he
styled it, was one of the events in his public life on which he looked
back in after years with the most satisfaction. During the session of
1856 Lord John brought forward in the House of Commons a bold scheme of
National Education. He contended that out of four million children of
school age only one-half were receiving instruction, whilst not more
than one-eighth were attending schools which were subject to inspection.
The vast majority were to be found in schools where the standard of
education, if not altogether an unknown quantity, was deplorably low. He
proposed that the number of inspectors should be increased, and that a
rate should be levied by the local authorities for supplying adequate
instruction in places where it was unsatisfactory. He contended that the
country should be mapped out in school districts, and that the managers
should have the power to make provision for religious instruction, and,
at the same time, should allow the parents of the children a voice in
the matter. Prejudices ecclesiastical and social blocked the way,
however, and Lord John was compelled to abandon the scheme, which
suggested, and to a large extent anticipated Mr. Forster's far-reaching
measure, which in 1870 met with a better fate, and linked the principles
of local authority and central supervision in the harmonious working of
public education. When the victory was almost won Mr. Forster, with
characteristic kindliness, wrote to the old statesman who had laboured
for the people's cause in years of supreme discouragement:--'As regards
universal compulsory education, I believe we shall soon complete the
building. It is hard to see how there would have been a building to
complete, if you had not, with great labour and in great difficulty, dug
the foundations in 1839.' Happily Lord John lived to witness the
crowning of the edifice by the Gladstone Administration.

CHAPTER XIV

COMING BACK TO POWER

1857-1861

Lord John as an Independent Member--His chance in the City--The
Indian Mutiny--Orsini's attempt on the life of Napoleon--The
Conspiracy Bill--Lord John and the Jewish Relief Act--Palmerston in
power--Lord John at the Foreign Office--Cobden and Bright--Quits
the Commons with a Peerage.

LORD JOHN came prominently to the front in public affairs in the brief
session of 1857, which ended in Lord Palmerston's appeal to the country.
He spoke against the Government during the discussions in