New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 56, 23 May 1874, Page 7

New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia.

SATURDAY, MAY 23, 1574.

THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS AND THE CATHOLICS.

Nothing surprised the Liberal party more than the result of the recent elections ; and indeed it is very probable that the Conservatives themselves were astonished d,t their great success. Tne Liberal party fancied" that the Catholic vote would be in their favor, come what might ; whilst in justice to Mr Disraeli it must be said that instead of courting the Catholics, he took elaborate pains to convince the nation that he rejected an fdliance with them. Nevertheless, the Conservative success has been mainly owing to those whom their leader had almost insulted. And why 1 Why did the Catholics fall away from the party to which it was supposed they naturally belonged, and help to put in power their hereditary enemies? The reason is obvious : The Liberal party, wittingly or unwittingly, it matters not, had been playing into the hands of the godless party in the Empire ; whilst, with all their faults, the Conservatives had clung tenaciously to the sound principle that the education of a people should be based on, and informed by, religion and Christian teaching. Here is to be found the true reason of the support given by Catholics to Conservative candidates during the late elec tions in England and Scotland. The Liberal party did not calculate on the sincerity, depth and enrnpstness of the religious principles of Catholics ; and thought that they would abandon the great cause of denominational education for the sake of party ; and that nothing would induce them to vote for members of the party of their old oppressors. But, as they now know to their cost, they grievousl^miscalculated. With Catholics religion is paramount to every other consideration ; and after the things directly religious, comes the Christian education of their children. The Conservatives were pledged to denominational education, and therefore the Catholic vote was cast in their favor. To us the policy of tlie Catholics of Oreat Britain is interesting and instructive. Wherever Liberal candidates, pledged to denominational education, presented themselves, tbe Catholics supported the Liberals. But in those constituencies 1 where the only candidates pledged to denominational education were Conservatives, the Catholics, it may be paid, .unanimously voted for tbe Conservatives. In the constitu' ■encies, however, Mich as Salford, where all the candidates were in favor of purely secular education, the Catholics abstain from voting ; and thus in many places the Liberals lost the powerful nid which used in bygone contests to place them iar ahead of their Conservative rivals. Catholics supported the Denominationali^ts everywhere, and abtained from votin^ at all, rather than afford the least aid to a Secularist. There may have been an exception or two, where one of tbe candidates was extremely objectionable. In such a case, Catholics had presented to them a choice of evils, and of course they chose the lesser. Suppose, for example, such a mail as Mr Whalley— a member of the Liberal party, but at the same time a fanatical hater of Catholicity — was opposed by a Secularist who was both a gentleman and a scholar, and a moderate man generally, it is very probable that in such an event Catholics would vote for the Secularist so moderate and gentlemanly, in order to keep out the almost insane bigot, and prevent him from disturbing the decorum of the House of Commons But, in ordinary cases, when all the candidates for any .particular constituency were Secularists, the Catholics refused to incur the responsibility of supporting any of them. In pursuing this course, they were only -discharging an obvious tluty. Except in such a case as that imagined above, they would have been guilty of a very grievous crime, indeed, if they helped into power men who were pledged to establifh a system of education which could only result in training the rising generation of Englishmen in godlessnecs. And let us bear in mind that we, placed in similar circumstances, are bound to pursue a similar line of conduct. Ordinarily speaking, we cannot vote for any man pledged to a secular system

of education. The only exception would be the case of two candidates, both Secularists, of whom one, for reasons peculiar to himself, would be so objectionable, that it would ahnost amount to an imperative duty to vote for his opponent.