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Mtpt, pitttt, chtrtt, ttc. mty bt flimtd tt difftrant rtduction rttiot. Thott too itrgt to bt tntirtiy included in ont txpotura tra flimtd Iraginning in tht upptr Itft htnd comtr, itft to right tnd top to bottom, tt mtny framtt tt rtquirtd. Tht following ditgrtmt illuttrttt tht mtthod: l.tt ctrttt, pitnchtt, ttbittux. ttc, ptuvtnt Atrt filmtt i dtt ttux dt rtduction diffArtntt. Lortqut it document ett trop grtnd pour Atrt rtproduit tn un ttui clicht, ii ttt film* A ptrtir dt I'tngit tuptrltur gtucht, dt gtuclit A droitt, tt dt iMut tn btt, tn prantnt it nombrt d'imtgtt ntcttttirt. Ltt ditgrtmmtt tuivtntt iiiuttrant it mtthodt. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 #= CONTROVERSY :/> BETWEEN DE. RYERSOK^, CHIEF SUPERINTENDEISIT 03P EDUCATION IN UPPER CANADA; ^ AXD REV. J. M. BRUYERE, RECTOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S CATHEDRAL, TORONTO, ON THE APPROPllI ATION OF THE FREE SCHOOLS v». STATE SCHOOLS ; PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND COMMON SCHOOI-S, Attacked and Defended. REV. J. M. BRUYERE FOR THE PROSECUTION. DR. RYERSON FOR THE DEFENCE. TO WHICH IS APPENDED A LETTER PROM THE RIGHT REV. DR. PiNSONEAULT, BISHOP OF LONDON, C. W., TO REV. J. M. BRUYERE, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE LATE OON- TROVBRSY WITH DR. RYERSON. ,#.• i mi 1 > 4 ^!l! TORONTO: LEADIB AND PATRIOT STBAU-PSBSB PRINT, KWa BTRDT BABT. 1867. INTRODUCTION. i.-^ By a recent Act of the Legislature, the monies derived from the sale of the Lands called Clergy Reserves, were placed at the disposal of the different municipalities in the country, with a certain restriction — that they might be ex- pended for any object to which the municipalities have authority to apply other monies, and for no other. For the information of those who may not be acquainted with the subject, it may be necessary briefly to state what the Clergy Reserves were. In 1791 the Imperial Parliament passed an Act, known as the Canada Bill, which was to serve as the future Constitution of the Province. Among other things, this Constitutional Act provided that one-seventh of all the public lands granted were to be " reserved" for the support and maintenance of a Protestant Clergy. This reservation did not constitute an act of appropriation. There seems to have been an intention on the part ef the British Govern- ment, that the lands so reserved, should be afterwards ap- propriated as endowments of Church of Eugland Rec- tories. This, however, was never done except to a very limited extent ; and the lands so appropriated ceased, to be treated as Clergy Reserves. The whole amount of lands thus reserved was about three millions of acres, of which some two-thirds lay in Upper Canada. In 1819, the Im- perial Government instructed the Colonial Government of 'I' n m i M 1 Upper Canada to erect a Church of England Rectory in every township : their endowment, not immediately provided for, was to be a matter for future consideration. For some reason, never explained, the Imperial instructions were dis- regarded. They were repeated in 1826, with this addition, that the endowment of the rectories was to accompany their erection. Again these instructions were disregarded ; and this time the explanation is not so far to seek ; for previous to that period an agitation on the subject of the Clergy Re- serveb had begun to be excited. The attempt to collect tythes for the Church of England, in Upper Canada, had failed ; and it began to be apparent that the scheme of en- dowing rectories would be equally unpopular. The Church of Scotland made a claim to part of the Reserves ; founding it on the allegation that by the act of union between Eng- land and Scotland, the latter country was entitled to an equality of rights with the former, and alleging that the Church of Scotland was, equally with the Church of Eng- land, a national Church. The legal question being submit- ted to the law oflScers of the Crown, in England, the claim of the Chui'ch of Scotland was admitted ; but by the same decision all other religious denominations, except these two, were excluded from all right of participation. This tended to array all the other religious bodiei against the Reserves ; and the feeling soon assumed a popular shape. So early as 1831, the Imperial Government was obliged to declare its abandonment of the reserved lands, and its desire that they should revert to the general demesne of the Crown. But as the Legislative Council, a body then nominated by the Crown, was averse to the popular feeling on this sub- ject, any settlement was prevented for many years. The Legislative Assembly declared in favor of devoting these reserved lands to general public purposes, no less than sixteen times ; and as often was that House thwarted by the opposition of the other Branch of the Legislature. At length, in 1839, Lord Sydenham, with the indomitable en- ergy which characterized his administration, procured the passage of a bill, by a majority of one, for distributing the proceeds of these lands among certain religious denomina- tions. But although the greater share had fallen to the Church of England, the Anglican Archbishop of Canter- bury was not pleased with the disposition made ; and he brought on Lord John Russell's Government to bear such a pressure as compelled the Imperial Government to alter the bill to his liking. This was called a settlement of the question ; but it was so unpopular in Canada that it could not be maintained. In the present Legislature, it was found that out of 130 members, less than twenty were favorable to the maintenance of that act. Leave having been ob- tained from the Imperial Parliament, a bill to dispose of the question was introduced in the Canadian Legislature, mak- ing the disposition of the lands already stated. The time had come for distribiiting a first instalment of the monies derived from this fund, amounting to some £300,000, to the municipalities ; when Dr. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education, for Upper Canada, issued a circular, calling upon the municipalities to make a par- ticular disposition of the funds — to apply them to school purposes and the purchase of township libraries — Rev. M. Bruyeice objected to that recommendation, from a belief that its adoption would be unjust to the Roman Catholic body ; and thus the following controversy commenced. Of the merits of that controversy the public will be enabled to judge, since Rev. M. Bruyere has acceded to the appeals which had been publicly made, to allow the wliole correspon- dence to be printed in pamphlet form. Dr. Ryerson declined to answer all appeals of this kind, or to accept the invitation to join in the publication of the correspondence ; and Rev. M. Bruyere was induced to assume the whole charge of the publication. ii ' :■ t ii- I r i' ■31 '5 iff? lP t..f. /. '»'i*. '* :,„/n i^ '•«>'k?:»T;j:' i ■'"ri'v M',!:a i^ . ) v; ,! 'I '1 jrjT^ THE ) ! BRUYERE RYERSONIAN CORRESPONDENCE. (From the Leader, February 12.) As generally happens in such cases, the admirers of both combatants in the late controversy regarding the proper mode of disposing of the Clergy Keserves monies by the municipalities, claim a wreath of laurel for their champion. In this state of the case, several correspondents have sue- gested that the whole correspondence, including Dr. RyersoivB circular, should be published in pamphlet form. JFor our part, we think the suggestion a capital one ; and we cannot see why eithei* of the controversialists should decline to accede to it. To do so, would, indeed, show a want of pluck; a con- sciousness that the verdict of the public would go in favor of his antagonist. "What says the Rev. M. Bruyere to the proposal? What says the fighting official ? (^From the Leader, Februa)y 13.) The Rev. Mr. Bruyere accedes to the proposal made by us at the suggestion of several correspondents, that the whole of the correspondence between himself and Dr. Ryerson should be published in pamphlet form. The whole thing therefore rests with Dr. Ryerson ; will he "foce the music ?" At present he has the advantage over his opponent, that several of his letters have been published by journtils which did not give a word of the other side of the question. But he is bound to act manfully in the matter ; and let the whole thing go to the public, so that every one can judge for himself as to the merits of the controvei'sy. To refuse this would be a most Immiliating acknowledgment; and one which we take it even Dr. Ryerson cannot afford to make. 8 THE RYERSON-BRUYERE CORRESPONDENCE. f? (to the editob of the "leadeb.'*) Deab Sib, — Your BUffgestions of this day's Leader meet my full approbation. I take great pleasure in informing you that, bo far as I am concerned, the correspondence lately carried on, in the columns of the Leader^ between Dr. Ryerson and myself, may be turned to such use as you think best. In accedmff to your proposal, J am not aware, I beg leave to say, that I am actuated by the frivolous desire of winning to myself the high-sounding title of Oontrovertist. But I think it quite right that the public should have an op- portunity of contrasting, at one glance, the respective argu- ments of the contending parties, on a subject of such vital importance as that of the appropriation of the Clergy Re- serve Funds, connected as it is, with the still more impor- tant question of Common and Separate Schools. I hope my worthy antagonist of the Education Office, will not retuse to those who may have read only one side of the question, the pleasure of seeing the other side also. By allowing his brilliant effusions to come in close contact, in Pamphlet form, with the productions of that new foreign element^ he will enable the public to form a correct estimate of both. If my opponent comes off victorious, as he anticipates, I will take pleasure in adding a fresh leaf to the laurels destined to encircle his noble brow. Should the public, contrary to his expectation, decide against him, he is too just, too high- minded, I am sure, not to bow down his venerable head, in respectful acquiescence, to the virdict of such a respectable and impartial Jury as public opinion. With a view, therefore, of complying with the very reasonable anticipations of the public, m a controversy which has dieted so much interest, I respectfully invite my distinguished antagonist to join with me in publishing, in a pamphlet form, the whole correspondence which has lately taken place between his reverence and myself, including his Circular to the Municipalities, together with the different replies and rejoinders on both sides. As to the expenses attending the publication, though my salary is by far much smaller than that f the Chief Superintendent of Education, I am quite willing to bear an equal share. 9 Hoping that my worthy friend will bo ])lea6ed to give to the public, in to-morrow's Leader^ a favorable answer to your very Bonsible suggestionp. I i'omain, dear Sir, Yours truly, J. M. BRUYERE. St. Michael's Palace, Toronto, Fob'y 12, 1857. ' ii {From the Leader, February 19.) THE BRUYERE-RYERSON CORRESPONDENCE. Several days have now elapsed since wo, acting upon the suggestions of correspondents, called upon Dr. Ryerson and the Rev. M. Brutere to publish entire, in pamphlet form, the correspondence which has passed between them on the subject of the distribution of the Clergy Reserves monies. Rev. M. Brutere, the very next day, addressed a letter to this journal stating his willingness to comply with the sug- gestion. But, so lar. Dr. Ryerson has given no response, has made no sign. His silence seems to imply that he would prefer to nave matters stand as they are. Several of his letters have been published in journals which .did not give a word of the other side; and it would seem that he is satisfied with this unfair advantage, and is afraid to have the whole correspondence go before the public in pamphlet form. If so, the fact shows no little moral cowardice ; and in any event he will not gain by this flinching from the or- deal of public opinion founded on the knowledge of the whole controversy ; for we learn that the Rev. M. Brittese has himself undertaken the publication of the entire correa- pondence. It will form the groundwork for a just opinion on the merits of the case ; and the result, whatever it be, must be far more satisfactory than the formation of an opinion upon either half or a detached portion of the cor- respondence. ■ ! 1 *'■ I 'A 10 THE RYERSON-BKUYERE CORRESPONDENCE. (to the editor of thh "leader".) III ' 1 1 Dear Sir, — In compliance with your suggestion of the 12th inst., I hastened, on the same day, to inlorm you that I acceded to the proposal made by you, that the whole of the late correspondence between Dr. Ryerson and myself should be published in pamphlet form. I invited, at the same time, my distinguished antagonist to join with me in bearing an equal share of the expenses attending the publi- cation. Several days have now elapsed since the suggestions were made public. Hitherto nothing has issued from the Education Office to indicate what course the Chief Superin- tendent of Education intends to pursue. If his stern silence on the matter is to be taken as a criterion of his feelings, I am inclined to tliink that he does not approve ot the publi- cation of our Correspondence. Of his reasons for objecting to it. Dr. Ryerson is, doubtless, the best judge. But, as I have Tny reasons for acting differently, I beg leave to inform you and the public, that 1 take upon myself the risk and ex- pense of the publication. You are hereby authorized to go to work, at once, and publish, in pamphlet form, the whole correspondence between Dr. Ryerson and myself, including his Circular to the Municipalities. The noble letter ao- di'essed to me by His lordship Bishop Pinsoneault of Lon- don, C. W., and bearing on the same subject, must also be inserted in the pamphlet. I trust that those who have taken such an interest in the controverey, will not forsake me in the hour of need. For this purpose, I appeal, through the columns of your excellent journal, to the public at large, and especially to the clergy of all denominations and book- sellere, for their co-operation in the circulation of the pamphlet, as soon as it is issued from the Press. You will oblige me by writing, yourself, an introduction to it, with a short notice on th'3 nature of the Clergy Reserves, for the benefit of those who may not be conversant with the question. I remain, Dear Sir, '■ Tours truly, J. M. BRUYERE. ToBOsTO, February 19th, 1867. \\ M CIRCULAR. To the Heads of City^ Town, Township and Village Mimi- cvpalities in Ujyper Canada^ on the appj^qpriation of the Clergy Beserves, Sir, — Bv the late settlement of the Clergy Reserve question, a considerable sum of money is placed at the disposal of each Municipality in Upper Canada ; and I take the liberty of addressing to you and to the Council over which you have been chosen to preside, a few words on the expenditure of the money whicn the Act of tht Legislature has placed under your control. I beg, therefore, to submit to your favourable considera- tion, ^^ether the highest interests of your Municipality will not be best consulted by the application of the whole, or at least a part of that sum, for procuring Maps. Charts, Globes &c., for your Schools, and books of useful and entertaining reading for all classes and ages in your Municipality, fi* you apply the money to general purposes, it will amount to comparatively little, and the relief or advantades of it will scarcely be perceived or felt. If you apply it to the pay- ment of salaries of Teachers, it may lessen for the present the amount of your Municipal School rates ; but it will add nothing to your Educational resources, and will be of mo- mentary advantage. But if you apply it to furnish your Schools with Maps, Globes, &c., and your constituents with Libraries, you will not only confer a benefit which will be felt in future years, in all your Schools, by all your children, and all classes of your population, and that without imposing a six pence rate upon any one, but will double your re- sources for these most important purposes. The Legislative I I. ill 1M I r 13 Stliool Grant is apportioned to each Municipality according to poptflatioriy and is not. therefore, increased or lessened by any application you may make of your share of the Clergy Reserve Fund. But the Legislative Grant for School Ap- paratus and Public Libraries is apportioned to each Muni- cipality according to the amount provided in such Munici- pality for the same purposes. In applying your Clergy Keserve Money, therefore; to these purposes, you double the amount of it / and confer upon the rising generation and the whole community advantages which will be gratefully felt in all time to come, and develope intellectual resources, which, in their turn, will tell powerfully upon the advance- ment of the country in knowledge, wealth and happiness. Some Municipalities have anticipated what I now venture to suggest, by resolving to apply their share of the Clergy Keserve Funds to the purposes above mentioned. The first application I received was from a comparatively new and poor Townsuip, whose share of the Fund in question amounted to £200 ; the whole of which the Council nobly determined to apply for procuring Maps for the Schools and Public Libraries for the Township, and sent a deputa- tion to Toronto to select the Books, Maps, &c. I had great pleasure in adding other £200 to their appropriation, and thus every School in the Township is furnished with Maps and other requisites of instruction, and every family with books for reading, and that without a farthing s tax upon any inhabitant. It is delightful to think of a Township whose Schools are thus furnished with the best aids to make them attractive and efficient, and whose families are thus provided (especially during the long winter evenings) with the society of the greatest, best, and most entertaimng men (through their works) of all countries and ages I Several Cities, Towns, and other Township Municipalities have adopted a similar course, some of them appropriating large sums than that v/hicli I have mentioned. The voice of the people of Upper Canada has long been lifted up in favor of appropriating the proceeds of the Clergy Reserves to educational purposes. Now that those proceeds are placed in their own liands through thisir mumcipal re- present-^tives, it is as consistant as it is patriotic to carry out their often avowed wishes ; and I know of no way in which it can be done so effectually as that, by which the amount 18 of it may in the firet place, be doubled, and in the second place, be 80 applied as to secure permanent benefit to every pupil and every family in each Mnnicipulity in Upper Canada. If the principal of the Fund were invented, and the interest accruing therefrom be annually sipplied, as I have taken the liberty to suggest, then ample means would be provided for supplying m all future .ime every School and every family in Upper Caimda with the means of in- creasing the intere^^t and usefulness of the one, and the intel- ligence and enjoyment ot the othfr, to an indefinite extent, and that without even being under the necessity of levying a rate or imposing a tax for that purpose. Sucli an invest- ment would be the proudest monument of the intelligence and large-heart edness of the grown-up po|)ulati(>n, and confer benefits beyond conception upon the rising and future gene- ration of the country. I have, heretofore, furnished each Municipal Council with a copy of the Catalogue ot Books for Public Libra- ies, and I herewith transmit a copy of the Catalogue ot Maps and other School Apparatus provided by this Department, together with the printed blank forirs of application ; and I shall be happy to atlbrd every aid and faeility in my powei*, as w.ll as make the apportionments above intimated, towards accomplishing an object, or rather objects, so noble in themselves, and so varied and permanent in their influence and advantages. I will thank you to have the goodness to lay this Circular before your Municipal Council, and to let me know as early as convenient the decision of your Council on the snbject, which I have taken the liberty to bring under your notice, in order that I may know what apportionment* and prov - sions may be requJBite to meet the aj/propriations, and com- ply with the wishes of the various M.unicipalitie3. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your fellow-laborer, and faithful servant, E. RYERSON. Education Offick, Toronto, 15th Nov., 1866. iii , '■ . i-f. if! t( 14 WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH THE CLERGY RESERVE FUNDS ? '.4 TO THE CONDUCTORS OF THE PRESS IN CANADA. Gentlemp:n, — I have before me a "Circular" addressed, by Dr. liyerson, Chief Superintendent of Schools in Upper Canada, to the heads of City, Town, Township, and Yillago Municipalities, in this section of the Province, on the ap- propriation of the Clergy Eeserve Funds. In this letter, the distinguished head of the Educational Department, takes upon himself to deliver a lecture to the Municipalities of the upper section of the Province, on the expenditure of the money accruing from the secularized Clergy Reserves. The Rev. gentleman submits to the favor ahle consideration of the Municipalities^ whether their hiahest interests will not he best consulted hy the ajyplicatimi of the wholcy or at least, a jpart of that suni^j or 'procuring Majps^ Charts, Globes, etc., etc, for their Schools, and hooks of useful and entertaining reading for all classes and ages in their municipality. On the propriety of thus intruding an unasked advice on our various Municipalities, I will not attempt to express an opinion. The worthy Doctor may be actuated by consi- derations which may plead as an excuse for his meddling interference in the concerns of others. I may be permitted, however, to say, en passant, that our Municipal bodies, being composed of citizens of the\ highest respectability by their moral character, education, and standing in society, should be the best and sole judges of the most suitable appropria- tion of the money which the Act of the Legislature has placed under their control. Had the Rev. gentleman al- lowed our Municipalities to follow, in this, their own judgment and discretion, I would have considered it imperative, on my part, an humble Priest of the Catholic Church, to remain silent. Having now before me the example of the distin- fuished Chief Superintendent of Schools in Upper Canada, may be permitted to venture to suggest some considera- tions on the same subject. Our Legislature, in settling, two years ago, that long-pend- ing and much vexed question of the Clergy Reserves, meant to withdraw from the private use of one portion of our com- munity funds, which they considered should be applied to general purposes, and to the benefit of all Presbyterians, f 16 Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, as well as Members of the Church of England. Tliey designed to share amongst the whole community, the immense resources which were to accrue from the sale of landed estate heretofore enjoyed by a small class of Her Majesty's subjects, the clergy of the Church of England. They proposed to tliemselres to re- move for ever from our midst, a fruitful source of discord and bitter dissension. Whether the act of the Provincial Par- liament should be looked upon as a measure of distributive justice, or an act of high-handed robbery, I am not prepared to express an opinion. Bearing this in mind, I may be per- mitted to ask, whether it is right and proper now to appro- priate to one portion of our people funds which the ^ fcgislature intended for the eeneral use and benefit of all ' citizens, without distinction ot creed or nationality. ■^ I beg leave, in turn, to submit to the favorable considera- tiott of the public, whether the end of the Legislature will be obtained by the application of the proceeds of the sale of the Clergy Keserves to the purposes mentioned by Dr. Ryerson, viz : to the furnishing Common Schools with Maps, Globes, and other School Apparatus — and getting up Public Libraries ? Pray, what are these Educational institutions which Dr. Ryei-son proposes to endow with the proceeds of the Clergy Reserves Fund ? We look around, and behold huge and palace-like fabrics, stigmatized by public opinion as godless schools. What are these stately edifices, rearing up their proud turrets over the breadth and length of the land ? What are these gigantic mansions which first meet the eye of the traveller on enteriug our city ? Let the truth be pro- claimed again for the hundredth time. They are Common Schools, built with Catholic as well as Protestant money. They are houses of education from which religion is banished, where the elements of Christianity cannot be inculcated to the rising youth, where the child of Christian parents must be taught practically that all religious systems are equally pleasing, or rather equally indifferent in the sight of God, be he a believer in the immutable decrees of eternal repro- bation or a follower of the imposter Joe Smith. These halls of learning, already so richly supplied with the most elegant School Apparatus, are shut up against one-third, or at least one-fourth of the population of Upper Canada. Yes, a Ca- tholic parent, who values his faith above all wordly advan- tages, and who rightly considers religion as the basis of all b2 I ! • i i .; i 11 f! ' I education, and the life of man upon earth, would rather doom his child to tlie liorrors of the most degrading ignor- i ■fi. ■■'■* t f ! I rations, both Cntholics and Protestants, hooks of useful and enfeHahiing reading : viz : books calculated to corrupt the budding mind of youth with the venom of intidelitv, revile C'holicity, insult the ministers of a church of two hundred milMon-* of human bein^, misrepresent their doctrines and p. act ces. In these bo^l^s (f useful and entertaining read- %iig the most siicred tenets of our Holy Reb'gidu are attack- ed with a virulence and bitterness worthy of a Julian tlie apo-tate. Tlu re, Catholicity is exhibited in a most odious form ; then this phantom, tlie offspring of a heated imagina- tion, or ])erhaps of a malicious l)eart, is assailed witl. the most violent abuse, it is attacked with the powerful arms of ridicule and low ribaldry. In these works, recommended by Dr. Ryerson, Itooks of useful and entertaining reading^ the morals, character, customs, and condition of Catholic countries, are depicted by ignorant or pi'ejudiced scribblers, who are about, as compttent to write on Catholic nations, and Ca'holic usages, as a New Zealander who would attempt to give a correct narratis e of the mannei*s and customs of England, which he has never seen or heard of. In some of the books which are to make up our public libraries, for the use of the rising youth of Upper Canada, re'igious subjects are handled witli the most amazing confidenc-i by audacious tyros as inadequate to the task they have undertaken, as the blind man who sets himself up as a lecturer upon colors, or one deaf and dumb who ventures to give his views on the theory of sound. In a word, to foster an anti-christian spirit, hatred and animosity, to sow the seeds of dissention and religious discord among the citizens of the same com- munity ; such are the detestable purposes to which Dr. Ryerson would have our Municipalities to apply part of the money, which the act of the legislature has placed under their control. Let those who relish these hooks (f useful and entertaining reading, purchase them with their own money. But, in the name of justice and common sense, let not public money and public funds, destined for general purposes, be squandeied away in increasing the power of a contrivance already ]>roductive of so much mischief. I conclude with express ng a sincere hope that the good sense, honesty, and liberality of our Municipalities in Uj^per Canada will detVat the snares (»f the enemy of peace and good feeling in this section of the Province, by ajjplying tne funds placed into their hands to general purposes, and 21 to the common use of all, Catholics as well as Protestants, since they are all members of the same community, ana have an equal riffht to its resources. Let these resoun es with which a kind Providence has blessed us, be spent in improving our Cities, Towns, and Villages, in draini g and macadamizing our streets, digging sewers, wliere wanted, in founding institut^'ons of general benerieence, such as com- mon baths for the use of poor people, in establishing general dispensaries, where the sick of the poor class may procure whatever medicine may be necessary, in securing in each Ward of our large Cities the services oif one or two Physici- ans, who would attend the most urgent cases of destitution. Let a part of the Clergy Reserve Funds be employed in erecting shelters for the aged, the iniirm, the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant. Many of our Houses of In- dustry are in a lamentable state. In several Towns, and even Cities, the destitute and the poor are yet without shelter. When the famishing widow will appeal to your sympathy, will you reach her a Globe to appease her hun- ger ? When the half-naked orphan will stand before you, will you give him a map to cover his shivering limbs ? When the anxious immigrant will reach your shores, will you receive him w^ith a chart to rest his wearied body upon? When sickness and pestilence breaks out in your midst, will you be able to relieve suffering humanity by scattering- around you books of useful and entertaining reading, such as Doctor Ryerson suggests to purchase with : he money l^laced under your control ? Let me now, with due respect, put the question to the benevolent members of our Municipaliti':s : Will they be able to answer the numerous calls of humanity, to relieve so many sufferings, to provide for so many wants without large funds, and especially without increasing our taxes which are already enormous ? Let me then hope that the heads of our cities and towns will take better advice than that offered to them by the Chief Superintendent of Schools. Let each municipality, therefore, follow, in the use of their respective share of the Clergy Reserve Funds, their own judgment and discretion, without permitting themselves to be dictated to by the head of the educational department. Our worthy Chief Superintendent sees but one thing — his schools ; he thinks of nothing but his schools. During the day, all his thoughts are taken up with his schools. In the silence of b3 »l •r iii 23 the night, the success and prosperity of his scliools, inter- rupt his peace and shiinbers, anu rise up before hib vision. Are the fathers of our cities and towna, tlio heads of our municipalitits, to make tlieniselves rediculous because Doctor Ryeraon chooses to be so ? Are tliey to waste and squander away public money intended for general purposes, because the dictator of the scliools bids them to do so ? ISo : our people expect better things from those to whose keeping they have confided their welfare. They hope that they will be actuated but by one consideration, — tiie general good and utility of all; influenced but by one motive — love and good towards all. In conclusion, I beg leave to state, that I will consider it as a favor if the Press in Toronto, and elsewhere, do me the honor of inserting in their columns the above views, imper- fect as they are. The subject is of the utmost importance and should be placed before the public. On the conductors of a wise press, devolves the duty of enlightening public opinion. To the good sense and kind indulgence of the public I submit tliese considerations, and beg to subscribe myself, Tlieir humble servant, J. M. BRUYEKE. Toronto, Dec. 9, 1866. W nmi (From the Leader^ December 22, 1856.) How is it that Dr. Ryerson, usually ready to rush into print on the slightest pretext, has not favored the public with a reply to the Rev. Mr. Bruyere's suggestions as to the disposal of the Clergy Reserves monies? Is the usually belligerent Superintendent of Education becoming docile in these latter days ? Has he discovered that the Rev. Mr. Bruyere stands upon unassailable ground ; or that, although a Frenchman he writes better English than this official, and would not be a very convenient antagonist. People are asking one another these questions. In the mean time, the Press is discussing the question according to the particular predilections of the writers or the parties to which they be- long. Several journals have had articles adverse to the views of the Rev. Mr. Bruyere, without reproducing his letter ; thus depriving their readers of an opportunity of judging for themselves on the merits of the question. 23 to the editor op the *' leader." Education Office, Toronto, 22nd December, 1856. Sir, — III to-day's Leader, you severely blame me for not having replied to the letter of <^he Rev. J. M. Bruycre, which appeared in your paper of the 10th instant ; I herewith transmit my reply for insertion in The Leader^ at your earliest convenience. You will see from what follows, that you are mistaken as to the reasons of my tardiness in replying to attacks of Mr. Bruyere ; that it has been from the extravagance and puerility of Mr. Bruyere's letter, rather than from the cogency of his facts and arguments, that I have deferred noticing it until to-day. I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient servant, E. RYERSON. Dr. Ryerson's Reply to the Rbv. J. M. Bruyere. When I first read in The Leader oi the 10th inst., the lelter of the Rev. J. M. Bruyere (Roman Catholic Priest in this city) addressed to the " conductors of the Press in Canada," criticising a circular which I recently addressed to Heads of of Municipalities on the application of the Clergy Reserve Fund, and assailing our Common School system generally, I thought his statements were too improbable and his objections too often refuted to require any notice from me. But I find by remarks in The Leader and other papei-s, as well as by observations in private circles, that I am expected to reply to this anti-public school champion ; and I am inducea to comply with wishes thus entertained chiefly by the considerations that Mr. Bruyere appears as the representa- tive and organ of a party, and that the statements of his letter afford me another opportunity of exhibiting the fair and generous principles of our public school system, and of exposing the unfairness and baselessness of the objections urged against it by the party of Mr. Bruyere. 2. lie perscmalities of Mr. Bruyere manifest the favorite weapon of his party in all controversies, and require little notice. When a law of the land requires the Chief Superin- tendent ot Schools, among other things, " to employ all lawful means in his power to promote the establishment of f mm 24 1i :'i t m i^ii' school libraries for general reading," " to provide the schools with maps and apparatus," and " colKot and diffuse useful information on the subject of education generally," Mr. Bruyere shows as little regard for law as for good taste, in charging nie with indecent presumption and intrusion, in snbmirting lo the Municij)al Councils tlie suggestions con- tained in my circular, and more especially when I jiioposed to add " to each municipal appropiation, one hundred per cent." out of grants which the liberality of the Legislature had placed at my disposal for the very purpose of establish- ing public libraries and pioviding schools with maps and apparatus. But with as little consistency as logic, Mr. Bruyere denounces my example in intruding upon the public on the subject of education, and yet pleads that very example for his doing the same thing ! 3. Mr. Bruyere remarks " that our Municipal bodies being composed of citizens of the highest respectability by their moral character, their education and standing in society, should be the best and sole judges of the most suitable appropriation of the money which the Act of the Legislature has placed under their control." I quite agree in this extorted tribute to the intelligence and patriotism of our Municipal Councils ; and it is on this very ground that I have proposed fiom time to time the provisions of laws to invest them with such large and responsible powers in regard to the education of the youth of the country. I am glad that the party ot Mr. Bruyere has at length learned to ap- preciate the Municipal bodies more highly than recently', when they declared them too ignorant and bigoted to deter- mine the boundaries of separate school sections, or appoint suj)erintenden:s to divide the school moneys between the separate and public schools. On account of these clamors of Mr. Briiyere's party against the Municipal Councils, the division of school monies between the public and separ;ite schools was transferred from the Municipal authoiities to the Chief Superintende t, and the Separate School Act takes away the determining of the boundaries separate school sec- tions from the Municipal Councils altogether — making the boundaries of a sei)arato school section m variably the same as those of the common school section within the limits of which the separate school is esiablished: whereas formerly the Municipal Councils, in compliance with the wishes of supporters ot Separate Schools, often i xtended the limits of u 4< I I 25 Separate School sections over three or four Common School sections. It appears to me now that Mr. Bniyere's party begiu to think more favorably of Municipal bodies than heretofore ; and th^se bodies will doubtless appreciate his compliments. 4. T!ie professed subject of Mr. Bruyere's letter is a two- fold protest — one against the application of any part of the Clergy Reserve Fund for the purchase of school maps and apparatus ; the other against its application for the purchase of public Libraries. 1 will examine the grounds on which he professes to base each of these protests. 5. He protests against any part of the Clergy Reserve Fund being applied to the purchase ef school maps and apparatus, because the Separate Schools are excluded from any participation in it for that purpose. He says, " the " Catholic Separate Schools too and more by far than the " Common Schools, stand in the greatest need of maps, " charts, globes, and other school apparatus. We are at " once met by the liberal and learned gentleman spying, " the law is in your way ; there is a clause in the law for " the secularization of the Clergy Reserves, piecluding " especially Separate Schools from any share in the distribu- " tie a of these funds." Mr. B. proceeds to charge me with ha\ ing suggested this clause of the law for the secularization of the Clergy Reserves, and then piteously exclaims: " Common Schools must be furnished abundantly with maps, " charts, globes, &c., &c. Let the benighted catholic boy, " and catholic girl, learn astronomy by looking up to the " stars, and geography by taking an easy trip around the " world." Now the simple fact is, that I not only never suggested one clause, phrase, or woi'd of the law for the S(icularization of the Clergy Reserves, but there is no restrictive clause whatever, such as Mr. Bruyere asserts, though municipalities in Lower Canada are precluded by an act passed last session from raising anything for the support of dissentient Schools. The Separate Schools in Upper Canada have precisely the same facilities for providing them- selves with maps, charts, globes, &c., as the Common Schools ; and supporters of Separate Schools in Toronto, Kinirj^ton, Hamilton, London, Chatham, Brantford, Niagara, Barrie, Peterboro', Prescott, and other places, have availed themselves of the lacilities for procuring maps, charts, globes, &c., at this department, and to each of them I have appro- m ii 26 tioned one liundred per cent, on the sums advanced by them. And only a few days before Mr. Bniyere makes these asser- tions, the Iloman Catholic Bishop of London was shewn the depository of maps, globes, &c., by myself, and he ordered a number of them for liis Separate Schools, and to which I made the apportionment of one hundred per cent, on the amount advanced. C. Mr. Bruyere's statements in regard to looks in the official catalogue for Public Libraries are eq^ially unfounded and contrary to fact. While he exclaims against the histories of the "infidel Hume and the sceptical Gibbon," he ought to know that neither of these works is the Index J^xpurgatorus, while Archbishop VV^hatley's Logic, and Macaulay's History are thus distinguished. H'.^ says, " d'Aubigne's History of the Reformation^'' is in the catalogue, whicn is not the tact. He says there is no such book in the catalogue as " Cardinal "Wiseman's Lectures," — whereas Cardinal WisctnarCs Lec- tures on the connection between Science and lievealed Religion are on the official catalogue, as a^so Bossuet'e Universal History. Mr. Bruyere likewise says, " Li vain ** will we look in these public libraries for Lingard)s Anglo " Saxon Church; Gahan^s Church History ; tlistory of the " Church by Reeve," when each of these three histories is contained in the official catalogue ; as also Lingard's His- tory of England / Milvin's Bistory of England ; FredeCs Ancient History^ and Iredefs Modern History. These works were inserted in the catalogue three years ago on the recommendation of Bishop Charbonnel, to whom was com- municated the wish of the Council of Public Instruction that he would select the Koman Catholic Histories he judged best, as the Council, on the disputed ground of civil and ecclesiastical history, intended to select a certain number of standard works on each side — leaving to what Mr. Bruyere himself calls the "good sense, honesty, and liberality of the I Municipalities in tipper C nada," to procure which they might pleas .) ; and most of them have made a fair selection I of histories Irom both sides. Nay, when in London, in 1851, 1 making selections of library books for examination, and ar- 1 rangements for procuring them, I had (on the strength of a J letter of introduction from a high quarter) an interview with I Cardinal Wiseman, to whom I briefly explained the princi- 1 pies on which I proposed to promote the establishment of I Public School Libraries in Upper Canada— the avoidance of | em. iser- the ered ch I the the nded tories fhtto torus, istory )ry of e fact, rdinal s Lec- )ssiiet'8 11 vain \ Anglo !/ ofth^ pries is Jfredefs These ) on the as com- truction .judged jivil and imher of Bruyere tv of the ch they selection in 1851, , and ar- igth of a iriew with | leprinci-! hment of I ^idance of I 27 doctrinal and controversial works of any religious persuasion, * as between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and the selec- tion of the most popular works in all the departments of human knowledge, and I wished his Eminence to favor me with a lists of books and their publishers such as were ap- proved by his Church and in harmony with the character and objects of the proposed Canadian Libraries. Cardinal Wiseman frankly replied, that nearly all the books printed and sold by Catliolic publishers, were doctrinal expositions and vindications of the Catholic Church, or such as related to questions of difference between Catholics and Protestants, and therefore, not adapted to the non-controversial and non- denominational libraries I proposed to establish. Yet, after this, I applied to Bishop Charbonnel, notwithstanding his previous attacks on me, and inserted in the catalogue every historical library book recomended by him, and more than the histories enumerated by Mr. Bruyere. Thus throughout, have I pursued a fair, a kind and generous course towards Roman Catholics, and have treated them with a consideration which has not been shown to any Pro testant denomination, while their Charbonnels and Bruyeres have not ceased to requite me with evil for good, by their ceaseless misrepresentations, provocations and calumnies. 7. Mr. Bruyere represents me as the most inveterate enemy of Romanism in the country, and employing every means in my power to oppose and destroy it. What may be my views as to the pecnliar doctrines of Romanism and Protestantism, and of the comparative influence of each system upon religion, morals, intellect, social order, liberty, civilization, and man's well-being here and hereafter, is a matter which appertains to myself. I am responsible for my official acts ; and to them I appeal for a refutation of Mr. Bruy ore's imputations. And the reader will, perhaps, be surprised to learn, that at the very moment Mr. Bruyere thus assailed my official conduct, he had fresh in his recollection, if not in his possession, a practical refutation of his own charges, as I had, no longer ago than the 25th of November, addressed to him an official letter, (in reply to one from him,) every sentiment and word of which disproves his statements. As this correspondence illustrates the religious aspect of our Common School system, the extent to which Mr. Bruyere and his friends seek to avail themselves of it, and the fair- ness and '' liberality" with which I have interpreted and ap- i 1 I ;*]].;•■ 28 • plied the law in favor of Roman Catholics as well as Pro- testants,! append copies of it to this letter for publication, as the best answer to the attacks of Mv. Bruyere s })arty. This correspondence is only a spetimen of much of the same kind. I select it because it lias recently taken place with Mr. Bruyere himself. A man's necessities must be great and his scruples small indeed, when he conceals the truth and asserts tlie contrary. 8. In conclusion, 1 beg to add three or four general re- marks. The first is, that Mr. Bruyere's objections to the system of providing the schools, &c., and the municipalities with libraries, are perfectly frivolous and groundless, as in regard to these the Separate Schools and the Roman Catholics are placed upon precisely the same footing as the Public Schools and the other classes of the population. The books which Mr. Bruyere complains of as selectefl for the libraries are not in the catalogue at all, and the histories which he re- presents as having been omitted are all in the catalogue, while the culture of the vast and varied fields of human knowledge — common alike to the Romanist and Protestant — is provided for by the best translations of the famed authors of ancient Greece and Rome, by the best works on every branch of natural history, science, and philosophy, every department of human industry and enterprise, as also of genius, imagination and taste ; and from this extensive catalogue of some four thousand different works (several thousand volumes) selections are made at the uncontrolled discretion of those whom Mr. Bruyeie himself has pro- nounced "citizens of the highest rtspectability by their "moral character, education, and standing in society." My second remark, is Mr. Bruyere's statements and ob- jections, that religion is banished from our Common Schools and that they are infidel, are equally groundless and untrue, as may be seen by the appended correspondence, the official regulations, and hundreds of official returns. Tlie only ecclesiastic in Canada that ever proposed the "banishment of religion from our Common Schools was Bishop Charbonnel himself" In his oflicial correspondence with me, (printed by order of the Legislative Assembly,) letter dated 1st of May, 1852, the Bishop says — " I have said, that if the cat- " ecliism were sufficiently taught in the family or by the " pastor, so rare in this large Diocese — and If the mixed " schoolfi %oere exclusively for secular instruction^ and without :'«ii 29 " danger to our Catholics, in regard to morals, books and "companions the C itlulic Hiei'iirchy might tolerate it, as I " have done in certain localities, after having made due in- '*quiiy." I am quite aware of the object of thus wishing to banish all recognition of religion from our Common Schools, {iS well as Mr, Bruyere's object in asserting that such is now the fact. The same course was pursued by Bishop Hughes and his partizans in the city of New York some years since. Under the pretence of not permitting anything denominational in the schools, the Bible was taken out of the hands of the Protestant juipils, and every par- agraph and sentence, and eviry word, in which any reference to religion, or even the Divine Being was made in the school books, was crossed or blotted out. I have in my possession a specimen of this system of school-book emaculation in order to conciliate (as it was suppost^d) Bishop Hu2;he8 and his followei*8. Did it succeed ? C.ertairdy not. Tlie school being thus rendered so objectionable to larire classes of Pro- testants, it was thought they might be crushed altogether. Bishop Hughes now denounced tliem, as Mr. Rruyere does our Common Schools, as godUss, infidel, &c., and to be shunn- ed by all mankind as the deadly fountains of infidelity. I have endeavored to guard our school system and schools from a similar danger by equally protecting the rights and interest of both Protestant and homanist ; and this is the real ground of the alarm and denunciations of Mr. Bruyere and his con- try, who cla>s all as infidels that are not of their party, and all taaching infidelity which is not given under their di- rection. I will not consent to Mr. Bruyere's wresting from the hands of a Protestant child his Bible — the best charter of his civil liberty, as well as his best directory to heaven — any more than I will force it into the hands of the Roman Catholic child, or wrest from him his Catechism. Thus are the assertions of Mr. Bruyere and his confreres falsified, and their alien aggressions against our Common School system defeated. In the days of the venerable Bishop McDonell and the excellent Bishop Power, there was no such clamor against our Common Schools, they were liable to greater obj 'Ctions from that quarter than now; there were then no such classification and denunciation of all as infidels who do nor believe in the peculiar dogmas of the Church of Rome — no such efforts to separate Roman Catholics and their children from Protestants ; and the result was there were as ! t I! w Hi \ 30 ! Bound Roman Catholics then as now, and the Roman Ca- tholic children who were taught in the mixed schools are as good Roman Catholics as those who have been, or are, taught in the Separate Schools ; there were from six to twelve Roman Catholics, members of the less numerous Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, elected by the common suffrages of Protestant as well as Roman Catholic electors, insteadof one, as at the present time, and he elected by protesting iL^ainst Separate Schools and against priestly influence. Ten dldbes and their contributors could not do as much to impair the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, and blight the hopes of its members in regard to such distinctions and advantages as depend on the popular elective voice, as have the Oharbonnels and Bruyeres of that Church during the last five years. Though one may not regret this as a Pro- testant, yet every benevolent and patriotic mind must lament that there is any class of children or citizens in the country so isolated as to deprive them of the mental development and culture enjoyed by others, and cut off from the prospects of all public offices and distinctions depending upon the elective voice of the people to which intelligence, talent, in- dustry and worth are justly entitled, irrespective of religious sect or creed. It is to the Charbonnels and Bruyeres — the infusion of a new foreign element into our country since the days of Bishops McDonell and Power — that cnr Koman Ca- tholic fellow citizens owe the cloudy, civil and social pros- pects that are darkening the future of themselves and their children. The palace3ike schoolhouses, richly furnished with appropriate maps, charts, and other apparatus, which inflict such pangs in the heart of Mr. Bruyere, are so many voluntary creations of the people them.selves ; so many bright illustrations of a glorious progress, in which Roman Cauiolics, in common with all other classes, should, and may equally participate. * I shouid falsify the whole of my past life, and despise myself, were I not scrupulous to protect the rights and feelings of Roman Catholics equally with those of any, or all other classes of the community. It is certain of their own ecclessiastics who have inflicted upon them « urdens and disadvantages which their fathers liad not to •ear in the days of Bishops McDonell and Power ; who have )i ide that a mortal sin at a Municipal or School Election, which was formerly no sin at all ; who deny the ordinances for attending schools, an attendance at which was formerly are as taught twelve Lslative ffrages tead of ^testing 1. Ten impair gilt the 18 and IS have ng the a Pro- lament jountry opmeiit respects )on the lent, in- eligious es — the ince the nan Ca- ll pros- id their Tnished which ) many ► many Koman nd may ny past tect the li those certain )n them not to ho have llection, linances brmerly 31 encouraged, when those ichools were more exceptionable than at present. The conscientious convictions of which Mr. Bruyere talks, have been manufactured to order, as also the mortal sins which are charged upon certain Catholics. The authors of such violations of the rights of both God and man ; who treat the immortal minds of Koman Catholics just as the American slave-holder does the mortal bodies of his slaves ; who prohibit all mental development, all exercise of thought, all participation of any mental food, the reception of even a single ray of intellectual light, except at their own command, and under their own manipulation ; the authors of such an enslavement and extinction of all that is expansive and dig- nified and noble in man, are alone responsible, if the Roman Catholics and their decendents in Upper Canada become " Hewers of wood and drawers of water" to other classes of their fellow citizens, instead of standing upon equal footing with them and rivalling them in intelligence, mental power, enterprize, wealth, individual influence and public position. But the authors of this new crusade for the creation of a despotism in the State, and above the State, upon the wrecks of Canadian intellect and civilization, seems as reckless of principles as of consequences ; and to destroy our national school system every variety of method is employed : — At one time, all state provision for education is denounced, and that in the face of state endowments for education in Lower Canada — at another time it is insisted, not only that the state, but that even the municipaUties shall collect and pro- vide funds for the support of Roman Catholic schools, as may be demanded from time to time by their supporters, and that without any supervision or accountability such as is required in regard to public schools equally open to all classes of the community. At one time Members of Gov- ernment and of the Legislative are thanked and praised for having passed certain provisions of a Separate School law ; at another time the very same persons are denounced from the very same source for not having repealed those provi- sions. The assertion that our school sare infidel is an insult and libel upon the people of Upper Canada, who cherish and support them ; and the pretence is as idle as it is ground- less, that the pupil of a da^ school cannot be taught his cate- chism at all unless taught it during the six hours per day of the five days and a half of each week that he is in the school, when he is sixteen hours each day, and the whole of Sunday under the care of his parents and priest. 32 But as I have in my last annual report sufficiently vindi- cated the relif^ious and impartial character of our school system, I need not do so again in tliis place ; my present object is only to defend it and myself against the fresh at- tacks of Mr. Bruyere, and to expose the spirit and character of his semi official manifesto. My last remark is, that the same spirit wliich assails, mis- represents and calumniates our public school system, is equally hostile and cahimnious against everything British, from th'j throne down to the school municipality. You can- not open the journals in which the letters of Bishop Char- bonnel and Mr. Bruyere find an echo without seeing them largely devoted to selections and articles assailing the British Government as the most unjust and execiable in ^^xistence, both in its foreign diplomacy and domestic administration, and the British nation as the most heartless and unprincipled on tlie face of the globe. Were I to insert only those pas- sages of this kind that 1 have marked, the reader would be surprised and shocked at the concentration of enmity which is cherished and inculcated by these journals against the Government, character, institutions, ai d prosperity of the mother countr3\ Their hostility to our system of public in- struction is only one aspect or phase of a crusade against everything that places Great Britain at the head of modern civilization, and make her the asylum and guardian of liberty for the oppressed of all nations, and develops her national mind and resources beyond those of any other country in Europe. I trust the papers that have inserted his attacks will insert this reply. E. EYEKSON. Education Office, ) Toronto, Dec. 22nd, 1856. f Correspondence between Dr. Byerson and the Rev. J. M. Bruyere^ on religious exercises and religious instruc- tion's in the Common Schools — [referred to in the pro- ceding.] No. 1.] The Rev. J. M. Rruyere to the Chief Superintendent of Edu- cation. (L. E. 4882, 1836.) Respected Sm, — ^The enclosed letter reached me yester- 33 day. Unal l3 to solve the qnestion proposed to me, I take the liberty of addressing it to you, as tho most competent judge in such a matter. Should you be so kind as to give your opinion on the involved question, I will forward it to Mr. Bulmer. Hoping you will forgive the liberty I have thus taken in trespassing on your valuable time, I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant, (Signed) J. M. BRUYERE. Db. Ryerson, Chief Superin*^ ident of Education. [Enclosure.] "Windsor, Canada "West, Oct. 21, 1856. The Rev. J. Bruyere. Dear Rev. Sir, — I hope you will excuse the liberty I have taken in writing to you on a legal point of law, but as many parties here cannot give, and even differ on the in- volved question, I thought probably you could obtain me the sobition and advice I seek far better in Toronto when so near the Board of Education, than what I could in Windsor. The point to which I refer is as regards the school tax of this section. I am Teacher and Collector of School Sec- tions Nos. 2 and 5, Township of Anderdon, County of Essex. Being in want of money, the Tiustees empowered me to collect the school tax as authorized by law, but when calling on two or three Protestants, they protest against the tax, and says it is a Catholic school. 1. The school is free and supported by general tax. 2. All the people, with three exceptions, are French, and require the Christian Brothers' 2nd Book to lie used for their children, while the Protestants use what books they think proper. 3. Catholic prayers are used at the recommendation of myself and Trustees, both at morning, noon and evening prayers. 4. I have taught the French Catechism to the Catholics wheu the confirmation was held at Moulton, during school hour-, but only to the French children. 6. No religious knowledge has been taught to the three Protectant children, and only a Christian Brothers' book, M 34: Mi E i 2nd series, was given to one of them, when the boy brought me 28. to bu^ one for him. Tlie questions involved here are : Have we, by teaching Catechism to the Catholic children during school hours, and by using the Cliristian Brothere' books for Catholic child- ren, exempted the Protestants from tax, and made the school separate, instead of c ommon or public ? This it the only school in the section, and the Protestants have not demanded another, since all the children, with three exceptions, are Catholics, and speak French. We have only used the French books, with the exception when a boy or class wished to learn English : then, and only then, have we used the English translation. We have closed school on days of observance by the Trustees' order, but the Protestants object to it, and say they will bring an action against us for violating the law, as only certain holidays are allowed by law. Your early reply will greatly oblige, as I am forced to seize the goods and chattels of persons making default of payment after ten days notice, which has nearly expired tor all the Protestants. I am, dear and Rev. Sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) THOS. L. BULMER, Teacher, Windsor. P. S. — I teach school six miles from Maiden, but receive my letters in Windsor, as my general residence is there. T. L. B. No. 2.] The Chief Superintendent to the Local Superintendent of An derson. Education Office, Toronto, Oct. 27, 1856. [No. 6649, S.] Sib, — I will th?ink you to return the enclosed letter at your earliest convenience, with such remarks and explana- tions (on a separate sheet) as you may judge necessary. I have the honor, (Signed) E. RYERSON. Joseph A. Bethelot, Esq., Local Superintendtntf Anderdon, Amherstburgh. 'ought ichinc rs, and child- de the estants 1, with . We I when y then, 3y the ly they as only reed to fault of expired R, ndsor. receive ^ere. . L. B. nt of An 1856. etter at sxplana- iary. SON. rh. 35 No. 3.] The Chief Superintendent to the Rev. J. M. Bruyere. . Education Office, Toronto, Oct. 27, 1856. [No. 2650, S.] Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 23rd inst., and to state, in reply, that as the letter enclosed by you involves facts, as well as (juestions of law, I have felt it necessary (before answering it) to refer it to the Local Superintendent of Anderdon fur liis report upon the statements made. See 4th page of this letter.* I have the honor, &c., (Signed) E. RYERSON. The Rev. J. M. Bruyere, ) {In re. No. 2 and 5 Anderdon) > Toronto. \ No. 4.] The Local Superintendent of Anderdon to the Chief Superin- tendent. Anderdon Township, County of Essex, 0. W. [L. R. 5046, 1856.] [Not dated. Received E. O. 14th Nov., 1856.] Sir, — My being absent from home will account for thig delay in tne answer of yours of the 28th ult.. No. 2649 — requesting I should return the enclosed with such remarks ai.d any explanation I may judge necessary. * Appeals to the Chief SuperirAendent of Education. — All parties concerned in the operations of the Common School Laws have the right to appeal to the Chief Superintendent of Education ; and he is authorised to decide on such questions as are not otherwise provided for by law. But for the ends of justice, — to prevent delay, and to save expenses, — it will be necessary for any party thus appealing to the Chief Superintendent of Education : L To furnish the party against whom they may appeal with a correct copy of their communication to the Chief Superintendent, in order that such party may have an oppor- tunity of transmitting any explanation or answer they may judge ex- pedient. 2. To state expressly, in the appeal to the Chief Superinten- dent, that the opposite party has been thus notified, as it must not be supposed that the Chief Superintendent will decide, or form an opinion on any point affecting different parties, without hearing both sides — whatever delay may at any time be occasioned in order to secure such hearing. Application for advice in Common School matters, should, in all cases, be first made to the Local Superintendent having jurisdic- tion in the Municipality. Hi < ,1 I I 36 I would inform yon that in my great desire to start or cstabliHli a good and large 8ciiool in bcctions Mo. 2 and f!, wliich liad been ko sorniwtully neglected, that I felt it ne- cessary, and justitied under thee rcuinstanci's, in grant ngto Trustees and Teacher, certain j)rivilei.e8 whi« h may he con- sideied, in some degree, a violation of the law regulating Common Schools. The children being all small, and all French except two; parents wisliing they should be taught French for the tirfet year at least, if not the sr-econd ; tlnre being no translation of the l)ook8 authoiized, I jtermitted them to use such books a? are us^td in the Township of Sandwich and Lower Canada. As regards the teaching of Catecliism to the children, it was imclerstno . to be out of school, in oth'.-r woids stter school hours. I knew that if I did not allow a slight violation of the law, the section would be w^ithout a school, now consist iig of 50 to 60 pupils. I would here remaik that the two or three Pi'Otestants whom Mr. Buhner, the teacher, speaks of, are peifectly justified in pi'otesting against the tax impo-ed by teachers : — not know- mg the circumstances under which 1 acted ; whenexpla ned to them, which I will do in a few days, tiiey, I f. el assured, will justify the slight viohition, and pay the tax willingly ; and more, if it is deemed neces-ary to keep the school in its present condition, I tVel wt-U assured that the strict ad- herence to the letter of the law by the last Superintendent was the cause of so small a number of children attending school. 1 am also fully satisfied from what has traiij-pired, that a slight deviation in nothing very essential does remove objections which parents frequently urge as an excuse lor not sending their children to school. It is a true and mel- ancholy fact that in this and adjoining Townships the majority are constantly urging reasons for n^t sending their children, and it is only by a personal vipit oi* the Supeiin- ten lent — and not always successful — to every head of family, to urge, and I might almost say beg of th. m to send their children, to enable you to form anything like a good school. I have thought it advisable to state a few facts to give you some idea of the difficulties attending the dut es of a Super- intendent who feels as he should about schools, they must palliate any slight deviation from his duties which are clearly ])ointed out. I have no doubt but what the Tiustees have clone some little things that might be taken advantage of, but I have every reason to think that they have acted sr fart or ami f., : it ne- t ng to )e con- ilatiiig Did ail taught ; tlnre mitted ship of liing of out of lat if I would jils. I whom iHeil in kuow- pia lied ssured, lingly ; hool ill ict ad- ieu dent ending spired, •emove use lor d mel- ps the their upei ill- family, d their Hchool. ve you Super- ly must ich are J ustees -antage e acted. hotieBtly, and thought it lawful and right. BhoQid it be' thought beet, and proper to make a change in the manage* ment of the school sections Nor. 2 and 6, after the reaaona liere given for my allowing certain privileges, I world aak for advice and instructions. Yours respectfully, (Signed) JOSEPH A. BERTELOT, Local Superintendent in Anderdon Town«hi)>. No. 6.3 Tlie Chief Superintendent to the Rev. J. M. Bruyere. Education Officb, Toronto, Nov. 25, 1856. [No. 2795 T.] Sir, — In reference to vour letter of the 23rd ult., the re- ceipt of which I acknowledged on the 27th ult., I have rer ceived from the Local Superintendent of Anderdon (Mr. J, A. Eerthelot') his explanation relative to the matters referr- ed to in tiie letter of the Trustees of School Sections Nos. 2 aud 5 in that Township, which you had enclosed to me, ai^d on whica you request my interpretation of the echool law. 1. TI»>e law in Upper Canada does not permit any authority whatever to interfere between the parent or guardian and child in regard to religious instruction. Ilie law on the subject of using books, and giving religious instructions in the public schools, is as follows : — " No foreign books in the English branches of education shall be used in any modeler common school, without the express permission of the Council of Public Instruction, nor shall any pupil in any sudi school be required to read or study in or from any r.-Iigiou8 book, or join in any exercise of devotion or religion, which shall be objected to by his parents or guardians ; provided always that within this limitation, pupils shall beallowedto receive such religious instruction as their parents or guardians shall desire, according to the general regulations provided accord- ing to law." — ^(School Act of 1850, Section 14.) On this section of the Act the Council of Public Instruc- tion have founded the following remarks and regulations: " III the secti(»n of the act thus quoted the principle of re- ligious instruction in the schools is recognizjed. Tue restric- tion within which it is to be given is stat6dj and the ex- clusi^e rigl;^t of each pai'entand guai'dian on tlae subject ig o ,i '; P IW 88 secnred without any interposition from Trustees, Superinten- dent, or the Government itself; therefore it shall be a matter of mutual voluntary arrangement betw^n the Teacher, and the parent or guardian of each pupil, as to whether he shall hear such pupil recite from the catechism or other summary of religious doctrine and duty, of the pei'suasion of such parent or guardian." In regard to devotional exercises the Council of Public Instruction, after recommending that the daily exercises of each common school shall be opened and cloeed by de- votional exercises, remark that " The Lord's prayer alone, or the forms of prayer hereto annexed may be used, or any other prayer preferred by the Trustees and Teacher of each common school." According to the above quoted provisions of the act and the regulations founded upon it, you will perceive that the restriction as to the use of foreign books in the schools does not apply to any published in the French, or in any other than the English language, that the Trustees, Teacner and parents of the pupils of the school referred to by you, can exercise their own discretion, as to the prayers and books of religious instruction, and the religious instruction given to the pupils of the school, so as not to compel the Protestant children to be present at them against the wish of their parents or guardians, or lessen the amount of secular in- struction to which they are entitled in the school. I have the lienor, «S:c., ."' (Signed) E. KYERSON. The Rev. J. M. Bruyere, ; (In re. Kos. 2 and 5 Anderdon,) Toronto. ,. . S!' {From the Leader 1 Wednesday y December 24, 1856.) "Wo publish this morning a reply from Dr. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education, to a letter of the Rev. Mr. Bruyere which lately appeared in our columns, on the subject of the Clergy Reserves' monies. The letter of the Rev. Mr. Bruyere was called forth by a circular from the Chief Superintendent of Education to the Municipalities, urging them to apply those monies to educational purposes. The Rev. Mr. Bruyere objected to the devotion of these funds to the purchase of books, on the ground alleged by him, that S9 the official list of works out of which the township lihraries were selected, was unfair, from its sectarian bias, to the Koman Catholic religion. It is now shown that the rev. gentleman was inerror in regard to certain exclusions as well as inclusions in that list ; though whether Dr. Kyerson does not go too far in asserting that his opponent was wrong in every case to which he alluded, is a question not to bo decided without reference to the list itself. Tliose who are curious upon that point may, if they can obtain a list — not one of which we have ever seen — set about the solution of the ques- tion by an actual examination. Dr. Ryei*son still retains something of the controversial style of the early journalism of the Province, when it was but an infant colony. He is profuse in epithets, bandies motives and kicks about accusations in the approved style of village newspaper literature. It is an old and inveterate habit ; and we are more than half inclined to excuse it on that score. But it i» not exactly the moderate and concili- atory style that we are accustomed to look for in an official. A semi-official decorum seems to demand that such contro- versies should be c«>nducted in a style at once more concise and modest ; retaining all the energy and force necessaiy to the assertion of facts and the rectification of error. The ex- traneous matter which Dr. Ryerson has dragged into his reply is but a symptom of an incurable fondness for that railing controversy which has such sn attraction for juvenile minds, and which once formed into a habit cannot be shaken off" by any but a superior mind. It is absurd for Dr. Ryer- son to profess to steer clear of religious preferences, when he speaks of " conscientious convictions manufactured to order." and a thousand other things of the same kind. AVe are not aware that he has received any special mission from above to judge of the genuineness or spuriousness of conscientious convictions ; but if he has any credentials of this kind, he ought by all means to make them known. But as to the main question ; if he consulted all parties interested in making the list of books for libraries ; if he inserted such works as Bishop Charbonnel indicated, by way of balancing others of an opposite character, he must be confessed to have acted with a degree of fairness for which he is entitled to some credit. As we said before, all histories which relate to the pcr'od of the Protestant Reformation, are more or less one-sided ; more or less the biassed apologists of the parti- c2 h . 'i '!< i. f ( .»■ 40 aaus or opponents of that great event ; and the only thingf Eracticable is fairly to allow both sides to be heard. If this e done there can be no well-founded cause of complaint ; if not done, a remedy is indi8pensal)le. In the meantime, we suspect the Municipalities will dis- pose of the Keserves' revenues for such purposes as tliey think proper, without much regard to outride advice from any quarter. The rejoiner of Father Beuyere to Dr. Ryersox will be. found in our columns to-day. He clearly convicts the Sa- perintendent of Education of falsehood in regard to the list of books from which township libraries are selected ; and in several other respects is more than a match for the official. His style and tone certainly contrast most favorably with, those of Dr. Ryekson. REV. J. M. BRUYERE'S REJOINDER TO DR. RYERSON. TO THE CONDITCnORS OF THE PRESS IN CANADA, The long expected reply of the Chief Superintendent of Education, at length, made its appearance in The Zeacler of the 2i:th ult. The perusal of it has brought back to the rqt ooUection of many, tlie old adage of the Latin poet : Parturiunt monies, nascetur ridiculus Mus. Which I translate freely, thus : Dr. Ryerson^ after several weeks of painful labor, has brought forth a ridiculous — Fuss. Tlie rev. gentleman starts off with a sarcasm upon what he chooses to call the extravagance and puerility oi' the Rev. Mr. Bruyere's letter. If I am not mistaken, an impartial public is naturally inclined to look over with indulgence the occ&'iional puerUUies which may escape an earnest and hon- est man. But I doubt whether they will extend the same indulgence to the crudities thrown broadcost in the face of two hundred millions of believers in the Church of Rome. Pause awhile, reader. The creed of Catholics is termed by Dr. Ryei*son ^^conscientious convictions manufactured to ord^r.'^'* No one better than the Chief Superintendent of Education, knew the falsehood of a chai-ge which, besides, isthe^most outrageous insult offered to Catholics, as ration^ 41 of beings atid believere in a creed which is professed by the greatest geniuses as well as the most limited capacities. This creedmaniffacfwed to order was believed by the conquerors ofPoictiers, Crescj, and Agincourt, by Bossuet, Fen61on, Massillon, Descartes, Mallebranche, Tasso, Napoleon. It is professed bv such weak-minded men as Cardinal Wiseman and Archbishoj) Hughes. Many of the most gigantic intel- lects and profound reasoners of the present day have made their profession of this creed, lit only for brutes, according to Dr. Kyerson : The Schlegels, the Stulbergs, the Hellers, the Hurters, the Newmans, the Brownsons, the Mannings, and the Wilberforces. It is daily embraced by Dukes, Duchesses, Peers, men of the highest nobility, resplendent •\vith learning and virtue. Over live hundred rainistere of different denominations, have during the last ten years, made their solemn profession of these consdentioits convio- tions manufactured to order. I thank most sincerely the in dependent and noble Editor of The LeadiV, who, in his i-di; i;al remarks of the 24th ult., flung a manly rebuke in the face of the reviler of the faith of his fellow-christians. Doctor Ryerson, in order to prevent public indignation from falling heavily upon his godless system of education, endeavors to depict me as the rejfyi'esentathe and organ of a party — a small and inconsiderable party, doubtless leagued for the destruction of State 8choolism. With a view of bringing upon my devoted head an overwhelming weight of odium, he attempts to draw a line of distinction between the native clergy and the foreign clergy, between those of former days and those lately entered into the ministry in this Province. Alluding to me personnally, and to his Lordship In-. DeCharbonnel, now in Europe, he bestows upon ue !;■>: -id epithet borrowed from the Olohe, his new organ, — of f i\?ign clergy, the infusion of a new foreign element, unacquainted, of course, with our Canadian Institu- tions and usages. The hypocrite son of John Wesley, con- descends to speak in terms of praise of the veneraUe Bishop Macdonnell and the excellent Bishop Poioer, insinuating as clearly as language can convey his meaning, that the saintly Bishops above named were rather favorable to State Schooli ' 1. In their days, if we are to believe Dr. Ryerson, there uo? no such clamor against mir Common /Schools. Now, as to the injurious imputation which the Chief Su- perintendent of Education bafi ti'ied to fasten upon t^^ o3 i ■!' I >. it f! ^i i m i f '.U 42 character of the late lamented Bishop Power, I am happy in being able to scatter it to the four winds. I have before me a letter addressed last March, to the Editor of the Colonist in this City, by the Honorable John Ehnslcy, of Toronto. I beg leave to lay before Dr. Ryerson and those it may con- cern, the following extracts from the document alluded to. Addressing the Editor of the Colonist, the Honorable Mr. Elmsley says : "Following the unhappy example of Dr. Ryerson, and indeed almost using his words you have thought proper to allege that Bishop Power understood the workmg of tne Public School System, and died contented." As to the first portion of this allegation, I am in a position to Btate that Bishop Power was certainly not long in coming to a perfect undei-standing of the workings of that infidel system to the latter portion, that he 'I'ed contented therewith, I am equally competent to state, * ' lo hereby declare, that it is totally void of truth. His . dship did. me the honor to confide to my charge a large share in the working of the Catholic Separate School System, from the moment that he understood the workings of the other, or mixed system, until it pleased Almighty God to call him to the enjoyment of his reward in Heaven. In favor of Catholic Schools he devoted his best energies ; and were he now living, he would set himself vigorously to the work of counteracting the effects of those educational establishments which practically ignore the dogmas of the Christian Religion, and are rapidly sub- siding into pure deism * * * * Your encomiums, in 80 far as they relate to the line of conduct j^ou have attributed to him, are severe reproaches ; and I am most happy in having it in my power to state, for the benefit of all whom it may concern, that our late Bishop w^as a most energetic advocate and supporter of Catholic Separate Schools, and most resolutely opposed to mixed. " I have the honor to be. Sir, ** Your obedient servant, "T. ELMSLEY." Commentary on the above document is unnecessary. The Honorable Mr. Elmsley is as well known in this city as Dr. Ryerson. For honesty, candor, and character, tiie former stands, at least, on on equality with the latter. From the perusal of Mr. Elmsley's letter, the public mav judge what iaith is to be placed in the Chief Superintendent's insinaa- tion, that Bishop Power was favorable to mixed educntion, or State Schof^lisra. As to the Venerable Bishop Macdon- nell, as Dr. Ryerson affects to call him in his new-fangled veneration for a Catholic Prelate, I know nothing of his dispositi<»n concerning Mixed or Separate Schools. This go >d man had gone to the enjoyment of his reward in Hea- ven long before my coming into this Province. But from the barefaced imputation ca^t upon Bishop Power's charac- ter by the Chief Superintendent of Education, I may safely inter, that the Venerable Bishop of Kingston was about as much in love with the working and fruit of the Common School Sj^stein, as is the present incumbent of the Catholic See of Toronto. That the opposition to the State School System may not have been^ consequent upon its immediate introduction into the neighbouring Republic, as decided and universal as it is at the present tnne, may be readily accounted for. Many honest men, among whom were some Catholic Clergymen, in a spirit of conciliation, may have been willing to give it a trial. But as the tree is known by its fruits, mis criterion has not been wanting to the Common School System. I have before me evidences of its deleterious results in the United States, which fall with crushing power upon its sup- porters and advocates. I will select a few of them, all taken from Protestant authorities, and from some of the leading American papers. The New York Church Joumaly in an article headed " The Common School System a failure," says : " Tlie Common School System is proving a disastrous failure. It has grown up on the pledges it has given of its ability to make crime less frequent, to confer greater security to life and property, and to give elevation to the tone of national morality. But it does not at all fulfil these pro- mises. The whole system, we regret, is proving a lament- able failure." In the same article, my authority goes on saying: "The prevailing system is lamentably defective; in that it does not aim at the training of the whole man ; neglecting as it does, the moral and controling powei*s of human nature, and concentrating all its force upon the de- velopment of the intellectual." Again, in the same article : "The prevalent notion that mankind are vicious because ignorant, and that to make them virtuous, it is only neces- sary to make them intelligent, is contradicted alike by sound philosophy and universal experience." Next follows a re- c4 r ■A port of the Prison AsBOciAtion of New York, revealing a xnoBt alarming increase of crime, since the introduction of the Commen School System into the country." Tlie Richmond Examiner^ another Protestant paper, has the following : " The worst of all tliese abominations, because when once ins ailed, it becomes the hot-bed propagator of all — is the modem system of free schools. We forget who it is that has charged and proved, that the Kew England system of free schools, has been tlie cause and prolific source of all the legions of terrible infidelities and treasons that have turned her cities into Sodoms and Gomorrah s, and her fair lands into the com- mon nestling-place of howling bedlamites." Lately the American papers filled their columns with a series of start- ling revelations as to the morals of the '"'' Common Schools in Massachusetts." These revelations, says a contemporary, are altogether too beastly for us to transfer to our columns. Suffice it to say, that they establish the fact, that the boasted " Common Schools" of our republican neighbors, especially tlie ' girls' school," are — we do not say but little better, but — a good deal worse than the ordinary places of debauch which abound in large cities." Were it necessary, I might extend my quotations to any desirable length. The above will suffice, I trust, to convince any sensible man, that Catholics have some reason for their hostility to State Schoolism, and their preference for Free Separate Schools. The Common Schools presided over by i)r. Ryerson are but an importation from the New England States, where they have produced their disastrous effects. Our Common Schools are the worthy daughters of Yankee Land. There, contempt of all religion and its Ministers^ infidelity, Know-Nothmgism, riot, and bloodshed, have kept pace with the progress and prosperity of State-Schoolism. Behold the precious inheritance which Dr. Ryerson is pre- paring to bequeath to Canada, should this deleterious educa- tion be foi'ced upon us, and kept upon our necks, in spite of oureelves. Already the unhappy fruits of Dr. Ryerson's schools are but too apparent in our midst. I allude to the frequent instances of rudeness and ill manners experienced by Clergymen ot our Church at the hands of some of these juvenile Socrates, the pride of this Model Education. Hardly a week passes, but some Catholic Priest is insulted in some way or other by youths who are not educated in our schools. In mentioning the above incidents, I do not wish to be 46 undorstoood that such rude and nncooth manners are toler- ated, much less inculcated by the gentlemen of the Educa- tion Office. The Chief Superintendent and his amiable colleagues are tht last men in the world, who would counte- nance such disgraceful acts. What 1 mean to say is, that BU(.*h total disregard of Christian feeling and good manners, is the icsult of that system of education pursued in the Common Schools, viz : the absence of religious training. To make an honest man, a CTiristian, a polished gentleman, something more is requisite than reading, writing, arthmetic, astronomy, natural history, etc., etc. From the teaching of the declen- sion of nouns, the variation of the article, and the conjuga- tion of verbs, the child will never learn " to do unto others as he would have tiiem do unto him." Let him master the rule of three, he will not, on that account, understand the distinction between mine and thine. Education, with- out religion, will never cure the vices and ill-manners which are observable among the pupils of the Common Schools. Religion is the only antidote to crime. But, as all religion must neccessarily be excluded from the " Common Schools" of a community whose members have no religion in com- mon, it follows that the Common School System is inade- quate to the object contemplated, viz : the preservation of society. In presence of the above facts, which stare every sensible man in the face, who can refrain from smiling with pity at Dr. Eyerson's impudent assertion that the people qf Upper Canada cherish and support them^ (the Common Sshools,) when it is remembered tliat the whole Catholic population are dissatisfied with the working and sad fruits of State Ed- ucation, and are calling for Free Schools ? — when you take into consideration that nearly all the members of the Church of England, and many of those in connection with the Church of Scotland, and the liberal and enlightened of all denominations, are opposed to them, and establish schools of their own, at the same time that they are made to support State schools ? At this very moment. Catholics are busily engaged in establishing and supporting their own Free Schools, notwithstanding the odious restrictions with which the Separate School Law is hampered. In pursuing this lino of conduct, Catholics and other assertoi*s of freedom of education, are guided by the unerring principles of eternal justice and equity. They claim, as a cotemporary says, the o5 Si i'W r ' 4S ■Jr M^^ ■A right and privilege to provide for the edncation as for the feeding and clothing of their children. They maintain that on parents, and not on the State, has the Creator of the uni- verse imposed the obligation to provide for all the wants, corporal, intellectual, moral and rv?Hgious of their offb|)ring. No power on earth can withdraw thum from their control. The principle assumed by the Chief Superintendent of Edu- cation and the friends of State schoolism, viz., that it is the duty of the State to provide for the education of all the youth of the country, has been imported from pagan Lacedaemon. There, the infant was examined by the Magistrate ; and if found feebleand deformed, and likely to be a burden to the State, it was doomed to immediate destruction. If strong, it was left to the mother's care till it had attained its seventh year. At that age, the child was entrusted to the public master, and his education was left to the wisdom of the law. I take the liberty of reminding Dr. Ryerson and his friends, that we- are living in a Christian country, and blessed with the be- nign influence of a more humane Gospel than that of Ly- curgus, the celebrated lawgiver of Sparta. To the parents, not to the State, the child belongs : so, at least, the law of God and of nature proclaims. From the parent's control no power on earth can snatch him. But because Catholics claim the privilege of educating their children, as they deem proper, and in their own schools, they are cried down by Dr. Ryerson as the abettors of ig- norance, as the future " Hewers of wood and drawee's of water. ''^ Because, forsooth ! they ^o not wish to be placed under the once shouting Methodist Preacher, they are re- presented hy\\\n\Q!ihQmg prohibited all mental development, all exercise of thought, allpartici/pation of any mental food, the reception of even a single ray of intellectual light. If such be the unhappy intiuence of the Roman Catholic Church, over mental culture, intelligence and education, how gloctmy must be the horizon of the capital of the Catho- lic world, the dread Rome ! The following extract from an un- exceptionable witness, because aProtestant and a Scotchman, will, perhaps, render my distinguished antogonist more diffi- dent of himself, for the future, when he presumes to lecture on Catholic education. My authority is Dr. Laing, a well known Presbyterian Minister and a tourist, who relates what he himself saw and had full opportunity of ex- In his " Notes of a Traveller,'^ which appeai'ed ammmg. 47 in 1844, he says : — " In Catholic Germany, in France, and even in Italy, the education of the common people in reading, writing, nrithmotic, music, niannerf^, and morals, is at least, as generally diliused and as faithfully promoted by the cleri- cal bofly J 8 in Scotlanr Ryerson of which he makes a complaining accusation. But first, we must explain how the controversy between Dr. Ryerson and the Rev. J. M. Bruyere commenced. Dr. Ryer- '8on issued a circular to the Municipalities, urging them to devote the Clergy Reserve monies to educational purposes. lu this recommendation we concurred; without^ nowever, accepting the reasons on which Dr. Ryerson had thought fit to base it. Tlie Rev. J. M. Bmyere addressed the Conductors of the Canadian Press, through our columns, giving his reasons for disapproving of the suggestions of Dr. Ryerson, and indicated other destinations for these monies which, in his opinion, would be preferable. Among his reasons for bppoMng Dr. Ryerson's suggestion, Rev. J. M. Bruyere urged the following : But let OS, for a moment, take a rapid survey of these Public Libra- ries, got op under the superintendence of Dr. Ryerson. In looking over their shelves^ it is not unlikely that my eyes will fall upon some of 'the most rapid and anti-christian writers, sucn as the irjidel Hume, and the sceptical Gibbon. To which Dr. Ryerson replied that the books complained of were not in the catalogue at all : In conclusion, I beg to add three or four genehil remerks. The first is, that Mr. Bruyere's objections to the system of providing the schools with maps, &o., and in the municipalities with libraries, are perfectly frive- l6us and groundless, as in regard to these the Separate Schools and the Roman Catholics are placed upon precisely the same fooling as the Public Schools 'iiid other classes of the population. The books which ,Mt. Bruyere complains of as selected for the libraries are not in the catalogue at all ; and the histories which are represented as havingbeen omitted are all in the catalogue. This denial was surelv full enough — that the books com- plained of by the Rev. Mr. Bruyere were not in the catalo- gue at all ; the complaint, be it understood , extended to the works of Humt and Gibbon. Rev. M. Bruyere rejoined ; 'ji 55 jrson, in it he has tation of e should r, on all B whose re. Let } to Br •n. But een Dr. 'r. Ryer- them to lurposes. lowever, )ught fit nductors ^'ing his [lyerson, ^hich, in fions for re urged lie Libra- )king over n some of fume, and iplained he first is^ bools with ctly frivo- ls and the ing as the loks which not in the ivingbeen >ks com- i catalo- l to the hed : 1 repeat li^n, on fbie authority of my evrn eyvnt that the «bore« named works are contained in the Journal i^ Education, tor 1853, under the head of " General Catalogues of Works for Public Libraries in Upper Canada." \ will add, moreover, that lest the j"outhfal rea- der should be tempteuto shun these jioisonous sources of scepticism and infideUty« to the title of these dangerous books are appended notes well calculated to arouse curiosity in the mind of tne reader and entice him to taste of the forbidden fruit. The history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by E. Gibbon, is said in the catalogue, prepared by Dr. Ryerson, to be a work which, " if is not always history, '< is often something more than history ; it is philosophy, it is theology, <>itis wit and eloquence, it is criticism the most masterly on every " subject with which literature can be connected." Of the History of England by D. Hume, it is said in the note appended to it by Dr Ryerson : " Though not impartial, nor free from religious scepticism, " it is the most generally read history of England ever written. The << author's philosophical turn of thought and bgjLuty of diction, together <' with his skill in arranging and grouping faora, invest his history with " an interest that never flags." Whereupon The Leader said : " Mr, Bruyere clearly con- " victs the Superintendent of Education of falsehood in "regard to the list of books from which township libraries " are selected." i The reader will see from the above statement what right Dr. Ryerson has to complain that we have put the brand of falsehood on his productions. It is we who have a right to complain of being unjustly charged with uttering false accu- sations. We know that unscrupulous journals which this time-serving official is trying to conciliate, will copy his accusation without permitting their misguided aders to know that it has been refuted. . ,7, DOCTQR RYERSON'S SECOND REPLY TO REVEREND J. M. BRUYERE. . . , , , . ,. , M FOR TU£ LEADER. In The Leader of Wednesday the 7th instant, the Rev- erend J. M. Bruyere has addressed to the conductors of the Press in Canada a second long letter against myself andihe Common School system in Upper Canada. It is a profess^ rejoinder to my reply to his previous attacks; but instead of sustaining the position he first assumed, and supporting the charges he first made, he virtually abandons every one of themi and occupies three columns with miscellaneous decla- mation foreign to the subject, with pitiful misrepresentations d2 i ■ i M ill'. •V-H.'. of my words, und gross personalities, which accord so entire- ly with the taste and feelings of The Leader as to be regard- ed by him as a pattern of controversial style. But, as I have not thought it worth while to notice any of the many charac- teristic attacks which have been made upon me by The Lead' er during the last year or two, nor to the previous personali- ties of Mr. Bruyere ; so neither must I now suffer myself — however strong the temptation — to do more than show how completely the school system of Upper Canada and its admin- istration stand vindicated against the insinuations of The Leader and the attacks of Mr. Bruyere. With The Leader and Mr. Bruyere, I may but merit the epithets of" falsehood" and of being a" hypocrite son of John Wesley." but I leave it to the intelligent ]j|pder to suggest the grounds on which others than The Leaaer and Mr. Bruyere may regard me as entitled to the treatment of common decency, if not gentle- manly courtesy. Mr. Bruyere's first letter contained four principal charges. H'he first was, that Separate Schools were excluded from the provision which had been made for supplying the public schools with maps and apparatus — that Catholic children must learn geography by travelling round the world, and astrono- my by looking up to the stars. In reply, I showed that there was not only the same provision for supplying separate, as public schools with maps and apparatus, but that many Separate Schools had been provided with them by me, and among others those in the City of Toronto itself. What does Mr. Bruyere now say in supfiort of this grave and exciting charge ? Not one word ; and by thus abandoning it in silence, he tacitly confesses its utter groundlessness. The second charge which Mr. Bruyere preferred was, that by a clause which he represented me to have got inserted in the Clergy Reserve Moneys Distribution Act, Separate Schools were expressly excluded from sharing in the advan- tages of the application of those moneys for the purchase of maps, apparatus and libraries. On the contrary, 1 maintained that there was no such exclusive or restrictive clause 'u\ the Clergy Reserve Act, much less had 1 suggested it. What docs Mr. Bruyere now say in support of this grave charge and alleged grievance? Not one word — thereby admitting its groundlessness also. A third chnrgQ made by Mr. Bruyere was, that I had in- lorted in the catalogue of books for public libraries, Hume's 57 entire- egard- I have :harac- Lead' 'son a I i- yself — w how admin- of TUe Leader ehood" I leave which me as gentle- larges. om the public n must strorto- it there parate, t many le, and at does xciting jjlence, IS, that jrted in ^parate advan- lase of itaincd \ ill the What charge mitting had in- lumens and Gibbon's Histories, and D* Aubigne^s History of the Rcfoi mation whilst I had excluded Lingard's Anglo-fcJaxon Church, Gahan's Church History, and the History of the Church by Reeve. In refutation of this charge, I showed that Hume's and Gibbon.s Histories were not in the Index Expurgatorius, and therefore ought not to be objected to by Mr. Bruyere— that D'Aubigne's History of the Keformation was not in the catalogue, while the three histoiies mentioned by Mr. Bru- yere as having been excluded, were all contained in the cata- logue; and in addition to those histories, the catalogue con- tained Lingard's History of England, Mylius' History of Eng- land, Fredet's Ancient History, and Fredel's Modern History — all standard Roman Catholic Histories, and ail inserted on the recommendation of Bishop de (yharbonnel himself, on my application to him. What justification does Mr. Bruyere set up for such scandalous charges ? None whatever ; and the only apology he makes is that his " mistake was quite unin- tentional." 1 have to observe in reply, that neither 'he public nor m» self are concerned with Mr. Bruyere' intentions, but with his statements — which are shown to be unfounded in re- gnrd both to what they deny and what they assert of a print- ed catalogue of books, and a system of libraries affecting the whole country, and adopted by the Council ofJ.*ublic Instruc- tion — a Council composed of gentlemen of the highest hon- I or, intelligence and integrity. The fourth, and last principal charge preferred by Mr. Bruyere was, that in the Common School system Christianity was not recoffnized — that the schools were godless and infi- •and that I was employing every means in my power to injure and destroy the Roman Catholic Church. In reply, I simply gave an oflicial correspondence that had recently ta- ken place between Mr. Bruyere and myself, which disproved his statements and charges in every particular. What now is Mr. Bruyere's defence of such statements and imputations? His only defence is, that the correspondence ought not to have been mtide public, and has nothing to do with the subject I Thus have Mr. Bruyere's four principal statements and charges been disproved and shown to be entirely groundless. It now remains for me to dispose of some of his mis- cellaneous statements. '/ , 1. He says — " The Chief Superintendent of Education as- serts that neither Gibbon nor Hume are to be found in hisf li- braries.*' I asserted nothing of the kind — my argument was ' d3 i ; I 6« ■ '■-■> mBi 11; the reverse. I f ftid they were not in the Iitdex ExpurgatO' rt«»— showing thereby that Mr. Bruyere had no authority to object to them, even in regard to Roman Catholic readers. Yet on this palpable misrepresentation of what I said, The Leader has, in most offensive terms, charged me with having been " convicted of falsehood !" 2. Mr. Bruyere says — " I repeat again, On the authority of the Catalogue before me. Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of the Catholic Church are not in the catalogue." Who ever said these lectures were in the cata- logue T 1 said expressly that all controversial works, whe- ther Protestant or Roman Catholic — I may add Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Methodist— were excluded from the libraries, as inconsistent with their objects ; and therefore such works as the above-mentioned lectures of Cardinal Wiseman, as well as Bossute's variations had not been and should not be submitted, any more than the masterly Protestant answers io them. But, on the contrary, to prove that Roman Catho- lic authors as such, had not been excluded, I showed that Cardinal Wiseman's lectures on the Connection between Science and Revealed Religion^ and Boussuet's Universal His- torpf had been inserted in the catalogue. Mr. Bruyeie says, he did not alli^e to these lectures fo Cardinal Wiseman. I have to remark, I can only judge of what he intended by what he said. He said Cardinal Wiseman's lectures in absolute terms— thus including his lectures of every description. I proved the inaccuracy of his statement, by showing that Car- dinal Wiseman's lectures on the connexion between Science and Revealed Religion — his best and most popular lectures, and the only ones known or adapted to general readers — were given in the Catalogue. 3. Having thus refuted every specific charge made by Mr. Bruyere, relative to the selection of books for the public li- braries, I may remark generally, that the catalogue contains the name of every Roman Catholic author of celebrity in France, Germany, and Italy, whose works are adapted to popular libraries, and have been translated into English ; and that if a larger number of such authors is not given in the catalogue, it is simply for the reason assigned by Cardinal Wiseman, when I applied to him for the names of them — they do not exist, and cannot therefore be inserted in the cat- alogue. If nine-tenths or nineteen-twentieth^ of the works in the English language on civil polity, political economy, pro- grc88 of society, soience, arts, manufactures, every branch ol' natural history and human industry, as well as works of taste, literature and imagination, are productions of Protestant au- thors, public libraries embracing those subjects — and not questions of controversial divinity — must be proportionately composed of the works of such authors. And it is a blessing for which we cannot be too thankful, or value too highly, that since the resurrection of the human mind, three centuries since, from the lethargy and enslavement in which it had been buried during the " dark ages," mental activity has so follow- ed upon the foot-prints of mental liberty, as to produce such vast treasures-of khowledge, such abundant sources of enter- tiinment, and such powerful levers of social advancement, for ourselves and for our children. What would the British Empire and the United States be withont them ? ISpain and Italy can answer. 4. Mr. Bruyere has written and quoted much to show the immorality of the school system in the United States, and has reproduced Bishop de Charbonnel's quotations from the trav- eller Laing (not a clergyman) on schools in Italy. If so much crime exists in the States of North America where the sys- tems of public schools exist, the States of South America show how much worse would be the condition of those States did not such schools exist. But I have shown more than once, that in four essential features our Canadian school system differs from that in the United States, in regard to the religious element ; and in my published correspondence with Laing — a correspondence fresh in the recollection of Bishop de Carbonnel, I have disposed of the quotations from the public, though it appeal s, not so in that of Mr. Bruyere. 5. A^ain, Mr. Bruyere says — "The Creed of Catholics is termed by Dr. Kyerson, " conscientious convictions manufac- tured to order." So far from there being a particle of truth in this statement, my whole letter proved that in the school law and its administration I had shown a consideration to the creed, feelings and even scruples of Roman Catholics, which had not been shown to any rrotestant denomination of Up- per Canada. I spoke not of the creed of Roman Catholics which has existed for centuries, but of convictions produced against our Public School system, by the infusion of a new foreign element, since the days of Bishops Macdonnell .and Power, and with which a large portion of the Roman Catho- lics have no syflipathy : my words were as follows :^— " I yi i il 60 '1i^'' should falsify the whole of my past life, and despite myself were I not scrupulous to protect the rights and tcelings of Roman Catholics equally with those of any, or all other classes of the community. It is certain of their own eccle- siastics, who have inflicted upon them burdens and disadvan- taffes which their fathers had not to bear in the davs of Bishops Macdonnell and Power; who have made that a mortal sin at a municipal or school election, which was for- merly no sin at all : who deny the ordinances for attending schools, an attendance at which was formerly encouraged when those schools were more exceptionable than at present The conscientious convictions of which Mr. Bruyere speaks have been manufactured to order, as also the mortal sins which are charged upon some Roman Catholics." It is thus clear that I had no more reference to the creed of the Roman Catholic Church than to that of any Protestant Church, but to injunctions against the public schools, which have been laid upon Roman Catholics in the diocese of Toronto by their Bishop, and which iMr. Bruyere has misnamed " (con- scientious Convictions of Catholics" — but convictions of which Catholics knew nothing until since the infusion of the new foreign element, and which are as abhorrent to a large por- tion, if not the great majority, of Catholics, as they are in- consistent with their dignity as men, and their rights as Chris- tians and citizens. .6. Mr, Bruyere has attempted to prove that the lamented Bishop Power entertained the newly imported views on the subject of Separate versus the Public Schools. As well might he attempt to prove that light is darkness. Bishop Power acted as a member and chairman of the Provincial Board of Education up to within less than a week of his death — advised upon and concurred in all the r-egulations re- lative to the Normal, Model, and Common Schools of Upper Canada, the selection of text-books, &c., &c. — was honoured after his decease by an unanimous .iD^oliUio n ofihe Board as to his character ond services, and afterwards eulogized by me (who was absent at the time of his death) in a public and published address. As well might Mr. Bruyere have the boldness to attribute his sentiments to all the other members of the Board, including myself, as to ascribe them to Bishop Power. Nay, the ideas as well as convictions as to the mor- tal sins of sending children to the public schools or voting for a School Trustee, or Councillor, or Legislator, except at 61 Jhris- the order of the Bishop, have been manufactured tincf thc^ days of the lamented Bishop Powef« to the furprise* ao^d re- proach, and injury of Roman Catholics, as well as to the disturbance of the peace and hitherto harmonious educatio^^ progress ot the country. 7. In reply to my assertion that Roman Catholic children who have been taught in the mixed schools, are a9 good Ro- man Catholicsf as those who have been taught in separatet schools. Mr. Bruyere delivers Mmself as follows: "On tk^. authority of the oldest and best informed Catholic Clergymen of Canada, I am able to assert, that with a few honorable, exceptions, these sound Roman Catholics, educated in mixe4 schools, may be honorable men, honest men, according to the Protestant sense of the word ; but practical, religious, scrupulous, observers of the rules of their church, they arqi not. They are Catholics in name ; Protestant, or half heathen in practice. They are Protestants to all intents md purpo- Therefore we can well afford to give them up to thq ses. Chief Superintendent of Education. They are as Catholi<; and Protestant as himself." Now as the Separate Schools are only recent and few and far between in Upper Canadai it follows that nineteen twentieths, if not ninety hundredths of the Roman Catholics who have received any education in Upper Canada, have received it in the mixed schools; fknd Bruyere himself admits that all of them with a few ^Jfcep- tions are of my views and not of his, on the system of pub- lic schools. This is a conclusive though unwitting testimony, that the newly imported dogmas and assumptions of Bi- shop DeCharbonel and Mr. Bruyere are as alien to the view^ and feelings of the great majority of the Roman Catholics ai^ they are subversive of their rights and social interests. Ac- cording to Mr. Bruyere, there was no sound Romanism in Upper Canada before the recent importations, and there aro no sound Roman Catholics out of the assumed 150,000 |)ear- ing that name save the " few honorable exceptions," that bow their necks to the new yoke and their understandings tp the new vocabulary of saintly virtues aj d mortal sins which have been lately manufuactred for the perfection of their humilia- tion and enslavement. In the past days of Bishops AfacdoneU and Power and ihcir clerg5% who, like them, hud grown up under British institutions, and knew by priva|ipns, experience and labors, how to sympathise with the wants, circunislances and interests of their people, it appears on Mr. Bruyere's au- B !»' : f.r M In II ! I (;l 02 u if Pi II i t^iority the Roman Catholics were only so in name, whib they were •* half-heathen in practice,** as are their successors at the present day, whom Mr. Bruycre gives up by wholesale to the Chief Superintendent of Education. 1 will cheerfully accept the charge, and treat this large clasps of my fellow citizens with the same consideration and solicitude that I have Always shown for their welfare as well as for their rights — knowing that neither is consulted by the party of Mr. Bruycre —a Falstaff Company, by his own confession, of" a few ho- norable exceptions," m the great body of the Roman Catholic community. And the sequel will show whether the great majority of the Roman Catholic youth, taught in the public schools in connection with their fellow countrymen, will, like many of tKeir pioneer predecessors, stand in the first walk of the intellectual, distinguished and prosperous men of their neighborhood and country ; or whether such distinction will littach to the ** few honorable exceptions" of those and their children whom Mr. Bruyere's party shall isolate from all that is progressive, elevating and invigorating in the country, — shall teach the new catalogue of mortal sins with their ac- companying conscientious convictions, that all Protestants are infidels — ^general knowledge poison — and Great Britain the most infidel and execrable Empire on earth. The assumptions of this new foreign element in our coun- try might not require public notice were they confined to their unfortunate victims ; but when they are made the cloak of assailing public law and its administration ; when they presume to command and denounce in the Council Chamber of Government and in the halls of Legislation, and give per- emptory orders, enforced with pains and penalties, at every political, municipal, and school election throughout Upper Canada; when they seek to defame and destroy every public institution and agency for the diffiusion of general education and knowledge, and even demand State support to teach that the great majority of the inhabitants of the State and their institutions are in^dels and infidel agencies, — enemies of God and man ; when they become an active element of party in regard to every public r:ian and every public question, and public measure, whether in the provincial government or in the local municipality, and thus aim at controling or destroy- ing every man and every institution in the land, — they then reach a crisis of invasion which can no longer be evaded, but must be confronted by every man of every rank and whilu cssors >lcsalo jrfully fellow I have ghts— ruyere iw ho- atholic great public ill, like ,valk of f their on will d their all that ntry, — leir ac- testants Britain r coun- fined to 16 cloak en they hamber ive per- it every t Upper y public lucation ach that nd their of God party in ion, and ent or in deslroy- ley then evaded, 'ank and party who values liberty of action, word or thought, just government and free institutions. 8. Finally, passing over many petty misrepresentations, 1 must say a word on that great doctrine of moral and political science flippantly propounded by Mr. Bruycre in the follow- ing sentences : ** To the parents, not to the state the child belongs: so, at least, the law of God and nature proclaims. From the parent what power on earth can snatch him V* The theory thus laid down is, th.it the parent has everything, and the state nothing to do with the child — the one is placed in opposition to the other — a dangerous error and practical absurdity. By the state is meant the whf>le body of the people united under one government; and in the best organized state the interests.of the whole community are binding upon eacii member, and the strength of the whole community is exerted for the protection of each member. The state, there- fore, so far from having nothinu: to i^ » with the children, con- stitutes their collective parent, and is bound to protect them against any unnatural neglect or cruel treatment on the part of the individual parent, and to secure to them all that will qualify them to become useful citizens of the slate. Thus if the individual parent should starve, maim or murder the child, would not the state or collective parent have something to do in regard to the child ? Has not the state had something to do for the protection of factory children in England — to pro- tect them against the cupidity of the individual parent, and secure to them the opportunity and means of instruction ? And if the state has so much to do with the body of the child has it not, by a stronger reason, something to do with the child's mind also — to see that it is not starved, maimed, and converted into an enemy and danger to the state, instead of being an intelligent and useful member of it ? Now, our pub- lic school system instead of exceeding the legitimate power of the state, or the whole people in their collective capacity, in regard to the child, comes short of it. Based upon the fact that individual ignorance is a public evil, the state or whole people provide for its removal and prevention by es- tablishing schools for the education of all the children — re- serving to their individual parents the supreme control as to religious instruct ion. '^ But the state or collective people shpuld proceed a step farther, and see not only that provision is made for the instruction of each child, but that each child should receive somewhere a certain amount, or certain period £2 u ; A i ' M m ij I'M' •'I K 1 of tnstruction — that if any individual parent should be so un- natural M to deprive his children of their divine and human birthright of mental food and clothing, and therefore mental growth and power, and starve and maim them by cruel neglect or abuse, the state or collective parent should inter- pose for the protecVion of such hrlpless children — vrone than orphans — and save them from such irreparable wrongs nnd injuries. This is a power with which the state through the several municipalities of the land should be invested — a power with which I proposed to invest them by a draft of bill and communication submitted to Government two years ago — a power which has lately been suggested by two Judges of the Supreme Courts^ — the one in a recent address to a graud jury, the other in a still more r cent address to the Canadian institute. Thus the state, or the collective people, is the helper of every good, and especially of every poor parent, in the education of his chiidrj^n, and the legitimate fuardian of children against the cruel neglects and wrongs of ad and unnatural parents. ut Mr. Bruyere says, the State, or society at large, through any of its organs or agencies, has nothing to do with the child— i-the individual parent is absolute. Yet, how does this pretext sot up to exclule a class of children from the Eublic schools accord with the practice of his party ? Bishop )q Charbonnel and Mr. Bruyere say to the state, you have no business or concern with the education of children, espe- cially one class of them — they belong absolutely to their par- ents ; and then turning to those parents, they say, those children are not yours but ours ; and if you send them to the pwblic schools to which you have been accustomed, you are guilty of moral sin — you shall be deprived of the ordi- nances of the church, and if you or your children die, you shall be buried like dogs. This is what Mr. Bruyere calls " freedom ot education" — a despotism in the state over the state, — a despotism in the family over the parent — a surrender of the rights and functions of both the state and the parent to a clerical absolutism under which humanity withers and society retrogrades. In conclusion, 1 beg to call the attention of public men of all parties to the following important facts. 1. That every charge against our School System and its administration, as partial or unjust in regard to School ap- propriations, libraries, or Maps and apparatus for Schools, his the ciei }.y coi 80 UD- luman nental cruel intcr- le than ;s and ^h tho power ill and ago— ges ot to a to tho people, y poor [itimate ongs of : large, jo with »w does rom the Bishop u have I, esp^ leir par- ^ those hem to led, you le ordi- die, you ire calls )ver the jrrender )arcnt to ers and ; men of and its ;hool ap- Schools, 96 hns utterly failed ; and to persevere in hostility when the grounds are shown to be false, shows that the object is not truth, not the diftusion of education or knowledge, not equal rights and privileges among all classes, but immunities and powers inconsistent with the rights of individuals, municipal- ities, or constitutional government itself. 2. I'hat though in my last Annual Report t have explained the Christian and fundamental principles of the tSchool Sys- tem, its perfect impartiality to ail parties, the peculiar indul- gences to Roman Catholics, and the unconstitutional and sub- versive character of the new demands of the party of Bishop De Charbonnel and Mr. Biuyere ; yet has not Mr. Bruyere nor one of the newspapers in his interest attempted to combat one of the principles, iacts or arguments of that Keport, but they htLve sought to divert attention from their own preten- sions, and the great principles of the School System, by reiterating groundless imputations against it, and making gross attacks upon me — yet concealing from their readers my answers to those attacks. 3-. That the oft repeated attempt to show the inequality of the Separate School provisions of the law has been so thoroughly exposed as to be apparently abandoned ; nor has Mr. Bruyere adduced or attempted to adduce a single fact to show that any thing is taught or done in the public schools to proselyte Roman Catholic children, or that is inconsistent with the wishes of their parents ; noi* has he been able to fix upon a single partial or disobliging act in my administration of the department during the last ten yiears, even towards my assailants ; so much so that the chief burden of his charge against the public schools now amounts to little more than the society of Protestant children, against associating with whom " conscientious convictions" are pleaded ; and for Ro- man Catholic children to be taught or habituated to regard them otherwise than as little infidels, and their religion as infidelity, would be " dangerous to faith and moVals." But yet instead of proceedidg quietly with their own Seperate Schools, the " conscientious convictions" of Mr. Bruyere and his party seem to prompt them to do little more than assail the public schools and every measure adopted for their effi- ciency and usefulness, 4. That in every enlightened country provision is made h\ the State for the education of youth — that in every free country where there ia no political connection between f3 I tl i IM If ^ it Church and State, tiiere has, without exception, provision been made for all classes of its youth without respect to any sect or hierarchy — equally protecting the rights ot'all parties, but permitting thr exclusion or domination of none. In evury such country there always have heen individuals, especially individuals ccclessiastics, who, advocating the connexion be- tween Church and State, have assailed the moral character and tendency of all schools and educational systems not car- ried on through the church. Pamphlets, statistics, and ap- peals without end are put forth to sustain these forlorn hopes of Church and State yearnings. In the neighboring Jj^tates such publications are no longer heeded ; the people proceed with the education of their children, regardless of the efforts of these ccclasiastics to usurp the control of it from the rightful parents. In the statistics of crime these partizans never inform you how many of the youthful culprits have attended the public school, and how many have never been in school — that in the cities of the United States, as in Toronto, and other Canadian towns, the criminals are those who have been kept from the schools, — seldom or never those who have regularly attended the schools — that did all the children attend the schools, there would be a great de- crease instead of increase of juvenile crime. The p\ stem of popular education in Upper Canada differs from that in any other state in America, not merely in the fact that the clergy of all religious persuasions are recognised as co-workers, and that christian principles and feelings in the highest and largest sense, pervade the text books used in the schools, but in that the parents in each municipality, without inierfering with the rights or scruples of any individual, can make their school as religious as they please in regard to both exercises and instruction — in that every possible farility and assistance is given them to do so ; but no compulsion is attempted in matters of religion, any more than in regard to the establish- ment of schools themselves. Not a school or library can be established, nor an article of school apparatus procured, without local voluntary municipal action. The school taxing power rests exclusively with the inhabitants in each munici- pality, who establish and support their schools as they please ; and our whole school system is one of aid nnd en- couragement to the inhabitants of each municipality lo provide for tha education of their children; the working of the system is for the people a practical school of liberty as 07 well as a patent means of education and knowledge; and the warfare against it is an invasion of powers, privileges, and aidf which have been conferred by law upon the municipalitiei of tlie country, and form apart and parcel of the constitution- al rights of the poople. ••> . > , E. RYERSON. Toronto, 13lh January, 1857. REV. J. M. BRUYERES' SECOND REJOINDER TO DR. RVKRSON. I! •• TO THE C0NDUCT0K8 OF THE PRESS IN CANADA. Without possessing much of the sterling worth of the female sex, Dr. Hyerson is not altogether free from the fail- ings occasionally attributed to the senile portion of the daugh- ters of Eve. His Reverence is loquacious, profuse of epithets, sometimes abusive, not unfrequently scurrilous, and incessantly stunning your ears with charges a hundred times refuted. Woman-like, the Chief Superintendent is bent upon having the last word. Much as I would wish to gratify the odd notions of my worthy antagonist, I cannot as yet let him have his own way. His last communication to the public, in The Leader of the 16th inst., contains so much that is false, foreign to the subject, unfair, with the usual amount of sophis- tical Ryersonism pervading the whole, that I feel reluctantly compelled to give his reverence another lecture on candor and honesty. Dr. Ryerson was the first to raise the war whoop, by addressing to the Municipalities his injudicious circular, which has been well characterised by a coniempo- rarv, as " a document fraught with the most consummate presumption, and reflecting directly upon iha capacity and intelligence of all the Municipalities of this section of the country." Regardless of the fact that the moneys accruing from the secularized (>lergy Reserves, were to become the common stock ; alike the property of Protestants and Catholics, Dr. Ryerson attempts to dictate to our intelligent Municipalities in Upper Canada, how they should expend the large sums of money placed under their control. Actuated by feelings of a liberal and christian policy, the municipal corporations think it but just and right, to distribute them among the wholQ.com- li itv: Jl- If m ihuntity, without any reference to party, creed, or nationality. The Chief Superintendent of Education, in a spirit of narrow toiindedness and hostility to the 1,150,000 Catholics scattered over this Province, seeks to disfranchise them from their share in the Clergy Reserves, by calling upon the Municipalities to apply these resources not to general purposes, as originally intended by the Legislators who passed the Act of the Secu- larization, but to his Schools and Libraries, to the purchase of books, maps, globes, charts, and other school apparatus from which Catholics can derive no more benefit than the Hottentots of Southern Africa. I may be permitted to repeat, that Catholics have conscientious objections to the Common School System, and to the Public Libraries, composed almost exclusively of Protestant books. Of the validity of our ** con- scientious objections," of course, no secular tribunal, not even the Chief Superintendent of Education, can take cognizance, without thereby violating the rights of conscience. Should the proceeds arising from the secularized Reserves, in compliance with Dr. Ryerson's suggestions, be turned exclusively to the account of these darling institutions. Cath- olics would be deprived of their share of the fund in question. In the name of the whole Catholic body in this Province, and on the part of 1,150,000 human beings, I have raised my feeble voice against the crying injustice perpetrated by the Chief Superintendent of Education. Is it just, I repeat again, is it fair, to apply exclusively to the use of one portcn of our community, what was destined for general purposes ? Is it fair, is it just, on the part of Dr. Ryerson, to urge upon the different Municipalities, the propriety of expending the com- mon stock arising from the sale of the secularized Clerg}- Reserves, in enriching Protestant Schools, to the exclusion of Catholic Separate Schools, in getting up Protestant Librar- ies, composed almost exclusively of books teeming with insulting diatribes against the Catholic community ? Such is the question at issue between Dr. Ryerson and myself. Such is the position from which he started in his famous circular to the heads of City, Town, Township and \ llage Municipnli- ties in Upper Canada, on the appropriation of the Clergy Reserve Fund. To this position I hold him fast. My cunning antogonist, having discovered but too late, that he had taken a wrong step, flies off with the rapidity of lighting, from the subject in question. Instead of vindicating by fair argument, like an honest man, his suggestion to the 1 69 Municipalities, he finds it more convenient for hiir. *' io louch upon every thing, except the question at issue. In his second reply to my rejoinder, the Chief Superintendent of Kducation speaks in the accents of injurr i innocence, "of gross personal- ittes which accord so entirely with the taste and fechngs of The Leader t as to be regared by him as a pattern of contro- versial style." Of course the good Doctor who, so frequently lakes great delight in flinging the opprobious epithets of an in- fusion of a new foreisin element in the face of Catholic Bis- hops and IMests, and French, GermaVi, Irish, and Scotch Catholics of foreign birth, must be absolved of the obnoxious imputation. If we are to give credit to the persecuted Chief Superintendent, even the treatment of common decency, if not gentlemanly courtesy^ is withheld from him. Of course the sensitive Doctor need not be so particular about common rfe- cency^ when he ventures to charge Catholic Bishops and Priests ivith treating the immortal mind of Roman Catholics just as the American slaveholder does the mortal bodies of his slaves. Instead of sticking to his thesis, my wily opponent finds it more to his taste, to indulge in a few of the ordinary common-place declamations of the meeting house, about ** clerical absolutism, under which humanity withers and so- ciety retrogrades." In one part of the learned document, we have the usual deceptive cry about •• the resurrection of the human mind, from the lethargy and enslavement in which it had been buried during the Dark Ages.^' Were this the place, I might easily show his weak-minded Reverence that the " Dark Ages " have no existence, except in the dark cranium of the Chief Superintendent of Education and others of his stamp. — For the second, third and fifth time, my perse- vering antogonist will try his hand at Bishop De Charbonel, whom he politely calls an importation from a foreign clime, " manufacturing conscientious convictions of which Catholics knew nothing until the infusion of the new foreign element into this country" la the absccnce of His Lord«hip, who is now in Europe, I beg leave to thank Dr. Ryerson for his lectures on good manners. I may be permitted also, en passant, to re- mark that this frequent repitition of a language worthy of the fish market, betrays a great scarcity of words and of thoughts, and a low tone of education. Spain and Italy will feel, in their turn, the unsparing lash of the Chief Superintendent. Unfor- tunate Spain, poor benighted Italy, will the light of Ryerson- ism ever shine upon your mountains and valleys, and dispel e5 i r i Pi Ic 1 m'\ 'i:' i 70. the clouds of ignorance hovering over you ? It is true, Rome the capital of Italy, with a population of 15^,078 souls, has only three hundred and eighhj-une Free Schools, with about five hundred teachers, and fourteen thousand children attending them ; aUniversity, with an average attendance of six hundred and sixty students, besides other Institutions of learnin^^, Scm- naries, and Acadamies fur the tenchingofthe higher branches. It is true, the Papal States, with a population of two and a Jialf millions, contain seven Universities, whilst Prussia, with a population of iburtecn millions, has but seven. — But what is all this, let me ask, compared with the blaze of light continually issuing from Dr. Ryerson's Model Schools, in which 1,570 children out of a Protestant population of 29,550 receive an education at a yearly cost of four pounds, ten shil- lings, and four pence per head ? The average attendance in our Catholic Separate Schools, out of a Catholic population of 12,210, last year, was 1280. The total receipts for the sup- port of these Schools, during the same year, including City Taxes and Lesislative grants, amounted to J£545. I leave it the public to judge whether the cause of education would not be more effectually promoted, and public economy better con- sulted, if each denomination wa^ allowed to have its own Separate Schools. The above is the daily attendance and cost of our matchless Common Schools in Toronto. Even The Leader f who has had the extreme kindness to open its columns for the insertion of the Doclor^s effusions, will occa- sionally get a rap from the ferule of my fretful opponent, for violating editorial propriety^ by joining in Mr. Bruyere's at- tacks. In reference ta this strange demeanor of the (.'hief Superintendent,! hope I shall not be blamed if I say,that his last reply to me sustains but too well the peevish character of the old Dame sitting at the corner of the domestic hearth, fretting wrangling.and scolding all those who come in her way, and dif- fer from her views. Why my sensitive antagonist should thus give way to his temper,! am at a loss to understand. I repeat it again ; all these mazes and wanderings have nothing to do with the question at issue. Had Dr. Ryeison confined him- self within the debated point, his long communication, extend- ing to /ujew^y M;ee /oo/a-c^/;? pages, might easily have been reduced to a few lines more characteristic of a sensible man. If I appeal to an impartial public, I am sure they will sus- tain me, when I assert that I am not bound by any' rule of controversy, to follow my slippery antagonist though all his 71 intricacies and meandeiings. What is to be done with the (v'lergy Reserve Funds ? Shall tht;y be applied for general purposes, tor tlie benefit of all, or shall they be turned to the private use of one portion of our community ? Such is the question which the Chief Superintendent attempted to solve in his famous circular addressed to the Municipalities of Upper Canada, by deciding that they should go all, or at least, in part to his State Schools and Public Libraries. In vain will the Doctor plead, that the Catholics may avail themselves of the common boon, by going to his Schools, and drinking at the spring of intellectual knowledge flowing from his Public Lib- raries. For reasons already assigned, and which will be, if necessary, further submitted to his kind consideration, Cath- olics can have, and will have, nothing to do with his State Schools and Public Libraries. Unwilling, however, to ruffle the sensitiveness of the good Doctor, I consent to humor him, for a little while, by entering at once, upon the examina- tion of the various charges contained in his last reply to my rejoinder. The rev. gentleman begins by uttering a loud shout of triumph at the victory won over his opponent, who, if we arc to believe Dr. Ryerson, has not a word to say in support of some two or three grave charges and alleged grievances. This premature exultation of the good Doctor, will remind many of one of the featered tribe who sings her song of jubilation before she has laid her egg, 1st. I asserted in my communication to the conductors of the Press in Canada, that Catholic Separate Schools were pre- cluded from any share in the distribution of the Clergy Re- serve Funds. 1 repeat the charge and challenge my opponent to show how Catholics could be permitted to par- take of the common stock, in presence of the legislation on the subject. I repeat again : the law is in our way. The Cler- gy Reserves Secularization Bill which passes over the funds accruing from their sale, to the different Municipalitit s. is accompanied by a restrictive clause that they shall be applied exclusively to those purposes for which municipal funds are applicable. But, Municipalities, by a former Act of Parlia- ment, are expressly forbidden from employing any partion of funds placed at their disposal, to the use of Separate Schools. Does it not, therefore, follow, as I complained in my first communication, that Catholics are most unjustly cut off from any share in the distribution of the above named rescources ? ! yi fi' i ^\ '& El. V w What matters it, whether the restrictive clause be contained in the Secularization Bill, as I unintentionally stated, or in a former legislative enactment ? Is not the result the same ? viz: making the Reserves applicable to t^'ommon Protestant Schools only, and precluding Catholic Separate Schools from any share of the same ? Therefore, the Municipalities, which are at liberty to apply either the whole or at least, a part of the Clergy Reserves Funds, to Common Schools, cannot devote a farthing to the use of Catholic Separate Schools. Therefore, again, Dr. Ryerson committed a most pafpale injustice when he suggested to the Municipalities the application of these funds, exclusively to the use Of his fellow Protestants. If I disdained in my rejoinder to notice his Revernece's reply to the grievance, it was not because I ad- mitted its groundlessness, ais he says, but because his piti- ful sophistry was undeserving of an answer. 2. — I complained, in my first communication, that whilst Common or Protestant Schools, should Dr. Ryerson's sug- gestion to the Municipalities be acted upon, would be abun- dantly furnished with maps, charts, globes, &c., &c., Catho- lic Separate Schools would be deprived of the same advan- tages. To this, what does Dr. Ryerson say ? In his first reply, h# simply says that "Separate Schools in Upper Canada, have precisely the same facilities for providing themselves with maps, charts, globes, l. imi \ii i; I i* ought not to bo objected to by me, betrays aii ignorance, which was not to be expected from one who has obtained the f)retcntious title of Doctor. Had he opened his eyes to. the ight of common sense, he would have understood that the C^iurch is unable to place on the Index, even the hundredth or thousandth part of evil books which are daily issuing forth from an intidel press. As well might Dr. Ryerson say, that the obscene and filthy pamphlets which are hourly handed about on railroad cars, and steamboats, should all be placed in the Index, By the same rule it would follow that the Globe must be a very correct vehicle of truth, and con- tains nothing but what is proper, and fit to be rend by a decent female, since this wretched sheet is not in the Index Expurgalorius. I avail myself of this opportunity to in- form his reverence that he is mistaken in regard to Hume and Gibbon. One of them is in the Index. That both are in his catalogue, I presume, the Doctor can have no doubt now. Shame on the corruptor of youth, who places in their hands the poison of infidelity and skepticism. '■ •- ' '^ 6. In order to enable the public to judge of the char- acter of Kev. Dr. Ryerson's Libraries, I will add that bad .as the catalogue is which contains not over twenty Catho- lic works, these Public Libraries, got up under the super- intendence of a Methodist Minister, particularly those out in the country, are still worse. Since the beginning of this controversy, friends of mine in the country, have called at some of these Public Libraries, asking for Catholic books mentioned in the catalogue. Those books were not there. Whether they were not for circulation, or whether they were not at all on the shelves of the Libraries, which is more probable, the fact is, they could not be had. As a general rule, there are none but Protestant works, in the Libraries of Dr. Ryerson. . ^ : .-. ;>{» In connexion with the above statement, I beg leave to add the following remarks. Of the scheme of Public Libra- ries got up by the (^hief Superintendent of Education, we may say what is daily repeated about Common Schools. They do not suit our community ; they are not adapted to its in- stincts and wants. We are living in a community composed of a thousand shades and shapes. Books to the liking and taste of Protestants will not be relisherd by Catholics, and vice versa Catholics will not as a general rule, look into Pro- testant shelves for mental food. They know from experience I« nee, the the the edth uing rson uriy all that con- y a ndex in- ume 1 are oubt s in that in these productions of Protestant writers, what they hold most sacred is misrepresented and ridiculed. Nor will Pro- testants, as a general lule, go to Catholic Libraries when they seek for reading matter. Dr. llyerson should know that Catholics have no more faith in Protestant Libraries, made up of Protestant books, under Protestant agency, than Protes- tants have in our own Libraries. I repeat again, in the divi- ded state of Christendom, particularly in Upper Canada, Common Libraries for both Protestants and Catholics, are an impossibility. There is therefore but one alternative. Let every denomination get up their own Libraries, and purchase books adapted to their own choice and taste. Catholics will never ask for their own private use a cent out of the funds destined for general purposes. They would consider it the greatest injustice to divert to their own exclusive use what the unanimous voice of the nation has declared to be the com- mon stock, the property alike of Protestants and Catholics. Let me ask of the Chief Superintendent of Ed cation to con- descend to take from a Catholic Priest lessons of justice and equity. Let him listen to the voice of an obscure member of the Church of Rome, reminding him of the golden rule once imprinted on his mind by the finger of his Creator, but which has been obliterated by religious prejudices and hatred of his fellow Christians. " Do unto other as you would wish t* be done by.^* Such is our rule, such are the principles which should guide and direct every Christian, whose mind is not poisoned by Ryersonian doctrine. I will add, the scheme of Public Libraries, like that of Common Schools, having been weighed in the scale, has been found wanting. The tree has borne its fruit ; they have proved most bitter to the taste. I am informed on good authority, that lately in several localities, Proicstants, in a spirit of conciliation towards Catholics, their fellow Christians, have already sold out their Public Libraries, judging wisely that these Ryersonian contrivances do not meet the present wants and taste of our community. Thus has a great source of discord been taken from their midst. It is to be hoped that before long all Upper Canada, animated by similar feelings, will come to the same conclu- sion, and scatter to the wind the great humbug of Dr. R yer- son, viz : his Public Libraries, and substitute in their place Private Libraries, better adapted to the liking of each deno- mination. 6. I come to the fourth charge preferred against me by r I h it' , /"■I Si. 76 fcv! i;.ii Si J the Chief Superintendent of education. I am accused by him of having stated " that in the Common School system, Chris- tianity was not recognised — that the schools were Godless and infidel, and that lie (Dr. Rycrson) was employing every means in his power to injure and destroy the Roman Catholic Church." Before i answer the charge, I beg to state that the infidel character of Dr. Ryerson's schools, is not the only ob- jection we have to them. We object to them likewise, on the ground that the books used in his Model Schools are not fit to be placed in the hand of a Catholic child, nor of anybody else. Indeed there is not a single text-book,even on the natural sciences, arts, civil polity, political economy, or any branch of natural history and human industry, — there is not a single Protestant production o^ taste, literature and imagination, but contains more or less that is offensive to Catholics. In proof of what I advance, I will make a few extracts from some of the text-books taught in Dr. Ryerson's schools. White's Universal History, one, I believe, of his standard works in the Grammar Schools, stands prominent among ob- jectionable textrbooks. Almost every page of h modern history, especially when it relates to Catholic nations or the Catholic Church, exhibits instances of bigotry and scandal- ous perversion of truth. For instance, under the head '* The Church," the student in history" will read, " Many circux- stances seem to have contributed to the great eclesiastical rev- olution which distinguished this century. The introducfion of image worship had been strenuously resisted" The above, besides being a falsehood, is a direct insult oSercd to Catho- lics as rational beings. Again, in a chapter headed " Luther," "The immediate cause of the Reformation was the gross abuse of indulgences. In 1517, a sale of indulgences was proclaimed as the most effectual means of replenishing his (Leo X.) treasuary. By these, absolution was given for future sins, as well as for past ; and they were converted into licenses for violating the most sacred obligations." , On the subject of the Council of Trent, the following, among other passages, occurs. " Among the articles decreed by this Coun- cil to be implicitly believed, are : — The celibacy of the clergy, confession and absolution, the worship of images and relics ; the intercession of saints, the adoration and Immaculate Con- ception of the Virgin Mary." Behold, reader, how history is taught in Dr, Ryerson's schools. In a book styled " Lec- tures on Botany," in Lecture 39, under the title *' Superstitions ■^ 77 with regard to the blossoming of plants," the reader will meet with the following passage : "In the Romish Church, many superstitions exist with regard to certain plants which happen to blossom about the time of some saints' days. In Italy and other countries in the iSouth of Europe, where these super- stitions tirst originated, the dead-nettle being in blossom about the time of St. Vincent's day, a martyr who suffered for Christianity under the Emperor Dioclesian, in the year 304, the flower is conisecratcd to him. The Winter Hellebore is usually in blossom about the time of the Conversion of St. Paul, supposed to be in commemoration of that event." Again. '* The Crown Imperial blossoms in England about the 8th of March, the day of St. Edward, King of the West Saxons ; nature thus, as was imagined, honoring the day with a royal Hower. It was during the middle ages, when the minds of men were influenced by the blindest superstition, that they thus imagined every operation of nature to be emblematical ol sofhe thing connected with their religious faith.'* I omit several other passages, reflecting particularly upon supersti- tious monks and nuns who were, says the lecturer, the au- thors of these conceits. Thus when Catholic children will expect to read a lecture on Botany and flowers, they will be treated to a lecture on superstitious monks and nuns. '[The text book which contains these extracts is fresh front Dr. Uyerson's libraries. I open another standard work, lately from the shelves of thei Normal School, it is called : "Recre- ations in Science and Natural Philosophy." Now, who would expect bigotry and prejudices in Natural Philosophy ? Such is, however, the case. In a section of the work, headed " Amusing Problems," the following is found, — " A certa n convent consisted of nine cells, one of which, in the middle, was occupied by a blind Abbess and tlie rest by her nuns. The good Abbess to assure herself that the nuns did not violate their vows, visited all the cells, and finding three nuns in each, which made nine in each row, retired to rest. Four nuns, however, went out, and the Abbess return- ing at midnight to count them, still found nine in each row, and iherfeore retired as before. The four nuns then came back, each with a gallant, and the Abbsss, on paying them another visit, having again counted nine persons in each row, entertained no suspicion of what had taken place. But four more men were introduced, and the Abbess again counting nine persons in each F r\ 78 t i: 5 It row« retired in the full bertuasion that no one had cither gone out or come in. How Vfas all this bossible t" I Icare the tolution of the above problem to Dr. llyerson and his pu- pils. If there is any impropriety in publishing such scandal- ous trash, let the blame be fastened on the brow of those who thus attempt to pervert the mind and corrupt the hearts of unsuspecting youth. Such ate the Christian principles and feelings in the highest and largest sense, which according to Dr. Ryersdn, pervade the text- books used in his schools. 1 return now to the charge preferred against me by the Chief Superintendent of Education, viz : my stating that in tho Comnion School system Christianity was not recognized, that the schools were Godless and Infidel, and that Dr. Kverson was employing every means to injure and destroy the Koman Catholic Church. In answer to the above, I will say that I plead guilty to every one of these charges. With the pre- sumed pernnission oi* His Reverence, 1 repeat again what I have bilready stated on a former occasion, on the same sub- let The Common State Schools, built with Cathloic as well as Protestant money, are houses of education from which Religion is banished, where the elements of Christianity can- not oe inculcated to the rising youth, 'vhoro the child of Christian parents must be taught practically that ail religious systems are equally pleasing, or ralher equally indifferent, in the sight of God, be he a believer in the immutable decrees of eternal reprobation, or a follower of the impostor Joe Smith. Our Common School System is but an importation from Yankee Land, where it has already brought forth its t)itter fruits, Deism, Irreligion, Infidelity, Know-Nothingism. Now, what do our RepuWican neighbors think of their once boasted Common School System ? In looking over various statistics and rejjorts of Prison inspectors on the other side of the line, We are struck at the unanimous opinion we meet with, that Godless education, that is, mental training, apart from moral and religions instruction, and an increase of crime are co-existing facts. In New York City, where Common School education, next to Massachusetts, has obtained its greatest perfection, Justice Conolly, who last year sat upon the Maine Criminal Bench, report^ that for the nine months precceding October 1st, he had himself disposed of nine thdusdnd three hundred and forty-two cases, or an average of fcyrty cases daily, excepting Sunclays. The Prison irtspectorB. . of New Jersey roade last January, 1866, the following Re- Mther lenre is pu- ftnaal- who irts of 8 and ing to s. by the in the id, that \erson 9/ loman ^ that I le pre- what I ne sub- leic as \ which Ity can- KJiild of eligious brent, in decrees lor Joe )ortation forth its hingism. leir once • various ther side we meet ng, apart of crime Cominon lined its sat upon e months J of nine rerage of ispectors, wing Re- 7U porltoihe State Legijlalure: ** We regret tohnvbto ray that we are of opinion that the violation of law hy the com- mission of crime is largely on the increase in our State, and as a natural consequence our penitentiary is full to overflow- ing." It must be remembered that no State in the Union has made greater etlbrts lor the difllision of Common School ed- ucation than in New Jersey. In a meeting held Inst year in the city of New York, and composed of Troicssors of colleges. Professor Grecnlcaf said he knew of thhteen young men who come from one school, and every one of them had rushed headlong into destructicm. The same speaker said that one of the teachers had made to hinft the following declaration: '* I think 1 must change my system of teaching ; I think I ought to give a little more mor- al instruction, for already /u>o of my schonlars have been hung for murder^ Education has been made a matter of State policy in Prussia, and every child is, by the compulsion of the Government, sent to school, and yet we are told that crime is increasing there a^a frightful rate. The criminal returns of Great Baitain and irelaiid, for the last twenty years, demon- strate that the educated criminals are to the uneducated as two to one. In Scotland the educated criminals are about four times the uneducated. Nay, what is still more remark- able, while the ^itrmber of uneaucated criminals, especially in Scotland, is yearly diminishing, tha^ of educated ones is yearly increaising. I gather the above facts from a little pamphlet published by a Protestant Clergyman, styled, "Does the Common School system ^f* the United States pre- vent jCrime ?" I regret that the length of this letter prevents me from laying before the public more than the following extracts : " While the intellect is so sharpened and inform- ed, (in the Common Schools) the rrioral powers' are suffered to slumber and dwarf. The multitudes who have left school, so ready in figures, so skillful with the pen, so well instructed in the anatomy of their own bodies and the mechanism of a steam engine, go forth into the world ignorant even of the ten commandnienls and the Lord's Prayer, with an uninform- ed and slumbering conscience, with impure and enlarged, but ungoverned desires.,' * It will not do, as Dr. Ryerson does, to assert that on the State (>r^ State Schoolism devolves the duty of forming the child's Aiind^ reserving to the parentand pastor the supreme control 88 to its religions instruction. In ans'^rer tothi8frivi- F2 r fF ■!■■ s. U \ . 80 lions but Bpacions objection, my authority goes on saying, "If we could but be assured that the multitudes of the young were receiving a moral training, any wliere outside of the ficliool room, at home, or at Church, it would some- what extenuate the enormity wliich is now peipetrated. But the lamentable fact is, that Jive-sixths of the homes of the land are irreligious, j(?t'e-5ia:/A5 of tlie parents of America do not even attend any place of public worship, and are therefore, of course unqualified to give a moral bent and re- ligious instruction to their oiFspring." " Ought not," adds the same autliority, " this charming host, who are so un- proTided for, both at home, and at church, in their daily school instruction be made to receive some adequate moral and religious training ? But tne popular Common School system provides only for the communication of secular knowledge. Now is it to be believed that such a system tends to Sie glory of God, to the security of human life and property, or to the prevention of ciime in general V* From the above fearful facts and many others whifh I am compelled to omit, the Protestant writer of the pamphlet above named concludes by saying, " Yet let us not be misunderstood. "We have no^ affirmed that education caup^is crime. We merely affirm that the two are co-existing facts ; and that the system of Common School education is attended with an increase cf crime, because it is the education of only one side of human nature, and that not the controlling side. Man's moral and religious nature constitutes this other and better but undeveloped half." Such is the ground on which we also object to the Common School System. Dr. Kyei'son's Schools are indentical with the Godless Schools, on the other side of the line, where they have produced the most lament- able results. Tlie Chief Superintendent himself has con- fessed that they were formed on the plan of the celebrated Massachusetts Schools. .^ • Let us see what title they have to our gratitude in Toronto; what tney have accomplished ; their present condition and future prospect. What are our Common Schools doing in tiiis City ? I beg to lay before the public the following ex- cract from a Protestant Correspondent of the Cafholic Citizen in a series of letters addressed by him to the Hon. John A, Macdonald. The last letter shows that the number of child- ren of school age, in the city, (Toronto) is 8,884. And by Mr, Barber's Report for 1855, the average attendance in all mi the side me- ped. h of rica are we 81 the city free schools, was 1,570. The fact is officially record- ed that in a population of 8,884 children of school age, only 1,570 is the average daily attendance. Let us turn to the cost of supporting schools for the daily instruction of 1,570 children. The whole cost for the year 1855, including teach- ers* salaries, maps and apparatus, rents and repairs ot school houses, school books, stationary, fuel and other expenses, in- cluding also the interest at G per cent, i& put down at J£7,093 12s. lOd. The cost, then, says the correspondent, of a daily attendance of 1,570 children in the Free Common Schools of Toronto is, £4 10s. 4d per head, for the year 1855. Thus, for the education of Dr. Hyerson's pupils (who seldom fail to insult a priest, when they have an opportunity) the city^ of Toronto has to pay *' four pounds ten shillings and four pence" per head. 1 have said enough, I trust, to convint e every sen- sible man that the whole machinery of the Chief Superinten- dent of Education, Common Schools and Public Libraries, are a humbug or grand imposition. 1. If with this enormous amount of money expended in sup- porting what I will not hesitate to call a gigantic imposition, profitable only to those immediately engaged in its manage- ment, some desirable results could be obtained, our citizens mi.ht, perhaps, submit in silence to this obnoxious burden. But, let me ask, what are the fruits ofour boasted School machinery? Has education, after the Ryerson fashion, prevented crime ? The statistics recently published show that in a city numl^er- ing according to the last census, 42,000 souls, the number of arrests made by the police during the past year, amount to 5.250, against 3,295 in !855. His Honor Judge Hagerty, in his late charge to tie Grand Jury at the opining of the Toronto City Assizes, was struck at the alarming number of juvenile offenders, and remarked : " We may naturally ask how such a crop of young criminals can arise in this land, boasting as it does a widely extended system of Free Schools, sup[X)rted by munificent assessments o.i the whole property of this country. 1 fear the educational statistics of this city can too readily afford an answer." Again, let me ask, does not this unpleasant and unwholesome state of society, con- vince every sensible man, that here, as in the neighbouring Republic, modern education, divorced from religion, and an increase of crime, are co-existing facts ? In presence of the above alarming facts, it becomes the duty of every man, every christian and citizen, to examine f8 W w u where the evil lies. The able editor of the Toronto Times has on this subject the following sensible, remarks : " If the present school system has been tried and found wanting, let us not waste time, that is most precious, in trying it again. Let us not be frightened by the cry of sectarianism from doing our duly to the rising generation. That something should be done for them without delay, cannot be doubted by any one who knows anything of the youth of this most moral and well educated city." Next follows a gloomy picture drawn by this earnest and honest citizen, of the alarming condition of the youth in the city of Toronto. That some- thing should be done for the rising generation is no longer doubted ; that the present school system cannot, will not rescue it from the frightful abyss it is rushing into, cannot be questioned, except by those whose pecuniary interest is closely connected with the grand imposture. What then should be done for that interesting portion of our community? What should all true christians do for the noble cause of education? If I may be permitted to express my humble opinion, I will attempt to give a solution to this perplexing problem. Let us return to the course pointed out by venerable antiquity, and the experience of all ages. Let us listen to the voice of wisdom and patriotism. Washington's dying injunction was, *- Never allow education to be divorced from religion." The separation of religion from secular instruction, says the author of the pamphlet already cited, is altogether a novel proceed- ing. This divorcement of religion from education was un- known to our fathers. Since both reason and experience teach that religion and secular education ought always to go hand in hand, the ques- tion arises, how shall this be accomplished ? We are living in a community divided into various and large religious bodies. Catholics, members of the the church of England, Methodists, Presbyterians. Baptists, Chtistians, of every name. When children of those numerous christian denominations are as- sembled together to receive instruction, shall a catholic priest present him;5elf to teach his catechism, ? Shall a minister of the Church of England undertake the task ? Shall a Metho- dist preacher, offer his services ? Or shall a Presbyterian minister be preferred? All these various religious denomi- nations have their conscientious convicnons which cannot be trifled with : they have their creed which must be respected. What shall we do ? Let us all adopt the scheme which I m mes the let Ji^ain. Ifrom Ihing 3d by wral rtiire Iming lome- was, have proposed for Public Libraries. Let every religious denomination have its own school. Let religious instruc- tion along with secular knowledge be daily given to the anxious youth. Let the Government extend to all denomina- tions its parental patronnge, and bestow on all an allowance proportionate to the daily attendance. Then, and then only shall peace and harmony reign again, in our community ; then only, shall we have a moral youth, a promising genera- tion. I hope Dr. Kyerson will now understand why 1 object to his Common School System 7. In spite of the most convincing evidence. Dr. Ryerson seems to be determined never to retrace a wrong step once taken, or retract an untruth however palpal le. I presume his Reverence acts up to the doctrine ascribed by him to The Leader t but put in practice by himself. " A lie once told should be stuck to." Without a blush, I fear, he repeats again that Bishops Power and Macdonnell did not entertain the same views on the subject of the Separate versus the Common Schools, I laid before him a letter from the Honor- ble John Elmsley of Toronto, in which that gentleman stated most distinctly that His Lordship Bishop Power did " him the honor to confide to his charge a large share in the work- ing of the Catholic Separate Schools, and that he was an energetic advocate and supporter of Catholic Separate Schools, and most resolutely opposed to mixed." To this what does Dr. Hyerson answer f Not one word. Of course it is easier to assert than to prove, more convenient to abuse than to refute a man. I am mistaken ; excuse me, reader, Beheld Dr. Ryerson's answer. "After his decease, Bishop Power was eulogized by me, (Dr. Ryerson) in a public and published address." A conclusive logic this, very much so. 8. The Chief Superintendent of Education has asserted in his first communication that the Roman Catholic children* who have been taught in the mixed schools, are as good Roman Catholics, as those who had been, or are taught in the J^eparate schools. Against his assertion I piotested most emphatically, and informed him at once, that we could easily afford to give thom up to him, since they are as a general rule, as Catholic and as Protestant as himself. Whereupon, taking me up to my word, the good Doctor exclaims in an extacy of joy: "I 'will cheerfully accept the charge, and treat this large class of my fellow-citizens with the same consideration and solicitude that I liave always shown for it t ■i'. i f ihcir welfare as well as for their rights.** I repeat again to Dr. Ryerson : he is welcome to them, he may hug them to his bosom till doomsday. But I cannot allow the following bold .-issertion connected with the same subject to pass unno- ticed. " Now," says his Reverence, ''as the Separate schools are only recent and few and far between in Upper Canada, it follows that nineteen-twentielhs. if not ninety-hnndreths,- of the Roman Catholics who have received any education in Upper Canada, have received it in the mixed schools." Allow me to say, dear Doctor, with all due respect to your charac- ter, his Satanic majesty would blush at such palpable false- hoods. If the Separate schools in their present form are ohly recent, they have always existed de factOj whenever, a Catho- lic settlement warranted the establishment of one. The Separate schools in those days were only tew and far between in Upper Canada, because Catholics themselves were few and far between. Does not Dr. Ryerson himself know in that the very days of Bishop Macdonnell whom he represents as being in favor of (common School Education, this saintly Prelate went all the way to England purposely to get Catho- lic Teachers, and brought over four of them, and placed them where there was sufficient population to require their services ? Does he not know that St. Raphael, in Glengarj, Alexandria also in Glengary, St. Andrew in the county of Stormont, and Perth in the county of Lanark, had Catholic teachers, Catholic Separate schools de facto, long before the present Separate School Act was thouffht of? Is he not aware that a Catholic College for the liigher branches of education, was established at St. Raphaels, by the same venerable bishop, Dr. Macdonnell, so favorable to common education, if we are to give credit to the Chief Superinten- dent of Common Schools in Upper Canada? JJsineteen- hundreths of the Roman Catholics, says Ryerscm, who have received any education in Upper Canada, have received it in the mixed schools. An angel would shed tears at such a shameful perversion of truth, and utter absence of candor. Let me, in turn, ask Dr. Ryerson, how long is it since the present Common school system has existed ? How could Catholics be educated in schools which had no existance at the time ? There were indeed, in those early days, Public schools to which the youth of the vicinity resorted ; but infidel Ryerson schools they were not. When will the light of common sens© shine upon the Doctor's obtuse mind and . give him to nnderatand that I am speaking of his own com* mon school system, his own godless and infidel schools, where Christianity is practically ignored ; in a word, his State fjchools, hut a few years since imported into our midst from Yankee land, the land of Know-^othingism? I hope, if the Doctor is not too far advanced in years, he will set himself to work and study the history of his own native land, and dwell ])articuiarly on dates and facts connected with eilucation. I feel great delicacy, ruyselfan infusion of a new foreign eleiuent^ in being obliged to teach Canadian History to the groat native of Canada, J)i\ Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education. 9. With tlie theory of Dr. Ryerson, viz : that to the State and not to tho parent the child belongs. I have nothing to do ; nor, I believe, any sensible man in Canada. The ques- tion having long been settled by the greatest geniuses, the most profound philosopiiers and statesmen of Lurope, parti- cularly of France, it ill becomes a village doctor, but yester- day a shouting nicthodist preaclier, to set up his theory in opposition to the wisdom and leaniing of the rest of the world, I will merely remind him again that we are living in a christian country, not among the pagan Spartans from whom he has borrowed his setiseless scheme fit only for the inhabitants of the moon. We, poor benighted Catholics have been taught that on parents devolves the duty of eciu- cating, as well as feeding, and clothing the child. The State will have suffi'^iently done its part, by enabling the parent to procure for his chili such an education as he deems proper. Before I conclude this already too long letter, I beg to submit to the public whethi'r the couree pursued by Dr. Kverson towards Bishop De Charbonnell, now absent from this country, and myself personally, is calculated to give him much credit. 1 have raised my voice in the name of the whole Catholic body to protest agalnts the injustice per- petrated by tiie Chief Superintendent of Education in demanding the application of the Clergy Reserve Ennds, solely for the use of his own Schools and Libraries, fiom which a larire j)ortion of this comm uty ad I vantage at all. Instead of answering me in a fair and impartial discur-sion, or what m'ouUI luive been more pru- dent, for him, instead of rcmainini- silent, he choo-es to brand uio wjili the opprobrious appellation ten times repeat I II \ I I 8« cd, of an infusion of a new foreign element.. Had Dr. Kyerson kept silence, we would liavc proceeded witli our own Separate scliools, hunii)ered as they are witli odious restrictions and illiberal provisions. \v'hen I remonstrate a^aiiist his reverence, at the time that he is attempting to destroy them by givini]^ to his Schools an overwhelming feuperiority over our own Separate school?, I am met with a long discussion on the right of the Hfate to educate the cliild, followed with the usual amount of ril)aldry about t'onscien- tious convictions manufactured to order. When I give my reasons why we cannot allow our ch Idn n to go to Dr. Ryer- Bon's schools, I am treated to a lecture on the "' lethargy and enslavement of the human mind during the 'Dark Ages.' " "When I prove to him that almost every book in his libraries contains doctrines or facts hostile to Catholics, who, conse- quently cannot derive any benefit from them, the Chief Superintendent of edution accuses me of aim'mij at control- ling or destroying emnj man and every institution in the, land. When I expatiate in the name of 1,500,000 Catho- lics on the injustice of laying his rapacious hand on the Clergy Eeserve Fund, and thus depriving them of their just filiare of the common property, 1 am abruptly told by his Reverence; hush! you are a foreigner. I a})peal to a just and imi^artial public, are Catholics bound to puffer them- selves to be robbed by Dr. Hyerson, without the power of ntiering a word of comphiint, or expressing their grievance? Is it just; is it fair to place into the hands of a Methodist preacher the iminense resources wrested from the Church of England by an act of the Provincial Parliament ? Will the French Canadians, also a new foreign element in this country^ thank Dr. Kyerson for the <)])])robrious epithets so recklessly flung in their face ? Will they sympathize with him when he i)oun* his vial of ridicule upon their Chief Pastors and Prie^^is i What will the Government say when they see their Oilicial and servant, extend the right hand of friendship to the Organ of the Clear Grits, the perpetual reviler of the present Administration ? On the other hand, what estimate must the Clear Gri^s form of the Chief Superintendent, a man to-day a Toiy, to-morrow a Keformer, but ever rvwdy to sell himself to whomsoever is willing to pay him well i In conclusion, I will say : were I as sen-itive as my antagonist, I laight complain of the unfair treatment I meet Dr. our ious rate ting nng Ith a liild, my w tvith al the liaticrs of a certain portion of the press, which comments upon my letters witboat publisliing tliem, or publishts Dr. Ryerson's personal cliatribea, witliout allowing tlie public to see the other side of tlie question. Hoping that the public will bear with me, and judge between the perpetual assailant of Catholics and myself, I submit the above rejoinder to their sense of justice and fair-play, subscribing myself, . ,. . . Their most obedient servant, J. M. BRUYERE. Tf Toronto, January 2Tth, 1857.' DR. RYERSON'S REMARKS IN REPLY TO THE REV. J. M. BRITYERE'S THIRD LETTER. FOR THE LEADER, From the obligations of duty, I have read the Rev. J. M. Bruyere's third Letter, ot upwards of four closely printed columns in this day's Leachr ; but from the same obligations 1 shall occupy only four short paragraphs in reply. 1. In sui)port of the four priucipal issues which Mr. Bruyere ha(' raised in his tirst Jettei against the school sys- tem and its .'^ Iministration, he adduces not a single fact or authority, or clause of a law, but repeats assertions, multi- plies e[)ithets and rapsodies to the extent of columns. Ho reasons, or rather apostrophizes, throughout in a circle — tho chtiracteristic style of his schqpl on all theological and other questions ; and the sum of his argument is, that 1^\\. Brnyere 'v\ many forms of speech, ai-serts to be true in January, what Mr. Bruyere had, in as many forms assertel to be true in December. This is all the strength of the charges and argumentation of the new foreign and ecclesiastical element against our schools and school system. 2. The text-books in the Common schools to which Mr. Ih'uyere s^ys he objects, have been prepared by the National Board of Education in Ireland, and sanctioned alike by the Roman Catholic and Protestant authorities, and Members of that Board. So that Mr. Bruyere speaks without — and even against — :uitiiority from his own church, as well as against truth and reason. The C ommon schools as they existed n t ie days of Bishops Macdonnell and Power, were less stric g2 I (jif S8 I?: % 6 in regard to the character, morals and qualifications of Teachers, and non-sectarian text-books, and the discipline and conduct of pupils, than they arc at the present time. The passages which Mr. Bruyere has been able to cull from two books in the J^ibrary Depository, relating to occurrences in the Romafi Catholic ( 'liurch in past agv s, are little in com- parison of what may be found in many of the Library books in regard to almost every persuasion of Protestants, and are as nothing in comparson of what may be found in the Catholic liistories from tlie same Depository in regard to , the fathers of the Protestant Hefornuition, Protestanism generally, and every class of Protestants. Mr. Bruyere's renewed assertions in regard to Bisl op Power, ai'e not of the slightest weight when placed beside the facts of Bishop Powei'^s position and proceedings in regard to our school system while he lived. 3. On the theory of the duties of the state, or of society at large, to each cf its members — especially of its helpless and unprotected members — I have but given expi ession to what will be found in every standard wiiter on ))olitical economy or civil government on the Continent of Eur:>pe, as well as Great Britain and America. 4. In conclusion, I have only noticed Mr. Bruyere be- cause of the position he occupies ; and when one thinks that empty assertions, despotic assumptions, and vulgar personalities which hiss through the many cohimns of liis production, constitute the whole strength in argument ot the only organized ecclesiastical Opposition (formed by this new foreign element in a section of one religious persuasion) against our School system, we may well be satisfied of its soundness and integrity ; and with increased confidence and energy, may the public pursue iis onward course in building up, maturing and extending a system which has been devised ai d established under the auspices of all parties in successive Administrations and Parliaments, and sustained by the people at large with unparalleled* liberality, unanimity and patriotism. January 30, 1857. E. PwYEESON. of line line. 10 m nces iom- )oks are the to iism 3re'fl it of Jiop hool 8f REV. J. M. BRUYERE'S VALEDICTORY RYERSON. ADDRESS TO DR. TO THE CONDUCTORS OF THE PUESS IN CANADA. I was absent from home for a short time. On my return, Dr. Ryer- son's remarks in reply to my third letter, vrorc placed into my hands. As I lead tliem, methou'^ht I heard the dying tire of a retreating en- emy The good Doctor's powder is evidently exhausted. He has left the field of battle and decamped to parts unknown. 1. The Chief Superintendent of Education is pleased to re-assert that "in support. of the four principal issues, which I hud raised in my first letter against the School System and its administration, I adduce not a single fact or authority, or clause of a law, but repeat assertions, etc., etc." In answer to this puerile assertion, 1 will merely say — if the love of truth and honesty has lost all power upon the callous heart of my reckless opponent, I can but express my surprise that self-res- pect, at least, and a regard for his high station, have not succeeded in making him more guarded and cautious in his words. I leave it to the public who have read my second Rejoinder of the 30th ull., to judge whether I have merely asserted or proved the question at issue. 2. In vindication of the objectionable character of the text-books used in the Common Schools in Upper Canada, the Chief Superintendent of Education states, that they " have been prepared by the National Board of Education in Ireland, sanctioned alike tiy Roman Catholic and Pro- testant authorities and members of that Board." J am sorry to say. Dr. Ryerson is too freequently most unfortunate in the selef tion of his proofs. Were his Doctorship in the least conversant with what is go- ing on in the Catholic world, he would have read lately a pastoral of His Grace, the Most Rev. Dr. Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland and Delegate of the Pope in that country, in which the whole scheme of Common National Schools is most emphatically de- nounced and warned against, as fraught with the most serious dangers to the faith and morals of Catholic youth. Alluding to theQueen's Col- leges established in Ireland for the teaching of the higher br?n1 misfortune, however, go lo study again, I wouhl say, good Doctor, and ex- tend your reading b(?vonil the Kohooi text-liook. Open some ot those misterly works, which have been composed by the greatetit geniuses of modern times, the most profound I'hiioHophers, and mo>sl consummate statesmen ol the Ct ntinent of Luro{)e. Allow me to introduce you to the works of C'ount De lk)nald, ('ount Le Mai^t^e, Bairnes, an humble son of poor benighted Spain, and a ho.st of other produftions of our days which will, 1 trust, contribute to eiUarge the too limited nphero of your literary ac(iuirernents. Kead but a few pages ; you will boon bo con- vinced that your darling theory, viz : that the child belongs to the State, lias long since been exploded and scattered to the wind. 4. In his concluding paragraph, Dr. Ryer.-on still ro])eats his inflated laudation of his Conimun School System whicli he represents as iu» tained by tiie peopU at larqe with iinparaUcled Uheratity, unanimity and palrioliwi. As an ilhistration of this wundcrfui imnnimify and patriotism, the Chief Siiperintend(;nt of JCducation should have stated that in the City of Toronto, out of a Protestant population of 29,550 souls the incredible numbftr of 1,570 children is the average daily attend- ance in these Moilel Schools. He should have informed the public that in this same city, in a Protestant population of 8,884 children of school age, 1,570 youths of all denominations (Catholics excepted) attend his ALdel Schools, at a yearly co!«t of the very moderate sum of £7,093 ris lOd. Contrast now dear rtjader, the condition of our poor benighted .Catholics with that of their more favored fellow christians of the Protestant persuasion. In the same City of Toronto, out of a Cath- olic population of 1'2,210 souls, the average daily attendance i" our Catholic Separate Schools was, last year, 1,286. The lotal rec. ts for the support of these Catholic Schools, during the same year, ir elud- ing city taxes and Legishitive grants amounted to X7)15. To return to Dr. Ryerson-s Common ^'cho Is, I will pay : very popular indeed, must be a system of education which can command such syni])athy, and exhib- it such cheering results ! As to the liheralit' vith which the Common School System issup])orleil, it cannot be (' collect that for the education of Dr. TJvei of Toronto has to pay on I C7,01»3 12s"l('. education of their 1,286 chi en. rtceivcil City taxes and Legislative ^^rants, jC54r>. To inese rnther unpleasant facts, I must not iorget that my ineomparal''- niilagonist iias an unanswer- able reply, viz : — Tins new foreign and ec inticolfleynent orfuinst our Schoohand School System. Ah, Doctor! alluw me to say ; for the fu- ture spare my feelinii's. This is the thirty ♦^ifth time, if I recollect well, that these ugly expressions are Hung inio my face. 1 can bear it no longer. I confess it now, 1 am a foreigner you are a native ; therefore you are in the right, I must be in the wrong. In justice to my distinguished antagonist, the Great Native of Can- ada, 1 must admit that his last cotnminiication to the public, is the least objectionable, — because the shortest. His reply occupies only four short paragraphs Still, I must say, every paragraph, every line, ev- ry word of his parting address contains a lamentable perversion of truth. When will this maddened enemy to Catholicity learn to tell the truth? Despairing of ever correcting a habit, which, I fear, he must bay J contracted from his earliest vouth, I send him to his good u4 ed. Let the reader re- s l,.^70 ])upils, the City » hiist Catiiolics for the a^' year, including their 1 ' m IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 f.l iti%21 12.5 US ^^ B^B E Si "^ £ la 12.0 L25 iu I 1.6 Fhotographic .Sciences Corporation v if still alire. Perhaps maternal endearment will have more infiuenee over his obdurate heart than arguments, fects) &Cm &c. In conclusion, I beg to offer to the able and liberal Editor of Tk« Leadary the sincere expression of my heart-felt gratitude for the very great kindness and courtesy vrith which he has condescended to open his columns to my commanicationS) such as they are. I hope my distin- Siished opponent will not refuse to join with me, in the discharge of is impemtive duty towards oci common friend. I would be wanting to myself, were I to forget the Editor of the Gtobef whose delicate sense of editorial propriety has prompted him to comment tifmn my letters without publishing them. To all, friends and foes, in this discussion, I take -pleasure in offering the expression of my best wishes fw their prosperity, and beg to subscribe myself. Their most humble and obedient servant, J. M. BRUYERE. : Toronto, February 4th, 1857. Letter from fhe Bight Bar. Doctor finsoneaiilt, Bif hop of Lon- don, C. W., to the Bey. J. M. BrnyerOf on the snliiject of the late Controversy with Dr. Byerion. London, C.W., Feb. 10, 1867. R«v. AND Dear Sir, — Pending your recent controversy with the Chief Superintendent of Education, for Canada West, which I have read with the greatest interest, I thought proper to refrain from intruding upon your valuable time, io order to congratulate you for your earnest and able advocacy of Catholic education. But now that it has come to an end, I hasten to offer you my warmest thanks and sympathies; and, at the same time, 1 beg to avail myself of this opportunity, to suggest the propriety of having the whole corres- pondence — as it has appeared in the Leader — got up in pamphlet form ; to which, if possible, might be added the very remarkable letters addressed by " A protestant," to the Hon. Attorney General McDonald, and lately published in the Catholic Citizen. The poor attempt of the Reverend OflBcial, to represent you as the organ of but a contemptible Joreign party — with which the body of Catholics in Canada, has no common sympathy — is altogether unfair and groundless; so much so, that I do not hesitate to say — and I say it advisedly — that you hare undoubtedly expressed the views of the entire hierarchy in Canada — nay, of the whole Catholio Church. Any one at all conversant with Catholic unity, is aware that, on the subject of Catholic Education, as well as en any other involving Catholic principles, pastors and flocks are always oiie. Has not the principle of the godless Common School system been repeatedly declared dangerous to faith and mtrals^ by our own Provincial Councils, by the Councils of Ireland, more especially by the celebrated Council of Thurles— convened and presided over by Wfl the Right Rev. Dr. Cullen, delegate of the Holv See— and findlj^bjr the Sovereigii Pontiff himaeit ? Hence it is that the Catholic body, which believes in the unerring authority o^ihe Church in all questiuua appertaining to faith and nioraU, never will, because conscience forbids if, approve and countenance this c(>mmon school syst.'ni, at now imposcNl upon us in this section of the Province. The leasts ther^-tbrc, that we can do, Rev. Dear Sir, is to offer you our well deserved thanks for the noble stand you have tttken, and for your very able defence of Catholic education, and this despite your unusually aniuous occupations during the protracted absence of your venerable Ordinary. And here, f sincerely regret to be under the punful necessity to express my nttor di8api)robation of the unbecoming language used by the Chief Sui)erintendent. of Education, when speak- ing of my most honored Brother in the Episcopacy. Such flippant expressions as these — the Charbonnela and Bruyttet, a new foreign element^ and others, — repeatedly brought forward, as it were with a vengeance — imply a disregard of decorum which we certainly -should not have expected from an official of the Government, much less from the Head of the Education Offic?. It is a painful duty tor roe to be compelled to administer such a rebuke to a gentleman, whom I would fain honor for his high station, and would gladly eulogise — if I conld — for his impartiality. I can not but be grateful to him for the courtesy he has shown to me, when on a recent occasion — which he has alluded to in his first reply — I consulted him about the Separate School Bill ; but his courtesy in private life must not prevent me from censuring his official misdemeanor. How a gentleman in his station — evidently well lead — could have betrayed, in the above controversy, such ignorance of Catholic matters, and such a gross disregard of Catholic feelings, 1 am really at a loss to understand. But, be this as it may, you have said enough to teach him, that, in the Churchy tJiere is no foreign element, and that — in virtue of the all powerfull unity of our Apostolic Faith — one spirit and one soul pervade the whole body, without distinction of native or foreign born. Besides, nalivism had nothing to do with the question at issue, and is rather a foreign ele- fi'ent itself when wrought repeatedly to bear — as a conclusive argument — against the liberty of conscience, which is involved in the pr. sent Common School System. It strikes me that in a colony where thousar Jsof foreigners are yearly pouring upon our chores— to the great benefit of our young country — nativism is rather out of place, or at least too premature for the time being. At all events, the native flag should not have been hoisted by the Keverend Chief of Education, who naturally is expected to keep aloof from all political platforms. Your adversary is not more fortunate, in bis oft repeated attempts to throve' on his side the whole moral weight of the late 06 "I M BUbofM MoDonell and Power. The most be couM have «^id with any truth, was that they tolerated, to a oertaiQ exteot^ what they conld not prevent; but to, pretend that the} were favor«>ble to mixed education, is injurious to their honored memory, and untruehin poim; of i«u!t. Need I say that it is notorious that boUi the«e zealous pre- lates labored most faithfully and most utrenuously— in their own times — ^to estiiblish thorough Catholic Schools whenever and wherever circumstances permitted them. The fact of Bishop Power being a member of the Board^ only shows his desire of gi\ ing a fair trial to a new system, concerning which many a time have 1 heard him express his misgivings, but the deplorable result of which his lanfientable and premature death prevented him from witnessing and rebuking. As for his venerable successor, he did what his consuience jH'ompted him to do, as soon as he felt that he could no longer coun- tenance the wholesale sacrifice of Catholic interests and principles, which he is bound to uphold to the utmost of his power ; and so Would have done both the above named Bishops — >as well as any Other. Concerning what you hrve said about Public Libraries, tJie que?- tion is not wb other you were right or wrong with regard to the exact number of Catholic books said to be on their im^lves, but whether you had good ground for denouncing them as dangerous to faith and morals. Vow, most emphatically do I endorse your sound view on this question, for we can hardly be less opposed to mixed Libraries than to mixed education,- — the same principles of faith and morals being equally involved iii both systems. Witness the scandalous problem extracted by you from one of the standard books issued by the Department of Education. And God knows how many other passages no less objectionable, might be brought to light by a careful perusal of the various books connected both with Pub> lie Libraries and Common Schook. It behoves, therefore, the pastors of the Church to warn the flock, committed to their care, against seeking such noxious and poisonous pastures as are held out l)y these Public Libraries, so warmly pa- tronized by our Reverend oiiicial. Again, great stress has been laid upon your so-called intolerance, (as if truth could tolerate error,) which would fain *• enslave human reason in ignominious fetters." Bombastic words, and high-sound- ing sentences were used by the Reverend Gentleman of ^e Educa- tion Office in order to illustrate — as he fancied very forcibly — this old and now st»le caluTnny — has it not been repeated uaque ad nauiiam ? But his puny efforts in this regard will only meet the &te of similar attempts previously made by more powerful and dan- gerous writers, — the indignant scorn of every right-minded person at all conversant with t)ie true l^istory of the Church. As for you • -■ > > ^ my dear Sir, jou can well afi'ord not to grudge him tlut pallcy gra- ti^ation, in Uii discomfiture on the main qu«»t^pn at if lue ; pieaM allpw him to ** raise Uie wind'' in the convenlble to his heart's coo- tient: in the present instance, this shahhy attempt is a barmlv-aa ruse- — for it has decidedly proved a dead failure. Now, the case is this— Wo ask no favor, but simple justice. If the enemies of freedom of education in Upper Oanada, CHunot aAord to yield us — willingly and cheerfully — that justice which Catholics in Lower Canada have spontaneously extended long ago, and are now extending to their separated brethren, at least let them be strictly just and impartial. We ask no more. But it is meet they should knovir that i«rh. never the sacred principles of faith and morals are at stake, we cannot, on any account, yield one iota. Let obloquy, calumnies, abuses, revilings and threats be the coii- sequence. We expect it — we are prepared for it — nay, it is our daily lot — *■*■ discipulua non est Hupra Magi»trum^ in mundo jyre$- suram hahehiti^ ;— hence, no despondericy, no supineness, no relax- ation in our protracted struggle, but a cool, unHinching determi< nation, which will fiever yield^fbre auy obstacle how great soever. Many otherwise, well disposed people, may perhaps be at a loss to understand our perseverance in this— for us — vital qiiestion, viz : to procure the entire freedom of Catholic education. What is a roy*. tery to them, is a plain question with us ; it is but consistency witk pur religious principles which are involved in that questbn. But when it cones to that point, there comes also the necessity of utter<- ing the stubbpin ^' non possumus" once boldly delivered by th« Apostles in the fape of Human Power, and ever since repealed ii^ similar circumstances by their legitimate successors in tlie Ministry, and such we are, the Reverend ofiicial notwithstanding. There lied the true secrect of our sO-called obstinacy. We have been forced by weakness arid intolerance combined — into using that " non pot* Humus ,'" it will uphold us, as it has ever upheld our fathers in the faith, under much more trying circumstances; and finally — sooner or later — it will undo^btedly en^sure our complete success in thit^ just and necessary struggle for the above sacred cause; for, succeed'—r we must^ we will. In conclusion. Reverend dear Sir, I beg leave to express once more ^y entire^ concurrence in the views and sentiments advocated by you, in this controversy, relative to your strictures on the present Common School system, and in your untiring efforts to pro- cure the complete freedom of Education to our Catholic com- munity. Most cordially do I concur with you on this momentous subject, which Catholics have so much at heart ; and, rest assured, that they never will give up the contest until justice is granted Ihem. ' m '^ 'I take great pldftsure in thus acknowledging your eflRcient ssrvicei in behalf of our poor children, und I thnik I can veisture to Bay, that, not only have you the aympatliies of the whole Catholic body of the Province — with all the Bi-shops at its head — enlisted in your fitvor, but also those of a large- and most respectable number of our teparated brethren. Begging your pardon for intruding so much on your valuable timo, I remain, With very great regard, Your's afiectiountely in Christ, t ADOLPHE, BishiOp of London. The Rev. J. M. Bruyere, St. Michael's Palace, Toronto. FEOM THE PUBLISHERS. tn reply to the preceeding letter from the Catholic Bishop of London, to the Rev. Mr. Bruyere — the Chief Superintendent of Education, addressed to llis Lordship, a long communication which appeared in the Leader of the 26th of February. This called Iprth another letter from the same Prelate, addiessed, like the first, to the Rov. "Mr. Bruyere, and published in the Leader of March 2nd. It was honored by a second but short reply from Dr. Ryerson, in the Leader of 3rd March. The latter publications cannot properly be considered as part of the Correspondence between the Chief Superintendent of Education and his antagonist: they are, therefore, left out of the Pamphlet. The following letter from the Rev. Mr. Bruyere, being a reply to different charges already refuted by him, but agaip repeated by Dr. Ryerson, bears directly on the question debated in the pamphlet, and is therefore inserted therein. The Chief Superintendent of Education cannot com- plain if his communication to Dr. Pinsoneault, Bishop of London, does not appear in the pamphlet, since that of his opponent meets with the same fate. This is but fair play. lat ter ant rei Ian REV. J. M. BRUYERE'S LETTER ON DR. RYERSQN AND THE ROMAN CATOHLIC BISHOP OF LONDON. TO THE CONDUCTORS OF THJS PRESS IN CANADA. A slight illness has prevented me from noticing sooner the last lucubrations of that erratic individual, called Chief Superintendent of Education in Upper Canada. I allude to his so-called replies to the noble letters addressed to me, in the columns of The Leader of the 36th ttltuno, and 8rd instant, bjr the Right ReT. Dr* PiiMooeaolt, th« distinguished Catholic Bishop of London, C. W., on tho subject of the late controversy between Dr. Ryerson and myself. From past exp.vieiice, the public was prepared for any amount of tergiversation and misrepresentation on the part of this unscrupulous and unprincipled official. His last frantic diatribes, purporting to be replies to his Lordship's letters, but more appropriately styled — '* vulgar lampoons on 1,60(>,(M)0 of his fellow citizens" — show evidently that, in addition to his former total absence of candor and honesty, he has in store an inexhaustible amount of scurrility and malice. As to his scurrilities and gross abuse against everything Catholic, especially his Indecent personalities against a dignitary ol the Church, I will not stop to gatiiei* them up and fling them back in the face of the contemp- tible reviler of Catholicity. When a man can so far forget himself, as to apply such choi.3 and polished expression as ungentlemanly and eilly ^vaionSf to the amiable Prelate who governs the Diocese of Loudon, he may as well be pihtsed by in silent contempt. I wiji merely suy^ en paBsant, that, whilst we are willing to make great allowance for the disturbed and excited state of his mind, we have at least a right to expect that he will keep a civil tongue in his mouth when addressing those who pay him his wa^es ; and refrain from using a language not to be tolerated in the fish market. Had Bishop Pinsoneauit paid homage to the |iedanlio official, who claims the privilege of insulting (every thing Catholic, by upholding the godless school system oi foreign importation; had he condetitcended to allow his sophistries, his fallacious expressions and malicious insinuations to pass unrebuked ; bad he not stooped to lash the reviler of the Pontifis of the Church, he might have been fortunate enough to be eulogized by the Methodist Minister. But because the Bishop of London has raised his voice in behalf of freedom of education ; bacause he has nobly and eloquently declared the unanimous sympathy and approbation of the •whole Hierarchy in Canada, on the nil important question of Christian education ; because he has come forward to proclaim that I was not the mere organ of an insignificant party, a new infusion of a foreign element^ the Chief Superintendent of Education loses his temper, and forthwith ^ives his Lordbhip of London a lecture on the regard he owes to the dignity of his office. " i>han we who struck the Lion d3wn, shall we Pay the Wolfe homage i " BT«oa. Passing over the sundr} intemperate and uncalled for effusions which appear in the communications referred to, and which the public may easily trace to the late discomfiture and ignominious prostration of the Chief of Education, I beg leave to touch slightly upon some other mistatements perpetiated by him in his so-called answer to the Roman Catholic Bishop of London, in 7%e Leader, of the 26th ultimo. I allude to these fresh instances of tergiversation, because they concjprn me personally. Dr. Kyerson says that I charged him with " having excluded all Roman Catholic, civil and ecclesiastical histories from the catalogue of library books." Now, I said no such thin^. I did not so much as allude to his catalogue (with which he is making himself ridiculous) till he brought it iu, in the course of th« ^ boAxtiii^Mf, with a View lb ^Imti^e the qu^ktii it iaiu«. I MMotistti* ikd agaitttt the objectionable eh&rtuixer of hii Protestant libraries. I was met at once by the Doctor, vrho holding up his catalogue, pointed with his fin^t to seme haif-aH]ozen Catholic books therein. inserted. My wily antagonist thus truited thai the snbstitntion of Catahgue for MUraneB would blind fold thj reader. The pious fV«ud has rebounded upbn its author with double power. Detection and shame have been the consequence. Now, to return to the question, I stated, and I repeat drain, that the Public libraries so earnestly recommended by the Cnief of £kiucation> to the patronage of the Municipalitieii, were altogether ny)t(BStant, made ujp of Protestant works, adapted to the taste of ProtestahtS only, ana consequently unfit foT Catholics. Itie fairness with which hia Reverence boasts of having acted by inserting thd names of about a dozen of Catholic books in his catalogue coniaMing upwairds of 4,000 Protestant or inlidel works, such as Gibbon ahd H'dme, is one cf the most pitiful attemjpts at im{k)sition that ever was perpetrated by that double dealiug oifticial, called Dr. Ryeison What is it to the public, to Catholics and to me, if the bare name or ihadow of a few Catholic works figures in Dr. Ryerson's catalogue, whilst, as a general rule, not one of the above mentioned books can be found on the shelves of his Public libraries ? When you visit these wonders of the Chief of Education, his Public libraries, you may gaze lirOuhd till dOOmsdiy, you see none but Prdstestant histories, Protestant nove^, Prbtestaiit notes of a traveller, Protes^tant essays, Protestant diaries— all Works more or less offensive to a Catholic reader, all more bt less replete with insulting misrepresentations of Catholic practices, Catliolic doctrihes, and Catholic customs or usages. In perusing the patalojguO containing the names of over four thousand works, yon come actOss the names of about a dozen of Catholic books. Ask the Superin- tendent of the libriarjr for one of these works, the title page of which is in the catalogue. It is not there. Ask for another ; it js not to be found tiiere. This I am able to assert on the authority' of confidential fnends who hkve tried the experiment. Now, let me ask it again of h\k Reverence, are such libraries fit for a mixed community like ours ? We are in some places, one-fourth, in other pilaces, one-third of the i)Opulation. Have we not a right to a proportionate share of works? In many of the Public libraries not a single Catholic vrork can be pro- cured. Again, is this an illustration of the fair dealing with which Dr. Ryerson boasts of having acted in getting up these grand humbugs, styled by him^ Public Libraries ? If snch be the case, then I say : God. save us from this honest and fair-dealing official ? The Chief Superintendent of Education goes on saying "that I charged him with having originated legal restrictions by which neither iKshoo^ af pifatus or books could be procured fOr the Roman Catholib chU^en of Separate schools." I am accused by the saihe Suprieme ^udge of the Education of^ce, of having said that '< Roman Catholic children in Sdparate schools, were denied school maps and appa- r cipalitiee, as directed by him in the famous circulaC) Catholioa wou)d be anfairly and unjustly dealt with, being compelled to purobfsa map, charts, globes, etc., etc.> with their own money, whilst their more fortunate Protestant neighbours would be able to provide them- selves with the same, with the mony accming from tho Cleigy Reserve Funds. Now if the {Separate schools in Upper Canada have the same facilities for providing themselves with maps, charts, globes, etc., etc.f a« the Common schools, they owe no thanks to the Chief Superintend dent of Education. But this is not the question. The point at issue is hot whether they have now the same lacilities as Protestants for the purchase of the said school apparatus, but whether Xheytoould hive these facilities, were the funds, or any portion of the funds, accruing from the Clergjr resierves to be applied to Protestant schools and Protestant libraries. Should Dr. Ryerson's suggestions be complied with, the Common Protestant schools and Protestant libraries ooold alone participate in the advantages of such an appropriation*, In his first communication to the public, our unscrupulous Chief Superinten. dent of Education thought to throw dust in the eyes of his readers by changing the question, and then charging me with having said what I did not say. His answer is but a paltry quibble, unworthy of %n Offit'ial, bijt in perfect kc^^ping with his characteristic tergiversation.: <^' My worthy antagonist, with the view to insinuate the unpopularity of cur Separate Schools^ says: '^ There are upwaids of three hundred and fifty townships in Upper Canada in which there is not a singlf* Separate Schtxyi siithough the Roman Catholics are numerous in many of them." I thank his Reverence for this admission. Truth, at iast^ oozes out. The fact thus recorded by Dr. Ryerson, carries along with it a crushing weight against our law of Separate Schools,^ as is at present stands. How long have we not been compiauiingof tyrannical clausbt and oppressive restrictions thrown in our way, in establishiiug Separate Schools ?— I am glad to see that the violent enemy of freedmn of ed- ucation, the bitter assailant of our rights, is compelled, at length, to ad- mit the correctness of our grievances, though his admission is nither anunwitty one. The plam matterof lact is, that if in several Townships, we have none or few Separate Schools, it is because Catholics meet with insurmountable obstacles and ditliculties, when they attempt to es- tablish them. The fetters and shackles with which our Separate School Law is hampered, are the sole reason of their scarcity, fiut, in Toronto where our Separate Schools do exist, how many Catholic children attend the Common Schools ? Would Dr. Ryerson be kind enough to give some information to the public on tlie subject ? Has he a dozen or half a dozen Catholic children frequenting his pet Common Schools ? I will inform him, en p^utmnt, that, ourXbristlan Brothers alone have, at this moment, near eight hundred boys attending their Schools. Wwe 2 not apprehensive of hurting the Doctor's feelings, I would tell him plainly, that wherever and whenever his State Schools become pr^li- cally known, the good sense of the people shrinks from them aa it public nuisance. , » , Before I dismiss Dr. Ryerson and his miserable quibbles, I may bis permitted to say that no one is imposed upon by his ridiculoiMiHid uomr oattic piofetfBion of Loyalty, which appeared in his 60-caKi^ lep^jp lOD ■ th« Biilifp of London, on the 98Ch nti. ** My FIstfbrm,'* thonU the Methodist Minister, '* is the hearts of Canadian people for Canada." ** The rights of Canadians without preference, to the protection and en-* joymont of their own religious teaching." Hypocrite son of Wesley i say rather, " My Platform is my bread and butter. My Platform is the money of the people, which I put in my pocket — My Platform is my place, my larse goTernment salary and all the pleasant perquisites of office— Behold my Platform ! ( !" Were the Chief Superintendent of Education in earnest when he as- serts, that his platform is the "rishtdof Canadians, without prejudice, to the protection and enjoyment uf their own religious teaching," most cheerfully would we subscribe to it. These are the rights we claim, we ask no more. We ask them not alone for ouretelves, but for all, for all denominations. — members of the Church of England, Methodistst, Presbyterians, Baptists, Christians of eveiy name and shade. The present bill which guarantees to us Separate Schools, was a Denom- inational one in its original form, and so framed as to secure to all de- nominations the privilege of establi'^hing Separate Schools if they chose to have them. At the mstisation of Dr. Ryerson, its Denominational character was struck off, and contined to Catholics only, lest the Com- ninn Sohool System should suffer from Conflict with its rival sister, the l^parate iSchool System. Thus ihe Chief Superintendent of Education, at the last Session of the Parliament in Quebec, deprived his fellow Christians of the Protestant persuasion, of the rights and privileges which it was the earnest desire of Catholics to extend to all without pre- judice or exclusion. The wily Chief of Education was well aware that to grant the privilege to all denominations of establishing schctls to their own liking and predilection, would seal the fate of his darling sys- tem but lately imfiorted from Yankee land. He knew, moreover, that by confining it to Catholics only, it would render it unpopular. Such were the motives which actuated the^^at Patriot of trie Ed- ucation Office, when he suggested through his friends, to restrict the law for Separate Schools to Catholics and Colored people only. I may, however, assure my fiiend at the head of the Educational Department, that all his pious frauds and interested suggestions will not serve him much longer. The days of the Common ^hool Sysiem are numbered. Its dissolution is only a question of time. In the di- vided state of Christianity in Canada we cannot have common Schools, common libraries. These institutions are not Canadiac ; they are not of Canadian growth. They are not adapted to Canadian tastes and wants. They are n foreiff't element, imported in our midst but a few years since, and forced upon our necks by an oppressive and tyran- nical legislation, at the requeo^of an UMscrupulous politician. Public <^inion has already solved the great difficulty, and cut the / <£'id f/ot' dis'; The truly christian and liberal author of the pamphlet styled ; '** Does the Common School Sysitem of the United States prevent ~0lrime V exclaims ; " Let every deuomination organize its own schools, employ teachers of its own faith, and daily adniit its own clergymen to superintend and assist in the religious part of the training.'' A denominational law, with the motto; ** Protection to all — favor to none," luthonsing all religious bodies rec(»gnized by the State, to establish ' -their Own echoojsy without interf^eoce on the part of the t Its the nada." ndoD" ejiley I . is the is my ites of 'f 101 dictator of the Education Oflico,— is the only possible solution to the great problem which now perjilexes our le^siators and politicians, — couvuises our country with pamful dissensions and discord. Such a measure will restore peace and harmony amon^ the citizens of the same community, and i^ivu satisfaction to all those whose pecuniary interest is not connected with the ^reat impodition of the Common School System. Then shall emulation be excited among the differ- ent denoniinations ; then shall the daily attendance of pupils in schools be increased to ten times its present average. Then, in tine, shall we behold a promisi^iff y^tu, a moral generation* I am happy to see that the above views, already expressed by me in a former com* munication, meet the full concurrence of the Right Reverend Doctor Pinsoneault, Bishop of London. In a letter lately addressed tome through the columns of The Leader ^ His Lord8hij|> says ; ''Let the de- nominational system be introduced, without showing favor to any par* ticular creed, but allowin<; all denominations to have their own schools, according to their respective views ; Government grants being given ia froportion to the relative number of children trequenting such schools." will add, en pcuaanty that Catholics will never submit to the Com** mon School System. The members of the Church of England are heart- ily disgusted with it. A large proportion of the Church of Scotland* ^ians without preference, to the protection and enjoyments of their own religious teaching." Come forward great Canadian patriot, join with us in sustaining, instead of oj^xising our demands and thvrarting the natural enjoyroeut of onr most sacred privileges. Conie and assist us, and all who share our views, in obtaining what we ask,; not for ourselves only, but for all, yi;e : Denominational Schools, Free Schools without intolerable interference and odious restrictions. Then your bombastic profession of liberality will be a reality, instead of a sham imposition. In conclusion, I beg to submit whether the time has not arrived for Dr. Ryerson to descend from a station for which he has proved himself . utterly unfit. The Chief Superintendent of Education is a public official, a servant of the people, of Catholics as well as Protestants, From both he receives the wages, which make him insolent, and unsuiTerable. For- getful of the dignity of his office and of his responsible duty, for many years he has been incessant in his attacks against the Catholic nie- rarchy,the Catholic priesthood, the Catholic church at large, Catholic nations, and every thing Catholic. The scurrility ol his abuse has grown more insufferable, in proportion as it has been permitted to go unre- buked. His insulting diatribes have been multiplied beyond the power of endurance. Are we, let me ask all sensible men, are we to be tran»> pled upon without hope of redress, because we have been forbearing t I am sure that I express the sentiments of all Catholics, and aU lib^r^ men of every denomination, when I savthe time has come to petition the Government for the dismissal of this oDnoxious Official. As an avowed enemy of Catholics and Catholicity he is evidently unfitjo hold an of- jRce which requires the greatest impartiality and liberilitj. He hu Ung ainoe fotfoited t^ir cenladenoe ^d symi^th^. I^iihii^ tial#ft« T? Itis i1>« Chii^of Edneatidn to retire once more to tdi fi^nner b^evj^tioit, ▼iE>— to j^tHehpf^ and " Camp jMeetifiAB.'* Siiiph. la tbe ettneit wiah of all aeniuble men aiid particulate of tlio nbebnoer. _Lj_.i_i^j.^ M--' 4^- -^u 4AM '• ^- BWtrttKE. Toronto, MarcB 9, 18277. tkW rtSRAHCHT OF CANADA AND DR. RYBMOIV. "^BOU TBI OaTHOUO ClTIZtN, "t^AtiCU 10TH, 1867. Tito ftfl6#in|^ itttoMfltiiig eonrcspondenee haa beei^ blMidod to i^ Iqr ^ Reverend Mr. Bruyere:-^ Loimoir, C. W., 14th Uuth, 185Y. BstiBiirx> DBAE S»,-r Since my letter of tlie lOth ult, on t^ anbj^ct of yomr late controversy with the Reverend Chief Su|)eirii]t- jettd^i^ I have rieceived lettera of eongnittilatidn from all parte of the myiiioe. I talce great pl^iM^iki^ in sending you—AMOngift oth«yi ^thii ^closed extradta which sifflci^iitly speal: for th^mselvM: Moai wilhngly do I authoriaie jCU U> iiisert them in the trocktiri near being printed* , Dr. Kyetson wiH, doubfct^«8y ta^ ffreat pleasure likewise in ac knowledgin^ the error unddr which be was laboring, when he so ft&tibbXf mnmnieed yon as the donteroptible organ of a small foreign P^^. The 6f^\^\ 8ti|>|k)irt of th«i entire Biemrcfay 0( the Pforvino^ ^ibli^ntiiiltieoiitly arid cbrdiaDy ^ven jrou-^will t^dW tjith thkt tlit— H^^ recalled to my memory a passage 6f thi^ iMim )^t^ ^Qe&tg. IV.] thus translated by Dryden : — ^* Jinu^ veary Protiu»,fiom the briny *Wrt>Wi V JBeiired for aiutteir (6 U$ i^dnted tarn ; '^^ j^it Jinny jftiScks dSo*it their shfpp&d p^ ** And rolling round Atm^ spirt tj^ bitter teaj* . Couruyfif ihereford, ReV, dear Sir, yon miy now cbniSder th^ god- less system as ^irly exploded. Th^ bigotrjr of the cpiiventicle dUXir not peeArail mucli longer against the sober judgment of the gre^ i|gia}(ontj|r of the ciommmiity. Common sense is stronger than bigotry : Alwy * ^^^ reiotioik is commenced *; a little while more^ it must itai tobtt^4^«ll fomtfal, und by its overwhelminginfliknee assert the "^ "'^IJI off J(ilti$eind bf c6ii6il|ja^ lite X««K^er, in whiuuch to favor the freedom of l^ducation 'it. this Province, .:/< I have the honor to be, dear Lord, Your most devoted Brother in Christ, t PATRICK, Bishop of Carrha, Adm. Ap. . Right Rev. Dr. Pinsoneault, Bishop of London, 0. W. T From His Lordship the Bishop of Bytown. Bytown, Feb. 25th, 1867. My LorDj — ^In perusing the columns of the Leader of the 20th ult., I read the letter addressed by you to the J? ev. Mr. Bruyere, and I must say that I agree most cordially Tvith the sentiments expressed therein. Allow me also to add that, after having care- taiy mA it, together with the letters of a ** Protestant" to the 105 HoBortble Attortiey-General M«od(^a]d^ aisd especially tbose ad- dressed by the heverend lilr. Bruyere to Dr. Byerson — letten repletjO .with moderatioD, good sense and force — I remain perfect- ly convinced thnt the ProteslantD, the great majority of woom I like tojook upon (>s Just and liberal, ash.imed at seeing the Catholics thu3. pppres^ed by an almost impracticable law, will themfc.elve9 de^iandof the Ministry and of the Parliament to free them fn>m the •hackjes of a law introduced by stealth and under false pretences by the enemies of educatiop apd uf Catholicity. I also most con- fidently hope, that, since Government has just established a If br- idal School in Lower Canada for the specitrt use of the Protes- tants and of thc^ speaking the Englisli language, it will alsd feel the necessity of showing itself equally just towards the French Canadians and Catholi&s residing in the Upfer Province, by es- tablishing a J^ortnal School where the French language would be principally taught, and where competent teachers might receive instruction — since the present ones are far from posssessing the confidence of the immense majority of the Catholics. I have the honor to remain My Iiord, your Lordship's most devoted Brother in J. C. t EUGENE, Bishop of Bytown, To His Lordship the Bishop of London, C. W. From His Lordship Bishop La Rocque, Coadj. of the Bishop of Montreal, and Administrator of the Diocese of St. Hyacinthe. . Eveche of St. Hyacinthe, Feb. 24th, 1857. Very Dear Lord, — When readingyour Lordship's letter of con- gratulation to the Rev. Mr. Bruyere of the 10th inst, and published in the Leader^ I could feel rising up in me that secret feeling which naturally springa up in perusing a wricing which is so congenial to one's own views and sentiments, that one becomes entirely preposessed by it, and would feel proud of its authorship . I hasten, therefore, to congratulate your Lordship most cordially upon the excellent idea which you have had of upholding Mr. Bruyere in the struggle which he has just sustained in behalf of freedom of Education. Having been unable to take the initiative with the val- orous champion of those rights for \» hich our Brothers of western Canada are struggling, I can at least declare that you* Lordships let- ter most faithfully exhibits my own views and sentiments upon the right advocated therein. This mark of sympathy is still far beneath what is due to the Rev. Mr, Bruyere for the services rendered by him . m tlEtf Cktholic youth <>f Upper Cfttiida h intimately contidetod. I f«el gJti!tAt]j pleasied that yoti should haVe m HiMf ^ftimHA^ tour indignation a(t the vncotirteoUff Htnguajgei ^hich Dr. ByeN «6^ thought fit to malte use of, i^ben spiBakiiig of our \^brilhV aid energiedo Brother in the %i9copscy, Blflhop d0 Chairbdniielf. thi« vehei^lSle PrdMe has, as it were, cdnfessM the Paith, if not at the prfoe' of bis blood, at least by th]6 herdiism cf hia ^al and penievei^nce in the (stcrse ot ^edom of educaitioh/ His Lprdship the l^ishop of St, Hyacinthe being unsblO ii6 write himself, oegs you to lo^c^ upon my adhesion to your li^t- ter fA the exact expregsion of ^is own sentimentt, . Your raoat affsctioaatf brother iu Christy W'''' ■^ fJOSKi^H, Bishop of Ofd^nH Ij^nmikiof 6t i^t Diotese of St. Hjraeiiithe, To His Lordship, . ]|ight Rev. Dr, Pinsoneault.^ Bidiop of London, 0, W. •n : »* •Afc^roJ '.A'i «'.! m ; r. I »« ' EEY. J. M. BBUYERFS PARTING WOED TO THE PUBUO. WiUi tlie khctvB Docunaents I beg toclon Um eontmveny betlvroMk llbe Chi^f Superinteiiddnt of fiducatioii and myself; Th«i principto «f retipious and fru eduoatim fatt b6«n wantonly aufailed by mif antagonist tUrouglkoiit th« controvetsy. In bebalf of freedoni of ,9.'i --.-^ * ■' '■^ • ■ ■■ ■-> ; :'< . •■ . ■.*^• "^^^ i«.ia % \ t TOTft ml} l»^- t-> §*C-j "nL