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

PERPETUAL DIVISIONS.

The Daily News says Mr. Beresford Hope vnd his
friends appear to have adopted the policy expressed in
the words " Divide and conquer." They divided ten
times on Friday night upon the Clerical Dis-
abilities Bill, and by dint of factious perti-
nacity gained their point. In conformity with that
rule of the House, according to which a motion
for adjournment may not be proposed a gaiu„
without some intermediate proceedings, the motion
that the House do now adjourn was succeeded by, and in
its turn followed upon, the motion that the debate be now
adjourned, ten times in succession. At last even the
atrocious mind of Cato, or in other words, the iron spirit
of Mr. Bouverie, was subdued ; and declaring, with a sigh,
that nothing could resist an obstinate minority, he yielded.
The Clerical. Disabilities Bill is, therefore, referred to a
Select Committee, to which Mr. Beresford Hope
looks, if not to resolve his scruples as to the
indelibility of. holy orders, yet to find a course of action
compatible with the views of the sacerdotalist party in
the Church of England. In the meantime, an act of
simple justice is indefinitely delayed, and a great Liberal
because a few ecclesiastical
majority is neutralised,
Tories were ready to sit up for four hours, if necessary,
to divide the House, while Liberal - politicians were de,
termined, come what may, to be in bed.

Mr. Robert Martineau, brother of the Rev. James
Martineau and Miss Harriet Martineau, has died.at his
residence at Edgbaston, near Birmingham, from heart
disease.

The Lord Mayor will entertain' the archbishops
and bishops at a banquet on July 6th. The annual
banquet to her Majesty's Ministers will take place on
July 30th.

THE WEEKLY PRESS.
THE REVISED EDUCATION I3ILL.

The Saturday Review remarks that, in spite of the dis-
guises in which Mr. Gladstone naturally endeavoured to
wrap up the fact, the impression—at all events, the first
impression—left on our minds by his announcement on
Thursday is that a virtually new Education Bill has been
submitted to Parliament. That being so, we shall not
attempt to criticise the substantive proposals of the
Government until there has .been time to estimate their
real extent and purpose. A large part of Mr. Gladstone's
speech necessarily dealt with those features of the former
measure which the Government has found it necessary to
excise or modify, and the course taken in respect to these
justifies the regret we have all !along expressed that the
religious difficulty should have been thrust whole and
entire upon the School Boards. It became evident, very
shortly after the introduction of the bill, that this proceed-
ing must result in one of three things—a schism in the Libe-
ral party, the recognition of an unsound principle, or the
construction of a more or less unsatisfactory compromise.
Whether the threatened schism would really have been
as formidable as its intending promoters chose to make
out may be doubted, but the general abandonment of
denominational principles by Dissenters of all kinds has
certainly given the secularist faction a degree of strength
which by themselves they could not possibly have attained.
Besides this, the agitation against leaving the local
Boards free to teach religion, had, as Mr. Gladstone
pointed out, immensely increased the chances of this
freedom being turned to bad account. There can be no
question that the prediction of coming discord in the
School Boards "is one which is likely to fulfil itself."
Every Dissenter who has committed himself to such a
prophecy would have felt bound to do his part
towards its accomplishment, and the flame of
religious controversy can be kindled by such a little matter
that a very small minority of the community might have
had the power of setting the majority by the ears.
The most important perhaps of the changes indicated by
Mr. Gladstone is the severance of the proposed connexion
between School Boards and voluntary schools. We must
reserve our final judgment upon this change until there
has been time and opportunity to examine the details of
its working. At the first glance it commands our entire
approval. If fair play is given to the system of voluntary
effort by the side of the new rate-provided schools, it is
probable that the number of the latter will not be very
great, and the sphere of their action will be restricted for
the most part to places where from various causes volun-
tary effort has altogether failed. There ought to be no
delay, however, in laying the particulars of this part
of the Government 'scheme before the public, and it
should be invested with the same legislative sanction
as the provisions relating to the schools to be here-
after established out of the rates. It will not do to
have one half of the educational compromise resting on
an Act of Parliament, while the other half remains liable
to be modified or repealed at the pleasure of the Educa-
tion Department.