The appointment of Professor W. K. Sullivan, the eminent chemist
of the Catholic University, to the Principalship of the Queen's College, Cork, is not very easy to understand from either, the point of view of the Government or that of the new prin- cipal, and the Irish papers are peculiarly reticent in discussing- this singular event. The Government were, of course, quite entitled to select any distinguished man for the post who might be expected to fill it with dignity and efficiency. But is a man who is so deeply pledged as Professor Sullivan to the principle of exclusively denominational education, likely to make an effi- cient chief of a mixed College, where the very aim should be te bring students of all denominations into cordial and habitual intercourse ? In a party sense it might be thought a triumph to detach a party opponent ; but that is hardly a motive for Mr. Gladstone's Government to act upon. As for the Professor, we can hardly suppose that he can enter with much delight into duties which he thinks the State ought never to have imposed. Can the rumour,—we hope false,—that the Catholic Bishops are contemplating the craven policy of shutting up the Catholic- University, have driven Professor Sullivan into this unwelcome, port of refuge? The taciturnity of the Irish Press on. the subject is exceedingly hard to interpret.
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