NATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION (IRELAND).—OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 16 July 1868)

§ SIR JOHN GRAY
rose to call attention to the alterations recently made in the Second, Third, and Fourth Lessons issued to the Schools under the charge of the Board of National Education, Ireland; and to move for the Correspondence and Minutes of Evidence of the Proceedings in reference thereto. The hon. Member said it would be in the recollection of the House that at the close of last Session, when the Education Estimates were before the House, he raised a discussion with reference to primary education in Ireland; and he then showed conclusively that the mixed system of education was a mere myth, and the case he had on that occasion to bring under their notice afforded a remarkable illustration of the curious effect of attempting to prop up a rotten system, and of the false position that fraudulent system enforced the Commissioners to take. The illustrative case he had to adduce occurred in the city of Kilkenny, which he had the honour to represent. The Rev. Mr. Porter, a Presbyterian minister, casually visited the model school in that city, and complained that most improper passages were admitted to the lesson books and sanctioned by the Board. The first passage pointed out as improper, was a portion of the most exquisitely beautiful of the national ballads composed by the late Samuel Lover. That ballad, The Angel's Whisper, which was to be found on every Protestant drawingroom table in Ireland, and which is not less known or admired in England, gives a most truthful and touching picture of the love and faith which adorn the Irish peasant's home, was deemed improper by the rev. gentleman because it contained these words— Her beads while she numbered, The baby still slumbered, And smil'd in her face as she bended her knee: 'Oh! bless'd be that warning, My child, thy sleep adorning, For I know that the Angels are whispering with thee. 'And while they are keeping Bright watch o'er thy sleeping, Oh! pray to them softly, my baby, with me, And say thou would'st rather They'd watch o'er thy father For I know that the Angels are whispering with thee.' That was true to nature, and the Commissioners, recognizing the fact, have ordered 1277 a new edition of the second book, from which this improper ballad has been expunged, in conformity with Archbishop Whately's rule of shutting out every allusion to Catholic practices, and by degrees Protestantizing the children. The reverend censor proceeded then to the fourth book, and there he found a passage quoted from the old English chronicles, as translated by John S., descriptive of the death of an English Catholic Queen, Philippa. The dying Catholic Queen is described by the chronicler as making the sign of the Cross on her heart—and Lord Berners translated the passage in the same way—and commending her husband and children to the protection of Heaven. The Rev. Mr. Porter objected to this historical work, because it represented the dying Christian to have made the sign of the Cross, and the Commissioners, true to the ideas of mixed education, have falsified the quotation in a new edition, to please the bigotry of those who abhor the symbol of redemption. The third book came then under his censorship. It contained a description, by a Protestant historian, of one of the most remarkable of the Irish ecclesiastical sees—the old see of Glendalough, known to tourists as the Seven Churches. The historian referred to the monastic ruins, once beautiful, and dedicated to the service of God, but now in desolate decay, and because they were built by Catholics the rev. gentleman objected to its being said that they wore dedicated to God's service, and demanded that the description of an Irish ruin should be shut out from schools in which Irish children are taught. He (Sir John Gray) would not dwell on the moral of all this; the Commissioners complied with the demand, and the three books have been cancelled and withdrawn from every school in Ireland, and new editions substituted on the complaint of this most tolerant advocate of the mixed system.

THE EARL OF MAYO
said, the Government were not responsible for the alterations made in the books referred to. If the hon. Gentleman would give a list of the Returns he required, he (the Earl of Mayo) would take care to furnish him with all the information he required.

§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTON
said, in reference to a Question put to him by the hon. Member for Dudley (Mr. Sheridan) at an early part of the day, he had only to say that Mr. Goddard's name was a long time before the War Office. If the hon. Member would communicate with him (Sir 1278 John Pakington) privately he would endeavour to satisfy him upon the subject he alluded to.