The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-22 00:00:00

NAPOLEON AND THE POPE.

The breach between the Imperial and Pontifical
Courts is widening every day, and begins to remind
us very forcibly of an earlier period of our own his-
tory, when a King who had signalised himself in
the ranks of Rome, and from whom our Sovereigns
even now derive the title of " Defender" of another
and a purer faith, was led step by step to dispute
the jurisdiction, to deny the power, and to silence
the. Ministers of Rome. If the Pope has been ready
to use the language of complaint, and even of
menace, he has encountered a spirit as proud and
unbending as his own, which retorts upon him his
own censuras, and answers to the charge of impious
and revolutionary principles by accusing the Pope,
with the most perfect truth, of mixing up things
sacred with things profane, and treating the rags
of an odious tyranny as the sacred cloth which
covers the mysteries of the altar.

Thus stands the controversy between the Emperor
and the Pontiff, but, having boldly confronted the
master, the Sovereign of Franee is not the man to
recede tamely before the aggression of the servants,
and we now find the French Government for the
first time since the Restoration of 1814 openly and
avowedly in a position of antagonism to-the French
clergy. In this respect the Emperor has to contend
with a power which has derived principally from
his own hands the ability to do him injury. When
he ascended the throne he rallied the nation round
him by professions of his desire to put down the
levelling doctrines and suppress the blasphemous
infidelity of Red Republicans and Socialists.
Society thought she found in him her saviour, and
the Church her surest and warmest protector. No
one, we think, can deny that the Emperor has fully
accomplished the work which he undertook, that
he has suppressed Socialism and supported the Ro-
man Catholic religion against all its adversaries.
He might deem himself fortunate now if he had
been content to stop there, and, relying on the gra-
titude of his subjects for what he had done, had
refrained from making use of the Church in its turn
as a support of his Government. The opportunity
was tempting, but a far-sighted policy would have
counselled its rejection. Modern history teaches
without exception that, though many sovereigns
have increased the stability and splendour of their
thrones by showing respect for the religion and
veneration for the priesthood of their subjects, no
Sovereign has ever sought an intimate alliance with
the Pope who has not had ample reason to rue his
share of the partnership. It has been the policy of
the Papacy, in exchange for such support as it was
able to give, to make demands which inevitably
lowered the real power and popular estimation of
the Sovereign who complied with them. If Rome
sells her friendship she must receive in exchange
the absolute control over the clergy of her friend—
that is, the power to exercise the most uncon-
stitutional influence in the very heart of his
dominions. The privileges and freedom of the
Church must be sacrificed in order to secure such
support as the Pope may feel inclined to give
to the State. Thus in Belgium we find the
support of the clergy purchased by the
humiliation of the Government, and a Minister
forced to ask from tie Chambers money to publish,
at the expense of the nation, the lying legends of
apocryphal saints. Thus we find Austria, having
executed a Concordat in order to gain the support
of Rome, in imminent danger of being ruined by
the disgrace which that Concordat has brought
upon her. So it has been with the Empreror of
the French. He has not been superior to the weak-
ness of supposing that he could permanently or
materially strengthen his Government by an union
with Rome, and he has to pay for his concession in
the murmurs of a disaffected clergy. He must now
feel how dearly he bought the clerical support of
other years ; and, as far as we can see, he has been
by no means slow in improving the lesson. The
Univers conceived that, whatever might be the fate
of other journals, the organ of the Ultramontane
clergy, so long the spoilt child of the French Go-
vernment, was at least secure from interference.
It published the encyclical letter of the Pope, and
it was suppressed without a moment's hesitation.
We could not lament, like some of our contempora-
ries, over the fall of this intolerant journal, or in-
voke the doctrines of freedom in favour of men
who systematically trampled on them all. It would
be giving too great a premium to intolerance,
if, when prosperous, it was to monopolise all the
sympathy of the persecutor, aud, when unfor-
tunate, all the sympathy of the persecuted. The
Bretagne presumed to mourn over the fate of the

Univirs, and was instantly in its turn suppressed.
Very significant admonitions have been issued to
the clergy, warning them to confine themselves
within their own limits, and not to seek a contest
with the Government which it is determined not to
tolerate. And now, last of all, we are informed
that M. Billault has sent forth a circular, in which
he states that the time has arrived to put an end to
the attempts at agitation on the Roman question,
and he accordingly instructs the prefects to prohibit
the distribution of writings and pamphlets, unless
duly authorised, and report to the Council of State
whenever the liberty of the pulpit is abused.
" As the Emperor desires peace and liberty for
religion," N. Billault recommends a mixture of
moderation and firmness in the execution of this
order. This menace seems to be levelled at the
circulation of charges, letters, and pamphlets by
the French hierarchy, and gives them clearly to
understand that, if they continue to put forth writ-
ings displeasing to the Chief of the State, they
have no right to rely on their episcopal character
for :protection. The circular seems to carry the
repression of writing and publishing in France
further than ever. A censorship is distinctly intro-
duced, and writers are threatened with the severest
penalties if they attempt to publish without its
permission.

Thus it has come to pass that the Ultramontane
Church of France, after having so long triumphed
over the stifled liberties of its country, has by a
single blow entirely lost its own. The Emperor of
the French has now reconquered the ground which
he abandoned in the beginning of his reign, and
may do what he will with the power which he has
taken again into his hands. He has no lack of
illustrious precedents. Henry VIII. of England
transferred the spiritual allegiance of his people
to himself, and reigned with more absolute
authority over clergy and laity than any Soya-
reign who preceded or succeeded him. The
Emperors of Russia, finding it inconvenient to
be subject to the half-civilised Patriarch of Constan-
tinople, burst their trammels, and contrived to
conciliate the veneration of their people to their
own persons, instead of to a foreign priest. The
traditions of the Church of France are favourable
to a bold attempt at emancipation from the influ-
ence of Rome. In her best and brightest days, when
she was adorned by the gorgeous eloquence of Bos-
suet and the almost superhuman intelligence of
Pascal, no Roman Catholic Church maintained so
proud and independent a bearing towards the Pepe
as the Gallican hierarchy. They had no respect for
his temporal power; they restricted his infallibility
to matters of doctrine, and even on matters of
doctrine they tested his decisions by the decrees
of councils and the voice of the primitive
Church. They were, in fact, a sect of
Protestants, only theft:Protestantism lay within
the Church of Rome, instead of without:
Should the Emperor of the French succeed in
kindling anew the flame of this comparatively pure
and rational religion in the Church of France, he
-would not only confer an inestimable benefit on
his subjects, but would raise up a better and more
permanent bulwark against the encroachments of
Rome than could be afforded by the most rigorous
censorship, or the strictest repression. France is
sufficiently advanced in civilisation to be able to
regulate her own religion, with little assistance
from the Sovereign Pontiff of Rome, who has
clearly shown by the manner in which he manages
his own affairs how little he is fit to manage the
affairs of others, and no Emperor of the French
need be afraid to tread in a path that is marked
with the footsteps of the best and noblest of the
French nation.— limes.