The Bishop of Killaloe and Clonfert died at Bath on
Tuesday, in his eighty-ninth year.
The Morning Post professes to be quite horrified at a rumour that a meeting was held in St. Patrick's Charity School-rooms on Sunday last, for the purpose of establishing a Popish Quarterly, under the auspices of Mr. O'Connell, to be edited by Dr. Wiseman, "sent from Rome on a propaganda mission," and Mr. Quin. The Globe says no such meeting was held in the place named. The Popish Quarterly, however, will appear in due season : "and what for no?"
It will be recollected that the Bishop of Exeter, in his attack last week on the National system of Education in Ireland, asserted (and laid much stress on the fact), that at the school established on the estate of the Marquis of Lansdowne, under the care and patronage of his agent, the master set as a copy for the scholars, the words " God be with the poor fellows who were hanged at Maryborough." The Standard seized hold of this story, and stated, that " At Lord Lansdowne's own pet school, where his agent resides, a bora copybook had written on it, as a part of his day's lesson, God be with the poor fellows hanged at Maryborough ;' those poor fellows having been notorious felons.
This was the Tory statement : now for the facts, which we find in this morning's chronicle— "Such an occurrence never took place in any school on the estate of the Marquis of Lansdowne ; nor did the master of any school under the control of the National Board in Ireland ever set such a copy for any boy committed to his charge. The additional piece of information supplied by the Standard is equally incorrect ; for the agent of Lord Lansdowne's Queen's County pro- perty does not reside within ten miles of his Lordship's estate. The plain facts out of which this heavy charge against the National Board has been fabricated, were these. The gentleman who receives Lord Lansdowne's rents in the Queen's County went, about the time stated by the Bishop of Exe- ter, to inspect a school on the estate of the Ladies Fitzpatrick (whom he serves in the same capacity), at a distance of eight or nine miles from his own resi- dence. Ile found the children very backward, and the appearance of the school in general neglected ; which was not to be wondered at, seeing that none of the neighbouring gentry or clergymen appeared to take the slightest interest in the matter. • • • • • • After leaving the school, he went into the house of an under tenant on the estate ; where he inquired what was the opinion of the people with respect to the school ? The answer was rather favourable to the master ' • and a copybook belonging to one of the children of the family was produced, to show how well writing was taught there. It presented the usual appearance of a copybook; the performance of each day being registered in regular order OM successive pages, and the sentences differing in no respect from those which are set down in the copybooks of all schoolboys. But on turning over some blank
leaves near the end of the book, he found written upon one of them words to this effect, Pray for the souls of the boys that suffered in Maryborough last
week.' The sentence was only once written, and not repeated, as sentences in copies are, down to the bottom of the page ; and it was obviously in the handwriting of the child to whom the book belonged."
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