IRELAND— ITS SOCIAL STATE. 159 



the excitement of the crowd, were most amusing to 

 see. I told him, of course, to do as he liked, to the 

 sore disappointment of my neighbours. It was most 

 characteristic. Nowhere are the mischiefs of govern- 

 ment by party so evident as in a country in the con- 

 dition of Ireland. The questions that divide parties 

 in England and Scotland are only on the surface, 

 compared with those that are at stake in Ireland, 

 It is not alone differences of religion, but all the 

 rights of property, as hitherto understood, that are in 

 the balance. 



10. The system of competitive examination for 

 all the minor Government appointments, as Excise, 

 Customs, etc., has done great good if only by lessen- 

 ing the party patronage to be given away. The 

 number of successful candidates has been much be- 

 yond the proportion of the numbers of the people. 

 A good schoolmaster, able to grind up youths for 

 the examination, does great good and gets well paid. 

 The successive masters of a national school in the 

 small town near, of which I am the manager, have 

 more than once passed three or four candidates, 

 out of a total of eighty to one hundred vacancies for 

 the three kingdoms. The school is only attended by 

 Protestant children, of whom we have many. But 

 for grinding youths for Government examinations, 

 Roman Catholics come to our masters as freely as 

 Protestants. Eeligious differences don't count when 

 there is something to be got, and Roman Catholics 



