LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. PATRICK.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sra,—In your impression of June 21st, Mr. Bence Jones com- ments on my letter in your preceding impression, and assails the O'Conor Don's "University of St. Patrick." Many of his strictures are such as must apply to any measure dealing righteously with the Irish educational wrong. Upon these allow me to make some remarks. "It is certain," he says, that "whatever his inclination, no Roman Catholic will be allowed to attend at the Queen's Colleges, or Trinity." He ignores the past, while predicting the future. In the past, there has been no ecclesiastical compulsion in this matter. Advice has been given, and it has doubtless been largely influential with Catholics ; but the students who have declined to take that advice have been subjected to no religions penalties. No advice could apply equally in all cases. A youth frequenting a non-religions college, but residing with his parents, might be safe, where a youth of different dispositions, and cast loose on society, would be seriously endangered. Rationalism might prove infectious, where attempts at proselytism would have involved little peril. "My son," said a Catholic, on one occasion, "has lost both faith and morals, and I am the cause. I sent him
to the Queen's College at —. He found little or nothing respected there but physical science. Had I sent him to Trinity College, Dublin [it was before the secularisation of that long-revered and once noble institution], he would probably have escaped. He would have seen religion honoured there,. though not his own religion." Mr. Bence Jones denounces the "unscrupulous use of the screw by the Roman Catholic clergy.' Does he think it is with those who never conceal their dislike of his Church that a Catholic should consult ? Or does he think that a man who consults a clergyman must needs be a slave ? There are people who practically say to the Catholic, "If you. consult with others in the exercise of your rights, and are pre- sumptuous enough not to let us select your counsellors, those rights cease."
He informs the people of Ireland that "the fine educa- tional endowments of Trinity College are to be used for the good of all, without religious distinction." They answer,. "On the contrary, the vast majority of the Irish people are excluded from the use of these endowments, because they disapprove, on the ordinary religious grounds, of an education that discards and therefore insults religion. Mr. Bence Jones is certain that no danger can come to a Catholic student from a college without religion, or with an adverse religion, because he may enjoy the privilege of non- residence, and yet get a degree. It is generally admitted that a student:at an unendowed college competes at a disadvantage with a student at a richly endowed college ; but it would now appear that a Catholic student would have no cause for complaint,. even if there were no college in which he could conscientiously reside. He would have but to preserve his innocence in the country, come up twice a year for examination to those Col- leges which have "plenteousness in their palaces," and over- throw his competitors who have been daily attending college lectures Is this serious ? If Colleges are worth so little,. why are they maintained at so large a cost ? 200,000 acres of confiscated Irish land were bestowed on the Dublin University in past times, far the greater part of which has been long since- jobbed away ; and large endowments have been recently bestowed on the Queen's Colleges. Was this munificence a mistake P Mr. Bence Jones states that no arrangements "similar to those of the proposed Irish University" exist in England or Scotland.. The Scotch Colleges have theological Chairs, a provision, it is true, not similar to any included in the O'Conor Don's pro- posed University. Cambridge and Oxford still retain the mag- nificent endowments and buildings bequeathed by old Catholic times, and what is yet more precious, much of the ancient traditions. Among their Colleges, the spirit of religion stillhovers,. the genius loci, even though recent changes may forbid her to plant a firm foot on the ground. What exists in name and what exists in fact are not always the same ; the sacred song is still heard in Cambridge and Oxford, and religious instruction is still, and I hope long will be, offered to those who desire it.- For centuries the religion predominant in those Universities is likely to be that of a single Church, for "possession -is nine- tenths of the law." Is Mr. Bence Jones " certain " that Catholics who desire the "University of St. Patrick" might not be as well contented if an Irish Oxford or Cambridge were accorded to- them mutatis mutandis ? Will he give them their choice P Let us come to the pith of the matter. Mr. Bence Jones assures us that the Queen's Colleges never meddle with the religion of students ; "their raison d'être is to be absolutely free from all religious bias." Have the protests of thirty years left the enthusiasts for secular instruction ignorant of the grounds upon which Catholics prefer religious education P Has Mr. B. Jones never heard of men who believe that religion is most insidiously undermined by being ignored, most effectually banished when, amid the throng of iguobler occupants, there is left no room for it in heart or mind ; who know that the danger of youth in our day does not rise mainly from polemical zealotry, but from indifferentism, and the unguarded. ac- ceptance of ethical " ideas " which, even when not at avowed war with Christian doctrines, are yet philosophi- cally and practically incompatible with them ? These men believe that Colleges of the higher studies should have, in. the matter of religion, positive, not merely negative merits; that so far from being "free from all religious bias," they should effectually witness to the Christian religion; and that, failing to do this, they "offer to all alike," not "sound," but "unsound learn- ing." If even to children residing with their parents an irreli- gious education is dangerous, what must it be to young men
launched into a novel world, and especially a world of thought, at that time when experience is scant, curiosity great, impres- sions vivid, and vanity confident P It mist be fatal. Such, at least, was the principle affirmed till lately, not only by Catholics, but by most Protestants, including men like Dr. Arnold and F. D. Maurice, whom no one would accuse of "nar- rowness." Such was especially the conviction of Irish Protest- ants, who so long denounced the Queen's Colleges as" Godless." If they have—or rather, if those who affect to speak for them have—changed their opinions, Catholics will neither imitate an instability they regret, nor place their sons for education in the hands of the changeling. As little will they hide themselves in that "happy valley" of which Mr. Bence Jones speaks with so much scorn. They take their stand on the heights of a great principle, which some of their confident opponents would seem to fear, and which others pretend that they cannot understand. That principle is educational equality, and its meaning is that if two systems -of education compete with each other, and both are approved by a large number of the Queen's subjects, paying taxes alike, both systems must be treated alike by the State,—both endowed, or both left unendowed.
It would be insincere to deny that Catholics in Ireland possess an educational freedom which they lack in Germany, and with the loss of which France is threatened by the fanatical tyranny of French Republicanism. It would be equally in- sincere to affirm that Irish Catholics possess educational equality. Those who respect themselves and their country are bound never to rest till they possess both. Without equality in education, the freedom of education is insecure :—a moment's reflection will prove this. English Liberals have strongly asserted the principle that in the settlement of purely Irish matters, Irish convictions ought to have a serious weight ; and English Tories have constantly affirmed that irreligious edu- cation leads to atheism and Jacobinism. Why, then, have the great majority of the Irish people striven so long in vain to gain the sanction and aid of the State for religious education, whether imparted in a Catholic University, or in colleges of the higher studies P For the religious portion of that education they are contented to provide at their own cost. For the secular portion, they demand that aid only which the State gives to other Colleges. Many recent writers tell us that religion is worthless ; few, that it is infamous or noxious. It is on the latter hypothesis alone that the presence of religions teach- ing in a college can justly deprive it of such aid as its secular teaching, fully tested by the State, would otherwise -entitle it to. But a college whose teaching is infamous or noxious, ought neither to be endowed nor to be tolerated. 'Toleration must in such ease be, in Bacon's significant phrase, when advising about Ireland, "for a time not determinate."
Prejudice, which sees what it pleases, cannot see what is plain.
At a time when a vast majority of the schools in England, Ireland, and Scotland are still religious, it cannot believe that Catholic Ireland even desires a religious education. It stands con- fronted by the conscience of a nation, and it can see nothing but ' priestcmft." Persons under this spell must learn their limits. Scotland has a primary education which is religious, and certain voices from Scotland have denounced religious Colleges in Ireland. Let me ask a question. Suppose that Scotland had for ages been deprived of all religious edacation,—suppose that, after a long struggle and vast sacrifices, she had all but re- gained it,—suppose that at the last moment she had been de- frauded of it by a combination among Irish Members of Par- liament, or lest Irish " susceptibilities " should be hurt, in what condition relatively to Imperial interests would Scotland stand now ?
Tyranny is most odious when it wears the mask of Liberty. The zealots for non-religions education must be content with equality ; it may seem hard, but they must learn to "do as they would be done by." Ireland has not shaken off a religious "ascendency," made respectable by three centuries of occupation, to submit to the irreligious " ascendency " of the last ethical theory, whether in deference to the jealousy of sects, or to the "Non possumus " of parties.—I am, Sir, &c., AUBREY DE VERN.
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