The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-18 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND THE POPE.

(From the Times.)
The position of England with regard to the pre-
sent question between the Pope and his revolted
subjects is exceedingly simple, and admits of being
stated in a few words. The revolt is the obvious
result of the war into which it pleased the Em-
perors of Franc:: and Austria to enter, contrary
to the earnest advice and remonstrances of Eng-
land. It has been caused, also, by the great
uncertainty which has been cast over Italian
politics by the Treaty of Villafranca, with which
England had nothing whatever to do, and by the
long delay of the negotiations of Zurich, over which
England had no control. These things have given
the discontented populations of the Legations an
opportuaity to shake off a Government they detest,
and to choose a Government which they prefer.
England has had no share in this movement. Up
to the present moment she has been an impartial
spectatress of events the origin of which she dis-
approved, and the results of which she has not pro•
!noted. With the spiritual power of the Pope she
has nothing to do. His temporal power she re-
gards just as she would the temporal power of any
other European Sovereign—as a matter, not ,of
divine right, but depending on the wishes of the
people over whom that power is exercised. She
olaims no higher origin for her own monarchy, and
she is not disposed to admit to other nations what
she does not claim for herself. All that England
has hitherto done in the matter is to declare that
she will be no party to a Congress assembled for
the purpose of forcing expelled Sovereigns back
upon reluctant nations, and that she recognises the
right of the Roman people to choose their own
Government, just as she recognises it in the case of
Tuscany, Parma, Modena, or France. This is the
position, simple, consistent, and logical, which
England occupies with reference to the Pope aid
the people of the Legations.
This much having been premised, we shall be
the better able to understand the letter of Dr.
Cullen which was read at the meeting of the Young
Men's Catholic Society in Dublin, of which he is
the President. We are afraid that his presidential
duties must have been very negligently discharged
if the Young Men's Catholic Society really stands
in need of all the information which Dr. Cullen

has thought necessary to impart to it.,. He begins
from the very beginning; from the "rock" upon
which the Church is built, and the power of the
keys given to St. Peter, and the persecution of
Nero. These are not matters for controversy in a
newspaper, and we should be the more blameable
for discussing them because the policy of England
towards Rome cannot properly be described as
Catholic policy, but rather as a policy, founded
on principles of abstract justice and universal
applicability, common to Catholic and Protestant
alike. We rest our defence upon grounds on which
Roman Catholics, as well as Protestants, may and
do agree with us, and we will not narrow down
the question to the limits of a theological wrangle.
Let it by all means be conceded that Constanti-
nople was conquered by the Turks because the
Greeks held that the third person of the Trinity
proceeded from the first, instead of the first and
second. Let us grant to Dr. Cullen, who, having
lived in Rome many years, must be a judge of
such things, that Sweden, and Norway because the
most Protestant, are the most corrupt countries in
the world, and that if England were reconciled to
the Holy See there would be no poisonings, no child-
murders, no ignorance, no barbarism within her
borders. We are not careful to answer Dr. Cullen
in this matter. The question, happily, is not
whether England, Norway, or Sweden shall return
to the Church of Rome, or whether the Greeks by
renouncing their heresy would deliver themselves
from the domination of the Turks ; but whether we
should stand aside with perfect impartiality, and
leave the Pope and his revolted subjects to fight it
out. Neither will we be led into the inquiry, so
kindly proposed for us by Dr. Cullen, whether
there are not certain matters in our own polity
which need reform, because, were our own need of
reform ever so urgent, it would not justify us in
forcing the Pope upon subjects unwilling to obey
him. One word only we will say in passing. Dr.
Cullen recommends us to abolish the Protestant
Church in Ireland. Twenty-five years ago that
was the cry of the Liberal party. Why is it not
the cry of the Liberal party now ? Let Dr. Cullen,
Cardinal Wiseman, Dr. Mac Hale, and the other
clerical agitators answer ; for assuredly it is to
them, and to them only, that this remarkable
change of public opinion is due. Let them show
themselves a little more fit to use the power they
already possess before they come to the people
whom they traduce and the Government they
repudiate to ask for more. _ _ _

• Then we have the argument that, unless the
Pope have an independent State, the election
would not be free, the appointment of Bishops
would not be free, there would be no Cardinals and
no Roman Catholic missions. To this we answer—
See ye to that. If you have chosen for yourselves
a religion which really requires as a condition of its
existence the perpetuation of the most odious
tyranny, it is natural that you should wish to per-
petuate a tyranny to which you would not for a
moment submit yourselves; but it is not natural
that we who are not of your religion, or
that those
who, though of your religion, do not believe in this
odious alliance between the Word of God and the
wickedness of man, should give any assistance to
your efforts. But, says Dr. Cullen, there is no
tyranny. The Pope is the best of men, the Cardi-
nals are without fault, and, if there be one better
than another, it is the seraphic Antonelli. If the
"young men" arc not young enough to believe this,
Dr. Cullen refers thorn to the works of Mr. Francis
Maguire and of Dr. Patrick Kenrick, Roman Catho-
lic Bishop of Baltimore, whereby these things will
appear. We certainly do not concur in this view.
But it matters not what our opinion is, nor yet what
is the opinion of Mr. Francis Maguire, nor what is
the opinion of Dr. Patrick Kenrick, nor yet what
is the opinion of Dr. Cullen himself. The question
of Papal misgovernment is a question, not for Irish-
men, not for Englishmen, not for Americans, but for
those whose existence Dr. Cullen does not conde-
scend to recognise—the inhabitants of the Papal
States. The destiny of a nation ought to be deter-
mined, not by the opinions of other nations, but by
the opinion of the nation itself. To decide whether
they are well governed or not, or rather whether the
degree of extortion, corruption, and cruelty to
which they are subject is sufficient to justify armed
resistance, is for those who live under that Govern-
ment—n.
in Govern-
ment—not for those who, being exempt from its
oppression, feel a sentimental or a theological inte-
rest its continuance. A large portion of Christen-
dom believes that the Pepe is the infallible head of
the Church, but it does not also believe that, together
with the power of the keys, the Pope received the
power of the x ack and of the scourge—the right to sell
justice, and to enrich himself on the famine and
misery of his subjects. A man may be a good
Roman Catholic without being prepared to assert
that the same Power which gave to St. Peter and
his successors the absolute government of the
Church handed over to them some millions of the

human race to be preyed upon and despoiled accord-
ing to their good will and pleasure. It may be in-
convenient to the Cardinals to forego their salaries,
but, after all, the Cardinals are not the only people
in the world whom we ought to consider ; and,
though fanatics may believe that the Church exists
for the sake of the Pope, they will hardly persuade
us that the people of the States of the Church were
ms de for the sole use and gratification of their
temporal Sovereign.

DEATH WHILE COURTING.—On Monday a coro-
ner's inquest was held at Mahon upon the body of John
Atkinson, who had fallen down dead on the Saturday night
previous. Deceased was a farm servant and had attended
the Malton hiring, and previous to returning, had walked
with a young woman whom he was courting to the outskirts
of the town. He suddenly fell, knocking his companion
down also, and died instantaneously. Verdict, " Died by
the visitation of Giod."—Nanclicster Guardian,