and libraries and the general expenses of the Colleges, was at present more than adequate to meet their wants in those respects, it was proposed that the balance should be applied to increasing the salaries of such of the Professors as were now insufficiently remunerated, and that when the reduction was carried out, this Vote should be diminished from £1,600 to about £1,000 for each College.

Class?"

"Oh, please your honour, sir," said the porter, "he's sick." Like Dean Swift's congregation, he was sick-so the Professor returned to Dublin, and being a gentleman who would not hold a Professorship for the honour of it, he resigned his chair and its emoluments, in opposition to what the Premier had said. He hoped, then, that the Government would no longer attempt to keep up a staff of teachers that were not wanted, and also that they would weigh well the remarks of the hon. Member for Pontefract (Mr. Childers), and endeavour to conciliate the people. If they did, they would find that the difficulty in the way of mutual concession would not proceed from the people of Ireland.

SIR ROBERT PEEL said, the Government intended to recommend a reduction of three professorships in each College, making a total reduction of nine. He might mention that it was originally proposed that there should be only twelve Professors, though the number was afterwards increased to twenty. The origi

have, with fees, about £280 a year each; whereas, in consequence of the increase in the number, the salaries averaged only about £170-an amount which was wholly inadequate to the duties to be performed. It was true that some of the classes had not succeeded as it was hoped they would, and it was probable that the professorships which had been more particularly referred to-in particular the Professorship of the Celtic Language-would not be continued.

MAJOR O'REILLY said, he must call the attention of the Committee to the want of explicitness in the answers given to questions which had been asked. He wished to know what the Government intended to do with respect to professorships in the cases in which the Professors had little or nothing to do. At Belfast there was a Professor of Agriculture, who taught a class in practical agriculture consisting of one student, and a class in the diseases of farm animals which also consisted of one, and, as he was credibly informed, of the same student. The Professor also stated he made excursions with the students or student. He hoped that this was not one of the Pro-nal proposition also was that they should fessors who were thought to be underpaid. In Cork the number of students attending a similar course was three only, of whom one was matriculated; the other two probably belonged to that class who put down their names to swell the list. In Galway there were six students attending the same class, but whether matriculated or not he could not tell. Then with regard to the Professorships of the Celtic Languages, in Belfast the chair was vacant at present, and he hoped long might continue so. In Cork there was no class, and not any prospect of one. In Galway, during five years, there were in some years two, in others three pupils, and during six years, at different intervals, no pupils at all. There was another branch of instruction nominally established, which strongly illustrated the fact that those institutions were supplying a description of teaching that was not want ed. In each College there were two Professors of Law. In Cork there were four students for two Professors, and in Galway there were in some way or other seven. Mr. Denis Caulfield Heron had been appointed Professor of Jurisprudence in Galway; he had a large practice in Dublin, and he had only to go down occasionally to teach his class. Having gone down one time he went to the porter and inquired, "Where is the Jurisprudence

MR. HENNESSY said, that the Professors of Greek, Latin, English Literature, and others had salaries of £250 a year; those of Chemistry, Modern Languages, Natural History, and Geology, £200, while others had only £100. [Sir ROBERT PEEL said he had given the average.] Those gentlemen were to receive fees as well as salaries, but they received scarcely any fees, because the students had not come. In a great many of the chairs the fees amounted to only £5, £10, or £15 a year, instead of £200, as they were expected to be at first. The Government would do well, then, to augment the salaries of the Professors, but that ought not to be done by suppressing certain chairs. The far better course would be to take the advice of the hon. Member for Pontefract (Mr. Childers), and they would then draw students to the classrooms and augment the fees. He was of

opinion that those who were the real friends of the Queen's Colleges were not to be found upon the Treasury Bench. MR. AYRTON said, the result of it all was that £360,000 had been spent in teaching 300 persons as much as they learnt in an ordinary University education. That was the result of this attempt to undermine the Roman Catholic religion -an attempt which had produced constant irritation in Ireland, and the sooner it was abandoned the better.

(9.) £99,012, British Museum.

Mr. WALPOLE then rose to move a Vote of £99,012 for the British Museum. The right hon. Gentleman said the alterations in the amount this year were few and not very important. The total amount of the Vote was £99,012 against £100,414, showing a reduction of £1,402 upon that of last year. There was an additional charge of £2,200 for the increased expenses attendant upon throwing open the reading-room to the inspection of foreigners and country visitors during the holding of the International Exhibition, and another £1,000 for additional attend

Vote agreed to; as was also (6.) £500, Royal Irish Academy. (7.) £2,750, National Gallery, Ireland. MR. A. SMITH asked for an explana-provide out of the surplus arising from the That sum the Trustees proposed to

tion of this Vote.

MR. PEEL said, it was not intended to initiate a series of Votes for the purpose of establishing a National Gallery in Ireland. An understanding had been come to between the Government and the Trustees, to carry out which this Vote was proposed. The Vote was asked for on exceptional grounds, and would be for this year only.

Vote agreed to.

(8.) £2,500, Theological Professors at Belfast.

MR. BAXTER said, he had serious objections to the principle of paying Theological Professors of Dissenting congregations out of the public purse. Seeing that all the great Dissenting congregations of this country and of Scotland paid their own Professors, he saw no reason why this House should continue year after year to pay for the Dissenting congrega

tions of the north of Ireland.

MR. DAWSON said, the principle of

this Vote had been often discussed, and accepted by the House. The money was productive of a great deal of good, and he hoped the hon. Gentleman would not divide the Committee.

MR. FRANK CROSSLEY did not believe that it was any benefit to these Professors to be paid out of the State funds.

Motion made, and Question put,

"That a sum, not exceeding £2,500, be granted to Her Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1863, for the Salaries of the Theological Professors and the Incidental Expenses of the General Assembly's College at Belfast, and Retired Allowances to Professors of the Belfast Academical Institution." The Committee divided: -Ayes 75; Noes 21: Majority 54.

Vote agreed to.

Votes of the preceding year. The increase upon several items for the present year arose from the greater attendance in the reading-room, and from the necessity of appointing one or two additional officers in the manuscript department. Upon some other items there was a decrease, and he hoped the Committee would give the Trustees credit for a desire to observe economy under another head of expenditure-the building charge. The Vote for building had only come under the control of the Trustees within the last three years. and whereas the Vote was at that time

£22,000 odd, it was reduced in the next year to £19,000 and some hundreds. It he hoped that there would be a further was now £2,249 less than last year, and reduction in future years. There were only two points in addition which he need the reading room, gentlemen were admitrefer to. Under the former regulations of ted from the age of eighteen and upwards.

The rooms would only accommodate 330 or 340 persons; but the daily average number of those who attended was beyond that amount. The consequence was, that persons who were employed in severe and more difficult studies were excluded from the accommodation to which they were entitled, by the younger students who could not properly be called readers. The Trustees, therefore, had felt it to be their duty to limit the admission of readers to persons of twenty-one years and upwards, instead of eighteen as at present. Those persons who now possessed the privilege of admission would continue to enjoy it, but no further admissions would be granted to younger students, except in special cases. He would only further observe, that as those Gentlemen who had always taken the greatest interest in the

Museum Estimates the hon. Members they could to persons who wished to visit for Galway (Mr. Gregory) and Pontefract the institution. He had heard with re(Mr. M. Milnes), and the noble Lord the Member for Chichester (Lord H. Lennox), were all now absent, he proposed, with the concurrence of the Government, to take the Vote now, but that the report should be taken later than the first day of the reassembling of Parliament after the recess, when those hon. Gentlemen might be able to attend, and to make any observations they wished.

MR. WALPOLE said, it had been the constant effort of the Trustees to increase as much as possible the facilities of the public in visiting the Museum. The Museum was now open till eight p.m. He did not exactly recollect the facts relative to the publication of the book about Halicarnassus. It was a very expensive MR. AYRTON said, that the Trustees work, and the Trustees took a certain would not, perhaps, feel themselves justi- number of copies in order to assist its fied in opening the Museum on Sundays, publication; a certain number could thereseeing the difference of opinion which fore be purchased at a reduced rate, and existed on the subject; but they ought copies were also given to various instituto give in the week all the opportunities tions. He would make further inquiries

on the subject, and inform the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Tite) on the report. With respect to the zoological collection, no fewer than 25,000 specimens in natural history had been added to the collection during the year ending 1860; and if these had not been added, the collection would have been incomplete. When the gorilla was making a great stir in the world, the Trustees purchased stuffed specimens as well as the skeleton. With respect to the larger question, whether public exhibitions should be opened on Sunday, no body of Trustees would be justified in deciding such a point when Parliament declined to do so.

MR. LOCKE asked what had been the result of the Saturday opening.

MR. WALPOLE said, he could not answer the question. The Museum had been opened on Saturday evenings. If kept open later, the general opinion of scientific men was that oil or candles would not give sufficient light, and that gas would injure the specimens.

MR. AYRTON hoped the Trustees would inquire what would be the expense of lighting the Museum with gas outside, so as not to injure the specimens.

SIR JOHN TRELAWNY suggested that it should remain open till ten o'clock on Saturdays.

MR. WALPOLE observed, that according to the reports of Mr. Braidwood and a very able chemist, great dangers would arise from the use of gas; in fact, scientific people were agreed that the collection would be spoiled altogether.

MR. FREELAND hoped the right hon. Gentleman would, on the report, inform the House what precise sum had been granted by the Trustees for the purpose of aiding the publication on the Antiquities of Halicarnassus, and whether the work had thereby been rendered accessible to the public at a more reasonable price.

MR. WALPOLE said, he would do so, and asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Report would be taken.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER said, the Report would be taken on Monday week. He hoped the Trustees would submit to the Government an estimate of the expense necessary to open the Museum in the evening lighted with gas. If the gas were placed outside, no injury could result from its use.

Vote agreed to.

(11.) £1,000, British Historical Portrait Gallery.

SIR GEORGE BOWYER asked what was the nature and object of the institution.

SIR GEORGE LEWIS replied, that the Gallery was intended for the collection and exhibition of the portraits of persons eminent in British history.

SIR GEORGE BOWYER suggested that the Estimate should include the names of the persons whose portraits were exhibited in the Gallery.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHE-
LOR
QUER said, the effect would be to intro-
duce a catalogue into the Estimate.

MR. CAVENDISH BENTINCK objected to the Gallery, because it was a separate establishment, with divided responsibility, and different rules of management. In 1857 the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bucks, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, declared that if the Trustees were allowed a lustrum, they would be able to show an exhibition of portraits which would prove that they had not betrayed their trust. In 1859 the present Secretary for War, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated that when the National Gallery was enlarged, it would be in the power of the Government to set apart rooms for the pictures now in the Portrait Gallery. Again, in 1860, when the opinion was expressed that there was no reason why the pictures in the Portrait Gallery should not be looked after by the officers of the National Gallery, the Chancellor of the Exchequer admitted that there was something anomalous in having a separate establishment, adding that he thought its dissociation from the National Gallery should be regarded as provisional. The enlargement of the National Gallery contemplated by the Secretary for War had now been effected; the lustrum alluded to by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bucks had been accomplished by the fluxion of time, and on the present occasion he hoped the Government would say what they intended to do with the Portrait Gallery. There could be no doubt that the existence of a separate establishment was detrimental to the object in view. At present the Portrait Gallery was a small National Gallery without any of the advantages of the large one. It had no staff; it was open only eight or ten hours a week; the public could not go to it,

(10.) £11,953, National Gallery, was and they could not see the pictures if they

also agreed to.

did go. The Trustees were always crying

out for more money, and they evidently | Why should not the administration be looked forward to a period when the added to that of the National Gallery? annual charge would be far more than As to the pictures, they might be sent to £1,000, the amount of the present Voto. the South Kensington Museum instead of Under these circumstances, he hoped the Turner Gallery. His hon. Friend the the Government would seriously consider Member for Truro (Mr. A. Smith) had whether a separate establishment should suggested that space might be found for be continued. The National Gallery was these portraits in the Palace of Westnot absolute perfection; but the Trustees minster; and if they were not sent to and their advisers had been taught to act Brompton, he trusted that suggestion with caution, and their purchases were would receive attention. not now so reckless as they used to be. LORD HENRY LENNOX said, that in Such was not the case with the Trustees the last report of the Trustees of the Porof the Portrait Gallery. They had all their trait Gallery there was but one note of experience to learn, as was proved by a complaint-of want of space. The Truslist of pictures, with the prices attached to tees recounted, with justifiable pride, that them, which was laid on the table last Her Majesty had presented them with a Session. Before that time it was exceed-portrait, now doubly dear, of the late ingly difficult to ascertain from the Trustees what they had paid for their pictures; no account was submitted to Parliament; and the consequence was some of the most reckless purchases ever made by any body of men. Let him give the Committee a sample. In 1859, there was a sale in Eaton Square. At that sale Mr. Graves bought three pictures a portrait of James I., as a boy, £20; a portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark, £30; and a portrait of the first Marquess of Winchester, who was Treasurer to Henry VIII., £17. Would the Committee believe that in a few months afterwards Mr. Graves sold these three pictures to the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery for an aggregate sum of £680? Nor was that all. One of the pictures changed its name, and the portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark became the portrait of Mary Sidney, Countess of Pembroke, by an unknown painter, costing the country £315. Why the Trustees should have paid so large a sum for a portrait of the Countess of Pembroke he could not understand. He had ascertained from the Biographical Dictionary that the Countess was most remarkable for having written certain books which nobody ever read or would ever want to read. A portrait of Mary Queen of Scots had cost the country £420, but the best judges believed that there was no authentic portrait of this Sovereign in existence. The National THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEGallery was administered upon an open QUER said, that the question of the prosystem, and every one knew what the pic- per accommodation of national collections tures cost. But the Portrait Gallery was was one not very easy of solution in that a mystery, and no one knew how the House, as experience had amply proved; money was to be applied. He did not for sometimes, when the Government made move the reduction of the Vote, but he a proposal on this subject, they were met trusted the Government would announce by a sudden desire for economy. He would, its intention in regard to this Gallery. however, admit that the present position

illustrious Prince Consort. For this, however, there was no adequate room; and the same was said of other pictures. There was a sort of Kensington-phobia on the benches opposite; but there were three or four rooms at the South Kensington Museum which had been used for the Vernon Gallery, and which were now empty. Instead of being seen by 10,000 persons in one year, these portraits would be seen at Kensington by 400,000. The Chancellor of the Exchequer was, he believed, quite aware of the anomalous position of this institution, established in a corner in Great George Street, and only open for a few hours twice a week. His hon. Friend (Mr. C. Bentinck) demanded that these pictures should be bought with good taste, and a fair price given for them. But among a body so constituted, whose taste would his hon. Friend accept-that of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bucks, or the noble Lord the Member for Stamford? This gallery was another illustration of the truth that the national collections of a country, if they were worth anything, were worthy of being properly cared for. He trusted the Government would consider whether the object which they had all in view would not be carried out by the temporary removal of these portraits to South Kensington.