The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-09-02

there permanently The situation is
big with possibilities.
Roman Catholics throughout Eu-
rope are watching anxiously the pro-
gress of the anti-clerical war in Italy.
The attacks made in Rome and Mi
Ian and other large cities upon &C.
clesiastics are indicative of popular
hostility. Plus X is said to be pro-
foundly depressed. The troubles in
Italy differ radically from those to
which worldwide attention has been
attracted in France. In the latter
country the grievance was primarily
political. The movement for the
separation of church and state arose
in consequence of what a great ma
jority of enlightened Frenchmen,
among them many of the leading
Catholic laymen, regarded as the I'M
warranted intervention of the Vati-
can through the clergy in French adj
ministration. The clergy were ac-
cused of having too much to do with
politics.
In Italy no such suggestion has
been made. The anti-clerical war
began because of the demonstrated
immortality of few priests, all of
whom have been publicly unfrocked
by the pope. In the case of these
rascals the offenses were so scandal
lous that the public mind was in
famed. Then followed a shocking
revelation as to practices at a bogus
school for girls in Milan-an infa-
nous resort conducted by woman
who falsely called herself nun, aid
ed by two priests. The public, UNI
thinking and furious, decided that
all conventional schools were justly
under suspicion.
Nothing could be farther from the
truth. But the liberal press of Italy
has printed, with a madness surpas-
sing the worst excuses of yellow
Journalism in America, any wild
tale against priest or nun, until the
most imminent ecclesiastics dare not
walk the streets for fear of gross in
suit and even physical violence. An
ti-clerical politicians are fomenting
the trouble.
1t is this new problem-one of the
most difficult confronting the Vati-
can-that is breaking down the
health of Plus To be confined to
the Vatican gardens was bad enough
from the viewpoint of a man used
to long walks in the country and the
smell of the sea- His health has suf-
| fered from the day of his ascension
of the throne of st. Peter. He misses
the old life and longs for it. There
is possibly nothing more pathetic in
Europe than the sight of this old
man, elevated against his will to pa
| Nv frnntnd
the most intricate questions of state
unable, according to the traditions OF
of the pontificate since Garibaldi's
victory, to come and to go as ne
pIeases as a mere matter of physical
exercise.
Ii was different With Leo XIII. He
was a wiry man. But all his early
life he had lived the scholars life.
His cell was his favorite tramping
ground, before he became pope. After
he received the tiara the daily rides
or walks in the gardens of the Vati-
can palace seemed to his unfamiliar
gaze a life in the country. Leo, ex-
cept as a matter of principle, never
objected to being the prisoner of
the Vatican" He was happy in his
imprisonment"
Plus pines away. In addition to
physical torture, he has the tempera-
ment that worries easily. Little
things that Leo would have ignored
distress him acutely. The supreme
duty of safeguarding the interests
of the church rests upon him like
the globe on the shoulders of Atlas
"a fearful burden. He grows old
rapidly. He is a victim of nervous
arrangement. OF late his doctors
have been very strict with him, and
matters may improve in this respect ;
but the loathsome agitation against
the priests and nuns is in fair way
to offset all the medical precautions
for his peace.
All the advices from The Hague
speak of the charming Wilhelmina as
weaving the spell of a sweet wo-
mans influence over congress more
bent upon regulating war than es-
tablishing the guarantees of peace
| She has been much in evidence at the
state functions for the entertainment
of delegates, but-as the correspond
ent of lie Petit Parisien says-her
best work was seen in the desire of
large section of the congress to
leave to her the calling of any sub
sequent conclave of the nations.
Though far from forgetting the
bitter experiences of her early we'd
ded life with Prince Henry, the queen
of the Netherlands no longer wears
the respondent, heart-broken aspect
that once saddened all the Dutch
people. Her old vivacity is coming
back. 1t is said that she keenly re-
scented the thought that her husband
was not looked upon by her subjects
as a man of much spirit. But when
he proved his valor by helping in the
sea rescue her manner changed and
her health improved
Her domestic habits. however con-
tinue those always associated with
the pious Dutch. She doesn't know
one card from another. Her politi-
cal advisers find her as serious as
themselves, with plenty of shrewd
suggestions. Mr.. Choate calls her
IAN old-fashioned girl on the
| throne. Malcolm Lincoln in New
York Commercial.