The heads of the Irish Colleges, united into a “happy family” University by the hands of a paternal Government, would either struggle with each other for supremacy, or enter into a compromise for peace sake, on some such plan as the following:—
After a few preliminary skirmishes, to try each other’s skill, in arranging a common curriculum in Morals or History, it would be found that profound and irreconcileable differences existed among the Colleges on the most elementary principles, and that it would be impossible for the heads of Trinity College, of St. Patrick’s College of Maynooth, of Queen’s College of Belfast, and of other institutions, to agree upon a common curriculum of education, or even of examination for Degrees, that would satisfy the reasonable and conscientious scruples of all parties.
Under these circumstances, a sort of bargain would be made between the heads of the various Colleges, who would agree to take each other’s certificates without challenge, and confer the Degrees recommended by each independently of the others.
The University and its Senate would thus become simply a machinery for authorizing the Students of the various Colleges to add certain letters, such as M. A., or LL. B., after their names; and it would become the interest of all the Colleges in which a really good education was given, that such letters should have a formal significance only; the education itself, testified by the addition of the name of the College, having alone a real market value readily appreciated by the public. Each College of reputation would be careful to have its own name inserted after the letters signifying the University Degree, and thus would be practically created as many Universities as there are Colleges in Ireland, and a disastrous competition downwards would be the inevitable result.
The Degrees of the so-called National University would be like the bills of a weak firm—dishonoured by the public unless endorsed by the name of a solvent trader—and the letters M. A., or LL. B., would become like the praises on a bad man’s gravestone, purchaseable at so much a letter.
I believe, therefore, that I am entitled to protest against the scheme of forming a National University by fusing together the different Colleges in Ireland, on the following grounds:—
- Because such a scheme for a National University would prove to be a failure, on account of the want of similarity in the Colleges composing the University.
- Because such a scheme would, in the long run, infallibly lower the standard and degrade the character of Irish University Degrees; a result that would prove peculiarly disastrous to the educated classes in Ireland.
[III. ROMAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND.]
Having disposed of the first two schemes for satisfying the demand of the Irish Catholics for University Education, and shown one to be impolitic, and the other to be injurious, it might naturally be expected that I should now proceed to advocate the advantages of the remaining plan, which consists in a Charter and Endowment for a Roman Catholic University in Ireland, in which the Irish Catholics and their Clergy should be allowed to arrange their own programme of University Education without the interference of Irish Protestants, or of English doctrinaires; but this course I feel to be unnecessary, as it mainly concerns Roman Catholics themselves to state their wishes and explain their views respecting it.