The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-02 00:00:00

THE CONGRESS AT MALINES.
(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT)
The meetings of the sections of the Congress
were resumed yesterday at nine a.m., and on visit-
ing again the fifth section, which had hitherto
been busy with the questions relating to the press,
I found that the members bad proceeded to the
part of their programme which related to religious
freedom in general, and the right of Catholics to
have separate cemeteries in particular. It is truly
scandalous that in a Catholic country, the men in
pcwer from mere irreligious feeling should cinder
their religions countrymen from enjoy inr-6. one of the
earliest and dearest advantages which Christians ever
possessed, that of being burierile in consecrated
ground. Still I found that fu eteral subject treated
in so funeral a manner by the local speakers, that
I sought out the hall where the fourth section on
Christian Art eves F,6Bembled, and heard there a
discussion on Churcih decoration, in which, although
a great deal of 'Amateur talk took place, still we
had the gre:e advantage of hearing speak with
the same e;oility on that subject as he does on poli-
tical 1339.cters, Herr Augustus Reichensperger, the
reprc,eentative of Cologne in the Prussian Parlia-
ment, and the leader therein of the Catholic
party. The recent decorations in the Cathe-
dral of Amiens were severely criticized by
M. Bordeaux, a well-known writer on Christian art.
The meeting of the sections ended at twelve, after
which the greater part of the-French visitors went
in a body to the Archbishop's palace, to pay a visit
to their illustrious countryman, M. Dupanloup.
At 3 p.m. the general meeting began, and the
hall, capable of containing 4,000 persons, was filled
to overflowing to listen to the Bishop of Orleans,
who was announced to speak. Several well-known
personages were repplanded as they entered to take
their seats, and especially General Delanoy, a recent
victim of tlie liberal Government of Belgium, hav-
ing beer placed on the retiring list for having pre-
sumal to stand as a candidate of the opposition.
Tile celebrated French Jesuit preacher, Pere Felix,
was loudly cheered.
After several announcements made by the Secre-
tary-General, I\l- Ducpotiaux, the Cardinal and
Bishops entered the hall. The whole of the Belgian
episcopate was there present. M. Ducpetiaux
communicated to the assembly the answer to the
telegram sent to Cardinal Antonelli, and trans-
mitted by him to his Holiness at Castel Fidardo.
The Holy Father, trusting in the spirit of good-
will and rectitude of intention of the Congress,
bestows upon its members the Apostolic blessing
they have asked.
The Bishop of ORLEANS then ascended thelplate
form, and began his long address standing
in front of it, sitting down after his exor-
dium, and resuming the standing attitude
towards the end. His fine, tall, and venerable ap-
pearance was greatly heightened by his purple
ecclesiastical dress, consisting of cassock and cloak.
His address was admirably delivered in a fine clear
voice,
and a most appropriate mixture of calm and
energy,
and lasted during the whole of the time
alloted to the meeting, concluding at a quarter to
six, having
lasted two hours and a half, with-
out the least flagging in the interest of the hearers
or the powers of the orator. " I should have a heart
of ice," he said,"not to feel the flame which burns in
your hearts, not to be moved at the generous beating
of so many Catholic hearts who cannot hear the
names of Christ, of His Church, and of His Vicar
uttered without bursting into applause. How
charming it
was for me yesterday to hear of
your invincible trust in your institutions, and
I felt immediately reassured. I thought, pa.edon
me, to find you in sadness, and I came tee
omyou. But you are earnest Christiana, Who know
that struggling is the essential r'
enditi •
eon of Chris-
tian life. The Church on
~drth is called the Church
militant. It will wale
shall find the ' be in the other world that we
therefore. Church triumphant. Christians,
quer, - ,as such, may be killed but never con-
r
ed. You are in no way downcast. St. Augue-
Eine asked the Christians of his time, who were
saddened by the inundation of the barbarians who
came to besiege even his episcopal city of Hippo,
whether they had not been made Christians to en-
dure affliction ? We should
therefore be militant
and yet prudent
• Not prudent according to the
sense of pusillanimous men, but prudent in thereal
sense of that cardinal virtue,
an epithet which be-
comes it the more in the presence of your primate.
Be prudent. Be prudent in the sense in which
Christ spoke, when he recommended his disciples to
have the simplicity of the dove. St. Chrysostom
says, "As long as we are sheep we conquer, if we
become wolves w e are conquered. Struggle is
eternal. You have been baptized not to flourish,
but to be prudent. We all have, not enemies per-
haps, hut adversaries. And how to overcome them
with all prudence we must have recourse to charity.
The Abbe Libermann, the founder of that congrega-
tion of .oissionaries who die the death of martyrdom
from pestilential climate, to rescue the Africans from
,
the darkness of paganism, was ones met in the
streets of Paris by a man who raised his hand against
him, saying, " Priest ! oh, if you knew how I hate
you." "Friend," answered the priest, if you
knew how I love you, for Christ's sake." These
words struck the man so that he embraced the
priest, and in that sacerdotal embrace his heart
was changed, and he beeame converted. I
have been invited by your Cardinal to treat