Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/854

* IRELAND. 758 IRELAND. ary schools other tlian icrtiiin fjriints in aid which are distributed without regard to the auspices under which they are conducted, accord- ing to the 'payment in result' system. There are one national and four denominational training- schools- for teachers, all of which are aided by the Government. The students in these schools receive a part of their training in "model schools,' ' of which there were thirty in 1899. About !)4 per cent, of the annual expenditure for schools is borne by the 8tate. Tlie system of apportioning the State grant to elcmenlary in- struction according to the results of an examina- tion given the pupils was only recently aban- doned. The grant is now based upon average attendance, with the teacher's salary additional, the salary being fixed according to the one of the three grades in which he teaches, though it may be raised within any given grade for 'continued good service.' The principal higher institution of instruction is the University of Trinity College. Dublin, which had an enrollment in 1!)00 of 1100 stu- dents. The Catholic population have refused to patronize this institution, and have sought in vain to secure State maintenance for a Catholic university. The University College in Saint Stephen's Green, Dublin, is under the directiim of the .Jesuits. There is a Xational University which only exercises, in the main, examining functions, and a large number of Catholics re- ceive degrees from this institution. Of the three Queen's colleges, at Belfast, Cork, and Galway, respectively, only the first is of true university rank. The Presbyterians maintain the McGee College at Ixindonderry. There are also a num- ber of technical and theological institutions. Alexandra College is for the education of women, and members of that sex arc admitted also to the (Queen's colleges. Charities. The poor-law system is similar to that described under title Great Britain for England and Wales. The adult able-bodied in- door paupers in 1901 numbered 4947, and all other iniloor paupers numbered 3G.9.'i4. The out- door j)aupers for the same year numbered 57,575, and the number of inmates of asylums was 145'2. Much was done during the last decade of the nineteenth century to improve the conditions of the districts which had long sutTered from poverty. A law of 1821 declared that when the population of an electoral division exceeded a certain ratio to the ratable value of its prop- erty it should be known as a congested districts county. These districts are wholly in Western Ireland — principally in Connauglit and in the counties of Donegal and Kerry. A Congested Districts Board w^as established and means was made accessible for this board's use in the better- ment of conditions in these districts. The sy-s- tern of cultivation practiced in them was found to be most deplorable, and it was generally neces- sary for the occupants of the holdings to have a secondary source of income, as, for instance, harvest migrations to Scotland and England, as already mentioned. Agricultural inspectors were employed by the board, and much has been done toward improving the soil and the methods of cultivation. Sometimes families are removed to more favorable localities, and not infrequently a number of small holdings are amalgamated into one sufficiently large to maintain a family. The board has done much also to aid in the develop- ment of the coast fisheries. Hlstorv. According to native legends Ireland was inhabited first by various tril>es, of which the most important were Xemedians, Kirbolgs, and Danaan, who were eventually subdued by Milesians or Scots, Although Ireland is men- tioned luuler the name of Icrne in a Greek jjocm live centuries before Christ, ami by the names of llibirnin and .lunrim in various Ho- man writers, little is known with certainty if its inhabitants before the fourth century after Christ, when, under the a])pellation of Scali, they became formidable by their descents upon the Roman Province of Britain. These expedi- tions were continued, and extended to the coasts of (iaul, till the time of l.ocgaire MacXeill (c.4:J0), in whose reign Saint Patrick (((.v.) at- tempted the conversion of the natives. .-Mthough Christianity had been previously introduced in sonu' parts of- Ireland. Patrick encoiuitercd great obstacles, and the new faith was not fully estali- lished in the island till about a century after his death. From the earliest period each province of Ire- land ap])ears to have had its own king, subject to the ard-ri or monarch, to whom the central district, called Meath, was allotted, and who usually resided at Tara. Each clan was gov- erned by a chief selected from its most impor- tant family. The laws were <lis|)enscd by pro- fessional jurists styled hrchuns, who received gieat consideration, and were endowed with lands and important privileges. In the sixth century extensive monasteries Avcre founded in Ireland, in which religion and learning were zealously cultivated. From these establishments numerous missionaries went forth during the succeeding centuries, while many stu- dents of distinction from England and the Conti- nent visited Ireland and received instruction at this period. The progress of Irish civilization was checked by the incursions of the Scandi- navians, commencing toward the close of the eighth century, and continued for upward of two hundred years. Establishing themselves in towns on the eastern coast of lrelan<l, with the assistance of friendly native tribes, they con- tinued to make expeditions into the interior until their signal overthrow- al the battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, in 1014, by Brian, sur- named Koroimhe. The first step toward an. glo-Norman eon- quest of Ireland was made by Henry II., who is said to have obtained in 1155 a bull from Pope Hadrian IV. authorizing him to take possession of the island, on condititm of paying to the Papal treasury a stipulated amiual reve- nue. Political circumstances prevented Henry from entering upon the un<lertaking until 11(17, when Deriuod .Nlaemurrougli, the (iei)Osed King of Leinster, .sought refuge at his Court and obtained permission to enlist the services of English subjects for the recovery of his king- dom. Derniod, returning to Ireland in 1109, with the aid of his foreign mercenaries and still more numerous Irish allies, succeeded in recover- ing part of his former territories and in cap- turing Dublin and other towns on the eastern coast, .fter his death, in 1171, the succession to the Kingdom of leinster was claimed by his son-in-law, Richard Fitz Gislebert. Earl of Pem- broke, sumamed 'Strongbow.' In the following