The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-29 00:00:00

THE CONVICT DIFFICULTY.

TICKET-OF LEAVE men are said to be a very much
maligned class. If so, why are our colonies so loth
to receive them? Labour is floc so plentiful in
Australia that a periodical influx of able-bodied men
is likely to be despised, nor are the colonists gene-
rally of that class which is subject to idle terror, or
bypercritical in the choice of its company. If the
presence of a large convict population could be
endured in any civilised -
be endurable there, -

olt.lv va uLivu guveLuitiE; vu ...ivu ~
to receive them? Labour is no:, so plentiful in necessity of appealing to higher motives, for
1111111
principles.
Winc tti
iples.
Australia that a periodical influx of able-bodied men they do not require to enlist the passions of servativee 1
My letter has been already too long. I have
men on their side. Hence in a party so eon My likely to be despised, nor are the colonists geno-
yet to point out the effect of Whig prepon-
stituted all we can expect as a general rule is,
rally of that class which is subject to idle terror, or derance as engendering bu se literacy, which,
i
of
originating
an avoidance Political apathy,
hypercritical in the choice of its company. If the ndeed, is the ultimate result of Parliamentary
measures, which, by agitating public opinion, inefficiency, and as corrupting the press, the
presence of a large convict population could be and evoking a contest of interests, may result
endured in any civilised community, it would surely in the conversion of some of theirs,
accustomed last resort of constitutional vitality.—l am, Sur.,
be endurable there, where there are so many outlets voters, who are quite willing to follow their ------ - - - • • - IL 41. a

NOVEMBER 29, 1856.

Sortign (tr,errrsgoablatc.

Bnnssm.s, Nov. 26.
THE late debates in the Belgian Chambers, in
answer to the address, have been ably conducted.
Betwixt a Jesuit and a liberal religionist there can
be no ground in common, if each be true to his
cause, as there can be no middle course or doubt
respecting the nature of the conflict, and of the
inevitable consequence. Without resorting to the
subterfuge of periphrasis, it is practically and really
an extreme struggle betwixt the Pope and the
Belgian Constitution, declared by the encyclical
letter from the Vatican, of 1832, which set forth the
liberty of conscience, the liberty of speech, and the
liberty of the press, to be contrary to the spirit end
the ordinances of the Roman Catholic religion. A
war directed against these safeguards of freedom by
the old enemy of Reformed England, and at the very
threshold of Anglican Protestantism, cannot fail to
interest. It is the van of an Austro-Papal legion
that has imprudently commenced the battle, without
waiting for the Vatican signal. The question of
Papal encroachment was clearly put by M. Frere
Orban, and drew from the Roman partisans angry
observations and hasty admissions of a nature most
damnatory to their cause. In the appeal to Catholic
history, the facts cited by M. Frere were called by
the Romans " worthless fragments of an antiquated
history (l'histoire surannee)"—a remark that went
to sap the foundation of Papal infallibility, and of
which the acute orator, amidst loud applause,
availed himself to make a telling application. In
his reply, M. de Theux, the leader of the Catholics,
an able, moderate, and accomplished statesman,
deserving of the name, failed to grapple with the
le *ding points of the debate. He did not deny that
the opinion of a representative system of govern-
ment being adverse, in principle, to Romanism, had
been upheld by Roman Catholic journals, but "
l'itranger," and not in Belgium. The Bien Public
and other papers, however, had quoted and adopted
the maxim as authentic doctrine. Here was a
distinction without a difference, not in character
with the usual ingenuousness of the speaker. He
admitted also the power of a Catholic majority to
change the Constitution of 1880, and claimed especial
credit for their not having so done, and for himself
per-lonaliy in having proposed and obtained a salary
for the Anglican Church. This was a weak argu-
ment, and was seized upon by M. Verhaegen to
show the animus of the " parti pretre," and the
ultimate object of their political combination. M.
Felix de Merode, with greater sincerity than judg-
ment, still further proved the truth of the accusa-
tions against the Ultramontanes. He held boldly
that the Church of the majority should be the only
one subsidised by Government, asserted that every-
thing contrary to the doctrine of Rome was false,
and that it was wrong and impious in professors to
teach aught in their scientific and philosophic lec•
tnres not in strict unison with such religious code.
Upon being reminded that certain great truths of
novel discovery in science—geographical and surgi-

cal, for instance—were not quite consonant to exclu-
sive Romanism, and that his rule, if practised, would
have banished Guizot, Humboldt, Thierry, Cousin,
&c., from the professor's chair, M. de Merode
became confused, and ended his diatribe by uncon
sequentially attacking the Jews, and by lauding
the pastorals of the Bishops of Ghent and Bruges,
although these same were censured by the Pope.
M. Henri de Brouckere was eloquent in the defence
of a Constitution, in the framing of which he had so
large a share. As each debate inflicts greater injury
on the Roman priest party, the irritation of the de-
feated in argument vents itself in suicidal confes-
sions, that justify the Belgian Liberals in guarding
the Constitution of 1930 against the open attempt of
the Ultramontanes to damage it even to destruction.
There is a singularity, however, in the Ministerial
law laid down by M. Dedecker. A professor, accord-
ing to the Minister, must measure his teaching by
the conscience of his pupils; so that a combination
of Jew and Gentile, materialist and ultramontane,
amongst the students, might silence a professor from
the outset, and close the door of science at once.
At the same time, and by the same law, that func-
tionary is permitted to puhlish anything without
restraint, even of the most offensive description,
without subjecting himself to collegiate 'ensure or
governmental interference. This is a strange in-
eonsistency.
There is nothing of a reassuring character in the
aspect of continental affairs. The Danish memo
random has been replied to formally by Austria and
Prussia in an unfavorable sense, an expression that
is not likely to be modified by the support which
Denmark will probably receive from Russia. liana

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