The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-19 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

as Mr. Seymour very conclusively argues,
how comes it that where Romanism prevails
the civil institutions should be so defective ?
In the foregoing table the returns from
Belgium are perhaps the most striking. There
the Roman Catholic religion flourishes in full
splendour and under the most favourable as-
pects. The population is well fed, and the
" dangerous classes " are comparatively small
in proportion to those interested in property ;
yet the average return of murder is nearly as
great as in Ireland, with its pauper peasantry
and its long-standing agrarian ferocities. The
character of Italy has long been notorious for
its murders, despite of its numerous convents.
But the result of Mr. Seymour's investigations
with respect to the sensual vices of Protestant
and Romanist countries is still more remark
able. After appealing to the Registrar-General's
return to show that the numbers of illegitimate
children for London are about four per cent.,
he adduces evidence to show that at Paris
illegitimacy is about thirty-three per cent. on
the population ; and, after dwelling on Paris,
he proceeds to examine the state of Austria :
I take the figures for England from " The Report of the
Registrar-General for the year 1847," as it contains all the
details as to the illegitimate births more fully than the
ordinary abstract ; and I take the figures for Austria from
the governmental returns in "Die Statistik des Osterreichen
Kaiserstaates," as published by the Ministerial Secretary
of 1852. I omit fractions.
Protestant England. Roman Catholic Austria.
Bristol & Clifton, about 4 per ct. Troppau about 26 per ct.
Bradford 8 Zara
Birmingham —6 Inn spruok —22
Brighton 7 Laibach 38
Cheltenham —7 Bruun —42
Exeter Lintz —4G
Liverpool 6 Prague 47
Manchester& Self.— 7 Lemberg 47
Plymouth —5 Klagenfort —56
Portsea 5 Gratz 65

es 419
The grossness and sensuality of life at
Vienna have long been notorious. There is
probably no part of the world where phy-
sical gratifications are more indulged in
than in portions of the Austrian dominions.
The contrast upon illegitimate births that Mr.
Seymour makes between Catholic Austria and
Protestant Prussia is also very striking :
In Roman Catholic Austria. In Protestant Prussia.
Vienna • . 51 per cent Berlin .. 18 per cent.
Prague .. 47 Breslau .. 26
Lintz ..46 Cologne • . 10
Milan .. 32 Kconigsburg .. 28
Klagenfort .. 56 Dantztc ..20
Gratz ..65 Magdeburg .. 11
Lembach .. 47 Aix la Chapelle 4
Laibach • . 38 Stettin .. 13
Zara .. 30 Posen .. 16
Brun .. 42 Potsdam .. 12

-- -
Such results cannot but be satisfactory to
those who desire to see the cause of Protestant-
ism maintained. There are periods in the
lives of nations when the moral ascendancy of
particular classes exist independently of any
positive enactments in their favour ; and the
moral superiority of Protestantism is written
in legible characters in the condition of the
countries where it prevails. Nor should we
be surprised at such a result. A scriptural
faith exercises the whole intellectual faculties
of a mind. In the Bible and the history of
the Apostles there are numerous passages
which at once touch the heart of childhood,
fascinate the imagination of ardent and impas•
sioned natures, and exercise the profoundest
faculties of the sage. In Popery the round of
pantomimic ceremonies and the personal au-
thority of the priest supersede the ennobling
influences which invigorate free natures under
the emancipating influence of Protestantism.
Social conditions in Protestant countries, as
everywhere else, may be exposed to the severe
operation of the ordinance by which man must
live by the sweat of his brow. There may be
more cheap luxury and popular enjoyment in
some of the Romanist countries, and, at a
passing glance, a superficial traveller might
conclude that life was happier than in lands
where a severer morality prevails ; but man,
as a being, is higher in the moral and thinking
communities, which not only exhibit a purer
mode of life but preserve it longer than where
the lax morals and effeminate customs of
Popery prevail. There is one fact attested by
the history of Europe which is as remarkable
as the statistics collected by Mr. Seymour,
viz., that no Protestant country so advanced
in civilisation as Spain was at the period of