The Irish standard., 1916-06-03

The year 184S was a year of uni
versal unrest. Insurrection, revolu-
ton, upheaval were witnessed in many
lands. Even here in Ireland the spirit
of the time was felt, and we had our
attempted rising, and our batch OF
political prisoners in consequence. 1t
were we'll for other countries in Eu-
rope had they as just cause OF revo-
luton as had the Young 1relanders.
Even here, when the cause was full
of Justice, it was tainted with the sin
of inexpediency, the result of unpre-
paredness. No people can be so stu
pid as brilliant patriots. They are
only too liable to gauge their chances
by their deserts-a kind of theory in
politics which almost all history ridi-
cules. However, so far as the Contl-
nent was concerned, 184S was not as
spontaneous as it looked There had
been a good deal Of preparation for
it off and on. Rome felt it, and felt
the preparation as early as 1916, when
Plus assembled the Throne. MazZini
and his followers began early. There
is no difficulty in reconstructing their
program. Our enemies are many"
wrote one OF them. First of all, the
clergy, the nobility, many proprietors;
lastly, government employees. At the
cry of liberty, shall be instituted in
every city, revolutionary committees,
which shall make sure of the said per-
sons, the most suspected, and whose
liberty or survival might bring great
detrimept to the cause" The proceed
ure to be adopted with regard to such
obnoxious persons was delightfully."-
simple and monstrous1y tyrannical and
criminal-that is way with many rev.
dictionaries who shout liberty" most
loudly. They were to be seized with
out violence and by night, put in pris-
on and slain "You must use in that, "
said one of the preparatory docu-
ments, "the greatest prudence and Sc
crecy. Giving out, then, either that
they are hid, or exiled, or imprisoned
Professionally And ali that not to ex-
cite tumults and awaken horror, as
happened in the Septemberings. Theft
deaths to be speedy, and without tor
ment.'
The Church the Enemy.
1t was, in a word, to be liberty via
assassination. And, Of course, the
church was the great enemy, because
she does not believe in liberty via as
gent about "the fatal plant. born i'll
Judaea." But he was an optimist;
"Soon," he exclaimed. "a new era will
begin for men, the glorious era of a
redemption quite otherwise than that
announced by Christ That is what
these fellows are always pining for
the end of Christianity, and we see
more clearly today than we did, per-
haps two short years ago, what kind
of a new era the end of Christianity
would be likely to bring them. AT
any rate, MaZZini went into detail
and he was definite III his suggestions:
Clerical power is personifed in the
Jesuits," he wrote. THE Odium OF
that name is already personified for
the Socialists. Make use of it. The
secret societies give irresistible
strength to the party that will call
upon them. Do not fear to see them
split; the more the better. All go to
the same end by different ways" And
Cantalupo sketched in amiable terms
the chief functions of the secret or.
ganization, which, indeed, were moth
ing more nor less than prolific and var.
iegated slaughter. Members who would
not obey orders. or who revealed Sc
crets were to be "poignarded without
remission" The member who refused
to do the poignarding was to be put
to death on the spot" Ii the victim
succeeded in Guiding the murderers
"he shall be pursued necessarily in
every place; and the guilty shall be
struck by all invisible hand, were he
sheltered on the bosom of his mother
or in the tabernacle of Christ" Fin
ally: Each tribunal shall be compo
nent not only to Judge guilty adopts
but to put to death all persons whom
it shall devote to DEATH" There was
indeed, a great deal that was delect
able in Glorious Forty-eight.
The Father of His People.
Meanwhile the King Pontiff, who
was to experience the effects of all
this rufIianly plotting, was. to put in a
homely way, going about his business
with patient zeal and paternal sagac
ity for which there are few parallels
in the history of kingcraft. don't
know any ruler who more richly de-
served the title of Father of his PEG
pie. 1t was not that he had large
and honest affection for them, or that
he studied their condition and wants
as a statesman and ruler was bound
to do, but he actually put himself into