The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-09 00:00:00

THE MORTARA PROTEST.

The Mortara Protest, bearing the signatures of
22 Archbishops and Bishops; 27 Dukes and Peers,
36 Members of Parliament, a long list of clergy,
and an unnumbered column of undistinguished
laymen, has been presented to the Secretary for
Foreign Affairs in open conference. As we have
already declared, this document simply expresses
the public opinion, not only of England, but of all
reasoning Europe, when it protests against the
avowed practice of kidnapping children for the
purpose of changing their faith. It carries our
sympathies also with it when it proposes to inter-
fere to prevent this cruel persecution, and to put
an end to this outrage upon the family affections
of mankind. Looking only to the protest itself,
and disregarding the stilted nonsense with which
its presentation was accompanied, it is undoubtedly
a paper which deserves a respectful attention from
any English Minister. Lord John Russell fully
felt this ; but he also felt that, however strong
might be tho indignation of Lord John Russell,
the individual wrong offered but slender grounds
for the interference of the Foreign Secretary of
Great Britain. Lord John could say no more than
that it was a case in which all our feelings of what
was due to parents had been violated, but wherein
representations to the Papal Government would be
of no use whatever, and appeals to other Govern-
ments would be of uncertain effect.
This answer was sufficient for the immediate
purpose. 'Lord John Russell had the best of the
controversy with the deputation, but he has not
placed this matter upon its strongest ground before
Europe. Lord John must be well aware that,
grievous as this Mortara scandal may be, it is the
legitimate and necessary consequence of permitting
the existence in Europe of a mock Theocracy. The
European nations, Protestant as well as Catholic,
have concurred to make the head of a particular
Church the Sovereign of a particular State. The
Sovereign of Rome is the Archbishop of all Chris-
tendom. His first duty, his paramount office, is to
save souls. He is bound to believe, and all his
cardinals and clergy, who arc also his ministers and
his judges, are bound to believe, that a'l unbelievers
in the dogmas of his Church will infallibly incur
eternal perdition. In their eyes, the only chance
for Sir Culling Eardley' s son or for the Jew Mor-
tara's son was to catch him and baptise him. These
people sincerely believe that Sir Culling Eardley
and old Mortara are going the wrong way, just as
Sir Culling Eardley believes that the Pope is iden-
tical with " the mystery of iniquity." In baptising
the young Jew who was about to grow up an infidel
the nurse did what she considered a good, kind.
Christian act ; the priests did what they believed to
be a good act when they adopted the newly bap-
tised Jew and undertook to feed and teach him.
The Pope does -what he considers a good act when
he protects the priests in the custody of the bap-
tised Hebrew boy, and refuses to deliver him up to
parents who, in his opinion, would destroy his soul.
He could not have done otherwise than protect
this act of easy proselytism. He would have stul-
tified himself in the face of the Catholic world ; he
caused grief to all the devout members of his Church ;
he would have incurred the contempt of all his suf-
fragans ; he, even he the Pope, would have com-
mitted an awful crime, had he wilfully, under no
compulsion, and as a free agent, put this child out
of the Church and handed him forth to certain
damnation. How can we ask this ? How can Lord
John Russell tell the rulers of a Sovereign State
who honestly think thus, and by virtue of their
oaths and orders are bound thus to believe,—how
can Lord John Russell hope to make such persons
see that they are acting in disregard of the com-
mon rights of mankind and violating the prin-
ciples of natural justice ? It is not only the Pope
who thinks thus and acts thus. We should like
to interrogate all these archbishops and bishops,
and dukes and peers, and clergy and laity, as to
how many of them would protest against the de-
cision which deprived Shelley of the education of
his child upon the ground that in his custody it
would be brought up in principles tending. to its
eternal peril. This English example varies in
degree, but it is the same in principle. The inter-
ference with the paternal rights of the infidel poet
Was the act of an English Lord Chancellor, who
may be supposed to have wider views than those
of a small-sectary, and who would be shocked
out of his reasoning by nothing bat a lapse from
Christianity itself. But let us suppose that, as in
early times, a Churchman were. Chancellor, or let us
conceive that the Archbishop of Canterbury were,
by virtue of his office, chief Judge of Appeal in this
land, and that the Bishops were the Judges in Or-
clinary,—is it quite certain that we should not have
a series of decisions determining how far the sin of
schism can be committed without entailing peril of
eternal wrath ? And, when this had been settled,
would there be no danger that the Ecclesiastical
Judges would feel it their duty to remove the chil-
dren of Dissenters from the evil teaching of their
parents pro salute aninrce? Or take the recent case
of Alicia Race. Is it quite certain that an ecclesi-
astical tribunal would have handed that child over
to be taught what they must have believedsto be a
dangerous heresy? Or would they have been justi-
fied in conscience in so doing? Our Court of Queen's
Bench did this because it is a lay tribunal, and its
judges are sworn to administer the English law, and
not to obey the canons of this or of that Church.
But can any one say that the decision would have
been the same if the clergy in Convocation or the
Kirk of Scotland acting in General Assembly had
been called upon to decide that controversy ? So
with every sect. Give it temporal power, and, to
be consistent, it must persecute. When it ceases to
attempt to proselytize it surrenders its belief in its
own professed faith, or betrays an uncharitable in-
difference to the perdition of the rest of mankind.
To abuse the Pope for retaining this Jew child is
more unreasonable than to abuse a spider for en-
tangling a fly, or a cat for seizing upon a mouse.
Believing as the Pope is botind to believe, he must
think that the ' course that has been pursued is a
merciful course; having the power to protect, he is
compelled in conscience to protect,; it is his profes-
sion to believe, and his sovereign duty to enforce
that belief ; even the duty of persecution by fire
and sword only stops when the moral sense of the
age assumes a density of resistance equivalent to a
physical obstacle.
Yet the kidnapping a child in order to save his
soul is not the less a crime against civil society
because the kidnappers are actuated by defensible
motives. From the Pope's point of view, and from
that of his whole Church, whose opinions he could
not with impunity disregard—for even Popes have
been before now deposed—the whole affair is per-
fectly intelligible and perfectly defensible. But it
is no less a crime against nature and against all
human affections. The proper question, however,
is not why does the Pope do this ? but, why has
the l'ope the power to do this ? It is not the Pope

who doses this- great moral wrong, but they who
sustain him in power, knowing what use his con-
science will compel him to make of that power.
You compel him to represent certain dogmas, and
you arm him with sovereign power—can you con-
sistently express surprise that he is found using his
power to enforce his dogmas? In all other caws we
are careful to separate doctrinal speculation from
physical force. A clergyman is, before all things, a
man of peace. A judge is probably a man of strong
religious convictions, but he knows that he is ex-
pected to leave these at the door of his. court, and to
direct the physical force which moves at his com-
mand upon mere mundane principles of men's tem-
poral rights, upon which all can agree, and not of
their internal interests, upon which so many will
differ. Here is the evil, and here is the remedy.
The Mortara case, and anthousand other cases which
vary only in complexion from the Mortara case,
are the natural consequences of the temporal power
of the Pope. - Take away that temporal power, and
the mere theoretical belief of what it would be
proper for a magistrate to do under 7iven circum-
stances would be harmless. A little consideration
must, we are sure, convince many of the gentlemen
who have signed this protest that they have di-
rected their indignation against the effect when
they ought rather to have applied themselves to
remove the cause. If they had asked Lord John
Russell to use the influence of England towards
separating the temporal from the spiritual power
of the Pope, they would have proceeded logically to
the end they had in view. The present state of
Italy offers opportunities for effecting this object,
and' its attainment would do more than any other
event to untie the complications of the Italian ques-
tions. Many devout Catholics would aid zealously,
for they see in the sovereignty of the States of the
Church a scandal to the Catholic faith. The Ultra-
montane cry would be sharp arid loud, but it would
be short. At this moment it is quite upon the cards
that this unnatural union of Priest and King might
be divorced if all who wished s-) salutary an Euro-
pean reform knew their strength and would speak
out. If these noblemen and gentlemen and high
ecclesiastics would hope to work any practical good,
they muet ask for something more than a useless
r4:monstrance from an English Foreign Secretary.
They must use their influence to the purpose of
directing the diplomatic action of this country to-
wards the suppression of the temporal power of the
Popes.
Let
and in governmen
he
old ancl
capital dispenseof tl justice in
Central Caesars,
and let the Pope of Rome reign in the consciences
of all who form his Church. Then
the people will
be no longer oppressed, and the Po
pe will- be no

longer compelled to do injustice as a Prince that he
may perform his duty as a Priest. He will have no
secular power which his creed will compel him to
abase. He and his theocratic Government will no
longer be in the false position of being the arbiters
between orthodoxy and heresy, and of having to
decide as judges what as priests they must perforce
consider as cases of conscience.—Tinzes.

2HE PRINCE OF WALES.

Our young Heir-apparent is in the thoughts of
many to-day. Never had young Prince a more
=spleens birth-day, if the festival is to be judged
by the affection and happy anticipation it calls
forth. Our Prince is not, by character and train-
ing, likely to mistake the manifestations of this
great day of his life, nor to boast of the armour of
national loyalty which is investing him as if he had
already won victories by means of it, and made him-
self a noble fame by the use he had put it to. He
is modest and sensible enough to know very well
that it is in pure trust and lovingness that the
people bring him the tribute of their loyalty and
joy on his entering the region which, in his case,
lies between youth and manhood. It is a pecu-
liarity in his case—let us hope it will prove a pri-
vilege—that an interval of three years lies between
the ordinary state of minority and that of manhood.
Under certain circumstances of calamity to the
nation and its Royal family, it would have been ex-
pedient to avoid the evils of a regency by declaring
the heir to be of age at eighteen. As it is, he re-
mains under guardianship till one-and-twenty.
That is, he will not till then take his seat in the
House of Peers, and his acts will be those of a
minor. It is impossible, however, that, under his
peculiar conditions, he can be reg trded, or can re-
gard himself, as the boy under governance that
other youths of his age are. If lie could, under
other circumstances, have been man enough to reign
in his own name, he must now be man enough to
show his quality by his life, his habits, pursuits,
and manners. The feeling of the nation is, in fact,
that he comes of age to-day, the dry facts of the
case notwithstanding; and the curiosity, interest,
and enthusiasm throughout the country are vivid
accordingly. There is the strongest desire to know
what he means to do ; how he means to use his posi-
tion ; how he regards the life that lies before him.
For the few who speculate from the evidences in
existence, there are multitudes who frame their ex-
pectations on their own notions and prepossessions.
It is pretty clear that the Prince of Wales is.
exempt from the curse of most princes—listlessness,
from want of necessary occupation and natural in-
terests. Activity is the rule and habit of the Royal
household, happily for the children, who are trained
to work while they work, and play while they play.
We see nothing of indolence and its caprices in any
member of the family ; and thus the dangers of
opening manhood are diminished to the lowest
point to the young Princes. If former Princes of
Wales had had such a training, and such a home as
ours of the present day, their worst sins and most
perplexing troubles might have been escaped. By
being accustomed to be employed and interested,
our Prince now has the power to choose among
vari ms occupations, and to expand his life with a
diversity of interests. During the next three years
he will be indicating the direction in which his
abilities and tastes chiefly tend, and will be mak-
ing for himself a substantial existence under cir-
cumstances Which debar him from the ordinary
devotion to a profession or career. He is to be in
some sense a soldier; he is, in some sense, a student;
ho must be more or less devoted to the study of law
and government, and more or less actively inte-
rested in politics—the large, deep politics of all
human society. A long period of vigorous life, we
trust, lies before him, which he must fill up for
himself with duties and interests. His own welfare
and that of multitudes depend on whether he can'
regard his occupations before coming to the throne
as no less imperative than those which press on a
ruling sovereign. If he can see that the prepara-
tion for the highest order of duties is as obligatory
as the duties themselves, his life will be blessed,'
happen what may. He cannot pursue the military
profession like a young officer who has active ser-
vice in view ; but he can study the profession as a
man ought who is to be responsible to the State
for which the army exists. He cannot pursue the
law like a man who may one day be Lord Chancel-
lor ; but he may bend his best faculties to appre-
hend its spirit and principles as one who is hereafter
to rule by and under the law. He cannot go through
a complete academical course at one University, and
feel himself a corporate member of it, like the Ox-
ford and Cambridge men who fill the letirned pro-
fessions ; but he is already beginning to understand
their mode of life, and their views and interests.
More than that, there is nothing to prevent his
having the advantage over all the preceding Princes
of his race in a knowledge and love of literature
such as refines the mind, and enlarges the intellectual
capacity and sympathy of educated men. The habit
of feeling amongst the uneducated children of rank
• and fortune is easily and widely understood; and
• especially that of Sovereigns ignorant of literature.
As there is no royal road to knowledge, so there is
no royal entrance to the region of serenity, trust
and enjoyment to which intellectual discipline and
accomplishment are the key. Hence the avoidance
of the society of schclars and authors by the vulgar
run of princes, who cannot bear the sense of infe-
riority, and feel, in the presence of accomplished
intellects, that their guests are in possession of a
wide world of great interests which they themselves
know nothing about, and who avoid the uncomfort-
able sensation by keeping literature and its votaries
at a distance. Widely different from this may and
will be our young Prince's habit of mind. His
father's comprehension of the nature of science and
interest in literature must have influenced his ideas
from infancy ; and he has been well introduced into
scholarship since he ceased to be a child. The way
is open before him—the opportunity, the leisure,
the frsedmis—to strengthen, solace, and delight his
mind with literature, if he is so disposed. That he
may be so is infinitely to be desired, firstfor his own
sake, that he may find the blessing of comradeship
in the reahn of mind, and next, for the sake of the
nation, which has the closest interest in the expan-
sion of the mind of its rulers. For literature itself
and its professors it is of less consequence than for
the other parties concerned ; for their own life is
sufficient for them.

BeLides these objects, there must always be en-
grossing interests in regard to the passage of events
at home and abroad. The great political movements
abroad, the vast social progress going on at home,
which occupy us all, from year to year, must be of
surpassing interest to one who will sooner or later
bear his share in the one, and preside over the other,
and will have meantime his duties as a peer of the
realm. He may exercise a certain amount of admi-
nistrative power in his Duchy of Cornwall, ere long.
There a.:e still other objects with which he might
fill up a busy, useful, improving, and diversified life
not devoid of good old English amusements, and
full, we may hope, in due course, of domestic at-
tachments. In the choice to which, from this day
forward, he must be tending, we shall see how much
we may hope and rejoice in for him and the great
nation whose welfare is closely bound up in his.
Thus far, all is bright and gladsome. It is a common
delight to the whole people to see the period of their
Sovereign's vigorous health and popular rule em-
ployed in the fit and careful training of her natural
successor. The stronger the promise of a long pre-
sent reign the finer is also the promise of a worthy
future one. Our Sovereign's throne is a great spec-
tacle to all nations, from its being the safest in the
world, fixed as it is on the firm basis of constitu-
tional liberty. Various fates seem to be lying in
wait for other thrones, within the present genera-
tion. Our hope and confident anticipation is that
our foundation will hold good through all tempests
abroad and transitions at home ; and one ground of
our security is that we have a Sovereign who un-
derstands at once the gravity and -the cheerfulness
of constitutional government, and who brings up
her heir in a full sense of the same truth. The
popular emotion to-day means, throughout the
land, long life and a happy reign to mother and
son.--Daily Netvs.

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a satisfactory answer to the question, " Is Consumption In-
curable," in an original article by Dr. DENIS CRONIN,
35, Bruton-street, Berkeley-square, W. Published in
the "household Physician," in numbers, one penny each,
by G.. Berger, 19, llolywell-street, Strand. From 1 to 9 now
ready.

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