Mr. James E. Gordonsaid, he held in his hand a Petition from a very small but influential body of clergymen in the diocese and county of Cork against the new system of national education in progress of being forced upon the country by his Majesty's Government. The petitioners stated, that they had for several years been engaged in promoting education upon a principle which enabled them to combine the advantages of public support with private contribution; that in availing themselves of legislative assistance they were not required to compromise their principles as Christians and Protestants by sacrificing the Word of God, which they considered the only true basis of national education; that public support was no longer attainable but at the expense of a sacrifice of their principles, which was a condition to which as Christians and clergymen of the Church of England, they could not submit. The petitioners, moreover, dissented from the part of the Government plan of education which provided, that the doctrines of the Church of Rome should be taught in the schools, and they stated, that the substitution of garbled extracts for the whole Bible must be offensive to the God of the Bible, who had taught us by his inspired servants that all Scripture was profitable. They also believed, that in sanctioning the use of Romish Catechisms they would become implicated in the guilt of teaching the doctrines which these Catechisms inculcated. For these and similar reasons the subscribers prayed 1182 that the Legislature would take the premise into its consideration, and withhold all support from the plan of his Majesty's Government, and every other plan which did not assume the Scriptures as its foundation. In this prayer he heartily concurred, and he trusted, that the Ministers of the Crown would not any longer persevere in a system which was so obviously opposed to the Protestant sense of the country. In referring to the clergy of Ireland, as connected with education, he should avail himself of that opportunity to direct the attention of the House to the position in which many of them were placed by the encouragement which had been given to lawless aggression upon the part of an intolerant and domineering priesthood. He held in his hand a letter which he had that day received from a friend in the West; and as it was of consequence that the House and the country should know something of the perils by which the clergy were threatened in the conscientious discharge of their duty, he should read a part of it to the House. It was from a curate, labouring in one of the disturbed counties, to a friend; and although he was at perfect liberty to mention the name of the individual he did not think it safe to do so, in which he was sure the House would concur with him. Should the information, however, be questioned, he was quite ready to show the letter to any Gentleman in that House connected with the Irish Government. He thought it right to premise that the writer had under his management three or four schools in connection with one of the Scriptural Societies; that these schools were chiefly attended by Roman Catholics, and that they continued to prosper in spite of every effort which had been made to detach the children from them. That meritorious and persecuted individual thus described his situation:—'Our new priest and his amiable coadjutors hold me up every Sunday to the people in the Synge style as a purchaser of children, and assert that I am allowed by the Hibernian Society for my expenses. I had along conversation with the priest yesterday, in which I denied the charge of bribery, but assured him of my fixed purpose to induce as many of his flock as I could, to send their children to me. He then thought to alarm my fears by saying that he was sorry that I should be the person whom he must de- 1183 nounce, but that it was his duty, and that he feared the consequences might be such as those of the last year. What, I replied do you mean bloodshed and murder? Yes was his answer. I said, that I was fully prepared for all consequences, and should cheerfully resign my life in the cause of the Lord, and that I should not be deterred by his threats from fulfilling the ministry which I had received from the Lord Jesus Christ.' If the House would wish to know what was meant by the "Synge style" alluded to, he (Mr. Gordon) would acquaint such of the Members as were ignorant of the fact that Mr. Synge, of the county of Clare, a gentleman whose principles, character, and respectability rendered him an ornament of society, and whose only offence was a determination to educate the poor in a knowledge of the Scriptures, was denounced Sunday after Sunday by an incendiary priest, and held up as a mark for the aim of the assassin. In due time these denunciations had their effect. Mr. Synge was waylaid, his servant murdered behind him, and seven shots lodged in his own body, from the effects of which he was now lingering out an afflicted existence. Was it to be expected then that those men, who had the courage to do their duty and were subjected to the same denunciations, would be otherwise treated? And was it to be endured that a Protestant clergyman, for no other crime than the faithful discharge of the duties of his office, was to be held up to the fury of the assassin? Yet such were the circumstances in which these men were placed, and he should never, while he possessed the privilege of a seat in that House, cease to hold up such instances to the observation and to the execration of the House and the country.
§ Mr. Wysesaid, that at least the name of the parish where this transaction had occurred ought to be given to the House; but he thought this system of intimidation was not to be attributed to the proposed system of education, but to those discords between landlord and tenant so long existing in Ireland. He begged to take the present opportunity of denying, on the authority of one of the body, a statement which had been made on a former evening by the hon. member for the county of Londonderry (Sir Robert Bateson), that the Presbyterian Seceding Synod of Ulster had met or petitioned against the plan of 1184 education proposed by Government. On the contrary, they were ready to come forward by petition, or otherwise, before the House, in its support
§ Mr. Shawsaid, that there was one very good reason for the hon. Member who presented the petition withholding the name of the person from whom the letter which he had read proceeded, for he would, by so doing, have subjected him to a danger which the hon. member for the county of Tipperary was well aware those whose cause he advocated were totally exempted from.
Mr. James E. Gordon, on moving that the petition be printed, observed, he had withheld the name of his correspondent for reasons which must be manifest to the House.
§ Petition to be printed.