The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

JANUARY 13, 1855• of this important doctrine? To such questions Roman Catholic casuists could not give any other answer than to fall back on the alterna tive of its being a matter of doubt until now. But such an answer only puts them deeper into difficulties, for they cannot show either scriptural warrant or ecclesiastical authority for their recent procedure, nor could they account for the necessity of all the prelates being summoned from all the quarters of the globe to enforce a point of speculative faith, not in the Deity, nor in any of the Divine persons of the Hely Trinity, but in the birth of the Blessed Virgin. On the third alter native, of the falsity of this dogma, affirmed dogmatically by the Papacy, we need not remark. But true, or dubious. or false, the dogma itself is a matter of indifference at Rome. The Pope wanted a pretext for organising the episcopal leaders of the clerical cohorts through out the globe, and the inauguration of a fresh movement in favour of Mariolatry presented a fair opportunity for combining his forces. We may feel well assured that there is not a single State in Christendom, Protestant or Roman Catholic, that will not be made to feel the effect of the clandestine legislation of the Pope's unreported Parliament. We must recollect that the suffrages of all these bishops could easily have been obtained and forwarded to Rome by the primates of their national churches. But with such objects as his " Holiness" has now in view, he " ignores" both the electric telegraph and the post office,as if they were Protestant institutions. None but devotees would believe that the assembled prelates were meditating during their stay at Rome on the " Immaculate " Conception." Before they set out from their dioceses they knew that they were going to be ordered to believe it, and they were ready to render their obedience. Discussion of the subject was altogether nugatory. But not without effect was the organisation and artful method displayed upon the occasion. Fresh reasons for aversion to the Protestant and intellectual world were given, and, still worse, fresh fetters were forged for the servile na tures who exult in clanking the manacles of Rome. For the recent dogma was nothing more or less than a disguised coup d kat in order to leave full license for exhibiting the whole apparatus of " infallibility." It was a bold stroke to obtain fresh power, to awe the timid, to seduce the frivolous, to entrap the unwary, and to astound the vulgar of the earth, with the deceitful semblance of a fictitious " unity," and the theatrical display of a spu rious miracle. It was a thoroughly Romanist mixture of the Italian pattern, in which pro found policy and pious fraud were wonder fully joined. It was planned so as to please Papal devotees, and effect the purposes of Jesuitical designs and Pantheistic philosophy. The art with which another masked battery was opened within the trenches of the Vatican may be admired as a piece of intellectual strategy ; but it is obvious that the tactics of indifferentism, as professed by the Ministerial favourers of Romanist aggression, will not sustain the reformed faith. Protestantism must have a policy, national, defensive, and decisive. Rome will not allow quiescence, and it is ready to steal a march upon nations that are apathetic or weak, from the sectarian schisms ingeniously fomented by the clandes tine missionaries. What Mr. DISRAELI has called " the present anomalous condition of " the constitution of this realm , " in relation to the Church of Rome, must receive the gravest attention of patriotic statesmanship legislating in the Protestant rights of Eng land " with earnestness and without equivo " cation." We should not, therefore, be surprised if good were finally to result to the reformed faith from the recent procedure at Rome. " Forewarned is forearmed." We know what the Pope aims at by his organising in a new polemical crusade the prelatical authorities of his Church. We may be certain that more than once in their recent conclaves the names of some of our present Ministers were men tioned with complacency. The associates of the holy brotherhood possibly expatiated on what Mr. Disassu so happily called " the THE PRESS. " eminent ability and unhappy success" with which Lord ABERDEEN, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, and Mr. GLADSTONE, defended the Pope against writers of deceitful Durham letters, of igin sting in sound and fury, and ending in nothing. Peelites were praised, and the future doom of English Protestantism was, perhaps, exultingly foretold inthe most jubilant strains of prophetic Jesuitry. But others also must claim the liberty of prophesying. And if England be true to her glorious traditions, and to her sub lime mission amongst the nations, a voice may yet issue from the councils of her Legislature, which shall obtain ample se curity for the faith for which her worthiest martyrs died, and for which her highest patriots toiled against a host of foes. Such a policy England can insist upon without in juring the social privileges of any of her citi zens, and such a policy under Protestant statesmanship England must emphatically declare, if she desires to conserve the liberties of all. PORPHYROGENITUS. OUR Paris contemporary Galignani has given us what our neighbours call an " exposé des motifs" of the war. The facts are curious, though we do not vouch for the accuracy of the conclusions drawn from them. The Em peror of RUSSIA has two eldest sons : the one, ALEXANDER, whom most of us remember some fifteen years ago in England as, apparently, a quiet and amiable youth ; the other, CoN STANTINE, a thorough-bred Muscovite. The former is the eldest-born of Prince NICHOLAS, the latter of Czar NICHOLAS, Porphyrogenitus, " corn in the purple"; one the son of the man, the other of the Emperor; and the younger is not disposed to waive his claim. The claim itself is an old one, and seems to commend itself to Eastern sympathies. As long ago as HERODOTUS'S time, XERXES ousted his elder brother from the throne of Persia on this plea. There is also a Constantine Por phyrogenitus in the list of the Byzantine Em perors, and Russia is very conservative of Byzantine precedents. He reigned from A.D. 911 to 919, was deposed, and, curiously enough, it was the first Russian expedition against Con stantinople that restored him, 945-959. VLA DIMIR the Great of Russia married into the family, and hence the claim of the present Czar to be the true Byzantine CEesar. Omitting traditions, which Russia uses whenever they are useful, the question for the present Czar has long been, if possible, to reconcile the claims of ALEXANDER and CoN• STANTINE. They were likely to come into competition; and the great secret of the Czar's power in Russia is the implicit belief in the unbroken, God-given, God-sustained unity of the Czardom. A civil war between his sons, besides other inconveniences—such as letting people take sides, judge for them selves, have their own opinions, and the like— would be the death of this unity. The ques is, how to mend matters ? The old traditional policy of the Empire pointed of course to Constantinople. Galva nise the old Eastern Empire, and CoN STANTINE is natural King of Constantine's city. Hence the Emperor's visit to England, the " Czar's Cup" at Ascot, and the rest of his amenities. He waited his time, and the ac cession to power of " ABERDEEN, for instance," determined the moment. " England wants " Egypt, the highway to ber India; I want " Constantinople ; mutual accommodation, " nothing can be more convenient." England, though by no fault of her rulers, was not in the humour for ary closer intimacy with Russia. France was tried next; but France remained loyal and true to the interests of Europe. Moreover, France had at the moment no particular love for porphyrogeniti, and had reasons of its own for suspecting the Czar; so nothing came of it. But a new scheme has been, it seems, sug gesting itself of late; the " protection" of Austria, in 1849, gave a valuable hint, and it has not been lost sight of. If Austria cannot manage Hungary she must not keep it ; so 27 we learn that the magnates of Hungary have been sounded on the question whether they will accept Russia's recognition of their free nationality on condition of receiving CON.. STANTINE for king. The prospect, for Russia, is not a bad one. Transylvania is of course swallowed up at once; Servia, the Principalities, Montenegro, and other baby-kingdoms, will be easily ab sorbed ; and, practically, the Russian frontier will be pushed within a few leagues of Vienna. If there be any truth in these statements, Austria, at least, has good reason for fighting. The misfortune hitherto has been that Austria has taken so long to discover in which direction her interests really lay ; and that our men have been dying by thousands while she has been meditating, and our Ministers contentedly looking on. ARCHDEACON DENISON. nissioners in the case of Archdeacon DENISON have unanimously decided that " there are " primd facie grounds for further proceedings" in the matter. Notwithstanding Dr. PRILLIMORE'S obstinate defence, we cannot see how any Commission could possibly come to any other conclusion. To omit other questionable sentences, when a person asserts that all partakers of the Sacrament of the Eucharist (whether partaking worthily or unworthily) partake of that spiritual grace of which it is the sign or Sacrament, and Article xxix. of the English Church asserts, The Wicked and such as be void of a faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as Saint Augustine saith) the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ, we cannot understand how the Archdeacon or any one else can fail to discern, at all events, a primd fucie contradiction between the two statements. Whether the Archdeacon will be able to satisfy the higher tribunal that there is only an apparent, and not a real, contradiction, remains to be seen. At present we refrain from prejudging a case which is as yet untried, and content ourselves with informing such of our readers ELS are unaware of the provisions of the recent Church Discipline Act, that the pro ceedings before the Commissioners are entirely preparatory; their verdict is, in fact, exactly equiva lent to the " true bill" found by the grand jury in criminal cases, but does not at all necessarily imply a verdict of the same tenorthe trial itself. CHAPLAINS TO THE ARMY IN THE EAST. IT is gratifying to learn that the system adopted to provide for the spiritual wants of our troops in the East is working in a very satisfactory manner. The following list shows the chaplains appointed, with their several stations, at the date of the last ad vices • Rev. — R. Hamilton, Varna. Rev. J. Parker, Ist division. R. Lawless, Scutari. H. W. Wyatt (assis- H. Egan, light division. tent), light division. J. Hayward, Balaklays. Hobson, Scutari. J. Sabin, Scutari. Eade, engineers, right HughHtileatt, 4th div. attack and siege train. J. Gilbume, 3rd div. Dr. Blackwood, Scutari. E. Owen, 2nd division. Proctor (assistant), Dr. Freeth, engineer 4th division. department, and siege Wenham (assistant), train, left attack. 2nd division. E. Freeman, cavalry. II adow, Scutari. E. Taylor (assistant), Pierce Butler, unap- Battiklava pointed. J. Lewes, Scutari. H. P. Wright, prin- Parsons, ambulance cipal chaplain. corps. THE ABSOLUTE--AUSTRIA. (From a Correspondent.) THE principle of the Absolute, immutable in its nature, is nevertheless plastic according to the variety of the material with which it has to contend. In Austria it takes a form purely military, and the organisation of the army is so shaped that it is enabled to perform the double duties of a police and military agency. It must not be supposed that the Absolute, although essentially despotic, is of neces sity tyrannical in its immediate action. The exercise of governmental tyranny does not, as a cardinal canon of policy, circumscribe the personal comforts of man, to detract from the enjoyments of life. It is in the second stage of its course, and when irritated by formidable opposition, that it acquires the vices and exercises the prerogative of cruelty. The aim of the Absolute is to enslave the mind and to crush the faculty of thought upon the principle of government. A peremptory subjection of this disturb ing force, although triumphant over physical energy,