The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-03-11 00:00:00

PROPOSED ENDOWMENT OF POPERY.

(From the Record)
It is now, for the first time, proposed to a British PO'
liament to undertake, at the national cost, the whole
charge of the education of the Roman Catholic priestho
of Ireland. A grant of £26,000 per annum is intenke;
to be made to the College of Maynootb, beside whichr
building is to be kept in repair; thus treating it as a i`4ll-
tional Institution.

That a Protestant nation should be taxed for the 131.°'
pagation of what it must regard as most dangerous error,
has always been felt to be a grievance; and accordingly
the grant of £9,673 per annum, which has been given le,,
many years past, has been continually protested agairlB;
But bold assertions have often been made, that so 03:
compact was entered into, at the commencement of t 1):
College, in 1795, or at the Union, in 1801, by which t5,,v
British nation was morally bound. And there can be II"
doubt that the tolerance of the grant for nearly half !I
century has been mainly owing to the unwilligness. bolt,
of the legislature and of the people, to do anything whit
might render them liable to the charge of a breach cs'
faith.
This supposed compact, however, may now, after fall
investigation, be pronounced to be a fiction. For,
1. Not a tittle of evidence has ever been adduced, t°
prove the existence of any such agreement. On the coy
trary,-
2. It was distinctly asserted in the debate of April Of
1808, by Sir Arthur Wellesley (now Duke of Welling
that that " when Maynooth College was first established.e
was not intended that it should be maintained by tut
public purse." And on the sth of May, 1808, Sir Artboti
further stated, " that the original Memorial of the Romaa
Catholics to Government—a copy of which he had inn
possession—showed that the object in contemplaticn,°fr
the Catholics themselves was, to be permitted to establ'B6
the Institution with their own funds." Thus we 119,'0
the clearest and strongest proof, that neither of the tv!A
parties to the supposed compact—the Government, ad,
the Irish Romish bishops—had even an idea of the Ici,tl
3. In entire agreement with which we find, that vie
the bill for incorporating the trustees, and rendering t t
college lawful, was introduced into the Irish parliame,tl
there was not a word of any public grant, or of any ocher
funds being provided, save those of the Roman Catholi c
themselves. And it was only when the bill had gi'n
through several stages, that a clause was suddenly int!ri;
duced, empowering the government to contribute xsn,
" towards establishing the said academy." But 0,-a
either this, or any other sum, was promised or pletiket
for the annual maintenance of the college, is clearly ii„e
true ; the sum given in following years varying from
to time, and being in 1800 only £1,093.
4. Still, being found at the time of the Union, 0070 t
divers other annual grants made by the Irish Parliatneto
for educational and other public purposes, it seerns,.3,
have been continued, as a kind of bequest, by the Par'locl
ment of the United Kingdom, and some have imag,i'o,
that its continuance, on that ground and for that reas°o
was obligatory on the nation. The simple answer
which is, that the only stipulation made by the Irish P9'ig
liament at the time of the Union, was, that for tweli.,icl
years from that time, a like amount, in the whole, OW" f
be given to the charitable and benevolent institutions
Ireland, as had been given in the years preceding.„ri,
stipulation which has been amply performed by the P.be
tish parliament ; but which has never prevented fr
House of Commons from reducing or discontinuing of
particular grant. Thus, in 1802, one year after the Unli,"fic
the finance accounts show the following grants to pm
-
hospitals and schools in Ireland :

Incorporated Society for Promoting Eng- , 1
lish Protestant Schools
Foundling Hospital 17,500 °, 6
Hibernian Marine School
Hibernian Military School 4,500 ° 0
Lock Hospital
Roman Catholic Seminary B,OOO ,°, 0
House of Industry
Society for Discountenancing Vice
Female Orphan House
Penitentiary for Young Criminals ......2,025 0
Fever Hospital ,
go
1 500 v

Secref ary of the Commissioners for Chari-
table Donations
But in 1539 the list is thus altered :
Foundin; Hospital