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ney to-societies whose views were not those of education , but of proselytism . The House did certainly owe to the commissioners their thanks for a clear and
distinct examination into that subject . He was of opinion that some of those societies were particularly anxious about converting people to their own faith . He did not extend the whole force of this
remark to the Kildare-Street Society . There was in his mind nothing more unjust and illiberal and intolerable , than to force people to read books they did not like , whether the Bible or any other . He had seen an instance of a most distressing kind in his travels . The Jews were , in
France , put under very disagreeable restraints . In the reign of Louis XVIII . they were not allowed to use any books in their public schools but such as were approved by the Congregation . « He lamented as much as any man the credulity and ignorance in which the greater
part of the Catholic world were held ; yet he contended that it was against common sense and toleration to compel them to read the Scriptures . The education of the Irish poor ought to be allowed to proceed , if not in the way most pleasing to Parliament , in their own way .
Something else , however , was wanting . Those who went upon religious missions into the utmost bounds of the East and West , took another course . They began with teaching civilization . They shewed the savage how to plant corn and to breed poultry , and to secure the return of the
iruits in their season . After conciliating them by kindness , they were able to go on prosperously with the culture of religion . The effect was , that they brought men of that rude and savage nature at their feet . In like manner , if they would convert Ireland , they must first subdue
her by kindness . How could the rude and half barbarous people of that country understand the great moralities of a Church establishment , to which they had only to contribute rates and pay tithes ? They must rather be enraged at the riches of the Establishment , and the poverty of
their own clergy . Unfortunately , all circumstances conspired against the improvement of that people . In the examination instituted by the commissioners of education , a Captain Gordon was asked if he had not been active in proselytism ? His answer was , Certainly not : he only wished to see established veritable
Christianity . He was then asked , concerning this and that particular sect , if he thought their belief veritable Christianity . His reply was , that he believed the Roman Catholic religion to be any thing but veritable Christianity . Thus the cause ot
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religion and education sustained conti - nual injury from the spirit of controversy . The petitioners prayed for a fair division of the money appropriated to Irish edu cation by Parliament , and that they might be allowed to conduct that education in their own way . This he could not bin
consider as a very reasonable request and a measure which promised to be safe and beneficial . Nothing was so desirable avS that the people of Ireland should be educated . All the evils , all the commotions , riot and bloodshed , which disgraced that country were owing to a deficiency of education . The same thing was
observable in London . The outrages in the streets , the savageness and depravity which were so shocking to better-informed people , which led the unhappy culprits to shed their blood upon the scaffolds , were perpetrated by wretches who were trained and preserved in ignorance , and who never experienced offices
of kindness and friendship from any human being ; if they had , they would have been humanized . It was scarcely to be credited now , yet it was matter of authentic history , that religious education in England was once at so low an ebb ,
that it required Irish interference to assist it . It was most certainly true that Ireland first , of ail these islands , received the light of the gospel . He strongly recommended the prayer of the petition to the House .
Mr . Butterworth said , that as friends of the Government , of the State , and of the word of God , which was strictly interwoven with the constitution , they were bound to refuse the prayer of this petition . The people of lrelaud were not disinclined to receive the Bible . The
priests alone prevented its reception . But for them , education would go on well in that country . They prevented the spreading of truth and of morality—they encouraged disorder and opposition to the laws , and the disturbance of the public peace of Ireland . Why should they want the benevolence of Parliament ? If they
earnestly desired the good of the people , according to their own account they must be very well able to effect it . They boasted that they could raise i ? l , 000 a week for projects of sedition and designs against the State . If they possessed proper feelings of benevolence , they would
far more readily contribute that much for the education of their poor . The priests had had the controul of that country for ages . What had tjiey done ? Compare Scotland and Ireland in point of education ; what a contrast ! The modes of education were different . la Scotland the Scriptures were the basis of
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^ 48 Intelligene& ~ Parlidmentary : Frish Catholic Ptittims
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1826, page 248, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2547/page/60/
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