The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-21 00:00:00

PIUS IX:s PONTIFICATE.

The circumstance of Pins IX. having just com-
pleted the eighteenth year of his pontifical reign is
seized by the Monde as a fitting occasion for eulo-
gising the conduct of the Sovereign-Pontiff during
that long period, and expressing unmixed exulta-

tion at the progress which the Catholic Church has
made in the world since the accession of the present
Pope. But first the writer expatiates on the vas
changes which have taken place since 1846 :
_ " How many kings," he exclaims, " have fallen

from their thrones like Louis Philippe ! How
many powerful sovereigns have been humbled in
their pride, like the Czar Nicholas ! How many
revolutions and how many wars have taken place !
How little does the Europe of 1864 resemble that of
1846 ! The people have no longer the same insti-

tutions ; the same ideas no longer prevail ; even the
material world is transformed by the railways, the
electric telegraph, and the almost total rebuilding
of the most populous cities. Never in less time have
been more overthrows and ruins accomplished !
And above those ruins, and all those astonishing
changes, still stands the man whose accession
was, as it were, the signal for so many agitations—
the man whom God had destined to preside over

that immense movement, to direct it in what it
had of good, to restrain it in its exaggerations,
and to point out, at least to those who would listen

m his warnings, which was the right path, where

lay the shoals to be avoided, and where the true
remedy was to be found for the evils and errors
which so readily increase in periods of disturbance
and of transformation. Pius IX. has been faithful

to his mission ; but the people, or rather those who
guide them, have refused to listen to his voice. He
has been accused of having returned towards the
past, after having been the initiator of the future ;
but the world would not see that he only condemned
in the present what would compromise the interest
of the future, and that he alone had the true doc-
trine of life, developing what already exists, but
never beginning by destroying, because life does
not issue out of death."

The writer then affirms that the triumphs of the
Church under Pius IX. have been most signal ;

"Never was any assertion," he says, " more
exact. A glance at the 18 years' Pontificate will
prove it to bo so. Liberal and revolutionary hypo-
crisy overcome, the Catholic hierarchy re-established
in England and in holland—numerous concordats
concluded with the principal Powers—the Roman
Liturgy restored in France—new dioceses created—
now missions formed in heretic and pagan count ries—
the intimate union of the Bishops with the Pope, of
the priests with the Bishops, of the faithful with the
clergy, with the episcopacy, and with the Holy Ste
—the explanation of the Immaculation Conception
received with the acclamations of the whole Catholic
world—of late years, the most striking manifests•
tions of devotedness to the Holy See, to that tem•
poral power which is the necessary safeguard of the
independence of our Spiritual Father—Peter's pence
—the increase of good works of all kinds—the return
of Protestants to the Church, and the testimonies
rendered to Papacy and to Catholicism by statesmen
and by the most distinguished writers. What
triumphs in the midst of so much bitterness ! What
victories in spite of so many treasons ! What hopes
in the midst of so many causes of discouragement !
What moral force amidst the frightful weaknesses
of our times ! This is what has been done by the
indomitable energy of Pius IX., by his faith in the
Divine promises, his piety towards the Virgin
Mother of our Saviour Jesus Christ ; this, in a word,
is what has been effected by the possession of the
truth, and by the unflinching resolution to proclaim
and support it, and to claim its rights under all cir-
cumstances, and against all its enemies."