teresting document, one which, on many accounts, we are led to notice with peculiar feelings.

Our readers will recollect that very early in our existence as Christian Examiners, we were called upon to do our duty in expressing faithfully our sentiments upon the plans proposed in the Commissioners' First Report. We felt, and we expressed, every respect for some, at least, of the persons selected as Commissioners; and the industry, ability, and, at the conclusion of their task, we shall not hesitate to say, the fidelity which they have exhibited in the performance of it, have proved them every way entitled to that respect. We felt, at the same time, and we expressed our unqualified disapprobation of the plan which they proposed for the national education of Ireland: indeed so impracticable did it appear to us, that (p. 151, Vol. I.) we ventured thus to express ourselves-" We feel assured that such a system as this never can be acted upon." The Report now before us comes forward to justify the prediction which we then ventured to make; and in its very first page we meet with the announcement of its complete failure. The Commissioners inform us that they had been requested by his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, to submit to the test of actual experiment, the plan of education recommended in their First Report, and then they proceed to say, "It has become our duty to represent to your Majesty that in our attempt to effect that object, we have experienced difficulties which have not only prevented us from establishing schools in which the experiment might have been fully tried, but have induced us to desist altogether from any further proceedings in that undertaking."

We cannot help considering it to have been a very wise proceeding on the part of his Excellency the Marquis Wellesley thus to call on the Commissioners themselves to put into execution their own plan; that the child might have in its introduction into the world every advantage which could possibly be derived from parental partiality and care; and we cannot help suspecting that his Excellency betrayed his more than doubt of its ever reaching maturity when he thus imposed upon the Commissioners the task of being its nursing fathers.

The Ninth Report is accordingly a history of the circumstances connected with the experiment, and furnishes a detail of its early and total failure, and in so doing, gives a lesson which it might be well if some persons would learn, as to the real character of those who stand in the way of the national education of Ireland: and as to the hopelessness of any beneficial result from that principle of conciliation from which some were inclined to expect so much.

The difficulties which put an end to the Commissioners' Utopian scheme of conciliatory education occurred in limine,—“ Previous to the actual establishment of any of the schools which had been recommended in our report to his Majesty," says the Report, "it became indispensably necessary in the first instance to arrange the books the use of which formed an essential part of the plan so recommended. Until this preliminary step should be secured, it would have been obviously premature to appoint masters and

provide school-houses." This arrangement of books was the preliminary step in this conciliatory system, and here occurred the irremoveable difficulty.

The Commissioners, if not previously acquainted with the character of the persons with whom they had to deal, had certainly ground to expect that in this preliminary step they would have found no difficulties. They refer to a minute of a conference held between this board and the four Roman Catholic Archbishops on the subject, bearing date January 8, 1825. Doctor Murray, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, therein stated" that no objection would be made to a harmony of the Gospels being used in the general education which the children should receive in common, nor to a volume containing extracts from the Psalms, Proverbs, and Book of Ecclesiasticus, nor to a volume containing the history of the creation, of the deluge, of the Patriarchs, of Joseph, and of the deliverance of the Israelites, extracted from the Old Testament, and that he was satisfied no difficulties in arranging the details of such works would arise 'on the part of the Roman Catholic clergy." They were not, however, long left to the pleasing delusion, that their conciliatory schemes would prove effectual. As their first step they brought "White's Diatessaron" under the consideration of the four Archbishops of the Roman Catholic Church, for the purpose of ascertaining whether it would meet their approbation, or whether they would suggest any alteration in it, which they might submit to the authorities of the Established Church for their consideration. They had a conference during two days with the Roman Catholic Archbishops on the subject, which is found at large in the Appendix, and contains not merely a full exposition of the objections they felt to the Diatessaron, but of the views which they entertained as to the construction of any such works as were the objects of the Commissioners' search.

We should recommend the reading of that conference to all persons who wish to learn from the mouths of Roman Catholics themselves, how far their professions of conciliation are to be depended upon. We shall give a few extracts. The four Archbishops at first rather declined giving any opinion without consulting the other prelates; at last, however, they abandoned this prudent caution, and we have the following from Dr. Curtis :

"Our opinion, if we were pressed to give it before we consult our friends, would certainly be unfavourable to the work. The aspect of the book and the manner of expression in it would render it absolutely inadmissible.

"You are aware that it does not differ from the Evangelical Life of Christ, except being taken from a different version, and not containing so much matter? "It is a different version, but it is also a Protestant who speaks in it on religious matters to Catholics, which never can be permitted. We never can permit any but a Roman Catholic to do that. The life of Christ, by Murphy, is much more extensive than that; it is a very excellent thing. It employs the words of Scripture, but they are accommodated by the author, and he is a Catholic, and none but a Catholic we wish should explain the Scriptures to them. If religious instruction is to be given before Catholic children, it must be by a Catholic. We do not wish it should be done at all in the general instruction, but in the private instruction alone; VOL. VI.

R

but if it is done it must be by a Catholic, it must not be read to them by any other person-not even the Lord's Prayer. It is a thing we will not permit.”

How soon these Roman Catholic Archbishops forgot their de claration of the 8th of January preceding, that "no difficulties in arranging such works would arise on the part of the Roman Catholic clergy."

"The Commissioners wish to ask, what work was in Dr. Curtis's contemplation as a harmony of the Gospels, when last year it was agreed that such a work could without difficulty be arranged for the use of children in schools for general instruction?

Dr. Curtis." More or less such a work as Murphy's, which was proposed at the time that might be very acceptable; there might be some annotations to be corrected, but such a work as that would meet with no objection; the words of Scripture there put down are the words of the Vulgate, and not only the Vulgate, but the Douay version; we conceive that such a harmony as that could be given to Catholic children; whether it should be given to Protestant children we do not say, we are not asked upon that subject: but to Catholic children such a work as that might be given, but the title, the heading and phraseology, and every thing must be done in a Catholic way, which never can be the case with the book now submitted to us; no one can ever make that book answer our purpose to be read before Catholic children."

The Commissioners then proceed to draw their attention to two books mentioned in the same minutes of January 28, which had been at that time shewn to the prelates, and to which no objection was then made, namely, a volume that contains extracts from the Psalms, Proverbs, and book of Ecclesiasticus, and a volume containing the history of the creation, deluge, of the Patriarchs, of Joseph, and the deliverance of the Israelites, taken from the Old Testament. They ask Dr. Curtis―

"Does it appear to you there would be any objection to either of those works? "No; they are to be given in the words of Scripture, or in the words of the author as Mr. Reeves does pretty fully. If the author adopts the sense, and accommodates the words to his own ideas, it is not the Scripture at all, it is only the substance; but if we profess to give the words of Scripture, they must be the very words of Scripture and no other."

"The books in question were specifically submitted to the Archbishops upon the occasion of our meeting last year, and it appears upon the most cursory inspection of them that they are wholly couched in the words of Scripture. The minute of the 8th of January expressly states that, that therefore precludes all idea of their being compiled as mere histories from any other sources or in any other shape than Scripture. We should wish to know whether it is your view that they should be adopted in schools of general instruction ?"

"Certainly; there could be no difficulty at all if they are in the words of the Douay version, if they are not they cannot be used. In one of them they are given as selections from Scripture, and as far as they go they are the Scriptures themselves; and the Scriptures themselves never can be read before our children except according to our own version: according to the Vulgate for those who understand the Vulgate, but for those who do not, it must be according to the Douay version, which is the only one we make use of. We do not say there could not be a better." "The fact being, that those two books (the subject of the present question,) are compiled in the language of the authorised version, but not involving, as we sup

pose according to our present information, any point in dispute between the two Churches, are we to understand that you consider them admissible or inadmissible in schools of general instruction?

"Inadmissible: even if they are upon the most innocent points in the world, if they are not in the self same words as our version."

Let the world from this judge of the dependence to be placed on Roman Catholics, when they assert their readiness to come into any conciliatory arrangement. As to one book, about which they had declared that there should arise no difficulties on the part of the Roman Catholic clergy, they put every obstacle in the way; as to two other books which they had seen, and to which they had promised that no objection should be made, they declare them inadmissible. If they had at first openly stated their objections, and declared that no concessions could be made on their part, they would indeed have proved the justice of that saying of a distinguished prelate of our church-"No_peace with Rome;" but they would have acted honestly. In the course which they have pursued, they have shewn to all the world that they have as little title to the praise of honesty as to that of conciliation.

But far as that which has been already quoted goes to prove the hopelesness of attempting to conciliate the Roman Catholics in the article of education, there is still more behind. After the Roman Catholic Archbishops had distinctly stated that all extracts that purport to be a translation from Scripture must, in order to be acceptable to Catholics, be rendered conformable to the translation approved of by the Catholic Church, that they must be in the very words of the Douay versión;-the Rev. Dr. Kelly is asked,

"If a work exactly corresponding with the two books that have been put into your hands were prepared in the Douay version for the use of the Roman Catholic children in schools of general instruction, and the works you have seen were put into the hands of Protestant children, would there be in your mind any objection to their reading in class in each other's hearing?

"I conceive there would be an objection to Catholic children listening to a version of the Scriptures which was not approved by our Church.

"Would you think the objection of such importance, that you would object to children going to any school in which such a rule of instruction should be enforced? "I think it would be an insurmountable objection.

"Would the utmost exertion be used to prevent the attendance of Roman Catholic children at such a school?

"I think it would meet with considerable opposition." -p. 41.

After this, is it too much to say, that it is quite vain to think of conciliating such men as these, and that no reliance can be placed on their liberal professions. We should certainly not have been disposed to have attributed any unreasonable despondency to the Commissioners, if they had in this stage of the business given up all hopes of success in establishing a combined system of education, and if, before the close of that very year, they had written to his Excellency to announce the abortion of their scheme.

We must, however, give them the praise of no common per

severance, in still persisting, and we are especially obliged to them because it enables us to contrast Protestant fairness and Protestant liberality, with Roman Catholic unfairness and illiberality. We shall give the very moderate expression of feeling, which the conference with the Roman Catholic Archbishops gave rise to in the words of the Commissioners themselves, p. 7. of their Report:

"Being led by this conference to the conclusion, that no selection from the Scriptures which we had seen would answer the proposed end, we applied to the Archbishop of Dublin, with whom we had previously communicated on the subject, and having explained to his Grace the general character of the compilation we sought for, and the difficulties which existed in the arrangement of it, we expressed our earnest wish that it should be prepared in the first instance under the direction and superintendence of the authorities of the Established Church."

We must be permitted to say that we strongly suspect, that the Commissioners never did make his Grace really acquainted with the difficulties which existed, or else that he would have requested to be excused from undertaking a work which from the spirit manifested by the Roman Catholic Archbishops, must have appeared utterly hopeless to any persons less sanguine than the Commissioners. But whatever hope might have lingered in their breasts, the Roman Catholic Archbishops were determined if possible to destroy it, and so on the 23d of January, 1826, Dr. Murray sends them the following letter with the resolutions of the Archbishops and bishops of the Roman Catholic church enclosed.

Letter from the Most Reverend Doctor Murray to the Commissioners of Education Inquiry; dated 41, North Cumberland-street, 23d January, 1826.

"Doctor Murray presents his compliments to the Commissioners of Education Inquiry; he is desired by the Catholic Archbishops and Bishops, now assembled in Dublin, to submit to them the enclosed Resolutions relative to the system of Edu- ́ cation proposed for the poor of Ireland. He is further prayed to state, that it would be highly gratifying to the Prelates to be informed, at the earliest convenience of the Commissioners, whether a system of general Education, founded on the prin ciples embodied in those Resolutions, would be likely to meet their views and receive their approbation.

"Commissioners of Education Inquiry, &c. &c. &c."

The Resolutions enclosed in this letter were as follows:"At a Meeting of the Catholic Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, held on the 21st of January, 1826, at the house of the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, the following Resolutions on the subject of National Education were unanimously adopted: "1. Resolved-That the admission of Protestants and Roman Catholics into the same schools, for the purpose of literary instruction, may, under existing circumstances, be allowed, provided sufficient care be taken to protect the religion of the Roman Catholic children, and to furnish them with adequate means of religious instruction,

2. Resolved-That in order to secure sufficient protection to the religion of Roman Catholic children under such a system of education, we deem it necessary that the master of each school, in which the majority of the pupils profess the Roman Catholic faith, be a Roman Catholic; and that in schools in which the Roman Catholic children form only a minority, a permanent Roman Catholic assistant be employed, and that such master and assistant be appointed upon the recommendation or with the express approval of the Roman Catholic Bishop of the