The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-11-27 00:00:00

THE EMPEROR-POPE, ~

TILE eldest Son of the Church" is, like many'
other eldest sons, a very great source of vexation'
and humiliation to the old gentleman who claims,
spiritually at least, to be his Father and Gover-
nor. Having gradually stripped, or permitted
others to strip, the Holy Father of his temporal
dominions, Louis NAPOLEON would now appear
to contemplate measures for depriving the Roman
Pontiff even of his spiritual authority—at least
in France. Having, under the pretence of filial
devotion, held the parental hands while accom-
plices performed the act of spoliating the terri-
tories of the Pope, this " eldest son" is now
apparently about to question the parental autho-
rity—to deny his own filial duty, and finally to
kick the old man out of doors—impoverished,
disgraced, and disowned. The " eldest son" is
wearied of restraint; he is not content with the
latch-key of Civita Vecchia, and apartments of
his own in the city ; he would supersede " the
Governor" altogether, and become unequivocally
a law unto himself—spiritually as well as tem-
porally. In other words, Louis NAPOLEON
would be EMPEROR-POPE. Emperor he is—
every inch of him. Pope of France he will be,
perhaps, hereafter. Really it seems impossible
to contemplate, without pitying, the sorrows of
poor old Pio NoNo. Truly his lot has been cast
in unhappy times for the Power he represents.
This last stroke from NAPOLEON, if inflicted,
must surely be the finishing one to his Holiness's
high pretensions as a prophet, priest, and king.
Nothing now remains to him as the successor of
the longest line of Sovereigns on record but the
mere name of an abridged temporal power, and
the spiritual homage of the faithful, But
what shall that spiritual obedience amount to
practically should the Gallican Church and
all Italy besides, thro w off his " apostolic " yoke
and severally establish their ecclesiastical inde-
pendence ? The realisation of such a prospect
would certainly constitute one of the most pro-
minent events recorded in the history of the
world ;—but the probability of its speedy even-
tuality seems almost too good to be true. The
downfall of the Papacy and the Papal influence
would clearly mark the commencement of
another grand epoch in the history of civilisation.
Dare we hope to see in our day such a signal
triumph of light over darkness ? We could
almost find it in our hearts to forgive Louis
NAPOLEON for the seizure of Nice and Savoy, and
for some other peccadilloes, if he would accom-
plish the feat of emancipating Christendom from
the worst of all tyrannies—the spiritual assump-
tions and despotism of the Bishop of Rome, and
banish to the limbo of obsolete frauds, an imposi-
tion which boasts itself some eighteen hundred
years of age.

Frenchmen denounce the example of HENRY
VIII. of England, and the French Reformation is
to be designated a " separation" while that of
England is scorned as a" schism." The indivi-
dual motives of the English King and the French
Emperor may be in some respects very different
and so may the particulars of the process of the

French " separation" be found at variance with
those of the English " schism "—but the ac-

complished fact in England and the anticipated

act of France, should it ever become a reality,
will both be estimated historically as springing
from causes essentially similar and as tending

n objects substantially the same. Should Louis

NAPOLEON live to disco thral the minds of his coun-

trymen from the grasp of the priestlydespot of Rome,
we may expect to hear him denounced as •a man
of the most depraved appetites and most unholy
purposes, in such unmeasured phrases as we have
been accustomed to hear expounded the misdeeds

of our own bluff King HAL, whose character is

popularly summed up in the trite remark, that he
neither feared God, respected man, nor honoured

woman. The last thing we shall undertake is to
vindicate the motives, principles, or actions,
either of the English Monarch or the French
Emperor. The current of human motives, like
the mighty stream which supplies the wants of a
great city, runs in an impure and imperfect

channel—is contaminated from various sources,

—and yet it is instrumental in supporting life,

and prortioting the health and happiness a
mankind. Out of darkness comcth light : good
out of evil. Whatever mischief Louis NAPO-
LEON may inflict upon the nations ere he quit the
stage of life, if he will but rid the world of
popery, he will have done something to earn the
forgiveness and gratitude of all future ages, Take
What shape it May in its beginning, the separation
Of the French church from the spiritual anthority
of Rome, would be another grand step towards a
universal recognition of the ProteSt of the glorious
Reformation; under which England has flourished
for more than three hundred years. One or two
nations, less advanced in thought and civilisation,
might, for another epoch, remain subject to the
degrading hypocrisy ; but with France and all
Italy added to Protestant Europe, how much
longer could the test .Withstatid the influence of
the truth Not that we anticipate any miracu-
lous amount of immediate reformation in France,
even should the papal assumptions meet with an
imperial challenge and contradiction ; but we
look upon some such event as the necessary pre-
liminary to the final overthrow of " the tnan of
sin." For a tithe the change would probably seem
scarcely appreciable, but in the end; undoubtedly,
the grain of mustard seed would expand itself to
the dimensions of a goodly tree, so that the fowls
of the air might lodge in the branches thereof.
The wish may be father to the thought, but we
cannot help giving place to the impression that
the Franco-Roman difficulty is about to be solved
in sonic such way as that to which we have
referred: circular and M. CAYLA'S
pamphlet seem to point the way to that con-
clusion. The semi-official comments on, and
seeming repudiation of, the scheme of M.
CAYLA do not, in our estimation, throw discredit
on the general belief that the proposition has
Method in it:" M, BitaufT tienionstrates
that the insubordination of ecclesiastics has
reached a climax which calls for official notice
and warning. It is felt in France that such
episcopal demonstrations in behalf of a foreign
Prince and against the policy of the country
which shelters their authors is oniy an abuse Of
religious freedom, and that their farther tolera-
tion were Only tOi•ardlike and. stiieidal: Mutiny

and sedition, even under prelatic auspices, Can-nOt
be endured with safety to the State. The rebuff
administered to the priesthood has been neither
uncalled-for nor premature. Louis NAPOLEON
and his Minister's haVe been remarkably long-
suffering with the Roman bishops. Even now
the Emperor does not interfere with the spoken
or written lucubrations of the altar, pulpit, or
church porch; but it is clear that the cathedral
advocacy of foreign interests in opPositiOn to the
policy of France is felt by the Emperor to be all
but intolerable, and not to be endured longer
than is necessary to prescribe and apply the proper
remedy for such an anomalous and highly perilous
state of affairs. The prelates are especially exert-
ing themselves to establish the subVersii-e and
destruetive principle that social and politiCal
duties to France ought to be held as subsidiary
to sacredotal obligationS .to Rome. A doctrine
so odious in any country Mitst be especially
obnoxious in Imperial France. It is simply
flagrant disloyalty, and an impertinent insult
to patriotism. Why should France, or any other
nation) permit its Roman Catholic dignitaries to
conduct therriseives as the geriefals of a foreign
Prince in an enemy's country Why should not
the French Government, in self-preservation, seek
to put down such a wicked attempt to disturb the
peace ? What else has led to the indignant Pro-
'tests of every reformed nation ? Does not the
same eatise) operating hi Ireland now, produce
inestimable evils, by . fostering discontent and
alienation in the popular mind to the constituted
authorities ? This is by no means merely a
question of doctrine, or discipline) big one involv-
ing the toleration of a disloyal body, factiously
isolated from the common interests of the nation,—
of men who have conspired together to prostrate
the interests of all peoples at the feet of an
ambitious, usurping, and tyrannical high priest:
This contest is not waged against conscience,
spiritual obligation, or religious enthusiasm, but
against political satellites of a foreign power, cut
off by their bastard profession from all sympathy
with the prosperity of particular nations, or the
progress of knowledge and truth—ascetics who,
because they are debarred from all worldly plea-
sures, have no alternative ambition than to strive
for the subjugation of states to the irresponsible
head of an ecclesiastical hierarchy. M. J. M.
CAYLA has been permitted to propose a remedy
for this crying evil. He boldly suggests the
emancipation of the French government from
every Roman trammel. Let the French, he says,
remain Catholics without depending on the Pope.
Let the Emperor become the head of the national
church. LOUIS NAPOLEON, as supreme ecclesi-
astical governor, would direct'the administration
of public worship. The Archbishop of Paris
would preside over a consultative council as
Grand Patriarch. The Grand Patriarch and his
consulting Cardinals should be appointed by the
Emperor. The main proposition is not a novel
one in the Galilean church ; but in details it has
been modified according to altered circumstances.
The urgent necessity for some decided steps is at
once the cause of the proposition, and the gua-
rantee for some such process of reformation being
sooner or later given effect to. In the mean-
time, the agitation of the subject will prepare
the way, both among clergy and laity, for some
satisfactory solution of the difficulty. While it
will undoubtedly aggravate the tone of hopeless
ultramontanists, it may be expected to strengthen
the position of Gallican chunlimen, and to mode-
rate the zeal of those not wholly committed to an
adverse policy. It will, at the same time,
be listened to by those of the people who are
impatient of priestcraft with something more
than sufferance, and will gradually accustom their
minds to the introduction of an all important
change in their ecclesiastical relations. From
whatever quarter, and in whichever shape the
solution of the present enigma may ultimately
arrive, one thing is certain, that if Louis NAPO-
LEON do not speedily conquer and get rid of
ultramontane Papists, they will, by hook or by
crook, speedily get rid of him.

A LILLIPUTIAN REGIMENT.—Some of the journals
have stated that it is intended to create a corps, to be
called the s, Pupils of the Guard." Under this :name a
corps was created in 1811, and the first members of it
were the orphaiis of Dutch officers who had died in the
service of France. The pupils were, at the outset,
attached to the Ist regiment of Grenadiers of the Guard,
but at a later period the pupils formed three battalions.
On seeing them file off at the Tuileries, beside the Ore-
nadiers, people used to say that they looked like the
Guard seen through.the small end of a telescope.