The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 11, 1858. 866 attempt to deprive of arms, by legislative enact ment, those very Romanists for the sake of whose alliance he had betrayed his Protestant sup port ers. Next came a period of Whig-Radical rule, during which the whole island was kept in a state of alarm and consternation, in the daily ex pectation that a rebellion would burst forth. A crisis, however, of a different kind was then near, whereby the whole face of the country was changed. Statesmen had tried their hand at it in vain—man's weak efforts had proved abortive in solving the difficulty—but solved it was destined to be. The finger of Providence was laid heavily on the devoted people : first famine—then pestilence—and then an "Exodus," stimulated by the notion that Gon's curse was upon the land, swept clean away the starving multitude ; and the Popish priests and dema gogues (suddenly as it were) found themselves deprived of the tools with which, till then, they had worked—the destitute and disaffected paupers all disappeared. - - - By those who visited Ireland when the work of destruction had been completed, the impression produced by the aspect of affairs can never be effaced from their minds. It seemed as if the country had been overrun and ravaged by a con quering army. There was, indeed, a sort of peace, but it was the peace of desolation ! Soon, however, a brighter day began to dawn. Fright ful as was the ordeal through which the country had passed, it soon became manifest that Ireland had ceased to be a " difficulty " to British states men. From all quarters of the island was heard the note of unprecedented prosperity ; troops were no longer needed; capital flowed in; pauperism had almost disappeared ; and, for the very first time in her history Ireland could be pro nounced to be happy, prosperous, and contented, a source of strength, instead of weakness, to England. And so Ireland continues to this day, and so she bids fair to continue, if British statesmen have learned wisdom from the experience of the past. But this state of prosperity and peace ill suits the purposes of Rome. That Ireland, the very hotbed of Popery—the perpetual thorn in the side of Protestant England—should not only cease to be that thorn, but should actually serve to increase the power of Great Britain, is a state of things which makes the Roman Pontiffs tremble for their influence and authority in a land of which they once almost fancied that they were the actual rulers. Hence the visit of the Cardinal to Ireland— hence the desperate efforts which are now being made there to preserve what remains of the authority of Rome, and, if possible, to increase it. English Protestants may smile at an old man in a scarlet dress, with olden crosses, and a peculiar shaped hat, getting out of a railway train, and receiving more than royal homage on the platform of a railway station ; but they are blind indeed if they cannot perceive the important significancy of these proceedings, and that they have a very potent influence over the minds of the Popish portion of the Irish people. There is one grand principle which it is the main object of the Cardinal and his coadjutors to impress upon the Irish Romanists ; and that is, that theirs is the dominant faith—that their Church is above their Sovereign—that the Queen is second to the Pope. Hence the deliberate insult to her Majesty in omitting her health at the banquet at. Balhnasloe, and the not less deliberate insult in drinking at Dundalk the toast of the Pope before the Queen. Hence the illegal Popish processions in the streets; hence the ostentatious, illegal assumption of territorial tides by the Roman Prelates ; hence the presence of the Car dinal at the Lord Alayor of Dublin's dinner being preferred to that of her Majesty's Repre sentative, the Lord Lieutenant, and the other members of her Irish Administration; and hence the meeting at Limerick with Mr. O'DONOGHUE, M.P., as chairman, to denounce as unjust the execution of the CORMACKS (who were hanged for murder), i n order to shake the confidence of the Irish Romanists in the fair administration of justice. All these proceedings are the result of deep calculation, and are done for a purpose. They are done to show the superiority of the ecclesiastical over the civil power, and to teach the people to tremble before the Roman priest hood. Now, if these proceedings of the Popish party are to be allowed to fulfil their objects, if the party of the Priests is to be allowed again to become rampant in Ireland, the inevitable result will be that the old state of things will be reproduced it; 4440. It has pleased Providence, iit tslyWom, to deprive the priests owl they ag i toting supporters of tie weapons which rendered them really formidable. There is nothing alarming in the crowds which now surround the Cardi nal, although there was enough to appal the stoutest heart in the hostile bearing and disaffection of the tens of thousands who formerly surrounded O'CONNELL. The game of Rome and her priesthood, then, is this—to create an appearance of turbulence in Ireland, in order to frighten Protestants so as to prevent them settling in the island; then by the encouragement of early marriages, and profiting by the wild and listless nature of the remaining Irish peasantry of the old breed, to rear up (as they reared up before) a population similarly de graded to that which has been swept away. MACAULAY truly says, in his English history, that it is a general rule, to which the past history of mankind, whether in the Old World or the New, affords scarcely a single exception, that under the almost infinitely varied circumstances of different ages, different races, and different clinics, wherever Popery prevails, or has pre vailed, there the mass of the population are, or have been, in a state of mental degradation and physical poverty. But this is not the result of chance ; it is, beyond a doubt, the result of the standing policy of Rome. To effect the reduction of the Irish people again under her almost unlimited influence—to make Ireland again a source of weakness to de tested Protestant England—these are the pur poses of Rome, and of these purposes she will never lose sight. She can only effectually ac complish them by keeping her votaries in a state of "mental degradation," and reducing them once a g ain to great " physical poverty.' The improved condition of the remaining Irish peasantry has been viewed with dismay at Rome. What has now been passing in Ireland is the first step in the path of its overthrow. Will England, then, sit tamely by and allow this scheme to triumph ? as assuredly it will ultimately triumph, it' the old policy of the Whig-Radicals and Sir ROBERT PEEL is to be persevered in —viz., governini , the Roman Catho lic laity through the intermediate agency of the priests, instead of knowing no distinctions, and dealing with them as British subjects, teaching them to look up to the British Government for protection from priestly oppression, and gaining their affections by deeds of direct agency. It' this wise course of policy be pursued, as we feel very confident it will be, by the present Govern ment, we shall hear of no mawkish tenderness for Popish priests, who violate the law. The Roman laity must learn to repeat with confidence and satisfaction what they once repeated with wonder, on the occasion of a priest, some fifteen years ago, being cast in heavy damages for curses uttered at the altar. " The law, then, is " stronger than his Reverence." These were their words, outside the Court-house, and they went home publicly rejoicing that it was so. This is the spirit in which we have no doubt the present Irish Government will act. If they do, Ireland will long remain the brightest jewel in the British Crown, and a great source of strength to Great Britain. rather followedseiagaanidteossonif hearts benighted race, England has the precepts of MAIIOMET than obe in y e ed ouonu t tr h pre cepts of CHRIST. Our zeal for the op a gation of the Gospel amongst the heathen fervently iew assuredly burns quite a,4 as in those of our boasting fellow - - but,. nevertheless, we are free t p : ga co t n in fes g th n i a n t t ion th s em. s o il v e b .ti : giving effect to our zeal, we do entertain confes s th at, in jections to all attempts at pro faith according to the injunctions of the in opposition to all the injunctions of the GOB l ll r il in'Y ; and we . for that, when neighbou w ri i n ll g us actl like soldiers of the Crescent, and hseeet like soldiers of the Cross, they selves justified in apostrophizing Englishmen the Blessed Founder of our religion apos trophized the broad-philactery men of old. Such an apostrophe, we gladly admit, would not apply to all.. For . there have been, and there are, two parties in this country, which look upon . British proceedings in China in totally lights. The one nmtwoe t p et hreah treat party ep c as re a tllex r a m e nt nede f na o a tsrr contempt,ii standard nations sn t o h flte i h n ns sega civilizedn. but Fl P t the ta i n n hno c adt increase a fht s e eha ofr power sufficientlycoowm h humanity to be entitled to the privileges of civi lized nations. These men hold that in our dealings with such as the Chinese any adherence on our parts to the acknowledged laws of nations is quite unnecessary. These men lay it down, as an inevitable law of human nature, that "barbarism " must recede before civilization," and thus are perfectly indifferent, provided that the recession takes place, whether it is justly brought about, or whether it results from civilization employing the power which knowledge confers according to the maxims of barbarism. Accordingly, when civilization, outraging justice, applies force, the eyeballs may indeed be uplifted to heaven to indi cate the shock that is given to the moral sense; but the moral sense is very loon consoled, nay more, extinguished, by calling to mind the aforesaid " inevitable law of human nature," whereby the mind is easily reconciled to atrocities of the deepest die. But when, in addition to the consolation which this law affords them, some fine phrases about introducing Christianity amongst the heathen can be paraded, then they turn their devilish deeds into Christian deeds, and ostenta tiously chuckle at the anticipated triumphs of the Faith : they compass heaven and earth to make proselytes, but they omit the weightier mat ters of the law, justice, mercy, truth. These per sons (and we blush to think how vast are their numbers) could see nothing wrong in the pro ceedings of British authorities at Canton, when they spread fire and desolation through a thickly peopled city, under the false pretence of avenging an insult to the British flag—an insult which never was !oily offered. And some day or other, when 1!/re truth comes out respecting this iniquitous aggression, we strongly suspect that it will be found that that miserably vain man, Sir JOHN BoWRING, obtained authority from the Government at home to pick a quarrel with the Chinese, per fas ant nefas, in order to secure an entry into the city for British subjects, and to obtain, on a flimsy pretence, the fulfilment of treaties which had been negligently permitted to remain in abeyance. These men, who sanctioned and approved this shameless outrage, are now the very men to profess such extasy of delight at the way being opened (as they call it) for Christianizing the Chinese. Thanks be to Gon, however, there existed, and still exists, another party, whom no views o d f commercial gain, no greed for filthy lucre, coul deter from denouncing in just and fitting terms the whole of our proceedings, from first to last, in the Canton waters. Had those proceedings„ been certain to pour into our laps "the wealth of Ormus and of Inde," they would have been equally held up to public execration and abhor ence. And let it be gratefully remembered that the majority of the then existing House Commons censured those atrocities, and that a large minority of the House of Lords, headed by the present Premier, endeavoured to fix on them a similar brand of condemnation. This Pal l combined their Christian professions Christian practice, and those who belo n g to this wit h party are, we maintain, the only ones who of a right to avow pleasure at any real rospecta ve introducing Christianity into China. But we confess that we have little faith the religion Of in the possibility of propagating h, CHINA. WHEN we read the comments of some of our contemporaries on the stipulations made, or sup posed to have been made, with the Chinese Emperor, and the expressions of joy and satisfac tion with which they hail the so-called conces sions in favour of Christianity, we cannot help feeling strong sensations of uneasiness as to what the better portion of neighbouring nations must think of us and of our doings. If these writers were to be taken at their word, the propagation of the Christian faith amongst the untold millions of Chinese has been the great object and the main result of our hostile proceedings. It seems to us that, in the mode of setting about conferring this great blessing on this , I ri • - , P z