, 1877-01-14
LONDON.
The School. Board Election.--
An Important Liberal
Victory.
The Smithfeld Club Cattle-Show.--A
Splendid Exhibition Of
Animals.
The London Conference on the Eastern
Question---An Imposing
Gathering.

QueStiOn.--An Imposing
Gathering.
4 I Special Correspondence qf The Tribune.
;, LONDON, Dec. ga bloodless battle, fal
! more important to Englshmen than all the Eic
: tories OF Marlborough or Wellington, has just
been fought in London. 1t was one whose issue
!, was specially interesting to Americans also, be-
2 cause some OF the principles involved hare had
in the past, and will have in the future, their
: day Of conflict in t1pc New World.
4 lew years ago tho English discovered that,
in their provision for the education Of the masses,
they were far behind Germany and the United
States. During the last Liberal Administration,
4 sCHooL-BOARD
Of fifty members, under tho partial control and
supervision OF the Education Department, was
established in London, and similar ones in the
smaller cities. The members Of the Board serve
three years. without compensation Except the
President and Secretary; have power to decree
the building Of schoolhouses wherever they are
needed, to settle the salaries of the teachers,
the quality and amount OF instruction, and all
other matters relating to the organization and
government of the schools. Attendance upon
these was made compulsory from the age Of
to the age Of II, unless proof were furnished OF
the child's attendance upon private OF other
schools. In short, the passage of the bill under
which the Board went into operation was the
| introduction OF the Free Common-School system
| into England. The first Boarl went into Office
| in 1870; the one just elected is, therefore, the
| third. Previous to the establishment Of this
system, the education Of the children Of the
| masses vas left almost entirely to what were
| termed the Voluntary schools, THAT is, gen
| orally the parish school, maintained BY the |
Church or by some wealthy parshioner. The |
instruction in these schools WAS in the propor- I
tfon Of large doses Of Catechism to small guam
titles Of Science. ALI knowledge received the /
peculiar coioring Of the Church-of-England the
ology, and 1t was inevitable that they became
prosclyting schools for the Establishment. The
creation Of schools bcstowlng D free, unbiased,
adequate education was, therefore, hailed with
keen satisfaction by all the friends Of freedom
ana progress IN this country, and By the Liberal
party as body.
The achievements of the last two Boards In
the Metropolis
HAVE BEEN REMARKABLE.
Large, convenient, and substantial buildings
have been raised in every quarter OF London,
highly satisfactory corps OF teachers obtained,
portunity Of receiving thorough and scientific |
training, which in quality. II not in extent, has
not hitherto been. attainable outside OF the
colleges. In reaching these results, the Board |
has had By no means an easy task. It
has met with violent opposition from [
two directions: First, from the parents.
They have represented it to be great hardship ,
that they are deprived Of the services of their t,
children BY enforced attendance at school, The !
fines which they we're compelled to pay upon
summons before Magistrate, also provoked
bitter opposition One Of the devices Of the !
Board, however. was to print tue summons, j
trial, and conviction Of the earliest offenders, {
with the amount Of fine imposed; and this cvi-
dence Of the irresistible operation Of the law Il
h11 hnS,,. fof t.
parents began to take pride in the attanuieuts =
oi their children; they have begun to sec that
their descendants will not begin life from the !.
old, discouragins standpoint whence they and :,
may be said to have anccstors-haye Invariably l
started for many generations. "ltell you" said as
. gentleman Of liberal procllVities, speaking OF
his employees tiny successor will not obtain all 1t
:hese virtues for Il shillings week. The next hs
generation IN London will be perfectly nsuffer- 50
lble; they will know so much more than their az
athcrs and mothers that they will beintolerably
onceitcd and cheeky But they will get over :,
hat in time, and the world will have been sal
pushed forward considerably a.
Another beneEcent effect OF the compulsory II
1ause is that little girls in rapidly yincrcasng
amity will no longer begin at 4 years OF age the
utics Of nurse, and become paralytlcs at L.; ab
or children OF 6cnter course of factory TOLL ca
rain and body giving OUT before maturity. dlt
The second, aud by far the most powerful an
nd persistent, opponent OF the Board and its !
chools has been -
THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Cll
70 sooner was it perceived that the only re- H.
gious instruction allowed the reading of ~, ~
ortion Of the Bible without comment, and tat ~ ~
lie ultimate effect Of these schools would be uo
le destruction of the Voluntary system I
trough disuse, than the cry which has been SO tht
goddess education, " was raised In the con- ita
st which has just closed, this cry was con- cot
antly neard from the Clerical party, and was va
] readers Of TIE TRIBUNE. The ground has ~. :
ZEN fought inch by inch aud the battle has 49, um'
zen hot and close. For weeks previous to the as .
cction, meetings were he in all the districts san
ere made: the candidates defined their r., r.
'sitions, and we're pledged the support OF the Ao
Getting. On the Sunday BEFORE allusions were A
ade to the election from numbers Of Church neg
stand BY the cause Of religion and cconomy.n of !
lis cry OF economy was very strongly urged get
the opponents Of the Board. The Church. ed
aools are supported by voluntary contrihu- ges
ms; the National schools BY tax upon the II
lolc body Of ratc.payers. As the first two he's,
ards were obliged to put up costly and sub cold
1u1'lt ouAu4!Ee ~ e|eIJ part OF Lonuon. tneT viii
~. W pien h Jusu W u'soutsc goou ueal ol plea
49, 80 -arars 80 . w - suee ~ JUG III UPON pcrs
~ 4n,ro ueei H. te Eyes o. Ene1sh wat
IN paid better salaries than those in the Vol Y
tary schools. The Board, in reply, bas shown, A
the testimony OF the Chief OF Police that two
effect OF these schools has been e1traortll iron
J in ne $
DrMry1su1yG CRIME pain
ong juvenile offenders; and 1t claims that It c!aiI
css expensive to build schools than prisons; Pa
o. that skilled educators cannot be obtained cam
the pa patty rates often Paid to parish mis- A
sses 9no 1nenlclent pnpn-tcaehers." the
: ne e. Gathoilcs mare ln general united givir
shc C!cllcal Parry. ana the Dissenters have drug
lost 10 unanimously m ]oinea with the Liberals him
uppolt OF the BOARD Inc Two parties have Their
ools," and "Friends OF the Board" It is man
allon 1ol pa1telpants III hcateu contest to on Il
be no doubt that several champions OF the -
rgcs by stiG,uattzinp as Il ATHEISTS ona ~ pare
Of the most popular candidates. NJ +ba Roo5 bask
r. and refusing to make anv rnh,;o 49, even
tion when II was no;ntad 49, from
them that these oenr1eman. ,.oua "us phi1o
Eers and Congregationalists in good s;ae sala !;
diug. The same epthet Is, however. some rlcn