A VITAL QUESTION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 26, 17 October 1884, Page 29

A VITAL QUESTION.

(From the Melbourne Adtucate.)

An article which we copy this week from the Thames Advertiser [already quoted by the Table r] is worthy of the serious a r tention of Australian Catholics. In New Zjalan I the battle on the Education Question hasbe-Jii fought with more determination an I pn^everance tuan in any other cilony. Tuo policy laid down on high authority at the beginning of the contest has been pursued with nnfUgging spirit up to tne present moment. Our co-religionists in the great southern dependency mot with reverses and heavy discouragement. In several instances they have been deceived and betrayed by public men in whim ttiey put their trust ; there have been shameful desertions from their own ranks, and the secular Press has at times wrathfully misrepresents 1 and abased them. Bat by none of these things have the New Zealand Catholics been discouraged or disconcerted. They have calmly kept on the even tenor of their way, adhering strictly to the policy to which they had pledged themselves. They have had a long fi, r ht, in which they never lowered a flag or retreated ; but they have their reward in the admission mad) by the Thames Advertiser. The policy pursued in New Zealand consists briefly in this—thafcfriends are uuanimously supported and enemies punished. Thi Education Qaestioo. is set above every other in importance, and for the aioption of that principle there is a justification in their conviction that the b^st interest* of the Colony depend less on the settlement of mere political questions than on the ch»ra?ter of its people in a Christian sense. This is a broad view of the case that can be sustained on the very highest authority, and hence the objection that it is immoral on the pirt of a section of the community to subordinate the general to their particular interests g>es for nothing. The argument is vicious and w >rthless, for the premises are false. Catholics, in seeking justice for themselves, aim at a change that would be beneficial to the whole coranauuity, an-1 it i 3 therefore, in their view of the case, of af «■ higher importance that that change should be effected thaa that any purely political measure whatsoever should be settled in a particular way. If the disruption or defeat oE political parties result from their action, tnat is no fault of theirs, and they cannot help it without being untrue to their own convictions and much more indifferent to their own interests than any other denomination would be uuder similar circumstances. Indeed if any Protestant sect were treated with like injustice, its members would act with very much les3 forbaarance than Catholic 3 have done, aud would be far from exhibiting that respect for constituted authority that has been a distinguisn-ing characteristic of the Catholic agitation oa the E lucation Question. As ie seems to us, Australian Catholics have much to learn from the well-sustained and well-defined action of their New Zealand brethren. They have advanced, and we have made no hevlway whatever. Their position is better than it was, ours worse, for the Protestant denominations are makinng encroachments on the system in their interest that would not have been possible at an earlier period. The Protestant Press is, for the most pirt, converted from naked secularism to creedless Christianity as the fitting thing for the State schools, and Catholics are as far as, or perhap3 farther than ever from obtaining any redress of thoir grievance. This is the result of elevea years' mild expostulation on their part, for no ascouut need be taken of a brief spasmodic effort that was made here in Victoria to carr/ on the agitation with more vigour. It was attended with small losse3 that concerned individuals and for that, and no better reason, it was discontinued, though never before nor ever tinea did Catholics succeed in making any decided impression on piblic opinion or on the rauks of their opponents. Th it sense of justice in a British community oa which in some credulous quarters their denomination was counselled to rely has done uothing whatever for them. It is as insensible to their claims to-day as it was ten years ago, and if the policy of mild expostulation is to be continued, we may wait till Doomsday for a redress of our grievance. Civil or rsligious liberty has never yet been won by that meekness which neither gives nor takes offence. Catholic Emancipation was not thus gained, and, relatively to the times we live in. the grievances under which Catholics in Australasia suffer are as great aa outrage upon justice as the penal laws were. The article we have copiel is likely to suggest several questions to thoughtful Catholics, and their reflections canuot but remit in the conviction thai on the Education Question the position of our body is not improved in any one of the Australian colonies. And are we to submit patiently for ever to the injustice we have been enduring for so runny years? If n>t, what coursj should we take for ojr relief ? As a consequence of our short-lived earnestness in defence we sustained some lossjs ; but what battle is fought out of which either side cotnts without losses? Men fall in every great atruegle for right or liberty, bat that is no reason why the cause for which they fought should be abandoned. On the Education Question what advantage is it to Catholics that there are a few of them left in Parliament ? What injury would it be to them that not ons remained there ? It would be much more to their advantage, as a body to eirnestly pursue a well-defined and decisive defensive policy, as is done in New Zsaland, than to have a larger representation in Parliament than they have been ever allowed. They have nothing to gain from timidity and indecision, and nothing to lose from sincerity and earnestness Their best policy is to be true to their principles and just to tiemselves, and when they confine themselves co supporting their schools with scarce a murmur they only perform half th«-ir duty.