The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-21 00:00:00

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would have thought that the first step to be tabula
would have been to ascertain what the Risher
really desired ; and if all could not be conceded
that they wished, with how much of it as a cam-
promise they would be satisfied, and what conces-
sions they in turn would be disposed to make.
Nothing of the sort. Mr. DISRAELI and
Lord MAYO We not ordinary men, and
they do not set about business in the usual
way. They devise out of their own heads, and
without taking counsel with the persons really in-
terested, and on whose 00-operation the whole
thing depends, a scheme of a Roman Catholic
University and Colleges, which might suit Utopia
or Icaria, but which has no relation at all to
Ireland. They expose this scheme to the Bishops,
to take it if they like it, and to leave it if they
don't like it. It is the Irish policy, and no changes
in it can be allowed. This scheme of the
I Government, which, like the laws of the Medea and
Persians, or the oath of Jove, when he swears by
the Sty; is irreversible, may be shortly described.
Lord MAYO proposed to grant a Charter fur a
Roman Catholic University in Ireland to a Senate
to consist, when the institution is in full working
order, of the following members : A Chancellor,
to be elected by Convocation ; a Vice-Chancellor,
to be appointed by the Chancellor ; four prelates,
to be nominated by the Roman Catholic hierarchy ;
the President of Maynooth ; six laymen, to
be elected by Convocation ; the heads of the affi-
liated colleges ; and five members to be elected one
by each of the live faculties. All the members of
the Senate must, of necessity, be Roman Catholics.
The Convocation, with which after the first nomina-
tion the election of the Chancellor rests, and which
is to choose six la3men to represent it in the Senate,
is to consist of the Chancellor, Senate, Professors,
and Graduates of the Universities. On these details
irreconcileable differences have arisen. The Roman
Catholic hierarchy demands that the Chancellor of
the University should always be a Bishop ; that
after the first nomination by the Crown he
should be elected by the Senate and not
by Convocation ; and that the first Chancellor
should be Cardinal Archbishop Cuttnx. To these
demands Lord MAYO rejoins that the limitation of
the Chancellorship to the episcopal order, and the
election to that office by the Senate, would be in-
consistent with the fundamental principle that
the head of the University should be freely
chosen by the University at large ; that is,
by the whole body of graduates ; and that
in the nonduating the first Chancellor,
her Mariacry's Government intended to name,
not Cardinal CULLEN, but a layman of rank,
influence, and position. The Bishops demand
that the six lay members be elected by the
Senate itself, and not by Convocation ; in
other words, that the Senate shall till up its
own vacancies. Lord MAYO holds that the free
choice by the graduates of their lay representatives
is the essential part of the scheme. Once more the
Bishops contend that " as faith and morality may
•' be injuriously affected either by the heterodox
" teaching of professors, lecturers, or other
" oflicers, or by their bad moral example, or by
" the introduction of bad books into the
'• university programme, the very least power that
" could be claimed for the Bishops on the Senate,
" with a view to the counteraction of such evils,
" would be that of an absolute negative on such
books, and on the first nomination of professors,
" A:c., as well as on their continuing to hold
their offices after having been judged by the
" Bishops on the Senate t•r have grievously offended
" against faith )r moral'." Lord Ma vo states t hat the
proposition to confer upon the episcopal members
of the Senate greater power than on their lay col-
leagues cannot be entertained by her MAJESTY'S
(;,,vernment, inasmuch as it would establish a
system of education different from that which was
intended. In the last place the Bishops hold that
the colleges to be affiliated to the University
should be independent of the University in
regard to their internal concerns. Lord
Mayo pronounces it indispensable to the heads
and professors of the affiliated colleges should be
subject to the approval of the Senate.

All these differences resolve themselves into
one fundamental indifference. The Roman
Catholic Bishops will be satisfied with nothing
less than a University founded en ultramon-
lane principles, and governed by the
Roman Catholic hierarchy. The Government
desires to establish a University whic`x at the
same time shall be and shall not be ultramontane ; •
which shall at once give and withhold, and in
which lay influences shall check clerical ascendency.
i The hope is vain. The attempt to combine and
reconcile hostile influences could have only one or
other of two connequences. Either the lay element
would submit to and become the tool of the episco-
I pal party, or there would be constant strife and
dissension. The scheme of the Government would
!satisfy neither the Liberal party in the Roman
Catholic church nor the parti.prelrr. It denies
their just freedom to both. The Roman Catholic
• hierarchy are at liberty to found a uni-
i
• versity of their own, and to go‘ ern it on their
n principles. lint the State c.nnot come to their
aid, for the Church will make no compromise. The
Government, as Lord MAYO'S experiment proves,
can establish educational equality only in one
way, that in by abolishing the sectarian re-
strictions which give to the Protestants of the
Anglican communion a monopoly of the
Fellowships and other offices of Trinity
College, Dublin. The principles which apply
to the Universities of Ireland hold good with still
more strictness of its Churches. The conscience of
the English people will no longer allow it to
impose, any more than the patience of the Irish
people a ill any longer bear, sectarian ascendency.
Both join in the demand for justice. Lord MAYO
bas done Mr. 01.U/4410NE good service in showing
that equality can be secured only by levelling down-
wardn. The moi.t cautions attempt to level upwards
is ileteated and shown to be impracticable in its
timid begiimings. The valleys cannot be exalted,
but the hills may be brought low.

Mall(' L CA I:TOP NS.