Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-13
MT. Lloyd. Decoration Day Address.

To the Editor VI The Evening Star:
Your correspondent who publishes an ar
ticle in your hast SATURDAY, issue animadyert-
ing on a remark made by me in my address on
Decoration day has set up a man Of straw for
the mere pleasure OF knocking il down again
l male no attack the Catholic religion.
have too many warm. personal friends in that
church to have permitted me 20 make a fling
at their religion any occasion. aud who
would be the last 10 believe that had wIllfuly
done 90. Moreover, 1 am possessed Of too
large spirit OF federation TO have made such
an attack possible by me-a spirit derive
through long hne OF Quaker ancestors and
which finds it's best expression in a couplet Of
Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Weep for the trail that err. the weak tina. fall;
have thine own faith, but hope and pray tor all"
III have any intolerance at ali il is OF disputes
about differing religious creeds. / will have
none OF IT. i have no quarrel with any man
about his religious creed. and am quite content
10 let every one travel 20 heaven by his own
road, whether 1t leads through Rome Geneva
or Mirtemburg. only insisting that / shall
be permitted TO do the same. and hoping
that we shall all meet together at the end
IN Christ-like brotherhood. The remarks 20
which exception is taken a repetition
Oh one made some years ago and which
was then prompted by the following item
which appeared in the Freeman's Journal
The Catholic solution Of this muddle about
the Bible IN the public schools is, hands of.
No state taxation or donation for any schools
You look TO your children and we will look TO
ours. We don't want you to be taxed for Cath
Ollie schools We don't want to be taxed for
Protestant or Goddess schools. Let the public
school system go TO where it came from-thst
is. TO the devil" And the remark was made
then as IL was on Decoration day. wholly with
out regard to the question Of whether il re-
Elected the sentiment of the Catholic church or
not, as l sincerely hope, however, that it did
not.
Because believe with De Witt Clinton, that
''our common school system is the very pal
ladium of our freedom. and the best guarantee
OF liberty and social stability. and with Milton.
that Ito make the people fitted to choose, aud
the chosen fitted TO govern, We must teach the
people, and with Washington. that knowledge
IN every country is the surest basis of public
happiness" and with jefferson whom even
your correspondent will hardly charge with
religious blgotry). who said that "a system Of
general instruction which shall reach every
description of our citizens, from the richest
TO the poorest, IL the earliest
30 II shall be the latest Of all public concerns
In which l shall permit myself to take an inter
est, and with Horace Mann. who said that
education in republic must he universal;
the whole land must be watered by the streams
OF knowledge, and with Gen. Grant and many
Others OF our most eminent statesmen, living
and dead, who have said substantially the same
tenn Of public instruction made our American
civilization q possibility, and that republican
institutions can only be maintained on a basis
of general intelligence, and because, more
over, there never was time, in my Judgment
when such instruction was more imperatiyely
demanded than now, when 6,0oJ,0OO Of
chattels have been recently converted into
men and invested with civil and political rights,
and when the ignorant and degraded Of every
nation are constantly swarming 90 our shores,
all needing the uplifting power which our sys-
tenn of public instruction alone can give, am 1
ready 10 resent any attack upon it, come from
what source it may. as did the attack Of armed
rebellion against the government, and for pre-
cisel the same reason, to wit, that the success
of the one would inevitably result in exactly
the same disastrous consequences as would
have resulted from the success Of the other
Your correspondent has not only set up .
man of straw to knock il down again, but he
has suggested q dilemma on either horn Of
which he rs at liberty TO impsle himself at his
own pleasure. The Catholic church IL en-
deavoring tobreak down our system Of public
schools. il is not IL it IL not then, u
course, my remark had no application 20 IL
II il is then the remark does apply. and de-
servedly SO, and in either case fully
ranted. and no more fitting occasion for Its ex-
preston than when we were met together 10
honor the memory of those who gave their
lives Tor the preservation and perpetuation q
our free institutions. Whom have ofendedY'
GIrNTOS LIAM