IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I! I.I 1.25 '"IM lillM r ■- iiiiM 11 12.0 1.8 u mil 1.6 /. VI c^^. ass, that separates the splendid I'hetoric of Mr. Blake from the inexorable logic of historic fact; and this, too, much and often, as 1 say to myself, oh, tlnit 1 coukl jiass to the othei- side, and believe as he would fain j)ersuade jne to. Vov could I but believe what Mr. Blake's argument imi)lies to bo the verv heart of Popery towards us heretics; could I believe that the Pope — and the Pope is 7ioic Catholicism — has been converted into an advocate, or even a convinced non-opponent, of freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, and fi-ee instituticnts ; that he regards persecution as a crime, and toleration of honestly main- tJiined religious opinions as not only a human right, but a solemn human duty; tiiat he abhors, as unchristian and demoniacal. Inquisitions, and ttiifon dd fe, and the stake, and the rack, Jind all the horrible and revolting enginery of a misguided and pitiless past; and had won over to bis infallible opi:iion the cardinals and bishops and priests and people of his church ; and would himself ..a" who had icU with loiiiintcd Con Urn I-, ivt's, iiiul lire, iitwl ii'ii niati, . to tlie liirdcnod ich had L, though ii bitter •li is tiic A'\\\^ the ii'ist told :nir, they lo.so who u are of: the sold or when override ion those 1(1, steady lut those \e Un(>ws ances of , of tho dlibility heeause r. Blake iieh and 101" side, kl I but y heart Pope — into an Kloin of that he ly inain- i solemn iioniacal, and all pitiless nals and himself — 7— declare that henceforth men miiiht breathe freely, and face with honest iniiuls the problem of the woikl, my heart would bound with a jL^ioat joy; and whatever and however strani^e minlit be tJK' reliijioiis (io^jmas of Catholics, however unlike the Christianity of the New Testament, however contrary to my leason and common sense, yet my soul would be ilrawn towards hint and I hem by a boundless sympathy ; and my mind — no Ioniser troubled about the future of oui- ])oor humanity — 1 could repose in peace, iinvexed henceforth l)y dislractin;;; doubt and pity for my knid. 1 have been wont, however, I confess, jud^iii^ Jlomo by history and her unchani;inij; declarations, to re^aul the Papal dcsjjotism as the most insidious, constant, and daiiijerous enemy to honest, independent thought, tree institutions, free speech, and freedom of worship; but I am intormed by Mr. Jilake that I was wholly mistaken, and that she has become, if she ever was otln^wise, tolerant and harmless, and, if not the avowed friend, the op|>onent no longer v)f freedom and political fair play. Hut though 1 tlioui^ht in this way in regard to the system of Popery, I did not believe that the mass of Catholic peoim-e shared with their accredited teachers their ojiinions, or even believed that they iield them at all ; but 1 feel that, in tho event of any gieat opporturnty of I'eviving the old atattis of the Church of *ho Middle Ages, of any great (to them) favorablo crisis in huinaii affairs evor occurring, such as, say, some new revocation of the Indict of Nantes, accompanied by the ])owor to bend others to their will or to break them byit, Catholic laymen would have to choose be- tween the tearful allernntiveof joiinng in a general crusade against all who (littered from Jioine in (^pinion, and of using/o/re (and we know what that means) to achieve their ends; or, else, of al>andoning their church, which, in their opinion, would seem almost, if not altogethei', ecpiivalent to tht r-bundonment of Cbristiaiuty itself. And though the best feelings of tho Catholic layman and of many a priest and bisJioj) of that church, their sense of justice, and their human pity would j-iso up instinctively against it, and though the whole spirit and geiuus of Ciiristiardty is opposed to it, yea, and the express commands of Christ, yet the church's dictum would have, I fear, to be ca* ried into execution, and even Kdward Blake would have to go or to recant, and many a gentle Sir Thomas Moi-e to give in his adhesion, spite of all his Utopias. For when once the demon of priestcraft has taken possession of a man, when he is cock-sure (excuse the vulgarism) that he kn(nvs intimately the whole counsels of the Deity, his plans and purposes in all their details, that be is a Vice-({od on earth, the very mouthpiece of the Kternal, the foundation is laid broad for blgotiy and intolerance and cruelty, and when impatience of contradiction and an imperious will — very human attributes — are added, persecu- tion is almost certain to be the result. Again, look at Sir ThoraaH TT *i) -8— More amons^ h'S chosen friends, what a ]M('tni'e does he not present of hoautiful patiiarchnl aniialtility and att'eetion, and how instinctively, as we heai- his name, do thc^se traits i-ise nj) in our minds; yet such is tlie warping ellcct of this cock-surencss and ])riostly higotry, that this man conid l)o changed into the hitteresl and most relentless pei'secntor of men whose opinions dilfered from Ids own, and who dared to ntter, in hehalf ot hiuiianity, what they holieve, and what Mr. Blake helieves, to he the ntost j)recious ti-nths of God. 1 am afraid, indeed I am sure, Mr. Hlake would not have escaped skin-whole, and that it would have heen far hotter for him to ho among Orangemen at such a time. How would he like the fiite of Sir Thomas llytton, hurnt -U the stake loi' uttering honestly his helief, while Sir Thomas More (his gentle nature soured and curdled bj' the acid of jjriestcralt) coidd even mock at his sutferings, crying out, "And this, lo, is Sii- Thomas llytton, the Devil's stinking martyr, of whose burning Tyndale maketh boast." And when another was burnt to tleath lor not holding the views of More, Mor • exclaims — foi- of course he knew exactly everything about it — such is the eHect of this beautiful cock-sureness — "The jtoor wretch (Tewksbuiy) lieth now in hell. . .and Tyndale {i.e., tl;e translatoi" of the Bible) if he do not amend in time, he is like to tind him, when they come together, a hot lirebrand burning at his back, that all the water in the woi'ld will not be jd)le to (j[iiench." Why did not Infallibility, semjicr eadem, cry out against all this monstrous ci-uelty and pitiless crime. Why did Mr. Blake's new friend, the Pope, sit silent by or not silent, while all this was going on. Has he oi* his successv>r (all iidiillible; .so that what- KsViii- one has approved of, all approve of to the end of time) evei- once lifted his voice against Inquis tions and heretic-buriungs and iill the frightful wholesale murders of high-s(Mdcd men anil inno- cent women and children, when one word from hhn would haoc stop- ■ped it lUl. And remember, the I'ope is a continuous pei-.soiialil>', possessed of the same perpetual and inherent powei-sand thesanie infall'bility^ so that what one utters authoritatively is equall}' the utterance of all that come after him, and e(|ually binding a thou- sand years hen '!e as it was 3esterday. It was a fatal gift — fatal to the poor world and to the Pope himself in many ways — this shirt of a Dejanira. But such is the sure result when poor, feeble, finite man thrusts himself into the judgment-Swat of the Eternal. Ho believes he knows the very heart of God, when he really knows less than nothing. As it is vvi'itten, " 1 kept silence (and), thou thoughtest 1 was altogether (such a one) as thyself." Even when fulminating his anatliemas and persoi-uting to the death the very heroes of humaiuty, be is cock-sure that he is doing right. Like the poor blundering disciples in their foolish, heated over- zeal, he would fain pluck up die tares from aujong the wheat; but is rebuked b}- the emphatic command of Christ, " let them 2 I ' ( ho not nnd how lip ill our >IU'HS jiiul I hittorost < (lilVcrod lUinnnity, till' ino^st Mr. Blako lavo heoli 10. I low Iho sUiko iloro (his alt) could lo, is Sir 3 burning to doatli H — for ol" h is Iho !• vvrotoh translalor lo liiid jriiing at )0 able to ut a<;ainst Blake's this was lat what- iiic) ovor nd inno- lutoe sfop- soualiiy, thosanio ually the a lliou- ift— fatal vys — this 1', tbcbic, Ktoriial. 10 roally CO (and), Kvcn death the iig right. tod ovoi- 10 wheat ; let thorn both (tares and wheat) grow np to(jetJur till the harrest," " at tho end of tho world," when "(Jod will solid his angels, who will sever the evil from among the good," and no mistake he possible. Such are every where in the New Tostamont the rebukes of the persoouting spirit. But infallibility know nothing of all this — worse than nothing of Ohrist and ("hristianit}'. And yet infalli- bility says, I am the authoritative moiithpiooe of the Most High ; and this, too, in spite of all tho world-wide misery, througliout the ages, they have entailed on humanity. They thought that God was altogether siioh as they wore. This tran«latiiig l)aok- wards our thoughts into the thoughts of (Jod, and, so, tliinking that he is as we are — aotiiatod by our motives, govornecl by our princijilos — an I being oook-snre about the whole sj-stem and ends of I'rovidenco — this infallibility, I say, is tho groat danger to the world. This it is that changes the gentle Si'- Thomas Mores of human nature into human tigers, this that has turned our fair world into one huge Aceldama — a field of blood. Coek-suroness, what crimes art thou not responsible for in this world of ours. It was the resolve to free themselves fr<)m man}' of the effects of this cock-surenoss descending from the hierarchy down to tho masses of the world, that Orangoism, in some form or other, is to be assigned. Jhul there never been persecution, G"angeism would never have been invented ; but in this, as in so many other oases, necessity was the mother of invention. To tho uetormination to deiend themselves, their wives and their little ones from blood and torture, Orangoism owes its birth. To be prepared, a few among many, to meet the foe, they had to band t'^gother in self- defence. To know on whom they could depend, they had to form themselves into a compact union, and, to make their union tho more binding, they confirmed it by an oath of Loyalty to tho (rovernmeiit, the Protestant religion, the Protestant succession, and to one another (not in aggression but) in self-defence. It was, say, a dangerous precedent, a desperate remod}-, but, then, they were dangerous and desperate times. But it may be said, why continue the institution? We live in milder days. The scliool- mastor is abroad, and tho f()undations of belief are beginning to bo bettor understood. Hvon Catholics are getting to be largely imbued with the belief that it is wrong to persecute a man for an honestly hold ojiinion.and bishops and priests sjieak, if falteringly and guai'dedl}', of a mutual half-recognition of the rights of men to their own fiiith, and, })orliaj)s, if the truth could bo fairly got at, even the Pope ina}' have caught a glimmer of tho truth. For is it so, that he must be always less than man. But Orangemen think — and surely they are as much entitled to their ojnnioiis as Mr. Blake is to his — that, so long as tho old menacing altiliule is observed, and the old claims to universal obedience pressed with tlio olden assurance and pertinacity, and — 10 — the infallibility of the-one-msin-power urged on the one luuid, and, on the other, accepted with a uuiiiiiniity mihoard of in the history of the church, the dani^cr Ih ever present, and the need of tluir organization an ever abiding need. And though, personally, I am not in favour ot secret societies, considering them dangerous aw ^recndents even at their best, yet this is only my opinion, to which L am entitletl only as much as they are to their's. Kvcn Mr. Blake allows that secret societicH nuiy ])ossibly be, undtM* special conilitions. a necessity. But he believes that there is nothing now ii» the special conditions ot society that makes the Orange (>»'ganization any thing but an intolei'able nuisance. But that is only (he pi'ivato opinion of Mr. Blake, while Orangemen take the opposite view. 1 myself, and 1 thiidi Orangon'^Mi, gener- ally, t<\), would be glad to see \\A, secret societies dissolve tlicni- Hclves, provided that the great secret oi-ganization, with its many H'lb-organizations, of the Catholic Church dissolved itselftoo. But they air afraid to expose themselves naked and iletcnceless, while the other, with its secret hosts of Ultramontanes and Jesuits and private conclaves of all kinds, with the priests ear at the confes- sional drinking-in the secrets of all hearts, and his tongue thci'e to whisper what advice he will, refuses to lay down his arms. And are they not entitled to their o])ini()n ? 1 myself prefer what is open and above boaid. This is, right or wrong, my speculative 0])inion. Fur better, 1 think, instil into men's minds, and buikl them up in, the immutable principles of everlasting right, antl, so, make luem strong in intellect i\u(l charactei', that they may be able to stand tirm and undaunted, in solid ])halanx, in defence of sacred right. When a whole peo2)le 'oarn these things, when they get imbedded in their moral econoniy, and siiturate their daily thinking, then they aie invin- cible, and need not toe aid of secret organizations. But when one great overshadowing society, with iniuimerable mi nor societies at her beck and call, is a vast standing menace, the tcmj)tation is great to seize the weapon next to hand, and to use it as best ihey can; not as the best thing, but as the best for them, they think, 'muer their present conditions. And for thinking so and foi- acting on their principles, avowing no ill-will to any Catholic and doing no injury to them or any one, are they to be politically ostracised to suit the convenience of Mr. Blake ? 1 lately went to see a suffering Roman Catholic and countryman, and as J sat by his bedside, ]>ained at his pain, an Oi'angeman came in to see him, and their greeting was as hearty, and theii" manner to each other as mutually genial and neighbourly, as if they were actuated by the same religious principles; and why should it not Ik^ so? VVhy should not men think ditl'erently and vote differently, and yet be good friends, and, in times of need, warm one nnctthcr by their sympathy, and help with their means. 1 have a fating the feebleness of the resistance ot the gentle Sir Thomas Mores of kucIi a day, lost, like hitn, thoy might become the apologists for the new tyranny, and seek out, as he did, texts ot 8cri})ture to extinguish |tily ami stifle humanity and natural conscience, and so harden themselves to their work. And hole lot mo quote for Mr. Blake's consideration, the great Knglish Puritan, one of the greatest ))arliamentariaiis and consti- tutionalists that ever lived, and one ot the wisest and im^st tolerant and far-seeing ot men, the great John J*ym. S])eaking in the famous j)arliament of lt)40, he uttered these words: '* By thiw means a dangerous party is cherished and increased, who are ready to close with any opportunity of disturbing the j)eace and safety of tho .Htute. Yet he did not desire any now laws against P<.pery, or any rigorous courses in the execution of those already in Jbrco ; he was far from seeking the ruin of their persons or estates; only ho wished they might be kept in such a condition as should I'ostrain Ihem from doing hurt. It may be objected that there are moderate and discreet men amongst them, men of estates, such as have un interest in the })cace and })rosperity of the kingdom as well as we. These were not to be considered according to their own disposition, hut (tccvnIiiKj to the nature of the body whereof they are parties. The planets have several and par- ticular motions of their own, yet are theyixW rapt and transjiortcd into a contrary course by the .■^ujierior orb which ramprchends them all.'" So, he adds, " the Pojie's command will move them aqainst their own jirivate disposition, yen, against their own reason and judgment, to obey him.'' Now this WHS the deliberate judgment of one of the coolest brains in Kngland — ol a student of history and of man, who. looking at his subject on all sides ot it, and weighing well every I'act in ith every us))ect,6'o/y/<^ who repudiate these docti'ines of ecclesiastics, and I cannot helj) hoping that the enlightenment which is gaining ground, the advanced statesman- ship of the age, the ])ity of the human heart, the sense of justice that is born with us, the growing knowledge of the foundations of belief, the principles of toleration inculcated by Christ and by all the good and wise of every age, and the public conscience of Christendom, will nresent such a moral inertia of resistence to this mad lever-movement of Kcclesiasticism, as will save the world I'rom the worst evil that cau befall it — a government of priests. Do they iniagine at Ivoinc that the world is a toy for them to])lay with? Do ecclesiastics forget that for evoking such a s])irit the world would hold them lespoiisible ? that they would not be those who would sutler least or last? that reprisals and fearful venge- ance would take the |)lace of law and peace? and that society itself must cease to exist, were their theories to be reduced to naked ])ractice? Are we to believe that (lod has handed over mankind, tied hand and foot, absolutely, unresei-vedly, for their belief and their conduct, their ])()litical institutions, and social and domestic arrangements, for tlieii- literature and their science — for it comes to that — to one man of a succession of men, some of whom were, acknowledgedly, foolish men, some indifferently good, and some bad men. Certainly, Mr. Blake, I cannot help thinking that the Orange society is as well entitled to incorpoi'ation and to b(! allowed to hold property, as the bisho])s and priests of a society holding the dogmas and governed by ihe principles unblushingly avowed, as above. Do you 3'et say, No ? 1 am not in favour of Orangemen playing party and offensive tunes. 1 consider thenx not only in bad taste, but wholly wroug; but these and such things are only accidentals and not essentials of the organization, and will, 1 hope, be discontinued : but when they celebrates among themselves ' the JJattle of the Hoyne;' when the}' talk of the brave <)eeds, and enduring fortitude, and resolute courage, and unllinching liiith of the men, often their • his want ol' wliut urc we iome bi whops »hatic to the Dv. Doyles, I}' pushed tf) y Protestant, oblemun. e alt'air, even I? is there ])uted to th(* intH? Hut 1 tudiate these ng that the d statesman- ISO of justice •undations of st and by all onseience of I'esistence to ive the world \t of priests, tliem to play a spirit the not be those irfiil venge- lat sDciety reduced to d, tied hand and their d doniestic or it comes wliom were, J, and some the Orange allowed to lolding the avowed, as nd ort'ensive )lly wrong ; •t essentials but when yne;' when titude, and often tiieir I mis- direct forefathers, who fought for their pi'inciples in that bloody Hglit, it is not in human nature for them not to feel the elation of the hour. It was a conflict pregnant witli big con- se([uencos to them and to the world. But here 1 must go back a little. The wai's of religion (ically of theology) in Franco and (Jerinan}-, the Massacre of St. Bailholomow, the Mai'ian persecu- tion in Kngland, the wholesale slaugiitei- paying off old scores, not a few in Ireland, had led Protestants to believe that public security was compatible only with Catholic disability to hurt. Catholics, on the other hanii, suttering in various ways, believed that their only hope lay in victory and James; while the Pro- testants looked to William of Orange for relief from the despotism and cruelt}' of James and JettVoys. Hearts and hopes beat high on both sides; while, shrouded in the darkness of the uncertain future, arose before the perturbed spirit many a spectre of possible despair. And when the battle was won — a battle whicli, had it gone against us, might possibly have reversed the whole course of Knglish history and the very currents of the world — is it any wonder that the memory of it should have burnt itself into the hearts ami brains of the descendants of those who had risked life and all things on the issue of that fight? ^No: it is one of those things that men never can, and never ought to, be expected to I'orget. And with what results to Catholics to-day 1 We have flung our lears to the wind, stripped ourselves of every special safeguard of the constitution, and ventured all on the o])en ocean of pi il and the future, lor the sake of putting every Catholic on a full looting of c(|ualily n'ith ourselves. The seed sown then has grow ri into a tii'c of iibci'ty ibr all, flowering and fruiting lor Protestant and ('atiiolic alike. So that, as an outcome of the whole, Catholics may listen, without much discomposure, to the victory of the Boync: and Orangemen, without being what Mr. Blake's rhetoric represents them to be, may be allowed their thankfulness and their tiiumph. Scill their triumph will, 1 hope, be tempered with that motlesty of demeanor which sits so well on the truly manful soul. The Pope, like Mr. Blake, has no liking for Orangemen, and for 11k same reason, that Oi'ani;emen oppose them both; and the l*o]ji' to-day is as anxious and troubled about free-masons, as Mr. Hlake is ab(»ut Orangemen. The Pope is, indeed, opposed to all secret socielies, and, therefore, institutes the greatest the world has ever known — the new " Universal ('atholic League," which is to ''absoi'b all existing associations, such as Catholic clubs, Militia of.Ious Christ and the like," with " its centre in Eome," and its lingers in ever}' man's aliairs. Were this league, howevei', to be dissolved to-morrow, or even to be non-existent, my reasoning, on grounds wlioll}' indejjendent o!' tliis, would not be in tlie least ^p — 16— dogrco nhakon. But in the presence of thin vivid, giifaiuie, all i-ainilying woeret society, how pales and dwarfs Lius little associa- tion of Orangemen. To give some idea of the objects of the League and of tiie scheme of its organization, I shall present the I'eader with sonic extracts rosi»ccting it fi-om the London (Kngland) D v'ly Nfics: 1. " The centre ot the League shall ho at Rome. 2. The general presidence of the League shall reside in the Vatican, and, with it, the })ersonnel of a general sectarial hoard. 5. The office of a general presidence shall have seven directions, each with a head division, and with secretaries. Division first — Union of Catholic jurists; second, Catholic vi^orkingmen's societies; third, centi'al committees; fourth, Catholic regions ; fifth, diocesan functionai'ies ; sixth, genei-al depot ; seventh, academic committee for the union of the learned in the scientific eiforts of Catholicism. The League shall Jiave for its objects: 1. The defence of right and freeclom in face of the laws restrict- ing the churcii and the Pope. The restoration of the temporal power, of which the Pope has been despoiled in violation of the rights of the Holy see and Christianity — a i-estoration to he cti'ected in the sight of justice, human and divine. 2. To expound and demonstrate the dangers of liberty falsely so-called. 3. To combat individualism. 6. To countermine the press. 9. To re-unite all the forces of civilized society, its intelligence and its material resources, for the benefit of the holy cause. 10. To institue a central press for the j-eception aiKldisti-ibution of communications to all Catholic journalism. 11. To institute popular schools for technical instruction; to institute Catholic libraries, banks for the immediate advance of money, mixed clubs of the noblesse and bourgeoisie, directing clubs for tfie active agents of the League, workman's aid societies. 13. To effect the coalition of the noblesse and the clergy in the grand struggle for the freedom and ultimate empire of the church ; to (consolidate the union of the clergy with the bishojis, and of the bishops with the Pope, "All for One anil One for All.'' 14. Pecuniary lai-gess and foi-nuition of the bonds of fellowship between the several cities, communes, boroughs, and ])er.sons, for the maintenance of the directing missionary ])ri(!sts, and foi* pro- moting hai'mony of the means of action. 15. Establishment of telegraphic, bureaus in the great centres in correspondence with the central one at the Vatican, lor the con- curi'ence of all the Catholic forces in union." The real objects, however, may be reduced to the one of Article 3 — 'to combat individualism.' Yaa, that ii is against which has « tl i; m (Ii hi cii tv ifii^jiniic, nil iltlo jiHsocia- iiiul of llio I' with soiuc uhj Nv.ics: isiilo ill tiie tiirini Itoaid. n diroc'tioiis, id, Cjitholic I'tli, Cutholic jrul depot ; I'ucd in tl)e !i\vs ro.strict- bo temporal itioii of the atioii to be erty iiilsely intelligence eiUirte, distribution rnc'lion ; to advanee of 3, ilirocting- aiian'.s aiil cMgy in the le fhiii'ch ; and of the fellowship )cr.son(>, for 1 for pro- at centres or the con- of Article which has 1 —17— been directed from the infancy of the world, the enginery of all the despots, political and religious, the world has over soon — to grind down, in their mill, the man ; to fuse him into the mass; not indeed to destroy his thinking powers, but t« index the direction they I'v.'O to take, the groove thoy are to run in ; to comb him down and sleekly discipline him to the servico of ecclesiasti cism ; to rob him of the brain that nature has given him, and to give him one dipped and pared to the pleasure of the Pope; and, by stinting and stunting, to i-educe the stalwart limbs, aiui so force some grand Copernicus into the biceches of a dwarf. And poor Galileo 1 This man, of a free, bold intellect, had embraced tho doctrine of a central sun and a rotatory world. This was theji a frightful heresy. Summoned to Home, and tho terrors of the In- injui'ious to himself or to society, wi(hout trying to instil a bettei'. 1 dm ' my brother's keepci-,' and he is mine. And I honour ('alholics and Pi-otestants and all, who, believing that they possess an ennobling i'eii, ai-e /.ealous to propagate it. And J never met an Orangeman who withheld his sympathy from such a view. I am not angry with the Pope oi' his subordinates for their U. C. League. Knowing, as they do, no better, they give us the best they can. Thinking that the enthralment of the intellect is for good of the soul, ihey give us the decrees of Trent, with the anathemas affixed to idaim us; and, half (u- whole-con- vinced that they alone know all things, feel tliemselves quite coni- j)etent to undertake the cdtication of the world. This we Pj'otestants dispute. We do 7iot think them competent. Wo think that in the j)ast they have shewn themselves to bo failures; that they have roti-ogrjided in religion from the Chris- tianity of Christ ; that their philosophy, tethered to theology, rendered the darkness darker still; that tbeii- discipline was jioi such as to make us long t()r its recui'rence; and that in science they mjulc an awful mess ■ fit. in the progiammo oi' thr future, too, so far as the system is con- cerned, we discover few iniiications of amendment. lioma semper eadem seems shining through ever}- line and ringing in every sentence. What individual Orangemen may think I am not in a position to leain ; but t do know that as a body — and glowingly too — thi'i) do not wish to injure in person or estate, or to curtail the ri day miiy nevei" come; but they wish, so i if to the reason liolic. I can ;» of his eino- iiitolei'cii* or foiiu'n lliink nioiildod and ,'hich l)ccan»o the twisl; uf Lhcy (littt'i- in i nuirtlor or •kolh not tho ," is loool'tcn low can I, if scssctl of an yini;' to instil nine. And I L'lievin^ that ^ato it. And liyfrom such ordinatcs for Lcr, tlioy give linent of the i-ees of Tient, [or whole-con- es quite com- m competent- iiselves to ije loy /ore*.','. . . .or that the Roman Pont ilV ought to come to terms with. . .moJern civili.mti.on,' .... or thai in 'countries called Catholic the free exercise of tbeii- (Protestants) i-eligicms may laudabl}' be alloweV (see Mr. (rlitdstone's ' Kx[)ostulation '). Now, if the.-e doctrines df the Popedom aie to come into practice — and the lope seev^stcrrihly in earnest — we have come to this ])ass, that either civil govornnicnt will be broughl to a dead-lock, or that the swo'-d will have to bedrawnin del'enceof human liberties and rights. \)us.'< he want, or does lie not want, a return of the ha])p3- times; when a Pop;* of Home may put the Kingdom of England, the Jiepubdc of the United States, and the Empi:'e of Russia uniler the leiiors and confusion of an Interdict '? — a return to times when men's sense of right — for you may educate or de- educate a man lo almost an3'tbiiig — will \n\ so perverted that the moslappaling crimes, if committed by the clenjy and ti-ied by the ordinary tribunals of law and justice, will liorrify the nund ecclesiastical? — a retui-n to (he timcM of Becket? 'Then' — 1 quote from the historian Frt)ude — 'then,' say Ik^dcet's des]>airing biograi)hers, ' was seen the mournful spectacle of priests and deacons, who had committed miii'der, manslaughter, theft, robbery, and otlier crimes, carried in carls belore the King's commissioners and punished as if they had been ordinary men ! ' To us this reads as if they had bi'en enjoying liie dioUery of the thing! but no, this was their selemn belief. As if theij had been ordinary men! Truly may it be said that man is the creature of his circumstances, when that featherless bi[)ed ciin be reduced to think like this ! Yet to us it seems a climax of pervertibility hardly i-eachal)le by an^- mortal. Hut not so; the churchman-mind is not governed by orclinary rules. He has a little world and an ideal of his own ; and he dwells and drcauis apart; and he docs some wonderful feats of thinking; and he looks at this, his uiicrocosui, so long and so lovingly, and it is so near to hiui, and the big world of life and reality and other men so far away, that the one looms up before him bigger and bigger as he looks, and the other fades into the far off, until the mighty Suius, in the dis- tance, is no i)igger than a speck. And wliat cares he for your argu- I ( ( V', » and head- teui'liinfX *^l sconcile tlic • lesson for 'sti OF man; solecism ul' woild. e Popes, all ss,' ' of con- Ax may not to como to 1 ' comitrios Ls) I'cligionH )st Illation '). into practice to this ])ass, lead-lock, or lan lihortios 3tiirn of the lvin_i;-dom of .'. Einpi-e of f — a return icate or de- ed that the ried lij the ihe mind Then '—I s desj)airinif ])riests and eft, rohljei-y, iiinissioners To us this thin;aid as gro- Lir mode of and of our ist, there i.s r under the of tlie New Litter uiider- H, too, been A' the A;i;eH V, thiit that ids of Pro- late dectree Huhmission ies. and tlie uit i.s of less idividualisni 1 large ot Sir Francis Hincks, so wholly one-sided and unhistorical — unhistorical, I say, as leading to the inference that the treatment of the Irish Catholics was anonnilous and exceptional, and Orangemen a specially bigoted and barbarous crew, whereas the treatment of Catholics in Ireland was only 4lif. m i I —24— one chapter of the great volaiiie of the European history of the age, whicli i8 full of similar chapters of penal laws and persecutions of Pro- testants by (yatholics on a fearful scale, and accompanied with terribla Buflering. The lesson of persecution, learned by long training iu the school of Rome, took some time to be un-learned, bul at last the voices of reason and the words of Christ have prevailed in Protestant Kngland. With respect to persecution.s and penal laws in Ireland the lact is tliis, that cruelty was, as it so «)fton is, l.'.rgely the offspring of fear. Protestants there were lew in number among many Catholics. Tn a great rising of the latter, Protestants had been massacred by thou.sands without mercy, and they lived in fear of similar sufferings in the cent of the Catholics rising again, and as a regard for their own safety (coupled with an overmastering, ever-present fear) promptud, they deemed that the surest way of safety wa.s to cripple their adversaries > o far as to prevent them from injuring them as they had done, and, .so prevent a repetition of the past with all its I'rightful horrors. They knew, too, that the Power before which Catholics bowed had never withdrawn from its old position — semper eadein ef uhlque its boast — and that free conscience was a thing not to be tolerated or thought of, and that the fagot and the stake — her ready an.swer to all argument, her old engine against heresy and doubting science — had never been repu- diated by her, but the contrary. But while tliis fear, the parent of cruelty, forms an apology not feigned, but very real, for much of the miseries suffered by Irish ('atholics; yet in the Catholic countries of Europe, where Catholics were so overwhelmingly more numerous than Protestants, the (sxcuse ol' fear was wholly out of the question, and yet what wholesale brutal murders and miseries and spoliation took place. And why? Because men would not profess to believe what the stiffness of their convictions rendered it sihiply itnpomble that they could believe — for men cannot believe and disbelieve at pleasure — and yet, after a terrible treason towards them and bad faith, by murders dtliberately planned in co'a blood, and executed in one night, what do we learn ? That a medal was struck by the Pope to commemorate this most shameful, cruel and dastardly event. it answers, Mr. Blake, no end of good to cover up from view the great events of the past or the claims of the present by a veneer of the rosewood of sentimentalism, or to try to make things, in a new gush of thought and painted words, different from wliat they are ; or to pile up on the poor Orangemen every opprobrium, whereas, apart from what la incidental to all organizations, owing to the weakness of human nature, he has been the steady friend of freedom ; yea, one of the strongest and most reliable pillars of the social fabric ; while with the rosewater of impassioneil oratory you try, in your new found zeal, to make the bad ])rinciples of Catholicism, smell sweetly to the world, by representing, however unconsciously, tliose principles to be what they are not. ' of the age, itions of Pro- with terribltt ainiiig iu tlie t the voices of taut Kii o done, and, .so )rrors. Tht^y ed had never its boast — and ou^ht of, and irivument, lier er been repu- 1 apology not red by Irish ere Catholics the excuse of lesale brutal y ? Because iir convictions jr uien cannot rrible treason anned in co'j 'hat a uiedal i'ul, cruel and From view the veneer of the i new ^ush of or to pile up rt from what ss of human a, one of the rhile with the found zeal, to the world, by be what they I —25— Now thouf^h I have been wont to esteem Mr. Blake very highly for some things, ami would not dare to accuse him of clear, felt insincerity, or charge wholly to self-interest his new whitewashing ol the Catholic Hierarchy and blackening of Orangemen, yet Iknowenoujjh of human nature to distrust it and its arguments, where, na in this instance, (for I had best come to the point at once) when he cannot get the votes of the Orangemen, the votes of the Catholics would prove so convenient. To burko his |)lain convictions, to do a pointblank act of treason to his conscience, to advocate what he knew to be absolutely wrong, to Itlacken nitMi's characters by malice aforethought, to whitewash an utterly bad cause wiiere he felt that God and conscience know it bad, is what I I'or one would not attribute, even for any consideration of self-interest, to Mr. niake. But knowing how curiously we are compounded, and what we are made of, the devil of evil does not fling hi u' self foolishly agai»;:.t a stone wall, or tempt the mainly-true man to such naked wrong- doing. I"]vil, like a cunning engineer, approaches the fortress of our integrity by zigzag lines, or by undermining skill, stealthily, taking us at unawares, W(; know our real powers and wo wish that others should know them too. We may even think ourselves, by measuring ourselves with others, entitled to the highest place in the country, and we may eagerly, long- ingly court it ; and, accordingly, opinions and things in the line of our interests are very agreeable to us. This is so, naturally. And men and things adverse to those interests are not so agreeable. Now if those opposing us continue, as seems to us, unreasoningly adverse, and finally refuse to be charmed by the most skilful jjiping, the natural tendency of the mind, even if not vividly presenting itself to the consciousness of its owner as wrong, is to attribute their obstinacy to unworthy motives, and so covi;r them over with the slime of our own (say, unconscious) self-love. Some persons do not know that they are doing tliis ; and some do not care, whether they know it or not. Why should, we argue, those p'^rsons, our inferiors in intellect and knowledge, be able to thwart us l)y their obstinacy and igr.orance. Why, if they will not help us, not stand out of our way, and let us pass on and up. Hut they will not. Poor fools, led by designing masters, they will not. They must be bad. Let me think how bad. Some of them maligned me in my absence, ami, when challenged to n^peat to my face tlieir charges, did not (iare to show themselves. Wiuit a bad lot they /iiust be ; and yet, very possibly, Mr. iJlake, they believed or half-believed- -most men half-believe nearly everything said of an opponent whose general prin- cii)les they dislike, and repeat it as if full beliof — what they said, liut it is vain for me to appeal to them — those bad, obetinate, old fossil Orangemen. And now comes the other side of the question ; if they will ever un- reasoningly oppose me, and if I am resolved to climb to the (ihief place (»l'pov/er, and to upset the bad men who hold the reins and govern so unw(u-tliily, to the ruin of the country and her institutions— tiiough in- deed 1 hardly know what my own policy is to be, having, by my wavering vTiTT —26- on one main point, at a critical time, been accused of having inflicted a deep wound on my party — liad I not better now see what can be done with the Frenchmen and Irish Catholics. It is true that the stronj^, high wall of religious ])rejudices stands against me, but it tuay, must somehow, be overleaped. True, too, the native build of my own mind; the strong, sturdy Blake and Hume- iilako independence of character ; the clearness and distinctness of my view of primitive Christianity as stamped on and stereotyped in the pages of the New Testament; my opposition to sacerdotalism and mental slavery of all kinds ; to a theology of traditions, not the religion taught by Christ — a theology calling itself Christianity, but as unlike it as modern Buddhism is unlike the religion of its ibunder : baptised into those views by the baptism of a lifetime, and inarched as they are into my mental and moral economy by long I'amiliarity with the clear and characteristic teaching of Christ and Paul ; it seems, indeed, no easy task I set myself. And to us, indeed, it seems a bitter pill for him to have had to s\\ allow — to have to stand up and whitewash the most pronounced, accredited teachers of Catholicism, and iiold up for approval, as if the canonical judguient of the church, the statements at second hand of private bisho])s of no binding authority at all, instead of giving at first hand the ipsisaiinu oerba of Infallibility itself, which, in the letter and in the spirit, contradict the utterances jf these men. Did not liishop J)oyle, at the time when the Emancipation question was being discussed in Ireland, with a view to relieve the uneasiness of the Protestant mind regarding the unrepealed despotic claims to temporal universal dominion of the Popes, write, ''We are taunted with the pro- ceedings of Popes. What, my Jiord, have we Catholics to do with the proceeilings of Popes ; or why .should we be made accountable ibr ihem"? y\nd did not the Roman Hierarchy, in its pastoral address "to the Clergy and Laity of the llonian Catholic Church in Ireland"' (in I826) "de- clare on oath their belief that it is not an article of the Catholic Faith, neither ai'e they theieby required to believe, that the Pope is infallible." Now with respect to the ibrmer of these quotations, which, whether in- tended to do it or not, threw dust in the eyes of Protestants and helped to the removal of Catholic disabilities, and \vhe!» Catholics were charged with this as artful dodging unworthy of honest men, what is, in sub- stance, the reply of Lord Acton, Protestants ought not to have been so misledhy such unauthorized statements of private men, be they priests or bishops or what not, when the whole history of the Church, its decrees, and declarations, and acts, and canon law told the very contrary. And .so we say U^ Mr. Blake. The I'aet is this that the English people as a people were so largehearted and generous that they caught rendily at any decla- ration, as the drowning man at a sti-aw, that gave any ground Ibr hope, that it might be as they were told. But what a reply ! Wli > were you fools enough to believe this when you might have known, ougiit to have known, the contrary. Now, however, the Pope is C/atlioliciism, and we know it. Ills decision and declaration only is binding and IVom his judg- ment there is no appeal : "neque euiquam de ejus lieei'e judicare judicio," ' ,'ing inflicted a at can be done ejudices stands True, too, tlie ke and Hume- tinctness of uiy reotyped in the [jrdotalism and not the relif>ion , but as unlike mder : baptised ihed as they are with the clear uis, indeed, no I bitter pill for whitewash the ,nd hold up for le statements at it all, instead of tself, which, in these men. Did n question was neasiness of the ins to temporal d with the pro- 1 to do with the able I'or them"? s "to the Clergy (in 18-iG) "de- Catholic Faitli, )e is infallible." ch, whether in- its and helped s were charged hat is, in suh- have been so be they priests eh. its decrees, trary. And so pie its a peoplti 'ij (it (tnij decla- )un'l fur ho})e, II Wl weie you mjiht to have )lieisni, and we iVoni hisjudg- lieare judiclo,' —27— and this "not simply in matters that pertain to faith and morals but to the discipline" —and some have known too well what that means— "and iiovern- nicntofthe church throughout the whole world" — "non solum in rebus, (|ua)adfidem et mores, sed etiaiu in iis (jUie ad disciplinam et regimen EcelesiiU per totum orbem dittusje pertinent." From that discipline and a;^1hat government — the worst government the world has ever seen, the igoverinnent of Priests— may the good (lod deliver us. Mr. Gladstone puts it thus : "the Pope demands ior hinise f the right to determine the province of his own rights." His words may, indeed, be turned to any account as the occasion and his own will demand. "When h am roinmdnd the scales of political power," says Mr. Gladstone, "an organized and de- voted party," it is counted on, ''wiil promote interference; and, when it is in a niinorify, will work for securing neutrality" and will make dupes of such men as Mr. I Uake to work i.heir ends, and then turn ab mt and say, what a fool he was. I once asked a very able man on good terms with Catholics, what was to be the end ; how the world, in this perplexing deadlock of tilings, was to be delivered. Uis reply was, lean see my w;iy out of it only in the hope, that, in the general diflfusicmof an enlightened public opinion theCatholic may graduall y become emancipated from these antisocial and slavish doctrines, and, so, insensibly melt into the citizen. I don't mean to say, that these were his very words ; but, in the form of my question and his answer, this was the substance of them . But when the Popes Syllabus and Eicyclicals refuse us in (as Mr. Gladstone writes) " fearfully energetic epithets," " liberty oi'speech,'' "of comcU'w'e,'' "of imrsldp" and use tliose terrible words against all those "who say that the church may not employ /ww," or that "the R(niiaii Poll ti it" ought to come to terms with. ..modern civilization,"! fear that happy day is tiir off in the future . But why should .Mr. Blake try to blacken with the thickest colours of the tar brush men who are at one with him in so many things ecpially dear to tlieni both, and so many of whom try to think as honestly and to act as manly and Christian apart in life as he does or any man. Hut lew diaiiges of opinion — wore tliey chtm^es? — are wholly sudden. liit- tle by little wo drift into now modes of llioug;ht. lie converses as lie has olloii conversed with Irish and French (,'atliolics. In gen- eral conversation ho tbuiul lliern as other men. They inatiifesled to the full, ill presence of a Protestant — often possibly more than to the tiill, — all they lolt of liberality of sontimont aiul freedom from religious bigotry. Proiestaiits hold their own opinicms arul they liold theirs. Why, then, quarrel on such grounds. In |)ast times they persecuted, huL Protestants persociited too. Those were days of ig;iioiaiico, when liuinun rights wore little iiiiderst of them or of purned by such < in another and ^uments fall on I of men high in tatemonts whol- ,0 represent the tchcs ^'ladly. To liem thankfully, Holf interest and I slightest) col- led words — and ,y of sentiment )st natures can ero of the hour is clearly in the d and ruined, is feohlo folk, yet nd so abide till orator, whirled or wholly i)or- :)ugh some men e in the direc- s been \trobal)ly jf Canada what t success. Jiut )Oiilossibly without I —29— the conscious feeling of wrong, while at the same time it helped the cause) and which tilled him with content But if the Orangemen had been as lovingly constant to him as to his great opponent ; in other woi-ds, if he had hold a brief on the other side (as a lawyer he has been in the habit of taking retainers and of pleading accordingly for his client, no matter whom, the best he could) with his noble eloquence and great forensic ability, what a case could he not have made out, ami how he would have turned the tables on his and their enetnies; thus: '(gentlemen of the .lury, a handful of Orangemen, whose principles, written in their " Constitution " open and to be read of all men, are sound to the very core on the gro.'it question of civil and religious liberty, placed in the midst of many Catholics, well enough in their individual characler8 — we have little fault to find with them here — but dominated l»y a power to whom they are faith-bound and conscience-bound, whose jirinciples are despotic and anti-social, and who if he woulil repent of those bad principles and, so, change them, must cease to be a ])ower al all (for he is so anchored to the unrepcalable past, that he cannot snap his cable without letting himself adrift and going to wreck and ruin wholly, so that he has to let things be or to make the confusion worse con- founded) whose principles, hence, ai"o their [)riiiciples. (Jenllemen of the Jurj", to change my figure, a great bombshell charged with dynamite is left in the camp of these few Orangemen to burst or not at any hour, as the exigencies of the moment make it desirable or not. It is true, gentlemen, that some of these Orangemen are nit all that they shoukl be, and that the most stupid and obstinate among them tlo Hometimes give to Calholics unnecessary offence; but, then, they recall the terrible past and brood over it till their feelings got e.\.cited, <*nd knowing the power and avowed principles of the Clrand Lama of the religion who rules supreme, they are afraid that at any moment llie match may be lighted and the ruin burst, and so are to be pardoned, if sometimes they find it hard not to say sharp things, and if they vole on the side by which (in their folly) they think their interests best .served. But, gentlemen, if the niislakes and tSiults and way- wardnesses of Cliristians are deemed no valiil argument against Christianity, when it never encourages, but, on ilie contrary, re- probates such conduct, as laid down and enforceit in the Jiook of its Constitution, why should Orangeism be hold responsible for the liclions of indiviclual members who do things utterly condemned in the J}ook of their Constitution, (ientlemen, let us be reasonable, and deal out tlie same impartial judgment in the one ciise as in the other. Cliristians are not always rea.sonable. To the fag end of every party will hang-on unworthy members, whose conduct is not in harmony with the high prineiples of the holy to which they belong. And now, tieiiilemen ot the .lury, I beg your close atten- tion while I read to you from a pricate document, not intended for the public eye, but morally binding on every Orangeman, a few ' idir iff —30— extractH. It is named tlio " (loneral Dochinition." I may toll you that, though rct'iinod to mo at Hrst as not beintj an Oraini;onian, I was at length permitted to peruse it. This " Declaration " intbrnis us that " the Loyal Oiani-o Association is formed of j)ei\sons desirous of sui)portin<::, to tho utmost of their power, the principles and practice of the rhrislian roli,i;"i(»n, to maintain tho laws and constitution of the country and the supremacy of law, order, and constitutional freoilonx " . . . . and thoy "hope.,.. to emulate the virtues" "of that Immortal Prince," "William III.", "by maintaining Rdiocial and fearful senti- ments, and which a cultivated and able ( atholic Nobleman has told UH, have been those that have always governed the Great Irdallibles of his church. Was there over a greater contrast between the noble and I may loll yoii (^)r!iii.jj;omuti, I it ion " int'onuH )(1 of persons the j)rinci))loH tho laws atul ' of law, oi'tlop, ^ . . . to emulate mi m.". "by m the riijhts of sive loyalty or •uiit spirit, the vvitliout which m ii) vail), that / or inJuriiKj any !ry Oraiiifemaii iiiiiioiis persua- ' Then amoMfj; sad, " An a|)pli- of (.-ursiiig and e should use all hren, and shun neful practices, c, sobriety and of the A-^socia- lemen,through- r«t page to tho mv uiulerstand- Are they not n be actuiiletl ; iitolcranco. Are Do they tu)t inculcate the ^ as of our own. in jjresenco of Ituinnil moror," nations, to the •f your hearts ; ny clients, hut just and noble how gloriously ose utterances V, hrealhing, as 1 learftd sonti- hlenian has told ireat Ird'allibles tween the noble —31— principloH of my clients and those odious principles to which thcj' are opjK)»ed. Gontlemon, 1 shall now close my case with feelings of tho utmost confidence in tho verdict you will render in a case so plain.' But, oh, my Eesulor, had Mr. Blake, and not I, tho cause of tho Orangemen to plead ; had ho held a brief on that side; with his I inexorable logic, and ringing voice, and ])ersuasivo eloquence, what a case for thorn would he not have made out ; and how exultantly would he not have trampled under foot, or hold up with withering scorn belbro tho eyes of a wondering world, tho j>i'incij)les of tho other party — principles inc(»mpatiblo, he would have said, with tho very oxistonco of society, and, which, if generally acted on, would make society itself impossible. J}ut he has not done so; and if tho cause o{' kwiKinity, lor it <&'that, has not been pleaded with the tbrco of logic- and jidc(|uato presentation that Ijeloui^s to it, and yet if a go(Ml case has been made out, only judge what it would have been, luul the tongue of eloquence boon enlisted on that side. B"t We have in Canada a man with a brilliant ami trenchant pen, and a grand and stalely style, with a force of logic equal to, f and a lar deeper and truer insight than, Mr. HIako's, whose know- ; ledge of history, read to some j)ur[)()so, is wide and his memory a very storehouse of facts, on which to draw lor his own guidance ?'\l lor that of others; an exact scholar and a severe thinker, fearless , and outspoken on every subject of hninaii thought, and who cannot j keep silent when any subject pregnant with grave issues is being , discussed, for "out of the abundance of the heart tho mouth speak- I elh," who has spoken on this subject with earnestness and power, >f and, I trust, will do so again and often. To this man, a very «w>t? ^ ai^Sfuou among writers, I look for special help in tho cause I have ■ talteringly undertaken to advocate, lie may not agree with me in some things, and I even venture to dirter from him occasionally. Hut i i)laco him second to no man in (janada as a writer and ihink- ; or. Let him be wholly on our side and 1 care little who is against us. To him I look for efficient help in this the greatest cause, ' viewed in all its bearings, that ever engaged the attention of hu- I inanity. For myself 1 desire to be a political weathercock, and not lie myself down so stringently to any party, as to have to force mysolf to go with them, save as my own judgment, in each particular case, decides me, but to be as the poet says, " Nullius a/ldictus jurare in cerba magistri," and so govoi-n mysolf and change from siilo to side, as tho actions and measures of politicians are in reference to what I am persuaded is right and true: my motto being "(iuomecunquo rapit tempestas doterror llospo^," and, so, allowing mysolf to drift. Now if there was anyone among tho members ot the lute or pre- sent Ministry whom 1 would have selected usspecially sound on the < H !L '% ■„-! —32— history jind doHignw of tho Pajjaoy, ami who could not be miKled by tho ujnesfntni of tho unautliorisod HtatonicMitK made by J}ihlio])s of the Church, whether believed, or only half-believed and hall-ho])cd by theni, to bo true or not, wlien the Syllabus and Iho Kncydicals of tho Pope himself were bclbrc him, as well as his unvai-ying declara- tions, and when the Jiull "Unam Sanctam," and many JUdls besides, backed by tho Canon Law and all the past liistory of Inlallibiliiy, j)oinled in one direction only., and as steady I0 that direction as llie needle to tho polo — that man was the lion. Kdward Blake. Tho Pope is Catholicism, and no one else is so. The opinions of I'l-iests and Bisho])s and interpreters and apologists go foi- simply nothing. When we want to understand Popery really, we must go to the Po])C. A Bisho}), as Dr. l>oyle did, may say, at tlio convoinent moment, what he wishes to impress us with as true. "What, my Jjord, have we Catholics to do with the pi-oceodings of Popes, or why should we bo made accountable for them." Very convenient doctrine when Catholic emancipation was tho subject of debate. And again (as 1 before quoted for you) tho Romish hierarchy in Ireland, at thesr'me juncture "declare on oath their belief that ii is not an article of the Catholic faith, neither are they thereby required to believe that the Pope is infallible," and yet Pope Pius IX himself tells us that 'the whole Church had ulwaj's taught the unconditional inl'allibility of the Pope' ((rladstoue). But, "ed not be surprised then, that, in his Syllabus and Encyclicals and every- where, all those who attirm that "Papal judgments and decrees may, without sin, be disobeyed or differed from, except where they treat of the dogmas of faith and morals" [that is when they extend beyond these limits], or "who assign to the state the power of defining the rights and >. ot be mihlt'd by \ l»y J}isIio])s oi and liiill-li()j>o(l J KiH-yclicalK ol' aryiii^ dochn-a- ly J5ulls liet^idos, vi' Jnlalliliilily, irootioii as tlio (I BlaUo. The iiioim of I'l'ic'htN iini])ly notliing. goto lllC l'()J)C. iiiont momoiit, my Lord, have or wliy should , doctrine when Uul again (as I md, al tlies?'nie n article of the believe that the Us us that 'the infallibility of 'tempora imiton- the proceedings niuue dimidium to pri'!ich...the the Holy See ;" ;jiarding the In- iicludes in that oplc not bound gain, in critical IS nothing to do but tlie autho- Commonicealth. 7i m citil affairs •ight to depose m it ; but only ned. The right :.he inlallibility, s ground in in- but it is a niat- ■iand to human- lay. We nt'cd •als and every- I decrees may, ^ they treat of id beyond thene the rights and J —33— I'rovince of the Church," or "who hold that the [^)mun Pontitts [in the past] and Ecumenical Councils exceeded the limits of their power [when they put kingdoms under Interdicts, deposed kings, and embroil- ed states] and [by so doing] usurped the rights of Princes" i.e., what they did was no usurpation, even, as PopM Pius explains it, wlicre it ''ex- tended so far as to pass judgment, even i.i civil affairs, on the acts of Princes and of nations;" or "that the church lias not (non habet) the right U) employ /b/'ce." What, then, was Mr. Blake, an acute Lawyer, used to sifting evidence, and to get at the bottom-truth of things — a man not to be entrapped by semblances — when he tells us liis little tale at second hand of what these men tell him. Would he, in a court of iaw, be content with a copy of an original document, mueii less with a copy of a copy, and still less with a wholly-pseudo copy, when it was in his power to (compare the original and read from it in opctn court. Catch him, so well versed in such uiatters, so astute and able, blundering and mooning in such wise. And yet, in this mo.st grave and open matter, has he not blundered egregiously ; or has he blundered at all ? Has he consciously or unconsciou.sly, or half-conseionsly and half-unconsciously. been partly misled and partly seduced ? 1 am in a dilemma ! I find it so hard to excuse his heart wholly, at the expense of his intellect, or intellect wholly, at the expense of his heart. As the pendulum oscillated to and fro, did it come to rest at last on the side of his interests? Who can say? Were he some poor unskilled dialectician, some unversed man of the world, some hot, impulsive empty pate ; were he a man like ^fewman, rmrsed on the pap ot' authoriti/, and dropping lowiir and ever lower in the scale of erect manhood, till he sank at last, in passive feebleness and intellectual lethargy, into the lap of Home — the last au- thority of all — his legitimate extreme, there might be some excuse for him ; but he is not such as these, but a man of the world, a reader of men and things, a practised logician, and a shrewd and able lawser, and trained in a school of principle and principles — hence my difficulty. But as I dare not affirm positively whether his was an error of the judgment or of the heart, or a compound of tliem both, so do I not attiruj that his Episcopal informants knowingly misstated the case. We are curiously compounded creatures all of us, and the ecclesiastic mind the most curiously compoumled of all, and when very earnest in pressing home on another a belief which we deem true — as, say, the gen- eral belief in Catholicism — we are not always over-scrupulous in the arguments we employ, or the thickness of the colouring we lay on, when longing to gain over an opponent to our side ; and as this doctrine of the Pope's right of interference in our civil affiiirs, and of playing the mischief with our constitutional liberties — read by the light of the terrible past — was known to b \ in the eyes of Protestants, a fearful dilHculty and offence, there was a proportionately great temptation lo smooth down and attenuate it, ami even to throw discredit on it alto- gether, as Bishop Doyle had done. But Lord Acton is fiankly out- spoken. 'Gentlemen," says he to them in effect, 'this is all nonisen.se. We must not falsify history and pervert patent fact, 'liie Popes did 'Hr —34— tliese things, and the Pope, in the interests of Catholicism, has the right, never withdrawn, to do thoni again.' Forwarned, forearmed ! and so 1 say to all, trust no one absolutely, be he Priest, or Bishop, or Mr. Blake, or anyone, when their arguments lie in the same line as their interests ; for their interests arc almost sure, consciously or uncon- sciously on their part, to warp and colour their minds. Be governed by the evidence only. Think, you, my reader, that when delivering his great speech Mr. lilake kept steadily before his mind, that eternal vigdence is the price of liberty. I do not. But WHY all these exorbitant claims of the Popes and Catholicism. There is in the words of Christ or of Paul or Peter or of any one else in the whole New Testament, not a syllable to say that to any successor of Peter, whether by natural or spiritual descent, was such power or anything resembling it ever given. 80 far as this special assertion is concerned it is simply manufactured out of whole cloth. And what is so strange is this, that, as an undeniable matter of fact Petei- was not the Apo.stle of the Roman Church at all {that Paul was), but was, by special commission, the Apostle of the Jews. This all is stated clearly and emphatically in Paul's Epistle to the (jalatian Church, and accordingly while Peter's first Epistle is directed to " the strangers of the dis|)ersion " (™V deaaTTOfta^). i.e.: the Jews scattered among the Gentile nations of the world, Paul it was who addressed his Epistle to the lloriuin Church (Peter never) and in this Epistle he tells the Roman Church " not to be highminded but i'ear, I'or that if (Jod spared not the natural branches " (the Jews), they should '' take heed lest he spare not themaf-so" (Rom. xi : 20.21). And though Christ promised to be with His Church to the end of the world, yet that promise was tiot unconditional, but saddled with the condition of their obeying J lis commands; thus, "go ye and teach all nations. . .teaching them to obsiii'vi; all things whatsoever I have com- manded; AND, lo, I am with you always to the end of the world." If doirjg this, I shall be with you to assist you throughout all time. " Otherwise," as Paul wrote to the Poman and whole (ientile Church — " oTHEiiwisK tliou also shall be cut oft"" (Rom. xi : 22) Christ's promise is to stand by an obedient, not a disobedient people. The whole matter is plain as day ; there is no mystery at all about it. We are warned, too, in Scripture, that a great " apostacy " would take place in the Christian Church in the future, and there is no place in the world from which whatever emanates should be received with greater mistrust than what emanates from Rome, for up to the period of her alter destruction, no good is told of her, but Christians are warned against her as the very seat and headquarters of superabounding evil. I return to Mr. Blake, who, in denouncing all intolerance, utters these true and very njcmorable words ; "I believe, if you commit to any church absolute power and control over faith and morals, and if, at the same time, you commit to that church abso- lute power to determine what is comprised within faith and morals, you con- n, has the rtp^ht. rmed ! and so T Bishop, or Mr. ic line as their lusly or uncon- I. Be governed •eat speech Mr. nee is the price t claims of the st or (if Paul or t, not a syllable iral or spiritual • <»;iven. 80 far li'actured out of 8 an undeniable n Church at all Apostle of the 'aul's Epistle to first Epistle is ;««c)- '•'^- ! world, Paul it I (Peter never) ) be hifijhminded es " (the Jews), loni.xi: 20.21). ) the end of the iaildled with the ye and teach all ;ver I have coui- the world." If ighout all time. whole (ientile (Rom. xi: 22) abedient people. ^ at all about it. ,cy " would take is no place in received with ip to the period t Christians are ' superabounding ince, utters these and control over hat church abso- morals, you con- —35— code necessarily to that church ahiuliite power altogether; and I believe, therefore, that it is quite necessary to consider that tliere may be a jioint at whicli we may be called on to consider what the tenets of the church in that particular point of view are." But I have showc my readers that this is eujphatically what the church does claim and much besides. In the third chapter of the Con- stitution de Ecclesia we read these words, " The pa«tori4 and the liiithful are bound, as well each of them singly as all ol them together, by the obligations of a veritable obedience not (/nly in matters which appertain to fdith and. morals, hut also [this goes even beyond Mr. Blake's case] in those things which belong to the discipline antl (joocrnment of the church scattered throughout the whole wurld. . . .this is the doctrine of the Catholic verity from which no one can deviate save at the peril of his failh and .salvation. . . .we also teach and declare that he (the Pope) is the supreme judge of all the faithful. . . .and that his decision can be upset by no one, and that it is mt permitted to any one to J udye concern^ iny his Judijment." The words in Latin of chief importance are, "obstringunter nou .solum in rebus, (jmo ad tidem et mores, sed etiam ill iis, quic ad disciplinam et regimen ecclesijK. . . .Neque cuicam de ejus licere judieare judicio." On this the comment of Mr. (j!lad.stoue is, " Absolute obedience, it is boldly deelared, is due to the Pope, at the peril of salvation, not alone in faith and morals, but in all things which concern the discipline [and we have had no bles.sed experience of that discipline] and government oi' the church. Thus ai e sicept into the Papal net whole multitude;^ of facts, whole systems of government prevailing, though in diflorent degrees, in every country in the world ... .On all matters respecting which any Pope may think proper to declare that they concern either faith or morals, or the government or discipline of the church, he claims. . . .absolute ohtdience. . . .and this claim'" is made by " a Pontiff' who has condemned free speech, free writing, a free press, toleration of nonconformity, liberty of conscience, the study of civil and philosophical matters in independence of ecclesi- astical authority, marriage unless sacramentally contracted, and the definition by the state of the civil rights (jura) of the church; who has demanded for the church, therefore, the title to define its own civil rights, together with a divine right to civil iunnunities, and a right to nse physical force, and who has also proudly a.sserted that the Popes of the Middle ages with their Councils did not invade the rights of Princes [that is, it was not invasion or usurpation of their rights when l*opes, their sovereigns, commanded] as lor example Gregory VII., of the Emperor Henry IV.; Innocent III., of llaymond of Toulouse; Paul HI. in deposing Henry V^III.; or Pius V., in performing the like paternal oflice for Elizabeth, i submit, then, that. . . .England is en- titled to ask and to know in what way the obedience re(|uirud by the Pope and the Council of the Vatican is to be reconciled with the integrity of civil obedience. . . .The Pope demands for himself the right to determine the province of his own rights, and has so defined it in formal docuinent.s as to warrant any and every invasion of the civil sphere ; and that this new vers'on of the principles of the Papal Church « jjlllll^ -36- inexorably l)inds its memberB to the adinisHion of thoRe exorbitant claims, without any rcfuf!;c or reHcrvatioii on behalf of their duty to the crown." So far for Mr. Gliulstonc. What sayH Mr. Blake to all thiw? I hIuUI toll him what Cardinal Manning .sayw, " The Catholic Church cannot cease to preach the doctrines. . .of the nece8.sity of unity and of the sovereignty, both spiritual and temporal, of the Holy See;" and again, '' If then, the civil power be not competent to decide the Ihnitti of the spiritual power, and if the spiritual power can define, v/hh n divine certainty, itsoirn limits, it is evidently supreme. . .and if this be .so, this is the doctrine of the Bull ' Unani Sanctani.' and of the Syllabus and of the Vatican Council. It is in liict ritraniontanism. . . any powiT, which is independent, and am alone fix the limits of its 01171 jurisdiction, and can thereby fix the limits of all o^/u;r jurisdictions is, ipso facto, supreme. But the church, .is all this." On this theory of Cardinal Maiininj^'s of the ('hurch Mr. ^Jladstone remarks, " Whatever demands may hereafter, and in whatever circumstances, be made upon us, we shall be unable to advance with any fairness the plea that it has been done without due notice/' or that we have been misled, as in the case of Bishop Doyle. Why, then, quote the convenient declarations of any underlings of the C'hurch, as if of final authority ? When any real difliastoral letter and circular t t wore issued after the arrival of the Delegate Apostolic, ami after , an understanding had been reached with him in 1877. I From which pastoral letter Mr. Blake quotes, I not so fully, thus : I " Electors are always obliged, before God, to give their support to the can- 's didate whom they judge to be truly honest and able to discharge the import- ant duties confided to his care, which consist of watching the interests of re- ligion and of the state and to work faithfully ' i this direction." Yi'U will here, my reader, observe how guardedly and tenderly all this is done, as if the Catholic Dignitary was treading upon eggs, but as not to break them. "It is particularly deplored that the author- ity of the clergy and of the holy ministry should suffer thereby. It is, refore, necessary to repair the great damage done." Again ; "the ,u "clergy should never call any persons by name from the pulpit," and then ^ wo read of the ^'direction" in which the elector is to work. ' Then Mr. Hlakc quotes, in favour of the open fairness of the Church ■ and its political liberality, a letter Irom Archbishop Lynch to the Hon. Alexander McKenzie, then Premier, from which I cull a few lines : "It would be very imprudent in a priest, whose congregation is composed of liberals and conservatives, to become a warm partisan of cither political ])arty ; it would neutralize his influence for good in too many instances." A better couujientary on all this seeming desire for fair play and , iib.sencc of ''undue influence" is the late letter of this same Archbis. .^. Ijynch to his faithful Catholic Henchman, Mr. Higgins. St. Mich.\el's Palace, ) Toronto, Dec. 9, 1882./ " Mv Dear Mr. Higgins, — We are now anxious to sustain the Mowat (jovernment. If it go, then we shall have Orange rampant, and we may as 7c'ell quit the country. The first act of the new Government will be to incor- porate the Orange Order, dind then, indeed, the Catholics will suffer. If Catho- lies do not wish to vote for Mr. Drury, then they need not vote at all. I would be ashamed of Catholics changing politics for mean purposes, and some so- called Catholics are doing so, and playing into the hands of the Orangemen. Alas, there will always be traitors! You, I know, Mr. Higgins, will keep staunch. "Yours faithfully, "(Signed) tjNO. Joseph Lynch, "Archbishop of Toronto." TT" f -38- On these two letters The Tii('(jram cou)nients as follows: " Read in the light in which it will now be read, there is nothing so very surprising in Mr. IMaku's anti-Orange speech after all. .\rchbishop I.ynch's letter, calling upon the Catholics to support the reform candidates, put a dif- ferent f;>ce on it. The prelate and the politician were working for different objects. While the polituum ivns aiding the pirlatc to crmh the Onini^e Order, the prelate 7i'as a'tuing the politieinn to boom the reform party. Each was no doubt perfectly satisfied with what the other was doing, aiul although, as Mr. Blake says, there is no understanding between them, we may safely assume that each teas pleased with the manner in which the game was being played. As a matter of fact, it has always been protended that the spiritual guides of our Catholic fellow citizens kept themselves entirely aloof from politics." .... But here " his grace not only becomes a ' v.arm political partisan ' of Mr. Mowat, but writes letters in which he calls upon Catholics to vote for the re- form candidate, or else not vote at all. He goes even further, as he stigmat- izes as "traitors" those who vote the other way. Has his grace one set of rules for his priests and another for himself.' Has he one set of principl;!s for public use, and another for usi; in private ? It would seem so. It is some- what singular that so shrewd a gentleman as liis grace would write such a let- ter, to be han'ked around the coustitiieiicv c'd iiseil as a means of infliieiieiiif^ Catholic votes. If he has an> thing to say at election times it would be infin- itely more in keeping with nis priestly position and character, to say it pub- licly, and not to stab o.ie of the political parties under the fifth rib in this underhand way." This one, letter, l)y the merest Occident, found its way intt) the {>ul)lie prints. I foil- many ot Iters may have bet-n written by his f;race (or by his confreres) and only reached the private ears lor which they were intended, and the e3'es or ears oi those they were meant U> influence, who can lell ? Or wiiat niay have been iheir cifect in .seiitinf; the Reform party in power in Ontario. But why the Archbishop and his fellow-CathiiJies .should have to "(|uit the country " in the event of the passa>ibtleties, and the habit, almost forced on them, of 80 ofU'n ('Xj>l(L.i(/-a>v ws: nothing so very ibishop Lynch's i(iate«, put a dif- inR for different /((' Oroiifrf Order, Each was no although, as Mr. y safely assume s being played. spiritual guides : from politics." partisan ' of Mr. ) vote for the re- r, as he stigmat- ^race one set of ;et of principles n so, It is some- write such a let- i.v of iiijliu'iicinf^ would be iutin- r, to say it pub- fifth rib in this into the pul)lic s jjrace (or by liioh thoy were it U» influence, in soatin<; llic bishop and his I the event of there anything n the conduct H of Catholics; icntiuients ; do hat a necessity and euiiji;rate lew Salt Lake social and bar- ing forward to ed, passionate, 'i to entangle- d on them, of n to the uiind igB and giving the oecas'on — receive injury give you (in bestowed upon ilty We see —39— something of t'le process in the words ((juoted by Mr. Blake to uphold his argument) of the Supreme Congregation of the Holy Office to tbo Bishops of Canada, thu.s : " We must, in short, exhort the bishops to observe tlif greatest reserve with respect to political affairs, espeeially since there is a danger of provoking a violent uuir against the Church on the part of Protestants, who are already c.x- iited and irritated at the clergy under the pretext of undue inference in [lolitical elections. " Besides, it will always be necessary for the clergy to avoid naming indi- viduals from the pulpit, and still much more so, if it is for the purpose of dis- crediting them at elections, and they must never make use of the influence of their holy office for private ends, except when the candidates might be inju- rious to the true interests of the Church." No, tio: Protestants must not be irritated, alarmed — no, there is danger in that — thenfore, is there need of " the greatest reserve," '• avoid naming individuals (then, that had been done) from thi^ puljiit. This '■ might be uijurious to the true interests of the eliurcli." First, tile grand assertion is made by the Pope himself, followed by some great cclesiastic such as Cardinal Manning, the Pope's right- hand ; then, when men get alarmed at the gresitness of the tyrannous claims, they begin to prune down, and soften, and unsay, and liiially almost eat their own words: but '■ verbum irrevocabile " remains behind, fixed as fate, absolute, condemnatory. Now, the above-quoted adviee was given in 187(i, and irky ? Why? Jiecanne Protestants had become "excited and irritated;" and there was " danger of provoking a violent war against the church." . ./?(!c'tm.se8ir Alexande;- Gait had written his famous letter (May, 1875) ■ to Treasurer Robertson, saying that things in Lower Canada were being jiushed to such extremities, that '' tlie rights we enjoy and the safeguards we possess will be, one by one, attacked, until our position will be so ; iniokrablc as to induce us to become, as their organs even already term us, aliens or strangers; or force on us such a phi/sical contest as must be most deplorable :" for says he, "the celebrated Syllabus suffi- I ciently discloses the (/esi(/n that the regulation of faith and morals is to be extended to embrace the wlu>le field of human tliought and action:" and he demanded from tlie government of the day " a public and explicit declaration that they reject and rei'use to acknowledge the authority claimed for his church by the Koman Catholic Ihsliop of Montreal, in all matters pertaining to public law and the government of the country." Yes, my reader, cock-sureness ! and the Vatican Decrees were beginning to bear their bitter fruit**. ■ For about three years," says iiisho|) Bourget, "the Holy Congrega- tion of the Propaganda (note who), charged with Apostolic superintend- ence over this country, has been informed that certain papers allowed themselves to publish insults to the ecclesiastical authorities. The I'rcfect of the Holy Coii-iregation reeoinmended, in his letter, the iJ'sliops to compel, if it were neiessary, those who were guilty in this particular, to submit to this injunction, by forbidding the I'aithl'ul to read these papers " (This, mark, was in 18715.) And so, adds the Bi.shop, "especially must the sacraments be refused to those Editors [CatholicJ f ■. . /;■ ■'■i —40— who write such insults, and to those who employ them to edit the news- papers of which thoy are proprietors." This was Boycotting with a vens^eancc — the terrors of" the eternal world, and empty purses in this . I wish Mr. Blake joy of his new Proteges, and 1 ask hiui to remember that it was not Orangemen who did this. Oh, that he held a brief on the otner side ! But it was growing too hot for the Prelates, and in 1871) and in 1877 (note the date always) this Prefect of the Holy Con- gi'egation changed liis tune accordingly. Surely, 3Ir. Blake has been but Ji poor student of history, or, if not, must iiavo read it to little pur- pose. Immediately aftc the decrees of Infallibility had been passed, there were gi"eat mutual congratulations and rejoicings. With every inch of canvas set, with a blue sky above, and trar.(|uil waters all around, the ship of the Pope had left the old Port exultant, passengers and crew and {.'aptain mutually interchanging words of happy omen, but soon angry clouds gather in the horizon, and an occasional squall strikes the ship, and the mates order the crew to trim their sails, for that they are currying too much canva^;, and soon the storm grows wilder, and the remaining sheets get torn, and the spars begin to creak, and soon the new-old ship, damaged and water-logged, has to sail the best she can under bare poles. Even so it was : brave words at first: refuse them heavcni and sew up their pockets : let thi;m starve here and go to the other place hereafter. They well deserve it, for running counter to the Pope, who has condemn- ed the freedom of the press, and would gag every one of them, if he only had the power. But in a few years — nous avons changd tout cela — they have to trim and unsay, to suit the occasion ; for 1876 is not 1873 or 1875- any one can se thai, -and Bishop Bourget must draw in his horns, and the Prefect of the llo'y Congreiiation eat his words, and Archbishop Lynch write liis party letters sciTcth/. I.s it not Mac- aulay who tc^lls us that a blunder is sometimes wor,>i' -46- ly ^^ranlod as a pi-ogiianl pi-inciplo of right, and not by tho under- lings of office liovvovoi- lii;;li, l>ut l)y the central and supremo head ofCutliolicisni himself. It would not do to have it come to u^ couched in the kind of language of Archbishop Lynch to Mr. Mackenzie, " It would be ver}' hnprude)it in a priest. ..ti) become it warm pai-tisan of either ])arty. It would neutralize his influence for <;()od"--a j>recep(, be it remarked, which Archbishop Lynch scarcely observed liiinsell: or did he conceive its application wan excused to the higher order of the Hj)isco])ate : or did he regard the whole thing as a matter of pure ex|)ediency — a "prudent" con- cession in a free country to the spiritof tho age, and forced on him through fear of the irritated I'rotestants taking alarm. The com- ments of the Mail on this letter ai-e so good, that 1 cannot forbear quoting them. " li" says this brilliant writer, " the crisis was one in which the Church was in clanger, why not have boldly issued a pa'^^toral ? Why not have instructed his bishops and priests ? Why should he have selected this infelicitous intoxicant to be the agent of his wishes ? Simply because his Cirace knew that the rul)bish in that letter was rubbish and something worse, and that no man of sense would believe a word of it — though it might have its due effect among the people of lesser intelli- gence, to whom necessarily and mainly it would be read." 1 read Mr. Hluke's s])ecch throughout with great care, and the impression made on me by reading it and by some things that have been done in this parliament, is this, that, in Mr. Blake's es- timate of it, Oi'angeism is an unmitigated nuisance, a dangerous and disintcgi'ating elcmeiil in the social compact-, which ('atholic- ism IS not; and that the Orangtuiian is so evil a member of society, that, while a Catholic Bishop may hecome, by the Act of the Dominion Parliament, a corporation soU; to hold j)roj)erty, an Orangeman ought not to be suffered to hold a single foot of soil for the purposes of his order l)y such Act. It seems so sti-ange that, in a country all whose institutions are supposed to be based on the principle of equal human lights, an organization founded on the jn'inciple of inequality of I'ights, ex- elusiveness, and domincei-ing, and which always has been and now is u disturbing and dangerous element in society, should be granted by special legislation special privileges ; and that a Pro- testant orgaidzation, founded on the opposite principles, i.e., on tliose of only equal rights, should be denied them. That while the one jjarty gets what it wants by direct action, the other is re- fused it in our Dominion; and even in Protestant Ontario can obtain, only by indii-ect, circuitous, and expensive modes of pro- cedure, the ])()wei- to hold a tool of land for the purposes of thinr organization. Again, as Orangemen argue — J quote from a quo- tation cited by Mr. Hlake — "We must not permit any })olitical feeling in this matter, as it is very im- portant to our institution to liave a Dominion Act of incorporation. " Without such Act, our noble brethren in tlie I'rovince of (Quebec will be without one, as you all know it is no use for them to ask for incorporation in their Provincial Legislature, where Protestants are in the minority." t by the uiulei'- * 1 supremo head it C'onio to Us Lynch to Mr. it... to become a zo his influonco hbisbop Lync'li application was did be i-egai-d , "prudent" con- d torced on liin) iiin. Tlie coni- cannot forbear tiy not have boldly lul priests ? Why ! the agent of his I in that letter was luld believe a word le of lesser intelli- it care, and the ine thin^M tliat Mr. Blake'H es- ce, a dangerous vvliicb (Jatiiolic- Mnberot'society, till! Act of Uie I pi'operty, an gle foot of soil institutions are man i igbts, an y of I'igbts, ex- has been and ;ieiy should bt [II id that u Pro- inci])les, i.e., on m. That wiiilo tlie otlier is le- it Ontario can nioiios of pro- rpose.s of theii' >te fi'oni a quo- r, as it is very im- oration. of (Quebec will be • incorporation in linority." —47— Such an aol, hy covering the whole field, would give fo all equal rights, smd even Mr. Blake allows that there are cjwen that justify interfei-encc. An inciilent most laughable, if it bad not been so ])ainful, as indicative of the temper of Commons' House, and of their ])lain injustice, oi /urred at the moment of the rejection of the Orange Incorporation Bill, .lust as the Speaker from his chair had an- ■ noiinced, as the result of the voting, lh:il the Orange Bill was lost, a message came from the Senate to say, that the bill foi- the incor- ))i>ration of the {{ev'ds. " Peres Oblats," a Catholic; fraternity, the Hworn friends of Ji»me, had |)assod, at which there was a regular titter. It is thus that we are battled and laughed at. It is all considered a good joke. If the ()rangem:in wants an act of incorporation, argues Mr. Blake, let him go to his Proviiu^ial Pai'liament lor it. But he did go, and when liis plea was gi-antcd by the chosen n^presentativcH of the people of Ontario, the Bill was reserved for the imprimatur of the (rovernor (leneral, who sent it back, since it lay within the Comj)etency of the Provincial (Jovernment to conlirm it. Thiiti is the Orangeman met everywhere with obsti-uction, tossed among the politicians, like a shuttlecock, fi-om hand to hand. ]Iit him hard, ho has no fi-iends ! Xow, if Protestaitts were to ai'gue that Catholicism i-» the Pope, tlie sole authoritative voice in Catholic Christendom, and that he has jtronounced the verdict of condemnation of such beliefs as form the basis of modei-n society and of our most pronounced civilization — coiupiosts won from barbai'ism and intolerance — and that, thei'cfore, the ('atholic Church ought not to be allowed an act of incorporation to enable it to hold a foot of grouml, how woidd not the country ring with the insults ottered to the faith of Catholics, and with the cry of Protestant intolerance. Vor myself lot mo say, that I have ever boon the steady friend Oi" Catholics, ulw.'iys conceiling to them, anul left in them — life itself were intolerable; against free speech, a iVea press, i'vin} thought, anil free institutions; and, so, to have lull I -48- to i'vci our hearts out, like 11 newly caged bird,uii(l boat ourwiiigH in vain against the fate tiiat wires us in, when the free air and open sky and glorious sunshine lie outside us, hut are not ours ; and, whei'e the stinnulating tbod of congenial thought invites the iiealtliy Galileo-appetite within to feast and bo satisfied, how terrible to be f<)rced to accept hypoei'itically an einj>ty lie and (^all it living trut ; and, thiotigh fear of the rack and stake, never to dare to open our mouths honestly, while our thoughts, all the while, burn within us, and wo long to give them vent; to be denied the ])leasure that comes from the interchange ol honest thought, and the hunum sympathy of free, truth-loving minds, and only allowed to say our amen to every utterance of senility in its second chiklhood ; this wore unbearable, indeed. Yet su"li was the state of things, wholly intolerable to free minds, under Popery of old, and such woulil it be again, if Jlome could only bring it back. Now. is there any thing like this, Mr. Blake, in tlie Orango prograiume? Docs not the constitution that b'nds them guaran- tee equal freedom and c(|ual rights, the world over, to every citizen of tlie con\nion-u'e:il, be he Catholic or Protestant, Negro, Jew or Indian. Are they not banded logethei' in dofonce of human rights, and not to destroy them. My concern throughout this ])aper, as I have said, has not been with Catholics, but with Catholicism. I am far from affirnung, what r do not l>elieve, that Catholics are saturated with the (•|unions of the V^atican, or that Ihey are ojjposed to what the Pope opposoH, or cherish in their hearts what he contcmj)lates in his. I do not bc^lieve that there are great numbers of just and thoughtful Catholics who would state in so many words, oi- in the substance of them, as tluur deliberate belief, what the Pope sends forth to the world in his Syllabus and Encyclicals and other utter- ances as his. But those definitions of the Pope are irreversible by any one. Pope Pius, " P(»ntilicatus nostri Anno XXV".," I'.imself tolls us, that thoy are so ; thus: "pro suprema sua Apostolica auctoritate . . .idioque ejus Jlomani Pontificis definitions ex sose non autem ex consensu lOccle^iic irreformabiles esse." But as Mr. Gladstorno says, " Far be it from me to make any Roman Catholic, except the gi'cat hierarchic ])ower, and those who egged it on, responsible for the portentous proceedings which he have witnessed" in the doings of this Vatican Council : anil, again, "the claim now made upon him [the Catholic] by the authority which ho solemnly... acknowledges i-equircs him to surrender his mental and moral freedom, and to place his loyalty and civil duty at the mercy of another." And, so, when Magna Charta was forced from King John, Pope Innocent II I. |)ronounce(l his popely anathema against it. How strange, then, in view of all this, sound ihe words of the great Catholic Bishop Doyle to Lord Liverpool in 1826, " We are ; Ch I St. pre ju.'. )Oiit ourwintjjs 3 free air Jiiul arc not ours ; ht invitoH the HutiHtiod, liow )ty lie Jind call lake, novel- to )UghtH, Jill th(i n vent ; to be nf^c ot lionost -loving inindH, K'O ot »enility )ed. Yet su"li e minds, nnder mo could only in tlie Oningo | 1 them gnaran- )ver, to eveiy | teslant, Negro, | in (lelcnce of d, has not been | iVom affliming, | i-aled with Iho [i •d to what the ontem])latert in | ei-K of just and | vords, or in the ^ the Pope isends md other utter- )le by any one. . imself tells us, | lica auctoritate .ese non aiitem Mr. GladstoHG Catholic, except on, responsible tnessed" in the laim now made he solemnly. . . ntal and moral t the mercy of •c'd from King- lit hema against he words of the 1826, " We are —49— taunted with the proceedings of I'opos. What, my Lord, liuve wo Catholics to do with the pi-ocoedings of Popes, or why should wo be made accountable for them?" Before closing this paper, I cannot i-esist the temptation of quoting some passages from a late very eloquent and well- reasoned sermon, preached to the Orangemen ot St. John, New Brunswick, by the Kev. T. F. Fotheringham, (and brought under my notice after a good part of this had been printed) on the text Mark xiii : 24, '• Do ye not therefore err because ye know not the Scriptuies." To the Orangemen he says : "You publish your constitution to the world that all who will read may know the tie which binds you together and the objects aimed at in your or- ganization. You are secret in so far that you claim the right possessed by every society of transacting its business in private, adopting measures for recognizing its members and testing their claims to brotherhood. You rest upon a noble historic basis, commemorating in your name one of the grandest men that ever lived, and in your chief anniversary the triumph of principles which must ever be dear to the lovers of civil and religious liberty." Then, in contrast to the woi-ds of Christ in this text, he says, " In his ' Syllabus of Errors,' published in 1864, the late Pius IX. classes together in sec. iv., ' Socialism, communism, secret societies. Biblical socie- ties and clerico-liberal societies,' adding, ' pests of this kind are frequently rebuked in the severest terms.' The Freeman's Journal affirms, ' The Bible Society is the deepest scheme ever laid by Satan in order to delude the human family, and bring them down to his eternal possession,' and Bishop Spotts- wood declares, ' I would rather a half of the people of this nation should be brought to the stake and burned, than one man should read the Bible, and form his judgment from its contents.' " Again says he, "Bir'iop O'Connor of Pittsbugh is frank enough to say, 'Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world' (Rome in America, p. 11), and the Archbishop of St. Louis proclaims in his Shepherd of the Valley (April 10, 1852), 'If ever Catholics gain — which they certainly will do— an immense numerical majority, religious freedom in this country is at ane nd. So say our enemies, so we believe.' " And once more, he adds, "The late Vatican Council declared 'whoever says that Christ has confer- red upon the Church the power to direct only by advice and persuasion those who turn aside, not to compel them by orders, by coercion, and by external verdicts and statutory punishments, let him be anathema.' (Rome in Am. p. 88). And in so deciding, it only formulated the opinions of the greatest theologians of the Church. Dens, whose theology is a text book in many Roman Catholic seminaries, says: 'It is the duty of the Roman Catholic Church to compel heretics, by corporal punishment, to submit to the faith,' and St. Thomas Aquinas, the study of whose writings has been revived under the present occupant of the Pontifical throne, is of the opinion 'that heretics are justly punished with deatli.' " But the whole sermon merits the deepest attention of all who desire to see how things s'and really between Uome and us. And if Mr. Blake thinks so highly of the statements of the dignitaries of the church, and is content with them, he has full opportunity of studying them heie. Still if we want to know what ically ^ Catholicism is, we must go to the fountain-head of all authoritj', the infallible Pojie, and not to either emphasising or explaining- away cardinals or bishops or anyone, but to the Popes themselves. cr^. —50— Thou wo i^ot awa^-fi'om all tlio Kce-Mawiii^ of convenient intcipic- Uition to the ipsissirna verba of infallibility itself. But Mr. Blake, led by the nose l»y convenient unauthoiizod Htalenu'ntrt of the undorlin^H, and uiiwainod by the woids of Bifthoj) Doylo and the Catholic Hierarchy, and ignoi-ing, or being uninfbi-med as to the real Hlato of the cat-e, as I have sliewn you above, (luotes for disapprobation the language of that stout defender of Oi'angeism, Mi-. White ot Kast Hastings; thus: " The day vva.-. not far distant, if we did not show more pluck and courage in opposing the growing injlncncc of the Papacy in this Province, when we should be obliged to fight, not as Conservatives or Reformers, but as Protes- tants, to free ourselves from the trammels which Rome's agents sought to place on us and our institutions." and thought he had, so, gained an easy victory. But think you that, in u court of law, Mr. Blake would have been satisfied with the testimony of the dofiandant, or with a copy or pseudcvcopy, when he might luive the original document itself. And is there anything so terribly unieasonable in the following resolution of the Middlesex County Orange Lodge, also (quoted by Ml-. Blake : "That the County Lodge of the County of Middlesex of the Loyal Orange Association is of opinion, that while those who last year voted for our incor- poration did but their duty in having shown their willingness to accord us those rights which we, as Orangemen, arc ever ready to extend to all sections of Her Majesty's loyal sul>jecis, wc lidvc uu wuids to sufficiently express our strong condemnation of the course of those Protestant representatives, especially from Protestant Ontario, who from political spleen voted to deny us (their Protestant fellow-citizens) those rights which they are always willing sycophantly to grant to Roman Catholics ; Resolved, further, that we, the Representatives of the Orangemen of the County of Middlesex, will not be satisfied until our full rights in the matter of incorporation are properly accorded to us, our motto being ' No Surrender and no compromise,' and that a copy of the resolutions be sent to the public press." or in those (also ([uotcd by him) of Col. Tyrwhill : "He counselled organization and unity on the part of all Protestants irre- spective of politics in order to stem the aggressive march of the Papacy in this our beloved Dominion." Mr. (rladstone, sliockcd and grieved by the Vatican Decrees, and by the Encyclicals and S^'Uabus of the Pope, had written a very able pamphlet on the subject, which was assailed on all sides by Catholics tvith a perfect storm of words; after leading which with due attention, he wrote a rejoinder, in which he {iflfiims that, instead of over-stating the case, he had understated it. F'lom this rejoinder, at the risk of seeming tedious, 1 make the following quotations: " The Vatican Decrees do, in the strictest sense, establish for the Pope a supreme command over loyalty and civil duty. " Not even against tneii who voted under pressure, against their better mind, for these deplorable Decrees — nay, not even against those who resisted them and now enforce them — is it for me to utter a word of censure. The just appreciation of their difficulties, the judgment of their conduct, lies in a region far too high for me. To assail the system is the Alpha and Omega of my desire ; and it is to me matter of regret that I am not ablo to handle it as it deserves without reflecting upon the persons, be they who they may, that have brought it into the world ; have sedulously fed it in its weakness ; have reared it up to its baleful maturity ; have forced it upon those who n )w force r If ■nt iiitcrprc- iimuthorizcd woi dM of ig, or being ^liewn you that stout thus : < and courage 'ince, when we but as Protcs- snts sought to it think you latisticd with pficudo-copy, the followinij; , also (juoted e Loyal Orange i for our incor- 5s to accord us all sections of tly express our representatives, n voted to deny ley are always urther, that we, dlesex, will not on are properly omise,' and that I'rotestants irrc- Papacy in this Decrees, and •itten a very all sides by jading which {iffiims that, . From this the following for the Pope a nst their better ose who resisted f censure. The Dnduct, lies in a a and Omega of bio to handle it they may, that veakness ; have who n jw force —51— it upon others ; are obtaining for it from day to day fresh command over the pulpit, the press, the confessional, the teacher's chair, the bishop's throne ; so that every father of a family, and every teacher in the Latin communion, shall, as he dies, be replaced by some one more deeply imbued with the new colour, until at the last, in that moiety of the whole Christian family, nothing .shall remain except an Asian monarchy ; nothing hut one giddy height of des- potism, and one dead level of religious subserviency. ..." 1 must avow, then, that 1 do not feel exactly the same security for the [future .is for the present. Still less do I feel the same security for other lands as for this. . ." I am confident that if a system so radically bad is to be made or kept innocuous, the first condition for attaining such a result is that its movements I should be carefully watched, and, above all, that the bases on which they ■ work should be faithfully and unflinchingly exposed. Nor can I quit this portion of the subject without these remarks. The satisfactory views of Archbishop Manning on the present rule of civil allegiance have not pre- vented him from giving his countenance as a responsible editor to the lucu- brations of a gentleman who denies liberty of conscience, and asserts the right to persecute when there is the power ; a right which, indeed, he has not himself disclaimed. " Nor must it be forgotten that the very be:t of all the declarations we have heard from those who allow themselves to be entangled in the meshes of the Vatican Decrees, are, every one of them, uttered subject to the condition that, upon orders from Rome, if such orders should issue, they shall oe qualified or retracted or reversed. iM ' A breath can lojmake them, as a breath has made.' oH . . ." And when Dr. Newman, not being Pope, contradicts and nullifies Avhat the Pope declares, whatever we may wish, we can not renounce the use ef our eyes. . . ." The lesson received is this. Although pledges were given, although their validity was firmly and even passionately asserted, although the subject- fnatter was one of civil allegiance, ' no pledge from Catholics,' says Cardinal |>Jc\vmaii, ' was of any value to which Rome was not a party.' . . ." But this was the very assurance which, not a single and half-recog- Ijized divine, but the whole synod of Irish prelates gave to the British Gov- ernment in i8io, and which the Council of the Vatican has authoritatively falsified." What, then, is the real value of Mr. Blake's quotations fi'om dignitaries of the chuich. Are they not the em])ticst woi-ds— yo.t; et pra'terea nihil — but not a feather's weight of consequence as argument. Oh, that — unless he sees the error of his ways — he would eschew politics, and confine himself to the bar where his great talents, and eloquence, and reasoning powei-s aie sui-e, as they ever have been, to be fully appi-eciated. But, oh, no politics, until he is bettor read on the subject ! I have shewn you how the theory of the church and her dog- matic teaching influence not onlj' men's sjieculative opinions or tnodcs of thinking, but their political actions; and as a notable example of this, 1 cite a passage quoted by Mr, Blake in his gieat speech : " In conversation, along with twenty other gentlemen, with Sir Hector Langevin, Mr. Bunting said : ' Sir Hector, we must have incorporation ' VVhat was the reply ? Sir Hector said : ' So far as incorporation is concerned, I personally wish you to have it, but I am opposed to all secret societies, because my church is opposed to them My bishops and priests tell us. the members of the church, not to vote for and support any such societies.' " Personally I wish you to have it ; but my church says, No : and I, the echo of her voice, say no, accordingly. The priests and bishops "tell" me what to do, and I do it. My politics and my —52— conMicncc are in keeping of the church, and what she cornniands, 1 anil bound to execute "To-day," says Mr. Blake, " what are you [Orangemen] doing ? You are promoting these calumnies in reference to another church. You are coming ] forward and declaring that the tenets of this church, which you do not hold, are detestable, and fhat every true Protestant must take the same position." But I think I have proved by the amplest and clearest evidence, that far from being calumnie.*, they are the gravest and most un- deniable of truths. If anywhere 1 may seem to hav3 spoken in too strong terms of | Mr. Blake 1 hope I may be paidoned, especially, if I take shelter under the example he has himself set me, when he says, " I say that men will be misled by designing politicians, who are using the I cloak of religion and the cloak of charity to promote party politics." Now, that wo may have an idea of the kiud of education toj which we should be subjected, if Home had her way, I quote the following fi'om Bishop Charboiniel : '• Jesus Christ has confided the mission of instruction, which has civilized; the world, to no others than the Apostles and their successors to the end of| time. " It is their right so sacred and inalienable, that every wise and paternal I government has made lav.-s respecting instruction only in harmony with theS teaching of the Church — the Bishops united to their supreme and universal! Head ; and this right 's so inviolable, that of late, as well as in former times, ini France, in Belgium, in Prussia, in Austria, as in Ireland, the Bishops, witlif the Pope, have done everything to overthrow or modify every School or Univer-\ sity system opposed to the mission given by Jesus Christ to his sacred j College." " It is here," comments a vigorous writer, " clearly claimed, that the Popej and Bishops of the Roman Catholic Chuach are the only persons authorized! by God himself to direct the education of youth, and therefore, that all others! undertaking that work are invading the prerogative of God ; that all legisla- tion on the subject must have the sanction of ' the Bishops with the Pope ;', and that they have done, and will do, all in their power to overthrow or| modify every system of public instruction, /ra;// the School to ihc University, which is not under their control." No, Mr. Blake : if you seem to have forgotten that " eternall vigilence is ihe price " that libei'ty exacts from her lovers, thcl Orangeman his not forgotten; but is ready at all times to standi up not for his own liberties onl}', but is b<>und, by the very conT stitution which makes him one, to grant to others the rights andj liberties he claims for himself. Is there any Itosnish constitufioiil that rings out the same clear note that does his ? It so, (and, oh,| that it were so) let him shew it. But let him not throw us backl on unauthorized teachers, and pseudo-copies and convenient coun| sels and interpretations, but give us the original. Orangemen arei prepared to shew him thcir's, about which, in its clear ringiui,' language there can be no mistake. What Orangemen want, then, is, not to suppress or bo supJ pressed, but only a fair open world for themselves and all meii.| Nothing more they ask, and nothing less will they take. J. ANT I SELL ALLKNI Owing to circumstances unnecessary to relate, the publication of tliisi pamphlet has been unavoidably delayed. J. A. A. ; she cominands, ] doing ? You are You are coming j ;h you do not hold, tie same position." learest evidence, : st and most un- strong terras of j f I take shelter e says, , who are using the j ' politics." of education to I ,vay, I quote the; which has civilized I ssors to the end of j wise and paternal I harmony with the| ■eme and universal! 5 in former times, inl I, the Bishops, withj ■y School or C7;i«wr-| irist to his sacred | med, that the Pope! persons aiUhorizedf ifore, that all others| id ; that all legisla- )ps with the Pope ;' er to overthrow or| 'jl to the University, jn that " eternali I her lovers, thel vll times to standi by the veiy conj s the rights andj nish constitution! ' If so, (and, olij )t throw us backl convenient couii-/ Orangemen aroi t3 clear ringinJ press or be sup- ves and all meii.| e}' take. I SELL ALLEN.I publication of this| J. A. A.