The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-05-13 00:00:00

t. We were error, therefore

been inserted but

iLiDerpool

anTiatt

, even when so

Great We

'n, which wa

days befor

those Pr

stant parents

IpOrtant

which is to be left i
and its Protestant c

University, and a new

. -
there to grant degr

" He thought it unfortunate that some means hari

And again—

t ment by the state is pncerned. But every facility
unication containing so many is to be given for endowments by private benefac-
tht po-sibly he questioned—much —
!decision —unless the lions; and Sir James Graham professes to rely upon
the hope that wealthy Protestant parents, sending
their children to these colleges, and anxious that
some provision should be made for their education
in the religion of their forefathers, will provide, from
their own munificence, endowments for such instruc-
lrovided, "of course

theie will be no compulsory attendance upon any
of these lectures;" thus leaving the children of

_...,, so far as any academical
authority is concerned, free to accept or reject the
religious teaching offered them. There is nothing
to affect Trinity College, Dublin,
the enjoyment of its revenues

The three new insti-

in connection with Dublin
governing body appointed

s, free from religious tests.
be new institution in Belfast is to he grafted upon

which at present exists, which will hare to be
hed from the four theological chairs in the
nomination of the synod of Ulst9., in order to give
it the necessary purely secular character.
Undoubtedly this must be regarded by men of all
parties as a bold scheme, whatever may be their opi-
nions as to its wisdom. It is a step directly in the
teeth of all the_past policy of Grcat Britain, and
for which even the establishment of the national
system of education in Ireland has scarcely prepared
us. We are virtually proclaiming the fact that in
her academiCal legislation towards Ireland the go-
vernment of Great Britain is infidel ; and that,
whilst it offers rewards for the inculcation of the
truth in science, in arts, and in philosophy, it es-
teems the existence of a truth in religion as a thing
not recogniSed or worth seeking. It offers to the
youth of Ireland lectures and examinations in me-
dicine, in mathematics, in geology, and in botany;
but it leaves them to pick up a religion in the streets
of Cork or Limerick. Their parents may indeed aid
in the search those who have resident parents ; but
the necessarily large number who are to be left free
from all parental or proper academical control during
thr course or their studies, may contract a know-
ledge of the truth, or imbibe error, as they may.
This, then, is the instrumentality by which the
social condition of the middle classes of Ireland
is to be ameliorated. We are to make them philo-
sophers, cheMiSts, geologists, botanists; but we are to
lay down the thought of making them Christian men.
In our eagerness t 3 raise up a generation of savans,
we are running direct upon the course best calcu-
lated to produce a nation of heathens. Where, we
ask, have we any warrant for the hope that such a
measgre as this—such godless policy—can produce
any other than evil results ? The non-religions cha-
racter of the instruction offered at these colleges
will effectually drive from their portals the Protes-
tant youth of Ireland ; and we venture to predict
that, on this very ground, it will not be acceptable
to the Roman Catholics themselves. For the cor-
rectness of this opinion Mr. Shiel shall be our
voucher. During the discussion on the introduc-
tion of that measure, that gentleman said :

Luc reproach, that no reng.,...—
struction whatever was to be given under the proposed
might be removed. The object of the Govern-
ment, of course, was to make themeasure acceptable to
the great body of the Irish people, and to those who had
great faith and influence with the Irish people—the catho-
lic priesthood of the country. Now, he felt satisfied that
the great-body of the catholic clergy would complain of
the absence from this measure of the. means of conveying
religious instruction."