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Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la derniiire image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas; le symbole — ^ signifie "A SUIVRE '. le symbole V signifie "FIN". rrata o )elure. J 32X IVIaps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filrrad at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, loft to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: 1 2 3 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., pauvant dtre film68 A des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche i droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Las diagrammes suivnnts illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ,r/c,S ^^ 'Jkr- ^/ji^ ;^.-e ff^u^^-t, e, s^ c S& Scc^i^^ ^ ^/{ccc/oi-4a^^ ^cL^ ^'^'^S, Reverend and Dear Sir : Chatham, N. B., Feast of the EpipLany, January 6lb, 1874. Herewith I send you a copy of the Joint Pastoral Letter of the vener- ahle Metropolitan and all the suffrgan Bishops ot" oui Ecclesiastical Province, recently assembled at Halifax, addressed to their llocks, res- pecting the stiict obligation of conscience devolving on Catholics, (as on all Christians,) to prevent as far as they are able the public impiety of excluding by law religious teaching and influences from the education of youth. This Pastoral Letter, written by the Archbishop himself and signed by all the other Bishops of the Province, reiterates the only doctrine on this subject which it is possible for any intelligent Catholic to hold, and which has been invariably proclaimed as occasion required at each period of the discussion of this education question in these Maritime Provinces during the last twenty years. It is therefore a dignifled answer contradicting the statement made in the New Brunswick Parliament and elsewhere that the Archbishop approved of this Godicss school law in Nova Scotia. That such a statement is utterly incorrect is manifest from the following facts : 1st. It is a well-known public fact how strenuously the Archbishop, Bis- hops, Clergy and Laity, comprising the Catholic people'of Nova Scolia opposed for years the Godless School Law. 2nd. At a mcetipg of the Catholic Bishops of our Ecclesiastical Province held at Pictou on tlic occasion of dedicating Ihe wew Catholic Church of that town in October, 1866, tiie Archbishop was deputed by all the Bishops to proceed tw London, vhich he did, for the purpose of obtauiing, if possible, from the Canadian Delegates and the Members of the British Government, then engaged in framing the British North American Act, that the principle of Hie Quebec Scho 1 Law, which gives justice to the minorities, be extended by the provisioiis of that Act to the whole Dominion. The Archbishop's pi'oposal was favorably received, and he was encouraged for a long time to believe that he had attained the end of his mission . But it wa* thon:;ht that this could be done only l,y transferring the question of education from the Local Legislatures to {hat ot the General Parliament of the Dominion; and to this the two Delegates from the Province of Quebec objected, invoking the dii))!)nialic aid of the French Government to maintain the French Canadians iu all the riglits and privileges guaranteed to them at the capitulation of Quebec iuid conlii nied by subsequent treaty between France and England. 'j'his iibrnptly terminiMed all further consideration of the subject for the time, wlueh ufrciitly disappointed the Archbishop. Yet he could not and did not blame any one. The gentlemen representirig Quebec acted in the interest of their Province. lie could not but feel grateful to all the others for their fa- vorable consideration of his proposals. Had they been carried into effect all the agitation which has pinco taken place in New Brunswick and the Do- minion ou this school question would have been prevoutcd. 3rd. It is also n patent fact that the Nova Scotia School Law which had been enacted— thongli much less objectionable in itself and on account of another existing law ensuring a generous allocation of the public funds to support the two Catholic Colleges at Halifax and Antigonish— could never have been forced into general operation against the united consciejitious op- position of the Catholic Bishops, Clergy and Laity until the (jiovfrninent ad- ministering the Law had made such moditicatlons as grcafly tr.inqnilizod, if they did not entirely satisfy, the Catholic conscience. It was not the text of the law itsell, but this tavorablo mode of practically administering it, wliioli virtually allowed to Catholics their own Schools, llcligiojs Teachers and Reading Books, though under Government inspection, which met the Arch- bishop's approval . As our just rights have been so tyrannically trampled on by the present Government, our reasonable demands misstated or misrepresented by their public organs, and as various Members of Parliament have so crim- inally violated their ^uty and their pledges made to their Catholic con- stituents in their canvass and at other times in respect of this School Law, it becomes the duty of Catholic electors to carefully discriminate in all future elections so as not to vote for any one who has already abused their confidence, or whose reputation for public honesty, verucity and faithful adhesion to just principle is not such as to merit their support. Catholics cannot abandon the rujU, as they can never shirk the obligation imposed on them by the highest laws, natural and revealed, of educating their children in the fear and love of God, which cannot bo done, if rel? gion be excluded from the general system of education. Beggin ]j of that Divine Infant, whose miraculous Star shone to enlight- en the kings and wise men who came to adore Him, that He mav shed a ray of His divine light on our Statesmen and save the little ones of our flocks from the '^orse than Herodian persecution, which seeks to separate them from the knowledge and love of Jesus ! I remain, Eevd. and Dear Sir, Very faithfully yours in J. C. t JAMES ROGERS, Sishop of Chatham, ich had ronnt of unds to I never ions op- neiit tul- lized, if text of , wliieli ers and Arch- present I ted by lo ci'iiu- lic con- School nate ia abused ity and upport. )ligatio7i ucaling I if rcli- 3nlight- iihed a J of our eparate IS, iathctm.