The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-08-18

which is being discussed in the Cabi1ets *
* * - : = -ss''' 3 :
81" The Catholic Church Ia Germany.
That sxceIlent Catholic weekly, the Lon
don Tablet, to which most of our weeklies
are indebted for the priacipal part Of their
forei gn news, has the following well-con
sidered article on the protest Of the English
1aity to the prosecutions of the Church in
Germany and the vague ard improved
charges of Bismarck against the Jesnits:
q From the time that Frederic William Nv.
mounted the throne of Prussia in 1910, the
+ Catholics of that State have ceased to be
disaffected, and have become eminently
patriotic. MOI. are tho Jesuit Fathers to be
excluded in any degree from this assertion.
Ardent as their Catholic sympatlies have
been. and must ever be, they have mani
tested none Of that spnriously. eosmopoli-
tan spirit which lessons the love of the Fa-
therland. During the late war they have
felt, as it was natural they should feel, on
the German. side; and when they are
charged with secretly leaguipg with the
enemies of their country, tAe-cslumny ia
disproved by fact. Their conduct has been
wholly inofsnsive and pacific, and in the
zion from Germany, documents were quo
ted to prove that the Government itself
| and the authorities had on various occa-
| sions considered it worthy of praise. While
| in Baden, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, the
Jesuit Order was disallowed, Prussia had
| tolerated it, and had been proud of doing
80. It was, therefore, the petitioners COM
planned, in the highest degree unreasona-
BILE and treacherous on the part Of Prussia
now to turn against men whom she had
specially projected, whose conduct as citi-
Gems she had approved, and against whom
y r g l.
were alleged in the preamble to the Bill.
In the course of the debate the Govern
ment and it's supporters were challenged
to produce any facts inculpatory of the ac
cused Fathers. They were "suspected Of
plotting against the uoity of the German
the confessional and the pulpit to sap the
foundations of the great national fabric.
! They were reported" as declaring that
the curse of Heaven rested On the heads Of
the Emperor, Bismarck, and Moitke, for
building mp their power on the ruin of
France and the consequent, spoliation Of
to be French, Roman, alien-anyt thing but
German-at heart; in league with Com.
| munists again the common veal, and
scattering in all the families they visited
the seeds of disloya atty and distrust of an
Emperor who had allied himself with Vic
tor Emmanuel, the exeommunicated usur-
per of the Italian soil. 1t was "under-
stood" that they had cemented compact
with the Socialists and Republicans on the
| common ground Of opposition to the junk
| er party and it was NOTORIOUS" that they
were acting under instructions from head
quarters to uphold French interests 'when-
ever they could, and to cripple to the ut
most the strength of the Pr1ssian domino
ton. As to the strikes which ut this mo-
ment 80 embarrass trade aud the executive,
there twas not a doubt" but that they were
at the bottom of them. E'
Not one Of the charges grounded on these
Impressions was substantiated, and though
it was stated That the Government pos
sessed ample proofs of the disloyalty of the
Jesuits, no proof of it was adduced even
when loudly called for. The fact is; that
lace, but the mighty men of valor, the
learned of every degree, and the Councillors
of State, were the dupes of panic which,
though it has often occurred among US, is
still marvel and puzzle to people OF sense.
Something like it was experienced in
England when Titus Oates came forward |
with the story of Popish plot to assassi-
nate the King and slay the Protestants. |
The riots and burniDgs excited by Lord !
George Gordon were another case in point; |
and the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill was car
ried through Parliament duriug the same
again and again been the victims of SINH
lar frenzy. They have been driven from
England, France, Russia. China, Sicily and
Spain. The Marquis de Pombal expelled
them from Portugal and assisted in press
ing on Clement XIV. a policy under which
the entire Order had to succumb for a time.
The vast German empire, with all it's proud
traditions of Frederic the Great and its re-
cent series of brilliant successes in France,
is at this moment afraid of 200 world shun-
ming celibates, whose only strength is their
piety, learning and fidelity to the religion
they profess. Philosophic minds, accus-
toned to the most critical analysis, and
resolved TO take nothing on trust, accept
Ereedily the widest reports respecting
Jesuit designs; and the speeches of grave
members of the legislative assembly in {
Prussia, i'll the debates on the Inhibition {
Bill, have been as full of bigotry, as ex-- ,
ravagant and calumnious, as if they had
ssued from the lips of 0rangehen in. the {
IOrth of Ireland. s-. c
The measure as modified by the Reich i
stag has lost something of IFS uriginGl ma q
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e sssl sags 80 80 .st>