INTERMEDIATE EDUCATION 
 
 IN IRELAND. 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 SIR J. BERNARD BURKE, C.B., Ulster, 
 
 FROM 
 
 LORD RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL, M.P. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 PRINTED FOR THB AUTHOR BY 
 
 J. CHARLES & SON, 61 , MIDDLE ABBEY STREET. 
 
 1878. 
 
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 Dear Sib Bernard Burke, 
 
 As it was chiefly owing to a conversation with you, 
 some months ago, that my attention was directed to the 
 state of Intermediate Education in Ireland, I now proceed 
 according to agreement to communicate to you the results 
 of my inquiries. 
 
 It may not be altogether superfluous , that I should im- 
 press upon you that the suggestions which I advocate in 
 this letter are made entirely on my own responsibility as 
 a private member of Parliament, totally unconnected with 
 the Irish Government. 
 
 You have, I know, for a long time taken a deep interest 
 in this question. 
 
 Few men have a more intimate acquaintance with the 
 sentiments of the Catholic community on the subject of 
 education than yourself. 
 
 Any attempt, moreover, at legislation on the question 
 of intermediate education in Ireland, without being in 
 possession of those sentiments, would be rash and ill- 
 advised. 
 
 The sources wKellc^I have drawn most of my informa- 
 tion are — the Reports of the Royal Commission on 
 Endowed Schools (Ireland), appointed in 1854 ; of the 
 Royal Commission on Primary Education (Ireland), 
 
 (=534 19 
 
 I 
 
4 
 
 appointed in 1867 ; and of the Commissioners of the 
 Census, 1871. 
 
 No one, I think, who has studied the Report of the 
 Commission on Endowed Schools, can refrain from wonder 
 that the attention of Parliament has never yet been 
 directed in any way to its consideration. 
 
 The history, the objects, and the value of those endow- 
 ments on the one hand, their comparative exclusiveness 
 and unproductiveness, the waste, mismanagement, and 
 general misapprehension of duties on the part of the 
 managers of those endowments on the other hand, com- 
 bine to render this fact very remarkable, that twenty years 
 should have been suffered to elapse without any attempt 
 at legislative reform. 
 
 This is the more striking when we consider what has 
 been the action of Parliament with reference to the Public 
 Schools and the Endowed Schools of England. Those 
 institutions have been thoroughly, not to say radically 
 remodelled, and their endowments redistributed, and placed 
 in a condition which enables them to be of the highest 
 utility as regards the intermediate education of the youth 
 of England. 
 
 I propose in this letter to deal, first, with the state of 
 intermediate education in Ireland at the present time ; 
 secondly, to offer some suggestions as to the best means 
 of establishing a national system of intermediate educa- 
 tion on a sound and enduring basis. And, thirdly, to 
 inquire from what sources funds may be drawn for the 
 support of such a system, and also how far existing 
 endowments may be utilized and comprehended in any 
 scheme. 
 
5 
 
 First. As to the state of intermediate education in 
 Ireland at the present time. 
 
 According to the Report of the Census Commissioners 
 for 1871, the number of persons receiving superior in- 
 struction in Ireland at that time was 24,170. In 1861 it 
 was 24,311, showing that superior instruction in Ireland, 
 as far as regards numbers, is declining. These figures 
 comprise all classes of superior instruction, from the pupil 
 who is being taught one modern language, to the under- 
 graduate of Trinity. If we separate University from 
 secondary education, we find that of persons between the 
 ages of five and fifteen in 1871, there were 16,931 receiving- 
 superior instruction, or 13 '4 of every thousand per- 
 sons between those ages. Comment on such figures as 
 these is quite unnecessary. They are almost incredible, 
 and they are a reproach and a shame, not only to Ireland, 
 but to the United Kingdom. 
 
 The educational establishments of a secondary nature 
 in 1861, numbered 729, and they were attended by 21,674 
 pupils. In 1871 these numbers had fallen to 574, attended 
 by 21,225 pupils, exhibiting a decline of 155 in the 
 number of schools, and 449 in the number of pupils. 
 
 To use the very temperate words of the Census Com- 
 missioners, these figures argue “ something worse than 
 mere stagnation.” No one interested in the future of 
 Ireland can doubt that immediate legislation on the subject 
 is absolutely imperative. 
 
 What would be the best method of stimulating higher 
 instruction in Ireland \ In my opinion it cannot be denied 
 that the task will be, not merely stimulation of existing 
 institutions, but the actual creation of new ones. 
 
6 
 
 I should propose to effect this by an extension of the 
 system of Royal Free Grammar Schools. This proposal 
 is based on the recommendations of a Royal Commission 
 of the Irish Parliament of 1791, and of a Committee of 
 the House of Commons of 1838. 
 
 This latter recommended “ the establishment of an 
 academy for classics and science for each county in Ireland, 
 the existing schools of public foundation to be used as far 
 as they were available, and new schools to be established 
 only where the existing endowments were insufficient.” 
 
 That this would be a system of intermediate education 
 under the direct control and management of the State, and 
 that grave objections to such a system are entertained by 
 many of the best authorities on education, I am well aware. 
 But as regards Ireland, the following arguments may be 
 used in its favour. 
 
 The comparative poverty of the great majority of the 
 inhabitants, the Roman Catholic portion of which is 
 already highly taxed for the support of religious, charit- 
 - able, and educational establishments. 4 
 
 The Commissioners of 1858 came to the conclusion that 
 there was no chance that the existing deficiencies as 
 regarded intermediate education in Ireland, would be 
 supplied by purely voluntary effort. 
 
 Again, there has existed in Ireland, ever since the days 
 of Elizabeth, a system of intermediate education under 
 the direct control and management of the State, and en- 
 dowed by the State. I allude to the Diocesan Free Schools 
 and the Royal Free Grammar Schools. 
 
 This system was mutilated by the Irish Church Act, the 
 promoters of which (acting, no doubt, under a complete 
 
7 
 
 misapprehension) treated the Diocesan Free Schools as 
 sectarian institutions, the property of the Church, and 
 allowed the schoolmasters to become annuitants on the 
 Church Funds. 
 
 This question is an interesting one, but does not admit 
 of being treated in detail in this letter.* Suffice it to say 
 that every Commission and Committee which has reported 
 on these schools, has declared them to be essentially non- 
 exclusive. They were not only not the property of the 
 Church in any way, but the funds for their support were 
 a direct tax upon the incomes of the diocesan clergy. The 
 appointment of masters was in the gift of the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, and the erection and repairs of school buildings 
 should have been, according to the original intention, and 
 was in some cases, part of the county cess. 
 
 It is true that these institutions, as well as the Royal 
 Free Grammar Schools, have never been in first rate 
 working order. This is due, however, to the shameful 
 mismanagement and neglect to which they have been con- 
 tinually subject, and not to any inherent faults in the 
 institutions themselves. That this is so, can be proved by 
 the fact, that successive inquiries have recommended the 
 remodelling and extension of these institutions ; and also 
 by the fact, that whenever an energetic and capable school- 
 master has been appointed to any of them, that one has at 
 once sprung up as useful and efficient. 
 
 I consider, therefore, that Parliament having inadver- 
 tently, no doubt, struck a blow at an existing system of 
 intermediate education, which, if it had paid any atten- 
 
 * I have discussed this subject at some length in a letter to the Freeman’s 
 Jowrnal of 31st December, 1877. 
 
 * 
 
8 
 
 tion to the recommendations of its own commissions and 
 committees, it should, on the contrary, have remodelled 
 and extended, is bound to provide means for supplying 
 deficiencies which Parliament itself created. This position 
 is further strengthened by the fact that another indirect 
 blow was struck at intermediate education in Ireland by 
 the establishment of a national system of primary educa- 
 tion, controlled and supported by the State. Before the 
 establishment of this system there existed in Ireland, in 
 almost every town, schools of private enterprise, in which 
 higher instruction was given to some, elementary instruc- 
 tion to many pupils. The schools under the National 
 Board have, however, put an end to nearly all these schools, 
 by drawing away the pupils receiving elementary instruc- 
 tion. The evidence to this effect is copious and over- 
 whelming, and I need not further allude to it. 
 
 I summarise the foregoing as follows : — A system of 
 intermediate education under the direct control of the 
 State, has been established in Ireland, ever since the 
 days of Elizabeth. That system, it is true, cannot be 
 said to have been at any time flourishing or efficient. 
 But its deficiencies cannot be ascribed to any inherent 
 defects in the system itself. That system has been inter- 
 fered with by Parliament, by the action of the Irish 
 Church Act : and the whole cause of intermediate educa- 
 tion in Ireland has been injuriously affected by the action 
 of the National Board. Taking into consideration, also, 
 the figures quoted above, which prove such an extraordin- 
 ary absence of higher education in Ireland, I think we may 
 conclude that Parliament is not only bound to revive, 
 remodel and reform the existing system of intermediate 
 
9 
 
 education in Ireland, as represented by the Royal Free 
 Schools, but is also bound to extend that system to all parts 
 of Ireland, by providing and endowing new schools in 
 localities where they are likely to be of the highest 
 practical utility. 
 
 If this is admitted, the next and most difficult question 
 for consideration is — How shall these schools, if estab- 
 lished, be constituted so as to render them not only 
 acceptable to, but sought after, by the vast majority of 
 the Irish people 1 
 
 On this point I take, as the basis of any scheme, the 
 argument of Mr. Hughes, a Roman Catholic member of the 
 commission of 1858 — “ That the adoption by the State of 
 the most correct theory on the subject of education, if un- 
 suited to the condition of the country, and opposed to the 
 religious convictions of the people, would have the effect 
 of postponing the education of the classes it was intended 
 to promote.” 
 
 Shall the course of education pursued in these schools 
 be of a strictly denominational character, or shall it be of 
 the character best known as “ mixed”? 
 
 The argument against education of a strictly denomina- 
 tional character is, that it would be perfectly impossible to 
 obtain the assent of Parliament to a scheme of that charac- 
 ter. It would be inviting Parliament to retrace ground 
 already made good, and to revise and modify resolutions 
 solemnly affirmed and re-affirmed. 
 
 The argument against a system of mixed education is, 
 that it would be perfectly impossible to obtain the assent 
 
10 
 
 of the Roman Catholic clergy and laity to any scheme of 
 this nature. It would be asking the Roman Catholic 
 clergy to accept what, in repeated councils, they have 
 denounced. It would be asking the laity of that Church - 
 to make use of what their spiritual guides absolutely 
 prohibit. 
 
 It may be argued that the Roman Catholics have ac- 
 cepted the system of mixed education, as far as regards 
 elementary instruction. Such an argument, however, 
 would be fallacious. They have never accepted the 
 principle of mixed education. They have, undoubtedly, 
 and with wisdom, allowed their flocks to make use of 
 schools directly under the National Board, as long as in- 
 struction in those schools did not exceed the limits of 
 elementary instruction; and further, as a set off, they 
 have contrived to get grants of public money in aid of 
 schools strictly denominational — as the schools of the 
 Christian Brothers. The moment the instruction given 
 by the National Board threatened to leave the limits of 
 elementary, and reach the domains of secondary instruc- 
 tion (as in the case of the Model Schools and Training 
 Schools), that instruction has been denounced, and 
 * Roman Catholics have been prohibited from making 
 use of it. 
 
 It would be unavailing to argue against the convictions 
 of the Roman Catholic hierarchy on this point. It would 
 be useless to disregard those convictions, and attempt to 
 legislate for the Roman Catholic laity; for the laity, I 
 believe, fully endorse those convictions. 
 
 Is it, however, impossible to reconcile the resolutions of 
 
11 
 
 Parliament and the convictions of the Roman Catholics ? 
 Must the cause of intermediate education be still further 
 neglected 1 Must the children of the vast majority of the 
 middle classes of Ireland be suffered to remain in t his 
 melancholy state of ignorance % Must Ireland be indefi- 
 nitely condemned to suffer from a want of vitality and 
 enterprise on account of this intellectual paralysis f And 
 does the problem admit of no solution ? 
 
 I apprehend that the principle Parliament could not be 
 induced to depart from is as follows : — That no grants 
 of public money shall be obtained by any religious 
 sect for the purpose of teaching the religious tenets of 
 that sect. 
 
 I apprehend that the objection Roman Catholics enter- 
 tain to mixed education is, that in the course of instruc- 
 tion of youth it is impossible for a teacher to avoid in- 
 stilling his own ideas of moral and religious responsibility 
 into the minds of his pupils. The higher the instruction, 
 the greater would be the difficulty ; the more able the 
 teacher, the more certain the effect. As, however, roughly 
 speaking, three-fourths of the area of Ireland is inhabited 
 by a purely Roman Catholic population — at least as regards 
 the classes whose education we wish to promote — and as 
 regards the remaining portion, the population is princi- 
 pally non-Catholic, I would lay down the following rule — 
 That where the great proportion of the population is Roman 
 Catholic in any locality where a school is established, the 
 schoolmaster appointed should be a Roman Catholic, — 
 where the proportion is non-Catholic, there the school- 
 master should be a Protestant. 
 
 It may be objected that this simple regulation would 
 
12 
 
 not secure the support of either religious sect. 1 conceive 
 that it would in a great measure. The schools would be 
 managed by a Board, composed of persons of either 
 religion, Protestant or Roman Catholic, and it would be 
 the first object of the Board to make these schools efficient. 
 To do so it must appoint schoolmasters who would possess 
 the confidence of the Roman Catholics generally, and 
 particularly of those of the locality in which the school 
 is situate. The same argument would apply to localities 
 in which the Protestant population might be pre- 
 dominant. 
 
 It would, however, be essential in all schools under the 
 Board, with respect to religious instruction, to have a 
 conscience clause in their rules. With that safeguard, 
 and considering that the Board would have no object in 
 proselytizing, and would be composed of gentlemen who 
 would have the complete confidence of the public, I 
 conceive that the people would fearlessly accept the 
 immense advantages offered to them by schools so con- 
 stituted. 
 
 In the practical working of this scheme, schools 
 in Roman Catholic localities would have Catholic 
 masters, and would attract only Catholic children. In 
 Protestant localities they would have Protestant masters, 
 and would attract only Protestant children. There would 
 be special means, to which I shall refer later, of provi din g 
 higher instruction for Protestant children in Roman Ca- 
 tholic localities, and vice versa. 
 
 Precautions should be taken to prevent these schools 
 becoming, in any way, Ecclesiastical schools, which are 
 not required by either religious body (sufficient of these 
 
13 
 
 being already in existence and adequately supported), 
 and the masters should be laymen. 
 
 The course of instruction, and the extent to which re- 
 ligious instruction should be given, are matters which 
 should be settled by fixed rules, drawn up by the Board, 
 and submitted for the approval of the Government. 
 
 Religious instruction should take place at fixed hours, 
 and not be allowed to take up an undue amount of the 
 time of the pupils, or be forced upon an unwilling pupil. 
 The masters would receive no extra pay from the State for 
 giving it. There would be no public examinations in it. 
 It should be a matter to be left to arrangement between 
 master and parent, subject to the rules of the School. 
 
 In any scheme of this nature many loopholes are left 
 for adverse criticism. They are unavoidable. Looking, 
 however, at the whole matter broadly ; at the immense 
 importance to Ireland of providing the means of secondary 
 instruction for its youth ; at the utter absence of such 
 means at the present moment, I firmly believe that a 
 scheme of this nature might be made to work with great 
 success, and that it would not infringe either the resolu- 
 tions of Parliament, or violate the convictions of Pro- 
 testant or Roman Catholic. It would certainly be the 
 object of the Government to make it work — it would be 
 the object of the Board to make it work — and it would 
 be the object of Irish parents to take advantage of such a 
 scheme. When all parties concerned are so deeply in- 
 terested, and when they are all agreed as to their object, 
 success cannot be unattainable. 
 
 Would these schools, if established, interfere with ex- 
 isting schools, either Protestant or Roman Catholic ? I 
 
14 
 
 think they would not. As regards Roman Catholic existing 
 schools, where the expenses of procuring higher instruction 
 are low, these schools are nearly all of them seminaries in- 
 tended for the training of youth for the service of the 
 Church. With respect to secondary schools of private 
 enterprise, they attract a different and a higher class of i 
 pupils than that which these new schools would be in- 
 tended to attract. The classes that would frequent the 
 
 * 
 
 schools I propose are the middle classes, and particularly 
 what may be called the lower middle, for whom the En- 
 dowed Schools were originally founded, and who have at 
 the present moment in Ireland absolutely no means of 
 procuring higher instruction for their children. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that at all the Royal schools, 
 and at all the Erasmus Smith’s schools, the fees for tuition 
 range from £65 to <£40 per annum. 
 
 I do not suppose that these schools, though intended 
 for the gratuitous education of the middle classes,' are 
 educating at the present moment, in all, one hundred free 
 pupils. 
 
 To what extent should education in these schools be 
 gratuitous ? The objection to absolutely gratuitous educa- 
 tion is, that many parents are unwilling to be indebted . 
 to a charity ; and that they think their children are placed 
 in an inferior position with regard to the other pupils in 
 the school, who might be paying for their education. I 
 think that the object of the schools should be primarily 
 to afford gratuitous instruction ; but I would obviate the 
 objection above stated by making such instruction the 
 prize of competitive examinations. This plan has been 
 tried with great success by the schools under the Incor- 
 
15 
 
 porated Society — its adoption in the Royal Schools was 
 strongly recommended by the Commissioners of 1854, and 
 1867. Gratuitous education, gained as the reward of in- 
 dustry and superior knowledge and ability, is a source of 
 pride to parent and pupil. 
 
 Public examinations, therefore, for vacant places, should 
 be held at the locality in which the school may be 
 situate ; examinations should be held by deputations from 
 the Board, in all large towns, and the parents of pupils 
 gaining the first places should be allowed to select the 
 school at which they wish their children to be educated, 
 under certain restrictions. 
 
 Thus Protestant children would be able to gain places 
 in Protestant schools, and Roman Catholic children in 
 Roman Catholic schools. In this manner I would place 
 in the grasp of Protestant and Roman Catholic children, 
 residing respectively in Catholic and Protestant localities, 
 the means of procuring higher instruction without danger 
 to their religious convictions. 
 
 Pro mis ing children at National elementary schools, by 
 competition at these examinations, would have the means 
 of obtaining higher instruction and raising in the world. 
 There are absolutely no facilities for anything of the kind 
 in Ireland at the present moment. 
 
 I would not attach senior exhibitions to any of these 
 schools exclusively. The Board, according to this plan, 
 would hold half-yearly examinations, either in Dublin, or 
 in the large towns and centres of population, where exhi- 
 bitions tenable in any of the higher educational institu- 
 tions in the United Kingdom — e.g., the Universities, the 
 Royal, Military, and Naval Academies, Colleges of Science, 
 
I 
 
 16 
 
 Art, Theological Colleges, and Schools of Medicine and 
 Surgery — should be competed for by candidates from any 
 school in Ireland — Protestant, Roman Catholic, or other- 
 wise. 
 
 I do not think these exhibitions should exceed £75 per 
 annum, or be tenable for more than four years. They 
 should be tenable under conditions forcing the holder to 
 pursue actively a course of education, and none should be 
 of less value than £?>0 per annum. 
 
 I will advert to facilities for junior Exhibitions later. 
 
 One more question — should these schools be boarding- 
 schools, or day-schools only \ I think they should be both. 
 
 The under masters at the schools might be permitted 
 by the Board, on the recommendation of the head master, 
 to receive a certain number of boarders at fixed and 
 limited charges. It would be better that the head master 
 should not himself receive boarders ; he should be able 
 to attend to the interests of each pupil impartially ; his 
 salary should be such as would render it no object to him 
 ' to increase his emoluments by receiving boarders, and such 
 also as would attract men of superior attainments. 
 
 With regard to day scholars, the children of parents 
 residing in the immediate locality of the school should be 
 allowed to avail themselves of its advantages, and yet 
 remain under the parental roof. 
 
 No difficulty as to religious instruction could arise with 
 reference to day pupils, for parents could see to the educa- 
 tion of their children in .that branch of instruction them- 
 selves. 
 
 The number of free pupils at each school would, of 
 course, be limited — the remainder of the pupils would 
 
17 
 
 pay for the instruction they receive, at rates to be fixed 
 by the Board, who would receive the fees. 
 
 I have sketched the principles of a scheme for a system 
 of National Intermediate Education, under the control and 
 management of, and endowed by the State. 
 
 Should these .principles attract support, details, I be- 
 lieve, might be supplied without serious difficulty. 
 
 The question that remains for consideration is an inquiry 
 as to the sources whence endowments for these schools 
 should be derived ; and how far existing endowments 
 might be utilized. I will deal with the latter part first, 
 
 The Royal Schools — six in number — would, of course, 
 be immediately transferred to the control of the new 
 Board. Their endowments amount to about £7,000 per 
 annum, arising from land ; but this sum is unequally di- 
 vivided amongst the schools. These endowments were 
 not considered by the Commissioners of 1854 to be ex- 
 cessive, or more than was required for the proper support 
 of the Schools. 
 
 There are or were in 1858 seventeen Grammar Schools, 
 of private foundation, under the management of the Com- 
 missioners of Education, possessing endowments amount- 
 ing to 1,6 68 per annum, also derived from landed estates. 
 It is impossible to discover, from the Annual Reports of 
 the Commissioners of Education, how many of these 
 schools are now in operation, or what is being done with 
 the endowments. These schools would be transferred to 
 the new Board, who would have power to suppress schools 
 situated in localities where they are likely to be inoperative, 
 and to add their endowments to schools more favourably 
 situated. An annual income of £1,668 is manifestly 
 
18 
 
 quite inadequate for the support of seventeen schools of 
 secondary instruction. 
 
 With respect to the Commissioners of Education for 
 Endowed Schools appointed in 1815, who at present have 
 the management of the schools alluded to above, I should 
 propose that this Body be dissolved. They have never 
 understood the importance of the duties committed to 
 them, and much of the deplorable deficiency in higher 
 instruction in Ireland must be laid directly at their door. 
 The dissolution of this Body was strongly recommended 
 by the Commissioners of 1854. 
 
 Of endowments that cannot be said to be managed sa- 
 tisfactorily, or to be working efficiently, and might perhaps 
 with advantage be placed under the control of the new 
 Board, I would suggest those founded by Erasmus Smith. 
 Very strong arguments might be adduced in support of 
 this suggestion. 
 
 The schools under the government of Erasmus Smith 
 have, up to the present time, been schools of an exclusive 
 character. If transferred to the new Board they would of 
 course become of a non-exclusive character. I find that 
 this endowment at present maintains five grammar schools, 
 and about one hundred and fifty elementary schools. 
 
 The former might be transferred to the new Board, to- 
 gether with so much of the property as may be considered 
 necessary for their proper support. 
 
 The elementary schools might be handed over to the 
 National Board. 
 
 They should, I think be dealt with by the National 
 Board on the following principle : — That in localities 
 where they exist in competition with schools of the 
 
19 
 
 National Board, they should be suppressed, and their en- 
 dowments applied for the purposes of Junior Exhibitions 
 for the children of the locality. In localities where these 
 schools exist, and where there are no schools under the 
 National Board, they should become non-exclusive Na- 
 tional Schools vested in the National Board — their en- 
 dowments also being applied for the purposes of Junior 
 Exhibitions. 
 
 There are several other endowments existing in Ireland 
 applicable to educational purposes. ; chief among these 
 is the property, or, at least, a large portion of the property, 
 of the Irish Society. 
 
 Simultaneously with the establishment of the new 
 Board I have so often alluded to, a Royal Commission on 
 EndowHf*#»6 Schools (Ireland) should be issued with pre- 
 cisely similar powers to those of the Endowed Schools 
 (England) Commission. They should be empowered to 
 inquire into, remodel, and re-distribute all existing edu- 
 cational endowments ; to transfer any, or all of them, to 
 the control and management of the new Board. Their 
 proposals would, of course, have to receive the approval 
 of Parliament. 
 
 Further, where endowments, derived from landed 
 estates are transferred to the new Board, the management 
 of those estates should be given over to the Irish Church 
 Temporalities Commission, with instructions that they are 
 to be sold as advantageously as possible (existing tenants 
 of those estates having all possible facilities afforded them 
 for purchase) and the proceeds invested in Government 
 Stock. 
 
20 
 
 It is, in my opinion most undesirable that any Board, 
 having the management of educational interests, should 
 have its time taken up in any way with the management 
 of landed estates. The inefficiency of the Commissioners 
 of Education must be attributed, in a very great degree, 
 to the fact that their principal care was the management 
 of extensive estates situated in various parts of Ireland. 
 
 The income arising from the proceeds of the sale of these 
 estates would, of course, be under the management of 
 the new Board, who would distribute them equally and 
 indifferently among the several schools under their care. 
 The accounts should be annually audited by a Government 
 auditor, and an annual Report made to Parliament. 
 
 How far these endowments would go towards establish- 
 ing and supporting the necessary schools, it , would be 
 difficult with any accuracy to determine. There can be 
 no doubt, however, that a large additional sum of money 
 would be required to carry out the scheme I have laid 
 before you in its entirety. Fortunately there is no need 
 to look to grants of public money as a source from which 
 such funds must be derived. A large fund exists, pecu- 
 liarly the property of Ireland, and which may in all jus- 
 tice be applied, either in part or as a whole, to the higher 
 educational requirements of the Irish people. I allude 
 to the surplus property of the Disestablished Irish 
 Church. 
 
 The time has arrived, when the amount of that surplus 
 being known, it is incumbent on Parliament to come to 
 a decision as to what objects it should be applied. It 
 would be unjust to allow so large a sum of money, capable 
 of being utilised with so much benefit to Irish interests, 
 
21 
 
 to lie idle and unproductive, and to resemble the talent 
 wrapped in a napkin and buried in the earth. 
 
 No question calls so loudly for the immediate and care- 
 ful attention of Parliament as the question of higher edu- 
 cation in Ireland. This is also a question, legislation on 
 which will involve considerable expenditure of money. 
 There might be a reluctance at the present moment to 
 make any large addition to the education votes, already 
 so enormous. The inference I wish to establish is easy to 
 to draw. 
 
 Inquiry will discover that nearly all the proposals and 
 suggestions I have ventured to make are based on recom- 
 mendations of the Reports of three Royal Commissions 
 and of a Committee of the House of Commons. 
 
 Believe me to remain, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 RANDOLPH S. CHURCHILL. 
 
 Sir J. Bernard Burke, C.B., 
 
 Ulster. 
 
 Ph<enix Park, 
 
 December , 1877. 
 
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