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Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont fiimds en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symboie — »► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiimds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmd d partir de I'angle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Manitoba School Question. A Paper Read Before the Junior Liberal-Conserva- tive Association of St. John, N. B., February 13th, 1894, by — DR. J. H. MORRISON. t The following is the text of the paper read by Dr. J. H. Morrison, before the Junior Liberal-Conservative club, at its last meeting: THE MANITOHA SCHOOL QUESTION. At the present stage of the Manitoba RcliodI trouble little is to be gained by dis- cussing any other than those phases of the question which may possibly at some future time be submitted to the electors ot Canada for their consideration and judgment. Technicalities of law, fine points ot dis- crimination between different possible in- terpretations of legal clauses and phrases are not matters with which those not learned in the law are competent to deal. I shall enelled to do in the business relatlonH of ufter life. I have no sympathy whatever with the pretensions of the Roman atholic churcli to the absolute control of the secular education of the children of Komau Catholic parents. I do not blame the church for endeavoring to maintain or increase itfl i)ower and influence by any iust and lawful means ; but I am preparea to resist to the uttermost any invasion or en- croachment upon the ri|;hts and liberties of the State. But the policy and acts of the Roman Catholic church are not a part of the question under discussion, tiiough some of our statesmen are determined to look at tlie Manitoba scliool question from no other l>oint of view. The great (iuestion is, had llie Legislative Assembly of Manitoba the moral or legal right to sweep away the sys- tem of separate schools which was set up in 1871. There were no party lines in the Mani- toba Legislature until about the year 1882. At tliat time the government, led by the lion. John Norquay, a Protestant native liaif-breed, a man of remarkable ability, iinely educated, a giant both in intellect and physique, a born leader of men, be- came distinctly Conservative. Until the year 1888, when he and liis colleague the Hon. A. A. C. Lariviere, in consequence of some dissatisfaction over the granting of a subsidy to the Hudson Bay Railway Com- pany, retired from the Cabinet, the French jjeople of the province loyally supported the Conservative party. Even the North-west rebellion of 1885 failed to shake their al- legiance to the Conservative p-irty as led by Mr. Norquay, Many of the constituencies were wholly French. They returned about eight or ten members of their own race, re- ligion and language, who stood steadfast in their support of the Norcjuay government, and in those constituencies in which they were in the minority, they uniformly sup- ported the Conservative candidates. For this reason they were cordially despised and detested by the Liberal opposition, the members of which were seldom backward in vowing vengeance upon the French if ever they should obtain the reins of powir. Throughout all these yearp, from 1871 until 1888, no complaint was ever made with the workings of the separate school system. No injustice was complained of by anybody in any public manner. The ques- tion was never referred to, except as I shall hereafter relate, on any platform during any election campaign. It never was re- ferred to by any newspaper, Conservative or Liberal. There was no Manitoba school question. The people, Protestant and Catho- lic alike, were perfectly contented with the school system as it then existed ; and the Protestant and Catholic population lived to- gether in peace and liarmony, and with per- fect satisfaction with the school system as it then was. The Catholic population of the province cijnsists mostly of French half- breeds, who live together in communities or i<«ulements along the rivers or around the shores of the lakes, with their church and school in their midst. The Protestant set- tiera from eastern Canada lived upon and fuitivate*! the wide open prairie. When a Roman Catholic settler found himself sur- KniiMled by Protestant Deighbora he aent his children to the Protcslant school, and {laid a small fee for their tuition. When a 'rotestant lived in close proximity to a Catholic school, he did the same. There W!is no demand, public or otherwise, for any change. The local boards of scliool trustees, Protestant and Catholic;, went on accjuiring property, erecting expensive school houses and etiiiipping their schools in the most modern manner. In the fall of 188G the Nonpiay govern- ment went to the people, its term of ottice having expired by limitation. In the caui- paign which followed I had occasion to ad- dress a meeting of French electors at Fort Ellice, and in the course of my remarks, said, "The Libeials are apparently moving heaven and vmii'n to secure your supi)ort in this election. I say to you, French elec- tors, that if you transfer your support to theo), you will but warm to life a frozen viper in your own bosom; for should they, by your votes, be enabled to seize the reins of power, they will settle their bill of costs against you for your long and steadfast sup- port of the Conservative party, by sweep- ing away your separate schools and by eilacing your language from the records of the legislature." This was the first public occasion on which the matter was ever re- ferred to in Manitoba. For this speech I was the next day taken severely to task by the Liberal candidate, Mr. Robert Nelson, who declared this part of my address to be an unwarranted libel upon the honor of the Liberal party; and so incensed was he that he posted right off to Fort Ellice and called another meeting of the electors there for the express purpose of denying my assertion, and of pledging the faith of the entirs Liberal party to the conservation of the separate school law, which he declared to be *'the just and legal right and privilege of the Catholic population, secured to them by the constitution of the country, which no party, much less the Liberals, would ever dare to alter or destroy." The French elec- tors, however, went solidly against Mr. Nelson and he was defeated. This took place in November, 1886. The Norquay government was sustained, but by a bare working majority. In January, 1888, Messrs. Norquay and Lariviere retired from the ministry, and Dr. Harrison, Minister of Agriculture, became Premier. The Hon. Joseph Burke accepted office in the re-or- ganized ministry, which circumstance neces- sitated an election in the French Riding of St Francois Xavier. The parties in the House were so evenly balanced that the fate of the ministry depended upon the re- sult of this election. To avoid the charge of giving an account, colored by party bias, of what took place at this election, let me quote from a speech delivered in the Manitoba legislature by Mr. James Fisher, J member for Russell, during the session of] 1893, Mr. Fisher is b^ all odds the ablesti and best informed public man in Manitoba! today. He is a leader at the Winnipeg bar,] and when these events took place he wasj president of the Manitoba Provincial Liberal Association. He helped the Greenway party into power, but he cut loose from them on the school and railway questions. He said, "I now desire to speak of a deli-j cate matter which may be somewhat dis- tasteful to some of those who hear me, but \ I am bound to tell the truth even if some are oflenderl. I make the gniTe charge that this iegifilation — the abolition of the Heparule Hchools - wafl placed upon the sta- tute book of thlH province in defiance of the inoNt Noleran pledgeH of the Liberal party. In January, 1888, an event occurred which broiiKht the Lilicralj into power in thin proving. My honorable friends had for vears been engaKcd in an effort to defeat the Nor(|iiay government, in which I helped them all in my power, because we felt it would be to the advantage of the province to have a change. The crisis came when the St. Francois Xavier election took place at the time I have mentioned. Dr. Pfarrison was at that time Premier of the province and he chose for his Provincial Secretary Mr. Joseph Biirke, who, though he bears an Irish name, is really a French Canadian. He was living among his own people in the French district of St. Francois Xavier, and had been elected a member of this House by acclamation in 1886. On accepting office he went back for re-elec- tion. It was proposed that we should op- pose him, though I myself thought it wa.s useless. Mr. H. F. Francis, an English- speaking Presbyterian, was asked to take the field against Mr. Burke in this French constituency. He could not possibly be elected unless he got a large proportion of the votes of the French Catholics. V/ith- out this I say his election was absolut«ly impossible. When Mr. Francis was con- sulted by leading members of the Liberal party and asked to accept the nomination, he declared that he wo'dd not accept unless empowered to give the electors a pledge that, if the Liberals got into office, they would not interfere with the institutions of the French, their language or their school laws. (The alarm had been sounded among the French after my address to the electors at Fort Ellice the year before.) He was authorized to make that promise, and he went to the electors and gave them the pledge. Strong speeches were being made by Mr. Burke and his friends in the Riding,^ calling upon half-breeds and French Canadians to vote against the Liberal candidate, who would likely pass laws interfering with their institutions. It was said, 'Are you going to put into power men, who, when they get office, will legis- late away your schools and your language ?' This became practically the leading (]iies- tion of the campaign, and the contest was a crucial one. Should the Liberals win, it was plain, in view of the losses sustained by the ( Jovernment, they must resign. The success of the Liberal candidate meant that that party woulil at once attain power, while the election of Mr. Burke meant the continuance of the Liberals in opposition until this day. It became necessary to [leet this apj)eal to the religious and race elings of the French voters with some- ing better than Mr. Francis' promise to lem. . . . We had declared that if re- irned to power we would remedy the luses in connection with the French print- ig, but the idea of interfering with rights guaranteed by the constitution had never ecri suggested. On the contrary the Liberal ;aders had frequently declared upon the tublic platform that these institutions were )rotectcd. When the (piestion about the jiberal policy became so prominent and u'gent in St. Francois Xavier, I was con- sulted about it, and Mr. Jompk Martin wm asked to go out and aasist the candidate. He went and made theae promises, as I knew he waa instructed to do, viz.. That the schools and language of the French Catho- lics would not ne interfered with. I went with him to a second meeting. It was a large gathering composed of French and half-breed Catholics. Mr. Burke was present and made the same charges as to what the Liberals would do if in office. He appealed to his co-religionists to defe:;t Mr. Francis and save their language and their schools. Mr. Martin in a powerful speech denounced the statements of Mr. Burke and his friends as false. He told the meeting that it never was the policy of the Liberals to interfere with the French or Catholic institutions, and appealed to them to trust the Liberals and support their can- didate. As I was president of the Pro- vincial Liberal Association, he appealed to me to put him right if he were wrong. He went further and gave a positive pledge in the name cf the Liberal party that they would not do so. I know that Mr. Green- way was a party to that promise. I have always thought that the establishing of the present school law abolishing Catholic schools was, in the face of this definite promise, a gross wrong," This is the testimony of the head and front of the Liberal party of Manitoba of the day. The French took the Liberals at their word, and Mr. B\irke was defeated. The Harrison administration resigned and Messrs. Grejnway and Martin came into power. In order to make themselves solid with the French members for the session, it was deemed necessary to take one of them into the new ministry. The choice fell upon Mr. Prendergast, a learned and elo- quent young French lawyer. Before Mr. Prendergast would accept office in the new cabinet he sought the sanction of Arch- bishop Tache. His Lordship requested some further assurance that the separate schools would not be interfered with, and thereupon Mr. Greenway sent two trusted friends, called upon his lordship, and as- sured him that he, Mr. Greenway, would preserve the French and Catholic institu- tions intact. Mr. Prendergast, with his lordship's consent, was duly sworn in Pro- vincial Secretary, In the bye elections which followed, the matter was not referred to save by one Liberal orator, a member of Mr. Greenway's cabinet, who, at a meeting at Fort Ellice, declared that "the scare about the abolition of the sejiarate schools was a nightmare invented by Dr. Morrison to terrify the French electors and keep them within the Conservative fold." I <|Uote his words as they were uttered. When the House met for business, Mr. Greenway proceeded to pass a gerrymander Act which altered the Iwundaries of every single constituency in the province and ad- justed the new Ridings in such a manner that, except in half a dozen instances, no Conservative candidate could enter the con- test with any reasonable chance of saving his deposit. Then he dissolved the House. Now, if thee had been a demand of the people of Manitoba for the abolition of separate schools ; if there had been any dis- satisfaction with the sermrate schorl law, is it not reasonable to suppose that in the campaign which followed the matter would 1 \ liHve beer diHCUHiie|>le of thn |)''()vincc on no nionientouH h tjixHtion, wonid they not hare forniiilHted their policy in r(y these mnthinen that they would not interlVre with the scMarnte school law, I did iKit fed jiKstilied in still further w '•ninj; the Catholics of the calamity in si fur them. This campai(,'n look place in Jniie, 580. In Angiist of that year Mr. Dalton Mc- Cartl-y, wiio was endeavoring to rouse re- ligions strife in Ontario over the Jesnils Kstates Act, imcked np liis gripsack and started for Maiiitola, ostensihly for the purpose of inangniatinij; an Kcpiiil Rights campaign. He proceeded to the town of I'ortage la Prairie to address a meeting there, spendinu the previims evening with Mr. Joseph INIartin, Mr. Green way's Attor- ney (leneral, whose home was in the town. Mr. Martin himself will hear me out in saying thiit he (Mr. Mar'in) is a pessimist as rignrds his niitive country; Ihiit he has always detested and dest)ise(i the Canadian confederation; tiiat lie has oftimeh [)uhlicly declared that, to use his own exprcsion, "the dominion would go to smash in a few years," that "a dozen Canadian l'a( ilic Railways could n(>t hold the rotten conce<-n together," ami that "annex;itiou to the l.'nited States wns the only goal to which t^amidians should look." lie will, I am sure, bear me out in saying that he has always welcomed the advent of any vexed (piestir)n which j)romised to sow disiontent and strife among the Canadian Provinces ami people; and liiat the collapse of tlie Dominion would give iiim the great- est satisfaction. For this reason, thf)ugh he liad always railed at the Orangemen for their general 8up[)ort of the Conservative party, lie was ready to take to his arms Mr. Dalton McCarthy and his pet hobbv of Knual Rights. He attended Mr. 'Mc- Carthy's meeting, and while he proceeded to say a few words of eulogy upon Mr. Mc- ' Carthy and his cam|)aign of Kijual Rights, like a thunderbolt from a clear noun day sky came the announcement that he and his colleagues in the iJovernment had decided to abolish separate s(;lioc)ls and the French language in IVIanitoba. His speech was wired to Winnipeg, and leading Catholics, realizing that the Fort Ellice nightmare had materialized at last, held a hurried consultation and sent a depu- tation to wait on Mr. Greenway to ask if the (rovernment intended to do this thing. Mr. Greenway replied "No. My Government have no such intention. That man, Mar- tin, has made an ass of himself. I must get rid of him." Later on, while they were both members of the Ministry, Mr. Martin is said to have characterized Mr. Greenway as "the most colossal liar of the century." I do not share in these gentlemen's estimations 'of each other. About IhiH time the Greenway Ooyern* ment was lalmring in h Hloiigh of I)e8|H)nd. It waH torn by dimenaionH within and was ansaiied on all sides from wilhout. It was charged by its former l)est friends with hav- ing nnide a (corrupt deal with the Manitoba and Northern I'acitio Railway Company, whereby it was sai<>^, that 'the only iihi> for tht* Uihiein the piililic Hchotil witH to hoht up the window mhU wiien the ctihoolrooni ri'iiuired to l)e cooi.Mi oil;" Tins proHpect of tlie eHtaljIisliment of purely Hcciihir HchoolN riUHcd n Htorrn throughout the I'rovime. Tlic leading lU'WKpiipt'rs Hi'nt circuiHrs to piumincnt farmers, niercluinls and profcHHional men all over the country, anking their views on the ijuestion, and the replies were so unanimouH against the hanishinenl of tin- J3ilile from ihe s( hools that Mr. Martin was forci>d to reeedo from his radical position. Then came the cession of the Ijegislature, (hiring whii'h Mr. Martin, the man who had pledged tlie honor of the Liberal party not to inter- fere nilh the ligiits and privileges of the French, in a House, not a single meinher of which was elected upon the school (pustion. iiitrodiiced and (tarried througli the Acts to abolish the oflicial use of the KreiK^h lan- guage, and to disesti.hlish the system of sepanile scliools wbi(th hud ^tood lor twenty years, and against which there never was a murmur. Thus did he make good the threats of the liiberals 'to ir«a even with the French," for their long support of the Con- servative pariy. 1 have staled before that both the C.itlioli(3 and Trotestant lioaids of ScIkioI Trustees had ac(|u'red valuable scluxd properties under the separate school law. Did Messrs. Cireenway and jVartin oiler the Roman Callioli(!s of the Province any compensation for their property? No. But by a provision of the new Act all the jiroperty of the Catholic .school district" Wiis ruthlessly con- fiscated and vested in the I'rotestiint School Boards. Thus were not only their constitu- tional righls trampled upon, but their lands, buildings, goods and chattels were in a sense looted, appropriated ai>d disiiibmed among the Protestant peoj)le. It was retaliation with a vengeance. But did it stop there? No. As I have stated before, the Catholic peo- Iile of Manitoba are chiefly French half- reeds — people as intelligent as the French of our own Province. They controlled from eight to ten votes in the Legislature when the Greenway Martin CJovtrnment came into power. Alter the passing of iiie pres- ent Hchool Act Mr. Greenway, in due course of time, appealed to the people. But he did not dare to appeal to the ccnsituencies which had returned the large folhtwing which he had in the House. He did not dare trust the electorate with even a shadow of Catholic influence in it, but proceeded for a second time to gerrymander the entire Province, cutting and carving the ridings so that, with the excejition of two constitu- encies, the last vestige of French or Catholic influence was swept away. Every Catholic j)ari8h was attached to some overwhelmingly Protestant riding, and in every case where it was possible to a Liberal riding. At our last Provincial election Mr. Blair succeeded in getting rid of a thorn in the flesh in the person of Dr. Atkinson of Carleton. What would you think of Mr. Blair's methods if, in order to swamp his opponent lie had taken a strip of Carleton County ten miles wide along the river Itunk, and had attached it to Victoria? Or what would you think of tlie jiiHtice of hiH (»uHe if, in order lo Bwamp the French vote of Madawaska lie had attache(i the whole conntv to Kesti- goiiche or Northiimlmrland? Vc^ that in just the way in which Mr. Greenway made iiimscl Holid in Manitoba on the school (piestion after he had enacted the present scluHil law. He sim|ily wiped out the French Catholic vote, and then proclaimed to the world thai the people of Manitoba had sustained his school law. But this was Mr, Green ay's favorite method of dealing with hii< opponents. As an instance I may cilu the case of Mr. y\cton Burrows, (he man- ager (jf the Winnipeg Call, a Conservative newspaper. When Mr. Greenway came into power he found that Mr. Acton Burrows had a live years contract with the Govern- ment for the departmental printing. He promptly cancelled the contract, divided the printing up among his own friends — his col- league, Mr. Martin, as owntr of the Portage Liberal, getting a good share — and then proceeded to introduce an. I fiass a siiecial act providing that this particular citizen, Mr. Acton Burrows, should be debarred from entering any action in the courts to recover damages for breach of contract — the only instance in the history of the liritish empire where a sidiject of the Crown was debarred from invoking the power of the law for the redress of his wrongs. I merely mention this cin^imstance to show that the spirit of justice and fair play was a stranger to these men. I do not think that any member of Mr, Greenway's cabinet will say that this sketch of the events which led up to the present Alanitoba school difliculty is biased or i:i- accurate. The jiresent position of this vexed (pies- tion is this — The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has declared that the Mani- toba School Act is intra vires — that the Manitoba Legislature had the powe.- to pass this Act. As 1 have stated before, prior to the admission of Manitoba into the Union, the French and English communities in the territory established and maintained at their own expense their respective schools. The judgment of the Lords of the Privy Council is in these words, "Notwithstanding the Public Schools Act of 1890, Roman Catholics and members of every other re- ligious body in Manitoba are free to estab- • lish schools throughout the province. They are free to maintain their schools by fees or voluntary subscriptions; they are free to conduct their schools according to their own religious tenets without iiiolesUition or in- terference. No child is compelled to attend a public school." But Section 93, Sub-sec. 3 of the British North America Act says : "Where in any province a system of separate or dissentient schools exists by law at the union or is thereafter eatablinhed by Ihe Laijidalure of the province, an apj^al shall lie to the (Jovernor (reneral in Connuil from any Act or de- decision of any provincial authority afTect- ing any right or j)rivilege of the Protestant or Roman Catholic minority of the Queen's subjects in relation to education." Now, as soon as the Province of Manitoba was organized, its legislature did "thereafter establish a system of separate or dissentient schools," which existed for twenty years. V the Britinh North AnVvricn Act tn the ninHtitirtion of (he Dominion of Canada, it certainly by (IiIk Mfclion providen a remedy for thfi wrongH of (he (jiicen'N Uomnn Ca- tiiolic Hiitij vtn ill Msiiiitoha. Hut it in clnimod llrit the pntvinionH of tlie Npeciiil Miinitoliii Act errluili'il Hoclion 93 of the Hritinh North Americii Act in the nintter of le^iHlHtion iitfiecliiiK (■(inciition in Manitohii. TliiH Ih of cdiirwe a iimtter for ihc courts to decide. Jiiit tlie M.uillohii Act HuyH: "Section 22 — Fn and for the Province the Niiid liegiHlittiire iiiuy exchiNJvely make htwH in rcHpect to education, siiiiject and nccord- injj to the following provinionH: (1) Nitihivij in any xur.h law hIkiII prejudi- ciiillu iiffecl nv;/ ri(/ht or pririlifie willi reHjicct to de Ordet-in-Coundl cklUng npon the MRnitobii I<<>xialature to reatore thnae nrivilegm. If that Ii4>f(iHialure i>e then lod by Mr. Orcen- way, it will, without doiiht, rcfiiae to relieve the minority on whoae throat it haa already preawd ita iron heel. In that ra»«« the Con- Mitiition providea that the Parliament of Canada may make (and thin impliea that they miiHt make) remelaccen provide*! for a minority, and that, too, a Protestant minority. The twelve coun- tieH known as the Kaittern Townships com- prise the Knglish part of llii> I'rovinct* of Quebec. At the time of the union they had twelve representatives in the lii-gislature. They thought if they went into C«)n- federation that the local Ijegislature of Quebec might do as Mr. Greenwav did with the French Ridings in Manitoha twenty years later, cut and carve them up or wipe them out altogether, and they (femanded that the liritish North America Act prol>>ct them. That protection was conceded to them, and the Union Act to«lay provides that the Legislature of Quebec shall have no power to change those Counties in respect to their representation by any gerrymander or redistribution act, unless such change should be sanctioned by a nnjority of the twelve Protestant rejiresentatives. I commend these pointH in the history of confederation to Mr. ballon McCarthy for his very careful perusal. .We see that fn every instance where spe- cial privileges have been sought and ob- tained in the Dominion they have been first sought and obtained by Protestants. What justification is there then for railing at our ('atholic fellow cili/.ens in Manitoba and ^sllying to them "you obtained these separate schools by undue influence and clerical in- trigue, and, right or wrong, we will wrest them from you. Yet this is in eflect the language of Mr. Greenway and his (lovern- ir- it and of vtr. l)alt(m McCarthy and his following. Contrast it with the language of Sir E. P. Tache, an eminent Catholic, a brother of the present Archbishop Tache ot Winnipeg, who, in the old Parliament of Canada, nefore confederation, said: "The hon. gentleman says that if Jjower Canada goes into confederation, the Legislature of Quebec might pass acts which would de- prive the Protestant element of their educa- tional institutions, their rights and their property. If that legislature were insensate enough or wicked enough to commit such a flagrant act of injustice against the Protest- ant community, they would be restrained and checked by the Federal Government." In the light of this history where is the foundation for the statement that separate schools was a concession to the Roman Catholics? I wa3 present in the House at Winnipeg when the Hon. Mr. Martin introduced his now famous school bill doing away with sep- arate schools. In the course of his speech he said: "But have we any precedent in Canada for such an act as this? Fortunately we have a precedent. In the Province of New Brunswick in 1871 the Legislature passed the Common Schools Act, abolishing separate schools in that Province, and that act was upheld by the Lords of the Privy Council." He tlien went on to read some statements, said to have been made by In- spector Dole and others of St. John, to the effect that separate schools did exist in New Brunswick before the Act of 1871. We know that no such schools ever existed by law in this Province. The Roman Catholics made a desperate fight for them then but were worsted in the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, and before the .Judicial Commit- tee of the Privy Council of England, in the case of the Town of Portland vs. Maher, be- T OMW t)ielr cut hai) not a Im to lUnd on. Tliuir ciw« WBH M) laiiitt that the Lortia of the I'rivy Council «l'ring the jutlgnient of that, the highfNt and nioHt auguitt court of the realm, Lonl JuHtiw JanieN paid tin cialleti trihute to th« lU'livorauci' upon the (piestiuii of tho late Judge l"i»lu'r ot llie New Urunn- wick Hupreriie Court. If the iuHtice of Mr. Marlin'M Act depended upon the eziittunceof a precedent in the New lirunMwick ciiHe, it were foundationlew indeed. Ah Inaid hefore, the diHCUHHion ann a cam- |>nign of open hoHtilily lo the Uoman Cat' (>- ic church upon general principU*ti. They hope to enliMt the great army of loval Or- angemen upon their side when they fiave to fac-j this qu(«tion. I am \tn,\iil to l>e a memlter of the Orange society. It is a noble instiliition, and I wish ilN nims, principles and iirecepls were belter underHtoo«l by the public at large. Ihit no part of an Orange- man's obligation pf.niiiu, much less rtimire» him to oppress a Uoman ('ntholic tuliow citizen merely iH-cause he is a Komin Catho- lic; and he is bound by his obligation to resist the encroachments of the Church of Home only bijjuMt and Uijltimnle mtnns. Is it just and legitimate to break solemn pledges, to violate solemn compacts, to iu- Hiiit, despoil and trample under foot a weak minority simply because that minority is Koman Catholic'.'* Uhould the Legislature of (Quebec abolish the Protestant separate schools of that |irov- ince what a cry would go up from ail the Protestant lunvspapers all over Canada! The very men wiio now cry "Let the major- ity rule" would then enter the lists to see that the minority should have protection; and yk>u would tind Mr. Daltou Mi:Carlhy in the vanguartl of those who would be ready to uusheath their sciihbards for the defence of st!parate I'roUMdiU schools. And if the helpless Protestant minority in (Quebec should a|)|ieal to the Purliameut of Canatia for protection, would not the entire country endorse and support the government which would restore tbem to tlieir present .'avorod position? Wiio would then cry "Let the provin(;ial majority rule." Can we atlord to withold from the Catholic minority in Mani- toba the same justice which we would read'.ly 4rant to the Protestants of (^iieliec? Can wc make llesh of one and lish of ano'herand still maintain our own self-respect? Will it be just for us to ratify the wiping qut of the separate schools of Manitoba simply because we are, on general princi|)les, opposed to separate schools, without taking into consitl- eration the (lirciimstauces surrounding tin' case? We cannot afTorJ to adopt the Jesuiti- cal doctrine that the end justifies the means. We cannot afford to do wrong that good n.ay come. We cannot afford to be unjust. Nearly nineteen hundred years ago there was delivered to the world a law which has been the greatest of all forces in the evolution of religion, civilization and society. It was the law, "Do unto others as you would that they should do unto, you." Actuated by the spirit of that law, President Cleveland decided to restore to her throne the deposed Ha- waiian qtieen. Should party jealousy or republican hatred of monarchical insti- tutions thwart his beneficent purpose, the finger of scorn will be turned upon the United States V)y the nations of the world. Let not the finger of scorn be turned upon Canada because she shall re- fuse to be as just and generouis as the President of the great Republic. Again, I say that when this question comes before us as it must come if the Government of Canada find it their duty to interfere, let our motto be, "I-«t jus- tice be done though the heavens fall." rit ProtectWe Ar )ut ii|M>n A cam- in Uoman VmV if rilicipleh. Tliey rniy of loval Or- lii'n llu'v (lave to I |iri.n up from all the II over Cana«la! y "Let tilt; iiiajor- • the lihtH to Hce liiivo protection; Diillon MfCarthy ho wonUl he ready Irt for the defence iuoIk. And if the ority in (iuuhec [anient of Canada the entire conntry government which }\r present favored len cry "L<'t the Can we allonl to : minority in Mani- h we wonhl read'.ly r(iMehec? Can we di of ano'her and f-rcKjiect? Will it wiping qut of l''^ jha HJmply hecaiiHe iciplcH, opposed to taking into coD8ised Ha- party iealousy or nonarcnical insti- ncflcent purpose, ; be turned upon le nations of the nger of scorn be :au8e she shall re- generous as the Elepublic. len this question nust come if the , find it their duty )tto be, "I^t jus- e heavens falL"