length returned an answer to Dr. Murray, he announced this decision; and signified his expectation that all concerned would yield unhesitating obedience. At the same time he rebuked the dissentients for making known their opposition. "We cannot dissemble," said he, "that it was to us a subject of no small regret " that, after the termination of the Synod of Thurles, its transactions had been "publicly divulged, notwithstanding our earnest recommendation that silence" respecting them "should be most carefully observed."1 In the olden time, Irish Synods always met in public; but mystery marks the papal policy; and here, as in other cases, its hierarchy was commanded by its chief ruler to move forward in darkness. Dr. Murray, in his answer, informed the Pontiff that he, and the bishops who had acted with him, had no idea of farther opposition. "The instant," says he, "that the decree regarding the Queen's Colleges was made known to them, they all, as I have heard and know to be truth, submitted, as they were bound to do, without delay, to that decisive sentence." "2 About the time of the meeting of the Synod of Thurles, an evident change took place in the educational policy of the Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy. Government, in a spirit of enlightened statesmanship, desired to see children of all denominations brought up at the same public schools—in the hope that the bitterness of sectarian animosity would be mitigated by personal intercourse; and that the pupils, at a more advanced period of life, would be disposed to mingle together in a friendly temper, as members of one great community. But, from this date, the Roman Catholic prelates exhibited a greater dislike to mixed schools, and a decided preference for denominational education. The schools of the Christian Brothers-in which Popery undiluted is taught in the ordinary books of instruction-were patronized by them, to the injury of those under the National Board. In 1840, the Irish Roman Catholic bishops intimated to the LordLieutenant that "it would be very desirable to have a model VOL. II. 1 Meagher's Notices of his Life and Character, p. 199. L L school in each of the provinces-as such an establishment would inspire the inhabitants of the province with greater confidence in the system of national education." In January, 1848-when the foundation stone of the Newry District Model School was laid-Dr. Blake, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dromore, took part in the ceremony. He also moved a resolution to the effect that the company then assembled "felt deeply grateful to the Commissioners of National Education for having resolved to build their first district model school" in that place; and "hailed the cordial unanimity with which the ministers and members of every religious denomination met that day to celebrate the event, as in itself one of the best results of the national system." 2 But, soon after Primate Cullen was placed at the head of the Roman Catholic bishops of Ireland, a complete revolution of sentiment appeared. The model schools were sternly denounced; Roman Catholic children were forbidden to accept their tuition; those who had been in attendance were withdrawn ; and Roman Catholic teachers were interdicted from submitting to the training given in the model school in Dublin.3 When the Education Board was originally instituted, several schoolbooks were published under its direction; and, among the rest, Scripture Extracts were provided to serve for ordinary reading lessons. These extracts, and a volume entitled Lessons on the Truth of Christianity, had the unanimous approval of the Commissioners—including Dr. Murray, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. The Extracts 1 See Letter from James Gibson, Esq., one of the Commissioners, dated May 10th, 1870, to the Right Hon. the Earl of Powis, p. 4. 2 Mr. Gibson's Letter, p. 5. Archbishop McHale, in his "sought to elude the pro 3 Mr. Gibson's Letter to the Earl of Powis, p. 5. Lenten Pastoral of 1866, says that some teachers had hibition of their ecclesiastical superiors, by betaking themselves to the central model school for training." He adds:-"In order to put an effectual check to such discreditable schemes, sacraments are to be refused to any parents who consent to send their children to interdicted schools conducted by such perverse and contumacious teachers." 4 As to the book entitled Lessons on the Truth of Christianity, 66 so careful was Dr. Murray, that he sent it to Rome to be submitted to the late Pope, who had it read to him in Italian, and pronounced it unobjectionable."-Life and Correspondence of Archbishop Whately, vol. ii., p. 276. related to the great facts of Christianity and the duties it enjoins; and, as well as the Lessons, avoided all controverted topics. In 1837 Dr. Whately drew up Easy Lessons on Christian Evidences, which, with the full concurrence of all the Commissioners, were also used in ordinary school hours.1 But, immediately after the death of Archbishop Murray in February, 1852, the Scripture Extracts, the Lessons on the Truth of Christianity, and the Lessons on Christian Evidences, were denounced by the Roman Catholic clergy; and all Roman Catholic children and teachers were forbidden to use them.2 Some change took place about the same time in the constitution of the Board; and a resolution to the effect that the books, now deemed obnoxious, should be removed from the list of publications sanctioned by the Commissioners, was carried by a majority of their suffrages. This decision was regarded by some of the members, who had long taken a very active part in the management of the national system, as a breach of its fundamental regulations; and, in 1853, Archbishop Whately and two of his colleagues withdrew from its supervision.* In the beginning of the present century, education was at the lowest ebb in Ireland. An overwhelming majority of the population could neither write nor read. There were multitudes of hedge-schools in the country; but the tuition. Whately's Life and Correspondence, ii. p. 264-5. 2 Ibid. ii. p. 266. 3 There were at first only seven Commissioners, viz :-The Duke of Leinster, the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, the Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Carlile, A. R. Blake, Esq., and Robert Holmes, Esq. In 1845 there were eleven Commissioners. The number has since been increased. See p. 518, note (1). Whately's Life and Correspondence, ii. p. 268. In certain schoolbooks, published in 1867, "under the direction of the Commissioners," some pieces justly offensive to Protestants appeared. • Elementary education made great progress in Ireland between 1811 and 1824. In 1811 there were about 4,600 schools in the country attended by 200,000 scholars; in 1824 there were 11,823 schools attended by 560,549 scholars. Second Report of Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, Appendix, p. 48. In 1800, even in the diocese of Meath, there were "scarcely any parochial schools for primary education."-Freeman's Journal Church Commission, p. 82. "There is now (1868) no Catholic parish or union that has not one, two, or more such schools-there being in the sixty-eight parishes or unions upwards of 200 schools."-Ibid. they supplied was of the most despicable character-often calculated rather to demoralize than improve. Even in 1834, there were said to be 449 parishes without a school of any description. Notwithstanding the admitted want of elementary instruction, the Commissioners of the National Board long carried on their operations under no little discouragement. Before their system was established, the most distinguished of the Irish Roman Catholic prelates had, as we have stated, expressed a desire to see such a scheme in operation; and, for some time after it was actually set up, the Roman Catholic clergy were its chief supporters.3 The Protestants, as a body, were dissatisfied, because the Bible was disused as an ordinary schoolbook. The landed proprietors—most of whom belonged to the Episcopal Establishment-refused to grant sites for national schoolhouses; and the Church Educacation Society started schools in opposition. This Protestant resistance rendered the system more acceptable to the priests; but, when they discovered that they were not to have a monopoly of its advantages, and that the Board was not disposed to wink at the breach of its regulations in the interest of Popery, some of them began to change their tone, and to denounce what they had previously commended. In 1839 -about the time when the Synod of Ulster joined the Board-the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tuam and his clergy announced their secession from it. Thus it appeared 4 1 The books used in the hedge-schools had often a most immoral tendency. 2 Second Report of the Commissioners of Public Instruction, pp. xv. xvi. These 449 parishes had an aggregate population of 342,198 persons. Ibid. 3 According to the Third Report of the Commissioners, there were in 1836 in Ulster, as correspondents of the Board, twenty-three clergymen of the Established Church, forty Presbyterian ministers, and 101 priests; in Leinster, one Episcopalian clergyman, no Presbyterian minister, and 142 priests; in Munster, five ministers of the Established Church, no Presbyterian clergyman, and eighty-four priests; and in Connaught, one Episcopal minister, no Presbyterian clergyman, and fifty-one priests. The ablest and most distinguished advocate of the Church Education Society was Dr. O'Brien, who died Bishop of Ossory in 1874, in the eighty-third year of his age. Several of his speeches and letters on the subject have been published. See chap. xii. of this volume. 5 Sixth Report of the Commissioners, p. 142. Reports of the Commissioners, vol. i. Dublin, 1851. that there was still a party among the Romanists by whom the new system was viewed with suspicion and dislike. On the death of Dr. Murray in 1852, Dr. Cullen was appointed Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. The design of his transference, from Armagh to the Irish capital, was apparent. By his residence in the neighbourhood of the Vice-regal Court, he was in a better position for watching the movements of state-officials, for conferring with persons of authority or importance, and for directing all the ecclesiastical machinery. The Commissioners of National Education were soon made to feel his influence. The withdrawal of the Scripture Extracts, and of the Lessons on the Evidences and the Truth of Christianity, as national schoolbooks, may be traced to his dictation. The condemnation of the model schools was also a part of his policy. The Synod of Thurles had agreed to complain to Government that their denomination was not adequately represented on the Board. They pleaded that the majority of the Commissioners were Protestants, whilst the majority of the children in attendance at the schools belonged to the Church of Rome.1 Could they have complained that the majority of the teachers were Protestants, there would have been something plausible in such an objection; even though they might have been unable to prove that the masters had interfered, in a solitary case, with the religious principles of their pupils. But they had no such grievance; for it was notorious that a vast preponderance of the teachers, as well as of the children, belonged to their own communion. As matters stood, their complaint, respecting the constitution of the Board, did not exhibit much modesty. The money for the support of education in Ireland was paid out of the imperial treasury; and common sense suggested that its distributors should have the confidence of the British people. The tax-payers-represented by the legislature of the three kingdoms-had a right to see that the system was honestly administered. This object could only be accomplished by the appointment of Commissioners chosen-not because they were of this or that Church-but because they were persons 1 Decreta, pp. 58-9. |