Irish county government--The grand jury system in the eighteenth century--Its merits and defects--The grand jury system in the nineteenth century, and especially since 1836--The Irish poor law system--Elected and _ex-officio_ guardians--The local government of cities and towns in Ireland--Municipal institutions founded in Ireland by the Norman kings--Why they did not prosper--Boroughs and municipalities founded by James I. and the Stuarts--Their condition in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries--The Municipal Reform Act of 1840--The Towns Commissioners Acts--Attempts to reform the municipal system of local government in Ireland--The Local Government of Ireland Act, 1898--Complete change in Irish local government--The County Councils--The County Borough Councils--The District, Rural, and the Urban District Councils--Their functions, rights, and duties--All these bodies placed on a democratic basis-- Attitude of the County Councils in the southern provinces-- Education in Ireland--History of primary education--The National system of education--The principles on which it is founded--How it has worked, and what its results have been--Secondary education in Ireland--Its history--Its present condition very imperfect--The Intermediate Education Act--University education in Ireland--Its history--Trinity College--The Queen's Colleges and the Queen's University founded by Peel--Their comparative failure--Mr. Gladstone's Bill to reform University education in Ireland--Its glaring errors and failures--Trinity College thrown open in 1873--The Royal University founded in 1879-- Present state of University education in Ireland--The true principles of reform--Other Irish questions--Conclusion 309-360 APPENDIX 361-428 INDEX 429 Present Irish Questions CHAPTER I IRELAND IN 1901