The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-11 00:00:00

S. THOMAS A BECKET.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)
At the present moment, when the merits of
the great saint whose life is here faithfully
recorded, are being variously canvassed by the
Protestant and infidel press, such a volume as
that which Mrs. Hope has given us, is exceed-
ingly welcome. It is compiled, as the author
tells us, from the "Life and Letters of S.
Thomas," by the Rev. Dr. Giles; the "Remains
of the Rev. R. H. Froude ;" and the " Life
and Martyrdom of S. Thomas," by the Rev.
John Morris. The work is admirably got up,
and the interest of the narrative never flags
from beginning to end. But it is to the well
chosen remarks of the Rev. Father Dalgairns
in the preface to which we would now specially
direct attention. "It ought not to be hard,"
he says, "to read the character of S. Thomas
of Canterbury, nor to understand for what
cause he shed his blood. Ranke, with simply
honest endeavour, has comprehended both.
Speaking of Henry, he says : 'He did not
choose to allow the Church freedom of election
to high ecclesiastical dignities; he would not
! permit her excommunications to proceed with-
; out the supervision of the State. Not only
I did he insist on the right of the civil tribunals
to judge ecclesiastics for great crimes, which
often would otherwise have been left unpun-
ished, but in the sphere of spiritual jurisdiction
he claimed for the State the right of being the
highest court of appeal, instead of the Pope.'
I' Of S. ThornyLs himself, the same historian
says : `Becket was not actuated by the same
unbending obstinacy which characterizes most
of the champions of the hierarchy.' All this
is quite clear and simple, and ought to be seen
by any one who takes the trouble to study
the question. S. Thomas died for the liberty
of the Church. It was only after great strug-
gles with himself, with early prejudices and
affections, that the Saint saw that nothing was
left for him but to lay down his life for the
cause of Christ and His Church. History alone
ought to enable even a Protestant to under-
stand at least the momentousness of the issue.
Henry wished practically to sever England
from the Holy See, and to cripple the spiritual
power of the Church—the only power on
earth, besides material force, which the King
and his wicked barons respected. Now,
wherever the Church of a country is enslaved
by the State, and separated from Rome, one of
two things follows. In a country like ours at
this day, which believes in no Church, the
State allows the widest and most ridiculous
licence of opinion. In a believing nation, on
the contrary, as England was then, the State
wields the authority of the Church for her
own purposes, and enslaves the intellect and
the soul of its subjects, as Russia does now.
It was to avert the latter degradation from
England that S. Thomas died.
" Now, really it is not too much to ask of
men who write on the subject to see that this
was something worth dying for, even though
they may prefer the present supremacy of the
Queen, and its consequences. Above all, men
who profess to write history ought at least to
state that for which he did die, and not some-
thing totally different, or ludicrously short of
it. 'What lie shed his blood for was to pre-
vent England, Ireland, and half France from
becoming in the twelfth century what Mos-
cow is now : this was a cause worth dying
for. Most writers, on the contrary, and even
some. Catholics, represent hi z.-1 as contending
only for clerical immunity from secular tribu-
nals ; which was only the occasion, and a very
small, though not unimportant, part of the
contest. The worst offender, however—who
is most offensive, precisely because, from his