Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1851-08-12

THE ROMANS OF TODAY.


uo COtnHlOn people o. nome generally
seem 10 me an intelligent viyacious, con.
vivial race, and Ican readily credit the as.
surance Of wel.ihformed friends, that they
are mentally superior to most other Italians.
Il may be deemed strange that any other
result should be thought possible, since the
very earth around them, with all Ii bears, is
so vivi6ed with the spirit Of heroism, of ee.
MUS, and whatever is most memorable in
history. But the legitimate influence Of
nature. of art, and Of ancestry, are often
oveiborne by those Of institutions and laws,
as is now witnessed on the eastern and south.
ern coasts Of the Mediterranean, and | was
rather disappointed in finding The poorest
Romans race Of fully average capacities,
intellectual and physical. A face indicating
menlal imbecility. or even low mediocri,y,
is very rarely met in those streets, where
the greater portion of The Romans seem 10
work And live, The women are brown,
plain, ibare.headed and rather careless Of
persofghappearance, bui ready at repariee,
self possessed, energetic, with flashing ewes
and counienances often indicating a dep,h
of emotion and character. do moi think
such pictures as abound in Rome could have
been panied where the women were com.
mon-place and unideal. ''".' ".'''4' +"
But all with whom can converse, and
who are qualified 10 speak. by residence in
The country, give unfavorable accounts OF
the moral qualities Of The Romans especial
ly; and 10 these qualities | include patriotism
and all The civic virtues. That Italians,
and those Of Rome especially, are quite gen
orally sensual, selfish, indolent, tickle, dis
honest, vicious, is the general report Of The
foreigners residing among them. Jealous
Protestanis will readily account for il BY
their Catholicism. My own prepossessions
naturally lead me 10 The conclusion, that
much Of The religious machinery in opera
lion here Is unfavorable to the development
Of high moral character. Whatever the en-.
lighlened and good may mean by these OBJ
servances, it does seem 10 me that the igno-
rant and vulgar understand that the evil con.
sequences Of pleasant sins may be cheaply
avoided by liberal use of molly water, BY
bowings before the altar and reveren, con.
formily to rituals and ceremonies. This is
certainly the great danger Tin my sigh,,) oil
the Catholic sysiem-that it may lead It's
voiaries 10 esteem conformity TO outward
and ceremonial requirements as essentially
meritorious, and in some sense an offset for
violations Of the moral law. Not that this
error is by any means confined TO Catholics
for Chrisiendom, is full of Proteslanis, who
though ready enough 10 proclaim that kiss.
ing the Toe Of 81. Peters statue is,a poor
alonement for violating the commandments
and The alteration of the Virgin, very bad
substitute for chastity, do yet themselves
prefer bad Christians 10 good iD6dels, anG
would hail with joy the conversion Of Indie
or China TO their creed, though i. should in.
volve no improvement of character or life
! knoY every one believes that such conver
sion Es6id inevitably result in amendmen
Of hesrl and morals, bu, how many desire
il mainly Tor tha, reason? -..,
How large proportion Of Protestanu
esteem il The grea, end of religion TO make
its volaries better husbands, brothers, chill
dren, neighbors, kindred, cilizens9 To my
Protestant eyes, ii seems that the genera
error on this point is more prevalen. aDt
more vital al Rome than elsewhere; and
have been trying TO recollect if, amorg al
The multitude of paintings, Mosaic and stat
uary have seen here, representing 81
Peter in Prison, 81. Peter ON the sea OF Gal
lice. s.. Peter healing the Cripple, 81. Pete
raising the Dead, 81. Peter receiving tn,
Keys, 81. Peter suffering Martyrdom, &c
&c. (some of them many times over,) hav,
any where me. with representation of lha
most remarkable bene6ceh, vision whereby
The Apostle was instructed from Heaven ,ha
"Or a truth, God is no respecier of per
sons, but In every nation he that leareih Hin
and workelh righteousness is accepted O
Him." presume such representation
must exislin city where there are so man,
hundreds If not thousands Of pictures Of 81
Peter doing, receiving, or suffering; but lhis
certainly is not a fayorite subjec. here, or
should have seen il many times depicted
Who knows Protestant city in which tht
Aforesaid lesson given to Peler has been ad
equalely dwell on and needed? -a.
That the prevalence OF Catholicism is no
inconsistent with general uprighlness anc
purity of morss is demonstrated in Ireland
in Switzerland. in Belgium, in the Tyre
and elsewhere. The testimony Of the grea
body Of travellers and other observers will
regard TO The countries just named, affirm:
the general prevalence therein Of those vir
tues which are the basis Of The family anc
the church. And yet, The acknowledged
state Of things here is grave fact which
challenges inquiry and demands explana
iion. In the very metropolis Of Catholic
Christendom, where nearly all believe, anC
q great majority are at least ceremoniallJ
devoui--where many Of the best intellect,
in the Catholic communion have hourisheC
and borne sway fnr more than fifteen cenlu
ries, and with scarcely divided empire fol
the last thousand years-where churches anC
priests have long been more abundan, thar
any other spot Of earth, and where Divine
worship and Christian ordinances are scarce
ly inlermiiled for an hour, but are freo ant
welcome 10 all, and are very generally at
tended-what is tho reason that corruption
and degeneracy should be so fearfully pre-
valenl? IL only the enemies Of Rome!
faith affirmed this degeneracy, we nigh
lairly suppose il invented or exaggerated
but even The immediate priesthood Of thi!
people, who may be presumed most unwi
ling and unlikely 10 deny their virtues O.
magnify their vices, declare them un6, to b,
entrusted with power over their own politi
cal deslinies, and indeed capable Of self