The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-25

uhb eAaul0eu ln6 pbpeTS. lie Is Satlhnou Ln0b
the defendant was guilty of gross negligence.
The rushing out into the street and Shooting
q boy is described by this distinguished law
yer as ''gross negligence" After this it is
not surprising that he should give the Cover
nor his opinion that Ficken did not intend to
commit bodily harm. It was on the opinion
of his legal adviser that the Governor based
this pardon. He has deferred to the Attorney
General in q matter ia which he could
have better exercised his own Judgment. He
may yet discover that it will not do to take
the advice of an attorney general who has
such intimate associations with the ring.
The very manner in which Attorney General
Brewsters appointment was forced on Gov
ernor Geary shows that. This Fcken case
forms precedent If a wealthy man shall
indulge in such pastimes as that of Ficken,
ne has only to pay handsome damages, aud
employ William b. Mann to obtain a pre-
vious pardon. The offended majesty of the
law will thus be appeased.
CHURCH REFORMATION IN ITALY.
From the London Saturday Repie,c.
1t is not easy, even with the help of the
little series of publications issued by the
''Libreria Rosmini" at Florence, to give any
very clear idea of the principles and aims Of
the reforming party among Italian Catholics.
To a certain extent this is no doubt due to
the almost inevitable misconceptions which
foreigners, especially Protestants, are liable
to fall into, with the very best intention of
reporting accurately the results of their
personal observation. Even if they
had time and patience, as they
usually have not, to read the principal works
of Italian theologians and religious laymen
bearing on the subject, they would lack much
of the rudimentary information which such
works presuppose as matter of course. But
it is true at the same time that the difficulty
of mastering the views of the Italian refor-
mers, so to call them, is partly caused by the
circumstance that they have very imperfectly
mastered or matured their views themselves
Religious and political questions are pretty
sure TO be inextricably mixed up in the mind
of liberal Italian, as is amusingy exempli-
fed in Garibaldi's protest against the exist
ence of ST. Peter. And of the leading men
among them who have combined Catholic
with patriotic zeal, two only, Rosmini and
Gioberti could claim to be considered theo-
logians we put aside Passaglia, whose theo-
logical training was derived from very diff
ferent school, and because it is doubtful how
far, except as regards the abolition of the
temporal power, which has ceased to be
practical question, his sympathies accord
with theirs. There is growing feeling
among them that on doctrinal and historical
matters their knowledge is imperfect and
hence men like Dollinger are coming to be
looked up to by the more cultivated section
of both clergy and laity in Italy with a conf
dence and respect hardly inferior to what
they enjoy in their own country. We cannot
then accept without reserve the opening
statement contained in an interesting PAM
phlet on the Italian reform movement, lately
published by clergyman of the American
Episcopal Church at Florence, that there are
two things about reforming on which there is
no question among the class of thinkers he is
describing the theocratic govern
ment of Rome, because it is hopelessly
doomed; and her dogmatic teaching, because
it is immutable. Under the latter head he
includes Papal infallibility and Papal supre-
macy, which are certainly questioned by
many of the reforming party. Nor is
it in fact correct to say, that to abjure these
opinions comprises the abjuring of the
Church of Rome" because many Roman
Catholics do in fact reject them who manifest
no intention of breaking with their Church.
There is, however, much valuable informa-
tion to be derived from the extracts, chiefly
taken from the works by Ferri and Mamiani,
in the pamphlet before us, though we may
not always go along with the authors COM
mentary upon them.
That the religious movement in Italy has
no tendency towards any form of doctrinal
Professionalism, or, as Mamiani expresses
it, to ''any of the sects Matched
by the Reformation" appears to be
pretty generally agreed by those who have
had the best opportunities of judging. "We
may rest assured" he says, ''that Italians will
either follow the faith of their fathers heartily
and thoroughly, or will adopt what is now.
adays called Rationalism; that is to say, they
will either adopt the negations of criti-
cism and speculation, or hold fast reverently
to the authority of tradition" But within
these limits there is of course scope for very
wide differences of belief and ecclesiastical
discipline. The Catholic ideal of Rosmini
or a Dollinger differs toto b6l0 from the pro-
gramme of the Jesuit 'Civilta, and the actual
condition of the Papal Court. Rosmini's
famous work on the ''Five Wounds of the
Holy Church" published originally at the
command of Plus TX, who was afterwards in
| duced to place it on the Index, thus explains
| the reforms most earnestly needed
According to Rosmini the wound in the left hand
OF the Holy Church is the division between the
clergy and the people in public worship the use OF
| the Latin tongue). Phe wound in the right hand is
the insufficient education OF the clergy. The wound
| in the side is the disunion OF the bishops. The
wound In the right foot is the giving up in the nom-
| nation OF bishops to the lay power. The wound OF
the left foot Is the slavery OF ecclesiastical property
| (Iemains OF feudalism) These show the reforms so
! fervently, so eloquently demanded by Rosmini and
certainly there is nothing In them, nor indeed in
| any OF his works so far as / am acuuainted with
them-and have in manuscript given me by order
OF the Father General OF Jesuts in ls46 all the pas
ssges supposed TO be exceptonable-nothin what
! in the Roman sense.
Gioberti, who was more of philosopher and
| less of priest, went further in his specula-
tive teaching, and expressly vindicated the
independence and liberty of science reposing
on human reason alongside of faith which
rests on supernatural revelation. There
should be perfect concord between philo-