The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

THE JESUITS AT DUBLIN.

THE discovery that the Jesuits have obtained
the religious " direction " of the metropolitan
police at Dublin has startled several persons ;
and we are not surprised that much discussion
should be caused by it. There are some cir-
cumstances connected with the police in rela-
tion to the Jesuits that must not be over•
looked. There is a large detective force
attached to the Dublin police. This body
works secretly ; occasionally its members
assume various disguises, and mix in various
kinds of society. They have necessarily a
vast stock of social knowledge, and of secrets
about individuals. The existence of such an
inquisitorial body has been tolerated hitherto
on the ground of its utility in aiding the ends
of justice; but the religious " direction " of
such a body placed in the hands of Jes uits is
a most formidable and dangerous weapon ;
and we have no doubt that the Protestant
public of the United Kingdom will offer strong
and unqualified resistance to such an artful
stroke fur increasing the power of the Jesuits
in Ireland.

There are some highly significant and most
suspicious facts about this new move. Dublin

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is a large city, and the metropolitan police are
scattered over a large space. The church of
the Jesuits is in Upper Gardiner-street, at the
north end of the city. In point of locality it is
a most inconvenient place for the police to pay
their devotions. Is it not strange that the
police should repair to this particular spot for
the purpose of confessing themselves to the
Jesuits ? In order to do so they must traverse
considerable distances, and put themselves to
great trouble. But it is equally strange that
the police should thus have placed themselves
under the Jesuits, as if, forsooth, the ordinary
parochial clergy of the Roman Catholic church
at Dublin were not adequate to the task of
confessing policemen, and exhorting them on
their religious duties

It cannot be forgotten that it is their secret
influence, by their intermeddling in families,
by their depth of personal knowledge of a
certain kind, that the Jesuits have obtained
their sway; and they have always worked
steadily and perseveringly by means of the
confessional. It is notorious that they pro-
nounce the words of absolution in far easier
terms than the parochial clergy of their
Church. They sooth and lull consciences
after a fashion that has made them dreaded
even in their own religious communion They
profess themsel•"es to be the detective police
of the Church of Rome. That is their mission.
They have scholars and preachers to dazzle
general society, and to distract attention front
their furtive and carefully masked proceed-
ings. They do not perform ordinary parochial
duties ; they do not visit the sick poor, nor do
they preach to the illiterate masses like the
Friars, Dominicans, and Benedictines of
Roman Catholic countries. To rule minds,
to control great leading agencies, to wield
organised bodies, such is their practical ambi-
tion. Hence in this point of view it is a grand
stroke for the Jesuits to obtain the " direc-
tion," that is, the auricular confession, of the
police.
It ought not to be overlooked that the
Jesuits, though aiming at religious ends, are
essentially a political society. They move to
and fro between various lands—they have no
fixed abode ; and as the Roman Catholic
Church existed for ages before them, so it
would outlast their permanent overthrow. It
cannot be pretended by Roman Catholic par-
tisans that the Jesuits are a necessary part of
their Church, and that the police have a posi-
tive right to choose their religious instructors.
We admit at once that the police have a right
to go to confession as often as they please to
the parochial clergy in whose districts they
reside. We would not throw the slightest
obstacle in the way of the Roman Catholic
police, or any other body of Christians, dis-
charging their religious duties at proper
tunes and seasons. But the Jesuits form, for
manifold causes, a most decided exception to
the general rule. We say it is not right that
the Jesuits should be armed with such power
as the confessions of the police body, in-
cluding the detectives, must place in their
hands. Judging of their conduct in other
countries, we fear that their power would be
flagrantly abused. We cannot be taunted with
" bigotry " or " narrowness" when we acknow-
ledge that our opinions with respect to the
Jesuits generally are those of PASCAL, one of
the most illustrious names in the history of
the Roman Catholic Church.
By the religious " direction " of the police
being committed to the Jesuits. not only
Dublin, but other parts of Ireland (and even
England) will be subjected to a double detec-
tive force, one belonging to Queen VICTORIA,
and another to the Pope. After some police-
men have been thoroughly disciplined by the
Jesuits at Dublin, nothing would be easier
than to get these trained " penitents " changed
to other localities in the empire, on some plan•
sible pretext, but still retaining a connection
with the Jesuits. The thing has been prac-
tised a hundred times over on the Continent.
Is it right that the dearest interests of society,
not to dwell on the dangers to religion, should
be exposed to such peril? Wo certainly

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expect to hear speedily that the authorities at
I►ublin will command the police force to cease
its connection with the Jesuits.

CHURCH MOVEMENTS.

THE various observations upon the position
and prospects of the English Church which
from time to time we have submitted to the
consideration of our supporters have all been
more or less openly pervaded by one funda-
mental idea. We have aimed at bringing
home to the minds of our readers an im-
portant truth, the neglect of which has been
the cause of many evils now generally deplored,
as the observance of it would, we believe
greatly conduce to their removal. That from
all the Church's transanctions with any
political party political considerations should
be entirely eliminated is surely an extravagant
expectation. We are using the word political
in its most comprehensive sense—meaning
those considerations by which all men must
inevitably be influenced whose duty it is to
overlook the machinery of the Constitution, to
regulate conflicting forces, and to maintain our
careful graduated system in the best working
order possible. It is clear that men in this
position must constantly be confronted with
difficulties not of their own creation, and
originating in a policy which they would have
been the first to disapprove. Yet it may not
be possible to undo it ; and it may be in-
evitable that they should occasionally find
themselves giving effect to political theories
not at all in accordance with their own private
opinions. Yet it is absolutely necessary to
the continuance of Representative Government
that men should not shrink from the discharge
of this inevitable duty. And it is in our
opinion one of the best traits in the English
character that our statesmen in general
perceive this necessity, and act upon it.
BURKE invented the formula in which this
truth is embodied when he said that politics
was the science of compromise. Political con-
siderations, therefore, are those which teach a
man the necessity of squaring theories to facts,
and not fact to theories. By so doing, be it
remembered, he does nut give up one iota of
theoretical truth. He may believe in the
theory as firmly as ever. He only sees that
PROVIDENCE having cast his lot where diver-
sities of opinion are permitted, it is necessary
for him to act upon that fact, and to take care
that his theory be not shipwrecked in the
attempt to hold a straight course through a
crowded channel and a stormy sea.
It was upon this understanding that the
ancient alliance between the Church and the
Tories was founded ; and every attempt, either
on the one side or the other, to depart from the
spirit of it has been attended with disastrous
results. But whether, in the estrangement
which has unhappily taken place between a
large number of the clergy and the Conservative
party, the former or the latter be the most to
blame, we leave the world to determine.

The abo‘e remarks have a special reference
to the language adopted by a correspondent
whose conununication will be found in an-
other portion of our columns, and who seems
to be labouring under that fatal mistake we
have so long been endeavouring to dispel—
namely, that any great political party can ever
adopt the exclusive objects or identify itself
with the peculiar watchwords of any one party
in the Church.

We are happy to see, however, that many
Churchmen are at present engaged in the pur-
suit of objects which meet with our entire
sympathy. The speeches of the Bishop of
OXFORD and Sir PAGE WOOD upon the sub-
ject of Indian missions are proofs of the
revival of practical energy. The observations
of the Learned Judge upon the superior effi-
cacy of an organised and corporate body in
the promotion of missionary enterprise were
opportune and felicitous. These are the
weapons Will which in the nineteenth century
the Church must combat the world and vindi-
cate her spiritual supremacy, and not by noisy
protestations and unpopular ceremonies.
The movement so imperatively demanded
for obtaining a repeal of the iniquitous Divorce
Act has elicited from the Bishop of EXETER
an able and well-timed address, in which he