The object of the establishment is the instruction of poor boys; the Brothers take a vow of poverty (not to possess any thing of their own as an individual property), of chastity, and of obedience to their superior; and, fourthly, they vow to teach children gratuitously during their lives, and are not at liberty to retire from any part of this engagement, unless by dispensation from the pope or from their bishop. The funds of this institute are supplied partly from the children and partly from subscriptions.

Several national schools are taught by the members of this confraternity, and must necessarily remain under their superintendence until the extension of the school for training and instructing teachers will enable the Board to supply their place with efficient masters.

Another accusation against the Commissioners was, that they had sanctioned the erection of school-houses in the immediate vicinity of Roman Catholic chapels, and in some instances, it was added, that the schools seemed to be actually portions of the ecclesiastical edifices, and two cases were mentioned of schools being kept in the chapels themselves. On this subject Mr. Kelly gave the following explanations :

In some cases where schools have been placed in chapel-yards, have those applications come through you?-They have.

And have you been aware of the circumstances of the case before the grants have been made?-Always; with the exception, I think, of two cases; there were but these two, I think, of which I was not aware; but I necessarily must be aware of that generally, for there is now a question which goes to that point in our queries.

Those queries are framed by the authority of the Board?—They are. What are the two cases in which you state that applications of that sort were not brought under the cognizance of the Commissioners? -They happened, I think, very early in 1832; I do not remember their names, but they were cases of applications for salaries to schools, and not for building; and they got the grant of salary without the Board having the knowledge of the schools being in chapels. At that time, which, as I stated, was early in 1832, the Board had not adopted the precaution which they afterwards did, of requiring the inspector's report in the first instance.

Are those salaries continued?-No; the real circumstances were found out upon inspection, and the schools were immediately struck off. Can such a case occur now ?-It is impossible.

What do you mean by the schools being held in chapels?—The children in the two cases referred to were assembled in the chapel. The application to the Board was merely for a salary for a teacher and they described the dimensions of the school-room, and there was no previous inspection.

Have you not many applications in cases in which the schoolhouses are so attached to the chapels as to occasionally form part of the chapels?-We have had some; I cannot say many.

Have the salaries been continued there after the inspection by the inspector? They have in some cases, and in some cases they have been discontinued.

What is the reason for the distinction between the practice of the Board in those cases?-Where it was found that there was an in ternal communication between the school-room and the chapel, these cases were struck off; where it was found that they were separated by brick and mortar, or by a wall, that though they were part of the same building there was no internal communication, the salary was continued.

And those cases in which the chapel and the school are separated by brick and mortar are admitted freely?—Not freely; for this reason, there is always an intimation given to the applicant to procure a school-house not so connected.

If, upon applications of that description, you find that they are for school-houses in chapel-yards, do you yourself make any communication to the applicants, or do you bring it in the first instance before the Commissioners ?-Where the application is for building a school-house, the general practice is to make a communication to the applicants to this effect; namely, that, the rule of the commissioners being against it except in case of necessity, they ought to try every means first to get a site for building a school-house elsewhere, and in some cases I have put the correspondent to a good deal of trouble in seeking for such a site.

Have you ever granted aid for the building of schoolhouses so attached to chapels?-Not to my knowledge or recollection.-Lords, p. 101.

In

Mr. Carlile confirmed Mr. Kelly's account of the difficulty of procuring proper sites, and of the reluctance of the Board to sanction the eréction of schools in chapel-lands, except in cases where no suitable ground could be obtained. Landlords opposed to the national system would of course refuse their land to the Commissioners, and thus, no school would be erected unless the chapel-ground was made available. some instances, it appeared that such schools had been erected before the Board came into existence, and it would consequently have been too severe a tax on the local managers, if they were compelled to go to the expense of erecting a second building. In such cases, however, precautions are taken to remove every reasonable ground of offence.

In those extreme cases where the Board are obliged to accept of chapel-ground, does the Board in all cases require that there shall be a separate access to the school from the high-way?—They do, and they require that a separating wall shall be built between the schoolhouse and the chapel.-Lords, p. 103.

And we find that this rule was enforced not only in the erection of new schools, but also in the alteration of schools already

in existence.

But you also stated that there were many instances of communication between the chapel and the school?—Yes; those were in existing schools.

Do not you require that the communication should be closed, and an entrance made from the road?-In those cases there was an entrance from the road, but we required the communicating door between the school and the house of worship to be closed.—Lords, p. 103.

We find that a national school is held in a part of the cathedral of Killaloe, and that there is no objection made to it on the part of the Roman Catholics. Mr. Carlile gave the following account of the Killaloe school :

Do you happen to know of any national school held in a Protestant cathedral ?—I do; in the buildings forming part of the cathedral the Protestant school at Killaloe is held.

Are there two schools?—There are two schools, for male and female children, which I inspected myself at the end of last year.

Are the Scripture Extracts read in that school ?-I believe so; I found them there, and examined the children upon them. I have no doubt of their being regularly read.

Did you hear, on your inspection of that school, that any objection was taken, either by Protestants or Roman Catholics, to attendance in it ?—I heard of no such objection. The priest of the parish accompanied me to the schools; and I believe, but I have not the same ground for knowing, that the Protestant clergy were also favourable to them.-Lords, p. 107.

The deficiency in Mr. Carlile's evidence respecting this school was supplied by Mr. Robertson, who stated that the Protestant clergyman is patron of the schools, and takes an active part in giving religious instruction to the children of his own profession, at the times specified in the regulations of the Board.

It is not necessary to pursue this part of the evidence further. The Board has given aid to schools taught by monks and nuns, because it was obviously of importance to establish a right of superintendence over schools which naturally possess great influence over the Roman Catholic population. Every precaution of regulation and inspection was adopted to prevent the abuses to which such schools were more peculiarly liable; every error reported to the Board was instantly investigated; and in the instances of violation of rule which were brought forward, the obvious cause of the evils was the refusal of the Protestants to take any share in the management, and the consequent abandonment of these schools to the exclusive control of Roman Catholic patrons.

It appears also that many of those abuses are being corrected, especially the use of objectionable books, and the

want of proper teachers. The former is an evil which can only be eradicated gradually, for the habit of supplying children with the first book that comes to hand, is almost inveterate with the Irish peasantry; and many of the teachers, whom the Board must necessarily employ until their arrangements for training a sufficient supply of masters are completed, are either incompetent to use new books of instruction, or reluctant to abandon ancient customs.

The Board has been driven to sanction the erection of some few schools on chapel-grounds, from sheer necessity. If this be an evil, the blame of it must rest on the prejudices or other circumstances which rendered it impossible for the Board to procure proper sites elsewhere.

CHAPTER VIII.

Miscellaneous Objections.

CHARGES OF PARTIALITY, NEGLECT, AND EMPLOYMENT OF

IMPROPER PERSONS.

It is sufficiently clear, from the preceding chapters, that the Board has had to encounter a very fierce opposition, and that too many of those who have opposed it have exhibited a violent and intemperate spirit, such as, in a country like Ireland, would have a tendency to generate many of the evils of which they have complained. If Protestants ostentatiously declare that the perusal of the Scriptures will convert persons from the Roman Catholic faith, they must not be surprised if their insisting on the perusal of the Bible exposes them to the suspicion of meditating proselytism, and provokes the hostility of the priests. If Protestants refuse to take any share in the local management of the schools, they cannot consistently complain of the Roman Catholics occupying the ground which they have abandoned. If persons are anxious to keep a pet grievance, and in order to indulge that pleasure, will withhold from the Board those instances of the violation of its rules which have come to their knowledge, they, and not the Board, are responsible to the world for the continuance of the evil. In strict justice to all parties, it is necessary to keep in view the peculiar circumstances of Ireland, where party violence has attained a height of which few Englishmen can form any conception. The most ordinary occurrence, the veriest trifle is pressed into the service of party, and affords a theme for crimination and recrimination, until at length it assumes an apparent magnitude and importance so disproportioned to its real nature, that it is often difficult to discover the naked, original fact. Personal and party animosities combine to produce these distortions on every side, and "trifles light as air are received as "confirmations strong as proof of holy writ." These few observations seem necessary to introduce the consideration of some special objections brought against the Board, namely, those connected with the unfortunate controversies by which Ireland is agitated: of which the first in importance is the conduct of the teachers employed to superintend the national