Parish

however, appears from our Returns, that religious prejudices in too many parts of this Country, but more particularly in the south and west, have operated Schools. against the attendance on the Parish Schools. For very many instances are stated of Roman Catholic Children who had attended them having been withdrawn by order of their Priests, and never suffered to return; and a very strong instance of a mutual religious prejudice in this respect, is stated in a Return from the Parish of Ballesidare, Diocese of Killalla, namely, "that there seems to be a general determination in that Parish on the part of the Roman Catholics not to send their Children to Protestant Schools, and vice versa." But we observe in the other Returns from the same Diocese, that Protestant and Roman Catholic Children are mixed in the Parish as well as in the other Schools; we find also in the other Dioceses, Protestant Children returned as going to Schools kept by Roman Catholics; and from the general Returns from all the Dioceses, it is evident, that a large proportion of the Children attending the Parish Schools throughout Ireland are of the Roman Catholic Religion.

We shall now conclude this Report, by submitting the following Observations to your Grace's consideration:

First, That for the original objects of their Institution, namely, the introduction and diffusion of the English Language in Ireland, the Parish Schools can no longer be deemed necessary.

Second, That for the purposes to which they were afterwards converted, namely, the advancement of the Protestant Religion, and the Education of the lower classes, they have proved in a certain degree useful, where they have been continued, but in both respects inadequate, on account of the extent and population of the several Parishes; so that in truth, if one School were well established within each Benefice or Union, unless the Children were forced to be educated as the Act expresses, at such places where they could learn the English Tongue, it would ill supply the want of instruction to the Inhabitants, who for the most part live not collected in Villages and Hamlets, but in abodes dispersed through the range of perhaps 10,000 Irish Acres. No one Establishment could be placed so central as not to be inconveniently distant from many who would wish to attend it for daily instruction. Children of tender years, though of sufficient age to be capable of learning, cannot go very far from home for education; the impediments in the way are obvious, even if a difference of religious persuasion did not create further obstacles.

Third, That the present imperfect state of the greater number of the Parish Schools, has arisen from various causes, which it has not been in the power of the Clergy to counteract; and that their efforts to establish Schools in their respective Districts, taught by Protestant Masters, have necessarily been attended with difficulty, and frequently with disappointment, from the want of Masters, from the want of Funds, from the want of co-operation, from the want of Buildings and Accommodation, which, if provided, could not for any length of time be supported, as there is no provision by the Laws for repairs. To which we may add, the insufficiency of the Stipend which general usage has so long established, and which, even in that proportion, cannot legally be demanded. These circumstances will fully account, why the proportion of Parish Schools is so much below the number of Benefices or Unions in Ireland.

With respect to the Oath before-mentioned, taken by the Clergy at Institution, to keep or cause to be kept an English School according to the Provisions of the Act of Henry the Eighth, we have to observe, that from the great change that has taken place in the circumstances which gave occasion to its enactment, and for which it was intended to provide, a literal observance of it seems not only to be no longer necessary but even possible; and that from the little advantage to be expected, were the Clergy to comply only literally with its legal injunction, and from the difficulties which stand in the way of a general compliance with it in any sense; it may deserve consideration whether it should be continued to be administered, or whether, in consequence of that total change in the situation of the lower classes (whom these Schools were designed to civilize and to teach to speak rather than to read English) the Clergy ought not to be relieved from the obligation thus imposed on them, by a repeal of that part of the Statute which imposes it. Yet in those Parishes where Parochial Schools are already established, or could be so, we

are

Parish Schools.

are of opinion, it would be proper that some measure should be adopted for the continuance of the present and the encouragement of future similar Establishments, as far as may be practicable.

But we are fully persuaded of their inadequacy, as a system of general Education of the Poor, even if it were practicable to establish an effective one in every Union.

And this inadequacy is the reason of our not entering more fully into the consideration of any Plan for putting them into a more effective situation, as such a Plan might possibly interfere with or be superseded by a general system for the Education of the Poor, the consideration of which is reserved for the conclusion of our labours. We shall nevertheless at present observe, that not any Funds however great, or the best considered Establishment, can substantially carry into effect either any improvement in the Parish Schools, or any general system of Instruction of the lower Orders of the community, until the want of persons duly qualified to undertake the Education of the lower Classes be remedied, and till some Institution be formed to prepare persons for that important Office.

APPENDIX.

An ABSTRACT of the RETURNS of PARISH SCHOOLS, made to the Board of Education.

TWELFTH

To His Grace CHARLES Duke of RICHMOND and LENOX, Lord Lieutenant
General and General Governor of Ireland, &c. &c. &c.

The TWELFTH REPORT of the Commissioners for enquiring into the State of all Schools on PUBLIC or CHARITABLE Foundations, in Ireland.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR GRACE,

WE

WE the undersigned, Commissioners appointed for enquiring into the several Funds and Revenues granted for the purposes of Education, and into the state and condition of all Schools in Ireland, upon public or charitable Foundations, in pursuance of the powers vested in us, beg leave to submit to your Grace our Report upon the following CLASSICAE SCHOOLS of private Foundation in Ireland:

CLONMEL SCHOOL:

THIS School was endowed in the year 1685, by Richard Moore, esq. and Stephen his Son; who on the 7th of May in the year aforesaid, conveyed certain Lands in the County of Tipperary to Charles Alcock and Thomas Batty, esqrs. their Heirs and Assigns, to the intent, that a Free School should be erected in the Town of Clonmel, for the Education and Teaching of all the Protestant Children gratis; and in Trust, that they employ the yearly Rents arising from the said Lands in maintaining the said School; and the said Deed empowered James Duke of Ormond, the said Richard Moore and Stephen Moore, esqrs. or their Heirs, and the Mayor of Clonmel, or any two of them, to appoint and change the Master and Masters of the said School, as they shall think fit and convenient. And it should seem that there were other limitations respecting the Patronage f said School, as will appear in the subsequent part of this Report. This Endowment consists of 370 Acres of Land in the County of Tipperary, and of a very old School House in the Town of Clonmel, which the present Master, the Reverend Richard Carey, upon his examination before us, (11th May 1809) declared to be capable of accommodating forty Boarders, but to be at present in such very bad repair as to require several hundred pounds to be expended upon it to make it fit for the 4 E reception

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