THE IRISH EDUCATION QUESTION.
WRIDAY-WEEK'S debate in the House of Commons, -1.2 on the question of a Catholie University for Ireland, -was full of hopefulness for the future of the country when Mr. Gladstone has ceased from troubling, and the baneful • shadow of Home-rule has passed away. The grievances connected with education form the only solid ground which Irish Catholics can now assign for continued dis- satisfaction with the rule of the Imperial Parliament, and the bulk of English Unionists, in accordance with their policy of making every reasonable concession to the Irish demand, while admitting no compromise as regards - the unity of the United Kingdom, have long desired to remove this last vestige of inequality and this last --stumbling-block of offence. Hitherto the opposition of the Irish Protestants, and, to some extent also, the un- -yielding attitude of the Catholic hierarchy, have been .sufficient to thwart every attempt to solve the difficulty. But the discussion to which we have alluded afforded evi- dence of the growth of a more accommodating spirit on both , sides ; and when a Unionist Government is again in power, we may look for another and more successful attempt to deal finally with the question. Technically, the discussion arose on an amendment which Mr. Rentoul had placed on the paper, but which -was moved, in his absence, by Mr. Balfour, prohibiting '.the new Irish Legislature from establishing or endowing a denominational University. The Irish Unionists very ..naturally regard with the greatest alarm the establishment of a system under which the Roman Catholic hierarchy would-have power to crest) a University of their own pattern, and endow it out of public funds, while at the same time they would have both the power and the temptation to make an attack on the revenues and status of Trinity College, Dublin. As regards the re- striction on the Home-rule Legislature, the House finally agreed to a compromise, by the terms of which that Legis- lature will be prohibited from establishing or endowing a University, save under the conditions of the Tests Act of 1873, or endowing any theological professorship out of public funds. But the precise provisions of the Home- rule Bill as it leaves the House of Commons are not at present a matter of so much importance as the liberal position taken up by the Irish Unionist Members in the debate, and the responsive attitude of the Nationalist leaders in their turn, though it is surely one of the strongest arguments against Home-rule in general that the Protestants of Ireland, while anxious that their Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen should receive the most generous treatment in respect of education from the Imperial Parliament, would regard any attempt of a Dublin Legislature to effect a settlement of the question, with suspicion and alarm.
Mr. T. W. Russell admitted, as he has admitted more than once before, that the Catholics of Ireland have a genuine grievance with regard to higher education. Mr. Carson, who speaks with authority on this question as one of the representatives of Dublin University, went much further, and expressed his willingness to grant to the Catholics in the matter of higher education all the advan- tages which Protestants enjoy from the position of Trinity College. After that announcement, Mr. Dillon followed with a conciliatory speech in which he expressed his belief that this question which had baffled so many Governments could now be settled in a few hours by a conference of representatives from both sides,—so that we now seem within measurable distance of the establishment and endowment of a separate University in Ireland under Catholic management, subject only to the very reasonable restrictions as to tests which were accepted by Dublin University in 1873. That this is the best solution of the difficulty which is possible in the present state of Irish opinion, we have no doubt. Trinity College, in spite of the abolition of tests, is still substantially a Protestant institution with a thoroughly Protestant atmosphere, and the Roman Catholic Bishops very naturally discourage the young men of their creed from entering it. To secularise it completely would be of no avail in Ireland, as witness the failure of the Queen's University. To turn it into a Catholic institution would mean the sacrifice of an old and honourable tradition, the abrupt termination of a famous career, and would, in fact, be to rob the Protestants, without in any way, except materially, enriching the Catholics, As the Imperial Parliament is quite -willing to provide the funds for an adequate endowment of a new University, there can be no excuse for such vandalism as that. We should prefer, indeed, as an ideal solution of the question, a single University for Ireland based on the federal union of Trinity College, a uew Catholic institution with similar endow- ments, and perhaps also the three Queen's Colleges, or, at all events, the most successful of the three, the Belfast Col- lege, which is practically a centre for the higher education of the Presbyterians of Ulster. Such a scheme as that would enable Trinity to communicate some of the spirit of its high traditional scholarship to the younger institutions without unduly sacrificing its independence ; and, at the same time, it would help in some degree to bring together opposing classes and religions, and thus to bridge the gulf which is the great permanent cause of Ireland's difficulties and misfortunes. But as neither side seems to view such an arrangement with favour, we must for the present be content with what is possible. There is no use in trying to make people understand each other by prematurely forcing them into each other's society ; and, on the other hand, it would be the height of folly to keep the Catholics waiting till an ideal solution of the question is possible. Every concession in reason ought to be granted which will deprive the majority in Ireland of a handle for agitation and a pretext for discontent. The questions of primary and intermediate education were only incidentally touched upon in the debate in the House, but they are closely connected with the subject that was under discussion. There are no serious political or religious difficulties connected with Irish intermediate education, as the intermediate system in force practically leaves the secondary schools in untrammelled independence as to management and government, while controlling their studies and bringing them into competition by a scheme of secular examinations, with result-fees to masters and prizes and exhibitions for pupils. It is doubtful, however, whether the secondary schools have benefited by the exces- sive competition and the tendency to cram which this arrangement has produced, and a comprehensive scheme of educational reform for Ireland might well provide for a revision of the system. The question of primary education is a much more thorny one. The present system is prac- tically denominational with a conscience-clause ; that is to say, as between Catholics and Protestants, the number of mixed schools bears a small proportion to the whole, The Catholic hierarchy are, however, anxious to have the denominational character of the schools explicitly recog- nised, so as to provide not only for religious exercises under the conscience-clause, but for the inclusion within the national system of schools such as those of the Christian Brothers, in which religious emblems are con- tinually exhibited. The question arose while Lord Salis- bury's Government was in power, and Mr. Jackson was willing to gratify the demands of the Catholics ; but Mr. Russell, who has shown himself so conciliatory in the matter of higher education, was, in common with most of the Ulster Presbyterians, violently opposed to any change of the present system of primary education, and his opposition has hitherto been successful. The difficulty lies in the existence in many places in the South and West of Ireland, of a small Protestant minority not sufficient for the maintenance of a separate school, but dependent for the safety of their religious beliefs and prejudices from offence, on the rigid observance of the present conscience-clause. Some arrangement ought, however, to be possible in these cases, and it seems a pity that two-thirds of the population of Ireland should be debarred from the use of the religious emblems and exer- cises which they desire, by such a trivial obstacle as this. Many of the clergy of the disestablished Church, headed by the Archbishop of Dublin, are now with the Catholics in favour of the gradual development of the present sys- tem in the denominational direction, and we fancy that Mr. Russell and the Presbyterians of the North will best consult their own interests and the interest of their country, by accepting this policy while there is yet time and oppor- tunity for moderation and compromise.
Previous page
