The Irish standard., 1900-04-21

IND and another, that her real contri-
'ution to the imperial revenue is not in
eality one-thirteenth, or even one
wentieth, but only -thirtieth OF the
nnual revenue furnished by England.
cotland, Wales and Ireland. Direct
axation, as l have stated above, is
dentically the same in England and in
reland. So is the indirect taxation
tut the latter weighs more heavily upon
he Irish people than upon the English
wing to the inferior economic condi
ions OF the Emerald Isle. This in
quality, however, is more than counter
'alanced as have just shown, by the
contributions from the imperial ex-
'hequer to various Irish services and i'll
ercsts So that instead OF ireland be-
ng taxed for the benefit Of England,
as alleged, the English, Scotch and
Welsh taxpayers, on the contrary, are
'orced to put their hands into their
pockets, and to pay more than they
otherwise would be obliged to do in Or
der to alleviate the financial burdens OF
their Irish fellow citizens.
With regard to Ireland's demand for
Roman Catholic university endowed
by the imperial exchequer, Mr. Arthur
Balfours support of the project was, as
he clearly explained, due to considera-
tons of policy rather than of equity.
The great English and Scotch UNIVERSE
ties, and likewise the existing univer-
sity at Dublin, are all non-sectarian and
open to people of every creed, striking
evidence thereof being afforded by the
fact that Mol1ammedan princes, such as
Hassan OF Egypt, Buddhist scions of
royalty, such as the sons of the king of
SIAM and believers in all sorts of native
crecds from India, have graduated from
Oxford, while the number of distin-
guished Irish Roman Catholics who
hold degrees from Trinity College, Dub
lin, is large. In one word creed is no
bar to any university in Great Britain
or ireland, least of all to the ancient
and illustrious university OF Dublin. and
if nowadays Catholics do not care to
send their SONS to these seats OF learn
ing it is not because there is any actual
obstacle, but merely because the atmos-
phere is not that OF their religious faith.
VI course, it is just as difficult to induce
Protestant, no matter of what denomi-
nation, to allow himself to be taxed Tor
the maintenance and endowment OF a
strictly sectarian Roman Catholic uni
verslty in Ireland as it was prior to the
dlscstablisiment OF the Irish Episcopal
church in 1870 to get the Irish Catholic
masses to pay the tithcs and other forms
OF government imposts for the support
OF Episcopalian clergy.
MIR, Baliour realizes all this. But he
holds that no matter what the equity OF
the question the fact remains that Ro-
man Catholics more and more avoid the
existing universities, and that in Ireland
especially many young men prefer to
go through life without any university
education rather than to enter an insti-
tuition where the religious atmosphere is
SO uncongenial as Trinity College, Dub
lin. This, he declares, is unfortunate
from political point OF view, since edu-
cation strips Roman Catholicism OF
what he regards its most injurious fca-
lures. In support OF this contention he
draws attention to the fact that the
Roman Catholic population OF Germany
have been converted by education not
only into the most enlightened, pros
porous, and learned OF their corc1pion-
lists, but likewise into the most natr;-
otto and loyal champions OF king and
In one word, Mr.. Balfour considers
that highly educated and enlightened
Roman Catholic is more certain to
prove useful member of the common
wealth than member OF the same
church who is both bgoted and ignor-
ant, and it is on that ground that he led
the other day forlorn hope in the
house OF commons in behalf Of the state
endowment of Roman Catholic uni
versity in ireland.
One word in conclusion. Much time
must elapse before Ireland can recover
from the terrible wrongs inflicted upon
her under previous reigns, and many a
decade will pass away before the Irish
people will be able to realize the full
measure OF all that Queen Victoria has
done to repair the wrongs of her pre-
decessors on the throne. These wrongs
are not pleasant reading for any Eng
lishman, while it is easy to understand
that the remembrance of them should
still awaken sentiments of bitterness in
Irish breasts. AS generation succeeds
generation, however, it may be hoped
that the recollection will become more
and more dim, and that they will COM
plctely fade from memory as ireland
gradually RECEIVERS from the terrible eco
nomic injury inflicted upon her by Eng
land when in Difference to the demand
OF her own manufacturers she imposed
tyrannic laws in order to crush in turn
every industry in ireland save that of
agriculture. And even the latter was
obstructed first OF all by the intolerable
restrictions imposed upon the cattle