The New York herald., 1874-08-16


the prosecutions which the Church suffers IN almost
every part OF Spanish and Portuguese America
| What, then, are the elements OF truth which un-
derly the logic or ianatcism OF the member for
! North Warwick and on what Is based the conf
dence OF the men, Protestant and catholic alike,
! who deride his ears, and, session after session,
| defeat his motions OF inquiry into conventual
| monsroslties?
There Is, IN support OF the prejudice under which
! Newdegate 1aDors. this fact, tnat up to the year
1920 the religious authority OF Rome was acknowl-
! edged in every country OF Western Europe. / say
| the authority OF the Roman Catholic Church and
her Ponun was acknowledged; - do not say 1t
was ''paramonnt" 1t was not But It's bis ops
claimed for it as essential right that it should
be acknowledged as paramount; whereas most
| countries the Cnurch had existed for centuries In
constant and Illuminating subjection to the State.
| II was in France where what is called the
Magma Charta of '"Galllcan liberties," the Prag.
matte Sanction OF BOurges (l43S), was charter OF
real servitude for the Churcn Leo X, in l517
when he promulgated the concordat with Francis
| l. repeating the Pragmatc sanction, thought ne
had taken a secular yoke rom on the necks OF the
French clergy; but, IN practice, French legislation
became more oppressive, o the King had the sDso
nces and the concordat remained a dead letter.
| 1t was equally so in Spain. For in proportion
| as Ferdinand and Isabella withdrew from the Holy
See the legitimate and necessary control over the
Spanish hierarchy and all religious institutions
Within the Spanish territories Just IN the same mea-
sure did the royal authority assume itself that
troll. The very inquistion to which popular opn-
ion the aeah a. Of +, liberty and rsgon
ceased to be guided by the justice and mercy
which canon law made imperative in all tribunals
crushing thencelorth with the same relentless
bishop OF Toledo IN spite OF the remOnstrances
| and threats Of Rome and the censures indicted by
the the day that ieuatius Loyoa had ID the coursae m to
tell King John v. that no member OF his order
should nave any connection with the lnquisitlon,
and that the labors or his sons were to nsst IN
instructing the Christian people by assidu0us
teaching ana the examples Of holy lie, aud not
by the terrors of sangulnary executions:
Strange to say, IN Italy ITSELF Won
approached Rome You found thas is6s inqulsihOn ion
more sensiby ielt, till in the CITY OF the cSmmSn
Father OF ChristendOm you could learn that not
one capital execution for reigion's sake had ever
taken place.
Itwas an irreparabe misfortune that Church
and state should have been SO allied as to MAKE
and TO make the alliance SO close that while the
Church herself was bound hand and loot she was
made to bear, by the very fact OF this mOnstrous
union, all the odium due 10 the oppressive use Of
secular authority.
Even now not only the generality of Protestant
readers OF history, but Catholics themselves, hold
the Church responsible Tor the errors and crimes
OF the secular power. which oppressed under pre-.
text OF protecting her. IL Is this eniorced but dc
IIctO union OF the Church with the state in Spain,
IN France, In Austria and Italy which ls main
Catholicism at the breaking out Of any revolution
Unfortunately, when the religious troubles cOnse-
quent upon the Reformation frightened all Onrist-
endom the Church looked TO princes and sOver-
eigns to protect her threatened rights stay the
progress OF the new opinions. The dependence OF
came at that time both necessary and absolute;
the subordnation Of the spiritual to the temporal
became more completes the union Of Church and
State became more intimate.
IT IS not to be denied that the RefOrmers every
where identified their own religious opinions with
the cause OF liberty. Freedom Of thought and
belief became, wherever Protestantism prevahed,
identified wi h political freedom. TO oppose the
spread Of free inquiry was to oppose the Gospel,
and to do either was 70 be the enemy OF the human
race. Such was the attitude forced upon the
Catholic Church by the Reormers; such the public
OntntOQ which they formed In their iav haa
been growing ever since.
Add to this that when the French Revolution
broke out The Church IN France was neld RESPONSE
bic aud made 10 suffer or the crimes Of royalty.
The civil constitution OF the clergy imposed on the
condemned by the Holy See and rejected unani-
mously by the French pre.ates. They were thus
put IN opposition to the more moderate revolu-
tonists. Later came Robespi ere and the suppress
sion OF oil worship, and the republican armies
carried with them TO Spain, Italy and Germany the
hatred OF the Catholic priest as the born Toe Of
freedom; and hatred all the more intense be-
cause these men had SO deeply lmoued their hands
a. nome Il p tne p1God ., eisaoas ana priests
tnat period exercised by It's armies as wen as by
Its literature, most s-ccesslul propaganda OF
leavened every country over which these armies
spread The revolutionary and Republican CLUBS
everywhere IN Italy were the parents OF the later
Carbonar, Mazzinlans and Garfbaldlans. Blind
hatred OF catholicism became their only religion.
opinion winch grew. spread and deepened until
IL pervaded the entire mass or the population.
The church and her priesthood and religious orders
were an army organized AGAINST freedom. There
could be no liberty until they were beaten down.
In Germany, although the Frencn armies were
beaten back In utter rout in 1872 and 1873 French
Ideas remained like q fortified camp in con-
quered country and these IDEAS have grown and
spread even deeper and wider, until, In union WITH
Professionalism, they found themselves powerful
enough TO strike down the Catholic Church in Ger
many, to Danish her religious orders and lmprisOn
her bishops, under the transparent preteXt Of
their being the loes OF the "new Protestant Empire
Votarlans, revolutionists, republicans, Commun-
ists do they not all unite against
the Catholic Church as the common foe =? Such is
tue public opinion which has been growing for a
century, and Will continue to grow there until the
present generation sees more fearful revolution
than the first and the horrors OF 1871 IN Paris are
repeated all over France.
Italy is only in tine first stage of her antCathoic
and anti-soclal lever. There are young men VINO
Will see before they are sixty the very name OF
religion kissing and q curse IN that peninsula.
Read ~ the light Of this .public opinion, " de-:
Church and state, ana the union OF radfCalism
and Professionalism, what is now happening in
Brazil and Mexico and elsewhere I?
Taere is one lesson which God is compelling our
generation to read, and 1t is this-that His Church
needs only freedom, the iree air Of heaven and the
the land. Tnat freedom the Ango-Saxon race
give hem and God prosper and increase them for
also give her ere long; for they love liberty St too
well not TO give it TO all, and the present deluson
shall soon pass away. PRUDENTlUS
! No New Churches, but q Return to the
Old Church Demanded.
| To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
In the HERALD OF July 80 you intimate that
'1n free country like America, every tax-paying
citizen may start new religion when he peases, u
and that instead Of one Plymouth church or
Brooklyn Heights three Plymouth churches would
not be too many lor the enlightenment Of mankind.
over the shortcomings OF Beecher, the Tiltons and
other members of the house OF the Lord known as
Plymouth church let us throw the mantle oi
charity. They are not the only ones to whom the
finger may be pointed reproachfully. Christianity,
with It's modern improvements-whether Its
centre be at the Vatican at the dioceses Of the
many subdivisions Of stantism-cloaks and
| covers many an offence as griev0us as that now
charged against some Of the saints OF Plymouth
church. There Is never an eject without cause
and before We avail ourselves OF our tnprescriptbls
riQht q sttaX. .naYlD1 citizen q reli