Maynooth College. In consequence of the Eng- lish Keformation, the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland lost all its rights and possessions. At the Synod of Dub- lin, in 1560, seventeen bishops out of nineteen endorsed the Act of Uniformity, and, upon the principle that "ubi episcopus ibi ecclesia," the English Reformed Church was declared the only legal Church in Ireland. The Eoman Catholics were therefore compelled to worship in private, and to get their priests educated abroad. With the assistance of foreign princes they established, during the years 1582-1688, a number of seminaries in Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands (namely, at Salaman- ca, Alcala, Lisbon, Evora, Dacay, Antwerp, Tournay, Lille, Rome, Prague, Caupranica, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Poitiers, Nantes, Bouley, and Paris). As most of the students were poor and dependent on the aristocracy of Ireland, a great attachment grew up between them and the class by whom they were patronized. But in con- sequence of the French Revolution intercourse between Ireland and the Continent became more difficult. The Irish colleges of France and Brabant w^ere closed, and the necessity became apparent of establishing a semi- nary at home. The most opposite political parties agreed in supporting this measure : the aristocracy from fear that the young priests might imbibe democratic ideas abroad, and the democrats from the hope of gain- ing over to their views the priests, who had heretofore ahvays siiled with their patrons. The middle classes especially thought to find in home-bred priests useful auxiliaries to their emancipation. When therefore the Roman Catholic prelates submitted to the lord lieuten- ant of Ireland their plan of establishing a college, he immediately gave his approval ; the Irish Parliament, composed of Protestants, sanctioned it, voted an appro- priation of £8000, and readily obtained the approbation of the Parliament of England in 17;)5. A board of trustees was organized, consisting of four Protestants, the Irish lord chancellor, three chief justices, six Roman Catholic laymen, and ten bishops. Dr. Hussey, who had been eminently active in organizing the whole af- fair, was elected president of the college. The whole care and management of the college was vested in this board of managers. The four Protestant members-were changed every five years (being replaced b}' election of the other members), and, together with three Roman Catholics, fulfilled the duties of inspectors, yet without the power of interfering with either the doctrines or the discipline of the college. The most liberal among the
Roman Catholics wished the college to be established at DubUn, the seat of the University, and where members of the different denominations were already studying harmoniously together. But the Roman Catholic bish- ops opposed this, as they desired their priests to be edu- cated under stricter discipline. The board of managers therefore chose the village of IMaynooth, eleven miles from Dublin, and commenced building a seminarj- for fifty students on a piece of land purchased from the duke of Leinster. When the Irish Parliament was incorpo- rated with the English, in 1801, an appropriation was made for the College of JMaynooth amounting to some £8000 a year for the next twenty years. In 1808 some £13,000 more was voted for the purjjoseof enlarging the seminar}', as it was inadequate to educating the number of priests required. Indeed in that year there were 478 obliged to study abroad, chiefly in France, while there were only 200 to 250 attending at Ma\-nooth. The sem- inary continued a long time without attracting much attention ; even the report of the board of trustees, pre- sented in 1826 to Parliament, did not throw much light on the real character of the institution ; in fact, the true state of things was rather covered up than revealed in that document. But when O'Connell's agitation broke out, it became apparent that its principal champions were priests educated in Maynooth College. It was also found that the alumni of Maynooth took an active part in the Roman Catholic emancipation in 1829 by unfairly influencing the elections. The seminary, in- stituted for the purpose of suppressing democratic ideas, seems thus to have become a centre of political as well as religious agitation. But the interior workings of the institution remained hidden from the public gaze until a zealous Protestant minister, M'Ghee, procured the theological text-book of Peter Dens, used at jNIaynooth, which was published to the extent of three thousand copies in 1801; another edition of the same number ap- peared in 1832. This work, which breathes to the ut- most the Roman Catholic spirit of aggression and perse- cution, and upholds the most offensive doctrines of that Church, was considered there as the highest authority, and gives a striking contradiction to the statement so often made by interested parties that the Roman Ca- tholicism of the 19th century is animated by an entirely diiferent spirit from that of former times. These reve- lations provoked much opposition to Romanism, and a growing desire to abrogate the privileges of the Roman- ists. June 28, 1835, a great meeting was held at Exe- ter HaU, which was followed by others in various cities of England and Scotland. It was proved that the Rom- ish Church still displayed the same zeal for the destruc- tion of heretics, still claimed to relieve from oaths, re- tained auriciUar confession, with all its attendant evils, and all from unequivocal passages in the aforesaid text- book. Numberless pamphlets were published on this occasion ; Protestant associations were formed in Ireland to defend evangelical freedom, and chief among these were found the Orangemen. The old hatred between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants was thus re- vived, and trouble with Ireland seemed imminent. On the side of the Romish Church the " liberator of Ireland" gained crowds to his party by his eloquence and his fiery denunciations of the English ; his attitude became so threatening that the government was obliged to prosecute him for high-treason. This repressed the re- bellion in its vcrj' infancy, but at the same time embit- tered the feelings of the Roman Catholic population. Previous experience for seven centuries had shown that persecution could indeed weaken, and almost destroy, but never conquer Ireland ; and this was still more the case with regard to their Church, which the Roman Catholic Irish clung -to the more as it was weaker and more oppressed. There remained nothing but to try whether kindness would succeed where harshness had failed. The occasion was favorable, the insurrection was suppressed, and, if the victors met the vanquished as friends, much might be gained. This Irish question