The Irish standard., 1910-02-12
4 DEBATE ON SCHOOLS
IN FRENCH CHAMBER

the Prime Minister, Replies
for the Infidels---Schools
Declared Anti Catholic by
M. Maurice Barres.
1t cannot have escaped general no.
tice, says the Cathoii. Standard AMI
Times, that whereas yesterday we had
in the columns OF our "favorite daily '
| M. Brands reply to the Able Gay
, raud's attack on the public schools, >
and. today Mr.. Brands answer to the
the "clericals," we ar. never given The
words of the abbe nor of any other
Catholic deputy whose remarks may
be deemed worthy OF notice by the
head of the prosecuting Ministry. We
have the defense, bu: not the charge,
the denial, but not the accusation-a
very happy arrangement for the ac-
cused.
The reason for this policy of sup
preston may be found in the feeble
showing made by M. Hriand, master OF
rhetorical tricks thongl: he he, and his
i colleagues in debate which occupied
several days during the week beginning
January II.
Mr.. Groussau, who is professor Of
law at the Catholic Uni 5ersity of Lille,
was the first speaker. lie began, says
the Paris correspondent of the London
Times, by declaring that he regarded
the school question as more important
than the question of the separation OF
the Church and the State, and ha
promptly; touched tho essential point OF
the: debate when. }sa sp1d thut 1.-THE Hhols
tdinlcutty; SO far asst!:e Catholics were
fl;cohcerned, arose from the fact that
their children were in many places
obliged to attend the sole school which
was available-that 1hich the State
provided. Out of the $4,000 communes
in France, there were only few said
Mr.. Groussau, where families had the
choice between Catholic school. and
a State" school in which no religious
instruction was given. ],
The Catholics had been promised In
1 1882 that the public schools would Dc
; Chamber voluminous extracts from tho
circulars published during the twenty
years between 1882 and 1902 by the
Minister of Education, intoxicating upon
French school teachers the strictest
impartiality in dealin., with problems
affecting the religious or moral ideals
of their pupils. Mr.. Jules Ferry had
notably summed up the spirit of mis-
suggestions in this sense by recon-
mending the school tee achers to address
the children in the public schools as II
they were their own children. "Wher
are minded he said. "to bring for.
ward q precept or a maxim, ask your.
he CHANGED to be pr esent, could take
any exception to the words; and If yo:
think that he could, refrain" The
question, said M. Groussau, was whethe
' Jules Ferry's promises had been kept
and whether these guarantees had bee,
maintained. az
M. BRAND, the Prime Minister, said
1--WE are bound to believe that the!
have been maintained. since. until quit
recently, you have not felt called upol
to indulge in these, demonstrations
You were offered guarantees of neu
trality which you regarded as sufficient
y and you ask whether they have beel
parts of the country there may hav
been cases in which neutrality has bee,
:. infringed, but the procedure for remedy
ing an evil Of that kind WAS at tn
disposal of the Catholics. A certai
| Bishop preferred formal complain
1 with regard to school-book. TIL
Bishop. in taking this step, doubtles
r believed that his actor would be futils
Y but the Minister Of Education Gid hi
e duty and the Bishop obtained salts
I. faction. Since then we have neve
e received any formel complaints. ye
there is no other lawful way Of attain
e ing the desired result The Catholic
Il have perferred to indulge in violen
e demonstrations. protest against thes
: demonstrations as meant to be de
d structive of the Government"
I'll N. Groussau replied that the change