The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1853-10-08

odious oiigarchy in our midst, compared Win
which Russian despotism would be desirable
and comfortable. The query here arises cahnot
the people of the Republic be educated by the
various religious denominations Of the country
To this the answer seems very plain. No reli-
pious denomination would be willing to edu-
cate the people, unless they gave what they
suppose the State cannot give, complete edu-
cation. Every denomination Of Christians is
bound to train child for another world as
we'll as the present life, and in its schools 1t
must give its own Interpretation ofthe doctrines
of the Scriptures. If the bill introduced to our
Legislature last winter, by the influence OF the
Roman Catholic "Bishop of ST. Paul" mad
passed, any school numbering twenty-five emil,
dren, and giving religious instruction. would
have been allowed all the rights ana privileges
of a regular district school. and been free from
the insDection of the civil authorities. A Pres
bvterian minister would then have been allow
nd 10 have zone into a community where there
were twenty-five Protestant and ten Roman
Catholic children of proper age, and opened
a school which would have drawn money from
the treasury of the Territory. He would have
been permitted to teach that the Roman church
worsLnips the Virgin Mary as the Romans wOr-
shipped Venus, as divine being. and that the
members of the Roman church at this day bow
before statue which was once representative
of a heather deity and that the priests of the
Pope had always opposed the general diffusion
of intelligence. The ten children of POpish
preferences must either go to this Presbyterian
school, or they must grow up Ignorant of the
rudiments of learning. for the State cannot give
money enough to support school of ten. On
the other hand. if great majority of the chill
dren were under the influence of the Roman
church, as in the district which adjoins this
town, under the law that the friends OF the
Bishop desired to have passed by the last Lc-
gislative Assembly, the Protestant children then
n - a. TO have IRON n he
Papal school, and to be taught that none but
Romanists are safe from hell, or remained at
home in ignorance.
But admit that there could be found in our
agricultural communities a sufficient number to
support a school of each denomination of Chris
tians represented. what would be the result
The religious prejudices of the community. the
most bitter of any. would be aroused. There
would be seen a Baptist school, Methodist
school, an Episcopal school, Presbyterian
school, Roman Catholic school, and children
would learn to look upon each other, not as
Americans, but as members of this or that sect.
Youthful intimacies would be confined to those
Of each school. There would be few intermar-
riages and society would be divided up on fri
volous questions, and become the prey OF de-
signing men. Under this condition OF things,
also the child of the Hebrew. or the Chinaman.
or the Mormon, or the Unbeliever in the Chris
tian religion, would be debarred the privilege
Of State instruction.
+ Moreover in those communities that are I'M
der the influence of a Roman priesthood, judg-
! ing from the past, the pupils would chiefly re-
ceive oral instruction: and then civil officers
would frequently be unable to read or write,
and intelligent citizens would be mortified by
having men who know only how to bow before
: the cross or make that sign on paper. become
their rulers, for if the majority are ignorant.
they will be sure to elect Ignorant or crafty
men for public officers.
Should the bill that was presented to the Le-
gislature last winter have passed, it is easy to
suppose another case that might have happened
under its operation.
If in any school district twenty five respecta-
bic farmers should have paid school tax, in
the aggregate amounting to one hundred dol
lars and should have fifteen children of the
proper age, which they desired to receive the
benefit of a common school education. there
should also happen to reside fifty Irish. German
and French families. who paid Il tax collective
ly, amounting to ten dollars, and if they also
had twenty-five children. and desired priest of
Rome to educate them. the latter families would
have been enabled to have had a school, while
those who paid ninctenths Of the whole tax
could have no district school.
If have not forgotten, the petition gotten up
by the Bishop of St. Paul, and read before the
House of Representatives last winter. claims
that about one-tourth of all the children of
Minnesota are under the influence of the Pope.
and thinks it Just that Papists should pay a
tax for the support Of that of which they do not
approve. This argument the tyro can see at a
glance is fallacious, for the fact that man de-
rives no immediate profit, or does not approve
OF certain taX-does not make it proper for
him to be excused by the State from paying his
proportion.
Upon an examination Of the Textbook of the
school district in which reside. think it will
be discovered that about seven-eighths of all
the moneys paid into the school treasury has
been paid by those who have no attachment for
the Pope. yet the Bishop of st. Paul would not
think it unjust that he should draw from the
treasury more than twice the sum that had ever
been contributed by his people. In Auburn
Boston, Philadelphia, and other large places.
the Roman Catholic citizens pay but small
fraction of the school tax. why then do their
Bishops act and speak as if their people were
really contributing materially to the support o
the system Of public instruction.
would not be uncharitable. but cannot yet
believe that it is a regard for the spiritual wei
fare of their children, that causes them to keep
them away from the goddess" state school as
they call it. If they really wished to give THEN
children religious instruction it could readily
be done on Saturday or Sunday, or other days
There are one hundred and siXty-eight hours
in every week, and the State asks only thirty
hours for secular instruction, and the priests
surely might teach the children about the
"Blessed Virgin the "mothcr of their God,
and "patron of America during the one hun
dred and thirty-eight hours that the children
are not occupied with their spelling books aad
multiplication tables.
May not the real cause Of opposition to our
system of public instruction be, that it trains
the pupil to exercise the right of private judg-
ment and even think and do as Rome does not
On many subjects.
How wide the contrast between the present
system Of public instruction, and that which
the priesthood attempted to foist on our Sta
tute Book.
That which We now possess recognizes every
Child not as the child of a Romanist, or Pres
byterlan, or lnlidel but as a child that may be-
come legislator and officer of the Republic,
and educates it for such destiny. The multi
ated system to which we have called your at
tention recognizes the child as the son of an
lrishman, or German, or Norwegian, or as the