The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-09-08
Regular Correspondence +.

Regular Correspondence.
PARIS, August II, 1888.
VI. Emile Olivier, the first and last LIB
eral Minister of Napoleon III, son.Inlav
10 Franz Last, and at once politician, au
thor, journalist and musician, has not alto
gcher lapsed into inactivity lie has now
in the press pamphlet treating OF the re
ligious questions that have arisen between
the State and the Church IN France--o
such matters, for instance, as the suspen-
sion OF the salaries of Church officials, the
| Government school books that are to teach
the children their duties as citizens, and
other of those dcbatable points that have
been of late so bitterly contested. The ap
pearanCe OF is the ConCOrdant respect
ed ?"-as the pamphlet Is Called-so soon
after NJ. Paul Berts report upon the same
subject, endows 1t with great interest NJ
Ollivcr's Liberalism is not the Liberalism
Of to-day, any more than in the UHlted
States the political opinions Of thirty years
ago can be compared TO those at present
beginning; and this difference Is most
marked in a certain chapter upon the
school manuals. 1t will be recalled that
some few weeks ago the subject Of these
manuals was raised IN the Senate, when
the omission in them of all reference to
religion and the principles they inCulcated
Of RepubliCanlsm and MaterialiSm were
strongly objected to by the opposition. NJ.
OLIVIER in taking up the matter makes
some remarks upon compulsory education
that are well worth quoting, not only on
account of the writer's reputation, bat be.
cause the subject has excited controversy
III our own country.
Enforced instruction." he says, las at
present instituted is piece of tyranny, an
attack upon the chief of those individual
rights that should be beyond the reach of
the majority--the right of the father to be
the guide, master, law-giver and ruler Of
his child. 1t is only eXcusable when con-
fined to the purely mechanical part of ed
ucatlon, such as reading, writing, arith-
metlc and gymnastics; but it Is detestabe
when it becomes, in the masters hands, a
school of false views, historic lies and mu.
tual hatred, or n means of electoral propa
ganda and of making proselytes to a sect. "
This latter passage is directed against the
tactics OF the Government now in power
NJ. Olivier also falls foul Of the excessive
number of subjects that young children
are nowadays forced to study
" 1t Is not wise to exact too much from a
child. The true method is to teach him
only how to grasp an idea and how to form
his own judgment, thus maturing also his
will and conscience. At present children
only get INTO their heads rules and tables,
so that if some were not idle there would
De soon not single thinker in all France. |
Then, Also the premature learning Of for
,ign languages is replacing the national
dion by a cosmopolitan jargOn. For
nan our system would be homicide; what
must it be for child of SIX or thirteen?'
M. Olivier is as severe upon the manu-
lis in particular rs he is upon the present
ystem OF education IN general:
1.-The hand books in use in schools are
he books of party without either con-
cience or uprlghtness; they distort facts,
md are perpetual insult to truth. In
hesc books. the more dangerous because |
omplled with talent, all the past history |
S perverted. and nothing is held in respect
ave the Republic of 1870 and of Gam
'etta."
He complains that they represent royal
y rs tyranny, the Empire as despotlsm,
nd place Washington on a higher pima.
lc than Napoleon |. The most sacred ties
re being severed, he exclaims; the coun.
~ first, the family afterwards, perish I'M
or this poisonous teaching"
NJ. Olivier in his thorough way of going
} work concludes with the last OF these
uestions by pointing out the need OF reli-
ion IN social life;
Religion is one of the categorles,
ne of those ideas nccdtul for the mind OF
IAN, and at the same time Indestructiblc
4 his soul. SO long as the world moves
mid the awful silence of mystery, and our
fc is given over to evil So long as death
overs over the objects OF our love, and
hIdren are carried by it from their pa
,nts, stoIclsm can only serve for few
hearts, and there will always
c temples, and dogmas, prayers and
RESTS"
One of our best citizens would say To the
ublic that he has tried Hairs Catarrh Cure,
nd il is all that IL claimed for 1t. Price 80
.nts per bottle.