They Have
Numerous And Wealthy Conventual Establishments, Both At Quebec And
Montreal, And Several Jesuit And Other Seminaries.
The Irish emigrants
constitute the great body of Romanists in Upper Canada; in the Lower
Province there are more than 746,000 adherents to this faith.
The Presbyterians are a very respectable, influential, and important body
in Canada, bound firmly together by their uniformity of worship and
doctrine. Though an Episcopalian form of church government and a form of
worship are as obnoxious to them as at home, their opposition seldom
amounts to hostility. Generally speaking, they are very friendly in their
intercourse with the zealous and hard-working clergy of the Church of
England; and, indeed, the comparative absence of sectarian feeling, and
the way in which the ministers of all denominations act in harmonious
combination for the general good, is one of the most pleasing features
connected with religion in Canada.
In Upper Canada there are 1559 churches, for 952,000 adherents, being one
place of worship for every 612 inhabitants. Of these houses of worship,
226 belong to the Church of England, 135 to the Roman Catholics, 148 to
the Presbyterians, and 471 to the Methodists. In Lower Canada there are
610 churches, for 890,261 adherents, 746,000 of whom are Roman Catholics.
There is therefore in the Lower Province one place of worship for every
1459 inhabitants. These religious statistics furnish additional proof of
the progress of Upper Canada. The numbers adhering to the five most
important denominations are as follows, in round numbers: -
Beside these there are more than 20 sects, some of them holding the most
extravagant and fanatical tenets. In the Lower Province there are 45,000
persons belonging to the Church of England, 33,000 are Presbyterians, and
746,000 are Roman Catholics. With this vast number of Romanists in Canada,
it is not surprising that under the present system of representation,
which gives an equal number of representatives to each province,
irrespective of population, the Roman Catholics should exercise a very
powerful influence on the colonial Parliament. This influence is greatly
to be deplored, not less socially and politically than religiously. Popery
paralyses those countries under its dominion; and the stationary condition
of Lower Canada is mainly to be attributed to the successful efforts of
the priests to keep up that system of ignorance and terrorism, without
which their power could not continue to exist.
More importance is attached generally to education in Upper Canada than
might have been supposed from the extreme deficiencies of the first
settlers. A national system of education, on a most liberal scale, has
been organised by the Legislature, which presents in unfavourable contrast
the feeble and isolated efforts made for this object by private
benevolence in England. Acting on the principle that the first duty of
government is to provide for the education of its subjects, a uniform and
universal educational system has been put into force in Canada.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 169 of 249
Words from 87843 to 88351
of 129941
