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WI-IAT HAVE THE TORIES DOXE…

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WI-IAT HAVE THE TORIES DOXE FOR THE PEOPLE! [BY ARTHUP. J. WILLIAMS. M.P.] I.—WHAT HAS LORD SALISBURY DONE IXTROSUCTIOX. Now that most working men have votes. or can. have votes if they lik*. they are told by the Tories that they have always been doing- all they could for tho working man. There is no doubt that this kind of talk has taken in a great many. But what are the real facts In this and other papers I shall try to put tha real fact?, and only the real fact.?, before tha people who read these articles. Let us take the last forty years. LORD SALISBURY. Lord Salisbury is the present Tory Prune Min- ister—the head of the Tory Government. He came into Parliament; in 1353—nearly forty years ago—as member for Stamford. He was member for that borough from 1333 to 1833. when his father died and he became Marquess ot Sali.s- bury.* Of course, the Tory party would not follow Lord Salisbury as their leader if they did not think was a good sound Tory. and had been fighting the Conservative battle all his life. Whar, then, has the good sound Tory being doing for the people during all these years Before lie became a irit-umer of Parliament it was well known that he was very clever. OXFORD r:-TIYE3.3ITY. His first speech. 7th April. 1353. was on a Bill called the Oxford University Bill. The Universi- ties of Oxford and Cambridge were founded many hundreds of roars ago. Rich men left great estates in order th^t they should be open to the clever sons of all tho people, 1110re especially of poor people, so th.»s all learning might be within the. reach of those who really deserved it. however humble their lot might be. The sons of the poor, however, did not benefit much by these generous gifts, which were mainly intended for their good. The few poor scholars who managed to get admis- sion there were looked down upon by the rich young men who filled all its colleges. But far worse than this, at the time when Lord Salisbury made his first or maiden speech in Parliament, the sons of Dissenters of nearly one-half of tha people of this country were net allowed to go either to Oxford or Cambridge at ail Before anyone was admitted he was obliged to say that he belonged to the Church of England, and that he accepted the 39 Articles of that Church which are supposed to contain a correct statement of the religious belief of the Church. Of course, no truthful Dissenters COll1d <.10 this. Thus tho son of every Dissenter, however clever ho might be. was shrt out of both great Universities, which by this time owned pro- perty worth hundreds of thousands a year, pro- perty left for the good of all the clever boys in the kingdom. They were thus shut out from the chance of winning any of the many great prizes which were to be gained every year at these Universities. Now the Liberal party has always said that every one should have equal rights, and an equal chance in life. It has done its best to get rid of this shameful injustice. The Bill about which Lord Salisbury made his first speech was a first step towards doing this. It was brought in by Lord John Russell, whose memory should always be respected by working-men. We Radicals of to-day have taken many steps ahead of Lord John Russell. But though he was tha son of a great Duke though he belonged to the aristocracy, which had for so long kept to itself so many good things under the name of rights and privileges, he was for his day a thorough Liberal. He spent his life in sweeping away these unfair rights and privi- leges. and did all he could to give equal rights to ill. When he brought in this Bill he said that. for is part, he thought Dissenters should be allowed :o send their sons to Oxford and Cambridge. But ae only asked in this Bill, as a beginning, that some of the worst abuses in the management of his great National property should be got rid of. t was. indeed, a poor little Bill. A great Dis- senter—a great champion of the people and of justice—a great speaker one of the greatest that ever sat in the House of Commons—John Bright— scornfully described it as "a tinkering amend- ment of ariinstitution from which he.a.sasDissenter, was excluded." But what did the young noble- man who is now the Tory Prime Minister of England—what did he Say about itThe moment he opened his lips, it was plain that he was a very able speaker. But it was also plain that he did not like Dissenters, and that he would show his dislike in the most arrogant, overbearing and spiteful way. As Mr. Justin McCarthy well says.t He had a positive genius for saying bitter things in the bitterest tone. He seemed to take a positive delight in being gratuitously offensive. lie protested against the notion that any change should be made at all, and he finished his speech in the following words :—He feared that if this Bill were to pass into law it would ultimately lead to the accomplishment of the views of those who were anxious to separate the Universities from the Church." The Liberal party have always said that neither the Church of England nor any other religious body have any right to keep these great national properties for itself that they should be open to ail, free from all religious tests. However, this speech of this young lord, like many of his speeches afterwards, seemed to have quite tha opposite effect from what it was intended to. It entirely failed to convince those who heard it that the Church of England had any right to keep Oxford and Cambridge all to itself. Their eves seemed to have been suddenly opened. They saw that the Bill was a tinkering Bill did not go ha.lf far enough. They turned it; into a Bill which let every one in at Oxford without subscrib- ing to the 39 Articles of the Church of England.§ At these Universities, after a young man has been taught for a certain time, he can go up for an examination. If he passes this examination he takes what is called a degree, a kind of certificate, then ho has properly learned what has been taught. This degree is of some value as it shows that the mm who has it is an educated man. It is not difficult to pass this examination, and to get this degree, which is called a pass degree. For this reason it is rather against a man if he goes away from the University without taking his degree. But until 13o3 no student at Oxford or Cambridge —however learned he might be—could get this degree unless he declared that he was a member of the Church of England. This injustice to Dissenters kept them out of their undoubted right unless they were mean enough to go back upon their principles, and this injustice was also swept away by the House of Commons amidst great cheering and by a large majority. CHURCH SCHOOLS. Two years later, 1855. Sir John Pakington. one of Lord Salisbury's own party, brought in a little Bill. For many years the Church of England had been hard at wurk opening schools all over the kingdom. These schools were Church schools. Every child who went to them was obliged to be taught the religion of the Church of England. This was very hard upon the Dissenters, because they had no other schools to which they could send their children unless they lived in large towns. What made it still harder was that a great part of the money with which these schools were built and carried on was actually public money—the money of the people, paid out of the taxes. Yet those schools were entirely managed by ie Church of England, which was not ashamed to call them National Schools. The teachers and pupil-tc-ichers in these schools must belong to the Church of England. They must be servants of the clergyman, play the organ, train the choir. In most parts of Wales, and in the country districts of England, most of the people are Dissenters.* They are obliged by law to send their children to these Church Schools. |j The Liberal party had long complained of this shameful injustice. They said that a law should be passed by which every town and village throughout the land should have schools but that no religious body should be allowed to meddle with them. They said that these schools should be managed by the people themselves; and some even in 1885 said they should be open without charge, so that the poorest child should be given his only chance—which was to be taught.! This was not all what the Tories wanted. They felt sure that if this plan of having real and not sham "National" schools was ever carried out, these Church schools with all the power which they gave them must sooner or later be shut up. Sir* John Pakington, a good Tory, thought he would give the Dissenters a sop and stop the cry for National Education with his little Bill. It gave the Dissenter who sent his child to a Church school what was called a conscience clause." It pave him the right to say that the child was not to 1 e taught the Church of England religion. In opposing this Bill Lord Salisbury did not mince his words. "The result of such a system of teaching." he said would be to make England a nation of infidels." In 1870 the Liberals at last succeeded in getting a national system of schools which has been already one of the greatest blessings given to the people.—(To <:■O'ithli lie was born in 1833, and was the second son. Until 18S5 he was known as Lord Robert Cecil. In that year his elder brother, who was in.becile, died, and he became heir to the title under the courtesy title of Lord Cranborne. t History of Our Own Times." + Amen Iments moved by Mr. James Haywood, ;1 thorough Liberal, and determined champion of civil and religion* liberty. cj This was carried by a majority of i54, 233 for 79 against v-i-eacf (if Dr. Crosskoy before the Education Commission. Q.Q. 41,095, 41,965 for gross eases of hardship to Dissenters. In England and Vv ales there were, according to the Report or the Education De- partment for 1885-86, 14,608 schools, with accommoda- tioa for 3,420.616 scholars, which were entirely under the control of private managers. These schools re- ecive £ 1,772.212 per annum of the public money. There were only 4.355 schools, with accommodation for 1,340.837 scholars under the management of Boards elected by the people, and they only received £ 965,755 of public money.

THEODORE DGDD

BRIDGEND POLICE COURT.

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!FOOTBALL NOTES.

SEASON 1891-92,

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