Jand, they unite the most abject fervility; notwithftanding the repulfes they meet with, and the uniform contempt they are treated with, their paffion for petty authority is fo predominant, that they exercife the most

MAYNOOTH COLLEGE.

Obfervations on the Statutes for the Regulation of Maynooth College.

STR,

Had Doctor Efmond the fame un feeling apathy for the condition of his fuffering countrymen, fo evident in the English hiftorian and the men he panegyrizes, he would not have placed his feelings in competition with his loyalty; he would have array ed himself with Swayne, and enjoyed the fashionable amufements over the focial bowl, where the zeft of pleafure would receive additional luftre from the comparative ingenuity of the company on the art of tormenting; on the contrary, fo indignant was the Doctor at the series of cruelties inflicted on the wretched peasants, that he allowed his paffion to overcome his difcretion, and actually precipitated himself in the vortex, that deftroyed his murdering antagonist and fubfe quently himself. So alarmed were the people at the fhocking enormities committed by Swayne, and fo apprehenfive of individually becoming fubject to his amusements, that an appeal to arms appeared the only refource they had left for fafety or revenge. Mr. Efmond joined the exasperated infurgents, not as leader, but as an individual, for the conduct of the attack was entrusted to four young men, Bryan Rourke, Andrew Farrell, Thomas Wilde, and John Mahon, whofe intrepidity had fuch an effect on their followers, that the bar racks, containing eighty foldiers, was in a few minutes taken by ftorm, and Swayne and his men were confumed to ashes.

It is a common obfervation, that power and the neceffary execution of it, especially when vefted in men of fenfe and information, have fo clofe a connexion with each other, that the one cannot poffibly exist without the neceffary attendance of the other. The contrary, however, has been lately evinced, in the conduct of the. I ruftees of Maynooth, who, though poffeffed of every defirable prerogative of authority, have nevertheless feemed to act under the baneful conduct of influence and condefcenfion. When firft they arrived at the College, it was univerfally believed that regulations would be made, capable of redreffing the grievances of the ftudents, and of allaying the exifting difturbances of the houfe: but, when the contrary has taken place; when we fee the anjuft dictates of severity put in force, and ftatutes directed folely against the students, without a fingle effort to prune the exuberant conduct of fuperiors; when we see abfurdities and contradictions pervading throughout-judge what mufl be our indignation and astonishment ! After a deliberation of fifteen days, what has been the confequence? Laws, denying accefs to the library, prohibiting the perufal of Newspapers, &c. &c. with fuch other Refolutions as are only capable of exciting disgust in the mind of the generous and independent ftudent. There are fome, however, of too much importance to be paffed over unnoticed; and the reader, I am perfuaded, will easily forgive me, if I yield to the tempta

tion

lators, how we can put thofe laws in execution? Will the ftudents be willing to undertake the difagreeable task? No generous or independent ftudent will do it. Shall we request the profeffors to leave their darling chambers, and keep the nocturnal watch on the corridores? It would be a dangerous infult. To whom, then, fhall we refort? Why, doubtlefs, to the Dublin Watchmen, who probably preferring an academical to the civil ftate, may be ambitious enough to fhake their rattles in our corridores, or bring to the tribunal the daring delinquent, if any fuch can be found,

Refolved-"That the introduction of Newspapers, and other periodical publications, amongst the College Audents, has alienated them from the neceflary attention to their ftudies and other duties; and that the Prefident be, and is hereby required to prevent it."

I know not in what manner they conceive the minds of the fludents to be alienated from that attention to their ftudies, for which they are fo remarkable. Is it becaufe fome individuals had the audacity to expofe to the public, fome of the many abufes committed here? which our legiflators feem to defire fhould continue to exift unnoticed. It would be a pity, indeed, to conceal such merit.

Refolved" That any ftudent convicted of reading Newspapers, Ma gazines, or fimilar periodic al publications, in the Prayer, Study, or Lecture halls, fhall be expelled."

and totally neglect it in another. But why may not the perusal of Newf. papers, &c. be attended with expul fion as well on the walk, corridores, or chambers, as in the Prayer Hall. (a place where they are never read,) Study or Lecture Halls? Or why fhould the reading of fuch productions, in thofe places, be punished with expulfion; while the perufal of other books, of a ftill more pernicious tendency, be totally exempt from fuch punishment? I can see no reafon but fuch as are vifibly ridiculous, abfurd, and contradictory.

Refolve"That any student con victed of writing, or figning, or circulating defamatory addreffes or remon ftrances, against the Prefident, or any of the fuperiors, profeffors, or his fellow-ftudent or ftudents, or foliciting fignatures thereto, fhall be expelled."

Here is an unjust prohibition against any ftudent who may have occafion to appeal, against the conduct of a fuperior, to the Board or visitors of the College. Let the conduct of the mafer be ever fo unjustifiable, let him ftorm with all the rage of defying fuperiority, no appeal, no address to higher authority can be ever made by the injured ftudent. This is a crying injustice.

Refolved "That the rooms of the ftudents be acceffible at all hours, to the Prefident, Vice Prefident, and Dean, and to each of them; and that locks and keys be fo conflructed as to difable the ftudents from locking or otherwife faltening their room doors on the infide of them; and that a model of a lock and key for this purpofe be prefented to the Truftees at their next Board Meeting."

This law, throughout the whole, is, I must acknowledge, totally deftitute

of fenfe or meaning; I have never known, nor is there a fingle precedent to fubftantiate, that the Prefident, Vice President, or Dean, had ever, through the ftudents fault, found any one room inacceffible. Where then is the use of condemning a cuftom which is univerfally known to have never exifted?" And that a lock and key be provided at the next Board Meeting," and this becaufe, I fuppofe they fufpect the integrity of our honeft and worthy procurator.

Refolved "That any ftudent oppoling the entry of the refident, Vice Prefident, or Dean, fhall be expel

led,"

:

Apropos, this is probably one of the molt fenfible laws in the whole code; it will, I must confefs, deliver the College from many unneceffary expences, to which it might be other wife liable for fuch is the mild temper of the Dean, that when any oppofition is ever made, a broken door will inevitably be the confequence; we (hall therefore, with every mark of fatisfaction, take our leave of this article, and so proceed to the next.

Refolved" That no ftudent be henceforth appointed Steward in the Procurator's department, and that he be appointed in the manner prefcribed by the ftatutes."?

I would here afk, whether this Refolution was entered into from a conviction of the propriety of making a change in this refpect, or at the inftigation of our Procurator, who, were it left to him, would doubtlefs prefer fome cringing hypocrite. But, how ever, let the ftatutes, the whole ftatutes, and nothing but the ftatutes be put in force.

this ill-concerted code, unnaturally
affuming the complexion of vigilance,
though at the fame time the axe is not
laid to the root. I have only touched,
Sir, upon the principal pofitions, for
I should have wearied out your pa-
tience, to fay nothing of my readers',
or my own, had I enlarged upon
every fingle particular; a more mi-
nute examination would, moreover,
have had the appearance of a cap-
tious difpofition, and be productive of
a certain acrimony of fentiment or
expreffion, which may be serviceable
in fupplying the place of argument,
or adding a zeft to a dull compofition,
but has nothing to do with theinvefti
gation of truth. Let then the matter
be inveftigated properly; and fuch
meafures be taken as may either form
an immediate part of the queftion, or
bear at leaft fome collateral relation
to it. Let not thefe exotic ftatutes
be unnaturally deprived of the necef-
fary revifion; nor let them be pro-
mulgated by any Chairman whatfo-
ever, until they have received a con-
ftitutional ratification.

I am, Sir,
Yours, &c.
MONITOR.

Maynooth College, Dec. 28, 1809. J

To the Editor of the Irish Magazine.

SIR,

milled

mified in the choice of a fubject; they have touched upon facts evidently weak and inconfiderable, if put in the ratio with others of a much more important and momentous nature. The late investigation of the Truttees, and the Refolutions immediately fubfequent to it, are fubjects too confider. able to be paffed over with the eye of indifference; Refolutions fo pernicious, fo abfurd and ridiculous, in a word, fo diffatisfactory to all, that the general outcry away with them, let them be exploded from amongst us." The infignificance, therefore, of thefe determinations, I fhall briefly point out at prefent; the investigation I fhall confequently referve for fome future occafion. Before I come to the point in queftion, I feel it indifpenfably neceflary to lay down a few prepa ratory obfervations, which being neither nugatory in themfelves, or irrelavent to the prefent fubject, may fuffice to remove the remnants of prejudice from the breafts of thofe who may be ftill willing to fondle their ordinary erroneous fentiments. That an actual change, both with refpect to the administration and the exifting fuperiors of the house, might be happily effected was evidently the defire of every member of this community, and this was the fole and primary object of our late memorable investigation. In this trial, charges, undeniable charges, were brought forward by the ftudents;

fome of them were answered in the unfatisfactory language of manifeft abfurdity, numbers were never touched upon at all, and the entire body of thefe folutions refted folely on the teftimony of the criminal himfelf. What an unprecedented mode of proceeding! When was it ever known that the teftimony of the accufed was at any time held forth as the sure object of credibility? or when did there exift a cuftom, unjustly prohibiting one party from interrogating the de

pofited evidence of the other? These uncommon abuses, however, have been permitted to take place in our equitable investigation. Yes, - what a numerous and formidable body of charges were collected and brought forward! How evafive, how unfatis→ factory, the folutions even of the culprit himself? Was not the plan of taking notes on the depofited evidence unwarrantably frustrated? In short, did they not put it to the vote, and was not the majority against him?

hefe are grievances too rankling to be pafied over with contemptuoustoleration; grievances only capable of exciting general diffatisfaction, or of nourishing the living ulcer of corroding memory.

With the conviction of the neceffity of these remarks, I fhall, Sir, now proceed to inveftigate whether the Refolutions of the Board have been in any refpe& conformable to the regular order of things. The futility of thefe Refolutions will equally appear, whether we examine the injuftice of them as confidered intrinfically in themselves, or view more closely the evident impropriety of their application. The former defectability I fhall not enlarge on at prefent, the latter, I fhall take into confideration. That thefe determinations fhould be directed folely against the ftudents, is, in my mind, fo enigmatical a pofition, that really I cannot confcientiously accede to its validity, without admitting at the fame time an unprecedented piece of injuftice. It has been, at all times, an uninterrupted practice, and the order of things will even demand, that the remedy be unexcep tionably applied to every individual member of the difordered frame. In ill harmonized flates, the enacted laws will extend their application to every difaffected fubject under the realm; but with us the contrary has been unnaturally evinced: we have

feen