Masonic Candidates for the School Board
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John entered upon that prominent public career which ho MASONIC CANDIDATES FOR has pursued with so much zeal and consistency, he was an THE enthusiastic apostle of education. Ho has delivered SCHOOL BOARD. numberless lectures , each having for its object the elevation " Whosoever can, and the temporal well-being of the working classes. Ho And will nob cherish culture, is no man." has served with distinction on a former School Board , and MASONIC journalists have always endeavoured , with his ripe knowledge and eloquence would bo advantageous more or less success, to keep clear of part y politics to any deliberative assembly. Of late years, ho has and those jarring jealousies of public men which have ere steadily identified himself with all movements which seek now soured so much of the milk of human kindness. The to confer " the greatest good upon the greatest number," great movement having for its object the education of the but al though he has been, and still is, a favourite of tho people is not, however, a party, or even a political question. public, ho has never been its flatterer or its slave. Ho is The beneficent act of Parliament which has called so many a man of sound pommon sense, of brilliant wit, and his School Boards into existence, is charged with a high mis- powers of speech are remarkable. We ventured, some sion ; its machinery and its princi ples are intended to time sincej to predict, in those columns, that Sir John " secure cultivated intelligence " to every English child. Bennett would one day be elected fo " take his place in the No man who is concerned for the welfare of his country great council of the nation." His qualities of heart and can regard the Education Act, or the public bodies it has mind would render him popular in the House of Commons called into existence, with suspicion or dislike. The edu- The House, of which we claim to know something, would cation of the people has become one of the pressing neces- listen with pleasure to his short crisp sentences, and hia sities of the age in which we live. Our artisans, who have brilliant, but not malicious sarcasms, and if he did not win been hitherto second to none of the world's craftsmen , have a prominent place, at all events he would be universall y awoke to the perception of the fact that the development esteemed. His fellow citizens may not, perhaps,call him to St. of education on the Continent of Europe has influenced , Siephcn's, but his f ume has reached the ears of other consti- and must continue powerfully to influence, the honourable tuencies, and ho has but to bide his time. Meanwhile, he is rivalry of trade. The higher the intelligence of the work- fairly entitled to ask those in whose midst ho has spent his man, the better will his work be, and, in those branches of life, to give him a seat on the Board which is charged with industry in which art plays a conspicuous yet subordinate interests that have always been dear to him. Ho has made part, the need of special training and culture for the masses sacrifices for tho public weal, and for the furtherance of is felt, not merely by the masses themselves, but by those those principles which have been adopted as the enlight- whose intellect and capital are employed in the direction ened policy of the London School Board. The man who and control of their labour. If England is to maintain her has laboured " to promote throughout tho country tho high place in the world of commerce, she must educate mental, moral and artistic education of tho English people " those toiling millions upon whoso thews and sinews she has is, wo think, eminently fitted for a place in the councils of hitherto founded her greatness. Ignorance, with its almost that great body that has built splendid schools where they necessary concomitants, vice and crime, must be banished are needed , in the midst of squalid dwellings, and which is from our midst, and the brains which have been endowed fated to produce in the great metropolis one of the most by nature with those high qualities, that are not exclusively glorious and most peaceful of revolutions. the birthright of rank and fortune, must be cultivated for the adrantage of the nation. Feeling deeply the vast importance of education, and highly valuing the machinery that Parliament has provided for its due development, we cannot permit the pending MASONIC PORTRAITS. (No. 37.) election of representatives for the School Board for London to pass without a few words of comment. The contest in THE DEPUTY. the City division promises to be a severe one, and there are candidates in the field whose talents and personal worth " Pleaso yonr Grace, my Ancient; A man ho is of honesty and trust." entitle them to high consideration. Foremost among them is the late Lord Mayor, Mr. Alderman no country Cotton , who has IN in the world are the essential character- already done excellent service on the existing Board . He istics of Freemasonry so clearly defined as in tho steadily maintains its policy, and he is not carried away United Kingdom. There may, perhaps, have been occasions by the specious arguments of those who seek to develope when Continental Freemasonry has so far forgotten itself as the " voluntary " at the expenso of the national system to take part, more or less prominently, in the various political of education. Bro. Sutton Gover, a prominent member agitations which have marked tho last century and a half ; of the Corporation , is the next candidate we would venture but never in England have the Antient, Free and Accepted to bring under the notice of our readers ; he was a useful Craftsmen ever descended into the arena of politics. member of the first Board , and is a warm advocate of Similarly, we have invariabl y abstained from all participa- unseetanan education . Mr. Gover is an exceedingly tion in religious discussions. Our Society respects every able man, an actuary of no mean repute, and he religion, but sides, directl y or indirectly, with none of them. possesses a mind which is capable of mastering the most Hence it is that the progress of Freemasonry, in these intricate and complicated details of business. He would islands as compared with other countries, has been dis- be an admirable guardian of the public funds entrusted tinguished by an evenness of progress which is quite to the Board, and a steady worker on its committees. Last, exceptional. We respect and are respected by all classes but by no means least, we venture to say a word in favour of the community, be they of this or that political party, or of the candidature of our genial brother, Sir John observe they this or that form of religion. True, we now Bennett, whose services, in the cause of the education of and again find ourselves a target for Roman Catholicism to the people, are neither few nor trifling. Long before Sir aim its shafts at. We imagine, however, this is the act of a section only of that Church , a section which has. brother played a leading part. This was at the installation momentarily, obtained the upper hand , and, thinking it of tho late Hon. F. Walpole M.P., as Provincial Grand needful to indulge in occasional displays of spleen or power, .Uaster for Norfolk, in succession to Bro. B. Bond Cabbell. attacks a body with whose tenets it is necessarily The ceremony of installation was ably and impressively unacquainted. Be this as it may, there is no doubt that rendered , and tho reception accorded to the Deputy Grand Freemasonry in the United Kingdom stands high m the Master was in tho highest degree enthusiastic. popular favour. There is, moreover, another important Thus far as to his Masonic career. In public life he has reason for this. As the Fraternity takes no part in politics taken a prominent part in supporting the political party to or religion, so it is confined to no particular class. It which he belongs, and the services he has rendered have twice includes in its ranks men of every grade in society. The received some mark of approval from his sovereign. During noble and the gentle, equally with the professional man the years 1866-67-68 he was a lord in waiting, and since and the tradesman, seek admission into the Order. Equally the advent to power of the preseut Conservative adminis- observant are they of tho obl igations imposed upon them. tration he has held command of Her Majesty's Yeomen In Freemasonry, in fact, as it is understood in this country, of the Guard. In fulfilling the duties of this post of Ave find in a great measure realized that ideal equality which honour, wo find him present whenever the exigencies of so many wise and good men have sighed for. There is no stato ceremonial require it. But a far more responsible eversion of the natural laws which govern all societies, no duty, and one for which, by all accounts, our distinguished attempt to reduce all men to one uniform level. Socially, brother has shown himself admirably fitted , is that of wo retain such distinctions as belong to us, but a man has " whip " to the Conservative party in the House of Lords. full scope for the development and practical application of It is well kuown to our readers that those only are such qualities of head and heart as he may bo possessed of.