Arizona weekly miner., 1875-08-20

"wIth no more animation, hope, or happi-
 ness than the horse which was their only
 companion" It would te well if every ultra
 montane would consult the School and he
 Army before he applies himself to the con-
 sideration of educational questions. in Gen.
 eral HazeD's account of the German schools
 he would find the cause of the difference be-
 tween the two peoples In Germany the
 state rules the "Church ;' in France the state
 obeys the altramontanes. In Germany edu-
 cation fiourishes, and nearly every one learns
 10 read and think; in France the nation
 perishes under the rule of the Roman priest.
 and ignorance is the common lot of men. A 1 similar and even a far worse condition of
 things prevails in Italy and Spain, where | for centuries the "Church" has controlled
 the education of the people (see Report, ! 1871, D. 473); and of Rome, the chosen city of the "Church," for so many ages, we are | told by the latest reports that one-half of
 the people can neither read nor write. They
 crowd to the common schools established by
 the Italian government with singular 1 avidity. The "Chief Justice" assures us l that under the rule of the Pope Rome had
 better system of education and was better instructed than any part of the United States. Until 1870 the report of the Italian
 government shows the papal city was cover ed with the gressest ignorance.
 NJ. De Lveleye, distinguished Belgian
 writer. has just printed at the request of MT. Gladstone a pamphlet upon the effect of religion on races. He indicates that ul- tramontaneism is everywhere the source of the decay of the Latin kingdoms and states. It is not because they are Latins, he thinks, that the Spaniards and Italians have fallen behind the Germans and the Goths. For he shows that Spain was free land when England was a despotism, and Italy was the centre of medieval republican ism and progress four centuries before Crom we'll. But the Latin kingdoms remained subject to Rome, and perished; the German became Protestant, and rose to unexampled | prosperity. That it is religion and not race | that controls the fate of nations he indicates | by clear example. The Genevese are Lat 1 ins; yet Geneva is the most cultivated, pro- gressive and prosperous of the Swiss cantons.
 Ultramontanism every where banishes edu- cation, and civil war, decay and corruption are the necessary fruits of uncultivated | minds. If Arizona is prudent 1t will scarce ly, with such examples be willing to place its educational affairs in the hands of the ultramontanes.
 But contrasted with the impotent or de- structive effects of clerical education upon the Latin race, how grand and humane ap- pear the growth and triumph of our common schools! Every State adopts them with ardor, and they have sprung up everywhere by the spontaneous action of the people. Within twenty years tie system, perfected and enlarged, has spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It has educated the cities and the wilderness. It is the cheapest mode of teaching ever known; yet its school buildings are countless and often magnificent, and the most splendid of these palaces of learning has recently been built at Omaha, where only few years ago was solitude. Six millions of children are taught in the common schools yearly at cost of possibly ten dollars each. The common schools lengthen the duration of life, avert disease, banish crime, refine and strengthen the race. They teach everywhere pure republicanism. The principles of l776 are repeated in every school house from Maine to California, and caste and sectarianism recede at their ap- proach. We are fast becoming one great, united, progressive people, educated in the same way, filled with the generous and toler- mt spirit of freedom, and the foundation of Ill our prosperity is the swift and unceasing growth of our common schools.