There are two Universities recognized by law in this country. One
of these, the University of Dublin, or Trinity College, although it
has shown of late years a more liberal spirit towards Catholics than
formerly, must always remain essentially Protestant in character, until
the way is open for Catholics to be appointed on its governing body--a
change, of which there does not appear to be the slightest probability.
As a matter of fact, its governing body, consisting of the provost and
senior fellows, are _all_ members of the Church as by law established,
and, with two exceptions, are Protestant clergymen. The other fellows,
and the scholars on the foundation, are likewise Protestants; and
this in a city where, of a population of 254,000, only 58,000 are
Protestants (of all denominations), and in a country in which only 11.8
per cent. of the inhabitants are members of the Established Church.
It is true that within the last few years some scholarships of small
value have been opened for Catholics and Dissenters. Masters of
Arts, even such of them as are not Protestants, have votes in the
election of members to represent the University in Parliament; but
these scholarships are not on the foundation, the holders of them do
not belong to the corporation, and no Catholic has any share in the
government of the University, nor (with one trifling exception) in
its teaching. Trinity College was founded for the purpose (as stated
in its original charter) of destroying Catholicity and promoting the
ascendancy of the Established Church in Ireland. It has religiously
endeavoured to discharge that trust; and, although some of its members
have been and are men of liberal and enlarged views, still it continues
to the present day the work given it to do by its foundress, Queen
Elizabeth. At this moment there is a Protestant bishop in Ireland
who was a Catholic till he entered Trinity College; the same can be
said of the archdeacon of another diocese, and his two brothers; the
female members of the families of these dignitaries still remain good
Catholics; and on the list of the fellows, professors, and scholars of
the University itself, are the names of several who were baptized in
the Catholic faith, and declared themselves Protestants when wishing
to become members of the University of Dublin! What wonder, then,
that Catholics should be unwilling to leave the chief education of
the country in the hands of the Protestant University of Dublin, more
especially since it has been observed that a very large proportion of
the Catholics who have studied there, cease during their University
course to be communicants in the Church to which they still belong
by name? What wonder that Catholics should consider it a hardship to
be forced, if they wish to get University education near home, to
seek it in an institution from whose dignities and management they
are excluded, in which an antagonistic creed is always put forward
ostentatiously in a position of superiority, while the faith of their
fathers, if it be not contemned and scoffed at, is systematically
treated with silent indifference, or with supercilious patronage? What
wonder that Catholics being declared by Act of Parliament "freemen"
in every way equal to their Protestant fellow-countrymen, should be
unwilling to continue begging as a favour at the gates of such an
institution for the academical honours and distinction to which they
are entitled as a right? It is absurd that in the metropolis of a
free country, containing inhabitants of various religions, a handful
of clergymen of one denomination should pretend to a monopoly of
University education; should hold in their hands the keys of knowledge,
doling it out as they please, and obliging even those whose faith they
denounce as idolatry and superstition, to send their sons to their
schools. Would such a system be allowed in any other country? Would a
few Catholic priests be allowed, even for one hour, to monopolize the
University education of Protestant England?
We need not be surprised, then, that the number of Catholics entering
Trinity College has steadily diminished during the last thirty years,
and that they now form only six per cent. of the total number of
entrances. In the official return contained in the last report of
the Census Commissioners, we find that on the 17th May, 1861, of one
hundred and forty-seven students resident in Trinity College, only five
were Catholics.
In order to remedy, in some measure, this evil, the late Sir Robert
Peel founded the Queen's Colleges. But the remedy was ineffectual.
These colleges incurred the reprobation of the authorities of the
Catholic Church, and, consequently, by far the greater part of
Catholics object to these institutions on conscientious grounds, and
many of them on political and social grounds also.
According to the last census, there were in Ireland in 1861,
ninety-eight classical schools under the management of societies or
boards, and two hundred and three private classical schools. The
total number of pupils in these schools was 10,346, of whom 5,118,
or about one-half, were Catholics. There were also 1,242 Catholics
returned as receiving collegiate education on the 17th of May of
that year. We have thus a total of 6,360 Catholic youths receiving
a superior education in Ireland. Few, if any, of the Catholic
institutions to which these pupils belong look with favour on the
existing universities. On the other hand, none of these youths ought
to be excluded from University education on account of conscientious
objections: and yet by far the greater number are practically excluded
at present, at least they are excluded from participation in the
highest University dignities, and from the management of those seats
of learning and centres of intellectual progress, one of which is
essentially Protestant, the other is condemned by their Church. Is this
justice? is it equality? is it intellectual freedom?
The unfairness of the present system will appear more clearly, if we
consider the question of professional education. In the profession of
the Law, out of 758 barristers in Ireland in 1861, 216 were returned
as Catholics; 674 out of 1,882 attorneys; of 2,358 physicians and
surgeons, 761 were Catholics; and 210 out of 419 apothecaries, many
of whom hold a medical license. Of 1,065 members of other liberal
professions, not ecclesiastics, the Census Commissioners state that 358
belonged to the Catholic religion; and of 267 professors in colleges,
and tutors, 141 held the same faith. To these we must add 83 law
students, 40 of whom are Catholics; and 329 Catholic medical students
out of a total of 954. We have thus 2,729 Catholics out of a total of
7,758 persons engaged in the liberal professions, or aspiring to them.
Let us now see the disabilities under which this large number, more
than one-third of the whole, labour, when on conscientious grounds they
object, as is generally the case, to existing University arrangements.
With respect to the profession of the Law and to Attorneys, the
following arrangement is at present in force by Act of Parliament, or
by the resolution of the Benchers.
All graduates of Trinity College or of the Queen's University can be
called to the Bar at the end of _three_ years from the date of their
registration as law students; while non-graduates are inadmissible to
such call until the expiration of _five_ years from such date.
Graduates are obliged to attend only _two_ courses of lectures,
_either_ at the King's Inns or at Trinity College, _or_ (in the case
of students of the Queen's University) at any one of the Provincial
Colleges; while non-graduates are required to attend _four_ courses,
viz.:--two courses at the King's Inns, and two additional courses at
Trinity College. Moreover, graduates are required to attend _twelve_
terms' commons, viz.: six in the King's Inns and six in any Inn in
London; while non-graduates are required to attend _seventeen_,
terms' commons, viz.: nine in the King's Inns and eight in England.
Finally, the fees payable by graduates are less than those imposed upon
non-graduates.
With regard to the apprentices of solicitors and attorneys, all
matriculated students of Trinity College and of the Queen's Colleges
are exempt from the preliminary examination imposed upon all other
apprentices who have not been so matriculated. They may further be
admitted to the practice of their profession two years earlier than
non-matriculated apprentices, and are exempt from one of the courses of
lectures appointed by the Benchers for such apprentices.
From this it appears that Catholics, and indeed all who object to the
Protestant University and to the Queen's Colleges, are delayed in their
course to a profession one or two years longer than the graduates
of the favoured institutions, and are obliged to attend additional
lectures and to pay extra fees, irrespectively of their proficiency
in literature and science, or in law. Nearly one thousand Catholics
(930) must submit to these inconveniencies, or must, on the one hand,
choose between a University founded to maintain the ascendancy of the
Established Church in Ireland, and, on the other hand, institutions
condemned by their Church.
With respect to the Medical Profession, every one knows the high value
set by practitioners, and by the public, on the title and degree of
"Doctor of Medicine". Now, no one can obtain that high distinction in
Ireland unless by becoming a member of one of the two Universities
recognized by law; and the 329 Catholic medical students must either
give up all chance of that honour and professional advantage, or
trample under foot their self-respect, if, contrary to their religious
principles, they enter one of the institutions which their faith
condemns.
As to professors in colleges, and tutors, besides the injustice to
the persons themselves, there is no one but must see the injury
inflicted on the education of the nation, when more than one-half of
the teachers in its superior schools and colleges are obliged to forego
the advantages of University education (we ought in their case rather
to say, the necessary training for their important office, which can
be had only in an University), or to secure it with the fear which
nearly all Catholics feel of forfeiting more sacred advantages, of
endangering more important interests. And although some persons may
deem these fears excessive, still, has any one the right to tamper
with these religious opinions? Is it fair or reasonable to place such
trammels on men in the pursuit of the highest education? In fine, is it
just to oblige parents to choose for their sons either half-educated
tutors, or else men whose views may have become unsettled on matters
most important, most sacred to their eyes in their children's
education--men who have been trained in an institution which Catholics,
as a body, reject and repudiate?
The Census Commissioners, in the report referred to, remark: "The high
proportion of members of the Established Church receiving intermediate
instruction (as compared to Catholics) is due in a great measure to the
numerous endowments in connection with that Church, and to the relation
existing between many of these endowments and the University of
Dublin". Might they not have added, that this disproportion is also due
to the fact, that little or no inducements are held out to Catholics to
pursue University studies, or rather, that no University career is left
open to the large number of Catholics who, on conscientious grounds,
object to the Protestant University and to the Queen's Colleges?
The following sentences in the Report seem fully to bear us out in
this remark: "The very small proportion of Roman Catholic students
receiving University instruction requires, perhaps, more explanation,
because they are taken from the class of those undergoing intermediate
instruction, which has an absolute majority over the Protestants of the
same class. If, however, we deduct from the number of Roman Catholics
pursuing classical studies those who pass to the College of Maynooth,
All Hallows, and several Continental seminaries, to follow up their
studies preparatory for the priesthood, the disproportion will appear
less, when we take into account that nearly all the candidates for
the ministry of the Established Church graduate in the University
of Dublin, to which they contribute a very large proportion of its
students". It might be asked: Why ought the Catholic students here
referred to, be deprived of the advantages of University education, if
they wished for them, as they are enjoyed by ecclesiastical students in
Belgium, Prussia, and Austria?
The Report then continues: "Taking an average for ten years of the
numbers graduating in the University of Dublin and Queen's University,
we obtain a representation of the number receiving University
instruction yearly in Ireland not very far removed from the truth. That
average is 335, or 0.006 per cent. of the entire population. This being
so, we regret to say that, as compared with other European countries,
Ireland occupies a lower place than several--namely, than Prussia,
Austria, or Belgium; the first mentioned of those countries having
had, in 1852, 0.028 per cent.; the second, in 1853-4, 0.026; and the
last, in 1850, 0.017 per cent. of her population engaged in University
studies; so that whatever advantage any one section of the Irish people
may seem to have over any other in this respect, much yet remains to
be done by all before the entire population of Ireland can take a
prominent rank among civilized countries in the cultivation of liberal
studies"--_Report of Census Commissioners_, page 60.
The "much which remains to be done" is, we submit, to take off the
restrictions on University education which still remain, and to allow
Catholics who conscientiously object to the Protestant University and
to the Queen's Colleges, to gain University honours and distinctions
without violating their religious principles. At present they are
excluded, practically, from University education on account of their
religious opinions. Let these disabilities be removed, either by
placing on an equality with the other Universities the Catholic
University, which is founded on the principles they admit, as the
others are based on principles antagonistic to them; or else establish
one central University of Ireland, an institution which will be, not
a teaching, but an examining and graduating body, before which all
who desire degrees or other academical honours may equally present
themselves, and where every man, no matter under what system he has
studied, will find his religious convictions respected, and will be
asked not where or how he has learned, but what he knows--a University,
which, with some necessary modifications, will be for Irish Catholics,
and indeed for all Ireland, what the London University is for the
Dissenters of England.
If precedents for either of these plans be asked for, they will be
found, for the first, in the Catholic University of Laval, Quebec,
chartered by her present Majesty; and for the other, in Belgium, and in
the University of Sydney.