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THE

DUBLIN REVIEW.

VOL. LII.

PUBLISHED IN

NOVEMBER AND APRIL, 1862-3,

LONDON:
THOMAS RICHARDSON AND SON,

26, PATEBNOSTER ROW; 9, CAPEL STREET, DUBLIN; AND DERBY.

EDINBURGH; J. MILLER, George IV. Bridge.— H. MARGEY, GLASGOW.

NEW YORK: J. B. Kirker, 371, Broadway.

BALTIMORE: Kelly, Hkdian, & Piet, 174, Baltimore Street,

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: Michael T. Gason.

SYDNEY: W. Dolman, 121, Pitt Street.

PARIS: 22, Rue de la Banque, Stassin and Xavier.

1863.

,, .s>?s«---^^

Mo^

CONTENTS OF No. CUT.

ABT. ^AG^

I.— 1. The Census Returns. 1851 and 18G1.

2. The Transactions of the Social Science Congress
for 1858, 59, 60,61.

3. Emigration of Educated Women. Bj Maria S. Eje.
London: Emilj Faithful! and Co.

4. Reports of the Society for Promoting the Employ-
ment of \Yomen. Ijondon.

5. The English Woman's Journal. Passim.

6. The Melbourne Argus, for March, April.

7. The Emancipation of Women from existing In-
dustrial Disabilities, considered in its Economic
Aspect. By Artliur Houston A. M., Barrister-at-
Law. Whately Professor of Political Economy
in the University of Dublin. London : Longman

and Co., ... ... ... ... 1

IL — Rome and the Catholic Episcopate. Tleply of Ills
Eminence Cardinal Wiseman to an Address of the
Clergy Secular and Regular of the Archdiocese of
Westminster, ... ... ... ... 44

IIL— Life of the Right Honourable William Pitt. By
Earl Stanhope, Author of the History of England
from the Peace of Utrecht. Four vols. 8vo. Lon-
don : Murray, 18G1-2, ... ... ... 70

IV.— The Revised Code, ... ... ... 106

V. — De Obduratorum peccatis mortalibus. On the
mortal sins of the hardened. By W. G. Ward.
London. 1854. (Not published.) ... ... 155

CONTENTS.
ART. PASS

VI. — 1. Reisebriefe von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdj aus
den Jahren, 1830 bis 1832. Herausgegeben von
Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdj. Leipsig, 1861.

2. Letters from Italy and Switzerland. By Felix
Mendelssohn Bartholdj. Translated from the
German hj Lady Wallace. London : Longmans,

1862.

3. Sketch of the Life and Works of the late Felix
Mendelssohn Bartholdy. By Jules Benedict.
Second Edition. London : John Murray, 1853.

4. Supplement to Vol. IV. of the Musical World.
London ^ Novello, 1837, ... ... 184

VII.— Mission de I'etat ses regies et ses H mites, par Ed.

Ducpetiaux. Brussels : C. Muquardt. 1861, 245

Notices of Books, «. .., ,^ .„ 271

CONTENTS OF No. CIV.

BT. PAGR

I. — 1. L'Irlande Contemporaine par PAbb6 Perraud
Pretre de TOratoire de I'lmraaculee Conception.
Paris. 1862.

2. The Liberal Party in Ireland, its Present Condi-
tion and Prospects. By a Roman Catholic. Dublin.
1862.

3. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry
Society of Ireland. Parts xxi, xxii. Dublin,
1862.

4. University Education in Ireland. Eeprinted from
the " Evening Mail." Dublin, 1861.

5. A Full and Revised Report of the Two Days
Debate in the Dublin Corporation, on the Charter
for the Catholic University. Dublin, 1862.

6. The Census of Ireland for the year 1861. General
abstracts showing by Counties and Provinces, I.
The Number of Families in 1811. 1851 and 1861.

II. The Number of Houses in 1841, 1851, 1861.

III. The Number of Inhabitants in 1841, 1851,
1861. IV. The Religious Profession in 1861.
Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Com-
mand of Her Majesty. Dublin, 1861 279

II. — 1. Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chan-
cery in Ireland, of the reigns of Henry VIII.,
Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. Vol. I. Edited
by James Morrin, Clerk of Enrolments in Chan-
cer j. By authority of the Lords Commissioners
of Her Majesty's Treasury, under the direction
of the Master of the Rolls of Ireland. Dublin ;
For Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 8vo., 1861,
pp. 660.

CONTENTS.
AllT. r^GE

2. Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chan-
cery in Ireland, from the 18th to the 45th of
Queen Elizabeth. Vol. II. By James Morrin,
Clerk of Enrolments in Chancery. By authority
of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's
Treasury, under the direction of the Master of
the Rolls of Ireland. Dublin, Printed for Her
Majesty's Stationery OflBce ; 1862* 8vo., pp. 767.

3. Chancery Offices, Ireland, Commission. Report of
the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the
duties of the Officers and Clerks of the Court of
Chancery in Ireland, with Minutes of Evidence,
&c. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by
command of Her Majesty. Dublin: Thom, 1859,
folio, pp. 191, 319

III. — 1. Averroes et L'Averroisme. Essai Historique Par
Ernest Renan, Membre del'Institut, Michel Levy
Freres Editeurs, Paris, 1861.

2. Manual d'Histoire Comparee de.la Philosophie et
de la Religion. Par J. H. Scholten. Prof, de
Theologie a I'Universit^ de Leyde. Traduit du
Hollaudais. Par A. Reville, 1861.

3. History of Civilization in England. By Henry
Thomas Buckle. London: Parker, Sou and
Bourn. 1861.

4. The Westminster Review. New Series, No. XLV.,
January, 1863.

5. Philosophie und Theologie. Eine Streitschriftvon
Johannes von Kuhn, Doctor der Philosophie und
Theologie und ordentlicher Professor der Theo-
logie an der Universitat Tubingen. Tiibingen,
1860, 391

IV. — 1. Rapport sur I'enseignement superieur en Prusse
preseute en Mars 1845, a M. Nothomb, Ministre
de I'interieur, par Cliarles Loomans. Brussells,
1860. Report on University Education in Prussia,
&c.

2. Loi sur Penseignement superieure en Belgique,
promulgee 27 Septembre 1835. Brussells, Bul-
letin des Lois.
Law on University Education in Belgium, &c.

CONTENTS.
ART. ^ PAGE

3. Loi sur I'Uiiiversite en France, 10 Mai, 1506.
Bulletin des Lois, Paris. Law founding French
University, &c.

4. University of London Eojal Charter, April 9,
1858, 423

V. — 1. Kirche und Kirchen. Papsthum und Kirchen-
staat. Historisch-politische Betrachtungen, Von.
Joh. Jos. Ign. V. Dollinger, 8vo. Miincheu : Cotta,
1861.

2. The Church and the Churches; or the Papacy and
the Temporal Power. An historical and politi-
cal Review. By Dr. Dollinger. Translated, with
the Author's Permission, by "William Bernard
Mac Cabe, 8vo. London. Hurst and Blackett,
18G2, 467

VL— 1. The Roman State from 1815 to 1850. By Luigi
Carlo Farini. Translated by the Right Hon. W.
E. Gladstone. 4 vols. London : John Murray.

2. A History of Modern Italy from the first French
Revolution to the year 1850. By Richard Heber
Wrightson. Bentley 503

Notices of Books, 570

THE

DUBLIN REVIEW

NOVEMBER, 1862.

Art. I.— 1. The Census Returns. 1851 and 1861.

2. The Transactions of the Social Science Congress for 1858,-59,
-GO,GI.

3. Emigration of Educated Women, By Maria S. Rye. London :
Emily Faithfull and Co.

4. Beports of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Womeut
London.

5. The English Woman"* 8 Journal. Passim. |:

6. The Melbourne Argus, for March, April.

7. The Emancipation of Women, from existing Industrial Disabilities,
considered in its Economic Aspect. By Arthur Houston A. M.,
Barrister-at-Law. Whately Professor of Political Economy in
the University of Dublin. London : Longman and Co.

THE question of the employment and position of our
female population is one which can neither be trifled
with with propriety, nor postponed with safety. For many
years the number of unemployed or badly employed women
in the country, has been the source of infinite misery and
widespread sin. But this is not all. We cannot fall back
upon the cowardly consolation that it has ever been even
so, and that we need not be vexing ourselves to be better
off than were our fathers. The present^ cheapness and
misemployment of women is not only a social evil of appal-
ling magnitude, but it is a rapidly increasing one. Two
most potent causes tend to its aggravation, each of which
gains strength with growing civilisation, and each of which
VOL. Lii.-No. cm 1

2 The Employment of Women, [Nov

therefore will continue to act among us with increasing
vigour. One is the natural tendency of our manufacturing
system to undomesticate woman and make her work for
herself. The other is the growing disinclination to mar-
riage, which at least with regard to a numerous and im-
portant class, is one of the marked characteristics of the
age. Our great cotton mills, while they make a number
of females operatives, ruin an equal number of wives. The
close air, long confinement, and hard work of the loom
destroy the personal attractions of the woman ; the early
independence, the consequent to a certain extent unfemin-
ine bearing, and the too promiscuous mixing with the
other sex, tend to deteriorate that endearing gentleness,
which even the roughest men prize in women. VVhat man
is ready to take on himself the cares and responsibilities of
a wife, if she is not fitted by domestic virtues, to be the
light and the grace of his little home? How is he to be
charmed into the fascination of love, if she, who is to be
the object of his heart's aspirations, has been roughing her
way up in life pretty much as he has been himself? Or if,
as is sometimes the case with the more reckless class of oper-
atives, wise nature secures an union, how little encourage-
ment is the example likely to give to others! The young
wife goes out to business every morning just as does the
husband ; remaining beauty cannot long resist advancing
years and continuous mill work ; while the night residence
(for it cannot be called a home) of the two is but a soriy
substitute for even the poor man's cottage of merry
England in the old time. Here then is one cause of the
unsatisfactory position of our female population, and^one
which must plainly act with increasing force. As it "pro-
motes celibacy and its attendant evils, or else miserable
marriages among the masses, so for the middle and
upper classes we have another potent evil at work. By
increasing civilisation, the struggle of life is certainly in-
tensified in vehemence. The universal steeple-chase be-
comes yearly harder to ride. It is not merely that the
standard of living is raised in each class, and that none are
willing to fall out of their rank as it presses on. It is that
by the increase of wealth and of the democratic element
among us avenues to distinction are opened up which
were closed to ordinary men before. A century ago the
son of a parish parson, or country doctor, or Irish squire
who could not afford to go to London till perhaps he was

1862.] The Employment of Women, 3

an old man, quietly contented himself witli the horizon
which bounded him, A seat in ParHament was the
hereditary right of the lord ot" the soil, and the great mass
of even respectable youths contented themselves with ob-
scurity, perhaps now and then attempting a little moral-
izing on the three kinds of greatness enumerated by
Shakespeare. Gray probably was not very wrong when
he wrote of the village Hampdens and guiltless Cromwells.
A Burke or a Canning might fight their way up to fame
by the mere force of genius ; but then the exception was so
very rare that it more than proved the rule. And even
such an extraordinary genius as Canning, (a man whom
the world has yet to do justice to) when he had risen to the
pinnacle was deserted by all the fine old Tory Lords who
knew not the family of Canning. The youths then as a
rule obeyed the injunction of the catechism and contented
themselves in the station wherein God had placed them,
centred their aspirations on some neighbouring beauty, and
in time settled down into respectable English family-
rearing men. iSow however the case is widely different.
The same ideas about political rights and state distinctions
which make every man a Senator, or a Congressman, or a
State Legislator, or a Colonel at least, in America, are
acting with a modified force amongst us. ^ Political power
and social position are no longer practically the herit-
age of the propertied class. Men of all classes are every
day forcing themselves up to distinction. Even a Mr.
William Williams can now get into the House with
greater ease than Burke and Canning did in the last
century. The manufacturing aristocracy comes chiefly
from the rank and file. There is scarcely a town or village
in the land which cannot tell its tale of the nenniless lad
who used to be playing about its streets, and who is now
honoured by the princes of the people. The result is that
numbers of our youth are in secret fired by the hopes of
distinction more than by the power of love. This is of
course especially the case with that very large class which is
termed ** respectable.^' Aspirations may differ, but all are
anxious to rise. Numbers and numbers of these youths
more than a superficial observer would imagine are possess^
ed by a vague desire of pushing on ; and marriage, which
they will not take as a goal, would only impede them on their
course. They essay their powers at the nearest debating
club ; the excitement of the tyro's elibrt they perhaps mistake

4 The Employment of Women. [Nov.

for the fire of oratory ; \\\(by set their whole heart on parlia-
ment and the bench, and scorn the lowly choice of quiet mar-
ried life. We are convinced that any one who can ^et into
the real aspirations of our young men, will be surprised to
observe how largely and generally developed is this feeling
that we speak of. Every one has " to get on," and till he
has done so, he defers marriage ; most probably, when he
lias waited long enough to satisfy or finally disappoint his
hopes, he has waited too long to marry. Then the vast
opening of emigration has drafted away the youth in hun-
dreds of thousands, while very few women have been able
to avail themselves of its relief. India, with its civil ser-
vice, the little empire of Canada, Australia, with its gold
fabulous fortunes, has taken away, and wedded to foreign
lands, those who were intended by nature to take to them
a helpmate here. By the last census returns we learn that
the emigration for the ten years from 1851 to 61, reached
the enormous figure of 2,287,205, and few, comparatively
very few of these were females. It is also worthy of notice,
that within the last ten years the number of emigrants has
been about half of the whole total of departures for the
forty-six years between 1815, when government emigration
commenced, and 1860. Such is the extraordinary impetus
which emigration has received. Meanwhile women have
been shut out from all these openings, and they have been
left almost helpless to contend with the struggling from
which the stronger sex have found a refuge in flight.
While the sons go forth to find their fortunes, and generally
succeed, the daughters wait at home to find husbands, and
generally fail. But, indeed, we need not resort to a priori
reasoning to guide us to a conclusion as to the rehitive
position of the sexes. Facts and figures are more con-
vincing than the most ingenious hypothesis. Let us notice
a few figures from the census returns for 1861. The male
population in the United Kingdom, including the absent
soldiers and sailors, was 14,380,634; tlm females num-
bered 14,954,154. Thus we have the striking fact to com-
mence with, tlrat without taking into account any of the
detracting causes we have spoken of, there are necessarily
condemned to celibacy no less than 573,520 women. Biit
when we take strictly the numbers of men and women ac-
tually in the United Kingdom, we find that for every 100
males, there are 106 females, and we also find that this
disproportion has been increasing of late years, for in 1841

1862. J The Employment of Women, 6

there were 104.9 females to every hundred males, in 1851
the proportion had increased to 105.1, and now it is as
we have said, 106, and no one can say how long the dispro-
portion will continue, or how high a figure it will reach.
We can perceive the same fact in a possibly more striking
manner, by observing the increase in actual numbers for
the successive decades of the present century. The excess
of females over males was in

1801. ... 180,027.

1841, ..

.. 348,950.

1811, ... 201,598.

1851, .

.. 349,871.

1821, ... 210.537.

1861, .

.. 573,530.

1831, ... 297,246.

These unpleasant statistics will prepare us for the fur-
ther fact that there are more than three millions of adult
women who are engaged in different kinds of manufactures
and trades, and that of these, two millions are unmarried ;
and, moreover, we know that one-third of the whole of the
women over twenty, in the country, remain unmarried.
We are too apt, in looking-at figures, to forget, or not to
comprehend, what they really mean. '"A million" is
easily said, but who can lengthen out in his mind what it
means? ** Three millions of women at work," is not a
formidable expression either, but what a tremendous mass
of human suffering and human wrong ^ it stands for !
** One- third of adult women unmarried," is a short sen-
tence, but how many crushed hopes and broken hearts,
wretched garrets, and unhonoured graves, does it not
represent? It is worth our while, then, to look more
closely into the meaning of these statistics. The subject
is one which we cannot afford to put off. Even if we were
so selfish as not to feel for the women alone, at least the
most indifferent statesman must feel for the nation at large.
Steele in the Tatler plainly speaks a plain truth when he
says, " I am of opinion that the great happiness or misfor-
tune of mankind depends upon the manner of educating ancl
treating that sex." Women will be employed in some
way or another, and if they are not elevating and aiding
society, they will be degrading both it and themselves,
AH history tells us that no nation can survive wide- spread
immorality, and no people ever can continue to be a moral
people with one-third of their grown up women unmarried
and unprovided for.

The question then is, what is to be done ? It is 119 use

6 The Employment of Women. [Nov.

in answer to this query to parade a number of the profound
saws of the olden time. It is rather a cruel mockery to
tell the two millions or so of .unmarried female toilers
among us, that

" The important business of their life is love."

It is but poor religious consolation to remind them that
the apostle's will was that they should marry and bear
children. It is mere childishness to shake our heads wisely
at every scheme for securing them employment, declaring
that they are only trying to push their natural supporters
out of work, and that as for them, their *' noblest station is
retreat.'" We wish, indeed, that these antique philoso-
phers would remember, that whether they are right or not
in theory, they are talking absolute nonsense in fact.
They might just as well object to the reconstruction of our
navy, and remind us how well we got on with our fine old
tubs at Trafalgar and Copenhagen. Change is forced on us,
and^ when that is so, to argue or act against it is folly.
It is merely sad perversity to continue asserting that
women ought to marry and keep houses, when they cannot
do so ; and that they ought not to have arrangements made
for their independence, when society has already doomed
millions of them to single life. Every wise man deals with
the world as it is, not as it ought to be, and we have the
facts before us, that most of the women of the lower and
middle class have to work for themselves, that an enormous
proportion cannot get married, and that the continued and
increasing action of potent causes will tend to make marriage
less the lot of woman every year. The very stirring and
upheaving which have been generally taking place among
much-enduring, uncomplaining woman-kind, show how
yearly they are being, as it were, pushed to extremities.
JN^othing do respectable women love more than the impress
of the domestic, feminine, nay, even unbusiness-like cha-
racter ; nothing do they dread more than the reproach of
being masculine and strong-minded. Yet we have seen
several associations springing up, mainly composed of,
and conducted by charitable ladies, for the purpose of
coping with the pressing difficulties of their weaker sisters.
Nay, even the exaggerated and ridiculous theories and
fancies protruded on the subject of Female Rights, have
their origin in wide spread and increasing wrongs. Women
feel that they are not fairly dealt with by society, and it is

1862.] The Employment of Women, 7

not much to the credit of us men that we leave them to
agitate and devise plans for their own assistance. Though
to talk of political rights be nonsense, it cannot be denied
that in this country they liave the great arguihent for en-
franchisement— injustice worked to them by the present
regime.

In the first place, theu, let us consider the temporary
relief proposed to be given by female emigration. This is
plainly, only at best, calculated to postpone the difficulty.
Those who lay it down that the wisest remedy is emigra-
tion, and leave the matter there, simply shift the trouble
to future years. The total excess of females in the Aus-
tralian colonies, which are in fact the chief available out-
let, is only some 150,000, and even if emigration were to
draft off from our crowded ranks that total of women,
which it never can do, it would be, as it were, only clearing
away the overflowings of this social sore. The sources of
the evil would remain untouched. Moreover, we must say
that our lady friends, in whose hands the emigration scheme
at present rests, have made a radical and unfortunate
mistake in the course of action they have taken. Much,
to be sure, with their present means, they cannot do at all,
but the little had better be done well, as the best induce-
ment to the public to assist in further action. ^ Now, the
principle of their scheme is to secure the emigration of
educated women, and this principle is a total mistake. In
their emigration circular, they state their object thus : —
** It has been ascertained that educated women are re-
quired in the colonies as teachers in public schools, school-
mistresses, and private governesses, and to supply these is
the object the society has in view.'' After tv/o years, what
have they been able to do ? We are told by Miss Rye, in
a letter to the Times, that they have sent out thirty-eight
ladies in tvyo years, of the arrival and employment at
wages varying from £20 to £70 a year, of eighteen of
whom they had heard. With reference to the £'20 a year,
let us observe that the wages of a good cook in the colo-
nies are seldom under £40 per annum. This is not doing
very much, and the simple reason is, that merely educated
women are not required in our colonies, at least in any con-
siderable numbers. What should fine governesses, we
would like to know, be wanted for ? If every female child
in the new land was to get a lady's education, there would
Btill be only a very hmited field to be occupied. That is a

8 , The Employment of Women, [Nov.

difficulty which cannot be got over, and we are borne out in
this view by the reply sent by Mrs. Barker, the wife of the
Protestant bishop of Sydney, to the application of the
London committee. Miss Rye, in her pamphlet on the
subject, read before the Social Science Congress for 1861,
states that the Bishop's answer is '* so satisfactory and so
important " that she must be excused for the length of the
extract she makes. We think it is most important, too,
and in one sense most satisfactory, as it clearly shows the
mistake which the society is making. What does the bishop
say ? Mrs. Barker writes thus : —

*' We shall be very glad to assist in finding situations for edu-
cated women of respectable character, provided they could be sent
out to Sydney by a fund raised in England. The bishop begs me
to tell you that if two or three persons qualified for teaching paro-
chial schools for girls or infants, could be sent here, there would
not be any difficulty in providing situations for them. They should
have some certificate of their competency, and be not under twenty,
or more than two or at most five-and-thirty jears of age."

If in our oldest and most advanced colony such is the
demand, what must it be among the rowdy miners of
Victoria, or the belligerent colonists of New Zealand? If
anything were required to complete the utter futility of the
whole scheme, it would be the way in which it has been
recently advocated in the public papers. Even such an
able lady as Miss Rye, writes thus, not very long ago, in
the Times: —

" All I can say is this — knowing, as I do, that while here with
extreme difficulty and great self-denial, really educated women must
toil on many many hours a day to make £20, and that there, in
the colonies, persons who in this country would scarcely be consi-
dered competent to conduct the quietest village school, are receiving
£130 and £124 a year for salaries as governesses, that the possi-
bility of there being two opinions on the matter strikes me with
great and increasing amazement. I not only believe, but am confi-
dent, that there are vacant situations in the colonies for hundreds
of women vastly superior to the hordes of wild Irish and fast young
ladies who have hitherto started as emigrants."

All we can say to this is, that we hope the colonists will
not read that number of the Times in which Miss Rye's
letter appears ; for to judge from the certificates and requi-
sites of qualification called for by the bishop of Sydney for
the two or three that he undertakes to dispose of, they will

1862.] The Employment of Women, ^

not be likely to show much favour to the hundreds of
ladies whom Miss Uye proposes to send out, and of whom
she intimates that *' in this country they would scarcely
be considered competent to conduct the quietest vil-
lage school.'' Possibly, too, they may feel inclined to
complain of Miss Rye's having assured them in another
communication that the society *' was very particular about
character and capabilities." A few lines further on Miss
Uye reduces the difficulty to a most satisfactory dilemma,
thus —

« If these women of mine work, it will be well ; if tliej marry, it
will be well; 2^^?c7«ever happens, good must arise to the colonies, for
our countrywomen, and for commerce.''

But what, we say, if neither happens ? This is the diffi-
culty. And we must add, that from all we have been able
to learn of the colonies and their female populations. Miss
Ilye is not at all considerate or fair in describing those
women who have gone out before she took matters in hand,
as ** hordes of wild Irish and fast young ladies." We be-
lieve that in few countries in the world, is there more
female modesty and propriety, as a rule, than in Australia ;
one main cause of this good result doubtless being, that
nearly all get married readily, and so settle down to domes-
tic life. Miss Rye seems, however, to think that there is
no elevated class of females in the colonies at all, for in
her paper on emigration, she says that the different
colonial governments must be convinced that the emigra-
tion she proposes would be " an actual benefit to the colo-
nies themselves — an elevation of morals being the inevita-
ble result of the mere presence iii the colony of a number
of high-class women." Considering that there is in Aus-
tralia some half million of such already, we do not see
what great improvement the few ladies whom Miss Rye
really can send out, will be able to effect, especially as
educated ladies cannot coalesce with the men as the plain
housewives of the colonists do now.

If we comment somewhat plainly on the mistaken posi-
tion taken up by the society, and the equally mistaken
manner in which it is defended, we do so in the hope
of inducing business and benevolent men to join the
movement on behalf of women with heart, and give it the
assistance of their knowledge and experience. The most
talented ladies cannot expect to fall into the proper stylo

10 The Employment of Women. \ Nov.

of business manaQfemeiit at once, and it is quite a pitiable
thing to leave such an important movement without the best
guidance.

The kind of women wanted in young countries^ are
principally those taken from the lower orders of Society,"
who will be prepared to work for their living in domestic
employments at first, and then, when in due time they
have enamoured some sturdy stockman or miner, be
prepared to rough out wedded life with him. How would
*' educated women" like here to marry a Cornish miner,
or a shepherd of Salisbury plain ? We can assure them
that the diggers and stockmen of Australia are not very
much more polished because perhaps richer, and it is
diggers and stockmen that principally want wives. More
especially do educated women labour under this par-
ticular disadvantage. Any great number of them cannot
as we have shown get ready employment, and how then
are they to live till they find suitable matches ? A good
housemaid is engaged forthwith; in service perhaps up
the Bush, she is thrown together with the bullock drivers
and neighbouring shepherds, and the result is obvious.
But what is the fiue lady to do for herself till she is
engaged, for what Mr. Kingsley considers the proper
business of her life ? If we had in our colonies the plan
adopted in some eastern countries, of putting up the fair
ones to auction, a certain number, — though even then
more limited than is generally thought — might be disposed
of. But as it is, they have the double ordeal to go through.
They have to get suitable places first, and afterwards
suitable husbands. We think it of the very last impor-
tance that a proper plan of female emigration should be
adopted; and that is why. we most strongly object to the
present sickly system advocated by the Society of sending
out ladies for the purpose of giving a fine education to the
children of a nation of roughs. We need not go beyond
their own documents for proof of the correctness of our
views, and of the proper kind of females to send to our
colonies. We find the plan of the London committee
developed in the Englishwoman's Journal for March 1861,
and an article therein written by a Sydney lady professedly
in favour of the scheme, but so instructive and accurate
on the whole question of lady's work in Australia, that we
make some extracts at length. At the very outset we
read as follows.

1862.] The Employment of Women, 11

" With regard to the kind of education or training necessary to
fit gentlewomen for profitable employment in Australia generally ;
every one should be able to make her own clothes ; to wash and
iron all fine linens or muslins, including shirts and collars ; to
know how much soap and time are necessary to wash and smooth
(for mangles are not often to be had nor are flat irons abundant)
everything that needs washing in a family; to know the handiest
way of softening water when too hard ; to make plain pies and
puddings ; to cook vegetables and meat ; to make bread without
fresh yeast; to proportion the quantities of tea, coffee, sugar &c. to
the number in a family by tlie year, month and week ; to know
(and see constantly within reach) the simplest remedies for common
accidents, or sickness : such as old clean linen, lint, tapes of
different widths for bandages, healing plaster, tincture of arnica for
bruises. Dredge's heal-all, &c.; the homoeopathic medicines which I
have used for years are aconite, for feverish symptoms or sore
throats ; chamomilia nux vomica, &c."

Ladies who are educated with these accomplishments
so useful and diversified in their nature, would we think
be wanted in Australia or anywhere else. Any woman
with such truly catholic qualifications may rest assured of
a ready engagement in other lands besides Australia.
Further on we read,

"In many of these families the wife has to make the clothes of
all, except the strongest suits of her husband ; to superintend or
cook entirely for the family, bake bread, make candles, teach and
nurse the children, &c.; one of the shepherds on the estate may be
married, and his wife may be willing to wash or assist, but this is
always uncertain, and a resident domestic servant is liable to bo
tempted away to a house of her own on very short notice."

Finally, '' Gentlewomen must however fully understand
that they go to work for independence^ not to marry and
be idle;'* and ^^ all ladies must be prepared to assist in
everything ; they should invariably^ arrange their bed-
rooms, make pastry and starch and iron fine things, pre-
pare the tables for the meals and begin at once on the rule
that no lady can require any thing done for her which it is
disgraceful to do for herself.'* To the same purpose
writes the Rev. John Garrett, Protestant chaplain of St.
Paul's near Penzance, and Honorary Secretary of the
Columbian Emigration Society.

"First," he says, "we could not guarantee suitable homes on
reaching the colony to women who should depend upon the use of
their brains alone for support, nor does it seem desirable to with-

1 2 The Employment of Women, [Nov.

draw from their sphere of valuable occupation in this country those
women who have received suflScient education to place them in
situations as teachers in families and schools at home. Those who
go out under the protection of this Society, will agree to take
service on reaching the colony in such situations as the Governor
and Bishop and those acting under their authority may consider
best suited to their several cases, and may have open and ready to
give them occupation and a safe dwelling on their landing in
Columbia."

We have similar testimony from an Australian colonist
writing to the Times, We have stated too by the Sydney
lady be it remembered the requirements of the gentlemen's
houses in Austi'alia ; and even taking this higher class, it
appears that it is ready-handed domestic women that are
wanted, not particularly educated ladies. Nor do we con-
demn this latter class to pine in sorrow and struggling
here. We put a very simple alternative. If they really
are educated ladies, properly acquainted with what is
necessary for a high standard of female education, then
they need not go to the other world to sell their accom-
plishments. It is just in a highly civilized country like
ours, with a great aristocracy and upper class, that they
are wanted. It is just among the stockmen and diggers
that they are nob wanted. We maintain that really quali-
fied governesses have plenty to do, and at a fair remunera-
tion too, in England. But then if young women belong
to that section of the governess class, who pushed them-
selves into it from a lower sphere, and brought with them
the education or rather the ignorance of that sphere, who
can drum on the piano only indifferently well, whose pro-
nunciation of French would make a Parisian shrug his
shoulders, whose powers of painting equal either daubing
or nil, whose knowledge of book learning is limited and
cloudy, and who above all, have not the tact and bearing
requisite to teach the upper class of girls properly, then by
all means let them emigrate, but let them not emigrate
under false pretences. Let them go out not mereTy as
** educated ladies'' looking after the **tvvo or three"
vacancies of the Bishop of Sydney, but let them go as
respectable young women, ready to take anytliing from a
place behind the counter of a decent Milliner's shop,
upwards. Nor will they be tied to this position for life.
Once in the colony, respectable and independent, forming
friendships, meeting numbers of substantial colonists who

1862.] The Employment ofWomen, 13

feel practically the truth of the old verse that *' It is not
good for man to he alone/' their destiny is sure. The
obstructions of different ranks would be little felt in the
land where all things are upturned. This (despite the
warning of the Sydney lady) is the proper object to set
before them. Beyond all question marriage when prac-
ticable is the best employment for women. This view which
we insist on is the more important, as until the London
committee act upon it they will never obtain any substan-
tial aid from the colonies, and it is on this that they must
mainly depend. In Victoria, for example, where some
138,000 females are required to equalize the sexes, the
Legislature have granted large sums of money to secure
emigration. We look over one of the last numbers of the
Melbourne Argus and we find three advertisements from
ladies ashing for places as Governesses, companions,
school mistresses, &c., some of them significantly enough
offering their services for the voyage home ; while there
are 179 from persons wanting Nurses and General servants.
We have looked over a couple^ more numbers of the
Melbourne Argus, and the result is pretty much the same.
In one we find Governesses wanting places, 1 ; wanted 4 :
General servants wanted 61; wanting places only some
two or three. In the other the numbers stand thus:
Governesses wanting places 3; wanted only 1; General
servants wanting places, some two or three ; w\anted 59.
It is remarkable too that in the last summary of the Argus
for Europe, when the particulars of the Labour Market
are given in full, no mention ivhatever is made of any
want of Governesses or female Teachers ; nor are they
spoken of at all. While we have as follows about female
servants.

** Female servants of capability with respectable references con-
tinue in good demand. Rates of wages are steady and rule about
as follows : female cooks from £35. to £50. a year; general servants
from £25. to £30. do.; nursemaids £10. to £25. do.; laundresses
£30. to £35. do.; housemaids £25. to £30. do.; parlour-maids £25.
to £30. do."

We find too the following general advertisement in the
Argus for the 25th of February last; "Accomplished
writing and resident Governesses wait re-engagement.
Also Nursery Governesses and Companions. Miss
Cower's, 100, Collins-street." Most of the Governess

14 The Employment of Women. [Nov.

class are probably competent to ''conduct the quietest
village school." How much then, we would like to know,
are the Government of Victoria likely to give for sending
out more ** educated ladies?"

We would then venture to suggest to the Emigration
Committee of the Society for the Employment of Women,
that they should impress on the young persons whom they
send out to our colonies, that they rnust go prepared in the
words of their own article, " to assist in everything," and
to turn their hands to anything that is honest. If they
do this their success in colonial life is certain ; if they go
out merely as fine ladies they must be disappointed. The
best way to get the few single ladies required disposed of
is to try to induce those colonists who have female friends
at home to bring them out. They would then have homes
to go to, and a circle of acquaintances to be introduced to,
and either marriage or some literary employment would
in time be the result. The Victorian Government has
already adopted this plan, selling " Passage Warrants"
to colonists, by which for a comparatively trifling sum
paid in the colony, the passage of whoever the payer
pleases to mention, is secured. It is a pity if a proper
effort is not now made, when extensive emigration must
take place to the colonies. There are thousands and thou-
sands of young women who are not fit to take either the
position of mere ladies or of mere servants, and whose case
is sadder than words can telh These cannot avail them-
selves of the rude emigration machinery at present provi-
ded by the colonists.^ They cannot be trooped together in
Government ships with wild Irish girls from Connemara,
or nurse-maids who are unable to make out a living in
England. Though they must be prepared for any decent
and fair work in the colonies, the society of a common
Emigrant-ship would not do. A little negotiation might
induce the Government to make some special provision for
their case ; but this will only be done on the condition stated
by Mr. jjrarrett, that they shall take such employment as
proper judges shall deem suitable for them when they
arrive. Action on this head of emigration will we hope be
vigorously and wisely pursued. If the colonial governments
can be induced to take the matter properly up, the results
will compare very satisfactorily with the mere nibbling at
the difficulty to which the Society is at present confined.
In one year the Emigration Commissioners received from

1862.] The Employment of Women. 15

the Australian colonies above £158,000. How much
would £50,000 a year for a few years more do if granted to
the London Committee and wisely employed by them !
Miss llye states the total of the income received from the
beginning up to last April is <£800 !

Emigration however is at best only a temporary measure.
The real difficulty lies deeper. We must strike at the
sources of the evil ; else it will be ever again and again
recurring and pressing on us with increasing force. The
colonies cannot always be ^ filling up ; they must soon
discontinue assisted emigration.^ Clear away the present
accumulation and in a little time the same causes will
again produce the same effects. We may for a time post-
pone the evil day ; but what shall we do when it comes ?
Let us look before us, as well as around us. It is only
fools that do not think of the morrow.

The question thus raised comes to this. When the
world is full, and men are still increasing, when every
country will have to provide work and food for its own
population, what shall we do with our women ? At present
emigration provides or may provide some outlet ; what
will be done when we have to keep them and feed them
here ? And first what do we do with them now ? It will
be found on investigation that the main kinds of woman's
work are in an unsatisfactory condition. Everywhere
reform is required. From the school girl upwards woman
is either not doing, or is not done by as she ought to be.
Numbers are doing what they ought not to do, or leaving
undone what they ought, or doing badly what they ought
to do well, and many too pressed by necessity have erred
and strayed from the right way. In fact, while the con-
dition of men has been progressively improved to suit the
requirements of each age, women have been left to tumble
and push along with the times as best they can. We need
not go through the Census returns and enumerate every
subdivision of female labour. Fish women and vegetable
women, and washerwomen there have been time out of
mind, and there will continue to be as long as the British
constitution lasts and it may be longer. These classes of
females are siii generis. To talk of applying political
economy to their case would be rather absurd. Surprising
indeed and perhaps melancholy a complete history of the
lives of many of them would be ; yet they seem not to feel
the cares of life much themselves, and probably they will bo

16 Tke Employment of Women. [Nov.

quite satisfied to be omitted from the female employment
discussion. The factory, the shop-work, whether at the
counter or in preparing materials, and the domestic sphere,
may be considered as embracing those various phases in
woman's toil which require observation and admit of im-
provement.

On the unpleasant features of the factory system of
female labour we have already touched, and indeed it is
almost needless to delay on it further than to point out the
unfortunate influence it must exercise on the domestic
relations of the lower orders. We say this because it has
now such a hold on one section of the people that though
we may hope to improve it, we can no more expect to see
it argued down than we could a dispensation of nature.
Still it is impossible to reflect on its rapid extension
among women without regret. Girls commence the un-
toward work of the crowded mill when mere children.
From the ages of eight to thirteen they are to a certain
extent protected by the Factory Act, but they may be and
are worked 6J to 7 hours a day, quite long enough, when
time for school is allowed to obliterate the child's fondness
for home, the more so as from thirteen to eighteen they
work twelve hours a day, thus living about the mill and
only sleeping at their houses. Unfortunately perhaps the
most critical time of woman's life, is by the Act left unpro-
tected. From dawning girlhood to rising womanhood,
12 hours each day has to be worked, and home necessarily
deserted. It is little use then to cut off a few hours labour
a day. Habits of independence, solitary living in lodgings
in the manufacturing towns, migratory roving after in-
creased wages, have all become a part of the young
woman's nature, when, at the age of eighteen the abating
power of the Act comes into force.

These young persons then do not form the most promis-
ing subjects for wives ; and as we havebefore observed, even
when they do marry they have neither the time nor the
inclination to perform properly the duties of a wife. The
children when they come have to be committed to the care
of some underpaid and therefore unqualified hireling and
know little of their mother during infancy, while in early
childhood they in their turn go to mill work as did their
parents before them. A more recent invention or rather
importation from Paris are the cnches established in some
of our manufacturing towns. These are a kind of public

1862. 1 The Employment of Women. 17

nurseries where mothers leave their children in the morn-
ing when going to work, and where tliey are kept in safety
during the day. What an unnatural institution to spring
from the most advanced civihsation ! How often have we
characterised as barbarous .the law of Lycurgus which
took male children from the mothers, when they had
reached the age of seven, and consigned^ them to the
public care-taker. Yet here is an institution more un-
natural still. Just think of the little creatures given in
charge for the day, and crawling and crying and tumbling
in the town nursery ; watched and guarded as would be
80 many dangerous beasts or dangerous men. This is
probably a very necessary and useful kind of establish-
ment. But it is sUrely a poor substitute for the cottage
home, with the fields for a playground, and the mother,
nature's nurse, for a caretaker, the returning father's wel-
come, and those nameless endearments which cling round
sacred *' Home." The very soul and secret of a nation's
strength is its sound morality : without it all greatness is
hollow and all progression unsatisfactory ; and national
morality must originate in, and radiate from the homes of
the poor. We fear it must be said that but an unsatis-
factory population will be produced from creches m^ mills.
The absorption of women into Factories cannot then be
considered a pleasing feature in their condition, — particu-
larly when we observe the rapid increase in the numbers
so taken and consequently in the number of British homes
destroyed. In 1838 there were 195,508 women employed
in factories in Great Britain ; twenty-one years later, in
1856, the number was considerably more than doubled ; it
had risen to 409,300, of whom 25,982 were under thirteen
years of age. We find from the last census-returns, a
parallel fact which is not less unsatisfactory, that is the
rapid massing of the people, male and female, into great
cities and manufacturing towns. ^ A few figures will make
this unpleasantly plain. The increase of population in
London for the last ten years reaches the grand total of
440,798; for the county of Lancaster 397,508, and for
Surrey 147,603. Take a few manufacturing towns; the
increase in Wolverhampton was 22,736, in Birmingham
38,559, in Preston 13,943, in Ashton 33,670, in Blackburn
29,199, in Sheffield 25,303. This mill work then we say
is a very unsatisfactory employment for women. We can-
not indeed well expect to supplant it by anything better;
VOL. Lii.— No. cm, 2

18 The Employment of Women. [Nov.

but it would be well by opening more feminine modes of
employment to women to prevent the rapid increase of the
numbers so engap^ed. For what does that increase mean ?
It means hundreds of thousands of single women or bad
wives, unmarried or undomestic men, children poorly cared
for and families with the tie only of blood, strangers to the
gacred union of home.

As we only propose to summarise the objections to the
different employments for women, we now turn to what
may be called their shop or shop-work engagements.
We find that there is much to mend here also. What a
tale is told about their counter-employments, by the fact
that the lessee of one half of the refreshment stalls at the
International Exhibition, had as many as three thousand
applications for the comparatively limited appointments as
waitresses at his disposal !^ Here, too, we come on what,
in all fairness and moderation we must call, a real woman's
grievance. We all know that there are hundreds of thou-
sands of fine stalwart young men occupying the post, and
doing the work which God and nature plainly intended
woman should do, and this with no shadow of reason or
excuse, except perhaps what may be afforded by the fas-
tidious fancies of a few grand ladies, or perhaps we should
rather say, by the culpable indifference of the public at
large. What right have we to thrust the weaker sex into
crowded mills, or consign them to the toil and starvation
of needle- work, while we have our strong young men well
paid for standing behind fashionable counters, fumbling
over boxes of gloves, or manipulating articles of ladies
dress ? No wonder that old Doctor Johnson pointed out
the wrong in the indignant language that becomes an
honest man. We do not know that we could by any inge-
nuity select a more suitable work for our young women
than that aftordedby our millinery shops — it is clean work
—it is light work — it is feminine work — it is work not only
consistent with, but absolutely requiring that neatness and
spruceness of dress, appearance, and maimer, which our
young women ought' to cultivate, as it tends to preserve a
self-respect which the *^ unwomanly rags" of needle-work,
the masculine tone of mill- work, and the degrading toil of
ore-dressing, or nail making, and even less suitable kinds
of work must tend greatly to destroy. That we should
shut them out from their own proper employment on the
pretence that the}/ are not able for it, while we have them

1862.] The Employment of Women. 19

working at literally the refuse of men's toil, is strange in-
deed. It is said that young women could not lift down
the necessary boxes, &c., &c., in the shop, and that there-
fore they are disqualified. Does any one believe that this
is an honest reason ? So far as the matter of strength
goes, do we not know that even the tidiest and sprucest of
household servants go through a day's work that many of
our fine young gentlemen, who sneer at woman's strength,
would faint under ? Does not the nurse-maid carry young
master just thirteen months old, on her arm for half a day,
while, if the lord of the household takes the said young
master for five minutes, he declares and believes that his
Jirm is in aching condition for the rest of the evening ?
Young master weighs more than many a box of gloves or
caps. If there be, as fairly there might, a difficulty about
reaching the upper shelves, a few decent young lads of the
same genus as the ** cash-boys," placed behind the
counters, could easily obviate the objection. So much for
one obstacle. Then we have read, that to put out young
men from milliner's shops, and to put young women in their
places, is very unwise policy, because that in putting out
the men you are ruining a number of husbands and
brothers who support wives and sisters, while the in-
coming young women would support nobody but them-
selves. But this objection equally applies to women doing
anything that men can do; and where it is not thought of
with regard to mills and nail-making, why is it urged as
against a proper and becoming employment for females ?
When, in fact, three millions of our women are working
for bread, what nonsense it is to argue as if some startling
innovation was proposed in this particular case ! Nor is it
true that all the shop-boys and shop-men support either
sisters or wives. l\i the majority of cases they could not
afford to do so on their wages. In those towns where there
are monster houses, it is well known that the young men
live on the premises in common apartments provided for
all. Very probably in many cases the less favoured sisters,
for whose interests and feelings we are so much con-
cerned, are pining in penury and solitude, trying to eke
out a living with the needle, shut out from the ten thou-
sand avenues of escape or employment open to men,
and yet having to fight on all the same for their liv-
ing in this inconsiderate world. Do we not justly say that
this is an intolerable wrong ? So crying a grievance is it

20 The Employment oj Women, [Nov.

that we own ifc seems to us that the grand principle of free
trade might be departed from just for once, and a tax im-
posed on all male employees engaged in selling gauses
and stays. A few years notice should be given to enable
young girls to be properly trained, and then an absolntely
prohibitive tax on every man engaged, after that date,
would be justified by every principle of policy and right.
It is very well to cry down protection. But it is protection
that women want. They have been wronged in being
driven from their natural employments, and they cannot
by their own exertions recover their rights. Thougli, in-
deed, why should women have to ask state interference ?
In the Keport of the Society for the Employment of
Women, for the year 1861, we read the following sen-
tence : —

•• The committee would take this opportunity of pointing out
liow much it is in the power of ladies to encourage the employment
of women in the trades by which their requirements are supplied.
The replj made by a well-known London tradesman, to an applica-
tion to him to take a woman as an assistant, was, * Ladies have the
matter in their own hands ; if every lady as she came into my shop
were to ask to be waited on by women, we should be obliged to
supply them.' "

No one can question the truth of this. And is it indeed
possible that ladies have it in their own power to set right
this injurions wrong, and that it is not done ? Can any be
so thoughtless as to forget in the respectful blandishments
of the young gentlemen behind the counter, the poor sister,
of whose wrongs the sternest man cannot think with in-
difiPerence, and at which even the selfish dissolute is
touched with compassion ? How, indeed, they have man-
aged to neglect this matter we know not. Blessed them-
selves, as many of them are, with all the luxury, the
honour, and the influence of high station, let them not for-
get the burdens of thousands of poor women in the land,
who have all the sensitiveness and female pride — shall we
add the little weaknesses of themselves? An effort on
their part, as trifling as the.moving of a little finger, would
ease those heavy burdens. The moral of the parable of
Dives should not be forgotten. The rich man who was
clothed in purple and fine linen did not injure the poor
man—he only neglected him. Yet afterwards the rich
man suffered the torments of his remorse. This great
wrong, this strange anomaly is, we are glad to learn, excit-

18^2.] The Employment of Women. 2i

ing attention and consideration on the part of ladies.
More than two hundred ladies of influence have signed an
address to the tradesmen of London, advocating the farther
employment of women in shops. We would suggest to
these ladies that if they take decided action in the matter,
there can be no doubt that their address will be successful.
" They have the power in their own hands/' Let them
use it, and they may rest assured that they will never
again in their lives have an opportunity of advancing
such a truly charitable and noble work with so little
trouble.

There is nothing else in the shop-work of women which
calls for particular remark. Seemstresses are, as a class,
gradually becoming extinct, owing to the action of the
sewing machine. The Society for the Employment of
Women has opened classes, we believe, for those who desire
to learn how to work that ingenious instrument. How-
ever much we may feel for the last struggles of the poor
sewing women, none can regret that such a social sore as
was their calling, is likely to be eradicated.

In the domestic sphere, the most proper of all for w^omen,
we find much that is satisfactory too. Marriage, of course,
at once suggests itself. It is nature's own provision, but
men are coming to disregard it. The marriage market is
getting tight. What is more, we cannot but think that it
would be well if it continued so, provided that women
could get something else to do. Old Burton gets exceed-
ingly angry with people who oppose the marriages of the
poor. '* They would have none marry,^' he says, com-
plainingly, *' but such as are rich and able to maintain
wives, because the parish belike shall be pestered with
orphans, and the world full of beggars ; but these are
hard hearted, unnatural monsters of men.'' We must say-
that we rank ourselves among the monsters. Not to have
the world full of beggars, is, we think, most desirable.
There is no denying that a large element of truth is con-
tained in the Malthusian theory. Population is increas-
ing with accelerated velocity, the world is filling up fast,
and there is a prospect of perpetual struggling if we go on
perpetually and recklessly increasing. One great source
of the misery of the lower orders, is the hasty manner^ in
which they form inconsiderate unions, trusting that some-
thing will turn up for the children when they come. A
housemaid admires the stature and form of a dragoon; she

22 The Employment of Women, [Nov,

walks in the pcark a couple of times, and finds that his con-
versation is charming. His undress uniform is beautiful,
but when she sees him ride in his regiment, the die is cast,
and they both go to the altar ; neither, and especially not
the silly woman, thinking that a few months after marriage
lie may be ordered away from her, and she left to provide
for her baby and herself by the needle. A poor labourer,
when he comes of legal age, and often before it, marries,
as a matter of course. It is not till afterwards that he
begins to find out practically, that what he felt it difficult
to live on himself, is not a comfortable provision for a wilje
and six children. All these people seem to think that if
they are not as fortunate as the lilies which take no
thought for the morrow, at least they ought to be, and
that they will act as if they were. It is so to some
extent with even those who ought to know better. How
often do we see some wretched clerk out of work, or
some struggling artist with his wife a counterpart of his
own misery, and his children early made acquainted with
the difficult question of how to get bread. Every little
mouth doled out its allowance, every little garment
stitched and restitched till the famous question about Sir
John Suckle's stockings might be asked of it. Every day
a renewed struggle, every year a prolonged anxiety ! It is
all very well to talk of the joy of love and to protest that a
woman is happier with the man she loves in a hovel, than
alone in a palace. These feelings are very poetical in the
heyday of youthful affection. But the harsh warning of
Sir Walter Raleigh is too often verified in fact. " Re-
member that if thou marry for beauty thou bindest thy-
self all thy life for that which perchance will neither last nor
please thee one year, and when thou hast it, it will be to
thee of no price at all, for the desire dieth when it is
attained and the affection perisheth when it is satisfied."
Mankind are not all poets, and materially miserable
people are seldom happy couples. Against this kind, of
marriage we protest. The great hope for society is that
people shall in time come to marry only when they ought.
Without this restriction successive generations represent
simply the repeated production of beggars carried on with
prosperous productiveness. And one of the most impor-
tant points which we hope to have gained by securing
proper and considerate employments for women would be,
that it must form a most material check on imprudent

1862.] The Employment of Women, 23

marriages. If most of our girls instead of pining in
solitude and want, or what perhaps is worse, with ungen-
erous relations, were able to support themselves by some
proper and moderately remunerative employment, they
would not be so ready as they are now to rush into the
arms of the first young man that will take them, without
considering whether he is likely to prove a good husband
and a man fairly able to support a family. Now, young
women are brought up with the idea that they have
nothing before them but marriage. They are all as it were
started in a kind of race, a husband being the goal ; and an
emulation to win at any cost is thus excited. Every fair
maiden is considered to have succeeded or failed in life,
according as she has managed to catch a lover or not.
The result is imprudent marriages, often productive of in-
finite misery, often furnishing additions to the long list of
Sir Cresswell Cresswell, certain to produce an unnecessary
and a struggling population. Were our girls busily and
properly occupied with work suitable to them, in the first
place they would not be always thinking of love and mar-
riage, as ihey are now ; and in the next place, they would
not be precipitated into matches of which prudence and
affection do not approve. Nothing would take them from
their independence and comfort, but the force of true love,
tempered as much as can be expected by a just regard to
prudence. Nor need we fear that even with this salutary
check, any want of population would result. It would be
only miserable matches that would be interfered with.
That great, all-prevailing despot of the human affections,
provided by careful nature for her own wise purposes,
would do his work where he ought. Only it would be true
love that would make marriages not a hasty affection,
stimulated by emulation, founded perhaps on necessity.
Marriage, as often now contracted, is most unsatisfactory ;
so is the growing disinclination* to marry now evinced by
numbers of some classes of our young men, while our
young women are left struggling to catch them. But
make both sexes independent, and a wariness about mar-
riage in each is one of the very best things that can be
devised for their progressive elevation. To have women
cheap, and men fastidious, of honourable love at least, is a
cruel wrong which no manly-minded man ought to regard
with indifference. To have each as independent of the

24 The Employment of Women. [Nor

other as possible, is the true condition of happiness, leaving
love, the enchanter, to do the rest.

With regard to domestic servants, what good housewife
has not her complaints ? Perhaps we ought to trace some
portion of the lamentations to that natural tendency in human
nature to consider that our fathers and mothers were better
off than we are. But still it is beyond jiU doubt that the
relations between servants and the famiHes they live with,
are most unsatisfactory. Neither, as it seems to us, do
their part properly, though with whom the fault originally
lies, we cannot say. Perhaps an issue of fact on this point
might be sent up to a mixed jury of mistresses and servants,
only that we fear not all the terrors of legal starvation or
privation would procure a verdict. But certainly, a change
is wanted somewhere, and probably with the servants, to
commence with. We doubtless ought to have better ser-
vants ; but, if we had them, they ought to be treated better
than female servants often are now. In fact, a change in
the whole relation of master and servant is required. The
way to begin this is to try to train up a superior class of
servants, and then we may hope that their claims to a
better position than at present female domestics occupy
will be recognized. And here our schools for girls are
sadly at fault. In most cases the children are taught any-
thing but what is useful ; so far from it, indeed, th/it what
they do learn rather disqualifies them for the lowly work of
the kitchen and laundry. We have all laughed often
enough at Dr. Johnson's argument against educating the
masses. Yet there was an element of truth in it. A girl
with a really good literary education is not so well fitted
for domestic service, as if she had been particularly trained
in what is to be her business for life. It is all very well for
the inspector, when he arrives at the school, to find that the
young people are adepts at the use of the globes, can calcu-
late fabulous or extra-comphcated sets of figures, with which
they will never have to do again in afterlife, can point out
a spot on the map which it would puzzle the inspector him-
self to define from the data, and can tell the time at a given
place by what is to them a kind of scientific legerdemain.
But what, meanwhile, about the relation of buttons to
shirts, the best way to stuff a turkey, or to dispose of a
wash-tub full of clothes? What real good is all the fine
learning to them afterwards? Can they be expected to
remember all this showy knowledge after a year or so of

1862.] The Employment oj Women, 25

the dull- routine of the kitchen? If they did, what good
would it do them? Does a knowledge of the globes assist
the starching of a shirt, or an acquaintance with the theory
of the seasons enable one to regulate the number and
rapidity of the revolutions proper for a rib of beef before
the fire ? Would it not be better to teach girls who are to
]>e servants, how to perform the duties of servants, how to
do servant's work with neatness and expedition, and how
to conduct themselves as respectable servants ought ? This
seems to us common sense in any case, but we are not
without the support of good authority. In this case we
confess we think that no opinion is of so much value as
that of a sensible lady, and such is Miss Hope, who more-
over had full opportunities of observing the class of ser-
vants our system of education is likely to produce, as she
was for ten years overseer of a home in Scotland where
schoolmistresses resided. Her testimony is clear and
satisfactory on the subject with which we are dealing — she
says,—

*• For ten years I took chief superlntendance of a home where
schoolmistresses boarded when under training, and during that
time not only two hundred passed through my hands to go out to
exercise their profession, but I got acquainted with numbers of
other schoolmistresses. Also, it came to pass, that I was applied
to from every part of Scotland by the clergy, and by ladies, to send
them schoolmistresses, and having sent them, I had continued op-
portunities of hearing what their employers thought of them after-
wards. But although most of them were amiable estimable young
women, admirably trained in every kind of book-learning, yet I
could scarcely give you ten instances out of those two hundred, who
did not seem spoilt by the would-be-ladjism of their training ; or
whose inclination or power of making their girls tid}' housewives
or thorough needle-women, was equal to what the ladies who em-
ployed them desired. But I could give you many more instances
of complete satisfaction on this point, being given in schools of far
less pretensions, where neither school-house nor schoolmistresses
would come up to the requirements of government."

And we think that all credit is due to Miss Hope for
plainly and bravely saying what is undoubtedly the truth
with regard to female education in general. ** The hearts
and the hands of women," she observes, ''should be edu-
cated more than their heads.'' She is strongly corrobo-
rated by the Rev. Mr. Norris, one of the. government in-
spectors, who, ^while combating her propositions to a

26 The Employment of Women. [Nov.

certain extent, admits that the girls educated by the
National Board are not inclined for service. '* It must be
admitted," he remarks, in a paper to be found in tlie
Social Science Transactions for 1859, *' that our girls, as
a general rule, do not enter service. Why is this?
Some places of service are quite unfit for girls who have
any self-respect Our present course of school train-
ing does tend to give girls a distaste for house- work. It is
too bookish, too sedentary."

That is to say, the state takes up the children of those
who are too poor to send them to private schools, and edu-
cates them till they become useless to the community —
nay, even more, a positive curse to the community ; for
such are those females whose education keeps them
starving, by raising them above the kitchen, while it
does not enable them to earn a decent living by their
heads.

Here, then, is another very remarkable example of how
the whole subject of woman's employment is characterized
by error and mismanagement. We get a number of girls
who ought in time to be the domestic servants of the coun-
try, respectable and respected, no doubt, but satisfied with
the lowly lot for which God and nature have meant them.
Instead of making them good servants, we make them
miserable nondescripts, above their proper work, struggling
to become governesses and fine ladies, naturally failing in
the attempt, and then, too, naturally becoming miserable
failures as *' respectable people," when they ought to be,
and if properly trained, would have been contented and suc-
cessful household servants. The double evil of this system
is enormous. Thousands of our best young women are cut
off from domestic duties; these duties then fall into inferior
hands, these inferior hands are indifferently treated, and the
whole status of household service is so lowered that numbers
of well-bred girls would think themselves degraded by en-
tering it. We are then distracted to know what we shall
do with these latter, and all the while our homes are made
uncomfortable without them. Telegraph work, and design
painting, and law copying, and printing are called into
requisition, when ten thousand families in the country
would pay highly for some one to make their fires decently,
cook their meat properly, preserve their fruit, and answer
a visitor at the door like a Christian. We do not con-
demn the employment of women in novel businesses, as for

1862.] The Employment of Women. 27

a certain class some such employment is desirable ; but we
insist that active efforts ought to be made to train up our
national school girls, at least for one class of household
service, and workhouse children for another. There are
3,745,463 inhabited houses in England and Wales alone ; a
lai-ge proportion of these will always want servants, and for
good servants families will be ready to pay highly, as a well
taught servant^ is an actual, positive, saving in a house,
and a well trained servant, which includes, of course, a
well trained woman, will in nearly every case be kiudly
and considerately treated by the family in which they live.
If the class generally could be improved, a general appre-
ciation of their position and rights would follow. The
servant would be no longer the mere drudge of the family,
with belligerent relations towards the lady, an engagement
terminable on a month's notice on either side, and gene-
rally prolonged beyond the first few months, with pain.
She would be the help of the family, treated with regard
and consideration, and her interests would be a matter of
concern to every proper mistress. We might also, in case
of such an improvement in the class as we speak of, expect
to see public attention considerately and humanely turned to
the question of, what becomes of old servants? It is
surely a very unsatisfactory thing for no one in a civilized
community to be able or willing to answer that question.
Do they live long, or do they die early? We cannot rest
satisfied with either alternative. If few reach old age, what
a tale does that fact tell of their lives ! If they do fulfil the
allowed three score and ten, how are they supported, when
the strong arm grows feeble, and the comely figure is
shrivelled by age ? Are those collapsed specimens of mor-
tality called charwomen, who make out a living by uncer-
tain dubious, dreary hackwork — are they the remnant
left of the bright housemaids who bustled about the houses
of our infancy, and the merry nurses with whom we played?
We like not the thought. Yet where are those same
young maidens gone ? Some, doubtless, have got mar-
ried ; some are gone to distant lands ; the grave has a
right to claim some ; society ought to have looked after
the rest. It is a grievous cruelty for the community to let
their household servants, when past their work, sink down
into decrepitude and degradation together — to use them as
a humane man would not use his horses, so long as they
are in their vigour, and then to turn them off to finish life

28 The Employment of Women, [Nov

as best they can. The proper remedy for this great evil
is to elevate the whole relations between families and ser-
vants; Make a class of respectable profitable servants ;
people will then be able in a merely monetary point of
view to pay higher wages ; from the wages, well-trained
provident girls would put by something for the evil day,
and would not recklessly leave the future to chance.
Moreover, no respectable family would desert a faithful
and careful servant in her old age. Other movements on
behalf of women we would desire to assist, but none more
so tlian that on behalf of the female service improvement.
Such work is the most suitable of all for women, it is, and
ever must be, a great opening, and its proper management
would be productive of as much convenience to the com-
munity as benefit to the servants themselves.

The same complaints so generally and justly made about
female servants, apply to the tolerably numerous class of
professional nurses. Nothing can be more unsatisfactory
than the condition of this branch of woman's work. Is
any one satisfied with Mrs. Gamp? Nor is Mrs. Gamp a
very exaggerated picture. This brings us to a subject most
important, with regard to female employment and Christian
charity, in which England is at fault. Protestant Eng-
land has no religious orders of females. In our hospitals,
in our common schools, beside lowly beds, in tlie districts
of the poor and miserable, in the v;ork-house ward, in the
prisoner's cell, what could be more blessed and becoming
than the ministration of good women ? The authorized
ministers— the regular troops of religion — certainly must
go to these places also, but they can go only as ministers.
They cannot spend their time in endeavours to work into
little rows of beggars the religious impress of which child-
hood is susceptible; they cannot influence with a woman's
power fallen and disconsolate womanhood; they cannot
soothe the restlessness of sickness or the struggles of death.
On the other hand, the country abounds with ladies who,
in a Catholic country, would be usefully to themselves, and
happily to others, discharging those holy duties. Every one
acquainted with middle class English society, knows that
there are hundreds of thousands such. Plain daughters
unable to get married are, we know, from book statistics
and experience, superabundant. By the census of 1851,
we learn that there were 2,449,669 females between the
ages of fifteen and fifty-five, unmarried, including widows

1862.] The Employment of Women, 29

and spinsters, and of these 322,347 were returned as fol-
lowing no business or occupation whatever. These unmar-
ried girls, as they advance in life, are often most unplea-
santly circumstanced, perhaps with inconsiderate fathers,
perhaps with struggling brothers, perhaps living in solitude
on some little pittance of a pension, j^s they have not
been able to give way to the great human impulse of their
nature, they are often, indeed, generally, all the more
devoted to that other and higher feeling of which also they
are so susceptible. They look on the cold ungenerous
world with the aversion of pilgrims in a hostile country ;
tliey console themselves with embracing fervent, injudi-
cious theories of Christianity, they fix their thoughts on
the time when the days of their mourning shall be ended,
and the marriage feast of the Lamb made ready. Thus
they pass their lives disliking the world and useless in it ;
a great impetus to extravagant religion is suppHed, and a
vast amount of sincere devotional feeling is comparatively
lost to the world. If these lonely good ladies could be en-
rolled in a religious order, as they would be on the Conti-
nent, and given active duties of charity to perform, what a
double blessing would be thereby conferred ! They would
be made happy in their charitable industry, and the com-
munity would benefit by their services. Yet so strange
and so strong is the influence of prejudice, that any ap-
proach to such a blessed organization is condemned by
what is proudly termed the Protestant feeling of England.
Thousands and thousands of hapless ladies are left wither-
ing in idle and gloomy maidenhood ; millions of children
and sick are left poorly and often unfeelingly attended.
To make the one class active, would be to succour the
others, but England cannot manage it. To leave both
neglected is either a fancy or an unfortunate fact of Pro-
testantism. We can only point out the evil, it is not for
us to suggest the remedy. Nor can we suggest any other
feasible plan for employing those three hundred thousand
ladies who are at present an useless burthen to the com-
munity.

Having noticed these defects in the main employments
of women and the respective remedies, as far as they can be
proposed, the question raised by the Society for the Employ-
ment of Women presents itself. What more ought to be
done and what new avenues of work ought to be opened up ?
Without at all condemning the efforts made by benevolent

oO The Employment of Women, [Nov.

ladies to secure new j^et suitable work for women, ^ye
cannot but think that it would be well to direct our main
efforts to remedying the defects and wrongs which at
present render so unsatisfactory what may be called
woman's peculiar work. When we have made sure of
woman's proper province we may try to extend our con-
quests over what is to a certain extent man's domain.
But in truth we can only expect to get a small footing
therein. Telegraph work for example, — apparently on ^
of the most suitable for women, often necessitates the
workers staying up during the greater portion of the night.
We have read of a fine feat of telegraphing which secured
to the London Times hy early morn the full report of the
speeches delivered during the evening and night, at one of
the Manchester demonstrations; and it appears that the
'* Young girls'' who worked the wires began their task at
10. 15. p.m. and ended it at 3. 25. a.m. However gratifying
an evidence of female skill and activity this may be, we
think that the mere fact proves enough to constitute an
objection to telegraph work as a general female employ-
ment. If there is one thing which comes out in particularly
melancholy relief in the poor needle-woman's or milliner's
occupation it is the thought of their leaving the house of
toil in the early hours of morning, and passing by scenes
of dissipation and at least affected gaiety, which might
tempt an unholy thought to rise in the breasts of those who
found the paths of virtue certainly not the ways of plea-
santness. The work of the telegraph office is not so
hard or so badly rewarded as is that of the needle, but
it is certainly objectionable to have "young girls"
scattered over the streets to seek their homes at 3. 25. a.m.
Besides such work is clearly incompatible with any
domestic engagements. The Victoria printing press is we
are rejoiced to learn a complete success, we hope that
many like it may spring up throughout the land. Yet
here too, woman's work must be limited. The vast branch
of newspaper printing seems to be completely shut out from
them ; there is also a large class of books which could not
well be sent through the hands of a number of decent
young women. Where great hurry is required we fear
that the publishers would feel safer in the hands of men.
Still we only mention these as limitations to the plan. It
is obvious that for a great deal of printing women are quite
as well suited as men, and we should hope that the good

1862.] The Employment of Women. 31

feeling of the llteraiy community would in all pos-
sible cases be ready to give them the preference. The
*' Transactions of the Social Science Congress," which are
yearly printed by Emily Faithfull and Co., are a standing
evidence of how accurately and neatly work can be done,
audi we learn that the fair firm is fully established as a
mercantile success, and has more work on hands than it
is able to do. Then as to the law copying, dial painting,
lithography, we can only wish every success to the efforts
made to employ women in those works. At present we
regret to learn from the Report of the London Society for
1861 that the success has been very trifling indeed. Only
two pupils were apprenticed to the dial painting trade and
*' except in one or two individual cases" it was not found
possible to obtain lithography work for females. We must
not however expect over much at first from even the active
and intelligent efforts of the Society ; but we could have
wished that more interest in the good woik had been
evinced by those whom it is proposed to benefit. We read,
** The adult class at Mrs. Boucherett's school averages
twenty-three pupils, who are receiving a good education
in arithmetic, book keeping and clerk-like handwriting,
with such other knowledge as may fit them for a business
life.'^ Considering that the last census shows that there
are some million and a half females in London, we must
say that an average of fourteen is but a poor contribution.
Working at this class is a matter in the hands of the
women themselves, and the poor attendance seems to show
something wrong somewhere. But with regard to all
these ways of employing women we can only say we most
heartily wish them success. We do not think that they
will ever become very general ; however, without doing so
they may do an immensity of good. They may not be very
domestic, but there are numbers of women to whom home
is only an empty name ; some of them may not be exactly
what we call feminine, but neither is mill work nor dressing
ore at mines.

As permanent general employments for women we must
certainly say that we should rather trust to the domestic
field with all its difterent divisions. All mechanical call-
ings to be successful must in the end trust to the
sui)eriority over competition of those who follow them. If
women in any numbers are to follow the different businesses
which the London committee are now endeavouring to start

32 The Employment of Women, [Nov.

them in, it must be by fairly beating men out of the field.
A few particular enterprises may be supported by the
direct favour of just and good men, but in the gross these
things must be done by hard competition. Now we doubt
whether women will ever be able to conquer in this unequal
struggle. Miss 1. Craig says that women can never
compete with men, and we think she is right. Women
are certainly physically weaker, and despite any training
they will probably never take to stern business work with
tlie same determination and devotion as men. We are
not guilty of that contemptible want of gallantry which
some speculators display on this subject when we say that
l)Uice the two sexes in equal competition and tlie result is
certain. The prize will not be to the fair. Besides the
comparatively limited number of women that iu any case
can enter in competition with men will always be a source
of disadvantage to them. Numbers in any case will be
busy with their homes and families and the remnant
will never be able to command a profitable controul of
the market. Each business in the main will still be iu the
hands of men. At best women will only edge in and men
will still have the lead. Omnipotent and all wise nature
will still have her way and most females who can marry
well will marry and fulfil one great purpose of their earthly
existence. The rest will turn to business as a kind of
dernier resort, — for want of something better ; they will not
push themselves to it as men do to what is the immediate
and principal object of their life. We do not say this to
discourage those business enterprises. On the contrary
we hail them with satisfaction as some relief at least to
toiling womanhood, and we think that they will be most
valuable in providing for that particular section of women
for whom they are suited and by whom alone they will be
worked. More than this they will not do ; and we are only
anxious to guard against the notion that we do enough
when we start these few pet schemes for wonians employ-
ment. On the other hand in domestic service they have
no competition ; that men willingly leave to them. They
ought to be trained for it, and it ought to be elevated and
suited to them. So too those shops where gloves, neck-
ties, articles of ladies dress, gauses and a thousand little
trifles are sold, ought to be left to females alone. There
men are usurpers and invaders. They might just as well
and indeed with more propriety, take in hand the washing-

1862. 1 ' The Employment of Women. 33

tub and the mangle. The object is to secure to women
a work which they certainly can do as well as men, and no
mere whim of a few grand people should be allowed to
prevent this most necessary reform. On the continent
women are much more employed in the light work of
shops than with us, and we may well copy the example,
while avoiding the mere shop exposure of Paris.

These all will tend to secure a fair and proper field for
woman's toil and a prudent system of emigration will relieve
the present pressure. But as a preparation for every
scheme of improvement we must have a better systdfh of
female training and education. Of the National-school
children we have spoken already. No step is more
urgently required than a change from the literary style of
their education to the domestic. Let them we say be
trained for household servants, and let the teachers re-
member that it is a poor consolation to the family whose
leg of mutton for dinner is spoiled, to know that their
cook can calculate the distances of the stars. As for the
highest class of girls we have nothing to say to them. If
they are pretty certain to get married, or have good in-
dependent means should they not, their education is too
much a mere personal matter to be of state concern. What-
ever suggestions a critic might have to make in this respect
need not be enlarged on here. There remains the large
middle class, the higher artizan, the shopkeeper, the poor
respectable ; and the bad way in which they manage their
daughters is a fertile source of the female difficulty. They
seem either to calculate on marriage as a necessary con-
tingency, or else to consider that the future of girls is a
matter of no consequence, while that of boys must be
most anxiously considered for. The result is two-fold, each
equally pernicious. Either the daughters are forced as it
were for their very lives into ill assorted marriages
without any provision being made for the coming family,
or else by the death of the parent or some other contingency
they are thrown on the world literally to live by their wits,
which indeed they generally find a particularly inadequate
provision. Hence is one great source of the would-be-
governesses who have barely the qualifications of a house-
maid. Hence the rush of hundreds after every trifling
situation which females with no qualifications think they
can fill. Hence the struggles to open up some new ways

of living for women or to escape from the country altogether.
VOL. Lii.-No. cni. 3

34 The Employment of Women, [Nov.

Hence greater evils too. If parents of the middle class
would train their daughters as they do their sons, for in-
dependence, rather than for marriage, much of this harm
might be obviated. If the small shop-keeper, for example,
were to teach his daughters book-keeping, how to take
orders, or sell wares across the counter, how^ to pack
parcels, and generally the management of his shop,
he would be putting them as it were in possession of a
property. When he was gone they could continue the
establishment. Old customers would not go away if they
wera^served well, and the daughters would be decent shop-
keepers instead of unhappy wives or faded struggling
spinsters. The same may be said of hundreds of other
middle class occupations. Each parent has made a kind
of opening in his business, and he should educate his
daughters so as to enable them where possible to avail
themselves of it. More might be done in the way of this
hereditary right than by the hard competition organ-
ised by societies.^ If a father is a watchmaker, why does
he not teach his daughters or some of them to nrnke
watches? They could learn the work just as well as the
sons, or as the girls of Switzerland do in the mountains
about Geneva. If the father is a fourth or fifth-class painter
why does he not teach his daughter design painting ? She
could gradually get employment through her father, and
if she painted well, she would be afterward independent of
his aid. And so on through numbers of other businesses
which females may not find it easy to take by storm,
parents by judicious training might fit their daughters for
the work and then introduce them to it, just as now a man
often pushes his son into his place in a trade or calling,
which the youth would never have won for himself.^ Are
we not all familiar with the case of the fortunate scion of
some prosperous house of the law or some powerful political
family ? In the one case he has briefs loading his table
which are in truth confided to the paternal care and about
which the only thing the favoured youth is quite competent
for is to sign the fee: in the other he is seated in parliament
in early manhood, in course of years he falls into the proper
style of debate and is in due time fit for office, his juvenile
blunders having been perpetrated and forgotten. And so
in humble life, if fathers would only push their daughters
into their trades when these are suitable, they could safely
leave them to fight their own way afterwards. If there is

1862.] The Employment of Women, 35

not room for the sons, let them emigrate. Men are never
at a loss for something to do in a new country. This
certainly seems the most feasible plan for enabling women
to make a living out of men's trades ; they need not leave
their homes nor at all neglect domestic duty ; while learn-
ing their business they might be of great assistance to
their relatives, and by them could get a gradual intro-
duction which they could at leisure improve and secure.
Nor do we at all by this scheme propose to interfere with
marriage when it is really desirable. By making daugh-
ters somewhat independent without at the same time nn-
domesticating them, they are only rendered the more fitted
for proper marriage. If they do marry in such a case, the
union is likely to be a happy one, founded on sincere
affection and prudent choice. If parents would oiily look
with provident care to the future of their daughters we are
convinced that more could be done^ for introducing a cer-
tain number into business occupations in this way than
by any public organization. But then both the fathers
and daughters must get out of their heads the pernicious
idea that marriage is with us, in this nineteenth century,
the only business of women in life — the final cause of their
creation. Facts and figures are hard things, and let them
observe how many hundreds of thousands of women there
are who cannot get married, and who must work for their
bread. There is nothing too that so fits a girl in the
middle class for marriage as being able to live without it.
Husbands are like friends; if you are independent of them
they are likely to come to you ; if you have to run
after them they naturally think that the prize is not worth
very much.

And here we may say that we cannot at all concur in
the reason which Miss Parkes gives to explain the indif-
ference of fathers to the training of their daughters. In
her paper on *' The Market for Educated Female Labour,"
read before the Social Science Congress for 1859, she
says that parents do not care to give girls the means of mak-
ing money, because they know that the future husband will
by law become entitled to the fruits of her industry, and she
founds on this idea an argument for the modification of
the law as regards the husband's power over his wife's
property. We read:—

"But there was another reason why the father confided his
daughter's future so wholly to her possible husband : women were

36 The Employment oj Women, [Nov.

so unused to have or to hold property and the law throws the right
to the earnings of a married woman so completely into her husband's
power, that the father was little tempted to save up his money to
give to another man, nor to train np his daughter expensively,
when another man was to have legal power over the fruits of her
education, and could take away any money she earned.''

The fact that so sensible a lady as Miss Parkes uses
such an argument with such an object, is a very significant
one, followed up as it has been recently by a less discreet
advocate of woman's rights. First let us see the value of
the reason. We do not for our part think that all middle
class fathers, do calculate with accuracy and definiteness
on their daughters marrying ; we fear very much that they
do not calculate on the subject at all. If they do so
anticipate, every reason must urge them to make their
daughters as independent as possible. For if the husband
is a proper husband, what can be more suitable than that
his wife should be able to turn some leisure hours to
account in assisting the family? If on the other hand he is
a Kad husband what can be a greater control on his evil
passions, or what a greater protection to his wife than that
she should be able to earn her livelihood and if necessary
to live independently ? It is the total helplessness of the
wives that encourages the cruelty of brutal husbands. So
much for the value of the argument ; but what is the
meaning of the suggestion at all? We fear that Miss
Parkes states guardedly in her own prudent way an idea
which more or less mixes itself up in the thoughts of some
of the ladies at least who manage this present movement
on behalf of women. We fear that justly and properly ex-
cited as they are about woman's wrongs, they are inclined
to go beyond securing material remedies and to busy
themselves about woman's supposed abstract rights. When
meetings are held and fair speakers have spoken with all
the earnestness of conviction, and ladies' committees are
organized and female secretaries are appointed and
women's journals started, there is plainly a tendency even
with our sensible ladies to let their energies tend in the
direction of the strong minded ladies of Massachusetts who
some yeai's ago we learn from Mr. Mill, demanded in
public meeting assembled, concessions to women-kind as
follows.

" Resolved. — That women are entitled to the right of suffrage, and
to be considered eligible to office.

1862.] The Employment of Women. 37

" KesoWed, — That civil and polical rights acknowledge no sex,
and therefore the word * male' should be struck from the state con
stitution.

" Resolved. — That it is impossible that women should make full
use of the instruction already accorded to them, or that tlieir
career should do justice to their faculties until the avenues to
the various civil and professional employments are thrown open to
them.

"Resolved. — That every effort to educate women without ac-
cording to them their rights, and arousing their conscience by the
weight of their responsibilities, is futile and a waste of labour.

*' Eesolved. — That the laws of property as affecting married per-
sons demand a thorough revisal, so that all rights be equal between
them, and that the wife have during life an equal control over
the property, and be entitled at her death to dispose of an equal
share.'^

The nearest approach to this platform as yet made in
England, is by a lady who writes to the Times, and who
occupies a place on both the general, and managing com-
mittees of the Society for Promoting the Employment of
Women. The managing committee, we may observe,
consists of three gentlemen and four ladies. The lady to
whom we refer, entirely dissents from Miss Craig's view,
"that women never can nor ought to compete with man,"
observing —

"Here, again, I cordially join issue. Nature, in making man
and woman so unlike in their very likeness, has herself affixed the
power and limit to both, and so entirely do I hold this that I believe
when women shall become an acknowledged power in the world as
well as in the home, taking their share in the world's work and
progress, men in the place of competitors will find their labours of
Lead and heart, supplemented and perfected to a degree yet un-
dreamt of."

This is rather vague, but what follows is not —

•* The best and noblest women stand aloof in isolated dignity,
preferring the martyrdom of unsatisfied affections and sympathies
to the surrender of tlieir independence and integrity as human souls,
accountable to their God, and their God only, for what they are to

do We are allowed no platform but the childless heart or

the teeming nursery, and if these may not be ours, jostled and
pushed aside to rot in inaction, if we have the means to find our-
selves food, shelter and clothing; if we have not to wrest or steal a
living as best we can, doing hardest coarsest work for worst
pay."

38 The Employment of Women, [Nov

Our fair innovator is clearly no great admirer of St.
Paul. Yet we can scarcely blame women for allowing
their zeal to carry them a little beyond the bounds of pru-
dence, when we find the professor of political economy in
one of the universities of this kingdom, indorsing to the full
the pernicious and an ti- Christian craze of Mr. J. S. Mill,
for which that very eminent thinker was indebted to his
wife, who was doubtless a most amiable lady, but not a
very deep philosopher. Professor Houston of Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin, in the pamphlet which we have prefixed to
our article, startles us with gravely advancing theories
which we never expected to see emanating from a learned
and Christian university. " Emancipation of Women,'' —
startling heading ! What is the slavery in which our fair
friends are ? That it may appear we wrong not the pro-
fessor, let us quote a few sentences.

*'* What/ the learned prefessor asks, * is the account given of it
by a lady, who charges herself with the duty of instructing her
sisters in the path of life they should choose? In a work called
* My Life, and what should I do with it?' — a work which abounds
in most valuable suggestions on the subject, and which is written in a
spirit of liberality and enlightenment, the authoress thus defines
woman's mission — ' A true womanly life is lived for others. Not
for things, as a man's may be who is engaged in any productive
labour or training ; not for mind, as a studious man's may be ; not
for the increase of knowledge, for the discovery of truth, nOr for
art ; not for the human race in their collective masses,^ nations,
churches, colleges, but for others as individuals.' If true, this is a
melancholy fact. No desire of independence, no patriotism, no
devotion to art, to the sacred cause of truth, or to the ennobling
pursuit of knowledge, must enter into the hearts of over one half of
the species ! Every particle of individuality — the ultimate crystal
from which every regular form of civilization must be developed,
is to be sunk in the pursuit of the advantage of others as indi-
viduals.''

Again, in the appendix, we read —

*' Were all avenues of profit and distinction opened to both sexes
alike, little doubt can be entertained but that the course of educa-
tion pursued by both would differ much less than at present, be-
coming in the case of women more various and comprehensive, and
thus tending much more than at present to the expansion of their
faculties ; and even should they never be required to put the
knowledge thus acquired into requisition in the pursuit of any

1862.] The Employment of Women. 39

industrial calling, enabling them in turn to direct with judgment
the education of their families."

It is into such follies^as tliese'that the most useful social
movements so often degenerate. We find that our con-
stitution of society leaves in struggling and wretchedness
some million or so of women. Instead of opening up use-
ful occupations and charitable callings to engage them in
becoming industry, Professors and social^ science meet-
ings at once fall a talking about emancipation ^nd college
degrees, people at present being, of course, wiser than the
old-fashioned teaching of religion. Does the professor pro-
pose that women should, like the Amazons of old, take up
arms in their countries' cause, and stand in the ridges of
grim war ? Will he organize a female police force who
will patrol and keep in order our streets by night ? Will
he send our fair friends on the stormy ocean, and have
young sailor girls rocked to sleep on the high and giddy
mast ? And does he suppose that if men^ do all the
hard stern work, they will have women directing and rul-
ing their toil? But, indeed, we need not argue, for as it
seems to us the professor refutes himself. He says, *'It is
not by any means likely that women would be at all satis-
fied to sacrifice their own natural tastes and feelings, so
far as to become barristers or surgeons.'' ^ Very good, and
for which of the professions then are their '^ own natural
tastes and feelings" likely to suit them ? The political
platform, we suppose, is not more suited than the legal.
From the clerical, they are excluded by express precept,
unless, of course, the rational interpretation system disposes
of it too. Public offices and bustling commerce seem not
adapted to the female taste either. Engineering and sur-
veying are as bad. For what, then, the professor contends
we cannot conceive. It seems to be the *' opening up of
all avenues of profitable distinction," on which the natural
tastes of females would prevent them from entering. The
truth is, that in this, as in many other grand theories and
reforms that are started in this wonderful nineteenth cen-
tury, shallow philosophers are forgetting the nature of the
men and women for whom they are devising wise things.
They are clever enough to see that there is something
wrong with the world as it is, and they are foolish enough
to *think that they can set to and make out a new and
better order of nature. They may improve the human

40 The Employment of Women. [Nov

race ; they will never radically change it. We have di-
verged to this latest folly of the hasty theorists of the age,
because of the countenance given to it by the Social Sci-
ence Congress, headed by the venerable Lord Brougham,
the value of whose judgment we will not discuss, but who
has not failed his ancient and appropriate character of the
ladies' man. And we fear that the introduction of such fancies
into the plans for female relief is sure to result in disaster.
The ladies themselves are not to be blamed for pushing
into practice theories apparently sanctioned by authority.
One result is the letter which we have quoted from, com-
ing from one of the ladies' managing committee of the
London Society. We do not think we could present to
sensible men a stronger argument for their taking an ac-
tive, earnest, and generous part in the efforts of the society.
We are sure that we mean nothing disrespectful to those
earnest and talented ladies who at present direct its efforts,
when we say that their unacquaintance with business
habits renders the attentive co-operation of some gentle-
men necessary to secure success to their plans. It is, in-
deed, a poor way to discharge our duties to the female
dependent portion of our population, to leave remedies to
their own efforts, and then, if a mistake be made, to laugh
at the incompetence of ladies. Every earnest, fair minded
man ought to feel himself personally interested in woman's
cause, mindful that the circumstances of social condition
and training to a certain extent disqualify woman from
being her own protector. The very irritation which prompts
these strange theories, proves that grievous wrong exists.
VVomen would not care to complain about the legal disa-
bilities of marriage if they were independent of it, or if
suitable matches were easy to be had. They would never
think of assailing the political power of men if they did not
feel that under it they suffered so many wrongs. Want,
and struggling, and misery, drive mankind to find a refuge
from the hard facts of society as at present constituted, in
the congenial follies of socialism. Will want, struggling,
and misery not incline womanhood to some similar error ?
But whatever may be our opinion about details, let us
not look on with cold and unsympathizing feelings at the
efforts which benevolent people are now making in this
cause. Do we realize the position in which women are
now placed ? Do we think of what becomes of the increas-
ing surplus of females ? The mind, we are told, by literary

1862.] The Employment oj Women. 41

critics, is more affected by particulars, than by the most
sweeping general descriptions. Miss Rye gives us some
particulars. A situation worth £l5 a year was offered to
female competition — eight hundred and ten women ap-
plied. Another worth «£12 a year was declared vacant —
two hundred and fifty women were candidates. One week
a notice was put in the newspapers to say that a law-copy-
ing office had been opened at Fenchurch-street — before a
week was out seventy-eight women applied for work in it,
and one hundred more applied at the office itself. Miss
Parkes gives us a simple and affecting picture of the
crowds of waiting applicants whom she found collected
at the office of the Englishwoman's Journal :-^

*'1q this way I have conversed with ladies of all ages and condi-
tions ; with single girls of seventeen finding it necessary to start in
life ; with married ladies whose husbands were invalided or not
forthcoming; with widows who had children to support; with sin-
gle women who found teaching unendurable as life advanced ; with
tradesmen's daughters, and with people of condition fallen into low
estate."

We think that men do not sufficiently take to heart
these details. As yet, we must confess that the stronger
sex have done httle but tSlk wisely about woman's mission,
which seems practically to be, to go to the four corners
of the earth, or to wait at home and hold her peace. It is
simply .acting under false pretences, to tell women to go
xind get married and not to be pushing themselves forward.
Pharaoh acted as justly towards the Israelites, when he
told them to make bricks. It is humiliating to think that
if our statesmen gave one-tenth of the time and thought to
this question which has been given to projects for increas-
ing the political power of the lower classes, and promoting
foreign revolutions, it would not now be in its present un-
satisSictory state ; and yet that that consideration is not
given. The present agitation is not a mere passing ex-
citement springing from ephemeral fancies, and likely to
subside when those fancies pass away. If it does subside
it will be into the calmness of despair, not the rest of satis-
faction. Real pressing causes are now, and have been for
years at work, which are pushing our female population
to despair, and will continue to be till modified by judicious
reform. ^ At bay they stand, and make a struggle for
preservation. Within the last few years the sewing ma-

42 The Employment of Women, [Nov.

chine has effected a change, blessed indeed in one sense,
still destructive in another. Poor wretches live no longer
now by the needle, but. Heaven only knows, what else they
live by. In 1851 there were 73,620 needle women in Lon-
don, now there ai'o probably not more than a few thou-
sands. The notable " Song of the Shirt," is not at the
present time so applicable as before. Let us hope that the
other popular lines of Hood have not become the more
fitting lamentations for thousands of new victims. What
fearful revelations have been made by the late returns of
inquests held in London in 1861, on children who died
under ten years of age.. In them it is established that in
the one year 343 children were, to express the thing in
round phrase, murdered, 147 were accidentally suffo-
cated, and 614 were the victims of exposure and disease ;
making a total of 1,104 infants disposed of in the metropolis
of England in a twelve month. What a melancholy list !
Who can count the number of sinners and sufferers that it
represents ! It is said that the dense population of the Chi-
nese empire, from which till lately no emigration was allowed
was in a great degree owing to the licence accorded to infan-
ticide. Reckless hasty marriages were entered into by the
stolid parents in anticipation of availing themselves of the
customary right, aud so getting ^id of family cares. But
when the children actually came, the mother's love proved
too strong, and' the offspring were preserved to throng the
land. It would seem that with us the force of nature, and
the force of laws, and the force of public opinion, are unable,
in great cities to balance the misery of women. This re-
minds us of the great sad fact which lies at the foot of all
speculations on the subject of female work. We know
what is the end of the increasing cheapness of women, and
the increasing disinclination to marry in men. Every man
feels it sensitively, and thinks of it often with sorrow. A
recent volume of Mr. Mayhew's work on " London Labour
and London Poor,'' has brought vividly and painfully before
us the traps, the baits, the extensive organization, the well
worked system which is^ in force to tempt to destruction
innocent frail womankind, to whom society leaves the
alternative of hard struggles or harder vice. It is of little
use to become sentimental on such a subject. Yet we
cannot help asking how just-minded men can hurry to
their comfortable homes through any of our great towns by
night and not make a firm resolve to aid with their might

1862.] The Employment of Women, 43

the society which proposes to do woman justice. Do we
not know that in truth numbers of those fallen ones are
crushed down into the haunts of degradation by the stern
hand of want ? And should we rest easy a day till such a
cruel wron^ is set right? Deplorable, indeed, is their
affected inlifforence to shame and melancholy their ghastly
gaiety. But who can tell the sorrows that are crushed
down within those lonely hearts ! Let us turn our feelings
to good account. Let us remember that if we are indif-
ferent to their sufferings we are responsible for their guilt,
and that it is little consolation to a virtuous man to feel
that he has not participated in their sin, if he has not ear-
nestly set himself to relieve the misery from which it
springs.

Up to very recently a lively disputation has been maintained in
the daily press on the merits of Miss Rje's plan of emigration,
which we criticise in our article. The fair propounder of the
scheme has been left almost alone in its defence ; while the most
decided repudiations of any want of learned ladies have appeared in
both Canadian and Australian newspapers. The Melbourne Argus,
a very trustworthy journal, falls mercilessly on Miss Rye's Jpropo-
sal, as developed in her letters to the Times ; while the Toronto
Weehly Leader has an article X)n the subject, from which we make
an extract.

"Miss Rje assumes as a fact, what few in this province at least
will recognise as such. In Canada there is a demand for very few
governesses indeed, and those young women who are thus employed
receive, we fear, rather a poor compensation beyond the comforts of
a home and the surroundings of respectability. If there is certain
employment for any class of young women, it is for those * hordes of
wild Irish,' of whom the governess advocate speaks in such flatter-
ing terms. * Genteel ' young ladies are not required here ; they
are somewhat indigenous, and are sufficiently numerous to fill all
the vacant situations that need their services. Domestics may
come without hesitation, but for imported governesses we fear there
is little room."

This quite settles a question on which nothing but an' acquaint-
ance with the wants of colonial society could ever have raised a
doubt. It will not be pretended, we presume, that the Ladies*
Committee in London know what the colonists want better than
they know themselves. We are glad, indeed, to gather from some
of Miss Rye's later letters, that she is not insensible to the weight
of testimqny furnished on the subject, and that she is disposed to
select the young persons she patronises as much as can be from
the respectable working class, or at least to send them abroad as

44 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

such. But we must warn Miss Rye that anything short of a com-
plete renunciation of her original plan will end in failure. We
observe that in a recent letter, Miss Rye reiterates her sweeping
condemnation of the class of females who have hitherto emigrated
to the colonies, stigmatizing them as the "disreputable set of women
who have for so many years formed the bulk of our emigrants."
We need not say that we differ from Miss Rye both as to the cor-
rectness of the assertion and the desirability of making it at all,
even were it true. But while avo regret that zeal for the excellent
design which she has proposed to herself should prompt what we
must consider an indiscreet statement, we are anxious to take the
opportunity of condemning the severe and indeed personal tone of
stricture indulged in on her emigration scheme by a certain notable
weekly journal, which, by the article we allude to, has vindicated
afresh its claim to a reputation for fierce criticism and painful in-
vective.

Art. II. — Rome and the Catholic Episcopate. Reply of His
Eminence Cardinal Wiseman to an Address of the Clergy Secular
and Regular of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

THE Canonization which has recently taken place at
Rome, has been accompanied by circumstances which
have made it so profoundly interesting to the whole Ca-
tholic world, that we feel anxious to offer to our readers
a few observations on these most important proceedings
both in their directly religious and in their quasi political
aspect. And we will commence with the purely religious
view of them.

All Catholics know that it is not every day that a
Saint is Canonized. The last ceremony of this kind
took place during the Pontificate of Gregory XVI. in
1839, when St. Alphonsusof Liguori, St Francis Jerome,
St. John Joseph of the Cross, St. Pacificus of St.
Severinus, and St. Veronica Juliani were canonized.
It is a function of comparatively rare occurrence, for it is
only a few among those conspicuous for sanctity that the
Church deems sufficiently eminent above others to be
worthy of being set on so high a pinnacle. Not but that
many others may have been equally holy or even more so

1862 ] Borne on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 45

tlian some of the Canonized Saints ; but there are not the
Slime proofs of their holiness, and not such miracles to
mark the approbation of Almighty God, and to indicate
His will in the matter. Thus it may happen that per-
sons, placed in a high position, whether spiritual or tem-
poral, Popes, Kings, Bishops, are canonized because
their virtues are conspicuous and notorious ; while many
a monk or nun of some severe and secluded order, whose
life has been passed in a cell of a religious house, where
the step of the stranger and the secular has rarely been
heard, cannot be canonized for the want of proofs of
heroic virtue, which virtue nevertheless existed in an
eminent degree, and perhaps in a higher degree than in
some of the other class before mentioned, but which was
known to God alone.

Most of our readers are aware that there are other steps
in the process of honouring the Saints which the Church
takes before canonizing them ; and in many cases she
goes no further, the process being ended there and the
saint being raised to no higher place in the calendar. These
two steps are 1st, the declaring a person '' venerable,"
and 2iid, beatification.

The first imports that the fame of a person's sanctity
has been judicially proved, or (in more technical language)
that in his cause the Commission of Introduction has
been signed. This Commission of Introduction is siorned
by the Pope and addressed to the Congregation of Ritas.
The Holy See thus takes the matter in question under its
own jurisdiction, so that local bishops and ordinaries can
no longer interfere.^ Before the completion of this step,
the fame of the virtues of the Servant of God is estab-
lished by witnesses or in other ways, and this, of course,
not merely as to ordinary but also as to extraordinary or,
as they are called, heroic virtues. When the Pope has
sanctioned the decree in such a case, we know that the
Congregation of Rites has fully examined and been satis-
fied of the existence of a solidly established fame as to the
heroic character of the virtues of the person whose process
has been under consideration, and that thus we have the
verdict of a most scrupulously careful and highly authori-
tative tribunal. But still the decree differs essentially
in its import from those we shall presently speak of. We
should remark that in the case of martyrs the very act
of their dying for Christ is held to be an act of heroic

46 JRome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

virtue, so that the same proofs are not required for them
as for other saints.

The declaration that a person is venerable does not
authorize any public cultus ; the second step, however,
which is termed beatification, does so, and is of course a
far more important and serious proceeding, — so much so
that it has been disputed whether this act on the part of
the Church be or be not an exercise of her infallible
judgment. It appears that the theologians who have dis-
cussed this subject have distinguished between the two
kinds of beatification, formal and cegaipollent ; the latter
being rather a concession than a judgment, and merely
authorizing the continuance of a cultus which had already
existed, as for example, a particular diocese or a particu-
lar order, from immemorial usage, or from some other
recognized sanction, and^ being usually accompanied
by a reservation of the right of the Congregation, so
that the decision is not irrevocable ; the former being a
more strictly judicial proceeding on the part of the Holy
See itself, by which, after proof of the virtues and mii'a-
cles of the servant of God, the Pope allows him the title of
heatus, and generally grants (though not for the use oi the
whole Church) a Mass and Office in his honour. 1 he
best opinion then seems to be that in formal beatification
the decision is probably infallible, and in eequipollent
beatification probably not so.* ^

The final step in the process is, as we all know. Canoni-
zation. Let us see in what respects it differs from Beati-
fication.

Not merely then is the final cerempny, the act itself,
celebrated with far more grandeur and solemnity, but there
is (as may naturally be supposed) a difference in the intrin-

* Those who wish to enter more fully into the subject, will do well
to study F. Faber's treatise on Beatification and Canonization,
published in 1848 ; we are indebted to it for very much informa-
tion, and have in this article followed the opinions set forth in it.
We should observe that (as all persons versed in ecclesiastical
history well know) in the early ages of the Church, Canonization
was the act of local churches, and it v/as not till the 9th or 10th
century that the Holy See took it entirely under its own immediate
direction. It is, of course, only to Canonization sanctioned hy the
Holy See that the questions raised about infallibility can apply.

1862.] Home on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 47

sic character of that act. " Beatification/' says F. Faber,
ill his Essay on Beatification, Canonization , and the
processes of the Congregation of Rites, "may be defined
to be a preparatory act, importing a cultus permissus,
mostly limited to a particular place : whereas Canoniza-
tion is an ultimate act, importing a cultus prseceptus,
extending to the whole Church." In decrees of beatifica-
tion, the stjle of the [Sovereign Pontiffs is, Indulgemus,
Concedimus ; in the decrees of Canonization, Definimus,
J?ecernimus, Mandamus,y Further on he says, " Can-
onization is the public testimony of the Church to the true
sanctity and glory of some one of the faithful departed.
This testimony is issued in the form of a judgment decree-
ing to the person in question the honours due to those
who are enjoying the beatific vision and reigning with
God.'' And from this he goes on to prove that the
Churdi is infallible in the Canonization of Saints. It
would be too long to extract here all the arguments for
this, but we may allude to the opinion of St. Thomas (to
which Father Faber refers), which is to this effect : — That
the canonization of Saints is something between things
which pertain ad /idem, and things which peitahi ad facta,
and that the Church is infallible in such matter, because
the honour we pay to the saints is a kind of profession of
faith, because the Pope can only be certified of the state
of any of the faithful departed by an instinct of the Holy
Ghost, and because Divine ^ Providence preserves the
Church in such cases from being deceived by the fallible
testimony of men.

It is, however, an open question in the Catholic schools
whether it is de fide that the Church is infallible in the
decree of canonization ; F. Faber evidently leans to the
opinion that it is so, and speaks of it as a strong proba-
bility, ^ And as this last is an open question, it follows
that it is also an open question whether the fact of any
canonized individual being really a saint is defide or not.
But there is no doubt whatever that to dispute the true

* This does not mean that a Mass and Office in honour of the
Saint are always ordered for the use of the whole Churcli, as this
is by no means the case ; but only that the whole Church is by the
act of Canonization commanded by her chief pastor to honour as a
Smnt the person canonized.

48 Borne on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

beatitude of such a person would be, if not heretical, at
any rate rash and contumacious in the highest degree."'

Before we proceed to speak of the ceremonies that take
place on the occasion of a Canonization, it may be interest-
ing to say a few words on the particular Saints that have
been thus honoured last Whit Sunday. The Canoniza-
tion is generally called that of the Japanese Martyrs,
twenty-six out of the twenty-seven Saints haying been put
to death for the Faith in Japan ; the remaining one was
not a martyr at all.

Of the twenty-six martyrs *' Some," says His Eminence
Cardinal Wiseman, in the Reply to the address of his
clergy, *' some were untutored lay-brothers, three young
sacristy-boys, several mendicant friars, others Jesuits ;
many natives of whose history we know little." We
strongly recommend our readers (if they have not already
done so) to peruse the Cardinal's '* Reply," published as
it is in the form of a pamphlet ; it is an able answer to
the arguments of Protestants, as well as a correction
administered to certain ** liberal" Catholics.

He says that there are at this moment two processes
going on before the proper tribunal, that is, the Congre-
gation of Rites, each for the Canonization of a Queen, —
one being " the Venerable Maria Clotilda, Queen of
Sardinia, who died in 1802, sister of the martyred King
and Queen of France." The other ** Maria Christina,
daughter of a King of Sardinia, wife of the late King of
Naples, and mother of its present calumniated and
oppressed monarch. She died at his birth in 1836."
The Cardinal then goes on to observe that if the Holy
See had been merely aiming at a great political demon-
stration, here were the materials ready made to hand.
'* If it wished to give preponderance to one of the two great
contending parties in Italy, there was choice acceptable
to either. Was its policy that of fusion and union? there

* Our friends the *' liberal'' Catholics may be interested in a
note to F. Faber's treatise in which he states that a man desirous
of signalizing himself by novelty of teaching may, if he has a
tolerably hardened conscience, find considerable scope for himself
■without running foul of anything that is dejicle ; and that he may
incur twenty-three different censures, without being guilty of
formal heresy.

1862.] Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 49

was the beautiful combination of the two heavenly repre-
sentatives of both.''......** And yet instead of hastening

through processes which its enemies pretend are arbi-
trary and accommodating, the Holy See selected some
obscure men and boys, who 300 years ago were executed,
as they would say, in Japan.'' He adds that no such
stroke of policy as the adversaries of the Church suppose
was ever intended ; and that not a single step would have
been omitted,. not a degree less pf virtue, nor a miracle
fewer, would have been allowed to place a royal candidate
upon an altar, or add a king or queen to the catalogue of
the saints. What the Cardinal shows by this argument
is this — that the Church, in canonizing Saints, is simply
performing a high religious act, and that she cares nothing
for the world while she is engaged in it, but only for the
glory of God and the edification of Christian souls. But
of course advantage may be taken most justly and rightly
of the celebration of the ceremony of canonization, when
it does take place, to gain support for the temporal
authority of the Holy See which is so much bound up
with Religion, and to censure the conduct of infidels,
rebels, or liberals.

But to return to the Martyrs of Japan, These are their
names : —

1. Paul Miki, a Japanese Jesuit, a Catechist and
Preacher, said to have been a man gifted with eloquence
and spiritual wisdom.

2. John Soan, also a Japanese, a Jesuit, and Catechist.

3. James Kisai, Japanese, a Jesuit brother and Cate-
chist.

4. Peter Baptist Blasquez, a Spaniard, a Franciscan
father, of the Minor Observants ; he had held an impor-
tant position as Commissary Father in Japan, and was
the man of most mark among all the martyrs.

5. Martin d'Aquirre, a Spaniard, and a Franciscan
father.

6. Francis Blanco, also a Spaniard, and a Franciscan
father.

7. Philip Las Casas, a Spaniard of Mexico, a Francis-
can brother not yet ordained priest.

8. Gronzalvo Garzia, of Portuguese extraction, born in
India, also a Franciscan brother, as yet not ordained.

9. Francis of S. Michael, a Spaniard, a Franciscan
brother.

VOL. L1I.-N0. cm 4

50 Eome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

The remaining seventeen were all brothers of the third
order of St. Francis, and not therefore friars in the ordi-
nary sense of the word, for members of this third order
may and do live in the world, and are freqnently married
persons only binding themselves more especially to serve
God ; — these seventeen were all in some way attached to
the service of the Franciscan convent or church ; they
were all Japanese. Their names were : —

10. Leo Garosuma, a Corean (and therefore a Japanese
subject) ; he was a married man, but witli his wife had
Snade a vow of continency ; he was interpreter, catechist,
and infirmarian in the hospital,

11. Paul Suzuqui, preacher, interpreter, and infirma-
rian.

12. Michael Cosaqui, formerly an arrow-maker, a ser-
vant to the Franciscans.

13. Paul Ibarki, formerly a cooper, a preacher, brother
of Leo Garosuma.

14. Thomas Idanqui, an apothecary, catechist,' and
interpreter.

: 15. Francis, called the physician, catechist, and inter-
preter; a married man who had however with his wife
made a vow of continency. ^

16. Gabriel Duizco, catechist and clerk of the church.

17. Bonaventure, in the service of the Franciscan
Fathers.

18. Thomas Cosaqui, son of Michael Cosaqui,'catechist,
and server at Mass ; he was but 15 years old,

19. John Quizuya, he was a silk- weaver, and he had
harboured the Franciscans, for doing which he suffered
martyrdom.

20. Cosimo Taquia; he had been a sword-grinder, and
became a preacher and interpreter.

21. Antony of Mangasaqui, son of a Chinese father and
Japanese mother, catechist and server at Mass, only 13
years old.

22. Louis Ibarchi, nephew of Paul Ibarchi, catechist
and server at Mass, the youngest of the whole number,
being but 11 years old.

23. Joachim Saquiye, cook to the Franciscan Fathers.

24. Matthias of Meaco, voluntarily took the place of
another Matthias, a Religious, who was absent when the
Franciscans were arrested.

25. Peter Suquezico, accompanied the Martyrs to the

1862.] Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. • 51

place of execution, and was seized for offering them some
reireshment on the road ; atid at last was put to death
along with them.

26. Francis Fahelante, fv carpenter, together with the
last named saint, J^Howed the Martyrs and ministered to
them night and day. The officials, therefore, seized him
and eventually put him to death with the rest. These two
last were therefore, so to speak, supplementary martyrs,
added on to the original twenty- four.

We must now briefly narrate the events which brought
about the martyrdom of these servants of God. Those
who wish to acquaint themselves in detail with the history
of the Church in Japan, can refer to various works on the
subject.

The Japanese islands were discovered by the Portu-
guese in 1542, and the Gospel was first preached there in
3549 by St. Francis Xavier. After his departure other
Jesuit missionaries followed, and a large number of converts
was made, some of them princes and men of high posi-
tion, and among these the King Sumitanda, who took the
name of Bartholomew at his baptism ; he does not appear
to have reigned over the whole of Japan, but only over a
portion of it, for it was divided at that time into several
kingdoms ; but Taiko-Sama afterwards united them into
one Empire. Some of the Christian princes sent an
embassy to Pope Gregory the Thirteenth ; the ambassa-
dors were most kindly and paternally received at Rome,
and returned to their country after an absence of eight
years (for travelling was slow in those days); on their
return they entered the Jesuit Noviciate, such were their
zeal and devotion. What a contrast to the embassy lately
in England which came from the same country, and which
was mainly occupied with matters conducing to material
prosperity and temporal power! But in the sixteenth
century, with all its faults, Christianity was still a real
moving power, not merely (as it is, and always will be to
the end of time) among a select number of pious and
devoted men, but among the masses and even the govern-
ments of the day. The faith of the middle ages had not
yet been extinguished by Protestantism and Liberalism,
and the people of Europe not only believed in Christ
themselves, but rejoiced to see heathens brought to the
same belief.

But to return to our history. A very severe persecution

fiS Home on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

raged against the Christians for some years, and it is said
that in 1590 above 20,000 suffered martyrdom, but the
Faith grew and increased notwithstanding, and the Jesuits
made 12,000 converts in that same year.

The Emperor, if he may be so called, of Japan at this
time was Taiko-Sama; his name had originally been
Eaxiba, and he was a man of humble origin, who had
fought his way upwards and seized upon the supreme
authority, — upon the supreme lay authority at least, for
he left'the Mikado, or religious Emperor, to enjoy his
nominal sovereignty: Faxiba took to himself the name of
Taiko-Sama, and his official title was the Kumho-Sama.

The same arrangement still exists in Japan, and this
game functionary is now styled the Tycoon ; the religious
emperor is still there, without real authority, and some-
thing resembles the Tale Llama of Thibet in his stately
seclusion.

It was in 1587 that Taiko-Sama usurped the throne : he
was a man of energy and an able administrator, his perse-
cution of the Christians being the only serious blot on his
character.

Towards the end of the year 1597, the Christians found
themselves in the position of havingbeen sometimes severely
persecuted, and sometimes tolerated during the few years
preceding ; the churches had been for a time altogether
shut up ; but as we before stated, converts had rapidly in-
creased. There were two missionary establishments, the
Jesuits and the Franciscans ; the Jesuits, however, were
strictly and ostensibly the only missionaries, who had come
to Japan as such ; the Franciscans had come as a sort of
embassy from the Spanish government of the Philippine
Islands ; they had been received with civility and allowed
to remain in Japan, where they had most zealously preached
the Gospel.

St. Peter Baptist Blasquez was, as we have before ob-
served, at the head of the Franciscan community, and a
holy and devoted man he was ; he had been entrusted with
the direction of the political mission from the governor of the
Philippines, and was naturally therefore the superior of
the Franciscans who remained in Japan to spread the
faith of Christ. Nothing could exceed the zeal of these
good Friars, but their discretion and prudence do not seem
to have been equal to their devotion. They seem to have
celebrated the Church offices, and to have preached with

1862. 1 Rome on the Bay of Pentecost, 1862. 55

somewhat more of ostentatious publicity than was desira-
ble, differing in this from the wise and cautious Jesuit
fathers.

Taiko-Sama was no reckless persecutor. He had seve-
ral times refused to take measures against the Christians,
and particularly on a recent occasion, when a most formi-
dable earthquake had occurred, which the Bonzes had
wished to attribute to the Christians, he answered them
with judgment and good sense, and utterly declined to
begin a fresh persecution for such a reason. But two or
three circumstances had now happened to alter his mind.
Some Christian women had refused to become inmates of
his harem ; this was one of his grievances ; then there was
the imprudence, if we may venture so to term it, when
speaking of saints and martyrs, of the Franciscans ; further,
there was a man named Jacuin, said to have been a phy-
sician to the Bonzes, who was a good deal about the court
of Taiko-Sama, and was always persuading him to perse-
cute the Christians; added to which, the rapacity and vio-
lence of some Portuguese and Spanish merchants had been
displeasing to him ; he had been worked upon, too, by a
man called Faranda, a worthless Christian, (some say an
apostate), who made the Franciscans the objects of his
mischievous insinuations, and begged Taiko-Sama to ex-
pel them from Japan. Yet all these things would probably
have been insufficient to bring matters to a crisis had it
not been for the monstrous folly and falsehood of a Spanish
officer, who had been on board a vessel called the St.
Philip, which had lately been wrecked on the coast of
Japan.

We wonder how often in the history of the Church it has
happened that a persecution or other trouble arose without
a Catholic, (either a ** pious fool'' or else a downright bad
and liberal Catholic,) having a hand in it. In this particular
case we are disposed to think that the evil or good deed,
whichever one considers it, of sending twenty-six martyrs
to heaven, ought to be laid at the door of this Spaniard,
rather than of Taiko-Sama ; what he did was this, when the
articles from the wrecked vessel were according to custom
being taken possession of by the Japanese government, and
among other things a chart oF the world was put into the
hands of the emperor's commissary, this last-named official
asked how it came to pass that the king of Spain had so
many countries under him at a distance from his own land?

54 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. |Nov

the Spanish officer answered that it was done in tbis'way :
the missionaries went first to convert as many of the people
as they possibly could, and when the Christians were nu-
merous enough, the king of Spain sent an armed force to
reduce the country to his obedience.

The Japanese official, without delay, returned and told
the whole story to Taiko-Sama, who instantly sent to the
governors of the two principal towns of Meaco and Ozaka,
ordering them to seek out the preachers of the Christian
rehgion and their followers, and keep them in custody. It
was at first intended to put them all to death. Taiko-
Sama, like other heathen autocrats, did not trouble him-
self to examine the question carefully and justly, and en-
quire how far the accusation he had heard was true ; he
did what might naturally have been expected from such a
person in such a position ; and looking at the matter, so
to speak, from his heathen point of view, we cannot in
the least wonder at his cruelty in putting the Francis-
cans and other teachers to death ; for from the informa-
tion he had received, he looked on them as intriguing
foreigners, involved in a plot to deliver over his country
to the king of Spain, and as for the native Christians,
he probably thought they would only be too willing ac-
complices ; but, as we have before observed, he was no
mere headlong persecutor, he did not like shedding blood
mdiscriminately ; he was what would now be considered a
consistent liberal; and the principles on which he acted
do not differ in this respect from those of many Catholic
liberal statesmen, who have the light of a faith which
he had not, and have had the grace of the sacraments to
help them, which ho had not, and who yet rebel against
the Church and persecute the Holy See, the religious
orders, and the bishops, whom they ought to respect and
defend.

T|iiko-Sama did not carry out his original intention of
putting to death all the Christians; but he had meanwhile
given an opportunity to them to show of what mettle they
were made, and most nobly did they behave. As soon as
it was known that the Kumbo-Sama wished to have a
census of his Christian subjects, all of them, men, women,
and children, came forward fearlessly and put down their
names as Christians, ready to be martyred if it were the
will of God.

Taiko-Sama, however, moved by the representation

1862.] Rome on the Bay of Pentecost ^ 1862. 55

made to liim by Gibunosci, the governor of Meaco, (who
asked if he really wished to put to death all the Portuguese
priests who had recently come to Japan in vessels which
were evidently mere trading vessels), so far relented as to
spare all but the Franciscans and the tertiaries of the order,
who were in the convent at the time of the seizure. On
December 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception,
all these were imprisoned by guards being placed round the
house. At Ozaca, however, on the same day, the Jesuits,
as well as the Franciscans, were imprisoned by Farimun-
dono, the governor; but there were only St. Paul Miki and
the other two lay-catechists in the Jesuit house ; Father
Organtin, the superior, who had recently been there, hav-
ing previously left for Meaco, and thus unconsciously
escaped.

At the end of December, the Kumbo-Sama finally or-
dered that all these prisoners should have their noses and
ears cut off and be taken through Meaco, Ozaca, Sakai,
and lastly to Nagasaqui, where they should be crucified.

The governor of Meaco, to whom was entrusted the car-
rying out of the sentence, mitigated it a little by only cut-
ting off^ a part of the left ear of each ; but they were con-
ducted in cars through the streets with their crime and
sentence placarded, (according to the emperor's orders),
which in Japan was a disgrace worse than death. !-?* St. Peter
Baptist, the Franciscan, and St. Paul Miki, the Jesuit,
continued as they went along to preach, so far as they
could, to the assembled multitudes. The prisoners were
twenty-four in number, but there were two others, whose
names we have already mentioned, put to death with them
for following them and ministering to them.

They began their painful journey through the towns of
Japan in the early part of January, and it took them twenty-
six days ; it was on February 5th that they at length suf-
fered the death they so much wished for. The Jesuit
fathers, John iiodriguez, and Francis Pasia, came to hear
their confessions, and also received the vows of the ^ two
catechists, St. John Soan of Goto and St. James Kisai,
who had not previously taken the habit.

The mode of crucifixion was not the same as that by
which our blessed Lord suffered. The martyr Was not
nailed to the cross. His hands were stretched out and fas-
tened to the transverse beam by rings or cords, and his
feet rested on another transverse piece of wood. He was

56 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov

then transfixed by two strokes of a lance, one on each side,
and was thus speedily put to death.

And in this way did these holy and heroic men die on
that day. Nothing could exceed the fervour of the native
martyrs ; St. Paul Miki preached to the people assembled,
the two boy-martyrs, Anthony and Louis, died with exul-
tation. St. Peter Baptist, the Spanish Franciscan Father,
preached too from his cross, and he was the last that
expired. It is said that all the Christians, and even the
heathens present, hurried to collect the blood of the mar-
tyrs, and some tore away their garments as relics. Two
Franciscans were among the crowd in disguise. Father
Marcel of Ribadeneira, and John the Poor. The bishop
was dissuaded by the Jesuits from being present, but seems
afterwards to have regretted his absence, as if it were a
neglect of duty.

The bodies of the saints remained on the cross for two
months, during which time it pleased God to mark their
sanctity and their glory by various miracles. Amongst
these may be noted, that the birds of prey, contrary to
their usual habit in such cases, never touched these sacred
bodies ; also, the restoration to life of a child whose face
had been rubbed by some earth which had absorbed the
blood of St. Peter Baptist ; and especially the extraordi-
nary vision of this same saint saying mass, attended (as he
was during life) by another of the martyrs, St. Anthony,
which occurred several times.

The relics were taken possession of by different Chris-
tians, Father Peter Gomez particularly having taken pains
to collect them.

The martyrdom took place on February 5th, 1597, (old
style) ; in 1621 and 1622 the apostolic processes were com-
piled, and in 1627 Pope Urban VIII. issued a decree solemnly
declaring these twenty-six servants of God to be martyrs,
and also that their canonization might be proceeded with,
(which last step the correspondent of the Times, writing
from Rome in the June of this year, mistook for a final
decision that they were to be canonized) ; subsequently the
same Pope permitted the Jesuits and Franciscans to say
the mass and office of their respective martyrs ; and he
made a similar concession, we believe, for secular priests in
regard to the office of the three Jesuit brothers. On
December 23rd of last year, the present Pope declared to
the Sacred College that the cause had terminated for the

1862.] Home on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 57

Franciscan martyrs, and that their canonization might be
proceeded with ; and on the 25th of March this year he
made a similar declaration for the Jesuit martyrs. And
(as we know) the canonization itself took place on Whitsun-
day, June 8th.

For a time after the death of these saints Christianity
flourished and converts were made in Japan, but the
Japanese Church was afterwards extinguished in an ocean
of blood. Some people have supposed that there are still
a few Christians in that country who have carried on the
tradition though without priests, and we think this per-
fectly possible, but there is no proof of the fact, that we
know of.

We must apologize to our readers for having differed in
our history of the martyrdom from the statements of the
Protestant press, in which it was represented that the whole
thing arose from injudicious interference of the Portuguese
in Japanese politics ; but we thought it better to adhere to
facts, so far as we could ; and our lihei^al readers must
pardon us for so doing. The Portuguese had as little re-
sponsibility in the matter as any one; it was the Spaniards
against whom Taiko-Sama was incensed ; but we suppose
that the newspaper writers confused the matter under dis-
cussion with some other events in the history of the Church
of Japan.

Taiko-Sama did not long survive his cruel deeds, for
he died the next year ; and the subsequent terrible per-
secutions were carried on by others.

We have been more lengthy than we intended in relat-
ing the story of these glorious martyrs, but we will be brief
in giving a short statement about the remaining saint that
was canonized on Whitsunday, St. Michael de Sanctis. He
was a Friar of the Trinitarian order ; a Spaniard, born in
Catalonia, in the year 1591. He showed extraordinary devo-
tion from his earliest years, and began the practice of severe
austerities at the age of six; professed at the age of sixteen
as a Calced Trinitarian at Barcelona, he shortly afterward^}
got permission to transfer himself to the Reformed and
Discalced order at Pampeluna. He was subsequently
ordained priest, and made superior of his convent at Valla-
dolid, against his own will. Such was the fame of his
holiness, that he was called a saint even in his lifetime.
He died (after having foretold his decease) in April 1G25,
in his thirty-fourth year ; the sanctity of his life, and the

58 Eome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

miracles wrought by God at his mtercessioii, both before
and after his death, having been duly attested, he was
beatified by Pius VI., in 1779, and finally canonized,
on Whitsunday last. It was reported in Rome that
a Trinitarian lay-brother had some years ago been
miraculously cured of an apparently. hopeless disease, by
invoking the intercession of this saint, and had vowed at
the time to devote himself after recovery to getting alms
for his canonization ; it was said that this miracle was the
one that completed the evidence necessary for the process ;
and the good brother was himself present in St. Peter's on
the eventful day to witness the triumph of his holy patron.

The actual ceremonies of the canonization have been
described more or less accurately in different newspapers
printed at the time ; but there is nothing very striking or
glittering (so to speak) in the ceremonial beyond what takes
place at all grand Papal Masses. On this last occasion
no doubt there were some special circumstances, of which
we will speak presently, that made the function one of the
most solemn and remarkable that has ever happened.
But the actual rite of canonization consists of the following
ceremonies and prayers. After the procession (always a
very solemn and imposing one) closed by the Sovereign
Pontiff, has entered the church, and after the usual
homage paid to him by the cardinals, bishops, and other
prelates, the Cardinal Procurator comes forward accom-
panied by a consistorial advocate, who, in the cardinal's
name, kneeling before the Pope, begs for the canonization
of the saints in question ; the Pope, by one of his prelates,
replies that the virtues of these blessed men are known, but
that the Divine aid must be implored ; then all kneel, and
the Litany of the Saints is sung. Then the Pope and all
the cardinals and others rise, (keeping each a lighted can-
dle in his hand), and the same ceremony is repeated of
demanding the canonization, but whereas the first time the
expression was ** in stanter petit," this time it is "instanter
et instantius petit ;" a similar reply is given by the same
prelate, and the Veni Creator Spiritus is then sung, and
the prayer Dens qui Corda Fidelium, &c., is also recited
by the Pope. Then the petition for the canonization is
made for the third time, the words being ** instanter, in-
stantius, et instantissime petit ;"^ when the reply is given,
that the Pope, by the Divine guidance, has determined to
place these beatified persons in the catalogue of the saints;

18G2.1 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 59

after which the Holy Father, sitting on his throne, solemnly
pronounces the decree of canonization in the following
words, " Ad honorem Sanctco et Individuse Trinitatis ; ad
exaltationem Fidei Catholicse, et Christiance Religionis
augnientum, auctoritate Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, B.B.
Apostoloram Petri et Pauli, ac nostra: matura delibera-
tione prsehabita, et divina ope ssepius implorata, ac de Ve-
nerabilium Fratrum Nostrorum S. K. E. Cardinalium,
Patriarcharum, Archiepiscoporum, et Episcoporum in
Urbe existentium consilio, Beatos N. N. Sanctos esse
decernimus, et definimus, ac sanctorum catalogo adscribi-
nius ; statuentes ab Ecclesia Universali illorum memoriam
quolibet anno die eorum natali, nempe N. N."* etc. N. N.
pia devotione recoli debere, in nomine Pa'J'tris, et Fi^lii,
et Spiri*tus Sancti. Amen."

The Consistorial Advocate then, in the name of the
Cardinal Procurator, returns thanks to the Pope, and
begs him to decree the issue of the Apostolical letters
(commonly termed a Bull) to promulgate the Canoniza-
tion. The Pope replies ** Decernimus.'" The Protono-
taries are then requested to prepare the proper documents,
and the Camerieri Segreti are appealed to as witnesses.
The Te Deum is then sung, the trumpets of the Gunnl
Noble sound, and the guns are fired from Fort St. Angelo,
announcing the event to the whole city.

The Te Deum is sung (as is usual at Rome) one verse
by the Pope's choir in solemn harmonized music, and one
verse in simple plain chant by the people ; and all who
were in St. Peter's on that day, will long remember the
fine and religious effect of that glorious canticle. At the
end of it, the versicle '* Orate pro nobis Sancti N. N."
(with the names of all the newly canonized saints) and the
response " Ut digni, &c.," are sung, and the prayer by
the Pope. The Confiteor is then chanted by the Cardinal
Deacon (the names of the saints being introduced), and
the Pope gives the usual absolution and benediction,
adding also at the proper place, the names of the newly
canonized, as had been done before. Here end the essen-

* On this occasion the words introduced were, ** nempe Petri
Baptistse et Sociorum die quinta Februarii, qua pro Christo passi
sunt, inter Sanctos Martyres, et Michaelis die quinta Julii inter
Sanctos Confessores non Pontifices, pia devotione recoli debere."

60 JRome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

tial ceremonies of tlie Canonization. But it is more
according to custom, and it was observed on the last occa-
sion, that the Pope should sing High Mass. This is much
the same as Papal High Masses generally are, but there
are a prayer,"' secret, and post communion of the newly
canonized saints added to those of the day. The Pope
reads a homily after the Gospel on the function just cele-
brated. And at the offertory a curious ceremony takes
place, the offering, namely, of wax candles, painted, gilded,
and silvered with the figures of the saints, and the Pope's
ai-ms on them, two large loaves of bread similarly adorned,
two small barrels of wine, ornamented in the same way,
and three baskets or cages containing, one of them two
turtle doves, another two pigeons, and the third various
small birds. These are offered by the Cardinals and other
prelates who, from their office (for instance, as members
of the Congregation of Rites), have borne a part in the
proceedings connected with the Canonization. All these
oblations have, of course, a mystical meaning. The
offering of the birds is not an invariable custom, and has
sometimes been changed for that of two other small wax
candles.

The Mass continues and is concluded in the usual way
according to the custom observed when the Pope sings
High Mass.

On the late occasion it was said by some who were well
qualified to judge, that the ceremony physically speaking,
was rather a failure, hMt morally a great success. The
former criticism referred principally to the lighting ; it is
customary to cover up the windows, and to light with
candles the whole of that vast basilica of St. Peter. Now
this is no easy matter, and on Whit Sunday the light
being intended to be distributed generally over the church,
was barely sufficient to illuminate with distinctness those
places on which the eye would naturally rest ; it would

* These are the words of the prayer : — " Domine Jesu Christe,
qui ad tui imitatioiiem per Crucis Suppliciura primitias Fidei apud
Japonise gentes in Sanctorum Martyrum Petri Baptistse, Pauli et
Sociorura sanguine dedicasti ; qui que in corde Saucti Michaelis
Coufessoris tui charitatis ignem exardere fecisti, concede quaesu-
mus, ut quorum hodie solemnia colimus, eorum exciteraur ejcempiis.
Qui vivis et regnas." &c.

1862.] Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1SG2, 61

have been better to throw a flood of light on the High
Altar and the Pope's throne, and put fewer candles in the
body of the Church.

It would be invidious, when the general effect was so
magnificent, to question the taste of some of the details
of decoration. But there were some truly grand points
even in the external ceremony. Such a body of bishops
has not bees^i assembled in Home since the Great
Lateran Council,'"' and it was no small thing to witness a
procession, comprising nearly 300 Cardinals and Bishops,
enter into St. Peter's. Those who were fortunate enough
to get a view of this procession as it passed up the Scala
Regia before reaching the church, described it as glorious
beyond anything they had seen, so much so that at that
moment the attention of those who formed it seemed for
a moment to be involuntarily arrested, as they one after
another almost unconsciously raised their eyes and
caught the magnificent spectacle of that vast train as it
streamed slowly up the stairs, gliding onwards on its way
to the great Basilica.

Those again, few in number, who, from their position in
the church could get a coup-d'oeil of the Pope's throne,
and the Cardinals and Bishops ranged in their seats in
front of or around him, must have seen a sight which they
may never behold again, unless indeed (as some thought
might soon be the case) a general council were to be held
in these days to make such modifications in the law of
the Church as circumstances called for, and to condemn
the prevalent errors of the time ; then indeed such a view
of the princes and prelates of the Church might again be
presented to us ; otherwise probably no man livnig will
see it again. The ceremonies of the Canonization itself
could not be seen by the majority of the persons in the
church. The Guard Noble and the Swiss guards form no
small obstruction to the view, and from the position itself

* Besides which it may be noticed that at (Ecumenical Councils,
however great and solemn, you very rarely have the Pope and
Bishops all sitting assembled together ; the Bishops deliberate
generally in the absence of the Pope, who presides by one or more
of his legates, and who afterwards confirms (if he pleases) the
decrees of the Council ; but here you had all united the Sovereign
Pontiff, the Cardinals, and the Bishops, a truly splendid assem-
blage.

62 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

of the Pope's throne, and of the High Altar'of St. Peter's,
it is ahnost impossible for more than a very limited num-
ber of persons to see what takes place between the altar
and the throne ; excepting indeed when the Pope comes
up to the Altar for Mass; for then the position of the
High Altar (just under the dome, in the centre of the
cross formed by the ground-plan of the church) is such as
to enable large numbers to view the solemn function.

But those who could not see, could hear and could sing,
and did sing. Oh what a congregation was that with its
thousands of voices joining in the Litany, the Veni Crea-
tor, and the Te Deum ! How different from the mass of
unbelieving sight-seers who crowd St. Peter's during
Holy Week and at Easter! On this day there were few
Protestants in the church, and we believe those who were
there, almost all of them, behaved with propriety and
decorum ; but there were some thousand or two of devout
priests mostly French, many monks and friars, several
pious laymen, all animated by a sound Catholic spirit,
throwing their whole heart into that great religious cere-
mony.

Now there is no doubt that these pilgrims who thronged
the Eternal City at that time, had more than one feeling
and object ; they were zealous in showing devotion to the
saints, but they also wished to give as great a moral sup-
port as they could to the Holy See at this trying crisis.
And there is no doubt, moreover, that the bishops and
clergy of Christendom did give an effectual support to the
Pope on that occasion. They showed clearly to the
Sardinian Government and our other enemies, that, if they
chose to carry on their unprincipled practices against the
Pope's temporal Sovereignty, they would have to fight not
merely the Italian Bishops supported by a timid and half-
hearted people, nor even merely the fervent and loyal
" Ultramontanists" of France, but the whole Catholic
world; the French clergy came to the van, certainly, and
took a very prominent position, but the assembly of that
day showed they were not alone in the combat; it
showed that the Episcopate was sound at the core, and
that the vast body of bishops (the exceptions being of no
very great weight) were heart and soul with the Pope,
and that a large proportion of the clergy (probably an
immense majority) were so too : it proved that the feHin^

1862.] Home on the Day of Pentecos «,1 8 62. ^ 63

of the Church, that unerring index of truth, was on
the side of the Temporal power of the Holy See.

On this particular day, this eventful Whit Sunday, the
success was complete, and no doubt was felt by every one
to be so. The liberals of Rome were dumb-founded, they
hardly knew what to do ; some of them went as a sort of
demonstration to take off their hats to M. de Lavalette,
as he came back from the ceremony of St. Peter's : others
went out to shoot in the Campagna ; but how many cock-
sparrows, tom-tits, and other uccelletti were bagged by
these gallant sportsmen on this important day, we have,
unhappily, no means of ascertaining.

The Pope truly triumphed on the day of Pentecost 1862,
and we suppose that not merely the revolutionary vermin
in Rome, but the liberal party throughout Europe must
have felt discomfited. On the other hand, the spirit of
zeal for the Pope was caught even by the quiet and unen-
terprising, yet religious and loyal people of the City. On
the Thursday in Whitsun Week, the Holy Father was
present at the ceremony of laying the stone of a new
barrack ; the Archbishop of Dublin officiated on the
occasion with the remnant of the Irish Brigade (about 25
in number) as his guard of honour. After the conclusion
of the function, the people who were present, not merely
the foreign pilgrims, but the native Romans themselves,
cheered the Pope enthusiastically, crying out ** Viva il
Papa Re!''

Now we believe that demonstrations of this sort, so con-
trary as they are to the traditional habits of the people of
Rome, imply more and are a greater act of loyalty than
would be the case elsewhere. Formerly, the people of the
Holy City never thought of shouting in this way to prove
their fidelity to the Sovereign Pontiff; they knelt down
as he passed and begged his blessing ; but now that their
silence and want of enthusiasm have been attributed to
disloyal feelings, they have disproved the charge by deve-
loping their inward reverence into an outward and vigor-
ous expression of fealty and attachment.

We are not denying that there are or may be many
worthless men in Rome who care nothing for the Pope,
but we believe that the majority are sound, and also
throughout the remaining part of the Papal territory.
' The class said to be most disloyal is that of the ** Mer-
canti di campagna.'' We suspect, however, that the timid

6t * Rome on the Day of Pentecost^ 1862. [Not.

and the indolent, form a larger number than the rebellious
and the traitorous ; but we must take the Italian char-
acter for such as it is, and not expect to find in it the
activity and enterprise which we find in such countries
as France and England. ,

And this leads us to speak of the Pope's military force,
which contains one or two very good regiments composed
of native Italians, particularly the Gendarmerie, who are
highly spoken of. The whole Roman army consists at
present of about 9000 men, being of course, more than
would be required to maintain internal order and peace,
but kept up as a partial check to the aggressive Sar-
dinians. It was reported in Rome that the Irish brigade
was again to be organized, and raised to 1500 men ; but
we do not know how this will be. We suppose that the
flower of the Papal troops are the Zouaves. These
gallant young men are chiefly of French and Belgian
origin, some of them being sons of old and noble families,
who yet serve willingly in the ranks as private soldiers.
Who can say that the spirit of chivalry has died out, when
such things are done ?

Many were the interesting ceremonies that took place
in Rome during those days before and after Pentecost.

The Bishop of Orleans preached to large and fervent
congregations two or three times ; the Bishop of Tulle
preached after the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum,
and a most striking and beautiful spectacle it was to see
that congregation, composed of various nations, with the
soldiers, French, and others, standing about on those
ruins, — that memorable spot where so many have shed
their blood for Christ.

Then there was the great banquet given by the Pope
on Whit Monday to the Bishops, /' the noble but simple
banquet,'' as Cardinal Wiseman justly terms it, "in the
Great Hall of the Vatican Library." The Cardinal, in
touching language, points out how on that day the
Bishops who surrounded the Pope, though they were not
now in Church or Consistory, *' formed a holy family,
cemented together by the unspeakable emotions of
Charity." Truly such a reunion has rarely been seen.

But we must not dwell on these things, great as is the
interest which attaches to them ; for we must go on to
spejik of that more solemn assembly which took place
earlier on that same Whit Monday, the Consistory at

1862.] Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 65

which not only the Cardinals but the Bishops were pre-
sent, and at which words of solemn import passed from
the Pope to the Bishops and from the Bishops to the
Pope.

In his Allocution the Holy Father condemns in forcible
language the prevalent errors of the day ; that infidelity
which tries to get rid of the idea of the supernatural, and
which (following out this odious principle) encourages the
Civil Power to interfere m Spiritual and Ecclesiastical
matters, and at the same time endeavours to exclude the
Koman Pontiff and other ecclesiastics from every right
and dominion over Temporal affairs.

He condemns too the false idea that Divine Revelation
is imperfect and subject to a continual and indefinite
progress, corresponding with the progress of human rea-
son ; and proceeds to reprobate the shocking theories of
the modern rationalists, that deny miracles and turn
everything into a " myth.'' The Pope then alludes to the
impieties of the Pantheists and Materialists, in language
of just and severe consure: " Insigni enim improbitate ac
pari stultitia hand timent asserere, nullum supremum
sapientissimum providentissimumque Numen divinum
existere ab hac rerum universitate distinctum, ac ^ Deum
idem esse ac rerum naturam, et idcirco immutationibus
obnoxium, Deumque re ipsa fieri in homine et mundo,
atque omnia Deum esse, et ipsissimam Dei habere sub-
stantiam, ac unam eamdemque rem esse Deum cum
mundo, ac proinde spiritum cum materia, necessitatem
cum libertate, verum cum false, bonum cum malo, et
justum cum injusto. Quo certe nihil dementius, nihil
magis impium, nihil contra ipsam rationem raagis repug-
nans fingi et excogitari unquam potest.''

Then he speaks of the assertion of men of this stamp,
that authority is nothing else than numbers and the sum
of material forces, and that all human facts have the force
of law (or as we sometimes phrase it, that *' might makes
right") ; and he touches upon that mischievous principle
of the foreign democrats, that the State has a kind of
unlimited right: " Omnia prseterea legitime© cujusque
proprietatis jura invadere, destruere contendunt, ac per-
peram animo et cogitatione confingunt et imaginantur jus
quoddam nullis circumscriptum limitihis, quo reipublica3
Statum poUere existimant, quem omnium jurium originem
et fontem esse temere arbitrantur."

VOL. LI.-No. CII. 5

66 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. INov.

The Pope having enumerated (in order to censure them)
these Anti-Christian doctrines, touches upon the cahim-
nies and outrages perpetrated against the Church and the
Apostohc See, and particuhirly upon the persecution
directed against the bishops and ecclesiastics, and the reh-
gious orders in Italy, by men who tulk about the Church
enjoying her liberty ; and he alhides to the absence (in
consequence of this tyranny) of the Italian Bishops, and to
that also ofthe Portuguese Bisliops. He glances then briefly
at the atrocious schemes by which the Revolutionary party
have endeavoured to overthrow the Temporal Sovereignty
of the Holy See, and then he dwells with more satisfac-
tion on the unanimity displayed by the Bishops whom he
was addressing in refuting these errors, and in teaching
that Temporal Sovereignty was given to the Holy See by
a special design of Providence: ** Hunc civilem Sanctse
Sedis principatum Romano Pontifici fuisse singulari
Bivinse Providentise consilio datum, illumque necessari-
um esse, ut idem Romanus Pontifex nuUi unquam Prin-
cipi aut civili potestati subjectus/ supremam universi
Dominici Gregis pascendi regendique potestatem, aucto-
ritatemque ab ipso Christo Domino divinitus acceptam,
per universam Ecclesiam plenissima libertate ex<3rcere, ac
majori [ejusdem Ecclesiee, et fidelium bono, utilitati et
indigentiis consulere possit/' The Pope, after : having
said these things, solemnly condemns the above mentioned
errors: *' in hoc amplissimo vestro consessu AiK)stohcam
Hostram attollentes vocem, omnes commemoratos prseser-
tim errores non solum Catholicee fidei ac doctrinse, divi-
nis ecclesiasticisque legibus, vei:um etiam ipsi sempiternse
ac naturali legi et justitiae, rectseque ration! omnino
repugnantes, et summopere adversos, reprobamus, pro-
scribimus atque damnamus.'^

He exhorts the Bishops to refute these pernicious doc-
trines, to endeavour to keep from the Faithful bad books
and newspapers, and to be careful also in teaching the
Ingher branches of literature, lest anything contrary to
Faith or morals should creep in. He desires them to
pray to the Eternal Father that by the merits of His only
begotten Son, He would stretch out His hand to help
both Church and State, and to invoke the intercession of
die Blessed Virgin, also of St. Joseph, SS. Peter and
■Paul, and the newly Canonized Saints. He concludes by

1862.] Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 67

expressing his consolation in the presence of the Bishops,
and by imparting the Apostolical Benediction.

It is enough lor a good Catholic to know that the Holy
See condemns such and such doctrines, and he is at once
ready to condemn them too, and to abhor and avoid them.
But it is most pleasing and satisfactory to see the Epis-
copate of the whole Catholic world concurring with their
Chief, and expressing their concurrence in plain and
explicit language.

It Imd been felt that on such an occasion it was quite
necessary fo-r the Bishops to present an address to the
Bope, and a sort of a committee was formed to draw it
up, the presidency of which was given to the Cardinal
Archbishop of Westminster. ** The list of prelates com-
posing it,'* says the Cardinal, ** already prf^parpd, was
shown to me the morning alter my arrival, Tuesday
before Ascension; and I was informed that the unexr
pected and unmerited honour of presiding over- this ven-
erable council had been reserved for me. The reason for
this selection was at once obvious to myself, and I believe
to every- one at Borne ; and has been most accurately
descwbed by the Bishop of Montauban, in an admirable
reply to the calumnies and simple fictions of a Erench
paper> upon the address. It was my insular position, and
disconnection with any government that could pretend
to exercise influence in Catholic affairs at^ Rome.''

Tliere was probably another reason which the Cardinal
could not with propriety mention, but which we may
supply, which is the high estimation in which he is held
generally by foreign Catholics. Many were the enqui*
ries, as the Procession went by on the day of the Canoni-
zation, as to which was Cardinal Wiseman ; so great is
the interest felt in him by our continentalbrethren.

Tbe Cardinal .proceeds to notice the untrue statements
published in the French paper the '* Batrie,'' to tlie effect
that he *' prepared a draught of an Address,, containing
most violent attacks on all modern principles, fundarnen-
tal of society," and denies, having done any^such thing ;
and we will now state what the Address of the Bishops really
contains.

It begins by alluding to the great number of Bishops
present on that day of Pentecost, and calling to mind that
first day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended oa
the Apostles. It then expresses the entire devotion, of the.

68 Rome on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. [Nov.

Episcopate to the Pope, the centre of Unity. *' Tu sanse
doctrinse nobis Magister, Tu unitatis centrum, Tu popu-
lis kunen indeficiens a divina Sapientia prseparatum. Tu
Petra es, et ipsius Ecclesice fundamentum^ contra quod
inferorum portse nunquam prsevalebunt. Te loquente
Petrum audinius, Te decernente Christo obtemperamus/'
The Bishops then go on to speak of the frightful crimes
that had been committed in Italy, and the wicked seizure
of the Pope's provinces, and they speak of the necessity
of the Temporal Sovereignty in the present state of
things, in language which we must quote verbatim : —

'* Civilem enim Sanctse Sedis principatum ceu quiddam
necessarium ac, providente Deo, manifeste instituium
agnoscimus ; nee declarare dubitamus, in prsesenti rerum
humanarum statu, ipsum hunc principatum civilem pro
bono ac libero 'Ecclesise animarumve regimine oninino
requiri. Oportebat sane totius Ecclesise Caput, Roma-
num Pontificem nulli Principi esse subjectum, imo nullius
liospitem; sed in proprio dominio ac regno sedentem suimet
juris esse/'

They proceed to point out how desirable it is that there
should be preserved in Europe, a sacred spot, from which
a just and powerful voice might speak both to princes
and peoples ; and that the Sovereign of Rome should be
one who is not mixed up with the quarrels of other kings,
and who is not in a position to be the enemy or the sus-
pected enemy of the Sovereigns of the various Bishops who
come to the Holy City.

They quote the declaration of the Pope on a former
occasion, that the Temporal Sovereignty arose through
the special design of Providence, and reiterate their own
conviction that such is the case: they quote also the
Pope's declaration (in Jan. 1860), that he was resolved to
maintain the Temporal possessions of the Holy See, even
at the cost of his life,^ and they respond that they are ready
to go with him to prison and to death, and entreat him to
remain constant and firm ; they mention also, as a proof
that the whole Church felt she had an interest in the
Temporal dominions of the Holy See, that the Fathers
of the Council of Constance administered the govern-
ment of them in common, while the Roman See was
vacant. They allude to the condemnation by the Pope
of the sacrilegious men who have usurped the property of
the Church, and they express their entire assent to what

1862.] Borne on the Day of Pentecost, 1862. 69

he had done ; they touch upon the mischief perpetrated
by infidels, and upon the tyranny of the persecutors of the
Church, and they join their condemnation of the conduct
of the Itahan hberals with that of the Pope in words
which we must once more quote. '' Adstantibus igitur
istis omnibus, nos Episcopi, ne illud impietas vel igno-
rare simulet, vel audeat denegare, errores quos Tu
damnasti, damnamus, doctrinas novas et peregrinas, quae
in damnum Ecciesise Jesu Ghristi passim propalantur,
detestamur, et rejicimus ; sacrilegia, rapinas, immunita-
tis ecclesiasticse violationes, aliaque nefanda in Eccle-
siam, Petrique Sedem commissa reprobamus, et condem-
namus. Hanc vero protestationem, quam publicis Ecclesise
tabulis adscribi petimus, Fratrum etiam nostrorum qui
absunt nomine, tuto proferimus; sive eorum qui, inter
angustias, vi detenti, domi hodie silent ac plorant, sive qui
gravibus negotiis, aut adversa valetudine impediti, nobis-
cum hodie adesse nequiverunt/' They speak too of the
devotion of the clergy and people, and conclude by express-
ing their wishes for the reform of those who have gone
astray, and uttering their prayers to God that such might
be the result; whilst they beg that strength from the Pope
which flows from his Apostolic Blessing.

In reply to this the Holy Father expressed in a few
words the joy their address had caused him. The names
of all the Bishops then in Rome were appended to this
document, and we believe others have since been added ;
thus there were at the time it was presented, the signa-
tures of 21 Cardinals and 244 other Bishops, those
Cardinals who were not Bishops not signing it, 265 in all.

Our readers will easily perceive the great importance of
this Address, and they will see, too, that short of laying it
doivn in language like a dogmatical decision, when phrases
of the most precise nature must be used in order not to
give a loophole to heretics, the bishops could hardly have
expressed a more decided opinion about the Temporal
Power than they have done. They appear to us to have
said the very right thing in echoing the Pope's words about
the Temporal Sovereignty arising from a special design of
Providence. It has always seemed to us that the duty of
Catholics in this matter was very simple; for the Temporal
Power has clearly been for many years up to this time the
means chosen by God for preserving the independence and
free action of the Holy See ; God may hereafter choose

' 70 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

Fome oth«r nieaiiB, no dmibt, but our plain duty is <o con-
tend for the preservation of the means He has hitherto
made nse of, and therefore to support the Pope's temporal
rights heartily and loyally, until we know for certain that
it is the will of God to let them be lost, and to substitute
some other means. The allocution, then, and the address
are both plain enough and strong enough. And we wish
we could see our Catholic fellow-countrymen unanimous
in supporting (so far as they can) the Pope's Temporal
Sovereignty.

We, for our part, are on the Pope's side, first, because
the Temporal Sovereignty has arisen by the design of
Providence (as we have already stated), and it is for us to
support it, and not to try to alter or modify it ; secondly,
because the Pope solemnly declares it. to be right, and the
bishops echo his words, and we feel that in such a case we
cannot do better than follow their judgment ; thirdly, for
a reason on which we have not hitherto touched, namely,
that it is for the interest of England, and last, but not
least, because it secures us at least one country in Europe
vwUcre. Christianity is strictly the law of the land.

Aut. III.— Ztfe of the Right Honourable William Pitt. By Earl
Stanhope, Author of the History of England from the Peace of
Utrecht. Four vols. 8vo. London : Murray, 1861-2.

THE evei)tful half century which has elapsed since
the death of Pitt, has hardly sufficed to dispel the
clouds of party prejudice which obscure or distort many of
the most important events of his histor3^ Some of the
memories which it recalls are, to this day, too much even
for the most philosophical calmness. Bishop Tomline,
Pitt's first biographer, did not make even a pretence of
nioderation. Lord John Kussell, in so far as he is the
biographer of Pitt's great rival, Fox, is a scarcely con-
cealed^partisan. Lord Macaulay's brilliant sketch of Pitt,
while it is too plainly an effort of laborious impartiality,
teems from thefirst to the last with the clearest evidences

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 74

of unconscious hostility or misapprehension. Lord Stan-
hope's admiring and affectionate memoir, although it is
in general judicious and discriminating in its facts and
judgments, in its manner partakes in too many of its very
best4->assages of the tone of an apology.

From the nature and relation of .parties in Pitt's time, it
was hardly possible tliat it should be otherwise. In all the
great principles of political philosophy, his theoretical opin-
ions coincided in the main with those of the bitterest of his
rivals in the contest for power, and the most inveterate and
persistent opponents of his administrative polic}^ And, at
all events, the shades of difference were too slight to serve as
the distinct demarcation of two great parties in the state.
In most of the divisions, therefore, which arose during that
eventful time, the parties were at issue rather upon points
of detail or on .points of practical application of principles,
than upon the broad questions wliich, earlier as well as
later in the history of our constitutional struggles, divided
the hostile camps of British statesmen. And, as ordi-
narily happens in the quarrels of those who have many of
their opinions in common., most of the party collisions
during Pitt's later administration took the, form of a con-
flict of feeling rather than of intellect ; and if they seldom
found their expression in the coarse and angry invective
which disfigures the parliamentary warfare of other periods,
the polished sarcasm and the dignified rebuke which
formed the favourite weapons of that wnrfare in the days of
Pitt, too often left a sting behind which was but the more
painful because it was concealed. i*sotwithstanding all
the classic dignity at which they aimed, the feelings with
which the statesmen of that day regarded each other, often
fell far short of the chivalrous. Many of the inferior com-
batants may be said to rival the truculent malignity of
Junius; and even the most distinguished among them did
not scruple to impute unworthy motives and corrupt in-
tentions to their adversaries. The quarrel of Fox and
Burke would l)ave loKt half its painfulness had it been con-
fined, upon eitlier side, to the disagreements upon public
policy in which it originated. " Fox himself in his private
communications with his friends, freely spoke of Pitt as a
** low rascal," a mean "low-minded dog ;" and even the
calm and unimpassioned minister, with all the reserve
which he aflPected, was betrayed (certainly not without suf>-

72 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

ficient provocation) into applying the same epithet to his
own Lord Chancellor, Thurlow,

The personal bitterness thus infused into the divisions
of party, was transmitted along with the divisions them-
selves : and it is only now, when the old landmarks have
been practically obliterated, and when, amid the confusion
of principles which has taken place, the traditionary repre-
sentatives of both sides have begun to find it difficult to
trace their descent from their respective parties as they
stood in the last generation, that we can look for a calm and
dispassionate estimate of the men and the events of the
last quarter of the eighteenth century. It is impossible to
deny to Lord Stanhope the credit of desiring to maintain
the strictest impartiality in his estimate of the character
and the motives of his hero ; but, as we have already said,
so little are men prepared for the calm investigation of the
subject, that, even in Lord Stanhope, this efibrt at impar-
tiality takes all the manner and tone of a direct apology.

To us, as Catholics, the history of Pitt has a special in-
terest which recent 'events have tended to heighten. His
name was honourably associated with the early legisla-
tion on the subject of Catholic disabilities ; but for a long
time the part which he took, upon the same question, after
the passing of the Act of Union, was regarded with much
suspicion, and by many was openly denounced as treach-
erous and unprincipled. Lord Stanhope has entered very
fully into the history of those transactions ; and in the brief
summary which we purpose to offer of the story of the Life
of Pitt as gathered from all available sources by his latest
biographer, we shall direct special attention to his relations
with the Catholic party, and particularly with the Catholics
of Ireland.

It is hardly necessary to say that Lord Stanhope has
neglected no source of information which might aid in
rendering this memoir of Pitt a complete biography. In
addition to the state papers and other materials for the
political history, he has availed himself as well of the
family papers and traditions, as of the private correspond-
ence of several of Pitt's most eminent contemporaries.
Many of those are of great interest, and form an important
supplement to the valuable collections recently published;
—the Malmesbury, the Buckingham, and the Cornwallis
papers, as well as the biographies of Wilberforce and of
Lord Sidmouth, both of which are full of materials for the

1862.1 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. ^ 7^

illustration of Pitt's history. We cannot deny to Lord
Stanhope the praise of having used these abundant rnate-
rials with great judgment, and with as much impartiality
as can ever be hoped for from an admiring biographer. It
has been complained that the result is less a portraiture of
the man Pitt than a history of the public acts of the states-
man ; but we must confess that so far from concurring in
the justice of the criticism, we cannot conceive how an in-
telligent biographer could have written otherwise of such a
character, or could have presented a different ^ picture of
such a career. If there be a single individual in history,
and especially in English history, in whom the man is
completely merged in the statesman, it is the " boy-minis-
ter." He was a politician almost from his cradle. When
his father, in the boy's seventh year, was made Earl of
Chatham, the precocious child expressed his gratification
that he was not eldest son, as he ** wished to speak in the
House of Commons hke Papa;" and his earliest studies
were all modified by what may almost be called these
instinctive tendencies to public life. At an age when other
boys are puzzling over the rudimentary structure of sen-
tences, or wearily plodding through the intricacies of the
vocabulary, Pitt's favourite employment in studying his
Sallust, or Livy, or Thucydides, was " to compare oppo-
site speeches on the same subject, and to observe how each
speaker managed on one side of the question."'^' If, like
other boys of more than ordinary powers, he was tempted
by the attractions of poetry, it was only after the same pre-
cocious fashion. He wrote a tragedy in four acts when he
was but fourteen ; but it was such a tragedy as no other
boy had ever before composed. There is not a word of
love from the beginning to the end. " The whole plot,"
says Lord Macaulay, '* is political ; and it is remarkable
that the interest, such as it is, turns on a contest about a
Regency. On one side is a faithful servant of the crown ;
on the other an ambitious and unprincipled conspirator.
At length the king, who had been missing, re-appears,
resumes his power, and rewards the faithful defender of his
rights. A reader who should judge only by interual evi-
dence, would have no hesitation in pronouncing that the
play was written by some Pittite poetaster, at the time of

* I. p. 18.

74 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

the rejoicings for the recovery of George the Third, in
1789." And when he was first introduced to his future
lival, Fox, on the steps of the throne in the House of Lords,
(lunng a debate, he had ah'eady taught himself to look at
everything solely on its bearing upon parliamentary effect,
*' Fox used afterwards to relate that, as the discussion pro-
ceeded, Pitt repeatedly ^turned, to him >nd said, 'But
surely, Mr. Fox, that might be met thus:' or, * Yes, but
lie lays himself open to retort/ What the particular criti-
cisms were. Fox had forgotten ; but he said that he was
much struck at the time by the precocity of a lad who
tlirough the whole sitting was thinking only how all the
speeches on both sides could be answered."

In a word, if Lord Stanhope has failed to catch the
domestic phase of Pitt's portraiture, we believe the reason to
be simply that no such phase can in truth be said to exist.
The solitary episode of romance which Pitt's love passages
with the Lady Eleanor Eden present, is told by Lord
Stanhope with so much grace and simplicity that one can
hardly help regretting the defect of similar opportunities ;
and certainly it would be a grievous injustice to his powers as
a biographer, to ascribe to any failure on his own part the
absence in his memoir of that charm which a well told
domestic story never fails to add, even to the most eventful
military or political biography.

William Pitt was the second '^ son of the celebrated
William Pitt, whose least distinction is to have been the
first Earl of Chatham. He was barn at Hayes, in Kent,
May 28tli, 1769,^ the most glorious and eventfiil year of his
father's life. His preliminary education was conducted at
hnnip, where his tutor was the Kev. Edward Wilson, afterr-
wards a canon of Windsor; but the care of the immediate
direction of his studies, as well as of those of the rest of his
children, was always retained by his father, and Lord
Stanhope does not hesitate to say : —

*' It was certainly from Lord Chatham tliat young Wilh'am
profited most. Lord Chatham was an aflfectionate father to all his
children. He took pleasure, as we have seen, in teaching them
all. But he discerned^ — as who would not ?— the rare abilities of
William, and applied himself to unfold them with a never-failing
care. From an early age he was wont to select any piece af elo-
quence he met with and transmit it to his son. Of this I have seen
a striking instance in a note from him to Lady Chatham, which is
endorsed in pencil * Ma. 177Q,' and which was thought to have no

1 862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 76

literary value. It was kindly presented to me in answer to my
request for autographs to oblige some collectors among my friends ;
and it was designed to be cut up into two or three pieces of hand-
writing. But I found the note conclude with these words : * I send
Domitian as a specimen of oratory for William.' Now, * Doraitian'
was one of the subsidiary signatures of the author of 'Junius/
and the letter in. question seems to be that of Mar<jh 5, 1770. The
words of Lord Chatham prove what has sometimes been disputed,
that the eloquence of the author of 'Junius' was noticed and
admired by the best judges, even when his compositions were eon-
coaled under another name.'' — Vol. I. p., 7.

With the same watchful care Lord Chatham himself
directed the selection of the books to be put into the hands
of his boy. Barrow's Sermons he gave him a« the treasure-
house from which to draw the copia verhorum.vfXrioXi is
an indispensable instrument of the orator. His chosen
models in Greek were Thucydides and Polybius. A still
more paternal and interesting example of the minuteness
of the supervision is mentioned by Lord Stanhope.

*'In 1803 my father, then Lord Mahon, had the high privilege,
as a relative, of being for several weeks an inmate of Mr. Pitt's
house at Walmer Castle. Presuming on that familiar intercourse,
he told me that he ventured on one occasion to ask Mr. Pitt by
what means lie had acquired his admirable readiness of speech —
his aptness of finding the right word without pause or hesitation.
Mr. Pitt replied that whatever reaxiiness he might be thought to
possess in that respect was, he believed, greatly owing to a prac-
tice which his father had impressed upon him. Lord Chatham had
bid him take up any book in some foreign language with which he
was well acquainted, in Latin or Greek especially. Lord Chatham
then enjoined him to lead out of this work a passage in English,
stopping, where he was. not sure of the word to be used in English,
until the right word came to his mind, and then proceed. Mr.
Pitt stated that he had assiduously followed this practice. We
may conclude that at first he had often to stop for awhile before he
could recollect the proper word, hut that he found the difficulties
gradually disappear, until what was a toil to him at first became at
last an easy and familiar task.

•• To an orator the charm of voice is of very far more importance
than mere readers of speeches would find it easy to believe. I
have known some speakers in whom that one advantage seemed
almost to supply the place of every other. The tones of William
Pitt were by nature sonorous and clear; and the further art how to
manage and modulate his voice to the best advantage was instilled
into him by his father with exquisite skill. Lord Chatham himself
was pre-emiQent in.that^rt, fts also.in the graces of action, inso-

76 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov

much that these accomplishments have been sometimes imputed
to him as a fault. In a passage of Horace "Walpole, written with
the manifest desire to disparage him, we find him compared to
Garrick.

•* To train his son in sonorous elocution Lord Chatham caused him
to recite day by day in his presence passages from the best English
poets. The two poets most commonly selected for this purpose
were Shakespeare and Milton, and Mr. Pitt continued through life
familiar with both. There is another fact which Lord Macaulay
has recorded from tradition, and which I also remember to have
heard : — * The debate in Pandemonium was, as it well deserved to
be, one of his favourite passages ; and his early friends used to
talk, long after his death, of the just emphasis and the melodious
cadence with which they had heard him recite the incomparable
speech of Belial."'— p. 8-10.

In 1773, he was sent to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.
His tutor was Dr. Fretyman, who afterwards took the
name of Tomline ; under which latter, name he is best
known as the Bishop of Winchester, and as the biographer
of his pupil—the author of what Macaulay describes ** as
the worst biographical work of its size in the world.']

^ At seventeen Pitt was admitted, without examination, to
his degree, but he continued to reside in college and to
pursue his studies under Dr. Pretyman. The writer of
the Memoir in Knight's English Cyclopcedia, by some
strange misconception, asserts that on leaving Cambridge,
he went to France, and then pursued his studies for some
time at Rheims. This is a great mistake. Pitt never
studied in France, nor indeed did he ever visit that
country at all except for a short excursion in September
and October 1783, in company with his friends Wilberforce
and Eliot. During that excursion he spent a fortnight at
Kheims ; but his visit would be most incorrectly described
as in any sense intended for the purposes of study.

^ His father's death in May 1778, placed him, as regarded
his pecuniary circumstances, in a position of considerable
difficulty ; and Lord Stanhope has preserved some of his
correspondence about the purchase of chambers in Lin-
coln's Inn (where he entered himself in 1778), in which the
reader will be amused " to find the future Prime Minister,
destined in a few years more to dispense in his country's
service tens of millions of pounds sterling, speak of eleven
hundred as ' a frightful sum.' "

^ Pitt was called to the bar in 1780, and went the winter
circuit in the August following ; but the dissolution of

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 77

Parliament in September called him away from the labours
of the legal profession to that parliamentary career which
had been his dream from childhood. He became a candi-
date for Cambridge, but was defeated by a large majority ;
and his first entrance into Parliament was due to the kind-
ness of his friend the young Duke of Rutland, w^o in-
duced Sir James Lowther to bring Pitt into Parliament
for his borough of Appleby. Por this borough he took his
seat on the ;23rd of January, 1781 ; a day which Lord
Stanhope has marked as memorable in his history, for it
was also the day upon which he died.

His early experience of London life was not without its
perils.

" The clubs of London, Goostree's not excepted, all at this time
afforded a dangerous temptation. Fox, Fitzpatrick, and their circle
had long since set the example of high play. It had become the
fashion; and Wilberforce himself was nearly ensnared by it. On
the very first day that he went to Boodle's he won twenty-five
guineas of the Duke of Norfolk. His diary at this period records
more than once the loss of a hundred pounds at the faro-table. He
was reclaimed from this pursuit by a most generous impulse — not
because he lost in private play to others, but because he saw and was
pained at seeing others lose to him. Of the young member for
Appleby he proceeds to speak as follows:

" ' We played a good deal at Goostree's, and I well remember the
intense earnestness which Pitt displayed when joining in those
games of chance. He perceived their increasing fascination, and
soon after suddenly abandoned them for ever.' " — Vol. I. p. 54.

It was mainly, however, to the superior attraction of
parliamentary life, that Pitt owed his escape from these
temptations. From the very first he rose to a position
which, while it fulfilled all his most ambitious aspirations,
at the same time tasked his powers and engrossed his time
to the utmost in order to maintain it with satisfaction.
Lord Stanhope's account of his ' maiden speech' is inter-
esting.

** It was not long before Mr. Pitt took part in the debates. "" He
made his first speech on the 26th of February, in support of Burke's
Bill for Economical Reform. Under the circumstances, this first
speech took him a little by surprise. Lord Nugent was speaking
against the Bill, and Mr. Byng, member for Middlesex, asked Mr.
Pitt to follow in reply. Mr. Pitt gave a doubtful answer, but in
the course of Lord Nugont's speech resolved that he would not.
Mr. Byng, however, had understood him to assent, and had said so

78 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt, [Nov.

t© s©me friends arnund liim ; so that the moment Lord Nugent sat
down, all these gentlemen, with one voice, called out, * Mr. Pitt !
Mr. Pitt I' and by their cry probably kept down every other mem-
ber. Mr« Pitt, finding himself thus called upon, and observing that
the House waited to hear him, thought himself bound to rise. The
sudden call did not for a moment discompose him ; he was from
the beginning collected and unembarrassed, and, far from reciting
a set speech, addressed himself at once to the business of reply.
Never; says Bishop Tomline, were higher expectations formed of
any person upon his first coming into Parliament, and never were
expectations more completely fulfilled. The silvery clearness of
his voice, his lofty yet unpresuming demeanour, set ofi' to the best
advantage his close and well arrayed though unpremeditated argu-
ments, while the ready selection of his words and the perfect struc-
ture of his sentenees were such as even the most practised speakers
often fail to show. Not only did he please, it may be said that he
astonished the House. Scarce one mind in* which a reverent
thought of Chatham did not rise.

" Nb sooner had Pitt concluded than Fox with generous warmth
hurried up to wish him joy of his success. As they were still
together, an old member, said to have been General Grant, passed
by them and said, ^ A^e, Mr. Fox, you are praising young Pitt for
his speech. You may well do so ; for, excepting yourself, there is
no man in the House can make such another ; and, old as I ara^ I
expect and hope to hear you both battling it within these walls as
I have heard your fathers before you;' Mr. Fox, disconcerted at
the awkward turn of the compliment, was silent and looked foolish;
but young Pitt, with great delicacy and readiness, answered, * I
have no doubt, General, you would like to^ attain the age of
Methuselab ! ' "—Vol. I. p. 54-6.

Lord Macaulay observes upon it; as a curious circum-
stance, that soon after this debate, ** Pitt's name was put
up by Fox at Brooks's. '^

The judgments of the political world on Pitt's dehut
were unanimous.

" The merits of Mr. Pitt's performance continued for some days
to be discussed in political circles. Lord North said of it, with
generous frankness, that it was the best first speech he had ever
heard. Still more emphatic was the praise of Mr. Burke. When
some one in his presence spoke of Pitt as *a chip of the old
block,' Burke exclaimed, • He is not a chip of the old block : he
is the old block itself !' Dr. Goodenough, subsequently Bishop of
Carlisle, exults in one of his letters that the great Lord Chatham
is now happily restored to his country. * All the old members
recognised him instantly: to identify him there wanted only a few
wrinkles in the face.'.

1862.] JEarl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 79

*' It appears that a little time previoHsly, Pitt had made the
earliest trial of his debating powers in a party of some young
friends. Mr. Jekyll, who was at this time like himself a barrister
on the Western Circuit, thus relate* the fact : — * When he first
made his brilliant display in Parliament, those at the Bar who had
seen little of him expressed surprise ; but a few who had heard liim
once speak in a sort of mock debate at the Crown and Anchor
Tavern, when a Club called the Western Circuit Club was dissolved,
agreed that he had then displayed all the various species of elo-
quence for -which he was afterwards celebrated.' " — Vol. L p. 58;

He spoke a second time with- great success on May
Slst, and only once again during the remaining months of
the session. In the summer he once more returned to
the legal circuit. The little that he did in the routine of
his profession, was enough to satisfy all that his career at
the har must have been successful. He himself entered
warmly into the spirit of professional life ; and Jekyll tells
that ** among lively men of his own time of life, Mr. Pitt
was always the most lively and' convivial, in the many
hours of leisure which occur to young unoccupied men on
a circuit, and joined all the little excursions to Southamp-
ton, Weymouth, and such parties of amusement as were
habitually formed. He was extremely popular. His name
and reputation for high acquirements at the University
commanded the attention 9f his seniors. His wit, his good
humour, and joyous manners endeared him to the younger
part of the Bar... At Mr. Pitt's instance an annual din-
ner took place for some years at Richmond Hill, the party
consisting of Lord Erskine, Lord Redesdale, Sir William
Grant, Mr. Bond, Mr. Leycester, Mr. Jekyll, and others.
After he was Minister he continued to ask his old circuit
intimates to dine with him, and his manners were unal-
tered./'

This Circuit, however, was his farewell to the bar. The
next session of Parliament established him in that com-
manding position which he never forfeited in his after
career. In the very first debate of the session he spoke
with almost unexampled success.

"On the Address, an amendment was moved by Fox, and both
he and Burke put forth all their powers of debate. So also next
day, on the Report of the Address, did Pitt. Such was the applause
in the House when he sat down, that it was some time before the
Lord Advocate, who rose immediately, could obtain a hearing.

«< The speeck of Henry Dundas on this occasion was not a little

80 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

surprising. In a tone of great frankness, and paying the highest
compliments to Pitt, he let fall some hints of discordant views or
erroneous conduct in the Ministry to which he still belonged : but
he would no further explain himself. So acute a politician must
have clearly discerned the tottering state of Lord North, and may
not have felt unwilling, even at this time, to connect himself with a
young statesman of popular principles and rising fame.

" Compliments to the young statesman were, however, by no
means peculiar to Dundas. We are told in a youthful letter from
Sir Samuel Romilly, that in one of these debates before Christmas,
1781, * Fox, in an exaggerated strain of panegyric, said he could
no longer lament the loss of Lord Chatham, for he was again living
in his son, with all his virtues and all his talents.'

'* About a fortnight after the Address, Pitt made his second
speech of the session, and his last before the holidays. Horace
Walpole, who was still in his old age a most keen observer of every-
thing that passed round him, has an entry as follows in his journal:
'December 14th, 1781. Another remarkable debate on Army
Estimates, in which Pitt made a speech with amazing logical abili-
ties, exceeding all he had hitherto shown, and making men doubt
whether he would not prove superior even to Charles Fox.'

"In this speech Mr. Pitt gave a surprising proof of the readiness
of debate which he had already acquired, or I may rather say
which he had from the first displayed. Lord George Germaine
had taken occasion two days before to declare that, be the conse-
quences what they might, he would never consent to sign the inde-
pendence of the colonies. Lord North, on the contrary, had shown
strong symptoms of yielding. Pitt was inveighing with much force
against these discordant counsels at so perilous a juncture, when
the two Ministers whom he arraigned drew close and began to
whisper, while Mr. Welbore Ellis, a grey-haired placeman, of
diminutive size, the butt of Junius, under the by-name of Grildrig,
bent down his tiny head between them. Here Pitt paused in his
argument, and glancing at the group exclaimed, * I will wait until
the unanimity is a little better restored. I will wait until the
Nestor of the Treasury has reconciled the diflference between the
Agamemnon and the Achilles of the American war.'" — Vol. I.
p. 65-7.

On the fall of Lord North's administration in 1782,
and when the Rockingham government was formed, IPitt
was not included in the new Ministry. Young as he was,
indeed, he had taken beforehand the extraordinary course
of declaring publicly to the House that " he never would
accept a subordinate situation ;" and accordingly, he
declined to accept any of the offices which were proposed
to him, although *' he had before him the choice of several

1 8'62. J Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt, 81

subordinate posts. These offers came to him through his
friend Lord Shelburne ; for with Lord Rockingham he
had no more than a slight acquaintance. The Vice-Trea-
surership of Ireland was especially pressed upon him. It
was an office of light work and high pay, the latter being
computed at no less than 5000^. a-j^ear. It was an office
to which Pitt might the rather incline, because his father
had formerly held it; but the young barrister preferred his
independence, with chambers and not quite 300 i. a-year."

It was as an independent member, therefore, that he
brought forward, May 7th, his great motion on parliamen-
tary reform ; and on the breaking up of the new cabinet
upon the death of Lord Rockingham, he found the reward
of his self-reliant persistence in his resolution, in the
appointment of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer in
Lord Shelburne 's government, at the unprecedentedly
early age of twenty-three.

The after history is well-known — the successful combi-
nation by which the Fox and North parties drove Lord
Shelburne from office — the vigorous and well devised
strategy by which Fitt retaliated upon his adversaries the
very measures of offence; the memorable contest on
Fox's India Bill in the Commons — the defeat of that
strange measure in the Lords — the eager dismissal of the
coalition ministry by the King ; and finally, Pitt's acces-
sion to the commanding position of Prime Minister,
which he was destined to hold for upwards of seventeen
years. Lord Stanhope has related with singular clear-
ness the history of this memorable crisis, many of the
details of which, especially Lord Temple's resignation,
were involved in much mystery. If there be such a thing" as
romance in parliamentary history, it is to be found in this
narrative of the self-reliant determination with which the
far-seeing young minister suffered his adversaries to wear
themselves out by the very violence of the attack. On the
very first day when he appeared as Prime Minister in the
House, four hostile motions were carried against him,
and he was left in two minorities of 39 and of 54. He
proceeded, nevertheless, undismayed with his India Bill ;
the hostile majority fell to 21. On the second reading of
the same bill, it was still further reduced to eight; and
although its many subsequent variations might have
tempted a less resolute or a more excitable man to depart

from the course which he had elected to follow, Pitt per-
VOL. Lii.-No. cm - - 6

82 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nor.

severed with a firmness which some of his adversaries
were forced to admire, till at length, in the crowning debate
on Fox's celebrated ** Representation to the King," the
great Whig leader found his majority reduced to one \
Even still the wary minister could not be tempted into a
premature step; nor was it till he had fully matured his
own measures, and finally stimulated the public sympathy
which he had all along felt confident of securing, that he
proceeded to advise the dissolution of parliament.

The interval of this remarkable crisis was lengthened by
a very curious incident, which even still appears involved
in mystery.

*• Early in the morning of the 24th some thieves broke into the
back part of the house of the Lord Chancellor, in Great Ormond
Street, which at that time bordered on the open fields. They went
up stairs into the room adjoining the study, where they found the
Great Seal of England, with a small sum of money and two silver-
bilted swords. All these they carried off without alarming any of
the servants, and though a reward was afterwards offered for their
discovery, they were never traced.

*' When the Chancellor rose and was apprised of this singular
robbery, he hastened to the house of Mr. Pitt, and both Ministers
without delay waited upon the King. The Great Seal being essen-
tial for a Dissolution, its disappearance at the very time when it
was most needed might well cause great suspicion, as well as some
perplexity. But Pitt took the promptest measures ; he summoned
a Council to meet at St. James's Palace the same morning, and
there an order was issued that a new Great Seal, with the date of
1784, should be prepared with the least possible delay. It was
promised that, by employing able workmen all through the night,
this necessary work should be completed by noon the next day." —
Vol. I. p. 200-1.

Pitt himself, in a letter to Wilberforce, represents this
robbery as a ** curious manoeuvre. '' Lord Stanhope
appears to think that, while it would be absurd to impute
to the leaders of the opposition so clumsy and so stupid a
device, yet there might have been some * low hangers-on^
of the party to whom the very paltriness of the trick would
have been its greatest attraction; and he adds that,
although this may seem to attach an overstrained impor-
tance to the possession of the Great Seal, yet ** we may
well imagine that an humble and heated partisan should
be under the same delusion as was, in 1688, the King of
England himself, when, hoping to embarrass his successor,
he dropped his Great Seal into the Thames."

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 83

It was during the preliminaries of this great contest that
Pitt gave, in his refusal to take the valuable sinecure of the
Clerkship of the Pells, the first evidence of that splendid
disinterestedness which is the greatest glor3^ of his career,
and of which his declining the free gift of £100,000 pressed
upon him by the bankers and moneyed men of London in
1788, is an equally noble example. The merit of such
self-denial, too, is heightened by the well-known condition
of public opinion, at least of the opinion of the official
world, at that period when the abuse of sinecurism was the
least offensive form of public si^oliation which pervaded all
the departments of the administration. Pitt's celebrated
committee of inquiry brought much of this curious inge-
nuity of peculation to light. The stationary bill of the
Firgt Lord of the Treasury for a single year was £1300,
in which the one item of packthread amounted to <£340 !

Lord Stanhope has a curious paragraph on the abuses
of the privilege of franking.

** Several of the new financial regulations which Pitt was pro-
posing applied to the privilege of franking by Peers and INIembers
of Parliament. Up to that time nothing beyond tlie signature of
the person privileged had been required, nor was there any limit
as to place or number. Several banking firms especially were
possessed of whole box-fulls of blank covers signed by some friend
or partner, and kept ready for use in their affairs. Letters were
constantly addressed to some Member, at places where he never
resided, so that by a secret arrangement other persons might
receive them post-free. It was computed, though probably with
some exaggeration, that the loss to the revenue by such means
might amount every year to no less than 170,000^ 'l3y new rules
it came to be provided that no Member of either House should be
entitled to frank more than ten letters daily, each of these to bear
in his own handwriting, besides his signature, the day of the month
and year, the name of the post-town, and the entire address; nor
were any letters to be received by him post-free except at his actual
abode. These regulations, which continued in force until the final
abolition of Parliamentary franks in 1839, were carefully framed,
and productive of considerable savings. Yet no amount of public
forethought is ever quite a match for private skill, and many cases
of most ingenious evasion are recorded. Thus on one occasion the
franks of a Scottish Member, Sir John Hope, having been coun-
terfeited, the person accused on that account protested that he had
done no more than write at the edge of his own letters, * Free I
hope.' A Peer with whom I was acquainted is said to have
franked the news of his own decease — that is having died suddenly

84 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

one morning, and left some covers to friends ready written on his
own escritoire, his family availed themselves of these to enclose the
melancholy tidings."— Vol. I. 222-3.

The same lofty indifference to personal interest which
led him to forego this advantageous aud lucrative sinecure
was exhibited by him in a still more marked way in
circumstances of much greater difficulty, on his retire-
ment from office in 1801, and under the pressure of the
enormous pecuniary embarrassments in which by that
t'me he had gradually become entangled. His debts at
this period were ascertained to be above £45,000; and
though the creditors, while he was in office, had been
content to wait, yet " when they learnt that he was
resigning, and that two-thirds of his present income
would be lost, the impatience of some among them
could no longer be restrained. The demands upon Pitt
grew to be of the most pressing kind. There was reason
to apprehend from day to day that an execution might be
put into his house ; that his rooms might be left without
furniture, and his stable without horses.'' In explanation
of the extent of these embarrassments. Lord Stanhope
says : —

" It is not easy at first sight to understand or to explain such
enormous liabilities. As first Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor
of the Exchequer Mr. Pitt had a salary of 6000Z. a-year. As Lord
Warden of the Cinque Ports there was a further salary of 3000Z.,
besides certain small dues and rents upon the Dover coast, amount-
ing to a few hundred pounds more. On the whole, then, since 1792
Pitt had been in the receipt of nearly 10,000 a-year. He had no
family to maintain. He had no expensive tastes to indulge. He
had never, like Fox, frequented the gaming-table ; he had not, like
Windham, large election bills to pay. With common care he ought
not to have spent above two-thirds of his official income.

"But unhappily that common care was altogether wanting.
Pitt, intent only on the national exchequer, allowed himself no
time to go through his own accounts. The consequence was that
he came to be plundered without stint or mercy by some of his
domestics. Once or twice during his official life he had asked his
friend Lord Carrington to examine his household accounts. Lord
Carrington subsequently told Mr. Wilberforce the result of that in-
quiry. He had found that the waste of the servants' hall was almost
fabulous. The quantity of butcher's meat charged in the bills was
nine hundred weight a week. The consumption of poulty, fish, and
tea was in proportion. The charge for servants in wages, board-
wages, liveries, and bills at Hoi wood and in London exceeded 2300/.

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt, 85

a-year. Still Pitt woi^ld never give the requisite time to sift and
search out such abuses. His expenses were not checked, and hia
debts continued to grow."— Vol. HI., pp. 341-2.

Several plans were thought of by Pitt's friends to
relieve him from this painful position, of which the first
was either a vote of the House of Commons, or a free
gift from the city merchants. As to the former, Pitt
assured his friend Rose, in the most solemn manner,
*' of his fixed resolve on no consideration whatever to
accept anything from the pubHc." The second offer,
(although £100,000 was already subscribed and awaited
his disposal,) was declined with equal firmness ; *' were
he ever again to be in office,^' he said, " he should
always feel abashed and constrained when any request was
addressed to him from the city, lest by non-compliance he
should be thwarting the wishes of some among his un-
known benefactors.'' Perhaps a still more remarkable
evidence of the lofty spirit of the man was elicited by a
third offer on the part of the king himself—the more grati-
fying because it was entirely voluntary, and because the
king desired that it should be kept strictly private even
from Pitt himself — to place in the hands of Mr. Rose
£30,000 from his own privy purse for the payment of the
debts of his faithful servant. This truly noble offer was
equally without result. **The scheme," says Mr. Rose,
*' was found to be impracticable without a communication
with Mr. Pitt. On the mention of it to him he was actu-
ally more affected than I recollected to have seen him on
any occasion ; but he declined it, though with the deepest
sense of gratitude possible.^ It was, indeed, one of the
latest circumstances he mentioned to me, with considerable
emotion, towards the close of his life." The only expe-
dient to which he would consent to have recourse, was the
assistance of a few private friends. Th^ sum advanced by
these friends, together with the sale of his estate of Hol-
wood, sufficed to relieve him from actual pressure. These
friends, one of whom was his old tutor Tomline, now
Bishop of Lincoln, subscribed in all £11,000. But a large
deficiency still remained ; and the only painful incident
connected with the affair took place after the death of Pitt,
when a vote was proposed and ultimately carried in the
House of Commons, for the payment of the debt still out-
standing, which amounted to £40,000. *' Another ques-
tion," says Lord Stanhope, ** then arose. Should the appli-

86 Earl Stanhope* s Life of Pitt. [Nov.

cation to parliament include the further sum of £12,000, as
advanced to Mr. Pitt by some friends in 1801 ? The Bishop
of Lincoln, as one of the subscribers to that sum, argued
that it should. To do otherwise, he said, would be to con-
travene the dying request of Mr. Pitt; but the other sub-
scribers took a diffent view. One of them, Mr. Wilber-
force, went so far as to declare solemnly, that if this
further grant were proposed in Parliament, he would rise
in his place and resist it to the utmost of his power. In
the teeth of such a declaration the bishop could not perse-
vere. It was finally determined that the sum asked of
parliament should not exceed the <£40,000.'^

In connexion with these painful details may be men-
tioned the solitary romance of the life of this extraordinary
man — his attachment to the Hon. Eleanor Eden, daughter
of Lord Auckland. Lord Stanhope dismisses (I. 134) as
unworthy of credit the theatrical anecdote of the proposal
made to Pitt by the parents of Mademoiselle Necker, to
give him their daughter in marriage with a fortune of
£14,000 a-year, and of his alleged reply, that ** he was
already married to his country.'^ But Lord Stanhope's
brief narrative of the genuine love passage is worth trans-
cribing.

*' It was not only the conversation of Lord Auckland in which Mr.
Pitt took pleasure. He was much attracted by the grace and
beauty, as well as the superior mind of Lord Auckland's eldest
daughter, the Hon. Eleanor Eden. She was born in July 1777,
and therefore only eight years younger than Pitt. It would have
been a very suitable marriage ; and a report of it was not long in
arising.

"And Auckland himself noticed it as follows, in a letter to his
friend Mr. John Beresford of Dublin : —

*•* December 22, 1796.

*' * We are all well here, and I will take the occasion to add a fevf
words of a private and confidential kind. You may probably have
seen or heard by letters a report of an intended marriage between
Mr. Pitt and my eldest daughter. You know me too well to sup-
pose that if it were so I should have remained silent. The truth is
she is handsome, and possessed of sense far superior to the ordinary
proportion of the world ; they see much of each other, they con-
verse much together, and I really believe they liave sentiments of
mutual esteem; but I have no reason to think that it goes further
on the part of either, nor do I suppose it is ever likely to go
further.'

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 87

*'Mr. Beresford thus replies : —

December 27, 1796.

" * I certainlj heard of the report which you mention, and saw it
in the newspapers. Lord Camden has more than once asked me if
I knew anything about it. I answered, as I shall continue to do,
that I knew nothing about it.'

** This strong attachment — for such on Pitt's side at least it cer-
tainly was — did not, as many persons hoped, proceed to a proposal
and a marriage. Shortly afterwards, however, some correspondence
did take pla<je between Mr. Pitt and Lord Auckland. The letters
remain in the possession of Lord Auckland's family, and there are
neither copies nor originals amoug the manuscripts of Pitt. But I
have heard them described by a person entirely to be relied on
who has more than once perused them. Mr. Pitt began the subject.
In his letter to Lord Auckland he avows in the warmest terms his
affection for Miss Eden, but explains that in his circumstances he
feels that he cannot presume to make her an offer of marriage. He
further says that he finds each of his succeeding visits add so much
to his unhappiness, that he thinks it will be best to remit them for
the present.

" The reply of Lord Auckland, as I am informed, acknowledges
as adequate the explanations of Mr. Pitt. He was already, he says,
aware in general of the circumstances of pecuniary debt and diffi-
culty in which Mr. Pitt had become involved. He does not deny
that the attachment of Mr. Pitt may have been fully appreciated ;
but he cannot wish any more than Mr. Pitt that his daughter,
who, as one of many children, liad a very small fortune of her own,
sliould under some contingencies of ofiice or of life be left wholly
unprovided.

"There were yet two further letters as to the manner in which
the notes of congratulation which had already begun to arrive at
Beckenham might best be answered. Pitt desired that the blame,
if any should be borne wholly by himself.

••Thus most honourably, and without any breach of friendship on
either side, ended this * love-passage' — the only one, as I believe, in
the life of Pitt.''— Vol. IIL pp. 1-4.

The lady two years afterwards married Lord Hobart,
and, having lived to a good old age, was known even to the
present generation as the solitary * flame ' of the great but
phlegmatic statesman. She died only in 1851.

Pitt's connexion with the measures for the relief of
Catholic disabilities, occupies but little space in Lord
Stanhope's volumes. The first bill, that of 1778, was
passed before he entered upon public life ; but his senti-
ments regarding this, which may be called the negative
side of the general question, were no secret from the com-

88 Earl Stanhoj^e's Life of Pitt. [Nor,

niencement of his career. He opposed on the broadest
principles the strictly penal enactments which it was the
object of the act of 1778 to repeal. But as to the positive
measure of relief which it was expedient to concede, Pitt's
proceeding was much embarrassed by considerations aris-
ing out of his views upon the Established Church. The
opinions which he expressed on the proposed repeal of the
Test Act in 1787, exhibited a determination to regard the
claims of the Church as the first consideration to which, in
a conflict of interests, all the principles of right must be
held subordinate.^ ** It must be conceded to me/' he said,
** that an Established Church is necessary. Now there
are some Dissenters who declare that the Church of
England is a relic of Popery ; others that all Church Es-
tablishments are improper. This may not be the opinion
of the present body of Dissenters, but no means can be
devised of admitting the moderate part of the Dissenters
and excluding the violent ; the bulwark must be kept up
against all.'' He professed, moreover, (although possibly
this may have been but a device arising out of the expe-
diencies of debate,) to regard the grievances of Catholics
as very trifling ; he disclaimed the word emancipation,
as conveying an inaccurate idea of the actual political
condition of the Catholics, and did not hesitate to declare
that there were but few benefits of the constitution
remaining, of which they had not been admitted to par-
ticipate; and although he professed his readiness to
add these benefits ** to the many which had been so boun-
teously bestowed on the body in the course of the reign of
George III.," this readiness was not founded upon the
abstract justice of the measure, but upon the conviction
at which he had arrived, that the concession could be
*' safely" made.

And hence, whatever may have been the private senti-
ments of the man, the published opinions of the states-
man read cold, and ungracious beside the lofty philo-
sophy of Burke, the frank and manly ^ admissions of
Eox, or the honest and generous enthusiasm of Wilber-
force.

^ But while it is impossible to suppress a certain feeling of
disappointment at the spirit in which Pitt appears to have
approached the Catholic question, it is but justice to confess
that he desired to carry out honestly and even liberally,
although with certain safegu<ards and counterpoises, that

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 89

measure of relief to which he considered Catholi(^s enti-
tled. Lord Stanhope's account of the discussions upon
Mitford's Catholic Bill in 1791, is extremely meagre ; but
we learn from it at least, that Pitt was free from that
jealous and grudging spirit, which by fettering concession
with irksome and offensive conditions, deprives it of half
its value by taking from it the charm of graciousness.
His conduct in Wilberforce's Militia Bill was equally
frank ; and Lord Stanhope's history of the Irish adminis-
tration of Lord Fitzwilliam, fully bears out the view which
has already more than once, in this journal, been taken of
the share which Pitt had in that nobleman's recall, in con-
sequence of his precipitation and imprudence in reference
to the Catholic question. It appears plain that whatever
may have been Pitt's abstract views, and however those
views may have been modified in their application to the
condition of the Catholics in England, he had made up
his mind even at the time of Lord Pitzwilliam's being sent
to Ireland, that it was impossible to hope for the tranquil-
lity of that country so long as the Catholic population was
held in the condition which it then occupied. Lord Stan-
hope maintains with every show of probability, that, in
sending that nobleman to Ireland, Pitt was prepared to
enter upon an entirely new policy, and to carry out large
measures of concession to the Catholics ; but that, with a
view to its being done more effectually and more securely,
he desired that the steps in that direction should be cau-
tious and gradual. XVe have often declared our conviction
that, in the crisis which had then arisen in Irish affairs,
a bold and firm policy of concession could not have failed
of success in the Irish parliament, if it had been accom-
panied by some of those prudent party negotiations
familiar to all practised politicians, such as would have
disarmed the hostility of certain large parliamentary in-
terests at that time paramount in Irish affairs. Unfortu-
nately the generous precipitancy of Lord Fitzwilliam
alarmed and aroused the very opposition which Pitt had
hoped to neutralize. We are satisfied that, even still,
Pitt, had he persevered, might have reckoned on success.
But he was frightened into submission and recalled Lord
Fitzwilliam. Nevertheless we have always believed, and
Lord Stanhope's book confirms the belief, that in recall-
ing that nobleman, he acted, if weakly, not dishonestly;
and that he still retained the desire and the intention to

J)0 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nor

redress the grievances of the Irish Catholics. It was in this
conviction, that, ahnost in the same breath in which the
recall of Lord Fitzwilliam was decided and that Grattan's
Relief Bill was left to its fate in the Honse of Commons, the
policy of concession was inangnrated by the establishment
of the college of Maynooth in tho spring of 1795. Lord
Stanhope does not hesitate to recognize in that measure
all the character of a compact. " It was proffered as a
boon to the Roman Catholics of Ireland at the very time
when their hope of equal rights derived from Mr. Grattan's
Bill was dashed to the ground— at the very time when
they were called on to make common cause with their
Protestant brethren and join in measures of resistance to
the threatened French invasion. Passed at such a time,
and received in such a spirit, I believe that the foundation
of Maynooth does bear many features of a compromise or
compact I am sure that it could not be cancelled without
some breach of the English honour and some disparage-
ment to the English name.*'

But it is chiefly in relation to the negotiations on the
snbject of the Union that doubts have been cast on Pitt's
sincerity in his professions on the Catholic question ; and
in this part of his history it must be admitted that Lord
Stanhope's memoir is a complete vindication. There can
be no doubt that when the subject of the Union was first
mooted, an effort was made to enlist in its favour the sup-
port of the Catholics of Ireland, by holding forth to them
hopes that it would be accompanied or followed by an
equitable settlement of their claims. Lord Stanhope's
account of the measure, although it is far from realizing
the full extent of the representations which were made,
places the broad facts beyond dispute. It is drawn from
Lord Castlereagh's own letter, dated January 1st, 1801.

" Lord Castlereagh states tliat when in England during tho
autumn of 1799, he was requested to attend the meetings of tlio
cabinet upon the Catholic question. He did attend them accord-
ingly. He heard no difference of opinion as to the merits of the ques-
tion itself. On these the ministers seemed to him unanimous ; but
he found 'that some doubts were entertained as to the possibility of
admitting Catholics into some of tlie higher offices, and that min-
isters apprehended considerable repugnance to the measure in many
quarters, and particularly in the highest.^

*' On the whole Lord Castlereagh was at that time empowered to
write to the Lord Lieutenant, that so far as tho sentiments of the

1862. 1 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 91

cabinet were concerned, his Excellency need not hesitate in calling
forth the Catholic support to the projected Union. Upon this prin-
ciple, then, did.Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh act in Ire-
land. They refrained, as also did Mr. Pitt in England, from any
kind of pledge, or promise, or assurance to the Koman Catholic
leaders. But undoubtedly a general liope was raised, and from that
hope a general co-operation was afforded. The Roman Catholics, as
a whole, either remained neutral or gave their support to the
Union. It seems to be admitted that had their support been
withheld, and their weight been thrown into the opposite scale, the
measure could not at that time have been carried." — Voh III. pp.

Hence, although Lord Stanhope contends that there was
no actual engagement to be redeemed to the Catholics, he
thinks ** it must be owned that they had a moral claim
upon the government in England. So at least thought
Mr. Pitt. He decided that their state, and the change
that might be made in the laws affecting them, should be
laid before the cabinet on its assembling after the summer
recess ; and he summoned Lord Castlereagh from Dublin
to attend the cabinet meetings on this subject as he had
the year before.''

It is unnecessary to explain that by the highest quarter,
referred to in Lord Castlereagh's letter, is meant the king
himself. He had already long before expressed with great
vehemence his determination not to yield in this matter.
He had made up his mind, with that dogged inflexibility
which was his characteristic, that to do so would be to
violate the promises of his coronation oath ; and when
Dundas attempted to explain to him that this oath applied
to the king in his executive, and not in his legislative
capacity, he cut the discussion short by the angry rejoinder,
" None of your Scotch metaphysics, Mr. Dundas ! None
of your Scotch metaphysics V Soon afterwards he had
consulted Lord Kenyon and Sir John Scott, the Attorney
General, on this point, who both decided that no violation
of the coronation oath would be involved in assenting to the
repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, But the king
had other and less upright advisers.

"Unhappily, however, the King at the same time, but separately
from the other two, consulted the Chancellor Loughborough. Even
the warm admirers (if there be any such) of his Lordship's political
career will scarcely ascribe to him any very ardent zeal on the
abstract merits of the question. Through his whole life his politi-

92 Earl Stanhope* s Life of Pitt [Nov.

cal principles hung most loosely upon him ; he had more than once
changed them on a sudden, and from the lure of personal advan-
tags. Of his first turn in 1771, one of his successors on the Wool-
sack writes : * This must be confessed to be one of the most flagrant
cases oi ratting recorded in our party annals.*

" In 1795 Lord Loughborough was most anxious to gratify and
find favour with his Royal Master. He sent the King a written
opinion stating that the Royal assent to the repeal of the Test Act
might be held by implication to violate the Coronation Oath. But
he appears to have carefully concealed the communication from his
colleagues. It was only some years later, and after the fall of Mr.
Pitt's Ministry, that we find him give an account of the affair in
conversation with Mr. Rose. It is painful to add, that the state-
ment of his written opinion, as Mr. Rose reports that statement in
his Diary, is utterly and irreconcileably at variance with the written
opinion itself which Lord Campbell has published from the original
draft in Lord Loughborough's own handwriting." — Vol. IIL p.
2645.

^ When, several years later, the crisis in this great ques-
tion arrived, this unscrupulous man was not slow to
resume the dark policy for which he had thus prepared the
way. Taking advantage of a visit of the King to Wey-
mouth in the autumn of the year 1801, he used all his
influence in private to strengthen and confirm these preju-
dices of his royal master. JNor did he stop here. Pitt
having resolved, as we saw, to bring before his colleagues
what he felt to be the just claims of the Irish Catholics
upon the United Parliament, summoned a Cabinet meet-
ing in the end of September, and addressed a confidential
letter on the subject to Lord Loughborough while he was
still at Weymouth with the King. Lord Stanhope has
printed the letter.

" * My i)E>lr Lord, Sept. 25, 1800.

" ' There are two or three very important questions relative to
Ireland, on which it is very material that Lord Castlereagh should
be furnished with at least the outline of the sentiments of the Cabi-
net. As he is desirous not to delay his return much longer, we
have fixed next Tuesday for the Cabinet on this subject ; and
though I am very sorry to propose anything to shorten your stay at
Weymouth, I cannot help being very anxious that we should have
the benefit of your presence. The chief points, besides the great
question on the general state of the Catholics, relate to some
arrangement about tithes, and a provision for the Catholic and
Dissenting Clergy. Lord Castlereagh has drawn up several papers

1862] Earl Stanhope's Lije of Pitt. 93

on this subject, which are at present in Lord Grenville's possession,
and which you will probably receive from him by the post.
** * Ever, my dear Lord, &c.,

«*»W. Pitt/

"Mr. Pitt," continues Lord Stanhope, "did not intend as yet
to submit his project to the King. It is, I apprehend, the
usual and customary course that a measure should not be laid
before the Sovereign until it has been matured and perfected in
consultation between the members of the Cabinet. At all events
it is quite certain that any previous communication should be
made by and through the First Minister of the Crown. But
the receipt of these papers from London gave Lord Lough-
borough a favourable opening for his designs. How tempting
to betray the Prime Minister, and in due time trip him up I
How tempting to possess himself of the King's private ear, and
become the regulator of his public conduct ! With such views
the Chancellor showed His Majesty the confidential letter from Mr.
Pitt, thereby raising great anxiety and great displeasure in the
Royal breast. That he did thus show the letter at Weymouth is
acknowledged by himself in a long paper of explanation which in
the spring of the ensuing year, when some rumours of his conduct
began to be afloat, he found it requisite to draw up and to circu-
late among his friends. The original paper still remains among the
Eosslyn manuscripts, and it has been published by Lord Campbell.
* I abstain,' says Lord Campbell at its close, • from the invidious
task of commenting on this document.* Seldom indeed has any
document so discreditable proceeded from any public man.' " — Vol.
III. p. 268 9.

The rest of the Chancellor's conduct was in keeping
with these treacherous beginnings. Still conceahng the
intrigue in which he had been engaged, he opposed in the
Cabinet the measure propounded by Pitt in conjunction
with Lord Grenville ; and at the same time he drew up
and sent to the^ King a new paper, strongly urging all the
popular objections to the Catholic claims. Meanwhile,
unhappily Pitt maintained towards the King the same
reserve with which he had begun ; and pending the discus-
sions in the Cabinet, he appears to have resolved to await
some final decision from his colleagues, before he should
open his mind fully to the King. But the eager impul-
siveness of the King anticipated the advance of his minis-
ter.

** The discussions still at intervals continued, though with less
and less prospect of agreement, when the anxiety of the King
brought the matter to an issue. At his levee on Wednesday, the

94 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov

28th of January, the King walked up to Mr. Duudas, and eagerly
asked him, as referring to Lord Castlereagli, ' What is it that this
young Lord has brought over which they are going to throw at my

head? The most Jacobinical tiling I ever heard of! I shall

reckon any man my personal enemy who proposes any such mea-
sure.' 'Your Majesty will find,' answered Mr. Dundas, 'among
those who are friendly to that measure some whom you never
supposed to be your enemies.'

" During this conversation at the levee several other persons
stood partly within hearing, and some public rumours of course
ensued.

" Next day the King, in great distress of mind, wrote to the
Speaker. * I know,' he ?aid, ' we think alike on this great subject.
I wish Mr. Addington would from himself open Mr. Pitt's eyes to

the danger which may prevent his ever speaking to me on a

subject upon which I can scarcely keep my temper.' Mr. Adding-
ton therefore did call upon Pitt, and was not without some hopes of
having produced an impression on his friend. He wrote accord-
ingly in answer to the Royal letter, and he had afterwards an
interview with the King at Buckingham House. The part of the
Prime Minister was, however, already taken. After the public and
vehement language which the King had so recently used, Pitt had
little or no hope of prevailing with His Majesty. But he thought
his own course of duty clear before him. On the evening of Satur-
day, the 31st of January, Mr. Pitt addressed a letter to the King,
containing a masterly argument on the question at issue, and ask-
ing leave to resign if he were not allowed to bring it forward with
the whole weight of Government. The King received this letter
on the morning of Sunday, the 1st of February, and, after consult-
ing with the Speaker, wrote his reply before the close of the same
day. * I shall hope,' so says the King, ' Mr. Pitt's sense of duty
will prevent his retiring from his present situation to the end of
my life;' and he proposed as a compromise that he, the King,
should maintain henceforth utter silence on the question, and that
Mr. Pitt on his part should forbear to bring it forward. 'But,'
adds the letter, * further I cannot go.' "—Vol. IIL p. 273-5.

Pitt's letter to tlie King is already known from Bishop
Philpott's publication ; but we think it well to record here
that portion of it in which he combats the King's objec-
tions against the proposed measure of relief to the Catholics,
from the supposed dangers which might thence arise to
the Estabhshed Church and to the Protestant interest
generally.

** For himself," Mr. Pitt writes in the third person,
*' he is on full consideration convinced that the measure
would be attended with no danger to the Established

18G2.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 95

Cluircb, or to the Protestant interest in Great Britain or
Ireland : — That now the Union has taken place, and with
the new provisions which would make part of the plan,
it could never give any such weight in office, or in Parlia-
ment, either to Catholics or Dissenters, as could give
them any new means (if they were so disposed) of attack-
ing the Establishment:— That the grounds on which the
laws of exclusion now remaining were founded, have long
been narrowed, and are since the Union removed : — That
those principles, formerly held by the Catholics, which
made them considered as politically dangerous, have been
for a com-se of time gradually declining, and, among the
higher orders particularly, have^ ceased to prevail : — That
the obnoxious tenets are disclaimed in the most positive
manner by the oaths which have been required in Great
Britain, and still more by one of those required in Ireland,
as the condition of the indulgences ah'eady granted, and
which might equally be made the condition of any new
ones: — That if such an oath, containing (among other
provisions) a denial of the power of absolution from its
obligations, is not a security from Catholics, the Sacra-
mental test is not more so :— That the political circum-
stances under which the exclusive laws originated, arising
either from the conflicting power of hostile and nearly
balanced sects, from the apprehension of a Popish Queen
or Successor, a disputed succession and a foreign Pre-
tender, and a division in Europe between Catholic and
Protestant Powers, are no longer applicable to the present
state of things: — That with respect to those of the Dis-
senters who it is feared entertain principles dangerous to
the Constitution, a distinct political test, pointed against
the doctrine of modern Jacobinism, would be a much more
just and more effectual security than that which now
exists, which may operate to the exclusion of conscien-
tious persons well aff'ected to the State, and is no guard
against those of an opposite description : —

** That with respect to the Catholics of Ireland, another
most important additional security, and one of which the
effect would continually increase, might be provided by
gradually attaching the Popish clergy to the Government,
and, for this purpose, making them dependent for a part
of their provision (under proper regulations) on the State,
and by also subjecting them to superintendence and con-
trol :—

96 Earl StanJiope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

" That, besides these provisions, the general interests of
the Established Church, and the security of the Consti-
tution and Government, might be effectually strengthened
by requiring the Pohtical Test, before referred to, from
the preachers of all Catholic or Dissenting congregations,
and from the teachers of schools of every denomination."

We have extracted this able and characteristic passage
mainly as another evidence of the real views in reference
to the Catholic Church, which formed the foundation of
Pitt's policy, as it has done that of most other statesmen
whether Protestant or Catholic. He looked to disarming
the Church by acquiring influence over her ministers ; and
he sought, by giving them an interest in the stability of the
state, to make them useful auxiliaries of the government
to which they owed their social status and in part their
pecuniary support. This curious state-paper, although
unknown for upwards of a quarter of a century after his
death, is almost a literal verification of the warning held
out to Catholics by Burke, and in his letters to Dr.
Hussey printed in this journal not many years ago.

But to return to Pitt's letter to the King. His own
views upon the necessity of the measure, and his resolve
to acquit himself of what he feels to be a moral engage-
ment, he expresses in the most forcible terms.

" It is on these principles Mr. Pitt humbly conceives a new
security might be obtained for the Civil and Ecclesiastical Consti-
tution of this country, more applicable to the present circum-
stances, more free from objection, and more effectual in itself, than
any which now exists ; and which would at the same time admit
of extending such indulgences as must conciliate the higher orders
of the Catholics, and by furnishing to a large class of your Majesty's
Irish subjects a proof of the good will of the United Parliament,
afford the best chance of giving full effect to the great object of the
Union, — that of tranquillizing IrelUnd, and attaching it to this
country.

" It is with inexpressible regret, after all he now knows of your
Majesty's sentiments, that Mr. Pitt troubles your Majesty thus at
large with the general grounds of his opinion, and finds himself
obliged to add that this opinion is unalterably fixed in his mind.
It must, therefore, ultimately guide his political conduct, if it
should be your Majesty's pleasure that, after thus presuming to
open himself fully to your Majesty, he should remain in that
responsible situation in which your Majesty has so long conde-
scended graciously and favourably to accept his services. It will
afford him, indeed, a great relief and satisfaction if he may be

1 862. ] Earl Stanliope's Life of Pitt. 97

allowed to Lope that jour Majesty will deign maturely to weigh
what he has now humbly submitted, and to call for any explanation
which any parts of it may appear to require.

•' In the interval which your Majesty may wish for considera-
tion, he will not, on his part, importune your Majesty with any
unnecessary reference to the subject ; and will feel it his duty to
abstain himself from all agitation of this subject in Parliament) and
to prevent it, as far as depends on him, on the part of others. If,
on the result of such consideration, your Majesty's objections to the
measure proposed should not be removed, or sufficiently diminished
to admit of its being brought forward with your Majesty's full con-
currence, and with the whole weight of Government, it must bo
personally Mr. Pitt's first wish to be released from a situation
which h« is conscious that, under such circumstances, he could not
continue to fill but with the greatest disadvantage." — Vol. III. p.
xxvi, xxvii.

The result is well known. The Kinpr and the Minister
were both equally firm. The King agreed to accept Pitt's
resignation, and it was settled that the Speaker, Addiag-
ton, should, at the recommendation of Pitt, be charged with
the formation of a new ministry, in the arrangement of
which, as well in the subsequent conduct of the business of
the country, Pitt promised all his assistance and support.
The only gratifying incident of the entire proceeding is the
memorable disappointment of the selfish schemer, Lough-
borough. *^ The statesman, '' says Lord Stanhope, *' who
for his selfish ends had wrought all this confusion, derived
no advantage from it. On the contrary, he was signally
humbled. * Never,' as Lord Campbell says, * was there
such a striking instance of an engineer ' hoist by his own
petard. ' The King had lately seen a great deal of
Lord Loughborough. He Jiad been glad to lean on his
Lordship's legal knowledge and skill. But at the same
time he had become well' acquainted with his Lordship's
character, and 1 need not add to what opinion a thorough
knowledge of that character would inevitably lead. So
fnr from naming Lord Loughborough Prime Minister, as
Lord Loughborough himself appears to have hoped, the
King was fully determined that he should not even con-
tinue Chancellor. His Majesty designed that high office
for Lord Eld on, whose perfect integrity and firmness of
principle he justly esteemed ; and on this point, as on
most others, Addington was compliant to the Royal will.
'' No wonder*^* that in Addington's Diary *' Lord
VOL. LII.-No. Cni. 7

98 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov.

Loughborough is described as * all consternation !' No
wonder if, suddenly inverting his political course, he wrote
to the King earnestly pressing His Majesty still to con-
tinue Mr. Pitt in office, and to rel> upon * the generosity
of Mr. Pitt's mind.' " It is pleasant to know that he
utterly failed.

The retributive justice executed on another ingrate.
Lord Auckland, whom the King described as "an eternal
intriguer," and who was excluded from the new Cabinet,
has been related by other historians of these events.

Equally familiar is the story of the effect which, before
the new arrangements had been completed, this struggle
between feeling and what he believed to be duty produced
upon the King; but Lord Stanhope has preserved some
curious and indeed affecting details. Feeling deeply and
anxiously the loss of Pitt at such a crisis, the King, *' as if
to tranquilize his mind, reverted again and again to the
religious obligation which he conceived to bind him. One
morning — so his faithful equerry. General Garth, many
years afterwards related — he desired his Coronation Oath
to be once more read out to him, and then burst forth into
some passionate exclamations: * Where is that power on
earth to absolve me from the due observance of every sen-
tence of that oath?.. .No — I had rather beg my bread from
door to door throughout Europe than consent to such a
measure !'

** Another day, at Windsor — -this was on the 6th or 7th
of the month — the King read his Coronation Oath to his
family, asked them whether they understood it, and added:
* If I violate it, I am no longer legal Sovereign of this
country, but it falls to the House of Savoy.' "

One of the King's first messages, upon his convales-
cence after the derangement in which these exciting trials
resulted, was to his old minister. " Tell him," said he to
his physician Dr. Willis, "that I am quite well — quite
recovered from my illness ; but what has he not to answer
for who is the cause of my having been ill at all?" Pitt
was deeply affected, and, under the impulse of these feel-
ings, at once conveyed to the King an assurance that he
would never again, during his reign, renew the agitation
of the Catholic question. Lord Malmesbury heard that
Pitt wrote to the King to this effect ; but Lord Stanhope
could find no trace of the letter, and believes that the
communication was in the , nature of a verbal message.

1 862.] £Jarl Stanhope^ s Life of Pitt. 99

This would seem clear indeed from the following letter of
Dr. Willis.

*« Dr, Thomas Willis to Mr. Pitt.
•• * Sill, " * Queen's House, \ past 8-

" ' Her Majesty, and the Dukes of Kent and Cumberland, went in to
the King at half after five o'clock, and remained with him for two
hours. Thej came out perfectly satisfied — in short everything that
passed has confirmed all that you heard me say today. He has
desired to see the Duke of York to-morrow, and all the Princesses
in their turn.

*• * I stated to him what you wished, and what I had a good oppor-
tunity of doing ; and, after saying the kindest things of you, he
<}xclaimed, * Now my mind will be at ease.' Upon the Queeu\s
coming in, the first thing he told her was your message, and he
made the same observation upon it.

" ' I stated also the whole of what you said respecting Hanover —
which he received with perfect composure.

** ' Yqu will not expect that I mean to show that the King is €om-
j)letely wellf but w« have no reason to doubt that he very soon will
be so.

" • I have the honour to be. Sir, &c.,

**♦ Thomas Willis."*

It will be remembered that, up to this time Pitt, in
consequence of the King's illness, had not formally re-
sip:ned ; and, now that the only obstacle to his holding
office had been removed by the i^solve which he had
thus taken, his friends began to ask why he should
resign at all ; nor was it without a certain amount of
intrigue and agitation that the arrangements were finally
brought to a close, and that Pitt's long administration
came to an end. On March 14th, 1800, to borrow Mr.
Rose's account, "" Mr. Pitt went to the King at three
o'clock, and returned about half-past four, and I saw hiiii
at five for a few minutes before he went to Mr. Adding-
ton. He had resigned the Exchequer Seal to His Majesty.
He said His Majesty possessed himself most perfectly,
though naturally somewhat agitated on such an occasion ;
that his kindness was unbounded. Mr. Pitt said he was
sure the King would be greatly relieved by the interview
being over, and his resignation being accepted ; adding,
what I am sure was true, that his own mind was greatly
relieved.-^Sunday, March 35. Mr. Pitt explained to mo
much more at large what passed when he was with the
King yesterday; repeated that His Majesty showed the

100 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt, [Nor.

Utmost possible kindness to him, both in words and man-
ner ; that His Majesty began the conversation by saying,
that although from this time Mr. Fitt ceased to be his
Minister, he hoped he would allow him to consider him
as his friend, and that he would not hesitate to come to
him whenever he might wish it, or when he should think
he could do so with propriety ; adding that in any event
he relied on his making him a visit at Weymouth, as he
knew Mr. Pitt would go to his mother, in Somersetshire,
in the summer. "

And thus in virtue of the engagement entered into by
Pitt, and adopted with one single exception, by those who
followed him in the office of Prime Minister, the question
of the Roman Catholic claims was indefinitely postponed ;
— with what results, is now a matter of history. It is a
much debated question in the theory of constitutional
monarchy, how far the interest of the whole, or of a
large portion of the public ought to be made dependent
upon the welfare, or still more, we may presume, upon
the feelings of the monarch.^ Whatever may be the prac-
tical justice of the case, it is one which, taking men
as they are, will always be argued upon considerations
of sentiment rather than of abstract ri^ht. And the
conduct of Pitt in relinquishing the policy and with-
drawing from office under circumstances so painful, will
hardly be condemned even by the sternest advocate of
the rights of the subject. But there remains another and
much more difficult question, as to the propriety of the
subsequent change in his conduct, in resuming the very
office which he had relinquished because he was not per-
mitted to pass the Catholic question, with a new and
express understanding that he would never again stir that
question during the lifetime of the King. Lord Stanhope
enters at some length into this question in reply to a
criticism of the Edinburgh Review, ascribed to Sir
George Cornewall Lewis.

•' Ou the other part, I would venture, in the first place, to ask
hovr the critic can feel the smallest difficulty in explaining at least,
if not in justifying, the change which he here describes. As rea-
sonably might he state his surprise that the Emperor of Austria
was not willing to treat on the 1st of December, 1805, and was
willing on the 3rd of the same month ; the fact being that the battle
of Austerlitz was fought on the intervening day. The intervening
illness of George the Third affords, as 1 conceive, a no less clear, a

1862.] Earl Stanliope's Life of Pitt. 10 1

no less sufficient explanation. When it became manifest that the
proposal of the Roman Catliolic claims had not only wrung the
mind of the aged King with anguish, but altogether obscured and
overthrown it, the duty of a statesman, even if untouched bj per-
sonal considerations, and acting solely on public grounds, was then
to refrain from any such proposal during the remainder of His
Majesty's reign. Loyal Roman Catholics themselves could not
even desire tlieir claims to be under such circumstances urged.
Let me moreover observe that the restraint which Mr. Pitt laid
upon himself in consequence was one that came to be adopted by all
other leading politicians of that age. It was on the same under-
standing that Lord Castlereagh took office in 1803 ; Mr. Tierney
also in the same year ; Mr. Canning in 1804 ; Lord Grenville and
Mr. Fox in 1806. All these, with whatever reluctance, agreed that
on this most tender point the conscience of George the Third
should be no further pressed. And surely if the ground here stated
was sufficient, as I deem it, to justify Mr. Tierney, who had never
before held office, and who owed no special attachment to the King,
the ground was far stronger in the case of Mr. Pitt, who had served
His Majesty as Prime Minister through most trying difficulties and
for more than seventeen years.

*< It may be said, however, that although Mr, Pitt was right to
relinquish the Catholic Question in March, 1801, he should not
have been willing to resume office at once upon such terms. If,
however, the Catholic Question were honourably and for good
reason laid aside," the special, and indeed the only, reason for
calling in *' the Doctor" was gone. Under him there was every
prospect that the new Government would be a weak one — even far
weaker than from various causes which I shall hereafter exf^lain it
really proved. I have already shown what were the anticipations
upon this point of so experienced and so far-sighted a politician as
Dundas. A weak Government was then in prospect ; and that at
a periodVhen the national interests called most loudly for a strong
one. It was the duty of a patriot Minister to avert, if he honour-
ably could, that evil from his country. It was his duty not to
shrink from the service of his Sovereign, if that Sovereign thought
fit to ask his aid, and if the question which had so recently severed
them was from other and inevitable causes to sever them no more.

" For these reasons I believe, and must be permitted to maintain,
that the conduct of Mr. Pitt in March, 1801, is free from all
ambiguity and open to no just imputation, but guided from first
to last by the same high sense of duty as distinguished his whole
career.'*--Vol. IIL p. 311-13.

We have left ourselves but scant space for the personal
portion of Lord Stanhope's portraiture of Pitt; but we
cannot pass it over altogether. His parallel of the two
great rivals, Fox and Pitt, is very complete and very judi-

102 Earl StanhojM^s Life of Pitt, [Nor.

cioiis, nor, with all the temptation to which a biopfrapher
is exposed, can any one fairly, ii^ our opinion, tax Lord
Stanhope with partiality. VVe must be content with so
much of it as repjards their oratorical powers.

*' It is a harder, as well as a more important task to compare the
two great rivals in their main point of rivalry — in public speaking.
Each may at once be placed in the very highest class. Fox would
have been without doubt or controversy the first orator of his age
had it not been for Pitt. Pitt would have been without doubt or
controversy the first orator of his age had it not been for Fox. It
may fairly be left in question wliich of these two pre-eminent
speakers should bear away the palm. But they were magis pares
quam similes— id^v rather equal than alike. Mr, Windham, himself
a great master of debate, and a keen observer of others' oratory,
used to say that Pitt always seemed to him as if he could make a
king's speech off hand. There was the same self-conscious dignity
— the same apt choice of language — the same stately and guarded
phrase. Yet this, although his more common and habitual style,
did not preclude some passages of pathetic eloquence, and many of
pointed reply. He loved on some occasions to illustrate his mean-
ing with citations from the Latin poets — sometimes giving a new
grace to well-known passages of Horace and Virgil, and sometimes
drawing a clear stream from an almost hidden spring — as when, in
reference to the execution of Louis the Sixteenth, he cited tlie lines
of a poet so little read as Statins, lines which he noticed as applied
by De Thou to the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Never, even on
tlie most sudden call on him to rise — did he seem to hesitate for a
word, 91 to take any but the most apt to the occasion. His sen-
tences, however long, and even when catching up a parenthesis as
th3y proceeded, were always brought to a right and regular close
— a much rarer merit in a public speaker than might be supposed
by those who judge of parliamentary debates only by the morning
papers. I could give a strong instance of the contrary. I could
name a veteran member, whom I used, wlien I sat in the House of
Commons, constantly to hear on all financial subjects. Of him I
noticed, that while the sentences which he spoke might be reckoned
by the hundred, those which he ever finished could only be leckoned
by the score.

" It is worthy of note, however, that carefully as Pitt had been
trained by his illustrious father, their style of oratory and their
direction of knowledge were not only different, but almost, it may
be said, opposite. Cnatham excelled in fiery bursts of eloquence-
Pitt in a luminous array of arguments. On no point was Pitt so
strong as on finance — on none was Chatham so weak.

*' Fox, as I have heard good judges say, had the same defects,
which, in an exaggerated form, and combined with many of his
merits, appeared in his nephew Lord Holland. He neither had, nor

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life oj Pitt 103

aimed at, any graces of manner or of elocution. He would often
pause for a word, and still oftener for breath and utterance, panting
as it were, and heaving with the mighty tlioughts that he felt
arise. But these defects, considerable as they would hav0 been in
any mere holiday speaker, were overborne by bis masculine mind,
and wholly forgotten by his audience as they witnessed the cogency
of his keen replies — tlie irresistible home thrusts of hia arguments.
No man that has addressed any public assembly in ancient or ia
modern times was ever more truly and emphatically a great debater.
Careless of himself, flinging aside all preconceived ideas or studied
flights, he struck with admirable energy full at the foe before him.
The blows which he dealt upon his adversaries were such as few
among them could withstand, perhaps only one among them could
parry : they seemed all the heavier, as wholly unprepared, and
arising from the speeches that had gone before. Nor did he ever
attempt to glide over, or pass by, an argument that told against
him; he would meet it boldly face to face, and grapple with it
undeterred. In like manner any quotations that ho made from
Latin or English authors did not seem brought in upon previous
reflection for the adornment of the subject at its surface, but rather
appeared to grow up spontaneously from its inmost depths. With
all his wonderful powers of debate, and perhaps as a consequence of
them, there was something truly noble and impressive in the entire
absence of all artifice]^or affectation. His occasional bursts of true
inborn sturdy genuine feeling, and the frequent indications of his
kindly and generous temper, would sometimes, even in the fiercest
party conflicts, come home to the hearts of his opponents. If, as is
alleged, he was wont to repeat the same tlioughts again and again
in different words, this might be a defect in the oration, but it was
none in the orator. For, thinking not of himself, nor of the rules
of rhetoric, but only of success in the struggle, he had found these
the most effectual means to imbue a popular audience almost im^
perceptibly with his own opinions. And he knew that to the mul-
titude one argument stated in five different forms is, in general,
held equal to five new arguments." — Vol. I. pp. 244-7.

The sketch of Pitt's social character is an exquisite
specimen of literary portraiture.

" Several testimonies which I have already cited speak of Pit*
in his earlier years as a most delightful companion, abounding in
wit and mirth, and with a flow of lively spirits. As the cares of
office grew upon him, he went of course much less into general
society. He would often, for whole hours, ride or sit with only
Steele, or Kose, or Dundas for his companion. Nor was this merely
from the ease and rest of thus unbending his mind. Men who know
the general habits of great ministers are well aware how many
details may be expedited and difficulties smoothed away by quiet

.104 Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. [Nov

chat with a thoroughly trusted friend in lesser office. Pitt, how-
ever, often gave and often accepted small dinner parties, and took
great pleasure in them. The testimony of his familiar friend,
Lord Wellesley, which goes down to 1797, is most strong upon these
points. ' In all places and at all times,' says Lord Wellesley, * his
constant delight was society. There he shone with a degree of
calm and steady lustre which often astonished me more than his
most splendid efforts in parliament. His manners were perfectly
plain ; his wit was quick and ready. He was endowed, beyond
any man of his time whom I knew, with a gay heart and a social
spirit.'

" The habits of Pitt in Downing Street were very simple. He
breakfasted every morning at nine, sometimes inviting to that meal
any gentleman with whom he had to talk on business, and it was
seldom when the House of Commons met that he could find leisure
for a ride.

" When retired from office, and living in great part at Walmer
Castle, Pitt, like Fox, reverted with much relish, although in a desul-
tory manner, to his books. The Classics, Greek and Latin, seemed to
be, as my father told me, Pitt's favourite reading at that period.
Yet he was by no means indifferent to the literature of his own day.
On this point let me cite a statesman who has passed away from us,
to the grief of many friends, at the very time when the page which
records his testimony has reached me from the press. Let me cite
the Earl of Aberdeen, who once, as he told me, heard Pitt declare
that he thought Burns's song * Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled '
the noblest lyric in the language. Another time he also mentioned
Paley to Lord Aberdeen in terms of high admiration, as one of our
very best writers. Perhaps the great fault of his private life is
that he never sought the society of the authors or the artists wliom
all the time he was admiring. Perhaps the great fault of his public
life is that he never took any step — no, not even the smallest- — to
succour and befriend them." — Vol. I. pp. 249-51.

Lord Stanhope, of course, could not overlook the
popular traditionary notions as to the convivial habits of
his hero. Commenting on a letter, in which Wilberforce
speaks of Pitt during the interval between his two admin-
istrations, described him as ' improved in habits.' Lord
Stanhope writes : —

" The ' habits ' to which Wilberforce here refers as admitting of
improvement were probably in the first place as to the system of
hours. No longer breakfasting at nine o'clock as in his first years
of office, Pitt had become the very reverse of early in the forenoon.
The speaker, Mr. Addington, describing his life about this time, says
of him that he never rose before eleven, and then generally took a
short ride in the park, Any change which he made in this respect,

1862.] Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt. 105

as Wilbcrforcc notes, was not of long continuance, and for the rest
of his life Pitt was very late in his morning hours. Some have
thought that the time which he passed in bed was compelled by his
delicate health ; others have supposed that he employed it in revolv-
ing the details of his speeches or his measures.

*' Secondly, it is probable that Wilberforce alludes to the large
potations of port wine. These, as we have seen, were in tlie first
instance prescribed to Mr. Pitt as a medicine, and they gave
strength to his youthful constitution. But amidst the labour of
parliament and oflSce he certainly in some cases carried them
beyond what his health could require, or could even without injury
bear. Not that they had any effect on his mental powers or mental
self-command. Two bottles of port, as Lord Macaulay says, were
little more to him than two dishes of tea. Nothing could be rarer
in his public life than any trace of excitement in his after-dinner
speeches.

*'Here again the authority of the Speaker is quite decisive.
When in long subsequent years Lord Sidmouth was questioned on
the subject, he said that Mr. Pitt loved a glass of port wine very
well, and a bottle still better ; but that he had never known him
take too much if he had anything to do, except upon one occasion,
when he was unexpectedly called up to answer a personal attack
made upon him by Mr. William Lambton, father of the first Lord
Durham. He had left the house with Mr. Dundas in the hour
between two election ballots, for the purpose of dining, and when
on his return he replied to Mr. Lambton, it was evident to his
friends that he had taken too much wine. The next morning Mr.
Ley, tlie Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons, told the speaker
that he had felt quite ill ever since Mr. Pitt's exhibition on the
preceding evening, * It gave me,' he added, * a violent headache.'
On this being repeated to Mr. Pitt — * I think,' said the minister,
* that is an excellent arrangement — that I should have the wine
and the clerk the headache !'

*' It is not to be supposed that even a single instance of the kind
would be left unimproved by the wits at Brooks's. The Morning
Chronicle came out with a long array of epigrams upon this tempt-
ing subject. Here is one in which the prime minister is supposed
to address his colleague —

* I cannot see the speaker, Hal ; can you V

• Not see the speaker ? — hang it, I see two !' "

Vol. in. pp. 136-8.

But there is no part of Lord Stanhope's narrative which
in our judgment is so successful as that which regards
Pitt's conduct during the Addington administration, his
own return to the government, and his last term of office.
His defence of Pitt against the charge of dishonest or dis-
honourable conduct towards Addington is n^arked by the

106 The Coiwection of the State with Education in [Nov

most rigorous impartiality, and is conducted according to
the sound rules of historical evidence ; nor do we think any
fair mind can reject the inferences which Lord Stanhope
has drawn.

But it is above all in the closing scenes of the narrative
that his powers as a descriptive biographer appear to
the greatest advantage. In reading the terrible history
of those sad days after the news of the battle of Ans-
terlitz had reached him, one is almost reminded of the
paiuful but mysterious contents of the old Greek drama.
There is something absolutely haunting in the picture of
what Wilberforce called ** the Austerlitz look/' the care-
worn and unhappy look which he wore during the last
months of his life, and of which Macaulay, with his cus-
tomary exaggeration, says that ** he was so changed by
emaciation that his most intimate friends hardly knew
him." It is a picture, in the presence of which every feel-
ing of hostile criticism is hushed, and the mind can take
home to itself but one lesson — the lesson of the mutability
of all earthly greatness and of the hollowness of all earthly
ambition.

Art. IV. — The Revised Code.

AMONGST the few incidents of the session of 1862
. worthy of careful retrospection, were the debates on
education. In both Houses different branches of that great
question gave rise to earnest and important discussions ;
at an early period, the question of state assistance to
primary education in England, occupied both Lords and
Commons ; and the re-revised code threatened to cause
the downfall of the Government. Later on, the present
condition and prospects of education in Ireland were can-
vassed in debates, which, if they led to no immediate re-
sult, plainly foreshadowed the contests which must arise
next year. The collateral question, too, of industrial and
reformatory schools, and middle class education, claimed
their share of attention both in and out of parliament.

186 2: "I England and Ireland. 107

But the most remarkable educational movement of the
year was undoubtedly that in favour of the Irish Catholic
University. A movement hardly paralleled in the country,
in strength, in earnestness, and in unanimity.

The interest of Catholics in every branch of the great
question of Education both in England and Ireland ; the
importance of a clear understanding of the mutual relation
of the different facts and systems ; and the proof afforded by
the events we have alluded to, that the present is a time
when this subject possesses a peculiar and urgent interest
will, we hope, be deemed a sufficien^reason for discussing
at some length the different systems of education adopted
in these and other countries.

The moment we speak of the education of a people, the
subject naturally divides itself into three branches. First,
primary schools for the education of the masses in the
simplest elements of knowledge, embracing all varieties of
poor schools, industrial schools and infant schools.

Secondly, intermediate or middle schools, embracing all
those grammar schools, academies, and institutions which
provide teaching for our great commercial and trading
middle classes, and in this class must be included the
national model schools in Ireland.

And thirdly, institutions for superior or university edu-
cation.

To each of these classes the state has certain relations ;
and the whole question of education, as it is called, resolves
itself into this ; what are the duties and the rights of the
state, or government, with regard to each of the classes of
schools. It is here that differences both of opinion and of
practice arise — and this is the fundamental question to be
determined. There is, indeed, another question even more
important, namely, what are the duties and rights of reli-
gion in regard to education? But as in these countries we
have not, as a nation, got a religion, we cannot investigate
the relation of religion to the education of the nation, and
the just claims of the Catholic religion in regard to the
education of its children can be enforced only as their wish,
not as its right.

One radical difference between England and most con-
tinental countries — especially since the French lievolution
— is the very limited action which in England is allowed to
the state.

The theory and practice in England ^is, that it is the

108 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

duty of government to interfere as little as possible, and to
leave almost everything to individual action. Abroad, on
the contrary, the prevalent idea is, that government is the
full expression of the nation, as a corporate individuality,
and is therefore bound to do as much as possible for the
nation, to provide it with everything it needs, and to direct
and control all its actions.

In nothing is this difference more perceptible than in the
different modes of treating education.

In France, Prussia, and other countries, it is admitted
on all sides, that it ig^both the right and the duty of the
state to provide fitting education for all classes, and to
regulate and control all educational institutions not founded
by itself."' Hence the question always debated is, what
is the proper education to be provided, the right of the
state to provide it for all being admitted ; and the greatest
sticklers for liberty of education only claim that those who
dislike the state education, to which they have contributed
by their taxes, may provide another at their own cost, and
this, too, subjected to the supervision of the state. In a
word, the state provides at the public cost an educational
uniform for every one, and those who do not wish to wear
it are graciously allowed to provide a second at their own
cost.

Such is the system which prevails almost universally
on the Continent, and the principles of which are, too
often perhaps, unconsciously, adopted by some in Eng-
land.

But far different has ever been the practice of England.
Here, the absolute freedom of the individual man has ever
been fully recognised, and the claim of the state to act for
all and control individual exertions steadily repudiated.
Every man may educate himself and his children as he
pleases, and it would be regarded as tyranny to compel
him to contribute to an education of which he disapproved,
or to support institutions which he did not frequent. But
as cases arise where assistance is sought from the state for
the education of those unable to educate themselves;
questions naturally occur of how that assistance is to be
given ; and as certain public advantages are attached to

* See M. Troplong's work, Du pouvoir de I'Etat sur I'enseiga-
ment en France. Paris 1844.

1862. 1 England and Ireland. 1 09

the recognised possession of a high degree of professional
knowledge, it becomes necessary to determine how the
possession of that knowledge shall be ascertained. In
other words, the questions of state assistance for primary
education, and of the mode of conferring degrees spring np.
But throughout the discussion it is essential to recollect
that the great English principle is, the right of each man
to have his children educated as he pleases, and to have
his knowledge recognised, however acquired.

And the importance of this principle, and the extent to
which it has ever been recognised ii^ England, as well as
the very limited and secondary action allowed to the state
in regard to education, become still more clear as we trace
the history of education in England.

With regard to primary education, it was for centuries
left entirely to voluntary action. Previous to the Refor-
mation the monasteries formed the great body of poor
schools throughout the land ; and there are canons which
refer to schools to be attached to parochial churches.
As all the monastery schools were swept away at the
Reformation, a great blank was left in the education of the
poor, and as private efforts proved inadequate to provide
sufficient schools, aid has for a considerable time been
contributed by the state. But it is strictly *'aid.''
The state has never undertaken to provide education or
determine the nature of the education to be provided. On
the contrary, all such schemes have been resolutely re-
jected. The initiative is left to individual^ action, and
the state only steps in to assist by grants in aid. The
fullest freedt)m is left as to the nature of the education —
provided only, it be education. To use the phrase so pre-
valent last spring, the state pays for results. Catholics,
Church of England, Dissenters, may educate their chil-
dren how they please, use what books they please, employ
what teachers they please ; if the children know how to
read, write, and cipher, the government grant will be
given. Nay, even in preparing to obtain these results, and
in ascertaining their success, they may to a great extent
take their own way. Their training schools for teachers
are assisted, and their inspectors must be of their own
creed.

This system wants, indeed, that superficial appearance of
completeness and uniformity which the Continental systems
present ; but it excels in every element of life, and growth.

1 10 I'he Connection of the State with Education in \ Nov.

and adaptability to the varyinof wants of society. No
government system can have the healthy vitality possessed
by institutions of free growth — men labour not for govern-
mental institutions as they do for those they have them- •
selves created; and above all, in educational institutions
the necessity of adapting a governmental system to diffe-
rent religions and opinions by striking out whatever may
offend any, so deprives it of all character and spirit as to
leave it a negative inanity which excites no enthusiasm,
which enlists no zeal in its service.

It is like the contrast between those branches of trade
which in some countries are carried on by the government,
and the healthy development of unfettered commerce and
free enteiprise.

So strougly has it been felt by those best acquainted
with the subject, and who direct public opinion on it, that
free voluntary action was superior to any governmental
organization in education, that it has been sought to
profit by it, even in cases which, at first sight, would ap-
pear necessarily to involve the action of the state. It is
clearly the duty of the state to educate and reform paupers
and criminals; but as it was found that no state institu-
tions were as effectual as free ones for these purposes,
the system has been adopted of placing young criminals in
reformatories, founded and conducted by individuals, and
to the support of which the state contributes, without in
any way controling their management. So also boards
of guardians have lately been authorised to pay for the
support and education of pauper children in voluntary in-
stitutions. Nay, even in France, experience* has forced
this truth upon the authorities, with regard to reformatories,
and some similar institutions, and Metteray, and similar
places, are voluntary institutions to which the 'state only
contributes.

With regard to intermediate middle schools, the system
of free voluntary action has been even more markedly
followed in England. The state has never founded or
endowed any schools or sought in any way to control
them.*''* All our ancient grammar schools are the creation

* Unless, indeed, the few -schools founded in Henry VIII. and
Edward VI. reigns, out of the property of the suppressed monas-
teries, be looked upon as exceptions. They are, indeed, the only
schools of the sort iu England which may fairly be called state

1862.] England and Ireland. Ill

of private charity ; the state claims no power over them,
gave to see tliat they fulfil the intentions of their founders ;
still less does it attempt to retrulate or control the modern
proprietary schools, such as Cheltenham. And yet none
can say that the great body of our schools do not fulfil
their mission, at least as well as any system of govern-
mental lyceums in any foreign country* In lact, those who
are intimately acquainted with both systems, know that
the healthful competition which exists amongst us, and
the necessity of satisfying so exigent a visitor as the general
})ublic, produces far more intellectual activity and pro-
gress, than exists where all form part of one uniform
routine system, and the only visitor is a government in-
spector, himself reared in the system.

There has indeed been one step taken lately in England
which tends in some degree to bring middle schools under
a general system of inspection, at least as regards their
results ; we mean the system of middle class examinations
and certificates of proficiency ; and there can be little
doubt that this system will progress, and that most pro-
bably the time will come when such certificates will have a
specific value analogous to that of degrees, and be required
from persons desirous of entering the public service or of
practising certain arts. But it is worthy of remark, that
these examinations and certificates have originated with
bodies, (the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge,) by
no means departments of the government, and that they
are purely test^ of results, not in any way regulations as to
the modes of teaching. Oxford and Cambridge, respec-
tively, send forth bands of examiners to the various towns,
and these examine all who present themselves for examina-
tion in certain subjects, and give certificates of proficiency,
but they inquire not how this knowledge was acquired, or
what views on religion, or history, or philosophy, or on
geology, teachers or pupils hold.

The distinction between the state on the one hand test-
ing the results of teaching in the acquisition of knowledge;
and on the other undertaking to teach, or in any way to

foundations ; as even schools of royal foundation though now look-
ed upon as in some sort under the cognizance of parliament, were
originally created simply by the charity of individual sovereigns,
exactly as those endowed by the charity of private individuals.

112 The Connectiojvo/the State with Education in [Nov.

regulate teaching, is of great importance, as it pervades
the whole question, and the tvyo are frequently confounded
in loose reasoning on the subject. In testing knowledge,
all religions and opinions can meet in common, without
any abandonment of their respective convictions : in teach-
ing, this result can only be attained by eliminating all
subjects which involve directly or indirectly any difference
of opinion. An examiner in English history may examine
Catholics, Protestants, and Jevys together, and- judge of
their knowledge, though their views on the subject differ
widely ; a professor cannot teach English history to such
a mixed class without clashing with their different be-
liefs. •"- ^

Coming to the third branch of education, the Superior
or University education ; we find a very peculiar state of
things existing, and one well worth careful study. It has
been the growth of ages, and is, like all old institutions,
of a somewhat complex nature ; and at the first glance not
reducible to any precise system. In France, the Univer-
sity is the pure creation of the State, and under its con-
trol; the State University is the only recognised teaching
body, and its degrees are absolutely required by those who
would embrace any learned profession or art. In England
the two old Universities, we will speak of them first, are
in no sense creations of the State ; their earliest charters
for conferring degrees were granted by Popes ; and the
state has little control over their teaching ; but yet they
are highly privileged corporations, and theiF degrees have
a legal value although they can hardly be said to be in

* This occurs'^constantly in the London university examinations
where the writer has frequently known such questions put, as, *' give
a sketch of the progress of the Reformation in England and its
effects ;^' the answers, which were written by Catholics, differed
toto coelo in their appreciation of the Reformation from those writ-
ten by Protestants, yet obtained as good a place for the writers,
because they showed an equal acquaintance with the subject. On
the other hand, the professor of history in one of the Queen's Col-
leges, stated before the royal commissioners that history had, in fact,
to be omitted from their course, as it was impossible to treat of it
without clashing with the religious convictions of the various schools.
Thus also with ethics, the supporters and opponents of Paley are
equally successful at the London examinations — but a. professor
could not at once teach Paley's system and confute it.

1862.] England and Ireland. 1T3

any case absolutely required for the exercise of any pro-
fession."' So with regard to Medical degrees, the bodies
which confer them were originally voluntary corporations ;
and though the legislature, since it has undertaken to
reguhite the practice of medicine, has, as a consequence,
regulated their mode of granting degrees ; it does not
undertake to dictate their mode of teaching, but merely to
ensure its efficiency. So also with regard to the law;
the Inns of Court were originally voluntary associations
which afforded the public certain guarantees as to the
competency of their members ; and their regulations have
been sanctioned by Parliament, which yet has never under-
taken to establish a uniform compulsory system of legal
education. To sum up ; the Universities, Inns of Court,
and Medical Colleges, were originally self-governing
institutions, founded, endowecl, and privileged, in many
instances by the Sovereign ; whose degrees or certificates
of knowledge originally derived their value simply from
the honour and distinction they conferred ; but gradually
acquired a legal recognition, and became in all cases
useful, in some necessary, for the practice of the learned
professions. The power of fixing the course of teaching
to be followed, and the standard to be attained to for
their acquisition were always vested in the learned cor-
porations themselves ; which were essentially independent
of the legislature, which gave a legal value to their
degrees. As long as the religion of England was one,
there was no inconvenience in these arrangements; for
the degrees of Oxford and Cambridge were equally
accessible to all ; but in the present century, when the
existence of different religions, and their equality in the
eye of the law was recognised, it was found unjust that
degrees should not be equally accessible to persons of
different religion.

Two Church of England Corporations had accidentally
acquired a monopoly of granting distinctions, which were

* Of course in speaking of degrees, we exclude all reference
to Theological degrees ; because the relation of the Universities to
the Cliurch arose when the Church was a totally ditfereut thing
from the State ; and the Church of England is now amalgamated
with the State : they are logically separate, and Parliament as the
supreme body in the Church of England is different from Parlia-
ment as the expression of the State.

VOL. LII.— No. CUK 8

114 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov,

recognised by law, and should therefore be equally acces-
sible to all who were equal before the law. The manner
in which this injustice was remedied is characteristic of
our English system.

In France the Government would have remodelled the
old Universities, eliminated all doctrinal teaching which
was not of general application to all creeds, and created
one general government University, with a uniform mode
of teaching and of granting degi-ees. In England we did
nothing of the sort: we left imtouched the two Church
of England Universities; we created no other teaching
University ; but as the Dissenters had erected several
superior educational institutions for themselves, foremost
amongst which was University College, we determined to
recognise their teaching and give the same value to its
results as to that of the older institutions: but as the
State was about to give a legal value to those degrees it
claimed to fix the mode of examination by which they
should be acquired. This was done by the creation, by
royal Charter in 1837, of the London University ; a purely
examining body which has from that date examined all
who present themselves with certain certificates ; and grants
degrees to such as prove themselves qualified. The Lon-
don University does not undertake to teach, or to regulate
the teaching of the different institutions whose pupils
present themselves at its examination; nay it carefully
avoids, even in laying down the subjects of examinations,
anything like a dictation as to the opinions to be taught:
and for this reason a general statement of the subjects
of examination in moral philosophy has been substituted
by the Senate for an enumeration of certain works of
Butler and Paley ; as the latter might, it was thought,
be looked upon as requiring an assent to the teachings of
those writers. Another fact with regard to the Consti-
tution of the London University is also deserving of pecu-
liar notice. The authorities which founded our older
universitreSjhad been careful to make them self-governing
institutions, and the example was not lost on the states-
men who drew up the Charter of the London University ;
they were careful that the State, in the person of the
sovereign, should as much as possible abdicate all control
over the new institution to be created ; it was to be like
its elder sisters self-governing. The Crown nominated
the first senate ; and retains a limit-ed power of nomi-

1862.] England and Ireland, 115

natliifi: to vacancies in the Senate, and the nomination of
the Chancellor: but there its interference ends: the
senate and convocation govern the university, appoint
examiners and confer degrees. Thus education is left
nbsolutely free and voluntary ; and the state only inter-
feres to ascertain results, and that only through the
medium of bodies wholly independent of government
control. So also with regard to the legal and medical
corporations, the state gives a legal value to their degrees,
but does not interfere with their teaching.

We have thus hastily gone over the system of education
which has existed for centuries in England ; which has
grown with her growth, and strengthened with her
strength ; which is rooted in the affections of her people ;
and has been deliberately sanctioned and perfected by her
statesmen. It is a system of freedom ; and of individual
and voluntary action. The government, or state, has
interfered as little as possible even where it has con-
tributed to the funds for education or given currency to
degrees ; whether it contributed money for the education
of the poor, or stamped with a legal value the degrees of
universities, it has interfered only to ascertain that its
assistance was not thrown away ; it has not undertaken to
dictate the mode of education of the people, ^ And this
free system may challenge a comparison of its results,
with those of any other. It has created noble universities
with an enduring vitality which has outlived centuries of
revolutions: it has covered England with endowed schools
of every class, that are an honour to the country, and one
of her proudest boasts: and in our own days, it has
originated institutions which may vie with the oldest and
proudest; and Bristol and Cheltenham, Stonyhurst, and
CJshaw, may not unworthily rank with Eton and Win-
chester. And if in the class of schools for the poor its
action has not been as widely diffused, and as adequate
to the need, it has done much even in this sphere ; and
with the assistance of the privy council grant, an assis-
tance which leaves its action unfettered, bids fair to supply
England with a system of poor schools as widely spread
as most in Europe; and probably superior to many. If,
on the other hand, we look to those countries in which,
like France, government has undertaken to supply a com-
plete system of edueation for the people; we find, indeed,
an apparent completeness in the scheme, but a radical

116 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nor.

weakness in the execution. The whole system is liable
to be changed at every revolution in the government : not
only are the universities perpetually remndelled (we would
be afraid to say how often the French University has
been radically reorganized since 1800) but the Lyceums
and schools are equally subject to changes destructive of
all vitality ; nay, the very primary schools are remodelled
to suit the views of succeeding and different governments :
education is a lever in the hands of government to be used
for its advantage and shaped to suit its ends ; teachers
are functionaries of the government, bound to promote its
interests and uphold its views ; and the teaching of the
nation varies as the politics of its rulers. That this is not
a fancy sketch will be plain to any one who reflects for a
moment on the history of education in France during the
last sixty years : who remembers all the first Napoleon's
edicts as to the teaching of the Lyceum and colleges ; all
the varying ordinances of the reign of Louis Philippe, and
the orders of the provisional government in 1848, to all
the schoolmasters !of the primary schools of France to
teach their pupils political economy and politics, '^ because
citizens should be instructed in their rights and duties"
(we wonder what '* rights of citizens" are inculcated under
the minister of instruction of Napoleon the Third);""' and
who remembers all the fierce political contests as to the
teaching of the university, when adverse parties made the
chair of history their battle ground. Or if we look else-
where we see universities and colleges in Italy, in Austria,
and Prussia, not to speak of Poland and Russia, closed as
hostile to the government, or remodelled to suit its views.
In a word, whilst our own universities have survived every
revolution, and our schools have remained undisturbed for
centuries, pursuing their peaceful course of progress and
internal development, unshaken by successive changes of

* Whilst these lines are in press the following appeared in the
Paris correspondence of the Brussels Echo du Parlement of the
5th September.

" I learn also that the ministry of public instruction is occupied
with a work which will necessitate a complete remodelling of all tlie
works of instruction employed in the primary schools. The esprit
Najpoleznien is to be introduced in these books under all its forms,
in order that this spirit may be early inculcated on the generation
xyhich will succeed ours.''

1862.] England and Ireland. 117

goveniment: there is not a state-governed university in
Europe which can boast an existence of a century ; nor
a system of state education which has been exempt from
radical change for half that period. One other principle
of English education, intimately connected with its volun-
tary nature, must be remarked, before we quit this branch
of the subject. It is, that religion, and that in a specific
form, is recognised as an essential element in education.

As long as the religion of a nation was one, state insti-
tutions for education could teach religion ; but when
diversity of creed came to be recognised, for the state to
teach any one religion were a violation of freedom of con-
science ; and hence in state systems of education religion
was left out. In France and Belgiuia this is done com-
pletely ; the official teaching does not recognise the exis-
tence of religion ; in Irekind a compromise has always
been proposed ; either the state is to teach ^* the general
principles of Christianity," or the instruction in religion
of the children of different creeds by their own pastors is
to be recognised. But in England religion has ever been
recognised as an essential part of education; and as educa-
tion is voluntary, there is no difficulty in its being religious.
The older institutions, as the universities and endowed
schools, were founded expressly to teach the Catholic
religion ; and as at the reformation, the nation was held to
have decided that the established was the Catholic
religion, they were and are to this day looked upon, as
established Church institutions; and the universities as
peculiarly bound to educate the clergy and support the
interests of^ the Established Church. And to such an
extent is this recognised, that even those who seek to have
the advantage of the universities as regards teaching
extended to Dissenters, do not claim to destroy their
Church of England character. On the other hand, almost
all the other great collegiate institutions have been founded
by professors of different creeds for their own use. Not
to speak of Ushaw, Stonyhurst, and Oscott, Downside,
and others founded by the Catholics for themselves ;
Bristol, Stepney, and others have been erected by the
Dissenters tor their own use ; King's College, Chelten-
ham, Chichester, and many others have b^en created to
promote Church of England education; and University
College is, we believe, the only great college erected
expressly on the principle of eliminating all religious

118 The Connection of the State with Education in |Nor.

teaching. ^^ And this system has been distinctly sanctioned
in the erection of the London University ; each religion
is to have its own institutions to educate its own youth
and bring them up in its own belief; and the university
examiners are to examine _all alike, in the knowledge
required for degrees.

Nor is the religious nature of education less distinctly
recognised in the case of primary schools than in that of
universities, and of collegiate and middle schools. It is
not necessary to quote all the authoritative declarations,
that the system sanctioned by the JPrivy Council is neces-
sarily a religious one. This principle is embodied in its
rules by which religious teaching, of one creed or other,
must be provided in the schools which share in its grants.
As the Vice PresicTent of the Committee of Privy Council
said, ** The religious element underlies the whole system.*'
That religious element is Catholic for the Catholics ;
Church of England for those of the Established Church,
and dissenting for the various dissenters. It is mainly to
uphold this religious character of primary education that
the voluntary element has been kept so prominent; and
that the state confines itself to assisting the different creeds
to educate their own children. We need hardly add that
no other system would be tolerated in England ; not only

* It is also to be observed that University College and other
schools in which no religion is taught, are only day scliools not
residences ; and therefore essentially involve the idea of the pupils
living and receiving a part of their education elsewhere ; in their
families or in residences chosen for them. These institutions are
therefore emphatically for teacJiing certain branches of knowledge,
not for wholly educating jouth. There is not, we believe, in
England, a single instance of a residential college undertaking
the whole education of youth, which is not of some one fixed reli-
gion.

The following are amongst the principal colleges enumerated in
the New Charter of London University, besides the Church of
England and Catholic ones.

*' The Baptist College, Bristol ; Protestant Dissenters College,
Rotherham ; Presbyterian College, Caermarthen ; Lancashire Inde-
pendent College ; Wesley an College, Slieflfield ; Wesleyan Institu-
tion, Taunton j Owen's College, Manchester ; Independent College,
Brecon ; Theological Seminary, Hackney, &c. All distinctly reli-
gious institutions.'' See University of London Charter, 1858.

1862.] England and Ireland. 119

our religious feelings but our love of individual freedom
would resist any other. The secuhir system, as the sys-
tem of state education apart from religion is called,
altliough ably advocated, lias been repeatedly and deci-
dedly rejected. To sum up: English education is essen-
tially free and religious;- nor could it be the latter without
being the former.

But when we cross the channel, wo find, in Ireland, a
wide difference in the whole scheme of education.

There remains not a wreck of the educational institUf-
tions which existed previous to the lleformation. It would
be easy to shew that they were similar to those of Eng-
land ; but they were wholly uprooted and exercised no
influence on those which arose afterwards. ^ Neither were
there, previous to the present century, any institutions for
the Catholics; so that the early history of modern educa-
tion in Ireland relates solely to the institutions founded
for the Established Church. Now there is this peculiarity
in the history of the Established Church in Ireland, that
it never was, in any sense, the Church of the people ; it
was at all times, essentially and purely, a state institution.
The Established Church of England, however much under
the control of the state, became the church of the people,,
and had a life of its own, and an action, however limited,
independent of the state. The Established Church in
Ireland never had ; it was always purely a creation of the
state, a branch of the executive : and its members were
not the nation, they were rather the government or the
governing class. Hence all institutions connected with
the Established Church in Ireland have a peculiarly
governmental character: government is their creator,
their endower, and their ruler. Trinity College, Dublin,
and the Dublin University, were founded by the state in
Queen Elizabeth's reign for the promotion of the state
religion under the direct control of thestate. The endow-
ed schools throughout Ireland were also founded by the
government for the promotion of its views of education
and religion: the few foundations made by individuals of
the governing class, such as Erasmus Smith and Wilson,
were by them distinctly handed over to the state religion
and the state control. ^ And when, later, the Kildare
street schools were instituted, they were recognised as
state schools under state regulations. All these circum-
stances tended to produce in Ireland, especially amongst

120 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nor.

the governing classes, an idea of education totally different
from that existing in England. Education was looked
upon as a duty and a right of the state : and the govern-
ment was tacitly acknowledged to have a right to control
and direct it: for two centuries it was held to be at once
the duty and the right of government to enforce on the
people an education distinctly adverse to their own wishes,
and their own belief; and when this was found hopeless,
and it was at length admitted that they were entitled to
retain their own religion ; it was still held that the state
had a right to control the education they were to receive,
and the dispute was, as to the extent of this control, not
as to its existence.

These circumstances have produced an effect on the
whole tone of feeling of all classes in Ireland with regard
to education, more widespread than a superficial observer
would imagine ; and this feeling influences unconsciously
most persons in that country, in discussions on this sub-
ject. These ideas have also been fostered by the fact,
that from the destruction of all ancient institutions and
the poverty of the people, the state has been called on to
contribute more largely than in England for the purposes
of education, and has come to be considered as having
more right to dictate its nature than in England. Nor
can it be concealed that the foreign doctrines on the sub-
ject of education, of which we have before spoken, have
had considerable influence in Ireland. A small but
powerful section of leading men have fully embraced the
principles of the French doctrinaires, that education is a
department of the state, and have zealously propagated
the doctrine: and the idea has naturally been adopted by
statesmen, always ready to enlarge the bounds of their
own power ; until we constantly hear the question dis-
cussed," what system of education is the fitting one to be
provided for the people of Ireland ?" not " what education
do the people of Ireland choose to have.*' ^'*

* This was strikingly illustrated bj Lord Palmerston's answer
to the deputation which waited on him to ask for a Charter for the
Catholic University ; that is, not for any assistance, but merely for
the recognition by the State of the education provided by Catholics
for themselves. His Lordship answered, " Her Majesty's minis-
ters have made up their minds as to the nature of the education
suitable for Leland : they are firmly convinced that the best system
of education for that country is a mixed system."

1862.] England and Ireland, 121

Now this idea of the state ordaininpr the education of
the nation is peculiarly inapplicable to Ireland. It can be
rational at all, only on the supposition that th^ state is the
very nation itself; and that consequently its decrees are
the expression of the aggregate free will of the people
themselves: but whilst this can never be fiilly the case in
a nution of mixed opinions and religions, it is pecnliarly
untrue of Ireland. There, the people are Catholic, the
government which represents the state is Protestant:
hence for the government to settle their education for the
people of Ireland, is an absolnte tyranny, and the very
destruction of self-government and individual freedom.

But though the leading idea of education in Ireland was
state control, as that in England was free individual
action, freedom always struggled in Ireland against this
tyranny of the state. The Catholics were for centuries the
advocates^and martyrs of free education ; for state educa-
tion was to them proselytism and persecution; and as the
government became more intimately amalgamated with
that of England, the theories of personal freedom adopted
there have made their influence felt in Ireland ; and
whilst even those who claimed freedom of education can-
not quite shake off the idea of a right in the state to con-
trol it, even the most zealous advocates of government
education proclaim their desire to allow of freedom.

Gradually the antagonism between the two principles is
making itself felt ; the two systems are now at issue ; in
every branch of education the struggle is engaged, and it
is necessary that the question at issue should be clearly
iniderstood by Catholics if they are to be successful in the
fight.

We have seen what is the nature of each division of
education in England, how far it is voluntary, and how
far the government interferes. Let us now examine in a
similar manner each branch of education in Ireland.

Fir&t of primary educatiou. The cessation of the penal
laws found the Catholics, and they constitute five-sixths
of the people of Ireland, almost without poor schools, and
unable from their poverty to provide them: a wise- govern-
ment could not hesitate to aid a people to provide that
instruction which would help to make them good subjects:
yet the first attempts failed because the government
attempted to enforce an education which interfered with
the religious conviction of the people. The Kildare street

122 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

scbools, as tliey were called, went on the principle that
the government had a rij^ht (not indeed to impose a reli-
gion on the people bnt) to dictate what semi-rehgious
instruction they should receive: they were a total failure.
At length more enlightened views prevailed, and in 1832,
what is now called the national system was initiated.
Founded by an English statesman ,> the present Lord
Derby, it would be strange if it were ba^ed on the French
ideas, and not rather on those current in England. And
when we examine its first principles we fiiid that they
partook largely of English freedom.

It was to be a "^national system,'^ and therefore accepta-
ble to all the nation, and as the nation consisted of pro-
fessors of different religions, it was not to be adapted ex-
clusively to any one religion — but neither was it to be
adapted to none — ^^it was to be " a system of combined
secular and separate religious instruction,'' in which the re-
ligious instruction was quite as much recognised as the secu-
lar, and distinct instructions were given that whilst "even
the semblance of prosel^tism was to be avoided," fitting
times were to be fixed in which religious instruction should
be given to the children of each religion by their own pas-
tors.''^' And the English principle, of trusting to individual
initiation was also to be carried out; all grants for salaries
were to be grants in aid, conditional on an equal amount
being made up by local resources. Grants were also to be
made in aid of building and repairing schools, and for the
purchase of books, the choice af these being left to the
local managers. The nomination of masters and mis-
tresses was left to the patrons, subject only to their passing
a subsequent examination as to their competency. Gradu-
ally the whole tone of the system has changed. This has
arisen in great part from the poverty of the country in
educational resources, which threw more work and conse-
quently more power into the hands of the central commis-
sion ; but it has been caused also by the active influence
of a certain numberof the commissioners; foremost amongst
whom was the Protestant archbishop of Dublin, Doctor
Whateley, whose beau ideal was a complete system of
state education. This system would, of course, be tinged

* See Lord Stanley's letter, and all the details given in " the
Catholic case statied" by Mr. Kavanagh.

1862.] England emd Ireland. 12S

under such guidance, by a desire to make it as little
Catholic as possible, and by a certain leaning towards a
negative rationalism in religion, or what is sometimes
called ** general Christianity/'* The steps by which the
system was developed were very gradual. The necessity
for local contributions was given up, and the teachers thus
became wholly the paid officers of the board. A central
training school was established, in which teachers were to
go through a brief course of training to qualify them for
examination. At first this was entirely unconnected with
residence or anything like a complete course of education ;
it was merely a short specific training, into which therefore
the question of religious teaching hardly entered. Gradu-
ally this was developed into complete training colleges in
Dublin, undertaking the whole education of the future
teachers, and an education which, as religion was excluded,
was at least not religious, or negatively irreligious. These
were supplemented with similar agricultural colleges at
Glasnevin, equally undertaking the whole charge of the
young, and omitting religion. At the same time the board
undertook to publish, at the cost of the state, a complete
set of educatioiuil works, and to supply them to all schools
under their care, at a price which rendered competition im-
possible, and made the nominal freedom left to the patrons
of using any other book a fiction. Thus gradually was
constructed a complete system of state education, which
entirely superseded the original plan of aiding voluntary
eftbrts in supplying education for the poor. All teachers,
(with very few exceptions), were brought up in the central
schools of the board. Its books were used in all the schools.
All the teachers throughout the country were paid by it,
and depended wholly on it for promotion. It built many
schools, and in these cases retained the appointment of
teachers and the entire management in its own hand.

Of course, in the central training schools the professors
and teachers were wholly dependent on it, as were the
composers of its school-books. And here the peculiar
religious condition of Ireland came in, to aggravate the
evils of this state of things. The education is a state edu-
cation— but the state is Protestant — the people of Ireland
are in the main Catholics — hence at once arose an antag-
onism, modified, but not removed, by the state professing
not to force its Protestantism on the people, and by the
administration being in part conducted by Catholics, AH

124 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

the books were written by Protestants ; many '^ were dis-
tinctly Protestant in their tone and spirit; most of the
managers and teachers in |;he central schools were Protes-
tants, several were converts from Catholicity.

An immense addition yet remained, however, to be made
to the system. The central training schools were indeed
completely governmental institutions, but the local poor
schools throughout the country were under local control ;
if little religious instruction was given in them, the chil-
dren spent the greater part of their time with their families,
and were open to all the usual religious influences and
teaching; the national day schools were teaching, not edu-
cational establishments ; \ they undertook a part, not the
whole of the education of the youth who attended them.
But the Commissioners of National education in Ireland
went a step farther in appropriating to the system the entire
education of the youth of Ireland. They determined to
establish in the different towns what are denominated
model schools. Schools for the education of the middle
classes, schools supplying a fuller course^ of education ;
schools, in part at least, residentiary, and in which there-
fore the entire education and training, moral and religious,
of the inmate must be supplied in the institution, and
schools wholly under the control and management of the
commissioners. The fears of the Catholic prelates were
at once aroused. They saw it was no longer a question of
the partial teaching, but of the entire training of youth,
which was to be vested in the hands of a government natu-
rally indifferent, if not adverse, to the Catholic religion.

They had probably not fully perceived at the commence-
ment, that the adoption of a system of state education
naturally led to these extensions, and that a state educa-
tion could not be religious. In 1832 men had been anx-

* Such as Doctor Watelej's Scripture Lessons, Elements of
Logic, &c.

t Teaching is the instructing in one or more branches of know-
ledge; educating is forming and instructing the whole mind, whether
it be done perfectly or imperfectly. A drawing master or a mathe-
matical tutor '• teaches a lad drawing or mathematics" — he is
'* educated at home or at school.'' Hence mathematical teaching
may be neither religious nor irreligious — education is always either
one or other.

1862.] England and Ireland. 125

ious to soften the religious animosities which existed in
Ireland by bringing up the youth of different religions
together, and hence had adopted the system of ** mixed
education," or, as it was then more correctly expressed,
"united secular and separate religious instruction;" but
to do this a governmental system of primary education had
been adopted, and it had developed its natural results.

The first idea had been, that the state should so control
the secular portion of the instruction given in the schools
as that it should not trench on the religious convictions of
any ; but this had been gradually changed into the state
directing and organizing the whole education. And in the
mean time the primary object of the system had in a great
measure failed to be attained. The country schools were
not mixed schools — in the Catholic districts they were
attended exclusively by Catholics, in the Protestant by
Protestants ;""" whilst the training and model schools were
not institutions in which the secular instruction was united
and the religious separate, but one in which secular in-
struction and training, from which even an allusion to reli-
gion was excluded, was alone given.

Thus, primary and middle education in Ireland became
governmental; there remained superior or university edu-
cation. The Catholics of Ireland had long complained
of their partial exclusion from Trinity College, and the
exclusively Protestant nature of that institution,! and the
late Sir Robert Peel proposed to the government, of which
he was the head, to create institutions which should supply
that university education for the Catholics and Presbyte-
rians of Ireland, which Trinity College furnished to the
Protestants. Unfortunately, the system of a governmental
education had gradually been adopted for Ireland in place
of the plan of assisting voluntary efforts, which had worked
so well in England. AH the leading minds engaged by
the government in organizing education in Ireland, were
thoroughly wedded to the principle of a state education.

* A parliamentary return, 18G2, showed that not more than one
per cent of the country schools were really mixed.

f Catholics and others are admitted to attend lectures, to take
degrees, and to compete for certain honours in Trinity College, but
the whole government and the whole teaching body are exclusively
Church of England.

126 Tha Connection of the State with Education in \ Nov.

and the result was, that it was determined to create insti-
tutions for affordinf^ a state university education. We
constantly, indeed, find allusion in the debates in parlia-
ment of that pei'iod, to the exami>le of the London univer-
sity; but practically its organisation was entirely over-
looked, and the model followed was that of the University
of France. The feelings and religious convictions of the
different creeds were indeed to be conciliated, and it is
manifest from the original instructions of Sir Robert Peel,
which speak of the youth of each religion being under the
control, and attending the institutions of their respective
Deans of residence, that the idea in his mind was that of
bodies of young men, each under a separate religious train-
ing., and jointly attending lectures on purely secular sub-
jects, li lit the carrying out of the scheme was in the
hands of those who had very different objects in view; and
the only plan by which the idea we have attributed to Sir
Robert Peel could have been earned out, — namely, having
separate residential halls or colleges for each religion, in
which the exercises of religion should be carried out, and
a course of instruction in all religious and semi-religious
subjects be followed by the students, whilst they attended
in common all the lectures on secular subjects, and mingled
in all their ordinary avocations, — was abandoned. This
would have involved a certain amount of action being left
to the different creeds, in the conduct of their respective
colleges; and the object of the heads of the government
system in Ireland, was to have no voluntary action, but to
establish a complete system of education, entirely con-
ducted by, and absolutely under the control of the state.
As it was to be adapted to all religions, it necessarily be-
came absolutely negative in regard to religion ; even an
incidental allusion to religion must be avoided, and with
the exception of the existence of the deans of residence of
the different creeds,^ — who have, however, no power or
authority over the students, or share in the direction of the
colleges, — there is not a trace of any religious element.
Hence has arisen their nickname of the " godless colleges,
or, irreligious colleges.'''^ By the use of this epithet it is

♦ We want words in English to express accurately the force of
the Greek alpha privitiva, which is used in Italian and other lan-
guages, expressing simple negation, but not necessarily opposi-

1862.] £Ingland and Ireland. 127

not intended to imply that the individuals constituting
them are irreligious, or that the practice of piety may not,
or does not, flourish within their walls; but that as colleges
they have, and express no opinion on religion ; nay, as we
suppose, they may be attended by Deists or Atheists, and
the opinions of tliese persons are equally to be respected.
The colleges and their mouth- pieces, the professors in their
lectures, must express no opinion on the existen<;e of
Ood.

Such is the necessary result of a state education. A
mixed state has no religion, and its teaching mm have
none. But we must indicate still further the difterences
between the English and Irish systems in regard to uni-
versity education.

In England, as we pointed out, the state left superior
education entirely free, and when it instituted the London
miiversity for the benefit of Dissenters, it left their teacli-
ing entirely to themselves, resei*ving only the right of ex-
amining. But it did more, it vested the powers that it
retained, not in its own nominees, but in an entirely inde-
pendent body, the senate and convocation of the London
university, a body unconnected with the executive govern-
ment. In Ireland the executive government, after the
example of that in France, retains the whole power and
control in its own hands. It not only names the senate
of the Queen's University in Ireland, but it appoints and
removes every professor in the queen's ^colleges.

We have thus gone through the different branches of
education in England and Ireland, and pointed out their
differences. In England primary education is entirely
free, the state assisthig all voluntary efforts, but not shack-
ling them in any way. Intermediate education is still more
free, because entirely voluntary; the state intervening
only to open voluntary examinations-, and announce and
recognise their results. University education is the same,
the state recognising all free institutions, whatever their re-
ligion, and providing a totally independent and unbiassed

tion. "Irreligious" has two meanings; one which would be ex-
pressed by •' areligious,"' simply without religion; the other,
*' irreligious'' in its full sense of " opposition to religion." The
former is the sense in which 'the xjolleges are strictly irreligious
•and godless.

128 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

tribunal for testing their results. And thus the Church of
England, the Catholics, the Dissenters, have each their
poor schools, their grammar schools, their colleges, '''
equally recognised and encouraged by the state, and they
meet on an equality for purely scientific teaching in the
different medical and legal schools. But in Ireland the
case is far different. Here a complete system of state
education is supported. The queen's colleges, the model
schools, the training schools, are purely governmental in-
stitutions; and if a certain degree of free initiation is left
in the primary schools, even there the whole system of
teaching, and all the books used, are regulated by the
government.t The one country has free education, the
other governmental education ; and, as a necessary con-
sequence, the former is religious, the latter destitute of
religion, or areligious.|

i The Irish system is alleged, as we mentioned before,
when speaking of the English, to possess the advantage of
miiformity and wider application ; and brilliant sketches are
drawn of the state, like a careful parent, providing educa-
tion for all her children alike, and covering the country
with a network of schools for all classes. And still greater
stress is laid on the spirit of toleration and charity which
is to arise from educating the young of all religions

* Of course the Church of England has immenselj the advantage,
from having possessian of the old endowments, but this is not the
result of partial legislation at the present day.

t It is to be observed that the Established Church in Ireland
possesses a system of its own, richly endowed in former times by
the legislature, and wholly independent of the government. Trinity
College, the endowed schools and charter schools, and the Church
education schools, form a complete body of Church of England
schools; and hence the new governmental system of education is
for the Catholics and Presbyterians, of whom, of course, the Catlio-
lics form the immense majority. The Established Church in
Ireland, therefore, naturally does not much object to a state of
things which leaves her all her own, and in which the new govern-
ment schools at least do not lean towards any other religion ; she
keeps her own schools, and tries to get as much as she can of the
others, whilst, on the other hand, the Catholics feel it a double
grievance that a system of education, practically for them, should
be directed and governed by a government essentially Proteatantc
X See note before on page 126.

1862.] England and Ireland, 129

together; although on this point there is a good deal of
tinibignity in the argument, and it is not clear whether
its advocates attribute the good effects they foretell to the
i'lict of the youth of different religions living together, or
to the teaching which they receive being devoid of religion,
and therefore calculated to obviate religious differences,
simply by keeping religion itself wholly out of sight.

But with regard to the latter of these merits, it would
appear that the system has practically failed to produce
this millenium of religious toleration. It has been at
work in Ireland now thirty years, and religious animosity
h as rife as over ; whilst in England, where no such com-
pulsory means have been taken to amalgamate them, it is
notorious that the professors of the different creeds live in
far greater harmony ; and whilst most of the poor schools
are practically separate schools, it is just those which are
really mixed which giv.3 rise to ail the embittered religious
controversies ; and the most mixed of the queen's colleges,
that of Belfast, is the one in which religious animosity and
party spirit flourish most.""* Whilst with regard to the
first claim to admiration made for the system, it is to be
remembered that whenever the state has undertaken to
treat its subjects as children, and to fulfil towards them
the duties of a parent, it has ever proved itself a very step-
mother, and that it has come to be a proverb in these
countries, what the state does, it does ill.
I Long experience has taught us that the action of the
state is best restricted to its own sphere, and that the less
it interferes with individual action the better. Our free
limbs will not bear the swaddling clothes of state control,
they would stunt our growth and dwarf our stature ; and
we have abundantly shown that our spontaneous action
founds more enduring institutions, and such as are more
nicely adapted to our wants, than the skill of our legislators
could ever devise.

But the objections to a system of state education are not
only negative ones, its evils are positive as well.

It is not necessary here to enlarge on the gravest objec-

* See the account of the disgraceful exhibition at the visitation
of Queen's College, Belfast, in the spring of 1862, where the Kentish
fire and party and sectarian cries echoed through the halls, even in
the presence of the queen's visitors.

VOL. Lll.— No. CI II, 9

130 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

tion of all in the eyes of Catholics, to the national system
in Ireland, that it is dangerous to their faith. The subject
has been repeatedly and ably treated, every detail has been
clearly explained in Mr. Kavanagh's ** Case Stated ;" the
dangers of the queen's colleges have been well pointed out
by the bishops, and above all Roma locuta est, so that we
may well say for us, causa finita est. But it will not be
useless to point out that this injurious effect of the system
on religion, is not a defect peculiar to the Irish syf-tem,
but is inherent in any neutral system, and of course a
governmental system must be a neutral one.

We often hear of the separation of secular and religious
teaching, and of the desirability of joint instruction in
secular subjects, whilst religion is separately taught. But
in this there lurks a fundamental error, that religion is a
thiug apart, like the knowledge of another language, or a
totally separate science, and that it is to be practised at
certain times, but has no direct connection with other por-
tions of teaching or action; in a word, that we ore taught
our religion only when we are taught our catechism, and
practice it only when we say our prayers. On the con-
trary, religion practically leavens every action of our life
and every branch of our teaching. Prayer should accom-
pany every serious action, and virtue be inculcated on
every occasion. Still more does our religious belief modify
every branch of our teaching. If we could realise to our-
selves Lucretius lecturing on literature, and Cicero on the
history of philosophy, and contrast them with Fenelon and
Bossuet treating the same subjects, we might attain a
tolerable idea of how religious convictions would modify
teaching even on such neutral subjects. The truth is,
there is hardly a matter the teaching of which can be
separated from religion — there is not one which ou^/ht to
be so divided. Pure mathematics are generally selected
as the cheval de bataille of the separatists. ** What,'*' it
is said, ** has geometry to say to religion ?" Much, for it
is essential that when the youthful mind first grasps the
force of mathematical proof, it should be taught that there
are other classes of proofs as unerring as the mathemati-
cal, and that the instrument for the search of truth, which
has just been put into its hand is not the only one. No
more grievous error exists, or more prevalent or dangerous
in modern days, than the undue exalting of mathematical
demonstration ; and who should point this out but the very

1862.] Eiigland and Ireland, 131

teacher who instructs in mathematics? from him tlie lesson
is both o])portiine and impressive, that the proof'ol:' the exis-
tence of Grod is not less certain than that of the hypotennse,
akhough it is different in its nature from the hitter. There
is not a branch of teaching with which religion should not
be interwoven, and whicli will not be differently taught by
persons of different creeds.

It is not alone with reference to those portions of history
in which distinctly rehgious questions occur, that these
differences will arise ; a Catholic will take a different view
of the whole scope of history from a Protestant. Arnold
would have written a very different sketch of universal
history from that which Bossuet wrote, though both were
men of a deeply religious turn of mind. Most of us will
reuiember the splendid passage in Arnold's lectures on
modern history, when he speaks of the fall of Bonaparte,
and traces the hand of Providence in the campaign of
llussia; a Catholic coidd not have written that passage
Wlithout an allusion to his attack on, the Pope, whicli
marked the turning point of his career. None can treat
philosophically of modern history without referring to the
influence of Catholicity and the Popes, nor of ancient his-
tory without contrasting its i<leas with those of Catholicity
— history apart from all reference to religion is reduced to
a bead-roll of dates.

Nor can the classics be adequately taught without allu-
sion to religious truths; the study of Greek and Latin
literature is not a mere acquiring the power of reading two
foreign languages ; their spirit must be entered into and
contrasted, and compared with that of Christian literature.
Who could read Plato with. clever ardent lads, and refrain
from pointing out where natural lights had enabled that
glorious pagan to reach the truth, and where even he had
fallen short? Or who could go through Cicero and not
enlarge on the difference between the full certitude of tho
Christian and his earnest though hesitating groping after
immortality ?* The same may be observed of the study of

* It must be observed that the study of the classics separated
from all sucli references to religious trutli, is really open to all the
charges of Paganism brought against it by the Abbe Gaume and
his followers. In the English universities it has ever been found
that the merely unintentional omission of such correctives has led to
an exoggerated estimate and affection for the classics ; and that,

132 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

every branch of literature ; unless such studies are to be
degraded into the mere parrot power of interpreting ; nay,
a teacher of philosophy itself would hardly adequately dis-
charge his task if he failed to point out tlie new meanings
which Christianity has imparted to the words humilitas,
charitas, religio, sacramentum. Doctor Whateley has
made manifest how the teaching of formal logic will be in-
fluenced by the religious belief of the teacher ; for his work
on the subject contains numerous illustrations of syllo-
gisms constructed against the Catholic belief, in which he
really uses ambiguous middle terms; and no Catholic
professor could lecture on his work without pointing out
those fallacies. Geography must be reduced to a dumb
map, if all allusion is to be avoided to the fruits of Catholic
missions, and Paraguay be blotted out of the map because
we must not offend Protestant susceptibilities by praising
the Jesuits. Nor let it be said that the professor may
allude to all these subjects but refrain from expressing any
opinion on them. • Youth will not accept such silence from
its teachers, were it possible ; and abstention is often in
itself equivalent to assertion. The professor himself would
feel that such a restraint would stunt his teaching, and
make him a mere instrument for conveying facts, not a
teacher and instructor in the truest and noblest sense ;
and the teaching would be a dull abridgment of statistics,
not an elevating and inspiring instruction in knowledge,
cramming the intellect, not forming the mind. Religious
truth is the life and salt of all education, and it is as fatal
to the vitality of education to separate religion from it, as
it would be to give a man saltless food all the week, and
tell him to come on Sunday and eat a peck of salt to sea-
son it.

A system of state education is not only inimical to the
religious element in education ; it also necessarily tends
to the destruction of all free education. Not only is the
state system naturally jealous of any other which might
deprive it of its pupils and rival it in popularity, and tliere-

as it is said, too many, even of the bishops of the Establishment,
form their minds more on Plato and Aristotle than on the Christian
philosophers, and have a keener admiration for Cato and Decius than
for the Christian martyrs. See the Preface to Madan's Juvenal
and Persius.

1862.] England and Ireland. 133

fore tries in every indirect way to depress other institu-
tions ; but it has all the power and wealth oF the state to
support it in the struggle. The government will not allow
its schools to be excelled in material advantages by any
free schools ; it has undertaken to supply education, and
it will supply it of the best at whatever cost : and therefore
to speak, as men so often do, of voluntary institutions
being perfectly free to compete with the governmental
schools is mere folly. As well might the government keep
up a splendid manufactory of cotton in Lancashire, at the
public cost, where the goods were given away or sold at a
nominal price ; and then say that the Lancashire manu-
facturers were quite free to compete with the government
factory."'^" The ex-king Lewis of* Bavaria understood free-
dom in this sense, when he undertook to publish a news-
paper for his subjects, which was to cost his government
many thousands a year, but at the same time graciously
announced that any private newspaper proprietors were
free to compete with it *' if they could." No, there can
be no fair competition between the state and individuals:
the free schools are inferior in every resource which should
insure success, save one. The government schools have
wealth, influence, and legislative favour ; their opponents
have for them only the indomitable spirit of freedom, and
its constant companion, the religious spirit. State con-
trol, however favourable, is the blight of religion ; freedom
is its life : and in return it vivifies and strengthens the
spirit of freedom ; and with their aid alone have we seen
free education sustaining the unequal battle in every state
of Europe ; and if often oppressed and smothered, yet
never finally subdued ; and often victorious over its
favoured antagonist. For state favour and control gra*
dually numb and waste the life and vigour of literature as
they do of religion. Josephism in Austria was not less
destructive to learning than it was to piety : and the Par-
liamentary inquiry into the state of education in France,

* To take one branch alone. The Queen's Colleges in Ireland
cost the state £30,000. a year, without speaking of the cost of erec-
tion : to say then that it is open to private enterprise to compete
with them, is to say that it is open to private enterprize to com-
pete in the sale of an article by the sale of which the state loses
£30,000. a year,

13 i The Connection of the State with Education in |Nov.

in the last^ years of the reign of Louis Philh'ppe shewed
that superior education was at a lower ebb in that country,
where it was completely managed by tlie state, than in
ahnost any other country of Europe. Were all competi-
tion with the state schools in Ireland overpowered, and
the whole teaching of the country monopolised by that
system which is nowgraspiug at it, the same results would
follow : fortunately for education and learning that result
can never be attained : most fortunately it has arrayed
against itself both religion and freedom, and the free
schools will never succumb in the struggle. But that is
no reason why we should continue to force them to sustain
an unequal contest. It is true the free schools will never
be wholly overpowered, but the disadvantage at which
they are forced to contend, and by the funds abundantly
supplied to their rivals, stunts their growth and checks the
literary development of the country. Nor should a states-
man overlook the danger of even a partial defeat of the
free schools. If their comparative poverty reduce them to
inferiority, the whole growth of education in the country
will be checked. We say nothing of the striking injustice
of making the tax payers of the country pay for the sup-
port of schools to rival and oppress those which they volun-
tarily support. An injustice the more dangerous because
it is a legislature mainly Protest;int which enforces the
support of schools which they disapprove of on a mainly
Catholic people.

There is another consideration which should not be
without its weight with an enlightened English statesman.
It is that the spirit fostered by a system of state education
is antagonistic to all our free institutions. Our practical
freedom and spirit of self-government are due in a groat
measure to the little action wiiich our government exer-
cises on the affairs of life, and to the small number of per-
sons in the nation connected with the Government. In
France a clever statistician has calculated that rather
more than one in every three adult males is in some way
connected with the Government."* The Government
undertakes to do everything, from organizing commerce

* As soldier, gendarme, custom's oflScer, government emploje, or
retailer of articles of government monopoly appointed by govern-
ment, &c.

1862.] England and Ireland. 135

to repairing a Church steeple. The consequence is that
tlie Grovernment is the be all and end all of everythinar,
the powor to which everyone looks for everything, and all
personal freedom is gone ; whilst revolutions become more
easy and more desired. In England, on the contrary, the
executive exercises only the great public functions of
government; it has few offices or I'jivonrs to bestow, few
men look to it for advancement ; what men wish or seek
for they seek from themselves, their neighbours, or the
local institutions; and thus independence and self-reliance
have become peculiarly English qualities.
^ But a great and universally diffused system of Govern-
ment education is a deadly and insidious enemy to this
spirit. All its functionaries, from the highest to the low-
est, are the ministers of the Government; to it they look
for personal advantages and for aid in their task ; it is
their Dens ex machiiia, the benificent genius to which
they look for all good : its decrees are sacred in their eyes,
its opinions all wise, its judgments infallible. Stateolatry
is a creed, as every one knows who is acquainted with the
functionaries in our public offices. It is not only the
T'ites and the Barnacles, the Tapers and the Tadpoles,
who believe in the omniscient wisdom of Government, it
is the creed of all the clerks in the public offices. And
we can assure our readers, from a tolerably large acquaint-
ance with all classes of persons connected with government
education in Ireland, that such feelings are in full force
amongst them. The higher ranks look to Government
commissions for the encouragement of literature ; immor-
tality for them means a literary pension : the lower orders
hope for increased salaries, anS dream of government
clerkships; all worship Government as their fetish, and
are the unconscious apostles of bureaucracy and centrali-
zation.*'** Unfortunately from the greater poverty of the

* We will stake our reputation for accuracy on a very simple
test: let any one of our readers go into a national school, and
after a little conversation with the cleverest lad in it, find out
what his highest aspirations are : we will answer for it they wilt
be found to be a Government clerkship or an appointment in the
Post Office. Let him also try a Queen's College, and ten to one,
the goal of the student's ambition will bo found to be a cadetship
in the constabulary, a clerkship in cue of the public offices, or a
Government appointment in India.

136 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

country, and the smaller number of employments offered
by private enterprize, this tendency to look to Government
employments as the goal to be sought after is much more
common in Ireland than in England; but the Government
system of education tends immensely to foster it, and to
destroy the spirit of independence and self-reliance on
which our freedom depends. And these results, the
eliminatiou of religion from all education, the destruction
of all free teaching and free literature; and the cultiva-
tion of a slavish spirit of cringing reliance upon Govern-
ment, we are tending to at the cost of a large and yearly
increasing expenditure ; an expenditure the probable
increase of which is enough to alarm the boldest mind ;
for it is not to be measured by its present extent. The
probable amount to which the Privy Council grant in
England might swell startled statesmen not professed
economists. But when the contribution of the State is
restricted to assisting primary education there is an ascer-
tainable limit to its increase: we can calculate the num-
ber of poor children in the country, and allow so much a
head. But the task which the state has commenced iu
Ireland is far different : it has begun to supply educatiou
for the whole nation. Step leads to step : middle has fol-
lowed primary, superior has followed middle education ;
and legal, medical, mining, nautical, and artistic are gra-
dually added ; if the system be not checked there can be
no limit to the expenditure but the whole intellectual re-
quirements of the nation.

The system is calculated to destroy by unfair competi^
lion all other educational establishments: it must then
supply their place, and a^ educational establishments are
the great foci of literature, it will gradually become the
sole patron, the sole encourager of literature. The national
school books have all but annihilated all other literature
of the same class ; the example will be followed ; the only
historians, the only writers on classics and on science will
be the professors who teach their own works in the State
Colleges.

Are statesmen prepared for such a gigantic expenditure
for such purposes ? if not, let them take warning in time.
Growth is the natural law of all institutions, and growth
is essentially gradual, and therefore unnoticed. It is vain
to hope that a system once inaugurated will cease to
develope : or that the legislature will effectually control

1862.] England and Ireland. 137

that growth whilst the system remains unchanged. Every-
one knows, how an item, once entered on the estimates,
increases year by year, by what appears to be a universal
law. and the development of tlie different branches of the
national schools is a weighty lesson. Training schools,
agricultural schools, model schools, classical schools"''" have
been added bit by bit, imperceptibly but surely, and whilst
the system exists it will follow the law of its nature and
grow. If statesmen are not content to allow of this
growth and its consequent enormous future expenditure,
they must remodel the system, everything else will be but
a momentary check.

But if the system of state assistance to education in
Ireland is to be modified in the interest of freedom of educa-
tion it becomes a most important question how this may
be done, so as to retain what is good of the present sys-
tem ; to allow of religious instruction without opening a
door to proselytism or fostering religious hate ; and to
limit the demands on the funds of the State to assisting
those to obtain education who are unable to provide it for
themselves. This is a practical question and therefore to
some extent oud of expediency ; but of expediency with-
out a sacrifice of principle. In stating our views we claim
of course for them no authority whatever: they are but
the suggestions of one who has thought much on the sub-
ject. On the religious part of the question all Catholics
are of course agreed ; for there, authority has spoken ;
we also believe that almost all Catholics are unanimous,
that their religious rights will be best secured by freedom ;
and if our reasoning be correct^ freedom is the object to
be aimed at by every wise statesman in this country.
When we say that the question to some extent is one of ex-
pediency, we mean that as prudent men will rather strive
to reform institutions than to abolish them and construct
new ones ; it is not a question of what would theoretically
be the best plan to adopt were we now beginning; but
what modifications had best, practically, be made in the
existing system to adapt it to the wants of the country.
There are two modes of securing freedom of education

* A " special class" for classics was added to the Dublin school
last year, and a voto for classical masters in the model schools pro-
posed but withdrawn for a time.

338 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nor.

proposed and advocated. One is to leave all the state
schools ill possession of the state funds, but to give them
no special privileges, and to allow free schools erected by
voluntary subscriptions to compete with them, giving the
students from each equal degrees and lionours on passing
common examinations. This plan, derived from France,
has been loudly vaunted as a plan of perfect freedom by
some government officials of education,*"' and has obtained
the unwary api»robation of several Catholics ; it is the plan
of those who advocate the grant of a charter to the Catho-
lic university, but support the queen's colleges ; and of
those who would maintain the model schools, but encou-
rage free schools in the same towns. It cannot be too
often and too clearly repeated that this is no system of
freedom at all — it is the destruction of all freedom, and
is all but persecution. As we have before pointed out,
there is no freedom where the state takes one side, there is
no open competition where the state pays one competitor ;
there is no justice where the stifte taxes the subject to sup-
port one institution, and then allows him to tax himself a
second time to support another ; as well say at once that
there is perfect equality in Ireland between the state reli-
gion and all other religions ; the Catholic and the Pres-
byterian are compelled to pay the Protestant rector first,
and are then h*ee to pay their own pastor. As well have a
state religion, and then proclaim that the state treats all
religions alike; as have a state education, and then say
that the state puts all systems of education on an equality.
Far better indeed; for the endowments of the Established
Church date back for centuries, and she may with some
show of reason claim them as her property ; the endow-
ments of this new state education are each year drawn from
the pockets of the tax-payers. And it must be also re-
membered that this is a double injustice. The state has
already provided, out oF the resources of the nation, a
costly system of state education. Trinity College and all
the endowed schools are a system of state education en-
dowed with national funds; to provide a nevv system, out
of the same funds, and leave the great majority of the

* By Sir Robert Kane, president of the Queen's College, Cork,
in a paper read before the Social Science Congress in Dublin in
1861.

1862.] England and Ireland, 139

nation, who reject both, to provide a third at their own
cost, is an injustice as gross, as though the legislature
having first endowed a Protostaut Church Establishment,
were next to endow a schismatical Catholic Church, and
leave the orthodox Catholics, after paying for both, to sup-
port their own pastor by a third contribution.'^ When
Catholics, who are advocates of free education, adopt or
advocate this compromise, they are in fact abandoning
their own cause ; they are, perhaps unconsciously, giving
up the battle to their opponents, and conceding in principle
all that they claim. It may be true that free education,
especially iii Ireland, where freedom is the only guarantee
for religion, would not be defeated in the unequal contest,
but that is no reason why it should be condemned to
undertake so unfair a task. Nor should we even be too
confi'lent of the perfect success of the better element ; the
power and influence of the state are great, and will naturally
be all exerted in favour of its own protege ; the strength of
free Catiiolic education in Ireland consists, in good part,
in the faults of the government schools, but these may un-
dergo specious modifications which, Vi^ithout changing their
nature, will weaken opposition ; above all, when we aban-
don a principle, we half disarm ourselves; if we strive for
free education, let us grasp the full idea of freedom, and
accept nothing less. '* If the trumpet give forth an uncer-
tain sound, how shall men prepare themselves for battle?"
to tamper with the true principles of education confuses
men's minds; it becomes a question of degrees and dis-
tinctions, and men lose sight of the true merits of the
question.

The other plan which aims at securing true freedom of
education by limiting the action of the state to its proper
functions is the only effectual one. It proceeds on the
principle that the duty of the state is (as it does in England)
to assist all education but to enforce n'o system of its own.

* Tlie only ground on wliicli the sjstem of state endowment of
education could be defended, would be that the immense ma-
jority, amounting practically to the whole of the nation, wished
jt. But all admit tliat a very large portion, certainly a majority,
of the Catholics, and a considerable portion of tlie Protestants,
object to it. A majority would not have a right to tax a large
minority for their exclusive benefit — much less has a minority a
right to tax a majority.

140 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

— to aid all but to dictate to none— to hold an equal balance
between all, to favour none — above all, neither directly nor
indirectly, to promote any monopoly. To determine how
this may be done, we must examine each branch of educa-
tion separately, considering what exists in this country,
and be guided by the example of England, and whatever
is applicable in the system of France and Belgium, dis-
tinguishing carefully what is essential to the principle and
what is accidental — the latter may be modified, the former
never.

First, of the primary or poor schools. Many of those
whose authority is highest on the subject, have claimed
the entire application of the English system to Ireland,*
and it would no doubt be the fullest carrying out of the
principle of free education, and if attainable in its entirety,
certainly desirable ; but there may be practical difficulties
in the way which deserve consideration. The English
system is founded in great part on the principle of supple-
menting local efforts, and making the amount of the grant
depend on the amount of local contributions. In Ireland,
partly from the poverty of the population in many parts of
the country, and partly from the habit of relying wholly on
government aid, engendered by thirty years of the present
system, the schools are, and probably for many years would
be far more dependent on the government grant than they
are in England ; in fact, practically, the teachers are
wholly paid by the board.

This fact, of course, gives the state a claim to interfere
rather more with the education given, than it does in
England ; it may fairly claim that those schools which are
supported wholly by the public funds, should be available
to all without religious differences. There is also the fact
that in many districts the rich are of one religion, the poor
of another; the state is therefore bound to see that no
schools supported in part by public funds, are turned into
engines of proselytism. But with these two limitations the
state has no right to enforce any system, or to exclude any,
from a sliare of the common funds. Catholics, Presby-
terians, and Protestants, are equally entitled to assistance
in educating their own children in their own creed.

The principles, therefore, of the changes required.in the
present national system are easily ascertained.

* See Letter of the Irish bishops to Mr. Cardwell.

1862.] England and Ireland. 141

' First, all proselytism, or, in the words of Lord Stanley,
" even the suspicion of proselytism " must be effectually
prevented. For this purpose the guarantees which existed
previous to what is known as the *'Stopford rule," must be
re-enacted, and any further rules made which may be found
necessary for this purpose.

Secondly, in schools attended exclusively either by Pro-
testants or Catholics, and supported to an extent, sa.y of
one half, by voknitary subscriptions, no distinction with
regard to religious teaching should be enforced as a condi-
tion of receiving government assistance.

The members of any religion who undertake to educate
the children of their own creed at their own expense are
fully entitled to a share in the public grant, subject only to
the condition, as in England, of the education given being
a good one, to be ascertained by inspection and examina-
tion. But where funds are subscribed to organise schools
for the bringing up of children in a religion other than that
of their parents, in other words, for proselytism, they have
no claim to state assistance.''^' And no schools attended
by children of different religions, however nominally neu-
tral, can be excluded from the category of proselytising
schools, if in it any religious teaching is given, any reli-
gious exercises followed, or any books of instruction used
which have a sectarian bias. In a word, no school could
be sanctioned by the board for the education together of
children of different religions which was not entirely under
its own control, but schools for the education of children
of one religion should be left quite free as to religious in-
struction.

Thirdly ; as a consequence of what we have laid down,
no restrictions should be enforced as to the religious books
to be used in the assisted schools, except as to their
literary goodness.

The Board now nominally allows the use of any books ;
but practically enforces the use of its own, by giving them
at a reduced price: this should be remedied by making
the grant for books and school requisites a fixed sum.

* Such, for instance, as a school directed by Cathohcs, attended
by Protestants, where the htany of the Blessed Virgin was sung,
or a school frequented bj Catholics where the Protestant Scriptures
were read.

142 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

estimated iii money to be taken out either in tlic Board's
books, or in any other approved ones. Of course the
Board would have a right in the case of the assisted
schools to make this grant conditional on the addition of a
proportionate sum from the voluntary funds.

Fourthly, there remains the question of training schools.
The simplest and the best way of dealing with this part
of the question would undoubtedly be the English; leaving
it to each religion to provide training schools for their
teachers, and assisting them to do so by grants. This is
the only really satisfactory solution; but should this not
be attainable in Ireland, it remains to be considered what
changes are absolutely necessary in the present system.
One broad distinction founded on principle may guide us
in this enquiry. It is this : that whilst one or more
branches of teaching may be conducted in classes com-
posed of different religions, or by teachers of opposite
creeds ; no mixed institution can be satisfactory, which
undertakes the whole education of youth: the reason is
clear. Religion may be disconnected from the teaching
of mathematics or languages (we have shewn however that
it is most difficult to do so) it cannot be left out of a
scheme of education without fatal results. Hence all men-
sal schools or colleges*-'" on the mixed principle are radi-
cally and irredeemably wrong ; nor can Catholics safely
frequent them ; whilst they may, under certain conditions,
attend individual courses of lectures in mixed institutions.
If then it be considered requisite to train the future
teachers together in certain branches of secular learning,
the training schools should be only institutions from whence
they should attend certain courses of lectures; and be
supplemented by mensal colleges, equally aided by grants,
for the different religions; in which the future teachers
should reside, receive instruction in those many branches
of education which cannot be separated from religion,
and be trained in habits of practical piety and religion.
!Nor would such a system at all detract from the advan-
tages said to arise from the mutual intercourse of youth

* Schools or Colleges in which the students reside ; as being
those which undertake tlie whole training of the mind and habits
of the student; in opposition to institutions which they only fre-
quent to attend particular lectures.

1862.] England and Ireland. 143

of different religions. That intercourse is in the lecture
hall, the examination room, and their recreations; and
Catholics and Protestants will not feel less kindly towards
each other, because they have each said their respective
prayers in the morning, or learned their catechisms, before
they uieet to contend in hiendly rivalry in science or at
cricket. The contrary can be held only by those who
believe that religion is destructive of charity ; and that to
make men tolerant we must make them indifferent.

This is so prevalent an error, and the cause of so much
confusion in discussions on the subject of mixed educa-
tion, that it is worth while devoting a few lines to it. It
is constantly alleged that the great merit of mixed edu-
cation is the bringing together persons of different reli-
gions, and by associating them in common pursuits,
leading them to think kindly and charitably of each other,
and thus sowing the seeds of future good will : and it is
tacitly insinuated that this is so desirable an object, that
it is worth while to sacrifice to it as much as may safely
be done of religious teaching. But would this softening
intercourse take place in the study of subjects which in-
volve religions differences, or from which the mention of
religion has been violently excluded ; or in religious exer-
cises in which no common action is possible? Or does it
require the negation of differences of religious belief; or
the suppression of habits of practical and therefore sepa-
rate religion? No. The kindly intercourse, the neutral
good offices must stand on really neutral ground ; in
common games, and examination, whilst each retain
unimpaired, their religious convictions and religious prac-
tices ;"'^* and each will prove grounded in good will in pro-
portion as they are imbued with the teaching of that
religion from whose teaching they have learned it. Heli-

* In the debate on education in Ireland in the Spring of 1862,
Mr. Whiteside drew a touciiing picture of Protestant and Catholic
youths singing together in the Dublin University Choral Society ;
but how little did tliis justify the conclusion which he drew that
it was necessary to produce this harmony that they should both
attend lectures by Protestant professors in Trinity College 1 Their
voices would, on the contrary, harmonize the better in tlie songs of
the evening, if each had sung their own religious hymns in the

14-1^ The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

gion, not indifferentism, is the source of brotherly love :
nor can Charity be separated from Faith* Of course
what we have said of the regular training schools for
teachers applies also to such exceptional training estab*-
lishnvents as the Albert Agricultural School.

To pass to the second branch of education, Middle
Schools, under which head come the provincial Model
Schools: the objections of principle which we have shewn
apply to all mensal schools apply to them ; as well as all
those gave objections as regards Catholics (for whom they
are mainly intended) urged against them by the bishops
of Ireland, and which have caused their definitive and
formal condemnation. For us to urge these objections
would be superfluous: we could not hope to do so as
forcibly as the bishops ; and our words would lack the
authority of theirs. Our readers are well acquainted with
them ; and like ourselves fully adopt them. In point of
fact even a brief review of what has been said before will
show that it is impossible for the state to organise a good
system of intermediate education. It must necessarily be
a complete education, and that for youth of an age and a
degree of instruction which peculiarly requires a thoroughly
solid religious education, and a state" of mixed religions
has necessarily no religion. The model schools are based
on an erroneous principle, and must be abolished ; practi-
cally they are so, to a great extent, as they are abandoned
by Catholics, that is, by the mass of the population. Nor
would their cessation be a subject of regret, or leave a
vacuum in education in Ireland. In England voluntary
efforts provide sufiicent intermediate schools, and there is
abundant reason to believe that such would very soon be
the case in Ireland also, even if it be not fully so as yet.
The model schools are intended to supply a more extended
education than the ordinary national schools, for the mid-
dle classes in the large towns ; and it was last year pro-
posed to add a classical tutor to each.'"* Let us see what
provision already exists for supplying such education in the
towns where the commissioners have created model schools,
and where it may therefore be presumed they are most
wanted. In Derry a model school has been erected.f In

See Report of Commissioners of national education,
t Not one single Catholic attends this school.

1862.] England and Ireland. 145

that town the Church of Eiighmd has a diocesan school,
the Roman Catholics have a Christian Brothers school for
boys, a Sisters of Mercy "Benefit School" for the middle
classes of girls. In Sligo a model school has been estab-
lished. There are in Sligo, for the Church of England,
classical and commercial schools, a Church-education
school, and a diocesan school two miles from the town.
The Independents have a school of their own. The
Catholics have a classical and commercial school con-
ducted by the Marist Brothers, and a middle and board-
ing school for girls, conducted by the Ursuline nuns,
besides the ordinary schools conducted by the last named
nuns and by the Sisters of Mercy. Omagh has a model
school."''' The Protestants there had a good classical and
commercial school, but it has been ruined by the compe-
tition of the model school, and is closed. The Catholics
have a Christian Brothers school and a classical school for
boys; and for girls, a boarding and day school for the
middle classes, conducted by the nuns of the Loretto con^
vent. In Enniscorthy a model school has been built, but
never yet opened. Plere the Church of England is pro^
vided with an Erasmus Smith's endowed school, and the
Catholics with two Christian Brothers schools and a clas^
sical and commercial school. The reader will remark that
in each of these cases we have enumerated only those schools
which supply precisely the class of education the model
school is intended to furnish, and have omitted the ordi-
nary poor schools which exist in each place. We might
go through the whole list of model schools, and show that
in each town voluntary action has provided the education
they offer; and that, in fact, as in the case of Omagh, they
are only injuring free schools by unfair competition. This
is bitterly felt by the managers of the Established Church
intermediate schools in the different towns ; for, as very
few Catholics attend the model schools, their scholars are,
of course, chiefly taken from those who would otherwise
support the Established Church existing schools ; and
when we find the son of the mayor of Derry profiting by
the gratuitous education supplied by the state in the model
school, we can well understand the complaint of the mas-
ters of the endowed grammar schools, that the pupils who

♦ There are not six Catholics attending this school.
VOL. LII,-No..CIU. XO

146 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

should pay for education in their schools, receive a free
education in the others. The model schools are a heavy
charge to the state, an injury to the free schools they
unduly compete with, and an insult to the Catholics, and
should be at once given up.

Lastly, we come to the important question of university
education. The reader will bear in mind the brief sketch
we gave of its history in Ireland. A richly endowed sys-
tem of university education existed for the Established
Church ; fair play demanded that Catholics should not be
excluded from degrees, or forced, in order to obtain them,
to enter a university exclusive in its governing and teach-
ing body. But the government went further and outstep-
ped the precedent of England ; it was thought that the
Catholic body""' in Ireland were too poor to provide superior
education for themselves, and this was an error shared by
the Catholics themselves, and consequently the govern-
ment undertook to do so. But that it was an error to
think the Catholics were not able to provide university
education for themselves has been abundantly proved.
They have subscribed for the purpose of erecting the Catholic
university as larsre a sum as was raised in England to
found London University College, and the annual sub-
scriptions are larger. It is therefore clear that had the
state confined itself, as in England, to erecting a central
examining body, and recognised the colleges founded and
maintained by the different bodies, the Catholics would
have provided for themselves an education at least equal,
if not superior, to that given by the queen's colleges ; and
there is every reason to believe that the wealthy and inde-
pendent Presbyterians of the north would have founded
and supported a college in Belfast no ways inferior to the
Queen's College there. Another error, shared in 1846 by
many Catholics, was the idea that a state establishment
for education could, in a country of mixed religion, ever be
one satisfactory to the different creeds. They talked of

* In speaking of those for whom the queen's colleges were in-
tended, as the members of the Established Church were already
provided for, we may fairly consider them as mainly intended for
the Catholics, since the Presbyterians are a small minority of tlie
population, and did not entertain the same objections to Trinity
College which the Catholics did.

186 2. "I England and Ireland, 147

guarantees against proselytisni, and did not perceive that
education must be religious, and that a state education in
such a country necessarily involved the omission of all
religion. Hence the queen's colleges were founded on two
capital errors — that they could satisfy the various religions,
and that the state should supply university education in-
stead of leaving it voluntary; and the queen's university
in Ireland, which is but the aggregate of the colleges,
shares all their radical defects, and in its present form can
never fill the place held in England by the London Uni-
versity. That university is wholly unconnected with any
of its affiliated colleges, and therefore impartial to all ;
were other colleges affiliated to the Queen's University
they would be but its step-children, the three queen's col-
leges its favoured offspring; nay, were it even removed from
all more immediate connection with those colleges than
with any other, it could never be looked upon as impartial,
as long as it is the creature of the state, which is also the
founder and maintainor and governor of the Queen's Col-
leges.

These colleges were founded on an erroneous principle —
they are the embodiment of state education, as antagonistic
to free education, and as long as they remain unchanged
in principle, however modified in detail, there can be no
freedom of education in Ireland. The one is as incom-
patible with the other as bounties are with free trade.
And Catholics, above all, should remember this, for it is
they who are peculiarly concerned in the question. They
should remember that it is they who are taxed to support
one system of education, whilst they are ironically told
that they are free then to pay for another. And they
should remember that those who advocate the grant of a
charter to the Catholic university, whilst they support the
queen's colleges are not the advocates of free education —
are not supporters of equality and fair play — are not de-
manding equal right and equal justice for religious educa-
tion, but are supporters of a favoured state education, the
advocates of protection, and only just shrink from enforc-
ing monopoly. This cannot be too clearly enforced, for
unfortunately too many of those who strove for an absolute
monopoly of university honours in the hands of the
government colleges, as long as there was a chance of its
being maintained, now loudly proclaim that they are advo-
cates of perfect freedom and equality. Let the queen's

148 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nor.

colleges only retain the monopoly of state endowment, and
they will share with others the hononrs of degrees. Again
we repeat, this is no free trade, it is only the scheme of
monopolists, driven to content themselves with the most
extreme protection."-'

The qnestion then divides itself into two branches ; first,
what system of conferring university honours and decrrees
should be adopted in Ireland in order to put the educa-
tional^ establishments of all religions on a footing of perfect
equality; and secondly, in carrying out such a scheme,
what should be done with the queen's colleges? There is
indeed a plan to put the different colleges on an equal
footing, which has, we believe, found favour with some
Catholics, advocates of free and Catholic education ; it is
that the state should endow, not only the mixed colleges,
hut also the Catholic one, and thus Trinity College, the
Queen's Colleges, and the Catholic University, would
equally receive support from the public funds. It is almost
minecessary to discuss this proposal, as it is almost certain
not to be acceded to by the government, and a government
grant is manifestly not necessary for the support of the
Catholic University. But we confess there are other ob-
jections to the scheme which have far greater weight with us.
The gifts of the state are always bonds — she endows but to
control, and the price of her favours is the surrender of
liberty. Both theory and practice demonstrate the fatal
effects of state control — free life and action are the very
soul of literary institutions — government control, however
light or judicious, cramps their expansion and dulls their
zeal, and at the same time deprives them of that popular
sympathy and voluntary support which is their most valu-
able inheritance ; we need hardly add that government in-
terference is always dangerous to religion.

* Sir R. Kane, in his paper referred to before, put forward this
protective scheme under the name of freedom, and advocated the
endowment by the state of mixed colleges, to the exclusion of all
others, on very singular grounds. *' There are," said he, *• many
Catholics who wish for a religious, or exclusive education — let them
be free to provide it, and as they are zealous, they will be sure to
find the funds ; but there are other Catholics who prefer a mixed
education, and as they will not provide the funds to maintain such
institutions, the state should provide them for them." We are not
:exaggerating — this was exactly his argument.

1862.] England and Ireland. 149

Returning, then, to the question, what system should be
ndopted in conferring degrees and university honours in
Irehuid, so as to put all religions and educational systems
on a footing of perfect equality ; we start with the principle
that the duty of the state is simply to test results, and
stamp with its authoritative sanction in the shape of a
degree, a certain amount of knowledge wherever acquired.
There are at present two institutions in Ireland which have
this power, the Queen's University and Dublin University;
and it is proposed to place the Catholics who do not choose
to frequent either, on an equality by granting the power
of conferring degrees to the Catholic University. This
would be no more than justice to them, and would place
them in a fair position. But there are great practical diffi-
culties in the way, arising from the fact that any other
voluntary institution, equally well organised, which might
be got up, would have an equal claim to be recognised,
and that the whole tendency of modern legislation with
regard to degrees has been to concentrate and render uni-
form the power of granting degrees rather tlian to multiply
the institutions so empowered, and this because laxity in
granting degrees, and confusion as to their value have arisen
from the clashing systems of granting them in different
institutions."' Hence it is clear that the plan, which will
in all probability be adopted for Ireland will be that of
one uniform central system of examination by a body
wholly independent of, and unconnected with the different
colleges, and as much as possible independent of the exe-
cutive government ; and the existing state of things pre-
sents great facilities for the execution of such a scheme.
There are at present, as we have said, two bodies which
have the power of granting degrees, the Dublin University
and the Queen's University ; the latter grants degrees only
to the students of the three queen's colleges, and is in fact
bound up with these colleges; the latter grants degrees only
to the students of Trinity College Dublin, and practically
is identified with this, its only college. But it must be
borne in mind that the Dublin University is hi theory, and
in essence a separate thing from ** the College of the holy and

* An instructive example of this is the case of medical degrees
when it was found necessary to consolidate the different systems of
granting them by the late act.

150 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov,

Undivided Trinity, near Dublin/' (or Trinity College)."""
The latter is essentially an establisliinent of the Estab-
lished Church, it educates its clergy, it supports its princi-
ples, it admits indeed Catholics and Dissenters to its schools,
but its training is, and ought to be, essentially Protestant.
But Dublin University, as an examining body, has no
such necessarily exclusive nature ; two functions indeed it
exercises which strictly regard the Chinch. It confers
degrees in divinity, in that Church, and it elects a member
of parliament who, being elected exclusively by members
of that Church,! is looked upon as the representative in the
United Parliament of the Established Church of Ireland;
in any change, therefore, which would widen that univer-
sity, it is clear that these two functions should be reserved
to the members of the Established Church, or, in other
words, to its College of the Holy Trinity. Dublin Uni-
versity has, therefore, no more a necessary exclusive con-
nection with Trinity College, than the Queen's University
has with the colleges of Cork, Belfast, and Galway. The
true plan then would be to create one Irish university, in
which both the Dublin and Queen's University should
merge, and in which Trinity College, Cork College, Bel-
fast College, Galway College, the Catholic University
College, and any other college, if such arise worthy of the
rank, should be represented, and which would grant degrees
to the students of all alike.

Such a university would consist of a senate, as governing
body, who would appoint the board of examiners, and de-
termine the course of examination, and the honours and
rewards to be conferred.

In such a university Trinity College would naturally be
the first College and retain an immense prestige : her age
and position entitle her to this ; and younger colleges must
only strive to emulate her renown. The power of regu-
lating theological studies and conferring theological degrees
for the established Church, as well as her whole internal
government and the exclusive control of aught that con-

* Just as Oxford or Cambridge University is a separate entity
from each of the colleges which compose them.

t The member for Dublin University is elected by the M. As.,
and that degree can be obtained only by members of the Estab-
lished Church.

1862. J England and Ireland, 151

cerned the Clnirch would remain to her. In like manner the
Catholic University would retain the entire control ot* Ca-
tholic studies, and grant degrees in divinity and philosophy
by the Charter she holds from the Pope, and be wholly
self-governing as a Catholic University, whilst a college
of the Irish University for secular degrees. The execu-
tive Government which advises the Queen who grants the
cliarter would have to determine both the first composi-
tion of the senate and the mode of its perpetuation ;"''' and
in so doing would have to take care that it duly repre-
sented all the different elements of education in Ireland;
this representation would not be merely by colleges, as in
Oxford and Cambridge, but must be dotermined by the
different elements, religious and literary, which exist in
the country. Above all it must avoid the fatal error of
the Queen's Colleges, the predominance of the Govern-
mental element. An Irish University, to be great, must
be free. Learning is a republic and must govern itself.
Thus would be created a really great university; one
really free and really mixed ; not by the compulsory ex-
clusion of the various religious elements of education, nor
by the hiding out of sight of differences of opinion: but
by the separate freedom of each, and the joint action of
4ill : a University, not where the one enforced state livery
of negativism was worn by all ; but where the various
shades of opinion retaining their distinctness blended in
ix common harmony of purpose. We do not wish to con-
ceal that there are difficulties in the way of such a result ;
but they are very far from insurmountable. Trinity Col-
lege might hesitate to give up its exclusive connection
with Dublin University : yet it could hardly refuse to do
so with reason. It would retain all its endowments, its
exclusive education, its connection with the Established
Church: its students would indee<i meet at the examina-
tions for degrees those of other Colleges ; but they have
proved, in many a competitive examination that they fear
no rivalry in knowledge. A far graver difficulty is the
fact that if the colleges we have named were consolidated
in a University, out of the five, three (viz. the Queen's

* Of course after a time the graduates in convocation would, as
in the London University, have a voice in the government of the
University.

152 The Connection of the State with Education in [Nov.

Colleges) would be exclusively state institutions ; whilst
Trinity College has from its antecedents a strong leaning
towards the state ; and that this would give the Govern-
mental element an undue predominance.

This leads us to the second branch of our subject ; what
is to be done with the Queen's Colleges in a system of
free University education in Ireland ? As at present con-
stituted they have wholly failed ; chiefly ,',bnt not wholly,
from the antagonism of the Catholics, who abstain from
availing themselves of them."'

It has been proposed to remodel them without changing
their system so as to remove the objections of the Ca-
tholics; but, in the first place, we do not believe this possi-
ble ; in the second place, such a reform would leave un-
touched the radical evil of their being Governmental
institutions. It is, we believe, impossible to remodel
them so as to render them acceptable to Catholics : be-
cause all that the state can give is negative guarantees
against proselytism or tampering with the faith of the stu-
dents ; and what Catholics require is a Catholic educa-
tion. The more we examine the decisions of Rome on
the subject the more clearly we perceive that university
education for Catholic youth must be Catholic; it will
not suffice that it abstain from positive opposition to
Catholicity.

The simplest and most efficacious cure would be to pay
off the professors and sell the buildings, in which case
there can be little doubt the latter would at once be pur-
chased by voluntary associations for the purposes of edu-
cation ; and the former would find ample and congenial
employment in the various free colleges which would arise,
the state would be relieved of a heavy charge ; a source
of religious controversy be removed; and literature and
education be invigorated by being restored to their con-
genial freedom.

But if the state, like too many individuals, is unwilling
frankly to acknowledge an error and retrace its steps,
and must seek a middle solution and a compromise: if,
whilst it is proved that the Catholics are able and .willing

* This has been admitted (with regret) by both Mr. Cardwell
and Sir R. Peel, and in fact by the commission appointed to en-
quire into them.

1862.] England and Ireland, 153

to provide education for themselves, it be thonglit the
Presbyterians might not be able to do so (though we be-
lieve they would); and if that portion of the Catholics
who, as Sir R. Kane alleges, wish for a state education
apart from religion be deemed deserving of special provi-
sion ; then at least let the facts be recognised, and the
system be remodelled to meet them. The present system
of these colleges does not content the Presbyterians, or
Catholics, who, though they lean towards a state, wish for
a religious education. Let then Belfast College be re-
modelled to meet the wants and wishes of the Presbyte-
rians; let Cork College be remodelled to render it
acceptable to the Catholics, and let Galway College re-
main as it is, for the benefit of those who prefer a purely
secular education : thus, all would be satisfied, and the
wants of all supplied. Nor would such an idea be diffi-
cult to carry out, if the facts were frankly recognized. The
Presbyterian body would settle what changes they desired
in Belfast to meet their wants: probably the recognition
of a Presbyterian element in the government, to which
might be given a negative control over the teaching, to
insure that nothing inimical to their religion was intro-
duced; a Presbyterian mensal college with religious
teaching ; and control over the moral and religious training
of all the Presbyterian; pupils: in a word, the recognition
of the Presbyterian religion ; whilst attendance on the
purely literary classes should be free to students of ^ any
religion; and care taken that in the lectures on subjects
unconnected with religion, as mathematics and classics,
no allusion should be made to religious subjects. J'" .This
would be simply recognizing the fact that the majority of
the students in Belfast are Presbyterian, and that the
Presbyterians of Ireland are entitled to an education such
as they wish for, and acting accordingly. On the other
hand the recognized authorities of the Catholic Church
would decide, with judgment and prudence, what changes
were necessary to remove the objections which prevent
Catholics attending Cork College. It is not for us to

* The reader must observe that we are not laying down a system
of which we fully approve, or that we believe the teaching even
of matliematics had better be devoid of religion, but explaining a
r^asonabl^ compromise.

154 The Connection of the State with Education. [Nov.

speak with anything like authority on such a subject ; but
it appears to us, that almost everything would flow natu-
rally as a consequence from the recognition that it was to
be a college specially, though not exclusively, for Ca-
tholics. Hence would follow the recognition of a Catholic
element in the government ; and the lawful authority of
the bishops in all that trenched on religion or morals;
history and its cognate branches of study would be taught
in a Catholic sense ; full religious tenching and training
would be provided for the Catholic students : in a word it
would be a college providing a Catholic education for
Catholics; whilst its purely literary and scientific lectures
would be open to all without offence to their religious con-
victions. The remaining college might remain for those
who preferred a purely secular institution for their chil-
dren ; one wholly severed from any religion, and would
meet the wants of those few persons in Ireland wlio
belonged to none of the three prevalent religions. Such
would be a real amendment of the Queen's Colleges,
founded simply on the recognition of the fact that the peo-
ple of Ireland are divided into three great religions, the
Established Church, Catholic, and Presbyterian.

But the length to which this article has run, admonishes
us to conclude. In a subsequent number we may probably
enter more at large into the details of the modifications of
legislation on university education in Ireland which are
required : and examine fully the legislation, on the subject,
of France and Belgium. We have thus briefly, but we
hope faithfully traced the leading facts as to the system
which have grown up in England and Ireland and pointed
out the principles on which they rest. We cannot hope
that all our readers will agree in the details of the various
suggestions we have thrown out ; we shall have achieved
all we desire, if we have succeeded in drawing the atten-
tion of Catholics to the principles which are involved ; and
in convincing them that all the interests of religion, as all
those of sound education are bound up with freedom : that
that is the one thing to be striven for and the one condi-
tion which is essential ; and if we convince impartial
Englishmen that what Ireland needs is what England has:
and that freedom which has given the hitter all her noble
educational institutions will prove a principle as prolific
of good if frankly applied to the former.

1862.] On Eesponsihility. 1«^5

jVnT. Y.—De Ohduratorum pcccatis moriaUhus. On the mortal sins
of tiie hardened, Bj W. G. Ward. London. 1854. (Not
published.)

^pHERE is, or at least there used to be, a recognised
L principle of morals, that no deliberate action per-
formed by a man could escape responsibility. A human
being, according to this maxim, sane, awake, sentient,
with full use of mind and body, free from a paralyzing
pressure on the powers of either, could not consciously, and
reflectingly act, without having to give an account of that
act : be it done by the hands or the brain, personally or
through others, or by the pen, or the pencil, or any other
instrument directed by his will.

Hence we say of a man, in these ordinary conditions of
human action, that he is an '' accountable being." To
say of a person, that he is ** not accountable," means in
famihar phrase, that he is an infant, or mad, or idiotic, or
silly, or in dotage.

This is not a principle merely, as we have called it, nor
a maxim ; it is a fundamental axiom, or a lemma of the
whole moral science, philosophical, theological, social,
domestic, or personal. i\sthe able book before us says,
** Alterum vero dogma de quo loquimur, notissimum est
illud efifatum ; * nullus actus humanus indifferens est in
individuo'."

And this responsibility extends to negatives, to inaction,
to non-action, to neglect, to indifference, where duty claims
the positive, instead of the negative pole of lil)erty, to be
called into activity.

So completely is this doctrine an acknowledged truth
in theory, that human power assumes a share to itself in
its practical application. The State sends to the gibbet,
or to prison, fines or exacts hard labour, on the simple
ground that subjects are punishable for not obeying its laws,
without regard of their justice, or of any proportion be-
tween the crime and its award. No one believes that it
was a delinquency worthy of death to be a priest or to
harbour one ; public feeling would now revolt at death
being inflicted on scores of i>eople, for stealing a sheep, or
even for committing a forgery. Yet our ancestors, and
many alive who saw Fauntleroy executed, never doubted.

156 On Responsibility, [Nov.

that society had a right to exact submission to its Draco-
nian mandates, on the simple obligation of all men's
responsibility to them.

Had any one then questioned, or should any one yet
question, this claim upon him, this suspension of his free-
dom, astern rebuke from the judge, and perhaps an aggra-
vated verdict from the jury might make him feel, that
society is more unrelenting, at least openly, than a higher
tribunal. The idea of unaccountability to man is, of all
others, perhaps the most inexorably proscribed on earth.
Its opposite is, in truth, the basis of social security.

In like manner, the father, it is true, can no longer
whip his son to death, or sell his daughter to be a slave
grinding at a hand-mill : because society keeps the iron
hand of responsibility over him, up to this point. But he
can go, with impunity, to a frightful extent as yet: he may
neglect wilfully the education of his children, to degrading
them and brutalizing them, without any power preventing
him, so long as he does not beat them till their moans
alarm his neighbours, or their wan emaciation touch the
hearts of fellow-lodgers ; and he may by a thousand indi-
rect ways, squeeze out the little of soul he has ever allowed
to live in his son's crippled body, or drive his daughters
into courses worse than death. This is but an evidence of
recognised domestic claim to responsibility over those un-
happily subject to it.

Of course, says our reader, you allude to the dreadful
people who live in courts and alleys, and are brought,
every morning, before police magistrates, by the exercise
of a claim a step higher than their own, in the scale of
demands on obedience.

It is not so. Who is judge between the lofty-minded
and rich father, who disinherits his eldest son, and leaves
him to want, because he has, perhaps once contradicted
his will, maybe in not sacrificing his happiness for life, by
accepting the parental choice for a matrimonial alliance?
Or who can compel him to educate his children, or prevent
him, unless a public scandal grow up, from allowing them
to disgrace and ruin their name and character ? No :
man, however disinclined to be himself responsible, exacts
responsibility from all who may be subject to him, respon-
sibility to his mandates, his wishes, even his caprices.
And to an immense extent, society dares not interfere.

1862. J On Responsibihty. 157

Why? because, you will be told, accouutabllity is a neces-
sary ground work of the domestic polity.

In every place, where society in any form exists, this is
a universal law. Through the army, and all its grades, in
peace or in war, at the mess or on the battle-field, every
body is accountable to somebody else, for everything and
anything, from victory to forage. And so in every ship,
and in collections of ships, in squadrons, or in fleets, there
are endless accountabilities from the cabin boy to the
admiral of any colour afloat, and to Lords of the Admi-
ralty, *' who sit at home at ease." And in every vessel
from the lordly Indiaman, or over-freighted emigrant-ship,
to the mackerel-boat or herring- smack, there is control,
command, and so responsibility exacted and acknow-
ledged.

In fine from the palace, through mansions, as they
are now called, and houses, down to the European hovel,
the African kraal, the American wigwam, and the Asian
nomad tent, where even only two persons of unequal
strength live together, there must and will be one who
calls the other, generally pretty smartly, to account.

When a principle thus thoroughly pervades the human
race, from its lowest depths of uncivilization and barbarism
to the greatest height of cultivation and refinement, we
cannot doubt that it is an innate, and a self-sown truth,
in the individual, and in his multiplications. And this
is more so than almost any other social element. His most
respectable Majesty the King of Dahomey, whom some
religious society lately wished Great Britain to subsidize,
that he might help us in putting down the slave-trade, and
perhaps later be induced to give a constitutional govern-
ment and articles— -not of war but of wear, to his subjects,
even he exacts a precise account of heads, whether of
cowries or of men, for his ^* grand customs;" while of justice
or mercy, the two pillars of the throne, he has about as
accurate a notion as a boa or a gorilla.

In such circumstances, those who believe in a Creator,
and Lawgiver of man, naturally see in the universality of
such a feeling and doctrine, a primeval and implanted
fixed law of the actually normal condition of our race.

Now where shall we seek its type or mould ? Not where
we naturally expect to find whatever is represented or
reflected of good on earth. Whatever excellent qualities
conduce to the creating real happiness among men, as

158 On Responsibility, [N

OY.

social beings, we consider as emanations, or deductions
from similar ones in Him who ^ave to His prreatest of
earthly creatures, soul and intelligence as well as body
and motion. Goodness, benevolence, forgivingness,
liberality ; justice, equity, impartiality, hatred of wrong,
abhorrence of sin ; purity, sweetness, affectionateness,
love of man and delight in his virtue and happiness;
generosity in the reward of goodness and excellence,
wherever found ; peacefulness, readiness to help, to sustain
and succour, without gain or reward : — all these, if found
in any society, would ensure its universal happiness, and
cement its parts in exquisite perfection. Yet all these
high qualities, or virtues, are exactly what, transferred by
our minds into their sublimest sphere, or into their com-
mon, indivisible centre, we call attributes of the Highest
Existence. It is the perfection of humanity to come the
nearest to them, the completeness of men's social relations
to combine the greatest number of them.

The great difference, however, between the two, besides
that between the finite and the infinite, lies in what we
have intimated. We can copy every great and good gift,
or every condition of our moral^ state, from the Giver, and
from the Legislator. Responsibility, without which they
could not exist an hour amongst us, has no type in Him,
no example, no rules, — it exists in Him no more than
subjection, feebleness, or sin. Man, indeed, bears upon
him the notae serviles of the slave, as well as the bulla of
the child, before heaven ; when he throws away the latter
into the slime among the mast, he certainly does not
erase the former, on becoming a swine-herd.

It may seem almost too solemn a subject for such an
article as this to pursue further ; but one is almost com-
pelled sometimes to yield to the inward impulse to com-
municate a thought, for which a fitter opportunity may not
easily be found. And ours at this moment is this, not
new, nor uncommon, but necessary to carry out our
present topic : that in the great Mystery which reunited
man, sundered from his Maker, He who undertook to
make good the chasm of separation, by casting Himself
into it, made the nearest approach to the worst side of
man, lowered Himself the most to the human level, with-
out sinking into its degradation, by partaking in man's
responsibility. Pain, from external infliction, or from
personal causes, even to a cruel death ; nay, temptation

1862.] On Eesponsibilitij, 159

from His hated, tliongli undreaded foe. He endured cheer-
fully ; but they arc all as nothing compared to that new
quality or condition of being, which essentially divides the
divine from the human existence. ** Servi formam acci pi-
ens, — ohediens usque ad mortem." One supreme element,
however, seems to come in, as compensation, the sublimity
of the liability, where everything elsejs truly sublime;
the undertaking to rescue man from the iron claws of
an almost legalised oppression, to recall the sentence to
eternal death pronounced at the gates of Eden, to cancel
the warrant of exile and miseiy, and return a lost priceless
inheritance to a fallen race. To do all this He entered
into a bond, and fulfilled it to the letter ; He made Him-
self accountable and He faithfully rendered His account.

This responsibility becomes a marked line, between the
two conditions of power; it belongs essentially and exclu-
sively to the .portion of man, in which he has no laws
or terms, to be learned direct from the contemplation of
God's works, or from meditation on His attributes. And
further it is a necessity of our social state, not to be
learned from the constitution of a more perfect one.
Beyond the precincts of earthly life it has no existence.
Bliss and responsibility are no more compatible than is
certainty with doubt, repose with toil, calm with storm,
inward peace with anxiety. Many successive, but not
mutually dependent, ranks of happy spirits compose the
population of the heavenly city, of whom not one is
responsible to another : — nay not even to their Lord and
King. For, where there is 'accountability there must be
laws, and duties, and possible transgressions, or infringe-
ments. And of these there can be none.

Responsibility then is on earth, and of earth, the conse-
quence of that mighty disruption of the world's normal
condition, which we familiarly and strikingly name simply
" the Fall." While, however, it has no counterpart or
first form in the higher sphere of intelligence and love, it
is clearly not only the line of division from it, but the great
link of connection with it. For as, in the most regal of
genealogies, when the last human link has been apparently
reached in the first man, there yet remains another ia
*' who was of God;" so in the ascent from the least to
the greatest, from the lowest to the highest, from the last
to the first in the scale of human responsibilities, in
civil, or domestic, or religious society, it comes to a simi-

160 On Responsibility. [Nov.

lar conclusion ; " who answers to God." This condition
of every individual may be symbolized by a double chain ;
each one, except the first and last in the human series,
holding by a link of either, — the one of gold, of iron the
other. The golden bond is that whereby we are superior
to all below us, — the pleasant and honourable one in
which we exact account from all beneath. The iron chain
is that which presses on each one from above, the hard
lot of having to give to others higher placed a heavy
reckoning for all his actions. The golden unfortunately
reaches not the lowest, nor the iron one the highest, in
this social series.

This would render the law imperfect. And indeed, a
natural and universal instinct tells us that the casual posi-
tion of a man, higher or lower, in the two progressions, or
his being moved from one point to another in their relative
scales is a variable quantity, which does not affect essen-
tially the formula that governs his responsibility as man.
However he moves, and to whatever extent, whether he
climb to the highest pinnacle, or sink into the lowest
abyss, he can never divest himself of this sense ; he knows
that the lowest has one accountable to hiin, and the loftiest,
one to whom he is accountable. The first has himself
responsible to him, the second is responsible to God.
These tvvo conditions which govern the extremes, rule all
that is intermediate. Every one feels, if he have not
killed in himself the natural germ of moral sensibility,
that he accounts for everything that is his own production,
first to conscience, and through it to his Maker.

And thus alone does responsibility reach its universality
and essential equality in all, without distinction of class
or degree. For as all, without exception, are physically
equal before men, gifted with the same organs, dimensions,
senses, and capability of the same functions, not merely
corporal, but mental — as thinking, willing, resolving, judg-
ing, so are all equally accountable to the Power which has
bestowed these faculties with impartial liberality. And as
the internal and invisible operations of mind are as patent
"^0 Its vision, as the outward and sensible, and since they
are as truly acts as these are, and as divisible between
good and evil, it follows that each individual, each micro-
cosm, as man is justly considered, holds his real, direct,
inward, and personal responsibility to God. All exterior
and relative responsibilities to the outward world, its

1862.] On Responsibility. 161

rulers, its laws, or its casual points of connections, are
trifles, shadows, sometimes mockeries, in comparison.

Likethelightaroundus, accountability to man is diffused,
mixed, diluted, refracted through a thousand mediums,
reflected from myriads of planes and objects, now strong,
now weak, but generally without intensity, or strain upon
our sight. But the higher may be likened to the pencil of
separate light which enters but by the smallest orifice into
the deepest darkness, and shoots directly athwart it, vivid,
definite, straight and undeviating, a dart of pure, brilliant
radiance, which fixes itself placid and unwavering on the
opposite point, waving its own bright fringes in the sur-
rounding darkness ; manifesting through all its course a
thousand motes invisible in any other light, films on which,
as they float, may rest and disport innumerable undiscern-
ible animalcules, so many Pucks upon less than a feather,
countless sporules that may convey life or disease on their
undistinguishable down. How beautifully may this spec-
trum of light be broken, or rather resolved, into varied
species of glowing colours, by man's hand, in the
heavenly, as in the solar, ray ; in either betokening a readi-
ness to meet it, and a power to render it a mild and genial
beam, " the Iride della pace" that cheers and. enlivens,
instead of a pointed shaft, which dazzles and annoys.

Such is the divine Eye, piercing, searching, and una-
voidable. And it is from it that man shrinks, from it
that he seeks escape. In ancient times this was dona
by the stupidity of ignorance ; in modern, by the cun-
ning of devices. We need do no more than allude to the
first. The heathens, who in their very fables of Elysium
and Tartarus, Minos and Rhadamanthus, recognised
universal responsibility, probably, with the exception of
some more delicately organised men, little troubled them-
selves practically, with so solemn and disturbing a truth.
But among those to whom this law had been clearly com-
municated, and incessantly inculcated, there prevailed, as
the highest authority informs us,'*' the silly subterfuge,
attributed to that maligned animal, the ostrich, of believ-
ing, that not to see was equivalent to not being seen; thnt
hidden sins might escape responsibility.

This is too gross for our refined age ; which deals more

* Ecclus. xxiii. 26-29,
VOL. Lll.-No. cm a

162 On Responsibility. \ Nov.

boldly with moral laws, and circumscribes supernatural
rights by human restrictions or conditions. In a certain
book, perhaps belonging to a past generation, entitled
*' The Gentleman in black,'' scarcely unfolding more
wickedness than '* The Woman in white," there is a plea-
sant narrative of how a youth, who had made an inconve-
nient compact with the king of Erebus, on the usual terms
of a merry life and a sorrowful end, finding the sands in
the upper-half of his glass running low, came home to
England, followed by his inexorable creditor, to see if he
could not stave him off, or take advantage of some Insol-
vent debtor's Act. He succeeded through the cleverness
of his attorney. For this legal functionary merely pro-
posed to put the case into Chancery ; and this sufficed
to make the sable claimant at once surrender all his rights
and pretensions.

This contains an allegory, easily explained. Better and
higher compacts with man are considered liable to be
judged by his tribunal, without any appearance being ex-
pected to be put in, on the better side. But let us begin
higher.

We have seen that, in human society, the claim of
subordinate accountability goes up to that highest link in
it, which would naturally unite the whole to the most
exalted sphere. But modern refinement has barred this
connection, by interposing a human decree, a very axiom,
in that which undoubtedly we have a right to consider as
the most perfect form of government. Nay it is its very
groundwork-—" The king can do no wrong."

We do not, of course, misunderstand the constitutional
meaning of the phrase : that is, that the supreme' ruler of
a kingdom has no responsibility to his subjects ; but that
certain bulwarks, in the form of devoted men, take upon
themselves the disagreeables of such a duty. In other
words, as the French express it : *' Le Roi regne, mais ne
gouverne pas." ^ Could this artificial principle be carried
out without lapsing into a moral fiction, we should have
no objection to it. But can it be so?

We do not believe that any really Christian statesman
can hold, that the personal vices, and shameful example
of a recent sovereign in our own country came under the
axiom just quoted ; or that when his soul left his body,
during a terrific storm, he stood not as bare and .unshield-
ed before the highest judgment-seat, as any other subject

I

1862.] On Responsihilitij. 163

(may he have been found penitent!) in his dominions.
No, certainly not.

But for the public profligacy which ever follows the evil
example of monarchs, the hivish expenditure, the wasteful
jobbing,- the unmerited rewards, the capricious wars, the
sacrifice of life, which may all receive the approbation of
obsequious Parliaments, through corrupt administrations,
has a constitutional king full immunity from any call for
accounts ? Or does not the maxim, put into his own and
his subjects' hearts and mouths, tend to deaden his con-
science at least, to the idea that he is to be answerable for
the guilt, by corruption, or oppression, of those to whom
he has committed the reins of government?

We wish not the plane of our argument to be in our
own country. Delicacy and loyalty forbid us to pursue the
argument, where rules a virtuous sovereign, and where a
certain standard of constitutional proprieties has been
acquired through ages of experience. Yet this very
reserve puts us forcibly in mind of Sydney Smith's anec-
dote of the Emperor of Russia and Madame de Stael,
who, ** to her disgrace, said to him : *Sire, yoiu* character
is a constitution for your country, and your conscience its
guarantee.' His reply was, ' Quand cela serait, je ne
serais jamais qu'un accident heureux.' " *^ This," adds
the witty narrator, ''we think one of the truest and most
brilliant replies ever made by monarch." (Edin. Rev.,
1825. *' 13entham on Fallacies,'')

Let us then shift the field of oiu* operations to another
climate where reigns, and certainly governs not, a consti-
tutional king, on whom doat the hearts of the English
people. He throws the responsibilities of misrule upon his
ministers as fast as they supplant one another. He hunts
with passion among his mouutain fastnesses ; over his
other pursuits we cast the veil which self-regard com-
mands. Over the whole of a kingdom obtained we will
not say how, there have been committed rapines, spolia-
tions, sacrileges and injustices. Nothing however sacred,
however venerable, has been allowed to stand before the
face of the whirlwind, which has swept away what formed
the pride and beauty of that hapless land. Its finances
are ruined, its commerce depressed, its imposts doubled^
its people languishing and discontented. But in distant
provinces it is far worse. The towns are disaflPected, the
peasantry in arms, not as rebels to a usurpation, but as

164 On Responsibility . [Nov.

faithful to a lawful monarchy. And to bring into subjec-
tion this refractory loyalty, the torch and the sword are the
weapons employed: fire and blood must pacify the natural
re-action, which we have honoured in La Vendee, in Spain,
in Greece, in Corsica, and formerly in those very provinces,
where^ we almost applaud, certainly tacitly approve, of a
sanf^uinary vengeance.

Generals, whose names must not disfigure our pa^es, issue
more brutal orders, than those of the French Directory,
under which in 1795, prisoners were shot down in platoons
at Quiberon ; not villages but towns have been reduced to
ashes, scores of poor countrymen, with their clergy, have
been fusilladed without trial, the crops and woods have
been burnt down, and the most trivial act of a boy or a
girl, in the country, a sign almost or gesture may be in-
terpreted into a capital offence.'""

For all this inhumanity, for all this cruelty, for all this in-
justice, some one or other must be somewhere answerable.
Who, and to whom? The soldiers obey orders, and they
throw their liability on their commanding officers ; these
have received their commands from the generals who have
issued those barbarous decrees ; and they are only acting
under obedience to the war-department. This, by another
step, brings us into ministerial responsibility ; for the war
office is only a function of the executive council. Its chief
cannot have issued orders for these excesses to be com-
mitted, except as an avowed ministerial course of action,
for which they paid a certain amount of joint liability.

It is clear that the human responsibility has been gradu-
ally dissipated in the course it has taken. It is like a lump
of ice passed from hand to hand, till it has melted away,
and is become nobody's.

Yet there is an awful declaration, that blood cries aloud
from the ground, a2:ainst him who unjustly spills it: aye
even if he be a brother. And it cries for vengeance. And
it cries to God. And its cry is heard. And it is avenged.
Kills of blood have trickled down the mountain clefts of
the x\l>ruzzi ; pools of gore are stagnating in the plains of
Campngna, once the happy. Their cry is loud and shriek-
ing : it must be heard. ^ j

Do you ask in return, what says the blood spilt by the'

* See the next note but two.

I

1862.] On Responsibility, i65

lawless band, not in warlike conflict, but in reveni?eful
passion? we answer, it cries for vengeance too on the head
of him who sheds it. He bears his own grievons bur-
then, with more chance indeed of repentance, when he
comes to feel that its whole weight is on liis own shoul-
ders.

But it is not so with the man, wherever placed, who does
not hold himself answerable for his acts, but shifts their
responsibility on some one else, till, through as many
stages as are in " the house that Jack built,'" it has been
subdivided into infinitesimal quantities, of which the in-
tegration belongs to another world. Some one must an-
swer for the whole resultant. Shall it be one or many?

Time was, when the answer would have been simple and
obvious. A sovereign was reputed to be the shadow on
earth, and representative of the supreme Ruler; his power
a delegation from Providence, the *' majesty which hedged"
him in, an emanation from the gold and amber of the
celestial throne. Then, if he was evil, to him all the evil
of his subjects was attributed. -j

"Quidquid delirant reges, plectuutur Achivi.''

If good, his goodness diffused itself in peaceful fruition,
throughout his realm.

** Regis ad exemplar totus coraponitur orbis."^

Thus the heathen. The Christian monarch was taught
that he had a double responsibility. The first was for his
personal transgressions, like any other man's ; the second
for the evils of his rule, for his own negligences, and for
their consequences, through unjust, wicked, oppressive, or
idle ministers. The responsibility of nobles, army, bur-
gesses, peasants culminated in his diadem.

The well-known saying of. a fearless confessor to
Charles V, is trite : " Dixisti hactenus peccata Cnroli ;
die nunc quaeso peccata Caesaris."*"" And among
Philip the Second's last words are recorded these : ** For
nothing do I now feel so much grieved as of having been a
king. For I hear the voice of the last trumpet, which
summons me to render my account."

* " You have so far confessed the sins of Charles, please now to
confess the Emperor's."

166 On Responsibility. [Nov.

But now, there are no kingly, as distinguislied from
personal, sins. In all that regards government, ** the king
can do no wrong/' Not even in the choice of the minis-
ters, who have to bear his constitutional responsibilities.
They may be irreligious, profligate and reckless men. But
they are forced nponliim, by the majorities of his Cham-
bers, or by the determination of the people. The sovereign
discharges upon this finally his act of immediate responsi-
bility; he has nothing to answer for to God any more than
to man.

Can this be so? Is there nothing in kinghood that is
beyond human determination ? No sanction, no authority
implied in vocation or in coronation, and the Church's
blessing? Is all this a mockery, a piece of kingcraft to
delude the multitude? If it be so, or in more modern

Ehrase, if all this be ^' a sham," we trust there will never
e a repetition, where this is held, of so sacrilegious an im-
posture. If it be not so, but it must be held that some-
thing comes to the sovereign from above, call it right, or
privilege, or favour, we may rest assured that with it comes
responsibility, and responsibility as to the discharge of
royal obligations. Nor can any compact among men,
between king and people, or ministers and a nation,
remove or transfer, or subdivide responsibility. No more
than the cry of the Jewish rabble, *' His blood be upon us
and upon our children/' took off one drop from Pilate's
hypocritically washed hands. The guilt was not divided,
it was multiplied in stead. ^

If there be any direct gift from above, with a correspond-
ing liability, to the supreme authority in earthly kingdoms,
the mutual relations thus solemnly contracted cannot be
altered by other powers. We are not talking of *' the
divine rights of kings," or theories on the derivation of
jurisdiction. But the modern sovereign is invested by
his own subjects with immense powers — the right of war,
that over life or death, the distribution of honour and
reward. The army is his, and the patronage of the
Church, by assumed headship, or by concordat, charitable
endowments, taxes; the national wealth are often reckoned
as his. With these tremendous powers accepted, can it
be said that, by a simple human fiction, he may discharge
himself of a most awful responsibility in the proper applica-
tion of them ? that no charge is laid upon bis conscience,
distinct from personal offences ?

i

1862.] On Responsihilily. 16T

It has not been tliougbt so ; though under unfortunate
circumstauces. Only on one subject have the sovereigns
of England appealed to conscience, and then it was to per-
petuate injustice. The greatest minister that England
ever produced, Pitt, lost his unrivalled position of Prime-
minister, in 1801, after seventeen years of splendid admin-
istration, because his constitutional master appealed to his
conscience, on the concessions justly claimed by Catho-
lics."" And how has this most rare, and most unfortuiiate
display of individual responsibility, that overruled the con-
stitutional maxim, in favour of wrong, been treated by
English publicists? Take Jeremy Benthan. ** Suppose
a king to have expressed his fixed determination, in the
event of any proposed law being tendered to him for his
assent, to refuse such assent, and this not on the persua-
sion tbat the law would not be * for the utility of his sub-
jects,' but that, by his Coronation Oath, he stands pre-
cluded from so doing : — the course proper to be taken by
parliament, ...would be a vote of abdication — a vote declar-
ing the king to have abdicated his royal authority, and
that, as in the case of death or mental derangement, now
is the time for the person next in succession to take his
place.'' — (E. K. quoted above.)

Sydney Smith's commentary is short and pithy. '' And
thus a king, incapable of forming an opinion on serious
subjects, has nothing to do but to pronounce the word
Conscience, and the whole powers of the country is at his
feet."

The constitutional axiom is therefore considered to
relieve the royal conscience from all accountability in what
appertains to government. Peculation, robbery, sacrilege,
the inundation of immoral publications, the ruin of fami-

* Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, vol. iii. p. 276. But in 1799, the
King said to Dundas, "I only hope Government is not pledged to
anything in favour of the Roman Catholics.'' "No,'' the minister
answered; *' it will be matter for future consideration;'' and on
the King going on to allege his scruples on the Coronation Oath,
he endeavoured to explain that this Oath applied to His Majesty
only in his executive capacity, and not as part of the Legislature.
But George lU. angrily rejoined, "None of your Scotch metaphy-
sics, Mr. Dundas ! None of your Scotch metaphysics !" lb. p. 178.
No doubt the poor king was sincere, for his mind sank under this
anxiety of conscience.

168 On Responsibility. [Nov.

lies, na3' bloodshed and conflagration, lives and towns
destroyed, all this may go on, under a king, without his
having any reason to suffer a headache, or lose a minute's
sleep, because he is a constitutional king, and can do no
wrong. What a pity that certain of the twelve Caesars,
who burnt cities, and martyred priests, did not know of this
principle. All that we will say is, " God is not to be
mocked !"

Constitutionally, however, we pursue responsibility into
the ** multitude of counsellors, in which there is safety;"
and we naturally add, where is it lodged ?

Where an upright monarch has chosen, to the best of
his power wise and honest counsellors, who look only to
the justice and prudence of the case before them, and ad-
vise accordingly, and their measures are sincerely adopted,
and carried out, no doubt there is additional security to the
conscience of all thus directed. For, all that consciencions
prudence can do has been done, on righteous maxims; and
even in case of failure in result, the resolutions and deci-
sions will be justifiable.

But let us suppose that a council of ministers is guided
by no such lofty notions, but considers, openly or covertly,
what will keep its party in power, and exclude the wolf
that is howling round the gate of the fold, no doubt believ-
ing that their own enjoyment of its command is of essential
utility and necessary for the welfare of the country ; sup-
pose that it discusses which will be the popular* side in
great pending questions, foreign or domestic, what will
best help them at the next election, what will rouse dor-
mant religious feelings in their favour, whom they shall
'* throw overboard, y and whom take, for the nonce, to
their bosoms ; is this a conception of motives and resolves
which any man in the empire considers impossible ? Or
rather is it not one with which we are all so familiar, or
which seems so obvious to us, that we have almost come to
explain it by a household phrase : "What have morals to
do with politics?"

Shall the Catholics or the Orangemen be conciliated ?
Shall a No-popery cry be got up in England for the next
elections ? Shall our organs, for that purpose, incense
the more inflammatory part of the population ; and then
shamelessly assert that their priests and bishops are
secretly exciting them to insurrection ? Or what will be
the more popular politics on the Continent? Is discontent

1862.] On Eesponsihility, 169

to be fomented by our diplomatic agents In certain coun-
tries, or proselytism pursued under English patronage, or
the crown to be knocked off some monarch's head, or his
best provinces encouraged in irritation against their actual
sovereign? Are we to favour the red-handed rebel, be-
cause he marches against Rome, reckless of the bands
of silly youths, to be shot down, in battle or after it; are
we, who were so loud about Poerios, and state-prisons
under the Bourbons, to be silent now, about prisoners
twice as numerous, and sufferings far more atrocious, try
to conceal present wickedness, because committed by our
friends, under the name of liberty, and are we to affect
disbelief of the barbarities and butcheries committed
through Southern Italy ?

Whether mooted distinctly or not, we see daily that
such conduct as is here implied, and every sort of '* jobs,''
indirect bribery, trickery, and unscrupulous public mea-
sures are boldly attributed by opposite parties in the state,
to one another. It is taken for granted by those out of
office, that the ruling ministry is by no means actuated
by pure motives of abstract right or wrong, nor squares its
policy by the inflexible rule of justice, but that it follows
the zig-zag course suggested by expediency, has not two,
but many, weights in its bag, not one, but many, measures
in its girdle. A crooked, a wily, a pliable policy is boldly
attributed to the governing body.

And if we transfer the field of ministerial discussion and
deliberation elsewhere, who hesitates, as he likes Ricasoli,
or Ratazzi, to attribute the worst motives of cowardice, in-
fidelity, or self-seeking, to the rival of his champion ? At
any rate, one ministry after another, with England conniv-
ing or applauding, has issued mandates for the arrest of
cardinals and bishops and priests, for simple performance
of their sacred obligations, has seized and confiscated pro-
perty no more their own than that of the Temple was Anti-
ochus's or Heliodorus's, has turned out ruthlessly, and
left roofless venerable women, who in any civilized country
held their property by as sacred a tenure as their persecutors
held those of their ancestors, and has deluged the king-,
dom, more than permissively with irreligion and immo-
rality.

Well, in the first case, that of our own constitutional ad-
ministration, we have sufficient grounds for a hypothetical
datum; while we may safely^ set the second aside, as

170 On Responsibility. [Nov.

being far beyond the condition of hj^pothesis. For overt
iniqnity cannot afford a dispntable ground.

Let lis then suppose, what every one without hesitation,
deals with as at least possible, to become actual ; and that a
ministry regulates, at any one time, its domestic or foreign
policy, simply by reference to self-interest, in violation of
all equity and justice. The members are divided, but a
measure is adopted to which the minority assent. Where
does the responsibility rest, for this act, not less a human
one because the result of many wills ? If injustice is com-
mitted by it, or is its foreseen result, responsibility is as
surely following it, as the black shadow is the murderer
who walks in the sun.

Are all who adopt the conclusion, or only those who
have taken part in its discussion, or those solely who have
proposed and by influence drawn others into the unjust
measure ? We will not deny that there may be great
aggravations, in some, of the general guilt, as there was in
the priests who instigated the cry for Barabbas, beyond
those who raised it. But every individual who joined in
it, partook of its whole guilt.

Sin is an imponderable quantity, and cannot be mea-
sured out. Yet men have a natural desire to think
otherwise, and to like company in guilt. Boys would
rather rob an orchard in a body, than alone ; and so
would burglars a house, or poachers a preserve. And this
not because they intend to fight, but because of a cer-
tain comfort in having companionship in a scrape, and a
sort of feeling that the guilt is divided, and only a share
comes to each. The law however judges differently.
One man will hardly dare to deal a policeman a deadly
blow on the temple ; but ten will bruise and kick him on the
ground. Not one gives him a fatal knock ; one hits his
arm, and another his leg : this his head, and that his body,
till the accumulation of injuiies kills the poor fellow, on the
spot or in the hospital. Now be the offence murder or
manslaughter, that unsparing- exactor of accounts, human
justice, does not divide the indictment, and charge Smith
with smiting X 500 on the arm, and Jones for abrading
his scalp, and Robinson for pummelling his ribs, and award
punishment to each separately for his individual share in
the murderous assault ; but holds them all jointly and
severally guilty of the heinous guilt, resulting from their
individual ferocities. It is the same in civil matters; If the

I

1862] On Responsibility, 171

directors of a Company meet in their Bank-parlour, and
agree to risk their depositors' moneys in a '*neck or
nothing" speculation for their own immediate profit, and
ruin their clients ; all engaged in the nefarious conspiracy
will be found equally guilty as peculators, or swindlers,
without reference to the proportionate division of spoils.

Now if earthly justice be but the puny adaptation of the
celestial, by imitation of its laws, instinctively, and re-
vealedly communicated, we must naturally conclude that
the guilt of joint transgressions is not ^ disuibutive or
cumulative, but ** solidary,'' each one being responsible
for tlie whole. If by instigation of our rulers, or with their
positive approbation, the late bishop Fransoni was driven
into exile, without trial, or even judicial forms, by a most
arbitrary and unconstitutional proceeding, surely the whole
of his disgraceful treatment, and the spiritual miseries
which ensued, come home to the primary actors in this
act of religious persecution. Nor does the electric wire
bring news quicker to the ear, than responsibility incurred
comes on the conscience, of those whose systematic encour-
agement has, by logical steps, easily foreseen, caused the
military assassination of a loyal people, for not submit-
ting to the tyranny and irreligion which are considered a
cheap rate of purchase for chimerical and fantastic liberty.'*"

* While we are writing, the papers furnish us with a tolerable
justification of our text ; ne pereant fragmenta, we will insert the
account abridged from the •* Standard" of Nov. 3.

*• Although this regime of brutality has failed, it is to be persisted
in, and upon an extended scale. The prefect of Foggia has recently
issued an order as brutal as that of his neighbour, Fantoni, at
Lucera, and throughout the provinces notifications have been pub-
lished like a circular, which the correspondent of the Times approv-
ingly quotes as the work of Commander Di Luc a, the prefect, we
presume, of the Principato Ulteriore. We cull a few of the flowers
of this address —

4th Instruction. * The relatives of brigands to be arrested to
the third degree, unless they give valuable information, or are
guaranteed by four respectable citizens.'

" If this is carried out the prisons will be full enough. Fancy
arresting and imprisoning for an indefinite time, men, women, and
children because they have a cousin who is suspected of being a
brigand — i. e., a person in insurrectiou against King Victor
Emmanuel."

*' 5th. * The troops in their perlustrations are to examine all

172 On Responsibility. [Nov.

With eighteen assassinations in one day at Palermo, and
a fair proportion in other cities of young and renovated
Italy, are we to believe that no account is to be rendered
by the country, or its rulers, who have urged on that
wretched policy, of treason, of rebellion, of buccaneering

country houses, and arrest those who have arms or any incriminat-
ing articles.'

**6th. * Labourers in the country must have a permit from the
syndics, specifying characteristic marks, the places and kind of
work on which they are engaged. The labourers shall be responsi-
ble for men, women, children, or servants who bring their food.'

** 7th. * They shall be severely punished if they carry with them more
food than is necessary for one meal. The labourers, too, shall bo
severely punished who do not" mix lime with the grain before sowing
it.'

** 8th. * All country houses are to be closed and walled up before the
expiration of 15 days, and the inhabitants are to retire to the communes
the syndics finding habitations for them. Within this time the labour-
ers are to bring in from the country all their effects,' forage, and
produce of the harvest. All animals, too, are to be brought in,
and placed either in the communes, or as near as possible to them
for security.'

" 13th. ' Great vigilance to be exercised over the clergy. "Weekly
reports of their conduct to be sent to the prefects, sub-prefects, and
military commanders. Those who are faithful shall be marked out
for public gratitude.' "

*' What a terrible condition of society this circular discloses !
It admits that the people generally are hostile to the Government,
and will, when they can, help the * brigands ;' and it coolly orders
the employment of means so brutal that it is unintelligible to us
how ail Englishman can be found to applaud them. We saj dis-
tinctly that in the worst days of the worst of the Boukbon dynasties
no such infamous barbarities were attempted. And be it remem-
bered all this cruelty is committed in the name of liberty and
universal suffrage. The Piedmontese went to Naples professedly
to liberate the people from a tyranny which weighed heavily upon
them, and it is as liberators that they commit these atrocities. We
do not seek to excite sympathy for this unhappy peasantry. We
are quite aware that it is impossible to awaken it in the quarters
where alone it could be useful. Earl Russell and Mr. Gladstone
are so CLamoured of Italian unity that they can see no wrong in
any means employed to effect and maintain it, and, moreover, are
both of them a great deal too aristocratic and Protestant in their
sympathies to trouble themselves about the miseries of a^ poor and
bigoted Popish peasantry."

1862] On Responsibility. 173

invasion, of savage rule, to which are traceable all the
miseries of the ill-fated "Two SiciUes?" Let us leave
the Government of the new country to answer for its own
heavier debt; but let us think well of our own.

We can simplify an equation, by diminishing, or sub-
dividing its quantities; and we can reduce our reasoning
to simpler terms. A few years back on the continent, and
a few centuries ago at home, when a king wished, for
example, to plunder and oppress the Church, he did not
sink his responsibility in that of many councillors. Gene-
rally it has been a weak and minister-ridden prince who
undertook such a work, and his Kaunitz, or Pombal, or
Medici was perfectly ready to take upon himself any
amount of maledictions in both worlds, without the least
idea of relieving his master of a single grain. Or it has
been a sovereign with iron heart and hand, like Henry
YIII., who easily found ministers to do his brutal will in
anything, without the slightest desire to transfer to
them a blame, which he scorned —fearing neither God nor
man.

Squaring accounts with one Achitophel is a simpler
process than doing so with a whole Sanhedrim ; but in
essence it is the same. If ten people advise a wicked
measure, and a sovereign adopts it, the case is much the
same as if Burleigh or Cromwell alone had either advised
or executed it. ^ We fear that combinations among men
have not essentially modified the method of keeping the
awful books, to be one day produced from the heavenly
Accountant's office.

This distribution of responsibility is one of the happy
expedients of an ingenious age; which would ridicule the
gross idea of cloaking, or curtaining, oneself against the
all-penetrating ray of celestial light, yet fancies it has
discovered a way of so dissipating and sub-dividing habili-
ties, as that the supreme wisdom itself cannot possibly
unite them into a tangible shape.

This popular plan may be described as a " Joint-stock
conscience with limited liability.'^

In the course of a few years, we have seen an unprece-
dented number of cases, in which. men bearing honourable
positions in society, each being singly respected, have con-
jointly perpetrated the most heartless wickedness, to the
ruin of thousands. The instances have been too numer-
ous to be forgotten. Whether the public partake of

174 On Responsibility. [Nov.

Dr. Johnson's feelings, when he regarded as a mean
culprit the man who got a few hundreds into debt, but
looked up with a sort of veneration as to a hero, to the
nobleman, who ran into £100,000 liabilities, on the prin-
ciple of much older date

" Fac aliquid brevibus Gjaris, aut carcere, diguura
Si vis esse aliquid,"

we cannot say. But certainly there is a species of awe
generated in that public's minds by the vastness and almost
grandeur of evil coolly committed by what are called Com-
panies; and when several men of rank and repute fall under
the unequal hand of law, their very number augments
compassion, instead of multiplying vituperation. After all,
when you come to spread the responsibility over a whole
Board of Directors, each receives but a very small divi-
dend. Let us imagine a timid member of the body, who
in private life would not defraud a tradesman of the pence
in his bill, nor refuse a crossing-sweeper his daily penny,
called, for the first time, to deliberate in his official capa-
city, whether or no .£50,000 shall be advanced to an origi-
nal founder of the Company, to enable him to carry on
iron works already mortgaged to it for double the amount.
If he were alone, he would look at the matter as a gentle-
man, and perhaps a Christian. '' The money is not his,
but belongs to many poor shareholders, who have entrusted
their little all in small .£5 shares : — the advance is for the
profit of one already insolved person, who gives negative
security, past loss for present cash ; — it is only throwing
good money after bad.'' And a thousand other monetary
saws and proverbs hurry to his mind, which embalm the
wisdom of a race, evidently with '' no speculation in its
eye." Poor good man, what shall he do? Raise his
feeble voice against the injustice proposed, and seconded,
by the great colossal men of gold, brass, or clay, whom
they all worship? Impossible ! Or if he meekly attempt
it, he will be told, ** it is no use — you will be alone in
minority ;— besides it is too late, as he must abide b}' the
decision." And the whole argument may be worked up
into one of those wise aphorisms, which are exceedingly
foolish : " My good friend, we are all in the same boat,
and must either swim, or sink, together."

What is the natural issue of this? That the quiet man
acquiesces in the common guilt, prefers the jojnt-stock

1862.J. On Eesponsihiliti/. 175

to the individual conscience. For, indeed no doubt, man's
law more inexorable than heaven's, will hold him equally
guilty of the conspiracy, and *' inter velut anser olores"
like a goose as he is, will, not indeed twist his neck, as
in the last century, but mercilessly clip his pinions, against
another flight. But at any rate, before another tribunal,
he would have come out saved, had he adhered to his own
conscientious convictions, and strenuously, even though
unsuccessfully, resisted the injustice.

Still very few have courage for acting thus : each feels the
comfort of multitudinous liability, and joint-tenancy in the
investment of moral, as well as material, capital. It is
extremely seducing, and soothing to the individual con-
science, which thus feels relieved of its momentous duties
of weighing, deciding, and resolutely enforcing its own
decrees.

In oriental regions, where they pray by machinery, and
meditate by wind-mills, this difficulty of conscience is
more easily evaded. Busbequius, to whom we owe so
much information, concerning our now amiable allies the
Turks, in his time considered ruthless barbarians, tells us
that, in his travels, he tried in vain to seduce his attend-
ants into the pleasant use of alcoholic beverages. All to
be sure, except one ; who, renegade dog as no doubt he
was considered, used to yield to the stimulant temptation,
and quaff an occasional goblet of wine. Before doing so,
however, he used to utter a most terrific yell. Upon being,
at last, questioned as to the meaning of this singular
preliminary, he explained, that by that howl, he intended
to frighten his soul to a distance, that so it might have
no share, or responsibility in the action about to be per-
formed by his weak and recreant body.

Thus ** conscience doth make cowards of us all," of the
barbarous Turk by driving him to this childish self-
mesmerization, of the civilized Englishman, by impelling
him to merge, that is drown, his over indiscreet monitor,
in the multitude of others. It is like trying to smother
the sound of one cracked bell, by ringing out a peal.

This flying from the voice of conscience, or weakening
its individual and unmelodious sounds, in a concert with
those of many, is the most strikingly elucidated in the
news-press of the day. In what consists the editorship of
a daily paper? Some potential, and unseen energy, con-
cealed from the eye as were the furnaces and the boilers

176 On Responsihility, [Nov.

in the late Exhibition, move the most complicated, and
stupendous, but sometimes rude, sometimes delicate, ma-
chinery. There is that which gathers together, from every
country in the four quarters of the globe, information of
every class ; that which discards, blends, weaves together
the materials so collected ; that which joins the variegated
webs with the still more complex combinations of home
intelligences, from the royal Court to the police Court, from
firistocratic gossip to dry monetary intelligence and price-
lists; that which throws in the salt and seasoning of lite-
rary and artistic criticism ; that which sifts, classifies, and
renders accessible, the heaps of advertisements : finally that
which elaborates, each day, a pamphlet full of leaders, on
every sort of subjects, and of every degree of merit. We
speak not, under this name, of the more real aixi substan-
tial machinery, by which all these great elements of infor-
mation are multiplied, from the compositors' hands, by the
engines which whirl off thousands of huge sheets, in their
uninterrupted revolutions. But even including this, the
entire organization is under the control and management
of human intelligences, unseen, and in general unknown,
by the tens of thousands, who daily swallow at once, or
gently imbibe the amount of information thus spread over
the entire land.

There is clearly a corporate authority vested in these
immense periodical productions, births of the day, the
week, the month and the quarter — but now chiefly of every
morning. They are known by names, like those of great
firms, whose credit is received on trust, without acquaint-
ance with a single person, real or fictitious, that lends a
name to it. We send our parcel by Pickford's, though
there is no such a person in the Company ; and we order
furniture of Gillows, though the name is altogether mythi-
cal. And so a person quotes the Times, or the Morning
Post for an opinion, or a fact, without ever reflecting that
a single individual, probably neither as well educated, nor as
well informed as himself, has emitted the one, or stated the
other. It can be only one man who wrote the paragraph ;
but then he clothes himself in the mysterious plural. O
that WE of the periodical press ! It gives the authority
of many minds to the babblings of a single tongue/or the
scratch ings of a single quill.

In other words it assumes the joint responsibility of
many in the statements of one. The Times, or the

I

1862.1 On Eesponsihility. 177

Daily Neius, signifies an association or combination
of various geniuses, the learned, the polite, the dignifierl,
the scurrilous, the blasphemous, the shrewd, and certainly
the inventive. Whether like Cerberus, they are often
** three gentlemen in one," we do not pretend to divine ;
but the pubhc believe that they have the joint guarantee of
many for the truth of what they read.

And it is so in truth : it is the most perfect specimen of
a joint-stock responsibility. Certain views, a given party
are to be maintained, and these must be supported. Facts
must be suppressed, or bent, or twisted, which could sug-
gest a suspicion of error, on the organ's side. In the
foreign correspondence, pure fiction is prepared by men
often of notoriously worthless character, to deceive the
bulk of readers. We were shown, with indignation, a
few years ago, the conditions offered to an aspirant for such
a post, in the staff of a great daily paper : one of which was
to decry and depreciate in every way the Sovereign Pon-
tiff. He preferred personal to associated responsibility,
declined the honour, and incurred a serious loss.

There can be no doubt that the daily press requires to
have its ** accounts cooked" for its readers. For how long
a time were unceasing efforts made by some, to poison
the public mind about Naples, its late king, and his
father, and even the exiled queen, whom any remnant, we
will not say of chivalry or gallantry, but of manliness even,
in the writers, ought to have shielded from insult ! This
was necessary for eventual revolution, no matter at what
cost of life, of property, of peace and of happiness. Ever^^-
thing was exaggerated that could embitter men's minds
against the royal government: everything suppressed that
could have told in its favour. Then, the Neapolitan pri-
sons, and their fictitious annals, were given day by day
with pathetic earnestness. Now, that they are far fuller of
political inmates, and are scenes of far greater cruelty,
scarcely a word escapes the pen of corresi>ondent, or writer
at liome. They are Piedmontese who are now the judges,
and the gaolers ; formerly they were Bourbonists."' The

* The impudenre of fictions on this subject is almost incredible.
At the moment when the Piedmontese government does not know
how to satisfy the clamorous demands for places from its own parti-
sans, and that it is filling all Italy with northern impiegati, a leading
VOL. LII.-2fo. cm. ifi

178 On Responsibility. [N

or.

present suppression of truth is in such a case as criminal as
the former allegation of falsehood ; the intention of both
being to mislead. However, what we have said of Naples
will equally apply to many other countries, as Spain,

paper, "through its correspondent, actually accounted for the unde-
nied barbarities, inflicted in the Neapolitan prisons, on the ground
that the same officials were still employed there, who practised
them under the Bourbons. A statement most incredible, tliat men
cruelly used, as has been alleged, in prison, should, when masters,
reward their tormentors by keeping them in pay, or trust them with
those of their party, when sent to gaol by their rivals. And if so,
it avows that the present government has continued those whom
it had denounced as butchers, in honourable office, and holds
itself responsible for the continuation of the old atrocities. But the
fact is, that this is a deliberate, and daring untruth ; to make the
poor exiled Bourbons answerable for the crimes of the invaders who
dethroned them. And similar apologies have been made for the
violences committed in the usurped Papal States.

The following facts for which we can vouch, will prove the false-
hood of this account. A member of the Turin Chamber, well knowu
in all Europe went, as he informed us, to visit Count Benosti, in one
of the political prisons. He possessed right of entrance, by virtue
of his position, as a deputy; and drew out his medal, to show to the
head warder; when seeing who had presented himself, ho exclaimed:
*' I want to see the governor, not the prompter [soffiatore) of a thea-
tre.'' For it so happened that this nobleman had brought out
several Tragedies at Florence, and had accordingly had to deal with
this important functionary, at rehearsals. And he it was who now
presented himself to inspect his silver ticket. He informed our
acquaintance, that having formerly acted as go-between for the
political prisoners of the other day, and tlieir extra mural friends,
he had been rewarded, for treachery, as was natural — " set a traitor
to watch a traitor."

Another time, the same gentleman went to visit in prison the
Count Popoli ; from whom he learnt that he had at first placed over
him a turnkey who behaved very respectfully to him. His servant
informed him that he was a wine-dealer, who, up to the previous
week, had furnished the Count's house with that commodity, and
had received his present office. But on its being discovered that
he was civil to his prisoner, he was removed from at least that part
of his charge, and a certain Santo Stefano substituted, who had
indeed been in some dependence on the prisoner, but now made it
a duty to show that he was master, by conduct contrasting with
that of his predecessor, but doubtless more acceptable to his
superiors.

I

1862.] On Responsibility. 179

Austria, IrelancI, and moro especially Rome, ilie news
from which, given by special correspondents, has been so
portentous in its malignant truthlessness, as to have jro-
voked enquiry by honest English residents, who have found
them to be absolute inventions. And as to home informa-
tion it has been exactly the same.

Take for example what has occurred within the last
month, in the course of a few days. ^ Tlie leading Journal,
as it is pompously called, asserted, with distinct information
to the contrary, that a priest at Birkenhead had harangued
an Irish crowd, inciting them to a breach of the peace.
The paper considered to be the ministerial organ, informed
its readers, that money to foment riotous Catholic meet-
ings in the Parks, was supplied by *' the College of Cardi-
nals;" many others affected to see, in the Addresses of
bishops to their flocks, exhorting them to abstain from
riotous proceedings, covert incentives to do the contrary.
Even the two weekly journals that represent the opposite
poles of vulgarity, the more refined extreme of a perpetual
sneer, and the coarser one of an eternal leer, the Cynic
and the Buffoon of our periodical literature, joined in the
absurd outcry, disappointed evidently in the failure of a
scarcely human conspiracy to make our religion and Ireland
odious in the eyes of the Empire.

That the falsehood of all these assertions, statements,
and calumnies was perfectly known to those who emitted
them, is abundantly demonstrable.'** And who is respon-
sible for all this wickedness ? Some one must be. The
position assumed by the periodical press looks certainly a
lofty and noble one. The clever writing, and vast infor-
mation daily provided by it, for the world, leave the impres-
sion that it commands genius, that rarest combination -of
intellectual possessions. But genius of its nature is noble,
independent, and ought to be unpurchaseable. Whereas
here all is well paid, mercenary, and sordid. A man
must be ready to write in the sense, and according to the
thoughts or wishes of a body, whose servant he is.

* Does the reader wish to have the key to them? Here it is. Not
many days ago a writer in one of the principal papers, said to a
Catliolic gentleman : '•' The long and short of it is, that we are
determined to get up an anti-popery cry; and do what you like, wo
m/Z have it." Catholics beware 1

180 On Responsibility. [Nov.

whose pen he holds, whose sahiry he receives ; as much as
the clerk of a mercantile firm is bound to write out invoices
or check off entries, as his employers bid. The corpora-
tion called " The Times " is after all a monetary associa-
tion, regulated in its opinions on politics, and every other
topic, by the balance of profit or loss. Its masters are
those who share the gains; the commanders of its vast
and varied talents are the dispensers of remuneration, tlie
holders of the money chest. If a man says : ** what a
capital affair such a paper is ;" or, '' how I should like to
have a share in another;" nobody understands such ex-
pressions otherwise than as if the name of the ** Royal Ex-
change Insurance Office," or the ** New River Company"
were substituted in the phrase. They all pay good inte-
rest for money invested in them; but their shares are
become very high.

Now if what are called the principles of a paper resolve
themselves into what opinions pay; and these are to be
supported ** through thick and thin," by reckless asser-
tions, or artful suppressions, at the expense of private
character, or personal feelings, there is somewhere a
weighty responsibility both for every separate sin thus
committed, and for the almost satanic wickedness, which
bribes so many others to moral these offences, and deadens
countless consciences, for the purpose of keeping a specu-
lation up to its desired productiveness for its proprietors.

In what part of the huge machine is hidden its con-
science-power ? On which of its adamantine wheels does
responsibility rest ? No doubt, in the opinion of its share-
holders, in some great fly-wheel, which carries off, and
drifts into space any waste, or over-power ; than which
none can be more so than conscience. The instruments,
distant and near, all equally venal, must with certainty
bear their individual blame, in ministering to injustice or
untruth: but the gold-full hand which grasps and directs
their pen, the iron head which overrules their conscience,
and inspires their minds, must stand the tests of moral
responsibilities, not in shareholders' proportions, but in in-
divisible and complete personal acceptance.

There is a similar use of this truly modern process of
mental purgation, of this application of artificial human
laws, to those of a superior tribunal. Men have found it
convenient to.institute rulesabout human liability, and seem
to think it a matter of* course, that an Act of Parliament

I

1862.] On Responsihility. 181

framed on tins subject holds good elsewhere. Just as many
people believe that marriage is indissoluble, according
to God's law, but nevertheless quite acquiesce in the sen-
tence of the Divorce Court.

And so it is thought that a disclaimer of responsibility
actually secures exemption irom it; like an advertisement
to tradesmen, that a man is not liable for his wife's or
son's debts. The Editor of a Magazine, for instance, tells
his readers that he does not hold himself responsible for
the sentiments of his correspondents, or his contributors.
Now, to what HabiUty does he allude? To that to God, or
that to man ?

Surely, if he have made up his mind never to admit into
his pages even a line contrary to his own consciencious
principles, nothing that can be disapproved by religion or
morality, or which he believes or fears is untrue or unjust,
or uncharitable, why should he disclaim that higher re-
sponsibility ? ^ There is plenty of scope for diversity of
opinions, within the great moral lines thus traced out. Fair
discussion upon a thousand permissible topics gives variety,
richness and interest to the pages of a periodical. Mono-
tony of minds is as wearisome as identity of features ; even
a little rasping colHsion of opinions will elicit brilliant
sparks. In the very heavens there are oscillations of great
parts, which do not interfere with the mighty laws that rule
their positions and their courses.

No one need deprecate responsibility, for what he has
intention and power to preserve from vagrancy beyond the
sacred boundaries of moral right. And as to men, un-
doubtedly no responsibility can be cast off, except upon
some one else who undertakes to bear it. We may differ
quite diametrically (for this is an instance of an open ques-
tion) on the propriety or expediency of the French imperial
law, that every newspaper article must bear a real signature.
Verax or Paterfamilias will not do. In other words,
the certainly sagacious ruler of France insisted upon some
tangible, mulctable and imprisonable human being, holding
himself ready to bear all fitting pains and penalties, for the
untruthfulness of facts, and the treasonableness of opinions
in his old friends' publications. Even so, plenty of lies,
under the uiore softened title of canards glide over the
surface of these responsible articles, whose signatures take
off, not **the division of the twentieth part of one poor
scruple," from the pressure of that hand, of which a finger

182 On Responsibility. [Xor.

weighs more heavily than the loins of any Bourbon king,
on editorial liability.

But if no real name, or its equivalent, assigns elsewhere
the responsibility of a communication, on whom must it
fall but on him who gives it wings, as to an arrow, and then
impulse through the crowded thoroughfare?

Let us, however, conclude. For twenty years and more,
has this Review pursued its course. It has not been with-
out its struggles, its enmities, and its rivalries. Yet now
so far from thinking that its career is ended, or that the
necessity for its prolongation has ceased, those in whose
hands it is placed, ifeel rather that a vigorous efiPort is
expected from them, to increase its energies, and do
battle for sound doctrines, against the shifting errors of the
day. It would be a curious historical record, if any one,
in a future number, would write it, to trace the progress of
controversy and the changes of ecclesiastical circum-
stances, as registered in the successive volumes of this
Review. How totally different was the relative position
of Catholics in Great Britain and of Protestants, when the
first number appeared. How different our literary, our
theological, our political, our architectural, our artistical,
our ecclesiastical, our social condition, from those now old
times. How many topics then fresh would look stale now,
not because in themselves unimportant, but because we
have conquered the necessity of alluding to them. What
was then recommended in these pages has been now fully
adopted : what was foreseen has been fulfilled ; what was
reprobated has ceased to be. ^

Vyhat questions, mighty indeed, in the history of this
portion of the Church, perhaps not insignificant in its
greater Annals, have arisen, run their course and ended,
entirely or partly during this space, and at any rate will
be found step by step pursued in these pages. The phases
of the great intellectual yearning after truth at Oxford,
and the glorious conquest of souls which crowned its long-
ings are here registered. The history of the Catholic
Hierarchy opens and dies out in but a few of our numbers.
We have survived many other questions and almost their
interest. Nor could we have foreseen the new fields that
have now opened to us, and invite us to watch.

We could not have anticipated the stirring topic of the
day, Italy, with its complications, political and religious.
Especially could we not foresee the renewal, even among

I

1862.] On Responsibility. 183

Catholics, of tlie question of pontifical temporal rule.
!Neitlier could we have warned our readers against such
signs und portents as the ** Essays and Reviews," or the
more recent attack on Scripture from a bishop of the
Establishment. Nor is it possible for us to allow our
faithful representation, through nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury, of the interests, the aspirations, the anxieties, and
tlie successes of Catholics in England and Ireland, to
come to an end, at the instant when so many new and
momentous matters demand their faithful record, and
public expression, in sympathy with their present feelings,
and in continuation of their past history. No publication
which does not express this sympathy can go down to
our children as the faithful chronicle of our days.

Our literary and religious mission is clearly not ended ;
and we must not leave its work unfinished.

But what has led us to these closing remarks is this.
From the first number to this, every article has been
written, or revised, under the sense of the most solenni
responsibility to the Church, and to her Lord. If we have
been reproached, it has been rather for severity in exclu-
sion, than for laxity in admission. Many an article has
been ejected rather than rejected, even after being in t^q^e,
because it was found not to accord with the high and
strict principles from which its editorship has never
swerved, and which it has never abated. To him who
has conducted it for so many years, a higher praise could
scarcely be given ; and by no one, we are snre, has it ever
been better deserved. That occasionally an article, or a
passage may have crept in, which did not perfectly come
up to the highest standard of ecclesiastical judgment, is
not only possible but probable. Absence, hurry, pressing
occupation, ill health, or even inadvertence and justifiable
confidence will be sufficient to account for an occasional
deviation from rule, should anyone think he detects it.
If so, we are certain he will find its corrective or its rectifi-
cation in some other place.

For from first to last, as we have said, this Review has
been guided by principles fixed and unalterable; and
those who have conducted it, have done so with the feeling
that they must render an account of all that tliey admitted.
However long may be its duration, and under whatever
auspices, we are sure that the same deep, earnest, and
religious sense will pervade its pages, and animate its

184 Mendelssohn, [Nov.

conductors, that their occupation is a sacred one, a depu-
tation to posterity that our children's children may know
how we adhered to the true faith of their fathers, how we
bore with patience and gentleness the persecutions of our
enemies, and how we never swerved from justice to friend
or foe. Our motto may well be : '* Propter veritatem,

ET MANSUETUDINEM ET JUSTITIAM/'

Art. VI. — I. Reisehriefe von Felia: Mendelssohn Bartholdy aus den
Jahren, 1830 bis 1832. Herausgegeben von Paul Mendelssohn
Bartholdy, Leipsig, 1861.

2. Letters from Italy and Switzerland. By Felix Mendelssohn
Bartholdy. Translated from the German by Lady Wallace.
London : Longmans, 1862.

3. Sketch of the Life and WorTcs of the late Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
By Jules Benedict. Second Edition. London : John Murray,
1853.

4. Supplement to Vol. I V. of the Musical World. London : Novello,
1837.

SELDOM, mdeed, does it fall to our lot to meet with
such a book as that which we have placed at the head
of this paper. More seldom, still, is it vouchsafed to the
bright band that crowds Parnassus' slopes to reckon among
its ranks one so perfect, so complete in every respect, as
the great artist of whose young genius that book is the
simple and afifecting memorial. It is a fortunate thing for
us, that we have received it precisely as it issued from his
pen. It is, perhaps, the highest tribute, of its kind, which
could be paid to his memory, that they, whose character
already stood so high, and who have received an immense
accession of reputation by the fame which he has bequeathed
to them, should have thought that this memory will
be best served, and this fame extended by the publication
of those unpretending letters, penned in the warmth and
innocence of his affectionate heart, ere yet the responsi-
bility of public life could have brought even the alteration

1862.] Mendelssohn. 165

of an added grace to the simplicity of his native great-
ness.

In truth, among the records of art and artists we do not
remember any that may be compared with this singular
career. Art, whether it be imaginative or representative,
is so begirt with temptations of every kind, so shackled by
circumstances, so weighed down by drawbacks, that they
who can appreciate it best are least surprised by its short-
comings. Among all the intellectual occupations of man,
its pursuit is too often the one most ftimiliar with vicissi-
tude, most apt to be cheated into taking appearances for
the substance, most liable to find, when^ too late, that the
doomed cockle has been irretrievably mixed with the good
grain which ought to be preserved. Let us add to this,
that all art tends to be absorbing, and therefore tyrannical,
grudging any attention to aught else besides itself; that
the artist is after all but human, and that the very tempe-
rament which renders him the fittest instrument for achiev-
ing the high aims of art, is also open to suggestions and
fascinations, equally powerful, and of a very difterent kind.
They who know the history of art well, do not marvel at
the saddened lives which so frequently chequer its chroni-
cles ; at the varying struggle of victory and defeat, the
mingled shame and glory, the wasted energy and mistaken
lights, the confusion of plan, the infirmity of execution, the
inconsistency of purpose and result; nor are they shocked,
when they find, as alas ! it too often happens, that the
artist has stooped very low indeed, even when he seemed
to rise highest, To this long series of antecedent and
contemporary biographies, the life of Mendelssohn presents
a brilliant and jo^'ous contrast; holding, in the muster-roll
of artists, a place all to itself, individual and alone. With-
out flaw or blemish or defect, unstained by meanness, un-
sullied by passion, free alike from all sordid promptings
and cynical austerity, from warp or check, it passed along
swiftly and surely, piling success on success, pure as a ray
of sunshine, diffusing health and gladness wherever it
could reach. It was a wondrously consistent whole from
the beginning even to the end, without a single fault to
break its evenness, a single drawback to mar its continu-
ous prosperity, untouched by failure, ignorant of vaiiity,
unruffled equally by presumption or by fear, sustained in
ceaseless and successful toil by that nobleness of spirit

186 Mendelssohn. [Nor.

and unflagging energy which genius ever borrows from
virtue.

The opulence of his family preserved Mendelssohn's
childhood and youth from those anxieties which are the
proverbial obstacles in the artist's path ; while their position
secured for him that favourable introduction to public notice,
which always constitutes a preliminary difficulty, and often
an insurmountable one, in the way of unaided genius. Every
thing, too, connected with his home, was such as could
liardly fail to promote his advancement. The family tra-
ditions, pointing to intellectual eminence as the chief
source of the great consideration in which his house was
lield, furnished at the same time a beacon and a powerful
incitement to a youth of talent and of high spirit. His
father was a large-minded and highly cultivated man,
energetic, kind-hearted, and liberal. His mother was an
admirable compound of goodness, refinement, and judg-
ment, whose heart was bent on securing the proper culture
of her family, and whose ingenuit3^ was wholly directed to
discover ways and means of influencing their tastes, in-
creasing their acquirements, and promoting their improve-
ment and enjoyment. Rarely has genius been born into
such a sunny sphere. Rarely has it been so carefully-
tended, so diligently nurtured, so lavishly helped. Rarely,
too, has it expanded so quickly and to such early maturity,
with such abundant blossoms, and yet richer and more
copious fruit. Seldom, indeed, has the education of youth
been attended with so much promise, and still more seldom
has this promise been so outstripped by the profusion of its
fulfilment. He learned easily, quickly, and solidly, put-
ting away surely in the storehouse of his memory every-
thing which was worth remembering, whence he was
always ready to draw it the moment heVequired it. Nothing
seemed too much for his powers, nothing too trivial to be
worth knowing : and yet he was solicitous about his ac-
quirements according to the estimate which he was enabled
to set upon their value. He seemed to have an equal
aptitude for each province of the realm of art and intellect.
He was an admirable draughtsman, and passionately fond
of poetry : — nought but a poet's fancy could have conceived
the Lieder ohne Worte. He was an excellent linguist,
speaking perfectly the modern languages of Europe, and
thoroughly informed in classical literature, to an extent
indeed far exceeding the ordinary attainments of well-

1862.] Mendelssohn, 187

educated men. Everything that was good and noble,
whether in nature or in art, he appreciated, loved,
and strove to identify almost with himself; but this keen
susceptibility of impression brought no confusion to a
mind, one of whose foremost qualities was a subtlety of
discrimination, that at once caught each difference of
shade and tint and variation of tone. An extreme mobility
of temperament, a thorough sense and relish of humour,
and a faculty of instant perception were tempered by a
kindness and suavity of disposition, which forbade any en-
joyment or satisfaction purchased at the slightest risk of
pain to another. With all the frolicsomeness and delight
of a boy when among children, he had the greatest respect
for those older than himself, and took an unfeigned plea-
sure in their society. His great personal beauty may well
be believed to have increased the public inclination to view
with favour his early efforts, and may in some degree have
contributed to his life-long popularity ; for, we suppose,
the old principle ever holds^good^ and now, as formerly,

*• Tutatur favor Euryalum,..

Gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore virtus;'*

yet he seemed to be wholly unaware of his advantage, and
neither by vanity, nor affected indifference evinced the
slightest consciousness of a gift which every portrait has
failed to copy. Need we say, that there was nothing in
him, low or vulgar, base or tainted ; that everything was
elevated, refined, and gracious ; that even in his very phy-
sical actions there was a dignity unequalled among his
fellows ? Born and reared in affluence, carefully and amply
educated, fortunate in the choice of a profession, sur-
rounded by applauding friends, blessed with singular do-
mestic happiness, borne along a continuous tide of success:
— he was not spoiled by this unvarying prosperity, but re-
mained "simple, guileless, perfect to the end.

Fifteen years have now elapsed since this great artist and
still greater man was suddenly taken away from among us.
It is natural that we should look for some record ef so
complete and noble a life ; and it is particularly desirable
that such a record should be compiled, before they too,
have departed who enjoyed the privilege of his familiar iu-
tercourse, and whose opportunities of information will fur-
nish those details, the knowledge of which will equally
satisfy a legitimate curiosity, and afford materials for our

188 Mendelssohn. [N'ov.

instruction and improvement. Here in England especially,
where his genius first found the opportunity of putting forth
those efforts which afterwards astonished Europe, and to
whose appreciation and sympathy he himself ever bore the
warmest testimony, such a work would be fondly hailed,
as relating to one whom we cannot regard 'as a stranger,
but must look on as occupying a place among the most
illustrious of our own dead. An outline of Mendelssohn's
career appeared during his lifetime, in Novello's Musical
World, in 1837, shortly after his oratorio of the Conver-
sion of St. Paul was first produced in England. In the
beginning of 1850, a short sketch of his life and works was
published by Mr. Benedict, which possessed the advantage
of coming from one who knew and understood the great
composer well, but did not, after all, exceed the limits of a
mere sketch. It was hoped at that time that a more com-
plete memoir would be soon undertaken ; but this hope
has hitherto remained unfulfilled. At length a movement
was made in the desired direction, and, two years ago, his
brother, Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy of Berlin, proposed
to publish a selection from his correspondence, chiefly with
a view of thus preserving biographical elements that might
be of use in the compilation of a, memoir, a work, however,
whose performance was reserved for a future day. Difficul-
ties intervened to prevent, for the present, the publication of
anything like a complete collection of Mendelssohn's cor-
respondence. Accordingly, his brother determined to
restrict his plan to narrower proportions, within which it
would be capable of being completely carried out ; hence
the work which stands at the head of this paper. Its natiu'e
and purport are explained in the preface.

"In 1830 Mendelssohn proceeded to Italy, returning through Swit-
zerland to France, and in the beginning of 1832 visiting England
for the second time. This period, which to a certain degree forms
a separate section of his life, and which, through the vivid impres-
sions it made, assuredly exercised an important influence on
Mendelssohn's development, (we may mention that he was only one-
and-twentj at the commencement of this journej,) supplies us with
a number of letters addressed to his parents, and to his sisters,
Fanny and Rebecca, as well as to myself (his brother Paul). I have
also added some communications of the same date, to various
friends, partly entire and partly in extracts, and now present them
to the public in their original integrity.

*' Those who were personally acquainted with Mendelssohn and

1862.] Mendelssohn. 189

who wish once more to realize him as he wa?, when in life, — and
those also who would be glad to acquire a more definite idea
of his individuality, than can be found in the general inferences
deduced from his musical creations — will not lay down these letters
dissatisfied. Along with this particular source of interest they oifer
a more universal one as they prove how admirably Mendelssohn's
superior nature and perceptions of art mutually pervaded and regu-
lated each other." — Preface to Letters, p. vi.

It is almost superfluous to say that the public has wel-
comed the appearance of this work, and has been the more
satisfied by reason of an implied promise conveyed in the
preface, that it will be soon followed by other instalments
in discharge of a debt so lonpf owing. From the very
nature of the case, ** these letters, — stored up so long in
the peaceful home for which they were originally destined
and exclusively intended, and now made accessible to a
more extended circle,^' solely in obedience to an earnest
tmd generally expressed "whh, — cannot be made amenable
to the ordinary rules of criticism. But were it otherwise,
the most affectionate solicitude could have no anxiety for
the reputation of their author. Of the translation we need
only say that it has been, generally, well executed, combining
clearness, neatness and fidelity. We shall avail ourselves
of the occasion of these publications to place before our
readers a connected account of Mendelssohn's early career,
pressing into our service as well the imperfect narratives
to which we have already referred, as the more copious
materials now for the first time placed within our reach.

The name of Mendelssohn, albeit indebted to the
nchievements of the subject of this notice for increased
lustre and more widely extended repute, does not, how-
ever, owe to him its first distinction. It had been already
famous, since the middle of the last century, in the person
of his grandfather, the celebrated philosopher Moses
Mendelssohn, with whom, indeed, the family surname in
its present form originated. This great man, an enduring
monitor of all that energy and industry may accomplish,
was born at Dessau in 1729, where his father Mendel was
at the head of a Jewish school of the lowest class. From
him the young Moses received such fragmentary instruc-
tion in Hebrew learning as he was capable of imparting.
The More Nehochim of Maimonides is specially men-
tioned as a subject of his study ; and a constitutional
debility and an afiection of the spine continued through

190 Mendelssohn, [Noy.

life to test the intensity |of his boyish application. This
early diligence, althongh destined to exercise a most im-
portant inflnence on the fortunes of his after life, was not
at first attended with^ any immediate beneficial result to
his position ; and, in his thirteenth year, he found himself in
the streets of Berlin, a wandering Jewish outcast, penniless,
friendless, homeless, incapable of earning his livelihood by
manual labour, by reason of his bodily infirmity, and
speaking an almost unintelligible jargon made up of broken
Hebrew and the low German of the humblest class. For
some time, he was wholly dependent for subsistence on the
bounty of his fellow Hebrews ; but gradually his abilities
and sterling good qualities won him friends ; and these, in
turn, by their advice, encouragement, and association,
greatly contributed to his rapid intellectual advancement.
Availing himself of the instruction thus placed within his
reach, he applied himself successfully to the study of
mathematics, Latin, and niodern literature. But the
turning point in his life was in 1754, when he was acciden-
tally met by Lessing at chess. The great critic at once
recognized the worth that lay shrouded in so much obscu-
rity. He resolved to become the friend and helper of the
poor struggling young man, and continued faithful to his
resolution throughout his whole life. This intimacy proved
of the greatest advantage to Mendelssohn. Under the
guidance of his new friend, he entered on the diligent
study of Greek literature, and soon emancipated himself
from the narrow-minded pedantry of his early Jewish edu-
cation. He soon began to adventure himself on the deep
sea of philosophical disquisition, which thenceforth became
his favourite pursuit. His acquirements became, at length,
so generally recognized, that he was strongly recom-
mended to a silk manufacturer, named Bernard, who
took him into his house as tutor to his children. He
acquitted himself of his duties in this capacity so much
to the satisfaction of his patron, that he first promoted him
to the superintendence of his factory, and then admitted
him to a partnership, and finally relinquished the business in
his favour. His literary advancement kept pace with the
development of his material fortune. His first work was
Uriefe uher die Empfindangen or Letters on the Sen^
sations. This was followed, from time to time, by other
philosophical treatises which gained for their author a high
reputation for acuteness of thought and systematic reason-

1862.J Mendelssohn. 191

mg. Lessing associated him with himself in the conduct
of Nicolai's Deutsche Bihliothek, the earliest German
literary periodical. It was a great contrast to the abject
misery and loneliness of his boyhood. He was now in
middle life, a man of wealth and station, nniversally re-
spected, and numbered among the leading teachers of the
age. It was at this time that he composed his Phcedon,
a work which has been translated into most European
languages, and on which his merit as an author and a
thinker, will chiefly rest. Its precision and elegant sim-
plicity would have been worthy of Xenophon had Xeno-
phon written in German, while the ingenuity of the argu-
ments that are alleged for the immortality of the soul and
the systematic ability witli which they are sustained would
not have discredited Plato, ^ and have been actually
honoured with the critical notice of Kant. Lessing has
immortalized the character of his friend in his drama of
Nathayi der Weise, in which the part of Nathan has been
always understood to have been copied from Moses Men-
delssohn. It is unquestionably a great conception, at
once attracting our attention and securing our sympathy,
ennobled by a wisdom and large-hearted tolerance and
forbearance that impress the reader with a sense of ineffa-
ble dignity. It is a very faithful representation of the real
man as he has come down to us, mild, shrewd, and always
worthy ; remaining in the religious system of his early
training though often solicited to come out of it, and yet
it cannot, with any truth, be said that he was of it, or
belonging to it ; ever aiming at bettering the social and
intellectual condition of his own race, still equally ready to
welcome any project that would recommend itself to him,
as tending to promote the general welfare of all mankind.
Lessing meant that Nathan should be the impersonation of
a tolerant Jew. In this we think he has altogether failed,
the character and the part which it was to bear being not
only inconsistent but simply contradictory. But, in this very
failure he has been able to bequeath to us a living and en-
during portrait of an eminent man, whose innate greatness
of mind raised him above the littlenesses with which circum-
stances would have fettered him. Mendelssohn's death was
singularly in keeping with his life. An essay of the elder
Jacobi on the doctrines of Spinoza, appearing to him to in-
volve a charge of atheism against Lessing, excited him very
much. He zealously defended his dead friend against so

192 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

injurious a suspicion. But the controversy had such an
effect on his nervous temperament, that a cold was suffi-
cient to terminate his most useful^hfe'in 1786, in the filty-
seventh year of his age.

Abraham Mendelssohn succeeded to the wealth, posi-
tion, and consideration which his father had acquired
during his brief, but industrious and honourable career;
and he had both the ability and the good fortune to con-
solidate and develop these advantages. To his hereditary
manufacturing .'ind commercial pursuits, he added the
lucrative occupation of banking. The circumstances of the
time may have suggested this new undertaking: they, at
all events, remarkably befriended its progress, while his
Jewish connections secured for the banker monetary
facilities and wider opportunities. He married a lady
named Bartholdy, one of a ftimily already distinguished
for literary talents and attainments, and who gave ample
proofs that she had fully inherited these ancestral accom-
plishments. Her husband adopted her name in addition
to his own, and transmitted it to his children as a portion
of the family surname. Their eldest child was a daughter
named Fnnn}^ who exercised a very considerable influ-
ence on the career of her brother, Felix, the subject of
this notice. He was born on the 3rd of February, 1809, —
at Hamburg, where his parents chanced to be staying,
their usual place of residence being at Berlin, the centre
of M. Mendelssohn's commercial and financial operations.
As if presaging the fortune of his after life, and indicating
the gifts of circumstance and intellect, which were lavished
so profusely around his cradle, he was named " Fehx"
at the baptismal font: — for, although the Jewish philoso-
pher, the founder of the family, could not be induced to
relinquish his formal communion with what he had proba-
bly come to regard as the superstitions of his race, yet,
his son, either for fashion's sake, or through conviction,
had become a convert to Christianity. Seldom, indeed,
has the name bestowed on an infant, been proved to be of
such prophetic significance ; seldom has this uncertain
promise been permitted to receive so clear and, in all
respects, so complete a fulfilment. *[ Felix '' indeed, that
infant was destined to be in all the gifts of physical beauty
and intellectual power ; in the careful training^ which
watched over his boyhood and youth, and taught him how
best and most surely to use the strength which was his pos-.

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 193

session ; in tlie unruffled peace of his domestic life leading
him from spring's delight to summer's joy, in perpetual
recurrence, ignorant alike of autunni's blight and of
winter's chill; in the unvarying success of his more adult
years, bringing fresh and greater triumphs in quick succes-
sion, and bearing him swiftly nearer and nearer to that
ideal goal which is the artist's highest aim. In one
respect only, but that, alas ! the highest, we greatly fear
tliat the fulfilment fell short and the presage failed — in the
absence of the grace of being reunited with the Church into
wliich he had been unconsciously admitted at the dawn of
his life, and of effective correspondence with opportunities
more than once vouchsafed and allowed to pass away,
perhaps in the illusory hope that they might be again
recalled.

From his infancy, the little Felix manifested the same
delicate appreciation of sound which made the childhood
of Mozart so remarkable ; and this coincidence was carried
so far, that the young Mendelssohn evinced a similar
decided repugnance to drums, brass instruments, and mili-
tary music, as his precocious predecessor, while he listened
with the same attentive pleasure to anything of a softer
character. His parents at once recognized the musical
tendencies of their son, and they had the great good sense
to determine to do all in their power to foster and develope
them. Nay it was one of the ambitious dreams of the elder
Mendelssohn that his son should yet become one of the
ornaments of his own city of Berlin, a dream which a
perversity of taste on the part of the Berliners defrauded
of its accomplishment. Felix was very fortunate in
having for his first teacher his mother, who was thoroughly
well trained in the Bach school. She began with lessons
of five minutes, gradually increasing their length until
he and his sister Fanny went through a regular course of
instruction. No one can over-estimate the gain which
resulted to Mendelssohn from his being blessed with so
able and judicious a guide in his tender years, and in
having his young genius formed in the study of the com-
positions of the best school. It was also an immense
advantage to him to be -associated in those early lessons
with his highly gifted sister, whose facility of acquirement
and tenacious memory enabled her not only to keep p;ice
with him, but even to outstrip him at that time. Men-
delssohn himself bears witness to the wonderful attain-
VOL. Lii.— No. cm 13

194 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

ments of her childhood, and in after years she was univer-
sally acknowledged to be one of the most remarkable
female musicians of her day. From their infancy, the
two children were united in every thing. Their amuse-
ments and their studies were in common for several years,
and their first essays in composition were also the result of
mutual efforts. The natural attachment which linked
them together, thus strengthened by identity of genius and
community of pursuit, grew only deeper and firmer with
time, exercising the best and most genial influence over
the lives of both, and presenting a spectacle of family
union of which it were well for the world if the examples
were less rare.

For some years of Felix's childhood, his parents resided
in Paris, where they took care that he and his sister
should receive lessons in music. On their return to Ber-
lin, he was^ placed under the care of Ludwig Berger for
instruction in piano- forte, and of Zelter for thorough-bass
and composition. He was fortunate in both masters,
particularly in the latter. After his tuition by Berger had
continued some time, he used to take lessons from all the
distinguished Professors who visited Berlin, such as
Hummel, • Moscheles, <fec. Before he was eight years
old, he was able to execute with facility most difficult
passages of works requiring a very skilful performer.

**The quickness of his ear, his extraordinarily retentive musical
memory, and above all his astonishing facility of playing at sight,
which surpassed everything of the sort that could be conceived,
excited the greatest wonder in his teachers, and inspired them with
theliope of seeing a worthy successor of Mozart arise out of their pupil.
As instances of his extraordinary readiness, we may mention, that
in his eighth year, he was enabled, at sight, to play from the many
part scores of Bach, to transpose Cramer's Studios, and by the great
quickness of his ear to detect fifths, and other errors or omissions
in the most intricate compositions: — as for example, in a motett by
Bach, where the inaccuracy had existed for a century undetected
by any preceding musician. The consequence of this was, that he
■ quickly learned by heart, all the grander compositions which he
Avas accustomed to play with his masters.* He once transposed and
played at sight, at the same time, a manuscript wiiich Guilion, a
flute-player, placed before him.'^ — Mmiml World, p. 7. ^Hl

* The compositions of the Bach School were evidently a family
delight. Upon one occasion, Fanny Mendelssohn prepared a sur-

1

1862.] Mendelssohn. 395

He played publicly for the first time in bis iiintb year at
Berlin, with such vivacity and steadiness, that no one
could have believed that a child of only nine years was the
performer. Meanwhile Zelter was contributing his own
share, and more than his share, to the development of these
same talents in another, albeit kindred direction. Zelter
was at this time directorof the Singing Academy in Berhn,
a profound man and an admirable musical theorist, full of
ability and originality, of large literary acquirements,
moreover, and the friend and correspondent of Goethe.
He was a genial man withal, notwithstanding some un-
couthness of manner, and soon looked upon the precocious
boy rather as a son than as a pupil, becoming his friend
and counsellor in every thing, and probably influencing,
to an extent which we cannot now determine, the tone and
character of his music. He allowed his pupil to follow the
bent of his own inclination, interfering less by correction
than by kind advice. The banker allowed his children
to give, once a fortnight, at their house, a small family
concert, consisting ot a string quartett band with an occa-
sional flute. Zelter used to induce his pupil to write
symphonies for the quartetts of stringed instruments ; and
at the concerts the young composer's last symphony would
be performed, together with the piano-forte sonatas, con-
certos, trios, &c., of the various great masters from
Bach to Hummel. M. Benedict has given us a picture
of Mendelssohn as he was at this time of his life, which
is so touching and attractive that we cannot resist the
temptation of placing it before our readers.

*' It was in the beginning of May, 1821, when, walking in the
streets of Berlin with mj master and friend, Carl Maria Vou
Weber, he directed my attention to a boy, apparently about eleven
or twelve years old, who, on perceiving the author of Freyschiitz,
ran towards him giving him a most hearty and friendly greeting.
* 'Tis Felix Mendelssohn,' said Weber ; introducing me at once to
the prodigious child, of whose marvellous talent and execution I
had already heard so much at Dresden. I shall never forget the

prise for her father, on his birth-day, by playing from memory the
forty-eight fugues of Sebastian Bach. We are not informed if the
worthy banker bore the infliction patiently to the end. Let anv of
our readers imagine a ** Governor' of the present day, and a banker
to boot, being made the victim of such a '* surprise."

196 Mendelssohn, jNov.

impression of that day on beholding that beautiful youth, with his
auburn hair clustering in ringlets round his shoulders, the look of
his brilliant clear eyes, and the smile of innocence and candour on
his lips. He would have it that we should go with him at once to
his father's house ; but as Weber had to attend a rehearsal, he took
me by the hand, and made me run a race till we reached his home.
Up he went briskly to the drawing room, where, finding his mother,
he exclaimed, ' Here is a pupil of Weber's, who knows a great deal
of the music of his new opera. Pray, mamma, ask him to play it
for us ;' and so, with an irresistible impetuosity, he pushed me to
the piano-forte, and made me remain there until I had exhausted
all the store of my recollections. Wlien I then begged of him to
let me hear some of his own compositions, he refused, but played
from MEMORY such of Bach's fugues or Cramer's exercises as I could
name. At last we parted — not without a promise to meet again.
On my very next visit I found him seated on a footstool, before a
small table, writing with great earnestness :>ome mu-ic. On my
asking what he was about, he replied gravely, ' I am finishing my
new Quartett for piano and stringed instruments.'

*' I could not resist my own boyish curiosity to examine this
composition, and looking over his shoulder, saw as beautiful a score
as if it had been written by the most skilful copyist. It was his
first Quartett in C minor, afterwards published as Opus I.

'< But whilst 1 was lost in admiration and astonishment at behold-
ing the work of a master written by the hand of a boy, all at once
he sprang up from his seat, and, in his playful manner, ran to the
pianoforte, performing note for note all the music from Freyschutz,
which three or four days previously he had heard me play, and
asking, 'How do you like this chorus?' 'What do you think of
this air V ' Do you not admire this overture V and so on. Then,
forgetting Quartetts and Weber, down we went to the garden, he
clearing high hedges wi^i a leap, running, singing, or climbing
up the trees like a squirrel — the very image of health and happi-
ness.

"If I have dwelt on this first meeting with Mendelssohn, it is
because much of his subsequent greatness is referable to the perfect
moral and physical education he received at the hands of his
parents, seconded by the most carefully chosen masters. Whilst
making him pursue his classical studies, in which he was inferior to
none, cultivating the wonderful genius and talent which he from
earliest childhood displayed for music — constantly leading his mind
in the right direction, anxiously watching over the development of
his religious feelings — his parents checked every tendency to form
too high an opinion of his own merits, or to depart from the child-
like simplicity of his manners. Favoured thus by Providence with
an independent, and even brilliant social position, surrounded by
men eminent for science and mental attainments, kept from the
contact of all that was vulgar and mean, the tender plant was

I

1862.J. Mendelssohn. 197

cnrefuUy fostered, and soon unfolded its blossoms.'* — Shetch, pp.
7-9.

In the autumn of tliis same year (1821), Zelter took his
pupil with him on a visit to Goethe at Weimar. The poet
at once perceived the great and varied talents of his young
guest, and thenceforward he took the liveliest interest in
his fortunes. It was no small honour to have won the
esteem of the first man in Germany, at so early an age,
and we may be sure that this friendship exercised a great
and wholesome influence on the young composer, elevating
his views, and confirming resolutions to aim only at the
highest branches of his art. In the year 1825 his father
took him to Paris, where he gained the friendship and
approbation *of a judge so severe as Cherubini, before
whom he played his third quartett in B flat minor, assisted
by the celebrated violinist Baillot. He had already in the
previous year made his first appearance before the world
as an author, publishing two qnartetts for pianoforte,
violin, viola, and violoncello. One of these, in 0 minor,
is the Opus I. at whose composition Benedict surprised
him when he was only twelve years old ; the other is the
Opus II. in F minor. These were followed in 1825 by a
Sonata, with obligato violin accompaniments, and by the
quartett in B flat minor, which had been distinguished by
the approval of Cherubini. Venturing on a more ambitious
stage, he produced, in the autumn of 1825, a little opera,
" Die Hochzeit des Camacho/* *' The Wedding of
Camacho,*' at the Theatre iioyal at Berlin. It is, of
course, not so mature or finished 'as later works, but it
contains many beauties of a high order. Notwithstanding
the total want of dramatic effect in the libretto, and the
disappointment occasioned by the untoward illness of the
principal singer, it met with a very favourable reception
from the general public, who expressed flattering anticipa-
tions of the young author. But he was dissatisfied with
the criticisms passed upon it by the local press, and to
this dissatisfaction M. Benedict attributes the first foun-
dation of his dislike to Berlin, which subsequent events
increased into antipathy. He continued steadily to com-
bine these studies of composition with the pursuit of the
practical branch of his art ; and in the month of Novem-
ber, 1826, he was able to submit to the well-known com-
poser and pianist Moscheles, his overture to the Midsum-
mer Night's Dieam, which he and his sister Fanny played

198 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

as a duet on the piano-forte. It must have been no small
surprise to the veteran musician to hear this ffreat com-
position, the wonderful production of a youth of only six-
teen years. How diligently he worked we may infer from
the fact, that by the time he was twenty years of fige he
had composed his Ottetto, three quartetts for piano and
stringed instruments, two sonatas, two symphonies, his
first violin quartett, various operas, a great number of
separate songs, and this overture to a Midsummer Night's
Dream.

In his early compositions, impelled by the natural
affinity of his genius, he inclined towards the imitation of
Mozart; but commencing vf\i\\ the third quartett in B
flat minor, his music began to assume a character of its
own. In the ottetto for stringed instruments [his origi-
nality seems to have fully developed itself, in the novel
musical form of a scherzo in 2-4 time full of vivacity and
spirit. Following M. Benedict's example, we shall quote
MacFarren's criticism of that *' perfect marvel of the
human mind," the overture to a Midsummer ]Night's
Dream.

"A careful examination of all its features, and a comparison of
them with all that had previously existed in the writings of other
composers, must establish the conviction that there is more that is
new in this one work than in any other one that has ever been pro-
duced. It is a complete epitome of its author's style, containing
the tjpe of all the peculiarities of idea, character, phrase, harmony,
construction, instrumentation, and every particular of outline and
detail, for which his style is remarkable. Its many and daring
novelties are not introduced with the speculating hesitation of an
uncertain experimentalist, but with the confidence and the result
of one who had gathered them from the study of a lifetime or the
experience of ages ; and yet Mendelssohn was but sixteen when he
produced this wonderful masterpiece.'' — Skelcli, p. 12.

All this time we are not to suppose that the young com-
poser's energies were directed solely to the achievement of
eminence in the art which he had chosen for his profession.
Both the wishes of his parents and his own inclinations coin-
cided in the desire that he should add to it the distinction
of being also an accomplished man of letters. He could
liardly have commended himself to the esteem of Goethe
were it otherwise. Fortunately his abilities sufficed for
the accomplishment of the double task. During the years
1827 and 1828, he prosecuted his literary studies in the

1

18G2.1 Mendelssohn. 199

University of Berlin, and was remarkable for his applica-
tion to classical and philological pursuits. Fruit of this
diligence and scholarship was the first metrical translation
into German of Terence's Andria, first printed for pri-
vate circulation among his friends, and afterwards pub-
lished by M. Heise, philological professor at the University
of Berlin, who had been his chief classical instructor.''"
Goethe in a letter to Zelter, acknowledging the receipt of
the copy which had been sent to him, charges him "to
thank the excellent and industrious Felix for the splendid
specimen of his literary labour, which would serve as an
instructive recreation to the Weimar circle during the
winter evenings."'^

It were to be wished that we had fuller information of
the domestic lifeof our young composer, during this period
of training. That both its musical and literary success
were much indebted to the home influences which sur-
rounded it, our readers may fairly infer from what has
been already stated, that there is abundant evidence in the
Letters. To the taste and suggestions of his mother, and
to her more active interference and assistance he often
professes his acknowledgments. His father, too, seems to
have been always anxious to secure the best instruction for
him, and to co-operate in his successful posecution of the
career which he had chosen. So much so, indeed, that he
appears to have occasionally allowed his zeal to carry him
too far, and to have believed that his interest in his son's
welfare authorized him to dictate his conduct. We shall
have to refer to an instance of this, regarding the compo-
sition of an opera (Letters p. SOI) and our readeis will
there see how prudently the younger Mendelssohn knew
how to bear himself in such difficult circumstances. We
cannot here avoid anticipating and quoting a letter writ-
ten by our author to his brother and sisters, from Rome,
for the sake of the hints which it gives of these peculia-
rities of his father, and of the inconveniences and jars
which occasionally arose from not dealing properly with
them.

" Let me tell you therefore of a mistake in your conduct, and in
truth the same that 1 once made myself. I do assure you that

* Musical World, p. ix.

200 Mendelssohn, [Kov.

never in my life have I known my father write in so irritable a
Ftrain as since I came to Rome, and so I wish to ask jou if you
cannot devise some domestic recipe to cheer iiim a little ? I mean
by forbearance and yielding to his wishes, and in this manner, by
allowing my father's view of any subject to predominate over your
own ; then, not to speak at all oa topics that irritate him ; and in-
stead of saying 'shameful,' say 'unpleasant;' or instead of 'superb,'
* very fair.' This method has often a wonderfully good eflfect ; and
I put it, with all submission to yourselves, whether it might not be
equally successful in this case? For, with the exception of tlie
great events of the world, ill-humour often seems to me to proceed
from the same cause that my father's did when I chose to pursue
my own path in my musical studies. He was then in a constant state
of irritation, incessantly abusing Beethoven and all visionaries ;
and this often vexed me very much, and made me sometimes very
unamiable. At that very time sometliing new came out, which put
my father out of sorts, and made him I believe not a little uneasy.
So long therefore as I persisted in extolling and exalting my
Beethoven, the evil became daily worse ; and one day, if I remem-
ber rightly, I was even sent out of the room. At last however it
occurred to me that I might speak a great deal of truth, and yet
avoid the particular truth obnoxious to my father ; so the aspect of
affairs speedily began to improve, and soon all went well.

"Perhaps you may have in some degree forgotten that you
ought now and then to be forbearing, and not aggressive. My
father considers himself both much older and more irritable than,
thank God, he really is ; but it is our duty always to submit our
opinion to his, even if the truth be as much on our side, as it often
is on his. when opposed to us. Strive, then, to praise what he
likes, and do not attack what is implanted in his heart, more espe-
cially ancient established ideas. Do not commend what is new till
jt has made some progress in the world, and acquired a name, for
till then it is a mere matter of taste. Try to draw my father into
your circle, and be playful and kind to him. In short, try to smooth
and to equalize things ; and remember that I, who am now an ex-
perienced man of tlie world, never yet knew any family, taking into
due consideration all defects and failings, who have hitherto lived so
happily together as ours." — Letters, pp. 61-2.

The year 1829 marks a most important era in the yomig
artist's life. Hitherto his efforts had been ahnost of a
domestic character, and his public appearances had been
made in his father's town and among audiences disposed
to accord to him the hereditary right of ancestral renown.
He was now about to try his fortune in a new arena, and
among strangers. ^Encouraged by the advice of Moscheles,
he accepted the invitation of an intimate friend, then resident

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 201

in London, and came to England in April 1829. Shortly
afterwards he conducted, at the Philharmonic Concert, his
own first symphony in A major, and the overture to a
Midsummer Night's Dream. The effect of the perform-
ance of this overture in London is described as electrical.
Tlie first feeling seems to have been that the great gap
left by Beethoven's death was to be all at once and wor-
thily filled up. This impression became conviction after
opportunities had been afforded of hearing some others of
liis compositions, and listening to his performances both in
public and in private. "His renown, after the enthusiastic
but just reports of his reception in London, both as a com-
poser and pianist, spread like wildfire all over Europe,
and gave the young and ardent maestro a new stimulus to
proceed on his glorious path." And so, this England, for
whom the mighty works of Handel were composed, and
Haydn's finest symphonies written; who hailed the won-
drous promise of young Mozart, and cheered and ap-
plauded the declining strength of Beethoven when all but
rejected by Germany — this England, whose musical judg-
ment is simply despised in Germany, was again to give the
world a lesson of musical discrimination, again to be the
first to recognize the genius of a young German artist, and
to send him forth, stamped with her approval, to receive
European fame. In after years, he used to refer with the
greatest pleasure to this first visit to London, and to his
subsequent jourueyings through Scotland and Wales,
during which he formed many valuable and life-long friend-
ships both within and without the circle of his own pro-
fession. In the month of August he set out on a tour with
liis friend Klingemann. The time was spent in observing,
drawing, and composing, amid the romantic scenery
through which they passed. They went first to Edinburgh,
then to Perth, Blair- Athol, Loch Tay, the island of Staffa,
and Fingal's Cave ; then southwards by Glasgow and
Loch Lomond, visiting the Cumberland Lakes, Liverpool,
and North Wales. This tour continued to exert its influ-
ence on Mendelssohn's mind for many years. The splendid
** Overture to the Hebrides," or, as it is now called, *' Over-
ture to Fingal's Cave," was the only immediate result of
his impressions ; but, it was not till fourteen years after-
wards that their full effect was realized in his Scottish
symphony in A minor, the grandest of his instrumental
works, the first idea of which was caught from the inspira-

202 Mendelssohn, [Nov.

tions of Holyrood visited in the darkening: gloom of advanc-
ing night. On his retnrn to London he met with a severe
injnry to his knee, caused by the overturning of a gig,
which hiid him up for several weeks. Hardly yet restored
to health, he hurried back to Berlin for the ** silver wed-
ding,'' or twenty-fifth anniversary of the marriage of his
parents, taking with him as the fruit of his seclusion, his
operetta of the Son and Stranger, the libretto of which
was composed by his friend Klingemann. This bright
little gem was performed at his father's house and then
remained unpublislied until after his death, since which
event it has been brought out in London and elsewhere with
most signal success.

He remained at home for the Christmas time of this
year 1829; and now again, in the spring of 1830 he was to
set out on another eventful journey. One element was
wanting to his complete education as an artist — that in-
struction which only a sojourn in Italy can bring, with its
great examples, its associations, its enduring influences.
His absence from home for tliis purpose extended over two
years ; and these letters, in which he pours out most freely
his impressions of the land that Genius and Beauty and
Art have conspired to consecrate as their home, were
written in order to share his enjoyment with those beloved
ones whose sympathy was always his greatest delight.
They afford a fresh argument of the inestimable value of
this Italian travel in the formation of an artist's character,
showing how rightly this interval has been regarded by
Mendelssohn's brother as forming a separate and most
important section of his life, in which the large promise of
his youth was matured and expanded into a richer and
more abundant fulfilment. As letters and literary compo-
sitions, they are deserving of all praise. They also possess
this additional charm, that, as vehicles of the impressions
concerning Italy and Italian art of a great genius and ac-
complished artist, they are simply unequalled. This jour- ^ji
ney commenced on a sunny day in May 1830; and the first^||
letter of the series, dated next day, was written at Weimar,
and probably contains the last notice of a household, which
for so long a time rukd paramount over Germany, and
must ever possess a deep interest for the true lover of Ger- ^,
man literature, and German nationality. Hi

•• I wrote this before going to see Goethe, earlj in the forenoon
after a walk in the park ; but I could not find a moment to finish

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 203

my letter till now. I shall probably remain bere for a couple of
days, which is no sacrifice, for I never saw the old gentleman so
cheerful and amiable as on this occasion, or so talkative and com-
municative. My especial reason, however, for staying two days
longer is a very agreeable one, and makes me almost vain, or I
ought to say proud, and 1 do not intend to keep it secret from you
— Goethe, you must know, sent me a letter yesterday, addressed to
an artist here, a painter, which I am to deliver myself ; and Ottilie*
confided to me that it contains a commission to take my portrait,
as Goethe wishes to place it in a collection of likenesses he has
recently commenced of his friends. This circumstance gratified me
exceedingly ; as, however, I have not yet seen the complaisant
artist who is to accomplish this, nor has he seen me, it is proba-
ble that I shall have to remain here until the day after to-morrow.
I don't in the least regret this, for, as I told you, I have a most
agreeable life here, and thoroughly enjoy the society of the old
poet. 1 have dined with him every day, and am invited again
to-day. This evening there is to be a party at his house, where
I am to play. It is quite delightful to hear him conversing on
every subject, and seeking information on all points.

" I must however tell you everything regularly and in order, so
that you may know each separate detail.

•' Early in the day I went to see Ottilie, who, though still deli-
cate, and often complaining, I thought more cheerful than formerly,
and quite as kind and charming as ever towards myself. We have
been constantly together since then, and it has been a source of
much pleasure to me to know her more intimately. Ulrike is far
more agreeable and amiabb than formerly ; a certain earnestness
pervades her whole nature, and she has now a degree of repose,
and a depth of feeling, that render her one of the most attractive
creatures I have ever met. The two boys, Walter and Wolf, are
lively, studious, cordial lads, and to hear them talking about
• Grandpapa's Faust' is most pleasant.

" But to return to my narrative. I sent Zelter's letter at once to
Goethe, who immediately invited me to dinner. I thought him very
little changed in appearance, but at first rather silent and apathetic;
I think he wished to see how I demeaned myself. I was vexed, and
thought that possibly he was always now in this mood. Happily
the conversation turned on the Frauen-Verein in Weimar, and on
the ' Chaos,' a frivolous paper circulated among themselves by the
ladies here, I having soared so high as to be their coadjutor in this
undertaking. All at once the old man became quite gay, laughing
at the two ladies about their charities and intellectualism, and their
subscriptions and hospital work, which he seems cordially to detest.

* This was Goethe's daughter-in-law ; Ulrica, Walter, and Wolf
were his grandchildren.

204 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

He called on me to aid him in his onslaught, and as I did not
require to be asked twice, he speedily became just what he used to
be, and at last more kind and confidential than I had ever seen
him. The assault soon became general. Tlie * Robber Bride' of
Ries, he said, contained all that an artist in these dajs required to
live happily, — a robber and a bride ; then he attacked the young
people of the present day for their universal tendency to languor and
melancholy, and related the story of a young lady to whom he had
once paid court, and who also felt some interest in him ; a discus-
sion on the exhibitions followed, and a sale of work for the poor,
where tlie ladies of Weimar were tiie shop-women, and where he
declared it was impossible to purchase anything, because the young
people made a private agreement among themselves, and hid the
different articles till the proper purchasers appeared.

"After dinner he all at once began, — ' Gute Kinder, hiibsche
Kinder, muss immer lustig sein — Tolles Volk,' etc., his eyes look-
ing like those of a drowsy old lion. Then he begged me to play to
him, and said it seemed strange that he had heard no music for so
long ; that he supposed we had made great progress, but he knew
nothing of it. He wished me to tell him a great deal on the sub-
ject, saying, 'Do let us have a little rational conversation together;*
and turning to Ottilie, he said, ' No doubt you have already made
your own wise arrangements, but they must yield to my express
orders, which are, that you must make tea here this evening, that
we may be all together again.' When in return she asked him if
it would not make him too late, as Riemer was coming to work with
him, he replied, ' As you gave your children a holiday from their
Latin to-day, that tliey might hear Felix play, I think you
might also give me one day of relaxation from mt/ work.' He in-
vited me to return to dinner, and I played a great deal to him in
the evening.

** My three Welsh airs, dedicated to three English ladies, have
great success here ;* and I am trying to rub up my English, As I
had begged Goethe to address me as (hou, he desired Ottilie to say
to me on the following day, in that case I must remain longer than
the two days I had fixed, otherwise he could not regain the more
familiar habit I wished. He repeated this to me himself, saying
that he did not think I should lose much by staying a little longer,
and invited me always to dine with him when I had no other
engagement. 1 have consequently been with him every day, and
}esterday T told liiia a groat deal about Scotland, and Hengsten-
berg, and Spontini, and Hegel's * Esthetics.' He sent me to Tie-
furth with the ladies, but prohibited my driving to Berka, because a
very pretty girl lived there, and he did not wish to plunge me into

* Three pieces for the piano, composed in 1829 for the album of
three young English ladies; subsequently published as Opus 16.

I

1862.1 Mendelssohn. 205

mlserj. I thought to mjself, this was indeed the Goethe of whom
people will one daj saj, that he was not one single individual, but
consisted of several Goethiden. I am to piaj over to him to-day
various pieces of Bach, Haydn, and Mozart, and thus lead him on,
as he said, to the present daj?. I should indeed, have been very
foolish to have regretted my delay ; besides, I am a conscientious
traveller and have seen the Library, and * Iphigenia in Aulis.'

May 25th, 1830.

•'Yesterday evening I was at a party at Goethe's and

played alone the whole evening, — the Concert-StUck (of Weber),
the Invitation a la Valse, and Weber's Polonaise in C, my three
Welsh pieces and my Scotch Sonata. It was over by ten o'clock,
but I of course stayed till twelve o'clock, when we had all sorts
of fun, dancing and singing ; so you see I lead a most jovial
life here. The old gentleman goes to his room regularly at
nine o'clock, and as soon as he is gone, we begin our frolicf,
and never separate before midnight. To-morrow my portrait
is to be finished ; a large black-crayon sketch and very like ;
but I look rather sulky. Goethe is so friendly and kind to nie,
that I don't know how to thank him sufficiently, or what to do
to deserve it. In tlie forenoon he likes me to play to him the com-
positions of the various great masters, in chronological order, for
an hour, and also tell him the progress they have made, while lie
sits in a dark corner, like a Jupiter Tonans, his old eyes flashing
on me. lie did not wish to hear anything of Beethoven's, but I
told him that I could not let him off, and played the first part of
the sympliony in C minor. It seemed to have a singular effect on
him ; at first he said, ' This causes no emotion, nothing but aston-
ishment ; it is only grandiose/ He continued grumbling in this
way, and after a long pause he began again, — ' It is very noble,
very wild ; it makes one fear that the house is about to fall down ;
and what must it be when played by a number of men together!'
During dinner, in the midst of another subject, he alluded to it
again. He is always so gay and communicative after dinner, that
we generally remain together alone for an hour, while he speaks
on uninterruptedly. He has several times lately invited people,
which he rarely does now, so that most of the guests had not seen
him for a long time. I then play a great deal, and he compliments
me before all these people, and ganz stupend is his favourite expres-
sion. To-day he has invited a number of Weimar beauties on my
account, because he thinks that I ought to enjoy the society of
young people. If I go up to him on such occasions, he says, * My
young friend, you must join the ladies and make yourself agreeable
to them.' " — Letters, p. 2-9.

At length, Mendelssohn thought it was time to proceed
on his tour. By Goethe's dh'ection, his daughter-in-law
asked him to remain longer.

206 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

** Then came the old gentleman himself, and said he saw no use
in ray being in such a hurry; that he had still a great deal to tell
me, and I had still a great deal to play to him ; and what I had
told him as to the object of my journey, was really all nonsense, —
Weimar was my present object, — and he ^could not see that I was
likely to find in tables cZ' hole elsewhere, what I could not obtain

here : I would see plenty of hotels in ray travels I resolved not

to be a man of determination, and agreed to stay. Seldom in tiie
course of my life have I so little regretted any resolution as on
this occasion, for the following day was by far the most delightful
that I ever passed in Goethe's house. After an early drive, I found
old Goethe very cheerful; he began to converse on various subjects,
passing from the 'Muette de Portici' to Walter Scott, and thence
to the beauties in Weimar ; to the ' Students,' and the * Kobbers,'
and so on to Schiller ; then he spoke on uninterruptedly for more
than an hour, with the utmost animation, about Schiller's life and
writings, and his position in Weimar. He proceeded to speak
of the late Grand-Duke, and of the year 1775, which he designated
as the intellectual Spring of Germany, declaring that no man living

could describe it so well as he could Next day he made me a

present of a sheet of the manuscript of ' Faust,** and at the bottom
of the page he wrote, • To my dear young friend F. M. B., mighty
yet delicate raaster of the piano, — a friendly souvenir of happy May
days in 1830. J. W. von Goethe.' He also gave rae three letters
of introduction to take with me.

"At the very beginning of ray visit to Weimar, I spoke of a
print taken from Adrian von Ostade, of a peasant family praying,
which, nine years ago, made a deep impression on me. When 1
went at an early hour to take leave of Goethe, 1 found him seated
beside a large portfolio, and he said, * So you are actually going
away ? I must try to keep all right till your return ; but at all
events we won't part now without some pious feelings, so let us
once more look at the praying familv together.'" — Letters^ pp.
11-13.

And so he went his way, and never again came within
the limits of that magic circle whose spell will not relax
its potency for many a year. Even then the lamp which
illumined it was paling fast; long before the young maes-
tro had come back over the Alps its light had quite faded
away. It was but a lurid light at .best, not comparable
with real sunshine, though mimicking its brilliancy at
times with deceptive vigour. It lacked that warmth which
can be kindled only by the genuine charity that looks on
all humanity as kindred ; but its ray was an admirable
counterfeit, making pure and arrant selfishness pass for the
sterling gold of catholic sympathy. Thoroughly heathen

I

1862.1 Mendelssohn. 207

was that old divinity of Weimar, without one mitigating
trait to veil the anachronism or palHate the hardness of
his heathenism. Jupiter was the type that best embodied
his mythological excellencies, according to the ideas of his
fanatical worshippers. But this is a calumny of the pagan
original. The grace and freedom which concealed the
grossness of the system that surrounded the Greek Zeus,
and tlie nobleness and patriotic devotion which tempered
the mighty despotism that bowed down before the Capi-
toline Jove, were alike unknown to Goethe. His heart-
less Iieathenism was not human ; it was mere sensuous
egotism, denying the existence of a future which it dared
i\ X face, ignoring the past for fear of awakening nny
sense of responsibility for the present. His might have
been the motto :

Quid sit futurura eras, fuge quserere ; et
Quern sors dierum cumque dabit, lucro
Appone ;
or

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero ;

but never this large-hearted one.

Homo sum : humani nihil a me alienum puto.

What Heinrich Heine said of him, by way of apology, is
at the same time the truest and most severe censure. He
likens him to a forest tree, beneath whose spreading
branches the naked Dryads of paganism were permitted
to ply their witchery, to the scandal of the adherents of
the old Christian faith ; while the apostles of liiberalism
were equally irritated that no Cap of Liberty could be
perched upon its summit, nor Carmagnole danced around
its trunk, nor could it even be made to serve for a barri-
cade. Such was really Goethe. The barren heathenism
which he would have substituted for Christianity, would
have aroused and pampered man's passions; but it
brought no sympathy for man's true wants, it provided no
security for his rights, it suggested no promptings for his
progress. It is marvellous, the influence which this pas-
sive, inglorious sensuousness exercised in Germany for
more than half a century, and even still exercises — the
height to which it was raised by its idolatrous devotees —
the abject submission with which its doctrines were
received, and its sayings and doings extolled. The selfish

208 Mendelssohn. [Nor.

old heathen who shmdered the friends of his poverty and
need in order to exalt himself into a hero in Werther, and
sneered at Beethoven's music which will perpetuate
Egmont long after its author is forgotten, was hailed as
the "Life-enjoying" and "Many-sided'' man. From
the long extracts which we have just quoted from Men-
delssohn's Letters, our readers may appreciate the consis-
tency of this character even to the close, vain, selfish,
exacting, only growing more pompous as the season ol' his
observance was passing away. Well was it for the young
artist, that his fresh and generous nature had not to linger
long, within the shadow of this blighting influence ; and
that his heart escaped that curse of hardness, which is the
fatal penalty of such callous sensuousness.

From Weimar, Mendelssohn went on to Munich, where
he listened to Fidelio with great dissatisfaction. He
objects to the liberties taken with a great work by " fine
singers and intellectual artists, who are not however
sufficiently modest and subordinate to render their parts
faithfully and without false pretension." He complains
in language applicable to the present day, that ** when a
German like Beethoven writes an opera, there comes a
German like Stuntz or Poissl, and strikes out the ritour-
nelle, and similar unnecessary passages ; and another
German adds a trombone part to his symphonies ; a third
declares that Beethoven is overloaded : and thus is a great
man sacrificed." We have an instance of attentive affec-
tion, worth a thousand protestations, in one of these
Munich letters. He had been about three weeks from,
home, when one morning he received a letter from his sister,
Mde. Hensel, which seemed to him to betray lowness of
spirits. It was impossible, as he himself says, to be with
her and talk to her ; so he at once sits down and com-
poses a song "in a tender mood, expressive of his wishes
and thoughts." And the youth who thus devotes a whole
morning to apostrophising an absent sister in song, was
gifted with the keenest susceptibility and love of art, and
had but two or three days to make himself acquainted
with all the treasures stored up in the city which was
then, and still is, the x\rt-capital of Germany. From
Munich, by Salzburg and Linz, he came to Vienna, where
he found the people so frivolous, that he became ** quite
spiritually-miuded." He complains bitterly of the univer-
sal neglect oF Beethoven (for which indeed Vieima had

I

1862.1 Mendelssohn. 209

then been some time notorious) among the best piano-
forte players ; and that when he ventured to suggest that
neither Beethoven nor Mozart were to be despised, he
was sneeringly asked " whether he, too, was an admirer
of classical music?'' From Vienna he went over to
Presburg, where he just arrived in time for the Coronation
of the Ex-Emperor Ferdinand (then Crown Prince, and
eldest son of the Emperor Francis II.) as King of Hungary.
As this was the last occasion of the celebration of this
national ceremonial, on which the Hungarians seem to
set such immense constitutional value, we shall venture to
quote what Mendelssohn says concerning it.

"This excursion has made me acquainted with a new country ;
for Hungary with her magnates, her high dignitaries, her Oriental
luxury, and also her barbarism is to be seen here, and the streets
offer a spectacle which is to me both novel and striking. We really
seem here to approach closer to the East ; the miserably obtuse
peasants or serfs ; tlie troops of gipsies ; the equipages and retain-
ers of the nobles overloaded with gold and gems (for the grandees
themselves are only visible through the closed windows of the car-
riages) ; then the singularly bold national physiognomy, the yellow
hue, the long moustaches, the soft foreign idiom — all this makes
the most motley impression in the world. Early yesterday I went
alone through the streets. First came a long array of jovial oflScers,
on spirited little horses; behind them a crew of gipsies, making
music; succeeded by Vienna fashionables, with eye-glasses and kid
gloves ; then a couple of uncivilized peasants in long white coats,
their hats pressed down on their foreheads, and their straight black
hair cut even all round (they have reddish- brown complexions, a
languid gait, and an indescribable expression of savage stupidity
and indifference) ; then came a couple of sharp acute-looking
students of theology, in their long blue coats, walking arm-in-arm;
Hungarian proprietors in their dark blue national costume ; court
servants ; and numbers of carriages every moment arriving covered

with mud Below, the Danube runs very rapidly, darting with

the speed of an arrow through the pontoon bridge ; then the exten-
sive view of the flat but wooded country, and meadows overflowed
by the Danube ; of the embankments and streets, swarming with
human beings, and mountains clothed with Hungarian vines — all
this was not a little strange and foreign. Then the pleasant con-
trast of living in the same house with the best and most friendly
people in the world, and finding novelty doubly interesting in their
society. These were really among the happy days, dear brother,
that a kind Providence so often and so richly bestows on me.

*• September 28th, one o'clock.
*'The King is crowned — the ceremony was wonderfully finOr
VOL. Lll.-No. cm ' 14

210 Mendelssohn, [Nov.

How can I even try to describe it to you? There is a tremendous
uproar under my windows, and the Burgher-guards are flocking
together, but only for the purpose of shouting ' Vivat /' I pushed
my way through the crowd, while our ladies saw everything from
the windows, and never can I forget the effect of all this brilliant
and almost fabulous magnificence.

" In the great square of the Hospitallers the people were closely
packed together, for there the oaths were to be taken on a platform
hung with cloth ; and afterwards the people were to be allowed
the privilege of tearing down the cloth for their own use ; close by
■was a fountain spouting red and white Hungarian wine... They
yelled as if they had all been spitted, and fought for the cloth ; in
short they were a mob ; but my Magyars ! the fellows look as if
they were born noblemen, and privileged to live at ease, looking
very melancholy, but riding like the devil.

" When the procession descended the hill, first came the court
servants, covered with embroidery, the trumpeters and kettle-
drums, the heralds and all that class; and then suddenly galloped
along the street a mad Count, en pleine carriere, his horse plunging
and capering, and the caparisons edged with gold ; the Count him-
self a mass of diamonds, rare lierons' plumes and velvet embroi-
dery (though he had not yet assumed his state uniform, being
bound to ride so madly — Count Sandor is the name of this furious
cavalier). He had an ivory sceptre in his hand with which he
urged on his horse, causing it each time to rear and to make a
tremendous bound forward. When bis wild career was over, a
procession of about sixty more magnates arrived, all in the same
fantastic splendour, with handsome coloured turbans, twisted
moustaches, and dark eyes. One rode a white horse covered with
a gold net, another a dark grey, the bridle and housings studded
with diamonds ; then came a black charger with purple cloth
caparisons. One magnate was attired from head to foot in sky-
blue, thickly embroidered with gold, a white turban, and a long
white dolman; another in cloth of gold, with a purple dolman;
each one more rich and gaudy than the other, and all riding so
boldly and fearlessly, and with such defiant gallantry, that it was
quite a pleasure to look at them. At length came the Hungarian
guards, with Esterhazy at their head, dazzling in gems and pearl
embroidery. How can I describe the scene? You ought to have
seen the procession deploy and halt in the spacious square, and all
the jewels and bright colours, and the lofty golden mitres of the
bishops, and the crucifixes glittering in the brilliant sunshine like

a thousand stars The procession then rode up the Konigsberg,

whence the King waved his sword towards the banks of the Danube
and the four quarters of the globe, in token that he takes possession
of his new realm.

" Once more 1 send you my farewell from Germany, my dear
parents, and brother and sisters. I am leaving Hungary for Italy,

I

1862.J Mendelssohn. 211

and thence I hope to write to you more frequently and more at
leisure. Be of good cheer, dear Paul, and go forwards in a confi-
dent spirit; rejoice with those that rejoice, and do not forget the
brother who is wandering about the world." — Letters, pp. 22-27.

At last, he reached Venice ; and his first thought was
to write home to share with the dear ones there what he
had *' all his life" looked forward to, " as the greatest
possible felicity.'' How gratefully he addresses his parents
** for having bestowed so much happiness on him !" How
eagerly he wishes that his brother and sisters were there
to divide with him his enjoyment ! The sight of such a
fresh generous heart, so warm, so impulsive, so affection-
ate, so utterly unselfish, is both consoling and improving.
Before he had been a week at Venice, he wrote a long
letter to his old master, Zelter, sketching for him the
beauties of nature and art in which he was revelling,
giving an account of the work which he had done and an
outline of what he projected. His time, certainly, had
not been idly spent ; and if we remember that his eyes and
ears were always open for everything worth seeing or
hearing, we shall give him credit for an industry at all
times rare, but marvellous in a youth of twenty-one.
While in Vienna, he finished two pieces of sacred music —
a choral in three movements for chorus and orchestra,
to the words of Paul Gerhardt's Good Friday Hymn, ** O !
Haupt voll Blut und Wiinden;" and an "Ave Maria"
for eight voices, one of his most beautiful sacred pieces.

These letters contain abundant instances that his taste
for natural beauty was just as keen, his perception of the
circumstances and features of the scenery through which
be was passing just as ready and accurate, as when dealing
with the phenomena of the art-world. He is constantly
noting traits which would hardly have caught the attention
of an ordinary tourist, and in language so appropriate and
felicitous that it could only spring from great refinement
and subtlety of apprehension. On some of these occasions
he is almost as enthusiastic as when speaking of some
great art-masterpiece. What fine appreciation, for exam-
ple, and yet what natural unspoiled feeling, is evinced in
the passage where he describes the ** superb" gardens of
the Pitti palace, with the *' thick solid stems" of their
myrtles and laurels, and their innumerable cypresses,
** making a strange exotic impression" on him; and
nevertheless acknowledges that he considers beeches.

512 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

limes, oaks, and firs, ten times more beautiful and pictur-
esque." Again, what genuine delight beams forth in
the playfully circumstantial sketch which he has given us
of a stroll among the hills above Florence, when leaving
man and his wonderful works behind, he gave himself up
to the enchantment which a soft October day ever inspires
in that favoured locality. The countless white villas and
sloping terraces, that cover every acclivity as far as the
eye can reach, the endless succession of vineyards and
olive grounds, the blue hills in the distance clad in roses
and aloes and clumps of cypresses, and decked out, even
in mid-autumn, with beds of violets, narcissuses, pinks,
and heliotropes — all conspired to make him regard the
banks of the Arno as one of the most lovely scenes in the
world.

But the chief characteristic of these Italian Letters is
their art-criticisms and notices. It is quite impossible
indeed to read the few letters written in Northern Italy
without feeling that had Mendelssohn not wholly given
himself up to Music, one> if not more, of her sister arts
would have raised him to distinction. His sympathy with
the arts of Painting and Drawing is especially evident.
And what is particularly noticeable, and demonstrative of
the catholicity and true loftiness of his genius is, that he,
a young German, and imbued with German notions of
art, had a most warm appreciation of the Italian masters,
nay even betrayed a bias in favour of their style. How
spontaneous this feeling was, we may infer from the fact,
that, although he had heard the name of Giorgione, he
had never seen a painting of that great Venetian until his
visit to Venice, but, as soon as he had *' at last personally
made the acquaintance of this very admirable man,'* he
pronounces him to be *' an inimitable artist.'' And yet,
with that instinct which only true art-genius wields, he
was not held captive by the beauties and peculiarities of
any one school, but seized upon the merits, and estimated
the value of all, with just and equal discrimination.
Titian, he says, affected him most deeply ; but the power
of the Florentine Artists proved to be just as great. At
Florence his favourite haunt was the Tribune in the
Gallery in the Palazzo degli Uffizj, "aroom so delight-
fully small that you can traverse it in fifteen paces, and
yet it contains a world of art." There he used to take
possession of a favourite arm-chair under a noble Greek

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 213

statue, and enjoy himself for hours together. Before him,
so close that he could touch it, was that marvel of ancient
statuary, the Venus de Medici, and above it Titian's
Venus. Around him were the '* Madonna del Cardel-
lino,'* and a portrait of the Fornarina by Raphael, a
" lovely Holy Family'' by Perugino, other exquisite an-
cient statues, and other pictures by Titian, Domenichino,
Kaphael and others : — ** all these within the circumference
of a small semicircle no larger than one of your own rooms.
This is a spot where a man feels his own insignificance,
and may well learn to be humble." He was especially
attracted by Fra Bartolomeo, and used to stay long in
admiration of a little picture of his, which he had dis-
covered for himself. It seemed to him as if the picture
itself, with its ** exquisite and consummate finish, most
brilliant colouring, brightest decorations, and most genia.
sunshine, told of the delight which the pious Maestro had
taken in painting it, and in finishing its most minute
details ;" and he says that he felt ** as if the painter ought
to be still sitting before his work, or had only this moment
left it.'' We are sure that our readers will feel a kindred
sympathy with these reflections on the portraits of the
Great Masters, which are exhibited together in a room of
the Gallery degli Uffisy.

" I wandered about among the pictures, feeling so much sym-
pathy, and such kindly emotions in gazing at them. I now first
thoroughly realized the great charm of a large collection of the

highest works of art I could not help meditating on all these

great men, so long passed away from earth though their whole
inner soul is still displayed in such lustre to us, and to all the
world,

" While reflecting on these things, I came by chance into the
room containing the portraits of great painters. I formerly merely
regarded them in the light of valuable curiosities, for there are
more than three hundred portraits, chiefly painted by the masters
themselves, so that jou see at the same moment the man and his
work ; but to-day a fresh idea dawned on me with regard to them,
— that each painter resembles his own productions, and that each
while painting his own likeness, has been careful to represent him-
self just as lie really was. In this way you become personally
acquainted with all these great men, and thus a new light is shed
on many things. I will discuss this point more minutely with you
when we meet ; but I must not omit to say, that the portrait of
Raphael is almost the most touching likeness I have yet seen of
him. In the centre of a large rich screen, entirely covered with

214 Mendelssohn, [Nor.

portraits, Langs a small solitary picture, without any particular
designation, but the eye is instantly arrested by it ; this is Raphael
— youthful, very pale and delicate, and with such inward aspira-
tions, such longing and wistfulness in the mouth and eyes, that it
is as if you could see into his very soul. Tliat he cannot succeed
in expressing all that he sees and feels, and is thus impelled to go
forward, and that he must die an early death, — all this is written
on his mournful, suffering, yet fervid countenance ; and when look-
ing at his dark eyes, which glance at you out of the very depths
of his soul, and at the pained and contracted mouth, you cannot
resist a feeling of awe.

" How I wish you could see the portrait that hangs above it ;
that of Michael A ngelo, an ugly, muscular, savage, rugged fellow,
in all the vigour of life, looking gruff and morose ; and on the other
side a wise, grave man, with the aspect of a lion, Leonardo da
Vinci ; but you cannot see this portrait, and I will not describe it
in writing, but tell you of it when we meet. Believe me, however,
it is truly glorious. Then I passed on to the Niobe, which of all
statues makes the greatest impression on me ; and back again to
my painters, and to the Tribune, and through the corridors, where
the Roman Emperors, with their dignified yet knavish physiogno-
mies, stare you in the face ; and last of all I took a final leave of
the Medici family. It was indeed, a morning never to be forgotten."
Letters, pp. 188-192.

At length, he got to Rome in November, and settled
down there for the winter. Pope Pius VIII. was then
dying; he died, indeed, on December 1, 1830. The anti-
cipation of this event, the funeral obsequies, the subse-
quent conclave, which lasted for seven weeks, and the
Lent following within a .fortnight, detracted from the
gaiety and pleasures of the winter, usually the Koman
festive season, by depriving it of the customary ceremoni-
als and of that splendour for which Rome, more than any
other capital, depends upon the presence and participation
of its Court. But Rome will ever be the home to which
genius and literary eminence will naturally turn ; and the
depressing causes which influenced the public enjoyments,
brought no diminution to the intellectual and artistic char-
acter for which its society was then preeminently distin-
guished. Bunsen was then Prussian Minister at the
Papal Court, a man whose many merits and singular
ability and learning, albeit marred by ^reat errors, none
can gainsay. Thorwaldsen, Horace Vernet, Cornelius,
Ovferbeck, and Bendeman, were the foreign leaders in
Sculpture and Painting. Mendelssohn was at once admit-

I

1862.[ Mendelssohn. 215

ted to the intimacy of the circles of which these men were
the chief ornaments, and so quickly came to be appreciated
by the Roman fashionable world. He quite gave himself
up to the genial influences of such associations, profiting
by the opportunities which they afforded, and still more by
the encouragement and suggestions which both openly and
tacitly he received from all around, keeping his mind open
to all good impressions, whencesoever they came, and
closed against every thing else. He had not long mingled
in Roman society, before his genius and worth were uni-
versally recognised, and it was soon acknowledged that
though young in years, he already possessed the right to
rank with the highest in his profession, and to be admit-
ted to an equality with the noblest within the inner sanc-
tuary of art. His natural refinement and delicacy made
him shrink from contact with the vulgarity, meanness,
pedantry, cynicism, and insolent pretentiousness, which
are affected to such a great extent, and are so great a blot
in the life of art-students in Rome. The following sketch
reads like a caricature, but is unfortunately too true.

"The painters here are most formidable to look at sitting in
their Cafe Greco. I scarcely ever go there, for I dislike both them
^nd their favourite place of resort. It is a small dark room, about
eight feet square, where on one side you may smoke, but not on the
other ; so they sit round on benches, with their broad-leaved hats
on their heads, and their huge mastiffs beside them ; their cheeks
and throats and the whole of their faces covered with hair, puffing
forth clouds of smoke, and saying rude things to each other, while
the mastiffs swarm with vermin. A neck cloth or a coat would be
quite innovations. Any portion of the face visible through the
beard is hid by spectacles ; so they drink coffee, and speak of Titian
and Pordenone, just as if they were sitting beside them, and al.«o
wore beards and wide-awakes ! Moreover, they paint such sickly
Madonnas and feeble saints, and such milk-sop heroes, that I feel
the strongest inclination to knock them down." — Letters, p. 79.

Indeed all the notices of the great body of artists
throughout these letters are disadvantageous. Soon after
the election of Gregory XVI., political troubles broke out
in the Papal States. The artists feared lest their jfilth
and affectation should compromise their political good
name with the authorities.

" The German painters are really more contemptible than I can
tell you. Not only have they cut off their whiskers and moustaches,
and their long hair and beards, openly declaring that as soon as all

216 Mendelssohn, [Nor.

danger is at an end thej will let them grow again, but these tall
stalwart fellows go home as soon as it is dark, lock themselves in,
and discuss their fears together. They call Horace Vernet a brag-
gart, and jet he is very different from these miserable creatures,
whose conduct makes me cordially despise them." — p. 115.

Very different were his feelings towards Thorwaldsen,
Vernet, and the other artists of real genius whose familiarity
he enjoyed, spending often whole days together in their
studios, or in rambles through the Campagna and the hills
in their company, while the nights were devoted to recep-
tions at their houses. Of Bunsen he speaks with especial
warmth, as indeed he had good reason to do, being in-
debted to him for his favourable introduction to Roman
musical notice, and for many other kindnesses which con-
siderably enhanced the pleasure of his sojourn. Almost
immediately on his arrival, he presented him to Baini, the
famous master of the Papal choir, and to other musical
notabilities, and especially to Santini, who proved a valu-
able acquaintance, as he had a very complete library of
ancient Italian music, and kindly lent to the young artist
anything which he liked. Mendelssohn speaks gratefully
of his obligations to this kind and simple old man. To
these commendations we may be permitted to add the tes-
timony brought by the memories of our own youthful
years, for we too had the honour of enjoying his acquaint-
ance, of profiting by his generosity, and of being admitted
to familiar opportunities of observing his unobtrusive dili-
gence and unselfish zeal. Nor can we easily forget the
circumstances of our first introduction to the Abbate
Santini, nor the cheerful courtesy with which, thanking
ns for a very trifling civility which it had been in our
power to offer to him, he bade us be assured that we
should never have cause to regret being considerate to old

Biinsen's fondness for music brought many artists
together at his re-unions, which thus afforded Men-
delssohn excellent opportunities for the display of his mar-
vellous skill in pianoforte performance, and his wonderful
talent for improvisation on that instrument. The minister
was especially partial to Palestrina's music, and used
every Monday to assemble the members of the Papal
choir for the purpose of singing some of his compositions.
Those who have had the privilege of being admitted to
these and similar re- unions, which indeed form a portion of

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 217

the routine of genuine Roman society, will ever preserve a
lively and grateful recollection of having enjoyed a treat
such as no other place but Rome can offer, that of having
listened to the harmonies of some of the greatest masters
in the musical art, rendered in a style which could not be
attempted save by those who have been, as it were, unto
the manner born. It was at one of these Monday meet-
ings at Biinsen's house, that Mendelssohn made his Ro-
man debut. He gives the following account of it.

'♦Yesterday, for the first time, I played before the Roman TMusi-
cians m corpore. I am quite aware of the necessity of placing in
every foreign city so as to make myself understood by my audience.
This makes me usually feel rather embarrassed, and such was the
case with me yesterday. After the Papal singers finished Pales-
trina's music, it was my turn to play something. A brilliant piece
would have been unsuitable, and there had been more than enough
of serious music ; I therefore begged Astolfi, the Director, to give
me a theme, so he lightly touched the notes with one finger, smiling
as he did so. The black-frocked Abbati pressed round me and
seemed highly delighted. I observed this, and it inspirited me, so
towards the end I succeeded famously ; they clapped their hands
like mad, and Bunsen declared that I had astonished the clergy ;
in short the affair went off well." — Letters, p. 66.

The relations thus auspiciously commenced became
closer as his stay wore on ; and he was admitted to a foot-
ing of intimacy with the Papal choir, such as few have
enjoyed. Among the places which he used to frequent for
the gratification of his musical tastes was the church of
Trinita de' Monti, occupied then as now by French sisters
of the congregation of the Sacred Heart. It was then the
fashion, as indeed it still continues to be, with the music-
loving and devotional portions of the promenaders on the
Pincio to adjourn to this httle church for the evening
benediction. Our young artist had generally the additional
incentive of the company of Horace Vernet's charming and
accomplished daughter, afterwards Madame Paul Dela-
roche, or others of the many female acquaintances whose
society cheered the monotony and encouraged the occupa-
tions of his sojourn. These visits gave rise to a romantic
idea which he thus expresses : —

*' It is twilight, and the whole of the small bright church is filled
with persons kneeling, Jit up by the sinking sun each time that the
door is opened ; botli tlie giiiging nuns liave the sweetest voices in
the world, quite tender aud touching, more especially when ouo

218 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

of them sings the responses, in her melodious voice, which we are
accustomed to hear chanted bj priests in a loud, harsh, monotonous
tone. The impression is very singular ; moreover, it is well known
that no one is permitted to see the fair singers — so this caused me
to form a strange resolution. I have composed sometbing to suit
their voices, which I observed very minutely, and I mean to send
it to them. There are several modes to which I can have recourse to
accomplish this. That they will sing it I feel quite assured ; and
it will be pleasant for mo to hear my chant performed by persons
whom I never saw, especially as they must in turn sing it to the
harharo Tedesco, whom they also never beheld. I am charmed with
this 'ide^.^'^—LetterSj p. 87.

The result was the composition of three Latin Motetts,
which are still prized among the chief treasures of the
well furnished archivio of the Trinita dei Monti. There
are, however, other compositions undertaken more dehbe-
rately, if not with a more serious purpose, which attest
both the industry and the progress of this Roman period.
Before he left Vienna, a friend had made him a present of
Luther's hymns ; and he was so much struck with their
power, that during the winter he composed music for
several of them. Of one of these, *' Mitten wir im Leben
sind," — a grand double choral — he says that it is one of the
best sacred pieces he had yet composed. The splendid
overture, entitled to the *' Einsame Insel,'' and now
known as the " Overture to Fingal's Cave,]' was com-
pleted by Christmas. As soon as it was finished he set
to work on the orchestral arrangement of Handel's
" Solomon," intended to render it more suitable for per-
formance according to modern musical appliances and
requirements. This work (similar in character to that
which he afterwards undertook for Handel's ** Israel in
Egypt") seems to have been accomplished in the incredibly
short space of a month ; and we may believe that the
studies which it involved gave the first shape to those ideas
which afterwards found expression in the '* Faulus " and
the ** Elijah." He also composed, at this period, a grand
orchestral work on a large scale, entitled the " Reforma-
tion Symphony ;" but he was never sufficiently satisfied
with this to give it to the world, and it still remains unpub-
lished. English critics, especially, have referred to these
works '*of the most intensely Protestant colour," as they
are pleased to regard them, as conclusive proof that Men-^
delssohn's Protestantism was not in the slightest degree

I

1862.] MendelssoJuu 2;^

weakened by the composition of Motetts, suggested by the
evening devotions at the Trinita dei Monti, of **Ave
Marias," and of many other " Roman Cathohc" produc-
tions. We confess that we cannot quite fathom the depth
of this logic, or feel its acuteness. We know that if a
** Roman Catholic" of parallel genius, disposition, educa-
tion, training and associations, were to sit down and write
off music to some Anti-Popery chant, his Protestant lean-
ings would be regarded as pretty decided by Roman Ca-
tholics as well as by Protestants ; while the composition
of some Catholic Motetts could scarcely be looked uijuii as
a very wonderful or out-of-the-way fruit of his practical
faith. In a similar way we do not think that the composi-
tion of some Lutheran hymns modifies to any great extent
the exceptional character of the Catholic productions that
have come from our artist's pen. Nay, we think it is
hardly reconcileable with good faith and straightforward-
ness to found an argument for Mendelssohn's Protestan-
tism on the fact^of his having composed music to such
hymns as *^Ein' feste Burg," " Wir glauben all' an ^inen
Gott," and ** Mitten wir im Leben sind ;"— ^-embodying
as they do, the truest Catholic sentiments. With as much
propriety and logical consistency it might be argued that
Christians should forsake the belief in One God, because
Mahomet has made it a fundamental doctrine of his sys-
tem, as that Catholics should abstain from making use of
words thoroughly expressive of their faith and devotion,
because they happen to have been composed by the here-
siarch founder of what is called Protestantism. This
querulous assertion of Mendelssohn's Protestantism, and
childish endeavour to support its credibility, betrays an
uneasy suspicion of its probable falsehood ; its authors
would wish that it should really prove to be the case, but
they have a lurking dread lest it may turn out other-
wise.

But the chief subjects on which he was engaged during
his stay in Rome were of a very different character from
any of these to which we have alluded. First of these was
his Scottish Symphony in A minor, which was always pre-
sent to his mind, but never proceeding quite to his liking,
being almost as quickly put down as taken up, and which,
was finally laid aside until the maturer inspirations of thir-
teen years afterwards enabled him to bring to completion
this greatest of his iustrumental works. Another was the

220 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

second symphony in A major, which he called his Italian
Symphony. This collection of profound and beautiful
melodies was brought out by the author in London in
1833, but was not really appreciated until its reproduction
in 1848. The third was the music to Goethe's ** Wal-
purgis Nacht/' destined to be one of the most celebrated
of his productions, which was begun and finished during
his stay in Italy, although it was entirely reconstructed
about twelve years later, when it was published. It is
worthy of note that the first person to whom he played over
this piece was a son of Mozart. He gives the following
account of it, in a letter to his sister Fanny.

" Since I left Vienna I have partly composed Goethe's first
• Walpurgis Nacht,' but have not yet had courage to write it
down. The composition has now assumed a form, and become a
grand Cantata, with full orchestra and may turn out well. At the
opening there are songs of Spring, etc., and plenty of others of the
same kind. Afterwards, when the watchmen with their * Gabeln,
uud Zaoken, uud Eulen,' make a great noise, the fairy frolics begin,
and you know that I have a particular foible for them ; the sacri-
ficial Druids then appear, with their trombones in C major, when the
watchmen come in again in alarm, and here I mean to introduce a
light mysterious tripping chorus ; and lastly to conclude with a
grand sacrificial hymn. Do you not think that this might develop
into a new style of Cantata ? I have an instrumental introduction,
as a matter of course, and the effect of the whole is very spirited."
Letters, p. 112,

He gives the following account of the distribution of his
time in Rome.

** Picture to yourself a small house, with two windows in front, in
the Piazza di Spagna, which all day long enjoys the warm sun, and
an apartment on the first floor, where there is a good Viennese
grand piano: on the table are some portraits of Pales trina, AUegri,
etc., along with the scores of their works, and a Latin psalm book,
from which I am to compose the Non Nobis. After breakfast I
begin my work, and play, and sing, and compose, till iTear noon.
Then Rome in all her vast dimensions lies before me, like an inter-
esting problem to enjoy ; but I go deliberately to work, daily select-
ing some different object appertaining to history. One day I visit
the ruins of the ancient city ; another I go to the Borghese Gallery,
or to the capitol, or St. Peter's, or the Vatican. Each day is thus
made memorable, and as 1 take my time, each object becomes
firmly and indelibly impressed on me. When I am occupied in the
forenoon, I am unwilling to leave off, and should like to continue
my writing, but I say to myself that I must see the Vatican, and

I

1862.] Mendelssohn, 221

wlien I am actually there, I equally dislike leaving it ; when I have
fairly imprinted an object on my mind, and each day a fresh
one, twilight has usually arrived and the day is over.*' — Letters,
pp. 51-52.

But it is now time to refer to his Italian impressions in his
own special department of art. These may be very briefly
epitomised in the single word dissatisfaction; unless in
some instances, where we might substitute disgust. He
objects to the style, he denounces the execution, and he
attributes the faults under both these heads to that curse
of indolence which seems to form part of the Itahan
nature. No one must imagine from this that Mendelssohn
was not an admirer of Itahan music ; his favourite themes
for his own piano-forte performances would be a sufficient
refutation of any such idea. But in his opinion, the class
of Italian music which was current in Italy during his resi-
dence there, was inferior to the Italian music as it is ac-
cepted and admired throughout Europe ; and moreover
the defective execution of this actually inferior music sank it
lower still. Thus, Italian music, as heard by our author
in Italy, was labouring under three drawbacks, any one of
which would be almost fatal. There were scarce any mu-
sicians, all who had attained any eminence having gone
elsewhere ; in the next place, the quality of the article
itself was worse than second-rate ; and thirdly, the execu-
tion was very bad.

•' The orchestras are worse than any one could believe; both
musicians, and a right feeling for music, are wanting. The two or
three violin performers play just as they chose, and join in when
they please ; the wind instruments are tuned either too high or too
low ; and they execute flourishes like those we are accustomed to
hear in farm-yards, but hardly so good. The sounds they bring out
of their wind instruments, are such as in Germany we have no con-
ception of I heard a solo on the flute, where the flute was

more than a quarter of a tone too high ; it set my teeth on edge,
but no one remarked it, and when at the end a shake came, they
applauded mechanioally. The great singers have left the country.
Lablache, David, Lalande, Pisaroni, etc., sing in Paris, and the
minor ones who remain copy their inspired moments, which
they caricature in the most insupportable manner." — Letters, p.
95-6.

This was at Rome. He did not find things better at
Naples,

222 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

*' The orchestra, like that in Eome, was worse than in any part
of Germany, and not even one tolerable female singer. Those who
wish to hear Italian operas, must now-a-days go to Paris or London.
Heaven grant that this may not eventually be the case with Ger-
man music also I The voices are never together. Every little
instrumental solo is adorned with old-fashioned flourishes, and a
bad tone pervades the whole performance, which is totally devoid
of genius, fire, or spirit. The singers are the worst Italian ones I
ever heard anywhere. This is but natural, for where can the basis
of a theatre be found, which of course requires considerable capital?
The days when every Italian was a born musician, if indeed, they
ever existed, are long gone by. They treat music like any other
fashionable article, with total indifference; in fact they scarcely
pay it the homage of outward respect, so it is not to be wondered
at that every single person of talent should, as regularly as they
appear, transfer themselves to foreign countries, where they are
better appreciated, their position better defined, and where they
find opportunities of hearing and learning something profitable and

inspiriting Donizetti finishes an opera in ten days; to be sure

it is sometimes hissed, but that does not matter, for it is paid for all
the same, and he can then go about amusing himself. If at last
however his reputation becomes endangered, he will in that case he
forced really to work, which he would find by no means agreeable.
This is why he sometimes writes an opera in three weeks, bestowing
considerable pains on a couple of airs in it so that they may please
the public, and then he can afford once more to divert himself,
and once more to write trash. Their painters, in the same way,
paint the most incredibly bad pictures, far inferior even to their
music. Their architects also erect buildings in the worst taste ;
among others, an imitation, on a small scale, of St. Peter's, in the
Chinese style. But what does it matter ? the pictures are bright
in colour, the music makes plenty of noise, the buildings give
plenty of shade, and the Neapolitan grandees ask no more." — Letters,
p. 150-165.

In these last words we have the key to what Mendelssohn
conceived to be the explanation of the state of things of
which he complains. The indolence which long habit,
assisted and encouraged by the delicious climate, has
made so chief an ingredient in the Italian character, cul-
minates in Naples and the southern provinces. This in-
dolence is incompatible with the exertion, both mental and
bodily, which is the indispensable condition of art-life in
its truest and noblest forms ; the absence of which, how-
ever, is the less felt, perhaps even scarcely adverted to, by
reason of the lavish exuberance of her choicest gifts, that
nature has poured out so lavishly on that glorious land

I

1862.] Mendelssohn, 223

If Mendelssohn himself heard music " echoing and vibrat-
ting on every side *' from the Alban Hillp, how much more
the Neapohtan looking out on his peerless bay, with its
deep azure blue above and below, and Capri, and Ischia,
and Nisida, vieing with each other in the beauty of their
melodies? There is also, doubtless, much in the conmion
place and very prosaic reason at which our author hints,
when he alludes to the comparative poverty, in a financial
sense, of Neapolitan theatrical administration. There is
no branch of art which ministers so much, for the moment,
to the sensuous enjoyment of man, as music, consequently
there is none whose ministrations will, cceteris paribus, be
so practically appreciated. Since, then, London and Paris
are able to pay a higher price, we cannot be surprised if
they succeed in attracting to themselves all that is most
excellent in the art. Still it is impossible to avoid think-
ing that Mendelssohn was not only biassed in favour of
the German school, but so much so, as to be almost unfair
to Italian music, at least as far as his genius and naturally
unprejudiced disposition would allow. The reference to
Donizetti in the passage just quoted seems to breathe some
Siich sentiment. In another passage from one of the
Koman letters, it appears still more plainly. He has just
been condemning the Roman orchestras.

** We in Germany may perhaps wish to accomplish something
false or impossible, but it is, and always will be, quite dissimilar ;
and just as a cicisbeo \f\\\ for ever be odious and repulsive to my
feelings, so it is also with Italian music. I may be too obtuse to
comprehend either: but I shall never feel otherwise ; and recently,
at the Pliilharmonic, after the music of Pacini and Bellini, when
the Cavaliere Ricci begged me to accompany him in 'Non piu
andrai,'* the very first notes were so utterly different and so
infinitely remote from all the previous music that the matter was
clear to me then, and never will it be equalised, so long as there is
such a blue sky, and such a charming winter as the present. In the
same way the Swiss can paitit no beautiful scenery, precisely be-
cause they have it the whole day before their ejes. ' Les Allem-
ands traitent la musique comme une affaire d'etat,' says Spontini,
and I accept the omen." — Letters, p. 96.

Perhaps our readers may question these facts and this

* The well-known ironical Aria from Mozart's Figaro^ in which
the barber admonishes the recently enlisted Cherubino.

224 Mendelssohn. |Nov.

pbilosopliy. After it, at all events, they will not be sur-
prised to find, that the music of the Holy Week failed to
impress Mendelssohn to the extent to which it generally
does those who have the privilege of assisting at it. His
account of the ceremonies of the Holy Week is contained
in two letters written from Rome, one to his sister Fanny
and the other to his old master Zelter. It is needless to
say that these documents are very valuable, containing, as
they do, the criticisms of a great and most accomplished
musical genius, on what must ever be regarded as one of
the greatest specimens of the musical art. These criti-
cisms are, in a historical point of view, most accurate ; and,
coming from one not a Catholic, they are wonderful, and
often most noble and devotional. So far, indeed, they are
wholly devoid of the slightest tinge of prejudice, and above
all exception. But we think it is otherwise, when we con-
sider them as a technical commentary on a series of pro-
ductions, which constitute in themselves a great system
of religious music. The very education and training
which Mendelssohn had received, his keen susceptibility
and intense love of his art, while they rendered him the
better qualified to judge of the merits and defects of music
in general, interfered also the more with his fitness for
judging those special compositions, which were altogether
of a different kind, and carried out in a different fashion,
from what he had been accustomed to; he was more alive
to their shortcomings, he saw more clearly their blemishes,
but would, at the same time, be the less likely to appreci-
ate beauties, that presented themselves under forms
unknown to his experience. This implies no fault on the
part of Mendelssohn himself, nor censure on his training.
It is simply one of those accidents to which genius must
ever be exposed, not merely in the several departments of
art, but in any pursuit whatever, intellectual or other-
wise. No blame could attach to the Roman Generals,
that they failed to penetrate intuitively the merits of the
Phalanx marshalled by Pyrrhus; and we ourselves are
ever ready to excuse the misapprehensions of foreigners
respecting our institutions, on the ground that their pre-
vious habits do not leave them in a position to appreciate
them. A Canadian would scarcely be inclined to defer to
the judgment of an East Indian, on the question of how
he could best contrive his dwelling so as to protect himself
from the rigours of his Arctic winter. One who had neve

1

1862.] Mendelssohn. 225

been present at an opera, is hardly the person, whom we
should expect to form, off-hand, the best opinion of such a
production. We, in England, pride ourselves on what we
consider our special faculty of appreciation, with regard to
that great class of sacred dramatic music, which has
found its embodiment in the Oratorio ; so much so,
indeed, that on this point we claim a supremacy of opinion.
We should never dream of wavering in our admiration of
those beauties of the Messiah or of the Elijah, which we
profess to seize instinctively, because a foreigner, no
matter how great his reputation, or high his ability, failed
to discern them at a first hearing. And yet truth com-
pels us to admit, that even we required some time to
familiarize us with those great works, before we could
thoroughly apprehend their massive grandeur, their com-
plete unity, and that singular beauty which is so peculiarly
all their own. We cannot then be surprised that a young
man of two-and-twenty, educated up to that time in the
traditions of the strictest German school, failed, as we
believe, to render perfect justice to a class of music, then
for the first time brought witliin his reach, and which,
whatever be its merits or its faults, is different in kind from
anything which he had previously known. But we may,
indeed, well be surprised that he caught its general tone
so fairly, and was frequently able to identify himself so
fully with its spirit. On going over these letters, it is
clear that Mendelssohn had but an imperfect conception
of the ceremonies at which he was assisting. On the
Palm Sunday he had no book with which to follow the
words, and he was so far from the choir that the singing
** made the most confused impression on him." Now let
ns waive all higher considerations, and simply ask, what
should we say of the sketch of a great opera, given to us
by one who was present at its performance under similar
circumstances :— for the first time, without a libretto,
unacquainted with the plot, unfamihar with operatic
music? He comments at considerable length and with
much acuteness on the tones employed in singing the
Psalms, on the formula for the Lessons, etc., and on the
canto fermo settings "for the Antiphons. These observa-
tions are sure to be interesting, even for their very novrlty,
to every student of Church Music; although it is plain,
that the writer was not then acquainted with the canto
fermo. Of this ignorance, indeed, we have a very curi-

VOL. LII.-No. cm. 15

226 Mendelssohn, [Nor.

ous instance in Lis mistaking the formula to wlilch the
Credo is universally intoned for the composition of Sebas-
tian Bach : the plain fact being that the grand old master
wrote down the time-honoured canto fermo forniu] a for the
first notes of his massive Credo."* Had Mendelssohn
studied more deeply this and similar compositions of his
favourite author, who almost made his own of that severe
counterpoint to which the music of the Papal choir belongs,
wielding it with an enjoyment and facility that the most
prolific melody-maker might envy, he would have been
more thoroughly fitted to appreciate the singing of the
Papal chapel. But we must now lay before our readers
two or three brief extracts which may give them an idea
of the impressions made on the young artist by the
solemnities of what he himself calls *' a truly memorable
week/' He appears to have been particularly struck with
their '* perfection as a whole."

"People have often both zealously praised and censured the
ceremonies of Holy Week, and have yet omitted, as is often the
case^ the chief point, namely, its perfection as a complete whole.

Whether one person repeals it from another, whether it comes

up to its great reputation, or is merely the effect of the imagina-
tion, is quite the same thing. It suffices that we have a perfect
totality, which has exercised the most powerful influence for cen-
turies past, and still exercises it, and therefore I reverence it, as I
do every species of real perfection. There is more to be considered

than the mere ceremonies: as a whole tlie affair cannot fail to

make a solemn impression, and everything contributes to this
result.''— Letters, pp. 125-126.

He gives an elaborate account, in his letter to Zelter,
of the technicalities of the canto fermo of the Tenebrse,
which, as we have already said, will seem very curious to
those familiar with the subject, We may here remark
that his attention to the music was truly wonderful. He
contrived to note down the melodies for the Psalm tones,
all the difibrent cadences employed in chanting the lessons,
and some of the Antiphons, It is only one who is
thoroughly intimate with these matters that can have the

* Can it be, that, through a similar mistake, Mendelssohn him-
self was led to adopt — or, shall we say to adapt ? — the canto fermo
melody known as the eighth Psalm-tone for the grand opening of the
Antigone?

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 227

faintest conception of the keen attention and rapid per-
ception necessary to accomplish this. And yet this was a
mere trifle compared with some other of his feats of nota-
tion. He wrote down the concerted chant of the Miserere,
while it was being sung, actually distinguishing between
the notes of the original counterpoint as written by Allegri
and the abellimenti, or variations which have been handed
down from year to year by a carefully preserved tradition.
He did the same with the Improperia of Palestrina. It is
hard to say which was the more difficult task — to note
down the traditional notes, actually sung and yet hardly
touched, so delicate is the execution, — or the notes of the
chords, which are not sung, but were gathered by him
from the variations founded upon them. We have had
some acquaintance with the matter ; and we can safely
say, that no manuscript which we have seen, purporting
to be a copy of those variations of the Miserere, at all
approached the minute accuracy of the notation which is
published in these letters. And all the time that he was
thus employed, with his ears strained to catch the slight-
est inflection, his eyes too were wide open seizing and
treasuring up every feature and detail of the scene.

The chant of the Psalms seemed to him ** harsh and
mechanical,'' and the efi^ect ** tiresome and monotonous."

*' Then commences the Lamentation of Jeremiah, sung in a low
subdued tone, in the key of G major, a solemn and fine composition
of Palestrina's. The solos are chanted entirely by high tenor
voices, swelling and subsiding alternately, in the most delicate
gradations, sometimes floating almost inaudibly, and gently blend-
ing the various harmonies ; being sung without any bass roicos, and
immediately succeeding the previous harsh intonation of the
Psalms, the effect is truly heavenly... After this the psalms are sung
as before. Then follow the Lessons : a solitary voice is heard
reciting on one note, very slowly and impressively, making the tone
ring out clearly. One lesson was chanted by a soprano solo in
long-drawn notes and lasts a quarter of an hour at least. There is
no pause in the music, and the chant is in a very high key, and yet
it was executed, with the most pure, clear, and even intonation.
The singer did not drop his tone so much as a single comma, the
very last notes swelling and dying away as even and full as at the

beginning ; it was, indeed, a masterly performance During this

time the lights on the altar are all extinguished, save one wliioh is
placed behind the altar. Six wax candles still continue to burn
high above the entrance, the rest of the space is already dim, and
now the whole chorus unisono intone with the full strength of their

228 Mendelssohn, [Nov.

voices tlie ' Canticum Zacharise,' during which the last remaining
lights are extinguished. The mightj swelling chorus in the gloom,
and the solemn vibration of so manj voices, have a wonderfully
fine effect. The melody (in D minor) is also very beautiful. At the
close all is profound darkness. Then all present fall on tlieir knees,
and one solitary voice softly sings, • Christus factus est pro nobis
obediens usque ad mortem.' A pause ensues, during which each
person repeats the Pater Noster to himself.

" During this silent prajer, a death-like silence prevails in the
whole church; presently the Miserere commences, with a chord
softly breathed by tlie voices, and gradually branching off into two
choirs. This beginning, and its first harmonious vibration, cer-
tainly made the deepest impression on me. For an hour and a
half previously, one voice alone had been heard chanting almost
without any variety; after the pause came an admirably construct-
ed chord, which has the finesji possible effect, causing every one to
feel in their hearts the power of music ; it is this indeed that is
so striking. The best voices are reserved for the Miserere, which
is sung with the greatest variety of effect, the voices swelling and
dying away, from the softest piano to the full strength of the choir.
No wonder that it should excite deep emotion in every heart.
Moreover they do not neglect the power of contrast ; verse after
verse being chanted by all the male voices in unison, forte, and
harshly. At the beginning of the subsequent verses, the lovely,
rich, soft sounds of voices steal on the ear, lasting only for a short
space, and succeeded by a chorus of male voices. During the
verses sung in monotone, every one is aware of how beautifully the
softer choir are about to uplift their voices, soon they are again
heard, again to die away too quickly.'' — Letters, pp. 170-175.

As to the famous variations, or emhellimenti, while onr
author is full of admiration for thr^ir conception and exe-
cution, he is wholly opposed to the idea that they are
purely traditional.

" No musical tradition is to be relied on ; besides, how is it
possible to carry down a five-part movement to the present time,
from mere hearsay? It does not sound like it. It appears to me
that the director, having had good high voices at his command,
wrote down for their use ornamental phrases, founded on the simple
unadorned chords, to enable them to give full scope and effect to
their voices. They certainly are not of ancient date, but are com-
posed with infinite talent and taste, and their effect is admirable;
one in particular is often repeated, and makes so deep an impres-
sion, that when it begins, an evident excitement pervades all
present. The soprano intones the high C (in alt) in a pure soft
voice, allowing it to vibrate for a time, and slowly gliding down,
while the contralto holds the C steadily, so that at first I was

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 229

under the delusion that the high C was still held by the soprano;
the skill, too, with which the liarmonj is gradually developed, is
truly admirable." — Letters, pp. 177-79.

The Passion, on Good Friday, which is generally
much fidmired, ** appeared to him too trivial and monoto-
nous;" and he was ** quite out of humour and dissatis-
fied with th(3 affair altogether.'' He refers to the Passio
of Sebastian Bach as his ideal of what such a composi-
tion ought to be ; but, as sung in the Sixtine chapel (and,
a fortiori, as sung in all the other churches at Rome,
and in those which copy the Roman ceremonial) it seems
to him ** very imperfect, being neither a simple narrative,
nor yet a grand dramatic truth."

It would lead us altogether too far, to enter into a dis-
cussion of the brief but pointed criticism which follows.
We have already said that we do not think Mendelssohn
was quite prepared to appreciate the Holy Week music,
and we think that the strictures which he passes on the
Passio more than bear us out ; but, then, it is also obvi-
ous that the ideas which were then present in his mind,
and by which some of his admirers would firmly abide, are
wholly at variance with the principles on which those
great compositions are built. It is thus a question of
primary notions, and every one knows how insoluble such
questions generally are ; for, as the supporters of each
side differ radically, it is next to impossible to hit on any
common principle whence the argument may proceed.
Mendelssohn has, however, not contented himself with
general observations, but has descended to particulars which
may be examined on their own merits. For example, ho
selects the music to which the choir shout the words
** Barabbam," as ** most singular;" being of opinion that
the Jews who could so express themselves should be *'very
tame Jews indeed." Few who have heard this passage
will easily forget the impression made by the hurried,
tumultuous manner of the singers, and the extreme
severity and rapidity of the passage itself. It will be suffi-
cient to say, for the information of those who have not
heard it, that each of the four voices utters but one note to
each syllable of the word '' Ba-rab-bam," and that it is
sung with extreme liveliness and rapidity and with the full
strength of the choir. Elsewhere he complains that " the
choir sings * Barabbam' to the same sacred chords as * et

230 Mendelssohn. [Nor.

in terra pax.' " Tliis is simply unintelligible, or ridicu
lous. Of course, if it is music at all, if especially it be
severe counterpoint, chords must be employed ; nor do
we recognize any special sacredness about any chords,
apart from the words linked to them. Surely there is
nothing to forbid the composition of an " et in terra pax'*
in D flat, because Leporello sings his '* Madamina'* in
the same key. But there is a still more valuable instance.
Mendelssohn tells Zelter that he " must really mark
down here as a curiosity the * Crucifige,' just as he noted
it at the time.'' The passage would almost read like an
example of vaulting ambition overleaping itself, did we
not know the honest unaffected candour and simplicity of
the young writer. He notes down indeed in the letter to
Zelter a passage to the words ** Tolle ! telle! crucifige
euni,'' which has one little drawback to its value as
a critical basis for proceeding to condemn the Passion as
sung in the Sixtine — but we fear it is a fatal drawback.
It is only this: — that it is not to be found in that produc-
tion. Such is the fact. The passage given by Mendel-
ssohn, as noted by him at the time, does not exist in the
original music of the Passion as composed by '* Thomas
Ludovicus A Victoria," nor is it introduced into the per-
formance by the Papal choir. Mendelssohn's piece is in
common time, the original in triple time, and distinctly in
3-1 time. Mendelssohn's is in seven bars, the original in
six — but, mark, seven bars of common time to represent
six of 3-1 time. Finally, Mendelssohn's piece, not only
does not give even the mere notes of the original, but does
not in any way represent it — it differs in the division of the
syllables, in the accentuation, in the rhythm, in the relative
proportions of the parts of the phrase. We think, after such
a specimen of critical *' accuracy" with regard to a passage
which provoked his special censure, we may fairly pass over
his sweeping observations. We have already said, and we
now repeat, that we do not blame the young artist. He
simply did not know **the lie of the land," which he
had ventured to map out. His ear, evidently, played him
false in the passage to which we have referred — that ear
whose accuracy was the theme of universal wonder: — but
it did so in rendering a language which he was then really
hearing for the first time. It is no detraction from its
marvellous faculty that it failed to catch, at once, all the
peculiarities and characteristics of a strange speech. But

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 231

we cannot let off so easily his editor, or his translator.
Paul Mendelssohn was, we think, especially bound to have
verified this passage, before he gave it to the public. It
now stands, stamped with his brother's high authority, as
a correct version of a portion of the Passion as sung in
the Sixtine ; and on its accuracy the value of the preced-
ing and subsequent criticism mainly hinges. We have
however shown that it is a simple travesty, and cannot
pass for even an imperfect version of the real passage.
It has about as good pretensions to accuracy, as the good
old Protestant notion which attributed to each successive
Pontiff the qualities, together with the imaginary outlines
and features, of Antichrist. "* The consequence is, that its
spuriousness discredits both his testimony and his judg-
nient with regard to the other portions of the Passion, and
impairs the critical value of his observations on the music
of the Papal choir and on Italian music generally. Paul
Mendelssohn could have easily obviated a blunder which
might have been so damaging to his brother's reputation.
Since Felix had been staying in Rome in 1831, the music
of the Passion by Victoria has been published, and could
have been easily referred to, for the purpose of ascertaining
the accuracy of the passage noted in the lettei\ The dis-
crepancy might have, then, been pointed out and explained,
or the passage in the letter to Z el ter might have been omitted,
as many other passages — nay whole letters — have doubtless
been suppressed. Just now the affair stands, as if we had
undertaken to criticize those very letters without having
read them, and had coined excerpts which we had palmed
off on our readers as genuine quotations.

Very different from the criticisms on the Passion, which
we have just been reviewing, is his judgment of the Im-
properia, chanted during the adoration of the cross.

^ ** It seems to me to be one of Palestrina's finest works, and they
sing it with remarkable enthusiasm. There is surprising delicacy
and harmony in its execution by the choir ; they are careful to
place every passage in its proper light, and to render it sufficiently
prominent without making it too conspicuous — one chord blending

* One of the highest dignitaries of the Church in these countries
once presented to the late Pope, Gregory XVI., an honest English
gentleman who was calmly satisfied that liis Holiness must have a
tail because he was Antichrist.

232 Mendelssohn. [Nor.

softly with the other. Moreover the ceremony is solemn and very
dignified, and the most profound silence reigns in the chapel. The
effect of the whole is undoubtedly superb. I only wish you could
hear th0v tenors, and the mode in which they take the A on the
word 'Theos;' the note is so long drawn and ringing, though softly

breathed, that it sounds most touching I quite understand vhy

the 'Improperia' produced the strongest effect on Goethe, for they
are nearly the most faultless of all, as both music and ceremonies,
and ever} thing connected with them, are in the most entire har-
mony."— Letters, pp. 185-7.

From these extracts our readers will be able to form a
tolerably accurate idea of tbe impressions wrought ou
Mendelssohn's mind by the solemnities of the Holy Week
iu the Sixtine Chapel. On a detailed perusal of these
Letters they will, we are sure, agree with us that no simi-
lar record of equal importance, in an artistic sense, has yet
been given to the public. Of its merits, especially remem-
bering the immature years of its author, it is impossible
to express what one must feel ; and for any shortcomings
in appreciation which it may disclose — if his *' strictures "
may be said to amount to so much — the novelty of his posi-
tion, and the deficiency of his experience amply account.
Nor can we better close our remarks on this subject than
by quoting the truthful and unaffected language with
which he ends his description of the Holy Week.

"They were memorable days to me, every hour bringing with it
something interesting and long anticipated. I also particularly
rejoiced in feeling that, in spite of the excitement and the numerous
discussions in praise or blame, t^ie solemnities made as vivid an
impression on me, as if I had been quite free from all previous pre-
judice or prepossession. I thus saw the truth confirmed, that per-
fection, even in a sphere the most foreign to us, leaves its own stamp
on the mind." — Letters, p. 187.

The interest which will always attach to art-life in
Rome, and the importance with which we Catholics would
naturally regard the views entertained concerning the
solemnities of the Holy Week in Rome by one who was an
accomplished scholar iu addition to being a great musical
genius, have induced us to linger too long over these
Roman letters. We must say as briefly as we can, what
we have still to say of those which remain. Mendelssohn
left Rome on the Saturday after Easter, and pro-
ceeded to Naples, where he visited all the ancient remains
and natural objects for which its neighbourhood is famous,

I

1862. Mendelssohn. 233

and gave himself up completely to the fMSchiation of that
delicious climate and most beautiful land. There, at the
house of Madame Mainville Fodor, the celebrated vocalist
and instructress of Sontag, he was introduced to Donizetti,
Cocci a, and other Neapolitan musical notabilities. Here,
too, M. Benedict renewed the acquaintance formed nine
years before, when both were boys, and was able to judge
for himself of that marvellous progress of which he had
heard, but whose reality far surpassed its fame. Among
the ** treasures unfolded to him,'' he had opportunities of
witnessing instances of that astonishing faculty of impro-
visation, which manifested itself in his earliest years, and
to which we have more than once referred in this paper.

** At an evening party, at the house of Madame Fodor, several
airs of Donizetti and Rossini, French romances, and an instrumental
duet by Moscheles were performed. Mendelssohn being subse-
quently invited to play, without a moment's hesitation he intro-
duced first one theme of the pieces performed before, then another,
added a third and fourth, and worked them simultaneously in the
most skilful manner. At first, plaj fully mimicking the Italian
stj'le, and then adopting the severe forms of the old masters, he
contrived to give a perfect musical form and shape to all, and thus
the inspiration of the present moment seemed as though it had
been the result of foretliought and study. Again, at an evening
party, where several distinguished foreigners were present, he per-
formed from memory some of the finest choruses of Handel's 'Israel
in Egypt,' the ' Messiah,' and some of his * suite de pieces,'* for the
harpsichord; thus showing his mastery over that school of compo-
sition.''— Benedicts SJcetchy p. 18,

From Psestum, the southernmost limit of his journey, he
returned northwards, passing again through Kouie and
Florence with still greater pleasure than on the occasions
of his first visit. At Milan he met with two musical
celebrities, whose acquaintance gave him unexpected
satisfaction. One of these was Madame Ertmann, wife of
the Austrian Commandant du place, who had been a
friend of Beethoven many years previously, in the days
of his glory in Viemia, before his heavy infirmities had
soured his temper and estranged him from his friends.
She and her husband were delighted at meeting
one, who prized the music of the great master; and
she played over sonata after sonata to her admiring lis-
tener, the ** old general being quite enchanted, and with
tears of delight iu his eyes, because it was so long since he

234 Mendelssohn, [Nov.

had heard his wife play." The acquaintance leads to a
sketch of Beethoven, characteristic of the deep sympathy
and kindness of his nature, as it was before evil days came
upon him.

** Sho told me that when she lost her last child, Beethoven at
first shrank from coming to her house; but at length he invited her
to visit him, and when she arrived, she found him seated at the
piano, and simply saying, * Let us speak to each other by music,'
he played on for more than an hour, and, as she expressed, * he
said much to me, and at last gave me consolation.' '*

Another "valued acquaintance," which he made at
Milan, was that of a son of Mozart; whom he describes as
** bearing the strongest resemblance to his father, especially
in disposition," and so amiable that ** no one could fail to
love him the instant he was known." He gave Men-
delssohn introductions to friends near the Lake of Como,
and this led to his seeing the Italian Lakes — ** not the least
interesting objects in the Peninsula." While at Como,
he received some advice which, in his case, was marvel-
lously comical.

" They spoke of Shakespeare's plays, which are now being trans-
lated into Italian. The Doctor said that the tragedies were good,
but that there were some plays about witches that were too stupid
and childish; one in particular, * II Sogno d' una Notte di Mezza
State.' In it tiie stale device occurred of a piece being rehearsed
in the play, and it was full of anachronisms and childish ideas; on
which they all chimed in that it was very silly, and advised me not
to read it. I remained meekly silent, and attempted no defence.'' —
Letters, p. 217.

The great " Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream"
had been already written in 1826, five years before.

From Italy he passed into Switzerland by the Simplon,
journeying down the benutiful Valais to Martigny, thence
round the Cliamouni district, through the Pays de Vaud,
wluch he pronounces " the most beautiful of all the coun-
tries which he knows, and the spot where he should mosy
like to live when he became really old;" and so all ovei
the Swiss Alps, travelling chiefly on foot. We cannot
quote from the letters which give an account of these ram-
bles ; they are even more graphic than sketches by the
Alpine Club. The deep impression which these Alpine
Bcenes made upon him, is a strong proof of the intensity ol
his spontaneous inclinatiou to natural beauty. He hac'

1862.] Mendelssohn. 235

visited Switzerland when a boy ; he travelled throngh it
now, with all the fresh appreciation of opening manhood ;
he yearned to return to its calm enjoyments through all
the excitement of his glorious career. And it was to the
lovely valleys around Interlachen that he retired in 1847, to
seek in nature's grandeur and repose that sympathy and
restoring influence which his heart needed in its ntter
prostration, after the death of that beloved and accomplished
sister, who had been the sharer of his aims and his hopes,
and the delighted witness of his success.

Six weeks were spent in journeying up and down
throufrh Switzerland, and then he passed into Bavaria.
At Munich he gave a public concert, which was attended
by the king and queen and all the court, and which he
describes as a brilliant success ; and so, by the Ehine and
Belgium, he at length arrived in Paris, where he spent
the winter. He never liked Paris, as most certainly Paris
never appreciated him. He loved to roam through the
Louvre, as formerly through the galleries of Florence. He
mixed with his fellow-artists, enjoying their society, attend-
ing their rehearsals, and assisting in their public perform-
ances. He also went wherever the excitement, which then
swayed Paris, bore him — to the Chamber of Peers, to the
Chamber of Deputies, to the Opera, to a Vaudeville, to a
reunion at Casimir Perrier's. But, not only did he not
relish the prevalent tone of French society, and French
habits and customs, but he positively disliked them, and
held them in genuine aversion. All through these Parisian
letters, we meet with luminous instances of the deep moral
feeling and earnest purity, that lay so happily at the foun-
dation of his character. Witness his remarks about San-
simonianism, on theatrical representations, and on the pn*-
vailing style of the opera, Auber's *' Parisienne,'' intended
by its author to be for the Revolution of July 1830, what
the " Marseillaise" had been for that of 1789, is most
justly denounced by him as *^ a cold, insignificant piece,
quite common-place and trivial : the words are worthless ;
then the emptiness of the music! — a march for acrobats.*'
We must make room for his description of a now famous
and popular opera, in a letter to Immermann.

*' In the Academie Royale, Meyerbeer's * Robert le Diable,* is
played every night with great success: the house is always crowded,
aud the music has given universal satisfaction. There is an ezpen-

236 Mendelssohn. [XoVr

diture of all possible means of producing stage effect, that I never
saw equalled on any stage. All who can sing, dance, or act in
Paris, sing, dance, and act on this occasion.

•* The sujet is romantic; that is the devil appears in the piece —
this is quite sufficient romance and imagination for the Parisians.
It is liowever very bad; and were it not for two brilliant scenes of
seduction it would produce no effect whatever. Tiie devil is a poor
devil, and appears in armour, for the purpose of leading astray his
son Robert, a Norman knight, who loves a Sicilian princess. Ho
succeeds in inducing him to stake his money and all his personal
property (that is, his sword) at dice, and then makes him commit
sacrilege, giving him a magic branch, which enables Jiim to pene-
trate into the princes's apartment, and renders him irresistible.
The son does all this with apparent willingness ; but when at tho
end he is to assign himself to his father, who declares that he loves
him, and cannot live without him, the devil, or rather the poet
Scribe, introduces a peasant-girl, who has in her possession the will
of Robert's deceased mother, and reads him the document, which
makes him doubt the story he has been told; so the devil is obliged
to sink down through a trap-door at midnight, with his purpose
unfulfilled, on which Robert marries the princess, and the peasant-
girl, it seems, is intended to represent the principle of good. The
devil is called Bertram. I cannot imagine how any music could be
composed on such a cold, formal extravaganza as this, and so
the opera does not satisfy me. It is throughout frigid and heart-
less; and where this is the case it produces no effect upon me. The
people extol the music, but where warmth and truth are wanting, I
have no test to apply." — Letters, pp. 322-3.

This same letter to Immermann alludes to a matter
wliicli cannot fail to excite interest. While he was at
Munich, Mendelssohn received a commission from the
director of the theatre to write an opera for Munich. In
order to carry this intention into effect, he made it his
business to pass through Diisseldorf, ^* expressly to consult
with the poet Immermann on the point. '^ They fixed on
a subject which had been long in Mendelssohn's thoughts,
and wliich he believed his mother wished to see made into
an opera — Shakespeare's ** Tempest." But when the
libretto was finished, it did not satisfy Mendelssohn's ideas
on the subject, and consequently he could not bring him-
self to compose for it, and so he seems to have permanently
abandoned all views of operatic composition. In all these
proceedings, he had been in constant communication with
his father, and believed that he was only complying with
his wishes. But Abraham Mendelssohn seems to have

I

1862.] Mendelssohn. 237

considered that a French poet — or, rather Hbretto-manu-
facturer, hke Scribe, would be more hkely to turn out
an effective libretto, than a German poet such as Immer-
mann ; and he wrote to his son to this effect. The young
artist repUed in a noble letter, in which, while expressing
himself with the utmost affection and respect, he differs
firmly and decidedly from the views his father appeared to
hold in the matter. Having set forth his ideas on the sub-
ject with great clearness, he concludes by stating that he
could not conscientiously compose, music for a French
libretto, such as he would be then likely to obtain in Paris.
** One of the distinctive characteristics of them all,^' he
says, ** is precisely of a nature that I should resolutely
oppose, although the taste of the present day may demand
it, and I quite admit that it is wiser to go with the current
than to struggle against it. I allnde to that of immorality. ..
All this produces effect, but I have no music for such
things. I consider it ignoble ; so if the present epoch exacts
this style, and considers it indispensable, then I will write
oratorios." (p. 304.) However much we may regret, that
we possess no opera from one so ably qualified both by
nature and by art to write one, it is impossible not to feel
more than admiration for the sentiments which made so
dramatic and creative a mind regard such self-denial as
an imperative duty — sentiments which, alas! so rarely find
an echo among his brother-artists.

Nor was it with regard to operatic composition, nor on
this particular point of sensuousness only, that the consci-
entious delicacy of Mendelssohn displayed itself; it was an
active principle in all his productions, now restraining, .and
now urging on, but always ruling, and never in the small-
est degree disobeyed. ^ He had no sympathy, he protests,
for the licentious music then affected by the drama ; but
neither had he for anything which did not approve itself to
his convictions, and commend itself to his heart. With
him the artist was the man ; he could not pretend an en-
thusiasm which he did not feel, nor, for hire, find utterances
for sentiments which he would not, of himself, pronounce.
Writing to his sister about some music, composed by her-
self, he says : —

"These two choruses are not sufficiently original; but my opin-
ion is that it is the fault of the words, that express nothing origi-
nal; one single expression might have improved the whole, but as
they now stand, they would be equally suitable for Church music

238 Mendelssohn. [Not.

a cantata, an offertorium, etc. Where, however, thej are not of
such uniyersal application, as for example, the lament at the end,
thej geem to me sentimental and not natural. The choruses are
fine, for they are written by you; but, in the first place, it seems
to me that they might be by any other good master ; and secondly,
as if they were not 7iecessarily what they are, indeed as if they might
have been differently composed. This arises from the poetry not
imposing any particular music. My resume therefore is, that I
would advise you to be more cautious in the choice of your words,
because, after all, it is not everything, even if it suits the theme,
that is suggestive of mMsic." — Letters, p. 315.

Already, he had declined to comply with the request of
Madame Pereira, a relative whom he was most anxious to
oblip:e, and who had asked him to compose music for the
"Nachtliche Heerschau" of Baron I Zedlitz, known to
English readers as ** Napoleon's Midnight Review." '-^
The letter in which he excuses himself, contains some ex-
cellent, although subtle criticism on the nature of such
poems, and their literary position ; but it is chiefly valua-
ble for the musical views which it enunciates.

*♦ I take music in a very serious light, and I consider it quite in-
admissible to compose anything that I do not thoroughly feel. It
is just as if 1 were to utter a falsehood ; for notes have as distinct
a meaning as words, perhaps even a more definite sense. Now it
appears to me almost impossible to compose for a descriptive poem ;
I am not acquainted with one single composition of the kind that

has been successful I could indeed have composed music for it

in the same descriptive style, as Neukommf and Fischhof, in Vienna,
I might have introduced a very novel rolling of drums in the bass,
and blasts of trumpets in the treble, and have brought in all sorts
of hobgoblins. But I love my serious elements of sound too well to
do anything of the sort ; for this kind of thing always appears to
me a joke : somewhat like the paintings in juvenile spelling-books,
where the roofs are coloured bright red to make the children aware
they are intended for roofs.'' — Letters, pp. 197-8.

But perhnps the fullest insight into the views and pur-
poses which then swayed him, and the ideas which dictated
them, and constituted the ruling principle of all his art-life,

♦ There is a fine and spirited translation of this poem by Jam<
Clarence Mangan, which has been published in the later editions
his Anthology.

\ t " Napoleon's Midnight Review,'* as composed by Neukomm, wj
published in London by Cramer, and was very popular about thirtj
years ago.

1862.] Mendelssohn. 239

IS afforded us in some letters addressed to the eminent
dramatic singer Devrient, himself a genuine artist.

*' You reproach me with being two-and-twentj without having
yet acquired fame. To this I can only reply, had it been the will
of Providence that I should be renowned at the age of two-and-
twenty, I no doubt should have been so. I cannot help it, for 1 no
more write to gain a name, than to obtain a Kapellmeister's place.
It would be a good thing if I could secure both. But so long as I
do not actually starve, so long is it my duty to write only as I feel,
and according to what is in my heart, and to leave the results to
Him who disposes of other and greater matters. Every day, however,
I am more sincerely anxious to write exactly as I feel, and to have
even less regard than ever to external views; and when I have com-
posed a piece just as it sprung from my heart, then I have done my
duty towards it; and whether it brings hereafter fame, honour,
decorations, or snuff-boxes, etc., is a matter of indiflference to me.*
If you mean, however, that I have neglected or delayed perfecting
myself, or my compositions, then I beg you will distinctly and clearly
say in what respect and wherein I have done so. This would be in-
deed a serious reproach.

*' You wish me to write operas, and think I am unwise not to
have done so long ago. I answer : Place a right libretto in my
hand, and in two months the work shall be completed, for every day
1 feel more eager to write an opera. I think that it may become
something fresh and spirited, if I begin it now; but I have got no
words yet, and I assuredly never will write music for any poetry that
does not inspire me with enthusiasm. If you know a man capable
of writing the libretto of an opera, for heaven's sake tell me his
name, that is all I want. But till I have the words, you would not
wish me to do anything — even if I could do anything.

" I have recently written a good deal of sacred music ; this is
quite as much a necessity to me, as the impulse that often induces
people to study some particular book, the Bible, or others, as the
only reading they care for at the time. If it bears any resemblance
to Sebastian Bach, it is again no fault of mine, for I wrote it just
according to the mood I was in; and if the words inspired me with
a mood akin to that of old Bach, I shall value it all the more, for I
am sure you do not think that I would merely copy his form, without-
the substance; if it were so, I should feel such disgust and such a void
that I could never again finish a composition... ..I am now going to
Munich, where they have offered me an opera to see if I can find a
man there who is a poet. I always fancy that the right man has

* Elsewhere, he defines a " true musician'* to be "one whose
thoughts are absorbed in music, and not in money, or decorations, or
ladies, or fame." — p. 269.

240 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

not yet appeared; but what can I do to find liim out? Where does
he live? I firmly believe that a kind Providence, who sends us
all things in due time when we stand in need of them, will supply
this also if necessary ; still we must do our duty, and look round
us — and I do wish the libretto were found. Meantime T write as
good music as I cnn. and hope to make progress. In instrumental
music I already begin to know exactly what I really intend. Having
worked so much in this sphere, I feel much more clear and tranquil

with regard to it — in short, it urges me onwards If you could

succeed in not thinking about singers, decorations, and situations,
but feel solely absorbed in representing men, nature, and life, I am
convinced that you would yourself write the best libretto of any one
living ; for a person who is so familiar with the stage as you are,
could not possibly write anything undramatic.When one form is to
be moulded into another, when the verses are to be made musically,
but not felt musically, when fine words are to replace outwardly
what is utterly deficient in fine feeling inwardly — this is a dilemma
from which no man can extricate himself; for as surely as pure
metre, happy thoughts, and classical language do not suffice to make
a good poem, unless a certain flash of poetical inspiration pervades
the whole, so an opera can only become thoroughly musical, and
accordingly thoroughly dramatic, by a vivid feeling of life in all the
characters." — Letters pp. 206-11.

His Stay in^ Paris extended to nearly five months : and
the letters written from that centre of gaiety and excite-
ment will prove among the most attractive, althongh not
the most valuable of the whole collection. They are full
oF sparkling vivacity and happy dashes; of graphic sketches
of nien and things, not without a certain sly humour and
satire, which make them all the more appreciable by reason
of the caricature. He evidently made it his business to
see all that could be seen, and to enjoy all that could be
enjoyed, consistently with honour and duty. Nor was he
idle in his own particular path of progress, composing fresh
works, and re-touching those already composed — as the
** Walpurgis Nacht," and the great Scottish symphony in
A minor, which seemed to be always approaching comple-
tion and yet never to satisfy him. He also appeared at some
public concerts, and was able to have his ** Overture to
Midsummer Night's Dream'' performed at the Conserv
toire, in a style which caused him great pleasure. But it
is clear that he never could take to Paris, as probably
Paris never could take to him. Its ** immorality to
degree that almost exceeds belief," shocked his mor
sense and disgusted his innate delicacy and refinement ; n

1862.] Mendelssohn. 2il

could its frivolity satisfy one whose leading principle was
that man existed for work and not for pleasure.

Towards the close of his stay he had a sharp attack of
cholera ; and, as soon as he was sufficiently recovered to
bear the journey, he came on to London, arriving soon
after Easter. Three years before, he came among us, a
youth of great promise* and wonderful attainments, lie
now returned with the fulfilment of that promise, a matured
genius, bringing with him the endorsement of European
fame. His reception was proportionate, and thenceforward
he regarded those occasional visits to London as the
proudest periods of his professional success, as they were
associated with some of the happiest episodes in his domes-
tic life. On this occasion he was engaged at the Philhar-
monic concerts, producing and playing his concerto in Gr
minor at two successive concerts, an occurrence without
precedent. He also brought out his ** FingaFs Cave'^^
during this visit. He remained in England only six weeks,,
being suddenly recalled by his father to Berlin. Zelter,
the director of the " Singing Academy," and Mendelssohn's
beloved master, had just died ; and the worthy banker saw
here, as he thought, an opening for the accompli shm^nt of
the dream of his ambition, hi securing for Felix a post
where he could pursue his artist-vocation, with dignity to
himself and with honour to his ancestral town. But this
expectation was disappointed ; and although the younger
Mendelssohn had not coveted the appointment, he was so
disgusted with the intrigues set on foot against him, that
he determined not to settle in Berlin, and he left it, as he
then believed never to return. The last letters of the col-
lection refer to this business. They show how grateful he
was to his parents for their zeal and affectionate care of
his interests, and how anxious he was to follow out his
father's views and to be guided by his advice ; but they
also show how thorough was his devotion to his art, and
with what respectful firmness and manly independence he
could maintain his own views when he was convinced of
their correctness. We must find room for one last extract
as a specimen of these admirably balanced quahties.

" I must, in taking a general view of the past, refer to what you

designed to be the chief object of my journey ; desiring me strictly

to adhere to it. I was closely to examine the various countries,

and to fix on the one where I wished to Live and to work; 1 waji

VOL. Lii»- No, cm, l^

242 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

further to make known my name and capabilities, in order that tlie
people, among whom I resolved to settle, should receive me well,
and not be wholly ignorant of mj career ; and, finally, I was to
take advantage of my own good fortune, and your kindness, to press
forward in my subsequent efforts. It is a happy feeling to be able **"
to say, that I believe this has been the case. Always excepting
those mistakes which are not discovered till too late, I think I have
fulfilled the appointed object. People now knoAv that I exist, and
that I have a purpose, and any talent that I display, they are ready

to approve and to accept I hope, therefore, I may say that I

have also fulfilled this part of your wish — that I should make my-
self known to the public before returning to you. Your injunction
too, to make choice of the country that I preferred to live in, I
have equally performed, at least in a general point of view. That
country is Germany. 1 cannot yet, however, decide on the par-
ticular city; for the most important of all, which for various rea-
sons has so many attractions for me, I have not yet thou,^ht cf
in this light — I allude to Berlin. On ray return therefore I must
ascertain whether I can remain and establish myself there according
to my views and wishes, after having seen and enjoyed other places."
—pp. 338-9.

" The situation in the Academy is not desirable at the outset of
my career; indeed I could only accept it for a certain time, and
under particular conditions, and even then, solely to perform my

previous promise I do not know how I shall get on in Berlin, or

whether I shall be able to remain there — that is, whether I shall bo
able to enjoy the same facilities for work and progress, that are
offered to me in other places. The only house that I know in Ber-
lin is our own, and I feel certain I shall be quite happy there; but
I must also be in a position to be actively employed, and this I
shall discover when I return. I hope that all will come to pass as
I wish, for of course the spot where you live must be always dearest
to me ; but till I know this to be a certainty, I do not wish to fetter
myself by any situation." — Letters, pp. 355 6.

For a year Mendelssohn was uncertain as to where ho'
would permanently fix his abode. For a time, it seemed
as if his inclination for England would induce him to p:ive
London the preference ; and he returned there in 1833,^^
accompanied by his father, and bringing with him hiJHI
second symphony in A major, which he had composeo^'
during his residence in Italy. Thence he went to Diissel-
dorf, where he conducted the Triennial Rhenish Festivu]
with an unprecedented success that was soon to exercise
decisive influence on his life. But, like the moth, hi
again came over to London, bringing with him a mosj
effective and brilliant Overture in C, which he has name<

1862.] Mendelssolm, 243

the '* Trumpet Overture," on account of the predomi-
nance of brass instruments, so unusual in his compositions.
But his uncertainty was now to be resolved. His success-
ful superintendence of the Diisseldorf Festival led to an
offer of the directorship of the concerts and theatre in that
city, which he accepted for three years. At Diisseldorf
the young director — then only four-and-twenty years of
age — fairly entered upon his artistic career, surrounded by
fellow votaries of art, among whom were his Roman
friends Schadow and Bendemann. Here, while conducting
operas, oratorios, and concerts in fulfilment of the duties
of his office, he worked assiduously at original composi-
tions of his own. Among the productions of this period
were those beautiful pieces, the design of which was his
own invention, the *' Lieder ohne Worte." But the great
work of the time — a work too composed, in great part,
while he was struggling with the affliction con-sequent on
liis father's unexpected death — was the Oratorio of St.
Paul, which was first produced at Diisseldorf on the 22nd
May, 1836, when its author had but just completed his
twenty-seventh year, and which at once placed him on a
level with the greatest masters of his art. Towards the
close of 1835, he removed to Leipzig, where he chiefly
dwelt during the remainder of that prosperous career
which proceeded, without check or pause, from triumph to
triumph for eleven years ; until death came suddenly to
cut it short, not too soon indeed for his fame as an artist,
but too soon for the benefits which we might fairly hope to
have received had he stayed longer among us, — and too
soon, alas! we fear for the completion of that great change
in his religious convictions which, we think, we have reason
to suspect had been long developing itself, and which might
seem to have been even then on the eve of its accomplish-
ment, when Providence in its mysterious dispensation hur-
riedly summoned him away.

Here we must pause. We have laid before our readers
a sketch of the early years and first career of Mendelssohn
np to the period when, by the production of his Paulus,
he reached the highest rank in his profession. We must
reserve the consideration of his subsequent brilliant course
to a future time, when, perhaps, the publication of his later
letters and of other documents will help to complete a
knowledge which, as yet, we can be said to possess only
in outline. Nor can we with propriety enter now into a

244 Mendelssohn. [Nov.

critical examination of his works, wliicli belong chiefly to
those later years. It is enough for us to know that a ver-
dict, which will scarcely be reversed, has pronounced that
his place is with Handel and Haydn, with Mozart and
Weber, and Beethoven whom he loved and understood so
well. The letters leave us at the threshold of all this great-
ness. They tell us of the youthful hopes and aims and pre-
parations, of the culture, the beautiful mind and unsullied
heart, that were the elements out of which the after success
was to be wrought. They give us the first glimpse of the
dawn of fame that was lighting up the path of genius, never
to be clouded until it had deepened into the fulness of day.
We hope, that our readers will derive from their perusal
some of the delight and instruction which they have
afforded to us. They have made us, indeed, long for the
publication of those other volumes, which the Editor has
l^romised us in his preface. We are particularly desirous
of information concerning the period of the composition of
the Lauda Sion for the Liege Festival in 1846, and the
short remaining period of his life, and for some details of
his relations with his Catholic pupils and friends at
Leipzig. His mind was too acute, his intellectual facul-
ties had been too well trained, his heart was too noble, to
allow us to believe that he would ever have abandoned an
idea of which he had once become possessed, without fol-
lowing its legitimate development to the end. We feel
certain that whatever comes, nothing will appear'that can
detract from the fame which the world has universally
decreed to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, or to mar the
unity of a career, in which we know not whether most to
admire its integrity, its nobleness, or its unvarying su<
cess, the rare genius, the rarer modesty, or the unselfisl
ness rarer than all.

1862.] The Duty of the State, its Rules and Limits. 245

Art. VII. — Mission de Vetal ses regies el ses limites, par £Jd. Ducpetiauit,
Brussels : C. Muquardt. 1861.

SELF-GOVERNMENT is the boast of Englishmen :
we all speak of it ; we all are fond of our powers of
self-government, and of our exercise of that power. It is
indeed our great characteristic; that which most distin-
guishes us from neighbouring nations, which most strikes
the foreigner; yet we venture to doubt whether the full
meaning of the word is always understood by those who
use it; whether we are always fully sensible of what our
self-government consists in ; of its advantages and draw-
backs, and of the safeguards which its preservation re-
quires.

8eif-government is of two sorts ; political, and adminis-
trative, if we may venture so to describe them, although
the words do not fully express our meaning ; or national
and individual : the former consists in the right of a
people to chose their government ; the latter in the right
of each man to govern himself, saving of course the rights
of others. Thus the French nation exercised the right of
chosing their government when they elected the Emperor ;
but their self-government ends there; the government of
their choice governs every man in the minutest details of
life. The English have not for centuries exercised any-
thing like the same absolute choice of a government: but
on the other hand every man in England enjoys infinitely
more of individual self-government; since here the state
never interferes with the exercise of his individual will ;
and the right of the government to compel a man to his
good is as earnestly repudiated as any other exercise of
arbitrary authority. Connected with the right of indi-
vidual self-government is that of local self-government: or
the right of each local community or association to govern
itself independently of the central government : taken
together, local seU-government, and individual free action
constitute freedom in its truest sense: the exercise of that
free will which is the noblest gift of God to man ; the
highest attribute of our nature, for **by this," (namely free
will) says the great St. Thomas Aquinas, '* do we excel
the beasts; are we equal to the angels; and in some
degree like to God Himself." It is then, well worth our

246 The Duty of the State, [Nov.

while to examine its essence ; to stndy its exercise ; and
to calculate the price we must pay for it : that we may not
grumble nt its cost : et divitiis nihil esse duxi in com-
paratione illius.

The work to which we have undertaken to draw atten-
tion is a most vakiable essay on this most important
study ; the nature and limits of individual liberty ; and
one well worthy of the careful perusal of every English-
man. The action of the State, that is of the government,
is of course the limit of the free action of the individual ;
and the question how far the State ought to control the
individual, is the question of individual freedom : this is
the question of which Monsieur Ducpetiaux treats in the
work *' The duty of the State ; its Rules and its Limits/'
There is a large school of writers in France and other con-
tinental countries who seek to extend the action of the
state to every relation of life : and strange to say those
who thus advocate the destruction of all individual
freedom are the loudest advocates of liberty. Their
theory is a very simple one. Proceeding from the prin-
ciple that the state or government should emanate ironi
the will of the nation, they look upon it as the expression
of the general mind ; and as the duty of the government
is to seek the welfare of the people, they deduce the two
consequences, that the government is obliged to supply
eveiy want, and direct for the best every action of the
people ; and that, as it is the expression of the popular
will, it can never be tyrannical however it override the
individual will, and control individual action. Hence
have flowed all those systems of centrahzation and state
action which in France have made the government the
monopolist of almost all action. In England we have
ever practised the opposite system ; but yet we perpetually
hear claims advanced for the interference of government
in individual instances based on these fallacious principles.
Such are the statements ; ** it is the duty of the State to
prevent improvidence, therefore it should suppress pawn-
broking.'' ** Intemperance is injurious to society and
should therefore be prevented by law." *' The government
is bound to afford the people a good education, therefore
there should be a system of State education." The first
point is to determine what are the limits to the duties and
action of the State ; when should it interfere, when not.

I

1862.] its Rules and Limits. 247

We will endeavour briefly to give an idea of the solution
M. Ditcpetiaux gives of this question.
He begins by stating the importance of the question.

•' Observing the struggle which is going on between governments
and peoples ; the instability of institutions ; past and impending
revolutions ; the perpetual oscillation between the excess and the
abuse of authority and of liberty ; it is the duty of good citizens to
seek the causes of tliese perturbations and their remedy. The
danger, I consider, lies, in great part, in tlie erroneous idea of the
State which is entertained, and its vicious constitution ; the remedy
in the defining and recognizing the rights respectively of the indi-
vidual, and of society, of citizens, and of governments." — p. 3.

He then investigates briefly the difi^erent theories whicli
have been held in ancient and modern times as to the
nature of the State, and shortly points out some of their
errors : the following passage is remarkable.

•' A doctrine, less complicated, more practical in appearance, and
more generally received, especially in France, is that which con-
founds Society and the State by attributing to them the same ends.
This doctrine increases beyond measure the action of the State;
it is it which has spread among the masses the idea that the welfare
and progress, intellectual, moral, and material, depend on the
manner in which the State is constituted and administered. Hence
perpetual attempts to reform the constitution of the State. The
idea that all human interests can and ought to be regulated by the
social power is the principal source of Socialism, which seeks to
apply its doctrines, not by the action and consent of individual wills
in free association, but by the power of the State which it seeks to
obtain." — p. 12.

Having then cleared the ground he proceeds to define
the meaning of the State.

'< The individual, society, and the State, are three elements,
three organizations, having each their distinct end and their fitting
development which must not be confounded. Each of these
elements is subordinate to divine, absolute, universal principles
which it is bound to respect. Human nature itself proclaims
unanimously the existence of a justice anterior and superior to all
human laws and institutions, and which it is the duty of the State
to maintain and enforce. Man is destined by his nature to develop
himself physically, religiously, morally and intellectually. He is
free and responsible. From this freedom results his rights and his
duties. Left to his individual strength, man cannot accomplish his
destiny on earth ; he needs the assistance and concurrence of his
equals in society, of which the family is the germ. Society in its

248 The Duty of the State, (N

ov.

turn can exist only on condition of having an organization. This
organization constitutes what is called the State. The State is the
moral being organized in society for the preservation of rights and
justice." — p. 17.

^ From this definition of the State, the writer deduces its
rights and its duties. To allow of the development at
once of society and of individuals, by protecting them in
the exercise of their rights, and enforcing their mutual
obligations towards each other; directing them thus
towards their natural development without shackling their
individual action ; without substituting its responsibility
for that of the individual : and allowing to every one the
fullest exercise of his rights, limited only by the rule that
that exercise does not trench on the rights of others.
From this it follows that man being free, has a right to
chose as regards himself good or evil, without the State
having any right to interfere or compel him to his own
good. The action of the state is independent of its form ;
its origin^ or nature, politically speaking, may be despotic,
and yet its action not so : and the most popular govern-
ment, in origin, may be most despotic in its action as
regards individuals. The Constitution of the State is
inseparable from a certain amount of centralization ; it is
the concentrating of power: the practical question is,
where should this centralization stop ? what are the limits
beyond which the action of the state should not extend?
with what branches of social life ought it not to inter^-
fere ?

It is also to be observed that there are two sorts of cen-
tralization—political and administrative ; the former de-
pends on the extent of the function attributed to the state ;
the latter on the extent to which these functions fire mono-
polized by the central power. Thus education is made a
function of the state, if it be regulated b}"" government,
whether by the central government, or by the local corpo-
rations ; it is administratively centralized when it is wholly
under the control of the central government ; politically
centrah^ed when it is taken from the control of the indi-
vidual.

Our writer here pauses to enlarge on the practical
evils of excessive centralization : and this is perhaps the
most interesting part of his work. He traces step by step
the causes and effects of centralization, taking its origin
in the demand on the part of the subjects for the interven-

I

1862. 1 its Rules and Limits, 249

tion of the state to aid them, to direct them, to deliver
them from troubles and sufferings ; and the desire of the
government to make itself popular by protecting the weak,
helping the suffering, assisting every class— it leads to the
destruction of individual effort — the complicating and de-
laying of every proceeding — it culminates in bureaucracy
and ends in revolution. But we should only weaken the
force of our author's description by any words of ours, we
shall therefore lay before our readers a few extracts from
this chapter.

"Centralization requires a large number of agents, which consti-
tutes what is called bureaucracy ; red-tapism [h formali&'me) renders
the simplest affairs complicated, delays the most pressing decisions,
and shackles, if it does not prevent, the most necessary reforms. It
gives birth to the most wretched of manias, the mania for place
and honours. Intellect is thus turned aside from a useful career —
education is perverted — the creation of a numerous and powerful
corporation, a species of caste, subject to a regular hierarchj, and to
a discipline which takes away all independence, and follows blindly
the impulse given by authority, constitutes a permanent danger for
liberty, weakens the nation by absorbing all intelligence and
degrading all minds^ and becomes a standing menace for the govern-
ment itself by the jealousies and ambitions^which its breeds in its
entrails.

" ' The government,' says Mr. Vivien, * was pleased as it consi-
dered all functionaries as the servile agents of its will, devoid of
individual independence and deprived of free will ; that blind obe-
dience, which even in the army has its limits, was introduced into
the civil service. And what has been the result ? Centralization
thus carried out, has afforded to the central power, and to what is
called in the language of party, Paris, the means of keeping France
under the yoke. An order issuing from the seat of government,
whatever may be the power in possession, experiences no opposition.
To obtain possession of all public power, it is only necessary to
become master of the capital, and to seize upon the offices of the
different ministries, and to work the telegraph. Hence the incessant
revolutions arising from the struggle to obtain this power.* p. 25,
By the species of omnipotence which it attributes to the govern-
ment, centralization, weakens its action for good by changing its
nature. The government becomes a species of fortress incessantly
besieged; the capture of which enables the victor to crush his
adversaries. It is in vain that the government which has onco
entered on this road seeks to stop ; it goes on deeper and deeper,
urged by the instinct of self-preservation and the fear of losing the
interested support of its partisans and creatures. And as all
governmental action ultimately resolves itself into expenditure, the

250 The Diitij of the State, [Nov.

increase of loans and taxes keeps equal pace with the extension of
centralization. This is well described by Mr. Bastial {Vetat,
Melanges d^economie politique.) If the government refuse the service
asked of it, it is accused of weakness, of want of good will, of inca-
pacity. If it essay to grant it, it must needs lay on new taxes ;
and thus do more evil than good, and excite by another means the
general disaffection. Thus arise on the part of the public two hopes,
on that of the government two promises : mani/ services and few
taxes. Hopes and promises which, being incompatible, are never
realised. Between the government which lavishes impossible pro-
mise?, and the public which conceives hopes which can never be
realised, two classes of men soon interpose themselves: the ambi-
tious and the Utopians. Their part is marked out for them by the
circumstances of the case. These seekers for popularity have only
to cry in the ears of the people, * government deceives you, if avo
were in its place we would overwhelm you with services and free
you from taxes.' And the people believe, and the people hope, and
the people make a revolution. Its friends are no sooner in power
than they are called on to execute their promises. * Give me work,
bread, assistance, credit, education, colonies,' cries out the people;
* and yet according to your promises, free me from taxes.' The new
government is no less embarrassed than the old one was ; for when
we treat of the impossible, it is easy to promise, but impossible
to fulfil. The contradiction ever rises before it ; if it seek to
be philanthropic, it must tax ; if it gives up taxes, it must give up
philanthropy. And then other seekers for popularity arise, make
use of the same illusion, travel the same road, obtain the same
success, and soon are swallowed up in the same abyss.'' — p. 36.

Having thus shown the evils of excessive centralization
and its nature, Mr. Dacpetiaux proceeds briefly to sketch
out the true principles which should bound the action of the
state. These he deduces froni its very nature. The state is
distinct irom the individual and above him ; but it must not
absorb him ; it must not ignore his existence or his rights;
or those of society itself. Its duty is to protect indi-
vidual riglits, by preventing their collision : to secure in-
dividual liberty, not to absorb or destroy it. The state,
the country, the public interest, the law ; all these are
great and deserving of respect; but the rights of the indi-
vidual are not less so ; freedom, morality, well-doing, these
can exist only in a being who has a conscience and a re-
sponsibility. Man is the image of his Maker; and his
fellows may not ignore his nature and his free will even for
the common good.

** Society or government has no right to prevent each one from j

1862.] its Ruks and Limits. 251

choosing lils profession, and regulating his life as he wishes ; to
prevent the citizen who wishes to combine with other citizens to
enjoy in common these individual liberties. Though others, or
even the majority of society consider our conduct stupid, perverse,
dangerous, no matter, each one has the right to blame us ; but as
long as we interfere not with the liberty of others, no one has the
right to say to us ' you shall or you shall not do so and so;' as Mr.
Remusat says, ' The limit of Centralization is personal liberty. The
right of the individual is above his happiness; a rule which would
make him happy at the expense of his responsibility, would in reality
be only a seductive oppression.' "

Hence a democratic form of government is not necessa-
rily a free one; if self-government be applied only to the
central government, and not to the details, it only substi-
tutes the tyranny of the many for the tyranny of one ; and
thus, as has been well observed —

** In some countries the people desire not to be tyrannized over ;
in others they only desire that each should have an equal chance of
tyrannizing over others."

Hence also the undue extension of the principle, that it is
the duty of the state to seek the good of society, leads to
the same tyranny. How often do we hear the old Komau
maxim quoted, Saliis populi siimma lex esto ; and tran-
slating somewhat inaccurately, salus populi, by the good
of the people, applied to every occurrence of life. The
maxim is true only in its literal sense; that the safety, the
existence of the nation is the supreme object of the law ;
but it is the existence of the nation only that is above all
individual interests, all personal rights ; individual freedom
is not to be sacrificed to promote the welfare of the mass.
The Pagan idea, indeed, of old Rome, was the omnipo-
tence of the state — Rome absorbed her citizens in herself—
all individual rights, nay, all individual existences must
give way to promote her greatness ; but this excess of
government, this absorption of the individual in the state
which raised her to such a height of power brought with it
the seed of decay to Rome, as it had done before to the
Greek republics. Christianity restored life to society by
substituting for the Pagan idea of the omnipotence of the
state, the Christian idea of the diguity and responsibility
of the individual. Everywhere the same causes have pro-
duced the same results. The old Asiatic empires, India,
and China, now tottering to its fall, equally illustrate the

252 The Duty of the State, INov.

fatal weakness of the system by which the state absorbs all
the social forces and rules mankind^ like a flock. The
most civilized nations of Europe experience the same revo-
lutions. England has escaped despotism, by limiting with-
in the narrowest bounds the functions of the state. In
France, what was the result of centuries devoted to the
perfection of the unity of the monarchy ? The exaggera-
tion of the idea of government hastened its ruin. When
Louis the Fourteenth declared Vetat c'est moij he signed
the death warrant of the government. The state was con-
centrated in a single head, only for that head to fall on a
scaffold. The revolution of 1789, so rich in hopes and pro-
mises, sought to cast everything in a fresh mould, it sacri-
ficed the individual to the state. It did little for individual
freedom, but it succeeded in framing an engine of mighty
power, of which the first Napoleon soon possessed himself;
and for the possession of which successive governments
have struggled through successive revolutions. Mr. Duc-
petiaux well points out that Belgium enjoyed far greater
freedom and far greater happiness under its old municipal
institutions when men and associations were left to them-
selves, than under the reign of centralized freedom which
France forced on them. The Belgians had ever struggled
against governmental despotism, and for the maintenance
of the rights and liberty of individuals ; and it was the
doctrine of absolute centralization and the pretended re-
forms, which Joseph the Second sought to force upon
them, which led to the overthrow of the Austrian power
in Belgium. And the same attempt at centralization led
to the downfall of the dynasty of Orange. Our author
concludes : —

'* It may be asserted a priori, that those nations which are least
governed, are also the most advanced, politically, intellectually, and
morally. They alone possess security, the only sure guarantee of
progress. It required the yoke of iron which Napoleon so long
pressed on Europe, to enable him to shed that sea of blood in whicii
lie and his empty glory sunk together. Excessive centralization,
at the same time that it deprives the people of the power which
makes it master of its own destinies, removes tlie most solid found^v-
tion of national independence. If the government be overthrown,
the people, deprived of all power, is handed over helplessly to
conquest. To lielplessness against foreign invasion, is added the
incessant danger of internal commotions. Which are the nations
;who revolt? The nations administered, ruled, governed, most

I

1862.1 «^^ ^^^^^ «"^ Limits. 253

paternally if you will, in which all individual existences are effaced
and borne down before the all powerful government, but revolt at
the first opportunity to protest against their degradation and claim
their neglected rights. Mark the contrast between our two power-
ful neighbours, France and England, the one so disturbed, where
revolutions periodically succeed each other, and where no power,
however apparently strong, is sure of the morrow ; the other calm,
peaceable, and immoveable in the midst of disturbances around her;
the main, if not the only reason of this difference, is to be sought in
their sjstem of government ; which in France ever tends to absorb
the individual, whilst in England it frees him j and securing to
him his rights, places him seriously face to face with the responsi-
bility which their exercise involves. Eevolutious can be directed
only against the central power ; if this latter moderate its action,
and efface itself, as it were, to make way for individual initiation
and individual action, the revolutionary passions cease to have an
object and a motive, they have their safety-valve and exhaust them-
selves in vacuo.

*' And here I am happy to find that my ideas agree with those of
M. Laboulaye ; — which, he asks, are the countries which suffer from
the revolutionary malady ? Is it England or Austria? Is it France
or America ? Is it Naples or Belgium ? One would think that
centralization and revolution mutually evoked each other.

"What is it which prevents this reform, from wliicli the state
would not suffer, since it gains in real strength and influence what
it loses in embarrassing and dangerous prerogatives? Prejudice.
We are imbued with Greek and Roman ideas ; it is those which we
find at the bottom of all democratic and socialistic theories. All
the pretended liberal systems really give the people only an illusive
sovereignty, and establish in reality the despotism of the state. If
we wish civilization to advance, if we wish to disarm revolution,
we must free the individual, we must develope personal libertv." —
p. 57.

He then proceeds to answer the objections of those who
advocate a paternal, in other words a strong government,
showing that it must necessarily involve tyranny and the
destruction of individual effort; ending in the government
doing badly, and at a much greater cost what should be
done by individuals. As I. B. Say remarks, paternal care,
solicitude and benefits of the government are empty words ;
and as for the gifts of government, it can only give to its
subjects what it has first taken from them, and this at a
heavy cost. (Traite d*Economie PoHtique, liv. 1 chap.
17.) Proceeding to trace the limits of the intervention of
the state, our author points out that the self-styled liberals
of many countries, and especially of Belgium, whilst pro-

254 The Duty of the State, [Nor.

claiming that they fight against tyranny and intolerance,
are really the opponents of freedom, they insist on making
men what they call free and enlightened against their will;
and he ilhistmtes this by the qnestion of education in Bel-
gium. Those, he remarks, who are opposed to Catholic
education, have a perfect right to oppose to it an education
which they prefer, to found schools and pay teachers ; but
when fearing free competition, and despairing of triumph
by their own strength, they apply to the state to paralyze
and oppress other systems by its superior resources and
the institution of a state system, they destroy liberty and
replace the might of right, by the right of might.

In his seventh chapter, M. Ducpetiaux lays down the
limits within which he holds the action of the State should
be confined. After enumerating its legislative, executive,
judicial, and diplomatic functions, he adds, it protects
individual and collective liberty in (dl its legitimate acts,
imposing no limits but those of respect for the liberty of
others. It facilitates and protects all relations, transac-
tions and associations. It protects minors and all others
incapable of protecting themselves. It is not the duty of
the state to procure for each one, happiness, morality,
education; but only to protect the general prosperity and
morality. The state is not religion ; religion has a higher
sphere and an authority entirely independent of the state.
The state is not society : nor is it its duty to organize society
or provide for its necessary developments : this society will
do for itself by means of association which should be per-
fectly free. Our space will not allow ns to follow M.
Ducpetiaux in all the details he enters into ; which, how-
ever, are well worth perusal. He insists particularly on
the necessity of perfect freedom of association : and points
out that although the Belgian constitution proclaims the
right of citizens to associate for any object, this is prac-
tically neutralized by many restrictions. Thus charitable
and provident associations cannot possess any property,
universities, literary and artistic societies, cannot receive
any legacies."'

* In England this restriction does not exist. By means of trus
tees, any association or society can inherit, possess property, &c.
The Catholic University of Ireland possesses large property in the
funds, and has received several legacies ; the University of Louvaia
can do neither.

I

1862.J its Rules and Limits 255

After having thus treated of poHtical centralization, M.
Ducpetianx proceeds to speak of adnihiistrative centrali-
zation. This is a curse from which we are nearly exempt ;
and it is difficult to give an idea of its magnitude to those
who are not intimately acquainted with the social life of
the countries where it exists.^ Ht) naturally choses Bel-
gium for examination, as being a country which holds a
middle place between France where centralization has
reached its limit, and England where self-government is
the rule. The local details he gives are, of course, of
more limited interest than the other portions of his work :
but we will give a few extracts to explain to our readers
those ** advantages of good government" (as they are
sometimes called) which we do not possess.

" M. Jules Simon has calculated tliat in France there are, out
of twelve million citizens, half a million of public functionaries, to
this must be added two or three millions of office seekers. And if
we consider that there are given each jear at least fifty thousand
decorations, asked for by at least five hundred thousand persons ;
that there are places in each of the public schools to be given awaj ;
that every transaction of each department and each parish, is sub-
mitted for the approval of the government ; that it requires an
authorization to commence many branches of trade ; an enquiry
to open a foundry, a decision of the prefect, or of the minister to
get water for a mill ; an ordonnauco to work a mine, a patent to
work a discovery of which you are tlie author, a visa of the custom
house to export or import any article of merchandise, a deposit
receipt and a pass to carry jour own wine from your wine press
to your cellar, a permit to keep a gun, a game license to kill a
hare, a passport*to leave your own parish, a police register to enter
service, we will see that one of the greatest employments of the
French people is to ask, one of its greatest desires to obtain ; tliat
it is governed, shackled, or if you prefer, administered on all sides
and by every hand ; and that if the burthen of its liberty is too
heavy for it, it is truly because it has long lost the habit of respon-
sibility and taking the initiative ; and that the ideal of the com-
munists, a convent or a barrack, is in reality not so far from us as
would at first appear, when we take literally the great princi-
ples of 1789, with wliich we very simply fill up our speeches,*' —
(La Liberie vol. 2. c. 1.)

According to M. Ducpetiaux, and he is a competent
authority, for he long held a responsible office himself,
even in Belgium where centralization is carried to a far
less extreme than in France, its practical effects are most
absurd. He says : —

256 The Duty of the State, [Nov.

" It takes but eight dajs to travel from one end of Europe to
the other, it often takes longer for a document, a simple letter, to
reach from one office to another in the same town, often under the
same roof. I have seen two employes seated on opposite sides of
the same desk methodieallj corresponding with each other, when
one word would have sufficed to spare all that waste of time and
paper. Follow with me, if you have patience, the despatch in
which the local administration of a parish asks of some minister
some trifling thing, for instance, an authorization to repair the
steeple of the parish church. The despatch is forwarded to the Com-
missaire d'Arrondissement, who hands the letter to the secretary ;
it is examined and a minute drawn up to be forwarded to tho
governor of the province ; a copy made, signed by the Commissaire;
forwarded to the provincial government— handed to the registrar,
endorsed to the precis-writer, reference to the head of department,
examination by the head of department ; reference to one of the
clerks ; minute drawn up of a letter to the minister; marginal note
of the head of department ; endorsement of registrar and of gov-
ernor ; copy made which after making nearly the same journey is
submitted to be signed by the head of the provincial administiatioii.
— It is forwarded to the central administration ; transmitted to the
Secretary general of the department; handed over to the person
charged with determining the division it belongs to ; delivered to
the proper division ; communicated by the division to the chef do
bureau, and by him to the clerk who draws up the minute of the
answer. The answer, revised, corrected, noted, approved, retraces
all the circuit already traversed by the request, and arrives after
some weeks of delay and many halts, at the parish. — Is the request
granted ? No : it was informal ; or, the explanations were not
sufficient ; before coming to a decision more precise information is
required : and the correspondence recommences, with the same
formalities, the same rounds, the same delays ; happy the poor
parish if it ever reach the goal. I have counted in some cases as
many as one hundred intermediate stations for a single affair which
might have been settled in a moment by yes or no. This mechan-
ism is certainly very ingenious, and may be profitable to those who
work it ; but it must be allowed that it is too complicated ; and
inseparable from that scourge of civilized and administered coun-
tries called hiireaueracy.^' — p. 113.

' Our own public departments in England afford in-
stances of something of the sort, where the boay^d refers-,
and makes a minute, and refers to minute JVo. 9099,
until the subject is smothered under a mass of writings.
Fortunately for us, we have comparatively few departments
of government, and they have little to do; and certainly
the example of Belgium and France should not induce ua
to extend the sphere of government interference*

I

1862.] its Rules and Limits, 257

No part of M. Ducpetiaux's work is more important
than that in which he shows that the necessary comple-
ment of liherty, the only substitute for the centralizing
action of the state, is the fullest liberty of association. An
individual cannot, by himself, obtain education, religious
teaching, material prosperity ; but by combination with
his fellows he can provide all these things ; and will do
so better than the state can do it for him. Nor can the
individual protect his own freedom of action ; the rich
would oppress the poor, the strong the weak ; the state
would tyrannize over all, were it not that individuals can
band together to maintain their rights. Above all, the
Church, that divine society on earth, requires freedom of
association ; indeed, save exemption from actual persecu-
tion, there is hardly anything else she requires : with free-
dom of association her hierarchical government will organ-
ize itself; her reli^^ious orders will extend; her religious
and charitable societies will meet every want of man,
physical and moral. There is hardly a surer test of the
amount of actual freedom enjoyed by a nation than the
extent to which the power of association is unfettered. In
this respect we certainly stand high ; with very few excep-
tions, men in these countries may combine together in
any way, for any purpose : voluntary associations cannot,
indeed, readily acquire a corporate existence ; what the
French law calls la personnification civil; but this diffi-
culty which in France and Belgium renders it impossible,
as we have before mentioned, for them to possess any
property, and thus perpetuate their works, is in our
country obviated by the system of trustees ; which enables
all such institutions practically to obtain and perpetuate a
corporate existence.

M. Ducpetiaux concludes his work by calling on his
countrymen to examine

•• Whether the continual increase of the national expenditure is
sufficiently compensated by the services it represents ? And whe-
ther the free action of individuals and associations properly
encouraged and enlightened, would not have rendered them, if not
better, at least as well, and more economically ? This is a ques-
tion well worth examining fully, and answering. Let us pass in
review all the interests of religion, morality, education, science,
literature, arts, industry, agriculture, commerce, in fine all the
interests which governments claim to regulate under the pretext
of protection and progress ; let us hold the balance with a steady
VOL. LII.-N0..CIII 17

2S8 The Ihity of tlie State; [Nov.

liand ; and weigliing well the pros and cons, answer sincerely
whether the laws and regulations which have been made on these sub-
jects, and the expenses they haye entailed, have really attained the
object proposed. All the world cries out for cheap government,
without caring to adopt the means necessary to attain it. How is it
to be attained ? Simply by narrowing the functions of the State
within the limits of the indispensable, and opening the widest field
to individual and collective activity." — p. 158.

A distinguished Hungarian politician expresses the
same ideas.

" The struggle is diffi-cult, the day is dark, that which agitates
the continent is not a struggle between two parties who contend for
power, it is a struggle between two civilizations. Rome and Ger-
many recommence their everlasting duel; once again the pagan
idea and the Christian idea, despotism and freedom contend for the
empire of the world ; but however terrible may be the trial the
issue is not doubtful. When a truth dawns upon the world, when
the eyes of men are turned towards the rising light, the success is
only a question of time. Passions grow old and change ; parties
grow weak ; the truth never dies. No doubt, in a country where
every particular organization has been destroyed, where the citizen
has been accustomed to the leading strings of the state, where the
individual has been deprived, so to speak, of the faculty of govern-
ing himself, it will take more than a day to change an old system.
The tree which for half a century has been pruned, a lafrancaise^
will not throw out free and vigorous branches in a night ; we shall
have long to wait for its friendly shade; but what matter! the
truth will make its way and gain the minds of men ; the state will
in the end understand its real interest, and the change will be
made ; when the State ceases to weigh down the citizen, freedom
will arise from the soil with a wondrous energy.''*

Fortunately for us, this struggle against the centraliz-
ing despotism of the state- has not to be fought by us.
The old Catholic freedom of the middle ages, the freedom
of the individual and of society, has survived amongst us ;
and has not been replaced by fresh revolutionary liberty,
the tyranny of a majority. But we may profit by the
example of others and learn to be on our guard against
the insidious approaches of the tyranny of the state, to
mistrust it even when it holds forth apparent advantages,
to fear Danaos, et dona ferentes. For there is something

* Der Einfluss der herrschenden Ideen des 19 Jahrhunderts
deu Staat von Baron Jos Ecetvces, Leipsic, 1854.

1862.] its Rules and Limits. 259

very attractive in the intervention of the state. It is so
powerful, apparently, for good, and its hands are full of
gifts, that it is too often the best intentioned men who call
for its aid, and forget that when it gives, it can give to the
people only what it has first taken from them. Do we not
hear it repeated on every side by philanthropists ; the state
should provide education, the state should encourage
literature, science, art ; the state should aid this charita-
ble institution or that? Now M. Ducpetiaux'swork shows
us what the condition of a state becomes which under-
takes to do all these things.^ But besides this lesson it is
well to remember three things which the experience of
every European country proves to be universal in their
truth. First, that whenever the state takes up any em-
ployment or duty, it checks and ultimately destroys all
individual exertions in that direction. Secondly, that all
state administration is more costly than that of private
individuals or associations. Thirdly, that in return for
any assistance or encouragement it gives, the state always
acquires power and influence over the institutions it
patronizes : in other words, that the surrender of at least
a portion of Hberty is the price of its favours.

Nowhere are wishes for the assistance and the interven-
tion of government more frequently expressed than in
Ireland. And very naturally so ; an impoverished country,
just recovering from the evil effects of centuries of war,
oppression, and persecution, offers more scope for the
beneficent action of government than most others : and
hence we constantly hear the inaction of our government
contrasted with the active and ubiquitous intervention of
that of France : and aspirations uttered for the application
of the latter system to Ireland. Nay, some have even
gone so far as to wish for a despotism, were it only a
kindly one ; forgetting that freedom is the greatest gift ol
God to man ; and that if we have not political freedom as
a nation, we do possess personal freedom, which is even
more important for the preservation of the dignity and for
the ultimate welfare of men. How much we Irish owe
of our progress as a nation, and above all how much our
religion owes, not only to that system of personal liberty
which England inherited froni Catholic times, and which
therefore we necessarily participated in, as soon as we had
broken the fetters of the penal laws, but also to the
absence of all government intervention for our benefit,

260 Th^ Duty of the Statt, [Nov.

which is due to the hostility of administrations alien in
nationality and religion to us, it is difficult to estimate.
We have often reflected on this subject and endeavoured
to realize what would have been the result of a different
state of things ; and perhaps our readers may follow with
interest the same train of thought. Let us imagine that
at the period of Catholic emancipation the government of
these countries had been swayed by a man of enlarged
and unprejudiced mind, and one who followed the French
traditions of the duties of a kind and paternal government;
he would, of course, still be an Englishman and a Protes-
tant, but anxious to confer every benefit upon Ireland,
and believing in the power and duty of government to do
so. He would have instituted a department of pubhc works
for the construction of roads, canals, and harbours, and
for the reclamation of waste lands at the expense of the
state. Our country would have been improved : but every
district would be^ an humble suitor at the government
board for a share in the public expenditure ; and the in-
fluence of the government would be felt ^throughout the
land ; for even those who wanted no favour for themselves
would shrink from engaging the people of a district in any
conflict with the government officials ; since so doing
would inflict such injury on them. The department of
trade and manufactures would, in like manner, endeavour
to develope the resources of our country and stimulate our
trade and manufactures. In this it would probably fail,
as government attempts to stimulate trade have mostly
done; but it would certainly succeed in making traders
and manufacturers dependent on government.

Subsidies would be allocated for the encouragement of
art and the erection of public buildings in our various
towns; and so every town in Ireland would send its sup-
pliants to the ministerial bureau, for its share in the public
funds. Government assistance would have been freely
granted to all our valuable charities ; but on condition of
satisfying the government as to their administration and
management : and private benevolence would have relaxed
its efforts when a grant from the public funds might be
hoped for. Such a government as we have imagined,
would have sought to adjust the relations of landlord and
tenant so as, while upholding the Protestant aristocracy of,
Ireland, to ensure to the tenant the possession of his landf
at a fair rent, and to encourage him to make improve-

1862.] its Rules and Limits. 261

ments. But, as to protect the weakness 'of the tenant,
poor and dependent as he was, against the power of the
landlord; it would be necessary not only to pass a law
fixing the price of land, but to establish a governmental
system of equitable inspection to enforce it;"* all the
tenants of Ireland would be dependent on the fair and
equitable exercise of their authority by these officials : in
other words, in every district of Ireland there would be a
government officer whose power and influence would be
infinitely greater than that of the most powerful landlord ;
an officer on whose fiat depended the very existence of the
people. Such a government would have established a
system of education for all classes, from the highest to the
lowest, fair and equitable ; and calculated to conciliate, as
far as possible, the prejudices of all parties : but of course
not essentially Catholic, but rather framed on the basis of
what sincere Catholics of that day would have accepted as
the minimum that would satisfy them. And this system,
deficient as it must necessarily have been in Catholic
earnestness, would, as it satisfied the necessities of Ca-
tholics, have effectually prevented the creation of any
other, and placed the whole education of the people in the
hands of government; whilst m conjunction with the
government institutions for the cultivation of art alid
science, it afforded the only sphere for the employment of
learning and talent, and therefore took the whole intellect
of the country into the pay of government r until it would
have been true of Ireland what M. Dupin said of France :
" The University is nothing else than the government
applied to the universal direction of all public instruction,
the academies of towns as well as the colleges of cities,
private schools as well as public colleges, country schools
as well as the faculties of theology, of law, and of medi-
cine. All built upon the fundamental axiom that public
instruction and education belongs to the state. The
University has the monopoly of education much as the

* A mere law to fix the rate of rent would be useless, since th&
landlord who can obtain a rack-rent from a needj tenant would
easily find means to evade the law ; just as a usurer used to obtain
double the legal rate of interest from a needy borrower natwith-
standing the law ; and as the ten hours factory bill would be ^
dead letter if not enforced by a system of government inspectors.

2G2 The Duty of the State, [JSTov.

Courts have the monopoly of justice, and the army that of
public force/' But further still ; a prudent and benefi-
cent statesman, such as we have supposed, would have
extended tlie fostering care of government to the religion
of the great majority of the people. He would have been
a Protestant, and therefore would never have thought ^f
abolishing the Established Church in Ireland: but he
would have undertaken to provide at the public expense
for the support of the Catholic Church there also. He
would have provided ample funds for the decent mainte-
tiance of our clergy, for their education, and for the build-
ing and maintenance of our churches; and in return
would have required only that amount of influence and
control secured to such governments as thus support reli-
gion, by various concordats ;'"' thus the government might
expect, what is allowed in some Protestant countries, a
veto on the appointment of our bishops, a right to control
their meetings and ordonnances, and their communications
with Rome ; to investigate and check all appointments to
and deprivations of benefices, and the regulations of
churches and cemeteries ; every bishop who wished to in-
crease the number of parishes in his diocese must apply to
government for the necessary funds ; every priest who
wanted to build a steeple must seek a subsidy; for govern-
ment endowments effectually check private efforts. All
the thousand ramifications of evil in such a system can be
better imagined than described; for not only would it
tend to foster a spirit of subserviency to the powers that
be, but the very wisest and best and boldest would shrink
from a contest with the government, conscious that a rup-
ture would at one blow destroy the whole material fabric
of the Church in Ireland, and not merely send us back to
our old state of struggling poverty, but send us back weak-
ened and enervated, having lost the habit of effort and
self-reliance.t j

* When Lord John Russell in 1857 proposed to move for an in-
quiry as to what privileges, influence, and control was granted to the
government over the Catholic Cliurch in foreign countries, and in-
stances various concordats ; he was at once answered that concordats
were concessions in return for benefits conferred, that the law in
England gave Catholics no privileges, and therefore could claim n()
coutrol.

t Absolute power can give to the Church only favours and repose.

«

1862.] its Rules and Limit f, 263

And thus under the action of a fair and beneficent
government, which adopted the principle of the nniversahty
of the state, (for we have not supposed the existence of any
prejudice or want of good will towards Irishmen and Ca-
tholics), the whole Catliolic people of Ireland, and as much
of our church's integrity as were not^ guaranteed by its
divine nature, would be held as it were in the hollow of the
hand of the minister of the day, Protestant and English
as that minister would be. Fortunately for us. Providence
saved us the infliction of such benefits. Even enlightened
statesmen, like ^ Sir Robert Peel, were not above the
prejudices of their day ; and whilst the rights of Catholics
were slowly conceded, they shared but little in the favours
of government. The result to-day is, that our Church is
the freest in the world, sufficiently endowed by the people,
and wholly untrammelled by state control; some thirteen
thousand free churches have been built, and religious and
charitable institutions cover the land. Free Catholic edu-
cational establishments for all classes are rapidly rising.
Noble public buildings and monuments to our great men,
erected by the people, adorn our cities. Our railroads,
some of the best in the world, are owned and governed by
Irishmen. And if the evil effects of the relations that
exist between landlord and tenants too often make us
almost ready to accept a despotism in this respect, were it
only equitable, the beneficent action of nature's laws has
brought good out of evil, and the incumbered estates court
has transferred one quarter of the land of Ii'eland back to
the Catholic hands of her people; and every advance in
wealth and independence achieved by the tenants makes
them more capable of taking care of themselves in their
transactions with their landlords. Above all, every step
made has been a free one, the act of the people themselves,
and a prelude to further advance ; we are free and daily
acquiring strength. As we look back over the events of
the last thirty years, we see that the chief evils and diffi-
culties we, as Catholics, have still to contend against,
have arisen from the attempts, often well intended, of the

honours and privileges, but never rights or strength. So that when
the struggle begins the Church enters into it, humanly speaking,
without strength or rights.
^ Montalembert Des iuter6ts Catholiques au 19, siecle, p. 92.

264: ^he Duty of the State, X^o^

government to confer benefits upon us. A well intended
charities act clashed with the free exercise of episcopal juris-
diction, and became a stumbling-block and a difficulty.
A generous minded statesman. Lord Derby, framed what
was, for its day, a wonderfully liberal system of state-
primary education, and its defects we have in vain endea-
voured to amend; whilst its existence prevents our obtain-
ing aid for free Catholic education, such as exists in Eng-
land. Sir Robert Peel, with excellent intentions, founded
the Queen's Colleges, which now constitute the only im-
pediment to our obtaining legislative sanction for that
Catholic university education with which our own free
efforts have endowed us. Truly the benefits of freedom
are innumerable and ever developing, and the best gifts of
the state are bonds.

Yet we must not be supposed to confound freedom with
anarchy, or liberty with licence. No, that is not freedom
which does not respect the freedom of others, and hence
no real freedom can exist without lawful authority exist to
guard it, as Mr. Ducpetiaux says, — •

"Society lias equal need of authority and of freedom. For a
long time these two principles have fought and repelled each other;
the task of to-day is to reconcile them by showing their intimato
connection and mutual dependence. For what is freedom for a
human being ? It is security in the possession and free exercise of
his faculties, the exercise of the right inherent in him. What is
authority ? It is the protection of this exercise. What is justice
as regards individuals and society? It is the union of individual
freedom with the freedom of all. What is politieal justice? The
guarantee of individual justice. AH these rights and guarantees
flow, so to speak, one from the other, are interwoven and form the
complement of each other, and so harmonize together that one can-
not be infringed without compromising all, by breaking the link
which unites them. Outside this circle, and necessary connection
all is arbitrary, or anarchical. The government which on any
pretext ignores or violates individual or political freedom, may put
forward the plea of necessity, and parade its good intention, it tends
towards oppression and inevitably ends there ; the aurthority of
which it is the guardian loses its prestige ; assailed by the resent-^
ments and passions excited against it, it becomes the object of a<
struggle in which the strongest and most adroit triumphs — on the ;
other hand, where liberty rejects authority, she loses her balance^
or rather her necessary support, she goes from excess to excess, and^
evokes from the abyss into which she flings herself, despotism to
curb her with its iron hand and trample her under foot. Autho-

1862. 1 its Rules and Limits. 265

ritj tlien is deeply interested in protecting freedom, and freedom in
respecting authority. Each has its limits which they cannot pass
without injury to tliemselves, and without endangering order and
progress, which their close alliance can alone preserve."

We have thus endeavoured briefly to give our readers a
sketch of the work of M. Ducpetiaux. It is one of the best
protests against the spirit of the French revolution which
has appeared; that spirit of revived paganism which
exalted and deified the state, and made it omnipotent and
ubiquitous, which increased the power and attributes of
the throne of Louis the Fourteenth, and then seated on it
a tyrant majority of the people, which iu the name of poli-
tical liberty destroyed all personal freedom. This fatal
error, the confusion of political liberty, or the power of the
people, with personal freedom, has affected almost e very-
country in Europe save our own ; although enlightened
men in Belgium and Germany are beginning to perceive
the fatal mistakes into which the imitation of France had
led them, and to endeavour to retrace their steps; may we
profit by the example and avoid for the future, errors from
which we have hitherto been exempt.

In the appendix to his work M. Ducpetiaux gives a
curious comparative table, in parallel columns, of liberty in
France and Belgium; we give it with a third column con-
taining a similar statement for England and Ireland.

FRANCE. BELGIUM. ENGLAND AND

Religious liberty. The Constitution con- IRELAND.

France is still under the secrates the fullest liber- The Anglican church

rule of State religions ty of religion and of the is the State religion,

and concordats. The exercise of each religion, and is entirely under

freedom of different re- Belgians may embrace tlie control of tlie state,

ligions is limited : they any religion according All other religions are

are all subjected to a to their conscience. The perfectly free, and their

control frequently ar- erecting of religious exercise, organization,

bitrary. The right to buildings, teaching, pub- and government per-

build any religious edi- lication, correspondence, fectly unshackled (save

fice, or assemble in one, nominations, associa- in the case of Catholics

to teach, to publish, to tions in the religious by a few nearly obsolete

correspond, to form as- sphere, are completely statutes, as that of

sociations, to appoint free; and the state can- superstitious uses, in

to any ecclesiastical not interfere in any way. England, and the eccle-

ofiice; each of these acts No concordats, no state siastical titles.) Erect-

266

require a separate per-
mission from the civil
power. Appeals to the
lay authorities against
ecclesiastics for what Js
called abuse of their re-
ligious functions, and
all the old apparatus of
what are still called the
Galilean liberties, but
which ought to be called
the Galilean slavery^ are
in full operation as be-
fore 1789.

The Duty of the State,

religions, no appeals of
abuse. The state con-
fines itself to granting
fixed salaries to the
ministers of difi'erent
religions in considera-
tion of their services to
society, and in the case
of the Catholic clergy,
as an indemnity for the
property of which they
were despoiled by the
trench revolution.

[Nov.

ing and endoiving* of re-
ligious buildings, teach-
ing, publication, asso-
ciation, assembling, and
internal government of
every religion is per-
fectly untrammelled.

Liberty of Association
does not exist, as every
meeting and every
association is strictly
subject under severe
penalties, to obtaining
a previous authoriza-
tion; and to the con-
trol of the authorities.

Liberty of teaehing. —
The monopoly of the
University is in some re-
spects diminished, but
private teaching is far
from free. No Professor
or teacher can teach
unless provided with a
government diploma ;
he must besides make
a declaration before the
mayor, prefect, or Im-
perial procureur. The

Belgian citizens have
the right of meeting and
associating for any pur-
pose, without any inter-
vention of the authori-
ties directly or indirect-
ly, to regulate, limit, or
inspect the exercise of
this right.

Liberty of teaching
exists without any con
ditions or limits. Any
one, native or foreigner
may open a school, give
lectures, teach, cate-
chise, preach ; without
any interference from
the authorities unless
he violate the common
law. Private institu-
tions are subject to no
official control.t

British subjects have
the right of meeting and
associating for any pur-
pose without any inter-
vention of the author-
ities.

Teaching and preacli-
ing is as free as in
Belgium. The Univer-
sities retain some privi-
leges : but in England
all can obtain degrees
by only passing tho
required examination in
London. In England
state assistance is given
to all primary schools
indiflferently. In Ire-
land the state endows

* In this point we are better off than in Belgium, where no foundation
which has not been incorporated by a special law can receive a legacy, or
possess property: and, if incorporated, which is rarely the case, only on
obtaining a special authorisation from the minister for each legacy or

yifu

\ All academic degrees are obtainable \>^ merely passing the prescril
examinations. — Translator',

1862.]

prefect can interpose
Itts veto. The validity of
liis objection is decided
without appeal bj the
council of the depart-
ment.

For teaching tlie
higher branches, a spe-
cial authorization from
the minister is required;
and this authorization
which may be arbitrarily
refused, is always re-
vocable. The govern-
ment also exercises by
its inspectors an active
and incessant surveil-
lance over all private
institutions.

Liberty of the Press.-^
The press is handed
over to the most per-
fectly arbitrary power.
Newspapers are subject
to the stamp, securities,
and the authorization of
the government which
may be arbitrarily re-
fused and arbitrarily
withdrawn: their mana-
ger and editor must be
approved of; they are
ever trembling under
the avertissement, sus-
pension and suppression.
All publications not ex-
ceeding a certain num-
ber of sheets are subject
to nearly the same re-
strictions. No one can
exercise the trade of a
printer without a licence
which may at any time
be revoked. The law
which makes the author,
editor and printer
equally liable and sub«

its Rules and Limits,

26T

one set of primary
schools and one Univer-
sity system exclusively.

The press is entirely
free and exempt from
all conditions. Aliens
as well as Belgians may
found or edit a paper or
a review, publish a pam-
phlet or work without
even lodging a copy
unless they wish to pre-
serve their property in
it. The trade of prin-
ter, editor, bookseller i^
like any other and en-
joys the same freedom*
The printer and editor
of a work are not re-
sponsible if the author
be known, prosecutions
of the press are rare;
and such on the part of
government are almost
unknown. The press is
every day more looked
upon as the lanco of
Achilles which heals the
wounds it inflicts.

The press in England
is free as in Belgium:
the only limit being the
security which publish-
ers of newspapers are
obliged to give to insure
their responsibility in
case of an action for
libel or other criminal
offence,

268

The Duty of the State,

[Nov.

jects them to the same
penahies, forms in real-
ity a system of previous
censorship, the more
severe and oppressive
as the number of prin-
ters is limited and their
fear of ruin greater.

Liberty of labour, of
trade, of commerce. —
The legislation of the
empire is generally in
farce, for licences, the
obligation for workmen
of obtaining a livret, the
laws regarding appren-
ticeships, those again&t
eambinations or associa-
tions, the conditions im-
posed upon all trade
and mercantile associ-
ations, and on the ex-
ercise of many profes-
sions and trades J the
customs and octroi laws,
those regulating the
trade of bakers, butch-
ers, and markets, the
monopoly of tabacco,
gunpowder, playing
cards, &c., constitute
together a system which
although somewhat re-
laxed perpetuates all the
old restrictions and
trammels.

Provincial and Commu- The autonomy of the It would be dlflBcult

nal* liberties. provinces and com- to exaggerate the abso-

The Administration munesexistsin the fullest lute autonomy of every

of the departments rests manner, and is subjected county and parish ; and

entirely with the pre- to such restrictions only the entire independence

Although the legisla*
tion left to Belgium as
a fatal legacy by stran-
gers has been much
modified, too many
traces of it are still left*
Monopolies have how-
ever been abolished and
the octroi abolished ;
custom duties have been
lowered or abolished,
especially with regard
to raw materials; the
trades of baker and
butcher are completely
free, and the appren-
ticeships are being
given up;^ combinations
are not unlawful,, unless
they infringe on the
freedom of the labourer
byoppressingaminority,
or degenerate into act^^
of violence.

Labour, trade, and
commerce are perfectly
free : but labour is
tramelled in England in
seeking a market by
the law of settlement :
this does not exist in
Ireland : combinations,
whether of masters or
workmen, are free and
lawful^ unless they liave
recourse to violence.
All trades are free and
open to all ; no appren-
ticeship is required, no
octroi exists : and no
customs duties save for
revenue-

* The commune is the parish or smallest local division in France and
Belgium.

I

1862.t

its Rules and Limits,

2G9

fects appointed by go-
vernment^ the conseils
generaux, which are sup-
posed to represent them,
can only express wishes
which are falsely called
decisions. The prefec-
torial counsellors, who
ought to constitute a
species of permanent
delegation, are merely
the agents of the cen-
tral power. The decree
on administrative decen-
tralization of 1852 only
substituted in some
cases the direct action
of the prefect for that
of the minister in some
matters of detail, but
withoutadding anything
to the power of the
conseils generaux.

The communes are
subjected to a perfect
tutelage, and treated
like minors or idiots.
The mayors, named by
the central authority,
absorb all power and act
without the concurrence
of the municipal coun-
cils which meet at rare
intervals, and whose
chief business is to vote
the budget presented to
them by the mayor.
But even this right is
delusive, for the admin-
istration can modify the
budgets as it likes by
inserting officially such
expenses as it deems
obligatory, and by
striking out those which
are optional. Apparent-
ly appointed by the law
to regulate^ decide and

as are required by the
national unity and the
interests of the com-
munity. This system,
consecrated by the
ancient traditions of the
country, works well and
leaves little to be wished
for. It would however
be possible, without in-
convenience and with
advantage, to restore to
the provincial and com-
munal authorities cer-
tain powers which are
still exercisedby the cen-
tral authority by virtue
of certain laws, decrees
and regulations which
are no longer in har-
mony with the spirit
of our instituti-Gn«.

of the central govern-
ment, of all our institu-
tions. Even Govern-
ment Boards ai-e always
permanent appointmenta
independent of political
changes,

Corporate bodies,
mayors, coroners, town
commissioners, boards
of guardians, tfec, are
all elected without any
intervention of the
Government. Grand
juries, boards of magis-
trates, boards of rate-
payers, are all appoint-
ed without any inter-
vention of Government,
and in part by election
or indirect representa-
tion.

270

The Duty of the State, its Rules and Limits.

[Nov.

administer: the muni-
cipal councils in reality
only express their wishes
in regard to local affairs.

There exists also an In Belgium all such As in Belgium all
administrative system disputes are decided by suits are determined by
of judicial tribunals, ar- the ordinary tribunals; the ordinary courts, from
bitrary, and centralized; there exists neither a
"which decides all suits conseil d'etat nor ad-
relative to public works, ministrative jurisdic-
purchases and contracts tion.
made with the commu-
nal and departmental
administrations, &q.

whose jurisdiction nono
are exempt.

Since the constitution
of the year 8 (of the
republic) no official of
the government of the
department, or of the
Commune, from the
highest functionary

down to a garde-cham-
petre, or rural police-
man, can be cited before
any tribunal for any act
done in the exercise, or
on the occasion of the
exercise of their func-
tions without a previous
authorization from the
Conseil d'etat : this is
the most absolute cen-
tralization employed for
the perpetual fettering
of justice.

Judges are nominally
irremoveable and inde-
pendent; but in fact
they depend entirely on
the government, which
names them, decides on
their promotion, and can
remove them at its plea-

The constitution ex-
pressly provides that no
previous authorization
shall be required to pro-
ceed against public offi-
cials for official acts.

Judges are named for
life out of a list of can-
didates presented by
the provincial councils
and courts of appeal,
for the members of
their courts; and the
presidents and vice-pre-

All officials are liable
to be proceeded against
in any court for official
acts ; the last nominal
privilege, the writ of
right in proceedings
against the crown itself,
has been abolished.

Judges are irremove-
able and are very rarely
removed from one post
to another,consequently
they are wholly inde-
pendent of the Govern-
ment.

1862.] Notices of Books. 271

sure ; and thus in a sidents of the lower

measure holds their courts ; by the senate

fate in its hands.* and the cour de cassa-

tion for the members of
this latter court. No
judge can be removed
except bj his own con-
sent and a fresh ap-
pointment

NOTICES OF BOOKS,

I. — Freemasonry ; Sketch of its Origin and early Progress ; its Moral
and Political tendency. A Lecture, delivered before the historical
Society connected with the Catholic University. By James
Burton Robertson, Esq., Professor of Modern History and

[ Geography in that University. With appendix containing a
synopsis of the Papal Bulls respecting secret Societies, by the
Rev. Dr. Murray of Maynooth. Dublin : John Fowler. London:
Burns and Lambert, 1862.

Catholicism is on principle and by its very" character
opposed to secret societies and to secret oaths. Truth is
open and common to all, and claims no secret allepriance.
All it requires is a public profession of faith.^ The Church
has nothing to conceal ; she desires nothing more than
that all her doctrines and principles of action, and the
duties and obligations she imposes on the faithful should be
known and familiar to all the world. The frank and
straightforward avowal^ of its ends, and publicity in all its
acts, are the characteristics and charms of Truth. But
secrecy and seclusion, and the pursuit of objects not com-
mon to all, and by means known but to the initiated and
chosen few, have also a fascination of their own on ill-
disciplined or curious, minds. Freemasonry owes much of
its popularity to its mysterious signs and rites and supposed

* The great engine in the hands of Government in France to keep the
judges servile, is the immense system of promotion from the lowest to the
highest post: hence for the Government not to promote a man is the
heaviest of punishments. — Translator,

272 Notices of Boohs. [Nov.

socrets, as well as to the boon companionship 'which it
always seeks to encourage. A vast brotherhood bound by
secret oaths, united for common objects, and spread
over every country, supplies to those who are not of the
faith the community of interest and feeling which every
christian finds in the universal Church. In many ways
the secret societies are infamous caricatures of the Catholic
Church— in blasphemous rites and ceremonies — in sacra-
ments— in their will-worship; in their orders and bro-
therhoods and high priesthood; in their excom!nunica-
tions and punishments they have perverted and profaned
the Divine ordinances of the christian religion. Their
feasts are orgies as dark as night and satanic in their
sinfulness. But their influence only begins with religious
and social corruption, it soon extends to public life. The
political power of the secret societies is recognised to-day
in Europe and feared by many a crowned head. They
are influential by their numbers and by their organization ;
and they are dangerous because to so many their true
character is unknown, and because they carefully conceal
their ultimate aims under a loud profession of patriotism
and love of liberty. ^

To trace the origin, to point out the true character, and
ulterior designs of the secret societies is the purport of the
able and opportune lecture to which we are desirous of
directing the attention of our readers. The lecture was
delivered before the historical society connected with the
Catholic University by the Professor of modern history ;
we certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the Catholic
University of Ireland for encouraging pubhc spirit in its
professors — a spirit which at the present moment. cannot
be better shown than in a determined warfare against an
enemy so destructive to society and religion as the secret
and pantheistic sects which are now exercising so fatal a
sway in Europe. In the lecture before us Mr. Robertson
treats solely of Freemasonry; and in a clear and able
contrast of the masonic system and its vague and frivolous
Deism with the Eleusinian mysteries and their salutary
moral influence shows how hollow and absurd are the
claims, which Freemasonry sets up, of descent from these
celebrated^ mysteries of antiquity. He shows also how
equally vain are the endeavours of another class of free-
masons to deduce their order from the ancient Jews; '*
impassable abyss," he continues, **lies between the mono

1862.] Notices of Books, 273

theism of the ancient Jews, and that vague, undefined,
purely personal religion, called Deism, which, as we shall
see, forms the basis of masonry/' He then compares the
patriarchal theism founded on Revelation with ** modern
deism which falsely styles itself the religion of nature," a
religion '* devoid not of sacrifice only, but of public prayer,
and without the intervention of any priesthood, public or
domestic. Its doctrinal system,'' he continues, *'is so
vague that some of its partisans have called in question
even the immortality of the soul, and agree in nothing save
in a belief of a supreme Being. {So far from being
prophetic of Christianity as^ was the elder religion of
nature, deism sets itself up in opposition to Christ, and
denies His Revelation. It is not even like the better
elements in heathenism, a corruption of primitive Religion,
but something directly antagonistic to it. In a word, it is
what the great Bossuet long ago called it, ' a disguised or
practical atheism,' " The learned author then proceeds to
sketch the history of Freemasonry, and traces its first
beginnings to the Masonic Lodges of the middle age, in
which the architects held their sittings and framed statutes
for their corporation. He shows how, in course of time,
the masonic lodges admitted among their associates indi-
viduals totally unacquainted with the architectural art, and
how, by degrees, objects other than those connected with
their craft engaged the attention of the brethren. Certain
ceremonies of initiation, the adoption of symbols charac^
teristic of their calling, and a traditionary secret revealed
only to the initiated, enhanced the dignity of the masonic
Lodges and imparted mysteriousness to their proceedings.
The mystery however, which enveloped such proceedings
was common to all the trade-associations of the middle
ages. The writer then shows how, in course of time,
secret political societies were engrafted on the masonic
lodges, which soon became convenient receptacles for
carrying on political plots, how they incurred the suspicion
of the governments of various countries, how they were
formally interdicted and the penalties enacted against all
disturbers of the public peace were applied against the
members of this society, and how, finally, they incurred
the condemnation of the church. The author then shows
that the very priuciple on which Freemasonry is founded
is incompatible with the nature and objects of Christian
Revelation. In the first place the CathoUc Church con-

Vol. LII.— No. Cin. 18

274 Notices of Books. [Nov.

demns all seci*et oaths ; secondly, the oaths of the Free-
mason are not only secret, bnt, at the best, unnecessary ;
then another offence chargeable on the masonic, as on all
other secret societies, is that in removing all individual
responsibility it destroys human freedom. But a yefc more
serious charge Mr. Robertson brings against Freemasonry.
"There are," he says,** some secret societies, whose pro-
fessed aim is the removal of certain local grievances, or a
violent overthrow of some particular government. But
the Masonic Order pretends to be in possession of a secret
to make men better and happier, than Christ, His Apostles,
and His Church have made, or can make them. Mons-
trous pretension ! How is this esoteric teaching consistent
with the full and final revelation of divine truths ? If in
the ^ deep midnight^ of heathenism the sage had been
justified in seeking in the mysteries of Eleusis for a keener
apprehension of the truths of primitive religion, how does
this justify the mason in the mid-day effulgence of
Christianifc3^ in telling mankind that he has a wonderful
secret for advancing them in virtue and happiness — a
secret unknown to the Incarnate God, and to the Church
with which, as He promised, the Paraclete should abide for
ever;? And even the Protestant who rejects the teaching of
that nnerring Church, if he admits Christianity to be a
final Revelation, must scout the pretensions of a Society,
that claims the possession of moral truths unknown to the
Christian religion. The very pretensions of the mason
are, thus, impious and absurd. He stands condemned on
his own showing ; and any inquiry into the doctrines and
the workings of his order becomes utterly superfluous. But
when, further, he obstinately withholds from the knowledge
of the competent authority his marvellous remedies for the
moral and social maladies of men, what is he but the
charlatan who. refuses to submit to the examination of a
medical board his pretended wonderful cures?" The
writer next points out the dates of the first Papal Bulls of
condemnation — 1738 to 1751 — as periods of the rise and
development of those irreligious and revolutionary princi-
ples, which reached their culminating point in 1790, and
shows how clearly the Supreme Pontififs discerned the
gathering evil and power in these secret societies, and how
they warned Europe of the dangers that menaced her —
warnings happily not unheeded by the civil governments of
the day. Mr. Robertson next enters into an examinatio

I

18G2. Notices of Books, 275

of the doctrines and constitution of Masonry, and with
great mastery over his subject exposes the poHtical and
religious principles subversive ahke of Church and State
that animate the masonic order. We regret our space
will not allow us to enter into detail and do justice to this
most interesting portion of the subject, and more especially
that we cannot follow the author into his examination of
the various degrees and grades of the order. SufKce it to
say that he shows how in its higher grades masonry throws
off the mask and reveals its impious and blasphemous
hatred against the Divine Founder of Christianity. The
author then institutes a spirited and eloquent comparison
between the social tenets and influences of masonry and
those of the Catholic Church. Professor Robertson pro-
mises in the next lecture, to show how the Pantheistic
sects in our own age, like the Saint Simonians, the
Socialists, the Communists, and the Mazzinian portion of
the Carbonari and their predecessors the Illuminati and
the Jacobins of the atheistic clubs of 1793, grew out of
masonry, what their history has been, and what moral and
political influence they are now exercising over society in
Europe. We hope the second lecture may be as able in
the treatment of its subject as the first. For this lecture
on Freemasonry is not only learned but interesting, not only
full of research but philosophical in its spirit and method.

II. — Hawaii: the Past, Present, and Future, of its Island-Kingdom ;
an Historical Account of the Sandwich Islands (Polynesia). By
Manby Hopkins, Hawaiian Consul-general, &c. With a Preface
by the Bishop of Oxford, London : Longmans.

Mr, Hopkins, the Consul-general of Hawaii, has com-
piled a very full and interesting historical account of the
Sandwich Islands, chiefly relating to the times since their
discovery by Cook. There is a great singularity about
the fortunes of the Hawaiian people, viewed as a chapter in
the history of the human race. Shut out for ages from the
knowledge of the rest of the world, we find them at first a
simple and warlike race, with a curious mythology much
connected with the volcanic character of their principal
island. In the years which followed early on their disco-
very, a barbarous chieftain succeeds in reuniting the group
under one dominion, and imparts to it much of the form of
civilization. An Enghsh seaman aids in the process, aud

276 Notices of Books. [Nor.

becomes the ancestor of the queen, whose completely
europeanised portrait is supplied in this volume. AW at
one bounds in 1819, the nation flings off its system of
Paganism, simply by the influence of civilized ideas, and
before missionaries of any form of Christianity had settled
amongst them. Then American teachers establish in the
islands a sort of Protestant Paraguay, a dreary theocracy
of Puritanism, in which riding was prohibited by law on the
Sabbath-day ; in which the police could enter private
houses and carry ofi" spirituous liquors ; and in which, with
a harsh and narrow legislation like that of the New-
England States in the days of Cotton Mather (however
excellent the end in view might have been), moral offbnces
seldom dealt with by human laws were attempted to be
restrained by hard labour and manacles, unfairly commu-
table into a pecuniary flue. A short and reckless reaction
into the license of the Pagan period followed. The intro-
duction of the Catholic Church, which was at first forcibly
put down by the native government, and afterwards restored
under the protection of Prance, is an event in the rapid
series of changes undergone in less than half a century by
the islands, which would well repay attentive study. The
liold which she immediately took upon the native mind ;
the wisdom and charity with which she tolerated what was
harmless in native manners, which Puritanism had ex-
changed for a dull and repressive copy of European cos-
tume,— is as instructive, on a small scale, as the lessons
to be learned from the noble history of the evangelisation
of the Indians of Peru and Mexico. And finally, the
frightful acceleration of that decay which has reduced the
numbers of the Hawaiian race, like those'of so many others
under the influence of Anglo-Saxon immigration, seems but
too likely to* close the career of this interesting people almost
before it has well begun the new phase into which it has been
so recently brought. It is to this latter point that some
of the most interesting details furnished by Mr. Hopkins
refer. The natives themselves dreaded the settlement of
white men among them as early as 1823, having already
heard that in several countries where foreigners had inter-
mingled with the natives^ the latter had disappeared, and
the progressive diminution of their numbers has fully justi-
fied their forebodings. It seems that at the time of the
discovery in 1778, the Hawaiian population was aboufe
200,000. At the time of Mr. Ellis's visit (1823), it wa»^

I

1862 ] Notices oj Books, 277

estimatecr'at from 130,000 to 150,003. In 1849 it bad
fiilleii to 80,000; in 1853 to 73,137 ; m i860 to 69,800, iu-
cluding 2,716 foreigners. The Ilawjiiiaa race lias thore-
fore diminished to one-third in the last eighty years. It is
believed that the progress of decay has been arrested, bnt
the prevailing tone in which writers on the snbject speak is
of the gloomiest kind. It may readily be supposed that
so remarkable and persistent a phenomenon is not to be
traced to one cause alone. There is no doubt that it had
commenced before the era of the discovery. Infanticide,
for example, prevailed extensively ; and even in 1823, Mr.
Ellis believed that in the neighbourhood where he resided
two-thirds of the children were destroyed. Communica-
tion with foreigners has introduced epidemics which the
native constitution is unable to resist ; and above all, the
licentiousness arising from the same cause, and its attend-
ant scourge, is a destructive element of frightful power.
Even independently of these causes, population seems
mysteriously to fall off; and early deaths, beyond what
might be expected, contribute to the force of otherwise en-
ergetic causes hostile to increase. Finally emigration to
California and elsewhere, and long whaling voyages,
remove natives from the island to a greater extent than
the population could well bear, even under healthier condi-
tions. Something is being done by the native legislature
to introduce sanitary regulations, which may check some
of the worst of these evils ; but unless they prove extremely
operative, or unless the action of Catholicism, here no
doubt very successful, though not working on such advan-
tageous terms as it has done with some of the American
races, arrest evils beyond the reach of political legislation,
it is plain that the sudden civilisation of this very interest-
ing race will disappear with itself in little more than one
protracted lifetime. The foregoing remarks may suffice to
indicate some of the most important points in this work, an
analysis of which would exceed the limits of the present
notice. It may be remarked, however, with reference to
the native political organization, that one very curious
feature of it is that a female always occupies the second
place in the government, and, under the name of Premier,
her authority is essential in all public acts. This custom,
now thoroughly established, only originated in an arrange-
ment made by the will of the first Kamehameha. The
system of property which the same conqueror settled upon

278

Notices of Books.

[Nov.

previously admitted principles was completely feudal, the
king being sole owner of land, and granting revokable por-
tions of it to his followers on condition of military service.
But in 1848 and 1849 changes were introduced, by which
the king ceded most of the land to the chiefs and people,
reserving government lands and a domain, and facilitating
the acquisition of land, in fee simple, by industrious culti-
vators.

Note to page 64, line 14.

It is now stated in tlie newspapers that the intention of reorgan-
izing the Irish Brigade has been abandoned.

Literary Notice. — Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. have in the
Press a new work by the Author of the "Study of the Bible,''
entitled "The Destiny of the Human Race, a Scriptural Inquiry,"
which will probably be out in December next.

PRINTED BY RICHARDSON AND SON, DERBY.

THE

DUBLIN REVIEW.

APRIL, 1863.

Art. I. — 1. TJIrlande Contemporaine par VAhbe Perraud Pietre de
VOratoire de V Immaculee Conception. Paris. 1862.

2. The Liberal Party in Ireland, its Present Condition and Prospects.
Bj a Roman Catholic. Dublin, 1862.

3. Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland.
Parts xxi, xxii. Dublin, 1862.

4. University Education in Ireland. Reprinted from the " Evening
Mail" Dublin, 1861.

5. A Full and Revised Report of the Two Days Debate in the Dublin
Corporation, on the Charter for the Catholic University. Dublin, 1862.

6. The Census of Ireland for the year 1861. General abstracts
showing by Counties and Provinces, I. The Number of Families
in 1811, 1851 and 1861. II. The Number of Houses in 1841,
1851, 1861. III. The Number of Inhabitants in 1841, 1851,
1861. IV. The Religious Profession in 1861. Presented to both
Houses of Parliament bj Command of Her Majestj. Dublin,
1861.

ENGLISHMEN are pretty well acquainted with the
geographical position of the large island to the west of
them called Ireland, which in the theory of the Constitution
is an integral part of the United Kingdom. If their know-
ledge in this respect he not precise, the fault does not lie
with the Imperial Government, for never was there a more
accurate work of scientific skill, than its ordnance survey
of Ireland, accessible as we know to every one. Some
Englishmen too have undoubtedly visited the Irish High-
lands, the Giant's Causeway, the Lakes of Killarney, and

VOL. LI I.— No. CIV, 1

280 The Liberal Party in [April.

the county of Wicklow by way of Dublin, and have been
thus enabled to form an idea of the natural features of the
island; but with the social condition of its people.
Englishmen are very imperfectly and to say the truth not
very pleasantly acquainted. They have a few general
notions upon the subject, derived partly from the comic
drama and partly from articles in the newspaper press,
under the influence of which, they believe that there is a
large consumption of whiskey, much flourishing of sticks,
much consequent breaking of heads, and a great efiVjrves-
cence of wit amongst the Irish people. It must also
appear to the English, that the sheriffs of Irish counties,
and the armed constabulary of the same are perpetually
engaged in executing the process of ejectment ; that the
carriage of threatening letters is a source of really appre-
ciable income to the Irish post office ; and that some one
"of the most improving and respected landlords in the
country '' is always being shot for the encouragement of
the others. It is generally known also that the population
of Ireland has greatly diminished witliin the last twenty
years, and is still on the decline. Men know too that
Ireland is subject to periodic famine ; and those who read
any thing at all about the country cannot be ignorant that
something of the kind is felt there now. But on the other
hand we are told that no country is more favoured by
nature, and further that no country in Europe is more
rapidly or more steadily progressing than that same Ireland.
Upon which materials if any conchision at all be founded,
it is, that the Irish are a strange people, that their ways
are not English ways, that things will probably right them-
selves in time, but that meanwhile no Englishman knows
what to think of the whole business. Still less do people
understand the political condition of the Irish. They are
set down by public opinion as indifferently well affected
towards the British crown; and whether it be owing to the
influence of the priests, to the influence of the institution
called the Church Establishment, or to the influence of tht
sister institution called the Orange Society, certain it isj
Irishmen cannot be allowed to arm as volunteers like th<
English, lest perhaps they should proclaim a republic, or at
the very least fall foul of each other from pure combative-
ness. Little however as most men care to inform them-
selves accurately upon Irish politics, they cannot but hav<
heard of priestly influence, and landlord influence, audi

1863.] England and Ireland, 281

Castle influence as repjulating or rather as distracting the
concerns of the country ; under all which influences when a
competent number of Irishmen has been returned according
to the forms of the Constitution to represent their island in
the Imperial Parliament, the gentlemen so sent are of no
weight in British councils, parliamentary leaders care
ahiiost as little for their votes as for their opinions, and at
the utmost they serve to amuse the weariness of the House
by hand to hand encounters with each other, or with Sir
Ilobert Peel. Those who profess allegiance to a particular
jKirty are regarded as unruly members, and those who owe
allegiance to none are dreaded as a general annoyance.

If we question the English press to know whether the
Irish had ever attached themselves to a party in England,
or whether an English party had ever attached itself to
Ireland, we shall find a positive rivalry between the
representatives of all parties, in the application to the Irish
of every term of insult that can create or embitter resent-
ment. In this rivalry the great Liberal party have been
most successful, and to do them no more than justice,
their insults have always been the best compounded,
their blows the best delivered, their ridicule the most
biting, and their pride of power the most humiliating
which the Irish have been made to feel of late. To us
who recollect a time when the body of the Irish nation was
in almost perfect accord with the Liberal party, fought all
its battles and to some extent at all > vents shared in its
successes, the causes which have led to the gradual and
now all but complete estrangement of the Irish from the
English Liberals appear to be matter of anxious and
perhaps of profitable study. Not that we do not understand
how little the Liberal party as represented by the present
government depends upon Irish support, or how greatly it
is indebted to the personal qualities of its leader for the
power 'which it continues to enjoy. Nor have we left out
of consideration the existing confusion of boundaries
between party ^and party, which makes the regular and
disciplined action of devoted adherents less necessary to
the working of a government than heretofore ; but in
estimating the permanent elements of strength upon which
a political party ought to count, rather than upon the acci-
dents of leadership or of current events, we do not see why
so great an element of strength as Ireland, the thini part of
the United Kingdom, should be thrown away by that party

282 The Liberal Party in [April.

to which Irehmd seems naturally to belong, or why if it be to
be retained, the conditions of its retention should not be care-
fully and quietly examined. It would be hard to find out in
what respect save that of population the Ireland of to-day dif-
fers from the Ireland which the late Lord Macaulay described
as " in extent about one- fourth of the United Kingdom, in
population certainly more than one-fourth, superior probably
in internal fruitfnlness to any area of equal size in Europe,
possessed of a sea-board which holds out the greatest facili-
ties for commerce, at least equal to any other country of the
same extent in the world ; an inexhaustible nursery of
the finest soldiers, a country beyond all doubt of far higher
consequence to the prosperity and greatness of the empire
than all its far distant dependencies were they multiphed
four or five times over, superior to Canada added to the W.
Indies, and to these both conjoined with our possessions in
Australasia, and with all the wide dominions of the
Moguls.^'"'*' The same reasons for union between the mem-
bers of the Liberal party in both countries which existed at
any time within our own recollection are in existence still ;
the principles which were the bond of union between all
are as yet repudiated by none ; until very lately, the Irish
have rendered to the principles of their party, and to the
party itself, all the service that was required of them ; and
no one can point to a single Irish complaint of which the
English Liberals had promised redress in 1844 which does
not remain unredressed in 1862.

The political condition of Ireland ought certainly to be
as interesting to us as to the Abbe Perraud, the excellent
and doubtless well intentioned French gentleman the title
of whose laborious work upon Ireland appears at the head
of our paper. Possibly many of his conclusions are sound
and bottomed upon real statistics. But he and we mus^
of necessity consider the Irish question from difierent point
of view; he as a Frenchman, we as British subjects; he in a'
religious, and we just at present in a political light. As a
christian clergyman he of course wishes no evil to his neigh-
bour, but he would be more than Frenchman if Ireland'^
opportunity were not all the more welcome to him for Eng^
land's necessity or even at England's expense. It is our

* Speech of the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay on the State
Ireland, Feb. 19, 1841.— Hansard, Vol, Ixxii, p. 1170.

1863.] England and Ireland. 283

duty on the contrary to reconcile tlie interests of both coun-
tries if not to establish their complete indentity, and further
to express our belief, that those interests can be made to
harmonize in no other way, than by the complete union of
the Irish and English Liberals.

It would be easy to state in some half-dozen lines the ex-
isting causes of disagreement, but as their growth has not
been sudden, and as their roots strike rather deep into the
past, we prefer to take up their history from a somewhat
early period, and to follow it through a few sentences, to
the present time. Were we to anticipate now, we should
have to repeat presently, a thing which it is desirable to
avoid as much as possible ; and could we but succeed in
making it as clear to the apprehension of others as it is to
our own, in what way the Irish and English Liberals have
come to be separated, we believe it would be a substan-
tial service done to both sides, as the first step towards an
arrangement of their differences. It has been the fashion
of late, with those of the Irish Catholics who have been
most alienated by whatever cause from the English
Liberals — first to confound the entire Liberal party with that
unquestionable great and historic section of it called the
Whigs, and secondly to identify the modern Whigs witU
the authors of the great revolution. It is needless to say
how much wider are the extension and comprehension of
the word '* Liberal,'' than that of the word ** Whig," or
how largely and variously liberal opinion is represented in
parliament and even in the government itself by men who
are not Whigs ; and we therefore revert to the second
historical mistake which imputes to the modern Whigs an
absolute identity of feeling and of policy with the Whigs of
the Revolution. It is not to be denied that the indiscre-
tions of at least one eminent Statesman and his unfor-
tunate appeals to some of the worst traditions of the
Revolution, give colour to the belief that bad instincts run
perhaps with the blood in certain families, and break out
at intervals in spite of the long and strict courses of treat-
ment to which they have been subjected by the practice of
civil and religious liberty. But even if this be true it is
not the less certain that the Irish nation in the darkest
hour of her oppression contracted with the Whigs, the
only then existing representatives of liberal opinions,
that alliance which now seems on the eve of dissolution.
From the period when that alliance was first entered into.

284 The Liberal Party in [April.

until the passing of the emancipation act the Whigs, it is
not disputed, were the constant advocates of Catholic and
necessarily therefore of Irish rights. The sincerity of their
advocacy is not disputed that we know of, and as to its
efficacy, it will not we believe be denied, that without the
unanimous co-operation of the Liberal party, O'Connell
never could have brought the Catholic question to an issue,
nor the late Sir Robert Peel have been driven to a settle-
ment. This is perhaps the place to notice a statement put
forward by some who profess to lead opinion in Ireland, to
the effect that the Irish Catholics are indebted not to the
Whigs but to their opponents, for the measure of liberty
and constitutional right, which they have enjoyed since
1829, as well as for other measures of justice, such as the
enlargement of the grant to the college of Maynooth, and
the first appointment of chaplains to the army. The fallacy
of this statement is too apparent to require serious refuta-
tion, but at the same time it is only right that we should
put forward what occurs to us, as giving colour to the
honest persuasion of many. And first, it has been un-
doubtedly the misfortune of the Whigs upon more occasions
than one, and especially upon Catholic questions, that the
carriage of the measures which they had themselves not
only brought to maturity, but which without them would
never have been possible at all, should have been snatched
from their hands and transferred to their opponents. It
must be admitted in the second place, that whereas the
Tories, or whatever else may be their proper designation,
when they adopted the liberal programme, did so in order
to contract it, the Liberals never did when in power make
any serious effort to expand the measures so carried by
their opponents, to the reasonable proportions which
the Liberals had originally fixed for them. And thirdly,
when the Liberals did propose and carry measures of
reform applicable to Ireland, they not only conceived
the measures in a narrow and halting spirit themselves,
but permitted them to be still further narrowed and lamed
by their antagonists, condescending in this to the dictation
of their enemies rather than to the claims of their friends,
and to a fear of Irish influence rather than to a sense of
Irish services. We do not mean in the present paper to
inquire whether the Liberals could have done otherwise, nor
to apportion praise or blame to either side, but merely to
account by undisputed facts for certain states of feeling.

I

1863.] England and Ireland. 285

because it is our conviction that one of the principal reasons
why many men of the most liberal tendencies in England
have withdrawn their attention from Irish questions alto-
gether, is that they are unable to distinguish certain from
doubtful facts, or the right end from the wrong end, by
reason of the colouring, which passion and argument
have put on both.

liesuming now what it is hardly right to call our nar-
rative, of the alliance between the English Liberals and
Irish Catholics, who for nearly every practical purpose are
the Irish Liberals, we come to the period which beginning
with Catholic Emancipation and ending with the life of
O'Connell we assume as the second principal period of the
alliance. The features of liberal policy, (for we are not
now concerned to call them faults,) enumerated in the
foregoing paragraph all belong to this second period. No
sooner were Catholics admitted to Parliament than they at
once, under the headship of O'Connell, took their place
among the Liberals and continued to act with them, closely
and steadily until the Reform Bill became law. After
that date O'Connell and his followers, although giving to
the Liberals all the parliamentary support that can be
claimed from party men, began nevertheless to have a
policy and course of action, national and religious, distinct
from the general policy which they followed as members of
the Liberal party. This must be referred in some measure
to the state of the Church question in Ireland before the
passing of the Temporalities Act ; in some degree also to
the limited measure of reform, which the Liberals were
willing to extend to Ireland ; and principally perhaps, to
that settled rule of policy so often avowed by O'Connell, in
pursuance of which it was his habit to insist upon much,
but to compound for less. Other means of accounting for
this line of action are not absent from our mind, but in
view of our purpose to make the least use possible of any
but admitted facts, we forbear all reference to more than
one, and that is O'Conneirs real or supposed knowledge of
the temper and habits of his countrymen, and of the way
in which their political power could alone be applied.
Thus it was urged on his behalf that when aiming at those
political ends which were common to him with the Liberals
of England, he was yet obliged to present them to the Irish

kin a different shape; that he was obliged to warm their en-

286 The Liberal Party in [April.

cise of a personal influence which it would be impossible
to separate from appeals to Religion and to Nationality ; that
he was the only man, who could wield the whole democracy
of Irehind ; and that he could not maintain his own power
by a different course of action. It has been further urged
that the disappointment caused in Ireland by what was
considered the short-comings of the Liberal measures had
the effect either of begetting political despondency and las-
situde, or, what would be still more dangerous, of throwing
the Irish into unconstitutional courses; and that however
patient O'Connell himself might be, he was compelled
not only to humour, but even to stimulate the impatience
of his countrymen, with a view to its guidance and regula-
tion afterwards. However this may be, it is certain, that
he early adopted a double policy towards the Liberals, or
at least towards the Whigs ; a policy be it remembered for
which we do not seek to hold him or them accountable,
but which we desire simply to mention as a fact. That
policy may shortly be described as one which gave to the
Whigs a real support in Parliament, with, at times, unmea-
sured abuse and annoyance in the country. The Repeal
debate in 1834, the address of both Houses to the Crown
consequent thereon, and the answer of the Crown to the
address may be regarded as closing the first stage in the
second period in the alliance. It is quite possible that the
result of the debate was satisfactory to O'Connell, as it is
evident that the address and answer admitting the existence
of grievances in Ireland, and pledging the Legislature to
their removal, afforded ample leverage for future agitation.
Still however the Irish members under his control gave a
regular and not unfrequently a very needful support to the
Liberal party. O' Council all the while never ceased to
prefer what might be called his salvage claim upon the part
of Ireland against the Whigs. The Irish vote, he argued,
had saved the cause of Reform from defeat, and it was no
more than justice that as the Irish Liberals secured to the
English Reformers all that they required, the latter should
repay the Irish Liberals in kind. His demand, every one
knows, was met with the previous question, when after
some preparatory agitation, he began the second Repeal
movement, during the vice-royalty of the late Lord]
Fortescue, then Lord Ebrington, and was encountered by]
the famous Whig declaration that no one abetting the]
Repeal movement should hold any office of trust, power

1863.] England and Ireland, 287

or emolument at the disposal of Government. This declar-
ation may be considered to mark the close of the second
stage of this second period of the alliance. The Irish
Liberals adhered very generally, and perhaps in spite of
themselves, to O'Connell, who although recommencing the
Repeal agitation did not as yet put forward Kepeal as
an Ultimatum, but ostentatiously^ proclaimed, that he was
to be bought off by smaller measures, and allowed his
following to continue in the general service of the party.
Prom this time however the Liberals of England began to
regard their Irish allies as men who aimed at objects
foreign to the general cause of liberalism, impracticable in
themselves, and if practicable dangerous to the State. The
accession of the Conservatives to power in 1841, and the
events which followed in Ireland, produced a great change
in the temper of the Liberals, which seemed for a time to
justify the calculations of the O'Connell policy, if we sup-
pose that policy to be what he himself avowed it, namely,
the attainment of substantial justice through the largest
possible demands. While the Whigs remained in power,
O'Oonnell had his Repeal agitation well in hand ; but no
sooner was the Conservative ministry firmly seated, than
he let loose against it, the hitherto unknown strength of
the Repeal movement, which now assumed proportions
formidable even to himself. If the Liberals of England
did not actually welcome the agitation, it would be too
much to say that it was unwelcome to them, and even
though we take them to have been abstracts of political
virtue, it is not the less certain that they turned the
agitation to the utmost possible account as damaging the
enemy, and as proof that Ireland was ungovernable to any
but themselves. Nor was this all : they now adopted the
programme which O'Connell had abandoned for Repeal,
and insisted upon applying to the Irish question, the
solution with which, if you believe himself, he would have
been more than satisfied. And as if still further to vindi-
cate his policy the Conservative ministry under the new
pressure of Repeal, munificently enlarged the parliamentary
gnint to the college of Maynooth and set on foot the well
meant but luckless experiment of the Queen's Colleges.
Nay more, we find Sir Robert Feel after the Repeal agita-
tion was nearly overblown, in the last speech which he
delivered as a minister of the crown, adopting the O'Connell
programme short of Repeal, and bequeathing it as a policy

288 The Liberal Party in [April.

to Ills successors. The following were the words, spoken
by Sir Robert Peel at the close of the debate upon the
renewal of the Irish Arms Act, on the 29th June, 1846.

** Speaking for myself I don*t hesitate to avow the opinion that
there ought to be established a complete equality of municipal, civil
and political rights as between Great Britain and Ireland. By
complete equality I do not mean, because I know that is impossible,
a technical and literal equality in everything. In these matters,
as in others of more sacred import, it may be that the * letter killeth
but the spirit giveth life,' and I speak of the spirit and not of the
letter in which our legihlation in regard to [franchise and privilege
ought to be conducted. My meaning is that there should be a real
and substantial equality of political and civil rights, so that no
person viewing Ireland with an unbiassed eye, and comparing the
civil franchise of Ireland with those of England or of Scotland shall
be able to say with truth that a different rule has been adopted
towards Ireland, and that on account of suspicion, or distrust, civil
freedom is there curtailed or mutilated. That is what I mean by
equality in legislating for Ireland in respect to civil franchise and
political rights."

While the O'Connell policy seemed thus to triumph or
at all events to give promise of triumph in Parliament it had
already begun to show symptoms of weakness, and dissolu-
tion in the country. If it be true [a thing we do not assert]
that in O'ConneU's mind Repeal itself was not the object of
the agitation but merely a part of its machinery, it was not
80 regarded by the bulk of his followers. However he may
have been understood by his old allies the Whigs, or how-
ever he may have wished them to understand him, his words
were taken at the letter by the Irish multitudes. If he be-
lieved that his influence was still sufficient to command. their
unlimited obedience, he soon discovered his mistake. To
the multitude, Repeal was neither a phantom nor a pretence;
they religiously believed in the possibility of its attainment,
and the more resolute of the believers determined not only
to persevere in the agitation themselves, but if possible to
frustrate any attempt by O'Oonnell at a renewal of his
alliance with the Whigs. The power of O'Connell it is
true was still predominant in the country, and it would be
a bold thing to say, that had he been five years younger,
or had the famine not supervened, he might not have been
able to overbear opposition and to carry out his plans.
But it was otherwise ordered; his failing health and de-
caying energies forbade him to put any stop upon the

I

1863.] England and Ireland. 28D

dissolution of his power, and when he died, there remained
of his pohcy httle more tlian a weak tradition; while that
unity of Irish strength which he alone had known how to
create and to use, seemed to have expired with himself.
With his death ends the second period of tlie Liberal
alliance. The third embraces the interval between that
event and the present time.

Out of the decomposing remains of the Repeal organiza-
tion there swarmed over the country clouds of political
societies, small, and buzzing, quelled for a time by the
great famine, but quickened again by the Continental
revolutions of 1848. Then began to disappear that loyalty
of sentiment, the cultivation of which amongst the Irish,
has been too much neglected by English statesmen, but
which O'Connell more especially after the accession of the
Queen had promoted fimongst his countrymen, while he
educated them in constitutional agitation as understood by
himself. There can be no doubt that O'Connell did train
the people of Ireland to a loyalty of feeling as distinguished
from loyalty of reason, or of duty, to the person of the
Queen ; but it is equally certain that this loyalty depending
exclusively upon the O'Connell influence, withered up
when that influence was removed and had no real existence
at the period of the Queen's visit in 1849. But whatever
was the state of the country, there was in Parliament a
body of Irish reputed Liberals who though numerically
strong, had now, for the first time however since 1829,
become absolutely contemptible to their English allies.
During the lifetime of O'Connell, his parliamentary follow-
ing included men of not very dainty morals, and of fortunes
the reverse of easy. Still his mastery held them together
and made them formidable. When he was taken away
they fell asunder, could be dealt with separately, had no
, common policy, and ceased to be of any general account.
From the death of O'Connell to the present hour, the dis-
organization of the Liberal party in Ireland has been ever
on the increase ; and the contempt which that disorgan-
ization could not fail to beget in the minds of English
Liberals has been unsuccessful as yet in suggesting any
kind of harmony or concert to their Irish brethren. Those
however are comparatively remote causes of the estrange-
ment which exists between the English and Irish Liberals,
and we now come to others whose origin is more recent,
and whose working is daily more active and conspicuous.

290 The Liberal Party in [April.

The first of these we take to be the refusal of the govern-
ment of Lord John Kussell in 1847, persevered in by suc-
cessive Liberal governments since that period, to accept the
legacy of L'ish reform, which Sir Kobert Peel bequeathed
to them in his last ministerial utterances already quoted.
This refusal was clearly embodied in an answer of Lord
Clarendon then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to an address
of the Catholic Prelates of that country, in which he
discharges upon Time alone, the redress of all Irish griev-
ances, and the reform of all Irish abuses. i\dhering to the
original plan of this paper we do not offer an opinion
touching the morality or policy of this declaration, by
the organ of a government, the head of which had likened
the condition of Ireland since Emancipation to that of a
prisoner into whose cell a gleam of light had been admitted,
and who naturally struggled still not only for light but for
enlargement. We merely state it as a fact suggesting to
the consideration of all parties whether such a declaration
was calculated to attract to the Liberal government the
support of those whom the membei's of that government
had taught to believe in grievances and to look to them for
the redress of the same. A second and pregnant cause of
disagreement referable also to this period, was the accept-
ance by the Liberal government of another and apparently
a fatal bequest of Sir Robert Peel, the task namely of
imposing upon the people of Ireland the system of Univer-
sity education, comprised in his scheme of provincial
colleges which subsequently were incorporated with the
Queen's university. We are not now to argue for or
against that system ; we have elsewhere very fully ex-
pressed our views upon the subject and to those views we
must refer our readers. It is enough for us here to remind
them that it is our present business to say, that this gift
of the late Sir Robert Peel, with all its demerits has clung
to the Liberal party, like the shirt of Nessus, a perpetual
blister, which it is able neither to cool nor to shake off.

Out of the establishment of the Queen's Colleges grew
the Synod of Thurles, and out of the Synod of Thurles
the extension to Ireland of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act.
We need not here state our opinion respecting the decrees
of the venerable assembly at Thurles in the matter of the
Queen's Colleges. Touching the policy of the Ecclesias-
tical Titles Act as applicable to Ireland, it need only be
said that if it were intended thereby to punish the Irish

I

1863.] England and Ireland. 291.

Bishops for the part taken by them in the Synod of
Thurles, the pnnishment had no more relation to the pro-
ceediiii^s of that body than have the penalties for bigamy to
an action upon a bill of exchange. Our business however is
with the result; and no one we believe will be found to
question our statement of it, when we say that the passing
of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act was the most serious cause
of disagreement that had till then arisen between the Irish
and the English Liberals, and that it has wrought most
effectually to increase and perpetuate their mutual aliena-
tion. An attempt was next made to reconstruct the Liberal
party in Ireland upon a plan of total severance from parties
in England, and of active opposition to every government,
which would not accede to certain conditions, the most pro-
minent of which were a settlement of the Irish land laws,
and the Repeal of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act. The duty of
the "Independent Opposition" was to take advantage of
the then sensitive balance of power, between the principal
English parties, to pass perpetually from scale to scale,
to make Whig and Tory kick the beam by turns, and to
upset successive governments until one or another should
come to terms with them. This plan broke down either from
internal weakness, or from a want of virtue in those who had
undertaken to carry it out. The result upon the Parlia-
mentary representation of the Irish liberals was just to
neutralize it. Some adhered to the government in spite of
their constituencies ; some by the regularity of their
opposition votes came no longer to be accounted Lib-
erals ; and a few who might be properly classed as
independent members, were of no account j with either
party. In course of time the personal qualities of
the present head of the Liberal government, powerfully
aided by circumstances, destroyed that nice balance
of power between English^ parties, which could alone
have given a reason of existence to the *' Independent
Opposition," had that organization still continued to exist;
and now Lord Palmerston having, by the undoubted con-
fidence of the English people, been relieved from depend-
ence upon Irish support, seems to make an ostentatious
contempt for Irish wishes and feelings a part of the settled
l)olicy of his government. We do not say that such is the
policy, but we think it may be affirmed that such is the
appearance which it wears.

So far back as the year 1857, an Irish writer described

^92 The Liberal Party in [April

in the following terms, tlie parliamentary representation of
Ireland as disclosed by the general election just then
concluded.

"It would be neither profitable nor pleasant to inquire just now
into all the causes of the miserable disorganisation that has left
Ireland dumb and neutral on the question of Reform. Certain it is
that England and Scotland — after a fashion of their own perhaps,
but emphatically and decisively — have declared for Reform. Ire-
land is the onlj portion of the kingdom that stands utterly dis-
graced. Ireland, to whom Reform is not an abstract principle, a
point of honour, or a party motto, but a necessary condition of
peace and progress, is the one member of tlie British Union to
whom Reform must owe nothing in the present Parliament. Ireland,
to whom Reform means free religion, free charity, free education,
free votes — the right to prosper, the very right to live — Ireland
alone is hostile or, at best, indifferent to Reform. The poor old idol.
Conservatism, has been fished up from the slough into which popu-
lar contempt had dropt it, and now finds an altar in Ireland alone.
Reform has a value and a significance in Ireland, diff'erent as we
have stated from those of reform elsewhere. The same may be
said of Conservatism. And, if in Ireland Reform have the mean-
ing we ascribe to it, can there be any doubt as to the meaning of
Conservatism ? It means a more than Corsican vitality of hatred
for the Irish and their religion ; it means the treasured recollection
of gone-by cruelty, and the sharp appetite for more ; it means
injury whenever possible, and insult always; it is Nero at a loss
for men victims, in a solitude even of flies, but equally ready for
practice with the rack or the bodkin ; it is a pig on the highroad —
in the way, even when running out of the way ; obstructing
although retreating ; causing an occasional upset, and sometimes
ridden over, but ever the same perverse, unmanageable, untcach-
able swine. Nay, we do this Conservatism too much honour ; for
there has been such a thing as an educated pig — a pig who could
tell the hour of the day, and the day of the mouth, for the bribe of
an acorn; but what genuine Irish Conservative could be trained
through any instinct of his, to mark the place of his country in the
nineteenth century ? Peace, union, prosperity, education, progress
— none of these are a bait for him. He hardly realizes the notion
that ascendancy is over — that the penal laws have been actually
repealed — that we have left the rebellion of '98 nearly sixty years
behind — and that martial law, the cat, the triangle, and the pitch-
cap are no longer part of our Constitution in Church and State.
But Irish Conservatives cannot tell why, and are determined not to
learn. And yet it is men like these that Irish constituencies, who
could have done otherwise, have sent into Parliament — not states-
men who have taken the thing up for a purpose, like Disraeli and
Sir John Packington, and even Mr. Walpole — but men who posi-

1863] England and Ireland. 293

tively believe in it and love it. The one element of consolation in
all this vileness is derived from the persuasion that Conservatism
has reached the last degree of ridicule bj becoming something
merely Irish. It is Lambert Simnel qualifying for the scullery in
England by an Irish coronation. But, in any case, ours is the
shame, although the penalty may be remitted. Does the Maynooth
grant stand ? England alone is to be tlianked. Does the National
system of education yet exist? England alone protects it. Has
the Catholic soldier the last sacraments in his agony? It is to
Protestant England that he owes his salvation. Ireland has sent
men to Parliament who, sooner than allow the soldier the services
of a priest, would see him die in despair ; and rather than that the
* wafer-god' should repose upon his tongue, would have him spend
its last action in blasphemy. There undoubtedly are men, amongst
us wlio still love to be called Conservatives, and who notwithstanding
are liberals and reformers in practice, like Lord Stanley and others
we could name in England ; but Ireland has sent no such Conserva-
tives to Parliament. We used to refer with pride to the election of
liberal Protestants by a Catholic constituency : but here there is
not a question between Catholic and Protestant. No man in his
senses will connect Irish Orangeism with any form of religion. What
has the Orangeman to do with the Synod of Dort or Confession of
Augsburg ? What does he know about the articles of religion or
the Westminster Catechism? He believes in whiskey, powder,
blood, Fermanagh juries. Sir William Verner, and Lord Roden —
that is the full sweep and compass of his religion. Conservatism in
Ireland is just a sicklier, but more malignant type of Orangeism.
Smooth, civil-spoken, kid-gloved, and perfumed, it coats and pre-
serves with a varnish of civilization all the instincts and passions of
the savage life. Yet we find this Conservatism sharing, and thus
destroying, the representation of Louth, Mayo, Leitrim, and Kil-
kenny, lu other counties — such as Sligo, Carlow, and Dublin, and
again in towns like Dublin, Belfast, Carlow, and New Boss —
we meet it absolutely dominant, and in almost undisputed posses-
sion. It is a convenient resource to throw the blame on our dis-
union, as if disunion were, in fact, something distinct from ourselves
— a deity, or demon to be propitiated, as if we could set everything
right by a sacrifice to At^. More or less of the fault may be with
those who assume to guide opinion ; but there must be something
wrong everywhere, or it would be impossible that, under a consti-
tutional government, and with education so generally diffused, the
people could be absolutely at the disposal of a few pretenders. In
one way or another, we are all accountable for the loss and tlie
disgrace. It is to be hoped we may all profit by the lesson."— /rM
Quarterly Review^ xxvi. pp. 455-7.

This being the case in parliament/the condition'of Irisli
politics there had a corresponding influence upon the state

294 The Liberal Party in [April.

of feeling in the country, and must be held accountable for
two results, still in active operation, and each equally fatal
to the existence of a hberal party in Ireland. They may
be shortly stated as apathy and hostility. Under the influ-
ence of the former the registries were neglected, and still
continue to be neglected wherever they are not watched
for the express purpose of opposition to the government.
This is accounted for by the natural carelessness of men
to spend time or money upon the support of a government
which will not condescend to their wishes in anything, even
supposing the wishes themselves to be unreasonable, and
the refusal of compliance to be sound policy. The active
hostility of Catholics to the government was at first rather
limited in extent, but its continuous increase is now evident
to all. It has the advantage of a distinct and easy policy,
namely, that of supporting, or at least of accepting any
candidate for a place in parliament in preference to the
government favourite. Under the combined operation, of
apathy and hostility, every election in Ireland diminishes
the number of liberal representatives, nor can any mem-
ber or supporter of the present administration, how trans-
cendent soever his qualities, how great soever his claims,
or how unbounded soever his former popularity, obtain a
seat in parliament from an Irish constituency.

Things were coming to this pass through mutual miscon-
duct or mutual mistake, or else through absolute virtue on
the one side and complete perversity upon the other, when
the Italian revolution came in the right time to hasten and
widen, if not to complete the separation between the Liberals
of England and Ireland. The attachment of the Irish to
their religion ought to be no secret in England, nor is it by
yny means to be wondered at, if the Irish mind should
admit the persuasion that the British government is^^i
prompted to countenance the Italian revolutions, much more ^HJ
by the national hostility to the Roman religion than by a '^
zeal for Italian liberty, or unity, or for any other of the ideas
to vindicate which, the French armies crossed the Alps.
The Irish have argued, however falsely, that a nation which ^|
has not now, and never had, any practical sympathy for ^bI
Poland, is not attracted to the Italians by the mere merits^
of their cause ; and they say that even were the Irish people
naturally well affected towards the Italian revolution, the
patronage extended to it by England would of itself be
enough to put them on their guard. They say that some j

I

1863.] JSngland and Ireland. 295

stronger agency than an abstract love of liberty abroad must
have operated upon the English mind to induce the adop-
tion of what is, after all, a French adventure, for French
profit, depending altogether upon the will of France, in
strict accordance with French traditions, and which France
will never suffer to be tnrned to English account, if France
can help it.

Pronouncing no opinion upon the value of those con-
clusions, we can only say that they are shared by manj'
a sound Protestant, who regrets that England has been led
away from what he conceives to be her old, safe, honourable,
and natural traditions, to untried ways and dangerous
alliances. Many a God-fearing, Rome-detesting English-
man believes, that France is acting upon the too sensitive
protestantism of England, to separate us from our oldest
allies, and, to bring about while in strict alliance with us,
that continental system upon the establishment of which
the first Napoleon staked his Empire and lost it. Holding
those ideas, and for other reasons of their own, which we
do not pretend to enumerate and are not called upon to ex-
plain, the Irish have adopted the cause of the Pope, with
even more of enthusiasm, and certainly with more of sacri-
fice than the English brought to what they deem the cause
of Italy. It must have been this circumstance that has
drawn upon everything Irish that deluge of abuse which
has been daily rising and spreading for the last two years,
and the ebb of which is not betokened by any sprig of olive
or other message of peace that we have seen as yet. While the
press, and more especially the Liberal press, was engaged
in exasperating differences to the best of its great abilit3%
the parliamentary and administrative policy of the govern-
ment continued to be regarded by the Irish as system-
atically offensive to their feelings and resolutely set against
their wishes. The Dublin Evening Post, which under
many Liberal governments, had been the reputed organ of
the Castle, and which, whether in the sunshine of favour
or the chill of neglect, has never once faltered in its alle-
giance to party ; the Evening Post, which for years has
been importuning the Liberals of Ireland to expect every-
thing, to forgive everything, to think no evil, and to believe
all good; the Evening Post, which incurred the enmity of
O'Gonnell by its opposition to Repeal, and forfeite(l half of
its subscription list to the support of the Queen's Colleges —
the Evening Post has been forced into sharp cries of distress

VOL. LII,-No. CIV 2

296 The Liberal Party in [April.

and remonstrance, addressed partly to Ireland and partly
to England. We think it not amiss to reprint two or three
articles which appeared in that journal, and which we
cannot help regarding as very suggestive indeed, when
we consider how slow to be stirred were the natures which
have at length been moved into something positively
like ill humour by the attitude and language of the English
press and people. Apart from this circumstance, however,
the articles in question seem to us to contain matter well
worthy of consideration by the English Liberals, to whom
the subject of their relations with Irehnid has never been
presented in such alight ; who have never, perhaps, seen an
Irish newspaper in their lives ; and who, consequently,
derive their knowledge of Irish politics from the exclusive
reading of their favourite papers.

From the Evening Post of December 7th, 1861.

" The stage Irishman, twirling the conventional stick, whooping
the conventional whoop, and swearing the established oaths, is not
more undoubtingly accepted as the true and familiar tjpe of Irish
humour, than are the features of Irish politics, as taken from the
English press — admitted, believed, and acted upon by the English
people. The Irishman who in any of the English theatres should
tender to a brother actor the right hand of fellowship without
moistening the palm thereof, according to the manner of his
country, would incur deserved reproach ; but public taste would
vindicate itself more sharply were the Irishman to speak a sentence
without two bulls and at least one *be jebers' or one * be gorra.* The
nation at large, however, and its politics are a more fruitful source
of enjoyment to the British public than are its individual represen-
tatives to the British play-goers. The latter are satisfied to be
amused ; the former require to be gratified ; and the gratification
is of a higher order than the amusement, because the infliction of
pain is but too often the most exquisite of pleasures. It would
serve no purpose to disguise the power and the success of the Eng-
lish press in giving pain. The power itself is a vulgar one, and
much more commonly diffused in nature than the power of com-
forting and soothing. A moderate command of language — espe-
cially of bad language — a certain trick of composition, and a useful
contempt for the Eighth Commandment, will not fail to recom-
mend any Irish topic to the British reader. On the other hand, to
represent the Irish people as rational and sober in any desire,
would be as great a solecism as Silenus at a tea party; and to dress
up an Irish grievance, however substantial, before an Englishj
public, would be no less an offence against decency and taste thanl
for Atreus to stew his man-pie upon the stage. It is true there arej

1863.J England and Ireland. 297

some peculiarities in Irish men and Irish politics too strong for
English manners and English temper. Their speech is sometimes
over-charged — they mix their metaphors — their imagination runs
before their words ; they have unreasonable opinions upon matters
of religion and perhaps of education ; they have a silly adherence
to old friends and old prejudices ; they will not be convinced that
everything done is always intended for their good ; and they have
an obstinate conviction that some of their institutions are as mis-
chievous as they are degrading. Nothing can be easier under
tliese circumstances than to hit them where they are sore, and
nothing can be more pleasant than to laugh at the weakness and
ungainliness of their resentment. If such a course of treatment
came from avowed enemies at the English press, or even in the
Imperial Parliament, it might be understood. In party struggles,
hard hitting may yet be fair hitting, and if a man be not able to
take as well as give, he is too tender for the dust and sweat of the
arena. But the Irish people are dealt with less mercifully, if any-
thing, by the Liberal press and the Liberal politicians of England—
on the strength of whose party they are borne — than by those who
had been their enemies from the beginning. That the Irish are
over sensitive is very likely — that they have weak points and tender
spots is not, perhaps, to be disputed — that it is a delight to make
tliem smart may pass for granted ; but might it not be worth while
to calculate the cost, and even to reform our expenditure in that
item, if found excessive? The meeting, at the Rotundo, on Thurs-
day evening, comes to hand as an example. In the city of Dublin,
in the sixty-first year of the Union between Great Britain and Ire-
land, while a war is impending between a foreign country and
England, the prospect of which ought to affect every quarter of the
empire alike, it is found possible to hold a crowded and enthusiastic
meeting, to express in language, however guarded, the sympathies
of those assembled with the aggressor and the adversary. There is
not perhaps, a town in Ireland, in which a meeting of the like
character might not be collected. The extravagance of the pro-
ceedings is not our immediate concern. It is a case unquestionably
for the Surgeon-general rather than for the Attorney-General, and
will be sure to command more than a wholesome share of attention
from the English press, to whose treatment the comic views of the
meeting may be safely left. And yet, not twenty years ago, sedi-
tion, separation, or sympathy with an enemy would have had as
little countenance in a Dublin meeting as in any other division of
the kingdom. The people of Ireland were then a portion of a
single Liberal party in the empire — its ardent supporter in the
struggle, and scant partaker in the triumph. That party, so
far as Ireland can be taken into account, is diminished, scattered,
and all but destroyed, though the materials for its reorganization
are still great and abundant. There is now no need to exaggerate
the extent of Irish alienation at home, but, such as it is, that aliena-

298 The Liberal Party in [April.

tion is mainly the creature of the English press — slow of growth,
but carefully nurtured. At home it may be powerless, but if the
present difficulty in our relations with America should eventuate in
war, the result will, in no small degree, be attributable to the
hatred of England wiiich the universal Irish emigration has carried
with it to America. That ' patriotic class of citizens,' as they are
called by a New York paper, was foremost in applauding the
late insult to the British flag and to the law of nations. It is a
well-known fact, and deplored by the Catholic clergy in Ireland,
that the American citizens of Irish race, professing the national
religion, bear no proportion to the number of the emigrants, their
fathers ; but it seems beyond all doubt that though they may have
lost not only their religion but everything else that was distinctive
of tlieir race, they have preserved and intensified their aversion to
the English name and Crown. And it is to aspects of the case like
this that we would draw attention. Tiie ruin of our party in Ire-
land is almost as much the concern of the Liberals of England as
it is our own. But they cannot be conscious of the extent to which
their organs are engaged in fostering national antipathy, and, as it
has been said, making it racy of the soil in both countries. It is
not the disaffected in Ireland who resent the language of the Eng-
lish Press ; most probably they welcome it. They do so if they are
wise. There are none so disgusted and offended as the loyal.
The Liberal Press may be well-meaning, and, doubtless, believes iii
its own good intentions, but it cannot persevere in its accustomed
language upon Irish affairs without coming to adopt and to cherish
feelings somewhat similar to those which it too surely excites among
ourselves.''

^ From the *' Evening Post " of Saturday December
14, 1861,—

" Revenge is always costly, and reprisals are always excessive.
If you spit into a man's face it is ten to one he will take your life
although he has to pay the forfeit with his own; and Bartholomew's
Eve was chosen by the Catholics of Paris for the great massacre,
because it was the anniversary of a smaller, but equally detestable,
massacre of Catholics by the Protestants of Beam. In like man-
ner have the Catholics of Birkenhead sought to punish the Liberal
party in England for the course of injury and insult to which they
conceive themselves to have been subjected, by that party, for some
years past. It may be that the Liberals deserve the punishment,
and it is very certain that the Catholics of Birkenhead have hurt
themselves by the infliction of it. But this is human nature, not-
withstanding; and after all it is a dry question of profit and loss
between the two parties. If the Liberals, while prepared to do
some justice to Catholics, insist upon seasoning that justice
with humiliation at the cost of the support which they might

18G3.] England and Ireland. 299

otherwise receive from Catholics, that is altogether their own
aifair. If the Catholics, on the other hand, are disposed to
exchange the saucy protection of the Liberals for the enmitj —
to them apparently less odious — of the so called Conservatives,
their conduct is perhaps, very chivalrous, but not worldly wise.
]f, however, the English Catholics only, were concerned, the
English Liberals might gratify their taste at a comparatively trifling
cost. In Ireland, the case is somewhat different, and if the English
Liberals will prefer their gratification to the support which they
have hitherto had from Ireland, they cannot expect to come off
quite so cheaply. This, again, is human nature. The Irish Roman
Catholics derive many solid advantages from their alliance with
the English Liberals. They do not require to have these advan-
tages rehearsed to them : but a considerable portion of them seem
to have made up their minds not to accept those advantages, upon
the conditions which their allies insist on attaching to them. The
English Liberals, it may be presumed, regard those conditions
neither as heavy nor unpleasant. The nature of the conditions
themselves is well known. Provided the Irish will consent to adopt,
without reasoning or qualification, whatever the English Liberals
should consider for their benefit — provided they surrender all their
own tastes and inclinations — provided they submit with proper
meekness and docility to whatever instruction, however adminis-
tered, they may receive from England — provided they regard the
past services of the old Liberals as a perpetual licence to the new
Liberals for insult and outrage— provided that gratitude shall be
always identical with meanness — then will the Liberals of England
extend to the Irish people a measure of the good things at their
disposal. Can there be a sweeter yoke or a lighter burthen? Can
any conditions be fairer 1 In consideration of this small submis-
sion— of this trifling homage — and of those few sacrifices, the Irish
people shall have the honour of being accounted members of the
great Liberal party — of taking part in the achievement of every
success that is won for the Liberals of England, and of acting with
perfect disinterestedness by reason of the knowledge that they shall
have as little share as possible in the fruits of these successes.
Perhaps the conditions are righteous, just, and honourable; but
here again our fallen nature comes athwart our best interests. The
conditions will not be accepted. Men will not stand being con-
stantly insulted even by professing friends, and the least exacting
will require some deference to their tastes, some humouring, even
of their caprices, especially in matters in which they think tlieir

I friends should not interfere too much. Men will think that ad-
vantages are dearly bought by dishonour, and no reasoning will
convince them of the contrary. It is perfectly hopeless to go on
dealing with the Irish people, as this journal has done for years, ly
representing to them the danger of a breach with their old friends,
and of an alliance with their old enemies. They are perfectly

300 The Liberal Party in [April.

familiar with the prospect of a magisterial bench, crowded with
Orangemen, and of the superior courts, scarcely better furnished
either with learning or houestj. Thej are quite prepared to see
justice become once more the scarlet hussy that she was, and to
find her sinning with tyranny upon every high place in the land ;
but it is human nature still that, even with this before them, they
should resent indignity and assert what they believe to be their
rights. And here again comes round the question of profit and
loss. The people of this country have, we fear, made up their
minds. We have argued for years against the course they seem dis-
posed to take, in the measure of our strength and of our light. It
now only remains to be seen whether the English Liberals have
made up their minds too. We suggest to them no consideration of
friendship, brotherhood, or good feeling. We take everything
against them and against ourselves as strongly as we can. Wo
take it for granted that their regard for the Irish Liberals —
who, are in truth the Irish Roman Catholics — is as weak and
as forced, as their dislike, and the expression of it is spontaneous.
We take it for granted, on the other hand, that the feelings and
wishes of the Irish Roman Catholics upon certain matters are
altogether capricious and unaccountable. We assume that their
love of perfect religious equality is as unreasonable as the love of
the Siamese for the Betel-nut, and that their aversion to the tem-
poralities of the Church Establishment is as senseless as the dislike
of the turkey-cock to red. But, assuming all this, is the Church
Establishment so precious in the eyes of the English Liberals — is
the abuse of Catholic men and things in Ireland so valuable a pri-
vilege that the undivided support of the Irish Catholics, and the
consequent triumph of liberal interests, are as nothing in the
balance ? If that be so, the course of the English Liberals is intel-
ligible to us, otherwise not. They have a right to make sacrifices
as well as we ; but unless both parties can be brought to understand
their own interests sufficiently well to arrange their differences in
presence of the common enemy, they will save that enemy a vast
amount of trouble by-and-by, and afford him an agreeable pastime
in the interval.''

Under the date of 31st December, 1861, in the review
of the year about to pxpire which it is customary with
Newspapers to make upoi^its last day, we find in the
*' Evening Post," this almost despairing reference to the
subject of the foregoing extracts.

•* The course of the year has not been unfaithful to itself in Ire-
land. The English Press of all parties has wrought zealously and
with consistent morality, during the year, to disgust and alienate
the public mind in Ireland. The Liberals of England, who have
assumed the more especial protectorate of Italy, have preferred the

1863.] England and Ireland, 301

cause not merely of Italian unity, but of Italian scoundrelism, to
the friendship and fellowship of the Irish people, who, with rare
exceptions, are as earnest Catholics as they are consistent Liberals.
Day by da^r have the English Liberals made their yoke weightier for
their brethren in Ireland. Causes of complaint such as exist nowliero
out of Ireland, and which elsewhere than in Ireland would, according
to the raoralsof 1861, justify revolution and foreign invasion, have been
passed over by the friends of Italy without remonstrance. Desires
and ambitions which the Liberals of England would have in foreign
nations deemed natural or at least excusable have been treated by
them in Ireland as something approaching to treason. Gratifica-
tions which, whether wisely or not, have been given for the asking
to Canadian or Australian Catholics have been refused to Irish
Catholics, with circumstances of scorn and hatred which have
already borne fruit in measure. The disorganization of the
Liberal party in Ireland, already so far advanced in the year
1860, has steadily increased throughout the year 1861, and pro-
mises to go on until the evil shall have cured itself. Death
has been not less busy than revolution in emptying thrones and
high places, but the vacancies so made will not fail to be filled up ;
whereas the injury to public morals, the denial or perversion of
principles, the immorality and servility of the press, and the diseases
of opinion that have marked the outgoing year, will bequeath to
coming years a labour of repair and reconstruction which it will
require many of those coming years to complete, if indeed the task
should ever be accomplished. And at this crisis of our history, if
any expression of feeling from Ireland could prevail for any purpose
with the holders of power in England, and with the Liberal press in,
that country, we should invite them, as they tender the existence of
a Liberal party here, and the chances of reform both here and there,
to deal far otherwise with Ireland in word and deed than they have
done during the last year, and during many that have gone before.
They need have no uneasiness upon the score of having left anything
unsaid that could be capable of creating ill-will. They cannot hope
to write any thing more stinging than they have already written.
Should they vex their ingenuity to produce a new variety of insult,
the probability is it would be tame in comparison with some of the
older outrages. They never can succeed in pointing a more cruel
epigram or in balancing a more wicked antithesis than many which
might be culled from their past writings. None of them could hope
to be more unjust or more insulting, nor could some of them expect
to be more mendacious than heretofore. It will be easy for them
all to estimate their gains under the old system ; and, as a matter
of pure experiment, it would b<3 worth while to try the effect of a
little correct information — of acorrespondin^ accuracy in statement —
of some forbearance — of some little humility — of even a slight im-
provement in temper, and of an occasionalj appeal to judgment,
common sense, good feeling, and interest. Perseverance during

302 The Liberal Party in [April.

the ensuing year in a course like this, would earn for 1862 a
character such as we do not expect it will deserve, but which, if
deserved, would secure a speedy and solid triumph for reforna
and popular power" in both islands/'

We do not pretend to have followed accurately every nice
point of controversy which arose between the English and
Irish Liberals, within the last thirty years, nor to fix the
date when every such point first made its appearance and
was discussed. Nor can we hope to enlighten any one
who is absolutely uninformed upon Irish politics, by the
slight sketch which we have given of their course. Still
less would it be possible to awaken any interest in the
matters upon which we have touched, amongst those who
now feel none. We assume however, that there are some
who, although imperfectly acquainted with Irish politics,
are nevertheless well afi^ected towards the Irish themselves ;
and who, if they saw good reason would not be unwilling
to know a little more of Ireland. These we have thought
it well to bring forward by somewhat long stages,
and with as fevy stoppages as possible, to the present con-
dition of the Irish question. We also assume them to have
kept up with current events sufficiently well, at any rate,
to have contracted every one of the unfavourable ideas,
(we do not presume to call them prejudices) respecting Irish
matters to which expression has been so freely given by
public men and by the public press in England, during
the last few years. Further than this, we take them
to be liberals in politics ; to believe sincerely that the
best interests of the empire are involved in the regulated
progress of Liberal doctrines; and to have good sense withal
to understand that the co-operation of Ireland is worth
securing, and will conduce materially to the attainment of
the end in view. Should any such person have followed,
with moderate notice, even from the purely English point oi
view, the discussions upon Irish affairs which, from time to'
time, have 'engaged the attention of Parliament and the
press, he will find that certain questions have pushed
themselves prominently forward, and that upon the solution
of those questions the adhesion of Ireland to the Liberal
party will depend. The questions which have so evolved
themselves are easily enumerated. They have reference^
1st, to education, 2ndly, to the poor-laws, Srdly, to tliei
land laws, 4thly, to the relations of church and state in

1863. ^ England and Ireland. 30.1

Irelaiicl, an<l, Stlily, to our foreign policy. We luive stated
these questions in what appears to us the order not mercl.y
of their urgency, but of the facility which they afford for
solution, and of the chances therefore of reconciliation
which they open to the divided Liberals. It is a step towards
reconciliation, and the first as well as the most necessary,
although perhaps not a short one, that people should know,
with tolerable accuracy, what it is they want on both sides.

With a view, therefore, to clear the way for a negotia-
tion, if such a thing be at all possible, it would be desirable
and make things pleasant, that both parties should under-
stand upon what points they are agreed, what principles
they have in common, and how far they can act together.
Having determined how far they are agreed, it not un-
commonly happens that people find their differences less
numerous and less real than they had supposed ; but when
at length the differences themselves have been fairly ascer-
tained, it next becomes necessary to decide what dif-
ferences are past adjustment, and if these be incompatible
with general reconciliation to break up the conference ; but
if not, to put them aside, and to proceed to those which
are capable of settlement. Having thus narrowed the dis-
cussion to what is in truth the only proper matter of debate,
the parties will then have to fix in their respective minds the
lowest point to which they will consent to reduce their
claims; and this being done an arrangement is not abso-
lutely hopeless.

Cicero, in his philosophical dialogues, like the sensible
man that he was, always took care to make one of the inter-
locutors fix, at starting, the sense of words. If, therefore,
we desire to ascertain in what particular doctrines and
courses the English and Irish Liberals can agree it may
be as well to determine, in the first instance, what we are
to understand by the term " Liberal," as applied to a
])olitical party. We imderstand that man to be a Liberal,
first, who is willing that his fellow subjects of every reli-
gion should enjoy an absolute equality of civil rights and
privileges ; secondly, who proposes, or who at least consents
to confer political franchises upon the greatest number of
his fellow subjects, who can with safety to the State be
admitted to the working of the constitution ; and thirdly,
who gives his sui)port or sympathy to that political con-
^ ncction wdiich has applied these principles in a large

304 The Liberal Party in [April*

fessing to be guided by the same priiicipleg, but applying
them in the most restricted measure. Whatever opinion
EngUsh Liberals may entertain respecting the conduct and
motives of their Irish brethren generally, they must ne-
cessarily admit, that touching the essential doctrines of
liberalism, as we have ventured just now to enumerate
them, there is no more difference of opinion between the
English and the Irish Liberals, than between various sec-
tions of the English liberals themselves : and that upon
questions of home policy, tending to the promotion of
religious equality or to the extension of political franchises,
the Irish Liberals will be found to act rather with the more
advanced than with the more conservative portion of their
English brethren. It is therefore apparent, and will, we
presume be granted at once, that upon questions in relation
to the matters just described and having regard to the
United Kingdom or its dependencies, the Liberals of both
countries can act in as complete accord and with the same
cordiality as the Liberals of any one division of the empire
can have amongst each other. The fact is so abundantly
proved by the debates and votes in parliament, as well as
by the files of the press in both countries, since the admis-
sion of Catholics to the legislature, that we believe no
one entertains any doiibt respecting the class of measures
which English and Irish Liberals will unite to support.

Taking for granted therefore what will hardly be doubted,
that upon questions of reform at home, English and Irish
Liberals can act in complete harmony, we have next to
face the consideration of those matters in which common
action is impossible ; and from the history of the last few
years, it is abundantly apparent that the foreign policy o^—.
the present administration can have no support from th^H
Irish Catholics, who are, as has been already said, for^
all practical purposes the Irish Liberals. It becomes the
duty therefore of each party and more especially of th< '
Irish Liberals to inquire whether the impossibility of unite(
action upon foreign politics precludes the possibility
united action upon politics of any kind. The Iris)
have certainly the greatest stake in the solution of th«
question, because although the English under favour
of circumstances at all events, may afford to dispense
with Irish aid, the Irish are as nothing apart from tin
Liberals .of Great Britain. This being so, it seems
proper for the Irish Catholics to consider whether if thej

1863.] Eiiyland and Ireland, 805

reject the liberal alliance for incompatibility of temper,
upon foreign politics, there exists anywhere a party whose
foreign poHtics they can adopt, or which would not follow a
line of foreign politics substantially the same, with that
which offends them in the present government. They
will have to question their consciences whether they believe
that ministers in following their present line of Italian
policy, do not act in obedience to the plainly expressed and
almost unanimous although unenlightened and misguided
will of Great Britain; and they will have further to inquire
whether any government, be the taste and feelings of its
individual members what they may, can govern in opposi-
tion to the public will. If they arrive at the conclusion
to us seemingly inevitable that the policy of England, upon
the Italian question, must for some time to come be what
it is, under any government, the Irish Liberals will have
to determine whether it will be possible for them to support
any government; and should conscience answer in the
negative, then will come the grave inquiry, whether, were
they much stronger than they can hope to be, they could
effect any thing in absolute isolation ; and whether with
their dwindling numbers, and diminishing influence, isola-
tion is not in fact extinction. If however notwithstanding
their belief, that the policy of all parties in England must
be substantially the same in relation to the temporal power
of the Pope, the Irish Liberals can settle it with their con-
sciences to accord a preference to one party or the other,
preliminary questions of a very serious and practical
nature, will have to be determined and soon. There are
said to be three stages in a lad^/'s matrimonial prospects.
She first asks herself, whom she will have : failing to settle
this point, in due time she inquires with some concern
who will have her: and unless some one should quiet her
anxiety without loss of time she comes to the third
stage when her inquiry is, will any body have her. Now it
seems to us that the Irish Liberals might in prudence
address themselves to the second question before dealing
with the first, and that before playing the part of haughty
and capricious beauties, endeavour to find out what party in
the State would accept their affections if they were ready
and willing to bestow them. A party might be found that
we could name, willing to flirt with them, to make use of
them, to talk nonsense to them, and finally to discard
them ; but a party with whom to ally themselves in real

30(3 The Liberal Party in [April.

earnest, and with whom to make real conditions, is a
widely different thing. The Conservative party could not
form any serious alliance with the Irish Catholics. Their
Irish connections the most disreputable in the world,
totally forbid it. Their^ own antecedents, their uniform
policy at home, and their pledges hourly renewed make
it impossible; and last of all public opinion in England
would not tolerate it for a moment. With the Liberals
on the contrary the alliance of the Irish Catholics notwith-
standing all that has passed may possibly be renewed.
The English Liberals are not, like their opponents, com-
mitted to the maintenance of Irish abuses; the most eminent
of them have on solemn occasions given expression to
opinions respecting those abuses never formally withdrawn
and which might even now serve as a basis of negotiation ;
wliile many of the party stand absolutely committed to
the extinction of these very abuses. Public opinion also
in England is familiar with the union between Irish
Catholics and British Liberals, and is not only tolerant of
such a union but has come to look upon it as natural, and
to regard any other combination as the contrary. But
even with regard to Italian politics, it might not be amiss
for the Irish Liberals to examine whether some beneficial
action or control would not belong to them as effective
members of the old alliance, and whether some condescen-
sion to the feelings and judgment of useful friends might
not be safely attempted by a government which could not
be expected to yield much to the demands of a few not
very strong assailants. Lastly, upon this branch of the
subject would it not be wise lor the Irish friends of th
temporal power of the Pope to review their i)ast proceed
ings, and to see whether there be anything to reform i
their parliamentary policy? The considerations hitherto
presented by them to parliament and to the administration
in favour of the Pope, or of the exiled Italian princes, hav<
unquestionably been of the gravest character, and wil
probably have due weight with posterity. But in the presen
day the advocate who seeks to help a case like theirs b^
arguments founded upon public right, international law
faith of treaties, political morality, or the like, will tak
nothing by those ** non-suit" points, for, so the tribunal o
opinion will not fail to treat them. The very language o
liis pleading will be scarce intelligible to the modern mind
jyithout a gloss from the " Academy.of Inscriptions," or iron:

i

18G3.J England and Ireland. 307

some other college of equally laborious triflers. Of just as
little avail is it to produce before Parliament, instances of
proved cruelty or oppression, on the part of governments,
whose general proceedings are favoured by opinion in Eng-
land. How strong soever your evidence, you will be met
with the general issue, and opinion will answer triumphantly,
*' not guilty/' Amongst the considerations least often pre-
sented if at all to those in power on behalf of the indepen-
dence of the Pope, are the only considerations not obsolete
and unintelligible, those namely which are in some way
founded upon policy ; and upon those we shall ourselves
venture to say a word, when speculating upon the way in
which the English Liberals might be assisted in dealing
with any proposal for reconciliation. ^

The reflections suggested to the Irish Liberals, by their
general adhesion to liberal opinions upon questions of re-
form at home appear to be the very same that should
engage the attention of the Liberal party in England. So
long as the Irish Liberals believe in what we before stated
to be the general principles of their party, is it altogether
fair to insist upon their adhesion to a foreign policy which
they cannot adopt, and which they do not believe to be in
conformity with Liberal principles rightly understood ? This
question however belongs more properly to the second head
of inquiry already presented to our Irish friends, namely
whether the difference of opinion upon foreign politics
between English an<l Irish be so vital, as not only to
forbid union upon disputed points, but upon those also
which have never been disputed. We- have all along
assumed that there was a radical difference of principle
between English and Irish Liberals, upon matters of foreign
policy; but it will turn out perhaps upon examination that
we have assumed this too strongly against our own case, and
that the difference between the two nations is not so much
in relation to questions of principle as to questions of fact.
We do not recollect to have seen or lieard it broadly
questioned by Irish authorities that where discontent did
really, and universally exist amongst the citizens of any
state, it was not the right of that state either by force of
arms, or by the genuine and authentic expression of opin-
ion to change its form of government. The speeches of
the Irish members and the spirit of the Irish press, went
rather to deny the existence in Italy of genuine discontent
and of credibly expressed opinion. The Irish upon the

308 The Liberal Party in [April.

evidence before tbem, refused their belief to Neapoli-
tan discontent, to Roman discontent, to Modenese dis-
content, to Florentine discontent, and so on. The Irish
in the exercise of an undoubted right gave their behef to
Lord Normanby, and M. de Rayneval, rather than to
Mr. Gladstone and to M. About. Upon the credit of the
witnesses in whom they could trust, and rejecting the evi-
dence of those with whom they were dissatisfied, they believed
that the discontent relied upon as an excuse for revolution
in the several Italian States, was either altogether unreal
or artificially stimulated, and that the expression of opinion
in favour of a change of government was in every instance
the result of corruption, intimidation and intrigue. The
assistance given by the Irish to the Pope in money and
men was founded upon the assumption whether sup-
ported by, or contrary to evidence, that the Pope's subjects
were true to their allegiance, but that its expression was
hindered by the foreign intrigue and intimidation just
alluded to. As before, we offer no opinion respecting the
soundness or enlightenment of this belief, — we do not here
undertake to sustain it if right, or to find excuse for
it if wrong, — but we think it may be safely submitted to
the calm judgment of English Liberals, whether the deci-
sion if erroneous of their Irish brethren upon disputed facts
and conflicting evidence could for one moment be admitted
as accounting for the hard words or harder measures
complained of by the Irish Liberals, and which can serve
no other purpose than to confirm them in their supposed
errors, and in any event to destroy the Liberal party in
Ireland. ^ Would it not be well too for the English Liberals
to bear in mind that the Irish for whom they now con-
sider no threat too haughty, no insult too coarse, and
no ridicule too stinging, are the same men who in times gone
by, fought, side by side with them, and, it may be added,
principally for them, the battles of reform ; and that if
mutual services were to be stated in a debtor and creditor
account, the carriage of the reform bill by the Irish vote
would not be something of a set off, against the claims of
the Liberals in the matter of Emancipation ? It occurs to us
very forcibly too, that were the Liberals compelled to choose
between the success of their favourite policy in Italy, and
the real attachment of the Irish people, not only to the
Liberal party but to the British connection; the triumph of
English policy as now understood, might not after all be

I

18G3.J England and Ireland. 309

dearly purchased by the ahenation of Ireland, and
that Ireland loyal from " Connemara to the Hill of Howth"
ought to be a more interesting programme to us all, than
** Italy free from the Alps to the Adriatic." We submit
liowever, and with very great humility lor the earnest
consideration of our brother Liberals, whether friendly
intercourse with the Irish Catholics does really involve
the sacrifice of their Italian sympathies ; and whether
although the English people may insist upon the con-
tinuance of our present policy in Italy, it may not welcome
very freely a change of manners and of action towards
Ireland. Would itrnot be possible to imagine a Liberal
statesman of the strongest Italian leanings, who should
nevertheless say to his Irish friends : '* You need never
expect to reconcile us to the temporal power of the Pope, but
you have a perfect right to civil treatment and to fair play.
Your Italian views are narrow but your English views are
broad, and there is no reason why we should not under-
stand each other. Although we both differ as to Italy,
still as you stand my friend in England I must do the best
I can for you in Ireland. It is not because I dislike
abuses in one place that I love them in another. I have
helped the Italians to get rid of some curious old institu-
tions, but you have one in Ireland the like of which for
absurdity has been pronounced by competent authority not
to exist in Timbuctoo, — and if you would only be reasona-
ble I do not say but that we might try a small application of
our Italian policy at home — * faire la guerre de Rome a
Tinterieur.' We have both been a trifle too mistrustful
and too resentful, but a little explanation aided by our
common interests, may enable us to agree on something
and to be good friends in future.'' 4

And lastly, before parting with the Italian question, or
rather indeed with the Roman question, we cannot help
venturing an opinion that it has not baen viewed by Liberals
in all its aspects; and that, although nothing is more
nritural than for the multitude to be carried far a-field
of the general interests by religious sympathies or an-
tipathies, the statesman should be a stranger to their
influence. It certainly was no love for protestantism
that induced Cardinal Richlieu to take part with Gustavus
Adolphus in the thirty years' war; nor was it the contrary
feeling that induced England to ally herself with Austria
time out of mind. These are aspects of the Roman ques-

310 The Liberal Party in [April

tion worthy the close attention of any British statesman,
however liberal, before he sets his hand to the subversion
of the Pope's temporal power. We may not perhaps be
surprised that many are insensible to the poetry of the
lioman question, or perhaps that they may pass lightly
over the points of international law and public morality
which it involves; but there are other considerations of a
purely domestic character belonging to this question which
are altogether worthy of examination. We will not suppose
him to have any particular interest in the bark of Peter as
a bark ; but if we take into account the valuable Irish ven-
ture that she always must have in her hold, his interest
might not unnaturally be quickened to her risks. According
to the late census returns for Ireland the Roman Catholic
population of that island amounted in April 1861, to 4,490,583
persons outof a populationof 5,764,543, of whom only 678,661
belong to the Church Establishment of the country ; the
remainder consisting of 586,563 Protestant Dissenters,
8,414 unclassed, and 322 Jews. In the province of Ulster,
which has been popularly regarded as Protestant, the
Catholics are more than twice as numerous as the mem-
bers of the Established Church, are nearly double the
number of the Presbyterians, and outnumber those united
congregations by close upon 100,000. The Catholic
Clergy of Ireland are supported by their people at a charge
of certainly not less than £700,000 a year, excluding even
the cost of church building, with the erection and endow-
ment of schools, hospitals, colleges, convents, and the
various other institutions that go to make up the Irish
Catholic Church Establishment. The influence exercised
by the Irish Catholic Clergy is sometimes exaggerate(
and sometimes questioned by the English press. Ai
occasion suits, it is painted as all-powerful or as on th(
wane; but making allowance for exaggeration, ascend-i
ing or descending, the influence of the Clergy over th<
|)eople is very much what it has always been, and quit(
sufficiently great to make it an element of calculatioi
We leave out of view for the present the importanj
and rapidly increasing Catholic population of nearly all oui
colonies, for a reason that will be apparent when we shall
h.ive occasion to refer to them. But when it is remem-
bered that in the last resort the Pope has the patronage
of the great yearly sum which we have mentioned as
applied in support of the Irish Catholic Establishment, whei

1863.] England and Ireland* 311

it is remembered that he inspires and can moderate the in-
fluence of" more than three thousand Irish Priests ; when it
is remembered that he is kept accurately informed by the
Irish Bishops concerning everything that passes in the
country ; when all this is called to mind and dispassionately
weighed by a responsible minister, the question of the
Pope's independence does seem to be affected by consider-
ations of no subordinate importance, not discernible, it
may be, to the crowd, but such as ought not to escape the
eye of the politician.

We have thus far, according to our plan, presented those
considerations which it seems to us might profitably detain
the attention of Irish and English Liberals, first respecting
the matters upon which the agreement of both is undoubted,
and next regarding those upon which agreement seems
impossible. We now come to look into the causes of com-
plaint and difference that lie in the midst, and which are the
proper subjects of accommodation and compromise. These
as we before stated, are referable to four heads, namely,
education, the laws for the relief of the poor, the land laws,
and the Church establishment. To begin with the subject
of education ; we shall not in this place enter upon the
arguments on either side of the debate regarding separate
as opposed to mixed, or^ godless as compared to religious
education. Upon this subject the opinions of the Dublin Re-
view have been expressed in a manner not to be mistaken.
Hitherto both parties have been unyielding, and neither the
State nor the Liberal party nor education, seems to have
benefitted by the struggle. As we have already said,
this question is not one for argument, nor does the
claim of the Irish people, or of any section of it, for educa-
tion administered in a particular way occur to us as a
question of expediency, but rather as a question of right.
Not adverting here, therefore, to any argument bearing
upon the relative merits or demerits of mixed or separate
education, as more proper to be discussed elsewhere, we
take up the complaints and arguments of those in Ireland
who insist upon separate education as a matter of right,
and we do so because we consider that this part of the
controversy affords some chance of settlement. The claim-
ants for separate education first say upon general grounds,
that all Her Majesty's subjects in Ireland, and especially

kso notable a portion of them as the Irish Catholics, are
entitled to consult their own judgment and their own

312 The Liberal Party in [April.

preferences in this matter of education, if civil equality
amongst all classes is to be the practice as well as the
theory of our government. They also affirm that the free
choice of a system of education for his children is the civil
right of every subject, and that the choice of a parent is not
free when the State puts a large bounty upon one system of
education, and places another under actual disabilities.
Might it not be well for the English Liberals who have the
settlement of this question in their hands, to inquire, in the
first instance, would a claim founded upon this argument
be just and reasonable prima facie F Assuming that it is so,
we proceed to state how it has been applied by the Irish
Catholics to the circumstances of their own case, following
the usual though not strictly accurate division of educa-
tion into primary, intermediate, and superior. As far
as Irish Catholics are concerned, the State has hitherto
confined its interference to primary education, which it
administers under the name of the National System, and to
superior education which it furnishes to those requiring
it through the University of Dublin and the Queen's Uni-
versity in Ireland. Concerning the first or National Sys-
tem of Education, the Irish complain that the State has
not kept faith with them in its administration, inasmuch
as certain of the fundamental rules to which they origi-
nally gave their adhesion have been altered, not only
without their consent but against their will. If the com-
plaint be true, will it not be for the English Liberals to con-
sider whether the matter of it be not simply a wrong, the
redress of which is a plain duty ? The principal arguments
however of the opponents of the National System go, not toj
its reform but to its withdrawal, and to the substitution for^
it of a difibrent system. They assert that the education, or
rather the instruction administered under the National
Board is, in practice, separate instruction for the immense
majority of Catholic children, although incumbered b^
futile and vexatious restrictions; and that by the substitu-
tion of a recognized system of separate instruction for th(
present theory of mixed instruction, nothing stronger or mon
revolutionary would be done than to acknowledge a state
of things existing universally in three provinces and pre-
valent to a great extent in the fourth. They say further,
that wherever there is more than a pretence of united edu-
cation, it covers a tampering with the religious belief of th<
pupils, under favour of that change in the rules to whicl

r

1863.] England and Ireland. 313

reference has been already made. And lastly, even suppos-
ing the National Board to represent a system of generally
and substantially united education, they maintain that it is
the right of the Catholic body in Ireland to withdraw
from that system, and they claim the same indulgence for
their preference in this matter, that is granted to the
English Catholics. We believe we have stated fairly the
substance of their arguments and pretensions, without any
indication of a leaning towards either side ; although
the arguments, whatever be their real strength, have a
plausible seeming and the pretensions are not apparently
extravagant. There may be excellent answers where-
withal to meet them, but we put it to the English Liberals
whether the only answer yet given either to the complaints
or to the arguments, or to the pretensions of the Irish
Catholic body, be not, however politely paraphrased,
that they cannot be trusted to educate their own children
as they like best, and that if this privilege be given to the
English Catholics, it is because they are too few to be dan-
gerous ? . .

Upon the question of university education the Irish
Catholic people believe that they have a still stronger case
against the government and against the Liberal party.
The State, they say, has endowed for the members of the
Established Church in Ireland, (about one-sixth of the
population,) an university which, considering the number
of its students, is, out of all proportion, the ricllcst in the
world. It has also endowed, for the common use of Pro-
testants and Catholics an university to which the great
majority of the latter, for reasons of their own, cannot
resort. They say that if Protestant and Catholic are to
stand on an equality, the last-named university, as common
to each, will find its place on both sides of the equation,
leaving the Protestant university, or Trinity College, unbal-
anced by any corresponding endowment on the Catholic side.
But while claiming the absolute right to a similar endnvv-
ment themselves, they not only, profess themselves willing
to forego it, but have actually, out of their own monies,
endowed an university institution for which they now ask a
charter and no more. In support of this claim they quote
the analogy of Protestant Prussia andof Protestant America,
both of which States either support or recognize Catholic
nniversities. They also rely upon the example of Catholic
Belgium, which supports one state university and recog-

314 The Liberal Party in [April

nizes two free universities ; but more than all, they rely
upon the precedent established by England herself, in the
recognition of the Catholic universities of Canada and Aus-
tralia. Furthermore, in order to show that the desire of
the Catholic body for such an institution is deliberate and
general, they point to the fact that nearly all the municipal
corporations or boards in Ireland have voted a memorial on
its behalf to the executive ; and they claim for those muni-
cipalities a high representative character, from the very
nature of the municipal franchise, which requires for its
exercise conditions far more special than those belonging
to the parliamentary franchise. '^T he facts relied on may be
all inaccurate, and it may be quite possible to show that the
alleged reasons if specious are nothing more ; but we put it to
the recollection and to the candour of the English Liberals,
whether any other answer has been afforded to the facts
and arguments of the Irish Catholics, than the allegation
that they are not to be trusted, or perhaps to speak more
closely, that their religion is not to be trusted. This assu-
redly, or nothing, is the meaning of what has been frequently
stated in Parliament, that the Catholic Church represents
two systems, one religious and the other political — the one
as comparatively innocent as the other is absolutely danger-
ous, and that what might be allowed to the members of
that Church as religionists, must be denied to them as
politicians. The Irish Catholics affirm their persuasion
that this is not the real motive for the refusal of the Liberal
party not only to consult their wishes, but even to glance
at their arguments. They say that if their religion were
deemed so politically dangerous as has been stated, it
would not have received the protection, the respect, and
even the encouragement which it has met with in the
colonies, and moro especially in Canada. They express
their belief that the Liberal government so deals with them
not upon religious but on national grounds. The Canadian
Catholics in the opinion of the Irish ar^ conciliated because
their country lies upon the frontier of a great and aggressive
power. The Australian Catholics, it is said, are conciliated
because they are part of the strength of a seU'-reliant and
somewhat haughty commonwealth in partial dependence
on the mother country : but the Irish Catholics are left
outof the account and their wishes treated with contempt,
because Ireland is too near and England too strong, and
danger too remote to make conciliation worth the trouble.

(

1863.] England and Ireland. 315

Upon this state of facts the followhig considerations, we
think, may not unnaturally suggest themselves to the
Liberals of the empire, first : — whether the proper answer
has been given to the Irish Catholics: secondly, whether the
answer that has been given is not calculated to create in
their minds the unfortunate impression just referred to :
thirdly, whether some means should not be taken to
remove that impression: fourthly, whether the case of
Canada does not suggest the precise means : fifthly, whe-
ther any Liberal believes in his conscience that the question
of Mr. Fhelim O'Shaghnessy learning Greek from Professor
Arnold and chemistry from Professor O'Sullivan, of the
Catliollc University, or Greek from Professor Nesbitt and
Chemistry from Professor Blyth of the Queen's University,
is intrinsically worth one florin to the public peace or public
service: and lastly, whether Liberals in general do not look
upon the whole business with very sufficient disgust, wish
it well ended in some way or another, and feel disposed
to be once more on good terms with their Irish friends.

The next question between Irish and English Liberals
upon which accommodation seems comparatively easy, is
tliat of the laws for the relief of the poor. Were the more
irritating question of education in the least degree out of
the way, we should have so little doubt concerning an
adjustment of our diflPerences upon the poor-law, that it does
not occur to us as necessary to review the facts and argu-
ments connected with that question, taking into account
more especially the length to which our paper has already
run. If the Irish and English Liberals, who have really
so many principles in common upon this question, were to
approach the discussion of it in that frame of mind, which
could not fail to be induced by mutual concession u[)on
other questions, taking care to resist the meddling and
dictation of gentlemen who have no interest in the subject,
save the very smallest and meanest interests of party, a
profitable and friendly settlement would be near at hand.
The other questions which we noticed as outstanding be-
tween the Irish and English liberals, namely, those regard-
ing the tenure of land in Ireland, and those concerning
the position of the Church Establishment in that country,
are too large, too complicated, and too unripe to furnish
many suggestions for immediate settlement. Considera-
tions of a general character, applicable to those questions
and favourable to conciliation, do, undoubtedly, present

Si6 The Liberal Party in [April

themselves, but tliey apply equally well to all the other
matters upon which we have ventured to speculate. We con-
fine ourselves to a mere reference to the opinions formerly
expressed by Liberal leaders in England because we have
recently discussed the subject at length (see Vol. li. p.
308). Upon certain subjects an expression of opinion by a
public man is deemed equivalent to a pledge that he
will give effect to that opinion when occasion serves ; and
conformably to our plan, we might here state the non-liilfil-
nient of those constructive pledges as the gravamen of the
charges made by the Irish against the English Liberals.
We however abstain from so doing. Neither have we
thought it useful to refer to a topic with which the Irish
Liberals must be sufficiently familiar; — that is to say, the
injury which they inflict upon themselves and upon the
country by their opposition to the only possible government
that will favour the just claims of Irish Catholics to places of
trust and profit in the public service. The argument of in-
convenience has been ably urged in one of the tracts before
us, and is quite convincing to our own judgment; but it is
too easily met by considerations of honour, virtue, and public
spirit ; it raises too many troublesome issues and is too
generally inoperative where feeling is concerned, to be
worth discussion or enforcement here. The Liberals of each
nation, having been immoderate in their estimate of each
others' strength and virtue, have been proportionately
estranged by disappointment, and it is absolutely necessary
as a step to good fellowship that they should abate some-
what of their expectations and pretensions upon both sides.
The English Liberals seem to have expected from the Irish
a gratitude for their really transcendent services, such as
does not in fact belong to our fallen nature, and a setting
of faith above works which is not usual in the Catholic body.
They expected, or seeuK^d to expect that Irish gratitude
should include not only a hearty recognition of past services,
and a perfect willingness to repay them in kind as far as pos-
sible, but an acceptance of all future neglects, slights, and
shortcomings ; a pretty complete surrender of private judg-
ment, tastes, and feelings ; unalterable good temper under
any provocation ; and a faith such as not even the *' Titles
Act" could stir. They expected or seemed to expect, from
the working of the great measure of 1829, an immediate
and perfect transformation of the Irish character, from which
all the defects ingra,ined by centuries of the worst government

1863] England and Ireland. 317

known to history shonld disappear at once and give way to
all the virtnes and habits of freemen. And lastly, they
seemed of late to encourage the idea if not the expectation
that the Irish should relinquish all thought of political
advancement and all assertion of political right in the ex-
clusive pursuit of material prosperity. The Irish, on their
side, were not disposed to check the play of their fancy or
to set strict limits to their expectations. They too expected
a measure of gratitude for their services, full, pressed down,
and flowing over into the lap of the nation, making slight
account or none of the difficulties which the most liberal
minded statesmen must encounter in the political temper
and religious feelings of the English people, whose servant
and not whose master he considers himself and is. They
expected to gain by bluster and intimidation what they
conceived had been denied to reason and to patience, while
their last and most delusive expectation was, that they
could buy from their enemies by temporary service, what
their friends had not given to long companionship, and that
the irregular manoeuvering of a few would achieve what had
not been effected by numbers and by leadership.

For what remains, if any small sacrifice or yielding be
necessary we would venture to remind the Liberals of Eng-
land that these are easier to, and comport better with,
strength and dignity than with weakness. We would in-
vite them to consider whether without something, and that
not a little in the way of concession, they can ever hope to
cultivate in the Irish people that loyalty of feeling which
does not as yet exist amongst them. We make bold to
suggest that although the educated and professional classes
may attach themselves to the constitution by interest, or
from a scientific appreciation of its merit, and although the
clergy may teach submission to authority from the pulpits
and in their catechisms, this is not the loyalty which
ought to bind the citizen to his institutions * and
the subject to his prince. We would ask those same
Liberals concerning the most powerful body of men in
Ireland, namely, the Catholic Clergy, whether by
suspicion, by intemperance of language, by the denial to
them of the place and dignity which they hold among their
flocks, and by the purpose ostentatiously avowed of creating
rival interests between laity and clergy, they have not
driven into hostility a moral force whose adhesion would
be worth more to the State than its armed force in Ireland

318 The Liberal Party in England and Ireland. [April

three times counted. And then recurring to the opinions
formerly expressed by Liberjil statesmen upon Irish matters
civil and ecclesiastical, opinions upon which we here rely
not as subjects of reproach but as land-marks and rally-
ing points — the mind is instinctively drawn towards those
favoured colonies with which Ireland would so gladly
change place, because the policy which Liberal statesmen
once advocated for her has been applied to them. In
closing we commend to the study of our brother Liberals a
few memorable words spoken by one whose authority they
will not dispute, and upon which recent and even passing
events have thrown a light which makes them read almost
like prophecy. The words are Lord Elgin's.

** I think," he'sajs, ** the comparison of the results which have
attended the connexion of England and Scotland, and England and
Ireland, will go very far to show how little a nation gains which
succeeds in forcing its foreign laws, foreign institutions, and
foreign religion, upon a reluctant and high-spirited people.
Oh, gentlemen, I fear, I greatly fear, that we have not yet
read that most valuable but most painful lesson to its close, for rely
upon it, that if ever a collision takes place between those two great
branches of the Anglo Saxon family, which dwell on the opposite
shores of the Atlantic, that calamity, the most grievous that can
befall either country, will be attributable to the humiliations which
in bye-gone times England has sought to impose upon Ireland."

For the liberals alone in England words such as these
can have a meaning and a value, and if taken to heart, even
now the lesson which they convey will not be lost ; but it
is greatly to be dreaded, that the language and policy
of the British Liberals towards Ireland, during the last few
years, if persevered in for a few years longer, will have
the effect of so carrying forward the tradition of ill will, that
reconciliation will cease to be possible, and the nations
on opposite sides of the Cliannel, come once for all to look
upon each other as natural enemies.

Art. II. — 1. Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in
Ireland, of the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and
Elizabeth. Vol. I. Edited by James Morrin, Clerk of Enrolments
in Chancerj. By authority of the Lords Commissioners of Her
Majesty's Treasury, under the direction of the Master of the

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 319

Rolls of Ireland. Dublin : Alex. Thom and Sons, for Her Majesty's
Stationery Office, 870., 1861, pp. 660.

2. Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland,
from the 18th to the 45th of Queen Elizabeth. Vol II. By
James Morrin, Clerk of Enrolments in Chancery. By authority
of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, under the
direction of the Master of the Rolls of Ireland. Dublin. Printed
for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1862, 8vo., pp. 767.

3. Chancery Offices^ Ireland, Commission. Report of the Commission-
ers appointed to inquire into the duties of the Officers and Clerks
of the Court of Chancery, Ireland, with Minutes of Evidence, &c.
Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her
Majesty. Dublin: Thom, 1859, folio, pp. 191.

THE Anglo-Normans, from their first settlement in
Ireland at the close of the twelfth century, steadily
pursued the policy of imposing the legal, juridical and fiscal
institutions of their nation upon every portion of the island
which came directly under the dominion of the English
crown.

The receipts and disbursements of the king's Irish gov-
ernment, its legislative enactments, appointments of high
officers of state, grants of privileges, titles, territories, and
the multitudinous details coming within the cognizance of
the law courts and offices found their appointed places of
record on the respective vellum rolls, which thus embodied
vouched and unimpeachable public accounts, and became
also official registries of the property of the crown and its
subjects in Ireland.

Although many Rolls and Records perished during the
wars previous to the final reduction of Ireland, large numbers
of them survived these commotions, and in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries various personages of eminence
endeavoured to provide public repositories for their secure
preservation. Notwithstanding such laudable individual
exertions, the Rolls, Records and public muniments of Ire-
land were allowed to remain in the irresponsible custody of
ignorant and unprincipled clerks of the law courts by whom
numbers of them were purloined ; while others were cast
into filthy receptacles, where vermin and damp destroyed
parchments of priceless value, which might have elucidated
obscure points in British history, or established claims, the
assertion of which, in the absence of such evidences, has
■k involved the nugatory expenditure of thousands and the

320 The Public Records of Iceland, [April

At length, in compliance with an address of the House
of Commons in 1810, George III. issued a Commission
directing steps to be taken for the preservation » arrange-
ment and more convenient use of the Public? Kecords of
Ireland, great numbers of which at that time were admitted
to be unarranged and undescribed, some exposed to
erasure, alteration and embezzlement, others suffering
from damp or incurring continual risk of destruction by
fire. On the Continent such a task would have been con-
fided to competent archivists and archaeologists, presided
over by a Minister of state ; but, according to the then
usual governmental system for Ireland, this commission was
entrusted to judges and officials, engrossed with other
public business, and unacquainted with ancient Records or
historical documents. Fortunately, however, the com-
missioners obtained the assistance of the late James Hardi-
man, with other good Irish archivists, who efficiently col-
lected scattered documents, made various excellent arrange-
ments, prepared transcripts and calendars, some of which
were printed and others passing through the press when
these labours were abruptly terminated by the unexpected
revocation of the commission in 1830. Since that period
the subject was repeatedly brought under the notice of gov-
ernment, and in 1847 commissioners were appointed to in-
vestigate the state of the Irish Public Records, in con-
sequence of whose report a bill to provide for the safe
custody of these documents, was prepared and taken into
consideration by the Treasury, but subsequently abandoned.

The condition of the Records was brought before the
public prominently in 1854 by Mr. Gilbert, Secretary of
the Irish Archaeological Society, who in the preface to the
first volume of his ** History of the City of Dublin,'' pub-
lished in that year, after commenting upon the difficulties
and obstacles which a critically accurate historic investir
gator in Ireland is obliged to encounter in researcher
among unpublished original documents, added the follow-
ing observations :

•• It is however, to be hoped that Government will ere long, adopi
measures for the publication of the ancient unpublished Anglo-Irisl
Public Eecords, numbers of which, containing important historic
materials, are now mouldering to decay ; while the unindexed and ui
classified condition of those in better preservation renders their coq«
tents almost unavailable to literary investigators. These observa-
tions apply more especially to the statutes and enactments of the

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 321

early Anglo- Irish Parliaraflnts, upwards of twelve hundred of wTiich
still remain uvpiihlished, altliougli the ancient legal institutes of
England, Scotland, and Wales have been long since printed at the
public expense. The most valuable illustrations of the history of
the English government in Ireland are derivable from these Anglo-
Irish Statutes." — History of Dublin, Vol. 1. p, 14.

These statements attracted some attention in England
and abroad, nevertheless a great portion of the public
muniments of Ireland still remain under the control of
clerks of the Dublin Four Courts, where, practically inac-
cessible, they lie covered with filth, becoming obliterated
from damp, and so little known even to their paid keepers
that at a recent inquiry into the Irish Court of Chancery,
conclusive evidence was given that there was only one
individual connected with these offices capable of deci-
phering any writing anterior to the reign of Queen Anne,

The Archivists of Ireland should, in our opinion have
published a special Memoir on the state of the Anglo-Irish
Legal Records, by circulating which among the learned of
the world they might have exculpated themselves from appa-
rent supineness and undoubtedly brought public opinion at
home to demand the removal of such a blot on the civiliza-
tion of the Empire.

In 1858 the condition of the records in the Rolls' Office,
Dublin, came under the notice of the Commissioners
appointed in that year to inquire into the Chancery Offices
of Ireland, and in their Report to Parliament the docu-
ments at present under the control of the Master of the
Rolls in Ireland are noticed as follows :

" The Public Eecords deposited in the Rolls office [Dublin] are o*
great antiquity and are extremely valuable ; they contain the root of
the title of a great portion of the property of the country, and to the
antiquarian they are most interesting as developing mucli of its earlier
history. They are so numerous that it would be impossible to enume-
rate them here [sic], The earliest records commence with the reign of
King John, and, with some interruptions, are brought down to the
present time ; suffice it to say, that they contain, amongst many other
valuable records, the public and private statutes passed in the Irish
Parliament, commencing in the reign of Henry VI, as also the grants of
lands under the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, and under
the Commission of Grace, in the reigns of Charles II. and James II ;
and the grants from the Commissioners of Forfeited Estates, in the
reigns of William HI. and Queen Anne. The earlier records, viz., those
from the reign of King John (1199) to the reign of Queen Anne,

322 The Public Records oj Ireland. [April.

(1702) are written, some in Latin and some in Norman-French ;
the Statutes of the Irish Parliament^ up to the reign of Queen Anne
are written exclusively in Norman French;* from that period the
Records are written in the English language. Those written in Latin
and Norman French are written with abbreviations, single letters
constantly representing words of two or three syllables, so tliat read-
ing and translating them requires knowledge of a peculiar character,
which is only to be acquired by a study of the Records them-
selves; and although a knowledge of the Latin and French languages
is necessary as a groundwork for this study, yet a scholar of the
present day cannot read or translate them.'' — •* There is not any offi.cer
connected with the Enrolment Department who has acquired this know-
ledge ; so far as they are concerned the ancient Records are sealed
hooks." — Report, p. 15.

From the same report (p. 16) we learn, that " a large
number of extremely valuable Records, formerly deposited
in the Chief Remembrancer's Office of the Court of Ex-
chequer were, on the abolition of that office, transferred
to a temporary building, and that no sufficient provision
has been made for their safe keeping." With reference to
these invaluable Exchequer Records we are informed,
(Report, p. 138) that the officers of that court ''could not
read the Rolls in their charge," and at p. 139 the *' Chief
Clerk of the Court of Chancery" deposed that :

*' The business connected with ancient records is comparatively
neglected in this country [Ireland.] Parties come to the [i^o/Zs]
Office \_Duhlin'] frequently in ^-elation to historical inquiries, hut we have
not time to attend to them.'*

Such, according to an official report, is the condition of a
large portion of the Public Records of Ireland, upon which
constantly turn questions of high importance as to peerages,
advowsons, royalties, admiralty rights, fisheries, lands, and
many other hereditaments. The historic value of docu-
ments of this class was indicated as follows by a learned
English archivist, the late Joseph Hunter:

" I regard the early Records as so many historical writings. Many o^
them are actually of the nature of annals and some of them may aspire
to the character of historical treatises. The question, therefore, of the
printing of them, is but the question whether certain ancient historical
writings now existing in but a single copy, shall be given to the world.
Call them chronicles, and 1 imagine few persons would be found ta Ij
think that a nation's treasure was not well expended in dififusing

* See pnge 323 for observations on the italicised passages.

I

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 323

and perpetuating the information they contained ; and y«t, hovr much
superior in the points of information and authenticity are the Close
and Patent Rolls to many of the chronicles ! How necessary is the
information which they contain, to support or to correct the infor-
mation given in the chronicles ! ''

The adoption in England of the plan for consolidating
and printing, at the national cost, documents entirely histori-
cal and literary, furnished Ireland with an unanswerable
claim for the aggregation, arrangement and calendaring of
her Public Muniments, which, as already observed, in
addition to their historic value, are of high importance in
legal questions of certain classes.

The lawyers to whom the Chancery inquiry in Ireland
was entrusted appear, from their published report, to have
derived all their information upon the Rolls and Records
from clerks in the Dublin law courts, and thus we may ac-
count for their having presented to Parliament, under their
hands, a series of disgraceful blunders, from which they might
have been saved had competent Irish scholars been consult-
ed. Of these errors it may suffice here to notice the two which
we have italicised in our quotation at p. 322, namely, that all
the Statutes in Ireland were written in Norman French to
the reign of Queen Anne ;""* and the more startling assertion

* The *• Commissioners'' are here in error by more than two cen-
turies ! The practice of enrolling Statutes in French was disused
in Ireland from A.D. 1496, as may be seen by Sir James Ware's
Annals of Ireland, 10, Henrj? VII. The entire absurdity of the
above statement of the " Commissioners** can only be appreciated
by those who have consulted the elaborate Irish Statutes, including
the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, passed long previous to the
reign of Anne, — the mere idea that such were written in any
language but English is ludicrous in the extreme. Of the second
statement so authoritatively put forward by the *' Commissioners'*
above quoted, it may be observed, that a single letter was
not used to represent an uncommon word of even one syllable,
without an indicative mark of the contraction. On this point an
eminent English palaeographer, T. D. Hardy, accurately says : ** The
most usual mode of abbreviating words is to retain some of the
letters of which such words consist, and to substitute certain marks
or symbols in place of those left out.... Several symbols have positive
and fixed significations." The profoundly learned Benedictines also
tell us that " dans les manuscrits la plupart des abbreviations
ancienues sout marquees d'une ligne horizontale ou un peu courbe

324 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

that in old legal Records one letter constantly represents a
word of three syllables, — a fact novel to students of mediaeval
brachygraphy, and which, if developed, would soon bring
forth a plentiful crop of claimants to lands and titles.

On all questions connected with the ancient Public
Records of Ireland, there are two bodies pre-eminently
qualified to pronounce authoritatively — the Royal Irish
Academy and the Irish Archaeological Society. The
former the recognized and chartered Governmental guar-
dian of Irish history and antiquities ; — the latter com-
prising in its governing body Irish Peers of the highest
rank and known erudition, together with those eminent
scholars whose profound and disinterested labours, during
the past twenty years, have gained for the historic liter-
ature of Ireland a high position in the world of learning.

It was presumed that before commencing to print calen-
dars of the Public Records of Ireland precautions would
have been taken to ensure the creditable execution of so
important a work ; and we may here glance at the courses
adopted under like circumstances in other countries. When
William, King of the Netherlands, decided on the publica-
tion of the national muniments of the **Pays bas," he issued
a special ordinance inviting all the learned men conversant
with the subject to repair to his Court, to consult there
upon the plans most desirable to be adopted for efFec-

sur le mot abrege ; celles des diplomes sont indiqu6es par d'autres
figures.'' The modes of abbreviating used bj the scribes from the
eleventh to the fifteenth century have been systematized and classed
as follow, with great care and labour, by the " Archivistes Pale<
graphes'' of France: par sigles; par contraction; par suspension
par signes abbreviatifs ; par petites lettres superieures ; et pz
lettres abbreviatives.

Instead of presuming to enlighten the public on ancient docuj
ments of which they were totally ignorant, the " Chancery Coi
missioners" might, with advantage to tbeir own reputation on th<
subject of records, have followed the advice given by an Irisl
Master of the KoUs to the foreman of a not very intelligent juryj
who inquired how a bill was to be ignored : " If jou wish to find
true bill," said Curran, •♦ you will just write on the back of it-
'''' Ignoramus for self and fellows T Such a bill will certainly
found against these ** Commissioners,'' in the many parts, both
the Old and New World, where, thanks to the press, these lines wil
meet the eyes of readers interested in new *' Curiosities of Literature.

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 325

tively carrying out the project. This ordinance, dated
Brussells, 23rd December, 1826, gave the following grati-
fying and substantial assurance to ** tons les savans nation-
aux des Pays bas:"

" lis seront non seulement indemnises de leurs travaux, mais ils
recevront encore de Nous [Le Roy] des distinctions honorifiques ou
toute autre recompense. Celui dont les vues apres avoir ete sou-
mises h un examen special seront reconnnes par Nous les meilleures,
qui ajant d'ailleurs les capacites necessaires, voudra se charger de
la partie principale du travail, sera nomme par Nous, sur le pied a
etablir ulterieurement, Historiograplie du Eoyaume.'' — "Signe Guil-
laume.'*

The course taken by M. Guizot, when a similar tnsk in
connection with the archives of France was entrusted to
him, as Minister of Public Instruction, is exhibited by the
following passages from the circular issued by him in 3834:

" Un comite central, a ete institue pres le Ministre de Tinstruc-
tion publique, et charge specialement de diriger et de surveiller, sous
ma presidence les details d'une si vaste entreprise. J^ai sollicite la
co-operation de toutes les Academies et Socieies savantes organisees
dans les Departments ; fai choisi eiijin^ parmi les personnes les plus capa-
hlesde me seconder dansces travaux sur tous les points du Royaume.

*' J'ai la ferme confiance," added Guizot, appealing to the learned
of France, "que vous ne me refuserez point I'appui que je reclame
de vous, et que bientot, grace au concours de tous les hommes qui
s"* inter resent au progres des etudes Jiistoriques, nous parviendrons d
elever un monument digne de la France et des lumieres de V epoque
actuelle."

In England, Sir John Romilly, following, to some extent,
the course successfully pursued on the Continent, confided
the carrying out of the details of his plans for the most
part to scholars of known character, of whom it may suf-
fice to mention here Sir Francis Palgrave, Thomas DufFus
Hardy, and Robert Lemon, whose names afiPorded a guar-
antee to the public for the proper execution of the work, so
far as English history was concerned.

Without, however, any previous communication with com-
petent authorities, incredible as it may appear, the serious
task of editing and giving to the world calendars of an im-
portant class of the ancient Piibhc Records of Ireland was
entrusted to a clerk in one of the Dublin Law Courts,
totally unknown in the world of letters, and who, as he

The Public Records of Ireland t [April.

himself avers, hag so far performed the work at '* inter-
vals snatched from the labours of official duties.'**

The result may be readily conjectured. At great ex-
pense to the nation, two large volumes have already been
printed, the character of which leaves us no alternative
but to lay before the public an analysis of their contents ;
and, by emphatically protesting against their being re-
ceived as the work of a recognised Irish archivist, we hope
to save the historic literature of Ireland from being
seriously prejudiced in the eyes of the learned world.

With this object we shall proceed to demonstrate that the
prefaces to these two volumes, although purporting to be
the result of lengthened original documentary researches,
are in the main, abstracted verbatim, without acknowledg-
ment, from previously published works : that the portions
of the prefaces not so abstracted are replete with errors :
that the annotations are of the same character with the
prefaces ; that the prefaces evince ignorance even of the
nature of Patent and Close Kolls ; that the Calendar or
body of the work, as here edited, is in general unsatis-
factory and defective for either historical or legal purposes ;
that the title-pages are incorrect, as the volumes do
not include a single Close Roll ; that, although now given
to the world as an original work, portions of these Calen-
dars were before printed, and the entire prepared for the
press by the Irish Record Commission, more than thirty
years ago.

We fully anticipate the incredulity with which the
reader may at first receive our assertion that of the prefaces,
occupying 123 pages of these two volumes, seven-eighths
here given as the result of original labour and research^
have been abstracted verbatim without the slighter

* Preface to Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls, Vol. i. p. xxi
The learned Gerard protested in the following terms against tl
employment of any but archaeologists of acknowledged competen(
upon the historic documents of Belgium:

*^Si le Gouvernement chargeait d'autres personnes que les membrc
de la classe d'histoire, de la redaction de cet important ouvrage,
ne resterait a ceux-ci, declares incapables par ce seul fait, d'auti
ressource que de renoncer au titre d'Academicien, deveuu ignomij
nieux pour eux, et de regretter le temps qu'ils auraieut jusqu'i(
employe gratuitement et inutilement a I'etude de Thistoire Bel
gique." Memoire par M. le Baron de Reifienherg sur la ptiblication
monumens indedits de Vhistoire Belgique,

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland.

327

ficknowledgment from ' previously printed books; the
remainder being composed of partly admitted quotations
and inacurate original observations.

The chief writers whose hibours have been thus ap-
propriated without any acknowledgment are Henry
J. Mason; William Lynch; Sir W. Betham ; Mr. Las-
celles ; James Hardiman ; J. C. Erck ; and Mr. Gilbert,
author of the History of the City of Dublin, all well known
in connection with ^nglo-Irish Archivistic research.

To exhibit fully the almost incredible freedom with
which these appropriations have been made, we shall
place ^ a few specimens in parallel columns, carefully
selecting for this object only such portions as are now
published in these prefaces as the original composition of
the editor of the Calendars. Our first illustration shall be
from the ** Essay on the Antiquity and Constitution of
Parliaments in Ireland," by Henry Joseph Monck Mason,
LLD., Dubhn: 1820:

H. J. MASON, A.D. 1820.
*' The extent of territory, under
the influence of English domina-
tions, materially varied at dif-
ferent times, and of consequence,
the extent of country represent^
ed in the Irish Parliaments hold-
en by the respective English
Viceroys, was not always the
same; I will however venture to
assert and it is suflSlcient for the
purpose to demonstrate, that
representation in Irish Parlia-
ments was at all times co-exten-
sive, not merely with the English
Pale, but with whatever portion
of the Irish territory acknow-
ledged a subjection to English
dominion, and acquiesced in its
legislation. This however has
been perversely denied, and Sir
John Davies is tempted to assert,
that the parliament of 1613, was
the first general representation
of the people which was not con-
fined to the Pale. Tlie reason-
which induced Sir John Davies to
VOL. LII,— No. CIV

CALENDAR, a.d. 1863.
"The extent of territory under
the influence of the English
domination materially varied at
different times ; and, in con-
sequence, the extent of country
represented in the Irish parlia-
ments, holden by the English
Viceroys was not always the
same ; I may venture to presume,
tiiat representation in Irish par-
liaments was at all times co-
extensive, not merely with the
Pale, but with whatever portion
of the Irish territory acknowledg-
ed a subjection to Englisli
dominion and acquiesced in its
legislation. This however has
been denied, and Sir John
Davies is tempted to assert, that
the Parliament of 1613, was
the first general representation
of the people, which was not
* confined to the Pale.' The
reasons which induced Sir John
Davies to rush at this conclusion
was his anxiety to flatter the

4

328

The Public Records of Ireland.

[April

give this turn to liis speech, washis
inexcusable anxiety to flatter the
vanity of James I, a prince ex-
ceedingly proud, and particularly
vain of his government of Ire-
land. It afforded to him the
greatest degree of gratification to
be told that he was the father of

vanity of James I., a prince
proud and vain of his govern-
ment in Ireland. It afforded
him the greatest degree of satis-
faction, to be told that he was
the founder of a constitution in
this country." — Calendar^ Vol, ii.

p. XXX.

a constitution in this country." —
Essay on Parliaments^ 1820, p. 22.

To the foregoing we may add the following specimens
of the uses made of other portions of Mr. Mason's
work :

H. J. MASON, A.D. 1820.

** The Pale, which was in its
commencement very indistinctly,
if at all, defined, became in the
15th century to be at once better
known as the English part of the
Island, and more accurately
marked; until at length, an
act of parliament was passed,
(the 10, Hen. VII. c. 34), for
making a ditch to enclose the
four shires, to which the Englisli
dominion was, at this time near-
ly confined." — Ih. Appendix xi.

*' In the 18th of this prince, we
find two viceroys actually con-
tending for authority, the one
holding a Parliament at Naas,
the other at Drogheda, and the
king giving his assent to some of
the enactments of each. Tin's
appears from the Close Roll, 19,
Edw. IV."— 76. p. 24.

CALENDAR, a.d. 1862.

** The Pale, which was in it^
commencement very indistinctly
if at all defined, became in the
fifteenth century better known
as the English part of the Island,
and more accurately marked,
until at length an Act of Parlia-
ment was passed, (10, Henry
VII., c. 34), for making a ditch to
enclose the four shires to which
the English dominion was at
this time nearly confined.'' —
Vol. ii., p. xxxi.

" In the 18th of Edward IV.,
two viceroys of the king
actually contended for authority:
the one holding a parliament at
Naas, the other at Drogheda, and
the king giving his assent
some of the enactments of eachJ
This appears from the Close Roll
of the 19, Edward lYr—Ihi
xlviii.

Among the writers who during the present centur^
applied to the study of Anglo-Irish Records, the lat<
William Lynch stands pre-eminent, for having combinec
profound erudition in this branch with refined and elegant
philosophic criticism. Many of the best pages of the Calen-
dars now before us have been, as may be seen from the fol-
lowing example, abstracted, without the slightest referenc<
to Lynch, from his *' View of the Legal Institutions, Here-

18G3.J

The Public Records of Ireland.

829

ditary'Offices, and Feudal Baronies, established in Ireland
during the reign of Henry 11/' London: 1830:

W. LYNCH, AD. 1830.
*• By letters patent under the
great seal, and dated in 'full
Parliament at Kilkenny,' the
11th of July, in the 19th year of
his reign, King Edward certified
(amongst other things) that at
Easter *in the 13th year of his
reign, there were certain ordi-
nances and statutes made in a

Parliament held at Dublin to

the honour of God and of Holy
Church, the profit of his people,
and the maintenance of his peace,'
...and that the statutes and ordi-
nances so made and enacted

were afterwards confirmed by a
Parliamentassembledat Kilkenny,
all which ordinances and statutes
therefore so made and ordained,
the king hereby now accepts and
ratifies for himself and his heirs,
and for ever confirms.

"At that period there existed
no statute rolls ; and whatever
copies of ancient statutes still
remain are principally to be
found amongst the records of
the King's court, where such
statutes were immediately sent
for the guidance of the judges
and their ofiicers; as also
amongst the archives of the
ecclesiastical and lay corpora-
tions; namely, to the former
that they might be promulgated
in the cathedral and parochial
churches by the archbishops, &c.,
as is expressly commanded by
the statutes 2nd, Edw. II.;
and to the latter that, they
should be read and published by
mayors and other officers within
their corporate liberties, as was
directed in the instance of those

CALENDAR, a.d. 1832.
" By letters patent under the
great seal, and dated in * full
Parliament at Kilkenny,' the
11th July, in the nineteenth
year of his reign. King Edward
eertified that, at Easter in the
thirteenth year of his reign,
there were certain ordinances
made in a parliament held at
Dublin, * to the honour of God
and of Holy Church, the profit of
his people, and the maintenance
of his peace;' and that the
statutes and ordinances so made
and enacted were afterwards con-
firmed by a parliament held at
Kilkenny ; all which ordinances,
therefore, so made and ordained,
the King now accepts and for
ever confirms.

*'At that period there existed
no statute Rolls, and whatever
copies of ancient statutes still
remain are principally to be
found amongst the records of
the, law courts, where such sta-
tutes were immediately sent
for guidance of the judges and
their officers, as also amongst
the archives of the ecclesiastical
and lay corporations ; to the
former that they might be
promulgated in the catliedral
and parochial churches, by the
archbishops, as is commanded by
the statute of 2° Edward II.,
and to the latter, that they
should be read and published, by
mayors and other officers within
their corporate liberties, as was
directed in the instance of those
very statutes now under consider-

330

The Public Records of Ireland.

[April

very statutes now under consider-
ation. For this latter purpose a
record was made of the statutes
of the 13th Edw. II, by exempli-
fication under the great seal,
dated the 15th of May in that
year, whereby the king recited
and exemplified those statutes,
and sent them to the Mayor and
Bailififs of Dublin, commanding
them to cause the same to be
read, published, and firmly main-
tained throughouttheir bailiwick.
This exemplification was first
however entered in the Chief
Remembrancer's office, amongst
the other ancient statutes there
preserved, and the record then
made is still extant in that de-
partment."— View of Legal In-
stitutionSy 1830, p. 54.

Many passages verbatim from the same work as in the
following instances, are given as original compositions in
these prefaces, without any mention whatever of the source
from which they have been derived :— ^

ation. For this latter purpose a
record was made of the statutes
of the 13° Edward II., by ex-
emplification under the great
seal, whereby the king recited
and exemplified those statutes,
and sent them to the mayor and
bailiff's of Dublin commanding
them to cause the same to be
read, published and firmly main-
tained throughout tlieir baili-
wick. This exemplification was
first, however, recorded in the
Exchequer amongst the other
ancientstatutes there preserved.*'
— Calendar, Vol. ii., p. xlvi.

W.LYNCH, A.D. 1830.
" Chief Rememb. Roll, Dub. 9,
E. 3. To this parliament also,
was summoned the Bishop of
Emly, and he absenting him-
self was amerced in the same
sum [of 100 marks]; but on his
petition the cause of absence
■was enquired into by inqui-
sition, and it was found that
on the Vigil of the Nativity
of our Lord, next before the
day of that Parliament, as the
Bishop was riding towards tlie
Church of Emly, his palfrey
stumbled and threw him to the
earth, whereby he was grievously
wounded, and had three of the
ribs on his right side fractured ;
in consequence during the whole
time of that Parliament he lay

CALENDAR, a,d. 1862.
"We find on the Memoranda
Roll of the 9° Edward III.,
that the Bishop of Emly was
summoned to a parliament and
absenting himself, was fined. On
his petition, the cause of his ab-
sence was enquired into, and
was ascertained by inquisitioi
that on the Vigil of the Nativitj
as the Bishop was riding towarc
the church, his palfrey stumblej
and threw him on the eartl
whereby he was grievousl
wounded, and had three of hi
ribs fractured ; in consequence
during the whole time of tl
parliament, he lay so sick thj
his life was despaired of, ai
without peril of his body
could not approach the parlii

1863.J

The Public Records of Ireland.

331

ment ; whereupon the King
having consideration of the Bish-
op's misfortune, and wishing to
show him special grace, ordered
him to be exonerated and dis-
charged from the fine." — Vol, ii..
Preface, p. xlvii.

so sick that his life was despaired
of, and without peril of his body
he could not approach the said
Parliament; whereupon the King,
having consideration of the
Bishop's misfortune, and wishing
to show him special grace, orders
him to be exonerated and dis-
charged from the fine." — p. 57.

**Inthe year 1351 a Parlia-
ment sat at Dublin, and several
Statutes were there enacted....
Those statutes are enrolled,
though like many others, they
never have been published. By
one of them the English Statute
for regulating the fee of the
Marshal is adopted and ordered
to be followed in Ireland ; and
by another the English statute
of labourers is accepted, and the
same ordered to be sent by writ
to each sheriff, seneschal, mayor,
&c., for the purpose of being
proclaimed and put in force.'' —
lb. p. 59.

*' In the Primate's registry at " Two writs of Parliamentary
Armagh, are entered two writs of Summons, issued in the thirty-
parliamentary summons issued sixth and forty-first years of the
in the 36th and 41st year of reign of Edward 111., are now in
this reign." — p. 60. the Primate's Registry in Ar-

magh.''— Ib.i ib. p. xlvi.

' A volume entitled " Dignities Feudal and Parliamer-
tary," published at Dublin, in 1830, by the late Sir William
Betham, has been largely used to fill these prefaces, which
however contain no reference either to this work or to its
author ; and various pages in the following style are given
to the world as new original composition : ^

*• In the year 1351 a Parlia-
ment sat at Dublin, and several
Statutes were there enacted.
Those Statutes are enrolled,
though, like many others, they
have never been published.

" By one the English Statute
of Labourers is accepted, and the
same ordered to be sent by writ
to each sheriff, seneschal, and
mayor, for the purpose of being
proclaimed." — 76., ib.

BETHAM, A.D. 1830.
"Matthew Paris states, that
* Henry the Second granted the
laws of England to the people of
Ireland, which were joyfully re-
ceived by them all, and con-
firmed by the king, having first
received their oaths for their ob-

CALENDAR, a.d. 1862.
" Matthew Paris states, that
* Henry the Second granted the
laws of England to the people of
Ireland, which were joyfully
received by them all, and con-
firmed by the King, having first
received their oaths for their

332

The Public Records of Ireland,

[April

s^rvatlon of them.* It is probable
that this was a grant to all the
Irish who choice to adopt it; but
as O'Conor, King ofOonnaught,
O'Neill, King of Kinelowen, or
Tyrone, O'Donel of Tyrconnell,
and other Irish chiefs, became
but vassal princes, * reges sub eo
ut homines sui,' paying to the
English sovereign annual tribute
in acknowledgment of his sove-
reignty, it is not probable that
they would or could immedi-
ately change the laws and cus-
toms of their territories, per
saltum ; and we find that by a
writ of 6 John, no one was to be
impleaded for the chattels or
even the life, of an Irishman,
until after Michaelmas term in
that year ; therefore, if the boon
was general, it must then have
been considered forfeited by the
frequent attempts made by the
native Irish, to shake off the Eng-
lish yoke, after Henry's return
to England. The writ of the
6th of John, however, seems to
imply, that after fifteen days of
Michaelmas, 1205, the benefits of
the laws extended to all the Irish,
as well as the English, although
in the reigns of Henry the Third
and his successors, the records
show that all the Irish had not,
during those periods, the benefit

observation of them.* It is pro-
bable this was a grant to all the
Irish who chose to adopt it ; but
as O'Conor King of Connaught,
O'Neill, King of Kinelowen, or
Tyrone, O'Donell, of Tyrconnell,
and other Irish chiefs, became
but vassal princes, * reges sub
eo ut homines sui,' paying to the
English sovereign annual tribute
in acknowledgment of his sove-
reignty, it is not probable that
they would immediately change
the laws or customs of their ter-
ritories ; and we find by a writ
of the 6" of King John, that no
one was to be impleaded for the
chattels, or even the life of an
Irishman, until after Michaelmas
term in that year ; therefore, if
the boon was general, it must
then have been considered for-
feited by the frequent attempts
made by the native Irish to shake
off the English yoke after Henry's
return to England. The writ of
the 6° of John, however, seems
to imply, that after Michaelmas,
1205, the benefit of the laws ex-
tended to all the Irish as well as
the English, although in the
reigns of Henry III. and his suc-
cessors, the records show that
the Irish had not, during those
periods, the benefit of the laws of
England.'' — Calendar, Vol. ii, lii,

of the laws of England." — Digni-
ties, Feudal, ^c. 1830, p. 228-9

A further view of the sources whence the best portions
of these Prefaces have been derived, is afforded by the fol-
lowing, also verbatim from the same work of Sir VV.
Betham, without the slightest acknowledgment, an
printed as original in the Calendars :

BETHAM, A.D. 1830.
" The earliest mention of a par-
liament by name, on the records

CALENDAR, a.d. 1862.

" The earliest mention of

Parliament, by name, in the re-

I

J

1863.

The Public Records of Ireland.

333

of Ireland, is on the great EoU
of the Pipe, of 10 to 12 Edward
I....

" In the 13th year of Edward
I. the following memorandum
is enrolled in the Red Book
of the Exchequer of Ireland,
and is also to be found on the
Close Roll of the same year,
Glaus. 13, Edw. I, m. 5, dorso.
The first are declared to be sta-
tutes enacted by the king and
his council, the latter enacted
in the king^s parliament, id est,
the king's court of justice, which
were transmitted to Ireland, to
be there observed as the law, al-
though parliaments, or assem-
blies called parliaments, were
held previously in that country.

"An entry in the Black Book
of the Church of the Holy Trini-
ty, Dublin, of the year 1297, the
26th of king Edward the First,
[is] of the first importance in
showing the component parts of
the parliament held in Dublin in
that year.''— p;?. 258, 9, 61.

" The legal institutions of Ire-
land were avowedly formed on
the English model ; in other
words, the English laws and cus-
toms were introduced into Ire-
land, with the English rule.
The judges, in both countries,
have ever laid it down, as an ac-
knowledged and settled dictum,
that a perfect identity of the
common laws and legal customs
of England has existed in all
ages, among the Anglo-Irish,
and those Irish who resided
within the English Pale and
were lieges of the king.'' — p.
225.

"Phillip le Bret, sheriff of Dub-
lin, was allowed in his account
twenty shillings, which he paid

cords of Ireland, is to be found
in the great Roll of the Pipe,
of 10" to 12" Edward I.

" In the Red Book of the Ex-
chequer, and on the Close Roll
of the 13" Edward I, is the fol-
lowing memorandum: — 'Quod
die Veneris, &c. Rot Claus, 13
Ed. I, m. 5. The first are de-
clared to be Statutes enacted by
the King and his Council ; the
latter enacted in the King's Par-
liament, id est, the King's Court
of Justice, which were transmit-
ted to Ireland, to be observed
there as the law, although Par-
liaments, or assemblies called
Parliaments, were held previous-
ly in that country.

" In the Black Book of Christ^s
Church, of the 26th of Edward
I, 1297, we find described the
component parts of the Parlia-
ment held in Dublin in that
year." — Vol. ii. p. liii.

" The legal institutions of Ire-
land were avowedly formed on
the English model, — in other
words, the English laws and cus-
toms were introduced into Ire-
land with the English rule. The
judges, in both countries, have
ever laid it down as an acknow-
ledged and settled dictum, that
a perfect identity of the com-
mon laws and legal customs of
England has existed in all ages
among the Anglo-Irish, and
those Irish who resided within
the Pale, and were lieges of the
king.'' — Ibid. p. lii.

"Phillip De Bret, Sheriff of
Dublin, was allowed in his ac-
count twenty shillings, which h©

334

The Public Records of Ireland,

[April,

to various messengers employed
to summon a parliament." —
Dignities Feudal, ^c, 1830, p. 290.

had paid various messengers
employed to summon a parlia-
ment to meet at Dublin, in Hil-
ary term, 2° Edward HI."—
Calendar, Vol. ii., p. xliv.

" In the Rolls Office is a mem-
brane containing three statutes
of the parliament held at York,
9° Edward III, transmitted /or
observation in Ireland," — Ibid,
xlvi.

« In the Rolls Office, Dublin,
is a membrane containing three
statutes of the parliament held
at York, 9, Edward III, trans-
mitted/or observation in Ireland,'*
Ibid, p. 292.

The following appropriation of the ideas and facts of
Mr. Lascelles, editor of the ** Liber Muneium Publicorum
Hibernise/' without any reference to that gentleman or to
his work, may perhaps be justified by a reasoning similar
to that used in the " Critic," by *' Puflf," who, on being
reminded that he had stolen the entire of a famous passage
from ** Othello,'^ declared it to be of ** no consequence ;"
and added that ** all that can be said is, that two people
happened to hit on the same thought — and Shakespeare
made use of it-first — that's all:*'

CALENDAR, A.n. 1862.
*' But the principal occasion
of the disappearance of the re-
cords is not without its consola-
tion, for it affords hope that all
"whose disappearance is regretted
are not irrecoverably lost ; it is
this (and Prynne, in his preface
to Cotton's Tower Records has

LIBER MUNERUM, a.d. 1830.

"But the principal occasion
of the disappearance of the re-
cords is not without its consola-
tion ; for it affords hope that all
•which are regretted are not irre-
vocably lost. It is this (and
Prynue in his preface to Cotton's
Tower Records has some curious
observations on a similar prac-
tice, which from time to time
prevailed too much even in
England): — The principal keep-
ers of records have been often
or commonly men of high
office, or of great family and
other influence. The Seymour
family, the Leinster, the Down-
shire, the Orrery, &c., &c. have
filled the offices of masters of
the rolls of chancery, or of prin-
cipal officer over that or some
other record- treasury. In that
office it was not unusual for a
roll to be often sent for to their

some curious observations on a
similar practice, which from time
to time prevailed to a great ex-
tent, even in England), it was
not unusual for a Roll or record
to be sent for to the private
house of the Master or principal]
Keeper of Records, where it bul
too often remained.

1863.1

The Public Records of Ireland,

335

prirate houses, where they but
too often have remained. The
late Primate of Ireland told
rae he had it from Lord Hert-
ford, that there were in his
private-evidence room certain
records of Cliancerj. Probably
similar discoveries might be
made in the evidence rooms of
the other great families who have
held office particularly in that
of the Marquis of Ormond.'' —
Vol. i. p, 2. cot. 2.

"We may hence account for
the wealth of the Chandos Pa-
pers, and those in the possession,
100 years ago, of Sterne, the
then Bishop of Clogher, so often
mentioned in Bishop Nicholson's
historical library. Of these.
Madden and Sterne's collections
were given to the college of
T. C. D. where they may still be
seen. And hence we may ac-
count for the Carew Papers at
Lambeth, and many MSS. in the
Cottonian, Harleian, and Lans-
down collections of State
Papers at the Museum ; not to
mention those at Oxford, brought
there during the civil wars, when
Charles I. carried on the govern-
ment, and held Parliaments, in
that city. Lord Orrery's library
at Christ Church, Oxford, should
contain some i valuable manu-
scripts and records." — lb. p. 3,
col. i.

The late James Hardiman^justly'deserved to be styled
the tounder of the modern accurate school of Anglo-Irish
documentary learnmg. Of his acquirements as an histo-
rian and archivist a lasting monument is extant in his
admirable edition of the famous '' Statute of Kilkenny "
the original French text of which with an English version
copious notes and illustrative documents was published
under his care in 1843, by the Irish Archeeological Society

"It is very well known that in
the private muniment-room of
the late Lord Hertford, * cer-
tain records of Chancery' were
preserved.

** Similar discoveries might be
made in the muniment-rooms of
the other great families who
have held office, particularly in
that of the Marquis of Ormond."
Calendar, Vol. ii. p. viii.

" We may thus account for
the wealth of the Chandos Pa-
pers, and those in possession,
more than a century since, of
Sterne, then Bishop of Clogher,
so often mentioned in Nichol-
son's Historical Library. Of
these, Madden and Sterne's col-
lections were given to the Col-
lege of T. C. D., where they now
remain : and hence we may ac-
count for the Carew MS. [sic] at
Lambeth,* and those at Oxford,
brought there during the civil
wars, when Charles the First
carried on the government, and
held Parliaments in that city,
and those contained in Lord Or-
rery's Library at Christ Church."
— Calendar, Vol. i. p. xii.

336 The Public Records of Ireland,

[April.

with the following title : " A Statute
year of King Edward III. enacted >i the fortieth
held in Kilkenny, A. D. 1367, before ^^ a parliament
Clarence, Lord Lieutenant ot Irelan/ Lionel, Duke ot
from a manuscript in the library of \}> ^If w first prnited
bishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth.pis Grace the Arch-
this work transferred verbatim . ^\ the portions of
the " Calendars,'' without any m into the Pi;efaces to
following may serve as examplo^^^ntion ot Hardiman, the

HARDIMAN, a.d. 1843. /

** la an old book of reference
A.T>. 1634, preserved in the Roll^
Office, Dublin, I find the foll<?«'
ing entry: *Rotul, 13" Ed. IIW'
Parliament roll in My Lo /• ^
mate's hands.* If he re' ^^7*
this roll, it has been sir'^^r^^d
for it is not at pres'>^c6 ^^st,
found there. From ^'^t to be
however, it may be i *^^3 entry,
other rolls migbn^erred, that
likewisedborrowe^i have been
among them, 4; and perhaps,
the original /^at containing
Statute of K/nroIment of the
treatise * Of A^nny. For in a
raent of A^^ ^^^^ Establish-
Parliame»^nghsh Laws, and

Ireland. ^^ ^^ ^^e Kingdom of

written ^October 11th, 1611,

"wards^^J James Ussher, after-

jl; y' Archbishop of Armagh,'

^t,/s stated, that 'The Acts of

zre Parliament holden at Kil-
kenny, the first Thursday in
Lent, 40th Edw, III., are to be
seen among the Rolls of Chan-
cery, and are commonly known
by the name of the Statutes of
Kilkenny.' " — page xix.

*' Amongst the numerous Irish
records lost by time and accident,
the Statute of Kilkenny has
also disappeared ; for the oldest
Statute Roll now extant, is one
of the fifth year of Henry VI.,
A.D. 1426. Bishop Nicholson, in

CALENDAR, a.d. 1863.
" In an old book of reference
of the date of Charles I., pre-
served in the Rolls' Office, it is
stated that a Parliament Roll of
the 13° of Edward the Third, was
in the Lord Primate's hands.
This Roll is not now to be found.
From this we may presume that
other records have been abstract-
ed. We read in Archbishop
Usher's treatise of the first es-
tablishment of English laws and
Parliaments in Ireland, that the
* Acts of the Parliament holden
at Kilkenny, the first Thursday
in Lent, 40° Edward III, are to
be found among the Rolls of
Chancery, and are commonly
known as the * Statutes of Kil-
kenny.' " — Vol, ii. Preface, p. ix.

" Amongst the numerous re-
cords lost by time and accident
the latter Statutes have also dis-
appeared; for the oldest Statute
Roll now to be found is one of
the 5th of Henry VL, a.d. 1426;
and Bishop Nicholson, in his

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland.

337

" Plowden states that in his
time it was * preserved in the
Castle of Dublin;' but it is not
now to be found amongst the
records of that depositorj.

his Irish Historical Library, * Historical Library,' states * that
states, that * the Statute of Kil- this Statute has long been lost
kenny is, and long has been, out of the Parliamentary records
lost out of the Parliamentary of the kingdom.*
Records of this Kingdom ;' and
it does not satisfactorily appear,
that it has been seen by any
writer on Irish affairs since the
days of Ussher, Davies and Ware.
Mr. Plowden, one of our latest
historians, has stated, that in his
time it was 'preserved in the
Castle of Dublin.' But this was
mere conjecture, which the writer
from personal research can
negative. After diligent search,
however, they have not been
found in the place alluded to, or
in any other repository in Ire-
land.

"See Serjeant Mayart's answer
to Sir Richard Bolton's De-
claration, in Hibernica, where
it is stated, that many of the
ancient records of Ireland, in
troublesome times, were trans-
mitted into England ; and those
which remained in Ireland were
put up together in one place, in
the times of rebellion ; and after
taken out by the officers of
the several courts, but not duly
sorted." — Ih. pages xviii, xix.

Another extract from the same work of Hardiman will
illustrate how the original observations and conclusions m
these ** Prefaces" have been derived. In the followmg
instance the point was not seen of the italics by which the
acute Hardiman indicated that Bishop Nicholson seriously
erred in designating Sir George Carew the writer mstead
of the collector of the ** Carew Manuscripts," and also m
ascribing to him the authorship of the work entitled
"Pacata Hibernia:" a history of the wars which he carried
on in Munster against the Irish during the closing years
of the reign of Elizabeth :

" Serjeant Mayart states that
' many of the ancient records of
Ireland, in troublesome times,
were transmitted to England;
and those which remained in Ire-
land were put together in one
place in times of rebellion, and
after taken out by the officers of
the several courts, but not duly
sorted." — Calendar , Vol. ii,i?. ix.

338

The Public Records of Ireland.

[April.

HARDIMA.N, a.d. 1843.

"This passage written nearlj
200 years ago, by [Serjeant
Majart] one of the highest legal
authorities of the time, is valua-
ble as regards the records of
this Country. In it we discover
the reason, why several records
relating to Ireland, are now to be
found in London, viz. in the Tow-
er, the Chapter-house at West-
minster {and other repositories
there ; in all which places they

are totally useless Though

useless there they might prove
useful at home, if only for his-
torical purposes ; and, therefore,
and as they belong to Ireland,
they ought to be restored.

**The Irish charge Sir George
Carew with having taken away
and destroyed many of their an-
ancient records. His collection in
the Lambeth Library has been
thus strangely described by Bi-
shop Nicholson. * This great and
learned Nobleman wrofe other
books (besides Pacata Hib.) re-
lating to the affairs of Ireland ;
forty-two volumes whereof, are in
the Archbishop of Canterbury's
Library at Lambeth." — Statute

CALENDAH, a.d. 1862^
** Thus we know that numerous
records relating to Ireland are
now to be found in various re-
positories in London, where
they are totally useless. Those
records, though useless in Lon-
don, would prove useful at home,
if only for historical purposes;
and, as they belong to Ireland,
they ought to be restored.

'* Sir George Carew has been
charged with having taken away
and destroyed some of the an-
cient Irish records, and his col-
lection in the Lambeth Library
is thus described by Nicholson :
*This great Nobleman wrote
other books besides the ' Pacata
Hibernia,' relating to the affairs
of Ireland, forty-two volumes
whereof are in the Archbishop's
library at Lambeth.' "— Fb?. ii.
p. ix.

of Kilkenny J 1843, p_ xlx.

Of Irish historical works produced within the last ten
years, we beHeve that none can be pointed ont as exhibiting^
a larger amount of original research among unpublished
ancient Anglo-Irish legal records than the volumes of Mr,
Gilbert upon the History of the City of Dublin, the value
of which was publicly recognized by the Royal Irish Acade-
my awarding their prize gold medal to the author. Of the
unacknowledged use made in the Prefaces to the Calendars
of this gentleman's labours we subjoin some instances :

GILBERT, A.D. 1854. CALENDAR, a.d. 1862.

" An illustration of the exist- *• Proceedings by the ancient
ence of serfdom in Ireland at the writ de nativis are to be found

18G3.1

The Public Records of Ireland.

339

commencement of the fourteenth
century is furnished by a pro-
ceeding recorded on a Memoran-
dum Roll of the 31st year of
Edward I, from which it appears
that the prior of the Convent of
the Holy Trinity, Dublin, claimed
William 'Mac Kilkeran as his
serf (' nativum suum'), alleging
that Friar William de Grane, a
former Prior was seized of Mo-
riertagh MacGilkeran, his great
grandfather, as of fee, and in
right of his church, in the time
of peace, during the reign of
Henry III, taking Marchet, such
as giving his sons and daughters
in marriage ; that Moriertagh
had a son Dermot, who had a son
named Kirith, who also had a son
Ririth, and said William; and
Kirith junior had Simon, wlio
acknowledged himself to be the
serf of the Prior, in whose favor
judgment was'accordingly given."
—Hist, of Dublin, Vol i, pp. 103-4
** The Manuscripts which Sir
James Ware had collected with
great trouble and expense were
brought to England by Lord
Clarendon in the reign of
James IT., and afterwards sold
to the Duke of Chandos, who
was vainly solicited by Swift in
1734 to restore them to Ireland.
On the Duke's death the docu-
ments passed to Dean Milles,
who bequeathed them to the Bri-
tish Museum, where they now
form the principal portion of
the collection known as the
Clarendon Manuscripts.'' — ib. p.
5.

*' In 1695, after the Wiiliamite
Legislature had passed an enact-
ment annulling all the proceed-
ings of the Irish Parliament of
James II, the Lord Deputy,

on our Rolls: thus, the Prior of
Christ Church, Dublin, brought
his writ against one William,
whom he claimed to be his na-
tive or villein; and he pleaded
that his predecessor was seized
of this William's great grand-
father, as of fee, in right of his
church, and by taking mercJiate
(merichetum) on the marriage
of his sons and daughters and tal-
liages by high and low, at his
will, and other villenous services :
the defendant pleaded, with con-
siderable specialty, but judg-
ment was pronounced for the
Prior." — Calendar, Vol, ii, xli.

" The Manuscripts which Sir
James Ware (author of the
* Annals of Ireland') had col-
lected with great trouble and
expense, were brought to Eng-
land by Lord Clarendon in the
reign of James II., and after-
wards sold to the Duke of Chan-
dos. On the Duke's death tlio
documents passed to Dean Milles
who bequeathed them to the
British Museum, where they
now form the principal portion
of the collection known as the
' Clarendon Manuscripts.' — Cal-
endar, Vol. ii, xix.

*-In 1697, after the Legisla-
ture had passed an enactment
annulling all the proceedings of
the Irish Parliament of James
II ; the Lord Deputy, Henry

340

The Public Records of Ireland.

[April.

Iloarj Lord Capel, and the
Privy Council assembled in the
Council Chamber on the 2nd of
October, and the Act having
been read, the Clerk of the
Crown, the Clerk of the House
of Lords, the Deputy Clerk of
the House of Commons, and the
Deputy Clerk of the Rolls, who
attended by order, brought in
all the records, rolls, journals,
and other papers in their cus-
tody relating to the Jacobite
acts. The door of the Council
Chamber was then set open, and
the Lord Major, Aldermen,
Sheriffs, and Commons of the
City of Dublin, with many other
persons, being present, tlie re-
cords, journals and other papers
were publicly cancelled and
burnt.

*' Government continued to use
the Council Chamber in Essex
Street, till it was destroyed in
1711 by an accidental fire, which
consumed many of the Privy
Council Books, the Strafford and
Grosse Surveys of Ireland, a
large portion of the Down Sur-
vey, with a mass of other valu-
able documents deposited in the
Office of the Surveyor-General,
which, as already noticed, was
located in this building.'' — Hist,
of Dublin, Vol, ii, p. 150.

Ill the wholesale transfer of these passages the correction
of the date from 1697 to 1695 in the errata to Mr. Gil-
bert's second volume was apparently overlooked, and thus
the Calendar represents Lord Capel, who died in May
1696, to have appeared publicly at Dublin, in October,
1697 — seventeen months after his decease !

The French writers of the latter part of the seventeenth
century unanimously agreed to regard the works of the
ancients as legitimate prey, but at the same time they
declared stealing from a contemporary to be a disreputable
offence :

Lord Capel, and the Privy
Council, assembled in the Coun-
cil Chamber on the 2nd October,
and the Act having been read,
the Clerk of the Crown and the
Deputy Keeper of the Rolls, who
attended by order, brought in
all the records, rolls, journals,
and other papers in their custody
relating to the Acts of James
the Second. The door of the
Council Chamber was then set
open, and the Lord Mayor, Al-
dermen, Sheriffs, and Commons
of the City of Dublin, with many
other persons, being present,
the records, journals, and otiier
papers were publicly cancelled
and burned.'' — Calendar, Vol. i,
p. xvii.

"In the year 1711, a number
of the volumes of the Maps of
the Down Survey, taken by Sir
William Petty, in the years
1655 and 1656, by order of
Government, were totally de-
stroyed by a fire which took
place in a house in Essex-street,
where the Surveyor-General's
oflBce was then kept." — Calendar ,
Vol, i., xvii.

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland,

341

CALENDAR, a. d. 1862.
*'That the mere Irish were
reputed aliens, appears by several
records and charters of deniza-
tion.

** Preiiflre des Anciens et faire son profit de ce qu'ils
ont ecrit," wrote Le Vayer, *' c'est comme pirater au dela
de la ligne ; mais voler ceux de son siecle, en s'appropriant
lenrs pensees et leur productions, c'est tirer la laine anx
coins des rues, c'est oter les manteauxsur le Pont Neuf!"

The Prefaces to these Calendars, however, exhibit a
remarkable impartiality in the wholesale appropriation of
the labours of both ancients and moderns. Of the abstrac-
tions from old writers we have an illustration in the fol-
lowing, put forward as entirel^^ original, and without any
mention of the work by Sir John Davies, entitled, ** A
Discoverie of the true causes why Ireland was never en-
tirely subdued" till the reign of James I. first published at
London, in 1612, and frequently reprinted :

:DAVIES,a. D. 1612.

"That the meere Irish were re-
puted Aliens appeareth by sun-
drie records; wherein iudgement
is demanded, if they shall be
answered in Actions brought by
them : and likewise, by the
Charters of Denization, which
in all ages were purchased by
them.

" In the common plea Rolles
of 28 Edward the third (which
are yet preserved in Bremin-
ghams Tower) this case is
adiudged. Simon Neal brought
an action of trespasse against
William Newlagh for break-
ing his Close in Clandalhin,
in the County of Dublin ; the
Defendant doth plead, that the
plaintiff is Hibernicus 6f non
de Quinque sanguinihus ; and de-
mandeth iudgement, if he shall
be answered. The Plaintiffe re-
plieth ; Quod ipse est de quinque
sanguinihus (viz.) De les Oneiles
de Vlfon, qui per Concessionem
progenitorum Domini Regis ;
Libertatihus Anglicis gaudere
debent 4' uluntur <& pro liheris
hominihus reputantur. The De-
fendant reioyneth that the

"On the Plea Roll of the 28»
Edward III, we find the fol-
lowing interesting record. Si-
mon Neal brought an action
of trespass against William
Newlagh for breaking his close
at Clondalkin; the defendant
pleaded that the plaintiff *est
Hibernicus et non de quinque
sanguinibus', and prayed judg-
ment. The plaintiff replied,
quod ipse est do quinque san-
guinibus, viz., de les O'Neiles
de Ulton (Ulster), qui per con-
cessionem progenitorum Domi-
ni Regis, libertatihus Anglicis
gaudere debent et utuntur, et
pro liberis hominibus reputan-
tur.

" The defendant rejoined that
the plaintiff is not of the O'Neils

342

The Public Records of Ireland,

[April.

Plaintiife is not of the Oneales
of Vlster, Nee de quinque sau-
guinibus. And thereupon they are
at yssue. Which being found for
the PlaintiflPe, he had iudgement
to recouer him damages against
the Defendant.

" By this record it appeareth
that fiue principal blouds, or
Septs, of the Irishrj, were bj
speciall grace enfranchised and
enabled to take benefit of the
Lawes of England; And that the
Nation of O'NeaUs in Ulster, was
one of the fiue.

" And in the like case, 3 of Ed-
ward the second, among the Plea
lioUes in Bremingham's Tower :
All the 5 Septs or blouds, Qui
gaudeant lege Anglicana quoad
breuia portanda, are expressed,
namely ; Oneil de Ultonia ;
O'Melaghlin de Midia; O'Con-
noghor de Connacia ; O'Brien
de Thotmonia ; and^ Mac Mor-
rogh de Lagenia." — Discoverie
tvJiy Ireland was never entirely sub-
dued, 4to. 1612, p. 102-4.

It might have been supposed that these " Calendars^'
should bring to hght information new and interesting on
the Rolls which form the subject of the work ; the reader
will, however, be disappointed to find that all the pages
of the Preface to the first ^ volume (xxx to xxxv) which
purport to be original descriptions of the Irish Records,
have been taken entirely, in the following mode, from a
printed Report addressed by George Hatchell, Clerk of
enrolments, to Robert Wogan, Deputy Keeper of the Rolls,
and dated Rolls Office, Dublin, 6th March, 1843; but
in these"Calendars we find not even a remote reference
to Mr. Hatcheirs Report ;

of Ulster, — nee de quinquo
sanguinibus ; issue was joined,
which, being found for the plain-
tiff, he had judgaient to recover
his damages.

*'By this record it appears that
five principal bloods or septs of
the Irish were by special grace
enfranchised and enabled to
take the benefit of the English
Laws, and that the' nation of the
O'Neils was one of the five.

*'0n the Plea Roll of the 3"
of Edward II, all the septs or
bloods, • qui gaudeant lege An-
glicana quoad brevia portanda,
are expressed ; namely, O'Neil
de Ultonia, &c. O'Melaghlin
de Midia, O'Connogher de Con-
nacia, O'Brien de Thotmonia,
and Mac Murrogh de Lagenia.''
Calendar, Vol. ii. p. xxxix.

HATCHELL, a.d. 1843.
"The Patent Rolls of Chan-
cery commence in the reign of
Edward I., and are continued
down to the present time. Upon
these Rolls are contained the en-

CALENDAR, a.d. 1861.
*• The Patent Rolls of Chan^
eery commence in the reign of
Edward I., and are continued
down to the present time. Upon
these Rolls are contained the en-

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland.

343

rolments of grants in fee or
perpetuity for lives and years ; of
Crown lands, Abbey lands, and
escheated lands ; patents of crea-
tions of honour;grantsofCharter3
of incorporation and liberties;
grants of offices, denizations,
ferries, and fisheries; patents for
inventions, and specifications
thereof; licences, and pardons of
alienation; presentations; pro-
motions to bishoprics and dean-
eries; special licences; grants of
wardship; commissions; inquisi-
tions post mortem and on at-
tainder; orders of Council; depo-
sitions of witnesses in perpetuam
res memoriam ; deeds; convey-
ances; grants in custodiam ; gra-nts
of manors and all their appurten-
ances, and of fairs and markets;
surrenders of lands and offices to
the Crown; summonses to Parlia-
ment; bonds; obligations; re-
plevins; pardons; letters of at-
torney; licences for officers to
treat with the Irish; treaties;
Popes' bulls; proclamations; let-
ters of protection; writs of
amoveas manus, of possessions
taken by the Crown; writs of
ouster le main; deeds and con-
veyances; King's letters; wills;
orders of Council; &c." — Hat^
chelVs Report, p. 1.

" The Parliament Roll«, com-
prising both the public and pri-
vate Statutes passed in the Irish
Parliament, commence in the
reign of Hen. VI. They in-
clude the reigns of Hen. Vf.,
Ed. IV., Ric. III., Hen. VH.,
Hen. VIII., Philip and Mary,
Eliz., and James I., and comprise
forty-five Rolls. They are with-
out any calendar or index to the
IP, James I. From this period
to 1715, the public and private
VOL. LH.-No. CIV.

rolments of grants in fee or
perpetuity, for lives and years ;
of Crown lands. Abbey lands, and
escheated lands, patents of cre-
ations of honour; grants of
Charters of incorporation and
liberties; grants of offices, deni-
zations, ferries, and fisheries;
patents for inventions, and
specifications ; licences and par-
dons of alienations; presenta-
tions; promotions to bishoprics
and deaneries ; special licences;
grants of wardships ; commis-
sions ; inquisitions post mor-
tem and on attainder; orders of
Council; depositions of witness
[sic] in perpetuam rei memori-
am; deeds; conveyances, grants
in custodiam; grants of Manors
and all their appurtenances, and
of fairs and .markets; surren-
ders of lands and offices to the
Crown; summonses to Parlia-
ment; bonds; obligations; re-
plevins; pardons; letters of at-
torney; licences for officers to
treat with the Irish; treaties;
Papal bulls; proclamations; let-
ters of protection; writs of
amo.veas manus of possessions
taken by the Crown; writs of
ouster le main ; deeds and convey-
ances; King's letters; wills; &c.
&c.'' — Calendar^ Vol. i, p. xxx.

"The Statute Rolls, com-
prising both the public and
private Statutes passed in the
Irish Parliament, commence in
the reign of Henry VI. They
include the reigns of Henry VI.,
Edward IV., Richard III., Henry
VII., Henry VIII., Philip and
Mary, Elizabeth, and James I.,
and comprise forty-five Rolls.
They are without any calendar
or index to the 11", James I.
From this period to 1715, the

344

The Public Records of Ireland.

[April.

Acts being promiscuously enrol-
led together on the same series
of Rolls, an imperfect Calendar
was at that time made, of both
kinds of Acts; but from 1715 to
1800, inclusive, when our Parlia-
ment ceased, the private Acts
being enrolled separately, there
was a regular catalogue and in-
dex made to those private Acts
(but to the entire exclusion of all
the public Acts), which is in
good order.

**The Statute Rolls, prior to
10°, Hen. VII., are all in Nor-
man French, and as there are
printed Statutes long prior to
the oldest Parliamentary, Roll
appearing here, some of the
more ancient of those Rolls
must have been lost." — HatchelVs
Report, 1843, p. 2,

public and private Acts being
promiscuously enrolled together
on the same series of Rolls, an
imperfect Calendar was at that
time made, of both kinds of Acts ;
but from 1715 to 1800, inclusive,
when our Parliament ceased, the
private Acts being enrolled
separately, there was a regular
catalogue and index made to
those private Acts (but to the
entire exclusion of all the public
Acts), which is in good order.
The Statute Rolls, prior to 10°,
Henry VII., are all in Norman
French, the then legal as well as
general language of the Court ;
and, as there are printed Statutes
long prior to the oldest Parlia-
mentary Roll appearing here,
some of the more ancient of
those Rolls must have been lost.'*
'— Calendar f Vol. i, p. xxxi.

From the above cited Report of Mr. Hatcliell have been
appropriated iii like manner all the descriptions given in the
** Preface" to the first volume of the Calendar of the
Pipe, Memoranda, Recognizance, Cromwellian, Convert,
Roman Catholic, and Palatine Rolls, Letters of Guar-
dianship, Fiants, Inquisitions, &c.

The mode adopted in these Prefaces to supply from
others the total deficiency of original research, even
among the Rolls which form the subject of the Calendars,
is further illustrated in the following entirely unacknow-
ledged appropriation from Mr. Lascelles' introduction to
the ** Liber Munerum Publicorum Hibernise ;''

LASCELLES, a.i>. 1*30.
** In the Irish repositories the
wonder is, that so many records
are extant, and in such preserva-
tion. It is not that there are so
few, but that there are any at
all. Of the Rolls of Parliament,
none such are now extant in
Ireland, if any ever existed;
what in the returns are called
Parliament rolls, are in fact

CALENDAR, A.D.J862.
" The wonder is, that in the
Irish repositories so many records
are extant, and in such preser-
vation : none of the Rolls of
Parliament are now to be found
in Ireland, if ever any existed ;
what we have been accustomed
to call Parliament Rolls are in.,
fact Statute Rolls. Of these,
with the exception of one raemr?,

1863.1

The Public Records of Ireland.

345

Statute rolls. Of these, with the
exception of one membrane con-
taining the exemplification of
three Statutes enacted at York
3, Edw. III., all the Statute rolls
of Ireland are missing, down to
the 5th of Hen. VI. Of the
reign of Hen. VII. there are but
three Statute rolls; viz. for the
8tli, 10th, and 24th years ; but
four, viz., of the 7th, 25th, 28th,
and 33rd of Hen. VIII.; of
Philip and Mary but one Statute
roll, viz. of the 3rd and 4th,
Phil, and Mary; Of Elizabeth
but three, viz. of the 7th 11th,
27th and 28th ; Of James
I. but one Statute roll, viz. of
the 1st of the reign; Of Charles
I., but five, viz. one of the 10th,
and 16th, and three of the 15th
year of the reign ; of Charles
IL, but seven, from the 13th to
the I8th of that reign, (1660-
1666). But this is accounted for,
as no Parliament sat in Ireland
after the year 1666, until the 4th
of William and Mary : Of which
year only there remains any
Statute roll, viz. one of the 4th;
of William only, four, viz. one of
the 7th and three of the 9th.
After which the Statute rolls are
in regular series.. ..Of Edward I.
but three patent rolls are extant,
viz. one of the 1st and two of
the 3l3t of the reign ; that is, the
rolls of 32 entire years are
missing. Of Edw. II. the Patent
rolls are missing of the 1st, 6th,
7th, 8th. 12th, 15th, 16th, 17th,
and 19th years of the reign.
Of Edw. III. are missing the
Patent rolls for the first seven
years of the reign ; also of the
10th. 12th, 13th. 14th, 15th,
16th; from the 21st to the 25th,

brane, containing the exemplifi-
cation of three statutes enacted
at York, in the third of Edward
III., all the Statute Rolls of Ire-
land are missing down to the 5th
of Henry VI. Of the reign of
Henry VII. there are but three
Statute Rolls, viz., for the 8th,
10th, and 24th years ; but four,
viz., of the 7°, 25°, 28°, 33°,
of Henry VIIL Of Philip and
Mary, but one Statute Roll, viz.,
of the 3rd, and 4th ; of Elizabeth,
but three, viz., of the 7th, 11th,
27th, 28th; of James I., but one
Statute Roil, viz., of the 6th of
his reign ; of Charles I., but
five, viz., one of the 10th and
16th, and three of the 15th year
of his reign ; Of Charles II.,
but seven, from the 13th to the
I8th of that reign. But this is
accounted for, as no Parliament
assembled in Ireland, after the
year 1666 until the fourth of
William and Mary, of which
year there remains only one
Statute Roll; of William, only
four, viz., one of the 7th and
three of the 9th year; after which
the Statute Rolls are in regu-
lar series. Of Edward I. but three
Patent Rolls are extant, viz.,
one of the 1st and two of the 31st
of the reign ; that is, the rolls of
thirty-two years are missing.
Of Edward II. the Patent Rolls
are missing of the 1st, 6th, 7tb,
8th, 12th, 15th, 16th. 17th, and
19th years of the reign. Of
Edward III. the Patent rolls are
missing for the first seven years
of the reign ; also of the 10th,
12th, 13th, 14th. 15th, 16th ;
from the 21st to the 25th, both
iiTclusive ; of the 27th, 28th, and
3 1st; all the rolls from the 34th,

34G

The Public Records of Ireland,

April

both inclusively ; of the 27th,
28th, and 31st; all the rolls
from the 34th to the 41st, both
inclusively; also of the 43rd, 44th,
4oth, 47th, 50th : in all 34 years
are missing of this reign. Of
Bic. XL there is no Patent
roll extant of the 3rd, 4th, 6th,
7th, 11th, 14th, and 17th years,
nor any of the four last years of
the reign: in all 11 years. Half
of his reign are missing. Of
Hen. VI. are missing the Patent
rolls for the 6th, 7th, 8t-h, from
the 15th to the 24th both in-
clusively ; the 26th, 27th: in all
for 17 years; that is, for more
than half of the reign. Of Edw.
IV. who reigned 23 years, there
are extant Patent rolls of the Istj
7th, 15th, 16th, 2ist, 22nd only;
that is, the rolls of 17 years; are
missing. Of Henry VII, who
also reigned 23 years, the Patent
rolls for the first nine years are
missing ; also for the II th, 12tli,
13th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th,
22nd, 23rd ; in all for 18 years,
more than three-fourths of the
reign. Of Hen. VIII., who
reigned 37 year^, the Patent
rolls for 20 years are missing,
viz. for the four first years ; for
15 whole years between the 6th,
and 22nd of the reign, and also
for the 26th year. After this
the Patent rolls are preserved in
almost a regular series, with
the following exceptions : of the
reign of Elizabeth there is no
Patent roll for the 15th year;
Of Charles I. the third part of
the roll for. the 11th year, an.
1635, hasbeen lost or mislaid
for many years. From 1644 to
1655 there is-a chasm very obvi-
ously to be accounted for. Crom-
well's rolls commence in 1655;

to the 41st, both inclusive ; also
of the 43rd, 44th, 45th, 47th and
50th ; in all thirty-four years, are
missing of this reign. Of Richard
II. there is no Patent Roll extant
of the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 11th,
14th, and 17th years, nor any of
the last four years of the reign ;
in all eleven years. Of Henry
VI, the Patent Rolls are missing
of the 6th, 7th, 8th, from the
15th to the 24th, both inclusive ;
the 26th, 27th ; in all for seven-
teen years. Of Edward IV., who
reigned twenty-three years, there
are extant Patent Rolls of the
1st, 7th, 15th, 16th, 21st, 22ud
only. Of Henry VII., who
reigned twenty three years, the
Patent Rolls for the first nine
vears are missing ; also for the
ilth, 12th, 13th, 16th, 18th,
19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, in all for
eighteen years ; more than three-
fourths of the reign. Of Henry
VIII., who reigned thirty-seven
years, the Patent Rolls for
twenty years are missing, viz.,
for the first four years, for fifteen
years between the sixth and
twenty-second of the reign, and
also for the twenty-sixth year.
After this, the Patent Rolls are
preserved in almost a regular
series, with the following excep-
tions : of the reign of Elizabeth]
there is no Patent Poll of the'
fifteenth year; of Charles I., the'
third part of the Roll for the
tenth year, 1635, has been lost
or mislaid for many years. From
1644 to 1655, there is a chasm
very obviously accounted for*
Cromwell's Rolls commence ia
1655, from which time, or from^
the restoration, with the excep-
tion of a portion of the re gn of
James II., the Patent Rolls are

1863,] The Public Records of Ireland, 347

from which time, or from the preserved in a regular series.** —
Restoration, with the exception Calendar^ Vol. ii, pp. vi-vii.
of the interregnum of James II.
the Patent rolls are all pre-
served in a regular series.'' —
Liher Muneru7n, Vol. i, p. 2.

The work from which the foregoing extensive unac-
knowledged appropriation has been made is censured in
the Preface to the *' Calendar'' (Vol. i, p. xxvi) as defec-
tive, irregular, and unmethodical in its arrangement.
Mr. Lascelles might thus well sympathise with poor John
Dennis, who on hearing the new stage thunder, which he
had invented for his own luckless play, used to promote
the success of a rival drama, arose in the pit and exclaimed
with an oath — ** See how these fellows use me; they will
not let my play run, and yet they steal my thunder !"

We are above assured that the Patent Roll of the fif-
teenth year of Elizabeth, is the only one deficient in the
reign of that Queen; yet the first Volume of the ** Ca-
lendar" (p. 554) avers that the Patent Roll of her seven-
teenth year " is not now to be found." Purther to perplex
us, the passage above italicised from the second Volume
of the ** Calendar" is entirely contradicted at p. 551, of
the first Volume, where we read that the Patent Roll of
the fifteenth of Elizabeth is still extant, and find there
enumerated sixteen articles stated to be extracted from
this document, which, in the foregoing quotation is de-
clared not to be in existence !

We may here observe that Lascelles, when enumerating
the Patent Rolls of Ireland, was not aware that there were
extant, in the Westminster Chapter House, four rolls
containing certified transcripts of all the Irish Letters
Patent of a certain class, from the Coronation of Henry
V. to the twelfth year of Henry VI : " Transcripta omnium
Litterarum Patentium Debitorum et Compotorum ac
Annuitatuum, sub testimonio Locatenentmm HibernisB,
aut Justiciariorum, tempore Regis Henrici quinti, et ah
anno primo ad annum duodecimum Regis Henrici sexti."
These rolls, consisting of the original writ of Henry VL,
under the Privy Seal a.d. 1434, with the returns made to
it by ** Thomas Straunge^ miles, Thesaurarius Domini
Regis terrse suse Ilibernise, et Barones de Scaccario
Hibernise," preeminently deserved notice in any detailed
account of the Patent Rolls of Ireland, but as they were

348

The Public Records of Ireland.

[ApHI.

unknown to the writers whose labours have been appro-
priated in the ** Prefaces'' we look in vain for any reference
to them in the Calendars before us.

Of the other writers laid under heavy contribution to
fill the pages of the Prefaces we may mention Walter
Harris and the late John Caillard Erck. From p. 148-9
of *' Harris' Hibernica," Dublin, 1747, have been trans-
ferred verbatim the apparently original accounts of Irish
writers, rolls and records, at pp. vii. xi. xii., and xiii. of
the first volume of the Calendar. The following may
suffice to exemplify the extent to which the " Calendars"
are indebted to Erck's ** Repertory of the Inrolments on
the Patent Rolls of Chancer)' in Ireland, commencing
with the reign of James I," Dublin : 1846 :

ERCK, A.D. 1846.

" Amid the vast heap of re-
cords and muaimeuts which is
to be found in the public ar-
chives of the country, none
justly stand in higher estimation,
than the Patent Rolls of Chan-
cery ; whether considered, in
respect to the antiquity, utility,
or variety of the documents with
which they abound. To give
effect to the royal pleasure, when
signified under the sign manual
or by Privy signet, in favour of
any individual, or body politic
or corporate — letters patent, spe-
cifying the inducement, and
defining the nature, extent and
tenure of the grant, with the con-
ditions and penalties annexed,
were directed to issue under the
great seal of the kingdom.

" The inrolment of these in-
struments was not required by
law, until the statute of Charles
rendered it imperative — yet in
times, antecedent thereto, it was
no unusual thing to insert, in
the patent, a clause nullifying
the grant, unless inrolled within
a given time — and, even in the
absence of such provision, the

CALENDAR, a.d.1861.

" Amid the vast accumulation
of records and muniments which
is to be found in the archives of
this country, none justly stand
in higher estimation than the
Patent Rolls of Chancery, whe-
ther considered in respect to the
antiquity, utility, or variety of
the documents with which they
abound. To give effect to the
royal pleasure, when signified
under the sign manual, or by
Privy signet, in favour of any in-
dividual or body politic or corpo-
rate, letters patent, specifying
the inducement, and defining
the nature, extent, and tenure of
the grant, with the conditions
and penalties annexed, were di-
rected to issue under the great
seal of the kingdom.

'^ The enrolment of these
instruments was not required
by law until the Statute of
Charles rendered it imperative ;
yet, in times antecedent there-
to, it was no unusual thing to
insert in the Patent, a clause
nullifying the grant, unless en-
rolled within a given time ; and
even in the absence of such pro-

1863.[

The Public Records of Ireland.

349

Patentees themselves had re-
course, in most instances to
this precaution, for their own
security, and to avoid the inconve-
nience, if not loss, resulting from
neglect ; for it sometimes oc-
curred, that the King was de-
ceived, in granting to one subject,
what had been previously passed
away from the crown, in favour
of another — no record existing
of the previous grant.

*'Tliis class of records, although
commencing with a roll of the
tenth year of King Edward the
first, contains grants made by
King Henry the second, — by
John, as wellwhenEarl of Morton,
as when king — by King Henry
the third — and King Edwardthe
first. Witli the exception of the
reigns of the first three Edwards,
in which many chasms exist, the
series of the Patent Rolls forms
almost one continuous and un-
broken chain down to the pre-
sent time, with an hiatus here
and there; covering a period of
time which of itself speaks the
antiquity of these documents —
and, as regards the utility and
variety of them, whether the
labours of the antiquarian, the
objects of the historian, the pur-
suits of the legal practitioner, or
the purposes of general inquiry,
are to be served ; these may bo
best explained, by enumerating
the character of the documents
which are of most frequent
recurrence.

*' To explore these sources of
information, and unfold their con-
tents, is the object, as far as it
extends, of the present work." —
Repertory of the Inrolments on the
Patent HollSf (1846,)pa^es iii.-v.

vision, the Patentees themselves
had recourse, in most instances,
to this precaution, for their own
security, and to avoid the incon-
venience, if not loss, result-
ing from neglect ; for it some-
times occurred that the king
was deceived in granting to one
subject what had been previously
passed away from the Crown in
favour of another, no record ex-
isting of the previous grant.

"The Patent Kolls, although
commencing with a Poll of the
tenth yearof King Edward I., con-
tain grants made by King Henry
II., by John, as well when Earl of
Morton as when king; by King
Henry HI. and King Edward I.
With the exception of the reigns
of ■ the first three Edwards,
iu which some chasms exist,
and a chasm in the reign of
Henry VHL, during the first
twenty years of whose reign
there is but one Roll (of the
sixth) remaining, the series
forms almost one continuous and
unbroken chain down to the

present time Those records

cover a period of time which, of
itself, speaks their antiquity ;
and, as regards the utility and
variety of them, whether the
labours of the antiquary, the ob-
jects of the historian, the pur-
suits of the legal practitioner, or
the purposes of general inquiry
are to be served; they may be
best explained by the enumera-
tion of the character of the
documents which have been pre-
viously detailed.

" To explore these stores of in-
formation and unfold their con-
tents is the object, as far as it
extends, of the present work.'' —
Calendar, Vol. i. p, xxxvii-iii.

350 The Public Records of Ireland. [Apri

Erck hoped that the publication of the ''Repertory/* on
which he bestowed much time and care would demonstrate
the importance of completing the works begun by the Irish
Record Commission, and induce Government to take the
matter in hand. Death, however, carried him off before
the issue of the second part of the "Repertory," and the
results of his painful labours are now given to the world as
if he had never existed :

" He sleeps now where the thistles blow, —
Strange anti-cliraax to his hopes,
Twenty golden jears agol"

The foregoing constitute but a small portion of the
specimens which might be given of the vast extent of
unscrupulous plagiarisms with which these Prefaces
abound — extending even to reprinting as original matter
(Vol. i, p. xxv.) the advertisement of the " Liber Mune-
rum,'' and (VoL i, p. xii.) Messrs. Longmans' prospectus
of the " Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain,"
together with-whole passages from the Litroduction to the
edition of the *' Book of Common Prayer" published in
1849, by the Ecclesiastical History Society. Perhaps
the most ludicrous portions of the Prefaces are those
(Vol. ii. pp. xii. to xvi;) professing to treat of manu-
scripts in the Gaelic language— quite out of place in such
a work — and mainly transferred, but with the addition of
various typographical errors, from Irish Archaeological
Journals, and from the Lectures of the late Professor
O'Curry, 8vo., Dublin: 1861 ; pp. 646-647.

The following illustrations of the originality of the pen-
ultimate passages of the *• Prefaces" could not be omitted
without injustice to the boldness of the appi*opriations :

TRESHAM, A. D. 1826. CALENDAR* a.d. 1861.

** The very decayed state of *' The decayed state of many

many of these ancient Rolls has of these rolls interposed difficul-

interposed difficulties in the exe- ties in the execution of the work,

cution of the work, but corres- but corresponding exertion has

ponding exertion has been raade, been made, as it was thought

as it was thought desirable to desirable to rescue as much

rescue as much as possible of as possible of these our early re-

these our earliest Records from cords from oblivion — Si suc-

oblivion. — Si successus saspe, la- cessus ssepe, labor certe nun-

bor certe nunquam, defuit, — quam deficit." [sic] — Vol. i, p.

Edward Tresham. Rotulorum xliv.
Palentium et Clausorum Can-

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland.

351

ceUarice Hihernice Calendarium,
1828, Vol. i. 'par. i, p. xi.

LASCELLES, a.d. 1826.
" Upon the whole -I have en-
deavoured to establish a store-
house * of facts and documents
for the use of the statesman,
the lawyer, the churchman, the
peer and commoner, the anti-
quary, as well as the ordinary
man of business. Nor will it be
found, I trust, unworthy the re-
gard of the philosophical scholar
and historian." — Liher Munerum
Puhlicorum Hibernicey Vol. i. In-
troduction, p. 3.

The ensuing adaptation of Erck's dedication of
his ** Repertory' ' to Yiscount Morpeth, will be seen to
have no claim to originality beyond the elimination of the
name of that nobleman, now Earl of Carlisle, and Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland :

CALENDAR, a.d. 1862.
** The information afforded by
these records is no less varied
than important. They serve as
a storehouse of facts and docu-
ments for the use of the states-
man, the lawyer and the anti-
quary ; nor will they be found, I
trust, unworthy the regard of
the scholar and the historian." —
Vol. ii. Preface^ p. Ixxviii.

ERCK, 1846.
"The work, which was con-
ceived and commenced during
youT Lordship's administration of
Irish affairs, has for its object
to rescue some part of the most
important of our national muni-
ments from the comparative ob-
livion and obscurity, which, by
reason of the difficulty of access,
the labour of research, and the
expense of official constats, they
now lie involved^ — and, whatever
light it may throw on our public
records, in directing either the
pursuits of the historian, the an-
tiquarian, or of the legal prac-
titioners, it is to your Lordship
[Morpeth] they must feel them-
selves principally indebted for
the encouragement afforded, and
the facility of access accorded
to me, in extricating and evolv-
ing their contents from the rub-
bish of technical phrases, wordy
parentheses, and the legal forms

CALENDAR, 1861.
** This work, therefore, under-
taken by their Lordships^ [of
the Treasury] authority, under
the direction of the Master of
the Rolls, has for its object
to rescue some parts of the
most important of our na-
tional muniments from the com-
parative oblivion and obscurity
in which, by reason of the diffi-
culty of access and the labour
of research, they now lie invol-
ved ; to facilitate the researches
of persons engaged in historical
investigation and enquiry, and
whatever light it may throw on
our public records, in directing
either the pursuits of the histo-
rian, theantiquary,orof the legal
practitioner, it is to the Govern-
ment they must feel themselves
indebted for the encouragement
afforded in extricating and evol-
ving their contents from tech-
nical phrases; wordy parentheses

352 The Public Records of Ireland. \ April.

of diction.'^ — A Repertory of the and legal forms of diction.''—
Inrolments on the Patent Rolls of Calendar^ Vol. i. p. xliii.
Chancery in Ireland. 1846. p. i.

It would be difficult to adopt any order in noticing tbe
slender thread of original matter with which the pieces
from various works have been strung together in these
'* Prefaces/' without regard to sequence, digestion, or
arrangement :

"But so transfus'd, as oil and water flow,
The J always float above — this sinks below.''

To detail fully the numerous and complicated errors with
which even those few original lines abound would occupy
a very large amount of space, we shall therefore merely
adduce some specimens which admit of analj^zation within
a reasonable compass.

The " Down Survey" of Ireland made a.d. 1654-8, was
according to the ** Calendar" (ii, xvi.) carried to France by
James the second (1690) and never returned ; yet in the
Preface to Yol. i. (xviii.) numbers of its volumes are stated
to have been destroyed by fire at Dublin in 1/11 ! The
truth is that the famous mapped Survey, on which are
grounded the titles of half the Irish land-owners, was never
removed from Ireland, and. is now preserved in the Dublin
Custom House.

At page ix. of Yol. ii. we read —

*'The original of Vallancey's Green Book, compiled bv authority
of the late Irish Record Commissioners, is now in my library.'*

The amount of errors here aggregated will be seen when
we mention that Yallancey compiled the ''Green Book," for
his own use, before the end of the last century, many
>ears previous to the formation, in 1810, of the Record
Commission, by which it was purchased in 1813, alter the
compiler's decease, as appears from the following entry in
their Report of that year :

" A book known by the name of Vallancey's Green Book, or Irish
Historical Library, purchased by the Secretary, at the instance of
Government, and with the approbation of the Board, was laid on
the table : whereupon the Board ordered, that the Secretary [VY. S
Mason] should take charge of the said Manuscript Book, and make
an entry of same in 'the Catalogue of the MSS. &c., belonging to the
Board.'' — Report of Commissioners on the Public Records of Ireland,
1810-15, p. 485.

The original Manuscript book here referred to, bearing

1863.1 The Public Records of Ireland. 353

the autograph of Vallancey, and the official attestation of
William S. Mason, has for many years been the property
of the Royal Irish Academy, in whose Library, at Dub-
lin, it may be seen.

the contents of wliich/' he observes, ** were previously, I
believe, unknown. I there found,"' he adds, ** among
other interesting original letters, one from * Silken Tho-
mas,' whilst a prisoner in the Tower, directed to his
servant Brian," <S:c.

The document here referred to as *^ discovered'* was
printed in fall in 1834, at p. 402 of the first volume of
the State Papers, published under the authority of His
Majesty's Commission, and specially noted there as pre-
served in ** Bag Ireland," in the Chapter House. It will
also be found in Moore's History of Ireland, (1840,) Vol.
iii» p. 272, and in Lord Kildare's work on the " Earls of
Kildare," (1858,) pp. 175-6. The same State Papers,
(Vol. i. p. 169) show that the raid of the O 'Byrnes upon
Dublin occurred in 1533 and not at the period of 1475 as
stated in the Calendar, (Vol. ii., p. xxiv.) The original
establishment of an University in Ireland is assigned (Vol.
ii. p. Ixix) to the rei^n of Edward III. instead of to that of
Edward II. Dr. Boate, who died in 1649 is said (ii.
xxxiv.) to have written a work in 1652 ! Three persons,
we are assured, (ii. Ixx.) were burned for witchcraft in the
early part of the fourteenth century at Kilkenny, although
the local contemporary chroniclers specially mention that
but one suffered at the stake. Sir Roland Fitz Eustace,
Baron of Portlester, is divided into two personages, and
spoken of at p. xxvii. of vol. ii. as *' Lord Portlester and
Sir Rowland Eustace !" Devereux is given the title of
** Earl of Ulster" (ii. Ixiv.) which he never before received.
The submission of Shane O'Neill, who died in 1567, is
placed (ii. Ixxiv.) under the year 1602. Sir Conyers
Clifford is named Clifton (ii. Ixvii.) ; but perhaps the
most curious and novel piece of information in connection
with the legal history of Ireland is the statement at p. xv.
of Vol. i. that in the Reign of Henry VIII. the Law Courts
of Dublin were held ** in the Castle ivall!"

The mode in which the few acknowledged quotations are
referred to may be judged from the following citations for

354 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

Statements occupying a page (ii. xlii.) in double columns
of the smallest type :

"» Notes and Queries. '—Hist. England, Vol. II. p. 65."

A specific assertion at p. viii. of Vol. ii. that the
Librarian at Armagh is ** bound by oath to exclude
every one of the public from the valuable documents'' in
his custody, is utterly incorrect, as may be seen by referring
to the Irish Statute of 13-14 Geo. III. cap. 40, section iv.

The charge of iUiberality insinuated (at page xvi. of the
second volume) against the custodians of the Library of
Trinity College, Dublin, will be repudiated with indigna-
tion, as both unfounded and unjustifiable, by every respect-
able scholar, conversant with the institution, or with the
services rendered by its learned Librarian, the Rev. J. H.
Todd, to solid Irish historic literature.

Passing over innumerable errors on historic and literary
points in the Prefaces, we shall turn to those portions
which refer to records relative to which we might natu-
rally expect to fiiid here precise and reliable information.
At page li. of Vol. ii. we read :

** It is certain that the Statutes, whether printed or unedited, do
not go higher than the early part of Edward II. (1307-1327."

The inaccuracy of this will be seen when we mention
that a Statute passed in Ireland, a.d. 1268-9 is preserved
on the Plea Roll of the fifty-third year of Henry III. (No.
5.-277 ; even a preceding page of the same volume of the
present Calendar (ii, p. 19) refers to an Act or ordinance of
a Parliament held in Ireland a.d. 1295. This great incor-
rectness on so important a point as the age of the surviving
Statutes of Ireland, furnishes a portentous commentary on
the statement made by the compiler of these Prefaces at p.
139 of the Chancery Commissioners' Report, already
quoted, that he ** has had for a long time in contemplation
the printing of our unpublished Statutes,"' and which
perhaps may now be passing through the press, at the
public expense, as companion volumes to the ** Calendars/'

We shall next point out a series of errors relative to the
" Fiants" so called from their preamble, which was as
follows : " Fiant Literse Patentes Domini Regis, in debita
forma, tenore verborum sequentium." These documents,
which the '\Calendars" incorrectly designate '* Fiats,'*
are noticed as follows, at p. iii. of the second volume :

"From the beginning of the reign of Henry the Eighth to the

1863. The Public Records of Ireland, 355

end of the reign of Elizabeth, 6,625 Rojal Fiats or Warrants
reached the Rolls' Office for enrolment and preservation. Very few
of those were then, or at all, as they should have been, copied on the
Boll; and they remain to this day uncalendared, and to the public
almost wholly unknown, a monument of the indisposition which has
hitherto prevailed to bring to modern light the contents of our
precious archives. J trust the time will arrive when a favourable,
opportunity and other propitious circumstances will enable me to
unfold their invaluable contents to the public, and to remove the
reproach arising from their comparative oblivion."

Tfcis account of the condition of the '' Fiants," although
emanating from their official and paid custodians, is wholly
incorrect, as Calendars of them from the reign of Henry
VIII. were prepared, at public expense, more than thirty
years ago^ with mucii care and labour.''"

Another allegation in the above passage indicates igno-
rance even, of the precise natuxie of the documents styled
**Fiants/' now lying in the Rolls' Office, Dublin.
, **Fiants," we may observe, were instruments under the

* In the tabular digest of the Sub-Commissioners' returns to
the Committee of observation, made pursuant to orders of the
Irish Kecord Commission dated 17th March, 1817, and 19th May,
1819, we find the following entries under the head of *' Actual result
and present state of the works,'' " Arrangement of Fiants from 21st
Hen. VIII., to the present period, into reigns completed.'* "Cata-
logue to Fiants, formed as far as 16" James I." (p. 49.)

The detailed Report, dated 24th December, 1829, of *• Works in
progress by the Irish Record Commission," signed ** William Shaw
Mason, Sec. Com. Pub. Rec." states (p. 2) *' that the comparison of
the un-enrolled Fiants with the Repertory thereof has been made, and
the Repertory itself completed; adding that '*a fair transcript
thereof for depositing in the Rolls' Offices is in progress, with an
index of persons." Tlie Report of 1829 further mentions the com-
pletion of the collation of the Repertory with 120 files, consisting
of 7440. Fiants of Edward VJ, Elizabeth, and James I ; that 502
pages were fairly transcribed, 460 pages executed of indices of per-
sons and places, and that the files of unenroUed Fiants of Henry
VIII. and JElizi^beth were arranged and labelled. — Notes of Pro-
ceedings of Irish Record Commissioner Sj 25th March, 1829, page 24.

The Report of these Commissioners for 1830 further records the
col:ation and completion of their Repertory with 68 files, consisting of
2042 unenroUed Fiants of the reign of James I, ; also that the assort-
ment of the F'iants of the preceding reigns, up to Henry VIII.
inclusive had been perfected.

356 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

royal, or occasional]}^ the vice-regal, hand, on tlie model of
which were prepared Letters Patent from the Crown nnder
the great seal. The Patents and ** Fiants" were thus dupli-
cate instruments; the "Fiants" were not intended to be
engrossed on the Patent Rolls, but to be ** entered of
record'' in books, a distinct and less solemn, yet secure
evidence. Letters Patent were handed to those to whom
they had been granted, but the ** Fiants " were retained
in the office, and on proof of the loss of a patent, patent
roll, or enrolment in the Exchequer, an original Fiant
was admitted in evidence as a record of the highest
authority.

To exemplify the multitudinous errors, unfounded asser-
tions, and incorrect conclusions pervading this work, we
shall analyze the statements in these Calendars relative
to declaratory act passed in the Parliament of Ireland in
the tenth year of Henry VII, a.d. 1495. On this subject
the first passage is as follows :

" In the reign of Henry VII,, Ireland was a scene of tumult and
violence. At this period, in tlio town of Trim, in a strong castle,
the records of the country, for security, were deposited. They were
seized on by O'Neill, and utterly destroyed ; and thus the documents
serving for evidence to constitute the title of the Crown to property
perished." — Calendar, Vol. i, p. xiii.

A few lines further down (p. xiv.) we are assured that
on this occasion ** it was a mere chance that suffered a few,
such as the Patent, Plea, Close, Statute, and Memoranda
Rolls to escape. '^^

There is no evidence that any documents were deposited
in the Treasury of Trim at this period, except those spe-
cially referred to in the Statute of 10 Henry VII, cap. 15, as
connected with the King's titles to the Earldoms of March
and Ulster and the Lordships of Trim and Connaught.
This Statute does not ascribe the destruction of these
records to O'Neill, but, on the contrary, avers that they
were '* taken and embesilled by divers persons of nixalice
prepense." Had they been " utterly destroyed'' by O'Neill
the Parliamentary Lawyers of Henry VII. in Ireland,
would not have ordered, as appears from the same Statute,
Proclamation to be made that " whatsoever person have
any of the said Rolls, Records, or Inquisitions or knoweth
where they be, and do not deliver them, or show where
they be to our Soveraigne Lord's Gounsail, within the

1863.] The Ptiblic Records of Ireland. 357

said land within two months next after the said Pro-
clamation, that then they and every of them, that shall so
offend this present Act^ be deemed felons attainted/'"'^

Any observations on [the law of property or title, pnt
forward nnder special judicial approval, might naturally be
regarded as meriting attention ; yet we are at a loss to
account for the object of the following passages on the
Statute of the 10th year of Henry YII. declaratory of
the Crown's title to lands, the records of which had been
embezzled, as above mentioned :

*• This Statute is a Parliamentary assertion of the rights of the
Crown ; it sets forth that the records were stolen from Trim, and
destroyed, and provides a remedy therefor; but wJiat provision was
made for those holding immediately from the Grown hy Patent 2 who, in
the absence of those records, could prove, a title to his ancestral posses-
sio7is?'' — Calendar, Vol. i. xiv.

These interrogatories might be construed hito implying
that the Crown, after the embezzlement of the Records,
intended to violate private rights by seizing on the entire
lands referred to, through the authority of Parliamentary
investiture, with the collusion of the Lords and Commons
of Ireland. Such a view, however, cannot be supported,
we believe, by the production of even one instance of a
subject holding under the Crown of England, having been
dispossessed by virtue of this act. The irrelevancy of
the above italicized queries in the Calendar will be
apparent, when it is remembered that each landholder
retained his own evidences ; and that both Common and
Statute law required the King's title to be of record under
the great seal. To substitute such title, purloined from the
Treasury of Trim, the declaratory act referred to was
passed, which, analogous to the long subsequent Acts of
Settlement and Explanation, constituted the Cro^yn a
trustee for every individual having interests within a
defined territory, thus eminently securing its subjects
instead of disturbing them, as the above cited passage in
the Calendar would insinuate.

"Was this the cause, two centuries later, of Lord Strafford
issuing that famous * Commission for Defective Titles,' by which
eyery proprietor in the West was dispossessed, unless he could show,

* Statutes passed in Ireland Vol. I. (1786) p. 52.

358 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

in writing, a clear, indisputable, indefeasible title from the Crown ?
But how few records remained will be found in the fact, that when
the same Lord Strafford sought to find the title of his patron,
Charles the First, to the entire, province of Connaught, upon an
inquiry held at Galway, he produced in evidence this Statute of
10th Henry VII. to show the loss of the records and to maintain
th^ title of the Crown in their absence,"— (7aZe/i(iar, Vol. i, xiv.

The inaccuracies here on a comparatively modern period,
are nearly equal in number with the lines. ** Two
centuries later'' than 1495 would have been 1695, sixty
years subsequent to 1635 the time intended to be indicated.
The cau5^ of the inquisition on "Defective Titles" was
not the loss of records but the expectation of augmenting
the King's revenue, and of effecting a new " Plantation."
The Commission was issued by Charles I, not by Lord
Strafford, a peer not then in existence ; nor did the pro-
ceeding embrace the " entire province of Connaught." Pro-
prietors who could not produce records were not '^ dis-
possessed," but permitted to remedy defective titles, having
been publicly assured that it was the King's resolution to
" question no man's Patent that had been granted formerly
upon good considerations, and was of itself valid in law,"
and that " his great seal was his public faith nnd should be
kept sacred in all things." The title of the Crown to por-
tions of Connaught was not first found on an ** inquiry held
at Galway," but by the Jury of R6scommon in 1635. The
King's title was not maintained on this occasion by the
production of the Statute of 10, Henry VII, in the
*' absence of records," but by exemplifications of muni-
ments from the Tower of London, sent over under
the great seal by the famous Coke, and by sundry
records in the Irish Exchequer, as may be seen from
the " Brief of His Majesty's title," in this matter,
A.D. 1635. The statement that then but "few re-
cords remained," is disproved by the following observa-
tions in a letter frorn the Lord Dfeputy of Ireland to Coke
in 1634, on this subject :

"Few days pass us upon the commission of defective titles, but
that some patent or other starts which not any of his Majesty's
Officers on this side knew of before. So that we can judge of
nothing upon any sure ground till the party be heard.''

Having thus, to a limited extent, exhibited the character
of the " Prefaces," we shall next proceed to consider the

I

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 359

value of the illustrative notes and commentaries to be found
in the body of the Calendars.

The important manuscript known as " Crede Mihi" is
said in a note at page 28 of the second volume of the
Calendar to be " preserved in Marsh's Library," whereas
this exquisitely written little tome is a part of the muni-
ments of the See of Dublin, and, as such, now in the cus-
tody of Archbishop Whately.

The following incomprehensible note appears at page
211 of vol. 2, as a commentary on the word ** onions"
in the text :

" Soap or tallow.''

A territory styled "Briffium," never before heard of, is
mentioned at page 93 of the same volume ; and further on
(477) we find the following strange names appended to a
Government document of 1586 :

•* Jo Armaham. O'Gormanston. O'Delvim."

No such signatures are to be found on the original which,
however, contains the autographs of Joannes Armacanus,
John Long, Archbishop of Armagh ; Christopher Preston,
first Viscount Gormanstown, and Christopher Nugent,
ninth baron of Delvin, whose names have been deciphered
into the above strange forms.

A full examination of the expositions given in these
Calendars of obsolete English law terms would require
us, in the words of an old epigrammatist, to

" tell of Fourching, Vouchers, and Counterpleas,
Of Withernams, Essoins, and Champarty."

A single specimen will suffice to illustrate the errors on
these points, without entering further into Dry-as-dustian
legal commentaries :

** Meskenningham — an unjust citation into court."

Calendar^ Vol. i, p. 425.

The term *^ Miskenningham," which will be found in the
charters of the City of London from Henry I, and Henry
HI, signified the fine paid for changing or amending a
plea or count : the word Mishenning means literally mis-
counting or mis-pleading, for liberty to rectify which was
paid the fine styled Miskenningham.*

♦ Privilegia Londini, Svo. London: 3723, p. 36 ; Liber Albus,
translated by H. T. Riley, 1861, p. 115.

VOL. LI I.— No. CJV. 6

360 The Public Records of Ireland. I April,

The etymological portions of the Commentaries are per-
haps the most note- worthy ; they assure us that the term
*' Dicker'' of hides, commonly used by butchers and tanners,
is derived from dekas, the latter, according to the Calendar,
(vol. ii, p. 179.) being the Greek numeral for ten !

** Coshery/' the composition paid of old in Ireland for
exemption from supplying victuals to a chieftain and his
followers, is lucidly explained as follows : —

** Cois are cess or rent, for the King, received hy receiving Lim
in coslierj.'' — Calendar, Vol. i, p. 45.

Further indisputable evidence of erudition appears in the
following :

" Tauistrj seems to be derived from Thanis. and is a law or cus"
torn in some parts of Ireland." — Calendar, Vol. ii, p. 260.

Every Irish scholar knows that the English word Tan-
istry is derived from the Gaelic Tanaistecht meaning
successorship ; the eldest son of a chief in ancient Ireland
being usually recognised as his presumptive heir and
successor, was styled in Gaelic TanaistCy that is minor or
second. Tanistry was declared illegal in the first years of
the seventeenth century, and its existence in Ireland at the
present day, as stated in the above extract from the
Calendars, is a novel and startling piece of intelligence,
which no doubt, will receive due attention from Her
Majesty's Law Officers.

Among a series of depositions of witnesses at Waterford
in 1587, relative to a marriage, we read the following passage
in the second volume of the Calendar ;

"Margaret O'Brenagh of Killaspuck, in the county of Kilkenny
widow, states that she saw her aunte, Helene Brenagh, wife of
Richard Toben, come to witness's house, after the marriage, to ask
help of her husband. Piers Brenagh, to be given to MoThomas with
her daughter, who gave her then a colp.'' — Vol. ii, p. 508.

Colp is the ordinary Gaelic word used in Munster to desig-
nate the number of sheep which can graze on a certain
extent of pasturage. Nothing is more common in the
South of Ireland, than for Gaelic speaking farmers, under
circumstances similar to those above mentioned, to
arrange how many colps shall be the marriage portions of
their children. A note, however, on the above passage in
the Calendar avers as follows that Colp means a wax-
candle ! —

1863.] Tfie Public x'ecords q/ Ireland, 361

" Colp, Colpo — A small wax candle, i copo de cere. We read
in Hovenden [Hoveden] tliat wheu the King of Scots came to the
English Court, as long as he stayed there he had every day, de
liberatione triginta sol et duodecum [duodecim] vassellos [Wastellos]
dominicos, et quandraginta [quadraginta] grosses lougos Colpoues
de domiuica caudela Regis.'' — Vcl, ii, p. 508.

The above note has been appropriated, without acknow-
ledgment from Du Cange, but with the inaccuracies which
we have italicised, supplying the correct words in brackets.
The entire passage, compressed by Du Gauge, will be found
at page 738 of Savile's edition of Hoveden (Frankfort,
1601) where that writer describes the reception of Williani
King of Scotland, by Richard Coeur de Lion in 1194, the
arrangemeuts on which occasion are here cited in the
Calendar to illustrate the internal economy of an Irish
farm-house four centuries later ; and to show that a wax
candle — *' coupon de cire'*— was given as a marriage por-
tion by Pierce Brenagh* of Killaspuck in the County of
Kilkenny !

The climax, however, appears to have been attained at
page 273 of the second volume, where we encounter the
following explanation of the name '* Cahernamarte :"
" Caheruemort. The City of the Dead : hodie Westport."

^ We might here exclaim as Fantagruel did to the Limo-
sin pedant who professed "escorier la cuticule de la
vernacule Gallicque.'' " Que dyable de languaige est
cecy ? le croy que il nous forge icy quelque languaige
diabolicque ; il veult contrefaire la langue des Parisians ;
mais il ne faict que escorcher le latin !'' *"' The full value of
the above etymology will be appreciated after a perusal of
the following lines published many years ago, by the great-
est of Gaelic scholars and topographers:

** Cathair-na-Mart, i. e. the stone fort of the beeves. This was
the name of an ancient stone fort of a circular form, and also of a
castle built by O'Malley on the margin of the bay of Westport. The
town of Westport is still always called Gathair na mart in Irish bj
the people of Connaught and Muuster. The stones of the ancient
Cathair [or fort] were removed some years since, but its site
is still pomted out by the natives within the Marquis of Sligo's
demesne." — Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland^ by John 0' Donovan,
M.RJ.A., vol. iii, p. 1803. Dublin : 1848.

* " Comment Pantagruel rencontra ung Limosin qui contrefaisoyt
le languaige Frangois." Pantagruel, liure ii., chap. vi. CEuvres d©
Rabelais, Paris : 1837, p. 74.

362 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

The word Mart, on which the Calendars have raised
an imaginary Nekropolis, is, we may observe, the common
Gaelic term for beeves or kine, and of ordinary occurrence
in old Irish documents. The first entry in the Irish list of
the annual tribute paid in ancient times by the people of
Munster to their King is — ** Tri ceat mart a Muscraidhi"
— three hundred beeves from the men of Muskerry. In
the sixteenth century the word had become Anglicised
Marte, and deeds of that period abound with references to
*'fatte martes/'^

In the compositions of the English Government with the
native Irish Chiefs, in the reign of Henry VIII., we fre-
quently find such entries as the following, in the agree-
ment in 1544 between the King and O'Donell, preserved
in the Lambeth Library : '* Dominus O'Donell, in signum
amoris et benevolentiee, ad sui Regis Christianissimi,*aut
ejus Deputati in Hibernia, coquinam, singulis annis, cen-
tum boves sive martas, more suae patriae, pollicetur ac
promittit;'* and in a covenant made by the English Gov-
ernment with the head of the Clan O'Reilly in 1558, the
latter bound himself to observe all the stipulations, under
a penalty of one thousand martes, in the following terms :
**ac si deliquerit in aliquo premissorum solvet Dominse
Reginse mille martas/' Hibernice mile mart.

We can well conceive the admiration with which con-
scientiously laborious investigators must regard a system
which, under legal patronage, and at the Nation's
expense, can pronounce the ancient Celtic law of Tanistry
to be still in operation in Ireland ; — by a single line change
a flock of sheep into a wax candle, and transmute a com-
mon-place stone bullock-pen, into a ** City of the dead;"
in the words of the ''Dunciad:''

" — all flesh is nothing in his sight ;
Beeves, at his touch, at once to jelly turn.
And the huge boar is shrunk into an urn."

Reasonable limits preclude us from doing fuller justice
to the Prefaces and annotations, and we now come to the
consideration of the body of the work itself, purporting to
be a ** Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Henry
VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth," Here natu-
rally, at first arises the question as to the language in
which were written the original documents thus calen-
dared or catalogued. On this imp9rtant point the only

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland.

363

information given us is to be found in the following lines,
some of which will be perceived to coincide remarkably
with the language used by Mr. Erck in the Preface to his
*' Bepertory/' published in 1846, as already noticed:

CALENDAR, a.d. 1861.

" It [the first volume of the
Calendars] purports to contain
an abstract of every instrument
on the Rolls ; condensed a?id trans-
lated into English; all abbrevia-
tions and contractions have
been rejected ; all technical
phraseology discarded. The pur-
port of each document has been
minutely and accurately ana-
lyzed ; tJie substance of every
important clause and provision ex-
tracted, and the names of evert/
person and place in each accurately
specified, with a view of render-
ing accessible to the public the
original MSS., obscured as they
now are in obsolete languages
and modes of expression ; writ-
ten in antiquated and nearly
unknown character, obscure and
frequently \\\eg\\AQ,rendered more
embarrassing by abbreviations,
which frequently leave the number ,
gender, or tense of a word difficult
of ascertainment; and which
might, if not in time rescued
from oblivion, ultimately share
the fate of the memorials of
Babylon or Nineveh, and like
the Rosetta stone, depend for
interpretation upon the chance
discovery of some ingenious stu-
dent.'*— Voh i. p. xliii.

The following passage on the same subject is not the
only one in the Calendars taken verbatim from Mr.
Robert Lemon's Preface to the *' State Papers," pub-
ished under authority of her Majesty's Commission,
London: 1830: ,

ERCK, A.D. 1846.
" The plan of the first part of
the work, now submitted to the
public, purports to contain a full
abstract of every instrument on
the roll — all the articles have
been translated into English —
all abbreviations and contrac-
tions of words, rejected — all
technical phraseology discarded
— and nothing, but the subject
matter of the grant, retained ;
showing the inducement, nature
of the donation, tenure, condi-
tions, and penalties annexed if
any.'' — A Repertory of the In-
raiments on the Patent Rolls of
Chancery in Ireland, commencing
with the reign of King James I. ;
edited by J. C. Erck, L. L. D,
Vol. i., part i. Dublin : 1846,
p. vi.

364 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

CALENDAR, a.d. 1862. R. LEMON, a.d. 1830.

" I have ventured to joreserve " It was determined to pre-

the ancient orthography^ hut to serve the ancient ortliographj,

reject the abbreviations which but to reject the abbreviations

abound in the letters of many of which abound in the letters

the writers of the period — a pe- of many of the writers of that

riod when not only orthography period.'' "At a period when

was so unsettled, but gramraati- not only orthography was so un-
cal rules were violated in the settled, but the plainest gram-
holograph letters of the most matical rules were perpetually
eminent, and of those who af- violated, even in the holograph
fected the greatest learning, it is letters of the most eminent men,
often impossible to discrimi- and of those who jiflfected the
nate between the design and the greatest scholarship it is often
error of the clerk. To translate impossible to discriminate be-
and condense those mouldering tween the design and the error
memorials of a by-gone age, of the Clerk." — Slate Papers, Vol*
accumulated during centuries, \y jpart 1., Preface, -p. xxii,
when time and accident have
in many instances rendered them
almost illegible, has been my
arduous task." — Vol. ii. p.
Ixxix.

The instruments on the Rolls are above stated to have
been condensed and translated into English in these
Calendars, and reference is made to the obscurities of
the number, gender, and tensos of words. The passage
quoted from the second volume states that the ancient
orthography has been preserved, and also mentions the
translation and condensation of these materials. We
may thus divine for ourselves whether the abstracts have
been made from Latin, French, or Gaelic — "obscure in
number, gender, and tense" — but how, in these transla-
tions from *' obsolete languages" into English, the ancient
orthography, as above stated, has been preserved, must,
in the words of the Preface, be left to the ** chance dis-
covery of some ingenious student." The same mythical
personage may perhaps also discover the object proposed
to be attained in prefixing to these volumes, three large
coloured fac-similes of documents, without indicating
either where the originals are preserved, or why they were
specially selected for engraving — two of the three being
neither Patent nor Close Rolls.

We may, however, without undue temerity aver, that
there can be but one opinion among scholars as to the value

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland, 365

and accuracy of translations of records emanating: from a
source which publicly declares that a stone bullock-pen in
Irish, signifies in English ** a city of the dead.'*

Before proceeding further we shall give a short expla-
nation of the documents styled ** Patent Rolls'* and
" Close Rolls" with which ordinary readers could
scarcely be expected to be conversant, when the following
passage from the preface to the^ Calendars evinces unmis-
takable ignorance on these subjects :

** The Patent Rolls (Patentes) were those open grants from the
Crown, ,for they were open to the inspection of all, and so called
patent. The Close Rolls (Clauses) were so called, because they
contained writs from the Crown, sealed and directed to the officers by
whom they were received, and to whom alone they were open ; as also
royal letters obligations, recognizances, deeds." — Vol. i, p. xxxvii.

We may here state that the name of Letters Patent —
''Literse Patentes," — was applied to charters, deeds or
instruments written upon open (patentes) sheets of parch-
ment, bearing pendant at bottom the great seal of the sove-
reign by whom they were issued, and to all of whose sub-
jects in general they were addressed.

Letters Close — *'LitersB clausse" — were used to convey
royal mandates, letters and writs of a less public nature,
folded and sealed on the outside, whence the designation of
** closed" letters in contradistinction to the open or
*' patent" letters : — so, under the French monarchy, the
king's letters were either ** Lettres Patentes" or '* Lettres
de cachet."

** When," says Hunter, ''the practice arose in the reign
of John, of enrolling copies of those letters for the purpose
of presentation and future reference, and perhaps for
the further purpose of being a check upon the forgery of
instruments of such great importance, they were entered
on two distinct Rolls, now called the Patent Rolls and the
Close Rolls," or, we may add, ** Rotuli Literarum Pa-
tentium" and "Rotuli Literarum Clausarum."

It will thus be seen that the above six lines from the
Calendars of 1861, descriptive of the documents which form
the material of the work contain four grave errors — 1. Pa-
tent Rolls were not '^open grants" but merely the enrol-
merits or copies of such grants. 2. Close Rolls were never
styled** clauses'' till so named in these Calendars. 3. Close
Rolls did not contain ** sealed" writs from the crown, but

368 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

only abstracts of such documents: indeed, it would be
utterly impracticable to ro/Z up, as here mentioned, a
number of parchments, each bearing an impression in wax
of a Great Seal. 4. Close Letters, confounded in this
Calendar with Close Halls, were not, as above stated,
accessible and directed solely to " officers ;" but, on the
contrary, *' LitersB Clausse, were commonly addressed to
any individuals to whom the sovereigns desired to transmit
their orders on either public or domestic matters.

The plan adopted in these Calendars of publishing
translated abstracts of ancient records has long been ex-
ploded as objectionable and unsatisfactory. The frequently
used arguments above reproduced in favour of this sys-
tem have been conclusively disposed of by the highest
authorities ; and on this point we may here cite the obser-
vations of Mr. T. D. Hardy, in his Introduction to his
Calendar of the Close Rolls in the Tower of London, a
work, to the value and accuracy of which we feel pleasure in
bearing testimony, from practical experience. Having cor-
rectly observed that actual trial has proved that documents
of moderate length can be copied in much less time than
would necessarily be occupied in making abstracts of them,
an expert writer being able to transcribe very nearly as
fast as he can decipher, Mr. Hardy with indisputable
authority, adds :

" Whereas for the purpose of abstracting it, he [the writer] must
indispensably read the document through, next, he must make
himself familiar with its various points and bearings, and then he will
have to consider the most concise and explicit way of forming the
abstract. Added to all this, there is a difficulty, not so slight as it
may appear, in reducing into a more compendious form matter that
has already undergone the process of curtailment, and which by
re-abridgment would be subjected to the danger of omitting some
expression which possibly might alter the purport or embarrass the
sense of the whole instrument. In being furnished with a trans-
cript of the documents themselves, the Reader can suffer no disap-
pointment ; for it often happens that what is deemed worthless by
some, may be held by others to be of the greatest value ; nor can
he have any anxiety to see the originals, instigated by the possibility
of discovering some different reading, or other matter which
had escaped the notice and proper attention of the abstracter.
So important, indeed, has it been thought for every document to be
printed in the most correct manner, that in many instances oblite-
rations of whole sentences have been retained (though marked as
effaced in the original) as essential to Unmeaning, it being impos*

1863.] The Public Records 0/ Ireland. 367

gible without tliem thoroughly to understand the document in
which they occur, as tlie scribe appears frequently to have erased
words fatal to the sense, forgetting at the moment the structure of
the sentence ; and, consequently, unless the effacement or oblitera-
tion had been retained, the instrument must have appeared to be
incapable of rational construction ; whereas, by exhibiting it to the
Reader whole and entire, he is enabled to ascertain its real mean-
ing. For these reasons it has been deemed expedient to give a
complete and literal transcript : in short, as close Skfac simile of the
originals as modern types would admit.. ..In no case whatever,'*
says Mr. Hardy, " has the liberty been taken of altering or amend-
ing a word when wrong from either clerical or grammatical error,
such inac^curacies being denoted by an underline, to indicate that
such error did not escape attention.''

The most conclusive mode of testing the accuracy of the
entries in the Calendars would be by collating them with
the original Rolls of which they are alleged to be abstracts ;
but such a course is precluded by the official intimation
quoted at page 322 that the paid keepers of the documents
** have not time to attend to*' histoi^ical inquiries. Relying,
however, on independent sources, we shall examine the
Calendars in their principal departments — grants of lands
and other hereditaments; of offices; and of pardons.

In many instances we find merely the name of the indi-
vidual to whom the grant was made, the particulars of the
lands being entirely omitted — leaving such entries almost
valueless. The coniparatively limited number ojf grants
of lands and, hereditaments registered in these volumes
demonstrates conclusively that either the Calendars are
very incomplete or the Patent Rolls themselves incredi-
bly defective in their contents ; and here we look in
vain for various important Irish grants, passed during
the reigns of Henry V lit, Edward VI, Mary, and Eliza-
beth. Of these omissions we annex some specimens,
premising that among them we do not include any grant
passed in a year of which the Patent Roll is alleged to be
not forthcoming ; to each grant we append the day of the
month with the year of the reign, in which it was made,
but our limits preclude the addition here of the services,
rents, and other details, embodied in the instruments :

1537 To Pierce Butler, Earl of Ossory and Ormond, and James,
Lord Butler, thirty-three Manors, viz., 6 in Kilkenny ;
9 in Tipperary ; 6 in Carlow ; 1 in Wexford; 1 in Water-
ford ; 4 in Kildare; 4 in Dublin, aud 2 in Meath; 3 Octo-
ber, 29, Henry VIII.

368 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

1542 To Sir A. St. Leger — the possessions of the Monastery of

Graine, Co. Carlow ; 4th May, 34 Hen. VIII.

1543 To Provost and Burgesses of Clonmel — the Monastery of

Friars Minors, Clonmel ; 9 March; 38, Hen. VIII.

1544 To Sir E. Butler, Baron of Dunbojne, the Monastery of Fidert

Cross, Tipperary ; 16 Jany, 35, Hen. VIII.
1549 To John Travers — the manors of Hollywood, Rathmore and

others in Leinster ; 13 Nov. 3 Edward VI.
1552 To Nicholas Bagnall, Marshal of Ireland, the College of

Newry, the lordship of Mourne, the manors of Carling-

ford and Cowley, in Down and Louth ; 2 April, 6, Edward

VI.
1555 To Gerald, Earl of Kildare — his ancestral estates in Ireland ;

I May, 1 and 2, Philip and Mary.

1568 To Sir Edward Butler,— the Monastery of BaltinglasB ; 24
May, 10, Elizabeth.

1568 To Sir Luke Dillon — the moiety of the manor of Castleknock.

Co. Dublin ; 20 August, 10 Elizabeth.

1569 To Robert Dillon — the possessions of the Priory of St. John,

Kilkenny ; 2 March, 11, Elizabeth.

1570 To Sir N. White — the manor of Leixlip, Co. Kildare; 11 June,

12, Elizabeth.
1671 To John Whitney — the castle and Lordship of Syan, Queen's

Co. ; 1 March, 13, Elizabeth.
1574 To Calvatio O'More, the Manor of Ballina, Co. Kildare ; 3

August, 16, Elizabeth.

1577 To Sir Cormac Mac Teige, Mac Carty — possessions of the

Preceptory of Morne, Co. Cork ; 6 October, 19, Eliza-
beth.

1578 To William O'Carroll— the territory>f Ely O'Carroll, King*s

Co.; 1 August, 20, Elizabeth.

1578 To the Mayor and Bailiffs of Galway — the customs of Galway,

and the possessions of the Monastery of Colles Victorise;
21 Septr. 20, Elizabeth.

1579 To Christopher Nugent, Baron of Delvin — the possessions of

the Priory of Foure, Co. Westmeath ; 20 July, 21, Eliza-
beth.

1583 To Gerald, Earl of Kildare — the possesions of the Monastery
of Down; 6 December, 26, Elizabeth.

1586 To Donald O'Madden — the Lordship of Longford, Co, Galway;

II June, 28, Elizabeth.

1586 To Guconacht Mac Guire — the whole County of Fermanagh,

17 Jany, 28, Elizabeth.

1587 To Con Mac Neill 6g John — the Lordship of Castlereagh, Co.

Down, at an annual rent of 250 cows to be delivered at
Newry ; 30 March, 29, Elizabeth.

1588 To Sir Henry Harrington — the lands of Kilrothery &c„ Co.

Wicklow; 26 Nov. 30, Elizabeth.

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 369

1588 To Hugh Worth— the territory of Kinalmeaky, (vO._Cork ; 30

Sept. 30, Elizabeth.
1588 To Sir George Bourchier — the castle and loch of Loch-gur

and 12,880 acres, Co. Limerick ; 12 Nov. 30, Elizabeth.
1688 To Hugh Cuffe— CastleneKille and lands, Co. Cork ; 18

Nov. 30, Elizabeth.
1590 To Edward Sutton— possessions of the Priory of Thome, Co.

Tipperary; 6 June, 82, Elizabeth.

1590 To Ros ban Mac Brian Mac Mahon — chief rents of Bally-

lekebally lands, Co. Monaghan ; 20 Nov. 33, Elizabeth.

1591 To Robert Bostock — the possessions of St. Mary's Abbey, Co.

Dublin ; 3 March, 33, Elizabeth.

1592 To John Lee — the moiety of the Manor of Castleknock, Co.

Dublin ; 26 March, 34, Elizabeth.

1598 To Sir John Proby— the wardship and marriage of Ellen

Pagan, daughter and heiress of Thomas Pagan; also the
wardship and marriage of Walter Ussher, son and heir of
John Ussher, at an annual rent to the Crown of £18 6 0
for the former, and ten shillings for the latter ; 18 Decem-
ber, 41, Elizabeth.

1599 To Pierce Edmonds — the wardship and marriage of Patrick

Scurlock, son and heir of Martin Scurlock, of Rathredin,
King's Co. at an annual rent to the Crown of j£10 19 6 ;
21 August, 41, Elizabeth.

The preceding constitute but a very small portion of the
grants omitted in the Calendars, although passed under
the Great Seal, and^ embodying information of most im-
portant nature to investigators of almost every class.
It appears scarcely credible that Patents, passing through
the^ Chancery of Ireland, could have been delivered to
their respective grantees without having been enrolled or
entered of record ; some of them being oi great importance,
as that of the whole County of Fermanagh in 1586 ; the
grant of upwards of twelve thousand acres in Limerick to
Bourchier in 1588 ; while the patents noted in our above
list as omitted in these Calendars under 1537 and 1555,
are the documents under which, to-day, the two high
Peers of Ireland, the Duke of Leinster and the Marquis
of Orniond, derive their ancient titles and family estates.

We have also to reprehend the omissions in these Cal-
endars of details of the privileges and services of Crown
tenants ; matters of high legal import as distinguishing
rights of great Barons and Parliamentary Peers. Such
omissions preclude an accurate view of the progress of
English law and customs in Ireland, and seriously preju-

370 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

dice historic, legal and genealogical investigators, who in
the absence of these particulars are unable to trace cases
where the non fulfilment of peculiar obligations led to for-
feitures, and loss or compositions with the Crown, for sub-
sequent re- grants of estates.

The style in which the grants of offices are here cal-
endared is equally unsatisfactory. The mere dates of im-
portant official appointments in Ireland having been long
before the world in printed books, it was superfluous to
reproduce them, unless accompanied by the Patents
detailing the extent and nature of the offices conferred.
This would have afforded accurate information on the
state of the revenue and expenditure at various periods;
on the powers of heads of departments, and on the juridical
and general history of the country, by exhibiting the class
of records to be consulted in inquiries on special subjects.
Among the important Patents which should have appeared
in these Calendars but of which we find no entries in the
volumes before us, we may mention the following : Crea-
tion of the office of Ulster King at arms, principal Herald
of Ireland, 1552 ; establishment of the Athlone Pursuivant,
1552; the transfer of the See of Dublin to Archbishop
Hugh Curvven by Philip and Mary, 1555, the elaborate
document issued by Elizabeth on her accession in 1559
authorising the proclamation of a general pardon in Ireland ;
the grant of 1574 by which the Queen of England recog-
nised Aodh, the son of Manus O'Donell, as Chief of the
territory of Tirconnell ; Her Majesty's Letters Patent de-
livered into the Chancery of Ireland, 18 September, 1585,
for the " dividing the parts of Ulster not yet reduced into
Shire ground," establishing six counties in the North; the
Commission of 10th of July, 1591, and its return, delivered
jnto Chancery on the third of the following month, specify-
ing the limits fixed upon for the county of Tyrone, with the
allotment and division of that county ; the very important
document of 1601, detailing particulars of the exchange and
coinage of the new standard in Ireland. The omission of
the latter is the more reprehensible as the place which it
should have occupied (vol. ii. 578-582,) is filled with matter
extending to five pages, frequently before printed, although
no intimation of this fact is given to the reader.

The three following extracts will serve to illustrate the
useless mode in which important appointments several

1863. J The Public Records of Ireland. 371

times before printed have been again calendared in these

volumes:

1558-9 " Appointment of Thomas, Earl of Sussex, to the office of
Lord Deputj of Ireland,— July 3."— -FoZ. i, p. 418.

1574 *• Grant of the office of Deputj General of Ireland to Sir
Henry Sydney. — August 5." — Ih. p. 555.

1574 " Appointment of the Earl of Essex to the office of Earl
Marshal of Ireland. — Mar. 9." — lb. 55-6,

The above few lines are given in these Calendars to
represent letters patent of the most elaborate character,
written in Latin, containing numerous clauses of the high-
est interest, illustrating regal and vice-regal prerogatives ;
the state of the English government in Ireland, the exact
nature of the ofl&ces conferred, and descending so far into
details as to prescribe minutely even the fashion and blason
of the baton of the Queen's Marshal in Ireland.

A great part of these Calendars is occupied with
entries of pardons, but the reasons for which they were
granted are seldom given, and many pages are filled with
such useless entries as the following : —

1544 " Pardon of Donaghe Shillerie, otherwise Cavanaghe, other-
wise O'Byrne, of Inn Iscorthie, horseboy, Dec. 7, 35°." —
Vol i., p. 103.

1552 *' Pardon of Ferdoroghe O' Brenane, John O'Brenane, Der-

mot O'Brenane, Patrick M'Donoghe Boy O'Brenane,
Donald O'FerroU O'Brenane, William M'Shane O'Hen-
nons, Donoghe M'Teige Teige M'Donyll O'Brenane,
William M'Shane O'Brenane, Finne M'Shane O'Cost-
ogine, David M'Gillepatricke, Gillernow M'Teige, Donogh
M'William, and John O'Brenane, Kerns, Mar. 21, 6°."—
2b, ib. 273.

1553 4 " Pardon of Moriertagh Howe O'Dowylle, otherwise Twooe

O'Maline, Maurice, otherwise Moriertaghe Oge M'Donaghe

^. M'Henry Edale, Melaghlin M'Donaghe M 'Henry Edale,

Donald bane M'Art Rowe, John O'Mollyne, Kory M'Shane

O'Dowile, Edward Dowe, Hugh Dowe, M'Donnell M'Shane

Glasse, Thady O'Hee, M'Gilpadricke O'Hee, and Thady

More M'Donoghe M'Teige M'Dermot O'Egeyre — No date:*

—lb. ib.325.

1558-9 "Pardon of Teige M'Dermod, Sherehee M'Morihirtagh,

Gilpadrick M'Morihertagh, M'Dermod, Fardorogh M'Davye,

and Dermod M'Teige, of Leix, Kerns, Deer. 16, 1." — 76.

ib. 397.

1558-9 " Pardon of the Archbishop of Dublin.— Dec. 15, IV— 76. ib.

372 Tke Public Records of Ireland, [April.

1558 9 "Pardon of Sir John Power, Lord Baron de le Power. — Dec.
16. P."— /6. ih,

1602 "Pardon of Douogh M'Donnell M'Gillpatrick Clanteres,
Shane M'Donnell M'Gillpatrick Clanteres, — O'Bergiu, —
O'Brohie,— O'Kellie,— M'Gilpatrick,-~M'Teige,— O'Birnie,
— Roche, — Egerton, — Fleming, — and others. — Dublin,
March 4, 45."— Fo?. ii, p. 634.

Similar valueless entries of *' pardons'* occupy frequently
from six to seventeen consecutive pages of these Calen-
dars, as in vol. i. pp, 158 to 163 ; 172 to 188 ; 199 to 208 ;
210 to 214; 273 to 280.

Had the precise nature of each pardon been accurately
specified, such information might have furnished impor-
tant links of the highest value to historical investigators
as well as to enquirers into pedigrees, lands, and titles.

The reader may thus estimate the amount of value to be
attached to the statement (vol. i. p. xliii.) that the ** pur-
port of each document has been minutely and accurately
analyzed, the substance of every important clause and
provision extracted, and the names of every person and
place of each accurately specified.'*

The desire to economize space and the public funds can-
not, with truth, be pleaded for the curtailment by which
the entries in these Calendars have been, as we have shown,
virtually rendered useless, for a large number of pages
purporting to be illustrative original documents, have been
taken verbatim from common printed books, in general
without any acknowledgment. Thus the late Dr. John
O 'Donovan's Irish version and English translation of a
covenant between Mac Geoghegan and Fox, a.d. 1526, is
most inappropriately placed under the year 1600, filling
three pages in Gaelic and English (vol. ii. 572 to 574)
without mention of its translator, O'Donovan, or of the
"Irish Archaeological Society" in whose "Miscellany*' it
was printed in 1846, p. 191. In a similar manner four
pages of the same volume of the Calendars (60 to 64)
are entirely occupied by documents relative to the obso-
lete Dublin local impost, styled " Tolboll," totally out
of place in calendars of Patent Rolls, and printed fully
by Dr. Aquilla Smith, in the " Miscellany" already men-
tioned, pp. 33 to 41. The elaborate schedules compliled
and published by Mr. Erck in 1846 (" Repertory," pp. 81-2,
169-170.) of Sir Walter Raleigh's Irish possessions are re-
printed as the result of new research, in p. 324 to 327 of the

1863.] The Public Records 0/ Ireland, 373

second volume of the Calendar ; pp. 325, 515, and 630 of
which are also composed of republications from the Calen-
dar of Patent Rolls of James I. printed in 1830, pages QQ,
58,565.

The following figures will exemplify the vast extent to
which documents and abstracts of records printed in the
Calendars of 1861-2, as the result of new and original in-
vestigations, have been appropriated verbatim and with--
out acknowledgment, from the printed " Keports of the
Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal
Corporations in Ireland : presented to both Houses of
Parliament. 1835:"

Calendar Volume I — pp. 78, 355-7, 423, 523: reprinted without
ackuowledgmeut from the above Reports, pp. 573, 805, 810, 621,
451.

Calendar, Volume II— pp. 86 87,96-99, 110-112,180-182,212,
306, 310, 455-456, 825: also taken verbatim from same Reports
pp. 69, 105-106, 557, 558, 75, 76, 479, 579,584, 455, 456, 213.

Equally preposterous with the foregoing appropriations,
is the title of ** Calendars of Patent and Close Rolls" given
to these Volumes, which do not contain either abstract or
notice of any Close Roll, and in which every roll described
is headed;* Patent Roll!"

The rapidity with which these Calendars were executed
was very remarkable :

*' Nee pluteum csedit, nee demorsos sapit ungues,"

The first Volume, bearing date May, 1861, was completed
in an incredibly short period. The second volume, con-
taining printed matter sufficient to fill about 1200 pages
similar to ours, came before the public in May, 1862, thus
succeeding the first within the time barely requisite for
the mere printing. Literary history records a {qw rare
instances of marvellous celerity in the composition of im-
aginative and poetical works, when

* Wit a diamond brought
Which cut his bright way through.*

But we believe that no other specynen can be adduced of
the compilation of any analytical catalogue of documents,
** heavy with the dulness of the past,'" having been com-
pleted with a rapidity remotely approaching to that with
which these Calendars are alleged to have been executed ,
"at intervals snatched from the labours of official duties.'*

374 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

The justice of our remarks on this point will be admitted
when we mention that the ancient and obscure records
given in these volumes as having been separately deci-
phered, translated, and epitomized in the most careful
manner, amount to the enormous number of 5291 !"'*'

Why the country should have been taxed for this alleged
new examination and epitomizing appears inexplicable,
for all the Rolls included in these two Volumes were
translated and Calendared more than thirty years ago,
under the superintendence of James Hardiman, for the

♦ ** The number of the Patent Rolls and of the articles entered
upon them alleged to have been newly analyzed in the Calendars of
1861-2 are as follow — the figures within brackets denoting the
numbers of the articles — Henry VIII. 24 rolls, [1142] ; Edward VI.
Broils [1096J ; Mary, one roll [97]; Phillip and Mary, Trolls
[:]69] ; Elizabeth, 47 rolls [2508] ; in all 87 rolls containing 5212
entries, which, with 79 entries from Fiants (Vol. i. pp. 557-70)
make a total number, as above, of 5291 entries, of which 3792 are con-
tained in the first and 1499 in the second volume of the Calendars.'*

The details of the preparation of the Calendars of Patent and
Close Rolls under the late Irish Record Commission are given as
follows in the published Reports of that body:

In March, 1816, these Commissioners oflBcially reported that a
Calendar to the Patent and Close Rolls in the Rolls' Office had been
prepared from their commencement to the 43rd year of the reign of
Elizabeth, and that considerable progress had been made in its
final revision for press, (6th Annual Report, 1816, p. 2.) In
March 1817, the 7th Annual Report, p. 8, states that " the Calendar
to the Patent and Close Rolls formerly in the Bermingham Tower
repository has been nearly completed and considerable progress
made in the collation thereof by Mr. Hardiman." The eighth
Annual Report in March, 1818, p. 12, records the completion of
the formation of the Calendar and progress made in its collation
and final revision for press. In January, 1819, the Commissioners
reported, p. 42, that " the Calendar to the Patent and Close Rolls
in the Rolls' office has been already brought down to the commence-
ment of James I." In the Supplement to the same Report, p. 48,
we find the following given as the present state of the work :

** Arrangements of Patent and Close Rolls from 31 Edward I, to
the present time in Chronological order, completed. Catalogue to
same, giving accurate descriptions of each Roll, completed. Calen-
dar of Contents of same to the end of the reign of Elizabeth,
containing upwards of 12000 pages completed ; and considerable
progress made in the revision of same for printing. Indexes nomi-
num and locorum to same, containing 5412 pages completed."

1863.]

The Public Records of Ireland.

875

Irish Record Commission, at the cost of the niation, as
may bo seen from the note on the opposite page. The
Irish Kecord Commissioners' Calendar of Pntent and
Close Rolls to the end of the reign of Henry VII, pub-
hshed in 1828, contained an announcement that the
second part of the vohmie, comprising the reigns of Henry
VIII, Edward VI, Philip and Mary, and Elizabeth, was
then in press. The printing of this Calendar, commencing
with Henry VIII, was actually executed in 1830, to the end
of the reign of Edward VI, including every roll contained
from p. 1 to p. 299 of the first Volume of the newly-pro-
duced Calendar : but as the latter makes no reference
whatever to that of 1830, parallel specimens are here
appended of the entries with which they both commence :

CALENDAR, a.d. 1830.

" Patent Roll, 5 and 6 Henry
VIII.

I. — 1. Grant from the King to
Edward Becke, otherwise Beke,
of Manchester. — To trade freely
throughout Ireland, during his
life, exempt from paj^ment of
the King's customs, tolls, ho.
Ap. 5th... .11—1. Grant of the
office of Second Justice of the
Chief Place to John Barnewell,
knt. Lord of Trymleteston. 2
Jan. Pat. Office. III.— 1 General
Pardon to Christopher Ussher of
Duhlin, merchant, the King's
Collector and Customer, and
Matilda Darcy his wife. — 13
Jan. IV. — 2. General Pardon
to William Brent, abbot of the
Monastery of St. Thomas the
martyr, near Dublin, and his
convent. V. — 3. Grant from
the King, for a certain sum of
money, to Edward Plunket, knt,
lord of Donsany, Meath Co.,
five Marks of Annual rent, issu-
ing out of Crossdrome and Cas-
tell Cor, in the King's hands, by
reason of the minority of John
Plunket, son and heir of Ed-
VOL. LII.-No. CIV

CALENDAR, a.d. 1861.

*' Patent Roll, 5, 6 Henry VIII
1514-5.
Membrane I — License to Ed-
ward Becke, otherwise Beke, of
Manchester, to trade freely
throughout Ireland, during his
life, exempt from payment of
the King's customs or tolls.
— Ap. 5. 5°. 2. Grant to
John Barnewell, knight, Lord
of Trymleteston, of the office
of Second Justice of the Chief
Place ; To hold during plea-
sure, with a Salary of 40
marks. — Jan. 2, 5°. 3. Pardon
of Christopher Ussher, of Dub-
lin, mercliant, the King's col-
lector and customer, and Matil-
da Darcy his wife. — Jan. 13.
Membrane 2. — 4. Pardon of
William Brent, Abbot of the
monastery of St. Thomas the
Martjr, near Dublin, and his
convent. — Jan. ... Membrane 3.
5. Grant, for a certain sum of
money, to Edward Plunket,
knight, Lord of Donsany, of
five marks annually, issuing out
of Crossdrome and Castell Cor,
in the county of Meath, in the

7

376 ne Public Records of Ireland. [April.

rrnind Plunkfet, late lord of Kjl- King's hands, by reason of the
len, deed., so long as same shall minority of John Plunket, son
remain iu the King's hands. — and heir of Edmund Plunket, late
Without account. 4 April. Lord of Kyllen, deceased ; so

long as the lands shall remain

in the King's hands Without

VI. 3. Grant of the office of account. — April 4. 6. Grant of
Justice of Ireland to William the office of justice of Ireland to
Preston, viscount and lord of William Preston, Viscount and
Gormaneston. — 13 Ap. — Pat. Lord of Gormanston. — April
Off. 13.

Dorso. VII. — 1. Award by the Dorso. 7. Award of the Lords
Lords and Council, that Henry and Council, directing that
Duff' and others of Drogheda, Henry Duff and others, iuhabi-
shall have a certain ship and tants of Drogheda, shall have a
goods, lawfully taken by them certain ship and goods, well and
as a prize. — 4 Aug. 6th." — Cal- lawfully taken by them, as a
eridar of 1830, 'page 1. prize. — Aug. 4, 6°." — Calendar

ofim\,Vol.i.p.l,

The remainder of the Calendar of 1830, including all
the Rolls of which abstracts are given in the new Calen-
dars from the beginning of the reign of Mary to the end of
that of Elizabeth was not printed, in consequence of the
breaking up of the Irish Record Commission and the
manuscript of it extending to upwards of 12,000 pages,
with indices occupying 5412 pages, continues, as pubhc
property, no doubt, in safe and responsible custody.

Whether the unacknowledged appropriation of the
compilation of 1830 is the key to the wonderfully rapid
execution of the Calendars of 1861-2 ; why a defective
and inaccurate work like the latter shoaild have been
preferred to that executed under so eminent a scholar
as Hardiman ; and why the public funds should have been
expended to produce in an imperfect and comparatively-
valueless mode, that which had been at the cost of the
Nation previously compiled in a superior and satisfactory
form, and even partly printed, are questions which will, it
is presumed, receive attention when our pages come
before those interested in such matters.

Our notice of these Calendars would be incomplete, did
we not mention that they have been formally and publicly
commended by the Lord Chancellor of Ireland ; the Master
of the Rolls of Ireland; the ** Ulster King of Arms," as
well as by some of the most noted lawyers in Ireland, whose

J

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. Zll

opinions are given to the world in a pamphlet issned with the
Calendars, entitled " Selection from haters received in
reference to the Calendar of Patent Rolls/' The Master
of the Rolls of Ireland writes, that the ** important duty of
preparing the Calendar" has been ** discharged entirely to
his satisfaction/' The Lord Chancellor of Ireland in a let-
ter, printed at page 4 of the pamphlet referred to, declares
that the '* publication does great credit to the labour of the
Editor ;" that " the preface is interesting and instructive;''
that he is *' convinced of the value of such publications
to the lawyer and the historian;" and that the *Wery
careful manner in which the work appears to have beeu
completed has conferred an important benefit on the
public, and more especially on those who may be engaged
with Irish history !" Sir'j. B. Burke, " Ulster King of
Arms," in a letter dated ** Record Tower, Dublin Cas-
tle," designates the work '* an admirable Calendar," '* a
great boon," and *'an invaluable contribution" — apparently
overlooking the entire omission from it of any entry of the
Patent by which, as mentioned at p. 370, he holds the
office of principal Herald of Ireland, and under which he
annually receives from the public exchequer a salary of
forty marks, and a suit of clothes !

The system adopted in the Calendars of giving short
translated abstracts of records, which as shewn at p. 366
has been long condemned by the most competent authori-
ties, is however, highly praised in a letter, printed at page
6 of the pamphlet referred to, and there set down as
written by ** Gerald Fitzgibbon, Esq., Queen's Counsel,
Master in Chancery." This letter contains the following
passages, addressed to the editor of the Calendars :

*' The plan of the book is simple and clear, and the execution
is very creditable. I would suggest an addition to this valuable
work which, as long as you live may be of comparatively minor
utility, but may hereafter be found of the bighest importance,
and that is, a key to those ancient records, uJiich, it is ivell hiown, no
other livirig person can read as you can. A copious alphabet, with a
full list of all the contractions, would be a valuable bequest to future
times; and the present heads of our legal body would confer a great
and lasting benefit on their successors, and the public of future ages,
by now securing the performance of this work by one so competent
and so exclusively Jit for the task as you are'''

Readers may decide for themselves whether ignorance
of the subject or keen satire is at the bottom of this epistle.

378 The Public Records of Ireland, [April,

Every man of even ordinary education knows that num-
bers of profound and accomplished palaeographers exist
on the Continent and in Great Britain, and that" in this
branch of learning some of the Archseologists of Ire-
land hold an eminent and recognized place. Eighty-two
names appear on the official *' Liste des Archivistes" in
France for the year 1862, and, of these, twenty- five are of
the class designated ** Archivistes paleographes."

Another of the legal dramatis personse in this " Comedy
of Errors" is the " Right Hon. James Whiteside, Queen's
Counsel, Doctor of Laws, and Member of Parliament,"
who, by his recent performance on the stage of a public hall
in Dublin, has demonstrated to the world his entire want
of a correct knowledge either of British or Irish general
history — or even of that of the University which he repre-
sents in the House of Commons.

This noted member of the Bar, in the authorized edition
of his treatise on the Parliament of Ireland, published by the
Booksellers to the University of Dublin, for the " Com-
mittee of the Young Men's Christian Association, in
connection with the United [Established] Church of Eng-
land and Ireland," holds up these Calendars to the ad-
miration of^ all " Christian young men" as models of
** patient ability," further assuring such ingenuous youths,
that the preface '* points^ out the yet^ unexampled [sic\
sources whence much additional light might be cast on the
Irish Parliaments of the Pale !"'^'

* *' The Life and Death of the Irish Parliament, a Lecture by
the Right Hon. James Whiteside, Q.C., L.L.D. M.P." Dublin :
Hodges and !Smith, Booksellers to the University, 1863, p. 14.

To point out the principal of the innumerable evidences of
astounding ignorance of accurate historic materials by which this
production is characterized, would far exceed our present limits :
two illustrations may however be given of the author's nescience of
common historical facts connected with the legal profession to which
he belongs. Page 13, of his above cited work, contains a distinct
statement that the ancient Irish had no laws ** save their own free
will." A conclusive contradiction to this is supplied by a passage
written nearly a century ago, by a Provost of the University of
Dublin. After mentioning that, notwithstanding the opinions
expressed by superficial writers, that the old Irish had neither
written laws nor settled jurisprudence. Dr. Thomas Leland, in his
History of Ireland, 1773, demonstrated from the existing manu-

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland, 379

The study of ancient muniments having lonor ceased to
form part of le^fal education, the elucidation of the contents
of records has become recognised ;is a distinct branch of
learning, demanding peculiar aptitude and hiborious ap-
plication to acquire knowledge on such remote points, as

scripts of the ancient Gaelic laws, that a very elaborate and exten-
sive code formerly existed among the natives. These laws, wrote
Dr. Leland, " not only provide against murder, rapes, adultery,
theft, robbery ; but such crimes as are not generally cognizable
by human tribunals, such as slander, tale-bearing, or disrespect to

superiors The property and security of woods, the regulation of

water-courses, but above all, the property of bees, on which de-
pended the principal beverage of the people, were guarded by a
number of minute institutions, which breathe a spirit of equity and
humanity." We are not to wonder that a people, accustomed to the
refinements found in their own laws, should be pronounced of all
others the greatest lovers of justice. ** This," added Dr. Leland,
"is the honourable testimony of Sir John Davies and Lord Coke:
with shame we must confess that they were not taught this love
of justice by the first English settlers." — History of Ireland, hy
T. Leland, T.CD. Dublin, 1773, vol. i. pp. xxiv, xxxvi. The
strong opinions expressed by the chief scholars of Europe on
the importance of these old laws, which, according to Mr. White-
side, never existed, induced Government in 1862 to appoint a Cora-
mission for the special object of making a complete collection
of the ancient legal institutes of Ireland. This Commission has
carried on its labours within the precincts of that Universitj of which
the author of the above statement is a Parliamentary representative;
and according to the return made to Parliament by the Rev.
Charles Graves, Secretary to the Commission, dated from Trinity
College, Dublin, in 1857, the mere transcript of the original Gaelic
of these ancient laws amounted then to 5142 folio pages I To
this proof of Mr. Whiteside's knowledge of ancient Irish laws,
an illustration may be added of his intimate acquaintance with
the history of eminent lawyers who figured in Ireland. At p. 59
of his work, already quoted, on the Irish Parliament, he writes
of Sir John Davies, Attorney General to James 1., ''Although
he had much in his power, he took not one acre of land in Ire-
land to himself. " The inaccuracy of this assertion will be
seen when we mention that of the lands '^ planted'' in Ulster,
during the reign of James I, Sir John D;^vies received 1500 acres,
called Lisgowely, in the precinct of Clinawly : 2000 acres called
Gavelagh and Clonaghraore, in the precinct of the Omy ; and 500
acres called Cornechino, in the precinct of Orior ; the details of
these lands will be found in the Survey of Ulster, made by N. Pyu-

380 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

the respective characteristics of the formula and effect of
each document included in the class styled "diploma-
tique;'' the language, writing, orthography and brachy-
graphy of^ various centuries ; the styles of different
monarchs in the charters and letters; the tests of the
authenticity of dated or undated documents; the peculiar-
ities and bearings of medieval, legal and municipal regu-
lations ; the characters and legends of seals or details
of 'M'art sphragistique," with innumerable other minute
specialties, in which no assistance is derivable either from
modern law or from profound classical knowledge. To the
foregoing acquirements the qualified Irish archivist must
superadd an acquaintance substantial and minute with the
histories, social institutes and existing documents of that
Celtic people which so long occupied the greater part of the
land of Ireland ; the various meaniugs and obsolete or cur-
rent applicatious of words, names or denominations bor-
rowed from their tongue, and the amount of value to be
attached to writers in various languages who have hithero
touched on any portions of these subjects. There is no
road to such acquirements but long, laborious application ;
and the few real proficients in them can appreciate the full
truth of the axiom of the French sage — " Le genie n'est
qu'une plus grande aptitude a la patience.''

That some high legal functionaries should have com-
promised their learning and sagacity by publicly delivering
their commendations of such a work as these Calendars,
while exciting special wonder, demonstrates the value of
the advice conveyed in the following Hues written more
than three centuries ago, by a learned Lord Chancellor
of England on the mishaps of a seijeant of the law who
was induced to overstep his own special department :

" Wjse men alway, affirme and say, that best is for a man
Diligently for to apply, the business that he can;
And in no wyse, to enterpryse an other faculte.

nar, by commission under the great seal of Ireland, dated 28th
November, 1618. Of the transformations effected by Mr. Whiteside
in his performance, a striking instance appears at p. 21, where
Henry Castide, described by Froissart as "a squire of England, an
honest man, and a wise,'' is metamorphosed into ''one Doctor Bas-
tide,"*' — for the instruction of the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion I

1863,] The Public Records of Ireland. 381

A man of lawe, that never sawe the wayes to buy and sell,

Weeniug to ryse by marchandyse, I wish to speed him well I

When a hatter will go smatter in philosophic,

Or a pedlar ware a meddler in theologiu.

All that ensue such craftes newe, they drive so far a cast,

That evermore, tiiey do, therefore, beshrewe themselves at last.

In any wyse, I would advyse, and counsaile every man.

His owne crafte use, all new refuse, and lightly let them gone."

The Master of the Rolls in Ireland, the jndge of ques-
tions of literary property in that country, occupies a strange
position before the world in this matter, since his name
appears on the title pages of these volumes as the patron
and promoter of a work in which the law of copyright, and
even the first principles of literary honesty have been vio-
lated, as we have, shown, by an unprecedented extent of
unscrupulous plagiarism and unjustifiable appropriation.

We have here, indeed, a remarkable testimony to the
wisdom of the ancients embodied in the above verses. By
venturing beyond his own department of modern law, an
upright and preeminently equitable Judge, engrossed with
the weighty business of the Irish Rolls' Court, has been un-
wittingly misled into having his name put forth as patron
and approver of a series of gigantic infringements upon
mental property, the rights of which he has hitherto upheld
with all the authority of his office, and in a manner becom-
ing the son of an accomplished scholar, who, it is believed,
felt prouder of the commendations bestowed by Edmund
Burke upon his writings, than of the title of Baron of the
Irish Exchequer.

It must, however, in justice be stated, that the eminent
personages misled in this affair, were not exclusively Irish.
Of the three Chancery Commissioners who presented to
Parliament the series of blunders on the records noted at
p. 323, one was an English official of high rank, specially-
despatched from London to supervise the enquiry at
Dublin. How seriously compromised even the highest
authority on English records may be in dealing with pub-
lic muniments peculiar to Ireland, is unanswerably evi-
denced by the fact, that Sir John Romilly, Master of
the Rolls and President of the Record business of Eng-
land, has, by his ** flattering commendation,'' promoted
and encouraged the publication of these Calendars, as is
distinctly stated in the first page of the Preface to the
Second Volume !

382 The Public Records' of Ireland. j April

That a first step, however tardy, taken by the Treasury
towards improving the discreditable condition of the Public
Records of Ireland should have produced such fruit, is
regretted by those who appreciate the beneficial results
which might have arisen from the laudable intentions thus
frustrated through causes, it should in truth be observed,
beyond their Lordships' immediate control.

Public justice demands that Government should discon-
tinue the issue in the present discreditable form of these
Calendars, abstracted without acknowledgment from the
labours'of others. The only question appears to be whether
it might be more desirable to cancel them entirely, or to
publish a supplement exhibiting accurately the portions
which have been appropriated from other books, giving
tables of the numerous errata, and supplying, from a colla-
tion of the original rolls, the many important and serious
deficiencies in these volumes. Certain it is, that such a
supplement would be the most conclusive expose of the
miserable results of audacious charlatanism.

In dismissing these *' Calendars" we reiterate in the
most emphatic terms, addressed to the whole literary
world, interested in historic learning, that the archivists
of Ireland repudiate all connection with this compilation,
inasmuch as they have been ignored in every step of a
work, which, to the heavy detriment of the public, has
been committed, through apathy or nescience, to shallow
and pretentious incompetency.

To point out the steps which should be taken to pre-
clude the repetition of mistakes such as the publication
of these Calendars, leads to a wider field, and neces-
sarily involves a consideration of the course proper to be
adopted with reference to the Public Records of Ireland,
the condition of which, as exhibited in the commencement
of the present paper, is, we may observe, almost identical
with that in which analogous documents in England stood
in the earl^ part of the present century."' Down to the year

* The invaluable records of the Exchequer of Ireland are admit-
ted (see p. 322) to be neither in responsible custody, nor in a secure
repository. To the state of the archives of the King's Bench the
following reference was made in 1857, by the present Attorney Gene-
ral for Ireland. " Mr. Thomas O'llagan, Q. C, said he was not an
archaeologist himself, but, in his professional capacity, he had an
opportunity of seeing some of the most valuable materials for Irish

1863. The Public Records of Ireland. 383

1839 the national muniments of England were dispersed in
fi['ty-six repositories in widely different parts of London,
many of them entirely unfitted for the safe custody of docu-
ments, damp, ill- ventilated, offensive ; never cleaned, aired
or warmed. At Somerset Place, the Exchequer Records lay
in filthy wet vaults, two stories under ground, inaccessible
except with candles, and iu the actual charge of an inferior
workman. Queen's Bench Records, covered with dirt and
soot, were stowed in the roof above the Augmentation
office, and the officer or investigator had to ascend a
ladder, and search by candle-light. To obtain access to
any of these Records, searchers had to make numerous
applications and to pay heavy fees to the nominal Keepers,
who for. the most part, neither gave regular attendance,
nor provided any convenience for those who had occasion
to consult them. Sir Francis Palgrave, by great exertions,
brought these numerous establishments under one system,
and united the contents of the different depositories in the
Public Record Office established in London, pursuant tc
the Act for keeping safely the Public Records, passed in
1839, in which has been aggregated every instrument
coming under the denomination of a " Public Record,'^
which the Act defined to comprehend all rolls, records,
writs, books, proceedings decrees, bills, warrants, accounts,
papers and documents whatsoever, of a public nature be-
longing to Pier Majesty. The documents dispersed in
the fifty-six Repositories having been consolidated, under
proper officers, literary inquirers are allowed to make
searches without payment of fees ; the issue of Calendars
has been commenced, and the public obtain the fullest
assistance in the production and use of the Records.

Turning to Ireland we find that iu 1817, the Imperial
Parliament passed^ an act (57, George III, chapter 62)
for the concentration and arrangement of Irish public
9 records. This act commenced with declaring that, after
the expiration of existing interests, the offices of Sur-
veyor General of Crown Lands ; Keeper of Records in
the^ Bermingham Tower at Dublin ; ''^ Keeper of the

history crumbling away under the dome of t!ie Four Courts [Dub-
lin.]"— Report of Excursion of Ethnological Section of British Asso-
ciatio7if Dublin : 1850.

* These Records consist mainly of Plea Kolls ; Rolls of the Pipe ;
the archives of the Parliament of Ireland; the documents of the Irish

384 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

Kecords of Parliament ; and Clerk of the Paper-office,
should be abolished and not " granted to any person or
persons whomsoever;'' all records, maps, books, and

State Paper Office, together with collections made under the late
Irish Record Commission. The office of Keeper of these Tower
Records was a sinecure held, for life, under patent dated 29th
November, 1805, at the period of its abolition, by Phillip Henrj
Stanhope, fourth Earl of Stanhope. Bj undertaking to act gra-
tuitously as Lord Stanhope's deputy, a late Ulster king of
arms, succeeded in locating himself in this Tower, having, it
is said, ejected by personal violence the late William Shaw
Mason, Secretary of the Irish Record Commission. Under
the Statute above quoted these Records should have been re-
moved to a Public Record Office ; but at the time of this intru-
sion, attention was not called to the serious impropriety of
allowing original Rolls and Documents the property and evidences
of the public to come under the hands of a herald, who, as
Ulster king of arms, is a professional genealogist, receiving fees
for constructing pedigrees and making out cases for titles.
Great injustice was thus often silently but most effectively inflicted
upon individuals. Parties having once engaged, or purchased, the
professional interests of the Ulster king of arms, as a pedigree
agent or herald, consequently insured all the advantages deriveable
from a monopoly or non-production in evidence,' of the Tower
Records in his custody. It is needless here to enlarge on the
intolerable nature of such a system, since, in consequence of the
obscurity in which the Tower Records have hitherto been retained,
it was impossible to demand by the usual legal course any specific
document, of the actual existence of which positive or direct proof
is unattainable, from the want of arrangements similar to those estab-
lished for the public in the General Record Office in London. Lord
Brougham protested against an Ulster king of arms being believed
on oath before the House of Lords, and designated him to that
august assemblage, as a person whose business was to " wear a mot-
ley coat ; walk in processions, and superintend funerals.'' It would
appear that his Lordship's knowledge of the nature of the office
was based on a Commission bearing date 5th of June, 1684, to the
Ulster king of arras of that day, and which defined this office to
consist in " taking knowledge of and registering the descents,
matches, and issue of the nobility and gentry of the kingdom of
Ireland, as also in preventing and reforming usurpations, disor-
ders, and abuses in the bearing and using of arms and titles
of honour, as also in the regular and undue using of velvet palls,
or supporters, at any funeral whatsoever.'' The small importance
originally attached to this office is shown by the official " Estab-
lishment of Ireland, Civil and Military," signed by Charles II, 16S4,

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 385

papers, connected with the offices were, under this act,
ordered to be transferred to a Repository to be appointed
** for the preserving and securing of the Records of Ire-

in which the Ulster king of arms is set down for an annual salary
of ^28 13 4, while the State Trumpeter and Kettle-drum per-
formers were paid each £70 per annum. In the schedule of the
officers and servants attending the House of Peers in Ireland, from
1719 to 1729, the name of the Ulster king of arms is put at the
foot, three degrees below the **Fire Maker to the House of Lords,''
a position acquired apparently by the low quarrels in these times
for fees between the " Ulster king" and the herald-painters and
undertakers of funerals in Dublin. One of these Dublin under-
takers, named Aaron Crossly, carried on a long dispute with Wil-
liam Hawkins, Ulster king of arms, who sought to oppress him by
virtue of his employment under the House of Lords ; but several
of the Peers protested against this protection being taken advan-
tage of by their servant, whose errors in heraldry were exposed by
Crossly ; proving, that among other mistakes, the Ulster king had
blazoned the arras of the see of Ossory '*as if one half of the
Bishop were dead and the other half living" ! The fee to the Ulster
king of arms for introducing a Baron or Bishop into his place
in the House of Peers of Ireland was fixed at .£1 17 6 ; and in
1750 it appears that, in point of rank and emolument, the
Ulster king of arms was, so far as the Peers were concerned,
placed on a level with a "second class door-keeper to the House
of Lords," the salary of .£53 6 8 being allowed to each. The
House of Lords of Ireland, in 1789, passed a formal resolution
declaring that, after careful examination, they had concluded that
the entries in the books of the Ulster king's ofiice were " very
incorrect j" and that, moreover, several of the Irish Peers had paid
for entries which had not been made. Such facts show the grounds
on which Sir W. Blackstone founded the opinion which he delivered
as follows, in the seventh chapter of the third book of his famous
** Commentaries on the Laws of England :'' " The marshalling
upon coat armour, which was formerly the pride and studj of all
the best families in the kingdom, is now greatly disregarded,
and has fallen into the hands of certain officers and attendants
upon this court [of heraldry] called heralds, who consider it only as
a matter of lucre, and not of justice, whereby such falsity and
confusion have crept into their records, which ought to be the
standing evidence of families, descents, and coat armour, that
though formerly some credit has been placed to their testimony,
now even their common seal will not be received as evidence in any
court of justice in the kingdom/' When such a vile or venal state
of heraldic morality existed in England, under the surveillance of
a regular " College of Heralds,'' one may conjecture the extent to

386 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

land," and the Government of Ireland was, by the same
anthorit3% invested with lull power to take the requisite
measures for the safe custody, preservation, and arrange-

which the Ulster kings of arms as principal and uncontrolled
heralds for all Ireland, were led into fabrications and perversions
as a matter of "lucre and not of justice/' The Ulster king of
arms in 1800, was a member of the House of Commons of Ire-
land, and although he is alleged to have advanced the price of
his vote, by opposing the Union at first, before he came into
terms with Lord Castlereagh, yet the annuity granted him,
nominally in consideration of his loss of emoluments consequent on
that measure, could not be brought up beyond .£290 19 5 : while
at the same time Mrs. Taylor, Keeper of the Parliament House, was
granted a pension of ^877 18 9, together with an annuity of £472
18 11 for her under-housekeeper, Mary Foster 1 The Irish Archse-
ological Society in its Transactions for 1843, have given evidences
of what the Council of that learned body stigmatize as the *' bare-
faced fabrications of names, personages, events, and ancient armo-
rial bearings," embodied in pedigrees, disposed of for money "by
William Hawkins, Esq., Ulster king of arms and Principal Herald
of all Ireland, under the seal of his Office.'^ Further disclosures
of this nature, nearer to our own time, will be found in the
correspondence between C. J. O'Donel, Esq., Barrister at Law,
and Sir AVilliam Betham, Ulster king of arms, published at
Dublin in 1850, in which Mr. O'Donel protested against the undue
interference with Records in the Dublin Tower which he publicly
declared had not been kept free from interpolations and corruptions.
Mr. O'Donel's statements, which have never been disproved, were
supported by reference to a pedigree then recently issued, abound-
ing with " scandalous fabrications," signed sealed, and authen-
ticated by the Ulster king at arms, and to which even the attesta-
tion and signature of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, of the day,
had been, by some means, obtained. On the death of Lord Stan-
hope, in 1855, the office of Keeper of the Records in the Dublin Tower
finally expired, and according to law, could ** not be granted to any
person or persons whomsoever,'' and in compliance with the Act
of Parliament these muniments should have been removed to a
Public Record Office. An illustration of the obscurity hitherto
involving all matters connected witli Public Records of Ireland,
is found in that well-known, laborious, and in the main, accurate
publication. Them's Official Directory of Great Britain and Ire-
land at p. 830 of which, for 1863, the present Ulster king of arms is
entered as *' Keeper of the Dublin Tower Records,'' an office which,
as above shown, cannot legally exist ; nor iu any case could

18(53. J The Public Records of Ireland, 387

ment of these, and of '* all other records relating to Ire-
landJ' An Act of 1822 (3 George IV, chapter 56), moving
in the same direction, abohshed the Irish offices of Teller
of the Exchequer, Auditor General, Clerk of the Pells,
and Muster Master General, and provided that their re-
cords should also be removed to a public general Reposi-
tory.

No actual immediate movement was made under this
legislation, and the first practical step towards concentrat-
ing the records resulted from the act of 1829 (10 George IV*.
chapter 50) consolidating and amending the laws relating
to the management of the land revenue of the Crown in
Ireland.

This concentration of portions of the public muniments
of Ireland was commenced in 1831, under the supervision
of Mr. W. H. Hardinge, who with the approbation of the
Treasury, removed to the western wing of the Dublin Cus-
tom House, six of the nine classes included in the Acts,
viz. : the Records of the Surveyor General, Auditor Gene-
ral, Vice Treasurer, Teller of the Exchequer, Clerk of the
Pells, and Muster Master General, together with the re-
cords of the 1688 forfeitures. The records of the office of
the First-fruits and Twentieth parts, Commissioners of Im-
prest accounts, Excise, Customs, Post-office, with a variety
of smaller Collections have since that year been removed
to this Repository, and the arrangements, classification, and
registration of the entire mass of documents have been
accomplished in a style eliciting the highest commendations
from the most competent authorities""" in England and Ire-
land, and demonstrating the great benefit which would
have accrued to the country had the entire of the other
Irish public muniments been concentrated under the same
zealous, skilful, and indefatigably laborious head.

the Public at this time of day, submit to have muniments, the
property of the country, deposited anywhere but in a Public Record
Office, free from all professional influences or agency ; and so
arranged and calendared that, as in London, any individual may
obtain the fullest assistance in their production and use.

* See the •' History of the Survey of Ireland, commonly called
the *Down Survey,' by T. A. Larcom, F.R.S., M.R.T.A. Dublin : For
the Irish Archaeological Society, 1851." "Notes of Materials for the
History of Public departments," by F. S. Thomas, London: 1846.
« Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicse, by H, Cotton, D.C.L., 1846.

388 The Public Records of Ireland. [April.

The majority of otherwise educated people are not
aware that Ireland is anomafously situated with regard to
titles to public and private property, as, owing to former
events in that kingdom, the Irish Public Records constitute
the principal, if not the only, legal evidence of original set-
tlement and continued subsequent enjoyment of all real
property in Ireland, whether ecclesiastical, lay, or corpo-
rate, as well as of the origin, nature, variations, and
extent of the Crown's hereditary revenues. In corobora-
tion of these remarks it will suffice to cite here the unques-
tionable authority of General Sir Thomas Larcom, the
present Under-Secretary for Ireland, who, in his valuable
work on the history of the "Down Survey,'' mentions one
class of muniments which, in his own words, are ** the
legal record of the title on which half the land in Ireland is
held."

These features are as important to Great Britain as to
Ireland in matters of property ; it should also be remem-
bered that the Irish Public Records are the chief memo-
rials of the English race in Ireland, and, in an historical
point of view, they are absolutely requisite for the eluci-
dation of many highly important points of the annals of the
British Empire.

Although well aware of the hitherto not ungrounded
impression prevailing among scholars in Ireland, that they
have but little to expect from the guardians in London of
the Imperial finances,'"' we must here, injustice, express our
conviction that had not individual interests and sordid
motives combined up to the present, to withhold from the
light all accurate and impartial information on portions of
the Public legal Records of Ireland, we should not to-day
have to lay their wretched condition before the authorities
who, with honourable enlightenment, have liberally opened
the national purse not only for the execution in England of
desirable labours in this direction, but also to have exam-
ined and calendared every document extant abroad con-
nected with the history of Great Britain.

* The amount of justice hitherto exhibited to Ireland in the
administration of the grants of the Imperial Parliament for the
publication of chronicles, memorials, and calendars of documents
nominally for Great Britain and Ireland may be estimated from the
fact that of the ifty large volumes thus ah'eady published, at the

1863.] The Public Records of Ireland. 389

A full consideration of this subject, in all its bearings,
cannot fail to demonstrate tiTat the only satisfactory and
really economical course to be adopted is one analogous
to that taken so successfully in England — namely to con-
centrate all the Public Records of Ireland, both metropoli-
tan and provincial, in one general Repository at Dublin,
under the management of archivists qualified to render
them available in cases of justice, and competent, in their
own departments, to maintain for this part of the empire a
character for accurate and precise documentary learning.

By adopting a proper departmental collocation, preserv-
ing the official origin of each class, a systematic and sound
foundation might be laid for producing calendars of their

general national expense, under tlie Master of the Rolls in
England, not one was committed to the editorial care of any scholar
in Ireland ; and the only one of these productions bearing upon
Ireland, is a Calendar of Irish State Papers, in London. The little
reform contemplated in this system appears from the last official list
of the numerous books in progress, under the same arrangement,
which includes only two volumes entrusted to editors in Ireland, but
at the same time measures have been taken, necessarily at heavy
cost, under this grant, to despatch scholars to decipher, translate,
and prepare for publication documents connected with English his-
tory, in Paris, Lille, Vienna, Barcelona, Simancas, as well as in
other parts of Europe. Such is the injustice inflicted under
this *' Imperial measure" upon those learned scholars in Ireland
who have acquired for Irish historic literature the high position which
it now admittedly holds, having produced, at great personal sacrifice,
works, with which but iQyf of the volumes issued under the Master
of the Rolls in England can stand comparison in point of accuracy,
erudition, and perfect mastery of the subject matter. Of all the pub-
lishing bodies of these kingdoms, says a late writer in Blackwood's
Edinburgh Magazine, the Irish Archseological Society is "the moat
learned." The labour and the merit of producing such " wonder-
fully learned editions" as those printed by this Irish Society, are,
adds the same author, ** almost beyond practical appreciation." —
Blackwood, vol. xc, page 458 ; xci., pages 319-325. Of the publi-
cations^ in England, under the Master of the Rolls, a learned
writer in Fraser^s Magazine (Ixvi., 130-133) observes that "the
details and execution of this design have been hardly equal to the
plan itself ;" and points out instances in which some of the editors
in England have mistranslated the simplest phraseology in almost
every page ; thus producing works, *' not such," he justly adds,
*' as should appear under the authority of Government."

390 The Public Records of Ireland, [April.

contents in a manner appropriate to each class and useful
to the public in historical anfl legal inquiries. *' Without
calendars and indices/' says a high English authority,
** the Public Records are- as a sealed book and compara-
tively useless/'
^ This arrangement might be made sufficiently expan-
sive to absorb periodically the records of various public
offices, thus relieving them from obstacles to their current
every day business, and enabling Government to simplify
and economize those departments and courts, where the
merely nominal custody of ancient records by those, who,
as has been shown, are avowedly ignorant of their con-
tents, and unable to answer any inquiries in connection
with them, is at present made a source of unproductive
expense to the public.

Such a Record Repository might clenrly be established
under the Statute of 1817, which, as already mentioned,
authorizes the Government of Ireland, in plain words, to
take measures for the proper care, arrangement, and
aggregation of all the Public Records of Ireland; but
should any perverse petty legal technicalities be raised by
individual interests to mar the carrying out of a work so
beneficial to the country at large, the Legislature can
readily find means, as previously in England, to dispose
of such obstacles.

In taking leave of the subject, for the present, we trust
that we may^ not be considered to have been entirely
unsuccessful in our essay to accomplish the objects which
impelled us to enter upon this task, namely, to do justice
to labourers whose works have been unfairly appropriated :
to vindicate the real historic literature of Ireland : to arrest
the mis-direction of a well-intentioned national expendi-
ture ; to indicate the proper steps to be taken to remedy
the present neglected and precarious condition of the great
body of the Irish Public Records ; and to let the world
see the true obstacles which impede the production of
accurate and solid historical works in this part of the
Empire.

1863.] Modern Intellectualism and the Catholic Church, 391

Art. III. — 1. Averroes el L'Averro'isme. Essai Historique Par Ernest
Renan, Membre de I'lnstitut, Michel heyj Freres Editeurs, Paris,
1861.

2. Manual d'Histoire Comparee de la Fliilosophie et de la ' Religion,
Par J. II. ScholteiJ. Prof, de Theologie a 1 'University de Lejde.
Traduit du Hollandais. Par A. Reville, 1861.

3. History of Civilization in England, by Henry Thomas Buckle.
London: Parker, Son and Bourn. 1861.

4. The Westminster Review. New Series, No. XLV., January, 1863.

5. Fliilosophie und Theologie. Eine Streitschrift von Johannes von
Kuhn, Doctor der Philosophic und Theologie und ordentlicher
Professor der Theologie an der Universitat Tubingen. Tiibingen,
1860.

^r^HE days of the Reformation are drawing to their close.
X The evil is consummated. The debateable border-
land, which, in the sixteenth century, lay between the need
of a true reformation felt in the inmost heart of society and
the pride which perverted to evil the divine inspirations,
has long since been passed. Evil principles have settled
down and hardened themselves into accepted modes and
habits of thought and action. The irreligious mind of
Europe has at last, after many failures, succeeded in con-
structing for itself a Philosophy in which it proposes to find
intellectual satisfaction. Starting with universal doubt as
its basis, taking experimental investigation as its method,
modern Intellectualism has resulted in nothing higher
than the Materialistic Pantheism of Comte or the Philo-
sophic Rationalism of Germany. It looks down with a
sublime and contemptuous indifference, not only upon
christian philosophy based on revelation, but on all sys-
tems of religion as equally futile and superstitious. It
says of itself, in the words of Mephistophiles in Faust,
*^ Ich bin der Geist der stets verneint."' Such is the
ultimate result of the moral and intellectual perversion
of the European mind in the sixteenth century. The
nineteenth century has little in common with the Lutheran
age. More refined in manners, purer in its outward
deportment as well as in its interior life, European society
is less open now to religious impulses than in the age when

VOL. LII.-No. CIV. 8

392 Modern Intellectualism and the [April.

the stirring intellect and vigorous voice of the German
Reformer not only agitated every thoughtful mind, but
set nation against nation, until in the name of religion,
Enrope was baptized in blood. We by no means over-
look the political character which, for purposes of their
own, the'European governments imparted to the reforma-
tion, and which gave consistency and success to a move-
ment which would otherwise have perished in the throes
of its birth. But anterior to its political character and
beneath its political trappings there was in the Reforma-
tion an intellectual awakening from the dead sleep of the
foregoing age, a vigorous protest against the prevailing
Pagan tendency of the time, which rightly directed might
have caused the Reformation to anticipate the work of
the Council of Trent. The result of this fatal triumph of
the Reformation was to break with the traditions of the
past, and to unsettle the foundations of society.

Not only was a daring spirit of critical inquiry awakened,
but a new principle was introduced into ethics and religion
in the right conferred on the individual mind of constitu-
ting itself the supreme measure of human actions and the
sole criterion of truth. The prominence thus given to the
individual undoubtedly stimulated the development^ of
intellectual power and quickened into life slumbering
thoughts ; new energies were awakened, investigations
were pushed into all provinces of knowledge, and most
important discoveries were made. Individuality became
the characteristic of the age. The individual was all in
all — society nothing. Private opinion superseded tradi-
tional faith. Authority suffered. Law and public order,
weakened at first by the pride and self-will of the indivi-
dual, were finally trampled under foot by the infuriated
multitudes, emancipated from the old principle of obedi-
ence and the long habit of restraint. Men rushed to arms
to vindicate an opinion hastily adopted or passionately
pursued. Europe became the battle-field of rival creeds.
Cities were sacked, provinces laid waste, and kingdoms
rent in two by opposing factions.^ ^ Blood flowed like
water in the long years of these fratricidal wars. Religious
phreuzy bordered on insanity. The most extravagant
and the most grotesque— the most licentious and the most
blasphemous opinions were paraded in the sacred name of
religion. Everywhere the fires of persecution were lighted.
The axe and the gallows took the place of the sacred

J

1863.] Catholic Church: 393

councils and of the supreme authority of the church in
the decision of points of doctrine or of practice. Kings in
their wrong-headedness or in their hostility set the Papal
antliority at defiance. Exhausted at hist by loss of blood,
that part of Europe which was cursed by these new
opinions laid down arms and proclaimed a truce. In our
own country, indeed, it was only in the first half of the
present century that the civil rights of the Catholics were
at length tardily recognized.

Morality as well as civil government and religion
suffered by the self-assertion of the individual mind and
its emancipation from the control of the church. The
immutable laws of morality were altered to suit indi-
vidual opinion,'^' and the consequence of this seculari-
zation, so to speak, of the moral law was the general
disregard which soon sprang up, according to Luther's
own testimony, of the elementary principles of the
gospel. Men who under the dominion of the old faith were
temperate, modest, and self-restrained, became, under
the influence of the new lights, licentious, passionate, and
abandoned. Full of tumults and riotous, they filled whole
provinces with outrages which were a disgrace to human
nature. Lust and blood-thirstiness were the signs of their

* Such an alteration, for instance, in the laws of morality, was
the permission granted by Luther to the Landgrave of Hesse to
commit polygamy. In answer to his application for such leave and
licence the whole of the theologians assembled at Wittemberg to
frame a reply.

*• Your Highness," they state among other things, " we cannot
publicly introduce or give our sanction as by a law, to a permission
for marrj'ing a plurality of wives. We implore your highness to
reflect upon the danger in which that man would be placed who
should be convicted of having introduced into Germany a law such
as this.. ..Your highness is of a frail constitution... may it please your
highness to examine seriously the various considerations involved
in this matter ; the scandal, the labours, the cares, the grief and
weakness, which, as has been shown to you, are involved in it. If
however, your highness is utterly determined upon marrying a
second wife, we are of opinion tliat it ought to be done secretly.
Signed and sealed at Wittemberg, after the feast of St. Nicliolas, in
the year 1539 — Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, Martin Bucer,
Antony Corrin, Adam John Leuing, Justin Winfent, Dyonisius Mel-
anther."

S94 Modern Intellectualism and the [April,

presence in the cities given up to their rule. " Luther,"
says M. Audin in his description of the revolt of the re-
former's disciples at Wittemberpr, and of the abominable
atrocities committed by Garistadt and Munzer, *' was now
undergoing the penalty of his revolt against authority ;
around him he saw nothing but deception, doubt, and
scepticism.'' Buabia, Thuringia, Alsace, in a word all
the Western part of the German Empire was in a state of
fearful commotion. By degrees, the undying hatred of
the poor against the rich aroused itself. ** Lollards,
Beghards, a whole host of Apocalyptic visionaries," writes
M. Michelet in his life of Luther, *' put themselves in
motion. The rallying point, at a later period of the insur-
rection, was, the necessity of a second baptism ; but from
the very commencement throughout, the aim was a fierce
war against estabHshed order, against order of every des-
cription ; a war against property,— -it was the robbery of
the poor man ; a war against science, it broke up all
natural equality... ...The peasantry of the Black Forest

were the first to rise, and their example was immediately-
followed by the people of Heilbron, of Frankfort, Baden,
and Spires; thence the conflagration spread itself to
Alsace; where it assumed a character more terrible than
in any other direction. We next see its progress in the
Palatinate, in Hesse, in Bavaria." — " The peasants,"
according to another authority, *^ after the capture of
Weinsberg, resolved to give no quarter whatever to any
prince, count, baron, noble, knight, priest, or monk, in a
word, to none of the men who live in idleness ! They
accordingly massacred all the nobles who fell into their ^
hands, in order, they said to avenge the death of their J
brethren in Swabia. They destroyed a great number of
convents ; in Franconia alone two hundred and ninety-
three monasteries were pillaged and burned When they

despoiled a castle or monastery, they never failed to^ go
in the first instance to the cellar and clear ofif all the wine,
they then divided among themselves the church ornaments
and sacerdotal vestments." — Haarer (Peter Cimitus) apud
Freher IIL 242. For an account of the immorahties
committed, see Luther's Tischreden.

But science as well as society suffered from its seculari-
zation, as results but too clearly have shown. The inde-
pendent and unrestricted course accorded to the human
mind, excited in the onset its speculative activity to the

J

1863.[ Catholic Church. 395

highest, but the absence of faith to control and regulate
soon betrayed it into the wildest vagaries. Like an
untended plant in too rich a soil, it perished from its own
rank luxuriance. Philosophy, experience itself teaches,
has more need of faith than faith has of philosophy. If wo
follow the course of philosophy from the revival of letters,
down to the present day, we shall be at no loss to discover
the root of its chief errors in that great principle which
Modern Intellectualism so highly honours— the emancipa-
tion of human reason from the control of faith. The secu«
larization of science by blocking up all the broad high-
ways of true knowledge which the church was founded to
point out, was the most conspicuous cause of the infidelity
in the Deistical writers of the 17th and 18th centuries in
England, of the wretched materialism of France in the
last age, of the Rationalistic and Pantheistic philosophy of
Germany in our own day. If science, tree in its own pecu-
liar department, yet subordinate in its great conclusions to
the truths already established by revelation, had always
been cultivated in harmony with religion, the creeping in
of the small beginnings of error would have been effectually
checked, and the human mind would never have been
plunged into the frightful abysses it has too often reached.
The scoffing Rationalism and the hard Materialism of
the last century, its bitter gibes and jeers, its bold and open
blasphemies have been transformed by modern Intellec-
tualism into simple negation. Scientific men and the
intellectual leaders of the age regard the Christian faith
as a superstition beneath their notice, although, for the
most part, they still observe a decorous silence on the
subject of revelation. This change is in part to be ac-
counted for by the reaction which followed the violent
outbreak of the last century— in part by the exhaustion of
false philosophy itself, and it is also partly due to the
general improvement in the tone and manners of society in
the present day. But another cause which contributed in
no small degree to this change, was the great Catholic
School of writers which arose in defence of Christianity.
These eminent apologists in various countries, by the
keenness of their logic, by their profound and comprehen-
sive views, and the fixedness of their principles, drove the
philosophy of Rationalism out of the field. But now, since
these philosophical defenders of orthodoxy have passed
away, modern Intellectualism grows less guarded in its

396 Modern Intellectualism and the [^pril.

utterances. It differs in its tactics from those pursued in
the last century ; it does not seek to carry the Christian
citadel by storm, but to undermine its foundations by
slow and systematic approaches. It digs deep and distant
trenches and throws up earth- works of its own to defend
its position or to conceal its covert advance. It is sur-
prising how far the enemy has stolen unawares upon our
position. What hold unchristian theories have on the
mind of Europe, and what influence they exercise upon
the government of public affairs may be safely inferred
from the growing success of the two great principles of
modern times—- secularization of the State and of the
School — of society and science. However disguised in
terms to suit the weakness of novices. Catholic or other-
wise, these principles may be, their fundamental error still
remains, and, on slight consideration, their grave import
and danger will be at once apparent. Secularization
of the State means divorce from the Church, means
disturbance of the harmony which God established be-
tween the temporal and spiritual orders in the govern-
ment of the world. The State, independent of the
Church, introduces, as experience has amply shown,
laws and customs not only not in conformity with the
divine precepts, but too often framed or imported in the
bitterest spirit of hostility. Such principles, infused into
the body politic, soon energize in the life of a nation.
They exercise a baneful effect upon the conscience of the
individual, as well as upon society at large. Faith is weak-
ened and public reverence lessened by the non-recognition
of religion by the state, all community of interests is
interrupted and common action broken. The separation
of Church and State, or the enslavement of the Church by
the State, lies at the root of much of the evil — the revolu-
tionary commotions and the religious indifference — which
is now afflicting Europe.

The arguments in favour of the separation of Church and
State advanced by Lamennais in the ** Avenir'* were
chiefly based on the advantages which would accrue to
the church in the freer development of its own resources,
in liberty of action, and in power of self-government. In
an age like ours, it was contended, when the State for
the most part is hostile to religion, the independence of
the Church would be a simple gain. The independent
Church would have the indisputable right of holding what

at ^1

J

1863.] Catholic Church, 397

synods it cliose, of enterinp: into free communication with
Rome, of nominating; its own bishops, and appointin^a^
priests to its own parishes. The clergy were exhorted to
fling up their miserable pittances, whicli made them depen-
dent on an. irreligious state, and alienated them from
the affections of their flocks, whereas, if they displayed a
noble-minded disinterestedness and threw themselves on
the generosity and Catholic sentiment of the country, such
a confidence would beget respect and draw closer the bonds
between priest and people. This theory, urged with all the
eloquence which Abbe Lamennais and the writers in the
" Avenir*' were so capable of, found no favour in Rome,
and the condemnation of this theory was the occasion of
the unhappy apostacy of Lamennais. It was wrong in prin-
ciple, and would have failed in practice, as far at least, as
regards the maintenance of the clergy in France. In many
parts of the country the people would have nobly supported
the priests, but in many other parts, and in the large cities
where infidelity predominated, many of the priests would
have been reduced to beggary and starvation, and many
of the churches would have been closed. Yet even if
the church by its separation from the state had in some
respects been a gainer, such a gain could only have been
accomplished by a sacrifice of duty, for the church is
bound to do nothing to the detriment of the state and to
the public well-being of society. The withdrawal of the
church from its union with the state would have broken
down a barrier against the advance of infidelity, and les-
sened the influence of religion in the management of public
affairs. The separation of institutions which, by the con-
dition of their existence ought to be conjoined, can never
be carried out without inflicting mutual injury and loss.
Such an unnatural severance would be sure to create a
permanent antagonism between Church and State. Chris-
tian society from its cradle to its grave — man, from his
baptism to his burial — is indissolubly bound up with the
Church and with the State. The ill effect of such a feud
between two institutions both from God — though under
diff'erent conditions and with far different powers — would
soon make itself felt in every relationship of life, social,
political and religious. Far better for the church to
endnre the hostility of the state, than to be a party to such
a separation, and to be the guilty accomplice of evils
against which she must ever protest.

398 Modern InteUectualism and the L-^P^^^*

In the discussion of this theory we may call experience
to our assistance. Under the most favourable auspices
a scheme of separation of church and state was carried
out in Belgium. Acting on the advice and under the
influence of Lamennais, the Belgian clergy entered into a
compact with the Liberals that the church should be sepa-
rated from the state. Perfect freedom was guaranteed to
religion, and tolerance of all opinions, however perverse
and erroneous was established. The results of this unfor-
tunate compromise are but too plainly visible in the
political condition of that. Catholic country. Nowhere are
the doctrines of the church more frequently or more
fiercely dragged into political discussion, nowhere is the
clergy more vilified or abused than by the Belgian Li-
berals. On every occasion of political excitement the Press
teems with the most revolting attacks against all that is
held most sacred by the large majority of the country. No
weapon of offence is neglected. No tale is too scandalous
to be repeated by these cowardly assailants. The same
warfare and a like animosity prevail, in the Chambers.
Under such circumstances we are not surprised that the
state is only too glad of an excuse for encroaching on the
rights and liberties of the Catholic church. At the same
time, the state so ready to cripple the activities of the
Catholic church, never fails to afford toleration and encou-
ragement to the infidel party in its audacious attempt to un-
dermine the national faith. The two government universi-
ties, by the terms of the compact, secularlike the state itself,
are, equally with the state, openly hostile to religion. Not
satisfied with simply circulating to their heart's content
the principles of Modern Rationalism authorized in the
halls of these state universities, the attacks are ostenta-
tiously levelled by the salaried teachers of infidelity against
Christianity itself. In one instance, too notorious to be
passed over, the Catholic minister, de Decker, removed
or silenced the professor — not because in a Catholic
country he had offended against Christianity, but because
his theme was calculated to wound the susceptibilities of
some of his hearers. But the Belgian minister was a
Catholic liberal, and Catholic liberals, all the world over,
have faint hearts and mincing tongues — nay, have souls
which they dare not call their own or God's in the presence
of the great apostles of modern enlightenment. What in
Belgium, we make bold to ask, has the church gained

4

1863.] Catholic Church, 399

by separation from the state? Where is the promised
immunity from politico-religious discussions — where the
stipulated neutrality? No traces of it are to be found
in the unchristian character of the school and of the
state. The Catholic church has gained ground in
Belgium, nevertheless, it may be alleged in counter
argument,— of course she has, not in consequence
though, but in spite of the obstacles which her sepa-
ration from the state has thrown in her way. It is the
nature of the Catholic church to triumph under diffi-
culties. We shall, later on in these pages, have some-
thing to say on the present triumphs of the Catholic
church— political, intellectual, ;and religious, but just
now we have to do with the gains of her adversary ;
and the separation of church and state, the secularization
of the school and of society, is a triumph to the principles
and to the pride of modern Intellectualism. Another argu-
ment, of quite a diflferent kind, of a character as mistrustful
and cowardly as that of Lamennais was bold and sanguine,
is sometimes brought forward to prove that the separation
of church and state is beneficial to the church. A train of
reasoning however, such as we allude to, which takes for
granted the weakness of the church and the proneness
of churchmen to corruption, betrays not only an igno-
rance of the past history of the church in the world, but
a timid and unhopeful spirit totally unable to conceive
the future destiny of the church or its power of success-
fully coping with the difficulties of the day. Far from
wishing the church to shrink from public conflict with
the world, we, on our side, would urge her ever on-
wards— on to the outposts of civilization and into the
thickest of the fight, until she were master again in the
citadel of human thought and action. But let us see
what can be said on behalf of the policy of isolation — the
retirement, so to speak, of the church from public life.
It is urged, then, that such withdrawal of the church from
the active interests of the world would lead her back to the
primitive ways of apostolic poverty, and preserve her from
the dangers and corruptions incidental to secular conflicts
and alliances. The monk in his cell, the priest in his
parish, the bishop in his diocese, and the Pope, divested of
temporal'power, each devoted exclusively to the business of
religion, would afford, we are told, a spectacle of disinter-
estedness and self-denial which it would be quite dehghtful

400 Modern Intellectualism and the [April.

for men in the world to contemplate. Passing over the
fallacy of the argument which assumes that the husiness
of life and the husiness of reh'gion are separate, and sup-
posing it were possible to exclude the secular interests and
conflicts, together with their incidental temptations and
dangers, from the cell and the parish, from the episcopal
see and from the chair of St. Peter itself, would such exclu-
sion be wise— would it be just, or in other words would it
be pleasing to God ? Is it not the mission ofjj/td church
to mingle in the conflicts of the world ; to guide, to warn,
— aye, and to console, where consolation is most needed ?
Are not the interests of the day her own interests? Is there
anything done or suffered in this wide world which does
not affect the salvation of souls ? Shall the church alone
in timid isolation stand aloof from active life? — No ! where
the fight is thickest she must take her stand. In the mar-
vellous teeming world of letters, where the busy brain of
man is weaving the tangled web of good and evil for the
preservation or destruction of numberless millions, the
church must take her part, despite the temptations she
may incur from the fascinations and the pride of intellec-
tual life. She must sanction the discoveries of science by
her presence and approval, or correct its errors by her
inspired faith; but does she incur no danger from a pursuit
which is so flattering to the self-assertion of human reason ?
Shall she shrink from taking her seat in the university
halls of the world, and from plunging into the mysteries
of the false philosophies and religions^ of the age out
of fear of contamination ? Such pusillanimity were worse
than if the physician were to forsake the fever hospital
when the malady was at its highest. The church
must mingle with the world, because its interests are
intimately wrapped up with her own. She must gain
experience and knowledge, (and these great gifts do not
come by the way of isolation) so that she may learn the bur-
den that lies on the human heart, and the temptations that
most beguile in order to the more eflectual discharge of
her ministry of souls. The church moreover has a public as
well as a private duty to perform, for which experience and
knowledge of men are necessary. She is bound to bear
her share in the government of the world, for whose moral
well-being she is responsible. In all those great assemblies
where the public business of the world is carried on, where
the fate of nations is often decided, the presence of the

1863.] Catholic Church. 401

church with her eternal principles and her Immoveable
front is now more than ever needed. What if corruption
should creep on in the track of power, and the consecrated
finger of the churchman should clutch, like Wolsey's, too
eagerly after gold, then, like Wolsey, he must repent. It
would be cowardice in the foremost sentinel of Christianity
to forsake his post at the most advanced gate of civilization
on account of its accompanying danger. In the long sweep
of time, since the church first emerged from the catacombs,
she has ever taken her place in the battle of life ; sometimes
here or there she has sunk in^ the conflict, or sometimes
here or there corruptions, incidental to the warfare she
was waging, have cumulated upon her ; but the Divine
Hand has ever raised her from her stagnation and sent
her forth vigorous again to the combat. But if she have
suffered losses how great her gains have been ! Hers was
the plastic hand which moulded European society. She
turned aside the Goth and the Vandal, and tamed the
noble barbarian. In no forced or voluntary isolation, but
in the van of the activities of life she pursued the path of
progress and civilized the world. She manumitted the
serf. She stepped in between the rude baron and his vic-
tim. In the sacred name of liberty she confronted kings
in the pride of their power, and taught the rulers of the
world the wisdom of moderation and the art of good
government. By affording the right of refuge to the perse-
cuted, and even to criminals, she checked the rage of cruelty
and mitigated the severity of barbarous laws. What a gain
furthermore, to society and civilization were not her monas-
tic institutions with their civil rights and recognized position
in the commonwealth ! To them we are indebted for the
preservation of the great memorials of the old civilization
which broke up because it could not assimilate itself to
the christian principles which the church was commis-
sioned to teach to the world. What wealth of literature,
what treasures of art, which the Past had bequeathed to
the Present, would not have perished had it not have been
for the fostering care of the mother of modern civilization !
Throughout the long ages of their connection, what tradi-
tions of holiness, what precepts of wisdom has not the
Church kept up in the State ! And when the disastrous
storm of the sixteenth century swept over the world, and
tore provinces and whole kingdoms from the unity of the
faith, and when man, in the pride and licence of a new-

402 Modern Intellect ualistn and the [April.

found liberty, secularized the state and secularized science,
and proclaimed as a first principle the complete indepen-
dence of human thought in every department of life, the
Church manfully gathered together her forces, and where
she could not overcome the evil, she still exercised, by her
presence in the world, her silent influence for the best inter-
ests of civilization. None as yet were so reckless as to break
wholly with the traditions of the Fast. The consummation
of such an evil, commenced by the reformation, was a work
of time. But the time came slowly but surely. The state,
rendered independent of, or tyrannizing over, the church,
soon became absolute, and absolutism is only another
phase of the Revolution. But the absolute State was soon
converted into an instrument of destruction in the hands
of the godless school, which is the other principle of Modern
Intellectualism we have yet to consider. But before pass-
ing on to this consideration, let us in simple faith reiter-
ate the question — why the Church, wise with the experi-
ence of eighteen hundred years, should retire from her
position in the world — from the front ranks in every depart-
ment of life? Has the Church faith in the wisdom of
the age or in the purity of its guiding influences ? Secu-
larization of the state and, as a logical consequence,
abandonment of the temporal power by the Pope, is the
war-cry of modern Enlightenment ; and every instinct of
Catholicism, throughout the whole length and breadth
of the world, answers that cry with a direct defiance.
Catholicism and Modern Intellectualism differ not only
in the manner of expression or the mode of viewing
things, but on first principles ; and between them the only
issue is war. But for children of the church to counsel
her to withdraw from the world lest her purity should be
contaminated in the conflict — lest mingling with the world
she should love too well the ways of the world— lest pride,
avarice, ambition should choke in her breast the virtues
she was commissioned to teach, shows a want of faith in
the destinies of the church as great as that which befel
Peter in the bark. In both instances the presence of
Christ is forgotten. What shallowness of view, what
miserable faint-heartedness in Catholics to desire that the
church should flinch from the performance of the active
duties of life, out of fear of incurring their incidental
dangers ! Isolation is not safety, neither is it thejpart of
wisdom. Let the church enjoy power, for power is her

1863.] Catholic Church. 403

inheritance. Her mission is to teach man, in every rela-
tionship of life, public or private. To withdraw herself,
therefore, from any sphere of activity is a sacrifice of duty.
There is nothing too minute or mighty that concerns the
welfare of man for religion to deal with. The churchman
should stand shoulder to shoulder with the good and true
everywhere in the conflicts of life. The cowl of the monk
ought to be seen in the assemblies of the learned, and the
voice of the prelate be heard in the affairs of the state,
while the Vicar of Christ upon earth must, in his tem-
poi'al capacity, be ever at the least on an equal footing
with King or Kaiser. Union between the two orders,
which God has created for the salvation of souls and the
preservation of society, is of the first importance for the
attainment of those ends — put aside what God has joined
together, and you not only risk the salvation of souls, but
endanger the existence of society itself.

Secularization of the School is the other great instru-
ment which Modern Intellectualism makes use of, as a
lever, to upset the old christian foundations of society. The
separation of the state from. the church, or the subjection of
the church by the state, and the emancipation of civil
society from the bonds of rehgion, would be of little value
or of no long duration, were Rationalistic principles for-
bidden entrance into the schools. The triumph of the.
godless principle in education is a conspicuous sign of the
successful march of modern ideas. Its overthrow or partial
check even is, on the other hand, a Catholic victory.
Montalembert and the Catholic party achieved a signal
success in breaking up the monopoly of the infidel univer-
sity in Paris in 1850, and in obtaining liberty of instruc-
tion and the right of founding Catholic schools; but the
whole governmental system of education in France still
remains completely secular and openly hostile to religion.
Renan, the advanced and avowed Rationalist, still occupies
his chair in the university of Paris. His historical essays
and his philosophical disquisitions may be taken as a fair
sample of the character and quality of the French literature
of the present day. Acute and self-sufficient, he affects, as
writers of his stamp and figure mostly do, extreme candour
and impartiality in the pursuit of knowledge, yet beneath
this mask, contempt for the christian faith and philosophy
is ill concealed. In historical criticism, in philosophy, in
science, deductions are drawn or discoveries made which

404 Modern Intellectualism and the [April.

are at once proclaimed by their writers as completely
overthrowing a whole range of revealed truth, or contra-
dicting in full and in its front the Mosaic narrative, or
even as reducing the hope and faith of the Christian to a
myth or a dream. Now, it is the exceptional character and
position of the Jewish people which is set aside, now, the
descent of man from one pair is denied, and now, the after
life of the individual soul is called in question. But the
more recognized fashion of Modern Philosophy is to
avoid even the approach or possibility of controversy, by
treating the truths^ of revelation as already long since
condemned by the intelligence of the age, and by regard-
ing them as subjects fit only for the contemplation of man
before his intellect had arrived at maturity. Man, it is
acknowledged, owes a debt of gratitude to religion, be-
cause in a barbarous age it supplied a want which nothing
else could have satisfied so well. But now he owes to
faith no more love or allegiance than the grown-up man
does to the tales he heard in the nursery or to the song
which his mother sang to him in his cradle. Unfortu-
nately, the literature of France to-day takes its stamp
and character from such second and third-rate writers ;
their power lies in their numbers and in the multitude of
their readers.

But, unhappily, it is only too true that there have not
been wanting men of genius also and originality, who have
laboured to raise up in the place of Christianity an infidel
system of philosophy. Cousin by his pantheistic doctrines,
and Comte by his *' Philosophic Positive," have created
two great schools of irreligious thought in Prance. In
the reign of Louis Philippe, Cousin was the most bitter
opponent of the liberty of instruction and of the Catholic
reaction, and during the whole of that corrupt period his
pantheistic writings were difi'used far and wide, and
entered with too fatal a facility into many an unsuspecting
mind. In his last philosophical work, " Le Vrai, le
Beau, et le Bien," which was the prelude to his conver-
sion, principles and sentiments are contained, so true and
noble, as to be quoted with approval in the French
pulpit. Since his recent conversion he has withdrawn
altogether from metaphysical speculations, yet he has not
had the courage or the good faith publicly to disavow and
to withdraw from circulation his well-known and pernicious
writings.

1863. 1 Catholic Church. 405

The materialism of Comte is widely diffused among the
more intellectual classes. It has been especially well
received in the schools of science, where its worst expo-
sitions are readily endorsed. The most debased system of
philosophy is the most welcome to the modern scientific
mind of France, and this disposition is in itself an evidence
how readily science, emancipated from the control of faith,
falls into error, and how apt it is, when left to follow its
own independent course, to ally itself with the grossest
form of infidelity. Yet even in the domain of science,
where alone infidelity can boast of intellectual preeminence,
the irreligious school has not been allowed undisputed sway.
Ever since the days of Detruyen and Recamier, when the
dispute on the divinity of our Lord, in the medical lecture
halls, rose to such high words that Recamier was called
upon to maintain the Christian dogma at the point of the
sword, men have never been wanting, even in the * Acade-
mic des Sciences,' to combine with scientific knowledge
the fiiith of the Christian. Baron de Cauchy, the greatest
master in mathematics since Laplace, was a devout
Catholic, and so also were Vinel, the mechanician, and
Quatremain de Quincey, the great archaeologist. Cuvier,
the naturalist, was likewise on the Christian side ; these
writers are, to say the least, as distinguished for their scien-
tific attainments as those of the infidel school, such as Arago,
St. Hilaire, and Lamarck who first broached the theory that
man was descended from the ape. Again, the great Orien-
talists, such as Abel Remusat, Silvestre de Sacy, St. Mar-
tin the Armenian scholar, and others, were, for the most
part. Christian. Nevertheless it is not to be denied that in
spite of some noble exceptions, the scientific mind of
France, during the present century, has been profoundly
anti-christian, and its influence has deeply infected the
current literature of the country.

Asa set-off, however, against the dense swarm of ration-
alistic writers, and the still denser mass of immoral pro-
ductions which have perverted the literature of France
to its core, it must be remembered that in the higher walks
of literature, the greatest intellects and the most original
thinkers, with the exception of Cousin and Comte, which
France has produced in the present age, have, for the most
part, been ranged on the side of Christianity. In the ** Genie
du Christianisme," Chateaubriand, by the vividness and
fervour of his faith, and the boldness with which he dis-

406 Modern Intellect ualism and the [April,

sected the evils under which France was suffering, was the
first to fix pubHc attention on the Catholic church, as the
only salvation possible for society after the frightful shocks
and revolutions it had undergone. De Maistre and de
Bonald, men of far greater original powers of mind, and-
Lamennais before his fall, and his disciples, Montalembert
Lacordaire, and Gerbet, have not only triumphantly vindi-
cated Christian philosophy and ethics against all opponents
but have imparted greater depth and fixedness to the
modern school of Catholic thought. It is not necessary
here to [speak of the intellectual activities of the Catholic
church, nor of the influence which her great divines and
preachers exercise over the mind of society. It is enough
to know that such a powerful influence together with the
labours of publicists, such as De Broglie, and church histo-
rians such as Abbe Jager, keep intact and advance, in
the teeth of the Rationalism of the day, the old traditions
and public principles of the Catholic church. In addition
to the great school of Catholic writers, such men as Ville-
main, and Cousin since his conversion, and the Protestant
historian Guizot, are striking witnesses that the highest
intellectual power recoils from the abyss towards which
lesser minds are blindly rushing.

In his admirable work. The Christian Church ''and
Society [in 1861, .Guizot, piercing beneath the disturbed
surface of things, shows that the real import of the
movement which is taking place in the European mind
is the final conflict between the natural and the super-
natural principles. In the Catholic church he recognizes
the chief stronghold of the supernatural idea. Her exis-
tence is a public recognition of G'od in the world.
Against this public recognition of the supernatural principle
the whole force and antagonism of the natural man are
brought to bear. ^ In science, philosophy, and politics
the natural principle, taking form in infidelity and the
revolution, incessantly strives for mastery: *'All the
attacks," says this eminent writer, '* of which Christianity
is at the present day the object, however they may differ in
their nature and degree, proceed from one point and tend
to the same end, — a denial of the supernatural in the des-
tinies of man and of the world, the abolition of the mira-
culous element in the Christian religion as in every other
in its history, as in its dogmas. ^ Materialists, pantheists,
rationalists, sceptics, scholastic critics, some openly,

18(j3.] Catholic Church, 407

others with reserve, all think and speak under the domin-
ion of this idea, — that the world and man, moral and phy-
sical nature, are uniformly governed by general, perma-
nent, and necessary laws, the course of which no special
will has ever interfered with, or ever will interfere with,
to suspend or modify." The Protestant historian, more-
over, with very great breadth of view and very deep
insight into remoter motives, sees in the united attack
of S3 many different forces on the temporal po\ver of the
Pope, only another manifestation and outward sign of the
desire to root out the supernatural principle from the
hearts and consciences of men.

Guizot, with his calm, philosophic, and reverent intel-
lect, is a favourable specimen of the higher class of mind
in France at the present day, as Renan is of the lower
school of rash, pretentious, and shallow thinkers.

But in tracing the effects of the secularization of the
School, or in other words, in estimating the character of
the literature of a country, we must be careful not to
draw our conclusions from a few isolated writers, however
great may be their genius. The great intellectual power
of itlie Catholic apologists of the last generation, whose
names are familiar to us all, is beyond doubt or cavil; and
yet, because the circle of their readers was comparatively
limited, they did not stamp with their own character the
literature of the day. That literature, as far at least as
its influence is concerned, with which we alone have now
to do, is not the literature which is written but the litera-
ture which is read. The ** scribere legenda," which Pliny
cites as an evidence of the favour of the gods is, at any
rate, a test, not always of the worth indeed, but always of
the influence of the writer. Genius has the capacity in itself
of setting its seal upon what it touches, but if the material
it has to stamp shall be wanting to its hands, it can leave
no impression behind. In some such way, it appears to
us, that the excellent Catholic literature of France fails to
leave its broad mark on the age ; for what, when compared
with the enormous circulation which unchristian and
immoral writings enjoy, is the extent and inflnence of
Catholic literature? In this disposition of the public mind,
more perliaps than in anything else, are to be seen the
fatal workings of the secular system of education and its
natural results — science pursuing its independent and
unrestricted course, and society, under such godless influ-

VOL CLII,-No. IV. 9

408 Modern Intellect ualism and the [April.

ence and tuition, approaching to the brink of infidelity.
In estimating the strength and depth of evil principles
imbedded in the French mind, we have not left out "of
count the intellectual activities of the Catholic church, nor
the rapid and wonderful progress she has made, in snatch-
ing from her great antagonist the territories which for so
long a time it has usurped. The very existence of the
Catholic church, far more the extension of her boundaries,
shows the divine vitality of her nature, and inspires every
hejirt with a confidence that never wavers, not only in her
ultimate success but in her approaching triumphs. This
hope of her approaching triumphs not only in France, but
over the mind of Europe, is not snatched out of the air,
but springs from the evidence which is visible to all— the
close and intimate union of priest and bishop with Rome,
the increase of holiness and the fixedness of principle in
the church when outside of her all is shifting and unstable
as sand.

We could not quit the soil of France which we have
been examining, and which, though choked with deadly
herbs and weeds of ill culture and long growth, is yet fuU
of promise of a better yield, without protesting against the
faint-heartedness — mother of despair — which is ever crying
out about the failure of the Catholic church and its power-
lessness to stem the tide of modern irreligion.

In leaving France and crossing over the Rhine, we
enter the classic land of Rationalism. In Germany the
secular principle in education has long had full sway,
and its inevitable results are shown in a philosophy which
has become a by-word in the world. The German mind,
exhausted by its metaphysical speculations, and its fruitless
search after truth on forbidden ways, has, in recent times,
recoiled altogether from philosophical studies. All its
activity is now devoted to the physical sciences and to
politics. In both it takes as its guide the false principle
of rationalistic inquiry — experiment, founded on universal
scepticism. In both pursuits it has gone far astray.^ Ger-
many ever since 1848 has made great progress in the
positive sciences, but all its newly-acquired knowledge has
been applied to the support of materialism. The political
revolution is visibly deepening in the German mind, and
throwing out roots in a not unfavourable soil. Vogt, the
revolutionary politician in the Frankfort parliament, a
man of great scientific attainments and a materialist in

d

1863.] Catholic Church, 409

religion, maybe taken as a type of the modern develop-
ment of the German mind. Its chief study is science, its
politics are the revokition, and its religion is riiaterialism.
The Leipsic book- fair annually exhibits the products of
such false development as its chief intellectual wares.
Almost the entire publishing trade is in unchristian hands.
The press too, with a few vigorous exceptions, and some
local journals of small importance, derives its chief inspira-
tions from Jews and infidels. In the presence of such a
development it will be a matter of surprise to none to find
that there is not a single Catholic university throughout
the whole of Germany. The mixed system of education
prevails wherever the Catholic population predominates ;
but where Protestants form the majority an exclusively
Protestant system^ of education is maintained. The
Catholics of IPrussia have recently petitioned for admission
into the royal university of Kouigsberg, but their petition
has been rejected. In most of the universities, however, the
notorious sceptic, the covert rationalist, and the Catholic
professor, teach in the same halls, and handle from coh-
tiicting points of view the great problems of history, the
methods and discoveries of science, and the deepest ques-
tions of metaphysics. Some of the universities, like
Tiibingen and Halle, have gained an unenviable reputa-
tion and have been justly regarded as the forcing-houses
of infidelity. Others, like Bonn, and Munich, and Breslau,
enjoy a better name ; but even in these the State Protes-
tant or Catholic, leaves the Catholic chairs vacant for
years, or fills them with men whose Catholicism is of
the weakest : and worse still, professors in the theolo-
gical faculty, as is now the case in Breslau, are retained
in their chairs although they have been suspended
by their bishop. The same scandal occurred at the
university of Bonn, where Hermes, and Broun, and Ac-
terfeldt ^ were allowed to retain their professorships
after their opinions had been formally condemned, and
they had refused to submit to ecclesiastical authority.
Incipient heresy, or semi-rationalism is invariably encou-
raged, while a reputation for ultramontanism is enough to
destroy the prospects of any Catholic in a German univer-
sity." An exception, perhaps, may be made in favour of

♦ The Students of the Uuiveraitj of Bonn have formed an orgaai-

410 Modern Intellectualism and the [April.

the university of Vienna, where distinguished Cathohcs,
like Phillipps and Arndt, neglected at Munich, have been
welcomed by the academic authorities, although in their
new sphere of action they, too, have had much to contend
against from the evil influences which were raised against
them, and the bad spirit which prevailed among the
students as well as among their own colleagues. At the
great meeting of the Catholics of Germany, recently held
at Aix-la-Chapelle, it was unanimously resolved to found
a Catholic university as a protection against the false
intellectualism of the age, and where faith and philosophy
should no more be divorced.

In Germany as in France, in spite of the secular system
in the higher branches of education, the intellectual activity
of Catholicism is making great progress. The ** Politische
Blatter," of Munich, long distinguished for its sound
political views and for its devotion to the church, and by
the masterly way in which it sometimes handles philoso-
phical subjects, has perhaps done more than any other
publication of the kind in Europe, to hold in check the
spread of erroneous opinions and dangerous theories in
politics, literature, and religion. Its own principles are
clearly defined, and it has never hesitated to speak at
the right moment and in the boldest manner.

The ** Tiibinger Quartal Schrift" is also an evidence of
the sound growth of Catholic periodical literature. ^ The
** Pius Verein" and ** Bonifacius Vereiii" and similar
societies have done much to encourage the publication of
sound Catholic works, and to strengthen the Catholic
cause in the field of letters, as well as to make the Catho-
lics of Germany act in unison, and show a bold and
unbroken front in the face of an active and vigilant enemy.
Much cannot be said in favour of the support which Pro-
testantism is here and there giving to the cause of Chris-
tianity. In spite of the efforts which the Gerlach party in

zation which has for its object to obtain complete religious equality
as guaranteed by the law^s of the land, in all the German Univer-
silies. Thej liave invited all the Members of the other Universi-
ties, and the learned bodies, to join them in this demand for perfect
legal equality. Honour to Bonn for its courage in taking the first
step against this wide-spread evil, this violation of the rights of
Catholics in Prussia,

1863.1 Catholic Church. 411

Berlin, and the Protestant divine Hengstenberg and bis
Review, are making to revive tbe better principle in
Protestantism, it is fast lapsing into decay from its own
internal weakness, and will soon be numbered among the
evils of the past. The children of its own begetting,
rationalism, deism and infidelity, are impatiently waiting
to enter upon their long-delayed inheritance. Perhaps
the most distinguishing characteristic, as it is the most
obnoxious feature in the present state of Germany, is the
junction of the fanatical hatred of the Jew against Chris-
tianity with the hard, cold scepticism of the nationalist.
This union inspires an intense hatred against the Catholic
church, and is nowhere more manifest than in political
life and in the persevering attacks of the daily press on all
that is dear to Catholicism at home and abroad. The
temporal power of the Pope has no fiercer enemy than the
rationalistic Jew of Germany, and the godless system of
education no warmer friend. RationaHstic in religion and
revolutionary in politics, the disciples of modern enlighten-
ment in Germany, are at once an evidence and a condem-
nation of the secular system in the state and in the school.
We have already referred to the triumphs which the
principle of the independence of the human mind from the
control of faith has achieved in Belgium, and have indi-
cated the progress which philosophic and political Ra-
tionalism is making in France and Germany, but shall
do no more now than simply allude to Italy, the actual
battle-field of contending principles, where the lawlessness
of revolution is asserting itself in theory and in fact,
against the duty of submission to constituted authorities
and established rights. If we examine the aims of the
revolution ever so cursorily we shall be at no loss to
detect its principles. The first aim of the revolution is the
overtlu'ow of the temporal power of the Papacy and the
destruction of independent and sovereign states. The
second is the unity of Italy under one sceptre ; the third
object is to make the state instead of the church supreme
over the consciences of men ; and the fourth is the secular-
ization of the school. These aims involve principles subver-
sive of the first foundations of all social order, of the laws of
political morality, of the first elements of all religion, and of
faith itself. These principles, to which the present revolu-
tionary movement owes its birth, were imported into Italy, as
we have on former occasions in these pages endeavoured to

412 Modern Intellect ualism and the [April.

show, by the Voltairian literature of France, and by the
introduction of a semi-rationalistic method in the teaching
of not a few of the universities of Italy. Italy owes no debt
of gratitude to the first or second empire. Under the first
Napoleon she was indoctrinated with the ideas, philosophic
and political, of '89, and the successful carrying out of those
ideas, in the Italy of to-day, is due to the arms and policy
of the second Bonaparte.

Of Spain and Portugal we must not speak in one breath.
Portugal is in a state of intellectual and religious collapse.
It is the refuge of the revolution. It has drunk the cup to
the dregs. But Spain is nobly struggling to free itself from
the meshes and snares which, through a long series of
years the Revolution — that embodiment of evil principles
intellectual, political and religious — has wound round its
limbs and laid for its^ feet. The resuscitation of Spain
from its moral torpor is an encouragement to Europe and
an evidence of the vitality of Catholic principles.

The same spirit which characterizes the advanced and
irreligious thinkers and writers on the continent is manifest
also at home. A like claim is urged on behalf of human
reason to complete independence in the pursuit of all know-
ledge, to perfect freedom of thought on all subjects, human
or divine. Such unrestricted liberty in all speculative
inquiries is made a boast of, and is fast becoming as much
a matter of national pride as personal liberty. Since the
Tractarian movement ceased, Oxford has become a Ger-
man school of Rationalism. Thence Rationalistic opinions
have spread into the current literature, and made them-
selves at home in the English mind. The publication of
the ** Essays and Reviews" was merely a gathering up
into a concise form, of opinions and principles of criticism
which were already widely diffused and seriously held.
England was startled from its propriety on^ the first ap-
pearance of this work, not by the nature of its views, but
because of the quarter whence it came. Ministers of the
gospel, it was supposed, ought to be the last to cast doubt
on the truths of revelation. Mere laymen might advance
what they chose ; faith was no part of their business ; but
tmbelief in beneficed clergymen was looked upon as rank
treachery. Separation from the Catholic church and the
absence of those principles, which the Catholic faith en-
forces in all speculative and scientific inquiries, is driving
English thought fast into the ranks of the rationalist, in

1863.] Catholic Church: 413

spite of the old traditions of faith and habitual reverence
for the revealed word of God, wliich have clung so^ long
to the English mind, it is but too apparent that the intel-
lectual leaders of the countr3^, both in political principles
and in philosophic speculations, are content to be the
servile copyists of French revolutionary ideas and of a false
German philosophy.

Even from the hasty incursions we have made into the
territories of RationaHsm in the leading countries of Eu-.
rope, the conclusion seems inevitable, that the belief that
the Divine Will has anything to do with public concerns is
as much out of date, as that Revelation is the only key to
the knowledge of the mysteries of our being. This substi-
tution of man's will for God's will — of human reason for
faith in the government of the world and in the philosophy
of the day, is the great difficulty which the church has to
contend against in its efforts not only for the keeping
of the faith, but for the preservation of society itself.
Ear superior^ to the three preceding ages in decency
of manners, in propriety of taste, and in refinement of
language, yet is our epoch, in its intellectual character,
far less under the influence of religious motives than was
the day^ when the controversies of Luther were attacking
the Vatican, and rending nearly the half of Europe from
the centre of faith. Human reason has broken itself
against the iron bars of its cage, and self-blinded by
wilfully gazing at " an excess of light," it has fallen
hopelessly back into its prison-house. Ealse philosoph}^
more especially in Germany, has exhausted itself, and has
returned to the point whence it started — declaring that
since it has discovered nothing, nothing can be known.
The product of all its labours is unfaith. It evinces
no hate, no hostility, but satisfied with its own false
method of procedure, it pays no heed to the startling fact
that a godless system of philosophy leads, not to know-
ledge but to ignorance — to ignorance of all the mighty
problems of life which have agitated the human mind from
the earliest ages, and which Christian philosophy alone was
able to interpret. It threatens now to plunge its disciples
back into a worse than pagan darkness ; for there was
twilight on the pagan horizon — the light of the past, or of
the coming Sun which was to illumine the world, but there
is no light, or promise of light, in the impenetrable gloom
of modern philosophy. The European intellect, with all the

414 Modern Intellect ualism and the [A-pi'i^

Strength of Its stirring activity, has thrown itself npon the
study of nature, and seeks in the contempkition of the
laws of the universe, to discover its composition and the
secrets of its origin. It helieves only as much of the mys-
teries of the Creation as the chisel and hammer of the
geologist can prove, or the distilling-pot of the chemist can
disclose.

On the character and mould of modern civilization the
opinions of men are divided. The Catholic church declares
that faith in revelation and submission to the Divine Will
in the conclusions of science and in principles of govern-
ment, as in all other matters, are of the essence of civiliza-
tion ; whereas the apostles of modern enlightenment hold
the opinion that all advance in knowledge and progress
in society depend simply upon the unfettered freedom of the
will and of the intellect of man. Between such conflicting
principles the gulf is immeasurable. They each start
from different points and arrive at different conclusions.
In all intermediate steps and stages a like divergence
appears. In the progress of knowledge, in its order or
disturbance, in the doubts and difficulties that beset and
darken its path, counsel is drawn froni different sources.
And the ultimate appeal is different; in the one case it
appeals for judgment to the truths revealed by God, in the
other to probabilities proposed by human reason. The
position, therefore, which the Church now occupies in the
world, differs materially from that which she enjoyed in the
middle ages, or in the Lutheran period which is now draw-
ing to a close. No more can she appeal to the public
opinion of the nations, for the European conscience is per-
verted ; she can no longer turn to the traditions of ages,
for the links of those traditions have been broken by schism,
heresy, and unbelief; she can no longer adjudge all causes
by the divine authority vested in herself, because her
authority is disputed or denied by nearly one half of the
nations of Europe. The warfare she has to^ encounter is
also of a different character. The combat is keener and
closer — the issue more vital, yet it provokes the warmer
passions less, because the battle-field is removed to higher
and colder regions, and the fight has to be fought out on
the hard and frozen heights of intellectual pride. Modern
Intellectualism in these days and in our own country boasts
of its vmimpassioned character, of its immunity from preju-
dice, of its fair and candid spirit of inquiry ; but if science.

A

1863.] Catholic Church. 415

in its researches, abstains to-day from the hostility which
characterized it in the Voltairian age, it is only becanse it
pays no homage and owes no worship but to itself. It does
not at all follow that, because science is impartial and can-
did in its endeavour to discover truth, or because its methods
have now been so perfected, that therefore it should be
exempt from falling into error. And if it fall into error,
will science be less absolute than of yore ; less obstinate in
maintaining its own conclusions at all hazards? How often
has not time, the great teacher, falsified the results of
science, and upset its most cherished conclusions? What
is the history of science but a history of exploded errors ?
The scientific truths of yesterday are the falsehoods of
to-day. Cuvier relates that in his youth pious men were
troubled in their minds because science had declared the
flood to be a physical impossibility, since there was not
water enough in the heavens, or in^ the bosom of the earth
to produce the deluge described in Holy Writ. But in
the lapse of a few years science discovered its supposed
facts to be illusions, and that the waters in the clouds
alone, were sufficient to submerge the earth up to its
highest mountain- tops. Science may err again in our
day, and, left to its own vagaries, deny the descent of the
human race from a single pair, or uphold the theory of
spontaneous generation or of gradual development from
inorganic matter ; but is science to be allow^ed, as many in
these days contend, unrestricted licence in its pursuits, to
own no master, to obey no law higher than its own supposed
laws? And what are these ** laws'' on which so overween-
ing a stress is laid, but deductions drawn by the reason of
man, and what^are scientific truths but apparent truths? —
Are then these fallible judgments of the human mind to be
set against the dogmas and declarations of the infallible
church ? We have no fear of science and its results. The
God of nature is the God of Revelation. But we do fear the
pride of knowledge which arrogates to itself the mastership
over all things, human or divine. Since the introduction of
the Baconian philosophy science has made marvellous
conquests, yet notwithstanding its occasional aberrations
and revolts, it has, on the whole, been hitherto compelled
to bear witness to the truth of the Mosaic Scriptures.
Science is not the master but the servant of Revelation.
Its true position is one of subordination to that master-
science which God has given to man in the Revelation of

416 Modern Intellectualism and the [April,

Himself. But Modern Intellectualism rebels against the
limits and conditions assigned to its pursuit of knowledge,
it seeks universal empire and complete supremacy. But
this claim of unrestricted and independent action so arro-
gantly set up by many modern champions of the first prin-
ciples of nationalism is denied to human reason by the
Catholic church. Sooner than remove by one jot the
land-marks and the limits which she has set up between
faith and reason, the church has allowed men to march out
in platoons and battalions from her camp into the territo-
ries of free and unrestricted inquiry ; and what rest have
they found in these dreary wastes? We need only look to
the exhausted and barren scepticism of German philosophy
for an answer. Lethargy is not rest, apathy is not peace.
Has the German mind, once so keen in its speculative
activity, made such progress as to warrant us in England
to pick, up and polish for our use the worn-out instruments
of its fruitless and impious researches? Is the actual
phase of the irreligious mind in Europe indicative of real
progress ? Is it progress at all, or is it retrogression, is it
light or darkness, is it civilization or a foretouch of the
disrupting force of intellectual anarchy and moral decay ?
Can there be a doubt in the minds of Catholics, or is a
defence of Rationalism under any form possible for them ?
It is easy for Catholic writers to swim with the tide ; it is
easy among Rationalists to bandy rationalistic arguments ;
it is easy to sneer at the unscientific character of eccle-
siastical learning, and to lament that the mind of the
Church, preoccupied with other concerns, is unable to keep
abreast with the requirements and discoveries of the age:
it is easy, moreover, but is it wise, or just, or lawful in
such writers to affect to dismiss with a contemptuous wave
of the hand, as incompetent to grapple with the enlarged
questions of the day, such profound philosophic thinkers
as de Bonald, de Maistre, Donoso Cortes, and F. Schlegel ?
Such a judgment betrays not only an ignorance of the
nature and scope of their principles, but a grievous want
of deference to well-established Catholic opinion.

Are not then the principles of Catholic philosophy true
for all times, and does not the difi'erence only lie in their
application to the varying needs of the day? And what
force is there in the demand which has in our days been
made that the church shall shift her position in regard
to science, and surrender her lordship over all branches of

J

1863.1 Catholic Church. 417

knowledge ? The cliurch is in possession of revealed truth
and has something to say on the conclusions of science, or
upon its supposed discoveries, since she knows that no
veritable scientific fact dug up out of the bowels of the
earth, or gathered from more minute observations of the
Simian tribe in the forests of Africa, can really come into
collision with truths which have come to her by the way of
Divine revelation. The church is the divine depository of
faith, and cannot suffer any check from, or make any con-
cession to, reason, which is human and open to error. There
can, with safety, be no divorce between science and religion;
the connection is too intimate and necessary to be severed,
and the plea of enabling science to give an independent sup-
port to religion has no bottom. In an age like ours there
is no warrant for the hope that science, pursuing a path
of its own, altogether independent of the conclusions of the
higher sciences of theology and psychology, may not often
fall into error, and end, as has happened before now, in sim-
ilar inquiries under like conditions, in emancipating itself
entirely from the control of faith. The closer and the more
manfully the difficulties of science are to be grappled with,
the more needful is the light which God has given in reve-
lation for. the guidance of man in the discrimination of
truth and error. Modern Intellectualism outside the
Catholic church has carried the principle of independent
and unrestricted inquiry unto its full extremity, and has,
as we see every day, especially in Germany, made reason
supreme over all things in heaven and earth. In Catholic
Germany, the relation of faith to reason has of late been
rightly adjusted, and the true position of philosophy and
science to religion triumphantly vindicated. As the
worsted side of the argument has been introduced amongst
ourselves in an English dress, the existence of a victorious
counter-argument, which has already made itself heard
and felt, ought not to remain unknown to our readers, we
hope therefore on a future occasion to bring under their
notice this singular controversy in Catholic Germany, the
course of which we will now only indicate as briefly as pos-
sible.

At the close of the year 1860 Professor Clemens, an
eminent Catholic writer, in the chair of philosophy in the
university of Miinster, took as the thesis of his lectures the
proposition that philosophy is the handmaid of theology.
This proposition was vehemently assailed by a distinguished

418 Modern Intellect ualism and the [April.

Divine ill the Catholic theological faculty of the university
of Tiibingen, in the preface to his theological lectures
which were then just being published. This preface was
extracted by the writer, Professor Kuhn, and circulated in
the form of a pamphlet. Such a philosophical and theolo-
gical controversy between two eminent Catholic disputants
excited a great sensation in Germany. Dr. Kuhn already
bore the character of a somewhat unguarded and reckless
thinker. Professor Clemens was noted for his learning, and
for the soundness of his philosophical principles. Dr. Kuhn
was a divine. Professor Clemens a layman. The teacher in
philosophy circumscribed the independence of his own
science and subjected its speculations to the control of theo-
logy : the doctor in theology asserted the absolute inde-
pendence of philosophy in its own domain and denied to
theology the right of protruding its conclusions beyond
its own sphere. Theology, he contends, has no more
right to interfere with philosophy than philosophy has to
meddle with theology. In its own domain either science
is independent of the other and free to pursue unques-
tioned and unrestrictedly its own course.

It is to the credit of the Cathohc spirit of Germany that
no sooner were theories unsound or open to suspicion,
like those of Dr. Kuhn, broached, than they met at once
with spirited refutation or rebuke, and a like spirit is alive
in the Catholic body in England.

Catholic faith is safe in the keeping of the church. Men
of intellect too, able to keep stride with the advance of
knowledge are not wanting to her. She can well afford to
dispense with the proffered alliance of semi-rationalism or
with the aid of its indirect assistance. There are great
men capable of vindicating the intellectual cause of the
church in the world, without compromising her faith.
But the triumphs of the church over a hostile world
are not due only to the keen vision which faith gives
to the intellect, and its steadying effect upon the mind.
There are many causes, of course, at work to account
for the present triumphs of religion, but perhaps the
chief of them is the increased holiness of vocations in
the present day. Never since the early christian ages
were vocations to the ecclesiastic state and to the reli-
gious life more pure and disinterested than now ; and
never since the days of the great martyrs were the priest-
hood more united in faith and more universally obedient

d

1863.[ Catholic Church, 419

to Rome ; never was the Episcopate more edifying, and
never were the monastic orders of both sexes, in most
countries, more holy and self-denyinp: than they are under
the glorious Pontificate of Pius the Ninth. And yet at no
period was the world so attractive as now. Never did it
offer such fascinations for the mind, such luxurious enjoy-
ment for the body. What material greatness on every
side ! what advance in the arts that make life smooth and
pleasant ! The very elements are made subservient to our
wants, promote our intercourse, and anticipate our impa-
tience. The steamship, the railway, the electric wire, are
luxuries so common to all, that we almost cease to think
of the marvellous force they represent. Science is the
common servant ; nothing that can add to the ease or
pleasure of life is too miglity or minute for her to place at
our disposal. By her aid we have dispelled the utter dark-
ness of the winter nights and made good the unfruitfulness
of the winter season. For us she unites the ends of the
earth, and brings to the daily service of the north the
produce of the tropics. The luxuries of the hist generation
are become the necessities of this. At no period was wealth
so widely diffused, comfort so general. Broad-cloth is the
common wear, and good wheaten bread the staple food in
the meanest cottage. If, according to the promise of the
Gospel, the poor always we shall have with us, yet we
contrive, lest the sight should vex our eyes, to keep care-
fully out of the way the gaunt face and the bare foot of
poverty. And not only is the power over nature greater
in this age than it ever was, but a practical application is
given to this power to the increase of the material enjoy-
ments of life. And if death still retains its victory and
keeps its sting, yet science has gone far to rob disease of
its worst pains and to make pleasant the passage of man
from the cradle to the grave. But the world is not only
rich in material enjoyments — what intellectual pleasures
has she not in store for us ! What wealth of literature,
gathered from all the corners of the earth ! The master-
pieces of ancient greatness, when the intellect of man was
at its highest, down to the latest glories of the genius of
our own day — all the poetry, the philosophy, the romance,
of all the ages — are placed so easily and so pleasantly
within our reach. Ours is all that can satisfy the under-
standing, fascinate the imagination, or dazzle the memory.
And then in the world of to-day, what brilliant society

420 Modern Intellectualism and the L^P^i^

awaits us !— -what refinement of manners, what cultivated
taste, what extended knowledge ! Travellers, laden with
the intellectual or artistic spoils of various countries and
distant parts of the globe, gratify, every day, witla the grace
and modesty habitual to modern society, our natural
curiosity, and eager thirst after knowledge. A veil is
thrown over all that is guilty or gross ; for the fashion of
the day has set its face against the open immorality
common to the society of the last century, and reserves
for its votaries only the fascinations which insensibly
beguile 'and silently lead astray. But on its glittering
surface society seldom presented so attractive and harmless
an appearance ; nothing is seen calculated to revolt, but
everything to win the mind to an enjoyable life of cultivated
ease. And again, what paths of ambition does not the
world to-day open up to the energetic and gifted intellect !
What prospects of power and usefulness, and how wide a
sphere of^ action does it not offer to successful talent !
What universal admiration, what genuine worship is
bestowed on success in public life or in the great republic of
letters ! Successful genius is a welcome guest in every
society, an open sesame to every circle. Not one nation
alone, but all the nations are influenced by the power of
one man of genius. When he speaks, Europe listens, for
the destinies of many peoples are influenced by his words.
How often is he not the builder up or destroyer of a world-
wide happiness, the master of peace and war? To turn
from the prospect or hope of such a career, not to enter
noble fields of intellectual activity and future renown, to
leave the race before the goal is won is no common effort
of self-denial ! Yet all the pursuits which the world most
prizes ; all its enjoyments, gains, and glories, all hope of
name and fame, are relinquished, day by day, by those who
were but now in our midst, in obedience to the call of
God. What a singular contrast do not the triumphs of the
Avorld offer to the triumphs of a religious vocation ! The
ways of the church are not the paths which lead to prefer-
ment and renown. Men who enter the ecclesiastical state
or the religious life will not win the homage of the world,
although by the force of their genius they may compel it
sometimes to listen against its will. Neither is riches, nor
luxurious ease, nor fastidious intellectual enipyment their
portion. The life of the priest to-day is la^'girious and
obscure, and full of perpetual self-denial, the ^\\^^ virtues

1863.] Catholic Church. 421

are his by his choice which are most opposite to the char-
acter and temper of the times. Never was lover so much
ill love with his mistress as this age is in love with itself;
and yet multitudes, the pick and choice of men and women,
in every country and from every rank in society, are quit-
ting the world and changing the character of the age, by-
devoting themselves as priests and monks or nuns, to a life
of poverty, obscurity, and labour. This is a real triumph
of the Catholic church over the world and over the spirit
of the age. These pure and disinterested vocations are
the secret of her success. To them is owing the holiness
of the Priesthood, the marvellous unity of the Episcopate
and the strength of the Holy See. The subject of religious
vocation is one worthy of the study of those who are outside
the church, if they wish to penetrate the mystery of her
life. Statesmen, in every country, in their conflicts with
the Church must take this moral phenomenon into account.
Emperors and kings, when to-day in France or Italy they
have attempted to coerce or corrupt the clergy, have
turned aside before its power. It is the salt of the earth —
the seed of the hope of Europe, the safeguard of society.
It is the joy and confidence of Pope Pius in the midst of
his enemies. It is a mark of God's singular favour towards
the church in the present day.

To those who know the moral power of the church, of
which the vocations we are describing form one element,
the revival of Catholicism throughout the whole of this
stirring century is no matter of surprise. She has pushed
out her strength in all the departments of life — social, intel-
lectual and religious, and pressed hard upon her enemies.
The false religions in Europe are breaking up. Men are
pulHng down the vain idols of their own making and erect-
ing in their stead a new religion — self-deification — the
worship of the human will and intellect. All, who have any
reverence for revelation and cling to the supernatural prin-
ciple, regard, with Guizot, the Catholic church as its best de-
fence and its sure home. All the old halting-places between
infidelity and Catholicism are being broken up before our
eyes. Men outside the church know the power of Catholi-
cism and fear it. They dare not meet us face to face, and
hear what we have to say for ourselves. We are strong in
argument ; they are weak. We are patient; they are impa-
tient. We are cool and confident; they are disturbed
and angry. They are dissatisfied with their very victories ;

422 Modern Intellectualism and the Catholic Church, [April,

we are hopeful in defeat. Where we are numerically weak
they gag our mouths ; when we stand with them on an
equality they stop their ears. They are unconscious of
their own weakness; we know our superiority. When
we act our actions are misinterpreted; and when we
defend ourselves our defence is met hy subterfuges, by
falsehood, or by force. We confess we are often worsted,
insulted, trampled under foot, but it is by sheer numeri-
cal superiority, or by brute force, not by force of reasoning
or weight of evidence. Truth when beaten bides her time
and waits for victory ; but error, when baffled, grows frantic,
invents calumnies or makes grimaces; so that lookers on
laugh at its impotent rage. Falsehood will not prevail for
ever ; brute force has never yet, in the long-run, proved a
match for moral power ; it is this which makes us so confi-
dent when the very centre of Catholicism is threatened
with violence. It is in vain that conspirators lay their heads
together against the Vicar of Christ. Do they not already
see, even now, that the temporal power of the Pope is tri-
umphant, since it has gathered to its side all in Europe
who value honour, justice, and truth ? Its enemies must
not console themselves with the hope that they will escape
ultimate punishment because the same species of guilt
which has cast one criminal into a gaol has exalted
another upon a throne.

*' lUe crucera pretium sceleris tulit, hie diadema. "

But however either may fare, for the nonce, both the
crowned and the disgraced enemy of the Pope will sooner
or later have to rue the day they laid violent hands on tlie
possessions of the church. h\ the pride of his self-suffi-
cient intellect the Rationalist may sneer at the faith of the
Catholic, and urge the revolution on to the destruction of
that power which meets him at every turn, with its stead-
fast truth and controlling force. Because he cannot under-
stand the Church, its presence fills him with a mysterious
dread. In her he sees his future master and trembles.
Not all the Rationalism in Europe, not all the revolu-
tionary fury, not that Italy — coerced and cowardly — on the
one side, nor that other Italy, still thirsting for its old
Pagan domination — hankering after the flesh-pots of Egypt
— not the timidity of the good nor the daring of the bad,
can snatch from the Papacy its power nor trample out its
divine vitality. Time alone ought to have taught its

1863.] University Education, 423

enemies the lesson which Catholics know by faith : That
turned aside by no error, daunted by no enemy, the Church
for ever keeps to the old paths shaped out for her by the
Divine Hand, and alone goes on through all the ages,
unchanged and invincible.

Art. IV. — 1. Rapport sur Venseignement superieur en Prusse presente
en Mars 1845, a M. Nothomb, Ministre de Vinterieur, par Charles
Loomans Brussells, 1860. Report on University Education in
Prussia, &c.

2 Lot sur Venseignement superieure en BelgiquCy promulgee 27 Sep^
temhre^ 1835. Brussells, Bulletin des Lois.

Law on University Education in Belgium, &c.

3 Loi sur VUniversite en France, 10 Mai, 1506. Bulletin des Lois,
Paris. Law founding French University, &c.

4 University of London Boyal Charter, April 9, 1858.

IN our former article on education we traced the connec-
tion, in these countries, of the state with education in its
different branches, primary, middle, and superior ; and
examined briefly the organization of University education
amongst us ; with the changes necessary to adapt it to
the wants of the age and the just claims of the Catholics.
But the length to which our observations on the preceding
branches of the subject had extended, precluded us from
then examining this question in detail ; and we promised
our readers to return to it and endeavour thorougly to
examine its details. That promise, we now hasten to
fulfil, trusting that others may be induced to bring further
study to the subject, and to complete our deficiencies and
supply our short comings. In the debate on education
which took place in the House of Commons last session,
Mr. Whiteside enquired, whether the Catholics had well
considered what they meant when they asked for a Char-
ter for their University ; and had reflected on what guar-
antees they should give the State, and what share of control
they must allow the government in the direction of its

VOL. LII.— No. CIV, 10

424 University Education. [April,

studies and management : he added, that he had listened
in vain for any such information, in the speeches of the
Catholic members who had addressed the House. That
was not the occasion for entering on the subject, for the
debate was on primary and middle education ; but we
hope to be able to convince Mr. Whiteside and those in-
terested in educational questions in England, that the
Catholics have well studied the question ; that they under-
stand the organization of University education, both at
home and abroad, that they have well weighed their
demands and the practical modes of obtaining them; and
that those demands are as capable of realization m prac-
tice, as they are just in principle.

Before we enter on the subject of University Educa-
tion in the different countries we propose to examine, it
will be well to take a brief retrospect of the origin of such
institutions, and the original meaning and rise of Acade-
mic degrees. This is remarkably well given in the able
Report of Mr. Loomans to the Belgian Minister which we
have placed at the head of our article. The history of
Universities embraces a period of more than seven centu-
ries, and that history, and their gradual growth must be
studied to uuderstand their nature and organization. It
has often been disputed to whom the institution or founda-
tion of this or that university should be attributed ; but in
truth those who have written thus have been misled by
the ideas of later ages, when all institutions were the
creation of some distinct authority ; and have mistaken
sanction and confirmation for creation. The early univer-
sities were the growth of circumstances — were self-created
by learning itself. ** No doubt/' says M. Dupin,

*• There were in Paris, from the time of Charlemagne, public
schools, but that is not what was afterwards called the University
of Paris. Of her may be said : prolem sine matre natam. It is only
from the twelfth century that it is possible to distinguish the germ
of a real institution in th^free and spontaneous association of all the
teachers of Paris, who before taught separately theology, law,
medicine and arts ; and whose union began to form a general body
of study. It was this union of studies — this voluntary association
of the learned teachers of the capital to which was given, in the
reign of Philip Augustus, the name of the University of Paris.
Throughout all the vicissitudes of its formation and the different
phases of its existence, the University, which was famous from the
commencement, became the object of an immense number of

1863.] University Education, 425

immunities and privileges, both of Popes and Kings, who loaded it
with their favours, and whose adopted daugliter it became.' * Such'
continues Mr. Looraans, * was the origin of the oldest University :
association was the foundation of the organization of the mediaeval
Universities. What are the essential cliaracters of this organi-
zation ? They are three; the Universities enjoy free interior
government, they are protected by the civil authority, and controlled
(surveillee) by the religious authority. The prerogative of self-
goverment the University of Paris owed no doubt to the nature of
its origin. The Universities established later owed it to their pri-
vileges.''*— Rapport, p. 6.

This self-government they all possessed, and it was con-
firmed to them and sanctioned by the civil power, by-
royal charter, which constituted them corporations, and
gave them exclusive jurisdiction over their members, even
in criminal cases. But there was another quality which
the civil power could not, according to the opinion of those
ages, give to the Universities; the power arid right of
teaching. That was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the
Church, and therefore we never find claimed in royal
charters the right of controllmg and licensing teaching.
This is very well put by Mr. Loomans : (p. 9.)

" So far we have seen the share of the civil power in the organi-
zation of the Universities. But according to the public law of the
middle ages the power of a Sovereign was not itself sufficient to give
to a University a perfectly legal character ; for, along side, wo
might even say, above the temporal power, there was then another
authority to which belonged the lawful control and direction of all
the moral and religious interests of society ; in this system, it
belonged to the civil power to raise the Universities to the rank of
privileged corporations, but it did not depend on it to recognize
th^Ti as teaching bodies. In this respect they depended rather
on the religious authority. It is then, in virtue of the general
attributes of religious authority and by the application of the prin-
ciples which governed the State and the Church, that from their
origin the Universities were subordinate to the Sovereign Pontiflf.
In the course of time and as University organization became subject
to fixed rules, it was generally received in Europe, that to exist
legally, academic institutions required the double authorization of
the civil power and of the religious authority. Nor do wo know of

* They all possessed this power of self-government, see for Padua,
Vienna, Ingoldstadt, Meiuers Geschichte der Universitaetem, t. i. p.
63, quoted by Loomans and Bulseus, t. ii. p. 673. The same is
true of Oxford and Cambridge, see liuber.

426 University Education, [April,

any University anterior to the Reformation which was not con-
firmed by the Pope." *

" I have just said that it was principally as a teaching body that
the Universities were subject to the authority of the Popes ; what
proves this are the regulations relative to Academic degrees. In
Paris it is the Chancellors of Notre Dame and of St. Genevieve who
confer the licenses on the recommendation of the faculties. The
chancellors are named by the episcopal chapter, in presence of the
Bishop,! * The institution of the doctorate being derived from the
Holy See, it must be granted and confirmed by the Pope.J Here is
another passage doubly important, because it treats at once of the
origin and object of academic degrees : et quidem quantum ad admis-
sionem magistrorum ad Cathedram, seu ut dicebant majores nostri, ad
regentiam et scholas, constat opus fuisse licentiam docendi a canceUario
aut ah episcopo Parisiemi vel a decano San-Genovesiano obtinere;^ and as
Boulay remarks : nee erat statutum illud novum, cum objectum est a
magistris initio hujus seculi (duodecim) Petro Ahailardo quod nee
romani pontijlcis, nee Ecclesice auctoritate commendatus legere publico
prcesumpserat.' \\ These quotations prove two things : the first is,
that * the licenses have their source in the Holy See :' the second,
that thay have for object and end to grant the right of publicly
teaching in the University. — United by their constitution to the
hierarchy of the Church, the Universities recognized in her the only
authority from whom they were to receive orders, and t^ho had a
right to regulate their teaching." — p. 1 1.

* Bull of Alexander III, on licenses (Meiners, vol. i, p. 73.) Inno-
cent III. confirmed the Statutes of Paris in 1209. Gregory IX.
reformed the University of Paris, (Bulajus, vol. iii. p. 140.) Bull of
Gregory IX, on licenses. (Bui. vol. i. p. 385.) In the Catholic states of
Germany the confirmation by the Popes was practised in the 18th
century. (Loomans, p. 10.) That the English and all the Univer-
sities derived great part of their sanction and privileges from the
authority of the Popes, is admitted by Protestant writers. See Huber,
in his work on the English Universities, and Wood, quoted by Mgr.
Woodlock. Rector of the Irish Catholic University, in his discourse
of the 5th Nov. 1862 : but they do not always clearly state, though
it may be deduced from them, as we shall show, that it was the
faculty of teacTiing which was derived from Pontifical authority.

t Bull of Gregory 9th, (Bulseus vol. i. p. 585.)

% Bul^us, vol. i, p. 389.
§ To understand fully this passage it is necessary to recollect
that the title of magister gave only a jus consortii with the teach-
ing body, whilst the Licentia et doctoratus conferred the right of
teaching.

II Bulseus, vol. ii, p. 669.

1863.] University Education. 427

Huber algo, the German Protestant, in his work on the
English Universities recognises the fact, that the licence
to teach was derived from ecclesiastical authority ; he says,
" The Master's degree (Magistratus, Doctoratus, regentia)
implied the right of opening a school oneself, and was
originally dependent on the licence of the Diocesan chan^
cellar." — '* For instance Edward II. requested of the Pope
(vid. Wood, A.D. 1317,) that the English Universities,
as the University of Paris, might have the power of
lecturing (legendi) in every part of the world. No party
thought of denying that the Papal See was the last and
supreme authority concerning the studies, belief, discipline
and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Universities.'' —
(Huber quoted by Dr. Woodlock.) As a necessary con-
sequence the ecclesiastical authority had the right of
revising and sanctioning all books used in teaching ;""" not
that it ever undertook to assign the limits and regulate the
extent of academic teaching; but only to preserve its
purity both as to faith and morals ; the Universities regu-
lated their own scheme of studies, the ecclesiastical author-
ities watched over its orthodoxy, both as to teachers and
books.

We have thus examined briefly the principles which
presided over the establishment of the Catholic Univer-
sities in the middle ages ; because we purpose to treat not
merely of the relations of the state with our Catholic Uni-
versity in Ireland, and its organization in relation to the
State; but of the principles which must influence its
organization in reference to the Catholic people of Ireland
and their ecclesiastical superiors. The State, which is of
another religion, or rather of no religion, has no concern
with anything save the literary results of its teaching ; but
it is a Catholic University for a Catholic people ; and the
eternal principles which regulated the relations of the
Catholic Universities of the middle ages in regard to
religion and morality apply with undiminished force to it
in its internal organization, and in its relations to that
Catholic people and their ecclesiastical superiors.

* *• No book shall be taught in the School or College of Paris
which has not been first visited by the doctors and approved by the
councils. Bull of Gregory XI, (Bui. vol. ii. p. 386.) Gregory the
11th sent his decretals to the Universities of Paris and Bologaa
and directed them to be taught, (1234).'' Loomans, p. 11.

428 University Education. [April.

With the Reformation came a great change in the con-
stitution of the Universities in Protestant countries ; they
became directly dependent, as teaching bodies, on the
secular authorities. Yet this change was one more of
practice than of principle. In point of fact the sovereigns
of all the Protestant States assumed that they were in-
vested with the ecclesiastical authority formerly exercised
by the Pope ; and it was in virtue of this authority that
they undertook to regulate teaching. This hardly requires
proof, as regards England, where Henry VIII. and his
successors looked upon themselves as heads of the Church,
in exactly the same sense as the Pope had been ; and, if we
mistake not, Charles the first once made a formal visitation
of Oxford in this capacity. It was the same in Germany.
One of the first Protestant Universities founded was that
of Koenigsberg, founded in 1544 by Albert Duke of
Prussia. ** We have,"' says he in the deed of foundation,
** confided the government of our churches to pastors in-
structed in the true doctrine of the gospel — and we have
established with the aid of God our University of Koenigs-
berg.'' And in a subsequent deed of 1557, ** We grant by
these presents to our University all the rights and privi-
leges that emperors kings and popes have hitherto granted
to Universities.'* — (Ap: Loomans.) Such was also the
case with regard to the other German Protestant Univer-
sities, as our author shews. But with regard to all the
Universities, both those Catholic ones founded in the
middle ages whose power of teaching was derived from the
Popes ; and those Protestant ones founded after the
Reformation, in which this power was derived from
temporal sovereigns ; there gradually became attached to
the possession of their degrees certain civil privileges,
very various in different countries; and these privileges
were always acknowledged to be derived from the secular
authority ; although in the earlier ages almost invariably,
if not invariably, attached necessarily to the possession of
the degree. Hence the origin of the civil value of degrees;
that value which is now claimed by the Catholics of Ire-
land for the degrees of their University : and which is
totally distinct from the right of^ teaching. Catholics
admit the right of the State to require the possession of a
certain amount of knowledge for the acquisition of certain
privileges; they can never admit the right of the State to
control their teaching. That right as regards religion

1863.] University Education, 429

and morality they recognizo in the Church : in all else they
claim for themselves absohite freedom.

We have thus very briefly sketched the origin of Univer-
sities, and the principles which presided over the founda-
tion of the early Catholic ones, and which must still form
the foundation of that Catholic one now rising in Ireland :
let us now examine the state of University organization
in different countries. In our former article we sketched
the English system ; we will now examine that of
France.

The great peculiarity of the French system of govern-
ment, that which has distinguished it for centuries, is its
centralization, and the almost omnipotent power which it
gives to the State. There, has been revived in its full
force the old pagan idea of the supremacy of the State ;
individual rights must always give way before it : the State
must act for the greater welfare of all, and all must submit
themselves to its guidance: the bodies, the intellects, the
souls of its subjects it must care for; and they must accept
its care : the State is the judge of what is good for their
material interest ; is bound to provide them with sound
education and with true religion ; and all these they must
accept at its hands, nor venture to seek in any contraband
way. It is true the Catholic religion is not easily bound
in the trammels of State control ; yet the Gallican system
brought it as nearly as possible into the condition of a
department of State ; and to this day French Statesmen
look upon its administration as a department of govern-
ment. This work of establishing the Universal suprem-
acy of the State begun by her kings was perfected in
France by her revolutionary rulers.

" The French nation wished for Unity ; and it was her kings gave
it to her : it became the symbol of the public interest and the com-
mon good. Hence the greatness of her destinies ; hence her in-
fluence over the minds of nations ; hence that veneration or rather
worship of authority : but hence also that arbitrary and violent will ;
that omnipotence of the State ; that unbridled despotism which re-
spects no liberty, — despotism the more dangerous as its aim was the
common good, its support popular sentiment. Let us not however
mistake ; the royal power did not overthrow the institutions of the
State and the Church in a single day. The revolution which took
place in the political constitution of France was neither sudden nor
violent : it was the work of time ; the doctrine of the omnipotence
of the State cannot be traced to a certain date ; it gradually

430 University Education. [April.

penetrated the habits of France : Louis the 14th applied it to the
Church, but did not succeed in getting it accepted bj her. The
French revolution seized on the inheritance of the monarchy ; it
openly proclaimed the unlimited authority of the State. Unity,
equality, the common weal, which had been the levers used by the
monarch, formed the strength of the revolution ; the royal power
had perverted these principles till it degenerated into despotism ;
the sovereign people passionately strained them and inaugurated,
in the name of the public interest, the most fearful of all tyrannies.
According to the idea of the revolution the State is all that is
most elevated and majestic. All power is given it upon earth ; its
power has no limit, its rights are unbounded. Must religion be
suppressed, it shall be ; the family dissolved, it shall be ; liberty
immolated, the sacrifice shall be made. If we examine the annals
of that time, we find written on qwqtj page the unlimited and
absolute right of the State. Was it not in the name of the State
that the revolution committed all its excesses ? Was it not in the
name of the State that it violated every liberty, individual liberty,
the right of property, liberty of conscience, liberty of worship ?
Was it not in the name of the State that it decreed the civil con-
stitution of the clergy, the National Church, and the republican
teaching^ The aggrandisement of the central government, the
centralization of authority was partly realised under Louis the 14th ;
it received its fall application during the French Revolution. It is
these traditions of the past which still weigh on religion and educa-
tion in France, which form the strength of the University system,
and which give to the French University a species of popularity." —
(Loomans, p. 28.)

This brief sketch of the principles which have prevailed
in France for nearly two hundred years was necessary for
us to appreciate the French University system. The
French LFniversity was created by the law of the 10th May
1806, and has subsisted, unchanged in the main, ever since.
It consists of one central body or council, differently com-
posed at different times, which regulates all public educa-
tion in France ; whose examiners alone confer all degrees.
Under it is a complete system of State education, from the
highest to the lowest ; organized, governed, regulated and
supported by the government, forming a complete hierarchy
of teaching from the University schools of Paris, through
the Academies, of which there is one in each department,
the lyceums, &c. down to the primary schools. As M. Dupin
has said, " The University ha^s been well defined as nothing
else than the government applied to the universal direction
of public instruction, to the Colleges of the towns as to
those of the State ; to private institutions as to colleges ;

1863.] University Education, 431

to the country schools, as to the faculties of theology, law,
and medicine. The University has been founded on the
basis, that teaching and public education belong to the
State/' At first, no other teaching was permitted than
that of the State institutions ; gradually, private or free
institutions were allowed to exist, subject to the control
of the council of instruction. In 1 850, what was called
freedom of instruction, that is the right of other teaching
institutions than those of the state to exist, subject to
certain restrictions of authorization, inspection, &c, was
granted as regards ' primary education' (schools) and ' se-
condary' (colleges) by the law of the 15th of March of that
year: prepared under the ministry of M. de Falloux,
by a commission of which M. Thiers was president and
M. de Montalembert and the Bishop of Orleans were
members: but "superior education" (that of the various
faculties) was left unchanged, and is still entirely subject
to the University monopoly."'^ The whole, therefore, of the
university teaching of France is in the hands of the State,
and all degrees are granted by the board of examiners
(jurys d'examen) appointed by the government, (i. e. by the
minister of public instruction,) and which now consist
exclusively of members of the government teaching bodies.
There is, however, one very remarkable liberty retained
with regard to obtaining degrees. No certificate of having
passed through any course is required from the candidate
who presents himself for a degree, and he may present
himself before any board of examiners, of which several
sit throughout France. \ Thus, if the aspirant to a degree
can acquire the necessary knowledge out of the State
colleges, as for instance, by private tuition, and can over-
come the prejudices of the examiners against one who has
shunned the teaching of their body, he may obtain his
degree without entering the State University. It conse-
crates the abstract principle that a degree should be only
a test of knowledge ; and that is all. The next question
is, for what purposes is the possession of a degree (di-
plome Universitaire) necessary in France ? The answer
is, for the pursuit of almost any avocation which re-

♦ A draft bill on the subject was prepared but deferred ; and
finally absolutely shelved by tlie creation of the empire,
t This is a provision of the law of 1850.

432 University Education, [April.

quires education. For the practice of law or medicine
the diploma of those faculties is, of course, necessary :
and the common degree of bachelier en lettres is re-
quired by every young man who wishes to enter into
any public employment, either in the army or navy, finan-
cial administration, &c., in fact, for everything. Such is
the complete system of the French University ; a body
essentially different from anything known by a similar
name elsewhere. The advocates of freedom of educa-
tion in France, amongst whom the Catholics have ever
been most prominent, have continually struggled for two
reforms in the system ; the system itself, however objec-
tionable, was felt to be impregnable. The first w-as, to
insure that the council general of education and the
councils of the various provincial academies, instead of
being composed of mere nominees of government, should
consist, at least in part, of independent members repre-
senting the various sections of the community, and the vari-
ous systems of education: the second was that along side
the State institutions, individuals and voluntary societies
should be at liberty to establish and support such educa-
tional institutions as they might wish. These two reforms,
even if fully attained, would, of course, be far from consti-
tuting full freedom of education, or anything like a system
which would for a moment be tolerated in England: but, for
government-oppressed France, they constituted a great
improvement."-'' The system established by the law of the
15th of March, 1850, which is still nominally in force in
France, granted in part these two reforms, which had so
long been contended for. By it the conseil superieur
d' instruction piibligue, which, as we have explained,
regulates all education in France,! was ordered to consist

* Some Irish Catholics whose attention has been too much
attracted by the struggles for some limitation to the State despo-
tism in France, seem to think that her sjstem can form a prece-
dent for us ; or that Ireland, whose educational sjstem is wholly
free, should voluntarily accept what the Catholics of France hail as
a mitigation of the trammels of the State.

t An abstract from M. Simon's work, " la Liberte,'* will give some
idea of the extent to which teaching is regulated in the State Col-
leges in France.

" There are some State Colleges in which the Professors are
obliged to fill up every day two sheets of notes ; the Censors every

1863.] University Education. 433

of twenty-eight members. The Minister of Public In-
struction as president ; one Archbishop or Bishop, elected
by his colleagues, one minister of the Reformed Church,
elected by the consistories, one minister of the Confession
of Augsburg, elected by the consistories, one member of
the central Jewish consistory elected by his colleagues,
three conseilliers d'etat elected by their colleagues, three
members of the Cours de Cassation elected by their col-
leagues, three members of the Institute of France elected
in a general meeting of the Institute, eight members
named by the President of the Republic in a council of
Ministers, and chosen from the old members of the
conseil de TUniversite, three members of independent
or free-teaching institutions named by the President, on
the proposition of the Minister of Public Instruction. ^ The
local councils were constituted in a somewhat similar
manner, the Catholic bishop and a Protestant minister,
where there are Protestants, a Jewish rabbi where there
are Jews, being always ex-officio members: the jury
d'examenSt or boards of examiners, were to be constituted
in a similar mixed manner, and the programmes of ex-
aminations to be fixed by the conseil superieur. Thus
was the first reform, the independence of the councils,
effected; as regards the second, the law authorized any
properly qualified persons to open primary or middle
schools ; and their students could of course obtain the
universally necessary degree of bachelier-en-lettres, for
which no professional learning is required: but, as we
have mentioned, all professional teaching of medicine, law,
&c. remained the strict monopoly of the State.""' Such

day abridge sixty sheets of notes ; the heads of twenty Colleges send
every eight days to the Rector the abridgment of the notes of the
week; and the sixteen Rectors transmit these remarkable documents
to the Minister, who by this means is able to ascertain the interesting
fact whether master Peter or Paul at Brest or at Marseilles has
learned his lesson well or written a proper theme." — vol. ii, chap.
1. p. 138.

* We have used the past tense in speaking of the laws regulating
education in France ; for unfortunately, although the law remains
unrepealed, under the Imperial government, almost every clause of
it is violated and openly changed by Imperial Arrets^. The central
council and the eighty-six departmental councils which were inde-
pendent have been abolished and replaced by a central council and

434 University Education, [April.

is the French system of University education ; one founded
entirely on the supremacy of the State. Its great evil, in
a literary point of view, has been found to be its tendency
to cramp and formalize learning, and to promote superfi-
cial knowledge and cram amongst the students: this
arises from the councils regulating all the courses of
studies, and prescribing exactly not only what every pro-
fessor is to teach, but how he is to teach it: it becomes
the sole object of the professor to satisfy the requirements
of the government regulations, and enable his pupils to
pass the legal examinations ; the sole aim of the student
to obtain his legal diploma ; hence a universal reign of
what we call cram and what the Germans appropriately
denominate hrod stiidium : the professor never ventures
to initiate a new line of teaching, the student never gives
his time to profound study of one branch, which might
endanger his passing in all : and year by year the council
enlarges the subjects of examination and substitutes a
smattering of all subjects for a knowledge of any. The
same evils, as we shall see later, have been found to arise
in Belgium from the same causes ; the courses to be
followed and the examinations to be passed for each degree
being laid down by law.

Let us now take a glance at University organization in
Prussia, a country in which learning undoubtedly flou-
rishes to a high degree. As we have seen in our brief
retrospect of the history of Universities, the government in
Protestant countries, and particularly in Prussia, assumed
to itself the ^supremacy over religion formerly allowed to
the CathoHc Church. It therefore represented both the

twenty-three provincial rectors, without council, all appointed
durante beneplacito by the Emperor ; and thus the first reform is
abolished : whilst the free colleges are menaced with arbitrary
destruction at any moment, as happened to the Jesuit College at
St. Etienne, which was closed by the government in 1853, without
any of the proceedings required by law. It is of course unnecessary
to add that the nomination of Professors rests with the goyernment,
and is most arbitrarily exercised. M. de la Prade, professor at
Lyons, was in 1861 deprived of his office for having published a
poem respecting the morality of the present age ; and this year the
Emperor's physician was summarily placed at the head of the
school of medicine in Paris. Such are the effects of government
nomination of professors and examiners ; let us take warning.

1863. J University Education, 435

King and the Pope of the mediaeval Universities : avoiding
the error into which France fell, and imitating the exam-
ple of the Catholic ages, it left to the Universities their
internal freedom and self-government, in a literary point
of view. The existing government of Prussia retains the
entire direction of Education — of the village school, the
College, and the University ; the Prussian landrecht
calls the schools ** government institutions;'' even theology
comes under its rule ; but with a difference in regard to
the Catholic and Protestant Churches ; the State is the
head of the Protestant Church, and therefore directly
appoints its Professors and prescribes their teaching ; with
regard to the faculties of , Catholic theology, the professors
must be approved by the bishop : and the archbishops of
Cologne and Breslau have the superintendence of Ca-
tholic theological teaching in the two Universities respec-
tively in which it exists, viz. Bonn and Breslau."" But
with regard to their internal organization and the regu-
lation of their studies, the Prussian Universities differ
wholly from the French : instead of one University organ-
ized by fixed and uniform rules, there exist six, subject
indeed to the Minister of Public Instruction, but having
each their own independence, their own organization, and
administration, and, so to speak, their separate life. Each
is a corporation, has jurisdiction over its own students ;
has its own .senate and its own faculties ; determines
its own courses of study, its own examinations, and grants
its own degrees. As we shall see later, the Academic
degree in Prussia is a purely literary honour — a stamp of
learning, bearing with it little or no civil advantages, and
is conferred by the Universities themselves, whdly inde-
pendently of the government. The government is repre-
sented in each University by two royal commissioners or
curators; they have the financial direction of the adminis-
tration (the funds are all supplied by the government);
they are to see to the observance of all disciplinary regu-
lations ; and to watch over the morality of the teaching

* The Prussian sovereigns have always exercised the right of
determining Protestant orthodoxy ; see for details Mr. Looman*s
book. With regard to Catholic theology, the right of the authori-
ties of the Catholic Church to watch over it is fully admitted in
theory, although the Minister of Instruction often endeavours to
tamper with it in detail.

436 University Education, [April.

given, " but without interfering in questions of science or
method ;" they inspect the programme of studies. (Circular
of 18 Nov. 1819 ap. Loomans.) The professors are named
by the King, on the proposition by the faculties of a list of
three.' The government of the Universities is vested in
the Rector and Senate, composed of the ex-rector, and four
professors, and the deans of faculties ; both these latter
classes of members are elected by the professors; the rector
is elected by the professors and approved by the Minister.
Besides the ordinary (or regular) and extraordinary pro-
fessors, the faculties confer after an examination deter-
mined by themselves, the title of professor agrege, (Ger-
man Professor adjunct) which gives the right of teaching
and receiving voluntary fees, but no salary. With regard
to degrees, the Prussian system distinguishes between the
scientific degree in law, medicine, philosophy, (or what is
called the scientific examination) and the practical exami-
nation, by which is acquired the permission to practise
certain professions or hold certain employments. The
conferring of the former is left entirely to the different
Universities ; its value depends on public estimation ;
although, as we shall see, it carries with it great advan-
tages even in a legal point of view. The chief practical
examinations are as follows : for entering the legal career
or taking part in the administration of justice, the candi-
date must produce a certificate from a University that he
has attended its course of studies with diligence for three
years : he must pass an examination in law before a body
of lawyers, the degree of doctor in law exempting from a
portion of the examination. To enter the civil service,
candidates must present an University certificate as above,
and must then pass the examination appointed for each
branch and grade. To be appointed professor in a State
College the candidate must present a University certificate
of having followed the philosophic course-* for three years,
and must pass an examination, oral and written, before a
board of examiners (die wissenschaftliche Priii'ungs-com-
mission); those who have taken the degree of doctor in letters
are exempted from the written examinations. To prac-
tise medicine the student must attend during four years
the course of medicine in some University and obtain the

Somewhat equivalent to our arts course.

1863.] University Education, 437

degree of doctor in medicine ; he must then follow a
course of practical medicine (in the hospitals) either at
Berlin, Koeuigsberg, Breslau, or Cologne, and then
pass an examination before the central board of medical
examiners (ober examinations- Commission.)

Such is the Prussian system ; of which the chief charac-
teristics are the great freedom left to the Universities
under the nominal control of the government and the
freedom of emulation in teaching, not only between the
different Universities, of which Prussia has six for a popu-
lation of sixteen millions, but in each University be-
tween the regular or salaried professors and the professors
adjunct or free teachers. Its success in a literary point
of view has been most marked ; the fame of the Prussian
Universities stands high in Europe ; and literary men of
the greatest distinction, have arisen in all, even the small-
est. As Mr. Loomans says, "the foundation of the
Prussian organization is the esprit de corps which keeps
up the emulation between the different Universities ; and
the competition which keeps up the standard in each. To
form an idea of the emulation, we should rather call it the
rivalry, which exists between the German Universities,
one must be in the midst of that German society so occu-
pied with the interests of science. The Universities have
acquired a consideration and an influence which are sur-
prising. Not only are they at the head of education, but
they rule all scientific and literary movement. This
situation is the principal cause of their prosperity ; placed,
as it were, under the eyes of the entire nation, they natu-
rally seek to conciliate the sympathies of all." — p. 21,

Let us now examine the Belgian University organiza-
tion. Belgium inherited from her French masters and
from the legislation of Joseph the second the idea of
a State education ; hut her Constitution of 1830 solemn-
ly consecrated the principle of the absolute freedom of
teaching: to reconcile these two ideas she has adopted
the system of having at once a governmental and a legally-
recognised voluntary system of education. The State
supports and regulates two Universities, those of Ghent and
Liege, in which no religious teaching is given ; (Belgium
has no State religion,) but its legislation recognizes the
fact that the immense majority of the citizens are Ca-
tholics ; and the law equally recognizes two other Univer-
sities supported by voluntary contributions; that of

438 University Education. [April,

Brussels which emphatically professes no religion, and is in
fact free-thinking, and that of Louvain which is Catholic ;
over the organization and teaching of these two latter the
government has no control whatever ; and it contributes
nothing directly to their support: there are however a
large number of scholarships (bourses,) given by the
government, the holders of which have the right of pursuing
their studies in any University they like ; thus teaching is
perfectly free in Belgium. With regard to degrees the
Universities each possess and exercise the power of grant-
ing them, as purely literary distinctions, independently of
any governmental sanction ; thus the University of Louvain
confers degrees in theology, and both it and Brussels con-
fer degrees in arts on such persons, chiefly foreigners, as
wish for them only as literary honours: degrees for legal
purposes in Belgium are obtained by simply passing the
requisite examination before the public board of examiners,
jary d'examen, (whose constitution we shall^ state later,)
it not being requisite to follow any particular course
of study : but the certificates of any of the four Univer-
sities exempt from certain branches of the examination.
The constitution of the jury s d^examen, or boards of ex-
aminers, is the cardinal point of the Belgian system. There
are two sorts ofjurys, the jury combine and the jury cen-
tral. There are constituted each year one jury central
and two jury s combines : etichjury combine consists of an
even number of examiners, one half being professors of one
of the State Universities, and the other half professors of
one of the free Universities : it is presided over by a
president, appointed by the government, who is a person
not connected with any teaching body : in this system the
Universities are joined in a different way each year; thus
one year Ghent and Louvain furnish one jury combine,
Liege and Brussels another; the next year Liege goes
with Louvain and Ghent with Brussels. 'The jury central
consists of 4, 6, or 8 members named by the Minister
from out of the professors of the four Universities and the
members of other teaching institutions ; and is presided
over by a president unconnected with teaching. Aspirants
for degrees or certificates may present themselves before
any one of these jurys as all equally gran t^ them: in
practice those educated at any of the Universities present
themselves before they l«r^/ composed of one half of their
own professors ; and tlie examiner3 on each subject must

1863.] University Education, 439

consist of an eqnal nnmber of professors of their own and
of the other University, and the stndents are examined,
first by their own professors, and then by those of the
other University ; the president moderating, as we would
say, and reguhiting the time, &c.

The degrees required for the pratice of the various profes-
sions, &c. in Belgium are ; to practise as a lawyer or avocat,
or be a magistrate, doctor of laws ; to practise medicine,
doctor of medicine ; to practise as an apothecary, diploma of
pharmacien ; to practise as a notary, diploma of candidat
notaire ; other degrees, as doctor of philosophy or
science, or doctor of political and administrative science
are also useful : all these are obtained by passing the
appointed examination before the juri/ or board of exami-
ners. The Belgian system has now for nearly thirty
years given satisfaction to the country: it is perfectly fair
and just to the different educational establishments and
the diflerent parties in the State: in a literary point of
view its success has not been as great as that of the Prus-
sian system ; it partakes in some, although in a lesser
degree, of the evils we have mentioned as resulting from
the French system ; Mtt*f)n this point we cannot do better
than give the words of so competent an authority as Mr.
Loomans.

"What immense progress our free Universities have made since
1834 ! Nevertheless a serious reproach is made against our system.
It has been alleged to lead to a decline in learning ; and some,
after drawing a very unflattering picture of the state of public
education in Belgium, say ; this is the result of free education. It
is not necessary to defend our country against the reproach of
obscurantism ; she is conscious of the progress she has made. The
law regulating the composition of the jury d'examen is generally
looked upon as the key-stone of our University system ; and this
is true in the sense that in our actual circumstances the composi-
tion of the jury is the principal guarantee of the Universities ; but
it seems to us inaccurate to consider the law of the jury as the
principal means of improving the class of studies. It is one, no
doubt, but not the most eflScacious. Yet more : to change the
composition of the jury without clianging the University organiza-
tion seems to us to be going backwards. It is in the interior organiza-
tion of the Universities that the defect pointed out some time since
by the minister of the interior, exists. Let us examine what this
defect is, and point out some of the steps to be taken to remedy it.
University teaching has for mission not only to make lawyers and
doctors, it has a higher aim ; to it is confided the intellectual
VOL LII.-No. CIV. 11

440 University Education. [April.

destinies of the country, and it is responsible for them. Our Univer-
sities must rise to the height to which the German ones have
attained ; they must occupy a distinguished place in the literary
world. In this point of view the Belgian Universities do all that
they can ; but sooner or later they will feel the evil effects of the law
on superior instruction. Science, instead of enjoying a little free-
dom, and producing largo and varied developments, is ill at ease
under the yoke of the programmes of examinations. Professors,
situated as they are, cannot fail to lose some of their devotion to
science. The majority of the students have not a scientific spirit ;
their studies are generally confined to a knowledge of abridgments
and a superficial gloss of learning, which the Germans familiarly
call orod-siudium. The subjects for examination are too numerous ;
it is a general defect of the law of 1835 to favour what may be
called polymath?/. It is a common sense truth, that it is better to
study well one subject than to acquire a smattering of many. I
might extend these observations to all the branches of study. — ■
Why do the regulations concerning examinations force the profes-
sors to follow ever the same track ? By increasing beyond measure
the subjects of examination, the law obliges the examiners to
come to a tacit agreement amongst themselves as to the course of
examination. Thus it is understood now-a-days that the examina-
tion on the history of philosophy shall comprise only ancient
philosophy ; that on Greek, shall consist in being able to translate
one or two books of Homer. This is what our system of examina-
tions has brought us to. On the one hand the law increases the
number of subjects and puts them all on the same footing ; on the
other the professors are obliged to subdivide their teaching, to
sacrifice method, and to neglect at least in part even important
branches of study. What is gained in extension, is lost in depth :
quantity carries it against quality. Abridgments of routine take
the place of solid study and improved method. Diminish, on the
contrary, the subjects of examination, and introduce the principle of
special branches of study, you will have a right to require from
the students a solid knowledge of certain subjects ; and the profes-
sors will not have to shape their whole teaching for the examina-
tions."—p. 50-57-83.

This very succinct, yet we believe accurate, account of
the systems of France, Prussia, and Belgium may we
think be of use in suggesting to us both what we may with
advantage adopt, and what we should avoid. Of course no
foreign system is perfectly adaptable to our country, with
its pecuhar traditions of individual freedom and reliance
on voluntary action : one thing we think is certain ; that
the French system, founded as it is entirely on the omni-
potence of the State, is antagonistic to every principle of

1863.] University Education, Ail

our constitution, every national tradition of these countries.
From the three instances we have examined, it may be
learned that the less there is 'of legal interference with and
regulation of the different Universities the better will it be
for the interests of science and literature ; that learning
flourishes most in a country where there are separate in-
dependent Universities, each granting degrees ; and that if
it be necessary for the government to establish general
public examinations, these should be as large and com-
prehensive as possible ; giving the greatest possible latitude
in the choice of subjects to the students from different
institutions; and directed rather to ascertain that each
College has educated its students up to a sufficiently high
standard in its own line ; than to measure all with the
same test."-'"

To apply then our conclusions to the organization of
University education in Ireland ; with regard to education
nothing remains to be done: Trinity College, the Catholic
University, and the Queen's Colleges! amply supply our
wants in this respect : the only question to be settled is
the conferring of legal degrees.

Two systems, as we mentioned in our last paper, are
practicable : to grant a separate charter to the Catholic
University ; and leave the three Universities separate ; re-
modelling of course the Queen's Colleges to remedy their
radical defects; or to institute one general examining
University for Ireland on the principle of the London
University. The latter seems to be the system most in
favour in England at present ; (although the example of
France and Belgium shews that it is attended with very
considerable danger to the progress of learning,) and we
shall therefore examine it first, although ourselves strongly
in favour of the other alternative for reasons we will explain
later.

The plan to be examined then is the institution of one
examining University for Ireland, holding the place of

* This has been most admirably done in the examinations for the
Indian service ; and the merits of the system, as a test of real
knowledge and capacity, not of cram, are explained in the report,
drawn up we believe by the late Lord Macaulay.

t We do not of course concede the necessity of the Queen'3
Colleges, but a College for Presbyterians would be required.

442 University Education. [April.

iha jury s d'examen'm France and Belgium, and that of
the various prufungs-commissionen in Prussia, and grant-
ing all legal degrees on a simple examination.

The one principle which is essential, is, that there must
be but one such body for all Ireland ; if the various Uni-
versities are not each to grant legal degrees, none must
grant them : this is but even justice and is indispensable :
it involves the merging in the one University of the
present Queen's University (about which of course there
can be no difficulty,) and also of the Dublin University.
We shall, we know, at first excite indignant surprise, when
we suggest the necessity, in this scheme, of the Dublin
University (or as it is commonly, though erroneously called
Trinity College,) giving up its separate privilege of grant-
ing degrees ; yet we believe a careful and dispassionate
examination will entirely remove this feeling. In the first
place it must be observed, that Dublin University though
in practice greatly confounded with its only College, that
** Of the holy and undivided Trinity near Dublin/' is
essentially and really distinct from the College.

Sir James Ware in his annals of Ireland (chap. 32,)
says : —

"In Easter holidays 1590, Adam Loftus Lord Archbishop of
Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland with others of the clergy
met the mayor and aldermen and commons of the city at the
Tholsel, where he made a speech to them, setting forth how advan-
tageous it would be to have a nursery of learning founded here ;
and how kindly Her Majesty would take it if they would bestow
that old decayed monastery of All Hallows (which her father King
Henry the 8th had at the dissolution of the monasteries given
them) for the erecting of such a structure ; whereupon the mayor,
aldermen and commons unanimously granted his request."

Within a week after Henry Ussher, afterwards Arch-
bishop of Armagh, went to England to the Queen and
obtained a licence for the foundation of a college. The
license of mortmain (according to Ware) 29 Dec. 1590; first
stone laid 13 March, 1591 ; charter granted by Eliza-
beth, 30th March 1592. The words of the charter are
explicit, as founding a college to lead afterwards to
a University. "Unum Collegium mater Univer-
sitatis pro educatione et institutione juvenum et stu-
dentium in artibus et facultatibus, perpetuis futuris
temporibus duraturum, et quod erit et vocabitur Colle-
gium sanctse et individuso Trinitatis juxta Dublinium

1863.] University Education. 443

Regina Elizabetha fiindatum.'' The eiKlowments were
all granted to Trinity College, not to the University of
Dnblin, and the College officers were and are distinct
from the University officers. Taylor, History of the
University of Dublin, says, ! (p. 44-5) *' Soon after the
Restoration it was thought that the University might be
rendered more extensively useful in diffusing the know-
ledge of the liberal arts through Ireland, by the endow-
ment of another College upon its foundation ; a provision
was even made for that purpose in the Act of Settlement,
1662, 'provided also and be it enacted by the authority
aforesaid that the Lord Lieutenant or other chief governor
or governors of the kingdom of Ireland for the time being
by and.with the consent of the privy council, shall have
full power to erect another College to he of the Universitt/
of Duhlhiy to be called the King's College/' The royal
commission of 1851-3, in their report (p. 8) state that the
University of Dublin and Trinity College are distinct
bodies, and in the provost of Trinity's evidence, as given
in same report, the following passages occur :

"Is there any College in, or connected with the University of
Dublin besides Trinity College? Ans : There is not now any
College in the University besides Trinity College. In 1617 a hall
called Trinity Hall was established by the authority of the provost
and senior fellows, which, in 1660, was converted into a hall for
medical students, and ultimately became the College of Physicians.
Ques : Is there any provision for founding other Colleges to be so
connected? Ans : There is no provision in the charter or statutes
for founding other Colleges. The clause which declares Trinity
College to be Mater Universitatis has been supposed to imply the
founding of other Colleges in the University. The possibility of
future Colleges and halls being founded in the University is however
alluded to in the Charter of James I, and in certain Acts of Par-
liament, although no provision is made for their foundation, (14-15,
Car. II, c. 1. sect. 219.) In the Act of Settlement (continues the
provost) that the Lord Lieutenant &c., (see above) ; another allusion
(continues the provost) to tlie possibility of a College being founded
in the University occurs in the Act 33, Geo. III. cap. 21, sec.
7. * that it shall and may be lawful for Papists, or persons pro-
fessing the Papist or Roman Catholic religion, to hold or take
degrees or any professorship in, or be masters or fellows of any
College to be hereafter founded in tliis kingdom (provided that such
College fihall he a member of the University of Dublin, and shall not
bo founded exclusively for the education of Papists or persons pro-
fessing the Roman Catholic Religion, &c.); or to hold any office or

444 University Educatio^i,. [April.

place of trust, or be a member of any such body corporate except
the College of the Holy and undivided Trinity near Dublin &c. Ques :
To what extent is the government of the University ofDublin vested
in any other body thau the provost and senior fellows of Trinity
College ? Ans. : The visitors have independent power and an appel-
late jurisdiction, superior to that of the provost and senior fellows in
cases of appeals made to them ; and in certain cases not provided
for in the statutes, the decrees of the provost and senior fellows require
the sanction of the visitors, in order to liave the force and validity
of statutes. The chancellor has also special jurisdiction in case tho
visitors disagree. The senate of the University has also a certain
limited power in the public conferring of degrees. Ques. : Is there
in theory or practice, any distinction made between Trinity
College and the University of Dublin ? Ans. : Inpractice the Uni-
versity as distinguished from the College is usually considered to
consist of the chancellor or vice-chancellor, and the whole body
of graduates, viz., the M.A.s and doctors in the six faculties: but
this body, as distinguished from the College, has no corporate exis-
tence by any charter or statute, nor has it a common seal. (This
answer is given under date 3rd Nov. 1851, but the Crown, by
letters patent, dated 24th July 1851, charters and incorporates
under a common seal, the chancellor, doctors, and masters of the
University of Dublin, and gives them power to hold lands, &c., see
p. 9. Dub. Univ. Cal. 1861.) Two annual convocations of the
University,as distinguished from the College are ordinarily held each
year. Ques. : Enumerate the officers of the University as distinct
from the officers of the College. Ans. : The officers of the Univer-
sity as distinct from those of the College, are the chancellor, vice-
chancellor, proctors, and (if we may so consider them) the burgesses
or representatives iu Parliament.' To the above quotation we will
only add the address to George IV. 17th August, 1821. < We, your
Majesty's most faithful and devoted subjects, the provost and fellows
and scholars, of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of
Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin, and the vice-chancellor and Uni-
versity of Dublin, &c.' ''*

These extracts clearly prove that the University of
Dublin was intended ironi its foundation to be distinct
from its eldest College, that of the Holy Trinity ; that the
Crown which founded it and the legislature which sanc-
tioned it distinctly contemplated the erection of other Col-
leges, which should have an equal share in that University,
which was intended for all Ireland ; nay, that the legisla-
ture expressly contemplated the creation of such Colleges,

* For the above extracts we are indebted to Professor Kavanagb,
of the Catholic University.

1863.] University Education* 445

as inte^^ral portions of the University, every office in which
might be held by Roman Cathohcs ; and every member
of which might be a Roman Catholic; the only condition
retained in deference to expiring religious prejudices being
that such a College should not be exclusively for the
education of Roman Catholics : Trinity College was to
be retained exclusively for the members of the Established
Church ; the college of Dublin University was to be
freely open to the Catholics.

And in this re-organization of Dublin University, in
compliance with the aim of its creation; what would
Trinity College give up?— Not its Autonomy; not its
endowments: not its exclusively Church of England char-
acter; not its connection with the State Church ; its right
of granting theological degrees for that Church : and liter-
ary degrees bearing with them all the weight its character
for scholarship gives; most probably not its parliamentary
representation: the only concession it would have to
make is, that its students seeking legal degrees, other
than those in theology, should meet in a common exami-
nation hall the students of other Colleges (and they have
proved in many a competetive examination they fear no
rivals) and that instead of being the solitary College of a
nominal University, it should become the oldest and most
important College of a national University. And what in
like manner would the other Colleges yield up ? We need
hardly speak of the Queen's Colleges, at least with their
present government; — the mere creatures oF the State,
depending wholly on the fiat of the Lord Lieutenant, they
have little to lose : but they would rather gain than lose :
they would retain their internal organization, and their
superabundant scholarships, and would become also
integral parts of a National University, instead of being
the only Colleges of a nominal one. And our Catholic
University; — would it lose its rank ? No: like that of
Louvain, it would be in its internal aspect a University in
itself; with its own autonomy; its own constitution, its
own revenues, the liberal gift of the Irish people : its
own course of studies ; its own degrees in theology, in
canon and civil law, in philosophy ; the one change being
that its students would meet all the other Irish students in
the examinations for legal degrees. There would be in this
nothing that Catholics could object to ; no alien teaching ;
and what we regard with almost as much aversion, no

446 University Education, lApril',

state formalism of education ; the teaching would be
Catholic ; the examination neutral. In such a system,
if the examinations were well organized; if taking the
double lesson afforded us by the Prussian and Belgian
systems, the different Colleges were left the greatest free-
dom and scope in framing their courses of studies and all
danger of cramping and formalising teaching by too exten-
sive and detailed a plan of examination avoided ; there
would be much that would be good ; a generous emula-
tion would be excited between the different Colleges, not
only with regard to the position of their students at the
public examination, but with regard to their courses of
studies : and the students of different religions would meet
where they can meet with advantage, on a common ground
not of enforced negativism of teaching, but of general
results.

In such a scheme of an Irish University as we are dis-
cussing, of course the government would be vested in a
Senate and Chancellor, named in the first instance by the
Crown, and in whose nomination the Crown would always
take a large share, combined in after years, as in the case
of London, with election by the convocation. The great
question to be determined would be what elements should
be represented in such a senate : ai\d on this point we
cannot have a better example than that of the French law
of 1850, in its provisions with regard to the conseil supe-
rieuVy which we have described before. The elements to be
taken into account seem to us to be these : first the Protes-
tants of the established Church, who would naturally be re-
presented by members clerical and lay of their College of
the Holy Trinity ; secondly, the Catholics both ecclesi-
astically and secularly : ecclesiastically to watch over the
interests of the faith ; and guard against the introduction
of any subject into the common examination, which in-
volved a question of i'aith or morals ;'"' one bishop, probably
the Archbishop of Dublin, as resident, whose negative
on these subjects should be respected by his colleagues,
would adequately discharge this function : secularly, the

* Such, for instance, as an examination on Mosheim's Ecclesias-
tical History, Pale^'s Moral Philosophy, or Wliatelejr's Proofs of
Christianity : the best way is to lay down no text-book : but merely
.examine on the subject; and admit all opinions equally.

1863. J University Education, 447

Catholic Body should send their le.iding intellects, and
their College the Catholic University be officially repre-
sented on the senate : intellectually the Queen Collecjes
should of course not be absent : and if it be true, as Sir
Robert Kane thinks, that there is a considerable portion
of the Catholic body who hold that the State is the only
fitting guardian of their interests, intellectual and reli-
gious, and who wish to separate themselves from those who
look to the heads of their Church for religious direction,
and to their own free action for their literary guardianship;
these State worshipers, or to use an old word, Erastians,
should of course have a representation distinct from that
of the independent Catholics. The Presbyterians should
also have their members of the senate, both lay and
ecclesiastical. We do not mention the Dissenters, as there
is no body of them in Ireland sufficiently numerous to
claim a distinct place ; although distinguished Dissenters
would no doubt find their place in the senate. To sum up
then, the necessary or representative members of the
senate : these should be 1st. Church of England, the
Archbishop of Dublin, the provost and two fellows of
Trinity College; 2d. Catholic, the Archbishop of Dublin,
(or other bishop) the rector and two fellows of the Catholic
University: 3d, Presbyterian, one minister deputed by
the synod and three leading lay Presbyterians : and 4th
might be sent, three members of the Queen's College,
as representing state education : these members would
amount to only sixteen, and would leave plenty of room
for the Crown to include the other chiefs of learning and
literature in the country : then the medical profession
should of course have its chosen men, the law the same.
The principles to be laid down in the charter for the gui-
dance of the senate would be very simple: that the Uni-
versity should never undertake to teach or to control
teaching; that no subject of examination should ever
trench on religious questions ; or any candidate for its
honours be disqualified for holding any peculiar opinions ;
and that the remonstrance on this head of the ecclesias-
tical members of the senate should be invariably respected.
Such in its principles, of course details may be modified
in a hundred ways, should be a University to embrace men
ol all religions in Ireland : and we believe Catholics would
have no objection to share in such a University. But it
must be carefully borne in mind that it must be a Univer-

448 University Education* [April.

sity for all Ireland, and the only one : we can never con-
sent that there shall be separate Universities for others
and not for us: that our University, founded, endowed,
supported by ourselves, shall graciously be permitted to
enter as a junior College a State University framed for
State Colleges ; and be obliged to model its teaching to
fit the examinations of such a body : the Queen's Univer-
sity is the^ expression of the Queen's Colleges and such
let it remain ; we will join a free National University, or
we will vindicate the right recognition of our own.

The other alternative then, for satisfying the legitimate
claims of the Catholics of Ireland, is the recognition by the
state of the degrees of their own University. This is the
mode which we believe to be best calculated both to
satisfy the Catholics, and to promote the interests of
learning. One central system of examination has always
a tendency to promote formalism and cram; and literature
has been found to flourish most in countrieswhere separate
Universities follow each their own course in generous
emulation. Nor would there be the slightest danger in
Ireland of the standard of learning for degrees ever falling
low in the separate Universities : this has been said to be
the case in Scotland ; but there several small Universities
existed each giving the same species of education and
drawing its students from the same body ; and therefore
tempted to attract students by laxity of examination:
but in Ireland there would be only three Universities each
drawing its students almost entirely from a difi^erent body ;
Trinity College from the Established Church, the Catholic
University from the Catholics, the Queen's University from
the Presbyterians and Dissenters ; and rivalling each
other in literary reputation and the success of their students
at competitive examinations, at the bar, and in the medical
profession. Let us then examine what would be the
practical way of granting a charter to the Catholic Univer-
sity ; and answer Mr. Whiteside's question, what control
would be given to the State over its government and
teaching. The answer to this question is simple: over
its teaching none ; over its examinations the fullest : the
State has a right to ascertain that the man who obtains
the degree of bachelor of arts has the proper amount of
knowledge ; as to what course of studies he has followed;
whether he has learned the metaphysics of the schoolmen
or studied only the inductive mode of philosophising of

1863.1 University Education, 449

Bacon; whether he has read English History in Lingard or
in Hume, concerns not the State. But to understand this
fully we must here as in the case of Trinity College
distinguish between the College and the University.'-^" The
former, the College, is wholly independent of the State ;
created by the Catholics, in the exercise of their freedom,
endowed, supported by them, for their own use, and the
education of their own children in the way sanctioned by
their Church, and which they chose ; it is governed by
them: it asks nothing from the State, not even a name;
and is and remains wholly free. But the University to be
created by the crown and to which is granted the power
of granting degrees, would stand on a different footing :
the State grants it this power and it is responsible to the
State for the exercise of this delegated power. This dis-
tinction is most essential, and is in accordance with all
precedent: the charters of the Universities of Canada,
Australia and India, give the power of framing examina-
tions and granting degrees to their respective senates ;
but do not undertake to regulate the organization and
studios of the different Educational Institutions.

The charter then would be granted in the usual form to
the chancellor and senate of the University to be erected
** for the purpose of ascertaining by means of examination,
the persons who have acquired proficiency in literature,
science, and art, by the pursuit of such (regular and
liberal) course of education, and of rewarding them by
academical degrees and certificates of proficiency as evi-
dence of their respective attainments, and marks of
honour proportioned thereunto," (Charters of London
University), and empowering them from ** time to time
to make and alter any bye-laws and regulations touch-
ing the examination for degrees and the granting of
the same — and to appoint and remove all examiners of
the said University'' (ibid) ; their duty would be a
purely intellectual one ; with the College they would
have nothing to do, save to settle when its certificates

* We use the words here as expressing respectively the educa-
tional and teaching institution; and the bodj in which is vested
the power of granting degrees. University in its full and original
signification means also the former: but has come amongst us to
express the latter as distinguished from the former function.

450 University Education, April.

should be received as part qualifications for degrees.
There are two modes in which this body might be con-
stituted : what may be called the Prussian mode ; by
which the actual self-governing organization of the Univer-
sity as a teaching body (or as we have called it the College)
should be adopted and recognised as the senate ; and the
government be represented on it by certain officers, analo-
gous to the German royal curators: or by the appoint-
ment of a separate senate for the University (formed of
course in part of the Collegiate authorities) which would
probably according to precedent be nominated by the
crown in the first instance; with a certain degree of
election by convocation later. The former would in many
respects be the most natural, since, as in the case of Trinity
College, the University would be one with a single College
and the government of the University would then naturally
rest in the authorities of the College: it involves however
the question of the organization of the government of the
existing Catholic University ; a question which we intend
to treat before we conclude this paper : the latter has the
advantage of leaving the great Catholic educational
institution wholly free and unconnected with the State,
and would be considered perhaps more consonant with
late precedents in these countries. In either ^ case cer-
tain principles must be observed in the constitution of the
senate or governing body of the University ; even in the
case that it were, as in London, nominated by the Crown,
these principles must be distinctly laid down and observed:
they are two, that it must be Catholic ; and that its
functions are purely intellectual. It is to be a Catholic
University for Catholics alone ; its government must be
wholly Catholic and must respect those rules of jurisdiction
on religious subjects which Catholics believe in: hence it
must consist of two distinct elements the religious and the
secular: the religious element must of course be vested in
the hands of the proper authorities ; for it nuist ever be
remembered that Catholics acknowledge a distinct autho-
rity in all religious questions ; a board of the most religious
laymen, though they were all saints, cannot speak with
any authority, or guarantee to Catholics the religious
purity of the teaching they preside over ; one bishop,
virtiite oficii (as the lawyers well express it) is a com-
petent authority and a sufficient safeguard; the compe-
tent religious authority then, that is the bishops of the

1863.] University Education. 451

Catholic Church in Ireland, must be represented on the
senate : but it is not enough that one or many bishops
should have seats in the senate ; their attributes and the
extent of their power must be distinctly laid down. This is
not a question of influence, or of persuasion ; this is
a question of jurisdiction ; they would sit on the senate in
a specific capacity, as the legal guardians of purity of faith
and morals ; and in that capacity, their povyer must be
complete; on an intellectual question, as for instance the
extent to which classics or mathematics should be studied,
their secular colleagues may be far more competent to
judge; on some questions they alone are competent to
speak. This was well explained by the bishop of Langres
in the debate on the French law oF 1850 when he said : —

" You have decided that there shall be a conseil superieur of
public instruction in France, you have decided that four Catholic
bishops shall form part of it : you are now considering their powers
('attributions') and as these touch even doctrines, I speak not of
human science, but of religious doctrines, I will speak frankly, for
there must be no ambiguity on so important a matter ; and the
bishops would not enter the council ; their colleagues would not
send them there, if the limits of their power were not clearly admit-
ted and recognised. I understand that the bishops enter the
council for the maintenance of that doctrine and teaching of which
they may not change an iota, because it is a sacred deposit of
which they must one day render an account, despositum cuslodi ; —
I believe that when the bishops declare that such or such a book
is hostile to the faith, violence could not, should not, be done to
their conscience. Such are the conditions under which I promise
my vote to the law. Such are my hopes ; if these hopes be not
realised, the position in the council of the bishops would be not only
dangerous, but untenable."— (Discussion sur la loi de 1850. Paris,
Lecofre.)

We could add nothing to this clear statement by one of
the brightest ornaments oF the French episcopate, of the
position necessarily occupied in such a body by the bishops
who sit there as the official guardians of the faith : we
shall return to this subject ; but we will here only observe
that in this view of their official position and powers, the
number of bishops on the senate is immaterial : one
representing the body of the episcopate, and whose autho-
rity should be recognized in the constitution of the senate,
would be enough :''' probably however three would be a

* Practically the authority of which we speak is nearly what is

452 University Education, [April.

convenient number ; these must be members ex officio and
their power and jurisdiction clearly laid down. The secular
element is next to be considered : the first observation is
that its duties are purely intellectual and such must be its
qualifications; it is not a board to administer trust funds;
or regulate buildings ; it is a senate to regulate education
and degrees: it is not to represent the rank, or the wealth,
or the respectability of the Irish Catholics; but their
intellect and learning.

A glance at the list of the Senate of London University,
will illustrate our meaning. The first six names (those
which chiefly represent rank) are: the Duke of Devon-
shire, well known for his literary acquirements who gradu-
ated second wrangler at Cambridge ; Earl Granville,
a distinguished graduate of Oxford; Bishops Maltby and
Thirlwal, world renowned as classical scholars and histo-
rians, T. B. Macaulay the historian, and Lord Monteagle
of Brandon ; whilst the rest exclusively represent intellect,
being made up of such men as Sir Philip Crampton,
Brande, Faraday, Grote, and Hallam, cfec. We have no
lack of men in the Catholic body distinguished for their
learning and talents, and of such men must our senate be
composed.'-''

Assuming then that the lay element of the senate is to be
emphatically intellectual, and to represent all the Catholic
intellect of Ireland, we shall perceive that it would

known to the English law as that of a visitor ; thus the nomination of
the Archbishop of Armagh, for instance, as visitor with full powers
would amount to giving him this power. Thus in the Catholic Univer-
sity of Quebec in the charter granted by the Queen, she appointed her
*' trusty and well beloved" the Catholic Archbishop of Quebec sole
visitor of the University ; and he is empowered to annul any statute
or act of the rector or senate.

* *• Et certe magis convenit ut leges condantur studiosorum a
doctoribus diu in academiis regendis versatis, quam ab illis qui
quamvis aut doctrina alia aut dignitate gseculari aut ecclesiastica
prsefulgeant tamen ccecutiunt in his quae non norunt, et suis per-
suasionibus intricant oranem studiorum ordinem. And truly it is
more fitting that laws for students be framed by learned men, long
versed in ruling Colleges, than by those who though they excel in
other knowledge or in secular, or ecclesiastical dignity, yet are
as it were blind in that which they know not, and by their persua-
sions confound all the order of studies." — Bulasus, t. ii. p. 66i.

1863.] University Education, 453

naturally and fittingly consist of two elements, one drawn
from the College of the University, or the teaching body;
the others from the body of learning and intellect in the
country outside its walls. The danger of having the
members selected exclusively from the teaching body is,
the probability of such a course tending to narrow, and
stereotype the character of the body : any body of men are
liable to become wedded to their own ways, to be averse
to change, and to think what has been should continue to
be : it is always well for such men to meet with others
outside their body and so modify and enlarge their views.
It may be objected, that in none of the old Universities is
there an admixture of foreign elements : but on the other
hand it must be recollected, that in none does the govern-
ing consist exclusively of the teaching element, and that of
only one College. The difference of collision between
different Colleges ; the various intermixture of heads of
houses, of fellows, and of professors create and continue
that intellectual movement life and variety which would
not be found in the teaching body of one College. We
may illustrate what we mean by the instance of the medi-
cal faculty. That faculty consists in the Catholic Univer-
sity of some of the cleverest men in the profession ; in time
it will form a distinguished school of men ; but it will- be
all the better for them to meet in the senate of their
University with other distinguished men of their own pro-
fession ; men, it may be in after years, who have been
educated in that school and have left its walls to attain to
eminence elsewhere ; men in a word who will fill as it
were the fellowships of the profession. The intellectual
element of the senate should then be formed of two parts:
representatives of the teaching body of the College, and men
of literary eminence from elsewhere : of the rector and
deans of faculties to represent the teaching body, and of
men distinguished in literature, science and arts, outside
that body ; of the most^ distinguished Catholics of the
legal and medical professions ; and literary men who have
gone through an honourable University career and are
known and respected in the world of letters ; but it must
be distinctly understood that wealth and rank alone confer
no right to sit in what is the senate of the republic of
letters. To sum up then, the senate might consist of the
Chancellor ; an office which would most fittingly be filled,
ex officio, by a Catholic Archbishop, and in him might

454 Utiiversity Education. [April.

properly be vested full visitorial and controling powers in
all questions of faith and morals ; which, as we have said,
are the inalienable attribute of the episcopal authority ;
and which are in a great degree analogous to the powers
generally exercised in old Universities by the Chancellor :
of course it is necessary to add that he should always
exercise power in concert with his episcopal colleagues : two
or more other bishops should also form part of the senate,
that the views of the episcopacy might always be fully
represented even on questions on wliich they would not
speak with absolute and conclusive authority ; next would
come the rector and five deans of faculties of the Univer-
sity and the remainder of a certain number of distinguished
men. But to ensure the life and vitality of the University,
to create and perpetuate its esprit de corps and ensure it in
after ages faithful guardians and supporters, it is essential
that it should ultimately have a convocation of its gradu-
ates ; and that that convocation should have a voice in the
filling up of the vacancies in the non official members of
the senate ; probably in this respect the example of London
might be followed with advantage, where on every second
vacancy convocation nominates three persons out of whom
the crown appoints one.

We have thus considered what should be the constitu-
tion of a senate to regulate all questions of degrees,
constituted in some degree independently of the present
Catholic University, and exercising no control, save with
regard to degrees, over it. VVe now return to the mode
of simply investing the University itself with the power of
granting degrees ; merely deputing government curators
to see that the standard was sufficiently high. We have
reserved this question to the last, because it involves
another of immense importance to Catholics ; but in which
the State has only an indirect concern, and that only on
the supposition that it delegates the granting of degrees
wholly to the existing University ; it is, what is to be
finally and for all time the constitution and government of
the Catholic University. ^ This question we wish to ex-
amine wholly as Catholics, and assuming that it is to
continue a free Catholic institution wholly unconnected
with the State. It has been founded by the authority of
an apostolic brief directed to the bishops of Ireland,
authorizing and directing them to found a Catholic Uni-
versity, and giving them the fullest powers to do so. The

1863.] University Education, 455

ccetus episcoporum then stands, with a delegated authority,
exactly in the same reflation to the University as the Holy
See formerly stood to the different Universities it founded,
as Paris, Glasp^ow, &c. : hut as the Holy See, thoupfh
supreme in authority, did not in any instance retain in its
own hands the internal control and daily management of
a University, so neither does the authority vested in tlie
Irish episcopate involve the necessity for them personally
to execute the government of the University. From
the first they have shown that they so understood the mat-
ter ; for the first step they took in the Synod of Thurles
was to appoint a Committee consisting of eight bishops>
eight priests, and eight laymen, *' to take steps to found and
organize a Catholic University/^ That committee dis-
charged its duty ; it founded the University and appointed
the first rector ; then its duty was done : it was chosen
with a view to its fitness to organize the material interests
of the University, it did not profess to be a learned body
fitted to guide a literary corps. Since that date the
csetus episcoporum, the founding authority of the Uni-
versity, have administered it by a committee of their own
body ; and that administration has brought it to its pre-^
sent eminently successful position : none could be better
calculated for the early stage of its existence : the first
government of a nascent colony must be vested in few
hands ; a body must exist before it have a constitution ;
a University must be formed before it can be autonomous.
But the question of the ultimate constitution of our Irish
University and of its government still remains. If we look
to continental examples, we shall find that the Papal
founders of Universities endowed them with a constitution
and made them sell-governing: subject of course, to the
controlling power of the competent ecclesiastical autho-
rities and the visitorial power of the Holy See. One great
example exists in modern times of a different system being
pursued, and it is worthy of the most careful study. The
ancient University of Louvain, founded by the authority of
the Holy See, was governed like all its sisters of old time ;
the modern one is governed directly by the episcopate of
Belgium, who exercise that government through the
rector appointed by them. — Whence this difference ? The
reason is easily found, and is well known. The govern-
ment ofBelgium had, under Joseph II., the French, and the
Orange dynasty, claimed a direct intervention in, and con-

YOL. LII.— Ko. CJV, 12

456 University Education. [April.

trol over all corporations and public institutions, whether
for charity, edncation, or any other pnrpose ; this system
still continues: and it is impossible to constitute any body
not controlled by the government for the manafyement of a
University. It was well known to be impossible to obtain
for the University an act of incorporation (la personnifica-
tion civile)"''' without which it could not legally exist ; or hold
any, the smallest property ; nor conld the difficulty be got
over by our mode of investing the property and government
in trustees, under a trust deed ; all trusts being declared to
be illegal by the code Napoleon, which is the law of Bel-
gium,! consequently there was no possible means of con-
stituting a body, and the way of evading the law usual in
Belginm was adopted ; namely, that of treating the whole
concern as the property of an individual ; and to this day
the whole property of the University of Louyain is, in the
eye of the law, which would otherwise seize it, the private
property of the bishop. This one reason was all-snfficient ;
but it was also felt and known that any attempt to organize
a University body would at once cause the intervention of
Government, which would patronize and regulate it, and
probably^make use of lax and erastian Catholics to manage
it. All free action was impossible, and the bishops adopted
the only possible course : and to this day the rector and

*The attempt was made at what was supposed a favourable time
in 1841, when the bishops petitioned for it hut in vain. (Discussion
die la hi de 1842, p. 438. Brussels, Lesigne.)

t The law is so strict, tliat if any trust even though not declared
can be shown to attach to a legacy it is void : property can be left
in trust only to the recognized legal bodies, as the bureaux de
bienfaisance, &c, which are all subject to the governinent control :
the only power left to the testators is that they may associate
their relatives with the legal body in the administration of the
trust. So far is this carried, that in 1845 a canon of Louvain,
having left a sura of money to found an almshouse for blind women,
to he administered hy the parish priests of Louvain : the legacy was
claimed by the legal board of hospitals, and their claim was with
great difficulty defeated. The only mode therefore, by which
property can be left in Belgium for institutions other than those
tinder legal control is, by its being made the private property
of an individual with a secret trust in favour of the charity : and
thus all the property of tlie convents, schools, orphanages, &c., is,
in each diocese, the legal property of the bishop, who takes care
before his death to transfer it to his vicar-general, or some other
person who does the same.

1863. J University Education. 457

all the professors nre simply the salaried servants of the
bishops, as owners ol the establishment. But as it was felt
by the Belgian bishops that the episcopal body, as such,
although it contained men most eminent in literature,
was not calculated to direct a learned body, they simply
chose the best rector they could find,'"' and confi-
ded the whole organization and government to him ;
retaining of course the supervision and approval of alL
his acts. And such continues the government of Lou-
vain ; the" rector, aided by the counsels of the faculties, .
proposes to the body of bishops. And excellently has this
institution worked and honourable is its position ; yet
certain evils, which might have been foreseen, have actu-
ally resulted from the system necessarily adopted. In the
first place, funds have not come in as freely as from the
well-known generosity of the Belgian people, and what,
they have done elsewhere, might be expected. The
annual sum expended by the bishops on the University is
about £8,000, and such it has remained : no special foim-
dations for individual professorships, fellowships, or scho-
larships have been made by individuals ; in great part
from the legal difficulties ; but also from there being no
University body of which they would form part or whose
existence or needs excite sympathy : all subscriptions go
into the common, unknown fund, and are administered
by the bishops, with a view to the common needs : but we
all know that men who will readily give £5,000 to found a
special professorship whose holder will have a definite
position in a known corporation, would with difficulty be
induced to give £50 to be merged in a fund of indefinite
destination: hence the University of Louvain has little
growth except in the number of its students. Secorwlly,
as the bishops do not themselves undertake the scientific
management of the University, and there is no senate;
the entire scientific government practically rests in the
professors of the various faculties : hence a system once
adopted remains for ever; the teaching of jiu'isprudence,
for instance, follows the same track from year to year:
the traditions of teaching become even more confirmed
and unchangeable ; there is not that life or development
which so peculiarly distinguishes the open teaching of the

* Mgr. de Ram, who has worthily ruled it from its foundation to
the present day.

458 ^ University Education, [April.

German Universities: and the great contending schools
of jurisprudence, the historic and the philosophic, which
have done so much for the science, could never have arisen
together in Louvain : as the various improvements in the
London University examinations in medicine, which have
been introduced by the senate, where sit so many heads of
the profession not connected with any college, would never
have been introduced had the examinations been settled
by the professors alone who taught the course in Univer-
sity College. But far more important is the lack of an
esprit de corps amongst its members, if we may so call its
past and present students; in fact they are not members
of the University, and that is the whole point. It is not
as the old Universities were, a great corporation, with a
corporate life and spirit : it is not as old Louvain was.
Corpus Universitatis composed of Rect07\ Ma^nificus,
Magistri et scholares: it \s simply a teaching institute,
the property of the bishops, in which a number of professors
who hold office during pleasure, teach the scholars who
frequent it, pay their fees for some years, and then go
away, and have no further connection with it, save those
feelings of attachment which all feel for the place where
they have been brought up ; but in which neither professor
nor graduate liave any fixed or definite position. Hence
there is not that bond of unity, that undying connection
between the graduate and the central body-^in a word,
that esprit de corps which exists in the English Universi-
ties : no one in Belgium would ever dream of suggesting
that any of the Universities should ever send a represen-
tative to the legislature, for they are not. coherent bodies..
In England, the Universities are the great bulwarks of the
Established Church, because they are essentially Church
of England institutions, and their graduates, dispersed
throughout the land, retain their connection with the
University, and their esprit de corps ; and are, before all
things, Oxford and Cambridge men : but the ablest men
of the Catholic party in Belgium state with regret that the
graduates of Louvain form no such united body. Such
are the defects attendant on the system which was neces-
sarily adopted in Louvain ; and which we think, render
it undesirable that the example should be followed ia
Ireland : but these reasons apply with much greater force
to our country, from our system of publicity and repre-

1863.] University Education. 459

seiitation, we are a people jealous of autliorities, accus-
tomed to take part iu the administration oF all our public
institutions, of our charities, and of our Colleges : anxious
always to see a recoofuized law and constitution, not an
unlimited power. To the Belgians, accustomed to see
always .the action of government, the bishops naturally
appear as the absolute rulers of a great Catholic institu-
tion: the Catholics of Ireland, whilst yielding the most
absolute obedience to every exercise of the authority of the
bishop, (for episcopal authority, in all that is subject to it,
is at once a law and a constitution,) are accustomed to see
secular interests looked after by seculars. Now our laws
throw no obstacles in the way of organizing the Catholic
University of Ireland in whatever method may be most
desirable : in whomsoever the govenmient be vested, and
with whatsoever limitations, there will be no difficulty iu
framing a trust deed to insure its continuance. We will
then assume for the moment, that it is to have such a
constitution, in essentials, as the old Catholic Universi-
ties had, with all the necessary guarantees for the pre-
servation of the purity of faith and morals; and all pro-
visions for the free exercise of Catholic ecclesiastical
authority: and we shall endeavour to ascertain what
principle should guide the framing of its constitution. We
are not now speaking of that constitution in any relation to
a Protestant State (although this point may easily be met)
but simply in relation to the Catholic people of Ireland for
whom that University exists.

The first great point to be clearly understood is the
t^onnection of the religious element with education : or
rather the relation in which the ecclesiastical authorities,
the depositories and guardians of religion, stand to the
management of education. There is, not unfrequently,
a certain ambiguity in the language used on this point,
and hence arise apparent contradictions. It is often said,
and said truly, that all education must be subject to
religion : that the care and superintendence of the bishops,
the guardians of religion and morality, must extend to
all education; and that they cannot abdicate that cai^
with regard to any part of it. On the other hand, the
assertion of Sir Robert Kane, that *' Roman Catholic
ecclesiastical authorities consider that education in its
•widest sense, secular as well as religious, is by divine
ordination, vested in their body— laymen can exercise no

460 University Education. [April.

control even as to secular studies/'""' has been repeatedly
contradicted by ecclesiastics of the highest authority : and
the remark made that in purely secular questions of edu-
cation the bishops claimed no divinely conferred authority.
What then is the answer to these difficulties? A careful
examination of all the recognized authorities will show that
it is contained in the common formula often repeated but
not always fully appreciated : the authority of the bishops
extends to all that relates to faith or morals,} and to no-
thing else. Are there then some branches of education which
have a relation to faith and morals and others which have
no such relation ? No : this is the error of those who endea-
vour to divide education into religious and secular ; as we
have shown in our former article, all education is con-
nected with religion. Does then the authority of the bishops
extend to every branch of education in every respecf^
No. ^ Only as it relates to faith and morals. This dis-
tinction which may not perhaps at first be seen, will be
made clear by a couple of examples. Of course the teach-
ing of religion and morality itself belongs wholly to the
^Church ; every other branch of education has a double
aspect, one secular, one religious : the interpretation of the
New Testament in everything which touches even indi-
rectly upon faith, is of ecclesiastical competence : but a
purely critical question, as to the dialect in which it was
written, or the locality of some of the places named, would
be a secular one, on which a bishop could not pronounce
ex cathedra. Take an example from the opposite end of
the scale of sciences. Mathematics are not a question of
faith: but the professor who, in teaching mathematics
should inculcate the error that mathematical demonstra-
tion was the only one producing certainty ; a doctrine
which would attack the evidence of faith ; would rightly
incur ecclesiastical censure. This distinction was well
shown in the case of Galileo: Copernicus had taught

* Tran?actions of Social Science Asso. 1861, p. 324. We have
quoted the words of Sir R. Kane's paper, because the viva voce
discussion is very inaccurately reported. Major O'Reilly's state-
ment iu reply to Sir R, Kane on this point, is quite inaccurately
given.

t We use the word bishops as expressing practica,lly the legiti-
mate ecclesiastical authority, and implying, of course the superior
authority of the head of bishops, the Holy See.

1863.] University Education. 461

the doctrine of the earth's motion without censure, and so
Galileo might have done, for it was a question of physics,
on which tlie Church had no divine authority to pronounce :
but when Galileo undertook to maintain his theory by cer-
tain unauthorized interpretations of scripture, and to teach
that his philosophical doctrines were propounded in
scripture, the ecclesiastical authorities interfered and he
was condemned ** for certain rash and erroneous interpre-
tations of scripture'' as the sentence says ; and as these
discussions were dangerous to the faith, they were ordered
to be discontinued.* So with regard to every branch of
learning, a bishop has no authority to interfere virtute
officii with it in its secular aspect, but he has such autho-
rity whenever it touches faith or morals. Nay more, a
bishop is not necessarily peculiarly well qualified to direct
teaching in its secular aspects : to decide whether the phy-
sical sciences may with advantage be substituted for
mathematics in a particular course : to decide on the
selection of classical authors ; or decide the question so
much debated in Germany, whether the historic or the
philosophic is the true method of teaching jurisprudence :
here he is only a man who may or may not be learned on
these points; but if any one of these affect the faith he
speaks as one having cauthority.f Hence to appoint a board
of bishops to determine all literary and scientific ques-
tions, in a word, to administer a University ; to frame
courses of studies, to draw out programmes of lectures, to
settle the nature and extent of examinations ; in a word
to determine all questions in law, medicine, arts, and
sciences, would be an absurdity : and therefore the Bel-
gian bishops have wisely avoided undertaking a task they
were not fitted for, and have, as we have mentioned before,
left all the scientific government of the University to the
professors. Thus the authority of the bishops with regard
to secular education, that is, everything except the teach-
ing of religion and morality, is a controlling power, and

* See an Article on Galileo in the Dublin Review,
t Of course we need hardly add, that the bishops do not claim
any right Jitre divino to the patronage of the University ; if such a
word could be applied at all to the administration of an institution
to which the words of Thomassin are emphatically applicable,
*' qui jus habet collationis tenetur semper digaum anteponere
minus digno ; digno digniorem.'*

462 University Education. [April.

vests in them not the management or administration of
such branches of education, but i\\Q control: and is there-
fore of the nature of that exercised by a visitor. Hence
in Cathohc ages, the Pope was held to be the visitor of all
Universities; and examining more fully the Catholic
precedents we find this was precisely the power claimed
and exercised by the ecclesiastical authorities : the govern-
ment of Oxford, of Cambridge, of Pari&, was not vested
exclusively in ecclesiastics; but the Pope was the visitor
of all Universities, and the local ecclesiastical authorities
also in their own sphere : thus the bishop of Lincoln, in
whose diocese they <are, is still the visitor of Lincoln and
Oriel College, Oxford : and at Paris it was the chancellors
of Notre Dame and St. Genevieve who granted licences to
teach to those who had received degrees, thus certifying
the orthodoxy of those whose learning was certified by
the University. To what does this controlling power
extend and how may it be exercised ? As we have said it
extends to every branch of education, and it is exercised
in three ways. Firstly, by presenting tests of orthodoxy
and fixing the amount and nature of religious teaching :
as we have said before, religious teaching is wholly the
province of ecclesiastical authority : it is for it to appoint
both books and teachers, and make all necessary regula-
tions to enforce the observance of religious and moral
duties. Secondly, by exercising a power of revision and
censure over all books used in teaching, to see that they
are not dangerous either to faith or morals. No one can
doubt that a book could not be used in a Catholic College
the use of which was declared by the competent authority
to be dangerous to the faith of the students ; not that
by permittiug the use of a work the authorities need
approve of all its statements; their power of veto would
be exercised only when its use would be dangerous ; thus
Hallam's English Constitutional History would freely be
allowed to be used by a Catholic professor as a text-book,
while Mr. Vericour's work would most probably be vetoed.
The ecclesiastical authorities would not be called on to
pronounce any opinion on the merely literary or scien-
tific merits of a work, for on that they have no peculiar
authority to speak, but simply to pronounce it dangerous
to faith or morals : not to decide whether Laplace's or
De Morgan's be the better scientific guide, but to con-
demn the philosophy of Comte or Lamennais. Third|y,_as

1863.] University Education. 463

a professor is a spenkinpr book, to decide on tlie orthodoxy
and morality of viva voce as well as printed teaching? ; in
other words, to have a veto on the ground of faith or
morals, on the appointment or continuance of a professor :""'
The ecclesiastical authority in our University would, for
instance, veto the appointment of de Potter as professor,
it would call for the deprivation of Lamennais. t We
need hardly add that this power must extend not only over
professors, but over all i\\Q personnel of the University : an
infidel or immoral tutor or dean would be as much sub-
ject to censure as a professor. ^ Such, we believe, are the^
nature and limits, it may be imperfectly expressed, of
ecclesiastical authority ; on the one hand it is large and
extensive, on the other hand it is definite, and exercised

* We need only refer our readers to the former part of this
article in which we spoke of the mediaeval Universities, to prove
that these rights of con troling 600^5 and teachers^ in all that relates
to faith and morals, are exactly those claimed by the Popes for the
ecclesiastical authority ; and that tliey embrace all that was so
claimed. Tiie following passages of Thomassin are also strongly
corroborative ; to understand them we must recollect that the
doctoratus and magistratus gave the right of teaching.

*' Candidates sues prjBcipuarum facultatum ad aulam archiepis-
copalem Parisiensura deducit, ubi a communi ecclesiae Parisiensis
et academiae cancellario, magisterii laurea donantur." — Petrus Au-
relius ap Thomassin de Discipl : eccl : Pars II. lib. i. cap. 101.

*'Utque altius res, atque ab ipso capite repetatur, cum Pontifices
Romani, qua Petri et episcopi, qua apostolorum successores, sint
jure divino ecclesiae doctores et theologiiB totius Christiansa magis-
tri — cumque episcopi aconciliisexcitati sunt ad scholas erigendas, et
ad theologos magistrosque gramraaticse designaudos, non potueri
nisi eorum auctoritate et auspiciis freti, aut privilegiis apostolicis,
alii doctores magistrive cathedras sibi excitare. Cum anno 1289,
Nicolaus XIV. Papa Universitatem erigeret Mompcsulanam, in
eaque institueret facultates juris canonici et civilis, medicinae et
artium, sanxit ut episcopus pileo doctores doiiaret prius exam'inatos
et ex suffragatione cseterorum doctorura ad hoc congregatorum.
Anno. 1290, idem Pontifex universitatem excitavit Ulljssiponen-
sem, cum eisdem facultatibus et eadem in ipsam episcopi auctori-
tate. Universim dici potest eam esse formam excitatarum a Eomano
Pontifici Universitatum, quibus in omnibus episcopo permissa est
facultas creandi doctores pramisso examine et adhibitis in consi-
lium cseteris doctoribus." — Ibid : where he cites all the bulls : and
also shows the episcopal power of condemning erroneous teaching,
t We give imaginary. instances as examples.

464 University Education, [April.

in accordance with the known laws and discipline of the
Church ; and we pray those on the one hand who may
consider it too strictly limited, to consider that it extends
with full and absolute authority to every case of faith or
morals ; and on the other hand, those who may fear that
it is too extensive, to recollect that it is no vague, indefi-
nite, absorbing extension of ecclesiastical influence, but an
authority defined by the laws of the Church, and exercised
by the authorities of that Church in virtue of their office,
and with all the responsibility attaching to the exercise of
a legal authority. To such, if such there be, as would ask
whether it may not happen that a Catholic Archbishop, in
the exercise of his office, may solemnly pronounce a
a book to be dangerous to the faith, or a teacher to be
immoral, when such were not the case; we can only answer
that an appeal lies to higher ecclesiastical authority, even
to Rome ; and that for Catholics the decision of Rome on
faith or morals, is final. We have thus seen what is the
nature of the control to be exercised by the ecclesiastical
authorities ; by whom it shall be exercised should be
settled ,by the bishops directed by Rome : but it cannot
be left a question of numbers and influence ; it is a ques-
tion of authority, speaking with one voice. Probably this
authoritative voice would be vested in the chancellor, an
Archbishop speaking for the bishops. The next question
is the literary and scientific element of the government :
of course the teaching body of the faculties of the Univer-
sity should be represented largely, but we think far from
exclusively; not only for the reasons we have already
given, but because we wish to see a constitution framed
for the University capable of extension and growth. It is
by no means certain that other and separate Colleges may
not arise in the University ; nay, it is earnestly to be
hoped that in course of time they may : certainly indepen-
dent professorships and different teaching elements will,
in course of time grow up; the country Colleges may,
in after years, become great and important institutions.
Now any constitution which would vest the g:overnment
exclusively in the professors of the existing faculties in
Dublin would give to this one body a power which in after
ages (and our University is not for a temporary use merely)
might be used in an exclusive manner, and one injurious
to the interests of learning and of the University. We need
hardly add, that a senate composed of the membei-s of the

1863,] University Education. 465

faculties and a number of country gentlemen would leave
the government practically wholly in the hands of the
former. Lastly, we believe it essential that provision
should be made for the ultimate representation in the
University, of the whole body of the graduates, in a pro-
perly limited convocation: thus, and thus only will all be
interested in the welfare and durability of the University,
be bound up in a common body, and have a common
spirit.

Let us now examine the conclusions to which our
principles have led us ; in other words, what should be the
leading points of the charter of our Catholic University :
not the charter of English law which will give its degrees
legal value in these countries ; but the charter, or con-
stitution, or fundamental law which should govern it as the
Catholic University of Ireland. Its first fundamental law
must be that the Pope shall ever be its visitor and ulti-
mate appellate jurisdiction ; this, which is the universal
Catholic law and is implied^ in its name Catholic, must
nevertheless, situated as it is in a country whose law is
Protestant, be expressly declared and provided for. Its
government should be vested in a chancellor and senate.
The chancellor, one of the Irish Archbishops, named by
the Holy See, or in whatever other wtiy might be deter-
mined, might be invested ex officio, with the exercise of
that jurisdiction which we have shown is the attribute
of the ecclesiastical authorities : but not merely would it be
necessary that the authority of the Irish bishops should be
represented in the senate; it would be most desirable that
their influence and judgment, as men most calculated
wisely to direct education in many respects, (apart from
their authority to control it in its religious and moral
aspect) should be represented also : for this purpose a
number of bishops to be determined on, one or two from
each ecclesiastical province would naturally [find ; their
place in the senate ; then would come the rector and
representatives of each of the five existing faculties, say
two from each : and finally a number to be determined on
of other fellows, men distinguished in literature and
science.

^ The senate ofLondon University consists of a chancellor,
vice chancellor, and thirty-six fellows : we do not wish to
suggest any particular number for ours; but let us suppose
it to consist of the chancellor and eight other bishops, the

466 University Education, [April,

rector and ten other professors, and ten other fellows. Of
course we do not venture to suggest the mode in which
the bishops should be appointed ; that is for the episcopal
body ; the University would return its professors ; there
remain the first selection, and the filling up of vacancies in
the li^t of other fellows; the first selection would naturally
be made by the csetus episcoporum, even if it were desirable
that the constitution of the whole body should be confirmed
by Rome, as the University's Alma parens ; we think it
most desirable that ultimately convocation slioud have a
limited share in their selection; in the mean time,
vacancies may be filled up in any way considered most
desirable, provided it be clearly laid down and understood
that the office is in no degree hereditary, but to be given
solely to literary eminence.

There remains the question of the constitution and
powers of convocation : this is a point for future considera-
tion, since naturally convocation would not be called into
existence until there existed a body of some four or five
hundred graduates ; but we may say that we think the
powers of convocation in the University of London would
form not a bad example ; its powers are laid down in the
charter, to be: first to nominate three persons out of whom
one is to*be selected by the crown for a certain number af
the fellowships, secondly the power of discussing any mat-
ter relating to the University and declaring the opinions
of convocation on it ; except as thus provided the convoca-
is declared not to be entitled to interfere in any way, or
have any control over the affairs of the University.

Lastly, it would be necessary to provide for the" power of
making from time to time such changes in the constitution
of the University, as the lapse of time and the changes of
circumstances may render necessary : in the case of the
State Universities this power of course resides in the crown
and parliament: in the case of the Catholic University,
however provided for, it would be referable to the action
and authority of its Alma Parens, Rome: its first charter
comes from the Holy See ; and the same must modify it;
but provision should be made to ensure this power with
reference to English law.

Thus briefly have we endeavo.ured to sketch, however
inadequately, the leading features of a constitution for our
University: one based on Catholic principles and tradi-
tions, and on our national character : thus and thus only

1863.] Dr, Dollinger^s Protestantism and the Papacy, 467

would it be fitted to grow up and develope Itself with every
succeeding age ; not a State institution dependent on the
nod of changing governments : not a mere teaching estab-
lishment however good: but a great and growing corpora-
tion, with life and energy and free action ; retaining its
own central organization and government, yet adopting.into
itself every new College, every fresh foundation, binding to-
gether in one bond of union, its chancellor, its rector, its
senate, its fellows, its professors, its scholai's, its graduates
however scattered over the country ; and thus becoming a
portion of our national life ; a bulwark and a tower of
strength; an army and a defence to our Church and to
our Country ; in a word

The. Catholic University of Ireland.

Art. V. — 1, Kirclie und Kirchen. Papsthum und Kirclienstaat. His-
torisch-politische Betrachtungen, Von. Joli. Jos. Ign. v. Dollinger,
8vo. Muncheii : Cotta, 1861.

2. The Church and the Churches ; or iJie Papacy and the Temporal
Power, An historical and political Review. By Dr. Dollinger.
Translated, with the Author's Permission, by William Bernard
Mac Cabe, 8vo. Loudon. Hurst and Blackett, 18C2.

IN the general outburst of severe though regretful criti-
cism which the first Report of his Lectures on thePapacy
and the Papal States drew forth, Dr. Dollinger paid one
of the penalties of his celebrity as a scholar and of the
eminent position which he has long maintained in Catholic
literature. Priends and adversaries alike had watched
eagerly for the opinions of such a man, at so important a
crisis; and his sentence on the Roman question was looked
to by both, as an authority all but oracular :-^to be re-
ceived by friends as the judgment of one who had long
since earned a title to unhesitating acceptance — by ene-
mies, to be regarded as at least an authoritative exposi-
tion, representing the views of the highest and most
cultivated schools in the ranks of Catholic orthodoxy iu
Germany.

468 Dr. Bollinger* s • [April.

One of the consequences of a reputation so high and so
widely spread is, that it renders it practically impossible
for an author to select his own circle, or to limit at his
pleasure the public whom he may desire to address. And
so Dr. DoUinger has found on the occasion of the Lec-
tures, which have now become so celebrated. The words
which were meant by himself to be spoken to the compara-
tively limited auditory who assembled to hear him at
Munich, became, by the very universality of his reputation,
the property of the learned of all nations, and, owing to the
peculiar circumstances of the case, were drawn into the
arena of politics quite as much as into that of theology.
And thus, as invariably occurs when what is meant for
one class finds its way into the hands of another, the ori-
ginal Report of the Lectures encountered a species of
criticism which the author had not foreseen, and was
judged by principles the application of which he had never
contemplated.

We can hardly be surprised at the result which we have
all witnessed. The friends of the Papacy throughout Europe,
(whose first and last thought in the actual conflict has been
the insulted honour and the violated right of the Holy
See, and whose habitual sympathies with the Holy Father
have beeii> specially quickened, in this crisis, by the know-
ledge that a large share of the hostility professedly directed
against his position as a political ruler is in reality pointed
by undying hatred and impatience of his spiritual pre-emi-
nence,) were ill prepared for the peculiar tone which they
found taken in the Address (at least as it appeared in the
German journals) of him to whom they had confidently
looked as the most learned and eloquent champion of the
Papacy in its day of peril. In the trials with which they
saw the Holy Father encompassed, the act of loyalty had
assumed for them the character of an instinct rather than
of a duty. They felt\\\^ sufierings and his wrongs, rather
than reasoned upon them. And thus in proportion to the
enthusiasm with which they were prepared to welcome Dr.
DoUinger 's Lecture as a frank and unhesitating manifesto
of German loyalty to the Holy See, was their disappoint-
ment to find it a cold historico-philosophical survey of the
relations between the Papacy and the Italian popula-
tions, full of erudition and of eloquence, it is true, but
utterly failing to grasp what they had felt to be the realities
of the controversy ; dealing learnedly with the history of

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy, 469

the past, speculating profounclly on the possibilities of the
future, but ahnost entirely ignoring what constituted in
their judgment the painful actualities of the present.

And on the other hand, in proportion to the eager
interest with which the anti-papal polemics hung upon the
words of so formidable an adversary, was their exultation
to gather among the frank and unsuspecting outpourings
of his laborious impartiality, statements and admissions
which it needed but little ingenuity to convert into wea-
pons of their own traditional warfare.

Nor, indeed, does Dr. Dollinger express himself any sur-
prise that it should have been so. When he spoke his Lec-
tures he did not think that they would be discussed by the
press; he **expected, that like others of the kind they would,
at most be mentioned in a couple of words m futuy^am obli^
vionem.^' Moreover, the Lectures were printed, not from
a verbal report, but from notes written out at home from
memory; — a course which, comparatively harmless on other
occasions, told with especial disadvantage upon the
severely philosophical abstractions of such an argument as
that of Dr. Dollinger. These Reports, the author him-
self complains, **gave but an inaccurate representation of
a discourse which did not attempt to cut the knot in the
xisual way, but which, with huts and ifs, and referring to
certain elements — to critical and decisive events, for the
most part left out of the calculation — alluded to an uncer-
tain future and manifold contingencies. This was una-
voidable. Every repoj-t, not absolutely verbal, must,
despite of the best intentions of the reporter, give rise to a
distorted apprehension."' Finding himself misreported,
in certain material particulars by one of the leading jour-
nals of Germany, Dr. Dollinger immediately proposed to
the editor that the original MS. should be published, but
his proposal was dechned.

It was still open to Dr. Dollinger to print the Lectures
himself. It is due to him to print his own explanation of
the reasons which led him to delay the publication.

"But wherefore — it will be asked, and I have been asked innu-
merable times— wherefore not cut short misunderstandings by the
immediate publication of the lectures, which must, as a whole,
have been written previous to delivery ? "Why Wjiit for five
months ? For this 1 had two reasons. First, it was not merely a
question of misunderstanding. Much of what I had actually said
had made an unpleasant impression in many quarters, especially

470 Dr. Dollinger's [April.

among our optimists. I should, therefore, with my bare state-
ments, have become iuTolved in an agitating newspaper and
pamphlet squabble, and that was not an attractive prospect. Mj
second reason was — I expected- that the further development of
circumstances in Italy, the irresistible logic of facts, would dispose
many minds to receive certain truths. I Jioped that people would
learn by degrees, in the school of events, that it is not enough
always to be reckoning with the figures * Revolution,' * Secret Soci-
eties,' * Mazziniism,' * Atheism,' or to estimate things only by the
standard supplied in * The Jew of Verona,' but that other factors
must be admitted into the calculation ; for instance, the condition
of the Italian clergy, and their position towards the laity. I wished,
therefore, to let a few months pass away, previous to my appear-
ing before the public.'' — p. 7.

^ In common with the great body of the Catholic commu-
nity, and sharing to some extent the feeling of painful
disappointment which prevailed at the time of the publica-
tion of the Lectures, we entered at some length, upon that
occasion, into the subject of Dr. Bollinger's view of the
Papal question, such as it then appeared to present itself in
the published Report. In the observations which we then
made, we anticipated, to some extent, the explanations on
at least one portion of the subject, which the present
publication elaborately developes. Much of what we said,
however, was written in ignorance of circumstances here
explained; and we gladly avail ourselves of the opportu-
nity of returning to the subject, the views of the author as
well as the motives by which he was influenced in putting
them forward being now fully before us. As the Papal
question, however, holds but a secondary place in this
comprehensive volume> and as we have already, on more
than one occasion, as well as in our former notice of the
Lectures, fully expressed our views on those points of that
question on which we differ from Dr. Dollinger, we have
no intention of renewing the discussion here. Our main
purpose as regards this portion of the present volume is, to
place before the reader the author's more full and explicit
exposition of the views which were but indicated in his
Lectures, and which, from the inadequate or distorted
report, were very inaccurately interpreted. The polemical
chapters of the work are so important and so original,
that we must reserve for them the larger portion of the
space at our disposal. For ourselves, so far as regards the
author's views of the Papal question, as they are expressed
in the pi^sent volume, we freely admit that more thaa

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 471

one passage in our former article, were it to be written
again, would now undergo considerable modification. The
warmth of some of the observations in that article had its
origin in misapprehensions which the explanations of Dr.
Dollinger have removed or modified; and although we
must still reiterate our strong dissent, on motives of jus-
tice, and still more of prudence and generosity, from the
tone of many observations as to the present condition of
the Roman question adopted in the Lectures and devel-
oped in the present work, yet we gladly declare that the
work now before us confirms and bears out, in every par-
ticular, the testimony which, even by anticipation, we
confidently bore in our former article to the loftiness and
purity of the motives, the objects, and the intentions of *the
author.

The circumstances in which as well the Lectures them-
selves, as the choice of this particular subject, originated,
liave a very important bearing on the general view and on
the line of argument which the author was induced to
adopt. Just at the time when he was solicited to deliver
these Lectures, he found himself repeatedly called on
by individuals and in private circles for some explana-
tion of the position into which the Holy ISee had been at
that time thrown— the partly consummated, partly threa-
tened loss of its temporal sovereignty. He^was asked with
anxious earnestness, what reply was to be given to those
adversaries of the Papacy, who pointing on the one hand
to the concurrent declarations of bishops and ecclesiastical
bodies, almost all of which set forth the temporal sove-
reignty of the Holy See as ** essential and necessary to its
existence,'' appealed on the other to the events of the last
thirty years, which *' appear with unerring distinctness
to announce its downfall/' He found, moreover, that the
newspapers, the periodicals, and even the literature of
Protestantism, had begun to put forward the confident
hope, " that with the downfall of the temporal sovereignty
of the Pope, the Church itself would not escape the doom
of dissolution."

This question appeared to him to deserve a calm and
deliberate consideration, and the more so that he himself
felt very anxiously the painful and gloomy forebodings on
which it was founded. Dark anticipations of the long
threatened consummation were, at the time, freely ascribed
in the public press not alone to diitlcmatists friendly to the

VOL. LH.-^o. CIV. 13

472 Dr. Ddllinger's [April,

Holy See, but to eminent ecclesiastical politicians, and even
to the Holy Father himself. ** I already believed in April/'
says Dr. Dollinger, that ''I conld perceive that which
is still more plainly exhibited in October, that the enemies
of the temporal Papal Sovereignty are resolute, united,
predominant, and that nowhere is there to be found a pro-
tecting power which possesses at the same time the will
and the ability of averting the catastrophe. I considered
it, therefore, probable that an interruption of the temporal
dominion would ensue — an interruption which, like to
others that had preceded it, would again cease, and be
followed by a restoration. I resolved, therefore, to avail
myself of the opportunity which the Lectures afforded me,
to prepare the public for those coming events the shadows
of which had been cast into the present time, and thus to
prevent the scandals, the doubts, and the offence which
must inevitably arise if the States of the Church should
pass into other hands, although episcopal pastorals had
hitherto energetically asserted that they belonged to the
integrity of the Church/'

It was as an answer, therefore, as well to the doubting in-
quiries of wavering and disheartened friends, as to the tri-
umphant anticipations of exulting adversaries, that the
original Lectures on the Papacy and the Papal States
were composed. It is plain that, the mind of the Lecturer
being addressed to this especial view, not only his general
treatment of the question of the union of the temporal and
spiritual powers of the Papacy, but his language as to each
in its bearing on the spiritual interests and the immutable
institutions of the Church, must necessarily be very
different from that adopted by one who had no occa-
sion arising from extrinsic circumstances to withdraw
his thoughts from the single question which at that
time occupied, almost exclusively, the Catholic mind
throughout Europe ; — namely, the title founded alike upon
treaty, upon immemorial tenure, upon political and
ecclesiastical expediency, and upon the providential
disposition of events indicated by history, under which the
Papal States hold their place among the political sove-
reignties of Europe. The object which Dr. DoUinger
had in view, and the gloomy anticipations which he could
not suppress, led him to speak very differently from the
champions of the Papacy to whose views the Church had
hitherto been accustomed. ** It may be supposed," he

1863] Protestantism and the Papacy/ 473

liimself pleads, '^ that my language concerning the imme-
diate fate of the temporal power of the Pope necessarily
sounded ambiguous — that 1 could not, with the confidence
that is given to others, perhaps more keen-sighted men,
— come before my auditors and say: * Rely upon this, the
States of the Church — the land from Radicofani to Cape-
rano, from Ravenna to Civita Vecchia, shall and must
and will remain with the Popes — Heaven and earth shall
pass away, before the States of the Church pass away !'
I could not do this, because 1 had not then any such con-
viction, nor do 1 now, in the slightest degree, entertain
it; but of this 1 am alone confident, that the Papal See
will not be permanently deprived of the conditions neces-
sary for the fulfilment of its mission.'*

Nor can it be doubted that in quiet times, and in the
normal condition of the Papacy, a view such as that of Dr.
Dollinger would have been readily acquiesced in, and that
bis argument would have been gladly accepted, as one
additional defensive weapon, to be laid up in the storehouse
of polemical theology as a reserve against possible future
adversaries. But, in the actual conflict of party which
then existed, to the wounded sympathies of the Catholic
mind the very doubt in which this argument was founded
and the possibility against which it was intended to pro-
vide, bore an appearance of weakness, if not of disloyalty ;
and by a not unnatural exaggeration of the language of
the Lecture, or, at least, of what was published to the
world as the Lecture, Dr. Dollinger was represented as
outraging the all but unanimous feeling of the Church, and
lending the weight of his name to her worst enemies, by
yielding up the temporal sovereignty, as a worn out and
useless, if not injurious incumbrance, and a serious practi-
cal impediment to the temporal exercise of the spiritual
povyers of the Papacy, especially among the Italian popu-
lations.

In the strictures upon the original Lectures which this
Journal contained at the time of their first publication, all
idea of imputing such a view to the learned and respected
Lecturer was carefully and earnestly disclaimed ; but it is
not too much to say, that for a time at least, the imputation
was freely made in the public journals. Catholic and Protes-
tant ; and the very sense of relief which was universally
experienced when, at the^ meeting of the Catholic Associ-
ation in Munich, Dr. Dollinger simply professed his

474 Dr, Ddllinger's L-^P^^^^

acceptance of the principle which no one who read even the
garbled report of his Lectures could ever have doubted
his holding; — viz. the necessity of a real sovereignty for
the Fapal See, as a safeguard of its spiritual indepen-
dence ;— is the best evidence of the strength and the uni-
versality of the impression which had previously prevailed.
Before, therefore, we pass to the detailed examination of
Dr. Dollinger's present work, we think it well to place in the
clearest light the real opinions of the writer on the abstract
question of the temporal sovereignty of the Holy See, con-
sidered in its relation to modern society and to the
interests of the existing Church. He himself has con-
densed into a few sentences his exposition, as well of the
views which he now entertains, as of what he meant to
convey in the Lectures wliich have been the subject of so
much criticism and such painful misunderstanding.

" I meant, therefore, to say : — That the Church can exist bj and
for herself, and tliat she did exist for seven centuries without the
territorial possessions of the Popes ; but that at a later perioa this
property, through the condition of the world, became necessary,
and, in spite of great changes and vicissitudes, has discharged in
most cases its function of serving as a foundation for the indepen-
dence and freedom of the Popes. As long as the present state
and arrangement of Europe endure, we can discover no other means
to secure to^ the Papal See its freedom, and through it, general
confidence. But God's knowledge and power reach farther than
ours, and we must not presume to set bounds to the Divine Wis-
dom and Omnipotence, and cry out to it * This way, and not other-
wise.' Should, however, the event which now threatens to occur
actually take place, and the Pope be despoiled of his landed posses-
sions, one of three eventualities will assuredly come to pass : —
Either the loss of the Papal States is only temporary, and the terri-
tory will revert, after some intervening casualties, in its entirety or
in part, to its rightful sovereign ; or Providence will bring about
by ways unknown to us, and combinations which we cannot
divine, a state of things in which the object — namely, the indepen-
dence and free action of the Papal See, without those means which
have hitherto sufficed for it ; or, lastly, we are approaching great
catastrophes in Europe, a collapse of the whole edifice of existing
social order — events of which the downfall of the Papal States is
only the precursor, or, as it may be said, * the Job's messenger.' ''

" I have developed, in this book, the grounds upon which I think
of these three possibilities, the first the most probable. As to the
second possibility, there is nothing to be said but this — that it is an
unknown, and consequently indescribable = x — it is only good for
this much : we must retain it against certain over confident asser-

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy, 475

tions, wliich profess to know the secret things to come, and trespass-
ing on the Divine Domain, wish to subject the future absolutely to
the laws of the immediate Past. That the third possibility must
also be admitted, few of those who studiously observe the signs of
the times will dispute. One of the shrewdest historians and states-
men, Niebuhr, had, so long ago as the 5th of October, 1830, written
these words ; If God does not marvellously help, there is impending
over us a destruction, such as occurred to the Roman world in the
middle of the third century — the annihilation of prosperity, freedom,
civilization, and literature.' And we have proceeded much further
on the inclined plane since then. The Powers of Europe have
overturned, or permitted to be overturned, the two main pillars of
their edifice — the principles of Legitimacy and public international
Law. These monarchs who have made themselves, like to slaves, the
tools of revolution, are now active performers in the world's his-
torical drama — the others conduct themselves as quiet spectators,
and are, in their hopes, smiling heirs, like Prussia and Russia ; or
they are bestowing applause and giving help, like England ; or they
are as passive invalids, like Austria, or the liectic-fever stricken Tur-
key. Bat the Revolution is a permanent chronic disease, breaking
out now in one place now in another, and then attacking several
members at the same time. The Pentarchy is dissolved ; the
Holy Alliance, even though a defective and misused form of Euro-
pean political order, is buried. The right of the strongest alone
now pervails in Europe. Is it a process of renovation, or a process
of dissolution, in which European society is plunged ? I still believe
it to be the former ; but I must, as I have said, admit the possi-
bility of the other alternative. If it occurs — then, when the powers
of destruction have done their work, it will be the business of the
Church at once to co-operate actively in the reconstruction of
social order out of the ruins, both as a connecting civilizing power
and as the preserver and dispenser of moral and religious tradition.
And for this, too, the Papacy has with or without territory, its
own function and its own mission." — pp. 2-3-4,

And again :

" The substance of my words was this, * Let no one lose faith in
the Church, if the temporal principality of the Papacy should
disappear, whether it be for a season or for ever. It is not essence
but accident ; not end, but means ; it began late ; it was formerly
something quite diflferent from what it is now. It now justly
appears to us to be indispensable ; and so long as the existing order
lasts in Europe, it must, at all costs, be maintained ; or, if it is
violently interrupted, it must be restored. But it is possible to
suppose a political condition of Europe in which it would be super-
fluous, and then it would be only a clogging burden.'' — p. 5.

Nothing therefore could be more unjust than the imputa-

476 Dr. Ddllmgei^s [April.

tioii of hostility to the temporal sovereignty of the Pope,
which, however unwarranted even by the published text
of the Lectures, for a time obtained general currency. Dr.
Dollinger distinctly declares that this sovereignty, although
no part of the primitive constitution of the papacy ** be-
came, through the condition of the world, necessary ;" that
it has served as a ** foundation for the independence and
freedom of the Popes;'* that, so long as the present con-
dition of Europe endures, **we can discover no other
means to secure to the Papal See its freedom, and, tlirough
it, general confidence;'* and hence that, ** so long as the
existing order lasts in Europe, it must at all cost be main-
tained, and, if it is violently interfered with, it must be
restored." As to the flagrant injustice and treachery of
the proceedings by which the Pope has been despoiled of
his northern provinces, \}\\ Dollinger is equally explicit;
and his estimate of the motives and the principles of the
Sardinian government, as well in this aggression on the
Papal States, as in its entire relation towards the Pa-
pacy, agrees substantially with that which has been formed
by every dispassionate observer of events throughout the
Catholic world. ** It unites," he declares, ** the shame-
less tyranny of a Convention, and the impudent sophistry
of a government of advocates, with the ruthless brutality
of a military despotism. Far more secure could Pius
feel upon the Turkish soil, and in his dealings with the
Sultan, than in the neighbourhood of the Piedmontese
beast of prey, or in the power of a Ricasoli, or a Ratazzi,
or, above all, of those lawyers and literati, those land-
plagues that, with trumpery, pompous rhetoric, and hol-
low-sounding phrases, are now, — and mayhap for some
little time longer — may be permitted to swim upon the
surface of society. Rather than trust to these Pius may
imitate the example of the great Popes of the twelfth
century. They, confiding in the spiritual power of the
Papacy, have sought for and found on the other side of
the Alps, that freedom and independence which were
denied to them in Italy. Germany, Belgium, Spain, the
Ionian Islands, Catholic Switzerland — he can select any
one of these he chooses, certain that his arrival will be
greeted by a joyful and reverential population, in the
midst of whom he will find full freedom of action."
He repeats these opinions still more forcibly :

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 477

" Is a Government that prides itself in its perfidy, and respects
neither the rights of nations nor the faith of treaties, nor ^he legi-
timate possession of property — that has no regard but for brute
force, and the power of the stronger, and the authority of accom-
plished facts ; is a Government that, in one of its decrees, declared
the memory of a murderer to be holy and sanctified ; is a govern-
ment that is restrained neither by the bonds of law, morality,
nor religion, to be the Government that is to secure to the
Church its freedom, and to the Pope his inviolability and inde-
pendence? Let the question be asked in Turin of the Brofferios
and the Gallengas, who regard the Church as a useless log,
from which any one can, like the Horatian carpenter, chop out
as he fancies, either a stool or an idol, and they will tell you
what would be the lot assigned to it. Their 'freedom of the
Church' would begin by 'freeing' it from the burden of its
earthly possessions. And when they had done that, then they
might deal with the Mendicant as their whims, their caprice, or
their innate despotism might dispose them to act. Their doings
with religious communities, their oppression and spoliation of
monasteries and convents, their banishment and maltreatment of
bishops, are now before the world, as the superabounding first-
fruits of the new era of * religious freedom,' inaugurated by them.
That the Papal See could be, in a kingdom like the Piedmontese,
really free, is an absolute impossibility.'' — pp. 449-50.

Nevertheless, concurrently with these opinions, both as
to the abstract question of the expediency or necessity of
the Papal Sovereignty, and as to the motives and prin-
ciples of its most active adversaries, Dr. Dollin^er openly
avows not alone his apprehensions as to the stability of the
Papal Sovereignty, even in the mutilated condition to
which recent aggressions have reduced it, but also his
conviction that, as at present constituted, it is unsuited to
the altered conditions of the social and political world,
and incapable of satisfying the natural aspirations and
requirements of the population over which it is placed.
.And this conviction modifies very materially his views as
to the various contingencies which may be contemplated
as arising out of the present crisis.

We have seen that, of the three possible eventualities
which he discusses as involved in the event which seemed
probable in his eyes when his Lectures were delivered, —
namely, the Pope's being despoiled of his possessions, — he
regards as most probable the hypothesis " that this loss of
the Papal States will be only temporary, and that the terri-
tory will revert, after some intervening casualties, either in
its entirety ^or in part,, to its rightful sovereign." This

478 Di\ Dollivger's | April,

opinion he flevelopes in various forms throughout the lat-
ter part of his work.

" And yet the time will assuredly come when the Italian nation
will be again reconciled with the Papacy and its dominion in the
midst of the people. That unhappy, hateful pressure which Austria
imposed upon the entire Peninsula, was in reality the main cause
why the value of the Papal See as a moral bulwark to all Italy
became so very much obscured in the eyes of the nation. The
Roman Government itself groaned under this pressure and yet was
forced to strengthen and confirm it, by calling in the Austrian
troops of occupation, and by the political helplessness' that forced
it to follow in temporal and political affairs the will of the Cabinet
of Vienna.

*' For fifteen hundred years the Papal See was the pivot on
which turned the destiny of the Italians. The greatest and the
mightiest institution of the Peninsula is this See ; and upon its
possession rested the weight of Europe, and the world-renowned
importance of Italy. Every thoughtrful Italian must acknowledge
that, if the Papal See be lost to Italy, then the sun has dis-
appeared from its firmament. The partition between the
nation and the whole course of Italian history on the one side,
and of the Papacy on the other, could alone be put an end to,
when Italy should become that which might make her united —
that is, her conversion into a purely military state, living in a con-
stant state of war, and maintaining herself by conquests. This,
however is a state of circumstances so totally repugnant to the
nature and disposition of the present race of Italians that the
military enthusiasm that now prevails, and yet has left the greater
portion of the population unmoved, is certain in a very short space
of time totally to subside." — pp. 445-6.

'' The time vi^ill come/' he writes in another place,
*'when the people of Italy will desire to makepeace with the
Papacy ; and then they will recof^uize how truly had one of
the most exalted men of genius, Tommaseo, spoken, when
he uttered these words : * It would he a folly in Italy to
cast away, from itself to any other nation, the Papacy,
which is its sword and its shield.' "

But, while he defends thus vigorously and earnestly the
principle of the fitness and even necessity of the existence
of the Papal sovereignty, and of its all but indissociable
connexion, so long as the present state of Europe shall
subsist, not only with the freedom of the spiritual primacy,
but even with the purely temporal and political interests
of Italy herself, he repudiates with equal earnestness
the notion of the immutability of its forms and of its

1863, 1 Protestantism and the Papacy, 479

incapacity to accommodate itself to the altered condition
of the modern world. ** It is said/' he writes, " that the
Pope is fettered down to the conditions and legal cus-
toms of the middle ages, and that, as there has been a
complete change effected in all the relations of civil life,
it is manifestly impossible that a people of the nineteenth
century can be ruled by the principles of the thirteenth ;
and so the temporal power of the Pope is a contradiction
in itself/' Against this representation Dr. Dbllinger most
earnestly protests. " All the friends of the Church, and
of the Papal See, are called upon to oppose such an opinion ;
for it is only that which, according to the Catholic doc-
trine, is of Divine Institution, and what is essential for
all times and unchangeable, to which the Pope is bound.
Happily the sovereignty of the Pope is of a very elastic
nature, and it has already gone through many different
forms. If a comparison be instituted between the use
which the Popes made of their sovereignty in the thirteenth
or fifteenth century, and the form of government Consalvi
introduced, it will be seen that few things could exhibit
a stronger contrast with one another/'

In all this, it is hardly necessary to remark. Dr. Dol-
linger but echoes the common voice of the Catholic world,
and expresses the ideas which have long forced them-
selves upon every thoughtful observer of the past conflict
of parties in Italy. It is when he turns to the prospects
of the future, and still more to the measures to be taken
in order to meet or to control these prospects, that what-
ever is peculiar jn his views begins to manifest itself; —
*the real question between him and the great body of
Catholic politicians, being less a question of principle than
of expediency.

^ As to the expediency and indeed necessity of modifica-
tions in the executive and administrative, if not in the
legislative, system of the Papal States, the most complete
unanimity has long prevailed. The measures for this
purpose which were proposed during the Pontificate of
Gregory XVI, were suspended, partly by reason of the
condition of the other Italian States, partly by apprehen-
sions of the dangerous use to which such changes might be
turned by the secret revolutionary purty which was known
to exist, and whose machinations it was thought neces-
sary to defeat by repressive or preventive rather than by
open resistance. The very first measures of Pius IX.

48D Dr. Dbllinger's [April,

on his accession were directed to this end ; and his career
of reform was firmly and consistently pursued, until the
interested or visionary agitators to whom his clemency
had given freedom of debate, outbidding by their Uto-
pian theories, with an excitable populace, the wise but
gradual ameliorations which his enlightened policy pro-
posed, converted reform into revolution, and rendered
progress impossible by aiming at the complete destruction
of the very essence of all that is distinctive in the con-
stitution of the Papal Sovereignty. Baulked thus in his
benevolent designs, Pius IX, on his resumption of power,
without relinquishing the purpose with which he entered
upon his sacred office, felt himself obliged to proceed with
much caution. Warned by his early experience of the
danger of fomenting discontent, even by wise and just
concessions when yielded at an inauspicious moment, and
when they may appear to be the result of external pressure
rather than of the benevolent intention of the ruler and of
his sincere desire for the welfare of his people, he has
felt it his duty — and this more than ever since the recent
aggression of Sardinia — to wait till a favourable moment
for concession shall arise; and, although many measures of
reform have long been in a state of readiness, he has firmly
resisted all the menaces as well as the representations by
which these reforms have been urged upon him ; well
convinced that no measure inaugurated under the appear-
ance of compulsion, which the present position of the Holy
See implies, could serve to satisfy discontent or to concili-
ate aff'ecti on.

How warm and how universal, even before the recent
crisis, had been the sympathy of the Catholic world with
the Holy Father in this painful and embarrassing situation,
the addresses which poured in from all parts of the Church
abundantly testified ; but these addresses for the most
part, and still more explicitly the more lengthened
essays on the Papal Sovereignty with which the Catholic
press throughout Europe was teeming, while they accepted
the de facto condition of the Papal Government did full
justice to the wise and benevolent intentions of its ruler,
and to his desire of carrying out in more peaceful times
the beneficent ameliorations with which his reign had been
inaugurated. For these more peaceful times they felt it a
duty to wait ; and in truth they felt that to deal otherwise
with the question— to dwell at so inopportune a moment

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy, 481

even upon acknowledged defects of the Papal Government,
which, while they were admitted, could not for the time be
securely removed, was but to put arms in the hands of its
enemies, and to aggravate the discontents of those who
sought not to amend but to overthrow.

It is in this that Dr. Dollinger differs from almost all
the other friends of the Holy See, and especially from its
illustrious apologists in France. And he diflfers from
them with full advertence to the consequences which we
have indicated, and with full conviction that the course
which he has thought it his duty to take in reference to the
Papal Sovereignty, is that which becomes its true friends,
and which best reconciles the rights of the Temporal Ruler
with the duties and privileges of the supreme Spiritual
Father. There is great dignity, as well as much profound
and earnest feeling, in his exposition of the motives under
which he was led to take the course which he adopted in
his Lectures, and which he now fully developes in the
present work.

*' I thoroughly understand those who think it censurable that I
should have spoken in detail of circumstances and facts that are
willingly ignored, or that are skipped over with a light and fleeting
foot, and that, too, especially at the present crisis. I myself was
restrained for two years by these considerations, in spite of the
feeling that urged me to speak on the question of the Papal
States ; and it required the circumstances I have described, I may
almost say, to compel me to speak publicly on the subject. I beg,
then, of those persons to reflect on the following points. First,
when an author openly exposes a state of things already abundantly
discussed in the press ; if he draws away the necessarily very
transparent covering from the gaping wounds which are not in the
Church herself, but on an Institution nearly connected with her,
and whose infirmities she is made to feel — it may fairly be supposed
that he does it, in accordance with the example of earlier friends,
and great men of the Church, only to show the possibility and neces-
sity of the cure, in order, so far as in him lies, to weaken the reproach
that the defenders of the Church see only * the mote' in the eyes of
others, not the * beam' in their own : and, with narrow-hearted pre-
judice, endeavour to soften, or to dissimulate, or to deny every fact
which is, or which appears to be unfavourable to their cause. He
does it in order that it may be understood that where the irapotency
of man to effect a cure becomes manifest, God interposes, in order
to sift on His threshing-floor the chaff from the wheat, and to con-
sume it with the fire-glow of catastrophes which are only His
judgments and His remedies. Secondly, I could not as an historian,
present results without going back to their causes j and it was, there-

482 Dr, Dbllinger's [April.

fore, mj duty, as it is that of every religious enquirer and observer,
to try and contribute something to the Theodocia. He that under-
takes to write on suc-h lofty interests, which nearly affect the
weal and woe of the Church, cannot avoid examining and displaying
the wisdom and justice of God in the conduct of terrestrial events.
The fate wliich has overtaken the States of the Church must, before
all things, be considered in the light of a Divine Ordinance for the
advantage of the Church. So considered, it presents itself as a
trial which will endure until the object is attained, and the welfare
of the Chureh, so far, secured.

'* It seemed evident to me that, as a new order of things in
Europe lies in the design of Providence, so the disease through
which, for the last half century, the States of the Church unques-
tionably have passed, might be the transition to a new form. To
describe this malady, without overlooking or concealing any of the
symptoms, was, therefore, an undertaking I could not avoid. The
disease has its source in the inward contradiction and discord of
institutions and of circumstances; for the modern French institu-
tions stand there in close and constant contact with a mediaeval
hierarchy; and neither of these two elements is strong enough to
expel the other ; and either of them would, if it were tlie sole pre-
dominant power, be in itself a form of disease. Yet, in the history
of the last few years, I recognize symptoms of convalescence, how-
ever feeble, obscure, and equivocal its traces may appear. What
we behold is not death or hopless decay ; it is a purifying process —
painful, consuming, and penetrating bone and marrow — such as
God is wont to inflict upon His chosen persons and institutions.
There is no lack of dross, and time is required before the gold can
come pure out of the furnace. In the course of this process, it may
happen that the territorial dominion will be interrupted — that the
State may be broken up, or pass into other hands ; but it will
revive, though perhaps, in another form, and with a different kind
of government. In a word, sanahilibus laboramus malis ; that is
what I wished to show, and that, I believe, I have shown." —
pp. 8-9.

In truth Dr. Dollinger looks to this free criticism of the
defects of the Papal Government, as one of the best and
most efficacious means towards their cure.

** Whenever a state of disease has appeared in the Church,
there has been but one method of cure — that of an awakened,
renovated, healthy consciousness ; and of an enlightened public
opinion in the Church. The very best will on the part of ecclesi-
astical rulers and heads has not been able to effect a cure unless
sustained by the general sense and conviction of the clergy and of
the laity. The healing of the great malady of the sixteenth
century the true internal reformation of the Church, only became

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy/. 483

possible when people ceased to disguise or to deny the evil, and to
pass it by in silence and with coiiceahnent ; and when so powerful
and irresistible a public opinion had formed itself in the Church
that its commanding influence could no longer be evaded. At the
present day, what we want, before all things, is the truth — the
whole truth — not merely the acknowledgment that the Temporal
Power of the Pope is required by the Church — for that is obvious
to every body, at least out of Italy ; and everything has been said
about it that can be said — but what there mnst be also is — an
acknowledgment upon what conditions this power is possible for the
future. The history of the Popes is full of examples, showing how
their best intentions remained unaccomplished, and how their most
firm resolutions had been baffled, because persons in inferior circles
were adverse to them, and because tlie interests of a. firmly-com-
pac'.ed class, like an impregnable hedge of thorns, resisted them.
Adrian VI. was fully resolved to set about a reformation in earnest,
and yet he achieved virtually nothing ; and felt himself, though in
the possession of supreme power, utterly impotent when he came
into contact with the passive resistance of all those who should
have served as instruments in the work. Only when public opinion
— even in Italy, and in Rome itself — had been awakened, purified,
and strengthened ; and when the cry for reform resounded impera-
tively on every side, then only was it possible for the Popes to
overcome resistance in the inferior spheres, and gradually and
step by step to open the way for a more healthy state. May, there-
fore, a powerful salubrious unanimous public opinion in CatholiG
Europe come to the aid of Pius IX !" — pp. 10-11.

' So strongly, indeed, does Dr. Dollinger feel the necessity
of those modifications of the governmental system, and of
the reform of the abuses which he points out, that he is
even disposed to regard the present troubles of the Holy
See, as did Cardinal Consalvi the still greater trials of
his own time, as if ** Divine Providence which so conducts
human affairs that out of the greatest calamity innumer-
able benefits proceed, had intended that the interruption
of the Papal Government should prepare the way for it
in a more perfect form.'' He suggests this in more than
one passage, as one of the results of the contingencies
which may be contemplated as arising out of the present
crisis. In a passage already cited he alludes to tlie probable
** violent interruption'' of the Papal Sovereignty as an
occasion through which the government of Kome, may
assume the form best adaped to the character of the ao-e
and the requirements of the Italian people. In anotlier
place he thus speculates on the results which would follow
from the temporary withdrawal of the Pope from Rome.

484 Dr, Dollinger's I April.

•* Should the hour arrive when the Pope has to make his choice
betweeu the condition of being a ' subject' or • an exile,' then
■will he, as we_confidently hope, adopt the latter alternative; for the
Pope is — in the whole Catholic world*— at home. It is only amongst
the professors of another creed he would be a stranger. To what-
ever side he then may turn, he will everywhere meet with his
children, and everywhere be venerated as a father. * Thou art
mine, and we are thine' — such is the salutation with which he will
be in all places greeted.

" Rome, too, may then remember with what shouts of joy in
the time of the seventh Pius the appearance of the Pope, released
from his French Prison, and returning to his native land, was
hailed in Italy. The circumstances too, of the Pope's absence
would have this beneficial result — that it would make, in a tangible
manner, clear to the religious portion of the nation certain facts,
and they might thus then say: *It is our Unity-advocates who
have imposed on us the triple yoke of a Conscription ; exorbitant
Taxes, and Foreign Government Officers— and now, in addition to
all these, they have driven away from us the Pope, and forced him
to become an exile on the other side of the Alps.' There would, it
must be admitted, in such a temporary separation of husband and
wife, in the departure of the Pope from Rome, be many inconveni-
ences experienced. It could not occur without great and manifold
disturbance and interruptions to the ecclesiastical department, to
the members of the Court, to the many and numerous religious con-
gregations which would have to be transported en 7nasse to a foreign
land. In former times, the machinery of the Government of the
Church was much more simple ; and when the Pope (as it often
happened) had to take up his abode in another city than Rome, or
to travel across the Alps, the whole members of the Court that
followed him could find sufficient room in a single French abbey.
It is now far otherwise. There are, too, some Powers that may
suppose it will be easier for them to gain what they desire from a
Court suffering from oppression, and forced away from its native
soil. Thus it will be seen that, if there is a necessity for quitting
Rome, it will not fail to be accompanied by difficulties and painful
circumstances. But, then, that which is the less of two evils must
be chosen ; and there can be no doubt that the temporary embar-
rassment of the Papal See is a far less evil in comparison with that
which would involve the renunciation of a principle, that, once
abandoned, would prove to be lost irretrievably." — pp. 451-2.

And although in the general exposition of his views, he
only holds hiiuself passive as to such a contingency as the^
violent interruption of the Pope's tenure of the sovereignty of
Rome, and accepts, rather than positively suggests, the con-
sequences which he contemplates as likely to flow from it,
yet, when describing the evils of the present situation and

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy, 485

especially of what he considers the humiliating dependance
on France which it implies, he appears to go a step
farther, and declares that ** in regarding a situation so
very lamentable as this, one feels sorely tempted to wish
that a crisis might come — even though it be in the form of
a catastrophe — but still one that might at least put a stop
to the continuation of such ceaseless sorrows, combined
with such deep humiliations."

Such are Dr. Dollinger's explanations of the view of
the Papal question which the peculiar circumstances and
objects of his Munich Lectures pressed upon him at
the time when they were delivered. We have already
sufficiently declared our dissent from these views, as they
appeared in the published Lectures. As regards the ma-
tured work, the readers of this journal have had frequent
opportunities of knowing, that with much that is here urged
in support of them, and many of the facts and representa-
tions which the author himself advances or accepts on the
authority of others in their defence, our opinions are
directly at issue. We believe, indeed, that the true expla-
nation, as well of his views of the Temporal Sovereignty of
the Papal See, as of the earnestness and occasionally even
the heat with which he supports that view, and of the strong
and sometimes harsh and acrimonious language which he
uses in regard to the temporal Sovereignty as at present
constituted, is to be found in the very earnestuess with
which he seeks to recommend to the Churches which he
considers in contrast with it^ that spiritual sovereignty of
of the Holy See, in which alone he finds the cure for the
moral and religious evils which he so vividly depicts in
all these churches. The entire argument of his book is,
as we said, a reply to the exulting anticipation with
which Protestants contemplate the prospective down-
fall of the Homan Government, and, with it, of the
spiritual supremacy of its ruler; and although it is no-
where distinctly expressed, we can trace through the
work a double course of argument: the first, which is
directed to prove the necessity of one supreme spiritual
tribunal as the sole means of arresting the headlong
career of internal dissolution along which all the
** Churches'' outside of the one Church are hurrying ; the
other intended to disarm the hostility of the Churches
towards that one tribunal, in so far as it is founded on the
prejudices entertained against the temporal sovereignty

486 Dr. Dollinger's [April.

which it exercises, by showing that the obnoxious charac-
teristics of that temporal sovereignty are but accident,
not essence, and even by unconsciously exaggerating the
freedom of criticism which, as a Catholic, he claims in this
particular.

It is time for us, therefore, to turn to the portion of the
work which, although it clearly entered into the mind of
the Lecturer and modified and determined his views of
those relations of the Papal question which alone he was
then considering is, in its development, entirely new,
and the value of which as a contribution to the philosophy
of controvery it is impossible to over estimate. •

He begins by a general section on the relations of the
Church in different ages to the various nationalities
which it comprehended within its pale. Before the dis-
ruption of the Roman Empire which had absorbed into
one vast political union all the existing nationalities, and
which was eventually conquered by the Church, after a
conflict of above three hundred years, the Church was, for
a time " nationally colourless ; " but even long before the
integrity of the Roman Empire had finally passed away,
the germ of nationality had begun to shew itself. Not to
speak of the powerful influence which that principle exer-
cised on the fortunes of the Church, in the conflict with
Persia, no one can read the history of Donatism, still
more of Nestorianism,*Eutychianism, and the Three Chap-
ters, without recognizing its power : and of the new Latin
kingdoms which, in the west,took the place of the imperial
domination, there is not one whose Church may not trace
some of her leading peculiarities of constitution, and still
more of spirit, to its perhaps unconscious or unacknow-
ledored influence.

Dr. Bollinger's exposition of the purpose which, in the
designs of Providence, these national diversities are
meant to subserve, of the relation which they hold to the
central and over-ruling office of the Church, is one of the
most luminous passages in the entire work ; and we may
add, that in this passage, as elsewhere, Mr. Mac Cabe's
spirited and elegant version does full justice to the vigour
and terseness of the original.

" Nationalities are certainly not the products of accident ; they
are not the children of a blindly ruling force of nature. On the
contrary, in the great world plan of Divine Providence, every dis-
tinct people have their own peculiar problem to solve, their own

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 487

assigned mission to fulfil. Tliey may mistake it, and by a perverted
course wander away from it» or, by their sloth and moral depravity,
leave it unperformed — and of such we have examples before our eyes.
This mission is determined by the character of the people
themselves, by the boundaries within which nature and circum-
stances confine them, and by their own peculiar endowments. The
manner in which a nation undertakes to solve the problem reacts
again upon its position and character, determines its welfare, and
decides the place it shall occupy in history. Each distinct people
forms an organically connected limb of the great body of humanity
— it may be'a more noble and distinguished limb — it may be a
people destined to be the guide and educator of other nations — or
it may be an inferior and a subservient limb : but then, each nation-
ality has an original right (within easily recognized limits, and
without interference on the part of any other equally privileged
nation) to vindicate and freely develope itself. The suppression of
a nationality, or of a manifestation of its existence within its natural
and legitimate limits, is a crime against the order decreed by God,
and which, sooner or later brings its own punishment along with
it."— p. 32.

But all IS subordinate to the one great central and con-
trolling institution.

*' Higher, however, than associated nationalities, stands that
Community which unites the multiplicity of nationalities into one
God-connected totality, which binds them together in one brotherly
relation, and forms them into one great peoples' family ; the Com-
munity that does this is — the Church of Christ. It is the will of
its Founder that it should be just with every national peculiarity ;
* one shepherd and one flock.' It must, therefore, in its views,
in its institutions, and in its customs, bear no peculiar national
colour. It must neither be prominently German, nor Italian, nor
French, nor English^ nor to any of those nations show a preference ;
and still less must it desire to impress upon any one people the
stamp of a foreign nationality. The thought will never occur to it
to despoil or injure one people for the advantage of another ; nor
to molest them as regards their rights and properties. The
Church takes a nationality as it finds it, and bestows upon it a
higher sanctity. The Church is far from desiring that all the
nationalities received into its bosom, should bend down beneath the
yoke of a monotonous uniformity, much less does it wish to anni-
hilate the differences of races, or to put an end to historical
customs. As the firmest and at the same time the most pliable of
all institutions, it is able to become * all things to all men,' and
to educate every people, without doing violence to their nature.
The Church enters into every nationality, purifies it, and only over-
comes it, when assimilating it to itself. The Church overcomes it
when it struggles against excrescences upon national character
VOL. LIL-No. CIV., 11

488 Dr, Bollinger's [April.

and when it removes from the popular traits whatever had previ-
ously been intractable. It is like to the house of the Father in which,
to use the words of Christ, ' there are many mansions.' The Pole,
the Sicilian, the Irishman, and the Maronite, have each their
national character — a character not in common with other —
whilst still each of these is, in his own way, a good Catholic.
Should there, however, be nationalities or races so deeply degraded,
and so thoroughly corrupt, that the Church, with all its appliances,
can do nothing with them, then they must gradually die out, and
give place to others.

*' There is a reciprocal gain. As each new and vigorous popula-
lation enters into the circle of the Church, the Church becomes
not merely numerically locally, and externally strong, but also
inwardly and dynamically enriched. Every people, in whatever
way gifted, gradually contributes its share in religious experiences,
in peculiar ecclesiastical customs and arrangements, in its interpre-
tation of Christian doctrine, in its impress upon life and science.
It adds all these to the great Church capital — to that which is
the product of former times and older nationalities. Every Catholic
people can learn from another, and may borrow from foreign
nations institutions worthy of being imitated. This has often already
happened. It has occurred, too, even in the most recent times,
and mostly with an evident blessing ; and it will for the future
(with the advantage of rapidly increasing communication, and the
greater means for reciprocal knowledge) take place to a much
greater extent. In this sense, populations long since degenerated,
have continued to exercise a beneficial influence. Ev^en still the
Church feels the operations of the old African and Egyptian
Churches of the first century." — pp. 33-4.

It need not be matter of surprise that among the ele-
ments of independence and resistance to authority which
the Reformation called into action, the principle of nation-
ality was the most permanent and the most influential,
not only as regards the public and constitutional revolu-
tions which it involved, but even in determining or modify-
ing the direction of individual thought and opinion. Dr.
DoUinger's sketch of its influences on the religious consti-
tution of Germany, both in the opening section on Nation-
alities and in the special. section devoted to the Church
in Germany, is one of the most brilliant we have ever
read ; and the reasoning is so close and the facts are
so condensed and so pregnant, that we cannot hope to
give even an idea of it by any analysis or summary com-
patible with our prescribed limits. We must confine
ourselves to those pages which he devotes to the relations
which, from the moment that a National Church has

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 489

asserted indepeadence, must arise between all alike, and
the one central authority which all in common refuse to
obey.

" Like to all living things, like to the Church itself of which it is the
crown and the corner-stone, the Papacy has passed through an his-
torical development full of the most manifold and surprising vicis-
situdes. But in this its history is the law wliich lies at the founda-
tion of the Church — the law of continual development — of a
growth from within outwards. The Papacy had to pass through all
the changes and circumstances of the Church, and to enter with it
into every process of construction. Its birth begins with two
mighty, significant, and far-extending words of the Lord. He to
whom these words were addressed, realized them in his own person
and actions, and planted the institution of the infant Church in the
central point — at Rome. There it silently grew occiilto velut arhor
cevo ; and in the oldest time it only showed itself forth on peculiar
occasions ; but the outlines of the power and the ecclesiastical
authority of the Roman Bishops were ever constantly becoming
more evident and more prominent. The Popes were, even in the
time of the Roman Emperors, the guardians of the whole Church,
exhorting and warning in all directions, disposing and judging,
'binding and loosing.' Complaints were not seldom expressed of
the use which in particular cases, Rome had made of its power.
Resistance was offered, because the Pope was supposed to have been
deceived ; an appeal was preferred to him, when it was believed he
had been better informed ; but there was no refusal to obey his
commands. In general, his interference in Church affairs was less
necessary ; and the reins of Church discipline needed less to be
drawn tightly, so long as the general Church, with few exceptions,
was found within the limits of the Roman Empire, when it was so
firmly kept together by the strong bands of the civil order, that
there could neither be occasion nor prospect o^ success to any
reaction on the part of various nationalities, which, on the whole
were broken and kept down by Roman domination.

*' Out of the chaos of the great Northern migrations, and the ruins
of the Roman Empire there gradually arose a new order of states,
whose central point was the Papal See. Therefrom inevitably
resulted a position not only new, but very different from the for-
mer. The new Christian Empire of the West was created and
upheld by the Pope. The Pope became constantly more and more
(by the state of affairs, with the will of the princes and of the
people, and through the power of public opinion) the Chief Mode-
rator at the head of the European commonwealth — and, as such,
he had to proclaim and defend the Christian law of nations, to
settle international disputes, to mediate between princes and
people, and to make peace between belligerant states. The Curia
became a great spiritual and temporal tribunal. In short, the

490 Dr. Dollinger^s [April.

whole of Western Christendom formed, in a certain sense, a
kingdom, at whose head stood the Pope and the Emperor — the
former, however, with continually increasing and far preponde-
rating authority." — pp. 41-2-3.

Ill a few brief sentences he details the results which, in
the non-Papal communions, and especially in those of
the school of the Reformation, have followed from the
rejection of this central authority ; — the downward pro-
gress of the disorganization has never been more admira-
bly portrayed than in the following brilliant passage.

" It is well known that, in order to escape from subjection to the
Papal authority, the following phrase was adopted at the time of the
Reformation, and has again been recently brought into vogue :
* We who have separated ourselves recognize only Christ as the
head of our Church.' And with this it has been intended openly to
declare, or such, at least, as an inevitable consequence is to be
Baid : * There may be, and there shall be no earthly oflSce, which
shall confer upon its possessor the supreme guidance of the Church,'
or, * No one is entitled to guide the common affairs of many parti-
cular churches connected together and forming one Whole. For the
guidance of individual communities or local churches, and for the
conduct of some ecclesiastical departments, there may be offices,
and earthly bearers for them ; but as regards the guidance of the
whole Church, there shall be no office, and no bearer of such an
office. That is a place which must always remain empty.* A
suitable symbol of'this theory (in accordance with which the head
of the Church can only be in Heaven, and never must come too
near it on earth, lest His presence might be an inconvenience) may
be found in that stately empty arm chair which is still to be seen
in the magnificent ancient Gothic Cathedral of Glasgow, and that
to the inexpressible disappointment of the spectator, is placed upon
the very spot where formerly stood the high altar. Thus had the
Manicheans, in their halls of assembly, 'the Bema' — a pulpit
always empty — and for them the representative of their invisible
Lord and Master, and before which their believing members pros-
trated themselves on the earth.

" When a community says : 'Christ alone is the head of our
Church,' it is at the same time, in other words, saying : * Separation
and isolation constitute a principle of the Church — such is its
normal condition.' When, in common life, a person says, 'I leave
that to God, He may provide for it,' the meaning of such words
is at once appreciated. It is to the effect, ' I will trouble myself no
more about the matter, it does not concern me.' When, for exam-
ple, the Church of Greece declared, * no one shall be the head of the
Church, but Christ alone,' the declaration ultimately resulted in
this, • We provide only for ourselves, and do not trouble ourselves

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 491

about other Churches. Christ maj see to them, and do with them
as he pleases.' And so, under the mask of piously sounding
phrased, we find the most common-place national selfishness.

•' Church communities hare, in this respect, moved upon a declin-
ing path. At first, it was said bj the Byzantines, * We recognize
only Patriarchs,' and each of these governing a portion merely
of the Church ; but no Pope, no head of the Patriarchs.'
Then came the English Church, and it said, 'Neither Pope
nor Patriarchs, but merely Bishops.' Upon their side, the Pro-
testants of the continent declared, * no Bishops either, but
merely pastors, and above them the sovereign of the country.'
Subsequently came the new Protestant sects of England, with the
declaration, * We have no need of pastors, but only preachers.'
Finally appeared ' the Friends' (the Quakers) and many more new
communities who had made tlie discovery * that preachers also
are only an evil, and that every njan should be his own prophet,
teacher and priest.' One step still further downward has to be
made. It has not yet come to pass, but already in the United
States they are considering about it." — pp. 40-1.

As yet, the immediate result on the commmiions,
whether ancient or modern, which have rejected the
central authority of the Papacy, has been to establish in
its stead an internal despotism more galling and oppres-
sive, because more minute and searching in its action
than the authority which was shaken off. In the Byzan-
tine Church, even before the separation, this had been
most painfully felt ; — more painfully at various periods, in
proportion to the degree of antagonism with Rome by
which each epoch of Constantinopolitan history is charac-
terized. But in the Reformation the results become even
more sensible, because they appear on a larger and broader
scale. '* The Reformers,'' it is truly said by the author,
" committed to temporal princes from the beginning, the
authority — that is to say, power over the religion of the
country and the subjects. It was the duty and the right
of * the authority' to plant the new Church and the new
Gospel, to root out Popery, and to allow no strange doc-
trine to grow up.'' This was impressed on the Sovereign
at every opportunity.

" And so arose a despotism, the equal of which has never before
been seen. The new system, as it was expounded by theologians
and jurists, was worse than the Byzantine practice ; for there no
attempt had ever been made to change the religion of the people.
The Protestant princes were not merely Popes in their own country,
but they were much more ; and were able to do what no Pope had

492 Dr, Ddllinger's [April.

ever dreamed of attempting. Every Pope knew that the power he
possessed was a conservative one — that he held it to maintain the
doctrine that had been transmitted to him, and that an attempt on
his part to alter the teacliing of the Church would infallibly be
frustrated by a universal resistance. To the Protestant princes,
however, it had been said — and they themselves believed and
declared it — that their power in religious matters was entirely
unlimited ; and that, in the use of it, they need attend to no other
standard than their own consciences. They also, as a matter of
course, declared that they were subject to *the Gospel,' or the Holy
Scriptures ; but then it was to the Scriptures according to their
own interpretation of them, or that of the court- preachers of their
selection. The Beformers had naturally so understood the matter,
that the princes should proceed according to the advice of theolo-
gians, and that they would especially allow themselves to be
guided in all questions of doctrine by the theological faculties of the
Universities of their country. But these changed, or were changed;
and as often as it pleased the sovereign to alter the religion of his
territory, the old professors were dismissed, and new professors
were summoned.

^'With this new system of ecclesiastical and political power
united in the person of the prince, was introduced a change of
incalculable gravity in the condition of the entire German people.
The distinction and the contrast between the two Powers, which
on the whole, had acted beneficently for the people, and which
through collisions and counterpoises, had aroused and maintained
intellectual activity and political freedom, were now completely put
an end to. The Church became altogether incorporated in the State,
and was regarded as a wheel in the great State machine. He who can
exercise an absolute power over that which is noblest and for the
most part invisible — he who can so rule over religion and con-
science— is also one who, if he chooses, can have at his disposal
everything which the State can bestow or the people yield. With
the establishment of the Consistories, as sovereign authorities ruling
ecclesiastical affairs, began the development of Bureaucracy —
of monarchical and political omnipotence — of Administrative Cen*-
tralization. As soon as ecclesiastical and religious affairs were
placed in the hands of Government officers, a mechanical clerk-like
scribbling system, and the benumbing spirit of a mere administra-
tive machine, whose functions were to command and issue ordi^
nances, took the place of a living organism — of an authority
acting through moral motives. It went on then as it goes on still ;
the Bureaucratic system became a polypus, perpetually putting
out new branches, and swallowing up more materials.'' — pp. 56-7-8,

The results in the two co-ordinate spheres, that of civil
and political freedom and that of ecclesiastical organiza-
tion, are traced with a masterly hand in two admirable

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy, 493

chapters. In each of these Dr. Dollinger reviews in suc-
cession the condition, whether poHtical or ecclesiasti-
cal, of the various ** Churches" external to the Cathohc
Church. The chapter on * the Church and Civil Free-
dom' which is simply an historical examination of Professor
Stahl's plausible^ theory that Protestantism, by its doc-
trine of justification from faith, ** gives a higher degree of
inward or moral freedom, to man, and carries him for-
ward thereby also to a degree of external or political free-
dom," will be found to contain many facts startlingly
at variance with the notions on this question popularly
entertained in England. Passing over the sections devoted
to the political condition of the Protestant kingdoms of
Germany and the North, we must be content with a
single extract from the portion of the chapter devoted to
JEngland. Dr. Dolliuger fully recognizees the inappreci-
able value of the free institutions which England now
enjoys. But he shows by a simple narrative, how little,
whether of the theory or the practice, of these institutions is
exclusively due to the influence of Protestantism. We can
only find room for his general summary.

" If we now ask what has been gained in almost one hundred
years of an embittered struggle between parties and Churches ?
— what can be shown as the actual result ? — it appears to amount
in the first place to this : that religious freedom, or rather the
liberty of not belonging to the State Church, but of forming an
independent community, has been won after a contest of about a
hundred and seventy years, and after thousands of Englishmen have
lost their lives ; and this, too, has been won in direct contradiction
to the original principles of Protestantism.

"Secondly, the civil liberties that the English possessed in
Catholic times had been essentially enervated, and in some cases
destroyed, by the Reformation and the spirit of State-Churchship.
They had primarily to be reconquered, and then confirmed and
extended, in the sanguinary war which the partizaus of the sect?,
in alliance with the political champions of freedom, carried on
against the monarchy and the dependent State Church. In so far as
all these sects proceeded from the principle of the Reformation, and
all called themselves Protestant, it may be said that Protestantism
in England, after having been, in its first form, the most dangerous
enemy and destroyer of civil freedom, did, in all subsequent forms,
or through the consequences of Church dismemberment involved in
it, contribute to the re-establisbment and extension of political
liberty. Every one of these Protestant communities oppressed
every other when it could, or was prepared and resolved to do so ;

404 Dr. Ddllinger^s [April.

every one wished to laj on the nation the yoke of its own views and
institutions. The Presbyterians, Prynne and Edwards, as soon as
their sect had obtained a momentary pre-eminence, endeavoured to
prove that the authorities were entitled and bound to wield the
sword against all erroneous doctrines — that is to say, against all
that were not Calvinistic. Ultimately, all religious parties came
forth from the long contest weakened and shaken. The Presby-
terians disapperared in England, and were replaced by other sects.
The State Cliurch had become ao powerless ; there was such an
uncertainty in all its doctrines, and such a dissolution of all eccle-
siastical bonds had taken place within it, that even bishops declared
the English clergy to be the worst in all Europe ; and in the eighteenth
century England was distinguished above all other nations for its
general contempt of the Church, and a wide-spread infidelity, even
among the female sex.

" The fall of James II., and the summoning of a new dynasty,
did not, in fact, bring any accession to English popular liberty, for
such had been, as to all essential particulars, already won ; but it
brought with it two changes, pregnant with important consequences,
viz. : the degradation of the monarchy into a mere powerless
phantom, and the system of parliamentary government by majori-
ties of the lower house, whose views and aims had to be modified by
the limitation or extension of the suffrage. Upon the value of
these two acquisitions the future must decide.*' — pp. 119-20.

But by far the most original and in every respect the
most valuable portion of Dr. DoUinger's book is his survey
of the religious condition of the ** Churches without the
Papacy." It is divided into several sections, devoted
to the several nationalities, according to their respective
forms of ecclesiastical organization. The materials of this
sketch are collected, in all cases, with the utmost care and
exactness, from the most recent and almost invariably the
most authentic sources ; and with the same conscientious
industry and the same remarkable power of grouping facts
and condensing authorities which distinguish his earlier
well-known works. Dr. Dollinger has compressed into
this single division of his work the materials for a complete
encyclopsedia of » the , religious condition of the modern
world.

He begins with the oldest of the non-Papal Churches —
the Greek Church, which he considers in its three great
branches: — the Constantinopolitan, the Hellenic, and
the Russian ; and one of the most remarkable character-
istics of this work is the singular and almost instinctive
precision with which he appreciates, as if without an effort.

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 495

the contrast between the effects which the non-Papal prin-
ciple produces in those Churches, and its influence in the
Protestant Churches, where the theory of constitutional self-
government is modified by the further element of individual
dogmatical independence. It is to these latter Churches
that he specially devotes his examination ; and in each
he gives its full weight to the modifying influences of
national character and history, as well as to the peculiar
spirit of the creed with which each was originally indoc-
trinated. The common Calvinism, for example, of Swit-
zerland, France and the Low Countries, has developed
itself very diff*erently in each ; and Dr. Dollinger traces
with much learning and ingenuity the special train of events
or of internal or external relations, by which, in each case,
the results which we now meet with have come to pass.
Still more interesting is his review of the influences
of the same creed on the doctrinal and moral condition
of the mingled nationalities of the new American popula-
tions, in which the many national peculiarities of the
motley settlers are subjected to the new, but common,
modification of that special moral condition of society in
the new world which is best described by the sobriquet,
which has almost become a classical name— of Yan-
keeism.

In his review of Anglicanism there is not much novelty
of facts ; but yet we do not know any authority to which
we can refer as presenting so succinctly and so intelligibly
the various sections of religious opinion, or rather of reli-
gious opinions, and the moral and religious condition of
the various ecclesiastical parties in the State Church, or
of the various religious bodies external to it.

We may say the same of the section upon the Lutheran-
ism of the Northern kingdoms, Denmark, Sweden, and
Norway. His account 'of the Church as regards the
last-named kingdom, deserves especial notice, as a most
just appreciation not alone of the facts but of the causes
to which they are to be traced.

*• Liebetrut and other writers are accustomed to give the Swe-
dish Church and Clergy the credit of orthodox Lutheranism, but
they say there reigns a dead orthodoxy. * The Swedish Church*
says * Liebetrut, * is a Church desolate ! — dead ! — Ijing under the
anathema of God. The Church unity is the unity and peace of the
churchyard.' And in the same tone the Swedish preacher, Cervin
Steenhoflf, says, *^it is now the time of the humiliation of the

496 Dr. Ddllinger's [April,

Church !— she is dead !— all has become contentious, desolate, and
void!'

*' Sweden is now (besides Norway) the only country in Europe
where the genuine Lutheran doctrine reigns in the pulpit. To this
the profound ignorance of the majority of the clergy formed no
obstacle ; for the customary forms and catchwords of the system
can be taken up and used by any one readily enough. • Nothing is
easier here,' says Trottet, * than to become suspected of heresy;'
and, according to him, this state of the Church in Sweden is one of
the chief causes of the moral corruption that prevails in that
country. A destructive formalism has gained the upper hand ;
religious indifference has, by degrees, undermined the strictness of
manners formerly existing, and public opinion authorizes and pro-
tects, in many cases, the most revolting immoralities,

•*' Defunct orthodoxy,' is just now one of the favourite phrases
in Sweden, and in Germany also ; for the bad religious condition of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is often laid to its charge.
But there is a great mistake in saying this. The Lutheran ortho-
doxy was not dead in Germany — on the contrary, as long as it
existed it was extremely lively, and for two centuries (1550-1750)
it maintained a struggle against Calvinism ; then against Arndt
and his followers ; then against Calixtus and the Helmstadt school ;
then against Spener, Pietism, and the Halle school ; and most vigo-
rously and successfully did it defend itself against all attempts to
enfeeble it, until at length Rationalism became master both of it
and orthodoxy, its rivals — and built its hut upon their ruins. What
is in Germany considered the effect of ' defunct orthodoxy,' was
much more the natural and inevitable psychological and ecclesio-
logical consequence of the Lutheran system itself ; and of which
the historical proof may easily be given.

" If mention is made of this ' defunct orthodoxy' in Sweden, it
should be remembered that it is nothing new in that country, but
has been its normal state since the Keformation. The Swedish
State Church has remained, down to the present time, in sole undis-
turbed possession, and has not tolerated the smallest deviation from
the strictest Lutheranism. Serious theological controversies do not
occur in Swedish history, with the' exception of the liturgical
dispute occasioned by the efforts of King John to return towards
Catholicity ; and the Swedish clergy have had no need of theolo-
gical knowledge to defend themselves against strange doctrines.
When GustavusVasa desired to convert the inhabitants of Helsing-
land to Lutheranism, he did not send to them distributors of Swedish
Bibles, or preachers of the new doctrine, but he wrote to them
* that if they did not forthwith become Lutherans, he would have a
hole made in the ice on the Deele Lake, and they should all be
drowned.' Thus it has been ever. The sword, the dungeon, exile,
or in modern times pecuniary fines, have been the approved methods
of preventing religious disputes, or of settling them if they had

1863.1 Protestantism and the Papacy, 497

already broken out. And this appeared so much the more necessary
since, as the celebrated Atterbom remarks, * the state of public
instruction, and the education of the clergy, were far below what
they had been in the immediately preceding papal epoch.' Charles
IX. and Gustavus Adolphus adopted with obstinate Catholics, the
simple method of cutting their heads off; and when, at the end of
the seventeenth and the beginning of the following century, several
Swedes— Ulstadius, Peter Scliafer, Ulhagius, and Eric Moliu,
became perplexed with the Lutheran main doctrine of * Imputation,*
and spoke of the necessity of *good works,' Moliu was banished —
Ulstadius condemned to the house of correction for his life (and
remained there for thirty years) — and Schafer and Ulhagius were
condemned to death ! And in accordance with the same principles
were the * Awakened,' or * Readers' treated thirty years ago." —
pp. 259, 260, 261.

But it is in the section on Germany that Dr. Dollinger
immeasurably transcends all those who have attempted of
late years to popularize the vast and complicated subject
of German theology. It would be idle to attempt, in these
pages to convey any idea of this most brilliant chapter.
It must be read in order to be appreciated. We are
tempted, however, both for the admirable views which
are developed in the passage itself, and as a specimen of
the general treatment of the subject of the theological
condition of Germany, to transcribe the observations in
which he accounts by historical deduction for the origin
and growth of that inveterate scepticism which has
become the ^ plague and canker of intellectual Protes-
tantism, not in Germany only, but wherever Protestantism
can be said to have a theology.

" This invasion and complete victory won by theological Ration-
alism in Germany, almost without a battle, is a remarkable and
unique event in history, and one of which the causes have not yet
been suflSciently explained. By the long contest with the Helm-
stadt school, and subsequently with that of Spener, and Pietism,
Lutheran theology had been internally and logically developed, but
at the same time the logical and moral antinomianism to which it
led became obvious to the most purblind sight. Towards the middle
of the eighteenth century came also the influence of the new Biblical
and historic studies. As long as the rule of the Lutheran system
maintained itself consistently within the Concordien formula, the
study of the Bible was, of course, intentionally neglected. It
evidently shrank from the inevitable conflict with the symbolic
books. Professor Heinrich Majus, of Giessen, when he entered on
his office, mentioned with censure, that with very (qw, if any of the

498 Dr. Dbllinger's April.

universities of Germanj, the interpretation of the * Holy Scriptures
was made au object of earnest study.' Spener gives the same testi-
mony, and lately Tholuck and Liicke have again alluded to the fact
that, through the whole seventeenth century exegesis had fallen
completely into disuse and disfavour. In the year 1742, also,
Bengel complains, in the preface to his * Gnomon,' that ' the mani-
fold misuse — nay, malicious contempt of Scripture, had risen to the
highest point, even among those who thought themselves to be
philosophical and very spiritual persons.' As soon as the study of
the Bible had come again into fashion, partly through means of
Bengel himself, and partly as a reaction against the Pietistic move-
ment, the dissolution of the Lutheran doctrine began. The tone of
historical criticism, and especially the conception of Church History
in Germany, contributed greatly to this dissolution. The idea that
the whole course of development of Christianity, from the time
of the Apostles had been a continual and ever increasing malfor-
mation, until at last, at the Reformation this utterly distorted
and ruined religion was awakened to new life, had been the pre-
vailing notion since the sixteenth century. In this sense were
all histories taught and written. A man who deserves to be called
the most profound and acute theologian of the first period of
Rationalism, describes this state of opinion : —

* Among Protestants, Church history is nothing else than the
historical proof of the necessity of a Church Reformation, and of a
perpetual increase of corruption, both in doctrine and life. Accord-
ing to the Protestants, the Church had been—at least since the
eighth century — a sink of ignorance and corruption. All the heads
of the Church had been dreadfully false teachers, and the Church
itself a complete madhouse.' He then remarks : * The extreme
care with which, on the Protestant side, every fact has been col-
lected which could be made to afford the smallest testimony for the
former prevalence of corruption in the Church — the injustice with
which all former chiefs and heads of the Church have been repre-
sented as tyrants, and all the members of it as mere heathens —
and the carelessness with which the good that has always been present
in the Church, notwithstanding the great abuses that had crept into
it, is overlooked ; this defect in Church History, as treated by
Protestants, has been eagerly employed by the enemies of Chris-
tianity for their own purposes.

•• Tbllner quotes an expression of Frederick IT. in one of his
writings, in which the monarch states the customary Protestant
account of Church History, namely, * that it was a great drama
performed by rogues and hypocrites, at the expense of the deluded
masses ; and such histories he supposes had been the real cause of
the King's contempt for Christianity.

"This manner of regarding the history of Christianity completely
coincided with the reigning mode of thought and literature of the
time, and through it was developed that spiritual revolt from Chris-

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy, 499

tianitj wliicli was completed in Germany by the simultaneous and
reciprocal action of the clergy and the educated classes upon one
another. The theology of the Keformers and their followers estab-
lished the notion that God had withdrawn himself from the Church
after the demise of the Apostles— that He had resigned His place
to Satan, who thenceforward had undertaken the office which,
according to the promises in the Gospel, the Holy Ghost should
have fulfilled, and so established a diabolical millennium, which con-
tinued until the appearance of Luther. When faith in the infallible
truth of the symbolic books became in a few years extinct, in conse-
quence of the new Biblical studies — when, after the accession of Fre-
derick II., Lutheran orthodoxy lost more and more the protection of
the ecclesiastical power of the State — when the Theologians began
more and more mercilessly to expose the defects and contradictions of
the Lutheran Reformation doctrine, then all the supports of religious
feeling at once were tumbled down and prostrated. The entire
education of the people, the ideas they had imbibed with their
mother's milk, all were calculated to make them regard the whole
history of Christianity before the Reformation as a churchyard
covered with decayed and sunken tombstones, and with mouldering
bones, and where ghostly shadows alone were wandering. With
the faith in the Divine Guidance of the Church fell also all faith in
its divine origin. The root was judged by the stem ; the begin,
ning judged by the subsequent career — ^judged and condemned !

'• And thus, then, there remained for the men who held office
under, and got their bread by Christianity, nothing else to fall back
upon but that aggregate of empty, unsupported notions concerning
God,* morality, and immortality, to which the name of Rationalism
has been given." — pp. 270-3.

The justice of these conclusions as to the origin and
universal acceptance of Rationahstic principles is beyond
all question. On the other hand, in the theological schools
which retain the dogmatic theory, and which bear in
Germany the especial repute of orthodoxy, the old tradi-
tionary dogmas of Justification by Faith and Imputation,
which in truth constituted the very fundamentals of the
Keformation, have been utterly abandoned. Dr. DoUinger,
after a most searching and ruthless exposure of the utter
abandonment by the modern schools, of the old stand-
ing-ground of Lutheranism, thus mercilessly pursues the
inquiry to its inevitable issue.

*' The importance of the subject here mentioned can scarcely be
too highly appreciated. Here upon the one side stand Luther,
Meluncthon, Calvin, and their disciples, the Protestant Confessional
writings, and the combined Lutheran and Calviuistic theology of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They all have professed

500 Dr. D'olliiiger's [April.

to find that doctrine which we for brevity's sake name ' the doctrine
of Imputation,' laid down distinctly in the Bible. On the other
side is the newer and the latest theology, the whole modern scientific
exegesis, and it rejects the doctrine, it rejects the Reformation
exposition of fragmentary Bible passages as false and untenable.
But it is a supreme evangelical principle that the Scripture is per-
fectly clear and sufficient on all fundamental points. How, then,
is this fundamental difference to be cleared up ? And thereby is
concerned a doctrine which, as every one admits, has an incalcu-
lable influence upon Christian consciousness and ecclesiastical
life — a doctrine (by the admission or confession of many Protestant
theologians,) that had formerly been a source of destruction to
countless beings, and has caused a desolation of the Churches of
which persons formerly had no forethought. The whole edifice of
the Protestant Church and theology reposes, therefore, on two prin-
ciples— one material, the other formal : the doctrine of Imputation
and the sufficiency of the Bible. But the material principle is
given up by exegesis and dogmatic theology ; and as to the formal
principle for the suflficiency of the Bible, or even for the inspiration
of the writings of the disciples of the Apostles, not the shadow of a
scriptural argument can be adduced. The time will, it must, come
when the whole vast importance of this matter will excite universal
attention. To such serious thought must the experience which has
now been gone through force the attention of those who, in driving
Rationalism out of the pulpit, and re-establishing a Protestant
believing body of preachers, have fouad the experiment not corres-
pond with their expectations. * For a long time,' says Baumgarten,
'persons might entertain the notion that it was Rationalism 'made
our churches empty, and our preaching unattended to. But now
since Christ crucified is again preached, and yet no serious effect
upon the whole, is to be observed, it is necessary to abandon this
mistake, and not to conceal from ourselves that preaching is unable
to revive religious life.' * The impotency of the present preaching,*
he continues, * is still more appalling, when it is generally known
and confessed that those who could testify to the extreme depth of
the degradation to which it has descended, refrain from telling the
entire of its evil consequences.' '' — pp. 300, 301.

We can only afford space for one other extract, the
brilliant and striking passage in which he depicts the
position of Protestantism, and especially of the really
living and moving section of Protestantism in Germany,
in relation to the Catholic Church. It is consolatory to
find that in Germany, as in England, all of vitality and
religious energy that is to be found in the dogmatic .sec-
tion of the Protestant body, is manifested in the direction
of the Church, and has a tendency towards it ; and Dr.

1863.] Protestantism and the Papacy. 501

Dollinger acutely, as well as eloquently, observes that one
of the main impediments to the religious restoration of
Protestantism arises from the suspicion of Romeward
tendencies, which such movement invariably involves.

" This may, with truth, be said — that Catholic tendencies lie at
the bottom of the whole movement that has been made towards a
religious life and an ecclesiastical restoration in Protestantism.
He who has watched this movement receives the same impression
as if he saw a number of individuals thrust into a narrow, stifling,
dark, and loathsome cell ; and that those who were so packed
together were attempting to open now this door and then that, in
order that thej might inhale fresh air and new strength j but that,
with every such attempt, there pealed forth in their ears a loud
chorus of clerical and lay voices, exclaiming — ' Shut out the
miasma ; keep away from you the foul grave-stench that arises
from old mouldering tombs.' It is with the reproach, 'You are
becoming Catholic,' that the opponents of the movement have
sought to check it. It is with the cry, * You want to make Catholics
of us,' that the great masses of the population have, for twenty
years, repelled every earnest effort made towards the enrichment
and improvement of Protestantism, in dogma, in ecclesiastical life,
and in the Divine service. Who can deny that, consistently with
the principles from which the spirit of Protestantism has originated,
such a course of conduct — so marked with fear and caution — is not
perfectly natural ? * The attitude of Protestantism,' says Stahl, 'is
ever that of the Borghese gladiator. It is a permanent assault,
the uttermost tension of every sinew and muscle against Rome.
Its whole energy is directed to this point — never to let near it
Catholic doctrine and discipline; as the smallest manifestation in
that direction excites far more horror than would be caused by
the grossest transgression in an opposite way, &c., &c., &c.* — pp.
332-33.

This is but a rehearsal on German soil of what we have
so long witnessed in England since the very first indica-
tion of the Romeward tendency in the Anglican Church.
Notwithstanding the violence of individuals or of parties,
it is no equivocal symptom of the conditiou of the political
mind, that even the anti-Roman disputants are driven re-
luctantly to acknowledge the higher character as well as
the more active spirit of the religious life as it exists
among Catholics, than that which they can find in the
very best of their own communion. We need but cite
from the page before us the confessions of ** two individuals,
who, from the high official positions formerly held by
them, had the best opportunity of knowing the matters of

502 Dr. Dollinger's [April.

which they spoke, and who were both the most determined
political opponents of Catholic interests, and both zealous
friends and supporters of the Evangelical Church. These
two individuals are the President von Gerlach and the
Privy- Councillor Eilers. The first of these says — ' We
daily see how small, in comparison with the power of the
Catholic Church, is the influence which the Evangelical
has upon the enlightenment and sanctification of the mass
of the population, and upon the majority of its own mem-
bers. The cause for this is not far to seek.'

" The second of these, Eilers, was well known as one of
the most influential officials in the Eichhorn Administra-
tion, and who, in his day, held in his own hands the man-
agement of three newspapers, which were devoted to the
purpose of opposing the Catholic Church, and were for that
purpose subsidized by the Government. These are his
words : — * I have made it my study to ascertain the con-
nection that exists between what is the Christian life of
the Catholic population, and its institutions and practices ;
and, with an unwilling hearty I am compelled to admit
that, in general, a far more Christian-like life is led by
those who belong to the Catholic than to the Evangelical
Church. It is a well recognised fact that the Evangelical
clergy, in general, are far — very far — behind the Catholic
in their devotion and efficiency in the discharge of their
pastoral duties.'

" When two laymen express themselves in a manner so
reasonable and conciliatory, may it not be hoped that the
time is coming, and perhaps is already near, when preachers
and theologians may give way to milder thoughts and
gentler expressions — and that they may learn to think and
believe that what, upon the whole, the Catholic Church in
Germany has done is no more than it could not leave un-
done."

We feel that this imperfect analysis and these discon-
nected extracts must necessarily give but an inadequate
idea of a work whose great characteristic is that it unites
vastness and comprehensiveness of range with severely
close and acute philosophical reasoning. Compressing into
a limited space so many and so various details, it is only
by a careful study of each of its parts that we can attain to
a full appreciation whether of the facts themselves, or of
their general bearing upon each other, and on the whole
subject. Read in this light, the temporal relations of the

1863.] The Roman State. 503

Papacy, it is true, appear but as an episode in the pfoneral
drama of its action upon the Church and upon the world.
But, while we render the most ample justice to the purity
of the author's motives, and to the sincerity of his desire
of servinp: what he believes to be the best interests of
the Papacy and the Church, we must repeat our deep
regret, that he should have been led into such a line of
reasoning even by tlie laudable desire of union, and our
earnest disapproval of more than one of the allegations by
which he enforces it, and still more of the severe and even
acrimonious language into which he is occasionally be-
trayed. There is much in this episode on the Papal States
which we cannot help regarding as a serious blot on wliat,
as a whole, must be confessed to be one of the most impor-
tant and valuable contributions to modern philosophical
controversy.

Art. Yl.'-Tke Roman State from 1815 to 1850. By Luigi Carlo
Farini. Translated bj the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. 4 vols.
London ; John Murray.

2. A History of Modern Italy ivova. the First French Revolution to
the year 1850. By Richard Heber Wrightson. Bentley.

AS some people tell lies till they believe them to be
true, so are there others who so covet what belongs
to their neighbours, as to fancy themselves wronged be-
cause they are kept out of possession. A man may be so
intent upon the acquisition of his neighbour's purse, his
neighbour's estate, or his neighbour's kingdom, as to
become morbidly unconscious of the distinctions between
meuni and tunm. A vulgar robber however is less liable
to this! delusion than a royal one. The former seldom
brings his mind to believe that another's purse belongs to
him, though the latter often persuades himself that
another's kingdom ought to be his because it lies very con-
venient and desirable for him.

That Piedmont has no more right to the Romagna,
which she possesses, or to Rome, which she covets, than
yesterday's garotter to the purse which he has been strong

VOL. LI I. — No. CIV, IS

504 The Eoman State. [April,

enough to force from his victim , is generally acknowledged
by all who have given themselves the trouble to inquire
or reflect upon the subject. The alleged majority of votes
is too flimsy a pretence to deceive any one. None of us
in England were deceived by this artifice when the
French relied upon it to filch Savoy and Nice ; and will
any one have the assurance to say that the votes in the
Romagna were a more truthful indication of the real
wishes of the people? Both were obtained by similar
means, one quite as bad as the other, yet England affirmed
the one, whilst she protested against the other.

The correspondent of the Times writes that " the
Italian political atmosphere is filled with lies;'' and we
fear that the correspondence from Italy, in the columns
of that and some other papers, savours strongly of the
atmosphere whence it comes. But it may be asked, are
not the reports of English gentlemen to be relied upon ?
To which we will only reply to our readers, enquire for
yourselves, first, whether they are Englishmen ? and, if
foreigners, whether they are disinterested, or deeply im-
plicated in the affairs about which they profess to write as
spectators? And if, on enquiry, it be ascertained that
these letters of foreign correspondents of English news-
papers, are written by Italians so mixed up in the revolu-
tionary affairs of Italy, that they cannot be depended upon
for any impartial account of the affairs about which they
write, then give them only so much credit as they, under the
circumstances, deserve. Even assume them to be desi-
rous of writing honestly, yet it is obvious that they can
report only the sentiments of those with whom they con-
sort, and that the views and wishes of others, perhaps even
of the majority, are not communicated to them. And
recollect also that they know what is acceptable in the
English market, and that their employment depends upon
supplying an article that will please and sell. When these
circumstances are taken fairly into account, it is obvious
that the reports of these correspondents should be received
with much caution when they fit into the groove of the
English foolometer, and feed the craving appetite of the
English public with just the food which they relish. We
could give remarkable instances of the errors (to use a mild
phrase) of these foreign correspondents, but to enter into
such details would occupy much space and withdraw us

1863. J The Roman State, 505

from our main topic, and we are content therefore with
having suggested a reasonable caution.

We propose, on the present occasion, to refer to the
affairs of Italy in a political sense only, without any refer-
ence to religion, and without even approaching the ques-
tion of the temporal power of the Pope. The Pope was,
and is, a reigning sovereign. In considering him as such
we do not, on the present occasion, ask Protestants to
regard this his sovereignty as in any degree more inviola-
ble because he is also the spiritual head of the great majo-
rity of Christians throughout the world ; we ask them only
to deal out to him the same justice as they would to any
other Christian, — or to a Turk. Do not, because he is
Pope, give him less than justice, but apply to him merely
the same rule which you apply to the Grand Sultan, and
which led you to spend the treasure and spill the blood of
England in defence of a Turkish reigning sovereign,
of whom even you will not say that he conducted his civil
government better than the Pope.

We will not pronounce encomiums upon the civil gov-
ernment of Rome ; it is sufficient for our present purpose
to assert that it was at least as good as the govern-
ment of Great Britain before the passing of the Reform
Bill. Speak of the Roman government in whatever
language you like, and we will match it by quotations
from the speeches and writings of British statesmen,
describing the state of the British government previous ib
oiu' Reform Bill. What then was and is the real differ-
ence between the civil governments of Great Britain and
of Rome ? That we were strong enough to keep down
revolutions and improve gradually, whilst Rossi, the pre-
mier of Pius IX., was murdered in attempting the very
thing which had been so recently accomplished for us by
Earl Grey.

If the British government had not been strong enough
to keep m due subjection the Luddites, the Political
Unionists, and the Chartists, our attempts at reform would
in all probability have ended, like those at Rome, in revo-
lution.

We propose to show from the work of Farini the pre-
sent prime minister of Victor Emmanuel, that, from the
moment when Pius IX. was elected Pope, he proceeded in
the course of civil reforms in a manner which ought to
satisfy the most ardent English reformer, that he not only

606 The Roman State, [April.

proposed reforms in every department of internal civil
government and selected suitable persons to accomplish
them, but that he also originated the idea of a commercial
union and federal treaty between the various states of
Italy, which, if completed as designed by him, would have
made them strong against outward attack, and would have
abolished all the interior custom houses, leaving all cus-
toms and other duties to be arranged on entrance into or
exit from the Italian Union, as into^ or from the German
Zolverein; that his measures of internal reform were
received with acclamation by his own people, and his
scheme of confederation with approval by some other
states, and by all the statesmen of the liberal party, that
through no fault at all of Pius IX., and of those who were
labouring with him in the cause of civil improvement, but
partly through the ingratitude, treachery, and machina-
tions of those who had been allowed to return into his
dominions by the free amnesty which he granted on his
election, partly through the evil working of the secret
societies and of those who were in correspondence with
Mazzini, partly through the want of a calm but energetic
and sustained support, by an excitable people, of the mea-
sures of improvement which he proposed, partly by the
after thought of certain other Italian powers that they
might serve their own purposes better than by faithfully
carrying out the idea of confederacy, and partly, but per-
haps mainly, from the want of a strong army and effective
police to give power and stability to a government which
rested mainly on the mildness of its character and the
affectionate respect of its people ; — that from these and such
like causes, the measures of reform which Pius IX. pro-
posed, and which would, if he had been allowed gradually
to accomplish them as we did in England, have put the
civil government into accord with the tendencies of the
times and have satisfied all reasonable people, were stop-
ped by assassinations tumults and irrepressible disorders;
and the idea of confederation, which was at first so much
approved by all the leading liberals of Italy, was dropped,
trodden upon, and lost sight of in the phrenzy of planned
and malicious disorder, and in the eager and unscrupulous
ambition of one State for its own individual aggrandise-
ment.

This we will prove from the pages of Farini ; it may
perhaps seem rather tedious to follow him through the

1863.] The Roman State. 507

course of proceedings, and quote in each instance his very
language; but, whilst we must not be understood to concur
in everything we quote from him, his evidence, when given
in behalf of Pius IX., is beyond question, it is in fact evi-
dence extracted from an adverse witness.

One preliminary remark occurs to us. ' Lord Palmer-
ston has lately referred to the want of reforms in the civil
government of Pius IX. If there be any human ibein^
who should not have presumed to find fault with Pius IX.
as a civil reformer, who should have felt abashed at the*
very idea of uttering any criticism on the conduct of one so-
much better and more genuine a reformer than himself —
it is assuredly Lord Palmerston of all men. Lord Palm-
erston commenced public life as a non-reformer, held office;
under various governments opposed to reform, and was an*
opponent of reform until reform swept away opposition,,
and then he went with the current which bore him along:
in the crowd of reformers. He became a reformer when\
reform looked like a winning horse, and of the battle^
fought and the victory won by others he shared the triumphi
and the honours. Pius IX., on the contrary, began hi*;
public life as a reformer, encountered the opposition of"
many whom he t esteemed and respected because theory-
thought him too thorough a reformer, was opposed, audi
unfortunately successfully opposed by revolutionists re--
publicans and Mazzinians because they feared that his-
reforms^ if quietly accomplished, would spoil their trade i,
and was first thwarted and interfered with, and is now tra--
duced by that very recent reformer, though veteran states-
man, who in this adhered to his general policy and practice
of following, instead of forming, public opinion. Pius IX.
commenced reforms because he believed them to be right,
and persevered in them even when they involved, him in
difficulties and disaster ; Lord Palmerston adopted reform
when he found it popular, maintained it whi^never it was
backed by a safe majority, and never committed the mis-
take of allowing his zeal for it to involve him in any trou-
ble.

Assume, then, for the sake of argument, that the civil
government of Rome, and the feelings of the Pope's
subjects with respect to reform therein, were at the death
of Gregory XVI. in the same or a similar condition as the
civil government of Great Britain, and the feelings of the
British people with respect to reform in this country previ-

508 The Roman State. [April.

ously to the Reform Bill. However darkly the civil mis-
government of Rome may be painted, it cannot have been
worse than were the abuses of our government previously
to that period ; and however ardent the desire of the Papal
subjects for reforms in civil government, it cannot havo
been stronger than the determination at that time of our
people to accomplish reforms here. Reforms were attained
here gradually, steadily, safely. Not so rapidly as many
would have wished, nor without movements amongst
the populace, and also amongst many of the middle and
some of the upper classes, which required the strong
hand of a powerful government backed by the known
presence of an adequate military force, to keep them in sub-
jection. How determined to the very last was the opposition
to the English Reform Bill ! Let us consider whether the
government of this country, if it had then been circum-
stanced as was the civil goveniTiient of Rome on the ac-
cession of Pius IX., with as feeble an army, with as excita-
ble a people, with similar plottings of secret societies
within, and the encroaching movements of more powerful
governments outside the State, could have accomplished
our reforms in the gradual, steady, and safe manner they
did ; or whether, under similar circumstances, even we
might not have been precipitated into revolution on the
one hand, or have been held fast in the strong grasp of a
stationary policy on the other, until the time was thought
opportune for smaller and more gradual reforms to be
voluntarily conceded ? The former would have been our
fate if the Chartists had succeeded in their attacks ; the
latter would in all probability have still been our present
condition, if the Tories had been victorious in their opposi-
tion. Is the difference between ourselves and Rome with
regard to reforms in civil government any other than this,
that we were, and Rome was not, strong enough to carry
out the reforms inaugurated by the government? And
has not the British government and the British people in-
creased the difficulty of accomplishing civil reforms at
Rome by giving its moral support to the Roman Chartists
and weakening the hands of the Roman government ? If
this be the fact, as we believe it to be, then England is
more to blame than the Pope for the failure of well-meant
attempts to accomplish civil reforms at Rome. The Poi)e
did what lay in his power towards accomplishing them.

1863.] The Roman State, 509

England encouraged his opponents, and so far as she did
anything, served only to paralyse his efforts.

We shall establish what we believe to be the trne view
of affairs from the work of Farini who is employed by the
king of Piedmont, and translated and endorsed by Mr.
Gladstone. ^

The sentiments with which the cardinals proceeded to
the election of a new Pope are thus described by him, vol.
i. p. 171.

" When tlie Sacred College is assembled for business, prudence
outweighs in it both private inclination and party spirit, in a much
greater degree than is commonly believed ; and, in fact, there were
in this conclave some who sagely advised them to elect for the
Pope a native of the State, and one not much advanced in years ;
others stated plainly the necessity for correcting abuses, and for
making some reforms, and, with this view, of electing a Pontiff whose
mind and will were equal to iC

This is precisely what they did in the election of Pius
IX. Farini informs us that ** hopeful anticipations were
revived by some proceedings of Pius IX. For, not to
mention that he limited the expenses of his court, and dis-
pensed alms in abundance, he caused it to be made known
that on Thursday of each week he would give audiences;
he likewise commanded that political inquisitions should
stop at once, and gave other signs of a gentle and generous
mind.''' And with regard to those ill-conditioned persons
who expected everything to be proclaimed at once, and
who spread reports that the cardinals thwarted the good
intentions of the Pope, he adds—

" In reference to this subject of the murmurs injurious to the
Sacred College and the inveterate irreverence towards it, I feel
bound to observe that these have frequently been destitute of any
foundation in truth and justice, and then were so ; seeing that, as
every one admitted that it ought to have been seen, to make parade
beforehand of a conciliatory act is a besotted policy."

In reference to the general amnesty proclaimed by the
Pope on 16th July, 1846, one month after his election,
Farini observes that opinions were divided in the Provi-
sional Consultative Commission, some being in favour of
only a partial amnesty and of proceeding with caution ;
and adds,

*' It is needless to give an opinion whether the one or the other
view was more prudent or more generous ; enough that Pius IX,
embraced the alternative most agreeable to his own elevated nature, I

510 The Roman State. [April.

Bay that reason of State itself, that reason which frames itself
upon permanent principles, and is not ever quivering (as if upoa
stilts) with misgiving, which does not lose itself in the peddling
analysis of details, but embraces the broader aspects of a question
and catches their true meaning, made the larger scheme also the better
one. For the qaestion was, not merely how to assuage the sorrows
of individuals, relieve private distress, and perform an act of indul-
gence and charity : thi^ question of amnesty was a loftier and a
deeper one. It was intended to be the harbinger of a new sys-
tem ; it was meant to signify a reconstruction of the very basis
of civil authority. Such it was intrinsically, and sucli it was
understood by the world to be, as was in due time clearly proved
by the marvellous results which it at once produced, and most of
all by that peal of harmonious applause with which it was univer-
sally hailed. 0/ such applause^ on a like ocQcision, history does not,
probably never will, offer another example.'**

It is melancholy to reflect how many of these political
refugees whom the clemency of Pius IX. enabled to return
to their country, instead of evincing gratitude to their
benefactor, afterwards employed themseves there in plotting
against him, and thus so far justified the hesitation of
those who had wished to limit the measure of amnesty.

The experience of this country, as well as that of Rome,
might suggest the remark of Farini, that ** nothing is
more difficult to take in hand, more hazardous to con-
duct or more doubtful in issue, than the introduction of
new measures in a country where there has been on one
side a prolonged and pertinacious resistance to change-
on the other, a strong desire and a factions craving for it."
This was experienced, at different periods, by Grey and
Peel as well as by Pius IX. They wielded a large force,
which could secure calm and undisturbed delibei'ation,
and yet, if they had, like him, found the internal dis-
orders of our own people fomented by foreign machina-
tions, they also might have been obliged to stay the
progress of reform in order to avoid the whirlpool of revo-
lution. Farini remarks that ** the people liad too little
patience and too sanguine anticipations," and that **al-
ready the Liberals had conceived boundless desires, and
the Retrogradists were haunted with unreasonable fear.
The government had, to-day, to moderate on the left; to-
morrow, to reassure on the right ; then, with fresh circular
dispatches, well nigh to scold men for hoping too much,
and, in seeming, at least, to contradict and stultify itself,
and to lose its presence of mind/' And then, by way of

1863.] The Roman State. 5H

himself findlnp: fault, with the Papal Government for not
acting decidedly and quickly enough, he announces the fol-
lowing political maxim : ** A genuine reformer of states
brings his plan to ripeness himself, in secrecy, and with
advisers few and trusted ; he plants its basis, he adjusts
and harmonizes its details, he fixes its extent ; he then
moves forward with decision, makes his way through all
impediments, and when he has gained the end he had
resolved upon, he opposes an inflexible resistance to those
who would drive him further." This is just what genuine
Reformers in England could not do ; of which the Chandos
clause, forced upon them, and which quite altered the
character and practical results of the Reform Bill, is a
memorable instance; and we fear that genuine Refor-
mers in Rome felt themselves at least equally unable to
do all they wished, and in the course and at the time
they wished. Still he says, ** the tolerance of the Govern-
ment and the singular goodness of the sovereign imparted
satisfaction and cheerfulness to the multitude/'

In September the Pope appointed a Commission which
was charged to examine into the best method of civil ad-
ministration and of forming a Council of Ministers. ** To
the Commission which Pope Gregory XVI. had appointed
to prepare rules of civil and criminal procedure, and which
was composed of prelates, Pius IX. added other prelates
and some lay lawyers of high reputation. Among those
was Silvani, of Bologna, who had availed himself of the
amnesty : and their province of enquiry was extended to
civil and criminal legislation generally. Another Com-
mission was appointed, partly of prelates and partly lay,
to suggest plans of improvement and education for the
young, and of occupying those out of work. It gave the
greatest satisfaction that a beginning was now made in
the admission of laymen to a place at least in Consultative
Commissions, and that men so estimable as Silvani,
Pagan i, and Giuliani were chosen for one of them : for
the other, the accomplished Marquis Potenziani and the
high-minded Prince Aldobrandini."

At this point, and in the commencement of his third
chapter, Farini enters into a particular explanation of
what he considers to have been then, i. e. in 1847, the
great desire of the Italian people. And we call atten-
tioii to this, because it is clear that he does not consider
their object to have been the establishment of an Itahaii

512 The Roman State. [April.

kingdom under one kin^, but a federation or league
among the Italian princes. Italian unity, as aimed at by
the Piedmontese, is not according to Farini, the sponta-
neous desire of the Italians themselves. Thus writes
Farini :

" In the Papal States the most energetic and operative senti-
ment of the cultivated liberal class was the desire of national inde-
pendence ; witnessed bj continual sacrifices, even to blood ;
extolled by our writers ; and I would almost say, blessed and con-
secrated from the period when the Pope opened his arms to three
generations of men, who had conspired and fought and suffered for
that very object. There was, indeed, much both of speech and
writing about reforms ; but the name of Italy passed everywhere
from mouth to mouth ; the cry of Italy never tai'ed to be uttered
by the multitude in their rejoicings for the Sovereign and his reforms.
These reforms were desired and dear, not so much for the imme-
diate advantages they brought, as because they were thought to be
a means of union between Prince and people ; and this union was
longed and sought for as the condition of further union among all
the Italian princes, their union again as introductory to a League and
the League as the bulwark of national independence ; that is to speak
frankly and clearly, as the means, in the first instance, of repelling
the intrusions of Austria, next of driving her, with the help of God,
from the sacred soil of our country, and of putting a final stop to
that most iniquitous of all the forms of injustice — the dominion of
strangers.'*

This League, then, it was which the Italians desired,
and this League we shall afterwards find, Pius IX. pro-
posed, and, but for the unwillingness of Piedmont, would
have secured for them.

Again, in the following statement by Farini, of the
parties into which the Liberals were divided, it will be
observed that he makes no mention of any aspiration for
or dream of Italian unity under one Sovereign ; they who
were not for a federation were dreaming of a republic, one
and indivisible. He informs us *' that from that time the
party of the Liberals was divided into two essentially dis-
cordant sections. One of them wished to reform states
without violence and to found the representative system by
degrees; the other was enamoured of a republic, and
accepted reforms, and would have accepted constitutions,
only by way of a stepping stone to it. The first promoted
concord between Prince and people ; the second dissem-
bled in the matter. The first desired the League of Italian
Sovereigns to make head against Austria, and to or-

1863.] The Homan State. 513

ganize the strength by which Italy might one day come to
be au independent Nation ; but the exalted party laboured
to excite popular passion, in the hope of chasing away the
stranger by that war of the people so much descanted on.
The first proposed to found the Italian Federation or the
union of Constitutional Government, as it may better be
called ; the other were dreaming of a Republic, one and
indivisible." And he might have added that, as is usually
the case where there is no sufficiently strong govern-
mental power to hold them in restraint, the more moderate
eventually gave way to the more violent party.

The personal influence of Pius IX upon the people of
Rome at that time is thus described :

** The pious Pontiff, who- since the amnesty had probably re-
marked not only a greater respect to sacred persons and things,
but likewise an unusual, or at least an increased resort to the
observances of public worship ; rejoicing in the reconciliation of
souls to God ; gratified too, with that of subjects to their Sovereign ;
ever readily tolerant of their superlative manifestations of grati-
tude and merriment. And it is no more than the truth that the
accents of pardon descending from the Chair of St. Peter upon the
souls of men, had reunited many to their God ; the humanity and
the compassion of which the Vicar of Christ set a bright example,
had revived the religious sentiment, and numerous were the con-
sciences encouraged and tranquilized by the benediction of a Pope
friendly to the advancement of Christian civilization* Oh I reli-
gion is an affection, a feeling, a need of the heart, more than a
speculation of the mind ; an affection, a joy, quickens it more than
does a sermon ; but example is what gives it strength ! The vir-
tues of the Chief of Catholicism, the benefit he had conferred were
redemption to many spirits lukewarm, sceptical or inert."

In January, 1847, was appointed a Commission to con-
sider and propose a form of Constitution for the munici-
pality of Rome. Cardinal Altieri was its president, and
the Advocate Carlo Armellini^was the secretary.

** In March, Cardinal Gizzi, Secretary of State, published an
edict, which confirmed another edict of August, 1825, so far as
respected the censorship in matters of science, morality, and reli-
gion, but with regard to political censorship, it instituted a Board
or Magistracy, composed oifour laymen and one ecclesiastic. Every
citizen was to be entitled to publish his own opinions and conclu-
sions upon subjects of contemporary history, and upon the
public administration, provided it were done in such terms as
neither directly nor indirectly tended to bring the acts or measures
of the Government into odium. Aa author might appeal from the

514 The Roman State* [April.

opinion of a single censor to the whole Board : the censors were
bound to give in writing the reasons of their judgments ; the theo-
logian when he gave his approval, was to do it by the simple
formula, nihil obstat ; but if he objected he was to put his reasons
on paper. Sober-minded men were of opinion that a law like this
was sureljT an improvement, and a step towards good which ought
to be cheerfully accepted ; but the impatient, the trumpery, rant-
ing authors, the youths whose palates had by this time grown
accustomed to the piquant diet dressed in the clandestine press,
thought fit to condemn and to abuse it, in that disrespectful and
obstropulous manner, which had become the fashion."

These are not our words, but those of Farini, to which
we will only add, that Rome seems thus to have had more
freedom of the press than at present exists either in
France or Piedmont.

Though Farini makes many such admissions as those
we have quoted, he adds many statements of an op-
posite tendency, which are far from accurate. As one ex-
ample, after stating that '' the Court of Rome, thanks to
the will of the Pontiff, yielded to reform,*' he adds, ** but
it could not yield to the admission of laymen into the
government ; or, if it made up its mind to call them into
council, it did not call them to resolve, administer, and
execute, in which governing really consists/' He imme-
diately afterwards states that "in April, Cardinal Gizzi
published an edict which established a Council of State.
The body of Cardinals and Prelates filling the office of
Legate or Delegate, were to propose to the Sovereign
three notable persons for each province out of whom he
was to name one to represent it in the Council. The
Council was to sit in Rome for at least two years, and to
aid the Government with its advice in putting the various
departments in order, in constituting municipalities, and
in other public concerns. The edict was hailed with great
satisfaction." Farini knew perfectly well that many of
those Prelates were laymen ; that this was a name or title
conferred upon a class of men trained and employed in the
civil service, and yet neither he nor his translator gives
any such explanation as to prevent readers from falling
into the error of supposing that the word Prelates here
refers only to ecclesiastics. We have already seen that Pius
IX. employed laymen, and we shall afterwards find him
confiding to them the highest positions in his ministry,
until his lay premier was murdered.

1863.] The Roman State. 515

The misfortune of the new Government seems to have
been that it could not fulfil the too exalted expecta-
tions of the populace, and had not, as we in England
had, the material power to keep (hem, during the period
of change, in order and subjection. Now, as Farini says,
that the old system had come to an end, ** unruliness bore
sway, both the governors and the governed were in the
hand of chance." And again,

" The Liberals, on their side, impaired authority hi/ ceaseless agitation,
and those who had not dissolved their ties with the sects, pretended
to be its supporters, in order that they might more easily get rid
of it when the time should come."

And the very men who thus disabled the Pope from
effecting moderate and gradual reforms are now open-
mouthed and loud m their denunciations of him for not
having accomplished what they rendered impossible.

Farini says that the *' principal Consultatives of the
Papal States had several months back prayed for the
establishment of a Civic Guard as a force which was
thought well able to maintain public order against the
bands of ruffians who disturbed it ;" but though *' the
court was averse to the institution,'* and ** Cardinal Gizzi
set himself against it, at last, through the Pope's deter-
mination, the delays which were beginning to engender
sinister humours, were cut short, and on 5th July a notifi-
cation was published, by which the Civic Guard of Rome
was established, and an intimation was given that it would
be extended to the provinces according to circumstances,
and to their wants and wishes." *' Two days afterwards
Cardinal Gizzi resigned his office, alleging ill health as
his reason, but in reality because he could not stomach
this new institution, and he disapproved of the Pope's
readiness to concede what appeared to him both superflu-
ous and full of danger." These observations of Farini,
whether perfectly correct or not, teach us that there was
not a sufficient military force to restrain disorder, and that
Pius IX. in his desire to^ meet the wishes of his people,
and to repose confidence in them, went even beyond the
judgment of the most popular of the cardinals, for such
Gizzi then was. How far the confidence of the Pope was
abused, and the fears of his Cardinal Secretary of State
verified, we shall afterwards, and especially at the time of
Rossi's murder, have occasion to observe ; and there may
probably seem to some even reason for believing that, in

516 The Roman State, [April.

the circumstances of the country, the temper of the people,
and the unfortified condition of the sovereign, if the Pope
fell into any error, it was in attempting reforms too rapidly
instead of too slowly. ^

To Cardinal Gizzi succeeded Cardinal Ferretti, who
said to the Civic Guards, ** Let us show to Europe that we
can manage for ourselves/' And of whom Farini thus
writes, that

** Being a sincere appreoiator of the piety and virtues of Pius IX.,
he conceived himself bound in conscience to second, serve, and aid
him in everything. He thus became the minister of a liberal policj,
whether because he hoped it -would be for the advantage of religion
and the popedom, or because it was part of his faith that a Pope
should be obeyed without reserve. He accepted the administration,
not because ambition prompted him, but because he thought the
sacrifice of his own inclination and repose to the public good need-
ful and expedient. And because he had no great confidence in his
own political knowledge, and saw the times growing big, he sum-
moned his brother Pietro from Naples to advise and assist him;
the same person who in 1831 had taken part in the revolution —
upright, sagacious, long familiar with public affairs, highly esteemed
by the liberals for consistency of principle and steadiness of mind,
and valued by all men for his personal rectitude,"

And again he says in another place, p. 243, —

" The good character of the Secretary of State was enhanced by
the pre-eminent one of his brother Pietro, who powerfully aided
him by his advice and his exertions; and likewise by that of his
other brother Christoforo, a distinguished soldier of the empire,
who, at the instance of the cardinal, had betaken himself to Rome
from Milan, where he resided."

Tlien followed the alleged Roman plot, into the details
of which we cannot follow Farini, but it appears that, while
the retrograde party was accused of conspiracy against the
government, and of inviting the Austrians, tumults
were occurring between the factions, and blood was spilt
in various parts of the Koman States. Farini himself ob-
serves that " the agitators made their own profit from that
temper of the public mind, to get arms quickly into their
liands, and to deal a heavy blow at the retrograde party.
For this purpose they circulated among the masses the
words betrayal and conspiracy, as a means of stirring their
passions."

Farini remarks that ''the only power which at that
time the Papal government could possibly enjoy, was a

1863.] The Roman State. 517

power of public opinion ; and the brothers Ferretti made
the most of it for the benefit of the minister, their brother,
whom they tenderly loved, of the Pope whom they revered,
and of their country which was first and hist in all their
thoughts/' What could any government in England have
done at the time of the Reform Bill, or since, if their only
power had been that of public opinion ? Let those then
who remember how fluctuations and excesses of public
opinion were here controlled, moderated, and kept in order
by the presence of a competent material force, so that the
government was able to give effect to its good intentions
at its own time and in its own mode, let them, we say,
reflect and acknowledge that,if the English government had
been circumstanced as was the Roman government, they
would in all probability have effected as little of civil reform
in England as since in Rome ; that what was wanted at
Rome was adequate support, both material and moral, to
a well intentioned sovereign, and that England by the course
she has lately pursued, has only helped to frustrate those
measures of reform which she professed to encourage.

In consequence of the conflicts which were occurring be-
tween the two extreme parties, on the 17th of July some
Austrian troops entered and occupied the town of Ferrara,
in spite of the complaint and protest of the Cardinal
Legate there ; this Austrian incursion of coiu'se only in-
creased the excitement in other places. Austria evidently
feared that the Pope was reforming too rapidly, and en-
tered Ferrara, as Farini says, ** with no othei* end than so
to intimidate him that he might stop short in the political
reforms to which he had applied."

Having mentioned the fact of Austrian interference, we
shall pass rapidly over its details, because we wish to con-
fine ourselves to those internal events which illustrate the
reforming policy of the Pope, and which eventually ob-
structed its accomplishment.

As further evidence of this liberal civil policy of the
Pope, we may mention his efforts at this time to arrange
** an Italian Custom's League which should be a com-
mencement and a means of effecting a Political League.
The Sardinian minister at Rome had already, in the name
of King Charles Albert, announced his adhesion to the
Pope's design, and the Pope deputed Monsignor Corboli
Bussi to act as envoy and negotiator of the projected
League, Monsignor Corboli was a high-minded youth, of

518 The Roman State. [April,

pure life, and of excellent abilities, religious and devout in
a degree not surpassed ; versed not only in theological
studies, but in the political and economical sciences. He
was at the time peculiarly dear to Pius IX. ; he was one
of those exceeding few clergy, of those few people about
the court, who sincerely longed for the union of religion
with liberty, and sought to elevate the Papacy to the pro-
tectorate of independent Italy. He was a friend and
adviser worthy of a pious Pontiff, of a reforming prince, of
Pius IX., the prophesied regenerator of Italy." We have
quoted the characters drawn by Farini, of the ministers
chosen by Pius IX. because they shew how greatly his fit
selection of means to accomplish his ends commanded
approval.

On the 2nd of October the Motu-proprio was published,
which established the municipality of Rome ; this was
followed by the usual warm manifestation of joy, and on
the 14th the Motu-proprio respecting the council of state
was promulgated, followed by fresh acclamations.

We have not space to follow with equal rninuteness the
course of events in other Italian States, nor is it necessary.
Suffice it to say that Farini informs us that " in Tuscany
both the government and the people were of mild disposi-
tion, that by reciprocal influences each was attempered
not only to civilization, but to the easy refinement which
follows it when of long date. Scarcely had the Tuscans
seen Pius IX. commence his reform, when they felt a keen
desire for the civil advancement, and the political institu-
tions for which they were in truth better prepared than any
other Italian people."

And *' on the 3rd of November, at Turin, the Romau,
Sardinian, and Tuscan States agreed by means of their
respective ambassadors and functionaries upon the stipu-
lations of the Commercial and Custom's League. This,
according to the idea of the wise end of the Pontiff, always
more persevering in this matter than any other person
whatever, was to be the most effective instrument, the
fountain-head and the bond of the political league by which
Italy might hope to attain to a national existence." Pius
IX. thus effected the Commercial Union and paved the
way for the Federal League.

In the autumn of 1847 Lord Minto reached Rome, and
was, of course, " courteously received by the Pope." In
the letter of instructions which he took with him. Lord

1863.] The Roman State, 519

Palmerston wrote, *' The present Pope has begun to^ enter
upon a system of administrative improvement in his do-
minions; and it appears to Her Majesty's Government
that his proceedings in this matter are, upon general prin-
ciples, highly praiseworthy, and deserving of encourage-
ment from all who take an interest in the welfare of the
people of Italy." After referring to the Memorandum in
1832, from the five powers of Austria, France, Great
Britain, Russia, and Prussia, to the then Pope, recom-
mending the Pope to make great changes and improve-
ments, both administrative and organic, in his dominions,
the letter proceeds, — " Her Majesty's Government have
not learned that as yet the reforms and improvements
effected or announced by the present Pope, have reached the
full extent of what was recommended in the Memorandum
of 1832 ; and Her Majesty's Government therefore con-
ceive that all the powers who were parties to the framing
of that Memorandum are bound to encourage and to assist
the Pope, as far as he may require encouragement or as-
sistance from them, in carrying out to their full extent
the recommendations given by the five powers to his pre-
decessors. Such a course the British Government, at all
events, is prepared to pursue ; and you are authorized to
give an assurance to this effect to the Roman Government,
and to say that Her Majesty's government would not see
with indifference any aggression committed upon the
Roman territories with a view to prevent the Papal (io-
vernment from carrying into effect those internal improve-
ments which they may think proper to effect." That is to
say, England would ** not see with indifference" reaction-
ary aggression by Austria ; but why should it see with
something worse than indifference the plottings and vio-
lences against the Roman Government by Roman Char-
tists and Mazzinians, which prevented Pius IX. from ac-
complishing " internal improvements," and eventually
drove him from his dominions ?

Rossi was at this time the French ambassador at Rome,
representing Louis Philip and his prime minister Guizot,
and Farini testifies that " Rossi had from his government
(as was afterwards proved by documents shown to the
writer and to others) instructions to encourage the Pope to
proceed freely and expeditiously with his reforms, so that
he might not run the risk of having to yield to force what
he might and ought to give of free will. This commission

VOL. LII.-No. CIV. 16

620 The Roman State, [April.

Kossi fulfilled with singular prudence as a diplomatist, and,
what is more, with the feelings of an Italian, from which
indeed he never swerved." Notwithstanding this, ** there
were murmurs, too, against Rossi, as sensible and as just
as ordinarily proceed from the time-servers of politics,
and from the intoxication of party ;'' and this because the
republican, or rather the anarchical party in Rome sympa-
thised with the corresponding party in France against the
government of Louis Philip in particular and against all
governments in general. Thus writes Farini:— "We
Italians, babes as we are, wed ourselves to all the likes and
dislikes of the French, and accordingly in 1847, true to
our system, we interested ourselves for that parliamentary
opposition in France, which, in order to overthrow a min-
istry, and to hurl down its chief, cast into the abyss the
throne of the State, together with itself; and yet we
thought that insatiable greediness to be glory, those cla-
mours to be liberty, that envy against Guizot to be love
for Italy ;" and we English have not the sense or the in-
clination to appreciate the difficulty of gradually and safely
introducing reforms of civil government amongst such
political babes as these !

He ** mentions, but does not describe the demonstrations
of joy for the 15tli of November, on which the Council of
State was to meet, with so much disgust does the recol-
lection fill him. The members of the council appeared
before the Pope, both with manifestations of reverence and
trustful in their hearts; whilst with them were mingled
some meddling agitators, persons that made use of public
displays for displaying themselves, and that bedizened
themselves in the palace with the tribunitian authority
which they had usurped in the streets. A cloud of dis-
pleasure darkened the serene countenance of the Pontiff,
who told those before him how he was gratified to see them
in his presence, how he trusted in them, how he hoped
favourable results from the institution of the body, and
that God would not smite Italy with the tempest that was
then gathering. He then touched, with serious words
and mien, upon the immoderate desires and insane hopes
which inflamed some inconsiderate minds.'' It is obvious
that Farini considers that the Pope and the Council were
prepared to arrange and carry out moderate and safe mea-
sures, whilst the meddling agitators, inflamed by external
events, were pushing themselves into undue notoriety, and

18G3.1 The Roman State. 521

pushing events into confusion. " The words of sharpness
that the Pope had pronounced, those at whom they were
aimed did not refer so much to themselves as to the mem-
bers of the council, because it suited them to have, or
pretend to have, companions in the rebuke ; while, as being
those that ruled in the streets and managed all matters of
acclamation and hubbub, they thought themselves a great
and dignified portion of the reorganized State. It also
suited their purpose to infuse into the public mind a doubt,
whether the Pope was really inclined to those greater
boons which the people desired, and which the times per-
haps may have required, because there is but one step
from uncertainty to mistrust, and from mistrust to agita-
tion one more ; and so by degrees, when there is material
of suspicion, mistrust and agitation, it becomes too easy to
excite the passions of the people. The leaders of the peo-
ple, who by this time were accustomed to industry in the
work of agitation, and the people who, not once but a
hundred times, had been paraded in the streets, and to
whom it had thus become life's blood and second nature,
had actual need of excitement and of sti**, so that if plea-
sure did not give it thein, they got it from suspicion and
from fear." Who that reads this can avoid reverting to the
times of Chartist agitation and meetings in London, and of
government preparations to subdue them, and reflecting
that, if our government had been as unprovided, as the
Pope was, with power to suppress them, we should have
been, as he was, the victims of them ? What really makes
the difference but a strong police and a strong army to
maintain the good sense of the country against the efforts of
the wild agitators? We were able to controul and let off"
gradually the waters of the pent up stream, which with
him, as soon as they obtained a slight outlet, rushed on
ungovernably, overwhelmed him, and destroyed everything
before them.

Soon afterwards, on the occasion of the defeat of the
Sonderbund by the Swiss Federation, Farini informs us
that *' there was a gathering of the usual class of persons
accomplished in getting up boisterous demonstrations ;
they resorted to the house of the Swiss Consul, cheering
on account of the victory, and then furiously imprecated
death upon the Jesuits, while they were passing by Sant
'Ignazio, and scouring the city. A barbarous madness !
to take sides in foreign factions, to rejoice over a fratricidal

522 Tlie Roman State. [April.

war, to curse the conquered, those conquered too being
Catholics, and all this in the chief city of Catholicism,
and beneath the eyes of the head of the Catholics, he,
moreover, being that same temporal prince, at whose hand
Rome and Italy had expected so much. Miserable coun-
try ! to which its intestine factions did not suffice for giving
occasions of quarrel, but she must seek beyond the Alps
fresh fuel to inflame them ! And pernicious agitators !
who for the pleasures of foolish exhribitions, and through
brutal ignorance, thinking fit to chant at that time the
funeral hymn of passion and of death over the Company of
Jesus, troubled the heart and mind of the Pontiff, slighted
his dignity, and led him to apprehend an attack upon his
supreme spiritual authority/'

After referring to the difficulties raised in various
States against the extension of the proposed Custom's
League, Farini adds, " and so came to a stand-still the
negotiations for a Custom's League in Sicily : nor did
they ever proceed further ; owing first to particular per-
sons, afterwards • to the times. To the Pope belongs the
chief merit of tfle plan and of such results as could be
obtained by his own unaided resources."

" The violent party acquired every day an increased influence
over the masses — whether it were, because the Government had,
more than once given signs of yielding more easily to public
commotion than to prudent and confidential advice ; or whether
because intoxicating drink is more agreeable than simple water to
persons already in liquor; or, finally, because the sects were
beginning to go to work in earnest. Mazz'mi, tlie party of the
Giovine Italia, and the refugees, had seen, with dissatisfaction , that fruit
was now springing from the plans and advice of those who expected
to attain liberty hy reforms, to strength through concord, to indepen-
dence hy means of a League among Italian princes ; and since the Pope
had granted the amnesty, and applied to the work of reform, they had
become exasperated, inasmuch as the main elements that give animation
to such societies were beginning to fail them — that is to say, the thirst
for vengeance — the frenzied craving for return to a native land, rest-
lessness and desperation. When liberty came to be conceded, and to
spread in the Roman, Tuscan, and Sardinian States, the party of
Mazzhii saw that it woidd then be vain and hazardous to propagate
their creed : but they saw likewise, how pertinacious and extended agi'
tation might afford occasion to prepare a way for future triumphs.'^
Who were most entitled to sympathy and support, such
agitators as these, or Pius IX. the moderate but gen-
uine civil reformer ?

1863] The Roman State, 523

In January, 1848, Delapert the Prefect of the French
Police, wrote as follows to the Minister of the Interior
respecting Mazzini, who was then in Paris : ** The plan
of Mazzini is as follows : to avail himself of the present
excitement, turning it to account on behalf of Ybung Italy,
which repudiates mondrchy under whatsoever form ;
and to effect this by raising the cry of viva for the Duke
of Tuscany, for Charles Albert, and /or Pius 7-X"/' and,
accordingly, as Farini reports, " there gathered in Rome
many of the party of Mazzini, some of them refugees and
others not, who laid siege to Ciceruacchio with every kind
of flattery, and drew him over to themselves, though he
had previously been under the influence of persons hold-
ing moderate opinions/'

He then, at p. 333, gives an instance of a popular
gathering, of the preparations by Government for resis-
tance, of apprehension as to the result, and then the with-
drawal of the military and of the consequent feeling of the
people. The Government did not feel themselves strong
enough, or did not feel disposed to keep down the populace
by the strong hand, and the people felt that there was no
force adequate to control them.

" The intelligence that arrived from Lombardj and from Venice
added fuel to the flame. The youth of Rome ostentatiously offered
prayers for the souls of those who had fallen by the Austrian sword
— a work in which smouldering revenge was combined with piety.
It was at one of these funeral celebrations, (for they were not
confined to one, inasmuch as Austria supplied material in abundance
for such solemnities, and when there was no pretext for assemblage
in the streets, they were glad to have them in the Churches) that
Padre Gavazzi, a Barnabite friar, suddenly mounted into the pulpit
and delivered a warlike harangue in the temple of the God of
Peace. For this he was afterwards reproved and punished, and
the agitators conceived displeasure at the punishment, because
unruliness pleased them, even in the friars, and they termed it
liberalism. The times were waxing big, the fever of agitation grew
in violence."

And after referring to what was going on and what was
apprehended in other parts of Italy, he adds,

" On these accounts, at a time when our towns seemed to be
reeking with such vapours of the fancy and the reckless sects, the
wanton youth were hard at work in stirring up unruly spirits and
in influencing the popular mind— with dreams of I know not what
attacks upon the German army by a tumultuary force, armed with

524 The Roman State, [April.

scythes, and of battering down fortresses with Mazzini's idea ; the
few whose heads were not turned with these fumes remained full of
misgivings and prognosticated evil, aware as they were of the feeble-
ness of the armed force^ and the insincerity of the State.**

He then refers to the meetings of the Consulta di Stato,
to whose members, he says,

" An article of the organic regulations gave the power to initiate
any measure whatever ; and this during such times and by means
of the publicity which was in fashion, and often carried to excess,
with the assistance too of public opinion, and of the press was
capable of becoming a powerful engine either to impel or to obstruct
the Government.... The very liberal party deemed it indispen-
sable that its votes and proceedings should be public."

What says Farini as to this, which was not like the
(irregular) publicity of our House of Commons debates,
but rather, as this was a Council of Consultation to the
Government, like a proposal for reporters to attend, take
notes of and publish, everything said and done in
the meetings of our Cabinet Council? Farini remarks,
*' it must be confessed that every one who now dispas-
sionately considers that question, will think it strange
that publicity should be courted for proceedings which
were simply by way of advice ; nor can it be held that
such publicity is suited to an institution of that kind."
This is the opinion of a man now the Prime Minister
of Victor Emmanuel. In what direction, then, was the
influence of England and France exerted ? Farini tells
us, ** the English and French Ministers were anxious
for it :" i. e. for the publicity of which Farini disapproved,
** but it struck the Court with alarm."

An address from the Roman people was presented to
the Council, professing to be *' in order to avert a move-
ment which might assume a character of violence," and
of which even Farini says, ** the intemperate language
represented truly the prevailing excitement." What would
the British Government have said to a Chartist address
professing to be the alternative for violeyice ? Of course
they would have refused to succumb to it, and have refused
concession to such a demand. Yet they now blamed the
Pope for similar conduct !

The Consulta also made public a report from Prince
Odescalchi and Count Campello, recommending in the
then aspect of events a re-organization of the Papal army,
and the engagement of an experienced General, to be

1863.] The Roman State. 525

placed at its head. After referring to their previous
labours ou the subject, they add,

" We cannot hope to effectuate by these means, as quickly as
the necessity of the case demands, a sound reorganization of the
army. In the mean time a reflection of deep and most serious concern
occurs to our minds. Does not the very time now directly coming
on appear to carry the germs of events the most important ? Can
we venture on its risks, unless we can point to a military force which is
compact, imposing, wisely organized and governed ; and in readiness to
maintain, along with order, the independence and the dignity of the
country and the throne ?

*• The Council approved of the Report and the Government ap-
plied to the King of Piedmont for some officer experienced in the
matter of military regulations."

Thus it appears that the Council and the Government
distinctly recognized that vvant which disabled them from
effecting gradual reforms in the face of an excited people
egged on by foreign influences, which ought to have been
exercised to restrain them.

In January 1848 occurred the revolution in Sicily : the
news of this was, as Farini writes, *' grave enough to such
as dreaded convulsion, encouraging to those who desired
and were secretly laying the train for revolutions by the
populace and not reforms from the Sovereign. And now
these men no longer refrained from acting upon others:
and to those who would have restrained them they showed
the colours of Palermo dyed with blood, and praised her to
the very skies, as the instructress of nations and the
scourge of offending kings. And now the desires of a
greater revolution grew keen. Already emissaries and
competent speakers, too, were in motion, getting money
and arms, with which, after the fashion of the Giovine
Italia, to enter the neighbouring kingdom of Naples, and
create disturbance. They gathered money, and they
likewise enlisted men used to such schemes ; they begged
arms from the civic guard on the confines, or within a
short distance of that country ; they set themselves to
drawing the Pope's subjects, with his arms, into the
enterprise. If any one objected to these proceedings, on
grounds of civil prudence, of respect to the obligations
which are termed international, or consideration for one's
own government, or for that Pius IX. in whose name
Italy had begun her resurrection, their answer was a
scoff at the simplicity of people who defended the laws of

526 The Roman State. [April,

honour and duty, and wished to keep by pledged faith."
And these be the kind of men whom the people of England
have been simple enough to regard as the regenerators of
a country.

Then followed the rising in Naples and^ a change of
ministry, and the announcement of a foregoing Constitu-
tion there, on which Farini remarks,

*' In this manner, first by excess of resistance and of obstinacy ;
then by a new excess of weakness and of haste, he (the King) wholly
shifted the Italian movement off the line of measured progress, and as
it were jerked the several States to a point which no one expected to
see them reach within any short period. M. Guizot, indeed, from
the French Tribune, estimated that ten years, at least, would be
required for them to reach it. Thus the chapter of reforms was
closed in Italy. Next began that of Constitutions, which were
invented or copied ; every one vied with his neighbour in trying to
do most work and quickest."

This news was received with acclamations in Rome,
after describing which Farini adds " the mood of ex-
citement, which was originally mild and joyous, had
already, by degrees, been darkened ; and on the 2nd of
February, upon the ground, or under the plea that the
Cardinal Vicar had imprisoned one of the civic guard, a
body of his comrades went in disorder to his palace, and
from thence to the gaol, where they released the pri-'
soners hy force,'' Could any English Government have
carried our Reform Bill and stopped there if they had been
unable to guard the London prisons from violence ?

On the 10th of February the Pope issued a proclama-
tion, in which occur the following sentences :

'* We are incessantly engaged in considering in what way, con-
sistently with our duties towards the Church, can best be developed
and carried to perfection, those civil institutions which we have
founded, not under any constraint from cries, but led on by our
desire for the happiness of our people, and our esteem for their
noble qualities. We had besides this, applied our mind to the
reorganization of the army, even before the public voice had asked
it, and we have sought out means to obtain from foreign parts
officers that might give their aid to those who already, with so much
distinction, serve the Pontifical Government. In order more effectu-
ally to enlarge the circle of persons qualified to assist by their talent
and experience in the work of public improvement, we have also
taken measures for augmenting the lay portion of the Council of
Ministers."

1863.] The Roman State. 527

Farini says " that proclamation intoxicated Rome ;"
and he adds,

" Deeds followed close on words ; on the 12th of February the
Ministry was changed. Count Giuseppe Pasolini, who sat for Ra-
venna in the Consulta, took the department of Commerce in lieu of
Cardinal Riario Sforza ; Francesco Sturbinetti, advocate, Municipal
Magistrate of Rome, that of Public Works, instead of Monsignor
Rosconi ; Michele Gaetani, Prince of Teduo, had the Police, in-
stead of Monsignor Savelli ; instead of Monsignor Anici, Monsig-
nor Francesco Pentini, a clerk of the Chamber, and then Vice
President of the Council of State, went to the Home Department.''
..." Then came the appointment of the Commission which was to
devise the means of fitting together and of extending the measures
of reform, adapting them at the same time to the nature of the
Papal Government and to the times."

Next followed the revolution of 1848, and the proclama-
tion of a republic at Paris, the news of which, of course,
increased the popular excitement in Rome, aiKl suggested
to the Roman populace the secret of their strength — if,
indeed, it were then a secret to them.

On the 10th of Miirch a new Ministry was constituted,
including Farini himself, with several other laymen,
also Cardinal Antonelli, this appearing to be his first
entry into political employment. And on the 14th of
March, 1848, was published the Statute of the new
Constitution. We wish space admitted of our copying this
at length, for there could not be a better proof of the far-
going liberal tendencies of Pius IX. in civil government.
We can only briefly refer to a few of its prominent fea-
tures, but it will be found in full in the 2nd volume of
Farini, p. 370.

The judges are declared to be independent, save in the
prerogative of mercy, and immoveable.
^ There shall be no appointment of tribunals or Commis-
sions extraordinary. Every person, as well in civil as in
criminal cases, shall go before the tribunal expressly
appointed by the law ; in sight of which all persons are
equal.

No restraint may be placed upon personal freedom,
except in the cases and forms prescribed by the laws; and
accordingly, no one may be arrested, except by virtue of
a warrant, proceeding from the proper authority. Cases
of fragrante delicto are excepted: in these, the person
arrested must be given in charge to the proper authority
within twenty four hours.

528 The Roman State. [April.

All propert}^ whether of individuals or of bodies corpo-
rate, or of other pious or public institutions, contributes
indiscriminately and equally, whoever be the proprietor,
to bear the burdens of the State.

In like manner the right of property in all persons
is inviolable. The only exception is the case of expro-
priation on grounds of acknowledged public utility, and
after the payment of an equivalent, according to law.

The existing governmental or political censorship of the
press before publication is abolished, and for this will be
substituted such measures, operating subsequently to it,
as shall be specified in a law for the purpose. As to the
ecclesiastical censorship, regulated by the canonical dis-
positions, no change will be made, until the Sovereign
Pontiff of his own Apostolical authority, shall make other
provision in that behalf. The permission of the ecclesias-
tical censorship in no case removes or diminishes the
political and civil responsibility of the parties, who may
according to law be answerable for the productions of the
press.

The Communal and Provincial administrations are in
the hands of their inhabitants respectively. They will be
regulated by laws for the purpose, so framed as to secure
to the communes and provinces the largest discretion com-
patible with the preservation of their properties and the in-
terest of the tax payers.

The members of the High Council are nominated for
life by the Supreme Pontiff. Their number is unlimited.
They must be of the age of thirty years, and must be in full
exercise of their civil and political rights. It then states
the classes from which the members of the High Council
shall be chosen, making them in rank and character cor-
respond with our House of Peers, the main difference being
the tenure for life, a provision which involves both advan-
tages and disadvantages, giving more capability, but less
independence.

The other Council is composed of the Deputies chosen
by the electors in the ratio, as near as may be, of one
deputy for every thirty thousand of the population. The
electors include besides various classes specially mentioned,
those who are enrolled in the census as possessed of a
capital of three hundred crowns, and those who in any
manner pay to the government twelve crowns a year in
direct taxes ; and the constituency seems to us to include

1863.] The Roman State. 529

the middle but not the working classes, and to be in fact
rather more limited than our own under the Reform Bill.

The members of both Councils are irresponsible in
regard to opinions and votes given by them in the discharge
of their duties.

All the laws in matters civil, administrative, and political,
are proposed, discussed, and voted in the two Councils ;
including all impositions of taxes, and such interpretative
and declaratory instruments as have the nature of laws.

Laws concerning the matters named in the last article
have no force, except after being freely discussed and
adopted in both the Councils, and confirmed by the sanc-
tion of the Supreme Pontiff. Accordingly, no taxes can be
levied except by authority of law.

Laws are proposed by the ministers of state. Any mem-
ber, however, of either Council may introduce one, if it be
demanded by ten members. But the propositions of the
ministers shall always be first debated and put to the
vote.

The Councils are not competent even to propose a law,

1. that touches ecclesiastical or mixed matter, 2, that is
contrary to the canons or discipline of the Church, 3, that
tends to vary or qualify the present statute.

In mixed matters the Council may be invited to act by
way of advice.

All discussion in the two Councils of the diplomatico-
religious relations of the Holy See in foreign affairs is for-
bidden.

Treaties of commerce and those clauses only of other
treaties that affect the finances of the State, are presented
to the Council before ratification, and are discussed and
voted there.

Projects of law may be sent from the ministry to the
one or the other Council indifferently. But projects of
law respecting the following subjects shall be presented
first for the consideration and decision of the Council of
Deputies. 1, The estimates and accounts of each year,

2, Bills giving authority to create, pay off*, or cancel pub-
lic debt. 3, Bills relating to taxes, and to the leases, or
any other concession oralienationwhatsoever of the income
or property of the State.

Only the Council of Deputies has the right to impeach
ministers. IF these are laymen, it will be the oflSce of the
High Council to try them ; and for this purpose only it

530 The Roman State, [April

will have authority to meet as a court. If they be eccle-
siastics, the accusation will be brought before the Sacred
College, which will proceed according to Canon Law.

The sums requisite for the maintenance of the Supreme
Pontiff, of the Cardinals, for the Sacred Congregations,
for aid or income to the College de Propaganda fide, for
the department of Foreign Affairs, for the diplomatic ser-
vants of the Holy See in foreign parts, for the Palace
Guard of the Pontiff, for religious functions, for the ordi-
nary maintenance and custody of the apostolic palaces, and
the museums and library attached to them, and for the
salaries, retiring allowances and pensions of the persons
attached to the Pontifical Court, are fixed at 600,000 crowns
annually.

When both the Councils shall have affirmed any project
of law, it will be presented to the Supreme Pontiff, and
submitted to the Secret Consistory. The Pontiff, after
hearing the judgments of the cardinals, gives or withholds
his assent.

The ministers have the right of being present, and of
sitting together, in both the Councils ; but with a vote
only in case of being members. They may also be invited
to attend for the purpose of giving necessary explana-
tions.

We infer from the observations of Farini, that, if the
Mazzinians, the anarchists, and the populace would have
allowed the government to be carried on peaceably in ac-
cordance with the provisions of this statute, it would have
secured his approval ; it seems indeed to have had in his
eyes every merit but that of success, and its failure was not
the fault of those who framed it, but of those who feared
its peaceful operation. Let then the Pope and Papal
Government have the credit of introducing as complete a
Reform Bill as the people were then fit for, and which in-
deed failed only because it went beyond the judgment of
the timid, and of many of the moderate, but could not
satisfy the heated imaginations of the mob-leaders, and
did not rest upon the solid support of any adequate military
force to restrain the disorderly. If the government who
proposed our Reform Bill had been equally unprovided
with material strength, they would have been equally un-
able to maintain themselves or their measure in steady
practical operation, and would in all probability have been
equally overwhelmed in a similar revolution.

1863.] The Roman State. 531

Farini objects that " as the Fundamental Statute pro-
vided that every law carried in parliament should be sub-
mitted to the Consistory of Cardinals, it followed that the
Sacred College was to have the authority of a political
senate, and thus there were three deliberative assemblies.'*
A similar objection might, with equal reason, be made to
the functions of our Cabinet Council. The king may say,
Le Roy s'avisera, and if he did, he would say so under the
advice of his Cabinet Council.

Farini, however, informs us that ''the Statute was greeted
with the accustomed signs of satisfaction.'*

Then on the 21st of March followed the revolution at
Vienna, upon which " the public excitement knew no
bounds. '*

According, however, to the testimony of Farini, ** The
government of Rome had providently made such prepara-
tions as the stress for time and treasure, and the ineffi-
ciency of its arrangements would permit ; so that, when
the exciting news arrived, it had only to continue its exer-
tions, and address itself to governing the impetus of the
public mind, and shaping it for the advantage of the
nation. Nor did it attend solely to those military cares
which were due and urgent, but the civil also. Thus it
decreed that the fines and taxes, which had usually been
squandered without any audit, should thenceforward be
brought into the exchequer, and stated in the estimates
and the accounts. It appointed the Council of State to
examine the projects for railroads, an inquiry in which the
commissioners had wasted all their time. It settled that
the payments charged upon the consolidated fund of Rome
should be disbursed half yearly, and it improved the public
credit by ensuring the liquidation on July 1st, of the
dividend that fell due at the end of June. It ordered all
the magistrates and public functionaries to remain or to
return to their posts, and exhorted them to give effect to the
laws, to repress crime and to respect the liberties guaranteed
by the statute. It announced the principles of free competi-
tion for industry and commerce. It directed that the results
of the judicial inquiry into the famous plot of July, should
be completed and published within the term of twenty
days. And it ob'tained from the Pope the pardon of
twenty-five persons detained at Civita Castellana, who had
been excluded from the amnesty on the ground of armed
resistance to authority. Finally, it sought without ceasing

532 The Roman State. [April.

for the means of replenishing the impoverished exche-
quer.''

After stating that *' the hostility to the Jesuits was still
constantly threatening to break out into violence/' he
quotes from the Government Gazette of the 30th of March
the declaration announcing that, ** by reason of the con-
stantly growing agitation of the public mind, and because
the violence of parties threatened serious consequences,
the Holy Father was constrained to take seriously into
view the gravity of the question," and had accordingly
made known to the general of the order, ** the uneasiness
he felt at the difficulties of the times, and the ^hazard of
some serious mishap," and that " they had resolved to
yield to the urgency of the circumstances, as they did not
wish to let their presence serve for a pretext for any
serious disorder or for the shedding of blood." Farini
hereupon remarks, ** the Jesuits dispersed without any
fresh occurrence of an untoward kind. But those words
which the Government Gazette had printed, left on
record an evidence of the reasons upon which the act was

' grounded ; or rather they evinced the intimidation ivhich
masters and tramples upon all reason. The government
perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did the
torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not then affirm
that the Pope and the Government ought to have exposed
to the last hazard the security of the state for an ineffec-
tual defence of a hated fraternity. What I wish is to ob-
serve, that, if there were among the Jesuits men stained
with guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have
been watched and punished as bad citizens ; but it was
incompatible with propriety or justice to condemn and
punish a religious association, as such, in a place where
the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority

vof the Church;" or indeed he might have added, an^-
where; but some who profess the liberality which they do
not practice, ever seem delighted with the expulsion or spo-
liation of Jesuits, though a man who chooses to be a
Jesuit is as much entitled to freedom, and to protection of
hfe and property, as any other man. And when Farini
utters these common-places as to the watching and pun-
ishing which should have been applied to bad citizens,
none knows better than he, that, ovviug to the machinations
of some whom Farini praises, and the want of cordial sup-
port from others, the Pope could not administer the laws

1863.] The Roman State. 533

as lie would have done if he had heen strong enough to
ctxvry out his own plans of civil government.

Farini remarks that *' the Pope in the midst of the most
wide spreading political tempest ever witnessed within the
memory of man, was intent, above all things, upon saving
the bark of St. Peter ; and by the very great weight that
his name had then acquired, he hoped to navigate it into a
glorious future. From time to time he thrilled with the in-
spiration of ideas that exalted the Papacy to a new and
astonishing elevation, and uttered sentences such that from
his lips we seemed to hear the voice of God." And in
evidence of this he copies the proclamation of the 30th of
March, 1848, to be found, vol. ii. p. 21.

*' On the 24th of March the Papal forces marched out of
Rome under General Durando, with, as his aides de camp,
Massino d'Anz%lio, and Count Casanovo, both Piedmon-
tese, to join King Charles Albert, who, in his proclamation
about the same time, exhorts the people to *' trust in the
assistance of that God who has given Pius IX. to Italy ;"
and he describes the ** women inspiriting their husbands and
their sons, priests blessing the banners, and citizens bringing
gifts to the altar of their country. The Pope and the reli-
gious congregations made rich contributions ; the princes
of Rome vied in liberality with the citizens ; every one
joyfully and spontaneously paid the tribute of free bounty
to their coimtry ; cardinals and princes presented horses
for the artillery ; and princes, dukes, nobles, citizens, com-
mons, set out for the camp, all as brethren ; among them
were two nephews of the Pope ; within a few days there
were at least twelve thousand volunteers from the Paptil
States. The Pope gave his benediction, letting it he un-
derstood that it descended upon warriors who were on
their way to defend the confines of the States of the
Church ; the cities were all in jubilee; even the country
folks greeted merily the Papal legions. The Pontifical
ensigns were blended with the colours of the nation ; the
cross surmounted the Italian flag. Italy had no longer
any enemies among her sons. Even the hearts which did
not throb for her freedom, throbbed for the grandeur of
the Popedom."

We beg particular attention to the remark of Farini,
that the Pope, ** let it be understood that his benediction
descended upon warriors who were on their way to defend

534 The Roman State, L-^pril,

the confines of the States of the Church/' because the
people, and Farini with them, afterwards find fault with
Pius IX. for not authorising his troops to join in an offen-
sive war by invading the Austrian territory, whilst it is here
obvious that the Pope was throughout consistent, that he
only adhered to what he had at first sanctioned, whilst the
others were disappointed because they could not drag him
on from the defence of his own territory into an aggressive
war. We shall afterwards find Farini declaring that this
refusal of the Pope to join in aggressive war was the cir-
cumstance which caused the tide of popular feeling to
turn against him — with what reason our readers can now
judge.^

Farini here ventures on the remark that " the stranger in
ruling must^ always be a tyrant ; he cannot be otherwise ;
even his civilization, his gentleness, his liberality, are a re-
finement of tyranny.*' These generalizations from a par-
ticular instance are practically unsafe, as well as logically
unsound. If true, what becomes of British rule in Canada,
in India, in the Ionian Islands, in Malta, in the Mauritius,
or even in Ireland ? And what indeed becomes of the
means by which civilization has been extended over the
various countries of Europe ? Why should Piedmont be
more entitled than any other European kingdom to inter-
fere in the affairs of any Italian State ? The right does
not arise from geographical position, nor from kindred of
race, even if there were any such, but in truth the Pied-
montese are as much strangers to the Romans as are the
Austrians or the French. The statement, however, that
" the stranger in ruling must always be a tyrant," is essen-
tially erroneous, it would abstractedly be more correct to
say that the stranger in ruling must always rule mildly if
he mean to rule permanently, as the stranger must depend
more than the native upon the character of his rule for the
good will of his subjects ; and it is also historically untrue,
for civilization and Christianity would have been more
slow in their advance and spread if they had not often
appeared simultaneously with the rule of a stranger.

All the forces contributed by the various States were
placed under the general command of Charles Albert King
of Sardinia, and thus was seen, as Farini observes, this
**rare fact in the history of Italy, an Italian regular army
and fleet, fighting under the Italian flag, and that without
foreign aid, for the independence of their country."

1863.1 Tlie Boman State. 535

*' Oil the 1st of April, 1848, the Council of Ministers
published, according to the terms of the statute, a provi-
sional order for the election of Deputies to the parliament.
It appointed to be electors all the municipal magistrates,
the mayors, aldermen, and common councillors, syndics,
and all the municipal and provincial councillors, without
reference to property ; all citizens enrolled in the public
registry as having three hundred Roman crowns, and
those who, though not having any registered capital paid
in annual taxes, whether general or provincial, uot less
than twelve crowns; the professors of the Colleges of
Faculties, and the professors of the universities; the mem-
bers of the Councils of Management ; of the advocates and
proctors practising before the collegiate courts; doctors in
theology, iu philosophy and philology, of six years' stand-
ing ; advocates and proctors of six years' standing on the
roll of their colleges or courts ; doctors, surgeons, notaries,
and engineers of six years' standing ; honorary doctors of
the universities; parish priests; members of the Chamber
of Commerce ; heads of manufactories and industrial
establishments ; master tradesmen employing at least
twenty workmen ; principals or agents of associations or
partnerships, of whatever nature, if rated at three hundred
crowns of capital, or paying twelve crowns in taxes. In
those colleges where the number of electors registered
under these heads should not amount to one hundred, that
number was to be made up by taking in citizens of inferior
substance. The following persons were declared qualified
to sit ; citizens standing on the register for a capital of
three thousand crowns, or paying in taxes three hundred
crowns a year; municipal and provincial counsellors and
magistrates ; doctors of six years' standing, and honorary
doctors ; parish priests, members of the Chambers of Com-
merce ; heads of manufactories and industrial establish-
ments ; partnerships, trades, and handicrafts, if enrolled for a
capital of 1,500 crowns, or else paying in taxes fifteen crowns
a year; members of the colleges of the several faculties ;
honorary professors of the universities, and proctors and
advocates of the collegiate courts. The State was divided
into one hundred electoral colleges, each of which was to
send a deputy to the Chamber. The rules for elections
were of the kind usual in constitutional states. This pro-
visional law of elections gave satisfaction, as showing that

Vol. LIL— No. CIV. 17

536 The Roman State, April.

the ministry had at heart to construe the statute in the
largest sense. So did the decree of Aldobrandini, the
niinister of war, by which the troops were ordered to com-
bine the tricolour cockade with the Pontifical/'

When the Papal troops marched to assist King Charles
Albert "the Pope sent Monsignor Corboli Bussi,ashis
legate extraordinary to Charles Albert, to remain in the
king's camp, and move with it in the capacity of the
Pope's representative, to hasten the adjustment of the
terms for the Italian league, and to request that, with this
view. Piedmont would send deputies to Rome ; on this
Wrightson remarks, " that the Pope should have sent a
valued friend and devoted supporter on this mission,
evinces the sincerity of his desire to secure such advan-
tages for Italy as might be consistent with the interests of
the Papal system. Had Charles Albert frankly acceded
to this proposal, the national cause would have been ad-
vantaged, for he would not only have relieved himself from
the suspicion of ambitious motives, but would have propi-
tiated and secured Pio Nono by allowing him to enjoy
whatever credit and influence might have accrued from
such an arrangement." This idea of the Pope's, pro-
bably the most valuable external arrangement that was
proposed in those times, failed, like many of his in-
ternal measures, from want of the hearty and sustained
co-operation of some, and from the interested and
violent opposition of others. We believe that if the
events of that period be fairly regarded, Pius IX. will
be found lo have been both the ablest political ad-
viser as well as the best reformer in Italy. He lacked
only success to be appreciated in both characters, whilst
some others whom we know have taken credit for that
success which was achieved not b]/ but in spite of them.
Durando published a proclamation to his army in which
he took upon himself to address them as crusaders, saying
amongst other things, *' The Holy Pontiff has blessed
your swords, which, when united to those of Charles
Albert, are to work concurrently /or the exterminatio7i of
the enemies of God and of Italy, &c., &c. It is fitting,
then, soldiers, and I have determined, that we shall all, as
we march for it, be decorated with the cross of Christ."
Thjsis the general, and not the clergy, endeavoured to make
the utmost possible use of the emblems and the supposed

1863.] The Roman State, 537

sanction of religion in support of the Italian arms ; and it
was^ the Pope who objected to this use of them.
Fariui declares that " that proclamation and that sign of
the cross be^at great uneasiness in the mind of the Pope,
who complained of the mention of himself and of religion,
in a manner calculated to wound the scrupulous con-
sciences amongst Catholics'\.." And, indeed," he adds,
" on considering now, with dispassionate mind, the docu-
ment in question, (i. e. the proclamation) it ought not to
seem strange that the Pope should murmur when a gen-
eral of his took occasion from the cruelties and profana-
tions said to have been committed by the Austrian troops,
which in part were true but in part exaggerations, to
proclaim a Holy war and to rear the Cross of Christ in the
name of his Vicar, as its ensign. It was a gross error on
the 2mrt of Liberals thus to drag religion into politics.''
But this indeed was the custom of the men ; they made
the utmost use of religion when for them, but protested
against the propriety of any use whatever being made of
it when against them,

Farini here takes occasion to^draw his portrait of Pius
IX., in which perhaps our readers may feel some interest.
He says,

"Before proceeding with the account of the boisterous portion of
the reign of Pius IX, it will bo we)! to give the fairest account I
can of the character, temper, and views of this Pontiff, over-flat-
tered and over-censured, ill understood and ill-judged bj every party.
Pius IX. had applied himself to political reform, not so much for
the reason that his conscience as an honourable man and a most
pious Sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the Papal
office prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit
of his spiritual authority. A meek man and a benevolent Prince,
Pius IX. was, as a Pontiff, lofty even to sternness. With a soul
not only devout but mystical he referred everything to God, and
respected and venerated his own person as standing in God's place.
He thought it his duty to guard with jealousy the temporal sove-
reignty of the Church, because he thought it essential to the safe
keeping of the apostleship of the Faith. Aware of the numerous
vices of that temporal Government, and hostile to all its vice and
all its agents, he had sought on mounting the throne to effect those
reforms ivhick justice, public opinion, and the times required.
He hoped to give lustre to the Papacy by their means, and so to
extend and to consolidate the Faith. He hoped to acquire for the
Clergy that credit which is a great part of the decorum of religion,

538 Tlie Roman State. [April.

and an efficient cause of reverence and devotion in the people.
His first efforts were successful in such a degree that no Pontiff
ever got greater praise. By this he was greatlj stimulated and
encouraged, and perhaps he gave in to the seduction of applause
and the temptations of popularity more than is fitting for a man of
decision, or for a prudent Prince. But when, after a little, Europe
was shaken by Universal revolution, the work he had commenced
was in his view marred.''

Was it not in fact marred by the revolutionists ? — let each
one judge as we proceed with the narrative. ** He then
retired within himself and took alarm/' (and was it not
common prudence to do so ?)

"In his heart the Pontiff always came before the Prince, the
Priest before the Citizen : in the secret struggles of his mind the
Pontifical and priestly conscience always outweighed the conscience
of the Prince and citizen. And, as his conscience was a very timid
one, it followed that his inward conflicts were frequent, that hesi-
tation was a matter of course, and that he often took resolutions
about temporal affairs more from religious intuition or impulse,
than from his judgment as a man. Add that his health was weak
and susceptible of nervous excitement, the dregs of his old com-
plaint. From this he suffered most when his mind was most
troubled and uneasy ; another cause of wavering and changefuU
ness. When the frenzy of the revolution of Paris, in the days of
February, bowed the knee before the sacred image of Christ, and
amidst its triumphs respected the altars and their ministers, Pius
IX. anticipated more favour to the Church from the new political
order, than it had had from the indevout monarchy of Orleans.
Then he took pleasure in the religious language of M. Forbin
Jansen, Envoy of the infant Kepublic, and in his fervent reverence
for the Papal person ; and he rejoiced to learn, and to tell others,
that he was the nephew of a pious French Bishop. At the news
of the violence suffered by the Jesuits in Naples and threatened in
his own States he was troubled, and his heart conceived resentment
against the innovators. Afterwards he was cheered by learning
that one of the rulers of the new republic of Venice was Tom-
maseo, whom he valued as a zealous Catholic. He had a tender-
ness towards the dynasty of Savoy, illustrious for its saints, and
towards Charles Albert, who was himself most devout. He learnt
with exultation that Venice and Milan had emancipated their
Bishops from the censorship and scrutiny of the Government iu
their correspondence with Eome. It seemed as if God were using
the Revolution to free the Church from the vexations entailed by
the laws of Joseph II, which Pius IX. ever remembered with horror,
and considered to be a curse weighing down the Empire. Where
he did not foreee or suspect injury to Religion he was in accordance^

1863.] The Roman State. 5S0

toith the friends of change. But every thing disturbed his mind and
soul which impugned or gave any token of impugning it, or im-
ported disparagement to spiritual discipline or persons. And if,
from his vacillating nature and his inborn mildness he did not
adopt strong resolutions, which would have given proof of his
uneasy thoughts and feelings, yet they wrought on him in secret,
and he had no peace till he could find some way of setting his con-
science at ease. He had fondled the idea of making the people happy
tuith guarded freedom in harmony lolth their Sovereigns ; of a Popedom
presiding over the League of Italian States : of internal repose and
agreement ; of civilizing prosperity, and of splendour for Religion.
But events, as they proceeded from day to day, shattered this
design. When in the name of freedom and of Italy, and by the
acts of the innovators priests were insulted, excesses perpetrated,
the Popedom or the ecclesiastical hierarchy assailed, Pius IX.
ceased to trust them ; then he began to regret and repent of his
own work ; then he doubted, whether by his mildness and liberality
he had not encouraged a spirit irreverent to the Church, rebellious
to the Popedom ; then he complained of the ingratitude of mankind,
(had he not good reason?) faltered in his political designs, and prog-
nosticated calamity.''

Of course we cannot concur in all the colouring of this
portrait, but do we not find here unwilling homage to the
virtues of the man and the sincerity of the reformer?
Whatever motives or feelings may be imputed, and whe-
ther rightly or wrongly, is it not avowed by Farini, that
Pius IX. undertook suitable civil reforms with a genuine
intention to carry them into effect, but was prevented from
doing so by the frenzy and violence of the revolutionists ?
If so, our whole argument is established, and it follows
that the moral support of all sensible reformers should have
been given, rather to Pius IX., than to his opponents;
and that they who did give their moral support to his
opponents, are more to blame than he for the failure of his
attempted reforms.

It must be borne in mind that the majority of the min-
isters of the Pope were laymen, and we have seen, and
shall see that they were the most able laymen that could
be found. Whilst many of the young unruly spirits had
gone off to the war, Farini informs us that ** in Rome still
abode those professors of agitation who are the most dan-
gerous ; not the enthusiasts for an idea, but those who
take pleasure in subverting, because subversion in other
ways ministers to their pleasures. The journalism of
Rome, after the Bilancia had dropped, went down hill,

540 The Roman State. [April.

and ill proportion as refined and high-minded persons
retired from the city, the newspapers fonnd it more easy to
aronse the passions. Some priests, both learned nnd culti-
vated, edited the Labaro with warmth of feeling and
moderate opinions. The Epoca, which had started re-
cently, shewed temperance enough ; but neither the one
nor the other had many readers and admirers among the
herd of liberals, which fed upon the pages of the Contem-
poraneo, now that, upon the departure of Gazzola for
Bologna and of the gallant Torre and Mazi for the war,
it had come under the exclusive control of Sterbini, an
adept at moving rude minds by the language of the pas-
sions, and at applying the match to the mine, while keep-
ing his own person in safety. Sterbini, without being
either loved or respected, yet had great weight in the clubs
and in the streets, because when passion is aroused it
always submits to the control of the turbulent and restlesSy
the loudest in declaiming and in imprecation.'^ Farini
elsewhere speaks of this man in terms representing him as
something like the counterpart of Marat in the French
revolution, and yet so unbridled became rtie licentious-
ness of writing, speaking, and acting, that the empty but
venal ranting of such a man as this was listened to and
had great weight, and led in no small degree to that state
of things which necessitated the flight of Pius IX. from
Rome, whereupon Sterbini was one of those who stepped
into power. What we venture to suggest is, that if Pius
IX. had had either material *(i.e. military and police) force
enough within his dominions, or adequate moral support
from without, he would have bridled and held in these
agitators, and have accomplished his measures of improve-
ment gradually, but surely and lastingly, as we did in Eng-
land.

Durando, the Papal general, by command of King
Charles Albert, crossed the Po, so that Pius IX., who
wished to have remained on the defensive, was unable to
obtain compliance with his wishes, either in the field or in
the city.

Among the other causes in operation to account for the
results of the war being disastrous to Italy, the following
may be quoted from Wrightson, p. 230.

*' The political intrigues carried on by the Mazzinists or republi-
cans—if republicans they can be called — were already undermining
the Italian cause ; and there can be little doubt that Radetzki was

1863.] The Roman State. 541

well aware of that fact, when he exhorted his government to perse-
vere, and assured it of ultimate success. The practices of tliis party
began at a very early stage in the war. On the 6th of May his (i.e.
Mazzini's) emissaries had penetrated into the camp of Charles Albert,
and were tampering with the fidelity and discipline of the soldiers; and
two days later we find that the very existence of Durando's army
was endangered by agents of a similar description, amongst whom
were Fathers Gavazzi and Bassi, zealous preachers of sedition, and
active subverters of discipline and subordination.*'

The Papal and Piedmontese forces were successively
compelled to capitulate, and the towns in the Roman
States became consequently filled with that most apt ele-
ment of disorder, disbanded soldiers.

During the progress of the war Pius IX. risked still
further his popularity, by an act of consideration for the
Jews ; Farini informs us that ** the friends of social pro-
gress were highly gratified by the decision of Pius IX. to
raze in Rome the walls and gates which shut up the Jews
in the Ghetto. He had already, at the commencement of
his pontificate, softened some of the rigours with which
they were afflicted, and had directed that they might
spread beyond that ignominious precinct ; nor, however
great was the outcry about it among the mob, did he at
any time forego the idea of bettering the condition ot the
followers of the Mosaic law.''

It will be recollected that the Pope had sent Monsignor
Corboli to the camp of Charles Albert to conclude the
terms of the Italian League, but, as Farini writes, *' the
Piedmontese government refused to send its legates to
Rome, in order to fix the terms of the League, as Naples
had already done, and Tuscany was about to do," — and
tluis it appears that not only was the Pope the first to pro-
pose the Customs League, but that the king of Piedmont,
and he alone, prevented its successful consummation. As
to the practical value of this League, if it had then been
accomplished, we will not venture to express our own opin-
ion, but the following quotation from Farini will^ show that
he esteemed it the most valuable measure for the interests of
Italy that had been in recent times proposed. He writes —

*' Greatly did those err, on whatever side they stood, who at that
moment thought it well to trust wholly to chance for the reinstate-
ment of our nationality, rather than adjust it forthwith themselves
in the best manner that was possible. It was of far more moment
to constitute a league and union of some of the States on fixed

542 The Roman State. [April.

terms, than to speculate upon the ideal beauty of more comprehen*
sive combinations ; far better to agree upon an union, in which tlie
Pontiff should have both seat and authority, than to leave at large
tliat power, not less strong in the moral sphere, or in Catholic in-
fluences, than it is weak in the sphere of things material. We
forgot in 1848 that human affairs are best transacted one at a time,
and with the intention first to accomplish those, on which the suc-
ceeding ones are to be founded ; nor did we comprehend that
Italian independence must fail to find for itself a basis except upon
elements of ascertained strength, both moral and material ; and
that in the absence of any single State so supplied with force as of
itself to suffice for offence, defence, and recovery, and to become a
centre and a nucleus for the dispersed members and forces, we
ought without delay to have combined together the greatest possible
numbers of those states which, whether rightly or wrongly, had
grown up, the creations of time, circumstance, or treaty. In 1848
it was of more consequence to unite firmly with small States, having
limited material resources, than to aim at aggregating populations
together without a State. And it was most of all important at once
to conclude secure arrangements with Rome. There may have
been men who did not understand that the Popedom, whatever
might be the nature of its institutions in regard to the temporal
power, could not but have great weight in the reorganization of
Italy ; and wlio failed to see that Pius IX., both by the acts of his
brief reign, and by the marked prestige with which the praises o'
tlie whole world had encircled him, had greatly augmented the im-
portance of the Popedom and of Rome ; but such persons were in-
deed far from clearsighted. As, however, with all our just anxiety
for civil progress, we had practically run after the most attractive
forms of liberality rather than stable institutions; so that it is the
fact, that no sooner had God and destiny, more than our own merit,
appeared to give us our Italy again, than we all, of all parties,
began to conjure up a new fashioned Italy, to be shaped after our
own caprice. A few months before, we thought the Customs'
League a great boon, the Political Union a surpassing one; but when
events put arms into our hands, v\e no longer minded eitlier the
one or the other, and leaving the Italian thrones dissevered from
one another, we hazarded dissevering both the thrones from Italy
and tlieir subjects from the thrones. And by leaving Rome to her-
self, we risked seeing her throw herself on the side towards which
she could not but be drawn by the traditions of her political his-*
tory, and by a preponderance of spiritual interests. The Popedom
existed in Italy ; it existed actually embodied in a temporal sove-
reignty ; and it had been magnified in the opinions and consciences
of men by a Pope, whom we ourselves most of all had eulogised,
For these reasons we should have led Rome, as we best could, to
bind up her fortunes with those of Italy. It is unquestionable that
the omission to send envoys to Rome to conclude the League was

1863.] The Roman State. 543

an error that in no small degree contributed to the jealousies, sus-
picious, and subsequent resolutions of the Papal court.'*

The Papal ministers were of the opinion expressed by
Rossi. ** The national sentiment and its ardonr for war
are a sword, a weapon, a mighty force ; either Pius IX.
must take it resolutely in hand, or the factions hostile to
him will seize it, and turn it against him and against the
Popedom." They therefore on the 25th of April, 1848,
and Cardinal Antonelli at the head of them, presented a
memorial to him, set out in Farini, in which they suggested
that the war question might be resolved in three modes.
** Your Holiness will either allow your subjects to make war,
or declare your opinion absolutely against their making war,
or, finally announce, that, though desirous of peace, you
cannot prevent their making war." And they added,
** as for the first of these declarations, it is the opinion of the
ministry, that it is demanded by the spirit of the public,
and by the necessity of the times." On the 28th of April
the Pope read his reply at a meeting of the consistory. l6
appears to have been the Pope's individual act, for Farini
gays that, ** No one knew or could tell what it contained,
and that Cardinal Antonelli was not privy to it," and thai
** the meeting of the consistory was hardly over when Car-
dinal Antonelli looked for me with the paper containing
the allocution in his hand ; and as I was wild with eager-
ness to know its contents, and asked him for it, he told me
that he had not been able to form an adequate idea from the
single reading aloud, which he had scarcely heard ; so we set
ourselves to peruse it together." It is set out at full length
in Farini, vol. 2, p. 106, and we wish that space allowed us
to copy it entire. His Holiness refers to the improvements
in civil government which had been recommended, to the
corresponding measures which he had introduced, and the
joy with which they bad been received ; then to the com-
motions which had occurred in the Italian States, and to
the events both in and out of Italy, which had since hap-
pened, and he proceeds — *' If then any one will pretend,
that what we did in good will and kindness at the com-
mencement of our reign, has at all opened the way for
these events, he can in no way ascribe this to our doing,
since our acts have been none other than such as, not we
alone, but likewise the sovereigns before mentioned, (i.e.
those of Austria, Russia, France^ Great Britain, and
Prussia, in 1831), had judged to be reasonable for the well

544 TJie Roman State* [April.

being of our temporal dominions." He suggests that the
Germans could not be incensed "with him if he had been
unable to restrain the ardour of his subjects with respect to
acts done in Upper Italy, ** for several other European
potentates, greatly exceeding us in the number of their
troops, have been unable at this particular epoch to resist
the impetus of their people. Moreover, in this condition
of affairs, we have declined to allow the imposition of any
other obligation on our soldiers, dispatched to the confines
of the^ Pontifical States, except that of maintaining its
integrity and security ;" thus exactly confirming the words
he had addressed to the troops when they marched out of
Rome. He disavows any desire to engage in war against
the Austiians, and repudiates the idea of his becoming
the president of an Italian Republic, recommending each
portion of the Italian people to remain ** attached to their
respective sovereigns.'' The Pope adhering to a defensive
war only, his ministry resigned, though they temporarily
resumed office. Farini describes the consequent state of
things in Rome. " Then prowled abroad a class of men
hardened in every license of word and action, and applied
themselves to those contrivances which ease the road to
revolution. The perverted multitudes thronged to the clubs
at the heels of Cicerracchio and of its enraged leaders.
There Sterbini was holding forth, and Pier Angelo
Fiorentino, who had unhappily reached Rome just at the
time. All the old passions hostile to the Court of Rome,
were exasperated afresh, and all the resentment against
Pope and Cardinals rekindled. But those honourable
men, who discharged the office of moderators, held so
temperate a course, that while they did justice to the
national sentiment, they yet showed that, in order to avoid
inflicting on the national cause a wound more severe than
that dealt to it by the Allocution, all idea whatever of
overturning the government must be abandoned. Inas-
nuich, however, as scandals easy to stir, are difficult to
arrest, these moderators of the multitude, if they succeeded
in preventing a transition to rebellion and bloodshed, could
not so far succeed in tranquillizing the minds of men as
not to leave them resolved upon practices which must drive
the government and the Pope out of that field on which
the battle was being fought for Italy.'' Yet was the Pope
not only consistent, but right in the wish that his troops
should act only on the defensive, for oflensive operations

1863] The Homan State. 545

led first of all to the successive capitulations of the Papal
and Piedmontese troops, and subsequently to the defeat of
Novara, and the resignation of his^ crown by Charles
Albert. Farini adds that, ** the Civic Guard was under
arms at the time, but it was disturbed by the same spirit
which had thrown the city into commotion, and it was much
more under the influence of that spirit, than of an anxiety
to watch over the maintenance of order/' What could
the sovereign or his ministers do under such circumstances
as these ? What would have been done in England if the
authorities here had (in the times, e. g., of the Chartist
movement of London) been equally powerless to restrain
the people ? Farini himself " conceived the idea that,
as the Pope in his Allocution had intimated his love of
peace, he might offer himself to mediate a peace founded
on the reassertion of Italian freedom, and that for such a
purpose, he ought to repair to Milan forthwith." This
was mentioned to the Pope, who **made no objections,
except as to the mode of giving effect to it, wishing that
Signor Piazzoni, representative at Rome of the Provi-
sional Government of Milan, should forthwith be spoken
to on the subject." *' Such a demonstration," says Wright-
son, ** on the part of the Pontiff, might have produced a
moral impression of considerable importance ; but the
esaltati, at that time in the zenith of their confidence,
were averse to Papal intervention, and the offer was rudely
rejected by Signor Piazzoni." Thus again was the Pope
prevented by the revolutionary party from attempting, and
perhaps accomplishing, a measure of the utmost importance
to the welfare and freedom of Italy. Wrightson thus sum-
marizes the sequence of events — ** The ministry was with-
out any sufficient force or authority to repress the license
and insubordination which were constantly on the increase.
Finding that the Civic Guard made common cause with
the circoli, the cabinet again resigned, and Count Mami-
ani accepted the charge of forming a new one, with an un-
derstanding that the administration of the foreign temporal
affairs of the Papacy was to be transferred, from the Car-
dinal Secretary, to a lay-minister. The individual thus
placed by the Pope at the head of his government, had
not only been proscribed as a political offender, but had
published works which stood condemned in the index ;
and had returned from banishment without conforming to
the terms of the amnesty ! " Mamiani was a man of

546 Tlie Roman State. • [April,

talent, but the tendency of his opinions may be inferred
from this quotation.

Wrightson continues, " The change of ministry pro-
duced a temporary hill, but the self-appointed Committees
of war and the circoli were constantly gaining strength,
and Mamiani, who, as a private citizen, had favoured
these illegal combinations, could not condemn them when
Minister. Thus legality, the only foundation of true
liberty, was trampled upon. The provinces were more
than ever afflicted and disgraced by political assassina-
tions, which were of constant occurrence, and were perpe-
trated at noon-day throughout the cities of the Pontifical
dominions. Governors did not dare to arrest, nor could
the judges or the citizens venture to accuse or condemn the
assassins."...'* Towards the end of May it became evident
that a revolution, looked forward to with joy by the repub-
licans, and regarded by the bulk of the population as an
unavoidable necessity, was attaining maturity." As to
the Papal army, Farini reports that ** those who were
republicans no longer refrained from murmuring at the
Pope and the Sovereigns, and took to cursing Charles
Albert, Durando, and Azeglio, and so getting the name
and the disrepute.of royalists or traitors which for those
persons was the same thing. So they commenced their
preachments against the King's war and tried the fortune of
those Mazzinian notions which always prosper in the same
proportion as the cause of Italy declines." The result was.
what might have been expected — the capitulation of Vienna;
and as Farini informs us, " the volunteers, unsteady from
their want of discipline, were disbanded, and inthe cities to
which they repaired, the sources and occasions of discord
were multiplied. Add, that some provinces were more
than ever infested by political assassinations, which were

ferpetrated in plain mid-day, with singular audacity at
lavenna, Faenza, Pesaro, and Fano, and yet more at
Imola, Sinigaglia, and Ancona : nor did the magistrates
dare to arrest the murderers, nor the citizens to denounce,
nor the magistrates to convict them." And yet there are
people who can blame Pius IX. for not having done what
it was obviously not in his power to do, and who can extol
those who thus deprived him of the power of acting.
If in England, a reforming king and ministry had been
treated in a similar manner bv reformers among the peoT

18C3. 1 The Roman State. 547

pie, what kind of reforms could the former have accom-
plished ?

*' At this time it occurred to a certain person," (we pre-
sume Farini means himself) " that the paralyzed Govern-
ment might be invigorated by the distinguished name and
the wise exertions of Pellegrino Rossi," who had ceased tp
be the French representative at Rome, and was residing
there as a private individual, thongh his fellow townsmen
of Carrara had elected him in the Tuscan parliament. He
was at first reluctant, but, according to Farini, ** as the
Pope persisted in pressing him, he set about forming a
Ministry with these views, to take for colleagues men of
temperate opinions but genuine appreciators and fa-
vourers of the liberal system ; to carry into effect and to
construe the Statute in all its parts, according to constitu-
tional doctrine and usage ; to counteract and repress both
the parties opposed to the Statute ; to abolish exemptions,
restore the finances, and reorganize the army ; to conclude
a league with Piedmont and Tuscany, even should it
be impossible with Naples ; to fix the contingent of troops
the Pope was to supply, so that he need not in any other
respect mix in the war. Mediocrity took umbrage at his
wisdom ; the lovers of disorder dreaded his directness ;
the unbridled hated one who could curb them. From mur-
murs men advanced to calumny ; from calnmny to
menaces and those not covert, but in the clubs and open
streets. One day Sterbini, in the presence of many depu-
ties, broke into violent language and declared that if the
ex-minister of Louis Philippe and friend of Guizot dared to
make his appearance in Parliament as minister of the Pope
he would be stoned." The ministerial arrangement with
Rossi was not at that tim« completed. The Austrians en-
tered Ferrara, against which incursion the Pope earnestly
protested, and this furnished a fresh topic of excitement
to the Roman mob orators. Let any one read the fol-
lowing description in Farini, and say what recent measure
of improvement from 1830 to the present time could have
been accomplished by the British Parliament, had they
been treated in a similar manner, and with impunity, by a
London mob similarly encouraged by the head of the
police ?

" The Parliament was assiduous in promoting calm, but its design
was marred by men who arrogated to themselves the guardianship
Qf the public, and in whose persons, forsooth, the people, the

548 The Roman State. [April.

stale, and Italy centred and were incarnate. They considered that
the Parliament ought to be an assembly auxiliary to their irres-
ponsible assemblies called the Clubs. When Rome was astir
about the Austrian invasion, it was not enough for them that the
councils should address the Prince in the language of freedom and
of courage ; that the Prince should publicly protest and complain;
that the Government should strain every nerve in preparations for
defence. They also were Princes of the Clubs, and wanted to
rouse the passions of the people, whereby they both wounded the
majesty of the Parliament and of their Sovereign and aggravated
the malady of the State. On the 19th they presented to the
President of the Council of Deputies a petition in which they asked
that the country might be declared in danger, the people put in
arms, and war with Austria proclaimed. The President apprized
the assembled Deputies, and in becoming language announced that
he had sent the petition to the regular Committee, in order that it
might report and pronounce upon it, according to rule and prac-
tice. But the Prince of Canino wanted them to set aside both and
to discuss it forthwith ; and in this sense he was haranguing when
a loud cry • to arms* was heard in the piazza below ; and at the
same time the lobbies, the stairs, and the galleries of the palace
were filled with people demanding arms. The President covered
himself and suspended the sitting : then, after a short interval,
when the disorder was apparently composed he reopened it, and
the Prince of Canino returned to the charge, but without avail.
The Deputies were intent on the debate about the regulations for
the moveable civic guard, when Sterbini, having asked and ob-
tained leave to speak, said that grave events were happening in the
city, that the proper thing was to give satisfaction to the people.
The Duke of Rignano, a minister, subjoined that a part of the
Civic Guard was in uproar seeking to occupy the gates and castle
of St. Angelo, but that the Government had given proper direc-
tions for securing public order. Montanari proposed to summon
the Minister of Police to the Council; the sitting was declared
permanent, and meanwhile was suspended afresh, until Galletti,
having arrived, mounted the tribune and began by saying * that
the people of Rome and the Civic Guard could not commit excess;'
true, the Civic Guard wanted to occupy the Castle and the gates,
but in this there was no danger, because that force ' was the pal-
ladium of our liberties/ and all tumult was at an end. He con-
cluded by affirming that he was aware the people were assembling
to petition, and that, as Minister of Police, he had not interfered,
because he thought they were entitled to do it; while on the other
hand, the accident which had broken off the sitting was of such
small moment as not to deserve mention. I wanted to get an ex-
planation of this language so extraordinary for a Minister of
Police, and to demand an inquiry ; but the audience in the public
galleries and Canino, with Sterbini Potentiani and Mareosante,

1863.] The Roman State. 549

repeatedly interrupted my speech, some of them by their cries,
others by declaring that the people 'had behaved sublimely,' that
no violence had been committed, and that I had no reason to com-
plain. So I was hardly permitted to express my opinion, and claim
for Parliament its freedom. The day after, when Prince Doria, the
Minister of War, spoke of a Commission appointed to reorganize
the army, and pronounced the name of General Durando, who had
a seat in it, Livio Mariani spoke scurrilously of the general. Pan-
taleoni, a frank and generous person, mounted the tribune to
defend the fame of a gallant soldier in his absence from ground-
less reproach, but was prevented by shouts and hisses from pro-
ceeding with his speech. Thus it was that our club aud street
rulers understood and practised freedom,"

And thus it was, not any default of the Pope, but the
undue iufluence of the ** club and street rulers/' and the
want of any adequate military or police force to keep them
in order, ** which prevented the deliberative assemblies of
Rome from applying to any legislative work of importance,
or giviug stability to the new system/'

On 2ud August, 1848, Pius IX. issued a proclamation
in which he announced the definitive retirement of the
Mamiani ministry, that Count Odoardo Fabbri would
form a new ministerial combination, solicited a revival of
security and confidence, expressed his determination to
defend the integrity of the state from invasion, for which
purpose he had duly authorized the late ministry to make
provision, and after observing that ** in all times and in
all Governments, extrinsic dangers are turned to account
by the enemies of order and of public tranquillity," he
alludes to ** more than one sacrilege having polluted the
capital of the Catholic world.'' Farini informs us

"The sacrileges in question were these. A Roman legion re-
turned from Vicenza under Colonel Galletti of Rome, after the
death of Del Grande, and on reaching the capital, it took up its
quarters, by main force, in the College of the Gesu. Also a priest
named Zimenes, a youth of good character* and a writer in the
Labaro, had been wickedly murdered, not because he was an anti-
liberal, for, on the contrary, he vras one of the liberal priests, but
because they said that in some article of that journal he had
censured with bitterness the captain of the people for one of the
quarters of Rome. Lastly, another priest had been wounded, and
not a few more insulted, in the days of excitement. The present
language of the Pope exasperated the turbulent rather than soft-
ened them ; when it iiappened that his proclamation was torn
down, and complaints ran high both in the clubs and in the
streets."

550 The Roman State. [April.

Farini informs us that "the ministry of Mamiani, as to
Italian politics, had incessantly prosecuted the idea of
forming the Leasrue, and had held constant correspon-
dence vvith the Piedmontese and Tuscan Governments,
while it studied how to arrange and to concert with that
of Naples also. The Piedmontese Government was slow
and cold in this correspondence.*'

Of Fabbri, the head of the new ministry, Farini writes,
" As one strong in his virtues, and in the constancy of his
love to freedom and to Italy, devoted too to Pius IX. as the
prince who had conferred liberty and the PontiflP who had
pi'onounced his blessing on Italy, Fabbri consecrated to
Pius IX. to liberty and to Italy a heart glowing with
affection, an untainted name, an ardent mind, an upright
will, and the residue of his days," for he had turned
seventy. But Farini truly enough remarks, " the march of
the times would not admit of dispassionate enquiries and
solid reforms;" and yet Pius IX. ceased to be popular,
not only amongst the over-eager at Rome, but also with
many reformers abroad, because he could not effect
them !

And the mode in which Italy was then egged on beyond
the reach of improvement or the control of reason, to
madness and to ruin, is thus described by Farini :

*' Those were the days in which mad discord brandished her
torch over wretched Italy, in which Mazzini's republicans heaped
vituperation on the head of the worsted Charles Alber4i, and para-
ded everywhere the phantom of treachery, with such glee and
wantonness, that it seemed as if Radetzki's victory were the vic-
tory of their pride, their system, and their party. They tried to
induce Genoa to rise, and also Leghorn: they inflamed the public
mind against all kings and all governments, shouting * the people,
the people,' 'government by the people,' 'war by the people'; they
intoxicated the joung, deluded the simple, took the discontented
into their ranks, and the desperadoes into their pay : they ushered
in the chaos out of which their creative word was to evoke illumi-
nation, gold, armies, freedom."

And Farini, having been sent on a special mission to
Bologna, thus describes what he there himself saw.

" Thither I came unobserved about noon on the 2nd; the bad
had increased and were still increasing, in the streets and open
places of the city, for two days the brigands had been slaughter-
ing, every man his enemy, amongst the Government officers, some
of them indeed disreputable and sorry fellows, others respectable.

1863.] The Roman State. 551

They killed with musket shots and if tlie fallen gave signs of life,
they reloaded their arms in the sight of the people and the soldiers,
and fired them afresh, or else put an end to their victims with
their knives. One Bianchi, an inspector of police, was lying in
bod, reduced to agony by consumption : they came in, set upon
him, and cut his throat in the presence of his wife and children.
The corpse, a frightful spectacle, remained in the public streets.
1 saw it, saw death dealt about, and the abominable chase. There
were no longer any judges or any oflBcers of the police ; those
who had escaped death, either had fled or had hidden themselves;
the Civic Guard was disarmed, the citizens skulked, the iew sol-
diers of the line either mixed with the insurgents, or were wholly
without spirit, the carabineers and dragoons in liesitation, the vol-
unteer legions and free corps a support to the rioters, not to the
authority of Government."

** Fabbri prayed for bis discbarge, and the Pope again
tbougbt of calling in R-ossi^s aid to snpport the Govern-
ment ;" be accordingly formed a ministry, tbe particnlar
members of wbicb Farini describes, and speaks of them
all as men of character, ability, and liberal opinions. Of
the feeling which prevailed respecting the new ministry
Farini thus writes :

" The turbulent, with those who doated on anew constitution,
or hated every kind of discipline or order, the presumptuous, the
garrulous, the magistrates accustomed to fatten on abuses, the
Sanfedists who made a livelihood of disorder, and the clergymen
greedy of gold and honours, could ill bear Pellegrino Rozzi's having
the authority of a minister. Add to these many ingenuous youths
to whom every one having a character for vigour was distasteful ;
many who leaned to extreme courses through distrust of priestly
government ; and certain journalists wont to curry favour for
themselves at the cost of the good name of others. Emptiness too
and mediocrity, with their satellites, saw they had missed an
opportunity of rising to the seat of power. On the other hand,
aU who knew the real condition of the state were aware that, with-
out the speedy and resolute application of restoratives to the
finances and to public discipline and order, all must go to wrack ;
and numbers were tired of seeing the giddy or the bad get applause
for mad or disreputable actions, while the moderate and upright
reaped contempt and hatred from good ones.'

On 22nd September Rossi published in the Government
Gazette a paper of his which Farini inserts at length, ii.
364, as it serves to explain his first acts and the views of
his ministry ; we have space for only a few extracts. He
declares, **the Fundamental Statute is the consecrated
corner stone, on which our pohtical structure rests, and

VOL. LU.— No. CJV 18

552 The Roman State, [April.

from which it ascends. Pius IX. planted it and planted it
wisely with his own hand. Whoever should attempt, not
merely to displace but even to touch it, would impup:n the
rights granted to the subject, as well as become guilty of
ingratitude and outrage to the sovereign. Respect and
obedience to the law are the first and necessary standard to
which the acts of every citizen, of every man truly free,
and worthy to be so, must conform : the standard that the
Government of His Holiness has proposed to itself to fol-
low.'* He asserts that *' in a constitutional Government
like ours, everything would run to confusion and disorder
unless the exertions and views of the public give, so to
speak, heart and vitality to the law," and concludes with
remarking that ** when order and calm are reestablished,
the sources of public wealth will be speedily revived.
Everything may be hoped from the concord of good men,
the wisdom of the two councils, and the eflforts of the
Government of His Holiness."

In communicating shortly afterwards to the public the
establishment of two telegraphic lines through the Roman
States, Rossi remarked,

"Both telegraphs and railways will be potent aids toward ren-
dering far more useful, efficacious, and national the great idea of
the illustrious Pontiff, that of the Italian League. We hope to see
that idea shortly enlarged for the honour of Italy, the defence of
its rights and liberties, and the salvation of those constitutional
monarchies lately organized, which promise to Italians so brilliant a
future of civil and political existence. May it please God that our
hopes be not baffled by criminal passions, wild impulses, and the
unpardonable blunders which have too often baffled other reason-
able and splendid hopes."

We quote this in order to show that Rossi, like
most of, if not all the men of talent among the Italian
liberals, founded his hopes for a great future upon the
Italian League and not upon the unita Italia, and that
his hopes were baffled from the very cause apprehended
in his concluding sentence. We have already seen that
the idea of this Italian League originated with Pius IX.
and that the non-accomplishment of it hitherto was owing
to the backwardness of Piedmont, V\' hat reasons were
there now to induce Rossi to hope it might be brought
to a successful issue ? Farini informs us that *' only the
incessant exertions of Mamiani so far fostered the negoti-
ations ou the sulject that towards the end of his admin-

1863.] ne Roman State. 553

istration it seemed as if Pareto the Sardinian minister
after all was disposed to some arrangement. When the
Government of Piedmont passed into the hands of the
ministry over which Casati presided, and in which the
ilhistrious Gioherti, Giacinto, Collegno, Paleocapa, and
other men of note, had seats, they thought nothing could
be more important and advantageous than the Federative
League ; that no fitter means for the concord and union of
Italy could be found, nor any other means at all of obtain-
ing the concurrence of the States of the Church in the war
of independence ; inasmuch as this would free the timorous
conscience of the Pontiff from all moral responsibility,
and the sensitiveness of a Court composed of ecclesiastics
from apprehensions of aggression. Accordingly the new
Ministry of Piedmont determined to send to Kome as
Envoy a man, of whom it would be difficult to say,
whether he had most of piety, wisdom, and talent, or
modesty, goodness, and love of Italy ; for all these vir-
tues, endowments, and affections, are in him not so much
uncommon as unique. This was Antonio Rosmini, a
most bright luminary of modern philosophy, of Italy, of
the Catholic priesthood ; who, on repairing to Rome near
the end of August, was, as he himself wrote to Turin,
** received with courtesy, and found there a disposition
most favourable to the object," for which he was ap-
pointed. The hopes of Rosmini were not disappointed ;
for Pius IX. on the part of Rome, all but concluded an
arrangement with him, as the Minister of Sardinia, so
that he caused to be drafted the scheme of Federation,
which I here consign to history."

" Draft.

** In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Ever since the
three Courts of Rome, Turin, and Florence concluded the Customs'
League, their idea has been to enter into a Political League which
might become the active nucleus of Italian nationality and give to
Italy that unity of force which is needed for internal and external
defence, and for the regular and progressive development of na-
tional prosperity. As tliis intention could not be realized in a
complete and permanent form, unless the aforesaid League assumed
the shape of a confederation of States ; the three above-named
Governments, fixed in the resolution to bring their plan to effect,
and in order to make it known before Italy and Europe that the
said Confederation exists between them, as well as to establish its
primary Conditions, have appointed as their Plenipotentiaries &c.,
H. M. &c., &c., who have agreed among themselves on the follow-

554 The Roman State, [April,

ing articles, which will acquire the validity of a formal Treaty after
ratification by the High Contracting parties.

Art. I. A perpetual Confederation is established between the
States of the Church, the King of Sardinia, and the Grand Duke
of Tuscany ; which by the union of their strength and action, is to
guarantee ^the dominions of the said States and to protect the pro-
gressive and peaceful development of the liberties granted in them
and of the national prosperity.

Art. II. The August and Immortal Pontiff Pius IX. Mediator
and initiator of the League and the Confederation and his succes-
sors shall be their perpetual President.

Art. III. Within one month from the ratifications of the present
Convention, a delegation from the three Confederated States shall
assemble in Rome, each State sending three Deputies, who shall be
elected by the Legislative Power, and authorized to discuss and
enact the Federal Constitution.

Art, IV. The Federal Constitution shall have for its aim the
organization of a Central power to be exercised by a Permanent
Diet in Rome, whose principal functions shall be the following :

[«] To declare war and peace, and as well in case of war as in
time of peace, to fix the Contingents required of the several States,
both for external independence and internal tranquillity.

[6] To regulate the System of Custom duties for the Confedera-
tion, and to make just partition of the respective Charges and
proceeds among the States.

[c] To manage and negotiate treaties of Commerce and Naviga-
tion with foreign Nations.

[d'\ To watch over the Concord and good understanding of the
Confederated States, and to maintain tlieir political equality,
with a perpetual power of mediation in the Diet for all disputes
which may arise among them.

[e] To make provision for unity in their monetary System,
weights and measures, military discipline, and laws of trade ; and
to concert with each State the means of gradual arrival at the
greatest practicable uniformity in respect also to other branches of
political, civil and penal legislation and of procedure.

[/] To order and manage with the approval and co-operation of
the several States, enterprises of General advantage to the Nation.

Art. V. It shall be free to all the other Italian States to accede
to the present Confederation.

Art. VI. The present Treaty shall be ratified by the High Con-
tracting parties, within one month, or sooner if possible.'*

What obstacle occurred to the accomphshment of this
Federal Union ?

"The Ministry which succeeded that of Casati in Piedmont did
not come into the plan of a Confederation framed by Rosmini, and
Kosmini resigned his post, by no means because, as some journals.

1863'] The Roman State. 555

stated, lie was dissatisfied with the Roman Court, but rather
because lie was ill content with the notions of the new Piedmontese
Administration.'*

Farini informs us that afterwards

*• Rossi wished to come to some arrangement as early as possible,
and being both adroit in negotiations, and intent upon expediting
them bj means of timely concessions, he sought for modes of proce-
dure which might be acceptable to all the Italian States, even to
Naples, which he used every effort to draw into concord and com-
munion with Italy. He conceived accordingly, and put into form,
with the full consent of the Pope, the following scheme :

" DRAFT OF CONVENTION.

*'His Holiness and S. P. (titles of the contracting parties) having
maturely considered the present circumstances of Italy, and the
natural community of interest which exists among the independent
States of the Peninsula; and desirous accordingly of providing by mu-
tual agreement for the defence of their freedom and independence,
and at the same time of consolidating public order, and promoting
the gradual and regular progress of prosperity and civilization, the
chiefest element of which is the Catholic religion, have concluded
the following stipulations as a fundamental law for their respective
States.

" Art. 1 . There shall be a league between, &c.

'* 2. Every other independent sovereign and State of Italy may

within the space of give its adhesion to the League and become

an integral part of it.

** 3. The affairs of the League shall be propounded and dealt
with in a congress of plenipotentiaries deputed by each contracting
party. Each State may choose them according to such rules as it
may think most reasonable to establish for itself.

'• 4. The number of plenipotentiaries shall not exceed for

each State. Whatever the number may be, the plenipotentiaries
of a sovereign represent collectively the State which has sent
them, express in the discussions the view of their principal^ and have
no more than one vote.

•' 6. The entire regulations for the Congress of the League shall
be adopted in a Preliminary Congress, to be opened at Rome not
later than the and shall thereafter be ratified by the High Con-
tracting parties.

"7. The High Contracting parties promise not to conclude with
other States or Governments any treaty, convention, or special
agreement, at variance with the terms and resolutions of the Italian
League, and the rights and obligations flowing -from them ; saving
always the entire freedom of the Pope to conclude treaties and
conventions directly or indirectly connected with religion."

'* But/' says Farini, " this proposal did not seem to fall

556 The Roman State, [April.

in with the views of the Piedmontese government ; while
in Piedmont rumours were spread and printed that Rome
was backward about any convention for Italy; and our
journals and clubs made this matter of charge and injuri-
ous imputation on the Roman government. Hence Rossi
thought fit to declare openly his own feelings and inten-
tions in an article which he printed on 4 Nov. in the
Roman Gazette/' We regret that it is too long for us to
copy the whole; the following passages, however, will suf-
ficiently indica?te its purport, and we quote them because
they manifest who at this time was pressing forward mea-
sures to promote the welfare of Italy, and who was lagging
behind, and also because they show that Piedmont was
sacrificing the general welfare to its own aggrandise-
ment.
Rossi "writes —

'*Ia our No. 187 of September IStli, we stated that the forma-
tion of the Political League among the constitutional monarchies of
Italy was ever the anxious desire of the Papal government, and
that we had a lively hope of seeing this great idea, of which Piu3
IX. had been the spontaneous author, and was the constant pro-
moter, shortly brought into action. Still we concluded with the
wish (and it was too plain that that wish was not unmixed with
fear) that we might not here, too, find human passions and private
interests thwarting a sacred work, and rendering the pure patrio-
tism, which had inspired it, of none effect. But it must be plainly
avowed, that obstacles are encountered in the very quarter where,
according to all reason, ready consent and earnest co-operation
ought to have been found. It is there, too, so unhappy are our
times ! that sharp words of accusation are heard against the Pon-
tiff, as if he no longer wished for the League, which he was the first
to imagine and to broach. And why these charges ? The answer
is simple, and it is this ; that the Pontiff, who initiated the League,
has not blindly followed the Piedmontese project."

After referring to the peculiar views and wishes of Pied-
mont, he remarks —

*' It is certain that the aggrandisement of Piedmont and the
self-government of Italy, are not equivalent terms or identical ques-
tions ; that the second may exist without the first ; that to gua-
rantee territories not held, but only desired by Piedmont, is not a
matter to be thus decided by a breath. Pius IX. does not swerve
from his lofty idea, anxious now, as heretofore, to make effectual
provision, by the Italian Political League, for the security, dignity,
and prosperity of Italy, and of its constitutional monarchies. Piua
IX. is not prompted either by partial interests or by a calculating

1863. J The Roman State, 557

ambition ; he asks nothing, wislies nothing, beyond the happiness
of Italy, and the regular developnoent of the institutions, which he
has bestowed upon his people. At the same time, he will neTer
forget what is due from him to the dignity of the Holy See, and to
the glory of Rome. Any proposition whatever, incompatible with
this sacred obligation, must fail of effect with the sovereign of
Rome, and the Head of the Church. The Pontificate is the sole
living grandeur that remains to Italy, and that makes Europe and
the whole Catholia world, reverent and deferential towards her.
This Pius IX., whether as the Supreme Hierarch, or as an Italian,
will never forget."

If any should be disposed to question the propriety of this
praise of the Pope, and blame of Piedmont, vve may vouch
in favour of both the present premier of Piedmont, who
adds —

** Now it is very clear from this sagacious, but occasionally bitter*'
(not untrue, mind, but only rather truly bitter) "article, that the
Italian governments and their subjects, had as yet but feebly planted
their feet upon the path of concord ; and it grows more and more
clear, how improvident was the neglect, or backwardness to conclude
the League, and how such conduct was rife, in a yet greater degree,
with mischief and with danger. While the governments were
taking such ill care of their own security and of the safety of Italy,
by their neglect of the Federal League, other people were pursuing
their seditious ends, in order to transfer political power to the
populace, and to organize Italy, by means of revolutions, after the
most democratic fashion.''

Rosmini, of whom Farini speaks in the terms we have
quoted, continued after he resigned the ministry of Pied-
mont, to reside in Rome, where Pius IX. so much es-
teemed and trusted him, as afterwards to make him Car-
dinal, on which Farini remarks, 2 p. 389 : —

" At this every man was delighted, who anticipated lustre and
advantage to the Church, the Popedom, and Italy, from the eleva-
tion of such a man to such an honour ; and the pleasure was en-
hanced and the hope confirmed from the rumours current at court,
purporting that the new Cardinal Rosmini would shortly be ap-
pointed Minister of Public Instruction. For this made it appear
that, if the energy of stupendous intellects, if weight and brilliancy
of name, if proved anxiety for civil progress, could, amidst sucli
overthrows in Europe, uphold States and serve Italy, at least Rome
was singularly favoured in these endowments. The names of
Pellegrino Rossi, Antonio Rosmini, and Carlo Zucchi, were not
only glory but pride, not only hopes but guarantees, for a civilized
people ; an unrivalled boast, a truly Italian patriotism of the

558 The Roman State. [April.

sovereign, who thus from the very flower of Italj at largo wove a
chaplet for the Popedom, for Rome, and for his own brow."

^ Are we not entitled to say that Pius IX., by the selec-
tion of such men, proved both his own sincerity as a
civil reformer and his enlightened capacity for civil govern-
ment, and that, if measures of moderate, gradual, and safe
civil reform corresponding to those of a similar character
which have been accomplished in England, could there
have been accomplished at Rome amid such elements of dis-
order, they would have been the men to accomplish them.
The result proves that either the people or the times were not
fit for them. Pius IX. is at the present moment biding his
time, and his conduct up to the murder of Rossi, justifies us
in relying upon his sincerity and judgment, added now to
his experience, both as to the character of the measures of
civil reform which may be appropriate, and as to the fit
time for introducing them.

Farini says that *'the Rossi ministry pursued its busi-
ness of putting the State in order, and placing free institu-
tions on a firm groundwork. He procured aid from the
clergy by a provision of the^ Pope's, that the Cardinal
Vicar should lay a tax of eighty bajocchi for every one
hundred crowns rated on all ecclesiastical property ; and,
thanks to the Pope, he gained this point also that the
clergy itself, which had already granted a charge of
2,000,000 crowns in return for Tuscan bonds, should bind
itself to make a gift to the State of 2,000,000 more. The
money to pay the interest on the Rothschild loan was sent
to Paris beforehand. A commission was nominated for
fiscal arrangement, another for the organization of the
army, and the reform of the monetary system. Facility
was given for sending bank notes and treasury bonds by
post, through the reduction of the tax to a tenth per cent.
The estimates of revenue and expenditure were revised
with a view to economy, and the government endeavoured
to get them ready for the parliament on its reassembling
to discuss, and thus to commence the exercise of the first
and most important right of a free people. It also strove
to conclude a contract with a company for the construction
of a railway from Rome towards the Neapolitan frontier,
and to stimulate the people and the municipalities to as-
sociate for the construction of others. It instituted a cen-
tral office of statistics in the department of trade, and
placed Ottavio Gigli at its head with a commission of emi-.

1863.] The Roman State. 559

nent citizens. It caused an inquiry into the best mode of
angmentiuf^ and improving the manufacture and produc-
tion of salt in the saltpits of Cervia and Corneto. It
decided on founding chairs of pohtical economy and com-
mercial law in the universities of Rome and Bologna. It
divested the Sacra Consulta of the superintendence of
sanitary concerns, and of the hospitals, and set over them
a physician, with the Minister of the Interior for the cen-
tral authority.

The name of Rossi and his financial measures were so
restoring the credit of the State, that the advances of
money required for immediate wants were easily obtained,
and it likewise became a simple matter to cash abroad the
securities which the clergy were to give for the payment of
the promised 2,000,000. Rossi wanted to apply witli promp-
titude and decision to reconstructing the courts, according
to the modes and regulations put into practice in civilized
States. He wished to have two grades of jurisdiction, (to
use the phrase of the jurists), and a Court of Cassation;
all the old organization abolished, and a web of countless
abuses thereby unravelled. Hereupon bristled up the pri-
vileged judges, the legal prelates in the long robe, the
clerical lawyers in the short one ; and with them the whole
train of proctors, of sycophants, of go-betweens, of pes-
terers ; nay, the very bedells of the antechambers, the very
hacks of the sacristies, even the hackney-coachmen who
were made to believe they would lose their business of car-
rying advocates, clients, applicants, backwards and for-
wards between the Consulta, the Rota, the Segnatura,
the Governo, the Monte Citorio,and the tribunal Vicario."
How exactly this describes the struggles that have been,
and are still going on in England to simplify legal process,
and the access to and escape from our courts, and, last
and most difficult, the ecclesiastical courts.

The feeling against Rossi, and by whom and why enter-
tained, is thus described by Farini : —

" Passion, and the designs to unsettle the State, ran too high to
be dissembled. There was no opprobrium, that was not heaped on
Rossi, no charge that was not levelled at the Roman government.
If the police sent off a Neapolitan or two to the frontier, straight-
way rose an outcry against tyranny. If Rossi summoned Carabi-
neers to Rome, forthwith a coup d'etat was predicted. If the
minister of Public Works made a fresh arrangement of the Hall of
the Council of Deputies and its public galleries, the rumour sprung

560 The Roman State, [April.

np (untruly) that they were narrowing the accommodation for the
people, that they wanted to exclude it, that they were undermining
publicity, liberty, and the constitution. Kossi had, indeed, called
to Rome a number of Carabineers, perhaps two or three hundred,
and did not dissemble, that it was for the maintenance of order,
just as the clamourers did not conceal their wishes, hopes, and
cravings to disturb it. Nay, he did not dissemble his determina-
tion to repress every kind of tumult or commotion, and he thought
it a wise and honest plan to make it known, lest the seditious,
relying upon the usual laxity, should venture upon experiments, of
the kind that had so often succeeded to their satisfaction. Accord-
ingly he had the Carabineers reviewed, and then marched in a body
through the Corso, to their quarters. These proceeding exaspe-
rated all such as preferred their interest with the mob or private
interest, to the good of their country, and saw that they could not
wholly unbridle their cupidity, till they had got rid of the bold
minister. They beset the deputies, who now, on the eve of the
opening of parliament, were assembling in Rome, and used efforts
to turn them against him, if doubtful, to influence them if already
hostile, to intimidate them if friendly, and many of them remained
quiet, inert or hesitating, because in that universal confusion, there
was no crudity which might not have a chance of getting the upper
hand. After so much disturbance and sedition, and so many tri-
umphs of the disturbers and seditious, worthy citizens and temperate
men, had lost the sense of their own rights and of their own
strength ; and matters had come to such a pass that it seemed
necessary either to praise everything, said or done in the name of
the people, which was infamous, or to let words and things take
their course, which was cowardly. Very few were they, wlio dared
to disapprove, to declare openly all they felt, and frankly and un-
disguisedly to take their position and stand on the side of govern-
ment, because they were aware, that in cities habituated to servi-
tude, if you venture to thwart the despotism dominant, whether in
the palace or the street, the pusillanimous herd will not follow
you, the indiflferentists will bray at you, the slaves in arms, when
success is easy and certain, will lay upon you without mercy. And
by this time Rome had been long tossed in such a storm, that every
sentiment, every motion of right and wrong, was either corrupted
or at fault ; and the man most hostile to the priests, the govern-
ment, the Popedom, was taken for the best citizen, the freest son
of Italy."

These are the words of Fariui, not ours, and tliey not
only describe the state of thinpfs then, but also explain why
the feeling against the rule of Piedmont is not more openly
or more generally expressed now few dare to thwart the
dominant despotism.

Fariui quotes from some of the papers published hv

1863.1 ^^^ Roman State, 561

Rome on the 15tb of November, the extravagant and mad
language used by Sterbini and others, to lash the populace
into fury against Rossi. He had received many anony-
mous letters threatening his life, and on the very morning
of the 15th several persons called upon him to explain their
special grounds of apprehension. He notwithstanding
determined to repair to the council according to his duty.

Farini says ** he was cheered by the great trust which
the sovereign had reposed in him, and he anticipated both
trust and aid from the parliament, to which he was so
shortly to explain his ideas and intentions. He had framed
a speech, with the full approbation of the sovereign, in
which he set forth the importance and beauty of free insti-
tutions, and his resolution to strengthen and secure them,
by rectifying the finances, organizing and enlarging the
army, promoting public wealth, and diffusing instruction.
And as he thus expressed sentiments and views agreeable
to freedom and civilization, he spoke with an Italian spirit,
and eulogized the benefits of national union and indepen-
dence.''

Farini describes how Rossi was murdered as he passed
from his carriage into the hall of the council, and he appears
to ascribe the act to ** not a few individuals, armed with
their daggers, in the dress of the volunteers returned from
Yicenza, and wearing the medals with which the munici-
pality of Rome had decorated them.''

Speaking of the conduct of the Deputies, immediately
after the event, Farini exclaims, ** Not one voice was
raised to protest before God and man against the enor-
mous crime ! Was this froni fear? Some have thought
to term it prudence — by foreign nations it is named dis-
grace ;" he adds, however, in explanation, that *' there
was no legal meeting — no motion could be made — the few
deputies taken by surprise and incensed, almost all went
out on the instant, prompted by sympathy with Rossi,
whom they thought wounded but not dead."

The state of things in Rome on the evening of the
murder is thus described by Farini :

*' Night was now falling, and the darkness was favourable for revo.
lutionary machinations, and for ensuring impunity to misdoers. The
usual contrivers of commotion traversed the city in haste, from one
point to another, from one rendezvous of the Civic Guard to another,
and read aloud a paper addressed ' to the Carabineers,* advising
and inviting them to keep their allegiance, as it said, to the peo-

562 The Roman State. [April.

pie, by fraternizing with the agitators. These afterwards repaired
to the quarters in the Piazza del Popolo, where there was the
largest number of Carabineers, cheered and caressed them, and
used every effort at seduction. But thej, perhaps, would not have
allowed themselves to be thus caught, had not the person bound at
all costs to defend the honour of the corps and the flag, stained
them with scandalous baseness. Colonel Calderari their command-
ant, came among the revolutionists and swore, that he never would
have executed either the stringent orders that Rossi had given
him, or those which others might think of giving; he would side
with the people^ and would not draw his sword against them. He
recommended inaction to his men, deadening those who were eager
to act ; nay, he himself advised fraternization, harmony and union
with the civic guard, and with the populace. The example of their
head, and the promptings of tlie revolutionists, perverted some of
the carabineers, who mixed with the seditious, and went along the
Corso, carrying a tricolor flag, and uttering frenzied cries. It was
a band of an hundred men at most, which grew a little by the
way, and marched with songs and hymns as on a day of public fes-
tival, yes, and I shudder to add, with curses on the name of the
murdered, eulogies of the assassin, and blessings on his dagger.
Amidst that horde, drunken with blood, the flag of Italy was
waving, and there too, in the gloom of night, might be seen to
gleam the Pontifical military uniform 1 This was the spectacle
we were doomed to witness, after so many festive movements, in
the capital of the Catholic world, and at the close of the very
year, which we had inaugurated as the first of the new life of
Italy I Nay, there were greater horrors yet : for those maniacs
marched on, torch in hand, amidst the darkness, and passed in
front of the house where the family of the illustrious victim was
dissolved in tears. — And could there not be found one company of
soldiers, one chosen band among the townsnien, to put an end to
these hellish orgies, which poured on Rome, on Italy, and on civil-
ization such a flood of infamy ? No ! for want of discipline de-
moralized the soldiery, terror palzied the arms of the citizens, cor-
ruption reigned supreme, and in this perversion of reason and of
conscience, in this debasement of the soul of man, Rome was
punished for the arrogance of her previous jubilees, and con-
demned to look upon the triumphal car of the bacchanal assassin.
Short and slight is this retribution from historic justice ; but pro-
longed and weighty is the expiation due to such infamies, and
thus the justice of God will have it."

The insurgents came en masse' to hold a parley with
the Pope, and tell him what they wished. " The Pope
indignantly refused to come to terms with insurgents."
** The tumultuous throng was maddened, and cried * to
arms!' and in a moment the commonalty, those who had

1863.] The Roman State. 563

come back from Vicenza, the foot-soldiers, run for aims
and return to the Quirinal. They surround it, press iur-
ward, try to get in, and on resistance by the Swiss senti-
nels become more enraged, put fire to one of the gates,
mount upon the roofs and bell towers of the vicinity, begin
to fire their pieces at the walls, gates, and windows ; when
the Swiss fire in return. Musket shots resound through
the city, and a rumour spreads that the Swiss are butcher-
ing the people, the soldiers of Italy, the Civic Guards ;
that already some are dead, and more are wounded. Few
advise the sovereign to resist, many to yield ; the diplo-
matists have no scheme to ofi^er; the scuffle continues:
the worthy prelate Monsignor Pal ma falls dead by the
window of his own apartment: balls reach the ante-cham-
ber of the Pope. They then send to find Galletti ; he
arrives, goes among the insurgents, returns to the Pope,
devises concessions, but the Pope will not yield. The
multitude grown weary of procrastination, wants to beat
down the gates ; already a gun is dragged into the Piazza
and pointed, and but for Torre, it would be fired. The
Swiss hold true; their captain swears to the Pope they
will to a man make a shield of their breasts, or a bulwark
of their corpses, about his sacred person ; but all resis-
tance would now be useless. Pius IX. turns to the diplo-
matic body who stand around him: ** Look,'^ he snys,
** where we stand : there is no hope in resistance : already
a prelate is slain in my very palace : shots are aimed at it,
artillery levelled. We are pressed and besieged by the
insurgents. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased
enormities. We give way, but as you see. Gentlemen, it
is only to force : so We protest: let the Courts, let 3 our
Governments know it: We give way to violence alone:
all we concede is invalid, is null, is void,'' As Farini
afterwards remarks, ** Where was the authority ? where
was the force ? The troops of all arms had either abetted,
or kept gala for the revolt. Rome wastopsy turvy ; assas-
sination and rebellion were celebrated with triumph."

Pius IX. escaped from Rome — Mnzzini reigned in his
stead — the French enter Rome — the Pope returns.

We have thus employed, perhaps at too great length,
the language of Farini, now the Prime Minrster of Victor
Emmanuel, because if we had narrated the good inten-
tions, and earnest efforts of Pius IX. in the cause of civil
reform, the character of the ministers whom he employed

564 The Roman State. [April,

to carry his good Intentions into effect, the good wliicli he
did effect for Rome and for Italy, and those canses which
frustrated the completion of his designs, some might have
given no credit to our statements. They cannot question
the evidence of Victor Emmanners Premier in favour of
Pius IX. Some have ignorantly or maliciously asserted
that he designedly employed incapable laymen in order to
make the people discontented with, and more inclined to
ecclesiastics, whilst we have seen from the testimony of
Farini that he confided power to the most distinguished
lay statesmen of whom Italy could boast. Instead of not
having been a sufficiently prompt and sufficiently thorough
a reformer, it is evident, from what he did and attempted
during the short period which elapsed between his election
and his forced retreat from Rome, that not only was he
sincere in intention and clear in design, but also peculiarly
prompt in introducing his measures of reform, that he
effected in a few months what would here have been pre-
ceded by years of preliminary committees, commissions,
and reports ; and the complaint of many good and pru-
dent people was that his measures were too thorough and
far going at once for a people unaccustomed to self-
government, of exciteable temperament, and worked upon
for their own selfish ends by the restless plotters of revo-
lution. We do not agree that his measures went too far
when they were proposed ; we believe that in ordinary
times they might have been safely carried through, and
have been advantageously followed by others in accord
with them ; but when the flame of revolution lit at Paris,
flew wildly over the political prairie of the continental
kingdoms, and swept quiet and order and established in-
stitutions before it, the measures of Pius IX. became
exposed, in the very crisis of change, to an extreme degree
of popular heat, clamor and violence ; and as he had not a
powerful army or an effiBctive police, to suppress uprisings
with a strong hand, the active evil-minded, though pro-
bably a minority in number, employed every concession
as a means of disorder, made a constitutional government
for the time impossible, and forced the people along with
them into a Mazzinian republic. No government can
dispense with "adequate material assistance, and least of
all a government where the quiet friends of order, who
with us form the solid support of goyernment, are unused
to any interference in, or even any concern about politics.

1863.] The Roman State. 565

Whether the civil reforms so promptly inaugurated by
Pius IX. at a period which afterwards proved so peculiarly
unpropitious for their sate completion, in any degree
whatever tended to hasten the fatal result, and whether it
would not equally have arrived if Pius IX, had been less
prompt in proposing civil reforms, or if he had, on the
other hand, made them even more thorough in character,
are questions respecting which much may be said on either
side, but which it is now idle to discuss.

Some have alleged, and amongst them Farini, that the
Allocution of the 29th of April, 1848, in which the Pope
refused to sanction the invasion of Austrian territory by
his troops, was the point at which the tide of popularity,
which had hitherto flowed strongly in his favour, began to
ebb. That decision of the Pope's to sanction a defensive
but not an offensive war, appears to us to have been not
only consistent with every thing he said and did as we
have already proved, not only appropriate to his character
as an Ecclesiastical Sovereign, but also even politically
prudent. If Charles Albert had adopted a similar wise
policy, the defeat of Novara and his own abdication might
have been avoided.

But it is objected that Pius IX. since his return to
Rome and under the protection of French bayonets, has
not proceeded to give full effect to his scheme of civil
Reforms. The question is, has he proceeded as quickly
as was safe and prudent ? And who shall determine this
question between him and the foreigners who declare that
he must be wrong because he differs from them in opinion ?
Who is most likely to be right, — Pius IX. who knows the
people among whom he has lived, and over whom he
reigns, and has had bitter experience of attempting civil
reforms too quickly among them, — or the British politician
who thinks that every thing human ought to be this mo-
ment accommodated to the British standard, which he
feels sure is not only good for these happy islands, but also
equally and immediately applicable to all parts of the world,
to every race of mankind, and to all conditions of society,
and the sovereign remedy for all the political evils to which
states and peoples are liable? Who is most likely to be
right, — Pius IX. the sincere and earnest civil Reformer, who
be^an his public career as a Reformer and used p'ower to
accomplish reforms,— or the British premier, who be^an life
as a non-reformer, and used reforms to accomplish and re-

566 The Roman State. [April.

tain power? Who is most to be depended npon— he who
is scrupulous as to duty and indifferent to popularity,— or he
who habitually and pleasantly deals with political maxims
and principles and constitutions as so many chessmen
with which to win the game of politics? Pius IX. has
proved himself to be disposed to concede civil reform to
his subjects, as larofely and as promptly as they can
safely be conceded. He has done much since he returned
to Rome ; and if he has delayed to do more, it is fair to
conclude, and all previous circumstances justify us
in concluding, that he is only waiting till the times
and circumstances become fitting ior further progress.
What under such circumstances do common sense
and sound policy suggest to us, and to all who have
the real welfare of the people, and not any political pur-
pose or paltry prejudice to serve, but to give the Sove-
reign who commenced civil reforms with so much prompt-
ness and sincerity, credit for carrying out whatever is
expedient as soon as it is practicable, and moral aid,
sympathy, and encouragement, so as, in so far as in us
lies, to make his power equal to his good intentions. In-
stead of this, the policy of Enghnid seems to have been so
to use its influence as to deprive the Pope of the power
of doing anything, and then — to tell him to do everything.
What the Pope wants is — not the will, but the power.
They who really wish him to effect certain measures of
reform, should by every means in their power strengthen
his position, discourage the agitators against him, and
tell them plainly that civil reforms cannot be prudently
or properly conceded to pressure either internal or exter-
nal, but must be granted freely. This has been the
practice in England, why ought it not to be the practice in
Rome also ?

Let the Pope only be treated as fairly as the Sultan,
and then we have no doubt of the lesult. We have backed
up the Turk against internal insurrection : we have spent
our blood and treasure to protect the Turk from external
attack. How, under similar circumstances, have we
treated the Pope ? Not a man has turned traitor to the
Pope with either sword, pen, or tongue, that has not been
encouraged by England to do so, and probably would not
have done so but for that encouragement. And was the
conduct of Russia towards the Turk, which led to the
interposition of England and Fiance, worse than that of

1863.] The Roman State. 567

Piedmont towards the Pope ? How small the offence by
Russia aprainst the Sultan for which we invaded the Cri-
mea and destroyed Sebastopol ! How heavy the offences
by Piedmont against the Pope, on which we looked with
complacency and approval ! While we have lavished our
thousands of men and millions of money upon the Turk,
who has yet done little but borrow more money from us,
we have in every way in our power paralysed the efforts of a
genuine Reformer in Italy, because he happens to be a Pope.
When the Pope first appeared as a zealous Reformer,
we found fault with him for being in too great a hurry—
nowjwe are equally dissatisfied with him because he does
not proceed fast enough or go far enough. Is this our
idea only? No — the Times, on the .SOth Jan. 1861, wrote,
'* Less than thirteen years ago the Pope was ridiculed and
vilified, not for resorting to impotent denunciations and
foreign auxiHaries for the reduction of his revolted pro-
vinces, but as the * dupe of benevolent intentions,' who,
* in a childish quest of popularity,' had * tampered with
the courtship of the mob,' and patronized a spirit of inde-
pendence too advanced for modern Italy/ "

We have declared against foreign intervention, and
then patted Piedmontese intervention on the back. Why
should Piedmont be allowed to interfere in Tuscany, or
Parma, or Modena, or Romagna, or Naples, any more
than Austria ? Both are equally foreign whether divided
by a river or a range of mountains, and mere nearness
does not give any peculiar right of intervention. Nor does
identity of race. And even if it did, a Tuscan, a Roman,
or a Neapolitan would tell you that he does not recognize
any identity of race in the Piedmontese. The southern
and central Italians hardly consider the Piedmontese
Italians at all; and Milan, Florence, and Naples, are just as
indisposed to be subordinated to the rule of Turin as the
latter would be to see the seat of government removed
to either of them. Instead of having any bond of, or
inclination towards unity, there exists a mutual jealousy
between them, intensified by ancient recollections. The
inhabitants of Italy were the most polished, the most
learned, the most industrious, the most commercial, and
the most wealthy people in the Christian world when they
were divided into a number of separate States, each of
which still preserves the memory of its former glory, and
each of which is ambitious of attempting a distinct career

VOL. LII.-No. CIV., 19

568 The Roman StaU. [April

of mdependence and of emulating its celebrated ancestors !
We may call this foolish, but it is the fact ; a fact which
has hitherto been partially concealed from observation only
because Italy has submitted to the common destiny of
countries in a state of revolution, i. e. the quiet majority
has suffered itself to be dominated by the active and rest-
less minority.

^ By what means that minority has effected its domina-
tion, we have not space now to relate, nor should we ven-
ture in doing so to use our own language, lest the terms in
which we should be obliged to describe acts of fraud and
force, and corruption, and dishonesty, should appear too
strong in our mouth. We will only borrow a very pregnant
nummary from the columns of the Times, of 2nd March,
1861, in which it acknowledges

'* There can be no doubt that Count Cavour, to compass the inde-
pendence and unification of the country, has thrown aside the
traditions of dynastic courtesy and the maxims of international law,
and has shown little regard even to the stipulations of treaties. An
able publicist may convict him of the grossest violation of Vattel,
and e'oen of higher authorities, Sardinia entered into the war
against Russia not being a party to the treaties respecting the
Porte. Sardinia provoked Austria deliberately, and Austria fell
into the trap laid by her enemy. Sardinia took advantage of popu-
lar commotion to annex Tuscany and the Legations, although the
Grand Duke and the Pope had taken no part in the war of 1859.
Sardinia invaded the Papal States without a declaration of war and
under a shallow pretext. Sardinia connived at the expedition of Gari-
baldi and reaped the fruits of his daring enterprise. Sardinia is
probably now meditating how she can best reduce the most ancient
sovereignty in Europe to her rapidly extended dominions. Finally,
she threatens an attack on an empire with which she made a
solemn peace not less than two years ago, and does not conceal her
desire to wrest the province of Venice from its legitimate Master.
All this is undeniable ; and it is very bad from an international
point of view."

And what defence does the Times suggest ? We pray
our readers to mark it. *' The Italians have been com-
pelled to depart from the beaten path of national inter-
course. Europe has not been their friend nor Europe's
law. They have been forced to say, we will not recognize
traditions which deprive us of a country, or treaties which
make us slaves. It has been necessary to violate national
usages, and they have violated them.'' What is this but
the common place argument of the robber who, as we have

1863. The Roman State. 569

often read in old tales, declares that the world and the
world's laws have not been friendly to him, and therefore
he tries to justify himself in setting them at defiance, and
helping himself by fraud or force as best he can? Neither
robber, Sardinia, nor Times, has ever yet satisfied his
conscience by such reasoning;— the robber, indeed, usu-
ally confessing his crime, and only Sardinia and the Times
attempting to gloze it over by thus boldly maintaining
the lawfulness of doing evil that good may come of it. And
has any good come of it ? ^ .

If space availed we might enquire at length whether the
condition of the people has really been improved by the
annexations ? Is the press more free ? Are the taxes
lighter? Is the conscription less onerous? Is commerce
increysing? Is life or property more secure? Are the
laws more justly administered? ^ Are the people more con-
tented with their present position ? Is there now really
more of freedom and happiness enjoyed by the people since
the change ? We believe that none of these questions can
truly be answered in the affirmative. We believe the
taxes are far heavier, commerce lighter, the press less free,
the conscription more galling, and the people less contented
than they were under the previous rule. Why then do
they submit to it ? — Why did not France rise against the
reign of terror ? We observe from the recent account of
the Times Correspondent, that the Piedmontese are rais-
ing a standing army of 500,000 men. Even he cannot
help describing in feeling terms the appearance of the
young and unwilling conscripts from the south on their
arrival at Genoa. For what purpose this vast army, if tlie
people be contented, and when it is notorious that both
France and Austria are lessening their armaments? Pied-
mont needs a standing army of half a million of men to
keep their nominal subjects in forced subjection, and pro-
voke their neighbours into war again. To maintain it she
is raising fresh millions in new loans at a rate of interest
which makes prudent men ponder and silently prognosti-
cate the inevitable result.

670

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I. — Anglicania ; or England^s Mission to the Celt, By J. Birmingham.
London : Richardson and Son. 1863.

A poem in the same metre as the "Hind and Panther,"
and with little less of power and beauty, must, we think,
find universal acceptance. It would need no recommen-
dation of ours, were not its advocacy of truth and justice,
likely to render it especially obnoxious to the large party
who live upon the money screwed out of the English pub-
lic to maintain the *' Missions" it so strongly denounces.
That class of whom the author says,

" You show your sweetness when you preach upon,
*The idolatries and crimes of Babylon ;'
And then to justice you thus prove your claim.
You rob that * Babylon' which you defame.'*

Upon these men indeed, self-interested, savage and
subtle as they are — no arguments could avail — but their
supporters ! that large, most mischievous, and most pro-
voking body of good people, who ** mean well,'' and who
place their '* good meaning" and long purses at the dis-
posal of every knave that finds it his interest to foster the
long hoarded prejudices, that " grow with their growth,
and strengthen with their strength;" upon some of these
the force and fire of this work must have a strong effect.

Who amongst our readers will have forgotten the eject-
ment cases tried at the Ballinrobe Sessions in 1861 ?
When Lord Plunket was examined — to the question whe-
ther ** In this terrific weather, he was purposing to fling
seventy unfortunates on the snow-covered mountains in
Partry, and specially whether it was really for purposes of
eviction/' and not merely for non-payment of rent, that
he brought these actions, he answered "certainly," and in
several forms he firmly answered that *' the sole object he
had in view was to evict these wretched people and drive
them on the world ; it having been previously proved
that the Bishop, through his agent, required his tenants
at will to send their children to the Irish Mission Schools
on pain of eviction. In the courts of justice, even in the
Protestant newspapers, this barbarous conduct excited
indignation ; there could scarcely be found words to ex-

1 863.] Notices of Books. 571

press the feelings of the Catholics. We will quote Mr.
Birmingham's description of the scene, calling attention
while we do so to the real merit of the poetry, which he
has made subservient to his purpose.

** With boundless appetite your mission feeds
On social strife and scatters discord's seeds.
Where Protestants and Catholics would cease
Their ancient contests, it forbids the peace.
Through countries, districts, provinces, elate
With evil power, it engenders hate.
Where different faiths prevail it even tries
To break the sacredness of kindred ties,
And, poised on leathern wing, delights to move
Amid the ruins of domestic love.
As most propitious to its cause it hails
The time when, famine-struck, a nation wails.
The breath of woe it gladly scents from far ;
And pestilence becomes its guiding star.
'Tis then, indeed, it glows with brighest hope,
And, tempting misery, its coifers ope.
Then each soul-killing prize is best displayed.
But why, O Heaven, permit the cursed trade ?
Yet can we wonder, when the demon showed
His gifts, permitted even to tempt his God ?

** Your Mission still, in less unprosperous years,
Spies out each place where misery appears,
Into the death-pale ear it poison pours
Among our mountains and remote sea shores :
Or if you find not wretchedness, your plan
Is by all means to make it where you can ;
And so you wield, to prove your Bible true,
Not it alone, but now your crowbar too.
And is it in Christ's name that crowbar fills
With desolation Partry's vales and hills ?
Is it in Christ's blest name the cottage falls,
And happy homes are turned to shattered walls ?

'• Long after Autumn's golden gleams have fled,
And when ungenial scanty rays are shed
Upon the saddened earth, while the weak sun,
Low curving, towards the farthest south shrinks down
Before the hosts of winter issuing forth,
And pales at the spread pennons of the North, —
When the east- wind pursues a drearier flight.
And fans with colder wings the face of night, —
When Aries sheds down frost-twinkling rays,
While Sirius flashes in the horizon's haze, —

572 Notices of Books. [April.

When icy breathings fall among the glens,
And crystals tuft the heaths and rushj fens, —
When the seared oak-leaves with a chilling sound,
Drive through the rooks or on the hardened ground, —
Or when thick clouds on lofty summits frown,
And torrents swollen with tlie snows come down, —
When the white drifts along the mountains sweep.
And lowing herds forsake the unsheltered steep, —
When angled lines of famished wild-fowl make
For the warm sea, and leave the frozen lake, —
Even when the northern tempest loudlj^ roars, —
'Tis then the apostolic wrath outpours :
'Tis then it drives into the deadly air
Its homeless victims straight to meet despair :
And, Heavens ! is it because they still receive
Not that for truth which they do not believe ?

'* This dire extermination undefied,
Has to your Mission here been long allied ;
And rightly now we may those laws debate,
By which our landlords can exterminate" — p. 120-3.

We must say in justice to the author that he has taken
higher ground even than this in his appeal acrainst the
missions. He has shewn not only their ill-effects, but
their intrinsic injustice ; his controversial arguments are
as close and forcible as those that came from the strong
pen of Dryden : to our readers, of course, they will not be
new, yet we think the following extract will be read with
interest.

"All reasonable men might well inquire

Whence can arise the mission's furious fire :

For what true purpose the sectarian wrath

Against Rome's doctrine — Ireland's ancient faith.

Is not the Scripture's free interpretation

To each one granted by the Reformation?

And how then, Anglicans, can you object

To ani/ creed a Christian may select?

Free judgment you proclaim ; and why insist.

That tenets Anglican must not be missed ?

Each is his own interpreter to be ;

Yet, strange, with you must dare not disagree!

*' Yet blaming here means not that we defend
Free judgment for the use that you commend ;
Which, first we'll say, when you would proselytfe
In favour of it, seems a puzzle quite :
For by interpretation of your own
The claim of free interpreting is shown ;

1 862.] Notices of Books. 578

But now, if you expound for us, are wo

Truly, as self-interpreters left free 1

Real free judgment must be left at rest :

Free judgment to ** free judgment'' can't be pressed ;

And if to your persuading we should bend,

That same free judgment that you taught would end :

So, therefore, by strange consequence, your thesis.

When just demonstrated should fall to pieces ;

And their own doctrines they, indeed, befool,

Wlio only hy its breaking prove their rule.

'* To choose our church do we free judgment use,
But not its bonds of doctrine then to loose.
Contented with the freedom to select
Our guide, we follow as he may direct :
But your free judgment is, forsooth, so bright,
That even the guide himself it would set right.

" No wonder, if from this self-trust proceeds
A Babel-scandal of unnumbered creeds;
For those who on free judgment so insist
Are like men wandering scattered through a mist :
While all the others in thick fog appear,
Each thinks the space around himself is clear,
Yet, notwithstanding strays, he knows not where.'' — p. 35-6.

Mr. Birmingham's argmiients for religious truth are
admirable and to the point ; but we can never approve of
those based on the supposed preeminence of one nation
over another in wickedness,. They are not just, and they
are dangerous. The world is very wicked. Who is to
sound the comparative breadth and depth of the iniquity
of nations? The most glorious t)f Catholic nations pro-
scribed for years the worship of the Divinity, and saw,
unreproved, the burnings of the caves of Dahra. A
Catholic people first introduced the slave trade. Nor
have there been wanting those who have oppressed the
Indian : nay, the chief bulwark of the Church in Central
Europe has elicited from a portion of her subjects expres-
sions of national hatred as deep as that which is now
poured out on England. We throw no stone of reproach
—we but point out that England might fairly claim the
benefit of those defences which so obviously suggest them-
selves in the foregoing cases. It is, however, time to con-
clude, since we have got into a strain of thought unsuit-
able to the occasion. We return to the '* Missions" which
we can sincerely recommend. The poem has great merit
as a poem, and great value as a weapon in the cause of
truths and is a very beautiful composition.

574 Notices of Books. [April.

II. — Points of Contact between Science and Art. Bj his Eminence,
Cardinal Wiseman. Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution
Jan. 30. 1863. London : Hurst and Blackett, 1863.

This Lecture was delivered to one of the most crowded
audiences ever assembled for such an object : it is here
expanded into an essay, which will be welcomed by
all who take an interest in science or art. The Lecturer
opens with an elegant compliment to the Prince Consort,
of whom the Cardinal says, that the reverence and affec-
tion for the memory of his many noble qualities and
gracious gifts seem to become more and more vivid, in
proportion as we recede from the sorrowful period at which
these began to be only a memory.'^ It is a thing to be^ re-
gretted that two intellects, having so many points of simi-
larity as those of the Cardinal and the Prince Consort
should have been held by circumstances so far apart, and
have been precluded from an intercourse that both would
have highly enjoyed. Of the Prince the Cardinal tells us
it might be said that **he never saw art without science,
never looked at science without seeing art/^ The Cardi-
nal writes upon both these subjects, and upon their mutual
relations to each other, as if they had occupied his chief
attention : instead of being, as they are, subordinate
to so many higher pursuits and nobler attainments.
The *' points of contact'' between science and art will
Lave been to many a very vague idea. The writer
of this essay has succeeded in giving it great distinct-
ness. Taking the three fine arts he has shown the help
which painting needs from the science of perspective
— the linear and the aerial ; of chemistry to supply her
with colours, and to render them lasting ; or to give
solidity to the mosaic decorations which may turn out at
last to be the great requirement of our climate. Sculpture
needs only the science of anatomy, and the mathematical
knowledge of the human frame: — but ethnography,
which *' classifies the different types of races and of
nations, and at the same time pays attention to the habits,
manners, and customs of ancient countries," is pointed out
as invaluable in the assistance it renders to both the repre-
sentative arts. Architecture borrows so largely from
science, that it might itself be called as much a^.science
as an art. Mathematics, in all their branches, — know-
ledge of materials and of construction, and information of

1863.J Notices of Books, hi 5

various kinds, not needful to enlarge upon, are required
by the designers of a great building. The Author con-
tents himself with slightly indicating the history of these
different sciences, so far as they relate to art, and he
points out the wonderful intuition by which men of genius
anticipated the discoveries, and compensated for the exact
rules of modern science. ** Slowly, therefore, and pa-
tiently did science follow the more rapid steps of art, to
complete, to enlarge, to perfect, and to perpetuate its
almost instinctive discoveries.'* To use the words of Mr.
de Morgan, ** the first-class draughtsmen managed in one
way or another to do all that could be done ; the differ-
ence between one period and another lies in the facility
of the mode of doing it." What will be the effect of this
increased "facility" upon the future prospects of Art?
From a starting point so much elevated: rendered broad,
secure, and distinct under their feet, will future Artists
imtrammelled by rudimentary obstacles, take a loftier
spring, and attain to a pitch of excellence the world has
never yet seen ? Or has human genius done its utmost,
and will modern science tend to render art, as it has
done most other things— more practical, more popular, but
not more excellent ? It will be seen that the purpose of
this Essay does not require argument, but it does need
illustrations, and these are poured forth in the writer's
easiest and most flowing style, and of every kind, from
the most curious to the lightest anecdotes. We ^ive an
instance : — the story of the Yorkshire groom, stolid as to
all matters of art, conscientiously examining the group of
running horses in the Sala della Biga, as though his
master had been about to buy them at some fair in Hol-
derness ; patting kindly their marble necks, stroking their
coats of stone, and after careful examination bringing his
science (in this particular point) to test the science of the
artist; deciding that theone— ;-the antique — was a splendid
animal, but he ** didn't think much of t'other" — the
" other" being an inferior modern restoration. One cir-
cumstance of great interest which the Cardinal mentions,
was news to us and may be so to some of our readers. We
allude to the fact that, about 1681, the great dome of St.
Peter's was about to give way — it was cracking in all
directions, and its ruin seemed irretrievable. Pope Bene-
dict XIV. took the matter out of the hands of artists and
architects, and called a council of three pure mathe.

576 Notices of Books. [April,

maticians, who discovered the mischief, and devised the
remedy which has preserved the wonderful dome for us,
and we trust for our posterity.

We must conclude, however, feeling that we have done
our part in announcing thef publication of this Lecture.
The subject and the name of the writer will be a suffi-
cient recommendation to our readers, who will, we are
sure, agree with us in thinking it only too short.

III. — The Five Great Monarchies of tJie Ancient Eastern World, by
Professor Rawlinson ; in 3 Volumes. Vol. I. London, Murray, 1862.

This work is an admirable pendant to the Author's great
work — Herodotus. This volume comprises Chaldea and
Assyria. — The succeeding volumes will include the mon-
archies of Babylon^ Media, and Persia ; and (pref. vi.) the
author aims at accomplishing for his five monarchies what
has been done by .others for Phoenicia and Egypt ; and
we doubt not that the author will meet with perfect
success. An extraordinary interest is attached to the
Chaldeean portion of the work, inasmuch as it contains a
triumphant vindication of the Authority of the Holy Scrip-
tures. These assert (Gen. cap. x.) that Noe was the
father of Cham, (v. 1.) that Cham was the father of Cush,
(v. 6.) that Cush was the father of Nimrod, who *' began
to be mighty on the earth, and he was a stout hunter
before the Lord, and the heginning of his kingdom was
JBahylon and Arach and A chad and Chalanne, in the
land of Sennaar." (v. 10.) ^ The author (p. 53.) shows that
notwithstanding these plain assertions of a descent from
Cham, the " ordinary theory'' was, that the early inhabi-
tants of Lower Mesopotamia were descendants of Sem.
The grounds for this opinion are fully examined by our
author, and are found to rest on (p. 65) " the supposed
character of the language," and (p. 66) ** on the supposed
identity or intimate connection of the Babylonians with
the Assyrians. These arguments the author demon-
strates to be unfounded. For his proofs we must refer
our readers to pp. 67-64, and to his conclusion, *' that the
primitive people of Babylon were the Cushites or Ethio-
pians, connected in some degree with the Canaanites,
Egyptians, and Lybians, and still more closely with the
people which dwelt upon the Upper Nile," who were
admitted on all hands to have been the children of Cham.

1863.] Notices of Books. 577

The principal interest, however, of our author's work con-
sists in the " most important and unexpected confirma-
tion" that the assertions of Holy {Scripture have lately
received *MVoni the results of linguistic research.'' He
then proceeds (p. 65) with a most interesting account of
the discovery by the inscriptions on bricks in the most
ancient remains at Mugeir, (Abram's Urof the Chaldees)
and elsewhere of a *' new form of speech" which is ** pro-
nounced to be decidedly Cushite or Ethiopyan," the
modern languages to which it approaches nearest being
those of the Mahra (southern Arabia) and the Galla of Abys-
sinia. ** Thus comparative philology is found to confirm
the old Traditions in eastern Ethiopia, instead of being (as
asserted by Bunsen) ** the invention of bewildered igno-
rance, is proved to be a reality which henceforth it will
be the extreme of scepticism to question ; and the primi-
tive rule which bore sway in Ohaldsea Proper is demon-
strated to have belonged to this Ethiopic type." (I., p. Q^.)
If such was the only result of this excellent work, it
would, in the present state of controversies without the
Ghnrch, be invaluable ; but this is only a specimen of the
whole book. In particular, we recommend to our readers
the author's account of the *' Chaldsean cosmogony" (L,p.
180 &c.) and its ** remarkable harmony" with the inspired
statements. The reader cannot fail also to peruse, with
very deep interest, the author's descriptions of ** Chal-
dsean Tombs," with their very excellent illustrations (pp.
108, &c.) and in particular their system of drainage,
(p. 113) which modern drainers may study with very great
benefit. We have not space for any remarks on the rest
of the volume, but we hope that the notice of this very
important publication will be resumed and treated at
greater length on the appearance of the two remaining
volumes.

lY. — Bantes Divina Commedia. The Inferno, Translated by W.
P. Wilkie, Advocate. Edinburgh : Edmonston and Douglas,
1862.

The readers of Dante will hail this work with satisfac-
tion. The translation is as vigorous and more literal than
that of Gary: and though Mr. Wilkie adopts the metre
of his predecessor, yet he acquires more freedom by not
confining himself in the length of his lines. He however

578 Notices of Books, [April,

frequently exhibits a want of harmony which is rarely
found in Gary, in whom we should look in vain for such a
line as the following :

*' Was at their feet by loathsome worms sucked." — iii. 69.
or,

" Then voyage they o*er the livid wave," — ib. 118.

These, however, are unimportant blemishes, and are
more than compensated by faithfulness and vigour. We
have room for one specimen only, which we select
from the famous story of ** Ugolino,'' with which we close
our recommendation of this excellent translation of a won-
derful Poem.

" Two spirits I observed together in one hole,
Frozen so close, one's head the other's cap appeared.
And as the hungry chew their loaf impatiently,
The upper on the under plied his grinning teeth
Just where the brain and nape unite." — xxx. 125.

The "upper" spirit thus explains his rage :

*' Count Ugolino was my name,

Ruggiere tlae Archbishop he.

I now relate why I so much his neighbour am :

" A'loophole in the cell.

Which after me is Famine named,

(And where yet other souls shall pine,)

Already through its opening several moons had shown.

When o'er me came an evil omened sleep,

"Which from the future rent the veil away.

I seemed to see this man as master of the hounds

Hunting a wolf and whelps upon the hill

That shuts out Lucca from the Pisan's view.

Gualande with Sismondi and Lanfranc,

He placed 4n front, to lead the chase.

With meagre, keen, and wary dogs.

Not long he run, when lagged

That father and sons, and then, meth ought

1 saw their limbs by sharp teeth torn.

** Before the dawn was I awoke
And listening heard my boys, who were with me.
Sob in their sleep, and call for bread.
Hardened art thou, if not already sad.
In thinking what my heart foreboded then ;
If weeping not at what are wont to weep : —
Soon they awoke ; and it was near the hour

1863.] Notices of Books. 579

When usually our morning meal was brought,
And each was troubled by his feverish dream.
Then at the horrid tower's low base I heard
The door nailed up, and quick steps move away.
Without a word, I looked into the faces of my sons.
I did not weep, for I within was turned to stone.
They wept ; and one, my little Anselm, said,

* Thou lookest so, father, what aileth thee?'
Yet still I shed no tear nor answered I
Through all that day and all the following night,
Until again the sun looked up upon the world,
When, then a feeble ray

Into our dreary prison stole ;

In their four faces I discerned the aspect of my own,

And in mine anguish I bit both my hands.

Thinking I did it from desire to eat,

My children quickly rose and said : —

• O father, we shall suffer less if thou wilt eat of us :
From thee we have this wretched flesh ;

'Tis thine to take.'
• I calmed myself lest they should more unhappy be.
That day and through the next we all were mute.

0 unrelenting eartli I why didst not swallow us ?
When came at length the fourth slow dawn,
Before me, on the flags, my Gaddo threw himself,
And gasped; * why, father, dost no help afford V
Then died ; and plainly as thou seest me now,

1 saw the rest sink one by one,
Between that morning and the sixth :

When, wholly blind I fell to groping over each,
And three days called them after they were dead
Then fasting more prevailed than grief.'

" This said, he turned his bloodshot eyes,
And with his teeth restruck the bishop's scull
And, like a hungry dog, crunched greedily the bone.'* —

xxxiii. — 12-78.

V. — History of Federal Government^ from the Foundation of the
Achaian League to the disruption of the United States. By
Edward A. Freeman, M. A. late Fellow of Trinity College, Ox-
ford. Macmillan & Co., London and Cambridge, 1863. Vol. I.
— General Introduction — History of the Greek Federations,

This publication is a valuable addition to historical
literature, and still more to political science. In our
opinion the author overrates the real worth of Federal go-
vernment : but at least it cannot be denied that he says a

580 Notices of Books. [April.

great de^l, and in our opinion all that can be said in its
favour. The present volume^ extends only in name at least
into Greece. The author fairly admits that it commences
after the termination of the glorious incidents of Grecian
story ; so that on that account it does not form any part of
Mr. Grote's History : nevertheless he has mannged to make
his narrative most interesting and instructive. This is
the more remarkable by reason of there not being any
contiimous narrative of events, for which he refers the reader
to other histories, and especially to the brilliant story of
Thirlwall. But upon these leading facts the author
keeps up a very full running comment, which is very ad-
mirably illustrated by references to the general history of
Federal government up to our own time, and in particular
those of Switzerland and America. We regret to find
that he exceeds even Kinglake in the bitterness of his
notices of the Emperor of the French, and that he speaks
in terms of what appears to us unnecessary and illiberal
disparagement of Professor Rawlinson. We sympathize,
however with his estimate of Thirlwall and Finlay : but
we cannot agree with him as to the worth of Garibaldi, and
of some other of his heroes. We trust that when the work
is completed by the volumes on mediaeval and modern
Federal governments, our readers will have a full account
of the whole work.

681

INDEX TO VOL. LII.

Academy, Royal Irish, capable of dealingf witli

the question of public documents in Ireland

324
Accountability held necessary groundwork of

domestic polity 157— universally recognized

id.
Act, Ecclesiastical Titles, grew out of the Synod

of Thurles 290 -principal cause of disagree-

nient between English and Irish Catholics

291
Act, Declatory, passed to grant a substitute to

King's Title purloined from Treasury of Trim

Action voluntary, in education, advantage of
1 10— more etfective in reformatories than any
other system, id.

Aid State, desired by some Catholics for all
Universities in Ireland 148— seldom given
without conditions, id.

Allocution, Papal, condemns errors of present
age 64- extract from, id. — condemns perse-
cution directed against ecclesiastics 66

Antiquity and constitution of the Parliaments
in Ireland, work on, copied in Calendar of
Patent !ind Close Rolls 327— extract from, id.

Argus, Melboune paper, advertisements in for
female servants 13

Art, absorbing nature of 185

Art Italian, disliked by Mendelssohn 221

Articles newspaper, must in France bear real
signature of writer 181

Assault murderous, all persons sharing in held
accountable by law 176

Association, power of, should be free 254 — free-
dom of, especially necessary for the Church
257

Aukland Lord, father of Hon. Eleanor Eden 86

Australia, women in, generally well conducted
9

Bach, compositions of, loved by family of Men-
delssohn 194

Baga Hibermaj, history of 353

Baini master of Papal choir, his kindness to
Mendelssohn 216

Barker Mrs. her letter on female emigration 8

Bartholdy, Felix Mendelssohn, his singular
career 185— his noble character, id. — iiis
family in easy circumstances i86— his life
sketched by Benedict 188 — his letters pub-
lished at Berlin, id. — his family distinguished
. by talent 189— his musical ability shown in
infancy 193— early instructed by liis mother
id.— account of in childhood given by Bene-
dict 195— visits Weimar 197— gains friendship
•f Clierubinl, id.— publishes his first worki

id. — inclined at first to imitate Mozart 198 —
his literary attainments 199— his domestic life
id. — extract from letterof, id.— arrives in Eng-
land 201— his travels, id. —visits Italy 202- de-
scribes visit to Goethe, id. — complains of liber-
ties taken with works of great musicians 208
— his description of coronation in Hungary
209— his letters from Venice 211— his criticism
on art 212— arrives at Rome 214— admitted
into Koman society 215— plays at house of
Bunsen 217— works composed by in Italy 220
— describes life passed in Rome, id.— not edu-
cated to appreciate Italian music 224— his
comments on Church music at Rome during
Holy Week 225— liis accuracy in noting down
music 226— mistaken in criticisms on Passion
230— introduced to Donizetti 233 -visits Paris
235— his conscientiousness 237— his sentiments
on composition 238— his letter to Devrient 239
— his compositions in Paris 240— refuses post
of director to singing academy at Berlin 241
his letters, id. — accepts directorship of con-
certs at Dusseldorf 243 — dies at Leipzic, id

stands in highest rank of musicians 244 — hia
Catholic dispositions, id.

Bartholdy, Paul Mendelssohn, brother to great
Mendelssohn 188 — publishes Mendelssohn's
letters, id. — preface written by, id.

Bartolomeo Fra, admired by Mendelssohn 213

Beatification, entitles recipients to public honour
46 — its importance, id.— question whether in-
fallible when pronounced by tlie Church, id.
— two sorts of, id.

Beatification, formal and acquipoUent, difference
between 46

Belgium enjoyed greater freedom under it« old
municipal institutions than under system of
centralization 252

Belgium, University system in 437

Benedict, his account of visit paid to Mendel-
ssohn's father 195

Benosti Count, anecdote of 178

Benlhain Jeremy, view taken by on obligations
of a sovereign 167

Berger Ludwig, instructor to Mendelssohn in
piano-forte 194

JDej-lin, criticisms passed at, on Mendelssohn's
early works 197— disliked by Mendelssohn
id.

Betham Sir W. his writings copied in Calendar
of Patent and Close Rolls 331 -extract from
his works, id. and 332

Bill, Catholic Relief, passed before Pitt entered
public life 87

Birkenliead, riots at, falsely described by news-
papers 179

582

INDEX.

Birmingham's Angllcania, notice of 570

Bishops number of present at canonization 61 —
vast body of, devoted to Pope 63— their ad-
dress to the Pope 67— their devotion to Holy
See 63 — could hardly have expressed them-
selves more strongly on temporal power of
the Pope 69

Bishops should have a place in proposed senate
for Irish University 450— their powers should
be defined 451

Bishops, not well adapted for the management
of secular education 461

Bishops, Irish Catholic, alarmed at system of
national education in Ireland 124

Black, gentleman in, story of past generation
163

Blasquez St. Peter Baptist, head of Franciscan
community in Japan 52

Blood cries aloud for vengeance 164

Board, National, girls educated by, unfit for
service 26

Book, Green. VallanceyVs, error concerning, in
Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls 352

Books, religious, employed in schools assisted
by Government should be without restriction
as to literary merit 141 — fixed sum should be
provided for id.

Bouchereti Mrs. her school, small average of
pupils at 31

Brougham Lord, supporter of rights of women
40

Bunsen Chevalier, kindness shown by to Men-
delssohn 216— musical parties given by, id.

Burton old, his opinion of marriages of the
poor 21

Cabinet, meetings of, on Catholic question 90

Calderari, Col. infamous conduct of 563

Canino, prince of 548

Cathair-na-Mart, meaning of 361

Callings, mechanical, must depend for success
on superiority over competition 31

Calvinism, different development of in diflFerent
countries 495

Campagna, Mercanti di, said to be most dis-
loyal class at Home 63

Canonization last held at Rome in Pontificate of
Gregory XVI. 44— proofs necessary for 45 —
steps necessary in, id. — imports cultus prae-
ceptus of whole Church 47— public testimony
of the Church to sanctity, id. -Church infalli-
ble in, id.— rite of described 58

. recent, at Rome, interesting cir-

cumstances of 44— number of bishops present
at 61— ceremonies of could not be seen by
majority of persons present, id.

Canto fermo the, not understood by Mendel-
ssohn 225 — described by Mendelssohn 226

Castlereagh Lord, summoned to cabinet council
on Catholic question 90

Catholics, Irish, treated with contempt on natio-
nal grounds U4— their position contrasted
with that of Catholics in the colonies 314

■ Irish, in Parliament, consistently sup-

ported Liberal party until passing of the Re-
form Law 285

Catholics, bad, generally concerned in the ori-
gin of persecution 53— grievances of, consid-
ered slight by Pitt 88— had moral claim on
English Government 91— always in Ireland
opposed to state education 121— rights of,
best secured by freedom 137— able to provide
University education 146

Catholicism, tendency to in Germany 501

Census, returns of, showing excess of female
population 4.

Centralization, administrative, does not exist In
fjEngland 255— instance of 256

political system of in France op-
posed to real liberty 246 — complicates every
proceeding 249— evils of, id. — produces help-
lessness against foreign invasion 252

Cliain, double law of responsibility likened to
160

Character Italian, indolence of, cause of inferio-
rity art 222

Charles V. speech made to by confessor 165

Chatham Lord, early superintends education of
Pitt 74— system of instruction employed by
75— different in style of public speaking from
Pitt 102

Children, number of who die young in London
42

Choir, Papal, Mendelssohn intimate with 216

Christians, Japanese, noble conduct of 54

Christina Maria, Queen of Naples, her process
of canonization now going on 48

Church, Catholic, her mission in public life 400
—her increasing influence 418— her power
421

Church, question whether infallible in decree of
canonization 47— censures of may be incurred
without formal heresy 48

Catholic in Japan, extinguished by per-
secution 57

Established, maintenance of considered

necessary by Pitt 88

r.stablished. in Ireland, never had inde-
pendent life 119— all institutions connected
with dependent on Government, id.

Irish Catholic, owes its freedom to non-

interfence of State 263

Churches, non-Papal, their condition 494

Classics cannot be taught without frequent re-
ference to religion 131— undue affeciion for
in England, id.

Clemens Professor, his lectures on philosophy at
Munster 417

Clergy, Belgian, enter into compact with Libe-
rals 398— abused by the Press, id.

Clergy, Irish, influenced by the Pope 311

Clotilda Maria, Queen of Sardinia, her process
of canonization now {.o'ng on 48

Clubs, London, high play carried on at 77

Code, Revised, article on io5 to 154

College, Cork, might be remodelled for snch
Catholics as wish for State education with
religious instruction 153

— Trinity, essentially belongs to Estab-
lished Church 150— ought to have the power
degrees of divinity, id.— should elect Protes-
tant M.P.

•—— University, only great college erected
on principle of omitting religious instruction
in England 117

Colleges, Queen's in Ireland, organized on model
of French University I26~entirely under
State control, id. — negative in point of reli-
gion, id. — nicknames given to, id. — professors
to appointed by Government 127— altogether
wrong in principle 147— can never contend
on equal terms with free colleges id.

Residential in England.^all of some fixed

creed 118

training, established at Dublin, charac-
ter of not religious 123— model schools estab-
lished by 124

College, Trinity in Dublin, its foundation 442—
intended for members of Established Church
445

— - Trinity, Provost of, his evidence 443

Colp, Gaelic word, meaning of 361

INDEX.

583

Commission for arranging public Records in

Ireland establislied 319-suddenly broken up
320
Commissioners, influence of in changing spirit

of national education in Ireland 122
Companies, Joint-stock, iniquities committed by

of late years 174— individual members of

ciinsider responsibility divided, id.
Comte, his influence in intellectual classes 405
Concordat, concession in return for benefits

conferred 263— could not be given in England

id.
Conscience appealed to by George III. only to

perpetuate injustice 167
Convention proposed at Rome 555
Correspondence Newspaper, terms offered to

aspirant for 177
Court, Inns of, voluntary associations 113
Court Papal, great men visiting during stay of

Mendelssohn at Rome 214
Cousin, his works, their influence 404
Crede Milii, pamphlet, mistaken account of in

Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls 359
Craig Miss, her opinion on the capacity of

women 33
Creches recently established in manufacturing

towns 16— poor substitutes for home 17
Creed, diversity of, prevents religion from being

taught in state education 117
Creeds, different, professors of. have establi-shed

schools for their own benefit 117— members

of have a right to share public grant if fairly

educating tiieir children 141
Crisis, Ministerial, well described by Lord Stan-
hope 81
Cry, anticatholic, determination to get up 179
Customs League devised by the Pope 541

Dahomey, king of, possesses certain notions of
accountability 157

Dante's Inferno, illustrated by Wilkie, notice of
577

Davies, Sir John, his works copied in Prefaces
to the Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls
341— extract from his writings, id.

Debates, Parliamentary, accrimony of in time of
Pitt 71

Degrees, medical, originally given by private
corporations 113— little interfered with by
State, id.

Oegrree.?, University, injustice of giving only to
members of Church of England 113 — can be
granted in Ireland by two Universities 149—
should be given by independent body of
examiners, id.

Dtmonstration, mathematical, not only proof of
truth 130— .should not be unduly exalted, id.

Departments, public, in England small number
of 256

Distinction, openings to among the loyjer classes

• 2— may be attained by the manufacturing
population 3

Documents, public in Ireland, carelessly kept
319

Documents, public. English acts pas.sed for pro-
per preservation of 383

Dollinger Dr. origin of his views on the Papacy
472- his opinion on the temporal sovereignty
of the Pope 474— on the conduct of the Sar-
dinian Government 476— on the necessity for
reforms in the Papal Government 481— on
the present troubles of the Holy See 483

Dollinger Dr. lectures of on Holy See, widely
reail 467 — received with disappointment by
Catholics 468— inaccurately reported 469—
commented in the Dublin Review 470

Dublin, history of, extract from on neglected
condition of public documents 320

Ducpetiaux, work of, on duty of the State 246 —
is a protest against doctrines of French Revo-
lution 265— extract from 266

Dundas Henry, compliments paid by to Wm.
Pitt 79

Ecclesiastics, their authority in education 460—
should have the power of revision in all
books used in Universities 462— should have
the right to censure all persons employed in
Universities 463

Echo du Parlement Brussels, extract from on
new work to be employed in French schools
116

Eden, Hon. Eleanor, loved by Pitt 86— charms
of, id.— not proposed for by Pitt 87— married
to Lord Hobart, id.

Education, legal , compulsory system of never
established in England 113

• mixed, of Catholics and Protestants,

more advantageous where religious teaching
is kept apart 143

question of much discussed in Parlia-
ment during session of late year 106— spe-
cially interesting to Catholics 107— free sys-
tem of in England productive of good 115—
system of constantly changed in France dur-
ing last sixty years 116— in Ireland entirely
in iiands of the state 120

separate, claimants for in Ireland 311

— their arguments 312

State, produces spirit of religious ani-
mosity in Ireland 129— system of injurious to
Faith 130 — destruction of free education 132
— no ordinary education can compete with
133— spirit of hostile to free institutions 134
—destroys spirit of independence 135— must
necessarily involve omission of religion 147

University, in Ireland, grounds for

objecting to 313

Edtication, system of in France 432

Eilers, Privy Councillor, his testimony as to the
Christian-like life led in the Catholic Church
502

Elgin Lord, his opinion on Irish politics 318

Ellis VVelbore, allusion made to by Pitt in Par-
liament 80

Emancipation not needed for women 39

Emigration, increase of in the last ten years 4
— little adopted by women, id. — can never
radically affect the position of women 7—
mistaken scheme for, id.— proper training for
among women 11 — only a temporary measure
in improving condition of women 15

Employments, new, not easy to find for women
30

Enactments, penal, disapproved by Pitt on prin-
ciple 88

England has always admitted the right of each
individual to educate himself 108— system of
education pursued in better than that on con-
tinent 108

Erck, John Caillard, his writings copied in

• Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls 348— ex-

'" tract from works of, id. — dies before publish-
ing second part of his Repertory 350— extract
from his Repertory 351

Ertmann, Madame, friend of Beethoven, intro-
duced to Jlendtlssohn 233

Examination, central and independent system
of, should if possible be established in Ireland
149— facilities for, id.

Examination system, central of, its defects 448

Existence H\ghe>it, a.\\ virtues attributes of 158
exempt from all shadow of responsibility, id.

584

INDEX.

Fabbri, Prime Minister 540

Faber, F., his Essay on Canonization, extract
from, 47— supposes the Cliurch infallible in
decrees of canonization, id.

Factories, increasing number of women em-
ployed in 17

Faithful, Emily, printing press established by,
successful 31

Farini, description of Bologna 550

Father, a, powers left to by State 156

.Jesuit, attend Japanese martyra be-
fore their execution 55

Fiants, condition of, incorrectly described in
Calendar ofPatent and Close Kolls 355— mean-
ing of, id.

FitzwilUam, Lord, sent to Ireland with a view
of conciliation 89 — precipitancy of excites op-
position, id.

Foundations made by individuals in Ireland,
handed over to state control 119

Fox, Charles, anecdote told of, on occasion of
Pitt's first speech 78— eloquence of, compared
with that of Pitt 102

France, system of education pursued in, liable
to be changed at every revolution T16

Franciscans, missionary establishments of, in
Japan 52 — had come as a sort of embassy
from government of Philippine Isles, id.— less
prudent than Jesuits, id.

Fransoni, Bishop, ministers responsible for un-
just treatment of 171

Franking system of, abused 83

Freeman on Federal Government, notice of
579

Functionaries, public, number of, in France
255

Garret, Revd. John, letter of, on emigration of
women 11

Germany, intellectual activity of Catholicism
making progress in 410— Catholic literature
in, id.

George III., king, offer made by, to assist Wil-
liam Pitt 85— his determination on Catliolic
question 91— his rejoinder to Mr. Dundas, id.
—his conduct at Levee 94— his interview with
Pitt 99

Garlachvon Pre.sident, his opinion on the power

of the Catholic Church in Germany 502

Germany, religious state <if 497 — religious feel-
ing in tending towards Rome 500

Gilbert, Mr., part of his writings copied in the
Prefaces to the Calendar of Patent and Close
Rolls 338— extract from his works, id.

Girls, schools for, in tlie present day do not fit
women for domestic .service 24

Goethe, visit to, described by Mendelssohn 202—
Selfishness of, id.— genius of heathen in type
207

Gomez, Father Peter, collects relics of Japanese
martyrs 56

Governesses, if really well educated, well em-
ployed in England 12— if under-educated,
should be willing to accept any respectable
position in the colonies, id. — no want of in
Melbourne 13 — no demand for in the colonies
43

Governments, colonial, should take up the ques-
tion of female emigration 14

— — interference of, prevents individual

liberty 246— democratic form of not necessa-
rily free 251 — is most economical where the
functions of the state are most narrowed 258

— — — Liberal, increasing opposition to
in Ireland 294

paternal, so called, involves de-

struction of individual effort 253— if estab-

lished at the time of Catholic Emancipation.

would have done great mischief in Ireland

260 — mn.st have cliecked free action of

Catholic Church 262
self, great characteristic of English

nation 245 -is of too short, id.— differently

exercised by French and English, id.
Government, French, system of 429
Goverment, temporal, of tlie Holy See, safeguard

to Italy 478— not immutable in form 479
Grant, Maynooth, considered by Lord Stanhope

in light of compromise 90
Gregory XVI., Pope, saints canonized by 44
Guizot, his work on the Christian Cliurch 406
Guizot, M., circulars issued by, as to publication

of public archives 325
Guizot, M., course pursued by, with regard to

public documents in France 325

Hardiman, Jarae.«s, celebrated as an archivist
335— part of his works copied in Prefaces to
Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls 336— ex-
tracts from his writings, id.— and 338

ITatchell, George, his Report copied in the Ca-
lendar of Patent and Close Rolls 342

Heathens hoped to escape responsibility by con-
cealing their sins i6f

Hensel, Mde„ sister of Mendelssohn, song com-
posed to 208

HibernicB, Liber Munerum Publicorum, extract
from 334— censured in Preface to Calendar
ofPatent and Close Rolls 347

High Mass, Papal, sung at canonization, peculiar
ceremonies of 60

History cannot be taught without clashing with
religious conviction of various classes 112 —
different views taken by Catholics and Pro-
testants 131

Hope, Miss, her opinion on training for servants
25

Hungary, king of, coronation of, described by
Mendelssohn 209

Hunter, Jo.seph, his opinion on the value of pub-
lic records 322

Huber admits that the licence to teach was de-
rived from ecclesiastical authority 427

Immermann, letter to, by Mendelssohn 235—
consulted by Mendelssohn on libretto for
opera 236.

lmpropei-ia of Palestrina admired by Mendelss-
ohn 231

Intellectualism, modern, differs from principles
of Reformation 391 — produced by Reforma-
tion 392— increased boldness of in modern
times 396

Individual, rights of the, not understood in
ancient Rome 251— dignity of, restored by
Christianity, id.

Inquiry, Chancery, on condition of Irish Re-
cords, its blunders, 323

Institutions, voluntary, adopted in France 110

Instruction, commission of, signature of first
step in canonization 45

— — given in girl schools, unless for prac-
tical purposes 24

public, ministry of, in France, pre-

paring new work to be used in all French
schools 116

Institutions free in England not due to Protes-
tantism 493

Ireland, system of education in, unlike that in
England IT9— peculiar feeling in, on subject
of education 120— state education peculiarly
ill adapted for 121— schools in, neces.sarily
more dependent on government than in Eng-
land i40--rich and poor in, often of different

INDEX.

585

faith, id.— needs only freedom In education
154— state assistance often desired for, by
Calliolics 259— miglit have been injured by
state interference at time of Catliolic emanci-
pation 260-accurHte surveyof 279— real con-
dition of, not well understood 280- contra-
dictory reports about, id — insults heaped on
by all parties in England 281— little changed
since described by Lord Macaulay 282

Irish, owe much to, system of liberty inherited
from Catholic times and noninterference of
the state 259— firmly believed in possibility of
repeal 288— alienated by support given to
Italian Revolution by liberal government 294

Islands, Japanese, first discovered by Portu-
guese 51 — conversion of, id. — Embassy sent
by to Pojie Gregory XIII., contrasted with
recent embassy to England 51

Isolation, policy of not suited to the Church at
present time 399

Italy, revolution iu, its objects and principles
411

Jacuin persuades Taiko-Sama to persecute

Christians 53
JesJiits, strictly speaking only missionary estab-
lishment in Japan 52 —arrested with Fran-
ciscans 55
Jesuits, conduct towards 533
Jews, conduct of Pius IX. towards 541
Johnson, Dr., his#opinion on employment of

men in shops 18
Journal, Englishman's, letter in on female emi-
gration 10

Kuhn, Dr., his controversy with Prof. Clemens
418

Ladies have the power of insisting on being
served by women in shops 20 — number t)f in
England unmarried and unemployed 28 —
would in Catliolic countries enter religious
life 29— inclined to busy themselves with ab-
stract rights of women 36

Laniennais, Abbe, his arguments on the separa-
tion of Church and State 396

Langres, P.ishop of, his speech on education 451

Lascelles, Mr., his works copied in the Calendar
of Patent and Close Rolls 334 and 344

Law, Poor, question of, in Ireland, might be
arranged between English and Irish liberals

315
Lai/brother, Trinitarian, miraculously cured by

St. Micliael de Sanctis 58
Liberal, meaning of, should be precisely defined

303

Liberals, Irish, united in many points to English
Liberals 304— differ from them on foreign
policy, id. — should consider with what party
they could ally themselves 305— might be re-
united to English Liberals 306— sliould re-
consider their past parliamentary policy with
regard to the Pope, id. — have hitherto denied
the existence of discontent in Italy 308 —
might agree with Englisli Liberals to set
aside Italian question and unite with them
on other subjects 309 — might compromise
various matters 311— their unreasonable ex-
pectations 319

Liberals. Roman, struck by demonstration at
canonization at Rome 63

Liberty cannot exist without lawful authority to
guard it 264— condition of in France Belgium
England and Ireland shown by comparative
tables 265

Liberty, individual, characteristic of English
government 245

Libretto. French, disliked by Mendelssohn 237

Lieder ohne Worte, composed at Dusseldorf 243

Lincoln, Bishop of, subseribes to help VVilliura
Pitt 85— demands tliat p.nrliament should pay
back all money to subscribers 86

Literature, French, popular, unchri.stian cha-
racter of 407

Lithography, work in, not easily got by women
3'

Loomans, M., his report on university education
424

Loughborough, Chancellor, consulted by George
III. on Catholic que.stion 91 - his duplicity 92

— letter to him by Pitt, id.— shows Pitt's letter
to king 93— loses king's favour 97

Louvain, University of, its government 455—
entirely under the control of tiie Bishops 457
— its system should not be imitated iu Irish
University 458
Loyalty kept up in Ireland by O'Connell 289
Luca, l)i. Commander, instruction issued by 171
Lutheranism, state of, in Sweden 495
Lynch, William, writer on Anglo-Irish Records
328— his works copied in Calendar of Patent
and Close Rolls 349— extracts from his wri-
tings, id., and 330

Machine, sewing, displaces seemstresses 21— in-
structions in use of given in classes, id.

Magazine, editor of, cannot avoid being respon-
.sible for opinions of contributors i6i— must
never admit anything contrary to his consci-
entious opinions, id.

Man in every station of life accountable to
Himself and to God 160

Marriage, disinclination to, among the manu-
facturing classes 2— deferred in the hope of
advancement 4 - cannot be considered as thp
one object of women 6 — recklessly entered
into 22— put before women as the one object
of existence 23- would be generally happier
if women were less dependent, id — ought
not to be regarded as the only object of wo-
men 35

Mai-riages among the lower orders recklessness
of a source of evil 21

Martyrdom sufflcent proof of heroic virtue 45

Martyrs, Japanese, different positions of in life
48— list of 49 and 50— condemed todeath 55 —
their sentence investigated, id. — their journey
id.— not crucified in the same way that our
Lord suffered, id.— their fervour 36— miracle
performed by after death, id.— history of mis *"
represented by Protestant papers 57

Mason, Joseph Henry, extract from works 0
327.328

Massachusetts, ladies of, meetings held by 36

May/uw, Mr., his article on temptations olfere
to women 42

A/«a5«re. unjust, if adopted in cabinet council,
who responsible for 170

Men do not suCaciently consider position of wo-
men 41

Mendelssohn, Abraham, father of musician, ca-
reer of 192 — adopts name of Bartholdy, id.

Fanny, sister of musician— mu-
sical genius of 193— companion to her brother
id. — music composed by 237

Mendelssohn, Moses, grandfather of musician 189
— remarkable career of, id.— early life of 190

— acquainted with Les-sing, id. — works
written by, id.— character of introduced into
drama by Lessing 191

Meskenningham, term of falsely explained in
Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls 359

Michael de Sanctis, St., history of 57— beatified
by Pius VI., 58 miraclss performed by, id.

586

INDRX.

Midnight Review of Napoleon— Mendelssohn

refuses to compose music for 238
Midsummer Night's Dream, opera of, criticised

by Macfarren 198— absurd comment on 234
Mill, Mr. J. S., his opinion on emancipation of

women 38
Ministers, council of, often actuated by notions

of expediency 168— supposed to have no rule

of abstract justice 169— bad motives attributed

to, id.
Monarch, Christian, possessed of double re-

spuiisibility 165
Monuments, public, in Ireland, wretched condi-
tion of 321
Morality, evil effects produced on, by the Re •

formation 393
Morals, recognised principle of, that no human

being can escape responsibility 155
Mozart, son of, acquainted with Mendelssohn

234
Music, German, Mendelssohn biassed in favour

of 223
Italian, low condition of, during the visit

to Romeof Mendels.sohn 221 — comments on by

Mendelssohn, id. — unfairly judged of 223
sacred dramatic, should be thoroughly

known to be appreciated 225
Mumiments, public, of Ireland, concentration of

ably carried on under supervision of Mr. W.

H. Hardinge 387— should be collected in one

general repository 389

Naples, art in, comment on by Mendelssohn
222

Nationality, principle of chief cause of Refor-
mation 488— its influence in Germany, id.

Needlewomen, small number of in London 42

Netherlands, king of the, course pursued by as
to the publication of National muniments 324
—ordinance addressed by 325

Normans, Anglo, imposed their own institutions
on all the territory under their control 319

Norris, Mr., his opinion on female educatiim 25

Nurses, professional, unsatisfactory in England
28--not properly trained, id.

Oath, Coronation, impression made by on
George III. 98

O'Connell withdrew his party from absolute
support of the Liberals 285— policy pursued
by, id. — maintains the claims of the Irish
Liberals on the English Reformers 286— did
not put forward repeal as ultimatum while
the Whigs were in power 287— let loose force
of repeal movement against conservative
ministry, id.— did not himself consider Repeal
as the object of the agitation 288— loses in-
fluence with his party, id.

Officer, Spanish, mischief done by in Japanese
persecutions 53— false information given by
him to Japanese 54

Offices. Chancery, commissioners to inquire into
their report on tlie condition of public re-
cords in Ireland, extracts from 321— blun-
ders committed by 323

Opposition, independent, in parliament, failure
of 291

Orange, house of, its overthrow caused by at-
tempt at centralizatiou 252

Oi'ganization, religious, prejudice in England
29

Orleans, Bishop of, sermon preached by in Rome
64

Painting, dial, not successfully pursued by

women 31
Painters, great portraits of, comments on by

Mendelssohn 213

Palma, Monslgnore, death of 563

Papacy, historical development of 489

Papers, daily, under management of human
intelligence 176— information given by, re-
ceived without examination, id. — specimens
of joint stock responsibihty 177— facts sup-
pres.sed by, id. — require their accounts cooked
id. — inventions of, id.

Pardons, entries of, in Calendars of Patent and
close Rolls 371

Parents should endeavour to bring up their
daughters to tlieir own business 34

Paris, University of, its origin 424

Parkes, Miss, her opinion on tiie cause of defi-
cient training in women 35 — mistaken in her
view 36

Party, conservative, could not ally themselves
with Irish Hberals 306

Liberal, in England and Ireland, article

on 279 to 318

Liberal, in England, should reconsider

question of Pope's temporal power 310 -would
willingly give up state education in Ireland
315 — expect too mucli of Irish Liberals 316

Liberal in England, have shown par-
ticular hat»*ed to the Irish 281— are not de-
pendent on Irish support, id.— have been
faithless in their promises to redress iri>h
grievances 282— confounded by Irish Catho-
lics with Whigs 283 — conceived their mea-
sures for Irish reform in nacrow spirit 284

Liberal, in Ireland, disorganization of,

after death, of O'Connell 289— estranged
from English Liberals by refusal of Lord J.
Russell's government to suppoot Irish reform
290— and by the system of university educ*i-
tion, id. — should ascertain exact points of
difference with the English Liberals 303

Patrie, untrue statement of, roticed in an ad-
dress drawn up by Cardinal Wiseman 67

Peasants, general rising among, produced by
Reformation 394

Peel, Sir Robert, institutions created by, to
supply university education in Ireland 125—
his views imperiectly carried out 126

Sir Robert, his speecli on Irish Arms Act

288

Pells, clerkship of, refused by Pitt 83

People, a, education of divided into three
branches 107

Perraud, Abbe, his work on Ireland 282— views
Irish politics as a Frenchman, id.

Phcedon, work of, written by Moses Mendelssohn
excellence of 191

Philip IL, deatlibttd speech of 165

Pitt, Right Hon. William, Life of. by Earl Stan-
hope, Article on 70 to 106

character of, not yet impartially consi-
dered 70— agrees in principle with most of
his opponents 71— bitter language usd by, id.
—life of interesting to Catholics 72— existence
of completely merged in politics 73 — his
precocity 74— his life deficient in domestic
interest, id.— only once visited France 76 —
liis pecuniary difficulties, id.- enters parlia-
ment 77— called on to speak for the first time
unexpectedly, id.— his brilliant smxess as an
orator 78 talents displayed by in debating
society 79— generally popular, id.— attends
first circuit, id.— refuses to accept subordi-
nate situation? in Parliament 80— appointed
Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord
Shelborne 81— becomes Prime Minister, id. —
prompt measures taken by on tlie loss of
Great Seal 82— his increasing embarrassments
caused by Avant of care 84— refuses to accept
pul)lic money 85— assistance given to by
friends, id.— his debts paid after death by

INDEX.

587

Parliament, id.— hl8 coldness towards Ca-
Uiolics 88— not dishonest in recalling Lord
Fitzwilliam 89— reserve shown by towards
king 93 — arguments used by on Ca-
tholic question 95 — letter written by to
George III., extract from 96— resigns office
97— message sent to by king wlien convales-
cent 98— justified in returning to office after
postponement of Catholic question 100— his
eloquence considered 103— his social charac-
ter 103— his habits 104— not indifferent to
literature of his own time, id.— his ccmvivial
habits, id —epigram made on 105— his con-
duct during Addington administration de-
fended, id.

Pius IX., Pope, reforms projected by 479— ob-
liged to postpone measures of conciliation 480

Population, male and female, disproportion of
4— vast increase of 21

Pope, present, entluisiasra shown for in Whit-
sun week 63 — military force possessed by
64— banquet given by to Bishops id.— address
to by bishops quotati(m from 68

Pope's reforms since his return to Rome 565—
liis escape from Rome 563

Popoli, Count, anecdote of 178

Population, Irish, strengtlj of 310— its influence
sliould be considered by Liberal party in Eng-
land, id.

Post, Evening, extract from 296, 298, and 300

Power, temporal, of the Pope, strongly sup-
ported by bishops 68— hitherto chosen as
means of supporting independence of Holy
See 69— should be heartily maintained by
Catliolics 70— should be advocated on politi-
cal grounds 307

Pretyman, tutor and biographer of Pitt 76

Presbyterians in Ireland might provide educa-
tion for themselves 153— might have separate
college provided for them, id.

Presa, liberal, in Ireland, opinion of 295

newspaper, malignant spirit of towards

Catholics 179

Printing, women well able to work at 30

. Press, Victoria, success of 30

Prisons, Neapolitan, lies told about by daily
papers 177

Proselytism, must be effectually prevented in
Irish schools 141

Protestantism and Papacy, work by Dr. Dol-
linger, its plan 486

Prussia university system in 434

Psalms, chant of, the effect of described by
Mendelssohn 227— embellishment of 228

Raleigh, Sir Walter, his opinion on marriage 22

Rationalism in Germany cause of 497

Rawlinson, Professor, Five Ancient Monarchies,
notice of 576

Records, ancient, study of distinct branch of
knowledge 379— application required for com-
prehension of 380

Records, public, in Ireland, their disgraceful
condition 319— their value 321-entrusted for
publication to clerk of law courts 325

■■ public in Belgium, publication of 324

Reformation, disorganization following 490 —
internal despotism caused by 491

Religion not recogniiied as part of education in
state schools in France and Belgium 117— in
England considered essential part of educa-
tion, id. — strongly introduced in all brandies
of knowledge 132

Responsibility, article on 155 to 184

Responsibility belongs to every deliberate ac-
tion 155— principle of univer.sally recogni.sed,
id.— acknowledged by state, id. — exacted by
man from all subject to him 156— principle

of implanted by God 157— no type of to be
found in God 158— shared in by Christ, id. —
has no existence beyond the grave 159 — i»
the result of man's fall, id.— distribution of
expedient of present age 173— cannot be
avoided by disclaiming 181

Review, Dublin, career of 182— has always
been conducted under sense of responsibility
183

Review, Irish quarterly, extract from 292

Rights, female, society for promoting caused by
tlie real sufferings of women 6

Rites, Congregation of, has two processes of
canonization going on at present time 48

Robert le Diable, opera of, comment on by
Mendelssohn 235

Rolls. Patent and Close, Calender of its publi-
cation 326— great part extracted verbatim
from otiier writers, id. — extract from 327 —
blunders in 340— copies from old writers _34i

jRo//«, Patent and Close, Calendar of executed
with great rapidity 373 -approved by Lord
Chancellor of Ireland 376— publication of
should be discontinued 382

Patent and Close, language employed In

362 — badly translated 364— meaning of 365—
difficult to make abstract from 366 — omis-
sions in 367 — compiled by Irish Record
Commission 374

Romilly, Sir J., approves the publication of the
Calender of Patent and Close liolls 381

Romilly, Sir J., entrusts publication of English
documents to scholars 325

Rome, ancient, false idea held in, of the State
251

on the day of Pentecost 1862, article on

pages 44 to 70

pilgrims to on occasion of canonization,

support to Pope 62— people of not used to
shouting at sight of Pope 63— always the home
of genius 214 represents spirit of liberty 258

Rossi, his murder 561 — his article in Roman
Gazette 556

Rosmini, Prime Minister 553

Rossi, Prime Minister 547

Ryt, Miss, letter of on female emigration 7 — mis-
taken in sending educated wimien to the co-
lonies 8~attack on by colonial papers 43

Saint Peter, church of, not sufficiently lighted
at ceremony of canonization 60— its congre-
gation reverent 62

Saints, the various steps in honouring 45

Sama-Kumbo, official title of Emperor of Japati
52

Sama-Taiko, Emperor of Japan, a man of hum-
ble origin 52— upright character of, id.-refuses
at first to persecute Christians 53— acts consis-
tently on information received 54 — resolves
to put Franciscans only to death 55

Sardinia, crimes committed in 163— who re-
sponsible for sufferings of 164

King of, his conduct 163

Sardinian aggression compared with Austrian
567 *

Sonery, Alpine, described by Mendelssohn 234

School, secularization of, the instrument of
modern intellectualism 403

Schools, central training, in Ireland I2J— would
be best conducted on English system 141 — or
should consist in courses of lectures, id.

endowed, number of caused by system

of free education 115

free, in Ireland, put at a disadvantage

by national scliools 134— supported by people
id.

middle, objects of 107 — have never been

in England interfered with by State no— sys-

588

INDEX.

tem of successful iii— examinations intro-
duced into, id
Schools, model, establislied by Commissioners of
National Education 124 -quite without reli-
gious instruction 125— based on erroneous
principle and should have no support from
Catholics 144— not required in Irish towns
145— scholars attending drawn from existing
schools, id.

. National, in Ireland, teachers in become

paid oflftcers of the Board 123— boolss pub-
lished for, id.
primary, objects of 107— left for centu-
ries to voluntary action 109— not set on foot
by Government, id.— religious character of
distinctly recognised in England 118— failed
at first in Ireland from attempt of Govern-
ment to enforce religious convictions lai —
books for provided by Government 128

State, can never, if in possession of state

funds, be put in competition with free schoo s
138— should not be supported by Catholics
id. — system of unjust, id.
Science has suflfered from absence of faith 395—

its fallibility 415
Seal, Great, stolen from house of Chancellor 82

— loss of attributed to party intrigue, id.
Seamstresses becoming extinct from employ-
ment of sewing machine 21
See Holy, not actuated by political reasons in

late canonizations 48
Servants domestic, generally complained of 24
condition of requires consideration,id.— better
class of should be trained up, id.— much
wanted 26— if well trained would occupy high
position in lamilies 27— condition of in old
age should be enquired into, id.
Ships, common emigrant, not adapted for large

cla.ss of unprovid:;d women 14
Shopkeepers, daughters of, ill-educated and un-
provided for 33— should be trained to the
business of their parents 34
Shopmen, do not usually support their female
relatives 19— should be put down by law 20
Shops, work in specially fitted for women i8 —

not requiring great strength 19
Sin cannot be divided 170— men like companion-

siiip in, id.
Situations, poor, competition for among women

41
Smiih, Sydney, anecdote told by on Madame de

btael and Emperor of Kussia 163
Society, female emigration mistaken in sending
out educated women 7— should be assisted by
men 9
Irish Archaeological, contains many emi-
nent men 324
Society, London, Report of on introducing new
work for women 31— strong views adopted by
ladies on committee of 40
Sovereign, always held accountable for personal
vices 162— can never be unaccountable for
public oifences 163— formerly held responsi-
ble for good and evil of his suljects 165— ob-
ligations contracted by at coronation 166
Stanhope, Lord, uses apolo<jetical style in Life
of ritt 72— posses.ses abundant sources of
information, id. — his impartiality 73 — his
powers as a descriptive biographer 106
State the, its duties in relation t^ education 107
— its action limited in England as compared
with the continent, id.— its duty to provide
education for the people admitted abroad io8
—its influence hostile to competition 133—
should assist all education and enforce none
139— its duty only to test results in education
149 -possesses right to enforce its own laws

15s— its duties not generally well understood
247— definition of, id— its duty to protectand
not absorb individual liberty 250 -limits of
its action defined 254

State connexion of the with education In
England and Ireland, article on 106 to 154

duty of the, its rules and limits, article

on 245 to 271

Statutes, practice of enrolling in French, when
discontinued 323

Steele, opinion expressed by in Tatler on posi-
tion of women 5

Students, art, in Rome, description of by Men-
dels.sohn 215

Sumitanda, King, his conversion 51

Survey Down, in Ireland, error concerning in
Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls 352

Sweden, religious condition of 469

Sydney, Bishop of, his opinion on demand for
educated women in the colonies 8

Symphony, Reformation, composed by Mendel-
ssoiin, Protestant colouring of 219— no proof
of anti-Catholic feeling in Mendelssohn 219

System, National, of education in Ireland con-
tained at first principles of English freedom
122— religious instruction recognised in, id. —
gradual change in, id. — advantages claimed
for T28 — supposed to promote spirit of charity
129— tends to make the State sole patron of
literature 136— gradual increase and devel-
opment of 137

System, manufacturing, in the present day un-
favourable to marriage 2— bad influence of on
domestic life 16

Tanistry, term falsely described in Calendar of
Patent and Close Rolls 360

Teaching, different from testing knowledge 112

Religious, cannot be separated from

other knowledge 130— modifies every branch
of learning, id.— may be disconnected from
some studies, but cannot without bad results
be left out of general scheme for education
142

Te Deum, grand effect of, as sung in Rome 59

Telegraph, work on, not fitted for women 30 —
requires night labour, id.

Tempest^ Shakspeare's, proposed opera on by
Mendelssohn 236

Terms, different in decrees of canonizatim and
beatification 47

Theory, dogmatic, abandoned in Germany 499

Thurles, synod of, grew out of establishment of
Queen's Colleges 290

Times, letter written to on position of women 37
—opinion of regulated by profit 180— respon-
sibility of, id.

Times, account of Sardinian aggression and
breach of international law 568

Titles, defective, inquisition on, established by
Charles I. 358- not caused by the loss of
Records, id.

Trtsham, Edward, extract from writings of,
copied into prefaces to Calendar of Patent
and Close Rolls 350

Trim, documents m the treasury of, not de-
stroyed by O'Neill 356

Trinita de Monte, church of, visited often by
Mendelssohn 217— Visit to described, id.—
Motetts composed for by Mendelssohn 218

Tulle, Bishop of, sermon preached by 64

Turk, anecdote told of 175

Turks, conduct by England to, compared with
her conduct to the Pope 566

UnaccountabilityM^Si- of, proscribed to mankind
136

INDEX.

589

Union offered to Irish with some promise of
redress to their firievaiices 90

Universities formerly under jurisdiction of the
Pope 425— system of clianged at Reformation
428

free in Belgium, their success 439

University. Catl\olic in Ireland, two systems
practicable for reorganizing 441 —proposed
government of 446— degrees of ought to be
recognised by the state 448 -charter to be
granted to 449 — its proposed constitution 450
—and senate 452

University, Catholic, in Ireland, movement in
favour of 107

Dublin, really distinct from Trinity

College 442

Dublin, grants degrees only to

members of Trinity College 149— not neces-
sarily connected with I rinity College 150—
not essentially Protestant body, id. —should
be merged in Irish University, id.

Dublin, college of was intended to

be open to Catholics 445

Irish, .should represent all other

colleges, and grant degrees to all 150 — should
be free from government influence 151— dif-
ficulties in establishing, id.

examining for Ireland, plan of con-
sidered 441— must be but one 442

London, senate of 452

London, established in order to

give degrees to Catholics and Dis-senters 114
— purely examining body, id.— intended to be
self-governing, id.

Queen's, in Ireland, shares the de-
fects of Queen's Colleges 147— can never be
impartial, id.— grants degrees to Queen's Col-
leges only 149

Universites, originated system of examinations
and certificates m — in England never de-
pendent on state 112— self-governing in.sti-
tutions 113 — have remained undisturbed
through all revolutions 116

£/r6an VIII., Pope, decree issued by, as to ca-
nonizatioaof Japauese martyrs 56

Venerable, 'person declared, is not entitled to
public cultus 46

Virtue, heroic, proofs of, necessary to canoniza-
tion 45

Vocations, religious, numbers of in present day
418— their use in the Church 421

Walpole, Horace, his complimentary allusion to

Wm. Pitt in journal 80
Walpurgis Nacht, opera by Mendelssohn 22o—

description of by composer, id.

Week, Holy, at Rome, mnsic of unfavourably
regarded by Mendelssohn 224— cereir.onics of
described in letter by Mendelssohn, id —its
perfection as a whole 226

Whately, Dr. attached to principles of state
ediic'jtion 122

Whigs, modern not to be identified with Whigs
of the Revolution 283— were until emancii)a-
tion con.si.stent advocates of Irish Rights 284
— have had their measures often adopted by
their opponents, id.

Whiteside, Right Honourable J. lecture given by
S78

Willis, Dr. his letter to Mr. Pitt 99

Wilson, Rev. E. tutor to Wm. Fitt 74

Wiseman, Cardinal, his reply to the address of
the clergy recommended 48 — reason for
choosing him to draw up address to the Pope
67

Wiseman, Cardinal, Lecture on Contact of
Science and art, notice of 574

Women, educated, not required in the colonies
7--unfitted for emigration 10— have a good
opening in England 12

employment of, article on i to 44

employment of, question not to be

postponed 1— position of worse than in for-
mer years, id. — large number of unable to
marry 4 — naturally inclined to domestic
duties 6 -unjustly treated 7— lower orders of
should be chosen for emigration lo-pmper
qualifications of for the colonies 11 — should
be prepared on emigrating to accept any
situation 14- large cla.ss of not adapted for
common emigrant ships, id. — specially quali-
fied for work in shops 18— if able to support
themselves would be less eager for marriage
23 — can never compete with men 32— are
much more employed on the continent than
in England 33— capacities of 37— driven into
false theories by real grievances 40— tempta-
tions offered to in London 42

World, Musical, extract from on early genius of
Mendelssohn 194

World, the, never more attractive than now
419

Work, female, in unsatisfactory condition 15

factory. Increase of among women 16 —

bad effects of, id.

shop, unsatisfactory state of for women

18

Writers, Christian, in France, their numbers
and influence 405

Zelter, instructor of Mendelssohn in thorough
Bass 194— his genius 195— judgment shown
by, id.

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TO THE READERS OF THE DUBLIN REVIEW,

At the close of my long connection with this
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I the more regret because I understand that Mr.
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The Editor of the Dublin Review.

London, March 31, 1863.

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