duced verbatim the provisions of Wyse's bill. No acknowledgment of indebtedness to Wyse was made by the government, and Stanley reaped fame which was Wyse's due.
Wyse retired from Tipperary after the passing of the Reform Bill, and was defeated in his candidature for the city of Waterford. He advocated in the abstract a subordinate parliament for Ireland, but would not pledge himself to follow O'Connell's dictation in details. In 1835 he stood again for Waterford city on the understanding that he would give no pledge on the repeal question, nor accept the benefit of O'Connell's influence. He was triumphantly returned at the head of the poll, and from that period he continued to represent the city, despite many contests, until 1847. Regarding Stanley's educational policy as inadequate, Wyse in 1835 brought in a bill for national education in Ireland, more complete than his previous one. While vesting the directing power in the national board of Dublin, the co-operation of the people was insured by local committees in conformity with those self-governing principles which he always strongly advocated in the administration of Ireland. On the second reading he obtained a committee of inquiry, of which he was appointed chairman. It sat for two sessions, and finally he drew up an elaborate report, which, among other matters, pointed out how the royal, diocesan, and other foundation schools in Ireland and the endowments could be with justice utilised under the new system; it also recommended intermediate education by the establishment of provincial colleges and a second university in Ireland. In 1837 he published an exhaustive work on ‘Education Reform,’ helped to found the Central Society of Education, and wrote several papers in its publications. He attended numerous meetings on the subject in Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, and other places. On one occasion he was the guest of Cobden, who afterwards wrote to him that he had produced a sort of ‘moral intoxication’ on the people regarding education. He was present at a meeting at Cork which petitioned the queen to establish a provincial college in that town on the lines laid down in his report.
In the session of 1839 Wyse was about to introduce a bill for education in the United Kingdom (the basis of the system that has since been adopted), when Lord John Russell introduced resolutions to the like effect, which, though falling short in many points of Wyse's proposals, literally adopted the scheme he had been urging. The two main principles he had been fighting for were conceded—namely, state control and school inspection, the education of the country being now placed under the management of a committee of the privy council. There was a keen contest over the clauses regarding religious instruction. From first to last Wyse was strongly opposed to education without religion, but advocated that religious instruction should be imparted separately by the pastors of the various denominations. He also laid special stress on the necessity of training teachers; and mainly at his suggestion Mr. Kay, the new government official, established on Wyse's principles a training college at Battersea [see Kay-Shuttleworth, Sir James Phillips]. In 1836 a bill for municipal reform in Ireland was rejected on Lord Lyndhurst's motion by the House of Lords. Wyse made an eloquent protest in parliament. The liverymen of London, anxious to mark their resentment of the conduct of the House of Lords towards Ireland, invited Wyse to allow himself to be nominated for the office of sheriff for the city. Owing to his father's recent death, he reluctantly declined the nomination. The corporations of Waterford and Cork sent addresses of thanks to the liverymen of London.
The leaders of the liberal party recognised Wyse's abilities and influence, and he was admitted to office. From 1839 to 1841 he was a lord of the treasury in Lord Melbourne's administration. He was a member of the fine arts committee appointed to consider the advisability of decorating the new houses of parliament and subsequently sat on the royal commission to carry this object into effect under the presidency of the prince consort.
In Irish politics Wyse showed great activity during the conservative administration of Sir Robert Peel (1841–5). He seconded Sir Richard Musgrave's bill for county boards, was a vigorous opponent of the arms bill, seconded Smith O'Brien's motion for redress of Irish grievances in 1843 during the repeal agitation (which was lost after an animated debate), and drew up with O'Brien a manifesto to the people of England embodying Irish grievances. Although Wyse had advocated since 1832 a federal parliament, he declined to join the Repeal Association under O'Connell. In 1844 he made an eloquent speech on the state trials in Ireland, demanding O'Connell's liberation; and in the same year he advocated at Cork the establishment of provincial colleges. Next year a bill for this purpose was passed by the government, when Sir Robert Peel complimented Wyse as ‘the consistent promoter of education in all its gradations.’
