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University of Dublin becomes something else, history will have to be excised from its curriculum. There will be no history then in the University of Dublin. History is such an inconvenient thing—(laughter),—and young men are so curious, and it might bring them into contact with some inconvenient facts, might tell them that there is such a thing as Teutonic Christianity as well as Latin Christianity. (Hear, hear). It might lead them to know that there have been times when the hypnotized patients of superstition have awakened from their slumbers, and turned upon the hypnotiser and thrown him down stairs. (Applause.) These Nonconformists of England and Scotland and Wales, then, are inconsistent in leaving a
LIBERAL UNIVERSITY TO BE DEMOLISHED,
and another of a different character to be substituted in its stead. I will just make another remark. It may not appear to be germane at first, but I think it will be found to be so. The Nonconformists have always had a conscience, which seemed to be peculiarly sensitive upon the question of electoral purity. They are haters of bribes. Should they be accused of being bribed? (Hear, hear.) Reflect for one moment. What is bribery? Bribery is the spirit of simony: it is political simony; it is getting a man to smother conscience for the sake of gain, to keep it conveniently suppressed for days. Mr. Gladstone is so shocked with the conception of bribery that he published a remarkable letter in which, speaking of the means by which the Union had been secured, he spoke not of the blackguardism of Pitt, personally, but of the blackguardism by which the Union was carried. If you look at the question calmly and dispassionately, is there not something in degrees of guilt about bribery arising from the source from which the bribery may happen to come? If I want to get into power, and put my hand into my pocket and give out money I am guilty of bribery. It is a wrong act against a sensitive conscience. Again, I may put my hands, if I am a Minister, into the exchequer of my country. That is a degree worse. It is only at all justified by a statesman thinking that he sees an overwhelming reason for it, and I do not
