The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-10-06
CATHOLICISM IN GERMANY
BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF TIE pERsEcur,ox

| ting Catholicism has done the grestes,
good to the cause of true religion through
indirectly one of the principal friends NJ
the Church of God in the German's Father
| land. No thanks are due, of course, to hi,
! Highness, the Supreme Chancellor. Rns
| as the old proverb bids Ms give even tba
| Devil his due, it is but just and right tbs.
the truth in regard to Otto Won Bismarct
should be frankly put as we have just pon
stated it. The Bishops, the Pries.s, tbs
Nuns, tie religious of every grade and
| order have. no doubt, suffered cruellv
under the Falk laws. The iron has bees
driven home in their regard, and has an.
tered their very souls with pltiless cruelty.
Bat even in their own regard their suffar.
ipss are laid to their account on a.
right side as treasures reserved for their
enjoyment where moth and rust are nm.
known, and where thieves cannot pepe.
trate. Bat among the masses Of the Cath.
olic laity the Influences OF these lopy.
continued persecutions have-there canpo,
be any doubt of it whatever-been in the
highest degree beneficial. A zeal, q fer.
yor, unity, a resolution previously up.
dreant of among them have returned ipto
their midst. 1t is az if the bonds of perse.
cation which had been tigbtened around
them had drawn them only more closelv
together The sagscious motto of s.a.es-
manship, Diride ct impera, has, happily
for tkem, been disdained by the great min.
isterial ruler of Germany. Instead Of
to scatter then, to separate them by every
means the one from the other, he has
undesignedly 60 labored that they have
been drawn, as we cay, more nearly
together than they had any hope of being
before the commencement OF this harsh and
grinding persecution. The result lie visi-
BILE now to the whole world. It is no
longer merely matter of conjecture. 1t
veritab!e matter of fact. Does anyone
doubt II for al instant, he leeds only to
glance st the position of Catholic journsI.
lsm st tits moment throughout Germany.
ae leeds only to lock at the array within
the Reichstag of tie serried rarks of the
Catholic representatives,.
CATHOLIC journals prosper IN Germany al
tbs noneat as probably they prospe,
nowhere else. New Catholic papers are
started every twelve months, and thev
trd fresh audiences. The Old established
papers are at the same time steadily, and
constantly ard appreclabiy extending
their circulation. The new corners seem
certainly il no way interfere with tie
prosperity of their older contemporaries.
Scarcely town, certainly L o city OF any
importance, EoTth, south, east or west il
without its own especial Catholic organ,
The lowest circulation of the major Of
these is two thousand. The average have
subscribers to the number of six or e!gt.
thousand. One Catholic journal at Berlin,
founded only year ago, has run up, now,
even to q regular circulation of twenty
thousand. This is the !Sch,cGrt=e BLatt.
A: Treves, again, the S. PGulinus BLatt
has sa5scribers to the number of fifteen
thousand. While al the time the Germania
never falls below the ten thousand OF ite
lopg established circulation.
Within the walls of the ReicistaP. how
ever, the change effected in the Catholic
cause by the persecution is the most 10
ticeable. 1t is not merely noticeable there,
t ia little less than astounding. Speaking
in round numbers. tie Catholic candidates
return ed to the Legislature by the coRst.
tuenc:es as Iesr!y as possibly approach to
a round hurdred. One account sets their
aggregate down ct ninety three, and
= lother at nipety-six. These are Catholics
pur ct simple. They are those who are
dubbed IN the slang of uon Catholic JONI 4
ralism Uleramoutaoes. Ninety-three,
ninety six, as neaE!y as possible a hundred
Catholics, Ciericals, Ultra.
call them what you will-iu the
Reichstag, under the reign of William,
q oder the domination of Bismarck, under
the ministry of Falk and his congenal
colleagues! But add TO these avowediJ
Catholic members of the Rsichstag those
other members who will, for certain. be
ioOnH, w tHS SLcdt IL aJolltg Vi uPo4s@.'
q questions, voting with them-add TO thei!
aggregate one Dane, ten Alsstiaus, twelve
Poles, and eight ParticlIaEiste, and you
get, at the most moderate caiculat!on,a
serried band, all acting together, Of about
I30. Why, the Government party in the
Reichstag, the 80 called Conservatives,
number now no more, at the outside, than
lis. While the chaotic mass of Demo
crate, Socialists, Ultra Liberals. Revo!q,
tionists, and what not, who never hold
together, who are constantly at logger,
heads amongst themselves, who are that
"House divided against itself" that car
never stand, built up, too, as it is upon no
solid foundation, but upon constantly
shifting quicksaud-even that heterogene
ous agglomeration of Freethinkers, polltl,
cally, socially. aud scientifically, numbers
at the highest computation, no more than
1ss. The Catholics are, therefore, moss
formidable body in the Reichstsg; ana
they are chiefly formidable for the reason
that they are thoroughly united, and ma!
be relied upon as certain always to aes,
think, and feel together. The CathoNe
in the German Legislature