The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17, 1868.

MR: ROEBUCK ON CAPITAL AND LABOUR CANON MOUFANG ON THE PAPACY.

The Sheffield Independent publishes a letter written by
Mr. Roebuck, M.P., to one of his constituents who had
called the hon. gentleman's attention to his having omitted
all reference to the sins of capital in the course of his
recent lecture at Sheffield. Mr. Roebuck says : " For a
moment consider the circumstances in which I was
speaking. The audience was one of working men of
a town in which there had lately been horrid disclo-
sures of murder and cruelty, committed by men of
the very class which I was addressing. These men had
lately had an opportunity of bringing charges, and, if
possible, of substantiating them against the possessors
of capital. No such charge was preferred, and my belief
is that none such, if made, could have been substantiated.
My mind was by the nature of things directed
to the subject occupying all men's minds, viz., the
wrong views entertained respecting the nature of labour
and capital. When I had explained what these errors
were, I had really done all, as I conceived, that I was
expected to do ; and I illustrated the principles I had
laid down by one striking instance. I stated broadly
what I thought ought to be the aim of the Legislature in
any future legislation, and there I left the matter. You
compel me to talk of myself—l reluctantly yield to the
necessity. I ask you, then, to look at my career
as a politician. Is there anything in it which has
been caused or brought about by consideration
of self ? Have I ever flattered or attempted to
cajole the people ? When I have thought them wrong
have I not said so? When I thought them right, have I
not at every risk boldly supported and defended them? But
you say ' that more constant intercourse with the rich and
influential may have weaned your sympathies from the
hardy sons of toil.' At what time do you state this supposi-
tion r Just when I have given the strongest evidence of my
confidence in and sympathy with those `hardy sons of toil.'
My influence has been strenuously employed in inducing
the House of Commons to give those hardy sons of toil
more power in the government of the country than
they ever yet enjoyed. And there are not few who
will tell you that that influence was not wholly power-
less in bringing about the passing of the last Reform
Bill. But your supposition in its very foundation is
incorrect. My intercourse with the rich and influential
has not been more constant of late years than through
my whole life. My sympathy with the working men
was not the result of association with them, but it arose
from careful study and industrious investigation. My habits
have been through life the same ; my fortunes have not
changed. Experience, I hope, has corrected errors. Age
has not chilled my sympathies, and the temptations which
failed to influence the young man will not make me
swerve from what I believe the path of duty now that my
career is coming to its end.—l remain, with great sin-
cerity, yours very truly, " J. A. ROEBUCK "

At the great meeting at Cologne, under the
presidency of the Archbishop, and with unani-
mous assent of the representatives of all classes
and of every district in the Rhenish and West-
phalian provinces, it was resolved that hence-
forth, on the part of the Catholic people, the
following programme should be adopted :
First, that the territories which the Holy
Father still possessed should be maintained un-
diminished and defended against every attack;
secondly, that all the territories which the
Revolution had despoiled him of must be re-
turned ; thirdly, that the States of the Church
thus restored should be placed under the guar-
dianship of the law of nations, and their neu-
tralitybe recognized by all the States of Europe;
and fourthly, that these demands should be
brought forward and enforced on every occa-
sion that presented itself, and in every manner
that should be deemed suitable, until Govern-
ments themselves again recognize the stand-
point of right, and declare the neutrality of
the States of the Church. It was then moved
that this demand of the Catholic people of
Prussia should be made public. Firm con-
fidence was expressed on many sides that
such a demand as theirs could not be long dis-

regarded, and, perhaps, indeed, would be sooner
conceded than many imagined. The meeting,
which was held during two days, was very
numerously attended, and the most determined
spirit of loyalty and devotion to the Holy
Father was manifested, both in the speeches
that were delivered in the course of the two days

and in the reception they met with from the
crowded audiences. The Archbishop of Cologne
made a very impressive speech on behalf of the
rights of the Holy See.
The meeting at Cologne was a worthy con-
clusion to the meetings which have recently
been held in the larger cities. The movement is
now spreading over the whole country, where
similar meetings and manifestations among the
rural populations attest most vividly that the
idea of the Papacy, represented by the Holy
Father as Sovereign of a free, independent
State, still lives as strong as ever in the Catho-
lic peoples, and will be upheld by Catholic
peoples from age to age.
Perhaps the most able and the most charac-
teristic speech at this meeting was that deli-
vered by Canon Moufang, of Mayence. Canon
Moufang is highly esteemed throughout Catho-
lic Germany as one of the most zealous up-
holders of the civil sovereignty and the spiri-
tual authority of the Pope against the time-
serving or half-hearted policy of the minimizers
who are, unfortunately, to be met with in
some quarters of Catholic Germany.
We translate the following report of Canon
Moufang's speech as we find it in the Kt /-
11ische Bliitter :—"Canon Moufang, of Mayence,
opened his magnificent and enthusiastic speech,
which lasted nearly an hour, and was repeat-
edly interrupted by vociferous applause, by
howfo rg l
toirlieo uis, i itg hlevsats
stpo
ir
id otubaal t t lien
tfeorre
st
thse.
sCariunrgch,
These are glorious days, he said, these days of
battle—glorious days for him who has eyes to
see what God is doing. He is confident God
intends to raise the world from its present de-
gradation to a new spiritual life. Such meet-
ings as those of to-day are an evidence of a new
movement ; for, as nothing degrades a nation
more, as nothing inflicts upon the world more
injury and mischief, than low views and false
ideas, so nothing elevates people more than
when they allow themselves to be mastered
and led by great ideas. History proves this.
England a hundred, and even fifty years ago,
was not only rich, but great, for it had a policy
which was based on principles ; it possessed
statesmen who were guided by great ideas.
But now things are different. Cotton and
coal are the rulers. England's policy is now
only framed according to the interests of trade
and commerce. Old England's voice is now
but of little worth in the councils of nations ;
I.its ministers are become the obsequious ser-
vants of mercantile interests. In France, the
Empire of 1852 promised to introduce a period
of prosperity, but entered on a false path by
encouraging, as it did, luxury and financial
gambling. Its policy has promoted neither its
honour nor its greatness. In 1859 it entered
upon an unjust war, and now the most crafty
of all cunning rulers is grown so weak as to
have to throw himself into ' our arms,' to look
for help to ' us, Ultramontanes.' In America,
there was a ()Teat and glorious union of
b
thirty-
six states ; but the spirit of Washington, the
spirit of freedom, moderation, and honesty,
is vanished. Gain is become the highest aim.
Hence the proud Union is come to this, that,
after a long civil war, half of the nation exists
deprived of every right, and the whole of North
American freedom is in jeopardy. During the
whole of the 18th century, in the most civilized
States of Europe, no great idea, no faith, was
visible in public life, therefore was Europe
trampled in the dust of the French Revolution.
How is it that Austria is to-day so weak and
mean spirited as to allow its rulers to hold them-
selves neutral in the great question of the day,
the Roman question ? Why, but because, for
forty years, the people have been so treated as
if eating and drinking were the chief things
in life. But a people without ideas deserves
reverses, and is ripe for slavery. How true
is it that low views and false ideas destroy
a people, but it is also just, as true, that true
and noble ideas elevate and regenerate a people.
In the tenth and eleventh centuries the people
of Christendom had fallen into a degraded
state ; the salt of the earth had lost its savour;
princes encouraged lowmindedness in the
clergy. Then it was that God inspired the
great idea of the crusades, and faith revived,
morals were purified ; and art, commerce, in-
dustry, municipal and political freedom sprang
up in the following centuries. And what took
place in our fathers' time ? When Germany
was trodden underfoot, when our Kings did
homage in his anti-chambers to the Son of the
Revolution, God kindled in the people the idea
of its independence, of its rights, and of its
national existence, andwhat did this idea effect?
The throwinc, off of the yoke of the stranger
was the leasC; but exhausted Germany—how
did it arise ? What then happened, may God
effect again. False ideas now govern all
things ; but where the spirit of God bloweth
there error will be wafted away, and men will
be inspired by the truth. This is the signifi-
cation of the war which Pius IX-. is waging,
and which we wage under his head. It is not
a question of a few square miles of territory,
but of great ideas, which the Holy Father re-
presents. Among these ideas, the chief is that
of justice. Justice is the foundatio4 of all
States. It has been said that force is more
than right ; but right is right with God in
Heaven, and wrong is wrong. Where are the
Governments who represent these ideas of jus-
tice ? One alone is there who represents right,
and that is Pius IX. He represents not
there iensaga. t
hGeAo God
ioi
only his own right, but the rights of all. This
idea of justice must survive, so truly as that
the true value of spiritual interests. Of such
otslaonregeg.rivaenny under-
as
tna niddi to work
and money-making, to the acquisition of ma-
terial possessions, to trade and commerce. One
there is again who does not do this—who does
tnrsl dhthehoaauvsgennh. Another idea is
not allow mankind to be degraded —who
--w o up-
holds spiritual interests—the Pope. A further
primary idea is the independence of spiritual
authority. In heathendom, when the civil
and spiritual authority were confounded, free-
dom of conscience was unknown. Christianity
has placed both in independence side by side,
and for fifteen hundred years they remained
distinct until the Reformation set up the prin-
ciple. Whoso was ruler of the land, had the
right of determining its religion. Hence comes
the gradually increasing irreligiousness of the
educated classes, who do not like having their
religion proscribed to them by the civil autho-
rity. There must be authority in matters of
religion, but this authority, must be free and
independent. This independence is the motive
of the present momentous struggle. And
finally, in the sequence of great ideas is the
idea of the unity and community of all the