THE CATHOLIC PETITION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VI, Issue 272, 19 July 1878, Page 14

THE CATHOLIC PETITION.

This petition was numerously signed at St. Joseph's, Dunedin, on last Sunday. We hope that the Catholics throughout, not only the Province of Otago and Southland, but the entire colony, will sign this or a similar petition before the meeting of Parliament. Let this be the answer of Catholics to that Memorandum of Mr. Hislop re cadetships in the public service.

Catholics complain that the present system of Education inflicts on them grievous injustice. They deny the right of the Government to interfere with the education of their children ; they state that they have established and are maintaining many excellent Catholic schools. They declare they labour under a sense of being the victims of a persecution, simply because they refuse to permit the faith and morals of their children to be ruined — and they pray for justice and fair play.

This is a serious state of things. Catholics are a numerous and united body, capable of making great sacrifices for their principles ; and any one who knows the history of Catholics must be convinced that it is vain to hope either to intimidate or to cajole them when the interests of the faith and morals of their children are in danger. Any Government which attempts either must be demented. No doubt, superior force may carry the day for a season, but at what serious loss to the public prosperity, with what danger to the peace and well-being of the State. And can injustice hope to succeed for ever ? May not the majority of to-day become the minority to-morrow ? And what then ? The past will be overturned, a new order of things inaugurated, and whilst new adjustments are being effected, progress must be arrested. A wise legislator would endeavour not to force his own nostrums on an unwilling people, but to inaugurate such measures as give satisfaction to all sections of the people, and promise permanence and stability. Is it not a species of madness, which, in this day, impels men having charge of the well-being of the commonwealth, to insist on forcing a godless education on the rising generation ? This is the species of education patronised by Communists and Socialists, and which has made them what they are and what they have proved themselves in Europe and America. Communism and Socialism in France burned the most magnificent city in Europe, murdered crowds of innocent and meritorious citizens of all classes ; in Germany, shot down a popular sovereign — an old man, a great warrior, and an able statesman ; in the United States of America, destroyed hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of property in a wanton raid on the rights of others, and by its present attitude has compelled the most democratic legislature in the world to authorise the President to call out 75,000 men — as many as President Buchanan was authorised to enrol at the beginning of the war of secession.

Such are consequences against which Catholics are taking precautions, and which they are labouring to prevent. And because they thus show themselves the best friends of the State, the State takes elaborate pains to punish them, trample on them, and subject them to pains and penalties. This is deplorable, and certainly afiords little hope for the stability of law and order in this country. Still we must not lose all hope. Notwithstanding the maddened forces arrayed against us, it is our duty to proceed along the path of rectitude, to persevere in proclaiming the principles of truth and justice, and to fight the battle of Christian education to the last. But whilst we ventilate our grievances in every legitimate way, demand jus-

tice in every mode sanctioned by the constitution, petition Parliament, and act the part of determined men at elections, we must continue to leave nothing undone, no matter how great the sacrifices we may have to make, to provide a sufficient number of Catholic schools for our own children.