nearly useless. The case is very nearly the same with regard to that part of the population in Ireland to which I refer, with this difference, it may be, that the English populace would be probably furnished with dictionaries, were they obliged to read the bible only in the French language; whereas, the poor Irish, in learning to read English, learn merely to read it, without understanding it, and many of the highlanders are to this day placed in the same absurd circumstances. Will it furnish the mind of a poor child with any knowledge as to his duty, with any principle of piety and devotion, with any beautiful example of filial affection, to impress his memory and to warm his heart, to read a chapter the meaning of which he does not understand? It may seem prepos terous to dwell so long on what appears so very plain; and so it certainly would be, if only. a few obscure individuals had erroneous notions on the subject. But when schools are esta blished, even under the patronage of the Board of Education, on the principle that such notions, erroneous as they are, and as they must doubtless appear to every one who fully and impartially considers them, are just, it becomes a duty to write obvious remarks even at the risk of writing truisms. The subject is infinitely

important as it regards the immediate and effectual instruction of the lower orders of the Irish; it has been misunderstood too long; and to persist in this misunderstanding is not less criminal than it is foolish, since it involves the most serious consequences to a great part of the population of Ireland. Ought that population to be instructed or not? if they ought, is it not singularly perverse to disregard the only possible way in which this can be effectually accomplished? This mode of communicating knowledge may perhaps be neglected; in that case the people will remain ignorant and supertitious; they will be the source of poverty and wretchedness to themselves; they will continue turbulent and barbarous, and that empire which might have made them its glory and defence, will have them for a thorn in its side.--And is this a time coldly to speculate on the advantages of abolishing for ever the Irish language, of refusing to instruct a people who want to be instructed, unless they understand a dialect which they cannot and will not understand? When the whole of Europe is prostrate at the foot of the tyrant, when it has become the duty and the destiny of Britain to contend for the liberties of the world, to contend for its own independence and existence, how

great is the infatuation, not to embrace every measure of uniting the people, of removing every cause of suspicion in the government, every cause of even seeming grievance in the subject, of enlightening, improving, and civilizing every part of the population!

The commissioners conclude their report by observing, that no fund however great, and no system of education however excellent, can be adequate to the instruction of the Irish poor till an institution be formed to qualify teachers for their important office.-In Ireland it has always been difficult, in many instances impossible, to procure proper school-masters; and this difficulty arises from the general ignorance and depression of the people. But how is this evil to be obviated? Is it by establishing a seminary in which young men may be qualified to become teachers, or, by offering such a reward as to make the supply necessarily answer the demand? In the former mode of obtaining a supply of suitable teachers, there are two circumstances which deserve some consideration. In the first place, there is necessarily a great expence incurred. Suppose there are in a seminary two hundred young men, and no such seminary can fully answer the purpose of its institution if it have less, the board and education of each of these must amount at least to

thirty guineas annually, which altogether comes to six thousand guineas. This is too large an expenditure for the support of any institution, the necessity of whose erection is not absolutely imperious, and perfectly apparent. In the second place, is it not probable that many of those that may be educated at a seminary will not be disposed to continue school-masters ? When they have got some education, may they not imagine that they can improve their condition much better in another way than that of a parochial teacher of youth? In this case, though their education is of great advantage to themselves, it is a loss to the institution in which it was obtained.

On the other hand, is it not possible, without any preparatory seminary, to make the supply of school-masters answer the demand? I am of opinion that this is very possible. In Scotland there is no difficulty felt in procuring school-masters for the establishment of the Society for promoting christian knowledge, which only gives £15 per annum. Now I am very certain, that every parish in Ireland may be supplied at any time from this country by offering a salary less than the double of that sum, in addition to a trifling fee from the scholars. In the highlands of Scotland there are many young men, who are not only qualified to

teach reading, writing and arithmetic, but also to teach the Irish natives to read in their own language, and who would consider themselves well provided for by an appointment to a salary of £25, with a house. Nor are their moral endowments less suitable than their literary; they are sober, and steady, virtuous, and persevering, and are therefore most capable of encountering the difficulties to which, as Irish school-tnasters, they may be exposed.-Here, then, is not only an immediate supply of teachers, but that kind of supply which the circumstances of Ireland most want; men who, in consequence of their acquaintance with the Gaelic language, can, in three months after their landing in that country, understand the Irish as well as any native, and in favour of whom the Irish people are already greatly prepossessed. The expence of a preparatory seminary is thus saved, and will go a considerable way towards the support of an extensive system of education.

These remarks receive confirmation from the plan which has been pursued by the Hibernian Society. They support between thirty and forty schools: some of their teachers are from the Highlands; others are native Irish. They have published an Irish spelling book, which, together with the bible in the same language, are the only books for reading