The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-28

Prince Bismsrck's Com m nication TO
the Herald.
We are under many obligations to Prince
to our correspondent in Berlin the case of the
Prussian government against the Roman
Church We promptly comply with the wish
of the Imperial Chancellor that the American
people should know officially what policy the
German Empire will pursue in dealing with
the Church question. There are few subjects
more interesting to the American people
than this ecclesiastical issue In Germany.
In the first place, under our own
institutions, we recognize freedom 80
absolute in our relations with all religious
denominations that we cannot comprehend
such q contest in a nation as free and en-
lightened as Germany. Furthermore, the
German character is SO deeply impressed
upon our country that whatever happens to
Germany cannot be viewed by US with indif-
ference. Again, the people of the United
States are largely of the Protestant faith. Our
Catholic fellow citizens are liberal, without
any tendency to characterization or the extreme
pretensons Of the Papacy. Above all, religion
goes SO deeply into society, and is so much
part of the lives of the vast majority of men
and women, that a religious contest always
excites sympathies of the most varied and
widely extended character.
The effect of this 'project of law as
communicated to the HERALD by Prince
Bismarck, may be briefly expressed The
Catholic Church in PRUSSIA must become alb
solutely subordinate to the German Emperor.
We do not understand that this proposed law
interferes in any way with the conscience
of the German Catholic, except 80 far
as it may be q matter of conscience
that the Pope is infalible I; that his authority
is supreme over all authority; that there
shall be obedience to Caesar on the part of
priests only so far as Caesar renders himself
acceptable to the Roman Pontih. Rigid
Catholics, with ultramontane views, may at
once respond that, as the infallibility of the
Pope is dogma as binding upon the con-
science as the doctrine of the real presence
or the auricular confession, the plan of
Prince Bismarck is as much violation of the
liberty Of conscience, as much a prosecution
for opinions sake as would be imprison-
ment for the invocation of the saints or the
observance of penance during Lent The
Prince bases his law upon the proposition that
the Catholic Church is part of the machinery
of government that it is an institution of the
German Empire, with its priests in the pay of
the State like the officers of the army. So
long as the priests are paid and are actual
ministers of the civil authority they must
obey that authority. This is the logi-
cal attitude of the contending powers
The Pope virtually says You pay the
priests of my Church as you pay the ministers
of other churches That is your custom and
privilege, for they are ministers of the Empire
| to a certain extent, in the Offices of marriage,
of baptism and registration of births, of ser
vice for the dead But to me they owe an
apostolical allegiance, and, as the apostolical
head of the Church, 1 cannot reject their
fealty. They do the State service in their
sacred capacity. They oblige the State and
the State acknowledges the Obligation
1t is difficult in America to comprehend this
position and to see the logic which we
must admit belongs to each side. America
avoids the embarrassment which surrounds
the German Chancellor by giving all ministers
of religion absolute independence. So long
as the priest Of any faith observes the law We
admit his perfect freedom. He may teach
Buddha or Islam and be as free as the men
who teach the doctrines of Calvin or Wesley.
The spiritual sovereignty of the Roman Pontiff
does not concern US in any way. We do
not hold that allegiance to Rome affects
loyalty to the Union. By ignoring all re-
igious differences, by forbidding any rela-
tons between the Church and the Common
wealth, we are never oppressed by issues
like this In Germany. The natural inference
would be that if the United States escapes the
perplexites of Prince Bismarck by its policy
the best thing for that statesman to do would
be to initiate our example. But on the
other hand it is held that the rela-
tons between Church and State are so
intimate in the older countries, the Church
has SO important an influence upon
the policy of the State, that it
cannot be ignored. We are told that during
the last war the Catholic Church in Germany
was disloyal to the Empire and that the Jesuits
were especially active partisans of France. 1t
is certain that Prince Bismarck believed this,
for he took the severe, and, in this nineteenth
century, amazing step of dissolving the re-
lgious houses and banishing the Jesuits from
German soil It was certainly an extraor-
binary tribute to the power of the Order from
q man as courageous as the chief of the
German Empire. Since the war the
moral influence of the Roman Catholic
Church has been actively opposed to
the unity Of Germany. In France Catholic
bishops have commented severely upon Prus-
STA in public letters and speeches. The gov
eminent in obedience to Bismarck, has been
compelled to silence the bishops and suppress
over-zealous newspapers. In Belgium we
] L.