New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-11-22
The Gladstone MaNifest0s

There can be no more significant proof OF
the revolution which the proclamation OF
the infallibility dogma has effected in pub
lie opinion throughout the world, and OF
the altered relations between the Church OF
Rome and the temporal powers, than the
remarkable manifesto recently issued by
Mr.. Gladstone. 1t 10 against this exorbI
tant assumption Of the Vatican that nearly
all States and nations, Catholic and Protest
ant, are now combining to protest in de-
tense of modern civilization. The con-
test is not confined TO the Protestant
provinces of Prussia, nor to the Protestant
cantons of Switzerland. to the coun-
tries where the Reformation was VIC
tOrious, nor upon which the French revo-
luton has left its mark. In Catholic
Austria and Bavaria; in Italy. the seat OF
the Papacy; and in Spain, the mother
land of the Inquisition, the challenge OF the
Vatican Council has been accepted, and
the mandates Of infallibility, abolishing the
rights of nations and Of national churches.
and absorbing the conscience and the reason
of mankind in the supremacy OF single
will. are rejected and denied. No concordat
with that infallible power can be main
tanned. To spiritual autocracy that, &C
cording to one OF its advocates, ''cla;ms the
right to enter the worlds domain, and rec.
ognizes no limits but the circumference OF
ChristendOm, to enforce its laws over ITS
subjects, to control their reason and judg-
ment, to guide their morals, their thoughts.
words and actions, and to regard temporal
sovereigns-though entitled to exercise
power IN secular aHairs-as auxillarIes and
subordinates to the attainment OF the ends
of its institutiOn"-tO such sovereignty
concession means surrender and compromise
subsection.
Four years ago there was no State IN En-
rope on better terms with the Court OF
In Dr,rsa
Catholic Church was to all intents and pur-
poses a recognized establishment, admins
tered in all that concerned its relations with
the State by a separate department OF the
Ministry Of Religion. Imperial France.
keeping watch and ward evec the Eternal
City. was ungratefully suspected; Catholic
Austria, in spite Of her cOncordat, was
regarded with jealous distFust. Prussia.
albeit heretical, was the generous, indul'
gent, accommodating friend. SO 1t has
hitherto been with Great Britain. Since the
abolition of penal laws and disabilities, the
Roman Church in the United Kingdom has
answered as nearly as possible to the def
milton of a free Church in a free State-it il
neither established nor endowed, but within
the limits of its own jurisdiction supreme,
or, in other words, master in its own house,
subject TO the common law OF the land.
Yet it NAV be remarked that even in Eng
land, where, being in q minority. its pollcy
was to etOOp to cOnquer-Om7l,0 Serrttter
pro d0minatione-it has more than once let
tai! the mask Of submission. and detied the
law. Cardinal Cullen's pastoral on Irish
education has shown with clearness which
does honor to the sincerity, II not to
the sagacity of his eminence, the utter
and hopeless incompatibility between
| the demands of the Vatican Council and
| the modern doctrine of religious liberty
| and equality. Once more it was made
| manifest by the ultramOntanism OF the
| nineteenth century that what the Roman
! Curia claims is not religious liberty and
equality, but paramount and undivided
| ecclesiastical or rather saeerdotal suprem-
acy. In the religious weird, history does
| certainly repeat itself, for what is this but
| a revival of the old struy gle which during
| nearly six centuries was the curse OF Eu-
| rope-the contest between the papacy ana
the empire! The forms and conditions OF
| the contest are changed; the reformation
| the revolution, science. universal freedom
of thought and inquiry. have reduced the
| church of infallibillty to the proportions OF
sect There is not, perhaps. specific faith
| enough for a second reformation, but there
ia more than incredibly enough Tor an i'm
| menss secession; ana nowadays "the en-
| pire as against the papacy' means the COM
monweaIth of civilization.
The sudden change from liberation and
| even good Wlll-6ucn as III uoutIn Times
even Protestant States like Prussia and
| England have shown toward Rome-to
bitter and aggressive hostility is thus readi-
" explained. Prince Bismarck was per
| fectly accurate in his assertion that the
Vatican had wontonly and willfully thrown
| down the gauntlet to every government,
| and the other statesmen OF Europe are
| gradually arriving at the same conclusion,
| HIS experiences with the Irish University
bills. as we'll az the case of Father Okeete.
which showed that Rome claims not only to
! be law to itself, but to be exempt from the
| jurisdiction of any other tribunals than its
own have opened Mr.. Gladstone's eyes to the
danger of exposing the state to the machln'
! atoms or the assaults of an alien hierarchy
and a disloyal clergy. In his appeal to the
| country to rally in defense Of the rights OF
| the civil power and the authority OF the
| common law-which are seriously menaced,
! Archbishop Manning's protestation to the
contrary otwithstanding-Mr:G Gladstone
NAV therefore RELY as confidently as Prince
| Bismarck on having all the national senti'
ment of England on his side. The old no.
| PoDerv spirit is not dead in England: on
| the contrary. it has been KEEP: alive by an
! instructive presentiment that the country OF
! Pym, Hampden and Cromwell is destined
| in .he future, as in the past, to dispute the
| supremacy of the Yatican.-lhicayo Inter-