subsidised, is notoriously unsound from the point of view of education, since it leads to “cramming,” and, moreover, under it the amount of grant earned by a school is subject to extreme variations.  Lastly, if the pupils suffer from existing arrangements, the case of the teachers is no better, for from a recent report it will be seen that the average salary of lay teachers in Intermediate schools in Ireland is at least half what it is in corresponding schools in England.

In a country where elementary and intermediate education are in so unsatisfactory condition as we have seen them to be, one would expect university education to be seriously crippled, but in Ireland there arise in this connection further complications from religious differences which serve to perpetuate a state of affairs which twenty years ago Mr. Balfour declared was an intolerable grievance, and which still remains one of the chief disabilities of Ireland.  There are at the present moment two universities in the country, but since one of these is only an examining board let us begin by considering the status of the other.  Trinity College, Dublin, was founded by Queen Elizabeth with the proceeds of confiscated Catholic lands, both monastic and lay, with the avowed intention of propagating the principles of the Protestant religion.  During Grattan’s Parliament, at the end of the eighteenth century, it threw open its gates to others than members of the Established Church—­an example which was not followed by Oxford and Cambridge for three-quarters of a century.  There could be no greater mistake than to imply from this that it thereby lost its strong sectarian character.  After Mr. Gladstone’s attempt in 1873 to solve the University question had failed, Fawcett’s Act removed the religious tests which barred not only Catholics but also Presbyterians from its offices and scholarships, and thereby made the College, in theory, undenominational.  In point of fact it is little less Episcopalian than it has ever been.  Its chapel services are Protestant, as are also its Divinity schools.  Its governing body, comprising the Provost and seven Senior Fellows, is entirely Protestant, while of the 4,200 names on its electoral roll 2,600 are those of Protestant clergymen.

Of other institutions affording opportunities for higher education in Ireland, the three Queen’s Colleges in Cork, Galway, and Belfast were destined by their founder, Sir Robert Peel, who established them in 1838, to supply the higher education which was lacking among the Catholics of the country.  The Protestant “atmosphere” of Trinity being the great obstacle in the way of Catholics who wished for higher education for their sons, it was thought that by removing this and setting up undenominational colleges all would be well and the religious difficulty would be solved.  It was as great a mistake as it was possible to commit.  They were stigmatised by a leading Protestant of the time as godless colleges;