New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-30
NON-SECTARIAN AND UNIVERSAL
EDUCATION.

Unmann, LID, in response to the sent
ment, "Ouf common schools, the glory o
our republic, undefled by sectarianism
our hope and boast; they shall be main
tained," before the Veteran Association
Order of United Americans, at their annua
dinner, New York, February %, 1876:
Gentlemen-We have reason to congratu
late ourselves upon the present condition Of
public opinion in the United States. The
thoughts which we expressed in other days
not without Obloquy, are now ripening into
national convictions. Hopes and impulses
transient, and only the reflection of emo
ton and passion, are now recognized as
fixed purposes, based upon the elementary
principles of political philosophy, and des-
tined to assert themselves with irresistible
might. Such are ever the phases and ten
denotes of historic movements. The mar
tyrs of to-day are the heroes of the future
Principles which we promulgated long
since, under many trials and vicissitudes,
are evidently becoming widely diffused.
Thousands, who once received them with
scOrn and derisi0n, are now found among
their most strenuous advocates. The up
heavals of society, political and religious,
daily demanding our attention, indicate
that the mighty forces which control its &C.
ton are stirring up its deepest depths. and
are preparing tor a great moral revolution.
Some years ago, l ventured to avow my
faith in an unsectarian system of free and
universal education, and was therefor pub
iicly burned in efigy; and had the indiyid-
nals who instigated that outrage possessed
the powers exercised by their fellows of the
Spanish inquisition, in the reign of Philip
H., they would gladly have turned the
mock into a real auto da fe How striking
is the CONTRAST! Now powerful organiza-
tons enthusiastically proclaim these sent-
ments as the basis OF their union; the State
conventions of a great political party I'M
hesitatingly adopt them as a portion of
their declaration of principles, and the
chief magistrate of the nation, in his annual
message, boldly and cOmprehensively enun-
ciates these truths.
Truth crushed to earth, shall rise again.
The eternal years of God are hers" |
And thus the whirligig
OF time brings in his Ievenges."
Three maxims are fundamental in Amer |
ica: First, the sovereignty of the people; |
second, an absolute separation of Church |
and state; and third, that republican insti- |
buttons can not permanently exist unless |
the people are virtuous and intelligent.
Now, if virtue and intelligence be the
0ulwark OF American Institutions, then
free and universal education is supreme
necessity. If the maxim that there shall
be no connection between Church and
State be fundamental. then the schools es-
tablished by the State, and sustained by
taxes levied upon the whole people, must |
remain unsectarian. These are logical Sc
quencee, from which there is no escape.
But one OF the great powers of the earth |
utterly denies these automatic truths. The
dOgmatic DEGREES of the Vatican Council, |
and the infalliable head of the Roman
hierarchy, in his Syllabus of Errors" de-
clare that the whole human race are bound, |
at the peril Of salvation. to believe pre-
cise!y the reverse. Plus TX, in his encyc-
hea! letters, addressed to the whole Roman |
world says, in effect, that these fundamen-
verse" "detestable" and the result Of a
,,delirium,' and "let him" who accepts
them "be anathema."
Thus is the issue made. It is the same
odd, old story" "The thing that hath
oeen, it is that which shall be-" Here we
nave, standing on this continent, opposed ]
lace to face, the two systems which have \
divided mankind since the beginning of =
history, and have been the cause of most of y
me wars which have desolated the earth. | n
IL Is the very problem whose solution is the | !,
nost mOmentus that concerns the human | d
ICE. These two systems can not co-exist, g
!. lenout colilslon, conflict, war. One gives h
rec scope to that love Of power which is v
leepiy seated in the corruption of the hn. | a
nan heart; the other to that love of liberty .
snlch Is equally the desire of every human
,elng. One system is called despotism- o
ne other freedom So long as man ia | K
nature, human nature-it il | m
am 70 attempt to reconcile them. 1t ia a fl
leadlock. mere ID no middle ground: | +
Utterly wrong. - =,
II Is not easy to realize the immensa -
over Of the Roman hierarchy. Its huge h
Machinery is better adapted to crush in II
ividual intelligence, and ensiave the hu-
ian mind than any other ever devised bv n
IAN. 1t is broad, comprehensive system, n,
losely united, compact, steady in its II
ounsels, untiring in its exertions and ener- 81
etc in its action. Never losing sight Of c
mankind by means of their ignor- r.
nee and superstitious fears-it adapts it. | II
self with infinite fiexibility and skill to the in
of each age, and the character s
tics Of each nation. The Roman hierar- m
~ Is the most gigantic political associa- lie
on on earth. In medieval ages it claimed H
empire, and there is no utterance | al
: record of modern Rome renouncing, re- d
acting or abandoning this claim. 1t st
Dlds and exercises, at this hour, despotic | W
way over 200, 100000 of human beings. The &c
'toal forces which govern this vast organ. H
stion are concentrated in the Curia nj
Omaha, an unrecognized body. consisting re
Jesuo-tne arch-lntriguers Of mankind St
DO controlled the deliberations of the an
atican Council, and shape the action of | tr
Q ,hieraohy, including the Pontiff himself, ",
VI is what Mr.. Gladstone calls ''The Ultra tn
Dntane minority which prevades the world; II
aich triumphs in Belgium; which brags in ab
gland; which partly governs and partly tn
IT. In Franco; which is every. w
lere coherent, everywhere tenacious of it's Hi
rpoee, everywhere knows its mind, fol- trs
70 it, leaders, and bides its time" Gel
This 10 tho minority, which perseoutes mo