te. The
education which they give is known to be excellent; but it is based on
religion, and is not controlled by the State and paid officials. The
consequence is, that not only are they not encouraged, but they are
actually taxed by the State.

Thus, for instance, the Cathedral School is obliged to pay to the State
an annual tax of L120, and the schools of another parish L200. The
Catholics of the Cathedral Parish have not only to pay the State
school-tax, and the heavy tax laid on their school-buildings, but they
have to find $3,500 annually to meet the current school expenses. All
this has to be collected by the clergy as best they can.

The non-Catholic has no conception of the treasure the Union possesses
in these thirteen millions of Catholics, humble in their outward
circumstances as the majority of them may be. A true, high-toned,
chivalric national character will be formed, and a true, generous, and
lofty patriotism will be generated and sustained in proportion as the
force of Catholicity is brought to bear upon our American people, and
the life of practical Catholics falls into the current of American life.
Catholics have their faults and shortcomings, yet they are the salt of
the American community, and the really conservative element in the
American population. In a few years they will be the Americans of the
Americans, and on them will rest the performance of the glorious work of
sustaining American civilization, and realizing the hopes of the
founders of our great and growing Republic.

It must, then, be evident to every true lover of the Republic, that the
State, were it at liberty to favor any particular portion of the
community, should favor its conservative element--the Catholics--instead
of robbing Catholics of millions of dollars, to continue, by godless
education, the impious work for the increase of the number of enemies of
the Republic; it should rather supply Catholics with the means to bring
up their children in the spirit of true freedom--in the spirit of
devotedness to republican institutions. But as the State is neither
Catholic nor Protestant, it should at least act justly and impartially;
it should not favor its own enemies; it should not make a lie or a farce
of our glorious Constitution; it should no longer play the usurper and
the robber; it should no longer continue digging its own grave;
it should not tax Catholics any longer to support infidel
institutions--nurseries of all kinds o