WE have received a long, printed document giving the history of a serious attempt on the part of the “Westminster Catholic Federation” to secure drastic alterations in the history books used in the London County Council’s Schools.
This Roman Catholic Federation asserts that “resentment” is “felt by Catholic parents against the historical text-books and readers from which their children, attending Council schools, were compelled to learn, . . . on account of their historical incorrectness, their misrepresentation of Catholic teaching, and, in many cases, their intensely offensive anti-Catholic bias.” Eventually the London County Council suggested “that the criticisms of the Federation should be made by the Federation to the authors or publishers of the books referred to.”
Accordingly various publishers of history readers were appealed to. In some cases, as we think, a weak attitude was manifested by publishers. The following statement, however, shows that the efforts of the “Westminster Catholic Federation” are not meeting with all the success which is desired by its members.
“The position as reached by the Federation with the different publishers was set forth fully in the Report of March last, from which inter alia it was explained: That the Federation’s request that Messrs Blackie & Sons’ books should be brought up to date by being freed from error was by that firm treated ‘as an impossible proposition.’ That Miss Thompson, authoress of the following books, published by Messrs Horace Marshall & Son, “A First History of England,” vols. 1 to 7, treated disdainfully the suggestion that her books should in any sense be amended, and was convinced that the L.C.C., in connection with the historical text-books, had simply referred the Federation to the publishers in order to be relieved of the annoyance the Federation was causing or, as she put it, ‘to get rid of us.’ That Messrs Arnold and Co. had refused to consider our comments. According to these gentlemen, impartial history cannot be written.”
The set determination of the Federation to secure the alteration of history text-books in a sense agreeable to Romanists is evidenced from the following words written to Messrs Blackie on May 6th, 1927:—”We trust you will not place us in the position of having to oppose the use of your books; in fact, we beg of you not to do so, but you can rest assured that there cannot be any finality to our efforts until school text-books are purged from error and misrepresentation.”
We would make the following remarks on the facts brought to our notice in the long document which has been sent to us:—
1. The Roman Catholics of this country have a large number of day schools in which no doubt the Roman Catholic authorities take care that nothing is taught contrary to their views. Yet Protestant ratepayers contribute to the support of these schools.
2. The number of Roman Catholic children attending Council Schools must be infinitesimal compared to the number of non-Roman Catholic children.
3. There is no reason to suppose that present-day historians are so biassed in favour of Protestant principles that they would wilfully misrepresent the facts of history in order to vilify the Church of Rome.
4. From the emendations in our history books which are now demanded to be made, it would seem that all our past reading of history as to the condition of things before the Reformation, and as to the reigns of Henry VIII., Mary, and Elizabeth is incorrect. Such works as Motley’s “Rise of the Dutch Republic” would have to be re-written if Roman Catholics had their way. We must no longer speak of Mary as “Bloody Mary,” nor charge her with persecuting the Protestants. Moreover, we must always speak of the Church of Rome as the “Catholic” Church, never as the “Roman” Catholic Church. That Church alone may rightly call itself “Catholic.”
5. We gather from a letter received that the Rev. E. G. Bowring, M.A., vicar of Pheldon, Colchester, has convened a “History Readers’ Committee.” We trust that this Committee may be successful in defeating the efforts of the Romanists to eliminate from our history books those portions which tell against the Church of Rome. In saying this, however, we have no wish to defend any real inaccuracies which may be discovered in our History Readers.
It is evident that Protestant Christians need very specially to heed the Apostle’s injunction: “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”— “Gospel Magazine.”