The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-23 00:00:00

to St. Fidelio of Sigmarin
"When, upon the 24th of April last, a day sacred
at the College of the Propaganda the sad and
gen, we bitterly deplored
lamentable situation of the Kingdom of Poland, and
the inconsiderable revolution which had broken out
against the powerful Emperor of Russia, we said
also that we had learnt from the newspapers the
rigorous measures taken by the Russian Governs
merit not only to repress the Polish insurrection but
also to extirpate the Catholic religion from that
kingdom. We added that it was necessary to
verify these sad statements with the greatest care,
and by information derived from the most authentic
sources, because it is not well always to rely blindly
upon the press. But, venerable brethren, we haie
now ascertained with profound sorrow, from abun-
dant testimony worthy of belief, which has been
transmitted to us, the truth of the rigour with which
the Russian Government does not cease to pursue
the Catholic Church in Poland, her members, and
the faithful. We have learnt, indeed, with certainty
that the Government, long since the enemy of the
Catholic Church, and animated by the desire of lead-
ing all its subjects into schism, has seized upon the
pretext of the revolution which has broken out
to persecute in every way all Catholics and our holy
religion. Consequently, setting on one side the
Concordat agreed upon with us, and trampling
underfoot the public conventions which protect the
Catholic Church in Poland, it has promulgated a
host of laws and decrees contrary to the Catholic
religion, prohibiting Catholic writings, and favour•
ing, upon the contrary, the diffusion of books and
newspapers opposed to Catholic doctrine, prints
filled with gross insults against the Vicar of Christ
upon earth and against the Apostolic chair, and
having for their principal object the perversion of
the Polish people. The Russian Government has
further never ceased to forbid communication with
us and with the Holy See, to prescribe oaths con-
trary to tha Divine laws, to excite the people
against the Catholic priests, and to hiader the latter
from preaching, to teach the difference existing be-
tween Catholic truth and schism, forbidding under
serious penalties the abandonment of fatal heresy
and return to the boom of the Catholic Church.
Ministers of religion have been expelled from their
convents, which have been converted into barracks.
Bishops have been removed from their diocesses and
sent into exile. An extraordinary number of Greek
Catholics already dragged into heresy by shameful
machinations have found themselves prevented from
returning, as they had wished, within ;he pale of
the Catholic Church. An incalculable number of
our brethren of the Latin Confession have been torn
from the Catholic Church, especially by means of
mixed marriages. Children left orphans have been
sent into distant countries under pretext of
tutelage, and taken from the Catholic Church.
Thus innumerable Catholics of every age, of
either sex, and of every rank, have been rigorously
persecuted and transported into remote regions.
Catholic churches have been profaned and converted
into non-Catholic temples or barracks. Priests
have been ilitteated in a horrible manner, de.
spoiled of their property, reduced to frightful
misery, sent into exile cr thrown into prison, and
even put to death, for having continued to offer the
aid of their ministrations to the wounded and the
dying upon :he field of battle. It must be added to
this that the priests and laymen sent into exile are
deprived of all the offices of our religion, and that
the Catholics of Lithuania have had to choose be-
tween exile into distant countries and apostacy.
All these measures, and others equally deplorable,
are unceasingly employed by the Russian Govern-
ment against the Catholic Church. This causes us
profound sorrow, venerable brethren, and we are
unable to restrain our tears when we think of the
faithful who endure all the persecutions by which
the Russian Government endeavours to annihilate
the Catholic religion in the Kingdom of Poland and
the mini.
in the other portions of its empire.
" In this cruel war which the Russian Govern-
ment has undertaken against the rights,
sters, and the property of the Catholic Church, we
are further obliged to deplore and to condem a another
attempt quite novel in the history of the Church,
and unheard of up to this day. Not only has this
same Government banished into distant regions our
venerable brother Sigismund, the noble and worthy
Archbishop of Warsaw, after having
torn him from
his see, but it has further not scrupled to order that
he should be deprived of all authority and all epis-
copal
jurisdiction in his diocese, and has also not
hesitated to forbid all communications between him
and his diocese, declaring that Paul Kzevonski, his
Vicar-General and Bishop of Prusa in partibus, ap-
pointed by us suffragan of the Archbishop of War-
saw, will suffice to administer the diocess of our
dear son. Words fail us to qualify and reprove such
Spirit of an autho-
rity an act. Who will not be profoundly astonished to
learn that the Russian Government has falsely
gtheir
adopted the belief that it could deprive the bishops
of a mission given by the Holy
received from God, and never subordinated to
lay authority, and could remove them from
thisthe
and
declarer e reproving ro vo fi
plainlyn
government and the administration
the
ge
mWusthailtetheand
aloud that no one can obey these orders, bat that
all must render faithful obedience to our venerable
brother Sigismund, who is the true and legitimate
deriorocers,ewse
Archbishop of Warsaw. We doubt not, also, that
our dear son Paul Kzevonski, calling to mind his
duty, and refusing to
obeythe orders of the Russian
Government, will continue to exercise the functions
which have been intrusted
of Vicar-General, w to him
by his legitimate superior, the Archbishop of War-
saw, and will in all things, and is every way,
hasten to obey his orders.
"But while taking heaven and earth to witness,
brethren, we deploreand
oh, venerable bret reprove the
h the
persecution whißussiante Government does not
cease to exercise against the Church, we are very
far from approving in any way the revolutionary
movement inconsiderately carried out in Poland.
MI the world, in fact, is aware with what
care the
Catholic Church has always recommended and
should
taught that every person obey the consti•
toted authorities, and that each should submit him-
self to the civil power, so long at least as its orders
are not contrary to the laws of God and of the
Church. For this reason we deeply regret that the
Polish insurrection should have excited the Russian
and
Government to persecute oppress the Church
still further.
" While condemning and reproving this revolt,so
injurious to Christian and civil society, it is our
duty to call urgently upon those who direct the
people to employ all their strength, lest the grave
words of the Book of Wisdom be addressed to them,
Ye have received this power and this dominion
from the Most High, who will ask of your works
and will sound the depth of your thoughts, for as
much as, being the ministers
uitabl of His Kingdom, you
-
have not judged elly, y, neither have re-
garded the law of justice, neither have walked
according to the will of God. He will manifest
himself unto you in a terrible manner, be-
cause they who govern other men shall be judged
with extreme rigour, for more compassion is felt for
the lowly, but the powerful shall be powerfully tor-
mented.' (Wisdom, chap iv., 4,5, 6,7.)
" We pray, also, the great Princes of the earth,
and we call upon them to observe good faith, and to
understand that when nations aro removed fromour

holy religion, from its salutary doctrines, from the
obedience due to God and to the Church, and when
they are cut off from communication with the Holy
See, they are defiled by every error and by the most
pernicious vices. It results from this that these na-
tions, having lost the fear of and respect for God,
having shaken off the ties of gentle religion and
forgotten the obedience due to God and to the laws
of His Church, allow themselves to be carried away
by every licence and by a lawless life, and, acting
according to their caprices, despise honour, insult
authority, rise up against the Princes, and refuse to
obey them.
" But in the extreme grief caused by the immen-
sity of the evils which weigh, oh, venerable brethren,
upon you and upon the faithful confided to your
care, we are in no slight degree consoled by your
virtues, in your firmness in defending the Church,
and in enduring so many fatigues and tribulations
for the Catholic faith. And as you know that
blessed are they who are persecuted for justice sake,
that it is glorious to suffer for Jesus Christ. and that
they who persevere until the end shall be saved,
we are convinced that, relying upon the Lord and
upon the honour of His might, you will continue
to tight with invincible courage for the defence of
His Church and for salvation of souls, calling to
mind, ' Quod non aunt condignea passiones hnjus
temporis ad futuram gloriam qum revolabitur in
vobis.' (St Pavl to the Romans, c. viii., 18.)
"We send you, therefore, this letter to arouse more
and more your episcopal courage to support so many
sufferings, to watch over the flock intrusted to your
charge, and to spare neither care, nor advice, nor
fatigue, that the faithful under your jurisdiction
may abstain from all evil, and remain constantly
firm in the practice of the Catholic faith and religion
without ever allowing themselves to be conquered
and dragged into error by the enemies of both.
Consequently we pray, we conjure the faithful com-
mitted to your care, and who are so dear to us, with
all the affection of our heart, to remain constant to
the Catholic faith, religion, and doctrines which
they have received by the special grace of the Lord ;
that giving precedence thereto above all things they
may be firm in the way of the Lord, and in all the
works which affect the love of God and of their
neighbour, and which belong to the Catholic Church.
"Be persuaded that we, in the humility of our
heart, do not cease to address day and night fervent
prayers to the most clement Father of Mercies, to
the God of consolation, that He may cover you with
His great virtue, that He may protect you with
His arm, that he may guard and defend you, that
He may take in hand your ways, that He may deliver
the Church from the calamities that afflict her, that
He may abate the pride and obstinacy of her enemies
and continually shed over you the salutary dew of
his bounty. In token of this and as a particular proof
of the special love we bear towards you in the Lord,
we herewith confer upon you, with all the clergy
and faithful committed to your charge, our Apostolic
benediction invoked from the very bottom of our
heart.

" Given in the 19th year of our Pontificate,
" Pio PAPA IX."

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—Among the multifarious duties of an
English Statesman, none are generally discharged
with a worse grace than those which he undertakes
when he endeavours to speak on the pursuits and
avocation of his constituents. Unmeaning compli-
ments on their superior knowledge, trite and trivial
remarks, lame attempts at dragging in politics at
the 'very moment that he disclaims them, are the
ordinary staple of this kind of rhetoric. As parties
become more evenly balanced, and the 'interest of
the mere politics of faction diminishes, the number
of annual meetings from which political subjects
are excluded increases. We have, in this country,
pretty well settled all questions relating to govern-
ment, at least for the present, and matters non-
political are taking the foremost place in the minds
of the people. The privilege which Englishmen
enjoy almost alone among the nations of Europe—
the assembling in public meeting to discuss pubic
affairs—is almost falling into disuse for want of
subjects on which to differ, and the extra-Parlia•
meutary speaking of the day turns more and more
upon questions of science and experience, as applied
spirit spectator ct
theato
times,
o f
turned
his of
to those arts by which human life is supported and
rendered tolerable, Observing this tendency, Mr.
Disraeli,
nocareless
events
anr
the
attention to agriculture, and delivered a speech at
the annual meeting of the Royal and Central Bucks
Agricultural Association which, in tone and man-
ner, may serve as a precedent for similar exercita-
tions. His tone was plain, hearty, and simple, as
beseemed a county member addressing an audience
of farmers, and the matter seems to have received
from him at least as much consideration as he gene-
rally bestows upon topics of even
ante. He has been for thirty years a constant
attendant on the Royal Buckingham Agricultural
Association. He claims for such associations P ri-
ority in point of time over the exhibitions of manu
facturing skill and industry which have att racc;
te
to themselves so much larger a share of public
atten-
tion. lie thinks any means by which the great body
of the increasing population of this
_country can be
brought together must be for the public advantage.
He is favourable to associations
philosophical, to
associations archaeological, to excursion
trains, and
to harvest homes, A touch of
Young England seems
to have come over him, and his tendencies seem to
carry him a good way in the me
of Mr. Kingsley's heroes. Hesa is exuberantdi
in
rection as
goodone
fellowship and kind feeling toallmen
and
dto
all
things—he aspires to replace the sulky England of
his boyhood to the merry England of times gone
by. It is impossible, he
thinks, for people to learn
too much. There is nothing narrow or exclusive in
his philanthropy—knowledge, enjoyment, and
liberty are the patrimony of all, and all have an
equal right to enjoy it. Coming to particulars, Mr.
Disraeli congratulates his audience on what was at
one time rather a ticklish subject—a good harvest.
The wheat is excellent, and if the causes which
give the wheat so excellent a grain have a little in-
terfered with the root crops—if we cannot this year
produce those colossal globes that win prizes at
agricultural meetings, we shall still have a juicy
and succulent root. and one which will be a great
favourite with stock. The main advantage of a good
harvest is that it saves us from exporting twenty
millions of gold to buy grain—that is, it prevents
temporary derangement in the distribution of the
precious metals. We venture to think that this view
hardly does justice to the real merits of the case.
The disadvantage of a bad harvest is that it is an
enormous waste of capital. The harvest of the, year
ought to replace the capita l employed in producing
it, with a reasonable prefit for the time which it has
lace this
lain unproductive. A good harvest does rep
capital, and a bad one does not; a good harvest im-
plies an increase, and a bad one a decrease in the
capital of the agriculturist, things far more importations
nt
to the welfare of the country than the importa
or exportations of the precsious metals. Passing from
the harvest, Mr Disraeli comments on the low in-
terest which is yielded by investments in land, but
points out, what is most unquestionably true, that
this low interest is in some degree compensated by
the steady rise in the value of land itself—a value
independent in a great measure of the rate of inte-
rest yielded. Having consoled the landowner, Mr
Disraeli had his crumb of comfort to offer to the far-
mer. His occupation has its drawbacks, but his is
no fancy business. There is always a demand for
his wares ; beef and mutton, bread and cheese, never
go out of fashion. If man was born to labour, he
was also born to eat, and there is as little chances of
his giving up one practice as the other.
raeli passes to what he conceives to a peculiar weak-
ness of the Buckinghamshire farmer. The wool he
grows is too short. He proposes himself to cross his
flock with the Cotswold sheep, and if it is urged
that by doing so be will risk a loss from the pro-
bable fall in the price of wool, this omniscient mem-
ber has considered that point also, and sees no rea-
son to think that wool will fall at all. In the first
place, be thinks wool has risen from other causes
than the stoppage of the cotton crop of America, and
secondly, he has no confidence in the restoration of
peace. All that is said on that subject he views as so
much electioneering talk, and inclines to think that
the war has yet a long time to run ; therefore he cone
eludes that long wool will pay, and goes in for it
accordingly. We do not think Cincinnatus himself or
Cato the Elder could have more happily blended
things political with things agricultural. The last
topic of this speech is incomparably the most im per.
taut. Emboldened probably by his long services and
personal popularity, Mr Disraeli ventures to call
the attention of the Buckinghamshire landlords to

DAILY NEWS.—it is gratifying to learn on Mr
Disraeli's authority that in the county of Bucking-
ham there is at least. "a tendency" to an increase
of the wages of the agricultural labourer ; and as
this tendency is not new, but has existed for many
years, it may be hoped that he will shortly be able
to mention it in more positive terms, and to speak
of its effects. An increasing sense of the value of
the labourer, which is naturally marked by an ad-
vance of wages, is one of the best guarantees for
that improvement in his household accommodation
which Mr Disraeli commended to the proprietors
who heard him as a necessity of the day and a duty
of their station. The great difficulty in the way of
such an achievement, according to Mr Disraeli. is
that cottage building does not give an adequate re
turn. The objection, he believes, is unfounded,
hut it is nevertheless real, for it operates.
He argues, soundly, that, inasmuch as it is
the interest and right of the tenant occupier to
have labourers lodged in healthy dwellings near
their work, any failure of the rent of the
cottages to give a return for the outlay upon them
will be supplied by the increased value of the farm
as a source of rent. But here we encounter a diffi-
culty, and get into confusion. If landed property
were held and administered in 13uckinghamshire on
ordinary commercial principles, it would be enough
to show that the interest of the landowner and the
farmer and th© labourer were identical,and the cot-
tages would be built. But from another part of Mr.
Disraeli's speech we learn that profit and gain hold
a subordinate place iu the esteem of the landlords.
They are men who do not care if they only got a
return for their money equal to that obtainable from
an investment in Consols. "A man who has a large
estate does not obtain a large return, and he does
not seek to obtain it, because he is remunerated in
a different manner and by different means. lie
is the possessor of property which by the consti-
tution of this country is invested with the per-
formance of public duties, and does not look for
those returns which other sources of investment
provide." Now the difficulty is this, that this
county, where the landlords place public duties
above private gain, is the very county where the
labourer is treated in a manner which can only be
termed infamous. The revelations on this subject
made this time last year are not forgotten. Jr
would appear, then, that the lot of the labourers
would be hopeless if it depended on the will of
landlords, who are above the inducements of private
gain, and who do not reckon the decent lodging of
the labourer among their public duties. Neverthe-
less, we shall hope better things. Mr. Disraeli has
delivered a good homily on a subject which probably
was overlooked in the harvest-home sermons, and
we trust that his ministry may be blessed with
ncrease.

British Association for the Advancement

of Science,

BATH, Thursday Morning.
Last evening a grant banquet was given in the Guildha
by Mr Tito, M.P., to the British Association to celebrate
their very successful meeting in the city c B:~Ih.
Covers were laid for 220, and the entertainment was alto-
gether ef the most sumptuous character. Mr Tito presided,
having on his right the Mayor of Bath, Sir C. Style, Ad-
miral Sir E. Belcher, the Archdeacon of Bath, Rev. C.
Kemble (rector of Bath), Professor Phillips, Mr W. H. G.
Langton, M.P., Mr W. Sanders, Mr Commissioner Hill,
Mr Caillard, and the Recorder of Bath—and on the left the
Earl of Cork, Viscount Milton, Sir Roderick Murchison,
Sir Henry Bayley, Sir A. Waugh, Colonel Pinney, M.P.,
Mr J. F. Dickinson, Sir J. }layering, Sir R. Schomburk,
Dr. Livingstone, and Captain Barton. Among the gentle-
men at the other tables were many of the most mean-
guished members of the Association.
After the cloth had been removed,
The CHAIRMA.N said he had asked them to come together
to celebrate the happy termination of one of the most suc-
cessful meetings of the British Association that had ever
been held, (Cheers.) He had asked the mayor and corpo-
ration, with many belonging to the liberal professions in the
city, and he had invited the British Association to appear
by such of their eminent members as were still among them.
He regretted, however, the absence of many who had been
obliged to leave the city. (Cheats.) His object was not
that there should ho any great amount of speech-making,
The people of Bath had probably been satiated with the
talent and eloquence they had heard during the last week.
(A. laugh.) He thought a more social entertainment might
bo more acceptable. (Hear.) His own speeches certainly
would be very short, but he proposed to introduce some
music, which he hoped would contribute to what was
essentially an English feeling, the comfortable enjoyment
of the evening. (Cheers.) With this exordium he begged
to propose that toast which commended itself to the affec-
tions, good feeling, and loyalty of all Englishmen, and all
foreigners too among them—" Our excellent and gracious
Queen, the best of Queens and the best of Mothers.
The toast was drunk with all the honours.
The next toast was "The Health of his Royal Highness
the Prince and her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
and the rest of the Royal Family," which was drunk with
enthusiasm.
" The Army, the Navy, and the Volunteers" was the
next drunk, and acknowledged by Sir A. Waugh, Sir E.
Belcher, and Major Forde.
The CHAIRMAN next gave "The Health of the Earl o 1
Cork and Orrery, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Somer-
set." They had to thank him on this occasion for the kind-
est urbanity and the most graceful hospitality.
The Earl of Coax, in acknowledging the compliment,
said he had great pleasure in attending there the other
evening at the very handsome entertainment of the worthy
Mayor, but he had still greater pleasure in attending to.
night, because he saw in the chair not only a worthy mem-
ber of the British Association, but what in this country was
considered its glory and boast—a really representative man.
(Cheers.) It was often asked by foreigners how it was that
our glorious Constitution was carried on so as to work so
well. His answer was to point to such a man as his hon.
friend in the chair. (Cheers.) Let a man's original posi-
tion be what it might, if he had the ability and obtained the
respect of his fellow men, there was no position he had not
the power of attaining in this great and noble country. As
Lord Lieutenant of the county he was only doing his duty
in being present on that occasion. He was proud of the
meeting of the British Association which had been held in
Baths. (Cheers.) He heard on all hands it had been most
successful.
The CHAIRMAN next gave "The Health of the Clergy,"
which was acknowledged by the Archdeacon of Bath and
he Rev Mr Dyer.
The next toast was " Cho Members of the House of Co

mons," coupled with the names of Col Pinney and Mr Gore
Langton,
Col Pinney and Mr Gore Langton returned thanks.
(New song, " The Mau for me.")
The CHAIRMAN next proposed the toast ut the evening,
"The British Association." (Cheers.) Ile had joined the
Association 32 years ago, when the second annual meeting
was held at Oxford. To the wonderful discoveries in geo-
logy and the personal exertions of such men as Dean Buck-
land and Prof. Sedgewick it greatly owed success, which had
now exceeded all expeeations ; and its usefulness was pro-
portionate. It Ind this year voted upwards of .£2,000 for
various scientific! purposes. When he proposed that the As-
sociation should meet at Bath ho ventured to anticipate a
most successful meeting, and so he was happy to know it
had turned it. He regretted that the health of the Presi-
sent, Sir Charles Lyell, was too infirm to allow him to be
present, but he begged to give " Prosperity to the British
Association," coupled with the name of Sir R. Murchison.
The toast was drunk with all the honours.
Sir R. Muncuisorr returned thanks. In the long period
of 33 years they never had a more successful meeting than
that in the city of Bath. (Cheers.) They had assembled to
the number of 2,830, very nearly approximating that of
Newcastle. He had occupied all the posts in the British
Association ; he was, therefore, a competent judge of their
meetings, and he coup assure them that at no meeting had