The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-08-18

Sucii eoDS muy Uo ChuSuO ny vi
their own form of religion. Catholic
France allowed the Protestants of Alsace
| to have the Protestant University of Stras
burg. Protestant Prussia allows the Cath
olics of the Rhine Province to have the
Catholic University of Bonn. The Pro-
testants of Ireland have in Trinity College
Dublin, University where the teachers
| in all those great matters which afford
debatable ground between Catholics and
Protestants, are Protestant. The Protes
tants of Scotland have Universities of a
like character. In England, the members
of the English Church have in Oxford and
Cambridge Universities where the teach
ers are almost wholly Anglican. Well, the
Irish Catholics ask to be allowed the same
thing" 49,
In the following extract the various
evasione that have been resorted to by the
British Parliament are explained, and the
cruelty aud ipj ustice of the persistent re-
! fusal of the Government to grant tho
demands of the Irish people are exposed {:
"There is extraordinary difficulty in
getting this demand of theirs directly and
frankly met. They are told that they
want secondary schools even more than
University. That may be very true, but
they do also want a University and to
ask for one institution is a simpler affair
than to ask for great many. They are
told they have the Qleen's College, in
vented expressly for ireland. But they
do not want colleges invented expressly
for Ireland; they want colleges such as
those the English and Scotch have in
Scotland and England. They are told that
they may have University of the London
type, an examining board and perhaps q
system of prizes. But all the world is not,
like Mr.. Lowe, enamoured of examining
boards and prizes. Tire world in general
much prefers to Universities of the Lsndon
type universities of the type of Strasburg,
Bonn and Oxford; aud the Irish are of
the came mind as the world in general.
They are told that Mr.. Gladstone's Gov
ernment offered them a university without
theology, philosophy or history, and that
they refl ii. But the world in general
does not desire universities with theology,
philosophy and history left ont no more
did Ireland They told that Trinity |
College, Dublin, Is now an uDsectsrian |
university, no more Protestant than Cath |
oiic, and that they may use Trinity Col |
lege. But the teaching. in Trinity College |
is, and long will be (aud very naturally, |
for the most part in the hands of Protes- |
tants: the whole character, tradition and |
atmosphere of the place are Protestant |
The Irish Catholics want to have on their |
side, too, place where the university
teaching is in the hands of Catholics, and
of which the character and atm mosphere
shall be Catholic. Bat they are asked
whether they propose to do away with all
the manif Did aud deep p-rooted results of
Protestant asceL dancy in Ireland, and they
are warned tnnt this would be hard, nay,
impossible matter. But they are not pro.
posing anything 80 enormous or chimericsl
as to do away with all the results of Pro-
testant ascendancy; they propose merely
to put an end to one particular and very
cruel result of 1.-THE result that they, the
immense majority of the Irish people, have
no university, while the Protestants in
ireland, the small minority, have one. For
his nlaiD horIshin fhav Lii
remedy, and to their proposal they want a
plain and straightforward answer."