Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-05-05
now SHALL WE EDUCATE.
OUR CITY SCHOOLS.
Letter from every Many,
NUMBER III.

| Lettcr from very MaHy.0
! NUMBER III.
,MEssns. EDITORS In reply to Father
| Finnegan's last communication beg to
submit a few. remarks:
| l. He complains that Zone Of Very
Many" does not write under his personal
| signature. The reason he does not is very
| simple one. He does not wish to have the
I,Eeneral interest of this momentous cues
ton lost In personal controversy. Let two
| individuals get into contest under their
| own names, and the attention of the pub
| lie would soon fix on them, and the -ques-
ftion at issue would become a secondary
| matter. -.
When so great a man as John Bap-
fist came preaching and calling the people
| to repentance, he turned aside the ques-
| ton Uho art thou?" with the answer,
II am the voice Of one crying.n He had a
subject, q message of supreme importance,
| to press upon the people, and was content
| to hide himself behind the voicc. Zone
OF Very Many only claims to be very
humble individual, and much more desires
to call attention to the subject, not to HIM
self. His proper name, however, is left
st the office of the CHRONICLE, and il Fa-
ther Finnegan feels agrieved at anything
he writes he will find the Editors Of that
paper prepared to give it. Whenit comes to
| q question Of moral courage" indeed,
"0ne Of Very Many will be on hand.
q. Now for the question. Let US see
how it stands. In the first place whis-
pers began to float around that efforts
were being made to secure a divi-
sion of tho school fund in, order that
| the Roman Catholic Priest might establish
or support church or sectarian school with
part of this public fund. Zone of Very
Many" wrote short article Of inquiry on
the subject, which was offered to the Press
and Herald, for the reason that he desired
to avoid mere political issues. 1t was re-
fused by that paper, and only accepted by
the CHRONICLE. Father Finnegan replies to
this inquiry promptly, admitting the
charge that he was seeking for his church,
portion of the fund. He contended
that he had right to portion pro rata,
assumption by extending the claim of right
to embrace all other denominations. To
this, Zone Of Very Many" replied by
showing that the claim was destructive of
the very principle of public or common
school s; since the fund divided UP among
the denominations would ipso tdcto, 60
out of the common control, pass beyond
the juris dietion of the civil authorities.
This brings us down to the article of
Father Finnegan, of this morning. In
that article the "den,and'' (that is the
word for portion of the fund is again
made. Yet he declares, of this money
that he 'den1dndsn from the city and
county tax, that it is motto be controlled
by myself, nor to support seetaridn
school, nor yet to establish a principle
destructive of the common SCHOOL," And
yet, for this statement he offers nota word
of proof That his demand is destruc-
tive of the common school i hold
to be. established with the strength of de-
monstration. For, when the fund has
been divided pro rata among the religious
denominations, where is any remaining
for a common school? In New York,
where the Roman Catholic Priests, con-
trolling vast foreign population of their
own faith,- have position and power, they
openly deeFy the 1orincipte of common
schools. -Ihaye seen, again and again, the
strongest possible language of opposition
to the system. Here it suits their agent to
present a different aspect to the people, to
assert the principle and make the ''de-
n,a,ad' that is really destructive of the
schoolsystem of the country, while he
denies the legitimate application Of the
principle, and talks to the people of Knox
vile about their fairness and k6erality 81
Let the people of this State and city be-
ware. This movements but as the open
ing wedge. Give Father Finnegan this
precedent and vantage ground, and we
shall in due time have repetition of the
experience Of New York, where all the
Roman Catholic institutions are in a large
measure supported by grants from the pub
lie fund. One by one, all that is peculiar
to American christianity and American
liberty will be over-ridden and destroyed.
The liability to this aggression con-
sists in the fact that the Roman
Catholics hold the balance of pow
er, which they are ready to throw
into the scale of any political party that
will advance their all embracing and
grasping aims. do not intend in this any
personal insinuation against Father Finne-
gan. I know nothing against him per-
sonally. But / speak of him simply as the
devoted agent of q church whose structure
is superstitious and despotic, and whose
history in this land has been one continued
scene of cunning, persistent aggression up
on the institutions of American libertyand
Christianity.
It is the wish of Zone of Very MANY,
that the attention Of the people of Knox
vile should not be diverted from the real
issue. Father Finnegan says 1--WE teach
in our schools the true principles of Chris
tianity as they have been handed down
from the beginning" an assertion the
truth of which deny. ''The true princi- |
plies of Christianity are contained in the
New Testament. That contains the |
only true principles of Christianity that
have been handed down to us, and in that
Blessed Volume there is not word about
making an ''oblation" to Mary, offering her
the "heart,n which "can neuer be secure
Dat i1p her "haads.p Nor is there any
thing in that Holy Volume that is peculiar
to the teaching of the Church of Rome
Protestants wish to teach their children,
not what they regard as the idolatry and
Of the Church of Rome, but |
the simple, rtrue principles of Christian
ity.."
Father Finnegan tells as that "Protest-
ant children who coHieto US for instruction
are not tempered with, nor is their form of |
religion ridiculed or maligned. Certain
ly not ridiculed or mahgneds They are
far too cunning for that No one accuses
thenasef being fools to take the measures
that would effectually warn the Protestant |
community. 1t would be well for many
x.1ac1,cxaaofi pr1tosfa,aE IL