The Press. — London, England, 1858-10-30 00:00:00

1060 enacted, in the first place, to protect the life of Queen Elizabeth, who was more co,istantly the object of plots than the late sovereign of France. They were maintained by her successor, who had no wish to be blown up together with his Parliament. They were enforced by the people, when they suspected they were betrayed by Charles 11., and wken they found themselves betrayed by his brother. They were re-enacted by William, who wished to give a pledge that no sovereign in future should prove false to the Protestant constitution. The cordial welcome of Consalvi by the English people proves that they regarded the spirit of the law, and not the letter. Never was there a time when the Roman Catholic religion was looked on so favourably in this country. It was believed to have lost its bigoted and exclusive character. The sufferings of the French emigrant clergy had attracted universal sympathy ; the persecution of the Pope by England's greatest enemy had raised him to the rank of an ally and a martyr. That this state of things exists no longer is a subject of deep regret ; but the Cardinal and his co-religionists alone mist bear the blame. Ever since the admission of the Roman Catholics to power, a party in the House of Commons who are nominated by the Irish priesthood have pursued the objects of that body, to the exclusion, and even to the subversion, of all national interests. This section, though numerically weak, yet in the nice balance of parties exercises an undue influence over the Legislature. It was improperly courted by the Whigs, by whose ignorance, perhaps, rather than ill intention, successive encroachments were encouraged till they culminated in the Papal aggres sion. It may be and no doubt will be courted again by future Administrations ; and it is to guard against the failing virtue of our statesmen that the people refuse to surrender any more of those " etiquettes " which Cardinal Wiseman thinks so contemptible. The reviewer might have added that as early as the close of the reign of Pius VII. the English Government had become alive to the necessity of caution in making any approaches whatever to wards the Court of Rome. When Leo XII. on his accession addressed an official announcement of that event to King George IV., and, through his secretary, to Mr. Canning, the then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the illusion as to the changed character of the Papacy, which imme diately after the restoration of Pius VII. had led to an interchange of civilities—including an auto graph letter from the King of England to the Pope, and correspondence between the Ministers of the two Courts—had been so effectually dis pelled, that it was thought necessary once more to have recourse to the "etiquettes" forced upon England in self-defence by the conduct of the Papacy in former times. It was thought right to obtain the opinion of the law officers of the Crown upon the question "whether any answer " should be returned by his Majesty and his Government to this notification," and the reply given by Sir Robert Gifford, and the present Lord Lyndhurst, who at that time filled the ce of Solicitor-General, was to the effect that s the Pope, by virtue of his office, claimed " uthority, jurisdiction, and pre-eminence over " the whole Christian Church, and certainly over " the Catholic Church in this realm," and as the terms of' the letters of' Leo XII. announcing his elevation to the Supreme Pontificate were such as in the opinion of the parties consulted " would " be construed as importing such a claim," the penalties of the Statute of Prtemunire might he Incurred by any subject of the English Crown, " writing or advising any answer to these letters, " which might he interpreted into an implied " recognition of' such a claim." Not only, how ever, did the law officers of the Crown feel it their duty to point out the penal consequences of such an official recognition of the Pope under the law of England, but they thought proper to call attention to the fact, as " worthy of remark, that " the Legislature, by careiblly adopting the title "of Bishop of Rome,' instead of that of Pope,' " in the various Acts passed since the Reforma " tion, seems anxiously to have avoided any such " implied recognition ;" and they further added that in their opinion " the reference made in the " l'ope's letter to the Catholic Church in his " Majesty's dominions, and the recommendation " of the weal of that Church to his Majesty, " rendered caution upon this occasion particularly "necessary." In truth, the Court of Rome had lost no time in showing the cloven foot. The restoration of the Jesuit Order by the Bull Sollicitudo omnium animarum, published while the Congress of Vienna was still sitting, could not leave much doubt as to the inspirations by which the occu pant of " the Chair of St. Peter" was guided. This step indicated, not merely the opinion which Pius VII. personally entertained of the real cause of the death of Clement XIV., but the line of policy which the Court of Rome had deliberately resolved to adopt. Whether Pius VII. was a believer in the divine mission of the Jesuit pup• THE PRESS, OCTOBER 30,1858. pet Bernardina Renzi, the "prophetess of Valen tano,"—the pythonesse Chritienne, as she is called by the historiographer of the Jesuit Order,—who, after the fashion of the "death's head and cross , bones " nearer home, predicted the death of Pope Ganganelli, while the Bull for the suppression of the Order was still under his consideration ; whe ther he was satisfied of the truth of that notable miracle, certified to the Papal world by one of his successors, and published in Protestant Eng land under the auspices of Cardinal Wiseman, — the trance into which St. Alfonso di. Liguori fell at Arienzo, while absent in spirit to shrive the unhappy Clement XIV. in his last hour, for that grievous sin of his Pontificate,—is a matter of small moment. But it is a fact full of significance, that the Sacred College, though many of them, including Cardinal Pacca, had been vehemently opposed to the Jesuits, were now unanimous in their favour, with the sole exception, as the reviewer observes, of Consalvi. Giving to that able diplomatist full credit for having discerned the pernicious effect which so overt a return to the worst principles of the Papacy in its worst days was calculated to produce upon the public opinion of Europe, it would be a great mistake thence to infer that he was opposed to the policy of reaction. The solemn protest (which appears to have escaped the reviewer's notice) presented by him, at the Congress of Vienna, to the assem bled representatives of the European powers, " against all the innovations detrimental to the " Church, and to the rights of the Holy See" involved in the treaty for the pacification of Europe, sufficiently proves what were his views as to the position which it became the Papacy after its restoration to assume. He might differ from his colleagues as to the means by which the end was to be attained, but as to the end itself, the reassertion of all the most extravagant claims ever advanced on behalf of " the Chair of St. Peter," Cardinal Consalvi was clearly of one mind with his brethren of the Sacred College. This, indeed, is the estimate of his views formed by the reviewer, who observes that "he was as " much bent as any of them on restoring the " Roman Sec to its former pre-eminence ; but " while he was satisfied with obtaining what was possible, and would yield trifles to gain easen " tials, they would have lost the end while dis " puting about the means." The progress of the policy of ecclesiastical re action thus ominously inaugurated immediately after the reinstatement of the lack-land Pontiff in the " patrimony of St. Peter" is traced, and, as far as his limits admitted of it, illustrated by the reviewer through the remainder of the reign of Pius VII., and that of his successor, Leo XII. To have included the following two Pontificates, over which the " Recollections" of Cardinal Wiseman extend, would have greatly exceeded the compass of an article ; but we trust that at sotne future time the deficiency may be made up by the same able pen. The topic is one which deserves to be discussed more fully, and that for practical purposes more immediately connected with the policy of England. Our reviewer notices the fact, that so early as his visit to London the grand object of Cardinal Consalvi was to pro mote the cause of " Catholic emancipation ;" and an attentive perusal of Dr. Wiseman's book fur nishes abundant evidence of the fact that the ecclesiastical conquest of England is a project which has been entertained ever since the re storation of the Papal power, and is steadily kept in view in the counsels of the Vatican. Nor is this otherwise than perfectly natural. The wealth of England cannot fail to possess in the eyes of an ecclesiastical power so deeply versed in the art of converting the property of the laity to its own use, attractions almost, if not quite, as powerful as in the eyes of French colonels dreaming of the invasion of England is the sack of London. And considering the position occu pied in Christendom by the Church of England as the principal bulwark of the ancient faith against mediaeval and more modern innovations, as well as of religious freedom against spiritual des • potism, the removal of so great an impediment to the realization of the Papal ideal of universal theocratic supremacy mus t ever be a primary object with those who direct the policy of the Court of Rome. To imagine that that object will ever be abandoned or lost sight of by them, is to suppose that the Papacy will abdicate its pretended power, and with its own hand place the extinguisher on the tiara, we arc not sanguine enough to entertain any such expect a . tion, we heartily concur in the regret expressed by the reviewer at the apathy and the want of discernment exhibited in regard to this important feature of our national policy by almost every class of politicians amongst us : England alone (he observes) chooses to be ignorant that, when Romanism is only the creed of a tolerated minority, not less than when it is the religion of the State, it is necessary to establish certain limits wtthin which the authority of the Pope shall be exercised. If this is neglected, the plenitude of Papal power is virtually directed by the national Roman Catholic hierarchy, and gives them a preponderance which makes them formidable to the Protestant Government, and despotic over the laity of their own persuasion. To foster this state of ignorance is the evident interest of the Roman Court, and no pains are spared, no arts of dissimulation are left untried, which may help to keep up the kind of half blindness and half good -nature with which John Bull, though occasionally indulging in an ebul lition of passing wrath, is on the whole wont to regard the movements of the Papacy. Singularly effective as well as curious is the condescension which, with that intent, is shown by the highest dignitaries of the Roman Church to Englishmen of rank and influence, and even to ordinary tourists who take Rome in their way. Many a man, far more shrewd than the enthusiastic Pre bendary of Durham who, a few years ago, ac companied by his lady in the character of inter preter, took the presence chamber of the Vatican by storm, for the avowed purpose of converting the Pope, has been fooled by the honied gentility of his reception:— On one occasion (of which our reviewer tells), when a noble lord who hail taken a moat violent part against the Roman Catholics chose, rather to the surprise of his friends, to be presented at the Vatican, it was thought that Leo would decline seeing one whose hostility was so notorious ; lie received him however with more than usual civility and oven kindness, telling him with a marked emphasis that be was particularly glad to see him in Rome. " I hope, my lord," he added, " you are now disabused of your errors, and if you cannot conscientiously give us your rtte, at least we shall no longer stiffer from your miscon ceptions." In all such interviews with our countrymen the Pope and the Secretary of State piqued themselves on disarming prejudice and conciliating goodwill by their reasonable sentiments and their winning address. They had nothing to fear from the contradiction which was practically given to their professions by the whole course of their policy. Our countrymen, and, above all, our statesmen, are resolutely bent on remaining in ignorance of the real meaning of all that relates to the social state of the Peninsula and the ecclesiastical policy of Rome. The truth is that the blunt straightforwardness of the English mind requires considerable training be fore it can cope with the finesse of Italian diplomacy and with the mental reservation that underlies every act and word of Papal statecraft How the enjoyment by the Roman Catholics of the perfect civil and political equality which it is, greatly to their credit, the natural desire of Englishmen to accord to all their fellow-subjects, is to be reconciled with the maintenance of the supremacy and dignity of the British Crown, and of the spiritual independence of the nation, is a problem which remains yet to be solved by our statesmen. Until they shall apply themselves to its solution in good earnest, after a full investi gation ;.)f the character of Papal policy, and of the foundations on which that policy is built, the secret emissaries and the open representatives of Rome will continue to revel in the unlimited license of machination which, without the appli cation of proper safeguards, our free institutions afford to an unscrupulous Power, ready at any time, according to circumstances, either to tem porize or to encroach, and determined at all times to take the utmost advantage, without ever making in return the slightest concession or the least abatement of its extravagant and inadmissible pretensions. We have been so long detained with the affairs of " Christian Rome," that we have little leisure left us to take a turn or two in Pagan Rome, albeit most temptingly invited to do so by what may be termed two companion articles in the present number of the Quarterly. One of these introduces us, after a fashion prevalent at this season of the year, to the agricultural aspect of Roman life in the olden time. If it be true, as the writer of the entertaining paper on Pro fessor Daubeny's " Lectures on Roman llus bandry" remarks, that, although we have so much less of Roman blood in our race than our continental neig hbours so much less of Roman law in our institutions, and so much less of Bo man words iu our language, we yet approach