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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tsbleaux, etc., peuvent 6tre filmis A des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est film6 A partir de I'angle supirieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants iiiustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 I PI ;:*>; ^i AN OPEN LETTER, 11 ADDRESSED BY HOI. OLIVEE MOWAT TO REV. G. M. MILLIGAN. 2,9th Ootoher, 1^86. PROTESTANTISM NOT IN DANGER. 2-I..UVJ /'«*»9 THE FREHKB VINDIC&TES HIS mRNMSNT. A review of matters lately in oontrouersy. (^ .V ''9i r tt 1 : PRINTED BY HUNTER, ROSE & COMPANY. 1886. KG 150387 \ 3387 \ AN OPEN LETTEK ADDB188XD BT HON. OLIVER MOWAT TO REV. G. M. MILLIGAN. >>^< » (From the Olobe.) Hon. Mr. Mowat has addressed the following letter to R^v G. M. Milligan : — Rev. Q. M. Milligan, B.A., Minister of Old St. Andrew's Church, Torotito. Rev. and Dear Sir, r I cordially recognize the friendly spirit in which your recently f)ublished letters were written. I am glad to know from these etters and otherwise that, as regards your own political creed, you are a Liberal, and that you have been an outspoken Liberal ; and I unreservedly accept what you say as to your object in writing having been to strengthen my hands by furnishing me with evi- dence to which (if necessary) I could point any of my colleagues who might counsel the granting of favours on account of religion. Though neither Mr. Macdonnell nor Mr. McLeod states this friendly purpose to be the object of their letters, yet as Mr. Mac- donnell, though a Conservative, is said to have voted for a sup- porter of the present Ontario Government at the last general election, and as Mr. McLeod has always been understood to be a Liberal like yourself, I am satisfied that the letter of neither was written with any adverse political design. But I presume you have observed that all three letters have been made use of by the Conservative press TO IMJUmi: THE LIBERAL PARTV At the coming elections, and thereby, as you and I believe, to in- jure the Province ; and as the letters indicate the impressions of three justly esteemed ministers of our Church, tlley may naturally be expected to have rbore or less the effect which our political op- ponents desire. I therefore feel it my duty to make a personal statement of the facts bearing on the matters to which the letters refer ; and I do so in the present form, rather than by a speech at one of the great Reform gatherings which are taking place in different parts of the Province, because I have been advised, in conbetjuence of my recent recovery from a second somewhat severe illness, to avoi».rden. I surely need not say that if the Warden had been a Roman Catholic, and had been charged with misconduct towards Protestants., there is not a Protestant worthy of the name who would not desire the Warden's r :>moval in case the facts were as charged. Subsequently, the Conservative leader in the Ontario Assembly, at the instance of certain Roman Catholic and other political sup- porters, took the responsibility oi bringing the subject before the House. He did this several times. The following is the Mail's report (ISth March, 1885) of what he said on one of these occasions : *' Since the recent discusaion on the Central Prison he had been given to understand that prisoners were often kept in the cells for ten days on bread and water. He pressed upon the Government the necessity of acceding to the public demand for an investigation." Next day he referred to the same subject in the following terms ; " He had particulars of the cases he referred to last night in the Central Prison. A prisoner named O'Neil was confined in a dark cell seventy-two hours and kept on bread and water three months, after which he was de- clared insane. Another prisoner was kept twenty- four hours on bread and water, and afterwards was declared partially insane. There were nine or tea such cases with similar treatment, and he thought that in the public interest there should be a public investigation." The next day he returned to the same subject, and the follow- ing are extracts from the Mail's report of the introductory part of his speech : ' '* In the Legislature on Wednesday night Mr. Meredith rose upon the motion to adjourn, and drew the attention of the Ministry to the reported acts of cruelty in the Central Prison. He had been supplied with informa- tion regarding them, and in view of the particulars furnished he thought it in the public interest, and in the interest of the Warden, that a public and full investigation should be held. A prisoner named O'Neil had been kept in a dark cell seventy-two hours, and kept three and one-half months on bread and water, without a bed. When released and set to work O'Neil was BO weak that he could not stand up to work, and upon examination he was declared to be insane. " He then proceeded to detail other cases of frightful and wanton cruelty. I[ lowl the! did not ny other at if the ged with t worthy 1 in case ssembly. ical sup- jfore the of what » given to on bread ceding to •llowing 3 Central entj-two 3 was de- read and lie or ten interest follow- ry part pon the eported iforma- thought •lie and )n kept tths on eil was lie was in ton 11 In a subsequent number of the Mail (March 30, 1885) the fol- lowing report is given of what took place when I announced to the House the decision of the Government : " Hon. Mr. Mowat said that the item of supply for the Central Prison had stood in order that information might be furnished the member for London as to the truth of certain charges or rumours. The Government had come to the conclusion that there was no foundation for the charges. At the same time they had decided it to be expedient that the charges should be investi- gated, and a thorough investigation would be made by one of the judges ;. Warden Maasie waa anxious to have such an investigation. Mr. Meredith said that no one would be more pleased than he if the result of the investi- gation vindicated the Warden from the charges made. He urged that an assurance should be given to those employed within the walls of the prison that they would be held harmless if they gave their evidence openly and without fear. Only upon this understanding would the investigation be of any value. Hon. Mr. Mowat said they would do what was possible to en- able the men to speak fearlessly and truthfully." THE " PEUSONNEL " OF THE COMMISSION. I find that on the subject of the Commission afterwards issued, the Review writer has this further story, of somebody's ira.agin- ing, to tell. He says that " when the Commission was /named the priesthood protested against its personnel." There was no such protest, in the second of my two interviews with the Arclibishop, and before the personnel had been decided upon in Council, I mentioned to him my notion of appointing two Com- missioners only ; both were Protestants. The Arclibishop made no " protest " against the Commission being issued to the two, and them only. On the contrary, he said that he himself would have perfect confidence in a Commission to these gentlemen alone, but he suggested that the Commission would give greater confi- dence to some of his people, and any report they might make would be more generally acquiesced in, if I should add the name of some Roman Catholic gentleman, anyone I should myself select. The suggestion seemed to me reasonable and wise. On my reporting it to my colleagues they took the same view. We then considered in Council several names, and ultimately Mr. O'Sullivan was selected as being a fair man, a man of ability and good standing, and having personally the confidence of his co- religionists. Conservative and Liberal. FROM THA.T DAY TO THIS I do not remember having heard a suggestion that the appoint- 12 ment on the Commission of one Roman Catholic was wrong, or that a better appointment than that of Mr, O'Sullivan could have been made. Must every suggestion of a Roman Catholic be re- jected, whether it is reasonable or unreasonable ? That is not my view of a public man's duty. If the complaining parties had been Protestants, and the Warden a Catholic, would my fellow-Pro- testants have thought it reasonable or just that the Commission should go to two Catholics, and that the suggestion to add a Protestant should be rejected ? He would be an odd sort of Protestant who would say so or think so. All the story about the protesting of the priesthood is imagination or invention. I had no word on the subject from or with any priest or Roman Catholic, except the Archbishop ; and none with the Archbishop beyond what I have mentioned ; and the whole matter was conducted by myself personally, until I brought it before Council as stated. The other Commissioners appointed were Judge Sin- clair, of Hamilton, a member of the Church of England, and Mr. Langmuir, of Toronto, an expert in prison management, and a Presbyterian. , THE HOSTILE ATTITUDE OF THE "MAIL." th( After the prorogation, and before the Commissioners began their ^abours, the Mail newspaper and other journals affected impatience at the delay in commencing, and hinted that the Government was delaying the investigation in Mr. Massie's in- terest. A few extracts may here be useful : ^ " The troubles in the Central Prison, growing out of a belief among the Roman Catholic prisoners that Mr. Massie treats them with undue severity, still continue. The withdrawal of Rev. Father Jeflfoot, the spiritual adviser of these prisoners, has naturally enough made matters worse. . . . The priest's resignation certainly lends colour to the stories told by the prisoners, but that is all. Mr. Jeffcot made no charge against Mr. Massie, nor, so far as we know, has His Grace Archbishop Lynch. It is pretty clear that one or both of them would have promptly demanded an investigation had there been any occasion for it."— (Mail, 13th March, 1885.) " We have already referred on several occasions to the delay in beginning the investigation into the management of the Central Prison, which was ordered last session. Charges have been made that the delay was intended to allow a large number of prisoners to be discharged and dis^-ersed, so that their evidence could not be obtained against the management. " We publish this morning at some risk and acting under a sense of pub- lic duty, a letter from one of the promoters of the investigation. This letter is of such a character, so startling and shocking if true, so libellous and scan- dalous if false, that the Local Government dare not delay another twenty- 13 rong, or aid have ic be re- not my lad been ow-Pro- imission ' add a sort of y about iion. I Roman bishop «r was Couucil Jge Sin- nd, and nt, and began affected tiat the sie's in- aong the levority, 1 adviser . The 'iaoners, r, 80 far hat one d there ginning ich was I tended so that 'f piib- i letter i scan- wenty- four hours the active commencement of the investigation. Oiir correspond* ent charges against the Warden cruelty, favouritism, discrimination against Roman Catholics, falsification of the records, concealment of facts, and bai manage'^ent generally. It is needless to say that we would not undertake the publication of such a terrible letter if the writer of it were not a responsi- ble man."— (Ma«, 23rd May, 1885.) " The letter from the promoters of the Central Pri'^on inquiry, which will be found elsewhere, contains charges of the gravest possible nature against the Warden of that institution. We are well aware that the letter contains material for a dozen libel suits against the Mail ; nevertheless it ia the bounden duty of a public journal to run the risks of actions-at-law when, aa in this case, the public good demands it. It is almost unnecessary to say that we know nothing of the truth or falsity of the charges ; but they are made by men of standing in the community, who profess to be able to prove them, and for that reason, and none other, we deem it our duty in the pub- lic interest to bring them to the notice of the Local Government. It is true a commission has been appointed to inquire into the multifarious accusatiout that have been levelled at Mr. Maaa^e for a year past. " The complainants are Roman Catholica. They assert that one of the prison guards (Guinness), who was until recently a Roman Catholic himaelf, is extremely prejudiced against Roman Catholic prisoners ; and that Mr. Massie upholds him in all he does, in order to gratify certain visitors to the pri- aon, who claim Guinness as their special protejS in religion. Furthermore, it is stated, though not by Roman Catholics, that this guard constantly displays a bitter animiis against Protestant prisoners who do not belong to the particular denomination or achool which he champions ; and that here again he finds an all-powerful ally in the Warden. This is the general charge, and out of it tlie specific charges of cruelty and favouritism appear to have grown. Had the Legislature provided for paid chaplains to the prison, it is safe to say this very painful controversy would not have occurred. But in the absence of regular chaplains, visitors of various denominations, some clerical, others lay, attend to the spiritual wants of the inmates ; and to the undue zeal of some of these persons the whole trouble appears to be due. C jmpetition among Christian communions is very good in its way, but it is somewhat out of place when it takes the form of a rough-and-tumble combat over sinnera who are supposed to be undergoing moral quarantir"^ in a gaol. A fight over a corpse in a dead-house would not be more indecorous. Mr. Massie may have been weak enough to take sides in this melee, for he is neither a strong nor a pru- dent man ; but we hesitate to believe that he has been guilty of the graver offences laid at his door by the promoters of the inquiry. They charge him in so many words with crimes near akin to murder. Patting aside the cases of the prisoners Linden, Mulholland and Mahony, and the dreadful allega- tions concerning the practices to which certain prisoners are sometimes com- pelled to resort, owing to the neglect or cruelty of the guards in not pro- viding them with buckets, it ia alleged that Mr. Maasie starved a priaoner u named O'Neil until he became insane, and then falsified the prison records to hide the tragedy. The story is that O'NeU was confined in the dark cell for 72 hours, wearing irons for 43 of them ; and that he was then placed in his own cell, and kept there without a bed, on a diet of bread and water, for 103 days. It is added that while the prison books show the amount of the dark cell punishment which O'Neil suffered, they contain no reference what- ever to the three months' torture which destroyed his reason ; and further, that Mr. Massie took no steps, as required by law, to have the prisoner formally declared insane by the County Judge, the inference being that he was afraid to produce his victim in court. It is impossible, as we hare said, to believe that the Warden, or any other of his subordinates, could be guilty of so monstrous an outrage upon a fellow-creature ; yet, on the other hand, our correspondents declare that they are ready with the proof. '*'' '**' * Let the Commissioners open the investigation without further delay, and pursue it fearlessly. If Mr. Massie is innocent, and we hope aud believe he is, it is only fair to him that the hideous charges that have been floating about so long, and have at last taken definite shape, |hould be sifted to the uttermost." — (Mail, 6th June, 1886.) Speaking of the correspondents whose letters the Mail had published, the following statement is made : — " Their only object in putting themselves to the immense trouble of pre- paring an indictment against him is to rescue human beings from inhuman treatment, as they believe. They say that they can prove every word that has been published in these columns concerning the internal economy of the prison, and the manner in which certain prisoners have been tortured, and the proofs they have laid before us certainly make out a strong prima facie, case. They have also given us the names uf responsible witnesses who are familiar with the facts, and who will be able and willing, as our cor- respondent believes, to substantiate each aud every word of the charges, and we have confidence in the veracity and integrity of our corres- pondents, as they are gentlemen who occupy positions of no ordinary con- sequence, and who would not make these charges were they not actuated by most honourable and benevolent motives. The Mail has therefore deemed it to be its bounden duty to lay the whole case before the public, not with the view of injuring Mr. Massie, but in order that attention hav- ing been directed to the alleged abuses a thorough inquiry might be made without delay into a matter of such momentous importance to the com- munity."— (Mai7, 8th June, 1885.) Up to this point, therefore, it is manifest that whatever had been done by either party to " squeeze out " the Warden, as the Review writer expresses it, was done by the Conservative party, and not by the Government. Now the Conservative press are charging us with an endeavour to " squeeze out " that officer ; the Presbyterian Review has, under its Conservative manager, joined intl 15 records to k cell for oedin bin 'ftter, for Qt of the loe wbat- l further, prisoner that he ave said, guilty of and, our * Let pursue it it is only so long, most." — %il had e of pre- Inhuman ord that ly of the red, and ? prima Jses who >ur cor- charges, corres- try con- ctuated lerefore public, )n hav- i> made I com- ' had s the )arty, 8 are ; the Mned in the cry ; and some Presbyterian friends have been led to be- lieve the false charge. The writer of the Review article expresses great anxiety to prevent the squeezing out of a Presbyterian Warden, though it should be at the expense of squeezing out a Presbyteiian Premier. The Presbyterian Warden was in no danger of being squeezed out, but the Conservative party hope that, with the assistance of Conservative writers in the Presbyterian Review, there may bo a chance of squeezing out the Presbyterian Premier. EVENTS SUBSEQUENT TO COMMISSION. The result of the investigation before the Commissioners was, to exonerate the Warden in regard to all that was serious in the charges against him ; and from that time to this there has been no pressure on the Government, and no proposal or sug- gestion to the Government, from the Archbishop or any other quarter, that the Warden should be removed, either by being transferred to another office or in any other way. Whatever has led to a contrary supposition on the part of anyone, the fact is as I have stated. The Review writer, in one of his articles, announced " on good authority," that " success is about to crown the efforts of the de- vout men who are so anxious that our public institutions shall be managed in their interest. The Government, it is said, has been convinced that 'Massie must go.' Of course they wi^ give him an appointment somewhere else." This story was as un- founded as most others. The Government was never con- vinced that ** Massie must go," and never contemplated remov- ing him from the Wardenship or giving him an appointment somewhere else. No such suggestion was ever talked of amongst us, and I have the best reasons which the matter admits of for say- ing that no such suggestion was ever made otherwise to or by any of my colleagues. The whole story is the creation of some one's fancy or invention. The tone in which it is told by this writer has a wonderful similarity to party attacks on the Govern- ment. But the same article takes credit for the spirit in which it is written. " We are acting in no spirit of enmity to the Gov- ernment. If we were enemies to it we should say nothing until the thing contemplated was done." Yet no such thing was con- templated, and if the writer had said nothing until the thing said to be in contemplation was done, we should have been spared all his articles. Enemies, according to his own showing, would have done better for us than the professed non-enemy, who, for the last three months has been doing what he could to destroy the good opinion entertained of us by our friends of the Review and by its Presbyterian readers. IC In one of the Review articles, referring to pressure said to be brought by the Government " to bear upon Mr. Massie to retire from the Wardenshin," the writer quotes this sentence from" the Tribune, as confirmmg what the Review had said as to such pressure : — " We have heard it said that it was proposed to put Mr. Massie in another position, and that he did not like the change." Thus the Tribune's mention of a rumour is taken as a proof that the fact was as said to be rumoured. Now we are surely not jesponaible for rumours, and this rumour was as un- founded as many others are which get into newspapers. The Review writer does us this wrong, but he at the same time quotes the words of the Tribune. ' Mr. McLeod refers to the same matter, but, doing so from memory, he says that the Tribune " staterl," that Mr. Massie had been offered and had declined another situation. It is hard to have Mr. McLeod thus treating as a positive statement against us what even the newspaper quoted from had mentioned as a rumour only, for which the editor did not pretend to vouch. The same writer, in his article of the 5th August, speaking of the state of affairs since the Commissioners' report, says that the Warden was enduring " the insults of the spies that dogged his heels every day." He does not say who these spies were. We never heard of them. For rhetorical and, I am afraid, political effect, h^ has magnified the prison clerk, who was no spy, into a plurality of spies. I am able to say that the Warden never informed the Inspector, or the Provincial Secretary, or the Govern- ment, that he had received insults, and I have no doubt that he had received none. Insults to a superior officer we should never tolerate ; and from what I am told of the prison clerk, his dis- position and character, I believe that no one could be less likely than he to insult anyone. After the Commissioners' investigation no spies "dogged the Warden's heels;" and if there were such at an earlier period, they did their work secretly then, and dis- continued it after the investigation had shown it to be useless. One of the principal spies of that former period ''/as ascertained, . on the investigation, to have been the convict whom the Warden had the misfortune himself to select to keep some of the prison books. In a subsequent article the writer makes a reference to myself. While he disclaims being in the least degree influenced " by party feeling," he intimates that by his articles he has done the Premier of the Province good service, and that now, in consequence of these articles, the Government " feels the ground firmer under its feet," and says " No " to the supposed Roman Catholic demand for the Warden's dismissal. The demand was never made: the Government needed no firmer ground than it has had all along IS 17 for making no change in the Wardenship ; and the good service which the Review writer has done for me is of a kind which my political enemies love and are grateful for, whatever I may myself think of such services. THE PRISON CLERK. The charge with respect to the appointment of the prison clerk is thus stated by the Review writer : — " The Government was induced to appoint a devout Roman Catholic as secretary to the Warden. The Warden declared, we understand, that there was nothing for this gentleman to do. The Government knew better. They were responsible for the management of the prison, and could not allow so worthy a Warden to be overworked, even though he was willing to sacrifice himself. Let us have plenty of officials. Let there be efficiency. Perish economy." In various articles the same writer pronounces Mr. Korman (the person referred to) the "nominee of the Archbishop," and the Arch- bishop's spy ; " says he has no hesitation in calling him the Arch- bishop's spy ; declares as a matter of perfect certainty that Mr. Korman had^been appointed " ostensibly " for legitimate purposes of the prison, " but in reality to be a spy on the Warden ;" and he designates the Government's action in the matter as involving an *' infamous system of priestly espionage." All these stMeraents are untrue. Korman was not appointed to be secretary to the Warden ; he was not the nominee of the Archbishop directly or indirectly ; he was not the Archbishop's spy, or any one's spy ; he was not appointed to be a spy on the Warden or anyone else. If a spy had been wanted, Korman was utterly unsuited for such an office, as I am told and believe, for I do not personally know him. He had been for some years a junior clerk in the office of "the Provincial Secretary ; and, the Commissioners having expressed a strong opinion that certain clerical work theretofore done by a convict should be done by a prison clerk, and the Government concurring in that view, tlie Provincial Secretary transferred Korman from the Parliament Buildings to the Central Prison, in order that as prison clerk he might do this work, with any other prison work which the Inspector should from time to time assign to him. This was the purpose for which he was really as well as ostensibly transferred to the Central Prison; and the Inspector informs me that Korman has ever since been doing the work thus intended. I am able to say that no one had "suggested to the Provincial Secretary that Korman should be appointed. The Provincial Secretary, on his own personal judgment, made the selection. Korman had been a faithful clerk, and was the most efficient of 18 his junior clerks who were available for transfer. He had had nothing to do with the agitation against the Warden, and there was no reason for supposing that he had been in sympathy with it. The Review writer suggests that Protestant voters should unite in " demanding that Government appointments should be made on the ground of fitness and without regard to the religious denomination of the person appointed." Is that rule to be acted upon only when it entitles a Protestant to get an appointment, and to be disregarded when it would give the appointment to a Catholic ? When the transfer of Korman to the Central Prison was made, the Warden disliked the arrangement, and in strong terms expressed to the Inspector^ his dislike. I dare say that he did the same to others, and that some of his incautious words reached somehow the Review writer, as well as Mr. McLeod, Mr. Macdonnell, and yourself. His long controversy had made him suspicious of all Catholics. The Inspector thought that in his first interview with the Warden on the subject he had satisfied the Warden that the appointment had not been made in any un- friendly spirit, and that there was no reason why he should care though the clerk was a Roman Catholic. So the Inspector informs me, and he says that he had but one conversation on the subject with the Warden afterwards, and that this second conversation occurred months after the appointment. Subsequently to this second eonversation the Warden renewed by letter, dated 30th August, his request for Korman's removal. I have ascertained that this letter he afterwards voluntarily withdrew, and now I understand he is content that Korman should remain; and up to this day he has found no fault with the way in which Korman has performed his duties or with his demeanour to himself, and has found nothing to confirm the notion of the young man being a spy, or playing in any way the part of a spy. The sole objection has Ijeen that he is a Roman Catholic. In the temperate letter of Mr. Macdonnell, the propriety or duty of even now removing Korman from the Central Prison is strongly urged, on the ground of his creed, and of the Warden's objection to him on that account. The Review insists on the same thing, but in language the most offensive that the writer could command. Accepting as true what I have said as to how the clerk came to be appointed, and what his character and quali- fications are, no thinking Protestant can fail to perceive that his removal on the simple ground of his creed would be a serious mistake. The Warden of the Reformatory at Penetanguisheue is a Ro- man Catholic ; is he to be allowed to object to the appointment of a Protestant clerk, or even a Protestant deputy ? The Mercer Reformatory has a Roman Catholic Matron ; is she to be allowed d had there y with should uld be igious acted tment, to a Prison strong lat he words >d, Mr. him in his btisfied 19 to object to the appointment of a Protestant assistant or deputy ? It is quite probable that either would prefer a Roman Catholio deputy, though neither has hitherto made an objection to a Pro- testant ; and a deputy has a much closer relation to the principal in each of these cases than a prison clerk has to the Warden. Wo did not dismiss the Warden when he was obnoxious to Roman Catholics ; how could we cancel Korman's appointment on the sole ground that his creed made him for the time not agreeable to a Protestant Warden ? Every member of the Government, Protestant and Roman Catho- lic, has under him some officers of a different religious creed from his own. So, when Reformers came into power in this Province altnost all the officers of the Government were of another political party, and had been appointed on that very account. A not unreason- able apprehension was felt that some of them would be, or were, spies for the political friends from whom they had got their ap- pointments ; and it was disagreeable to have to work with officers m whose fidelity the Ministers had no confidence ; but not one officer was discharged on that account, nor was his position in the Fublic service changed. Many of them hold their offices still ; and am bound to say that I am not aware of an instance from that day to this in which any officer played the spy. A ditterent policy would involve the adoption of the republican system, and every new Government would remove all olficers not appointed by themselves. We had much more reason for our confidence in Mr. Korman than we had at first in some of the officials appointed by a preceding Government ; and what in such cases Ministers have to do, the Warden of the Central Prison and all other like officers may have to do also. Besides, if we had rejected Korman or dis- missed him from the prison because of his creed, the same reason would have required or justified the dismissal of all the other Roman Catholic officers in the prison ; so far as has been discover- ed the mischief-makers had been some of the prisoners and of the ordinary prison guards. CUR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. The Review writer claims to have shown " the determination of the Palace to subordinate our public institutions to ifyS own inter- est and aggrandizement," and he calls on " Protestants in general and Presbyterians in particular," who by means of these articles now " see the danger that is impending, that they will make a de- termined stand against any further concessions to the Romish hierarchy." For himself he bravely announces his intention to do his share "to break the yoke of Roman Catholic domination 20 from the necks of the Dominion and the Province," and " to keep our public institutions free from the galling tyrany of Roman • Catholic control." In the Eman 1 the '^ears esire ' 21 or thought of bringing about the domination or control against which the Review writer tells us he means to do his best. Mr Macdonnell in his letter refers to some claim of the Church of Rome to " exceptional treatment ;" and objects to the " inter- ference of that church in our public affairs in a way which would not be tolerated if attempted by any Protestjvnt Church." I should be glad to know what the exceptional treatment and the interference are to which Mr. Macdonnell had reference. The only institution which either he or the Review writer mentions is the Central Prison, and the only exception al,treatment or interference specified has reference to that institution. boys' reformatory, PENETAN(}1 fSHENE. My attention has been called to an article '.n the Mail, which is more specific. It speaks of my assenting to a " policy that is plac- ing the Roman Catholic Church in possession of tliose jjublic in- stitutions, like the Boys' Reformatory at Penetanguishene and the Mercer Reformatory of this city, where proselytizing is to be done." I have already said that there is no proselytizing by Catholics or Protestants in our public institutions. The reformatory at Pene- , tanguishene has a Roman Catholic for a Warden, and so it has had since 1859, when the institution was established The Warden then appointed held office until 1879, when a change was made in consequence of the desire of the Government to introduce certain modern improvements to which the old Warden was opposed. This institution has always had two paid chaplains, one a Pro- testant and one a Roman Catholic, who give their whole time to the institution, and it is the only provincial institution which has had such officers. I have never heard of any attempt at prosely- tism in this institution, and I believe there has always been har- mony iu it between the Protestants and Catholics. t MERCER REFORMATORY. With respect to the Mercer Reformatory, Mrs. O'Reilly, the Matron, is the widow of the late James O'Reilly, Q.C., of King- ston, and she was appointed on the strong recommendation of Protestants in that city irrespective of party. The deputy-matron is a Protestant ; and the person in charge of the Refuge, where the young girls are, is also a Protestant. On the other hand, Pro- testants are at the head of the Toronto, London, Hamilton, King- ston, and Orillia asylums, the Blind Institute at Brantford, and the Deaf and Dumb Institute at Belleville ; all have been ap- pointed by the present government ; and although the principal officer in each is a Protestant, the officer next in position is a Protestant also ; anl so it is in the case of the Central Prison. I 22 in to be remembered that the temporary want of harmony in the Central Prison was exceptional, and. has not extended to any of our other institutions. AID TO HOSPITALS AND CHARITIES. The Mail newspaper lias said that, of the additional sum now annually voted for hospitals and charities, beyond the amount voted in Mr. Sandfield Macdonald's time, a disproportionate part ffOCH to Roman Catholic institutions ; and other Conservatives have been asserting the satne thing. Does what is said in the letters about undue influence and exceptional treatment refer to this i I cnn hardly think so. The facts on that subject are these, and they show beyond all cavil the reverse of exceptional treat- ment in favour of Roman Catholics. Soon after coming into office the present Government decided that the grants for charitable objects, instead of being determined from year to year by the discretion of the Government, might and should be regulated by some system, and the chance or suspicion of partiality be theraby removed. An Act was passed for this purpose in 1874 (cap. 33). It was entitled "An Act to regulate public aid to charitable institu- tions." It recited as follows : — " Whereas it is desirable and ex- pedient that all appropriations from the public funds in aid of charitaMe institutions .should be upon some properly arranged and ofpiitable system, and that municipal and other corporations should be stimulated and encouraged to give a Hberal support to such institutions." The Act then provides for giving a certain sum per day for every person aided in the institution ; and a cer- tain further sum per day on condition that this further sum should not exceed in any year one-fourth of the money received by the institution from all sources other than the province, towards the ordinary yearly maintenance of the institution. In carrying out the Act the Government Inspector makes a personal inspection of all institutions receiving public aid, and also procures sworn statements as to the number of persons maintained by every such institution during the year, calculates what each institu tion is entitled to on the basis set forth in the statute, reports the result, and the appropriation taken is of the aggregate amount which the institutions are reported by him to be entitled to re- ceive under the Act. Both the inspectors are Protestants, and one of the two is a Presbyterian. This Act is now embodied in the Revised Statutes, cap. 223. It is by this law that our appro- priations are regulated. If, therefore, of the increased vote since Mr. Sandfield* Mac- donald's time the Roman Catholic institutions are now receiving more than others, it is either because the increase in the number 23 in the any of |um now amount ate part Tvatives in the refer to |i*o these, I treat- to office ari table ' by the ated by thereby 33). It institu- atid ex- 1 aid of rraniifed orations oport to certain da cer- er sum eceived 'ovince, )n. In ersoiml rocures r every nstitu rts the mount to re- s, and lied in ippro- "Mac- jiving imber of persons aide i in these institutions is greater, or })ecause Roman Catholics have been more liberal in contributing to the mainten- ance of their institutions than the supporters of other institutions have been. ^ SEPARATE SCHOOLS. The Review writer further states that " in Ontario, with a Government and legislation permitting the school system to be yearly encroached upon it is about time that some one should speak out." The letters do not mention this yearly encroachment on our school system. There has betm no encroachment. Amend- ments have, from time to time, been made in the Public School Law for its improvement. But amendment or improvement is not encroachment. If the writer's reference is to Sejmrate Schools, then I have to state that, instead of there having been yearly encroachments upon the School law by Separate School legislation, the fact is there was no amendment whatever from the session of 1871-2, when the Reform Government came into power, until the session of 1879, and none after the session of 1879 [with the exception of a declaratory section in 1881] until the session of 1884. The amendments made were such as seemed to us all to be fair and reasonable; and such also as we all thought would be approved of by the Protestant community of all parties (now that Separate Schools have by the B. N. A. Act become by general consent a part of our educational System). Since the amendments of 1 879 there have been two general elec- tions without objection having been taken to these amendments from any quarter, so far as I remember; and on both occasions the Government was sustained in spite of the united efforts of the Dominion Government and the Local Opposition. So, in regard to the subsequent amendments, no objection to them was made in the House, none by any of the religious journals of the province, and none from any other quarter. The only changes which the Legislature has made in the Separate School law have thus been changes which were acquiesced in by all Protestants at the time, and were not objected to until now, when a No Popery cry is if possible to be worked up for political purposes. Following in the same direction as the Review writer, the Mail has been a little more specific. That journal has said that in our legislation we have " conferred on Roman Catholics distinct and extraordinary advantages over the supporters of Public Schools as regards State aid and other matters." And this is another misstatement pure and simple. By express law, State aid to both Public and Separate Schools is according to the school attendance, and no Roman Catholic is exempt from school rates any more than a Protestant is. 24 imM The Separate School law is not of our creation. It was on the statute book at the time of Confederation, and it provides for separate schools for Protestants and for coloured people, as well as for Rdman Catholics. Personally, I should be glad if the chil- dren of all denominationj: could be educated together. But some will have Separate Schools, and the making of some provision for them by law was defended by Dr. Ryerson when he was Chief Superintendent of Education. In common with manj'- Protes- tants he regarded these schools either as unavoidable, or- as doing less harm than, in smoothing the working of our school system, they did good. There were other Protestants who did not per- ceive, or did not at first perceive, either the necessity or the policy of having Separate Schools, and when these schools had to be sustained by Lower Canada votes the fact was specially irritating. The agitation against them, however, though for years kept up with vigour, was not successful, and when the scheme for con- federating the provinces was under discussion, and our local affairs were to be left to our own control in the Province, any danger of encroachments by Roman Catholics against the Protes- tant sentiment of the country was so effectually removed that Mr. Brown, who had been the great opponent of Separate Schools, and whose journal was the " fearless exponent of Protestantism " according to the Review writer, felt it his duty to acquiesce in the continuance of these schools on certain conditions set forth after- wards in the B. N. A. Act. That Act provides that the power oi a Provincial Legislature to pass laws was to bo subject to the following among other restrictions : — " Nothing in any such law shall prejudioally affect any right or privelege with respect t6 denominational schools which any class of persons have by law in the Province at the Union, All the powers, privileges, and duties of the Union, by law conferred and imposed in Upper Canada on the Separate Schools and school tru&uees of the Qtieen'a Roman Catholic subjects, shall be, and the same are, hereby extended to the dissentient schools of the Queen's .Protestant and. Roman Catholic subjects in Quebec." Separate Schools in Upper and liower Canada thus became by general consent a permanent part of the educational system of the two provinces. The Separate School law of Upj^er Canada, at the time of the Union, exempted the supporters of Roman Catholic Separate Schools from paying a school rate for the Pub- lic Schools, It provided, amongst other things, that every Separ- ate School should share in the Legislative Public School grant, and in all other public grcints, investments, and allotments for Public School purposes, now made or thereafter to be made by the Province or the municipal authorities (not including local as- 25 s on the ides for |, as well he chil- ut some sion for ■s Chief Protes- s doing system, lot per- le policy .d to be ■itating. cept up 'or con- ir local Lce, any Protes- ed that Schools, ntism " e in the ti after- )wer of to the rivelege Slave by uties of sparate hall be, Queen's ne by jfthe ia, at Oman Pub- epar- rant, s for e by 1 as- sessments for Public School purposes) according to the average attendance at the respective schools ; and the trustees of Separate Schools had '* power to impose, levy, and collect school rates or subsciiptions upon and from persons sending children to or sub- scribing towards the support of such schools, and .... all the powers in respect to Separate Schools that tho trustees of Public Schools have, ' h'c In a conversation which I recently had with an ardent Pro- testant, an objection was made to the two inspectors of Separate Schools being paid out of the Provincial Treasury ; and I may refer here to this objection. By the law as it stood at the time of Confederation, these schools were subject to such inspection as the Chief Superintendent (now the Minister of Education) should direct, and ine Government inspection of these schools was by the paid officers of the Province. The duty was then performed by the High School Inspectors. The duties of these inspectors having increased from year to year, and having become at length too great to be performed, the Minister of Education found it necessary to transfer the in.spection of Separate Schools to distinct officers. Two Separate School Inspectors were therefore provided for, to be appointed by the Government, and paid in the same manner as High School Inspectors. The salaries and expenses of the two Separate School Inspectors amount together to about S4,000. Now there are fifty-eight County Public School Inspec- tors ; they are appointed by the County Councils ; and ode-half of their salaries is paid by the Province, making in all $30,096. More than that amount is paid in addition out of county rates to which the supporters of Separate Schools contribute. As we have Separate Schools, it is in the general interest that they should be subject to Government inspection; and thoughtful Protestants will feel that the cost is nothing as compared with the advantage. My attention has been called to the following statement in a recent number of a Conservative newspaper, and I am told that a like statement has been made in other journals of the same party : — " One thing we know is sought, that the law shall com- pel every Catholic living in a Separate School district to pay his school tax to the Separate School Trustees whether he will or not." If this is so, the gentlemen who make the announcement must be in the confidence of the Roman Catholic clergy in a way that I am not. No such desire has ever been hint-^d to myself ; nor to my colleagues, as they inform mo. But the story, I have no doubt, is a mere invention. • GOVERNMENT PATRONAGE. Again, some have the notion that Roman Catholics get more 26 than a fair share of public offices ; but it is not so. No Govern- ment ever existed in any Province in Canada which ignored the fact that a large section of its population are Roman Catholics, or which in its appointments had no reference to that fact. I should be glad if I were at liberty in every case to weigh the claims and merits of candidates for every appokitraent as if all were Protestants or all Catholics ; but it is not always practica- ble to do so; and no wise statesman, therefore, will lay down an absolute rule to that effect. Not being able to always exclude from consideration the religious element, our rule is to see that Boman Catholics get a due share of Provincial appointments, and not more than a due share, regard being had to efficiency, and to local considerations and personal claims. The Roman Catholic organ of the Conservative party has frequently attacked us on the ground that we do not give to Roman Catholics more offices than they have received. But that they have not had more than their share will be manifest when I tell you that there are in the Province forty sheriffs, and so far as I know but one of these is a Roman Catholic. There are thirty-nine county attor- neys, and so far as I know but three of these are Roman Catholics. There are sixty-one registrars of deeds, and as far as I know only five are Roman Catholics. On the other hand, taking into ac- count all appointments in the gift of the Provincial Government, not local in their character, and to which loca.1 considerations do not apply, the Roman Catholics, having reference to the financial value of the appointments, have their fair share, and not more than their fair share. CAUSE OF THE GOVERNMENT'S STRENGTH. In the Review of the 7th October, the writer adds another false charge against roe, which I have not observed in any previous number of the Review. In evident reference to the Ontario Gov- ernment, though not in language expressly confined to it, he says that " the moral and material interests of our country are alike sacrificed to the demands of party," and he charges us with a de- termination to secure " the Catholic vote at all hazards ; the his- tory of our Governments," he says, " has been that of surrender to the demands of the representatives of the Papacy." It is not true that the moral and material interests of our coun- try have by the present Ontario government been sacrificed to party. The favour with which the Provincial Government is regarded in the country, and by non-partizan Conservatives as well as by Reformers, is because we have been doing, and are known to have been doing, all we could to advance the moral and material interests of the country ; and our efforts for this purpose 27 overn- red the tholics, 'act. I igh the if all iractiea- down [exclude lee that ts, and and to 'atholic d us on 3 offices i more ere are one of r attor- ithulics. w only nto ac" •nment, ions do nancial )t more )T false ■evious 3 Gov- le says i alike I a de- le his- render coun- sed to mt is i^es as d are iland rpose have not been unsuccessful, as has been demonstrated in many a debate and on many a platform, and as our newspaper friends in every part of the Province have often demonstrated in their jour- nals. Ou/ record in this respect has always been our only strength. We have not had the means, nor the inclination either, to entrench ourselves by bribing the people's representatives, or by bribing purchasable electors. It is not true that it has ever been our de- termination to secure "the Catholic vote at all hazards." It is not true that we have made any "surrender to the demands of the representative of the Papacy." We have done nothing for Roman Catholics to which Koman Catholics were not justly entitled, and which it was not in accordance with the Protestant sentiment of the community that they should receive. • Another article in the same number of the Review has partyism for its subject. The writer says that " as things are at present, good men are afraid to offer to serve their country, and if they did offer they would likely be defeated by the party machine." So that we havo no good men in public life. I am sure you do not endorse that slan