Masonic Candidates For The School Board.

MASONIC CANDIDATES FOR THE SCHOOL BOARD .

" Whosoever can , And will nob cherish culture , is no man . " MASONIC journalists have always endeavoured , with more or less success , to keep clear of party politics and those jarring jealousies of public men which have ere now soured so much of the milk of human kindness . The

great movement having for its object the education of the people is not , however , a party , or even a political question . The beneficent act of Parliament which has called so many School Boards into existence , is charged with a high mission ; its machinery and its principles are intended to

" secure cultivated intelligence " to every English child . No man who is concerned for the welfare of his country can regard the Education Act , or the public bodies it has called into existence , with suspicion or dislike . The education of the people has become one of the pressing

necessities of the age in which we live . Our artisans , who have been hitherto second to none of the world ' s craftsmen , have awoke to the perception of the fact that the development of education on the Continent of Europe has influenced , and must continue powerfully to influence , the honourable

rivalry of trade . The higher the intelligence of the workman , the better will his work be , and , in those branches of industry in which art plays a conspicuous yet subordinate part , the need of special training and culture for the masses is felt , not merely by the masses themselvesbut by those

, whose intellect and capital are employed in the direction and control of their labour . If England is to maintain her high place in the world of commerce , she must educate

those toiling millions upon whoso thews and sinews she has hitherto founded her greatness . Ignorance , with its almost necessary concomitants , vice and crime , must be banished from our midst , and the brains which have been endowed

by nature with those hi gh qualities , that are not exclusivel y 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 election of representatives for the School Board for London to pass without a few words of comment . The contest in the City division promises to be a severe one , and there are candidates in the field whose talents and personal worth

entitle them to high consideration . Foremost among them is the late Lord Mayor , Mr . Alderman Cotton , who has already done excellent service on the existing Board . He steadily maintains its policy , and he is not carried away by the specious arguments of those who seek to develope

the " voluntary " at the expenso of the national system of education . Bro . Sutton Gover , a prominent member of the Corporation , is the next candidate we would venture to bring under the notice of our readers ; he was a useful member of the first Board , and is a warm advocate of

unseetanan education . Mr . Gover is an exceedingly able man , an actuary of no mean repute , and he possesses a mind which is capable of mastering the most intricate and complicated details of business . He would be an admirable guardian of the public funds entrusted to the

Board , and a stead y worker on its committees . Last , but by no means least , we venture to say a word in favour of the candidature of our genial brother , Sir John Bennett , whose services , in the cause of the education of the people , are neither few nor trifling . Long before Sir

Masonic Candidates For The School Board.

John entered upon that prominent public career which ho has pursued with so much zeal and consistency , he was an enthusiastic apostle of education . Ho has delivered numberless lectures , each having for its object the elevation and the temporal well-being of the working classes . Ho

has served with distinction on a former School Board , and his ripe knowledge and eloquence would bo advantageous to any deliberative assembly . Of late years , ho has steadily identified himself with all movements which seek to confer "the greatest good upon the greatest number , "

but although he has been , and still is , a favourite of tho public , ho has never been its flatterer or its slave . Ho is a man of sound pommon sense , of brilliant wit , and his powers of speech are remarkable . We ventured , some time sincej to predict , in those columns , that Sir John

Bennett would one day be elected fo " take his place in the great council of the nation . " His qualities of heart and mind would render him popular in the House of Commons The House , of which we claim to know something , would listen with pleasure to his short crisp sentences , and hia

brilliant , but not malicious sarcasms , and if he did not win a prominent place , at all events he would be universally esteemed . His fellow citizens may not , perhaps , call him to St . Siephcn ' s , but his fume has reached the ears of other constituencies , and ho has but to bide his time . Meanwhile , he is

fairly entitled to ask those in whose midst ho has spent his life , to give him a seat on the Board which is charged with interests that have always been dear to him . Ho has made sacrifices for tho public weal , and for the furtherance of those principles which have been adopted as the

enlightened policy of the London School Board . The man who has laboured " to promote throughout tho country tho mental , moral and artistic education of tho English people " is , wo think , eminently fitted for a place in the councils of

that great body that has built splendid schools where they are needed , in the midst of squalid dwellings , and which is fated to produce in the great metropolis one of the most glorious and most peaceful of revolutions .

Masonic Portraits. (No. 37.) The Deputy.

MASONIC PORTRAITS . ( No . 37 . ) THE DEPUTY .

" Pleaso yonr Grace , my Ancient ; A man ho is of honesty and trust . " IN no country in the world are the essential characteristics of Freemasonry so clearly defined as in tho United Kingdom . There may , perhaps , have been occasions

when Continental Freemasonry has so far forgotten itself as to take part , more or less prominently , in the various political agitations which have marked tho last century and a half ; but never in England have the Antient , Free and Accepted Craftsmen ever descended into the arena of politics .

Similarly , we have invariably abstained from all participation in reli gious discussions . Our Society respects every religion , but sides , directly or indirectly , with none of them . Hence it is that the progress of Freemasonry , in these islands as compared with other countries , has been

distinguished by an evenness of progress which is quite exceptional . We respect and are respected by all classes of the community , be they of this or that political party , or observe they this or that form of religion . True , we now and again find ourselves a target for Roman Catholicism to aim its shafts at . We imagine , however , this is the act