The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-09 00:00:00

question undecided. Much the same may be said
of the mariner's compass. There are too many
claimants of the honour to be so glibly assigned to
an Italian, as Dr. Wiseman imagines • besides,
there is a description of the instrument, and its
use in navigation, in a Troubadour manuscript in
what was the King's Library, in Paris, of an earlier
date than the supposed discovery of it in Italy.
After these reckless assumptions by the Cardinal,
we decline to consider the cases of the other scien-
tific inventions and discoveries which he enume-
rates.

What must be thought of people, who can gravely
listen to praises of the encouragement given by the
Church of Rome to literature and science, and in
the same breath, a citation of Galileo and Coper-
nicus ? The former was imprisoned in the cells of
the Inquisition for maintaining the motion of the
earth, and, to the everlasting &grace of the Romish
Church, was compelled to retract this indisputable
proposition. But this is not all. The works of
both these philosophers stand actually condemned
in the index of books prohibited by Pope Gregory
XVI., who lived but a few years ago, for he pub-
lished a letter in May, 1844, denouncing the Bible,
Bible societies, schools, and education. Nicolaus
Copernicus is condemned the Elanchus of Capiffer-
reuss, printed at Rome in 1632. Both are again
prohibited in the Index of Alexander VII., Rome,
1664. They are both suppressed in the Index of
Innocent XI., in 1683, together with Foscarini,
and we understand their condemnation appears, in
nearly the same words, in every subsequent Roman
Index to 1819. " Copernicus," says Sir David
Brewster, in his Martyrs of Science, " tells his
Holiness, that the reason of inscribing to him his
new system was, that the authority of the Pontiff
might put to silence the calumnies of some indivi-
duals, who attacked it by arguments drawn from,
passages of Scripture twisted for their own pur-
pose." It was the pretence of all the Popes, who
censured these great philosophers, that their theories
were blasphemy against Scripture, and we have
very recently seen Dr. Cullen seriously maintaining
the ridiculous proposition that the sun's diameter
is only six yards.
The Romish Church encourage science Why,
are not Bacon's " Novum Organum" and Newton's
Principia" in the last index of prohibited books ?
With regard to Copernicus, Foscarini, and Galileo,
these three heretics remained imprisoned in the
Roman Index for upwards of two centuries. Itmay
not be generally known, that the Latin translation
of " Paradise Lost" is i,lso in the list of books pro-
hibited and condemned by the Church, in whatever
language they appear.
One might suppose that this patroness of
learning and science would distinguish herself
in biblical literature ; but what is the fact!'
There is a valuable MS. of the Greek Tes-
tament in the Vatican ; but, from the inven-
tion of printing to the present hour, not one
edition of the Testament has been published by the
Church in that language. A few years since, Dr.
Wiseman himself excited the expectations of al the
learned in Europe by issuing proposals to collate
and publish the Vatican treasure, but it seems to
have been a mere ruse. He either has not the re-
quisite knowledge of Greek, or he has been forbid-
den. We may have the bad translation of the
Vulgate, or the fraudulent version of the Rheims
Bible to suffcation, but not the original.
A passage by Cardinal Bona lies before us, show-
ing the kind of encouragement given by Romanists
to education. After forbidding laymen to read the
Scriptures, he tells them that the most suitable
books for them are story books, pious meditations,
and legends of saints.
Dr. Wiseman pretends that Cardinal De Cusa
preceded Copernicus, in teaching the same astrono-
mical system. We must doubt the fact until it is
confirmed by less suspicious authority. This man,
in his epistles to the Bohemians, teaches that the
text of Scripture may be altered and adapted to
times, circumstances, and varying understandings ;
that the precepts of the gospel must be changed to
be agreeable to the interpretation of the Church,
" because, when the opinion of the Church alters,
the judgment of God is changed I" We dare not
translate more of his impieties.
Lastly, we would ask any liberal Roman Catholic
to cast his eyes upon Roman Catholic countries,
which have never received the Reformation, and
compare them with Protestant countries. Let him
look at the condition in which Spain, Portugal,
Ireland, Spanish South America, Austria, Naples,
the Catholic provinces of Switzerland, and those
of Germany, the States of the Church, and then
survey the industry, science, and power of every
Protestant state in the world. He will then be
able to appreciate the delusive pictures of such
persons as Dr. Wiseman. His Church, he may
rest assured, is in no respect changed since it stul-
tified itself by the condemnation and imprisonment
o Galileo.

(We do not attempt to deny credit to it for its en-
couragement of music, painting, statuary, and other
arts, that gratify the senses, without taxing or im-
provinc, the intellect—sound and spectacle, without
troubling the auditor and sightseer with a single
exertion of the reasoning faculties. But it is simply
ridiculous to pretend that the Church, that is to say,
Popery, with its inquisitions and its denunciations
of men of learning and genius, its persecutions of
philosophers, and its bigoted prohibition of biblical
studies, is the promoter of science. It is downright
impudence to assert that the Church of Rome, with
its crusade against schools and colleges, its Index
Expurgatorius, and its condemnation of the noblest
poem ever written by uninspired man, has the
slightest just pretensions to be deemed an encou-
rager of education in the liberal acceptation of the
term. We are surprised, when its whole history is
considered, that any decent or sensible persons
should rank themselves among its members, and
equally so that they could sit by and listen to
claims which are contradicted by historical fact in
every country in Europe, and in none more so than
in Ireland, Spain, and Italy, where superstition and
barbarism have reigned in triumph for centuries.

ITALIAN AND HUNGARIAN INDEPENDENCE.

Last night a public meeting, convened by the Com-
mittee for Promoting European Freedom, was held in
the British School-room, Cowper-street, City-road, for
the purpose of petitioning Parliament against the con-
tinued occupation of the Roman States by Austrian and
French troops—Mr. Robert Le Blond in the chair.
Mr. BEALE moved the first resolution—" That the
cause of European freedom is the cause of every true
Englishman, as the liberation of the oppressed nations
is the sure guarantee of progress at home ; and this
meeting pledges itself to further the objects of the Euro-
pean Committee by every means in its power." The
Committee, he said, had been in existence for a few
tionof
months, and
whathua,daealrteeariduyeddotnhee sEomureogpeoaond iFnutnhde,cotollebco
placed at the disposal of Messrs. Mazzini and Kossuth.
-
them t o
Mazzini and Kossuth had shown their earnestness and
Europe.possessedthe (
(Cheers.)
confidenceeerB Aolftl
theychowholeeurage neededindaewcnitasioocnrt'ahtae moralincdthey
party
in
influence of England, and
such
meansae
ofas Ecouuroldpebaen
fafforded,reedomover enable toagain
when the proper time came. Had England done its
duty as it ought to have done during the recent struggle
for Italian and Hungarian independence, Rome would not
pecuniary
fight th e bat
have been in the possession of French troops, in defiance
of the will of the Italian people ; nor would Hungary
have been crushed by the combined armies of Austria
and Russia. (Hear, hear.) The occasion for action
might arise again, and what was wanted was, that
shouldth
e sambee
made amenable
Capsl co
t r and the
al
law, and then war loans to support aboad
opublic opinion should be so ripened in this country as to
uot
a moral
enable us to exercise moral power, and to give substan-
tial
Stock
assistance
at
Exchange
would become disreputable. Let despotism
• r
such a feeling be
created, and in the course of twelve or fifteen years
despotism would fall to pieces.
Austria was, in fact,
bankrupt now, and only sustained itself by a "bill
system, which was disreputable and • • •
pri-
vate life. Left to its osuspicious in
wn resources, it could not stand,
and Russia would have enough to oto defend its own
extended frontiers. As to France, he •
ranee, he thought its
Government had also enough to do at home. (Hear,
hear.)

Partypitreso-
lution Ali-. JERSON seconded the resolution in a speech of
considerable length, reviewing the recent continental
struggles,
pt to p
inw keansjbcauystifying the course taken by
the the popular
thesert r seetdßr uurgintgthalnehism,Grooa:nsealmy
me veenrteilny eond
restoratione o
e to Rome by force
condemning the
Mr. W. T. MATSON, secretary to the committee, then
read the petition agreed to by the St. Pancras meeting.
Mr. W. NEWTON moved that it be adopted and signed
by the chairman on behalf of the meeting. As to war
loans, he thought if such a popular feeling could be
created as that spoken of by Mr. Beale, it would have a
great influence, though not, he feared, to the extent an-
ticipated, for in this gold-getting country. there were too
many persons who would, for the sake of an extra one
per cent., lend their gold to support any war, however
unholy.
Mr. C. F. Nrcuom seconded the motion, and in order
to show that the committee had not been idle, said that a
small penny periodical had already collected two thousand
shillings, and was now collecting a third thousand.
(Cheers.) If other periodicals and the Liberal press
would do the same, there would be not only a large fund
collected, but a powerful effect produced upon Europe.
(Hear, hear.)
The resolution was unanimously agreed to, and the
proceedings were closed by a cordial vote of thanks to
the chairman.

THE BRITISH ►SUGAR RKIgeANY. We hear
that the operations of this company have already extended
far beyond expectation, and that the commercial arrange-
ments present a very handsome prospect of remuneration.
Licenses have already been granted to other refiners,
and the important principles involved may be considered
in active work ; the Company starts therefore under
auspices which do not often wait upon novel under-
takings. The West India interest is much concerned in
its developement, and we are therefore more gratified
marking its success,--Morning Paper.