afforded to the country, that while the interests of religion are not overlooked, the most scrupulous care should be taken not to interfere with the peculiar tenets of any description of Christian pupils. 'To attain the first object, it appears essential that the Board should be composed of men of high personal character, including individuals of exalted station in the church; to attain the latter, that it should consist of persons professing different religious opinions. 'It is the intention of the Government that the Board should exercise a complete control over the various schools which may be erected under its auspices, or which, having been already established, may hereafter place themselves under its management, and submit to its regulations. Subject to these, applications for aid will be admissible from Christians of all denominations; but as one of the main objects must be to unite in one system children of different creeds, and as much must depend upon the co-operation of the resident clergy, the Board will probably look with peculiar favour upon applications proceeding either from 1. The Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy of the parish; or 2. One of the clergymen, and a certain number of parishioners professing the opposite creed; or '3. Parishioners of both denominations. "Where the application proceeds exclusively from Protestants, or exclusively from Roman Catholics, it will be proper for the Board to make inquiry as to the circumstances which lead to the absence of any names of the persuasion which does not appear. 'The Board will note all applications for aid, whether granted or refused, with the grounds of the decision, and annually submit to Parliament a report of their proceedings. They will invariably require, as a condition not to be departed from, that local funds shall be raised, upon which any aid from the public will be dependent. They will refuse all applications in which the following objects are not locally provided for: '1. A fund sufficient for the annual repair of the school-house and furniture. 2. A permanent salary for the master, not less than pounds. 3. A sum sufficient to purchase books and school requisites at half-price. 4. Where aid is sought from the commissioners for building a schoolhouse, it is required that at least one-third of the estimated expenses be subscribed; a site for building, to be approved of by the commissioners, be granted for the purpose; and that the school-house, when finished, be vested in trustees, to be also approved of by them. They will require that the schools be kept open for a certain number of hours, on four or five days in the week, at the discretion of the commissioners, for moral and literary education only; and that the remaining one or two days in the week be set apart for giving, separately, such religious education to the children as may be approved of by the clergy of their respective per suasions. 'They will also permit and encourage the clergy to give religious instruction to the children of their respective persuasions, either before or after the ordinary school hours, on the other days of the week. They will exercise the most entire control over all books to be used in the schools, whether in the combined moral and literary, or separate religious instruction; none to be employed in the first, except under the sanction of the Board, nor in the latter, but with the approbation of those members of the Board who are of the same religious persuasion with those for whose use they are intended. Although it is not designed to exclude from the list of books for the combined instruction such portions of sacred history, or of religious and moral teaching, as may be approved of by the Board, it is to be understood, that this is by no means intended to convey a perfect and sufficient religious education, or to supersede the necessity of separate religious instruction on the days set apart for that purpose. 'They will require that a register shall be kept in the schools, in which shall be entered the attendance or non-attendance of each child on divine worship on Sundays. 'They will, at various times, either by themselves or by their inspectors, visit and examine into the state of each school, and report their observations to the Board. They will allow the individuals or bodies applying for aid, the appointment of their own teacher, subject to the following restrictions and regulations: 1. He (or she) shall be liable to be fined, suspended, or removed altogether, by the authority of the commissioners, who shall, however, record their reasons. 2. He shall have received previous instruction in a model-school in Dublin, to be sanctioned by the Board. 'N. B. It is not intended that this regulation should apply to prevent the admission of masters or mistresses of schools already established, who may be approved of by the commissioners. 3. He shall have received testimonials of good conduct, and of general fitness for the situation, from the Board. 'The Board will be intrusted with the absolute control over the funds which may be annually voted by Parliament, which they shall apply to the following purposes: 1st. Granting aid for the erection of schools, subject to the conditions hereinbefore specified. 2nd. Paying inspectors for visiting and reporting upon schools. 3rd. Gratuities to teachers of schools conducted under the rules laid down, not exceeding· pounds each. 4th. Establishing and maintaining a model-school in Dublin, and training teachers for country schools. 5th. Editing and printing such books of moral and literary education as may be approved of for the use of the schools, and supplying them and school necessaries, at not lower than half-price. 6th. Defraying all necessary and contingent expenses of the Board. 'I have thus stated the objects which his Majesty's Government have in view, and the principal regulations by which they think those objects may be most effectually promoted; and I am directed by the Lord-Lieutenant to express his Excellency's earnest wish, that the one and the other may be found such as to procure for the Board the sanction of your Grace's name, and the benefit of your Grace's attendance. 'A full power will of course be given to the Board to make such regulations upon matters of detail, not inconsistent with the spirit of these instructions, as they may judge best qualified to carry into effect the intentions of the Government and of the legislature. Parliament has already placed at his Excellency's disposal a sum which may be available even in the course of the present year; and as soon as the Board can be formed, it will be highly desirable that no time should be lost, with a view to the estimates of the ensuing year, in enabling such schools, already established, as are willing to subscribe to the conditions imposed, to put in their claims for protection and assistance; and in receiving applications from parties desirous to avail them selves of the munificence of the legislature in founding new schools under your regulations. 'I have the honour to be, my lord, your Grace's most obedient servant, 'By His Excellency's command."" (Signed) E. G. STANLEY.' The commission consists of the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Wakley, the Duke of Leinster, Dr. Murray (the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin), Dr. Sadler, senior fellow of Trinity college, Dublin; the Rev. Mr. Carlisle, (Presbyterian Minister of the Scotch Church, Dublin), A. R. Blake, Esq. chief remembrancer, and Robert Holmes, Esq. Barrister at Law. Perhaps no set of men possessing a higher degree of integrity, and at the same time, of such opposite principles, were ever united together in so great, and at the same time, so delicate a task as that of imparting education to a country in which the most dissimilar, varied, and unpopular plans had been tried without effect; and it was predicted by the partizans of the old proselytizing system that it would be a complete failure. Other parties, who have deemed that Popery, as it is called, was the cause of all the afflictions in Ireland, naturally felt considerable alarm; and the general synod of Ulster, which annually appoints a committee to watch over the interests of the Presbyterian church in that Protestant province, published an address to their Christian brethren, reprehending in no very nice terms, what they termed the non religious character of the government plan. The address itself is written in a spirit which certainly does not argue much for the tolerant feelings of the writers, and has for its ground of argument, the non-teaching of the Bible in school hours, the substitution by the Board of other translations to suit the views of the Roman Catholics, rather than the established version, and by doing so, handing over the children of that country to perpetual darkness and slavery." The address describes the "Romish church as brazen faced and impudent as the personage by whom she is represented in the revelation,” i. e. the great whore, the mother of Babylon; and calls upon the brethren not to let their "children receive God's word as a smuggled and contraband article." That "the mode of the heterogeneous Board and anti-bible association system of education savours of the politics of Rome, where all is fish that comes into their net;” and after an allusion to John Doe and Richard Roe, Jack Noakes and Tom Styles, concludes with the following :— 66 “Now, unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." But this ill-timed, ill-digested, and ill-drawn up document, which was calculated to move rather the pot-house brawler than the sober and discreet Christian, met with the answer it deserved. The Rev. James Carlisle, one of the Board, undertook the defence of the Government system, and completely refuted the errors and false allegations of his opponents; and also sent an address to the synod of Ulster, in which he triumphantly proved, that the adversaries of the system were wrong; that many of the statements were without foundation; that they were as deficient in their knowledge of the truly catholic and comprehensive principles upon which the Government had proceeded, as they were in their practice of that exalted charity which is the link of brotherhood between Christians. With such opposition the Board have gone onwards without taking much trouble in replying to their opponents, excepting in cases where it was evidently necessary. It entered into a correspondence with the synod of Ulster on the subject of setting apart a portion of the school hours for the reading of the Scriptures; and that such children as should be so directed by their parents, on each day of the week, during the first hour of the regular school business, should repeat a portion of the Westminster catechism; and on Saturday they should repeat all they had learned during the week. But as the intention of the Government, in the formation of the commission, was to put an end to these and similar means of exclusion, the adoption of such stipulations would have been absurd. It appears from the return of the commissioners, to the order of the House of Commons, requiring the names of the clergyman of the three persuasions who have applied for grants in aid of schools; that 573 were made by Catholics, 104 by established church ministers and Catholic ministers, 12 by the established church alone, 2 by established church and presbyterians, 34 by presbyterians only, 93 by presbyterians and Catholics. By this return we find that the Roman Catholic clergy, which, as a body, have been accused of a desire of keeping the people in ignorance, are the most willing to come forward to insure to them knowledge. And nothing perhaps can better indicate the wisdom of the Government in the course they have pursued than this fact; and we have little doubt but the result of their labours will be such as to give other unequivocal proofs of the good results of the Education system adopted.* *The following exhibits the number of Schools, &c.:Total Of the Es Provinces. Schools In Ulster...... 3,449 141,882 35,977 44,383 ant Dis No. of No. of tablished Presby- Catholics. Religion Protest not. Stated. senters. ... In Leinster 2,492 158,740 30,954 584 17,518 119 9,003 218 59,788 Total 11,823 560,549 93,452 45,304 408,286 10,096 3,412 The masters and mistresses appear to be 12,530. Of the Established Church...... 3,098 ... Protestant Dissenters 1,058 The return of sexes exhibits a total of— As yet the Board have been doing little in the way of placing the schools in a proper state of organization. Upon the commencement of their labours, they found the schools, which fell into their hands, in a wretched state, and totally unprepared with the requisite apparatus to carry on the Government scheme of imparting a liberal education to the population. The books in use in the schools were as diverse as it was possible they could be. In a very large portion no other book was seen but the Scriptures: the best book from which to teach religion doubtless, but not adapted either for arithmetic, geometry, or general science. It was therefore the first of the labours of the Board to prepare a series of books from which the children might be taught, not only to read, but also such general matters as are indispensable in forming the mind and character. These consist of four progressive reading books for teaching the art of reading; one Scripture-lessons from the Old Testament, and two from the New, containing the whole of the Gospel of St. Luke, the Acts of the Apostles, and other extracts; a Treatise on Arithmetic, and Key; the Elements of Book-keeping, and Key; and the Elements of Geometry. The First Book of Lessons is judiciously drawn up with a regard to a regular gradation from the simplest to the most difficult sounds, according to the following plan : oo as in book ow as in crow à as in fat fig dog cup This is of great importance, so far as regards an acquaintance with the sounds of the letters in combination. Another advantage in this volume is, that the words themselves are kept within the apprehension of children, and they are led on from words easily pronounced to those of more difficult enunciation; thus they advance by gradual and easy steps, from the simplest to the more difficult words of our language. And the lessons, simple as they are, have a relation to what follows in the succeeding volumes; they contain the rudiments of much useful knowledge, and are all susceptible of varied and interesting questioning. The Second Book follows on the same principle of gradation; and columns of words that follow in the lessons, are prefixed, that the pupil may be able to read, and to understand the lessons that follow. These comprise a vast quantity of useful matter, drawn up with great clearness and precision; and the compiler has not fallen into the too common mistake, as it is called, "of writing for the capacities of children," which consists in keeping their minds in their common level. The object has been, and we think admirably accomplished, to afford such a series of lessons as should of necessity raise the inVOL. I.-June, 1835. Y Y |