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. A&iiowing, amongat other dllnfl, that the y C'ntholig; were tgon free to votefor whom they © pleased. 'There was no dictation then but the reason now alleged for introducing the ballot was that the irish electors were sub-- jeet to clerical domination. 'The leader of the Opposition said something about an in-- dependentstand|being taken in the House,but he (Mr. Balfour) thought that the time had ~grrived when the independent men should unite together in fighting the common 'enemy who hbad entered into an unholy . erusade under a wave of sectarian feeling. (Cheers. ) Mr, H. E. Clarke took the floor on be-- half of the Opposition, observing at the outset that the present subject of debate would _ have _ considerable weight in deciding the _ forthcoming elections, and no doubt the hon. gentieman whohad preceded him bhad, in view of this, thought it better to throw in his lot with the powers that be rather than run any uunecessary risk,. 'The discussion had al-- ready run along the lines of the whole of the bills intro«gluced on his side of the House, and of the bill introduced by the Minister for Education. _ He sould look upon the measure introduced by the Minis-- ter as nothing more than & sort of interpre-- tation Act, as something introduced for the purpose ofi bolstering _ up _ the position that was taken by the Gov erument, in regard to a certain claus introduced into the Education Act some years ago, . le unhesitatingly declared himself an opponent of Separate Schools, and said he believed the time was coming when there would be no Separate Schools in the Province of Ontario. HMe was speak-- ing on his own responsibility, but, while he wu«s giving expression to his own sentiments, he believed he was expressing the senti. ments of a large number of the people of ~Ontario, 'This change would not come to--day nor to--inorrow, but still the to--morrow would be here. (Laughter). He yielded, he said, to no man in liberality of sentiment, but he thought they might earry liberality to excess,. Now, the Pro-- testants of (Ontario outnumbered Htoman Catholies by five to one. But, although . so much stronger than the Roman Catholics, the Protestants were about equally divided between the two great parties and the Roman Catholics held the balance of power. On tho strength of this assertion Mr. Clarke told a story which was not particularly clear, but the effect of which was to com* pare the KRoman Catholic vote with the boy in the middle, in a game of seek, or some:-- thing of that kind. 'The strength of the Government, Mr. Clarke contended, lay not so much in the numerical value of the Roman Catholic vote as in the moral weak-- ness of the -- Liberal party, _ which kept itself in power by _ contriving to keep a majority of that vote. This paradoxical statement so excited an enthusi-- astic friend or relative of Mr. Clarke's in the gallery that bhe etfervesced and clapped his hands, which extraordinary and un-- seemly exhibition of _ approbation was promptly rebuked by the Sergeant--at-- Arms, who sat upon the young man in question as severely as the appurtenances of his offlice would permit, Mr. Clarke then went on to enlarge upon his objections to the Separate School system. e thought that, although the schools existed, the Giov-- erumens ought not to go one step out of its way to allow the establishment of a school system in opposition to the system of Public Schools, He believed the law was ali wrong. Separate Schools ought not to be tolerated at all. Pechaps that was too strong a term--so he woulid say these schools ought never to have been estab-- lished, _ Other denominations would not be allowed such a privilege. e Y Mr, Clarke continued by reiterating the chargo that Separate Schools were in{ferior to Puvlic Schools, so far as their general character was concerned. This, he said, he repeated in the face of the denials made by hon. gentlemen on the Government side of the House. The reports of the Inspectors in the report of the Department o}wl'ldu- cation even, he insisted, would prove this statement. lo thought Roman Catholics could not be so enamored as they were represented to be of Separate Schools, or they would find a larger portion of them attending such schools than was actually the case. Nr.Clarke referred to an Act Hon. Mr. Fraser said the Government had never had to consider an application for Separats Schools from &a particular Protestant denomination. 'The Opposition had no right to assume that such an appli-- cation would be necessarily retused if made. The Attorney--General pointed out to Mr. Clarke that there is a provision in the statute for the establishment of Separate Schools. Mr. Clarke said that applied to Protes-- tants generally, not to a particular denom-- ination, such as Methodism. Mr,. Awrey thought this was stranger gtill, seeing that so many of the pamphlets had been sent to members of the House-- to every member he had thought. They had been presentaed by the dozon by indig-- nant Roman Catholiecs to the Liberal members of the House. Continuing, Mr. Awrey compared the Separate School Act, as now found in the Revised Statutes of Ontario, _ with the _ Act of 1863, Mr, Clnuc':y said the pamphlet might have been so circulated, but he insisted that he had never seen one except that now in the hands of Mr. Awrey or beard extracts from it except in the House. Mr,. Awrey said 'he could not but accept Mr. Moeredith's denial, but his ignorance was strango sceing that the pamphlet had been circulated by the thousand in every constituency in Ontario. } Mr. Meredith rose and said he had al-- | ready denied responsibility for the pamph-- | let. He repeated now that he was not in | any way responsible for this pamphlet, that | he had not seen it, or heard of it, and had | known nothing of it until after the first dis-- | cussion on the subject in the House. | dezree of warinth. The agitation was simply raised in this House for a particular purpose. _A few years ago there was a cry raised that the Government hag mutilated -- the Bible--had introduced the Ross Bible, | as they callod it, and it was raised for the | Same purpose ns was this question now. | Mr, Awrey quoted from the famous "*Facts | for Irish Electors," and showed bow the . authors of that pamphlet had therein,among | other things, laid stress on the fact that in | the old days of the United Parliament | Sir John Macdonald had been one of the | foremost in the advocacy of Separate Schools | when the Act was being considered there, . while the Hon. Oliver Mowat had been found amongst the opponents of that meas-- | ure, He charged Mr. Meredith with being | ron'qmuible for that pamphlet. y« val P Annl tssnfi ds h 4 Smd 1A 7 § 4 pronounced tnan his leader. Hoe had told them that from this time out he would advocate the abolition ot Separate Schools. | He had told them as well that the next i election was to be fought upon these lines. He had told them that the great party led by the hon. member for London, able as he was, astute politician as he had always professed to be, proposed to appeal to the electors of Untario, not upon the finencial record of the (Governimment, not upon their executive acts, in a very small degree upon their legislative work, but ipon the questions that were being dis-- russed to--night. _ He imew now what the battle was to be like. He must congratu-- ate his hon. friend on being at least can-- lid, on being at least fair enough to inform the House that the wonderfal leader of the Jonservative party in the Ontario Parlia. ment intended from this time out to advo-- sate the abolition of Separate Schools. The i0n. member for West Kent, gitting beside ime, had said earlier in the afternoon that f the time ever came when an attempt would be made by the Conservative party .4 avolish Separate Schoois he would separ-- ite himself irom his Conservative friends. His hon. friend (Mr, Clancy) had commit= sed himself, had pledged himself to support separate Schools wherever they imnight be assailed. Now his political life was in his awn hands, for he had been to'd by the hon member for West Toronto that from this time forth the policy of the Conservative party so faras he was concerned would work for the aboli%ion of Separate Schools. This was no vafished statement, but an honestly expressed and candid declaration. | There was little feeling on the matter in ' the constituencies of the Province. In all | his conversations with his own supporters | and opponents in his own electorato he had | never heard the matter discussed with any | Mr. Awrey, who followed on the Minis-- terial side, said the hon. gontleman had been less careful than his leader--more Supuasmetcnle d 4 FW 1 & 8 WARnGEL m 1 °% "~lp0.0 (0,. 8W . mignt be found necessary in Ontario before long. He hinted, too, that a further secularisa. tion of Pablic Schools might follow upon the aboiition of Separate Schools. As to the revision of the Public Schools that would be nocessary to secure the power to abolish these schools, he thought one party had as good a right as the other to ask for such a revison, and the Liberal party haa been asking for a revison of the Constitution in respect to the veto ever since Canada had had a Constitution, It was to the excitement that the Liberal party had raised one the question of Provincial rights that the failure of the Dominion Govern-- ment to veto such an Act as the Jesuit's Estate's Bill was largely due. Therciore the Conservative party had a right to ask for such a revision. Mr. Clarke then pro-- ceeded to discuss the bill introduced by Mr. Ross, which he disapproved of, and the Ballot Bill of Mr., Meredith's which he did ] approve ot. e _ _,_ _ C 9 puptis ati Schools, and said such a RoS @3 ' 'nlario before long, & further secularisa-- might follow upon ate Schools. As to Pubtic Schools that ct as the Jesuit's y due. 'Therciore ad a right to ask «_ Clarke then pro-- bill introduced by ea to prevent tending --Public _ law might be