nors of Ireland for the time being, to be removable at his or their pleasure), shall be for ever hereafter one Body Corporate and Politic in deed and in name, and that the said Body Corporate shall be called " The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland," and them by the name of "Commissioners of National Education in Ireland,” into one Body Corporate and Politic, in deed, fact, and name, for ever, WE DO for us, our Heirs, and Successors, erect, constitute, establish, confirm, and declare by these Presents, and we do for us, our Heirs and Successors, grant and declare that by the same name of "The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland,” they shall have perpetual succession, and that they and their Successors, by that name, from time to time and at all times hereafter, shall be able and capable in law, without our Licence in Mortmain, to have, take, purchase, receive, hold, enjoy, and retain to them and their successors, in fee and perpetuity, any manors, lands, tenements, rents, annuities, privileges, liberties, possessions, and hereditaments of what kind, nature, or quality soever in Ireland, not exceeding in the whole the clear yearly value of Forty Thousand Pounds Sterling. And moreover to purchase and acquire any goods and chat. tels whatsoever; and also to take and receive any sum or sums of money, or any manner or portion of goods and chattels that shall to them be given, granted, devised, or bequeathed by any person or persons, Bodies Corporate and Politic, capable to make a gift or devise thereof, and therewith and thereout to erect, maintain, and support in all places of that part of our said United Kingdom called Ireland, where they shall deem the same to be most necessary and convenient, such and as many Schools as they shall think proper. AND ALSO, to give, grant, alien, assign, and dispose of any manors, lands, tenements, rents, hereditaments, goods and chattels, and to do and execute all and singular other matters and things necessarily relating thereunto. AND ALSO, to give and grant any Lease or Leases of any lands or tenements belonging to, or which may hereafter belong to, the said Body Corporate and Politic, for any term not exceeding three lives, or Thirty-one Years: Provided, that any such alier.ation, and that every such Lease or Leases be made with the approbation of the major part of the Members of the said Body Corporate then present (such major part being at least three in number), and every Lease so to be made shall be of lands in possession and not in reversion. AND We do also for us, our Heirs, and Successors, give and grant unto every subject or subjects whatsoever, of us, our Heirs, and Successors, whether incorporated or not incorporated, special licence, power, faculty, and authority, to give, grant, sell, alien, assign, dispose, or bequeath unto the said Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, and their Successors, for the use and benefit of them, and their Successors, any manors, lands, tenements, rents, privileges, liberties, possessions and hereditaments of what nature or kind soever, within that part of our said United Kingdom called Ireland, so as the same do not exceed in the whole the clear yearly sum of Forty Thousand Pounds Sterling; and that the said Body Corporate and their Successors, by the name of " The

Commissioners of National Education in Ireland," shall and may plead and be impleaded, sue and be sued, answer and be answered, defend and be defended, in all or any Courts and places, and before any Judges, Justices, Officers of us, our Heirs and Successors in all and singular actions, pleas, suits, plaints, matters, and demands, of what kind or quality soever they shall be, in the same manner and form, and as fully and amply as any of our subjects of our realm may or can do, sue or be sued, plead or be impleaded, answer or be answered unto, defend or be defended. AND that the said Body Corporate shall and may have and use a common Seal for the affairs and business of National Education in Ireland, and that it shall and may be lawful for the said Body Corporate, and their Successors, the same Seal from time to time to change, alter, or make new, as to them shall seem proper. AND We do hereby for us, our Heirs, and Successors, ordain, declare, and direct, that whenever the said Commissioners, or either or any of them, or any other person or persons to be appointed in their place or in succession to them, or any of them, shall by death, resignation, removal, or otherwise, cease to be a Commissioner or Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, then and in every such case it shall and may be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland for the time being, by Warrant under Hand and Seal, to appoint one other person in the place and stead of any such person so ceasing to be such Commissioner respectively, and any such person so to be appointed shall accordingly be and become one of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland, and Member of the Corporation hereby constituted. AND WE do hereby for us, our Heirs and Successors, grant, declare, and appoint that it shall and may be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland for the time being, if it shall appear fit to him or them, respectively, to increase the number of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland: Provided, however, that the whole number of persons intended by virtue of these Presents to be incorporated, as aforesaid, do not at any time exceed fifteen, but may consist of any less number. LASTLY, We do by these Presents, for us, our Heirs, and Successors, grant unto the said Body Corporate, by the name of "The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland," and to their Successors, that these our Letters Patent, or the enrolment hereof, shall be in and by all things good, firm, valid, sufficient, and effectual in the Law, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and shall be taken, construed, and adjudged, in the most favourable and beneficial sense, for the best advantage of the said Body Corporate and their Successors, as well in all Courts of Records as elsewhere, and by all and singular the Officers and Ministers whomsoever and wheresoever of us, our Heirs and Successors: Provided always, that these our Letters Patent be enrolled in our High Court of Chancery in Ireland, within the space of Six Calendar Months, next ensuing the date hereof.-In Witness whereof We have caused these our Letters to be made Patent. Witness, WILLIAM BARON HEYTESBURY, our Lieutenant-General and General Gover

nor of Ireland at Dublin, the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the Ninth Year of our Reign.

For C. FITZSIMON, Clerk of the Crown and Hanaper,

SEAL.

DAVID SHERLOCK, Deputy.

Enrolled in the Office of the Rolls of Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery in Ireland, the First day of September, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Forty-five.

Entered and Examined by

WILLIAM WEBB, D.K.R.

GEORGE HATCHELL, Clerk Rolls.

NOTE. Since the date of the Charter, ROBERT HOLMES, Esquire, has retired from the Commission, and the following Members have been added to the Board:-The Right Honorable MAZIERE BRADY, Lord Chancellor; T. N. REDINGTON, Esquire, Under Secre tary to the Lord Lieutenant; ROBERT ANDREWS, Esquire, LL.D., Assistant-Barrister for the County of Louth; and JAMES GIBSON, Esquire, Barrister-at-Law.

XI.-RULES and REGULATIONS of the COMMISSIONERS OF NATIONAL EDUCATION, and DIRECTIONS for making APPLICATION for AID towards the BUILDING OF SCHOOL-HOUSES, or for the SUPPORT OF SCHOOLS.

1. The Commissioners grant aid towards the Building and Support of Schools of two classes, Elementary Schools and Schools of Industry; but they can grant aid only to a limited number of the latter, and these must be at certain distances from each other. It is an indispensable condition for aid towards a School of Industry, that a Work-room shall be annexed to it, if it be situated in a City or Town; and if it be a Country or Rural School, that a certain quantity of land shall be provided for Garden Culture.

It is, however, for the Patrons of each National School to determine whether they will make Agricultural or other industrial instruction part of the Education which it affords. It is for the Commissioners to do what they can in aid of their efforts, by having the teachers taught the principles and practice of improved Agriculture during their Training Course, and by receiving Agricultural Pupils at the Model Farm, Glasnevin. The Com'missioners consider Schools for Females as of the class of Elementary Schools; but they require that instruction be there given in Sewing, Knitting, and other works suited to Females.

II. AS TO GOVERNMENT OF SCHOOLS WITH RESPECT TO ATTENDANCE AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION.

1. The ordinary School business, during which all children, of whatever denomination they may be, are required to attend, is to embrace a specified number of hours each day.

2. Opportunities are to be afforded to the Children of each

School for receiving such religious instruction as their parents or guardians approve of.

3. The Patrons of the several Schools have the right of appointing such religious instruction as they may think proper to be given therein, provided that each School be open to Children of all communions; that due regard be had to parental right and authority; that, accordingly, no child be compelled to receive, or be present at, any religious instruction to which his parents or guardians object; and that the time for giving it be so fixed, that no child shall be thereby, in effect, excluded, directly or indirectly, from the other advantages which the School affords. Subject to this, religious instruction may be given either during the fixed School hours or otherwise.

4. In Schools, towards the building of which the Commissioners have contributed, and which are, therefore, VESTED in Trustees, for the purposes of National Education, or which are vested in the Commissioners in their Corporate capacity, such pastors or other persons as shall be approved of by the parents or guardians of the Children respectively, shall have access to them in the Schoolroom, for the purpose of giving them religious instruction there, at convenient times to be appointed for that purpose, whether those pastors or persons shall have signed the original application or otherwise.

5. In Schools NOT VESTED, but which receive aid only by way of Salary and Books, it is for the Patrons to determine whether religious instruction shall be given in the School-room or not; but if they do not allow it in the School-room, the Children whose parents or guardians so desire, must be allowed to absent themselves from the school, at reasonable times, for the purpose of receiving such instruction ELSEWHERE.

6. The reading of the Scriptures, either in the Protestant Authorized or Douay Version, as well as the teaching of Catechisms, comes within the rule as to religious instruction.

7. The rule as to religious instruction applies to Public Prayer and to all other religious exercises.

8. The Commissioners do not insist on the Scripture Lessons being read in any of the National Schools, nor do they allow them to be read during the time of secular or literary instruction, in any School attended by Children whose parents or guardians object to their being so read. In such case the Commissioners prohibit the use of them, except at the times of religious instruction, when the persons giving it may use these Lessons, or not, as they think proper.

9. Whatever arrangement is made in any School for giving religious instruction, must be publicly notified in the School-room, in order that those Children, and those only, may be present whose parents or guardians allow them.

10. If any other books than the Holy Scriptures, or the standard

books of the Church to which the Children using them belong, are employed in communicating religious instruction, the title of each is to be made known to the Commissioners.

11. The use of the books published by the Commissioners is not compulsory; but the titles of all other books which the Conductors of Schools intend for the ordinary School business, are to be reported to the Commissioners; and none are to be used to which they object; but they prohibit such only as may appear to them to contain matter objectionable in itself, or objectionable for common instruction, as peculiarly belonging to some particular religious denomination.

12. A Registry is to be kept in each School of the daily attendance of the Scholars, and the average attendance, according to the Form furnished by the Commissioners.

III.-Miscellaneous.

1. It is the earnest wish of Her Majesty's Government, and of the Commissioners, that the Clergy and Laity of the different religious denominations in the country should co-operate with one another in conducting National Schools.

2. When any School is received by the Commissioners into connexion with them, the inscription, "NATIONAL SCHOOL," and no other, shall be put up conspicuously on the School-house; and when a School-house is built partly by aid from them, a stone is to be introduced into the wall having that inscription cut upon it.

3. The Commissioners require that no use shall be made of the School-rooms for any purpose tending to contention, such as the HOLDING OF POLITICAL MEETINGS IN THEM, or bringing into them political petitions or documents of any kind for signature.

4. The Commissioners require that the National School-rooms shall not be converted into places of PUBLIC WORSHIP.

5. The Commissioners require the School-rooms to be used exclusively for the purposes of Education; and any breach of this Rule will be held to be a violation of the principles of the National Education System.

6. The Commissioners require that the principles of the following Lesson, or of a Lesson of a similar import, be strictly inculcated in all Schools admitted into connexion with the Board, and that a copy of the Lesson itself be hung up in each School.

Christians should endeavour, as the Apostle Paul commands them, to "live peaceably with all men" (Rom. ch. xii. v. 17); even with those of a different religious persuasion.

Our Saviour, Christ, commanded his disciples to "love one another." He taught them to love even their enemies, to bless those that cursed them, and to pray for those who persecuted them. He himself prayed for his murderers.

Many men hold erroneous doctrines, but we ought not to hate or persecute them: We ought to seek for the truth, and to hold fast what we are convinced is the truth; but not to treat harshly those who are in error. Jesus Christ did not intend his religion to be forced on men by violent means. He would not allow his disciples to fight for him.

VOL. II.

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