Excellency the Lord Lieutenant having approved thereof, they will receive applications from the patrons of schools in conformity thereto, and grant aid, upon having such queries as they shall deem necessary to put, satisfactorily answered.*

T. F. KELLY, Secretary.

be extended by them towards the Temple Meeting-house school, the business of which you state to be conducted in the following manner, namely, that it opens at ten a'clock and closes at three; that the attention of the pupils, until two each day, is confined to the usual literary education; that the books used by the children are those formerly supplied by the Kildare-place Society; that the last hour is employed in reading and instruction in the Holy Scriptures, by such pupils as are advanced to an Old and New Testament class, if permitted by their parents to join in such an exercise; that those who are not so advanced, or who are not allowed by their parents to read the Word of God, may either pursue the usual routine of business of the school, or retire if they please, and that Saturday is employed in directing the attention of those who have not entered a Scripture class, to what they may have been doing during the week, and in catechising those who have, in their knowledge of the Scriptures. The Commissioners having considered your letter, desire me to state that the regulations of the Temple Meeting school appear to them to agree in principle with those by which they are governed. The rule that the hour from two till three of each day, except Saturday, should be employed in reading and instruction in the Holy Scriptures is quite compatible with the regulations of the Commissioners, provided that such children only as are directed by their parents to attend, be then allowed to continue in the school, and that all others do then retire; and with respect to the exercises on Saturday, it also is compatible with their rules, provided that those children only shall attend upon that day whose parents direct that they shall join in reading or receiving instruction in the Holy Scriptures; so that an opportunity be thus afforded for all others to receive such religious instruction, at that time, as their parents or guardians shall provide for them. As you mention that you occasionally visit the school, to mark the progress and administer such instruction as the circumstance and capacity of the children may require, the Commissioners desire me to observe, that it is of the essence of their rules that religious instruction should be given only at the time specifically appointed for that purpose; and that children whose parents do not direct them to be present at it, should previously retire. The Commissioners having thus explained their views, and anticipating that you will conform to them, direct me to signify their readiness to make a grant towards the support of the Temple Meeting.house school on your returning the paper which I herewith transmit, properly filled and signed.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servant, (Signed)

THOMAS F. KELLY, Secretary.

In the Appendix to Second Report, will be found the regulations and directions to be attended to in making application to the Board of Commissioners for aid, which have been drawn up by them, in conformity with the principles laid down in the foregoing documents, which regulations and directions were laid before Government, and approved, previously to their being issued.

ART. VI. THE CENSUS, PART III. v. THE DUBLIN HOSPITALS.

1. The Census of Ireland for the Year 1851. Part III. Report on the Status of Disease. Presented to Both Houses of Parliament, by Command of Her Majesty. Dublin Alexander Thom. 1854.

:

2. Report from the Select Committee on Dublin Hospitals; Together with the Proceedings of the Committee. Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be Printed, 29th June, 1854.

3. The Irish Quarterly Review. Vol. 1V. No. 15, Art. The Dublin Hospitals, and the Blunders of the Census.

In the last number of THE IRISH QUARTERLY REVIEW, we printed a paper commenting upon the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, on the Hospitals of Dublin, and in the progress of the paper corrected and exposed some very serious and mischievous blunders, appearing in that portion of the Irish Census of 1851, entitled, Report on the Status of Disease.

It would seem that in adopting this course we have caused some parties connected, directly or indirectly, with three Dublin Newspapers-The Evening Packet, The Daily Express, and The General Advertiser, to indulge in expressions of violent abuse, proving their complete qualification for a seat at the Board of Guardians of the North Dublin Union, and given to the readers in a form of literary composition worthy of one of that class of literary mercenary hacks described by Macaulay,as "venal and licentious scribblers with just sufficient talent to clothe the thoughts of a pander in the style of a bellman." Because we wrote, as all writers in Reviews, without our name appended to our contribution, we were called anonymous scribblers; because we exposed the absurd figures relating to Hospital accommodation in Dublin, we were called slanderers; because, from the evidence of the Report of the Committee, we gave just merit to Doctor Corrigan, we were called his "fulsome beslaverer," his "thoroughly unscrupulous panegyrist ;" and The General Advertiser, after inserting its version, either ori

ginal or supplied to it, exceeds them all by advising its contemporaries to "denounce" us.*

We should not refer to these journals at all, but that their abuse, and threats, and general tone of Donnybrook heroics seem all formed upon some preconcerted plan, following each other in rapid succession, and endeavouring to impress upon the readers that we had written for the purpose of injuring Surgeon Wilde-the gentleman under whose inspection, or direction, the portion of the Census under notice was compiled. We know nothing of Mr. Wilde, we have passed no opinion upon him; he may be a Crampton or a Dulcamara for any thing we know or care; nay more, we give him credit for being all his most earnest friends can claim for him, but if he, in addition to the newspapers named above, were to tell us that the figures of the Census, which we are about to correct, need no corrections, we should still expose the errors, well knowing that the more impudent and offensive the iteration of correctness the more likely that the error was, to their knowledge, serious.

Neither for fear or favor shall we ever, in these pages, permit errors injurious to the people to pass unnoticed and unexposed. We detest the cliquish system which exists amongst the poor coteries of those who, in Dublin, call themselves literary men; two-penny-half-penny clubs where booksellers, and newspaper editors, and paper dealers all bepraise each other, and produce such wretched representatives of literature, with minds so warped from justice and truth, and indeed from common sense, as his who wrote, in The General Advertiser, that even if our proofs of blunders in the Census were complete, he questioned "THE JUDICIOUSNESS, THE JUS

TICE OF PARADING THE ERRORS OF A GRAVE PUBLIC DOCU

MENT IN THIS MANNER." Why its gravity, coupled with its errors, are the very points which forced, and which force us to the exposure. Are we to permit these ridiculous, shamefully incorrect returns of Hospital accommodation in Dublin to stand as recorded facts, silencing, when quoted, the advocate of the Hospital Grants? Are we, because these three writers, or whoever supplied them with information, demand it, to permit

An excess of zeal on the part of this Scotch pet of the Incumbered Estates Court, reminding us of Vousden's Scotchman, who, after drinking the Whiskey, tries to "swally the jug."

For an account of Dublin Literary cliques, see IRISH QUARTERLY REVIEW, Vol. IV. No. 14. Art. "Literature and Poetry in Ireland."

the poor of Dublin to be deprived of Hospital aid through blunders in a "grave public document;" are we to do this because some friend of these parties may be accountable? We think that Surgeon Wilde, a resident Dublin Physician, is accountable for the figures as they stand, and he is accountable for not having explained their errors to the Committee, because every error which we shall now detect; every blunder in all its absurdity and in all its mischievous, disastrous effect, was, as we have heard, on good authority, fully explained to him, in writing and verbally, before his examination by the Committee. He was examined, he explained nothing, corrected none of the false figures,he, as was said, "mystified the members." The Hospital Grants might be imperilled by his silence, but he was silent because he would not expose the blunders of the Census for which he was accountable; he left the room, and the case then stood, The Status of Disease v. The Dublin Hospitals. Perish the Hospitals, but live the Census; he may have thought thus, and may have held the opinion, in common with his partizan, or with whoever incited that partizan, and may have questioned "the judiciousness, the justice of parading the errors of a grave public document in this manner." We, however, do not hold these opinions; we shall not be turned from our course by slanderous imputations, or by vulgar abuse: as for protestations of correctness made by those interested in the assumed accuracy of the Census, with us they weigh nothing; we remember that the prince of impostors, Mahomet, commences that tissue of lies, blunders, and errors-The Koran, with the protestation-"There is no falsehood in this Book."

Our objection to the returns of the Census, so far as Dublin is concerned, are two-fold-first, that available Hospital accommodation is most absurdly overstated; second, that the figures of the sick in Dublin are most blunderingly understated. To these, and to these two points only shall we direct attention, as in a former paper the history of the foundation and progress of the Hospitals was sketched at sufficient length. We turn to this subject of Hospital accommodation now, as the question of Grants or their withdrawal will be before Parliament in the approaching session, and although the Select Committee of the House of Commons recommended a continu

* See Vol. IV. No. 15, p. 635.

ance of the annual Grants, to the amount £16,000, exclusive of such sum as may be voted to the Hospital for Incurables, yet whilst these blunders of the Census remain on record, backed by the friends of those responsible, whether at the instigation or contrary to the desire of these parties-it befits every man in our position to place accurate information before those who may be driven, in the House of Commons, to defend the Report of the Committee from the arguments which may be urged against it, as furnished by the Status of Disease. True, the Select Committee reported that "The City of Dublin is in a position peculiar to itself, as compared with other towns of the empire. It is a metropolis for the poor but not for the rich. The value of its property has, within the last 14 years, decreased, while local taxation, population, and pauperism have increased. It has been shown that the ability of Dublin to support charitable institutions is less than it was when the Commissioners reported in 1842. Almost every witness has stated, that it would be impossible to raise a sufficient sum to preserve the Hospitals in an efficient state, either by voluntary subscription or local taxation; a withdrawal of the grant would, therefore, have the effect of entirely closing some, and of impairing materially the efficiency of all these valuable institutions ;" but, although the Committee reported thus, their recommendation would be useless if, because it is a grave public document, we refrained from correcting the blunders of the Census, thus exposing the supporters of the Grants to the certainty of being silenced by any opposing member who might argue,-"How can the Committee recommend the continuance of these Grants, when, by the figures of the Census, a grave public document, prepared under the direction of a Dublin Surgeon, and who was examined by the Committee, I find that Dublin has available Hospital accommodation to the extent of 1,616 beds; whilst only 1,053 were sick in Hospital, and only 576 sick in their own homes on the 30th of March, 1851?". If any member please he is quite warranted by the Census in arguing thus. And what answer can be given to these arguments, how can the recommendations embodied by the Committee in their Report be supported?-Simply by declaring, and proving, that the returns of Hospital accommodation,as given in the portion on the Status of Disease, are false; false too, though prepared under the direction of one who