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 THE QUEEN'S COLLEGES 
 
 AND 
 
 THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND. 
 
 BY A SCHOLAR OF 
 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND. 
 
 "Students come [to Queen's College, Cork,] so badly prepared in what may be 
 called the ordinary instruments of thought, and in ancient and modern languages, in 
 a word, in every part of school work, that they follow the University course only in a 
 limping and unsatisfactory manner. . . . 
 
 " The professor is consequently obliged either to lecture over the heads of a large 
 part of his class, or to divide it into the instructed and the uninstructed."— 22e^or« of 
 the President of Queen's College, Cork, for the Session 1880-81. 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 PRINTED BY BROWNE AND NOLAN, NASSAU-STREET. 
 
 1883. 
 
 ONE SHILLING.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGR 
 
 Introduction - - - - - - - 3 
 
 I. — Examinations of the Royal University as yet unopened to 
 
 Public Competition - - - - - 9 
 
 II. — The " First University" Examination of the Royal University - 15 
 
 III. — The Matriculation Examination of the Royal University - 20 
 
 IV. — The College Scholarships of Queen's College, Belfast - - 24 
 
 V. — The College Scholarships of the Queen's Colleges of Cork and 
 
 Galway - - - - - - - 29 
 
 Appendix A. — Reply of Dr. Porter, President of Queen's 
 
 College, Belfast - - - - 39 
 
 Appendix B.— The Rejoinder - - - - 44 
 
 Appendix C. — The Scholarships of the Royal University - 61 
 
 Appendix D. — Number of Arts' Students now attending the 
 
 three Queen's Colleges - - - 63 
 
 Appendix E. — Extracts from the Report of the Discussions in 
 Committee of the House of Commons on the 
 
 (Royal) University BUI of 1879 - - 66
 
 INTEODUCTION. 
 
 The Papers now revised for publication in this pamphlet 
 were originally published in the Dublin Freeman s Journal, 
 in the months of October, November, and December, of 
 last year. 
 
 It will be seen that the writer, while in the main con- 
 fining himself to the statement of facts, had throughout 
 in view the advocacy of a certain line of action. 
 
 He was of opinion that the publication, from official 
 records, of the facts thus set forth, was the most efficient 
 means of directing public attention to the existence of a 
 great grievance under which the Catholics of Ireland still 
 labour in the matter of University Education. 
 
 Since the present Prime Minister made, in 1873, his 
 noteworthy declaration, that the state of the Eoman Catholics 
 of Ireland, in reference to University Education, was 
 "miserably bad," ^'scandalously bad," something substantial 
 has, no doubt, been done. The Eoyal University of Ireland 
 has been established, with an endowment of £20,000 a 
 year^ — a University, access to the Degrees, Honours, and 
 
 1 It is, however, to be borne in mind that the endowment of the Royal 
 University is drawn from a purely Irish f mid — the surplus fund of the 
 disestablished Irish Church. The Queen's University in Ireland was main- 
 tained by an annual grant of more than £4,000 out of the Imperial Treasury. 
 All the duties discharged by that University were, as a matter of course, 
 transferred to the Royal University by the Act of 1879. But the grant 
 of £4,000 was not transferred : it was simply stopped, and the whole 
 burthen of maintaming the new University was thrown upon the already 
 overburthened Irish fund. 
 
 Strange to say, this extraordinary feature of the present University
 
 Prizes of which, so far at least as the regulations of the 
 University itself are concerned, is as free to Catholic as to 
 non-Catholic students. But it would be a grievous mistake 
 to suppose that the establishment of the Eoyal University 
 — useful as that institution has proved, up to a certain 
 point — has secured the attainment of the object, the need 
 of which seemed to constitute the chief reason for the 
 destruction of an established University, and the creation 
 of a new one. 
 
 We learn on the high authority of his Grace the Duke of 
 Abercorn, in his opening speech as Chancellor of the Eoyal 
 University at its inaugural meeting last November, that 
 one of the objects, if not the main object, of the establish- 
 ment of that University was to put an end to a state of 
 things in which '^ the higher education of the Koman Catho- 
 lic youth of Ireland was subject to many and great disad- 
 vantages." *' By the institution we are inaugurating 
 to-day," continued his Grace, " a field is opened to them 
 in which they may compete, without let or hindrance or 
 disadvantage, with the whole body of their fellow country- 
 men, in every branch of literature and science, and with all 
 the substantial rewards oj^en to them that crown success 
 in those departments." 
 
 Has this object, then, really been attained? Unques- 
 tionably not. And it is the aim of the writer of the 
 Papers here republished to call attention to the necessity 
 that exists for speedily taking measures to attain it by 
 removing at least one palpable " disadvantage " that still 
 
 arrangements in Ireland seems to have attracted little notice. This is the 
 more strange as Lord Cairns when introducing the Bill of 1879 in the 
 House of Lords expressly declared that "the vote of Parliament " which 
 had up to that time been " taken for the expenses of the Queen's Uni- 
 versity," would, " of course^ ^Pply itself to the new University." (^Hansard, 
 vol. 248, page 942.) 

 
 exists — a disadvantage that can be removed only by really 
 throwing open to the youth of Ireland the "substantial 
 rewards" at present maintained by Parliament for the 
 exclusive benefit of the students of the three Queen's 
 Colleges. 
 
 When the University Bill of 1879 was under discussion 
 in the House of Lords it was well observed by an eminent 
 peer, that '^ logical," " constitutional," and " righteous," as 
 is the claim of the majority of the Queen's Irish subjects to 
 educational equality, the full concession of that claim is 
 rendered difficult " because of sectarian and party prejudice, 
 which makes men slow to recognise the right of others to 
 think as freely as themselves."^ Fortunately, then, for the 
 interests of justice, the case now stands on other grounds. 
 
 It is no longer a mere question of justice to Irish 
 Catholics. It need not indeed any longer be regarded as 
 a religious question in any sense of the word. It is no 
 doubt a question in the satisfactory settlement of which 
 more than one important religious denomination has pro- 
 claimed itself interested ; for the demand for such a 
 settlement is pressed no less strongly from the halls of 
 Magee College, Londonderry, than from those of the Colleges 
 of the Catholic University. But Presbyterians as well as 
 Catholics are now in a position to press their claim irrespec- 
 tive of all consideration of religious disability. They do not 
 indeed lose sight of the strong argument in defence of their 
 common cause, furnished by the telling question of the 
 eloquent speaker whose words have just been quoted. 
 " What have we/' they might ask, ^^ but penalties still 
 imposed for the free exercise of conscience, and premiums 
 
 1 See the speech of the Right Hon. Lord O'Hagan, Hansard, vol. 247 , 
 page 1838.
 
 still bestowed for the profession of particular opinions.?"^ 
 But whatever sympathy this mode of stating their case might 
 win for them, they prefer to rest their claim on other grounds. 
 They appeal to the official records of the Royal University 
 Examinations, And they call upon Parliament to put an 
 end to the scandal of maintaining by a lavish outlay of 
 public money, the ''literary" and '* scientific " Scholarships, 
 at present maintained from year to year at an annual cost 
 of thousands of pounds, to be distributed by the authorities 
 of the Queen's Colleges as "consolation" prizes among their 
 own students who have been unsuccessful, and in many 
 cases ignominiously unsuccessful in the open competition 
 of the Eoyal University. 
 
 " As matters now stand," — I quote from the address of 
 Professor Leebody, the President of Faculty, delivered at 
 the close of the recent session in Magee' College, London- 
 derry^ — "a student of the Queen's Colleges, after having 
 been coached at the expense of the State, can compete 
 freely in the University Examinations with the students 
 of unendowed colleges for Exhibition prizes. If he wins one 
 of these, well and good — if not, he has only to return to 
 his college and there find provided for him at the public 
 expense a consolation prize, as valuable as, or more valuable 
 than that for which he unsuccessfully competed. . . . 
 
 '' What ought to be done in the matter, and what ought 
 to be done at the earliest opportunity, is this : The entire 
 sum now granted to the Queens Colleges for Scholarships 
 and Prizes should he added to the University Prize Fund. 
 
 "Ordinary justice demands this, and will be satisfied 
 with no less. I will go further and say, that he is no true 
 
 ^ See Hansard, ibid, page 1841. 
 
 2 This most able and interesting address is published in full in the 
 Londonderry Standard of Thursday, April 5, 1883.
 
 friend of the Queen's Colleges who seeks to secure for them 
 exceptional privileges, the possession of which can only 
 eventuate in rousing against them the antagonism of every 
 Irishman who is a lover of freedom and fair play." 
 
 Whether the claim thus stated by the Presbyterian Presi- 
 dent of Faculty in Londonderry is one that, in the interests 
 of higher education in Ireland, can be safely set aside, is a 
 question that may be answered without much difficulty 
 in the light now thrown by the official lists of the Royal 
 University Examinations upon the working of this strange 
 system of Parliamentary endowment for the maintenance 
 of College Scholarships so happily described by Professor 
 Leebody as '^consolation" prizes.
 
 THE QUEEN'S COLLEGES 
 
 AND 
 
 THE EOYAL UJNIVEESITY OF IRELAND. 
 
 I. 
 
 EXAMINATIONS OF THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY AS YET UNOPENED TO 
 PUBLIC COMPETITION/ 
 
 The following is the first portion of an Analysis of the 
 Official Lists of the Degrees, Honours, and Exhibitions 
 awarded at the Examinations recently held by the Eoyal 
 University. 
 
 We purpose to divide our Analysis of those lists into two 
 sections. The division is naturally suggested by the fact 
 that of the five Examinations, of which the results are now 
 published — corresponding to the five stages of the University 
 course — three were of necessity confined exclusively to 
 students, past or present, of the Queen's Colleges; the remain- 
 ing two were open to outsiders. 
 
 The two "open" Examinations were (1) the Matricu- 
 lation, and (2) the First University Examination. 
 
 The three others, in which, for the present year. Queen's 
 College students alone could compete, were (3) the Second 
 University Examination, (4) the Examination for the Degree 
 of B.A., and (5) the Examination for the Degree of M.A, 
 
 In this first Paper, then, we shall confine our attention to 
 the three Examinations of this second class. The " open " 
 Examinations we reserve for the second section of our 
 Analysis. 
 
 Thus, then, we have at present to deal with the Royal 
 University lists in reference only to the light that they may 
 
 1 From the Freeman's Journal of Monday, October 30th, 1882.
 
 10 
 
 throw on the success or failure of the three Queen's Colleges 
 as educational institutions maintained at a cost to the public 
 of about £26,000 a year, and on their relative success or 
 failure, when compared, not with the unendowed colleges of 
 Ireland, but with one another. 
 
 Let us take, then, in the first place, the two Degree 
 Examinations in Arts — those for the Degrees of ]\1.A. and of 
 B.A. The results of those Examinations are recorded in the 
 official lists of the Royal University as follows : — 
 
 Number of Graduates admitted to 
 M.A. from each College. 
 
 Number admitted to B.A. 
 
 Total 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 4 
 9 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 Here, then, we have the unimpeachable testimony of a 
 public official record that, as regards the number of its Arts' 
 graduates, the Queen's College io Cork, the success of which 
 has been so loudly and so boastfully proclaimed in recent 
 years, stands but nominally in advance of its sister institution 
 in Galway, for the abolition of which, as a hopeless failure, 
 provision was made by the present Prime Minister in his 
 University Bill ^ of 1873. Thirteen successful candidates for 
 the Degree of B.A. is assuredly a poor result in a College 
 sustained for University purposes at a cost to the State not 
 far short of £10,000 a year.^ 
 
 'Mr. Gladstone, it will be remembered, in his speech made on the 
 introduction of the Bill of 1873, in explaining this portion of his scheme, 
 dwelt especially on the small number of Arts students, and the conse- 
 quently large cost to the country for each Arts graduate, in the Galway 
 College. 
 
 ^It is worth noting that the present President of Queen's College, 
 Cork, in an able analysis of the condition of the three Queen's Colleges, 
 published in 1866, very decidedly refused to accept the number of students 
 attending the professional schools, of medicine, engineering, &c., or the
 
 11 
 
 Let ns now take the Honour Lists of thesetwo examinations. 
 Of the eight successful candidates for the M.A. degree, 
 none succeeded in attaining 1st Honours ; the number 
 to whom 2nd Honours were awarded is two. On this 
 subject, however, it would be unfair to make any unfavour- 
 able comment. It has been pointed out by a distinguished 
 graduate of the Queen's University that the Senate of 
 that University, at their meeting, in February, 1882, con- 
 ferred by special grace the degree of M.A. on all those who 
 had, in the preceding year, or previously, obtained the degree 
 of B.A. with Honours.^ Those, therefore, who presented 
 
 number of profesi^ional graduates, as a satisfactory test of the educational 
 action of a College. " The true tests of the educational action of the 
 colleges " he very properly declared to be the "academical degrees proper," 
 that is to say, the ^degrees of B.A. and M.A. (University Education in 
 Ireland, Dublin, 1866.) 
 
 1 The reference to this proceeding of the Senate of the Queen's Uni- 
 versity suggests that it may not be inappropriate to transcribe the account 
 of it given by Professor Leebody in his closing address as President 
 of Faculty in Magee College, Londonderry. Having referred to the 
 omission of the Queen's University, " while its mountain stood strong," to 
 confer honorary degrees on its own distinguished alumni, Dr. Leebody 
 goes on to say : — 
 
 " But a remarkable, and, we shall say, very genuine desire to make 
 amends for past neglect, was manifest when the institution was in the 
 article of death. Repentance there was, undoubtedly, but in what manner 
 were the works meet for repentance brought forth ? 
 
 " The answer to this question is matter of history. By the intoler- 
 able blundering of those who had charge of the preparation of the list of 
 .honourmen, the tragedy was turned into a farce. The proceedings of the 
 jfinal meeting of the Senate were doubtless meant to be impressive, and yet 
 the process of formally and solemnly conferring University degrees on men 
 wJio had been ten or fifteen years dead, was regarded by many as not impressive. 
 Newspaper critics had an excellent handle for their mirth, one irreverent 
 wag comparing the wind-up of the University to the Last Judgment, inas- 
 much as we had ' the worthy and the imworthy, the quick and the dead,' 
 drawn up in long array to receive their final award. 
 
 " The proceedings undoubtedly gave some pouat to the sneer that it 
 was peculiarly characteristic of the Queen's University neither to know^ 
 nor care, whether its graduates were above ground or under, and resulted 
 in the fortunate, or unfortunate, recipients of honorary degrees, who hap- 
 pened to be alive, and in Ireland, being obliged to move about for a little 
 while in a mingled atmosphere of condolences, congratulations, and ' chaff.' '^ 
 
 Dr. Leebody himself, it is right to add, was one who, in this strange 
 company, was most deservedly honoured by the University. He had been 
 a Master of Arts, and received at this final meeting of the Senate the 
 honorary degree of Doctor of Science,
 
 12 
 
 themselves for the degree of M.A. at the recent examinations 
 of the Royal University could hardly have been expected to 
 pass the examination with special distinction. 
 
 In the Honour List of the B.A. examination, of the 44 
 who passed, 5 were admitted to 1st Honours. Of these, four 
 were from Belfast ; only one from Cork. In this examination 
 the total number admitted to Honours was 16, of whom 
 eight were from Belfast, six from Cork, and two from Gal way. 
 
 The remaining list of this section of the examinations is 
 that of the examination technically known as the Second 
 University Examination in Arts. This practically represents 
 the educational work of the second year of the University 
 course. 
 
 Here the combined efforts of the three Queens Colleges 
 have resulted in passmg only fifty-six students ! Of these, 
 as might be expected, more than half were from Belfast, the 
 numbers being thus divided : — 
 
 Belfast ... ... ... ... 31 
 
 Galway ... .., ... ,«. 15 
 
 Cork ... ... ... ... 10 
 
 Total ... bQ 
 
 Thus it is plain that, from whatever cause, the failure 
 of the Queen's College, Cork, as now revealed by the exami- 
 nations of the Royal University, is even more decided in the 
 undergraduate section of its students, than among the 
 graduates. Indeed, but for the absolute impossibility of mis- 
 take in returns so carefully compiled, it would seem incredible 
 that any collegiate institution of such extent, could have 
 proved so barren of results. The official revelation of the 
 fact that Galway, after receiving hundreds of thousands of 
 pounds of public money, has been able to send up hut fifteen 
 students successful at this examination,^ is far from unhkely 
 
 iQn the total number of Arts students now attending the Cork and 
 Galway Colleges, see Appendix, page 63.
 
 13 
 
 to hasten the execution of the sentence pronounced against it 
 by Mr. Gladstone nine years ago. What, then, is to be the fate 
 of the Cork College, that has been able to send up but ten'? 
 
 But the Honour List of this Second University Examin- 
 ation is the most instructive portion of the entire return. 
 
 In Latin, the first subject on the University List, the 
 total number of students admitted to Honours was ten. Of 
 these, seven were from Belfast, three from Gal way, and not 
 even one from Cork. 
 
 In Greek, the number of Honourmen was seven. 01 
 these, four were from Belfast, two from Galway, and but one 
 from Cork. 
 
 In English, not even one student from any of the three 
 Queen's Colleges has succeeded in scoring 1st Honours ! The 
 number admitted to 2nd Honours is five. Of these, two are 
 from Belfast, three from Galway, and consequently, as in the 
 case of Latin, not even one from Cork. 
 
 In Logic the number admitted to Honours is nine. Here 
 we find five from Belfast, two from Galway, and two from 
 Cork. 
 
 In Mathematics there are four Honourmen. Of these, 
 three are from Belfast, one from Galway, and again, as in 
 Latin and English, not even one from Cork. 
 
 In Mathematical Physics, out of five Honourmen, Belfast 
 sends three, Galway one, and Cork one. 
 
 In Experimental Physics, where there are but two 
 Honourmen — neither admitted to the First Class — Belfast 
 sends one, Galway one ; Cork being once more, as in Latin, 
 Enghsh, and Mathematics, absolutely unrepresented. 
 
 The University Exhibition List, necessarily following the 
 general result of the scoring in each particular subject, is as 
 follows : — The number of Exhibitions thus awarded is six, 
 of which one is a First Class Exhibition of £40; the other five 
 are Second Class Exhibitions of £20 each. The £40 Exhi- 
 bition is won by Belfast, which also wins three of the other
 
 1^ 
 
 five. The remaining two are won by Gal way. Cork is here 
 once more an absolute and unqualified failure. 
 
 The result, then, of the analysis of this list may be set 
 forth as follows : — 
 
 SECONB UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION IN ARTS (HONOURS): 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 In Latin 
 
 7 
 
 
 3 
 
 „ Greek 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 „ Enghsh 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 „ Logic 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 „ Mathematics 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 „ Mathematical Physics 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 „ Experimental Physics 
 Total 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 So 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 If we arrange the returns with reference to the distinction 
 of First and Second Class Honours, and include the Exhibitions, 
 similarly classified, we get the following result : — 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 First Class Exhibitions 
 Second do. do. 
 First Honours 
 Second do. 
 
 Total 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 14 
 11 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 29 
 
 4 
 
 15
 
 15 
 II. 
 
 THE " FIRST UNIVERSITY " EXAMINATION OF THE ROYAL 
 UNIVERSITY.^ 
 
 In the first section of our Analysis we confined our 
 attention to what may be termed the " close " examinations 
 of the University, that is to say, the examinations at which, as 
 yet, none but past or present students of the Queen's Colleges 
 have been entitled to present themselves. 
 
 We have now to deal with the " open " examinations^ — 
 that is to say, the examinations to which outsiders as well as 
 Queen's College students were admissible. 
 
 For the present year, the "open" examinations are, as 
 we have seen, but two — (1) the Matriculation, and (2) the 
 "First University" Examination. 
 
 As to the " First University " Examination a point of the 
 utmost importance is to be kept in view. Under the regula- 
 of the Royal University the first step to a degree is the 
 passing of this examination at least a year after Matricula- 
 tion. Now by an act of liberality on the part of the Senate 
 of the University, the privilege of exemption from this 
 examination was granted, for the present year, to the students 
 of the three Queens Colleges. Not that the operation of the 
 rule requiring the examination to be passed was postponed 
 until next year for all students of the new University, but that, 
 although the rule was in full force as regards the students 
 who had entered the Royal University by the honest, bona 
 fide, SiJiS. searching Matriculation Examination held by its own 
 examiners, a special privilege of exemption was conferred on 
 those students who had entered by the merely nominal 
 Matriculation Examination of one of the three Queen's Colleges! 
 It is, no doubt, somewhat difficult to conceive any grounds 
 on which an arrangement apparently so anomalous could be 
 regarded as justified. Our present purpose, however, is not 
 in any way to find fault with the arrangement, but merely to 
 
 1 From the Freeman's Journal of Friday, November 3rd, 1882.
 
 16 
 
 call attention to it. It is a matter absolutely necessary to be 
 borne in mindin our analysis of this portion of the University list. 
 The result of it, of course, is, that we find but few Queen's 
 College students in the list of the " First University " Examina- 
 tion. Those who did present themselves may fairly be 
 regarded as having done so for the purpose of carrying off the 
 prizes and honours of the Royal University. The result, then, 
 is none the less instructive. It is the fashion at public 
 meetings of Queen's College sympathisers to deplore the heavy 
 loss that has been sustained by the students of the Queen's 
 Colleges, who are now obliged to forego the high distinction 
 of a Queen's University Degree, and to seek for their 
 certificates of literary distinction in " an institution which has 
 yet to make its reputation."^ It cannot, then, but be interest- 
 ing to examine how these chivalrous champions have fared, 
 who, being perfectly free to stay at home, nevertheless came 
 forward as volunteers, to carry off the honours of the new 
 institution. 
 
 We have from the official lists no means of knowing 
 how many students of the Queen's Colleges thus came 
 forward at the " First University " Examination. We find 
 the names of only seven recorded as having passed. And, 
 from the nature of the case, it does not seem unreasonable to 
 suppose that the number of those who passed is in fact the 
 number of those who competed. At least we are wilhng to 
 assume that it is so. 
 
 Again, we have no means of knowing, except in one 
 case, the status, as regards Queen's College prizes and dis- 
 tinctions, of those who thus camo forward. From the nature 
 of the case, indeed, we are justified in assuming, in the absence 
 
 1 This was, in fact, the expression used by the Chancellor of the late 
 Queen's University in referring to the Royal University in his address at 
 the closing meeting of the Senate. 
 
 The Senate, he said, felt it incumbent on them, where it could be 
 done without detriment to the character of the Queen's University degrees, 
 to confer the degree of M.A. on those who had taken the earlier 
 degree of Bachelorship, and who would otherwise be unable to obtain the 
 higher degree of the faculty, except from an "institution which had yet 
 to make its reputation."
 
 17 
 
 of evidence to the contrary, that they were students whose 
 success in College competitions was such as to justify their 
 thus coming forward in the new University. At all events, 
 in one case, the more communicative system manfully 
 adopted in his report by the President of one of the Colleges — 
 that of Cork — enables us to adduce an oJBScial testimony on 
 the point. And here we have distinct evidence to the effect 
 that the student who came forward was one that might 
 naturally be selected as a champion on whom his College could 
 confidently rely to put an end at once and for ever to any 
 hopes that the friends of the new "institution" might have 
 entertained of seeing it make for itself a reputation at all to 
 be compared with that enjoyed by its defunct predecessor. 
 For, in the President's report of the Queen's College, Cork, 
 for the Academic Session, 1881-82, we find the name of this 
 student at the head of the list of College Scholarships in 
 Literature. His name also frequently occurs in the College 
 List of Prizemen. Among other distinctions in this College 
 fist we find him absolutely first in Greek. 
 
 Coming, then, to the Honour Lists of the Eoyal Univer- 
 sity in the " First University " Examination, we begin with 
 Latin, which occupies the first place in the University lists. 
 Here (omitting, as we shall omit throughout, all reference to 
 girls, and to all students prepared by private study) we find 
 that the number of students to whom Honours were awarded 
 is 10, of whom 5 were awarded 1st Honours. 
 
 In the 1st Honour List, one Queen's College representative 
 finds, no doubt, a place ; but it is the last ! Of the remaming 
 four, no fewer than three, including the 1st and 2nd, are 
 won by students of Cathohc Colleges. The remaining place 
 was won by a student of the Methodist College, Belfast. 
 
 Again, in the 2nd Honour List, also comprising the names 
 of five students, one Queen's College representative appears. 
 But it is in the last place hut one ! Here again, the 1st place is 
 won by a Catholic College, as, in fact, are three out of the 
 remaining four in this list, as in the first. 
 
 B
 
 18 
 
 In Greek, five students were awarded Honours. Of these 
 only two were awarded 1st Honours, and both of these — one 
 of whom is first both on this hst and on the 1st Honour list 
 in Latin — are students of Catholic Colleges. The three 
 Queen's Colleges are here absolutely unrepresented! 
 
 In the 2nd Honour List in Greek, the name of only one 
 Queen's College representative appears. His place, however, 
 is the last of all. It may be worth noting that this is 
 the student who icon the first prize in this very subject in the 
 Queen's College, Cork ! Here, however, in competition with 
 outsiders, " in an institution which has its reputation yet to 
 make," he comes last in the list of honormen, with a score of 
 only 589, as against 789 and 765, scored by the 1st and 2nd 
 students on the list, both of whom are from Catholic Colleges, 
 one from Maynooth, the other from the French College, Black- 
 rock. 
 
 In French, five students were awarded Honours. In this 
 case, the Queen's College students do not appear at all; and 
 four out of the/vtf names on the list, again including the 1st 
 and 2nd, are those of students of Catholic Colleges. The one 
 solitary exception in this case is a highly distinguished student 
 of Trinity College, Dublin, who has taken the 3rd place on 
 this list. 
 
 In German, the only collegiate institution successful is a 
 Catholic College — the French College, Blackrock, two students 
 of which have won First Honours. 
 
 In Celtic, we regret to find, but one student has been 
 awarded Honours. He, however, has been awarded 1st 
 Honours. He is from the tutorial department of the Catholic 
 University College, Dublin. 
 
 In English the number of Honourmen is nine ; of these, 
 no fewer than eight, including the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd on the 
 list, are from Catholic Colleges. No Queen^s College repre- 
 sentative appears on this list. The solitary non-Catholic is the 
 Trinity College student who occupied a somewhat similar 
 position on the list of Honours in French. Here his place is 
 4th.
 
 19 
 
 In Mathematics, the Queen's Colleges are again absolutely 
 unrepresented. Here, out of Jive places, two are won by students 
 of Catholic, and three by students of non-Catholic Colleges. 
 
 In Experimental Physics the Queen's Colleges are again 
 unrepresented. Otherwise the state of the case is reversed. 
 Out of Jive places, three, including the 1st and 2nd, are 
 won by students of Catholic Colleges. 
 
 Thus we ascertain the extraordinary and all but incredible 
 fact, that, while the Queen's College representatives have not 
 succeeded in obtaining even one 1st place, and have in fact 
 been mentioned but four times in the entire list, the following 
 1st places have been won by students of Catholic Colleges : — 
 
 1st place in Latin 
 
 Greek 
 French 
 
 German 
 Celtic 
 
 English 
 
 Experimental Physics Do. 
 
 St. Brendan's College, Killarney, 
 
 and St. Patrick's (JoUege, 
 
 Maynooth. 
 Do. do. • 
 
 Messrs. Croly and M'Grath's 
 
 Classes, Catholic University. 
 French College, Blackrock. 
 Messrs. Croly and M'Grath's 
 
 Classes, Catholic University. 
 Do. do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Moreover, we find that in every one of those subjects 
 (except in Celtic, where only one student was awarded 
 Honours), the 27id place as well as the 1st, has been similarly 
 won. Thus: — 
 
 2nd place in Latin ... Messrs. Croly and M'Grath's 
 
 Classes, Catholic University. 
 
 „ Greek ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 „ French ... Messrs. Croly and M'Grath's 
 
 Classes, Catholic University. 
 
 „ German ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 „ English ... Messrs. Croly and M'Grath's 
 
 Classes, Catholic University, 
 
 „ Experimental Physics Do. do. 
 
 L
 
 20 
 
 It is not surprising, then, to find that of the eleven Exhi- 
 bitions awarded on this examination, no fewer than jive out of 
 the first six have been carried off by the CathoHo Colleges.^ 
 Two Queen's College students have here been successful, but 
 only to the extent of winning, respectively, the 9th and 
 10th Exhibitions. Of these two, the former is from Belfast, 
 the latter from Cork. It is his name that stands in last year's 
 report of the learned President of that College, at the head of 
 the list of College Scholarships in Literature! 
 
 III. 
 
 THE MATRICULATION EXAMINATION OF THE ROYAL UNIVERSITY.^ 
 
 The lists that we have so far analysed are those that have 
 reference to University work, properly so-called, as distinct 
 from the preparatory work of an Intermediate College or 
 School. It remains now to examine the Matriculation lists of 
 the year. 
 
 In this case, it is to be remembered, we have before us 
 the names of the body of students now entering the University. 
 
 ^ Here it is right to explain that, this year, in compliance with the wishes 
 of the Irish Bishops, the students of Maynooth College, so brilliantly suc- 
 cessful at the Matriculation Examinations last year, did not present them- 
 selves for further examination m the University. 
 
 The only exception was in the case of the two Maynooth students 
 who last year carried off the two Classical Scholarships of the University. 
 (See Appendix, page 61). As a condition for holding the Scholarships, 
 it was necessary for these students to pass the " First University " 
 Examination this year. They consequently did so. In this examination, 
 only one of the two competed for Honours. And his name, it is worth 
 noting, stands absolutely first, in the 1st Honours lists both in Latin and in 
 Greek. 
 
 2 From the Freemcui's Journal of Saturday, November 4th, 1882.
 
 21 
 
 Last year, which was the first of the existence of the Royal 
 University as a working institution, two modes of entering it 
 were in existence — the searching Matriculation Examination 
 xjonducted by the University itself, and the comparatively 
 easy, and practically little more than nominal, Matriculation 
 Examination of any one of the Queen's Colleges. For the 
 first year, no doubt, this inequality was, to a certain extent 
 unavoidable. But now that the special reasons for its 
 existence have ceased, the inequality, as a matter of course, 
 has been removed ; and so, this year, the only means of 
 obtaining admission to the new University has been through 
 the Matriculation Examination of the University itself — 
 the Examination, namely, of which the Hsts are now before 
 us. 
 
 This, then, being absolutely the first examination held by 
 the new University, which was fully open to free public com- 
 petition, and at which all candidates, no matter where 
 educated, came forward on terms of equality as regards the 
 requirements of the examination, it may be taken as the fairest 
 indication of the prospects of the future working of the 
 University, and of its probable results. 
 
 The official lists inform us that the number of students 
 who have this year matriculated is 487. For the purposes of 
 our analysis, in which we are concerned chiefly with the 
 results of the examination in their bearing on the more practical 
 issues of the Irish University question, we may distribute the 
 successful students into three classes, as follows : — 
 
 1. Students of Catholic Schools and Colleges in 
 
 Ireland ... ... ... ... 16X 
 
 2. Students of Protestant Schools and Colleges in 
 
 Ireland, and, generally, of all those Irish Schools 
 
 and Colleges that cannot be classed as Catholic 142 
 
 3. Girls, and all students prepared by private study, 
 
 or at Schools and Colleges outside of Ireland ... 184 
 
 487
 
 22 
 
 Omitting, then, in this case, as elsewhere throughont 
 our analysis, the students of the various groups that go to 
 make up this third class, we now proceed to analyse the lists 
 of successful students in each subject. 
 
 The first subject in the official list is Latin. 
 
 Here, at the outset of our inquiry, we find the follow- 
 ing results : — First Honours were awarded to nine students, 
 of whom no fewer than six — including the Isf, 2nd, drd, and 
 4:th on the list — are students of Catholic schools. 
 
 Second Honours have been awarded to ten students ; of 
 these, five are students of Catholic schools, and five of non- 
 Catholic (a term which, for convenience, is used here and 
 throughout to designate the schools of the second group 
 specified above). Here, as in so many other instances, the 
 representatives of Catholic education have won both the 1st 
 and the 2nd places. 
 
 In Greek, First Honours are awarded to three students. 
 All three are students of Catholic schools. 
 
 Second Honours are here awarded in four cases. The 
 names of one Catholic and of two non-Catholic schools appear 
 in the list. But the former has two representatives \, and these, 
 as usual, occupy the 1st and the 2nd place. 
 
 In French, the number of First Honourmen is four. Of 
 these no fewer than three are students of Catholic schools. 
 They hold, too, the 1st, 2nd, and Srd places on the list. 
 
 Second Honours are awarded in seven cases. Of these, no 
 fewer than five are students of Catholic schools. 
 
 In German there are but two Honourmen of the classes 
 coming within the terms of our analysis ; one of these wins 
 1st Honours, the other 2nd Honours. Of these the former is 
 a student of a CathoHc school. 
 
 In Celtic but one Honourman appears on the list. 
 1st Honours have been awarded to him. In this case the 
 credit of the success goes to an academy which, although we 
 understand under Catholic management, is not, we believe, 
 distinctively denominational.
 
 23 
 
 In Spanish also, but one student has obtained honours. 
 He, too, is a 1st Honourman. He is a student of a CathoHc 
 school. 
 
 In English, 1st Honours have been awarded to five 
 students. Of these, four (including once more the 1st, 2nd, 
 and Srd on the list) are students of Catholic schools. 
 
 In this subject the number of 2nd Honourmen is twelve, 
 of whom seven score to the credit of CathoHc schools. 
 
 In Mathematics, at Matriculation as elsewhere throughout 
 the University examinations, the preponderance of success 
 lies with the non-Catholic schools. This is a matter for serious 
 consideration. Surely it is not beyond the power of those 
 responsible for the efficient working of Catholic educational 
 establishments throughout Ireland, so brilliantly successful in 
 every other branch of school and college work, to search out 
 and to remove the source, whatever it may be, of the com- 
 parative failure of their students in this department — a failure 
 which forms the solitary exception to an otherwise practically 
 unbroken success. Here, in fact, out of twelve Honourmen, 
 no fewer than ten are students of non-Catholic schools. 
 
 In Experimental Physics there is but one 1st Honour- 
 man — a student of a Cathohc school. 2nd Honours have 
 been awarded in seven cases. Of these, five are students of 
 non-Catholic, and two of Catholic schools. 
 
 This detailed enumeration of the successes in the various 
 subjects prepares us for the result of the award of Exhibi- 
 tions, these being awarded on the general aggregate of suc- 
 cessful answering. 
 
 The number of Exhibitions awarded to students coming 
 within the terms of our analysis was nineteen. Of these, three 
 were 1st Class Exhibitions of £24 each ; sixteen were 2nd 
 Class Exhibitions ot £12 each. The result is as follows : — 
 All the Exhibitions of the 1st Class are won by sttidejits of 
 Catholic schools; also nine out of the sixteen Exhibitions of 
 the 2nd class ! It is also noteworthy that in the Exhibition
 
 24 
 
 list the Jive foremost places ivithout exception are held by 
 students of Catholic schools, as follows : — 
 
 1st place (1st Class Exhibition)... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 2nd „ do. do. ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 3rd „ do. do. ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 4th „ (2nd Class Exhibition)... Catholic University and Private 
 
 Study. 
 5th „ do. do. ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 It is by no means satisfactory to reflect that, notwith- 
 standing this triumphant success of the students who are 
 entering the University as representatives of the Catholic 
 schools and Colleges of Ireland, the advantage, as regards 
 State encouragement and support, is still on the side of their 
 defeated rivals, who may now obtain^ in the restricted compe- 
 tition of a domestic examination at one of the Queen's Colleges, 
 prizes far more valuable than those for which they competed, 
 but failed to win, at the open examination by which they 
 have been admitted to the University. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST.^ 
 
 The publication of the award of the Queen's College 
 Scholarships in Queen's College, Belfast, enables us to advance 
 a step further in our analysis of the results of the recent 
 examinations of the Royal University. 
 
 The completeness of the failure of the Colleges of Cork 
 and Galway, disclosed, as we have shown, by the ofiicial lists 
 
 1 When the Paper containing this paragraph was published, the awards 
 of the " Consolation " Scholarships thus referred to had not yet been made. 
 
 The actual result of the award of those Scholarships is set forth in the 
 following Papers. 
 
 2 From the Freeman'' s Journal of Monday, November 27th, 1882.
 
 25 
 
 of the University, renders it, we should hope, unnecessary to 
 revert to that portion of the subject. But we wish here to 
 direct attention to a new aspect of the case. Apart from the 
 question of the withdrawal of 'the public grants from the 
 three Colleges — a question which may possibly be settled by 
 a compromise, in which the present status of the Belfast Col- 
 lege may not be very materially altered — there is a further 
 question, in which, as a matter of elementary justice, the 
 Belfast College is no less involved than its sister institu- 
 tions in the West and South. It is the question of the 
 monopoly of Parliamentary patronage enjoyed to so large an 
 extent by the three Queen's Colleges, in the matter of Prizes, 
 Scholarships, and Exhibitions, maintained out of the public 
 purse. 
 
 What are the facts of the case ? 
 
 1. The number of Scholarships maintained by Parliament 
 each year for the exclusive benefit of the Queen's College 
 students is a hundred and sixty two, of which thirty are 
 tenable for two years. 
 
 They are thus distributed : — 
 
 
 
 Total Yearly. 
 
 90 Junior Scholarships 
 
 ; yearly value £24 each 
 
 ... £2160 
 
 24 „ . „ 
 
 25 „ 
 
 600 
 
 24 „ 
 
 20 „ 
 
 480 
 
 24 Senior Scholarship 
 
 40 „ 
 
 960 
 
 162 £4,200 
 
 2. The Royal University, which has recently been estab- 
 lished to take the place of the Queen's University, and which 
 derives every penny of its income from a purely Irish fund — 
 the surplus fund of the disestablished Protestant Church of 
 Ireland^ — is unable, from its stinted resources, to award more 
 than £480, to be distributed in prizes to the successful 
 students at its Matriculation Examination. And this, it is to 
 
 1 See Introduction, pages 3 and 4, footnote.
 
 26 
 
 be remembered, is an examination at which all the students 
 matriculating in the University, including those about to enter 
 the three Queens Colleges, are competitors. This maximum 
 amount of £480 is distributed into two sums of £240 each. 
 Of these two sums, one is available for awarding ten First 
 Class Prizes of £24 ; the other for awarding twenty Second 
 Class Prizes of £12. 
 
 3. As a measure probably of economy, the, arrangement 
 thus made is fenced round with a number of restrictions, a 
 very practical illustration of the effect of which is afforded 
 by the fact that, under the pressure of the rules thus imposed, 
 the number of £24 prizes awarded this year by the University 
 has been but four, instead of ten. Thus the total amount 
 actually awarded at the recent Matriculation Examination 
 in the Royal University was, not £480, but only £336. 
 
 4. On the other hand, the three Queen's Colleges, out of 
 an income every penny of which is drawn from the public 
 purse, are enabled each year to award to their own students^ 
 then entering the Colleges, no fewer than forty-five Scholar- 
 ships, amounting in the aggregate to the yearly value of 
 £1,050. 
 
 5. In other words, each of the Colleges is enabled each 
 year to distribute among its own students, at entrance, 
 Scholarships to the value of £350, an amount greater 
 than that which the Royal University has been able this 
 year to award at its Entrance Examination ! And yet, it may 
 be no harm to repeat, this Entrance Examination in the 
 University is the open, public, examination at which all the 
 students matriculating in the University — including those about 
 to enter the three Queen's Colleges — are competitors. 
 
 The publication of the official award of the College 
 Prizes in the Belfast College enables us, by comparison with 
 the lists of the Royal University, to ascertain the actual 
 results this year of a system so unpromising for the interests 
 of education. The Belfast list is as follows. It omits one 
 £20 Scholarship (in the Faculty of Law), which had not as 
 yet been awarded wheu the list was published : —
 
 27 
 
 First Year's Scholarships (Belfast). 
 
 literary division. 
 
 M'NeiU, Robert (Faculty of Arts) ... ... £24 
 
 Johnston, W. S. „ „ ... ... 2 4 
 
 M'MuUen, William. J „ ... ... 24 
 
 KiUen, S. M. C. „ „ ... ... 24 
 
 M'MuUen, T. W- „ „ ... ... 24 
 
 Smiley, D. C. (Faculty of Medicine) ... ... 25 
 
 
 
 £145 
 
 SCIENCE DIVISION. 
 
 
 
 Orr, W. M'F. (Faculty of Arts) 
 
 ... 
 
 £94 
 
 Cromie, E. S. ,, ,, 
 
 ... 
 
 24: 
 
 Campbell, Albert „ 
 
 
 24 
 
 Priestly, James „ ,, 
 
 ... 
 
 24 
 
 Heron, James (School of Engineering) ... 
 
 ... 
 
 20 
 
 Larmor, J. S. B. (Faculty of Arts) 
 
 ... 
 
 24 
 
 Woods, G. M. (Faculty of Medicine) ... 
 
 ... 
 
 25 
 
 Binden, A. M. (School of Engineering) ... 
 
 ... 
 
 20 
 
 Total in both Divisions ... £330 
 
 This list will well repay minute examination. Let us 
 take the name that heads the list of Scholars in the Literary 
 Division — Robert M'Neill. As might naturally be expected^ 
 the student who has obtained this place in Belfast is one who 
 not only passed the Matriculation Examination of the Royal 
 University, but passed it with Honours and obtained an Ex- 
 hibition. His success, however, highly honourable to him as 
 it undoubtedly was, only serves to give additional point to the 
 instructive lesson taught by these official lists. On the Uni- 
 versity lists we find his name, no doubt, in the Honour lists of 
 two out of the three " literary" subjects in which it was open 
 to him to compete. But if we transcribe those lists so far as 
 may be necessary to bring his name within the honourable 
 roll, the result is one that is far from calculated to encourage 
 Parliament to continue in its present course of educational 
 endowments in Ireland. It will be seen that in the open
 
 28 
 
 competition of the University, the Belfast 1st Literary Scholar 
 has taken only the eighth place in Latin, and in Greek only 
 the seventh. In English, although Honours are awarded to 
 no fewer than thirty-four students, his name does not appear at 
 all ! The University Hsts are as follows : — 
 
 LATIN. 
 
 1. Nolan, Pierce ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 2. Griffin, Henry ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 3. Hogan, Edmund ... Private Study. 
 
 4. Dwyer, Michael ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 5. Conan, Arthur ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 6. Tunney, Joseph ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 7. Killen, S- M'C. ... Royal Acad. Inst. Belfast. 
 
 8. M'Neill, Robert *.. Belfast Academy. 
 
 GREEK. 
 
 1. Griffin, Henry ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 "i. Dwyer, Michael ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 3. Conan, Arthur ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 4. Hogan, Edmund ... Private study, 
 
 5. Nolan, Pierce ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 6. Riordan, Jeremiah ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 7. M'Neill, Robert ... Belfast Academy. 
 
 In English, as we have already observed, an essentially 
 " literary " subject, the name of the Belfast 1st Literary 
 Scholar does not appear at all ! And it is surely not unworthy 
 of notice, as an indication of the steady excellence of the work 
 done in the Catholic schools of Ireland, that on this Honour 
 list in English we find the names of the same four students — 
 Nolan, Griffin, Dwyer, and Conan, students of the Jesuit Col- 
 lege, Tullabeg, and of the French College, Blackrock — who, 
 as we have seen, also achieved the significant success of 
 placing their names in the foremost places on the Honour 
 lists both in Latin and Greek. 
 
 It would manifestly be superflaous, after this examination 
 of the " test case " of the first scholar, to proceed further 
 with a minute analysis of the list. But it is worthy of at least 
 brief mention that of all the fourteen students so substantiaUj
 
 29 
 
 rewarded in Belfast, the names of only ten appear in this year's 
 matriculation Hsts of the Eojal University, and that of these 
 ten, only Jive have succeeded in obtaining even second-class 
 Prizes in the open competition of the University. Not even one 
 of the five has obtained a first-class Prize ! The highest place is 
 that taken by Robert M'Neill, the student whose name heads 
 the College list of Scholarships ; but in the University prize- 
 list he takes only the eighth place ; and here once more, we 
 find before him, in the fu'st places of honour, the names of 
 
 Dwyer, Michael ... St. Stanislaus' College, TuUabeg. 
 
 Griffin, Henry. ... French College, Blackrock. 
 
 Conan, Arthur ... French College, Blackrock, and 
 
 Nolan, Pierce ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 As to the four other Belfast Queen's College Scholars who, 
 Hke their leader, have succeeded in obtaining second-class 
 prizes in the Royal University, their places in the order of 
 merit as there recorded in the official hsts, are, respectively — 
 19th, 21st, 24th, and 30th. 
 
 So much, then, for the Entrance Scholarships of the 
 Queen's College, Belfast. It can hardly, we think, be deemed 
 necessary after this to make a similar analysis of the Scholar- 
 ship lists of Gal way and Cork. Yet it may be useful to do so. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS OF THE QUEEN'S COLLEGES OP 
 CORK AND GALWAY.l 
 
 The official Report for the Session 1881-82, presented to 
 the Queen by the learned and distinguished President of Her 
 Majesty's College in Cork, contains a sentence that cannot 
 fail to furnish matter for serious reflection to those responsible 
 for the maintenance of the existing system of endowments for 
 the purposes of University education in Ireland. Speaking of 
 the dissolution of the Queen's University, and of the founding 
 of the Royal University as its substitute. Dr. SuUivan reports 
 
 1 From the Freeman's Journal of Saturday, December 2nd, 1882.
 
 30 
 
 to Her Majesty that " the effect of this change on the College ' 
 over which he presides " cannot as yet be predicted ; but," 
 he adds, " on higher education I have no doubt it will be 
 injurious." 
 
 This is surely a bold statement from the President of a 
 Queen's College, in an official report to the Queen herself, in 
 reference to the foundation of a University chartered under 
 her sign-manual in constitutional compliance with the advice 
 of her responsible advisers, and in pursuance of an enactment of 
 her Parliament. " Its effect on higher education," Dr. Sulhvan 
 assures Her Majesty, he has " no doubt," "will be injurious." 
 In one important respect we are inclined to dissent from this 
 emphatic judgment of the President. We should be inclined 
 rather to invert the clauses of the sentence in which he 
 has so confidently pronounced this judgment adverse to the 
 University in the government of which he exercises so im- 
 portant an influence. For our part, we believe that it is as 
 yet too soon to form a definitive judgment as to the ultimate 
 influence of the Royal University on higher education in 
 Ireland. But that its effect on the maintenance of the Queen's 
 College, Cork, as at present constituted, will prove decidedly 
 " injurious," we can have no doubt whatever. 
 
 In concluding our analysis of the Scholarship hsts of 
 the three Queen's Colleges for the present year, as compared 
 with the Honours and Exhibition lists of the Royal University, 
 we think it not superfluous, even though it be a repetition, to 
 set forth a brief statement of some important facts necessary 
 to be borne in mind if we would fully appreciate the extent 
 of the educational scandal revealed by the analysis. These, 
 then, are the following : — 
 
 1. The Royal University is henceforth to stand in the 
 game relation to all the University students of Ireland (except, 
 for the present at least,^ those of Trinity College, Dubhn) in 
 
 1 " In a country where different religions are professed, and where the 
 majority of the people have grievously suffered from the religious and 
 political domination of a minority, it seems to me to be necessary^ in order 
 to ultimately secure religious and political equality^ as well as in the interest of
 
 31 
 
 wMcli the Queen's University formerly stood in relation ex- 
 clusively to the students of the three Queen's Colleges. The 
 passing of the Matriculation Examination of the Royal 
 University is the only course by which any such student can 
 become a student of an Irish University. The passing of its 
 prehminary Examinations is the only course by which he 
 can quahfy for a degree. And the passing of its Degree 
 Examinations is the only course by which he can obtain one. 
 Henceforth the three Queen's Colleges, although, as yet, 
 undisturbed in the possession of their endowments, are to be 
 mere Colleges, and nothing more. They have ceased to be 
 University Colleges. In relation to the Royal University they 
 stand on precisely the same footing as the Cathohc University 
 College in Stephen's-green, Dublin ; the Jesuit Colleges in 
 Dublin or Tullabeg ; the French College, Blackrock ; St. 
 Malachy's College, Belfast ; Magee College, Derry ; or any 
 other College, Catholic, or non-Cathohc, in Ireland. 
 
 2. The Queen's Colleges, however, still retain all their 
 endowments. Year after year, with a steady hberahty that 
 tends rather to increase than to diminish, Parliament has 
 voted, and still continues to vote, for their maintenance, a 
 sum considerably in excess of £25,000 a year. 
 
 3. While every penny of this large endowment is thus 
 freely paid by Parhament out of the pubhc purse, all assist- 
 ance from the same source is persistently withheld from the 
 unendowed Cathohc and non-Catholic colleges that we have 
 already named. Even the grant for the maintenance of the 
 Royal University, miserably inadequate as it is in view of the 
 vast work thrown upon it, is paid, not out of the pubhc 
 Treasury, but out of a purely Irish fund — the surplus fund of 
 the disestabhshed Protestant Church of Ireland.^ 
 
 4. In the official reports of the Presidents of the three 
 Queen's Colleges for the Session 1881-2, we find the following 
 
 true learning^ that there should be hut one stayidard by which the proficiency 
 in knowledge of academical students should be tested." — University Educa- 
 tion in all Ireland, by W. K. Sullivan, Ph. D., (now President, Queen's 
 College, Cork), Dublin, 1866. 
 
 1 See Introduction, pages 3 and 4, footnote.
 
 32 
 
 statement of the gi-ants made by Parliament — that is to say, 
 practically, by the House of Commons — in the year ended 
 31st March, 1882 :— 
 
 Grant for the year, charged on Consolidated fund (net) : — 
 
 Belfast ... ... ... ... £6,891 3 4 
 
 Cork ... ... ... ... 6,890 14 3 
 
 Galway ... ... ... ... 6,892 6 2 
 
 Total ... ... ... £20,674 3 9 
 
 Grant for the year " in aid of expenses of maintenance " : — 
 
 Belfast ... ... ... ... £1,600 
 
 Cork ... ... ... ... 1,600 
 
 Galway ... ... ... ... 1,600 
 
 Total ... ... • ... £4,800 
 
 Grant for the year " in augmentation of Professors' salaries " : — 
 
 Belfast ... ... ... ... £146 12 10 
 
 Cork ... ... ... ... 76 8 
 
 Galway ... ... ... ... 273 15 
 
 Total ... ... ... £496 15 10 
 
 Thus, then, we arrive at the following statement of the 
 total amount of the grant for last year : — 
 
 Grant from Consolidated Fund ... £20,674 
 
 „ "in aid of expenses of maintenance" 4,800 
 „ " in augmentation of Professors' 
 
 salaries" ... ... ... 516 
 
 Total ... ... ... £25,990 
 
 We omit any detailed statement of the sum granted each 
 year for the endowment of the Queen's University. Its average 
 amount seems to have been about £4,400. But we would 
 suggest as a very proper subject of inquiry why the establish- 
 ment of the Royal University and the allotment to it of an 
 insufficient endowment from the Irish Church Fund, should
 
 33 
 
 have had the effect of reheving the Imperial Treasury of this 
 annual charge.^ 
 
 5. Some months ago there were pubhshed in the Free- 
 mails Journal, at the request of the writer of the present 
 Paper, a number of extracts from the speeches made bj pro- 
 minent Members of Parhament at both sides of the House on 
 the occasion of the passing of the Royal University Bill in 
 1879. On all hands it was then agreed that the measure then 
 introduced was, in a certain sense, a temporary provision ; tem- 
 porary, at least, in the matter of endowments. Mr. Gladstone, 
 who was then in Opposition, did not speak on that occa- 
 sion. But more than one of his present colleagues took an 
 active part in the debate. We trust that they have not for- 
 gotten their utterances. *'I would willingly," said Dr. Lyon 
 Playfair, "support a scheme which would give the Roman 
 Catholics well organised colleges of secular education, 
 comparable in efficiency to Trinity College and the Queen's 
 Colleges. Without that there ivill be no equality. '' " You can- 
 not," said Mr. Courtney, " maintain the endowments to the 
 Queen's Colleges, where students are in training for the 
 University, and keep other students deprived of them." " I 
 am perfectly persuaded," he added, " that the Bill now on the 
 table will have to be completed, sooner or later, by the disen- 
 dowment^ of the Queen's Colleges." And on the same occasion 
 the significant declaration was made by Mr. Parnell, that this 
 Bill would render " a wrangle and a struggle upon this ques- 
 tion next session a matter of inevitable necessity ; because if the 
 
 ^It can hardly be accepted as a satisfactory answer to this question, 
 that a similar financial operation was performed at the expense of the same 
 Irish fmid in 1869, when provision was made for the discontinuance of 
 grants for Irish purposes to the amount of about £70,000 a year. 
 
 2 It will be observed that the proposal advocated in these Papers is a 
 much more modest one than that thus foretold by Mr. Courtney as a legis- 
 lative proposal of the future. The maintenance of the three Colleges at 
 the public expense may or may not be in conformity with sound political 
 principles. The settlement of this question may safely be left to the 
 future. The question at present is, Why should Parliament maintain a 
 vast system of College prizes to be distributed, from year to year, among 
 those Students of the Queen's Colleges who fail to achieve distinction in 
 the open competition of the University ? 
 
 C
 
 34 
 
 Queen's Colleges were maintained without some counter- 
 balancing advantages to the Cathohc Colleges also, there 
 would be a gross and clear inequahty." (See page QQ.) 
 
 It is, we trust, of some importance now to call attention 
 to these weighty declarations. They surely acquire a new 
 significance in the hght now thrown upon them b3^ the official 
 lists of the Honors and Prizes awarded by the new University, 
 
 In the preceding section of our Analysis we called 
 attention to the significance of the inferences to be drawn 
 from this year's official award of the Entrance Scholarships in 
 the Queen's College, Belfast. We have now before us the 
 corresponding list of the Queen's College Scholarships awarded 
 this year in Cork and Galway. Although it seems in gi'eat 
 measure superfluous, we may, for the sake of completing 
 our analysis, set forth the following statement of the result. 
 It is, indeed, a result such as all who are familiar with 
 the actual condition of affairs in the Cork and Galway 
 Colleges might readily infer, at least in substance, from the 
 disclosures already made in reference to Belfast. But, from 
 the toleration so long accorded to the Southern and Western 
 Colleges, we must assume that their real position in the world 
 of university education is far from being as widely known 
 as, in the interests of university education, it ought to be. It 
 may be useful, then to set forth the state of facts disclosed by 
 a comparison of two unimpeachable records — the official award 
 of the Queen's College Scholarships, as published by the 
 College authorities themselves, and the official hsts, published 
 by the Royal University, of the Honours and Entrance Prizes 
 awarded at the Matriculation Examinations for the present year. 
 
 Following the alphabetical order, we begin with Cork. 
 Here we are at once confronted by the startling fact that of 
 the Jive College Scholarships in Literature, of the value of 
 £24 each, publicly advertised for competition in the faculty of 
 Arts, only two have been awarded ! We have been informed 
 that there were in fact only two competitors. For this we can- 
 not vouch. But the official list vouches for us, at all events,
 
 35 
 
 that only two students succeeded in reaching the minimum 
 standard of answering on which the College authorities could 
 venture to award those valuable prizes maintained for them at 
 the public expense. How low this minimum must be is made 
 sufficiently plain by the no less startling fact that although 
 both these students (we forbear from publishing their names) 
 succeeded in passing the Matriculation Examination of the 
 Royal University, they not only failed in obtaining an Entrance 
 Prize, even of the 2nd Class, but they did not succeed in obtain- 
 ing even 2nd Class Honours, or, in other words, any place, how- 
 ever loiv, on the Honour hst of the University, in any one of the 
 Jive subjects of examination I In the University they are mere 
 Pass men. In the Cork College they obtain each a Scholar- 
 ship of £24, exactly equal in amount to the highest prize ^ that 
 the Royal University out of its scanty resources is able to 
 award even to its most distinguished student at Matriculation ! 
 The Royal University has only four such prizes for the suc- 
 cessful students from all Ireland; but each of the three Queen's 
 Colleges has, for its own students, no less than fifteeny making 
 in qR forty-five such Prizes, each practically of the same amount! 
 
 But to resume. Of the five " science " Scholars in the 
 Cork "Faculty," the names of only two appear at all in the 
 University Matriculation List — three, indeed, if we regard a 
 " John Smyth " of the University Pass List, as identical with 
 a " John B. Smith," of the College. 
 
 But whether the number be two or three is of no con- 
 sequence. Not one of them has obtained at the University 
 even a 2nd Class Entrance Prize ! Nay, more, not one of 
 them has obtained a place of any kind on the University hsts 
 of Honours in any literary subject ; and, as regards scientific 
 subjects. Mathematics, and Experimental Physics, while one 
 has obtained merely the 9th place on the hst, among the 2nd 
 Honourmen, in Mathematics, both the others have failed to obtain 
 any place at all on the Mathematical list, and not one of the three 
 has obtained any place whatever on the Honour list of the other 
 scientific subject, Experimental Physics! 
 
 1 See page 26. 
 
 h
 
 36 
 
 But onr readers are probably of opinion that we have had 
 enough on this branch of our subject. Let us turn to Galway. 
 It would be hard to say that the result here is much less 
 miserable. We may dispose of it briefly. 
 
 In Galway, then, 14 scholarships were awarded. Of the 
 14 students thus successful in the College competition, the 
 names of only 7 appear in the University lists. And here, 
 again, as in the case of the Cork Scholars, 7iot even one has 
 succeeded in obtaining at the University even a 2nd class Entrance 
 Prize ! 
 
 As in Cork, so also in Galway, not one of those Scholars, 
 whether " literary" or " scientific," has succeeded at the 
 University in obtaining any place, however low, on the 
 Honour lists in Greek, in French, or in Experimental Physics ! 
 
 The Galway 1st "literary" Scholar has not obtained 
 Honours, either in Greek, in English, or in any modern 
 language ! His name indeed appears in the Honour list of one 
 literary subject, Latin. But his place there is in order of 
 merit only seventeenth ! 
 
 Of all the "science" Scholars, not one has obtained 
 any place, high or low, on the Honour list in Experimental 
 Physics. One of them, indeed — the first of the ^yq — has been 
 successful to the extent that his name has found at least some 
 place on the Honour list in Mathematics. His place, how- 
 ever, in the order of merit, is not distinguished. Of the 
 16 students to whom Honours were awarded in this subject 
 in the University Examination, he is absolutely the last ! 
 
 To bring our tedious task to a close, we may now set 
 forth in tabular form a comparative statement of the numbers 
 of students to whom Honours and Prizes were awarded at the 
 Matriculation Examination of the Royal University, consider- 
 ing only, on the one hand, the students among whom the 
 " Kterary" and " scientific" Entrance Scholarships of the three 
 Queen's Colleges have since been distributed ; and, on the 
 other hand, the students of the unendowed Catholic Colleges 
 of Ireland. The result is as follows : —
 
 37 
 
 ROYAL UNIVERSITY HONOURS AND EXHIBITIONS. 
 (Matriculation Examination, 1882.) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 DO 
 
 
 
 
 •3 
 
 
 C5 
 
 
 si 
 
 3§ 
 
 Awarded to 
 
 a 
 
 (V 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 ,£3 
 
 
 2l 
 
 11 
 
 9, r^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 03 
 
 s 
 
 • S >< 
 P^H 
 
 
 Belfast College Scholars ... 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Cork 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 _„. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 Galway „ 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 Total awarded to Queen's"! 
 College Scholars f 
 
 3 
 
 9, 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Awarded to Students of) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 unendowed Catholic >• 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 y 
 
 Colleges ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 13 
 
 17 
 
 / 
 
 5 
 
 
 14 
 
 We submit that if this list be examined by any unpre- 
 judiced reader, he cannot for a moment hesitate to endorse 
 the statements of Mr. Courtney, of Dr. Lyon Playfair, and of 
 Mr. Parnell, quoted in one of the preceding pages.^ 
 
 ^ See page 33. 
 
 i
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Reply of Dr. Porter, President op Queen's College, 
 Belfast, 
 
 In reference to the preceding Papers, the following letter fi-om 
 Dr. Porter, the learned and respected President of Queen's College, 
 Belfast, was published in the Freeman^ s Journal of Monday, December 
 11th, 1882: — 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMAN. 
 
 Queen's College, Belfast, December 8th. 
 
 Sir, — My attention has just been directed to articles in your 
 paper upon Queen's College, Belfast — articles which, in my opinion, 
 and in the opinion of all who know the state of this college, are 
 unfair and misleading. I presume that, as a public journalist, you 
 desire to speak the truth, and the whole truth, on those educational 
 questions which you discuss, and that whatever may be your views 
 upon the educational policy and requirements of this country, you 
 would not wilfully misrepresent any institution. I therefore, very 
 respectfully, claim the right of a reply to your severe criticisms. I 
 do not propose, however, to follow you through your long details. It 
 is unnecessary to do so, as most of them are irrelevant to the main 
 questions at issue with regard to this college. A simple statement of 
 facts will, I venture to think, be sufficient to show to every thoughtful 
 and impartial reader the fallacy of your arguments, and the unfairness 
 of your conclusions. 
 
 I think it right to state at the outset that Queen's College neither 
 fears nor deprecates publicity and honest criticism. On the contrary, 
 it courts them. No college or university in the Empire gives a fuller 
 account of its acts, state, and progress, year after year. It might be 
 well, perhaps, if some other colleges in Ireland were equally free and 
 unreserved in imparting information which the public might desire to 
 possess. I feel proud of the position to which Queen's College has 
 has attained, and of the distinguished honours gained by its alumni. 
 
 Queen's College does not prepare candidates for matriculation in 
 the Royal or any other University, as would seem to be indicated in 
 your articles.^ It is not a school for elementary training, and cannot 
 
 ^ Nothing of the kind was in any way indicated in any of those articles, 
 as may be seen by a careful perusal of them as printed in the precediag pages.
 
 40 
 
 therefore be compared or contrasted with the French College, Blackrock, 
 or St. Stanislaus' College, or other institutions of a similar kind which 
 you mention. It is simply misleading to speak as you do of honours 
 and exliibitions awarded to Queen's College students at the Matricu- 
 lation Examination of the Royal University. Before entering Queen's 
 College, students are required to have passed a Matriculation Exami- 
 nation. The college has had nothing to do with their previous 
 education.^ That education is received at institutions with which the 
 college has no connection, and over which it has no control. Conse- 
 quently the Queen's College is in no way responsible for the proficiency 
 or failure of any candidate for matriculation in the Royal tlniversity. 
 The object of the matriculation is to ascertain whether the candidates 
 are sufficiently advanced in general knowledge to enable them to 
 pursue with advantage the prescribed courses of study. 
 
 Now, as to our scholarships, candidates for hrst year scholar- 
 ships must liave passed the matriculation either in the College or in 
 the Royal University, and no person can be admitted as a candidate 
 who has attended as a matriculated student any class in this College 
 or in any of the Queen's Colleges. Consequently the previous edu- 
 cation of candidates must have been received elsewhere. Competition 
 is open to all except Queen's College students. There are no tests 
 and no restrictions of any kind. The door is as open as that of the 
 Royal University. We are ready to welcome candidates from 
 any school or college or family in the empire. Our statutes 
 guarantee them absolute freedom of conscience, and freedom from all 
 interference with their religious convictions, and the subjects we 
 teach, and on which we examine, are exactly the same as those laid 
 down in the courses of the Royal University, and approved of by the 
 Senate. It is misleading, therefore, to assert or insinuate that our 
 scholarships are restricted to any class, or school, or denomination. 
 They are open on equal terms to all who choose to compete for them — 
 as open as those of the Royal University itself.^ 
 
 The examination for scholarships is entirely distinct from that 
 for matriculation. The subjects of examination for literary scholar- 
 ships are Latin, Greek, and English ; the subjects of examination for 
 science scholarships are geometry, arithmetic, algebra, and trigo- 
 nometry. Proficiency in classical learning and English is the chief 
 requisite in competing for a literary scholarships. Proficiency in 
 
 1 Dr. Porter seems to have altogether missed the point of the contrast 
 referred to. See page 24. The question is not as to responsibihty 
 for the previous education of the unsuccessful candidates. Wherever the 
 responsibility for this may lie, the fact is undeniable that the students who 
 enter the Queen's Colleges, and there receive the College Scholarships, 
 are not students who are successful in the open competition of the Royal 
 University. See the extract on the title page of this pamphlet. 
 
 ^ See, however, Introduction, page 4.
 
 41 
 
 mathematics is essential to successful competition for a science 
 scholarship. 
 
 It will thus be seen that scholarships in Queen's College are 
 awarded upon an entirely different principle from that upon which 
 exhibitions are awarded in the Royal University. The latter are 
 given for the highest aggregate of marks in five subjects — Latin, 
 Greek, or some modern language, Mathematics, English, and Experi- 
 mental Physics. An average general score secures an exhibition, but 
 a specialist, however distinguished, whether in classics or mathematics, 
 has little chance of success. This is proved by the result of the 
 recent examinations, as I shall show presently. It is consequently^ 
 misleading to institute a comparison between the scholars of Queen's 
 College and the exhibitioners of the Royal University. 
 
 Another point it is necessary to mention. The subjects of exami- 
 nation for Queen's College scholarships are published long before 
 the time of examination, and it has for many years been the custom 
 in some of the leading schools in the north of Ireland to prepare 
 pupils specially in those subjects ; hence the success which attends 
 their candidature here. A great stimulus has been given by our 
 annual scholarship competition to both classical and mathematical study 
 throughout Ulster, and the brilliant career of many of our scholars in 
 Oxford, Cambridge, and elsewhere, shows how thoroughly both 
 schools and colleges have done their work. 
 
 The foregoing statement of facts, prepares the way for forming a 
 just estimate of the position which those scholars of this College, 
 who previously matriculated in the Royal University, gained at the 
 matriculation examination. 
 
 Six literary scholarships have been awarded, including one 
 restricted to medical students. The first scholar took first class 
 honours in Latin, second class in Greek, and also first class in Mathe- 
 matics, in the Royal University ; the second and third upon our list 
 did not enter the Royal University ; the fourth took first class honours 
 in Latin and second class in English ; the fifth took second class 
 honours in English ; the sixth took second class honours in Greek and 
 first class in English.^ 
 
 In the science division eight scholarships were awarded, two of 
 them being restricted to engineering, and one to medical students. 
 The first scholar is W, M'F. Orr, whose brilliant answering in mathe- 
 mathics placed him far above all his competitors in the Royal 
 University, and yet he is last in the list of exhibitioners ! The second 
 
 ^The inference thus drawn seems to imply that the failure of the 
 Queen's College students in general scoring was made up for by special 
 excellence in the special subjects enumerated. See, however, page 28. 
 
 ' In all this, and also in the next paragraph, Dr. Porter omits to mention 
 the numerical order of merit on the IJniversity list. See pages 28, 29. 
 
 k
 
 42 
 
 scholar obtained second class honours in experimental physics, and 
 also second class in French. The third and fifth on our list did not 
 enter the Royal University at the recent examination. The fourth 
 on our list obtained first class honours in mathematics ; the seventh 
 obtained second class honours in mathematics ; and the eighth second 
 class in experimental physics. 
 
 "We have no reason to feel ashamed of the foregoing list, and I 
 am glad to find that, in addition to those on the list, some sixty- six 
 others, who matriculated in the Royal University, ten of them with 
 honours, have since entered this College in the Faculty of Arts. 
 
 But, after all, the real test of efficiency in a College is to be 
 sought, not in the educational status of those who enter it, but in the 
 progress and high attainments of those who have been trained in it. 
 It is our object to give the best possible education to all who enter. 
 Our scholarships were never intended to be mere rewards for work 
 done at school, without any guarantee of subsequent work. They 
 were founded for the purpose of stimulating and aiding promising 
 young men to pursue a course of systematic study under efficient pro- 
 fessors, which they must do or else they forfeit their scholarships. 
 On the great advantages of this requirement, I would refer to the 
 emphatic testimony of Dr. Lyon Playfair, to whom you have appealed 
 as an authority. A combined (teaching and examining) university, 
 he says, '^ aims and succeeds at producing an educated man ; an 
 examining board can only be assured that it has produced a crammed 
 man. It is the curriculum of the university, not the examination, 
 which educates the man." We believe this, and we act upon it in 
 Belfast.-^ Some of our best men, after their training here, go to 
 Oxford, Cambridge, and Trinity College. This will continue to be 
 the case, because high rewards are open to them, and they know 
 besides the superlative advantages of residence and systematic work in 
 a university. I am willing, however, passing by those men for the 
 moment, to test the efiiciency and general success of the training given 
 in Queen's College by the published results of the recent examinations 
 in the Royal University. They are as follows^ : — 
 
 Faculty of Law^ — First class honourmen, with the degree of 
 LL.B., to two men from this college, and second class honours to two. 
 
 1 It is difficult to see in what way this portion of Dr. Porter's letter can 
 be regarded as a reply to the Papers published in the preceding pages. 
 
 2 In reference to what follows it may perhaps be necessary to call 
 attention to the distinction already pointed out (see page 9) between the 
 " close " and the " open " examinations of the Royal University. It is not 
 in any Way implied in any of the Papers to which Dr. Porter undertook to 
 reply, thiit in competition with the Queen's Colleges of Cork and Galway, Queen's 
 C^/oUege, Belfast, was not successful. Indeed the fact that it was thus 
 successful was more than once brought out most distinctly in those Papers. 
 
 s Examination not open to outsiders.
 
 43 
 
 Medicine^ — Second class honours were given with the degree of 
 M.D. to one from this college. At the second examination in medicine 
 first class honours were given to one from this college, and second 
 class to three. At the first examination in medicine first class honours 
 were awarded to two from this college, and second class to one. 
 
 Arts^ — First class honours were awarded with the degree of B. A. 
 to four candidates from this college, and second class to four. At the 
 second University examination first class honours in Latin ;were 
 awarded to four candidates from this college, and second class to three. 
 In Greek first class honours were awarded to two from this college, and 
 second class to two. In Logic, Belfast students gained three first 
 class honours and two second class. In Mathematics our students gained 
 three first class honours ; and in Mathematical Physics two first class. 
 One of our students also gained second class honours in Mathematical 
 Physics and second class in Experimental Physics. 
 
 Engineering^ — At the second professional examination first class 
 honours were awarded to two students from this college. 
 
 All those examinations, be it observed, were conducted by the 
 Fellows and Examiners of the Royal University, and they prove that 
 in their judgment^ our training in this college is sound and thorough. 
 
 But Dr. Lyon Playfair has rightly said — " The object of a 
 University is not merely to have an honour list, but also to promote 
 efiicient study among many, as proved by their attaining degrees on 
 fair and reasonable, though adequate conditions." Judged by this 
 standard Queen's College has been singularly successful. The Royal 
 University has only held one general degree examination ; yet, the 
 numbers of Belfast students upon whom it has conferred degrees are 
 as follows : — LL.D., 2 ; LL.B., with honours, 4 ; pass, 2 ; M.D., with 
 honours, 1; upper pass, 7; pass, 17; M.Ch., 18 ; M.A., 2 ; B.A., 
 with honours, 8; pass, 15 — total, 76. 
 
 The degrees conferred upon Belfast students by the Queen's 
 University in 1881, the year before its dissolution, were as follows : — 
 M.A., with honours, 7 ; pass, 3 ; B.A., with honours, 15 ; pass, 18 ; 
 LL.D., 1 ; LL.B., 2 ; M.l)., with honours, 4 ; upper pass, 7 ; pass, 27 ; 
 B.E., with honours, 1 ; pass, 4 — total, 89. 
 
 I have only further to add, as proof, that Queen's CoUege is doing 
 a great educational work in Ireland, the fact that during last session 
 575 students were in attendance in the several faculties. 
 
 J. Leslie Porter. 
 
 1 Neither Examination open to outsiders. 
 
 2 None of these Examinations was open to outsiders. 
 8 Examination not open to outsiders. 
 
 * It is well to observe that a majority of the Fellows, and a large 
 number, if not a majority, of the other Examiners, thus referred to, are ' 
 Queen's College Professors.
 
 44 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 The Rejoinder. 
 I. 
 
 In reply to the above letter, the following article appeared next 
 day in the Freemaris Journal : — 
 
 We published yesterday a letter from Dr. Porter, the learned 
 President of the Queen's College, Belfast, in reply to the series of 
 Papers on the Queen's Colleges and the Royal University, published 
 in these columns a few weeks ago. That series of Papers Dr. Porter 
 candidly describes as a *' severe " criticism. We cannot but regard 
 this admission as satisfactory. It leaves, indeed, no room for doubt 
 that the blow dealt by our analysis of the Royal University lists at 
 the system of monopoly still upheld by Parliament in favour of the 
 Queen's Colleges was really a " severe " one, and that it has been felt as 
 such, not merely in the comparatively defenceless outworks of the system 
 in Cork and Galway, but even in the central stronghold at Belfast. 
 
 In another respect also Dr. Porter's reply is satisfactory to 
 us. Our "criticism," as he describes it, was, as our readers may 
 remember, a series of Papers closely analysing the official lists of 
 the recent examinations of the Royal University. It consisted for 
 the most part not of statements of opinion, nor of logical inferences, 
 but of statements of facts. As published, from day to day, it extended 
 over many columns of this journal. The statements, whether sub- 
 stantial or incidental, thus made, amounted to many hundreds. Yet 
 to not one of these does Dr. Porter venture to take exception. He 
 feels embarrassed — and no wonder — at the "arguments" which they 
 suggest, and at the "conclusions" to which they so plainly point. 
 But of " arguments " and " conclusions " in this matter Dr. Porter 
 cannot expect to be accepted as a specially qualified judge. The 
 facts, as we have stated them, are before the public. Dr. Porter has had 
 the most unlimited facilities for questioning or disproving them. His 
 letter, from first to last, is a tacit confession that they are indisputable. 
 
 Accepting our facts, then, as unassailable. Dr. Porter writes in 
 the vain hope of showing that our "arguments" are "fallacious,'' 
 and our "conclusions" "unfair." With the skill, however, of an 
 ingenious advocate, he omits to state what "arguments" or 
 "conclusions" he refers to. He speaks of "the main questional 
 issue " as regard his College. But here, again, he omits to inform us
 
 45 
 
 what " question " it is that he has in view. Nor is it easy to infer 
 it from his letter. For our part, we candidly confess our inability to 
 discover it. Unless, however, we are to regard his letter as 
 altogether irrelevant to the issue he may have intended to discuss, 
 it is plain that his idea of " the main question at issue " here is very 
 different from that entertained by us, and by the Irish public at large. 
 
 The •' main question," and practically, so far as we can see, the 
 only question, at issue is tliis — Do the results of the recent examinations 
 of the Royal University go to show that the present system of Parlia- 
 mentary endowments for the purposes of University education in 
 Ireland is a system that should be maintained even for another year ? 
 Do they confirm or disprove the emphatic statement of Dr. Lyon 
 Playfair, that in the present state of affairs there is "no equality ?" 
 Do they tend to verify or to falsify the noteworthy prediction of Mr. 
 Leonard Courtney, that Parliament "cannot maintain the endow- 
 ments to the Queen's Colleges where students are in training for the 
 University, and keep other students deprived of them ?" Do they 
 tend to increase or to allay the apprehensions of all interested in the 
 maintenance of " order " in the House of Commons, in view of 
 Mr. Parnell's significant intimation that the present University 
 arrangements must render " a wrangle and struggle upon this question 
 next session a matter of inevitable necessity, because if the Queen's 
 Colleges are maintained without some counterbalancing advantages 
 to the Catholic Colleges also there will be a gross and clear inequality ?" 
 This is the issue raised by us, and it is not to be evaded by Dr. Porter's 
 pardonably ingenious attempt to draw us into a discussion upon any 
 other questions, however interesting. 
 
 But Dr. Porter is not to suppose that we intend to decline a 
 discussion on the lines laid down in his letter of yesterday. We have 
 only to request that he will not think us wanting in courtesy to him 
 if we suggest a postponement of this matter for a week or two. He 
 has taken several weeks to reply to us. His letter, indeed, is not 
 one that need require a delay of as many hours. Taking it paragraph 
 by paragraph, we should have much satisfaction to-day in pointing 
 out to him how very fallacious it is. But if we have even now 
 succeeded in bringing before him an idea of the question really at 
 issue in this matter, he will see that it is a question which, while no 
 doubt it affects his College of Belfast, affects also, and to a much 
 larger degree, the sister institutions of Cork and Gal way. It is not 
 satisfactory to have to deal piecemeal with a question such as this.
 
 46 
 
 Let us first, then, hear what the Presidents of Cork and Gal way have 
 to say for their Colleges, and for their entrance Scholarships and 
 Scholars, whether "literary" or "scientific." 
 
 Dr, Porter's letter is, in fact, an open challenge to his brother 
 Presidents. We trust that they will have the courage to accept it. 
 They cannot at all events plead that our " criticism " is unworthy of 
 their notice. The verdict of Belfast is, on this point, decisive. Let 
 them not leave it open to hostile critics to say that Dr. Porter's un- 
 friendly comment upon the management of certain other colleges can 
 have any reference to Galway or to Cork. Speaking of his own 
 Queen's College, Dr. Porter proclaims that it " neither fears nor 
 deprecates publicity and honest criticism. On the contrary, it courts 
 them." We feel assured that in the contrast which, by an awkward 
 collocation of sentences, is almost immediately afterwards drawn by 
 Dr. Porter between the Belfast College and certain other colleges in 
 Ireland, nothing could have been further from his intention than to 
 suggest any shortcomings in this respect on the part of the two sister 
 institutions that at present draw an equal share with Belfast from the 
 lavish endowments voted year after year in Parliament for Queen's 
 College purposes. But Dr. Porter's intentions cannot control the 
 significance of his words. We thank him, then, for the suggestion 
 that he has, no doubt unwittingly, given us. We shall await, for a 
 while at least, the "replies" of Cork and Galway. In the mean- 
 time it may be well to set forth once more in tabular form the 
 summaries already published by us, embodying the main results of 
 what Dr. Porter describes as our severe criticism : — 
 
 I.-— THE B.A.. EXAMINATIONS. 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 Total number of Students from the 
 three Queen's Colleges this year 
 admitted to B. A. 
 
 23 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 II.— SECOND UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION. 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 Total number who passed this year 
 from the three Queen's Colleges 
 
 31 
 
 10 
 
 15
 
 47 
 
 m.— SECOND UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS. (HONORS). 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galiray 
 
 In Latin 
 
 Greek 
 
 English 
 
 Logic 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 Mathematical Physics 
 
 Experimental Physics 
 
 Total 
 
 7 
 4 
 2 
 5 
 3 
 3 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 3 
 2 
 3 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 IV. — SAME EXAMINATION (HONOURS AND EXHIBITIONS) CLASSIFIED. 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 First-class Exhibitions... 
 Second-class do. 
 First-class Honors 
 Second-class do. 
 
 Total 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 U 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 29 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 V. MATRICULATION EXAMINATION, 
 ROYAL UNIVERSITY HONOURS AND EXHIBITIONS. 
 
 
 Honors 
 
 Exhibitions 
 
 A-warded to 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 i:| 
 1^ 
 
 Belfast Scholars 
 
 Cork „ 
 
 Galway „ 
 
 Total awarded to Queen's College 
 Scholars 
 
 Awarded to Students of Unen- 
 dowed Catholic Colleges ... 
 
 Total 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 11 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 9 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 14
 
 48 
 
 II. 
 
 Partly in further reference to Dr. Porter's letter, the following 
 article subsequently appeared in the Freeman^ s Journal : — 
 
 It may be no harm to call attention to a singular mistake that 
 we have noticed in a recent issue of a Southern contemporary in 
 reference to University affairs. 
 
 In the Corh Examiner of Tuesday last, a paragraph announcing 
 an award of Scholarships in the Faculties of Law and Engineering' in 
 the Queen's College, Cork, is announced under the high-sounding 
 title of " University Intelligence." 
 
 Our contemporary, usually so well informed on local affairs, is 
 apparently unaware of the change in the status of the Queen's College 
 that has resulted from the dissolution of the Queen's University. 
 During the brief lifetime of that anomalous academic body, the three 
 Queen's Colleges were Colleges of the University, and in this sense 
 their proceedings were usually, by a not unfair stretch of courtesy, 
 described under the title of "University" intelligence. But all this 
 has now passed away. The three Queen's Colleges are in no sense of 
 the term University Colleges. Their awards of prizes and Scholar- 
 ships cannot without inaccuracy be described as in any sense " Uni- 
 versity " intelligence. Their sole connection with University affairs 
 is through the examinations of the Royal University. Whether that 
 connection is not one that, in merciful consideration for the students, 
 especially of Cork, had better be left in the background, is a point on 
 which the Analysis of the Royal University lists, recently published 
 by us, leaves, we think, but little room for doubt. 
 
 This reference to our Analysis reminds us that the protracted 
 hesitancy of the learned Presidents of Cork and Galway to follow the 
 example of their Belfast colleague has all but exhausted our patience. 
 It is, we feel, unfair to Dr. Porter to leave his letter, which we pub- 
 lished some weeks ago, so long without reply. We have ah'eady 
 intimated our unwillingness to reply to it as dealing merely with one 
 section of the case. Besides, our Analysis was concerned chiefly with 
 the failure of the Colleges in Cork and Galway. Are we to suppose 
 that Drs. Sullivan and Moffat are disinclined to follow the example of 
 Dr. Porter ? 
 
 Of the three Colleges, Belfast is surely the one that might with 
 least suspicion of want of confidence in its case, have declined to notice
 
 49 
 
 our criticism on its comparative want of success. Yet Belfast is the 
 only College that has attempted even the form of a defence. That 
 the Presidents of Cork and Gal way have made up their minds to allow 
 judgment to go by default is apparently the only explanation that can 
 be given of their long silence. That silence has been strongly empha- 
 sised by the venturesome letter of the President of Belfast — a letter 
 to which we shall feel at liberty within a very few days to reply, if in 
 the meantime the Presidents of the Colleges of the South and West do 
 not put us in a position to deal with the question, once for all, as a 
 whole, 
 
 HI. 
 
 Eventually, no communication having in the meantime been 
 received from the Presidents of the other Colleges, the following 
 reply to Dr. Porter's letter was published in the FreemarCs 
 Journal : — 
 
 More than a month has now elapsed since we published in these 
 columns a letter from the Rev. Dr. Porter, President of the Queen's 
 College, Belfast, in reference to our analysis of the Prize and Honour 
 Lists of the Royal University of Ireland. We can well understand 
 that the Presidents of institutions so munificently endowed by Parlia- 
 ment as the three Queen's Colleges of Ireland, must have felt them- 
 selves placed in a position of no ordinary embarrassment by the 
 damaging disclosures to which public attention was called by the 
 publication of our analysis. As was shown, however, by the analysis, 
 a line of distinction might well be drawn between the Belfast College, 
 as a moderately successful institution, and those of Cork and Galway, 
 the failure of which had been so conclusively established. It was but 
 natural, then, that Dr. Porter, the President of Belfast, should decide 
 upon isolating himself from his less fortunate colleagues, at least to 
 this extent, that instead of taking refuge in the ignoble policy of silence 
 he would make some effort to extricate his own College from the 
 difficulties that might seem to imperil even its existence if some such 
 line of distinction were not clearly drawn. 
 
 Whether intended or not by Dr. Porter, the drawing of this line 
 is manifestly the main result of his letter to us. When publishing his 
 letter we announ<ced our intention of withholding our reply to such 
 points in it as seemed to call for reply, until a full opportunity had 
 been afforded to the Presidents of Cork and Galway to foUow, if they 
 
 D
 
 50 
 
 felt themselves in a position to follow, the example of Dr. Porter. 
 Dr. Porter, we trust, will feel satisfied that it was from no discourtsey 
 to him that we have waited so long. We feel, however, that it could 
 not but seem discourteous were our reply to be still further delayed. 
 And there is, in fact, no reason why we should any longer withhold it. 
 Of the three Colleges, as we observed some weeks ago, Belfast is surely 
 the one that might with least suspicion of want of confidence in its 
 case have declined to notice our criticism. When we find, then, that 
 Belfast is the only College that has attempted even the form of a 
 defence, we cannot but conclude that the Presidents of Cork and 
 Gahvay, finding it impossible to follow the example of their Northern 
 colleague, have definitely made up their minds to face the worst, and 
 to allow judgment to go by default. 
 
 So far, indeed, as Dr. Porter's letter is concerned with claiming 
 for the students of his College a moderate success in the Examinations 
 of the Royal University — a claim so hopelessly beyond the reach of the 
 Presidents of the Colleges of the West and South — we do not feel our- 
 selves called upon to deal with it as a subject for reply. In this respect 
 it merely emphasises a statement made by ourselves, in the course of 
 our analysis. 
 
 There are, as we have more than once pointed out, two dis- 
 tinct questions involved in this matter of Queen's College endow- 
 ments — the question of the absolute withdrawal of the Parliamentary 
 grants from the three Colleges ; and the question of the withdrawal 
 from them, and the transfer to the Royal University, of that special 
 portion of those grants which at present enables each College to confer 
 each year upon its own students, free from the competition of outsiders, 
 a large number of most valuable prizes, prizes far exceeding in amount 
 those that can be awarded in open competion by the Royal University. 
 It is in reference only to the second of those questions that we have 
 dealt at all with the case of the Belfast College.^ As a matter of 
 elementary justice it is clear that the maintenance of any such system 
 of monopoly is indefensible in Belfast, no less than in Galway or in 
 Cork. But as to the question of the absolute withdrawal of the grants 
 from the Colleges, the case of Belfast is, as we have throughout been 
 careful to indicate, a case that has undoubtedly a fair claim to be 
 treated on special grounds. On this point nothing could be more 
 distinct than the statement made by us in one of the sections of our 
 
 t See pages 10, 12, 24, &c.
 
 51 
 
 analysis, that "the question of the withdrawal of the public grants 
 from the three Colleges " is one that " may possibly be settled by a 
 compromise, in which the present status of the Belfast College may not 
 be very materially altered." 
 
 To avoid all possible danger of misconception upon the important 
 point thus raised, we think it well here to reproduce the tabulated 
 statements of our analysis, in which were set forth the results of the 
 work of the three Queen's Colleges, as ascertained by the official lists 
 of the Royal University in those examinations which as yet are open 
 only to students, past or present, of those three colleges. The tables 
 are as follows : 
 
 B.A. EXAMINATION. 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 G-alway 
 
 Number of Graduates admitted to 
 B.A. from each College 
 
 23 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 SECOND UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION IN ARTS fPASS). 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galwaj 
 
 Number of Students from each 
 College who passed the examina- 
 tion 
 
 31 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 SECOND UNIVERSITY EXAMINATION (HONOURS). 
 
 
 Belfast Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 In Latin 
 Greek 
 English 
 Logic 
 
 Mathematics 
 Math. Physics 
 Exper. Physics 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 5 
 3 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 3 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 '1 
 
 13
 
 52 
 
 Or, if the list be arranged in reference to the distinction of 1st and 
 2nd Class Honours, and of Exhibitions, similarly classified, it may be 
 set forth as follows : — 
 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 First-class Exhibitions... 
 Second-class do. 
 First-class Honours 
 Second-class do. 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 14 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 29 
 
 4 
 
 15 
 
 Thus, as we have shown, the Belfast College has done, and we 
 have no doubt is doing, fairly good work — inferior, indeed, to that 
 done in more than one of the unendowed Colleges of the Catholic 
 University of Ireland, but still in all probability sufficient to avert 
 from it the doom that in these days of legislative reform cannot be 
 slow to overtake the Colleges of Cork and Galway, as at present con- 
 stituted, now that their practical failure in that which is the main 
 work of University education has been so thoroughly exposed. 
 
 Dr. Porter is fully justified in proclaiming the fact that the 
 students of Queen's College, Belfast, when tried by the impartial test 
 of the Royal University Examinations, have not been altogether 
 unsuccessful. He dwells with evident satisfaction on the case of those 
 first year's students who were in competition at the University with 
 the students of the unendowed Colleges. Taking, as he is undoubtedly 
 justified in doing, his most distinguished students, the winners of 
 his College Scholarships, he points out, with something like 
 pride, that the names of several of them appear, in a more or le^ s 
 distinguished way, upon the Honour Lists, and even upon the Exhibi- 
 tion Lists, of the University. His "first Scholar" in literature, he 
 tells us, took in the open com.petition of the University " first class 
 honours in Latin, second class in Greek, and also first class in Mathe- 
 matics ;" another Belfast " literary Scholar " took " first class honours 
 in Latin and second class in English ;" and so on. Thus Dr. Porter 
 enumerates no fewer than 14 University Honours attained by the 
 holders of his College Scholarships, whether "literary" or " scientific." 
 " We have no reason," he remarks, apparently with satisfaction, " to 
 feel ashamed of the foregoing list." Certainly not. Whatever may
 
 53 
 
 be the feelings of the Presidents of the other no less favoured but 
 decidedly less successful institutions, Belfast at least need not feel 
 altogether ashamed of the winners of its College Scholarships. With 
 its sister institutions in Cork and Galwaj it finds itself each year, by 
 the obstinate persistence of Parliament, entrusted with an equal share 
 in the allocation of over £1,000 as prize money, to be awarded as 
 entrance prizes, to entice students to enter what Dr. Porter describes 
 as its " open doors." But, unlike Cork and Galway, it has found at 
 least some students to whom it may award those valuable prizes with- 
 out being " ashamed " to point to the official record of their attain- 
 ments as tested by the open competition of the Royal University- 
 The names of some of the Belfast Entrance Scholars appear, in one 
 way or another, in 14 places on the University Honour Lists of its 
 Matriculation Examination. The names ^of the Galway Scholars 
 appear but twice ! And the same is the sad story of Cork ! 
 
 We must not, however, allow it to be supposed that it was left to 
 Dr. Porter to bring to light the comparative success, such as it is, of 
 the holders of his College Scholarships. The opening sentences of his 
 letter^ might seem, indeed, to convey that while the accuracy of every 
 statement in our analysis was beyond question, we had not told " th 
 whole truth," and that it was to make up for our shortcoming in this 
 respect that he found it necessary to write. But any such impression 
 would be totally at variance with fact. The 14 University Honours of 
 the Belfast Scholars were fully set forth by us. And as to speaking 
 " the whole truth," the practical difference between Dr. Porter's 
 statement and ours is this, that while he has very pardonably set forth 
 merely his own side of the case, we, in our anxiety to speak " the 
 whole truth," had set forth in one tabulated statement the whole state 
 of the case as regards these Scholarships, contrasting on the one hand 
 the comparative success of the Belfast " scholars " with the all but 
 absolute failure of those of Cork and Galway ; and on the other hand, 
 contrasting the poor success of the Scholars of the three Queen's 
 Colleges (Belfast included) with the marvellous results scored to the 
 credit of the students of the unendowed Catholic Colleges of Ireland. 
 As our best answer to Dr. Porter's enumeration of the Belfast Scholars' 
 14 University Honours, taken in connection with his desire to have 
 " the whole truth " spoken, it may be well to reprint from our 
 analysis this tabulated statement. In it are set forth " the numbers of 
 
 ^ See page 39.
 
 54 
 
 students to whom honours and prizes were awarded at the Matricula- 
 tion Examination of the Koyal University, considering on the one 
 hand the students among whom the Entrance Scholarships of the three 
 Queen's Colleges have since been distributed ; and, on the other hand» 
 the students of the unendowed Catholic Colleges." Our statement, 
 thus introduced, was as follows : — 
 
 ROYAL UNIVERSITY HONOURS AT MATRICULATION. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 S 
 •4S 
 
 
 
 Awarded to 
 
 
 
 .g 
 
 -s 
 
 
 1 
 
 pg 
 
 1 
 
 •3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
 W 
 
 ^ 
 
 (k 
 
 ^ 
 
 Belfast Scholars 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 14 
 
 Cork do. 
 
 ... 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 Gal way do. 
 
 q's 
 
 College 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Total awarded to Quee 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Scholars 
 
 ... 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 Awarded to students of 
 
 unendowed 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Catholic Colleges 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 44 
 
 Total 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 62 
 
 ROYAL UNIVERSITY EXHIBITIONS AT MATRICULATION. 
 
 Awarded to 
 
 1st Class 
 Exhibitions 
 
 2nd Class 
 Exhibitions 
 
 Total 
 
 Belfast Scholars 
 
 Cork „ 
 
 Galway „ 
 
 E 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 Total awarded to Queen's College 
 
 Scholars 
 Awarded to Students of unendowed 
 
 Catholic Colleges 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 14 
 
 Total 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 19 
 
 Whatever, then, may be said of Cork and Galway, Belfast, as 
 Dr. Porter remarks, has " no reason to be ashamed " of the record of 
 its comparative success. But it may be no harm to point out that 
 results more positively satisfactory may fairly be looked for if results 
 are to be pleaded in justification of the further maintenance of the 
 system of Parliamentary favour represented by the Scholarships of the
 
 55 
 
 three Queen's Colleges. That system has hitherto been kept in 
 existence only by munificent grants of public money voted year after 
 year by Parliament. Those grants have been voted in the supposed 
 interests of higher education, but, at the same time, in disregard of the 
 steadfast refusal of the main body of the Catholics of Ireland to have 
 any share in the tempting bribes held out to them, on condition of 
 their sanctioning by accepting them a system of education condemned 
 by the supreme authority of their Church as intrinsically dangerous 
 both to faith and to morals. If the result, even in the one moderately 
 successful College be merely such that the College authorities need not 
 feel altogether "ashamed" of it, the system plainly has not long to live. 
 
 And here, upon another point of very substantial importance, we 
 must join issue with Dr. Porter. Feeling apparently how indefensible 
 is the claim, even of Belfast, to retain for its students the exclusive 
 enjoyment of the substantial prizes provided for them, to the value of 
 many hundreds of pounds each year, out of the public funds voted by 
 Parliament, Dr. Porter has recourse to the desperate expedient of 
 representing his Queen's College Scholarships as fully open to the 
 Catholics of Ireland ! Those Scholarships, it must be remembered, 
 are tenable only by students of the Queen's Colleges ; yet, says Dr. 
 Porter, " competition is open to all !" " There are no restrictions of 
 any kind !" " The door is open !" " We are ready to welcome can- 
 didates from any school, or college, or family in the empire !'' *' It 
 is misleading " — here perhaps it is right to interrupt our quotation for 
 the purpose of assuring our readers that throughout we are transcribing 
 Dr. Porter's very words — " it is misleading to assert or insinuate that 
 €ur Scholarships are restricted to any class, or school, or denomina- 
 tion !" '^ They are open on equal terms to aU who choose to compete 
 for them — as open as those of the Royal University itself !" 
 
 In reply to this series of statements we might fairly quote the 
 declaration so explicitly and, we may add, so authoritatively made by 
 his Grace the Duke of Abercorn, speaking in his official capacity as 
 Chancellor of the Royal University at its recent inaugural meeting. It 
 was, as his Grace declared, precisely because the honors and emoluments 
 of the Queen's University and its Colleges were not really open on 
 equal terms to Catholics that the Royal University was established by 
 Parliament and by the Crown.^ We prefer, however, to transcribe a 
 few sentences from the masterly address delivered in Magee College, 
 
 ^ See Introduction, page 4.
 
 56 
 
 Deny, at the opening of the present session by Professor T;eebody, 
 himself a distinguished and most highly honoured graduate of Belfast, 
 
 " It is quite true," said Dr. Leebody, " that the Irish student 
 who prefers to be educated in a College under the control of his own 
 Church may be told that his disabilities are self inflicted, and that 
 everybody is at liberty to attend Queen's Colleges. By a parity of 
 reasoning, no man in Ireland, prior to 1868, had any reason to com- 
 plain that he belonged to a Church which was unestablished and 
 unendowed ; for the Protestant Church as by law established would 
 gladly have welcomed every Irishman within the precincts of her fold. 
 There are people who can be hindered as effectually from taking a 
 particular course by conscientious scruples as by physical restraint, 
 and the late Government recognised this fact when they meddled with 
 the Irish University question at all." 
 
 This, then, is our answer to Dr. Porter. The doors of his College, 
 no doubt, are open to all who chose to enter them. But they are not 
 more open than were the doors of the Protestant cathedrals and parish 
 churches of Ireland, when the Protestant Church was as yet establshed 
 and endowed. We are not aware that so futile a plea as that now 
 raised by Dr. Porter, in the vain hope of maintaining his present 
 monopoly of College prizes, was ever dreamt of as available in defence 
 of the older and more venerable monopoly of ecclesiastical endowments. 
 Assuredly, if it had been, it would not have stayed for a single day the 
 reforming hand of any English statesman. And we cannot but regard 
 the fact of such a plea being now put forward by the President of the 
 Belfast College, in any other light than as a final proof that the 
 exposure effected by the official publication of the Royal University 
 lists has reduced the defenders of the doomed monopoly of the Queen's 
 College Scholarships to the last extremity of despair. 
 
 There remains, so far as we can see, but one other point in 
 Dr. Porter's letter that seems in any way to call for comment or reply. 
 In explanation of the fact revealed by our analysis, that even in 
 Belfast, the College Scholarships had from sheer necessity to be 
 awarded, in very many instances, to students whose names do not 
 appear in any place, however low, on the list of Exhibitioners at the 
 corresponding examination in the Royal University, Dr. Porter makes 
 the following^ statement. " Scholarships in Queen's College, he says, 
 " are awarded on an entirely different principle from that on which 
 Exhibitions are awarded in the Royal University. Proficiency in 
 classical learning and English is the chief requisite in competing for
 
 57 
 
 a literary Scliolarsliip. Proficiency in mathematics is essential to 
 successful competition for a science Scholarship." The Exhibitions 
 in the Royal University " are given for the highest aggregate of marks 
 in five subjects — Latin, Greek or some modern language, Mathematics, 
 English, and Experimental Physics. An average general score secures 
 an Exhibition ; but a specialist, however distinguished, whether in 
 classics or mathematics, has little chance of success." " This," he 
 adds, " is proved by the result of the recent examinations ... It 
 is consequently misleading to institute a comparison between the 
 Scholars of Queen's College and the Exhibitioners of the Royal 
 University." 
 
 All this, no doubt, looks plausible enough. The diiference to 
 which Dr. Porter refers in the mode of awarding the Scholarships and 
 the Exhibitions undoubtedly exists. But this difference, as we shall 
 presently show, furnishes no explanation whatever of the shortcomings 
 of the Queen's College students as tested by the University competition. 
 And that Dr. Porter should have referred to it in explanation of the 
 case in question is, we must say, explicable only on the supposition 
 that he was altogether unaware of the facts officially recorded in the 
 University lists, and explicitly set forth in that section of our analysis 
 to which he undertook to reply. 
 
 Before, however, coming directly to the issue to which Dr. Porter's 
 rash assertion has challenged us, let us ask why is it that the Royal 
 University has adopted the principle of awarding its Exhibitions on 
 " the highest aggregate of marks " all round, rather than the principle 
 on which the Queen's Colleges award their Scholarships, that is to^ 
 say, for special merit in special subjects or in special departments of 
 learning ? 
 
 The answer is a simple one. The fact is that the Queen's 
 Colleges, based though they are on the principle of monopoly, are sa 
 richly endowed by Parliament that they can fully afford thus to dis- 
 tribute their prizes. The Royal University on the other hand, though 
 obliged to throw open its competition to all comers (the students of the 
 favoured Queen's Colleges included), is at the same time so inadequately 
 endowed as to be unable to adopt any such principle of distribution. 
 The Queen's Colleges, out of an income every penny of which is drawn 
 from the public purse, are enabled each year to award to their own 
 students then entering the colleges a sum of no less than £1,050. 
 Thus each college is enabled each year to distribute among its own 
 students at entrance Scholarships to the amount of £350. With such
 
 58 
 
 sums provided for them by Parliament they can well afford to divide 
 their Scholarships into two classes, "literary" and "scientific." 
 "Specialists," whether "literary" or "scientific," can here find 
 abundant reward. The Royal University, on the other hand, is unable? 
 from its stinted resources, to set apart more than £480 as the maximum 
 sum available for Exhibitions at entrance. Even this allotment must, as 
 a measure of economy, be fenced round with a number of restrictions, 
 a very practical illustration of the result of which is furnished by the 
 fact that under the pressure of the rules thus necessarily imposed, the 
 amount awarded this year was but £336 — a smaller sum, to be dis- 
 tributed among the successful students of all Ireland, Queen^s College 
 students included, than any one of the three Queen's Colleges is enabled 
 by the munificence of Parliament to squander in rewarding the most 
 moderate degrees of so called "special merit," whether "literary" or 
 " scientific," as exhibited in the restricted competition of its own 
 students, within its own walls. 
 
 But taking the case as it stands, what are we to think of Dr. 
 Porter's putting forward ^this difference of principle in the mode of 
 awarding the College and University Scholarships and Exhibitions as 
 a sufficient explanation of the failure of the Belfast Scholars to secure 
 even fairly prominent places on the Exhibition Lists of the University ? 
 Let us examine a test case, the only case, in fact, to which we 
 called special attention in our analysis, and in explanation of which, 
 therefore, we should presume that Dr. Porter has made his elaborate 
 statement as above transcribed. The case thus selected by us was 
 the case apparently most favourable to the Queen's Colleges, that of 
 the student whose name heads the list of Belfast Queen's College 
 Scholars in the " literary " division — Robert M'Neill. Our comment 
 on the case was that, although thus prominent among his fellows in 
 the college competition, and consequently rewarded with a College 
 Scholarship of £24, this student had failed in the open competition of 
 the University to obtain a place of any kind among the Fkst-class 
 Exhibitioners, and had obtained, in fact, only 8th place on the 
 general Exhibition list, thus winning merely a second-class exhibition 
 of £12. We stated also that in the places of honour, before him on 
 the exhibition list, stand the names of — 
 
 Dwyer, Michael ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg; 
 
 Griffin, Henry ... French College, Blackrock ; 
 
 Conan, Arthur ... French College, Blackrock ; and, 
 
 Nolan, Pierce ... St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 These are the facts of the case. We have already set forth
 
 59 
 
 Dr. Porter's statement in explanation of them. Let us now see how 
 far it is available for his purpose. 
 
 It is "misleading," he tells us, to compare the CoUege Scholar- 
 ships with the University Exhibitions. The Scholarships are awarded 
 for special merit in special subjects ; the Exhibitions for an aggregate 
 general score. He also informs us that for his " literary " Scholarships, 
 the subjects in which this special merit is tested are three — ^Latin, 
 Greek, and English. The inference of course is, that if the University 
 Exhibitions, instead of being awarded on general excellence all round, 
 had been awarded for excellence in those three special subjects, we 
 should have found at the head of the list, not a representative of the 
 " mere general average " scholarship that is to be picked up in such 
 comparatively insignificant institutions as the Jesuit College of TuUa- 
 beg, or the French College, Blackrock, but a distinguished " specialist," 
 such as the first " literary " Scholar of Queen's College, Belfast. 
 
 We are really at a loss to account for Dr. Porter's having ventured 
 on so strange a line of defence. What are the facts of the case ? In 
 each of the three subjects to which he has himself referred us as the 
 ground of the award of the Belfast literary scholarships, his first 
 literary Scholar and " specialist " has been beaten by every one of 
 the four students whom Dr. Porter seeks to decry as having won their 
 exhibitions only by their aggregate score ! 
 
 Here are the three lists, so far as we are thus concerned with 
 them. In each case is indicated the score attained in the subject by 
 each candidate : — 
 
 LATIN. 
 
 Nolan, Fierce 902 St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 Griifin, Henry 887 French College, Blackrock, 
 
 Dwyer, Michael 866 St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 Conan, Arthur 853 French College, Blackrock. 
 
 M'Neill, Robert 803 Belfast Academy. 
 
 GREEK. 
 
 Grifiin, Henry 674 French College, Blackrock. 
 
 Dwyer, Michael 646 St. Stanislaus' College. 
 
 Conan, Arthur 635 French College, Blackrock. 
 
 Nolan, Pierce 564 St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 M'Neill, Kobert 520 Belfast Academy. 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 Dwyer, Michael 975 St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg. 
 
 Griffin, Henry 843 French College, Blackrock. 
 
 Conan, Arthur 776 French College, Blackrock. 
 
 Nolan, Fierce 707 St. Stanislaus' College, Tullabeg.
 
 60 
 
 On this third list — the list of University Honourmen in English, 
 one of Dr. Porter's three "literary" subjects — the name of the 
 Belfast " literary specialist " does not appear at all ! 
 
 Here, then, we bring our comments on Dr. Porter's letter to a 
 close. It is unpleasant to have been obliged thus pointedly to call 
 attention to the case of an individual student, especially of one whose 
 merit, though it has not as yet obtained for him a place in the front 
 rank of University distinction, is sufficiently well attested by the 
 University to claim from us a sincere expression of respect. But the 
 President of his college — a college to which he will yet, we are 
 justified in assuming, bring honour in the Royal University — has 
 forced upon us the necessity of discussing the case as we have done. 
 
 Dr. Porter has endeavoured to account for the failure of his 
 Queen's College Scholars to win First Class Exhibitions at the recent 
 Matriculation Examination of the University, by the plea that the 
 College Scholarships are awarded for *• special" merit, "literary" or 
 " scientific," whilst a University Exhibition may be secured by a 
 *' general average score." Having carefully analysed the University 
 lists, we find that in " special," no less than in "general" merit, the 
 foremost representative of the Belfast " literary specialists " was 
 distanced by no fewer than four students of unendowed Catholic 
 Colleges. We find, too, that these four students were thus pre- 
 eminently successful not merely in their aggregate score in that class 
 of subjects for special merit in which the Belfast " literary " scholar- 
 ships are awarded. For, moreover, in each and every one of those 
 subjects, Latin, Greek, and English, taken even separately, these same 
 four students, in varying and singularly symmetrical order of relative 
 merit among themselves, but always the same four, have totally out- 
 stripped the representative of the " literary specialism " of Belfast. 
 
 We have endeavoured, then, to deal with this typical case merely 
 as an illustration of the absolute futility of Dr. Porter's plea. We 
 trust we have succeeded in keeping our comment within this limit. 
 We feel at all events that, as the result of this further analysis to 
 which he has so rashly challenged us, we are fully justified in assuring 
 Dr. Porter that he can hardly expect to secure for his monopoly the 
 privilege of surviving those of Cork and Galway, if he is unable to 
 defend it by weapons more serviceable than that on which in this 
 instance he has so strangely placed his reliance. 
 
 [It may be well to add, that to this rejoinder Dr. Porter made no 
 
 reply.]
 
 61 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 The Scholae ships of the Royal University. 
 
 It may be useful to subjoin, for the purpose of further comparison, 
 a statement of the awards of the Scholarships, as distinct from the 
 Exhibitions, of the Royal University 
 
 The number of Scholarships at present awarded each year by the 
 Royal University is but 6. Each Scholarship, however, is tenable for 
 three years, and is of the yearly value of £50. These, then, are the 
 chief prizes of the University. 
 
 These Scholarships, while few in number, are individually 
 of higher value than any of those awarded by the Queen's Colleges. 
 And in reference to Dr. Porter's criticism on the University Exhibi- 
 tions,^ it may be well to add that these Scholarships, so far from beino- 
 awarded for " general average " success, are, in even a stricter 
 sense than the Queen's College Scholarships, established as the prizes 
 of distinguished excellence in " special " subjects. They are thus 
 distributed — 2 in Classics, 2 in Mathematics, and 2 in Modern 
 Literature. 
 
 The number of Scholarships thus far awarded by the Royal 
 University, has been but 12 : that is to say, 6 in the first year of its 
 working existence (1882), and 6 in the second year (1883). 
 
 The following is the result : — 
 
 SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED IN 1882. 
 Classical. 
 
 1 T.,. , 1 a n (*St. Brendan's Seminary, Killamey: 
 
 1. Michael Scannell ... i^*c+ -d 4. • i > /-i n ^^t , 
 
 ("*St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. 
 
 2. Jeremiah Keane ... 1*^*' ^^^barrs Seminary, Cork; 
 
 '-**St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. 
 
 Mathematical. 
 
 1. Matthew J. Clarke ... **French College, Blackrock. 
 
 2. James H. M. Woods ... Santry School. 
 
 Modern Literature. 
 
 1. Joseph H. Boeken ... **French College, Blackrock. 
 
 2. Edmund J. M'Weeney ** Tutorial Department, Catholic 
 
 University. 
 
 ^ See page 41.
 
 62 
 
 SCHOLARSHIPS AWARDED IN 1883. 
 Classical. 
 1. Henry D. Griffin ... **French College, Blackrock. 
 
 2 Michael F Dwyer |*St. Stanislaus' College, TuUabeg; 
 
 ^. micnaei i< . JJwyer ... |,,g^_ Ignatius' College, S.J., Dublin. 
 
 Mathematical. 
 
 -, -ix-11- ^r.T^ r^ CMethodist College, BeKast : 
 
 1. William M'F. Orr ... -{^ , n n t. ir ^ 
 
 (Queen's College, Belfast. 
 
 2. Charles Smith ... Private Study. 
 
 Modern Literature. 
 
 ^ Ti/r- 1 1 T^ -r^ (*St. Ignatius' College, Tullabeg ; 
 
 1. Michael F. Dwyer ... |..s, f^^^^^^, c„,i,=g; gj,^ Dublin. 
 
 2. Mary Hay den ... Alexandra College, Dublin. 
 
 Ill these lists the names of Catholic Colleges are marked with an 
 asterisk (*) ; those of the Colleges of the Catholic University are 
 marked with two asterisks (**). 
 
 It will thus be seen that of the 12 Scholarships hitherto awarded 
 by the Royal University, 8 have been won by students of Colleges of 
 the Catholic University. Of the remaining 4, only 1 has been won 
 by a Queen's College student, William M-F. Orr, of Belfast. 
 
 But even this solitary success cannot, it seems, be scored to the 
 credit of the Queen's College. The following letter of Dr. Parker, 
 the Head Master of the Methodist College, Belfast, is decisive on 
 this point : — 
 
 Royal University Scholarships. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE [bELFASt] MORNING NEWS. 
 
 Sir — In your report of the Royal University Scholarships Exami- 
 nations you represent Mr. Orr, who obtained First Mathematical 
 Scholarship on unusually high answering (92 per cent.), as being a 
 student of tbe Queen's College, and by implication as having been 
 prepared there for the Scholarship Examination. 
 
 As I find that your report has misled several persons, I think it 
 due to Mr. Neill, Mr. Orr's teacher, to say that Mr. On' has been
 
 63 
 
 prepared in this College exclusively, being in attendance here up to the 
 day of examination. 
 
 Mr. Orr obtained a Scholarship in the Queen's College, Belfast, 
 in November, but has not secured any assistance there towards the 
 Scholarship Examination. 
 
 Any credit, therefore, belonging to his brilliant success is due to 
 the teaching he received in this College, and I am sure the Queen's 
 College authorities would be the first to acknowledge this. 
 I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 Henry R. Parker, Head Master. 
 Methodist College [Belfast], Feb. 1, 1883. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 The Parliamentary Return of the Number of Undergraduate 
 Students in Arts now attending each of the Queen's Colleges. 
 It is to be presumed that the favour hitherto shown by Parlia- 
 ment to the three Queen's Colleges has been based upon the belief 
 that those Colleges have been doing substantial work, sufficient in 
 amount and in quality to constitute a fair return for the large yearly 
 outlay on their maintenance. The number of students in attendance 
 in the Arts courses of the Colleges naturally suggests itself as one of 
 the first points to be ascertained in testing how far this belief accords 
 with the facts of the case.^ The return, then, recently made on this 
 subject, in compliance with an Order of the House of Commons, is 
 one of considerable importance. 
 
 Among other points on which information was thus sought for 
 on the motion of Sir Thomas McClure, M.P. for the County of 
 Londonderry, were the following two : — 
 
 "The number of undergraduate students in Arts of the 1st and 
 9nd years, respectively, attending each of these Colleges ; and 
 
 " The number of Arts students in attendance who have passed the 
 Matriculation Examinations of the Royal University in 1881 and 
 1882." 
 
 2 See page 10, footnote (2).
 
 64 
 
 The words here italicised call attention to a matter of vital 
 moment in the consideration of the question thus raised. For, under 
 a not unreasonable provision of the Act constituting the Royal 
 University, all persons who at the time of the dissolution of the Queen's 
 University, in February, 1882, were matriculated students of any 
 of the Queen's Colleges, were admitted ijiso facto as matriculated 
 students of the Royal University. The requirements of the Matricu- 
 lation Examination of the University, then, being confessedly a much 
 more severe test than those of the Queen's College Examinations, it 
 became a matter of the highest importance to ascertain the number 
 of University students attending the Queen's Colleges ivho have passed 
 the Matriculation Examination of the University, as distinct from those 
 who have become University students merely by the fact of their 
 having, before February, 1882, passed the Matriculation Examination 
 of one of the Queen s Colleges. 
 
 The following is the return made on these points to the House of 
 Commons : — 
 
 The number of Undergraduate \ First 
 
 Students in Arts of the first ( Year 
 
 and second years, respectively, I Second \ 
 
 attending each of these Colleges ^ Year \ 
 
 The number of Arts Students in ^ 
 
 attendance wlio hare passed the \ 1881 
 Matriculation Examination of )> 
 the Royal University in 1881 and j 1882 
 1882 j 
 
 The Queen's CoUeges 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Cork 
 
 Galway 
 
 80 
 
 14 
 
 17 
 
 63 
 
 11 
 
 15 
 
 77 
 
 62 
 
 3 
 
 69 
 
 13 
 
 12 
 
 Of the returns thus made for the Colleges, that for Galway can 
 alone be regarded as really furnishing the information sought for. 
 
 In the Galway College, then, we learn there are but 15 Art 
 students of the 2nd year (entered in 1881), and but 17 of the 1st year 
 (entered in 1882). Of the former, only three, and of the latter only 
 twelve, making in all fifteen, have passed the Matriculation Examina- 
 tion of the Royal University. The state of things thus candidly 
 disclosed, cannot indeed be regarded as satisfactory. But no fault 
 can be found with the manner, open, distinct, and straightforward?
 
 65 
 
 in which the questions from the House of Commons have in this 
 instance been answered. 
 
 The return from Belfast is by no means so satisfactory. We do 
 not in any way question its accuracy. But it is manifestly incomplete. 
 The number of students of the 1st year is indeed distinctly stated as 
 80, of whom 69 have passed the University Matriculation. But the 
 return of 77 students, as having " passed the University Matricula- 
 tion " in 1881, is clearly not an answer to the question proposed. For 
 we are informed in a footnote to the number thus set down, that it 
 includes students " who were on the books of the College before the 
 dissolution of the Queen's University, and who became, by the terms 
 of the Act, Matriculated students of the University." In other words, 
 it includes a number, and no doubt a very large number, of students 
 who did not " pass the University Matriculation Examination " in 
 1881. And thus it manifestly fails to supply the important informa- 
 tion so essential for accurately estimating the educational status of 
 the College, and so explicitly asked for, beyond all possibility of 
 mistake, by the House of Commons. 
 
 The return for Cork is still more unsatisfactory. It is not easy, 
 indeed, to devise any mode of explaining it, that will keep it clear of 
 conflict with known facts, or that will enable us even to regard its 
 various statements as consistent with one another. The total number 
 of undergraduate students in Arts, of the 1st and 2nd years, 
 attending the Cork College is sfet down clearly enough as 25 ; of whom 
 14 are of the 1st, and 11 of the 2nd year. But then the number of 
 Arts' students attending the College who have passed the Matriculation 
 Examinations of the Royal University in 1881 and 1882 is represented 
 as tJiree times this number! For we are informed that 62 of the 
 Arts' students of the College passed the University Examination in 
 1881, and 13 in 1882 ; thus making 75 in all. 
 
 We must confess that we are utterly at a loss to discover any 
 key to the solution of the mystery involved in these figures. If there 
 are 62 " Arts' students in attendance, who have passed the Matricula- 
 tion Exajnination of the Royal University in 1881," how can it be that 
 the total number of students in Arts of the 1st year is but 14, and of 
 the 2nd year but 11? 
 
 But of these apparently conflicting statements we have little 
 difficulty in conjecturing that those that set forth the smaller numbers 
 are the correct ones. 
 
 E
 
 66 
 
 If so, then, there are now in the Cork College but 14 Arts' 
 students of the 2nd year, and but 11 of the 1st year ; making a total, 
 for these two years, of 25 ! 
 
 Still the question remains, and it is not devoid of interest, what 
 do the figures 62 and 13, inserted in the Parliamentary return, repre- 
 sent ? Can it be that the students thus set down as Arts students, 
 are not, in fact. Arts students, but students of some other Faculty ? 
 The point, however it is to be explained, seems not unworthy of 
 investigation. 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 Extracts from the Report of the Debates in Parliament on 
 THE (Royal) University Bill of 1879. 
 
 It seems useful to publish, in connection with the Papers 
 reprinted in this pamphlet, the following expressions of opinion 
 from Hansard's report of the Discussions in Committee of the House 
 of Commons, on the University Bill of 1879. 
 
 Dr. Lyon Playfair. — " If equality of education were the first 
 demand of the Roman Catholics, this Bill certainly did not meet it. 
 For where were the Roman Catholic Colleges in Ireland at aU com- 
 parable to those well-ordered Colleges — Trinity College or the Queen's 
 Colleges. . . . 
 
 " If the competition for Prizes and Scholarships were for relative 
 merit, the Catholics would have no chance in such an unequal 
 contest. 
 
 " He (Mr. Playfair) would willingly support a scheme that would 
 give the Roman Catholics well-organised Colleges of secular educa- 
 tion comparable in efficiency to Trinity College and the Queen's 
 Colleges. Without that there would be no equality. . . . 
 
 " This Bill did not settle Irish University Education." {Hansard^ 
 vol. 249, pp. 214-219.) 
 
 The O' Conor Don. — " I suggested that if (the Queen's 
 Colleges) were to retain their own Scholarships and Prizes, paid 
 for out of public money, it was only fair that the Prizes given under 
 this Bill should be restricted to others than students of those 
 Colleges. ...
 
 67 
 
 " Since I made that statement I have been informed by the heads 
 of the Catholic Colleges that they would entirely disapprove of this 
 and that they were in favour of competing with the Queen's College 
 students ; that they were perfectly satisfied that they would be able 
 to beat them ; and that they do not want to have it said that these 
 Prizes are given to them on a lower standard. . . . 
 
 " They have no fear whatever of that very high teaching that 
 goes on in the Queen's Colleges. . . . 
 
 " They say the way to give them fair play would be to open the 
 Prizes at present given by public money to endowed Institutions to 
 competition amongst all classes of students. ... 
 
 " I do not believe this Bill will settle the question." {Ihid, 
 219-223.) 
 
 Mr. O'DoNNELL. — " This Clause (Clause 11, Transfer of property) 
 proposed to transfer the endowments^ of the Queen's University to the 
 new University. He (Mr. O'Donnell) wished also to transfer the 
 public endowments of the Queen's Colleges. . . . He thought 
 the endowments of the Queen's Colleges ought to be thrown into 
 the common Fund."^ {Ibid. 217.) 
 
 The O' Conor Don. — " Unless they had something of that 
 sort they could not possibly have equality. . . . 
 
 " It would be unfair to give to the students of the Queen's Colleges 
 the exclusive right to compete for the Prizes and Exhibitions provided 
 out of the public funds and at present attached to those Colleges? 
 and to allow them, in addition, to compete for the new Prizes. He 
 thought it was so obvious an inequality that some alteration would 
 have to be made. . . . 
 
 " One thing was quite certain, that so long as the inequality 
 existed, the Queen's Colleges Estimates could never come before 
 Parliament without the question being raised that their endowments 
 should be thrown open to all students of the University."^ — {Ibid. 272.) 
 
 Sir George Campbell — " Hon. members could hardly expect 
 that the Queen's Colleges should all go at one blow. With respect to 
 the Arts Department he (Sir G. Campbell) should certainly vote with 
 the hon. member (Mr. O'DonneU)."— (Z/^ed 273.) 
 
 1 But see Introduction, pp. 3 and 4, footnote. 
 
 2 See page 33, footnote (2). 
 
 3 Yet, strange to say, four years have since elapsed without any 
 such question having been raised in Parliament.
 
 68 
 
 Mr. Shaw— "He (Mr. Shaw) would rather wait a year^ to see 
 the effect of the BilV— (Ibid. 273.) 
 
 Mr. Gray — "Obsei^ved that [a division on the Amendment 
 proposed by Mr. O'Donnell] would show that the Irish members did not 
 recognise this Bill as a settlement, so long as it preserved the 
 anomaly of having endowed Colleges, and unendowed Institutions." — 
 {Ibid. 276.) 
 
 Mr. Parnell — "The Government would do well to admit the 
 principle, either now, or next year ; and certainly it would be better 
 to admit it in time. . . . 
 
 " All this would render a wrangle and a struggle upon this ques- 
 tion, next Session, a matter of inevitable necessity,^ and would render 
 a struggle on the Queen's Colleges Estimates also a matter of neces- 
 sity ; because if those Colleges were maintained without some 
 counterbalancing advantage to the Catholic Colleges, there would be 
 gross and clear inequality." — {Ibid. 976.) 
 
 Mr. Leonard Courtney — " Government now had put a Univer- 
 rsity on a basis it would be impossible to maintain. They could not 
 maintain the endowments to the Queen's Colleges . . , and keep 
 other students deprived of them. He (Mr. Courtney) was perfectly 
 persuaded that the Bill now laid on the Table, would have to be com- 
 pleted, sooner or later, by the disendowment of the Queen's Colleges,"^ 
 {Ibid. 277.) 
 
 1 See footnote (3), page 67. 
 
 2 See footnote (2), page 33. 
 
 BROWNE AND NOLAN, DUBLIN.
 
 
 
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