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16 itself wholly with that. It is necessary to insist the more clearly upon the duty of impartiality, because, as a matter of history, the religious body known as the Church of England has had, or been supposed to have, as the nationally "Established" Church, some special, if not exclusive, right to be the exponent and standard of the national religion; and because it was, to an indefinitely large extent, from the religious motive, and under the shadow of this Church, that the fabric of national education in England grew up. It would, therefore, have been perfectly natural if, in the earlier stages of the Education controversy, some claim had been put forward, on the Church side, for exceptional rights over public education. But any shadow of such claim is definitely at an end. Whatever Establishment may still mean for other purposes, at least in relation to national education the disestablishment of the Church is an absolutely accomplished fact. Not a shadow of claim is, or is to be, put forward by Churchmen for Churchmen in this matter, which they would not put forward as emphatically in England for every other Christian body—and probably elsewhere, say in India, for instance, for every non-Christian religious body that was morally and politically tolerable.

How is the community to maintain its attitude of religious impartiality among denominations? Not by superseding them all, or trying the impossible task of inventing a new one. But by treating them all with respect, and with precise equality of respect. Respect will mean, in this matter, something more than cold toleration. It will mean something like this.

The State, as State, will desire the education of all its citizens. The State, as State, will recognize that the education which it desires means not only the acquisition of knowledge but also, and even more importantly, a real training of moral character. The State, as State, will