Page 323 - Demo

Chapter NiNe 323
In 1831 Lord Stanley, the Chief Secretary, established “The System of National Educa- tion” in Ireland. The two main principles underlying this “System” were:
(1) There was to be no interference with the religious belief of any of the pupils at- tending such schools;
(2) Clergymen were to be granted facilities for giving instruction to the children of their Church who were pupils of these schools.
Unfortunately, the great defect or ‘damnable legacy’ of this new “system” was its efect on those children who spoke only the Irish language, their native tongue-three quarters of all the children in the country. These children were taught English, and all subjects were taught through English, which as we have just seen was to all intents and purposes a foreign language. It is maintained by many that this System of National Education proved to be the principal cause of the bulk of the Irish people of future generations losing their own language, and by the loss of their beloved language, they in turn lost much of their native Irish nature and spirit. In 1835 a system known oicially as the Poor Law System was es- tablished and in 1838 a Bill introduced by Lord John Russell made it legal. The Poor Law System provided for the division of the country into Poor-Law Unions, and for the erection of workhouses for the poor.
As already referenced, the Catholic Relief Act was looked upon by many as a great triumph for the “Liberator,” as Daniel O’Connell is often called. Now, from the Catholic question, a question which should have been settled when the Act of Union was originally introduced, O’Connell turned his energies to the much greater problem of the Union itself.
He was of the belief that if Ireland was to truly prosper as a nation repeal of the Union was essential, in fact, when Catholic Emancipation had been obtained, he immediately be- gan making preparations in earnest for an agitation of “Repeal.”
The Government regarded O’Connell’s new policy with predictable alarm, so much so that the Viceroy was ordered to hastily suppress the “Society of the Friends of Ireland,” as O’Connell’s Repeal organization was known. Notwithstanding repeated proclamations by the Government, the Repeal movement continued to lourish, albeit under diferent guis- es. In 1843, thirteen years after the founding of the “Society of the Friends of Ireland,” O’Connell, determined to bring the question of Repeal to a head by addressing a series