THE TIDE TURNING: OUR PROTESTANT ALLIES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 51, 18 April 1874, Page 9

THE TIDE TURNING: OUR PROTESTANT ALLIES.

Attcxlaxd. I*OT only Catholics, but all men who object to force the conscience of their neighbor or to banish God and religion from public schools, may rejoice at Mr Reeves' recent success. No cause for despair. A eandidare has just come forward for a seat in the House of Representatives ns member feu- an important district in tho province of Auckland. He boldly and mimfully avows his determination, like your Mr Reeves, and our Superintendent, Mr Williamson, to defeud the rights of conscience, and to set his face against the exclusion of religion from public schools. He will not ignore Catholic schools. He sees and admits thnt Catholics cannot in conscience send their children to mixed o.- "ocular schools ; or any schools, in fact, except those under their ouu HiMiop. He therefore thinks it U'just to force them to pay for the bv:-)p u-t of secular schools. Here is another proof that the tide is tUi-iujijr in favor of justice and denominational schools. Mr Trpup, tilt- candidate referred to, is a young gentleman of education arra m.-an-., and of great public spirit. Though a Protestant, he shews himself to be more just to Catholics than some Catholics themselves B re If he fail to get a scat for Franklin, it is to be hoped he may sum od elsewhere — one day he must. Mr Troup in more pjt to

represent the Catholio portion of the people tlvan Mr John Sheehan, the present member for Rodney is, if we judge by their publicly expressed views on the education question. But in doing justheto Catholics, Mr Troup would do justice at the same time to Anglicans and other denominations. He ia another instance of what is so often seen — that some of the best defenders of Catholio rights are independent and honorable Protestant gentlemen, whose sense of justice rises superior to all narrow sectarian prejudice or jealousy, and who will not stoop to fawn or seek for power at the expense of honor conscience. I know of a case in which the collector declined to Catholics to pay the Bchool rate because they were, as certified by the District School Board, supporting a school of their own. When would the Otago people have done anything so liberal ? Are their schools not practically Presbyterian, while nominally purely secular. Honesty and sincerity before everything ! It does not appear that the Catholics in the district of Franklin are taking means to ensure Mr Troup's return so far as their power goes, but possibly they may be doing bo in a quiet way, and of course by " moral and legal means." It is when Catholics employ moral and legal means of political action that they are so formidable and give so much uneasiness to their enemies. It would seem that such men as the editor of the * Ljtteltorj Times' think Catholics act a criminal, and presumptuous, and " : nsolent " part in combining to accomplish their ends by any means whatever, even by such as are legal and moral — especially in this colony, and eves when these ends tend to benefit others as well as themselves. To resist an unjust aid unequal law, or to procure its abolition by Parliament in a moral and legal manner, if attempted by Catholics, is, according to the 'Lyttelton Times, the Auckland 1 Cross,' and ' Australasian,' a *' criminal conspiracy " against " tha laws and institutions of the country." Thia is too much, considering that the Protestant press is never weary of declaiming about liberty and the benefits of a constitutional form of Government. They now begin to discover that liberty and a constitutional form of Government are two-edged weapons which may cut not only against, but in favor of Catholics and their legitimate power. The Catholic Church is in fact, and ever has been, the best friend of civil, as well as religious liberty when its adherents are faithful to her principles — which they have not always been. Trace the history of the British Constitution, and you will find this to be the case. - That Constitution was framed originally by Catholic, and not by Protestant hands. It has been altered many times and often, in many of its parts ; but in essentials it remains as at first— Catholic still. It has been used for the best and abused for the worst of purposes ; but it is when British and Irish Catholics are pure and powerful, as in our time, that we see this glorious Constitution being effectually used for the defence of the just rights of all classes — the high and the low, tho Catholic and the Protestant together. The British Constitution is at once the most democratic of institutions and the most favorable to royal power and the. supremacy of high rank. In this it resembles the Catholic Church, on the model of which it is framed. Evan the chief of tho C itholic Church ia " elected," and so far is not a despot, but a popular favorite.