His Views and Principles
say, shut up the poisonous wells, let the springs of history be condemned, let us begin our textbooks with the simple sentence:—"Once upon a time there was a very good man named Campbell-Bannerman."
And why should not this system be carried right through the books we give our children? I can remember an old geography book from which I learned the lesson that all Protestant countries were prosperous and that all Popish ones were poor, shewing that Protestantism is true Christianity, since Protestants have naturally inherited all the blessings pronounced on the very rich in the New Testament. Thus we children were shewn how everywhere Protestants had overcome the world in accordance with the Gospel precept, and I remember my good mother telling me that Romanists never had anything better to eat than frogs or potatoes. Surely there is a good deal to be said for such a system of education as this; surely it ought to be the basis of all our education if England is to
51
