The Evening Star MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3404, 19 January 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, JANUARY 19, 1874

The , New Zealand Tablet * has honored this journal, with special attention, and devoted two articles, one on the 3rd January and another on the 10 th, tp attempts to refute the statement that, judged by the light of history, neither the Church of Kerne nor the Church of England has any right to be considered an educating Church. We do not see any particular advantage to be gained either by ourselves or the * .Tablet ’ in a controversy in which there is no acknowledged standard to refer to. When we point out that the Roman Catholic Church had for centuries the education of the people of Europe and Spanish America under its control, and that the masses of the people were ignorant and superstitious, we are met with the ingenious quibble that if we refer to the last hundred years, “The Church,” as the Roman Catholic hierarchy name themselves, are not responsible; because it is asserted that in one empire, meaning thereby the British Empire, which was almost expressly excluded from the list by ourselves when we included in noneducating Churches the English Episcopal Church, education by the Roman Catho-, lies was “high treason against the 1 ■ State.” If we point to facts in history' of persecution by the Church so well established that they cannot be denied in the presence of an educated Roman Catholic, we are not met by direct denial, but we are pitied because it is assumed, withunwaprant*

able presumption and arrogance, by the writer in the * Tablet’ “ that the writers of articles in the Star have never read any authorities in history, except those romances in the English language which have usurped that name.” This style of treatment of the subject may suit the class of readers for whose edification the * Tablet’ is specially intended. It is an old trick in that branch of logic known as “sophistry,” in which the writer in the ‘Tablet’ is an adept. When we refer to the teaching of history in proof of what we assert, that the Roman Catholic Church has no claim to the .character of an educating Church, we appeal to that which is accessible to men of every denomination. Does the ‘Tablet’ expect that we should print the proofs ? That would be to reproduce the thousands of volumes of records of the past which have been handed down to us through succeeding ages. And, were we to do this, most of the authorities on which we ourselves rely would be treated as fictitious by our self-conceited contemporary. How, then, are we to judge of the value of that educational system which the * Tablet ’ parades before its readers in such a long array of figures, which we have no objection to accept as facts ? The law is, “By their works you shall know them.” Now, our reading of that is, by the results will the value of the work be known. We point therefore, to the results of the working of the educational machinery of the Roman Catholic Church,, as now seen in Spain and Italy. In those two countries, at any rate, the Roman Catholic hierarchy have had the opportunity of carrying out their educational theories.within the limits of the present century. In proof of which, so far as Spain is concerned, we may mention that the Inquisition, a peculiarly Roman Catholic institution, was in full op' ration until .suppressed by the First JN acoleon in 1808, and again by the Cortes in 1813. It was revived under Ferdinand VJLI , that servant of the Pope, in 1814, and not finally abolished until 1820. We mention these facts merely to shew that in Spain the ecclesiastical power was so great as to assume to control popular education ; and that one of the means employed' was the Inquisition. And what has been the result there ? Wo will quote from Buckle, in whose generalisations on thih point we believe, although no doubt we shall be told he was one of those writers of “ romance ” in the English language who has “usurped the name” of an authority on the philosophy of history ? —in Spain, unfortunately, education has always remained, and still remains in the hands of the clergy, who steadily oppose that progress of knowledge which, they are well aware, would be fatal to their own power. The people, therefore, resting ignorant, and the causes which kept them in ignorance continuing, it avails the country nothing that from time to time enlightened rulers have come forward, and liberal measures have been adopted. . , . The name, the body, and the visible appearance of the Inquisition are no more, but the spirit which generated the Inquisition is enshrined in the^ hearts of the people, and, on slight provocation, would burst forth, and reinstate an institution which is the effect far more than the cause of the intolerant bigotry of the Spanish nation.

Every mail brings confirmatory evidence of the sad result of ill-directed education of the people. Instead of peace, harmony, industry, and content, there is civil war in its most aggravated and cruel form; party spirit that renders good Government impossible, and a state of anarohy that seems likely to lead the nation back to barbarism. Thanks to the firm government of Victor Emmanuel in Italy, similar results have been avoided there. Now, Italy and, inter alia, the schools of Italy are adduced by the ‘Tablet’ to show how much the Roman Catholic Church has done for “popular” education. The figures look well, but when the populations of Europe are considered, the number of students are small even for Universities; while it must be manifest to the least informed that in all ages there have been thousands of learned men, ' though the tens of millions of people were ignorant. How is it that at a census in Italy a few years ago it was found out of a population of in round numbers 26,000,001) (we speak from memory), 17.000,000 could neither read nor write ? With such a fact before us what boots it that in a particular college all the circle of sciences, and all the languages of the earth, dead and living, are taught ? Or again, if the system of education by the Roman Catholic hierarchy can be termed “popular education,” how was it that it was esteemed so lightly by the people of Rome that the .presence of French troops alone sustained it for upwards of twenty years, and on their withdrawal the mass of the people gladly accepted the dominion of Victor Emmanuel rather than remain under their former spiritual pastors and masters a* rulers ? Results like these justify us in our assertion that there has been no education of the people worthy of the name by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and such will be the verdict of every educated man, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, Until the ‘ Tablet ’ can exylain those facts, it may save itself the trouble of logical * wriggling and garbling quotations. They are signs of genius misdirected and of perverted moral principle—very amusing to read, hut not very creditable to the writer.