velation respecting the progressive improvement and illumination of the human race, are sufficient to encourage the hopes and exertions of all good men.

SECTION II.

On the Education of the lower Orders of the

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Irish.

I THINK I may say, that of all the men we "meet with, nine parts of ten are what they

are, good or evil, useful or not, by their edu"cation. 'Tis that which makes the great "difference in mankind. The little or almost " insensible impressions on our tender infan"cies, have very important and lasting conse

quences and there it is, as in the foun"tains of some rivers, where a gentle applica❝tion of the hand turns the flexible waters into "channels, that make them take quite con"trary courses; and by this little direction "given them at first in the source, they re

ceive different tendencies, and arrive at last "at very remote and distant places*." This is the means, as we have seen, by which the actions of the multitude may be rendered, in the highest degree, subservient to the security and happiness of the state.

* Locke's Thoughts concerning Education,

Before I consider the nature of those schools which should be introduced into Ireland, and the practicability of introducing them, it is proper to take some notice of such as have been already established. As early as the reign of James the Sixth, free schools were erected in several of the large towns: they have since been extended to some parts of the country. It appears from a late report of the Commissioners, of the Board of Education in Ireland, that their number is greater than might have been supposed. Of 1122 benefices, returns have been made to the commissioners from 736 of these: by which it is shewn, that in this number of benefices there are 549 schools, at which 23,000, children receive instruction. The course of instruction comprises reading, writing, and arithmetic. The schools are open to children of all religious persuasions; who, for the most part,. pay for their education at rates, which vary from two shillings and six-pence, to five shillings and four-pence, and even as and even as high as eleven shillings a quarter. It appears from the report, that there is a great want of proper schoolmasters and school-houses; and that religious prejudices, more particularly in the south and west, have operated against the attendance on the schools. In the parish of Ballesidare,

diocese of Killala, there seems to be a general determination on the part of the Roman catholics not to send their children to protestant schools, and vice versa. But from the ge"neral returns from all the dioceses, it is evi"dent that a large proportion of the children "attending the parish schools throughout Ire"land are of the Roman catholic religion." The commissioners acknowledge that though a school similar to those which already exist, were established in every parish in Ireland, it would be perfectly inadequate to the instruction

of the Irish poor. "And this inadequacy is "the reason (they say) of our not entering "more fully into the consideration of any plan "for putting them into a more effective situa“tion, as such a plan might possibly interfere "with, or be superseded by, a general system "for the education of the poor, the considera

tion of which is reserved for the conclusion "of our labours. We shall nevertheless at pre"sent observe, that not any funds, however 66 great, or the best considered establishment, can substantially carry into effect either any improvement in the parish schools, or any general system of instruction of the lower "orders of the community, until the want of persons duly qualified to undertake the edu

"cation of the lower classes be remedied, and "till some institution be formed to prepare persons for that important office."

On the substance of this report, I shall make a few remarks. It should be recollected then, that in Ireland there are no legal establishments similar to the parochial schools of Scotland: what the commissioners call parish schools, are those in which the teacher receives the principal part of his salary either from the recent or remote endowments of government. These charitable foundations were, in former times, very greatly misapplied, not by those who appointed them, but by such as received their benefit.-Though the character and conduct of the school-masters of the present day, be considerably improved, yet it is right that those gentlemen who superintend the free schools of Ireland should be on their guard against imposition.

Those schools that are called protestant charter schools in Ireland, are far from being adapted for popular instruction. Great sums are annually expended for their support, whilst their utility is extremely limited. This arises, partly from the narrow principle of confining them to protestants, or to the children of such Roman catholics as allow their offspring to be