Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Excerpts: Dissentient Schools, Lower Canada; Separate Schools, Upper Canada; The Educational Clause of the British North America Act
I deeply regret to find, Sir, from the reference of the' honourable member from South Lanark (mr. Morris) that a remark of mine last year in which I called the six months' hoist the Parliamentary Bludgeon, seems to have rankled in his memory, and that an honourable member who came to the House with such a high reputation and character as his should choose almost as his first act in the political arena of the province to put himself in the position of the anti catholic leader on the ?oor of the Legislature. He ought to have left that piece of work to the hon. Member for South Simcoe (mr. Ferguson), the worthier and older soldier of intolerance. (laughter.) The hon. Member for South Simcoe referred to me last night. It was unnecessary to reply, inasmuch as the hon. Gentleman was himself his best illustration. (laugh ter). The hon. Member also complained of the hon. Member for Ottawa comparing him (mr. Ferguson) to Guy Fawkes. (laughter). This, I think, was hardly fair that is to say, it is hardly fair to poor Guy Fawkes. (renewed laughter.) And as that Guy - I do not now speak of the other Guy - has nobody else to speak for him, I think it is only an act of justice that I should defend him from the charge which the hon. Member for Ottawa has brought against him. (laughton) It is said that this is a Bill promoted by the clergy only. N o. I do not represent any ecclesiastical interest on the ?oor of this House, and I must declare that the Bill is a layman 3 hi ll - that it is not demanded so much by the clergy as by the laity. (hear, hear). I am sorry, indeed to hear it said by one or two members that this Bill is the result of ecclesiastical dictation. To that I reply that if this could be demonstrated as a fact I would be ready to oppose it. It is a Bill demanded by the laity. The hon. Member for Middlesex said that he had never heard a Roman Catholic layman in Middlewx ask for separate schools. It seems that the hon. Member regards all the Roman Catholic laity as a pack of slaves who have no opinions of their own, but are entirely at the mercy of their priests. However, the true tone of moderation on this subject has been given by the hon. Member for North York, who admitted that the principle has been recognized and could not now be taken back: and in accordance with that principle the legislature was bound to concede the means and machinery to carry it out. If i'. Did not, it only gave the word of promise to the ear and breaketh to the hope. Was the extension of the machinery proposed by the hon. Mover of the Bill neces sary i If the House believed the assertion of the applicants for the Bill, it was so. If we do not believe them, we could refer to the causes, and it would be found that the majority of Roman Catholics in Upper Canada lived in the rural districts. In towns and cities people would classify themselves and educate their children. The Roman Catholics in the cities were about only one-third or onefourth, while in the ten or twelve counties where they chie?y resided, they were in several cases one-fifth. One-fourth, one-third, and in others over one-half of the population.
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