The Saturday Advertiser. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1877. AN ELECTORAL PASS-WORD

Saturday Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 124, 24 November 1877, Page 11

The Saturday Advertiser. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1877.

AN ELECTORAL PASS-WORD

“ King out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; King in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws.” . —Tennyson,

“ When civil dudgeon first grew high, And men fell out, they kne w not why; When hard words, -jealousies, and fears, Set folks together by the ears/’ <5 —Hudibbas.

OLITICS are well said to be a series o£ compromises. !N"o party can get its own way in the commonwealth, out and out. Even the temporary predominance of a particular set is gained by the partial sacrifice of their special opinions. There is a marked difference between the conduct of the same men in opposition and in power. In opposition they can push their demands to their logical extremity, but when, by being in power, they represent the whole interests of the country, their theories get a toning down, so as to make them generally acceptable. Probably there is no political subject on which there has been more mutual giving and taking than in the question of the education of the people. Gradually the various sections of the theological world have come to the conviction that each must abandon its claim to any exclusive right to the superintendence of the schools of the country. They feel that it is practically better to allow the State the teach the three R’s, without any denominational creed, than that any sect should obtain a preference, or that the rising generation should be uneducated. Each denomination is prepared to supplement the State teaching by the inculcation of its own dogmas. We never imagine that the Church Catechism, or the Shorter Catechism, or the Wesleyan Compend, are to be heard of no more because the State will have none of them. We believe that good parents will be more anxious than ever to train up their children in the way they should go, and that the office-bearers of the Church, will be toore in earnest in looking after the spiritual welfare of the rising generation., Cne church, the Roman Catholic Church,

stands boldly butf&gamst all qpmprpuiise., TKis .they have & right to do,'and,doubt T less, the certificates of ,t|ieir: teachers.yyill be accepted as a: compliance with the State’s demand; for is compulsory : attend dance. •; But the Roman(Catholics;ask for . more, arid they propose to enter into ! the. ;arena of politics, and black-ball at the ballot-box every candidate who .is not of {their way of thinking, upoii; this . 'one question, A candidate may bea. political renegade ; he may be the betrayer of the interests, of ! the people in the blackest manner; he may be a penniless, unprincipled adventurer, ready to sell his vote at a price ; he may -he it‘ besotted drun[kard, requiring careful shepherding before his presence at an important division can be depended upon; he may be a consummate and worthless hypocrite ; but if he can stand the crucial test of the educational question in a manner satisfactory to the dignitaries of the Catholic Church, he will be the right man in the right place, and command their support. Ve regret that the theological element should be deemed necessary to be forced into politics. Not by such means has .Christianity hitherto prevailed. It was cradled in suffering, nurtured in persecution, and made strong by the blood of martyrs. "When Christianity has leaned upon the civil power, or ventured upon the deba - table ground of social questions, it has become weak, it has invited the antagonism of the world, and it has been injured accordingly. In a free country like this, •there must be tolerance to all. This is only to be secured by our all agreeing to live in peace, and being content with the will of the majority. If any one section introduces new and incongruous elements upon the hustings which they are bound to support by a block vote, they must expect that such a danger to our civil well-being will be met by organization of other sects in opposition. Once a conflict of that kind is stirred, history reminds us that the passions of the combatants carry them further than was at first intended, and lamentable results are left for good men of both sides tc mourn over and deplore. A glance at the social condition of America, England, and France, impresses us that a great political struggle is impending, such as the world has not yet seen. Let each religious denomination work hard in imbuing their adherents with the love of order and of their fellow-men, avoiding political animosity and controversy, and the probability may be that in this happily situated country, peace and prosperity may prevail, because of our common equality and on account of our mutual compromises, while older aud more advanced countries will be wrecked to their very foundations.