The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-13
Can the Bannerm an Government
Pass Its Educa ton Bill?

eHn the bduEeTm an government
Pass Its Educa ton Bill?
The pilgrimage last week Of many
thousand members Of the Anglican Com
munion from Lancashire to London,
for the purpose Of protesting against the
Government education bill did but re-
fleet the vehement resistance which that
measure has encountered In the House
Of Commons during the committee stage.
Has the bill, unless it be subjected to
material amendments, any prospect OF
becoming a law during the lifetime OF
this Parliament?
From an American viewpoint the bill
seems reasonable enough. Denomina-
tional instruction may be given to such
pupils as desire 1t, but it must be given
| after school hours, and the remuneration
for giving it must conn not from public
funds, whether imperial or local, but
from private sources. Why should An
| glicans or Catholics object to a regu-
lation which imposes an equal burden
upon every sectarian denomination?
Why should attendance on religious ex-
ercises Of a specific kind be compulsory?
Why should sectarian instruction be i'm
parted in school hours2 Why should the
cost Of it be levied on local ratepayers
or on contributors to the imperial ex-
chequer? That such questions should
even be mooted puzzles a citizen OF the
United States, wherein has long existed
a complete divorce of religion from the
civil power. The British Nonconform-
lists and many lukewarm Anglicans take
our view of the matter. They insist
that the incubation of specific religious
dogmas is not the business of the State,
although they are willing that instruction
in ethics and certain broad principles
which underlie most religions be included
in the educational programme.
The Anglican clergy, on the other hand,
as a body, and a majority Of Anglican
laymen also, including many who would
never consent to send their own children
to national or board schools, insist that
the coming generation will grow up
utterly goddess unless the children Of
the poor are compelled to receive relig-
ious instruction Of some specific type.
They are willing that aid from the local
rates or from the imperial treasury, or
both, shall be given for the purpose of
promoting religious teaching in Catho-
lie and other No%nconformist schools,
provided, Of course, similar assistance
is granted to the Anglican schools, which
are much more numerous. The English
Catholics take a like position, and the
Irish Parliamentary party, which is
wholly or mainly Catholic, has risked the
opening Of a breach between itself and
the Bannerman Government by ranging
itself upon the side of its coreligionists.
Nevertheless, the Liberals have UNDER
gone as yet no formidable secession
from their own ranks, but, %zealously
supported by the Laborites, have hith-
erto been upheld by large majorities in
their refusal to make any substantial
changes in their project. In other
words, Sir H. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES is
keeping, in the spirit n the letter, his
ante-election promise to the English
Nonconformists, to whose jealous COOP
Grafton the extraordinary magnitude Of
his recent victory at the ballot box was
due. Undoubtedly he could have beaten
Mr.. CHAMBERLAIN on the issue of Free
Trade vs.. Protection, but without the
help of the English Protestant Dissenters
he would not have had the slightest
chance Of gaining his present astonish-
ing majority.
Although the committee stage is not
vet over, we are doubtless justified in
assuming that the new education bill
will be reported to the House, and will
be passed on it's third reading, without
having been subjected to any alteration
to which the English Nonconformists
seriously object. Does it follow that the
measure has a fair prospect Of becoming
presently a law? In the upper house
the bill is certain to encounter the strenu-
GUS opposition of the Bench of Bishops.
Even among the lay peers the Liberals
constitute onlya negligible minority; and
if we may judge from the attitude of
Free Trade Unionists in the House of
| Commons during the discussion of the
project, assistance can scarcely be ex-
pected from the Duke Of DEvoNsHIRg
and other Free Trade Unionists in the
! House Of Lords. We take for granted,
therefore. that the upper chamber will
| throw out-tLe bill or will saddle it with