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.SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

ADELAIDE, May 29.

The annual report of the Board of Education has been published.
It states that one in nine of the population is attending school, and.
strongly recommends the erection of a model school. It gives the
average income of the teachers, including the Government grant, as
£105 lis. per annum.
The rule nisi for,a new trial in the case of the Queen v. Allen, for
libel, was argued to-day, and granted.
Printed by W. H. WILLIAMS, at 68 Elizabeth street, for S. Y. WINTER,
and published by him, for the proprietors, at the office of -the
Advocate, 38 Bourke street weBt, Melbourne.

-were coritentto leave the question of what was to be doriewith the
funds to the wisdom of Parliament and the course of tiine. They
.aaid further that they had no selfish object in view, and that they had
do hostility in the world to the Protestants. If a Protestant and a
Catholic came forward as'candidates for any county or borough its
Ireland to-morrow, and their politics were the same, and the politics
-of the majority, the people would as soon have the one as the other,
4nd that was not the case in England ot Scotland. The revolution
would be one of the gentlest kind. When he wad in Chicago he
-saw a large tract of land, on which was a hotel, with people dining
in it, ladies playing the piano in it, and everything going on as usual,
being raised bodily by means of screws, and no single thing was disturbed
in the process. The revolution which was necessary in regard
to the Established Church in Ireland might be carried out in an
-equally gentle and delicate manner. There was no justification for
the existence of this monstrous anomaly. It offended the religious
3>ride of the people—it offended the humblest as well as the highest in
the Land, and although Lord Russell thought it would be a sad thing
<to disendow the Church, because all the farmers would lose the cus-
~tom of the ProteBtant gentlemen for their eggs and butter, still, for
-the sake of religious consolation and the pride in their religion, they
could afford to sacrifice the custom of the incumbent, some of whom
might not live very long. The Irish people demanded a settlement
-of this question. They did not want to know anything about the
emoluments of the Church. All they did know was that the Church
Establishment was a badge of conquest, a badge of degradation, and
-the whole Catholic population of the country demanded the settlement
-of this question upon the grounds of right and justice. Now, he would
only Bay a word about
EDUCATION.
For a long time Parliament had done its best to blot out the intellect
-of the Catholic people of Ireland. It was not a great many years since
it was penal for a Catholic to teach. A monstrous anomaly existed
in Trinity College, the Catholic University, supported by the offerings
of the faithful. The National system was really Denominational;
and, on the whole, the Irish people wanted a settlement of education
upon just and liberal principles. They also wanted a fair share of
public expenditure in Ireland. When the Irish people asked for that
they were told they had it, and the police were always thrown in their
teeth. Yes, the £800,000 for the police was always thrown in their
teeth; but that sum was spent to keep up an army to garrison the
-country. And Englishmen well knew that, without the police, they
could not hold the country for any length of time. Millions had been
spent in dockyards and shipbuilding in this country since the time of
the Union, but not a farthing, comparatively speaking, in Ireland.
They required a fair share of the expenditure of the country, and thus
have the promises made at the time of the Union realised. However,
-the panacea which was offered for all the ills of Ireland was, " Pay the
-clergy. Don't touch a stone of the Irish Church, but pay the clergy.
Don't keep the people out of misery and want, but pay the clergy.
Don't mind how strongly disaffection grows in the country, but pay
the priests." Never did a more crack-brained policy enter into the
mind of a crack-brained theorist than that policy of paying the priests.
The Irish people did not want a paid clergy. They would have no
paid priests. Now, they obeyed their clergy; but once touch the latter
with the gold of the State, and they became in the eyes of the
people spies and serpents.
THE ALIEN CHORCH.
.Now, as to the Established Church in Ireland, it was as clear as that
two and two made four, that the Irish Protestant Church could not
rest upon k its own merits. The Irish Protestant Church was the
-church of the minority, and therefore could have no claim to the
revenues. It might be called the United Church of England and Ire
land, or of Canada and Ireland, but it would always be the Irish Protestant
Church. Itr appeared to him—of course he did not refer to
its doctrines—to be in the position of an individual against whom a
verdict had been found, and who had been permitted to stand out on
the understanding tlfat he would come up for] judgement when called
upon. He and his co-religionists asked for the disestablishment and
disendowment of the Protestant Church. In doing this they solemnly
declared that neither directly nor indirectly would they take endowment
of'their own Church, and they pointed to their own position—
the Church of the poorest—both in England and America as a: vindication
of the voluntary system. If ever there was a question which
3iad been argued usque ad nauseam it was this question; and he had not
much confidence in the man's judgment who did not see that the time
for argument was passed, and the time for action come. The English
people had made great progress in liberality, and it would soon be
seen whether the banner of "No Popery "was to be raised, and whether
they would be true to their principles, and haul it down as the vile
emblem which for generations had kept two nations asunder. Were
they to enjoy religious equality ? or were, they to have religious ascendancy?
Was Protestantism to take its proper place? or was it
still to be the sign and* the indispensable qualification of a superior
caste ? The truth was, that the maintenance of this Church was irreconcilable
with justice, and there was only one course for Parliament
to pursue, and not to wait for commissions of inquiry, but to be true
to the sacred principles which they stood pledged to vindicate. They
{the Roman Catholics) sought only for religious equality, and they
•sought for it the only way it is practicable. They sought no tcjumph
over their Protestant countrymen. They left it to others to look bac
to Antrim and the Boyne. They left the past, and looked forward to a
future of equality and peace. He did not want to sit down without
saying that even if Parliament were tQ settle the question of the Irish
Church in accordance with the wishes of the people, they would be
content, because the people would still feel they had not their share
of political power.
, , VOTE BY BALLOT ADVOCATED.
The,Irish people had no constitutional means of giving effect to their
opinions, arid never oould have uutil the franchise had been considerably
extended and the independence of the voter secured by the ballot.
The Irish people, having lost confidence in the present Parliamentary
system, had renounced all faith in the utility of constitutional action,
and in many instances surrendered themselves to despair, determined
to wait some chance which might do that which constitutional agitation
could not accomplish. lie had never counselled despair. On the
contrary, he had urged them to forget the past—to unite with the
English people, who were not responsible for the past—and to struggle
for the possession of those constitutional rights by which the position
of England and Ireland can alone be improved. The great majority
of the Irish people no longer looked to this House. They had turned
away from it, for they had seen year by year and session after session
pass, and those who represented them were either the humble followers
of English parties, or persons working for their own interests!
Was it not time that Parliament, by united action, should do something
to despel those influences, and create that confidence the. want
of which was the source of difficulties ?
THE VALUE OF ROYAL VISITS.
But there was another panacea for Ireland, and that was a royal
visit to Ireland. As a panacea the whole thing was absurd. Irishmen
had shed their blood plentifully on every battle-field where the
honour and glory of England were at stake, and yet while there were
English and Scotch guards about the Queen's person, there was no
regiment of Irish guards in the service. If the government liked, let
them build a royal residence in Ireland, suited to the dignity and
splendour of the crown ; but, before they did so, or at the time they
did so, let them lay the foundation of a better state of things, which
would make a happier, because a more contented, Irish people. He,
would only touch on two other panaceas. One panacea was the purchase
of the Irish railways—the other was emigration. But if emigration
went on increasing year by year, the number of persons who
travelled by railways would be so diminished as to leave no profit for
the government. But why, lie would ask, should not the government
deal with a larger property, the property of the soil ? Now, as
to emigration, it was now at the rate of 70,000 from Ireland—say
50,000 was the balance after counting the number of births—so that
would take just a quarter of a century to bring the population of Ireland
down to that of Scotland, if this rate of emigration went on. But, in
the meantime, where were the Irish emigrants going, and with what
feelings ? They had been systematically driven out for the last
twenty-five years. When the poor-laws were established, the landlords
began to clear their estates ; when the famine came, the people
were driven from their holdings, and thus, when they crossed the
Atlantic with their families, they heard the stupid and ferocious
shout,
"THE CELTS ABE GONE WITH A VENGEANCE."
With a vengeance they did go, and their hate became intensified ;
and when they stood upon the free soil of America there did not live
more bitter and implacable enemies to this country than those expatriated
Irishmen. They kept that hate in their hearts, and. taught it to
their children. Numberless eyes in America were watching the proceedings
of this house ; there was an electricity of another kind than
that known to science—there was an electricity of hearts, and there
was not an utterance from a ribald pen or tongue on this side of the
Atlantic which did not fester in the hearts of that sensitive people
who had taken up their abode in America. England did not diminish
her Irish difficulty by transferring the Irish people to the other side
of the Atlantic. America, no doubt, was bound by international
obligations, but he felt convinced—and he was sorry for it—that when
the opportunity arrived the expatriated Irish in America would endeavour
to exasperate any cause of quarrel between England and that
country, so that they might wreak their long-standing vengeance.
The other day the Lord Lieutenant congratulated the country upon
the diminution of emigration, but that was accounted for by the depression
existing in American trade. A noble lord said that we
could not touch an Irishman in America, that in America he_can
plot and conspire as much as he liked against England. Well, he
wanted them to deprive the Irishmen in America of that power bysettling
the Irish question fairly and equitably, making , the people
contented at home, and their property protected. Then he believed
would the Fenian conspiracy be struck down in America. All he
asked for was common justice. The English parliament had assumed
the responsibility of legislating for Ireland because England had deprived
her of her own legislature. Let England, then, legislate justly
for Ireland. And whoever the minister might be who would perform
this great work his name would become glorious in the annals of his
country. He hoped he should not leave that House untiThe saw the
foundation laid of measures which Would redeem a country and save
a nation.
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