The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-10 00:00:00

look to the source from which they sprang, we deluded Holy • rather? Biel not Professor
can only regard them as perfectly intolerable. It Michaelis openly and solemnly call upon the Ger-
is well known that German Protestants now, as man episcopate to guard the interests of the
formerly with matchless, modesty, declare Protes- Church against the Roman - scholastic party ?
tantism alone to be German, Catholicism to be But not one bishop, as far as we know, found him-
foreign, to be un-German, to be Romanism, self prompted by this cry of distress to take any
and Catholics to be mere Romanists. In like measures against the party so denounced. We
manner they declare rationalistic phildsophy and cannot, therefore, convince ourselves of their
theology to be alone scientific, whilst Catholic existence as a party injurious to the common
theology is incompatible with science. Now, is welfare. They can, indeed, boldly answer their
it becoming in Catholic theologians to treat their accusers in the words of Dr. Dollinger*:—' Do
brethren to all this clap-trap? Protestants, it you imagine, perhaps, that Pope and bishops
must be allowed, have some claim to the exclusive would quietly allow matters appertaining to their
Germanism of their celebrated science. For, with office and vocation to be snatched from their
all respect for the talents of our Protestant philo- hands, or that they would patiently look on while
sophers, and, however willingly we may acknow- a small, but presumptuous, batch of partizans
ledge the grain of truth to be found in their sys- monopolized, for their own purposes and bene-
terns, however misused, yet it must be con- fit, the authority and influence of the Church ?' "
fessed that such unpalatable food, crudities so
barren, so contrary to wholesome common sense,
are not easily to be found anywhere abroad. But
is it conceivable that Catholic theologians, in
opposing their brethren, should abase themselves
so much as to borrow the glory of the so-called
German Science' from this Protestant philoso-
phy ? Another observation forced upon our minds
has also made a disagreeable impression upon us.
It is the unmistakable approximation of many
Catholic theologians of the so-called German
Scientific School towards the false Liberalism' of
the day. They are evidently very desirous of
being noticed by the chiefs of Liberalism, and
of not being classed by them with their scholastic
and Roman brethren. Therefore, are they so
apt to have the word freedom' ever on their
lipsA without, however, having proved as yet that,
when themselves raised to rule, they do not treat
their adversaries with the same tyranny as the
Liberals do whenever they possess the power.
When Catholic theologians think to serve the
Church, or to influence the minds of men, by
joining the ' liberals' in abusing intolerance, the
Index, Papal aggressions, the Inquisition, and
the like, we can only deplore their holding this
opinion, because it must end in signal failure ; but,
for the sake of science and the German character,
we blush for them when, as unfortunately too
often happens, they stigmatize their adversaries as
—' Ultramontanes' and Jesuits' the two most
shallow and unscientific bits of clap-trap ever in-
vented by religious and political liberalism;'
empty husks to be scattered among the crowd,
whom they have relieved from the trouble of
thinking. To tell the truth, a certain Catholic theo-
logian pleases us far better who regularly every
year in his philosophical lectures seeks to fire the
enthusiasm of his disciples for German science by
the following rhyme :—Doctor R,omanus, Asinus
Germanus. This sentence is as little scientific
as it is German, and is likewise as remote from
all philosophy ; yet in _our eyes such a rough and
ready mode of fastening ridicule on adversaries
is far preferable to the smooth-tongued liber-
alism,' whose respect for the clergy will cer-
tainly not be increased by seeing theologians
borrow language adopted in order to cheat
the unreflecting, and eagerly seeking to sun
themselves in liberal applause. Unhappily, this
is not the only point where the advanced theolo-
gians of this school and the 'liberalism' of our
times meet each other. Liberalism is the natura:

State of 'Crade.

BARNSLEY, April 6.—The iron trade iu South
Yorkshire remains quiet in most instances, but a
change for the better seems to have set in. For
plates there is an increased demand, which will ex-
tend as the shipbuilding trade resumes its wonted
proportions. In hoops, sheets, and bar iron the trade
is languid, and the business is chiefly on the hand-
to-mouth system. The increased activity in rails
continues, notwithstanding the difficulties of the
railway companies ; the East Indian Railway Com-
pany are inviting tenders for 14,000 tons, 6,000 tons
of chairs, and over 1,000 tons of plates, bolts, &c.
The steel trade retains its activity. The coal trade
is not so brisk, owing to the more favourable
weather which now prevails.
BRADFORD, Bth.—The market has been very un-
favourably influenced by the various political rumours
of the day—Continental and home. Comparatively
little wool has changed hands, and prices are in
favour of the buyer. In worsted yarns a few orders
only have been given out, the causes above referred
to having tendei to discourage buyers of yarns.
Prices are not much altered. The piece branch has
been, if anything, flatter than either wool or worsted
yarns, and the operations of merchants are few and
small. Prices are weaker than on Thursday.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

LEEDS-TUESDAY.

The report from Mark-lane yesterday has caused holders
of wheat to ask is to 2s more money, and in some instances
they succeeded, but the demand was not extensive. Fine
barleys sell at late rates ; other sorts a dull sale. Oats and
beans unaltered.

fruit of the separation of our universities and
higher educational institutions from the Church.
Those who were in power in the State, having
set them free from the authority of the Church,'
thought thereby to subjugate science, and to
make it subservient to the despotism of State rule,
for which they so eagerly strove, and through
its influence to make the people also pliable to
their views. The plan could not but fail. Science,
freed from the yoke of the Church, withdrew itself
shortly from the authority of the State. Science
was something absolute, resting on its own
foundations.' No one dare contradict her, nothing
check her in her progress.' She set herself
above all authority; henceforth she measures all
things by an 'idea,' and demands that Church and
State, Legislation and Law, Government and
People, all should now accommodate themselves,
without hesitation, to the new dicta. A pro-
gress until then unheard of—an astonishing, uni-
versal, intellectual culture, happiness, and pros-
perity, were the brilliant results promised by
Science.' But by science must be understood
the learned professors themselves, and their disci-
ples or admirers in prose and verse. For the
goddess Science' has no actual existence. Thus
a professional clique, raised still higher in the
social scale by its connection with the Masonic
Lodges, and by carefully cultivated family influ-
ences, came by degrees to exercise an intellectual
despotism, and the more this was extended the
more liberal' our times became. Whatever is
taught in the name of science and set forth as the
highest aim of our efforts is repeated by the
Liberal' press in a thousand various tones as
by a well-built organ. The Minister believes it as
piously as the Philister ;' the Parliament as well
as the clubs ; and in a trice the institutions of
the State, the laws, the schools, social relations are
changed to meet the demands of 'Science.' Hence
endless change, endless progression,' so that the
unfortunate people subjected to such numberless
changes, though more and more heavily taxed,
can get no peace, the State fio stability, since prince
and Government in profoundest worship lie pros-
trate before the goddess " Science," whom them-
selves have nurtured to her present dimensions.
Besides, liberalism has its demi-gods, its grandees,
and its leaders of tone. Their sayings are
watchwords in the camp ; they are above all
law, not to be touched, infallible. They are
privileged to do and say what they please ;
they may annihilate any adversary in public
opinion by stigmatizing him as retrograde, or asan
obscurantist. But woe to him who, in the name of
freedom, dare rebel against this intellectual despo-
tism—to think and to inquire for himself, and to
lay a finger, however gently, on the infallibility
of these leaders of opinion 1 Who ever has
attentively observed, with calm eye, the liberal'
delusion of our times, will readily acknowledge the
truth of this picture. Let us turn now to theology
and philosophy, that stand in such close connec-
tion with each other. Do we not see signs
enough there also that not a few endeavour to
isolate science,' to raise it above the living
authority of Pope and bishops ? And, in institu-
tions that are not under ecclesiastical authority, do
we not see a professional sceptre lowering in the
distance, the bearers whereof do not seek to con-
ceal the temptation they cherish to rule in the
Church, and in the name of science ;' and,
according to its ' ideas' and ' demands,' to
cut and
shape ecclesiastical matters after their favourite
patterns ? Do we not also see signs of a
tendency to ascribe to certain men (men, no
doubt, of great scientific acquirements) a sort
of infallibility, and an almost entire exemption
from criticism, whilst the docrine of the infalli-
bility of the Pope, when speaking ex cathedra, is
found intolerable ? It is painful to us to speak,
but we wish to explain the impression which
these things have made on us. Whether our
judgment be correct any one can answer for him-
self who has preserved his heart and mind free,
and unclouded by the volumes of incense contin-
ually offered up at the shrine of science. The
extreme usefulness of scienee in the Church—
yea, its real necessity—(though not exactly in
the shape of ' German Science'), we are far from
denying ; but its depositaries and guardians should
never forget that God neither sent out profes-
sors to teach the nations nor built his Church on
' Science.' No member of the Church, however
good his intentions, ought to overstep his voca-
tion. A third sign that displeases us in the more
advanced men of German ' Science' is their love of
describing the theologians of the 'opposite school
as a party, although they refuse the designation
for themselves. Let us examine this accusation,
which again has to do service as a bit of clap-trap.
Party, in the evil sense of the word, exists where
the common welfare is sacrificed to the particular
aims of certain confederates of congenial princi-
ples and of kindred aspirations. Whether the
Romans' or ' Scholastics ' belong to this class can
best be discerned by observing their bearing
towards ecclesiastical authority. No party can
live in undisturbed peace with the Pope and
the episcopate, who pursue selfish aims at the
cost of the Church, and a body of men cannot
constitute a party in the Church who are always
found standing at the side of the authority set
over them by God. Now, it is a well-known fact,
that the so-called Romans' and ' Scholastics'
are in perfect peace with the ecclesiastical
authority; we have not heard that a single warning
or reprimand has been issued against an individ-
ual among them on account of his party man-
oeuvres from Pope or bishop. To the best of our
knowledge they have never been reproached with
expressing discontent with the acts of those in
authority, or with having excited others to discon-
tent ; on the contrary, their accordance is so
apparent, that their opponents have taken up a
directly opposite complaint. They accuse the
scholastics of having hood-winked and misled the
Holy Father and his congregations, and of
having thus brought ' German Science' into dis-
trust and disfavour at the Holy See—a complaint
which takes as little heed of the honour and dig-
nity of the Holy See, as it is unsupported by
proofs ; as is easy to be forseen it cannot expect
to gain credence with the unprejudiced, as from
time immemorial similar subterfuges have ever
been practised by all those who did not yield
willing obedience to the decisions of the highest
ecclesiastical authority. And what of the German
bishops ? Were they all misled by the ' party ?'
Or wgs it not their duty to open the eyes of the