Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-07
To the Editor Of The Star:

To the Editor Of The Star:
~N your issue of July % there is an ar
ticle entitled The Church and DEM
ocracy" by Mr.. Frederic j. Haskin.
III who has written recently so many
interesting and valuable articles on
''The British Crisis
Having been constant reader OF Inc
Evening Star for many years, l am sure
that you desire above all things TO state
the facts correctly, and. judging from MS
previous articles, l am confident that
Mr. Haskin intends to be entirely i'm
partial
In this particular article Mr.. Haskin
does not, it seems TO me. have full ap-
probation of the facts, and In conse-
Quence does not fairly present the case
Of the Church of England and, incident
ally, of the Bishop of London L there
fore beg to submit the following explana-
lion:
In the first place. as that learned arch
eologiSt the bishop of Bristol, mas re-
Gently pointed out in connection with the
parliamentary discussion regarding the
kings oath of succession, the Church or
England is not Established by law. NO
law or statute can be found. 1 beneFe,
''esta bliShing the Church of England,
for the simple reason that the Church
of England, "EccleSia AnShcana, Is
older than the laws of England. and
was herself the chief factor in framing
those laws. Go back in history as lar
as we will, and we find the archbishop
of Canterbury sitting in the Saxon Wit
cnagemot." the predecessor and proto-
type of parliament. The service book of
the Church of England was established
by law, but not the church itself.
Race Is a Composite.
The E,policbSneal,inr race unlike most
of the races of continental Europe, is
composite There are British, Celtic,
Saxon, Danish. Norman words in our
language, not to speak of many others,
and the presence of these words in our
dictionaries reminds us that the blood of
these people is in our veins. The one So
ciety or organization which has existed
in the British Isles from the very begin
ming. and which was the chief factor in
moldng and forming out of these hete-
rogeneous peoples the English-speakinS
race, was the church, and by the word
particular branch of Christendom which
IS known in history and today as the
Church of England.
Among the first schools in England
were the Cathedral schools; later paro-
Chial schools came into existence; still
later the state stepped in and aided these
schools until finally, in this country, at
least, the state assumed the entire con-
troll ana expense OIL the PUBIC SCHOol SSS-
tenn. In England this has not yet been
done Ii is not unhistorical to claim that
our system of education, schools, col
leges and universities, owes its origin to
and dates its beginning from the schools
established and maintained by the
Church of England. 1t was to this same
source that Charlemange applied when he
sent for Alcuin of York to help him in
establishing an educational system in his
empire.
Mr. Haskin says that: THE elementary
schools in point of number of pupils in
attendance. are divided practically evenly
between the voluntary schools and the
board schools. The voluntary schools are
church schools. in which denominationai
orthodoxy is part of the teaching. These,
under the act of 1870, received aid from
the national treasury"
.Chuch Bore the Burden.
What is not pointed out is that from
the earliest time until the passage of the
education act of 1870 almost the entire
work of educating the poorer classes has
been done by the Church of England at
her own expense, nor is ii indicated that
In 1881, fourteen years after the passage
OF the education act. out of a total of
4,S26, ISIS children the Church of Eng
land provided for 2,454,7SS and
that AT that time the Church of England
subscribed f5SJ,01, lis, 10d, nearly
three millions of dollars for the support
of these schools, while the non-conform-
lists. or dissenters, as Mr. Haskin calls