The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1874-12-20
" The Subjective Conscience and the Objective
Law"
ILondon Tablet, Nov. 2s.

The public are indebted to Prince Bis
marck for striking application of a couple
of well-known terms of German philosophy,
which exhibits all the strength and all the
weakness of the Rationalistic theory of the
State authority. 1t was in the course of
motion brought on, not by Catholic, but
Socialist, Deputy, for the release from gsol
of several members of the German Parlia-
ment, that the question incidentally arose
which led to Prince Bismarck's summarize
ing his legislative and executive principles
with complete distinctness. Arrests, sum-
mary convictions, and prolonged imprison-
ments are the order of the day in the free
and United Fatherland, and it happens that
number of the extreme Democratic Depu-
ties have recently undergone the fate which
impends over Count Arnim, and which has
| been inflicted on so many Catholic Bishops,
and hundreds of Catholic priests. These
luckless representatives of the Social De-
mocracy have been explaining, in rather
bitter terms, the curious coincidence that
the military glory of Prussia has produced
no alleviation of the material condition of
the German people. They have, accord
iDgly, been arrested for language defamatory
of the Chancellor and calculated to excite
disaffected sentiments, and, in conformity
with Prussian ideas upon speeches to con-
stituencies, have been condemned to various
terms of imprisonment. Herr Won Wind
horst, the distinguished Catholic Deputy
for Hanover, thought the occasion favor
able for passing in review some recent in
cidents of the permanent " state of siege"
which Prussianism has bestowed on Ger
many by way of constitutional liberty, and,
of course, brought up the subject of the inn
prisonment and persecution of so many
blameless prelates for acts dictated by their
conscience. This was enough to force
Prince Bismarck on his legs, and, indeed,
Herr Won Windhorst's caustic eloquence
usually has this additional effect of render
tnC orhi htrt oif Fhorn lDr
not perfectly master of his emotions.
There are the traces of considerable We
hemence in Prince Bismarck's reply, and
we may suspect that he would rot have
ventured on so explicit declaration of o
peculiarly untenable policy if he had not
calm. 1.-The Bishops had placed their sub
jective conscience above the objective
law" his Highness remarked, and there
fore they were condemned. The social
Democrats had done the same, for they,
too, had a comprehension of conscience
which was not accepted as standard by
the law" No more, and no less. So here
we have the pithy avowal of the central
and constitutive idea of Bismarckianism.
" The subjective conscience must not zen
ture to set itself above the objective law"
In other words, whatever may be law in
any stat. whatever, under any Government
whatever, is at once placed beyond protest
and reform simply because it is the law. A
despot may issue the most tyrannical de-
cree. An oligarchy may trample on the
rights of millions of the community. A
furious demagoey may coDtiscate, ostracise,
peTsecute. 1t ls DO matter how wicked,
how pernicious, how degrading the legs'a
tion may be. THE subjective conscience
must not set itself above the objective law"
Tie Catholics have always maintained that
this was the meapug of the Prussian perse-
cutiou. The blind, unntelligent, indis
b. Hi
tholics declared, at the core and centre of
the whole aggression on the rights of con- |
science. Prince Bismarck cow openly, |
clearly, and succirctly declares that the
Catholics rightly apprehended the question
from the outset.
effect which this blunt revelation of absol-
utist principles has produced, that even
what we may call the Bismarckian portion
of the English press is visibly embarrassed |
at the avowal. The Daily Ne,cs, for in
stance, which is unquestionably one of the
journals whose ardour for liberality and
is strictly "limited," as the Pail
Mall Gazette has observed, "by geographi
cal distinctions" has been compelled most
to tone down Prince Blsmarck's
expressions in order to be able to indulge at
all in its haoitual strain of German glorifca
tiou. "People in England, :" writes the Daily
NelcS, cannot blame the German Chancellor
when he insists that where the laws of the
and the consciences of ndivid
uals come into antagonlsm The laws must
in some cases at least be enforced" Un-
for this version of the matter
the German Chancellor did not say word
about "some cases at least" What he
said was that citizens must not set "their
subjective conscences "abOve the objective
aw." He made no exceptions whatever,
for if he had commenced to make excep-
lions, how could he Justify the Outrages
and wanton violation of the most sacred
rights of Catholic consciences of which his
has been and continues
guilty3 The implicit admission of the
Daily Ne,0s that its hero's exact words will
not bear endorsement is in fact, accord
ngly, the implicit admission of the Catho-
ic case. The Daily Telegraph may be said
TO explicitly admit the Catholic case. ono
body can logically maintain that law is al
ways to supersede conscience" and there
can certainly be no truism more obvious.
as law is abundantly proved by
axDaYionca Tn I've extremelv prone to exceed l