attempt to prohibit religious
teaching in primary schools, which is to be made this
week, was preceded on Monday by the attempt to
prohibit the establishment of denominational colleges.
The jealousy of the clergy and of all religious
teachers and teaching entertained by the advanced
Radicals, has made them forget the first principles of
Liberalism, has made them utterly intolerant to
all religion. Mr. VERNON HARCOURT, for instance,
would actually forbid pious persons to found colleges
•at Oxford in which religious teaching formed an es-
sential part of the curriculum, just as he would pre-
vent any body of religionists from establishing a
denominational school. The very foundation of the
University Tests Bill 'being the abolition of religious
disabilities, Mr. HARCOURT would re-enact them in
another form ; only whereas under the present sys-
tem a man sutlers loss because he does not hold one
particular form of faith, the member for Oxford city
would punish him for holding any form of faith.
Anything more monstrously unjust, more flagrantly
opposed to the political principles whichare supposed
to govern all classes of. Liberals, cannot be con-
ceived. But the incident shews clearly that
fanaticism is not confined to religious professors, and
that it is easy to be as bigoted and intolerant against
religion as for it.
There was one point on which we think the Secu-
larists had logic on their side. It is not clear how in
a measure intended to abolish religious tests
any exception can be made with regard to
degrees in divinity. Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir
JOHN COLERIDGE argued that, as the degree
implied fitness to teach, we could not give the degree
unless we were prepared to admit the right of any
ono who had taken it to become professor
in the faculty ; and they attempted to frighten the
Nonconformists with the spectre of Archbishop MAN-
NING as regius professor of divinity at Oxford. Con-
sidering that this professor is appointed by the CROWN,
there is not very much chance of a Roman prelate
being selected for the post. But whether the chance
be great or little it has nothing to do with tho prin-
ciple that the examination in theology is for the
purpose of testing knowledge, not opinions ; and
that therefore acquaintance with the evidences of
Christianity should be sufficient without any avowal
of belief in creeds or articles. And what objection
can there be to this arrangement ? A candidate
who is examined in • any other faculty does
not pledge himself to accept, even in the
present, much less for all time to• come, the
principles of science or the facts of history
he has learnt; and there is no reason whythe study of
divinity should imply any such obligation. More-
over, as an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory, we
have only to point to the Scotch universities where
no such rule prevails. The Scots are the most theo-
logical people in the world, and, as a consequence,
they are the most sectarian, the most given to sepa-
rate from each other on points of doctrine. Yet
they have never found any difficulty in esta-
blishing a school of divinity at their universities
which is open alike to members of the Established
Church and to Dissenting bodies. Mr. WINTER-
DOTHAM, for some reason which is altogether too
subtle for ordinary comprehension, opposed the
amendment urged by his friends, and he thereby
shewed that the Nonconformists were not at unity
on this point. It was not to be expected, therefore,
that Ministers, who have the fear of " another place"
before them, would adopt an amendment that had
not the unanimous support of the party from whom
it emanated.

This hesitation shewn by the public in making use
of great scientific improvements has long been a
matter of astonishment and perplexity. The world's
practice is ever behind its theory. Science always
moves onward, but its discoveries meet
with little attention ; even when the advantage
is great and obvious it is long before any new project
or invention finds its way into general favour. The
threshing machine was in active operation in Scot-
land for upwards of eighty years before it found its
way to the South of England. At the present
moment a manufactory is in full operation in Bir-
mingham, making tinder-boxes for the use of those
persons who have not yet discovered the superiority of
the lucifer, not to speak of those inventions which are
improvements upon the luCifer itself. Patent mangles
were found clumsy and awkward half-a-century ago,
but they are still made and distributed, and the arm
of the widow with five young children yet grinds at
the old familiar mill. In times when education was
backward and news not rapidly diffused, this slowness
of practical progress might be excusable; but it is
inexplicable now-a-days. The management of our
streets and roads has long stood prominent as an
example of backwardness. For years past the
Parisians by the use of steam rollers have got over
the difficulty which we always experience in Eng-
land when a road is newly paved with loose stones.
The advantages of a roller are great. The sharp
stones which inflict such injury upon horses
are in a few hours ground by the action of
this instrument into a smooth and level
road. To supplement the experience of Paris two
or three experiments have been tried in London with
thoroughly successful results ; yet the improvement
has not met with its well-deserved general adoption.

The Marylebone Vestry (the local authorities of
that parish are famous for their Radical proclivities)
have displayed such enterprise as to hire one of
AVELINO and PORTER'S steam rollers for a month on
trial. It is to be hoped that this wonderful develop-
ment of energy will be duly rewarded. The other
day the machine was employed on the Wellington
Road, St. John's Wood. About 600 yards of road-
way were selected for the experiment; the traffic
was diverted for three days, during which the steam
roller was kept at work, and the result was a
path as smooth and as level as a dining-table.
So far so good ; but in Paris equally satisfactory
effects are attained with much less inconvenience
to the public. The system is this : in the morning
a strong contingent of men is set to work to break
up about 250 yards of roadway to the extent of
half the, width of the path. In the course of the
day this broken space is covered with the proper
quantity of stones ; at seven o'clock in the evening
the steam rollers are got into operation, and by seven
o'clock the next morning the level road is in a
perfect state. The other half of the way is then
treated in the same manner, and thus 250 yards are
completed in two days with no interruption to traffic.
Surely the English local bodies are capable of rising
to the level of this simple contrivance. Why should
traffic be interrupted for several days, when by
the half-and-half system, and by working at night,
the inconvenience to the public may be obviated,
portion of the road still left open to the public, and
the whole undertaking finished in a shorter space of
time. It would be difficult to estimate the waste
and injury resulting from the employment of
the tender feet of valuable horses and the narrow
wheels of costly carriages in converting these loose
stones into a firm road. Of course this sacrifice does
not involve any pressure upon the rates, and
therefore nothing is thought of it; and thus the most
extravagant system is approved of on the plea
of economy. There is really no economy even