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Rykrson. -The now class of ideas imported by the Bishop fi-oni the Con- tinent of Europ" indicate a " foreiirn eli'inent," opposed to Canadian freedom No. C— Bishop CiiARiM.NXHr,. -Quotes Baltimore ('o'uicils dcniandiuir scihools worthy of the American and Canadian llheralisni so mucli vaunted in liie world, -instead of a disi(uised perseeutio.i,— or the Bishops and the Pope will ov-rthrov/ all 17 No. 7.— Dr. Rykrsox.— Baltimore Councils are Rules of tlie "foreign ecclesiastics "of one class of ntiiKionists. Tlio Bishops and the I'opc won't he supported in their crusade by Canadian Catljolics 19 No. 8.— Bishop Charbo.nnel.— Opinions ditrer; but lie won't unset the Government of Canada 28 No. !).— Bishop Chaeijonnk I-. — Does not like Dr. Ryersou's controversy 28 No. 10.— Dr. Ryerso.»j.— Sit ws that it is all Bishop Charbonuel's fault 29 No. 11. — Dr. Ryerson's Circular to .Municipalities ou the ("lerpry Reserves 33 No. 12.— Rev. J. M. Bruyere.-I? opposed to "dictation," but kivcs his own advice about tho R'serves. Says ce -tain Books are not allowi.'d in Libiaries 3.5 No. 13.— Dr. Rykbson.— Catliolic Books were selected for the Libraries by Bishop Charbonnel. Tlie " foreijru i "ment" distasteful to Catholics 43 No. 14.— Rev. J. 31. BRUYEUE.-C->i'a;e8 about books "unintentional." Wants the Reserves for Catlioiic purposes. Does not like to bo called a " foreign element." Tin> maiority of Canadian Iwrn Catholics arc "half iieathens" 53 No. 15.— Dr. Ryerso.v. -" For(M;5e of the " half heathens ;" tliey are his fellow coinitrymen .."l" 03 No. IO.—Rev. J. M. Bui: VKUE.— Goes over his old charttesj and shews how ill tho " Extreme kindness " .-) The ii palities to 1 dioated by (/) Now ((/) Such Catholics i ^le latter have by 46 pupils, 3 out of aboui the Catholics r the building anti-Catholic nanagement ? jches, reports, I of education and facts of a ly yours, FR. MY. . of Toronto. rch, 1852. of your let- a difference Trustees of !t ultimo, I ication from m the same m. read as a can be no LCt express- required to exercise of parents or effectually xercise, to I presume t complain fs shall be ig as their nention, to gland, the 3r has any i for. In 1861 » tiligbest tinge 8 elementary history been recommended to be taught in the common schools, beyond what is furnished in the admirable series of text books prepared and published by the National Board of Education for Ireland, and which are as acceptable to Roman (Catholics as they arc to Protestants, (c) Regards recent demands as ominous of evil. I have observed with regret, that demands for exemptions and advan- tages have recently been made on the part of some advocates of separate schools which had not previously been. heard of during tlie whole ten years of the existence and operations of the provisions of the law for separate, as well as inixed schools, (rf) I cannot but regard such occur- rences as ominous of evil. It is possible that the L«'gislaturc may accede to the demands of individuals praying, on grounds of conscience, for unrestricted liberty of teaching, — exenjpting them from all school taxes, "with a corresponding exclusion of their children from all public schools, leaving them perfectly free to establish their own schools at their own expense ; but I am persuaded the People of Upper (,'anada ".ill never suffer themselves to be taxed, or the machinery of their Government to be employed for the building and support of denominational school houses, any more than for denominational places of worship and clergy, (e) National character of the School System. Public school houses are equally the property of all classes of the school municipality in which they are erected ; and there is the best assurance that schools will be perpetuated in them according to law. But there is no guarrantee that a Separate School will be continued six months, as it ceass to exist legally, (at least so far as it relates to any claim upon the Public School Fund,) the moment the Public School Trustees employ in the same school division, a teacher of the same re- ligious faith with that of the supporters of the separate school. (/) Should the advocates of a separate school be able to claim exemption from the payment of a property-rate for the erection of a public school house, they, or any one of them at his pleasure, might, on the completion of such house, legally claim admission to it for his or their children upon the very same condition as the children of those who had been taxed to build the house. A man mmj send his children to a separate school to-day ; but he has the legal right to send them to the public school to-morrow, if he pleases ; and, as a general rule, (judging from the nature of the case, and from the experience of several years,) he will do so, as soon as he fin Is that his children can be as safely and more cheaply educated in the public school than in the separate one. (g) I make these remarks in refer- ence to an objection which has been made by some of the supporters of a (c) F«w were aware until this, that Goldsmith's History was loss a favorite with Catholics than with Protestants. (d) Here was the rise of the "conscientious convictions." They were not manufactured until the bo- ginning uf 1852. (c) The demand at this time, and which went before the Court of Queen's Bench, was to compel Munici? palities to levy and collect whatever amount of taxes the Separatists demanded. The principle above in- dicated by Dr. Uyerson was enacted by the Legislature in 1853. (/) Now repealed by the Iloman Catholic Separate School Act of 1856. (f/) Such has been the result ; and notwithstanding the continued legislatiou on the subject, Canadian Catholics prefer the National Schools to the schools of " foreign " eccrebiasti>;s and " foreign " tM»chers. 4 separate school in Chatham, and in one or two other places, against being taxed for the erection of Dublic school houses. I herewith enclose you a copy of my reply to the trustees of the separate school in C'latham, and which I had also made to a similar communication from Helleville. I have the honor, &c. (Signed) E. RYERSON. The Right Rev. Dr. DeCliarbonnel, Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto. 4. Bishop Charbonnel to + 0a Dr. Ryerson. KviLLE, 24th March, 1852. Rev. Doctor,— In your answer to my letters, you do not say a single word iibout my two first complaints, viz: — the coloured people better treated in 'Jiiatham than Catholics, and the ridiculous offer of £4 10s, — out of about £300 taxes raised,— for the Catholic beparate School of 46 children in the same town. Not lionornble to use defective Works. With regard to my third complaint, you grant on one hand, that Gold- smith's History is I'o'ij (hfcrHi-e, therefore it does not do honor to the teachers who mske use of it, and of other books of the same (h'/ediveness^ to my knowledge, nor to the visitors who tolerate such books in Public Schools, nor to the school system under which such very defective books may be used, not only against your sanction, but even kgally. For, you say on another hand, s and crimes ! [h ) Pleasel Saternal ifferent those moi their filial of Canad] •pecting Would be I children Majesty ? No, mol domestic, or, at leas^ scruple, ai Let you] part of th( all the chil and 1 will Wadt of a religiously without a try; witnej according t portion to g But as lo distant frorr swer, as nif shall be a d their tempo the God unl foot, eye, is it from thee soul ? Seel A Now as t than our se] teachers ar ** Notes of I your answei the commor moted by th oaly not rep mighty instj «) And yet th( element " has iss if) The sneer c regardtd by him. (h) The antithesis to tliis bcautirul appeal is; ' reading, writing, and arithmctie t" -Do bucli things occur in tlie books teaching merely , against being ustees of the i to a similar [lYERSON. [arch, 1852. )t say a single 1 people better r of Jt4 10s,— e School of 46 ind, that Gold- honor to the ne defectiveness^ ooks in Public defective books n(d)le complaint the 14lh sec- uired (Catho- eligious book s persuasions. ren. book abusing h, a Presbyte- the Trinity of tc. ; all those ed schools, as legally^ and of is forced to ren of all re- )le means of :ing children liding into the jving nothing liar school of lently of all Appeals against siu'' Mongrel Interiiretalions. Please tell me would you send your children to a school when your Saternal authority and family prescriptions would be intcrprutcd in ten ifferent ways, because none of your children would be forced to read those mongrel interpretations,— and thereby they would ha protected in their filial respect and feelings towards you? VVould the Government 0f Canada countenance schools in which j)upils could read books re- specting annexationism, or any other rebellion isrn, becaux- no child would be forced to read the ism objected by his parents, and thereby all children would be protected in their loyalty to the country and Her Majesty ? No, most certainly no ; and religion alone, the basis of true individual domestic, and social happiness, will be a mockery in our public schools; or, at least, a quite indifferent abject ! And you call our demand a scruple, an omen of evil ! Say as well that good is evil, and evil good ! But will tolerate Mixed Schools on comlitions. Let your riiixed schools be without immediat(! danger on the treble part of the teachers, books and fellow-pupils for the respective faith of all the children — which is seldom the case in this sectarian country, — ,atid i will tolerate, even recommend them, as I do sometimes, through Wa^t of a better system, but always on the condition that children are religiously instructed at home or at Church ; because secular instruction without a religious education is rather a scourge than a boon for a coun- try; witness, the United States, Scotland, Sweden, Prussia, &c., where, according to statistics, infidelity, and immorality are increasing in pro- portion to godless education. Approves of the National School System in Iiolanil. But as long as most of your mixed schools shall be what they are, as distant from the common schools of Ireland, justly praised in your an- swer, as night is from the day ; (i) as long as most of your mixed schools shall be a danger for the faith and morals of our children, they and we, their temporal and spiritual parents, will act according to the doctrine of the God unknown to your schools, as he was in Athens : " If thy hand, foot, eye, is an occasion of sin to thee, cut it off, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. What does it avail a man to gain the world if he lose his soul? Seek first the Kingdom of God and his Justice." And quotes Laing and Guizot on Schools in Catholic Countries. Now as to the boasted system of school buildings giving more security tlian our separate schools, — as if stones, or bricks would be better than teachers and books, — let the Scotch Protestant Laing, in his recent <* Notes of a Traveller," tell " the People of Upper Canada,^'* alluded to in ytour answer, [j) that "in Catholic countries, even in Italy, the education of the common people is at least as generally diffused and as faithfully pro- moted by the clerical body, as in Scotland. Education is in reality not Ottly not repressed, but is encouraged by the Popish (!) Church, and is a mighty instrument in its hand and ably used.'' Hence the celebrated {i) And yet these same Irish National Schools are now denounced, because, since then, the ''forcixa element " has issuad a Jlat against them ! See Mr. Bruyere's Inst letter. {]) The sneer comes well from a foreigner, and shows how the popular character of our institutiont is regarded by him. Ls teaching merely Pr(»testant statefiinan, Gnizot, published lately that the far best school of respect towards au'hority is the Catholic school. " In every street in Rome," continues Laing, " there are, at short disfances, public primary schools for the enhieation of the children of the lower and ..ilddle classes in the neighbourhood. Rome, with a population of 15J»,678 souls, has 372 primary schools (and some more according to the official statement) •with 482 teachers, and 14,000 children attending them. Has Edinburgh so many schools for the instruction of those classes?" And you know, Rev. Doctor, that Scotland is one of the boasted lands of common schools. Canaciiun School system denouiiceil atiil the war indicated. Therefore, since your school system is the ruin of religion, and perse- cution of the Church ; since we know, at least as well as any body else, how to encourage, (lilluse, promote education, (Laing,) and better than you (Gnizot,) liow to teach resj)ect towards authority: God and his Church, parent and Government ; since we are under the blessed princi- ples of religious liberty and equal civil right, (k) we must have, and we will have, the full management of our scdiools, as well as Protestants in Lower Canadii ; or the world of the 19th century will know that here, as elsewhere. Catholics, against the constitution of the country, against its best and moit sacred interests, are persecuted by the most cruel hypocriti- cal persecution. 1 have the honor to be. Rev. Doctor, Your humble and obedient servant, (Signed,) +ARM'DUS. FR. MY, Hp. of Toronto. Rev. Dr. E. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education. In I ship d to use repres that m self to the fric the con text bo they h Astc school tioned year, of any the 25th ai Havii would n were no duty to Commoi Canada was core Catholic' hy a sin|£ cellent P 5. Dr. Ryerson to Bishop Charbonnel. ' , Education Office, Toronto, 24th April, 1852. My Lord, — The receipt of your letter of the 24th ultimo was promptly acknowleged by Mr. Hodgins in my absence : and continued official en- gagements, since my return, having prevented an earlier reply, I have now to observe, that, finding your allusions to the coloured people of the town of ('hiitham not sustained by a communication from themselves, 1 did not deem it necessary to correct your mistake, or advert to the cir- cumstance in my reply. Having received a complaint from the coloured people of Chatham, respectiug their affairs, I replied to them, and wrote to the Board of School Trustees in Chatham on the same subject, I did not, therefore, think it necessary to allude further to the subject in my re-! ply to your Lordship. As to my alleged omission in regard to the complaints respecting theii Roman Catholic School in the town of Chathnm, I received a letter Iromj the Trustees of that School, and enclosed to your Lordship a copy of mj' reply to their communication. (k) Yes ; but nnJy on British ground, and under a non-Catholic Kovernment, are these rishts euioved bJ foreign wclesiastics. i If youi to adopt f a new ch Canada, i adhere to site couri Power. Di While, Upper Cai ance with Roman C- Canada h of sepnrat Canada in (0 Thpse p " Provided tions in school i alterations in t Decetnbor next lection of the & (m) Perhaps : >eHt school of 'ery street in blic primary iiddle classes IS souls, has al statement) IS Kdinbnrgh boasted lands >n, and perse- iny body else, id better than God and his jlessed princi- have, and we Protestants in uv that here, as try, against its jruel hypo?;riti- . Fll. MY, ). of Toronto. JApril, 1852. was promptly lied official en jr reply, I have people of the themselves, 1 reri to the cir the coloured |em, and wrote fubject. I did, jject in my rC' respecting the a letter Irom 1 a copy of m)| Replies to General ComplaintA. In regard to Goldsmith's Elementary History of England, your Lord- ahip did not intimate that the Roman Catholic children were compelled to use it contrary to the wishes of their parents or guardians, but simply represented that it was used in the mixed school ; and it was to this point that my remarks on the subject in reply were directed. I confined my- self to general remarks on the point for another reason — namely : from the fact that there being a separate Roman Catholic School in Chatham, the conductors of it could have no personal interest or concern as to what text books were used in the mixed school, from all connection with which they had formally withdrawn. As to the claim of the Trustees of the Separate School to share in the school moneys of the town of Chatham for 1851, they could not be sanc- tioned by law, since the school whs not applied for until March of that year, and the 19th section of the School act does not permit the alteration of any School Section, or the establishment of an separate school before the 25th of December in any one year.(/.) ' School system hitherto supported by Canadian Catholics. Having thus replied to the complaints preferred by your Lordship, I would not avert to other topics which your Lordship has introduced, were not my silence liable to misconstruction, and did I not feel it my duty to defend, as well as to explain and impartially administer the Common School system which the Legistature has established in Upper Canada ; — a system which has been in ojjeration for ten years ; which was cordially approved of and supported by the late lamented Roman Catholic Bishop Power ; which was never objected to, as far as I know, by a single Roman Catholic in Upper Canada, during the life of the ex- cellent Prelate and patriot, nor until a recent period. Rise of the new Foreign Element from the Continent of Europe. If your Lordship has thought proper, during the last twelve months, to adopt a different course, and to introduce from the Continent of Europe, a new class of ideas and feelings among the Roman Catholics of Upper Canada, in regard to schools and our whole school system, (m) I must still adhere to my frequent unqualified expressions of admiration at the oppo- site course pursued by your honored and devoted predecessor, Bishop Power. Disinclination of Canadian Catholics to support it, and their reasons. While, I may note the facts that from only three neighbourhoods in Upper Canada have demands been made by Roman Catholics, in accord" ance with this new movement, not sanctioned by law; that the only Roman Catholic member of the Legislative Assembly elected in Upper Canada has repeatedly declared himself opposed to the very principle of separate schools ; and the only County Municipal Council in Upper Canada in which a majority of the members are Roman Catholics, has Uc rights enjoyed m (0 Thpse proTisions arc now repealed, but were as follows : — " Proviilt'd always that each such separate school shall go into operation at the snmo time with altera- tions in school sactmxs."— First Proviso, in VJth section of the School Act—- i rovidcd secondly, that any alterations in the Ixmndaries of a school section shall not fco into eil'ect before the twentytifth day of December next after the time when it shall have been made.''— A'ec-ojKi Proviso in fourth clause of 18tA section of the School Act- (»n) Perhaps Mr. Bruyero will now find where the title of " fore'KU elf»nent" aroi«. 8 adopted resolutions against the section of the School Act which permits the establishment of s.^parale schools under any circumstances. The facts, that, out of 3000 Common Schools, not so many as fifty separate Roman Catholic Schools have ever existed or been applied for, in any one year, in Upper Canada, and that the number of such separate schools had gradually diminished to less than thirty, until within the last twelve mosiths, and that daring ten years but one oingle complaint (and that during the present month) has been made to this Department of any in- terference with the religious faith of Roman Catholic children; and that not a Roman (Catholic child ^n Upper Canada is known to ha'^e been proselyted to Protestantism by means of our public schools ; — these facts clearly show the general disinclination of Roman Catholics in Upper Canada to isolate themselves from their fellow-citizens in school matters, any more than in other common interests of the country, and the mutu- ally just. Christian and generous spirit in which the school as well as other common affairs of the country have been prompted by Government, by Municipal Councils, and by the people at large in their various school sections. The exceptions to this pervading spirit of the people of Upper Canada have been " few and far between ;" (n) and in such cases the pro- vision of the school law permitting the establishment of separate schools in certain circumstances, has been made use of, and just about as often by a Protestant, as by a Roman Catholic, mmority in a School Muni- cipality. («) Separate Schools hitherto viewed by Catholics and Protestants merely as a means of •^ Section. But the provision of the law for separate schools was never asked or advocated until since 1850 as a theory^ but merely as a protection in cir- cumstances arising from the peculiar social state of neighbourhoods oi Municipalities. I always thought the introduction of any provision for separate "schools in a popular system of common education like that of Upper Canada, was to bj regretted and inexpedient ; but finding such a provision in existence, and that parties concerned attached great nport- ance to it, I have advocated its continuance, — leaving separate schools to die out, not by force of legislative enactment, but under the influence of increasingly enlightened and enlarged views of Christian relations, rights and duties between different classes of the community. I have, at all times, endeavored to secure to parties desiring separate schools, all the facilities which the law provides — though I believe the legal pro- vision for separate schools has been, and is seriously injurious, rather than beneficial, to the Roman Catholic portion of the community, as I know very many intelligent members of that Church believe as well as myself, i have as heartily sought to respect the feelings and promote the interests of my Roman Catholic fellow-citizens, as those of any other port'on of the community ; and i shall continue to do so, notwithstanding the personally discourteous tone and character of your Lordship's com- munication. (n) As Mr. Bruyore atimits-and this disinclination of L,„. holies to support the demands of the French Ecfk-siastics introduced by Bishop Charbonuel, has not altered, even by threats of exconimunication and the nhatKo of mortal sins. (o) In 1831, there wore only 16 Roman Cat'iolic Seporato Schools in all Upper Canada, and in 185B, after four years' hard fighting on the part of th foreign element," they had only increased to «!. which permits stances. The 8 fifty separate lied lor, in any sparate schools the last twelve laint (and that lent of any in- iren ; and that I to ha'^e been } ; — tiiese facts lies in Upper "chool matters, and the mutu- ool as well as ^ GoTernment, various school jople of Upper cases the pro- parale schools ibout as often School Muni- ly as a means of ever asked or otedion in cir- ibourhoods oi provision for 1 like that of inding such a great n port- ate schools to e influence of an relations, lity. I have, te schools, all le legal pro- irious, rather iraunity, as I ve as well as 1 promote the of any other withstanding dship's corn- Effect of the Biishop'R denunciations on Canadian Catholic Teachers There are, compartively, few school divisions in Upper Canada, be yond the cities and towns, (where the Trustees have generally employed a fair proportion of Roman Catholic teachers,) in which it is possible for the Roman Catholic to maintain an efficient separate school ; (p) and if your Lordship persists in representing thr- C( "imon Schools maintained by the several religious classes of the com.in aiity, as fraught with scepti- cism, infidelity and vice, the situation of Roman Catholics, sparely scattered throughout more than 2,500 of the 3,000 school sections of Upper Canada, will be rendered unpleasant to themselves, and they will be encouraged to neglect the education of their children altogether. By the Official Returns for 1849, there were 339 Roman Catholic School Teachers employed in Upper Canada ; in 1850, their number was in- creased to 390 ; and I have as cordially endeavoured to get situations for good Roman Catholic teachers as for good Protestant teachers. It is clear that the greater part of the 390 Roman Catholic teachers have been employed by Protestant Trustees and parents ; but if the war of total separation in all school matters between the Protestants and Roman Catholics of Upper Canada is commenced, as proclaimed by your Lord- ship, many of these worthy teachers will be placed in painful circum- stances, and a separation will soon begin to take place between the two portions of the community in other relationr. and employments. How the Bishop demands full control of Schools. Your Lordship says, "We must have, and we will hare the full man- agement of our schools, as well as the Protestants in Lower Canada, or the world of the 19th century will know, that here as elsewhere, Catho- lics, against the Constitution of the counlry, against its best and most sacred interests, are persecuted by the most cruel and hypocritical persecution. Bishop's Appeal to Lower Cana la — State of Matters there. On this passage I remark, that I am not aware of Lower Canada pre- senting a better standard than Upper Canada of either religious or civil rights in the management of schools by any portions of the community. A popular system not yet being fully established in Lower Canada, the school system there is necessarily more despotic than here, and the Executive Government does many things there which appertain to elective Municipalities to do here ; and to accomplish what is indicated by your Lordship, would involve the subversion of the Municipal system and liberties of the people of Upper Canada. (9) From the beginning, Upper and Lower Canada has each had its own school system. Of the annual Legislative school grant ol £50,000, Lower Canada received £29,000 per annum until 1851, (when the grant was equally divided,) and Upper Canada, £21,000; which constituted the whole of the Legislative School Fun^l for Upper Canada for the establishment and support of the Normal as well as the Common Schools. Upper Canada has not attempted to interfere with Lower Canada in regard to its school system. »iid8 of the French Jimuiinication and and in 1855. after i to44. (p) And they acknowledge tliis themselres ;— but those "few" who think with the " foreijriitTs," ask for tho coinnion purse of all to aid their icheuus ! Apnrt from all other considerations, such a demand shows an unwortny selfishness. (g) These rights and lihcrtios of our municipalities will be annihilated m-* Upp«r Canada bows to the demands of an alien, be he a Sovereivtn or an Kccl(.siahti«'. 10 nor has Lower Canada attempted to interfere with Upper Canada in regard to its school system ; nor do I think the collision in school matters invoked by your Lordship, will be responded to by either section of United Canada : at least, for the sake of the peace and unity of Canada, I hope it may not. Equality of Public and Separate Schools in Upper Canada. Then as to the fact which your Lordship says will be known to " the world of th« 19th century,'' I may observe, that the managers of the twenty-one Roman Catholic and twenty-five Protestant separate schools in Upper Canada, are placed exactly upon the same footing ; that the managers of each class of these schools have precisely the same control of them that the Trustees of Common Schools have over their schools ; that each class of Separate Schools and the Common Schools are under the same regulations ; (r) that these relations and regulations have existed for ten years with the approbation of your lamented predecessor, (who was a British colonist by birth and education, as well as feeling,) (s) and with the concurrence of both Roman Catholics and Protestants ; nor had I ever heard, before receiving your Lordship's letter, that the Government and Legislature had for so many years established and maintained, and that I, in connection with the elective Municipalities of Upper Canada, had been administering and extending a system of "the most cruel and hypocritical persecution " against any portion of the community. Equality of their Teachers. Nay, so perfect is the equality among teachers, as well as managers, of each class of schools, that they are all examined and classed as to intellectual attainments, by the same Boord of Examination ; while the certificates of their respective Clergy are the guarantee for their religious knowledge and character, (t) This is perfect equality for the teachers of Separate Roman Catholic, or Protestant or Common Schools ; and the great principle is maintained, that no part of the School Fund raised by, or belonging to, a Municipality shall be paid to any teacher whose quali- fications are not attested by Examiners appointed by such Municipality. Catholics protected iu the right of Choice. It is true, that no Roman Catholic or Protestant can be compelled to support a separate school, unless he applies for it or chooses to send hio children to it; and it is f^lso true, that every Protestant or Roman Catho- lic has a right to send his children to the public school, and also the right of equal protection to his own views in regard to the religious in- struction of his children. It is furthermore true, that no part of the money for separate schools is paid into the hands, and placed at the discretion, of either the Roman Catholic or Protestant clergy, but is subject to the orders in each case of the elected Trustees of separate schools in aid of (r) " Provided always, that such soparatn schocil shall he under the samn regulations in respect to ♦lie persons for whom 9w\\ school is permitted to ba estahlished, »s are Common schools generMy."— First Proviso in the Wh section of the School Act. noto repealed, (s) This was the great secret of his patriotism, and it was that patriotism which made him the liberal supporter of Canadian Institutions and Canadiar Schools. 1 i('^ 1 Provided always, that no certificate of qualincation shall be iriven to any -.srson as a T.'acher who sliallnot furmsh satisfactory proof nf (food moral character." -ftr«^ Prot'MO in second clause of the iOth scet'on of the '\rhooi Act. "Candidates shall not be ei: .)le to be admitted to eiarainfitinti, until they shall have furnished the examiners with satisfactory evidencf ot their strictly temperate liaMtsand good moral ctiaracter. —General Regulations prescribed by the Council of Public Instruction for the exami- nation of Teachers. the I br^ 8e| oni at re{ api te? gn to I tht rijE II' Canada in ool matters section of of Canada, ^n to " the ers of the te schools ; that the ne control schools ; are under «^e existed sor, (who >) (s) and ; nor had ^^ernment ned, and Canada, ruel and anagers, ied as to ^hile the ellgious chers of and the ised by, e quali- U}>ality. elled to !nd hie Catho- Iso the 3US in- money retion, to the aid of Mpoofc to "—First i liberal her who the 2Qth !til they nd good exatni. 11 the support of teachers employed by them. But in each of these cases, I think the law secures individual protection and rights, rather than breathes the " most cruel and hypocritical persecution." Schools therefore are not *' cruel and hypocritical persecution." There is thus no difference whatever between Protestant or Roman separate schools and mixed schools, as to the examination of teachers, on the certificates of their respective clergy ; no difference as to the times at which such schools shall commence, and the legal conditions and regul itions to which they are subject ; no difference as to the basis of apportioning the school fund, to aid in the payment of the salaries of the teacher of each class of schools, (u) There is therefore not the slightest ground for alleging " most cruel and hypocritical persecution in regard to the one, any more than in respect to the other, class of schools ; and there are " the blessed principles of religious liberty, and equal civil right," in regard to ihem all. Effect of Bishop's demands. The demand which your Lordship advocates in behalf of the Trustees of the Roman Catholic separate schools in the town of Chatham, is two- fold. 1. That whatever sum or sums of money any Municipality may raise for school purposes, shall be regarded as the legal school fund of such Municipality, and be equally divided according to attendance be- tween the public and separate school. 2. That the same principle shall be applied in the expenditure of whatever moneys may be raised for the building, repairs and furnishing of school houses ; that is, that the Mu- nicipalities shall be under the same obligation to provide separate school houses as pubic school houses ; that they shall not be able to provide for the latter without providing for the former. Their Novelty. Now, in regard to this demand, I have three remarks to make : 1. It is novel ; it has never been made in any communication to this Depart- ment, until since the commencement of the current year. 2. It proposes a novel interpreation of the term " School Fund." The 40th section of the school Act defines it to consist in each Municipality of " the sum of money appropriated annually by the Chief Superintendent of Schools, and at least an equal sum raised by local assessment." The 27th sec- tion of the Act provides that a County Council (and the provision is applied in another part of the Act to cities, towns, and incorporated vil- lages) can increase at its discretion the sum required to be raised by local assessment, and may apply it to increase the local scho'^^ fund, or in giving special aid to the schools recommended to its favourable consider- ation, as it may judge expedient. (?) I never heard it doubted before, much less complained of as a grievance, that each Municipality after (u) Tlio fdllowinjr wore the provisions of ilio law relative to the apportionment of the School Fund.— " Provided that each siicii separate l^rotcstant, or Roman Catholic, or Coloured School shall bo entitled to share in tlie scliool fund, acM^ordiuft to the avcrajte attendance of pupils attending each such separate school, (the mean attcnilaiire of pupils for both sumnii'mnd winter hcinit taken,) as compared with the averatfc atteudjiucc of pupils iitteudinM: the Common Schools in such City, Town, Village, or Township."— Third Prov'so in the \'.)fa sec/ion of the School Act. (c) '• Proviilcd always, that the sum or sums so levied, may be increased at the discretion of such Council, either to incM'ease tlu' Couiuy Sciiool Fund, or to irive special or additional aid to new or needy school sections, on the recommendation of one or more Local Superintendents.''— i-'trsi Proviso in the first clause of the 'Z7th section of the School Act. / 12 naving fulfilled the conditions of the Act, could apply at its own discre- tion, any additional sum or sums of money it might think proper to raise for school purposes. Definition of the School fund, before Bishop's agitation. I have in all past years thus explained this provision of the Act, in my correspondence with Municipal Councils ; and in my letter addressed to the Provincial Secretary on the school law generally, dated 12th May, 1849, are the following words : " The School Act authorizes any Coun- cil to raise as large an amount as it pleases for Common School purposes. I have never insisted, as the Common School Fund, upon a larger sum in each District or Township, than that apportioned out of the Legislative grant. An?/ sum over and above that amount^ which a Council may think proper to raise, may (as has been done by some Councils,) be applied in such a manner to the relief of any otherwise unprovided for poor school sections within its jurisdiction, at the pleasure of each Council." (w) No reason to a'tcr that decision. What I have regarded and averred in past years to be the plain mean- ing of the law, and an important right of Municipalities, and that without any view to separate schools, I see no reason to unsay or undo now. Besides what the law declares to constitute the School Fund, and to whatever amount a Municipality may increase it, no part of it, as in Low- er Canada, can be applied to the erection, rents, or repairs of school houses ; but both the 40th and 45th Sections of our School Act expressly require that such money " slall be expended for no other purpose than that of paying the salaries of qualified teachers of Qommon Schools.'*' School Fund not applied to building School houses. 3. I remark thirdly, that as no apportionment from the Legislative school grant, or school fund, is made, and as no part of such fund can be ap- plied for the erection, rents, repairs, or furnishing of school houses of any description, all sums expended for these purposes in iny Municipality must be raised by local voluntary assessment or subscription in such Municipality. Municipal right is the principle of the School Law. The principle of the school law is, that each Municipality has a right to do what it pleases with its own ; with what it does not receive from the Legislature ; what it is not required to raise as a condition of receiv- ing Legislative aid, but what it voluntarily provides within its own juris- diction. But enslavement is the principle of the foreign demands. But if according to your Lordship's advocacy, a Municipality must be compelled to tax themselves to provide separate school houses for religi- ous persuasions, in addition to public school houses, there may be a high degree of " civil liberty" secured to certain religious persuasions, but a melancholy slavery imposed upon the Municipalities. The liberty of teaching, any more than the liberty of preaching, by any religious per- suasion, has never been understood in Upper Canada to mean the right of compelling Municipalities to provide places of leach ino, any more (If) Correspondence on the School Law of Upper Canada, printed by c;isbtivo Assenj- bly, IBSO,^). 39. thai or r£ is tl I Yd ada- coui (for that tome tothj your I tion belie our A, 1^' 13 be fgi- gh It a of ler- rht »re than places of preaching, for such religious persuasioiis. Such liberty, or raither such despotic authority, possessed by any religious persusaion, is the grave of the public Municipal liberties of Upper Canada, {x) Vindication of Upper Canada and its people. Your Lordship. has furthermore been pleased to designate Upper Can- ada — the country of my birth and warmest affections — " this sectarian country ;" a term which not merely implies the existence of sectarianism, (for that exists in Austria and Italy as well as in Upper Canada,) but that such is the distinguishing character of the country, as we are accus- tomed to say an enlightened, a civilized, or barbarous country, according to the prevailing character of its institutions and inhabitants. I think your Lordship's designation of Upper Canada is an unmerited imputa- tion ; I am persuaded that a large majority of the people are as firm believers in " the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," and in all that our Lord and his Apostles taught as necessary to everlasting salvation, as either your Lordship or myself. A standard English lexicographer has defined '' sect" as " a party in religion which holds tenets different from those of the prevailing denomination in a Kingdom or State," and Becherelle in his noble " Didionnaire National ^^'* siys, after Linguet that " De toutes Ics secies^ il n'en est pas de plus furiouses, de plus inlolerantes, de plus injustes, que celles qui choisissent pour cri dv^ guerre la religion et la Uberfe.''\i/) But I see no application of either of th^se characteristics of sectarians to the majority of the people whom your Lordship reproaches — a people, in religious morals, in honesty, industry, in enterprise, in the first and essential elements of a nation's civilization, in advance of the mass of the people of those very states of Italy to the schools of whose capital you have drawn my attention. And of the Christian character of its Education. Your Lordship has represented " God as unknown to our schools as he was in Athens ;'' and by the passages of the scriptures which you have quoted, as well as by your remarks upon our school regulations, you in- timate that I place earth before heaven, and the gain of the world before the loss of the soul. I remark, that I believe a majority of the members of the Council of Public Instruction, by whom the regalations were made for our schools in regard to religious and moral instruction, areas deeply impressed with the worth of the soul and the value of heaven, as your Lordship ; and so far from God being unknown to our schools, the author- ized version of His inspired Word (the text book of the religious faith of a large majority of the people of Upper Canada) is read in 2,067 out of 3,000 of them. Bishop may propose amendments to tlie Council's general retrulations. And if the regulations are critninally defective in this respect, your Lordship as a member of the Council of Public Instruction, has had, and still has ample opportunity to prop-jse their correction and amendment. 1 {x) Had tUo Bishop been lonsr enough in Cauiula, or bail he studied its pobtical history, he would liavo found out llif soutiniontsol' Upper Canada .in tlie subjci't. ()') '• Of all seels, those arc the most IHrions. tho most intolerant, and the most unjust, who adopt as their war-ery : lieligion and Liberty." By a strange coincidence, these are tho very words used by the Bisliop. 14 1':.( Churchea should proride Religious Instruction. Though I have perhaps learned, by personal observation and enquiry, more of both Irish and Canadian Schools than your Lordship, and am not sensible of the vast inferiority of Canadian schools of which you speak ; yet if such be the fact in a religious point of view, the fault must lie with the clergy throughout the country, and not in the regulations, since our regulations are borrowed from those which have operated so beneficially in Ireland. Who is to provide for, and look after the reli- gious instruction of the youth of the land, but the clergy and the churches ? Government was certainly not established to be the censor and shepherd of religious persuasions and their clergy, or to perform their duties. I lament that the clergy and religious persuasions of Upper Canada have not been more attentive to the religious instruction of youth— the youth of the land ;— but as to our youth and iellow country-men in Upper Can- ada not being taught to respect law and authority, as in the schools of Rome, I may observe that authority and law are maintained among us by the people themselves, without our capiial being occupied by foreign armies to keep the citizens from expelling their Sovereign from the throne. (2;) Bishop's picture of controversial works imaginary. Your Lordship draws a vivid picture of each of the children in a school being taught from a book abusing the religion of ttie parents of the other children. I have only to remark on this point, that the picture exists in your Lordship's imagination alone, as there is no foundation for it, in fact or probability. Catechisms do not abuse relioious persuasions. Even should the teacher hear the children separately recite once a week the catechism of their religious persuasions, as he would hear them recite a fact in history or rule in arithmetic (without any regard to the merits of,) what your Lordship fancies could not occur even in this strongest case that can be put, as the catechism of no religious per- suasion, as far as I know, consists in abusing other religious persuasions ; but in a summary of Chrisiian faith and duty professed by its adherents. I know not of the occurrence of a case such as your Lordship has imagined in all Upper Canada during the last ten years ; and down to a recent period an increased friendly feeling and co-operation existed between Roman Catholics and Protestants — a feeling which I had hoped, and had reason to believe, until within the last twelve months, would have been promoted by your Lordship, as it was by your honored predecessor, (a) Special information of interference reqiii ed. Your Lordship says, indeed, that " Citholics are forced in certain schools to read from religious books to which the:- pannts object ;'' but why are not the names of the places and parlies mentioned .' For I can promise your Lordship a prompt and effective remedy in every case which shall be made known to this Department. Case of Georgetown Trustees. But it appears to me, that if such cases exist, they would be made known from the great importance and publicity which has been given to (2) As witness Canadian loyalty and sympathy durinit the ato tilm-oi'ran war (•) Canadian Catholics, who remember Bishop Power's time, know well the clerical (ihanjces »'n'ected by this •■ foreign influence " since then § the cas in the brough receive of con( ance o or non A (lay teacher would section of your appeali recourse in Cour complai An ship ha govern n of these Georget( remedy mosities resource.' Shoi Mr. Mai regard to another, law coul than thai of so mu( classes o ship und( Yo«] much bel authority for schooj (6) '• Let yo fduct in the v( Finally, ing, in yours to your onerg ronto any con ful to all sect terians. Unit: towards ther Canada "—Bi of th« 'dth qf . {c) Perhaps and the paren matter lor a ' 15 the case of Mr. Maurice Carroll, and the School Trustees at Georgetown, in the township of Esquesing, the only case of the kind that was ever brought under the notice of this Department ; and on the very day I received Mr. Carroll's letter of complaint, I answered it in strong terms of condemnation as to the proceedings of the Trustees, and in mainten- ance of his supremacy and inviolable rights in regard to the attendance or non-attendance of his children upon religious exercises in the school. A (lay or two afterwards, I repeated the same decision and views to the teacher and trustees concerned, and there the matter has ended ; and it would have been the occasion of no bad feelings beyond the school section itself, had not the complaining parties, according to the advice of your Lordship, previously spread it in the newspapers, instead of first appealing to the tribunal authorised by law to decide on such matters recourse being open to the judges of the land and the Governor General in Council, should I fail in impartiality and energy lo remedy the wrong complained of. Bishop's teaching and practice on ** respect towards authority." And I must appeal to your Lordship, and especially after your Lord- ship has spoken so decidedly of " respect towards authority, law and government being taught in our schools," whether it was promoting either of these objects for your Lordship lo encourage Mr. Maurice Carroll, of Georgetown, to go to the newspapers, instead of the legal authorities, to remedy a legal wrong — to appeal to popular passion and religious ani- mosities instead of first appealing to government, and exhausting the resources provided by law for legal protection agaiust illegal oppression ?(6) Effect of the general operation of his practice. Should the examples and counsels which your Lordship has given to Mr. Maurice Carroll, be adopted by all parties throughout the land ic. regard to any alleged wrong that may be committed by one party againsi another, what respect for law would there be ? What administration of law could theri* be ? What must be the social state of the country other than that of unbridled passion, lawlessness, and anarchy ? On a matter of so much importance to the social happiness and best interests of all classes of people in Upper Canada, I confidently appeal from your Lord- ship under excitement, to your Lordship when calm and thoughtful, (c) Mixed character of Guizot's tjchool System. Your Lordship has called my attention to the authority of Guizot, as much better than mine in school matters. I readily acknowledge the authority of that great statesman and educationist. I read his projects for school laws in France, and his various circulars to local school au- rompt his fellow-countrymen to still greater efforts in the eausc of popular education. Since Laing wrote, there has been a revolution at Rome, and the very city, the streets of which were studded with schools, expelled its Sovereign, and at this day is only kept in subjection to the existing authority, by the bayonets of France and Austria; while Edinburgh maintains an inviolable and spontaneous allegiance to its Sovereign, as deep in its religious convictions as it is fervent in its patri- otic iiDpu ses. I think it right to say this much in reply to your Lordship's references to Scotland, although I have no connection with that country by natural birth or confession of faith. I 17 ction, before id under his 1 a Jewish sting harmo- ;ring to our 3n the same cal persecu- ada. tion. otch Presby- le, and their D no wish to Iship would ; the schools found them which they • respect for le establish- Of course, Austria and schools and hink educa- they do not -reliance as erprise, and il in several respects, is and misery the fertility ions, while ands by the lodern Italy nan, as it is s difference the schools and with a 1 the cause revolution idded with subjection ria; while iance to its n its patri- Lordship's lat country Cause of fhiu defence against the new crusade. I have thus not rendered myself liable to blame for havingpassed over in silence any one of the many topics which your Lordship has thmight proper to introdtice ; but I have carefully noticed each of them, in a belief that your Lordship entertains defective and erroneous views of the school system and municipal institutions of Upp r Ciinada; w.th a desire of placing before you the whole question in its present and probable I'utiire bearings, before your Lordship shall enter upon the course indicated in ^ your letter ; and from a sense of duty to successive Administrations and ■ Parliaments that have establifahcd our Common School system, and to the ^ Municipalities and people at large, who liave so nobly sustained it, as ; well as from a deep consciousness of personal res|)()nsiljility in this I matter for the future well-being and destinies of niy native land ! l I have the honor, iuc. (Signed,) E. RYERSON. The Right Rev. Dr. DeCharbonnel, Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto. No. 6. Bishop Charbonnel to Dr. Ryerson. [Transhttion.] Toronto, 1st May, 1852. Mr. Superintendent, — My last lotlev, doubtless on acc(.unt of my English, was neither clear nor understood, since it has caused you toad- dress to me personalities and insinuations which I repel as unworthy of you and of me. All my |)revious intercourse with you and the Council of Public Instruction has been polite and christian, and sometimes tol- erant to an extent that I have been required to justify. (f/) EnergL'lic r<^iterii.ti( n of " (iisguised persecution.'' My last letter was energetic only after eighteen months of observation and patient representation against a school s,ystem. which my conscience, as a Catholic Bi.-hop, rejects, with all my might, for the souls confided tome; a system which, notwithstanding your cxj)lanations, I repeat fearlessly, anti irrespective of any person, is, for us Calht)lies, adisgufs- ed persecution, unanimously and strenuously condemned by other Bis- hops as well as myself. Foreien ecclesiastical decrees invoked. For I read, first in the acts of the Provincial Councils of Baltimore, (pages 84 and 117), sanctioned by the Supreme Head of our Church, one and universal: Council Prov. Bait. 1, Can. XXXIV — "Whereas very many youth of Catholic parents, especially among the poor, have been and still are, in many parts of this Province, exposed to great danger of losing their faith, and having their morals corrupted, from the want of proper teach- ers to whom so important a trust can be safely confided ; we judge it in- dispensably necessary to establish schools, in which youth may be nur- tured in the principles of faith and morals, while they are instructed in literature." (d) Ave! perhaps there was behind the scones a forcijfn compulsion ot tlie "loiei;;!! tliii.ciii,' to mpel Canadian Cathohcs to forego their previous sympathies, and adopt the new '•convictions." m\ compel 18 Can. XXXV. — " Since not unfroqnently many tliinj^a are found in the books winch are generally used in tlie scliools, in wliicli the principles of our faith are impugned, our dogmas falsely expounded, and history itself perverted : on account of vhich the miP'' of the young are imbued with errors, to the terrible loss of their so.^ zeal for religion, as well as the proper education of youth, and the lor itself of the Amer- ican Union, demand that some remedy be prov'ded for so great an evil. Therefore we determine, that there shall be published for the use of schools, as soon as possible, books entirely expurgated from errors, and approved by the authority of the Bishops, and in which nothing may be contained which might produce enmity or hatred to the Catholic faith." Council Prov. Bait. IV., Can. VI. — "As it appears that the i^ystem of public instruction, in most of the Provinces is so devised and administered as to encourage heresies and gradually and imperceptibly to fill the minds of Catholic youth with errors, we admonish pastors, that Nvith the utmost zeal they watch over the Christian and Catholic education of Catholic youth, and to take especial pains lest such youth use the Pro- testant version of the Scriptures, or recite the hymns or j)raycrs of the Sectaries. It must be carefully provided, that no books or exercises of this kind be introdncid in the Public Schools, to the danger of faith and piety." (e) ^ ^ Now these Canons are the perfect expression of our sentiments. Dr. Murray against the former (Kiklare Place) pooi scliool system of Ireland. I read, secondly, in the correspondence of that great Archbishop whom the whole Church laments, the mediator between Ireland and England, the dove of Dublin : ' In Ireland it was required that, in all the schools for the education ot !ne poor, the Bible, without notes, should be read in the ))resence of all the pupils of the schools, and that the Catechism and all books of that kind should be excluded." Is not this the case in our Mixed Schools ? " These regulations," continued the incomparable Dr. Murray, " our Bishops resisted and endeavored most earnestly to ivithdrrnn the Catholic pupils from schools of that kind That a remedy might be provided for this most wretched slate of things, our Government, strongly urged by me and others, at length decided to adopt another system of educating the poor, which would be more ac- ceptable to the CathoHcs.^^f) Bishop's appeal for a system worthy of the " vaunted American and Canadian liberal- ism." Suffer me, then, Mr. Superintendent, to obey God rather than man, and to resisty as did the loyal and conciliating Archbishop, your unhappy School system, try to rescue from it my dear children, and t*o remedy this scourge by urging our Government to give us a system which will be ac- ceptable to us— a system which shall not render the condition of the Irish here worse than it is in Ireland— a system worthy of American or («) AiHl vf t in no State of America have Sormrate Catliolic Scliools been pranted. Tlie ileniand was met by a political orfranizatiou which swept the eoiitiiiont like a wliirlwiml. ' pi/,),,A"',^^''^V?' •-^■'*'*'™','''" '^«^«l'lis|icd Ijy Archbishop Murray, and still supported by the liberal r«naHa ,w V nll'n^'.V^ is now denomiml by his ultran.ontane successor ; as is tho very same system in Canada now denounced by the alien successor of Bishop I'ower. m 10 lund in the principles ml history ire imbued ■ligion, as the Amer- at an evil. tlie use of errors, and )g may be ilic faith." 3 eystem of ministered to fill the 3t \vith the lucation of sc the Pro- lyorsof the *cercises of ' failh and ments. Ireland. \rchbishop oland and education iresence of oks of that ray, " our Catholic of things, lecided to more ac- jian liberal- lan man, unhappy [nedy this 'ill be ac- In of the lerican or Und was met |y the liberal 10 system iu Canadian liberalism, so much vaunted (ir) in the world : nnloss Upper Canada prefers to continue, what I cannot, in strict logic, call anything but a cruel and disguised persecution. But ofTers conditions of acceptance. I have said, that if the Catechism were sufficiently taught in the family or by the pastor, so rare in this large diocese ; and if tlie Mixed Schools were exclusively for secular instruction, and without danger to our Catholics, in regard to masters, books and companions, the Catholic Hierarchy might tolerate it, as I have done in certain localities, after hav- ing made; due enquiry. And declares penaltieA against CatholicH. Otherwise, in default of these conditions, it is forbidden to our faithful to send their children to these schools, on pain of the refusal of the sacra- ments : because the soul and heaven are above everything ; because the foot, the hand, the eye, ocassions of sin, ought to be sacrificed to salva- tion , because finally, Jesus Christ has confided the mission of instruction, which has civilized the world, to no others than the Apostles and their successors to the end of time. Claims of foreign ecclesiastical eovereignty. It is their right so sacred and inalienable, that every wise and pater- nal Government has made laws respecting instruction only in harmony with the teaching Church — the Bishops united to their supreme and uni- versal Head ; and this right is so inviolable, that of late, as well as in former times, in France, in Belguim, in Prussia, in Austria, as in Ire- land, (A) the Bishops, with the Pope, have done everything to overthrow or modify every School or University system opposed to the mission given by Jesus C hrist to his sacred College. " Go therefore teach all nations, and preach to every creature, (St. Mark) teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world (St. Matthew). He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be condemned." (St. Mark) I have the honor to be, Mr. Superintendent, Your humble and obedient servant, (Signed,) f ARM'D FR. MY. Bishop of Toronto. The Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D-D., Chief Superintendent of Education. No. 7. Dr. Ryerson to Bishop Charbonnel. Education Office, Toronto, 12th May, 1852. My Lord, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt ot your letter of the 1st instant ; and as your Lordship has not thought proper to (17) It did not need this sneor to show the Bishop's antipathies to our free institutions. (A) And are doing the same thera now against the system they formclry supported. 1 20 nofuu. tlH. prrf.'ct cciualily which I shcwrd ,n rr.y Irtter ol the 24th ultimo io cxiMt between Prc.leHtant unci Koiuaii Catholic Separate Schoo s in Upper Cunada, nor indeed any of the facts and reasons I have ad- dueed to sli.'W the ecpud riglHsand protection ol Roman Catholics with all other classes of the community under one common school system; and its harmony with the free Institt.tions of ..ur country, m reply to the stateiuenis and attacks contained in your letter ol the 24th ol March, i is not necessary that I should discuss these topics ai^'am, lurther llian I may have occasion to allude to them in answer to some portions ol your Lordship's letter now before me. Former intercourse with Hishop. Your Lordship refers to the friendly and cordial character of the in- tcrcour-^e which has taken place from tiin(^ to time between your L(»rdship and the other members of the Council of Public Instruction, including myself I can assure your Lordship that the feelings of respect and pleasure attending that intercourse, could not have been greater on your part than on mine; and I therefore felt greatly surprised, pamed and dis- appointed, when I read your Lordships letter of the 24th of March, denouncing that whole system of Public Instruction which I had under- stood your Lordship to be a colleague in promoting ; attacking the prin- ciples on which I have acted during the whole period of my oflicial connection with that system; impugning the motivt^s of its founders; reflecting upon the character of the people of Upper Canada ; and advo- cating that which would b( subversive of their hitherto acknowledged rights of local self-government, (i) Disclaims unworthy per.xonulitics, In my reply to that letter, I disclaim having cherished a feeling or in- tended a remark in the slightest degree personally disrespectful to your Lordship; but I felt it my duty to answer explicitly and fully your Lord- ship's statements, reasonings, and references; and if I said anything, (of which 1 am unconscious,) w-hich can be characterized as unworthy " personalities or insinuations " it was said in reply to much stronger and more pointed remarks of the same character contained in your Lordshij)'s letter of the 24th of March. I had hoped that a full exposition of the civil and Municipal institutions of this country, and their equal fairness and ai)plication to all religious persuasions and classes of people in re- gard to our Common School sys.em, would satisfy your Lordship that, whether perfect or imperfect our school system is based upon the prin- ciples of ecpial justice and rights to both Protestant and Roman Catho- lic, and that you had been quite mistaken in pronouncing it a system of *' most cruel and hypocritical persecution " against the Roman Catholics. Kegrets Bishop's continued hostility. I regret that I have been unable to produce any change in your Lord- ship's views as to our system of Public Instruction, or in your avowals of hostility to it ; but I shall not fail, nevertheless, to conduct myself towards your Lordship personally, with the same respect and courtesy which I have endeavored to observe in all my previous intercourse with you. (i) Tio Bishop, however, cither did not see tho logical couclusion of hia agitation, or else did not care. I ll experiej March,! sentimel I mightl Lordshil against] and in une u Th^ the irrci the noto only enj the com not gran or Low( assert ioT be re gar secution Upper C cessor, t and mu therefore rather tli Yon nuously in proof, which, ; nothing As to thr by your schools 01 the el referred authorit; Act refe Instruct i impugn: interprei since tli have be currenc< just terr ij) Thee letiors. (*) Aiidv 21 if the 24th ate Schools I have ad- holics with )ol systt'm ; reply to the f March, it rlli(>r than I onH ol your r of the in- iir Lordship I, including res|)ect and tcr on your led and dis- of March, had imder- ng the prin- niy oflicial s founders ; ; and advo- knowiedged ling or in- ul to your your Lord- lything, (of unworthy ronger and Lord8hjj)'s tion of the al fairness ople in re- dship that. m the pvin- nun Catho- a system of Catholics. your Lord- avowals of elf towards !sy which I ith you. I did not care. ; iJishup's repetition ot charpt's in Fiench letlur. I think that no (irroneous impression was conveyed or disadvantage experienced, by your Lordship's having written your letti'r of the 24th March, in English ; since your letter of the 1st instant expresses the same sentiments, in still stronger terms, on these very points, respecting which I might have been supposed to misapprehend }our meaning. Your Lordship again designates our school sy.stem, "a disguised persecution against Uoman Catholics''- -"7yo»k has been sanctioned by the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada, in which there is a paragraph that impugns the principles of the Koman Catholic faith, or erroneously interprets its dogm.s, much less falsifies the facts of history, since the only series of books for use in our schools, are those which have been introduced into the National Schools in Ireland, with the con- currence of the lamented Dr. Murray, to whom your Lordship refers in just terms of praise and admiration. (fc) ij) The I'liarfte, howover— without comlcsceiidiug to prove it -is still rcilci-atfHl-as see Mr. Bruyerc's lot' o.rv, (k) Ami wliich tlio Bisliop, as a member of tlic Council of Viiblic lostructinii, aiilcil in recommendiiig. 22 School System does not judge of heresies. And in respect to the last Act quoted by your Lordship, (setting forth among other things, that the system of public education is so devised aP''. conducted as to footer heresies, and gradually and imperceptibly fill the minds of Roman Catholic youths with the false principles of the Sectaries, and that the I'riest must watch diligently lest such youth should read the Protestant version of the Scriptures, or recite the hymns or prayers of the Sectaries,) I remark, that our system of Public In- struoiion knows nothing of the differc-nt religious opinions which exist in the counlry ; docs not pretend to judge what are heresies, or what parties are heretics ; nor does it favor one class of religious opinions more than anollier ; nor does it require Roman Catholic children to read the Pro1(;stanl version of the Holy Scriptures, or hear, much less "recite the prayers or hynms of the Sectaries ;" although I know of Roman Ca- tholic schools, the authorities of which, require Protestant youth attend- ing iheni to be jjresent at the recital of Roman Catholic prayers and hymns, and alleging, at the same time, that there is not, nor shall there be, any iuterfeience with the religious principles of such youth. (i) Bishop mi«takf II aboul Irish ami Canadian Schools. Your Lordship quotes the words of the late Dr. Murray, late Roman Catholic Arclibishoi) of Dublin, who, referring to the former School sys- tem in h'i^laud, under the direction of a body called the Kildare Place Society, says, " it was required tha,t in all the Schools for the education of the poor, the sriered Scriptures, without note or comment, should be read in the presence of all pupils of the Schools ; " and youthen ask me if this is ni)t the ease in our Mixed Schools ? I answer — it is not the case. We have no regulation that requires any book whatever to be read be- fore all the children of any one of our Mixed Schools ; nor does our Schot>l law permit any School authority whatever to require the attend- ance of Roman Catholic or Protestant pupils at the reading of any book, or the recital of any hymn or prayer to which the parents or guardians of such pupil shal object. Relations of our (lovernment in matters of Rolin-ion. Our Government does not assume, or pretend to the right of assuming, the power of eoiiuiianding or prohibiting any portion of the population of Upper Canada m matters of religion ; what it recommends in respect to moral example and instruction in the Schools, is common to all, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Christian,- each and all of whom recognize the Ten Commandments; but as to religious instruction, it is left to the discretion of the parties and parents concerned in each School Division ; for, as Jehovah does not authorize any (me human being to lord it over the faith of another human being, but makes every man personally accountable, and therefore ijives him an equal right with every man to judge and act for himself in the matters of his eternal sal- vaticm, so our law does not pertnit any parent his child to be lorded over by others in matters of religious faith, instruction, or devotion. ]nitod mixed sth.x.U in Lowor Caiuula and 'Durid tli- ri^adnc b-5oks there od to iiothiiiic else but oxpositiuus of the Koaiau Catholit faith. 23 ting forth 3 devised ■ptibly fill leg of the ch youth be hymns 'ublic In- liich exist , or what opinions !n to read ) How Si.-ctarian Schoo's are supportc;'' there. Wherever such denominational elementary schools exist in the neigh- bouring States, they are wholly supported by the religious persuasion (m) " In luiy Model or CniTniinii Si'tinol pstnhlislipd under this Act. iiociiild shall lie rcf|uir'il to riad or stvid.v ill or tVinn anv nlitrions Imok, or to join in nn exorcise! of devotionnor rcliirio wliidi slinll lie uli- jectcd to l)y Ids or liiv inrciits or t'linriliiuis : j'ro- vidpd alwiivs, that within this liriiitatioii jiupils shall he allo\vf) " Archbishoi) JIurray, so lon« the ornament f llir ('Diiniiissiinicrs of SnUonnl EdncatUm in h-iland.fur \'nwi. (p) A gentleman in Maryland, in writing to the editor at the time, stated that " the nuhlic disapproval of the provisions of the hill lias been manifested to such an extent that I think it hardly probable the bill will axain be called up." ^':x' 24i establishing them ; nor are the members of such persuasion exempted, nor have I ever heard of their asiiing exemption, on that account, from paying, with others, all taxes required for the erection of public School Houses, and the support of the public Schools. Nay, I have reason to believe that, notwithstanding the Acts of the Councils quoted by your Lordship, the opposition of the Roman Catholic Bishops and Clergy to public Schools in the neighbouring States is very partial, if it exists at all, in many places. Catholic Bishop of Boston's reply to foreijjn Ecclesiastics. When in Boston a few months since, I learned on good authority, that the Roman Catholic Bishop of that Diocese, when applied to by certain priests, lately from Europe, to interpose in arresting what they considered the great injury being done to the religious faith of Roman Catholic children, by attending the public Free Schools, replied, that he would do nothing of the kind, that he received his early education in those Schools ; that he would never have attained his present position ' but for the Boston system of Free Schools. I cannot but be deeply impressed with the conviction that it would be a great blessing to the Romai Catholic youth of Upper Canada, if the Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto would imitate the example of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston. But that is a matter which rests with your Lordship, and not with me, to decide. What is the authority of the Baltimore Councils ? My second rem:\rk is, that the acts of the Provincial Councils referred to, are those of Ecclesiastics alone, and of Foreign Ecciesiastics ; and although your Lordship may refer to them as the commands of God, tht>y cannot be viewed by others as jjosscssing any more authority, or entitled to any higher consideration, than acts and resolutions on the same subjects adopted by a Protestant Episcojiai Convention, or Presby- terian Synod, or Methodist Conference, and approved by the Bishop, or Moderator, or President of these religious persuasions respectively. legislators not the Agents of Eccle.siastical Bodies, I likewise observe that your Lord^ sentiments above avowed, there can be no religious liberty or rights except for the "Bishops and the Pope;" and since tli(;y denounce the doctrine of "religions liberty and eijual rights" as .n luvful heresy in the Roman States, and \\\\\ not allow to Protestants even liberty of worship or teach- ing, much less aid from the Stole for that purpose, ..s your Lordship de- mands in behalf of the Roman Catholic Schools in Upper Canada. Has fully informed Ihe Hi.sliop ot our iustitii iunn. In conclusion,' I may observe, that whatever may be the result of this correspondence, 1 sliall have the satisfaction of knowing that I have not left your Lordship uuinlbrmed as to any feature cf cnu- civil and municipal institutions involved in the question ; and of their perfect fair- ness, and the equality of their application, to both Roman Catholics and Protestants; of the protection and security of the members of all reli- gious persuasions, in regard to the peculiarities of failli, and therefore, the utter groundlessness of your Lordship's imputations, and tlic unrea- sonbleness of your claims upon the ground of " religious liberty and equal rights.'' U'ill thij P^uropean crusade be trrinsferred to Upper Ciih.-ida ? Indeed the passage above quoted from your Lordship's last letter shows that the claims set up by your Lordship are not merely for "reli- gious liberty and equal rights," but for the absolute; supremacy and con- trol on the part of your Bishops with the Pope, in our system of public instruction. As Belgium, France, and some other countries in Europe, have been disturbed for many years by the efforts of some of your Bishops for the direction of systems of jmblic education, and the various grades of Schools and Colleges, so juay Upper Canada be disturbed in like manner to some extent, by the eflbrts of your Lordship; but I doubt whether such eflbrts will meet with much sympathy from a large portion of the members of the Roman Catholic Church ; as I am persuaded they will not from the people of Upper Canada at large. I can appeal to the history of the past in proof of my acting towards the Roman Catholic Church in the same spirit as towards any other church ; but I must be unfaithful to all my past precedents, as well as to the trust reposed in me, and the almost unanimous feelin:? of the countrv, if I should not do all in my power to resist — come from what quarter it may — every invasion of " the blessed principles of religious liberty and equal rights," among all classes of the People of Upper Canada ! I have the honor, &c. (Signed) E. RYERSON. The Right Rev. Dr. DeCharbonnel, Roman Catholic Bishop of To ito. p 28 No. 8. Bishtop Charbonnel to Dr. Ryerson. Saturday, 22nd May, 1852. Bishop wont upset the Government of Canada. Rev. Doctor, — The conclusion of our Correspondence must be that our opinions on Separate Schools are quite different. But I hope that by making use of all constitutional means, in order to obtain our right, I will not upset the Government of Canada, nor its institutions. I have the honor, &(;. (Signed) Rev. Dr. E. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Ediic:ition xARM'DUS FR. MY., Bp of Toronto. No. 9. Bishop Carbonnel to Judge Harrison. 26th May, 1852. Mr. President. — I beg to state, that, if a correspondence, exchan eu between the Rev Dr. Ryerson and me, has come to the cognizance of your Council, it had no reference at all to my intercourse with your deliberations and resolutions. My conscientious attendance at them, when sojourning in Toronto ; my conduct at the laying of the cornerstone of the Normal School ; and some of my letters to the Rev. Doctor, are evidences of my feelings towards a body fri)m which I receive nothing but courtesy and kindness. Hence I wrote to iiis Reverence on the 20th Februiiry last, " my visitation through the Diocese convinces me more and more that the good spirit of our ('ouncil of Public Instruction is far from being prevalent in certain localities;" and on the 30th last, after having received from his Reverence 23 pages in folio of personalities and insinuations unworthy of him and ot me, 1 replied : "all my precedents with you, Reverend Doctor, and the Council of Public Instruction, have been polite and Christian, and sometimes of a tolerance for*which my Church made me responsible. (g-j" Were I not leaving town again Mr. President, I would ask of your kindness a special meeting, in which I would lay before your Council all my complaints on the operation of the proviso for Separate Schools, and the course I followed to stop the annihilation of that boon by a sys- tem which I cannot but call a disguised persecution, come from what quarter it may. I have the honor, &c. (Signed,) +ARM'DUS FR. MY, Bp. of Toronto. Judge Harrison, President of the Council of Public Instruction, Toronto. ((/) Foreign ennipulsiou acknowledged. Is that the way Upper Canadian Catholics are to be driven 'r 29 1852. St be that in order 1, nor its Toronto. 852. exchang- izance of Aih your at them, ner stone •ctor, are nothing the 20th 10 more »n is far ist, after [ties and [.'cedents m, have lich my of your Council Schools, y a sys- m what ''onto. riven y No. 10. Dr. Ryerson to Bishop Charbonnel. Education Office, Toronto, 31st iAlay, 1852. My Lord, — The Honorable »S. B. Harrison lias transferred to me your letter of the 26th instant, addressed to him as Chairman of the Council of Public Instruction for Upper Canada; the subject of your letter not coming within the duties prescribed by law to that body, but relating to the duties and conduct of the Chief Superintendent of Education. Relations as Chief Siiptnintendent nnd member of the Council. I should very imperfectly understand my duties, were I to trouble the Council of Public Instruction with the vokuninons correspondence of this Department, except the communications which I maVe at the request of the Council, or such as I receive to be laid before it. As a member of the Council of Public Instruction, as well as of the Senate of the University of Toronto, I am only one of the body consisting of several members ; but as (Jhief Superintendent of Education for Uj)per Canada, 1 have distinct duties to discharge, and in respect to which 1 am respon- sible to my Sovereign through Her Representative. The several clauses of the 36th section of the School Act, ))rescribe the duties of the Council of Public Instruction ; and the several clauses of the 35th section pres- cribe my duties. It is my general duly to see that every part of the School law is duly executed; and speci dly "to see that all moneys apportioned by m(; are applied to the objects for which they were grant- ed ; and fo; that purpose to decide upon all matters and complaints sub- mitted to me, which involve the exj)end it ine of any part of the School Fund." The 34lh Section of the Act |)rovides, that J "shall be respon- sible to, and subject to the direction of, the Governor General." (r) Responsibility as Chief SupevintcMideiit. If your Lordship, therefore, has comi)laints to make of my official conduct, the way is open; and I am i)repared at any moment to answer to the authority by which. I have been appointed, and to the country on whose behalf I have laboured, for my othcial acts. Notice of every meeting of the Council of Public Instruction is in- variably sent to the residence of your Lordship; and at any such meet- ing, (as I have stated in my two last letters,) your Lor'^ship has, of course, the right of bringing before the members of the Council any sub- ject that you may think proper; and should your Lordship desire it, I shall be happy to call a special meeting of the Council to suit your Lord- ship's convenience. It now becomes my duty, my Lord, to advert to the personal impu- tations which your Lordship has been pleased to make against me, in your letter to the Honorable Mr. Harrison. Disclaims charge of personality. Not to notice the unofficial character of such personal imputations in such a letter, I may observe, that the statement of your Lordship is calculated to convey a very erroneous impression of the facts relative to what your Lornship is pleased to term my " personalities and insinua- (r) It is evident tliat tlie Bisliop either did not study our school system, or, perhaps, could not compre- hend it, from Ins want of knowledge of the country and of our frece systeai of government. ip "l 30 tions ;" while your dr iwing attention from the questions which your Lordship has voluntarily raised, and from your Lordship's own attacks upon our Schools and School law, to a matter of alleged personal dis- courtesy in my letter to your Lordship, is what I did not expect, and what I can hardly conceive to be " worthy of your Lordship or of me." Your Lordship's letter to Mr Harrison conveys the impression that I addressed to you " 23 pages, in folio, of unworthy personalities and insinuations," in reply to your letter of the 20th February last. Your Lordship must be aware that this is not the case ; and I regret that the language of your letter is calculated to do me an act of gross injustice. Permit me, therefore, my Lord, to state the facts of the case. Recapituliition of Correspondence. On the 20th of February, your Lordship addressed me a letter (dated " Jrishtown") recommending to my favorable attention the peti- tion of the lloman Catholic School Trustees of Chatham. On the 7th of March, your Lordship addressed me another short letter (dated "London,") on the same subject. On the 23rd of February, I replied to the Roman Catholic Trustees of Chatham ; and my official duty required me to do no more, as it is not usual in Public Departments to correspond on ques- tions of complain^ with others than the complaining parties themselves. But I did more ; out of respect to your Lordship, in an official letter, dated the 13th March, I enclosed you a copy of my reply to the Roman Catholic Trustees of iJhatham ; and in reply to your letters of the 20th of February and the 7th of March, I briefly explained the law in refer- ence to the use of Books in the Schools — the rights of parents in regard to them — the wholly unobjectionable character, on religious grounds, of the books which the Council of Public Instruction had recommended — and the claims whicli the Roman Catholic Trustees of Chatham had made for a portion of the local Municipal Assessment to build their separate School-honses, and for exemption from Municipal Assessments for the erection of Public School-houses. Your Lordship cannot but admit that this letter, with its enclosure, could not have been dictated by any other than a feeling of respect for your Lordship personally and oliieially, and with a strict regard to the principles md operations of the School system as established by law. But what was the result ? Bishop's scorn and ridicule of School system. The result was, as your Lordship cannot, I am sure, forget, letter dated — " Oakville, 24th- March, 1852," in which your Lordship treated with sarcasm, ridicule and scorn, my letter of the 13th Marc\i relative to the School law ; employed " personalities and insinuations," such as I had never before received from any Clergyman ; charged our Schools with being the nurseries of " all vices and crimes ;" contrasted the character and tendencies of Primary Schools in Canada, the United States, Ireland, Scotland and Rome ; denounced our whole " School System as the ruin of religion, and a persecution for the Roman Catholic Church," and those who had established that system as carrying on against the Roman Catholics a " most cruel and hypocritical perse- cution." I must have been destitute of the feelings of a Canadian or a patriot, not to have felt on the perusal of such a letter from your Lord- 31 ship, under such circumstances ; but I delayed answering it until 1 could do so after calm and mature consideration, and i!ien I replied dis- tinctly to each of the numerous counts, (personal and public) of your Lordship's indictment. And my answer to the many charges and insinuations of such a letter, your Lordship is pleased to r«>j)resent as a reply to your short letter of the 20th of February, and as " 23 pages of personalities and insinuations unworthy of you and of me." Bishop's avowals and assumptioiif. of authority. Your Lordship states, furthermore that in reply to my " 23 pages of personalities and insinuations," you referred to the previous friendly relations existing between yourself and the other members of the Council of Public Instruction. I never intimated or imagined that those relations •were otherwise than friendly and Christian ; but your Lordship's letter referred to, (dated 1st May,) contains other avowals and assumptions for which I know of no precedent in the history of Canadian Corres- pondence and to which I replied in my letter of the 12th. I am aware that the " good spirit of our Council of Public Instruction is far from being prevalent in certain localities " of the country ; but I am happy to know that such " localities " are comparatively few, since, notwith- standing the counsels to make vigorous efforts to establish and multiply Separate Schools, the number of such Schools is one-third less according to the returns of this year, than they were according to the returns of last year ; and for such " localities," yearly diminishing in number, the operation of the Separate Sv^hool Clause of the law may still be in- voked. Treatment of Catholics not to be affected by the Bishop's conduct. I have only to add, that notwithstanding the course pursued, and the language employed, by your Lordship in regard to me, I shall still endeavour, as heretofore, to treat my Roman Catholic fellow subjects as kindly and cordially as those of any other religious persuation in the country ; and the more so, as I am satisfied the example and spirit of the lamented Bishop Power are still widely cherished by the Roman Catholics in Upper Canada ; as well as the testimony borne by myself and the Council of Public Instruction, and numerous others, not mem- bers of the Roman Catholic Church, to the virtues and patriotism of that excellent man. I have the honor, &c. (Signed,) E. RYERSON. The Right Rev. Dr. DeCharbonnel, Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto. Spirit of previous action in regard to Separate Schools. p^ S. Nor should I omii to remind your Lordship, that the pro- vision of the law in regard to Separate Schools, as amended by the short bill of 1851, (the draft i.f which was prepared by myself in the presence of your Lordship, and that of the very Reverend Vicar General McDonell) was approved of by your Lordship. My printed Corres- 82 pondence on the law in 1849, (s) my official Circulars printed in 1850, (I) in connection with my recent letters to your Lordship, show, that no change has taken place in my interpretation, views, or administration of tlie law ; but that the course now pursued by your Lordship has arisen from the adoption, on your part, of a new policy, and the avowal of new sentiments and objects. (Signed,) E. R. («) " I Cdiinot (lepiiit from wliut 1 have stuteil ui:d illustrutcd at large in my ' Jicport on a Si/Kton of Public Klmnenturi/ Jnslriution for Upper Canada,^ piiiiled by order of tlio Legis- lative Assembly in 184(1, ui.der the head ol Uihle and Keligious lu-triiction in Schools, [pages ?2-52j where, while I have iield up to reprobation merely sectarian instruction ni the sihoois, I havesho.vii tlie extent to wliioh tlie Holy Scriptures are used, and religions in.struc;ion given, ill the non-sectiirian niixcci schools of different Ohrisslian countries — I'roteetant and Uonan C.itholic. On tiiis vital (piestiou, I am Intppy to bo sustained by the authuriiy and example of the Irish National Board.... I have not assumed it to be the duty, or even consiitutional light, of the Government to compel anything in respect either to religious books or religious instruction ; but to r^rowmeM*/ the local Trustees to do so, &\\A to provide powers andfiiciliticx to enalfle them to comply with that recommendation within the wise rcbtriction imposed tiy law. I have respected the rights and scruples of the Roman Caiholic, as well as those of the Protestant, alliough, by some, I have been accused of having too friendly a feeling towards the Roman Catholics. It atlbrds me pleasure to record the tact — and the circum- at.ince shows tlie ease and fairness witli which 1 have acted on the subject — that before adopting the section in the printed i'-miiis and Regulations on the ' Coiintilution and G'overmncut of the Schools in rexp'Ct to liclitjioux Iiixtrwtion' I submitted it to the late Ronnin Cutholic Bishop Power, who, alter exmniiiing it, s-aid he would not object to it, as Roman Cailiolics were fully protected in tneir rights and views, and as he did not wish to interfere with Protestants in the IVillcst exercise of their rights and views." — Correspondence on the School Law in 1849, page 68. (<) "The provision of the 19tli Section, as far as it relates to separate Protestant and Roman Caiholic Schools, is snbstantially the same as that contained in the 55th and 50th sections of the School Act of 1843 and in the 3'ind and 33rd sections of the School Act of 18 It), Willi the exception that the present Act imposes more efl'ective restrictions and con- ditions ill the establishment of such schools than either of the former Acts referred to. Under the city and town school Act of 184., the establishment of separate schools in cities and towns was at the diseretiuii of the Municipulit e.-^, and not at that of the applicant parties. No cora- pbiiiit having been made against this provision of the law, even in cities and towns, it was at first pio|i()8ed to extend the application of the same principle and provision to Township Municipalities ; hut objections liaviug been made to it by some (both Protestant and Roman Catholic) Members of the Legislature, the provision of the former school act was re-enacted — requiring however, the petition of twelve heads of families, instead of ten inhabitants, as a condition of establishing a separate school ; and aiding it upon the principle of avenige attend- ance, instead of at the discretion of the Local Superintendent, as under the former Acts. But notwithstanding the existence of this provision of the law since 1843, there were lust yi ar but 31 separate schools in all Upper Canada — nearly as many of tliem being Protestant as Roman Caiholic •, so that this provision of the law is seldom acted upnn, except in extreme cases, and is of little coneeqiiencc for good or for evil — the law providing effectual protection agoinst interference with the religious opinions and wishes of parents and guardians of all classes, and there being no probability that separate schoolH will be more injurious in time to come than they have been in time past. It is also to be observed, that a separate cliool is entitled to no aid beyond a certain portion of the school fund for the salary of the teacher. The i^chool house must be provided, furnished, warmed, books procured. Ac, by the persons petitioning for the separate school. Nor are the patrons and supporters of a separate school exempted from any of the local assessments or rates for Common School purposes. The law provides equal pro- tection for all classes and denominations ; if there be any class or classes of either Protestants or Roman Catholics who are not satisfied with the equal protection secured to them by law in mixed schools, but wish to have a school subservient to sectional religious purposes, they should of course, contribute in proportion, and not tax a whole community for the support of sectarian interests." — Chief Supirintmdent's Circular to Township Councils, dated \2th Jlvgust 1850. " It may be proper for me to make an explanatory remark on the 19th section of the School Act, authorizing, under certain circumstance.s, the establishment of Protestant or Roman Catholic Separate Schools. In my late Circular to Township Councils, I have remarked upon this provision of the Act, and shown that it is no new provision, but one which has existed up- \". \ 1850,(0 , that no listralion ship has [} avowal I. teport on a ; tlio Lef^ia- ools, [iJuges the si'IiodIs, iiistriic'.ion >teii!tniit niul iitliorily and ty, or even ij^iotis books ovi^le powers le lebtiiction .', as well as dly 11 feeling the circum- i)re adopting nmciit of the holie Bishop .a were luUy stunts in the iw in 1849, potestant and th and 56th lool Act of ons iiiid con- to. Under and towns No corn- it w as at Township ind Roman enacted — tant!>, as a ge attend- Acta. But list y( ar but t us Roman cases, and ion ap;ainst classes, and come (ban titled to no hool house ling for the from any equal pro- Protestants by law in OSes, they support of l2lh Jivgust, Ition of the ]t or Roman itked upon [existed up« \ 5S 88 No. 11.— Dr. Ryerson's Circular to Municipalities, on the Clergy Reserves.* Sir, — By the \rx\v, settlement of the Clergy Reserve question, a con- siderable .«ium of money is plaeed at the disposal of each Mu licipality 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 W('Fds on the expenditure of the money which the Act of the Legislature has placed under your control. Advantages of appropriating tlu; Reserves to Education. I beg, therefore, to submit to your favourable onsideraiion, whether the highest interests of your Municipality will not be best consulted by the appKu-ation of the whole, or at least a part of that sum, for procuring Maps, Charts, Globes, &c., for your Schools, and liooks of useful and entertaining reading for all classes and ages in your municipality. If you apply the money to general purposes, it will amount to compara- tively little, and the relief or advantages of it will scarcely be perceived or felt. If you apply it to the payment of the salaries of Teachers, it may lessen for the present the amount of your JMunieijJal School rales; but it will add nothing to your educational resources, and will be of momentary advantage. JJut if you apply it to i'urnisli your Schools with Maps, (ilobes, &c., and your constituents with F/ibrarics, 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 arato schools (only aliout ;>l in idl Upper Can>ida, and marly one- half of tliem l^rotestant) shows that the provision for tluur establishment is rarely acted upon, — as the local school authorities seldom find occasion for it. And as there can be no sepatato school in a school division, unless the teacher of tlie mixed school is of a dilTerent roii;:ious persuasion from the applicants for such separate school, the local Board of Trustees can ahva_>r., ii they think proper to do so, .make sm.'h a selection of teachers as will prevent the establishment or continuance of separate schools." — Chief Superintendent's Circular to Boards of School Trustees, d'lfed 1th October, 1850. • We call attention to an able letter or circular in our colnniiis tn-day from Dr. Ryorson on the subject of the Clergy Reserves. The question is clearly and forcibly stated ; and, witliout iutendiuK, at present, to add anything ui reirard to the importance of fiirnishinp; each school division witli n, bbrary and philospoh- ieal apparatus, whose value, in years to come, cannot be estimated, we may add our testimony to Dr. Ryersoii'sthat it was the intention of the be.st men, who advocated the secularization of the Reserves, to have them so applied, and that even the very worst were willim? to pain secular knowlcdKC by the re-in- vostment of the Church property in the Government. As the Mimieipalitics are left to their own action in tlio prenuses, it is more than probable that Dr. Ryerson's suKgestions will be Tery generally, if not universally, acted upon.— Colonist, 34 fwt in their turn, will tell powerfully upon the advancement of the country in knowledge, wealth, and hapjjiuess. Examplos ()(' yomo Muiiicii)a!ilii;.s. Some Municipalities have anticipated what I now venture to suggest, by resolving to aj)ply their share of the Clergy Reserve Funds to the pur- poses above mentioned. The first application I received was Ironi a corni)aratively new and j)oor Township, whose share of the Fund in question amounted to £200 ; the whole of which the Council nobly de- termined to apply for procuring maj)s for the Schools andpui)Me Libraries for th(^ Township, and sent a Deputation to Toronto to select the books, maps &c. I had gr(;at pleasure in adding otlu^r £200 to their appro- priation ; and thus every School in the Townshij) is furnished with maps and other rcciuisites of instruction, and every family with books for read- in" and that without a faithing's tax upon any inhabitant. It is delight- ful to think of a Township whose schools are thus furnished with ihe best aids to make them attraclivt; and eilic^ient, and whose lamilics are thus jjrovided (especially during the long winter evenings) with the society of the greatest, and best, and most entertaining men flhrough |. their works) of all countries and ages! Several Towns, Villages, and I other Township IMunieipalil is hav(? adopted a similar course, some of I them apjir()j)riating larger sinus tiiau that which I have nientioncij. 'r!ii3 People of Up[)t'r Cuui'Ia liavt; b(!t'ii long in favor of it. The voice of the jx'ople of Upper Canada has long been lilted up in favor of a[)pn)prialing llie proceeds of the sales of the Clergy Reserves to ediu^alional jMiposes. Now that those prt)C(M!ds are placed in their ow^n hands through their iiiuiii(;i|)al representatives, il is as consistent as it is patriotic to carry out their ot'len avowed wishes ; and I know of no way in which it can be done so ell'eetually as that, by which the amount of it may in the first place, he doubled, and in the second jilacc, be so a])plied as to secure permanent benefit to ev(ny pupil iind evi'ry family in each Muni(ripality in Up})er Canada. If the j)rincit)al of the Fund were invested, and the interest aecnuing therefrom be annually applied, as I have taken the liberty to suggest, then ample means woultl bo pro- vided for sujjplying in all future time every School and ev(!ry fauiily in Upper Canada with tlu; means of increasing the int(!rest and usefulness of the one, and the intelligence and enjoyment of the other, to an indefi- nite extent, and that without even being under the necessity of levying a rate or imposing a tax for that purpose. Such an investment would be the proudest monument of the intelligiMiee and large-heartedness of the grown-up pojmlation, and eonlc'r henelits bi>yond concejition upon the rising antl future generations of the country. I have, heretofore, furnished each ^Municipal Council with a copy oij the Cataliigne of Bo )ks fin- Pidjlic Libraries, and I herewilh transmit ;it copy of the Catalogue of Maps and other school Api)aratus jjrovided bv: this Department, together witli the ])rin1e(l blank I'orms of applieationV and I sliall be haj)py toallord every aid and fiudlityin my power, as well as make the a[)porlionments above intimated, towards accomplishing an object, or rather objects, so noble in themselves, and so varied and per- manent in their influence and advantages. ^ I will Municij: of your under yc provisioi tiie wish Educath T( No. 12.- Ckivtlk Chief Su| Town, To vince, on the distirjn to deliver vince, on Ch: gy Re! ticn of the Ci. isultcil I procuring useful, cut On the Municii)ali Doctor ma for his mec B Mr I may I bodies hei moral chai sole judges of the Let? man allowc discretion, Priest of f the exaniph Canada, I n the satue su Doubtf Our L( much vexed (") UVi> Bislio] the school law, oi (f) Cool loeic, reasoncr of the j 85 I will thank yon to liavo the goodness t.. I ly iliis Circular before your Munici[)al Council, and \o-l me know as early as convenient the dcciision of your Council on the subject which i have taken the liberty to bring under your notice, in order that I may know what a|)|)orllornnents and pnivisiouH may be re(iuisite to meet the appropriationn, and comply with the wishes of the various Municipalities. I have the honor to be, Your fellow-labori!r, and faith'ul servant, E. IIYERSON. Education Office, Toronto, 1 5th Nov., 1856. No. 12.— Mr. Bruyere to the Conductors of the Press In Canada : Mr. Ijiuyi're wants to bo ruinous. CiKNTM'.MEN, — I havo bclore me a "Circular" addressed by Dr. Uyrrson Chief Superintendeut of Scho(tls iti Upper Canada, to the heads ol' City Town, Township, and Village Municipalities, in this section of the Pro- vince, on the iippropriation of the Cieriry Hescrve Funds. In this letter the distinguished head of the Educational Depadment, takes upon Idmself to deliver a lecture to the Municipalities of the upper section of the Pro- vince, on the expenditure of the money accruing from the secularized Ch :;cy Heserves. The Rev. gentleman .sw/ymi/s to tJie favorabi e considera- tka of the Municipalities, whether their highest interests irill not he lest Ci.isultcd bji the applimtion of the wliolc or at least a part of the sum, for procuring maps charts, globes, etc., etc., for their schools, and books of useful, entertaining reading for all classes and ages in their Municipulity. Mr. Bruyere does not approve of sucli Submission. On the propriety of thus intruding an unasked advice on our various Municipalities, I will not attempt to express an o])inion. (?<) The worthy Doctor may bo actuated by considerations which may plead as an excuse for his meddling interference in tlie concerns of others. Mr. Bruyore introduces himself to the Municipalities with a compliment. I may bo permitted, however, to say, en passant, that our Muiiicipal bodies being composed of citizens of the highest respectabili'y by their moral character, education and standing in socitty, should be the best and sole Judges of the most suitable a|)propriation of the money which the Act of the Legislature has placed under their control. Had the Rev. >4t;ntle- man allowed our Municipalities to follow, in this, their own Judgment and discretion, I would have considered it inijicrativc, on my paM, an humble Priest of the t'atholic Church, to remain silent. Having now i^eiore me the exam|)le of the distinguished Chief Superintendent of Schools in U|)per Canada, I may be permitted to venture to suggest some considerations on the same subject, {v) Doubtful ot" the settlement of the Reserves bt;iny High-hiuided Robbery. Our Legislators, in settling two years ago, that long-pending and much vexed question of the Clergy Reserves, meant to withdraw from the (u) Like Bishop Cliarbouncl, it is evident ttiat Str.Rniycre lias not lived Iour eiiouKh in Canada to study the school law, or former practice of our public ottlcers. (lO Cool loisio, certainly, after his previous remarks. Hut, then, lio is the model controversialist and reasoncr of the Leader! 36 private use of one portion of our community funds which they considered should be applied to general purposes, and to the benefit of all, Presbyte- rians, Methodists, baptists, Catholics, as well as members of the Church of Ent'Iand. They designed to share amongst the whole community, the im- mense resources which were to accrue from the sale of landed estate here- tofore enjoyed by a small class of' her Majesty's sul)jects, the clergy of the Church of Wn'Wanii. They proposed to themselves to remove forever from our midst a fruitful source of discord and bitter dissension. Whether the Act of the Provincial Parliament should be lookes! upon as u 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 permitted to ask, whether it is right and proper now to appropriate to one portion (w) of our people funds which the Legislature intended for the general use and benefit of all citizens, without distinction of creed or nationality. Mr, Bruyere beholds Palace-like Stniotiiies and enquires about them. I beg leave, in turn, to submit to the favorable consideration of the public, whether the end of the Legislature will be obtained by the applica- tion of the proceeds of the sale of the Clergy Reserves to the purposes mentioned by Dr. Rycrson, viz., to the furnishing Common Schools with iTiaps, globes, and other school apparatus — public libraries? Pray what are these educational institutions which Dr. Ryerson proposes to endow with the proceeds of the Clergy Reserve fund ? We look around, and be- hold huge and palace-like fabrics, stigmatized by public opinion as godless schools, (x) What are these stately edifices, rearing up their proud turrets over the breadth and length of the land ? What are these i§jgantic man- sions which first meet the eye of the traveller on entering our ciiy ? Let the truth be proclaimed again for the hundredth ti'iie. They are ( "onimon Schools, built with Catholic as well as Protestant money. (,/) They are houses of education from which religion is banisliL-d, where the elements of Christianity cannot be inculcated to the rising youih, where the child of Christian parents must be taught practically iliat all religious systems are equally pleasing, or rather equally indiiferent in the sight of Go;l, be he a believer in th.3 immutable decrees of eternal reprobation or a follower of the impostor Joe Smith. These halls of learning already so richly sup- plitd with the most elegan*. school apparatus, are shut up against one-third, or, at least, one-fourth of the populution ofUpper Canada. (^) Yes, a Catholic parent, who values his faith above all worhily advantages, and who rii^htly considers religion as the basis of all education, and the life of man upon earth, would rather doom his child to the horrors of the most degrading ignorance, t!..(ii permit him to drink in the common Schools the poison of infidelity or heresy along with the pure draught of useful knowledge. These convictions are likewise shared by a large portion of the n)embers of the church of England. Talk not to us of your sut erior training, splen- did school apparatus, and highly qualified teachers. If these advantages, great as they may be are to. purchased at the price of our faith, we value (w) " Quo portion !" Mr. B. speaks as if Canadian Catholics were of one mind witli liim. But seo hereafter. (x) Only by the " foreign clement," who don't understand our institutions. ill) And intended for, and use ' by tlie people of those names, as Mr. B. admits. (a) " I am able to assert that, with a few honorable exceptions, these sound Roman Catholics educated in mixed schools, are Catholics in name, Protestants or half-heathen in practice."— J/r. Bniyere's admis- $ion. That is- they won't support tlie " convictions" of the " foreign ecclesiastics j" and therefore it is '■ meddling interference " for Mr. ^rujero to speak. I a them n into yo Sa Provinc to the C esteem hold the richly e earnest! read of his days forbitldii laws eni faith eit abi-oad t their ow posed on is not a peror of if all owe and pool his schoc his contr to the go republic. infidel ge says a di to be fou religion. flourishin shed. B^ and pafn thes(f fac assert, tli most uni( of the Pi of old ? ( IfDi knowledg nation nlii i\Iunieipa Reserve 1 more by I charts, irl liberal an a clause i (n) Well, til soInC' thcins V') The "i ley considered all, Presbyte- the Church of iiunity, the im- ed estate here- e clergy of the emove forever ion. Whether n as a measure n not prepared ;rmitted to ask, rtion (u>) of our use and benefit lont them. deration of the by tlie applica- o the purposes [1 Schools with ;s ? Pray what || •poses to endow irouiid, and be- ini<'n as ffodless O :^ir proud turrets i«jgaiitic man- ourcity? Let ey are ( 'onuuon (//) Tiiey are the elements re the child of in in the temples consecrated to religion. Over twelve; millions of infidels are scatt( red through that once flourishing n-public, — no.v the land of Know-Nothingism, riot, and blood shed. Behold the lauKMitable fruits of all .system ol education encouraged and patronised l)y Dr. Ryer.son, once a Minister of tlie Gospel ! Having these facts, and Hie insiduous "Circular " before me, 1 do not hesitate to assert, tliat the Chid" Superintendr-nt of Schools in Upper Canada is the most unielenting an i most oppressive enemy of Catholicity in this section of the Proviu'-e, throwing altogether in the shade the apostate Julian of old 1 {h) Why foreign views are not carried out? If Dr. Ryersou was sincere in his iuixicJy for the diflusion of useful knowledge amoji:;- the rising g-Mieralioii, witlioni distinction of creed or nationality, why ) So the; di'uce that 1 ((•) Bisho] t!'<; whole Ui k,-' 39 subject. Then comes the richly got up diaries ofdistingnislied Protestant tourists, giving to the world their lancii'ul sketches, from notes hasiily taken from the window of a vehicle, (b) on Italy, Naples, Spain, and other benight- ed Catholic countries, sitting in the shadow otignj^rance, vice, superstition and idolatry. A Catholic clergyman has lately favored us with his admi- rable outlines on Fran^ie, Italy, Naples, &c. But these masterly histori- cal sketches, by the Rev. Mr. Ilaskins, being the production of a Popish Priest, will find no room in Dr. Ryerson's Public Libraries. A more pre- judiced or more illiberal work than While's elements of General History, could not be conceived. This historical compendium, replete with the vilest insults against what Catholic n:Uions venerate and respect, was, and is, probably, still taught in the Grammar Schools. Of course such a book will be quite welcome in the Public Libraries. What a liberal Protestant, prompted by doubts, would look in vain for. A liberal Protestant, prompted, perhaps, by serious doubts and misgiv- ings, and desirous of reading the other side, will look in vain in those pub- lic libraries, for Hawkins' travels through France, Italy, ^c. ; Bossuet's Variations ; Balmes' Protestantism and Catholicity compared ; Chateau- briand's Genius of Christianity; Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures; Doctor Newman's Lectures ; the End of Controversy, by Dr. Milner ; Audin's History of Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII., Leo X. ; Count de b Maistre's works; Trials of a mind, by Doctor Ives ; Religion and Society, by Abbe Martinet ; Dr. Spaulding's Lectures ; Cobbett's Reformation ; Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church ; Gahan's Church History ; Travels of an Irish gen- tleman in search of a religion , History of the Church, by Reeve ; Trev- ern's Amicable Discussions ; and sundry other works which assist a Pro- testant Reader in forming a correct opinion of the respective merits of Protestfmtism and Catholicity. The above named works, and such others as are written by impartial and well-informed authors, are not, as a general rule, to be found in those public libraries so much eulogised by Dr. Ryer- son. Insteadof them, you mrr^t there with nothingbut the flimsy productions of narrow-minded and prejudiced writers, who give you a distorted and one-sided view of the subject they treat, if it has any reference to Catho- licity, Catholic nations, and Catholic morals or customs, (c.) Foreign element disapproves " suggestion" of useful and entertaining reading. From t!ie above statetr.ent and the perusal of the worthy Chie^ Superintendent's " Circular./' the public cannot be at a loss to discover his benevolent designs. The learned Doctor vimtures tosus^gest to our various Municipalities, the application of, at least, a part of their share of the Clergy Reserve funds, to the purchasing ol' works ludicrously styled by him, books of useful and entertdining readhifr. The Chief Superintendent of schools, whose cranium has been stretched to its utmost capacity, can- not find out a better use of public money, desrinrd for general ])urposes, than to jiurchase with it, and place into the hands of rising generations, both Catliolics and Protestants, hoolis of usefui and enfrrtaining rending : viz: books calculated to corrupt the budding mind of youth with the venom of infidelity, revile catholicity, insult the ministers of a church of two fake nil ca^v trip {b) So they arn not acciistotneil to nso such •' half licatlicnisli" thiiiKS .'is niilroads there! Another cvi- dciiee that he is not h>ni? out IVoin tlic fon'isiM country. ((•) lJisho|) Chavbonncl acltMl as one of the selectors, and is understood to have attended meetings wliere tl-e svliolo business was approved. 40 hundred millions of human beings, misrepresent their doctrines and prac- tices. In these hooks of vseful and entertaining reading the most sacred tenets of our Holy Religion are attacked with a virulence and bitterness worthy of a Julian the apostate. There Catholicity is exhibited in a most odioys form ; then this phantom, the offspring of a heated imagination, or perhaps of a malicious heart, is assailed with the most violent abuse, it is attacked with the powerful arms of ridicule and low ribaldry. In these works, recommended by Dr. Ryerson, books of useful and entertaining read- ings the morals, character, customs, and condition of Catholic countries, are depicted by ignorant or prejudiced scribblers, who are about as com- petent to write on Catholic nations, and Catholic usages, as a New Zea- lander who would attempt to give a correct narrative of the manners and customs of England, which he lias 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, religious subjects are handled with the most amaz- ing confidence by audacious tyros as inadequate to the task they have undertaken, as the blind man who sets himself up as a lecturerupon colors, or one deaf and dumb who ventures to j^ive his views on the theory of sound. F'oreign Ecclesiastical View of Canadian Libraries. In a word, to foster an anti-christian spirit, hatred and animosity, to sow the seeds of dissension and religious discord among the citizens of the same community ; such are the detestable purposes to which Dr. Ryerson would have our Municipalities to apply part of ihe money which the Act of the Legislature has j)laced under their control. Let those who relish these hooks of useful and entirtdiiiing Kuding purchase ihem with their own money. But, in the name of justice, and common sense, let not public mo- rjey and public funds, destined for general purposes, be squandered away in increasing the povv-er of a contrivance fdready productive of so much mischief. Butthe ** foreign element" thinks it has a right to advise the Muni ipaUies. I conclude with expressing a sincere hope that the ;rood sense, honesty and liberality of our Municipalities in Upper C iuada will defe-it tli- snares of the entMiiy of peace ;aid good feeling in this section of the Province, by applying the funds phtcecl into their hands to general purposes and to the common use of all, Catiiolics as well as Protestants, since thoy are all members of r'ie same community, and have an equal ri<2;lit to its resources. (Ji) Let these n sources with which a kind Providence has blessed us be spent in improving our Cities, Towns and Villages, in draining and macadamiz- ing our streets, digging sewers where wanted, in foutiding institutions of general beneficence, such as common baths for the use of poor people, in estalilisliing ijeneral dispensaries, where the sick of the poor class may procure whatever medicine may be necessary, in sfcuring in each Ward of our large cities the services o! one or two Physicians who would attend the most urgent cases of de>^titution. Let a part of the Clergy Reserve Funds be ptnployed in erecting shelters for the a^ed, the infirm, the widow, the or ban, and the itoniiarnnt. Many of our Houses of industry are in a lamentable state. In several Towns, and even Cities, the destitute and poor 1 4 are yel sympa| half-nt his shil will yc sicknej sufferir ing re.i placedj ((/) Or, i)i>iiiai!S, a bcttr views. simile: ;is ]Mr. Hniyoro to write on Ciuadiau Scliools ami CfiiKulian Catholic (//) Of course the unolliciai Mr. IJruyore is not an "interfering meddler .' I" m 41 are yet without shelter. When the famishing widow will appeal to your sympathy will you reach her a Globe to appease her hunger? When the half-naked orphan will stand before you will you £;ive him a map to cover his shivering limbs? When the anxious immigrant will reach your shores will you receive him with 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 entertain- ing reading, such as Dr. Uyerson suggests to purchase with the money placed under your control. And says his advice is better than Dr. Ilyerson's. Let me now, with due respect, put the question to the benevolent mem- bers of our Municipality : Will they be able to answer the numerous calls of humanity, to relieve so many sufferings, to provide for so many vvants without large funds, and especially without increasing our taxes, which are already enormous ? Let me then hi ipe that the heads of our cities and towns will take better advice than that offered them by the Chief Superin- tendent of Schools. Let each municipality, therefore, follow, in the use of their respective share of the Clergy Reserve Funds, iheir 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 school?, During the day all his thoughts are taken up with his scho( Is. In the silence of the night the success and prosperit}^ of his schools it '«M'rupt his peace and slumbers, and rise up before his vision, (i) Are the la ..ers of our cities and towns, the heads of our municipalities, to make themselves ridiculous be- cause Doctc " Ryerson chooses to be so ? Are they to waste and squander away public money intended for general purposes because the dictator of the schools bids them do so? No: 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, — the general good and utility of all ; influenced but by one motive, — love and good- will towards all. In conclusion, I beg leave to state that 1 will consider it as a favour if the Press in Toronto and elsewhere do me the honour of inserting in their columns the above views, imperfect as they are. The subject, is of the utmost importance ;ind should be placed before the public. On the con- ductors of a wise press devolves the duty of enlightening public opinion. To the good sense rnd kind indulgence of the public I submit these con- siderations, and beg to subscribe myself Their humble servant, J. M. BRUYERE. (0 And. pray, for wlmt olsp was he appointed, but to promote the succ-oss and prosperity of the Sdiools of Upper Canada? The "ridiculousness" is lUlrihut-ed to tht^ fiirei>!:ner, who claiins the rij^ht to dictate to our pubhc bodies, and intrude upon ilie iulitreut riglits of tlie sul>)ect. ian Catholic 42 ii No 13.— Dr. Ryerson's first reply to the Rev. J. M. Bruyere. Education Office, Toronto, 22nd December, 1856. When I first read in the Leader of the 10th inst., the letter 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 re- cently addressed to heads of Municipalities on the application of the Clergy Reserve Fund, and assailing our Common School system generallyf 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 papers, as well as by observations in private • circles, that I am expected to reply to this anti-public school champion ; and I am induced to comply with wishes thus entertained, chiefly by the considera- tions that Mr. Bruyere appears as the representative and organ of a party and that the statements of his letter afford me another opportunity of exhi- biting 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 jvirty of Mr. Bruyere. (J) Personalities — a favorite weapon. 2. The personalities of Mr. Bruyere manifest the favorite weapon of his party in all controversies, and require little notice, [k] When a law of the land requires the Chief Superintendent of education, among other things, *' to employ all lawful means in his power to promote the establishment of school libraries for general reading," " provide the school with maps and apparatus,'' and " to collect and diffuse useful information on the sub- ject of education generally,^' Mr. Bruyere shews as little regard for law as for good taste, in charging me with indecent presumption and intrusion, in submitting to tlie Municipal Councils the suggestions contained in my circular, and more especially when I proposed to add " to each municipal appropriation, one hundred percent.," out of grants which the liberality of the Legislature had placed at my disposal for the very purposes of es- tablishing public libraries and providing schools with maps and appara- tus. 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! (Z) Mr. Bruyere's compliments to the Municipalities. 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 Legis- lature has placed under their control." I quite agree in this extorted tri- bute to the intelligence and patriotism of our Municipal Councils; and it is on this very ground ticit I have proposed from time to time the provi- sions oi' laws to invest them with sucli large and responsible powers in re- gard to the education of the youth of the country. I am glad that the (j) The "p^rty" liowovor, seems :o inuluilo tlic forciirii ecclesiastics, and "a few" Canadian Ciitliolics' accorrtiiiir to Mr. 15. (A) Their rule, ijcrliaps, is Jetlc,jclle dc hi hone qudqncchoxc ;/ rcufra- (0 "i'is ratlier a iiov(!l fcutuvc to sec a rorci.irucr interfere between a provincial ofTicor and llie pnblic bod- ies he is aiipoiiiled to ileal witli. "Wonder would that be allowed in the country from which Kishop Char- bonnel and Mv. Bruyere have come? ?■ part] bodi^ and app< and mon^ Muni Act tions (( « I J truyere. iber, 1856. »f the Rev. sed to the vhich I re- ion of the generally, s too often rks in the ;e • circles, and I am considera- of a party ty of exhi- m, and of ;d against pon of his law of the er things, blishment ith maps 1 the sub- d for law intrusion, ed in my nunicipal liberality es of es- appara- nces my ion, and omposed er, their udges of Legis- »rted tri- ; and it e provi- rs In re- hat the 1 Catholics- public bod- shop Char- 43 party of Mr. Bruyere has at length learned to appreciate the Municipal bodies more highly than recently, when they declared them too ignorant and bigotted to determine the boundaries of separate school sections, or appoint superintendents to divide the school moneys between the separate and public schools On account of these clamours, the division of school moneys between the public and separate schools was transferred from the Municipal authorities to the Chief Superintendent, and the separate school Act takes away the determining of the boundaries of separate scht^ol sec- tions from the Municipal Councils altogether — making the boundaries of a separate school section within the limits of which the separate school is established ; whereas formerly the Municipal Councils, in compliance with the wishes of supporters of separate schools, often extended the limits of separate school sections over three or four common school sections. It appears now that Mr. Bruyere's party begins to think more favorably of Municipal bodies than heretofore; and those bodies will doubtless appre- ciate his compliments, (m) What are his protests? 4. The 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 appli- cation for the purchase of public libraries. I will examine the grounds on which he professes to base each of these protests. Separate and Public Schools equally supplied with apparatus. 5. He protests against any part of the Clergy Reserve Fund being applied to the purchase of school maps and apparatus, because the Sepa- rate Schools are excluded from any participation in it lor that purpose. — He says : " The Catholic Separate Schools too, and more by iar 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 saying: the law is in your own way; there is a *' clause ill the law for the secularization of the (clergy Reserves, preclud- '* ing expressly Separate Schools from any share in the distribution of these '' funds." Mr. Bruyere proceeds to charge me with having 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, Glob. s,&c., &c. Let the benighted Catholic boj', and " Catholic girl, learn astronomy by looking up to the stars, and geography "by taking an easy trip round the world." Now, the simple fact is, that I not only never suirgested one clause, phrase or word of the law for the secularization of the Clergy Reserves, but there is no restrictive clause whatever, such a^ Mr. Bruyere asserts^ though municipalities in Lower Canada are precluded by an Act passed last session from raising anything availed themselves ol" the fVicilities of procurhig Maps. Charts, Globes, &c., at this department, and to each of them I have apportioned one hun- dred per cent, on the sums advanced by them. And only a few days be- fore Mr. Bruyere makes these as-serlions, the Romaii CathoHc Bishop of London was shewn the depository of Maps, Globes, A:c., by myself, and he ordered a number of them for his Separate Schools, and to which I nmde the apportionment of one hundred per cent, on the amount ^A- vanced. Libraries supplied to the Townships are non-Sectarian. 6. Mr. Bruyere's statement in regard to books in the official cata- logue for Public Libraries are e(}ually unfounded and contrary lo fact. While he exclaims against the hisfories of " infidel Hume and the sceptical Gibbon," he ought to know that neither of these works is in the " Index Expurgatorius," while Archbishop Whalely's Logic, and Macau- lay's History are thus distinguished. He says " D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation,'' is in the catrihiguo, which is not the fact. He says there is no such book in the catalogue as "Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures,'' — whereas "Carilinal Wiseman's Lectures on tlic connection between Science and Revealetl Religion " are on the oflii-ial catalogue, and also Bossuet's Univerc^al Histor\ . Mr. Bruyere likewise says, "In vain will " we look in these public libraries for Ungard's Anglo-Saxon Church ; " Gahan's Church History ; History of the Church by Reeve," when each of these three histories is coritained in the oflicial catalogue; as also Lin- gard's History of England ; Mylius' History of England ; Fredot's Ancient History, and Fredet's Modern History. Bishop Charbonnel lumself selected Catholic Works. These works were inserted in the catalogue three years ago on the recommendation of Bishop Charbonnel, ta whom was communicated the wish of the Council of Pul)lic Instruction that he would sHect the Roman 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 — leaving it; to what Mr. liruyei'e himself calls the '' good sense, honesty, and libr rality of the Alunicipalities in Up-ter Ca- nada," to procure which they mi^ht please ; and most of them have made a f lir selection of histories from both sides, (o) Cardinal Wiseman was also consulted. Nay, when in London in 1851, making selections of library books for examination, and arrangements for procuring them, I had (on the strength of a letter of introduction from a hirh quarter) an interview with Cardinal Wiseman, to whom I briefly explained the principles on which I proposed to promo*^e the establish menr. of Public School f^ibrario.s in Up- per Canada — the avoidance of doctrinal and controversial works of any religious persuasion, as between Protestants and Roman Catholics, and the selection of the best popular works in all the departments of human knowledge, and 1 wi^iied his FiUiinenco to favour me with a list of books and their publishers such as were approved by his church and in harmony with the character and objects of the proposed Cinadian Libfaries. Car- dinal Wiseman frankly replied, that netirly all the books printed and sold by Catholic publishers, were doctrinal expositions and vindications of the (rt) Unfortunately for 3Ir. Bruyere, he know nothing of tlio circumstauces, as ho \\ as not licre at the time. Catl( Proti dene toBi inset 'lim,, throil Rom| not and ceasi il 4,5 Lin- Catholic Cliurch, or such as related to questions between Catholics and Protestants, and therefore, not adapted to the non-controversial and non- denominational libraries I proposed to establish. Yef, after this, I applied to Bishop Charbonnel, notwithstanding his previous attarks on me, and inserted in the cat ilogue every historical library book recommerded by 'lim, and more than the histories enumerated by Mr. liruyere. Thus, throughout, have I pursurd a fair, a kii.J and generous course towards Roman Catholics, and have treated th(rn v^lth t^ consideration which has not been shown to any IVotestant denomination, while their Charbonnels and Bruyeres have not ceased iu je(|aitc me with evil for good by their ceaseless fnisrei:ie:dion. 'i. Mr. Bruyerere()reseiits me as the most inveterate enemy of Roman- ism in the country, and employing every means in my power to oppose and destroy it. VVlial may be my views as to the peculiai- doctrines of Konianism and Protesiaiiti!*;!!, and ol" the comparative inHu.iice of each system upon religion, morals, ialellecr, social order, liberry, civilization and man's \vell beiag here and hereal'ler, is a niatler which ap;)erlains to myself. I am responsible for tiiy ojji.iul -.ici^; and to them 1 appeal for a refutation of Mr. Bruyere's imputations And the reader will, perhaps, be snr])rised U) learn, hat at the very mcinent Mr. Biuyere thus assailed my oliicial cunduci, lie had iVosh recolhetion, if not in liis possession, a prac- tical refutaiioa (,f his own cbarncs, riS 1 h;id, no longer ago than ih;; 25th of iXoveinber, addi-i'ssed to him an utlici.!! letter, (in reply to one irom him,) every sentiment and w>ird Drwnich disproves his statements. (/>) As tills cjrrespoadeiice illustrates the religious aspect of our Conunon t^chool sysleni, the extr'iit to whicli Mi'. iJruyere aiid liis iVii-iuis se.ek to avail thenisclvc'-^ of it, and the fairness an! " iiberality '' wiiii u'liicii J have interpreteil and cipj);ied tiie law in favour of lloman Ciil.holics as well as Protestants, I apj-eiu- co])ies of it to this leitcr for publieation, as the best answer to ihe attacks of Mr. Bruyere'.s parly. Tills correspondence is only a siircinicn of much of ihv- same kind. I select it because it has recen'ly taicen place with Mr. ih-uyere himscif. A man's necessities must be great and his scruples small indeed, when he concals the truth and asserts the contrary. Booljs vn i:;L.'iieral kuowled^fe unscctarian. 8. In conclusion, T l)en; to nd I three or lour general remarks. The first is, that Mr. Bruyere's objecti'.>ns to the system of providing the schools with maps, vStc, and the miiaieijjahties with libraries, are p'-rfectly frivolous and groundless, as in regard tt) these the Sej;;iral,e Schools onfl tlie Roman Catholics are placed uponprecisely thesamefootingasthe Public Schoolsand the other classes of the population, (q) The books which Mr. Bruyere com- plains of as selected for the libraries are not in the catalogue of all, and the his tories which he represents r.s having been omitted are all in the cata- logue, while the culture of the vast and varied field of human knowledge — common alike to the Romanist and Protestant — is provided for by the best ( p) Accordini? to latf, accounts, his correspondent is reported to " view the dominecrinK spirit of somo of tile French Jesuit Priests with dis^'ust." (q) " On application, I will furnish your Separate Schools witli maps, apparatus, and libraries, upon the «arae terms as the Public Schools ;— that is, 1 will add one hundred per cent, to whatever sum or sums you may forward-"— C'JrcMJar to Separate Schools. June, 1855. M 46 tran-iliitions of the famed authors of ancient Greece and Home, by the best works on every branch of natural history, science and philosopliy, every department of human industry and enterprise, as also of genius, imagi- nation and t;isto; and from this extensive catuloguo of some four thousand different works (sever.d thous:ui(l volumes) selections arc made at the un- controlled discretion of thoso whom Mr. Bruyere himself has pronounced " citizens of the highest respectahility by their moral character, education, *' and standing in society." Religion not biinished from the Common Scho)!. My second remark is, Mr. Bruyere's statements and obiections, that religion is banished from common sciinols and that thoy arc infidel, are eciually grountlless and untrue, us may be seen by the appended corres- pondence, the official regulations, and hundreds of official returns. The onlv ecclesiastical in Canada that ever proposed the * banishment of religion from our common schools " was Bishop Charbomiel himself. In his official correspondence with me, (printed by order of the Legislative Assembly,) letti^r dated 1st of May, 1852, the Bishop snys — " I have said, Ihaf. if the catechism were sufficiently taught in the family or by the pastor, so rare in this lar^e Diocese — and if the mixed sch(H)ls were exclusively for secular iiistrnctio:, and without danger to our Catholics, in regard to morals, books and companions, the Catholic Hierarchy miv;ht tolerate it, as I have done in certain localities, after having made due enquiry." I am quite aware of the object of thus wishing to banish all recognition of relijiioti from our common schools, as well as ]Mr. Bruyere's object in asserting that such is now the fact. The same course was puisucd by Bishop Hughes and his partizans in the city of New York sometime since. Under the pretence of not permitting anything denominational in the schools, the Bible was tak^n out of the hands of the Protestant pupils, and every paragraph and sentence, and every word in which any i-eference to religion (>r cvvn the Divine ocing was made in the school books, was crossed or blotted out. I have in nu" possession a specimen of this system of school lio"k emasculation in order to conciliate (as it was supposed) Bishop Hiighes and his followers. The success which followed its banishment in Now York. Did li suceopd ? Certainly not. The schools ha-»ing been thus ren- dered so o!)jecrio!iablc to lar.:e classes of Protestants, it was thought they might 1 e crushed allogether, Bishop Hughes now denounced them, as Mr. Bi uyere does our commosi schools, as godless, infidel, &c., and to he shunned by all mankiml as the dendly Ibunraiiis of infidelity. I have; en- dea,vi>uied to guard our scliuol system and schools from a similar danger by e(iaally proieeting lliy rights and interests of botli Protestant and Ro- manist ; an^i this is the real gritund of the alarm and denunciations of Mr. Bruyere and hiscoJerif, who class all as infidels that are not of their party, and all teaching as infidelity wjjich is not given under iheir direction. I will not consent to Mr. Bruyere's wresting from the hand 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 llomsin C .tholic child or wrest from him his Catechism. Thus are the assertions oi" Mr. Bruyere and his co«/irre.9 falsified, and their alien aggres- sions against our common school system defeated. BishI thoul thercl who I suchj ants I nowi schol taugl Catl Can CatlJ by p| '4 47 by the best 1>l»y, every ius, imagi- ir thousand at the un- >ronounced education, tions, that nfidel, are led corres- rns. Tlie shment of nself. In oifislative iave said, he pnstor, cclu.sively regard to olerate it, ry." lam :nifion of object in isued by no since. I in the ipils, and rence to >ks, was system ipposed) lus ren- fht they Jem, as id to he av(! en- danger tnd Ro- i (jf Mr. party, ion. I testant is best of ihe ire the ggres- Tho ultramoatano movomtinta recoiil one. In the days of the venerable Bishop McDonell and the excellent Bishop Power, there was no such clamour against our common schools; though they were liable to greater objections I'rom that (luarter than now • there were then no such classification and denunciation ol all as infidels who do not believe in the peculiar dogmas of the Church oi" Rome — no such ert'orts to separate Roman Catholics and their children from iVotest- ants ; and the result was, there were as sound Roman Catholics then as now, and the Roman Catholic children who were taught in the mixed schools are as good Roman Catholics as those who have be«n, 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 sufirages ol Protestant as well as Roman Catholic electors, instead of one, as at the present time, and he elected by protesting against Separate Schools and against priestly influence, (r) Catholicism injurod by thu Foieiirn Priests. Ten Globes and their contributors could not do as much to impair the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, and blight the hopes of its mem- bers in regard to such distinctions and .•idvantii;i:es as depend oa the popu- lar elective voice, as have the Charbonnels and liruyeres of that ('hurch during the last five years. Though one may not, ren;ret this as a Protest- ant, yet every benevolent and patriotic mind must lament that there is any class of children or citizens in tlie country so isolated as to deprive them of the mental development and julture enjoyed by others, and cutofl^ from the prospects of all pul)lic olfires and distinctions depending upon the elective voice of the people, to wiiicli intelliizence, talent, industry and worth are justly entitled, irresjiective of religion, sect or creed. It is to the Cliaibonnels and the Bruyeres the infusion of a new foreign element (s) into our country since the days of Bishops ^NIcDonell and Power — that our Roman Catholic fellow citizens owe tiie cloutly civil and socinl i^ros- pects that are darkening the future of themselves and their children The Scliool House the property of all and interiiied lor all. The palace-like school-houses richly furnished with appropriate maps, charts and other apparatus, which inflict such pangs in the heart of Air. Bruyere, are so many voluntary creations of the people themselves ; so many bright illustrations of a glorious progress, in which Catholies, in common with all other classes, should, and may cfiu-vlly i)arlicipate.(/) J should falsify the whole of my past life, and despi..e myself, were I not scrupulous to protect the rights and feelings of Iloman Catholics equallv with those of any, or all other classes oftlu! comuiunity. it is certain of their own ecclesiasfics, Vvdio have inflicted upon tln'iii burdens and disad- vantages which their fathers had not to hear in the days of Jiishops McDonell and Power; who have made that a mortal sin at a municipal (r) Mr. Maclfoiizio says of them :— " No man was more anxious tl>aii tlic writer of tin's article, to seo that (■xcelloiit man, Col. Cliisliolin (father cf the llev. J. J. Cliisliolm, nf Lindsay), elected for GleiiKnrry. over Mr. >IcJIartin a Presbyterian. Tlie Inisy, meddling i)riests of his Church have driven our i)eo|)k> from trusting any of their [llonian Catliolic] faith." (s) Aye, the " foreign element,"— that's the soro point, and :\rr. I?ruyere knows it ; and that nothing is more distasteful to the Catliolic laity of Knglish, Irish, Scotch, or Canadian liirth, than the inllnence or spread of that same " element,"— foreign to them in 5!ieecli, habits, and education. Vet they are t hreat- ened with more of it, by Hishop Charbonners present ciiorts in France to collect and send out foreign priests from that country. {t) And so they do; otherwise why do they not obey the mandates and pastoral" to establish Separate Schools? 48 or school tU^ction, which w^h formerly no sin at all ; who deny the ordin- antes lor attendinjr schools,an attendance at which was formerly encouraged when those schools \v.;ro more exceptionable than at present. Scruples iiboul Common Schools lately manufactiiroJ to ordor. The conscientious convictions of which Mr. Bruyere talks, have been manufactured to order, as also the mortal sins which are charged upon certttin Catliolics. (u) The authors o: such violations of the rights of both God and man : who treat the immortal minds of Roman Catholics just as the American slave-holder does the mortal bodies of his slaves ; who prohibit all rncntnl 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 di'Miified and noble in man are alone res|)onsible, ifthe lloman Catholics ami their descendants in Upper Canada become "hewers of wood and drawers ol water" to other classes of their fellow citizens, instead of standing on equal footing with them and rivalling them in intellij/'ence, mental power, enterprise, wealih, individual influence and public position. A now despotism in tlio State ovor the State, and its inconsistencies. IJut the authors of this new 3rusado for the creation of a despotism in the State, and above the Slate, upon the wrecks of Canadian intellect and civilization, seem reckless of principles as of consequences; and to destroy our national school system (;very variety of method is employed. At one time, all state provision for education is denounced, and that in the face of state eiKlt)Wiuents lor e;lacalion in Lower Canada; at another time it is insisted not only that the state, but that even the municipalities shall collect and jirovide funds for the support of lloman Catholic schools, as may be di'nianded from time to time by tlieir supporters, and that without any supervision or accouiuability such as is required in regard to public schools i-qu.'.lly ojx'n to all classes of the community, (v) At one time mem- bers of the Government and of the Legislature are thanked and praised for having passed certain provisions oi ;i Separate School law ; — at another time the very same p-r'rsons are d'nounced from the same source for not having repealed those provisions.. The assertion that our schools art; inlidel is an insult and libel upon the people of Upper Canada, who cherish and sup- port them; an i the pretence is as idle as groundless, that the pupil of a day school ciinnot bo ta'ighthis catec lism at all unless taught it during the six hours [)er day ol'the five (li^ys and a-half of each week that ho is in the school, when he is sixteen hours each week-day and the whole of Sunday under the care of his parents and priest. But 1 have in my last annual report sufficiently vindicated the religious and impartial character of our school system. I need not do so again in this place ; my present object is only to defend it and myself against the fresh attacks of Mr. Biuyere, and to expose the spirit and character of his semi-official manifesto. (m) Tho "conscientious convictions" wore never discovored as existing in Upper Canada until 1852; nor on the Continent until after tho K leyclical Letter of the previous year or two. The "mortal sins " are lator— they appeared in Lent, 185r>. (y) nisliop Charbonnel, in 185t, eorapla icd that Separate Schools could not avail themselves of the Municipal Asiiossment and Collecting, and yet under the present law, Mr. Bruyere acknowledge! tho re- ceipt of " city taxes." My calun every til cannot! Mr. BrJ and ar| crnble tion, ani face of 1 have ml tion of J theGovf Their hi phase ol head off liberty f<| resource I trusi Correspond! No. I (L. R. 4.' Rksi to solve t you, :»s t kind as t Mr. Bull Hopin your vail • Dr. Rye Chi< Enclosu The Rev DEi writing t give and obtain n near the which I and Col 49 be ordin- cou raged ive been fed upon sof both s just as 3s ; who icipation ual light, ion ; the isive and Datholifts i^ood and stead of iili^ence, position. otisin in intellect ; and to n ployed. it in the ler time lies shall "ols, as without public e niem- isod for ertime having M is an 1(1 sup- )il of a pig the in the lunday ligious lin in 3t the )f hi3 lil 1852 ; 111 sins " of the Itho re- The iiItra-Montnnists anti-lJritish. My last remark is that the same spirit which assails, misrepresents and caluni liates our school system, is ei|ually hostile and calumnious against everytl'inr the oppressed of all nalions. and developes her national mind and resources beyond those of any other country in iM'.rope. 1 trust the papers that have inserted his attacks will insert this reply. K. BVEKSO\. Correspondence between Dr, Rycrson and the Rev. J. M. Bruyere on religious oscrclses and religiouu instruction in the Common Schools [i > l''i'i'''tl lo in the piccciliiii;.] No. 1. The Ri'v. J. M. Bruyere to the Chiif SuperintendcNf of Ediicaiion. (L. II. 488'i, I85G.) St. INIiciiael'.s Talack, Oct. 231(1, 50. Rkspected Sir, — The inclost'd lerter reached me yesterday Unable to solve the question proposed to me, I take the liberty of addivssing it to you, as the most compeient Juduv in such a matter. Should you he so kind as to give your o,>inion on the involved ijuostion, I will Ibrward it to Mr. Buhner. Hoping you will forgive the liberty 1 have thus taken in trespassing on your valuable time. I am, Dear Sir, your most obedient vServant, (Signed) J. M. BRUYERE. Dr. Ryerson, Chief Superintendent of Education. Enclosure.'] Windsor, Canada West, 21st Oct. 1850. The Rev. J. Bruvere. Dear Rev. Sir, — I hope you will excuse the liberty I have taken in writing to you on a legal point of law, but a* many pirties here cannot give and even differ on the involved question,! thought prol)ably you could obtain me the solution 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 Sections Nos. 2 and 5, township ofA.iderdon, a 50 County of Essex. Being in v/ant of money, the Trustees empowered me to collect the school tax as authorised by law, but when calling on two or three Protestants, they protest against the tax, and say 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 used for their children, while the Pro- testants use what books they think proper. 3. Catholic prayers are used at the recommendation of myself and Trustees, both at morning, noon, and ev{ ling prayers. 4. I have taught the French Catechism to the Catholics when the confirmation was held at Maiden during school hours, but only to the French children. 5. No religious knowledge has been taught to the three Protestant children, and only a Christian Brothers' book, 2nd series was given to one of them, when the boy brought me 2s. to buy one for him. The questions involved here are : Have we, by teaching catechism to the Catholic children during the schiiwl hours, and by using the Christian Brothers' books for Catholic children, exempted the Protestants from tax, and made the school separate insteijd of common or public ? This is the only school in the section, and the Protestants have not demanded another, since all the children, with three exceptions are Catho- lics, 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 for all the Protestants. I am, dear and Rev. Sir, your ob't 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. 3. The Chief Superintendent to the Local Superintendent of Anderdon. Education Office, [No. 2649 S.] Toronto, 27th Oct., 1856. Sir,— I will thank you to return the enclosed letter at your earliest convenience, with such remarks and explanations (on a separate sheet) as you may judge necessary. » I have the honor, &c., (Signed) E. RYERSON. Joseph R. Berthelot, Esq., Local Superintendent, Anderdon, Amherstburgh. wered me on two or a Catholic equire the le the Pro- myself and when the nly to the Protestant ven to one catechism le Christian s from tax, ts have not ! are Catho- s, with the !n and only itees' order, 1 against us w. 3 the goods lys notice ; MER, Windsor. my letters T. L. B. Anderdon. t, 1856. 5ur earliest te sheet) as :rson. 61 No. 3. The Local Superintendent of Anderdon to the Chief Superintendent. Anuerdon Township, County of Essex, C. W. [L. R. 5046, 1856.] [Not dated. Received E. D. 14th Nov., 1856.] Sir, — My being absent from home will account for this delay in the answer of yours of the 28th ult., No. 2649 — requesting I should return the enclosed with such remarks and any explanations 1 may judge necessary. I would inform you that in my great desire to start or establish a good and large school in sections Nos. 2 and 5, which had been so sorrowfully neglected that I felt it necessary and justified under the circumstances in granting to Trustees and Teachers certain privileges which may be consi- dered in some degree a violation of the law, regulating Common Schools. The children being ali small, and all French except two ; parents wishing they should be taught French for the first year at least, if not the second ; there being no translation of the books authorized, I permitted thsm to use such books as are used in the Township of Sandwich and Lower Ca- nada. As regards the teaching of Catechism to the children, it was un- derstood to be out of school, in other words after school hours. I knew that if I did not allow a slight violation of the law, the section would be without a school, now consisting of 30 to 40 pupils. I would here remark that the two or three Protestants whom Mr. Bulmer the teacher speaks of, are perfectly justified in protesting against the tax imposed by trustees; — not knowing the circumstances under which I acted. When explained to them, which 1 will do in a few days, they, I feel assured, will justify the slight violation, and pay the school tax willingly, and more, if it is deemed necessary to keep the school in its present condition. I feel well assured that the strict adherence to the letter of the law by the /as< Superintendent was the cause of so small a number of children attending school. I am also fully satisfied from what has transpired, that a slight deviation in no- thing very essential does remove objections which parents frequently urge as an excuse for not sending their children to school. It is a true and me- lancholy fact that in this and adjoining Township the majority are con- stantly urging reasons for not sending their children, and it is only by a personal visit of the Superintendent, and not always successful, to every head of a family, to urge, and I might almost say beg of them to send their children, you are enabled to form anything like a good school. I have thought it advisable to state a few facts, to i. ive you some idea of the dif- ficulties attending the duties of a Superintendent who feels as he should about schools ; they must palliate any slight deviation from his duties which are clearly pointed out. I have no doubt but what the Trustees have done some little things that might be taken advantage of, but I have every rea- son to think that they have acted honestly, and thought it lawful and right. Should it be thought best and proper to make a change in the management of the school sections Nos. 2 and 5, after the reasons here given for my al- lowing certain privileges, I would ask for advice and instructions. Yours respectfully, (Signed) JOSEPH .R BERTHELOT, Local Superintendent in Anderdon Township. 52 My li No. 4. The Chief Suijerintendent to the Rev. J. M. Bruijere. Education Offior, Toronto, 25th November, 18.i6 Sir, -III reference to your letter of the -^J^rd ult., the receipt of which 1 acktio.vh^dKed on the 27t.h ult., I have received fr>m ihe Locil Superin- tendent ot And'i-d.in (Mf. J R. Berthelor,) his exphmation relative to the matters referred to in the letter of the Trustees of School Sections iNos. i and 5 in that Township, which you had enclosed to nme, and on vviiich you request my interpretation oi" ihe school law. 1. The law in Upper Canada does not permit any authority whatever to interfere between tlie parent or guardian and child in regard to religious instruction. The law o:j the subject of using books and giving religious instruction in the public schods i§ as follows: — "jNo foreign books in the English branches of education shall be used in any model or common schools without the express [)ertnission of the Council of Public Instruction, nor shall any pupil in any such sch(Jol be required to read ^»r study in or from any religious book or join in any exercise of devotion or religion which shall be objected lo by his parents or guardian; provided always, that within this limitation pupils shail be allowed to receive such religious instructions as their parents < r g(i,irdians shall desire, according to the general reguhtious provided according to law." — (School Act of 1850, section 14.) On this section of the Aei the (?ounci! of Public Instruction have founded the lollovving roinafk- :.,'id reguialiDUs: " In the section of the Act thus quoted the principle of religious instru^jtion in the schools is thus recognized. The restri(!tion within which it is to be given is stated, and the exclusive right of each parent and guardian on tiie sid)ject is secured without any interposition from Trustees Superintendent, v the Govern- ment itself; iheretore it sh dl be a mat er ol mutual, voluntary arrangetnent between the teacher, and the parent or guardian of each [)upil, as to whether he shall hear such pupil recite from the catechism or other sum- mary ot religious doctrine and ols is thus slated, ;ind is secured iie Govf.rn- angeinent lupil, as to other sum- parent or ij Uruction, ;chool shall the Lord's ed, or any ion school." regulations the use of he French, 'eacher and ercise their on, and the t to compel ish of their n to which No. 14.— Rev. J. M. Bruyere's Rejoinder to Dr. Ryerson. To the Conductors of the Press in Caninla. The Model Letter — vide Leader. The long expected reply of the Chief Superintendent of Education, at length made ils appearance in Tin- Leader of the 24th nil. The per- usal of it has brought back to the recollection of many, the old adage of the Latin poi;t : Part'ir'iHut ihovUh. nanrcfur ridirtifus which F translate freely, IIjus : Dr. llyriscii, aftiT buvtral week" o! painriil l;ihyf, Iii\s hroiii^iit forth a ridiculous — Fus3. (n) The Rev. gentleman starts off with a sarcasm upon what h(; chooses to call the rxfravayaace (iiu/ pucn'Ji/i/ of lh(^ Rev. Mr. Bruyere's letter. It^ I am not mistaken, an impartial public is naturally inclined to look over with indulgence die occasional y;?/er/V///c.s' which may escape an earnest and honest man. But I doubt whether they will extend the saine indul- gence to tlj(> crudili(;s thrown broadcast in the face o\' /ica liimdrrd jiiil/ions of believers in the Church of Rome Pause awhile, reader. The creed of Catholics is termed by Dr. Ryerson " conscioillinis roiividious numufac- tured to order.'''' No one better than the Chief Su{)erinlendent of Educa- tion knew the falsehood of a charge which, lesides, is the most outrage- ous insult olRn-ed to Catholics, as ralional beings and believers in a creed which is professed by the greatest geniuses as well as the most limited capacities. 'J Ids creed manufaciurcd to order was believed by the conque- rors of Poictiers, Cressy, and Aginctmrt, l.y Bossuet, Fenelon, Massillon, Descartes, Mallt;brauelie, Tasso, Napoleon. Jt is jiroJessed by such weak- minded men, as Cardinal Wiseman, and Archbishop Hughet:. Many of the most gigantic intellects and profound reasoners of the present day have marie their profession of this chmmI, fit only i'or brutes, according to Dr. liyerson : The Schlegels, the Stotb;irs, made their so- lemn profession of ihose consiu'idious ronvldions tnanufarluriJ In order, (o) \Fi. r>r;i)>M'tMl);ink^ the ''independent ;iiid lohle " Leader. 1 thank most sincerely the independent and nobU^ Editor oi' The Lp'uhr, w^lu), in his euitorial remarks of llu; 21ih ult., thing a manly re- buke in the face of the reviler of the faith of his fellow-christians.(;)j («) Till' i"ai(i r will !«• k'nd cuiuiirli tc liciii' in luiuil. 111!!,! the •patriu" oi tlio ('.lurnliiill I'lcsM'ciiora- UK'iuls liii" p,-<)durl.i;>ii ii> |,.issi's,-!m;', t iiniiml'diit, :<. '■.ii;; ivPd (inr'.iii.v" of sl.vi.', qiiii in :i.cir..i.-un'(; \vitli that of liic Li-adet' .' Lci. him \wl ho ii^toiunlicii at an oriMsxmai sciii ii!o\isiu .■••< tii ,1 uuly Miuv^ a vigor- ous wi'it'V; Mil- lit ;'.;i .,iitii 1- -tliat. - p'';'l\::i'^. was a.i'i'ii'.'!iil!i,: unintciiUoiiui," in fiict. (')) Tliisiiiitial h'tt.T is a:ii)ropri;iti' to sui'l' ii iiarini.api . Mv. Hriiyi-rp wimI knew, wlii'ii ! >• pc m •.! Hio ahovu, thill it \vi!s not llio b.'licf of Callwiii's whicli w ;i< rofcrriHl lo; Inil ilu^ " (■'ii:\ii>twiii'« " af;,iiust schiiil-i '.v!,i,':i h" ii-.rl Ins (M fon'iniiiT-. Iiavc •,!ia'iul'iiftiir"ii luui t'lnnt f.ii'iu C:';i:uliaii Cuf liolics since isna. (/-) "Thi'iciMiiKlcriif Fatlii'i-Bi'iivcrt't.) i>r. UytTsoii v ill hotdiun! i:i imv r( Iwniii, •( -.lay ; iu:(l in -n'v-ial M. "■('siicct.' is ■.■.\'<\\' tli.T.i a nvWvh for thi' olM'/ia'. His styli' and tone (x"'l!iiidy i:":itiast ::iOst fii\ oui ably with tiioseof l>r. ri'.MMiii."'- /...'(/(■,•. '"I'he iniih is that liiuyen liavin:; di'-c ibtiltlt'' it.ir < f the 7.r,7,/,r as " noUle and iii'.K peiuleat," and. that ' iK.Ule aiio inui'i.endein " );e;-,^ii i...t kii 'Wiiifj' Mhi'Mi'-- lie was eu iiis head or his lieel, after rweivini-' siu-h a ivi -iei'.nent t()hi> •■ -..rtnif nt," iir nnimeiitlv' fo'.-med niinself with Kruyei;' into a " nnitnal ndniiraiioii soi iety.''— 07o/jp. 54 * Mr. Bruyere hurt by the Epithet of Foreigner. Doctor Ryerson, in order to prevent public indignation from falling heavily upon his godless system of education, endeavors to depic* me as the representative and organ of a party — a small and inconsiderable party, doubtless, leagued for the»destruction of State Schoolism. 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 personally, and to his Lordship Dr. de Charbonnel, now in Europe, he bestows upon us the old epithet borrowed from the Qlohe, his new organ, — of foreign cJev'y, the infusion of a new foreign element^ unacquainted, of course, with oui «. a- nadian Institutions and usages, [p) The hypocrite son of John Wesley, condescends to speak in terms of praise of the venerable Bishop McDoneU and the excellent Bishop Poiver, insinuating as clearly as language can convey his meaning, that the saintly Bishops above named were rather favorable to State Schoolism. In their days, if we are to > lieve Dr. Ryerson, there was no suck clamor against our Common Schools. The Injurious Imputation and unhappy Extimple. N(Av, as to the injurious imputation which the Chief Superinten- dent of Education has tried to fasten upon the character of the late la- mented 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 Elmsley, of Toronto. I beg leave to lay before Dr. Ryerson and those it may concern, the fol- lowing extracts "from the documents alluded to. Addressing the Editor of the C^>i/o?i/sf, the Honorable Mr. Elmsley says: "Following the un- happy example of Dr. Ryerson, and indecnl almosl using his words, you have thought proper to allege that Bishop Power understood the working of the Public School System, and died contented. As to the first por- tion of this allegation, I am in a [)osition to state that Bishop Power was certainly not long in coming to a perfect understanding of the workings of that infidel system to that latter portion, tiiat he died contended there- with. I am equally competent to state, and do hereby declare, that it is totally void of truth. His Lordship did me the honor to confide to my charge a large share in the working of the Catholic Separate School Sys- tem, from the moment that he understood t ho workings of the other, or mixed system, until it jileased Almighty God to call him to the enjoy- ment of his reward in Heaven. In favor of Catholic Schools he devoted his best energies ; and were he now living, he would set himsef vigor- ously to the work of coimteracting the effects of those educational estab- lishments which ))ractically ignore thj dognuis of the Christian Reli- gion, and are rapidly subsiding into pure deism * * * * Your enco- miums, in so far as they r>'late to the line of conduct you have attributed to him, ^ve severe rej)roaches ; 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 was a most energetic advocate and sup|Kirter. of Catholic Sepa- rate Schools, and most resolutely opposed to mixed. " I have the honour to be. Sir, Your obedient servant, " T. ELMSLEY." (.p) And so tliuy ixrc. Ask Caimdiau Calluilii' lajnien, and Hk y will t( 11 .vou .so. 55 om falling pic* me as ble party, ith a view of odium, ;lergy and ly entered y, and to pon us the gn cle;'y, th oui » a- n Wesley, Donelland an convey ' favorable rson, there iiperinten- e late la- :o the four Editor of f Toronto, n, the fol- he Editor \ the un- cords, you i working first por- pwor was workings led there- that it is le to my liool Sys- ollior, or he enjoy- } devoted ef vigor- lal estab- an Reli- nir cnco- ittributed it in my t onr late lie Sepa- ant, r.EY." Commentary on the above document is unnecessary. The Honora- ble Mr. Elmsley is as well known in this city as Dr. Ryerson. For ho- nesty, candor, and character, the former stands, at least, on an cjuality with the latter.. From the persual of Mr. Elmsley's letter, the public may judge what faith is to be placed in the Chief Superintendent's insi- nuation, that Bishop Power was favorable to mixed education, or State Schoolism. [q) Knows nothing of lUshop McDonell. As to the Venerable Bishop McDonell, as Dr. Ryerson affects to call him in his new-fangled veneration for a Catholic Prelate, I know nothing of his dispositions concerning Mixed or Separate Schools. Tiiis good man had gone to the enjoyment of his reward in Heaven long before my coming into this Province. But from the bare-faced imputation cast upon Bishop Power's character by the Chief Snp(!rintendent of Education, I may safely infer, that the Venerable Bishop of Kingston was about as much in love with the working and fruit of the Common School System, as tiie present incumbent of the Catholic See of Toronto. Soaie Canadian Catholics may have supported the Schools. That the c position to the State School System may not have been consequent upon its immediate introduction into the neiglibouring Re- public, as decided and universal as it is at the present time, 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 tre.' is known by its fruits, this criterion has not been wanting to the Cc imon School System. I have before me evi- dences of its deleterious results in the United States, which fall with crushing power upon its supporters and advocates. I will select a few of them, all taken from Protestant authorities, and from some of the lead- ing American papers. The New York Church Journal^ in an article headed " The Common School System a failure," says : "The Common School System is proving a disastrous failure. It has grown up on the pledges it has givn of the "to do 'ocivfi. The (' ohtflin all f rough the t(.'s, wo take llucuocs the 67 unto others as he would have them do unto him." Let him master the rule of three, he will not, on that account, understand the distinction between mine and thine. Education, without 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. Hut, as all religion must necessarily be excluded from the " Common Schools" of a community whose members have no religion in common, it follows that the Common School System is inadequate to the object contemplated, viz: the preservation of society. Says th(! C;it5iolics don't like tlie Schools. In presence of the above facts, which stare every sensible man in the face, who can refrain from smiling with pity at Dr. Ryersons impudent assertion that the people of Upper Canada cherish and support them (the Common Schools,) when it is remembered that the whole Catholic popu- lation are dissatisfied with the working and sad fruits of Stale Fxluca- tion, and are calling lor Free Schools ? (T) — when you take into consitlera- tion 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 restri(!tions with which the Scjiarate School Law is hampered. In pursuing this line of conduct. Catholic ^ and other asscrtors of freedom of education, are guided by the unerring principles of eternal justice and equity. They claim, as a cotemporary says, the right and privilege to provide for the education as for the feeding and clt)tliing o{ their children. They maintain that on parents, and not on the State, has the CreMor of the universe imposed the obligation tt) provide for all the wants, corporal, intellectual, moral and religious, of their offspring. No power on earth can withdraw them from their control. The princij)le assumed by the Chief Superintendent of Education and the friends of State Schoolism, viz., that it is the duty of the State 1o provide for all the yonlh of the country, has been imported from pagan Lacedfemon. '^I'here, the infant was examined by the Magistrate ; and if found feeble and 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 benign influence of a more humane Gospel than that of Lycurgus, 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 |)ower en earth can snatch hiin. (wt Further s implo ol' the model s^tylc-- Authorities quoted. But because Catholics claim the privilege of educating their chil- dren, as they deem proper, and in their own schools, they are cried down (t) " Vrw. Sell ols " urc the best description of our Crmadian ^'atiollal Schools. (h) Tliis was the first and last time poor V.r. Bruvcrc dilated larirdy on the Church, the ^tate, and the parent. See Dr. Uycrsoii's :i!)l(> and logical reiily. rlative duties oi' the i: 58 by Dr. Ryerson as the abbettors of ignorance, as the future ^* Hewers of wood, and drawers of water.*' Because, forsooth ! they do not wish to be placed under the once shouting Methodist Preacher, they are n^present- ed by him as being prohibited all mental development^ all exercise of thought^ all participation of any mental food^ the reception of even a single ray of intellectual light. If such be the unhappy inlluence of the Roman Catholic Church, over mental culture, intelligence and education, how gloomy must be the horizon of the capital of the Catholic world, the dread Rome ! The following extract from an unexceptionable witness, because a Protestant and a Scotchman, will, perhaps, render my distin- guished antagonist more diffident of himself, for the future, when he presumcis 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 fall opportunity of examining. In his *' Notes of a Traveller," which appeared in 1844, he says : — " In Catholic Germany, in France, and even in Italy, the education of the common people in reading, writing, arithmetic, music, manners, and morals, is al least as generally diffused and as faithfully promoted by the clerical body as in Scotland. It is by their own advance, and not by keeping back the ad- vance of the people, that the Popish priesthood of the present day seek to keep ahead of the intellectual progress of the community in Catholic land; and they might, perhaps, retort on our Presbyterian clergy, and ask if they too are, in their country, at the head of the intellectual move- ments of the age? Education is, in reality, not only not repressed, but is encouraged by the Popish Church, and it is a mighty instrument in its hands, and ably used. In every street in Rome, for instance, there are, at short distances, public primary schools for the education of the children of the lower and middle classes in the neighborhood. Rome, with a population of 158,678 souls, has three hundred and sevmty-two primary schools, with four hundred and eighty-two teachers, and fourteen thousand children attending them. Has Edinburgh so many schools for the instruction of those classes? I doubt it. Berlin, with a population about double that of Rome, has only two hundred and sixty-four schools. Rome has also her University, with an average attendance of six hun- dred and sixty students : and the papal States, with a population of two and a half millions, contain seven Universities ; Prussia, with a population of fourteen millions, has but seven." The reader will remark that the number of primary schools, in the city of Rome alone, is put down by Dr. Laing at three hundred and seventy-two. {v) This number is, ))crhaps, somewhat below the mark. According to the Roman Almanac for 1834, Rome then had three hundred and eighty-one free schools. This number has not likely decreased since, as the population has been steadily increasing. It must be recollected that many of these free schools are supported by private charity, whilst those of the Protestant countries are maintained only by burthonsome taxation. The persual of the above splendid testimony of Dr. Laing in behalf of Catholic education in Catholic Rome, will readily remind the reader of the wellknown proverb ; ^' Truth is powerful, and will prevail." The distinguished traveller can- («) SiiicL- Laing wrote, Vreiioli unci Austrian bn.voiipis have be(?n called into Home, to of its Sovorcipu ; whiU; Eliinburnii lias, tini(> anil a^.iin, loyally welconicd its and our r last year erected a colo3>jal statue to her honor. _ preserve the life noble Queen, and M^ / 59 Hewers of ot wish to ! represent- exercise of en a single ice of the education, >lic world, Ic witness, my distin- , when he Dr. Laing, !s what he Notes of a Germany, people in al least as body as in civ the ad- ; day seek n Catholic lertj^y, and itual move- 'essed, but trument in mce, there ion of the d. Rome, sevmfy-two id fourteen schools for population mr schools. six hun- tion of two population •k that the down by is, j)erhaps, ac for 1834, his number in steadily ichools are untries are the above ucation in n proverb ; IVeller can- preserve the life ublc Queoii, and not be suspected of partiality to Catholic Rome. JIls prejudices and bigotry against it are only half concealed. Nothing but the poyver of truth could extort it. Dr. Ryerson, who seems to take special delight in expatiating on all participation of uni) intellectual food being prohibited to the followers of the Church of Rome, would do well to take a lesson of candor and honesty from his brother minister. His education, in this respect, I am sorry to say, must have been sadly deficient. His knowledge of Greek, Latin, Astronomy, or Botany, w 11 never compensate before an impartial public, for the total absence of candor and sincerity. 'J'ho '* Foreigner " lulls Caiifidian Cntliolics whut lio thinks ol them. In spite of my anxiety to discover in Dr. Ryerson's long document, something sensil)le and truthful, I find iiiyseH" altogelher (lisap])ointed. Against his assertion that the Roman Catholic rhitdnn, vlio have been taught in the mixed schools^ are as good Roman Catholics as those who have been, or are, taught in Separate Schools, I beg to protest most em- phatically. On the authority of the oldest and best inlbinu'd Catholic Clergymen of Canada, I am ahle to assert, that with a few honorable exceptions, these sound Roman Catholics, vducnlvd in mixed schools, may be honorable men, honest luen, according to the Protestant sense of the word ; but, practical, religious, scrupulous observers of tiie rules of their church, they are not. They are Catholics in nam"; Protestant, or half-heathen, in practice. They are Protestant to all intents and purposes. Therefore we can well aflbrd lo give them up to 4he Chief Superintend- ent of Education in Upper Canada. They are as Catholic and as Pro- testant as himself. Behold the secret and great spring of the efforts put forth by Ur. Ryerson and his new organ, the Globe, to support Common Schools. Our enemies have sworn to destroy Catholicity in this Pro- vince. In their blind and inveterate hatred against, it, they have not been able to contrive a more efficient plan than the Common Schools. Hence they move heaven and earth to uphold their tottering and crumbling machinery, [w) , Mr. Hruyere has found a i';ital()guo. I come now to the examination of the charges brought against me, at the Supreme Court of the Education Office, in Up|)i'r Canada. I am charged with wilful error, in regard to certain exclusions as well as in- clusions, in my list of books, which are likely to be admitted in, or excluded from, the public libraries. The Chief Superintendent of Education asserts that neither Hume nor Gibbon are to be found in his libraries. I rejH'at again, on the authority of my own eyes, that the above-named works are contained in the Journal of Education for 1853, under the head of "General Catalogue of Works ibr Public Libraries in Upper Canada." I will add, moreover, that lest the youthful reader should be tempted to shun these poisonous sources of scepticism and ■infidelity, to the titles of these dangerous books are appended notes well calculated to arouse curiosity in the mind of the reader, and entice him to take of the forbidden fruit. The history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by E. Gibbon, is said in the calalogiu; prepared by Dr. Ryerson, to be a work which, " if it is not always history, is often something more than history; — it is philosophy, it is theology, it is wit (to) Alas! for Cauidinii Ciitliolics ! To tliiiik of tlii'ir not kiuiwiii!? tlii' daii^'cr tli(!.v were in, until a " foreign clergy " gave the note of warning! 1' tiO and el()(|ii<'nce, it is crilicism tlu; inosi iiiiistcrly on every subject with wliicli literature ean be conucclfd." 01 tlie llhlorii vf K/ightml^ by D. Ilurs()n's libraries. If tln^ Rev. ge?i!l( man has a catalogue of books ditrerent from tlic one und( r luy eyes, let !iini piil)lish it in some of our city papers, that the public may judge for themselvts. And liinls thci-'Mii f.'-rliiiii (!.ttli;)lic Works, i' tsvitusliiinhiig lii.s rorinci letltM' I have asserted tiiat Bossuel's H>ntor\f of Ihe Vaiiulions is not in the li- braries got up by the i'hief SuperintendiMi;. No ;dlusion was made by me to liossuel's />/.s'/-o.7/-.s'f' an Unirei'.sal llislury. Hereupon Dr. Ryerson takes me to task. I repe:il the assertion. The reply (»f the Chief Super- intendent is a miserable (juibble. unworthy of an otiici;.!. I repeat again, on the authority of the catalogue before me, Cardiii:*) Wiseman's Lcchncs on llv Principal l)odrinvs"n(} Pro'^iircs of the CofhoUc Churchy are not in the catalogue. I did not allude to (^^ardinal Wis"man's Lcdures on the Connection brtwecn Sc/'Hce and Jic.veiled Rc/igion. The Itislory J England^ by Lingard, D.D., is in the catalogue, but with an iippropriate note by the Cliief Superint(>ndent, warning his read(^rs that " Dcx^tor Lingard is a Catholic Pric'st, and an advocate of the Roman Catholic Church, (.r,! That is to siiy, — Beware, reader! it is the production of a Popish priest ! Does Dr. Ryerson a|)pend such warning to books com- posed by Protestant writers, to put Catholics upon their guard } No ! of course nothing unsound can come from a Protestant pen ! I beg to assure the Chief Superintendent that the mistake about the Antiquitie.s of the Anglo-Saxon Church, by Rev. Dr. Lingard ; History of the Christian diurch^ hy T. j'eeve; i;nd Abstiocls of th' 1 list or y of the Christian Churchy by Rev. W. Gahun, was (pute unintentional on my part. ti('i>-!n,' tho ■■ sti'o.iit \':A '^t ml vliciii'H ('('■•liuit" 'tr'the Iljliinons 'ri-ict Socici.v's ilislocy, tiic " splcnilid ouilino of anoiiMit, histon" in Unssui'l'.-. Discuni'M-; a;nl liie " wrll-aiiuiiicil, cii'.-t iiilly t'oi;i|)il;il, and a;:,iX'(able histories " whicli Air. Hrnycrc knows wtTo wniti-n lj> Human Calliolu's. (//) Vnit yt i*lr. |{. saiil. in his I'ornu'r li'ili r, ili.it iic " IouKimI in vaiii ' for mic'i woiks! .\ud tlio foreign sugges to hone alone, cowan permitt de Cha laid ur the can ev(^r be punishi return infusii in say Catho the Ap( tion fro carried Arc lib i ( hristii divine there is bers sli island ( birth St the in(l natons Eternal nations every |: of Etci his nal of the to mak 'iii'l"i>"ii'l ' !i'! L'} I ; t n it di'uli? .'/J)*).—t!ioU'.;h he could llii" ii'id.v. 61 l)joct with s^lanil^ by '" Though genovidly iiiical turn arranging ver lings." nrr not in of book 8 line of our 1 oil CIV »t in Iho li- I'.ulc by me r. Ryerson lief Super- u'at again, 's L vet UK'S c/i, are nol ures on the i(is(or\) f i|)j)r()|)riate t " Doelor n Catholic Id ion of a ooks com- ird ? No ! I beg to Antiquities iry of the ory of the al on my iltac'hed by irec; small nentioned of sovmu ith which for j^ublic LI'S it. ;)n in his Lordship, Hi into our I foreign arated the lis s('i)iti('i--!n,' jilciiilid oiilliiio a lid ii^i-L'cable iik>.! \ud Iho foreign from the native element } {z) lieforc* I answer the eh;irLr(!, I beg to suggest to the Rev. gentleman of the Kdueation Olfiee, wlu ii he chooses to honor me again with his s(Mirrilous diatribes, to let Dr. de Charlninncl alone. His lordship is now in Kurope, (!ons(ujuently unable to repel the cowardly attacks ot the Chief Superintendent of Kdueation. I may be permitted, en passant^ to inform his reverence, Dr. Ryerson, that Bishop de Oharbonnel, with li'ss means by far at his conunand than have been laid under the control of the Chief Snperintendent, has done more for the cause of education in Canada, in five years, thin Dr. Ryerson will ever be able to accomplish in twenty years, slujuld the Almighty, for tiiC punishment of our sins, inflict him on us during that space of time. To return to the very serious charge l)rough! against me, viz., "of being an infusion of a new foreign element into this country," I do not hesitate in saying, that th(> accusation betrays an c([nal a.Dourn of ignorance of Catholic feelings and of malice. I [ad Dr. Ryerson lived in the days of the A|)oslles, he would, dv)iil)!!c:s, ha\c cried them d.)wn, ,san importa- tion from a foreign cliiue. These messe gers of hravcniv tidinj^s, who carried the faitiiof Christ to the dilii'renl nations, were no'i natives, says Archbislioi) Hughes, of the srv-Mai nient " on any continent or island of this globe, fn the Catholic Church, the ( atholic of foreign birth stands on an e{|uality with the (allioJic of native origin. Under the in(hiene(.' of ihf' t^atholic or universal principle, represeiUatives of all nations are blended together inio ;i unity which has ils foundation on the Eternal Wisdom, who came down from heaven to form a Church of all nations and of all peoples. Snch is the doctrine inculcated almost in every pagt^ of thai sacred book, wiiieh Catholics believe to be the Word of Eternal rrulh. Dr. Uycrson may talk as long as he pleases about his nativism. It is but a mere accldcnl, common to him with the in.secl of the bog and ihe fox of the forest. His boasted nativism is calculated to make him the laughing-stock of all sensible men. i\b'. Bri,yt;ie rn knowlijiljjfes how lie is .-iccusc'd. Because an opponent of State Schoolism and an asserter of freedom of Education, I am accused by the Chief Superintendent of Education, of being an obst icle tothe diflusion of intelligi'ncp^ mental power^ (-ntrrprise^ wenth^ i)i(ili:l''nnl Injlnt'iim^ and piihlir. position. Now, hark, dear reader, to the real meaning of the Chief Superintendent of Education. '"The striking dignity of styli;."— Viile ZeofZer. His Reverence addresses you to this eilect ; " There is no intelligence except in my Hall of Science ; no learning, except in my Schools. Every- where else ignorance and degradation prevail. Your Christian Brothers, your Nuns, your Sisters of Charity, are all blockheads, stupid donkeys, compared with my teachers of the model Schools, You, my darling Municipalities, do not believe a word of what Rev. Mr. Bruyere tells you ; he is a Popish priest. Give me a little more money ; give me the (s) No ; they don't eombino— just hke oil and water. Mr. B. might shake them tOKether in the bottle of " mortal sin," but when he lets them alone they won't mix. 62 whole Clergy Reserve fund. If you cannot give the whole, give me, at least, part of it. With this money I will rear throughout the breadth and length of the land, palace like schools, 1 will furnish thcin with the rich- est school apparatus ; I will supply tlieni with plenty of maps, globes, charts, etc,, etc.; I will make them real rat-traps, holding out 1 he most enticing baits. You, my dear little papists, come to my schools — my Model Schools. I will soon make you asliamed of your religion, and of your Church. Come, ye littli' papists, — You, Bishop DcCharbonnel, and yon. Padre Bruyere; you are both scoundrels for oppt)sing me in my noble efforts in behalf of my Model Schools; ye are the abettors of ignorance, the promoters of darkness, for keeping your little papists from coming under my parental care. I will soon make you feel tlu; weight of my indignation, if you persist in your denunciation of my benevolent designs. By George !(^() I will deslroy your Separate Schools, and send your Brothers and Nuns to Halifax, if you do not hold your tongue and stop your pen. Behold, readtT, the real cause of the terrible roaring of the Lion of the Education O/Jice. Mr. Hiiiyern is not " the Uigati of a party," but, " a fot'blo Echo." Lastly, I am charged with being the representative and organ of a party. When Dr. Ryerson uttered this, he said what is untrue, and what he knew to be untrue. Unlike our neighbours, Catholics are not split up on any question of vital importance. On the question of education, as well as on any subject of equal weight, we are not divided into a thous- and factions. J\o : we are united in one compact body, animated by the same feeling, guided by the same views. I avail myself of this opportunity to inform the worthy Superintendent of Education, that I am but a feeble echo of that mighty voice of 1,150,000 Roman Catholics, which, thunder-like, resounds from Sandwich to Gaspe, from the shores of our beautiful lake to the farthest northern boundaries. With one ac- cord, one mind, pastor* and people, demand notXhe abolition of Common Schools, as Dr. Ryerson would fain charge us with doing. We ask no favor, we ask our rights. We ask that we may be permitted to fulfil our duty towards our children, without tantalizing interference. Cath- olics ask to be let alone in the management of their free, independent and voluntary Schools, (b) They ask not to be compelled to send their children to houses of education against which they have conscientious objections. They ask that they be not taxed, and that the common funds of the coun- try, viz.: the secularized reserves, be not devoted exclusively to the sup- port of either church or .school, to which, as Catholics, they have con- scientious objections. They ask not to be compelled to contribute to the support of a system of education from which they can derive no benefit. With State Schools we will have nothing to do; we don't want them for ourselves. Let those who are satisfied with their working and fruits, enjoy them to their heart's content. Such is our position, such our principles. Will Dr. Ryerson see in them alien aggressions against his Common School System } Will he again charge us with an hostile intention against his Model Schools .'' (a) Be-au-ti-ful ! How the Leader's friend swears, and with such " marked dignity of style," as per Leader's certificate of same date ! (6) Yes! Canadian Catholics demand freedom from the tantalizing interference of " foreign priests :" freedom of enjoying theirs and their fellow- citizens' schools— the National Schools of Canada. ive mo, at oadlli and h the rich- )M, globes, the most iooIm — my on, and of lurbonnel, ling me in ibettors of nist.s from he weight )enevolent , and send ngue and roaring of »> of a party. 1 what he ft split up ication, as o a thous- imated by ilf of this that I am Catholics, the shores h one ac- Common V^e ask no to fulfil e. Cath- ndent and r children (bjections. the coun- 3 the sup- lave con- ule to the o benefit. t them for nd fruits, such our gainst his intention style." as per ngn priests :" i. 68 A plain statement of laots and foiei^^n advioet From the above plain statement of our views and objects, the public may be able to judge of the amount of truth contained in the following senseless exclamation of the Chief Superintendent : — "i will not consent to Mr. Brnyere's ivresting from the hands of a Protestant child his Bible — the hf'st chart of his civil liberly^ as well as his best directory to heaven." Dr. Ryerson need not fear. Rev. Mr. Hruyere has never interfered with the conscientious belief of any one. Nor will he remain silent when the Chief Superintendent of Education, isiiiolding (he bait to entice the Cath- olic children into his schools, and (exclaiming incessantly, — "Money, money ; more money ! " " Dr. Ryerson is a very expensive luxury," says a contemporary. Therefore 1 have advised our Municipalities to withhold from him the Clergy Reserve funds. Catholic teachiri',' in Common Schools, and the "Chinese Rebellion." Before I conclude this already too long rejoinder, I beg leave to ex- press my astonishment at Dr. Ryerson's dragging before tlu; public, and without the consent of those concerned, his long correspondence between himself and some other persons. I believe that many will agree with me, when I say that it has about as much to do with the question at issue between Dr. Ryerson and myself, as the Chinese rebellion. Mr. Bruyere on "Stays." The next suggestion I wish to make, is that desperate must be the cause which has to be propped up with such miserable stays as the Globe. (c) Dr. Ilyerson's experjenf;c' ought to have brought to his recollec- tion, that every cause or measure advocated by such a wretched sh(!et, is doomed to fall. Were the prosperity of State Schoolism identified with the prosperity, religious feeling and wish of the people, the Globe would never have raised its impotent voice in its behalf. Should it not be too late, I avail myself of this opportunity to offer to the worthy Chief Superintendent of Education, the compliments of the season. That he may see many returns of the same, free however, from prejudices against his fellow Christians, is the earnest wish of his de- voted friend and sincere admirer, J. M. BRUYERE. Toronto, Jan. 5, 1857. P.S.— I hope Dr. Ryerson will excuse me if I have not answered his reply of the 24th ult. sooner. The Christmas Holidays, which are busy times for us, are the sole cause of the delay. No. 15. Dr. Ryerson's Second Reply to the Rev. J. M. Bruyere. The Leader's pattern of a controversial style. In the Leader of Wednesday, the 7th instant, the Rev. J. M. Bruyere has addressed to the conductors of the Press in Canada, a second long letter against myself and the Common School System in Upper Canada. It is a professed rejoinder to my reply to his previous attacks ; but instead of sustaining the positions he first assumed, and supporting the charges he first made, he virtually abandons every one of them, and occupies three (c) Ah ! but what of the Leader ! Is there not an antithesis in the potency of its organic " stay ?" 64 columns with miscellaneous declamation foreign to tiie subject, witii pitiful misrepresentations of my words, and gross personalities, which accord so entirely with the tastes and feelings of the Leader as to be regarded by by him as a pattern of controversial style. But as I have not rhoujjjht it worth wliile to norice any of the many characteristic attacks which have been made upon me by the Leader during the last year or two, nor the previous personalities of Mr. Hruyere ; so neither must I now suffer my- self — however strong the temptation — to do more than show how com- pletel V r.iie School System of Upper C.inada, and its ndministration, stand vindicated against the insinuations of the Leader{d) and the attacks of Mr. Bruyere. With the L^tu/er and Mr. Bruyere I mjiy but merit the epithets of " falsehood," and ot being a "Hypociiie son of John Wesley;" but 1 leave it to the intelligent reader to susjgest the groiihds on which others than the Leader and Mr. Bruyere may regard me as entitled to the treat- ment of common decency, if not of gentlemanly courtesy. Mr. Bniyere's Charges— lie iibaiulons the first. Mr. Bruyere's first letter contained four principal charges. The_^r5/ WHS, ttiat Sfparate Scliool.s were excluded from the provision which had been made for supplying the public schools with maps and a[)paratus — that Catholic children must learn geography by travelling round the world, rnd astr niomy by looking up at the stars. In reply, I shewed that there was not Oiily the same provision for su iplying separate as public schools with mips and apj)aratus, but that many oooar,.te- Schools had been provided with them by me, and among oihers those in lliet/ityof Toronto itseli'. What docs Mr. Bruyere uoa say in support of this grave and excit- ing charge? Not one word; H.ni\ by thus abandoning it in silence, he tacitly confesses its utter groundlessness. Restriction as to Clergy lieserve Moneys abandonoil. The ,scco?k/ charge \vhich Mr. Bruyere preferred was, that by a clause which he represented me to have got inserted in the Clergv Reserve Moneys Disfibution A;;t, Separate Schools weie expressly excluded from sharing in the advantages of the application of those tnoneys for the pur- ciiase of maps, appar;>tus and libr.o'ies. On the contrary. J maintained that there was no such exclusive or restrictive clause in the Clergy lie- serve Act, much less had 1 suggested it. What does Mr. Bruyere now say in suppon of this grave charge and alleged grievance ? NoL one word — thereby admitting its groundlessness also. Mr. Bruyere's "unintentional" mistake abont Catholic Books. A ^//mZ charge made by Mr. Bruyere was that I had inserted in the catalotjue of books for public libraries, Hume's and Gibbon's Histories, and U'Aubigne's History of (he Reformation^ whilst I had excluded Litigard's Anglo-Saxon Church, Gah-din^sC/iurrh History^ and the History of the Chinrh, by keeve. In refutation of this charge, I shewed that Hume and Gibbon's ijistories were not in the Index Expurgatorius, and therefore ought not to be objected to by Mr. Bruyere — that D'Aubigne's History of tJie lieforma- tion was not in the catalogue, while the three histories mentioned by Mr, Bruyere as having been excluded, were all contained in the catalogue, and in addition to these histories, the catalogue contained Lingard's His- {d) 'Tis r.atlMT Htrniitro to fiud tlie "writinT olHoial " of tlm Government joininK with the denouncers of the National School System. Wonder " wrat's in the wind ? " 66 tory of England^ Mylius' History of England, Fredet's Ancient History^ and Fredet's Modern History — all standard Roman Catholic histories, and all inserted on the recommendation of Bish^^j de Charbonnel himself, on my application to him. What justification does Mr. Bruyere sef up for such scandalous charjj;es? None whatever, and the only apology he makes is that "his mistake was quite unintentional !" {e) I have to observe in reply, that neither the public nor myself are concerned with Mr. Bruyere's intentions, but with his statements, which are shewn to be un- founded in regard both to what they deny and what they assert of a printed catalogue .of books and a system of libraries affecting the whole country, and a(lo[)ted by the Council of Public Instruction — a Council composed of gentlemen of the highest honour, intelligence and integrity. (/) Mr. Bruyere does not like the correspondence on Catholic teachings in Common Schools. The fourth and last principal charge preferred by Mr. Bruyere was, that in the Common School System, Christianity was not recognized — that the schools were godless and infidel — and that I was employing every means in my power to injure and destroy the Roman Catholic Church. In reply, I simply gave an official correspondence that had recently taken place between Mr. Bruyere and myself, which disproved his statements and charge in every particular. What now is Mr. Bruyere's dei'cnce of such statements and imputations? His only defence is, that the corres- pondence ought not to have been made public, and has nothing to do with the subject I iMr. Brnyere's Four Charges disprovcul or abandoned. Thus have Mr. Bruyere's lour principal arguments and charges been disproved, and shown to be entirely groundless. It now remains for me to dispose of some of his miscellaneous statements. Mr. Bruyere on Hume and Gibbon. 1. He says: — "The Chief Superintendent of Rducation asserts that neither Gibbon nor Hume are to be found in his libraries." I asserted nothin;i of the kind : my argument was the reverse. I said they were not in the Index Exp>irfi;at()rius — showing thereby that Mr. Bruyere had no authority to object to th^m, 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 fjilse- hood." (.(/) His ' intentions' about othnr Books. 2. Mr. Bruyere says : — " I repeat again, on the authority of the cata- logue before nie, Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures on the principal Doctrines of the Catholic Churchy are not in the catnlogue." Who ever said those lectur s were in th(» catalogue ? I said expressly that all con/roversial works, whethiM- Protestant or Roman (Catholic — and, I may add, Episcopa- lian, Prcshytorian, Baptist, or Methodist — were excluded from the lii)raries, as inconsistent with their objects ; and, therefore, such works as the above denouncers (<') That is, ho made assertions about matters of which he know nothing; and when found out and cxiioseil, of course it was "(luiti' uuinteutiouiil!" and the /,<■«(/<';• petted him is a " pattern controversial wrilcr." {/) Of wliich Bishop Cliarlionnel is oni>. (7) Happy Mr. IJruvere! The "independent and nohlo." of eonrse, ennld see notliiuK wrong in your false slatcinonts about Catliolic histories •.—besides, a complimentary toucli covers a multitude of sins. 66 mentioned lectures of Cardinal Wiseman, as well as Bossuet's Variations, had not been, and could not be admitted, any more than the masterlj' Prolestant answers to them. But, on the contrary, to rrove that the Roman Catholic rinthors, as such, had not been excluded, I showed that Cardinal Wiseman's fjedures on the Connection hctiveen Science and Rev (lied Religion, aud Bossuet's Universal History^ li-d been inserted in the catalogue. Mr. Bruyere say? he did not allude to these lectures of Cardinal Wiseman. J have to remark, 1 can only judge oi" what he in- tended 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 Cardinal Wiseman's Lectures on the Connection 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. Why there are not more Catholic Books in the Catalogue. 3 Having thus refuted every specific charge made by Mr. Bruyere, relative to the selection of books for the public libraries, 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 iMiglish ; and that if a larger number of such authors i- not given in the catalogue, it is simply for the reason assigned by Cardinal Wiseman, when I a{)plied to to him for the names of them — they do not exist, and cannot, therefore, be inserted in the catalogue. It" nine-tenths, or nineleen-twentioths of the works in the English language, on civil polity, political economy, progress of societ}', science, arts, manufactures, every branch of natural history, and human industry, as well as works of taste, literature, and t'le imagina- tion, are productions of Protestant authors, public libraries embracing those subjects — and not questions of controversial divinity- must be pro- portionally composed of the works of such authors. And it is a blessing for which we cannot be too thankful, or value too iiighly, 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 followed upon the footprints of mental liberty, as to produce such vast treasures of knowledge, such abundant sources of enter-- tainment, and such powerful levers of social advancement, for ourselves and for our children. What would the Briti.-?h empire be without them .-' Spain and Italy can answer. Mr. Bruyere's Quotations from Laing, for which see page 16, ante. 4. Mr. Bruyere has written and quoted much to show the immorality of the School system in the United States, and has re-produced Bishop Da *^;harbonnel's quotations from the traveller Laing (not a clergymeii) on schools in Italy. If so much crime exists in the States of North America, where there are systems of public schools, the States of South America show how much worse woidd 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 Bishop dc Charbonnel, I have disposed of the quota- (h) Ah 1 where was the Leader 7 Could that be the model " stylo " of argument ? \i7'iations, masterlj' that the >\ve(l that ience and iserted in ?ctures of iut he in- tures," in . I proved Viseman's igion — his idapted to . Bruyere, ay remark n Catholic works are ^lish ; and logue, it is a{)plicd to therefore, L'ths of the V, progress i story, and imagina- ernbracinc; 1st be pro- blessing t since the e lethargy a,rk ages," erty, as to s of enter-- ourselves out them ? 'e. m morality ed Bishop ergymsii) of North s of South ose States Kit, in four hat in the published the quota- 67 tations from Laing — a correspondence fresh in the recollection of the public, though it appears not so in that of Mr. Bruyere. Conscientious Convictions against the Schools lately manufactured to order. 5. Again, Mr. Bruyere says — "The Creed of Catholics is termed by Dr. Ryerson, ' Conscientious Convictions manufactured to order.' So far from there being a particle of truth in this statement, my whole letter proved that in the s'^hool 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 Protestant denomination in Upper Canada. I spoke not of the creed of Roman Catholics, which has existed for centuries, but of convictions produced against our public school system, uy the infusion of a new foreign element since the days of Bishi ps i\lcDonell and Power, and with which a large portion of the Rom.in Catholics have no sympathy, {i) My words were as Ibllows • " I should falsify the whole of my past life, and despise myself, were I not scrupulous to protect ihe rights and feelings of Roman Catholics equally with those of any or all other classes of the com munity. It is certain of their own ecclesiastics who have inflicted upon them burdens and disadvantages which their fathers had not to bear in the days of Bishop McDonell and i'ower, who l)ave made that a mortal sin at a municipal school election, which v , formerly 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 Air. Bruyere speaks, have been manufactured toordcf, as also the mortal sins which are charged upon some Roman Catholics.'' It is thus clear tluit I had no more refer- ence to the creed of the Roman Catholic Church, than to that of any Pro- testant Church, but to injunctions against the public schools which have been laid upon Roman Catholics in the Uiocese of Toronto, by their bishop, and which Mr. Bruyere has misnamed "Conscientious Convictions of Catholics'' — but convictions of which Catholics knew nothing until the in- fusion of the new foreign element, and which are as abhorrent to the feel- ings of a large portion if not the great majority of Catholios, as they are inconsistent with their dignity as men, and their rights as Christians and citizens. Bishop Power was a Frientl of Common Schools. 6. Mr. Bruyere has attempted to prove that the lamented Bishof) Power entertained the newly imported views on the subject of separate vetsus the public schools. As well might he attempt to prove that light is dark- ness. Bishop Power acted as a member and Chairman of the Provincial Board of Education up to within less than a week of his deafh, advised upon and concurred in all the regulations relative to the Normal, Model and Common Schools of Upper Canada :( /) the selection of text books, &c., &c., was honored after his decease by an unanimous resolution of the Board as to his character and services, and afterwards eulogized by me (who was absent at the time of his death) in a public and published address. As wtU might Mr. Bruyere have the boldness to attribute his sentiments to all the (t) Ayol au'l nimor tolls of a stroiiic aiita'jonism botwoon Bishop Charbonnol and ft distinguished rela- tive of one of these Canadian liisiiops, on this very question. ( i) And one of his most urgent api)ftals to the Municipalities!, in belialf of the Norina! Sehool, was that it would bJ " tiio means of providing all the Schools of the Province with native teachers, trained for tha country, as well as in it," 68 other members of the Board, including myself, as to ascribe them lo Bishop Power. Nay, the ideas as well as " convictions," as to the mortal sins of sending children to the public schools, or voting for a school trustee, or councillor, or legislator, except at the order of the Bishop, have been man- ufactured since the days of the lamented Bishop Power, to the surprise, and reproach and injury of the Roman Catholics, as well as to the disturbance of the peace, and hitherto harmonious educational progress of the country. Mr. Bruyere's opinion of the majority of tlie Catholic laity in Canada. 7. In reply to my assertion that Roman Catholic children who have been aught in the mixed schools, are as good Roman Catholics as those who have been taught in the separate schools, Mr. Bruyere delivers him- self as follows : — " On the authority of the oldest and best informed Catho- lic clergymen of Canada, 1 am able to assert that, with a few honorable exceptions, these sound Roman Catholics, educated in mixed 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 are not. Considers them Half Heathens ! They are Catholics in name, Protestant, or half heathen in practice, (k) They are Protestant to all intents and purposes. Therefore we can well afford to give them up to the Chief Superintendent of Education. They are as Catholic and Protestant as himself." Now as the separate schools are only recent, and few and fVir betAveen in Upper Canada, it follows that ninetecn-twentieths if not ninety-nine hundredths of the Roman Catholics who have received any education in Upper Canada, have been educated in the mixed schools ;(?) and Mr. Bruyere him.sell admits that all of them, with a few exceptions, are of my views, and not of his, on the system of public schools. This is a conclusive though unwitting testimony, that the newly imported dogmas and assumptions of Bishop De Charbonnel and Mr. Bruyere, are as alien to the views and feelings of the great majority of the Roman Catholics, as they are subversive of their rights and social inter- ests. According to Mr. Bruyere there was no sound Romanism in Tinner Canada betore the recent importations, and there are no sound Roman Catholics out of the assumed, 150,000 bearing that name, save the "few honorable exceptions" that bow their necks to the new yoke, and their un- derstandings to the new vocabulary of saintly virtues and mortal sins, which have been Utely manufactured for the perfection of their humiliation and en- slavtiii(^nt.(m) In the past dxiys of Bishops McDonell and Power, and their clergy, — who like them had grown up under British Institutions and knew by privations, experience, and labors, how to sympathize with the wants, circumstances, and interests of their people, — it ^ippears, on Mr. Bruyere's authority, the Roman Catholics were only so in name, while they v/ere "half-heathen in practice'' as are their successors at the present day* whom Mr. Bruyere gives up, by wholesale, to the Chief .Superintendent of Edu- cation. (A) Coiiiplimentar.v, certainly, to tho laity of his Cliuifli.-hocausc tlicy dnro to act upon their own conviotioiis, iustoad of those luaiiufaeUii-ad for thoir uso by the " new olpnicut." (/) And cnntiiiiie to be so educated. Tho " torcian olomput " lias only b:>on able to forrr the ostablish- mont of sehools in about 40 or 50 niunieipalitit'S, leaving nearly KHi, containing about .'iOllO school division.s uninfluenced. (r») So, then. Mr. Bruyere is not the " humble reproscntrtivc." In fact, by Iiis own showing, ho is in- dignantly repudiated bv an enormous majority, and can only speak for " the few exceptions" that yield to the " foreign clement. m 69 lo Bishop rtal sins of trustee, or aeen man- rprise, and isturbance e country. ida. who have 8 as those vers him- led Catho- honorable liools, may nse of the ss of their 'actice. (k) e can well on. They ite schools bllows that 1 Catholics [ducated in hem, with of public the newly 1 and Mr. )rity of the ocial inter- in Tinner II h! Roman the "few I their un- sins, which ion and en- r, and their and knew the wants, Briiyere's they were day, whom nt of Edu- iipon their own r the ostnblish- cliool divisions, wiiip, ho Is in- ■> " that yield to Dr. Ryerson accepts the Charge of the " Half Heathens " I will cheerfully accept the charge, and treat this large class of my fel- low citizens with the same consideration and solicitude that I have always shewn for their welfare as well as for their rights — knowing that neither is consulted by the party of Mr. Bruyere, a FalstafF company, by his own confession, of "a few honorable exceptions" in the gi cat body of the Ro- man Catholic community ; and the sequel will show, whether the great m>' jority of the Roman Catholic youtli tjiught ir the public schools in connection with their fellow couiilrymen, will, like many of their pioneer predecessors, sland in the first rank of the intellectual, distinguished, and prosperous men of their neighbourhood nnd coun- try ; or whether such distinction will attach to the •' few honourable excep- tions" of those and their children, whom Mr. Bruyere's party shail isolate from all that is progrei^;s'.ve, elevating, and inv:gorating in the country — shall teach the new catalogue of mortcil sins, with their accompanying "Conscientious convictions," that all Protestants «re infidels — general knowledge, poison — and Great, Britain t!ic most mfidtl and execrable empiie on earth. The now Forei;iii Element iutriuling upon Caiuidian rights — Neoes.«ity for confronting llmTi. The assumptions of this new foreign element in our country might not requir(! public notice, wei-e they conlined t(.) thtir unfortunate victims ; but when they are made the cloalc o!' assailing public law and its administra- tion ; when they presume to command nnd denounce in the Council Cham- ber of Government, and in the halls oi Legislation, and givo peremptory orders, enforceil with pains and penalties, at every political, municipal and school elecddon throughout Upper Ca,nada ; when they se(d< to defame and destroy every inslitulion and agency I- a- iho diifiision of general education and knowledge, and even demand state support to teach that the great majority of the inhabitants of the state and their inlitutions are infidels and infidel a;i,eucies — enemies ol Gotl and man; when they become an active element of party in regard to every public man, and every public question, and public ineasiire, whether in the Provincial Government, or in the Local iMuiiicipality, and thus aim ,it controlling or dstroying every man, and every instittilion in the land, — iIh y liien reach a crisis of invas- ion which can no longer be evaded, but must ')e confronted by every man, of every rank and j)arty who values liberry of action, word, or thought just government, and free, institutions. {») Mr. l^rayere's ;^r^'< opinion tluit tlie parent not the state slioiild control. 8. Finally, passing over many })etty misrepresentations, I must say a word on that great doctrine or moral and political science flippantly pro- pounded by Mr. Bruyere in the following s;-.ntencr.=s ; — "To the parents, not to tlie ISlate, the child belongs: so, at lea^^t. the God of law and nature proclaim.-. Fr<.»m the parents what power on earth can snatch him ?" (o) The theory thus 1 tid down is that the parent has everything atid the State nothing to do with the child. — the one is paced in opposition to the cither (ii) \vc' iiiiil itis on aocDimt of till" vorv IVoimicss of (itir iiisl iliitioiis, tli.it tlif " forciti;ii (>lcni<'iit " iii- tnidcs uiinii 1)1 ivil' ws hen; which are doiiii^d in otli.T lands, and which, by inlicr. nt right, iicrtinn only to tlio snhjccls of a free St;itc. (o) Xiiorcforc Uio Chnnh. " a powcron earth," has no riiiht to iiilorforn with the parents, ov to nianufac- tare " consciiMilions convictions" \\,r them; nr even i.i wliispcra fearful catalogue ot mortal sins. .\li 1 Lciuhr, see wh.at you lo>t hv being called •' noble and indoiicndent !" N 70 a dangerous error, and practical absurdity. By the State is meant the whole body of the people united under one government ; and in the best organized Citate the interests of the whole community are binding upon each member, and the strength of the whole community is exerted for the protection of each member. What are the acknowledged relations of the Stale? The State, therefore, so far from having nothing to do with the children, constitutes their collective parent, and is bound to protect them against any unnatural neglect or cruel treatment, on the part of the in- dividual parent, and to secure to them, all that will qualify them to become useful citizens of the State. Thus if the individual parent should starve, maim, or murder the child, would not the State, or collective parent, have somt.hing to do in regard totho child? Has not the State had something todoforthe protection of factory children in England — to protect them against the 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 hodi/ of the child, has it not by a stronger reason, something to do with the child's inind also, — to sec thnt it is not starved, maimed and con- verted into an enemy and danger to the State, ijistead of being an intelli- gent and useful member of it ? Duty of the state to educate, Now our Public School system, instead of exceeding the legimate pow- er of the State, or of the whole people in their collective capacity, in regard to the child, conies short of it. HiiseJ upon the principle that individ- ual ignorance is the public evil, the State or whole peo;,)le provides for its removal and prevention by establishing schools for the education of all the children, — reservitis^ to their individual parents, the supreme control as to their religious instruction, ^^'it the State or collective people should pro- ceed a step further, and see, not only that provision is made for the instruc- tion of each child, \>i>\ that each cliild should recieve somewhere a certain amount or (certain period of instruction, — that if an individual parent should be so unnatural as to dep^rive his children of their divine and human birth- right of mental food a;ul ciorhii'g, and therefore mental growth and power, and starve and maim ihera by cruel neglect or aliuse, the State or col- lective parent shoul I interpose for the protection of such helples- children — worse than orphans — and save them from such irreparable wrongs and injuries. This is a power with which the State through the several muni- cipalities of the land should he invested — a power with which I proposed to invest them by a draft of hill and communication submitted to govern- ment 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 Grand Jury, the other in a still more recent address to the Canadian Insitute. Thus the State or collective people, is the helper of every good, and es- pecially of every poor parent, in the education of his children and the legitimate guardian of children against the cruel neglect an;l M-rongs of bad and unnatural parents. Mr. Bruyere's second opinion, that the Church not the parent should control. But Mr. Bruyere says the State, or society at large, through any of its organs or agencies, has nothing to do with the child — the individual parent is absolute. Yet how does this pretext set up to exclude a cla^s of children 71 meant the 1 the best Jing upon ed for the ■with the )tect them of the in- to becoine ild starve, rent, have jomething tect them them the luch to do hing to do I and con- an intelii- nate pow- pacit^^, in it individ- es tor its of all the trol as to ould pro- e instruc- a certain nt should lan birth- power, or col- lildren — ongs and ral muni- proposed govern - by two ;i Grand Insitute. and es- and the rongs of ntrol. ly of its l1 parent children from the public schools accord with the practice of his party ? Bishop de Charbonnel and Mr. Bruyere say to the State, you have no business or concern with tlie ( ducation of children, especially one class of them — they belong absolutely to their jjurents ; and then turning to those parents they say, those children are not yours, but ours ; (p) and if \ ou send them to the public schools to which you have been accustomed, you are guilty of mortal sin, yru shall be deprived of the ordinances (if the church ; and if you, or your children die, you shall be buried like doss. This is what Mr. Bruyere calls "freedom of education" — a depotism in the Slate over the State, — a depotism in 1 he family over the parent — a surrender of the rights and functions of both the State and the parent to a clerical absolu- tism under which humanity writhes and society retrogrades. In conclusiot), I beg to call the attention of public men of all parties to the following important facts : — The school system unassailable. 1. That every charge against our school system and its administration as partial or unjust in regard to school appropriations, libraries, or maps and apparatus lor schools, has utterly failed ; and to persevere in hostility when the grounds are shown to be false, shows that the object is not truth, not the diffusion of education or knowledge, not equal rights and privileges among all classes, but immunities, and powers inconsistent with the rights of individual municipalities, or constitutional government itself. No argnmenl attempted by the ultra Moiitanists. 2. That though in my last Amnial Report, \ have explained the Chris- tian and fundamenlal principles of the school system, its perfect impartia- lity to all parties, the peculiar indulgences to Roman Catholics, and the unconstitutional and subversive character of the new demands of the party of Bishop de Charbonnel and Mr. Bruyere ; yet has not Mr. Bruyere, nor one of the newspapers in h'S interest, attempted to combat one of the prin- ciples, facts, or arguments of tiiit Report, but they have sought to divert attention from their own pretensiims and the great principles of the school system, by reiterating groundless imputations against it, and making yross attacks up m me — yet cincealing from their readers my answers to those attacks. ('7 ) No oiler.ce to eonseieneo '^iven in the common schools. J{. That the o(t repeated attempt to show the inequality of the Sepa- rate Sc.ool previsions of the law, has been so thoroutihiy ' xposed as to be apparently .ibandoned ; nor ha- Mr. Bruyere adduced, or attempte4 to ad- duce, a sin^-le {'(.t to show that anything is taught or done in the public schools to pi'oselyt"' Roman Catholic children, or that is inconsistent- with the wishes of their parents ; nor has he !)een able to fix upon a single par- tial or disobliging act in my administration of the department during the last ten years even towards my assailants ; so much so, that the chief burden of his charg.'S against the public scho'Ms now amounts to little more than the society of Protestant children, against associating with whom "consci- entious convictions" are pleaded; and for Roman Catholic children to be (p) Wlifw ! "S\y. UniyiMi— didn't— exactly- -moan— that ! Tlii' statement was i)urely " unintentional! I" Wliero was tlu> Lcinlcr.' (q) IVrhaps thofrrand aljjoet of all Uii-so ti'ados of this nt'W "foreiKn ulenient," is to court nutsidc con- troversy, hi'oauso the insidi! coniijulsioii of " mortal sins " and )ial(!nted •' coavictions" fail to crush tiio sytnpat'lues of Canadian Catholics for the pahlic institutions of their country. '». m \,'W 72 taught, or habituated to regard them otherwise than as little infidels, and their religion as infidelity, would be •' dangerous to faith and morals !" But yet instead of proceeding quietly with their own Separate Schools, the • conscientious convictions" of Mr. Bruyere and his party seem to prompt them to do liltle more than assail the public schools, and every measure adopted I'or their efficiency and usefulness, (r) Conclusion. — Practice of Free Countries in regard to Education. 4. That in in ever} eulightened country provision is made by the State for the education of youth — that in every lice country where there is no political connection between Church and State, there has, without excep- tion, provision been made for the education of all classes of its youth, with- out respect to any sect or iiierarchy — eqV'.ally protecting the rights of all parties, but [)jrmittingthe exclusion o c'li'^tion of none. In every such country, there always have been indivr "^ als, especially individual ecclesi- astics, who, advocatino; the connection .jtwet : Church and State, have assailed the moral character and t<;ndency of aii scIkjoIs and educational systems not carried on through the Church, I'amphlets, statistics, and appeals without end are put forth to sustain these forlorn hopes of Church and State yearnings. In the neighbouring States such publications are no longer heeded ; the people prsjceed with the education of their children, regardless of theeiFortsof these ecclesiastics to usurp the control ot it from (he right- ful parents. In the statistics of crime these partizuns never inform you howjnaiiy of the youthful culprits have attended the public school, and how many have never been in a school — that in the cities of the United States, as in Toronto and other Caniulian towns, the crian'nals are those who have been kept from th? schools^ — seldom or never those who have rei^rularly attenried the scliools — that, tlid all the children attend the schools, there would be a great decrease inslend of increase of juvenile crime. The sys- tem of popular education in Up[)er Canada differs from that of any other state in America, not merely in the fact that the chrgy of all religious persuasions are recognized as c(;-work('rs, and that Christian [)rinciples and feelings in the highest and largest sense, pervade the text i>ooks used in the schools; but in that Ihe parents of each municipality without inter- fering with the rights or scruples of any individual, can make tlieir school as religious as they please, in reuard to both excercises and instruction ; in that every possil)le ficility :;nd issistance are given ihem to do so, but no compukion is attempted in matters of religion, any imre than in regard to the establishment of scliools thi.mselvcs ; not a scliod or library can be es- tablished, iioraa article of school apparatus procured, without local volun- tary municipal action. Tlie school taxing |)ovver rests exclusively with the inhabitants of each municipality to provide for the education oi their children; the woi'king of tiie system is lor the p ;ople a practical .••chool of liberty as well as a potent niu>ans of education and kno\vled^ ish to gratify the < (id notions <.»l in)' wortl-y antagonist, I cannot as yet let him Ii:/vc his own way. His last communication to the public, in ilic Leader ol the Itith instant, ctinfains so much tliat is false, foreign to the subject, unfair, with the usual ainoi.nt ot sophistical Ryer- sonism pi rvading the wh(de, that I fct 1 r^^ducianlly compelled lo give his reverenofc another lecture on candour and honesty. Dv. I'ycrson wa he first to raise the war whoop, by addressing to the Muiiicipaliiies his i.ju dicicus circular, Vvhicli has been well characteiized by a co'emporr y, a^ " a document trau.^iht w;th the rno;4 consummate presumption and re- flecting directly upon the capacity and intelligence oi all the Municipali- ties of this section (.f the country." Again represents the Cireidar as '' diL'tatiou,'" but gives his advice Regardless of the fact thai the moneys accruing iVum the secularized Clergy Reserves, were to become the common stock ; alike the firoperty of Protesii.nts ar.d Cailndles, i.>r. Ryerson aftcinp'sto dicTafe to our intel- liii-ent iMuiiicipaiiti(\s in Upper Canada, how they should cx[)rn:i the large sums uf money placed under their control. Actuated l»y let lings of a liberal nod chris:ian j ;>!icy, t' e- municipal cor[)orations think il; but just and right, to eustribui.e them -imong the whole commuidty, without any reference to party, cieed'or n:itionality. The Cliiet Superintendent of Educatio!;, i'l a sjaril o: nari'ow-mindodness and hostility, to the l,ir)0,000 Catholics scattered ovci- this Province, seeks to disfranchise; ihem from their share in the Clergy Reserves, by calling up;.M the ?,iunicipalities to ap[)I.y these resourcess not lo ocneral pm'[)oses, as originally intended by the Legislators who [ ;;ssed the Act of Secularization, hiM to his Schools and Libraries, t) tlK> j^urchase of books, maps, globes, charts, and other school appaiatus from M'iach Catliolies can elcrive no moi'e benefit than the Hot- tentots of Southern A'.rica.(.s') I may he permitted to repeat, that Catholics have conscientious objections le) the Common School sysfeu), and tu the Pubic Libraries, c-.'inpe>sed ahrnxst exclusively of Protestant books. Of the validity of e)ur ■' cos)scientie>us objections," of course, no secular tri- bunal, Moi. ev^n the Chief SuperinteiKlcnt of Eilucation, can take cog- nizance, without thereby vieduti g the riolits of conscience. And suyy that Oatholios are excluded from sharing, Should the p w^ell the peevish character of the old Dame sitting at the corner of the domestic hearth, fretting, wrangling, and scold- ing all those who come in her way, and ditler from her views. Why my sensitive antagonist should thus give way to his tem})er, I ain at a loss to understand. Mr. Bruyere concludes that mazes and wanderings are wrong. I repeat it again ; all these mazes and wanderings have nothing lo do with the question at issue. Had Dr. Ryerson confined himself within the debated point, his long communication, extending to tioentij-three foolscap {w) AtuI tlic institution of French bayonets for teaching liow they are all to be used, and " authority respected." {x) If Separate Schools receive " city taxes," why not also the city's maps and books, if bought with funds to wliich all have contributed ? .'I 70 pafjes{\i) niiiiht easily huve been reduced to a lew lines more characteristic of (I acnsible man. And that ho is liound by no rule of controvorHy. IfT appeal to an iniparli.il public, I am sure they will sustain me, when I assert that 1 am not bound by any rule of controversy, to follow my slippery aiitagaiist llirougli all his intricacies and meanderings, At last Mr. Bruyero comes to the point. What is to be done with the ClurposGs, lor the benefit of idl, or shall they bo. turned to the private use of one portion of our community? Such is the ques- tion which the Ciiief Superintendent attempted to solve in his famous cir- cular addressed to the Miuiieipalilies of Upper (Canada, by dccidini;: that they should ^o) all, or at least, in p;irt. to his State Schools and I*ublic Librnries. In vain will the Doctor plead, that C-atholics may avail them- selves ot' the eommon boon, by goiny- to his Schools and drinkinjr at the spriofi: of intellectual knovvle !^^e llowinjj: from his Public Libraries. For reasons already assigned, and which will be, if nece.ssary, furl her suhmittcd to his kind consideration. Catholics can Irive, and will have, nothing to do with his Stale Schools and I'ublic Libraries. Unwilling, however, to rullle 1li(^ SL'nsitiveness of the good Doctor, I consent to humor him, for a little while, by enterinj; at once, upon the examination of the various charges contained in his last reply to my rejoinder. Sample of the Model Styh', The llev. gentl-'tnan begins by uttering a. loud shout of triumph at the viCTory won over his opponent, who, if we are to believe Dr. liyerson, has not a word to say in sup|)ort of some two or three grave charges, and alleged ;;rievances. Tins premature exultJilion ot the g(^od Doctor, will remind manv of one of the feathered tribe who sinifs her sonsj; of inhilation belure she has laid her egg. Separate Schools excluded from share ef lleserves. If-t. I asserted in my communication to the conductors of the Press in Canada, tliat Catholic Separate Schools were precluded from any share in the distribution of the Clergy Reserves Funds. I repeat the charge and challcDgt; my oi»ponent to show how Uatholics could be permitted to par- take of the connnon stock, in presence of the legislation on the subject. I reper.t again: tlie law is in our way. The Clergy lleserves Seculariza- ti> n iJill which [lasses over the funds accruing from tlieir sale to the dif- ferent Muiilcipidities is accompaiiied by a restrictiv3 clause that they shall be applied exclusively to those pui'poses for which municipal funds are applicable. But Municipalities, by a former Act of Parliament, are ex- pressly forbidden from emphjving any portion of funds placed at their dis- posal, to the use of Separate Sciiools. (~) Does it not, tiierelbrer follow, as I complained in my first ctanmunication, that '"atholics are most unjustiy cut olF from any sliare in the distribution of the above named resources. What matters it, wdiether the restrictive clause be containc d in the Secu- larization Bill, as I unintentionally staled, or in a former legislative enact- (//) (iucry, !is to tlio iiuiiibcr el' \msys in lliis letter. Aii I Li rn/cr, pray tlo lilt .' (c) Sep Dr. Rycrson's letter, p. 't.")"!!! rof.';ir(l to tliese fsiipiilyiiif; maps and lili'-jirics by C'lei'try Kesorve Fumls] the Scpiirate ScliDdls and tlie Roman. Catliolies iiic placed upon ]ireei»cly the same fodtim? as tho I'ublie Selidols, ami IlKMither elassi's of tile poi)ulatioii.'' •The "inubject. .ilariza- the dif- 3y shall ids are ire ex- eir dis- )vv, as I 5liy cut ources. ! Secu- enact- y Kcsorve ni;ns tlio o Leader " forei( of Protestiint books, lui 'er Protestaiii ag<'ncy, than Protestants have in our own Libraries. And decides upon the one alternative for our divided state. I repeat again, in the divided state ol r'hristendom, jjarticularly in Up- per Canada, Common [libraries for l)oth Protestants anrl Catholics, are an impossibility There is, therefore, but one alternative. Let every denomi- nation get up their own Libraries, and purchase books adapted to their own choice and taste. Catholics will never ask for their own ))rivate use a cent out of the lands destined for gr'neral purposes. They would cnnsider it the greatest injustice to divert to their own exclusive use what the unanimous voice of the nation has (Jeclared t'» be the common stock, the property alibe of Protestants and Catholics. The lessons and voice of an obscure member. Let me ask of the Chief Superintendent of iviucation to condescend to take from a Ca*holic 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 others as you would wish to be done by." Such is our rule, such are the principles vvhi<-h should guide and direct every Christian whose mind is not poisoned by Ryersoniaa 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 ; tliey have proved most bitter to the taste. 1 am informed on good auttiority, that lately in several localities, Protestants, in a sjjirit of conciliation towards Catholics, their fellow Christians, have already' sold out their Public Libraries, judging that these Ryersonian contrivan- ces do not meet the present want>< and taste of our community, (c) 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 tfie same conclusion, and scatter to the wind the great humbug of Dr. llyerson, viz : his I'ublic Libraries, and substitute in their place Private Libraries, better adapted to the liking of each denomination. (r) 'riioy cannot do it. occlesiastics." I f so, the above shows that the violation of law is encouraged by the " forclKn 80 I The infidel school and books. 6. I come to the fourth charge preferred against me by f he Chief Super- intendent of Education. lam accused by him of having stated "that in the Common School system, Christianity was not recognised — that the schools were Godless and infidel, and that he (Dr. Ryerson) was employing every means in his power to injure and destroy the Roman Catholic Church." Before 1 answer the charge, I beg to state that the infidel character of Dr. Ryerson's schools, is not the only objection we have to them. We object to them likewise, on the ground that the books used in his M( del Schools are not fit to be placed in the hand of a Tatholic child, nor any body else. Indeed, there is not a single text-bouk, even on natural sciences, arts, civil polity, political economy, or any branch of natural history and human in- dustry, there is not a single Protestant production of taste, literature and immagination, 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 Scliools, stands prominent among objectionable text books. Almost every page of his modern history, especially when it relates to ('atholic nations or the Catholic Church, ex- hibits instances of bigotry and scandalous perversion of truth. For instance, under the head " The Church,'' the student in history will read, " Many cir- cumstances seem to have contributed to the great ecclesiastical revolution which distinguished this century. The introductinn ,)f image irorship had been strcnunii.shj reaislcdP The above besides being a falsehood, is a direct insult offered to (catholics as rational beings. Again, in a chapter headed '• Luther," " The immediate cause of the Reformation was the grosc abuse of indulgences. In 1517, a sale of indulgences was proclaimed as the most effectual mc.ins of replenishing his (Leo XII.) treasury. By these, absolution was given for future sins, as well as for plst ; and they were convertCvl into licenses for violating the most sacred obligations." On the subject of the Council of Trent, the fbllowinsr, among other pas- sages, o.^curs. " Among the articles decreed f)y this Council to be implicitly believed are . — The celibacy o the clergy, confession and absolution, the worship of images and relics; the intercession of saints, the adoration and Immaculate -' 'onception of the Virgin Mary." Behold, reader, how history is taught in I )r. R,yerson's schools. In a book styled " Lectures on Botany," in Lecture •'>;>, under the title "Supeistitio'is with regard to the blossoming of plants.'' the reader will meet with the following pass: 'T' : "In the Romish Ciiurch, many superstitions exist with regard to certain plants which ha,)pen to blossom about the time of some saint's days. In Italy and other countries in the South of Europe, where those superstitions first originated, the dead-rettle being in blossom stems are equ;ill\ plea>ing, or rather e<|ual'v inliHer n , int'ie si::'-!! of G(.d, be he a b' liever in the iiimiutal le decrees (d'eternal lej.Tobatir'"., or n tolh-'.ver (tf the imi)os!(;r .Joe SuimIi. (c^ Or.r Ciiiiiinoii Sdiool.s are " inii)oitation<," does ii(>t like them. Our Common ScIkoI System is but an importation Irom Vaidvce Land, where il has already iir )Ujht f.jrlh its bitter fiuits, Dei^m. irreli-iion, infidelity, Know-Nothin' lay before the i)ublic the folic wing extract from a Protestant Corresi)ondent of the Catholic Citezen in a series of letters addressed by him .o the lion. John A. Macdonalil. The last letter shews that the number of children of school age, in the city, (Toronto.) is 8,884. And by Mr. Barber's Report for 1854, the average attendance in all the city free schools, was 1,570. The fact is ofiicially recorded that in a population of 8,884 children of school age, only 1,5''0 is the avera-Te daily attendance. Let us turn ".o the cost of supporting schools for the daily instruction of 1,570 children. The whole cost for the year 1855, including teacher's salaries, maps and apparatus, rents and repairs of school houses, school books, stationery, fuel and otiier expenses, including also the interest at per cent., is put down at £7,003 12s. lOd. 'J'he cost, then, says the correspondent, of a daily attendance of 1,570 children in the Free Common Schools of Toronto is £4 lOs. 4d. per liead, fi'r the year 1855. Thus, for the education of Dr. Ryerson's pupils (who seldom tail to insult a priest, when they have an opportunity) {d) the city of Toronto has to pay "four pounds ten shillings and four pence" per head. 1 have said enough. 1 trust, to convince every sensible man that the whole machinery of the Chief Suj)eri;i tiler t of Education, Common Schools and Public Libraries, are a hundjug or i'l'and imposition. Asli? \vb;)1, ;;.i*e the fruits of the Machinery. If with this enormous arn.nint of money expended in supporting what (d) Tii\viiatiiiauenc!»is tliisduo? Is i' nottot!;c sepaMtiim iiilluiMif-' vliick ch.v.e sJcparato SclmoU foster ? Siicli t.liinsH never occurred untii this new foreign elemeut commenoea Uio wan 1 , ?! '■1 84 I will not Iipsitate to call a gitrnnlic imposition, profitahir only to those immediately engaged in its managcmen; somo desirable result could be obtained, (uir citizens might, perliaps, submit in silence to this c>bnoxious burden, liut, let me ask, what are the fruits ot" our boasted School machinery? Has education, alter the llyerson lashion previnted crime ? The statistics recently published show that in a city numi)ering, 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 o,295 in 1855. His Honor Judge Hagarty, iri his late charge to the Urand .Turyat the opening of iheTor- onto City Assizes, was struck at the alarming number ot' juvenile oii'enders, and remarked : " We may naturally a^^k how such a crop of young criminals can arise in this land, boasting as it does a widely extended system of Free Schools, supported by munificent assessments on the whole property of the country. I fear the educational statistics of this city can too readily aflbrd an answer." Again, let me ask. does not this unpleasant and unwholesome state of society, convin< e every sensible man, that here, as in the neigh- bouring Republic. ?'/fv(/e;v/ cdmatiou, (li corral from rclujion, and an inaea&e of crime, are co- ex 'noting fads. Ami (juotes glnomy pictures. In presence of the above alarming I'acts, it bee- me- the duty <>f every man, every christian and eitizer, to examine where the evil lies. The able edit u- of tli(^ Tcronid Tuin's. has o' this subject the following .'-ensible remafk'-i: "If the present school systtiw has beentritd and found wanting, let us not waste time, that is most precious, in trying it again. Let us not be frightened by the cry oi" sectarianism Irom doing our duty to the rising generation. That something should be done for ttiem without delay, can- not be doubt'^.i by any on*^ who knsAVs anyUiing ol tlie youlh oi this most moral and well eiiueated cit3\" Next follows ;t gloomy jiicture drawn by this earnest and honest citizen, of tJie alartning condition of the youth in the city ot Toronto That something should be done tor the rising genera- tion is no longer doubted ; that the present sehool s\stcm cannot, will not rescue ii from the frightful abyss it is rushing into, cannot lie (juesiioned, except by those whose pecuniary intei-est is closely connecfed with thp •grand irn|>osIure. What tlien should b doie. lor that iiiieresting |»ortionof our et)mmnn!ty ? Wh \'. sliouiu "ill trt • christians lo •»!• the noble cause of tdue;i''.on ? it' I maf be a! ';'.',••, e" ,,» express my humble ()|,inioii, I will attempt to give a solutio-; tn this cciplexing probiem. Let us return to the course fiomted out by venemblt; aitiquify, and the experience of all age^. («) Let us listen to the voice ol wisd(^m and patriotism. Washington's dying injuncilon was, 'Never allow educnnon to i)e divorced from religion/' Th', sei.' n-'Jion of religion from secular uiMriiction, sisys the author of the pampiii'^t already cited, is altogether a. nos'l j)ro_'eedii(g. Tius divoiee- ment ot leligion Irom education was un'uioa.. tu our liithcrs. " Let u ■■ al! udiMit \]r. Bruyore's >cheme." Since both rtioson and cxperie'ice t( ach tha* religion anit secular educa- tion ought always to go liuid in hand, the (ju 'stion arises, how sliail this be accomplished? We are living in a c(imuiunity divided inio Viuious i.md large r-digious bodies. C;tthol;es iiiemlics of the Church cjf England, Methodists, Pi^esbyterian-^, Baptises, ('hristians of every name. When (t) AVliicI) was, to udiuati! ii ft'w, and leave ttie vast majority ij^noiant. ly to those It could be obnoxious ted School led crime ? according the police His IJonor of iheTor- oiFenders, >• criminals ■m (jf Free ?rf y ol' the (lily afford vliolesome the neigh- VI. ilia ease y (>r every The able p, ;-ensible 1 wanting, Let us not the rising ?lay, can- thi? most (Irawii by e youtli in ig genera- t. will not [Utrstioned, with thp port ion of >ble cause )j.inio;l, I us r( Uiin nee of all shino-ton's 'J religion, lor ol" the s divotoe- lar cduca- ail this be irious nnd Engl a ltd, ^ When 85 children of tho;:e numerous christian denominations are assembled together to receive instruction, shrill a Catholic p iest present himself to fcach his catecidsm ? Shall a Minister of the ('huich of Enj^land undertake tlie taslc ^ Shall v.. Methodi.'^t Preacher oiler his services ? Or shiiil a Presby- terian Minister l)e j) refer red ? All these various religious denuuiinations have their conscientious convictions which cannot be trilled with: they have (heir creed which must be respecte i. What shall we do 1 [j-t us all adojit llie scheme whieli 1 have propose i for Puhiic Libraries. Let every religions denomination havi; its own school. (/) Let reli;.;ious instruc- tion along with secular knowledg • he daily given to the anxious youth. Let the Government extend to all denominations its parental patronage, and l)estow on all an allowance ()roportioiiiate to the (hiily attendance. Then, aiitlthen only shall peace and harmony r.dgn ajL,aiii in our commnnity ; then only, shall w<^ have a moi'al youth, a. proinisiny; generation. I hope Dr. llyersoii will now uiid( rst;ind why I (.>i»ject to his Common School System. Quotes the ''gentleinuuly " .style of the l^eader. 7. In sp le of the most convineing evidence, Dr. Kyerson sejcms to be determined never to retrace a wrong step once taken, or retract an un- truth however palpal le. I presum.- his Reverence acts up to the doctrine ascribed by him to The Leader, but puf, i^i practice by himself. '' A lie once told should be stuck to." Won't believe about Eishops Power and AleDouell. Without a blush I tear, he rej^eats again that IJishops Po ^ er and McD)ne!l did not entertaiii the same views on the subject of tiie Separate versu.'i ihe (/omnion Schoo's. I L'liit before him a lettc^r Irom the Honor- able Jihn Ehnsley of Toronto, in which that gentleman stated most distinctly that H's Lordship B'shop Power did " him the honor to confide to his charge a, large share in tne working of the Catlrdic S(^parate Schools, and that he was an energetic advocate and suppoiler of (Catholic Se- parate Schools, and most resolutely opp.>sed to mixed." To this what does Dr. Ryerson answer ? Not c-e word. Of course it is easier to attest t^ian to prove, more convenient to abuse th;ui to refute a man. I am mistaken; excuse ine, reader. Behold Dr. Kyerson's answer. "After his decease, Bishop Power w'as et:dogized by me, (Dr. Ryerson) in a public and ]Hiblished address." A conclusive logic this, very much so. Mr. Bruyere does nut like some Catholics. • 8. The Chief ISnporintendent of Education had asserted in his first communication that ihe Roman Catholic children wlw:> have been taught in the mixed schools, isre as good Rom;;n Catholics, as tho::e who had been, or arc taught in the Separate ^lchools. Against liis assertion I protested most emphatically, and informed him at once, that we could easily afford to give them up to him, sini^e they are, as a general rule, as Cathol'c an.] as Protestant ;!^ himself. Whereupo ,, ta,king m-' u[> to my word, the ujood Doctor exclaims in an ecstacy of Joy : "' I will cheerfully accept the charg(% atjd treat this large class of my iellow-citizens with the same consideration and solicitude that 1 have always shown for their (/) Intarestiiis? Problem " for Mr. B. :" -A cnrtsuti district of (louutry, sav tlirce rtiilrs sqnaro, Iia.s forty childron, rt'proMMilinjf four or live (lenoiiunations; Q;(«7/-SlKm](t there Ije four or live schools or one ; and four or live tracher-i. nt (.'HO ;i-ycnr eaeh, vinil tj i^-2H) or .f:;ui» ii-year; oroiie.it £"0 or £100? 86 welfare as well as for their rights." 1 repeat again to Dr. Ryerson : he is welcome to them, he may hug ihem to his bosom till doomsday. But I cannot allow the following h\(\ assertion connected with the same sub- ject to pass unnoticed. «' Now," says his lieverence, as the Separate Schools are only recent and few and fnr between in Upper Canada, and it follows tliat nineteen-twcntieths, if not ninety-hundreths, of the Roman Catholics who have received any education in Upper Canada, have re- ceived it in the mixed scliooly." Mr. Bruyere appeals to his Satanic Majesty — Sf-parate Schools have always existed. Allow me to say, dear Doctor, with all due respect to your cha- racter, his Satanic majesty would blush at such palpable falsehood. II the Separate Schools in their present form art^ only recent, they have always existed c/e facto, whenever a Catholic settlement warranted the establish- ment of one. The Separate Schools in those days were only few and far between in Upper Canada, because Catholics themselves were few and far between. Does not Dr. Ryerson himself know that in the very days of Bishop McDonell whom he represents as being in favor of Common School Education, this saintly Prelate went all the way to England purposely to get Catholic 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 Glengary, Alexandria also in Glengary, St. Andrevr in the County of Stoimont, and Perth in the County of Lanark, had Catholic teachers, Catholic Separate Schools de facto, long before the present Separate School Act was thought of I (g) Is he not aware that a Catholic College for the higher branches o; education, was established at St. Raphaels, by the same venerable bishop, Dr. McDonell, so favorable to common education, if we are to give credit to the Chief Superintendent of Common Schools in Upper Canada ? i\'ine- teen-hundredths of the Roman Catholics, says Ryerson, who have received any education in Upppr Canada, have received it in the mixed schools. "An angel would shed tears." An angel would shed tears at such a sh imeful perversion of t»'uth, and utter absence of candor. Let me, in turn, ask Dr. Ryer.son, how long is it since the present Common School System ha> existed. How could C;itholics be educated in schools which had no existence 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 sense shme upon the Doctor's obtuse mind and give him to understand that I am speaking of his own common school system, his own godless and infidel schools, where Christianity is practically ignored ; in a word, his State Schools, but a few years since imported into our midst from Yankee land, the land of Know-N'othingism ? I hope, if the Doctor is not too tar advanced in years, he will set himself to work and study the history of his own native land, and dwell particu- larly on dates and facts connected with education. I feel great delicacy, myself an infusion of a new foreign element, in being obliged to teach ((/) If Ko, wky establish new onos ? But then, tlicse refer to only four municipalities. Where were the Separate Schools of the four hundred others, in whi("h sonic (at least) of the Falstaff company, and all the " half heathens " (about 200,000 in Upper Canada), have been •duoated ? (/i) What other schools were in existence ? If the schools were " Catholic '' in the early days, who has changed them since ? The majority of the localities named still continue Catholic, notwithstanding their " half.lieathenish" propensities. Canadiai Superint Won 9 the parei sensible greatest parliculi shouting wisdom again tli Spartfms inhabitai that on clothing enabling deems p Bef lie whetl bonnell, to give 1 Catholic Superint Reserve.' which a Instead c have bet brand mi fusion oj have pre with odi Wh( ing to d( over oui right of ribaldry give my Schools, human i every b( who, CO! tendent every m Wl "To Oives could not 1 ij) That the new id 87 rson : he ny. But ame sub- yeparafe ad a, and e Koman have re- ys existed, our cha- ir the e always ?stablish- V and far few and ery days Common England em, and ervices ? also in 1 in the hools de ! (g) Is Jucation, lop, Dr. credit to ? )\ine- received schools. of truth, on, how 1. How e at the to which ley were 's obtuse common tianity is irs since lingism ? . himself particu- 'ielicacy, to teach re wero the ny, and all lys. who has nding their Canadian History to the great native of Canada, Dr. Ilyersi*n, Chief Superintendent of Educa ion. Won't refer to his former opinions on the duties of tho parent and the State. 9 With the theory of Dr. liyerson, viz : that to tlie State and not to the parent the child ijelonirs, [ liave nothing' to o ; (i) nor, I helicve, any sensible man in Canada. The question liavinr, to set up his theory in opposition to the wisdom and hiarning of tliu rest of the world. I will merely reniind him again that we are living in a christian coimlry not among the pagan Spartans from whom he has borrowed his senshdeas schaaae fit only tor t! e inhabitants of the moon. We poor benighted Catholic?* have b«*t) taught that on i)arents (le,-'>lv.s the duty (if educating, as well as feeding, and clothing the child. The State will have sufficiently done its part, bv enabling the parent to procure for his child such an education as he deems proper. (J) Is sensitive about the " Foreign Element." Bef()re 1 conclude this already too long letter, I beg to submit to the pub- lic whether the course pursued by Dr. llyerson towards Bishop De Char- bonnell, now ab.sent from this country, and myself personally, is calculated to give him much credit. I have raised my voice in the name of the whole Catholic body to prote.st against the injustice perpetrated by the Chief Superintendent of Education in demanding the application of the Clergy Reserves Funds, solely for the use of his own schools and Libraries, from which a large portion of this community can derive no advantage at all. Instead of answering^ me in a fair and impartial discussion, or what would have been more prudent for him, instead of remaining silant, he chooses to brand me with the opprobrious appellation ten times repeated, of an in- fusion off! new foreign element. Had Dr. Ryerson kept silence, we would have proceeded with our own Separate schools, hampered as they are with odious restrictions and illiberal provisions. And the " conscientious convictions " created thereby. When I remonstrate against his reverence, at the time that he is attempt- ing to destroy them by giving to his Schools an overwhelming superiority over our own Separate Schools, I am met with a long discussion on the right of the State to educate the chi.'d, followed with the uiitial amount of ribaldry about cnnscientious convictions manufactured io •xier. When I give my reasons why we cannot allow our children to go to Dr. Ryerson'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 hostil<" to Catholics who, consequently cannot derive any benefit from them, the Chi»f Saperin- tendent of Education accuses me of aiming at controlling or destroying every man and ecery institution in the hind. The " Foreign Element " expatiates on the high-handed robbery. When I expatiate in the name of 1,1.50,000 Catholics on the injustice of («■) Gives it up, thon ! Could not inci-t his own arguments. .\.ml then tho i«ai/er. too.— Strange! lie could not find a " gentlemanly " hcadimt Cor it ! (j) That's the doctrine :— '• Parents alone must select their schools" But, then, what is to be done vrith the new idea of a " mortal sin f " 88 layini? his rapuciois lumd cm the Cler;i:y Unserve Fund, and thus ricpriv- inruyere in many forms of speech, asserts to be true in January, what Mr. Hruyere had, in as many forms asserted to be true in December. This is all the strength of the charges 89 IS dopriv- y told by III im[);ir- I by Dr. cjirtv'^sing Melliod- Engliiiid ; country, f in their ridicule iniit stiy hand of th<' pros- w Clear iioriDW a liT to pay , I iii'ght I certain id)lishing ,viiig the the per- )inder to 1, EUE. J. M. niyere's is day's •ur short ^ere had stvation, rejjoats ohimns. charac- and the speech, y forms charges and ari^Mimentation of the new foreign ecclesiastical clement against our schools and school system. Mr i{riiy(?ri)'s Mii-cclliMicoiis llt!irmilriiycre has Ix'cn abh; to cull iVom two hooks in the Library Dt'pository ndaling lo occurrences in the Roman Catholic Chui(d) in pasi ages, arc little in ci m|)arison of what may be found in the lionian (Catholic Histories, from the same De- pository, in regard to the Fathers of the Protestant Keronualion, Protest- antism generally, and every (dass of Pioiestants Mr. liruyereV renewc.'d assertions in regard to Jiishop Power, are not ol' llu- slightest weight wdien placed beside- the facts ot Bishop Power's position and j)rocced- ings in regard to onr school sysiem while lit; lived. Mr. Briiyert.''s iiiifoitiinate opinions. 3. On the theory of the Duties of the Slate, or of society at large to each ol' its mcinlK-rs— (•.■^pcndally of its htdph.'ss and unprotected m(Mn- bers — [ have but given expression to what will be I'ouiid in every standard writer on j)olitical economy or civil government on the Continent of Europe, as well as Great Ilritain and America. Tlio yum of his F.fibrts. 4 In conclusion, I have only noticed Mr nruyerc because of the posi- tion he occupies ; and wdien one thinks thai empty assertions, des|)otic assumptions, and vulgar personalili(;s that hiss through the many cohimns of his productions, constitute the whole strength in argument of the only organized ecclesiastical opposition (formed by this new foreign element in a seeiion of one rtdigions j)ersuasion) against our school syslem, \ve may be well sati.>>fied of ils soundness and integrity; and witu increased confidence and energy, may the public ])nrsuc its onward course in building up, caturingand extending a system w'ich has been devised and esiablisliod undi.'rthc auspices ot" all parlies m succesf'ive Adminis- trations and Parliaments, and sustained Iw the people at larg(> with iin- parallcd liberality, vmanimity and patriotism. E. IIYERSON. iH)\\\ .January, 1857. No. 18. Rsv. J. M. Eruyero'3 Valedictory Address to Dr. Ryerson. 7'o Ihe Conductors of the. Press in Can/da. I was ai)scnt ftoin home for n short time. On my return. Dr. Piycrson s remarks in r^ ply io my diird letter, were placed into my h;:uds. As I read IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) ^ % .»* C n% :/ £; W I 1.0 I.I ■JO ■^" lU lU 14.0 Km ■ 22 12.0 i 1.8 — 111''^ 1'-^ ^ 6" ► V] VQ / V /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSVER.N.Y. MS 80 (716) 873-4503 90 The good He has left the field of battle and of a retreating enemy. r UCU them, methought I heard the dying fire Doctor's powder is evidently exhausted, decamped to parts unknown. Mr. Bruyere is satisfied that his work is well done. 1. The Chief Superintendent of Education is pleased to re-assert that " in support of the four principal issues, which I had raised in my first letter ao-ainsi the School System and its administration, I adduce not a sin- gle f{\ct or authority, or clause of a law, but repeat assertions, &c. ate. In answer to this puerile assertion, I 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-respect, at least, and a regard for his high station, have not succeeded in makinfj; him more guarded and cautious in his works. I leave it to the public who have read my second rejoinder of the 30th ult., to judge whether I have merely asserted or proved the question at issue. Why the Irish National School System is deaounced. 2. In vindication of the objectionable character of the text books used in the Common Schools in Upper Canada, the Chief Superintendent of Edu- cation states, that they " have been prepared by the National Board of Education in Ireland, sanctioned alike by the Roman Catholic and Protest- ant authorities and members of that board." I am sorry to say, Dr. Ryerson is too frequently most unfortunate in the selection of his proofs. Were his Doctorship in the least conversant with what is going 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 denounced and warned against, as fraught with the most serious dangers to the faith and morals of Catholic youth, (k) Alluding to the Queen's Colleges established in Ireland for t'^e teaching of the higher branches of education, his Grace says: "Censured by the Holy See, and repudiated by the Irish hierarchy, the Queen's Colleges will never take root, nor permanently flourish in this Catholic country. Founded on the principle of indifferentism to religion, and placing religious doctrines, true and false, on the same footing of equality , they will never gain the confidence of the people of Ireland, who believe that there is but one faith, as there is but one baptism and one God." (/) How the policy of the Catholic EccltsiaRtics has changed. Passing to the examination of the books compiled for the special use of the Common National Schools, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin adds : — " The new hooks were to contain no special doctrine of Catholicity, and not even to mention the name of Catholic. Indeed, this plan has been carried so accurately into effect, that a pupil might, perliaps, read all the historical treatises of the National Board, without learning that there ever existed (k) And yet his prederessor, Archbishop Murray, devoted tlic last ei(?htepii years of his life to the creation and building up of that very same system ; and likewise obtained for it the sanction of tlie Pope, and the unanimous support of the Irish Catnoliu clergy and people. Bishop Charbonnel, too, in 1852, ae> clared that tlie Irish Schools contained all that he asked for. If wrong now, what about infallibility ? (I) And yet a late Irish paner says,—" Like the Nationiil Schools, the Colleges are under the ban of Rome. The Lsgate disapproves of them. The intelligent and independent Roman Catliolics of Cork and Galway have repudiated the interference of their clergy, in dictating to them as to the propriety of sending their children to the Queen's Colleges. The collection made for the Roman Catholic University in Cork and Galway may be counted in halfpence ; while tiie ' Godless Colleges ' are warmly approved and sustained." The only other Queen's College is that of liclfast. whore the Presbyterians predominate. 91 such a body as the Holy CathoUc Church, or such an Institution as that of the Roman Pontificate, which has spread the blessings of true religion and civilisation over a great part of the globe. Nay, more, in these books, the history of our country and church is almost totally ignored, and it is to be observed that, whilst in the extracts prepared for the pupils, the praises of England and Scotland are held forth in the enthusiastic language of their writers, we find in them very little to excite affection for our own dear country. Indeed, all these books bear on them the mark of the Protestant Dignitary now enjoying the See of Dublin, who could not communicate to them any of the spirit and of the faith of Ireland. Publications so devoid of every thing dear to the heart of our people, should give way to works of a diftierent character !" Next come His Grace's views on the nature and tendency of Common Education. On this subject, Archbishop CuUen says : — " Dangers may have arisen or not for the past, but the system, of its own nature, is liable to cause them, and in progress of time will cause them. The mix- ture of Protestant, Presbyterian, and Catholic teachers, cannot act benefi- cially on the mind of children, who are guided very much by the example of those who preside over them, and are too ready to embrace their opinions. The mixture of Catholic and Protestant pupils must exercise an evil influ- ence on their religious persuasions and practices. From mixed education we can expect nothing but evil. We should not acquiesce in it or encourage it." — Doctor Ryerson, who has, at different times, taken upon himself to lecture His Lordship Bishop De Charbonnel, for reminding the Catholic^ of his Diocese of their duties and rights as citizens and Catholics, will be surprised when he reads the following passage in Dr. Cullen's Pastoral : — *• The influence of the great Catholic population of Ireland should be ex- ercised in asserting their rights, and even our electors should use their votes to return men to Parliament determined and able to support unmixed education for Catholic children, and freedom of Education from State con- trol for all.'' In closing these quotations, I will add : on the vital subject of Catholic education, Catholics the world over, are one. Pastors and flock, all hold the same views, are animated by the same feelings. The above principles, as laid down by Archbishop Cullen, are but the expression of the whole Catholic Church, in England, Ireland, the United States, Canada, (m) in a word, over the whole face of the Globe. I again beg the public to judge whether I have spoken without and even against authority from my own Churchy (n) as well as against truth and reason, as Dr. Ryerson is pleased to assert in his last reply. Further on the Parent, the State and the Church. 3. On the theory of the right or duty of the State or of the parent, concerning the education of the child, I will not dwell any longer, (o) except in so far as Dr. Ryerson's assertion goes. His reverence does not hesitate to inform the public tb.at " he has but given expression to what will be found in every standard writer on political economy or civil government (m) Witness Ireland, wli^ro the National Schools and Queen's Oollegcs arc warmly supported ; the United States, where the Common Schools are (tuarded, alike by Catholics and Protestants, with a jealous watchfulness ; and our own land of Canada, where the inspiration of the same foreign spirit has branded the independent Catholic laity as "half heathens;' but all without effect— provinjr that Catholics, in free countries, think and act for themselves, and against the efforts of ultramontane aliens. (n) " The Common Schools of Ireland, justly praised in your answer." " Suffer mc to urpe our Govern- ment to give us a system which will he acceptable to us -a system which will not render the Irish here leaa agreeable than in Ireland."— if wAop Charbonnel in 1852. (o) An unhappy lubjcct. 92 h-' ii on the Continent of Europe, as well as Great Britain and America." I have repeatedly reminded the Chief Superintendent of Education, that his lonj^ jfone-by theory, concerning the rights of the State over the child, was imported from pagan LacedemaBon, and, consequently, unfit for a Christian country. If, however, my learned antagonist persists in assert- ing that he knows of no other theory on the subject — that in all his reading of works on political economy or civil government he has never met with any other — I be^j leave to say, with the deepest sorrow, Dr. Ryerson's ac- quaintance with standard works bearing on the subject of political economy, is very limited, and confined within a very narrow range of political science. This could hardly be expected from one who assumes the pretentious title of Doctor. If such be your misfortune, however, go to study again, good Doctor, and extend your reading beyond the school text-book. Open some of those masterly works which have been com- posed by the greatest geniuses of modern times, the most profound philosophers, and most consummate statesmen of the Continent of Euro[)e. Allow me to introduce you to the works of Count de Bonald, Count le Maistre, Bolmes. an humble son of poor benighted Spain, and a host of other productions of our days, which will, I trust, contribute to enlarge the too limited sphere of your literary acquirements. Read but a few pages — you will soon be convinced that your" darling theory, viz., that the child belongs to the State, — has long since been exploded and scattered to the wind, (p) The benighted Catholics and Protestants contrasted. 4. In his concluding paragraph. Dr. Ryerson still repeats his inflated laudation of his Commcm School System, which he represents as sustained by the people at large with unparalleled liberalifi/^ unanimity, and patriotism. As an illustration of this wonderful unanimity and patriotism, the Chief Superintendent of Education should have stated that, in the City of Toronto, out of a Protestant population of 29,550 souls, the incredible number of 1,570 children is the average daily attendance in these Model Schools. He should have hifortned the public that, in this same city, in a Protestant papulation of 8,884 children of school age, 1,570 youths of all denominations (Catholics excepted) attend his Model Schools, at a yearly cost of the very moderate snn^ of £7,093, 12s. lOd. Contrast, now, dear reader, the condition of our poor benighted Catholics with that of their jnore favored fellow-Christian: of the Protestant persuasion. In the same City of Toronto, out of a Catholic population of 12,210 soids, the ave- rage daily attendance in our Catholic Separate Schools was, last year, 1,286. The totiil receipts ft)r the support of these Catholic Schools, during the same year, including City Taxes and Legislative grants, lunounted to £545. To return to Dr. Ryerson's Common Schools: I will say, very popular in- deed must be a system of education which can command such sympathy and exhihir such cheering results! As to the liberality with which the Conuiion School System is >5n[>])orted, it cannot be denied. Let the reader rceoHecl that, for the education of Dr. Ryerson's 1,570 pupils, the City of Toronto has to pay only £7,093 12s. lOd. ; whilst Catholics, for the edueation of their 1,286 children, received, last year, including their City taxes and Legislative grants, £545. To these rather unpleasant facts (p) And what about Mr. Bruycro's— tUat lie belongs to the '" church"? In erica." I Uion, that the child, infit for a in assert- is reading met with arson's ac- cconomy, i political umcs the ver, jro to le school een com- profound linen t of e Bonald, lin, and a tribute to ead but a ory, viz., odcd and s inflated I sustained mtriotism. the Chief ? City of n credible se Model city, in a j^ouths of )ols, at a Contrast, ith that of . In the the ave- ir, 1,286. irinu; the to £545. pnlar in- ympathy hich the Let the pils, the olics, for ing their lant facts 93 I must not forji^et that my incomparable antagonist ha:> an unanswerable reply, viz. : This new foreign and ecclesiastical element against our Schools and School Sijstem. Ah ! doctor, allow me to say, for the future, spare my feelings. This is the thirty-fifth time, if I recollect weM, that these ugly expressions are flung into my face. I can bear it no lo iger. I confess it now : I am a foreigner, you are a native ; therefore you are in the right, I must be in the wrong. (^) The Leader's approve! stylo of approved Controversialist writing. In justice to my distinguished antagonist, th(! (ireat Native of Canada, I nuist admit that his last comnuuiicalion to the ])ublic is the least objec- tionable, because the shortest. His reply occupies only four short jiara- graphs. Still, I must say, every paragraph, every line, every 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 nuist have contracted from his earliest youth, I send him to his good mother, if still alive. Perhaps maternal endearment will have more influence over )iis obdurate heart than arjiuments, facts, &c. &c. The " very great kindness and courtesy " nf the condescemliiig Leader. In conclusion, I beg to offer to the al)le and liberal Editor of the Leader^ the sincere expression of my heartfelt gratitude, for the very great kind- ness and courtesy wi^.i which he has condescended to open his columns to my communications, such as they are. I hope my distinguished opponent will not refuse to join with me, in the discharge of this imperative duty towards our common friend. I would he wanting to myself, were I to forget the Editor of the Globe, whose delieat<> sense of editorial jiropriety has prompted him to ev)mment on my letters, without publishing them. To all, friends and foes, in this discussion, I take pleasure in offering the expression of my best wishes for thel- prosperity, and beg to subscribe myself Their most humble and obedient Servant, Toronto, February 4th, 1857. J. M. BRUYERE. No. 19.— Bishop Pinsoneault to the Rev. J. M. Bruyere. London, C. VV., Feb. 10, 1857. Rev. and Dear Sir, — Pending your recent controversy with the Chief Superintendent of Education, for Canada West, wliieh 1 have re:id with the greatest interest, I thought proper to refrain from intruding upon your valuable time, in order to congratulate you for your earnest and al>le advocacy of Catholic education. Hut now that it has eonie lo an end, I hasten to offer you my warmest thanks find sympathies; and at the same timo, I beg to avail myself of this opjiortunity to suggest the jmo- priety of having the vvdiole correspondence — as it has appeared in the Leader — got up in pamphlet form ;(r) to wliicli, if possible, might be added the very remarkable letters addressed by " A Protestant," to the lion. Attorney General Macdonald, and lately published in t'le CatholicCitizcn. iq) (t.)OiI! Ill ■'itr. H.'s last Icttor, lioweviT, " fore^'ii oliniiouL" wiis s.'ti 1 to luivo been br;uiJcd ojipnt briously, ten tiiiics!— "Uiiiritcntioiml sliji." (r) Here it is; toucthor with tho fjinioiis lottors of Bishop Cliufboniii'l, ji trrwiter authority (Imn Ihf " Protestant"— whosi) letters tlie KJitor lias not yet thought it worth wl.iii; to read. 94 i. Jc; tr'y- ii The P'oreign Element. The poor attempt of the Reverend Official, to represent you as the organ of but a contemptible foreign 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 have undoubtedly expressed the views of the entire Hierarchy in Canada — nay, of the whole Catholic Church. Any one at all conversant witii Catholic vmity, is aware that — on the subject of Catholic Education, as well as on any other involving Catholic principles — pastors and flocks are always one. (s) The Church forbids, and the People submit. Has not the principle of the godless Common School system been repeatedly declared dangerous to faith and morals, by our own Provin- ci?l Councils, by the Councils of Ireland, more especially by the cele- brated" Council of Thurles— convened and presided over by the Right Rev. Dr. Cullen, delegate of the Holy See — and finally by the Sovereign Pontiff himself? Hence it is that the Catholic body, which believes in the unerring authority of the Church in all questions appertaining to faith and morals, never will, because conscience forbids it, approve and countenance this Common School system, as now imposed upon us in this section of the Province. ( t) The least, therefore, that we can do. Rev. Dear Sir, is to ofTer you our well deserved thanks for the noble stand you have taken, and for your very able defence of Catholic education, and this despite your unusually arduous occupations during the pro- t".tcted absence of your venerable ordinary. " Foreign Element" not a dignified Expression. And here, I sincerely regret to be under the painful necessity to express my utter disapprobation of the unbecoming language used by the Chief Superintendent of Education, when speaking of my most honored Brother in the Episcopacy. Such flippant expressions as these — the Charbonnels and Bruyeres^ a new foreign element, and others, — re- peatedly brought forward, as it were with a vengeance — imply a disre- gard of decorum which wo certainly should not have expected from an official of the Government, much less from the Head of the Education Office. " Nativism'' (Catholic Expression) oat of Place. It is a painful duty for me to be compelled to administer such a rebuke to a gentle mim, whom I would fain honor for his high station, and would gladly eulogise — if I could — for his impartiality I cannot but be grateful to him for the courtesy he has shown 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 gentle- man in his station — evidently well read — could have betrayed in the above Controversy such ignorance of Catholic matters, and such a gross disregard of Catholic feelings, I am really at a loss to understand. But be this as it may, you have said enough to teach him, that in the Church, there is no foreign element, and that — in virtue of the all powerful unity of (s) Save wlieii the " flocks" exhibit half-heathenish propensities, {t) And which the Bishop does not support, because ho has a Separate School of hia own in London. 95 )u as the body of infair and I I say it the entire ny one at lubject of principles tem been n Provin- the cele- the Right Sovereign ilieves in aining to irove and ton us in 1 do, Rev. ble stand ducation, the pro- o express the Chief honored lese — the tiers, — re- a disre- from an Iducation er such a h station, I cannot hen on a :onsiilted life must a gentlc- d in the h a gross nd. But ' Churchy 1 unity of 1 London. our Apostolic Faith — one spirit and one soul pervade the whole body, without distinction of native or foreign born, (w) Besides, nativism had nothing to do with the question at issue, and is rather a foreign element itself when brought repeatedly to bear — as a conclusive argument — against the liberty of conscience, which is involved in the present Common School System. It strikes me that in a colony where thousands of foreigners a.e yearly pouring upon our shores to the great benefit of OUT 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 Reverend Chief of Education, who is naturally expected to keep aloof from all political platforms. Tries to excuse Kisliops McUonell and Power. Your adversary is not more fortunate, in his oft repeated attempts to throw on his side the whole moral weight ol the late Bishops McDonell and Power. The most he could have said with any truth, was that they tolerated to a certain extent what they could not prevent ; but to pretend that they were favourable to mixed education, is injurious to their honored memory, and untrue in point of fact.(r) Need I say that it is notorious that both these zealous ])relates labored most faithfully and strenuously — in their own times — to establish 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 giving a fair trial to a new system, concerning which many a time have I heard him express his misgivings, but the deplorable results of which his lamentable and premature death prevented him from witnessing and rebuking. As for his venerable successor he did what his conscience prompted him to do as soon as he felt that he could no longer counte- nance 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. Endorses Mr. Briiyero. Concerning what you have said about Public Libraries, the question is not whether you were right or wrong with regard to the exact num- ber of Catholic books said to be on their shelves, but whether you had good ground for denouncing them as dangerous to faith and morals. Now, most emphatically do I endorse your sound views on this ques- tion, for we can hardly be less opposed to mixed Libraries than to mixed education, — the same principles of faith and morals being equally in- volved in both systems. Witness the scandalous problem extracted by you from one of the standard books issued by the Department of Educa- tion. And God knows how many other passages no less objectionable might be brought to light by a careful perusal of the various books con- nected both with Public Libraries and Common Schools. It behoves, therefore, the pastors of the Church to warn the flock com- mitted to their care against seeking such noxious and poisonous pas- tures as are held out by these Public Libraries, so warmly patronized by our Reverend official. (h) strange, that ouc spirit and soul should require " mortal sins," and clerical dictation, as to votes, *c. t (v) And \ct Bitduca!i: n in Upper Cana(hi,CHnno!. afford to yield us — willingly ;inJ ch >en i 1 y — th;it justice which C itholios in Lnver Canada have spont'uu'oiHly exle ;d d loii'^ ivjo, (w) and are iiowextc ding, to their separated brci'wei, ;n least let. theim be strictly just and iiii|Ni»-tial. We ask n > more, lia! it is meet they should know th.it wlieiiover the sacred principles oi fiiili ' ! morai^ iue at stake, we cannot, on any account, yiold one iota. Bishops must carry ibe Day. Let obK'q.iV, c.tla:THiies, abu.ses, revilings and threats be the conse- qui ncp. W*^; cxni'oA it — we are prepared for it — nay, it is our daily lot — ^' dUcipididi /loiii-st supra Magiatrum ; i'% mu do pessurrun hahfbilis ; — hence, no (le-iniMie^s, no relaxation in our protracted strug- cjle, i)Ul a coo! uullitiching de «. r.niiiation, which will i»evpr yield before any obstaelu h )\\' gri>nt ^:oever. Many oiherwi.se vveli disposed people, may perha;)^ t')e at i, lo-^s to un i'r.stand our perseverance in this — for us — vital (juesii n, vi/, : to [)rocur" the entire freedotn of Caih lie education. What is a ystey t.o liiem, is ;- ,>l.»in ([iiestion with us; it is but consis- tency vvitii ou i'ligi'ius principles which are involved in that question. But wun it CO. DCS to that \HA\i\, ih-sre cimm s also the necessity of uttering thf' stub.' Ill " .707 pi/syHM'/.^" vMice b. i.'Wiihsi.-iOflirig. :. th Mi :;ialiy —and sach iv are, ih'^ llev- Ther^i lii.'sltie true secrf^t of onrso-cidkd ob- stiijaey. W- :) wr b-»n I'orc.i;! bv weakness and intoleraiicc co nbiiied — into u.<\ '; ih'it ''■ /v/n pos.-m general endorsement to special reasoning, the Bishop says: — " Concerning what you have said about public libraries, the question is not whether you were rigbt or wrong with regard to the exact number of Catholic books said to be on the shelves, but whether you had good ground for denouncing them as dangerous to faith and morals." (h) By this fallacy of unstating the question, the Bishop absolves Mr. Bruyere for having stated what was untrue, in charging me with having excluded from the libraries certain books which he named, and which were actually con- tained in the official catalogue. There was no question as to the " exact number of Catholic books" — this is Bishop Pinsoneault's ovFn invention — but as to whether certain books specified by Mr. Bruyere had been excludetl by me from the catalogue as he had asserted. The " efforts" of the Bishop to evade these facts by unstating the question, will therefore be regarded as hardly less *' puny" than those of Mr. Bruyere in first stating them in support of his charges against me. Bishop's efforts against the Character of Bishops Power and McDonell. Nor do the " puny efforts" of the Bishop (if 1 may quote his own words in reference to myself) ap])ear more gigantic, although certainly more bold, in asserting that the late Bishops McDonell and Power were opposed to mixed education. " The most he could have said with truth (says the Bishop) was that they tolerated to a certain extent what they could not prevent ; but to pretend that they were favorable to mixed education is injurious to their honored memory and untrue in point of fact. Need I (a) Mr. Bruyt>re wrote to Dr. Ryerson on the 23rd October, enclosing a letter which stated that in one of tip Common Schools "Catholic prayers were used morning, noon and evening, and that the Catbolio Catcchisii) was tauijht during school hours." Dr. Ryerson roplied that " the Trustees, Tcai-hcrsand parents could exercise their own discretion as to the prayers and booKs of religious instruction, so as not to compel Protestant children to bo present against their parents' wishes, nor to lessen the ruiouut of .secular instruc. tion to which they were entitled in the school.'* A fortnight after receiving this reply, Mr. BruyOre de- nounced the schools in which tho Trustees and Teacher could so a«t, an " houses of education from which religion is banished, and where tho poison of infidelity or heresy is mixed with the pure draughts of human knowledge !" (6) Beautiful salvo for Mr. B.'s conscience. According to the above, Mr. B. may assert as many falsities as he pleases in regard to matters (if fact : it will be of no coasequeuce if ho can bring ia.auytliiiig else. .The above shows also how completely Mr. B. was foiled. 90 artment lich had )rc|)iired truciion ation of d mc as nts and f course system soneaiilt impiita- cctive of incault's lat right ng, the ries, the le exact you had (h) By yere for led from illy con- " exact sntion — id been orts" of be re fore in first ill. Ills own ly more opposed says the >uld not ;ation is Need! bhat in one lu Catholio nd parents J to compel nr instruc* iriiytTo de- 'roin which i of human ny falsities 'tliiug eUe. say it is notorious that both thcsn zealous prela' s labored most faithfully andstrenuou.-ly — in their own times — to establish thoronjfh catholic schools whenever and wlierever circumstances permitted them.'' (r) In reply to this statement, I remark — 1. That there is not a vestijre of proof to sustain ii, in any circular, or letter, or writing put forth by either of the excellent prelates mentioned. 2. That although the provisions of the law for separate schools have existed since ihe commencement of the present system in 1840, and although Bishop McDoncIl resided in Kingston, and Bishop Power in Toronto, but two Separate Roman Catholic Schools wore established under the law in either Kingston or Toronto until after the death of these prelates. 3. That Bishop Power not only acted with the Board of Education (a mixed Board) and presided at its meetings until the week before his death, but his name stands first of the six mem- bers who individually signed the first circular to the Mimicif)alities of Upper Canada on the establishment of the Normal School, — aniixed school — as the great instrument of giving effect to one system of Conimon Schools. Would liishop Pinsoneault affix his name to such a circular? No, far from it — he denounces what Bishop Power commended, and condemns the school books which Bishop Power had joined in sanctioning. The late Bishop McDonell died before I had any connection with our school system ; but I knew the sentiments of Bishop Power from frecpieni intercourse and consultation with him on school matters ; and I know that he, and even Bishop Charbonnel, on his first coming to Toronto, professed not to desire separate schools beyond what they termed *' protection from insult," — that is, in such cases only where lloman Catholic children could not attend the Common Schools without being insulted and imposed upon on account of their religion. The necessity of a separate school tlie} lamented as a misfortune, instead of advocating it as a prniciple. {d) In this feeling I entirely sympathised. I thought the Roman Catholics had t^cen hardly treated in Ireland. The political and religious feeling was very strong at the time between Roman Catholics and Orangemen in Upper Canada, and often developed itself in acts of violence on occasions of public assemblage ; I was resolved to act towards the Roman Catholics as I would towards the members of any other religious persuasion — to do all in my power to protect them, and to aid in their intellectual and social elevation, without any interference with their religious views and feelings. I have done so to this day, and»hall continue to do so, notwithstanding the attacks and abuse (not to say ingratitude) of certain of their ecclesiastics who have lately «ome to Upper Canada, who practically know nothing of the circumstances of former times, or of the local institutions, social relations and wants of ^he people ; and for whose conduct their poor people are not responsible, (e) Bishop Pinsoneault is sensitive on " Nativeism." And this leads me to remark on another point respecting which both Bishop Pinsoneault and his protege evince much sensitiveness. It is what they oddly enough call my " nativismy^ which the Bishop says " is out of (o) Then fu^w is it that there was no " agitation," no " mortal sins," and no threats of " excommunica- tion," or directions as to " votes" during their lifetime; and, in fact, not until after the '• foreign element '» commenced its cruswle in 1851-2? Bishop Pinsoneault and his protege can reply, perhaps. (d) Yes, and let Bishop Charbonel and his subordinates deny it if they can ; or say that they have nott since changed their tone, and now demand them as a right— noi as a " protection," or a " misfortune." (e) And with which they are in no way satisfied,— as m'c well know. 100 1'^ % place or at least too premature for the time being. At all events the native flag should not have been hoisted by the Reverend Chief of Education, whf> is naturally expected to keep aloof from jwlitical plat- forms." This is the first intimation I have heard of my having anytning to do with " poUtical platforms," for declining all recognitions of which I have offended much and suffered much, in former years ; nor was I before aware that there was any such political platform as " naliveism" in Upper Canada, or a single journal or political man iluit advocated it. I know that some of my most earnest essays of past years were directed against the indulgence of any feeling or prejudice on account of national origin, or birth place, or education ; — that the duty of alt classes was to forget these accidental distinctions, and unite in one noble, patriotic feeling of Canadian ism, — regarding Canada as their country, their home — the home and hope of their children, — and its highest advancement their highest earthly interest and glory. (/ ) What I mean in referring to the intruduction of a "new foreign element" into Canada, is the direct antagonist of this true Canadian feeling — not emigration from abroad — but foreign inspirations, feelings and views, at variance with what have heretofore existed in Upper Canada — antagonistic to Canadian independence, and to the growth of Canadian intellect, liberty and prosperity. How the foreign Bishops erect voting platforms of " mortal sins." I leave it with Bishops Charbonnel and Pinsoneault to erect a •* political platform,'' according to which — under pain of the highest clerical penalties, — every vote shall be given, whether for a constable or a Legislative Councillor — whether in a school section or in the Legislature. My "platform" is — the hearts of Canadian people for Canada, — the rights of Canadians without distinction against compulsory taxation for sectarian purposes, — the rights of Canadians without exception to education and knowledge, — the rights of Canadians without restrictii.'n to tax themselves to make their children intelligent men and women, — the rights of Canadians without preference to the protection and enjoyment of their own religious teaching. True " freedom of education," and its reverse. This is what I call " freedom of education," in the trtie and legiti- mate sense of the word. But it is a very different kind of '* freedom of education" from that which Bishop Pinsoneault claims, which is not the freedom now enjoyed by the Roman Catholics to a greater extent than any other religious persuasion in Upper Canada and to a greater extent than that enjoyed by the Protestants in Lower Canada, as I have more than once shown ; but a freedom of one persuasion to demand and receive, for its own sectarian purposes, funds' of the State without any responsibility to the State, or even inspection by it {g) — a freedom to make the municipalities taxgatherers for a sect — a freedom which deprives muni- (/) " When a man emigrates to Canada, his hopes are no longer English, or Irish, or Scotch, or French, or German, but Canadian It was the first duty and true interest of the earliest settle>*s in Canada to make the most of theif adopted country— to look at home as much-as possible, and to look aftrood as little as possible— to rely upon themselves for the management of tbeir country, as well as for the management of their farms and shops, and not nvon foreign management in the one case any more than in the otner."— Dr. Buerson in the Journal cf Education, 1850. {g) As Bishop Charbonnel demanded in 18SA " to place Roman Catholic Separate Schools, for everjrtbing, excluHivety under only one Official, not opposed to separate schools, and to give them an equal share qfkw, school funds"— "noViAxM short of which will satisfy the oonacientious convictions (!) of the [few ultra- montane] Catholics of thu) Province I" 101 *nts the ;iiief of ;hI plat- nothing which I [ before n Upper low tnat linst the rigin, or ;et these iling of le home highest jduction t of this urations, n Upper fowth of political tenalties, tgislative e. My rights of sectarian lion and emselves ights of of their >d legiti- freedom vhich is greater nd to a ada, as I demand lout any to make es muni- 1, or French, vs ill Canada road as little nanasement lie otner."— 'everTthing, ihareqfAUi Cfew ultn< cipalitics, or raihcr the people in each municipality, of the power of taxing themselves for trie ediioition of their children, without collecting and paving over a corresjjonding hiku into the coffers of a sect,— a freedom which relieves a sect from the responsibility and trouble of levying school rates, yet invests it with absolute power of receiving rates levied by others, — a freedom which gives to one sect, or rather the heads of one sect, greater power over parents, over municipalities, and over the taxable property of the couutry, than that which is possessed by the Executive Government itself, — the " freedom of education'* more appropriately deserving to be called "despotism in education," — despotism over the child, over the parent, over taxable property, over municipaUties, and over State Funds. What the Foreign Element seek to influence. As to whether I have been justified in ascribing to a "foreign element" this new iloctrinal exposition of " freedom of education" which extends to all the politics, elections, and government of the country, may be judged from the facts, that it was first proclaimed by a Prelate who had drawn all his inspirations and sympathies from the Continent of Europe, and has been most stoutly advocated by one of kindred inspirations and sympathies, — that the present Roman Catholic Archbishop or Dublin, Dr. Paul Cullen — who had spent twenty years on the Continent before his appointment, denounces the school books and schools that his predecessor the late venerable Dr. Murray had devoted eighteen years oi zealous labour as a member of the National Board of Education, to prepare and introduce into Ireland. (A) Indeed, if 1 am correctly informed, Bishop Pinsoneault himself, in his first Inaugural Discourse, avowed his supreme allegiance to the Sovereign of Rome, and none but a secondary or subordinate allegiance to any other Sovereign. For myself I hesitate not to avow that my first earthly allegiance is to the people and institutions of Canada, and to the Queen as our lawful sovereign and parental protector ; and I doubt not such is and will ever be the allegiance of the Representatives of the Canadian people, whether in the Municipalities or in the Legislature. How the Catholics Support the Schools. But the Bishop claims the united Catholic body are of his views as to *' godless Common School system being dangerous to faith and morals." His argument to prove this statement is not an appeal to facts as they exist — that more than nine-tenths of the Roman Catholic children are still sent by their parents to the Con mon Schools, notwithstanding all the mandates and menaces put forth to alienate them, and that scarcely a week passes without my receiving letters from Catholic trustees and parents who have been urged into establishing and sending to separate schools, as to how they may regain their right to return to the Common Schools. There are upwards of three hundred and fifty townships in Upper Canada in which there is not a single separate school, although the Roman Catholics are numerous in many of them ; but they are living in friendship with their Protestant neighbors and all are educating their children together, (i) But (A) Query for the Bishops and their protige ; Would Archbishop Murray have consented to such a proceeiding had he been alive ? Or would thev nave dared to threaten him with " mortal sina," and " excom- oation," because he chose to support the National System ? And if they dare not do so to him, why are^the terrors of the Church manufactured for his countrymen— in both Ireland and Canada— by a new foreign eoclesiastieal element ?" (t) The Bishop cannot account for it ; save that he knows the Catholic laity claim and exercise the right of individual choice in the matter. 102 t: ILl' inbtead of appealing lo these facts, the Bi ^liop appeals to the Provincial Clerical Councils of Baltimore and Quebec, and to the Council of Thurles in Ireland, which have declared against the principle of our Common Schools, and this declaration has been approved by Dr. Cullen, delegate of the Holy See, and, at length, by the Sovereign Pontiff. "Hence it is (says the Bishop) that the Catholic body which believe in the unerring aulhority oi the Church in all questions apj)ertaiiiing to faWi, and morals^ never will, because conscience forbids it, approve and ccuntenance this Common School system, as now imposed on us in this sedion of the Province.'' Here is tho origin — the recent origin of the warfare against our Common School system. And is it not wholly n foreign eleimnt ? Here it may also be seen how " conscientious convictions'' can be tuanufactured to order. Dr. Paul Cullen, after twenty years inhaling of foreign syiupathles, comes to Ireland and proclaims a crusade against the National System of Education which his predecessor had aided to establish and build up for eighteen years ; then a Bishop from the continent comes to Toronto and commences a war against a National School System which his predecessor had aided to establish and build up during several years ; and this we are told is now a question of morats, binding upon the conscientious convictions of every good catholic, and from which he is not to depart under the highest penal- ties, whether he ba a peasant in a remote township voting at an election, or Minister of the Crown voting in the Legislature ! And this we are told is the essence of "Catholic Unity" — one man in Europe thinking, and com- manding what shall and shall not be thought, said or done by electors and statesmen in Upper Canada. This is a new illustration of the famous doctrine of Louis the Fourteenth, " L^etrd c'est nioi.'* The Canadian state is to be one man, and that one man residing in Europe ! I rather agree with the sentiment of HaeiDon, in the tragedy of Antigone, "There is no state where one man's will is law." If one man alone has the right to think and command what shall be believed and done by a whole people, there can be no civil liberty, no mental freedom, and therefore no mental develop- ment, no social advancement, no national civilization. Bishop on private courtesy in official acts. It 'i'emains for me to notice Bishop Pinsoneault's singular distinction bttweeri ny -[private and official conduct. He says: " I cannot but be gi.iicful to nim (Chief Superintendent) for the courtesy he has shown me, w -MHi, on ' ' "ent occasion, I consulted him about the Separate School B i^ ; hv ^'Is courtesy in private life must not prevent me from censuring his ojiciai misuemeanor." It appears, then, that my replying in a newspaper to attacks made upon me by Bishop Pinsoneault's prot^ge^ is not only an official act, but an " official misdemeanor," while my receivng him in my office when he calls to confer ^^ith me officially is an wwofficial act, and is nothing more than " courtesy in private life!" So unnatural and absurd a distinction ought not to be made by a Bishop and especially one who claims to be the author and expounder of "unerring authority." Most persons would make the very opposite distinction, and say that I'v replying to either Bishop Pinsoneault, or Mr. Bruyere, was no part of my official duty — while holding verbal or written consultations in my office with persons applying to me in my official capacity was st ;tly official. But Bishop Pinsoneault omits to say that he also called upon me to procure School Provincial f Thtirles II Schools, ito of the (says the idhority of jvcr will, Common Vovince.'^ Common may also to order. es, comes iHdncation eighteen )nniiences ri aided to 1 is now a of every est penal- lection, or are told is and com- lotors and le famous idian state her agree here is no It to think pie, there I develop- [istinction ii but be hown me, ite School suring hig ewspaper i only an lim in my ict, and is absurd a ho claims It persons plying to icial duty h persons Lit Bishop :e School 103 Maps, &c., for Separate Schools, which were furnished to him upon the same terms as to the authorities of Public Schools, — in contradicti(m to the statement of Mr. Bruyere, who has said that Roman Catholic children in Separate Schools were denied School Mips and apparatus. Bishop Piiisoneault procures Maps from me for his Separate Schools, with the grant of one hundred per cent, upon the sum paid by him .ind then thanks Mr. Bruyere for asserting that Sepa ate Schools were excluded from t)Uch an advantage, and that by regulations prepared by me ! {j) A Challenge As Bishop Pinsoneault has entered the arena in aid of Mr. Biuyere, I have no objection to meet him in his own chosen field of public discussion ; but I may suggest to him a more tangible and satisfactory mode of testing the truth of his charges against my acts and the provisions of the School Laws: — a Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly. In two Annual lleports I have suggested an inquiry into the whole School System, before further legislation on Separate Schools. I am prepared to ^geet Bishop Pinsoneault before such a Committee and answer for any act of my admin- istration he may think proptr to arraign, and to vindicate the equity and fairness of the School Law against any charges he may prefer, and show that the very clauses and provisions of the Separate School Act specially complained of, are precisely as they were introduced into the Legislative Council by the Hon. Colonel Tache, in Quebec, two years since, and at the request of those who now complain of them ; and, furthermore, that I have i.iterpreted and administered them in the most liberal spirit, even beyond what is required by the letter of the law. {k) . Make specific charges against the law. I would also submit to Bishop Pinsoneault, whether it would not be more dignified, more just between man and man, more respectful and considerate to the public, for him and his subordinates, when they write against the school law, if, instead of attacking me, they would quote (not misrepresent) the provisions of the Act to which they object, and state the ground on which they demand their repeal or modification. There would thus be avoidance of personal collision, and a calm intelligent discussion of public measures. And I may add, that as in my last Annual Report, I have stated and vindicated the principles on which our Common School system is founded, and the liberality of the provisions in regard to Separate Schools, whether it would be more becoming and practical Tor Bishop Pinsoneault to reply to my Report, than to utter and endorse unjust charges against myself and unfounded representations against the School System. I have the honor to be, sir, Your obedient Servant, E. RYERSON. Tues(iay Evening, 24ih February, 1857. (j) A mode of argument pretty generally followed by him and his prot: gc, in oiXviT portions of this correspondence. (/.•) Tliev were not satisfied with the law as Dr. Ryerson had proposed it, and as it oriKinally stood ; but by a !-('iiiulal(ius proceeding induced the tJovenimctit to pass an Act all'ecting Upper Canadian intcrc-ts by Lower Caniida votes -after the Upper Canadian members had left for their homes, and within two days of the close of the session at Quebec, in 1855. They framed a law, but did not know how it woidd work, and the very provisions they note denounce, aro the very provisions they themselves prepared; and which passed both houses without amendineut,— just (U they were introduced I 104. • "it. Addendum in regr^rd to Bishop Power. The charge has been reiterated time and again that Bishop Power was opposed to the National School system of Upper Canada, but this has been ably and finally met by Dr. Ryerson in his reply to Bishop Pinsoneault. In addition to that rc^ply it may be added : 1. That during Bishop Power's lifetime, the Irish School system — of which ours is to a great extent a copy — was warmly and unanimously supported by the Catholic clergy, and was sanctioned by the Pope ; but that now foreign views have been introduced into Ireland, and Archbishop Murray's successor is endeavoring to pull down the noble work so patriotically erected and so ably supported by his venerable predecessor. The same views introduced into Canada, are seeking to accomplish the same objects here, although formerly the Canadian ecclesiastic who now wars against our schools, spoke of the "justly praised National Schools of Ireland," and demanded that the " condition of the Irish here might not be less askable than it was in Ireland." 2. That Bishop Power, whose birth anc^^mpathies made him a thorough Canadian, while Chairman of the Provincial Board of Education expressed his ^*' approbation of the admirable series of elementary school books published by the Iri^h National Boards and felt greit satisfaction in retommending them for general use in the Common Schools of Upper Canada ;" and further recom- mended the Municipal Councils to provide for the training at the Normal School, of one or more youths of their municipality, so as " to supply the Model and principal schools of the Province with the best class of native teachers,'^ — concluding the circular with the following words : " We veiflure to hope that this subject will receive the favorable consideration of the several District ('ouncils ; and to their early as w»41 as patriotic and benevolent attention we earnestly recommend it.' It is the purpose of the Board to educate young men for Canada^ as well as in it, and that the whole system of domestic economy, discipline and instruction at the Provincial Normal School shall have reference to the future circum- stances and employment of the scholars. (Signed) "MICHAEL, Bishop of Torontoj , " Chairman^ No more emphatic contradiction could be given to the assertions of those who seek to make Bishop Power an antagonist to our National Schools; — while it may safely be affirmed that the sentiments above expressed* are, and will continue to be, the sentiments of the large majority of the intelligent and liberal-minded Catholics of Upper Canada. hop Power la, but this to Bishop 'hat during ours is to a ted by the ow foreign » Murray's atriotically The same the same I now wars Schools of ! might not iver, whose Chairman ''obation of I the Iruh g them for her recom- the Normal " to supply test class of words : e favorable rly as wAl d it. ' It is 3 well as in instruction 'ire circum- JNTOf, airman. ») ssertions of ir National ;nts above the large of Upper