The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-05-05

members for oxford university: and,
Wnat Is even more noteworthy, Mr..
w llLdill Jones' a Member for a Welsh
uISlrlct, and Nonconformist, who has
pe5n hitherto an uncompromising up
noiuer OF undenOminational education,
~ now admits that in Ireland a Cath
oilc university is essential to the Gull
ovation and content of the preponder-
ant element Of the people.
The most striking plea, however, on
pehalI of Catholic university for Ire
iahd was made by Mr.. A j. Balfour,
me Cnlonist member of the House.
/ ne ala not attempt to disaTn Noncon-
( Iormlst opposition to the scheme by
+ processing to believe that university
! education would prove an instrument
/ Tor the conversion of Roman Catholics
t 10 professionalism, but he did insist that,
Whatever evils may be supposed to re
suit from the growth of Roman Cath-
oilclsm in some of it's forms. would pc
diminished rather than aggravated by
any decided advance in the way Oh
higher education. BY way of proof ne
pointed to Germany. Nobody WouIu
assert that the numerical proportion
between the Roman Catholics ana the
ProtestantS in Germany has been ma
terially altered in the last two or three
generations. On the other hand, no
one would deny that the German no
man Catholics, who have universities
of their own, are the most enlightened
and most learned of their co-rellsloh-
lists. Another parallel was presented
III Scotland. wherein, more than IN any
other country, university education
has penetrated to every section OF the
population. Suppose. said Mr.. Bal
four, that the universities OF Glasgow,
Aberdeen. Edinburgh and st. Andrews
had. ever since the Reformation
manned their teaching staffs from top
to bottom with Roman Catholics, aHc
that, consequently. the main Dulk ot
the students in those universities had
been Roman Catholic, does any human
being believe that those four uniVerSl-
ties would have been used by the
Scotch, the vast majority of whom are
Protestants, to such remarkable, ad-
vantage as they have been used TOT
four hundred years? The answer. OF
course. must be in the negative. why,
then inquired Mr.. Balfour, should
Irish Roman Catholics be told that
they willfully throw away opDortunl-
ties for the higher education in not
going to Trinity College, Dublin, the
DOORS of which are nominally open to
them, but the atmosphere CT Whlch Is
intensely Protestant?
ITO the arguments drawn by Mr..
BalfOur from Germany and from Scot
land. the London Spectator, which is
an authentic mouthpiece of Liberal
Unionist opinion, would add that Rhen-
ish Prussia. which is at once Cathollc
and educated is unshakably loyal 10
a distinctfvely Protestant dynasty.
What is it, asks the Spectator. that
Professionals seek to gain by forcing
Irish Catholics to frequent protestant
Is it the incubation OF
truth or of loyalty? If it be truth,
how can the mental power OF recelNins
truth be diffused more directly than ny
aiding the alleged misbeliever TO CD
tain a. thorough education? AS loI
LOYALTY. Protestant opponents or
Catholic university are counseIeu "
ponder the great facts OF the day,
namely. that Irish Catholics are uyiIlS
in heaps for Queen Victoria IN SouIh
frica and that the Duke Of Norfolk'
the recognized leader of English Cath |
oIics is on his way to Cape Town to
fgbt at the head of a corps which ne
himself has raised If all Irish cain /
,lics shared the sentiments and the ed
ucation of the Duke of Norfolk, ire ,
average Protestant voter would not De ]
ant to think of Ireland as danger 10 .
he realm. This appeal to self-interest
8 no doubt, less elevated than would /
)e an appeal to the sense of justice
out it is. perhaps. no less potent IN the
ives. of the average English elector.
THAT the establishment OF a Catho-
fc university for Ireland may be post
1oned until after the next general cleo
ion is. probable enough, but that Such
IN institution will be created and sup
ported by the State at no distant pc
-iod seems almost certain, in view OF
he change that ia taking place IN
british public opinion on the subject.