The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-02-26
Manning vs. Gladstone

, DIR. Manning, has issued reply to Glad
stone covering some two hundred pages,
i'm which lie sustains his great reputation
, as rolemical writer. He concludes his
reply in the following courteous terms +:
J And now there only remains for me the
hardest and saddest part of the task, which
has not been sought by me, but has been
forced upon me. A few months ago 1
could not have believed that should have
ever written these pages. | have never
written any with more pain, and none OF
them have ever cost me so much as that
which am about to write. Thus far
have eudeavored to contine myself 10 the
subiect-mattcr of Mr.. Gladstone's pamph-
lee; but, before | end. feel bvund by an
imperative duty TO lay before him, IN be-
half of his Catholic fellow -countrymen,
: the nature of the act which he has done.
He has not only invited but instigated
Catholics to rise against the divine au-
thority of the Catholic Church. He has
endeavored to create divisions among them
If Mr.. Gladstone does not believe the au-
thority of the Catholic Church to be Di-
vine, he knows that they do. If he thinks
such rising TO he moral and mental
Freedom" he knows that they believe it to
be what lis own Litany call, 'schism,
heresy, and deadly sim" If he believes
: religious separations to be lawful, he knows
that they believe them to be violations of
fore, to say that this is at least an act of
signal rashness. No man has watched Dir.
fGladstone's career as statesman with
more generous and disinterested good will
than l have. No one has more gladly ap-
preciated his gifts /; no one has more eqnIt-
ably interpreted certain acts OF his political
life, nor has hailed his successes with
greater JOY. But when lie casts off the
character of statesman, for which lie has
shown so great capacity, to play the can
onst and thcolCgian. for. " hich he has here
shown as little, and shat with the intent of
. sowing discord and animosities among o.,
( COO 600 of his fellow -countrynen and, |
must moreover add, with an indulgence
. Of unchastened language rarely to DC equal
! led feel bound to say that he has Gecn
betrayed into an act for which can find no
/ adequate excuse. | must tell him that If
! he would incline the Catholics of the en-
pire to accept the ministries of his COM
! passion, he must first purify his style, both
! of writing and of thinking. Catholics are
! not to be convinced or persuaded by such
phrases as ''the present perilous Pontiti~
cate - ''the Papal chair, its aders and
! abettors - 1.-The great hierarchic power
and those who have egged it on, 'the
present degradation Of the Episcopal or
! der ," 'the subserviency or pl'ability ofthe
/ Council - ''hideous mummcries,'' . head
I quarters ''the follies of ecclesiastical
power" foreign arrogance, the nyr-
! midons of the Apostolic Chamber" the
! foreign influence Of a caste" ltanscribe
/ these words from his pages with repug
, nauce-not, indeed, for our sake against
/ whom they ale levelicd, but for the states
man who has thought them fitting. Mr..
Gladstone can do many things; but he can
/ not do all things. He has Il strong hand !;
/ but there is bow which he cannot bend.
/ He has here tried his hand at task for
( which without something moro than mere
| - H. he v,.,l tr-
| will not suffice. This eXpostulation is as |
| have already said, an act out of all harmony
and proportion with great statesman's
I life. | have written these words with a
. painful constraint but, cost what it may,
/ duty ruust be done, and l believe it to be
my duty to record this judgment, in behalf
! of the Catholics of this country, on an act
unjust in itself, and therefore rot only
barren Of all good result, but charged with
! grave public dangers. But cannot break
off with a note so cheerful. If this expos
! tuation has cast down many hopes both OF
public and a private character, we can
not altogether regret its publication. LII
( such mistrusts and misconceptions existed
! in the minds of our fellow subjects, the
/ sooner and the more openly they were
made public the better. We are not content
to be tolerated as suspected or dangerous
persons, or to be set at large upon good
! behavior. We thank Mr. Gladstone for
! gaining US the hearing which we have had
before the public justice of our country,
and we are confident that his i'm parchment
| will be withd rawn. His own mind is too
large, too just aud too upright to refuse to
! acknowledge an error when he sees that
/ he has been misled. 1t is also too clear
and too accurate not to perceive that such
/ is now the fact. | see in this the augury
/ of a happier and more peaceful future than
/ if this momentaTy conflict had never arisen.
! We shall all understand each other better.
! Our civil and religious peace at home will
| be fr,ner by this trial. If the great Ger
man Empire shall only learn in time, thir-
teen millions of contented Catholics sub
jects, reconciled as they still may be by a
! return of Just laws, will give support to
! its unity which nothing can shake. If
/ Italy shall only come to see that the ''Ro-
man question" is, and forever Will he,
source of weakness, contention and danger
| to its welfare, and, seeing this, shall solve
! it peacefully, as Italy alone can do, by un-
doing its un-Catholic and. therefore, un
Italian policy then its unity and indepen-
dence will be secured by the spontaneous
, co-operation of a united people, gathered
arouud the centre of all the CHRISTIAN Slo-
res. Such solution would then be con-
centrated by the highest sanction of its
faith If wise councils prevail aud wise
! friends of Italy shall gain its ear, 1T may
be again what once it was-the foremost
people in the Christian world And, last
! ly, for ourselves, our world divide empire
canrot turn back upon it's path without
disintegration. It is bound together, not
I by natural force, but by the moral bond of
Just laws and the glad consent of free
people But justice and freedom cannot
be put asunder They flow from one
source they can be kept pure only by the
! same stream They have come down to
us from. Gu Christ anity. D.v.del a. we are,
we ars Christian people still. By religi
conflict our Christianity will waste away
as moth fretting garment. BY religious
peace all that is true and wise and just
and Christian will be perpetually multi
: piled, binding indssolubly in one alljmen
and all races of our imperial commons
LII,