We have no desire to minimise the difficulties of the
Government, but we cannot resist the conclusion that, in their desire at once to reassure their Nonconformist supporters and to conciliate the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, they have resorted to a compromise which will please neither party and lead to continual friction. It is true that the Irish Roman Catholic Bishops have assented to the proposals ; but acquiescence is a very different thing from satisfaction, and in spite of Mr. Bryce's strong, and, we believe, perfectly sincere, professions of goodwill towards Trinity College, it is already clear that the new scheme is viewed there with grave misgivings. We deal with the whole subject in another column, but may note here that it is evident both from Mr. Buce's speech, and the very brief interval between the issue of the Commission's Report and his announcement, that the Government scheme had been framed long in advance, and can in no way be regarded as based on a careful study of that Report, still less on the evidence accompanying it.
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