The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-18 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, T UESDAY E VENIN (4, FEBRUARY 18, 1868.

to find for us what is lost. Nor whether it is
best to say our prayers quickly or slowly— a
point to which he refers. We have our own
very decided opinions about these and other
kindred matters, and it is possible we might
not quite agree with Mr. Capes in all respects;
but let that pass. Suppose these Italian ideas
to be an unmitigated evil, and Mr. Capes and
the poor nuns very badly treated, what on
earth has it to do with the Temporal Power ?
It was not the Temporal Power which brought
St. Peter to Rome. It was not the Temporal
Power which established Rome as the seat of
his successors, as the great Florentine sings—

La quale e'l quale, a valor dir lo vero
Fur' stabiliti per lo loco santo
U'siede it successor del maggior Pireo.

We really forgot that Mr. Capes does not
like Italian ideas till near the end of our quo-
tation.

To return—the Temporal Power did no
make Rome Italian.

If, then, Rome must be Italian, and if the
Supreme See is providentially fixed at Rome,
the overthrow of the Temporal Power would
not make Rome's influence one whit less
Italian than it is. The Pope must rule the
Church from somewhere on this earth. God
has fixed him in Italy. Then it is God, not the
Temporal Power, who has exposed His Church
to the " Italian communications" so bewailed
by Mr. Capes.
For some 1,500 years has Rome ceased to be
the seat of any secular sovereignty. For
some 1,000 years and more has she been the
seat of the Civil Sovereignty of the august
Vicars of Christ. All through these centuries
has the Church been exposed to this influence,
under which she has converted nations, revived
and fostered civilization, saved whole peoples,
and formed modern Europe. Is it not perfectly
ludicrous to think of contrasting the personal
crotchets of any private individual, however
talented, with this vast and gigantic and world-
wide experience of ages ?
But Mr. Capes is not sensible of the absur-
dity, and with a confidence worthy of a better
cause, he commences his concluding paper as
if his own opinions were conclusively estab-
lished.:—" Considering," he says, " the de-
moralizing effects of the Temporal Power,
together with the serious practical inconve-
niences which it involves, it is a matter of
surprise with many persons that a single-
minded Pontiff like Pius IX. should cling to it
with all the obstinacy of the most worldly of
prelates. He comes to the conclusion that in
this respect " the Pope is made the victim of
that well-known moral complaint which Roman
theologians denounce as scrupulosity." And
having thus settled this perplexing point, he
bids farewell to his readers, after observing—
"lt is possible, indeed, that were the Temporal
Power abolished by violence, the cessation of
the demoralizing influence of a secularized class
of churchmen might permit the growth of more
enlightened ideas among the priesthood gene-
rally, and that the next generation would con-
done the principles of revolution which the
present generation detests." Absit ! Absit !
There can be no question as to the real
motive which actuates Pius IX., and as to the
true explanation of his unflinching attitude in
maintaining the Temporal Power. It is none
other than the consideration which Mr. Capes
dismisses contemptuously as one of the " old
political common-places," namely, the neces-
sity of independent sovereignty for the con-
tinued exercise of free and independent and
universal spiritual action. Pius IX. has said
it again and again, and he is not given to
insisting on mere common-places. We prefer
his judgment to that of :11r. Capes. He has
said it formally and authoritatively, as well as
on more ordinary occasions. We. have our-
selves heard him declare in public that the
Temporal Power was a cross (una very croce),
but that it was necessary for the free and
proper exercise of his spiritual functions.
We all know what is meant by the word
" necessary." To God nothing is necessary.
He can, and, if need be, He will maintain His
Church, as well without the Temporal Power
as with it. But he has made it a necessity
to us, and we can no more cast away that neces-
sity than we can cast away our daily food.
God could have saved the world without
the cross, and when He hung upon it they
told Him mockingly to come down, but He
heeded not. God could support the Church
without the Temporal Power, which His Vicar
has declared to be a cross. But God has placed
His Vicar on that cross and on that throne,
and neither the voice of the mocker, nor the
threat of the spoiler, can move that Vicar's
will. God's grace is with him. He shares his
Master's cross, and like his Master will he be
to the end—Obediens usque ad mortem. And
it may be that, like his Master, and in his
Master's power, Pius IX. will save the world
from the impending ruin which threatens her.
Obediens usque ad mortem. Westminster
Gazette.

CONGRESS.

SENATE.

Jan. 24.—The unfinished business of the House
Supplementary Reconstruction Bill was taken up,
and Mr. Morton, of Indiana, spoke at length on
the subject. There was nothing remarkable in his
speech, except a shout from the gallery, " I move
we adjourn," the mover being arrested on the
motion of Mr. Thayer.
Jan. 25.—The Senate was not in Session.

Jan. 27.—Mr. Ferry introduced a bill to provide
for the importation of dye stuffs free of duty.
After a debate on removing the political disabilities
from Governor Patton, of Alabama, the Supple-
mentary Reconstruction Bill was taken up. Mr•
Wilson, during the 13 years he had been in the
Senate, had heard the demurring Davis, the blus-
tering Tombs, the plausible Mason, the wily
Slidell, but he had never listened to a more wicked
speech than that of Mr. Doolittle on Thursday.
Under the policy of the President murder and riot
had reigned supreme in the South ; under that of
Congress and the protection of the army so maligned
by the Senator there was there to-day more peace,
quiet, and order than for a century before. That
policy was swiftly working to its end, and the Se-
nator and the Administration for which he spoke
knew that within 90 days those States would all be
here with Constitutions equal to the best in the
country. Mr. Johnson discussed the subject in its
legal bearing. The Constitution went into opera-
tion in 1789, and the same year the law organizing
the Judiciary
under the Constitution and
was passed giving to the Court juris-
diction upon all questions of law and equity arie-
inglaws of the United
States. He cited numerous decisions of the Su-
preme Court, in which no judge had ever expressed
any doubt of its power. Chief Justice Marshall, it
is true, had delivered a learned and elaborate opi-
nion on the powers and jurisdiction of the Court.
Hamilton believed that liberty itself was involved
in this jurisdiction ; writers and Federalists had
taken the same ground and instances were cited
by him from Chancellor Kent, wherein the
jurisdiction of the Courts over the legislation of
Congress is distinctly affirmed. Yet in one of the
Bills now on the table it was proposed to deny to
this Court the power conferred upon it, and to
make the legislation of Congress conclusive upon
the people and on the country. Mr. Johnson re-
butted the arguments of Senator Morton. Gover-
nor Patton's Bill was then again taken up after he
concluded. While Mr. Hendricks was speaking
hej was interrupted from the gallery with a cry,
" That's so, my lad," and S 9 violently did the
speaker resist ejection that considerable disturbance
was caused, after which the Senate adjourned.
Jan. 28.—Mr. Edmonds introduced a Bill to re-
, gulate procedures in cases of impeachment, and to
enforce the orders of the Senate in such cases, and
Mr. Paterson: an addition to the Act regulating the
tenure of certain civil offices. It was a substitute
for the Bill lately introduced by him, and he would
call it up to-morrow. On the Supplemental Recon-
struction Bill being taken up, Mr. Frelinghuysen up-
held the course of Congress, and denounced the oppo-
sition of the President. lie maintained the supremacy
of Congress, and asserted that the President had
no more right to send a Message to Congress we*