ACADEMICAL EDUCATION IN IRELAND.
Another scheme, emanating from government, for the improvement of the Irish people, was a plan for the extension of academical education in Ireland. This measure was developed by the secretary of state for the home department. On moving for leave to bring in the bill, on the 9th of May, Sir James Graham said that the object in bringing it forward was to improve the social condition of Ireland. The difficulty of accomplishing such an object, he said, would be discerned, when he stated that the plan which he conceived to be the most essential was the diffusion of the benefits of education among the higher classes of the people. Religious differences formed the great obstacle to the adjustment of the general question of education in Ireland. For a long series of years the religion of the majority of the Irish people had been treated by the state as hostile. That notion, however, had been gradually abandoned: the penal laws had either been removed, or were in the course of removal, although traces of them were still perceptible, and operating most noxiously in their interference with the education of the people. Sir James Graham next proceeded to discuss what was the best mode of educating the people of Ireland, contending that it consisted in the absence of all religious tests. It was on this principle that the bill he proposed was founded. Government recommended to the house the establishment of three provincial institutions for education in Ireland, and founded upon the same principles as the metropolitan colleges of London and Edinburgh. Cork was proposed as the site of the college for the south; Galway, or Limerick, for the west; and Deny, or Belfast, for the north of Ireland. He could not pledge himself for the exact amount of the expense which would be necessary to carry this proposal into execution; but he conceived that £30,000 would be wanted for the erection of each college; and he would therefore mention £100,000 as a sum amply sufficient for that purpose. He further recommended the sum of £6000 for each of the colleges, to meet the annual expenses of the officers of these institutions, and of the prizes to be established for the encouragement of learning. Sir James Graham then gave a sketch of the different officers whom he would establish in these institutions. In each college there was to be a principal and ten or twelve professors; and at Belfast and Cork there would be a medical school attached to each college. The professors were to be nominated by the crown; and the crown was to possess the power of removing them for good cause. There were no professorships of divinity to be established; but religion was not to be neglected; on the contrary, every facility would be given for the voluntary endowment of theological professorships; but the attendance at these lectures would not be compulsory, for the fundamental principle of the measure would be the avoidance of all interference, positive or negative, in all matters affecting the conscience. The right honourable baronet went on to state that there was already an academical institution at Belfast for the Presbyterians of the north of Ireland, which was supported by a parliamentary grant, at the cost of £2100 per annum; and government proposed to continue this grant. There was another subject, he said, with which, although a difficult one, he was prepared to grapple. The bill only founded colleges in Ireland: the question was:—“Should these three colleges be incorporated into one great central university, or should parliament invest each of them with the power of granting degrees in the arts, sciences, and medicine?” He proposed that the bill should afford her majesty means to establish a new university in Dublin for this purpose—Trinity College being founded on Protestant principles, and therefore excluding Roman Catholics or dissenters from all privileges—or to incorporate into the existing university these colleges. Lord Palmerston promised ministers the fair and honest support of the Whigs. The measure was opposed by Sir Robert Inglis; but leave was given to bring in the bill, and it was read a first time. On the motion for the second reading, which was moved on the 2nd of June, a debate was commenced, which continued by adjournment for two nights. The debate was opened by Lord John Manners, who moved that it be read a second time that day six months: his belief was, that if it passed in its present shape it would prove a curse, and not a boon to Ireland. Sir James Graham defended it from this charge. He proceeded to state some proposed alterations in the bill. The first change proposed was with regard to the visitorial power of the crown. He proposed to give the crown the power of appointing visitors, which visitors would have authority to inquire into any abuse which might arise in these institutions, and to apply an effective remedy thereto. He also now thought that there should be attached to each of the colleges a hall or halls in which religious instructions might be given to the students by pastors of their own religion; and he was disposed to add a clause to that effect. The Roman Catholic bishops had presented a memorial praying that a fair proportion of the professors and office-bearers in the new colleges should be members of the Roman Catholic church; that Roman Catholic professors should fill the chairs of history, logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, geology, and anatomy; that there should be a Roman Catholic chaplain in each of the colleges, to superintend the moral and religious instruction of the Roman Catholic pupils, and that each of these chaplains should be provided with a suitable salary; and that all Roman Catholic professors should be appointed to a local board of trustees. Sir James Graham could not consent to such demands: as a majority of the students would belong to the Roman Catholic church, it was probable that a majority of the professors would belong to it also; but they could not be exclusively provided by the measure. Mr. E. B. Roche, who had at first hailed the measure as a boon, now declared his intention of opposing its further progress, because the nomination of all the professorships was in the crown, and there was no “fixity of tenure” for any administration which entertained friendly sentiments toward the Roman Catholic population of Ireland. Sir Robert Inglis repeated that this bill was “a gigantic scheme of godless education;” and agreed with Mr. O’Connell in thinking that these new institutions would be deficient in that species of education which was the only legitimate one for an immortal being—education in the duties which every man had to perform, and the principles on which those duties rested. The second reading was supported by Lord John Russell, who nevertheless wished to amend it in committee, and Lord Mahon, and Messrs. Redington, Milnes, Osborne, Wyse, and R. M. O. Ferrol; and opposed by Messrs. Acland, B. Hope, and Hamilton. Mr. Acland called attention to the fact that some of the speakers in behalf of the bill gave an unqualified support to it; and contended that not one of them had proved that it would give such education as would be useful in any respect to Ireland. Sir Robert Peel spoke at great length in behalf of the measure; and announced that, if adopted, and the plan worked well, government would consider whether the three colleges should be incorporated into a university, and what power that university should have in conferring degrees. After a few words from Messrs. M. J. O’Connell and Shaw in favour of the second reading, though not of entire approval of the measure, the amendment was negatived by a majority of three hundred and eleven against forty-six, and the bill was read a second time. Upon the resolution of the committee of the whole house for the grant being reported, Mr. O’Connell took occasion to declare his protest against it; and to thank Sir Robert Inglis for calling it “a godless system of education.” Subsequently, on the committal of the bill, he again declared his objections to its principle: and Lord John Russell coincided with him in his statement, that unless the bill was made acceptable to the Roman Catholics, by providing for the religious instruction of the pupils, it would be useless. On the first clause, relating to the grant of £100,000 for building the three colleges and necessary buildings, Lord John Russell proposed, as an amendment, to include among the buildings to be thus paid for, halls for the accommodation of the students. This motion, however, was negatived; as was also another, moved by Mr. Wyse, on the clause which declared that the appointment of professors should be vested in the crown, and after a time limited should revert to parliament. Mr. Wyse desired that the professors should be chosen, after an investigation into their qualifications, by a competent board of examiners; but Sir Robert Peel opposed the amendment, as premature, and likely to operate to the discouragement of the students.. Several other amendments were proposed in committee, but they were all rejected; and on the third reading Mr. Bernai Osborne introduced a collateral discussion upon the revenues and management of Trinity College, Dublin, by proposing the following resolution:—“That an humble address be presented to her majesty, praying that she will be graciously pleased to direct an inquiry to be made into the amount of the revenue of Trinity College, Dublin, from rents of college-lands, endowments, and bequests, fees on matriculation, on taking degrees, and from every other source; also into the manner in which that income is expended; the number of senior and junior fellows, of professors, scholars, and all other officers of the college, with the amount of salary and allowances to each of them, with a view to ascertain whether the income or funds at present applied solely to the benefit of Protestants in Trinity College, Dublin, might not be beneficially extended so as to make Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters eligible if otherwise qualified, to all scholarships, and to all such fellowships, professorships, and other offices in Trinity College, Dublin, as are not intended for ecclesiastical purposes immediately connected with ecclesiastical endowment.” Mr. Osborne, in support of this resolution, contended that Trinity College was not founded with Protestant money, but with the property of the Roman Catholic Earl of Desmond, confiscated by Elizabeth in 1592; and that it was not until forty years afterwards, in the time of Strafford, that Roman Catholics were mentioned, and rendered ineligible for the professorships. The motion was opposed by Sirs Thomas Freemantle and R. Inglis, the latter of whom denied that the college was founded with Roman Catholic money. It was erected on the site of the old monastery of All-Hallows, which having become vested in the mayor and citizens of Dublin, by grant from Henry the Eighth, was by them given for the establishment of this college. The funds for its erection and endowment were raised by a contribution among the gentry of Ireland, for which purpose a circular letter was sent to them by the Lord-deputy Fitzwilliam, the archbishop, and the lords of the council in 1791: the original foundation of the college might, therefore, he said, be as purely Protestant as could be imagined. The motion was supported by Messrs. Warburton and Shiel, the latter of whom contended that Queen Elizabeth’s charter did not contemplate exclusively Protestant objects. But it was rather on the ground of justice than on such grounds, he said, that this subject ought to be discussed. He remarked:—“There are seventy scholarships; the scholars have lodging and commons for a nominal sum, with £10 a-year and £40 a-year in the last three years: the scholarships being exclusively Protestant. So long,” he continued, “as you keep up Trinity College in its supremacy you will make your measure of academical education, for all political purposes, an entire failure. Your provincial academies will be marked with all the characteristics of mediocrity, which will only render the elevation of Trinity College more conspicuous by the inferiority with which it will be surrounded. How stunted and dwarfed the groves of our new academies when compared with the rich luxuriance of the gardens of Trinity! I had a thousand times rather you had applied your £18,000 a-year to the establishment of new fellowships and new professorships in the metropolitan and national institutions; because if you had done so, Englishmen would have got a value—a value in peace, a value in contentment, a value in pacificatory results—for their money. Now your measure, for political purposes—I say, for political purposes, though I won’t deny that the advantages of education will be distributed to a certain extent—but your measure, though for political purposes it may partially succeed, yet as a message of peace it will be a failure.” Sir Robert Peel contended that he and his colleagues had exerted themselves to make equality in Ireland, at the expense of giving umbrage to the majority of the people in this country. He appealed to the enlarged grant to Maynooth, and to the way in which the charitable bequests act had been carried out, as showing the conciliatory disposition of the government. Yet, after all their exertions for peace they were doomed to be disappointed. He regretted Mr. Shiel’s speech on account of the use that would be made of it in this country. It would be said—“See how unavailing all attempts are to conciliate the Roman Catholics of Ireland. Regardless of the warnings, the feelings, and fears of their friends, they hoped by proposing certain measures, that they would make an impression on the Irish mind; but, instead of this, the leading Roman Catholic member in the house of commons gets up and tells them that, unless they went ten times as far as they had yet gone, they would have an insurrection in Ireland.” This he believed, however, was not the feeling of the Irish people; he believed that government had made an impression on the feelings of the Irish people. After a few words from Lord John Russell, the house divided on Mr. Osborne’s amendment, which was negatived by a majority of one hundred and sixty-eight against ninety-one, and the bill was then read a third time and passed.
The second reading of the Irish education bill was moved in the house of lords by Lord Stanley on the 21st of July. The Earl of Shrewsbury opposed the measure. Government he said, had been overawed by the fanatic feeling of the English people; and he urged ministers to withdraw the bill for a season, and reintroduce it in a shape better suited to the wants and wishes of Ireland. The bill was further opposed by the Earl of Carnarvon, who protested against the divorce of religion from education, and expressed his fears that such a precedent might be applied to Oxford and Cambridge. The bill was defended by the Duke of Newcastle, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Bishop of Norwich, and Lords Brougham, Beaumont, and Clifford. The second reading was affirmed without a division; and subsequently the bill passed through committee, and was read a third time without any fixed opposition.
COLONIAL POLICY.
In the early part of this session intelligence had arrived which announced a disastrous collision in New Zealand between the natives and the settlers at the Bay of Islands, and which terminated in defeat and serious loss on the part of the latter. This intelligence produced considerable sensation in the public mind, more especially among those connected with the colonists in those islands. The New Zealand Company loudly accused the colonial office, and the administration of the governor, Captain Fitzroy; while other parties contended that the evil which had arisen had been in a great measure induced by the company itself. The event became the subject of several discussions in parliament. The first of these discussions took place on the 11th of March, when Mr. Somes moved for all copies of correspondence between the colonial office and the governor of New Zealand, respecting the issue of debentures and the rendering them a legal tender in that colony, the taxes proposed in the legislative council, the outrages recently committed by the natives in the Bay of Islands, and a proclamation issued by the governor of New Zealand, allowing the sale of land by the natives at a less price than that fixed by the act of the 5th and 6th Victoria. This motion was seconded by Mr. Aglionby, who asked whether government was not aware that in that colony inconvertible paper had been made by the governor a legal tender for sums as low as two shillings? whether the governor had previously received authority by warrant from the colonial department to issue such debentures to the amount of £15,000? whether it was true that in a colony that was to flourish by its agriculture a tax of 10s. had been levied on every sheep imported, and a similar tax on every dog imported to herd them? what the house thought of a governor who placed a tax of £1 on every house in which more than three rooms were inhabited? and whether the governor had vindicated the character of this country by protecting the whites from the outrages of the natives? Nine of our countrymen, he continued, had been tomahawked after they had given up their arms: had the governor made inquiry into the circumstances of this massacre? or had he gone, as was reported, to the murderous tribes, and declared himself satisfied? He also wanted to know in what manner the honour of the British flag had been vindicated, after it had been cut down at the custom-house; and made several inquiries respecting the sale of lands in New Zealand, observing that when he had obtained an answer to his questions, he should bring forward a distinct motion on the subject, and should call for further information. Mr. Hope, the under-secretary, protested against the course pursued by Mr. Aglionby, demanding why he did not boldly come forward, make his charge against government, and endeavour to substantiate it. He proceeded, however, to answer the questions put by Mr. Aglionby. The government, he said, had disapproved of the debentures issued by the local governor, ami they had been withdrawn. Respecting the taxes imposed in New Zealand he knew nothing, as government had been an unusually long time without intelligence from that colony. With respect to the outrages at the Bay of Islands, troops had been sent for their repression; and the governor, he thought had sufficiently vindicated the honour of the British flag. On the other subjects of interrogation he had no information to communicate. Other members took part in the discussion; and finally the motion was agreed to.
A more lengthened discussion on the condition of this colony took place on the 17th of June, on which occasion Mr. Charles Buller brought forward a series of resolutions relating to the policy pursued towards New Zealand. In his speech he contended that the colonization of New Zealand, after it had been successfully commenced by the New Zealand Company, had been marred by the interference of her majesty’s government. He proceeded to show the superiority of the scheme of colonization adopted by the company with that pursued by the colonial office. After pointing out the great importance of New Zealand in a national and political point of view, and the fair field which it afforded for the development of the capital and labour of England, he showed that at the time when it was first colonized, strong reasons existed for colonizing it regularly, lest it should be colonized irregularly. The whole of the native population did not exceed 100,000 souls, and they were principally concentrated in the northern parts of the island. Was that a circumstance which ought to prevent any other country from colonizing the southern parts of it, which were almost totally unoccupied, or the northern parts, which were almost all left uncultivated? It was wicked to deny the right of civilized man to cultivate the wilderness; but he was bound to treat the savage with kindness, and to communicate to him the advantages of civilization. The New Zealand Company had treated the savage with kindness, making him ample compensation for the land purchased of him, by setting a part of it to his service after it had been brought into cultivation. The colonial office, however, conceived that its duty was discharged towards the savage when it had obtained for him a large price for his land, and had not taken any measure to apply it to his future amelioration. Mr. Buller next entered into a minute history of the proceedings of the colonial authorities in New Zealand, from the time of the conclusion of the treaty of Waitangi, down to the present period; and vindicated the conduct of the New Zealand Company, showing that their settlements had been founded on a scale of liberality and munificence hitherto unknown in the history of English colonization. Their principal object had been merely to protect themselves from loss, whilst engaged in diffusing the arts and industry along with the laws and language of England; yet Lord Stanley had adopted measures which had marred all their prospects of future success. Mr. Buller proceeded to enter into a discussion of the land question between Lord Stanley and the New Zealand Company. He contended that the company had a right to expect to be put in possession by government of the number of acres awarded to them; yet, after spending £800,000 of its own, and £300,000 more on credit, obtained from the public, it had not obtained the grant of a single acre. Its capital was exhausted; its proceedings were suspended; and, what was worse, the unhappy emigrants had been debarred from all access as owners to the land which they had purchased with hard cash in England. The crops which they had raised were destroyed by fire, and their lives had been menaced; and when they applied for redress to the colonial office, that aid had been coldly refused. They now apprehended a general massacre; and yet Captain Fitzroy prohibited them from arming themselves in self-defence. His policy had inspired the New Zealanders with an overweening confidence, and our countrymen with fierce resentment; and the consequence would be that the first would perish under the attacks of the last, as they would be no more in the hands of Englishmen than mere children in the hands of full-grown men. In conclusion, Mr. Buller expressed his conviction that Lord Stanley had put down the most promising experiment of colonization that had ever been attempted by England; and moved that the house resolve itself into a committee of the whole house to consider the resolutions. The motion was seconded by Mr. Milnes, who contended that a case had been made out for the interference of the house. Mr. Hope defended the character of Lord Stanley at great length, denying that his lordship was influenced by any hostility either to colonization or to the New Zealand Company. He was not prepared, he said, to justify all the acts of Captain Fitzroy; but he was convinced that he did himself frequent injustice by the scanty reports he sent home. In reply to the allegation that the colonial office was chargeable with all the disasters of the colony, he insisted that they were mainly attributable to the hasty proceedings of the New Zealand Company, in taking possession of that island without authority from the crown. Mr. Hope next proceeded to give an account of the state of the colony according to the latest advices received from thence; endeavouring to show that the settlers and the natives generally were on good terms, and that there was no fear of a collision between them. He concluded by entering into a consideration of the resolutions, and by declaring that government would not consent to them. The debate was then adjourned, and on the following day it was resumed by Captain Rous, who brought some grave charges against the New Zealand Company. He did so, he said, for the purpose of giving the directors of that company, who had been described as philanthropic gentlemen, an opportunity of replying to those charges. Mr. Aglionby, in reply, protested against them; but declined to enter into a refutation of them on the present occasion: the details of them all had been inquired into in the previous session by the select committee, and on every one of them a verdict of acquittal had been given by that committee. Other members who took part in the debate for the motion were Lords Howick and John Russell, and Messrs. Ellice, Hawes, Mangles, Colquhoun, and Shiel; against it, Sirs Robert Peel, James Graham, Robert Inglis, and Howard Douglas and Mr. Cardwell. After a brief reply from Mr. Buller, the house divided on the motion, which was negatived by a majority of two hundred and twenty-three against one hundred and seventeen.
Towards the end of the session the New Zealand question again became the subject of a lengthened investigation. Intelligence continued to be received from New Zealand of the hostile disposition and violent conduct of the natives, and the precarious tenure on which the lives and properties of the settlers depended. Under these circumstances, on the 21st of July, a petition was presented by the New Zealand Company, praying the house “not to separate without taking measures calculated to allay the apprehensions prevalent among the colonists of New Zealand, and to revive confidence in the company, by which its usefulness would be restored, the friendly communication between the colonists and the aboriginal races renewed, and the prosperity of New Zealand secured.” On the same day Mr. C. Buller proposed a resolution to the effect, that “the house regarded with regret and apprehension the state of affairs in New Zealand, and that those feelings were greatly aggravated by the want of any sufficient evidence of a change in the policy which had led to such disastrous results.” A long debate ensued, which was continued by adjournment; but on a division the motion was negatived by one hundred and fifty-five against eighty-nine. A few nights afterwards, on the vote being proposed, in a committee of supply of £22,565 for New-Zealand, Mr. J. A. Smith stated that negociations had been resumed between the Colonial office and the New Zealand Company, and that the result only waited the final approval of Lord Stanley, who was absent from town. He asked, if the hope of a favourable issue were not realized, whether Sir Robert Peel would afford another opportunity, before the close of the session, for some remarks on the present state of New Zealand, Sir Robert Peel promised to do so; but expressed a strong desire to co-operate in the colonization of New Zealand, and to bring the differences with the company to a conclusion. It would seem that government were now, indeed, convinced that the policy of the government of New Zealand was unfavourable to the prospects of the colony; for about this time Captain Fitzroy was recalled. Government also appears to have been convinced that some better policy must be adopted; for Mr. Hope, on the occasion of the last debate on New Zealand, stated, that a gentleman unconnected with the subject had been called in to give his advice, and he was now engaged in arranging the matter for his full consideration.