The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-11-11
IRISH UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.

succeeded in passing an Irish univer- sity bill it will complete with credit the work begun by Mfr. Gladstone a generation ago. When he first took office as Prime Minister the great Lib eral leader announced that 'the deadly upas tree" of Irish evils had three branches-the Church, the land and ed-
 ucation. To cut these down was the i tremendous task to which he addressed himself. The disestabllshment of the
 Church was carried through, and a first
 step was taken toward the solution of the land question by the passage of the land tendure act. But although the bill
 dealing with education was received at first with general approval. it soon be-
 came obvious that a well-nigh impos-
 sibIe course must be steered between
 Scylla and Charybdis. While on the
 one side anti-papal Cardinal Cullen,
 Ireland, after some conversation with
 Lord Spencer and in spite of Archbis-
 hop Manning's counsel to accept the
 measure. issued a vehement pastoral
 against it. Yet in truth it was a
 statesmanlike attempt to deal with
 real grievance, and to bestow upon Ro-
 man Chatholic Irishmen the same priv
 ileges which Anglicans had long en-
 joyed at Trinity College, Dublin. If it
 did not quite meet the utmost desires
 of the Irish people it recognized the es-
 sential principle of religious equality.
 While 1t left the new university en-
 tirely uncommitted on studies having
 religious trend, and abolish all relig-
 ious tests, it permitted individual col-
 leges to establish such religious instruc-
 ton as they pleased.
 A new bill will probably go further
 and provide for the endowment of a
 distinctively Roman Catholic institu-
 tion. If it is to be the price of an al-
 liance between the Ministry and the
 Irish members it will have to be drawn
 upon these lines. As a mater of fact, MT. Balfour has been an earnest advo- , cate of such measure in the past, and 2 there would be no insincerity in his at titude if he brought in a similar bill
 now. The argument against sectarian education at the Government expense, on which Americans lay so much
 stress, will have less weight with the
 English mind, accustomed to the State support of religion for centuries. The
 objections will probably come from the
 same sources that defeated the bill of
 1873 It will be a task of great diff1- culty to satisfy both the Roman Catho-
 lies and the Nonconformists-one de-
 manding everything for the Church, the ; other raising the old cry of ''No Pop iery." There is reason to doubt, indeed,
 if the Irish hierarchy will be content
 with moderate concessions. such as
 they showed some willingness to &C., cept from MT. Disreali in 1887. At that
 time the prelates did not urge endow- . ment but they mentioned it." But no :, compromise would really meet their de- i sires. What they wanted then, and , what they will want now, was an en- , dowed institution as distinctiveiy Pro- testant. The substance Of MT. Clad s stones proposal was equal opportunl- ties in the same institution. Tt is not P in the power or the will of Your Ma ]. jesty's ministers" he wrote to the Queen, "to purchase Irish support by f subserviency to the Roman Bishops. ss Their purpose has been to offer jus tice to all, and their hope has been y that what was just would seem to be E advantageous"
 Abstract justice is seldom afforded y in politics, however, and the political s aspect of the question has somewhat changed since Mir. Gladstone's day. The recent Education act for Great Britain has brought Roman and Angli- h can sentiment into harmony as against the Nonconformist view. Under these circumstances it will be easier to endow . a purely Roman Catholic university in
 Ireland. fThe need of better facilities ? for the higher education among people ; of that faith in undeniable. It is cu-
 rious act that Ireland, now so far be- hind, educationa1ly speaking, was once ! the best educated country in Europe.
 In the early days of Christianity the University of Armagh was founded and from it's doors scholars and mission-
 aries were sent forth all over the civil lized world. Even the Danish inya-
 sions did not check the spread of knowl-
 edge. But during the Angevin period the social condition of Ireland degener- ated. The English residents at first
 sent their sons to England to be edu-
 cated, and then took no pains to have them educated at all. Two, attempts under papal authorization to establish universities, in 1911 and 1465, failed
 from lack of funds. Unfortunately the disabilities imposed upon the Catholics
 made the founding of Trinity College
 in 1591 no advantage to them; and
 such parents as could afford it had
 their children educated abroad. The re- moval of these disabilities in 1793 did
 not much improve matters. Later eff
 forts to establish institutions for the
 instruction of Catholics met with small
 success. Maynooth College was found-
 ed in 1795 to educate for the priethood; 1; and it's endowment by Peel in 1S45-at
 which time Mir. Gladstone left the Min
 istry rather than consent to twas a
 remarkable triumph for liberality
 against bigotry. This endowment was
 withdrawn by the Irish Church act in
 1869, but a sum fourteen times it's