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Show ! BIRREL'S BILL REJECTED i England's Educational Problem Liberal Party's Program Rejected by the Astute ! j Lords Origin of Schools in England j Stimulated by Blessed de la Salle Na il tional Schools Non-Conformists Hos- i tile to Favors Shown the Established Church -- It Gave Rise to Birrel's Bill-Will Bill-Will There Be a Compromise? Without j Principle There May, With It No. 1 " ' I Jr5tt-eu for Tllp Intermouutain Catholic.) I f 1- conflict -between the Church and State in I Jrance has for the present attracted so much at- : Jrobon that the deadlock between the House of I ' v . ci ,te Commons in England lias searcelv j t bated s passing notice. The defeat or, rather, the I i nissculation of the Birrel educational bill bv the I : I pper House may in the next few years lead up to I ' tb dssesiaWjshment of the Church of England and ' cmaefc the upper honse itself. For once the Lords I in essioa h.ive displayed consummate generalship. i It icas, predicted that ihe House of Lords upon re- I owpr of ihe educational bill as passed by the Com- l laMiSi would promptly throw it out. just as the home rale bill was summarily disposed of. Then, we were f -Ji a, campaign against the Established I " (L J1Ur1 Smd tl3e j0Ts woi te opened, as a result j vf jrhi Lioeraj orernment would score heav- j i iiy m tbe tmtuafry. " . THE ASTUTE LORDS. I Political expectations in England have not been ; vrriiJ, azui vbai. was looked for and perhaps I inured for Las not Lappened. The bill -was accepted : ; v-isfe stDrndawits, ihe rejection of -which wonld Itsiw yJaretd the government in an awkward posi-; posi-; TLe jrovernment read and reread tbe mul- ; ! : .taisdajons Ganges TrrongLt upon the face of the "I fcl iy lie Lords, and decided to act upon tbe safe's I -Jr5 Lija in doubt, do nothing1 " snd for the j , law hnaxg They shelved the measure. ' The chanfres I ' . t-Sn-tev? Ly tk Upper lIoue are of a character to !- ' w?r5w4 'iemlvefl to -Oi.ns.iderabla section of C tftat Wiv i thousrht in the country which fought .iIks i&v; rti m ineeption and faroreii a d?w one. a-Iwsksss-in ihe bill were therejoTe calculated tr, rwiv a laFjffe measure of popular support. TJn-i TJn-i , tfcsff circtonstAnces the Kvwtuiie.nt -was in an ijhopvfinF "diSenejit situation to that it would Lave txnjpksi-lad ibe hiW been rejected in its entirety. , ; ;3t: srrwK. isniswd. as if the Lords Lad turned the ' , fenk; of t3w g-overament forces and Lad for tlie iae arfcJawl a victory. I . ' WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT I ; Tk xrLolo uftstjou, of course, is- a part of the i . ff-ragsk; in wLich all are. engaged, but along dif- ! '( ferant liaeis.' on behalf of popular education. It j V souss'be Trapembered that for centuries ihe idea of ijw.r.yie- edncarion bcttt entered tie national mind I jf Great Iri tain. Tlic ticie wss when scarcely a msrt or imaisxi in tie United Kingdom could either i reffdi or rrrir?. Isie in tlr fifteeDth century the jOinnrfa of Englaad began the- establishment of FeMol.-; influenced, no docoi. by tlie example of the Blessed! le la SaDt tvho had already established Lis jkw famous order of tb3 "Urotbers of the CLris-,tis7i CLris-,tis7i f'uoo!?" for the eJementry odncation of tha pons of tbe peasantry and of the poor of France. .TIk? idea of ihe bishop of the English Church was jio open a school in every parish that all the children chil-dren might receive rudimentary instruction both s-rcnLir and religious. Note the word religious, for jth? present controversy largely hinges on this. To :prcsecne the. work now begin the Society for the Promotion of Christian Kuow ledge was established. In 1811 edutational work of tlm society v.a3 ,1raaferred to the Xational Association, which col-jlrcted col-jlrcted the money to build schools and to look after 4'ducatlou generally. It was because this society in-ivst3(I in-ivst3(I its moneys in schooU and took a deep inter-ct inter-ct io thera that the school became known as National Na-tional school. THE CKUX OF THE SUBJECT I In 3 SCO there were over 19,000 schools supported I T 1-7 the Church of England, and 5.000 supported by j j N T)iseut:;rs 4hat is. by Methodists, Baptists, Pres- i ? l-yterians and other sect. At this time the Cath- olicp were poor and so few in numbers that they i:svitd no attention except on St. Patrick's day or lh? I2th of Jcly. when the Orange Young Britons I ' and Iyal True Bluaf te-t:ned their affection for . their Catholic countrymen by sending them from a 1 distance of forty or fifty yards a liberal donation ' 4i brickbats, cobblestones and pre-historic eggs. In 3 SOS the gorernincnt awoke to the necessity of making mak-ing education a State question and in 1870 what known as Board schools were established. These school were supported out of the tases and ere managod by school boards or trustees; but re-Jicious re-Jicious instruction was not compulsory. The Board chool being rnainlaincd out of the tsxce, the Church of England pjpk complained that ths-I ths-I lad to pay a double educational laxfor the rjp- rt of their own schools and o? the .Board ov puMic school. Li iw the Catholics in tM United Slates who clucata their own children in parochial schools ad then pay io Mucato the children of ihcir non-Catholic ncighborN the English churchmen church-men subscribed for their own schools and then co-rilutcd through ihe taxes to the Board or poTcmmcnt echooh. Tl:e wtaatior. led to, tho rc, f which was a xaicr cf cwiworcwy in tho 1 i x i i ITrrrVr that ia- t1 Cnuv.h I last fcrard cleciicn- fnoej . .t,., J f ehool kbarwl hi th taxes 3it as m Canada th- Continued on Pge 4, i CATHOLIC WORLD WITH PIUS. The Duke of Norfolk has volunteered, -with the sanction of the Pope, to form a com in it tee in Great Britain to raise subscriptions fov the aid of the Catholic Church in France. Knights of Columbus to Holy Father. , The following cablegram, dated Dec. '20, . was sent from New Haven. Conn., to. the 'Vatican by the Knights of Columbus: - "Cardinal Merry del Val, Vaticai:,. Borne. The Knights of Columbus of America sympathize with His Holiness in his efforts to adjust the difficulties of the Church in France and assure him of a filial and loyal support. EDWARD L. 11EARN. ''Supreme Knight." Clergy of Louisiana Offer Substantial Aid. . An offer of pecuniary assistance to the French clergy from the Catholic clergy of Louisiana was sent last week to Cardinal Richard, Archbishop of Paris. The offer was made in a letter written by Archbishop Blenk of New Orleans to accompany a memorial to Cardinal Richard, signed by. every Catholic priest in Louisiana. "So as to give, these expressions of sympathy a practical and substantial character,7'-Archbishop Blenk said, "let me add that the clergy of "Louisiana "Louis-iana is ready at the least notice from your Eminence Emi-nence to help pecuniarily, , within means, in the maintenance of the French clergjv' Toledo Catholics Protest. An audience of 2..100 persons assembled at Memorial Me-morial hall, Toledo. O., on Sunday, Dec. '23, to make a protest against the course' of the French government. The following cablegram wa3 forwarded for-warded to Pius X and Cardinal Richard of Paris: ''We, citizens of "Toledo, Diocese of Cleveland,' in mass meeting assembled, protest-against spoliation spolia-tion of Church in France.' ''' Resolutions of protest were -also, passed and copies ordered sent to President Roosevelt and the French Ambassador akWashingto'n. r- - : - Demonstrations at Kingston,. N; Y. .- At East Kingston. Y.. Sunday. Dec. 2,. mem bers of the societies connected' with 'St-.olman's Church adopted resolutions of "protest against, the.; act ion of" 'nie-govp.TStritfnt of "France wit h regard t o the Catholic Church. Members of :soeietjps of that church were joined by Vtalian and -'Hungarian societies so-cieties from Glasco, and eight.1 r hundred men. - accompanied ac-companied by three bjliss bands, marched -to St. Colman's Church, whew Mass was celebrated.'- After Aft-er Mass the Rev. Robert A. Weir, celebrant, , delivered de-livered an address on the action of the French government. gov-ernment. From the church the societies marched to East Kingston hall, where speeches were made and resolutions of protest adopted. The paraders carried American, Papal. '.Irish, Hungarian and Polish flags. A Protest From 25,000 Newark Catholic. The following resolutions were passed'. t A meeting of delegates of the Holy Name Soeieti?s of the Diocese of Newark. N. J.. 'Dec. IS: "Whereas, The press of our country fs teeming with the vile injustice that is perpetrated', upon our Catholic brethren in France; and "Whereas, The ministers of religion are driven from their homes and their property, whose ownership, own-ership, consecrated by centuries of possession. Js confiscated by an irreligious government, thus trampling upon all civil and religious liberty; therefore, there-fore, 1. ''Resolved, That we, the delegates of the Tloly Name Societies of the Diocese of Newark, representing repre-senting in membership 25,000 Catholics, and re- membering that we should render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's, do extend our heartfelt sympathy to our persecuted co-religionists in their sufi'erings. and that we deprecate, as a Catholic people, the foul indignity that is offered to the great Catholic community com-munity of France in preventing them from worshipping wor-shipping their God in accordance with the universal univer-sal disciplinary rules of their spiritual superiors; and be it also "Resolved, That while realizing the past glories of . the 'eldest daughter of the Church.' we most, strenuously protest against the open violation of justice to the 'right of property' on the paTfc of a government that by its action would sanction tho infamous teaching of communism; and be it "Resolved. That we admire the unity of Bishops and priests as leaders of their flocks in their sterling ster-ling loyalty to the glorious reigning Pontiff, Pin-; X, who, like his predecessors on questions of principle prin-ciple and right, stands adamantine-like, ever ready in his exalted position to raise his voice in defense of civil and deligioua liberty; and be it further "Resolved. That a copy of these resolutions bo forwarded to His Holiness Pope Pius X. His Eminence Emi-nence Cardinal Richard of Paris and to the Prime Minister. M. Clemenceau, of France." |