The objection, which is also raised by some foolish or extravagant sectarians, that in our public schools we make use of school-books which reflect to a great extent the Protestant creed, and of songbooks that contain some so-called Protestant hymns, is almost too childish to need refutation. Jews, Buddhists, Brahmins, and unbelievers in general, might make the same objection to the use of books containing the names of God and Christ; and, carrying out the principle still further, a German might object to have the name of Napoleon mentioned, a Frenchman to allusions to Bismarck, and an American Northerner to a biography of Gen. Robert E. Lee. If that plea had any force, we might as well burn up our whole literature; and no Christian child ought to be told of Socrates or Confucius, or the whole line of heathen gods, which Christians, however, are but too anxious to have their children taught, even before they can comprehend the God of their own religion. Is there a sensible man or woman among the Protestants who would object to their children singing the oratorios of the Catholic Haydn, or those magnificent masses of the Catholic Church, some of the grandest of which have been composed by Protestants? Is there a sound-minded Roman Catholic who feels it an insult to his religious convictions if his or her children learn the grand oratorios of the Protestant Handel, or the most marvellous of all works of that kind, the Mathæus Passion of the Protestant Sebastian Bach? What Protestant, again, does not listen with the same devotion as a Catholic to the Ave Maria, written by a Protestant, Sir Walter Scott, and set to music by a Catholic, Franz Schubert? If the grandest, and by far the most numerous productions of modern literature have Protestants for their authors, should the future generations, on that account, be kept in ignorance of them? Culture, to be thorough, must be universal, and hence every good "Reader" used in schools must contain selections from the best writings of the most cultured men; from the writings of the Protestant Shakespeare, as well as those of the Catholic Calderon; from the Puritan Milton and the Romish Dante; from Kant and Aristotle, from Bacon and Confucius.

As this objection referring to the text-books and music-books used in the public schools has been raised chiefly by Catholics, it may not be improper in this connection to remind them that of all the libraries in the world, that of the Vatican is the most universal; of all the artgalleries, that of the Vatican the most comprehensive. If, then, the

popes themselves have thus not only authorized, but assisted in making collections of books wherein all creeds and religions are represented, and have spent millions of dollars in the perfection of galleries wherein figures of the Virgin Mary and Venus, Christ and the Apollo, are exhibited with equal prominence, what possible scruples can a Catholic layman entertain to have his children brought up in such a manner that they may be able to appreciate all those treasures of his Church?

Supposing, however, that a State government were to adopt this sectarian scheme, how would it work financially? A general tax for school purposes would be raised, and the money obtained would have to be equally divided in proportion between all the schools of the community on which that tax was levied. Any private individual or any corporation might start a school or set of schools, and no matter how worthlessly they kept them they would be entitled to draw their pro rata of the general school-fund. A new and illimitable field of public plunder and corruption would thus be opened, and while the people would be robbed of their money, their children would be cheated out of a proper and sufficient education.

LIBERTY AND LAW.

PART SECOND.

PUBLIC INTERCOMMUNICATION.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

I.

Having shown the duties of the government in regard to the preservation of the physical health, strength, and activity, and the development of the intellectual, inspirational, and moral powers of its citizens, in order to prepare them for the fit and harmonious use of all their faculties of mind and body, I shall now specify the duties of the government in regard to the intercommunication of those citizens, whereby the exercise of their social and political functions is to be protected.

That there are such duties should admit of no question. Under our own Declaration of Independence, it is the purpose of government to guarantee to every citizen life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But no government can make this guarantee unless it has supreme control over all the means whereby to make it valid.

These means are manifold, and, in order to make each separate one effective, should be organized into a complete and harmonious system of intercommunication. It is to be accounted one of the great deficiencies in the structure of our federative government that this organization of the various means of intercommunication was lost sight of, or held to be beyond the proper scope of government. Hence these means drifted into separate and unconnected channels. It is very instructive to observe the admirable systems organized by men for the management of their private business; and then notice the reckless, negligent manner in which our public affairs are administered, the former manifesting economy, industry, integrity, prudence, and activity; the latter, extravagance, fraud, idleness, and inattention. It is evident even to a casual observer that the conduct of our public administration in all matters of public inter