A TRIBUTE SUBSTANTIATED BY HISTORY.

New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1920, Page 7

A TRIBUTE SUBSTANTIATED BY HISTORY.

On a notable occasion Judge Riddell, a Protestant, of Canada delivered the following tribute to the- Catholic Church : —■

"We don't affect to call Toronto a Catholic city. It has probably no greater population of Catholics than many of the great cities: of this continent, but recognise the greatness of the Church of which our guest of to-day is a prince. We recognise that in the past she kept alive the torch of learning; through the ages that were dark. We recognise that she prevented us from being cut off from that leaven of Christianity and piety which nearly submerged by tho incursion of the barbarians. We recognise her power and strength, her influence for good, for while we are Protestants, at all events we recognise that her great powers are exercised in the main for good. We cannot forget that she alone of all the great institutions of the world has been the cradle of democracy from the beginning. She alone of all the great powers made it possible for one to be a ruler without owing it to his father's position. . . ■ - .; "She made it possible for "not only the son of the king and the prince to obtain a high position— only the son of the wealthy, but the poor man, tho huckster, the man on the farm and . the laborer. She made it possible for the son of a poor English farmer to occupy the chair of St. Peter at Rome." • V -