The Irish standard., 1902-05-17

| sc;tle OF purity among the civilized ma
tions of the earth.
"Tell me, reverend sir, in plain
words. What do YOU mean by declar-
ing that the Roman Catholic Church
in the Council of Trent had padlocked
the Roman Catholic conscience? Is it
because she has rendered the marriage
tic inviolable and thus permitted the
divorce courts to devote all their time
to those outside her fold: has she scar
ed the consciences of the hundreds of
| thousands of noble women who. llay-
| ing given up all that this world holds
dear, consecratc themselves to the
gratuitous serving of the orphan. the
sick. the wayward and the aged Door?
Are You prepared to prove that under
her teaching and sacramental ministra-
tions results have been obtained which
will justify your remark. or prove that
| the conscience of her children is less
pure. less honest. than that formed
| under the systems of Professionalism?
- '""i "oi"o w llol IIeitIl lulS Iney
are meaningless and if they do, we
| tempt the impossible, listen to the
words of James Anthony Froude (fifth
section, New York city, 1872, who was
not noted for his partiality to the Cath
| Olic Church:
ireland is one of the poorest coun-
tries in Europe. yet there was less
theft. less cheating. less house-brcaE
ing. less robbery of all kinds than in
any country of the same size i'm the
civilized world. In the wild districts
where he lived they slept with I'M
locked doors and open windows. with
as much security as if they had
been with the saints in par
Aalise. for any danger to which they
were exposed. 81 Tn the last
hundred years. at least. impurity had
been almost unknown in Ireland. This
absence of vulgar crime and this eX-
ccptional delicacy and modcsty of
character We're due. to their everast-
olic clergy
'Spain. ! believe. is rather a Cath
olic country. We have been reminded
of it very often by men of the stamp
of the reverend doctor. and England is
quite as fully a Protestant country.
The author Mr.. Scott. Il Protestant.
| tells us. THE Spaniard looks upon a
tlrunkard with the most undisguiscd
horror and contempt. There are few
mortals more abstemious and less
given to eXcesses of any kind than the
people of the PENINSULA and the Quar-
/ terly Review October. 1879. says
, about the English people: TT is calcu-
lated that upward of GOOOO die an
nnally in this country from the effects
of drink. There are no less than
100000 habitual drunkards in England
and Scotland. who riot and waste with
comparative impunity in the presence
of terrified children and dospairing
partners and too often end in homi-
eide and suicide
"The Saturday Review. April 90.
! 1861. SAYS that IF Scotland is the most
Sahhatarian and Calvinistc country
| upon earth. its town populations are
the most drunken Of drunkards'
"Tables of authoritative statistics
; upon each and every form of crime are
at hand. should the reverend gentle
i man need them to prove how thor
oughly the paddock has been placed
! by the Church upon the conscences of
her children. Concerning crimes
against property. the following data
may be interesting. 1t is taken from
The Church and the World an Angli-
can publication 1S67. page 399). which
quotes them from the statistical soci-
ETY.. as follows: England and Wales,
criminal in 100 of the population:
Saxony and Sweden. about the same:
Scotland. something worse than Eng
land: Ireland. % per cent. less than
England: Spain. 1 criminal in 10000
of the population: Belgium. criminal
p. in LOO of the population