New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-03

prefer separate provision ard separate schools
for th pc children. They wi.h their education to
be Thoroughly Catholic, IN sense which - not
possible in school. really Common IN City OF sue.
diverse theolnnies as ours. The Roman Catholic
pre .,hood are inyincibly hostile, not specially to
Bbe-readirg Il Common Schools, but to Coumon
Schools at all. II objecton Is made by them 10
Bibe.readiDp that is Incidental and by way OF
makt. veight-to show that our Common Schools
are essentially Protestant. aud will never be any
thing else.
Gov Seward undoubtedly made tie suggestion
which would. if adopted, haye dssrmed their re-
sistsnee 70 Public Schools, but at tne cost OF q
decided modification in the system. He proposed
that. in cur great ciie', where freshly ly-arrived
Immigrants unacquainted @th our language, most
sbonrd. there should be Schools erected expressly
for the children Of such immigrants in which their
natural repulsions and auspiciOns should be dis
armed by the employment OF teachers "sr,oling
- the language and prcfessing the faith of
those parents respectively. The practical difficult
ties in tie way Of carrying this recommendation
fully snd consistently into effect were undoubtedly
great. and it was very generally frowned upon and
condemned Yet this is to De said in its favor,
that no opponent, among the thousands who have
attempted TO state its purPort has ever stated 1t
fairly. To-day, a majority of intelligent citizens
believe that Gov. s. proposed to grant special priv
ileges TO Ronsn Catholics, and 10 provide at the
public cost schools in which the children Of immi-
grants should be educated in the native languages
Of their parents and instructed in the tenets Of
thote parents religion. He never proposed nor
dreamed Of The instruction OF those children in
SPY foreign language or religious dogma whatever,
but simply that teachers should be- provided for
them who could understand and communicate with
them alo7e they were instructed in English, aud
who, being Of ike faith with themselves, would be
free from the natural jeslousy of ignorant people
in strange land that the facilities afforded by their
attendance on our Public Schools would be artully
employed to seduce them from their parents cher
ished faith
But "a tue case in hand:
The Bible is no longer read in certain OF our
Public SCHOOL,; il is desired that such reading be
restored. How is this 10 be effected We say,
By direct ard earnest appeal to the People OF
those Wards Let full ticket, and but one, Of
citizens Of eminent worth and popularity be made
up from all parties in each pledged to restoration
of Bibe.r reading. Then LEI the citizens be visited
and canyassed from house TO house, let facts and
aTguu ents be addressed to them in the shape of
addresses handbs, tracts, urging them to vote To-
the Bible ticket. ii proper efforts were thus
made. we do not believe q favorable result need
be despaiIed Of.
But the course which seems TO D. determined on
is very diferelt from this While no effort is made
in the anti Bible Wards, great clamor is raised
outside OF them. with the manifest intent Of COM
pelling the reading Of the Bible in the 1Vth, With
aud XIyth Wards, through an extreme exercise of
power by Commissioners elected in the IXth,
XVth, XVlth and XVlIlth.
Probably, kind OF success may thus be
achieved, but it will prove superficial and iasory.
Is Bble-reading at the point cf the bayonet Bible
reading crowded upon hostile Ward Officers and
Teachers by means Of external force-will prove
neither honorable TO the victors edifying to the
vanqushed. In plain words, it will turn out a
sham snd farce.
But even that is not the worst aspect Of the
matter. We do not judge the Roman Catholic
priesthood Uncharitably when We say that they
dislike our Common School System as it is and
that no modifcstiors are likely to be made in it
which will render il acceptable TO them. Gov.
Stewards effort papably failed, exposing him to
intense odium and subseryirg no good purpose
No one has since had the courage to make another
II IS safe and not unjust then, TO that the
Roman Catholic priesthood are intent on with
drawing the children of Catholic parents from our
Common Schools 20 fast and so completely as may
be within tbeir power
l. not the Bible movement, a prosecuted, pre-
csey carry ing grst 10 their mill! Are 40. its as.
sumptions and its measures nicely calcuated to
dlsaffe.t Catholics toward our Common Schools
snd induce them to send their children 10 the paro
chial or semi clerical private schools under Catho-
lie influence that are quietly sprnging NJ through
out our City, and wherever else Catholic popu-
lation is found And does any oue CONSIDERABLY
SUPPOSE that a denomination numbering not less
than Ore Hundred thousand Legal Voters in our
State can be perpetualy taxed to maintain our
Common School System after they shall, for what
they esteem good cause. have wholly rejected
and Withdrawn from it Friends tf Common
Schools and Of Universal Education be not misled
by your passions nor by blind guides into fighting
the battle of your adyersaries Pause and con-
.ider
~ III. "a tnri.l urnfas ~, "a