The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-14 00:00:00

THE SUN' LONDON, SATURDAY- EVENING, SRPTEMBER 14, 1861

while you can please French audiences by such
speeches as these, we think it wise to attend to
our navy also.

Mr. ROEBUCK'S model Parliament at Vienna has
just taken in hand the subject of Religious Liberty.
A subject every Englishman thinks he quite under-
stands, and he does, too, practically; for he knows
that he may not only think, but do and say all he
pleases in regard to religion, may adopt the most
fantastical notions, may even build a palace if he
chooses, like a late wealthy banker, for.,the recep-
tion of the daily expected Saviour at his second
Advent, and no one will dream ofj interfering with
him. Even the illiterate Ranter may now fre-
quently assert his apostolic succession against the
well-comported Rector or Vicar ; the squire and the
large farmer having in many places got a notion
that however little methodism may be to their own
taste, it is yet an excellent thing for turning out
steady labourers ; that the "Brimstone", preaching
is, in truth, the best recipe for tendencies to idleness
and poaching.
The document on which we have to offer a few
remarks represents the views not of the Govern-
ment at Vienna, but of that portion of the Reichs-
rath to which the consideration of the subject was
remitted, and is, of course, to be received as their
recommendation to the Government and the rest of
the Reichsrath. We may not be far wrong, if we
suppose that, as a bid for popular favour, it would
be willingly accepted by the Government at the
present moment. The Chairman of the Committee
was the Dr. SMOLKA who spoke so well for the
Hungarians in the recent debate on their conduct.
The most remarkable result of its adoption would
be that it would completely smash the Con-
cordat, as it would place all the confessions on a
footing of legal equality.
The Report proposes first to guarantee " full free-
dom of creed and conscience to every man"—a
proposal which strikes us in England as offering a
guarantee, for what no one can deprive another of; but
we must remember the powers claimed by the domi-
nant faith in Austria and in other Catholic coun-
tries. The Inquisition is possibly, therefore, alluded
to, and the clause may be a guarantee that it shall
never be restored. The addition that "no one
shall be forced to declare his religious conviction"
looks that way. They have, we believe, a religious
census in Austria; we may ask, after our experi-
ence of this year, whether a person will be required
on that occasion to acknowledge his belief. The
next clause certainly points to the existence of
religious restrictions which we should hardly have
expected. It proposes that " the domestic exercise
of religion should be free to all." It would seem,
therefore, that in some instances religion as a family
affair was not secure against interruption by the
authorities.

Public worship follows—nearly all over the con-
tinent, the Governments, however liberal, seem to
think they have a right to supervise, at least,
meetings for this purpose. This results not only
from desire to include worship itself amongst the
subjects of their superintendence ; but from fear
lest the meeting for worship should be abused as an
occasion for plotting political schemes. The pro-
posal is that every " legally recognised Church and
Religious Society" should be " assured the right of
public worship." And this is to be subject to the
rules necessary for the security of public order and
tranquillity." The last limitation probably aims
at nothing more than purely police regulations,
such as Continentals, even the Liberals, all think
essential. The former limitation seems, however,
to point to the few well-known confessions ; as,
besides the Roman Catholic, the Lutherans, Cal-
-1 vinists, Moravians, Greek Church, and perhaps,

some others.
The next clause is the one which, in regard to
the extent of religious liberty is most important.
Lord LYNDHURST'S last act conferred the full pro-
tection of the laws on any assembly for religious
purposes, wherever it might assemble and what-
ever the religious views of the worshippers. We can
hardly think that the Vienna Parliament—superior to
our own in some points, Mr. ROEBUCK says—would
equal it in following Lord LYNDHURST thus far.
When, therefore, it proposes to " grant the same
protection and rights to all churches and religious
associations," and that " no religion is to be especially
privileged by the State," we fear we must under-
stand it as meaning the Churches and Associations
" legally recognised," according to the former para-
graph. Even this is, however, a great stride to
make at once. Indeed the member for Sheffield
would tell us that it far surpassed our own prac-
tice ; since, in this country, Episcopalians in Eng-
land and Ireland, and Presbyterians in Scotland,
are " especially privileged by the State." If, there-
fore, it is not proposed to put literally all sects on a
level, that is all which have arisen or may arise out
of the pale of the legalized ones, between the latter
it creates an equality unknown in a land which
boasts of complete religious liberty.
Several clauses follow, apparently designed to
exemplify "the rules" before spoken of, as necessary
for tranquillity and public order. Some of these
are such as, we should all think, undue intermed-
dling by the secular authorities—neither Church
clergymen nor Dissenting ministers would submit
to them here ; still we imagine they are only such
as all parties would think necessary in all the
States of Austria, and generally in Germany—they
seem the results rather of their habits of adminis-
tration than of any design to be vexatious. One
of the principal rules seems to correspond almost
entirely with the arrangement, by which the Assem-
bly of the Church of Scotland requires the presence
of the Queen's Commissioner.

The laws for marriage it is proposed to place on
a sound basis. As we understand them, they
are equivalent to the proposal of Archbishop
WHATELY—that the State should prescribe one
civil form for all, from which all the civil protec-
tion and advantages the State can guarantee should
flow, leaving to all persons to add such religious
service as they think right. There can be no doubt
that this is the sound principle, and that it would
simplify a great many of the questions relating to
marriage. Different sects could then disallow
or recognise certain marriages according to their
distinctive tenets, while the Civil Government
could bestow the civil rights of property and
legitimacy on all who conformed to the civil mode
of Registration. Even the vexed question of
marrying a deceased wife's sister could easily be
settled on this basis. The church or sect which
choose to pronounce it sinful could act accord-
ingly, in its religious proceedings, but it would
no longer be able to inflict civil penalties on the
more numerous Christians who think such mar-
riages lawful and commendable.

What course will be taken with this liberal re-
port, we cannot yet tell. No intimation of the
-views of the Government has appeared. The pre-
sent Reichsrath is indeed not in a condition to pass
laws for the Empire, although the EMPEROR declares
that it is. The Representatives of Transylvania
Ld Croatia, as well as of Hungary, are yet absent,
an id the Assembly will be felt to have no universal
authority. The Government may, however, be in-
elin Td to accept and carry through these, for
Austria, very liberal proposals, by way of
saying to the recusant Hungarians—" See what a