The Express.
London, England, 1850-12-12 00:00:00

Roman catholic coofecoor to low
- •

Fon • mere
it is reven

isnrest in his property, _
to that priest who is appointed in Us- shun
manage properties so obtained. Mr.:TAIS01111
mast, at the time of his father making thjeltill, I
Mss advanced in yeses, mocheFneprosil to cur-
mass the pursuit of a prof . load smile'
Mir of his father, and bred hi children-air his ewer
heirs. But the church of Dr. WISEMAN steps Is, and
haves the grandchildren of the testator penniless.
As Mr. TAYLOR observes, in no country save Eng-
land would this be allowed to take place. Pa( we
need not say, that the Meetmain Act was-is tins
clue, as it can be in any, skilfully avoided. Catholis
sovereigns and states protect families from being thus
'pointed. The transference of property to the church
there is illegal, unless with the sanction of the state,
sad teo stair weld situation each an sot of disin-
bedtimes en the part of an old man, under such
circumstances. To be sure there is not the
same incentive abroad to priestly avidity as
there is in this country, where there is so
much individual riches, and when the Roman catho-
lic church is only in a state of re-establishment. Bat
even abroad the law of mortnesin is something more
than a same, and the land and property of the
community are prevented from bring handed down
in a corporation endowed with interests, ideas, and
even allegiance, altogether opposed to the progressive
governments of the age.
We have heard much of the Siccardi laws, and of the
fierce objections ectertainedby the Roman pontificate
towards them. One of those laws was to introduce
into Piedmont this rule, which ordains in France,
and even in Austria, that bequests to the church to
be valid, mast be sanctioned by the Sill% This was
not, indeed, pat forward u the most objectionable
the reforms by the court of Rome, bat it ts that which
most excites its hostility and prompts its anathemas.
The other event which attracts attention to the pe-
culler regulations of the catholic church is the trial
and conviction of the French ecclesiastic for making
away with the female servant who had discovered his
connexion with a lady belonging to his Book. We may
mention in passing, that had this happened in Pied-
mont before the passing of the Siocardi law, the adul-
terous murderer would not have been tried, except
before an ecclesiastical superior, who would have kept
the whole proceeding secret, and at moat condemned
the priest to seclusion.
Both cases exemplify the role which places the
priest in direct communication with, and control of,
the weakest and moat helpless of the population.
The woman, the child, the poor, and the ignorant,
are the classes over whom, in such a country as
France for example, the priesthood exercise complete
mastery. Men in France blush to humble them-
selves to the rigime of the confessional. Bat in these
days especially, when religion is considered as a
' salutary medicine and police (we allude to France),
• fathers of families, especially in the country, deem
I that the safest path to morel worth is to be en-
tered upon under the guidance of the priest. In a
• country of free habits and mixed opinions, such as
France is, and such as every country so industrially
' developed must be, the inevitable result is, the otter
demoralisation of society.
There can be no doubt that one of the first princi-
ples of the power, influence, and increase of the
Roman catholic church is the confessional. The ad-
vantages which it offers to a priesthood are indis-
putable. But its effects on the rest of the community
are equally obvious, and these are so incompatible
with men in a state of freedom, either of thought or
institutions, that wherever it is really and fully
established, it must mark the last stage of human

decrepitude.
It it, however, not merely Dr. WISEMAN and Pope
Pitts who would introduce amongst no an institution
so completely incompatible with freedom and with
proteetantism. The Bishop of LONDON stands op as
its ay.iwed patron. And the prelate who has signed
the eurrent and necessary protests against popery, has
beep labouring for years to introduce into his church
the most powerful lever that ever popery wielded. The
convent and the confessional have, in truth, been the
grand institutions which Painless laboured to esta-
blish. The Bishop of LONDON'S letter records his
opinion in favour of the confessional, and we could
add instances in which he practised it.
Of conventual establishments by Puseyite founders
but too many examples might be addueed. One of
theta the bishop had the disiegenuity to cast as a I
reproach against Mr. Lizpimerr ; whilst, we believe,
the foundation of the conventual establishment alluded
to, as well as the appointment of Miss Law to be
its superior, was an aet for which the country is in-
debted to the munificence and orthodoxy of the late
Recorder of London, father of the lady abbess in
questiou,and member far the University of Cambridge!