Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-04-05

public schools, is but feeler TO ts
! their power-to measure the distant
between sovereignty and their preser
position. Their power depends o
the unquestioning faith of its mem
bers in the. Romish church. The
dread an influence, which may b
chance inspire the laynen to doubt, @
demand proof Hence the candid aG
: mission of a Romish authority =
Catholics would npt be satisfied witt
the public schools, even. If the Pre-
testant Bible and every vestige Q
fof religious teachingswere bandishes
from them." A church which is OBJ
( liged to protect its sanctity by prun
ling the memories of men, and by GOV
hering its trail in many ofits winding
Though history, will not choose tC
present an 'ungarbled story of civiliz
alton to its disciples. More thar
this, every hymn and song, every
/ gem of literature, every work 0
science, philosophy, or political econ
-omy must be expurgated Of such pas
'sages as shall tend to implant ideas
or TO excite the reasoning powers in
/ any devout Catholic mind. A church
which is confessedly striving to undo
all that the tolls and struggles of the
last century have accomplished by
re-uniting the church and the state,
will permit no suggestion thatchurch
and state are better apart. AchuFch
which is avowedly endeavoring to
appropriate to itself this hospitable
American home, into which its mem
Z hor.- faoN NJ as. nd ~
ers, will ward off from them any In
telligence, any sense of justice, any
Christianity which will lead them TO
doubt that this country is a fit prey
for ecclesiastical vuItures. A church
which eonfesses that its hostility to
public choOls arises, not from their
religious character, but from the ac-
knowledged principle of opposition
to universal enlightenment, would
evidently, had it the power, put a
premium on ignorance, and mana
Gle on reason. 4 a tees
Give our free schools to this
rapacious priesthood, and what is the
next step? If free schools annoy
them, so viii free press, free pull
pilt, free thought, and free state.
1t is church with an insatiate appe-
tite for power. Its demands for tenn
poral possessions have been hardly
modest for church, bearing the
name of him who said: "My king
dom is not of this world" ~
Notwithstanding these palpable
danger sof a many-sided and freely
indulged national conscience, many
kind and good people cry: "YieldI
-Yield! Win them by kindness. We
must have perfect freedom here"
They forget that freedom must stop
somewhere, or else that every man is
free to cut his neighbor's throat.
Is not this again a proof that
public opinion is as yet neither
trusty oracle, nor sage?
These dangers which L have just /
are but representatives of
a great multitude, which hem US in I
on all sides. The heimmigration prob
lem is unsolved. Reconstruction and I
schemes are perplexing us. /
Our civil-service regulations disre- /
gard the public veal. Our metropol-
itan society is corrupt, and our poll
tics are rotten. resis
But worse than all is the wide
spread disresprect for liberal culture, I
at which one statesman sneers as " a
ofa Latin and less Greek.n
Another exclaims Away with
dusty tones and dustier Greek roots.p
Another plaintively cries: "Of all
horned cattle, deliver me from a col
Iege graduate while multitudes
hurrah for "self-madep men, and jeal-
Ously ridicule the pretentions of
those who are literally educated.
Here then submit again the proof
Of the untrustworthiness of public
opinion as ruler. 1 grant it is more
now than it was a century
ago. argue that persistent effort
will elevate its Intellectual and NOR
IL status still more perceptibly during
The next generation. / claim that,
lnless the public opinion of the
twentieth century shall be more in
.elligent than that ofthe nineteenth,
he fault will be with the public men
If the present day, and SO take up
he proposition that the work of the L
lge is the education of public opin-
on. af l.
1t is evident this work can be prop
)erly executed only by men of high
For as / have argued,
'nly the keenest intellects can COM
and solve the problems of
'ur future existence. The social ,
problems of to-day are not like those
# 1776. With every year of our ma /
ional existence new complications {
rise. We are no longer discussing I
mere moralities, which can be deter j
mined by the plainest and simplest {
principles of right and wrong. The
istory of our generation will record
which can be disentagled
y no crude, impulsivepublic opinion.
IS the questions grow more involved, y
he people must grow more intelli-
ent. The engineer must know his
in all its details, or it will 8
onquer him, and become an instru- I
lent of destruction. Social science /
yet in its infancy. 1t is for the ed {
Gated men of the country to see ,
nat it does not droop, and die in its :
hildhood. When it shall reach a
reen old age, around its hoary head 8
nall shine the glories of the millen- 8
iumn. G