The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-09 00:00:00

ACADEMICAL INSTITUTIONS(IRELAND).

Sir. J. GRAHAM, who had resumed his seat for an in-
stant, then rose, and addressed the House as fellows:—Sir,
recollecting that it is the disposition of the House that I should
at once proceed, I will now address you, though not at very
great length, on the subject of the motion which stands in tay
name on the books of the House, and in so doing it is not
my intention to trespass long upon the attention of the
House. I shall not dilate either upon the importance or
upon the difficulty of the subject which I am about to bring
under your notice, not that lam disposed to underrate either
its importance or its difficulty; neither will the House under-
rate its importance when I state that the object of the motion is
the improvement of the social condition of the people
of Ireland; nor will they underrate its difficulty when I
state that the means suggested by her Majesty's Government
for the improvement of that social condition, consist in diffus-
ing the benefits of education among the middle and higher
classes in Ireland. Sir, in dedong with this subject of edu-
cation, it cannot be concealed, :n fact experience has
demonstrated that religious differences constitute the great
di Fculty in the way of the establishment of any genet al system
of education. In Ireland certainly this difficulty is not of the
same character as that which we have had to deal
with in England.—( Hear, hear.) We have not in
that country the same different modifications of
religious opinions which we have in England. Still in that
country we meet with one great and striking anomaly. The
religion of the great majority of the people of that country
has been for centuries treated by the State as a hostile reli
gion.—(Opposition cheers.) Even now that has not been
entirely removed.—( Hear, hear.) Civil equality has been
granted to the Roman Catholics of both countries. The penal
laws have been removed, or are in process of removal,
still there are traces remaining of that disposition
on the part of the State to which I have referred,
and these traces are nowhere more perceptible or more nox-
ious than when they interfere with the education of the people.
Now, Sir, I have stated this difficulty—a difficulty which has
been clearly ascertained and admitted. It has been the subject
of repeated inquiries—by Commission—by Committees of this
House from a very early period since the passing of the Union,
and, in later times, we have not only the advantage of the pre-
cise nature of the difficulty being ascertained, but we have the far
greater advantage of considerable practical experience of the
made by which that difficulty may be satisfactorily encoun-
tered, and certainly overcome. I will shortly, Sir, refer to
some of the inquiries which have been instituted on
this subject. In the first place I will refer you but
before I make reference to the report to which I shall shortly
advert, I will simply make one observation, that the various
plans for educating the people of Ireland with the aid of Go-
vernment grants which have been made, and the
various attempts which have been made have gene-
rally failed wherever there has been an interference with
conscience in matters of religion.—( Hear.) 1 state th.s
broadly as my opinion. Now, Sir, I would first advert to a very
remarkable inquiry that was instituted by commission in 1806,
I will advert to the report of that Commission, made in the
year 1812. It is important, with reference to the subject to
which it is now my duty to call your attention,
and I hope you will pardon me if I read a few ex-
tracts from that report, -because this report appears
to me to contain the germ of the sound principles
on which the difficulties of establishing a system of national
education in Ireland are to be met, and, also, it contains the
principle on which the measure which I am now about to pro-
pose to you is generally founded. The Commission was ap-
pointed in 1806, and its report presented in 1812. I beg the
attention of the House to these remarkable words—" We
have applied our efforts to the forming of a system
which, whilst it will afford the opportunity of educa-
tion to every description of the lower classes of
the people"—in passing, I may observe, that the prin-
ciples on which we stand, are not limited to the lower
classes, but are capable of extension to all classes in Ire-
land. The principle is that the proposed system
is open to every description of the lower classes of the people,
while at the same time by keeping clear of all differences with
respect to the particular religious tenets of any, it will induce
the whole to receive its benefits as one united body, and under
one and the same system and the same establishment.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)