THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1901. A POLITICAL CRUSADE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIX, Issue 52, 26 December 1901, Page 16

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1901. A POLITICAL CRUSADE.

wtHtw 0 political economists wha»; is known as the t£L 'ft C 3' c ' e °^ cref^^ * 8 a wol> ki"g hypothesis based j^F* i I 4j» on ascertained data. Without desiring to jUP^yf dogmatise upon the subject, we fancy that a < £j <^i&3* careful investigation of the last hundred years jftAJ^Sfc °* B"^ history would reveal the existence of \ GSpT what we may call a cycle of bigotry— a sort of r periodicity in widespread outbreaks of noPopery feeling. For some time past a movement of this kind has been afoot in England. Exploded m ti- Catholic fictions of all sorts have been dished up and scurrilous attacks in every conceivable form have been systematically pushed with extraordinary virulence against the Church by those into whose hands the defence of what is called 'popular Protestantism ' seems to have fallen. The attack runs all along the line. Thus far, however, it has not gone beyond hurricanes of words, but its scurrility and violence have been aptly described as * positively amazing.'

In Australia and New Zealand systematic, if less extensive, efforts have been simultaneously made to lash and scare the bigoted, the hysterical, and the shallow element in the community into active hostility to « Rome.* The lay and clerical conspiracy against Dean O'Haran was its first serious effort in these parts to • humiliate the Church of Borne.' The failure of the plot was followed by a fierce and groundless cry — organised by the Orange fraternity—regarding the alleged preponderance of Catholics in the public service of the various States of the Commonwealth. This was echoed, by arrangement, throughout New Zealand during the annual spasms and paroxysms of the brethren in July. In New Zealand, as in Australia, all this was a means to an end — the end being to place Catholics at a disadvantage in the State. One of the enemies of the Catholic body in our House of Representatives informed us, many months ago, in a moment of indiscreet and outspoken candor, that the next elections would be fought out on an anti-Catholic cry. The recent Caversham election bore out his statement in quite a striking way. It was the preliminary skirmish —the first affair of outposts—in the greater campaign that is coming. No clean and intelligent political issue was raised by those who represented the new crusade. It opened with the revived lodge clamor about the supposed 'stuff ing' of the public service with a grossly high percentage of Catholics. We promptly dynamited that absurd and silly legend. But our doing so only served to bring out into stronger relief the determination of our enemies to nine the red devil of sectarian passion and keep him employed at all hazards. For the exploded charge of ' stuffing ' was allowed to go into temporary abeyance, and there was substituted therefor a series of mere wild no- Popery shrieks that recalled the campaign of the Slattery impostors. A set of circumstances which are not likely to recur gave to those wretched tactics a seeming measure of support ouj of all proportion with public sympathy with such political methods. But they were happily defeated, and, in Caversham at least, are not likely to meet with much success in the future. * In Australia the new movement has blossomed into a serious proposal for the perpetuation of creed ascendency by the creation of a Protestant Established Church, and in the passing of a resolution — introduced by Professor Uarpee — at the recent Presbyterian Assembly for the purpose of manipulating the Protestant vote against the Catholics— especially in the matter of political action in reference to their educational claims. In reference to this latter outcome of anti-Catholic feeling, the Archbishop of Melbourne made, at Kilmore, some remarks that we in New Zealand may well take to heart. After having said that Professor Harper's movement was ' as narrow, illogical, and unconstitutional a resolution as ever had been submitted to a decent deliberative assembly,' his Grace went on to say that ' Catholics protested against secular education as being incomplete and injurious to the best interests of their children. They had backed up their protest by establishing and maintaining schools in which a complete education was imparted to the pupils. Catholics also protested against any mixed system of religious instruction in the State schools, because such a system, if effective for some children, must be prejudicial to others, and if not effective as religious instruction, failed in its purpose, and became a sham and a deceit. Catholics did not object to religious instruction in State sthoola, provided it were not mixed. If it were given to non-Catholic pupils before school hours, after school hours, or during the mid-day interval, Catholics would be highly pleased. But it could not be given during school hours if it were really religious, without detriment to cither Catholic or non-Catholic children. Even if Catholics stood alone in that conviction, were they to be ostracised from political life by a Protestant combination, as Professor Harper proposed? But Catholics did not stand alone. The major and more intelligent part of the community agreed with them, as was evidenced on a recent occasion by the decisive majority which in Parliament rejected the proposal to provide mixed religious instruction within school hours for children attending State Bchools. Those members knew very well that a conscience clause in case of religious instruction given within school hours was, to a great extent, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare.' * Did Professor Harper (continued his Grace) admit that Catholics had, in the matter of State education, a real

grievance ? If so, why inveigh against them for seeking redress by the only constitutional means available ? . . . But if Professor Harper now maintained that Catholics had not a real grievance, then he was not the same Professor Harper that formerly admitted it freely. It was the interest and the desire o( Catholics to accept any reasonable proposal for the settlement of this vexed question. They were quite willing to accept the Canadian system, which, as Professor Harper admitted, would satisfy all parties. Why not then adopt it ? It was surprising with what dogged determination the statement was repealed that nothing would satisfy Catholics but a separate grant for their schools. As a matter of fact, Catholics did not ask for any separate grant. On the contrary, they detired to have their schools incorporated into the general system of State education. They offered to have their teachers examined and paid by the State, just as all other teachers were examined and paid. They offered to have their schools examined by Government inspectors. They undertook to keep these schools as efficient as the other schools of the State were kept. All they asked for in addition was the right to have imparted to their children in school that religious instruction which they regarded as essential to the temporal and eternal interests of the children.' Canada, Prussia, England, and even Scotland furnish fair and statesmanlike methods of dealing with Buch educational disabilities as those from which Catholics suffer in these colonies. But if our claims are to receive a fair hearing and respectful consideration, Catholics must be up and doing. It is the rankest folly to suppose that a temporary cessation of the struggle or a few years of nerveless inactivity can ev6r convert present opponents into future supporters of our claims and lead them to grant spontaneously what, in the hypothesis, we ourselvea would be too lazy or too cowardly to seriously and emphatically demand. The , measure of our success may conceivably be less, it cannot well be greater, than the measu-e of our own exertion. Tbe wheat-field lark in JEsop's fable had no anxiety for her little ones so long as the farmer lazed about and depended on his neighbours for the harvesting of his crop. But when he decided on putting his own hands to the work, the mother-lark said to her callow brood : ' It is time now to be off, my little ones, for the man is in earnest this time ; he no longer trusts tv his friends, but will reap the field himself.' The moral of it all is this : that self-help is the best help. It behoves us. first and above all, to do what lies in our power to enlighten public opinion on the education difficulty. In the next place, politicians should be tamht that they will have our support only at our own price. For many years past a sort of tradition has ex sted among Catholic electors to vote for candidates, irrespective of their viewa on our educa'ional grievances. Even Catholic opponents of our claims have almost uniformly met with Catholic support, although the recent Caversham election has been, apparentl) 1 , a meritorious exception in point. It is high time to break through this tradition. Where a candidate — the same not being clearly a stuffed man or a mere political lightning-rod — favors our claims, tbe course of action is clear. Where all oppose us, it becomes a cheice of evils, and local circumstances should decide what is the least. But at each succeeding election steps should ho taken to create, for the previous successful candidate, an uncertainty of tenure which, for the politician, is as great a curse as inconstancy of employment is for the working man. As for Catholic asp ; rants to parliamentary honors who oppose redress of our grievances, the sooner the better the Catholic body turn over a new leaf and uniformly and mercilessly ensign them, so far as they can, to private life permanently, or at least until such candidates experience a decided change of heart. The change of front that has taken place of late in Anglican and Presbyterian opinion in Victoria i* one of the circumstances that hold out fair hope to us in New Zealand. And, in any event, it behoves us Catholics here to do our duty bravely and consistently, through good report and evil, for our day.

Messrs. Purdie and Co's aerated waters received the highest award at the Canterbury Industrial Exhibition, which is a guarantee that they are of rery superior quality. They are the manufacturers of the popular ' Fizola,' which is uuequalled for purity and excellence...