ed
system of education. Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Davis and others expostulated, and
deprecated in unmistakable terms the fatality of engaging the
Association to a principle so sectarian, narrow and illiberal. He said
he would take time to consider, and would meantime consult with Doctor
MacHale. He was reminded that Doctor MacHale could not approve of the
system without gross inconsistency, and requested to take the opinion of
all the other Bishops as well. How far he was governed by this advice is
unimportant and impossible to tell. But the bishops met in solemn synod
and published the result of their deliberations in the following
memorial:--

"That memorialists are disposed to co-operate on fair and
reasonable terms with her majesty's government and the
legislature, in establishing a system for the further extension
of academical education in Ireland.

"That a fair proportion of the professors and other
office-bearers in the new colleges should be members of the
Roman Catholic Church, whose moral conduct shall have been
properly certified by testimonials of character, signed by their
respective prelates. And that all the office-bearers in those
colleges should be appointed by a board of trustees, of which
the Roman Catholic prelates of the provinces in which any of
those colleges shall be erected shall be members.

"That the Roman Catholic pupils could not attend the lectures on
history, logic, metaphysics, moral philosophy, geology, or
anatomy, without exposing their faith or morals to imminent
danger, unless a Roman Catholic professor will be appointed for
each of those chairs.

"That if any president, vice-president, professor, or
office-bearer, in any of the new colleges shall be convicted
before the board of trustees of attempting to undermine the
faith or injure the morals of any student in those institutions,
he shall be immediately removed from his office by the same
board."

It will be observed that the principle of mixed education is not here
directly approved or condemned. But approval is an inference, as clear
and emphatic as words could express. The memorial prays for distinct and
specific alterations in the details of the Bill. It demands that certain
branches of secular education should be taught to the Catholic students
by Catholic professors approved of by the prelates, and it insists upon
other guarantees to