The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-31 00:00:00

lartign Comsponthut.

BRUSSELS, May 28.
TYE declamations in defence of the liberty of
the press, in the Belgian Chambers, were said to
emanate from the honest desire to preserve intact
the constitutional freedom cf the country. Im-
pressed with this idea, the liberal journals of Europe,
and of England particularly, spoke of their resist-
ance to undue dictation with becoming respect. But
a free press and free institutions insist also, as a
primary necessity, that education shall not be less
free from restraint. It is a part and parcel of the
liberal edifice. This constitutional integrity, how-
ever, is menaced in Belgium from within simul-
taneously with the attack from without. The
" parti pr&re "—meaning thereby the Jesuits—after
warmly eulogising the Austro-Papal Concordat, and
in obedience to the principles from which that
Roman edict emanated, are directing their energies
against the "perverse" freedom of religious educa
tion in Belgium. The qualifying adjective is the
express selection of the Archbishop of Malines. It
is also broadly asserted that the "action civilisatrice
du clerge" cannot reconcile itself to the parliamen-
tary system, nor with the liberties on which that
system is based (ne peut s'accommoder du systeme
parlementaire, ni des libertes sur lesquelles ce
by stem e repose). Just so. The truth has been
somewhat unwisely unveiled. The Belgian Consti•
tution has established the equality of religious wor•
ship (l'egalite absolue des cultes devant la loi
civile), and that education should be in strict con-
formity with that just maxim of the fundamental
compact. Now, if that be a truth and not a fiction,
it is difficult to perceive upon what ground Protes
tent education is to be suppressed without violating
the principles of the Constitution. The "insenses
et pervers "—meaning the Protestants—are declared
to be a standing obstacle to Jesuit civilisation (un
obstacle a l'ceuvre eminemment civilisatrice, enter-
prise par le clerge Catholique). This work of
eminent civilisation of course goes on in the schools
and universities, where the minds of youth are in
structed in history in order to gather materials for
their present guidance. A recent work shall be
quoted to show the mode in which the Roman clergy
distort and falsify history in furtherance of their
"oeuvre eminemment civilisatrice." In the "Manual
d'Historie de la Belgique, par M. la Chanonie David,
1856," Philip of Spain is declared to have been a
prince, "sincerement et profondement religieux."
He is held up as an example, therefore, worthy of
imitation, and deserving of genoral praise. This
work is published within a stone's-throw of the spot
where Counts Egmont and Horn were decapitated!
The Primate of Belgium, accepting the glorification
of Philip the assassin as a "prince sincerement et
profondement religieux," and considering him a
laudable example on all accounts, modestly hints
that the press should be placed under Roman 'Catho-
lic control, in order, in the words of a Belgian
journal, to "exercer sa censure rigoureuse sur toutes
lea productions de l'esprit humain at sur toutes les
manifestations de la pensee." The Archbishop of
Malines is an illogical casuist and an &imprudent
partite