The Press.
London, England, 1853-10-01 00:00:00

THE OUTRAGE IN TUSCANY.

THE ease of Miss CUNNINGHAVE has attracted
universal attention, and has aroused the
indignation natural under such circumstances
in a Christian community :—for we will not
limit its action to this or that denomination of
Protestantism. The lady is incarcerated in a
Tuscan prison, for the crime of having given
to some peasants an Italian version of the
Bible, and a translation in the same language
of The Pilgrim's Progress.- Mr. SCARLETT,
the British Chargé d'Affaires, has remon-
strated, as far as the forms of diplomacy
allow, with the Grand Duke, and even the
Grand Duchess has been appealed to : but
the result is that the law is left to take its
course, the only hope for the lady being in
some possible exercise of the grand ducal
clemency, after this new victim of Romish
intolerance shall have been subjected to
sentence of imprisonment in the house of
correction for some term of years.
It is certainly honourable to the English
press that, with, we believe, one sole map-

OCTOBER 1, 1853.

tion, it has taken up this ease in the right
spirit. Even the reputed organ of Lord
ABERDEEN, although so tame and subservient
when great national interests are at stake, can
spare some well-lamed indignation in this
matter. It denounces the Grand Duke. the
Church of Rome. and the whole tyrannical
system, in language which ought to stir up
tile country. On the other side, there is but
the plea that Miss CrNNINGHAME has knowingly
contravened the laws of Tuscany, anti that
she must abide by the eonse►luences. This
being the defence set up by the Italian priests,
as well as by their latitudinarian► aunt "in-
different " abettors here at home, it is quite
clear that if any redress is to be obtained for
a British subject under the circumstances, it
eau only be by means of some bold step
t iken utterly without reference to the Tuscan
exit).

The ease brings Protestantism and Popery
once more face to face. The incarceration of
Miss CusNisoitax}: for making known the Gos-
pel to some Tuscan peasants is only one small
bilk in a great chain of spiritual tyranny now
binding some of the fairest portions of Europe.
The blood of centuries has been spilled in
vain, if the first duties of a Christian are to be
converted into crimes, by the ignoble laws of a
petty state—laws expressly devised by Rome
for the sole purpose of shutting out the truths
of the Gospel from mankind. Our Govern-
ment, Legislature, and people will find them-
selves compelled to eonsider the conditions on
which we have held pre-eminence among nn-
tious, to revert to the origin of our most
valued institutions, and to weigh the gua-
rantees of their continuance. Yield a prin-
ci rle, and the energy and enthusiasm which
s tstained it will not be long in following.
There is a tacit league and covenant among
the Roman Catholic States for the ex-
tinction of Christian truth and civil liberty.
Ltt the Protestant nations look to it in
ttme. The events of to-day sufficiently
show that the age of great national crimes is
not past away : we may live to see the active,
as we already feel the silent, renewal of a strife
vitich not so many generations ago desolated
the European world. If we would mest this
creeping yet audacious tyranny, it must not be
by diplomatic courtesies, such as those con
templated in Lord CtAttENnox's reply to Lord
Suarrtsurnr, but by some act of vigour and
decision that will daunt the ambitious hopes
of those who already calculate the hour when
fre:dom of thought, speech, and action shall
be crushed under priestly tyranny and
mili-
tary force.