IRELAND. 



carried by a majority of each of the other orders 

 present, and voting, it shall pass, unless seven at 

 least of the existing bishops be present, and shall 

 concur in a dissentient vote.' The mode of elec- 

 tion of bishops and ministers was decided by this 

 meeting of general convention. The accounts of 

 the Church Temporalities Commissioners for the 

 year 1871, and for the period from 26th July 1869 

 (the commencement of the commission) to 3ist 

 December 1871, shew that the expenditure has 

 exceeded the available funds to so great an ex- 

 tent, that at the close of the account, the advances 

 made by the Commissioners for the Reduction of 

 the National Debt amount to ^3,000,000 ; and 

 -a further sum of ;i, 543,454, is. stands as com- 

 mutation money on credit to the representative 

 church body ; leaving, after deduction of money 

 assets, a net liability, at 3ist December 1871, of 

 ..3,938,462, 45. 6d. standing as a charge against 

 the proceeds to be hereafter derived from the sale 

 -of church property. The amount of commutation 

 money paid (including bonus where payable) in 

 respect of claims investigated up to February 1873, 

 as as follows : 



Archbishops, bishops, and incumbents 5,561,^77 16 i 



Curates 1,724,710 7 5 



Nonconformist ministers 613,821 14 5 



Diocesan schoolmasters, clerks, sextons, &c. 359,264 i 10 



Total 8,259,673 19 9 



The Roman Catholic hierarchy consists of four 

 archbishops and twenty-four bishops. The clergy 

 are supported solely by the voluntary contribu- 

 tions of their congregations, paid mostly by fees 

 for marriages, baptisms, and other religious cere- 

 monies. The bishops are nominated by the pope, | 

 the parochial clergy by the bishops. The number ! 

 of priests in Ireland, in 1853, was 2291 of whom ! 

 1222 were educated at Maynooth College in 1881, ! 

 there were 3155. The curates of the parish priests ! 

 form more than half of the whole clerical strength, 

 and scattered through the cities and towns are 70 

 or 80 communities of priests of various religious 

 orders and rules, called Regulars, who minister in ' 

 their own churches, and, though without parochial 

 jurisdiction, greatly aid the secular clergy. All 

 the places of public worship are built from funds 

 collected or bequeathed for the purpose. There 

 are numerous monasteries and convents ; the latter > 

 are supported partly by sums, usually from .300 

 to ,500, paid by those who take vows in them, i 

 and partly by fees paid for the education of chil- 

 dren. Various communities of monks and nuns j 

 devote themselves to the gratuitous education of j 

 the poor. Candidates for clerical ordination, ' 

 formerly obliged to go to continental colleges for ; 

 education, are now educated at home. The prin- | 

 cipal college is the Royal College of St Patrick, ! 

 Maynooth. Formerly, it had a grant of 26,000 ( 

 a year from the consolidated fund ; this has been 

 commuted for a payment of 372,331. 



The Presbyterians are mostly in Ulster. The 

 General Assembly is the supreme Presbyterian \ 

 ecclesiastical court in Ireland, as in Scotland, j 

 The Remonstrant Synod of Ulster was formed in 

 May 1830, by the separation of seventeen ministers, ; 

 with their congregations, from the general synod j 

 of Ulster. The Reformed Presbyterian Synod 

 of Ireland is unconnected with the General 

 Assembly. 



Editcation. The university of Dublin is a 



college incorporated by charter or letters-patent 

 34 Eliz. (1591). The corporation at present con- 

 sists of a provost, 7 senior fellows, 26 junior 

 fellows, and 70 scholars. The course of general 

 instruction extends over four years, the prin- 

 cipal studies of each year being successively 

 mathematics, logic, natural history, philosophy, 

 astronomy, and ethics. A medical school has 

 been long attached to the university, to which 

 has been lately added a school of civil engineer- 

 ing ; and degrees and licences in surgery and 

 civil engineering are granted by the university 

 senate, on the completion of the prescribed courses. 

 The college has a fine library of about 160,000 

 volumes and 1700 MSS. The number of printed 

 volumes is increased by about 1500 annually, 

 partly purchased, and partly obtained under the 

 Copyright Act. Queen's Colleges. Under the Act 

 for establishing new colleges in Ireland, charters 

 were, in 1849, granted to three colleges, called 

 Queen's College, Belfast ; Queen's College, Cork ; 

 and Queen's College, Galway ; and statutes 

 issued for their government. New charters, 

 amending the former ones, passed the Great Seal 

 in 1863. Candidates for the degree of Bachelor 

 in Arts attend the Queen's Colleges for three 

 sessions, and undergo two examinations in the 

 Queen's University. They have also to pass 

 the college entrance examination, and college 

 examinations held at the close of each session. 

 Queen's University. In 1850, the Queen founded 

 a university, to be called 'The Queen's University 

 in Ireland,' to which these three colleges were 

 subordinate. The Queen's University was super- 

 seded in 1880 by a new foundation, the Royal 

 University. The Royal College of Science for 

 Ireland was established under the authority 

 of the Science and Art Department, London, in 

 August 1867, in place of the Museum of Irish 

 Industry, Stephen's Green, which then ceased 

 to exist. Maynootk College was founded in 

 *795 by an Act of the Irish parliament. The 

 ordinary course of study extends over eight years. 

 After its completion, students are considered fit 

 for the duties of the sacred ministry ; and those 

 who have taken the highest honours during their 

 course are selected for the Dunboyne establish- 

 mentfounded by the late Lord Dunboyne, and 

 of the value of ,460 a year on which they con- 

 tinue their studies for three additional years. The 

 number of students that completed their education 

 at Maynooth College from 1845 to 1861 inclusive, 

 was 875. The Dunboyne establishment, tem- 

 porarily closed in 1872, was soon re-opened. 

 Roman Catholic University. The synod of the 

 Roman Catholic prelates which was held at 

 Thurles in 1850, resolved to establish a university, 

 and appointed a committee to make arrangements. 

 The synodal meeting held in Dublin in May 1854, 

 formally established the university. The schools 

 were opened on November 3, 1854. The university 

 has no endowment or settled property, and de- 

 pends wholly for its maintenance on voluntary 

 contribution. Collections are made annually on 

 the 3d Sunday of November. The receipts up to 

 December i, 1881, were 250,000. In accordance 

 with a resolution of the Roman Catholic prelates, 

 at their meeting in October 1873, a considerable 

 number of Roman Catholic colleges throughout 

 Ireland have been affiliated to the university, and 

 their students admitted to certain of its privileges. 



265 



