t be accepted there,
and with the intention of simply moving the House to adhere to its
amendments as last adjusted.

Your Majesty has already been apprized by Mr. Gladstone's telegram in
cipher of this afternoon, that (under the influence of a strong desire to
exhibit patience, and to leave open every opportunity for
reconsideration), the third of these courses had been adopted; although
there was no doubt that the House of Commons was fully prepared to approve
and sustain the first. Lord Granville deemed it just possible that the
peers might be prepared to give way before another return of the bill from
the House of Commons; and the question therefore was left open whether, if
evidence to this effect should appear, the government should then fall in
with that course of proceeding. Although the government have felt it to be
impossible to make biddings in the face of the opposition, the Archbishop
of Canterbury has been apprised, in strict confidence, of the nature and
extent of the concession, which for the sake of peace they would be
prepared to recommend. Sir R. Palmer is also substantially aware of it,
and has expressed his opinion that on such terms the opposition ought to
be ready to conclude the matter.

Board And Voluntary Schools

_Page __310_

_Mr. Gladstone to M. Bright_

_Aug. 21, 1873._--An appeal to me was made to introduce board schools into
Hawarden on account of my share in the Education Act. I stated the two
views held by different supporters of the Act, respectively on the
question of board schools and voluntary schools. For myself, I said, not
in education only but _in all things including education, I prefer
voluntary to legal machinery, when the thing can be well done either way_.
But this question is not to be decided by a general preference or a
general formula. Parliament has referred it to the choice of the local
communities. They should decide according to the facts of the case before
them. What are the facts in Hawarden? Four-fifths are already provided
for; were it only one-fifth or were it two-fifths the case for the board
(I said) would be overwhelming. But besides the four-fifths, arrangements
are already made for a further provision in a voluntary school. Nothing
remains to be done except to build three _infant_ schools. The voluntary
schools will be governed by a committee, including the churchwardens, and
having a majority of laymen. The machinery of a board is of necessit