The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-16 00:00:00

PRINCM'S.

.....
TITS S EyEMIG, THE HUGUENOT CAPTAIN. Messrs. Vining,
and G Honey Mimes Neilson, Augusta houil.un, and .llrs.
Stirling. —And QUIET LODGINGS.

BILffANNIA.

Trtrq Evismixo, THE DUSTMAN'S TRE,VI—.IE: OR, WEGG
AND IRS 1301,F1N5.-11r. Mark irlopl ilt•rr S 111101111: Joe
Lund . & Master E Sanders.—.tad CART(ll'Ull E, TIIE FRENeU
JACK SIIEPPARD. Mr. Reynolds; Mesdames Miles& Yarnold.

111 OR WATER AT LONDON LRIDOR
Tim DAT —Morphia, 412. aim AftLrmon, sh. 32a.
D.2-Aloultvw—hloruiug, sh. 2.5n1 'Wet-1A.14 Sh. 45a1.

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 16.

THE necessity of gravely reconsidering the en-
tire question of Irish Education, a far as it is
controlled and supported by the State, has for some
time been apparent to all observers. The contro-
versies of the last two or three years are but frag-
ments of a larger controversy which cannot long
be avoided ; they are but the surface movements
of an agitation which will soon stir the depths of
Irish society. The attitude, with respect to the
training of the people, of Protestants towards
Roman Catholics, of Roman Catholics to each
other, and the assumptions and demands of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy, present problems which
the best wisdom of statesmen and of Parliament
will be taxed to solve. The fact that this is so only
shows the impropriety of taking any step which
may compromise the future, except after the
gravest deliberation and in the fellest light of
publicity. But the jobbing imtiects of the
smaller order of politicians blind them to this.
1 hey see only the difficulties of the moment, and
think to meet them by momentary expedients, fancy-
ing that if what they do escapes adverse notice
all is right. There is too much reason to be-
lieve that the officials of Dublin Castle have acted
upon this wretched theory of political management
iu the matter of the QUEEN'S University and
Colleges. The propriety of severing the Uni-
versity from exclusive connexion with the Col-
leges, and of admitting to its degrees and
honours students from other academic insti-
tutions or from none, is in itself a very fair
question for parliamentary discussion and deci-
sion. The policy of maintaining the system of
united education in the QUEEN'S I:Diver/14, or
of reducing that b xly, and the State of which it is
the academic organ, to a position of neutrality be-
tween the mixed system as embodied in the
Quasar's Colleges, and the denominational system,
established in the Catholic University of Dublin,
and the Magee (Presbyterian) College in London-
derry, is also legitimately open to differences of
opinion. Its gravity is unquestionable. It affects
not only the institutions directly concerned, but
the entire scheme of public instruction in Ireland.
National education in that country holds together.
It is all of a piece. The State cannot act on
different principles in the college and in the vil-
lage school. No change of principle should, there-
fore, be made in any part without the full know-
ledge and the deliberate sanction of Parliament,
for such a change is really an act of legislation of
the most momentous character. A inure special
reason for the same course lies in the fact that
the QUEEN'S University and Colleges are institu-
tions established by Parliament fur a particular
purpose, and on definite principles ; and
only Parliament is entitled to reconsider
that purpose and to modify or reverse those
principles. A third reason, tending to the
same conclusion, lies in the solemn promise
of the late Government that nothing should be
done to alter the constitution of the QUEEN'S
University without the full knowledge and con-
sent of the House of Commons. Whether this
promise has been kept or evaded, the letter from
Professor CAIRNES, which we publish this morn-
ing, will enable our readers to judge. It may be
in the power of the CHIEF SECRETARY for IRE-
LAND and the Irish law officers to supply correc-
tions and explanations which will put the matter
in a fairer light, and afford a justification
for a proceeding which there is some reason
to think was as sedulously kept secret from their
English colleagues as from the House of Commons.
The charge which lies against the Irish Executive
is very plain and simple. It is this : that disre-
garding Mr. GLADSTONE'S pledge that no formal
act should be done by the Crown without the
full knowledge of Parliament, and taking ad-
vantage of the false security into which that
promise had lulled the vigilance of opponents,
the Irish Government caused a new Charter
to be secretly issued, revolutionising the
character of the QUEEN'S University and of
academic education in Ireland, by ad-
mitting to degrees all who could pais
the proper examinations without reference to
their place of education. The change may have
been good or bad in itself, but it was a change
which was made in disregard of a promise, and
on which Parliament ought in any case to have
been consulted. It was instituted evidently to
smooth the way for ulterior changes, which could
not be affected without direct legislation. The
questionable character of the transaction is not
diminished by consideration of the circumstances
under which it was brought to pass. The critical
step was taken while the fate of the Ministry was a
question of only a few days ; when they were
waiting for an opportunity to resign ; it was pro-