The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-02

perhaps exists IN antagOnlSm TO IL. Inere is |
honor, as the proverb tells us, even among |
thieves And the more special and exclusive !
is the bond of mutual interest, the more un- |
scrupulously will its obligations be enforced.
ANY violation of the implied contract or, still
more, any betrayal of corporate secrets, is
sure to be visited as the deadliest oifense,
where no public duties are recognized, or
where the general public has come to be
looked upon simply as natural enemy.
There are tales of devotees who have be-
trayed the secrets of Ereemasonry being ruth
lessly butchered. which, whether true or not,
illustrate unmistakably what is thought not
improbable in such cases Now ecclesiastical
corporations are not unless under excep-
tional circumstances, secret societies, but
they are, in one sense, the nearest ap-
proach to them. They have an existence
Independent of the law, even where they
are tolerated or recognized by it, and they
exist for ends which human law does not
directly contemplate, and which the world,
especially in a busy and intellectual age, is
apt to view with indifference, or suspicion.
or contempt. The clerical feeling on this
point is oddly exemplifed by the reason given
in the canon law for the exemption of cerics
from the jurisdiction of the civil courts
because the laity are sure to be preiudiced
against them. All this tends to make the
caste feeling much stronger in religious cor
| porations than in any others To certain
extent it pervades the entire body, lay as well
as clerical. During the middle ages. when
| the whole of Europe was of one creed, there
was little occasion for its display; there were
no outsiders to be conciliated or kept at bay.
! But ever since the divisions of the sixteenth
| century a marked change has passed over the
| spirit of the Catholic Church in this respect
| Scandals which were once openly often
| ostentatiously, avowed whether from mere
| spite or with the desire of reform, are studi-
| L., ,1,l L. I
who admits their existence is looked on as no
| better than a traitor. We're Catholic testi-
| mony alone to be consulted, no one would
| hear word of the systematic and gross pro-
| tligacy of the Mexican and South American
| clergy. 1t would be very unfair to infer from
this that conscientious Catholics regard vice
among their own co-religonists with indif-
ference. What it proves is that they are in
cined to think the remedy, if brought about
by exposure, worse than the disease And if
this holds good, we believe it does sub
stantially, of a vast organization including
all varieties of national culture and tempera-
ment, 1t of course applies far more directly
to small communities bound together by
closer ties, where all the same motives
come into play with greatly accelerated
force, and the counteracting influences
are almost wholly absent Even in a commr-
Mon so largely pervaded by secular influences
as the Church of England, there is a strong
corporate feeling among the clergy ana how
much more is this sure to be found among a
celbate clergy, trained from boyhood in
rigid isolation from lay society, and taught
by precept and example, from the age when
| impressions are most readily and most indeli-
bly, imprinted on the mind, to identify the
interests of Their order with the cause of ho-
| illness and truth. prie st who should rise
superior to such weight of seeming obliga-
| tions would not only be marked man among
his brethren, but man of exceptional cour-
age. One further step will bring us from the
! priesthood to the convent, and final, and by
no means unimportant, distinction identifies
| the conventual horrors of Cracow as the work
of community of women. A femal convent
| is the natural home of esprit de cOTps in its
narrowest, its most INSCRIPTIONS, and its
! most intoleTant form
Butperhapsit will still be asked, how does this
account for the inhuman cruelties practised on
Barbara Ubryk? For what particular reasons
ii became convenient to incarcerate her. we
may be better able to judge when the trial is
over. But supposing she had broken her VOW
of chastity, which is her own account of the
matter, and scandal was likely to ensue, the
explanation is not far to seek. And precisely
i'll proportion to the intensity and the mar
rowness of caste feeling is it sure to be ruth
less when its supposed interests are at stake.
The nun who would bring disgrace on her
Order is immured for the same reason that
the deserter from the Trade-Union is blown
up in his bed, or shot from behind
a wall. In such cases the sense of
| esprit dc corps appeals to two of the
strongest as we'll as the basest of human pas
siOns-self- interest and fear. 1t is better that
the unhappy woman should be degraded to
the condition of a brute beast than that the
credit of the Order should suffer. And when
once this iniquitous policy has been resolved
upon, it must be carried out at all costs rather
than risk the deeper discredit or actual danger
of a discovery. 1t has often been observed
that no one is reckless of cruelty as man
who is thoroughly frightened, and still more
is this true of woman. The apocryphal
story of a late church dignitary, who is said
to have boasted of his presence of mind in
rapping the knuckles of a man who had
fallen overheard and was endangering the
safety of the boat by his drowning efforts
to regain his place in it, is a good
illustration Of this Every other feeling
is apt to be merged in the one half-frantic
instinct of self-preservation Such precisely
is the result of esprit de c0lpS when exercised
in narrow circle, and allowed to attain an
exclusive domination. 1t may, under favor
able conditions, give birth to acts of heroic
| generosity, but there is no sentiment, gene
| rous in itself, which requires to be more care
fully watched, and restrained within its legi-
innate limits. Ii has before now made men,
not cruel or unjust 10y natural disposition,
the willing and conscientious familiars of the
| Inquisition. 1t still makes women, who call
| themselves the brides of heaven, devise
| and perpetrate inpenuitieS of torture which