The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-03-24
presented.

Inc OpecuOnS urged ny lHe OdtHoHCS aSaHSt
the enforced use of certain portions of the Protest
ant formula of worship in the public schools of
Boston, have been met by the Special Committee,
before whom the matter brought up for dis
cussion, in so tolerant and concatory spirit, that
the excitement arising out of the troubles in the
Eliot school has already begun to subside We
placed before readers, a few days ago, state
ment of the origin Of the difficulty and of the Sc
we're chastsement which was inflicted upon one of
the pupils-a child in point of age-for retus-
inc to conform to the rules of the institution. The
observance of those rules is still exacted by the
Committee, until such time as they may be modified
by the proper authorities, and in the meanwhile.
the pupils, who, under the instructions of their pa
rents, of their religious teachers, refuse to join in
the appointed exercises to be expelled from
the schools for contumacy. Out of the very
large numbers who had either absented them
selves voluntarily, when the difficulty first
occurred, or had been summarily dismissed,
nearly two hundred were sent back to the
school by their parents One-third of these
have, however, been since discharged for similar
acts of disobedience and, with the absence of the
most ncorrigible of the malconteuts, the troubles
to which they had given rise gradually quiet
ing down. So far, then, the School Committee
have been able to vindicate their authority, and to
check the symptoms of INSTRUMENTATION that were
making themselves apparent in the other public
schools of that city. But the main question,
which is one of the greatest decacy, has yet to be
met, and although majority of the Committee
consider it unwise to make it subject for discus
sion at the present time, the feeling of the Catholic
population, in favor of re-modeling the existing
regulations, is evidently too strong 10 be disre-
garded altogether At the meeting of the mem
bers of the School Committee, to which we have
already referred, a letter from Bishop FITz-
PATRICK was read, in which he AYERS that the OBJ
iections raised by Catholic pupils in the
public schools, at the instance of their parents,
were not mere fetches or pretences devised simply
ffor the purpose of creating difficulty, but
tfounded in individual conscience and indi
"vidual faith" and he asks that their religious
scruples may be respected In the course of the
debate that ensued, the Rev. RUFUS ELLIS, while
charging the troubles that had occurred to the inter-
ference of the Catholic Priest, Father WIGET de-
clared himself opposed to having religion taught
in the public schools. Another member of the
Committee, after avowing that che was born a
''Protestant, and trusted that he should re-
''main so as long as he lived" intimated
that Roman Catholics and Catholic children had
rights which ought to be respected No liberal
minded man will dispute the truth of the latter
propositions; but unfortunately there are sectaries,
both in Boston and elsewhere, whose religious
convictions are as narrow as they are intense, and
who regard the reading of the Bible in the public
&c {lo
and the chanting of prayers, as of more value than
the quiet incubation of moral precepts, or than a
well ordered system of instruction in the ordinary
branches of a common school education.-
Some little apprehension was, therefore, felt that
portion of the old Puritan bigotry would display
itself in the sermons delivered at the various
churches in Boston, on the Sunday after the diff
Guilty at the Eliot school became publicly known
Happily, however, although quite a number Of
cergymen alluded to the subject, the only one
who evinced any disposition to make it serious
issue was the Father WIGET who had first en-
couraged the scholars to REBEL and with regard
to him, the belief was very generally entertained
that she did not act under any warrant from his
'superlors, or in any concert with the well
''advised of his brethren" The Boston Cowie
expresses regret That the question should have
been preached in the pulpit at all, and takes the
broad ground, that ''the whole question is one O
Claw, and not of religion; and that to the de
Termination of the law as it is understood ant
''settled in Massachusetts, it is the duty, and thu
''best policy, of all good citizens to conform.
Some years ago, the popular feeling, with respec
to the use of the Protestant version of the Bib
in Public Schools, was very strong in this city
and for time the controversy was not merely
animated, but finally became acrimonious. Tt
what extent the feud might eventually have beer
carried, can only be matter for conjecture, mas
much compromise quietly made, which
in its practical operation, has proved Itself perfect
ly effective. That compromise recommend
to the consideration of the Boston School Com
mttee. 1t consisted simply in permitting tn
Catholic pupils connected with our Public School
to read-on stated occasions and apart from tn
other scholars-that version of the Scripture
which is recognised by the Catholic Church. Th
remedy is a simple one, and we have heard n
doubts expressed as to its efficacy. 1t violates n
particular creed; it comedies nothing but what
Just and proper, and while it is acknowede
ment of the religious equality of the pupils, an
evnces due respect for their individual right
it tends to promote harmonious relations betwee
the scholars themselves, and renders it compari
lively easy for the teachers to enforce an obser'
ance of the usual regulations of the school.