Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-05

to what the price OF this assistance to the
English Government is to be. 1t was re-
ported few days ago that pressure was
being brought to bear upon the Pope to
induce him to denounce the Land League.
If there was any truth in this statement
it is plain that those who made
this experiment were playing with
very sharp-edged tools. For the Vati-
can cares neither for the supremacy Of
British nor German nor French nor italian
nor any other rule, save as it may contrib
ute to the building up aud extension of the
Papacy. And it is this singleness of pur-
pose which makes Rome formidable even
in her apparent decrepitude. Other pow
ers are divided and discordant They are
embarrassed by the antagonism between
dynastic policy and democratic progress.
They are enfeebled by the compromises
they find necessary to the placation Of now
this now that turbulent element And al
ways in their midst is this power with the
one purpose, offering its aid to do what
you will, but ever On the same terms Let
it support landlordism here, bureaucracy
there, militarism elsewhere, it is in every
instance for the aggrandizement of the
Papacy that it works. Whatever Govern
ment makes league with it must consent
to lose something of its liberties, some
thing of its authority. The thin end of
the wedge will be inserted which is in due
time to split the State asunder. The
" rift within the lutte is made, and how.
ever small at frst, it win presently "make
the music mute"
1t is through the exigencies of Govern
ments that the Papacy makes its advances,
and it is significant fact that in most
cases it is for its aid in repelling democratic
assaults that the Church receives its re.
wards. The danger in these concessions is
seldom realized at the time. Bismarck
cares nothing for the appearance of things
SO long as he is enabled to play his own
game. He will let the world think he has
gone to Canossa after all his naughty
boasts, and he will think that in truth he
has done nothing of the kind. Yet it is
very certain that his own violence has
paved the way for Catholic reaction, and
that the Church has, in returning to the in
trenchments from which it was driven by
the Falk laws, become stronger than ever
in those very places. And in ireland the
policy of the Vatican has ever been to
show England that the Irish people were
ruled by their priesthood, and that the
priesthood received its instructions from
Rome Thus the proud Protestant power
is made to realize that its rebellous sub
iects are in truth far more the fefs Of
Rome than of st. James, and that Rome
must be applied to in all critical junctures
for the means of controlling them. 1t is
only in France that of late a desperate at
tempt has been made to overthrow this for
eign power, and it is too early as yet to form
a Judgment as to the success of the en-
deavor. At present the Republic seems
vigorous and flourishing, but should it be
attacked by any wasting disease, and
should the Bonapartists or the Bourbons
come to the front again, we may be sure
that the new deal will have all the backing
of the Papacy
In the United States thus far there has
been no attempt to cultivate relations of
any kind with the Vatican. The one great
safeguard of the American Constitution
was the prohibition of all connections
between the Church and the State To
that prohibition we owe the immunity
from religious disputes which we have
enjoyed, and the practical feebleness of all
the churches in politics. To that we owe
our ability TO do without any restraints upon
religion, and the fact that we can contem.
plate with comparative tranquility the
establishment of Roman Catholic schools
and colleges all over the country. Whether
we shall be as able in the future to enjoy
this ease of mind concerning the spread of
Romanism is by no means certain, but we
have at all events escaped for century,
and that is more than can be said of any
other country under the sun. The Papacy
has no prejudices and no European pro-
gramme. 1t has ceased to WELD political
power openly. and at present it seeks to
advance through its educational agencies
mainly. But the Government that enters
into relations with it always has more to
lose than to gain. Bismarck is a great
statesman, yet his exigencies have made
him subservient to the Vatican, and that
when he thought he had crushed Rome
with his proscriptive laws. There is only
one remedy for the danger which this great
religious machine carries with it. Its hold
is upon the minds of the ignorant masses
through their ignorance. Education alone
can break the chains which it has cast
about the necks of every people that has
come under its control, but it is not the
kind of education to be had in Catholic
colleges snd seminaries. The great wave
of skepticism which Science has produced
in this century has its chief use in keeping
men alive to the insidious efforts of the
Papacy; efforts which, no matter how
they are conducted, tend to but one end,
and that is the abolition of private judg-
lnent, and the re.enslavement of the
human intellect to the basest supersti.
tions.
All UNCONSCIOUS ADMISSION.
We are afraid that the Bee is wholly