The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

majority took exception. If the Admiralty
does not provide chaplains for our Catholic
sailors, why should the Home Department
concede to the outcasts of society what has
been refused to its defenders ? Conservatives,
both in sad mit of ferliement, have beim t.o
feel tbat the time luis come when the subtle
advance of Itomanistp, under specious pre•
tenees, must he decisively checked. While
is notorious to the worl4 that Popery never
was more active than now, it would be truly
scandalous that its assaults should be viewed
with apathy in England, the bulwark of the
Reformation.
We cito easily satisfy ourselves that, both
abroad and at home, the Church of Rome is
making extraordinary efforts to regain her lost
supremacy. True to her old arts of conquest, she
has recommenced the struggle by internal
changes in her system. In Southern Europe,
where her sway is almost undisputed, she has
intensified the religious fanaticism of her
credulous devotees. She has forged false
miracles by the score, made Madonnas wink
upon her gaudy altars, and caused ladies of
Salette to appear surrounded with halos of
glory.
Against free countries her proceedings are
still more remarkable. For the last seven
years the Jesuits have toiled with indefatigable
industry in disciplining their forces, and aug-
menting their numbers. Under the date of
the 24th ulmo, the Univers, in its correspon-
dence from Rome, records that the Cardinals
of the Congregation have " granted to the
" Society of Jesus the reintegration of the
"mates ' of forty Jesuits of the sixteenth cen-
tury. This significant canonisation of the
beatified sons of Loyola is made at a time
when the Church has completely reorganised
its hierarchical system in England, Holland,
and the United States. For the first time
since the Reformation, Popery has planted
within the precincts of Lambeth one of her
cardinal princes. It scouts openly, and in lan-
guage of- excessive insolence, at the anti-
aggression statute passed by the Parliament of
England. It boasts of having established
ninety Romish bishoprics within the imperial
circle of our borne and colonial empire. A
synod of Thurles assembles openly, with vast
parade, to legislate in defiance of the law.
The titles of the Popish prelates—" the Lord
Bishops " are audaciously flaunted before
our eyes, and the most servile homage, loath
some in style as it is disloyal in spirit, is paid
to these titular dignities. The language of the
perverts and missionaries of Rome is even still
more offensive. The columns of her journals
and the lips of her advocates are constantly
hurling forth the hardest terms of reproach
that her copious vocabulary of vituperation
can supply. As we read the other day the
scurrilous abuse of Prince ALBERT by the coarse
tongue of a renegade Protestant at Dublin, we
thought of the Jesuit maxim—" Calumniare
fortiter—aliquid adlnerebit." On the Conti-
nent ultramontanism reigns rampantly in
ecclesiastical affairs from the Belgian frontiers
to the shores of the Mediterranean ; and the
practical sagacity of the able Sovereign of
France is the only security that Frenchmen
have against the extravagant ambition of
priestly power. It would appear that Spain
is not even yet sufficiently priestridden, and a
new concordat has recently been concluded
with that unhappy kingdom, which, in the
words of that docile and. devoted Romanist,
Count de MONTALEMBERT, " has been one of
" the most advantageous that the Church ever
" gained from a Catholic sovereign."
In America the effects of Popery have been
so offensive that, in some parts of the States,
societies have been formed with the view to
checking its growth. A Papal Nuncio was
recently sent to New York, and his presence
in some parts of the Union caused discontents
that broke out in sanguinary riots. The
Atlantic rolls between America and Rome, yet
the American people feel alarm at the strides
of Popery, while we meet with Englishmen
who smile at the idea of Romanism becoming
formidable. It was only a few evenings since
that the Premier, in the Houso of Lords,
scoffingly, alluded to the Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill, and that the Chief Secretary for Ireland

SATURDAY,

(Sir Joni.; Youtio) mocked at those who "rode
" the Protestant horse."

Conservative statesmen cannot view such an
array of. facts iiidicating the advance of Popery
without feelings of. poßtic apprehension. We
read with intense iuterest the debates in the
Chamber of Deputies of Piedmont, where
SarcttnialACathohcs are spiritedly defending
the civil w from the absolutist control of the
Court of orne, and we eamot but feel livelier
emotions as we behold gut struggle day by day
brought nearer to our own hearths. Our Pre-
mier will probably stand alone in viewing the
continuous aggression from Rome with the
indifference of contempt. The supportersn of
constitutional haie zio nobler mil-
lion to fulfil than in acting as protectors of
that soul-stirring " good old cause " which
LUTHER preached, and for which TATINER and
RIDLEY died, with whose triumphs the liber-
ties of the British people, the growth of their
' material prosperity, and the brightest glories
of their name are inseparably connected.

THE UNIVERSITY or OXFORD REFORM
BILL.
TEN bill, in its altered form, again occupied the
House on Thursday and yesterday. Announced
in the speech from the Throne, and therefore, it
might be supposed, a measure which the
Ministry regarded as fundamental, it has been
so altered in its course through committee,
that, as Mr. HORSbIAN observed, it may rather
be considered a new bill, for which Mr. WAL-
POLE is responsible, than the measure intro-
duced by the Ministry.
Besides numerous minor changes, ten new
clauses have been added, of which two, con-
ceding important principles, have passed coin-
mittee.

One, clause 81, recites that it is expedient
to enable colleges to alter and amend their
statutes, &c., and to make ordinances for promo-
ting the main designs of the founders ; and it then
empowers them to make regulations and ordi-
nances which shall be submitted to the com-
missioners appointed under the act for their
consideration.
The other, claus3 32, provides that if the
legislative power thus conferred on colleges is
not exercised by them, then the commis-
sioners may frame such ordinances, tut
within the same limits and with the same
view, viz., to promote the object of the
founders. And should the ordinances be, in
the opinion of two thirds of the governing
body, prejudicial to a college as a place of
learning and education, a declaration to that
effect, under their hand and seal, will operate
as a veto on the proposed change. Mr. E.
DENISON made a last appeal to Lord JOHN
RUSSELL on this clause, touchingly stated that
he had voted with the Government throughout,
and implored the Noble Lord not to invest
the governing body with a power which would
virtually defeat the original object of the bill.
Lord 3 mix fully admitted the force of Mr.
DENISON'S appeal, but declined to accede to his
request, pleading that he was coerced by the
Opposition, who maliciously refused to allow
the bill to pass in the shape which he and the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER preferred, and
had originally proposed. This coercive power
was further exerted last night, and the Govern-
ment were defeated on the question of school
foundations by 160 to 108. But ie the language
of the Lord President in answer to Mr. DENISON
constitutional ? Does the Government merely
hold office to register the decrees of Opposi-
tion ? If so, are not the terms misnomers,
and should not those who bear them change
places?

INCIDENTS OF THE BALLOT DEBATE
EVEN the liveliest speakers cannot be expected
to impart interest to trite topics, and, with the
exception of the terse and racy speech of Lord
PALMERSTON, the debate on the ballot was as
prosy as usual. With graceful ease he dis
posed of the dull fallacies that the most open.
hearted and plainspoken people in the world
could suppress their emotions, like SO InallY

Illifte.