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Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est fiimd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 T p: 0. -»• THE SEPARATE SCHOOLS. <^ v.. 1 THE NO-POPERT CRY. D immiiiii i 'ilOlUNDOll BI 1 JIIER OF ONTARIO, X) E c Ei ivfl: B EJ li 2, 1380. 0. BLACKETT ROBINSON, PRINTER, 6 JORDAN STREET. 1886. wm CONTENTS. PAGE. The Premier's Protestant Principles ; 3 Separate Schools— Their Origin . 4 Protestiintisni not in Danger in Ontario 5 Separate School Amendments 6 No Undue Itoman Catholic Influence 7 The Amendments were Approved 7 Qualifications of Teachers 8 ^"Exemption from Public School Rates 9 Amendment of 1877 10 Amendment of 1879 ..^ 10 .Court of Revision II Amendment of 1879 12 Assessors' Mistakes 13 Amendment of 1881 -Landlord and Tenant 13 Reply to ! Jie Rev. Dr. Laing 14 Amendment of 1884 — Powers of Municipal Councils 15 1885— Hi£?h School Trustee 16 Consolidated Act, 1880 16 Bibles in Schools. '. 1^ Marmiou and Collier's History 18 Rev. Dr. Ryerson's Rule 18 Another Misrepresentation Exposed 19 Separate School Property 19 i/'oncluding Remark -, 20 « THE SEPARATE SCHOOLS. MEMORANDUM BY THE PREMIER OF ONTARIO. 4 5 5 7 7 8 9 10 10 11 12 13 13 U 15 16 16 IT. 18 18 19 19 20 Up to the present time almost the whole effort of the opponents of the Ontario Government has been to raise against us the absurd cry pf " Protestantism in danger — No Popery." Th(! great majority of our friends in every part of the Province know that this cry is not an honest cry on the part of those political opponents who first raised it ; they know that Protestantism is not in danger ; they know th*^ t our opponents who raised the cry care nothing about the legislation or the administrative acts which they pretend to condemn; they know that at the last general election (1883) our opponents endeavoured to get Roman Catholic votes by persuading Koman Catholics that we were unjust to them ; they know that the sole object of the present cry is to entrap Reformers into withholding their support from Reform candidates, and they knew that after accomplishing that object the No Popery politicians wotild be quite content that Popery should have its full swing. In most con- stituencies I cannot learn that any Reformer, or any friend of the pre- sent Ontario Government, has been entrapped ; but as there seem to b« a few whom the cry has deceived, and as the cry may deceive others before the elections come on, it becomes a duty to take whatever means may be convenient to bring before the public ' he actual facts. 1 did this to a certain extent in my open letter to Mr. Milligan. T purpose in this supplementary memorandum to deal with luatters dwelt upor^ by our assailants since. THE PREMIKr'S PUOTESTANT PRINCIPLES. For myself, I have been well known ill my life as no indifferent Protestant. I have as strong a preference for Protestant principles as anyone has. I have as strong a desire for the spread of Protestantism as anyone has. As a Protestant, I should resist Roman (Catholic doi»jin- ation over myself, or over the Government, or over the Province, as resolutely as any Protestant clergyman or layman in the land could desire ; and I have endeavoured to carry into public life what I under- stand to be the essential principles of sound Protestantism. Bun I would not be fit for my official position if 1 did not feel and know that a man may be a true Protestant without hating or ostracising Roman Catholics ; that he may be a true Protestant without losing his head whenever he saw a Roman Catholic bishop or priest, or whenever a Roman Catholic made a tiuggestion roHpecting school matters. I am bou.nd to giv(i, and, let me add, I do habitually give, respectful atten- tion and all needed consideration to every suggestion or request rtspect- fully made from any respectable quarter, OonHe.rvativci or Lilxnal, poor or rich, unlearned or lean\ed, lloman Catholic or Protestant ; and I gladly give effect when T can to all suggestions, come from what quarter they may, which seem to me reasonaV)le, or good, and in the public interest. With respect to Roman Catholics, I have endeavoured to show to our mixed cominx \ity that an earnest, fair-minded Protestant Prectiier may be true to hja Protestantism, and yet be entitled to the reasonable confidence of thinking Roman Catholics. SKPAHATE SCHOOLS — THEIR OHIGIN. The chit f attack which is made upon \is in order to obtain credence for the cry of No Popery relates to a few amendments made some years ago with the approval of all parties in the legislation respecting Separate Schools. The existence of these scliools is olijected to in some of the r^icent attacks, as if the present Ontario Government had created them ; tind provisions of law enacted before Confederation, and now beyond Provinoi.^! authority, are referred to as illustrating the influence over us of the Church of Rome. I have no responsibility for the existence of Separate Schools, and none for any part of the law relating to theia as ii stoiid at the time of passing the B. N. A. Act. I should always have preferred to see the children of Protestants and Roman Catholics educat(;d together in the Public Schools ; but the contest which for many years the late Honourable George Brown waged with great vigour, and with th* aid of both Reformei's and Conservatives, to bring about that happy titate < f things, was unsuccessful; and in 1863 a new Sepa- rate School Bill was passed by the Parliament of Canada in spite of all opposition. The provisions of that Bill were objectiona})le to those who hoped tor the abolition of Separate &'cliools, though reusonable enough if Separate Schools were to continue. Mr. Brown used to consider, in the light of then passing events, that there was peril from Roman (Jatholio encroachments, in view of the comparative numbers of Roman Catholics and Protestants in the Province of Canada, and of the union among R<-man Catholics ; it may be remembered that by the last census taken before Confederation, the Province of Canada had a population of 1,200,805 Roman Catholics, all other creeds together numbering but little more, viz. : 1,305,890; but Mr. Brown was of opinion that the peril would be removed in Ontario under a constitutional system which should assign educational matters to a Local Legislature, subject to such conditions and restrictions as would secure for the future to the Protes- tants of Quebec and the Roman Catholics of Ontario the rights and privileges which their schools then by law possessed. As bearing on this point I. may mention that in 1861, wicn the last census before Confederation was taken, the Roman Catholic population of Upper Canada was but 258,141, while the whole population was 1,396,091; and that by the census of 1881 the disparity was still greater, the Roman Catholics being only 320,839, and the whole population 1,923,228. ECCLESrASTlCAL ZEAL. The superior zeal of the Roman Catholic clergy on behalf of their Ohuroh has been asserted, as an element of great importance in dealing with this subject ; but I venture to say that our Protestant clergy of all denominations a-e quite as zealous for their faith as the Roman Catholic clergy are for theirs, and that the attachment of the Protestant laity to their respective Churches, and to Protestantism in general, is ([uite as great as the attachment of the Roman Catholic laity to their Church. NO DANGKR IN QNTARIO, As a Protestant, [ have never since Confederation been apprehen- sive of unjust encroachment in Ontario on the inrftitutions which have the support of Protestants. Compare the relative position of Protest- ants and Roman Catholics. We have more than five times the popula- tion ; we have considerably more than five times the aggregate wealth ; more than five times the number of luerabers in the Legislature ; more , than five times the number of municipal councillors in the Province ; more than five times the number of resident Provincial and Dominion officers ; more than five times the number of Public School teachers ; ijiore than five times the lawyers, doctors, and other professional men ; more than five times the judges and im*gistrates ; more than five times the students and pupils in attendance at the schools and colleges of the country ; and more than five times the number of clergymen. I have said more than five times in regard to all these particulars, but as regards some of them the proportion is ten or twenty times rather than five. If, with all these and other advantages, anyone can think that Protestantisra is in serious danger from the influence of Roman C/atholics over a (government which has a Protestant Premier and five members who are Protestants, with but one member who is a Catholic, and over a Legislature only nine members of which are Roman Catholics, the iilarmist must regard Protestantisui as a much weaker faith than it has liitherto shown itself to be in the history of the world. A cry that Protestantism is in danger in Ontario seems to me an insult to Protest- antism on the part of those who have raised the cry without believing in it, and is (X venture to say) a mistake on the part of any good men who may be disposed to join in the cry. SEPARATE SCHOOL AMENDMENTS. The amendments which we have made to the Separate School law, and which are now objected to, are not numerous. All were thought to be reasonable, and " requisite" for carrying out the spirit and inten- tion of the law which the B. ISI. A. Act had made part of our Constitu- tion. All were treated in the House as involving no question or doubt. The Hamilton Spectator confesses that " probably no great harm will come from any one of the extraordinary powers granted to Catholics in school matters." I deny that any "extraordinary powers" have been granted to Roman Catholics in school matters, or any others ; but the admission that no great harm will come from the changes which have been mado, is an answer to the whole cry. Other journalists, and per- haps the Hamilton paper at other times, have designated tlm legislative amendments which v/o havo sanctioned as most extraordinary amend- ments, and as very remarkable amendments. I deny that they havo been either extraordinary or remarkable. If they had been, it would not have taken so n)any years r,o make the discovery. 1 assert that they were all just and reasonable amendments. As they were thought to be so by everybody who gUve them attention when they were before the Legislature, so they will now appear wlieu examined with common candour and judgment. I shall show this to be so. TUB B, N. A. ACT. ' ^ It is necessary to bear in mind our precise position uHd|(v thei^ British North America Act in reference to Separate Schools. ( 1 ) A Provincial Lngislature has no power to pass a law which "shall pre- judicially aflect any right or pri\ ilege with respect to denominational schools which any class of persons have by law in the Province at the Union " j and, moreover, (2) these schools, both in Ontario and Quebec, have a right under the constitution to all legislation "requisite for the . due execution " of the provisions of the Act. This right is manifested and proteoted by the enactment, that the Dominion Parliament may "make remedial laws" for the due execution of the provisions mentioned " in case any such Provincial law as from time to time seems to the Governor-CTeneral in Council requisite " for such due execution is not made by the Provincial Legislature. It is not in the interest of this Province, nor of the Protestants of this Province, to give any occasion for resorting to the Dominion Government or Dominion Parliament under this authority ; it is, on the contrary, the part of wisdom for the Provincial Legislature itself to make from time to time such reasonable amendments of the Separate School Law an may "seem requisite;" and, independently of the constitutional obligation, it is for the common interest that, since we must have Separate Schools, the machinery should be provided for making them efficient, and enabling them to give a good education, at ' the expense of those who support them. Mr. Meredith, in his recent address to his constituenls, has felt obliged to use the following language : •' The maintenance oi" the Separate School system of the Province is guaranteed to our liemau Catholic fellow- citizens under the Constitution. Some may regret that the necessity for its introduction existed, but it is nevertheless the duty of the Government honestly to administer it, and make it as efficient as possi- ble, to the end that it may properly perform the functions for which it was designed." There may from time to time be an honest diflEerence of opinion as to what amendments are requisite or reasonable, but Protestants in Ontario are strong enough to deal with the matter justly and M'ithout prejudice. As long as no amendments are made except such as nobody thinks unreasonable at the time they are submitted, they may fairly be regarded as free from danger ; and if amendments so made are not objected to for years afterwards, nor until the party objecting is in ex- tremities, the intelligent public will not recognize in auch amendment* much subserviency to Roman Catholic influence. NO ROMAN CATHOLIC INFLUENCE. To give force to iny inferences which are drawn from those amend- ments, th(! role of our assailants is, to speak of every legislative uuieud- ment, and every administrative act, us dictated by ecclesiastical au- thority, as forced upon us by the demands of the Komish hierarchy, and as resulting from the control of the Archbishop over the Government. But that way of speaking is .folly. There has been no dictation, no- force, no/demand, no control. There has been respectful suggestion; only, such as is, from time to time, made to us from other quarters with respect to other laws. Those who diisired the amendments knew that they had to satisfy the five Protestant members of the Government, a& well as the sixth member, who is a Roman Catholic, that the amend- ments were reasonable ; a,nd we had further to satisfy ourselves, as also they well knew, that the Protestants in the Assembly, and throughout the Province, would regard the amendments as reasonable and proper. As respects all our amendments, and as respects the acts of administra- tion, of which I am about to say something, 1 do not reuumiber to have had any communication Avhatever, written or verbal, with or from any Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, or with or from any one speaking, or pro- fessing to speak, on behalf of any lioiuan Catholic ecclesiastic, or on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church ; nor (I am sure) had any of my Protestant Colleagues, except, it may be, the Minister of Education for the time being. With respect to all our amendments and acts of administration, we were free to come to any conclusion which might seem to us ri^ht. We had no threat, and no promise, from any quarter, to affect our judgment or our action. The educational matters were first considered by the Minister of Education, and were afterwards by him brought before the Council ; and whatever was thereupon done, was .so done because, on consideration and inquiry, it seemed right, and. such as the Protestant sentiment of the country would concur in. THE" AMENDMENTS WEllE AVTROVED. 1 That we were correct in our interpretation of this sentiment is manifest from the fact of not one of the amendments having been opposed in the House or in the country at the time. The Opposition have always had for leader an astute politician and lawyer ; and he always had a following of lawyers, and of members familiar with school and municipal matters ; they included Orangemen and other Protes- tants, and some Roman Catholics ; but not one of them all saw in any of the legislation the frightful things which some of those who now write and speak in their interest protend to find. On our side of the House wo had more lawyers and still abler lawyers, more muni- cipal men, and more Protestants, as well as some Roman Catholics > and all these, like ourselves and the Opposition and the country, saw nothing objectionable in what was proposed for Legislative action. The single fact that most of the enactments now objected to werff 8 •pBRflwl many years ago, and were never objeotod to until now, inuat raakf plain to most men that the present cry iu a pretence and without any justification. We are said to he in alliance with the Archbishop or with the IlomiHh C/'hurch in Ontario. If this meanH that there is some compact or bargain between us, the atatement Ih fahe. If the meaning is merely, that the Archbishop and some otlier of the Catholic clergy prf'fer the Liberal party to the OonH(;rvative in Ontario, and favour us 80 far as th(>y favour any political party, I am glad to believe that the .statement is true. That is the sort of alliance which we have with all our supporters ; and the more numerous the.se are (we allow our- selvf^H to think) the- bett(;r for the country. The Conservative party has long had the support of a majority of the Roman Catholics, both in Ontario and Quebec, whilst the Liberal party has always had the .support of a Roman Catholic minority in both Provinces. If, gradu- ally, from the misconduct of the Dominion Government, which has shocked many of their old supporters, Protestants as well as Roman (!!atholics, and from the character for good government which the Pro- vincial Administration has acipiircd for itself, or from any cause satis factory to themselves, the majority of Koman Catholics are now on the Liberal tiide, and a minority only on the side of the Conservatives, it is as ungrateful as it is absurd for Conservatives to raise on that account the cry of " No Pop<'ry "' against their old associates. All friends of liontisty must hope that the ungrateful and deceitful inventiori shtvH do the inventors no good. , . QUALIFICATIONS OF TEAOHKIIS. Several of the provisions of law which are brought forward as evi- dence of our subserviency to Pioman Cathoiic influence were enacted in the old Province of Canada. Thus, it is said, that wo permit Separate School tuachers to be employed who do not pass the examinations required in the case of Public School teachers. The " law in the Prov- ince at the Union " was contained in the Act passed in 1863, c. 5, s. 13, and the (consolidated Statute of Lower Canada, c. 15, s. 110, No. 10. The former enactment is as follows : — '* The teachers of Separate Schools under this Act shall be subject to the same examinations, and receive their certificates of qualifications, in the same manner as Common School teachers generally ; provided that persons quidified by law as teachers, either in Upper or I,.ower Canada, shall be considered qualified teachers for the purposes of this .Act." The other enactment .shows what persons were qualitied at the Union ; — " Every priest, minister, ecclesiastic, or person forming part of a religious community instituted for educational purposes, and every person of the female sex, being a member of any religious community, shall be in every case exempt from undergoing an examination before any of the said Boards." Now let it be remembered, that we have no power to pass any " law ^■hich shall prejudicially atiect any right or privilege with respect to 9 ad inuflt ibhout h the mpact ing in clergy favour VG that {) with w our- party both the gradu- ich has Ivoniaii he Pro- se aatis / on the /('H, it is account ienda of shttll tlo d as evi- riacted in Separate ni nation 8 ihe Prov- :. 5,8. 13, , No. 10. »« subject ificationH, provided or Lower es of this ^d at the oiing part and every )mmunity, ion before any ** law respect to denominational Hchools which any clasH of porKons had by law at the time of the union," and that it has not hitluTto l)eon 8ii{i;i,'f*Hted that wo had th<' powf r to take awfvy front Separate Hchools the " ri^ht or privi- lege " of employing as teachers the persons thus enumerated, or to tako away from these perHons the " ri;^ht or privilege" of being teachers in Separate Schools without prior examination. The enactment in the Consolidateil Act of 188G was therefore as follows : — " 62. — The teachers of any Separate School under this Act shall be subject to the same (examinations, and receive their certificates of quali- lication in the same manner as Public School teachers generally ;" pro- vided that '• the persons (jualified by law as teachers, either in the Province of Ontario, or,' at the time of the passing of the British North America Act (18(57), in the Province of Quebec, shall be considered qualified teachers for thci purpose of this Act," It is thus not true, as a general propositi. )n, that teachers of Separate Schools are not subject to examination like the teachers in Public Sohooln. The exemption from examination applies to certain excepted persons only, who occupy positions which were suppo.sed to imply the poHsession of the qualifications needed ; and the exception was made before Confederation. So much for this illustration of the dangerous influence of the lloman Catholic hierarchy with the present Oxitario Government. EXBMl'TIOX PROM PUBLIC SCIIOOI- RATES. The following is another provision of the old law for which we are not respon.sible, but which in moku of the recent attacks upon us is called "new law," and is -"^^t'erred to as illubfcrating the Hoiniah influ- ence to which we are falsely said to be subject. The enactment is to be found in the Canada Statute of 18G3, c. 5, s. 14, already mentioned j and section 41 in the Consolidated Act of 1886 is taken from it: " Every person paying rates, whethe^r as a proprietor or tenant, who, by himself or his agent, on or before the first day of March in any year, gives to the clerk of the municipality notice in writing that he is a. Roman Catholic, and supporter of a Separate School situat'^d in the said municipality, or in a municipality contiguous thereto, shall be exempted from the payment of all rates imposed for the support of Common Schools and of Common School libraries, or for the purchase of land or erection of buildings for Common School purposes within the city, town, incorporated village, or sectio.a in which he resides, for the then current year, and every subsequent year thereafter while he con- tinues a supporter of a Separate School, and such notice shall not be required to be renewed annually ; [and it shall be the duty of the trus- tees of every Separate School to transmit to the clerk of the munici- pality or clerks of municipalities (as the case may be) on or before the tirst day in June in each year, a correct list of the names and residences of all pf rsons supporting the Separate Schools under their management, and every ratepayer whose name shall not appear on such list shall be rated for the support of Common Schools]." The clause in brackets was necessary when Separate Schools wore 10 supported by fees and other contributions, buo became inapplicable and of no possible use after these schools got their support, like the Public Schools, from school rates; and the clause was therefore not repeated in the Act of 1886. The practical working of the section in the Act of 1863 was this : — After the assessment rolls had been revised and corrected for all other purposes, the clerk, in order to make out the roll for the collectors, had to examine one by one all the notices received from Roman Catholics; these, as in the case of Toronto, might embrace many thousand names ; he had then to compare these -with the trustees' list, in order to ascertain that all who had given the notice wore supporting the Separate Schools ; and after ascertaining these facts he had to make upon the roll the .necessary entries with reference to all entitled to exemption. The clerk's duty A\ as thus a tedious one, and probably was never performed without mistaki/'. He might, by mistake, enter Protestants as supporttsrs of Separate Schools ; he might leave some Separate School supporters to be treated as supporting Public Schools ; and som'^ of the notices he re- ceived might on various grounds be wrong. i'>ut the law made no provision for correcting errors, wheoher of the clerk or in the notices. This was contrary to the analogy of all other cases ; and the defect was corrected as far as seemed practicable by two Acts — one passed in 1877, and the other in 1879, under the advice of the late Minister of Educa- tion, the Honorable Mr. Crooks. These Acts substituted the assessor for the clerk, and gave the right of appeal to the Court of Revision and County Judge. AMENDMENT OP 1877. Under the Act of 1877 (s. 13) the assessor was required to distin- gui?-:h between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and whether supporters of Public or Separate Schools, and to insert these particulars in the assessment roll. In carrying out this amendment the assessor was left to find out the facts as well as he could, and by any means with which he chose to be satisfied. As a matter of fact, in almost every case wher3 Separate Schools were established, all Roman Catholics wore, or desired to be, supporter.^ of the Separate Schods ; fmd the assessor might, thei-efore, iu the exercise of his discretion, not unreasonably assume that to be so in regard "to every Roman Catholic ratepayer. There was an obvious difficulty in doing njore ; for, by th., law as it stood at Confederation, a Roman Catholic had until the 1st March to give notice of his being a Separate School supporter, and the Board of Separate School Trust(;es had until the 1st June to transmit the list of Separate School supporters to the clerk. Thus, until after the 1st June it was not known, as to any Roman Catholic, whether he was a sup- porter of the Separate Schools or not, while the assessor had to complete his roll by the 1st of May. It was to meet this obvious defect that the enactment of 1»79 was introduced. AMENDMENT OF 1879. If the enactment of that year sanctioned the prima /acie presump- tion, for the assessor's purpose, that every Roman Catholic was a sup- 11 or porter of Separate Schools and desired exemption from Public School rates, it did not make the presumption conclusive : it was a presuraption in accordance with the general fact ; it was a presumption which asses- sors had already felt compelled in practice to make under tho Act of 1877 ; and it was subject to correction at the instance, not merely of the ratepayer himself, but of any other ratepayer. The course sanctioned by this enactment seemed at the time the only practicable course ; and up to this moment I am not aware that political ingenuity or party f^'spair has suggested any better course, as the law then stood. In a mciriorandum by the then Minister of Education, Mr. Crooks, he thus explained the purpose of the enactment : — '"There has been no change in the principle on which Separate' Schools are based, namely, the permission or option which each Roman Catholic has to become a supporter of a Separate School or not. His being a Catholic is merely prima Jacie evidence on which the assessor could place his name among the supporters of the Separate School ; but he cannot do so if the R<:/man Catholic ratepayer instructs him to the contrary ; and in that case, not being a supporter of a Separate School, he would be liable to Public School rates and entitled to send his children to the Public School. The law permits each Roman Catholic ratepayer his individual option in supporting the Separate School, and provides the proper machinery for having this SC' settled that he must pay a school rate for onei or the other." TEXT OF AMENDMENTS OP 1877 AND 1879. It may be convenient to give here the language of the two enact>- nients foi more easy reference and comparison ; — By the Act of 1877 (s. 13) Municipal Councils wt^re required "to cause the assessor of the township, in preparing the aiiiual assessment roll of the township, and setting down therein the school section of the person taxable, to distinguish between Public or Separate (Schools), and in setting down therein his religion, to distinguish betw«^en Protestant and Roman Catholic, and whether supporters of Public or Separate Schools; and the assessor shall, accordingly, in.sert such particulai's in respective columns of the assessment roll prescribed bv law for the school section and religion respectively of the pei'son taxable." COUKT OF REVISION. And it was enacted further, that " the Court of Revision F.hall try and determine all complaints in regard to persons in. these particulars alleijed to be loroiigfuUy placed upoti or omitted from tlie roll (as the case may be), and any person so complaining, or any elector of the muni- cipality, may give notice in writing to the clerk of ohe' municipality of such cor. plaint, and the provisions of 'The Assessment Act of ISt'iO ' in reference to giving notice of complaints against the assessment roll, and proceedings for the trial thereof, shall likewise apply to all com- plaints under this section of this Act." It has been said that this enactment did not give authority to tho Court to correct errors in distinguishing betweeii supporters of Public 12 or Separate Schools, but only to determine whether persons were wrongfully placed upon or omitted from the roll. But it is quite clear that this is not ho, and that complaint can be made in regard to any "particulars alleged to be wrongfully placed upon or omitted from the roll.' The express object was to give that power to the Court of Revision. The supplementary enactmeiit in 1879 (s. 26) was in these words : — " (3) The assessor shall accept the statement of, or made on liehalf of, any ratepayer, that he is a Roman Catholic, as sufficient prima facie evidence for placing such person in the proper column of the assess- ment roll for Separate School supporters ; or if the assessor knows personally any ratepayer to be a Roman Catholic, this shall also be sufficient for placing him in such last mentioned column." ( AMENDMENT OP 1879. The enactment of 1879 is the one which our No-Popery assailants evidently regard as the most iiseful for their political purpose ; yet these same assailants were dumb when the Bill was before the House, and dumb for seven years afterwards. They did not think the clause objectionable bc^fore it was passed ; there have been two hotly contested general elections since, and we heard not a word against this frightful provision at either election. There have been seven sessions of the Legislature since the passing of the Act ; and at not one of them was there a petition ^rom any one against the change. Neither was there a public movement against it in any form or from, any quarter, nor was any private intimation made to us that the enactment was objection- able. Will any one doubt that our assailants have now been making a mountain out of a mole-hill, in order to excite for their own political advantage the Protestant feelings of the unweary 't One pretended objection which the No Popery journals make is, that the change which the amendment made is against the interest and wishes of the Roman Catholic laity, and particularly of Roman Catholic parents. If this is so, some of thes3 Roman Catholics might be ex- pected to tell na so by a private communication, if not by a public memorial. But no Roman Catholic so far has made any complaint, unless 1 am to take the AJail's editorials as showing that one Roman Catholic layman objects, though he too, a gentleman of great ability, was silent about it for seven years. It is said that if any Roman Catholic ratepayer does not wish his rates to go to a Separate School, he might refuse to give the preliminary notice, but could not face collision with ecclesiastical authority by objecting afterwards. This distinction must be fanciful. If there is an ecclesiastical influence which a Roman Catholic ratepayer could not resist in order to have the roll corrected, it is obvious that neither could he refuse, in the face of that influence, to give the necessai^ prelim'nary notice, or to authorize some one to give it for him. By the law enacted before Confederation, notice might be given either by the ratepayer himself or by " his agent," and no writing was required, no witness, no proof of the agency. No one 13 suggested any distinction between the possible influvsnce in the one case, and the possible influence in the other until recently, when it was first suggested on the part of a discredited party, for whose benefit this bit of theological criticism was devised, under the hope of deceiving and misleading here and there some honest and unsuspecting Protestant. ' But the ludicrous; absurdity of the objection is, that the preliminary notice has not been dispensed with. On the contrary, it is expressly con- tinued by the 41st section of the Act of last session, the section wliich gives Roman Catholics exemption from school rates ; and any Protes- tant or other ratepayer of the municipality may object to the exemption bei'ore the Court of Revision, on the ground that the necessary pre- liminary notice was not given ; and he may do .so without the consent, and even contrary to the wish, of the ratepayer whose case is in ques- tion. Could anything .«how more clearly the mortal weakness of our a.^sailants than the necessity of setting up so idle a criticism 'i I have occasionally heard of a Roman Catholic expressing his regret that there were Separate^ Schools ; but, from what I have heard from Roman Catholic parents and other laymen, I should say that, where these schools are established, .their wish is to have them as efficient as possible, and to have whatever legislation is needed to make them so. assessors' mistakes. It appears that mistalcos are sometimes made by an assessor mark- ing a Protestant as a supporter of a Separate School ; but it is a fact to be noted that all assessors whose mistakes of this kind have con)e to light were Protestants. Assessors make other mistakes, but all their mistakes can be corrected ; while the clerk, in whose hands the matter lay before our amendments, was liable to make like mistakes, and when he made them there was no provision for their correction. AMENDMENT OF 1881 — LANDLORD AND TENANT. The next enactment now objected to was passed in 1881. The occasion for it was this. The law, as it stood at the time of Confedera- tion, enabled a Roman Catholic proprietor or tenant to become exempt from Public School rate.s, but omitted to provide what the rule was to , be in case of the landlord and tenant of a property not being of the same creed ; and this point was in more or less doubt. By law pro- perty is for general purposes assessable, and assessed against both the landlord and the tenant. i\.s betw(?en the landlord and his tenant, the law makes the latter the party primarily liable for all taxes, in tha absence of any agreement between them to the contrai-y ; where the landlord undertakes to pay the taxes, the tetiant pays so much more rent ; and thu.s, in all cases, either by express law or in fact, the tenant pays the taxes. It was therefore considered that where the tenant and landlord are not cf the same faith it should be for the tenant to deter- mine whether the rates should go to the Public Schools o? Separate Schools. Then came a second question, for which it was thought that there should be legal provifiou. A landlord may be compelled to pay the u rates of a defaulting tenant : and the landlord may be a Protestant, while the defaulting tenant is a Koman Catholic, or vice versa. To meet such cases it was therefore enacted that, " as between the owner and tenant or dccupant, the owner is not to pay taxes, if by the default of the tenant or occupant to pay the same the owner is compelled to pay any such school rate, he may direct the same to be applied to either Public or Separate School purposes ;" thus plainly putting on precisely the same footing Protestant landlords and Roman Catholic landlords who had giv(;n the necessary notice. The whole clause, as passed in 1881, is as follows : — 10. " To remove doubts it is hereby declared that in any case when, under the eighteenth section of the Assessment Act, land is assessexl against both the owner and occupant, or owner and tenant, then such occupant or tenant shall be deemed and taken to be the person pri- marily liable for the payment of school rates, and for determining whether such rates shall be applied to Public or Separate School pur- poses, and no agreement between the owner or tenant as to the payment of taxes as between themselves' shall be allowed to alter or affect this provision otherwise; and in any case where, as between the owner and tenant or occupant, the owner is not to pay taxes, if by the default of the tenant or occupant to pay the same the owner is compelled to pay any such .school rate, he may direct the same to be applied to either Public or Separate School purposes." THE EEV. DR. LAING. 1 observe that the Rev, Dr. Laing, of Dundas, has a letter in to-day's Mail in which he places a curious construction on the section. He says that "-a Protestant tenant may agi'ee with the owner that his taxes shall go to Separate Scliools, although a Roman Catholic may not agree that his taxes shall go to Public Schools." But this is not so. The taxes payable by a Protestant tenant go as a matter of course to the Public Schools, and the taxes of the Roman Catholic tenant who has not given the preliminary notice are also to go to the Public Schools. Dr. Laing says : — " That is, the Protestant tenant's taxes do not go prima facie to Public Schools ; for with his consent the assessor may put down the Protestant tenant as a supp -ter of Separate Schools, while the assessor cannot thus set down the ^.oman Catholic tenant for Public Schools," But all this is wrong. A Protestant tenant's rates do go prima facie to Public Schools, and the only case iu which they may not go is where he was to pay them and does not, and the Roman Catholic landlord has in consequence to pay them. The assessor cannot without violation of duty put down a Protestant tenant as a .supporter of Separate Schools ; and is at perfect liberty to put down the Roman Catholic tenant for Public Schools if the latter wishes, as Mr, Crooks pointed out in his memorandum which 1 have quoted, Dr, Laing adds, "Thus Roman Catholicism is protected, but Protestantism is not, against agree- ments between owner and tenant. The arrangement is evidently uni(]ue." I apprehend that it is my reverend friend's interpretation which is unique. He admits in regard to his adverse interpretation of 16 the law on certain points that it " clashes with the Public School law and cannot be maintained." If he had been &» good a lawyer as he is a divine he would have known that an interpretation which " clashes with the Public School law and cannot be maintained," is by this very statement a false interpretation, and not to be entertained. He frankly says, " I admit that it clashes, and therefore say that clause 41 should be repealed." Now, I must really decline to repeal clause 41, even though the repeal is necessary to make Dr. Laing's interpretation good ■ law. The Legislature thought fit in consolidating the Separate School law last session to retain section 41, and the consolidated Act must, according to settled principles of legal interpretation, be interpreted in the light and with the assistance of that section. It is a principle of legal interpretation, as well as common sense, that all th(! parts of a statute must be read together, and such a construction adopted as may give effect, as far as possible, to every provision. I may add that it is only within the last few weeks that I have heard of a different construction being put upon the various enactments referred to than that which I have shown to be proper, and which was what was intended. If the now construction were correct in point of law, the fact would be another illustration, not certainly of Homish influence, but of the impossibility of avoiding mistakes and oversights, even with the aid of a hundred advisers. A small objection to this provision has recently been discovered in Hamilton, of which I am told that the No Popery man are making what political use they can there. The rates for Public Schools and Separate Schools may differ, though I believo they are generally the same ; the case of Hamilton is exceptional, and the rate there for Separate Schools is ac present, for tenjporary reasons, twice as large as the rate for Public Schools. The exceptional case of the rates being different did not occur to the framer of the clause, or to any oixe in the House when the Act was passed in 1881, or when the Consolidated Act was passed in 1886, and was, therefore, not provided for ; and the consequence is that if a Protestant landlord has to pay the rates for his dtfaulting Koman Cutholic tenant, his money goes to the Public Schools, but th v amount he has to pay in Hamilton is greater than the Public School rate. It has taken more than five years to develop this defect. If in any one of the last five sessions any one had thought of it and called my attention to it, the defect would have been corrected. So much for the enactment as it stands in the Act of 1881, It is copied into the Consolidated Act of 1886 in the same words (section 52) ; and its effect there I shall show later on. AMENDMENT OV 1884 — POWERS OP MUNICIPAL COUNCILS. The next pretended objection is to a provision adopted in 1884, in order to sav(? troubU^ to municipal councils and municipal oflUcers. By the enactment referred to," power is given to the council of any munici- pality, where the Public and Separate School rates are the same for any year, to agree (if they please) with the Separate School trustees to pay to the latter a fixed proportion of the total amount collected for the year mm 16 for school purpoBos, instead of the amount, be it more or less, which on an account being taken might be found to have been actually collected for Separate Schools. What such proportion should be may be calcu- lated to a cent, assuming that all school rates will be paid. The Con- servative journals profess to be afraid that the municipal councils will abuse this power, to the advant;ige of Roman Catholics. This pretence is idle. Wherever there are Roman Catholic Separate Schools the Pro- testants form a majority in the population, and a majority in the muni- cipal council. Tim power to agree has never been abused, and 1 have no fear that it will be. Conservative journals should not be so distrustful of the Protestant municipal councils of the country. 1885 — niGii soiiooL trustee. Again ; exception is taken to a power given in 1885 to the trustees of Separate Schools, to appoint a trustee to the High School Board. This was (lone in order to interest Roman Catholics in the High Schools, and to induce more of them to send their childrea to these schools. Tlie Board of High School Trustees consists, ordinarily, of six trustees, who are appointed by the Municipal Councils, and all are usually Protes- tants. There is no diversity in the views of Protestant denominations with regard ^o educational matters in this Province ; but there is, un- fortunately, great diflorence between the Church of Rome and the Pro- testant Churches. Hence we have Roman Catholic Separate Schools, but no Protestant Separate Schools, unless it be in localities where the teacher of the Puplic School is a Roman Catholic, and where the Roman Catholics, Ijeing in the majority, control the Public School. The Roman Catholics have no High Schools, and it was hoped that they might be induced to take an interest in them if, in localities where there are Separate Schools, the Separate sSchool trustees had a direct representa- tive on the Board of ihe High School ; and, on the other hand, it was thought, that no liarm to the public interest, or to Protestantism, could arise from the addition of a seventh member to the Board in such cases. The Hamilton Spectator, in an article ulreadj'^ quoted from, has this admission in reference to the euav^tment : — " We do not see that any great harm can result from this arrangement. The law has not been taken advantage of in every locality where there is a Separate School, ' and it has not, I believe, been taken advantage of in any locality in which one of the six t ustees was a Roman Catholic, nor has any practical harm resulted fruui the enactment in any instance. Little objection was made to this amendment at the time of its passing ; there has been a session of the Legislature since, without any petition against it, or any letter, or other coniniunication of that character, from any quarter. The objection is only thought serious when the manufacture of political capital has become a necessity to thf; opponents of the Government. . ' , CONSOLIDATED ACT, 1886. The Act of 1886 was an Act which consolidated all the enactments n force respecting Separate Schools, including those which had been 17 passed before Confederation, and made a few ainejidments. This Bill' also passed without objection. It does not appear to have hitherto occurred to any one that capital may be made out of any of the new amendments which this Act made ; but an argument has been put forth with great emphasis, founded apparently on the intended eliect of transferring to the Consolidated Act two sections in the Md law, one from the law before Confederation, being section 41 in the Consolidated Act, and the other from the Act of 1881, being section 52 of the Consolidated Act. One or other of these sections has, indeed, been spoken of as new law, though the one was more than twenty years old, and the other was passed live years ago. I have remarked upon the object and meaning of these provisions of law as they stood at the time of being passed. There is nothinj,' in the Consolidated Act which indicates an intention to place them on a different footing, The old enactments being merely copied into the new Act, they will be construed by the courts in the same way. Even if they had appeared in the Consolidated Act for the first time their eflfect would have been the same. The section which provides foi: the notice in order to exemption from the payment of Public t^ichool rates would beheld, on well settled pi-inciples of legal interpretation, not to apply to cases provided for by the subsequent section, namely, where the property was in poAsession of a tenant of a different creed from his landlord. The 52nd section in such a case expressly provides that if by default of the tenant or occupant to pay the taxes, the owner who is compelled to pay toe same shall determine wheth r they shall be paid for Public or Separate .School purposes. If it had occurred to anybody while the Consolidated Act was pas.sing through the House that there could be a doubt as to this being the effect of the two clauses as they stand, the doubt could easily have been removed, and would have been removed, by the addition of three or four words. But there was really no ground for such a doubt, and nobody suggested it ; a different construction is only insisted upon now in order 'to afford an apparent ground for a political cry. BIBLES IN SCUOOLS. It is further stated, and with great emphasis of assertion, that through Roman Catholic influence we have excluded the Bible from the schools, and have substituted for it extracts prepared under the influ- ence of the Romish Church. But this whole story is a misrepresenta- tion. The fact is, tliat from the time I came into office there was no movement whatever on the part of the Archbishop to change the regu- lations wliich had previously existed respecting the Bible in the schools. What has been done has been done at the instance of the Protestant Churches and them only, and to carry out so far what they were under- stood to desire. On this point I need do no more than refer to the speech of the Minister of Education at his nomination on the 11th October last, and to the recently published letters of the Rev. Dr. Dewart and the Rev. Principal Caven. The Archbishop had nothing whatever to do with the preparation of the extracts, and 1 am informed that, 18 without any design, tho proofs were sent to most of the Protestant clergymen 2i hours before they were sent to the Archbishop. MARMION AND COLLIER's niSTORY. Other pretended examples of undue influence of the OhunOi of Rome are the pt'rmission given in 1882 to pupils to bo examined in Gold- smith's "Traveller," instead of Sir Walter Scott's "Maruiion," for High School examinations, and the adoption of another English history for Collior^s, in consequence of these two books containing matter offensive to Roman Catholics. If the representation made to the Minister of Education about " Marmion " was an " interference " on the part of the Romish clergy with the Public Schools, it is the only case of such " iuterfert'uce " since there has been a Minister or Education. As regards Collier's History, a committee was appointcid by the old Council of Public Instruction to strike out offensive passages, the committee consisting of Mr. Goldwin Smith and the Archbishop. I am informed that they made some progress in this work, but the Council came to an end before their work was completed. REV. DR. RYKUSOn's RULE, The deference shown to Roman Catlxolic feelings in regard to " Collier's History "and *' Marmion" is spoken of as if such deference were a new thing in regard to the text-books used in the schools of the Prov- ince ; tlie facL is that such had always been the rule before (Confedera- tion and since. It had always been thought to be, on the whole, in the general interest to leave the facts which bear on the differences between Protest:ints and Roman Catholics to be communicated elsewhere than in the Public Schools. This was the policy pursued by Rev. Dr. Ryerson during the many years that he was Stiperintendv.it of Education, and the object was secured in his time by the rule of requiring for all text books lh(j approval of the Council of Public Instruction. Dr. Power, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, was the lirst Chairman of that Council, having been appointed in 1846. His successor, Bishop - Charbonnel, was a member of the Council from 1850 to 1862 ; and Arch bishop Lynch was a member from that time laitil 1875, iiud took an active part at all its meetings. The (Council was discontinued by the Act, passed 10th FeVjruary, 1876, which provided for a Minister of Education ; and a committee of the Executive Council was by the same Act substituted for the Council of Public Instruction, The connection of the Roman Catholic hierarchy with our Public Schools wa.s, therefore, put an end to V)y the present Government ten years ago, and has not existed since that time. In Dr. Ryerson's report for 1864 he referred to the fact of the series of Irish National text books having been " revised by members, Pro- testant and Roman Catholic, of the National Board of Education, and every sentence omitted to which any member of the Board objected," as one of the special reasons for the adoption of the series in this Province. In the proceedings of the Council, 19th May, 1875, the last year of Dr. Ryerson's superintendency, I find a minute of Council on the same sub- 19 ject, 8ij