EDUCATION AND THE CHURCH IN TVELA_ND.
THE proceedings at a meeting of the Church Education Society, held in Dublin lately, deserve notice as containing evidence of the influence of party instinct in clearing the visual ray. The an- tagonism of the association to the National Education Board is now viewed through the luminous medium of the Derby Adminis- tration; which would appear to possess remarkable refractive powers, in this as in other cases. Of late years, since the vanity of any attempt to abolish the National system was acknowledged, the mass object of the Church Education Society has been to ex- tort from Parliament a separate grant of public money, to be used in exclusive Protestant instruction. This object was formally given up at the meeting, as being calculated to injure the Roman Catholics and not to serve the Established Church. "Another mode of settling the matter, against which the same objections did not lie," was, however, proposed by the Bishop of Ossory, who seems to have been chosen as the prolocutor of the assembly. THE proceedings at a meeting of the Church Education Society, held in Dublin lately, deserve notice as containing evidence of the influence of party instinct in clearing the visual ray. The an- tagonism of the association to the National Education Board is now viewed through the luminous medium of the Derby Adminis- tration; which would appear to possess remarkable refractive powers, in this as in other cases. Of late years, since the vanity of any attempt to abolish the National system was acknowledged, the mass object of the Church Education Society has been to ex- tort from Parliament a separate grant of public money, to be used in exclusive Protestant instruction. This object was formally given up at the meeting, as being calculated to injure the Roman Catholics and not to serve the Established Church. "Another mode of settling the matter, against which the same objections did not lie," was, however, proposed by the Bishop of Ossory, who seems to have been chosen as the prolocutor of the assembly.
"The mode that suggested itself to him," as reported in the Dublin journals, "and to others also, was, that the State should devise and pre- scribe for all the schools in connexion with it, and receiving aid from it, a system of school education—the best in their judgment that could be devised, taking into consideration the circumstances and the wants of the country; that it should ascertain that the system was carried out bone fide in their schools by half-yearly or quarterly inspections, and by making the allowance to the master depend either in whole or in part upon the report of these in- spectors as to the progress made in their school system, or in any other way that might be thought better calculated to effect that object."
That by the term "school education " the Bishop meant secular education, is proved by the context ; in which, with many words, he endeavours to excuse himself for the unclerical weakness of doubting that "a want of such education would make men moral," and of hoping that "its general effect would be to enable men of the humbler classes to perform their duties to themselves and to the community better than before." Encouraged by the applause of his hearers Dr. O'Brien grew bolder, and, in the name of the Society, formally renounced all objection to cooperate in carrying out a system of education not founded on the Scriptures. Here are his own right reverend words— "The Commissioners did not prescribe any system of religious education, nor ever inquired into the fact whether there was any religious education carried into their schools : therefore the Government could make no ob- jection to his plan as a substitute for an existing system. But it might be said, that though the Government made no objection, ought not they to ob- ject ?—They did object to it in this sense. They said to the State, You are not doing what you ought to do; you ought to carry out our religion.' But they did not say, 11 you do not carry it out we will not cooperate with you.'" A glance at the rules of the National Board will show that they are in perfect accordance with the Bishop's plan. Under them it was always in the power of the patrons of schools to receive from the Board pecuniary aid for secular education, and to submit them to periodical inspections. They could always "appoint such reli- gious instruction as they might think proper to be given therein "- always give such instruction" at convenient times to be appointed for that purpose "; provided only they did not "compel a child to receive or be present at any religious instruction to which his parents or guardians object." The result of their truly factious refusal to avail themselves of these privileges is now, at the end of twenty years, well shown in the actual position of the schools. In ;lily 1851, there were altogether 4705 schools in operation. Of these, 2778 were tinder the control of the Roman Catholic clergy, 147 were managed by clergymen of the Established Church, 475 by Presbyterian ministers, and 1124 by lay patrons ; the balance being in various hands. This settlement of the Education question, so far as the Esta- blished Church of Ireland is concerned, is satisfactory, though it has been consummated in a manner little calculated to add dignity to the episcopate. The avowed object of the capitulation was to gain the absolute rescission of the suspended rule under which the Government patronage has been withheld from opponents of the National Board,—a rule which has been rigidly acted upon in
the opposite sense by the opposing Bishops themselves. Dr. O'Brien admitted, that as long as a State system existed, so long would there be grounds for the distinction made by this rule between its opponents and friends; and, acknowledging his belief that "the Government would be 'unable to surmount the opposition that would be raised" to a submission to the Church Education Society, he counselled a surrender of the Society to the Govern.. meat. Thus yielding to the force of circumstances, it was neither candid nor politic to attempt to mask his own movement by an attack upon those who showed at least as much courage in chan- ging their opinions in the face of a hostile bench of Bishops, as he and his associates ever did in standing by the Primate against the Government.
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