St. Paul daily globe., 1895-07-26

hand and the Charybdis of free
however, do not get settled by drift
ing. Even if the population were
less heterogeneous, such a question
would not be settled by being sim
ply left alone. There is an inherent
and ineradicable antagonism be-
tween the two that will admit only
of the complete submission Of one or
the other. The outcome will be
either the complete severance of the
drawal Of public moneys from the
support of parocl1ial schools, or the
church will triumph and obtain from
the state the money to maintain it's
schools. The conflict is as irrepressi-
bic as was that which ragged in this
country over a generation ago.
Here, however, there was no ques-
tion of race, but simply one Of prin-
ciple. In Canada the situation is
the same government, with equal
political rights, of two races, the
inheritors of centuries of antipa-
thies. AS if this were not suffi-
cient to raise the obstacles that make
difficult the problem of self-gov-
ernment, each racial division is re-
inforced by sectarian prejudices.
Canada thus has problem to solve
that is full of difficulty. Distinct
and antagoniStic races Of people,
nearly equal in numbers, enemies
by heredity, differing radically in
religion, intensely jealous of each
other; these are the factors of the
problem. The school question in
Manitoba brings these two factors
into a position of open conflict, out
of which one or the other must come
completely victorious.
1t is the misfortune of the donirps
ion that her population has been
mainly drawn from the two sources,
England and France. What she
needs, what we in this country have
had, is the inflow Of people from
every nation to act as fux and
amalgamate the races. The two
races live entirely distinct In the
cities they have their respective
quarters" in the country they are
segregated. To no appreciable eX-
tent do they intermarry. The
F'renchman remains a Frenchman
and retains tenaciouSly his religion.
The Englishman remains English
and stands by the Protestant
churches. The minor elements of
other nationalities are drawn by
the laws of cohesion to one side or
the other as their prejudices create
an affinity. Under such conditions
there cannot be harmony, except that
which comes with the subordination
of one race to the other. Either the
French element, with their religion,
must dominate, or the English with
theirs.
This condition will remain as long
as Canada retains her separate ex-
istence. 1t will become intensified
instead of softened. Compromise is
futile. The differences are too vital.
She is losing, not gaining, popula-
ton. Her great neighbor offers
greater attractions. The race an
tagonism is itself repellant force,
as slavery was in the South before
the war, and as the negro there now
is. There is but one remedy, the
merger of the dominion in the Unit
ed States. When that comes there
will begin Immediately that mis-
cegenation that we see going on
so rapidly with us. Race and relig-
louS differences will Subside and melt
away. Before the impact of our
free schools and the overwhelming
sentiment of opposition to any con-
nectfon of the public treasury with
parochial schools, the demand for
share of the school money will die
away. The barriers that keep sep
arate the F'renchmen and the En-
glishmen will be gradually worn
away by the blood mixtures made
possible by a heterogeneous popula-
ton. The only permanent solution
of the school and other questions,
rooted as they are in racial an
tipathies, is in the union of Canada