Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1871-05-10

y
clesiastical system that has welded the IN
| QUESTION, and boasts itself superior to
cnange, asystem opposed TO all our cherish
ed views of liberty, civilization and chris
tlanlty, shall come into our land and work
by political influence to get control of our
common funds whetherfor sectarian schools
or charities. We object strongly to its
claim of exemptions or Of partitions that
no other church thinks of asserting. We
examine the structure of that system and
| ma IT intrinsically and necessarily desDo-
TIC. we trace its path through history, and
! ma Whatever good purposes,it has served.
lnlhlte perversions ofreligicn, iron-bound
tyranny and relentless per. ecution. we
| inquire into its modes and plans i'm our own
! country and find them deeply laid. COM
pfehenslVe and far reaching embracing
the INSCRIPTIONS employment of every
political stratagem by which to work into
/ control amid the controversies. and dis
fractions of the times. We turn our eyes
upon the accomplished agents of this or
ganization, and are met by trained band,
working as one man to the one end of sub
DUNG the land to their churof, and estab-
llsnng here the institutions tnat for CEN
turtles crushed freedom and ie Bible i'm
continental Europe, and are now rottinp
along with the life of the nations whose
manhood they have emasculated. This is
the scene that meets us, and We, are deter
mined ''to give way by subje,tion, no, not
1oran hour Weare determined, if possible
to prevent the agents of this .ystem from
using political influence to gss control of
even portion of our public snnds. We
VIII Keep those funds intact f'e their pur-
poses, for we well know whore the en-
tire animal will soon be, if We let the head
IN. If our Roman Catholic Citizens will
join us in the common schoul, we will
freely allow them the influence which ms
| uldtrtdudIS they may exert. But we can
not tamely suffer them to erect themselves
into organized hostility to our system, and
use the public funds to fight with.
!. THE QUESTION OF sECrARIAN BIAS.
Father Finnegan maintains that it is
impossible for a common schoo. to be nom
sectarian. He thinks every teacher must
nave bias. | need not spend time or
this assertion. Suppose he has q bias. It
will come outin teaching spelling, reading.
and arithmetic, in no very prominent way.
Then, little latitude in this matter, among
the various teachers will only have the
effect of whetting off some of the angles of
AFOREMENTIONED prejudice, aud - no harm.
Then again, there will be soAae Roman
Catholic teachers in the sch t0is sa.nd they
Will manifest their "bias' in the direction
OF their own church. Where the system is
such as 10 repress all PROSECUTING in the
offensive sense, no great influence need be
feared. Teachers, will under the then eX-
listing circumstances, be careful to confine
themselves TO their own proper work, leav-
ing to more competent hands the work of
specific doctrinal christian training.
8. STATISTICS AGAIN.
l should not have again touched this
question, if the Fathers statements had
not compelled me. IT is not a pleasant
subject, for we must all feel profoundly
Inundated, whether Protestants or Roman
lists, that the gospel in our hands has not
been more faithfully and successfully ap-
piled to the salvation of the people, and
thus to the prevention of crime. But it is
not as the Father would have it, u mere
question of casting out the beam from
our own.eye.n We are here on n question
OF great public Government. The Fathers
claim for superior moral results from the
teaching in the schools of his church,
sprung the question upon US. / have
shown from tables taken from actual gov
eminent statistcs-not that the Roman
Church fosters crime-but that it has less
power to restrain it than the Protestant
Church. This exhibit the Father meete |
by counter statements. In some cases he |
gives the statements without mentioning
any authority at all In others he gives |
authorities of private character, such as |
the assertion of clergymen and physicians, |
loosely made, and therefore, in such a con- |
nectiOn worth very little.
10 snow now much reliance is to bS |
placed on these statements of the Father, |
take one or two cases. In one of his ar |
ucles he gives statement from an |
authority unknown TO me- that |
during an entire year there was not q
single conviction for murder in Ireland. |
How Enthusiastically any such statement
must he is evident TO all who have seen the
Irish people in great cities where they gem
orally furnish more criminals than |
all the other classes of population cOmbin-
ed. But take in this connection the figures
IN tables, laid before Parliament and Dub-
ishcd GyHe House in 1852. From these we
earn that the total number of committals
or murder during the year 1851 in Eng
and
Was......................... "a
Discharged-nO evidence. .................... s
Acquitted on trial A
convicted .,........... IL
Insane lpersOhs
The proportion of conviction for murder
turing that year in England and Wales
vas TO the million of population!
y return laid before the House of Conn
mons, covering period of less than three
ears i'm Ireland, shows the yearly average
# 235-equal to 30 murders to the million. ,
What is remarkable is that during Il num-
ler OF years subsequent to 1899, the time of
his return, there were large numbers of
conversions to the Protestant faith, and an
Extensive emigration, so that from the Par {
lament return in 1851 it appears that the /
number Of murders TO the million had
uuk to 10! Such facts and figures tell
heir own tale.
Take apot bar Of tha Tpatbor'g ,,,,I;,l 90. | ,