The Irish standard., 1912-11-23

surdity Of his case did not strike Mr..
Campbell himself, and make him
pause. Would it not. be an odd way
of estabiishing eqnafity to begin by
taking away from Protestants that
College and Unaysssity aof which they
are 80 Justly, proud? II they were to
be deprived ot what they had, how.
on, the ground Of equality, could we
Catholics come in for anything? Gap
plause). Now, in a part of my speech,
the part preceding that which Mr..
Campbell thought fit to quote, I made
perfectly plain the sense in which i
was referring that day to Trinity
College. For spoke of it as what it
then was, and as l then called it. a
fortress or citadel of ascendancy. My
view was this, and in my speech
made that view perfectly plain. First
of all took it as obvious that Trim
ity College was, as it still is, a Pro-
testant institution.
/ am not commenting on that fact,
1 am only stating it, and if anybody
thinks Of denying 1t, or of Question:
ing it, / have only to refer him to
plain and open declaration made In a
speech delivered in Trinity College it,
self by an eminent and well known
graduate and former Fellow Of the
College, the late Judge Webb. Here
are his words. Asking why it was
that although Trinity College had
opened it's class rooms and offered its
degrees to Catholics. and although, as
he expressed it, within their own
recollection, the Roman Catholic had
been declared eligible for every office
of honor or emolument that the Uni
versity contained" yet, notwithstand-
ing all this, their University had
failed to meet the Catholic demand"
And he answered his question In these
memorable words:
Their University was founded by
Protestants, for Protestants, and in
the Protestant interest. A Protestant
spirit had from the first animated ev-
ery member of it's body corporate.
..'At the present moment (this was
in 1s91), with all its liberation, all its
liberality, all it's comprehensiveness
and all it's scrupulous honor, the gen
ius loci the guardian spirit Of the
place, was Protestant. And, as Pro-
testant, he said. and he said 1t boldly,
Protestant might it evermore remain"
CApplause.) Now, why did I speak
Of the position Of that great Protest.
ant institution as one of ascendancy?
1t was because it was the only place
of University education in Ireland
which, by its constitution. was en-
bowed with that freedom in its work
which every one who knows what
University should be will agree with
me in describing as an essential con-
dition Of genuine University work.
freedom to fix its own courses of
study, it's programs Of examination,
the conditions requisite for the OBJ
tanning of its degrees, and SO on. That
had been for centuries the happy posi-
ton of that great. Protestant institu-
ton in College Green. And see, side
by side with all this. how we. the
Catholics Of Ireland, were dealt with.
we, and with us. I may add, all the
people of Ireland who, for one reason
or another, did not look upon Trinity
College as a satisfactory place Of edu-
cation for their sons. We were con-
demned to subsection to the late Royal
University of ireland, now happily de-
funct. and were thus placed in a posi-
ton in which we were deprived Of
that freedom which, as I have just
now mentioned to you, Trinity Col
lege had for centuries enjoyed Zap
plause). Our courses Of studies, our
programs of examination, the method
in which those examinations were to
b conducted, We're fixed for US from
without. That inequality was what 1
complained Of. When I made that
speech of mine in 1886, there was a
project in the air to patch up some
settlement Of the University question
by setting up for US an endowed Col
lsxe in Dublin, not College that
would be an autonomous institution.
as Trinity College had always been.
but College subject to the deadening
external control Of the Royal Univer-
sity. 1t was against the realization
Of any such scheme that I protested
in my speech at Thurles. declaring, as
felt called upon to declare. that, for
my. part, / never could have share
in it. based as it would necessarily be
upon gross inequality of treatment
to our manifest disadvantage. re-