Chapter XXII, of Cassells Illustrated History of England, Volume 7 page 5

Mr. Stanley's letter to the duke of Leinster has always been regarded as the charter of the system. Its main principles are laid down in the following passages from that letter: -

"For the success of the undertaking, much must depend on the character of the individuals who compose the board; and upon the security thereby afforded to the country, that while the interests of religion are not overlooked, the most scrupulous care should be taken not to interfere with the peculiar tenets of any description of Christian pupils. To attain the first object, it appears essential that the board should be composed of men of high personal character, including individuals of exalted station in the church; to attain the latter, that it should consist of persons holding different religious opinions. It is the intention of the government that the board should exercise a complete control over the various schools which may be erected under its auspices, or which having been already established, may hereafter place themselves under its management, and submit to its regulations. Subject to these, applications for aid will be admissible from Christians of all denominations; but as one of the main objects must be to unite in one system children oj different creeds, and as much must depend upon the co-operation of resident clergy, the board will, probably, look with peculiar favour upon applications proceeding from - 1st. The protestant and Roman catholic clergy of the parish; or 2nd. One of the clergymen and a certain number of the parishioners professing the opposite creed; or 3rd'. Parishioners of both denominations. They will exercise the most entire control over all books to be used in the schools, whether in the combined moral and literary or separate religious instruction; none to be employed in the first except under the sanction of the board, nor in the latter but with the approbation of those members of the board who are of the same religious persuasion with those for whose use they are intended. Although it is not designed to exclude from the list of books for the combined instruction such portions of sacred history or of religious or moral teaching as may be approved of by the board, it is to be understood that this is by no means intended to convey a perfect and sufficient religious education, or to supersede the necessity of separate religious instruction on the day set apart for that purpose."

Much opposition was excited by the part of Mr. Stanley's letter which spoke of "encouraging" the clergy to give religious instruction, and requiring the attendance of the scholars at their respective places of worship on Sunday to be registered by the schoolmaster. This was unwarrantably treading on religious ground, and committing both protestants and catholics to the actual support of what they mutually deemed false. But the government were driven to this course by the cry of "infidelity" and "atheism" which the new plan encountered as soon, as it was proposed in parliament. Explanations were afterwards issued by authority, showing that the " encouragement " of religious instruction meant only granting " facility of access " to the children out of school hours, not "employing or remunerating" the teachers. The commissioners very properly treated the Bible as a book for religious instruction; but so far from offering the sacred volume an " indignity," or "forbidding" its use, they say: "To the religious instructors of the children they cheerfully leave, in communicating instruction, the use of the sacred volume itself, as containing those doctrines and precepts a knowledge of which must lie at the foundation of all true religion."

To obviate every cavil, however, as far as possible, without departing from the fundamental principle of the board, it was arranged that the Bible might be read at any hour of the day, provided the time was distinctly specified, so that there should be no suspicion of a desire to take advantage of the presence of Roman catholics. This satisfied the Presbyterians, who have nearly all placed their schools in connection with the board. But the great body of the established clergy continued for some time afterwards hostile, having put forth the Church Education Society as a rival candidate for parliamentary recognition and support. Its committee declared that the national system is "essentially defective " in permitting the catholic children to refuse the Bible. They say this permission " involves a practical indignity to the Word of God," and that it is " carrying into effect the discipline of the church of Rome, in restricting the use of the inspired writings." This was the grand charge against the board, the vital point in the controversy.

The principle which has been embodied in the Irish national system received the decided approval of the ablest of the Irish Roman catholic prelates, Dr Doyle, who, in his evidence before a parliamentary committee in 1830, thus expressed his opinion: - " I do not see how any man, wishing well to the public peace, and who looks to Ireland as his country, can think that that peace can ever be permanently established, or the prosperity of the country ever well secured, if children are separated at the commencement of life on account of their religious opinions. I do not know any measure which would prepare the way for a better feeling in Ireland than uniting children at an early age, and bringing them up in the same school, leading them to commune with one another, and to form those little intimacies and friendships which often subsist through life. Children thus united know and love each other, as children brought up together always will; and to separate them is, I think, to destroy some of the finest feelings in the hearts of men."

The purpose and tendency of the national system are well described by the Right Hon. Alexander McDonnell, who has been for many years the resident commissioner. He says: - " I think that the first and greatest object of the national system was the sound education of the poor of Ireland of all denominations, free from all suspicion of proselytism, affording at the same time every facility that could reasonably be given for the separate religious education of the children attending the schools. Then the second great object was the united education of protestants and Roman catholics in the same schools; a very important object of course, but quite subordinate to the great object of all, which was a sound education for the poor of Ireland, free from the suspicion of proselytism.

" Our books are used throughout all the national schools; I believe that every one of the 5,000 national schools, without exception, employs our books; and that of itself forms, I conceive, a united education of the very best kind. I conceive that there is going on in all parts of Ireland a united system of education, even where protestants are exclusively educated in one set of national schools, and Roman catholics are educated exclusively in other national schools. I believe that the fact that the schools are all governed by the same body of commissioners, and that all trained teachers, Roman catholic and protestant, are trained together in the same training schools; that there is one system of government applicable to all the schools, and that the same books are read in every one of the 5,000 national schools; I believe that all this creates in itself a truly united education. I think that really united education is carried on in every school under the board, inasmuch as the children of the one faith or the other may attend any one of our 5,000 schools with a perfect good conscience and security. Whether they actually attend the schools or not, the school must be carried on in such a way as to render it perfectly safe for either protestant or Roman catholic to attend it."