iSyo THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD 365 



comfort; but his colleagues soon came to respect him as a per- 

 fectly honest antagonist or supporter, and one who did not 

 allow differences of conviction to interfere with friendly inter- 

 course. 



The various sections of the clerical party indeed looked 

 forward with great apprehension to his presence on the 

 Board, but the more liberal amongst them ventured to find 

 ground for hoping that they and he would not be utterly 

 opposed so far as the work of practical organisation was 

 concerned, in the declaration of his belief that true education 

 was impossible without " religion," of which he declared 

 that all that has an unchangeable reality in it is constituted 

 by the love of some ethical ideal to govern and guide con- 

 duct, " together with the awe and reverence, which have no 

 kinship with base fear, but rise whenever one tries to pierce 

 below the surface of things, whether they be material or 

 spiritual." And in fact a cleavage took place between him 

 and the seven extreme '' secularists " on the Board (the seven 

 champions of unchristendom, as their opponents dubbed 

 them) on the question of the reading of the Bible in schools 

 (see below, p. 367).* 



One of the earliest proposals laid before the Board was 

 a resolution to open the meetings with prayer. To this 

 considerable opposition was offered; but a bitter debate was 

 averted by Huxley pointing out that the proposal was ultra 

 vires, inasmuch as under the Act constituting the Board the 

 business for which they were empowered to meet did not 

 include prayer. Hereupon a requisition — in which he him- 

 self joined — was made to allow the use of a committee-room 

 to those who wished to unite in a short service before the 

 weekly meetings, an arrangement which has continued to 

 the present time. 



At the second meeting, on December 21, he gave notice 

 of a motion to appoint a committee to consider and report 



* Bishop Barry calls particular attention to his attitude on this 

 point, "because," he says, "it is (I think) often misunderstood. In 

 the Life (for instance) 0/ the Right Honourable IF. IT. Smith, published 

 not long ago, Huxley is supposed, as a matter of course, to have been 

 the leader of the Secularist party." 



