The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, SEPT :3113ER 15, 1868.

THE " 311SCR EA OP ITALY.

In a leading article commenting on the
speech of Archbishop Manning at the Beau-
mont Institution, and on a discourse of Mon-
signor Talbot at St. Mary's, Moorfields, con-
cerning St. Thomas a Becket and the cause
for which he was put to death, the Times asks
triumphantly how is it that there are " mis-
creants in Italy " where there has not been,
as in England, a Henry II and a Henry
VIII., and how comes it to pass that the first
instinct of Italy, in becoming master of its
destiny, was to follow in the footsteps of Henry
11. and Henry VIII. A fool may ask a question
in a few words, to answer which may cost a
wise man many. We have no doubt,_ however,
that Monsignor Talbot could readily explain
to the Times why it is that there are " mis-
creants in Italy" who assault the Papacy and
plunder the Church in the nineteenth century,
as Henry VIII. did in the sixteenth. A few
of the more obvious reasons why there are
" miscreants in Italy" who attack the Church,
we will state for the benefit of the Times. To
begin with its preliminary statement—ls it
true that Italy has been bound hand and foot
to the Pope, or to Princes in abject submission
to Papal Supremacy, and that consequently
the Holy See is responsible for the existence
of " miscreants in Italy ?" Has not Italy dur-
ing the present century been to a large extent
under the rule of French ReNolutionary pre-
fects, Bourbon Kings, and Austrian Archdukes ?
Who has not heard of the Leopoldine laws,
the offspring of Josephism, transplanted by
Austria to Italian soil ? Under-the operation
of these laws the minds of the Lombards were
alienated from the Papacy, and from the spirit
of the Church. The Bourbon Kings, if not as
ba.d as AuStrian Archdukes, were not famous
for their docility, but who can doubt the cor-
rupting influence of the French Revolution
on a people so impressionable as the Italians,
and so open to the contagion of French ideas ?
The Times will be the last to deny that nations
are goveined by ideas as well as by
Revolutionary France could not be put into
quarantine ; she infected the nations. Her
lawless spirit after her great rebellion against
all laws, human and divine, passed into Europe,
and has made it what it is. Italy was not exempt
from the vast moral pestilence. Ideas divinely
communicated by God and preserved in Italy,
as the Times asserts, for seven centuries before
Henry VIII., and for three after, by the teach-
ing of the Papacy, were rudely assaulted in
the first instance by the violence, and then
subtlety undermined by the intellectual scepti-
cism and materialism of the French Revolu-
tion. The Papacy is not responsible for this
conflict of ideas, it could not exclude French
influence, nor assure to Christianity the vic-
tory over unbelief. As France fell, so Italy has
fallen. There are " miscreants " in Italy to-
day, because there were " miscreants" in
France yesterday. Mazzini and Garibaldi are
the feeble results of Voltaire and Robespierre.
The French Revolution, too, is but a link in the
chain. It was the logical issue of the revolt
against the principle of authority in the six-
teenth century. The chief agents of the Refor-
mation, as we have lately been reminded by a
learned Anglican divine, were more impious
and less honest than Marat and Diderot and
Robespierre. There are " miscreants in Italy"
now, who assault the Papacy and pillage the
Church, as there were miscreants in England
at the Reformation, and in France under the
Revolution. Christianity—or as the Times has
.it,_
.the Papacy—is not responsible for the
crimes of men; there is a devil abroad sowing
tares in the fields of the Church ; Henry 11.
is followed by Henry VIII. ; Voltaire and
Marat are succeeded by Mazzini and Garibaldi.
The Church has nothing to do with this succes-
sion of evil. When Christianity came to re-
deem the world, it found evil in possession
Of the earth, and it has had ever since to war
against the corrupt nature of man. " The
instinct of the Italians, when they were mas-
ters of their own destiny," says the Times,
" led them to follow in the footsteps of Henry
11. and Henry VIII." And why did the
Italians follow their instinct, it asks, if the
Papacy was not to blame? As well might we
ask, in our turn, why did man fall, if God
was not the author of temptation ? The answer
is obvious, man fell because he preferred evil
to good, and so the Italians, " when they were
the masters of their own destiny," that is
when temptation and opportunity combined,
followed the instinct of a corrupt nature.
Temptation and opportunity present them-
selves, and in various forms, to a nation—it
need not always be under the form of a
Henry 11. and a Henry Vlll.—and a ration
need not always yield to temptation and oppor-
tunity. Long and often Italy has resisted
temptation and opportunity; France fell earlier
and has repented to a great extent; England
still sooner, and is now suffering in wide-
spread religious discord, in the unbelief of the
I masses of its people, the consequences of its
fatal apostacy. And if there are miscreants
in Italy now, it is not because they were once
obedient to the Church, but because when the
opportunity of evil offered, they yielded to the
instinct of a corrupt and tempted nature. They
are not the true friends of Italy who glory in
the victory of her corrupt instinct, but rather
they who denounce as miscreants those sac-
rilegious men who now, in Italy, are following
in the footsteps of Henry 11. and Henry V 111.
—Westminster Gazette.

. .
unthou7litful Vigilans " to disturb Mr.
Gill's necessary recreation after such an ex-
hausting labour as that of converting Jews to
Christianity.
" I chanced some few days since to employ
a Jewish glazier to mend my windows, and
took the opportunity of questioning him as
to the success of this mission among his
people.' He informed me that he had resided
in Norwich seven years, and that neither
clergyman nor minister had ever called upon
him. He is a very intelligent and a very well-
educated man, and would prove an over-match,
intellectually, to any deputation ' I ever en-
countered at a Jew-converting meeting. He
informed me likewise that when he resided in
London he never knew a single instance of an
honest well-to-do Jew abjuring the faith of his
fathers, but that a few—only a very few—out-
casts and profligates were occasionally bribed
into receiving the sacrament of baptism, and
they only submitted to such an ordeal on the
receipt of substantial charity. Would it not
be wise, and especially would it not be more
economical, to convert this Norwich Jew, close
at our doors, and of whose conversion any
sceptic might satisfy his incredulity, rather
than expend large sums in sending missionaries
to all the corners of the earth, whose.reported
successes very few subscribers can verify ?"

SPIRITUALISM.

( From the Anglo-American Times.)
Those who have a turn for spiritual manifesta-

tions ought to expend sixpence a month on Human
Nature, a monthly journal of Z Astic‘ Science, in-
telligence, and Popular Anthropology, Embodying
Physiology, Phrenology, Psychology, Spiritualism,
Philosophy, The Laws of Health, and Sociology—all
for sixpence ! However puzzled the ordinary mind
may be with the meaning of this string of Greek
words, it becomes lost in amazement on reading the
contents, half being above comprehension, and half
beneath contempt. We can understand the letter
from Andrew Jackson Davis, who from New Jersey
criticises with great severity Ali.. Hepworth Dixon's
" Spiritual Wives," which he asserts to be from first
to last a sensuous representation, a vulgar sensational
work which ought to be suppressed; " so rapaci MIS is
the appetite of the Athenaeum Dixon for details of
' passional attraction' unlicensed by law, that, in
lieu of actual examples among Spiritualists, he
gives free reins to his impure fancies, and makes no
scruple of misrepresenting not only individuals, but
also entire communities of honourable people." If
we pass over " Psychological Inquiries" to read the
" Remarkable Manifestations" by Mr. home, we do
what the editor may be assured the uninitiated will
do, under the impression that even Mr. Harper, the
writer, did not understand what he wrote. " Mili-
tary Trumpet Calls—The Spirit Voice—Sound of
Guns—lhfantry and Cavalry Vibrations, &c., &c.,"
will be found more t ) the general taste th to the
paper on the " Spiritual Body, or the Human
Double." The recorder of these " Remarkable Ma-
nifestations"
says 6, he intends during the winter
to resume the crystal experiments so singularly
interesting and so intimately connected with the

laws of odic light," %ad so we may Lok for more.
It appears that he has already in former [lumbers de-
scribed highly interesting crystal experiments, but
the owner having demanded the return of the
Japanese crystal ball he was barrel from con-
tinuing them. Those not yet introduced into the
" spiritual" world might imagine that he had ample
reason to be satisfied with what was accomplished
without the crystal ball. Mr Hone desire I a cloth
to be spread on the table, a suspicious request—
then an engine in motion was heard with its
thump and vibration, and - a sound followed re-
sembling the passage of artillery waggons—the
dull, steady tramp of infantry came next with the
clatter of horses, and Mr. Home holding an accordion
at arm's length a bugle call rung out loud and shrill and
was repeated. A voice was heard behind and above
Mr. Home, who alone could understand the imper-
fect articulation. Then came the drum beat and
the tattoo, followed by rolls of musketry, volley
and platoon firing, and that of tlya breech-loader,
not unlike a *clock running down. The spiritual
action appeared to ba getting hot, for the boom of
cannon shook the room, the explosions being felt
and the reports heard in the adjoining house. Mr.
Home passed into a trance, and, as might readily

be supposed, the sounds ccased ; but, after a pause
of five minutes, which followel the premonitory
spasmodic action of his limbs, he raised himself
arid delivered an interesting address. Here it
struck us, if we cannot understand "Psychological
Inquiries," what dunce will we have of com-
prehending a voice from Spirit-Land. To our
surprise on glancing at the address, we felt at
home with Mr. Home. Superior and scientific
spirits were present, he sail, who after a Parlia-
mentary debate decided that the entertainment
intense oldroe‘v
t wlaw
are should consist only "of raps and levitations. Not
all intellects can bear the strain of this new truth."
and when he adds, " that the light is
t:eo
k
n
Curious word that new, for, if a truth at all, it is a
very
onefL their vision"—we feel humiliated, for
w
among these (the not all) intellects.
, l
l ga
wgoverns all things ; the great laws are
not even known to the spirits. This great law bin Is
__. . •

all together. Certain great cycles—exist, and all
obey the laws which regulate these." We feel
slightly raised from our humiliation when the spirit-
voice tells its bearers that they would not under-
stand if they were told the details of their condition ;
certain spirits who were once on earth are missed,
having departed, the other spirits know not whe-
ther." After assuring them that there was more than
their earthly philosophy dreamt of, which they (the
spirits)
would,
if they could, communicate, the voice
n When a man says, I have doge so ant
s
this or that machine, he is wrong ; he
e oo
or
continued—"
invented u u
ed—
has done nought. All he knows comes from above.
He cannot create himself ; his very nature bars

this. He has but one way of acquiring knowledge,
by quiet, prayerful, and candid investigation of the
truths before him. Prayer does not change the un-
alterable laws of God, but it brings us nearer to
God ; it is the only channel that links us to our
Creator." Time bangs heavily on your hands ; but

on for ever. We can
with us the echo goes ringing

see things, but dare not disclose them ; laws created
g preventing us. Even the spirits
from the beginning
are grasped for future resurrection and progress, the
soul entering this cycle to be purified. " God does
not punish ; we punish ourselves." Dropping from
the sublime to a state little elevated above the ridi-
culous, the voice went on : —" You will ask what
delayed us so long. We had to collect sufficient
electricity to imitate the booming of cannon. It
gives us so much pleasure to aid you, we are never
weary ; we were not when on earth, why should we
be so now? We wish so much to teach you that
life is the stepping-stone to the eternal life here-
after." After addressing several individuals pre-
sent, Mr. Home awoke with a shudder, greatly ex-
hausted, and wholly unconscious of what had passed.
This paper is followed by
" Whisperings from Far
and Near, Direct Spirit-Drawings, and other Mani-
festations." We have no wish to ridicule even pre-
tended interviews between parents and the spirit
of their dead child. We merely then say not
only did the spirit write letters, but drew portraits
of himself, which the editor declares to be exquisite, the
pencil lines being fine, artistic, and to the purpose.
Some of the drawings are coloured, the writing of the
letters is backwards and in an awkward b3ginner's
hand. Mr. Childs, who sends this paper, is an
artist, and his colours were in the room where these
remarkable seances took place; but on examination
no marks showing use could be seen on the colours.
Mr. Childs evidently attributes the sketches to the
spirit of his own father, who was also an artist,
whose spirit must have been present with that of
his grand-child. Under the head of Evil Spirits
a correspondent gives some very unpleasant per-
sonal experience. No sooner were he and his wife
in bed at a quarter past eleven than she was seized
with an excruciating toothache, and he was con-
trolled by some evil spirit. We suspect, and we have
the less hesitation in giving the opinion, as the editor
asks for an explanation, that the evil spirit ought to
b..; called Lai, deleterious gin, brandy, or whisky
spirit. The correspondent cannot see why he and
his wife "should be subjected to such a spiritual
persecution while greater sinners go free." But

the answer to this is, that the greater sinners i,ro-
bably drink better liquor. We leave our readers
to judge, giving the correspondent's own words

" There we were, ono in the most acute pain, and the
other writhing, kicking, and tearing, and uttering all
manner of imprecations and curses • (that's himself.)
Shortly after my wife was controlled by other influences,
who through her endeavoured to dismiss the evil ones
who had possession of me. The manipulations and passes
wore very quick and vigorous, and for the time she seemed
endowed with a power vastly superior to that in her normal
condition, otherwise she could not have held me down.
During this time I was making desperate efforts to get free
and make all the mischief possible, and my countenance
was in hideous contortions. At last it was overcome ;we
got up and washed hands and face, and retired again, but
only to go through the same process in even greater force
than before; so much so, that I was afraid something se-
rious was going to happen to my tvife, she was so utterly
exhausted with the efforts to get the evil spirits away,
and thus we were kept going, with a few minutes' inter-
mission, till three o'clock in the morning, and most of the
time my wife was suffering a ivartyrdom in her teeth and
face."

It must not be supposed that Human Nature is
wholly devoted to this stuff. A long paper is given
on a great philanthropic movement designed to for-
ward the cleaning of the Great Unwashed—to sup-
port the People's Baths. Another object is to fur-
ther the Temperance movement, to stop Sun-
day trading in intoxicants, and the Assembly of
Universal Conventions to forward the advancement
and interests of the human race.