Leading members of the Catholic Laity in Ireland are coming
forward to show that they are not carried away by vulgar and ignorant prejudices. mt. John Ballpthe late Under-Secre- tary for the CdhAfies,lias bet okett'a'meaFrate Ittid fat did -4,6fl sideration of the Roman question, 'in terms wl&h
although he is Aida in his itilegitinee to-the Pfliitiff, Rs is lot-, pared to reciprocate a liberal and practical treatment of the sub-' ject. Mr. Michael Joseph Barry goes a step further, and, by means of an historical review, seeks to show his countrymen that the temporal dominions of the Pope, Rome excepted, are held by no very ancient tenure, and no very firmly established legal title, independently of the will of Europe.
In the midst of the confusion which reigns in Ireland the moderate party is still persevering in a manner that promises success. We now refer most especially to the reaction and counter-reaction on the subject of education. Some years since, the Orange party began with an endeavour to obtain a more de- nominational distribution of the Government grant in aid of education. The Ultramontane party seized the advantage thus Offered to it, gave its support to the Tory pretensions, and set going a reaction for the extinction of the colleges and a Papisti- cal appropriation of the British grant. The confusion has gained less ground in Ulster than in the other provinces, and there we find the Bishop of Down and Connor going forward with a move- ment to obtain intermediate education for the middle classes and the half-grown' youth,—between the elementary tuition of the national system and the Colleges,--as steadily, as consistently, and as soberly, as if the land had not been visited by a storm of sectarian conflict. We hail the renewal of the movement, partly for the very reason that it is not antagonistic. It is of that positive, practical, business-like kind which, while engaging the public attention upon a work that can be done, will necessarily suggest many reflections of the most wholesome character.
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