The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-10 00:00:00

1'46 vaunt at the foot of her Papal throne, that " more converts have been made to the Roman " Catholie Church in England during the last " ten years than in 300 previously." On this progressive and alarming increase she is sus tainiuß her zeal for her eontracted principles and illimitable projeets. The measures which she may eventually constrain us to take for our defence may be considered calmly and at leisure ; under better auspices, w e hope, than under an Administration some of whom are her members and ardent proselytes, and almost all her recognised allies. We may be compelled to defer an efficient concert for practieal resui ts, but that is no reason why we should defer the consideration of our danger. At all events, we may estimate the grounds for a defensive attitude, and take timely ac count of the dimensions of our foe. The Church of Rome professes to he un changeable, but she has changed in her rela tions to the welfare of mankind. We may credit her with hnmense incidental services to civilisation itself, while civilisation was in em bryo. But her eompressive policy he: grown inure compressed sinee Ler prerogatives were questioned, and Ler dogmatism has narrowed as society expanded. Successive revolts, like the Plagues of Egypt, have taught her no lesson, but have hardened even her obduracy . . Transient reactions—transient as compared with the long lapse of centuries have deepened her blindness. She has added stricter dogmas to the decrees of Ler Triden tine Council, sitil a closer discipline to the or ganisation of GIiEGOItY. She has learnt new arts while she rejects old experience ; and s he now stands, even in the nations where she is paramount, as a sectional and hostile interest. prepared to divide, if by dividing she can manage, and prompt to disturb, if she may hope to domineer. We have no fears for the ultimate conse quences to distant generations; but our own venture may be at stake. If Rome recovered half the ground she contested with LUTHER, it does not become us to he too confident in our generation. Protestantism now feels the recoil of its alliance with the infidelity of the first French Revolution. It has lain in the lap of Delilah, and is shorn of its invin cible locks. They will be grown again by the days of harvest ; but in the meanwhile, for us .and our ehildren,a great question is opening— shall we make spoil, for the Papal Won? Or, relinquishing metaphor, shall we make a more definite provision for our security ? The boast of Cardinal WISEMAN is substantially true in a wider sense than he thought pru dent to utter it in public. Almost everywhere throughout Europe. as well ns in England, the Roman interest is stronger than it has been for centuries. Its adherents are more de voted ; its discipline is more uniform ; its resourees arc more concentrated ; its action is more direct ; and, be its relative numbers ori ginally what they may. they have become pre ponderant as arbiters in the strife of classes unit opinions. Europe's distractions have proved Rome's opportunity. The revolutions which shatter thrones exalt spiritual influ ences ; and events which have thickened the bayonets round the chair of St. Peter have made the whispers front that chair all-potent in Christendom. On a small scale we can ob serve an example of this phenomenon at home. In this England. so proud of its Protestant traditions. and so zealous for Protestant truth that the daunting se-tures of n elated priest Provoked an outlanst without a parallel, n. sooner had the storm subsided than a Coali• lion Cabinet sueceesfully tratileked for office, b, means of fresh favours accorded to the Interest which hail been just before all but unanimously repudiated. If a few Irish Rapperees. under Ul tremontnue pressure. could decide the fortunes of England, what may not he the fate or Eu rope when the bnlance is trembling, and it is a question which scale shall receive the crosier? The spiritual aid afforded to the exigencies of Empire must be paid for usu riously: and. if the present pretensions of Re • mauism throughout Etirope are a test. it hod, been paid for by stipulations for the bondage of Posterity. It is obvious that a power absorbed i n a design to this effect. and with these Opportunities,-a. opportunities which Appear THE PRESS. even likely to increase,—is itself an increasing danger; and, as the constitution of this power is anomalous, it may be met with special precautions. Within our own territories it pretends to the position of an independent corporation—independent, while it yields obe dience to a foreign prince, whose despotic or ders it secretly receives. and silently obeys, under awful responsibilities ! This status, with or without corporate independence, is unique; and there was a time in our history when it was regarded in the light of invasion. If that time has past, the time when it could be regarded with an equally careless tolerance in the eye of the law with the status of other sects and churches is passing away also. We could treat its organisation with contempt while we looked upon its advance with apathy, hut we remember it is an exception when we begin to contemplate it as a peril. THE LATE GOVERNMENT AND THE ARGENTINE CONFEDERATION. WE have received information that the present Government intend to ratify the treaties which were obtained by their predecessors. The appointment of Sir CHARLES HOTIIASI to another post in which he will be called upon to perform important political duties had already indicated their appreciation of the agent, and adoption of the treaties will signify their approbation of the acts. This intelligence is opportune, inasmuch as we observe a disposition iu certain quarters to disparage the treaties themselves, or rather, we should say, evidence of the Whigs discontent that a triumph has been thus monopolised by the Government they displaced. In another column, however, we are enabled to give all extract from a late number of the Dropout Albion, which availed itself of some peculiar sources of information as to the value of the treaty concluded with LOPEZ, and at the same time, in a spirit which did honour to itself AS a political opponent of Lord MALMESBURY, rendered to that statesman the thanks and credit which are his due. On the other hand, we observe that other Whig critics, without taking note of the common bearing of these treaties, or of the important channels of commercial enterprise they have opened to us, confine themselves to the very unreasonable complaint. that I: tweak was made a party to one of them. URQUIZA, says our respected contemporary the E.rasniner, at the time he ratified the treaty in question, had been driven rota Buenos Ayres ; and, to the extent to which his sovereignty was abridged, he had his own objects to promote in procuring a recog nition of the legality of his position as Chief of the Argentine Confederation. Yet, accept ing this statement. we are at a loss to see in what sense it impairs the value of the treaty he signed, and still less how it detracts from the merits of its authors or negotiators. To make this sufficiently plain it appears to us we have only to recall one or two pertinent considerations. In the first place. it is forgotten that, when the intention of Lord NIALMEtidURI to despatch Sir CHARLES HOMO! was made public, the then Opposition and theidournals urged the paramount importance of securing the opening of the tributaries of La Plata by treaty. No mere decree, it was then held, could be regarded as satisfactory, however procured, or from whatsoever power it might emanate ; but Sir CHARLES HOTHAII. qerhapa because it was looked upon as impos was required to obtain a treaty as the rest of his success. When Sir CHARLES WAS lespatched with this especial object he was not commissioned, in any sense, to meddle vith the politics of the Argentine Confedera tion, and he would clearly have exceeded his mission had he done so. On his arrival he round URQUIZA in power, and, though engaged in civil war, with one of the members of the Confederation—if we can call the town only Buenos Ayres by so full a title—neverthe less the de facto chief of the remainder, so that a treaty. if concluded at all, was neces sarily concluded with him, because there Nam simply no one else to treat with. Now, if this is thought to impair the validity of the treaty, the presumption may be set at SATURDAY, rest by a parallel example. At the present moment two of the best provinces of the Turkish empire are occupied and governed by another power, yet no politician would dream of contending that a treaty with the Sultan was therefore invalidated. Or, just as fairly, to come nearer home, would England herself be adjudged incapable of concluding a treaty if she should happen to be visited with an Irish rebellion? In pursuance of his in structions, moreover, we may ask what other course Sir CHARLES HOTIIAM could possibly have taken ? If he had abstained from treat ing till all the States of the Confederation were thoroughly tranquil, he would have done nothing ; and while he was attending this abnormal dispensation the message for his recal would have reached him. He would have returned to England without a single • guarantee on behalf of our commercial enter prise ; while the parties who previously in sisted on a treaty would have then exulted that his mission was a failure. It is fortunate, indeed, that neither the value of the treaty nor the merits of those who procured it are affected by this construction of their political opponents. The merchants of Great Britain are aware of the advantages thereby obtained, and are preparing, as we gather from the Liverpool Albion, to take some practical steps towards their appropriation. The disposition of Buenos Ayres is well un derstood, and if its protest serves its purpose of political capital against URQUZA, by accord ing with its desire for a national monopoly, our merchants are not on that account dis posed to forego the benefits of a treaty signed by constituted authorities, but may insist that, as it was fairly obtained, it shall be inviolably respected. For our own parts, if we may ven ture on a seasonable counsel, we would suggest that now is the time, while mercantile interest is directed to this quarter of the globe, to pur sue the advantages already obtained, and to urge the Government to procure by other treaties the opening of those tributaries of La Plata which run westward in the direction of Bolivia and Peru. PROFESSOR MAURICE. OUR contemporaries have not yet exhausted the subject of Professor MArRICE'S deprivation. More than one of them persist in regarding it as an act of the Church of England, awl for bode dismal consequences. We cannot at tach to it the same importance. Much of the controversy has been caused, we think, by the narrow grounds on which the Principal of King's College has chosen to rest the decision of the council. Every one admits that Pro fessor MAIIRICE is pious, active, and of blame less life ; and further, that he exerts that influence over others which an earnest and religious man, with high intellectual endow ments, is almost sure to secure, apart from the dogmatic results of his inquiries. But his professorship bound him to teach the doctrines of the Bible to young men in a Church of England College : his own mission, as deter mined by himself, seems to be to solve scep tical doubts and objections iu theology, awl to settle certain unsettled questions in politi cal economy. Now. whilst he himself believes that these two objects arc perfectly compati ble, it is surely competent for the council of King's College to pass an opinion upon a que,- tion so material to their interests. They may think the work of a theological professor dis tinct from that of a religious inquirer, if not in all points, still in some grave ones. They may deem it best to combat error, not by constant reasoning with it, but by replacing or fort stalling it by positive truth. They may sup pose that a professor whose career beyond the walls of their institution is "one vovay.e of dis covery" may be likely to send idlers to sea. A Liverpool firm which had chartered a ship for the Lobos Islands for guano would be sur prised if the master took a look after Sir JOH FRANKLIN on the way home. The council of King's College is not an ecclesiastical synod, but it has charge of an important place of education. and anything that might affect its re-