The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-25 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, 3 ITNE 25, 1870.

Mr. MoRLEY and Mr. CHARLES REED have equally
declared in favour of denominational education. Even
if all the Dissenting M.P.'s had been agreed upon a
common course of action, that would have been no
reason why Mr. GLADSTONE should have given them
everything they wanted. Omitting the Roman
Catholics, they fall considerably short of a half of
the nattion, and even if they had been a full
moiety, there could be neither reason nor
justice in telling Churchmen that the concessions
must be all upon one side. As for the League, it is'
in the main distinct from the Dissenters, and as much
opposed to them as it is to the great body of the
Conservatives ; and it was not to be expected that
Mr. GLADSTONE would yield to it, although a break
up of the Liberal party was threatened as the punish-
ment for not yielding. The result of Thursday's
debate shews that Ministers did wisely in standing
their ground.
The position of the Education question, which now,
happily, satisfies the Times, is told in a few words.
The Government never meant, as the League sup-
posed, to supplant the denominational schools
by the rate-aided schools. On the con-
trary, seeing what the first have done already,
Ministers could not sanction a policy at
once ungrateful and unwise. At the same
time they recognised the fact that theseschools have
not done all which is required, have failed both in
the very poor rural districts and in the very large
towns; in the two extremes of population that is.
In the first the failure has been due to the absence
of landowners and clergy with sufficient means to
maintain a school; in the second it has been due
to the presence of a numerous pauper class,
unable to pay the school pence, and by their very
numbers eluding observation. The Government
maintain the present system where it has succeeded,
and apply the rate system where the first has failed.
The two will stand side by side, or "race" side by
side, as certain members of the League fear. The
apprehension will not be felt by any one else, for
competition is the best thing that can
happen. As Mr. BAINEs said, denomina-
tionalism is the result of religious liberty,
and he might have added that it is the
surest sign of religious life. But while the old sys-
tem is maintained, Ministers are determined that
it shall not work unfairly. The power to give reli-
gious teaching will be preserved, the power to 'en-
force it will- be taken away. Full and entire liberty
to the teacher, - full and' entire liberty to
the pupil are alike secured. We believe that this
is all which the country demands, and that in obtain-
ing it the country will be more than content.

Tim Lords made considerable progress with the
Land Bill on Thursday night, and again laboured at
it last night, after their return from the Royal enter-
tainment at Windsor. The alterations which they
effected on Thursday can scarcely be considered im-
provements, and neither the Ministry nor the House
of Commons will be able to accept the grester part
of them. The chief harm that will result will happen
to the Peers. It was not a graceful sight
which the Conservatives presented in haggling about
a few shillings. Their conduct seems to spew that
they do not really understand the main principle of
the bill. It is simply this—that no landlord shall
evict his tenant capriciously without paying him
compensation., The House of Commons has fixed
what that compensation shall be, and the House of
Lords has of course a perfect right to revise the scale
and to alter it. But when the exercise of that right
involves angry words about a pound or two, when it
means a quarrel between the wealthy landlord
and the miserable cottier, about a sum so small that
the first would not miss it, though he paid it ten
times over, the spectacle is not dignified. It is all
the less so because it seems to imply a presump-
tion on the part of the peers that the great
majority of them will be bad landlords, will
.evict capriciously. The Lower House will, doubt-
less, restore the original scale, which was quite
low enough for the adequate fulfilment of the pur-
poses of the bill. But the setting right of a wrong
will, unfortunately, not obliterate the memory of the
wrong, nor prevent the great nobles of this kingdom
from being handed down to history in the character
of petty hucksters.

THE foreigner who advised his friend on visiting
England to leave off his great coat on Midsummer
eve and to put it on again the day after, would have
been doubly wrong in his recommendation. We had
tropical heat before Midsummer day, and on that
day there was in many parts of the country a
chilling but most welcome rain. The great
coat would have been well nigh fatal be-
fore yesterday, whereas yesterday it would
have been, at least, bearable. The weather
reports sent to the Meteorological Office seem to shew
that there is a general break-up of the long drought;
temperature has fallen, and, still more, rain has
fallen. We can well endure the one; we shall all
rejoice at the other.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

land will be somewhat surprised to find in almost
every field a wooden cross erected. It has been put
up in accordance with a popular superstition that
crosses save the land on which they are plaCed from
misfortune. When the rinderpest broke out in
England and Scotland, innumerable crosses were
reared. at °nee in Ireland, and at this day the
farmers will tell the tourist that the plague was
kept from Ireland by their influence alone. The efficacy
of this system, evidently, was not altogether shared in
by the Executive Government, who on the appear-
ance of the cattle disease in England at once passed
an Act to prevent, if possible, the introduction of
animals suffering from the disease into Ireland. A
second provision of the Act consisted in the forma-
tion of a fund to meet expenses in case the plague
should actually visit the land. A bill has just now
been introduced into Parliament to amend the old Act,
by enacting that the money set apart for the above-
named purpose in IBGG, may be applied, with the
object of obtaining better accommodation for cattle
in transit to, or in transit through, Ireland. The
amendments suggested order that the fund shall be
*expended in securing a proper supply of space, of
food, and of water, to cattle when on a journey, as
well as their cleanliness. Regulations are also
made ensuring that every necessary precaution
shall be taken against the spread of infectious and
contagious diseases on these occasions.

made to keep pace with the rapid increase
of . the labouring classes in the metropolis
and other large towns, and we are now called upon
to deal with a frightfhl amount of overcrowding, and
with a host of wretched dwelling places, whose mental
and moral effects on their unfortunate inhabitants
are no less disastrous than their physical consequences.
Mr. Peabody, Miss Burdett Coutts, the societies
formed under the auspices of the . present Earl of
Derby, of Sir Sydney Waterlow; and others, have
done good service in the cause of reform, but the
arrears of neglected, public duty are still overwhelm-
ing. The society, which has just completed its
twenty-sixth year, was constituted with the view of
being model and experimental rather than compre-
hensive. The members wished to prove that decent
homes could be provided for our workmen on inde-
pendent, not; on eleemosynary principles, and
that the experiment has fully and fairly
succeeded was shewn by the last balance-sheet of
the association. As all such schemes to be
permanent and to be national,. must be practical and
self-supporting, the Association has done good
service in making it clear that while it cannot be
right that working men'shouses let in floors should be,
as they now are, the most profitable investments for
landlords; neither is it necessary that they should
fail to pay a fair return upon the capital invested.