on into their
qualifications, by a competent board of examiners; but Sir Robert
Peel opposed the amendment, as premature, and likely to operate to the
discouragement of the students.. Several other amendments were proposed
in committee, but they were all rejected; and on the third reading Mr.
Bernai Osborne introduced a collateral discussion upon the revenues
and management of Trinity College, Dublin, by proposing the following
resolution:--"That an humble address be presented to her majesty,
praying that she will be graciously pleased to direct an inquiry to be
made into the amount of the revenue of Trinity College, Dublin, from
rents of college-lands, endowments, and bequests, fees on matriculation,
on taking degrees, and from every other source; also into the manner in
which that income is expended; the number of senior and junior fellows,
of professors, scholars, and all other officers of the college, with
the amount of salary and allowances to each of them, with a view to
ascertain whether the income or funds at present applied solely to
the benefit of Protestants in Trinity College, Dublin, might not be
beneficially extended so as to make Roman Catholics and Protestant
dissenters eligible if otherwise qualified, to all scholarships, and
to all such fellowships, professorships, and other offices in Trinity
College, Dublin, as are not intended for ecclesiastical purposes
immediately connected with ecclesiastical endowment." Mr. Osborne,
in support of this resolution, contended that Trinity College was
not founded with Protestant money, but with the property of the Roman
Catholic Earl of Desmond, confiscated by Elizabeth in 1592; and that
it was not until forty years afterwards, in the time of Strafford,
that Roman Catholics were mentioned, and rendered ineligible for the
professorships. The motion was opposed by Sirs Thomas Freemantle and
R. Inglis, the latter of whom denied that the college was founded with
Roman Catholic money. It was erected on the site of the old monastery
of All-Hallows, which having become vested in the mayor and citizens
of Dublin, by grant from Henry the Eighth, was by them given for the
establishment of this college. The funds for its erection and endowment
were raised by a contribution among the gentry of Ireland, for
which purpose a circular letter was sent to them by the Lord-deputy
Fitzwilliam, the archbishop, and the lords of the council in 1791:
the original foundation of the college m