, 1861-03-21
FOREIGN NEWS.

EMPEROR NAPOLEON AND TIE CLERGY,
It is well known that Napoleon has been In
the guise Of pamphlet, sometimes anony-
nous, sometimes signed by N. Laugueron-
niere 4 clever journalist Of Paris and Jealous
adhereut Of the Emperor. One Of these pam
phlets, lately issued On Rome, Italy and France,
has furnished the occasion for pastoral lei ter
from the Bishop of Poiiiers to his clergy, in
which he not only denounces the conduct Of
the French Government toward the See Of
Rome, but, Under the name Of Pontius PLATE,
aesails Napoleon himself with unsurpassed
violence Of language. This pastoral letter has
been answered By the Government with d let
ter from Persigny, the Minister Of the Interior,
to the Prefect Of the Department in which 1t
was first published. Tie Minister describes
the Bl=hop as "prelate who. has not feared
to make the authority Of his character serve
the purpose Of passions unconnected with re-
ligion;" and speaks Of the pamphlet as "a
document in which are disclosed with so much
audacity the ecret ideas Of the party which,
nudcr the veil Of religion, has no other object
taan to attack the elect Of the French people,"
The lfonl1eur also gives notice that the 13asto-
Enperor'a Government, ard which is Of d na-
ture to disturb the public mind, has been sub
mitted to the high jurisdiction OF the Council
Of State, charged to decide on all cases Of
abuse"
Thepamphlet In question may be understood
from the following extracts:
tThe last foundation Of our hopes,' says
the B:sbop, is the marked embarrassments
betrayed at the last hour by those who control
there is in Europe question which is above
all others! Yes, Rome has remained the
greatest and most formidable problem Of our
timei' The Roman Papacy Is the keystone Of
the European world. After having welded
the destroying hammer round oil points Of the
cdifice, we now sec the hand of the most reso-
lutte hesitate and tremble at the very moment
Of allowing this principal stone to fall-this
sacred stone which holds to all, and to which
all hold. We feel it. The day Inc Pope shall
no longer he i'll bis place, no power in this
world will be safe in his own, aud the whole
earth will be in commotiop. Aud, according
as the fatal hour approaches, all will defend
ble. The catastrophe will be SO frightfnl that
no one will bear the responsibility Of it, and is
not every means invented to throw the crime
On the victim himself"
The allusion to Pilate at the close of ths
pastoral cannot ra.s unnoticed:
"Pilate, finding that he gained nothing, that,
on the contrary, tho exactions of those around
him were increasing and becoming imrerious,
and understanding that though he had yielded
to every demand Of the multitude he Was on
the point Of being led on to the Last act Of
weakness, ordered water to be brought him.
He washed his hands and said, Il am Innocent
of the blood of this Just man. and having
scourged Jesus, ho delivered Him over to the
Jews 10 be crueiiied- But has poeterity rati-
fed the sort Of absolution which plate gave
to himself? And the washing Of his hands,
did 1t make him innocent with ages to come
Listen! For eighteen centuries there exists
profession Of faith in twelve articles, which
every Christian lip recites daily. In this sum-
mary Of our faith, drawn up with conciseneas
by the Apostles, appear, beside the three ador-
able names of the divine persons, the name, q
thousand times blessed, Of the woman, who
gave birth to the Son Of God, and the name, 5
thousand times accurscd, of the man who de-
livered him to death :! And the man thus
branded as the God-murderer-the man thus
nailed to the pillory of our symbol, who is he?
This man is not Herod, nor Caiph:s, nor Ju-
das ,uor any ofthe Roman or Jewish execution
ers. This man is Pontius Pi1ate. It is but
just. Herod, Caiplas, Judas, and the others
had their part in tho crime; but without Pi-
late nothing would have been done. Plate
could have saved Christ; and without Plate
Christ could not have been put to death
From him only could the signal come, It is
not lawful for us to put this man to DEATH said
the Jews. Wash thy hands, 0 PLATE Declare
thyself innocent Of the death Of Christi; But
our answer, day and night, to the most remote
the only Son Of tho Father, .conceived By the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, and who
suffered aud was put to death under Pontius
Plate +"
THE GREAT FRENCH DEFALcATIJN.
The Paris correspondent Of the London
Morning Herald, writing on the 26th nit,
says:
tThc Government are evidently determined
to keep the public IS much in the dark as pos
sjble with regard to the case Of NJ. Mires.
The drawing up Of the balance-sheet is, In par.
ticular, being proceeded with in style which
resembles far more the proceedings Of the In.
QUESTION than an accountant. The 1lirea
Banking house in the Rue Richelieu is convert.
| ed into q a kind Of gaol. n. de GeEminy and
| all The employees slrep there, aud none are al
| lowed to- leave the prBmises; their meals are
| brought to them, and they arc rs much seques
| tered ~ an English jury before the verdict
| is returned, until the balance-sheet has beer
| drawn up. The reason tor this is very simple
So many distinguished members Of the Impe
rial entorfroqe are, itseems, shown by the book
to hare received bribeS-or, IS they are pic
turesauely called here, faota de rin-irom II
| Mires. to obtain concessions, aud smooth oye1
difficulties and objections in the path Of the
powers that be, that the di closures woule
comp,l the Emperor to dismiss some Of hi.
| most Trustworthy councillors. It is said that
the sum expended in brinery during tho las
fiye years amounts to no less than l3,uU,O00f
| ($2,540,0Oo.} The recipient of n. Mifee'
bounty are, in consequence, gwen 1acln1les u
avoid unpleasant disclosures on repayment
the sums they hare received. The genera
opinion il that the Go7ernm ent, learning N!
consequences Of bringing M- Nlres to trial
will do all they can to hush the matter up.
A Paris letter to the London R<sie" ha
some personal gossip concerning this affair:
Ishould say there never was sensatiol
produced By any event Of far greater publ!
magnitude, that could at all compare Wit
that produced by this Mires- affair. As tim
progresses, the scandal deepcns, and it Is NOR
evident to what point its roots have strucE
Between the scandalous disclosures attend
ing the downfall of the banker and stoe
jobber Mires, and the war now tully opene
BY the Roman Catholic clergy his 1mperia
majesty Napoleon III, Ii in pretty seFlou
trouble. The Miras scandals are enormous
That enterprisirg gentlemen appears to hay
1 carried on The business Of brabinE officers {
Government, members Of the Legislature, an
members of the Imperial fam1Iy, on seal
and to an extent such rs even our great hapt
leon Of the Lobby at Albany never conceive
Of. According to one writer, Mires has aRer
IN this way more than half million Of dollal
q year for five years past. The late uncle {
The Emperor, jerome Bonaparte, Is said
have had $210, 600 his cousin, the Princes
Msthilde. 100000: NJ Baroche, Tfce-Preg