The Refmined Pn ^liiiUriiui Sijnod of Ireland, consist- ing of 4 presbyteries and 25 congregations, is uncon- nec'ted with the General Assembly. It did not partici- pate in the regiuni donum.
United Presbytery or Synod of Mumter.— This body was formed in 1809 by the junction of the Southern Presliytcry of Dublin with the Presbytery of Munster, and is one of the three non-subscribing Presbyterian bodies of Ireland, the other two being the Presbytery of Antrim (now consisting of 11 congregations) and the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster. A few years ago these three bodies united to form the " General Non-subscrib- ing Presbyterian Association of Ireland," for the promo- tion of their common principles, the right of private judgment, and non-subscription to creeds and confes- sions of faith. The General Association meets trienni- ally for these objects, while the three bodies of which it is composed retain their respective names and indepen- dent existence, being governed by their own rules and regulations.
The Irish Confrence of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection of Gr. .t Britain numbered in 18G9 19,659 members, 027 members on trial, and 174 ministers. The president of the British Conference is also president of the Irish Conference. The Primitive Methodist Socie- ty (also called Church Methodists) numbered in 1869 8763 members in Ireland. They regard themselves as belonging to the Anglican Church. According to the census of 18Gl,the tot&l'SlcthoAx&t pojmlution of Ireland amounted to 45,399. There were also, according to the same census, 4532 Independents, 4327 Baptists, 3695 Friends, 18.798 belonging to other sects, and 393 Jews.
The commissioners of public instruction and the cen- sus commissioners return the numbers in the principal religious denominations, and their percentage of the general population, in 1834 and 1861, as follows:
1834.
1861.
Decrease
betivee.1 1834
and 1861.
Increase be- tween 1834 and 1861.
Nuni- bfr.
Per Ct.
Niini- 1 Per her. 1 Ct.
Num- ber.
Per Ct.
18.7 .TO.O 18.7
Num- ber.
54,839
Per Ct.
251.3
ii6i;iijiislied ( Church... (
RomnnCath- 1 olic« i
Presbyterians.
Prnlestnnt (
Total
853,160
6,436,060
643,05S
21,82-?
10.7 80.!)
0.3
693,357
4,505,265
623,291
76,661
393
11.9 77.7 9.0 1.4
159,803
1,930,795
119,767
7.H.^4.Um
ln0.1l|5,7H8,lHi7 100.(l|:;,21(l,38.'i
27.1
54,839
..
6 IRELAND
dioceses (as given in the list of Anglican dioceses), as in the case of the Established Church, we iind that it has to be divided among thirty out of the thirty-two, the only exceptions being the dioceses of Dublin and Con- nor, in both of which the number of Roman Catholics is something in excess of what it was in 1834. The total Roman Catholic population of the thirty dioceses in which it is found to have declined was 5,949,509 in 1834, and 4,005,104 in 1801, showing a loss of 1,944,405, or nearly a third of the former population. In 1834 the number of Presbyterians in Ireland was returned as 043,058, and in 1861 it had fallen to 523,291, exhibiting a reduction of 119,767, or rather less than a fifth of their number in 1834. This reduction distributes itself over ten of the thirty-two (original Anglican) dioceses — those, namely, of Achonry, Armagh, Clogher, Connor, Derry, Down, Dromore, Kilfenora, Kilmore, and Kaphoe, the total Presbyterian population of which amounted in 1834 to 637,784, and in 1861 to 505,196, showing a re- duction of 132,.588, or 20.8 per cent, of the original num- bers. In twenty-two dioceses the Presbyterians have verv considerably increased, their gross population hav- ing" been only 6274 in 1834, and 18,095 in 1861, showing an increase of 243.1 per cent. The proportion per cent, of the members of the Established Church to the gen- eral population has risen since 1834 in twenty-one out of the thirty-two dioceses, has remained stationary in two, and fallen in nine.
In 1831 the grants of public money for the education of the poor were intrusted to the charge of the lord lieu- tenant, to be expended on the instruction of the children of every religious denomination, under the superintend- ence of commissioners appointed by the crown, and named "The Commissioners of National Education." The principles on which the commissioners act arc, that the schools shall be open alike to Christians of every denomination ; that no pupil shall be required to attend at any religious exercise, or to receive any religious in- struction which his parents or guardians do not ap- prove, and that sufKcient opportunity shall be afforded to the pupils of each religious persuasion to receive sep- arately, at appointed times, such religious instruction as their parents or guardians think proper. In 1845 the commissioners were incorporated under the name of " The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland," with power to hold lands to the yearly value of £40,000, to purchase goods and chattels, to receive gifts and be- quests to that amount, to erect and maintain schools where and as many as they shall think proper, to grant leases for three lives or thirty-one years, to sue and to be sued by their corporate name in all courts, and to have a common seal, a power being vested in the lord lieutenant to till up vacancies, to appoint additional members, provided the total number does not exceed twenty, and to remove members at his pleasure.
The following return gives the number of schools and pupils at different periods, and the amount of parliamen- tary grants annually voted lor their maintenance:
The census commissioners of 1861, in their report on religion and education (p. 5), remark that " tlie Wesley- an Methodists, by a peculiarity of their constitution, al- though fretpienting places of worship distinct from those of the Established Church, very generally declined to be reckoned as dissenters, and were therefore included (by the commi.ssioners of public instruction of 1834) among the members of the Established Cliurcli."