The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-22 00:00:00

MAYNOOTH COLLEGE

(From the Statesman.)

A. conversation upon the grant to Maynooth terofie yester-
day evening week, in the House of Lords, in which Lord,,
Cloncurry, Wick!ow, and Kenyon took part. The last named
nobleman presented a petition against the continuance of that
grant, and supported its prayer by some judicious observa.
tions, at the close of which he expressed a hope that a strict
inquiry into the whole system of education at that seminary
would be early instituted. Lord Cloncurry, .svhose calling it
is upon every possible occasion to support what he has sword
he believes to be a damnable error, volunteered a strong tes-
timony in favour of Maynooth College. his lordship said
" he was sure that all those who were engaged in the educa-
tion of the students at Maynooth would be glad of the fullest
inquiry into the whole system adopted there." Now, we have
only to remark, that if the noble-lord believes any such thing,
he must either think the good fathers of Maynooth very sim-
ple indeed, or be himself little short of a simpleton. The
immense difficulty which even the most sagacious and ener-
getic industry experienced in tracing to the authorities of the
college one of the most notorious of its class-books, is some
evidence of the alacrity with which the candid professors and
patrons of Maynooth would hail a scrutiny of their system.
Who does not remember the striking spectacle which followed
the startling discovery of one solitary volume in their insti-
tuted course of education ?—who can forget the shrinking,
the doubling, the prevarication, the lies, by which the learned
and pious guides of the Maynooth teaching laboured to ac-
quit themselves of having sanctioned the study of that book ?
—the anguish and panic which smote the heart of the whole
fraternity, that even one page of their mysteries should have
fluttered through the bars to the light ? No doubt they
would welcome an inquiry—no doubt these much-injured pa-
trons of literature and piety pant for a scrutiny into their
class-books !

" I can state," continued his lordship, " that education is
nowhere better conducted than at that college." His lord-
ship can state it, no doubt, for his powers of statement are
unquestionably large ; but with the fact before the country
that " DENS' Theology" forms one of the few detected
volumes in the class library of Maynooth, his lordship, with
all his deservedly exalted reputation. will hardly) find an
individual in the country so weak in intellect as to believe
the statement which he has now been pleased to make.
The Earl of Wicklow. inspired by the oratory of his noble
brother in the faith, offered himself as a second champion
of Popery, and pronounced a most passionate eulogium upon
Maynooth, and every thing in and about it—hoping, in con-
clusion, that this Protestant country would have wisdom
enough to make a large addition to the yearly stipend paid
out of the public purse for the promulgation of Popery. To
this very striking peroration Lord Kenyon replied by a plain
question : he asked the noble lord whether or not he was
acquainted with the course of, education pursued at May-
nooth? to which Lord Wicklow frankly answered that he
knew nothing at all about it. The value of such support to
the grant will be appreciated in England.
[The Rev. R. J. M'Ghee, in a letter in the Record, after
pointing out the errors in the petitions which have been
usually presented to parliament on this subject, recommends
one of a different kind for the universal adoption of all Pro-
testants. It embodies not vague or abstract principles, but
demonstrates facts—facts based on evidence within the reach
of parliament. It marks out the course for committees of
both houses to investigate ; and if the statements in the
petition be true, no government can pretend they are not fit
subjects for investigation. The petition is in itself a most
important tract, and conveys a condensed statement of awful
facts for the Protestant population of the empire.—E. L. S.]

We hear that one of the privates of the Scots Greys, now
stationed at Exeter, received one hundred lashes on Saturday
morning, for repeatedly pilfering the rations of his comrades.
—Devonshire Chronicle.