Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-02-14

The popes Temnorol Power.

Professor hlcClintic, of Carlisle College, has
addressed letter to the Hon. joseph r. Chand-
Ter, in reply 10 the latter gehlleman's assertion,
made in Congress, thatthe Pope of Rome claims
no temporal power outside Of his own particular
domlnions. This letter has cleared up several
matters heretofore obscure to u.s. and we copy a
j few extracts from it, for the Information OF "ur
readers. The writer says If Mr.. Chandler had
been well informed on the subject, he would have
told his auditors there are two parties in The Cath
Ole Church on thisqueston one Ohe Ulramon-
tame party) affirming, and the other (ihe Galllcan
fariy) denying that the Pore, "Dy reason q TIE
spiritual po,cer. has also supreme power at least
indirectly, even in temporal matters" The VI
tramoniane party is vast majority, including the
Pope, all the Cardinals, all the Jesuis, and a
large part ofthe Bishops while the GaIlican mi
noriiy is considered and declared by strong Pa
pists 10 be ':the halfway house to Professionalism,
10 be ''singy, narrow minded and frozen hearted.
always studying to split the difference between
Peter and Cesar, God and the Devil" MI.
Chambers speech seeks to substitute Galllcanlsnl
fur Rumanlsm the ducirine of small and CON
stan,ly diminishing faction for the dortrine of the
Church.
The rhetoric Of your speech, says Prof. Nc
Clintic, is quite effective. One piece OF 1t seems
to have touched The sensibliiies of your audience
so strongly that | cannot forbear 10 quote it, and
to furnish you with a criticism on il, from Ro-
man Catholic hand, written months before your
] speech was delivered, with prophetic fUreknow-
edge of what WAS to be-" III, you say,
"If, by any providence The Bishop of Rome, should
become possessed Of armies and fleet, I'D in spirit
OF conquest any other spirit, should invade the terri
tory of the United Staes or assal the rights of
country he would find more earnest antagonists than
tho Roman Catholics And for myself, if not here in
this HALL to vote supplies for defending army too
old to take part in the active defence, should alive
be at least in my chamber or at the foot Of the altar i'm
porng God for the safely of my country and the defeat
:. of the invaders"
The anticipatory criticism on this ''coqnent
passage" you will find III a review edited by the
ablesl Roman Catholic writer in America, and
endorsed on the cover by nearly every Bishop Of
your church in the country:
at has been customary here g. C. among Catholics
in Great Britain and America) TO deny in the pos
tive terms all authority CT the Pope in temporals
lure diuno and TO indulge IN no c abuse OF the Sow
Ollie Journals and heard from the rostrum, and even
from the pnpt expressions with regard TO bucklng on
ones knapsack and shoudering ones nuskc and march
ing against the Pope he should do or So that
! have made our blood cold-cxprcssions which we
should hardly have ventured on ourselves whca
Protestant. The writers speakers knew very well
that the case they supposed could occur aud that
therefore they were SAFE but they little considered we
must believe, the impression they conveyed the CT
| feet they were producing on the minds of the simple
Catholic public or that they teaching, least
favcring that very doctrine OF coartiers and dcma
goeucs which creates many difficulties for the Holy
See and which apparently justifics the nonC Catholic
world in its against the Papacy ."-Br0wnSon',
Reuie,c, April, 1854, p. 2l4
1t remains for me briefly to set forth the pres
ent state Of Roman Catholic opinion. The ultra
mon.ane doctrine IS held, by the Pope; 2, by
all the cardinals, without exception; 8, by all, or
nearly all, the Italian bishops 4, by majority Of
the bishops of Germany, Spain, and Portugal; 5,
/ by about two-lhirds of the French bishops. a
lnonr the religious orders it is held, by the
Jesuits without exception, IS no man can he adj
mitted TO the order who denies it 2, by MAORI
ty of the members Of the other (sixty or more) re-
! ligious orders. which vie with each Other in de-
votion 10 the Pope each of them having a Gen
eral at Rome. As for the Catholic journals.
the Civita Cattolica at Rome was established for
does maintain ii mos, eliectually q, the ilisor
isch- Potiscte, Batter, the most eminent Papal
journal in Germany is strongly ullramonlane; 8.
the UniverS, of Paris, is more utramoniane than
Bearmine : d., the Belgian papers. think with
out exception, are on that side; and D. Brown
sons Review, in this country, is what have
shown you above.
have now done all that promised to do in
the beginning. May not hope that, after read
ing this letter. you will rise in yonr place in
Congress, at the first convenient opportunity, and
resate your theory of the church? Does not
your reputation as scholar ard gentleman
need such vindicaon as you only make by
..de(ining your position' anew? If you do not
do this. my confidence in your canduf and ingenu
BUSINESS will have been sadly misplaced. Ii you
do, BEG you to read in the course Of your speech,
the following truthful passage from the coryph@
us of Roman Catholic editors in America:
There is, in our Judgment, hut one valid de-
fence of the popes, in their exercise Of temporal
authority in the middle ages over soveregnS. and
| that is, that they possess 1t by divine right. or
that the Pope holds that authority by virtue Of
his commission from Jesus Christ, as the sue
cessor of Peter, the prince of the apostles, and Wis
ible head of the Church. Any defence Of them
on a lower ground must in our judgment, fail TO
/
evasion than fair, honest. direct and satisfactory
reply. To defend their power as an exiTaordina
nv power, or as an accident in Church history.
growing out of the peculiar circumstances, civil
| constitution. and laws of the times, now passed a.
way. perhaps forever, may be regarded as less
likely TO dispease non Catholics and 10 offend the
sensibities of power, than 10 defend it on the
ground of divine right, and as inherent in the d.
| vine constitution of the Church: but even on the
low ground of policy we do not think it the wi
sest in the long run. Say what we will, we can
gain little credit with those we would conclliate.
| Always to their minds, will the temporal power
of the Pope by divine right loom up in the dis
lance, and always will they believe, however in
dividual Catholics here and there may deny it, or
nominaly Catholic governments oppose it that it is
the real Roman Catholic doctrine, to be reasser-
ted and acted the moment that circumstances rem
der it prudent or eypedent We gain. nothing
with them but doubts of sincerity, and we only
weaken among ourselves that warm and generous
devotion to the Holy Father which is due from
every one of the faithful, and which is SO essen
tial 10 the prosperity Of the Church, in her in
creasing struggles with the goddess powers cf,his
world. - Bro,cnso,l's Rcrie,c, Jan. 1854.
Circuit Court.
The spe cial term of the Circuit Court, Judge
Parker. is still in session. A number of impoT-
tant cases have been disposed of. Country jurors
have hard time of it this cold weather.
The case of Seawrght VS.. Blos'er, which oc-
cupied the attention of the Court nearly the whole
of last week, was brought to close Saturday :