Star.
London, England, 1822-03-25 00:00:00

LETTERS OP THE EMPEROR JOSEPH 11.

A most acceptable service has been rendered to
tine world by the publication of these letters, of
wllich a good translation from the German has just
appeared in the Pamphleteer. They will be read
w;th much inte! est by all ranks; but they deserve
particularly the attentive study of statesmen. We
present the following as specimens, regretting that
our iimi s do not permit us to give larger extracts:

70 RDTVAL IttRZAN, 1741 TRIAL !LOYAL 111NIS7FR IN ROMIG
Mossier* it Csantaat.—Since I have ascended the throne,
and wear the first diadem in the world, I have made philo-
asophy the legislator of my Empire.
In consequence or its logic, Austria will assume another form,
th.:, amie-it,/ of the Ulimas will be restricted, and the rights of
Vajesty will be restored to their primitive extent. It is iicces-
saq I should remove certain things out of the domain of reli-
glen which never did belong to it.
As I ntl.srlf detest superstition and the Saltincean doctrines,
I Will free my People of them; with this view, i will dismiss
the Monks, I Veli suppress their monasteries, and will subject
Oen to the Bishops of their diocese.
In Rome they will declare this an infringement of the rights
c.l Con I know they will cry aloud, 4' the greatness of Israel
is /lien" they vii complain, that I take away from the people
thv•ir tribunes, and that I draw a line of separation between
dogma and philosophy ; hut they will be still more enraged
'when I undertake all this without the approbation of the servant
of the set villas of GOD.
To these things we owe the degradation of the human mind.
A servant of the Alter will never admit that the. State is putting
bins into his proper place, when it leaves him no other occu-
pation than the Go.pel, and when by laws it prevents the chil-
dren of Levi from carrying on a monopoly with the human
understanding.
The principles of alonaehism, from Pachomius up to our
time, have been directly opposed to the light of resson ; respect
for their founders ultinottely became adoration itstii, so that we
behold again the lsrislite► going up LO Bethel, in order to adore
golden calves.
These false conceptions of religion were transmitted to the
common people; they no longer knew Gon, and expected every
thing from their Saints.
The rights of the Bishops, which i will re-establish, must
assist in reforming the ideas of the People; instead of the Moak,
I will have the Priest to preach, not the romatces of the
canonized, but the holy g.nspel and morality.
I shall to:re care that the edifice, which I have erected for
posterity, 1e durable. The general seminaries are nurseries for
my Priests, whence, on going out into the world, they will
take with them a purified mind, and communicate it to the
People with wise instruction.
Thus, after the lapse of centuries, we shall have Christians;
thus, wh►n I shall have executed my plan, the People of my
Empire will better know the duties they owe to Gou, to the
country, and to their fellow-creatures; thus shall we yet be
blessed by our posterity, for having delivered them from the
overgrown power of Rome; for having brought back the
Priests within the limits of their duties; and for having sub-
jected their future life to the Loan, and their present life to
the country :.lone.
Vienna, October, 1781.

JOSEPH.