The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1912-09-07
EDUCATING SUBJECT RACES

III
EDUCATING SUBJECT RACES,
A great deal may be said, pro and
con, on the matter of educating sub
ject races. Educate and YOU shall ha
tree' exclaimed philosophic Irish
man of the 18th century. Had an
lrlshman of the 18th century uttered
the same advice to his countrymen he
would nave been guilty of felony, for
1t was in the 18th century that Brit
1sh penal laws were enforced in Ire
land, and the most rigidly enforced
Oh them all was the law suppressing
education throughout the land. ANY
schoolmaster found violating the law,
If unprecedented, would be TRANSPORTED
and his captor would receive fifty dol
lars reward for his arrest.
In 1909, the Earl Of Wharton being
lord lieutenant of Ireland. with Addi-
son of the Spectator as secretary, A
law was passed prohibiting any Cath
Ole from teaching, as tutor or usher.
even as assistant to Protestant
schoolmaster, and for almost a hum
dred years no schools were opened to
boys and girls OF the Catholic faith
IN the island which DR.. Samuel john
son, the Englishman, had called "the
sanctuary Of literature" in the davs Of
Erin's freedom. 1t was not until 1892
that the British government permitted
any public schools in ireland for the
education of the young and the sys-
TEN established was intended to Angli
cize them.
England has done better to the ma
tives of India during the past century
In the matter of education than she
did for the Irish In the penal days, and
that is not saying much. She imposed
no penal laws upon Hindostan to for
bid education in that vast empire. The
laws enacted in Ireland branded her as
tyrant and despot. Burke said of
them that they were the worst laws
that lever emanated from the pervert-
ed ingenuity Of man." and Montesquien
stigmatized them as being "inspired
by devils, written in human gore and
registered in hell" 1t would not do
to enact such laws in the Orient and.
besides, the Hindoos are Pagans and
not Christians. re-
England changed it's tactics. Instead
of prosecuting the Hindoos for being
1dolaters, she manufactured ceramic
gods for them at Manchester and sold
them for rupees to the devout natives.
She afterwards sent her missionaries
to convert them to British Christianity
as by law established. Warren Hast
ings of infamous memory started a
school for them at Calcutta in 1881.
but a paper published in that city
called Amrita Bazaar Patrika declares
that the latest official returns give LOG
males and IL females per 1000 as
literate," and The Tribune of Lapore
(Where the water comes down, accord
ing to southey) says that only 95
males and 10 females per 10000 have
been returned as litersbte in English in
the latest census report Of India"
British India, according to an official
publication issued by the government
from Calcutta, shows that out of a.
population Of 254,S2O,616, only $780,
5s2 children are attending school, and
yet the English seem disposed to con-
graduate themselves on the spreading
of the light of British civilization in
the land "of Ormuz and Of Ind"
But the British did not so into India
to teach the natives, as everybody
knows. "Educaet and you shall be
Free" has never been the motto of
England in any Of her dependencies
After hundred years as ruler of In
dia, that great empire, according to
last census, has four villages out OF
every five without schoolhouse of
any kind whatever! Perhaps Russia
would not have done better for India
In the way of educating the people,
but Russia does not boast of her civ
ilizing influences. England keeps In
dia ignorant in order to avoid insurrec-
lions, knowing that education is a dan.
gerous thing in the hands of the on.
pressed.
ROMAN CATHOLIC.
Since Bryce's 1.-The Holy Roman
Empire appeared. lust fiftv wears ago