The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-02-17

VI.
Austria and the United States have the
same figures, while Spain, which is so
despiscd nowadays as a degenerate ma
tion is not SO far behind her ancient
rival Britain, and is abreast with Can
ada.
But it may be said that Ireland is a
Catholic country and Should not be
Jumped with Great Britain. AS ireland
is under a Protestant 6 government, and
as, i'll the three Kingdoms, there are 2o,-
$4,000 Protestants to 5s336,ooo Cathol-
les. our plan is fair. But even leaving
out Ireland, the report OF the United
States commissioner OF education for
1sSo-oo, vol. l., pp. 553t557, gives the
number Of children enr piled i'll school
per 1000 OF the population, ior England
and Wales, 166; for sScotland, 164.
which figures are lower than those for
France.
For the same report let us see how
the various provinces OF the German
empire stand. Bavaria, which is seven
tenths Catholic, has an enrolment OF
2Ie. Baden, wo-thirds Catholic, 200;
Saxony, Protestant 2o2; Prussia, two
thirds Protestant, 1876; Wuertemberg,
Protestant, 100. 1t will be seen, there
fore, that the Catholic provinces stand
at the head This is fair test because
the people are of the same stock with
the same opportunities, and owing to
the federal character of the German
constitution. Catholics and Protestants
are free to follow their own desires.
There are three points which must be
cleared up before completing this COM
parison:
I. Where are the figures for Ire
land? 2. Where are the figures for
Italy and Portugal? 3. What about
Mexico and South America?
Though Catholic country, Ireland
is under Protestant government. Eng
land, for nearly 200 years, tried to make
the Irish people Protcstants. The
means they employed were, first, mur-
der; then robbery, and finally, igno-
rance. Cromwell consigned all the
Irish Catholics ito hell or to Con-
naught." )" The penal laws confscated
the property of Catholics and forbade
them to own real estate,,to take lease
or to possess horse over the value OF
$40 Catholics could not teach under
penalty OF transportation. and Cath
olic parent who sent his child out OF the
country to be educated was first fined
and then outlawed.
These facts are stated by Henry Bar
nard, LID, the first United States
commissioner OF education, in his Jour-
nal OF Education, vol. Nj, p. 1874:
Until the beginning of this century
the Catholics, who constituted four
fifths Of the population i'll Ireland, were
not only not permitted to endow, con-
duct or teach schools, but Catholic pa
rents even were not permitted to edit
cate their children abroad; and it was
made an offence, punished by transport
tation (and if the party returned it was
made high treason), in any Catholic to
act as a scloolmastcr, or even as a
tutor in private family"
Hence, if the older generation Of
Irishmen in this country was illiterate,
the reason was that the English Prot
estant government made them illiterate
The middle generation was less litter
ate because the Irish Catholics were
winning back their ancient rights
There will be no illiterates among the
new generation, for equality at least in
primary education is now gained.
The figures for Italy and Portugal
are, in the Mulhall tables, 90 and s..
These are the lowest Of the countries
given. What is the reason? 1t cannot
be their religion, because we saw that
other Catholic countries compared we'll
with Protestant countries. What, then,
is the cause?
In Italy the causes are we'll known.
This has been disastrous century for
the peninsula. The beginning of the
century saw it the theatcr Of Napoleon's S
wars. The middle OF it saw it oppressed
by foreign enemies and agitated by do
mestic revolutions. The end of it sees
the nation groaning under a burden Of
taxation becoming too heavy to bear.
When country is thus distracted, it
is not surprising that school attendance
should fall off.
Moreover, it must be remembered
that Italy is the home of art and cul-
ture now as she has been in the past.
From her came the impulse which
made our modern civilization. Her
libraries, her art galleries, her palaces,
her churches, draw men from every race
and creed and country. They are all
the works of her own sons, she owes
nothing to outside influences.
In Rome, the city OF the popes, there
has been a system oi free education
since 1897. In the '4o's, Laing, Protcs-
tant traveller, was in Rome. He wrote
then:
In every street in Rome, for instance,
there are at short distances public pri-
mary schools for the education of the
children of the lower and middle classes