ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 443, 28 September 1877, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To THE KIUTOR OF THE KVENINII MAljj Sn:,— I was not aware when 1 hint dressed you that your correspondent was usually uu 'btriisive ami deservedly osteon Father Coleman. Had 1 known, Iwn not have been guilty of tin; scant court of employing hi., baptismal patronyin c rat than the more euphonious and appropri one to which his (-acred calling m> fully titles him. This latter consideration, trust, will snflice to redeem this controvo from the least taint of vulg u'if.y. It is tm and truth alone, 1 wi-h to elueidat , an will not condescend to bandy vulgar ji verbs —/ c . "Fools," Ac. ■-- with yi reverend correspondent. Father ('olefin too, would appear to be an "old hand' asking questions. Hut doe-t lie display n aptitude for rqilyinu to them : In a fori: letter he Mas puzzled by a very ordini syllogism. In this one he appears to lin forgotten that questions in the lonn in wlii I put them are a very ordinary form asseveration. We need not invent n modes of speech nor new forms of express! for such a very ordinary eorresponilen and 1 shall not pay an educated gentlciii like Father Coleman the poor compliment confining myself to words of one syllable of supposing- that he lnu forgotten such i niontary distinctions. 1 would most glad reply to Father < 'oleman's questions ncriali but they are wide of the one question issue—viz., Arc Spain and Poring d in act dition of "debasement, rottenness, it superstiti' ii ?"' I readily grant that Spa can boast of numerous univcisilicN (aoeoi ingiol'r. Miimti.li, then! are 1.0) ; tliiitth arc, some of them at hast, very ancien that they have many students ; but 1 It we would part company when we came consider the subjects taught, in them. T education of Spain and Portugal nevertheless in a deplorable condition, recent writer, writing of the latter coiinti' says "education is in a very haekwu state; the people are generally ig|iq£iui bigoted, and superstitions." 1 com' j vaj ply extracts nd iiijinilinii. Father <....»**», knows this quite well. Then, why force tl enquiry upon us': I will not follow the ro gentleman further in his reply to me, but will venture a-.iin upon the wider ground,! prudential reasons, vaulted by Mr. Fuller, ciicuuistanc.e I vci'y much regret, and endei votir to deal with a former letter of Fatlu! Coleman's. Idoso in the interests of trut alone, although my contribution to the eon troversy may be as a drop is to the ocean, c an atom to a world.

In tile loft' r in i|iii.sii'Di, 1 fail to observ til.-it bather Coleman i)iii;t! grapple-t with til question. Is it not this viz., the debaw incut, rottenness, .'iinl superstition of Sj)iii i.nil I'oittigal '! Not only, however, dou K.ither Coleman not disprove it; hi: duo not even deny it. Ho shirks tin- qiiestio in a labyrinth of wo;ds. In this ago an country it does indeed seem supei litmus t :v-k for proof that Spain and I'oitugal nro ftl three. Not ii. Its tt. hut vo'uniiM might I) written on such a prolific subject. J.ct lliit open any liook ot history or travel in anj (inlilie library, and the laiicholy proofs o such a slate of things are altogether over whelming. Unhappy countries crushed be math a load of " superstition, rottenneHH, and debasement"! Alone, amidst the nation! I of Juirope, they remained for centuries ( jietrilied mass, with noelcinentof hopefuliiOHß no pro.-pect of improvement. To attempt to prove all this appears lome as si>pern"uoui as to prove tliat Croat Britain, or America, or these Colonies ai'e free. Jt in because J do not desire to wound the feelings of my fellow Catholics that 1 forbear prosecuting such an enquiry ; and it is all the morn unnecessary that such a slate of things is not even denied. Jf requisite, however, tho proofs sh.ill be forthcoming. Father Coleman complains, however, that such language is insulting to Catholics ; but is he justified in doing so? He is inorever disappointed that Mr. I''idler neither retractH nor apologi-e.-. "A man of good tiste and kindly feelings would have acted otherwise, lie diliVrs from me : the public uill judge." •lust so. A /iriori. Mr. (''idler, Jam sure, tranquilly anticipates the verdict of such a tribunal." Had he been in Spain or Portugal, he might—nay, certainly-- would have boon answc able to another kind of tribunal, and. your eyes, or yur tongue, or even your head, my poor I'idler, would have been in danger!

""l lie religion of Spain and Portugal \H our religion," says Father Coleman ; " their religious feelings are shared in by us, and if there he rottenness and super-titiou in their religion . . . ihcy are shared in hy the Catholics throughout tho world." To thin Mr. Fidler said lie did not t'"iin speak of religion. Had he told Father Coleman that his well was poisoned or that tares grew in his field, the logical inference would not surely be that 1,- ather Coleman poisoned his well or sowed the tares. The present write* having no fear of departmental rebuke, call all'ord to be le.'-s guarded. 1( there bo olio fact more transparent than another in those countries it is tho blighting influence of tho Catholic faith. It hangs upon them like a dismal curse. Hence their debasement, rottenness, ami supers! itiun. An abject submission to the throne too often Idled by relentless and cruel tyrants, and a priesthood, grasping, intolerant, and cruel, huvo been for centuries the distinguishing features of that unhappy nation. Public opinion there is none. Progress there is none. 1 il.erty there is none. The people seem smitten as with a plague. In the century Spain wan far in advance of England ; her independence was secured, tho Moors her traditional enemies were vanquished ; her agriculture moic (louriidiiug, her commerce more extended, her armies more victorious, her fleets more powerful,

culminating in her invincible Armaria, 'which was to have invade! England ;>nd exterminate the heretics <>f that country, as they had already ?o ruthlessly exterminated the Moors of her own. Compare them now. The Angel Liberty had troubled : ier waters. During the Austrian dynasties she had great kings, great captain sl , greit authors, great statesmen : shr- was Queen "i the ocean, greatest among nations. Why, then, should her bigotry during succeeding c.r.lurie;, •when civilisation in other European countries was putting on her beautiful garments, be one of retrogression, till in the JSfch century among the nations of the world there was

None so poor as do her reverence ? Had Nature stinted her resources ? —No. Her fields, are they less fruitful ?—No. Her mineral resources, w r hat of them ?—Munificently endowed with all the elements of a great nation, she is nevertheless in commerce and manufacture, in art, and literature, a bye-word among the nations—a huge blot upon European progress. Her people are ignorant, their intellect dulled by long ages of horrid superstition ; a gros3 ecclesiastical tyranny has outlived the ages of barbarism. Her political institutions are rottenness itself, and worse symptoms of all, her people '"love to have it so." Alas !as of old, " my people do not know ; my people do not consider." Credulity and ignorance, and misery and -wrong ; How long is it to last ? Great God, how long?

[ln consequence of the length of "Paterfamilias" letter -we are compelled to hold over the remaining portion till to-morrow.]