Page:The Lesson of School Board Elections.djvu/8

 to a discussion not unprofitable, is the result of the election of the School Boards, with the moral which it teaches us. I shall not discuss the merits of School Boards, on which, I think, you know my sentiments sufficiently. But I will remind you of the facts which the newspapers have recorded. A large number of these Boards have been elected, and I observe that Mr. Forster, in moving the Education Vote the other day, announced that 96 boroughs (out of 220) besides about 210 other parishes, had elected School Boards. This is a fact of which Mr. Forster is not unnaturally rather proud, because it confirms the anticipation which he had formed, that in many parts of the country public opinion would support him in making such a provision for education, even without any pressure being brought to bear from the central authority.

Few, probably, of those who hear me will share that satisfaction, but we are here to deal with facts, not with opinions; and the fact that such a large number of School Boards has been established within twelve months from the passing of the Education Act, is a great and important one. That the number will increase, we cannot doubt, though I do not believe that they will become universal, as the secular party desire, and confidently predict. But I am bound to say that I think we must show some reason for preferring our voluntary schools, beyond the rate-paying reason, if we are to hope to maintain them, and that is why I have taken the liberty of urging this subject upon your attention to-day.

Let us look, then, to the general result of the elections, and to the limits within which the Boards are confined, to see whether the education they will give can be such as to satisfy us, who are, by conviction, as well as by profession, members of Christ's Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, as it has long existed in this land, free, as we believe,