Saturday, April 22, 1871.]

T H E TABLET,

479

from slavery. One may still find oysters and truffles for dinner at the T ro is Frères ; may see a com edy o f Molière w e ll p layed at the Français, or a farce at the Gymnase ; but among all the gourm ets o f Paris, or the able-bodied men who crowd the theatres, it seems as i f there could not be found the courage o f a man or a spark o f the spirit o f duty. I t is more than possible that the end w ill be an appeal to Prussian force to aid in the defeat o f Paris ; but “ i f such a request,” says the writer, “ be made, it is surely only another sign o f the national “ degradation. There was a time once in France when “ honour was held dearer than life ; but if, when there is

every prospect o f success for a direct a ttack on the present “ positions— while France is suffering daily humiliations at “ Prussian hands, while vengeance against Prussia is the “ popular phrase— if, under these conditions, her Govern

ment and her army stoop to seek favours at Prus“ sian hands, then has her demoralization touched its lowest ■“ point, and the slough o f abject degradation has, indeed, “ closed over the head o f the fair, bright, brave nation that “ once produced a Duguesclin and a B ayard.”

Nothing could surpass the scandals, o f which

* ‘ progress good Catholics were forced to be witnesses,

at roue. ciur;ng tile H o ly W eek at Rome. T h e theatres remained open all the w eek; the Free Thinkers held banquets in honour o f Progress ; and Christian sentim ent was outraged in every way. O n Wednesday, the funeral o f Mattia M ontecchi was solemnized with Masonic rites : our R om an Correspondent gives ju st such an account, as is to be found in the Italian journals which still have respect for the Pope. O f the 2000 men who com posed the attendance, the great majority were “ victim s ” o f justice, “ martyrs” o f the galleys, and “ suspects” o f the police. The entrance into Rom e was made very early in the morning ; and most o f the ca n a i lle o f the surrounding villages did honour to the occasion. Free Thinkers made it a festival : but the festival was more free than thoughtful.

I t is gratifying to hear that Prince Humbert

loyalty of ;s vexeci at the disaffection o f the Roman ™oB[I jTy ‘ nobility. Exceptions there are ; but the ma­

jo r ity are true to their Pontiff and their Sove­

reign. Speaking last week on this subject, Prince Humbert said : “ These Princes and Cardinals keep a loof from our“ selves ; the day will soon come when we shall be far away, “ and they w ill wish to have us.” Much importance has been attached to these words. T h e y have been thought to mean that it is the intention at F lorence to leave to the Sectaries the Pope and all his adherents. T h e Romans feel that they are on a mine, and that Mazzini holds the match. W ithout some special protection, Rom e must soon contemtem plate hideous and fatal scenes. T h e responsibility will b e less w ith those Piedmontese agents— who are more properly victim s o f Revolution— than w ith the European Governments who now urge on the Sectaries. I t is a significant fact that Père H yacinthe is now living comfortably in Rome. H e is the guest o f Prince T eano, at the Gaëtani Palace. Politics and religion are inseparable at Rome, and so are apostasy and rebellion. T h e B ie n P u b l ic, speaking o f the miserable state o f Rome, and o f the absence o f visitors from it, observes :—

Instead of visitors, there are assassins— starving tramps, who thieve and murder, and infuse a terror into the people. Instead of Zouaves, brilliant and generous, there is a garrison of Piedmontese soldiers, all without money, greedy, insolent, and brutal. Instead of 800 or 900 Bishops, full of charity, there are masters of iron strictness ; Ministers who are always on the move to organize establishments for matters of State. One feels, in short, the load ofjiiew imposts, and the injuries of a “ civilization ” not hitherto known, and false; accompanied by an anti-Christian propagandism, and all the scandals of the societies of Free Thinkers. Plow should Rome not be sad and desolate? T h e J o u r n a l de B r u x e l le s gives a letter from Rom e (April 7) which says :—

Yesterday a dinner of Free Thinkers took place in the Via Barberini. The thing was conducted in a diabolical manner. A crucifix wars placed upon the table. Toasts of abominable impiety were proposed. The evening was wound up with excesses of all kinds.—-The outrages committed at Rome against religion are of a nature which shows, on the part of the Sectaries, a resolution to combat God Himself. You cannot, in a country like yours, even imagine the excesses to which the hatred of these Sectaries carries them. They discourse horrible profanations ; such as are partly suggested in that book of Bresciani, The Jew o f Verona. On the other hand, I ought to say that the Faithful multiply their works of reparation. Y esterday, for example, all day, the Scala Santa was crowded with men, with women, with children ; ascending on their knees this staircase, which the Saviour, on the eve of his Passion, ascended and descended. Amongst other benefits for which Rom e stands indebted to Revolution is the presence o f a certain Mr. H ogg, an An

glican minister, who devotes h im self to the conversion of priests,__with a view to their subsequent nuptials. M indful o f that connubial theology, in which he has been sedulously brought up, he preaches marriage as that Christian perfection to which conversion is a step. H is right-hand man is one Gennazi, an apostate ; who appreciates that “ glorious lib erty” which Mr. H o g g can so e loquently describe. I t does not appear that the Roman priests have flo cked in crowds to embrace the proffered freedom : indeed not one, up_ to the end o f last week, had been converted in to Matrimony. But these two men run, all day long, about the streets o f Rome, distributing their (connubial) tracts : nor has it yet occurred to them— that they are id io ts . THE ENGLISH So we are hard UP for arguments to prove the deputation independent position o f the Pope, since the

and the presence o f the English Deputation in R om e is

pope’s adduced as proof o f it. One o f the Italian cor

respondents to the T im es writes to that journal

that “ the tone o f the Italian press, and that o f R om e especi“ ally, is most bitter against the English Deputation ; ” and that it “ has given rise to an angry discussion at a m eeting “ o f Ministers, who,” the correspondent adds, at last “ w isely “ resolved not to take diplom atic notice o f i t .” N ow from this excessive forbearance is drawn the argument that “ the “ whole transaction is an answer to those who lam ent the “ absence o f a ll independence on the part o f the Pope.” A persuasive argument indeed. W e should have thought that “ the whole transaction,” that is, the bitterness o f the Press, the threats o f the Revolution, and the angry discussion o f the M in istry were proof, if any were needed, o f the dependence o f the Pope upon these three Powers, and that i f any independence were shown it was by the Englishmen who went to Rome. A further instance o f the amount o f liberty and independence enjoyed in Rom e at the present moment is to be found in the letter o f our Roman correspondent, referring to the conduct o f the mob and the Governm ent on the 12 th o f this month.

T h e W o r ld, o f New Y o rk— certainly no Ca-

eshmate'ijf organ— speaks the American sentim ent

Italian as t0 Italian liberty and Italian guarantees, in liberty, the follow ing words :—

Italy “ went to Rome,” as the phrase is, in the name

of freedom, and she was particularly loud-voiced in declaring that under her sway there a free press should be secured. She has shown exactly liow much reliance may be placed on all her promises by the manner in which she has kept this one. First she suppresses all the newspapers which published the Pope’s Encyclical, and then she seizes and destroys all the copies of a foreign journal which she can find, because it contains truthful letters from a correspondent of the highest character who described what he saw and heard in Rome without passion and without fear. There can be but small wonder that, with such facts as these staring them in the face, the Pope and his adherents refuse to place the slightest faith in the “ Guarantees” which the Italian Parliament offer for the security of the Holy Father. They know, and all the world knows, that these promises are like pie-crust— they are made only to be broken.

W e expected to find that Protestantism in

Protestant- Spain would result in a signal fia sco . For more

than two years it has lived under protection of

revolution and pecuniary b r ib e ; but the too credulous v ictims who embraced it in ignorance have for the most part made their abjuration, and it has no more hope o f becom ing a “ Church” than o f agreeing in common belief. Enormous sums have been expended with a view to fascinate mercenary souls ; but, ju st as in England, “ missionary collec“ t ions” are swept into mysterious treasuries ; so, in Spain, the outlay can show no sort o f return but imaginary lists o f converts. Government is beginning to discover that political intrigue is born o f Protestant missions, and its favouring eye is dimmed to further appeals for sympathy.

But there is another enemy to the Church in

freemasonry. Spain more potent far than heresy. F reemasons have obtained such wide-spread power that Government is afraid to offend them. T h e lower quarters o f Madrid will soon be as hopelessly Masonic as the higher quarters o f Paris, o f Belleville and Montmartre. Public conferences are held and advertised, and at these such doctrines as are most “ advanced ” are openly taught and favoured. A tta cks are made on every k ind o f worship, and the dominant “ view” is the negation o f divine and (therefore) o f human right. refusal to ^ demand for exchange o f prisoners has

release been presented at the H o t e l de V i lle • the

ArcLhbish°P o f Paris to receive his liberty, in exchange for M. Blanqui, a prisoner in the

L o t . I he ch ie f o f the executive power,— having postponed his decision to refer the matter to his Ministers, and to