Ireland and the Home Rule MovementMcDonnell, Michael, Sir
History
Ireland and the Home Rule Movement
McDonnell, Michael, Sir
Home rule -- Ireland; Ireland
Everyone is agreed that a university to be worth the name should, if
possible, be residential. The absence of disciplinary control in Trinity
on those residing out of College, the omission on the part of the
authorities to enact rules which would allow terms to be kept only in
licensed lodging-houses, subject to inspection and to a rigid "lock-up
rule" at twelve o'clock, are absent in Dublin not only at Trinity, but
at the University College, where one can only suppose its absence to be
due to the unorganised condition of a small and temporary makeshift. Not
only, however, for the exercise of disciplinary control, but also
because of the close association of men with each other which residence
ensures, is this to be regarded as the best means of getting the heart
out of a university education.
This being the case, if Trinity were to receive a new accession of
numbers its accommodation would have to be largely increased, so that
the line of least resistance, which leaves the very largely autonomous
constitution of Trinity unimpaired, will be seen to lie in the direction
of the establishment of a new college, in which, moreover, it will be
possible to make expenses more economical than they are in Trinity.
"It is not for us," said Mr. Balfour at Partick in December, 1889, "to
consider how far the undoubtedly conscientious objections of the Roman
Catholic population to use the means at their disposal are wise or
unwise. That is not our business. What we have to do is to consider what
we can do consistently with our conscience to meet their wants."
The proposals of the Government, as outlined by Mr. Bryce and
recommended by the Royal Commission, offend against no one's conscience.
They assail no vested interest unless one so calls that of which Matthew
Arnold spoke as one very cruel result of the Protestant ascendancy; they
tend to establish something approaching equality between creeds; they
make an end of the mischievous system by which the Royal University has
encouraged a false ideal of success by making examination the end-all
and the be-all of a so-called university education, and which, moreover,
according to the final report of the Robertson Commission, "fails to
exhibit the one virtue which is associated with a university of this
kind--that of inspiring public confidence in its examination results."
The advantages of the present proposal over a reorganised Royal
University are that the size and poverty of the country are strong
reasons against the creation of two universities when one would be
equally efficient. The scheme will be readily accepted by the
Presbyterians as well as by the Catholics, which would not be the case
with a reconstituted Royal University, and it is the only solution of
the question which will bring the young men of different creeds in the
country together at an impressionable age when friendships are formed
which may serve to break down the barrier between creeds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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