pupils thus taught had been forcibly taken from their parents, who themselves preferred leading lives of poverty and suffering, in the profession of the faith of their fathers, to the golden bribe of comparative affluence for which, at any moment, they might have bartered their religion. Thus, heroically enduring privation and persecution, for conscience, sake, placing their eternal far above their temporal interests, what must have been their anguish at beholding their children kidnapped, under the sanction of an Act of Parliament, and forcibly educated in what they regarded as an erroneous and alien creed?

The exasperation of the people was not the less that the grossest misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine was insinuated into the minds of the children of Catholic parents in these schools. For instance, with reference to the extract from the Society's catechism, just quoted, as to 'the worship of the crucifix,' and 'the adoring and praying to the cross itself,' the following is the Catholic doctrine, as set forth in the general catechism then used, and still in use, for the instruction of all the Catholic children of the country :—

Q. Is it proper to show any mark of respect to the crucifix, and to the pictures of Christ and His saints?

A. Yes; because they relate to Christ and His saints-being representations and memorials of them.-Acts, xix. 12; Matt., ix.

Q. Why do Catholics honor the relics of the saints?

4. Catholics honor the relics of the saints, because their bodies had been the temples of the Holy Ghost-and at the last day will be honored and glorified for ever in heaven.

Q. May we then pray to the crucifix, or to the images and relics of the saints?

A. By no means; for they have neither life, nor sense, nor power to hear or help us.

Q. Why then do we pray before the crucifix, and before the images and relics of the saints?

A. We pray before them-because they enliven our devotion, by exciting pious affections and desires-and by reminding us of Christ and His saintsthey also encourage us to imitate their virtues and good works.—Exod., xxv. 18; John, iii. 14.

The average annual expenditure of the Incorporated Society, at that time, 1808, was 30,1577., on which 2,093 children were educated, at an average annual cost of 147. 88. 2d. each child,

It was then pronounced a failure by the Board of Education, who reported as follows:-

The institution appears to have fallen short of attaining the purposes for which it was established, and to have failed of one great object that was intended and expected from it, the conversion of the lower orders of the inhabitants of Ireland from the errors of popery. The utter inadequacy of the institution, in point of magnitude and extent, for that object is sufficient to account for this failure, independently of the operation of other causes. The number of popish children in all schools at any time, has probably never amounted to 1,600; and this must have borne so small a proportion to the whole number to be educated, as to have had no sensible influence on the great mass of the population, even allowing that all who were educated in these schools continued in the Protestant persuasion. This, however, is certainly not the fact; and though it is impossible to ascertain the number of those who have returned to the popish persuasion, there is reason to believe that it has not been inconsiderable.

Such a state of affairs necessarily led to the withdrawal of the parliamentary grant. In 1855-56, the number of pupils on the roll of day scholars in the Incorporated Society's schools was 420, of whom 249 were members of the Established Church; 49 Roman Catholics; and 81 Presbyterians. Of boarders, the same year, the number on the roll was 451. Of these, 445 were members of the Established Church; 5 Roman Catholics; and 1 a Dissenter. The number of free pupils on the rolls were, 214 day scholars, and 216 boarders, or about one-half of the entire. Of those not on the foundation, day scholars paid, annually, from 48. 4d. up to 4l.; and the boarders, from 14l. to 241.

The estates of the Incorporated Society fall under two heads; those attached to particular schools, and those applicable to the general purposes of the Society. The former consist of 12,927 acres, and produce a net income of 2,9881. a year. The general estates of the Society consist of 4,303 acres, and yield a net income of 2,1477. The Society has moreover 98,2301. stock in the English and Irish funds, producing, with about 97. from another trust fund, an income of 2,955l. Thus, the total net annual income of the Incorporated Society, applicable to educational purposes, amounts to 8,1797.

The Incorporated Society is now an exclusively Protestant institution. It numbers twenty-one boarding and day schools, in which are 600 day scholars and 400 boarders. Of these, more than one-half are free scholars on the foundation.

As long as it was an engine of proselytism, the Society was a failure. Now that it is exclusively devoted to the education of Protestants, it works much better, especially in the boarding schools, and the state of instruction is reported as satisfactory.

The following remarks of the Royal Commissioners, on this point, are deserving of attention :

The history of the Incorporated Society's schools discloses a remarkable change in the application of the funds of the charity; the persons intended to be benefited being no longer of the same religion as that chiefly contemplated by the charter, nor receiving the industrial instruction prescribed by it. So long as the charity was an institution in which persons of one religion provided for the education of others of a different religion from their own, the charity failed; but, since it was changed into an institution for the education of Protestants selected from Protestant schools, and entirely brought up by Protestants, the boarding institutions, which form the characteristic feature of the Society's operations, have been attended with a remarkable amount of

success.

Royal Hibernian Schools.

In 1769 a charter was granted, by George III., to the Royal Hibernian School in Dublin for the children of soldiers in Ireland. This charter was granted in compliance with the prayer of a petition from some of the leading nobility and gentry, who stated their object to be to save the children of deceased or absent soldiers from 'Popery, beggary, and idleness.'

In 1775 was founded the Hibernian Marine School, for maintaining,

educating, and apprenticing the orphans and children of decayed seamen of the Royal Navy and the merchant service.

It is deserving of notice (observe the Royal Commissioners of Inquiry on Endowed Schools) that most of the endowments from 1733 to 1781, some of which were on a very extensive scale, follow the leading principle of the Protestant charter schools, their object being to bring over to the Protestant religion the children of the poor, and to preserve them in the same by apprenticing them to Protestants, or by giving portions to such of them as intermarried with members of that persuasion.

In the session of 1781-2 was passed 'an Act to allow persons professing the Popish Religion to teach school' in Ireland. In 1786, the Irish Parliament directed its special attention to the subject of education; and conformably with resolutions adopted by the House, and an Act passed in 1788, the Lord Lieutenant appointed Commissioners to receive evidence, obtain returns, and report fully on the whole question. These Commissioners reported—

'That charter schools, parish, royal, and diocesan schools, have not answered the intentions of the founders; that parish and diocesan schools, with very few exceptions, have been of little use to the public; and that the benefits derived from schools of Royal foundation have been totally inadequate to the expectations that might have been justly formed from their large endowments-that in many of the charter schools, the clothing, cleanliness, food, health, and education of the children have been shamefully neglected; and that this great national charity has not yet produced those salutary effects which the public expected from the institution; and that from these four different classes of schools, if properly conducted, the most extensive national benefits might be derived.'

They stated as their decided opinion 'that there should be no distinction made in any of these schools between the scholars of different religious persuasions, without meaning, however, to interfere with the peculiar constitution of the charter schools, or with the intentions of the founders of any other schools, expressed by their wills, or other instruments directing such foundations; and that, as regards the English Parochial schools, 'the children of Roman Catholics and Protestants should be admitted indiscriminately into the schools, and that the clergy of each persuasion should attend for the purpose of instructing the children belonging to their respective communions in the principles of religion; a mode practiced, as we are informed, with great success, in the school of St. Andrews, Dublin, and of St. Peter, Drogheda.'

In conclusion, they strongly recommended the establishment of a Board of Control, with the power of directing, from time to time, the plans of education to be pursued in schools of public and private foundation,' with ample powers of insuring that their directions should be carried out, and that the general management of the schools should be closely looked after.

This suggestion was carried into effect in 1813, when the Chief Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, introduced an Act by which the care of Endowed Schools in Ireland was, with some exceptions, intrusted to the new Board, called the

Commissioners of Education in Ireland.

The schools, exempted from their jurisdiction were the schools of Erasmus Smith, and the Protestant Charter Schools, both of which are under Boards established by Royal Charter; schools of private foundation, under the control of visitors appointed by Charter or Act of

Parliament; the parish schools under the Act of Henry VIII.; and all schools of private foundation for the education of members of any other religious denomination than the Established Church. The Board took charge of the Diocesan Free Schools, the Royal Free Schools, and some of the schools of private foundation. This Board, which is invested with ample powers, is quite distinct from the Board of National Education. It consists of a number of ex officio Commissioners, and Commissioners appointed by Government.*

Irish Society's Schools.

The Honorable the Irish Society's Schools are unimportant, as to extent, but they possess historical interest. The corporation of London having taken a large share in the Plantation of Ulster, under James I., the Irish Society was incorporated on March 29, 1613, as 'the Society of the Governor and Assistants in London of the New Plantation in Ulster, within the realm of Ireland,' and received its first charter on June 28, the same year. A Royal Commission having found that the Society had failed to carry out some of the conditions of the Articles of Plantation, this charter was canceled in 1634. Parliament having pronounced the sentence unlawful and unjust in 1641, the charter was renewed under Charles II., on April 10, 1662. The Society received a grant of nearly the whole county of Londonderry. Under the trusts of its charter, pronounced by Lord Chancellor Cottenham to be 'continuing,' the Irish Society is bound still to take care of that which is closely and intimately connected with religion, and is a part of it-the education of the inhabitants of the district;' the education to be in connection with the Protestant religion. The Society has accordingly, from the commencement, always devoted a portion of its revenue to the support of schools. In the year ending February 12, 1856, it expended 1,3517. in salaries to schoolmasters, 1507. in exhibitions, and 3337. 128. in the repairs of Londonderry Free School. Its expenditure that year was spread over upwards of ninety schools, and of this number fiftyseven received grants not exceeding 57. a year.

The Irish Society does not exercise any supervision whatever over the schools to which it makes grants. Indeed these grants generally are but very trifling additions to the incomes of the several schools. In many cases, the grants are made to 'inefficient and useless schools, which either did not deserve, or did not secure any sufficient local assistance,' and 'some of the grants are made to schools held in miserable hovels, in which discipline, cleanliness, and order are impossible.'

Members for 1872:

Commissioners by Acts 53 George III. c. 107; 3 George IV. c. 79.—The Lord Primate, The Lord Chancellor, The Archbishop of Dublin, The Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, The Provost of Trinity College, The Chief Sec. to the Lord Lieutenant, The Member for the University for the time being.

Commissioners Appointed by Government.-Bishop of Meath, Bishop of Limerick, Right Hon. John David Fitzgerald, William Brooke, M. C., Rev. John G. Grey Porter, Rev. Lowry E. Berkeley, Rev. W. B. Kirkpatrick, D. D.

Secretary.-William Cotter Kyle, Esq., 8 Clare street, Dublin.

Schools of Association for Discountenancing Vice. The Association for Discountenancing Vice was founded in 1792, and was incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1800. One of the objects of the association was the founding of schools; and, out of funds received from private individuals and annual Parliamentary grants, it contributed largely towards the building of school-houses. This aid for building was given only on condition of a portion of land being obtained on a permanent grant, and vested in the minister and church-wardens; the minister to have the appointment of the master and the regulation of the course of instruction; and children of the Established Church to be taught the Church catechism. We learn from the Commissioners of 1825, that, although the schools were founded principally for the education of children of the Established Church, they were open to children of all religious denominations, provided they conformed to the rules, one of which required that all should read the Scriptures. The association also contributed teachers' salaries.

In 1825, there were 226 schools in connection with this body, of which 167 were connected with it alone, and 59 with one or more other societies. The attendance at all these schools exceeded 12,600, about 9,000 belonging to the former class of schools. annual grants from Parliament down to 1827. the grants, it discontinued assisting schools. endowed by it are still in operation.

The society received On the withdrawal of Most of the schools

The Lord Lieutenant's school building fund may next be briefly noticed. In 1829, the Lord Lieutenant was empowered to issue out of the Consolidated Fund sums of money in aid of subscriptions and voluntary grants for the establishment of schools, chiefly where the sites were granted in perpetuity. This fund was managed by three unpaid Commissioners. The mode of its administration led to the belief that it was not intended to give Catholics control over the schools, or any voice in their management. Consequently the system did not enjoy the confidence of the great majority of the nation. The grants from this fund, which in 1819 exceeded 3,000l., rose to nearly 11,000. in 1824. The Commissioners of Education Inquiry of 1825 having condemned the system under which these grants were made, they were discontinued in 1826.

There are a large number of grammar and other schools of private endowment, which are under the control of the Board of Education, constituted in 1813. Into the particulars of these it is unnecessary, and it would be tedious to enter.

Kildare Place Society Schools.

The next important educational experiment we have to notice is that of the Society for promoting the Education of the Poor,' better known as the Kildare Place Society, established in 1811. This Society, composed of persons of various religious denominations, professed that in