demical distinctions. You should cringe at the Castle-you should toady men in power-you should bluster and bully for your patrons-you should render services at registrations and at elections-writers of pamphlets and articles for some foreign party, using the tools and the conscience of the literary bravo, you should acquire literary status by becoming the literary assassins of your country. For [the] sake of your present and future respectability and fame we hope you would have had, under such circumstances, little chance of being the men you are to-day.

The Catholics of Ireland complained of the monopoly of emoluments and dignities in Trinity College, and, lo! a worse monopoly is instituted. A monopoly of sect existed, and a monopoly of corruption is to be planted beside it! Catholics wanted dignity, emolument, and leisure for their men of intellectual greatness— the intellectual greatness that shuns the dusty high roads, and the jostling throngs of life and forty great bribes are placed in the hands of the British government for purchasing up literary Swiss! Catholics did not seek a market for what is called "available talent." The Hall of the Four Courts was open to them for this, and a shambles most disastrous to the country it has been found. A new market for a "different preparation" of available talent is now to be opened, and those who will not sell their faith in Trinity College, are to have a price offered for their politics and their nationality in the new institutions; and unless the virtue of the country rejects and makes impossible the present pernicious scheme, we will have the strange consequence, that, after the founding of the new colleges under the pretence of redeeming the anti-national monopoly of Trinity College, Trinity College will be the only institution in Ireland in which the pure scholar or man of science, or the Irishman in heart or feeling, can possibly aspire to a position of academical dignity or emolument !

Since the date of the newspaper from which the foregoing is extracted, the Romish prelates have met in Dublin, and have published, in the Freeman's Journal, the following resolutions:

At a meeting of the prelates of Ireland, convened in the Presbytery-house, Marlborough-street, Dublin, on the 23rd of May, 1845, his Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, in the chair, the following resolution was unanimously adopted :Moved by the Most Rev. Dr. Slattery; seconded by the Most Rev. Dr. M'Hale:

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Resolved, That having maturely considered the bill now pending before Parliament for the extension of Academical Education in Ireland, and giving credit to her Majesty's Government for their kind and generous intentions, manifested in the endowment of the College of Maynooth, we find ourselves compelled by a sense of duty to declare that, anxious as we are to extend the advantages of education, we cannot give our approbation to the proposed system, as we deem it dangerous to the faith and morals of the Catholic pupils.

Moved by the Most Rev. Dr. Crolly; seconded by the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan:

Resolved, That, therefore, a respectful memorial, suggesting and soliciting such amendments in the said bill, as may be calculated to secure the faith and morals of the students, be presented to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, praying his Excellency to forward the same to her Majesty's Government, and support its prayer with the weight of his influence.

What amendments the memorial of the Roman-catholic bishops is likely to suggest may be gathered from the following passage extracted by the Times newspaper from the Freeman's Journal :

It will DEMAND that a fair proportion of the professors and officers of the academical institutions in which Catholic children are to be educated shall be members of the Catholic church. Another point, which we believe will form a prominent feature in the suggestions of the synod, will be the mode of appointing professors to such chairs as history, ethics, &c., [rather a comprehensive term is this

"&c."] and as include questions connected with religion or morals. The prelates feel convinced, and the government must admit the justice of the conviction, that it is necessary that in such cases the guardians of the faith should exercise a proper control over the appointment of the professors. They will, therefore, DEMAND that there shall be Catholic professors appointed to these chairs, and that their appointment, instead of being placed in the hands of the Government, shall be vested in a board, of which the bishops of the province in which the college is situate shall form a constituent part. They will REQUIRE, also, that a Catholic chaplain, or dean, shall be appointed to superintend the religious and moral conduct of the Catholic pupils in each college, and that his appointment or removal depend on the recommendation of the bishop of the diocese.

From which it is plain, that nothing will satisfy the Romish party, or prevent these new colleges from being an addition to the list of Irish grievances, short of putting the government and patronage of them into the hands of their priests and bishops, and making them such places as no Protestant who had the slightest regard for the religion of his child could dream of selecting as a place of education. These resolutions are very remarkable. Whatever be the real truth of the case, it is perfectly obvious to any one who has taken any notice of their past proceedings, that, at the present moment, when the Maynooth Bill is actually in progress in the House of Lords, the Romish bishops-especially such men as Dr. Crolly and Dr. Murray-could never have met the proposition of ministers in a spirit of such calm determination if they had not, by some means or other, persuaded themselves, that they have the English ministry at their feet, and may dictate to them whatever terms they please to "demand" or "require." These colleges are plainly one step more towards dis-establishing the Church and the Protestant faith in Ireland. And as such, one must have supposed these wily prelates would have gladly accepted the instalment. But they are not satisfied with instalments, and seem to be willing the Ministry should understand they do not mean to be satisfied with them any longer. They call themselves not "the Roman-catholic prelates," but "THE prelates of Ireland,"-in other words, they put themselves before the country as those who are de jure the Established Church of Ireland, and who will consent to no new educational arrangements which shall merely dis-establish the Church, but are determined to insist on having the patronage and the government of colleges endowed by the state for the purposes of a general education, placed in their hands, and at their disposal, and that too, in a manner so complete and absolute, as no persons could dream of, but those who considered themselves, and expected the State to recognise them, as the Established Church of the country. And this is not a little remarkable just at present-for many Roman-catholic laymen in Ireland have no intention whatever of having their own religion legally established. The upper classes of Romanists in that country contribute scarcely anything (comparatively speaking) to the support of their clergy. They mean to have the voluntary system universally adopted, and the clergy of all denominations reduced to a level. the upper classes of Romanists in Ireland are but a cipher, when opposed by their priests and bishops, backed by the small farmers and the populace. And no one who has had the slightest pretensions to

sagacity has ever supposed, that the Romish priests, when they have seemed to join in disclaimers of a desire to have their Church established, and the Church property transferred (or, as they would say, restored, though they well know it never was taken away from them) to themselves, meant anything of the sort. Of course, the supposition is absurd. They regard the Church lands, and the tithe-rent charge as their own property, and as part and parcel of the rights of that Roman prelate-whom, by the oaths of their consecration, they acknowledge as their liege lord-and therefore, they do not believe themselves competent to consent to the Church property of Ireland being legally bestowed on any other purpose than the endowment of those, who are servants of the Pope, as Lord of Ireland, and who style themselves bishops, "by the Grace of God, and of the Apostolic See."

In the Tablet of Saturday, May 24, the following occurs in the weekly account of the Repeal Association, and will give some idea of the conciliatory spirit with which the proposals of Government are received by Romish ecclesiastics.

THE EDUCATION SCHEME.

Mr. John O'Connell handed in from Moate, the diocese of Ardagh, 51. 7s. 6d., sent by the Rev. Mr. Murray, Administrator, and accompanied by a letter, from which the following is an extract :

"May I take this opportunity of returning you our sincere thanks for your denunciation of the contemplated system of education with which the country is now threatened, and of openly proclaiming that the conduct of some Irish members, who are not ashamed of sustaining so nefarious a plan, merits the condemnation of every sincere Christian; for a more fiendish scheme for the subversion of religion and the propagation of error never emanated from men of weak heads and wicked hearts. It should be remembered that those are the men who violated the confidence reposed in them by not giving their decided opposition to the bill of charitable bequests,' and that they would be now better employed in making reparation for their past misconduct than by a repetition of it.

One of the members for Waterford is said to have eulogized the University of Bonn, in Prussia. The fact is, that the said university is a nest of infidelity— a seminary of vice-continually effacing from the minds of those who resort to it every feeling of morality, and rendering them incapable of being either good men or good Christians. The same may be said of every seminary established on the same principles. What can we expect from men who propose such establishments as models to be imitated, when in reality they are land-marks to be avoided? The same gentleman spoke of the harmony said to exist in these places between persons of different religions. I am sure a sort of harmony does exist, but 'tis a harmony that does not proceed from a Christian charity, it proceeds from an indifference about religion, and from an apathy as to the practice of the imperative duties of Christianity.

"I agree with you, Sir, that the revival of the Penal Code would be preferable to such a system."

This is plain speaking; but the Irish are an excitable people, and are apt to express themselves strongly. The Tablet itself, of course, as the organ of English Romanism, one may expect to view the question more moderately. The following, then, is the commencement of its editorial article in the same number (Saturday, May 24), and if any one is still found who imagines that it is possible for an English Ministry and an Imperial Parliament to conciliate the Romish party, he is requested

to read it patiently, at least with as much patience as he can command.

THE BILL FOR PROVINCIAL COLLEGES.

In another part of this journal will be found a copy of the Bill for establishing Academical Colleges in Ireland. We have read it carefully; our readers will read it carefully; and when they have done so it will be for them to say whether in their opinion we exaggerate its demerits when we describe it as being the most enormous and impudent imposture that ever was propounded for the adoption of

sane men.

It is bad in every part; rotten from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot; unsound in all its limbs and members; speaking in every line of it the most profound contempt for the understanding of the people for whose benefit it professes to be framed, but for whose religious ruin it is deliberately and with infernal sagacity contrived.

Dean Swift is generally considered a great master of grave and serious irony, and unquestionably he deserves to be so considered; but even the barbed point of his weapon is innocent when compared with the satire which blazes forth in every line of this bill. The language, indeed, runs on with the customary smoothness of an act of parliament; there is the old, rough, crabbed jingle to which we have been so long accustomed; the life and meaning of the Act beat beneath the usual skeleton of "Whereas," and "Be it enacted," and " Provided always;" and not an iota does Sir James bate of the ordinary legal slang. But through the loopholes of these tough iron ribs the Home Secretary shoots out an innumerable flight of sharp, poisoned arrows, that darken the sky with their multitude. In the whole current and context of the Act, as well as in every section and part of it, there are two very obvious meanings-one open, and one covert-one serious, and one jocose.

The open and serious meaning is directly, palpably, and avowedly, to provide the means of corrupting and demoralizing the people of Ireland. The covert and jocose meaning is to tell these same people that they are a parcel of fools, dolts, and idiots, with whom no disguise is necessary, but who are to be cheated to their own ruin with an open profession of the sharper's purpose.

But we beg Sir James Graham's pardon. We retract the word "sharper." He is not a sharper in this instance. To do him justice, he makes no pretence whatever. He holds out no disguise to seduce the judgment, no false show to blind the understanding. He is no petty-larceny impostor, but a plain, bluff, highway robber, who announces his intentions in plain language, and bids his victim surrender at discretion. At all events, there is no deception. If the measure should be carried, and if, hereafter, any stray friends of this bill should find their error in its pernicious working; if the despotism of the Crown should be used against religion; if the absence of rule should undermine social morality; if these or other evil consequences should flow from the measure hereafter, no human being will have a right to say that he has been deceived by anything but his own folly. The man who can like this bill is an incurable, and his proper home is the hospital or the asylum.

We are at a loss how to argue so plain a case. To a catholic it should be enough to say that this bill places unreservedly the entire religious instruction of the country in the hands of Protestant ministers of state-giving no power and no shadow of control over that instruction to any one Catholic authority. Whoever professes to like this arrangement may call himself what he pleases-he is no Catholic. Instead of arguing with such a person-if so grotesque a monster can be found-we should refer him to his nurse and his first catechism for the elements of that wisdom which he has not yet acquired.

To a Repealer, it should be enough to say that this bill makes the teachers and guides of the country, and all educated men who aspire to teach and guide the country, the mere tools of a foreign minister; the hangers on of a Saxon paymaster; the dependants on the frown of an English lord, who bears the rod effec

tively to chastise all possible breaches of servility. Whoever professes to like this arrangement, may call himself what he pleases-he is no Repealer.

Does any one doubt that we give a correct description of the bill? We assure him that what we have said is the sober truth. The bill contains two main parts, one positive, and one negative. The positive part enables, or permits, her Majesty to apply the public money for the support of colleges constituted exactly as she shall choose to direct by her letters patent. The negative part forbids her in such letters patent to deprive herself of any portion of her unlimited power. Literally and truly this is the whole bill. There are many more words in it, but the pith and essence of the entire concern are contained in the following

clause:

"Provided always, and be it enacted, that no college shall be entitled to the benefit of this act, or deemed to be within the provisions thereof, unless it be declared and provided, in and by the letters patent constituting such college, that her Majesty, her heirs and successors, shall have the sole power of appointing and removing the president, vice-president, professors, bursar, registrar, librarian, and other office-bearers in the said college, and shall be the sole visitor and visitors thereof, and shall have full power and authority to do all things which pertain to the office of visitor, as fully and effectually as is used in other colleges and universities of the said United Kingdom of which her Majesty is visitor; and that all the statutes, rules, and ordinances concerning the government and disci pline of such colleges shall be made or approved by her Majesty, her heirs, and successors."

Nothing was ever more explicit since the hour that God said to Adam, "In the day that thou shalt eat thereof thou shalt surely die." Under this clause her Majesty that is, the prime minister for the time being-is the College. She,

or rather he," has the sole power." Her Majesty or rather her Majesty's Majesty-is president, vice-president, professor, bursar, registrar, librarian, and all other officers," in her own proper person. Not a mouse can nibble a cheese-rind without the leave of a secretary of state.

True, the letters patent" may contain some-we know not what-miserable provisions pretending to regulate the duties and define the powers of the several officers. But the minister-the God of this collegiate world—who can set up and pull down, who can make and unmake, who can enrich and impoverish, who can confer honour and inflict disgrace, who can create and destroy, who can make twenty presidents in twenty successive minutes-the prime minister, that anomaly in the state-is, of course, the absolute master; the despot over the whole system of education, from the first rudiments of Greek prosody to the sublimest doctrines of religion.

True, again, there is to be no compulsory attendance at "theological lectures," and no "religious test" of any kind. But for all that, the Minister may appoint a Socinian, an Anglican, or an Atheist, to lecture on ecclesiastical history, and may make it imperative on Catholic candidates for degrees to swallow the poison of these his tools.

Talk about lectures on theology and religion! Bah! In these days the man who teaches history teaches religion; and the droner out of dry, abstract theolological theorems, is the most powerless of all insignificant creatures. As every educated man knows, the Christian religion is historical. Every article in the Creed is a page of history. Every anathema of the Council of Trent has a dozen volumes of civil and' ecclesiastical history at its back. Every book of religious controversy is history cut up into little bits and arranged under certain heads. Modern history for eighteen hundred years is religious dogma, or religious ethics, dressed up in forms of flesh and blood, and making the most direct appeals to the fancy and the heart as well as to the understanding of the learner. We repeat it, the man who teaches history teaches religion; and if he does not teach religion, he is either a cheat or an incapable, because his main task is to describe and delineate the march of religion, the cbbs and floods of the great ocean of