MAN'S INGRATITUDE TO MAN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 151, 24 March 1876, Page 14

MAN'S INGRATITUDE TO MAN.

++— — — SlB, — It is refreshing to meet with a Protestant such as the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, one of the foremost statesmen in America. What a contrast between such a Protestant and the editors of more than one of the Dunedin and Auckland newspapers. The hon. American senator has publicly rebuked the injustice, ingratitude, and inconsistency of Mr. Gladstone in a manner at once dignified and severe. After Koman Catholics have fought so often side by side with their Protestant fellow-soldiers in so many a bloody field in support of the Government of England, Mr. Gladstone turns round and tells us that by our principles we are dangerous subjects. That we are aliens in our own country and owe civil allegiance to a foreign pow<?r. Ho does this by quoting, in a garbled form, certain Catholic documents, and placing on them an interpretation which they were never meant to bear. If, as Mr. Johnson has well put it, Mr. Gladstone really believes what he says, it would surely be his duty to move for a reenactment of those penal laws, which were so long the reproach of England. The very same ungrateful spirit which Mr. Gladstone in his pamphlets exhibits towards us, the Protestant press and a large portion of the Protestant people in this colony too obviously cherish — it would appear in Dunedin more particularly. They repay with ingratitude the devotion we have shewn to the British Government and to them. Even in this very colony many a well contested battle-field has been, to use Mr. Johnson's forcible language, literally " mired " with Catholic blood and Protestant blood together shed in defence of the queen and the country. Yet, when we Catholics approach the legislature to ask aid to our schools iv the only way we can consistently accept it, our modest request is treated, with something very like contempt or disdain. This is the gratitude shewn by a Protestant Government and a Protestant people to us in return for our devotion and fidelity to their interests. They seem to glory in the opportunity they have to injure and insult us. The press — shame upon it ! the press — the so-called liberal press of New Zealand, always so loud in its professions of impartiality, love of fair-play, and respect for the rights of conscience turns ngainst us, and applauds those \»h> treat us bo ungratefully. But the reign of prejudice and injustice cannot last for ever. There are many Protestants in this colony, I would again hope and believe, and even in Auckland and Dunedin who share the Hon. Reverdy Johnson's sentiments towards us, and are willing to do us justice. Even in defiance of a besotted and illiberal press ; and I will add, in spite of the hostile influence of some inconsistent Catholics themselves.

Ingratitude is one of the blackest and most odious vices which can deform the character of man, and no one likes to bo reproached with It ; yet the Koman Catholics in this colony cannot but feel that they are being treated with ingratitude, cruel ingratitude, by the Government and their Protestant fellow subjects, when wo see large sums of public money being expended for educational purposes in snch a manner that we cann< t, without a sacrifice of principle, fairly share in them. You may tell us that we are few in number, poor in purse, possess but little political power, or influence in the state, and that no public clanger can ensue from any injuries or insults you may heap upon us. Therefore, you do not think it worth your while to mind our petitions or redress our wrongs, even though we have shed our blood profusely in your defence, and are ready to do it again, whenever occasion may arise for doing so. Is this, then, the gratitude, is this the justice, is this the generosity, is this the magnanimity of the Protestant Government and Protestant people of New Zealand ? If so, let it be published abroad, far and near, that all the world may know it. But men who have little sense of gratitude have generally little sense of shame, and you may be indifferent how widely known your ungrateful conduct to us may be. I will never believe, however, that the bulk of my Protestant fellow-citizens arc either ungrateful or shameless. As

regards their treatment of us, however, a few of their number may be so. I would rather bolieve that our educational claims have never been properly put before them and adequately supported ; that they wrong us uuconsciously and unintentionally. So much for the past. Let us look to the future. What prospect is there that the General Assembly, when it meets, will do us justice ? But a poor prospect I fear. Yet nil desperandum must be our motto, never say die or sur« render. Unhappily we have no Daniel O'Connell in the House to plead for us There is one Catholic Demosthenes in the House indeed, but the mantle of Garibaldi rather than of O'Connell seems to have fal'en on his shoulders, and C itholic people have little to hope for from his advocacy in anything affecting their educational interests. Sir George Grey is a professed admirer of the political creed and conduct of the great Irish Liberator, and spoke eloquently in his praise at t^e late celebration of his Centenary in Wellington. That might inspire us with some hope if Sir George be consistent. It would little accord with the principles which O'Connell taught, and which it may be presumed Sir George Grey endorses, that Catholic people or any people should be coerced to support schools to which, on conscientious grounds, they cannot send their children. Yet this unjust principle, strange to say, more than one of our Catholic legislators are prepared to support. Had O'Connell been in the body and his voice could have reached them, he would, I believe, have given them a bit of his mind, in a way that would have made their ears tingle, and perhaps brought a blush of shame to their cheeks. J. Wood.