On Wednesday, Mr. Chamberlain presided at a meeting in connection
with the centenary of the Sunday-schools of the Unitarian Church of the Messiah at Birmingham,—the schools in which, he reminded his audience, he himself taught twenty years ago. Mr. Chamberlain put the case of those who are opposed to religious instruction in State schools very well when he said :—" If we relegate the question of religious instruction' to official and State-paid teachers, we shall be removing responsibility from the shoulders of the parents and the Churches, from individuals to whom it properly belongs, and be throwing it upon the teacher, who is selected for qualifica- tions which do not necessarily involve either competency or willingness to give religions instruction." No doubt this sounds plausible enough ; but, in fact, unless religious instruction is given by the State teachers, it will in very many cases not be given at all,—a very much greater evil than an occasional case of instruction by a teacher not really qualified for such work. Mr. Chamberlain ended his address by a very sensible apology for superficial knowledge. A little learning was not a danger, "but an enormous advantage," and a great help in the struggle against the monotony of life pro- duced by "excessive devotion to labour." Surely Mr. Cham- berlain is right. Was there ever a really able man, however deeply read in his own subject, who did not love superficial
information on a hundred others ? " Well-informed " men are necessarily superficial on most points.
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