THE NATIONAL BOARD OF EDUCATION.

EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS IN TRAINING, NATIONAL MODEL SCHOOLS, MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

[JUNE 18TH, 1860.]

WHEN

HEN the examination of the teachers in training had concluded, the EARL OF CARLISLE said:

GENTLEMEN,

I wish in a very few words to express my satisfaction at the examinations which have just been concluded. We have been carried through a very varied range of acquirements, denoting great attention, intelligence, and animation, on the part both of the teachers and the taught. I am very glad, too, to receive excellent reports upon the still more important points of your good conduct, and your friendly and brotherly feelings towards one another. There is a still further gratification to be derived from an occasion like this-that the knowledge, the accomplishments, the aptitude, and the ability which you have brought under our notice will not be confined to your single bosoms, or your individual careers, but will be communicated to circles of more or less extent around you; and, as time rolls on, will, in the more fortunate instances, spread the fruits of your teaching and your example over the district, the county, and the kingdom. These are great opportunities-they are high prerogatives of the functions you will be called upon to exercise may you be fully alive to them. Allow me to wish you, one and all, individually and collectively, every possible success and credit in your several spheres of action; and may you all have the satisfaction of feeling, when your careers are closed, that you leave the portion of society in which you have had to act, better than you found it.

D

NATIONAL MODEL SCHOOLS, MARLBOROUGH-ST.

EXAMINATION OF THE TEACHERS IN TRAINING.

[JUNE 16TH, 1862.]

HEN the examination had concluded, the EARL OF CARLISLE said:

WHEN

I cannot allow these proceedings to end without very briefly expressing the pleasure which I have felt in witnessing your examination here to-day. I have been very much struck with the extent and variety of the branches of knowledge in which the examination has been conducted, and with the readiness and accuracy which have been exhibited on the part of the respective students. I am still more gratified to hear the very striking testimony to your behaviour and conduct, which has been borne by Professor Butler, with respect to all the classes which have attended this session. You are now, I believe, about to separate, and proceed to your several destinations; and I am sure that all who have been concerned in the work of your training— the able and zealous professors, the members of the Board, my valued and beloved friend, the Resident Commissioner, Mr. MacDonnell-and, if you will allow me to be included in the number, I shall say myself— shall accompany you all with the sincerest good wishes, that whatever may be the functions or duties to which you are about to devote yourselves, they will be fulfilled with credit and comfort to yourselves, and with advantage and usefulness to others. You may probably be aware, at all events you may become aware, that the system of mixed training, in which you have borne a part, is not viewed in all quarters with equal favour. Now, I have neither the right nor the inclination to quarrel with any conscientious opinions. It is open to any people to object to the system of mixed education and training; it is open to them to object to any education at all. I happen to differ with them; but I trust I have not passed through three scores of years without learning what appears to me to be the most essential, but what human experience

shows to be the most difficult of all lessons,-that of full toleration for the sincere convictions of our fellow-men. As, however, out of the large number of years to which I have referred, a full dozen of them has been spent in immediate official connexion with Ireland, I feel that I speak with the authority of some experience concerning the National System of Education, in which I have ever felt so strong an interest. Let any one, then, attach what weight he will to any theoretical objections to the system of mixed education; but, with respect to the practical operations, I have two broad facts, which, I believe, I am correct in statingthat, in all the training establishments under the National Board there has not been a single instance in which any pupil or student has relinquished the religious faith in which he was brought up; and next, that there has not been any known or appreciable instance of any quarrel or disagreement among the young men themselves on account of their religious opinions. Now, I cannot but consider this as a valuable testimony to the actual operation of the system; and allow me to add, that it is a result the advantages of which ought not to be least appreciated in Ireland. I will only say that it seems to me to be as near an approach, as the necessary imperfections of human projects and performances will admit, to the fulfilment of that great Christian commandment of loving one another, which is to be a law for us on earth, and a habit for us in heaven.

BELFAST NATIONAL MODEL SCHOOLS.

THE ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS.

[DECEMBER 17TH, 1862.]

WHEN the examination had concluded, the EARL OF CARLISLE

said:

MY LORDS, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN,

It has been a great satisfaction to me to have been able to devote a short portion of the only time I am, unfortunately, able to spend in Belfast, to the examination of the Belfast National Model School. The

numerous other avocations which I unfortunately have, precluded me from lingering longer among you than I would otherwise have wished, so that I have not been able to go over the whole cycle of instruction. However, I have heard both the boys and girls examined on matters both various and sufficiently difficult to test the system under which they have been brought up, and it seems to me that the answers were delivered with great precision and accuracy. I am not surprised at the excellence of the musical classes, when I find that they are still presided over by Mr. Washington. I have been very happy to renew the pleasing impressions which I derived from the former visit which I paid to this institution; and I am most glad to find that it is in such a flourishing condition, both with respect to the aggregate number who attend, and also to the proportion of the respective Churches. It is not at all necessary for me at this time of day to make use of any expression to show my adhesion to the National System of Education in Ireland. The fidelity of now thirty years is a sufficient voucher for me; and the first introduction and working of that system, and the continuous experience I have had of it, have only renewed my adhesion to its broad and fundamental principles. The very few words which the other engagements. of the day admit of my making use of on this occasion are directed to the young pupils and students, and are quite independent of the principles of any system of education, or any maxims of State policy. They lie outside of them, and they rise above them; for I would desire to convey to you, my young friends who are assembled here, and to those to whom my words may perhaps be afterwards repeated, that it rests with one and each of you all to bear your own part in life, to discharge your own duties, to bear your own burdens, and to mould your own characters, and, so far as may be, to a great extent, shape your future course in life, and, in humble dependence on the Divine blessing, you may secure your own immortality of happiness and glory. I do not wish to appear to assume too solemn a tone, lest I should be thought to be encroaching on the province of the right rev. lords and rev. and eminent divines whom I am so happy to see here on this occasion; therefore, I will conclude by asking the authorities of this establishment to be so good, in commemoration of the welcome I have received within these walls, and the good report I have received of the general efficiency and conduct of the pupils, as to make an increase of three days to the present vacation.

NATIONAL MODEL SCHOOLS, MARLBOROUGH

STREET.

THE EXAMINATION OF THE MALE AND FEMALE TEACHERS IN TRAINING.

THE

[DECEMBER 21ST, 1863.]

THE Earl of Carlisle was received by the Right Hon. Alexander MacDonnell, Mr. Gibson, Q. C.; and the Secretaries, Mr. James Kelly, and Mr. M'Creedy. There were also in attendance Dr. Sullivan, and Messrs. P. J. Keenan and W. H. Newell.

When the examination had concluded, the EARL OF CARLISLE said:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I regret that I was not here at a still earlier period of to-day's examination; but I know, both from what I have heard of it, and from former experience, and from what I well know of the attainments of the distinguished Professors of this Institution, that the examination, which is now brought to a close, has been both searching and satisfactory. Most of those whom I now see before me have nearly finished their useful and diligent labours upon this spot, and are about to apply the lessons, and to exhibit the fruits of what they have acquired here, in their respective localities. My friends, I have to wish you all the utmost credit and success in that noble work of tuition for which you have been set apart; for I believe there is no calling and no class of persons in the community who will have the opportunity of exercising a more powerful influence, both for evil and for good, and who can go so far, collectively, in moulding the hearts and the character of the coming generation. Great is your responsibility, and great be the reward you may all receive, both from the visible effects of your teaching, and still more from the inward testimony of your own private consciences. You may have learned here other lessons beside and beyond those connected with the actual abstract knowledge of which you have made yourselves masters-you may have learned, you will have learned, if the genius of the place has made itself rightly felt within you, how