Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-09-11
Bismarck and the JesuIts.

Tue law passed by the herman Parliament
against the Jcsuits has been carried out by
Prince Bismarck. 1t was not tho law he de-
signed, but one that has answered his purpose
quite as well. Bismarck was jealous Of the
interference Of the Papal power, by means Of
the Jesuits, with the affairs Of Germany. He
therefore framed bill which gave him power
to proceed against the Jesuits at his own dis
erection, to expel them if he saw ct or to let
them alone ifhe pleased. His object was to hold
the rod over the Catholic priests and bishops
and coorco them into political alliance in
which they should sustain him aud he give
them in return what they might want. But
the Parliament did not accept the bill and
made law Of its own by which the ministry
were compelled to expatriatc and expe the
Jesuits, This law has been put in operation
and the members Of this religious order are
leaving the country.
The governments of Europe have never
been fond Of the Jesuts Tho Ultramon-
tanists have entered into all political matters
and have been found at the bottom Of al po.
itical complications. Their influence has
been secret and pervasiye, aud the State has
often found itself unable to carry out its pro-
ects against their wiles and articles. Still,
We think the influence Of the ecclesiastical
power in the course of civil affairs has been
greatly over-estimated The secular power
of the Papacy and of the religious orders
long since passed its perihelion. 1t has never
been farther from any real influence in Euro.
pean politics than now. The recent stripping
Of the Pope of bis secular authority and the
combining him to the Roman Trastiyere is not
an arbitrary and unnatural thing. 1t has
happened in the order Of nature. 1t did not
occur until the Pope had actually lost all sec.
ular supremacy and had no more real infu-
ence on the political course aud destiny of
Europe than any Lutheran pastor Of Ger.
many. For century the Papacy in Europe
has been only the shadow Of name. Victor
Emmanuel did not kill the temporal authority
of the Papacy; he simply administered or
its effects. 1t was practically dead years anC
years ago. Such great results are not accom-
plished by the acts Of princes and kings. Blu
they are the effect of the great popular move
ments that have been going on in Europe fo
; centuries. They are caused by the great ii
dial currents Of the people whose interest
, and passions and purposes now have far NOR
to do with the regulation Of State polio.
than the plans or promises of princes or &c
cesiastics
o Bismarck is carrying out the will Of Ger
many in expelling tire Jesuits not because b
fears their influence on the course of publ
policy, but because Germany is jealous o
their religious influence and power. German
has become the Paradise of unbelief and IA
tionalism. A part of the press extos Juda
ism as superior to Christianity. Occasional
" journal praises paganism as better thai
either. There is no country under the SUI
where there is so little reverence for religion
authority, or the Christian revelation, anon
the people.
f The popular party that attacks the Ro
man church would just as quick attack tn
Lutheran church and march against it unde
the same watch-words. 1t camors for free
dom from religious dctation, for the liberia
ton of the conscience, and attacks all forms
of religion as foes to the empire. 1t is this
wide spread irreligion which has expelled
the Jesuits, which has doomed the reform
movement under Dollingsr to partial failure
and which would assal an active Protestant
ism quite as freely as Ultramontansm OF
I" old Catholicism
There is no doubt that the Jesuits had
rendered themselves specially obnoxious to
the popular party Yet, for the most part,
the crusade against them has been artifcially
excited. 1t proscribes and cxpatriates a
class of persons for no direct oifense, but
simply for what they believe and teach. The
law, as we should view it in this country, is
an outrage upon what we are wont to term
Constitutional liberty. To say that the Ger
man Empire, strengthened and enlarged by
its late victories, was in any danger from the
Ultramontanists, which it had never feared il
its humble capacity of a Prussian administra
tion, is arrant nonsense That the religion
order was unwise in some respects, that it in
terfered little with the military disciplin,
Of the Emperor, that II magnifed a petty
squabble with military chaplain into an es
sential Ecclesiastical controversy, there cal
be no doubt 1t has unwisely made itself tn,
target of popular frenzy, and must sufie
, temporarily. But to think that Bismarck
I fears the political power of the Jesuits i
absurd. Their expulsion is merely forma
and temporary and as soon as the popular
party finds some other object upon which I,
expend its passion, they will quietly stea
back to their now deserted houses. For III,
present, the assumed leader of the crusade
against the Jesuits is really only the buffel
between the Church and its foes. The Law
which he is executing without any faith in it
is only passionate ebullition, and will no
retain any enduring force.
Il ii = In order TO test the truth of the charg