Samuel Haughton

“ Let us now inquire how the secularization of Trinity College would please the Roman Catholic party in Ireland. The Roman Catholic Clergy warn their flocks against Trinity College as a Protestant Institution, necessarily dangerous to the principles of Catholic Students; and, in thus warning them, they are practically wise, for it is simply impossible for seventy Catholics to associate with 1100 Protestants, as equals and fellow Students, without renouncing, more or less, the narrow views respecting Protestants that prevail among the higher circles of their Hierarchy. ”

“ All the Colleges in France are moulded upon the same type, from which no deviation is permitted; and all are under State control, which in France restrains freedom of education by the same trammels as freedom of speech, or liberty of the press. The Minister of Public Instruction can boast that when the clock strikes his telegraphed order sets in motion the tongues of his Professors in Paris, in Strasburgh, in Lyons, and that the same lectures, in almost the same words, are delivered within the same hour to all the educated youth of France. ”

“ I believe that all who are acquainted with the present condition of science and letters in the two countries will be disposed to agree in thinking that the intellect of France is cramped by the imperial cradle in which it is reared, while the genius of Germany is fostered by the freedom of thought, stimulated by such excellent, though diverse centres of development, as Vienna, Munich, Heidelberg, Bonn, or Berlin. ”

“ It cannot be believed by any one, that the passing of an Act of Parliament secularizing Trinity College would alter in the slightest degree the sentiments and wishes of the 1100 Students of the English Church, or those of the parents and guardians who placed them in Trinity College, knowing and expecting that they would there receive, not only a liberal education, but instruction and training in the principles of the Church of England. Those 1100 young and intelligent Students would still demand an education based upon religion ”

“ The lovers of the gorgeous Rose need not blush because she wants the colour and grace of the beautiful Lily; and I may well be pardoned for believing that no brighter or fairer flower blooms in the garden of the West, than the Tudor Rose planted in Dublin by the proud Elizabeth. ”

“ All other ancient Universities resemble the University of Trinity College in Dublin, in consisting of a single College possessing, either from the Pope or from the Crown, the University privilege of granting Degrees. [12]
In modern times, no nation but France has seen fit to depart from this ancient form of University Education; and in that country centralization is so popular and so complete, that the University of France, with its affiliated Colleges, has met with a success very certain not to follow a similar experiment in Ireland. ”

“ With the exception of Oxford and Cambridge, there is no example of an ancient University in Europe composed of a collection of free Colleges, united by the common bond of an University, of which all are members, and which conducts the Examinations for Degrees. ”

“ The tenant farmers of Ireland wish for fixity of tenure, and care but little for compensation for improvements, except as a means of obtaining a practical fixity of tenure; and they would, unquestionably, rejoice to see transferred to themselves, as occupiers of the soil, the rights now enjoyed by absentee noblemen and landlords. It is the opinion of many that the Land question cannot be settled without such a change of owners as would practically amount to a revolution. ”

“ Any person of education acquainted with Ireland knows the impossibility of fusing such distinct elements in a common crucible; and yet each system, in its way, is excellent, and will [14] produce good fruits, if left to develope itself, and not forced upon those who conscientiously dissent from its fundamental principles. ”

“ With respect to the question of the Church, the more intelligent laymen of the Irish National party openly avow their wish to alienate the property of the Church, on the ground that its existence forms a barrier to the union of Irish Protestants with the Catholic majority in the formation of a truly National Irish party. ”

“ The second plan that has been suggested for solving the University question in Ireland, in one form or other, amounts to a proposal to throw open the University of Dublin, or the Queen’s University in Ireland, or both, so as to embrace in one University a number of Colleges, each retaining its own system of religious training and discipline, and its own endowments, and sending up its Students to pass the Examinations of the Central University, whose functions would be reduced to those of an Examining Board. ”

“ Let the Parliament of England for once try an experiment which will meet with the approval of Irishmen of all classes, and give to Ireland a third University, in [18] which the highest and best type of Catholic education shall be developed freely. Protestantism cannot suffer by the contrast, and education must certainly benefit. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Examiners would themselves become the University, and would regulate the value of the degrees conferred by it, and the country could have no guarantee that the standard of education would continue to be maintained ”

“ Whatever might be the future of the College, it is certain that, at the outset, the Secular Fellows of the College would have to undergo the rivalry of a trained band of Protestant teachers, supported by sympathizing Students, both smarting under an angry sense of wrong and injustice. ”