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 35i IRELAND been under the superintendence of commission- ers, who were incorporated in 1835 under the name of the commissioners of national educa- tion in Ireland. Their report shows that on Dec. 81, 1872, there were 7,059 schools in operation, with 1,010,148 children on the rolls. There were 184 new schools, and 48 struck off, showing a net increase of 136. The commis- sioners had made grants for the erection of 98 additional schools to accommodate 13,045 chil- dren. The pupils were divided in reference to religious denominations as follows: Roman Catholic, 804,222; Presbyterian, 112,465; Episcopalian, 80,893. There were 125,347 Episcopalian pupils mixed with 27,312 Roman Catholics under exclusively Protestant teach- ers; 18,957 Protestant pupils mixed with 11,- 270 Roman Catholics under joint teachers of both creeds; and 26,172 Protestant children with 362,313 Roman Catholics under exclu- sively Roman Catholic teachers. These statis- tics are independent of the schools conducted by the Christian Brothers, which are numerous and largely attended ; the teachers are experi- enced and well educated, and have the confi- dence of the people. The national schools are open during the entire year, five hours daily. The books used are the same in every school throughout the country, and the instruc- tion embraces reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, geometry, trigonometry, algebra, bookkeeping, chemistry, hydrostatics, acoustics, electricity, mechanism, music, and drawing; and the girls in addition are taught plain and fancy sewing and knitting. The na- tional system receives but small assistance from government ; the entire amount paid out of the treasury in 1872 for teachers, tutors, and work mistresses was $322,000. The principal es- tablishments for the promotion of literature, science, and art are situated in Dublin, among which are the royal Irish academy, the royal Hibernian academy of art, and the royal Dub- lin society ; literary and mechanics' societies are scattered all over the country. The great in- dustrial exhibition of 1853, called into existence by the exertions of William Dargan, produced increased interest in institutions calculated to diffuse a knowledge of useful sciences among the people. The foundation for a national gal- lery of art was laid in Dublin in 1859. Medi- cine, the various branches of natural history, archreology, and other departments of science as well as of the fine arts, are represented by numerous societies in Dublin, Belfast, and other towns. Charitable institutions abound in Ire- land. Infirmaries for counties and cities, sup- ported by assessment and governed by corpora- tions, afford annual relief to about 60,000 suf- ferers. Public hospitals for counties, districts, and poor-law unions are distributed over the country, besides various private establishments. The number of insane in 1871 was 18,327. There are houses for the relief of the poor in 163 unions of Ireland. The poor-law system is conducted with a view of assisting those who cannot support themselves by their personal la- bor, but at the same time of discountenancing in able-bodied persons all dependence on elee- mosynary relief. The poor rate is levied under the assessment of poundage rate on the net an- nual value of various kinds of ratable property. In 1871 the valuation of the assessable property was 13,239,394, and the average poundage Is. The total amount expended on the relief of the indigent in that year was 685,668, chiefly for indoor maintenance. Out of 282,492 persons assisted during the year, 56,416 received out- door relief. The number of offenders tried at assizes and quarter sessions has materially de- creased since 1849. The total number of per- sons committed or held to bail in 1872 was 4,476 (including 814 females), of whom 2,565 were convicted. From 1865 to 1871 there were 21 persons sentenced to death, and 13 were executed. The number of county pris- ons is 33, of city or town prisons 5, and of bridewells 106. A law for the promotion and regulation of reformatory schools for juvenile offenders was passed in 1858. The govern- ment is administered by a lord lieutenant (in 1874, the duke of Abercorn), who is assisted by a privy council appointed by the crown, and by a chief secretary for Ireland, a cabinet minister (in 1874, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach). In the absence of the lord lieutenant, he is re- placed by lords justices, usually the primate or archbishop of Dublin, the lord chancellor, and the commander of the forces. Each county is in charge of a lieutenant, generally a peer of the realm, assisted by deputy lieutenants and magistrates who officiate gratuitously, and one or more resident paid magistrates, all appoint- ed by the crown during pleasure. The cities, towns, and boroughs are governed by local magistrates. Justice is administered by the lord chancellor, the master of the rolls, four judges in each of the courts of the queen's bench, common pleas, and exchequer, an as- sistant barrister for each county, a bankrupt court with two judges, and the judges of the prerogative court and of the admiralty. As- sizes for criminal and civil pleas are held by two of the judges in each county in spring and summer of every year. The execution of the laws is intrusted to the constabulary in the counties and the police in Dublin. The total of the constabulary amounted, Sept. 30, 1871, to 12,274. The revenue police, organized for the suppression of illicit distillation, comprises about 400 officers and men. The Irish militia is composed of 12 regiments of artillery and 35 of infantry, numbering when embodied 31,972 men. Ireland is represented in the British parliament by 28 representative peers elected for life, and 105 commoners. Of the latter, 64 represent the counties, 2 the university, 12 the cities and towns of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, and Galway, and 27 the boroughs. The number of county electors in 1871 was 175,149 ; of city and borough elec- tors, 48,358. No separate return of the reve-