The Sun.
London, England, 1829-02-26 00:00:00

THE MODE OF INSTRUCTION IN !TA IS: EAST LONDON CATHOL IC INSTITUTION

- .. -• • • - .
In the beginniteg of this year I. Wa4 at Salt-none, 1 The -friends of this Institution (in number up-
famous for having given birth to Ovid, 'and for the .
Twaailds of 300)A1x
ts:ied.setrettpl%ycsdsionne,d
.....atsgtheeemasons'
k; ~ M.P.al for the
best sweetmeats in Italy. As lam accustomed to
county Louth, was called to the. Chair.• On his
tarry several successive days in the places I visit, Ewa- be was summits(' by Mr.. O'Gorman, and on
that. I may liss'e time to see and examine every . his left, by Mr. O'Connell. At the same table we
thing, I rentaiiied fur a whole week in thi,:i town. I noticed Mr. Ileinv 11.0 Mr. Lawless, Mr. Rosson,
shall not say a word about the aqueduct, which, Mr. Wheeble, and severs(' other Catholic gentlemen
I I
though built while Italy was the world's mistress, of respectability. ' -
I is, in gond pteservation, nor- about several other I. In the galleries were assembled several elegantly-
raticient monuments--for these have already beeztl attired ladies, who remained in the room.during the
sufficiently dissitsired ;
.Imit- I shall confine :my ob- 1 whole evening. They waved their handkerchiefs
-servations to- a very interesting subject—public when the speakers • were 'cheered, and appeared to
instruction. Amongother establishments for ' this' participate in the proceedings: - -
purpose, I visited one where the Director; thsow- The cletl-ehaving.been drawn,
ing off the trammels of -antiquated .rules and pre- * The CHAIRMAN said, on the list of toasts which
judices, had the courage to teach according to would that evening be proposed, none was scecons
reason, and pursue the method pointed out by spicuons, and none would be drank with greater en-
experience as the' best. I was surprised to hear thusiasm, he was persuaded, than the health of his
the pupils speaking with an .ease very rare even most gracious Majesty.—(Cheers.)
in the first colleges, the languages of Cicero and Toast—" The King." Three times three. Air—
Demosthenes,—albeit the study of those-languages " God save the King."
was but a secondary thing. The professors being ' ToaSt-2" The Doke of Clarence, and the rest of
fundamentally acquainted with them, and ac-' 'the Royal Family." Three times three. -
customed both to speak and write in theni, teach One gentleman proposed " one cheer more,"
them absolutely as living languages. They use which was given with enthusiasm. Air—" Rule,
no other medium in conducting the business of Britannia !"
their classes, conversing in Italian only 'with be- The CHAIRMAN then proposed the " Atmy and
sinners; and even then they uniformly . repeat Navy of England," in which, he said, consisted our
in Latin or Greek, the phrases, which they may glory and our defence. Air—" The Sprig of
have used in Italian. I had the curiosity to attend Shillelah."
the classes.• After having pronounced the customary "The CHAIRMAN then gave the health of " His
prayer in Latin, the Professor read - over the cor- Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex," whose con-
rected copy of one of the themes,- and one of the duct he highly eulogised. That illustrious Duke, he
versions, which had been given out - the day said, by his perseverance in the cause of civil and
before, and had all been handed in to him religious liberty, was deserving of the thanks of his
two hours previtius, to the lesson, that he might country. He had on one occasion, in that very
hpve time to correct them 'before meeting' room, displayed a knowledge of history seldom to
the class. Those which he reads . are usually betimswitti.
such as contain the greatest number of errors, that The health of his .Royal Highness vas drank with
he may have a wider .field for making observations three times three. Glee—" The Red-Cross Knights."
and putting questions : for he does not say-what Toast—" The health of the Right Rev. Dr;
corrections it is necessary to make, till he has asked James Yorke Brampston, the Patron of the Charity."
Some of the pupils; and I remarked with astonish-. The children were now introduced, and paraded
meat, that heseldom had any thing to add to their
, round the room.
replies. The scholars were exceedingly attentive, Mr. O'CONNELL then delivered an eloquent ad-
and consequently understood and remembered what
attention between the tables meanwhile.
dress on behalf of the Charity, the children standing
was said ; ' for that which is acquired by
is generally retained with ease. This practice gives.
rise to quotation and repetition, and to the applies- After the address, which was not very long, the
children retired.
Lion of most of the principal rules of grammar, which
after-
are not learned by heart,—the Professors being A collection was then made, which was
wards!stated to amount to 2061. 10s.
persuaded that the time spent in acquiring a mere
rote knowledge of the grammar is almost- entirely Toast—" The Duke of 'Wellington and his Ma-
jesty's Ministers."—Three times three. Air—An
lost, and the-labour a useless fatigue. The lecture Irish Melody.
on the themes and versions being terminated, the Toast—" Success to the East London Catholic
Professor reads a passage in Latin from an Italian Institution."
book, followed by the pupils. When he changes
Mr. HUNT then rose. The Stewards, 'he said
the construction, he assigns a reason for it, and cites
it justification one or two ancient authors ; and bad done him the honour of requesting him to pro-
hispose a toast. He felt particularly gratified that they
when any word occurs allusive" to a peculiar custom , is e
or fact, he makes an observation to that effect :, all should nave selected him--a Protestant—to propose
a toast at a Catholic Meeting—(hear)—a meeting
which furnishes him with frequent opportunities of
assembled for the purpose of promoting public eh-
saying, and making others say, many things which . r.ty
t He had the gratification of proposing—" The
are necessary to the complete study of languages.
Two or three pupils then perform the same office. health of the Chairman, Alexander Dawson, Esq.,
the free Representative
When they get wrong, the Professor sets their of the county of Louth, with
fellow-pupils to put them right, and never does it three times three."
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks.
himself till he has seen that no one
,else is able.
Afterwards, he makes the most proficient pupils The CHAIRMAN then proposed the health of `c Da-
niel O'Connell, Esq., M.P."
translate an Italian author into Latin. The class
The toast was received with loud cheers ; after
concludes with the reading of a Latin author, trans-
lated by three or four pupils into Italian from the
open book. The Professor then gives out the vhiell Mr. O'CONNELL said,—Gentlemen, my
friend,‘ Mr. Dawson, was quite right-110°11g as I
theme and version for the next day, and pronounces have known him he has had the knack of being ge-
the usual prayer. The lessons learned by heart are literally right—he was quite right when be said that
repeated previous to the meeting of the class
my former address had one-merit, that • it was con-
to a person appointed to hear them, and con- eise. - But now that I come. to speak to you of my-
list of a verb, a dialogue, and a passage in prose or self, I have a great inclination to take my revenge.
in verse, which the pupils are expected to deliver
in both languages. The facility with which the —(Hear, hear.)-1 will give you an Irish reason
for it. The reason I mean to be long is, that I ant
Profeeitsts-spoke the languages they were teachin tired and weary. Literally I am. I am tired of
g,
was a very great advantage to the pupils ; for we
doing nothing. I have been in London a full fort-
may 'safely place the inability of most masters to
night,
and I have done nothing at all. I declare to
converse freely in the learned languages, among the
yott solemnly that, since I was high enough to look
other causes which make the English almost exclu- over this table, I don't remember a fortnight in my
sively consume eight or nine years in obtaining, after .
life that I ever spent so idly. Yes, there is utility
all, but an imperfect knowledge of the Greek and in agitation. _Let no man tell me that he is too
Latin. humble to be of use to his country. Few men in
I have said that the study of the ancient inn-
the community stand more humbly than I do. I
guages is but secondary in the establishment of am nothing more than the son of a gentleman—the
which I speak : the principal studies are Italian, descendant of gentlemen—that is all, except that I
mathematics, and the natural sciences. All the am a stuff-gown barrister, working for my clients.;
pupils study Italian grammar and rhetoric. They yet, humble 'as I may be reckoned in society, by
have a book entitled " Italienßhetoric," perfectly agitating - for my country and liberty, I stand
well written, and full of examples, ' selected with
organ of the voice of ,seven millions ofthe Representative of an independent country,
much taste and judgment from the numerous works—the
•
that enrich Italian literature. Arithmetic, algebra, p Yes ; I call upon every man Who hems
People.
geometry, trigonometry, the application of algebra my voice, or may read What I say, to struggle for
to geometry, the infinite series, and
I mechanics, are liberty. No man deserves to be free, no man
-
taught in so many different classes. n the arithmetic can be free, who will not struggle for constitti-
class two lessons a-week are devoted to the theory, tional liberty. Let the struggle •be what I trust,
and three to the practice, (Friday being the Italian what I know it has been—founded upon a fixed and
holiday.) In the algebra, geometry, and trigono- immutable principle—the principle of civil and reli-
metry classes, three lessons are devoted to the grows freedom' to all mankind. Let that be the
theory, and two to the practice; and on holidays, principle as long as blasphemy is uttered against
When time permits, the pupils are exercised in the God by a man daring to interfere between his•
art of drawing plans, which they consider as a diver- Cteator and his fellow, and venturing to judge the
sine, and do voluntarily, and consequently well.-- servant of another. Let us recollect that a man does
The Director has all the instruments necessary for not belong to judgment, but to the God who creates.
this purpose. In the mechanics class, the Professor The principle of religious liberty is one that-equally
makes continual references to the arts, so that this: abhors the penal law when it inflicts torture and in
study is not one of mere curiosity, but is rendered of -,
flicts penalty, as when •it interferes, in the shape of
very great utility, an end which the Directors .pro- a bribe or an inducement, to seduce the conscience
pose in every branch of their establishment. The from its own native rectitude, and give an unworthy
courses.of physics and chemistry are attended by all, motive to that which ought to be left free as the
the ptipils: Those who are advanced in mathematics, breath of air, and untainted as the stream from the
form a distinct class for the study of the theory of mountain. My original motto to the people of Ire-
land was—
P For experimental physics there is but one
" Hereditarrhondsmen ! know you not
class. Chemistry is particulaily applied to the arts;
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?"
the laboratory is a very fine one and well furnished. And if I-see the people upon which the laws unjustly
All the students also, practise the art of design, the
Director being of opinion that it should be taught press, and who, if not Christians, were ' the pre-
cursors of Christianity—if I see them struggling for.
to all children, like the art of writing : some, he themselVes, whatever co-operation can be given
observes, are better writers than others; but the art
is useful to all, and the same may be said of draw- shall be given, so that the conscience of every one
shall be frees If I were not afraid of trespassing,
ings__ _The drawing-master likewise gives lessons in upon your attention—(cries of " No, no, ')-1
perspective and descriptive geometry. I observed
that they did. not follow the method usually adopted, would say this, that.the principle of religious liberty
which I advocated was a principle which I inherited,
of first making copies of the different parts of the
and which I believed from the most thorough con-
, figure, and then of the head ; but that they. began :
victions, because I am able to say that the Catho-
by drawing geometrical figures, then the components
, an
ca-
of landscape, d last of all the individual human or lies, after the Reformation, first Commenced the
reer of liberty of conscience; and 1 am enabled .to
other form. Experience is in favour of this method,
though there be masters who do not approve of it. add to that history the fact, that at this moment there
is not one single Catholic Government on the face of
'Nor is architectural drawing neglected; two days a the earth, which has within its boundary native PrO-
week are specially devoted to it, whets the princi-
ples ofarchitecture and the cutting of stones are ex- testent inhabitants, that has not fully, completely,
and unconditionally, emancipated them. fset the
plained to the pupils. London Press, if it condescends to- notice what I
The site of this institution is remarkably adapted
to its object. There is a spacious court surrounded say—the bribed, foul, and maniac Press, that cries
out lest a good principle 'should be establiShed—
hy a double row of trees, which afford in summer en listen to this fact. Some of. those impertinent fel-
agreeable shade from the hot sun of Daly. lows called Reporters have put in the newspapers
The Director of this establishment is .a man of
ethat one of the ways in which the people are de-
xtensive
,knowledge in almost all the arts and
luded tosign Catholic petitions is by a representa-
sciences that are taught,_foined with a degree of tion of Irish Catholics burning Protestants. What,
urbanity, which, at' first sight, might make you take are they ignorant of history ? When Henry VIII.
him for a man•of the world. He treats his coauju- burnt Protestants and Catholics with indiscrimi-
tors with all the respect and courtesy due to learned nate cruelty—when Edward VI., by the advice of
men ; and the Professors are not, as in most private Cranmer, burnt women as well as men—and when
establishments for education, the slaves of their the evil councils that tainted the ill-blooded Mary
head and the servants of the scholars, to the great made Protestant victims during her reigne.-many of
detriment of all, Morals, and religion its proper them took refuge, many of them fled ;—where did
basis, so far from being 'neglected, form a principal they fly to ? To the Arminians of France,.or to the
object of attention to the Director, who is well Antinomians of Holland ? No ; they fled to Ire-
persuaded that to make a man accomplished, it is land, and sought protection from the Irish Catlio-
not merely necessary that he should be learned, but, tics. What becomes then of the wretched delusion
above all, that he should be good.--i/thenwum. that would represent the Catholics of Ireland as per-
secutors? Again, I would refer to the reign of
James 11., when a Catholic Parliament - sat in Ire-
land, and when three-fourths of. that Parliament
meat were Catholics and one-fourth Protestants,
because the people thought fit to elect that number;
and I say they never made a single law infringing
on the right of conscience. The principle I advo-
cate in 1820 is the principle the Catholics have
always advocated and supported-that of giving to
.every human being the right' of selecting his own
religion. .Let me not be confounded with those
who imagine that a difference of faith is of no
, importance. I think there is great and vital im-

ON AND UPON.—We have two words which
we use indifferently ; on and upon. It appears to methat
those who study elegance, by which I always mean preci-
aion and correctness, may chow it here. I would say upon
a tower; on the same principle, I would say ou a marsh.
There would, indeed, be no harm in saying on a tower;
but there would be an impropriety in saying upon a marsh ;
fur up, whether we are attentive or inattentive, whether
we have been a thousand times wrong, or never, means
somewhat high„somewhat to which we ascend. I should
speak correctly if I Bahl " Dr. Johnson flew upon me," in-
correctly, if I said "he fell upon me." Custom is a rale
for every thing but contradiction:—.Athenceum.

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Form.

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portanee in religions belief. My own mind (would
that my morals:were equal to !) strongly inibved
with religious truth ; but •:this . I know, with equal
certainty, that sincerity ''and Caution are all that a
man is:to recommend to fellow-min, and ottliat

- .
his God alone can judge. But it is only one por-
tion of liberty to lea.\'e" thi.-cOn-icienve free. There
are Other thinas necessary to the welfare of States.
Tha British Constitution is, in my mind, the model
upon which a Government may be regulated, and
under which the greatest possible portion of liberty
rnay. be enjoyed. I
.love that fixedness of .

'll Tone,. which gives- a- stability .to liberty—,a cer-
tainty to the succession of property,,and rakes away
•fr•o:li illegitimate ambition that immense priie in the
lottery of life Wbieh may make. a man throw his
country and his kindred into the Wheel, to draw at
their expense. I love that reward for patriotic am-
bition—the .hereditary Peerage of the land ; for
who dots not '194. with pleasure at the Norfolks
and Bedfords, and the great names that ornament
the pages of the histoly. of England ? Bat there
_ _

is one— branch of the British -(2onstitotion that I

love still more—that which gives to the people the
appointment of their RepresentatiVes. Upon thiS
point my opinions are-7—M% Hunt will permit me to
say—ever have been—unequivocal ; my opinions

have ever extended to what is' called Radical Re-

I shall be told I am indiscreet in making

that avowal under the present ciretimstatices.—(Ni,

no.) Gentlemen, I don't want to steal into the
temple of the Constitution, to obtain any advantage

whatever, lam indiscreet if you please, but Lain

honest and candid. I revere the Throne, I love and

duct of Mr. O'Connell. It had been said that one
Gentleman hrid suffered for his love of liberty.
Look at my friend Mr. Hunt (continued he), who
has been two years and a half in a dungeon. But
Illy friend •Mr. O'Connell comes from a much greater
-clungeon-.1. Mean Ireland—in which he has been •
confined forty years--(Cheers, and a laugh.)
After this Mr. HINT addressed the Meeting in
explanation of the cause of difference between him-
self and -Mr. O'Connell; -He said that it all con- .
sisted in a " little- word," which the latter gentle-
man had substituted for the term "Radical Re-
form." !fad Mr. O'Connell adopted that expression
. which was . intelligible to every body, there could
then have existed no ground of difference of opinion
between them. - But the word." Constitution,"
which Mr. O'Conntll had thought proper to adopt,
Was so vague, according t 9 Mr. O'Connell's own
`showing that night, that nothing could be known of )
-the real principles of tho•-•-e gentlemen who used_it.
• Mr. STAPYLTO:S a Member of the English Ca-
tholic Association, protested against what had fallen
from Mr. O'Connell, respcctinir his determination
of desisting from partaking of exci.,able articles should
the forty-shilling freeholders be disfranchised. Such
language he considered was highly improper, and
unfit to be made use-of on any occasion.
After the healths of the Stewards and the Com-
mittee hid been drunk, the company.separateci.

respect the hereditary Peerage of the land, but when
I have got these two ranks distinct, I see an uni-
versal plane of equality amongst the rest of the
people. All, fictitious distinctions should be done
away, and every man have a claim to vote whe is
unstained by crime. Gentlemen, in these details I
am making to you my public profession of faith.- I
have acted upon one stage for some twenty-eight
years. I am coming for Ward upon a new theatre
now—and, although twenty-eight years have elapsed
in this part orthe struggle, I can assure you I feel
perfectly ready for twenty-eight years more of ex-
ertions. The next fixed principle of my mind is,
that the elections should_ be frequent. If I were
asked my choice, I would say once a year; but I
would not quarrel with any man who should say
they might to be biennial. The experiment has been
made, in universal America, of biennial parliaments.
Lord Eldon talks of the Protestant Constitution of
1688 ; Lord Redesdale repeats a kind of Amen, in
the corner; Lord Bexley turns up the whites of his
eyes; Lord Colchester, with the same drawl that he
once • cried " aye" and " no," re-echoes their opi—
nions; but I will tell them that one of the benefits
of the Protestant Constitution of 1688 was, that it
directed expressly that there should be Parliaments
every third year.—(Hear.)—The third principle of
Parliamentary Reform is the absolute necessity of
voting byirallot. It renders bribery impossible. A
fellow may take his bribe, and, with as good a con-
science as Lord Eldon with respect to the Constitu-
tion of 1688, put the money in his pocket and 'the
black ball in the box. These are my principles and
ever were.—(Appluuse.)—ln 1817 I saw the first
opening in Ireland to speak of reform. I called
public meetings in imitatien of those in England.—
,The same hand of violence that dispersed the meet-
ings here, and threw into a gaol and a dungeon the
man who had the boldness to look for reform,
reached us more easily, and the' people soon shrunk
from the struggle. In 1821, when the King was
in Ireland, his Majesty addressed the people of
Ireland in a letter, to which the name of Lord Sid=
mouth was affixed, proclaiming peace to the country.
For eighteen months we. ceased our struggle-1
mean the struggle for an equalization of civil rights,
called Catholic Emancipation, and in that period I
again addressed the people of Ireland, and for a Re-
form, but I found no responsive voice. _ Those 18

months—mark it well !--were characterized in Ire-
land by the breaking out of dissension in different
counties ; by the peasantry being unable to bear the
weight and affliction of oppression—for oppression
stalks with a giant's tread through Ireland, and its
ramifications extend beyOnd the comprehension of
those who may view it—the people, from that op-
pression, were in every part of Ireland breaking into
crime. The day was deformed by mur4er, the
night was disgraced with conflagrations—houses
blazed—baggards and corn stores were burst—the
owners of them were shot—the men who gave evi-
dence at the Assizes were • murdered on their way
home—our fields were full of crime, and our cities
of pillage ; that was the state of • Ireland when I
thought it advantageous to establish the Catholic
Association. Gentlemen, lam tedious, but this is
instructiye. There were 11 counties proclaimed and
outlawed ; eight more counties under. the Peace
Preservation Bill, the next stage to being proclaimed.
This made 19 counties, leaving a balance of 13 out
of 32. I always knew that the people of Ire-
land wished fur nothing but a dear stage and

no favonr, I formed the Catholic Association,
and I formed the safety=valve of the State; for in
less than nine months from that period there was
not a single county in,lreland under the Peace Pre-
servation Bill. Nay, more—before ten'months were
out there was not a single county in Ireland. under

the proclamation. - 1%11.;0'Connell then adverted to
the proceedings of the Association, and defied their
enemies (though Government had constantly three
known reporters) to show, from their archives, a
single word unbecoming the friends of-civil and re-
ligious liberty. As to the conduct of the people,
Mr. Shiel had proposed simultaneous petitioning all
over Ireland ; and in no instance, though thousands
met, had the public tranquillity been disturbed.—,
Not a single act was done which the Orange Ma-
gistrates could distort into a crime. Notwithstand-
ing this, in the English Legislature, the Dukes and
Lords, and Bishops above all, had been abusing this
poor Association, and saying it was guilty of all
manner Of crime, "And wtiat," asked Mr. O'Con-
nell, " isthe.Catholic Association ?—lt is a*room
which extends from the Giants' Causeway, in the'
north, to Cape Clear, in the south—from Dick
Martin's territories of Connemara, in the west,
to the Hill of Howth, in the east." It was said
the forty-shilling freeholders were t 6 be abolished.
—Let them attempt it. It would destroy the
entire grace and effect of the •concession. In the
next place, within a fortnight after the Bill was
passed, there would not be a single bank-note in cir,
'cidation in Ireland, nor fifty pounds' worth of exci-
sable commodities consumed. For his own part; if
such an Act passed, he pledged himself not to taste or
consume any article that paid until it was repealed
—neither tea, sugar, wine, nor spirit, should ap-
proach him, It might be said that he had not in-
fluence to persuade the people of Ireland to so act ;
but let it be remembered that 5,000 Irishmen came
every day in the week into the town of Ennis, in the
heat of summer, and remained with lips dry and
parched until victory was proclaimed. By giving
Emancipation, with conditions as to the forty-
shilling freeholders, it only gave them more power
He had injured the forty-shilling-freeholders, and he
would make them compensation bylleyoting his life.
to their service. Mr. O'Connell concluded by say-
ing that he should not enter the House of CominOns.
for the purpose. of making only a single speech, and
then returning to Ireland ; he should be a constant
attendant ; and, above all things, keep in view a
reform. of the- English law, that, instead a the
hocus-pocus which it now was, it might become
cheap, intelligible, and expeditions, The Learned
Gentleman was loudly cheered at the conclusion of
his speech. .
The.CHAIRMAN proposed the health of the Pam
tronesses of the Institution.
Mr. LAwJ.Ess concurred in what the not!. Chair-
man had said, that the ladies were foremost in works
of charity. He had been in a perilous situa-
tion, when on a mission to which he need not
more than refer, and who helped him out of his
difficulty ?—lt -was the women of Ireland. He
always knew that if the women were for them in
any cause,
that the men would naturally follow.—
(A laugh.) He then proceeded-to eulogise the cot,—

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