Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/257

RELIGION.] and for 1879 it was 3646, the numbers according to the Presby terian form being 2556 and 2214 respectively, in other registered buildings 308 and 338, and according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church 18,567 and 16,578. The Anglican Episcopal Church of Ireland constituted until 1871 an integral portion of one church, known as the Church of England and Ireland, and established by law in the two countries ; but the Irish branch was disestablished and disendowed by an Act which received the royal assent on July 26, 1869. According to this Act, which came into execution on January 1, 1871, all church property became vested in a body of commissioners. All the state grants were to be resumed by the state, provision being made for vested interests, but the church was to receive possession of all endowments obtained from private sources since 1660. To all in cumbents the income they formerly possessed was secured for life, minus the amount they might have paid for curates ; and compen sation was also granted to curates, parish clerks, and sextons, to Maynooth Roman Catholic College in lieu of the continuance of the annual parliamentary grant, and to the Presbyterians in lieu of the continuance of the grant called " Regium Donum." According to the report of the commission appointed to inquire into the revenues of the Established Church, Accounts and Papers, 1867-68, the net annual produce and value of the entire property was found to be 616,840, of which the value of the houses of residence and the lands in possession of the clergy was 32,152. The total sum paid or payable by the commissioners of church temporalities a? compensation in connexion with the operation of the Irish Church Act is estimated at 11,666,518. To meet the demands upon them the commissioners borrowed 9,000,000 from the National Debt Commissioners. The total sum obtainable by sales of church property is 9,794,790, of which 3,362,648 has been received in cash, the balance, except 797,766, which is secured by mortgage, being payable in terminable annuities. In addition to this there is a permanent income consisting of tithe rent-charges and perpetual rents estimated at 293,455. The work of the commissioners has now been practically completed, and according to their report for 1869-80 the estimated value of the estate is now 12,189,728, exclusive of 200,000, the value of uncoinmuted glebes and rmcollected arrears. The annual income at present is 574,219, but by the termination of annuities it will gradually diminish until 1932, when there will still be the per manent income of 293,455. But for additional burdens laid upon the estate its entire debt would at the end of 1880 have been 5,900,000, leaving a surplus of 6,500,000. These burdens are a sum of 1,000,000" for intermediate education, 1,300,000 to form a pension fund for national school teachers, and the interest at 3J per cent, of 1,500,000 advanced on loan for the purposes of the Relief of Distress (Ireland) Acts, 1880, and involving a loss to the estate of 543,345. Before its disestablishment the Church of Ireland consisted of 2 archbishoprics, 10 bishoprics, 30 corporations of deans arid chapters, 12 minor corporations, 32 deaneries, 33 archdeaconries, 1509 incumbencies, with 500 stipendiary curates. A general con vention of the clergy to reorganize the church and to choose a representative body to manage its secular affairs met in February 1870, and the church is now constituted as the Church of Ireland. The amount received from the commissioners for commutation of life interests up to 31st December 1879 was 7,577,477, 6s. 8d., chargeable with annuities amounting to 592,075, 5s. 8d. , and of this sum there remained at the end of 1879 2,783,871, 11s. 8d., chargeable with annuities amounting to 201,824, 8s. 9d., the annuities extinguished by composition and advances amounting to 294,054, 9s. 4d. The sums invested by the church in securities amounted to 6,362,433, 17s. 5d., yielding an income of 281,577, 11s. 8d., in addition to which 109,162, 10s. has been advanced to the clergy on policies of insurance. The balance of the general TABLE LX. Contributions to Stipend Fund, &c., 1876-79. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. Stipend Fund. All Sources. Stipend Fund. All Sources. Stipend Fund. All Sources. Stipend Fund. All Sources. 124,424 212,095 118,478 197,739 115,558 159,403 108,272 165,007 sustentation fund amounted to 194,125, 12s. Sd., yielding au interest of 7753, 7s. 9d., the unappropriated balance of which was 963, 7s. 9d. The sum expended on the purchase of glebes has been 499,589, 16s. 10d., of which 214,900, 10s. 8d. has been subscribed ; and the net amount received from the sale of glebes was 45,588, 10s. 3d. The contributions to the stipend fund, and the total contributions from all sources from 1876 to 1879, are shown in Table LX. For fuller financial details the reader is referred to the annual report of the representative body and to the Irish Church Directory. The Roman Catholic Church is governed by 4 archbishops nnd 27 bishops, the number of parish priests being nearly 1000, and of administrative curates about 1750. The ecclesiastical parishes amount to 1084, and the churches and chapels number nearly 2500. The Maynooth Roman Catholic College, which was founded in 1795, originally received an anmial vote from Government of 8000, but latterly a grant from the consolidated fund of 26,360, which was commuted by the payment of 372,331. The Presbyterian Church, which has its principal adherents in Ulster, was originally formed in 1642, and in 1840 a union took place of two divisions of the church which had formerly separated. Previous to the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterians received for the support of their ministers an annual sum, first granted in 1672, of about 40,000, known as "Regium Donum," which was commuted by the Church Disestablishment Act. The church embraces 36 presbyteries and nearly 600 congrega tions, the number of families connected with the church in 1880 beinq; 79,214, and of communicants 104,769. The total sum at the disposal of the church in 1880 was 139,840, the sum paid to ministers being 44,922. Candidates for the ministry are trained at Magee College, Londonderry, and at the Presbyterian College, Belfast. The Methodist Church of Ireland was formed in 1878 by the union of the "Wesleyan Methodists with the Primitive Wesley an Methodists. The number of ministers connected with the Con ference in June 1880 was 240, of whom 40 were supernumeraries. The number of principal stations under the charge of ministers was 135, embracing 373 chapels. The number of attendants on public worship was stated to be 60,541, and the membership 24,463. The home mission fund, with an augmentation from the English Confer ence, amounted to 13,241, and the sum raised for foreign missions to 5533. There is a Methodist college at Belfast for the training of students who have been accepted as candidates for the ministry. The number of persons connected with the other denominations of Ireland is inconsiderable, amounting in 1881 to only 8 per cent. Education. Table LXI. shows the proportion per cent, of per sons in Ireland who could read and write, who could read only, and who could neither read nor write at the various census periods. The mimber of persons in 1871 who could speak Irish only was 103,562, the number in 1841 being 319,602, and the number who could speak both Irish and English was 714,313 in 1871 and 1,204,684 in 1841. According to the census of 1871 the number of schools for primary instruction was 9495 with 615,785 pupils, of superior schools 574 with 21,225 pupils, of universities and colleges 13 with 2945 students. The oldest university is that of Dublin, established in 1591 by a charter of Queen Elizabeth. The course of study includes mathematics, classics, modern languages, English, logic, ethics, astronomy, experimental science, and natural science. The Catholic University, founded in 1854, has in operation faculties of medicine, philosophy and letters, and science. Queen s University, established in 1850, with colleges at Belfast, Cork, and Gal way, has faculties of law, arts, medicine, and engineering. Queen s University will be shortly superseded by the Royal University, for which a charter was granted in 1880. A royal college of science was established in 1867, with departments of mining, agriculture, engineering, and manufactures. The higher education of women is represented by Alexandra College, Dublin, founded in 1866, the Governess Association, the Ladies Institution of Belfast, and the Queen s Institute for the instruction of women. A list of colleges and intermediate schools will be found in the Intermediate, Educa tion Year Book and Directory. By the provisions of the Inter mediate Education (Ireland) Act, 1878, a sum of 1,000, 000 of the Irish Church surplus was set apart for the encouragement of inter mediate education in Ireland, the money being expended partly in TABLE LXI. Classification of Population according to Education Percentages for 1841, 1851, 1861, and 1871. Could Read and Write. Could Read only. Could neither Read nor Write. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. 1841. 1851. 1861. 1871. Leinster 34 26 30 16 28 39 31 35 21 33 49 40 42 28 41 57 49 50 36 49 22 13 30 12 19 22 14 30 13 20 20 14 28 15 20 16 12 23 15 17 44 61 40 72 53 39 55 35 66 47 31 46 30 57 39 27 39 27 49 33 Munster ... Ulster Connaught Ireland XIII. 3 1