THE IRISH CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 8, 23 February 1899, Page 6

THE IRISH CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY.

PETITION FROM ENGLISH CATHOLIC* IN IT* I'AVOUR. THE following petition was drawn up by the English Catholic hierarchy. On the departure of the last English mails, it was being signed by Catholics in England, chiefly cl the educated classes, for presentation to Lord Salisbury • — ' We, the undersigned, beg to invite the earnest attention of your Lordship, as Head of Her Majesty's Government, to the etattof things by which the Catholics of Ireland — three fourths of the people — are in fact cut off from the benefits of University education. We are spared the necessity of demonstrating the existence of this national misfortune by the wholly honourable but uiornentuous admissions which have been made within the last year by members f Her Majesty's Government. Only last October the immediate representative of the Queen in Ireland, the Earl of C&dogan, used these words in a public meeting at Belfast. "I am convinced that, as long as you have that question unsettled, as long as you do not intend to render justicej ustice to those who are not of the same religion as yourselves in this hi^h and important matter, bo long will Ireland have one grievance, and one serious grievance, which will be unredressed." Mr. Balfour speaking as the Leader of the House of Commons last February, declared that it filled him ■' with dismay that Parliament should tamely acquiesce in a condition of things which practically and substantially deprives two-thirds of the popuation of Ireland of higher educational advantage*. ' We pray that this admitted inequality of educational opportunities between the Protestants and ( 'atholies of Ireland, and the ■people of Ireland and Great Britain, may be ram-ied without delay. 'All we a-"k it that in the mr.tter of higher education the "policy of the open door"' ■shall be adapted in Irel, n<3. and that something of the consideratene«s -a huh in the c .>><■ <>f the Gordon Memorial College has been so conspicuously shown for the religious feelings of the Mohammedan Roundanese dia.ll n r \v be extended to the conscientious convictions of Irish Catholics. ' We would remind your Lordship that this subject of Catholic University education in Ireland was made a Cabinet question twenty-five years ago . that, in the interval, the Catholic; Bishops of Ireland and her representatives in Parliament have n< ver ceased to urge her Majesty* Government to right an admitted injustice, by establishing a University in Ireland, which C.'thnl cs could attend without doing \ iolenc<> to their religious principle ; that the want of such facilities for higher education condemns i tic young Catholics of Ireland to go into the world robbed of their fair chances of achieving a Bucces^ful career ; that the Catholics of Ireland have eagerly availed themselves of the advantages offered by the intermediate or secondary colleges, as the results of the Royal Unhewty examinations year after year abundantly show , and that continued denial of all opportunity to complete their studies in a Univemty course is bitterly resented, not only as a penal disability suffered for conscience sake, but as a most grievous handicapping in competition of life. ' Finally, we would recall that the Catholic Bishops of Ireland have done everything in their power to make easy this great act of justice , that they have disclaimed any demand for an endowment of the teaching of the religious sciences ; that they are willing to see a majority of laymen on the governing board ; that they offer every reasonable guarantee for fixity of tenure, for the members of the teaching stall : and that the advantages of the new University ahall be open to all. irrespective of religious belief. 'We, therefore, earnestly Deg that your Lord-hip will cause a Government Bill to be immediately brought into Parliament, which' shall lead to the establishment ot an act of justice that has for years been demanded by the immense majority of the people of Ireland.' Such are the terms of the petition. Its is^ue was accompanied by a strong letter from Cardinal Yaughan. The London 'luhlct practically threatens the political secession of English Catholic Conservatives should the Ministry remain inactive in the matter of the Irish Catholic University. It >ays . — ' It the Ministers, in face of the words of the Lord Lieutenant and the repeated declarations of Mr. Balfour, are content to do nothing and to let the wrong go unrighted, they simply knock the bottom out of the Unionist position. It is obvious that o Dublin Parliament would quickly find a remedy — will a Unior'st Government do as much ? If not, all we can say is that many Catholic Unionists will feel it necessary to reconsider their position.'