promote cleanliness, encourage the progress of the arts of life, improve the domestic habits of the parishioners, and relieve their bodily wants. I have heard innumerable instances of the charitable exertions of the Protestant clergy, even of those who are commonly regarded as the most bigoted against the Romish religion. I have found them active in relieving the temporal wants of Roman Catholics, and liberal to them in many cases even beyond their means." Major Bunn (Evidence, 1832, p. 175) says, "the clergy were very charitable, giving, without distinction of sect, food and medicine, and every other assistance." Mr. Foster (Evidence, 1835, p. 104) says, "the clergy settle the disputes of the Roman Catholics, lend them money, distribute medicine, and superintend various charities." I close this class of witnesses with the manly testimony of Major Woodward, Inspector of Prisons, who says, "I must, as a public officer, whose duties call him into close contact with the people, through the most remote and deserted parts of the kingdom, declare, in common justice, that were it not for the residence and moral and political influence of the parochial clergy, all trace of refinement and civilization would disappear." (Applause.)

I shall show you also that the advantages of the residence of the clergy are quite appreciated by the Roman Catholic peasantry. One witness before the Committee of 1825, p. 446, says, "that in the last time of scarcity the assistance received in various parishes from the Protestant clergy was essential to the existence of the people. No difference was made between Roman Catholics and Protestants." The Rev. Mr. Blakely says, "there is nothing which I could not make the people do; they come to me in all difficulties, and I settle their disputes." The Rev. G. Dwyer (Evidence, 1832, p. 90) said, that, in speaking to a Roman Catholic about the Protestant Church, he said, "why should not we have the benefit of a church here, and a resident minister among us?" then he adds, “I know the value that the peasantry set upon the houses of the Protestant clergy. They are the resort of the people when they are in distress, or sick; when they want advice they look to them for protection; receive medicine, wine, and flannel, when they are convalescent." But these may appear suspicious witnesses. We turn to others, of whom there can be no suspicion. Major Bunn (Evidence, Lords, 1832, p. 175) says, "the clergy are popular with their Roman Catholic parishioners.' Speaking of one, he says, "there was not a Catholic about that would not give him his labour, or lend him anything that he wanted, or give him any assistance whatever." Sir J. Harvey, Inspector-General of Leinster, says, "in any statement I make, I beg to observe generally, that I rest it upon official documents in the possession of the Irish Government, and upon information acquired during a period of four years, that I have been in my present situation, passing through the country in all directions, communicating with persons of all ranks, professing no political opinion myself, received with hospitality by persons of all creeds and of all political opinions. From such sources of information I am enabled to state that the general feeling of the lower orders of the population towards the Protestant clergy was one of unbounded respect; they looked up to them as among the best resident gentry in the country. In all times of difficulty and distress

they were the first persons to whom the Catholic poor thought of applying. They knew that they were addicted to charity, that they made no distinction of creed in those soliciting their relief, and nothing could be more unbounded than the feeling of respect and confidence that appeared to me to be placed in them in general." And again (Evidence, 1832, p. 12), "the Protestant clergy are considered as among the very best of the resident gentry in Ireland. I would particularize Graigue and Knocktopher, in which the disturbance began. The deputation of farmers, which came to Dr. Hamilton, were asked by him, what do you want with me—are you tired of me? They said, 'No, sir! we are not tired of you; we should never get a better. You have resided amongst us—you have spent your income among us—and you have done us all the good you can."" In a word, to express these views in the language of Lord Lansdowne, who, on proposing to place in every parish of Ireland a resident minister, says, "If any improvement is to be effected in the condition of Ireland, it must be effected through the instrumentality of the Church, through the residence of a parochial clergy. I consider the permanent residence of a Protestant clergyman on his living to be most beneficial in its results. I can assure the House that the utility of having a Protestant minister permanently resident among his flock, even though he may not be the minister of religion to the majority of his parish, will be beyond all calculation. The Protestant clergyman will be to his parish a minister of peace, for he will, by his station and his constant residence, have constant opportunities of conciliating their good-will, by sympathising in their cares and distresses, and by doing them a variety of good offices. If we strip the Protestant parochial clergy of all those causes of irritation which exist as to the exaction of tithes if we relieve the Establishment from the odium attached to it in consequence of the collection of vestry cess—if we place in every parish in Ireland men of independence, as parochial priests, we shall establish a firm link of connexion between the Protestant clergy and the Catholic population, which will be found most advantageous to the Established Church, and which will lead to the welfare and happiness of the people of Ireland.” Such is the evidence given of the benefits which result from the residence of the Protestant clergy in Ireland.

It may be said the same effect might result from the residence of the Roman Catholic priest. The contrary is notorious. The work of the priest, as Mr. Croly, one of them, has told us, is certainly not one which can either have a moral or a civilizing influence. “The entire system," he says, "at present pursued by the Irish Catholic clergy, as to money matters, is to make the very most of their ministry, and to render every part of religion subservient to considerations of selfinterest." Religion is used as an instrument of money to themselves, not of morals to the people. But not only do the priests not improve the morals of the people, they abet their crimes. I shall not refer to the numerous proofs of this presented elsewhere;* I shall merely express it in the words of Mr. Croly:-" The priests have assisted in forming and fitting the unhappy multitude for the perpetration of every

See Ireland.-Policy of reducing the Established Church, &c.

species of outrage and crime. While their congregations have engaged in sedition and insubordination, in murder and massacre, they, instead of setting their faces against these things, and preaching the doctrines of the Gospel, have been the instigators of the misguided multitude." Ballyheagh is a memorable instance of this: many others might be cited. The connexion of the priests with the Ribbonmen and the Whitefeet, their political conduct, the turbulence of their dispositions, the profligacy of their morals, the corruption of their lives,-all these prevent them from being moral instructors to the peasantry. They may assist in degrading, but they can have no efficacy in raising them. Indeed so thoroughly is the worthlessness of their character appreciated by the peasantry, that no Irish peasant thinks of placing money as a trust in the hands of a priest, and, as Mr. Inglis tells us, the Roman Catholics who emigrate to Canada send their money home through the hands of the Protestant clergymen, whom, at their death, they leave as their executor.

But it must be observed that, to effect the improvement of a country, will require not only the attention of resident gentlemen to the bodily wants and manners of a peasantry; we require further, and above all, that they should watch over the work of popular education. I do not mean, by education, teaching children to read and write ;-these are the mere instruments of education: I mean training children in sound principles and sound habits, such as will make them active and temperate, orderly and happy. Mr. Grant (now Lord Glenelg) most truly expressed this in the House of Commons, April 22, 1822. There was plenty of the knowledge of reading and writing in Ireland, and schoolmasters to teach it; but the books read only led to an increase of vice and crime, and the schoolmasters were the fomentors of passion and sedition. "The state of Ireland," he adds, "affords a strong proof that education, in the proper sense of the term, consists not merely in communicating the elementary part, the mere instruments of knowledge; that we do in fact nothing, or worse than nothing, unless the education which we give extends to the inculcation of moral and religious principles." I need hardly say, that no education can be termed religious which is not drawn from the Bible. To this education the Roman Catholic priests are opposed; they oppose it on principle, they have opposed it vehemently: their bishops, as Bishop Hussey, Dr. Doyle, Dr. Murray, excommunicated parents for sending their children to Scripture schools; their priests having denounced those schools; it was, in fact, the fury of their resistance to these schools which induced the Government to frame the national system of education. For a time it was indeed pretended that the priests opposed the Hibernian or Kildare Schools, because they had a proselytizing character; but when the matter was probed by the Education Commissioners, it was proved that they had no otherwise a proselytizing character than as they enforced the reading of the Scriptures; and then, when pushed on this head, the priests, with Dr. Murray at their head, admitted that the reading of the Scriptures in the school was enough, in their mind, to constitute a fundamental objection. It would be easy to show that they have not changed their ground in the present national system, but that, whatever

NO. III.

was its theory, they take care that in practice the religion of the Bible shall not be wrought into the hearts and heads of the children. Yet it is that education, and that alone, which can raise the character of the peasantry of Ireland; and it is to the want of that education, and to the influence of the priests in precluding it, that the degraded state of the peasantry is to be attributed. Mr. Burnett, the Independent minister of Cork (Com. 1828, p. 299) says, that "the great evil of Ireland is the ignorance of the peasantry. The obstacles to education arise chiefly from the Roman Catholic priesthood; the people are disposed to receive education, but the priests check that disposition; the people wish to receive and read the Scriptures, the priests prohibit attendance at all schools where the Bible is read. The people are very unwilling to obey, but the priests compel them, by threatening them with the loss of sacraments. The immoral books read in the hedge-schools were never discountenanced by the priests, who could have removed them at once, if they had been so disposed." (p. 469.) "Every species of education has been opposed by the priests of the south of Ireland; they do nothing to promote it, except in towns, where, from the efforts of Protestants in the cause of education, they feel themselves compelled to do something; but in the country it is altogether neglected." Mr. Blake, a Roman Catholic (Com. 1825, p. 146), says, that in proportion to the increased information of the people, the influence of the priests would be diminished; and Mr. Burnett, who has watched the practical working of the power of the priests, says that the education of the peasantry, and the permanency of the priests', power, are things incompatible. If, therefore, according to Mr. Grant, a religious education is necessary to raise the people, that education will always be, as it has always been, obstructed by the priesthood. But, on the contrary, it has been promoted, and of late years, most vigorously, by the exertions of the Established clergy. On this point the testimony is clear and strong. Mr. Grant (April 22, 1822) says, "I am bound to say that, among

the most strenuous advocates of education, and who have in fact been the most active in promoting it, are to be found the great body of the Established clergy in Ireland." Mr. Burnett, whose opposition to the Church makes his testimony valuable, says (Lords' Com. 1825, p. 471) that religious and educational Societies, which he thinks calculated to be very useful, and to contribute to the good of the Roman Catholics, have been formed in different parts of Ireland, and that in these the clergy of the Established Church have taken an active part. He says that the improvement in the conduct of the clergy in this respect has been most remarkable; "their feelings have been drawn forth, their views have been enlarged, they have acted together, for the improvement of the country, they are now more men of religion than men of the world." It is their active occupation in these educational Societies, he says, which has roused against them the opposition of the Roman Catholic priests. Dr. Doyle bears a similar testimony, for he says (Lords' Com. 1832, p. 341)," Latterly, unfortunately for themselves and for the country, the Protestant clergy have almost universally been inflamed by over zeal for religion." I might give, as a beautiful illustration of this, the activity and success of Archdeacon French, in a

parish near Ballinasloe, County Galway. As recorded in the Com. 1825, p. 728, he opened five schools, where the Bible was taught, containing 400 children, of whom 330 were Roman Catholics. In these schools he and his masters endeavoured to impress them with the principles of the Gospel; and on being asked whether the priest did not oppose this, he says, they continued their opposition for years; "but what matters it whether we have the priest or not, provided we have the people?" and however great the opposition of the priest, "I am a living instance," he adds, "that it may be overcome: by assiduity, perseverance, and great tenderness with the people, all obstacles will give way. A Gospel education brings the Protestant clergyman into connexion with the Roman Catholic parents; and if a child absent himself, the clergyman visits the cabin to inquire into the cause, and an intercourse springs up from these kindly visits, that takes away prejudice. Then," he adds, and so well illustrates my argument, "the effect of this education in his parish has been the greatest improvement in the manners and habits of the people." It was by such means-by the schools planted and watched over by the clergy, in which the children were trained according to the Bible, added to the preaching of the clergy, that so singular a change was effected in the condition of Scotland.

But here an objection may very naturally be offered. If such, it may be said, is the tendency of an Established Church, if such was the effect of the Established Church, as Mr. Hume has shown, in Scotland, how do you reconcile this theory of yours with the actual state of Ireland? Ireland has had an Established Church for three centuries-she has enjoyed all the singular benefits of this system, and what has been the result? On your own showing, ignorance, and vice, and misery prevail. The Established Church, then, has been useless. If, however, Mr. Hume is right in attributing to the parochial clergy of Scotland the change in its civilization, it is evident that the instrument which was so effectual in one country cannot be wholly useless in another. Is it not more consistent with analogy to suppose that the instrument has not been used aright, or has been allowed to lie unused? I will inquire, however, into the facts of the case. I am not called upon to justify the English policy which has been pursued towards Ireland. I am not here to palliate or to justify the acts of successive Administrations. If, indeed, I were to speak my mind, and to speak of the policy of England towards Ireland, only since the Reformation, I should say that nothing could be more careless, selfish, or venal than that policy has been. When England established a Protestant Church in Ireland, the objects to which it proposed to turn that Church, partook of the general character of its policy. Henry VIII. did, indeed, what was done in Scotland; he set up parish schools, and instituted parish churches; but the only use to which he seemed to consider these could be applied, was to make the people submissive to the English Government. He thought nothing of their moral improvement; he looked only to their political subjection, and accordingly he perverted and destroyed the whole system of education. The parish schools were to be used to enforce the English language and the English dress, and the Church was abused for the same purposes.