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Wellington Independent, Volume V, Issue 392, 14 July 1849, Page 3

To the Editor of the Independent. Sib.—ln the Wellington Independent, of the 7th inst., the writer of " Chapter in, on Education,' makes the following statements with reference to Ireland, on the subject of the Irish National System of Education, introduced into that country about the year 1833, and which Irish system was rejected in England soon after the attempt was made by the Irish Protestant Saints, to introduce it into that country also. The writer of the paragraph I allude to, says " we have heard somothing of the Irish system having been tried in Liverpool and failed." Yes indeed, so it did fail in Liverpool, for the people of that town soon discovered, from the saintly appearance and saintly doings of the worthies sent from Ireland, to conduct the schools on that system, were neither more nor less than a set of the must consummate hypocries, and therefore, after proving them, the people of Liverpool ordered them to face to the right about, and to quick march back to Ireland again; how these saintly teachers bore this affront I cannot say, nor is it to my purpose to know or care. What immediately follows then, is what I object to on the part of this writer; he says, " that system, (meaning the Irish National System) which eminently succeeded in Ireland, the most difficult field for educational enterprise in the world, &c!' This means neither more nor less, than that the bulk of the Irish people, nine-tenths of whom are Catholics, are averse lo education; so will that passnge be taken by all who read it. If Ireland is that " difficult field for educational enterprise," how did it happen that a system rejected iii England, "has eminently succeeded in Irelaud." At first starting, the Irish National system of education appeared liberal enough, so much so, that Catholic parents were induced to send their children to those schools formed on that system; was this showing their aversion to education to embrace at once a system, which did in no way interfere with their religion? If this plausible sys-

tern, on its first appearance, bad continued to act up to the professions made to the Catholics, it would indeed have worked well, but when that system got as tbe promoters of-it thought it had, a (seemingly) sure footing in Ireland from the number of Catholic children attending its schools, yes, when it was supposed that the Papist children were fairly and surely gained, the bog was shook, that is the hypocritical mask w.as thrown off, and out jumps that little cunning animal thefox,wltose name many of the writers on Ireland and the Irish bear evento this day. Altho* all religious tracts, aud evangelical pamphlets reflecting in the slightest degree on the Catholic religion were prohibited in the Irish National Schools, still, by some other means the Catholic children were taught to believe that the Pope was Anti-cbrist, their church the Scarlet W— of Babylon, the Mass rank idolatry, and so on of the rest of such foolery. The Catholic Bishops and Priests of Irelaud were alive to their sacred calling and ever watchful of any system of education, that might endanger the eternal salvation of their Catholic children. Themoment they discovered the cloven fool of tlie Irish System, they had the children taken away, unless those who, from a thorough knowledge of their religion, what it taught and what it did not teach, and who were a match for their Protestant masters on many articles of their creed, those and those only were left to partake of the education of the National Schools. The Catholic Bishops and Priests rather encouraged than otherwise a religious controversy [between well informed Catholics aud Protestants, as it is only by such means a Protestant can ever know for a truth what the Catholic Church teaches and what she does not teach, and it was on this account that the well instructed portion of ike Catholic children of Ireland were allowed to continue in the National Schools. The Irish National System was certainly the result of the enquiries of a Government Commission, but that Government was also Protestant, meaning well no doubt, but spoiled in the working machinery employed to carry out the good intended by the system. The " Kildare Place Society," although had in itself, was, if T may so call it a n angel of li ijht, if compared with the National System; that Society started, not disguising its intentions, it started fairly and openly declaring that the system to be pursued was a proselyting system, and that the main point of their plan was, to make all Papists Protestants, and that by every means, fair and foul, in their power ; at all events, this was honourable, for they completely opened the eyes of all Catholic parents to their intended system, and if after that, Catholic parents sent their children to those schools, they knew the sort of instruction they were to receive from the system so openly and candidly professed by its supporters. The Catholic parents as a matter of course (unless a few who, from bribes and other such unworthy means, came into the terms of that system,) would not allow their children to attend the " Kildare place Schools " on such conditions, and this is, I suppose, another reason why Irelaud is branded by a gentleman of Wellington, in the Southern District of New Zealand, at a distance of sixteen tlwusand miles from her shores. I say branded, " as the most difficult field for educational enterprise in the world." That a side hit was intended for the Irish Catholic Bishops and Priests in tlie above quotation, I think there can be but little doubt! be that as it may, but those who read it think it so, or not as they please. If in refusing to receive or sanction the Irish National System of education as carried on by proiestant teachers, and if in also refusing the " Kildare place Schools," or their system, I say that if in refusing those two systems the bulk of the Irish people are told thai their country is the most difficult field for educational -enterprise in the world, may Ireland ever deserve to be thus reproached on the same grounds. It is impossible that this writer, on Irelaud could for a moment intend any allusion to the state of that country (in his educational remarks) from the period of the English reformation, so called, or from the period of the establishment of the English Protestant Church (as by law established) to the commencement of the reign of George the Fist, upwards of two hundred years, if so, he must have known, if at al! conversant with even \a tithe of Irish history, that for that period, two hundred years, the penal laws against the Catholics of Ireland were of such a nature that all education was forbidden by them to the Irish people, unless it was based on the " Kildare place System," which was refused and scouted even in those days of persecution. He must have known that a price was set on the head of a priest for either saying mass or instructing the Catholic youth in their religion or in any other Catholic manner.— That any school masters, at the period I am speaking of, who should dare to attempt the instruction of Catholic children and discovered doing so, for the first offence against the taws was liable to a fine ; for the second offence, liable to be imprisoned for a term of years, j-ea, even for life, and for the third offence, liable to be transported for life. The few school masters who made the'attempl at instruction, were obliged to do so in the bogs of Ireland, and behind those hedges and ditches, at the same time placing a look out boy on the top of the nearest hill to watch the spies who were spread in thousands all over the country ,aud a pretty good trade it was at that time, as it mattered but little to the dispensers of those laws, whether the persons informed against were guilty or not guilty, they were tried for the horrible crime of instructing the Irish Catholic youth agreeably to the discipline aud doctrine of that church which has braved the storms first raised against her upwards oi eighteen hundred years since, and continues even to this day more or less against her. The Catholics of Ireland,at the pc riod of the penal laws, were obliged to ily their country in hundreds and thousands to remain in a foreign land, that what was denied them in their own by the force of those laws, and after all this, and a hundred times as much more of a like nature which I could niantion, is it not then both cruel aud unjust to taunt the bulk of the Irish people with having been averse to education, or in other words, " that their country is the most difficult field for educational enterprise in the world," a thing so notoriously contrary to the fact, unless it is from so strenuously opposing the system as I exposed in this letter. The form intended were colleges erected, in the four provinces of Ireland, or about to be erected, for both Catholics and Prolestauts, I can say nothing about, only that I know that the present Pope, acknowledged by all hands to be one of the most liberal men in Europe, has put forever, so far as the Catholics are concerned, an extinguisher on them, although the hidden hack was well covered with gold gildings. One .Archbishop Mncha'e knew well that all is not gold that glitters, consequently his mission to the Pope succeeded. Let me, in conclusion, recommend this son of a pharisee that in future, when he feels inclined to write

on Ireland or the Trish, I should not do amiss to include Spain and Portugal ,-ilso, to always bear in. mind the words of our Saviour himself when speaking to the Jews—" Unless your justice exceed that of the scribes and pharisees, you shall not," &c. Your's, &c, Pat. We do not know whether our Correspondent intends his letter as a sample of what Education has done in Ireland. We hope not. It seems to us to resemble nothing so much as a midshipman's chest, where whatever ought to bo found at tho top is sure to be at the bottom, and whatever ought to be at the bottom is sure to turn up at the top. It may be owing to the deficiency of the Wellington gentleman's education, but we confess our utter inability to understand the drift of our Correspondent's argument. This much, however, we do distinguish, that the spirit of Donnybrook is strong upon him, and that he is "en grande colere " about something or other.

The great grievance seems to be that we have described Ireland as " the most difficult field in the world for educational enterprize," which he says means "neither more nor less than that the bulk of the Irish people, nine-tenths of whom are Catholics, are averse to education." Why this should be the only interpretation which can be put upon our words, we confess we do not understand. The reasons which in our opinion render that country a difficult field for educational enterprize are, the deep poverty of a great part of the population; the necessity which this imposes ou many of them to seek employment in England for large portions of the year so removing them from the care of their families; the fact of there being a church establishment for the religious minority; the excessive pitch to which agrarian and religious animosities have attained; and lastly, the powerful control of the Catholic priests over the minds of the larger part of the population, which opposed obstacles to the introduction of a general government educational system, not giving exclusively Catholic religious instruction. Surely these are reasons enough, and obvious enough, to account for our remark without any necessity to make it appear that we wish to attribute " aversion to education " to the bulk of the Irish people, or to indulge in " side hits" at the Irish Catholic Bishops and Priests.

After giving our friend " Pat's " letter, three perusals, we are not able to decide whether he means to assert that the Irish National System has failed or succeeded in that country. Like the Bank Manager in Major Douning's letter, who was asked whether a certain note was forged or not, and who auswered " one while I think its good, and another while I think its bad, and so on the whole I think its about middling," so our Correspondent's arguments seem some of them intended to make out that the system has failed, and some of them to prove that it has succeeded. So on the whole, he probably thinks it "about middling." That it has, however, eminently succeeded, we leave to the judgment of our readers, merely repeating the fact that since 1833, the number of children educated under it has increased from 107,000 to nearly 500,000, and that a very large majority of these, are, as they ought to be, Catholics. That Arch-Bishop M'Hale, has opposed himself to the Government Colleges is very true. Our Correspondent does not seem aware that as regarded religious education, they were to be ou an entirely different system from the* Government Schools. Bui at all events if the eases were analogous, aud the opinion of a Catholic Arch-Bishop were to decide tho matter, we are not ashamed to oppose Arch-Bishop Murray, a member of tho National School Board, to Arch-Bishop M'Hale, and believe that even in the Catholic Church, his opinion would bo entitled to at least as much respect as that of the other.

Reduction- op the Army. — Plymouth, Feb. 3. —Nine men from, each of the ten companies in the 28th Regiment, stationedin Plymouth citadel, are to be discharged/and a proportionate reduction will be made in the 82nd Regiment, stationediin Devonport. Those men will be discharged who are the youngest, of doubtful character, below the standard height or inexperienced iv foreign service, There will be no decrease in tbe Royal Artillery ; on the contrary, another battalion of that useful force is to be added to the division at Woolwich. The ancient stone bridge at Inverness has been destroyed by an overflow of water coming down from Lochness.