Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-06-20
LEO HAS CRAWFISHED.

The Pope's course in the matter of the
circular condemning the Parnell fund has
been somewhat curious, rather amusing,
| but mostly ridiculous Like the King OF
France the Pope marched up the bill,
but quite unlike the Gallo monarch, he
did not march down again. He rolled
down. There was an evident effort to
make his descent gradual. But the at
tempt has scarcely been a success. No
! Pope has ever been placed in so humilat-
| ing an attitude as Leo, and no people
have ever advanced so much in the esti
nation of the world in the short space
of one month as the Irish people have by
! their attitude Of uncOmpromising fidelity
to their prudent leaders, as well as by
| their uncompromising refusal to surren-
der to the dictates Of ecclesiastical poll
/ ticians.
They have plainly and clearly told Leo
to attend to his own business; that they
| will have no interference of his in their
politica! affairs; that as far as they are
concerned their political Pope shall be an
Irishman and not an Italian. 1t must no
doubt have been rather surprising to Leo,
and Simeoni, and Jacobini. They had
been rejoicing over the partial surrender
| Of Bismarck, the man of blood and iron;
! they had been congratulating themselves,
| though without sufficient reason, that the
author of the Letters ftom Naples" and
of the pamphlets on "Vaticanism" was
! willing to compromise, and that the son
| of Victor Emmanuel was about to make
partial surrender, when the sturdy def
anCe and non p0SSunuS of a hitherto
! Obedient Catholic peasantry met the at
tempt OF the infallible Pontiff to dictate
to them liz political matters. The peas
ants have declared almost as one man
that they were willing to trust to the
| gui ance in political matters to a young
Protestant gentleman of their own nation
rather than TO the guidance of the Italian
head of the Roman Catholic Church.
The discovery has evidently astonished
the Pope and his advisers. 1t was some
thing they were not prepared for They
counted on docility-they met but def
ance. They expected submission-th
were treated with contomptuous lndifer-
ence. There has never been a more pit
itul spectacle than the retreat of the Pope
before the Catholic peasants Of Ireland.
The retreat has been uudigDifed and ri
diculous. The efforts Of the Pope's Gen
eralissimo, Cardinal Simeoni, to cover up
the disgrace of the retreat has but made
matters worse. He has descended to the
merest pettifogging subterfuges to make
it appear that it was not retreat after
all. In doing so he has but spoiled his
case. He has but added insult to injury
Cardinal Simeoni said to the correspond
= l.. Il,
nell was not personally in the mind Of
the Holy Father or the Propaganda when
the letter was issued yet Mr.. ParnelI is
mentioned in the circular without the
prefix Mr." however, and his name is
again mentioned Ia connection with the
testimonial fund Cardinal Simeoni is
made to say also that the Papal circular
is being ''implicitly obeyed by the Bsh-
ops and the people" The Prefect of the
Propaganda must not have been reading
the Irish and American papers. If he
would have read them he would have
found that the circular had been more
than contemptuously ignored by The peo-
pie, and it had but one effect to stimu-
late subscriptions The pretended SYM
pathy with Ireland expressed in Simeoni' s
AuLCI FLCH LIuSG udfC SIdLSd OI ever y
Irishman who has read it. It but aggra-
Yates the original offense, and it is but a
most clumsy effort at letting down easy
the clumsiests ever made, perhaps, by
any one pretending to diplomacy.
The whole truth about the matter is,
that the Pope has been astonished by the
revolt, not only of the Irish-[rish, but Of
the American-IriSh and the Australian
and Canadian Irish, against his attempt
to act as the POntifcal Viceroy of Eng
land over them. He has apparently not
been informed that there have been Ma
tiOual schools in Ireland aud that daily
and weekly papers arc being read by the
/ people, that the letter and the newspaper
from America are important factors in the
education of the Irish in Ireland. The
result has been that Leo and Simeoni and
/ Jacobini yentured too far, and have had
to retreat hastily and in disorder.
The Irish people have certainly gained
by the whole affair. They have shown
themselves independant of clerical con
trol--that they can think and act for
themselves. They have served notice on
Leo and his Italian Cardinals and Eng
lish and Italian advisers that they are no
longer dupes, nor mere dumb, driven cat
tie.
The Pope and his advisers haYe made
themselves but a. laughing stock They
who have boasted of their victories over
the Gar and the Emperors, over Kings,
Princes and courtiers, have been forced
to retreat before an undisciplined peas
antry, lead by cool-headed gentleman,
who is not OF their faith. The Irish may
we'll be excused for their jubilations over
their victory Chjcago Tribune